ILM3 Management Understanding how to motivate to improve performance free essay sample

Understand the factors that influence motivation levels in the workplace We can define motivation as the desire and willingness to do something and the inner force that helps individuals achieve their goals. Understanding what motivates employees and what employers can do to motivate their employees has been the focus of research for many years. This is mainly because motivated employees can provide an organisation with a distinctive advantage and a competitive edge and by being more productive they can help the organisation thrive and survive. In a public service organisation such as West North West Homes we would expect staff to be motivated partly by the desire to have a positive impact on others. Someone working within a sales team may be expected to be motivated by making progress and ‘winning’. However it must also be considered that a person working within the social sector needs reward and progression. A sales person may also be motivated by providing an excellent service to the customer and having a positive impact on others. It is often considered that money is the defining factor in staff motivation. However when asked to rank a range of factors that relate to personal motivation, money often features less in choosing a job. There are also many other factors that affect motivation; however research shows that two of the largest contributory factors are the cultural and environmental facets of an organisation. If negativity exists in either of these components employee motivation has a good potential of spiralling downwards. In my experience, if an organisation cultural atmosphere is plagued with negativity this can have a terrible effect on the mind set of employees which can be difficult to change. Employers who invest time and effort into developing a positive working environment often find their employees are happier and this attitude becomes part of the organisations culture. However if no effort is given to this a wave of pessimism can overtake and result in low morale and motivation because there is nothing positive to strive towards. Environmental conditions tend also to impact on motivation in the workplace. I work in an office that is sparse with bad air ventilation, and bad lighting that can sometimes give me headaches, this can slow down my productivity and can lead me to be becoming less motivated. I feel that if employees are motivated, the environment should promote efficiency and allow staff to be comfortable and have the tools needed to do a good job. There are many other contributing factors that effect motivation in the workplace.  These include staff reward and recognition, security and job advancement and feeling of respect. Employees who lack motivation are more likely to be sloppy within their work, but on the other hand if they are valued and provided with some initiative they will probably take more pride in their work and strive to do better. Job security can result in higher motivation. WNWHL has recently gone through the process of a review which meant many employees have spent each day worrying whether or not they are going to get the axe, this can become distracting, and fear can overtake concentration abilities. Employees are also more willing to work hard if they can see advancement opportunities. If I were to consider what motivates me in the workplace, respect would probably be second on my list. A lack of respect would lead me to have poor motivation, and I don’t think anyone would like to be treated poorly and without respect. When I have respect from my manager I feel I’m more apt to respond and will go out of my way to meet the mission and goals of my organisation. Obviously it is important to remember that respect is a two way street. As I mentioned respect would come second on the list of my five core values, listed are the other values I feel I could not function without: †¢Having a positive impact †¢Personal development †¢Flexibility †¢Recognition The work place brings together people from different backgrounds, philosophies, cultures and personalities. I am happy to say I work in a diverse organisation, which I feel can encourage cooperation, teamwork and creative thinking. Personality differences can mean that individuals take varying approaches to work style and interacting with other employees, managers, clients and competitors. When employers understand how personality affect behaviour in the workplace this can help determine what motivates the employees to perform or behave in a certain way. Workplace motivation can be influenced by individual differences. Using Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Test my personal intelligence is classed as Interpersonal. People with Interpersonal characteristics have the ability to relate to others, they understand the relationship between people and their situation and have excellent communication skills. The preferred learning style is human  contact, communications, cooperation and team work. Gardener