Article Review Change Your Gun Laws, America - 1130 Words

When I spent two weeks in Spain with a host family, the first interaction my little Spanish brother had with me was with his hands in the universal sign for a gun, chanting â€Å"U.S.A.† as he fired his fake guns into the air. Gun rights, gun regulations, and the importance of the Second Amendment are all topics that are pertinent to the safety of the citizens of the United States. Fareed Zakaria, a renowned journalist and author for CNN and the Washington Post, lays out his concerns for the way Americans view our Second Amendment right in an opinion post. Contrastingly, UCLA and Harvard professor and political scientist James Q. Wilson describes why gun control is not and will not be able to impede any shootings, such as the Virginia Tech†¦show more content†¦He does not attribute either of these issues to America’s elevated gun homicide rate because these illnesses and graphic images are not unique to the American people. The difference in gun homicide rates between the United States and other countries is a result of America’s looser restrictions on who may own and carry guns (Zakaria). Zakaria closes his opinion piece by saying, â€Å"It is not an act of fate that has caused 150,000 Americans to die over the past 14 years. It is a product of laws, court decisions, lobbying and pandering politicians. We can change it† (Zakaria). He utilizes his many strengths as a journalist to influence the reader towards a viewpoint similar to his own. These strengths include the use of concrete facts and statistics, addressing multiple theories that could falsify his stance, and personal touches throughout the article. Seeing the numbers and stats around an issue made it easier to quantify the vastness of this issue. Zakaria also ensured that he touched on many different models that could be used to disagree with him, such as the connection between mental illness and violence, and utilized them in his favor. Ending the article with â⠂¬Å"we can change it† creates an atmosphere in which the reader feels like they can now make a difference using the new information they just acquired. He does fail, however, to outline specifically how the issue can be addressed and changed. Leaving the article open ended to change may have also left the

Sustainability as a Key Critical Success Factor Free Essays

Executive Summary Sustainability is one of the popularly emerging principles in project management and is rapidly becoming a critical success factor as considered by some businesses. However, there are also a number of other critical success factors in project success which include time, money, and the involvement and skills of employees and management. However, sustainability is viewed as socially responsible behavior and may be beneficial in promoting a business’s sales and media relations. We will write a custom essay sample on Sustainability as a Key Critical Success Factor or any similar topic only for you Order Now Contrarily, some businesses still view it as a fourth constraint in project management against time, scope, and money. Businesses such as Zara’s and Nike have implemented sustainability in their project specifications and have gained a favorable reputation with consumers. However, while all companies may not be duly aware of how to implement such processes, knowledge transfer may be an important consideration in the further implementation of sustainability principles. These issues are further discussed in this proposal and outlined in the form of research questions for the final dissertation. The data for the dissertation is proposed to be a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data which will be in the form of a literature review of secondary data and a questionnaire dispersed to 30 employees in 3 project-based organizations. Results will be combined to arrive at an appropriate conclusion and recommendations will be made accordingly. Introduction: Project management is one of the most vital disciplines within business management and is crucial to economic prosperity for both the public and private sectors. While there is ample emphasis upon project management within various industries, it is often seen that many projects fail due to a lack of emphasis upon critical success factors. As there are numerous factors that affect a project’s success, it is often difficult for managers to choose those that are most vital in improving the success of a project (Schieg, 2009). As the business environment is highly competitive and complicated, success factors for a project are likely to be relative to the industry the project is aimed at and the objectives that the individual project is trying to achieve. While efficiency, cost, and time management are all vital resources within a project or any business process, managers are always aiming to reduce the cost and the time allocated to each project while also aiming to increase efficiency, productivity, and turnover (Shrivastava Berger, 2010). Hence, it is generically considered that projects which are completed within budget and on time are