Impact of international field experience on agricultural Education Article - 1

Impact of international field experience on agricultural Education - Article Example It is sometimes a manifestation of the human natural instinct to save one’s own race that leads to discrimination against international students in America. The international students coming to America are not disadvantageous to the country but rather they contribute to the economy, society and culture in many ways. So it is the prime duty of the country to protect the international students from bias, prejudice and discrimination. As Poyrazli, Thukral and Duru (2010) maintain â€Å"The international students face considerable difficulty in making new adjustments initially due to lack of social support, communication problems, and homesickness†. First and foremost, every educational institution in America should be bound legally to be answerable to the government regarding the mishandling of the international students. Secondly, as a protective measure, the government should give a chance to the international students to report to the institute regarding their experience in their new

Transfer To Virginia Tech Essay Example for Free

Transfer To Virginia Tech Essay I have come to a point in life that many people have not.   I have made a firm decision to recommit myself to pursuing my dreams.   While there are those who believe that with an ounce of luck and a ton of persistence anything can be accomplished, I believe that there is no reason to expend so much energy and rely on luck.   I believe in taking hold of my destiny and carving out a future for myself based on the decisions that I make in life.    Life is simply too short and too precious to be left to luck alone.   This is why I have chosen to apply at (Selected University Here). My most important character strength, in my opinion, is my ability to adapt, accept and learn from different cultures.   I traveled a lot when I was younger and have been exposed to all sorts of cultures and societies.   Growing up, I found myself amidst people of many different cultural backgrounds and I have found that I have grown to accept people for who they are and not where they are from. The world is fast becoming a borderless place.   Cultures, races, beliefs and ideologies are blend together and interact because of the growing advances in communications.   In order to succeed in this world, one needs to be able to adapt to the various cultural differences as well as be able to maintain a certain sense of individual identity.   This is why I firmly believe that Virginia Tech is the perfect place for me. In order to get ahead in this world, it is important to have a good education.   While I began to pursue my dream at App State University, I feel that Virginia Tech is the better place for me.   The fact that my mother graduated from Virginia Tech only adds to the many reasons why having a quality education from a well-known school is crucial to the pursuit of my long term goals in life. While I personally believe that â€Å"there is no such thing as a free lunch† and that everything a person has in life must come from hard work and perseverance, I also believe in charity.   I believe in helping others who do not have much in life.   I believe in helping people regardless of their nation, race or creed.   I believe in being a better person so I can best help myself and others around me.   I strongly feel that my time of being an object at rest has gone on long enough and that it is now time for me to move forward to achieve my dreams.   For this reason, I feel that (name of university) is the best place for me to turn these beliefs into realities.

