Assessing Foreign Markets Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Assessing Foreign Markets - Term Paper Example However, entry into a new market requires comprehensive study and exploration of different factors in order to make more informed decision before entering the market. As such the development of a framework for entering into new foreign market can provide critical insight to a firm to make better decision to enter the market. A comprehensive framework therefore may include the exploration of factors such as decision of identifying foreign market, overall timing of entry into that market, deciding on the scale and commitment and entry mode are some of the factors which should be covered to make a better decision. This paper will develop and construct a comprehensive framework for making entry in the Mobile Phones Market in India. Based on the different factors identified in the framework, paper will than present an analysis of these factors in order to make more informed decision to enter into this market Strategic Reasons As a prelude to the use of any strategic framework to enter int o a market, it is always important for the global firms to identify the strategic reasons for which entry into a foreign market is made. Firms adapting a transnational strategy often remain in search for simultaneously achieving low cost advantage through the location and experience economies while at the same time enjoying economies of scale and taking advantage of learning curve. Firms adapting such strategy therefore often enter into different geographical markets in order to take advantage of cost reduction and achieve diversification. (Hill) India being one of the growing economies of the world therefore can provide firm some clearly identified competitive advantage. Considering the transnational strategy of the firm, entering into India market will not only allow to achieve economies of scale but also enjoy the benefit of location and experience economies. Since developed markets are leading towards maturity stage in mobile phone industry therefore it is critical for global fi rms to continue to look for growing markets such as India in order to take advantage of the economic growth made by such countries. It is also significant to note that firms working at the global level could only compete if they enjoy low cost manufacturing or services set up. Consistent focus on reducing the costs could only allow the firm to remain profitable in global market therefore markets like India can offer this opportunity. This is based upon the fact that India has well established technological base as well as qualified human resource. These resources therefore can encourage any international firm to look for entering the market and enjoy low cost operations while at the same time penetrate into a new and growing market with potential to earn higher returns. Comprehensive Framework Following elements will be included in the comprehensive framework in order to analyze the decision of making an entry into Mobile Phones market in India: Identification of foreign market This parameter will be used

What Is Talent Management?

What Is Talent Management? Chapter 1 Introduction Background of the study There has been a paradigm shift in the business environment across the world which has led to a growing demand of more efficient and phenomenal results from the scheduled operations and routine activities. This applies primarily to the field of human resource management which stands accountable for the acquisition, development, utilization and retention of the human capital. The present, as is evident, is immensely competitive, be it in terms of sourcing activities, investor relations, technological advancement or simply the workforce. The human resource managers are now faced with the double-edged sword of identifying, selecting and nurturing potential talent and also to formulate and implement pertinent strategies that can effectively contribute towards the achievement of organizational objectives. Hence, the biggest challenge that comes across the human resource panels is to get a hold of limited and thinning pool of skilled accessible candidates to replace important employees whe n they leave, hugely emphasizing the difficulty to attract, develop, motivate and retain the best employees in an organization. Authors, academicians and business experts alike maintain different views and opinions regarding the meaning of â€Å"talent†. Talent can be anything that predisposes an individual to success in a position or organization (Jason Lauritsen, 2010). The author further supports this view by stressing that talent is situational. A person can be advantageous because of his natural ability in one scenario but not necessarily in others. This means that in order to be successful that person has to be placed in a right role within an organization so that his abilities and capacities can manifest as talent to drive the success of the business. Another view maintains that talent can allegedly be a potential trait, a symptom of inherent ability, a foreshadowing of future greatness, or a way of describing an individuals early achievements or performance merits (Downey Greg, 2009). Whilst at the same time paradoxically, talent can be understood as the reason why some experts are more capable than others; unlike a concept like jeito, (a Brazilian term for knack), talent is more often than not generally very much task specific or specialized, even while a talented person is believed to be often quite versatile. Talent is specifically opposed to hard work or determination, implying that skill is primarily a mix of natural talent and hard work, in various proportions and quantum. Likely, talent is very much an idea or a skill that some people learn faster, more effortlessly, and with greater effect. In certain ways, talent can be thought of as a multiplier, enabling a person to achieve more out of formative experiences and activit ies. Keeping such ideas in mind, in the business purview, â€Å"talent management† is the process of matching capabilities with commitments (Donald H Taylor, 2007). This describes the aim of the entire talent management process. It underscores that talent management rather than being aimed at an individual focuses on the entire organization so as to ensure that the firm is able to achieve its set targets for both, the present and the future. The encompassed assumption here is that capability is based on an organizations sole source of value and competitive advantage in a developed economy: its human capital. â€Å"Talent management† comprises identifying a persons innate skills, traits, individuality and fitting him into the right work profile; every individual possesses unique talent that matches an exacting job profile and any other position will lead to discomfort (Salma Aliakabar, 2004). It therefore falls under the Management, specifically the HR Division, to situate candidates with discretion and prudence simply because a wrong fit can result in additional hiring, re-training and all such wasteful activities. â€Å"Talent management† is a complex assortment of associated HR processes that delivers an easy elementary benefit for any business (SHRM, 2009). Talent Management can be easily considered to be advantageous and important to both the organization and the workforce. The organization gains from: improved productivity and potential; an enhanced association between a persons efforts and business goals; commitment of esteemed workforce; reduced employee turnover rate; Better bench strength and an improved fit between individuals work and skills. Employees gain from: Enhanced motivation and dedication; career growth; increased awareness about and involvement in companys goals; Continued inspiration and job satisfaction. Analyst research has established that companies employing talent management strategies and solutions display superior performance than their direct competitors and the market in broad (SHRM Survey, 2009). About 83% of the large enterprises view integrated talent management as mission critical and upto 73% of HR professionals believe that talent management impacts the financial performance positively (Softscape Global HR Survey, 2009). As per the Talent Pulse Survey, (2005) about 1,400 HR professionals worldwide believed the attraction and retention of high-caliber employees as the most critical issue. These issues were further underscored by the fact that 54% of the respondents agree that talent issues have an influence on overall productivity and that there is a clear linkage between talent management and industry performance. HRVote, Human Resources magazines online voting forum reported that 44% of the respondents implied talent management and succession planning was a considerabl e challenge. According to an IDC study U.S. HR BPO 2005 Vendor Analysis: The Evolving Landscape, 37% of U.S. HR outsourcing expenses in 2004 was on HR and talent management services. Several taxing workforce problems confront HR, counting: Increased competition for skilled personnel. Imminent retirement of the â€Å"baby boomer† generation workers. Reduced levels of employee commitment. Realization of the high cost of the employee turnover. Onerous demands of managing global human capital. Necessity of succession planning. Outsourcing and off shoring practices. This necessitates novel thinking and a new charge to achieve success in an industry. These elements, coupled with the requirement to align workers directly with business goals, compel HR to progress from policy formation, cost diminution, process competence and risk management to lashing a fresh talent frame of mind in the organization. Therefore, talent management is an ongoing process that provides the optimal personnel for a particular business. Under this role, HR performs as the strategic enabler and a catalyst of talent management processes that empower the managers and workforce whilst developing business value. Taleos graphical representation stresses upon the mandate of talent management to be responsive to the organizational goals and accordingly be the driving force behind the business performance. Herein, talent management is denoted as a circular and not a linear, module of activities. In the present scenario, workforce expenditure is the prevalent category of pay out for most organizations. Automation and analysis of the recruitment and hiring processes of a firm delivers the abrupt labor force visibility and insights that are needed to notably perk up the bottom line. Performance management contributes towards the ongoing processes and activities to sustain a vast workforce. The future prospect of talent management is encompassed in the solutions planned from the scratch to provide for the business-centric operations on an integrated talent management platform. Decisions about talent management figure the competencies that companies have and their eventual achievement and from the perception of people, such decisions establish the path and pace of careers. In India currently, it may be difficult to visualize the crisis of possessing too much talent, but the first slump in the financial system, or even in a fragment of the economy will make things stand apart. Such mismatches are most definitely included in the primary problems that organizations and many large employers face. Over the precedent generation, companies specifically, seem to have jumped from surpluses of talent to shortfalls to surpluses and back to such a cycle. The challenge evident in front of the employers is to follow much more strongly the requirements for talent to evade both the shortfalls and oversupplies. Talent management is not an end in itself. It is not about fostering the growth of employees or charting succession plans. Neither is it about gaining definite benchmarks like a four percent employee turnover rate, having the most qualified and skilled personnel, or any such strategic outcome. The objective of talent management is the quite more general but valuable task of serving the business achieve its general objectives. And in the business world, that objective is to be profitable; be it in the short run or the long. What we need to attend to going onward is to ensure how to craft investments in growth affordable and fraction of that challenge embodies employee retention, making it probable to at least retain workers long enough to recover the training investments made in them. Problem Statement â€Å"Intense competition in the emerging Indian IT market has made talent retention and its management a challenge and therefore, questions the role of strategic talent management in being able to address such issues and being effective in an organizations overall effectiveness.