successful. However, with increasing research it has become evident that there are numerous other factors which affect the success and outcome of a project such as the involvement and decision power of leaders and managers, the skills of employees, the organizational culture practiced during the project, the level of teamwork shown by the team, and many others (Eid, 2009 ). Accordingly, the contemporary business environment has recently explored a new concept, sustainability, which is becoming highly popular amongst society and may also be considered as a vital factor to success for businesses in the future or may already be considered so in the present (Gitsham Peters, 2010). With the quest to improve the environment and ensure businesses implement environmentally-friendly processes, society is becoming highly conscious of businesses performing unethically and harming the environment. Thus, this increases the pressure upon business operating in the contemporary environment to adopt sustainable processes which are environment-friendly (Talbot Venkateraman, 2011). Literature Search: Sustainability is a highly interesting and important concept in the contemporary business environment because there has often been heavy debate regarding the necessity of its adoption by businesses. While some businesses may easily be able to adopt appropriate sustainability processes, it is more difficult for other businesses to implement such processes specifically in the industrial sector. Thus, while aiming to implement sustainability may raise a business’s costs substantially, choosing the correct manner in which to implement sustainable practices may also substantially reduce a business’s operating costs and other costs (Morelli, 2011). Moreover, the current business environment demands businesses to be socially responsible and ensure that they perform ethically ( Lindsey,2011). Thus, a business implementing and including sustainability as a criterion in its project specifications is likely to gain a good reputation in the corporate world, media, and society which may in turn benefit the business in the form of increased sales, higher consumer confidence, and positive press releases (Zainul-Abideen, 2008). Recently, it has been seen that organizations are increasing their emphasis upon sustainability and consider it to an extent of 25.9% in their project management specifications. While this does show a positive trend, it also shows that business may not be implementing sustainability in their project specifications because of adopting a socially responsible approach, but is more aimed towards adopting a â€Å"less unethical† approach. This is to ensure that they can escape the blame when questioned regarding the manner in which they run their business (Badiru, 2010). However, there is no doubt that there is an increasing emphasis upon principles of sustainability and awareness of social pressure upon businesses. Companies such as Zara, Toyota, Nike, and many others have changed their production processes in order to make sure that they uphold sustainability as a principle and thus, these companies have increased their credibility in the consumer market (Artiach et al, 2010). However, in order to increase the emphasis upon sustainability it is essential to indulge in knowledge transfer between industries and businesses to properly disperse information regarding the importance and applicability of sustainability principles. Such information dispersion and knowledge transfer may be organized by large governmental or business organizations to facilitate open communication between businesses in order to find viable solutions (Badiru, 2010). However, the problem of the perception of sustainability as a further constraint upon projects in the essence of time, cost, and scope also is widespread. Accordingly, this dissertation proposes to discuss the critical success factors affecting businesses today, how sustainability affects businesses today, the importance of sustainability and the reasons why it is considered interesting, corporate social responsibility as a determinant of project success and gaining contracts, knowledge transfer as a determinant of the application of sustainable principles, and whether sustainability is viewed as a fourth constraint in project management (Barnard et al, 2011). Objectives: Discuss the Critical Success Factors affecting businesses in the contemporary business environment Determine the importance of sustainability as an emerging critical success factor in project management Illustrate the examples of businesses who have adopted sustainable practices successfully Discuss the benefits of credibility when adopting socially responsible business practices Discussing the importance of knowledge transfer in implementing sustainability principles Analyzing the extent to which sustainability is considered a fourth constraint in project management Research Questions: Main Research Question: To what extent is sustainability considered a critical success factor in project management in the contemporary business environment? Subsidiary Research Questions: How does the implementation of sustainability affect the project outcome How does sustainability affect a business’s credibility and image of being socially responsibleIs this beneficial for the business What is the importance of knowledge transfer in the implementation of sustainability To what extent is sustainability considered a fourth constraint in project management besides those of time, cost, and scope Research Design: Data Collection: The study is designed to be an exploratory study which will investigate the concept of sustainability in businesses today. The study will make use of both quantitative and qualitative data in order to further explore the research questions outlined above. The study will also rely upon both primary and secondary data in order to thoroughly explore the topic in question. The mixture of both types of data will be appropriate for this dissertation in order to validate the opinions and information presented in the literature review and as the topic of sustainability as a success factor of project management is an evolving topic, it is also essential to get first-hand and recent information regarding its current importance in the business environment. Data will initially be collected via the internet, journals, articles, magazines, and other databases in order to obtain relevant literature regarding the concept of sustainability. The literature will then be analyzed and duly criticized in order to determine popular opinion regarding the concept of sustainability and arriving at conclusions regarding the research questions mentioned via secondary data. Primary data will then be collected via an industrial questionnaire dispersed to three project-based organizations regarding their opinions and practices of sustainability as a criterion for success in project management. The questionnaire will be dispersed to approximately 30 respondents working in the three respective organizations and this sample size has been chosen for researcher convenience, access, and appropriateness in attaining sufficient information. The questionnaire will be quantitative in nature in order to avoid irrelevant responses and to limit the discussion towards the points made in the literature review. The results of the questionnaire would then be used to validate or conquer the findings in the literature review. Data Analysis: The qualitative secondary data collected will be analyzed through content analysis in order to extract the most relevant and important points from the arguments presented in the literature review. The quantitative survey results will be analyzed through the use of the statistical software, SPSS. The results of the quantitative survey will then be analyzed against the results of the literature review in order to arrive at appropriate conclusions for the research questions mentioned above. Recommendations will then be given accordingly for issues like knowledge transfer and eradicating the perception of sustainability as a fourth project management constraint. Limitations/Ethical Risks: One of the limitations of this study is gaining access to 30 randomly selected individuals in three different project based companies. Permission must be obtained and the individuals must be randomly chosen in order to avoid biasness. Moreover, there may be issues of confidentiality or their unwillingness to respond to questions regarding their own personal sustainability practices and principles. There is also the risk of people answering dishonestly only to maintain their image or respondents not paying particular attention to the survey because of lack of interest or boredom. The questionnaire may be prone to researcher bias and the data obtained in the literature review may be outdated and not applicable in all countries. Thus, appropriate care must be applied to ensure contemporary data is collected and data is relevant to the topic in question. One of the major ethical risks of this project is ensuring that confidentiality is maintained while conducting the survey of project-based companies and ensuring that no information is dispersed openly which may negatively affect their reputation. Timescale: Obtaining Permission from Companies Beginning Literature Search Organizing and Analyzing Secondary Data Writing Literature Review Conducting Survey Formulating Results of Survey Analyzing Results Writing Complete First Draft Proofreading Dissertation Submission References Artiach, T., Lee, D., Nelson, D., Walker, J. (2010). â€Å"The determinants of corporate sustainability performance.† Accounting Finance, 50(1) pp.31-51. Badiru, A.B. (2010) â€Å"The many languages of sustainability†. Industrial Engineer, Vol. 42(11) pp. 30-34. Barnard, L.T., Ackles, B. and Haner, J.L. (2011) Making Sense of Sustainability Project Management. Explorus Group Inc. Eid, M. (2009) Sustainable Development Project Management. Lambert Academic Publishing Cologne. Gitsham, M., Peters, K. (2010). Thoughts on Sustainability-Principles into Practice. Lindsey, T. C. (2011). â€Å"Sustainable principles: common values for achieving sustainability.