My views on leaders and leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

My views on leaders and leadership - Essay Example It is worth mentioning that effective leadership is vital for organizations in order to survive in today’s challenging business environment (Jackson, 2011). The paper will describe a reflective essay on the conception of leadership which I have observed during my career progress. The objective of the paper is also to describe the most competitive and effectual leadership approach which I have undergone during the journey of my professional life. My views on leaders and leadership According to my perception, leaders guide the followers. If no one follows a particular person willingly, then he/she cannot be termed as a leader. The word â€Å"leader† in my sense is that person who perceives an overall understanding of the operational and managerial duties to be accomplished within an organization (such as a school or a business establishment). Leaders always take the key position in fulfillment of responsibilities or series of tasks. However, the imparting of the title â⠂¬Å"leader† alone is not sufficient to define the philosophy of true leadership. It is my subjective opinion about the leader that a person’s distinct and specialized strengths can place the basis of his/her leadership achievements to be labeled as a leader. Contextually, the central leadership power and personalities are related with personal and special strengths. The leadership strength is again observed to be linked with a particular career, the assigned job roles and duties of a person (Jackson, 2011). In this regard, I have found that no precise and replicable association subsists between individuals in the leadership role and the certain personalities or strengths of those individuals associated with leader. In an organization today, the leadership and followership are positioned in the progressively complex, undefined and dynamic business context with numerous realities on the basis of several values, urgencies and requirements (Jackson, 2011). My views on follo wers and followership According to my viewpoint, the ideology of true leadership necessitates decent followers. Followers can be personified in numerous ways, who are employees, citizens, investors and individuals having faith in their leaders. My belief is that leadership cannot happen without an effective leader-follower association. Yet, at times, frequently followers are given less priority in the leader-follower relationship and are observed with a negative implication. Several professionals believe that becoming a follower is the second appropriate alternative for a person to become a leader. However, my viewpoint perceives that being an effectual follower is just as significant and necessary as being a successful leader. Often, it can be observed that before a person ends up as being an effectual leader in an organization, he/she initially had played the vital role of being a follower with efficiency. Essentially, followership is the capability or readiness of a person to fol low the leader. As leadership is incomplete without followership, no matter how the followers are labeled, they are just central to the ideology of leadership, being equivalent to the importance of organizational leaders (Ricketts, 2009). Leadership theories and experiences The leadership theories serve as a framework

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet Essay Example for Free

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet Essay Many people fear the Internet because of its disadvantages. They claim to not use the Internet because they are afraid of the possible consequences or are simply not interested. People who have yet connected to the Internet claim they are not missing anything. Today’s technological society must realize that it is up to them to protect themselves on the Internet. Children using the Internet have become a big concern. Most parents do not realize the dangers involved when their children connect to the Internet. When children are online, they can easily be lured into something dangerous. For example, children may receive pornography online by mistake; therefore, causing concern among parents everywhere. Whether surfing the Web, reading newsgroups, or using email, children can be exposed to extremely inappropriate material. To keep children safe, parents and teachers must be aware of the dangers. They must actively guide and guard their children online. There are a number of tools available today that may help keep the Internet environment safer for children. Musicians are also concerned with disadvantages to the Net such as, accessibility and freedom. They are upset because the Internet provides their music online at no charge to consumers. File-sharing services, such as Napster, provide copyrighted songs to all Internet users. The main concern is the music is free! Musicians feel they are not getting paid for their work. Because of Napster, it is almost impossible to close down all file-sharing services because there are too many of them to count. Another major disadvantage of the Internet is privacy. Electronic messages sent over the Internet can be easily tracked, revealing who is talking to whom and what they are talking about. As people surf the Internet, they are constantly giving information to web sites. People should become aware that the collection, selling, or sharing of the information they provide online increases the chances that their information will fall into the wrong hands. When giving personal information on the Internet, people should make sure the Web site is protected with a recognizable security symbol. On the other hand, this does not mean they are fully protected because anyone may obtain a user’s information. In other words, the most common Internet crimes are frauds. Today, not only humans getting viruses, but computers are also. Computers are mainly getting these viruses from the Internet, yet viruses may also be transferred through floppy disks. However, people should mainly be concerned about receiving viruses from the Internet. Some of these dangerous viruses destroy the computer’s entire hard drive, meaning that the user can no longer access the computer. Virus protection is highly recommended. Despite all of the terrible disadvantages of the Internet, there are numerous advantages. In fact, the advantages weigh out the disadvantages. The most common thing the Internet is used for is research. Children and students are among the top people who use the Internet for research. Nowadays, it is almost required that students use the Internet for research. The Internet has become one of the biggest sources for research. Almost everyday, research on medical issues becomes easier to locate. Web sites have become available for people to research diseases and talk to doctors online at sites such as, America’s Doctor. Entertainment is another popular reason why many people surf the Internet. Downloading games, going into chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the uses people have discovered. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet at no charge. Chat rooms are popular because users can meet new and interesting people. In fact, the Internet has been used by people to find life long partners. When people surf the Web, there are numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found on the Internet. Another popular thing to do on the Internet is to check out the news. Almost all local news can be obtained through the Internet. Up to date sports scores are probably the most popular looked at news. Sports scores are updated on the Internet as soon as the game ends. Weather is also a popular source to look up on the Internet. Using the Internet to get the weather allows people to view weather all over the world. Live radar all over the country and local forecasts are just to name a few of the things that may be obtained for weather information on the Internet. Shopping online has also become a huge success and is considered a great advantage of the Internet. No matter what people are shopping for, it can be found on the Internet. People do not even have to leave their homes. A few companies have collected millions of dollars using the Internet for selling. Clothing is probably one of the most bought items online. Almost every major clothing store has its on Web site. In fact, In US, people can even go grocery shopping online using such sites as Priceline.com. Just one click of the mouse on the items they want to purchase and the items are delivered to their front door. Unfortunately, this kind of service is not yet available in Malaysia for the time being. Groceries and clothing are only a few of the items that may be bought on the Internet. In conclusion, today’s society is in the middle of a technological boom. People can either choose to take advantage of this era, or simply let it pass them by. The Internet is a very powerful tool. It has many advantages; however, people need to be extremely aware of the disadvantages as well.

