Friday, September 20, 2019

Research On The Types Of Chocolates English Language Essay

Research On The Types Of Chocolates English Language Essay Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste, and must be fermented to develop the flavor. The type of chocolate is determined by the various amounts of cocoa butter and chocolate liquor the chocolate contains, as well the amount of sugar and any other ingredients added to the mixture. TYPES OF CHOCOLATES Dark chocolate Sweetened chocolate with high content of cocoa solids and no or very little milk, it may contain up to 12% milk solids. Dark chocolate can either be sweet, semi-sweet, bittersweet or unsweetened. White chocolate Chocolate made with cocoa butter, sugar, milk, emulsifier, vanilla and sometimes other flavorings. It does not contain any non-fat ingredients from the cacao bean and has therefore an off-white color. Milk chocolate Sweet chocolate which normally contains 10-20% cocoa solids (which includes cocoa and cocoa butter) and more than 12% milk solids. It is seldom used for baking, except for cookies. Sweet dark chocolate Similar to semi-sweet chocolate, it is not always possible to distinguish between the flavor of sweet and semi-sweet chocolate. If a recipe asks for sweet dark chocolate you may also use semi-sweet chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate This is the classic dark baking chocolate which can be purchased in most grocery stores. It is frequently used for cakes, cookies and brownies. Can be used instead of sweet dark chocolate. It has a good, sweet flavor. Contains often 40-62% cocoa solids. Bittersweet chocolate A dark sweetened chocolate which must contain at least 35% cocoa solids. Good quality bittersweet chocolate usually contains 60% to 85% cocoa solids depending on brand. If the content of cocoa solids is high the content of sugar is low, giving a rich, intense and more or less bitter chocolate flavor. Bittersweet chocolate is often used for baking/cooking. Unsweetened chocolate A bitter chocolate which is only used for baking. The flavor is not good, so it is not suitable for eating. HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHOCOLATES Studies show that eating chocolate, primarily dark chocolate, may contribute to improved cardiovascular health. Packed with natural antioxidants, dark chocolate and cocoa sit in the same good-for-you category as green tea and blueberries. Thats because chocolate comes from cacao beans (or cocoa beans), which grow on the cacao tree and are full of natural plant nutrients. Most of the studies to date highlight dark chocolates health values because it has the highest percentage of cocoa solids, therefore more flavanol antioxidants. Heart Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate is good for your heart. A small bar of it everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well. Two heart health benefits of dark chocolate are: Lower Blood Pressure: Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure. Lower Cholesterol: Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) by up to 10 percent. Other Benefits of Dark Chocolate: Chocolate also holds benefits apart from protecting your heart: it tastes good it stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant it contains Theobromine, caffeine and other substances which are stimulants Ph.D., Mark Stibich, (2006). Health Benefits of Chocolate. Retrieved 6 March 2011 from About.com: http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongnutrition/p/chocolate.htm cacaoweb (2005). types of chocolate. Retrieved 6 March 2011 from cacaoweb: http://www.cacaoweb.net/chocolate.html HISTORY OF CHOCOLATES 1500 B.C. 300 B.C. The Olmec Indians are believed to be the first to grow cocoa beans (kakawa) as a domestic crop. Cacao trees have grown wild for possibly 10,000 years. The Olmec civilization lasts to about 300 B.C. 300 B.C. 500 A.D. 250 to 900 The Olmec, a very sophisticated society, give much of their culture to the Maya, including xocoatl, sho-KWA-til. Consumption of cocoa beans is restricted to the Mayan societys elite, in the form of an unsweetened cocoa drink made from the ground beans. A.D. 600 1000 600 The Maya migrate into northern regions of South America and Mesoamerica, establishing the earliest known cocoa plantations in the Yucatan. Nobles drink frothy cacau from tall pottery beakers. Beans are a valuable commodity, used both as a means of payment and as units of calculation. Beans are local and international currency: a turkey could be bought for 200 beans, a tomato for 3 beans. Later, when the Maya trade with the Aztecs, 400 beans equal 1 Aztec Zontli, 8000 beans equal 1 Aztec Xiquipilli. Ancient Mexicans believe that Tonacatecutli, the goddess of food, and Calchiuhtlucue, the goddess of water, are guardian goddesses of cocoa. Each year they perform human sacrifices for the goddesses, giving the victim cocoa at his last meal. 1200 AD: The Aztecs believed the first cocoa plant was created by Quetzalcoatl who came from heaven on the morning star. As the Aztecs didnt know about sugar, other spices were used. Mostly spices like chilli to flavour the drink as it was a little bitter. During this time, cocoa beans were used for currency as they valued the plant so much. 1492 Columbus brings back a few beans to present to the King and Queen. However, they were mostly ignored amongst all the other wonderful array of goods that were brought back. 1528 Hernando Cortez again sees the benefit of the cocoa bean and surmises that it might taste a little better if sugar cane was added. Vanilla pods, flowers, cinnamon and other spices were used also. This blending was regarded as a success! Because of the high cost of cocoa, it was still a luxury which only the rich could afford. 1645 Beans were again part of the dowry of Princess Maria Theresa to Louis XIV. This time, the phenomenon of chocolate took off in France. It was also considered an aphrodisiac and was reputed to have helped several Kings and Queens to entice their lovers. 1671 An accident by a kitchen boy leads to the making of praline. A tray of almonds was dropped. Chef tries to whip the kitchen boy but instead drops the pan of hot sugar over the almonds. The Duke of Plesslis-Praslin was served up the cooled mess and was so happy with it, he named it after himself Late 1600s to early 1700s Chocolate houses spring up all over Europe. During this mass craze for the drink and the increase in growers, cocoa bean prices drop. The invention of a steam engine helps with the grinding of the beans and speeds up manufacturing. 