Microsoft High School Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Microsoft High School - Case Study Example One of the critical challenges that faced the company in the 80s was developing a career track for those who were individual contributors at best and those who were managers or had potential to be managers. This arose due to the fact the company being an IT company, technical people were mostly hired who may or may not be managers. The solution was to allow people to remain technical experts and get the same opportunity to advance in terms of compensation, promotion and recognition as those in the management track. Ladder levels for determining vertical movement were based on an individual's job nature, together with his experience, skill and performance. In addition, growth was also made possible with horizontal transfers from one job to another. New hires were also encouraged to learn from mentoring from those who were company seniors. IT industry's explosive growth, thousands of ... When the company reached its 20,000th employee mark, Bill Gates viewed this as an important challenge facing the company where the values at its inception responsible for its success were at stake. As a response, the HR group started measuring employee attitudes. A finding in the late 1990s was that even if attrition rates or voluntary resignations were half those of industry levels, at the higher positions, resignations were closer to industry rates. With "Organizational Health Index" (OHI), a part of the annual employee survey, the focus was turned on the work environment as a tool for retention and on a more fundamental level, "keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive" that made Microsoft what it was. Ballmer's two priorities was to accomplish this was first to change Microsoft's vision from "a computer on every desk and in every home running on Microsoft software" to "to empower people to do anything they want, any place they want, and on any device". The second strategy was to e mpower leaders within the company to clear obstacles, make decisions quickly and clearly define goals. Another challenge was how to identify managers and leaders who are capable of developing people. In order to meet this challenge, Microsoft embarked on a series of programs to identify potential leaders and it became the priority of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft president to develop leaders within the company. As a result of these programs, it was found out that the sources of leadership development were primarily from the jobs currently held at 70%, from mentoring at 20% and from training at 10%. With its maturity as a large-scale organization, a top concern emerged in the 1990s to

Schindlers List vs Book Thief Essay Example for Free

Schindlers List vs Book Thief Essay The character Death, in Zusack’s The Book Thief says: â€Å"That’s the sort of thing I’ll never know- what humans are capable of. † Discuss the way this statement reflects one or more texts you have seen or read this year. Adaptation is the ability to adjust for existence under environmental conditions. Like how animals adapt in the wild, humans are also capable to be tolerant in difficult situations. We do not know our limit of cruelty or kindness. Although most people choose to be kind and sympathetic to others, there are also people who are cruel and cold-hearted. Mark Zusack states this idea in his book, The Book Thief from death’s point of view, â€Å"That’s the sort of thing I’ll never know, or comprehend- what humans are capable of. † Amon Goth’s cruelty to Jews in the movie, Schindler’s List is an example of human’s undeterminable mind. The morning when groups of Jews arrive to his work camp, Goth randomly starts shooting the Jews from his veranda. At first, the Jews thought they are now safe since they have survived the chaos in the city. Therefore, Goth shoots them to rise up the tension of the scene. His shots cause chaos at the camp and the view of the chaos from his veranda makes the Jews look more animal like and vulnerable. Later in the film, the Jews’ wedding scene, Schindler’s social party scene and Goth torturing Helen scene are shown by juxtaposition. This juxtaposition shows those three different scenes that create different moods in a short amount of time. This also shows Goth’s insanity. He asks questions to Helen however, he answers those questions by himself pretending Helen is the one who’s answering them. His sudden mood swings also hints about his odd mental condition. In the film Schindler’s List, the audiences are mesmerized by the protagonist, Oskar Schindler’s generosity. It uses juxtaposition between Schindler and Itzhak Stern’s thorough search of all the names to add to the list to save the Jews from the work camp and the images of those people to show the critical subclimax of the movie. Schindler’s break down at the end of the movie touches the audiences’ hearts. He keeps murmuring to Itzhak about his regrets. He thinks that if he knew that the war was about to end, e would have spent everything he has to save more Jews. He was touched when the Jews have him a gold ring as a gift for his devotions. When the