Most Valuable Things

The first thing valuable to me is God, he gives me the strength to get up everyday and want better, he gives me health, a wonderful life, a blessed mother and family. He also valuable, because he watches over me everyday and makes sure I’m ok, he made very unique and I thank him everyday. The second thing valuable to me is my mother. She motivates me to get a education and want to become a better person. She is one person that I can rely on to get anything I need and everything I want. The third thing valuable to me is phone, I love my phone with all my heart. I don’t know why my phone is so interesting but it is I can rely on my phone to tell me the truth, even though sometimes we have some difficulties we still all good. Candice Wilson 2nd Period May 1, 2011 The first thing valuable to me is God, he gives me the strength to get up everyday and want better, he gives me health, a wonderful life, a blessed mother and family. He also valuable, because he watches over me everyday and makes sure I’m ok, he made very unique and I thank him everyday. The second thing valuable to me is my mother. She motivates me to get a education and want to become a better person. She is one person that I can rely on to get anything I need and everything I want. The third thing valuable to me is phone, I love my phone with all my heart. I don’t know why my phone is so interesting but it is I can rely on my phone to tell me the truth, even though sometimes we have some difficulties we still all good. The first thing valuable to me is God, he gives me the strength to get up everyday and want better, he gives me health, a wonderful life, a blessed mother and family. He also valuable, because he watches over me everyday and makes sure I’m ok, he made very unique and I thank him everyday. The second thing valuable to me is my mother. She motivates me to get a education and want to become a better person. She is one person that I can rely on to get anything I need and everything I want. The third thing valuable to me is phone, I love my phone with all my heart. I don’t know why my phone is so interesting but it is I can rely on my phone to tell me the truth, even though sometimes we have some difficulties we still all good.

A drowning experience

Drowning Experience Tommy had Just learnt how to swim and was eager to demonstrate his newly acquired skills to his best friends. Immediately after school, he invited his friends, Gary and John, â€Å"Shall we go swimming at the crystal clear lake behind my flat tomorrow morning? † His friends nodded readily. Tom's mother had warned him about the dangers but his bursting desire to show off got the better of him and he simply cast her words to the winds. The next morning, the sun shone brilliantly across the glistening water, casting olden shadows dancing on the lake.The boys gathered punctually at the lake bank. They quickly stripped down to their swimming trunks and Jumped into the water. They waded merrily and frolicked in the water and laughed boisterously as the water hit their faces. Tommy suddenly made a suggestion, â€Å"Shall we compete and see who reach the other end of the lake first? † Before Tommy could finish his words, the other two boys had already taken up the challenge and started swimming right away. Just when Tommy was about to get ready, he felt an acute pain on his left thigh ut ignored it.However, seconds later, the pain accentuated and his left leg began to feel numb and heavy. Seized by panic, Tommy started thrashing in the water to stay afloat but he felt like a fast sinking ship and swallowed many gulps of water. Presently, he waved his hands frantically and screamed hysterically, â€Å"Help me! † Gary and John turned around and their blood froze at the hair-raising sight. Fortunately, they quickly got a grip on themselves and swam towards their distressed friend with very ounce of their strength.With Gary and John's concerted efforts, Tommy was finally dragged onto shore. However, Tommy's face had already turned ghastly pale and he was rendered unconscious. Worst, his leg was bleeding profusely. Without a moment to spare, Gary raced to pick up his shorts, ransacked its pockets and found his mobile phone. He immedi ately dialed for an ambulance. Shortly, the wail of the sirens could be heard. The paramedics bandaged Tommy's wound, lifted him onto a stretcher and carried im into the ambulance and it sped off.Gary also informed Tommy's mother. At the hospital, a doctor swiftly attended to Tommy. When Tommy's mother arrived, the doctor explained to her that Tommy was bitten by a sea snake and he had purged its venom from Tommy's body. Tommy's mother thanked Gary and John for their alertness and quick-wittedness. When Tommy finally came around, he teared uncontrollably, seeking forgiveness from his mother for his defiance. It was a close shave for Tommy and he would not forget that fateful day.

Antigone – Essay 9

Aristotle defines a tragic hero as â€Å"having high estate, nobility of soul, ability to have free will, having tragic flaw, also somebody we are able to empathize with, a person who suffers from reversal of fortune, achieving enlightenment, accepting responsibility for his/her fall and being able to die bravely. † I am going to use Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero to support evidence to the character Antigone, in the play Antigone. To me, the tragic hero in the play is Antigone. Antigone, who is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, becomes infuriated with Creon, who is the king of Thebes and her uncle. Creon will not allow Antigone's brother, Polynices, to be buried. Antigone tells her sister, Ismene, that she will defy Creon’s ruling even though she knows the consequences, which is death. The first on Aristotle’s tragic hero list is that the character â€Å"should be of high estate/class. † Antigone comes from high estate; she was considered a princess and was to be married to Creon’s son, Haemon. Though Antigone came from high estate/class, she still did not carry out the power to make changes; therefore, Antigone’s character of having high estate, yet no power, complies a little with Aristotle’s tragic hero. Second on Aristotle’s tragic hero list, was that the character â€Å"should have nobility of soul or tragic greatness. † Antigone showed nobility of soul because she stood-up for what she believed in knowing the outcomes would cost her life. An example of her nobility was when she first told her sister, Ismene, of what she was going to do. Antigone said, â€Å"I’ll bury him myself. And even if I die in the act, that death will be a glory. † I think that this quote shows nobility of soul, as well as, a tragic greatness. She saw it as glory to die for doing the right thing. (Line 85) Third on Aristotle’s tragic hero list, was that the character â€Å"should have free will and make important choices. † From the beginning of the play, until Antigone’s death, she kept her free will, as well as, making important choices for herself. When Antigone had gotten caught by the guards while burying her brother, she was taken to Creon to announce what she had done. There is a quote in there that shows how free willed of a person she was, Antigone says to Creon â€Å"Of course I did it. It wasn’t Zeus, not in the least, who made this proclamation—not to me†¦These laws—I was not about to break them, not out of fear of some man’s wounded pride, and face the retribution of the gods. † This quote by Antigone shows that she was capable of making her own choices, whether she would follow man’s law or the gods. She also showed that she was not afraid of the choices she made for herself. (Line 500) Aristotle’s fourth tragic hero listing is that the character â€Å"should have a tragic flaw or hamartia. Antigone made plenty of mistakes, her first one was defying Creon’s ruling. Though it was understandable why she made that choice, it probably would have spared her from going through all this trouble if she would have just asked Creon for a proper burial. Unfortunately, Antigone's stubbornness gets in the way of her thinking and results in her acting off of her emotions. Also, when it comes to Antigone’s dea th, if she would have not taken the matters into her own hand again, Creon had made the decision to free her and give her brother the proper burial. Yet, it is understandable that she does not want Creon to get satisfaction off of her death, as well as, not knowing that Creon would change his mind and actually side with her. Aristotle’s fifth tragic hero listing is that the character â€Å"should be someone with whom we can empathize. † Antigone had this down packed with the audience. The whole city empathized with Antigone and felt that â€Å"No woman ever deserved death less, and such a brutal death for such a glorious action. She, with her own dear brother lying in his blood she couldn’t bear to leave him dead, unburied, food for the wild dogs or wheeling vultures. Death? She deserves a glowing crown of gold! † I feel that quote right there sums it up. (Line 775) The sixth tragic hero listing that Aristotle feels is necessary, is that the character â€Å"should suffer a reversal of fortune (peripeteia), falling from a pinnacle to the depths. † Antigone was considered a princess and to be married to the king’s son, Haemon. After being caught by the guards, she was sentenced to death by the king, Creon. Now she is looked upon as a slave, not as a princess. She is treated like trash and looked down upon. She went from being of royalty to quickly being nothing. Antigone definitely serves the sixth tragic hero listing. The seventh tragic hero listing that Aristotle has is that the character â€Å"should achieve anagnorisis or enlightenment; should accept responsibility for his/her fall. † Antigone takes responsibility when she is first brought to Creon and asked if she was the one to give Polynices a proper burial, Antigone responded with â€Å"I did it. I don’t deny a thing. † Then Antigone shows her commonality with humanity when she is arguing with Creon about the citizens feeling like she did about his ruling. For example, Creon says â€Å"You alone, of all the people in Thebes, see things that way. † Antigone replies with â€Å"They see it that way but defer to you and keep their tongues in leash. † (Lines 492, 570) The last trait that Aristotle has listed that the tragic hero should carry is that the character â€Å"should die bravely. † Antigone died for love, for respect and for doing what she and many others believed what was right. She did not bravely give her life to defy one man’s wants; it just unfortunately came down to her having to do that. Antigone gave up â€Å"†¦bridal-song, the bridal-bed, denied all joy of marriage, raising children—deserted by loved ones, struck by fate†¦Ã¢â‚¬  just to give her brother, Polynices a proper burial. I think she clearly defines dying bravely. (Line 1009) In conclusion, the tragic hero in the play Antigone is herself, Antigone. Antigone shows how her character meets the requirements of Aristotle’s tragic hero, as well as, many other aspects that we find in a common hero. Antigone, from the beginning to the end of the play, lived and died for what she believed in.

'Leases' and its impact on the financial position and performance of Essay

'Leases' and its impact on the financial position and performance of companies - Essay Example Exposure Draft ED/2013/6 'Leases' and its impact on the financial position and performance of companies Financial accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has revised the Exposure Draft that outlined some proposed changes in the accounting rules for leases. The reason behind such a proposal is just to improve the comparability and quality of financial reporting, by increasing the transparency related to leverage. This signifies the use of assets in the organization in its day to day operations and the exposure to risk by entering into a lease contact. The Exposure Draft has proposed a dual approach through which identification, measurement and presentation of the cash flows and the expenses related to lease can be made. Apart from this, the board has proposed some disclosure that would facilitate the investors and other users of the financial information to understand the uncertainty of cash flow, amount and timing arising from leasing (IFRS Foundation, 2013a). This study focuses on the impact of new revised accounting standards that are fra med for leases, on the financial performance and position of the organization. Delta Airlines is a major airline, which is operating in America. It is headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia. It has an extensive network serving both domestic and international location in almost every continent except Antarctica. The organization along with its subsidiaries is operating with more than 5000 flights everyday and has approximate employee strength of about 80,000. Many of its aircrafts along with some ground facilities are taken on lease (Delta Air Lines, 2013; Delta Air Lines, Inc. 2013a). Thus, following section of the reports deals with how the revised accounting standard is going to affect the company. Lease Contacts by Delta Airlines Operating lease may act as an attractive option for the airlines industry as it increases the flexibility of the fleet, reduces the residual risk related to the aircraft for the aircraft industry and requires lower amount of capital commitment for the airline company. During the year 2012, Delta Air lines have entered into contact with T he Boeing Company and Southwest Airlines, to lease eighty eight B-717-200 aircraft. In the later part of 2012, these aircrafts were delivered. In the first fleet, 16 aircrafts were delivered and thirty six aircrafts will be delivered in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The B-717-200 aircraft that has been leased by the company will have advanced features like new and fully upgraded interiors, total seats of 110 that comprises of 15 Economy Comfort seat and 12 First Class seat, along with in-flight Wi-Fi (Delta Air Lines, Inc. 2013b). Thus, it can be expected to generate more income. Apart from this, most of the ground facilities of Delta are also on lease. Most of the lands and building that are occupied by the organization are on lease. The largest base for aircraft maintenance, principal offices, training facilities, kitchens, cargo and

Medical Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Medical Sociology - Essay Example Moreover, if they are practicing medicine while being drunk or under the influence of alcohol, the said practice will more likely endanger not only themselves but the patients and the people that they attend to. In this case, one might ask and wonder, "if the Doctors know the negative implications of alcoholism to one's health, why is it that some of them tend to become addicted to it" This kind of problem raised concerns and alarmed the bell with regards to the people who are being affected by these kinds of irregularities. There are cases and instances that their family (of Doctors who are under the influence of alcoholism), the patients and the people who are in need of their personal and medical attention are being affected by this kind of irregularity. In this case, such practitioners are being classified as a "group" with regards to their profession. In this regard, they are being classified as a group because they represent a certain portion of medical doctors and practitioners which are considered as the "Alcohol-dependent" ones. In this case, this kind of group creates a distinction to one's profession. Of course, one can never conclude that the entire practitioners do the same thing that is why they are considered as group. In dealing with this, obtaining a percentage from a group as a point of study is needed to further understand why such things happen and why such a phenomenon occurs. Of course, it is an established fact, that like anyone, medical practitioners are still human and still is susceptible to addiction. If there are individuals or medical practitioners who are being classified under the addiction of alcoholism, then they form a sociological distinction among their macro group as a whole. If they form a sociological distinction, then they have similarities with each other and in this case, the occurrence why su ch an addiction has started on their physiological and psychological system and why such addiction is still present do share common determinants. In dealing with this, it is very important to know the factors on why these kind of dependence occur. In order to be guided with this topic, mapping different situations, factors and other related elements are important in order to know and determine the factors and norms why a certain group has a smaller group which practices things that are in contrary to what they are advancing. In knowing and determining such things, dealing with different factors as a consideration is an important thing to do, in order to track down and determine the issues revolving alcoholism in medical practice. Among the controversial factors that are being considered by different experts is the theory of having this kind of problem in medical practice, according to some experts has something to do with genetics. In this case, if genetics has been the issue, then the main concern here is the genealogy of the individual is the reason why he experience such a thing and not because of the profession a certain individual is practicing. Goldman (1999) further added that "The genetic evidence base for alcohol policy includes the genetic epidemiology of this clinically-defined disorder as well as an emerging understanding of the role of specific genes and gene/environment interactions. Although alcoholism and alcohol use are

