Active and Passive Listening At Workplace Term Paper

Active and Passive Listening At Workplace - Term Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that effective listening can only be achieved if both my employees and I consistently follow the necessary steps along with implementing in the workplace. Without a doubt, this paper will outline the key steps to achieving excellent listening skills in the workplace. Active and Passive listening in workplace Listening and communicating in the workplace is one of the most dynamic aspects of thriving in the modern world of commerce. Communication, in essence, is a critical aspect because it enables everyone to be productive and effective in the workplace. Poor communication does sometimes lead to personal conflict, waste of funds, poor productivity and culture implemented in the workplace. As a manager of a convenience store, it is highly crucial that there are no barriers towards clear communication. Maintaining a convenience store is no easy task. Hence, many aspects of active and passive listening will be addressed in this paper. In the work place, listening is the process of hearing and interpreting a message. According to research, 80% of the time is spent on communicating and listening is a critical part of the communication process. Active listening is an organized form of listening and giving feedback that enhances overall understanding. As a manager, active listening is almost utilized in all aspects of work from interviewing employees to collaborating in meetings.

Ethical Responsibilities of Corporations Enron’s Downfall Essay Example for Free

Ethical Responsibilities of Corporations Enron’s Downfall Essay Ethical Responsibilities of Corporations; Enron’s Downfall Introduction            Enron, in the 1990’s was a premium company that had the much-coveted global stature that most company heads desire. It is considered the most innovative company in the United States of America. It was a change from the old industrial trend that other old and rusty enterprises and industries were used to; hard assets, in the favor of the much softer e-commerce business world. The company was a premium employer in the USA and the world, employing over 20,000 staff by the time of winding into bankruptcy, in 2001 (NPR). The company dealt in natural gas, electricity, pulp and paper and communication. A year before closure, the company was valued at $111 billion and had held the title-for six years running-of the most innovative company in America.            However, this valuation respect was based on falsehood. The company was discovered to have been operating a scandalous accounting fraud, orchestrated by systematic, institutionalized and creativity. Ironically, as it was named the most innovative company, which might have been true, but not in the upright way that it was perceived to be. This was but in underhand deals that its employees and management had mastered. What culminated into the ‘Enron Scandal’ has since become a frequently referred to a case of willful corruption and corporate fraud.            Companies and corporations, under the federal law, have a duty to their employees, consumers, the government and the environment in which they operate. To the government, corporations are supposed to ensure tax compliance and safety of production to citizens and environment. The firms and companies have a duty to protect their employees and provide safe work environment conditions for them so that all employees are always treated equitably and satisfactorily. Consumers have a right to accurate information regarding the products they purchase. The information is to provide at free will and is to guarantee consumer safety.            In Line with that responsibility as stated in the paragraph above, Enron management failed to safeguard their employees’ future and livelihoods in case their bubble burst. At the time Enron went bankrupt, Thousands of employees it had in its baskets were plunged into joblessness suddenly. This scandal involved even top government officials who were then shareholders. In the light of them knowing that Enron engaged in malpractices-they still were happy to take home the hefty dividends they got from the stock market gains.The Times Magazine talks about the top executives who enjoyed lots of privileges that even top CEOs envied. For example, Kenneth Lay, the Former Enron Chairman is said to have received a golden parachute worth $25 million and about $200 million in salaries since 1999 to its point of fall. Despite all that, he also enjoyed the access to about $7.5 million revolving credit line from Enron (Roston, 2002). Others who enjoyed such benefits include Jeffrey Skilling (former C.E.O), Duncan David (Former Anderson Partner), Nancy Temple (Anderson Lawyer), Thomas White (Secretary of the Army), and Sherron Watkins ( Former Enron Vice President).The government through the law has set up different commissions to ensure that these obligations are duly followed (example of one is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)). FTC is charged with taking complaints about false business promises that turn out fraudulent, or cause harmful side effects to the consumers and forwarding them to investigation agencies for further action (Federal Trade Commission, 2014).            In the past, the things that brought down companies were far from cleverly crafted schemes such as what took place at Enron. The operation on the stock exchange while on a negative financial record and receiving probably more than their fair share of investments. Among other key ethical issues that had arisen in the past included racial profiling, product safety concerns, employee rights infringement and even environmental degradation. There have been lists each year of companies that should be shunned for disregard of ethics. For the past few years, companies such as ExxonMobil, Apple, Toyota, Trafigura, and recently Wal-Mart and Nestle had made headlines for breaking the crucial ethical rules.            The Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA), establishes mechanisms for compensation of employees who are injured, or get any damages in the line of duty (Office of the Secretary, 2014). In the case where an employee was hit by a truck and laid off without compensation, is very inhumane act of the company’s executives.            The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is set to be the benchmark for equitable pay distribution to all American employees. It provides guidelines for employment and wages to be paid to employees who are not exempted from work. Conditions have been set for certain jobs and age restrictions. These labor laws, for example, require that particular groups of people not work at certain times, and in particular professions, citing dangerous operations (Office of the Secretary, 2014). If the labor laws are followed to the letter, no employee will complain about unsatisfactory pay, as the minimum wage is set with all employees in mind and ensures a comfortable life away from welfare.            Kirk O. Hanson, a university professor at the University of Santa Clara, explains the ethical responsibilities of a corporate board. He lists five important points that are to be keenly upheld by any board of directors in order to ensure satisfaction from all quarters. Among other key assignments on a board, one of them is to understand the company’s ethical culture. Most board members are less involved with the day to day activities of their businesses, and to get feedback from employees, they rely on pro forma reports and complaint letters. It is their responsibility to investigate the validity of the reports and come up with disciplinary measures if need be (Hanson, 2014).            Business fair play is an important aspect of ensuring healthy and profitable competition among business people.            Such a supposition that they respect individual rights of association and expression and yet reject the idea of unionization is ridiculous. Under sections 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act of the Federal constitution, employees are granted rights to make a join and take part in labor union activities. This is without any intimidation from employers, or punishments of any kind. All employees have a right to read, distribute and discuss matters of union membership during hours away from work. They are free to share the information with whomsoever they please. Once they decide on a group plan for whatever union, they have a right to ask their employer to recognize the specific union, bargain and complete any relevant requirements by the terms and condition. The employees have a right to display Union messages in whatsoever manner they please; be it caps, pins, T-shirts or whatever else available on the job or away from work.Company executives are not suppose d to profile any employees by forcible transfer, denial of benefits, pay rise or desirable assignments in effort to thwart employees’ quest to join or form a union. They are not to be harassed, threatened or dismissed from work if they support any union (Lisa Guerin, 2014). All in all, we do need quick solutions to problems such as these. It is not just an issue for the employees alone because it affects all American citizens, and per the house committee on education report.            General Electric, a company that was founded by Thomas Edison, has on many occasions received accused on several occasions of trying to monopolize the inventions by him. It is the current military contractor for war machinery. However, they have once been reported for facilitating the development of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have long since been banned and are regulated by the international bodies. The purpose of such an undertaking should be investigated, and due punishment administered.            The American public should check indicators of unethical codes of conduct and shun such businesses. It will be a significant boost in fighting such a vice as it will prevent oppression of fellow citizens. If people followed such a trend, companies such as this would lack a ready market and might be forced to change the practices or close shop.            All firms that are established in corporate agreements uphold certain fundamental duties. In order to solve this massive crisis of ethics, law should be passed forcing private sectors to publish their financial reports in detail in the public dailies. The public should be trained to watch for companies that uphold employee rights and safety. These statements should be audited by government agencies for any lies. If the reports are found to be untrue, government should snatch such operators their licenses.            Companies and corporations that evade taxation of any kind should be imposed with huge fines. In order to shun such practices, and in extension, be barred from operating for a particular period of time and board members is investigated. If any allegations of misconduct are proven right, all board members should be forced to resign and take responsibility for their ineptness. Enron was a culprit in this category, avoiding any financial obligation it would have to offset to the government or anyone, provided that it was able to cover its tracks well.            On an opinion proposed from the Financial Times magazine, the graph of performance shows that the downfall was carefully planned. It seemed that most of the top echelons had long planned the exit, but it did not happen in the most expected way. The stock price came crashing in a year, from a cost of about $80 in January, the year 2001 to a tumbling zero by January in the year 2002.            