Courtroom Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Courtroom Technology - Essay Example The result was a massive media spectacle. Some judges disapprove of cameras in the courtroom, suggesting that judges may end up playing up to the camera. It is generally considered a negative thing to have a great deal of media attention surrounding a trial as it may prejudice those involved. Different jurisdictions have different rules relating to this issue. Indeed, even some Supreme Court Justices have been somewhat schizophrenic on this issue. A few years ago, Justice Antonin Scalia, who has always taken a hard line against technology in the courtroom, expanded the notion of where technology was acceptable during a public speech he gave: During an April 7 speech by Scalia at a high school in Hattiesburg, a deputy federal marshal, Melanie Rube, demanded that AP reporter Denise Grones and Hattiesburg American reporter Antoinette Konz erase recordings of the justice's remarks. The reporters had not been told before the speech that they could not use tape recorders. When Grones resis ted, the marshal took the digital recorder out of her hands. The reporter then showed Rube how to erase the recording (AP). This issue caused a great deal of controversy at the time, and eventually led to an apology. Nevertheless, it has been reported that Justice Scalia is fond of the Ipad and uses it regularly. Clearly, the position of courts have everywhere have been evolving over the years. A timeline would suggest they have moved from conservative restriction to a more permissive, liberal approach. Standards vary from one jurisdiction and one judge to another. Indeed, other supreme court judges have been equally happy about the result of technology in the courtroom. One of the court's recent appointees, Justice Kagan, has the following to say about the huge amount of legal pleadings that justices have to work their way through: â€Å"At times there are as many as 50 friend-of-the-court briefs for one case. That is on top of the motions submitted directly by the named parties. So there is a lot of reading . . . And you know that's a big part of the job and if a Kindle or an iPad can make it easier, that's terrific" (Beahm). We see that people intimately involved in the judicial system have embraced technology in some ways, while rejecting it in others. We need to find ways to effectively implement technology across the board so long as it is helpful. There are a number of other ways that technology can be useful to those involved in the legal profession. For example, electronic discovery has made life very difficult for many lawyers. The sheer quantity of electronic documents involved in some cases makes it impossible to physically go through every document or email by hand. Special software is required to deal with these large quantities. This software can search through keywords to find important phrases or names. It can dramatically shorten the amount of time required to find what a lawyer is looking for. Both courts and lawyers can work together as pa rtners to develop and implement technologies in the courtroom. One system currently being used is called Digital Evidence Presentation System and allows for electronic, integrated presentation in the courtroom. As one expert says: â€Å"Although attorneys have significant control over the systems in the courtroom, the court has instantaneous override capability. With the touch of a button, a judge can turn off every screen in the courtroom, including the screens in the jury box and the large screen displaying

Procurement route Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Procurement route - Essay Example The clients specify the budgetary constraints to the consultant who are then supposed to determine the targets and requirements from the business case prepared by the client. As the requirements and specification are prepared by different entities, certain amount of time is spent in the transformation and is hence slow in comparison to other approaches. This approach has also not been found to be suitable for complex construction projects due to a lack of prolonged involvement of the client in the design and build, due to which there is a gap between desired outcomes and the actual implementation. There is a greater degree of sub-contracting of certain aspects of the construction to specialized sub contractors due to which work progresses on numerous fronts simultaneously, which is why it is suitable for fast-track and complex projects. An additional management contractor is employed to maintain correspondence with all elements connected with the project involved in the project. This way, the management contractor has full freedom to choose specialized companies to handle specific works of the project qualitatively and at a brisk pace. This approach also provides less cost certainty as both design and construction commence at the same time, which means adjustments and modifications to cost, budget and raw materials always take place. The preceding paragraphs have described the various procurement routes that have evolved as part of the process of procurement. However, not all are suitable in the current context of the issue surrounding the Conlon’s Chemicals site. As such, it is deemed appropriate to evaluate each procurement approach with the given problem and arrive at the most suitable procurement route. The client in this case has only specified the budget and has made it clear that the cost of the two projects have to stay within the specified budget. When considering the traditional

Studying and analysing the performance of UK Gambling 1252 Essay - 1