1765 The first chocolate making factory in the USA. 1800 Chocolate becomes an Industry on its own. 1900-1970s 1900 Milton Hershey creates a model factory town town called Hersheyville dedicated to the production of chocolate. The specialty is the Hershey Kiss. Around 1900, the price of cacao and sugar drop tremendously, making chocolate affordable for the middle classes. 1912 Jean Neuhaus invents the chocolate shell that can be filled with soft centers and nut pastes, offering vast variety to the previous dipping and enrobing of chocolate. 1925 Barry Callebaut begins the production of chocolate couverture, in Belgium. (We dont know which company made the first couverture.) The New York Cocoa Exchange begins in New York City. 1926 Belgian chocolatier, Joseph Draps starts the Godiva Company to compete with Hersheys and Nestlà ©s American market. 1930 Nestlà © makes first white chocolate, named Galak, although it was called different names, such as Milkybar or Alpine White, in different countries. During the 1930s, brand names become increasingly important. After two years of research, Nestlà ©Ã‚  launches the Black Magic bar.4 1939 World War II rationing includes chocolate: in Europe it is rationed to 4 ounces per person per week. Sales of chocolate are half of pre-war sales. Production of Kit Kat, a leading brand, is suspended.4 1980s Present 1980 A story of chocolate espionage hit the world press when an apprentice of the Swiss company of Suchard-Tobler unsuccessfully attempted to sell secret chocolate recipes to Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. 1986 Valrhona introduces the concept of the single origin chocolate bar, making their first with beans exclusively from South America. The 70% cacao bar is named Guanaja in honor of the island of Guanaja, off Honduras, where Christopher Columbus first tasted chocolate almost 500 years earlier. They call it a Grand Cru chocolate. 1990s Following Valrhonas pioneering efforts, other designer chocolate bars debut, including bars made from the beans of single plantations. Today, annual world consumption of cocoa beans averages approximately 600,000 tons, and per capita chocolate consumption is greatly on the rise. But the best chocolate, made of criollo beans, is just 5% of the world crop. 2000 A new generation of chocolatiers knows no bounds. The fusion cuisine of the late 20th century has logically found its way to chocolate: exotic spices such as saffron, curry and lemongrass are now commonplace in chocolate, as are everyday kitchen foods such as basil, goat cheese and olive oil. Most appropriately, chocolate has returned to its Mesoamerican roots. Many artisan chocolatiers now offer some version of Aztec chocolate, spiced with the original new world flavors of chile and cinnamon. The market has seen growth in organic and kosher brands and high percentage cacao chocolate is recognized as a functional food, delivering antioxidants. It seems that the Aztecs were right about the health-giving properties of cacao. 2000 The Cote dIvoire is the worlds largest exporter of cacao beans, 1.4 million tons. The Netherlands both imports and grinds the most cacao. Some is made into chocolates; the remainder is processed into couverture and cocoa powder and exported to other countries which make their own chocolates from it. the nibble (2006). The History Of Chocolate. Retrieved 6 March 2011 from the nibble: http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/chocolate/the-history-of-chocolate.asp TASK 2 PROJECT PLAN Task Description Marks Time Date 1 Research. The purpose of this research and the aim of the website is to promote chocolate as a versatile and healthy food. 10 1week 4th to 20th Feb 2 Project plan Produce a project plan for the way you intend to complete the rest of this assignment. 10 1week 21st to 27th Feb 3 Design Specification Using the appropriate techniques to specify the structure and navigation of the proposed site. 15 2weeks 27th Feb to 5th Mar 4 Website The website must be developed using XHTML 1.0(transitional or strict) and consist of 6 interlinked pages. A home page from which it is possible to navigate to the other resources in the website. A page that explains about health and chocolate. A page that describes the history of chocolate from ancient Mesoamerican times to present day. A recipe of the month page A page that provides links to other websites of interest and sources of further information A page that demonstrates the use of HTML forms 40 1 month 5th Mar to 5 April 5 Critical evaluation A short report of 1000 words analyzing the website you have submitted 25 2 weeks 5th to 15th April TASK 3 DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS HEIRARCHY Home Instructions Photographs Health benefits Recipe of the month Links Submission form History of Chocolates Fig 1.1 Site Plan Background info Home page has to communicate purpose of website. External sites (User will be required to press back button to go back to our site or have external sites open in a new window New Recipe Entry Page title Provide forms for users to submit new recipes Links Page title Give links to other websites of interest Recipe of the month Page title One quality photograph Clearly structured instructions History of chocolates Page title Describe history of chocolates Health and Chocolates Page title Provide health benefits of chocolates Give types and quantities of chocolates that should be eaten Show drawbacks of chocolates Home Page Background info Health chocolates History of chocolates Recipe of month Links New Recipe Entry Fig1.2

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Loving v. Virginia Essay -- Miscegenation