† Talent Management has gained its fair share of fame in being effective in attracting, retaining and managing talented individuals. The Indian IT industry is marked with the following: The increased globalization has fuelled the growth as well as competition of the IT industry in India which is characterized by issues of talent retention. In spite of rising demand for talent, talent management has not yet completely arrived in India, making it all the more crucial in the current chaotic times and its effectiveness in the Indian scenario. Development of talent pools remains to be a sore issue with the HR professionals employed in the Indian IT sector. To summarize the above headings, the issue is the talent retention of skilled individuals in the Indian IT industry that leads to increased costs to an organization. The HR professionals have to engage in brainstorming activities in order to unearth ways to attract, retain and manage talents which are considered to be the biggest asset of a company today. Also, the talent management practices and their implementation in the Indian IT industry context have been far from satisfactory and add to the woes of a highly competitive market. Moreover, maintenance of talent pools so as to support succession planning and measures to integrate talent retention, employee commitment and employee involvement all stress the need to address the issue of talent management with a strategic bend. Aims and Objectives of the Study The aim of the study is to understand the importance of talent management in the current corporate scenario by collecting relevant information and enabling a better understanding of the strategic HR processes that a company can employ in order to manage and retain its key people. Aim â€Å"To understand the impaxt of a good talent management program on an organizations overall effectiveness, particularly in the case of Indian IT industry, in order to enable it to manage and retain its key resources; and gaining an understanding of the talent retention and employee involvement functions.† Objectives The objectives of the study are: To gain an understanding about talent management and its relevance to the current corporate scenario To explore the importance of talent management in the organizations overall success To study the role of strategic planning, employee retention and employee commitment in talent management To understand and evaluate the challenges faced in managing talent in the organizations today To study the role of talent management in prolonged employee satisfaction To explore the importance of talent management in the Indian IT industry and the significance of maintaining a talent pipeline for companies in the Indian IT sector To study the key drivers that lead to employee commitment crucial for a talent management system to be effective Significance of the study (to be edited upon the completion of the study) The implications of this research aim at exploring the relevance of talent management programs to the Indian IT indutry. It will assist the corporate in understanding the effectivess of framing such programs so as to be able to effeciently manage and retain its key players. Through implementation of talent management practices, the organizations efficiency is likely to increase, developing a proficient pool of skilled and talented employees which can be leveraged as a competitive strategy; making the corporate more competent to challenges in the industry. The research tests an employee commitment level to his/her organization and also aims at identifying the key drivers/attributes that propel employee commitement level in an Indian IT setting. The significance of the results mark that talent management programs are not only crucial and effective, but also cost-efficient, by maintaining a consistent pool of skilled employees tehreby reducing on the hiring, training and firing costs. In the present financial crisis effective workforce is the only difference that can make an organization carry its operations smoothly. Successful implementation of such talent management programs is of remarkable significance for the business. The research solution furthers the adoption of healthy talent management processes and its various functions to create significance for the business in achieving its ultimate goal of operational efficiency, cost control and profitability. Limitations of the study The study is subject to several limitations, some of which are highlighted as under: The study is confined to the specific organizations of the India IT sector. The finding of the study, therefore, cannot be generalized for the entire Indian scenario as a whole. Sample size, being small, is not completely representative of all the employees, employers and the HR people engaged in the Indian IT sector. All this might have affected the reliability of the results to some extent. Time as well as financial constraints are also one of the limitations of the study. Organization of the paper Chapter 2 Review of Literature 2.1 Meaning and Definition of Talent Management According to several authors, an all-encompassing definition of talent management is difficult to pin down. Lewis and Heckman (2006) pointed out that identifying an exact meaning of talent management is complicated owing to both the confusion regarding the definition of terms used and the various deviations in assumptions made by the writers who consider the issue. Lewis and Heckman further support their view by noting that the terms succession management, talent strategy and human resource planning are more often than not used interchangeably, all of which form an integral part of talent management functions. They believe that there is no clear view existing on talent management and none at all that can be considered as sufficiently strategic. As is evident, there are several approaches to talent management. One such approach identifies talent management with the traditional HR practices for instance recruitment, selection, training and performance management, among various other things (Cheese et al., 2008). This approach cannot be considered new as the traditional HR practices are becoming more decisive to a business success and hence, it is gradually getting imperative to associate such practices with the talents needed by the firms. Another varying approach towards talent management is firmly linked with the notion of HR planning, succession planning and strategic HR management (Rothwell Kazanas, 2004). These authors underscore and emphasize the strategic significance of talent management, whereas others stress upon the talent pools required for the succession planning. But this literature fall short in advancing the theory or practice of HR (Lewis Heckman, 2006). A third approach towards talent management caps on a rather general view by identifying talent management with concerns like leadership (Barner, 2006), talent pools (Michaels et al., 2001), an individuals potential (Smilansky, 2006), the development of talent (Fulmer Bleak, 2008) and the attraction and retention of personnel (Rueff Stringer, 2006). Understandably, none of the above-mentioned approaches to talent management is able to clearly define the concept of talent management or to highlight the ways of managing talent through comprehensive understanding of HR planning and practices. The third approach fails in being persuasive owing to its lack of focus and the plethora of topics covered under one head. Moreover, all these approaches overlook the strategic significance of talent management and hence, fall short of linking it with the overall business strategy thereby limiting the potential and scope of talent management and perceiving it as another HR domain. Another view deals with the task of talent management, â€Å"Talent Management is the recruitment, development and retention of individuals who consistently deliver superior performance.† (Tony Davis, 2007). The author further defines a talent management strategy as â€Å"a structured and corporate approach to the recruitment, retention and development of talented individuals within the organization.† The intent of a talent management strategy remains to ensure the employment of such personnel that will consistently deliver superior performance. The writer maintains that a talent management strategy is not an overtly intellectual concept as it is evident that highly skilled employees are expected to disproportionately contribute to an organizations successful achievement of goals and hence, become an invaluable asset in the process. The author inevitably agrees that it is a challenge to manage and retain a talented workforce and hence, terms it as a strategic issue whic h involves its own fair share of planning and execution. As per AndrÃÆ' ©s Hatum (2010), â€Å"Talent Management is a strategic activity aligned with the firms business strategy that aims to attract, develop and retain talented employees at each level of the organization.† Therefore, the talent management process is linked to an organizations business and strategic-planning processes. This approach emphasizes upon the most important aspect of talent management: the employees. The author further aligns talent management with the resource-based theory of the business which maintains that sustainable competitive advantage is in possession of the companies that nurtures resources that are valuable, rare and difficult to imitate. Talent Management is but a tool to generate and maintain such resources through its human capital. With such a view, the author has conveniently delineated the focus of talent management on the talent at the organizational level and not at the individual employee level. This definition therefore clearly defines how talent management can be used to develop an organizations talent structure by attracting, developing and training people. Such a talent structure can most definitely be the source of a sustainable competitive advantage in the current scenario. Talent Management is â€Å"a holistic approach to optimizing human capital, which enables an organization to drive short- and long-term results by building culture, engagement, capability, and capacity through integrated talent acquisition, development, and deployment processes that are aligned to business goals.†, (ASTD Research, 2009). The view focuses upon the consequences of employing talent management practices in the immediate as well as the distant future. Also, it supports talent management as being able to result in building and organizational culture that encompasses the essence of the work environment of a company. The definition also stresses upon the ability of employing talent management to enhance both the capacity and capability of individuals by appropriately matching them with the right job profile suiting their personalities. Furthermore, all such modules pertaining to talent management are to be designed keeping in view the ultimate goals of an organization thereby aligning it with the entire business strategy. Derek Stockley, (2011) defines talent management as, â€Å"A conscious, deliberate approach undertaken to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet current and future organizational needs.† He further states that â€Å"Talent management involves individual and organizational development in response to a changing and complex operating environment. It includes the creation and maintenance of a supportive, people oriented organization culture.† Derek aptly emphasizes upon the dynamic role of talent management in an ever-changing business atmosphere. The view aims at the function of talent management that leads to the development of healthy organizational culture within a business that considers the involvement of employees at a more active level. This view besides being consistent with others also, adds a new dimension to the scope of talent management thereby widening the applicability and functionality of the same. Another view maintains that â€Å"Talent Management is an oxymoron† (Davies Kourdi, 2010). The authors hold that linking talent to ‘management, a term that best describes planning, organizing, leading, directing, facilitating, and controlling a business; is absurd as talent is believed its own special ability and personal capacity for achievement. According to the writers, talent management was used first in early 1990s by an IT software firm that wanted to market a new employee database, hence, the view that talent management can be best believed to work with data and not with human capital and their potential. There are clearly several opinionated ideas of different authors on talent management. Whilst some associate it with the routine HR activity and processes and consider it as an extension to the faculty of human resource planning, others define such role as meager to the scope of talent management. They believe that limiting talent management to a specific domain is very much being unassuming and therefore, a proper sense is manifested in the term only when it is viewed as being appreciably strategically skewed. Under this dimension, the role of talent management can be considered as being fruitful in the present and the immediate future and both in the short-run and the long-run as well. 2.2 Importance of Talent Management in organizational success â€Å"Talent Management has become the lifeblood of organizations. It is often seen as a primary reason for organizational success and failure and the key source of competitive advantage.