identified six other types of intelligence: †¢Linguistic: interested in words and language †¢Logical-mathematical: logical thinkers †¢Musical: has musical ability †¢Bodily-kinaesthetic: good body movement and control †¢Spatial-Visual: has great visual and special perception †¢Intrapersonal: is very self-aware Interpersonal people have high emotional intelligence which fits in with my role as a Tenancy Support Officer. It is a good fit with job roles that involve counselling, support, advice, holistic services. Psychologists, doctors, healers, carers and coaches are other examples of roles that fit into this intelligence. People who work in these roles often find a sense of achievement from having a positive impact on other. If a person’s job role is not in natural fit with their intelligence style they may lack motivation and become disinterested in their role. In organisations such as WNWHL we pride ourselves on putting the customer first and going the extra mile. If employees were fitted into roles within the organisation which were not of their calling the company ethos may go out of the window which would have a negative impact on the organisation as a whole. If a customer had a bad experience with a representative of WNWHL this would make it harder for other representatives of the company to get the customer to engage. This would then have a negative impact on a team as other team members may feel they are having to over compensated for someone who isn’t ‘pulling their weight’. This could lead to stress and disharmony within a team which in turn could affect other productivity and motivation, affecting the overall performance of the organisation. Understand how a theory of motivation can be used to improve performance levels Maslow (1943) put forward the ’hierarchy of needs theory’ which saw human needs in a form of hierarchy, ascending from the lowest to the highest. He argued that the lower level needs had to be satisfied before the next higher level need and once one set of needs is satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a motivator. The five needs are: †¢Physiological needs – These are the most basic human needs which are important for sustenance like food, water, shelter, sleep etc. Maslow argued that unless physiological needs are satisfied to a degree, no  other motivating factor can work. †¢Safety or security needs – These are needs to be free of physical danger and emotional harm like fear of losing a job, property, food or shelter. It relates to security, protection and stability in the personal events of everyday life. †¢Social needs- These are needs for love, affection and belongingness and social acceptance. †¢Esteem – Once people’s social needs are satisfied, they look for esteem. This need produces satisfaction with power, prestige and self-confidence. It includes both internal esteem factors like self-respect, autonomy, achievement and external factors such as recognition and attention as well as a personal sense of competence. †¢Self-actualisation – This need is the drive to become what one is capable of becoming. It’s the need to grow and use abilities to the fullest potential. It includes growth and self-fulfilment by achieving one’s potential to accomplish something. Looking at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs triangle, as each need is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant e.g. esteem needs become more dominant after social needs are satisfied. Once a need is substantially satisfied, its stop to be motivating. The crux of Maslow’s theory is focus on finding out the level of hierarchy the person is in and focusing on satisfying their needs and the needs above it. Maslow’s theory has been used by many employees across the globe. The theory’s ease of understanding and intuitive logic makes it easy to implement, but there is no empirical evidence to validate the theory and there is no metric to measure the success of the theory after being implemented. So the quantitate impact of Maslow’s theories cannot accurately be measured. Frederick Herzberg’s (1959) famous quote says ‘If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do’. Herzberg’s motivational theory has a two component approach and is known as the two-factor theory. His theory suggests that things that prevent dissatisfaction are not the same things that create satisfaction. (Herzberg 1959) When people are dissatisfied (de-motivated) with their work it is usually because of discontent with environmental factors which he terms as ‘Hygiene Factors’. These hygiene factors include things such as security, status, relationship with subordinates, personal life, salary, work conditions, relationship with manager, company policy and administration. These are the factors whose presence in the organisation are natural and do not lead to motivation; however its absence does not lead to de-motivation. Hygiene factors include the work and the organisational environment. The second component of the theory involves factors whose absence causes no dissatisfaction but whose presence