Individual Differences Essay

INTRODUCTION: The individual differences are a cornerstone effective area in modern psychology, it is referred for the psychology of the person that the differences between the individuals and their similarities. 2000 years ago Plato stated that the two persons are born exactly alike but each differs from the other by natural endowments, where one will be exited for occupation purpose and where as other will be for another perspective. According to the western psychology approach to individual differences is assumed as: Persons will be different in range of psychological attributes. It is possible to measure and study the behaviour of an individual. In history we have come across many theories on individual differences that are Psychology, survival of the fittest, by applying the principles of behaviour scientifically and some by the body language principles. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: In this we can classify the people in psychological forms according to their intelligence and personality characteristics. There are many conflicting theories about individual differences psychology. People have been aware of individual differences in history by gender differences, intelligence differences by religion, status and by education etc†¦ and by the personality differences i.e. by their job satisfactions and organisational competence. In modern psychology it has formalised that the individual differs from their values, personality, self-esteem and attitudes. In this contemporary world the individual differences are fully based on the bonds of organisational sequences like birth, education, work and death. Where a French philosopher Jean Jacques Roussean (1712 – 1778) states that â€Å"man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains†. Where the individuals are shaped by the liberty, equality and fraternity. Where individuals is the concept of identity which cannot be defined easily, other than saying that it refers to the person who is in relation with others in this world by the way he constructs, interprets and understand himself and others. In an organization managers understand the individual differences of their employees by their experience, knowledge and technologies. If manager is capable of understanding the differences of individuals then he can achieve the goals of him as well as the organization goals. Even organizations have their distinct identities. Example: There are two  brothers one like pets and other does not like pets, they both being from one family the likes are different. This tells that human tendencies will not be same in form of thinking and admires. IMPORTANT INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: Values Personality Attitudes VALUES: It is defined about the individual or group about their ethical beliefs for something for which they are emotionally attached. It can also be defined as a set of beliefs and goals that serve as guiding principle in one’s life. Where for managers value is the achievement i.e. values for personal success in a social standards, it may be power also where the managers think about their prestige, status and dominance’s over people. Example a manager of well-known organization thinks about his status and prestige and his control over the people for him these are the values whereas for manager of other organization may not be the same. Where individuals give there more priorities to their values which may differ from one individual to other but everyone has their own values and beliefs. PERSONALITY: It is defined as the stabilised patterns and psychological states of the mind, which explains about the behaviour of the person. Example if there are two persons one is Joe who is extroverts and other person Sam who is introvert, people have tendencies to judge Joe as open minded person and he his fully interactive and all without knowing him. So depending upon personality and behaviour the individuals differ. Where Sam who is introvert can be more intelligent than Joe but his personality is introvert so the attraction goes towards Joe. ATTITUDE: It is known as the collection of feelings and beliefs of a human. There are components of attitude which are: Affective component: where it tells about the feelings of individuals. Cognitive component: individuals have different ways thinking. Behavioural component: the behaviour of individual is different from others. Example a manager has different attitude towards his employees where as he has different attitude towards his f amily and friends because in front of employees there will be a question of prestige and status. SELF – AWARENESS: In an organisation if manager develops the self – awareness in  his employees by motivating them then the relationship between the employees will be better and they will be fulfilling the needs of their and organisations also. If a person comes to know about his self – awareness then he will be having a good relationship with others and his thinking will be in positive way towards one another which indeed help the organisation to achieve the goals. If a manager is capable of knowing his self –awareness and taking the feedback from his staff about his work and behaviour if it is in negative form also and improving on that negative things then he is a successful manager. If a manager keeps the friendly environment with his staff by motivating them and talking with them personally and telling to overcome their demerits and encouraging them in front of everyone for their work then the manager can easily achieve his and organizational goals. If a manager keeps his prestige and status aside and works with a team as one of the member of the team then the team members also feel comfort and the productivity will be enhanced and that type of managers are successful managers. THEORIES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: This theories are based on the personality of an individual and they are: Trait theory Big five theory Myers – Briggs type indicator theory (MBTI) Socio – cognitive theory Psychoanalytical theory Humanist theory. In this theories the widely used theory is Myers – Briggs type indicator theory (MBTI) which tells about the differences and the similarities of the individual which in turn helps to improvise the self – awareness. This has 4 preferences which helps to know about the individuals that are: Extroversion or Introversion Sensing or Intuition Thinking or Feeling Judgement or Perception. MANAGING DIVERSITY: It is defined as â€Å"the variety of experiences and perspectives which arise from differences in race, religion, culture, mental or physical abilities, heritage, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender  identity and other characteristics†. There are some dimensions which affect performance, motivation, success and interactions with others which is important to understand. Example If you have good relations with your colleagues and with the supervisors of your organisation then you’re managing your diversity. Do you immediately take actions against the people who behaves in a form of disrespect like unwanted talking’s and using offensive terms, if you’re doing this then you are successful manager and with that you are managing diversity. CONCLUSION: This reports says that the individual differences should be accompanied to individual decision to perform organization behaviour. It suggest that if a person follows his value or norms, they would be more likely to perform organizational behaviour. If the managers have the capability to face the problems and come up with the solutions for that problem by team work and forming a self-awareness in his team then the organizations goals can be easily achieved and the manger is successful manager. It says that every individual has his own ethics, values, personality, self – esteem and attitudes and if a person knows about all this then he makes a good relation with his staff and he will be successful human being. REFERNCES: Clegg S., Kornberger M. and Pitsis T. (2011). Managing and organizations. London: Sage. Hickson D. (1997). Exploring Management Across The World. London: Penguin Group. George J. and Jones G. (2006). Contemporary Management: Creating Values in Organizations. McGraw-Hill (in New York).

Advantages of Strategic Intent Thinking Essay

Introduction Though strategic intent thinking and strategic planning aim at one thing, they are quite different from one another. The former involves development and application of high-level and unique business strategies with the aim of attaining competitive advantage for the firm. Strategic intent helps firms to focus on new capabilities to tap future opportunities. The notion is internally focused and has serious implications on how a business competes. The process is characterized by broad and long-term target, and relates sense of urgency as well as lengthens attention.   The major purpose of strategic intent is to help organizations share a common intention in order survive business competition and adapt to changes in the business world. Strategic planning is defined by (Miztberg, 1994) as an analysis of business operations. The analysis involves breaking business goals into manageable parts, designing how steps are implemented and estimating the anticipated outcomes of each goal. According to this definition, the process elaborate goals and strategies that already exist. Strategic planning supports strategies that have been developed through strategic thinking. The two processes aims at raising the performance of the firm. However, they have significant differences. Strategic intent thinking is intent focused. It allows managers and all other stakeholders to commit themselves for as long as a certain strategy works. When applied to Costco Company, it can be noted that Costco employees are well  Ã‚   paid, which eliminates workers turnover. This means that the employees at Costco are motivated to ensure strategy works no matter the time it takes. Strategic intent thinking takes into consideration the past, the present and the future, unlike strategic planning which considers the future only. This means that strategy should not be driven by the future intent alone. The gap between today and tomorrow is very important when devising a business strategy. In addition to this, strategic intent think is responsive to business opportunities. This means that managers who employ this system of thinking are able to identify future opportunities and prepare to take them. Costco seems to employ this strategy. The company managers anticipate its sales to rise by 2017 because of the increased use of the internet. Internet continues to create new demand for goods and services. This means that Costco must revise its goals and missions to tap the demand being created by the use of the internet. According to( DeGeus ,1988) the traditional view of strategy emphasizes on the degree to which a business fits between current opportunities and existing resources while strategic intent brings misfit between ambitions and resources.   He further argues that the process requires a number of people who should understand their organization’s work. This way, they will be able to think strategically and work towards achieving organizational goals. Back to our case study, it can be noted that Costco understands that a business does not operate in vacuum.   With this in mind, Costco strives to conserve the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is one way of cutting down operational costs, and can help the company achieve a competitive advantage. On the other hand, Costco pays its employees more salary than the industry average. This way, Costco is able to operate at serene environment, which has no disruptions such as strikes. References DeGeus, A. P. (1988, March/April). Planning as learning. Harvard Business Review, 70-74. Mintzberg, H. (1994). The fall and rise of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review, 107-114.