† (Silzer Dowell, 2010). The authors mutually agree that the business environment since the 1990s has been witness to several groundbreaking changes such as falling trade barriers and globalization of businesses worldwide. Such an expansion has led to increased demand for global talent which is needed to support these initiatives (Sloan, Hazucha Van Katwyk, 2003). This has further resulted in immense competition for the talent on a global scale (Michaels et al., 2001). Therefore, the ever-increasing demand for talent globally along with the widening scarcity of exceptional talent has made the organization realize both the importance and benefit of talent management practices. According to Ringo et al., (2008) as companies seek to overcome challenges coupled with globalization, changing workforce demographics and the emergence of new business models, they are looking forward to their employees as the critical source of differentiation in the market. The authors firmly believe in talent management practices and consent that investment in the same leads to an organization outperforming its peers. They also found through their research that high performing firms are more likely to invest in the talent management processes. They maintain that all organizations put into practice some form of talent management, without it they would be not capable to function. But at the same time, those that invest in an integrated set of talent management capabilities closely associated with their business strategy have a leg up against the competition. â€Å"No organization in todays economic climate can afford to invest in talent management practices without a demonstrable and significant return on investment† (Ringo et al., (2008). Organizations that are able outpace their competitors in attraction; development and retention of the best talent have a several distinct advantages: considerably lower costs, invariably higher productivity, consistently better quality, more satisfied and loyal customers, and increased financial performance (Schiemann, 2011). All such merits determine the critical path to on organizations success thereby chalking down talent management as the key driver in the entire phenomenon. Talent management, beyond any confusion, is crucial to organizational success. It can be easily considered equally important for innovation, customer satisfaction, profitability and new product development of the company (Management Study Guide, 2011). Talent and leadership continue to be inadequate. Fewer qualified personnel and leaders intend to join the workforce to replace aging workers who are on the verge of retirement. Moreover, talent management practices of the 20th century need to be relooked and worked upon to keep pace with the actuality of a rapidly varying 21st century business environment (ADP, 2010). Silzer Dowell (2010) further maintain that there are several other such factors that have contributed invariably to the growing importance of talent management in an organization: There is a widely increasing demand for talented leaders and individuals with growth of the emerging markets in the developing countries. There is an acute realization of shrinking pool of skilled, talented and experienced workforce, especially in USA, Europe and Japan. Besides, increasing complexity of global business and the emerging requirement for talented individuals that can effectively adapt to the changing business atmosphere further advocates the role of talent management in organization success. The growing need that specific organizational capabilities are needed for developing a sustainable competitive advantage in a highly competitive market and a rising call for recruitment and retention of highly skilled workers with specialized competence to build upon the future capabilities. And most importantly, the increased difficulty in retention of crucial talent as a result of a shift to a self-managed professional careers where skilled personnel aggressively pursue their careers and advancement by switching over different companies and geographic boundaries. Also, talent management has led to containment of internal costs of hiring, training and firing by focusing upon centralized shared services, outsourced functions and continual investment in the state-of-art HR practices of talent management that seeks internal hiring and retention. Talent management adds up to a number of significant human resources and management inventiveness (Derek Stockley, 2011). Organizations that properly make a decision to manage their talent (i.e. human capital) embark on a strategic analysis of their contemporary HR processes. This is to make certain that a synchronized, performance oriented approach is implemented. According to Derek Stockley (2011), most often than not, organizations adopting a talent management approach should focus on co-coordinating and incorporating, in order for it to be beneficial: Recruitment Under this the organization has to ensure that the right people are attracted to the right jobs matching their attitude and personality which will lead to â€Å"best job fit†. Retention Under which the focus lays on the development and implementation of such practices that reward and support employees. Employee development It is concerned with ensuring that incessant informal and formal learning and development continues within a firm. Leadership and high potential employee development This involves particular development programs for fostering the growth of existing and future leaders. Performance management This module primarily deals with specific processes that cultivate and sustain performance, including feedback and measurement mechanisms. Workforce planning The organization here undergoes planning for business and general variations, including the older workforce and current or future skills shortages. Culture This particularly deals with the development of a positive, progressive and high performance way of operating the processes and activities. A vital step is to recognize the personnel or workers, the people and positions that are significant to the business. It is not necessary that they need be senior personnel. Many companies lost a substantial amount of organizational knowledge in the downsizing exercises during recession a couple of years ago. The impact of the loss was not realized immediately. However, with time it became apparent to many firms their mistake, when the organizations were at a loss of people with the knowledge and skills to either anticipate or solve problems that arose. Therefore, talent management processes ensure the avoidance of such blunders by recognizing and assorting talented individuals in such a format that their real potential is unleashed and the organizations stand to gain from this. Derek further maintains that the current deliberations about skill shortages and the ageing population are also hugely forcing the organizations to focus on the talent management issue. At most of the times it becomes improbable to recruit and develop new individuals to look after the operational needs. Therefore, as a solution most of the leading firms often decide to develop and foster their own personnel, instead of making an attempt to hire highly skilled individuals. The author believes that every organization should implement talent management principles and approaches. The varied views on the importance of talent management in the organizational success all converge on a single theme that it is critical for the successful achievement of business goal and more so, in the competitive times such as these. They clearly throw light on the advantages and benefits that a firm can accrue from the efficient implementation of talent management processes and can bolster the business as well as its corporate culture. 2.3 Role of strategic planning, employee retention and employee commitment in talent management Strategic Planning The talent management approach should be strategically driven in order to be successful and effective (Silzer, Israel, Dowell, 2009). It then becomes the focus of achieving the business and talent strategy. The planning of talent management has to be done strategically in Discourse Community Analysis Draft: Die-Hard Sports Fans Discourse Community Analysis Draft: Die-Hard Sports Fans In one way or another, we have all been members of a discourse community at some point in our life. So, what is a discourse community? A discourse community is defined as a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field (Mohrenne). They share the same common goals and aspirations. It can be anything from the organizations you participate in at school, to the choir you sing with at school or church, and/or the groups or organizations you engage in at work or at home on a daily basis. According to Robert Mohrenne, John Swales suggests that a discourse community can be characterized by six distinguishing characteristics 1) a broadly agreed upon set of common public goals, 2) mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, 3) participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, 4) one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, 5) some specific lexis, and 6) a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Mohrenne). A good example of a discourse community are die-hard sports fans. Die-hard sports fans fit the description of being a discourse community because they all have the common goals of wanting to see their team dominate other teams and displaying their loyalty for their team year after year. They faithfully follow their team throughout the entire year by supporting them through the good and bad times. Die-hard fans also watch every game, know specific stats about every player on the team, and know the language and signs players and referees use on every play. Die-hard fans do not care for fans who only ride the wave of the team when they are on a winning streak. They typically call these kind of fans bandwagoners because they are not passionate or committed to the overall goals of the community. In actuality, it is somewhat hard to call yourself a die-hard fan around true die-hard fans because they tend to question the loyalty of new comers especially if they know that the person supported other teams in the past. According to my dad, Mark Jefferson, a die-hard Pittsburg Steelers fan, a die-hard fan has a ride-or-die type of attitude for their team even if theyre having an 0 -14 season. He stated that he would never jump on another teams side regardless of how bad his team is doing because he knows their potential as a team and the skills of their players. In other words, die-hard fans can clearly distinguish bandwagoners from true die-hard fans based on interest level and knowledge of the team. Die-hard sports fans also use their own language to communicate with each other during games. For example, when die-hard sports fans are preparing for and/or watching their team play, they use social media and other forms of communication to communicate their respect and admiration for their team. They might text, call, tweet, post images on Instagram, or send messages on Facebook to express their thoughts and feelings about plays, calls that referees make, or their dislike for the opposing team. They also use these methods of communication to stay in touch with each other throughout the game they are watching and throughout the season. When a die-hard fan communicates with another die-hard fan, he or she will use the language of their community. They are typically loud, uses a lot of profanity, and are very aggressive. The language die-hard sports fans use to communicate is powerful because they have the ability to bring out the best in their team and other fans and in some instance s their language can upset fans from other teams. Along with using their own language within this discourse community, die-hard fans also have a specific lexis they use to show their undying loyalty and devotion to their team. For example, they wear team jerseys and other team paraphernalia to show their support all year long. Regardless if theyre sitting at a stadium in 20-degree weather, in the comforts of their home screaming at the television, or just going to pick up items from the grocery store, die-hard fans make sure others know that they are passionate about their team. Furthermore, this public display of loyalty also gives them the opportunity to dialog and form bonds with other die-hard fans regardless if they know the person or not. In conclusion, I think die-hard sports fans is a great example of a discourse community. Its members are commonly interested in their team defeating other teams. The members have an unexplainable passion for the team (s) and/or sport (s) they support season-after-season despite their wins or losses. This type of passion for sports is what distinguishes a new fan from a fan who has supported their team for years. They have a way of communicating with one another that is unlike any other form of communication when watching sports. As a member of a family of sports fanatics (especially football), I have seen and heard the enthusiasm on the faces and in the voices of several members from this discourse community. With that being said, I understand why being a die-hard sports fan can be considered a discourse community. Works Cited Jefferson, Mark. Personal interview. 8 March 2017. Mohrenne, Robert. English 1102-Composition II. University of Central Florida, Aug. 2013, https://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/984277/pages/what-is-a-discourse-community. Accessed 10 March 2017.

