Mandatory Arbitration: Discussion Assignment

Week 1 Discussion Assignment – 2 Parts Due 11:59pm Friday Part 1  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Choose one part of the assigned textbook question to answer Part 2  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Choose ONE of the options [pic] Part 1 – Choose one part of the assigned textbook question to answer An important concept this week is jurisdiction. As the text explains, a court must have subject matter jurisdiction to hear a case. Subject matter jurisdiction is rather straight forward – the court must have jurisdic tion to hear the particular type of dispute (see my video for further explanation of this concept).Now look at Question 2 (p. 71) and pick either b, c,  or  d to answer. Explain your answer using legal terms and concepts from this week's readings. (b) Paula, who lives in New York City, wants to sue Dizzy Movie Theatres, whose principal place of business is Dallas. She claims that while she was in Texas on holiday, she was injured by their negligent maintenance of a stairway. She claims damages of $30,000. The general trial court of Texas would have sole jurisdiction. There is no federal court diversity jurisdiction because the amount in dispute is less than $75,000. Top of FormPart 2  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ choose ONE of the options Choice #1 Mandatory Arbitration Read the Mandatory Arbitration section (p. 45) and the supplemental materials provided:  Ã‚  Link to Letter to Congress  and  Arbitration Fairness Act (Proposed), then consider the following hypothetical: Let's suppose you are the CEO and majority shareholder of FacTree, a small manufacturer of artificial trees and flowers. FacTree has about 100 workers who do the routine assembly work for pay ranging from $8 per hour to $15 per hour. They work in two shifts. There are about a dozen supervisors who versee their work. In the past few years there have been five employment lawsuits: three concerned sexual harassment and two concerned discrimination in promotion. All five settled before trial. For three of the suits the company's attorney fees were over $50,000 per suit. For one of the claims, the company paid $250,000 in damages to the employee. Consequently, you are considering mandatory arbitration for all employment disputes. Discuss whether you had ever considered that mandatory arbitration clauses were included in so many of your contracts.Do you agree with imposing theses clauses in so many types of contracts and without negotiation or discussion/notice? Does your opinion differ as the small business owner in the hypothetical above? Explain whether you would or would not impose mandatory arbitration and whether the proposed legislation impacts your decision. Minimum 2 paragraphs. Choice #1 Mandatory Arbitration I was not aware of this term prior to this assignment, now that I’m learning the meaning of the term â€Å"Mandatory Arbitration†, I’m not surprised at all that they are present in so many contracts.Business owners and corporations have the knowledge and know how to always keep the upper hand on consumers. Every contract or agreement that we come across contains sneaky little fine print. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS GENERALLY PROTECT ONLY AGAINST GOVERNMENTAL ACTS. We’re all guilty of not taking the time to read the fine print. To the point of this hypothetical scenario, although I don’t agree with the concept of Mandatory Arbitration as a private system of justice because it prevents people from exercising their legal right to take a company to court and have their dispute judged on all the available evidence.If I were this CEO, I would use a mandatory arbitration clause as protection for my business. I think the proposed legislation is a fair proposition under the bill, parties involved in a dispute would be allowed a choice between arbitration or a court action when pursuing a complaint. THE CONSTITUION IS A SERIES OF COMPROMISES ABOUT POWER. Choice #2   First Amendment: Free Speech On March 1, 2006, this story appeared in the me dia: Americans apparently know more about The Simpsons than they do about the First Amendment. Far more Americans can identify Lisa, Marge, Maggie, Homer, and Bart than the First Amendment freedoms.Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition for redress of grievances. )   But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey. [1] Considering this and the  Texas  v. Johnson  case (p. 110): General Question:  Ã‚  With whom do you agree? Explain. Questions for those who agree that the First Amendment protects flag burning: †¢ Isn't it very painful for veterans of foreign wars, some permanently disabled, to see someone burn the flag that they fought for? Did Johnson contribute any valuable ideas when he burned the flag? †¢ If he contributed nothing, why should a state be forced to permit his actions? †¢ If the majority of a state’s citizens want to outlaw flag burning, why shouldn't they be allowed to? Questions for those who argue that the First Amendment does not protect flag burning: †¢ If a state could outlaw flag burning, could it also outlaw burning a copy of the Constitution? A photograph of the flag? A cross? A photograph of the President? †¢ Even if some people regard the flag as special, why should their opinion be the law of the land? Doesn't the anger created by flag burning indicate that it is effective speech? Should we outlaw effective speech and permit only speech that offends no one? Minimum 2 paragraphs and incorporate 2 different terms/phrases from this week's constitutional reading (in all CAPS). [pic] [1]   â€Å"Study: More know ‘The Simpsons' than First Amendment rights,† The USA Today, Mar 1, 2006 http://www. usatoday. com/news/nation/2006-03-01-freedom-poll_x. htm; Simpsons ‘trump, First Amendment, BBC News, Mar 1, 2006 http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/americas/4761294. stm

Intro to Bio Essay

1. What patterns do you observe based on the information in Table 1? The patterns that I observe based on the information in Table 1 is that the more dissolved oxygen contained in the water, the more fish are observed in that particular area of water. 2. Develop a hypothesis relating to the amount of dissolved oxygen measured in the water sample and the number of fish observed in the body of water. The hypothesis that I would develop relating to the amount of dissolved oxygen measured in the water sample and the number of fish observed in the body of water is if there is more dissolved oxygen contained in the water, there will be more fish present in the area the water sample is being taken from. 3. What would your experimental approach be to test this hypothesis? My experimental approach in order to test this hypothesis would be to test the dissolved oxygen contained in different areas of water and keep track of the fish in those areas and then compare the results. 4. What are the independent and dependent variables? The independent and dependent variables are the independent is the dissolved oxygen and the dependent is the fish. 5. What would be your control? What would be my control is no control. 6. What type of graph would be appropriate for this data set? Why? The type of graph that would be appropriate for this data set would be a line graph because it will support the hypothesis that I came up with as well as provide clear results. 7. Graph the data from Table 1: Water Quality vs. Fish Population (found at the beginning of this exercise). You may use Excel, then â€Å"Insert† the graph, or use another drawing program. You may also draw it neatly by hand and scan your drawing. If you choose this option, you must insert the scanned jpg image here. 8. Interpret the data from the graph made in Question 7. The data from the graph shows the population of fish on the Y axis and the dissolved oxygen on the X axis. The population of fish increases in the graph because of the increased amount of dissolved oxygen found in the body of water.