Sumary critique on Williams, J. (2006, Summer2006). Debt Education Assignment

Sumary critique on Williams, J. (2006, Summer2006). Debt Education. Dissent - Assignment Example With the high tuition, fees and interest rates on students’ loans, the author notes that higher education may soon be left to the rich (Williams 54). The author also notes that this debt should not only be treated as a way of financing the students but also as a form of teaching. From the lessons learnt from the student debt, the author proposes that the best way would be to do away with the current system of student debt and move to direct lending controlled by the federal government to colleges (Williams 53-59). The author clearly explains and shows the significance of debt to the students and their families. The author provides credible evidence to show how majority of American populace depend on the student debt to finance their higher education. Education is a necessity and it is for this reason that the author provides sufficient support to the point that people should not pay back for a necessity (William 57). The author also tries to show how student debt has immensely changed over the past decades. In addition, the author shows that the student debt serves more as a teaching mode than as a financing mode. It teaches us that higher education is a consumer service, teaches us career choices, comprehensive view of the world and human life, civic lessons, and the worth of an individual (Williams 56-58). With this, the author tries to answer to the question ‘why student debt should be scraped off and shift to federal government lending’. Moreover, the author has used signific ant terms such as draconian, pedagogy and worldview. However, though the author gives an outstanding proposal, he fails to understand and explain that financing of higher education by the federal government means an increase in taxes, which would be borne by the American Citizens. Increase in taxes would result to increased prices of items, and the poor would again be on the suffering end. In addition, the author fails to give support on why

Political Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Political Systems - Essay Example Political system of Libya In accordance with the article â€Å"Libya is Bigger for EU than for US† published by European Affairs on the official website of the European Institute, â€Å"the revolt in Libya differs radically from the recent regime changes in neighboring Egypt† (Libya). The author considers that Libya has the largest degree of violence and transatlantic challenges. The Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi is described as a ‘mad dog’, but still USA and EU have economic or business affairs with this country. If America tried to fight against Libyan repressive regime, EU has already established certain economic concerns. At first European countries and America neglected oppression of Libyans human rights, but currently the main political issues of cooperation with Libya are solved and the world’s society makes an attempt to pacify a bloodbath. Oppressions of Gaddafi and military forces directed on civilians are severely criticized in the modern world. Therefore it is relevant to establish a new regime in Libya and not to ‘squeeze’ current repressive process. ... Further on the article deals with considerations of potential risks for Europe and America. The main impact on Europe is seen in oil output of Libya and oil supply of the EU. Migration to European countries, especially to Italy is another challenge caused by current turmoil in Libya. Unlike Europe, America tries to pacify terroristic moods in this country and made an attempt to fight against it by military attacks in 1984. Thus the political leader of Libya is scared off by America, but Europe is on the starting point of conflicts with Libya. Consequently, on the background of challenging international relations with Libya, social turmoil is shown. Libyans do not want to be â€Å"rooted in tribalism which Gaddafi carefully preserved and nurtured as part of his technique of divide-and-rule in Libya† (Libya). Thus Libya is in a more unstable position than Egypt, where military force is the basic pillar of the country. Political system of Egypt In the article â€Å"Egypt and the   Middle East:  revolution  or evolution?† the political system of Egypt is also described on the background of current turmoil events. The repressive regime of Egypt made this nation to fight against repressive regime and to protest against ‘fake’ elections. Egyptian nation has been tired of oppression and tyranny. This revolt is a sign of nation’s evolution from scared off social subjects to individuals striving for independence and democracy. Egyptians want â€Å"freedom and justice for every Egyptian† (Egypt). The main emphasis in this article is made on a potential struggle of ME against high-speed development of China and India. The author suggests to make an attempt and to fight for developing of the country. Therefore there are

Is the War on Drugs Effective Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Is the War on Drugs Effective - Research Paper Example In the mid-eighties the social and economic costs of drug abuse became a major social welfare issue and precipitated an anti-drug social welfare policy (Mosher and Atkins 2007, p. 202). Acknowledging that there is a substantial link between drug abuse and deviant/criminal conduct and that drug rehabilitation services were not satisfactorily reducing drug abuse, the US government developed a policy characterized as a â€Å"war on drugs† in the 1980s (Ax and Fagan 2007, p. 338). The war of drugs is centered around a prohibitive policy which is reminiscent of previous anti-war policies but with increased emphasis on the interdiction of drugs at or destined for US borders. The US anti-drug policy targets production, consumption and distribution of illicit drugs with the aim of increasing the cost of drug production and use. The costs for both users and producers are economic and abstract in that the criminal justice system in involved (Harris, Tamas and Lind 2008, p. 118). Since the most implementation of the social welfare policy initiatives encapsulated under the declaration of war on drugs in the mid-eighties, the criminal justice system has played an increasingly significant role. Drug related arrests, sentencing and imprisonment have increased â€Å"substantially† (Mosher and Atkins 2007, p. 202). Despite â€Å"hundreds of billions of dollars† spent in the criminal justice system pursuant to these policies, there are serious doubts as to whether or not the policies falling under the war on drugs are effective. Mendoza (2010) reporting for the Associated Press notes that the war on drugs has cost the US â€Å"US$1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of live† and yet, â€Å"drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread†.

Unknown Citizen Essay Example for Free

Unknown Citizen Essay Social Security Number? Birthdate? Nine digit telephone number starting with area code? In many ways, we are simply numbers to modern society, not individuals with feelings and emotions and dreams. As the world around us evolves so does technology. With the fast paced advancements occurring in technology it seems that the humanity of the world is decreasing. This makes it harder for people to develop their own personal identity. In today’s society people are being seen more as â€Å"faceless† citizens rather than individuals. This is because they are given numbers and labeled based upon how society sees them. In â€Å"The Unknown Citizen†, W. H. Auden shows us how the government sees society as statistics rather than a group of individuals. The unknown citizen of Auden’s poem is unknown because his name has become unimportant. The subtitle â€Å"To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument is Erected by the State (Auden 864)† is a fictional concept that the government enforced by an alpha-numeric tag. This tag is used to distinguish who each person is. Throughout the poem the individual is being referred to as â€Å"JS/07/M/378†. The random letters and numbers followed by forward slashes are all representations of the government. Meaning each section of letters and numbers are representing something. â€Å"JS† could possibly be the first letters of his first and last name and â€Å"M† could represent his gender being male. However, the fact that his name is never mentioned and a marble statue was built in his honor in very ironic. Instead of writing his full name the government chose to use the name they had given to him. This automatically is seen as a form of dehumanizing. The statue can also be seen as a form of symbolism representing the chilling manner in which the government chose to honor this man. Auden gives the audience the perceptive that the government is honoring people who they never knew really existed while they were alive. Auden uses irony to describe how the unknown citizen was seen by the government. â€Å"He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be one against, who there was no official complaint, and all the reports on his conduct agree (Auden 864)†, is an ironic way to start off portraying him. The Bureau of Statistics is a fictional sector of the government that finds people and categorizes them based upon facts and figures. This suggests that tatistically speaking he would be considered normal. â€Å"That in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint for in everything he did he served the Greater Community (Auden 864)† is another perfect example of irony. A saint in an old-fashioned sense is someone who actually stands alone to defend their beliefs and often perish while trying to overcome those enormous challenges. This life is normally seen as an extraordinary one. A saint can also be used in reference when referring to religion. However, Auden suggests that the modern saint is the complete opposite. The unknown citizen lived a life in which he was not devoted to God but to a Greater Community. The government would be considered the Greater Community. It is almost like Auden gives the government godlike qualities because they believe everyone should follow what they say. He always acted in a manner that was expected or accepted by this society. Even though Auden sounds like he is praising all of the unknown citizen’s accomplishments he truly is not. He goes on to say â€Å"he was popular with his mate† and â€Å"he was fully sensible† to show how conformed he was to society. He also followed all rules passed by the state. The way he lived his life was considered normal. He brought a paper every day and reacted in the â€Å"normal† way expected. Advertisers benefited from this because they gained statistics of their own allowing them to help their business profit. He never got involved with his children’s education allowing the government to have more control over him. â€Å"When there was peace he was for peace; when there was war, he went (Auden 865)† suggests he had no mind of his own. This man never questioned anything himself but, instead followed everyone else. Not once did he take a second out to think about something on his own. If the government said it is right then he went along with it. â€Å"He worked in a factory and never got fired, but satisfied his employers Fudge Motors Inc. Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views for his Union reports that he paid his dues (Auden 864-865)† shows that his performance was based upon how his employer felt. Fudge Motors Inc. would be a parody for Ford Motors Inc. He basically dehumanized himself just so he could please the state. Auden intentionally wrote this poem in a very clinical way to make a point about how flawed the government is. Auden compares the Eugenics from the odern society to the Nazi’s in Germany. â€Å"He was married and added five children to the population which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation (Auden 865)† can be used as connection between the two. The Nazi’s were known mainly for trying to create the perfect society. From this it is possible that Auden could be suggesting that with conformity comes chaos. Auden wrote â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† during World War II leaving the perception that maybe he wrote it about an unknown citizen who served in the war and warning the soldiers to question the government who are sending them out to fight. He points out that the government judge people based off of reports and documents and what they considered to be right. The title suggests he is talking about one person when in reality he is talking about society as a whole and how the government saw it. We as people see the government as leaders who represent and enforce our values while we are considered to be just another number. Lastly an unknown citizen falls prey to government control. The government itself is the speaker in Auden’s poem. This is why Auden uses plurals like ours. In the eyes of the state, the man they considered a saint was the governments idea of the perfect man. The government does not truly care about him just the fact that he does what he is told. Words such as Greater Community, Installment Plan, Modern Man, and Public Opinion are capitalized to show the emphasis that the government puts on these concepts. Everything about his life is closely monitored, even his private life. The fact that the government knows things like he likes to drink helps support that. Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard (Auden 864) suggests that the government does not care about people’s happiness or freedom. It is human nature for a person to want to belong and be part of something. Even though the poem was written over sixty five years ago it does have some truth. As technology becomes better, faster and accurate we are becoming more of a statistic and less human. Yet in a society that dehumanizes us, we still want to be a part of it. No one wants to be considered as an outcast or looked down upon for being different.