Jews hand him the ring his hands were shaking and he was shocked. Most people would not risk their lives to safe others. However, Schindler’s selflessness is magnificent which has save thousands of Jews’ lives. Another example from this film is at the beginning when Narzi soldiers evacuate and execute the Jews in the city. These soldiers barge into the apartments destroy all the belonging in their paths. When they cannot control the situation, they start random shootings which killed hundreds of thousands of people. Not one of the soldiers hesitates before they put a bullet in the Jews’ heads. Although there were bloodsheds, we could not see the colour since almost the entire movie is shown in black and white. Otherwise, these bloodshed scenes would be even more horrible. The Nazi’s discrimination towards the Jews is also a very cruel act that most people are not capable of understanding the reason why they did it. The signs of discrimination are shown in the film. The Nazis let them run around naked during the medical checks. Although the doctors can easily determine the difference between the sick and the healthy Jews, they forced them to be examined naked in the camp. This is shown to portray how powerless and embarrassed the Jews would have felt at that time. The director shows this scene from many different angles to capture all the actions happening in the area. The tombstones of the Jews are used to build up roads which is also another way of dehumanizing the Jews. These tombstones are important for their family members but they have used it as a resource to walk on it which shows disrespect. It is also to make to look like the Jews are powerless and vulnerable. Another surprising thing that overwhelms people is the Jews’ capability to harsh violence by the Nazis. At the beginning of the movie, the Jews are sent off to the work camp by travelling in squashing trains and trucks. They had to work hard labour although this kind of work used to be unfamiliar for most people; some still manage to survive this hardship. Although they have to do harsh labours, the execution, and concentration camps they still do not lose hope. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank wrote that, â€Å"Someday I will be able to taste freedom and some day we will all be free. † No matter how bad the situation is humans also hope for the best. I believe that this is something that only humans are most capable of. It is hope that let so many people conquer hardships and difficulties.

How University of Maine Could Improve its Ethics Courses Essay

It is vital to understand the importance of learning ethics in the modern society. Innumerable cases of unethical conduct points to the fact that the country is suffering from a strong moral perspective. Therefore it is my belief that the University of Maine as an educator of the next generation should have a more active policy to instill its student body with ethics. As of 1996, the University of Maine (UMaine) has required its undergraduate students to enroll in a series of courses that full fills a general education (Gen-Ed) criterion. This Gen-Ed criterion includes several subject areas including the study of ethics. According to UMaine’s Gen-Ed guidelines updated in May of 19961, a course would be qualified as an ethics Gen-Ed if the course satisfies the following requirements. 1. Courses that satisfy the ethics requirement have one or more of the following attributes: a. They teach methods of ethical analysis; b. They deal intensively with ethical issues associated with a particular discipline or profession; c. They engage the student in the study of ethical questions arising through the interpretation of literature or history, or social scientific analysis designed to include ethical evaluation. 2. Programs that undertake to integrate the treatment of ethics throughout the required curriculum may submit to the General Education Committee (GEIC) evidence that the program overall meets the Ethics requirement. The GEIC may thus approve a program (for a fixed period of time, subject to regular review) as an alternative to requiring that each student's curriculum contain specifically approved courses The university has stated that the goal of its ethics Gen-Ed requirement includes, â€Å"Students gain exposure to ethics a... ...f Undergraduate University Students in General Education Courses." Journal of General Education 56.2 (2007): 149-68. Web. Boyer, Ernest L. Quest for Common Learning: the Aims of General Edu. Unknown: Carnegie Fdn Adv Teaching, 1990. Print. Currier, D. M., and J. H. Carlson. "Creating Attitudinal Change Through Teaching: How a Course on "Women and Violence" Changes Students' Attitudes About Violence Against Women." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 24.10 (2009): 1735-754. Print. Holloway, M. C. ". A Comparison Of the Impact of Two Liberal Arts General Education Eore Curricula on Student Humanitarian Values." Journal of General Education (2005). Print. Pope, Kenneth S., Barbara G. Tabachnick, and Patricia Keith-Spiegel. "Ethics of Practice: The Beliefs and Behaviors of Psychologists as Therapists." American Psychologist 42.11 (1987): 993-1006. Print.