Carolines Real Bread Company SWOT Analysis

Caroline’s Real Bread Company are a small village bakery who produce and sell a variety of niche breads to cater for specific needs. Emphasis is placed on high-quality, fresh organic products. Their products are sold through their website, farmers markets, food festivals and other outlets. They also provide bread for specialist restaurants and cafe’s. This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the current state of the grocery market, and provides recommendations on the possible actions that should be undertaken for Caroline’s Real Bread Company to expend and take advantage of the current state of the industry. Methods of analysis used in this report include PEST analysis which analyses the external factors effecting companies operating within the grocery market, and SWOT analysis which is a method used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a company, and the opportunities and threats that are currently presented to them. This research draws attention to the fact that grocery retailers have changed during the past few years in order to react to customer demand. As a result of technological advantages, the demand for convenience is increasing and all major supermarkets now sell their products online. Further research has shown that the market size for fresh organic bread is increasing, and is forecasted to increase even further in the future. The growth of the market size of their products can be attributed to two things. The increase in health awareness amongst consumers who are slowly becoming more conscious of the foods they eat due to a growth in political campaigns alongside new food labelling laws, and the increase in demand for gluten free bread as a result of a steady increase in the amount of gluten intolerant people in the UK. The store competes in an expanding, competitive niche market. It has steadily grown whilst staying true to the ideologies behind it, resulting in Caroline and her company winning many awards. We recommend that the next step that Caroline’s should take is to expand their production capacity in order to take advantage of their distribution channels already in place. They should also refrain from distributing to large supermarkets who do not share their beliefs in order to keep their unique selling point and maintain their current customer base. Instead, they should aim to increase online orders through increased marketing and promotions. We suggest they should get involved in social media in order to increase awareness of their wide variety of products, and to generate more traffic to their website. Due to their limited budget, Caroline’s Real Bread Company should directly target those with special dietary needs as the niche is expanding and these are the customers most likely to buy their products. This could bring opportunities for them to increase their number of deliveries across the UK. The report also investigates the fact that the research conducted has some limitations. Some of the limitations include the fact that secondary data has been used, and that our recommendations assume that the state of the UK economy will not severely worsen in the near future. 2. Introduction and Aims Caroline’s Real Bread Company is a small bakery in Mid/South Wales since 1992. It has two partners Nigel Devlin and Caroline Frampton. Caroline is the baker and Nigel does the accounts. Their products are sold through farmer’s markets, food festivals, local organic box schemes and other outlets. It also supplies restaurants specialist cafes, outside caterers and one off events. Caroline won the Gold Welsh True Taste Awards in 2005 after expanding her business. They offer over 30 varieties of bread which are wheat-free and yeast free. In recent years they have been trying to expand themselves through technology, through online orders which can be collected from in-store or delivered (Carolinesbreadcompany, 2013). The aims of this report are to outline the Political, Economic, Social and Technological issues that impact the Grocery Market Environment. The Product specific market will be explored through a SWOT analysis. The report will highlight the recommendations to Caroline concerning her company and its current position in the market. 3. The Grocery Market 3. 1 Political The government launched an advertising campaign in early 2013 to promote healthier eating habits in the UK (BBC 2013). The main aim of this campaign is to increase the awareness of â€Å"hidden nasties† such as fat and sugar in popular foods. This campaign is the latest in a long line of government aided movements in order to increase health awareness in the UK, some examples of others being change4life and 5 A Day. This latest movement shows that healthy eating is high on the agenda of the current government. The government are under pressure to introduce new legislation to reduce the salt content in foods. The coalition is currently working with the industry, through the ‘Responsibility Deal’, to improve food content and labelling (Department of Health, 2013); however they are being challenged by labour to scrap this voluntary approach and to introduce tougher regulation and legislation in fighting foods high in fat, salt and sugar. One proposition includes a 30% cap on sugar content in cereals aimed at children. The on-going debates and propositions are increasing public awareness of healthy eating habits which benefit specialist local producers such as Caroline’s Real Bread Company. According to new government rules, the UK’s food industry will be required to include clearer information regarding the ingredients on product packaging from summer 2013 (FSA 2013). The new arrangement is front of pack labelling that combines the food content with the guideline daily amounts, showing consumers the percentage of their daily allowance that they will be consuming with the product. As a result of this, suppliers of foods high in salt, sugar or fat may need to rethink their production process or risk losing customers. This change, combined with the growing healthy eating awareness of the UK will again benefit companies who are producing organic foods with natural ingredients. 3. 2 Economic An increase in interest rates has led to less disposable income which may change their shopping pattern from buying luxury goods to necessities, thus restricting the growth of a company like Caroline’s (Times, 2013) (Keynote, 2012, p. 13). Additionally, a rise in inflation would increase the price of any grocery product, resulting in lack of growth in the overall market (Gurdian, 2012). Adverse weather conditions in Europe had a negative effect on wheat supplies, thus increasing the cost of wheat (Keynote, 2012, p. 11) (Julia Glotz, 2011). Retailers can either let their profits decrease, or raise their prices and risk losing customers, to combat this rise (Keynote, 2012, p. 33). The price of flour has also risen, by ? 75/tonne (Gyton, 2012). In recession, most companies face decreased revenue. As this particular business is more focused on providing good quality products, they charge more than supermarkets would, again resulting in a change in consumer spending habits. It has been noted (Keynote, 2012, p. 16) that people are spending over 30% more on bread but this is solely due to the rising price of bread – consumption is in decline. Corporate taxation has fallen; this provides businesses with a better financial environment in which to expand (PwC, 2011). 3. 3 Social Due to the worsening economy, consumers have increasingly attempted to recreate the restaurant experience in their own homes; thus the sales of speciality breads have increased (Keynote, 2012, p. 10). The market share for specialist breads is currently roughly 30% and it is thought that these breads are acting as replacements for the more expensive premium breads (Keynote, 2012, p. 25). Foreign breads have also increased in popularity, creating a niche (Keynote, 2012, p. 32) which could save craft bakeries that are now at risk due to the growth of the supermarket in-store alternatives (Keynote, 2012, p. 33). White bread sales are beginning to decline as consumers become increasingly health-conscious (Keynote, 2012, p. 32) and switch to brown, wholemeal, and ‘best-of-both’ type breads. These, and foreign breads, are more expensive than conventional loaves leaving retailers with the potential for greater profits. It is expected that part-baked white breads will keep white bread sales from dropping too severely (Keynote, 2012, p. 41). There are three major bakers, Warbutons covers a range of qualities while Associated British Foods and British Bakeries both have a high and a low end bread product (Mother’s Pride, Hovis and Sunblest, Kingsmill respectively). The low end products are targeting people who shop for everyday value. The premium loaves are often purchased by those looking for quality rather than value. Warburtons is the most direct competitor for small village bakeries due to the broadness of budgets it caters for and the range of qualities it produces. Small village bakers tend to hold monopolies as the villages for which they cater are often remote and without other stores. Caroline’s Real Bread Company is located in Merthyr Cynog, a village six miles from the nearest town (Brecon) and stores (Google, 2013). It is over four miles from the village to the nearest bus stop from which there is a mere thrice-daily service (Sirgarfyrddin. gov. uk, 2013), so the village is isolated and the baker has a monopoly. 3. 4 Technological Businesses use ecommerce and social media such as Facebook and Twitter to reach a wider audience. This can be used for advertising and to collect feedback from the customer, for example: Tesco has made a Facebook page where they get connected with bigger audience where they post offers of their products and gain feedback from consumers. They are targeting a wider audience, separating themselves from the norms of company (Tesco, 2013). Development in technology also means the reduction in first hand skills. Skilled workers have been replaced by technology, improving efficiency and productivity. In 2011, British Food Plc was investing millions in upgrading its baking business by installing new equipments. Thus modernising its production pattern, improving efficiency and reducing production costs (Keynote, 2012). Premier Foods has increased automation and thus laid off workers to cut costs (Edwards, 2013) after their profits fell by 48% in 2012 (Edwards, 2013). Hovis used to have the concept of using only British wheat as their unique selling point, due to a plummet in profits they have had to abandon this and redesign their packaging, to survive (Edwards, 2013) showing how challenging the bakery sector is today. 4. Description of Product Specific Market The main competitors for Caroline’s Bread Company are supermarkets, bakeries and in-store bakeries. Bread retailers have faced increasing competition over the past few years due to new entrants in the market who believe they can make a profit. The main competitors are supermarkets and convenience stores who now have in-store bakeries making them a one-stop-shop. They can further their influence by having freshly baked products in their petrol stations, increasing convenience. Supermarkets will invest in their bakeries to provide a quick, easy and fitting shopping experience (SmartCompany, 2012) as a result revenue should rise. The increasing price of wheat and fluctuations in household income due to the economic crisis has caused demand and preferences to change, leading to consumers becoming more aware of the products they buy. The main consumers targeted are a small but expanding segment of the niche market. To combat the growth of competition, more innovative loaves and marketing campaigns are needed to increase brand awareness. Caroline offers courses that cement her brand ethic of fresh organic produce making consumers aware of the health benefits associated with eating wholegrain, rye and gluten free breads. Consumers who prefer quality produce, and are concerned with chemical additives, will benefit from Caroline’s speciality breads. By carefully geographically selecting her location and creating her brand to suit this, Caroline is maximising her brand exposure to the local market encouraging a loyal customer base. The main trend in the market that Caroline specialises in is the emphasis of healthy living. This enhances her opportunity to break into the catering market and supply her products to people for special occasions offered on her website. By displaying her products without packaging she adheres to the attractive product presentation that many customers desire with their organic purchases (SmartCompany, 2012). Consumers would find this appealing as there would be enough different varieties to appeal to various customers, which expands her segmentation and increases her client base. 4. 1 Strengths As a dietary staple and a cemented establishment, bread is a necessity. Caroline’s business is versatile and consumer-centric. Her company suffered losses due to under developed management skills (Guardian, 2006) but the company soon recovered and studied business management elements to become a recognised bread company. Caroline’s company has taken product innovation and expanded this to their benefit. To avoid high salt levels she ensures only organic ingredients are used, keeping salt to a minimum (Caroline’s real bread company, 2013) as 80% of UK bread is processed (LoveFood. com, 2013). Alongside organic, the company specialises in making rye and soda breads as well as gluten free and yeast free products in order to cater to precise dietary needs. These can be delivered freshly door to door via the delivery service. The company also supplies local restaurants and caterers with various breads (Caroline’s real bread company,2013). This efficiency, versatility and product care linked with their customers specific detailing alongside their expanding availability of products enlarges their segment of the bread market from local people to people that may live further away as well as those that may not have considered the purchase of organic foods before but would now as they can buy into the ideals behind organic foods. 4. 2 Weaknesses With the bread market being dominated by branded products such as ‘Hovis’ and ‘Kingsmill’, it is difficult for a business so small to penetrate this market. Many consumers are unwilling to pay extra for organic bread. Competition between craft bakeries, such as Caroline’s, and supermarkets is fierce and harsh to penetrate due to the brand association and prices (Keynote, 2012). Due to the entrenched ideological beliefs that are indoctrinated into Caroline’s real bread company, the company is restricted to a small segment of the bread market. Caroline’s is restricted to those who believe in the organic wellbeing and are willing to pay extra for it. The company produces their bread so that it can be frozen for individuals who purchase in bulk (Caroline’s real bread company, 2013) to avoid waste, however this was not their intention for the businesses they were supplying. Nigel reports â€Å"we started supplying a local specialist food shop; selling the bread at just over cost price it later turned out that the shop was freezing the bread, undermining the whole premise of the bread company† (Guardian, 2006) in turn losing a customer and revenue as an effect. Due to their target market being so limited, their market segmentation is smaller than other brands that produce and promote to all customer types. A downside to bread is the shelf life is short for mass produced bread, and even shorter for freshly baked bread, resulting in 1 million loaves of bread being thrown away (Keynote, 2012). This becomes a further disadvantage for a small business such as Caroline’s real bread company. 4. 3 Opportunities There has been an increasing demand for healthier bread and bakery products in the UK economy due to healthy living becoming a more significant factor in people’s everyday lives. Larger bread companies will already be aware of this and will have targeted products towards this; however Caroline’s company is unique in that all products are completely healthy and have already targeted their products. This company has exclusive principles unlike larger suppliers (eg Hovis) who use bulking agents to increase the shelf life of their products, and are completely against using anything that isn’t natural or fresh. On their website it says ‘our business ­ is about producing products that meet the needs of those small but growing numbers of customers who demand only the finest quality food’ (carolinesrealbreadcompany. co. uk) which shows that the quality of their products is more important than quantity. This is a perfect opportunity for Caroline’s bread company to expand and grow due to the higher demand in the products that they already offer. As there is already an increasing demand for healthier bread products, there are also an increasing number of consumers who are adopting a gluten-free diet which is pushing up the demand for these products. Caroline’s offers over 30 different varieties of bread and already offer wheat-free bread so this is another opportunity for them to break into a new market and expand their customer base. They already offer gluten free and yeast free products so it wouldn’t cost them anything more to produce these products, it would just benefit their company due to a higher demand. 4. 4 Threats The increasing niche for freshly baked produce has created further competition by supermarkets against craft bakeries matching quality for less. Consumer perceptions are stimulated through the sensory system of smell. This could result in a change of brand loyalty once people realise that freshly made products could be purchased in similar quantities for less money. Although the ‘Real Bread Campaign’ has disclosed that only Marks and Spencer out of all big supermarkets actually make their bread from scratch and even then not all of it is freshly made from scratch. These companies use the sensory perception to lure in customers from independent bakeries (LoveFood. com, 2013). According to ‘Keynote’, craft businesses are dying out in favour of in-store bakeries (Keynote, 2012) due to their parallel innovation of fresh products. Part-baked and specialised breads, e. g. half and half, dietary, brown, are now being produced by Tesco (Tesco, 2013) and other supermarkets. ‘Food prices are expected to rise after the second wettest summer on record’ (Guardian) which has resulted in a poor harvest leading to an increasing price of grain hence an increase in food prices. The National Farmers Union (NFU) reported that wheat yields in England are down by almost 15% which has added to already been rising prices caused by a heat wave in Russia that destroyed a large majority of their crops. Richard Dodd of the British Retail Consortium said: â€Å"The most recent figures are that wheat prices are up 29% compared with a year ago† (Guardian 2012). This is a major threat towards Caroline as this rise could result in a fall in profits as it would cost more for them to purchase their supplies. As a small company there will be more of an impact than larger bread companies. However, even ‘Hovis’ (premier foods) are struggling to sell their breads and they are known as the best-selling bread brand (the mirror 2012). They ‘struggled with soaring costs and cut-throat competition’ resulting in them losing its co-op contract to their rival company allied bakeries. 5. Recommendations and Conclusion Our recommendations for ‘Caroline’s Real Bread Company’ are that they should continue to distribute to the grocery market but not to large supermarkets as they do not share her ideological beliefs. As they have enough vans to distribute the products, we recommend that they should expand their production space so they are able to produce more products and try to distribute to places further across the country to establish their brand and attract more customers. In terms of their products there is an increasing demand for speciality breads which supermarkets do not sell many varieties of, so Caroline should see this as a product innovation and her bakery should focus on expanding into this market more. People are now more conscious of healthy lifestyles so we recommend that they should continue to focus on organic, dietary, gluten-free and wheat-free breads to continue to appeal to this expanding niche market. The target consumers for Caroline’s Real Bread Company should continue to be those who favour organic products over products that are not. Her beliefs on organic foods are the foundation of her business ideology and therefore this is unlikely to change. By targeting more directly those with dietary needs, such as gluten and wheat free products as these consumers already pay higher prices in supermarkets than other customers, therefore they may wish to look into Caroline’s company if she promotes these product more vigorously. Promotion can also be carried out by encouraging brand switching, existing consumers to purchase more, raising awareness of the brand and attracting new customers to her brand by trialling new products. This can be carried out by implementing multi-buys and incentives for example free vouchers and gifts. These can be promoted via online social media networks, for example Facebook, Twitter and other forms they will be able to make consumers aware of their brand and ideologies so that they can expand their customer base further. By doing this it can bring opportunities for the company to expand their delivery services to larger regions of the UK. 6. Limitations The majority of the data used was online secondary data. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of information obtained. The report evaluates long term performance; looking so far ahead, economic conditions could change affecting the PEST analysis. For instance, our economic condition could for now be described as recovering from a double-dip recession, so in the near future the economy might be at a better or worst stage of recovery and this would affect the company’s target market. The bread market is constantly evolving and is susceptible to massive changes as a result of crop failures, adverse weather conditions, or the general economic climate. While it was argued that people who no longer go to restaurants due to the cost may now be buying more specialist and foreign breads to compromise, it must be noted that the breads in the restaurant were purchased from somewhere, perhaps even from the same wholesale baker, so this may not affect overall bread sales. What is also worth noting is that Caroline’s Real Bread Company operates within a small isolated community and has a monopoly in the grocery market for that village. This means it most likely has a steady flow of repeat customers, though the company also provides a delivery service and supplies commercial clients. Therefore expansion in their wholesale/commercial supply operations might be more beneficial than the suggested expansion in consumer retail operations due to the limited customer base. Another issue is the approach of the company – Caroline’s Real Bread Company pride themselves on being independent and local, if the desired method of expansion was in any way to threaten these attributes then the expansion would be to the detriment of the company. What must also be noted along these lines is that the bread is currently handmade; the company should consider the ultimate savings of automation against the attraction of handmade bread. The former might lose former clients who chose the brand for their traditional bread, yet it might gain customers looking for more inexpensive bread by a local company.