Market Efficiency and Market Failure

CHAPTER 4 Market Efficiency and Market Failure 1. Chapter Summary Governments of over 200 cities in the United States have placed ceilings on the maximum rent some landlords can charge for their apartments. Some firms have coaxed governments into imposing price floors, which are legally determined minimum prices that sellers may receive. To understand the economic impact of government interventions in markets, it is necessary to understand consumer surplus and producer surplus.Consumer surplus is the dollar net benefit consumers receive from buying goods and services at market prices less than the maximum prices they would be willing to pay. In a demand and supply graph, consumer surplus equals the area below the demand curve and above a horizontal line drawn from the price axis to the point on the demand curve that represents the market price. Producer surplus is the dollar net benefit producers receive from selling goods and services at prices greater than the minimum prices they w ould be willing to accept.In a demand and supply graph, producer surplus is equal to the area above the supply curve and below a horizontal line drawn from the price axis to the point on the supply curve that represents the market price. In a competitive market, the equilibrium price for a good or service occurs at the quantity of product where the marginal cost of the last unit produced and sold is equal to the marginal benefit consumers receive from the last unit bought. Therefore, equilibrium in a competitive market results in an economically efficient level of output.At this same level of output economic surplus, the sum of consumer and producer surplus in this market is maximized. Some producers who believe an equilibrium price is too low will lobby for government action to set a higher legal price (a â€Å"floor price†). Some consumers who believe that an equilibrium price is too high will lobby government to legally require that a lower price (a â€Å"ceiling priceâ⠂¬ ) be charged. Although price ceilings and price floors are not common, they have been established in some markets. Price floors were established in gricultural markets in the United States during the Great Depression. Government intervention in agriculture has continued ever since. Although the administration of price floors can be complex, the basic operation of this price control involves a government commitment to maintain a price (for example, $3. 50 per bushel of wheat) that exceeds the equilibrium price (for example, $3. 00). The price floor reduces the quantity demanded of the product while it encourages producers to increase the quantity supplied.The difference between these two quantities, a surplus, is typically bought by government at the floor price. The result of the price floor is to (a) transfer some consumer surplus that would exist at the equilibrium price to producer surplus and (b) create a â€Å"deadweight loss† or a net loss of consumer and producer s urplus. The deadweight loss is also the efficiency loss that results from the price floor. Another example of a price floor is the â€Å"minimum wage,† which is a legal wage imposed above the equilibrium wage offered in the United States for most occupations.Since most workers earn wages above the minimum wage, this price (wage) floor affects low-skilled and inexperienced workers. Although the economic impact of the minimum wage is similar to that of price floors imposed in other markets (deadweight losses result), economists have disagreed about the extent to which the minimum wage reduces employment. Price ceilings are found most often in the markets for apartments in various cities; local governments will usually impose this type of price ceiling.In New York City, about 1 million apartments are subject to rent control. A simple description of the impact of a price ceiling on rent (administration of the ceiling will vary by city and over time) is that the quantity demanded at the ceiling price, for example, $1,000 per month, exceeds the quantity supplied. In contrast, if an equilibrium price of, say $1,500, were allowed, the quantity supplied would be greater and the quantity demanded would be less; these two quantities would be equal and there would be no shortage of apartments.The results of the price ceiling are to (a) transfer some producer surplus to consumer surplus and (b) create a deadweight loss or a net loss of consumer and producer surplus. Another possible result of the ceiling is the creation of a â€Å"black market† where buyers agree to rent apartments from landlords for greater than the legal price. Because the ceiling reduces quantity supplied, the black market price may exceed the equilibrium price. An externality is a benefit or cost that affects someone not directly involved in the production or consumption of a good or service.Negative externalities are costs imposed on non-consenting individuals. Positive externalities are benefits for individuals not directly involved in producing or paying for a good or service. Externalities interfere with the economic efficiency of a market equilibrium since they cause a difference between the private cost of production (the cost borne by the producer of a good or service) and the social cost, or the private benefit from consumption (the benefit received by the consumer of a good or service) and the social benefit.The social cost is the private cost plus any external cost resulting from production; the social benefit is the private benefit plus any external benefit that results from the consumption of a good or service. When there is a negative externality as the result of production, the market supply curve understates the true (social) cost of production. A supply curve that reflects social costs would lie to the left of the market supply curve. The equilibrium market price occurs where the marginal social cost of production exceeds the marginal benefit to cons umers and there is a reduction in economic surplus.Economic efficiency would be increased if less of the good or service were produced. When there is a positive externality, the market demand curve understates the social benefits from consumption of a good, and the demand curve that reflects the social benefits of this good would lie to the right of the market demand curve. At the equilibrium point, the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost and a deadweight loss results. Because of the positive externality, too little of the good is produced.Negative and positive externalities lead to market failure due to the absence of private property rights for physical property (for example, a store or factory) or intangible assets (for example, for a new idea to improve a production process). Market failure may also result from the difficulty of enforcing private property rights (for example, lax government enforcement of copyright laws). Most of the time, the governments of the United St ates and other high income nations provide adequate enforcement of property rights, but in certain situations, these rights do not exist or cannot be legally enforced.When private solutions to externalities are not feasible, government intervention is justified. For example, by imposing a tax equal to the external costs that result from production of a good, government can â€Å"internalize† the externality. This causes the social, not just the private, cost of production to be borne by producers. In effect, the supply curve for the good shifts to the left. This supply curve would then cross the demand curve at a higher equilibrium price and lower equilibrium quantity. When production of a good produces a positive externality, government can internalize the externality by providing a subsidy to consumers.If the subsidy is equal to the value of the externality, this has the effect of shifting the demand curve for the good to the right; market equilibrium is achieved at the eco nomically efficient level with a higher price and quantity. To reduce pollution, governments have often used a â€Å"command and control† approach. This may involve government imposition of quantitative limits on amounts of pollution firms can emit or the installation of specific pollution control devices. An exception to the command and control approach was the U. S. overnment’s attempt to reduce acid rain pollution. In the Clean Air Act passed by Congress in 1990, a reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions, a major cause of acid rain, from electric utilities was mandated. To achieve this goal, utilities were allowed to buy and sell emissions allowances. Each allowance is equal to one ton of sulfur dioxide. So long as the total amount of emissions does not exceed an annual mandated maximum amount (by 2010 this amount will be 8. 5 million tons), firms can emit sulfur dioxide in amounts equal to their allowances.Firms that face high costs of reducing sulfur dioxide have an incentive to buy more allowances than they have been allocated. Utilities that can reduce their emissions at low cost have an incentive to do so and sell some of their allowances. This program has achieved emissions reductions at much lower costs than had been expected in 1990. The success of the sulfur dioxide program has led some to suggest that a similar program be used by the United States and other nations to reduce emissions of so-called â€Å"greenhouse gases† that contribute to global warming. . Learning Objectives Students should be able to: †¢Understand the concepts of consumer surplus and producer surplus. †¢Understand the concept of economic efficiency, and use a graph to illustrate how economic efficiency is reduced when a market is not in competitive equilibrium. †¢Use demand and supply graphs to analyze the economic impact of price ceilings and floors. †¢Identify examples of positive and negative externalities and use graphs to show how ext ernalities affect economic efficiency. Analyze government policies to achieve economic efficiency in a market with an externality. 3. Chapter Outline Should the Government Control Apartment Rents? 1. Rent control is an example of government regulation of prices. Rent controls (a type of price ceiling) exist in about 200 cities in the United States. Although the rules that govern rent control are complex and vary by city, rent control drives up the demand and price for apartments not subject to the controls. Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus 1.Consumer surplus is the difference between the highest price a consumer is willing and able to pay and the price the consumer actually pays. 2. Producer surplus is the difference between the lowest price a firm would have been willing and able to accept and the price it actually receives. A. Consumer and producer surplus represent the net benefits consumers and producers receive from buying and selling a good or service in a market. B. Pric e ceilings and price floors reduce the economic surplus (this is consumer surplus plus producer surplus in a given market).C. Marginal benefit is the benefit to a consumer from consuming one more unit of a good or service. D. The height of a market demand curve at a given quantity measures the marginal benefit to someone from consuming that quantity. Consumer surplus refers to the difference between this marginal benefit and the market price the consumer pays. E. Total consumer surplus is the difference between marginal benefit and price for all quantities bought by consumers; this is shown in a demand curve as the area below the demand curve and above the market price.F. Marginal cost is the additional cost to a firm of producing one more unit of a good or service. G. The height of a market supply curve at a given quantity measures the marginal cost of the last unit produced for the producer. Producer surplus refers to the difference between this marginal cost and the market price the producer receives. H. Total producer surplus equals the difference between marginal cost and price for all quantities sold by producers. The Efficiency of Competitive Markets 1.When equilibrium is reached in a competitive market, the marginal benefit from the last unit sold will equal the marginal cost of producing that last unit. This is an economically efficient outcome. A. If less than the equilibrium output were produced, the marginal benefit of the last unit bought would exceed its marginal cost. B. If more than equilibrium quantity were produced, the marginal benefit of this last unit would be less than its marginal (opportunity) cost. C. Economic surplus is the sum of consumer and producer surplus.Economic surplus, or the net benefit to society from the production of a good or service, is maximized at equilibrium in a competitive market (when there are no externalities). D. A deadweight loss is the reduction in economic surplus resulting from a market not being in competi tive equilibrium. E. Economic efficiency is a market outcome in which the marginal benefit to consumers of the last unit produced is equal to its marginal cost of production, and where the sum of consumer and producer surplus is at a maximum. Government Intervention in the Market: Price Floors and Price Ceilings 1.Though the total benefit to society is maximized at a competitive market equilibrium, individual consumers would be better off if they could pay a lower than equilibrium price, and individual producers would be better off if they could sell at a higher than equilibrium price. 2. Consumers and producers sometimes lobby government to legally require a market price different from the equilibrium price. These lobbying efforts are sometimes successful. 3. Price floors were established in agricultural markets during the Great Depression in response to pleas from farmers who could sell their product only at low prices.A. A price floor is a legally determined minimum price that se llers may receive. B. A price floor encourages producers to produce more output than consumers want to buy at the floor price. C. The surplus (equal to the quantity supplied minus the quantity demanded at the floor price) that results from a price floor is typically bought and stored by the government. D. The marginal cost of the last unit produced exceeds its marginal benefit and there is a deadweight loss which reflects a decline in efficiency due to the price floor. 4.A price ceiling is a legally determined maximum price that sellers may charge. A. Price ceilings are meant to help consumers who may lobby for a price ceiling after a sharp increase in the price of an item on which they spend a significant amount of their budgets (for example, rent and energy). B. At the ceiling price, the quantity demanded is greater than the quantity supplied so that the marginal benefit of the last item sold (the quantity supplied) exceeds the marginal cost of producing it. C. Price ceilings resu lt in a deadweight loss and a reduction of economic efficiency.D. Price ceilings create incentives for black markets. A black market refers to buying and selling at prices that violate government price regulations. Externalities and Efficiency 1. An externality is a benefit or cost that affects someone who is not directly involved in the production or consumption of a good or service. A. Positive externalities refer to benefits received from a good or service by consumers who do not pay for them. B. Negative externalities refer to costs incurred by individuals from a good or service for which no one pays.C. A private cost is a cost borne by the producer of a good or service. D. A social cost is the total cost of production, including both the private cost and any external cost. E. A private benefit is the benefit received by the consumer of a good or service. F. A social benefit is the total benefit from consuming a good, including both the private benefit and any external benefit. G. A negative externality causes the social cost of production for a good or service to be greater than the private cost. As a result, more han the economically efficient level of output is produced. H. A positive externality causes the social benefit from the production of a good or service to be greater than the private benefit. As a result, less than the economically efficient level of output is produced. A. Market failure refers to situations where the market fails to produce the efficient level of output. B. Figure 4-9 illustrates the effect of acid rain on the market for electricity and the deadweight loss that occurs due to a negative externality. C.Figure 4-10 illustrates the impact of a positive externality in the market for a college education and the deadweight loss caused by this externality. 3. In the absence of private solutions to externalities, government intervention is warranted. To achieve economic efficiency, governments may intervene in different ways. A. To red uce pollution, â€Å"command and control† policies have often been employed. A command and control approach refers to government-imposed quantitative limits on the amount of pollution firms are allowed to generate, or government-required installation by firms of specific pollution control devices.B. Since 1990, a market-based approach to reducing sulfur dioxide emissions from electric utilities has reduced emissions at much lower cost than was expected. The success of this approach has led economists to advocate more extensive use of market-based approaches, and less use of command and control policies, to reduce other forms of pollution. Homework Problems – Not to be submitted: 1. From the Review Questions: Try all of them! 2. From the Problems and Applications: #s: 3, 4, 5, 16, and 20. 3. From the APPENDIX: REVIEW QUESTIONS #S 3 AND 4.