Aristotle and Aurelius Essay

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics goes to show that he believes that the end goal of all human actions is eudaimonia, or happiness through success and fulfillment. Following this concept Aristotle goes on to explain that through virtuosity a human being can lead a happy life. He defines virtue as a disposition to make the correct decisions that lead to the chief good of happiness. A perfect example is when he describes someone who does an action well as being good, but they are only considered good because of their distinctive activity. The distinctive activity for human beings can be considered our rationale. This is where virtue comes into play in the matter, but this translation could also be deciphered as excellence. Human beings do every single thing they do for a reason and that reason is to help towards an end goal. Although it may seem like the end goal might be something good like eating lunch, it is actually a chain to the ultimate good which is being happy. Happiness in Aristotle’s view is not second-by-second or even minute-by-minute but an entire lifetime. This is because we view happiness as and end goal which we hope to achieve by death and that way you can look back on a person’s life to see if they succeeded in their goal, through virtuous moral character and virtuous intellectual character and through the act of temperance. A life-time of that act can guarantee a happy, fulfilling, and successful life. Being virtuous come through two different ways in our actions as said by Aristotle, â€Å"Excellence being of two sorts, then, the one intellectual and the other of character, the intellectual sort mostly both comes into existence and increases as a result of teaching whereas excellence of character results from habituation†¦ † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1103a15). Intellectual virtue comes from teaching, experience, and time while character virtue is formed through the habit of repeated virtuous actions and constant practice. This allows for every human being to potentially have a virtuous moral character for the fact that it cannot be learned but only practiced, and not one person can be born already virtuous. The only problem with this concept is that there is no exact guideline in which to follow in order to become virtuous and, ultimately, happy. Basically Aristotle explains that you can find virtue in the middle ground of your actions, for example, he says â€Å"For to arrive at one of the two extremes is more erroneous, to arrive at the other less; so, since it is hard to hit upon intermediate with extreme accuracy, one should take to the oars and sail that way, as they say, grasping what is least bad of what is available†¦ † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1109a35) There is no teaching as to why, for example, courage is preferred over cowardice or rashness but that you need to practice being courageous in order to understand the reasoning for being courageous. This is true for all virtuous traits and merits of the human character and by combining the moral and intellectual teachings and habits can you start on the path of a virtuous disposition. The key to virtue is keeping within a balance between the vices. For an excessive vice there is excessive pleasure but also excessive pain and for the opposite there is no pleasure and no pain. The key is in a state of temperance in order to feel the correct amount of pleasure for a healthy lifestyle and choices. Aristotle’s views show that someone with a virtuous disposition should automatically or naturally choose the best action or behavior in any circumstances without having to rely on reason because the virtuous habit has been already learned. In response to someone arguing against an accidental choice, these views only perceive the deliberate and voluntary choices made by the person of virtue. Also a virtuous moral character will always aim for the good while unjust character will try to aim for what is their perception or the â€Å"apparent† good as said in â€Å"That wish is for the end, we have already said; but to some it seems to be for the good, whereas to others it seems to be for the apparent good. The consequence, for those who say that the object of wish is the good, is that what the person making an incorrect choice wishes for is not wished for.. † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1113a10). A virtuous person will always do the right thing and will never be surprised by their actions, nor will they do it the right thing with an ulterior motive. Though you cannot live a happy life just with a virtuous disposition because you still need to act within accordance to virtue, you absolutely cannot live a happy life without virtue. Having virtue in your actions will lead to the final goal of happiness because it far outweighs the happiness found in pleasure, awards or merits. II. Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher-king and emperor of the Roman Empire and was considered of of the most influential Stoic philosophers of all time. His greatest work Meditations is an honest portrayal of Aurelius’ thoughts as they were found in journal form, never meant to be publicized. He wrote these books for himself as a sort of guideline and thought-provoking inner voice. In his works of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius doesn’t use arguments as a way to get his point across but rather states his words as truths and seems to be very confident in his uses. It seems he is prying at the meaning of life, the why’s and how’s of it all on the idea of living. He is very blunt in his use of understating the human existence in the world and compares them to specks in the grand scheme, but the point of this is to provide a sort of carpe diem lifestyle. By letting yourself let go of the things you cannot control, you begin to gain a better understanding of the things you can control and act accordingly. â€Å"We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions. † (Meditations, 17). This quote goes to show how you cannot allow yourself to get angry at another person for what they have done, but to continue your existence and recognize what you need to do. He advises in his writings â€Å"To shrug it all off and wipe it clean-every annoyance and distraction-and reach utter stillness. † (Meditations, 54) and once you can do that you can realize what is natural. Stoicism being a very popular philosophy in ancient Rome for it called for a â€Å"cosmic determinism† in relation to â€Å"human freedom† by a parallel will to that of Nature . Aurelius,himself, was a firm believer in the Logos, which can be identified as a principle a guiding force for the universe, human beings and all matter. In fact, it is one of the most important concepts in Stoicism for the ancient Romans of the time. The stark and â€Å"manly† belief that every single citizen had a duty, whether they were a king or a peasant, were expected to follow it to the best of their abilities. The term utter stillness is used to acknowledge the state of no distractions. By achieving this you can focus solely on appropriate actions and how to follow your own road by the way of Nature on an unconscious level. Not by thinking about it but by acting naturally should you continue to help others, work for yourself, never stopping but continuing to reply to Nature’s demands. To do this all under the Logos, in order to find our common sense and avoid the annoying distractions all the while by controlling these actions through your inner unconscious/conscious self. III. The Greek philosopher Aristotle and the Roman philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius can be compared and contrasted in their similar and different ways of thoughts. First you can compare Aristotle’s ideas on eudaimonia and Aurelius’ use of utter stillness to help follow the logos, also the final step of death as the end of one’s journey towards a life of fulfillment. Contrastingly, they have different outlooks on purpose of human life and how to lead to the fulfilling of that said life. Stoicism was developed within the framework of Greek theory and philosophies from Plato and Aristotle so obviously there are bound to be many similarities. Both of these men were truly brilliant and ground-breaking in their respective ways of thought and led centuries of intellectuals to search for more fulfillment and happiness’s in their lives. Some big differences between Aristotle and Aurelius were there views on mortality or death. While Aristotle concludes that our lives are given to us and as valuable as human beings want to make them, the Stoics view on life is that is shaped by death and that the thoughts, choices and actions are just based on the knowledge of death. Eudaimonia is a subject in which Aristotle and Aurelius were familiar with in their writings about philosophical life. Aristotle thought of eudaimonia as an activity done with virtue performed rationally and consciously. Aurelius and the other Stoics insist that the way for eudaimonia is to live a morally virtuous life, in regards to the fact that virtue is good, vices are bad and most everything else is neutral. A popular argument for this where a death in the family would be involved, according to Aristotle, that would rob the most virtuous person of their eudaimonia while the Stoics would consider that neutral. Another interesting fact about Aristotle is how he acknowledges how â€Å"dumb luck† can aid or block the journey for eudaimonia, for example being born beautiful or losing close friends and family. Basically, they agree that eudaimonia is self-sufficient; the chief goal in life and that eudaimonia is the most complete end result. Virtue is very important to both philosophers and their ways of thinking and considers it absolutely crucial for eudaimonia. Aristotle and Aurelius can agree that no one is born just virtuous as it must be an act learned. Virtue is believed to be how one can control their emotions for it helps them to stay stable and in moderation. Overall, living life virtuously