has a huge motivational value. Herzberg terms these factors as ‘Motivational factors’ which are factors such as growth prospects, career progression and advancement, responsibility, challenges, recognition and achievement. The theory concentrates around the fact that the opposite of satisfaction in not dissatisfaction and merely removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job does not necessarily make the job satisfying. Herzberg stresses that both the approaches (hygiene and motivational) should be done simultaneously to be effective. There are similarities here with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in that the best outcome is that of a person being able to achieve a level of self-actualisation. Good working conditions where staff can develop and grow keeps them motivated. This will in turn be reflected in the organisational output and quality of the work being done. Job satisfaction and personal fulfilment will improve productivity more sustainably then simply providing for basic needs. Using the theories I have mentioned to improve employee’s performance would require an employer to recognise their personal differences and have a commitment to their development. Within WNWHL we have regular one-to-ones, appraisals and performance reviews. We discuss how we can improve the service and overall team performance in staff meetings. Twice a year employees of WNWHL attend staff briefings where teams and individuals are rewarded for their exceptional performance. There is also a buzz magazine that goes out to customer and employees where personal and team achievements are congratulated. Using Frederick Herzberg’s theory it is necessary that any ‘hygiene’ needs of staff are met. In the Tenancy support team we work with individuals in their homes, so a lone working policy ensures our safety. We ensure that any issues within the team are addressed straight away within team meetings, this ensures good relationships. It is important to keep a work life balance we are able to do this within our team through working flexi-time. This means that members of the team who have children can address child care and we are able to attend personal appointments. As stated in Herzberg’s theory ‘motivational factors’ such as responsibility,  challenges, recognition and achievement have a huge motivational value. Employees can use performance review and appraisals to find out what truly motivates their employees. It is important that employees are given constructive feedback on their performance which is balanced, by feeding forward and focusing on the future. This can give employees a clearer understanding of what is expected from them. Regular feedback can provide staff with a sense of achievement. If employees set targets and personal development goals within this process it can build the confidence and skills of employees. Employers need to get to know their staff and know what makes them tick. By understanding the different personality types or ‘intelligence’s’ in their team they can identify the suited roles and what developmental needs they have. This can also be addressed with training and shadowing opportunities. To reap the benefits of an engaged workforce an organisation must drive higher levels of employee engagement by taking meaningful and visible action on the issues that matter most to the employee. They must then align the employees with the organisations goals and objectives, so they can focus their motivation and vision on the tasks that matter the most to the organisations success. Performance appraisals can achieve this if they are done properly. An effective appraisal should look at the employee’s progress towards goals, and standards of performance. This can develop employees by providing them with helpful feedback that can reengage them in their roles and align them with the organisations objectives. Effective employers engage their employees by: †¢Preparing for meeting †¢Providing honest and constructive feedback †¢Focussing on their development †¢Identifying obstacles †¢Connecting the employees work to the bigger picture If the feedback that is given is negative it will have a negative impact on motivation. Identification of what the employee has achieved and what needs to improve will be more encouraging. There is no point dwelling on the past. It is more motivating for anyone to build on positives and how to develop in the future. It is also important to engage employees with their teams through team building and team meetings. In the tenancy support team we are asked to collect information on team performance which shows what positive outcomes we have achieved. This is very encouraging as we can see what a positive impact we are having within the organisation and on other people’s lives. For me this is very motivating as having a positive impact is at the top of my list of core values. Our manager is also looking to raise the profile of our team by sending positive outcome stories to the buzz magazine, which will meet my core need of recognition and achievement.