Hofstedes Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Hofstedes Theory - Essay Example A look into globalization and its effects on international businesses, and the pressure of achieving competitive advantage in the global economy is discussed. Special significance is given to studying the differences between UK and Japanese cultures and to see if any common grounds can be reached for effective management.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The world is full of confrontations between people, groups, and nations who think, feel and act differently, but, at the same time, they are exposed to common problems that demand cooperation for their solution.† (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, pg3) The above statement effectively summarises the content of the following essay. Since ‘culture’ forms the core topic of the essay, we shall start with defining culture. Culture has been defined time and again by numerous researchers in different ways, but it is important to understand this concept from both sociological and organizational perspectives. Studying culture at societal level will give us a better understanding of the organisational context. Culture is defined as a pattern of shared assumptions that a group learned in order to solve problems, and that the group decided is valid enough to be taught to future generations as the right way of perceiving and solving these problems (Schein, 2004, pg17). In other words, culture is something that is learned and passed on, and not inherited (Hofstede, 1997). It is a multi-faceted concept with many dimensions (Mullins, 1999). Having established ‘culture’ and its application in society, it is evident that individual societies behave according to their own cultural spectra of values and norms, which effectively form their own individual personalities.

Apple Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 7

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Criminology - Essay Example This essay is a critical evaluation of the various reasons which contribute to this disparity, laying emphasis on the two different perspectives. As mentioned earlier, the rate of crime perpetrated by males is perceived to be higher as opposed to that of the females. In the US for example, it is estimated that women offenders and arrests constitute approximately 20% whereas the higher majority of offenses are perpetrated by males (Flavin & Barrack 15). In addition, research indicates that these women mostly commit crimes that are of less masculinity such as fraud, prostitution, embezzlement among others, which does not involve much physical confrontation. It is also pointed out that where they commit more serious offenses such as murder and homicide, there is always a high possibility that the victims are well known to them, either by the virtue of being their friends or ex lovers (Flavin & Barrack 25). Male criminals on the other hand are stated to be more likely to commit armed and violent crimes, to people who are strange to them. The gap between the prevalence of crime in the two sexes can be explained in various terms. To begin with, the society has always defined and perceived women as inferior to men. For this purpose, women have always been denied the right and equal opportunity to establish themselves as leaders and managers in the corporate world and the political arena. Instead, they are groomed throughout their childhood and adolescence to become loyal wives and family managers, with the role of domestic work and child rearing being stressed as most significant (Hester 26). As a result, most of them end up becoming solely dependent on their male partners for economical, physical and social protection. The male child on the other hand is exposed to hardships at early stages of growth due to the notion that they are more superior and responsible and therefore, should take the role of establishing themselves as so,

Communications society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communications society - Essay Example In particular, the philosopher believed in the importance of a free press to report actions of the government and individuals; without a free press, unhindered by central control, Marx argued that society could not move forward in an effective, egalitarian way. His views can be positively compared to those of Plato, whose Phaedrus makes similar points as to the role of truth in all communication. As a political philosopher often at odds with the rest of the world in terms of ideas, Karl Marx nevertheless dedicated himself to creating ideological frameworks based on equality for all classes of people in terms of money, resources and public services. His views on the role of communication throughout society were therefore based on this basic notion of equality and honesty in government and individuals (Marx 52-55). Marx anticipated in his writings that future generations around the world would experience communicative technological advancements that would allow for a larger number of people to follow current events day by day. Although communications in Marx's time were not what they are today, they were nevertheless given great importance for news reporting and political events - the problem was that this news could be delayed and much of it would never reach distant regions or foreign countries. Marx believed that if politics were ever to be truly honest and transparent, communication technology would need to be improved so that daily politics could be reported clearly and assessed properly (Hardt 19-42). This belief led to the promotion of the free press; a state of journalism that would not be centrally controlled and censored. As media systems were created and spread, originally across different parts of Europe, newspapers and pamphlets were generally written in accordance with a specific group message or bias; the parliamentary debate would be written to a specific format, the government or the monarchy had the ability to stop any one group or person from publishing certain articles and censorship ran high. The press was, in fact, not something that could be said to inform the masses of current events, but it was more of a gossip trade that people enjoyed for its shocking details (Marr 12). Marx wanted to see the press evolve into something that could build and maintain an equal, functional society but he realised that the only way to do with was to eradicate censorship and promote honest, relevant journalism that affected the masses. Through strong communication networks, Marx h oped to call the public to action where it had been complacent and uninformed for so long (Mehring and Fitzgerald 152). Phaedrus and Communication Plato's Phaedrus is a dialogue between characters that revolves primarily around love, but that also includes ideas on communication and how words should be used. The communication side of the dialogue focuses on rhetoric. Plato writes that rhetoric is the art of persuasion, and that without this aim there can be no true conversation or dialogue at all. It is the clear view of the writer that speech and communication are bound to rhetoric and that no writing can be thought wrong unless it is created without truth or knowledge: "As the Spartan said, there is no genuine art of speaking without a grasp