Overpopulation, Industrialization, and the Degradation of the Environme

Overpopulation, Industrialization, and the Degradation of the Environment The overall growth of the human population in the last 2000 years has been a J-shaped growth. This can also be expressed as an exponential growth. A big question that can only be answered in time is how this population growth will slow down or stop. The planet can only handle so many humans before the effects of overpopulation send the environment into an unrecoverable tailspin of degradation. So the question is will the overall maximum human population be reached in a gradual manner with a trend resulting in an S-shaped population growth, or do we as humans need to experience some kind of catastrophic event that will let us know that the maximum capacity of our planet has been reached, or will we overpopulate gradually and realize that we need to reduce the population to a lower level? These three different theories have been termed the logistic, Malthusian, and domed theories of projected population growth, respectively(Southwick, 159-160). The trend that we have seen in recent his tory of human population growth can obviously not be sustained, so will the future of humans be played out in an optimistic or pessemistic light? Or will it be somewhere in between? Throughout human history, people have always been pressed to provide nourishment for themselves and their families. With the dawn of agriculture humans were provided with leisure time, and with that time they were able to develop many different trades beyond hunting, gathering, and agriculture. This meant that the food necessary to feed a population was able to be provided by a small portion of the population. With industrialization the portion of the population that was employed to feed the... ...r anthropogenic greenhouse gases(Hansen). Obviously the size of the human population has effected the environment by stressing the land to produce enough food to feed us all. Up to now we have had a degrading effect on the environment. I feel that it should be our role as human beings to take care of the environment that we need to live. This is a necessary step in order to prolong our survival on the planet Earth. Works Cited: Southwick, Charles H., Ch. 15 from "Global Ecology in Human Perspective" Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, pp. 159-182 Quay, Paul, "CLIMATE CHANGE: Enhanced: Ups and Downs of CO2 Uptake" Science 2002, vol. 298, pp. 2344-2346. Blunier, Thomas "PALEOCLIMATE:"Frozen" Methane Escapes from the Sea Floor" Science 2000, vol. 288, pp. 68-69. Hansen, J., Ruedy, R., Sato, M., Lo, K., "Global Warming Continues" Science 2002, vol. 295, p. 275 Overpopulation, Industrialization, and the Degradation of the Environme Overpopulation, Industrialization, and the Degradation of the Environment The overall growth of the human population in the last 2000 years has been a J-shaped growth. This can also be expressed as an exponential growth. A big question that can only be answered in time is how this population growth will slow down or stop. The planet can only handle so many humans before the effects of overpopulation send the environment into an unrecoverable tailspin of degradation. So the question is will the overall maximum human population be reached in a gradual manner with a trend resulting in an S-shaped population growth, or do we as humans need to experience some kind of catastrophic event that will let us know that the maximum capacity of our planet has been reached, or will we overpopulate gradually and realize that we need to reduce the population to a lower level? These three different theories have been termed the logistic, Malthusian, and domed theories of projected population growth, respectively(Southwick, 159-160). The trend that we have seen in recent his tory of human population growth can obviously not be sustained, so will the future of humans be played out in an optimistic or pessemistic light? Or will it be somewhere in between? Throughout human history, people have always been pressed to provide nourishment for themselves and their families. With the dawn of agriculture humans were provided with leisure time, and with that time they were able to develop many different trades beyond hunting, gathering, and agriculture. This meant that the food necessary to feed a population was able to be provided by a small portion of the population. With industrialization the portion of the population that was employed to feed the... ...r anthropogenic greenhouse gases(Hansen). Obviously the size of the human population has effected the environment by stressing the land to produce enough food to feed us all. Up to now we have had a degrading effect on the environment. I feel that it should be our role as human beings to take care of the environment that we need to live. This is a necessary step in order to prolong our survival on the planet Earth. Works Cited: Southwick, Charles H., Ch. 15 from "Global Ecology in Human Perspective" Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, pp. 159-182 Quay, Paul, "CLIMATE CHANGE: Enhanced: Ups and Downs of CO2 Uptake" Science 2002, vol. 298, pp. 2344-2346. Blunier, Thomas "PALEOCLIMATE:"Frozen" Methane Escapes from the Sea Floor" Science 2000, vol. 288, pp. 68-69. Hansen, J., Ruedy, R., Sato, M., Lo, K., "Global Warming Continues" Science 2002, vol. 295, p. 275

Development of Communities

Communities, like tribes, were traditionally considered to be the second stage of human grouping, right after families. They however now mean different things to different people, making the definition of community too broad and incapable of clear description. The notion of community, as per the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined to be â€Å"the people of a country (or district) as a whole; the general body to which all alike belong. † This definition is however largely inadequate, considering the many contexts in which the word is used today.At one level communities stand for clusters of persons, larger than families, who are related by specific common features like the language they speak, the gods they worship, the ethnicity they belong to, the traditions they practice and the place they stay in. Again whilst communities represent human groupings that are more populous than families, many extended families like the tribes that people the islands of the Indian Ocean can e asily qualify to be treated as communities.Communities are further known to have the same social standards, plainly discernible structures and come from specific locations. Communities are powerful entities and have on many occasions achieved remarkable goals in self determination and the pursuit of autonomy, ergo the many struggles for independence in Asia and Africa in recent decades. The sustained struggle of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka in the face of the most horrendous deprivation captures the essential resilience of community feeling and the extent to which it binds community members.Much of this internal strength comes from the sense of solidarity, identification and support that exists within these structures, the instilling of social values, and the development of attitudes and common strengths. The growth of terrorism is clearly linked to the influence of community attitudes and values; the London bombers, for example, owe their religious fanaticism to community feeli ngs, which superseded the influence of factors like education and financial and social well being and led them to take plainly irrational decisions.Whilst the notion of community has attracted attention and debate from the time of Aristotle, the social, economic, and political developments that have occurred on the global platform since the 1980s have put the relevance of community into sharper focus. Globalization, a phenomenon that took off in the 1980s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and entailed the breakdown of physical, economic, and trade barriers between peoples of different regions has truly made the world a much smaller place.Apart from the much greater interconnectedness that has happened in areas of business, trade, economics, education, travel and other areas of human activity, globalization has also led to substantial migrations of peoples from their native lands, Bangladeshis into India, East Europeans into the UK, people from South and Southeast Asia into the US and UK, and an ever increasing stream of Mexicans into the US.Spurred on by the desire for better living standards, people from economically backward and politically unstable countries are moving into neighboring or distant areas, putting up base, and settling down, changing local demographic structures, interacting with the original inhabitants, bringing their culture and tradition with them, influencing and being influenced by their adopted lands.By no means is this phenomenon restricted to the affluent countries, (viz.  global magnets like the USA and the UK), which have traditionally attracted the deprived with their economic affluence and individual freedoms. Bangladeshis, Tibetans and Nepalese, for instance, have crossed their porous borders with neighboring India and spread out all over the country, offering cheap labor at construction sites, restaurants, and to security companies, changing local equations, provoking sympathy as well as hostility and resentment.The Unite d States, which has for long been known to be a multicultural and welcoming haven for the poor and needy of the world is now home to millions of people from the Latin speaking countries of South America, Asia and the Pacific Rim, who have settled down in large numbers and significantly changed what was essentially a society dominated by whites, with peripheral roles played by African Americans. The inflow of these outsiders has led to the establishment of communities, where people with commonalities cluster together, sustaining and supporting each other, and interacting in various ways with the larger society around them.This study examines the issue of survival of such communities in the era of globalization, using readings from two distinguished and well known books, â€Å"Becoming neighbors in a Mexican American Community† (2004) by Gilda L. Ochoa and â€Å"The Politics of Diversity: Immigration, Resistance and Change in Monterey Park, California† (1997) by John Hor ton. Commentary and Analysis Gilda Ochoa, a professor of sociology at the California State University at Los Angeles picks up an intriguing subject, the relationships and interaction between Mexican Americans, for detailed investigation and analysis.Referring to a variety of sources like direct interviews, observations from participating in group discussion sessions, minutes of board meetings of local schools, and other relevant papers, Ochoa presents a vivid and disturbing picture of the relationships that are emerging between established Mexican Americans and the new immigrants from Mexico, who are pouring in, legally and illegally, from across the southern border of the United States in hundreds of thousands every year.Whilst the two communities of Mexican origin do have common historical, cultural, ethnic and religious traditions, their relationships and interaction are characterized by a number of contradictions and insecurities that include sympathy, helpfulness, and cooperati veness, as well as resentment, fear, and mistrust.Apart from emphasizing the role played by women in the construction of communities, Ochoa deals with issues pertaining to the use of Spanish at home and English in the outside world, the formation of identity and the dynamics of group working during the interactions of the two communities in commonly frequented public places in the small and predominantly working class city of La Puente, 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in Los Angeles County.John Horton’s book focuses on the small (just 60,000 inhabitants) town of Monterey Park; which in recent years has generated substantial media and researcher interest. At one time Monterey Park was a suburb located some distance east from downtown Los Angeles. Immigration from China, Hong Kong and other Pacific Rim countries that began in the early 1970s and gained momentum thereafter led to the city becoming the first in the United States with a majority of Asian inhabitants.Hor ton’s book is actually one of a duo on the subject, the other being authored by Timothy Fong. The evolution of Monterey Park into an Asian majority city in the United States is important for the social and economic ramifications that arise out of the coming together of people of different races, different ethnic backgrounds and different classes in a nation that is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of cultures, languages, religions and income groups.Horton refuses to see Monterey Park as another Chinatown and views it in terms of a bustling and diverse location that has witnessed the political changes that arose from the interaction of immigrants and earlier residents of Asian, Latino and Anglo American lineage; he uniquely showcases the political battles that started off on the basis of ethnicity and race, which were thereafter gradually abandoned in favor of accord and harmony.The steady evolution of a multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic society in the United S tates has led to significant demographic