My Autobiography free essay sample

I was born September tenth nineteen ninety two in Montgomery Alabama. My mom, Dr. Benita Cahalane is the Special Education coordinator for Chilton County. My dad, Rick Cahalane is a football coach, and History teacher at Stanhope Elmore. My parents were told that they were never going to be able to have children after my mom’s fifth miscarriage. After praying for seven years, I was born. I was, and still am considered a miracle. My childhood was normal. When I was three, my mom was offered a job as a professor, at Mississippi State University. So, we moved to Starkville, Mississippi. I attended elementary school there, and started taking ballet. The ballet teacher, was one of my of my mom’s students at Mississippi State. I took ballet, for a total of one whole day, and quickly got kicked out of the class. My mom received a phone call from her student, saying that I would not join the group. We will write a custom essay sample on My Autobiography or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I wanted to do my own dance in the corner. That would not be the last time I chose to do my own dance. When I was in third grade, my mom told me my Poppy had cancer, and that my Grammy was having trouble keeping up with the house with him being so sick. After that, we picked up, and moved back to Alabama to live with my Grammy. I then, started school at Clanton Intermediate School. I made tons of new friends, and enjoyed being apart of the Gifted Program there. Before I started the eighth grade, I transferred schools again. This time, I transferred to Marbury High School. My mom and most of my family graduated from there. My Grammy, was the secretary there for thirty years, and my Poppy, was the Agriculture teacher there for forty years. My first year, I ran for Student Government and won! I represented my whole grade for the year. As the representative for my grade, I voiced the changes that they wanted to see happen. I made lots of new friends at my new school, and enjoyed going to football games. I was the water girl for the Marbury High School football team for two years. It was so much fun being a part of the team. My ninth and tenth grade years at Marbury were great! I made good grades, and had great friends. My tenth year, I started dating my boyfriend at the time Shane Sneed. It was a very unhealthy relationship that leaded me to using drugs. After we broke up, I started to use drugs like cocaine, marijuana, and pills. My eleventh grade year, I got worse on drugs. Halfway through my junior year, I got expelled from Marbury High School. I got expelled, for having drugs on school property, like cocaine, marijuana, and other contraband. After I got expelled, my parents were now fully aware of my horrible drug problem. They sent me to a drug rehab, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, called Narconon. I was there for a total of six months, working my way through the program. I really wanted to be sober, and make my parents proud of me. So, I worked really hard on the program, trying to make sure when I left that I would stay sober. I learned so much, like how to not let others influence my behavior, and actions. After I finished the program, I was truly happy, and sober again. I was ready to get my life back on track. I missed so much of school, while I was in rehab that I decided to drop out of high school. I took the test for my General Education Diploma. I did so well on the test my very first time, that the General Education Diploma Program paid for two of my classes I took at Jeff State last year. So, I started college a year earlier than I would have if I had not dropped out. I made straight A’s last year and intend to continue making good grades this year. I am majoring in Psychology, and I am very excited about my bright and exciting future.

A Beginners Guide to Statistics

A Beginners Guide to Statistics How many calories did each of us eat for breakfast? How far from home did everyone travel today? How big is the place that we call home? How many other people call it home? To make sense of all of this information, certain tools and ways of thinking are necessary. The mathematical science called statistics is what helps us to deal with this information overload. Statistics is the study of numerical information, called data. Statisticians acquire, organize, and analyze data. Each part of this process is also scrutinized. The techniques of statistics are applied to a multitude of other areas of knowledge. Below is an introduction to some of the main topics throughout statistics. Populations and Samples One of the recurring themes of statistics is that we are able to say something about a large group based on the study of a relatively small portion of that group. The group as a whole is known as the population. The portion of the group that we study is the sample. As an example of this, suppose we wanted to know the average height of people living in the United States. We could try to measure over 300 million people, but this would be infeasible. It would be a logistical nightmare conduct the measurements in such a way that no one was missed and no one was counted twice. Due to the impossible nature of measuring everyone in the United States, we could instead use statistics. Rather than finding the heights of everyone in the population, we take a statistical sample of a few thousand. If we have sampled the population correctly, then the average height of the sample will be very close to the average