Health and Wellness Resorts Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Health and Wellness Resorts - Research Paper Example At the same time, it has been ascertained that health and wellness resorts are engaged in standardizing and globalizing the products and services. Nonetheless, it has been observed that health and wellness resorts are also burdened with increasing management and operational issues arising from declining quality and increasing competition. Furthermore, health and wellness resorts as mentioned above are in the early stage of development thus there is a relatively less literature regarding it. Consequently, there is a greater scope for future research to be conducted in order to derive valuable insights about the health and wellness resorts. Introduction Over the last few years, businesses have started using the word wellness for describing both physical and emotional meaning. More specifically, the word ‘wellness’ is extensively used in the service industry particularly in the context of luxurious hotels. At the same time, travelling for the purpose of health is not a new concept. However, it can be firmly admitted that the term ‘health tourism’ is relatively a new concept in the market positioning strategy of hotel and resorts. Broadly speaking, health and wellness tourism is defined as products or services that are made accessible to people travelling from their places or residences for health reasons (Caribbean Export Development Agency, 2009). The primary focus of the health and wellness resort involves imparting good health and general wellness of people. It entails a wide variety of treatments and services. For instance, Canyon Ranch one of the leading healthy living and luxury spa vacations comprising resorts, a beachfront hotel and destination spa amenities both on land as well as on sea is determined towards expanding the concept of health resort by initiating comprehensive approach regarding health and wellness of people. The evolution of health and wellness tourism is a result of continuous effort of service industry to attrac t new and potential customers through promotion and campaigns of health services. It can be argued that in the recent times the health and wellness tourism has gained tremendous popularity amid the global tourism industry as it does not depend on the factors such as seasonality. In other words, the health and wellness tourism has increased the ability of service industry to generate favorable income even during the off-seasons. Notably, the health and wellness sector within the context of Canada has also accorded radical growth. Health tourism across the globe including Canada can be identified to hold a greater opportunity for the service industry to boast its revenue and acquire loyal customers. Furthermore, the demand for health and wellness resort is constantly increasing (Siriphannapirat et al., 2013). Correspondingly, this research study intends to review the relevant development, management and operation issues pertaining to health and wellness resorts along with making relev ant recommendations regarding future research scope. Literature Review Wellness Tourism Mueller & Kaufmann (2001) postulate wellness tourism to be the sub-category of health tourism (Mueller &Kaufmann, 2001). Didascalou & et al. (2009) argue that there is no single definition of wellness or wellness tourism. It has been stated that the development of wellness tourism is actually embedded to ancient form of tourism (Didascalou & et al., 2009). Boulay et al. (2013) argue that wellness tourism

Comparison of Online Course and Traditional Course Essay

Comparison of Online Course and Traditional Course - Essay Example A lot of online schools are opening up and are providing quality education that is well comparable to the one offered by the traditional schools. The concept of online education has emerged with the rise of computers in general and internet in particular. While the concept of traditional courses is as old as the concept of education in the world is, the concept of online education is just as old as the internet itself. This paper draws a comparison and contrast between online courses and the traditional courses. Online courses and traditional courses resemble in the structure of course and differ in many areas including flexibility, medium and interaction between teachers and students. Online courses and traditional courses are similar in the structure of the course. Normally, there are equal number of quizzes, assignments, class tests and end term exams in online courses and the traditional courses. In both types of courses, â€Å"It is usually given to students at a common interva l, such as monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annually† (Edurite, 2012). Internet is a common medium of research in both online and traditional courses. Students are usually required to submit their assignments electronically in the traditional course like online course. These days, both online and traditional courses are offered for all kinds of subjects. ... In an online course, result is also declared similarly, except for the change that the result is released online. Students have a whole network of friends that is just as strong in the online courses as it is in the traditional courses. The only difference is that the friends might not be able to get together on daily basis in the online course like they do in the traditional course, yet the interaction takes place frequently through emails and social media websites. Online courses are much more convenient both for the students as compared to the traditional courses. Students find it very manageable to do a job along with studies when the studies are based on online courses (Best Online Universities, 2012). This is because of the fact that online courses can be scheduled as per the convenience of a student. Online courses basically have no fixed time for college. Unlike traditional course, online course requires maximal use of internet, even for the students’ interaction with the instructors that takes place through email and occasionally on social media websites and live chats. However, traditional course provides this advantage over the online course that students can converse with the teachers face to face. In online course, a student can browse the internet anytime of the day he/she feels like and download the lectures as well as the relevant assignments and also upload the ones which were due. Online courses save the students a lot of money. While the students have to spend a lot of money in arranging the transport for the school for a traditional course on daily basis, buying snacks and regular food items from the college cafeteria, giving treats to the friends, and most importantly, compromising upon the job in order to seek education, all of these