An overview of project management

An overview of project management Project management is an essential component of the organizational structure and its use is built into the organization’s work flow process. An effective project management will influence the organizational outcomes. The project means a temporary effort undertaken to produce a unique product (PMI, 2004). On the project, it can be divided into several phases which include project conception and initiation, project definition and planning, project execution, project performance and control, and project close. The project usually has an objective to meet specific requirements of the organization and has a specific time to accomplish it either long time or a short time. A project is temporary which has a beginning and has the end in a specific time, and therefore defined scope and resources. According to Gaddis (1959), a project is an organization unit dedicated to the attainment of a goal. It is generally the successful completion of a developmental product at point in time, with in the cost estimate, and in conformance with prearranged performance specifications. A project is fundamentally an approach of working, an approach of organizing people, and an approach to manage tasks. A project starts at a defined point of time, ends at specific in time and, is complete when the outcome is completed (Newton, 2005). Hurricanes (2002) stated that a project is an impermanent in nature that has specific start and finish. Other than that, project is a unique, one time undertaking. It can be said like that because the project cannot be done exactly in the same approach by the same project manager and within the same environment The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques are important to project management, which enables project activities meet the project requirements. Its a strategic competency for organizations, which enable to organize to get project results which to fulfill the business goals. The project management involves the process of directing and controlling a project from start to finish. The purpose of project management is to predict as many risks and problems as possible besides planning, organizing and controlling the activities. So, the project is completed as successfully as possible in spite of all the risks. Project Management is formal discipline that has been developed to manage projects (Newton, 2005). There are many activities that can benefit from project management like building a ship, construct a house, launching new products, information technology systems project and many more. Project Management is the process of guiding a project from its beginning through its performance to its end (Portny, 2006). There are includes three basic operations in project management, which are planning, organizing and controlling the project. Project management knowledge draws on nine areas. Figure 1 below illustrates the project management knowledge area: In project management, there is a key element that is included in a project management framework like project stakeholder. The stakeholders are the people who involved in the project activities. The stakeholder in project management can include the project manager, project sponsor, the project team, support staff, suppliers, opponents, client, users and many more. In this paper, the project manager roles and skills will be discussed in depth. The project manager cooperates closely with the other stakeholders. So this paper will discuss in depth the project manager roles and skills in the project management process. Project manager (PM) is generally taken to be the person accountable for delivering a project which runs smoothly on the designated period, within the cost plan and to the preferred performance or quality standards determined by the client (Sommerville, Craig Hendry, 2010). Project Manager is one of the stakeholders in any project management in the organization. Project Manager is responsible for delivering all the components of the project. Project Manager can be full time or the role of project manager given by the condition. Steyn (2008) stated that the project manager is the bonding medium holding the project together. The project manager’s influence the achievement the project, either success or fail. Project Manager should cooperate closely with the stakeholders, especially the sponsor and project team to meet the expectation of the project. The Project manager is the person ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the project (Heerkens, 2002). The project m anager can be called as team leader in a group. Project managers often are considered the direct leadership component essential to project success. The project manager is the element of project success in the company or organization. The project manager is responsible for managing the project’s scope, project schedule, and project cost to support the client or customer expectations for the successful completion of the project. The success or failure of a project is influenced by the project manager’s appointment. Petty (2009) indicates the project’s managers has the capability to connect between the organization which able to perform and serve the project. It is a critical factor of project success in the organization. The work of project manager does vary from project to project. The Project manager is responsible for scoping out the work, planning it and determining what resources are required, getting the resources allocated, and then managing the completion of the task required and ensuring any problems that may cause the completion of the tasks to be delayed. A project manager works according to project management approach. A project manager is the person responsible for leading a project from its initiation to complete. This includes planning, execution and managing the people, resources and goals of the project. Project Management, it is important to have project manager which is acting as manager. 