Miscegenation: Noun; Marriage, cohabitation, or sexual relations between two members of two separate races. Most commonly used in reference to relations between African Americans and Caucasian Americans (blacks and whites.) In 1960’s nearly 4 out of every 225 marriages was interracial. This was frowned upon in the early to mid 1900’s and this is what two people, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving had to face. Racial indifference or a racial supremacy has been an issue in America as long as it has existed. It began with the Native Americans on this soil we thrive on today. The whites of the time pushed the Natives of what land they could and fooled them off of the rest of it. They took their children, and tried to conform them into a race they were not, and never would be. From there on, our nation grew larger and more independent. In 1619, 127 years after North America had been discovered, a Dutch man traded his cargo of Africans for food. This gave our nation its first g roup of â€Å"servants.† The uproar of slavery did not start until the 1680’s as far as the records show. The idea of slavery gave some, not all, Caucasian Americans the idea that they were better than the blacks who worked for them. Mind sets like these set the ball in motion for anti-miscegenation laws. 41out of our 50 states had these laws at one time, leaving only 9 states without ever having an anti-miscegenation law. These states being: Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey. 15 of these states abolished these laws only after the Loving V. Virginia case which was ruled on the 12th of June, 1967. That day, this couple got what they had wanted more than anything. They’re home back and their love to be a... ...icant. This one for many families today is very important. These cases are also the reason why during a census you have the opportunity to check multiple races, instead of just one. This case stirred debates of gay marriage, which is a matter of personal opinion. It is up to you whether that is a pro or a con. As we can now see, Loving v. Virginia opened plenty of doors. It took a couple that were strong and would not be beat down by hearing their marriage was illegal or how wrong they were. Richard and Mildred Loving did what every interracial couple wanted to do; make a difference. The couple gained the right to move back to their home with their families, to stay in their hometown peacefully, and to hang their marriage license on the wall and know that it is now recognized by every state. Race made no difference to them, it shouldn’t to anyone else either.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

An Analysis of Richer Sounds PLC Essay -- Business Management TQM Essa

An Analysis of Richer Sounds PLC 1.0 A Report on How Richer Sounds Functions 4.1 A Classification of the business according to its ownership, and an explanation of the benefits and constraints of this type of ownership Richer Sounds is part of the Private Sector, which consists of businesses who seek to make a profit. Julian Richer is the sole owner of Richer Sounds, which means he has full control over the business, but the Directors run it. Richer Sounds is a regional unlisted Public Limited Company, which means it is not listed on the Stock Exchange. Julian Richer is owner of all the shares of Richer Sounds, but the official name of the company is still Richer Sounds PLC, even though the shares are not for sale to the public. Julian Richer also gains the advantage of limited liability, which means he is not personally liable for any of the company’s debts. The most he can lose is the money he has invested in the company, so he has not put any of his personal possessions at risk. 4.1.1 Richer Sounds’ Legal Requirements Richer Sounds also have legal requirements that it has to abide by; such as they must have its name and address, ect registered at the Companies House where they will also have to send annual returns and financial statements. This is one of the disadvantages of being a Limited Company the fact they have lots of paperwork due to annual statements. The advantages and disadvantages of Richer Sounds are shown further on in the report. Also the financial affairs of Richer Sounds have to be published because the company’s stakeholders need to see how the business is performing. 4.1.2 Memorandum and Articles of Association The documentation that Richer Sounds is likely to encou... ...follows: www.richersounds.co.uk www.msn.com (search engine); searched words such as Richer Sounds PLC, Richer Sounds’ products and prices, communication. Textbooks I used are as follows: Business Studies for you, authors David Needham and Robert Dransfield Business Studies, authors Ian Marcouse, Andrew Gillespie, Barry Martin, Malcolm Surridge, Nancy Wall. Line relationship . Each person has a superior and staff know whom they should report and for which staff or work area they are responsible for. Informal relationship. Staff have frequent contact through their work, but have no formal relationship. Staff relationship. This is where no formal authority exists, but advice is sought. Lateral relationship where the staff in different departments with the same level of responsibility need to co-operate or co-ordinate their activities.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Racial Wealth Inequality

Caitlin Maltbie 009606309 Take Home Essay Question 2: Racial Wealth Gap Between Blacks and Whites After racial discrimination was made illegal in the 1960s, blatant and bigot racism has seemed to disappear, yet remaining racist attitudes have continued to put blacks at an overall disadvantage due to the progression of these attitudes into institutionalized settings and policies.The result of historical and contemporary discrimination and segregation is a widening gap of racial wealth between blacks and whites. Now, America could be argued to be a dichotomized society of black and white, proving that the Kerner Commission was correct to predict that â€Å"our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal (Bobo & Smith 1998: 178). † Although whites didn’t necessarily intend on such a separate and unequal society, they don’t plan to change it either.The reasons behind this perpetuating, widening gap that I will discuss follow a hi story of disadvantage versus advantage dating back to the time of slavery, as well as segregation and discrimination in practices such as hiring processes, loans, residential structuring, wages, and government aid which have resulted in increases of unemployment among inner-city blacks as well as concentrated poverty. Blacks are at a disadvantage to whites because they lack human capital tracing back to equal