Compare and contrast aristotles and platos idea of the good Term Paper

Compare and contrast aristotles and platos idea of the good - Term Paper Example Thus, the ethics of Aristotle is associated with his idea of telos or purpose. And this purpose consists in the contemplative activity of the intelligence, that is, the true human Good. It is in this regard that for both Plato and Aristotle, the Good is not only characterized by ethics but also of epistemology, for the Good is always, for both of them, that which leads to true knowledge and wisdom. This paper will be divided into three main parts. The first part will discuss Plato’s Idea of the Good. Herein, a discussion of some of his dialogues will take place. Some of which are Laws, Gorgias, and The Republic. One the other hand, the second part will discuss Aristotle’s Idea of the Good. In doing so, two treatises on Aristotle’s ethics will be covered: Eudemian Ethics and the Ethics to Nichomachus. Finally, the third part will serve as the conclusion and final analysis of the matter. Herein, the author of this paper will show that despite the differences betwee n Plato and Aristotle’s doctrines and philosophical approaches, their Idea of the Good are both associated with the gradual improvement of the soul in search for intelligence, knowledge, truth, and wisdom. Plato: Wisdom, Truth and The Good The doctrine of Ideas constitutes the center of Platonic thought. For Plato, there are two orders of reality – one which is sensible and material; another which is immaterial and invisible, and which can only be grasped by the intellect. Plato had conceived of a multiplicity of Ideas: there were moral and aesthetic ideas, ideas of sensible realities, and ideas of artificial things: everything that existed had a corresponding idea. But there had to be an order or hierarchy among the Ideas, and a First from which all the other Ideas proceed. Thus, Plato gives order among the ideas in his Republic. In the Republic, Plato establishes a hierarchy among the Ideas, with the Idea of the Good as the unconditioned principle of the truth and be ing of the other ideas. He presents his doctrine with descriptive imagery: That which imparts truth to the known and the power of knowing to the knower is what I would have you term the idea of good, and this you will deem to be the cause of science, and of truth in so far the latter becomes the subject of knowledge†¦ so in this other sphere, science and truth may be deemed to be like the good, but not the good; the good has a place of honor yet higher†¦ the good may be said to be not only the author of knowledge to all things known†¦ (Plato, â€Å"The Republic† 136). In relation to this is his philosophy of man, wherein he distinguishes between the body and the soul of man. For Plato, body and soul are not only different from each other but also opposed and irreconcilable. Our body is the tomb or prison of the soul (Reale and Catan 157). Human beings are thus deprived from true life for as long as he remains chained to the body since the essence of man is his soul. It is the body that gives rise to every conceivable (Word Count: 353) evil, i.e. to ignorance. Plato’s ethics looks, therefore, to freeing the soul from its bondage to the body. Moreover, courage and knowledge are often distinguished from pleasure and good: â€Å"The good are good by the presence of good, and the bad are bad by the presence of evil. And the brace and wise are good, and the cowardly and foolish are

Is Thrasymachus and Hobbes right to see human nature in such stark Essay

Is Thrasymachus and Hobbes right to see human nature in such stark terms, or is Socrates right to see justice as something good in and of itself - Essay Example The researcher states that prior to deciding who the righteous intellectual is regarding claims made either for human nature or justice, one might as well begin to consider deliberating upon how each perspective is delivered and which basis or grounds satisfy the premises established. Through Plato’s â€Å"The Republic†, a significant part of Socratic philosophy may be said to have been conveyed since Plato himself is subject to the tutelage and influence of Socrates in their period. Though Plato presents a rather limited scope of democracy in dealing with liberty and nature of man, his concern for justice and resolving to define such virtue with Socrates in the light that favors human psyche instead of a perceived behavior is remarkable. On the other hand, Thomas Hobbes and Thrasymachus share a nearly common insight whereby Hobbes proposes via â€Å"Leviathan† that man, by nature, is free the logic of which is based upon natural rights whereas Thrasymachus confe rs to defend the opposite side of justice and takes man’s freedom to agree with matters that are only advantageous to men regardless of whether or not justice is at work. Hobbes thinks â€Å"each man has the liberty to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life; and judgment, and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means that each man has a will power to do whatever he thinks can preserve his own life and consequently to do anything which he thinks is right.† ... To Hobbes, until the man possesses the natural right to everything, he cannot be secured no matter how strong or wise he can be, in order to keep on living according to man’s life expectancy. Likewise, Thrasymachus promotes the Sophist challenge of arguing that ‘justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger’ and this originates from the primary belief in objective truth among the Sophists such as himself, who further accounts for the objective moral truth that does not acknowledge the fact with â€Å"right† or â€Å"wrong† in absolute degree. For Thrasymachus, all actions are neither right nor wrong but are ought to be figured as either coming with or without advantage to the person who executes them. Like the rest of the Sophists, he supports the idea that an individual must gain involvement only with deeds that return advantage and avoid those whose results are otherwise obtained in unpleasant disadvantage. In the similar manner, Hobbes entr eats his own approach of the issue with a precept or general rule of reason stating â€Å"that every man, ought to endeavor peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek, and use, all helps, and advantages of war.† The first branch of this rule states the fundamental law of nature which is to seek peace and follow it while the second branch pertains to the sum of the right of nature which assumes by all means we can, to defend ourselves. This second law is derived from the fundamental law of nature by which men are commanded to endeavor peace, rationalizing â€Å"that a man be willing when others are so too, as far forth, as for peace and defense of himself

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study Research Paper

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study - Research Paper Example One is to remember that it is difficult to make use of one particular leadership style for different types of contexts. However, the leader may demonstrate the best style or a combination of styles for each exclusive leadership context. From the case study, it has been apparent that Sir Richard Branson is one of the most influential, successful and enduring business leaders. Among numerous leadership styles such as autocratic leadership style, participative leadership style and laissez-faire style as well as in terms of authentic leadership model, expert power and referent power models, it can be analyzed that the leadership style demonstrated by Richard Branson is a laissez-faire leadership style. He has been successful in genuinely serving his employees and customers by means of his leadership. He has been interested in empowering the employees that he leads in order to make a vital difference. Richard Branson has natural leadership gifts and, thus, he makes use of his natural abil ities. It has been apparent from the case study that Richard Branson always believed in building long-term relationships with people. Authentic leaders generally learn from their failures. Richard Branson has focused on preparing himself to have another attempt at any failed activity with the required knowledge that he gained from his previous failure. One of the well known facts regarding authentic leaders is that they draw encouragement from their own lives. Richard Branson seems to be inspired by his mother who taught him not to look back in regret but rather to move on to the next task. An authentic leader is someone who is not frightened to admit his mistakes and, therefore, makes efforts to overcome his limitations. By facing weaknesses and declining to compromise with them, Richard Branson tends to identify ways to beat the weaknesses, which helps him to become a strong leader. Richard Branson also seems to possess expert and referent power. He has been capable of influencing others’ behaviors owing to the recognized competencies, talents and knowledge. He is capable of influencing others because his employees respect, admire and like him as a person. Whenever Richard Branson experiences any kind of setbacks, he chooses to pick himself up and try again. His principles are based on the belief that entrepreneurs will only succeed if they have good people around them and they listen to the superior’s advice. Authentic leaders such as Richard Branson care for themselves as well as the people that they lead, and their compassion is genuine (Harvard Business School, 2012). Richard Branson practices self-discipline by incorporating balance into his personal and professional lives. While most of the executives focus upon serving their customers as well as stockholders, Richard Branson believes that the correct hierarchical system in any organization is to have ‘employee at the first position’, ‘customer next’ and ‘s tockholders at the end’. It is because of the effectiveness of Richard Branson’s leadership style that Virgin Group Limited has been capable of becoming a multibillion-dollar worldwide conglomerate and one of the most recognized brands in the world. It has been identified that most of the US leaders tend to have participative leadership styles. Therefore, it can be stated that although Laissez-Faire leadership style tends to

The relationship between multifunctional firms, the state and Essay

The relationship between multifunctional firms, the state and socio-economic development in Germany and Britain - Essay Example There is a need for the firms to reach â€Å"internal equity and consistency† (Allin, 1999, p. 319), because it is the way to decrease tensions between the firm and the market (socio-economic factors, respectively). There are different tensions in British HRM practices. This country, as well as Germany operates under conditions of too intense relations. There is a little percent of communicative approach in the British multi-national firms. There is a wide discussion with regards to firms of HI from Germany and Britain. Different researches and studies in this field underline that German labor system is not reflected ‘as is’ in these studies and MNCs in HI are often misinterpreted (Royle, 1999c, p. 541). German companies describe their operation within the country in the following way: â€Å"workers cannot consume personnel policy according to their individual tastes† (Royle, 1999c, p. 542). That is why it is necessary to talk about external pressures exert ed on MNCs in HI. There are many difficulties, when we analyze the relations between the state and the MNCs. Developed countries, such as Britain and Germany cannot contribute much into restructuring of their operations in the market, because of their conservative governments. Too rigid programs and strategies at the governmental level are reflected in the internal operations of the MNCs. In case with British Multi-national firms, it should be noted that the aspect of recruitment is one of the main important concerns. There is a need to focus on personal skills and concerns. In order to restructure the system of rewards in the country, it should be noted that appropriate laws are introduced at the governmental level (Briscoe, Randall,... This paper talks about interactions, that emerges between international companies, that conduct their activity in the hospitality industry, and governments of the respective states, where the companies operate. Effects of the socio-economic factors on that relationship are considered. The basic function of hospitality is to establish a relationship or to promote exchange of goods and services, both material and symbolic, between those who give hospitality (hosts) and those who receive it Multi-national firms of HI are usually competing about their employees, who require special skills and knowledge. Moreover, country regulations may exert influence on operation of the country and reflect in low salaries, ineffective compensation system and other negative outcomes. There is a need for the government to take into account the concepts of convergence-divergence and develop appropriate strategies for managers in order they could prepare labor force, which I the most relevant to a certain industry Globalization experiences of labour market in Britain and Germany reflect processes of turbulent changes and uncertainties. HR managers of multi-national firms develop their creative potential and skills in order to deal with constraints and choices related to product and labour markets, organizational status and structure, size of workplace and culture . The current negative outcome of multi-national firms operating in HI is the lack of considerations about labour efficiency or employment.