Studying and analysing the performance of UK Gambling 1252 - Essay Example In order to evaluate the performance of UK’s gambling industry, three leading gambling organizations; Ladbrokes PLC, Rank Group PLC and Sportech PLC’s financial performance has been considered. The report presents rationales for the selection of gambling industry and selection of the three gambling firms to conduct the study (Chalabi, 2014). The researcher has briefly discussed the outlook of the UK gambling industry on the bases of statistical representation and interpretations of three major gambling firms of UK. The report will elaborate about the internal and external factors that have influenced performance of UK gambling industry. Therefore, PEST analysis has been conducted to illustrate about Political, Economical, Social and Technological factors to determine external environmental factors influencing the performance of the industry (Chalabi, 2014). Moreover, legislative and environmental concerns have also been discusses with respect to the recent amendments in laws and regulations of the government that has affected profitability of the firms. The second section of the report focuses internal factors of the gambling industry. Thus, ratio analysis and SWOT analysis have been conducted to determine financial and non financial aspects of firms and industry (Scherer & Palazzo, 2014). The ratio analysis has been conducted using five years financial results of the company obtained from the annual reports and industrial ratios (Fridson & Alvarez, 2011). The ratio analysis has been used as a tool to compare the performance of each firm to provide insight to the financial concerns of the gambling industry. The third section discusses SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats) of the selected firms and industry, as it allows understanding potential opportunities and threats of the UK’s gambling industry. The report would significantly contribute to evaluating and study the performance of gambling industry in UK. It will

Procurement route Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Procurement route - Essay Example The clients specify the budgetary constraints to the consultant who are then supposed to determine the targets and requirements from the business case prepared by the client. As the requirements and specification are prepared by different entities, certain amount of time is spent in the transformation and is hence slow in comparison to other approaches. This approach has also not been found to be suitable for complex construction projects due to a lack of prolonged involvement of the client in the design and build, due to which there is a gap between desired outcomes and the actual implementation. There is a greater degree of sub-contracting of certain aspects of the construction to specialized sub contractors due to which work progresses on numerous fronts simultaneously, which is why it is suitable for fast-track and complex projects. An additional management contractor is employed to maintain correspondence with all elements connected with the project involved in the project. This way, the management contractor has full freedom to choose specialized companies to handle specific works of the project qualitatively and at a brisk pace. This approach also provides less cost certainty as both design and construction commence at the same time, which means adjustments and modifications to cost, budget and raw materials always take place. The preceding paragraphs have described the various procurement routes that have evolved as part of the process of procurement. However, not all are suitable in the current context of the issue surrounding the Conlon’s Chemicals site. As such, it is deemed appropriate to evaluate each procurement approach with the given problem and arrive at the most suitable procurement route. The client in this case has only specified the budget and has made it clear that the cost of the two projects have to stay within the specified budget. When considering the traditional

Psychological Treatment of Culturally Diverse Populations Research Paper

Psychological Treatment of Culturally Diverse Populations - Research Paper Example In contrast in 2000, the numbers fell down to 69%. The U.S. Census Bureau foresees that racial/ethnic minorities will constitute a numeric majority by the year 2050. However, other private researches made by the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Interests (2000) anticipate that this demographic transformation will take place sooner. The following 2000 U.S. Census figures will provide us with an overall idea on some minority groups. The U.S. Census Bureau reported several conclusions on the bases of these statistics. Most importantly, they consider that it is impossible for the mental health clinician not to meet clients who differ in regards to race, ethnicity, and culture. Secondly, what is defined as therapy can vary considerably from the traditional understanding of the mental health professional. And last but not least, mental health workers have to become culturally competent in order to meet the needs of their clients. Attention to diversity and cultural competence and awareness are of great importance for the U.S. society since it has become increasingly diverse. In this paper I will focus my attention on ethical practice with patience from different cultural, ethnic and racial background. I will also concentrate on some recommendations for the psychological treatment of Mexican-American population. The American Psychologica... Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Populations (APA, 1993) suggest comprehensible counseling and flexible perspectives for working with such individuals. It is of great importance that each psychologist remains sensitive to diversity issues and possesses general knowledge about the groups that seek mental health treatment. The American Psychological Association Ethics Code (APA, 1992) requires that psychologists are aware of "cultural, individual, and role differences" and "accord appropriate respect to the fundamental rights, dignity, and worth or all people (Principle D: Respect for People's Rights and Dignity, p. 1599)." Further, the psychologists are instructed by the APA Ethics Code (1992) to acquire the necessary training if he is to work with individuals of diverse background. Having the knowledge about the client's culture will aid the therapist to incorporate into the mental health treatment traditional spiritual and healing customs and will reinforce the partnership between the therapist and the patient. Aviera (2002) reports on multiple occasions when disclosing personal details "helps the Latino client feel that the therapist is a caring and real person (p.18)." Familiarity with one's culture, openness and genuineness of human interactions are of prime significance if the psychologist aims to work effectively with culturally diverse client. According to the numbers provided by the 2000 U.S. Census over 35 million identify themselves as Hispanic, which approximately makes 13 % of the total U.S. population. The majority 58.5% are of Mexican origin. Barona (2003) reports that "many ancestors of present-day Mexican Americans resided on this land when national borders were established more than

Meeting of minds Essay Example for Free

Meeting of minds Essay In what ways does this scene represent 2 characters crossing boundaries and understanding each other a meeting of minds?  The scene automatically has a sense of irony, as both Yolland and Maire both cannot understand a word each other is saying, this means communication was needed to be made in an alternate way, these ways are through the use of identifiable feelings and emotions, as well as paralanguage to indicate the feelings and emotions that the character is trying to express. Throughout their conversation, it would seem unlikely to a person who has just picked up the book that Yolland and Maire do not speak the same language, and therefore cannot fathom what each other is trying to say. This is due to the similarities of speech between the two of them; they always seem to have a vague understanding about what the other person is trying to say. An indication of this is where Maire says, The grass must be wet. My feet are soaking. straight after Yolland points out, The grass must be wet your feet are soaking. It is clear to see the similarities in their speech, although the context is just flipped around, but apart from that it is almost identical. Emphasising this collision, linguistically speaking, is the stage directions, expressing the characters body movement. The way they seem very immature when they realise they are holding hands, then immediately disengage and move apart. Another way that they can be seen as immature is through the basic communication, such as pointing. Knowing that the other person cannot understand what they are saying might be a factor in the characters lexis, especially regarding Yolland where he says Ive been watching you night and day for the past because if Yolland was to say this to Maire and she understood it, she could take it two very different ways, and decide that in fact Yolland is a bit weird. Without the aid of a similar language the characters find another way to communicate, which involves Maire saying English words, which she knows, and Yolland encouraging her, Yes-yes? Go on- go on- say anything at all- I love the sound of your speech. This shows although they cannot understand each other Yolland is fixated by Maire, and there is this chemistry, a bond between them, which they both know, are there but just cant explain it to each other. The communication between the two of them become so intense that Yolland starts reeling of whole sentences, without realising that Maire does not have a clue what he is on about, she just stares at him unknowingly and wondering. It becomes clear that they need some common ground to try to relate with each other this occurs, when Yolland starts saying Irish place names, Maire reciprocates and this carries on as though they are flirting, which leads them back to the way they were, when they ran together, as once again they were holding hands, at this point they exchange their raw feelings without the satisfaction of being understood, they hold each other and tremble in one anothers arms, the lexis leading up to the kiss is very heated, there is a mutual understanding of the word always I believe this to be significant as this is one of the final words before they kiss it just shows the compassion they hold for each other. Unquestionably above everything the connection is a meeting of minds as the only way of really communicating was through paralanguage, and the fact that they are very similar people, with similar thoughts and feelings, about the way they act, the way they speak, and the way they feel for each other. In a way their relationship could be seen as an example to be followed, as if individual Irish and English people can get along and fall in love, whats to say England and Ireland should not at least be able to tolerate each other. Yolland and Maire, by not understanding verbally, will have an extremely deep understanding of each other mind, in turn this may lead to a significantly compassionate relationship, or just a passing phase, however I believe there is a meeting of minds, and the kiss only emphasises the coming together of these two foreign bodies into one.

