From Nihilism to Kingdom Come :: Philosophy Theology Religion Papers

The Final Stage of Mankind’s Education — From Nihilism to Kingdom Come ABSTRACT: I give reasons to believe that our present situation is not as bleak as some would have it. I show how the historical process can be understood in terms of a Premodernity (Aquinas), Modernity (Hegel), and Postmodernity (Nietzsche) division of human history. I argue that both Hegel and Nietzsche were fully aware that Modernity was over and that a negative Postmodern condition was to necessarily precede a consummatory positive one. Also since history may be taken to have reached its goal at the end of Modernity (with Reasons grasp of Christianity’s principle), Postmodernity can best be understood in terms of its central task of elevating all humanity into absolute knowing (the knowing of the God within)—an elevation via Reason and Faith achievable only by the abolition of the God outside, i.e., by a negative followed by a positive period of history, which Schelling refers to as the Church of John, a synthesis of Catholicism and Protestantism, the perfected Churc h. Introduction My thesis, in brief, is that the painful "God is dead" period of history we are presently going through can best be understood as a necessary "transitional period"— the immediate consequence of mankind’s intellectual advance, in the preceding period, viz., the Modern or Age of Reason, beyond the Middle Ages, the Age of Belief. With the apotheosis of the development of the principle of subjectivity in Modern philosophy, i.e., with the attainmeUnprioritized— SDO meetingnt of "absolute knowing," or Reason’s "knowing of the absolute," humanity had outgrown its former manner of relating to substance, the divine: — its eyes opened, it could not go backwards but only forward. From the highest standpoint, it can be said that the movement of history is from the God "outside" to the God "inside"— an inversion process involving three distinct and necessary phases: Premodernity, Modernity, and Postmodernity, to be correlated with Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, a nd Nietzsche, respectively. It appears that as a result of Modernity’s, i.e. Hegel’s, intellectual achievement— in which religion was superseded by philosophy, i.e., Wissenschaft or Science— religion had of necessity to undergo a major crisis. That is, a "God is dead" period of (post-) history had to supervene. However this "negative" period is in no way to be regarded as final or terminal, but instead as the necessary precondition for a "positive," consummatory period of human history, its finale, a period in which, in Schelling’s words, the unification of philosophy, science, and religion will be realized.

Broadworth general hospital Essay

For the past 20 years our hospital has contracted all training seminars with your company, your company has been dependable and always gets the job done. In March, we need to train 20 supervisors in the area of Sexual Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination in the workplace. We would like your company Wydade Consulting Services to complete the training for us. The training will take place on the first floor of the hospital room. We would like your trainer Ms. Deb Walker, to teach the seminar. In the past, Ms. Walker has presented a strong and powerful power point presentation followed by a question and answer session. On the day of training we will need the following. Projector Presentation Brochures/handouts Notepads Pens light refreshments Please respond to me as soon as possible with a date MS Walker will be available in March. I can be reached at (598) 597 1234 Thank you Sincerely yours, Karen Lawrence A.A. KL/xx To: Deb Walker CC: Jeremy Dittmer @ Miriam Hopkins Subject: Sexual Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination in the work force Dear Deb: I would like to confirm our arrangements as we previously discussed regarding the seminar which is to be held on March 10 ,2016 at 2:00 . Located on the first floor in room 109 of the hospital you are more than welcome to come early to set up. We will be starting promptly at 2:00, refreshments and snacks will be there at approximately 4:15 to 4:30. If you require further assistance or have any questions, please contact me at (598) 597 1234 or via email at Lawrence.lawrence@ yahoo .com To: Miriam Hopkins, Director of Human Resources From: Karen Lawrence, Administrative Assistant Dec 17, 2012 Subject: Sexual Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination in the workplace We received a confirmation from Jeremy Dittmer regarding the seminar details, the date is March 10, 2016 and the time is 2:00 and has provided the trainer with all the necessary materials. The trainer he has assigned is MS Deb Walker, the seminar will be on the first floor room 109.We will make sure that we will have all the necessary materials. Ms Walker will be providing, pens; paper; pamphlets; follow along booklets. Refreshments such as coffee; tea; water; juice, and snacks will be provided and scheduled for delivery the afternoon of March 10 between 4:15 and 4:30. If you have have questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can also contact Deb Walker directly by email at Deb walker@ yahoo .com or by phone at (802) 559 6315 ext. 2206. KL/AA