97% of successful projects was led by qualified project managers which is who can often help to affect success factors (Schwalbe, 2006). As project manager, they can have many job description based on the organization and also based on the project. Although it is based on the organization and the project, there are similar tasks that project manager perform. There are several job categories for project manager which includes: Project Manager for a Consulting firm Project Manager should plans, schedule, and controls activities to fulfill the objectives of the project by applying technical, theoretical and managerial skills. Those skills are to meet the project requirements. Apart from that, the project manager should coordinate and integrates team and build a good relationship with the clients and associates to make sure the project is successful. Information Technology Project Manager for a financial services firm Project Manager should manage, prioritizes, develops, and implement information technology solutions to meet business needs. For example, project manager prepares and executes project plans using project management software in accordance with the standards. It is vital to have plans which are built a Gantt chart in order to make sure the project could finish at the specific time. Information technology project Manager for a nonprofit consulting firm. The project manager responsibilities include business analysis, project requirement gathering and project planning, budget estimating, project development, project testing, project implementation, and many more. For nonprofit consulting firm, project manager should work with various resource providers to ensure the development or project completed on specific times, high quality and cost effective for the project. Project Manager Roles are very important and more challenging other than the typical functional manager. Project Manager. The project manager roles are a success factor for project management in organizing. Project Manager is an individual that in charge of developing, in conjunction with the Project Sponsor. The Project Manager then makes sure that the project is delivered on time, within the budget and to the specific quality standard. Project Manager also ensures that the project is effectively resourced and manages relationships with a wide range of groups including all the project stakeholders. The Project Manager is also responsible for managing the work of consultants, allocate and utilize all the project resources in a professional manner and maintaining a cooperative, motivated and successful team. Project managers are professed to be leading a various set of people with direct control over the team members (Baker, Murphy Fisher, 2008). A number of roles are identified for the project manager such as planned all the activities, tasks, schedules and budgets. Other than that, he or she is organizing, selecting and placing the project team. The project manager is leading the project team and control all the activities and schedules. Besides that, the project manager also is able to select and develop a project team and give a motivation to the team members. Apart from that, the project manager also should always communicate with the project team and all stakeholders. The project manager also is the person who able to solve the problem, make a decision. A project managers responsibilities include overall management The project manager plays their role from the beginning of the project until the end of the project. Below is the roles should be required of a project manager. Manager Project Manager must oversee and manages the work and the employees Facilitator Project Manager must ensure that all resources are available when it’s needed as well can solve any problems. Communicator Project Manager must effectively communicate with top management, customer, project team, and the other stakeholders. The project manager must frequently communicate with the stakeholders in order to manage the works and all the work can be done by all the participants in the project. Politician Project Manager must act as a politician, which is able to influence the people and able to make a decision. Project Manager should know how to get things done, how to operate with the system, how to get people to collaborate and how to influence the people Negotiator Project Manager must act as negotiator which able negotiates with the stakeholders. The Negotiator is the skilled at getting what is needed for the project to be successful. For example, a Project Manager negotiates with senior management for more resources, negotiate with functional managers to get a particular project team member or to use a functional resource, negotiate with vendors for shorter lead time, negotiate with clients about project goal changes and others. Project Manager also has responsibility in project management as follows: Defining the scope Planning the scope Activity and resource planning Developing schedules and timescales Cost estimating Budgeting Completing documentation Risk analysis Risk management Progress monitoring Team Management Business Partnering Scalability and portability analysis Quality control To be a good project manager, it is important to possess several skills in order to manage the project in the organization. Project managers need to have a wide variety of skills which can help them to do the best in project management. All the skills that possess by the project manager is determinant of the success of the project in project management. It is to fulfill the responsibilities as the project manager. There are several major knowledge and skill categories for project manager. Skills requirement of the project manager divided into four categories (Heerkens, 2002). Below are the four major knowledge and skills categories of the project manager. Project management process skills Project Management process skills are the knowledge and skills related to the mechanism of project management. The project manager should be knowledgeable about tools, techniques and process technology in project management as well able to apply them in real situations. For instance, the project manager should know how to develop a complete customer document, build a network diagram, and build a work breakdown structure. With all these skills, the project manager will able to facilitate and organize the project plan. Project Manager also can encounter all the problems during the project management activities and will get respect from all the team members and other stakeholder. Interpersonal and behavioral skills Interpersonal skills are the tools of people used to interact and communicate with other people in the organization. Interpersonal communication skills has seven main areas that required by the project manager, including verbal communication skills, nonverbal communication skills, listening skills, negotiation skills, problem solving skills, decision making skills and assertiveness. Project Manger skills in dealing with the people are immeasurable valued. Besides the interpersonal skills, project manager also needs to have behavioral skills like personal conduct, style and approach. Technology management skills As we know, most of the project is surrounded