Proposal assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Proposal - Assignment Example Visit to the industrial site will enable the students to understand and observe practically what is taught in their engineering class. Practical is part of the work that the students should observe after class work for better understanding of what was taught. Trips to different industrial sites are part learning for those pursuing engineering courses. Since the institution does not own the industrial site, the students are forced to travel outside the institution and visit one of the industrial sites for them to learn. When the students complete their studies, they will be employed in the industrial sites, which is necessary for them to understand practically the processes taking place in the industrial sites. It will be disadvantageous for the students who will be employed in various industrial sites without any practical knowledge of the processes taking place in the site. Field trips or a visit to industrials sites is part of learning. The industrial site will be constructed at the University. Construction will start immediately after the responsible officials in the institution have approved the proposal. It is important for the learning institution to have one of the industrial sites in the compound to be used by the engineering students during their practical. It will be convenient and cheaper to the institution as compared to travelling or visiting industrial sites outside the institution. It is because the institution will spend more funds to organize for the trip and even the charges required to be allowed to visit different places in the industrial site. When the institution constructs one of the industrial sites in the compound, it will be expensive to initiate but they will spend once during construction. The subsequent years will be only repairs, which will be cheaper. Availability of the industrial site in the institution will save time for the students and lecturers. It is because

Final paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Final paper - Essay Example A market is said to be in perfect competition when there are a large number of buyers and sellers perfectly aware of the market prices, and no firm is large enough to have any economic power over the industry (Amacher & Pate, 2013). The two main characteristics of a perfect market are low barriers to entry and exit, i.e. any new firm can enter the market because of no restrictions such as high setup cost, legal barriers or any other. All the firms are earning normal profit as there is strong competition within the industry. Secondly, homogenous products are produced, i.e. all products are identical or standardized and are substitutes of each other, thus sharing the same price as well (Amacher & Pate, 2013). An imperfect competition is where there are not many producers in the market and there is less competition as buyers and sellers are not fully aware of the prices so different prices exist for same product in the market (Amacher & Pate, 2013). There are three forms of an imperfect market: Under this structure, there are few sellers as compared with perfect competition and the products produced are differentiated due to branding, which gives the producer a way to have his own pricing policy and thus can earn more than normal profits (Amacher & Pate, 2013). There are a few suppliers in the market in this structure, and every supplier has a substantial control over the prices, and output produced because few suppliers control the entire supply in the market. There is strong rival consciousness because of the interdependence of suppliers. There is a possibility of product differentiation as well as substitute products, and the price-output policy of each supplier depends upon the degree of homogeneity or heterogeneity (Amacher& Pate, 2013). There is a single seller or producer who controls the entire market. As he

Analysis poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis poem - Essay Example Milton says that he would continue to serve God despite his blindness so that he is able to present a true account of his life to God after death, and thus succeed. In this poem, Milton’s immense faith in God reflects that provides him with the courage to continue living and facing the hardships of life in spite of his blindness. This faith lends Milton the patience to cope with the circumstances and also inculcates the hope in him that he would get salvation if he remains patient. In To His Coy Mistress, Marvell emphasizes upon the need for his mistress to abandon her coyness and engage in sexual pleasures with him because the time they have is finite, and they should do all to make their experiences of this world memorable and cherished in every possible way they can. Marvell refers to his mistress’s coyness as a â€Å"crime† given the finiteness of time they have in this world. Had the time been infinite, Marvell would have enough time to wait for his mistress’s consent for sexual engagement with him to form, but the fact is; time is finite. Marvell refers to the darkness and loneliness that comes with being into grave that derives man of all pleasures and leaves nothing behind but ashes and dust. Before, that happens, Marvell and the mistress should use their time in the most satiating way. Marvell frequently uses enjambment in the first two stanzas by putting stops in between the thoughts whereas he does not take a pause to think in t he last stanza; the poem’s flow depicts the sexual act for Marvell wherein the first two stanzas led to orgasm in the third stanza. The two poems have themes of religion as well as love, though the two poets are on opposite extremes of the two themes. While Milton is an extremely God-fearing man and follows religion by not committing suicide and continuously serving God despite his blindness, Marvell also remembers death but that empowers the idea of using the finite