shifts and political changes. With the Latina/o population in Los Angeles expected to outstrip the white population by 2 million by 2010, the city is already known as the Chicano capital of the US. Such events have led to the development of complex relationships between the original inhabitants and newcomers and to the emergence of feelings of conflict as well as solidarity between different population segments.Whilst the entry of large numbers of migrants is bound to lead to the development of complex local relationships, the impact of globalization on the modern day economy and the consequent migration of industries and jobs to low wage areas in South America and from other parts of the world have also led to escalation in hostility, resentment and the tendency to lay the blame for difficulties arising out of such events on the influx of immigrants.Ochoa uses a number of research techniques to investigate the evolution of the Mexican immigr ant community in La Puente in the face of white resentment and hostility, the many obstacles and difficulties that characterized their lives in the city and the strange and complex relationships that developed between the incoming Mexican immigrants and the established Mexican Americans who had arrived earlier, put down their roots, brought up their children, and built their homes in the face of white resistance.Her investigations lead to the development of a piquant tale, warm and heartbreaking, and documents events that often go completely unnoticed by members of the majority and older community, for whom the newcomers often represent nothing more than unwelcome intrusions who clutter residential areas, litter streets, strain existing infrastructure, and take away jobs.Ochoa recounts, through a number of personal interviews, the travails of the Mexican community in the face of a dominant white population that felt strongly enough about immigration to enact laws seeking to deny und ocumented Mexicans â€Å"access to public services, such as excluding children from the public school system, another that denied affirmative action in schools and workplaces, and a third that stemmed from the larger English-only movement and aimed to eliminate bilingual education† (Ochoa, 2004, 3).Ochoa’s work is unique in the sense that most studies on the Mexican community until now have been quantitative in nature, have focused on demographic and work related issues and have not, like her study, taken cognizance of the impact of the environment and local interaction on the evolution of the Mexican community. Working purely within the confines of La Puente, Ochoa addresses issues that affect the evolution of the Mexican American community and the complex attitudes and behaviors that characterize the relations between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrant newcomers.Her investigation also throws up the impact of the dominant culture on immigrant cultures and the pro bability of new cultures and new communities becoming assimilated in the culture of the majority community. With most assimilative and integrative methods practiced through local schools, Ochoa’s work focuses strongly on the working of schools and school boards, on the attitudes and impressions of local parents and how control of schooling provides the dominant community with strong weapons to suppress the expression of newer communities, take away from them the language of their forefathers and break their links with their ancestors.Apart from the pernicious effect of schooling on the latent aspirations of incoming communities, Ochoa’s investigation of interaction between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants brings out the areas of conflict as well as solidarity and the extent to which the constant flow of immigrants can affect the assimilation process of older and established inhabitants from the same ethnic and geographical background. Immigrant communities from different cultures have to often face resistance to their traditions, language, and customs in their adopted homes from members of the home community.A phenomenon that has repeatedly expressed itself in the past in various settings, it has led to the immigrant community assimilating itself with the culture of the local community, adopting their way of life, language, customs and traditions. The United States has itself played host to impoverished immigrants from Ireland and other countries of Europe like Poland and Germany, who have over decades learnt English, Anglo traditions and customs, conformed to local expectations and become Americans.Assimilation of foreigners is not restricted to the United States and expresses itself in all societies that play host to immigrants. The United Kingdom for example is redrawing immigration procedures that now require all immigrants to take tests on their knowledge of England, English, and English society. Much of this assimilation is carried out at the level of local schools, where school policies are predominantly weighed in favor of maintaining the local language and local culture to the exclusion of alien languages and cultural influences.Ochoa makes the point that with schools being reproductions of the larger surrounding society, their structure, policies, procedures, and regulations, in La Puente, work towards strengthening the established values, attitudes, ideologies and inherent discriminatory attitudes of the American way of life; their socialization process emphasizes the integration of children of immigrants and other colored people by teaching and inculcating values, norms, attitudes and expectations of the dominant class.The emphasis on English to the exclusion of all other languages, including Spanish, is one of the most important tools for the gradual elimination of Mexican identity and the assimilation of children of different communities into the Anglo way of life that characterizes American society. L a Puente’s investigations also lead to the inescapable conclusion of immigrant communities having to do with poorer school quality and the routing of their children to inferior career paths, conditions that tend to perpetuate existing hierarchical and power structures.Such discomfort, which is supposedly normal in the early years of immigrant arrival in terms of the assimilationist paradigm, (Ochoa, 2004, 21) is expected to gradually lead to a betterment of conditions; the Mexicans are expected to follow in the footsteps of the Irish, Jewish, and Italian communities who came before them and gradually shed their community attributes and adopted the American way of life, i. e. entered into the activities and general life of the dominant community.The assimilationist paradigm further postulates that with immigrant communities expected to become less distinguishable from the dominant community with the passage of generations, such assimilation leads to greater acceptance and less er hostility and a gradual easing of difficult living conditions. Apart from the tactics of assimilation practiced in schools, Ochoa also documents the complex and dichotomous relationships that exist between Mexican Americans and immigrant Mexicans, with the reactions of Mexican Americans moving from feelings of distaste, shame and rejection to cooperation, assistance and solidarity.With the responses of Mexican Americans being shaped by (a) their feelings about California once being part of Mexico and now occupied by Americans, (b) their experiences in La Puente, their adopted homeland, their struggles and the hostility they faced in their efforts to settle down in La Puente (c) their affinity towards their people from Mexico, and (d) their feelings of embarrassment arising out of the backwardness of the new entrants, their reactions are contradictory and, going by the interviews with Mexican immigrants, veer from goodwill and cooperation to rejection and hostility.Much of the neg ative attitudes can presumably be put down to insecurity that could stem from feeling that their acceptance in American society could be adversely affected by the buildup of negative perceptions in the face of continuing influx. Ochoa also documents the struggles the Mexican community has faced and is facing in preserving their language and culture from established institutional and social culture and their need for preservation of their cultural and social identity.Horton’s book focuses on the emergence of diversity in politics in Monterey Park from one and a half decades (mid 1980s to late 1990s) of interaction between immigrants and native residents. Employing techniques like ethnography, the use of exit polls and interviews, Horton is able to represent the process of change, which encompasses the giving way of established networks of loyalty, the increasing importance of women, minorities and newcomers, and the makeover of identities.Horton examines the municipal election s of 1988, 1990 and 1992 to show that voters made their election choices in the first 2 elections mostly on the basis of ethnicity. By 1992 feelings of ethnic solidarity appeared to have diluted significantly and voting patterns did not appear to move along ethnic lines.Horton furthermore also investigates areas other than those concerning politics like civic organizations and social events to assess the results of interaction between the city’s multi-ethnic residents, and seeks to show that whilst ethnicity was an important political force, it was in a state of fluidity and was mined and modified for political advantage.Elaborating on the divisive and essentially racist approach of the Slow-Growth and the Official-English movements, (Horton, 1997, 121) Horton also points out the importance of class stating that integration at Monterey Park was furthered because both native inhabitants and immigrants belonged to the middle class. The middle class resources of the newcomers an d the middle class status of the established inhabitants helped in reducing differences between the two groups. This point is extremely valid; it reinforces the force of class as a divisive factor in society and its power to overcome differences in culture, traditions and ethnicity.Based upon a wide range of data that comprised of reviews of newspapers, exit polls, interviews and eyewitness accounts, Horton compares the issues of ethnicity, immigration and race in Monterey Park with larger regional, national, and global contexts. Opposing the view that that cultural diversity will lead to disunity among American people, Horton makes the point that diversity does not inescapably lead to lasting competition and conflict (Horton, 1997, 182) and that moreover the politics of diversity based on alliances between different ethnic groups can bring about unity and harmony.His effort is important for the analysis that interethnic politics lead to the redefinition of ethnic identities. A comm unity is far more than a collection of individual humans with some common bonds or purposes, such groups being more appropriately described as associations. Communities develop mores and are characterized by a sense of self identity that comes about from a common and shared past as well as a collective vision of the future, an identification with the concept of â€Å"us† and â€Å"them†, and finally of collective thought and attitudes, (features of community characteristics that are brought out very clearly both by Ochoa and Horton).Again communities need individuals to be integrated by principles, be active, and participate strongly in the pursuit of its interests. Communities, experts say, are united by an identifying principle, which represents the value, the ideal, and the good that the community revolves around for its sustained survival, and shapes the processes for assessing such principle.With the establishment of the values and principles and the organization of the community requiring its members to participate in such processes, interaction between community members is dependent upon communication, an essential feature of community life that is destroyed through negation of the use of ethnic languages by assimilative processes. Communities require communicating to grow and consolidate. With humans living in communities by virtue of the things they share and possess, ideal communities are restricted in size and distinguished by strong communication between its members.Globalization, migration, and assimilation of traits of other cultures obviously work against the strengthening of communication bonds between community members and affect its furtherance. The subject of globalization and its repercussions have come to the vanguard of socio-political debate and discussion, there being a growing concern that globalization, through its various manifestations, is wiping out communities and cultures and creating an ugly similarity all over the world.Events like the protests against the WTO in Seattle during 1999, the objection to the entry of McDonald’s in various parts of the world and other insurrections, suggest that the concept of a unified world is not just difficult but also unwanted by many peoples. It however needs to be realized that the personal and cultural impact that globalization is having all over the world is as important as its economic impact. The creation of a global society actually needs diversity in its constituents, the diversity in a society adding to its novelty and, hopefully, to its ability to be flexible.The integrating principle of a global society