Technology is important for us Essay Example for Free

Technology is important for us Essay Imagine yourself a world without the existence of the word technology? How does that world look like? For me it’s a world without evolution and creativity, a place where everyone is closed minded. Like the cavemen where we once was in the Stone age, but this time infinitely. Technology is something very important for our society and mankind. It gives us hopes and dreams to reach out for. Furthermore, it improves our lives by making it more easier and better. For example, take a look around you, the watch, the laptop, the TV and even the chair. Almost everything you see is the track of technology and have you ever imagined you life without those stuff? A good tips is by sitting on a stone an hour in the woods without bringing anything with you. After that you will surely realize how important technology really is. Personally, technology is something I really love and I have been a dreaming about creating a new technology myself. A Time-machine or something unimaginable that will change this world, in a positive way of course. However, a technology is not always something positive. Clearly, weapons and bombs that is used for war and hurting other people. So can we live without technologies? If the technology stops to evolves or improves, the time will also stops. We will lose our creativity and everything we create or produce will look the same. However that will never ever happen, because we humans are curios creature. We like to explore things and make things easier for us. Consequently, it keeps the technology in track and go forwards. To summarize, technology is something important for us and our world. We can survive without it but the world would not be as fun and easy as today. Even though some evil people use technology in bad ways like starting wars. Technology can still be used to stop wars and connect people by helping each other. For example the internet which keeps us in touch with each other even though we are miles away.

