Banned Hijab (headscarf or veil)

It is a common occurrence to find Muslim women wearing headscarf or the veil commonly referred to as Hijab in public. Public wearing of Hijab in the countries like France and Turkey has faced a ban as a result of the need to expose facial identity and prevent extremism. In Turkey, the headscarves were banned in official buildings and the civic places and also it was strictly banned in the universities hence allowing only to be worn under the chin. The French parliament also recommended a partial ban inside hospital buildings and schools for security reasons for those seeking public services.The main purpose here is to ensure safety by making it easier for identification of the faces of people involved. This is applicable more so when showing the faces in the passports in the airports and some transport systems. Therefore, it is necessary to see one’s face so that one identifies the person when the crime is committed and take respective measures. The banning is seen as a measur e to liberalize a Muslim woman. This is because it is assumed that Muslim women are forced to wear the Hijab.Therefore, the ban will reduce this restriction by making the Muslim women have a choice of wearing the Hijab or not. A considerable percentage of the Muslim women population is wearing the Hijab showing that the Muslim men are actually forcing their women in wearing them. Many have confessed that of those who wore the clothing they were simply forced and subjected to do so against their will (Asser, 2006). This is why the governments of France and Turkey decided to protect the rights of the Muslim women.Protection was effected by leading a Muslim woman, wearing a Hijab, to a safe place and asking her if she was forced to wear it and then offer help when necessary. Wearing of the Hijab actually meant to promote extremism. Extremism actually arises from the countries that order women to wear Hijab. In addition, the ban was considered as a way of expressing self in an oppressiv e way towards the modesty of a woman character. This is so because it was considered a way of denying a Muslim woman a right to choose what to wear in the present modernized world.The French community is itself banning the clothing for the interests of secularism. This is so because of the oppression received by the church for a few centuries in the past. Therefore, to see many of the French people increasingly becoming religious whether French or Immigrant is very disturbing to this community. The wearing of Hijab is an ethical requirement according to the teachings of Quran. The government ban will therefore lead to an infringement of a basic right of choice (Human Rights Watch).The issue of Banning the Hijab has lead to a number of challenges among Muslim community. This was seen as biasness towards Muslim religion. It was argued that if the ban was really for the purposes of security, it is even easier to conceal weapons under the garments than the face. Banning of the Hijab has also led to an increase in negative sentiments against governments of France and Turkey as a way of opposition to this ban. The extremists have also increased hatred in the west especially in France which has led to many attacks on the country in general.This has also had an effect on the increase in threat to public safety and also an increase in Islamophobia which is an Islamic religion which promotes wearing of the headscarves and the Hijab. Prohibition of the headscarves in Turkey has led to a drastic decrease on the student intake in most colleges and universities due to the fact that about 70 percent of the students in Turkey wear headscarves and that this bring about discrimination in the education sector. On the other hand, the state’s prohibition has changed the attitudes of the private sector on the employment of women who wear the Hijab.This has contributed to a decline of women’s employment rates in Turkey which is constantly declining. It was reported tha t women who wore headscarves were experiencing hard times in finding employment in the private sector which is the same like when trying to get a degree. This has made the government t to relax its ban (Islam online, 2010). Therefore, the issue of prohibiting wearing of the Hiijab by the Muslim society brings about many social issues towards both the religion and the involved governments.It is seen as a security factor to the public and also as a way of protecting those who are opposing the culture. But on the other hand it is seen as a contributory factor towards a decline in employment opportunities and also dangerous as it creates enmity and risk of terrorist attacks. Therefore, this issue should be addressed critically to balance the arising effects to both the governments and the Muslim community. Works Cited Human Rights Watch. France: Headscarf Ban Violates Religious Freedom.February 2004. Viewed on 14 July 2010 from http://www. hrw. org/en/news/2004/02/26/france-headscarf-ba n-violates-religious-freedom Asser, Martin. Why Muslim Women Wear the Veil. BBC News, October 2006. Viewed on 14 July 2010 from http://www. apologeticsindex. org/504-muslim-veils Islam online. Turkey Relaxes Hijab Ban. February 2010. Viewed on 14 July 2010 from http://www. islamonline. net/servlet/Satellite? c=Article_C&cid=1201957722066&pagename=Zone-English-News%2FNWELayout