†Journal of Cleaner Production. Vol. 19(5) pp. 561-565. Morelli, J. (2011). â€Å"Environmental Sustainability: A Definition for Environmental Professionals†. Journal of Environmental Sustainability. Vol.119-27. Schieg, M. (2009). â€Å"The model of corporate social responsibility in project management†. Business: Theory Practice. Vol.10 (4) pp. 315–321. Shrivastava, P., Berger, S. (2010). â€Å"Sustainability principles: a review and directions.†Organization Management Journal. Vol. 7(4) pp.246-261. Talbot, J. and Venkataraman, R. (2011), â€Å"Integration Of Sustainability Principles Into Project Baselines Using A Comprehensive Indicator Set†. Journal of International Business Economics Research. Vol.10 (9) pp. 29-40. Zainul-Abidin, N. (2008) â€Å"Achieving Sustainability through Value Management: A passing opportunity?† International Journal of Construction Managem pp. 79-91. How to cite Sustainability as a Key Critical Success Factor, Essay examples

Body Image free essay sample

Standards and examples of how we should look are being tremendously imposed on our generation. People are looked down upon on and teased ruthlessly simply because they do not look like the way the media perceives as beautiful, a stop needs to put to this because more and more teens are taking extreme measures to get their desired look. Eating disorders and plastic surgery are just a few ways teens are changing their changing their looks. Body image and the media is a topic that should be discussed, improved, and resolved for the better. Look at all the pictures, the spray tanned bodies that glow in the middle of winter, the women whose faces never age after twenty years, and the celebrities that can eat whatever they want, yet stay thin forever (Segrist). Any of this sound familiar? Pictures and articles of these models are seen every day and fill a great percentage of the magazines we read and the images seen on television. It is so easy to get caught up in the media because of the ‘perfection’ we see in it, but the question is does the beauty and body image in the media equal self-improvement or self- destruction? We are so cleverly manipulated and influenced by the media and establishments on both the right and left, that the truth has become hopelessly lost in semantics. The media is not a solely to blame. Images of perfection are pushed upon people in early childhood with toys like Barbie and G. I. Joe. â€Å"Barbie began her career as a stiff plastic dress-up figure†¦ [w]ith her breasts and slender waist, Barbie came literally to embody the little girl’s image of what it meant to be grown up† (Cross). Same goes for G. I. Joe but instead of big boobs and thin wastes, it is massive toned muscles. Kids learn that grown-ups look like toys they love oh so much, but once they are grown up and look nothing like that toy, the children end up ‘hating’ how they look. When looking at the media, we recognize that women are the ones that are criticized and men are less of a concern when it comes to beauty and their body. We do however, picture that men should have a six packs and work out all the time if they want to live their life the best way possible (Segrist). When new movies come out that is the first thing you will hear, how an actor like Taylor Laughtner gained 20 pounds of muscle and is now looking better than ever. Women are criticized much more. It is not as simple as working out and eating healthy. There is always the promise of a new diet that you just ‘have’ to use to lose the last few pounds, because if you do your life will overall be perfect. The real image of women is lost in the media because the industry favors the skinny models and perfect tanned girls in magazines we constantly read (Segrist). Standards of women are put to the test every day. Most women are not naturally what is seen in the magazines. Being thin and losing the right amount of weight has become an over obsession with many young women. The media has set standards that are unrealistic for what the ‘normal’ body weight and appearance should be. Their portrayal of ‘normal’ keeps getting thinner and thinner for women and more body muscle and for men. The body image in the media keeps changing and people do their best to keep up with it. Twenty-five years ago the average female model only weighed 8% less than the average American woman, whereas today the average female model weighs 23% below her average weight (Image). With the confusion of the ‘perfect’ image always changing, the goal to reach that stage of the beauty and body image has become an obsession for many people (Image). Most women do not have the genetic make up to be the ultra- tall and thin model body type. Of course, not all of us look up to models, but perhaps our favorite celebrities. Maybe our views of celebrities are not realistic. When we see celebrities, do we think ‘wow I want to be able to reach my goal to be an actress too’ or ‘I wish I could be as pretty as them’? Most likely you are thinking ‘I wish I could be as pretty as them’ or something regarding their looks. Sometimes we are so caught up in the reality the media shows us and then we do things that