Research On Compensation And Benefits In Employee Motivation Business Essay

Research On Compensation And Benefits In Employee Motivation Business Essay Abstract (executive summary) One of the biggest challenges facing business entities is the recruitment and retaining employees especially in the 21st century where the interest of employees is not getting employed, but rather in getting satisfaction in their jobs. Many employees come from houses and environments that are violent and chaotic. In the job, such kind of an employee needs to feel happy and forget the home problems. Consequently, employees move from one job to another in search of this environment. One of the ways of keeping these employees is to motivate them, a subject very complex, broad and expensive. The research carried out identifies compensation and benefits of keeping such employees in addition to the other motivational factors. Introduction Employees can very committed to the work assigned and be working very hard. However, if their hard work is not seen and appreciated, they become demoralized and their productivity may diminish considerably (Werner, and DeSimone, 2009). It is believed that human resource is the most valuable and delicate asset of a business though never included in the balance sheet of the corporation. Mistreating them will make the productivity of the business go down and consequently collapse, while appreciating their efforts will encourage them more leading to more production thus growth, development, and expansion of the business with the goals, objectives, vision, and mission in the mind in a bid to achieve them (McNamara). Motivation is one of the factors that keep employees on board, motivates them to work harder and better thus leading to increased productivity and growth of the business. Without motivation, productivity, morale, profits, product, and service delivery becomes at stake. It may be external or internal in nature (Werner, and DeSimone, 2009). The external motivation factors include the non-related work environment including both financial and non-financial aspects. On the other hand, the internal factors are those related to working environment that may include good working relationship, clean working environment and probably use of appropriate tools. Whether internal or external, there should be motivation. Compensation and benefits are reward based motivational factors. Benefit is an indirect reward that an employee gets for being part of the family or the organization (Mathis, and Jackson, 2008). On the other hand, compensation entails the reward that is given to an employee to complement the time or any resource that he might have used. This is going to be the basis of my research and as I present this research paper together with the recommendation, I believe it will see the company go further. Through developing the right strategic planning, steps are going to be taken to support the motivation of your employees (Mathis, and Jackson, 2008). Problem Statement Many organizations including our organization have found it difficult to retain good employees and enhance their productivity. We lose employees to other organizations, especially our competitors who offer them good packages putting our strategies to dealing with the competitors at risk. As a human resource manager, I have come to realize that this is really affecting our organization. After a seriously consultation, there is need for us to come up with strategies that will see us retain most of our employees and improve the companys productivity. As a result, the human resource management team has decided to develop strategy that will compensate our employees increasing the production of the company by 25% in the next 5 years. Review of literature of the recent opinions Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of needs According to Abraham Maslows hierarchy of need, different people are at different level of satisfaction. Discovering which level each employee is at may be difficult complicating the idea behind motivational (Podmoroff, 2005). This aspect of challenge is termed management challenge. It is believed that in the past a person would work for a company for very long period unlike to day where a person within a short span of time has worked for more companies (Podmoroff, 2005). It is there fore very right to assume that employees no longer look for job as a security rather to achieve certain satisfaction, no wonder one keeps on moving from one job to the other. It is therefore very important that in the event that the company wants to keep employees long enough to achieve its goals, we must be keen in motivating them (Javitich, 2004). Fredrick Herzbergs theory of Hygiene and Motivational Factors This theory was developed based on the needs identified by the Abrahams hierarchy of needs. Herzberg divided these needs into two fold; needs focusing on survival while the other need emphasizing on personal growth, very important factors that employees would want in a job (Werner, and DeSimone, 2009). According to him, any factor that satisfies the survival need cannot provide job fulfillment to