height of the population. Acquiring Data To draw good conclusions, we need good data to work with. The way that we sample a population to obtain this data should always be scrutinized. Which kind of sample we use depends on what question we’re asking about the population. The most commonly used samples are: Simple RandomStratifiedClustered It’s equally important to know how the measurement of the sample is conducted. To go back to the above example, how do we acquire the heights of those in our sample? Do we let people report their own height on a questionnaire?Do several researchers throughout the country measure different people and report their results?Does a single researcher measure everyone in the sample with the same tape measure? Each of these ways of obtaining the data has its advantages and drawbacks. Anyone using the data from this study would want to know how it was obtained. Organizing the Data Sometimes there is a multitude of data, and we can literally get lost in all of the details. It’s hard to see the forest for the trees. That’s why it’s important to keep our data well organized. Careful organization and graphical displays of the data help us to spot patterns and trends before we actually do any calculations. Since the way that we graphically present our data depends upon a variety of factors. Common graphs are: Pie charts or circle graphsBar or pareto graphsScatterplotsTime plotsStem and leaf plotsBox and whisker graphs In addition to these well-known graphs, there are others that are used in specialized situations. Descriptive Statistics One way to analyze data is called descriptive statistics. Here the goal is to calculate quantities that describe our data. Numbers called the mean, median and mode are all used to indicate the average or center of the data. The range and standard deviation are used to say how spread out the data is. More complicated techniques, such as correlation and regression describe data that is paired. Inferential Statistics When we begin with a sample and then try to infer something about the population, we are using inferential statistics. In working with this area of statistics, the topic of hypothesis testing arises. Here we see the scientific nature of the subject of statistics, as we state a hypothesis, then use statistical tools with our sample to determine the likelihood that we need to reject the hypothesis or not. This explanation is really just scratching the surface of this very useful part of statistics. Applications of Statistics It is no exaggeration to say that the tools of statistics are used by nearly every field of scientific research. Here are a few areas that rely heavily on statistics: PsychologyEconomicsMedicineAdvertisingDemography The Foundations of Statistics Although some think of statistics as a branch of mathematics, it is better to think of it as a discipline that is founded upon mathematics. Specifically, statistics is built up from the field of mathematics known as probability. Probability gives us a way to determine how likely an event is to occur. It also gives us a way to talk about randomness. This is key to statistics because the typical sample needs to be randomly selected from the population. Probability was first studied in the 1700s by mathematicians such as Pascal and Fermat. The 1700s also marked the beginning of statistics. Statistics continued to grow from its probability roots and really took off in the 1800s. Today, it’s theoretical scope continues to be enlarged in what is known as mathematical statistics.

Free Essays on Addictions

In this research paper I am asked to identify a social problem that is of interest to me. A social problem refers to a group of people, or a practice, that is considered deviant or contrary to what constitutes a â€Å"normal† or â€Å"valid† society. It is created with the assumption that the behaviour or group is universally considered problematic, or different from the norms of society. The word â€Å"problem† must be placed in context with a dichotomy of non-problem, or â€Å"right†. One can not define what is wrong with out having a comparable situation from which to draw conclusions. It is therefore the people within society who wield power who define this problem. They create the discourse of social problems, and then label what they see. This paper will focus on the social problem, labelled as addictions. I will not focus on any particular type of addiction, but will reference from the two major groups: substance abuse, and behavioural addiction. By referencing several types of addiction, I will establish that addiction stems from more than the current consensus to genetic predisposition. Recent research on the effects of drugs points us toward the conclusion that addiction is something very different from what we have thought it to be. To begin with, there is no necessary connection between addiction and drugs, or, more especially, the opiates (opium, heroin, and morphine). More precisely, addiction has little to do with what drugs contain, although it has a lot to do with what we think drugs can do to us. People often react physically to a placebo- a chemically neutral substance that is presented as being, say, morphine or some powerful medication- just as though it were the real thing. Psychological studies have shown that the way people react to drugs in general is as much a function of their cultural background, expectations, and emotional involvement in the situation as of the chemistry of the drug. T... Free Essays on Addictions Free