Huckleberry finn Essay Example for Free

Huckleberry finn Essay Huckleberry Finn is a boy about thirteen or fourteen. He has been brought up by his father, the town drunk, and has a hard time fitting into society. Tom Sawyer and his friends occasionally call him Huck Finn. Widow Douglas is the kind old lady who has taken Huck in after he and Tom come into some money. She tries her best to civilize Huck, believing it is her Christian duty. Miss Watson is the widows sister, a tough old spinster who also lives with them. She is fairly hard on Huck, causing him to resent her a good deal. Samuel Clemens may have drawn inspiration for her from several people he knew in his life. [4] Jim is Miss Watsons big, mild-mannered slave to whom Huck becomes very close in the novel, when they reunite after Jim flees Miss Watson to seek refuge from slavery, and Huck and Jim become fellow travelers on the Mississippi River. Tom Sawyer is Hucks friend and peer, the main character of other Twain novels and the leader of the town boys in adventures, is the best fighter and the smartest kid in town. [4] Pap Finn, Hucks father, is the town drunk. He is often angry at Huck and resents him getting any kind of education. He also returns to Huck whenever he needs more money for alcohol. Judith Loftus plays a small part in the novel — being the kind and perceptive woman whom Huck talks to in order to find out about the search for Jim — but many critics believe her to be the best female character in the novel. [4] The Grangerfords, an aristocratic Kentuckian family headed by the sextagenarian Colonel Saul Grangerford, take Huck in after he is separated from Jim on the Mississippi. Huck becomes close friends with the youngest male of the family, Buck Grangerford, who is Hucks age. By the time Huck meets them, the Grangerfords have been engaged in an age-old blood feud with another local family, the Shepherdsons. The duke and the king are two otherwise unnamed con artists whom Huck and Jim take aboard their raft just before the start of their Arkansas adventures. They are featured prominently throughout the novel, duping many local townspeople with their various get-rich-quick schemes. The middle-aged duke claims to be the long-lost Duke of Bridgewater (though he mistakenly says Bilgewater and is sometimes called this by the king), while the elderly king claims to be the long-lost Dauphin of France, and so is sometimes called Capet by the duke. Mary Jane, Joanna, and Susan Wilks are the three young nieces of their wealthy guardian, Peter Wilks, who has recently died. The duke and the king try to steal the inheritance left by Peter Wilks, by posing as Peters estranged brothers from England. Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas Phelps, are the two people whose nephew Huck poses as, after he abandons the duke and king. She is a loving, but high-strung lady, and he a plodding old man, both farmer and preacher. Many other characters play important but minimal roles in the many episodes that make up the novel. They include slaves owned by the various families they meet, supporting townspeople, rafts-men, a doctor and a steamboat captain. Plot summary[edit] Huckleberry Finn, as depicted by E. W. Kemble in the original 1884 edition of the book In Missouri[edit] The story begins in fictional St.  Petersburg, Missouri (based on the actual town of Hannibal, Missouri), on the shore of the Mississippi River, sometime between 1835 (when the first steamboat sailed down the Mississippi)[5] and 1845. Huckleberry Huck Finn (the protagonist and first-person narrator) and his friend, Thomas Tom Sawyer, have each come into a considerable sum of money as a result of their earlier adventures (detailed in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer). Huck explains how he is placed under the guardianship of the Widow Douglas, who, together with her stringent sister, Miss Watson, are attempting to civilize him and teach him religion. Finding civilized life confining, his spirits are raised somewhat when Tom Sawyer helps him to escape one night past Miss Watsons slave Jim, to meet up with Toms gang of self-proclaimed robbers. Just as the gangs activities begin to bore Huck, he is suddenly interrupted by the reappearance of his shiftless father, Pap, an abusive alcoholic. Knowing that Pap would only spend the money on alcohol, Huck is successful in preventing Pap from acquiring his fortune; however, Pap still gains custody of Huck and leaves town with him. In Illinois and on Jacksons Island[edit] Pap forcibly moves Huck to his isolated cabin in the woods on the Illinois shoreline. Due to Paps drunken violence and habit of keeping Huck locked inside the cabin, Huck, during one of his fathers absences, elaborately fakes his own death, escapes the cabin, and sets off down river. He settles comfortably, on Jacksons Island on the Mississippi. Here, Huck reunites with Jim, Miss Watsons slave. Jim has also run away after he overheard Miss Watson planning to sell him down the river (to presumably more brutal owners). Jim plans to make his way to the town of Cairo in Illinois, a free state, so that he can later buy the rest of his enslaved familys freedom. At first, Huck is conflicted about the sin and crime of supporting a runaway slave, but as the two talk in depth and bond over their mutually held superstitions, Huck emotionally connects with Jim, who increasingly becomes Hucks close friend and guardian. After heavy flooding on the river, the two find a raft (which they keep) as well as an entire house floating on the river. Entering the house to seek loot, Jim finds the naked body of a dead man lying on the floor, shot in the back. He prevents Huck from seeing the corpse. To find out the latest news in town, Huck dresses as a girl and enters the house of Judith Loftus, a woman new to the area, thinking she will not recognize him as a boy. Huck learns from her about the news of his own supposed murder; Pap was initially blamed, but since Jim ran away he is also a suspect. A reward for Jims capture has initiated a manhunt. Mrs. Loftus becomes increasingly suspicious that Huck is a boy, finally proving it by a series of tests, such as noticing how well he throws and catches various items, and how he is terrible at sewing. Once he is exposed, she nevertheless allows him to leave her home without commotion, not realizing that he is the allegedly murdered boy they have just been discussing. Huck returns to Jim to tell him the news and that a party is coming to Jacksons Island that very night, so the two hastily load up the raft and depart. After a while, Huck and Jim come across a grounded steamship. Searching it, they stumble upon two thieves discussing murdering a third, but they flee before being noticed. They are later separated in a fog, making Jim intensely anxious, and when they reunite, Huck tricks Jim into thinking he dreamed the entire incident. Jim is not deceived for long, and is deeply hurt that his friend should have teased him so mercilessly. Huck becomes remorseful and apologizes to Jim, though his conscience troubles him about humbling himself to a black man. In Kentucky: the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons[edit] Travelling onward, Huck and Jims raft is struck by a passing steamship, separating the two. Huck is given shelter on the Kentucky side of the river by the Grangerfords, an aristocratic family. He befriends Buck Grangerford, a boy about his age, and learns that the Grangerfords are engaged in a 30-year blood feud against another family, the Shepherdsons. The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons go to the same church and act peaceably inside, though both families bring guns, despite the churchs preachings on brotherly love. The vendetta finally comes to a head when Bucks older sister elopes with a member of the Shepherdson clan. In the resulting conflict, all the Grangerford males from this branch of the family are shot and killed. Huck is particularly devastated by the brutality of Bucks murder, which he witnesses, but declines to describe. He is immensely relieved to be reunited with Jim, who has recovered and repaired the raft. In Arkansas: the duke and the king[edit] Near the Arkansas-Missouri-Tennessee border, Jim and Huck take two on-the-run grifters aboard the raft. The younger man, who is about thirty, introduces himself as the long-lost son of an English duke (the Duke of Bridgewater). The older one, about seventy, then trumps this outrageous claim by alleging that he himself is the Lost Dauphin, the son of Louis XVI and rightful King of France. The duke and king then become permanent passengers on Jim and Hucks raft, committing a series of confidence schemes upon unsuspecting locals all along their journey. To allow for Jims presence, they first print fake bills for an escaped slave that will divert suspicions, but later paint him up entirely blue and call him the Sick Arab so that he can move about the raft without being tied up when in public view. On one occasion, the swindlers advertise a three-night engagement of a play called The Royal Nonesuch. The play turns out to be only a couple of minutes worth of an absurd, bawdy sham. On the afternoon of the first performance, a drunk called Boggs is shot dead by a gentleman named Colonel Sherburn; a lynch mob forms to retaliate against Sherburn; and Sherburn, surrounded at his home, disperses the mob by making a defiant speech describing how true lynching should be done. By the third night of The Royal Nonesuch, the townspeople prepare for their revenge on the duke and king for their money-making scam, but the two cleverly skip town together with Huck and Jim just before the performance begins. In the next town, the two swindlers then impersonate two brothers of Peter Wilks, a recently deceased man of property. To match accounts of Wilkss brothers, the king attempts an English accent and the duke pretends to be a deaf-mute, while starting to collect Wilkss inheritance. Huck decides that Wilkss three orphaned nieces, who treat Huck with kindness, do not deserve to be cheated thus and so he tries to retrieve the nieces stolen inheritance. In a desperate moment, Huck is forced to hide the money in Wilkss coffin, which is buried the next morning. The arrival of two new men who seem to be the real brothers throws everything into confusion, so that the townspeople decide to dig up the coffin in order to determine which are the true brothers, but, with everyone else distracted, Huck leaves for the raft, hoping never to see the duke and king again. Suddenly, though, the two villains return, to Hucks despair. When Huck is finally able to get away a second time to return to his raft to flee with Jim, he finds to his horror that the swindlers have sold Jim to a family that intends to return him to his proper owner for the reward. Defying his conscience and accepting the negative religious consequences he expects for his actions—All right, then, Ill go to hell! —Huck resolves to free Jim once and for all. On the Phelps farm[edit] Huck learns that Jim is being held at the plantation of Silas and Sally Phelps. The familys nephew, Tom, is expected for a visit at the same time as Hucks arrival, so Huck is mistaken for Tom and welcomed into their home. He plays along, hoping to find Jims location and free him; in a surprising plot twist, it is revealed that the expected nephew is in fact Tom Sawyer. When Huck intercepts the real Tom Sawyer on the road and tells him everything, Tom decides to join Hucks scheme, pretending to be his own younger half-brother, Sid, while Huck continues to pretend to be Tom. In the meantime, Jim has told the family about the two grifters and the new plan for The Royal Nonesuch, and so the townspeople capture the King and the Duke, who are then tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. Rather than simply sneaking Jim out of the shed where he is being held, Tom develops an elaborate plan to free him, involving secret messages, a hidden