The Perimeter Network Security System Computer Science Essay

The Perimeter Network Security System Computer Science Essay As like in the real life, securing the borders are the first level of defense to protect the internal network of an organisation. The purpose of this report is to design a perimeter network security system that will provide security enhancement on the existing network infrastructure of Napier University. Network perimeter is an important line of defence in an enterprise network and every organisation has this perimeter network. Perimeter network is where the internal network meets the border network. The main security architecture using this potential area of the network is firewalling. Here this report discusses the egress and ingress filtering of packets by the firewall in order to let the bad traffic out of the perimeter and allow only the good traffic to trusted internal network. One of the core ideas behind the securing the network from outside threat is to develop and implement multiple overlapping layers of security solutions with different security components like Firewalls, VPN, IDS/P and Proxying. Though there are no single security solutions to protect the university network, multiple layers of perimeter security solution will provide maximum available protection from both outside and internal threats. (Watkins, 2011) The design considers hardening of network devices by striping down unnecessary protocols and services and manages the security perimeter from a management network for proper monitoring and mitigation. The main challenges to design and implement a perimeter security is to determine the proper firewall design, as Perimeter firewall and border routers are key components that decide the security to internal network. Most modern day attacks are happening in the Application layer and filtering in this top layer is extremely important for a successful security design. An enhanced packet inspection with proper monitoring and reporting is required throughout the end points of the network to block the malicious traffic from in and out of the network. There are number of ways and techniques involved in designing a perimeter security and this design proposes the specific solutions to the security threats in a campus wide network than in a highly complex enterprise network. 1 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 RESEARCH AND DESIGN (25/ 1000 words) Security is not a product but a process. Network security depends on multiple components, policy and procedure to enforce the best practices on systems, people and infrastructure (Michael E. Whitman, 2009). The basic idea of information security is to protect the three fundamental components of information security that are Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. Perimeter security design follows this principle to protect these components by using various security components. The design of the perimeter security depends on what resources need to be protected and the business need. SECURITY ARCHITECTURE The main design of the security architecture consists of segregating different zones in a network. These zones have different levels of security trust levels that allow or deny traffic. This layered architecture will provide the University to keep out of attackers (the term attacker is used in this report and not hacker, as an attacker is a hacker with a malicious intent and not all hackers are malicious intent). In the enterprise network, the network is divided generally into three zones and these are Border Network, Perimeter network and internal network. The perimeter security consists of border network and perimeter network as shown in the picture. Each of these considered as single entity against potential threats. In a network perimeter has many points where an effective security policy should be established. The network perimeter is the most important points of security against 2 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 external threats. Many types of security can be implemented like packet filtering, intrusion detection systems/prevention and anomaly detection etc. Border Network Border network is the Internet facing zone via a border router (Edge router) that provides an initial layer of protection against all the starting point of attacks. It is most likely an IDP (Intrusion Detection and Prevention) System to be placed to create an extra layer of security. The border router will allow the traffic as per the Ingress and Egress filtering rules set on the router. Apart from protecting the outside threats these edge router and IDP also help to reduce the network load on the perimeter firewall by filtering spoofed traffic out of reaching to the perimeter firewall. Egress filtering helps to prevent specific types of traffic going out of the University that may be some confidential information or can an attacker plant traffic from a payload. A common rules used in the border router is to filter out the ICMP traffic to avoid the probing of network infrastructure. (Dailey, 2009) Perimeter Network Perimeter network sits in between the Border network and the trusted internal network often referred as DMZ. A Perimeter Firewall is the main component to filter the traffic to DMZ and passes the traffic to internal network. This firewall allows traffic from outside the network to servers like Web server or Email Server and also allows a limited access from the internal users. 3 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 Perimeter firewall allows the filtered traffic to internal firewall where traffic is further scrutinised by the set of rules according the security policies of the organisation. These firewalls are commonly uses the stateful inspection technology where the states of legitimate traffics are stored in the firewall cache. Only traffic matching the states of the connection is allowed and others are dropped. REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS When designing a secure network there are number of factors are taken into considerations. Security is not just a technical issue but a business issue. The goal is to make sure a balanced approach towards the requirements in general. The general security requiement is to provide the services according to the CIA triad of the information security. Apart from these there are also factors like budget, existing infrastructure and scalability. Other factors also constitute the decision making of a proper design are reduce cost, employee productivity, avoid business down time, comply with industry standards etc. SECURITY THREATS This section discusses the better known attacks and the reason behind using perimeter security as first line of defense. Attacks can be devided into external attacks- coming from the internet and internal attacks- coming from the internal network. Information Gathering is the first method an attacker try to get the maximum informaiton about the network architecture. 4 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 The external attacks are from the simple probing of the network to DoS( Denial of Service Attacks). An insider attack considers one of the major threats to any perimeter security design. These attacks may come from a mischievous user to a disgruntled employee who wanted to grab confidential information or to steal company secrets like financial data, personal information etc. A well configured internal firewall along along with the perimeter firewall can be the good level of defense against these attacks Other types of attacks inlcude intrusion packet sniffing, IP spoofing and DoS attacks that poses a direct threat to the organisation. Application layer security is one of the important design area to be take care of. Well known attacks like SQL injection are of these types. These exploits the known or unknown vulnerability on a web server or database server in order to gain the unauthorised access to the internal network. DESIGN The design of each of the security zones for the Napier University may be different but as whole these components acts together to provide a common goals by protecting the perimeter. It is important to understand where the perimeter of the network exists and what technologies are used against the threats. Perimeter security is handled by several different technologies including border router, firewalls, intrusion detection sytems and prevention systems, VPNs. Border Router The border router sits in the border or the edge of network where there is a direct interface to Internet. It acts like a traffic policeman, directs the traffic in or out of the network and also block the traffic which are not allowed to. The border router will do a NATing to provide this feature. This will give the outside network to probe the internal network. Although these routers are do not act like a firewall, it helps to protect the very first line of defense. Firewall 5 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 A firewall is an active device that job is to permit or deny the data packets as per the rules set or the states of the connection. Perimeter firewall is the center point of defense against all the threat that coming to internal network. Firewall can be software based or hardware based hardned for the filtering of packets. The proposed perimeter security can be stand alone or multiple layers that combined with other security devices like IDS, IDP and VPN. A static filter firewall is the common and simplest firewalls. These firewal allow or block traffic based on the packet header. A perfect example is blocking of Spoofed IP traffic. The main advantage of this type is that I has a very fast throughput but the down side is this firewall block already established connection which may be malicious intent. On the other hand the stateful inspection firewall is the best way of defending the maliciuos attacks. Stateful inspection firewall keeps a copy of the state of each connection so that the traffic will be allowed or denied according the states in the state cache maintained in the firewall. The disadvantage of using this firewall is slow traffic coming out of the firewall as invidiual packets need to be verified and checked with the cache table. Another firewall which is effective against the application layer attacks are the Proxy firewalls. Since the most modern day attacks are pointed against the application protocols the stateful or stateful firewalls will not block the malicious traffic coming to/out of the network. A proxy firewall acts in the middle of the internet and private hosts and the proxy by acting on behalf of the host. The filtering rules are applied in the application layer. The ruleset or signature can be created according to the latest threats. Because of the huge number of traffic these firewalls considered the lowest throughput than any other firewall but top end in droping unwanted malicous application layer traffic. A web application filter and a spam filter are the example of a proxy firewall. DMZ A DeMilitarized Zone or DMZ is the separate zone from the perimeter firewall between the external network and trusted internal network. The public internet facing servers like Web servers, email servers are placed in this area because the DMZ is considered the the most sensitive area with high security stance. The firewall restrict the traffic in this zones in order to avoid the potential threats that may come into the internal 6 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 network. The network inside this zone cannot initiate a session to the outside world unlcess it is a reply to an incoming connection. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS)/ Prevention systems (IPS) An intrusion detection system or prevention system works in sync with the firewalls by providing a coming security goal of blocking unwanted traffic and notify any event that pop up in the network or host. IDS anlayse the packets for any suspicious activity and alerts the administrator. An IPS will prevent these activity by droping apart from the detection the same way IDS does. IDS and IPS have extensive rules set or singnatures of malicious activity which matches the incoming or outdoing traffic when in operation. One disadvantages with the IPS or IDS is that it may alert an legitimate traffic which considered false positive. A proper configuration of these devices is required in order to kept the false positive minimum as some times this will be a menace to handle too many logs with many thousands of false positives. A host based IDS also provide the security administrator with alerts against he malicious activity destined against a particular server like in Database server. VPN Virtual Private Nework (VPN) establish a secure remote connection to the private network by creating a secure virtual tunnel through the public untrusted network. VPN provides perimeter security by ecrypting the data in the tunnel and establish a secure connection over the internet. VPN considered to be the potential threat when an attacker comprise the tunnel as the traffic cannot be verified by the IDS or IPS because of the encrypted pakcets it uses for communication. An SSL VPN with an end-to-end VPN can be the best possible way to stay the attacker out of the network. A perimeter security design is incomplete without a proper firewall policy and an organisation wide security practices. For example if an administrator keep a weak password for these devices or any hosts in the network can nullify the entire effort put on designing a perimeter security. These security policy should also be applied to 7 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 systems, and users as there needs to be a minimum level of secure access policy with proper Authentication, Autherisation and Authentication(AAA) methods. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps1018/products_tech_note09186a00808bc994.shtml Management Network Management and logging is the most important aspects of a perimeter security. This network has the high security stance as all the administrative access are controlled in the management network. An attacker can take direct access by accessing the management network. The traffic to management network to be encrypted to avoid any possible attack on the internal network. For example to access the IDS, ISP and or routers to be through a secure shell, or SSL, or a https access. Log monitoring is another important aspect of a perimeter security like keeping the IDS and IPS logs or firewall logs. Log files can help to identify the probable attack on the internal or malicious activity originating from the internal network. Another possible thing to do to harden all the security devices destined to do only services that (Convery, 2004). IMPLEMENTATION (20/ 800 words) Building a perimeter security system consists of bringing different security technologies explained in the previous topic; together for a common goal-to protect the internal network from external or internal threats. The router and firewall separate the public untrusted network from the internal network, the IDS/IPS monitors all traffic, and the VPN provides remote access. All of these components together form a defense in depth security in a perimeter. Figure xxx shows the outline prototype of the proposed design. 8 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 authentication server-dmz One of the first best practices before the implementation is to develop a firewall policy. The policy mainly defines the security trust levels of each zone in the network and the flow of the data traffic. The flow of data traffic is one of core in implementing the organisation wide security technologies. Perimeter firewall is the centre point in this prototype. This firewall is a stateful inspection firewall and manages traffic from external and internal network. This firewall is a closed security stance by blocking all traffic except those required for the University network. 9 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 The figure - above shows how the data flows through different layers of security first where the first line of defense is border router. This multiple layers of security filter the bad traffic in different layers in the network. The first level of defense is border router with a backup from the NIDS. This can be implemented by enabling basic packet filtering rules and Access Control Lists. Blocking the IP Spoofing and ICMP traffic are the examples. This outline NIDS will detect the any unknown behaviour in the traffic, which will be alerted to the administrator through management network. In some cases border router may not required as the perimeter firewall it self can handle the security threats but that depends on the business decision like cost and availability. Diagram for flow of trafficà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ As shown in the figure the data flow in the perimeter firewall. Perimeter firewalls allows or deny traffic as per the ingress and egress filter rules. Almost all the traffic coming to the internal network will be blocked by firewall and only allow as per the egress rules. The exception for this rule is for VPN clients and the VPN uses the encrypted tunnel and the VPN server is inbuilt in the Firewall itself. The Perimeter firewall also allows ingress traffic to DMZ zone but drop traffic originates from the webserver other than the reply to the already established connection. DMZ is the least trust level and this is why DMZ is isolated from other network zones. The internal network is allowed to access the Internet and Intranet through a proxy server in the DMZ zone. A web filtering software in the Proxy server can be implemented to filter out the unintended malicious URLs and links. The DMZ also has an inline NIPS in order to defend attacks against the application level threats like DoS attacks. The in line IPS behind the Perimeter firewall act like a sub-cop to check the malicious activity originating both from external and 10 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 internal network. Internal threat may come from a disgruntled employee or a malicious traffic from a Trojan program or a zombie for a possible DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack by a hacker (black hat off course!) harvested by using techniques like social engineering. The table explains the detailed egress and ingress rules on the Perimeter firewall. TRAFFIC TYPES INGRESS EGRESS ALLOW HTTP/S Request, DMZ Allow ICMP DMZ Deny Email (SMTP) Request DMZ Allow Email (Exchange RPC) DMZ Allow All Other Traffic DMZ Deny HTTP Reply DMZ Allow SMTP Reply DMZ Allow Exchange RPC Reply DMZ Allow All Other Traffic DMZ Deny ICMP (depends on policy) Internal Network Deny Remote VPN Connection Internal Network Allow All Other (Including from DMZ) Internal Network Deny Proxy Server (Port 8080)- Internet Internal Network Allow Email Server Access (DMZ) Internal Network Allow ICMP Internal Network Deny All Other Traffic Internal Network Deny Management network in the proposed diagram is one of the top security trust level where the management of all the security devices can be done. Log analysis, Secure tunnel access to routers, firewalls, IDS/P are all done in this network. The trusted servers in the internal network are protected with an internal packet filter firewall with only few of the protocols and ports are allowed. This will give the server farms with highest level of security. The staff and student networks are segregated with VLAN, as staffs should have access to student network but not vice versa. VLAN separate the traffic like a router and this will be important when considered in a University network. 11 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 Both staffs and Students can have access to trusted servers through the internal firewalls. The NIDS is also monitor any suspicious event and alerted. The other Host based IDS and personal firewall in each of the workstations provides an extra layer of security. So the proposed design with a defense-in-depth can be implemented to enhance the existing infrastructure of the Napier. TESTING AND EVALUATION (25/ 1000 words) 12 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 CONCLUSION (15/ 600 words) Unifiied threat management Appliance emerging cobbà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. One persons good enough is another persons never! Bandwidth for authentication is trivial in any case I can think of that doesnt include downloading extremely large biological mappings of the authentication target. As far as security measurements, I dont know what yard stick youre using, but strong on-host, per-host authentication works well when you have a trusted path, everything else is a usability or management compromise, I dont think Id tout them as security features. Placement of authentication server Placement of internal firewall. http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/firewalls/achieving-defense-in-depth-internal-firewalls_797 he single, authenticated/anonymous, and individualized DMZ designs are all secure designs that provide the best protection for various network sizes. The single DMZ is respected for its simple design which separates itself from a private network. The authenticated/anonymous DMZ classifies servers and the data they protect in order to segregate servers that need strong access controls from the ones that do not. The 13 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 individualized DMZ gives the greatest security for a mature network, but also has the highest setup and maintenance costs. All of these secure DMZ designs are susceptible to a poorly configured server which can allow a criminal access to a data store or worse, the entire private network. In a nutshell, theres no such thing as absolute security. How much you invest in firewalls should be a function of how much you have to lose if an attack is successful. (reword) You probably heard a number of so called security experts claim the perimeter is dead because it is not effective at blocking attacks. Nothing cluld be further from the trust. Its true that attacks have become far more complex. The concern is no longer simple port scans. What we need to do however is enhance our posture, not scrap useful technologies. To be fair however, its not just the perimeter that is having the problems with modern attacks vectors. Tools like metasploit have reduced the time of exploit development from days to minutes. Networks are being spear targested with Malware which goes undetected by their Antivirus software, in some cases for as long as two years. Attackers have figured out that they do need to completely defeat forensics, they just need to make it difficult enough that it is no longer cost effective in a CFOs eyes to fully analyse the comprosmised system. So the true problem is attack technology is advancing and we need to keep up. Sometimes this is finding new security technologies and sometimes its by retasking the ones we are already using. To draw a parallel, think of what has happened with the common automobile. 40+ years ago a tuner could tweak more power out of an engine with a simple toolkit from sears. Many of those old times tuners will tell you that engines are now too complex t work on. T o the modern tuner however who is willing to add things like OBD-II adapters and laptops to their toolki, the payoffs are huge. Power levels that used to equire huge V8 engines can be produced in tiny four cylinders with as much displacement as half gallono fmilk. 14 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584 https://ondemand.sans.org/b20080814/viewer.php?mode=2lo=7652moduleid=530 7pos=0hint=1#viewer Properly configured firewalls and border routers are the cornerstone for perimeter security The Internet and mobility increase security risks VPNs have exposed a destructive, pernicious entry point for viruses and worms in many organizations Traditional packet-filtering firewalls only block network ports and computer addresses Most modern attacks occur at the application layer 15 CSN11111 Perimeter Network Security System 10800584