Psychology of a Serial Killer Essay

Abstract Serial killings are defined as â€Å"having three or more victims in as many locations and as different events with the killer having a ‘cool off’ between each attack† (Fox & Levin, 2005, p. 17). Serial killings also happen over a period of months or years with the killer leading a normal life in between. Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process. â€Å"There are grounds for the point of view that serial killers act from a conscious perspective but are influenced by a variety of unconscious drives† (Holmes & Burger, 1988, p. 98). There are different views of what makes a serial killer, ranging from mental instability or defect to problematic and abusive childhoods. Looking at the murders, methods, victims, and motivations of three different serial killers received from coroner reports, witness accounts, and their own point of view provides an opportunity to see any similarities behind what drove them to kill. Psychology of a Serial Killer Jack the Ripper Considered one of the most infamous of the world’s serial killers, Jack the Ripper’s murder spree lasted from 1888 to 1892 in the East End of London. Also known as the Whitechapel Murderer, he attacked prostitutes during late night and early morning hours, mutilating his victims’ bodies with the skill of someone who knows basic anatomy. Jack the Ripper’s first known victim was Mary Nichols, a prostitute, who was found early in the morning in a gateway in Bucks Row, Whitechapel on 31 August 1888. â€Å"She was lying on her back with her legs straight out, skirts raised almost to her waist and throat slashed almost to the point of beheading† (Jones, 2010). His second victim was Annie Chapman, another prostitute, found 8 September 1888 in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street at 6am. The official coroner report stated: The left arm was placed across the left breast. The legs were drawn up, the feet resting on the ground, and the knees turned outwards. The face was swollen and turned on the right side. The tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was evidently much swollen. The front teeth were perfect as far as the first molar, top and bottom and very fine teeth they were. The body was terribly mutilated†¦the stiffness of the limbs was not marked, but was evidently commencing. He noticed that the throat was dissevered deeply; that the incisions through the skin were jagged and reached right round the neck. On the wooden paling between the yard in question and the next, smears of blood, corresponding to where the head of the deceased lay, were to be seen. These were about 14 inches from the ground and immediately above the part where the blood from the neck was pooled. (Jones, 2010) Later, after the body was moved to the morgue, the autopsy conducted revealed Annie Chapman was missing her womb. The third victim was Elizabeth Stride on 30 September 1888. She was found at one in the morning in Dutfield Yard. Her throat was cut but, â€Å"she was lying on the ground as though quietly placed there† (Jones, 2010), obviously, one of Jack the Rippe r’s less horrific murders. Roughly forty-five minutes after finding Stride, the body of Catherine Eddowes was found in Mitre Square laying on her back, clothes thrown above her waist and her throat slit as well. Jack the Ripper’s fifth and supposedly final victim was Mary Kelly on 9 November 1888. She was found that morning at 10:45 in the morning in her room at Millers Court. The coroner report stated: The body was lying naked in the middle of the bed, the shoulders flat, but the axis of the body inclined to the left side of the bed. The head was turned on the left cheek. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle & lying across the abdomen. The right arm was slightly abducted from the body & rested on the mattress, the elbow bent & the forearm supine with the fingers clenched. The legs were wide apart, the left thigh at right angles to the trunk & the right forming an obtuse angle with the pubes. The whole of the surface of the abdomen & thighs was removed & the abdominal Cavity emptied of its viscera. The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds & the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round down to the bone. The viscera were found in various parts viz: the uterus & Kidneys with one breast under the head, the other breast by the Rt foot, the Liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side & the spleen by the left side of the body. The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were on a table. The bed clothing at the right corner was saturated with blood, & on the floor beneath was a pool of blood covering about 2 feet square†¦ The face was gashed in all directions the nose cheeks, eyebrows and ears being partly removed. The lips were blanched & cut by several incisions running obliquely down to the chin. There were also numerous cuts extending irregularly across all the features. (Jones, 2010) Police later found that at four in the morning, neighbors had heard muffled calls of murder but had ignored them believing them to be from a case of domestic violence. Little else is known of Jack the Ripper as he was never caught. Speculations about his identity range from the severely impoverished to the very wealthy, and suspects are being added to the list to this day. John Haigh A respectable, well dressed, middle-class man of the 1940’s, John Haigh was a depraved killer who frequently blamed his strict religious upbringing for his actions. He was raised in a purist and anti-clerical household where he was cut off from normal society and his only source of entertainment came from the Bible. According to Haigh’s father, the world was evil and a person who sinned became marked and evil. The fear of gaining such a mark caused Haigh to be terrified of doing anything wrong. â€Å"It is said that a turning point in the boy’s developing psyche came when Haigh realized that no such blemish would appear, despite having lied or committed some other questionable behavior. He then started to believe that he was invincible and could get away with anything† (UK, 2005-2011) thus causing Haigh to become a manipulating and compulsive liar. After leaving his parents’ home, Haigh became a salesman and took to illegal activities such as fraud that usually landed him in prison serving short sentences. Haigh’s first victim was from the McSwan Family, a family he had come to know well; he lived with them and worked for them before marrying the daughter later. September 1944, Haigh took Donald McSwan to his residence where he then killed him; â€Å"the murder was carefully planned – having bludgeoned his victim with a club (or a similar weapon); Haigh then destroyed the body in a vat of acid. When bone and flesh had been reduced to a sludge-like mess, he poured the gooey residue onto the dirt surface of an open yard behind the building† (John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer, n.d.) When Donald’s parents began asking Haigh about their son’s disappearance, he concocted a lie then lured them to his residence and disposed of them in the same fashion. He forged all their assets into his name and then promptly lost it gambling and began looking towards murder again. Haigh’s next victims were old retiree’s, Rosalie and Archibald Henderson that he met by acting as though he was going to buy a house from them. February 1948, he drove Dr. Henderson to his workshop where he shot him in the head and disposed of the body by dumping it into a vat of sulphuric acid. He then returned to Mrs. Henderson and told her that her husband had taken sick and needed her. She accompanied Haigh to his workshop where she met the same lethal fate as her husband. In both the McSwan and Henderson murders, Haigh emulated his victims’ handwriting and sent notes to their servants, relatives and friends; he explained that they had moved to Australia or some other distant place, mentioning that ‘Mr. Haigh’ would settle their affairs. (John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer, n.d.) Haigh gained a substantial amount of money from the Henderson’s which he again lost to gambling. Haigh found and killed his next victim on 18 February 1949. Mrs. Durand-Deacon accompanied him to the Gloucester Road address. As soon as she entered the basement premises, Haigh shot her in the back of the head, killing her instantly. He stripped her and dumped her body into a 40-gallon vat of sulphuric acid. Haigh drained the receptacle through a basement sewer; afterwards, he scraped the sludge from the vat and dumped this onto the dirt of the back yard. This was hard work and Haigh, according to his later statements, paused to go to the nearby Ye Olde Ancient Prior’s Restaurant where he ate an egg on toast. He then returned to his workshop to â€Å"tidy up†. (John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer, n.d.) This would be the murder that got him caught. Haigh decided to play the concerned citizen since his latest victim was so close to home so he approached her closet friend, Mrs. Lane, and asked about Mrs. Durand -Deacon. After replying that the friend had thought Mrs. Durand-Deacon had left with him, Haigh quickly denied the accusation. The following day, he asked the same question to Mrs. Lane who decided to report the disappearance to the