Game Mechanics In Racing Games

Game Mechanics In Racing Games The very first racing game built by KONAMI was Road Fighter (Konami, 1984). The goal of the game was to reach the finish line without running out of fuel. The interesting part was each time the player gets close to finish line without getting crashed; a superman flies by and the player gets extra 1000 points. If you havent noticed before, the superman has K marked on his dress, which probably stands for Konami. But, if you see from a developers point of view, the superman bonus is the result of reward and feedback game mechanics. This point bonus encourages players to play better. It makes the game more interesting and players concentrate more in order to get the bonus Superman points. Game mechanics is a huge subject. It has been used in many fields today, other than video games. Game mechanics have been used for growing the players interest and involvement in gameplay, but as the area of game mechanics became largely successful, it started being used in other fields for other purposes. With the research on game mechanics, I try to study and understand the vast game mechanics subject and its application in various fields. I have also tried to form up a definition and apply it to study gameplay in various games. At last, a thorough study of game mechanics in racing games is attempted, and I introduce a new mechanics for racing games. Research Context The example above explains the game mechanics at quite brief extent. Here, I present some definitions by various researchers as well as own thoughts, experience and some examples. Game Mechanics Definitions Different researchers provide different game mechanics definitions, most likely related to their research. Here are some of the definitions given by some authors. Miguel Sicart defines game mechanics as: Methods invoked by agents for interacting with the game world. (Sicart, 2008) Here, Sicart offered a formal definition for game mechanics as he exercises this definition with a comparative analysis of Shadow of Colossus (Team Ico, 2005), Rez (United Game Artist, 2002) and Every Extend Extra (Q Entertainment, 2006) to research game context and user experience. One of the game mechanics definitions that Sicart has mentioned in his research is by Lundgren and Bjà ¶rk (2003) as: any part of the rule system of a game that covers one, and only one, possible kind of interaction that takes place during the game, be it general or specific. The definition given by Lundgren and Bjà ¶rk covers traditional board games and puzzle games, rather than video games. However, they mention that most of the mechanics identified in their research can easily be brewed into video games played on PCs and consoles. It would have been easy to describe these game mechanics without starting from traditional games, but, starting from traditional games also opens up a way that allows easy comparison between computer-based games and non-computerized games. Mike stout (2010) explains how to come up with a better game mechanics when the gameplay is repetitive and boring. Stout describes game mechanics as A major chunk of gameplay. He gives an example of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo, 1991) and the game mechanics used in the game like: sword combat, block pushing, boomerang throwing, swimming, button based puzzles, Hazard-avoidance, etc. (Stout, 2010) Amy Jo Kim explains game mechanics applied in functional softwares and social media as The system and features that makes games fun, compelling and addictive. Kim also explains how game mechanics is brewed into social media like eBay, Facebook, YouTube etc, (Kim, 2009). Game mechanics is a subject that is used in many fields other than video games like, social media, social games and entertainment, consumer products and services etc. Game Mechanics in Social Media Social media sites like facebook.com, eBay.com, youtube.com etc. Implements game mechanics at a very large scale. Amy Jo Kim (2009) explains how collection, points, exchange, feedback and customization mechanics is implemented in social media. For example, ebay.com gives rating and feedback score to the sellers based on the feedback received from customers or buyers. The feedback is accessible through sellers profile page where any user can check the ratings and score. This mechanics improves the seller services. Tesco PLC has implemented point mechanics to attract more customers. The customer gets certain points for purchases made at Tesco shops through Tesco Clubcard. Later, they can redeem points for other offers of items. Tesco makes various offers available through Clubcard points which drive customers to purchase more products. (Tesco, 2010) Jesse Schell (2010) presented multiple examples of game mechanics used in non-game media in his presentation Design outside the Box at DICE Summit 2010. Schell mentions new Ford Fusion hybrid car that comes with an EcoGuide facility, which is basically an implementation of feedback mechanics. Its a virtual plant in techno meter; the plant sprouts more leaves as your miles-per gallon go up, indicating how green your motoring is. (Goodwin, 2009) Here, feedback mechanics is used in such a way that might affect the way people drive their car and possibly encourage them to drive in an eco-friendly way. MouseHunt (HitGrab, 2008) and other facebook games are mainly based on points, feedback, collection, and customization mechanics and MouseHunt can be the best example of it. The player is required to build a mouse trap to catch mice and when a mouse is caught, the player is awarded with points and gold. The game keeps a track of points and gold on leaderboard. The mice caught by the player are added in his collection. Game Mechanics in Mainstream Games Quake (id Software, 1996) popularized rocket jumping mechanics. Rocket jumping is the technique of firing a rocket launcher or similar explosive pointing at the ground or at wall and jumping at the same time. The explosion propels and accelerates the players jump to large distance. Rocket jumping mechanics was introduced in Marathon (Bungie, 1994) and Rise of the Triad (Apogee, 1994), adapted in Team Fortress 2 (Valve, 2007) Unreal Tournament (Epic Games, 1999) and others. (Wikipedia, 2010) Another popular game mechanics is slow motion. The gameplay of Max Payne (Rockstar, 2001) involves bullet time-based action sequences. Bullet time slows the passage of time down to a certain level and enables the player to perform special moves. Time based mechanics is also one of the main features in later versions of Prince of Persia series (Ubisoft, 2003). This mechanics makes the prince able to slow down or rewind the time and perform special combat moves. Portal (Valve, 2007) is a single player Puzzle-Platformer game that consists primarily of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the players character and simple objects using the portal gun, a unit that can create inter-spatial portal between flat planes. The game received praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story. Portal seems a perfect combination of Challenge and Skills, though its gameplay consist teleportation based puzzles only. The gameplay contains no combat sequence or rocket jumping or slow motion. Kill.switch (Namco, 2003) introduced cover and shoot mechanics which was adapted into Gears of War (Epic Games, 2006). As described by Miguel Sicart (2008) Gears of War introduced an effective combat tactic where the player takes cover behind a block or a pillar and patiently shoots enemies. This third-person combat design also influenced Grand Theft Auto IV (RockStar North, 2008) and became highly popular. But Grand Theft Auto series is more popular for its variety of gameplay which consist of action, adventure, driving, racing, and stealth elements. The GTA series is also a good example of open world type of video game level design concept where a player can roam the virtual world at any point in the game. It also contains sandbox style nonlinear gameplay where the player can complete challenges in any sequence. The Game sold 2.5 million units in the America on the first day. (Mazel, 2008) The roots of open-world game concept go back to space simulator Elite (Acornsoft, 1984). However, we get to see open-world gameplay implementations in Midtown Madness (Microsoft, 1999), Need for Speed Underground 2 (EA Games, 2005) and Burnout Paradise (EA, 2008) as well. Game Mechanics in Racing Games The main gameplay in racing game is driving the car. However, many racing games offer various gameplay that are unique to the game itself. Need for speed: Underground (EA Games, 2003) has a unique win condition. The player has to finish the race at first place only in order to win the race, even if there are more than two players playing. This finish-first only mechanics deliberately increased the challenge level in the game. Underground emphasis heavily on import racing scene and featured vehicles associated with it. Cars can be customized to increase performance and visuals. Underground also featured EA Trax (EA Games) which is a collection of soundtracks. Overall, Need for Speed Underground contains multiple game mechanics that appealed many racing game lovers. According to VGChartz.com, the game sold 6.49 million units of PS2 version of the game till date. (VGChartz, 2010) Trials HD (RedLynx, 2009) is a combination of puzzle and stunt bike driving. It doesnt have any competitive race, as in the player has to get through a number of obstacles with as few crashes as possible. The challenge in the game is to balance and control the speed so that the player can pass through obstacles successfully. The game uses 3D graphics but the player can only more forward and backwards. However, the player can lean front or back to perform special moves or stunts. With such limited movement, the controls are also made simple. Trials HD also has a leaderboard feature, and when connected to Xbox Live, the player can compare his progress with his friends. Split Second (Disney, 2010) introduced destructive environment, which, when triggered by player it creates obstacles for other players. As a player performs stunts like drafting, drifting or precision driving, the powerplay meter builds up which allows the player to trigger special events like creating obstacles, enabling shortcuts or altering the race track entirely. High speed racing, imported cars, customization, stunts, crashes and motion blur can be noted as features of a racing game required to make it best selling. Burnout (Acclaim Entertainment, 2002) is noted as the initial in a series of high-speed racing games which also includes high risk gameplay mechanics. Burnout paradise (EA, 2008), the recent release in burnout series, features an open world environment called Paradise City, with day-night cycle. Game Mechanics include stunts, car crashes, and motorcycles. A very player favourite and famous gameplay is Crash Mode in which players can cause car crashes. However, in burnout paradise, the Crash Mode is called Showtime and records are kept for players biggest crash. The game contains best time for every street in the game which encourages the player to keep on driving to get the best time. Recently released blur (Activision, 2010) incorporates real world cars with arcade style handling and vehicular combat. It introduces a completely new type of gameplay to the current racing genre. However, it is brewed with the power ups mechanics that has been used in many games. It also uses the ranking and perk system. The race starts without a count-down timer which is currently popular; we can see such game mechanics in Split second and need for speed series. Results and Contribution The Definition I would like to give a brief explanation rather than a definition. It is possible that this has been mentioned some or other way in many articles. Game mechanics is a set of rules that builds a specific gameplay which makes the game more challenging, interesting and player-involving. Game mechanics can also introduce new ideas or variety within a game, which ultimately makes a game fun. Game mechanics can be used to build up such a gameplay that motivates or manipulates human behaviour. The definition explained here has been used to study and understand the game mechanics and gameplay in a variety of games mentioned in the research. Game Mechanics In Racing Genre When it comes to racing games, speed is everything. The faster the gameplay is, the more the excitement, interest and challenge will be. In a racing game, the player is not given a high performance car at the beginning of the game, but as he levels up in the game, faster cars or performance upgrades that can boost up the speed are unlocked. This mechanism creates a need of high performance car, and as the player progresses further, the game feels more rewarding. Free roam mode or open world environment plays a crucial part in racing games. Player gets a chance to explore the environment and start the race whenever he wants to, which gives a realistic feeling to the game. Players usually get attracted towards imported cars. Car customization has become an important feature of racing games. Models of original cars are highly praised by players and. They have a tendency to customize their cars and show off as well. Leaderboards allow players to compare their best times, high score and achievements, which also keeps a player engaged in game. Challenge is not the only element a player is looking for in racing games. A number of games provides stunts and car crash based gameplay. Trials HD (RedLynx, 2009) and Burnout series (Criterion Games) are good examples of it. Player can drive through a signboard or perform a stunt in burnout paradise to gain extra boost, where Trials HD is all about passing through obstacles by performing stunt moves. Such game mechanics inserts the element of fun in games. A few arcade style racing games have been avoiding the use of start up countdown. The round starts with ongoing race and the player gains control of the car after a cut scene. This type of mechanics is seen in triple-A titles like Blur and Split second. However, Simulation style racing games, where the realism is more persistent, follows the traditional countdown start-up of a race. Need for speed underground featured finish-first only mechanics. In order to win the round, the player has to finish at first place and first place only. This increases the challenge at a high degree, but it also seemed to be improving the player skills. Other notable game mechanics or gameplay features includes motion blur, car pursuit, allowing player to create tracks etc. Music and soundtracks also play an important part in making the game more interesting. Who wouldnt listen to hip hop or rock music while driving ones favourite car at top speed? It is believed that EA Trax has played an important part in the success of Need for Speed series. Gameplay is designed by brewing multiple game mechanics together. There is no specific recipe to make a best-selling racing game, but a game with various gameplay is more likely get popular. Developing a new Game Mechanic for Racing Games Whether a player is performing stunts, chasing a car, trying to make a huge crash score, or just playing a normal race, the core element is speed. Wouldnt it be great if a car never lose speed unless it is commanded to? Here, I have attempted to come up with such a game mechanic. During a race, if a player hits an obstacle, the car will lose health points but not the speed; the car will continue running throughout the track without losing its speed. However, massive loss in health points will ultimately result the player lose the round. The game presented here demonstrates the game mechanics with some other features as well. The demo consists of a single straight track. Instead of solid obstacles, the player will face white ghosts on track. On colliding with a ghost, the car will go through it but will lose health points. The race does not start with a countdown; instead it begins with the player car running at minimum speed; which increases the challenge from the beginning. On the other hand, if the player runs out of health, or fails to finish the race at first place, he loses the round. But, if the player finishes at first place without losing any health points, he wins a perfect finish. The demo also features some power ups. If the player picks up a health pack, the car health is restored. Slow motion slows down the game, allowing player to easily move through ghosts. Once activated, the game runs in slow motion for 10 seconds. Another power up is a shield which protects player from getting hurt by ghosts or opponent cars. The shield, once activated, stays active for 5 seconds. Shield provides a great advantage. When activated, the car will run 2 points slower than the real speed. Opponents do not collide or influence the players game; however, if collided with opponent cars, the player car will lose health. Evaluation Game Mechanics The following racing mechanics have been implemented into the demo, speed mechanics, power ups, random obstacle mechanics, competition mechanics, countdown less start up and finish first only. The gameplay was changed regularly as the demo was forming up in order to get the optimum effect of the mechanics. Multiple values were changed to improve the difficulty and challenge. However, it was also ensured that the difficulty is not far above the ground. Besides game mechanics, the gameplay can be improved with better feedback, graphical and visual effects, music and sound, more rewards or other bells and whistles. The Gameplay A game demo or a beta version of a game is made for testing purposes. The developers would test the graphics, frame rate or overall performance. Here, the game demo was made for an identical aim. The game demo was given to a group of game enthusiasts. Afterwards the reaction of the players towards the game mechanics was observed. The demo has a look and feel of classic road fighter (Konami, 1984) and the players did miss the superman bonus point. Random obstacles increased the challenge; it made the demo interesting as well. The demo has proved to be an ideal combination of challenge and skill. The players had to concentrate more in order to achieve the perfect finish; several players attempted more tactical approach to win the race. When asked about each feature of the game separately, the replies were encouraging and prove the success of the demo. User Comments Here are some comments given by players who tried the game demo. The game is quiet good; the ghosts were terrible as they ate up all my health in the first round. I rate it 4 out of 5. Pratik Solanki The concept was different from other games, though the difficulty level was maintained throughout the demo. It seemed easy to win the game, but it was tough to achieve the perfect finish. 3.5 out of 5 Kushal Joshi The game gets addictive as soon as you start playing Dirk Fortmeier The Research Game development is not quite possible without understanding game mechanics. Gameplay is an important factor that attracts a player. The research on game mechanics helped to understand why a particular gameplay is more interesting and player involving. Conclusion