the fullest. In fact, Podmoroff (2005) says that combination of these two factors may result into four very influential conditions namely, low hygiene, and motivation and high hygiene and motivation. Werner, and DeSimone add that for these to be effective there is need to enrich the job given to the employee which entails providing both hygiene factors and adding the motivational ones. Douglas McGregors Theory X and Theory Y According to McGregors theory X, a person considers work intrinsically unpleasant and as such can do what he can to avoid the work. Theory Y on the other hand starts the contrary of events; a person looks at work as very favorable and would do anything to stay in the job (Podmoroff, 2005). Ensuring performance would there mean that. This calls for different principles to be applied by the management in order to achieve the desired motivational level. Some of the principles may include decentralizing the control of the organization, delegating some of the duties and especially to those who seem to fear job, make job diverse to accept different kind of people, ensure that the employees participate in the management of the organization and performing appraisals for the employees (Randhawa, 2007). Motivation of employee through Incentive compensation According to Gunkel (2006), motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort toward organization goals conditioned by the efforts ability to satisfy some individual needs. He believes that however much the idea of motivation is universal where individuals go ahead to maximize their usefulness by ensuring that the issues or objectives they value most are me, it is limited to the challenging design of the study. Some organizations however, will never offer rewards to its workers when they incur higher costs that the revenues or benefits that they derive from business operations (Gunkel, 2006). To him, motivation can either bee intrinsic, coming from within the individual or extrinsic, any thing an individual gets from another person. Processes theories of motivation by Victor Vroom, Lyman Porter and Edward Lawler, III This theory assumes that any action of an individual is always goal oriented. This means therefore that when the compensation of an individual is directed towards performance, then the employee is likely to perfume better (Gunkel, 2006). . The theory asserts that even with intrinsic motivational factors, hygiene or any other factors discussed above, there still exists the need for an extrinsic power to motivate further the employee say rewards (Gunkel, 2006). Gunkel (2006) further disagrees with the idea that when incentives are give to promote extrinsic motivation, a crowding out effect will be felt between the two that is , a persons internal motivational factors will be corrupted and in many cases may not perform well until the extrinsic motivator comes into play. According to him, this holds no water. Strategic plan for change From the literature review, Processes theory developed by Victor Vroom, Lyman Porter and Edward Lawler III, it is very evident that whether all the factors of motivation come into play without the reward or compensation aspect, then the motivation becomes useless. It is therefore proper that measures be put in place to ensure that the reward aspect of motivation is there. In this regard, the human resource department has seen it worth that will improve the compensation and benefits of the employees. This will not only see our goof workers remain in the company but also enhance the productivity of the company. Our target is to be a leading company with approximately 75% of the market share in the next five years. The compensation and reward scheme that we have developed will also see our company attracting many qualified employees. This will equip the management and the skills of our employees. Better management and qualified skills will ensure that we meet the set objectives within the stipulated period, which is five years. In the recruitment, we shall ensure that we employ the best workers and especially from our competitors. The idea is to know the strengths of our competitors and their weaknesses, developing on them, and devising policies to counter act their strengths. This I believe will make us go a long way in increasing the productivity of this company and make it grow. Pay system support to the business strategy With the introduction of new rewards comprising of the compensation and benefit schemes, it is important for us to enlarge the pay system of our organization. Through this pay system, the method of reward distribution will be easier, faster, and more efficient. The enlargement of the pay system will enable us have more employment opportunities which will lead to recruitment of more employees. The efficiency and effectiveness of the system will see into it that employees get the best working environment. This in turn will enable us meet the set objective of employing more employees and retaining them to increase productivity, market share and out wit the competitors. Our recruitment will majorly concentrate on employees from our competitors. The idea is