with the technology. It is referring to the process areas at the core of the project that used information technology infrastructure. The technology skills required might include software and hardware in order to do the task. The ability of the project manager to coordinate the application of technology is the key success as project manager. It is important to project manager to have adequate knowledge and skills that embedded with the technology. There are several technology management required by project manager such as proficiency in project core technology, proficiency in the supporting technology area, industry knowledge, patent knowledge, design skills, and many more. The project manager should familiar with the technology applied in the project. The project manager must able effective in the use of technology. Desired personal traits To be a successful project manager, a personal trait is most important. Personal traits means is the action, attitudes and behavior should project manager have. Possessing personal traits will become a good project manager and be able to performing the duties as a project manager. The desirable traits should possess by project manager such as honesty and has integrity. Other than that, project manager should thinks like a generalist, has high tolerance with other people, and process-oriented, self-aware, open and accessible, politically, and decisive. The manager’s leadership role is of great importance in motivating people and creating an effective working environment in order for the project team to encounter greater challenges in today’s environment. The characteristics of a project manager to indicate the type of leader and leadership style that the project manager applies during the management of projects. All project managers need to demonstrate leadership skills and managerial skills. Leadership and management are terms often used in managing the organization or company. The project manager must be a leader and manager. A leader focuses on long term objectives and give inspiration to people to achieve the project management the goals in the organization (Schwalbe, 2011). Meanwhile, a manager deals with day-to-day project activities in order to achieve the goals. The leadership skills of project manager are very important to lead the project to success. Leadership can be defined as a style of behavior designed to integrate both the organizational requirements and personal interests in the pursuit of some objectives. Managers hold a leadership responsibility. Project managers are often selected or not selected because of their leadership styles (Kerzner, 2001). The leadership role is crucial to facilitating various project success factors that contribute to project execution. According to Anantatmula (2010), the project manager’s leadership roles and responsibilities influence the project deliverables and the project performance. Besides that People skills are essential when a project manager become. People skills are leadership circles of leaders that are encouraged to share the vision and team members are encouraged to be service oriented. The leader also has good relationships with customers or vendors. Barnard (1938) suggested the functions of a leader are needed to have both managerial and emotional functions. Managerial and emotional functions are called as cognitive and cathe ctic. Cognitive functions are managerial functions which involve directing, guiding the people, and constraining choices and actions, meanwhile cathectic functions are emotional functions which include motivational as well emotional aspects towards the objectives of the project and increasing trust and commitment to a larger moral purpose. Leadership and People skills are very important for a project manager to manage the project in the organization from the beginning until the end. All the skills are crucial in order to facilitate the project and make sure the project run smoothly within the time, scope and the cost. The project manager that is trusted by the team and gets the team to work together will communicate successfully. Project team members need to collaborate, share, collaborate and integrate information and knowledge to meet project objectives. A project manager does not communicate with language only, but also with character, which includes attitude, behavior and personality. Project manager with characteristics will allow team members to take responsibility for their work, developing trust, collaboration and teamwork; and sharing the vision will apply during the execution of a project. Besides acting as manager, project manager also act as a facilitator and also as a communicator. He or she must ensure that all resources and work are available when needed and that any problems are resolved. The project manager also must effectively communicate with top management, customer, project team, and other participants in project management. Other than that, the project manager should act as a politician and also negotiator. When they act as a politician, the project manager able to influence the others and have a great influence in decision making. It is important for a project manager to be a negotiator because they need to negotiate with all the stakeholders in managing all the process in the project management activities. The factor which may cause the project management to fail is by assigning the wrong person as project manager. Responsibilities of a Project Manager are to ensure successful completion of a project within a specific time and within the budget allocation. However, it involves many other stages in project management. Project manager plays a key role in helping projects and organization success. The project manager must perform a variety of job duties and have many skills. It is to develop skills in project management, general management, and also their application area such as in the information technology area. To be a successful project manager, they must care about everything and responsible in broad areas including for a project, company, project team members and also the project manager itself. To be a successful project manager, it should be somebody who consistently completes the project and meet the organization goals and also project management goals. The project must getting deliverables completed and handed over. When the project is completed, it can see the business profit increasing and leaves the customer with smiles on their faces. In the nutshell, it can be said that project manager gives big influence to the project management which involve in all the activities of the project management. 1