Cryptography and Network Security Applications

Cryptography and Network Security Applications Part I Cryptography and Data Security Role of Cryptography in Securing Data Cryptography plays a key role in securing any company’s online data. Encryption is the most widely used method to implement cryptography on the companies’ data as it secures the data while simultaneously allowing it to be transferred to others. It is very difficult for an outsider to break into an encrypted file and access the sensitive information. Encryption acts as a crucial component of security for protecting the cloud storage data as it is vulnerable to being attacked by outsiders, for concealing the operating systems, and for keeping security on emails which are the most common method of communication in business. Purpose of Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryptions In symmetric encryption, the message is encrypted by the application of a secret key which can be in the form of a number, a word, or an alphanumeric string. The key is applied to the message (also known as plaintext) by the sender, and as long as the recipient has the key, they can decrypt the encrypted message (also known as cipher-text). Confidentiality is achieved by this method of encryption. If the symmetric key is changed in every session of communication the key is known as a session key that is valid for one session only and this provides improved confidentiality. This is a traditional method of encryption, using it becomes frantic when secure communication is needed by a number of employees in an organization as everyone will have a number of keys to communicate with different individuals. Secure key distribution among all the members is another problem in using symmetric encryption. In order to resolve these issues, Asymmetric encryption should be used in this organization. Each member has two keys namely public and private key. Public keys are used to encrypt and decrypt messages which are to be shared among all the members of the organization. Private keys are for to secure a private communication taking place between two persons. In this way, the all public and private communication inside premises is secured using these authentication methods and the files shared with these messages as attachments are also secured. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Algorithm: This algorithm is trusted as a standard by most government organizations as it is tremendously efficient in protecting the data of 128-bit. However, it is also used for data of 192 and 256 bits.Message Authentication Code  (MAC) Algorithm: This is also known as a tag, it is small information used for  authenticating a message which means it confirms the authenticity of the message by checking that the received message has been sent by the authenticated sender of it. The MAC value helps in protecting a messages  data authenticity and its integrity, by allowing the concerned persons to detect if the content of the message has been changed. Digital Signatures Digital signatures are commonly used for verifying the authenticity of digital documents and messages. It ensures the recipient that the received message has come from a known sender and the integrity of the message has not been altered during its transmission process. Since all the paper documents in the organization are now replaced with the electronic documents, digital signatures can be considered as an alternative to ink signatures and stamps of authenticity. Application of digital signatures offers authentication, integrity, and most importantly non-repudiation, i.e. one cannot deny their signature later if they have signed the document. Hence, digital signatures should be considered as one of the security measures while planning data security in this organization. These features can improve the transparency and security among the businesses through communications. These are basically comprised of 3 algorithms namely key generation algorithm, signing algorithm, and a signature verifying algorithm. It is very easy to create digital signatures, one can just open the electronic document that needs to be signed in an electronic signature tool such as Docusign or Microsoft office tools. Further steps differ as per the tool and document and these steps are instructed to the user as he opens the document in the tool. Users just have to follow the instructions and verify their identity in order to add their digital signatures on the document. When messages are sent after being digitally signed, the hash value ensures that no changes have been made in the document. All of this handled automatically handled by a software tool, which shows warning if a decrypted hash value produces an altered output. The encrypted value of the hash is added to the bottom or as an attachment in the email. Part II Cryptographic Keys and User Authentication   Ã‚  Ã‚  A user authentication system can be recommended to provide strict authenticity for users to access the companys resources. In this system, an identity is stated by the users who then applies an authenticator such as a password or a security key or combination of both of these in order to validate their identity. The security key presented by the user to verify their identity must be unique so that it authenticates only one particular user. The keys should be made in such a way that they are easy to remember by the user but cannot be stolen, copied, or forged. The process of revoking the previous key and issuing a new key should be easy. It should be impossible for the users to transfer their security keys to another user. The system should be protected against any attacker during the transit of data. Asymmetric encryption methods can be used as one of the user authentication methods to validate this system. Since the information secured through cryptographic keys depends directly on the key strength, key mechanisms and protocols effectiveness, and afforded protection. It is important to have a proper key management system in order to ensure proper distribution of keys. The user authentication should be made in such a way that it offers key protection against any modification. Private keys should be protected against any type of unauthorized disclosure. System Recommended for Employees to Get Discounts on Fruit Juice and Nut Bar The system recommended for the employees to make proper use of ijuice.com and nutbar.com is that when the employees click on the link given on the employee benefits page, a login or signup page should appear. If the employee is new to the system, they employee must make an account on the product website by signing up using their authentic credentials and their confidential employee ID along with a username or password that would be the key they use to access their account. As the user logs into the website, a session is created, and by the received login information of the user, special discount coupons unique to the employee is available to be added to their accounts so that they can use the coupon when they purchase any specific coupon applicable item. Once the user logs out from their account, the session is terminated, and the information about the session remains safe with the servers of ijuice.com and nutbar.com. Part III Secure Cloud Computing for Handling the Companys Data Implementation   John will want to implement most of the data used and stored for the company in a virtual cloud system. This will provide a certain effective measurement of security, efficiency, transfer methods, time saving and cost reductions. The first step in implementing cloud based storage is the replacement of physical infrastructures with virtual infrastructures. A software layer generates a virtual instance of the hardware as the controlling software point and is much easier to manage, interactive with, share and make changes too.  