Strategic alliances to gain global integration

Strategic alliances to gain global integration Introduction Multinational companies (MNCs) are defined as a firms with strong tangible and intangible assets, thus the capability to expand their business worldwide, with global diffusion as an important resource for competitive advantage (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1998). In the stage of going global, most companies have to deal with the pressures of both global integration and/or local responsiveness, and some choose to form a strategic alliance with a partner to achieve global integration and/or local responsiveness more easily. Global integration and Local responsiveness Global Integration Global integration pressures are the forces that make MNCs exploit worldwide resources and integrate their activities on a global basis to realize economies of scale and achieve cost reduction. Bartlett and Ghoshal (1998) summarize that the motivation of Global Integration is the need of efficiency. More specifically, the developments of advanced technologies allow companies to expand manufacture globally and achieve economies of scale, resulting in the more standardized products. Moreover, the tastes of consumers have become homogeneous worldwide. Besides, MNCs tend to have global chess strategy, using the profit generated in one market to fund operations in another. Local Responsiveness In contrast, local responsiveness requires MNCs to make strategic decisions based on local context (Roth and Morrison, 1990). According to Bartlett and Ghoshal (1998) the drivers for local responsiveness are (i) the differences in consumer tastes in different countries; (ii) the typical characteristics of the product system in host countries; (iii) the administrative costs of coordinating manufacture on a global basis; (iv) the improvements in technologies enable companies to disperse manufacture to smaller local plants with low cost; (v) the trade and legislative barriers set by local Governments. Similarly, Hill (2001) discusses that the main pressures for local responsiveness are the differences in consumer tastes and preferences; differences in infrastructure and traditional practices; in distribution channels; and host government demands. Such pressures for local responsiveness urge multinational firms to adjust their products and services to better meet the demand of indigenous people. The Integration Responsiveness Framework The I-R framework, which is initially rationalized by Lawrence and Lorsch (1967) and later developed by Doz (1980), provides an insight into how MNCs compete internationally (Johnson and Julius, 1995). Bartlett and Ghoshal (1998), Spender and Grevesen (1999) mention the I-R framework to explain different ways MNCs respond to global integration and local responsiveness based on their strategy. As in Figure 1 below, MNCs pursuing a global strategy often emphasize on global integration and coordination. In contrast, multidomestic companies (called as multinational companies in Bartlett and Ghoshal model), with most pressures coming from customizing operation towards local context, focus on local responsiveness. International companies have an emphasis in knowledge transfer, because most of value they create is from transferring valuable resources to foreign markets. For transnational companies, facing equal pressures from both integration and responsiveness, they adopt a multifocal stra tegy aiming to achieve both cost efficiency and responsiveness. However the study of Bartlett and Ghoshal (1998) was restrained at internal organizational issues. Figure 1: How MNCs respond to Global integration, Local responsiveness and Worldwide learning based on their strategy (Bartlett and Goshal, 1998) Strategic Alliances There have been several researches on strategic alliances. Holmberg and Cummings (2009) contend that strategic alliances are becoming more and more important to every company in its strategic effort to maintain competitive advantages in the global marketplace. Strategic alliances are links between two or more companies to mutually carry out a specific project by coordinating necessary resources while still preserving their autonomy (Dussauge and Garette, 1999). Wheelen and Hunger (2000, p. 125) define a strategic alliance as a partnership between two or more companies to achieve strategically important targets that are mutually beneficial. According to Elmuti and Kathawala (2001), there are four main motivations for forming strategic alliances: (i) the growth strategies of parent companies to enter to a new market; (ii) the procurement of new technology or best quality or cheapest cost; (iii) the mitigation of financial risks; and (iv) the maintenance of competitive advantage for enterprises. Nowadays in a dynamic global environment, the role of strategic alliances is even more critical to the performance of a multinational company. Robson and Dunk (1999) have generalized the three main stages to develop an alliance including: Partner selection, Venture design and Venture management. The three key stages defined are similar to those by Hill (2001). Some typical features of strategic alliances are that their operations are subject to multiple decision making, continuous bargaining and conflicts of interests (Dussauge and Garette, 1999). Therefore it is not easy to successfully manage an alliance. Bleeke and Ernst (1993) find that among 49 alliances in their research, about 67% confront troubles within the first two years. Holmberg and Cummings (2009) give examples of failed strategic alliances, mostly due to lack of rigorousness in partner selection process. It is important to know if the way alliances can create value for the firm is appropriate to the parent firms strategy. So the first thing MNCs managers should consider from partner selection stage is to identify and verify that the way strategic alliances help to expand business is in line with the overall international operation strategy of parent firms. In this paper, the ways strategic alliances help multinational companies to achieve global integration and/or local responsiveness will be examined to assess their importance to the partner companies in relation to the partner companies strategy. Evaluating the ways strategic alliances allow multinational companies to achieve Global integration and Local responsiveness. There have been approaches to classify the ways that a strategic alliance cooperates to expand the business of parent companies. For example, Todeva and Knoke (2005) have listed 18 typical ways that strategic alliances can support multinational companies. This paper will approach the classification of Dussauge and Bernard (1999) because the systematized typology helps to provide a more comprehensive understanding on how strategic alliances allow MNCs to achieve integration and responsiveness. Alliances between non-competing companies International expansion joint ventures International expansion joint ventures (JVs) are established with a foreign partner aiming to penetrate into a new geographic market. One partner (the MNC) often seeks for market penetration, while the other (the local partner) has wide knowledge on local market thus can provide more easy market access. For example, in 1998, Yamaha Motor, the premier Japanese motorcycle manufacturer, together with Vietnam Forest Corporation, a state-owned corporation in forestry and Hong Leong Industries from Malaysia established a joint venture named Yamaha Motor Vietnam Ltd., providing motor cycles in Vietnam market (Yamaha Motor). The state-owned corporation has understanding about the market as well as necessary relations to the authority, combined with the expertise in manufacturing of Yamaha Motor, created a viable basis for the JV to thrive in Vietnam. This model is beneficial for both local government and the foreign MNC. For local government, equity sharing in JVs makes the MNCs more responsible and interested in the success of the JV. For the MNC, the local partner may provide the privilege access and political connections supporting effective market penetration. However this type of JV may result in the conflicts of benefits between the MNC and local partner. In many cases the JV is only one part of the total network of the MNC, so the MNC may have detrimental decision to the JVs performance. International expansion JV is rarely the first choice of MNCs managers since they prefer wholly owned subsidiary. However it is still common practice for MNCs when shifting business beyond borders (Dussauge and Bernard, 1999). International expansion JVs are common for MNCs facing great local responsiveness pressure (i.e. multidomestic and transnational companies), because it seeks solutions to overcome the legislative barrier and complexities of local market. In other words, it helps the MNCs to tailor their operation to fit local context. Vertical partnerships Vertical partnerships bring about cooperation opportunities for two companies at different successive stages of the production process. Normally, one partner may become a supplier or customer of the other. For example, Heinz, a global US food company is the supplier of many food products for ASDA in UK. That enables ASDA to fully deploy the resources of Heinz. However there are also shortcomings in this model. Since there is no bidding process, the opportunities to find the most cost-effective supplier are limited. As a result, the buyer tends to become dependent on the supplier. Although this model delivers mutual understanding, there are still potential conflicts of benefits (Dussauge and Bernard, 1999). Vertical partnerships relate to a strategic issue that MNC managers often deal with to increase efficiency: make or buy, or cooperate decision. MNCs choose to outsource when the cost to produce by their own is higher than the cost to outsource to a strategic partner. Consequently vertical partnerships are often exploited by MNCs facing high pressures from cost reduction (global and transnational companies). That model may help the MNC to maximize economies of scale and achieve global integration. Cross-industry agreements Cross-industry agreements are cooperation between two companies in different industries with a view to create a brand new business to diversify their operation, by taking advantage of the partners resources. For example, in 2001, Sony Corporation a Japanese electric equipment producer, and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson a provider of telecommunication equipment and services from Sweden established a 50:50 joint venture, Sony Ericsson. The JV has become a world-class mobile-phone manufacturer (Sony Ericsson). Nonetheless the drawback of cross-industry agreements is that they often post small profit margin, because most of the cases, the level of convergence of the two initial businesses is more moderate than expected. Besides, this model requires a high level of compatibility of the resources contributed by the two parties; and the new business developed must have a clear marketing strategy to become successful. Lastly, successful alliances can impose threats of new competitors if one ally obtains key skills/resources of the other (Dussauge and Bernard, 1999). Based on above characteristics, it can be inferred that cross-industry agreements support MNC to achieve global integration while looking for combining abroad complementary resources to reduce cost of the new business. It is also discussed that cross-industry agreements help to achieve local responsiveness, in case a MNC cooperates with a local company to introduce a brand new products to that specific local market. Alliances between competitors Shared-supply alliances Shared-supply alliances are the form of JV cooperation between competitors sharing similar resources to produce a certain product that is specific to each partner. Shared-supply alliances allow the partners to realize economies of scale, since they will not be able to reach an efficient scale if they produce individually. For example, BMW teamed up with Mercedes to produce a design of a front-wheel-drive-car. The new shared platform allowed BMW to expand the Mini range model more flexibly, while providing Mercedes more conventional and cost-effective measures to launch a substitution for the A- and B-class designs (Autocar, 2007). It is argued that shared-supply alliance is not the only choice for MNC managers, because the target of cost reduction can be solved by traditional method of outsourcing. Firms should only opt for shared-supply alliances once they have other strategic targets other than cost reduction. Moreover, cooperating with competitors to produce similar components may lead undifferentiated products and loosing competitive advantage. Besides, the budget for shared-supply alliances may limit other budgets for necessary activities in the MNCs thus hinder further improvements (Dussauge and Bernard, 1999). Shared-supply alliances can be suitable for MNCs suffering from cost pressure (global and transnational companies). However MNCs should consider carefully before establishing shared-supply alliances because of the potential conflicts. MNCs should consider other strategic benefits other than sole cost efficiency, e.g. exploiting the partners manufacturing experience in local countries. Consequently this model, in case prudently chosen after considering all pros and cons, may be a good choice for transnational companies who have to balance integration and responsiveness. Quasi-concentration alliances This type of alliance allows two competitors to manufacture and market a common product. The partners objective is to realize economies of scale on the product, while their autonomy is still preserved, since the risk of acquisition is avoided. Quasi-concentration alliance is most common in airline industry, e.g. the cooperation between Sud-Aviation in France and British Aircraft Corporation in the UK to form Concorde in 1962 (Heritage Concorde). The advantage of this model is that the partners will not have to compete against each other on that common product. However, Quasi-concentration model may result in the competition between the common product and partner companies products. Additionally, the model may cause the risks of leaking the core technologies to the competitors. Lastly, in case the partners decide to establish a JV to coordinate all the functions of the alliance, there is a risk of losing control over the JV and converting the parent companies in to mere shareholders (Dussauge and Bernard, 1999). Quasi-concentration alliances, with its initial objective of cost reduction, are appropriate for achieving global integration, hence global and/or multinational companies. Complementary alliances In this case the alliance allows partner companies to contribute different assets and resources to executing the cooperative project. For example a firm distributes a rivals product in domestic market. FPT, one of the largest information technology companies in Vietnam went into partnership with Dell to distribute Dells computers and other products in Vietnam market (FPT, 2008). FPT looks for Dells expertise in computer production, while Dell needs FPTs knowledge on local market and distribution network. The advantage of the model is that complementary alliances avoid direct competition between rivals. The alliance also brings about the opportunity to acquire new skills from the partner. However the potential competition between allies does not totally disappear (Dussauge and Bernard, 1999). Complementary