Types Of Learning Interventions

Types Of Learning Interventions We think it is a good idea to take you through with different types of learning interventions, which will primarily work as food for thought for your learning activities. Think of a learning intervention, which has really helped you over the years, think what were the different components of these interventions and how it made an instant learning connect with you. We have divided the Learning Interventions into three categories, the interventions that we have added in each category are by no means exhaustive to the category, it is only a suggestive list you can add more interventions to this list. Our three categories are: Conventional Contemporary Futurist Come on read through the categories and find out that how you can further enrich your learning agenda for your organization Conventional Learning Intervention Conventional as the name suggests refers to anything that is established and well accepted, anything that has been proven to work over and over again and generate similar results. All the Learning interventions that have been established over the years and have shown desired results are known as conventional learning interventions. Shortly we will share with you a brief detail of each learning intervention, meanwhile we want you to make your own list of learning interventions which in your view are established and well accepted, go on dont be shy or lazy, pick up the pen and write the list down. Our simple list of conventional learning interventions: Reading Clubs Instructor Led Class Room Trainings On the Job Training Seminars Conferences We are sure that you will know what each intervention entails however, we will take you through each intervention and briefly try to give you suggestions how you can use these interventions to your advantage and build your very own success story. Reading Clubs Reading club is a group of people who get together to read or discuss with each other what they have read. The reading club adds to the experience of reading as you can then discuss the ideas presented and the way it is presented with other readers, just the sharing and discussing the read adds significant learning experience to its members. Using this conventional method has two primary advantages, firstly your learner continues reading new books, research, publications etc. as other club members motivate each other to keep reading. This enhances and continuously updates the overall knowledge base of your employees and members of the reading club. Secondly your members interact with each other discussing material, which will help the overall organization; this intellectual interaction will build a formal support system for group thinking and open discussions. You can launch the reading clubs formally or informally, for example you can have a formal club formation with pre-defined members and set together a time of an hour to two hours for these members to come together bi-weekly in a meeting room or reading room and discuss what they have read. Informal way of doing the same is sending a small read to employees in the company and then during the week, just gather people around and ask them about the read, what was the read about? How do you think you will benefit from this read? How can you put this in action at work? Can you share similar examples? You can have these informal meetings and gatherings by mustering your whole floor together and discuss this, ask your HR business partners to do the same in their partnering departments. Instructor Led Class Room Trainings Instructor Led Class Room Trainings or commonly known as ILT (Instructor Led Trainings) are perhaps the most commonly used learning interventions. The reason for this might be because we are used to class room learning as most of us have spent over 12 years of every day in and out of classes at school. However, when we talk about trainings we move one step beyond a stand up lecture towards more active participations by the attendants. The role of the trainer then becomes more of a facilitator than a lecturer. Here, participants learn the most through interaction with other participants while the trainer facilitates the learning process by keeping it focused towards the learning objectives. At the same time the trainer needs to infuse the participant with a thought or an action which will act as a catalyst for the learning process. Trainers often use activities during the training sessions which provide experiential learning. They may also use other tools and methods to generate the desired results, like using roles plays, group discussions, case studies etc. Since, the Instructor is physically present in the room the learning experience for the participants is very up close and personal. Quality trainers generally are able to create a quick rapport with the participants of the training program, the trainer then is able to engage each participant in the transfer of learning process. Generally, ILTs are considered to be a formal mode of learning transfer. Most of the organizations engage in learning and development through Instructor Led Trainings as they are easy to organize and also provide good strong learning deliverables that are conducted passionately with the right content and supporting activities, tools etc. Since Trainings are the most widely used interventions, we will discuss in separate chapters why trainings are important and other aspects of Instructor Led Trainings such as Participant Nomination, Managing Invites, simply put Organizing the Training activity. The purpose of ILT is to enhance Knowledge, Skill and build a desirable Attitude in the employee. On the Job Trainings Around 70% of learning and development for any new to role employee comes with on the job training. This is a simple concept of Learning by Doing, we all learn the most when we start actively working on the job that we are asked to do. Here we might seek the help of our line manager, our peers / co-workers, our subordinates or even our clients / vendors. The act of doing a task generally supports building mental work memory and creative ability to detail with the challenges of the work. Seldom simulated exercises meet the required skill development needed to perform day-to-day work. In On the Job Training a more skilled or experienced resource is paired up with an unskilled or less experienced resource to train this resource while working together. Lets take the example of a new filling assistant joining an archive library, here the chief filling officer will train the new joiner on the job on how to file the various documents properly in the library. Generally, On the Job Training is used for entry level job positions in the organization or for skilled work positions like a plumber or a building construction assistant. However, some highly skilled work like financial auditing is also trained through on the job training called articleship or apprenticeship. The purpose of OJT is to enhance Knowledge, Skill and build a desirable Attitude in the employees. Seminar Seminars are formal gatherings where a larger number of participants get together to listen to a few speakers The content of the speech is generally rooted in newness related to the topic, meaning either a new way of working in the industry is presented where a key industry practitioner comes and speaks on the topic or a researcher presents the new research findings. The purpose of the seminar is to enhance the audiences knowledge base and thus, does not focus on the skill enhancement or attitude development. It is a good idea that as learning manager you try going to every seminar that is related to human resource and person productivity. You can ensure that you send other functional representatives to their function related seminars. Conferences Conferences are more or less similar to seminars; the major difference in conferences is participant engagement. In Conferences participants gather in large numbers and listen as well as interact with speakers, most speakers also comment and ask questions from other speakers while the formal session is underway. Majority of the time conferences are moderated by a facilitator and the speakers are industry practitioners or subject matter experts, sharing their experiences and knowledge of dealing with a challenging situation in their company. The purpose of conference is to enhance knowledge base of the participants and provide networking opportunity to the attendees. Again we will say that it is a good idea that as learning manager you try going to every conference that is related to human resource and personal productivity. You can ensure that you send other functional representatives to their function related conferences. Contemporary Learning Intervention Dont get intimidated by the term contemporary and think that the conventional methods are outdated and will not work in your organization. In order for you to keep your organization current and ready for the present pool of human resources entering in the industry it is important for you to add little element of contemporary learning interventions in your learning agendas. These interventions are now widely used in the developed economies as these economies are trying to gain maximum output from least amounts of inputs. Our small list of contemporary learning interventions: Experiential Learning Training Sessions E-Learning Modules Virtual Instructor Led Training Webinars Job Shadowing Coaching Mentoring On Job Engagement through Increase Challenges Simulation Exercises Take a moment and read through the contemporary interventions and see the benefits the way we see them, you will be surprised to see the amount of impact you can generate using these simple methods. Experiential Learning Training Sessions Tell me and I may forget, show me and I might remember, engage me and I will learn Humans learn the most by experiences that they have had in the past, Experiential Learning Training Sessions focus on generating experiences for the participants which will help them build Knowledge, Skill and Attitude. These sessions will have lot of activities, case studies and challenges built in the training session where the participants unlearn old and outdated concepts and learn new and current concepts to help them in their work. There are a few number of Trainers in the market that have really mastered the experiential learning training techniques. So generally, these sessions and trainers are priced a little higher, but if you ask us, it definitely works to put in the extra investment. The learning into action out of ELTs (Experiential Learning Training Sessions) is more easily and willingly applied by the participants of the training session. E-Learning Modules E-Learning Modules are learning content delivered using electronic media like over the internet, television, radio, audio messages / audio book reads, Learning Computer and cell phone games, etc. There are two types of E-Learning Modules, Interactive and Non Interactive. Radio programs, TV Programs, Audio messages / Audio Book Reads are some of the examples of non-interactive learning modules. These learning modules by the nature of the delivery mode are limited with their interaction capacity with the target audience. There are PowerPoint presentations which aim at transferring knowledge also fall in E-Learning non interactive modules. You must have come across online videos designed to teach you a particular way of operating a program, this again is an E-Learning Module which is non-interactive, these modules are quite helpful if your organization is naturally inclined towards self-learning. E-Learning Modules work in workspace where there is a general learning culture rooted in self-learning. In order to help you create the self-learning culture we will shortly talk about this in detail. Another type of E-Learning Modules which are interactive modules that ask the participants to participate during the learning transfer by asking the participants questions, or asking participants to open dialogue boxes and pick the best responses. Here the smallest interaction of clicking the right button generates a significant difference in the learning retention and involvement. E-Modules should be generally used for communicating a particular way of working; example where we have personally developed and successfully implemented E-Modules with outstanding results is with our countrys biggest FMCG Company. We launched the most successful E-Learning Program in that companys history. Our E-Learning Solution was aimed at Sales Employees, with a range of interactive modules catering to different accepts of challenging and ever evolving sales job. These modules helped the sales force directly in the market on the ground and increased the quantity of sales along with quality of sales winning them multiple awards. You can engage E-Learning modules in employee orientations, key job tasks and how to get them delivered; even certain soft skill trainings can be provided using e-modules and learning methods. Virtual Instructor Led Training As the name suggests, VILT or Virtual Instructor Led Training involves participants and the Trainer where the trainer might be virtually present at the place the participants are present, meaning through Video Conference, Audio Conference or remote presentation operations while the participants might be sitting together in one room or they might also be virtually connected to a virtual