Team Work Essay

What happened and why : Seagate is one of the largest digital content storage companies in the world and has business in about 15 countries around the world in Europe, Asia and the US ( ©2011 Seagate Technology LLC). To create the ultimate team-building experience, every year Seagate brings 250 high-performing employees to Queenstown, near Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand. This event tests all their physical and emotional boundaries of endurance (Max, 2006). This is a very popular program among Seagate employees and is known as â€Å"Eco Seagate†. The company spent a whopping sum of $9000 per person, and the goal of this exercise is to boost the employee morale, support office amity, and encourage teamwork (Max, 2006). Seagate’s CEO Watkins wanted participants to experience the intensity that distinguishes an informal group from a high performing team. He also wants to strengthen his company’s culture by reinforcing these norms and attitudes that encourage team work, perseverance and endurance. Why did I decide to write about this? I have been working for Seagate technology for about 10 years and have been witnessing this herculean effort of team building since 2001. I attended a scaled down version of Eco Seagate in early 2002, which was equally rigorous and challenging but gave me a new way of thinking about team dynamics. The current form of Eco Seagate is a week-long teambuilding program, which includes a 10-mile trek, 12-mile bike ride through mountain terrain, navigating about 3 miles in a kayak, rappelling down cliffs and more. The last day of the challenge combines these adventurous activities into one 25-mile (40 kilometers) race. On arrival in Queenstown, the 250 Seagate employees were divided into 50 teams of five people each; in most cases the team members had never met before and in some cases didn’t even speak the same language but were expected to work together to finish the Eco-challenge. This event, which some call a social experiment, is pet project of our CEO. Every year all 250 Eco Seagate participants learn a lifelong lesson about the importance of teamwork. He envisions Eco Seagate as a way to break down barriers, boost confidence and make company staffers’ better team players. â€Å"Some of you will learn about teamwork because you have a great team,† he says. Some of you will learn because your team is a disaster. † (Max, 2006). Were there outcomes positive or negative for the various parties in the situation? Certainly the outcome of this exercise is very positive for the company and Seagate’s staff. I would term this event as a mother of all team building exer cise ever executed by similar size company in the Silicon Valley. One must realize that this is an investment towards Social capital (McShane and Von Glinow, pp. 236). After this event Seagate not only achieves better team dynamics within their employees but would also get a stronger bonding between company and the employees. Mentoring and coaching, especially on an informal basis, help people build networks they need to work across corporate boundaries (Gratton & Erickson, 2007). I see one negative side of this elaborate team-building exercise. Two million dollar is a lot of money to be spent on a few individuals in a large company that has 45,000 employees worldwide. There are number of other ‘team building' programs that can achieve the same results if not better at a much lower cost. For me the main issue with this program is that you are going on a team building exercise without your immediate workgroup team. What would you do differently? Why? : As a manager, if I wanted to build a stronger team, I would take everyone in my team to such an exercise so that more cohesiveness and team skills development can be achieved across the board. Based on my own experience team building should be an ongoing process and programs of this kind only have a short-term impact. Rather than one massive/expensive exercise, I would suggest having more frequent low-cost programs that will help me to sustain my team over a long period of time. My learning related to this experience: Prior to going for Eco Seagate team building program, I had a feeling that I would work much better independently just like Scott commented. (Seagate Technology, 2007). My general feeling was that team work would be a burden to me and each person in the team would feel less responsible for contributing because others are present. Initially I suspected that people tend to slack off, or loaf, when they work in a group more than they do when working alone (McShane and Von Glinow, pp. 238). Later I concluded that I wouldn’t be able to complete that race by myself as the format of the race was very rigorous and everyone needs to perform multiple activities at the same time like treking, biking, navigating, map readings, searching for milestones and stretegic planning to overcome the obstacles faced during the race. I started this exercise with low levels of cohesiveness with other participants. That may be because we work in different locations and functional areas in Seagate, speaks different primary languages or we viewed the situation differently. Our five-person team size played a very important role to increase the cohesiveness in first four days of practice and familiarization phase (McShane & Von Glinow, pp. 242). Our diversity in knowledge and physical skills helped us to develop our team more effectively (McShane & Von Glinow, pp. 245). As a Manager I learned that I need to make sure that diversity is effectively managed in the team, because if it is not, it may lead to low cohesiveness. During four days of the acclimatization session we organized several informal team meetings and started with learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses. During practice sessions we challenged each other based on our weaknesses, which helped us to stretch ourselves beyond our normal physical capability. That was the first time I realized the power of Five â€Å"C† team member competency (McShane & Von Glinow, pp. 244). As part of our team building process we established several ground rules for the final day race and assigned team roles based on our strengths and willingness (McShane & Von Glinow, pp. 246-248). With the moral support of my team and several practice sessions of rock climbing and rappelling down the cliff, I could overcome my fear of heights and felt a little upbeat. When a group achieves noticeable and visible success, it contributes substantially to its feelings of cohesiveness and belongingness (McShane & Von Glinow, pp. 250). Since I know a few people who were coming from California, I expanded my network by leveraging them as brokers to â€Å"connect the separate team clusters† (Uzzi and Dunlap, pp. 56). Some of them actually became my social friends and one of them recently took me around for a quick sight-seeing tour of Amsterdam during my eight-hour layover at AMS Schiphol airport. Conclusion: Though we didn’t win the race, we successfully completed it about 50 minutes behind the first team that touched the finishing line. Overall experience was amazing and the skills that I learned at Eco Seagate are still contributing to my on-the-job effectiveness, including the ability to follow through on commitments to others, actively listen to team members, take responsibility for group successes or failures and give and accept the useful feedback that will help to improve the performance in next iteration. From the experiences at Eco Seagate, hopefully several Seagate managers are cultivated and now contributing effectively to form a high performing team by building trust within teams, sharing and communicating goals among team members, empowering team members, and encouraging them through positive expectations (McShane & Von Glinow, pp. 245-251). Works Cited *  ©2011 Seagate Technology LLC. (n. d. ). About Seagate. Retrieved from About Seagate: http://www. seagate. com/www/en-us/about/ * Gratton, L. , & Erickson, T. J. (2007). 8 Ways to Build Collaborative Teams. Harvard Business Review , 85 (11), 100-109. Max, S. (2006, April 3). Seagate's Morale-athon. Retrieved from Seagate's Morale-athon: http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/06_14/b3978085. htm * McShane, S. L. , & Von Glinow, M. A. (2010). Organizational Behavior: emerging knowledge and practice for the real world (5th ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. * Seagate Technology. (2007, Sept 26). Eco Seagate 2007: The Bloggers (1, 2, 3). Retrieved from Eco Seagate 2007: The Bloggers (1, 2, 3): http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=4Gp7AYuZJN0 * Uzzi, B. , & Dunlap, S. (December, 2005). How to build your network. Harvard Business Review .