education and job opportunity that would regularly aid to accumulate wealth as it does for whites.Starting back as far as the 16th century, slavery crippled chances for blacks to gain social and economic mobility. Now, we continue to see these crippling effects among generations of blacks. Not only do whites typically earn more annually, they have an easier time finding employment. The racialization of the state could be considered the starting point of the racial wealth gap between whites and gaps, and can be seen in policies and programs in the U. S.. Beginning during the tim es of slavery, if blacks were able to accumulate any amount of money they would spend it on the freedom of themselves and their family, whereas whites were ble to purchase assets with their money and eventually able to generate monetary inheritances for their upcoming generations. To add to the disadvantages, in the 19th century homestead laws didn’t allow African Americans to take advantage of federal land-grant programs. The core of the New Deal legislation, the Social Security Act of 1935 ultimately cut blacks out of receiving any benefits due to the fact that it exempted agricultural and domestic workers. The New Deal also exempted blacks because they fell beneath the threshold for coverage due to lower wages.After World War II, the Fair Housing Act funneled loans away from cities into the suburbs, furthering the chances of blacks to own homes. Contemporary policies such as the AFDC practically forces wanting recipients to rid themselves of any assets to pass a test in or der to receive benefits. The Internal Revenue Code and the Internal Revenue System gives tax breaks on assets such as homes, so due to the fact that blacks have less assets than whites, they again are at a disadvantage.The result has been that blacks have continuously put more into the system and have received less in return. Homeownership in America is the primary means for generating wealth, and it also serves as a pathway to community and schooling, and parental assistance in buying a first home is key to setting opportunities for their adult children and their families (Shapiro 2003: 87). However, although monetary support among whites is most likely to go from parents to adult children, elderly blacks are more likely to need help themselves from their adult children (Shapiro 2003: 87).This leaves new generations of blacks living up to a duty to provide for their elders rather than accumulating wealth for themselves and their children. Due to racialization of the state in homeow nership practices, it has been very difficult for blacks to come upon owning a home. Because government policy follows racialized attitudes, the FHA was able to follow â€Å"restrictive covenants† in which they prohibited blacks to move into white neighborhoods, claiming to â€Å"protect† these white communities.Also, the government began to help families buy homes by supporting loans, however these loans would only apply for nicer neighborhoods, where redlining, a process in which bank employees literally â€Å"redlined† bad parts of town, was absent. The result of this was that blacks couldn’t buy homes because the homes they could actually afford were in the redlined areas. The redlined areas often became their homes, where public housing was built after many blacks were condemned to live in their houses after the Urban Renewal Program intended to decrease inner-city slums by pushing them out.Also, construction of new freeways and highways through citi es during the 1950s forced blacks out of their homes (Wilson 1996: 194). Whites now were concentrated in the suburbs, and blacks were left trapped in public housing areas where these structures acted to form concentrations of urban ghettos, where unemployment rates were two-and-one half times as high as whites and annual wages 11 percent lower due to deindustrialization and the migration of jobs to the suburbs (Bobo & Smith 1998: 180).On top of this, the Reagan and Bush administration decreased spending to subsidize cities, proving the shift in the federal government’s support for basic urban programs which had exaggerated the rates of unemployment and social organization in the inner-city neighborhoods (Wilson 1996: 194). Even after racial discrimination became illegal in the 1960s, suburbs diversified among race rather than class, as zoning laws and discriminatory land-use kept blacks out of suburbs because they didn’t allow the construction of apartment buildings or low-income housing (Wilson 1996: 193).Economic detour can be traced back to the fact that blacks have never been in control of the means of production. For blacks wanting to start their own businesses, which would in turn make them able to generate more assets, it has been hard. Even while other people of color have been able to successfully own and run their own businesses, people fail to patronize black businesses. On top of not being able to own their own businesses, blacks have also had to face to the employers who still maintain negative racial attitudes towards blacks during hiring processes, especially involving inner-city residents (Oliver & Shapiro 1995: 198).More than nine-tenths of white parents (91 percent) surveyed hold assets compared to fewer than two-thirds of black parents (94 percent (Shapiro 2003: 81). Among families with positive assets, the financial capacities of the parents of white families are four times greater than those of the parents of black families ( Shapiro 2003: 83). Half of all whites come from families with the ability to deliver head-start assistance versus only a fifth of blacks (Shapiro 2003: 84).Cultural capital is yet another form of inheritance that allows families with ample assets to pass along nonmonetary benefits to their children that give them a competitive edge in school, the job market, and other areas. Cultural capital is typically found where wealth is high (Shapiro 2003: 85). Over the lifetime, whites’ inheritances are on average seven times larger than blacks’ inheritances. Black boomers will inherit 13 cents for every dollar inherited by white boomers.The legacy of grandparents of black baby boomers, who lived and toiled under harsh discrimination and glaringly different conditions, did not include financial resources. We see a glimpse of the racial