alliances may help the partner to achieve local responsiveness because normally the local partner provides the knowledge on how to market the product in local marketplace. However in highly competitive industries, such alliances enable the MNC to focus in its core profession, rather than setting budget for establishing a local distribution network. From that perspective, complementary alliances are also good for global integration. Implications for MNCs For MNCs pursuing a global strategy, the partners in the alliance tend to be highly integrated to the network and operation of the MNCs. The partners are meant to conduct the chosen global strategy of the MNCs (Vapola et al., 2010). From the analysis above it can be inferred that global companies may deploy vertical partnership and quasi-concentration alliances. Multidomestic companies often prefer to have diversified partners, of which each of them is best suited to a particular function in a specific location. In an effort to customize their products towards local demands, multidomestic companies often differentiate their operations in each footprint countries by selecting the most compatible model and partner to form alliance in that nation. Therefore international expansion JVs and complementary alliances are most suitable models for a multidomestic partner. For transnational companies, the alliances are diversified with differentiated contributions, from sensing and exploiting opportunities from local level, to occupying certain roles in the exploitation of the value chain. Each of these partners may possess different partnership needs. So MNC should utilize different types of alliances simultaneously after considering all advantages and disadvantages (Vapola et al., 2010). In the case of international companies, the key issue is knowledge transfer with partners. The MNCs will success if they can transfer their key competencies and knowledge to foreign markets, especially tacit knowledge which is more difficult to codify and transfer than explicit knowledge. On the other hand, this may lead to a conflict with the need for confidentiality of information. Therefore based on their detailed strategy, international companies can consider any suitable type of alliance, but should be extremely prudent with cross-industry agreements and quasi-concentration alliance, since those types of alliances may lead to serious conflicts in knowledge transfer. Another content common to all types of alliances, is the control problem. Control is a critical issue especially in groups of alliances between competitors, since these groups of partner are more sensitive to conflict. In order to successfully manage an alliance, MNCs should focus on control, combining effectively all level of control from personal centralised control, bureaucratic formalised control, output control, to control by socialisation. Those measures are to assure the alliance operates in line with the MNCs original strategy. The cost of control may be high especially for transnational companies who have to deal with all kinds of alliances to achieve both integration and responsiveness. So transnational companies should be prudent in applying control policy with alliance, to avoid the risk that an increase in cost of control could erode profit. Conclusion There is a trend that MNCs are facing increasing pressures from both global integration and local responsiveness equally. No MNC pursuing pure integration or pure responsiveness strategy can become totally successful in the global arena. As a result, achieving the balance between global efficiency and local responsiveness has become an essential issue with most MNCs (Paik and Sohn, 2004), (Girod et al., 2010). Bartlett and Ghoshal (1998) assert that companies must become more globally competitive and, at the same time, more sensitive and responsive to national conditions. MNCs should flexibly choose the way to cooperate with strategic alliance on a case-by-case basis to achieve their specific target for a specific market. From the analysis above we can see that each way of cooperation in alliance has its own advantages and disadvantages. There is neither best model of strategic alliance nor idealistic coordination that leads to optimal performance for all MNCs. Each MNC, based on its own strategy, needs to consider all pros and cons of possible types of strategic alliance before making alliance decision, in order to achieve global integration and/or local responsiveness hence their business plan and strategy. In other words, companies should be clear about why they are entering the alliance and what they expect to gain from it. They also need to understand how it fits into their business plan. (Elmuti and Kathawala, 2001). BIBLIOGRAPHY Autocar (2007) BMW and Mercedes team up to think small. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25th March 2011] Bartlett, C. A. Ghoshal, S. (1998) Managing across borders the transnational solution. 2nd ed. Boston: Havard Business School Press. Bleeke, J. Ernst, D. (1993) Collaborating to compete using strategic alliances and acquisitions in the global marketplace. New York: John Wiley. Doz, Y. L. (1980) Strategic management in multinational companies. Sloan Management Review (pre-1986),21, (2) pp. 27 46. Dussauge, P. Garrette, B. (1999) Cooperative strategy Competing successfully through strategic alliances. Chichester: John Wiley. Elmuti, D., Kathawala, Y. (2001) An overview of strategic alliances. Management Decision, 39, (3) pp. 205 218. FPT (2008) FPT Distribution Dells authorized reseller in Vietnam [online] Available at: [Accessed 25th March 2011] Girod, S., Bellin, J. B. Ranjan, K. S. (2010) Operating models for a multipolar world: balancing global integration and local responsiveness. Journal of Business Strategy, 31, (6) pp. 22 27. Harzing, A. W. (2000) An empirical analysis and extension of the Bartlett and Ghoshal typology of multinational companies. Journal of International Business Studies, 31, (1) pp. 101 120. Heritage Concorde. 1962 Concorde Treaty. Anglo French Agreement. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25th March 2011] Hill, C. W. L. (2001) International Business Competing in the global marketplace. 3rd ed. New York: Irwin McGraw-Hill. Holmberg, S. R. Cummings, J. L. (2009) Building Successful Strategic Alliances: Strategic Process and Analytical Tool for Selecting Partner Industries and Firms. Long Range Planning, 42, (2) pp. 164 193. Johnson, Jr. Julius, H. (1995) An Empirical Analysis of the Integration-Responsiveness Framework: U.S. Construction Equipment Industry Firms in Global Competition. Journal of International Business Studies, 26, (3) pp. 621 635. Lawrence, P. R. Lorsch, J. W. (1967) Organization and environment: managing differentiation and integration. Boston: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University. Paik, Y. Sohn, J. H. D. (2004) Striking a balance between global integration and local responsiveness: the case of Toshiba Corporation in redefining regional headquarters role. Organizational Analysis; 12, (4) pp. 347 359. Robson, M. J. Dunk, M. A. J. (1999). Developing a pan-European co-marketing alliance: the case of BP-Mobil. International Marketing Review, 16, (3) pp. 216 230. Roth, K. Morrison, A. J. (1990) An empirical analysis of the integration-responsiveness framework in global industries. Journal of International Business Studies, 21, (4) pp. 541 564. Sony Ericsson. Mission and Profile. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25th March 2011] Spender, J. C. Grevesen, W. (1999) The multinational enterprise as a loosely coupled system: the global integration local responsiveness dilemma. Managerial Finance, 25, (2) pp. 63 84. Todeva, E., Knoke, D. (2005) Strategic alliances and models of collaboration. Management Decision, 43, (1), pp. 123 148. Vapola, T. J., Paukku, M. Gabrielsson, M. (2010) Portfolio management of strategic alliances: An international business perspective. International Business Review, 19, (3) pp. 247 260. Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D. (2000) Strategic management and business policy: entering 21st century global society. 7th ed. London: Prentice Hall. Yamaha Motor Japan. Asia and Oceania group companies [online] Available at: [Accessed 25th March 2011] PART 2: REFLECTION Word count: 1,431 words Description The International Business Strategy module is contained in the MSc Accounting (Financial services) course which I am attending. The module provides an insight into the strategies of multinational companies (MNC) i.e. international strategy, global strategy, multidomestic strategy and transnational strategy. Based on that basic knowledge, implications for organizational structure, control, knowledge transfer, modes of entry, strategic alliances and internationalization of SMEs are introduced. General evaluation The module has provided me knowledge that is both old and new to me. From undergraduate program in my home country I have studied about globalization, key drivers and how globalization affects international trade. However in this module I found more insights into how globalization affects the formation and development of multinational companies. The theories are really necessary and helpful to understand the real business world, and the way multinational companies are actually formed, structured, managed and developed. The knowledge on globalization and MNCs are systematized and in line with current academic and empirical understanding about international business. However, I believe the knowledge would be absorbed more quickly if more methods of studying are combined, for example group presentations or debates. Analysis I chose to write my assignment with topic 1: Evaluate the ways strategic alliances allow multinational company to achieve global integration and local responsiveness, since I realize this is the increasing trend in international cooperation. I have found a lot of academic literature on the field that I chose. There are a lot of useful information about strategies, Integration Responsiveness framework and strategic alliances. Among those academic literatures, I found the book by Hill (2001) International business Competing on the global marketplace very useful for understanding about the strategy typology of multinational companies. Although prior to Hill (2001) there have been several relevant researches on multinational companies strategy typology, the book still provides comprehensive and detailed description about the four type of strategies adopted by multinational companies, the stages to establish a strategic alliance, and the pros and cons of each strategy. I continued to read about Integration Responsiveness Framework and found the work of Roth and Morrison (1990) helpful to understand about the key concepts of I R Framework, the relationships with strategies and limitations of I R framework. The illustrations and explanation of Bartlett and Goshal (1998) are also fundamental to explain the relationships between I -R Framework and strategies. Although I did not use all the information I read for my assignments due to irrelevance, those are what I am going to bear in mind about the I R Framework in the time to come. For strategic alliances, the book by Dussauge and Garrette (1999) is very useful for the typology of strategic alliances and the advantages/disadvantages of each type of alliance. I made much reference to that book in my assignments due to the systematized typology of alliance and the in-depth analysis the book provides. Besides, the journal of Vapola et al. (2010) gives a systematic approach to analyze portfolio management of strategic alliances based on multinational companies strategy, which I find very useful and made citations in my work. Besides, I also study about other significant issues relating to multinational companies i.e. the structure of international business, control, knowledge transfer, modes of entry and the internationalization of SMEs. I did read a number of books and journals and managed to link relevant contents together. I have also made some inference to other fields of multinational companies like control and knowledge transfer, to have a more objective and broad view of the role of strategic alliances. However I think the links to control and knowledge transfer are not salient in this assignment, because of time and length constraint and especially the fear of deviating from the main topic. Conclusion Theories about I R Framework and its relation to the four strategies of multinational companies are very pragmatic and useful to understand the actual pressures faced by most multinational companies in the global marketplace. Those theories also provide a rationale of how multinational companies respond to global integration and local responsiveness, which helps me to perceive the business world in a more practical and systematic way. Theories about strategic alliances allow me to understand the most common ways that strategic alliances support the partners to achieve their strategic targets. There are 6 typical ways namely international expansion joint ventures, vertical partnerships, cross industry agreements, shared supply alliances, quasi concentration alliances and complementary alliances. I also understand the pros and cons of each type of alliances. I am now able to explain why a multinational company choose to cooperate with non-competitors or competitors, based on their strategy and nature of business. Implications for other concepts i.e. control and knowledge transfer are also inferred in the assignment, therefore a more objective view of MNC operation and its strategic alliances is provided. What has been drawn out from the assignment is that each multinational company, before deciding to cooperate in a strategic alliance, should consider all possible proposals, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal to judge if the type of alliance helps them achieve global integration and/or local responsiveness in the most effective way. From my perspective, I realize some kinds of strategic alliances are extremely common between developed and developing countries e.g. international expansion joint ventures or complementary alliances. Such knowledge may be useful when I come back to Vietnam and continue my job at an investment bank facilitating international trade and investments. It will be easier for me to fully understand the nature of transactions of MNC customers. I may work out the best solution to serve financial needs for MNC customers. For example, for some important MNC customers, I may propose to apply a more flexible cut-off time for their transactions, because their transactions are, by nature, often between nations in different time zones. Moreover, I may propose to apply a more competitive pricing for transactions between multinational companies and their alliances and/or subsidiaries. The reason is that when two partners contribute resources to a certain alliance project, the transactions for material purchasing, infrastructure costs, personnel mobilization tend to be frequent and of large amount, at least in the short term, which can deliver relatively high non-interest income for the bank. Besides, the business consultant services for institutional customers could be improved when the bank understand the needs of a MNC customer coming into a new developing market and seeking for a potential partner to set up a strategic alliance. The most important learning technique I studied is how to link together different fields of knowledge, in the case of th