police. Haigh accompanied her to the police station to navigate suspicion away from himself, but one police officer preformed a background investigation on Haigh and because of what he saw became suspicious. Haigh was arrested and sentenced to death regardless of his claims and demonstrations of insanity. Jesse H. Pomeroy â€Å"The Boy Fiend, Jesse Pomeroy, is the youngest convicted serial killer in history† (Wilhiem, 2010). Starting with a troubled childhood due to a birth defect, Pomeroy was the subject of ridicule among his peers and his father couldn’t stand the sight of him and would viciously beat him when angry before his mother chased him off. It was stated that; Jesse was an intelligent boy, if somewhat anti-social. He would not join the other boys in baseball games or other athletic pursuits, but he was fond of playing ‘scouts and Indians’ where he would invariably be an Indian and devise elaborate imaginary tortures for captive scouts (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy’s mother was the first to notice something was wrong with her son after finding the heads twisted off her parakeets’ heads. The start of Pomeroy’s decent into murder began in Boston with Billy Paine who was found beaten in an outhouse. Soon after the police found Tracy Hayden in the same outhouse where â€Å"He was tied, stripped naked, and whipped across the back. The boy hit him in the face with a board, breaking his nose and knocking out two teeth. Then he threatened to cut off Tracy’s penis† (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy’s third victim was Robert Maier who withstood the same brutal treatment. Chelsea police interviewed hundreds of boys but received no leads. Rumors began to circulate about the description of the killer and the picture people portrayed were that of the devil. Pomeroy was named â€Å"The Boy Torturer† after stripping and beating Johnny Balch. Pomeroy’s mother, suspected her son, and moved to South Boston with her family where the assaults continued only more often and more inhumane. â€Å"On August 17, seven-year-old George Pratt was abducted and wa s not just flogged. This time the abductor stuck a needle in his arm and his groin, and bit chunks of flesh from his face and buttocks† (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy began using a knife to stab his victims repeatedly before attempting to cut off their genitalia. Robert Gould was the eighth victim and able to give police a useful description of his assailant. The parents of Gould refused to allow him to be escorted around to identify his attacker, and police were forced to ask Pomeroy’s seventh victim, Joseph Kennedy, who was then shown around the local schools and even came face to face with Pomeroy and was unable to identify him as the killer. That day, after school, for reasons Jesse was never able to explain, he went to the police station. Seeing Joseph Kennedy there, he quickly turned and left the station, but a policeman followed him out and brought him back. Now, looking closer, young Joseph saw the white eye and identified Jesse as his torturer. Jesse was held in a cell overnight and was persuaded to confess. The next day all of the victims identified him as their attacker. Jesse, then 12 years old, was sentenced to the reformatory, ‘for the term of his minority’ – a period of six years. (Wilhiem, 2010) Pomeroy acted as though he was better within the reformatory and seventeen months after his arrest, Pomeroy was placed on probation and set free. â€Å"March 18, 1874, 10-year-old Katie Curran left her home to buy a notebook for school and never returned. She was last seen entering Mrs. Pomeroy’s store. Everyone in the neighborhood knew Jesse’s history and the Corrans feared the worst.† (Wilhiem, 2010) At the police station Captain Dyer assured Mrs. Curran that Jesse could not be involved—he had been completely rehabilitated; besides he was only known to attack little boys. â€Å"Katie’s father was a Catholic and reflecting the attitudes of the time; local rumors said he sent her to a convent† (Wilhiem, 2010). Thirty-six days later a little boy, Horace Millen, was seen walking toward the wharf. Later that day Millen’s body was found half naked on the beach; he was stabbed multiple times in the chest, almost beheaded and half castrated. Pomeroy was the first person to come to the police chief’s mind upon hearing about the murders, but he quickly dismissed it on the assumption that Pomeroy was still in the reformatory, his men quickly corrected the assumption and were ordered to arrest Pomeroy. Pomeroy denied all charges, even when confronted with forensic evidence, until he was taken to see the dead body of Millen where â€Å"He admitted he killed Horace, something made him do it. He was sorry and wanted to leave. He told the policemen: ‘Put me somewhere, so I can’t do such things’† (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy’s