reality of two generations ago continuing to impose and structure differences onto the present generation of young adults and a generation of chi ldren still coming up. Post World War II economic prosperity benefited whites substantially, whereas blacks still faced discrimination in the work place, therefore they were unable to really save any money.Deindustrialization in the post-World War II period had a profound effect on people living these cities. Many who had worked in manufacturing plants lost their jobs as plants closed and moved their operations in the South, overseas, or elsewhere. These people were forced to find other types of employments, and some became poor (Iceland 2003: 109). Building of low-income projects in already poor inner-city neighborhoods in the post-World War II period, contributed to poverty concentration. Residential segregation interacting with economic change and social alienation, played a key role in the perpetuation of concentrated poverty.National black unemployment is officially above 15 percent and rising while white unemployment is 7. 6 percent (Wright 2012: 142). Because the tactics for maintaining systemic white privilege changed in the 1960s, the rationalizations for explaining racial inequality changed, too. Whereas Jim Crow racism explained blacks’ social standing as the product of their imputed biological and moral inferiority, color-blind racism explains it as the product of market dynamics, naturally occurring phenomena, and presumed cultural deficiencies (Bonilla-Silva 170).

Monday, September 16, 2019

My Narrative Report in Pal

Internship or on the job training is one way by which we students are given an opportunity to apply the theories and computations that we have learned from school. It also helps us to obtain applicable knowledge and skills by performing in actual work setting. Earful tool and possibly even a source of recommendation when they take that big lift from being students to career professionals. The On-The-Job Training (OJT) is one of the requirements in order for a student to be able to graduate from college and to become a professional. This training prepares the students to practice their profession. Thus, in adjusting one’s self and mingling to others one must cope up with the different standards and attitudes of the people in a particular field of industry. It is also a bridge to enhance the students’ skills that should be an advantage when they finally land a job. It’s proven and well tested! Experience is definitely the best teacher. There are countless things that I’ve learned during my On-the-Job Training at Philippine Airlines. Being in a new and never-been-to environment was a big challenge to me. I exerted great effort to cope up with the means and manner of living of the new environment that I’d indulged into. I did my best to blend in and went in with the flow of what the real world is offering. One of the requirements as graduating students of the College of Arts and Letter is On-the-Job Training. This Training exposes us to the real environment of a certain organization. Thus, adjusting oneself and mingling others is a must to cope up with different standards and attitudes of every individual in a particular field of industry. In furtherance, OJT will be a bridge to enhance our skills in communication and technical activities that makes it a plus point the sooner we landed a job and help ease the culture shock while dealing with different specialized people of their expertise. I went to other organizations to have an OJT but sad to say there were already different students from different schools who had come first to conduct an OJT. I was already desperate, hopeless and we’re running out of time. I came up with a decision and suddenly an idea flashed in my mind â€Å"Why not try Philippine Airlines? Due to lack of time, I went directly to the Branch Manager of Philippine Airlines, Legazpi City and submit a letter for approval in conducting an OJT in their organization. Knowing that I already accepted to conduct an OJT, my worries were then blown up by the wind as if my heart felt empty with thorn and pains of miseries. The manager told us the Don’ts and Do’s in the company like; Doâ⠂¬â„¢s: Wearing of Formal Attire Good Grooming Be On Time Don’ts: Do not go out in the Airline field without wearing a vest. Do not wear slippers Do not wear â€Å"maong† pants Don’t be shy Then my journey started in PAL†¦ my first week was a disastrous one. Why? Exactly 8am on the very first day of my report in the office the router was damaged due to faulty electrical wiring of transformer by ALECO. So all the computer transaction were then changed to manual type. The manager let me stay in his office for an hour or so because of what had happened. In that day I was oriented on what to do and exposes to other employees as well. And hey, before I forgot I have a company from other school, they are from La Consolacion College of Iriga City, a Tourism student. At first I am shy to them, I didn’t talk to them I just stayed in the office of the manager, but because of their super-duper nice approach to me and to their super friendly attitude we become friends. They guide and teach me what to do. My co-OJT named Margarette, Angela, Erika and Rhea. I learned more about what OJT means and to be patient is more important when you have a relationship to other people especially when you do not know them well. I had encountered different attitudes between clients and my employer, they have more jokes than us and we have to be sports and control our feelings. I meet new friends inside the company even though they have more guys than girls. I have a new co-OJT trainee after the first batch had been finished their 180 hours, named Makie, Eunice, Marieson and Shiryne. They are a tourism student from Iriga City also to be exact a classmates of my co-OJT the other month. They are a nice person and kind to me. And because of that I let them fill in to my ever loving slum book. Hehehe Check in Area I was trained on what specific things to do in the check in area like weighing the baggage’s, tagging with an international, local, perishable, push ups and fragile stickers and of the course adding baggage number and how it weighs. I was told also the allowed kilo of baggage and allowed kilo of hand carry. I