In the Film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Gibney, 2005), as based on the same name written by Bethany McLean, the Enron Disaster is the greatest disaster any company has witnessed in the whole of history. A crash in a year with more than seven corporate walking away from the mess with over 1 Billion US dollars. Investors and employees went down flat without any landing gear. This kind of corporate ethics gap left more Americans depending on the public for necessary handouts and relying on other meager means to survive. The Drama resembles a Greek tragedy and a show of the domino effect that could shape the face of the American ethical code and ultimately the economy for a long time into the future.Kenneth Lay, the company’s chief who had saved ib once before in the ‘80s and later taken over as C.E.O wielded so much influence In both the business and political circles. Probably out of the campaigns he had funded for the presidency among other le gislative dockets. In the Business circles, he was an enviable C.E.O, who was practically â€Å"untouchable†. But in the wake of the ethical backlash, all these attributes could not save his company from sinking to the bottom of the sea that is failed companies.            Ethics is more than just producing good products, supporting community initiatives and giving good salaries. Companies with a sound ethical background will go to extents to ensure consumer safety, business fair play and ensuring that employees who served diligently go home safe to retirement. Even after retiring, they will be entitled to the same happiness they had while working for the same company, and health.            All corporations that breach conduct on ethics should be nationalized in order to safeguard the interests of the public. Its owners should then be duly compensated and never allowed to start any other business within the country. Such a law will instill fear and caution among those who have a penchant for breaking the law.            Consumers and the government need to be careful about safeguarding the economic environments. Since any turmoil could lead to financial turmoil like it did with the instability of some few big companies in the early 2000s that lead to the 2007-2009 global financial crunch. The government can help by sealing off all loopholes that could allow any forms of corruption while the consumers could channel their money to the right businesses.            If we all stopped buying brands that do not have its people at heart, all companies and many other manufacturers would forcefully comply duly with laws of labor, taxation, and biosafety. We will have a better world where many Americans and people around the world can eat by their sweat, as opposed to having jobs but still relying on welfare for upkeep. References Federal Trade Commission. (2014). Bureau of Consumer Protection. Retrieved December 06, 2014, from Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protectionGibney, A. (Director). (2005). Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room [Motion Picture]. Hanson, K. O. (2014, August 14). Business Ethics in the News. Retrieved Dec 06, 2014, from Santa Clara University: http://www.scu.edu/ethics-center/ethicsblog/business-ethics-news.cfmLisa Guerin, J. (2014). The Right to Unionize. Retrieved December 06, 2014, from NOLO For all: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/employee-rights-book/chapter15-7.htmlNPR. (n.d.). The Fall of Enron. Retrieved Feb 4, 2015, from http://www.npr.org/news/specials/enron/Office of the Secretary. (2014). Summary of the Major Laws of the Department of Labor. Retrieved December 06, 2014, from United States Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htmRoston, E. (2002, Jan 22). The Enron Players. Time . Source document

Skills Required For Effective Management

Skills Required For Effective Management Personal and professional development is a systematic series of actions by which a person enhances the quality and germane of professional services and personal life as well. ATTAIN MAXIMUM PRODUCTION AND EFFECTIVESS: Managers are always eager to learn new ways to achieve maximum productivity and effectiveness in the organization. New technologies help organization to produce a low cost product due to decreased labor cost. Supervision and regular visits to the work environment are a priority and should be scheduled properly. Supervising employees at work, making effective strategies, and interacting work flow is foundational to implement settlements to improve results. To have credibility, a leader should remain up-to-date with whatever is happening in the organization. BUILD AND EXERT PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION: Managers should focus on how to build and exert their professional reputation. A managers task is to overcome adversities and solve organizational conflicts. His basic work is to manage the indeterminacy in projects, build a supportive project team, understand and prevent the issues that can crumble the team performance, and last but not the least increase the commitment level within teams. MONITOR AND CONTROL: Employee performance should be monitored in an effective way. Organizational policies and procedures should be clear. It is important to discuss and consult the issues on a regular basis. This helps the managers to identify where organization is lacking. Assessing and evaluating the performance in different ways and reward your employees is important, because the power of a reward is the best way to motivate employees. Organizations should be clear in defining ongoing goals to the team and individual. TRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS: Arrange a career development program for employees for future enhancement. The first progression is to identify the specific job performance skills needed in your organization, evaluate the considered trainees skills, and develop targets to achieve, measureable knowledge and performance objectives based on any paucity in the organization. In the second progression, didactic design, you decide on, collect and construct the training program content including workbooks, exercises and activities which gives zeal to the trainees towards their work. The third progression is to make substantiate steps, in