mother’s business suffered due to the recent events with her son, and she was forced to sell to a grocery chain. During renovations the decomposing body of Katie Curran was found under a heap of ashes and was only identifiable from her clothing. Pomeroy’s mother and brother were arrested for murder but were cleared by Pomeroy confessing to Curran’s murder after interrogation. Later, Pomeroy claimed to have only admitted guilt to save his mother. Pomeroy’s lawyers fought for the insanity plea but were denied because prosecution proved he knew right from wrong, Pomeroy was proven guilty for first degree murder at the age of 16 and sentenced to life in prison. Conclusion Looking at all three killers penchant for mutilating their victims’ bodies, the almost randomness in choosing of their victims, and the childhoods of at least two of the killers, mental trauma sustained during adolescence played a large part in the decline into becoming killers where they took the atrocities they viewed or had been done to them and focused them on their victims as a form of control and improper coping. Unfortunately, in the case of Jack the Ripper, we cannot look into his childhood and compare it to that of Pomeroy or Haigh, but we can deduce that with his choosing of female prostitutes and his horrific mutilation of them, he was traumatized as a child by his mother whether it was because she herself was a prostitute and he often saw her in-coitus with her customers or his mother was extremely controlling like that of the mother of Ed Gein, and after her death, possibly caused by him, he started reaching out and punishing her over and over again using local pr ostitutes as the subjects of his disdain. Pomeroy’s abuse and actions against his victims were a reflection of his father’s actions upon him that, as a way of control, he chose victims younger and smaller than himself to take control of the situation that he couldn’t at home; in essence, he was abusing himself for not being able to do anything against his own father. Haigh, though having an abusive and extremely volatile childhood, did not kill or choose his victims out of anything other than financial gain. Looking at his case files, we see the pattern that after he gambled away the profits of his previous killings he would then find new ‘prey’ to lure into his killing trap. His attempts at pleading insanity fell through because of his pattern of choosing only wealthy or profitable victims that benefitted him in the end and elevated his status. Applying criminological theory to these serial killers is possible, but narrowing their actions to just one is impossible. Some would say that Pomeroy was showing differential association and he had learned his behavior from his father or that strain could apply to both him and Haigh, though Haigh’s was from a financial stand point rather than from an inability to cope with his father beating him. Jack the Ripper is the only killer who would be difficult to apply any theory to with as little as we know of him or his childhood. References David Lester, P. (1995). Serial Killers: The Insatiable Passion. Philadelphia: Charles Press Publishers, Inc. Fox, J. A., & Levin, J. (2005). Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, Inc. Holmes, R. M., & Burger, J. D. (1988). Serial Murder. London: Sage Publications, Inc. John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer. (n.d.). Retrieved from horrorfind.com: http://usersites.horrorfind.com/home/horror/bedlambound/library/haigh.html Jones, R. (2010). Jack The Ripper: History, Victims, Letters, Suspects. Retrieved from Jack The Ripper History: http://www.jack-the-ripper.org/ Pomeroy, J. (2002). Autobiography of Jesse H. Pomeroy. Retrieved from http://kobek.com: http://kobek.com/autobiography.pdf UK, A. (2005-2011). Bibliography- John Haigh: The Acid bath Murderer on Crime and Investigation Network. Retrieved from CRIME FILE – Famous criminal: John Haigh: The Acid Bath Murderer : http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/jo hn-haigh-the-acid-bath-murderer/biography.html Wilhiem, R. (2010, August 7). Jesse Pomeroy: â€Å"Boy Fiend†. Retrieved from Murder By Gaslight: http://murderbygasslight.blogspot.com/2010/08/jesse-pomeroy-boston-boy-fiend.html

The eNotes Blog Novembers Teachers Corner Column A Guide to Summative and FormativeAssessments