History of Network Interface Cards

History of Network Interface Cards Introduction Ethernet is a standard that enable two or more computer to share information and communicate. Ethernet network, also known as local area network (LAN), connects computers which can transfer data at the speed of 10Mbps or more. Since its invention, Ethernet standard has evolved a lot. Improved media access control methods, alternate physical medium and higher bandwidth are some of examples of evolution. This paper describes the network hardware which is used for establishing Ethernet connection. The pricing of the hardware is reducing day by day and they are very easy to maintain. Network interface cards (NIC) Most PC motherboard manufacturers offer a built-in Network Interface Card (NIC), also known as Ethernet Card, as Ethernet is now omnipresent and the twisted pair Ethernet requires small panel space. However, if a computer doesnt have NIC, it requires installation of a separate network card; CPU of the computer cannot process information at network speed. NIC is a kind of network adapter. It supports the Ethernet standard for high-speed network connections via cables; a connector in conjunction with NIC accepts cable to physical network. NIC come programmed with a globally unique 48-bit address, identified as MAC address of the machine. In the IEEE 802 LAN, the MAC addresses are used to identify both the source and the destination of each data packet. Generally, NICs do not accept packets addressed to other machines. NIC cards have evolved over the years; however, its different forms are used even today in older computers and these types of cards are available in market yet. Large ISA cards were the foremost standard for PCs and their installation required opening computer case. Modern Ethernet cards use the  PCI  standard and are usually installed inside the computer by the manufacturer. For laptop and mobile computers, smaller  PCMCIA  Ethernet cards that resemble credit cards are available. External USB Ethernet adapters are also available and they look like small boxes instead of cards. They are mostly used with video game consoles and as alternative to PCI cards. Transceiver: Ethernet interface can be either with 10BaseT or AAUI (Apple Attachment Unit Interface) connectors, in case of MAC computer. If there is AAUI port, then there is need to have a transceiver, actually AAUI-10BaseT transceiver. The transceiver has an AAUI cable at one end and 10BaseT connector jack at the other end. Cables Ethernet cables consists cable of at least Category 5 (Cat. 5) and 8P8C (often recognized as RJ45) connectors. This type of cables is used to connect all computers with Ethernet interface with 10BaseT connectors. CAT 5 UTP wire is required for basic 10/100 Mbps speed, whereas Cat 5e supports gigabit (1000BaseT) operation. Category 5 is the most popular of all twisted pair cables employed today and is the fifth generation of twisted pair Ethernet technology. Either Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) or STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) cable can be used; later is used for extra resistance to external interference. Twisted Pair cable comes mainly in two varieties, solid and stranded. Stranded cables are better applicable in short-distance usage and patch applications for desktop use. They are more pliable and resilient than solid one. Solid Ethernet cable is used in longer length runs and in fixed wirings such as office building. Newer cable technologies like CAT6 and CAT7 are in development. Tho ugh Cat 6 or higher offers future proofing measure, CAT5 / CAT5e Ethernet cable stays the popular choice for most wired  local area networks (LANs) as it gives enough speed and is affordable. Due to their physical resemblance, the 8P8C modular connectors are often called RJ45. It looks like a large phone plug with an 8-position modular connector. These connectors come in a few variations; the primary variation is based on whether the connector is meant for solid or stranded wire. Hubs More than two computers in the LAN cannot be easily connected without using hub. Hub is a small, inexpensive and passive device that connects all devices and allows only one device on the network to talk at a time. To connect the computers to Ethernet hub, an Ethernet cable is first connected into hub and then other end is connected to each computers NIC. RJ-45 connectors are accepted by all Ethernet hubs. All devices must be running at the same speed on a hub. Ethernet Hubs vary depending on the speed they support. Earlier, hubs supported just 10 Mbps speed whereas today, hubs supporting 100 Mbps speed are easily available. Some also support dual speeds i.e. 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps. The number of ports supported by hub also varies. Hubs supporting 4-5 ports (for home usage) to 16 ports (for small office usage) are available. In order to increase the network to incorporate more devices, Ethernet hubs can also be connected to each other, to  routers or switches. Bridge   A  bridge  is a hardware device which filters data traffic at a network boundary. Bridges divide the traffic on a LAN in two segments and thus reduce the amount of traffic. This device functions at the layer 2 of the OSI model data link layer. Bridge scrutinizes incoming traffic and takes decision whether to discard or forward it. For example, an Ethernet bridge looks thoroughly each incoming Ethernet frame for its destination and source MAC addresses, and sometimes the frame size and accordingly makes independent forwarding decisions. In fact, Bridges serve a similar function as switches; both operate at Layer 2. Conventional bridges support one network boundary, whereas switches generally offer four or more hardware ports. Switch Like hub, switch also allows to connect multiple computers within a LAN. However, it operates at Data Link layer and permits multiple devices to talk at the same time. Switch can perform automatic speed conversations. Switch has more intelligence than a hub. Switches can inspect data packets as they are obtained, decide the destination and source device for each packet and forward them accordingly. A network switch gives better performance than hub as it preserves network bandwidth  by delivering messages only to the device intended. Traditional Ethernet switches support either 10/100  Mbps  speed or  Gigabit Ethernet  (10/100/1000) standards. There are various models of network switches which support varying number of connected devices; generally most of network switches offer either four or eight connections for Ethernet devices. To add increasingly larger number of devices to a LAN, switches can be connected to each other this approach is also called daisy chaining  method. Router Router is a physical device that connects multiple networks together. They look just like hubs and switches, small, box-type piece of equipment which numerous computers can connect to. However, compared to switch or hub, a router is far more sophisticated network device. Conventional routers are designed to connect multiple area networks such as WANs and LANs. For example, on a large corporate network or on the Internet, routers work as midway destinations for network traffic. They receive TCP/IP packets, look into each packet to recognize the source and destination IP addresses and then forward these packets as needed to make sure the data attains its final target. Technically, a router works at the layer 3 of the OSI model, network layer and works as a gateway. Home networkers often use an Internet Protocol (IP) router as IP is the widest employed OSI network layer protocol. An IP router, like a cable modem router or DSL, connects the homes LAN with the WAN of the Internet.