learning room. This method solves the geographic spread problem of the participants, however, it requires the participants to be extremely committed to the learning cause and self-learning. The role of the trainer is again more of a facilitator in this learning intervention by engaging participants in a focused discussion, group work and generally topic discussions. Here, connectivity tools need to be excellent otherwise this learning method can backfire as well by creating a poor learning engagement due to technological difficulties. Webinars Driven from the combination of two terms, Seminar and Web, Webinars are Seminars delivered through the internet using any video protocol or software to engage a large number of participants over the internet. Most webinars are conducted by a single speaker on a particular topic; the number of participants depends on the speakers popularity and connectivity. Again the technological difficulties and a lack of self-learning culture can be a major hiccup for webinars to be extremely successful .However, in most developed economies webinars are making a lot of influence in the learning and development industry. You can engage your top management to start conducting Webinars while the CEO sits in his room and connects over video streaming software and all the employees staying on their workstations connecting over the computers and the participants in the webinar. This will help build self-engagement and a learning culture in your organization. Job Shadowing Job Shadowing is an important part of developing top management. In a Job Shadowing program there are two involved participants, one participant is shadowed on the job and the other is present as the shadow. Take the example of a CFO and one of his director who is marked as the CFOs successor. Here, the director will attend all the meetings of the CFO as a silent observer in the background, the shadowing program is not limited to attending meetings. Moreover, it extends to a full day of work, if the CFO meets anyone from outside the organization or is simply working on his workstation, the shadow will be present and keenly observe the shadowed person asking occasional questions from shadowed person in privacy. This programs success lies in the comfort level of the two people with each other. Job Shadowing program can be used for all levels in the organization, but mostly, it is very position and person centric, just to explain you a little more, we only use job shadows for people who we know will replace the shadowed in near future. It is different from OJT in one basic way, here the person being trained gains exposure of his trainers work while on OJT the trainer provides On Job exposure of trainees work. Another keen way of using job shadowing is for students to explore various roles and pick a major field while they are studying, however, we do not recommend this, as internships are a better evaluation tool for a student to home in on his/her choice of work. Coaching Coaching is all about taking the employees where they cant take themselves. Coaching is more of handholding, exploring the potential of the employee by understanding his strengths, weaknesses and working on these areas with a customized plan for the employee. Here, the Coachs concern for the employees success is very high as the coach is directly made responsible and accountable for the employees improvement. Establishing a coaching culture is quite a challenging task especially when most of the coaches think that their prime responsibility lies in meeting their own business targets. The simple solution is to make the employees line managers his or her coach and have targets in the line managers/(coach) business goals, performance improvement through knowledge, skill enhancement and attitude development of his or her direct reports. Coaching culture will only pickup in your organization if it starts from the top and the CEO demonstrates the derivatives of creating a strong coaching culture. Coaching generally focuses on the skill development and technical aspect of the job. Mentoring Mentoring is like a grand fathers wisdom. A mothers patience and a fathers kick in the right direction. At times it hurts, but gets the work done. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Arslan Aseem Mentoring interventions are where each of your employees select one mentor to guide them and counsel him or her. In Mentoring the person counseling or guiding is called the Mentor while the person to be mentored is called mentee or Mentoree, here the Mentor and Mentee develop a relationship over time. Mentoring is used to focus more on attitude development. It is not necessary that the mentor and mentee both belong to the same organization. The Mentee can choose any mentor who he or she feel comfortable with ,regardless, of the organization or even the work level. Your mentee can be a person outside your country or even industry. The rewards for mentors and mentees are excellent, having mentored quite a few successful corporate individuals as mentors we gain a new horizon of looking at situations and it enable us to stay updated with current problems faced by new employees in the job market or job roles. If you personally dont have a mentor, we suggest that you first try establishing a mentoring relationship before initiating a mentoring program in your organization. We will love to be your mentors if you want to be successful! On Job Engagement through increased Challenges Most of us who wish to continuously learn, improve and grow in our work want challenging work to be given to them, each time with an added level of difficulty. Do you remember the computer games where you had to complete the first level and move on to the next level which had an additional difficulty for us to overcome, remember if you had reached level 5 and then had to play for some reason level 1 again it seems so easy and you just dont want to take that much interest in doing the levels you have already done. Work place is just like that game for most of us, where we learn how to do our present work well and then want more challenging work going forward, work which can develop our capabilities incrementally by an internal push of overcoming the present challenge. Lack of difficult challenges is one of the main reason why you will have unhappy, low performance individuals as they will take their work as mundane and feel that they are capable of doing much more yet have been limited in their career development. If you can engage your employees by raising the bar through increased challenges in their workplace then you will significantly reduce their impression of lack of career development. Simulation Exercises Simulation Exercises as the name suggests are syndicated exercises where in an artificial setting a situation is generated and the participants are requested to do their best to overcome the present challenge, here the learning comes from interaction with other participants as well as their responses generate a totally new simulation for the participants to work with. Simulation exercises should be used with participants who are put in positions where quick and thoughtful decision making is required or everyday they are involved in direct competition faceoff. Simulation Exercises are also termed in few organizations as War Games and provide the employees the insight on how to deal with the competition as well as realize where they are going wrong and need to improve. Futurist Learning Interventions Looking at the growing trends in the social media and education industry we can quickly spot certain upcoming learning interventions which will start playing a key role in the enhancement of employee knowledge, skills and attitudes. Our list is by no means complete but gives you significant food for thought to pick up trends and use them as learning interventions in your organizations. Here is our short and simple list: Productivity groups Blogs Online forums Collaborative workspace and zones Reflective thinking targets Buddy pack Learning by games Learning by co-creation Productivity Groups These are more like concentrated short-term problem solving teams used by high performance organizations. The objectives of these groups are to collectively solve a real organization problem by collectively thinking and implementing the solutions in the organization. These teams are typically made up of cross-functional members which work together on the job as well, yet they are tasked with a new challenge of solving an important organizational challenge. During the process each member of the productivity group enhances their knowledge, skill and attitudes. Blogs Blogs are discussion or informational websites where different individuals post their comments on a particular topic. Nowadays, blogs provide a lot of information, which is useful to the readers. They work like mini newspapers where every blogger writes down how he visualizes a situation or his narration of an event. You can have a blogging site for your company where all the employees can write down there thoughts of what they are doing in the company or what they should do etc. Blogging will become an important part of employee life as more organizations realize the effectiveness of this tool. If you as a learning manager dont have a learning blog then you start off right now, create one learning blog where you can let everyone know youre a learning success and be part of the community that shares the wisdom all around. Online Forums Online forums are discussion centers where people can post a question or discussion topic and other members of the forum post their replies to the topic or questions. Here you can ask simple and often related as doubt (socially out of place) questions and experts as well as novice members will provide their experiences. The forums help you formulate a decision and enhance your concepts related to a particular topic. You can encourage employees to become part of multiple forums and start actively participating in them which will enhance their knowledge as well as their networking . Collaborative Workspace Zones This is a workstation or work environment learning intervention solution; here you break down the barriers of rooms and even cubicles, replacing them with open floor maps, cozy work chairs, bean bags, brain teaser wall papers etc. these are informal zones built in the office space where employees gather around and work collectively, during this sitting and working collectively free talking and discussions are encouraged even playing music is encouraged, all the elements that make it a friendly informal workspace. Here people are collaborating with each other not because they have to be on the job but because they want to; as friends or as supportive co-workers. This environment greatly effects the overall learning of the employees as well as creativity, business innovation, networking for higher performance, and many others. Reflective Thinking Targets Reflective thinking involves employees to think about their own learnings, what worked for them and what did not work for them. The employees are required to keep a track of all the learning reflections that were made during a course of a given period. Every employee when starts to track the overall learning progress that he has done, their learning automatically increase as a conscious effort. Using this intervention you will require assigning a progressive self-learning target with every employee and have them continuously think about what they have learned and how they have learnt. Also ,how the skills, knowledge and attitudes have changed within the employee. Buddy Pack This is a simple concept; two employees working together for mutual success will help and improve each others competitive work spirit. Here, you create a buddy system by asking two colleagues to be each others lifeguard as well as immediate competition. They have to help the other to improve the performance at work and be each others support system. This concept uses healthy competition as the fuel for the buddies to improve, yet, uses the support system to continuously improve their knowledge, skills and attitudes. Learning by Games You must understand that most of the workforce that is now entering into the corporate world have actively played games on computers or mobile phones rather than outdoor active sports. These professionals relate more promptly with games which closely resemble computer games or mobile games especially the ones on social media and internet. As the learning manager you can have a developer (outsourced) to create similar games which will have a learning connect relating to your organization and have these games distributed within the organization, application games on mobiles, tablets, Ipads etc., it will dramatically improve the organizations learning culture through fun involvement. Learning by Co-Creating Every employee wishes to be part of something new, wishes to create a mark on the organization by introducing something which he can proudly claim as his own creation or as being part of a team which created something of high value. You can use this intervention by asking employees to set a learning content, activity, method etc. which will be used and advertised by his or her name in the organization. Here you let the employee do the learning intervention creation and you will be really surprised as to how that will radically improve your organizations learning culture.