The second step, includes the decision making process of what cloud storage system would be best suited for the company. A common cloud service is ‘Google Drive’ ‘Oricle’ or IBM. These cloud services offer a greater visability into the usage and cost of virtual infrastructure as well as assisting in tracking and assessing shared computer resource usage accuracy. The third step of implementing cloud is realizing in companies where most of the work data flow demands server regularity without the interference of attacks and that’s where cloud security comes in. Blowfish, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), and RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) are some of the most commonly used cloud computing algorithms to provide efficient security to cloud platforms. AES encryption algorithms were described previously, but RSA encryption relies upon the computational difficulty of processing large integer values. The strength of this encryption is left up to the key size which are usually 1024- or 2048-bits in length, which is huge and is why it would be a great choice to implement upon cloud infrastructure storage security. Risks Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks: These attacks prevents the users from accessing the services by flooding the systems or networks with traffic to make the resources work on unnecessary data or inevitably crash which then prevents the user from accessing their data . Such attacks have more computational power in cloud computing.Malware Injection Attack: These attacks inject harmful software to the victims data in the cloud and takes control of it. The results of successful injection can be very disastrous, it can even allow the propagation of computer worms which then can potentially use the company’s data distribution methods as a platform to spread the attack to individuals or groups who authentically interact with the company’s data.Side Channel Attack: These attacks place a virtual machine with the victim’s virtual machine in order to target cryptographic implementation of the systems instead of using any theoretical weaknesses of the algorithms or any other force. Cache attack, timing attack, power – monitoring attack, electromagnetic attack, acoustic cryptanalysis, differential fault analysis, data reminisce, and software-initiated fault attacks are different forms of side channel attacks. Countermeasures The data stored in the cloud must be zipped up with either a password or AES encryption and the keys must not be shared with anyone.Login authentication should not be simple in terms of guess work and rather should implement multifactor authentication.A CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) should be hired to manage the cloud after installation.Data integrity must be verified by implementing data encryption and decryption over the wire. It is advisable to use cloud computing for the operational purposes in order to reduce the hardware infrastructure cost and maintain efficient management of databases and confidential data if all the vulnerabilities are taken care of by using proper countermeasures. Part IV Business and Blockchain Integration Blockchain technology has created a backbone for a new kind of internet. A blockchains store information across a network of computers making them not just decentralized but distributed which means no single individual or company owns a system but everyone can use it and help run it. It can be looked at in three different ways: technical, legal, and business (Nair & Sebastian, 2017).  As per technical aspect, it could be seen as a backend database which has a distributed ledger. As per business aspect, it is an exchange network that can be used by peers for transferring value. This mechanism validates a transaction and may validate it from a legal point of view. There is no requirement of any middlemen to make a transaction valid. In order to ensure proper functioning of blockchains at such a corporate level, a consensus algorithm is required which must be secure, functional, and efficient. â€Å"Proof of work†, â€Å"Proof of Authority†, and â€Å"Proof of stake† are some of the consensus algorithm which are considered as potential for blockchain integration. However, the use of a â€Å"Proof of Work† algorithm has already been started for blockchains in Bitcoins. Blockchains can enhance the security in three different forms which are: blockage of identity thefts, prevention from denial of service attacks, and prevention of data tampering. Advantages It allows people to sell or buy anything they like to and or from anybody in the world, without letting any other party to interfere and impose rules upon them.Every consumer can choose their identity in transactions, such can remain anonymous, public, or private as per their choice.Approach used in blockchains for storing DNS entries could increase security by eliminating the single target that can be attacked by the hackers. This will not cause the entire system to be compromised by the attack.Blockchain will also eliminate the network fees on DNS reads and will only charge for new entries and updates, of course depending upon the DNS provider that John chooses to go with. Drawbacks Financial services will be impacted as blockchain is defined as everything that a bank does.Government services as one can choose to buy or sell anything to anyone without any geographical boundaries. No one will go to government departments for completing the formalities.Blockchains will require a lot of computational power as compared to centralized database processes. Blockchain provides the ability for every node in the network to process the request independently.Existing currencies are regulated and created by the national governments, but blockchain and a product of blockchain such as Bitcoin will face hurdles in being adopted by the already existing financial institutions if the regulation status of the governments remain unsettled. References Stallings, W., & Tahiliani, M. P. (2014).  Cryptography and network security: principles and practice  (Vol. 6). London: Pearson. Jonsson, J., Moriarty, K., Kaliski, B., & Rusch, A. (2016). PKCS# 1: RSA Cryptography Specifications Version 2.2. Salomaa, A. (2013).  Public-key cryptography. Springer Science & Business Media. Hernandez, K. (2017). Blockchain for Development–Hope or Hype?. Nair, G. R., & Sebastian, S. (2017). BlockChain Technology Centralised Ledger to Distributed Ledger. Rittinghouse, J. W., & Ransome, J. F. (2016).  Cloud computing: implementation, management, and security. CRC press. Stojmenovic, I. (2014, November). Fog computing: A cloud to the ground support for smart things and machine-to-machine networks. In  Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (ATNAC), 2014 Australasian  (pp. 117-122). IEEE.

Dr. Richard P. Feynman Essay -- Physics Biography Biographies

The Early Life of Dr. Richard P. Feynman Richard Feynman was a modern Renaissance man. Hailed as a scientist, musician, Nobel Laureate, and teacher. He played in a street band in Rio de Janerio, deciphered Mayan hieroglyphics, a fundamental contributor to quantum electrodynamics, and one of two learned men of his time on Tanna Tuva, his experience and skill were of a broad range and applications. Born in 1918 in Far Rockaway, New York, Richard Feynman started working with and studying electronics at a young age. At eleven, he began to repair radio systems as a hobby, for hotels and homes alike. Because it was the Depression, and he worked for free, he received a good deal of demand. He wasn't trying to make a profit; he wanted to learn more about them, by repairing. His spare time was usually spent experimenting with various different electronics. He once crafted a radio that could pick up signals from Texas, and used it to "predict" radio shows, by listening to them a few hours before the local stations broadcast them. At seventeen, he attended MIT, studying physics and graduating after four years as a physics major. During this time he met Arlene, whom he married in 1941. She shared a vigor for life with Feynman, and served as a point of constancy in his life. He went on to study at Princeton after graduating from MIT in 1943. Here he had another experiment; if you take a S-shaped sprinkler, submerge it in water, and vacuum water into it, which direction does it turn, the same as if it were spraying water into air, or the opposite? The debate for this question went on long enough, that Feynman decided to go out and DO it. By placing such a sprinkler into a large water bottle, and pressurizing the water to push water int... ... light also brought about the discovery of Tuvan throat-singers, singers of a particular style that they can harmonize with themselves, something previously thought to be impossible. In 1985, Feynman published his book, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, an autobiography which relates his life and personal anecdotes, which was a national bestseller for 14 weeks. Posthumously, the sequel, What Do You Care What Other People Think?, was also published. In 1987, Feynman was discovered to have another cancerous tumor. Although this one was also remover, it left him greatly weakened. He was admitted to a hospital again in February 1988 for a gastrointestinal ulcer, which destroyed his other kidney. Although he could have extended his lifespan by using a dialysis machine, he declined that to accept a natural death. Dr. Richard P. Feynman died on February 15, 1988.