Logistics case Essay

Stanley received multiple calls from customers complaining about late shipments for both truck and rail delays. Transportation delays were measured in days, not hours. Railcar delivery windows increased from two to seven days, and overall truckload service levels fell to less than 85 percent on time. Due to rise in price of the transportation cost for MAP the cost of goods sold rose from 11 to 19 percent. The transportation problems led to a demand by MAP’s largest domestic customer. Stanley tells that even a 10 percent increase in inventory levels would reduce return on asset levels from 13.7 percent to 9.1 percent. MAP’s inventory investment is 22 percent of total assets and inventory carrying costs are nearing 27 percent of inventory value, both of which are consistent with manufacturing industry norms. The outbound logistics is an essential primary activity of the value chain no matter what industry. Question 2 Agricultural commodities and products from the Midwest are shipped to locations around the globe. If global demand continues to grow, how will different transportation modes (rail, truck and barge) be affected? How will these changes impact MAP’s current supply chain strategies? Answer: If the global demand continues to grow then there will be a tough time for the agriculture products which is being shipped from the Midwest to all locations around the globe as if there is a rise in demand then costs related with the different means of transportation will increase and the service levels will most likely fall, mainly with shipping the goods through water ways as demand for containers are increased, the fuel costs are higher and even due to slow steaming. The single railcar shipping rates are as closely as truckload shipments which will lead to decline in on-time transportation service which will cause customer dis-satisfaction. MAP’s service levels fell to less than 85% on time and the domestic customer demand is increased and there are complaints from customers all over the globe regarding the delay in receiving their product due to the deregulation in transportation which will lead to a negative effect on its current supply chain, MAP should place supplier-owned inventory in nearby storage facility or by positioning warehouses around the globe if not will lose 100% of its business. Question 3 Many factors influence location decisions. If MAP were to relocate a facility today, what factors would seem most important? Do MAP’s past location decisions limit or enable their future opportunities? Would your answer change if MAP was a large multi-national corporation? Answer: If MAP were to relocate to any other place, two points should be kept in mind:- Firstly, to relocate to areas where resources are in abundant as it’s the main source for their business. Secondly, transportation should be much easier and should be accessible to various areas. Distance from both suppliers and customers are important as when it comes to the efficiency of an operation suppliers are involved and delivery of goods to customers or key infrastructure is just as important. It’s better off if MAP does not relocate its facilities because in its current location in the Midwest it offers an abundance of corn and soyabean suppliers which is the main source of MAP’s business. Since transportation is the main problem for MAP, but after Mary’s talk with various other Midwest shippers to better utilize the existing transportation infrastructure it looks like a bright future ahead. I believe a large organization would choose to locate in a similar fashion, b ut would also strive to choose a location with easy access to rail and highways. Question 4 Manly Terminal LLC successfully enables modal shifts from truck to rail transportation, and specifically to unit-train pricing, for ethanol shippers producing single carload shipment sizes. What prevents MAP from realizing these same rate advantages? Can these challenges be overcome? How? Answer Map is unable to realize these same advantages for a few reasons: Poor model optimization. MAP is not located near a major national and international railroad hub. They are in fact only shipping single carloads, but an individual car costs a fair amount more when we are not speaking about a until-train. With the right partnership, I believe those problems could be overcome. Question 5 Manly Terminal LLC offers the ethanol industry exciting supply chain solutions. Are the ethanol industry’s transportation needs similar to any other sectors? Could Manly Terminal expand to serve other industries? Which sectors should they target? Answer The requirements for shipping ethanol sound very similar to what we believe it would take to ship corn syrup or soybean oil. Manly could service almost any liquid bulk product. Manly terminal are already located in the Midwest servicing corn refineries for ethanol. They can also service the corn refineries for other by-products to make corn sweetener’s, refined corn feed products, starch, corn oil, ethanol and other bio-products. Manly terminal can target the sectors or industries who ship grains, biofuels/bioenergy and products involved in trans loading.