should not just reject sameness but should try to represent the views of all those involved in its creation and maintenance There is an increasing feeling that globalization can lead to the destruction of a myriad ethnic cultures in favor of one common culture, which most people feel will be predominantly Euro-American, considering the soft and hard powers of the western nations and their domination of global media.In both La Puente and Monterey Park, the cultures of ethnic communities have been subjected to a fierce assault by the dominant culture, much of which is played out in schools and by the imposition of the English language. The all pervasive effect of American advertising and television programs is also seen as a strong culturally invasive force, not just with immigrant communities in the US but all over the world; the concern about loss of cultural identity and local uniqueness is substantial and is caused by the perception of the imposition of cultural hegemony through all possible means.With globalization impacting the world at all levels, society, community, and individual, it is not difficult to foresee that the assimilation of individual cultures and unique community traits into the folds of the dominant community can have a negative impact upon community life. It however remains a fact that the homogen ization of the world, as also of different communities in the United States, is happening at a fast clip, a phenomenon that is adversely affecting the independence, growth and sustenance of a myriad communities. A number of reasons are behind this decline in community life.With globalization involving travel and migration of labor forces in large volumes from areas of deprivation and excess labor availability to those deficient in workforce and willing to pay for the same, it is become progressively difficult for communities to retain their distinguishing characteristics in the new areas that some of their members decide to make their homes in. Whilst increases in communication technology and cheaper air travel are making communication cheap and easy between people in different areas, the absence of direct face to face communication that existed in the past is bound to affect the integrity of community life.Limited communication will not allow for the development of relationships to levels that are needed for the continuance of communities. Apart from the deterioration in 121 relationships, community spirits are also hurt by cultures of consumption, market cultures and the cultures of dominant communities, all of which lead community members, especially those who are young to conform to what they feel to be the most popular, acceptable and esteemed culture. Market cultures affect community life adversely, leading to the dominance of commodification and the decline of neighborhoods, communities and common links of history and tradition.The adoption of the cultural mores and ways of life of the dominant community by immigrant communities is, in many cases, as highlighted by Ochoa, due to need for increasing the self esteem and self worth of members of immigrant communities. Such feelings in the minds of new immigrants are moreover reinforced by seeing people of the same community, who had come earlier, having already adopted the culture of sameness, and conseque ntly lead to greater assimilation with dominant communities and submersion of individual community traits.Homogenization of individuals into persons with similar behavioral and cultural norms arises from (a) environmental forces that do not appreciate and do not tolerate any deviation from accepted norms and (b) the erroneous notion that social or national unity requires all individuals to follow the same culture; much like the concept of organizational culture in the private sector. A nation or a society is however significantly different from a private sector corporation and such notions lead to the creation of utmost confusion over concepts of homogeneity and unity.Strong unity, most policymakers and intellectuals assert, comes from the affirmation of diversity in the context of similar objectives. Homogeneity in fact leads to dogma, intolerance, prejudice, and divisiveness and works against the concept of unity and effective progress towards common goals. Diversity has time and again been shown to be associated with the successful working and goal attainment of most groups of people.Communities and larger societies thrive on diversity and the underlying objective for the achievement and establishment of a beneficial structure, concepts and ideas that cannot progress in the absence of tolerance for other ideas and perspectives. The necessity of changing with the times is critical for all communities and larger societies. Globalization is also steadily eliminating the sense of responsibility necessary for the growth, purpose and consolidation of community life, with most community affairs being decided by state or national governmental bodies, and even by large corporate organizations.All this as well as the process of assimilation is leading to the steady deterioration of community life and the construction of associations that are characterized by sameness to the exclusion of oneness in the reinforcing presence of diversity. Lack of diversity, tolerance, a nd communication, leads to the stifling of communities. In actual fact, the concept of a truly global society allows communities to grow and flourish; it takes strength and sustenance from their various inputs and features, even as it strives for the achievement of common and not selective good.Such a society will work optimally only after the striking of a proper balance between the needs of globalization and the dominant and minority communities in areas of political, social and economic activity. Whilst globalization does not appear to be a reversible phenomenon, actions need to be taken to ensure that it is not allowed to destroy the notion of community. Both the studies, by Ochoa and Horton, reveal that whilst immigrant communities come under enormous pressure in early years, such strains disappear with the progress of assimilation.Although most community members show mixed approaches to the process of assimilation, resenting the taking away of the characteristic features of th eir life and at the same time wishing to be held in esteem by members of the dominant host community, the preservation of communities depends greatly upon the tolerance and openness of establishment members and the extent to which they are ready to respect the uniqueness of newcomers in their midst.Assimilation can actually instead of leading to unity result in a false sense of sameness, and such societies, which press for the establishment of sameness rather than diversity, can lead to the suppression of growth and sustenance of communities. Conclusion The continuance of communities in a fast globalizing world, as is evidenced from the foregoing discussion, depends to a large extent upon the tolerance and open-mindedness of dominant communities.Whilst most communities are formed over the ages and are by nature extremely resilient, excessive fragmentation, migration and exposure to more politically and economically powerful cultures that are furthermore negatively disposed towards a lien communities can put such communities under immense strain and lead to irreversible changes.Horton makes the point that modern day society, whilst containing elements of dogma and intolerance, are by nature receptive to the concept of multi ethnic structures; they are open to being shaped by and responding to external influences, and to the creation of freer and more vibrant social structures. The concept of a globalized world allows communities to retain their distinguishing and reinforcing features, even while it strives for the betterment of the common good.The successful progression of such social structures work towards the advantage and benefit of the many communities that sustain its diversity and multifaceted nature and it becomes the responsibility of all individuals to ensure that diversity is not sacrificed at the altar of sameness. Communities are critical to the successful progression of human society; they facilitate the establishment and sustenance of bonds betwee n humans at elemental levels, lead to joint and cooperative action for the betterment of society and to the continuation of different identities and cultures that have grown over centuries.Such features of diverse and multiethnic societies need to be valued and not extinguished by narrow and insecure parochialism and the desire to create a globally similar society. Unthinking efforts to assimilate separate cultures and extinguish their unique characteristics in favor of the establishment of uniformity can lead to nothing but the detriment of globalization efforts and society needs to be ever vigilant against such regressive tendencies.Recognizing the impact of globalization on communities and making of concerted efforts to preserve them is an imperative for the establishment of a truly globalized society and should be a priority of leading world societies. Globalization need not lead to the decline of community. Shifting of short sighted perspectives will help in the preservation, s ustenance and growth of unique communities and to the diversity and strength of a truly globalized society. References Ochoa, G.L, (2004), Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community: Power, Conflict, and Solidarity, University of Texas Press Horton, J, (1997), The Politics of Diversity: Immigration, Resistance, and Change in Monterey Park, California, Temple University Press

Becoming a Servant Leader Essay

â€Å"Becoming a Servant Leader: The Personal Development Path† Servant leadership places the development and growth of subordinates and the broader organization over and above the leader’s opportunities for personal gain and self-promotion. A servant leader realizes that the true effectiveness of any manager is in giving each subordinate the guidance necessary to achieve their total potential, contribute both to the organizations goals, and attain their personal goals at the same time. A servant leader puts these developmental goals and objectives for each subordinate above their own, choosing first to serve and grow others they are responsible for. In this sense, a servant leader is also a steward, or a person who looks out for the welfare of all those they are responsible for over their own self-ambitions. The ultimate goal of the servant leader is to guide, develop, nurture and provide the necessary foundations of support for each subordinate so they can attain their potentials while at the same time growing in the responsibilities of their jobs. This developmental nature of servant leaders is the most effective when these unique leaders look for the intersection of a jobs needs and the abilities of the people working for them to excel at those specific jobs. I am learning that being a leader entails, not only leading others, but also guiding them and then stepping back and letting them excel. In which the leader is exceling, too. I felt that the reading is helpful to those that are open to that type of leadership skills. For others this type of skill may be the wrong method for them. The ones who are open to leadership this way not only help in the â€Å"now† but also are helping themselves in the end with dedicated and devoted employees who are happy to work with you because of the guidance and support that has been given to them in the past.

Ra essays

Ra essays R was the centerpiece of the ancient Egyptian culture. Like other ancient cultures the Egyptians had a primary god who was believed to have created the universe and all its beings. This belief structured their entire religious and political doctrine. With this dogma their culture was unified and successful. The belief in the Sun god began by a small cult in the city Helioplis, a few miles north of Cairo. The ideology of R explains to its followers the phenomena of nature and creation. Soon the belief became popular and spread over Egypt. R was known or represented as many things. In human form R was called Atum. Atum wore a double crown, one red crown for lower Eygpt and the other a white crown for Upper Egypt, showing his unification of rule. R is also known as the sacred beetle Khepra. They associated the beetle with R because they saw it come from the ground and it was believed that they were self created. Other depictions of R show him as a man with the head of a falcon with a solar disc toped with a cobra. All different versions of R united the same myth, which governed all Egypt. The myth of R starts with the morning. He is supposed to rise from the mountains and sail across the sky in his boat of a million years. Some believed that R was born anew at sunrise and aged as the day progressed. At midday he was a hero and at sunset an old man. He had two boats; the first was Manjet, the boat that sailed crossed the day, and Mesektet, the boat that sailed him through the underworld. Other gods where have said to travel with him on his voyages. Before R begat other gods he existed alone in a watery mass of Nun which filled up the universe. He had sexual union with him self and bore Shu, the god of the air and Tefnut, the goddess of moister. Shu and Tefnut then produced Geb, the god of earth, and Nut, the goddess of the sky. Geb and Nut produced Osir...