was assigned also to PAL number seats in rows and columns. On the second day I was trained on what to do in the manual system. It was so strenuous even the employees were busy that time. I assist them at the back and I am always alert to avoid destruction. I was oriented also about the mandatory elements and the cleanliness around the check in area. Ticketing Office I was assigned in answering the phone for clients who wants to inquire in a specific date of flight, lucky you are if the customer is in good mood. I also type in the Documental Transmittal or Acknowledgement Receipt, Shipping Order ( I type certain records then pass it to the cargo area) Updated forms (air them back to Manila) I also do an accounting like the domestic sales report. I was also assigned to print the tickets and pass it the cashier. In ticketing area I was then given a short examination by one of the employees on how to use the electronic system of ticketing. Sir Mayor taught me how to do the work. Food Well, as part of my on-the-job training in the Philippine Airlines, I was part to the group to feed the tummy of my sir and maam. My co-trainee said that we need to prepare a food when we done our training. So I joined the group. I contributed 200php for the food. Then, there my OJT ends.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Concord Bookshop Organizational Change Essay

Today’s organizations are facing many challenges such as threats of inflation, deflation, and recession resulting worsening the economy of the United States. According to Borkowski (2005) and Spector (2010), they state that the economy worldwide is very difficult nowadays because many internal and external forces. One of the best seller bookshop, the Concord Bookshop, lost control over the market because of huge losses. To stay open to business the company needed a change. The company hired a new president to help the company to maintain finances and funcionality, but employees had tremendous resistance to the change. The company made a drastic plan to change employees behaviors to improve bussines, but owners of the bookshop did not use effective implementation for the change process. On the other hand, workers at Concord increased resistance to the change process because owners did have neither communication nor inclusion of changes; instead, they increase their fear and unc ertainty of the employees. Adding more, the owners failed to use effective redesign, mutual engagement, and shared diagnosis (Spector, 2010). This paper will define the phases in the organizational change process, including phases not completed or implemented at the Concord Bookshop leading the organization to fail. Assessment of Forces The Concord Bookshop had been on the market for 64 years, it was one of the best independent stores in New England, but they went off business because their profits were tightened. Other bookstores such Amazon Barnes and Nobel increased their finances because they made changes according to the needs of new technologies and customers expectations. The progressions of these bookstores were implemented by redesigning their business; so their earnings went higher. The Concord Bookshop had a particular characteristic to attract customers, according to Joanne Arnaud, director of the Boston Literacy Fund and a Concord resident, she signed the letter: â€Å"What make the Concord Bookshop different are the people and their institutional memory and their memory for a customer, they are so warm and welcoming† (Spector, 2010, p. 2). The organization needed a good strategic plan to maintain business open. The company needed a change, but they made a drastic plan that employees had strong resistance to the change. Owners failed to communicate the employees the shared diagnosis, the severity of the problem, and they did not use effective implementation for the change process. This happening made workers feel devaluated; they stated that something on their lives were lost. Adding more, the owners failed to use effective redesign and change process, mutual engagement, and shared diagnosis (Spector, 2010). Strategic Responsiveness According to Spector (2010), the president of Concord Morgan Smith’s attempted to bring financial discipline to the Concord Bookshop facing sensitive realities. Owners, employees, customers, and suppliers approved the desire of maintaining the store’s viability. In addition, Smith’s approach and the actions taken by leaders created resistance of the employees because they did not do the correct strategy to solve the company losses, also they did not implemented the plan; therefore, these errors led to resistance, conflict, and resentment. Identifying the need for change is vital; first, it is required to do an assessment on the organization, employees, finances, and structure. Implementation is crucial; however, it is necessary to do a deep recognition for effectiveness of strategic response. The main forces that make organizations to change are external, industry environments, and new operating requirements generated from these environments; for example, new technology available, new trends of selling on the Internet, and more. Today’s organizations are facing many challenges; for example, trade, and industry insecurity, wars, and terrorism weaken the economy globally. External forces affect in general weakening the economy of the United States. One of the major external forces affecting businesses is the increased use of technology and the availability of the Internet (Borkowski, 2005) (Spector, 2010). According to Spector (2010), strategic renewal requires organizational change, Concord Bookshop needed to move from a traditional and conservative store for British shoppers to Internet buyers. The strategy for renewal of business, leaders need to align internal processes, structures, and systems in accordance with demands of the market system. For example, â€Å"New organizational capabilities, talents and skills possessed by employees need to be built† (Spector, 2010, p. 5). Managers need to discontinue old behaviors on employees by selecting new approach, in which employees feel comfortable and secure to accept the change. Consequently, workers needed new orientation on-the-job, new tasks, and responsibilities to assure the viability of the company as well as employment. The