Novembers Teachers Corner Column A Guide to Summative and FormativeAssessments Teacher’s Corner is a monthly newsletter from just for teachers. In it, experienced educator and contributor Susan Hurn shares her tips, tricks, and insight into  the world of teaching. Check out this month’s Teacher’s Corner column below, or sign up to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox at . Keeping Up with Assessment and Grading Assessing students’ achievement is an integral part of teaching, and like everything else in the profession, it has become more complicated. The days of giving a chapter test and calling it good are over. That’s not a bad thing though. To really keep tabs on who’s learning what, assessment has to be an ongoing process, and it has to offer kids a variety of ways to show what they know and what they can do. To be thorough and effective, assessment has to include the three main types of measurement: diagnostic, formative, and summative. Diagnostic assessment is imperative, since it’s impossible to know how much ground students have gained at the end of a study unit unless we know where they were at the beginning. Formative assessment checks their learning along the way and provides an opportunity to adjust lesson plans, if necessary, and to address specific problems a struggling student might be experiencing. Summative assessment at the end of a study unit indicates kids’ overall mastery of new material and gives a clear idea about how to proceed in instruction. A review of all six types of assessment can be found  here at edudemic.com.  Another good site with information about assessment practices is  utexas.edu/teaching. Summative assessments are most effective in determining student progress throughout the year when they vary in design and implementation. There are so many different ways to assess students’ knowledge and skills that it wouldn’t be feasible to list them all here, but five come to mind immediately: the five P’s- papers, presentations, projects, products, and portfolios. Check out the site Learner Centered Teaching for some suggestions.  It lists dozens of ways to assess learning in addition to using tests. At some point, assessments become grades to record. Keeping a grade book and reporting students’ grades have become more complicated, too. In days of yore, as you might remember, grades were recorded by hand in strange-looking books that teacherscarried around with them and guarded day and night. Some parents checked on grades occasionally, but most parents relied on grade cards to keep track of their kids’ achievement. Now, grade books throughout the land are electronic, and parents can review grades on line as they are recorded. It’s a plus that parents can see how their children are doing at school week to week, but keeping an electronic grade book up to date is a challenge, especially if you have stacks and stacks of papers to evaluate. Also, many districts now require teachers to record a minimum number of grades each week. There are some ways to keep up in posting grades, however, that also employ good methods of formative and summative assessment. For instance- Formative assessments: All formative assessments shouldn’t be graded, but it’s fair to take a few grades to indicate a student’s progress in achieving specific objectives. A good formative assessment doesn’t have to be time consuming to grade. Short check-up quizzes are easy to grade. A check-up could be as simple as asking the class two or three key questions over the material and having students respond briefly in writing after they hear each question. Having students do a few problems or complete a short worksheet over skills they should have mastered is another quick formative assessment that’s easy to grade. A crossword puzzle could serve as a valid, quick-to-grade formative assessment. With Puzzlemaker you can make your own crosswords, and nine other kinds of puzzles, several of which would be good to use in a formative assessment. Puzzlemaker is quick, easy, and free. Summative assessments: Since grading a comprehensive test usually takes a lot of time, use some other means of summative assessment, or write the kind of test you can grade and record more quickly. Student presentations can be graded with a rubric as you watch them in class. In creating rubrics, use free resources like this one from rubistar.org. It features a large collection of excellent rubrics over subjects in ten areas. You can use the rubrics as they are or easily edit them to measure exactly what you want to assess. Projects, like graphic organizers, take less time to grade than papers. They, too, can be scored quickly with a rubric. When you do use a test in summative assessment, write one that let kids show what they know in several ways and that you can grade in less time. Include a variety of questions- True/False, Fill in the Blank, Matching, Multiple Choice, Completion, and Short Answer Essay. Writing a variety of short answer essay questions and letting students choose two or three to tackle gives them a greater chance to demonstrate their knowledge. Grading several short essays requires less time and concentration than evaluating a long essay that by its nature is limited to one topic. It seems this month’s column has turned into an epic- again! I hope there’s something in it that contributes to your students’ success and makes your work a little easier and even more satisfying. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! See you in December. Susan