The Computer Evolution :: Essays Papers

The Computer Evolution "Who controls the past commands the future. Who commands the future conquers the past." -George Orwell The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about. The fist computer, known as the abacus, was made of wood and parallel wires on which beads were strung. Arithmetic operations were performed when the beads were moved along the wire according to â€Å"programming† rules that had to be memorized by the user (Soma, 14). The second earliest computer, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1694, was a â€Å"digital calculating machine.† Pascal designed this first known digital computer to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal’s computer could only add numbers, and they had to be entered by turning dials (Soma, 32). It required a manual process like its ancestor, the abacus. Automation was introduced in the early 1800’s by a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage. He created an automatic calculation machine that was steam powered and stored up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Unlike its two earliest ancestors, Babbage’s invention was able to perform various operations. It relied on cards with hole s punched in them, which are called â€Å"punch cards.† These cards carried out the programming and storing operations for the machine. Unluckily, Babbage’s creation flopped due to the lack of mechanical precision and the lack of demand for the product (Soma, 46). The machine could not operate efficiently because technology was t adequate to make the machine operate efficiently Computer interest dwindled for many years, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that people became interested in them once again. Between 1850 and 1900, the mathematics and physics fields began advancing. The advancements involved extremely arduous calculations and formulas that took a great deal of time when done manually. The Computer Evolution :: Essays Papers The Computer Evolution "Who controls the past commands the future. Who commands the future conquers the past." -George Orwell The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about. The fist computer, known as the abacus, was made of wood and parallel wires on which beads were strung. Arithmetic operations were performed when the beads were moved along the wire according to â€Å"programming† rules that had to be memorized by the user (Soma, 14). The second earliest computer, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1694, was a â€Å"digital calculating machine.† Pascal designed this first known digital computer to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal’s computer could only add numbers, and they had to be entered by turning dials (Soma, 32). It required a manual process like its ancestor, the abacus. Automation was introduced in the early 1800’s by a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage. He created an automatic calculation machine that was steam powered and stored up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Unlike its two earliest ancestors, Babbage’s invention was able to perform various operations. It relied on cards with hole s punched in them, which are called â€Å"punch cards.† These cards carried out the programming and storing operations for the machine. Unluckily, Babbage’s creation flopped due to the lack of mechanical precision and the lack of demand for the product (Soma, 46). The machine could not operate efficiently because technology was t adequate to make the machine operate efficiently Computer interest dwindled for many years, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that people became interested in them once again. Between 1850 and 1900, the mathematics and physics fields began advancing. The advancements involved extremely arduous calculations and formulas that took a great deal of time when done manually.

Computer Crime :: essays research papers

Computer technology has brought us into an era that is no longer run by man but instead is dependent on computers due to their incredible capabilities. Mankind has progressed further in the last fifty years than any other period of history. This reason is due to the introduction of computers. Everyone’s daily activities are affected, in some way or the other by computers. With the computer things that were impossible have now been easily accomplished. The computer allows us to store large volumes of data into a much more reduced high-density form. This allows a lot less space to be used than the classic way of paper files. It has allowed an increase in speed which improves the production of business or any other activity you may be doing. Calculations can be done in milliseconds and even worldwide connectivity and communication. With the introduction of the computer a new form of crime was born. These crimes referred to as computer crimes are varied and some are a lot more serious than others. Computer crime can involve criminal activities such as theft, fraud, forgery and mischief, all which are easily defined and subject to criminal sanctions. The computer has also brought along with it a host of potentially new misuses or abuses that may, or should be criminal as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The problem with today’s computer crimes are that the criminal justice systems have not been able to keep up with the technological change. Only a few countries have adequate laws to address the problem, and of these, not one has addressed all the legal, enforcement and prevention problems. The problem with the legal system is that it has always been a system with limits. The system mainly deals with physical items as its central core. But with the new understanding of the value of data, the system came up with “intellectual property'; as a means to cover these intangibles. Some people want to use this information in ways which would horrify us. We have called don the legal system to settle the matter but no one really knows what the rules are. Technology is growing much to fast for the legal system to keep pace with. In an effort to manage these crimes federal and state governments have passed laws criminalizing “unauthorized access'; and data transmission. Many groups have called for laws, regulations, and constitutions to regulate the electronic field. These efforts are ineffective.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a huge confusion on the value of data and information.

Examining Disadvantages of U.S. High School System Essay

In light of a lot of controversial issues over education matters, different people take different sides and give out individual opinions. There is a common belief that good education would provide a country with a lot of benefits such as more promising economic growth and higher living standards. As the global economic recession is taken more seriously, more and more people are now turning their attention to education in America, the most powerful country in the world, asking whether it will be still up to its name in the future and what kind of improvement to education can make contribution to the social economy. In addition, media also gives data on America’s stagnant education outcome. In a study released in September 2009, what stands out is that U.S. students scored the lowest in Math and Science, with a Math result â€Å"in the bottom quarter of all the countries that participated, including Finland, China and Estonia†(Lattimore). As well, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan claimed that students are going to struggle in the global market competition without intellectual growth. Thus, education issues become outstanding among all the challenges people are going to meet in the recent future. Since secondary education plays a fundamental and transitional role in one’s whole education journey, here are examinations of important factors in the current U.S. public high school system that cause its education quality to decline. Students are not being helped by tests because standards are not rigorous in American high schools. According to Dr. Kristy Vernille, an expert in Mathematics Curriculum and Instruction, American students usually move from grade to grade easily and â€Å"without having to demonstrate competency in any subject matter†, as a result of the loose and vague test standards in America (Vernille 5). Although American students are often asked to take a lot of standardized tests, based on the American Federation of Teachers, the tests results of students usually do not influence their progress through the system. Furthermore, state and commercial tests have lower degree of difficulty and focus on less-advanced problem solving than the international tests; at the same time, international tests include more open-response items (in which students have to show how they solve the problems), whereas â€Å"the United States tests are predominantly multiple-choice items with little intellectual demand associated with determining the answer† (AFT 15). Under these circumstances, U.S. students are not motivated for further study or higher academic accomplishment, resulting in their lower competency than their international peers. However, establishing more rigorous test standards in the U.S. public school system will improve American students’ academic performance. To demonstrate, in China, there is a highly standardized test named â€Å"the National College Entrance Examination†. It also appeared in Time magazine as the â€Å"most pressure packed examination in the world† (Siegel). The Entrance Examination is held for the sake of selecting students for higher education and leadership, and is taken by every Chinese twelfth grader every year. In every state, schools are informed what to teach students and what will probably appear in the exam (Schaack 5). During the preparation for the exam, students have to receive an extremely large amount of information from teachers and finally implement it into the Entrance Exam. Those who perform extraordinarily well are admitted to the nation’s top universities; â€Å"the rest find spots in provincial universities or two- and three-year coll eges† (Siegel). Due to the fact that Chinese students are under such kind of pressure, they are more likely to learn things in order to be competitive and prepared for their future. To a large degree, their academic achievement is related to their educational policies and environment. They don’t have many alternatives in their testing system, which is considered to be fair and standardized. This method can be adopted by American public school system to reduce their test alternatives, in other words, to make a standard in the testing system. With a more clear and rigorous standard, American students are going to have better understanding of what teachers convey and what skills they are supposed to pick up. Thus, academic improvement will subsequently be fostered. Besides the lack of a rigorous testing standard, American schools set up their curriculums based on the education policy approved by law, resulting in negative consequences. Since the No Child Left Behind program was signed into law in 2002, test scores have become the most basic measure of school quality (Ravitch 15). Schools then had to modify the curriculums to enhance their test scores in order not to lose students. How does education make sense when the purpose of testing goes beyond the substance of learning? Diane Ravitch, a historian of education and educational policy analyst, writes this program â€Å"demanded that schools generate higher test scores †¦ It ignored such important studies as history, civics, literature, science, the arts, and geography. Though the law required states to test students eventually in science, the science scores didn’t count on the federal scorecard†(Ravitch 16). She watched her hope for better education fall though she was initially supportive of the so-called education reform. Under this circumstance, coupled with the contemporary, vague, unchallenging test standard, schools are rather unlikely to have curriculums that can help students develop fully or help them attain high scores in those more advanced and comprehensive international tests. To illustrate, data collected by NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) shows that U.S. students perform the worst in areas like Math and Science. Especially in Math, U.S. high school students scored much lower than other countries that participated (Lattimore). Nevertheless, the situation can be changed if the whole school system revises the curriculums for the sake of students’ better development, which is the original intention of education. After that, tests should be based on the curriculums that schools are providing. How is it possible for students to achieve good grades while the test does not at all correspond to the courses they are taking? Although many people believe that the freedom of teaching and the freedom of learning are both significant, experts claim that a well-educated person has a well-furnished mind, â€Å"shaped by reading and thinking about history, science, literature, the arts, and politics†, and is armed with knowledge and skills that help him read, listen and also explain (Ravitch 16). Without basic knowledge and skills, people are unable to think critically, to debate or to question, let alone able to solve problems in tests or in their real lives. The continuous education reforms really expose th e effort that America is always trying to make for its nation. Nonetheless, paying too much attention to testing other than curriculum will only lead to a blow up of its previous efforts. Moreover, school resources, computer technology especially, are not being used effectively by teachers and students, causing a reduction in school productivity. It is now in the midst of the information age when technology use is widely spread. Although the goal of President Bill Clinton, â€Å"a computer in every classroom†, has practically been realized by American public schools and â€Å"the number of computers in U.S. schools has grown dramatically† (Evans 272), a research conducted by Harvard University economist Caroline Hoxby has shown that the productivity (the ratio of student performance to spending) has not increased as expected. Instead, it is declining (Woessmann 73). Originally, schools hope that technology can help students achieve better academic performance, instead of being a distraction for students. Hence, as can be seen in most schools, there are a lot of unwritten rules for students banning them from using electronic devices during class. But many students still behave as usual, making technology a destraction of class environment. For this reason, American schools are confused about whether their students are the beneficiaries or victims of this new age (Evans 272). Since it is a technological time, why not take good advantage of it? There are still many students in developing countries dreaming of this advantage that American students experience. And it definitely cannot be wasted. If students were guided to make good use of school resources, the teaching pace and quality would increase; homework assignments would receive more positive feedback; the testing burden would be lighter. Accordingly, the whole nation’s students would do much better academically. In addition to the hardware and software resources not being used well, adults are not paying enough attention to American students. During a student’s academic journey, adults around him can have a substantial influence on him. In particular, parental involvement has a considerably critical impact on their children’s education experience. If a child’s parents attach great importance to education, then the child would also tend to value their school work (Schaack 10). Again, to demonstrate using Chinese parents as an example, most of the time, they supervise their children’s behavior in school by attending parent-teacher conferences periodically, learning about their grades, discussing school programs and activities with their children, monitoring their homework and so on. They also provide private tutoring, paying private teachers, when their children are not performing as well as others or when they need to pass some specific tests and examinations. Some of the Chinese parents even consider their training to be high enough to teach their children while most American parents seem â€Å"less sure as to how much they could help† with children’s school work (Hunt and Hu 134). As a part of culture, Chinese students are motivated intensely by their parents to succeed in school from the time when they are young (Ho and Willims 136). In comparison, American parents’ involvement in their children’s education differs from area to area. During an interview with a Chinese student in Hillsdale High School, Yixi Wu, who left his country at the age of 15 and immigrated into America, he said that he could tell that American parents provide their children with more freedom when it comes to school matters. They care more about their children’s overall life pattern and everyday skills rather than pay too much attention on their academic achievement (Cannon and Ginsburg 122). However, parental involvement can substantially influence a student’s academic performance. To prove, statistics collected by Professor Esther Ho Sui-Chu from University of British suggest that â€Å"the most important parental-involvement factor at the individual level is Home Discussion. The estimated effect is approximately 12 percent of a standard deviation on both mathematics and reading achievement. This finding implies that an increase of 1 standard deviation in Home Discussion is associated with an increase in achievement of 0.12 of a standard deviation† (Ho and Willims 136). The result of this study really emphasizes the significant influence of parents’ facilitation on children’s academic success. Since cultures in Asian countries like China and Western countries like America are different, children in America manage to have more freedom in school life and academic matters. Consequently, their learning outcome compared to China is relatively lower. But if American parents pay more attention to their children’s school experience, more positive attitudes towards academic behavior will probably be fostered; homework assignment will have better quality; learning outcome will be more outstanding and dropout rates will definitely go down. Besides parents, teachers also have great academic influence on students and their impacts are more direct. Superficially, some people would consider that it was because in some countries teachers were too strict that students did not dare to obey them. This common recognition makes sense to some extent but is not exactly true. Obviously and overall, students are going to attain higher achievement if teachers pay more attention to them and give them corresponding advice on the difficulties they meet at school. As mentioned above, Chinese teachers have their own technique dealing with this issue. Usually, a Chinese teacher is going to ask a student to come to the board to solve a problem with everybody else watching him. If he is not able to have it done, others will try hard to help him deal with it so that no one will extremely lag behind. What’s more, if he still has difficulty figuring it out, teachers will ask him to go to his office after class and provide extra individua l tutoring. â€Å"In Contrast, in America, being called in front of a class and being critiqued by not only your teacher, but also by other peers, could be downright damaging to a student’s psyche† (Schaack 7). In this case, subsequently, students can only ask for help after class during teachers’ office hours, which are rather limited. What if one does not realize where his current position is compared to the others? What if he does not know what he misunderstands right after he gets confused? He will probably accumulate his misunderstanding and eventually lag far behind. Therefore, as the old saying goes â€Å"every coin has two sides†. In exchange for maintaining students’ self-esteem, American education has to lose some of its points in the international competition. Yet if the American schools were to learn from Chinese schools in this aspect, making the classroom environment to be more challenging and teacher-controlled, students are going to be more comp etitive and will achieve much better academically. Admittedly, there are still problems waiting to be fixed in America’s education system even if it has always been receiving a good reputation worldwide. With more rigorous test standards, students would have a better sense of direction in their education journey; with curriculums to be more comprehensive, students would be equipped with better skills for life and career; with more efficient use of resources, students would be able to release much of their pressure and make studying fun; and with the help from parents and teachers, students would probably be more motivated for further study and self-development. Fixing the defects in the U.S. education system and adopting advantages from other countries like China will awaken students’ potential, thereby improving the whole nation’s academic achievement, finally consolidating its title of the most powerful country in the world. Those who suit their actions to the time are wise. Hence, corresponding changes in educ ation turn out to be necessary for America to succeed in its self-progress as well as in the aggressive global competition. Work Cited American Federation of Teachers. â€Å"Setting higher sights: A need for more demanding assessments for U.S. eighth graders.† Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers. July, 1998. Web. May, 2012. Cannon, J. and H. P. Ginsburg. â€Å"Doing the math: Maternal beliefs about early math ¬ematics versus language learning.† Early Education and Development. 2008. Web. May, 2012. Evans, Dennis L. Taking sides: Clashing views on controversial issues in secondary education. University of California, Irvine. 2002. Print. Ho Sui-Chu, Esther and J. Douglas Willims. â€Å"Effects of Parental Involvement on Eighth-Grade Achievement.† Sociology of Education. (April, 1996):126-141. Web. May, 2012. Hunt, Jessica H. and Bi Ying Hu. â€Å"Theoretical Factors Affecting Parental Roles in Children’s Mathematical Learning in American and Chinese-Born Mothers.† The School Community Journal. 2011. Web. May, 2012. Lattimore, K. â€Å"Students in U.S. Falling Behind i n Math and Science.† 8 September, 2009. Web. May, 2012. Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. New York. Basic Book, 2010. Print. Schaack, Tara L. Van. â€Å"Comparing U.S. and Chinese Public School Systems.† University of Michigan. n.d. Web. May, 2012. Siegel, Benjemin. â€Å"Stressful Times for Chinese Students.† TIME. 12 June, 2007. Web. May, 2012. Vernille, Kristy. â€Å"Why Are U.S. Mathematics Students Falling Behind Their International Peers?† University of Maryland. n.d. Web. May, 2012. Woessmann, Ludger. â€Å"Why Students in Some Countries Do Better: International evidence on the importance of education policy.† Education Matters. 2001. Web. May, 2012.

Management and Leadership

For this report I will describe how Effective Communication is key within management. Effective communication between a manager and team is important as a manager’s job is 90% communication. Effective communication is really important within a team as it plays a part in the everyday running of a setting; effective communication helps to establish clear expectations for employees and with parents.Effective communication also gives staff members clear expectations which will convey how their performance will impact the setting, for example when a manager is briefing a team they need to be prepared, be clear, they should keep it simple and be vivid and natural. Effective communication helps managers build strong relationships within the team and parents. Effective organizational communication skills will help with team work and the ability for the employees at all levels to work together to achieve goals within the setting and also to help to achieve company goals, Effective comm unication is essential to the success of any organization.There are various skills needed for good management, some skills are learned others are instilled as part of that’s persons nature; employees respond more enthusiastically to a leader they feel confident in. On a more basic level an effective manager in an early years setting needs to ensure good lines of communication are open between themselves and the members of their team, is capable of creating an atmosphere that is comfortable, i. e. a family atmosphere’ builds trust in the team, maintains confidentiality, represent the views of the team, find out what motivates the team and be supportive. An effective manager in an early years setting also needs to be approachable, involve staff so they can arrive at joint decisions in the welfare of the children in their care, delegate tasks to staff and allow them to decide how to achieve them which in turn will give the team members a feeling of empowerment, enabling t hem to set their own objectives and achieve them.Teamwork within any setting is paramount; within in my own setting I find that communication is key , myself and the manager will meet and discuss the team on a daily basis as each member of staff are at different development stages within the setting. As a deputy manager my ability to manage the team to achieve organisational goals and objectives is analysed by being reflective as a manager as well as being supportive of the individuals, I consider myself to be a positive role model in encouraging the individuals of my team to continue their professional evelopment in a bid to keep them motivated and keep their knowledge up to date. As I myself continually embark on further education this in turn gives my team the incentive to do so themselves. Everyone in my setting is undertaking some form of professional development for example level 2’s are training towards level 3 and level 3’s towards a degree. As stated by June S ullivan (2003) ‘it is important for a manger to develop a trusting relationship with all members of the team.Successful teams will thrive on mutual trust, so it is vital to establish this early on by delegation, open conduct and communication and a free exchange of ideas’ page 11 Developing individuals as well as the team is an important fact to consider as the setting achieves effectiveness with the individuals that are part of a team where the setting is aware of the individual’s different learning styles and personalities.The team is empowered to effectively manage quality in our setting to meet the children’s and their family needs which is ultimately the settings goals and objectives. This is done through giving the team responsibility for certain aspects of the day to day running of the setting for example each member of the team has a specific area within the setting which they own and develop and each team member is a key person for a number of ind ividual children which gives them the opportunity to develop relationships with children and their families children to meet their needs.Teamwork is also essential within in the setting as we have children that have different level of needs these needs range from speech and language, dietary requirements and we also meet with external agencies to help families that need extra support. Finding out what motivates the team is a useful tool to acquire a manger needs to beware of what makes individual staff members tick.The opportunities for on-going training of themselves and staff is also a motivator if the team members see the manager embarking on professional development this in turn will encourage and enthuse the individuals to embark on future professional development for themselves. A good manager and leader willin still their own values within the team and introduce newcomers to these values, however a manager should be open to new and innovated ideas that a new team member could bring into the setting.Everyone should be encouraged to participate in contributing their ideas, values and opinions within staff meetings and informal discussions to ensure the element of management power is removed, which in turn will make parents feel comfortable about their children’s welfare as good lines of communication will open from all angles.The difference between a leader and a manager is defined in the following text ‘managers do things right’ whilst leaders do the right thing’ there is a fine line between the kind of approach that is necessary in an early years environment and in my opinion, leadership is the approach we need to adopt as managers in an early years setting as managers require the co-operation of their team members.Leadership involves getting the best out of people and remembering everyone has something to offer, strong leaders should be in a position of inspiring people, building confidence and supporting colleagues to achiev e their full potential. Managers should also be aware that’s individuals have different learning styles; cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner (1985) identified seven styles of learning which apply to adults as well as children, the main ways in which we learn as individuals are visually, kinesthetically and through auditory means.Leadership in an a early years setting requires the manager to have personal qualities such as being kind, warm and friendly, patient, sympathetic and nurturing, knowledgeable, logical and assertive and be prepared to become a mentor who guides the staff. There is clear evidence of the relationship between how staff are managed and how they perform, the deeper the commitment of the staff to their organisations, the better their performance will be, it is essential that a manger leads by example. The manager must be able to build and lead the team and cope with the day to day management issues.The manager must also act as the public face of the nurse ry (Jameson and Watson, 1988) Team development requires both strong leadership from the manager and commitment from team members; a good team is made up from individuals who are valued, managers need to analyse how they can involve their teams in the process and look and find ways to motivate them, as a manger you need to be open to ideas but should also look at the strengths and weakness off individual team members and what works best for them as each member has different strengths and weakness and as a manger you should work on this with them and get the team involved in helping each other develop by offering support and guidance as it helps to build effective teams.Also a good relationship with your team will ensure that they form good relationships with the children and their parents and are enthusiastic about new challenges, have confidence to make improvements to the practice when needed. The team is developed with in house training, staff meetings, appraisals to name a few ex amples, however in my opinion emotional intelligence and communication is key to achieving these goals, by focussing on the needs of the team and giving direction which supports and challenges, we will be developing a culture of openness, mutual respect and honesty within the team working towards achieving the goals and objectives of the setting.Teams are encouraged in staff meetings to be reflective and build on their reflections, by being reflective they can observe how they could handle situations more effectively to promote even more effective practice and feel empowered as a team because they are making their own decisions alongside each other as well as individually. Developing teams is key to achieving tasks in the workplace and an essential skill for a manager to possess as a manager I endeavour to ensure I have a clear purpose and display a positive image to engage in mutual trust and respect between my team and myself to achieve the settings goals and objectives. Also a le vel of commitment is important to a team, it is also essential that there is good communication with in the team in order that it can be effective.The team is aware of their roles and responsibilities and are encouraged to communicate effectively, make decisions, manage change and be reflective in practice and engage in sustained shared thinking within the setting. As a deputy manager my management style is slightly autocratic where I make the decisions myself and I find I take on all the responsibly of trying to do everything myself, I only ask my colleagues to do a task for me when I find I don’t have the time to do it, it has taken me a while to realize that this not good for me or my team and I have decided to change my approach and involve my team more in the decision making and delegating tasks so I hope this will instil a sense of responsibility within the team.While writing this report I did an exercise set out for based on Belbin team roles inventory where you score yourself and see what type of team worker you are, my highest score was in team worker where it describes that a team worker is sociable, rather mild, sensitive, co-operative. My second highest score was shaper where it describes that a shaper can be highly strung, thrives on pressure and challenging and my third was completer finisher where it describes that a completer finisher is orderly, conscientious and anxious. After doing this task I took time to reflect and I am all of the above and more, I do get anxious and can be highly strung and am rather sensitive, these are things I need to work on when I am leading my team.I also found that to be an effective manager in an early years setting it requires a leadership style that is collaborative and to be supportive of colleagues. For this report I had to make an action plan for myself to develop my own management skills and how I would action these I took in to account the Belbin task and I reflected on how I manage my team on a day to day basis and how I could work better with my own manager to improve my skills. (See Appendix A) I hope this will be a positive move and am hoping it will make the working environment a better place for all. Being a leader involves getting the best out of people and seeing what strengths that they possess and supporting them in their development needs. Management and Leadership Management is defined and built on constructive theories by well known Management Gurus such as Peter F.Drucker, and many other emerging or contemporary management writers.   Management theory is always researched, tested and after successful results, is implemented in organizations which is why,   management is also called management science.   Leadership carries a separate identity that works beyond the capacity of management,   whereas management carries leadership qualities. Leadership is somewhat authoritative having followers to its side, whereas management maintains subordinates who listen to management by virtue of being holding a higher position either in job or in some other capacity belonging to an organisation. Managers think in soft skills whereas leaders are at time prove radical and even dictatorial, who believe firmly and ratify whether or not pre-emptive to be true.  Ã‚   Managers possess all kind of potential abilities, skills, academic theories of management, work experience which shapes managers into a diplomatic,   situation-oriented individuals to act according to the breeze of atmosphere in an organization and to that effect, manager takes swing to that side. This does not mean that managers are very clever or uncomfortable individuals, whereas the position of manager is such that it requires certain to-be-dealt-with situations and this does not necessarily lower the image of a manager to act unethically as the matters are to be resolved in an apt manner.   A manager takes a short-term decision whereas a leader takes a long-term decision.   Well known quote â€Å"Managers do things right, while leaders do the right things†Ã‚   which gives a fact that managers are required to follow company’s policy, while leaders form policies. Manager   paves the way for creation of goodwill, loyalty, ethics, motivation, skill development, training for subordinates to learn, get trained and adhere to the company rules. Manager exercises almost every management tool to bring a situation to the order whereas leader has followers whether it is a hardship or an easy way, people easily get carried away by the intentions of a leader which may hold good or bad according to the scenario, time and period.   Many a times leaders too have to face contradictions, criticisms, negative results until the realities are proved and for checking veracity,   essential ingredient is time and investigation. Leader is always chosen among a few whereas a manager is selected among many and both the positions carry diversified activities. Leaders always expect to listen and obey whereas managers explain both the negative and positive impact to the people, and instruct to undertake the necessary step for producing positive results to the benefit of organization.   Manager never acts on personal interest, whereas a leader has no limitations either in personal conduct or in view of others, a complete detailed discussion is made about the total issue,   and stay committed to the demands that are to be met with. Manager keeps an account of every step of system of working which means, every move in an organization is known to a manager in an organization. This provides another fact that a manager knows how to handle people, organization behavior, culture and systems of working areas. If both the positions of manager or leader are compared at a greater length,   manager always practice certain limitations and may not possess adequate courage to take initiative step in decision making whereas once a leader identifies a situation, with the motive of solving a situation, takes a bold step and brings the entire organisation to order in spite of knowing the fact that organization does not permit to act beyond certain limitations and in such occasions, the role of a leader is identified who acts with wisdom and knowledge. Manager may not fit to be a leader, whereas a leader can always fit into the role of manager with the fact that, leader in the disguise of manager can get on and manage people in an efficient manner and it is here important for the organization to check whether a leader is producing positive results or negative results.   This is because, managers are expected to produce positive results only whereas leaders may or may not prove to fit in every organization and this has to be verified.   Building or gaining faith among people is one of the important aspect either for management or for leadership. A manager is always transactional whereas a leader is transformational.   Manager works for attractive pay package whereas for a leader   monetary benefit is only a means to a make living. Managers,   when subordinates act in a dominant manner to much disliking,   may find some unethical way to terminate subordinates from organization by eavesdropping or by spreading rumors or any other kind of uncivilized elements of management. A good manager is very difficult to find when most of the companies are looking for good managers.   Managers in all sectors take things for granted and never bother to care for people until some kind of benefit in return is made. Managers are very calculative although the position of a manager is quite appealing and rewarding to an organization, organizations commit mistakes by being unfair to good managers which must be reinstated here that good managers can never be replaced and experienced good mangers who hold a considerable tenure in an organization may prove beneficial to organizations. For any reason, manager or a leader, it is good to continuously keep progress in all aspects of an organization, i.e. relationship with subordinates and senior management, organizational clients, customers in order to keep a transparency of all the matters that come to the desk of manager or leader, as transparency removes all disputes, conflicts and solves many hurdles in an organization. Learning to say NO is one of best principles in an organization, with the fact that every individual carries certain limited strength beyond which one cannot act and if a manager or leader learns to say YES for every issue, the work cannot be delegated to others and in this manner, completion of tasks or projects are completed in a slow process.   Delegation of authority, responsibility, trust in other people’s work, a belief in the work of efficient employees,   are some of the essential elements for organizational growth to expand in terms of work and organizational culture.   Providing adequate training,   motivation, performance evaluation, rewards, incentives are some of the best techniques to retain employees which are very understood by a good manager. Conclusion Dale Carnegie in â€Å"How to make friends and influence people† quotes â€Å"when you have a lemon, make a lemonade†Ã‚   which states that understand that one can never change the world and it is good to change oneself according to the environment or atmosphere one is put up with.   If a manager runs a hare race, tortoise wins like a leader and this must be remembered always in every principle that acting in an apt manner is essential irrespective of the situation one is in while adhering to all the principalities of an organization. Conclusively, management and leadership can never be contradicted with and must go interdependently applying the qualities of manager or leader wherever required and this must be verified with. References The difference between management and leadership Leadership vs management Accessed 31 October, 2007 http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/articles/manager_leader.htm    Management and Leadership For this report I will describe how Effective Communication is key within management. Effective communication between a manager and team is important as a manager’s job is 90% communication. Effective communication is really important within a team as it plays a part in the everyday running of a setting; effective communication helps to establish clear expectations for employees and with parents.Effective communication also gives staff members clear expectations which will convey how their performance will impact the setting, for example when a manager is briefing a team they need to be prepared, be clear, they should keep it simple and be vivid and natural. Effective communication helps managers build strong relationships within the team and parents. Effective organizational communication skills will help with team work and the ability for the employees at all levels to work together to achieve goals within the setting and also to help to achieve company goals, Effective comm unication is essential to the success of any organization.There are various skills needed for good management, some skills are learned others are instilled as part of that’s persons nature; employees respond more enthusiastically to a leader they feel confident in. On a more basic level an effective manager in an early years setting needs to ensure good lines of communication are open between themselves and the members of their team, is capable of creating an atmosphere that is comfortable, i. e. a family atmosphere’ builds trust in the team, maintains confidentiality, represent the views of the team, find out what motivates the team and be supportive. An effective manager in an early years setting also needs to be approachable, involve staff so they can arrive at joint decisions in the welfare of the children in their care, delegate tasks to staff and allow them to decide how to achieve them which in turn will give the team members a feeling of empowerment, enabling t hem to set their own objectives and achieve them.Teamwork within any setting is paramount; within in my own setting I find that communication is key , myself and the manager will meet and discuss the team on a daily basis as each member of staff are at different development stages within the setting. As a deputy manager my ability to manage the team to achieve organisational goals and objectives is analysed by being reflective as a manager as well as being supportive of the individuals, I consider myself to be a positive role model in encouraging the individuals of my team to continue their professional evelopment in a bid to keep them motivated and keep their knowledge up to date. As I myself continually embark on further education this in turn gives my team the incentive to do so themselves. Everyone in my setting is undertaking some form of professional development for example level 2’s are training towards level 3 and level 3’s towards a degree. As stated by June S ullivan (2003) ‘it is important for a manger to develop a trusting relationship with all members of the team.Successful teams will thrive on mutual trust, so it is vital to establish this early on by delegation, open conduct and communication and a free exchange of ideas’ page 11 Developing individuals as well as the team is an important fact to consider as the setting achieves effectiveness with the individuals that are part of a team where the setting is aware of the individual’s different learning styles and personalities.The team is empowered to effectively manage quality in our setting to meet the children’s and their family needs which is ultimately the settings goals and objectives. This is done through giving the team responsibility for certain aspects of the day to day running of the setting for example each member of the team has a specific area within the setting which they own and develop and each team member is a key person for a number of ind ividual children which gives them the opportunity to develop relationships with children and their families children to meet their needs.Teamwork is also essential within in the setting as we have children that have different level of needs these needs range from speech and language, dietary requirements and we also meet with external agencies to help families that need extra support. Finding out what motivates the team is a useful tool to acquire a manger needs to beware of what makes individual staff members tick.The opportunities for on-going training of themselves and staff is also a motivator if the team members see the manager embarking on professional development this in turn will encourage and enthuse the individuals to embark on future professional development for themselves. A good manager and leader willin still their own values within the team and introduce newcomers to these values, however a manager should be open to new and innovated ideas that a new team member could bring into the setting.Everyone should be encouraged to participate in contributing their ideas, values and opinions within staff meetings and informal discussions to ensure the element of management power is removed, which in turn will make parents feel comfortable about their children’s welfare as good lines of communication will open from all angles.The difference between a leader and a manager is defined in the following text ‘managers do things right’ whilst leaders do the right thing’ there is a fine line between the kind of approach that is necessary in an early years environment and in my opinion, leadership is the approach we need to adopt as managers in an early