Reserach utilization project proposal Research Paper - 1

Reserach utilization project proposal - Research Paper Example With more nurses opting to work elsewhere, newly graduate nurses are absorbed readily in hospital institutions. Ironically, they account for higher turnover events, in a rate of 35% to 60%, compared with senior nurses (Weng, Huang, Tsai, Chang, & Lin, 2010). As new nurses are fresh from school room settings, they need to cope with â€Å"issues of...organizational structure, and group work that may be new to them† (Santucci, 2004, p. 274). Due to lack of professional confidence and excessive work pressures, 30% leave their posts a year after entering the job (Lavoie-Tremblay, Lecler, Marchionni, & Drevniok, 2010). Despite excessive occupational stress, nurses in transition still seek work stability through promotion of â€Å"autonomy and...collegiality among nurse peers† (Altier & Krsek, 2006, p. 70). Yet, older and younger generations of nurses are conflicted by varying work ethics, compounding problems on personnel retention. Thus, occupational pressures and intragener ational conflicts are plausible sources job dissatisfaction and shift in careers -- accounting for higher turnovers in nurses. As shortages continue, serious implications are observed. There is said to be a direct correlation between higher number of patient load with the risk of client death--with 7% increment in probability of death in surgical wards. Quality care is greatly reduced with unequal nurse-patient ratio. Mediocre services mean lower admissions, reducing profits and financially straining institutional operation. Not only are nurses placed at critical professional points, their actions threaten lives of clients, and discredit reputation of affiliated institutions; these manifest severe outcomes of nursing shortage on overall condition of citizens dependent on effective and reliable health provisions--in strict societal terms. In remedy, addressing crucial aspects of job satisfaction in work environment can serve profound effect in health care organizations. Prior to this, a

The Christina Commonwelath - analysis and criticism to this little Essay

The Christina Commonwelath - analysis and criticism to this little book by John Eliot - Essay Example (Zakai, 133-151) Perhaps more than anything else, Eliot’s work and its concurrent ideology denounced the interregnum of the Crown with the result that three years following its publication The Christian Commonwealth was banned in England. (Holstun, 128-153) Although Eliot’s work takes a definite position with respect to Puritan ideology of the perfect state it is prefaced by a position against the monarchy. By taking this position in the preface to The Christian Commonwealth Eliot introduces a position against the interregnum of the Crown in such a way that is far more controversial than the Puritanical theocracy embodied in the main part of his book. Eliot’s states his opposition to the monarchy in his preface as follows: â€Å"Much is spoken of the rightful Heir of the Crown of England, and the unjustice of casting out the right Heir: but Christ is the only right Heir of the Crown of England, and all other Nations also.† (Eliot) In his preface Eliot quotes the scriptures at various intervals to support his contention that the best model of human ordinance and government is to be found in the Bible rather than by reference to earthly state nations. The preface is laden with Puritan theocracy and puts forth the concept that it is God who truly governs and protects those who believe in him. Eliot goes on to urge that true guidance should come from God and urges as follows: â€Å"I do beseech those chosen, and holy and faith Saints, who by Councils at Home, or by Wars in the field, have fought the Lords Battels against Antichrist, and have carried on the Cause of Christ hitherunto, That you would now set the Crown of England upon the head of Christ, whose only true inheritance it is, by the gift of his father (1) â€Å" Let him be your JUDGE, let him be your LAW – Giver, Let him be your KING. Take the pattern and