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih Essay -- Season of Mig

Written by Tayeb Salih, the novel ‘Season of Migration to the North’ as described by The Observer â€Å"is an Arabian Nights in reverse, enclosing a pithy moral about international misconceptions and delusions.† The novel is set both in England and the Sudan, showing the stark social differences within these two locations. In this essay, I will evaluate the reasons supporting and opposing Mahjoub’s statement as defined in ‘Season of Migration to the North’. In the first line of the novel (and once more later in the book: "dear sirs" page 62), the narrator introduces the reader to a male-dominated world by suggesting his audience is masculine; "It was, gentlemen, after a long absence—seven years, to be exact, during which time I was studying in Europe—that I returned to my people.† Despite the subtlety of the word â€Å"gentlemen†, this, I believe is purposefully done, to immediately show the reader the extent to which village life is dominated entirely by the male. Its subtlety reflects the idea that male dominance has become just a normal part of life, to the point where it can almost be looked over. The death of Mustafa Sa’eed meant that his widow was placed in the care of the narrator, â€Å"You’re the bride’s guardian.† This suggests that even as a widow, a woman was not free to do as she pleased, with regards to who she was to wed. The fact that a widow was being dictated to, showed that the village society was more patriarchal than that of the society that existe...

Ackoff Management Misinformation Systems :: essays research papers

â€Å"Ackoff Management Misinformation Systems† Ackoff identifies five assumptions commonly made by designers of management information systems (MIS). With these assumptions, Ackoff argues that these assumptions are in most cases not justified cases, and often lead to major deficiencies in the resulting systems, i.e. "Management Misinformation Systems." To overcome these assumptions and the deficiencies which result from them, Ackoff recommends that management information system should be imbedded in a management control system. The Ackoff Assumptions are that: (1) Due to lack of relevant information, most managers operate under this deficiency; With the first assumption and contention, I’d have to disagree. According to Ackoff, it seems that only certain information is useful, while the other is useless and it overburdens the managers. Therefore, top management usually receives filtered input that subordinates have carefully screened several times. However, top management needs more information and data, more qualitative input, and less formal analysis than it receives. Sometimes, the useful information might seem useless at one time, may become more important at another time. Therefore, I believe that all information be readily available for the manager to proceed forward in a timely fashion. (2) The manager needs the information he wants; I agree to a certain aspect to this ideology. Without a doubt, without the proper information, the manager is useless because they are not able to direct their workers in the right direction. People working for the manager tend to require more information from the top. More important, they need a general and, sometimes, a specific sense of direction and support. Without a proper direction, all people involved will concurrently feel underutilized, and will try to gather all information, relevant or irrelevant and fill up their work time, without achieving any goals. (3) A manager will improve his decision making, if he has the information he needs, This is a straight-forward logical agreement with the author. It is obvious that if the information is available, the manager will be able to make a better judgment. Without proper information from above, the people working for the manager will be lost. On the other hand, if the manager has the information need to complete the task, then the objective will be solved in a short period of time, with everyone contributing in a positive way. (4) A better communication between managers will improve organizational performance; I agree with the statement above on the basis that communication is the most important thing when it comes to working in unison.