years setting as managers require the co-operation of their team members.Leadership involves getting the best out of people and remembering everyone has something to offer, strong leaders should be in a position of inspiring people, building confidence and supporting colleagues to achiev e their full potential. Managers should also be aware that’s individuals have different learning styles; cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner (1985) identified seven styles of learning which apply to adults as well as children, the main ways in which we learn as individuals are visually, kinesthetically and through auditory means.Leadership in an a early years setting requires the manager to have personal qualities such as being kind, warm and friendly, patient, sympathetic and nurturing, knowledgeable, logical and assertive and be prepared to become a mentor who guides the staff. There is clear evidence of the relationship between how staff are managed and how they perform, the deeper the commitment of the staff to their organisations, the better their performance will be, it is essential that a manger leads by example. The manager must be able to build and lead the team and cope with the day to day management issues.The manager must also act as the public face of the nurse ry (Jameson and Watson, 1988) Team development requires both strong leadership from the manager and commitment from team members; a good team is made up from individuals who are valued, managers need to analyse how they can involve their teams in the process and look and find ways to motivate them, as a manger you need to be open to ideas but should also look at the strengths and weakness off individual team members and what works best for them as each member has different strengths and weakness and as a manger you should work on this with them and get the team involved in helping each other develop by offering support and guidance as it helps to build effective teams.Also a good relationship with your team will ensure that they form good relationships with the children and their parents and are enthusiastic about new challenges, have confidence to make improvements to the practice when needed. The team is developed with in house training, staff meetings, appraisals to name a few ex amples, however in my opinion emotional intelligence and communication is key to achieving these goals, by focussing on the needs of the team and giving direction which supports and challenges, we will be developing a culture of openness, mutual respect and honesty within the team working towards achieving the goals and objectives of the setting.Teams are encouraged in staff meetings to be reflective and build on their reflections, by being reflective they can observe how they could handle situations more effectively to promote even more effective practice and feel empowered as a team because they are making their own decisions alongside each other as well as individually. Developing teams is key to achieving tasks in the workplace and an essential skill for a manager to possess as a manager I endeavour to ensure I have a clear purpose and display a positive image to engage in mutual trust and respect between my team and myself to achieve the settings goals and objectives. Also a le vel of commitment is important to a team, it is also essential that there is good communication with in the team in order that it can be effective.The team is aware of their roles and responsibilities and are encouraged to communicate effectively, make decisions, manage change and be reflective in practice and engage in sustained shared thinking within the setting. As a deputy manager my management style is slightly autocratic where I make the decisions myself and I find I take on all the responsibly of trying to do everything myself, I only ask my colleagues to do a task for me when I find I don’t have the time to do it, it has taken me a while to realize that this not good for me or my team and I have decided to change my approach and involve my team more in the decision making and delegating tasks so I hope this will instil a sense of responsibility within the team.While writing this report I did an exercise set out for based on Belbin team roles inventory where you score yourself and see what type of team worker you are, my highest score was in team worker where it describes that a team worker is sociable, rather mild, sensitive, co-operative. My second highest score was shaper where it describes that a shaper can be highly strung, thrives on pressure and challenging and my third was completer finisher where it describes that a completer finisher is orderly, conscientious and anxious. After doing this task I took time to reflect and I am all of the above and more, I do get anxious and can be highly strung and am rather sensitive, these are things I need to work on when I am leading my team.I also found that to be an effective manager in an early years setting it requires a leadership style that is collaborative and to be supportive of colleagues. For this report I had to make an action plan for myself to develop my own management skills and how I would action these I took in to account the Belbin task and I reflected on how I manage my team on a day to day basis and how I could work better with my own manager to improve my skills. (See Appendix A) I hope this will be a positive move and am hoping it will make the working environment a better place for all. Being a leader involves getting the best out of people and seeing what strengths that they possess and supporting them in their development needs. Management and Leadership Management is defined and built on constructive theories by well known Management Gurus such as Peter F.Drucker, and many other emerging or contemporary management writers.   Management theory is always researched, tested and after successful results, is implemented in organizations which is why,   management is also called management science.   Leadership carries a separate identity that works beyond the capacity of management,   whereas management carries leadership qualities. Leadership is somewhat authoritative having followers to its side, whereas management maintains subordinates who listen to management by virtue of being holding a higher position either in job or in some other capacity belonging to an organisation. Managers think in soft skills whereas leaders are at time prove radical and even dictatorial, who believe firmly and ratify whether or not pre-emptive to be true.  Ã‚   Managers possess all kind of potential abilities, skills, academic theories of management, work experience which shapes managers into a diplomatic,   situation-oriented individuals to act according to the breeze of atmosphere in an organization and to that effect, manager takes swing to that side. This does not mean that managers are very clever or uncomfortable individuals, whereas the position of manager is such that it requires certain to-be-dealt-with situations and this does not necessarily lower the image of a manager to act unethically as the matters are to be resolved in an apt manner.   A manager takes a short-term decision whereas a leader takes a long-term decision.   Well known quote â€Å"Managers do things right, while leaders do the right things†Ã‚   which gives a fact that managers are required to follow company’s policy, while leaders form policies. Manager   paves the way for creation of goodwill, loyalty, ethics, motivation, skill development, training for subordinates to learn, get trained and adhere to the company rules. Manager exercises almost every management tool to bring a situation to the order whereas leader has followers whether it is a hardship or an easy way, people easily get carried away by the intentions of a leader which may hold good or bad according to the scenario, time and period.   Many a times leaders too have to face contradictions, criticisms, negative results until the realities are proved and for checking veracity,   essential ingredient is time and investigation. Leader is always chosen among a few whereas a manager is selected among many and both the positions carry diversified activities. Leaders always expect to listen and obey whereas managers explain both the negative and positive impact to the people, and instruct to undertake the necessary step for producing positive results to the benefit of organization.   Manager never acts on personal interest, whereas a leader has no limitations either in personal conduct or in view of others, a complete detailed discussion is made about the total issue,   and stay committed to the demands that are to be met with. Manager keeps an account of every step of system of working which means, every move in an organization is known to a manager in an organization. This provides another fact that a manager knows how to handle people, organization behavior, culture and systems of working areas. If both the positions of manager or leader are compared at a greater length,   manager always practice certain limitations and may not possess adequate courage to take initiative step in decision making whereas once a leader identifies a situation, with the motive of solving a situation, takes a bold step and brings the entire organisation to order in spite of knowing the fact that organization does not permit to act beyond certain limitations and in such occasions, the role of a leader is identified who acts with wisdom and knowledge. Manager may not fit to be a leader, whereas a leader can always fit into the role of manager with the fact that, leader in the disguise of manager can get on and manage people in an efficient manner and it is here important for the organization to check whether a leader is producing positive results or negative results.   This is because, managers are expected to produce positive results only whereas leaders may or may not prove to fit in every organization and this has to be verified.   Building or gaining faith among people is one of the important aspect either for management or for leadership. A manager is always transactional whereas a leader is transformational.   Manager works for attractive pay package whereas for a leader   monetary benefit is only a means to a make living. Managers,   when subordinates act in a dominant manner to much disliking,   may find some unethical way to terminate subordinates from organization by eavesdropping or by spreading rumors or any other kind of uncivilized elements of management. A good manager is very difficult to find when most of the companies are looking for good managers.   Managers in all sectors take things for granted and never bother to care for people until some kind of benefit in return is made. Managers are very calculative although the position of a manager is quite appealing and rewarding to an organization, organizations commit mistakes by being unfair to good managers which must be reinstated here that good managers can never be replaced and experienced good mangers who hold a considerable tenure in an organization may prove beneficial to organizations. For any reason, manager or a leader, it is good to continuously keep progress in all aspects of an organization, i.e. relationship with subordinates and senior management, organizational clients, customers in order to keep a transparency of all the matters that come to the desk of manager or leader, as transparency removes all disputes, conflicts and solves many hurdles in an organization. Learning to say NO is one of best principles in an organization, with the fact that every individual carries certain limited strength beyond which one cannot act and if a manager or leader learns to say YES for every issue, the work cannot be delegated to others and in this manner, completion of tasks or projects are completed in a slow process.   Delegation of authority, responsibility, trust in other people’s work, a belief in the work of efficient employees,   are some of the essential elements for organizational growth to expand in terms of work and organizational culture.   Providing adequate training,   motivation, performance evaluation, rewards, incentives are some of the best techniques to retain employees which are very understood by a good manager. Conclusion Dale Carnegie in â€Å"How to make friends and influence people† quotes â€Å"when you have a lemon, make a lemonade†Ã‚   which states that understand that one can never change the world and it is good to change oneself according to the environment or atmosphere one is put up with.   If a manager runs a hare race, tortoise wins like a leader and this must be remembered always in every principle that acting in an apt manner is essential irrespective of the situation one is in while adhering to all the principalities of an organization. Conclusively, management and leadership can never be contradicted with and must go interdependently applying the qualities of manager or leader wherever required and this must be verified with. References The difference between management and leadership Leadership vs management Accessed 31 October, 2007 http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/articles/manager_leader.htm    Management and Leadership For this report I will describe how Effective Communication is key within management. Effective communication between a manager and team is important as a manager’s job is 90% communication. Effective communication is really important within a team as it plays a part in the everyday running of a setting; effective communication helps to establish clear expectations for employees and with parents.Effective communication also gives staff members clear expectations which will convey how their performance will impact the setting, for example when a manager is briefing a team they need to be prepared, be clear, they should keep it simple and be vivid and natural. Effective communication helps managers build strong relationships within the team and parents. Effective organizational communication skills will help with team work and the ability for the employees at all levels to work together to achieve goals within the setting and also to help to achieve company goals, Effective comm unication is essential to the success of any organization.There are various skills needed for good management, some skills are learned others are instilled as part of that’s persons nature; employees respond more enthusiastically to a leader they feel confident in. On a more basic level an effective manager in an early years setting needs to ensure good lines of communication are open between themselves and the members of their team, is capable of creating an atmosphere that is comfortable, i. e. a family atmosphere’ builds trust in the team, maintains confidentiality, represent the views of the team, find out what motivates the team and be supportive. An effective manager in an early years setting also needs to be approachable, involve staff so they can arrive at joint decisions in the welfare of the children in their care, delegate tasks to staff and allow them to decide how to achieve them which in turn will give the team members a feeling of empowerment, enabling t hem to set their own objectives and achieve them.Teamwork within any setting is paramount; within in my own setting I find that communication is key , myself and the manager will meet and discuss the team on a daily basis as each member of staff are at different development stages within the setting. As a deputy manager my ability to manage the team to achieve organisational goals and objectives is analysed by being reflective as a manager as well as being supportive of the individuals, I consider myself to be a positive role model in encouraging the individuals of my team to continue their professional evelopment in a bid to keep them motivated and keep their knowledge up to date. As I myself continually embark on further education this in turn gives my team the incentive to do so themselves. Everyone in my setting is undertaking some form of professional development for example level 2’s are training towards level 3 and level 3’s towards a degree. As stated by June S ullivan (2003) ‘it is important for a manger to develop a trusting relationship with all members of the team.Successful teams will thrive on mutual trust, so it is vital to establish this early on by delegation, open conduct and communication and a free exchange of ideas’ page 11 Developing individuals as well as the team is an important fact to consider as the setting achieves effectiveness with the individuals that are part of a team where the setting is aware of the individual’s different learning styles and personalities.The team is empowered to effectively manage quality in our setting to meet the children’s and their family needs which is ultimately the settings goals and objectives. This is done through giving the team responsibility for certain aspects of the day to day running of the setting for example each member of the team has a specific area within the setting which they own and develop and each team member is a key person for a number of ind ividual children which gives them the opportunity to develop relationships with children and their families children to meet their needs.Teamwork is also essential within in the setting as we have children that have different level of needs these needs range from speech and language, dietary requirements and we also meet with external agencies to help families that need extra support. Finding out what motivates the team is a useful tool to acquire a manger needs to beware of what makes individual staff members tick.The opportunities for on-going training of themselves and staff is also a motivator if the team members see the manager embarking on professional development this in turn will encourage and enthuse the individuals to embark on future professional development for themselves. A good manager and leader willin still their own values within the team and introduce newcomers to these values, however a manager should be open to new and innovated ideas that a new team member could bring into the setting.Everyone should be encouraged to participate in contributing their ideas, values and opinions within staff meetings and informal discussions to ensure the element of management power is removed, which in turn will make parents feel comfortable about their children’s welfare as good lines of communication will open from all angles.The difference between a leader and a manager is defined in the following text ‘managers do things right’ whilst leaders do the right thing’ there is a fine line between the kind of approach that is necessary in an early years environment and in my opinion, leadership is the approach we need to adopt as managers in an early years setting as managers require the co-operation of their team members.Leadership involves getting the best out of people and remembering everyone has something to offer, strong leaders should be in a position of inspiring people, building confidence and supporting colleagues to achiev e their full potential. Managers should also be aware that’s individuals have different learning styles; cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner (1985) identified seven styles of learning which apply to adults as well as children, the main ways in which we learn as individuals are visually, kinesthetically and through auditory means.Leadership in an a early years setting requires the manager to have personal qualities such as being kind, warm and friendly, patient, sympathetic and nurturing, knowledgeable, logical and assertive and be prepared to become a mentor who guides the staff. There is clear evidence of the relationship between how staff are managed and how they perform, the deeper the commitment of the staff to their organisations, the better their performance will be, it is essential that a manger leads by example. The manager must be able to build and lead the team and cope with the day to day management issues.The manager must also act as the public face of the nurse ry (Jameson and Watson, 1988) Team development requires both strong leadership from the manager and commitment from team members; a good team is made up from individuals who are valued, managers need to analyse how they can involve their teams in the process and look and find ways to motivate them, as a manger you need to be open to ideas but should also look at the strengths and weakness off individual team members and what works best for them as each member has different strengths and weakness and as a manger you should work on this with them and get the team involved in helping each other develop by offering support and guidance as it helps to build effective teams.Also a good relationship with your team will ensure that they form good relationships with the children and their parents and are enthusiastic about new challenges, have confidence to make improvements to the practice when needed. The team is developed with in house training, staff meetings, appraisals to name a few ex amples, however in my opinion emotional intelligence and communication is key to achieving these goals, by focussing on the needs of the team and giving direction which supports and challenges, we will be developing a culture of openness, mutual respect and honesty within the team working towards achieving the goals and objectives of the setting.Teams are encouraged in staff meetings to be reflective and build on their reflections, by being reflective they can observe how they could handle situations more effectively to promote even more effective practice and feel empowered as a team because they are making their own decisions alongside each other as well as individually. Developing teams is key to achieving tasks in the workplace and an essential skill for a manager to possess as a manager I endeavour to ensure I have a clear purpose and display a positive image to engage in mutual trust and respect between my team and myself to achieve the settings goals and objectives. Also a le vel of commitment is important to a team, it is also essential that there is good communication with in the team in order that it can be effective.The team is aware of their roles and responsibilities and are encouraged to communicate effectively, make decisions, manage change and be reflective in practice and engage in sustained shared thinking within the setting. As a deputy manager my management style is slightly autocratic where I make the decisions myself and I find I take on all the responsibly of trying to do everything myself, I only ask my colleagues to do a task for me when I find I don’t have the time to do it, it has taken me a while to realize that this not good for me or my team and I have decided to change my approach and involve my team more in the decision making and delegating tasks so I hope this will instil a sense of responsibility within the team.While writing this report I did an exercise set out for based on Belbin team roles inventory where you score yourself and see what type of team worker you are, my highest score was in team worker where it describes that a team worker is sociable, rather mild, sensitive, co-operative. My second highest score was shaper where it describes that a shaper can be highly strung, thrives on pressure and challenging and my third was completer finisher where it describes that a completer finisher is orderly, conscientious and anxious. After doing this task I took time to reflect and I am all of the above and more, I do get anxious and can be highly strung and am rather sensitive, these are things I need to work on when I am leading my team.I also found that to be an effective manager in an early years setting it requires a leadership style that is collaborative and to be supportive of colleagues. For this report I had to make an action plan for myself to develop my own management skills and how I would action these I took in to account the Belbin task and I reflected on how I manage my team on a day to day basis and how I could work better with my own manager to improve my skills. (See Appendix A) I hope this will be a positive move and am hoping it will make the working environment a better place for all. Being a leader involves getting the best out of people and seeing what strengths that they possess and supporting them in their development needs.