The economic performance of London compared to that of the rest of the Essay

The economic performance of London compared to that of the rest of the UK since 2000 - Essay Example a great concentration of professional and wholesale financial businesses.5 This form of business enables London in specific and the UK in general to benefit from international trade. London as an economic hub exports businesses to the rest of the UK. Notably, the world class nature of these businesses gives London a competitive advantage when it comes to engaging in business with the rest of the nation. Considering that London is one of the premier world cities, its economic performance in terms of financial a business services helps the entire nation through tax revenues received from public spending. Undoubtedly, London’s economy is strong and as such it benefits the rest of the UK. During financial year 2002/2003, London generated $ 2 billion and $ 9 billion more in taxes than it received from public spending. However, London economy experienced relative slow down in 2002 compared to the rest of the UK economy making the overall UK public sector debt move from $ 15 billion to $ 25 within the same period.6 London economy varies from that of the rest of the country. Even though London is popular with its unique financial services, its economy is not only hinged on financial activities, but has other revenue generating activities including management and business consultancy activities which it score highly in specialization index. This kind of ranking not only shows how London supplies such services to the other parts of the UK but also to other countries. Other economic activities which makes London rank highly in economic performance compared to other UK cities include tourism, telecommunications and consultancy services among many others. Such sectoral specialization has indeed helped London to contribute to over half of the UK’s exports for activities such as...This essay critically assess the economic performance of London in the years 2000-2010 and compares with that of the rest of the UK There has been mixed views regarding the economic relationship between London and the rest of the UK. Some people argue that, London grows at the expense of the rest of the country while other hold the view that London is the focal point of the UK economy. This study found that most big businesses were established and are based in London, but at the same time they have established branches to other parts of the country. London population comprises of the young generation which in real sense migrates not only from foreign countries, but also from other cities and rural areas. Notwithstanding the recent global financial crisis, London remains a dynamic city in the world due to its living appeal and commercial superiority. Undeniably, London is the UK’s leading base for export oriented employment, high value businesses and therefore, its position relative to other UK cities portrays no sign of abating. London economy relies on sectors with faster growth in productivity. As such, faster growth in output per person and rise in wages is equally expected to be higher. London boasts as a hub for some of the big financial institutions and health facilities. The presence of major businesses coupled with increased economic activities has enabled London generate the bigger part of the national revenues. However, inequality gap between rich and the poor continues to widen as the economic conditions worsens.

My Trip to the Grocery Store Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Trip to the Grocery Store - Essay Example On a hot summer’s day with the sun beating down on us, I was taken out to do some shopping with my mom. â€Å"Yes,† I responded, as my mother broke the news to me that we would be going to the most popular grocery store in Ahmadi City: the Sultan Center. This was located in Alshuwaikh and was some way out of the city. Although it took a long time to get there, this was quite a regular trip for me because I always enjoyed helping choose the food that would tie us over for the next week. As I had no concept of money at that stage in my life, I would pick up anything that took my fancy and places it in the shopping cart as fast as I could. To try and hide this from my mom, I would strategically place something else on top of it so that she would not notice anything suspicious. On this occasion, I wanted to find some chocolate. I loved chocolate! However, chocolate was not in its usual place. This was very confusing for me because it had always been in that one particular p lace without fail. Without giving it any thought at all, I was determined to set upon a mission to track down my beloved chocolate. I waited until the opportune moment—when my mother wasn’t looking—so that I could creep away as a spy would.   Very soon I had stumbled upon the candy aisle and began scanning the shelves for my beloved chocolate. After spending a couple of minutes looking, I was surprised to not be able to find what I was looking for. This had me really puzzled. Where could it be if not the candy aisle? I decided that the store must have been hiding it from me and so I continued my search for my prize. By this time, I realized that I had completely forgotten about my mom—she must have been worried sick. It was at this thought that a loud siren rang out over the intercom; although I could not comprehend what was being said. By now I had covered most of the store and could still not find the chocolate that I was looking for. My little legs were so tired from all the walking and crawling all over the store, so I sat down right where I was. All of the sudden the thought occurred to me that I had done a terrible thing—would I ever find my way back to my mom? I didn’t know what to do, so I be gan bawling my eyes out. It didn’t take long for a staff attendant to come over to me to see what the problem was. â€Å"What seems to be the matter,† they remarked. I communicated that I was lost and could not find my way back to my mother. The tall, blonde woman took the biscuits out of my hand and grabbed my hand. She reassured me that she would be taking me to a safe place where my mother would be able to find me. I climbed up the stairs and was placed on a chair in an office. This brought back memories of my trip to the dentist. At the thought of this, my tear started to flow. This was like my worst nightmare!