Liminality in Dracula Essay

History has taught us that rebelling against your people or religion almost always results in displeasure, as the members of the community usually frown upon it. Throughout the novel Each Man’s Son by Hugh MacLennan, there are two themes which are linked to this topic of defying your origins, though never plainly affirmed: the Celtic identity and the Puritanical predestination-like values. Not conforming to these ways of life demonstrates two themes at which Archie the fighter and Ainslie the dreamer display: the attempt to foster new values will doom you to failure and resisting your religion will only let you yearn for escape but haunt you forever. This paper, will first analyze the meaning of these two themes; second show that Archie fights against the Celtic identity and that Ainslie tries to escape the Puritanical values. First, it is suitable to grasp onto these concepts with the history from the novel concerning the Celtics and the Puritans since it frames the foundational richness of the story. In Each Man’s Son the symbolic references on the history concerning the Celtic identity is manifested as â€Å"a Homeric people† in ultimate solitude, which proves to be symbolic due to the fact that it ties meaning to the Highland people as a â€Å"desperate and poetic/race of hunters, shepherds and warriors† (MacLennan 1, 2). The novel is full of richness, which provides ironic information about the people: who were found â€Å"older than France† with â€Å"no organization† (MacLennan 25-5). This characteristic given to the men of Cape Breton is highly relevant to the plot as Archie choses to literally fight the regulatory social norms of the Celtic identity when he follows his dreams to become an American boxer. In the novel, the Celtic identity is in direct conflict with Puritan values within certain characters, especially Ainslie. Presbyterians note that they â€Å"live and die under the wrath of an arbitrary God who will forgive only a handful of His elect on the Day of Judgment† (MacLennan 2). The value of the quote symbolizes an underlining view on the Puritan religion as it describes how the Calvinists must live a basic life in order to be resurrected with eternal life. In the Bible, which Puritans follow unfailingly, it is written, â€Å"you must be born from above† meaning that you must have â€Å"been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father† (John 3:7, 1 Peter 1:2 NIV). Furthermore, religion takes a crowning importance in the novel as it acts as the basic yet powerful feature of the story. Numerous characters struggle to adopt their identity, namely Doctor Ainslie for he attempts to darken his religious distinctiveness. The lacing of the Celtic identity and the Puritan religion represents tension, which Archie the fighter and Ainslie the dreamer must overcome. Second, Archie is a clear example of a character who conflicts with the Celtic identity because although he is acclaimed as the â€Å"bravest man in Cape Breton†, â€Å"fierce and unpredictable†, unlike the flock of people, he was a â€Å"hero whom nobody understood and everyone admired†; unfortunately, he is also destined to fail (MacLennan 12-8-6). â€Å"Archie is a hero† with grandiose â€Å"physical strength† who was loved â€Å"because he was giving significance, even a crude beauty, to the clumsy courage they all felt in themselves† (MacLennan 19-9). Generally Celtics feel that destiny works against them; they feel that luck must have been against them. This illustrates that the repercussion of rebelling against the Celtic identity is absolutely forbidden. The Celtic character is normally condemned to a life of simplicity, total depravity and unconditional fellowship of God and as Archie ventures the unknown he distorts the norm. Animalistic Archie emphasizes that some men will â€Å"live their whole lives like oxes and cows† and that he is â€Å"not one of them† this statement, in other words, means that Archie does not intend on living a reclusive life as he fully intends on going out into the world, in spite of the consequences, to create a new life for himself and his family. He had â€Å"left his home to find wider opportunities in the United States† (MacLennan 3). Ironically, as Archie attempts to make money and follow his dream of becoming a boxer he refuses to obey the Celtic norm and is doomed to fail; he is left defeated by his embedded Celtic identity. The final character, which shows prominent struggles, concerning following norms is Ainslie: the dreamer. This is due to the fact that he is resistant to his Puritan religion, which leaves him yearning for an escape from societal pressures. Quite like Archie, Ainslie is also hopeless, yet in different matters: his religion haunts him not only consciously but also unconsciously in dreams as he is disturbed by religious stories. Traditionally, Puritans live a life in profound guilt, constant criticism and austerity because they believe in predestination at which God has chosen the elect to enter heaven. Though he is living in the pressures of this community he continuously denies his belief in God however it is hard to believe that he is a nonbeliever for he continuously shows signs of religious identity. Ainslie craves for a purpose in his life, an attainable goal a dream to escape this community, yet as the novel unfolds he is left haunted forever by his religious mental state. Ironically, because of the fact that he resists his religion and yearns for an escape, he will be left him undeniably haunted forever. In summary, historical details, Archie and Ainslie in Each Man’s Son emphasize conflicts between the Celtic identity and the Puritan religion. Contrasting the two characters, I find it much more rewarding to explore who you are and discover your identity instead of fighting or denying it because then you will not become a failure or be tormented by it. Unlike Archie and Ainslie, I had opportunities to participate in accomplishments that have given me a positive understanding of my identity while I was growing up, which undeniably shaped who I am today. Works Cited MacLennan, Hugh. Each Man’s Son. Toronto: The New Canadian Library, 2003. Print. New International Version Holy Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986. Print.

Intro to Religiion

Jake Walton There are many different definitions of religion, but two we are studying about is Paul Tillich’s definition and Melford E. Spiro’s definition. Paul Tillich is a Christian theologian and philosopher who defined religion â€Å"the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the meaning of life.Melford Spiro, a contemporary anthropologist defined religion â€Å"an institution consisting of culturally patterened interaction with culturally postulated superhuman beings. † I prefer Tillich’s definition. I prefer Paul Tillich’s definition because I am a Christian and I can relate to what he is saying with his definition. As a Christian, God is your ultimate concern, just like Tillich said. God comes before everything. He is your only way to heaven. So you have to make him your ultimate concern by living for him every day.Tillich’s def inition went on to say â€Å"a concern that qualifies all other concerns as a preliminary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , this means that God comes before anything else in life. Nothing should ever come before God. Everything else should just be a preliminary, or second to God. The last part of Tillich’s definition says a concern which contains the answer to the question of the meaning of life. This means that God is the meaning of life. I prefer Tillich’s definition because this is what I believe.I believe that God is the answer to what is the meaning of life, he has a purpose for everyone and everyone’s life. God should be your ultimate concern if you want to go to heaven, He is the only way in. You have to live your life through him, and to do that he has to be your greatest concern. If other things get in the way you have to put them off and make them second to God. Never let anything get in the way of you and God. I feel Tillich’s definition of religion is a great d efinition of religion.