Essays on Addictions In this research paper I am asked to identify a social problem that is of interest to me. A social problem refers to a group of people, or a practice, that is considered deviant or contrary to what constitutes a â€Å"normal† or â€Å"valid† society. It is created with the assumption that the behaviour or group is universally considered problematic, or different from the norms of society. The word â€Å"problem† must be placed in context with a dichotomy of non-problem, or â€Å"right†. One can not define what is wrong with out having a comparable situation from which to draw conclusions. It is therefore the people within society who wield power who define this problem. They create the discourse of social problems, and then label what they see. This paper will focus on the social problem, labelled as addictions. I will not focus on any particular type of addiction, but will reference from the two major groups: substance abuse, and behavioural addiction. By referencing several types of addiction, I will establish that addiction stems from more than the current consensus to genetic predisposition. Recent research on the effects of drugs points us toward the conclusion that addiction is something very different from what we have thought it to be. To begin with, there is no necessary connection between addiction and drugs, or, more especially, the opiates (opium, heroin, and morphine). More precisely, addiction has little to do with what drugs contain, although it has a lot to do with what we think drugs can do to us. People often react physically to a placebo- a chemically neutral substance that is presented as being, say, morphine or some powerful medication- just as though it were the real thing. Psychological studies have shown that the way people react to drugs in general is as much a function of their cultural background, expectations, and emotional involvement in the situation as of the chemistry of the drug. T... Free Essays on Addictions In this research paper I am asked to identify a social problem that is of interest to me. A social problem refers to a group of people, or a practice, that is considered deviant or contrary to what constitutes a â€Å"normal† or â€Å"valid† society. It is created with the assumption that the behaviour or group is universally considered problematic, or different from the norms of society. The word â€Å"problem† must be placed in context with a dichotomy of non-problem, or â€Å"right†. One can not define what is wrong with out having a comparable situation from which to draw conclusions. It is therefore the people within society who wield power who define this problem. They create the discourse of social problems, and then label what they see. This paper will focus on the social problem, labelled as addictions. I will not focus on any particular type of addiction, but will reference from the two major groups: substance abuse, and behavioural addiction. By referencing several types of addiction, I will establish that addiction stems from more than the current consensus to genetic predisposition. Recent research on the effects of drugs points us toward the conclusion that addiction is something very different from what we have thought it to be. To begin with, there is no necessary connection between addiction and drugs, or, more especially, the opiates (opium, heroin, and morphine). More precisely, addiction has little to do with what drugs contain, although it has a lot to do with what we think drugs can do to us. People often react physically to a placebo- a chemically neutral substance that is presented as being, say, morphine or some powerful medication- just as though it were the real thing. Psychological studies have shown that the way people react to drugs in general is as much a function of their cultural background, expectations, and emotional involvement in the situation as of the chemistry of the drug. T... Free Essays on Addictions Physical and psychological addictions are very alike and very different at the same time. Addiction means that the person addicted thrives on the substance or action. Physical addictions like alcoholism and heroin are sometimes very noticeable yet, psychological addictions like gambling are very hard to diagnose. A similarity between the two types of addictions are the stages that lead up to a full blown addiction. Addictions go through many stages before reaching the pinnacle of an addiction. For example, a gambler will first start off betting a dollar, then two, then ten, then a hundred until finally the gambler is broke. An example for a physical addiction would be the stages that lead to becoming a true alcoholic. It will all start with one beer, , then Jell-O shooters, then a margarita, then just drinking liquor straight up out of the bottle, then who knows what the drinker will turn to next. After going through all of these stages the term used for the addiction is usually dise ase because the addiction is going to slowly kill the person addicted. Though the term addiction is usually thought of as someone on drugs or drinking, many normal everyday people are addicted to the one thing everyone has a little of everyday, caffeine. Caffeine is one of North America’s leading addictions prevalent amongst teenagers. Caffeine is found in chocolate, soda, coffee, and tea. In conclusion, this shows that many things can become addictive. No matter what the addiction it is not good. If more people would realize this there would be less of an addiction crisis than there is today....