goal of any organization is to create lasting modification in patterns of employee’s behaviors to support strategic renewal. Concord Bookshop Strategic Renewal was not implemented * Strategic renewal requires organizational change; in the case of Concord business was not implemented. Strategic renewal demands, â€Å"Wide-scale invention, reinvention, and redesign of business processes and organizational structures require organizational change. The leaders in charge of the organization did not do renewal demands. According to Spector (2010), Concord closed after 64 years on business making many people unemployed, they felt depressed and devaluated for the store situation. Mistakes found in the organization were the following: employers did not complete mutual engagement and shared diagnosis, they did not restructure leadership adequately, and they failed to diagnose the pattern of behavior within a top leadership team (Spector, 2010).The conflict put pressure on the store when independent booksellers are staggering from competition and the Internet. * Phases of the Organizational Change Process not Completed or Implemented at the Concord Bookshop that Led the Change Failure Turnaround Turnaround is a technique that focuses on processes for improvement. Turnaround addresses finances of the balance sheet enhancement and technology. Concord did not complete turnaround well; instead, there was not salaries deducted, and employees did not lose their job immediately. Adding to this, there was misunderstandings and fears to employees; these reasons put the company on fire. Smith on the other hand, did not focus on new behaviors, turnaround looks at the company’s assets seeking manage finances to stabilize the cash flow; Smith did not manage well finances of the company. According to Mark (2007), employees did not receive efforts to change with pleasure. In the process of implementation, some resistance from employees comes from different internal sources; also resistance comes from external sources. Workers at Concord had increased resistance to the change process. Techniques and Tools Techniques and tools is a non-behavioral phase of change process. Concord failed to change this technique by not using organizational processes, mechanics, and other interactions intended to produce a product or service. For example, in 2007, Netflix started a new technique for improving customer service by substituting hundreds of telephone call centers for e-mail based response system. They save money, and created new employment; call center representatives were added to payroll. For instance, Concord could have done this technique and turn to different customer service system. This system could fit well for Concord Bookshop to attract new customers to stay alive on business (Spector, 2010). Outsourcing Outsourcing is a change technique, this tools implements the turnaround and transformational behavior change (e.g., cost-saving) implications (Spector, 2010). Organizations find outsourcing a very important strategy because: 1. Outsourcing saves money by transferring jobs to lower-paid workers. 2. Outsourcing enables companies to concentrate on core competencies. 3. Outsourcing offers a hedge against shifting technologies and customer preferences by lowering fixed costs and building flexibility (Spector, 2010, p. 16) Smith’s approach crated a conflict, resistance, and resentment. The organization needed to change to respond to the external demands. Concord leaders did not communicate the change well as they should so employees would understand and change behaviors. The organization needed to change the demands of the customers adapting the business to sell according to the new technology; for example, the new mode of communication was the Internet. Therefore, by the time they wanted to fix it was already late. Smith did not do outsourcing well because he did not realign the behaviors of the employees with company strategy and customer expectation. Trigger Events and Change According to Spector (2010), Organizational change is typically initiated in response to a trigger event. Spector (2010), states that Trigger event is a shift in the environment that precipitates a need for altered strategies and new patterns of employee behavior. For the Concord Bookshop, the increasing penetration of online booksellers into the store’s market space triggered the requirement for strategic renewal (Spector, 2010, p. 18). Trigger events are external or internal to an organization. Trigger events help to precipitate the need to alter behavioral patterns of employees. Concord Bookshop faced external trigger events. Trigger events may come from inside the organization; for example, when the organization hires a new leader. According to Spector (2010), she says â€Å"Jack Welch was promoted to CEO of General Electric (GE) in 1981, the company was enjoying decades of prosperity and success† (Spector, 2010, p. 18). This is an example of internal source of trigger event; Spector (2010), said â€Å"Virtually from the outset, in a quest for transformational change† (Spector, 2010, p. 18). Trigger events are so crucial for their magnitude and potential personal impact. They set into motion a series of mental alterations as individuals struggle to understand a situation. According to Spector (2010), â€Å"trigger events have a nature to umbalance established routines and evoke conscious thought on the part of organizational members. It makes people’s emotions to react to a change. In short, according to Spector (2010), states â€Å"Trigger events bring people’s mindsets into the arena of change† (Spector, 2010, p. 18) Conclusion The Concord Bookshop downsizing was terrible, the owners of the bookshop made changes to their organization without using an effective change process and implementation. The result of their approach was the resistance of the change from people in the organization. The organization made a numerous mistakes on not communicating to employees the severity of the problem. The owners of the bookshop recognized that the trigger event for the need for change was to recover financial profit. However, they did not involve the rest of the staff when this problem aroused. If they did a complete shared diagnosis stage, the issue would be solved properly. Last, the owners failed to move and redesign stage of the effective change process. The owners needed to redesign the roles and responsibilities, and involve the employees on planning solutions, so changes will be accepted more easily (Borkowski, 2005) (Spector, 2010). References Borkowski, N. (2005). Organizational Behavior in Health Care, 1e. Miami, Florida: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Mark H. (2007). The tools and techniques of change management, Journal of change management Vol 7 p37-49 http://www.scribd.com/doc/78216618/Spector-2e-Instructors-Manual Spector, B. (2010). Implementing Organizational Change. Theory into Practice, Second Edition. USA: Pearson Education. Rosen, J. (2011). Bookstores and Bloggers. Publishers Weekly, 228(20), 20. Taken from EBSCO September 252012.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Chance & Story Essay