which you make sure that your bugs are worked out of the training program by demonstrating it to a small evocative audience. The fourth progression is to implement the program by actually training the targeted employee group. The fifth progression is an evaluation, in which management assesses the programs successes or failures. ESTABLISH WORKING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE: Good leaders always have strong knowledge and experience who adds the diversifications in different areas and better work on the inadequacy. If the leader does not seize the expertness and knowledge personally, then it prevails consultation with experts working in the department should be held. This is an important to maintain the accuracy and the paucity in the organization. GOOD DECISION MAKING: Good leaders use their ability and past experiences to make good decisions. A leader designates all the inconsistent factors before making any decision. Conspicuous firm decisions, combined with the compliance and flexibility to harmonize and reconcile decisions when necessary, and develop confidence in leadership. The Personal and Professional Skills Required For Your Job Role BASIC UNDERSTANDING AND SKILLS ABOUT: Realizing your strengths and effectuate your potential is the basic way to understand how much you are enthusiastic about learning new things and how to move towards innovation and explore the areas intensely in which you are interested. Realize what you are conveying to people and in what manner. This is observed by a famous author (Robert Greene, 1998) when you try to impress people by words ,the more you say, the more common you appear ,and less in determination hence powerful people impress by saying less, and they avoid to speak superfluously. PRESENTATION SKILLS: Converse your forces and energy by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. Mastering your presentation skills and build up your confidence in order to gain more rich mine and mining it underground, then by flitting from one absorb mine to another intensity defeats extensive every time .When you are looking for sources of power to evaluate yourself, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come. Selecting the best way to convey your message without any ambiguity in the material you are presenting. Matching your presentation style to audience needs and mood. TEAM BUILDING: Think as you like but behave like others. Organization is already known how to attain its target by effective team works which some organizations indicate team as (Together Everyone Achieve More) which create more passion and fanatical feeling towards their work. SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING ANS SELF MANAGEMENT: Create powerful goal in order to vindicate the focus. Learn the secrets of productive relaxation. Schedule your time effectively and master the art of timing .Never seem to be in hurry, hurrying usually betrays a lack of control over yourself and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike furiously when it has reached to fulfillment. ORGANIZE, LEAD AND COORDINATE ACTIVITIES IN AN ORGANIZATION: Construct a personal success and your organization success strategy by mapping up and evaluating situations. Identify your long term goals and alternatives; try to achieve balance with the wheel of life. Control your work environment in order to lead and coordinate your organizational environment accordingly so that you can organize your stuff in an efficient and in more productive way. TRUST YOUR OWN ABILITY TO MANAGE: Evaluate your aptitude, style and potential growth areas where you would be a multi talented manager or a leader for a great example for your employees so this is another way to retain your employees and increase their commitment level of work. Trust yourself to make good decisions. VALUE OF LESSON LEARNED: Understanding that in learning you dont always get what you pay for, but you get out what you put in. Mentor always manages learners learning better than the learners themselves. If you have a sense of adventure experience whatever you have learned up till now and try new ways of doing things. The classification of the above skills and progression contributes an effective way to attain organization and personal goals and objectives through which a person and the organization learn the art of supervising employees at work place , and make convincing strategies to accomplish organizational and personal goals and overcome adversities. Managers know where the risk is and how to build professional prominence. Apprehend the issues spring up in the organization and deal with the conflicts. In order to balance work, life and family the person should know how to monitor and control by discussing on the regular basis and find the lacking areas and imprudence. By considering the right job fit asking the right questions, the right person, and the right structure that works to fit your lifestyle. Construct the training program content which helps you to attain your goals. Conduct evaluation session by talking to your current employees and trainees who keep learning from them and consider yourself to take care of their notions. Conspicuous firm decisions, combined with the compliance and flexibility to harmonize and reconcile decisions when necessary, develop confidence in leadership. drawing on examples from your own management experience, select three personal skills and three professional skills, and write a reflective evaluation of how you have applied these in different management situations, identifying any personal development issues that were raised PERSONAL SKILLS SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING ANS SELF MANAGEMENT: I have learned how to build genuine and desirable confidence when I failed to recognize the importance of time, concentration, persistency, tolerance level and lack of awareness because of less attention towards my work. So my lesson of failures has taught me how to lead and how to treat it as a