Advertising and Marketing Communications of Stella McCartney Assignment - 1

Advertising and Marketing Communications of Stella McCartney - Assignment Example led to the brand’s involvement in the design of Olympic kits for all the competition for both Paralympic games and London Olympics in the year 2012. Stella McCartney was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Arts London. Stella McCartney is a modern designer brand that is popular for wearable and aspirational. Stella McCartney’s collection includes accessories, women’s ready-to-wear, eyewear, lingerie, fragrance, and kids wear. This brand is clearly conspicuous due to the blend of femininity and masculinity with the signature style that is characterized by natural confidence and sharp tailoring. Ecological and ethical values seem to be the core of this brand. This brand does not use leather, exotic skins, or fur in its products. However, the brand is well known for the vast use of innovation and creativity. Their products are produced using bio-synthetic and organic materials. At the moment, the brand operates 23 different stores in various locations, including London’s BromptonCross and Mayfair, Paris’ Palais Royal, Los Angeles’ West Hollywood, Tokyo, and Milan. At the moment, the brand collections are now available in more than 50 countries through wholesale accounts that include department stores and specialty shops. The brand has 600 wholesale accounts. However, the brand is also available in 100 couturiers through online sales. One of the communication efforts that have been used by the brand previously is the scholarship of design students who adhere to the brand’s ethical perceptions. This has been particularly effective in raising awareness about the brand’s corporate value. The band would also introduce their products through online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, mobile application and partnership with department shops. These communication strategies have in a way worked well for the brand in the past.

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 14

Philosophy - Essay Example Consequences of an action should be important criteria for the people. Velasquez has maintained that various philosophers like Bantham had pursued the philosophy that actions, which result in maximum happiness for maximum number of people, are invariable good and therefore, the end justifies the means if it generates happiness for people. Popularised as act utilitarian theory, the actions, that are designed to benefit or have beneficial cascading effects on others, are morally and ethically right. Morality can only be defined by rationalizing about ‘whether one is inflicting evil on others’. Emmanuel Kant has been emphatic that moral obligations are imperatives and his two Rules define the categorical imperatives: Rules of Universality; and Rules of Respect. The first one makes says that people at all time must act appropriately and the second rules promotes the value of respect and says that well being al all individuals is important and therefore, one should not use others for their own vested interests. Velasquez has preferred the moderated version of Kantian philosophy and believes that people must act in the manner that minimizes harm and promotes happiness amongst maximum number of people. No, ethics are not based on virtues. Virtues can be broadly defined as highly recommending characteristics of moral principles that people aspire for but they are not mandatory code of conduct. Ethics, on the other hand are value based conduct that are needed to lead a worthy life which serves the benefit of the people at large. Therefore, a person may aspire to be generous and honest in his working, but even if he is not generous or honest but he does not harm others by his actions, he will not be considered unethical. The philosophy is part and parcel of every human being and he or she exhibit it through the wisdom and individual perspectives

Southern Cuisine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Southern Cuisine - Essay Example The term ‘barbeque’, according to Tar Heel Magazine, originates from the name of a North Carolina bar that operated in the 1800’s. The establishment advertised its name as Bar-Beer-Cue-Pig because it had pool tables (Cue), served liquor and beer (Bar/Beer) and specialized in roasted pig. Pork was a main staple of Southerners’ diet during that time because pigs were easy to maintain, inexpensive, easy to transport and by all accounts, delicious. â€Å"In the pre-Civil War period, Southerners ate, on average, five pounds of pork for every one pound of beef† (Gray, 1982: 27). Pigs don’t need a fence like cows do; they could be turned out to a forest then re-caught when the supply of food ran low. The slaughtering of a pig meant that it was time for a party. All of the neighbors, most supplying a side dish, would be invited or invite themselves to join in the feast. â€Å"In the south, barbeque is pig; slow smoked, chopped, and served on white br ead or buns. Side dishes usually include slaw which is often packed in the bun with the barbeque and hush puppies – small pieces of cornbread deep fried. Slaws vary from mild white to spicy red† (Allison, 2007). Other sides include potato salad with mustard or mayonnaise base, baked beans and possibly a green bean casserole. Roasted corn-on-the-cob is popular particularly in South Texas. Watermelon is a popular dessert following a barbeque. The tradition of barbeque in the South emanated from these types of congregations and had been well-established by the beginning of the 1800’s. It was â€Å"in the fifty years before the Civil War that the traditions associated with large barbecues became entrenched. Plantation owners regularly held large and festive barbecues, including ‘pig pickin’s’ for slaves† (Hilliard, 1972: 59). A church picnic in the South, then as well