In third grade through sixth, I had a friend named Chance. We were best friends and often spent long days and nights over at each other’s house. Whenever I stayed at Chance’s, the house was filled with noise from the two of us and his six brothers and sisters. Chance’s family was Mormon, a religion that my family knew nothing about except the name. He once explained why his family was so large, but it made little sense to me at that time. During the summer between sixth and seventh grade Chance’s family moved away to Utah. I’ve learned a bit more about Mormons since but this assignment offered me an opportunity to learn more about the religion of my friend and how Mormons feel about how they are perceived in the United States, especially concerning the law and discrimination. Chance’s family was only one of many Mormons in my town and surrounding areas. Patty is a good friend of mine who attends the Mormon church in town since she was a baby, so through her I was able to find three people to interview. Her parents were not available, but she introduced me to a Mormon missionary Brian, a neighbor Barbara, and Chris, her mother’s home- teacher. Brian is twenty years old and is originally from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is currently nearing the end of his Mormon mission, which is a semi-required two year work for Mormon young men to an area chosen by the head church in Salt Lake City, Utah. He had just graduated high school when he began the training for the mission. His mission is to go door to door in the neighborhoods to share his beliefs and teach anyone interested about the basics of the church. Barbara is also not originally from this area. She was born and raised in Provo, Utah, which is where the Mormon university Brigham Young is located. She moved here ten years ago when her husband’s job transferred. She is forty-three years old, has five children between six and fifteen, has a college degree from BYU in marketing but doesn’t currently work outside her home, and has been married for twenty-three years. Chris is from this area and has lived here all of his fifty-six years. He is an elder at the church, has four children and sixteen grandchildren so far, works as a machine repairer, and volunteers for the church as a home-teacher in which he regularly visits church members for further teaching about the church. Having such different subjects to interview proved very interesting. Each shared that they have dealt with some sort of discrimination in their lifetimes as Mormons. They all indicated that the problems are rarely very serious and never violent, but are more subtle. Barbara notices the negative attitude towards Mormons most of the three because she lived for so long in Utah, which is heavily populated with Mormons, especially where she lived in Provo. She said that when the family moved, she was surprised to find that there are people who still believe Mormons are the many-wives religion. One woman at her children’s school even asked once if Barbara was one of several wives of her husband. Neither Brian nor Chris said that they have had this problem. Brian said his problem is more centered on his mission work. He has often heard people say ‘there go the two-by-twos. ’ The missionaries work in pairs, so he said the term stuck. For the most part, he says people are friendly towards him and often comment that Mormons are the nicest people they know, but very few choose to actually discuss the church’s teachings. Instead Brian and Chris both said that most people are interested in if Mormons are a cult that traps unsuspecting victims. Barbara also said this is something people have asked in round-about ways such as through her kids. All three said that it is often frustrating the poor view that they feel the majority of Americans have toward the Mormon Church. Barbara and Chris’s children mostly have other Mormon friends, and those that are not Mormon are seldom allowed to attend activities organized for the Mormon youth such as dances, outings, or sport activities if they are to be held at the church. They say that no one has said directly why the kids can’t attend, but all three believe that it is related to the negative view of the church. They all also indicated that any issues that arise are always social in nature, that they have never had a problem with employers or the law regarding discrimination. Interestingly, as I interviewed each person, I found myself also curious about the ‘oddities’ of the Mormon church. When Barbara mentioned the many-wives idea, I wanted to know more about it. So I was doing exactly what the three had said most people do: expressing curiosity about the strangeness instead of the good qualities of the church or its teachings. However, I did learn quite a bit about the basic structure of the church, why it is based in Utah, and how Mormons view the world and the after-life. Since the problems that Mormons experience are almost always social, it is a matter of slowly changing the public’s view of the church. Chris believes that the commercials the church has put on television have gone a long way in changing perceptions about the church. Brian said that attitudes are better in Canada towards the church most likely because it started in the USA, where it experienced a lot of discrimination in its beginnings. So it is a matter of time and continued sharing for the Mormon Church to be recognized as a legitimate religion and not as a cult.