Introduction Of Leadership And Mentoring Management Essay

Introduction Of Leadership And Mentoring Management Essay According to Northouse, P, leadership is defines as a process whereby a person influences a group of persons to achieve a destination. In simple terms, leadership is a transactional event that occurs between these individuals instead of a characteristic that resides in the leader. This definition also includes goals attainment and these goals are pursuit by the leader and the followers. Another great definition is given by Batten (1989) who defines the leadership as a development of a complete system of expectations in order to determine evoke and implement the strengths of all resources the most important of which is people. 1.1 Definition of Mentoring According to Garvey (2004), mentoring is defines as a human interaction which depends on an intended purpose of the relationship between the individuals. It involves two people talking with a purpose for the main benefit of one of the individual. Mentoring also is a term that describes a confidential relationship between two people in making improvement in work or knowledge and through this process enhancing their capacity (Clutterbuck, D Megginson, D . 1995). 1.2 Characteristic of a Good Leader As Cox, D (1996) has stated leadership is a position that must be earned day by day. Effective leaders are foremost effective people in an organization. Thus, the characteristics of the leaders are very important. The following list five of characteristics that seem especially important to make up a good leader: Integrity Good leaders who possess the higher standard of integrity will make their followers trust them. A leader who is centered in integrity will meet his or her commitment and will be honest in all dealings. Therefore, followers will find them reliable and trustable. George, M.D (2005) has written that integrity requires the ability to understand oneself honestly and acceptance of ones self. Confidence Building self-confidence is always the preliminary to become a good leader. Having confidence in leaders is about having belief that they will act in effective and efficient way to accomplish goals. As Vojta (2010) stated, leader who possess confidence in himself or herself has the ability to influence an organization internally and externally. However, Adair (1997) agrees that confidence is essential but overconfidence will lead to arrogance. Vision A good leader possesses great vision to foresee a variable future state for the organization. Leaders need to be able to makes vision tangible and communicate the vision clearly to organization in a way that gains commitment. According to Bennis, W (2009), vision is an important characteristic to be an effective leader because lack of a clear vision will lower the effectiveness of a leader. Respect Respect should not be restricted only from the team members to the leader. As a good leader, he or she must treats all team members with respect and dignity all the times. Respect is simply treating team members as leader wish to be treated. This is a vital characteristic of an effective leader. Shriver, S (2011) suggests that leader must make sure they treat all human beings with respect regardless of differences. Locus of control Lee, Don Tsang and Eric (2001) state that a successful leader shows a high standard of internal locus of control. Leaders high on the internal locus of control are more likely to experience success and they also believed that their success is due to their personal efforts that they implement. 1.3 Characteristic of a Good Mentor To be a good mentor, mentor need to display certain characteristics. Although not all successful mentors will displays every characteristics listed as below, but these characteristic are highly desirable characteristics for all mentors. There are certain key characteristics a good mentor should possess: Enthusiastic A successful mentor believes that the mentee will enthusiastically share the knowledge and skills with the mentee. Mentor allows mentee to explore their feelings and thoughts openly with them. A good mentor possesses enthusiastic attitude are interested in and willing to listen with care and concern (Starcevich, Matt. 2005). Patience Effective mentors are patient by nature. They allow the person being mentored to make mistakes and encourage them learn from the mistakes. A good mentor will know how to respond with patience and grace. Honest A good mentor is the one who willing to provide honest feedback to the mentee. Good mentor thinks that it is their responsibilities to be honest to the mentee. They believe that there are huge lessons for mentee to learn as they speak the truth, transparent about their past experience and share with honesty (Cate, R. 2012). Supportive In order to be an effective mentor, he or she has to be supportive rather than critical. Good mentor are willing to give moral support and encouragement to help mentee to improve their performance. Most of the mentors have already achieved success and they are now giving support to mentee to meet the goal (Campbell, M.J. 2006). 1.4 Leadership Roles and Responsibilities There are several roles and responsibilities that a leader has to consider. Firstly, the world renowned business trainer, Tracy, B.S (2002) suggests that the role and responsibility of a leader is to solve problems and make decision. Leader has to make sound decisions that help the organization to achieve its target. To make a suitable decision, leader need to ensure that all discussion is productive and solve all the greater problems, in order to lead the team toward the decision. Secondly, leader has the role and responsibility to set a good example for the followers. Leader must strive for a good ethic and traits which leader wants his or her followers to follow. Thirdly, according to Fayol, H (1949), delegation of tasks is an important role and responsibilities of leadership. Leaders have to recognize the abilities of their subordinates by assigning them with important task. Leaders must understand the strengths and weaknesses of subordinates so that they may assign the task to a proper person. Lastly, leaders possess the role and responsibility to motivate their followers to produce effective result. To do so, leaders should encourage them by giving recognition awards, remind them the desire to achieve and give support in their work (Rampur, S . 2011). 1.5 Mentoring Roles and Responsibilities The mentor plays certain roles and responsibilities. Firstly, according to Byington, T (2010), mentor has the role and responsibilities to provide guidance and feedback to mentees on task progression. A mentor should provide guidance based on their experience and give constructive feedback which is in connection to the established target. Secondly, mentor has the role and responsibility to actively listen to their mentees problems. The mentor need to show respect by listening attentively to the problems of the mentee (Marquardt,M.J and Loan,P. 2006). Thirdly, as a mentor, he or she possesses the role and responsibility to generate motivation with the mentee. Mentors can motivate the mentee through encouragement or rewards, to drive a mentee to meet the ambitious goal. Lastly, mentors have the role and responsibility to act as a positive role model for their mentees. In order to set a good role model for the mentee, mentor must demonstrates a positive attitude and strive for a good wo rk ethics. This can helps to sets an example for their mentees to follow (Parkinson, L. 2010). 1.6 Benefits of Leadership According to Bennis (1999), the benefit of leadership is that it helps to increase productivity. Leaders have the role to provide guidance to their team members, to motivate team members and to solve any problems. Thus, team members are empowered to succeed and increase the productivity. Robert Zemsky and Susan Shaman of the University of Pennsylvania have conducted a research of 3,200 U.S. companies, the research showed that a 10 percent increase in spending for development leadership will increase an 8.5 percent in productivity. Besides that, leadership also helps to develop a better vision which simplifies in solving problem and also creating a mission statement and actionable goals. This statement and goals will be used to lead the team member to success. In addition, one of the benefits of leadership is limits employee turnover. This is because leadership encourage leader to motivate the employees, respect them and provide support to them to make them stay on the job. As a resul t, companies get to keep talented employees while reducing the recruitment costs (Jones, P.B. 2008). Leadership can also help a company maintain focus on its business. In large companies, there are many managers attempting to make decision. Leadership can get managers and staff on the same page and let them focus on the original company vision (Vitez, O. 2009). 1.7 Benefits of Mentoring According to Makin, L (2010), mentoring can benefit the organization by retaining the business knowledge and practical experience from long-term employees. This is because mentor will transfer their insight, knowledge and past experience of the company with the mentee so that mentee can gains potential knowledge about the organisation from the mentor. Besides that, mentoring can benefit the organization to become more productive. Mentor will provide guidance and help employee to seek solution to overcome the problem. Hence, employee can accomplish the task quickly, accurately and increase the productivity of the business. Organisations may incur additional cost problems when employee solves their problems inaccurately without a mentor. Moreover, mentoring allows organization to enhance professional development through sharing of skills, information and behaviors. Lastly, mentoring also can help to improving skills such as communication, listening and questioning skills. This could he lp mentee to gain better understanding of how to interact with others now and in the future (Morley, M. 2012). 1.8 Principles of Leadership Sugar, B (2008) has demonstrated that there are several principles linked to leadership. They are : Be technically and tactically proficient Leader must be technically proficient by demonstrate the ability to accomplish the mission and able to answering the questions. Technically competent leader will earn the respect of their followers.   Seek self-improvement Leaders must have a clear understanding of themselves through determine their strong and weak personal qualities. Self-improvement can be achieved by questioning and observing. Leader can seek for honest evaluation of others of their leadership ability. This could help them to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Make a sound and timely decision As a leader, he must be able to make a sound and timely decision through practicing estimates of the situation. To make a sound decision, leaders need to consider the effects of the decisions in the organisation and also accept the suggestions of the subordinates. Set an example Set the example to followers is considered one of the leadership principles as leadership is taught by example. If leaders can keep a positive attitude and high personal standards, then leaders can get the same attitude and same personal standard of their followers. This is because leader is an inspiration to all the followers. 