are not so smart. This is what has caused many young women to develop eating disorders. It has been researched that one out of every four college-aged women use unhealthy eating habits to manage their weight. The unhealthy habits include self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, skipping meals, and fasting (Image). A question, some might ask is why the media focus on a ‘perfect’ person. A few researches lead us to think it may have to do with economics. It is a chain reaction for the business industry. First, someone will buy the magazine after seeing the cover that insists on ‘top 5 ways to lose twenty pounds before spring break’ or ‘the perfect makeup to make you look ten years younger. ’ Then, the person who reads the magazine will most likely go out and buy the products advertized or promised to improve you (Image). With an ideal body and image presented by the media that is hard to reach, the cosmetic and diet product industries are reassured of increasing profits and growth. Magazines are made to sell something or to inform the reader about a certain topic. When a business is trying to sell a car or a certain food, most of the time, they try to find a slender man or women to help sell their business. A shocking statistic showed that after seeing photos of female fashion models, seven out of ten women felt more angry and depressed than prior to viewing those pictures. Television is another thing that downplays the average people’s appearance. On television shows the in crowd or the it girl is a slender and fashionable teen generally. The â€Å"nerd or weird kid is usually a unique individual, but they have one or two flaws so they are picked on. Because of small things like this, the unique and different people start to feel bad about themselves. One out of five men and two out of five women would trade three to five years of their life to achieve their weight goals. Life is a wonderful thing and if a human being would trade that away just to lose a couple pounds then something must me wrong. â€Å"I Want a Famous Face,† the â€Å"The Swan† and â€Å"Extreme Makeover† all shows created as makeover shows, in which the ‘contestants’ are made over with plastic surgery to become what they consider beautiful. On MTV’s show, I Want a Famous Face, â€Å"a baby-faced blonde named Sha†¦ wants to look like Pamela Anderson and become a Playboy centerfold†¦ she’s [only] 19† (Creamer). While â€Å"ethics aren’t MTV’s deal† (Creamer), ethics should be a concern of mainstream channels such as ABC, â€Å"Extreme Makeover† and Fox, â€Å"The Swan. † However they too have shows based on someone feeling so insecure with themselves that they are willing to get on national TV and have every inch of their body changed to the point their before and after pictures show little to no resemblance. While many claim, the media does not negatively influence the self-image of ‘any-body’ and that the people behind the scenes of the media are actually women peddling all these unattainable images, beauty products, and ‘quick-fix’ diets and workouts. Moreover, Scott declares, â€Å"that self-decoration—makeup, clothing, cosmetic surgery—is a fundamental form of human expression with different meanings to the individual. Therefore, feminists promotion of a ‘natural’ female appearance is their impulse to control women† (Scott). The continuing messages we see on a daily basis from dieting to aging tells the â€Å"average† woman that a part of them still needs work or adjustments. Of course, most of us fall into this dark hole of what we see as non-perfection. Reality looses to the media most of the time. Dove’s â€Å"Real Beauty† campaign was a prime example of what happens when a company tries to advertise using women of â€Å"average† proportions to promote their product. The backlash that ensued after the billboards displaying a, â€Å"bevy of full-figured babes in bras and boyshorts† (Pozner). Quickly after the billboards were revealed, three well known men, Richard Roeper a Chicago Sun Times columnist, Bill Zwecker a CBS news anchor, and Lucio Guerrero another Chicago Sun Times columnist; all wrote articles in response to the billboards. The authors of the articles went on tangents of how these women are too obese to be in an ad campaign, and that the women are â€Å"disturbing† and â€Å"frightening† (Pozner). These men continued to say, â€Å"[w]hen we’re women in their underwear on billboards outside my living room windows, give me the fantasy babes, please† (qt. in Pozner). What we can do as a community is to support one another and to look at someone’s inner beauty rather than their outer beauty. We should have workshops in schools and different clubs that regularly discuss their opinions about body image and the media. Parents should be talking to their kids about how they feel and how much they love their child just the way they are. Schools should also not be providing candy in vending machines. Only healthy choices should be permitted. If we work together, and make an effective system that will reach out to our generation then we will be able to build a better community, then world.