is living a life full of dignity. Marcus Aurelius’s view is a much more justified view because it is more modern and more adaptable. As the stoicism wants people to better themselves within reasonable goals and change values into something that will bring upon an unconscious change so that they may make better decisions consciously. Aristotle instead relies too much on a proper upbringing and calls the loss of good and friends as a prevention of eudaimonia. Stoics learn to realize what is out of their control and move on to what they can control. Aristotelian views also say that if a person dies early that it is a tragedy and that they were taken away before they reached their prime which in the Stoics eyes, a virtuous person should never be afraid of death because their life is sufficient when living a virtuous life. The difference continues when viewing the topic of emotions for Aristotelian that emotions are not good nor bad, only bad when expressed inappropriately while the Stoics think the whole point of eudaimonia is to be free from emotion. Finally the stoics don’t see a difference between the rich, poor, slaves or free men, because in their views bodily and external things can no impact on their dignity, whereas Aristotle believes that a life based on virtues along with enough material and external goods like freedom, wellbeing, and close friends lead to a life of dignity. Overall, Aurelius and the Stoics have built upon and modified Aristotle’s view to be more realistic and to try and be more optimistic in leading the best possible life no matter the circumstances.

Discuss ways in which Ort tries to make sense of his existence

Throughout the novel, Ort indeed tries to make sense of his existence in many ways. It is also true to say that his relationship with Henry Warburton helps him with this discovery. Their relationship, although time-taking to discover, is beneficial towards Ort's understanding of his existence, and his character in particular is greatly benefited. Ort's quest to make sense of his existence is brought on by the car crash in which Sam, his father, is put into a coma. From this moment on, the whole family in fact tries to make sense of their existence, and Warburton is a useful influence towards the whole family in this sense, not just Ort. Before discussing the ways in which Warburton is useful influence in the process of identifying Ort's existence, it needs to seen in which ways he tries to make sense of his existence; After the car crash, which left the father, Sam, out of the picture for the family, Ort has been given the responsibility of the father figure. Of course, for this to happen to a twelve year old boy, it leaves him lost, and obviously misled towards what exactly has just happened. One important thing that Ort considers during this period of discovery is about his own form of religion, or some sort of deity like figure to look up to. It is seen by the audience that the only thing that Ort can look up to and get any help from is that newly formed deity figure apparent in the sky. He uses this deity in the sky to hopefully save him from non existence and subsequently help him discover his current existence. Henry Warburton is then brought into the discussion, as he has a positive effect on Ort's outlook on life, and existence. He helps Ort understand his place in life, and is almost the deity for Ort, providing assistance and support, and also helping with Ort's self discovery. Even Henry Warburton claims that he is a god, and that he has come to help Ort, promoting himself as a god like figure. Warburton provides the positive influence for Ort's discovery of his existence, as he provides help surrounding certain paths of life. Warburton has the ability to see and believe things that no one else in the family, including Ort, does, therefore providing assistance in Ort's self discovery. In many scenes throughout the novel, Henry Warburton's influential figure is scene, which brings support for Ort's understanding. He acts as a father like figure to Ort, even providing discipline to other members of the family on occasions, and supporting Ort's actions and ways of thinking. Despite these obvious ‘perks' on Warburton's behalf to help Ort's understanding, some less positive aspects about Warburton's influence are apparent, when deeper aspects of the novel are analysed. Warburton's character inevitably appears flawed to the family, through a number of faults such as the fact that he has a glass eye and a speech impediment. ‘Geez, he's got troubles'. Coinciding with this realisation by the family, Warburton decreases his rhetoric, and shows the audience that Ort has become quite dependant by this stage in the novel. Throughout the novel, Ort experiences things which would normally never be experienced by a boy that age. With all the crises he goes through, Henry Warburton, a strange but loving preacher who shows up on the doorstep, shows Ort the way to understanding, and self realisation, and is therefore a useful influence towards Ort's understandings.