marvelous learning experience. TRUST YOUR OWN ABILITY TO MANAGE EMOTIONAL STABILITY: Emotional stability plays an important role in everyones life .I remember the time when I used to be angry one in friends and family as well, where my tolerance level was at the low peak season, but after realizing that season I started realizing where I am leading, apparently it was the wrong path, so I started to read anger management and emotions management articles and tried to implement in every aspect of my life where I am dangle down the most important stuff. PROFESSIONAL SKILLS GOOD DECISION MAKING: Good companies always know if managers are trained and charged with responsibility for the success of the reports, departmental and organizational performance will take care of itself. Good leaders are delineated by the ability and past experience to make good decisions. A person who is very dedicated to his work designates all the inconsistent factors before making any decision, and harmonizes and reconciles decisions when necessary, develop confidence in himself. COMMITMENT TO GROWTH: When the manager is socially wise to the employees the commitment towards work will increase and turnover rate will decrease in the organization which is surveyed in 2008 in different companies and the best companies take to meet the goal of enriching employees experiences, skills and capabilities. Regardless of the mission and vision of the company, a hallmark of the truly successful organization is promoting and maintaining a culture that enables employees to continually learn and update their skills in efforts to achieve true high performance as a business. Identify learning methods you will adopt to improve your personal and professional skills in the future, justifying reasons why these are more effective: ENCOURAGEMENT: Try to digest out difficulties and learn how to praise your own self in order to lead, even start from the lower level, and try to set some long-term goals for your family life and for your organization. AWARNESS: Give a better understanding and attention to detail. Be clear about the task and rules you have to follow in order to complete your task. PERSISTENCY: Be persistent of what you are doing .Constantly giving way to difficulties and try to resolve issues arises in your personal life and professional life. GENEROSITY: Be generous and avoid supremacy when it comes to maintaining relationship whether it is your personal life or professional life. ALL superiority is odious and fatal. SELF-ESTEEM: Try to build your self-esteem and prove your worth to yourself and to others. Stay focused and always try to find the way in which you feel creative and innovative. Build a strong self-believe. LOYALTY: Be loyal and dedicated to your work; love whatever you do, and how you do, and find new ways to improve your work quality.

Marketing Is Marketing :: essays research papers

Introduction: â€Å"Marketing is marketing, irrespective of the product or marketplace†. This is a theme common to many introductory marketing texts and degree courses. The two most common exceptions cited to this proposition are buying behavior models between consumers and business buyers and the extended ingredients of the services marketing mix. While the overall sentiments of marketing hold true across product and market boundaries, perhaps the differences are in fact more marked? Intends to spark some discussion pertaining to the extent to which marketers can safely generalize when discussing the nature and characteristics of marketing. Are we correct in offering students and in-company training program generalizations that cut across the marketing domain? Are we doing justice to the core nuances if we simply draw out the variations between consumer goods, services, industrial and business-to-business marketing? Is there a different perspective that should, in the new millennium, be th e focus of textbooks and marketing courses? Content Indicators: readability, Practice implications, originality, Research Implications* Marketing is marketing, irrespective of the product or marketplace. This is a theme common to many introductory marketing texts and courses. The two most common exceptions cited to this proposition are buying behavior models between consumers and business buyers and the extended ingredients of the services marketing mix (cf. Dibb et al., 1997; Kotler, 1998). While the overall sentiments of marketing hold true across product and market boundaries, perhaps the differences are in fact more marked? The marketers of services were the first to â€Å"speak out†, arguing that the nature of marketing is different owing to the basic characteristics of services:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  intangibility;  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  direct organization-client relationship;  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  consumer participation in the production process; and  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Complexity. The upshot for services marketers has been the extension of the marketing mix from the classical product, price, place (channel) and promotion â€Å"4Ps† to include at least people, physical evidence (ambience) and process. These marketers also point to the characteristics of services, notably intangibility of the service â€Å"product†, restricting opportunities for creating a differential advantage over competitors, with the inevitable dependence for differentiation and competitive edge on branding initiatives and personnel. While services marketers have outlined significant differences for â€Å"their marketing†, on the whole, texts and marketers have argued there are relatively only minor differences between the marketing of consumer goods and industrial or business-to-business goods. This paper is intended to spark some discussion pertaining to the extent to which marketers can safely generalize when discussing the nature and characteristics of industrial, business-to-business marketing.

Free and Open Elections Are the Cornerstone to Any Democracy Essay

Free and open elections are the cornerstone to any democracy. The citizens of the United States have fought for years to increase this right to everyone, but also keep each vote as strong as the next. However, it has become obvious to many that their voting power is being shortened each election cycle. Money and influence from powerful, wealthy interest groups and corporations have made their way into politicians’ coffers in the form of major campaign contributions. This system has resulted in voters calling for further campaign finance reform including more regulation of election funding and a higher level of transparency. When it comes to financing presidential campaigns, an entirely new playbook is being written. The traditional yardstick, the money raised by individual candidates, may countless this time. Instead hundreds of millions of dollars may come from a relatively new political animal, the Super PAC. This financing vehicle sprang up in the wake of a 2010 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, which wiped away limits on corporate and labor union campaign spending (1). Super PAC is a term to describe the new independent-expenditure-only committees that form to fund issues and specific canidates. Basically, the Citizens United decision said that labor unions and corporations could spend unlimited amounts of money independently of candidates to convince voters to vote for or against someone. There is a lot of money that can be raised and spent on independent advertising along with other things. A very important point is this can all be done without coordinating with the candidates (1). A candidate’s ability to raise money on his or her own does still count for a lot. Financial reports released this weekend show Texas Gov. Rick Perry outpacing his Republican rivals, hauling in more than $17 million for the third quarter. With $15 million in the bank, he put away half-a-million dollars more than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who pulled in $14 million during the same period 2). No other major GOP contenders raised as much. Ron Paul was next with more than $8 million, but the rest raised substantially less and also had far less cash on hand 2). As for the man they all hope to replace, President Obama brought in nearly $43 million last quarter. And by the end of September, the incumbent Democrat had $61 million in the bank, more than all the Republicans combined 2). Some of that will likely be spent responding to attack ads from the new super PACs, like this one from the conservative group American Crossroads airing in North Carolina and Virginia (2). In just the last three months, according to the filings, the Obama campaign has spent more on payroll, more than $4 million, than several of the Republican candidates have raised 3). Fundraising in a post Citizen United world is characterized by a system of public secrecy and private disclosure 5). There are no current laws that prohibit any organization from spending large sums of money supporting a candidate and remaining private, while keeping the public in the dark. The most significant innovation is the rise of so-called Super Pacs, which can solicit unlimited contributions. These Super-Pacs would have happened without Citizens United. The organizational entrepreneurs that pioneered the Super Pac form, Speech Now, came up with this idea in 2007 and pursued this strategy long before Citizens United (1). A majority of the candidates campaigning in Iowa for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination are associated with at least one super PAC — one candidate had seven at last count 4). They are expected to pump hundreds of thousands — possibly millions — of dollars into political advertising leading up to Iowa’s Jan. 3 Republican Party caucuses and through other presidential primary contests continuing into next year 4). Fundraising numbers are important because they help generate buzz and excitement, and because in politics, money makes more money. It is unclear what problem, increased corporate disclosure is designed to solve, and given the past track record of campaign finance reform, there is good reason to be skeptical that disclosure will improve the political process at all. Research shows that campaign finance reform typically fails at achieving its intended ends 4). To give just one example, â€Å"clean elections† laws, under which candidates receive government subsidies in exchange for forgoing private contributions, did not change politics in states like Maine and Arizona, and earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled that the most popular version of these laws to be unconstitutional (1). It has been said that to evaluate the political effects of Citizens United (CU) by itself is a fool’s errand. It was the latest (and not the last) in a series of libertarian campaign finance cases from the Roberts Court (1). Much of the alleged consequences of that case are activities (such as unlimited spending by corporations on candidate related ads that shied away from specific messages of endorsement) these ads were also legal the day before the Court decided that case. Though certain activities by corporations may have been allowed even before CU, the extent of the decision has made such activities more likely (1). These ads are now sanctioned as core First Amendment activity. This decision points the definition of corruption away from inconsistent access and toward bribery. This seems to remove the appearance of corruption as a compelling target of campaign finance reform (1). The Court’s post-CU decision in the Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett struck down a public campaign funding scheme that also showed the broader implications of this ruling. Those cases have will have consequences beyond campaign finance because they raise important questions as to how and when laws burden on speech (1). The firestorm of public criticism that followed CU was unique. Campaign finance decisions do not usually rise to a level where the public pays attention to such cases (let alone to have a case mentioned in a State of the Union address) (1). One of the effects that the Citizens United decision had on politics worth mentioning is the almost flawless transition of â€Å"good government† groups from advocating for more direct limits on speech (1). Large, publicly traded corporations might be less likely to get involved in election financing than many people tend to assume – particularly if that involvement must be publicly disclosed (1). A recent study concludes that sixty percent of companies in the S & P 100 Index have already responded to CU by prohibiting spending corporate money on politics or disclosing their direct polit ical spending (1). Such spending could alienate potential customers; it could also trigger a shareholder backlash. Privately-held companies or those controlled by a single shareholder, are probably more likely to engage in election spending. On the other side, those who favor the status quo argue that tighter rules on these funds constitute a clear violation of First Amendment rights. The one good thing about this law is Justice Anthony Kennedy, reading from his majority opinion, emphasized that â€Å"Congress may not censor or regulate political speech, whether it is a person doing the talking or a corporation or union.† â€Å"At the core of the First Amendment,† Kennedy said, â€Å"and laws banning speech, infringe those basic constitutional protections.† Kennedy also pointed out that â€Å"under those laws,† â€Å"Congress also could diminish the voice of the media business if it chose.† â€Å"Government,† he said, â€Å"may not suppress political speech based on a speaker’s identity† 7). One group that supports Texas Governor Rick Perry, known as Make Us Great Again Inc., started the flow last week, buying nine days of advertising spots on local television to introduce the governor to Iowa Republicans 4). Des Moines television stations WHO, KCCI and WOI sold advertising slots that began Nov. 2 and ran through Friday for a combined $60,000 4). The Des Moines purchase was part of an overall $200,000 spent to air the 30-second spot in television markets across the stat. Meanwhile, the 9-9-9 Fund, a Super PAC aligned with former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain, reported last week to the Federal Elections Commission that it had spent $5,000 for Internet advertising in Iowa and another $20,000 for contact calling to Iowa voters(4). And it isn’t just the Republican presidential candidates getting support from super PACs. Priorities USA Action, a committee formed by supporters of President Barack Obama, raised $3.1 million in its first six months and has spent $1.3 million. That super PAC recently began airing advertising on the Internet that is highly critical of Mitt Romney (4). Super PACs have much more muscle than other types of political action committees they have unlimited money-raising potential. Presidential campaigns can raise no more than $5,000 from an individual donor — $2,500 each for the primary and general elections, under federal election rules (4). Super PACs don’t have such restrictions, allowing them to raise and spend significantly more money. Obama campaign officials say their goal is to raise a combined $60 million in contributions to the campaign and the Democratic National Committee (3).That figure will likely top all of the Republican candidates combined. While they are courting large donors, campaign officials also are hoping to show that Obama has the same kind of broad appeal he did in 2008, when a record four million people donated to his campaign. President Obama is using his early lead in campaign fund-raising to bankroll a grass-roots organization and information technology system that is critical in general election battlegrounds. He is doing so even as the Republican candidates conserve cash and jockey for position in what could become a drawn-out nominating battle(3). Since the beginning of the year, Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee, for which the president is helping raise money to finance his party’s grass-roots efforts, have spent close to $87 million in operating costs, according to a New York Times analysis of campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (3). That amount is about as much as all the current Republican candidates together have raised so far in this campaign. In recent months, that money has helped open campaign offices in at least 15 states. In contrast, the best-financed Republican candidates, Mitt Romney and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, have physical presences in just a handful of early primary states like New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida (5). Mr. Obama has spent millions of dollars investing in social media and information technology, applying a savvy and brute technological force to raising small-dollar donations. This same system is also firing up volunteers and building an infrastructure to sustain his re-election campaign for the next year (5). Mr. Obama brings unmatched financial resources to the campaign trail, and a team that is knowledgeable of where and how to deploy money, people and technology. Though the Republican National Committee has enjoyed strong fund-raising in recent months, it is also still paying down large debts incurred during the 2008 cycle. At the end of September, the committee was still $14.5 million in debt, according to campaign reports (3). Independent spending on negative or positive advertising has proven effective in making some races more competitive. Traditional fundraising by political parties has helped develop the traditional grass-roots organizing essential to winning elections. The United States does not have the kind of disclosure system that would inform the public about exactly who provided for the ads, but existing law do require each sponsor of such ads to disclose how much was spent. The movement for more reform has taken a sudden and drastic turn back due to the recent Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee ruling. This ruling has thrown decades of reform out the window, and opened the door for a flood of election money this country has not yet witnessed. Also, the lack of oversight into nonprofit organizations has hampered the transparency in elections. This decision will ultimately hurt the U.S. economy, allow greater corporate and non-profit political influence, and cause increased political indifference within an already weary general public (6). Because of corporate money funding campaigns, it is nearly impossible for an unknown to run in any major election. With all the money donated to front-runners, someone from the general public doesn’t stand a chance. In addition to the amount of money spent, it has become increasingly difficult to trace its origins due to non-profit organizations not having to disclose who their donors are. It is imperative that we as voters be informed.

Gender Related Issues Essay

Complete a search for journal articles (professional) that include gender related cognitive issues. Report back to the group through the discussion forum on an understanding of the gender related cognitive abilities. Look for flaws and strengths in specific examples and applications. Thinking is a normal process in everybody’s life. The activities of the neurons giving signals to the brains are helpful in giving the body commands to act on a certain activity or to feel and even to think. Men and women think in every part of their lives, except when they are under comatose by which patients remain unconscious for over a certain time. Studies often say that men and women think very differently. Many various tests in college and even in high schools show that men are far more different in abilities in math than of women; this is also the same reason why men are more selected on job opportunities, especially to those in depth analysis. Women are often regarded as underdogs in the fields where numbers exist. An article from â€Å"Think Again† says that the old belief of the big thinking difference among men and women is a bluff. It suggests a cultural shaping wherein minds of the people are programmed to expect less from women in terms of thinking. Evidences from the article say that the shaping mentioned above is a controlling factor to the performance of many. With the psychological mind – set that men are better than women, women tend to perform and feel insecure about them and in turn would result to grades that are really degrading. The article focuses on the factors that are apparent in the 18th to the 21st centuries by which the â€Å"shaping† is already present. It could have presented or showed us factors from the time before Christ or in the Middle Ages to greatly describe the so-called cultural reasons. It could have given a proof why girls are often regarded for household chores and not with jobs that they can participate with boys. On the other hand, the article may be a helpful guide to parents and teachers to mold the children without inculcating the notion of men being superior in analyzing and solving things. The statements that tell about performances after giving the biases may be true for people around the world and should be avoided to have optimum performance in different work places. 2. Complete a search for journal articles (professional) that include gender related communication issues. . Report back to the group through the discussion forum on an understanding of gender related communication. Look for flaws and strengths in specific examples and applications. Emotions are part of a well-being. It is also a measure if a person is healthy or not. Girls tend to have more emotions than boys, or have it something to do with the misinterpretation of the crowd? As girls or women are termed to be good in emotions, they are also termed as good communicators than men. Girls are very vocal with their ideas and feelings. An article of Cynthia Burggraf Torppa says that the idea of women having an edge with communicating with other people is a misnomer. It said that men and women just don’t understand each other with the lines that they say. Also, there are terms given such as â€Å"rapport talkers† which women are experts on. Women communicate with other people that trigger emotions and feelings while men are termed â€Å"report talkers† that focus on facts and details about a certain topic. Indeed, there are differences about men and women as also stated in Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. The article mentioned can help readers understand more others. That is to say, men and women should practice listening between the lines so that misunderstandings will be avoided. Since women are really emotional, they must be sensitive also with what their men are feeling. The differences matter mostly on marriages, so I recommend that the article could have started and stated on something that happens in childhood and teenage life so that readers will also be guided when and where to hit their punch lines. Men and women must be treated equally as they are all created with the same will and love of the Lord Almighty. References Cynthia Burggraf Torppa. Gender Issues: Communication Differences in Interpersonal Relationships. 2002. Retrieved 11 April 2008 from http://ohioline. osu. edu/flm02/FS04. html. American Psychological Association. Psychology Matters. Think Again: Men and Women Share Cognitive Skills. 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2008 from http://www. psychologymatters. org/thinkagain. html