The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 12

Elena checked the edges of the hotel room's draperies for signs of dawn. Bonnie was curled up, drowsing in a chair by the window. Elena and Meredith had been up all night, and now they were surrounded by scattered printouts, newspapers, and pictures from the Internet. â€Å"It's already spread beyond Fell's Church,† Meredith explained, pointing to an article in one of the papers. â€Å"I don't know if it's following ley lines, or being controlled by Shinichi – or is just moving on its own, like any parasite.† â€Å"Did you try to contact Alaric?† Meredith glanced at Bonnie's sleeping figure. She spoke softly, â€Å"That's the good news. I'd been trying to get him forever, and I finally managed. He'll be arriving in Fell's Church soon – he just has one more stop first.† Elena drew her breath in. â€Å"One more stop that's more important than what's going on in that town?† â€Å"That's why I didn't tell Bonnie about him coming. Or Matt either. I knew they wouldn't understand. But – I'll give you one guess as to what kind of legends he's following up in the Far East.† Meredith fixed dark eyes on Elena's. â€Å"Not†¦it is, isn't it? Kitsune?† â€Å"Yes, and he's going to a very ancient place where they were supposed to have destroyed the town – just as Fell's Church is being destroyed. Nobody lives there now. That name – Unmei no Shima – means the Island of Doom. Maybe he'll find something important about fox spirits there. He's doing some kind of multicultural independent study with Sabrina Dell. She's Alaric's age, but she's already a famous forensic anthropologist.† â€Å"And you're not jealous?† Elena said awkwardly. Personal issues were difficult to talk about with Meredith. Asking her questions always felt like prying. â€Å"Well.† Meredith tipped back her head. â€Å"It isn't as if we have any formal engagement.† â€Å"But you never told anybody about all this.† Meredith lowered her head and gave Elena a quick look. â€Å"I have now,† she said. For a moment the girls sat together in silence. Then Elena said quietly, â€Å"The Shi no Shi, the kitsune, Isobel Saitou, Alaric and his Island of Doom – they may not have anything to do with each other. But if they do, I'm going to find out what it is.† â€Å"And I'm going to help,† Meredith said simply. â€Å"But I had thought that after I graduated†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Elena couldn't stand it anymore. â€Å"Meredith, I promise, as soon as we get Stefan back and the town calmed down, we'll pin Alaric down with Plans A through Z,† she said. She leaned forward and kissed Meredith's cheek. â€Å"That's a velociraptor sisterhood oath, okay?† Meredith blinked twice, swallowed once, and whispered, â€Å"Okay.† Then, abruptly, she was her old efficient self again. â€Å"Thank you,† she said. â€Å"But cleaning up the town might not be such an easy job. It's already heading toward mass chaos there.† â€Å"And Matt wanted to be in the middle of it all? Alone?† Elena asked. â€Å"Like we said, he and Mrs. Flowers are a solid team,† Meredith said quietly. â€Å"And it's what he's chosen.† â€Å"Well,† Elena said drily, â€Å"he may turn out to have the better deal in the end, after all.† They went back to the scattered papers. Meredith picked up several pictures of kitsune guarding shrines in Japan. â€Å"It says they're usually depicted with a ‘jewel' or key.† She held up a picture of a kitsune holding a key in its mouth at the main gate of the Fushimi Shrine. â€Å"Aha,† Elena said. â€Å"Looks like the key's got two wings, doesn't it?† â€Å"Exactly what Bonnie and I thought. And the ‘jewels'†¦well, take a close look.† Elena did and her stomach lurched. Yes, they were like the â€Å"snow globe† orbs that Shinichi had used to create unbreakable traps in the Old Wood. â€Å"We found they're called hoshi no tama,† Meredith said. â€Å"And that translates to ‘star balls.' Each kitsune puts a measure of their power into one, along with other things, and destroying the ball is one of the only ways to kill them. If you find a kitsune's star ball, you can control the kitsune. That's what Bonnie and I want to do.† â€Å"But how do you find it?† Elena asked, excited by the idea of controlling Shinichi and Misao. â€Å"Sa†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Meredith said, pronouncing the word â€Å"sah† like a sigh. Then she gave one of her rare brilliant smiles. â€Å"In Japanese, that means: ‘I wonder; hmm; wouldn't want to comment; my gosh, golly, I really couldn't say.' We could use a word like that in English.† Despite herself, Elena giggled. â€Å"But, then, other stories say that kitsune can be killed by the Sin of Regret or by blessed weapons. I don't know what the Sin of Regret is, but – † She rummaged in her luggage, and came up with an old-fashioned but serviceable-looking revolver. â€Å"Meredith!† â€Å"It was my grandpa's – one of a pair. Matt's got the other one. They're loaded with bullets blessed by a priest.† â€Å"What priest would bless bullets, for God's sake?† Elena demanded. Meredith's smile turned bleak. â€Å"One that's seen what's happening in Fell's Church. You remember how Caroline got Isobel Saitou possessed, and what Isobel did to herself?† Elena nodded. â€Å"I remember,† she said tautly. â€Å"Well, do you remember how we told you that Obaasan – Grandma Saitou – used to be a shrine maiden? That's a Japanese priestess. She blessed the bullets for us, all right, and specifically for killing kitsune. You should have seen how spooky the ritual was. Bonnie almost fainted again.† â€Å"Do you know how Isobel is doing now?† Meredith shook her dark head slowly. â€Å"Better but – I don't think she even knows about Jim yet. That's going to be very tough on her.† Elena tried to quell a shudder. There was nothing but tragedy in store for Isobel even when she got well. Jim Bryce, her boyfriend, had spent only one night with Caroline, but now had Lesch-Nye disease – or so the doctors said. In that same dreadful night that Isobel had pierced herself everywhere, and cut her tongue so that it forked, Jim, a handsome star basketball player, had eaten away his fingers and his lips. In Elena's opinion they were both possessed and their injuries were only more reasons why the kitsune twins had to be stopped. â€Å"We'll do it,† she said aloud, realizing for the first time that Meredith was holding her hand as if Elena were Bonnie. Elena managed a faint but determined smile for Meredith. â€Å"We'll get Stefan out and we'll stop Shinichi and Misao. We have to do it.† This time it was Meredith who nodded. â€Å"There's more,† she said at last. â€Å"You want to hear it?† â€Å"I need to know everything.† â€Å"Well, every single source I checked agrees that kitsune possess girls and then lead boys to destruction. What kind of destruction depends on where you look. It can be as simple as appearing as a will-o'-the-wisp and leading you into a swamp or off a cliff, or as difficult as shapeshifting.† â€Å"Oh, yes,† Elena said tightly. â€Å"I knew that from what happened to you and Bonnie. They can look exactly like someone.† â€Å"Yes, but always with some small flaw if you have the wits to notice it. They can never make a perfect replicate. But they can have up to nine tails, and the more tails they have, the better at everything they are.