Lord of the flies Why do things start to fall apart on the island Essay Example

Lord of the flies Why do things start to fall apart on the island Essay Example Lord of the flies Why do things start to fall apart on the island Paper Lord of the flies Why do things start to fall apart on the island Paper Essay Topic: Literature The Beast in the Jungle Things Fall apart William Golding foreshadows mans destruction of the island from the beginning chapter of the book. A large scar was made in the untouched jungle, symbolizing the first of mans destruction on the island. The description of the island makes it sound like paradise, however the fruits make the children sick, which shows that not everything is so perfect here. Even thought they are only children they started by setting rules and following order, which might make readers think that it wouldnt turn out so bad after all. However disagreements arise from the start. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½I ought to be chief, said Jack with simple arrogance, because Im chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp. This shows the early signs of the tension between Jack and Ralph, and it also shows Jacks pride. They elect a leader, Ralph, who could think rationally and who talks about getting rescued. Right from the start Jack took possession of hunting. He wanted his people to hunt and wanted to be their leader. Jack wanted to control people and make them do what he wants from the start. At the end of chapter one we read of Jacks first attempt to kill a pig. While his first attempt fails, his quote next time foreshadowed his future of savage hunting. By now things look promising on the island because they have everything they need to survive and have also organized themselves. They also make new rules. we cant have everybody talking at once. Well have to have hands up like at school. This shows that they still stick to rules and find them very useful. One of the first signs of things deteriorating is the mentioning of the beastie, and what seems strange is that Ralph, the leader and sensible one of the lot laughs at the little boy and does not listen to him. The rising action starts in the middle of chapter 2 where the boys attempt to make a signal fire but it rages out of control. Rules are all abandoned at the mention of making a fire and chaos over takes. This leads to the death of one of the kids which shows that rules will be broken again later on in the book and it wont stop at the death of one kid accidentally. After this, order is slowly lost and chaos slowly takes its place. When Piggy asks to talk and takes the conch Jake doesnt care. The conch represents law and order and when Jack disregards it, it shows that he will disregard all rules later on in the book. Jack also shows signs of belligerence when he argues with Ralph about the signal fire, and claims that The conch doesnt count on the mountain! At chapter three Jack is hunting and is acting very much like a predator hunting its prey. When he meets Ralph and Simon he doesnt even notice the huts theyve tried very hard to build. The explanation he gives for not helping them is we need meat. Jack is solely concerned with hunting, and cannot see the necessity of other things that can keep them live. Killing a pig has being an obsession for Jack. This shows that slowly Jack is drifting away from society and is loosing his innocence.

Statistics on SAT Math Strategies for Mean, Median, Mode

Statistics on SAT Math Strategies for Mean, Median, Mode SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips SAT statistics questions usually involve finding the mean, median, and/or mode(s) of a set of numbers. You have probably dealt with with these concepts in your high school math classes but, as always, the SAT likes to put their own special twist on simple concepts such as these. Whether or not you are familiar with these terms and the techniques needed to find a mean, median, or mode, this guide is for you. SAT questions are always tricky and knowing how to handle their version of these types of questions will serve you well as you go through your test. This will be your complete guide to SAT means, medians, and modes- what they mean, how you'll see them on the test, and how to solve even the most complicated of SAT statistics questions. What Are Means, Medians, and Modes? Before we look at how to solve these kinds of problems, let us define our terms: A mean is the statistical average of a group of numbers, found by adding up the sum of the numbers and then dividing by the amount of numbers in the group. What is the average test score for the class if five students received scores of: 92, 81, 45, 95, and 68? We must find the sum of all the numbers and then divide that number by the total amount, which in this case is 5. ${(92+81+45+95+68)}/5$ $={381}/5$ $=76.2$ The mean (average) test score is 72.6. The median in a set is the number directly in the middle of the set of numbers after they have been arranged in order. (Note: the number will be halfway into the set, but is NOT necessarily the mid-value.) For instance, in a set of numbers {2, 4, 5, 47, 99}, the median would be 5 as it is in the middle of the set, despite the fact that 5 is NOT halfway between 2 and 99. If you are given an even number of terms in the set, then you must take the mean (average) of both middle numbers. Find the median value of the set of numbers {4, 12, 15, 3, 7, 10}. First, arrange the numbers in order from least to greatest. 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 15 We have an even number of terms in our set, so we must take the average of the two middle terms. ${(7+10)}/2$ $={17}/2$ $=8.5$ Our median is 8.5 The mode of a set of numbers is the number or numbers that repeat the most frequently. In the set of numbers {3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 12}, our mode is 4. Even though the number 3 occurred twice, the number 4 occurred three times and is thus our most frequently appearing number. If each number in your set occurs only once, there is no mode. In the set of numbers {1, 13, 8, 42, 11}, there is no mode, since no number repeats. If multiple numbers in a set repeat the same number of times, your set will have more than one mode. In the set {1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8}, we have three modes- 2, 5, and 8. All three numbers occur exactly three times and no other numbers occur more frequently. Thus we have multiple modes. Ba-dum tss! Typical Mean, Median, and Mode Questions Because the statistical concepts of mean, median, and mode are fundamentally simple (and likely quite familiar to most of you), the SAT will try to complicate mean, median, and mode questions as much as they are able. Unfortunately, these kinds of twists on simple concepts can come in a variety of different forms. For mean questions, they may ask you for the average of a set with variables, or they may ask you to find the value to which the sum of a set of numbers must be raised or lowered in order to find a particular average. Just keep in mind, that no matter how odd the question appears to be, the process for finding the mean is unchanging. If $x$ is the average (arithmetic mean) of $m$ and 9, $y$ is the average of $2m$ and 15, and $z$ is the average of $3m$ and 18, what is the average of $x$, $y$, and $z$ in terms of $m$? A) $m+6$ B) $m+7$ C) $2m+14$ D) $3m+21$ There are a lot of variables in this equation, but don't let them confuse you. We already know that the average of two numbers is the sum of those two numbers divided by 2. That means that: $x = {m+9}/{2}$ $y= {2m+15}/{2}$ $z= {3m+18}/{2}$ Now we need to find the average of $x$, $y$, and $z$. The average of three numbers is the sum of those numbers divided by 3, or ${x+y+z}/{3}$. Substituting the previous expressions for $m$ gives us: $[{m+9}/{2} +{2m +15}/{2} + {3m+15}/{2}]/3$ We can simplify that fraction to ${6m+42}/{6}$ Or $m+7$. Our final answer is B, $\bi m \bo{+} \bo 7$. As for questions on medians, the SAT will often try to present you with a set of very large numbers or a set of numbers with some amount that are missing. This question is asking about the median which, as you know, we find by sorting the numbers in ascending order. There were a total of 600 data points collected (300 from each school) which means the median will be between the 300th and 301st numbers. Fortunately, there's a way to solve the problem without having to write out 600 numbers! You can put the numbers into groups based on the information you're given in the chart. For each number of siblings value, add the number of respondents from each of the two schools together. For example, 120 students from Lincoln School and 140 students from Washington School said they had no siblings, and $120+140=260$. So a total of 260 students have 0 siblings. Do this for each of the sibling values. 260 students have 0 siblings 190 students have 1 sibling 90 students have 2 siblings 40 students have 3 siblings 20 students have 4 siblings. Now assign each of those groups values ordered from smallest (0 siblings) to largest (4 siblings) so that your data is properly sorted. Values 1 through 260 will be 0. Values 261 through 450 will be 1. Values 451 through 540 will be 2. Values 541 through 580 will be 3. Values 581 through 600 will be 4. Both the 300th and the 301st values are 1, so the median is 1. Our final answer is B, 1. The newest version of the SAT also includes logic questions. These questions don't require you to do any calculations, but you need to have a strong grasp of statistics to be able to answer them. A study was done on the weights of different types of fish in a pond. A random sample of fish were caught and marked in order to ensure that none were weighed more than once. The sample contained 150 largemouth bass, of which 30% weighed more than 2 pounds. Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the sample data? A) The majority of all fish in the pond weigh less than 2 pounds. B) The average weight of all fish in the pond is approximately 2 pounds. C) Approximately 30% of all fish in the pond weigh more than 2 pounds. D) Approximately 30% of all largemouth bass in the pond weigh more than 2 pounds. For logic questions like these, the best way to attack them is to read through the information you're given then, go through each answer choice and determine if it's true. In the question, we're told that: A random sample of fish in a pond were caught, none more than once The sample included 150 largemouth bass 30% of those largemouth bass weighed more than 2 pounds Now let's go through the answer choices. A: This is incorrect because it says the majority of all fish weigh less than 2 pounds. We don't know if this is true or not because the question only gives us information on the weight of largemouth bass. We don't know how much the other types of fish in the pound weigh. B: Again, we can't answer questions about all the fish in the pond because we are only given information on largemouth bass. C: Once again, we can't make generalizations about all the fish in the pond. If the question was just asking about largemouth bass, then it'd be true, since it matches with the data we were given, but since it doesn't, it's incorrect. D: This choice asks only about largemouth bass, which is a good start. And, yes, this answer choice fits with the information we were given in the question. Since 30% of the random sample of largemouth bass collected weighed more than 2 pounds, it's logical to conclude that 30% of all the largemouth bass in the pound weigh more than 2 pounds. This is the correct answer! This question was testing your knowledge of what assumptions are logical and which are not based on the data you're given. Since we were only given information about the weight of largemouth bass, only statements about largemouth bass specifically have the possibility of being supported by our data. Our final answer is D. And lastly, mode questions are actually quite rare on the SAT. You should know what a "mode" means on the off chance that you will see a mode question on the test, but chances are you will only be asked about means and/or medians. Though the SAT may try to vary their questions, the principles behind them remain the same. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! How to Solve Mean, Median, and Mode Questions Because these questions often seem straightforward, it can be easy to find yourself rushing through them. But as you go through your test, remember to keep these SAT math tips in mind: #1: Always (always!) make sure you are answering the right question Because the SAT will ask you to find means more than medians or modes, it is incredibly common for students who are rushing through the SAT to read "mean" when the question is actually asking for a "median." If you're trying to rush, it can become second nature to glance at an m-word and start in immediately on solving the problem. Unfortunately, the test makers know that people will make errors like this and they will provide bait answers for anyone who makes this kind of mistake. As always when taking the SAT math sections, double-check that you are answering precisely the right question before you start in on solving the question (or at least before bubbling in your answer!). #2: Write It Out Make sure you take the time to rearrange your set of numbers in order when dealing with medians and modes, and make sure you write out your equations when dealing with means. It can be tempting to solve problems like these in your head, but a single misplaced digit is the difference between a correct answer and a wrong answer penalty. In order to avoid making careless mistakes, always take a moment to write out your problem. It will not take as long as you think to reorganize your values and it will almost always highlight the path towards perfection. #3: Use PIA/PIN When Necessary If you find yourself stuck on a problem and have some extra time to spare, don't hesitate to use the strategies of plugging in answers or plugging in numbers where applicable. Always keep in mind that it will often take you a little longer to solve a problem using these techniques, but doing so will almost always lead you to the right answer. For example: The average (arithmetic mean) of 6, 19, and $x$ is 19. What is the value of $x$? A) 19B) 25C) 31D) 32 Let us say this was a problem you found yourself stuck on, but you luckily had some spare time before the section was over. Well, now is the time to use PIA! We will be replacing our answer options with the value of $x$ and solving the problem as normal. As usual with PIA, let us start with the middle answer choice and go up or down from there. This means that we will plug in answer choice C, 31, in place of our $x$ value. We are trying to find the mean of 3 numbers, 6, 19, and 31, and seeing if we can get 19. So let us find the mean: ${6+19+31}/3$ $={56}/3$ $=18.67$ Our mean is just slightly too small. This means that we can eliminate answer choice C as well as answer choices A and B (as they are even smaller and will thus produce an even smaller mean). Our answer is likely going to be D, as E is much larger and will give us a far greater mean than 19. So let us test answer choice D, 32, to be sure. ${6+19+32}/3$ $={57}/3$ $=19$ Success! Answer choice D is correct. Our final answer is D, 32. There are a variety of escape hatches when solving mean/median/mode problems, so never fear! Test Your Knowledge Now to test your statistics know-how on real SAT math problems! 1. 10, 18, 4, 15, 3, 21, $x$ If $x$ is the median of the 7 numbers listed above, which of the following could be the value of $x$? A) 5B) 8C) 9D) 14 2. If the average (arithmetic mean) of $t$ and $t+2$ is $x$ and if the average of $t$ and $t-2$ is $y$, what is the average of $x$ and $y$? A) 1 B) $t/2$ C) $t$ D) $t+1/2$ 3. A survey was taken of the value of homes in a county, and it was found that the mean home value was $\$ 165,000$ and the median home value was $\$ 125,000$. Which of the following situations could explain the difference between the mean and median home values in the county? A) The homes have values that are close to each other. B) There are a few homes that are valued much less than the rest. C) There are a few homes that are valued much more than the rest. D) Many of the homes have values between $\$ 125,000$ and $\$ 165,000$. 4. The mean score of 8 players in a basketball game was 14.5 points. If the highest individual score is removed, the mean score of the remaining 7 players becomes 12 points. What was the highest score? A) 20 B) 24 C) 32 D) 36 Answers: D, C, C, C Answer Explanations: 1. This question is asking about the median, so let us first start by arranging our numbers in ascending order. 3, 4, 10, 15, 18, 21 We are told that x is our median, so it must lie in the middle of our set. This puts it between 10 and 15. 3, 4, 10, $x$, 15, 18, 21 This means that the only answer choice x could possibly be is D, 14. All the other answer choices are too large or too small. Our final answer is D, 14. 2. Because we are working with variables, we have two ways we can solve this problem- with algebra or using plugging in numbers. Let us go through both methods. Method 1: Algebra We are told that the mean of $t$ and $t+2$ equals $x$, so let us find the value of $x$ by manipulating the mean of $t$ and $t+2$. ${t+(t+2)}/{2}=x$ ${2t+2}/{2}=x$ We can reduce the value of the fraction here, since $2t+2$ can be divided by 2. Which means we are left with: $t+1=x$ Now let us use the same process for y, which we are told is the mean of $t$ and $t−2$ ${t+(t-2)}/{2}=y$ ${2t-2}/{2}=y$ Again, we can reduce our fraction, since $2t−2$ can be divided by 2. This gives us: $t−1=y$ Now, we have values for both $x$ and $y$, so let us put them together to find their mean. ${(t+1)+(t-1)}/{2}$ $={2t}/{2}$ $=t$ The mean of $x$ and $y$ is $t$. Our final answer is C, $t$. Method 2: Plugging in numbers Alternatively, we can skip having to use algebra and plug in our own number for $t$ in order to solve the problem. Let us say that $t=10$ and solve the problem from there. (Why 10? Why not!) This means that the mean of $t$ and $t+2$ still equals $x$. So: ${t+(t+2)}/{2}=x$ ${10+(10+2)}/{2}=x$${22}/{2}=x$ $11=x$ And we will use the same value for $t$ and the same process to find $y$: ${t+(t-2)}/{2}=y$ ${10+(10-2)}/{2}=y$ ${18}/{2}=y$ $9=y$ Now, we can find the mean of $x$ and $y$. ${11+9}/{2}$ $=20/2$ $=10$ And, since we said that $t=10$, the mean of $x$ and $y$ also equals $t$. Our final answer is C, $t$. 3. This is a logic question, so we'll have to reason through it rather than doing calculations. First let's go over the information we're given. The mean and media of a set of data are equal when the data has a perfectly symmetrical distribution (such as a normal distribution). If the mean and median aren't equal to each other, that means the data isn't symmetrical and that there are outliers. Outliers are a small group of values that are significantly smaller or larger than the other values in the data. When there are outliers in the data, the mean will be pulled in their direction (either smaller or larger) while the median remains the same. In this problem, the mean is larger than the median. That means the outliers are several homes that are significantly more expensive than the rest, since these outliers push the mean to be larger without affecting the median. Choice A is incorrect because if the house values were all similar to each other, the mean and median would be similar in value. Choice B is incorrect because if the outliers were valued at much less than the rest of houses, the mean would be smaller than the median which is the opposite of what is happening. Choice D is incorrect because if most of the homes were worth between $\$ 125,000$ and $\$ 165,000$, then the mean and median would likely both be in the middle of that range which isn't the case; they're on the ends of that range. Therefore, our final answer is C: there are a few homes that are valued much more than the rest. 4. If the mean score of 8 players is 14.5, then the total of those 8 scores is $14.5 * 8 =116$. If the mean of 7 scores is 12, then the total of those 7 scores is $12 * 7 =84$. Since the set of 7 scores was created by removing the highest score from the set of 8 scores, the difference between the total of all 8 scores and the set of 7 scores is equal to the removed score. $116-84 = 32$ Our final answer is C, 32. You finished your statistics problems, whoo! The puppy is happy. The Take Aways Though you will see mean, median, and mode questions about two to three times per test, the questions themselves are often quite simple once you know your way around the techniques needed to solve them. Never hesitate to use PIA or PIN if you have the time to spare and if you feel uncomfortable with algebra alone. Otherwise, make absolutely sure you are answering the proper question and don't take for granted that these questions are simple (a careless error will still lose you precious points!). Just remember to keep your mind sharp and your work organized, and you'll be able to tackle SAT statistics problems in no time. What's Next? Now that you've done your paces on SAT statistics questions, it's time to make sure you've got the rest of the SAT math topics well in hand. Are you all caught up with your probabilities? Your formulas? Your lines and angles? We've got guides that cover all the SAT math you'll need come test day. Need to brush up on the basics (particularly for the SAT No-Calculator Math section)? Use our guides to review longhand multiplication and how to add and subtract fractions. Don't know what score to aim for? Check out how to gauge your current score level and how that stacks up for your schools. Looking to get a 600 on SAT math? Look to our guide on how to improve your SAT math score. Trying for a perfect score? If you're already at a 600 or above, check out our guide to getting a perfect 800 on the SAT math, written by a perfect-scorer. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Math strategy guide, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial: