Computer Module Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Computer Module - Essay Example The question being asked is what constitutes the defining paradigms of quality in the phase of conflicting perceptions in the IT industry. It is against this background that the central focus of this paper is tailored towards highlighting the most classical principles that are in tune with best practices in the industry. For obvious reasons, it spares the paper the drudgery of professing speculative theories. The conventional structure of software language has always being targeted at making available a system of unambiguous programming pattern based on logical processes that are explicit in their usage.1 In a related study, Jagdish et la (2002) allude to the fact that the continuous dependence on computer software for the execution of virtually all industrial, commercial and social activities makes it imperative for the question of quality to be ranked very highly in the process of developing software-a fact that has gained unanimous support from all concerned stakeholders. Notwithstanding the consensus held about the latter, the point of division however, lies in the inability to establish a similar consensus in establishing a standardized definition of what the term "quality" really means when it comes to software technology. Its definition is always crafted to suit a specific purpose, in other words, depending on what the software in question will be used for, then an appropriation o f quality is assigned to it (Boehm 1978, Vincent et la 1998, Sefikla et la 1998). To ease this complication, Jagdish et la (2002) recommends the usage of the object-oriented paradigm to replace the conventional systems of conducting any meaningful software quality assessment (also see Li & Henry 1993). Object-oriented metrics approach is a representation of an entirely innovative system of that is able to handle a comparatively larger aggregate array of tasks than was hitherto possible. Notwithstanding, it is woefully saddled in a limitation of the magnitude and scope of the tasks it can be used to assess. Primarily, the obvious reasons are that all that is known about it and application is still in its infancy. For instance, it is known to lack the capacity to fully integrate a small quantity of discrete data, which may be terribly below the high expectations placed on quality assessment in a large scale context (Schmidt et la 2000, Brian et la 1996, Sefikla et la 1996). In another interesting study, Schmidt (2000) is not particularly enthused about the fact that prior to the implementation of the object-oriented metrics, there is no mechanism that enables any credible quality assessment check to be conducted on it during the development process. Essentially, any quality alterations that the software might stand in need of, would certainly have to be deferred until such a time that user feedback is generated. A significant amount of effort is required to get the object-oriented metrics running effectively during the early stages of the development process. Granted all the working dynamics are systemically synchronized then, much of the testing process will ensure a smooth performance of the software. Quality Appraisal In view of the limitations inherently

Performance Appraisal and Its Negative Feedback Essay Example for Free

Performance Appraisal and Its Negative Feedback Essay A performance appraisal system had been established in that firm several years ago. The management with the help of consultants, conducted several innovative experiments and introduced many improvements in their existing system. The company believes that the system of performance appraisal is a strong tool and if it is wrongly rated, the results may mar . It printed on the format , a flowchart with full details mentioning dates and months for execution. At first ,it would go to the appraisee who would write down, if any, all his non-routine and excellent achievements in the self-appraisal column. Then the rather, his immediate boss ,would put his remarks on this and would rate the appraise by ticking ‘outstanding, good,fair and unsatisfactory’ on the columns of quality of output, job knowledge, decision-making, communication skills, human relations, planning and organizing, creativity and initiative, leadership, time management etc. The reviewer would thoroughly review column by column and would give his opinion. Before it was sent to the top management for better transparency, the signature of the appraisee was obtained. This system was in vogue and the management took pride in this modified system, which resulted in retention of employees. The blank form was given to SD Misra ,Manager (HR),a very sincere and a highly dedicated employee, who had achieved ‘outstanding’ rank for the last six years, for writing in the self-appraisal column. He did certain critical jobs during the year and wrote three. One, the industry suffered a scarcity of water during summer, which affected their industrial canteen also. Misra who was in-charge of the canteen, went to the small dam from where they receive water. He found the pipeline supplying water to the industry’s main pump during night time everyday. One night, he went along with his assistant and observed to his surprise that the employee of the dam has closed the valve of their pipeline and had opened another valve for supply of water to another company. They caught that person and stopped this malpractise and continued to visit that place during nights for more than a week. The problem of scarcity of water was solved with this initiative. Two, there was an accident just outside the factory’s gate where one of the employees was killed by a speeding lorry. It was about 2:15 p. m. when Misra received this sad news. He rushed to the spot and identified the employee. The doctor of their first-aid was brought who declared the employee dead. He took the responsibility of breaking this news to his family staying at a village at a distance of 12 kms. He met the police, who had already reached the accident spot, and ccompletely involved himself in the whole job of police formalities, post-mortem of the body. Due to some politician’s interference, the family members refused to accept the body till the management promised a job for one of the family members of the deceased. Misra made successful negotiations with the family, which gave up its agitation and accepted the body for the cremation. He received two appreciation letters from MD for these two successful achievements. Three, once Misra arranged a meeting for finalizing a three-day in-house training programme at one of their group companies,73 kms away. He was to go three along with his three colleagues. The driver was told to make jeep ready. Next morning, there were to start by 7 a. m. and all four were present. The driver phoned saying that his daughter was sick and he could not come to duty. Misra was firm in his resolve that â€Å"Our programme goes on as usual and there shall be no postponement. Misra said that he is going to drive the jeep and said †One employee cannot disturb any of our scheduled programmes†. He drove the jeep to and fro and finished the job successfully. Having written these three achievements in the self appraisal column,he handed them over to his immediate boss, KM Singh, Sr. Manager(HR),in a confidential envelope. KM Singh, who is known to be a procrastinator and lethargic, kept pending all appraisal forms till last day. Further, he had three enquiry reports for study and comments. Out of these, one was a case of suspension pending enquiry. He had kept pending all these reports and appraisals, which had now become urgent. His boss was pressurizing him to complete this jobs immediately. KM Singh took up the suspending pending enquiry case first . It took more than a day. He then began rating nine appraisals and completed the job without any concern for the consequences. The form, with comments of the rater and the reviewer, came back to Misra for his signature. He was shocked and reacted very sharply. It was an ‘unsatisfactory’ appraisal which he had seen for the first time. The cool and gentle Misra lost all his patience. He now began thinking. KM Singh wanted to promote his junior, Srivastav, and had deliberately spoiled his appraisal.

Personal Leadership and Career: Becoming a Total Leader

Personal Leadership and Career: Becoming a Total Leader Some people are born leaders and some people become leaders by learning to lead. Learning to lead helps you to understand leadership, develop leadership ability and grow as a leader (Adair J, 1988.). This report describes my personal and professional leadership development. First section focuses on critical review of the article to become a Total Leader. Second section reflects on my 360-degree feedback and third section summarises what experiments I undertook to develop my understanding of leadership and career related competencies during October 09 to March 10. 1. LITERATURE REVIEW Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life Article by Stewart D. Friedman Stewart Friedman is a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business. He runs a programme called Total Leadership at the Wharton Business School, at companies and workshops around the word. Essence of Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life article revolves around his idea of Total Leadership. It is all about being a good leader by developing the power to understand and manage yourself better. Friedman emphasises that integrating work, home, community and self, will make you a whole person and a better leader. The article begins by presenting a case behind the total leadership concept. The author states that his research and experience over the past two decades has found that many executives feel unfulfilled because they are focusing more on work aspect and less on other aspects of their lives. Friedman emphasises that it is possible to achieve excellent performance in all four domains of life work, home, community and self, and refuses to believe that we need to trade off one domain of life for the betterment of other, which is the main idea behind his Total Leadership programme. The article then starts building upon how people can improve their performance in multiple domains of their lives through simple but thought-provoking experiments. Friedman then tries to convince the readers by presenting the strong evidence of his study of more than 300 business professionals over the period of four months. His evidence shows that, the total leadership approach has increased the satisfaction of professionals in their work lives, home lives and in their community lives. In addition, the most significant satisfaction for the professionals comes in the area of themselves their physical and emotional health and their intellectual and spiritual growth. The author explains that authenticity, integrity and creativity are the three main attributes of the Total Leadership process. The process starts by indentifying our own core values, vision and important people in our life. Once we have a complete picture of what we want to achieve in our life, we begin to see new ways of achieving our goals. Friedman asks professionals to think about various possibilities/combination of various components through nine types of Total Leadership experiments. He encourages readers to design and test experiments that will create meaningful and sustainable change that benefits themselves and important people around them. He urges the reader to take the notion of innovation through experimentation beyond the work role to other aspects of their life. He encourages leader to start small experiments and emphasises that small steps lead to a big win. Friedman also gives examples of measuring progress of various experiments. He points out importance of setting practical ways to measure outcomes. The experiments and follow-up reflections help readers learn to focus more on the things that matter to them and the people around them. He concludes that total leadership approach helps people to generate more support and feel more connected to the important people in their life. It helps people to become more resilient in response to the impulse of our turbulent world. It gives readers a blueprint of how to be real, be whole, and be innovative as a leader in all four parts of their life. As per Venables J. and my personal experience, in the UK, working late is a sign of dedication to the job and normal corporate culture. I have also seen my father worked extremely hard throughout his life to achieve his goals. Therefore, I was particularly drawn to this article and the subject of being successful leader while maintaining your personal life. The article takes a positive approach towards becoming a successful leader. The authors central concept is about identifying our inner values and using those values to improve our leadership in four areas. Authors key remark is, to be a leader one must be whole and balance in all aspects of life work, home, community and self. The concept of whole person as good leader in this article is similar to the view of Bartolome F. add Evans P. in the Harvard business review book Executive success, that executives who are able to maintain balance in their private and professional life are able to do things better than the other executives, but different to the point of view of John Adairs situational leadership. This article gives importance to the key stakeholders in work as well as all aspects of leaders life. This is very different to the view of article Leadership Lessons from India (Cappelli, P., et al., 2010), where the article mentions working with employees and focusing on their issues within the company and giving them importance rather than giving importance to the company shareholders only. The articles main strength is that it is very easy to follow and understand. It is a structured approach to produce measurable changes in our life. It takes readers through, various simple experiments and practical examples on how to be a successful leader in all domains of life. The examples and experiment suggested by the article are so simple that anyone can try them without being a subject expert. This article emphasis on developing leadership qualities based on authors holistic perspective. The only criticism I have about this article is in its approach. It provides broad sets of simple experiments to create a positive change around you. But in reality, situations are more complex. The article does not take account of any organisational factors. If it is that simple and easy to develop skills as suggested by the author, then everyone will be a good leader. Authors arguments have great deal to do with our understanding of leadership and careers because self concept is essential in understanding the leadership. As per one of the greatest leaders, Mahatma Gandhi Be the change that you want to see in the world. In other words, if you want to see change, you start with yourself. If you cannot do it, then how can you expect others to want the change? To lead others we must learn to lead ourselves and leadership starts from within. Power to see yourself brings with it a new depth of motivation and a sharper sense of direction. This article is really helpful for those who are trying to learn about becoming a better leader and interested in initiating a self-dialogue about professional and personal values. It shows simple experiments about how to be a great leader not just at workplace but also at home, in the community and above all being yourself and become a whole human. Total Leadership is a sensible and practical approach about finding out what makes you a great leader. I favour authors notation that an effective human being is a better leader. Inspired by this, I designed an experiment of doing yoga every morning with my wife to improve home and self aspects of my life. The results of the experiment were great and I noticed that I was feeling more energetic and happier in personal life, but I have not seen any changes in my leadership style at work and in community. As a result of this, I am encouraged to design some more experiments to improve my performance in work and community domains. There are no rules for leadership, but there are certain skills that every good leader should have. It is important to see different authors approach to develop your leadership skills and this article definitely gives different perspective to it. 2. CRITICAL REFLECTION ON MY 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK 2.1 Competing Value Framework From my Competing Value Framework feedback in October 2009 I learnt that, out of 12 managerial and leadership competences my scored average on 5 competences, good on 2 competences and very good 5 competences as shown in Appendix iii. I learnt that I need to develop my following leadership/managerial skills: Emphasizing speed, Initiating significant change at my work place Controlling my projects well Inspiring people and Clarifying policies I started focusing my efforts to develop my leadership skills in the areas mentioned above and by January 2010, I could see that perception of my leadership quality was improved as a result of my efforts. I always encourage my colleagues to develop their career by supporting them in their daily activities. I learnt that not all people share my view of working in a team, improves performance. I felt that some people in the team would like to work on their own, as they had their own views and ideas. I was willing to leave them in peace as far as they are doing the right thing for them and for the company. Therefore I decided to take a step back and not to interfere, but always checked the quality of work they produced. Over the past few months I have trained myself hard to work faster through various technical trainings. And I can now produce good quality work with greater speed than I was expecting before four months. I still think that there is no alternative to hard work. All this views are reflected in my 2010 feedback. I am now making sure that everyone who is involved with the task is fully aware of formal guidelines and what they are doing and have a clear understanding of company procedures and policies. I now do regular team meetings and try to keep close eye on how the project is going and keep them under control. I have also suggested new ways of doing traditional things by introducing latest software which will enhance employees performance and will also benefit the project by faster outcomes and achieving the deadline more promptly. I also attend client meetings with my seniors and try to understand what they expect from us at the end of the project and what we need to do emphasis more on to win the future projects. I have made some small changes in my team and group which will enhance the performance and quality of the outcome. According to my Competing Values Framework Feedback report in Appendix iii, my peers and colleagues also have similar views about myself in areas of Control, Performance and Creativity. Their views differ from my views to some extent in the category of Collaborativenes. They think I am not encouraging people to have work- life balance, but expect from everyone to work hard to create quality work. They feel that I am not making sure that everyone has a career development plan and not handling their career issues. I was really surprised that my leaders thought of me as a less collaborative person. Because I have always given importance to the work-life balance and have tried to understand other peoples need. From my competing values framework, I learnt that my peers think of me as a less collaborative person then I perceive myself to be. Therefore, I should try to make more efforts to improve my skills towards developing other people, encouraging them in active participation and acknowledging their needs. 2.2 Cultural Intelligence As we enter the twenty-first century, we live and work in a social and organisational world that is increasingly diverse and offers more opportunities for interaction among people who do not share a common history or culture. (Caproni P., 2005). Cultural Intelligence is persons ability to function efficiently in situations characterised by cultural diversity (Earley Ang, 2003). Culture often relates to peoples perspective on their values, beliefs, stories or rituals. Cultural differences can influence peoples preferences, expectations and behaviours at work. In modern organisations, the ability to function effectively in multi-cultural situations is important attribute for employees and managers. Corporate culture rests in distinctive capacities and incapacities that are built in to the attitudes and approaches of organisational members. (Morgan G., 1997) Cultural Intelligence provides insights about how to interact with others in multi-cultural society and organisations, engage in cross-cultural interactions appropriately, and perform effectively in culturally diverse work groups. From my 360-degree feedback report, I learnt that my perception of ability to act across different cultures has changed between October 2009 and January 2010 as shown in Appendix iii. This change reflects that my recent experiences differ from my expectations. When compared with how others perceive my cultural intelligence, it is higher than what I perceive. I learnt that people see me as a person with good cultural diversity skill. It reflects my good understanding of cross culture knowledge. I need to be aware of how my behaviour affects others. I need to pay attention to the social context in which I am working. I need to continue to think in broad way and integrate diverse information and see uncertainty as an opportunity to develop my cultural intelligence. 2.3 Qualitative Feedback Qualitative feedback from my peers shows that I am open minded, friendly, hardworking and committed person. I realise that I must take advantage of these attributes to develop good relationship with my colleagues and interact with them more frequently. My peers suggest that I should become more pro-active and articulate my ideas rather than keeping them to myself. They also suggested that I should develop smart ways to work faster and effectively while producing quality work. What surprised me most was that my peers noticed that I sometime think that my superiors are infallible. I believe that, this is partly due to my cultural beliefs. I need to ask questions to my superiors about their assumptions to change their perception. 3. REFLECTION ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDAS Between October 2009 and March 2010 I have focused on developing three leadership qualities based on MBTI /ICCS assessment, class room notes, my past job performance, my current and future career requirements. These qualities are: Effective Communication Trust Building Networking The table below reflects on my leadership self-development process. It reflects on my commitment of developing right attitudes to become a good leader. It describes what I did to develop the above mentioned skills. It also mentions the results of my experiments and how these qualities will be useful to me in future. Table 1 Developing Leadership skills (Adapted from Kolbs Learning Cycle) Developing Effective Communication Skills Activities: Communicating Effectively workshop 09/02/2010 Power and Influence workshop 10/02/2010 Managing Conflict workshop 11/02/2010 Coaching and Developing Others workshop 11/02/2010 Reading related books and articles (Oct09 Mar10) Reflective Observation: I am very confident, comfortable and clear in communicating my message across to my family and friends and I generally adopt communication style which suits peoples culture. Although, I have observed that I am not an effective communicator in the public and at workplace due to fear of: Cultural differences Lack of self confidence and Lack of trust Sometime while taking criticism I become defensive rather than being more open to accept it. So, I need learn to respond to criticism with empathy. Concept and Generalisation: To be a good leader communication is the utmost important aspect. Thinking about great leaders in modern times: Mahatma Gandhi, Churchill, Hitler and Martin Luther King, its clear that they were powerful leaders because they had ability to communicate their vision and inspire people to follow them in achieving their goals. Communication is a two-way process. Knowing how to listen is just as important as being able to communicate (Venables J., 2002). Application/Experiments: Apply active listening method to improve communication skills. Try to give full attention to the speaker and listen with empathy. Try to be more confident and maintain eye contact during conversations. Try to see my facial expressions and observed what others will perceive from it and learn how I can improve. Try to be more open and friendly with colleagues to over-come my fear of cultural differences and lack of trust. Try communication skills experiments in my organisation, group meetings, client meetings and presentations. Outcome: As a result of above experiments, my self-confidence has grown and I have overcome some of my fears of speaking with colleagues. I have received good response from my colleagues and team mates regarding my presentation style. This skill will be helpful to me in communicating effectively with my clients and coaching and developing my team. Developing Trust Building Skills Activities: Reading related books, journals and research papers (Oct09 Mar10) Believe in Myself (Oct09 Mar10) Be Truthful, Reliable and Fair (Oct09 Mar10) Set Boundaries (Oct09 Mar10) Reflective Observation: I feel I am Open-minded, trustworthy and reliable person. I am highly regarded and trusted in my friend circle and been asked for advice regularly. But I feel I am not always involved in the decision making process in my organisation and family. I am not sure if this is for a good reason or a sign of mistrust. And therefore, I feel that I need to develop ability to earn trust of my fellow colleagues, clients and family members, to build good relationship and to develop positive emotions and atmosphere around me. I also feel that workers in the organisations should not be judged against quantitative goals such as profit, cost and other numerical scale, which are to be ineffective as motivational tools against qualitative values of trust, responsibility and innovation. Concept and Generalisation: If you trust yourself, you know you made the right choice. And thats a strong foundation on which to build trust. Trust is critical to managerial effectiveness and building client relationship. Great relationships and organisations are made and broken on trust. Trust helps clients deal with market uncertainties and risk, ultimately resulting in increased satisfaction and loyalty in the client relationship. Breach of trust can lead to breaking of relationship and confidence. According to Robert Bruce Shaw, author of Trust in balance The importance of trust becomes clear when we try to imagine a world without it. Application/Experiments: Always try to be truthful. Set realistic deadlines and make every effort to achieve them Delegate work to juniors and help them with their problems Attend client meetings Outcome: I have been truthful and learnt to say no to unrealistic deadlines. Being truthful does not always work in my favour. I have mange to develop good relationship with my juniors and earned their trust. I understand importance of client needs from business perspective. This skill will be very helpful to maintain trust of colleagues, clients and family members for the years to come. Developing Networking Skills Activities: Reading related books, journals and research papers (Oct09 Mar10) Develop good working relationships with colleagues (Oct09 Mar10) Make new friends and attend social events (Oct09 Mar10) Develop friends community on social networking website (Oct09 Mar10) Reflective Observation of my Networks: I have come here from India and my network here is limited to my family, university friends and work colleagues. In addition, I am very introvert person (also indicted by my MBTI assessment) when it comes to making new friends. When I meet the quality kind of people who share my interests, I have been friends ever since with them. I feel strongly that friends are forever. I feel society tends to value extroverts more highly than introverts and I sometimes feel sensitive to social rejection. I sometimes fear that other people might not understand and hurt my feelings. I desire to improve my networking skills. I fell that I need to stay open to new ideas. I need to develop relationships with clients, my senior colleagues, old school friends and sport friends. Concept and Generalisation: Networking is a deliberate, systematic process of building and maintaining relationships based on mutual benefits. The quality of relationships with your subordinates, bosses and peers significantly influences your task effectiveness, careers development and personal well- being. (Caproni P., 2005) Businesses thrive on relationships. The more people you meet, the better the chances will be to find good, new, personal and professional opportunities. Networking is helpful in sharing knowledge, experience, opinions and differences which helps to develop a broader worldwide view. Application/Experiments (inspired from Kerr C., 1999): Business networking: I have joined Business Networking website BNET. Attended Institution of Civil Engineers evening meetings. I invited my work colleagues for a dinner at my home. I invited my previous boss at my place for a long weekend. I have joined my organisations cricket and badminton club. Personal Networking: I have joined health club with my friend and a neighbour. I have joined School friends group on Facebook. Call friends and family frequently. Attended my little sisters engagement party in India. Outcome: At first no one joined my school friends community and had a disappointing start to my experiments. I tried finding the contact numbers of my old friends and after a few quick calls to old friends the community has grown to 15 members, but a few are still not convinced. I have also managed to develop good relationship with my colleagues and I feel more open to express my views and accept different opinions of other colleagues. I am able to engage in discussions. Initially, I found social events boring and exhausting but now I am starting to enjoy it. I have experienced that networking requires a lot of time, perseverance and efforts. Therefore, I need to focus on important relationships and not waste valuable time to convincing people who lack enthusiasm and similar interests. Networking is more effective when people share similar interests. Through these experiments I have made new friends. I have become happier, more open to new ideas, possibilities, aware of differences in opinion and less worried out rejection. All in theses networking experiments has boosted my confidence to make friends develop relationship with important people. I am thinking of starting to arrange a social events club for my organisation. I need concentrate my efforts more to develop a network of clients. I am also thinking of taking part in a charitable activity over the next year. Networking skills will help me to develop and progress my personal and professional life in years to come.

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Capital Punishment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Should Christians support the death penalty? The answer to that question is controversial. Many Christians feel that the Bible has spoken to the issue, but others believe that the New Testament ethic of love replaces the Old Testament law. Old Testament Examples Throughout the Old Testament we find many cases in which God commands the use of capital punishment. We see this first with the acts of God Himself. God was involved, either directly or indirectly, in the taking of life as a punishment for the nation of Israel or for those who threatened or harmed Israel. One example is the flood of Noah in Genesis 6-8. God destroyed all human and animal life except that which was on the ark. Another example is Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18-19), where God destroyed the two cities because of the heinous sin of the inhabitants. In the time of Moses, God took the lives of the Egyptians' first-born sons (Exod. 11) and destroyed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea (Exod. 14). There were also punishments such as the punishment at Kadesh-Barnea (Num. 13-14) or the rebellion of Korah (Num. 16) against the Jews wandering in the wilderness. The Old Testament is replete with references and examples of God taking life. In a sense, God used capital punishment to deal with Israel's sins and the sins of the nations surrounding Israel. The Old Testament also teaches that God instituted capital punishment in the Jewish law code. In fact, the principle of capital punishment even precedes the Old Testament law code. According to Genesis 9:6, capital punishment is based upon a belief in the sanctity of life. It says, "Whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God, He made man." The Mosaic Law set forth numerous offenses that were punishable by death. The first was murder. In Exodus 21, God commanded capital punishment for murderers. Premeditated murder (or what the Old Testament described as "lying in wait") was punishable by death. A second offense punishable by death was involvement in the occult (Exod. 22; Lev. 20; Deut 18-19). This included sorcery, divination, acting as a medium, and sacrificing to false gods. Third, capital punishment was to be used against perpetrators of sexual sins such as rape, incest, or homosexual practice. Within this Old Testament theocracy, capital punishment was extended beyond murder to cover various offenses.

Marriage Imprisons Essay

Lectric Law Library defines marriage as, â€Å"A contract made in due form of law, by which a free man and a free woman reciprocally engage to live with each other during their joint lives, in the union which ought to exist between husband and wife. By the terms freeman and freewoman in this definition are meant, not only that they are free and not slaves, but also that they are clear of all bars to a lawful marriage† (â€Å"Marriage†). Unfortunately, this written definition doesn’t always seem to be working in everyday life. In the short stories, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, An Adventure in Paris by Guy de Maupassant and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, a reader may find many examples that demonstrate how marriage imprisons people. In the vey first sentence in The Story of an Hour a reader finds out that the main character, Louise has heart trouble and may not be able to handle shock or surprise. At the same time, her heart problems symbolize her heartbreak over her role in life. From almost the beginning, the reader is given a clue that Louise has wanted to free herself from her marriage. Mrs. Mallard reacts to the news about her husband’s death with â€Å"sudden, wild abandonment† and locks herself in her bedroom (Chopin 123). The narrator notes that her reaction is not usual for a woman who has just lost her husband. She does not feel paralyzed or unable to accept his fate. She is able to quickly abandon her role as a wife. Ironically, her husband’s death makes Louise to feel alive for the first time. The author describes the beautiful change from winter to spring. The new season is a symbol of the transformation of Louise’s character. The open widow symbolizes all the possibilities that are now available to her. The story’s springtime setting also symbolizes her rebirth as an independent person. Now that her husband is dead, she will be free to assert herself in ways she never before dreamed while she was married. She states that she had loved her husband sometimes, but that now she would be â€Å"Free! Body and soul free!† (Chopin 124). The major irony of the story comes with the surprise at the end. Louise thought her freedom would come from her husband’s death. Instead, she gains freedom from his domination only in her own death after she finds out he’s alive. Unfortunately, long fee life she imagined lasted just for an hour. Another great example of imprisoned by marriage woman is the main character of An Adventure in Paris by Guy De Maupassant. In the story the author reveals a story of a married woman who has spent a great portion of her life at home raising her two children. Obviously, she neither had the chance to experience much excitement nor adventure through these years. Thus, â€Å"she felt that she was growing old without having known life† (De Maupassant 512). She often thought of the exciting life of Paris, wishing to free herself from the dull life she led, and to get the chance to experience some pleasure on her own. One day, she finds a pretext to get out of the house and goes â€Å"for a journey to Paris† (De Maupassant 512). She meets a well-know man, Jean Varin who shows her the way he lives in Paris. They go together for a walk, for a dinner, she even stays at his house for the night. Unfortunately, all she experiences next to his side is nothing comparing to what she dreamed of. She realizes that those well-known men in Paris aren’t any different than her own husband. Just like her husband Varin snores and sleeps on his back. Lying next to Varin in bed, she was â€Å"heartbroken† (De Maupassant 515). Surprisingly through out the story a narrator never reveals the woman’s name, she is referred to the reader as a â€Å"she† (De Maupassant 512). This is not an accident of a narrative. De Maupassant shows that while the woman is married, she cease to exist as her own person. The woman is simply controlled and imprisoned by her family and all the responsibilities as a mother and wife. In contrast, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber illustrates that not only women may experience a feeling of being imprisoned by marriage. The main character in the story, Walter Mitty is fully controlled by his wife and seems to be unable to stand up for himself. Mitty is trapped in a world that is full of dull responsibilities and offers few possibilities for adventure. He spends much of his time escaping into fantasies in which it is him who is in control, and in which his life is full of excitement and adventure. Mitty dreams of flying planes in hazardous conditions and causing scenes in courtrooms, but his life consists of buying overshoes and waiting for his wife to have her hair done. His wife obviously worries about Walter’s health and welfare; she observes that he is nervous, suggests a visit to a doctor, notes that she intends to check his temperature when they return home, and reminds him to wear his gloves and buy overshoes. Unfortunately, at the same time she is breaking the spirit of the man in his life which makes him feel imprisoned. Mitty keeps escaping into fantasies to forget at least for few minutes about his miserable life. Many people recognize marriage with happiness and joyful life. Unfortunately, as we learn from the three stories above, married people often find their life more dull than enjoyable. Lack of excitement and pleasures in marriage, make spouses’ life unhappy and that’s why they often look for a way to escape from it. Thus, in reality marriage differs from its written definition and in fact imprisons people. Works Cited Baush, Richard and R.V. Cassill, eds. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. New York: Norton, 2006. Chopin, Kate. â€Å"The Story of an Hour.† Baush and Cassil123- 125. De Maupassant, Guy. â€Å"An Adventure in Paris.† Baush and Cassil 511- 516. â€Å"Marriage.† The ‘Lectric Law Library’s Lexicon On. 2007. Lectric Law Library.15 Nov 2007. Thurber, James. â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.† Baush and Cassill 720- 724.

Jack Greenberg, Inc Essays

Jack Greenberg, Inc Essays Jack Greenberg, Inc Paper Jack Greenberg, Inc Paper 1. Some important audit risk factors related to family-owned businesses would be preparing the next generation of leadership, managing expenses and remaining competitive, and the fight against technological changes. To lower these risk factors, auditors should be very skeptical about their client’s intentions. For example, when a client is not willing to update their system in order to produce more accurate records. All of these factors took a role in Fred Greenberg’s fraud; Jack’s health took a toll and he had to place his sons in charge of the company before they were ready, then the company encountered some hard times and Fred committed fraud to hide it from his family to prevent his dad’s health from deteriorating any farther, and lastly, Fred refused to use technology to help with accounting because he was trying to hide his fraud. 2. A) The Prepaid Inventory account’s audit objectives are to ensure all inventory in this account has not been received and is accounted for correctly. To do this they could have checked Form 9540-1 or called vendors to confirm inventory delivery dates or that inventory hadn’t been delivered yet. B) The Merchandise Inventory account’s audit objective would be to ensure the amount of inventory listed on the balance sheet is the correct amount. To do this they could complete a physical count. 3. It was a poor choice to rely heavily on JGI’s delivery receipts when auditing the company’s prepaid inventory because they were prepared internally. A better procedure would have been to audit the prepaid inventory account based off Form 9540-1. Documents that are prepared internally have a higher chance of being falsified compared to externally prepared client documents. 4. A walk-through test that is used during an audit shows the path a transaction takes through the accounting system from start to finish to get an understanding for how reliable the company’s accounting system is. According to PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 2 Appendix E Number 57, performing â€Å"walkthroughs† are not optional under the standard’s directions. 5. One audit procedure that could have helped Grant Thornton discover fraud with JGI’s delivery receipts would have been confirmation. If Thornton’s associates called all the vendors that sold JGI inventory on their prepaid inventory list and asked if the inventory had been delivered yet, they would have found out that some of the inventory in the prepaid inventory account was also in merchandise inventory account. Another procedure that could have helped catch the fraud would be inspecting internal and external documents and comparing them to each other. 6. Once an audit firm informs client management of important internal control weaknesses, I don’t believe the audit firm has a responsibility to insist that client management correct the problems unless it is preventing the auditor from getting the necessary information needed to perform the audit. It’s the auditor’s duty to ensure that financial data is reported correctly with the standards, not to set up internal controls.