† â€Å"Nine? Terrific. We've never even seen a nine-tailed one.† â€Å"Well, we may get to yet. They're supposed to be able to cross over freely from one world to another. Oh, yes. And they're specifically in charge of the ‘Kimon' Gate between dimensions. Want to guess what that translates to?† Elena stared at her. â€Å"Oh, no.† â€Å"Oh, yes.† â€Å"But why would Damon take us all the way across the country, just to get in through a Demon Gate that's run by fox spirits?† â€Å"Sa†¦But when Matt told us you were headed to someplace near Sedona, that was really what decided Bonnie and me.† â€Å"Great.† Elena ran her hands through her hair and sighed. â€Å"Anything else?† she asked, feeling like a rubber band that had been stretched to its utmost. â€Å"Only this, which ought to really bake your cookies after all we've been through. Some of them are good. Kitsune, I mean.† â€Å"Some of them are good – good what? Good fighters? Good assassins? Good liars?† â€Å"No, really, Elena. Some of them are supposed to be like gods and goddesses who sort of test you, and if you pass the test they reward you.† â€Å"Do you think we should count on finding one like that?† â€Å"Not really.† Elena dropped her head to the coffee table where Meredith's printouts were scattered. â€Å"Meredith, seriously, how are we going to deal with them when we go through that Demon Gate? My Power is about as reliable as a low battery. And it's not just the kitsune; it's all the different demons and vampires – Old Ones, too! What are we going to do?† She raised her head and looked deeply into the eyes of her friend – those dark eyes that she had never been able to classify as this color or that. To her surprise, Meredith instead of looking sober, tossed back the dregs of a Diet Coke and smiled. â€Å"No Plan A yet?† â€Å"Well†¦maybe just an idea. Nothing definite yet. What about you?† â€Å"A few that might qualify for Plans B and C. So what we're going to do is what we always do – try our best and fall all over ourselves and make mistakes until you do something brilliant and save us all.† â€Å"Merry† – Meredith blinked. Elena knew why – she hadn't used that diminutive for Meredith for more years than she could remember. None of the three girls liked pet names or used them. Elena went on very seriously, holding Meredith's eyes, â€Å"There's nothing I want more than to save everybody – everybody – from these kitsune bastards. I'd give my life for Stefan and all of you. But†¦this time it may be somebody else who takes the bullet.† â€Å"Or the stake. I know. Bonnie knows. We talked about it while we were flying here. But we're still with you, Elena. You have to know that. We're all with you.† There was only one way to reply to that. Elena gripped Meredith's hand in both of hers. Then she let out her breath, and, like probing an aching tooth, tried to get news on a sore subject. â€Å"Does Matt – did he – well, how was Matt when you left?† Meredith glanced at her sideways. Not much got past Meredith. â€Å"He seemed okay, but – distracted. He would go off into these fits where he'd just stare at nothing, and he wouldn't hear you if you spoke to him.† â€Å"Did he tell you why he left?† â€Å"Well†¦sort of. He said that Damon was hypnotizing you and that you weren't – weren't doing all you could to stop him. But he's a boy and boys get jealous – â€Å" â€Å"No, he was right about what he saw. It's just that I've – gotten to know Damon a little better. And Matt doesn't like that.† â€Å"Um-hm.† Meredith was watching her from under lowered eyelids, barely breathing, as if Elena was a bird that mustn't be disturbed or she'd fly away. Elena laughed. â€Å"It's nothing bad,† she said. â€Å"At least I don't think so. It's just that†¦in some ways Damon needs help even more than Stefan did when he first came to Fell's Church.† Meredith's eyebrows shot up, but all she said was, â€Å"Um-hm.† â€Å"And†¦I think that really Damon's a lot more like Stefan than he lets on.† Meredith's eyebrows stayed up. Elena finally looked at her. She opened her mouth once or twice and then she just stared at Meredith. â€Å"I'm in trouble, aren't I?† she said helplessly. â€Å"If all this comes from less than one week riding in a car with him†¦then, yes. But we have to remember that women are Damon's specialty. And he thinks he's in love with you.† â€Å"No, he really is – † Elena began, and then she caught her lower lip between her teeth. â€Å"Oh, God, this is Damon we're talking about. I am in trouble.† â€Å"Let's just watch and see what happens,† Meredith said sensibly. â€Å"He's definitely changed, too. Before, he would have just told you that your friends couldn't come – and that was it. Today he stuck around and listened.† â€Å"Yes. I just have to – to be on my guard from now on,† Elena said, a little unsteadily. How was she going to help the child inside Damon without getting closer to him? And how would she explain all she might need to do to Stefan? She sighed. â€Å"It'll probably be all right,† Bonnie muttered sleepily. Meredith and Elena both turned to look at her and Elena felt a chill go up her spine. Bonnie was sitting propped up, but her eyes were shut and her voice was indistinct. â€Å"The real question is: what will Stefan say about that night at the motel with Damon?† â€Å"What?† Elena's voice was sharp and loud enough to awaken any sleeper. But Bonnie didn't stir. â€Å"What happened what night at what motel?† Meredith demanded. When Elena didn't answer immediately, she caught Elena's arm and swung her so that they were face-to-face. At last Elena looked at her friend. But her eyes, she knew, gave away nothing. â€Å"Elena, what's she talking about? What happened with Damon?† Elena still kept her face perfectly expressionless, and used a word she'd learned just that night. â€Å"Sa†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Elena, you're impossible! You're not going to dump Stefan after you rescue him, are you?† â€Å"No, of course not!† Elena was hurt. â€Å"Stefan and I belong together – forever.† â€Å"But still you spent a night with Damon where something happened between you.† â€Å"Something†¦I guess.† â€Å"And that something was?† Elena smiled apologetically. â€Å"Sa†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I'll get it out of him! I'll put him on the defensive†¦.† â€Å"You can make a Plan A and Plan B and all,† Elena said. â€Å"But it won't help. Shinichi took his memories away. Meredith, I'm sorry – you don't know how sorry. But I swore that nobody would ever know.† She looked up at the taller girl, feeling tears pool in her eyes. Can't you just – once – let me leave it that way?† Meredith sank bank. â€Å"Elena Gilbert, the world is lucky there is only one of you. You are the†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She paused, as if deciding whether to say the words or not. Then she said, â€Å"It's time to get to bed. Dawn is going to come early and so is the Demon Gate.† â€Å"Merry?† â€Å"What now?† â€Å"Thank you.†

Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn

Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn Introduction The global economy has been striving for a sustainable growth following the global financial crisis and its recessionary impact; however, the advanced economy like Europe stay behind fragile still 2012 with a global growth of 4% although the emerging Asia nations evidenced better recovery rate up to 7 ¼% while the UK economy gained 4 ¾% (BIS 2010, p.8).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Under such economic downturn, the government of UK has aimed to establish foundation for new style of growth in the UK introducing aggressive and productive economy through training and skills development that would ultimately improve the living standards, climate change and efficient public service delivery and gear up the recovery rate. This paper has aimed to a ssess how the knowledge development and boost of intellectual skills and training for organisational development could assist to overcome the impact of current economic downturn in the national and international levels providing right direction for sustainable growth that would ultimately assist the policymakers for further research. The Theoretical Framework for Training and Skills Development Keating (2007) pointed out that the changing dynamics of employment patterns have generated the emergence for wider investigation with the theoretical framework for training and skills development in order to establish sustainable national skills strategy aimed to keep effective contribution to productivity and would capable to meet the international skill market demand. There are diverse methods of skills development practice in different countries with increasing complexities the skills development systems particularly address the local market needs while academia structure their learning d irection with compliance to the national direction for responsible skills ambitions. This part of the paper would discuss some theoretical framework essential to analyse the UK skills development and employment strategy aimed to establish an excellent human resource motivating the engagement of employer and employee aligned with skills for the future. Interventionist Views of Skill Development PRO-ED Inc (2010) mentioned that the interventionist views of skill development argued to focus on the activity-based where every intervention session would generate learning familiarities for both the interventionist along with the person who receiving that service, for instance the children and his guide working together has many things to learn vice versa.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Activity based learning involved to many complex things derived from the environment throughout intervention that is pleasant, tranquil, along with mutually supportive by the learner and teacher productive sessions, where the production process is very interesting for practical learning from operation, in the playground a child could learn how to play cricket that may difficult to taught at reading room. From the viewpoint of interventionists, the transformation of knowledge through activity-based scheme contributes to learning strict rules and regulation during intervention sessions that can develop capabilities to conquer the disturbing situation without troubling the others. Durrant (2012) pointed out that the Labour government during 1997 introduced the paradox in skills policy for the UK with delicately shifted direction aligned with voluntarism of skills demand, with framework of skills supply influenced by the interventionist role for the government directed to the private and public sector employees development with skills ambitions aimed to reach at the target. Strate gic Plan of UK for Employment and Skills Development UKCES (2009) pointed that the government of UK has set up its strategy for skills development with major two goals that is to generate sustainable economic growth and to deliver enough opportunity of employment for all working force of the country, the government also determined to shift the UK in to global leading position for employment and skills. The ‘UK Commission for Employment and Skills’1 is the governmental agency formed with the leaders of private and public sector and dedicated to implementing the such highly ambitious goals and empowered to provide necessary suggestion and direction to the top level the government to generate skills at all level of the country within 2010. Following the global financial crisis in 2008, the UKCES was organised and setup its board responsibilities to assess annually the progress in the employment and skills development, advice to create employment opportunity, improve skills , innovation, and productivity homogeneously all over the country to generate quick progress by encountering with the economic downturn. At the same time, the UKCES also responsible to formulate policy for skill development, implication of those policies, identify the challenges of implication and look after the delivery of innovation with wider engagement of the employees through adequate investment for the programme of workforce skill development.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More UK Policies and Practice for Skills Development UKCES (2010) pointed to its vision to establish the nation pedestal on with excellent skills aligned with sustainable economic growth and employment opportunities for all and setup its gaol to reach at world class skill levels and place UK at the top eighth of the OECD nations by 2020, it indicates that the country has to generate 20 million employment opportunity. During the last decade, millions of apprentices have achieved basic and intermediate skills, but there are significant numbers of unemployed among them, on the contrary, to meet the increasing needs of skills the UK employers are spending  £20 billion per annum for training and skills development; thus, it is really a great challenge for the government to attain vision 2020. To encounter with the challenges the government has set out following three strategic priorities Strategic Priority-1: Strategic Demand Oriented Employment and Skills System:   The top priority of employment and skills scheme is to generate sustainable economic growth through an efficient system that enables quick response to the market demand oriented supply of human resource with provocative skills competent for the future while the academia would assist the individuals to maximise their talents; Strategic Priority-2: Maximum Prospect of individual Skills and Sustainable Job Opportunity:   The UK would attain excellence of global standard workforce by 2020 and to do so, the next priority of the government would focus on individual ambitions providing maximum opportunity for all individuals to engage their talents in the right direction with appropriate training and skills development programme that would ultimately bring professional success and prosperity of the individual; Strategic Priority-3: Boost of Employer Ambition for Additional Investment for Skills Development:   At the preset stage, the non-wage expenditure of UK employers for staff training and skills development is  £20 billion while the government is spending  £12 billion adult learning and skills, in context of other competitors, the UK’s investment for skills development is very poor and emergence to raise this investment by motivating the willingness of employers i n this regard. Strategic Approach of the UK Government for Skills Development The strategic approach of the UK government for Skills and employment development has integrated with a five-step mode to attaining the long-term vision, the first step of the model provide analysis of the impact of skills development from individual engagement to the economic competitiveness along with social cohesion that generally assist to formulate policy and direction for practice.