Business Terms and Relocation Essays

Business Terms and Relocation Essays Business Terms and Relocation Essay Business Terms and Relocation Essay Risks, Benefits and Costs of Relocation By Prudential Joseph R. Carucci Real Estate Business location continues to be a primary factor in sustaining a company’s competitive position – whether it is a corporate headquarters seeking to get closer to emerging markets, or a back office wanting to reduce operating costs. Companies often find that their current locations no longer provide the competitive advantage they once held. Consequently, they attempt to weigh the risks and benefits of a major relocation along with the costs to determine the viability of relocation. Risks Related to Relocation: By far the most significant risk related to a major relocation for any operation is the potential for business disruption. The outcome could result in the loss of valuable employees (knowledge assets) and distractions from normal business activity during planning and implementation that impact service delivery and customer retention. While the risk of disruption is real, careful planning and implementation can minimize its impact. A special relocation policy can be developed to maximize employee retention. Effective communications can minimize employee distraction and customer concerns. Short-term staff redundancy along with the phasing of relocation can minimize overall impact. Other factors that influence the success of a relocation decision include: Not making an effective location selection decision; Not adequately defining the costs of a relocation; Not making a reasonably accurate attrition calculation; Not engaging in a major relocation because of the fear of failure. Benefits of Relocation A relocation decision needs to achieve a payback in two to three years or less. Since the cost of labor comprises approximately 75% of the total operating cost, picking a location that results in a 10-15% reduction in labor cost is key. Because the majority of staff in a back office are on pay scales that reflect the local market, a significant cost reduction is potentially achievable. Attrition in a back office relocation is usually high (80-90%) depending on the destination. Benefits derived from relocating a company headquarters operation are less concerned with reducing cost and more on strategic positioning of the company. Key objectives focus on gaining access to emerging markets, enhancing the ability to recruit and retain top talent, or making a radical change in corporate culture – all of which send a positive signal to each company stakeholder and support the long-term viability of the company. Employee retention from a typical headquarters relocation is 60-70% and is influenced by the level of interest in the destination, availability of other local job opportunities and family situation. The average cost of relocation per employee is about $50,000, but can vary widely depending on salary, home ownership status and relocation policy provisions. Relocation Cost and Risk/Benefit Analysis Process Risks and benefits will vary for each type of business operation. In a given scenario, a particular condition may be viewed as either a risk or benefit depending on the specific needs of the company. For example, if a company wants to radically change culture and reduce the cost of highly tenured employees, a large percentage of attrition is positive. If there is a significant concern over the potential loss of â€Å"intellectual capital† due to a relocation, the company should have its relocation policy reviewed and incorporate provisions that maximize retention. The analysis process should be comprehensive, and take into consideration short-term risks as well as long-term benefits. Business location consulting firms specialize in preparing relocation analyses and in evaluating relocation alternatives. Factor examined include: retention/attrition of affected employees; one-time costs of relocation and build-out as well as the long-term costs and savings for real estate and labor. The following five-point process will help a company analyze its relocation cost and risk/benefit: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Define location and employment level alternatives. Determine potential employee retention and attrition for alternatives Estimate the one-time costs of relocation, attrition, new staff recruiting/training, etc. Estimate the incremental ongoing cost/savings over a specified period related to the cost of real estate and labor, facility improvements and lease penalties. Identify both the risks and benefits to the company for each location scenario. Whether it’s a short or long-distance relocation, this analysis process will help your company better understand the risks, benefits and costs of relocation.