to discover their weaknesses and strengths and outwit them using the SWOT analysis technique by majoring on their weaknesses. New system and motivation of behavior, Developed system will also help us attract more employees and retain them. This will be achieved by the fact that the working environment will be very conducive to the employees. The motivational factors employed will not be limited to hygiene, and motivational factors as well as a better and efficient system to help us identify the different levels of satisfaction of each employee and try to satisfy them. Efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery makes work easier thus many employees will opt to stay rather than leave for another job that has no aspect of efficiency in it as well as effectiveness of performance in the production process. Final recommendations and possible outcomes (best and worst case scenarios) Finally, based on the data obtained, there is need to make the following recommendations: We need a strategic approach to help us in implementing the changes that we would like to introduce. To assist us in doing this, I would like to recommend that a team be selected form all the departments who will assist in designing a strategy that we will use to implement the changes. Caution however should be taken, as many employees may be resistance to change. In formulating the total compensation scheme, as the one we have offered is a sketchy one, we would like the overall management of the organization, that is the president of the company, to help us with resources including human and other required resources; finances. In addition, a team majorly comprising of the accounts, finance, overall management department and operations management departments should be composed to help in developing the scheme. This is necessary since there will be need to know the revenues and the expenditure as well as get approval from the overall. The human resource department, on my part will come up with ways of evaluating the employees, recruiting, and doing the performance appraisal in conjunction with training and development of the employees. We shall develop efficient ways through which some of the employees will be communicated to the final strategy to prevent any rebellion. In the mean time, I recommend that the accounting and finance department to develop policies and procedures of developing our payment system level. In recruiting, I would like to recommend that we target the employees of our competitors. Through this we shall discover their strengths and weaknesses and take advantage to outwit them in the market. However, I would like you to note that the above recommendation will be very costly to the organization at the on set but once the strategies are implemented, I assure you the benefits derived will far much exceed the costs experience. In effect, it is a long-term plan, five years plan. In addition, the program will not be introduced once but rather in stages and therefore there is no course for alarm. I further recommend that caution be taken when implementation of the various strategies as they are likely to be met by opposition from some employees. Summary/Conclusions In as much as employee motivation may be expensive, it is advisable that we should look at the long-term perspective of the study. The study is very broad and not all employees may be satisfied. In this regard, the human resource management department should work on achieving most of the basic forms of motivation. This include ensuring a better working environment, treating each employee equally, appraising performance of the employees, if possible allow the employees contribute to the management of the company and ensure the reward scheme is very favorable. Meeting all these will ensure that at least 85% of the workers are satisfied with the organization. As a result, many employees will be attracted, the existing ones will be retained as in effect, increased productivity, market share and growth and expansion of the organization. Let organizations take care of the most valuable and delicate asset and this will minimize costs associated with breakdown of machines, ineffective and inefficient work force. References section Gunkel, M. (2006). International Management Studies. Country Compatible Incentive Design: a Comparison of Employees Performance Reward Preferences in Germany and the USA. Wiesbaden: DUV. Javitich, A. (2004). Motivating Employees. Retrieved on November 24, 2010 from http://www.javitch.com/Q/004.pdf Mathis, R.L., Jackson, J.H. (2008). Human Resource Management. 12th Ed. Ohio: Thomson Inc. McNamara, C. Basics about Employee Motivation (Including Steps you can take). Retrieved on November 24, 2010 from http://managementhelp.org/guiding/motivate/basics.htm Podmoroff, D. (2005). 365 Ways to Motivate and Reward your Employees Ever Day-With Little or No Money. Florida : Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. Randhawa, G. (2007). Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers Distributors Werner, J. M., DeSimone, R. L. (2009). Human Resource Development. 5th Ed. Ohio: South Western Cengage Learning.