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Figure-1: UK Government’s Skills Development Model Source: UKCES (2009, p.12) At the second step the challenges are identified for increasing investment for skills development, at the third step the effective policies and incentives are organised and put for practice in the next step, the last step built performance based culture to assess the improvement. Figure 2: Qualifications Demand and Supply, 2006 Source: Felstead, Gallie, Green Zhou (2007, p.42) The UK Governments Strategies on Vocational Training UKCES (2011) noted that UK is comparatively low ranking among OECD nations in terms of the time used in vocational-training; moreover, the percentage of workers at job getting some form of regular vocational-training is rather low in benchmarks of EU; however, still it possesses the principal percentage of projects in comparison to other European countries concerned with vocational-training of workers. The following graph shows the percentage of workers getting some form of vocational training in the country; it is notable that in case of the UK, the percentage of workers is less than 35 percent, where as countries such as Czech Republic, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Finland, Belgium, France, and Sweden have a much better performance in terms of vocational training Figure 3: The percentage of workers getting vocational training Source: UKCES (2009) While such training performance is substantial in comparison with Asian-standards, the degree to which it would meet prerequisite of vocational-courses is doubted; UKCES (2009) noted that less than eighteen percent of the workers got a vocational-training that led towards a nationwide-acknowledged-qualification; to be specific, out of fourteen million workers receiving a vocational training, two and a half million got nationally-recognised-qualification. Because of this, the government of the United Kingdom undertook several strategies even within recession to mitigate the rising concerns relating to its train ing programs; for example, the UK Vocational Qualification Reform Programme (VQRP) has been designed to assist to address this apprehension; this programme is looking forward to improve the vocational training qualifications, making the entire scheme more receptive. It is anticipated that together with additionally supple methods of teaching appraisal, the Vocational Qualification Reform Programme would also permit apprentices to attain credentials in strong steps; in addition, it is notable that a remarkable aspect of this reorganization of the vocational courses is to generate an arrangement, which would meet the demands of employers for lesser entities of knowledge. One of the significant parts of the rearrangement is that the vocational training will be carried out within a system that provides development to a superiority guaranteed certificate; the government and other associated bodies have noted that if these reforms remain to be a success, then an rising percentage of emplo yers training their workers would focus on credentials acknowledged countrywide. However, AOC (2012) identified that there are no grounds to suppose that the United Kingdom’s Vocational Education and Training performs badly in contrast to Australia, Canada or Germany rather, this provides suppleness, strong eminence assertion procedures, efficient governmental assurances of superior benchmarks of professional significance, reliability, dependable and good-governance, administration, and coaching, as well as better clarity aspirations. Recession and job related training to develop skills Mason Bishop (2010, p.36) stated that the employers of this country have changed their policies to reduce costs related with the implementation of skills development plan and training process during the recessionary period; moreover, different employers have considered different forms of training programs, such as, the employers of 1990s focused more on the shorter-duration skilled developme nt program. However, CIPD (2012) provided survey report and mentioned that sales revenues and other business transactions declined significantly in the fiscal year 2008; therefore, a large part of the employers decreased their budget for training to reduce overall expenditure to sustain in the market, for instance, the following figure gives more details in this regard Figure 4: Change in training costs over previous 12 months- 2009 (n= 255) Source: Mason Bishop (2010, p.44) Figure 5: Training provision for core group workers: Comparison between 2008 and 2009 (n=270) Source: Mason Bishop (2010, p.44) On the other hand, UKCES (2009) reported that UK experienced growth in the job market in spite of adverse economic condition and reduction of employment rate in 2008. In addition, UKCES (2009, p.3) argued that the government have already taken many initiatives (Ambition 2020) in order recover the economy from recession and change the environment because the employers needed expert, high skill, and more competitive employees to evidence a radical change in terms of higher performance at lower cost. At the same time, UKCES (2009, p.6) identified that development of high skill labour force is one of the most difficult tasks for the employers because employers had cut the job of the skill employees and these employees may get job in other place where they can receive no training related with their job responsibilities. Moreover, the employers had reluctant to increase budget for the training purpose, which can be a significant cause to increase unskilled labour force at present; however, the next figure shows data for the employees under 16-64 age group Figure 6: Job-related training from 1993 to 2009 Source: Mason Bishop (2010, p.18) The above figure represents that Job-related training for all employees decreased dramatically from 2007 and increased low skill labour force in the UK. However, some positive and negative factors are Bewick (2009, p.26) stated that the UK faced â€Å"collective amnesia† due to shortage of skill employees, but global financial crisis mask masked these systemic weaknesses; However, the government of the UK amended statutory provisions and introduced Employment Law 2013 to develop this sector, for instance, all people between 16 and 17 years old in the UK must have to continue in education or training; The employment rate in the private sectors increased significantly in 2012 and this rate decreased in public sectors, which was the reflection of education and reclassification of training system; Introduction of new traineeships programme under new law to support young people and this programme includes work skills training, development of English and math proficiency level (DBIS 2013); Comparison of the UK with Germany and Netherlands According to Keating (2007), UK has developed a mixed-model in its work-training, skills, and VET scheme and in its method of encountering present and future-skills; t he fundamental arrangements of edification and training fluctuate throughout the four amalgamated realms Scotland is greatly independent in edification (but less in training), and institutions in Northern Ireland and Wales are inclusive with vocational-elements. Moreover, in England, secondary edification is varied in both conditions and curriculum; numerous apprentices are enthusiastic towards further education, whilst unsettled worry amid scholastic and professional credentials has resulted in an innovative set of vocational-programs; however, liability of VET segment had detached from local government in 1990s, and this segment has been exposed to various modernization from several governmental branches. Moreover, the country theoretically took an open-minded or deliberate approach for developing the skills and training of the apprentices; it applied several procedures to inspire employer and apprentice’s demand for training, including the People programme, Training Credi ts (coupons) and an income funding; fundamentally, this matter of constructing demand for training is the major confront of the deliberate and mixed model, Germany, in comparison, has endured numerous major tremors over the last couple of decades firstly, reunification has adjoined encumber of scientific and commercial backwardness, secondly, a lengthier procedure of partial-obsolescence of the training-system has generated chiefly middle-level-skills in context of increasing significance of high-skills-level, and thirdly, there has been extremely deprived performance and huge disparities in performance of German apprentices. This has led to substantial stress on VET-segment and Dual-Scheme of apprenticeship that offers the targets for about sixty percent of school-leavers; theoretically, the German scheme is demand-oriented, since it is mainly based on apprenticeship spaces that are offered principally by private segment corporations; nevertheless, it is an obverse end arrangement that provides a huge number of apprenticeship skilled employees. Keating (2007) also noted that the German scheme is highly controlled with a composite procedure that comprises the local governments and social-partners; it provides an approach where partakers are firmly incorporated within the course of shaping the necessity for and deliverance of credentials and training; UKCES (2012) noted that this intended-model incorporates governmental collaborators, and ties institutional-structures of VET: Figure 7: German Education/training model Source: UKCES (2012) In contrast, like Germany, Netherlands possesses curriculum-oriented vocational-training-system, but with superior of suppleness; it offers an occupation-oriented structure that recommends the substance and duration of training-courses: Figure 8: Netherlands’ Education/training model Source: UKCES (2012) Figure 9: Expenditure on training-related % of GDP (2005) Source: Meager (2008) Recommendation The government sho uld develop powerful monitoring committee to continue different training and skill programmes and assess the success of these programmes; To make the UK a global leader in skills, DfES (2006) recommended that that 95% adults have to take basic literacy knowledge, shifting the balance of intermediate skills from Level two to three, individuals have to raise their aspirations and awareness; The government should simplify the entire system including demand-led system in order to attract the employees of different cultural background to develop skills for the different sectors; The legal framework has not imposed any liability or obligation on the employers to train their employees; At the same time, the employers in the present recessionary period have provided less importance on training and decreased budget for training as part of their cost reduction programme. Therefore, the policy makers should arrange awareness programme in order to give the message to the employers that skill la bour force can increase productivity along with sales revenue by showing their performance in the workplace; There are many other factors to improve skills, such as, closer supervision of the labour supply, tackling inequality and consider enhanced ‘skills utilisation’, targeted support for displaced employees, strengthening the voice of employers, increase budget in the right sorts of training and arrange high-value-added training programme, and so on Reference List AOC 2012, UK Vocational Education and Training (VET) Towards a Comprehensive Strategy for International Development, aoc.co.uk/download.cfm?docid=9BBEDC33-505A-43BB-8B6322ADF6E60A20. Bewick, T 2009, UK employment and skills in a global recession, http://aces.shu.ac.uk/employability/resources/UKEmploymentSkillsIn%20GlobalRecession.pdf. BIS 2010, A Strategy For Sustainable Growth, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/31998/10-1059-sustainable-growth-economic-annex.pdf. CI PD 2012, Learning and Talent Development: Annual Survey Report, digitalopinion.co.uk/files/documents/CIPD_2012_LTD_Report.pdf. DBIS 2013, Employment law 2013: progress on reform, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/141918/13-P136-employment-law-2013-progress-on-reform1.pdf. DfES 2006, Prosperity for all in the global economy – world class skills: The Leitch review of skills and World class skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England, hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/leitch_finalreport051206.pdf. Durrant, H, 2012, Governing Skills, Governing Workplaces: State-steered Voluntarism in England under New Labour, http://opus.bath.ac.uk/32549/1/UnivBath_PhD_2012_H_Durrant.pdf. Felstead, A, Gallie, D, Green, F Zhou, Y 2007, Skills at Work, 1986 to 2006, cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/contactsandpeople/alanfelstead/SkillsatWork-1986to2006.pdf. Keating, J 2007, Matching supply of and demand for skills: International perspectives, flinders.edu.au/sabs/nil s-files/reports/NCVER_DMS_43287-v7-Program_5_2.pdf. Mason, G Bishop, K 2010, Adult Training, Skills Updating and Recession in the UK: The Implications for Competitiveness and Social Inclusion, llakes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/T.-Adult-Training-Skills-Updating-and-Recession.pdf. Meager, N, 2008, The Role of Training and Skills Development in Active Labour Market Policies, employment-studies.co.uk/pdflibrary/wp15.pdf. UKCES 2009, Ambition 2020: World Class Skills and Jobs for the UK, ukces.org.uk/publications/ambition2020. UKCES 2010, Skills for Jobs: Today and Tomorrow, ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/publications/national-strategic-skills-audit-for-england-2010-volume-1-key-findings.pdf. UKCES 2011, UK Employer Skills Survey 2011: First Findings, ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/publications/uk-ess-first-findings-2011-amended-22-dec.pdf. UKCES 2012, International approaches to the development of intermediate level skills and apprenticeships, ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/pu blications/evidence-report-42-international-approaches-synthesis-report.pdf. Footnotes UKCES