Mini CVs and pen portraits for management consultants - Emphasis

Mini CVs and pen portraits for management consultants Mini CVs and pen portraits for management consultants When inviting a bid, clients sometimes ask you to include mini biographies, also known as pen portraits, of the potential team. Here, we show you   how to treat this as an opportunity to sell your company.   Focusing on the client’s needs and objectives is just as important in this section as it is in every other part of a bid. Most people read shorter, more easily digested chunks of information first. Mini CVs tend to (or at least should) fit this brief, so clients will often read these during their first flick through the bid document. It may even be the first section they read – and therefore your first opportunity to sell your team and your company. On the other hand, the client may read them once they have pretty much made up their minds to use you – in which case you want to confirm in their minds that you have assembled the right team for the job. Consider whether you want to include every potential team member, or just the senior figures. Do you know exactly who will be on the team, or will that be decided later? To keep it concise, perhaps write full portraits for the key members of the team and give just a brief outline of other potential team members. Your CV summaries need to be as targeted as the rest of the bid. So be sure to:   keep them short   give only relevant information   use specific examples   tie all information back to the project in hand   avoid clichà ©s (such as ‘client-centred advice’ and ‘proactive’). Dont do this David Stevens qualified as a management consultant in 1986 while at Smith Watson. He joined our Barking office when it was still owned by Stanford Prentice, a local management consultancy that had been established in the region for more than 80 years. David has worked for a wide and varying range of clients, and has experience of working with retail, law, agriculture, manufacturing and voluntary-sector organisations. He is also the author of a number of management consultancy guides, including The Stevens Method, which was first printed in 1995 and has been reprinted twice since. He is married to Clara and has two children – James and Isobel. He is also an avid football fan and sits on the board at Lincoln City FC. Instead, do this David Stevens – Senior Consultant Davids role will be to:   Keep you up to date through regular project meetings.   Control and authorise the project’s progress and be accountable for achieving its objectives. David has focused on work with retail businesses in the past five years, before which he specialised in voluntary-sector organisations. He is therefore particularly adept at designing and building new operating processes in businesses such as this, as well as delivering robust communication plans to ensure that all employees are engaged with the objectives of the project. He is also a leading member of our Employee Solutions team, and has a particular interest in employee share schemes and capital tax planning. Keep it relevant Remember to tie all the information back to the project in question – if you can’t, then it’s not relevant; and if it’s not relevant, it’s not helping your bid. Want more advice on writing bids? Read about our in-company   High-impact tender and sales proposal writing course. Or, if you want to train only one or two people, check out our open course sessions. Alternatively, give us a call on   +44 (0)1273 732 888. All businesses referred to in this article are fictional. To learn more about making  report writing a much easier and less painful task, check out our free webinar  recording How to turn your expert analysis into exceptional reports.  Its ideal if you have to write reports to colleagues and clients as part of your day-to-day job – whether thats as a traditional written report or as a slide deck.

Eat Local Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Eat Local - Assignment Example The mere appearance of the burger was enticing. On consumption, I articulated its tasty nature to the regular and fast deliveries covered from the farm to the restaurant. Further, the organic farming practices and sustainable strategies used by the farm in outsourcing other products contributed to the food’s value. I ate mashed potatoes served with beef stew on the second day, whose ingredients emanated from Buckleberry Farm. It was realistic from the cost analysis that the farm stipulated reduced prices for its products prices citing to the reduced costs of the meals (Miller, 2014). For instance, the burger sold at $7 compared to the other burgers that cost $7.9 in the competing restaurants. The perception held following the meal’s consumption was that â€Å"local† food represented any supplies bred under sustainable and socio friendly methods within the US (Schindler, 2014). I concluded that eating local food was a healthy and an economical practice worth embra cing. In the contemporary global community, the majority human population prefers organic to inorganic foods. The perception is that organic agricultural foods are healthy compared to those grown under inorganic practices. It is arguable that the former practices include toxic elements that harm flora and fauna. The highlighted aspect prevails amongst other benefits accrued from the solution to consume locally grown and processed foods. The production and processing of the food at Buckleberry Farm is subject to strategic measures that guarantee hygiene and fast delivery thereafter. Arguably, the locally produced food will cost less compared to similar foreign or distant products in Eugene, Oregon. The freshness of local foods is evident from the practices embraced by the stakeholders (Miller, 2014). Foreign foods are subject to costly processes from production to marketing. In the end, outsourcing of the foreign foods incurs