1.9 Principles of Mentoring Rolfe, A (n.d) has written that mentoring is underpinned by several key principles that must be understood by mentor. They are : The professional relationship Mentor and mentee must maintain a professional relationship through acknowledge the one anothers contribution and celebrate their achievements. Other than that, mentee and mentor need to develop mutual trust and respect each other to maintain a professional relationship. Needs and Goals This principle drives the relationship between mentor and mentee. The mentor helps mentee by determining the desire goal, giving feedback and formulating steps to achieve the goal. Then mentee will consider the steps given by the mentor and implements the action to achieve the desire goal. Active Listening Mentors often act as sounding boards for the mentee. Mentor must be able to listen the mentees questions, ideas and plans. Therefore, their conversation becomes a dialogue where ideas and plans are shared. Limitations Mentee can seek for the idea and information from mentor. However, mentee must also refer to other resources such as professional counselling services. A mentee must recognize the limitations of a mentor and cannot demand a mentor to know everything. Part 2 : Discussion on the Competencies needed Introduction of Competencies Dubois, D (1998) defines competencies as certain personal characteristics, knowledge, skills, mindsets, skills and thought patterns that applied whether in singularly or in combinations of these, to bring a great performance. 2.1 Competencies needed by leaders The first key competency needed by leaders is self-awareness which allows leaders to have a clear understanding of their personality including strengths and weaknesses, reactions to problems and sources of frustration (Schein, E.H. 1978; Goleman, D. 1998). Both Schein (1978) and Goleman (1998) suggest that leaders having a clear perception of their personalities can help them to regulate of their emotions and make a change they want. It also enables leaders to understand their followers so that they can maintain an effective relationship with their followers. The second competency needed by leaders is engagement in personal transformation. Brake (1997) describes this competency as a desire to enhance personal skills and knowledge and stay up to date. The reflections of personal transformation are strong, willing to learn new things, re ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ective learning and no limit assumptions. The leader who possesses the competency of engagement in personal transformation will accept the criticism and learn from the criticism (Spreitzer, 1997). Engagement in personal transformation is also includes items such as being open to change (Jordan and Cartwright, 1998) and willing to change personal perceptions (Harris and Moran, 1987). The third competency is visioning thinking. Frank (2005) describes this competency as the ability to provide a vision, foresee the future within the organisation. To create a best vision requires leader to get many ideas and supports from others. Hence, leaders can partnering with their team members, key employees or executive members throughout the organisation. 2.1 Competencies needed by mentors Building Rapport is one of the most fundamental mentoring competencies needed by mentors. Kram (1983) defines building rapport as the skills of the mentor to recognize and manage positively a lack of rapport. An inappropriate balance of common ground and dissimilarity will lead to weak common bond between mentor and mentee. Mentor can use open-ended questions to find some common ground between them to help establish an instant rapport between mentor and mentee. The second competency needed by mentors is active listening. An efficient mentor has to listen on all levels and understand what is the mentee body language message tells, what messages do mentors get through observing their facial expressions. These elements tell clearer than the words alone (Rogers, C.R. 2009). Rogers (2009) also suggests the balance of power is one of the competencies that are found in the most mentors. This competency enables mentor to determine the balance of power between mentor and mentee and to be understand about their desire achievements. Mentor has to empower his or her mentee to work out the skills at mentors disposal and impose his own agenda in order to achieve mentors goal. Part 3 : Mentoring at Work During February 2011 to November 2011, researcher worked as a senior accounting assistant for an accountancy firm Wezmart International Company, before taking up a degree in Teesside University. During that working period, researcher has encountered many mentoring opportunities. Researcher has applied several roles and responsibilities, characteristics and skills as a mentor. It also helped researcher to gain lots of valuable experience and knowledge in the mentoring scheme. While researchers works involved a range of mentoring tasks, there are several characteristics of a mentor that researcher has displayed in mentoring the beginning accounting juniors. Firstly, researcher has to exhibit the patience and tolerance in mentoring juniors to accomplish their task. Kanaskie (2006) suggests that mentor must possessed patience as all tasks take time and learning a new knowledge requires repetition. Therefore, researcher allows her juniors to make mistakes and she believed that her juniors will learn from the mistakes. For example, researcher showed patience by invested time to teach juniors how to use accounting software to generate financial statements of the company. Secondly, researcher was very supportive to coach beginning accountants to improve their accounting knowledge wherever their knowledge level. Researcher provided her juniors with helpful instructional support, direction and encouragement to support her juniors to provide accurate and timely acc ounting reports of the companies. Thirdly, researcher has to display the characteristic of empathy. Card Rogers (1985) describes empathy as accepting others without making judgments. For example, researcher accepted the new accounting staff as a developing accountant and did not judge the accounting reports prepared by them as being poorly prepared. Empathy allows the researcher to gain clear understand the perspective of the mentee. During that time, researcher has possessed certain roles and responsibilities of a mentor to maintain a successful relationship between her juniors. One of the roles and responsibilities is provides development feedback to the juniors. Researcher, as senior of her juniors, understood that she had an obligation to offer guidance and feedback on her juniors works. This allowed her juniors to identify their strengths or weaknesses about their accounting works and then motivate them to work on areas of weakness. Besides that, the researcher also assisted the juniors to build self-confidence. Juniors may feel lack of confidence to navigate challenging accounting tasks as they were still new in the career. Therefore, researcher encouraged juniors to take risks, accept any challenges situation and overcome difficulties to meet their achievement. Researcher also suggested juniors to have a realistic expectation and make a positive decision in order to help them build self-confidence. Moreover, researcher also possessed the mentors roles of listen actively and be sensitive to the mentees needs. Researcher had to listen without judgment and interruption to enable juniors to bring their problems or concerns to the surface (Ryan, V. 2012). Last but not least, researcher also set a positive example to her juniors by showing good personal attitudes (Loretto, P. 2012). For example, researcher followed all the instructions given by accounting executive and prepared timely financial reports so that researcher can demand the same positive behaviour from juniors. In order to assess researchers potential to mentor others, researcher has summarised the researchers competencies in a theoretical framework which suggested from Clutterbuck (2000) within Figure 1 below. click to expand Figure 1:  The 10 mentor competencies suggested from Clutterbuck (2000). Researcher believes that mentoring requires a whole range of competencies to meet a desire goal. These competencies are include self-awareness, communication competence, good humour, interest in developing others, goal clarity, behavioural awareness, conceptual modeling, professional savvy, commitment to own learning and relationship management. First of all, researcher possessed the self-awareness in order to understand and control their emotions, strengths and weaknesses. For example, researcher handled her own impatience and tiredness appropriately when giving suggestions to her juniors. This helped juniors to understand the effects emotions may have on behavior and also maintain a good relationship with the juniors. Researcher also developed the communication competence to meet the needs of juniors. Researcher practiced effective communication competence with juniors by understand the juniors interpersonal style and using active listening. For an instance, researcher listened to a junior described his confusion of unable to determine which accounting methods will be best suited for accounting task. Researcher then provided constructive suggestion to help juniors overcome her confusion. This could optimize the communication between their both. Besides that, researcher also practiced good humour to boost the morale of her juniors. Researcher believed that it is the best method to relieve stress and tiredness from the juniors (Clutterbuck, D. 2000). For example, researcher tried to relieve tension of juniors during the tough times, especially the accounting report submission period. Other than that, researcher also possessed the high interest in developing others. Researcher is interested to assist her juniors to achieve their potential. By providing encouragement and supports, such as encourage juniors to participate in accounting update seminar that will improve juniors accounting knowledge. Moreover, researcher developed goal clarity to help the juniors understand and determine the achievable goal. Researcher need to discuss the goal with the juniors and set a dateline to juniors to reach the goal, such as complete the ABC company financial reports within one week, to ensure that the juniors can accomplish the goal within the deadline (Adrian, Z. 2010). Researcher also practiced behavioural awareness to have a clearer understanding of juniors personal behaviours. For an instance, if researcher noticed her junior is an impatient person, researcher will makes quick decision and try to shorter her speech when communicating with the junior. This helped researcher to maintain a good relationship with accounting juniors in the organisation. In addition, researcher also achieved the conceptual modelling competence. The models can be self-created, drawn from elsewhere or created on the spot (Clutterbuck, D. 2000). In order to help juniors easier to understand the models of strategic planning, company structure or career planning, researcher has created a portfolio of models and shared the models to the juniors. Researcher also gained professional savvy through participates in various professional seminars such as IFRS for Accountants In Industry and Practice seminar, pay attention to all the information given by the seminar lecturer and then combined it with her own accounting experience. Researcher believed these can helped her to develop professional savvy and make sound judgement. Furthermore, researcher also committed to self-learning as a role model for accounting juniors. Researcher must improve her own growth if she wants to help juniors develop (Mind Tool Ltd, 2012). Researcher took the opportunities in new experiment such as taking on challenging tasks assigned by accounting executive. This opportunities assisted researcher for powerful learning and helped researcher to enhance her knowledge. Last but not least, researcher also possessed the competence of building relationship management. In order to maintain rapport with juniors, researcher has to develop trust, give respect the juniors and determine some common ground between juniors such as both attended the same high school or same hobbies. Researcher also showed concern for mentee and remembered some personal information of the juniors background such as academic background and birthday date. This helped researcher to establish instant rapport with her juniors. Conclusion