User Fees Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

User Fees - Coursework Example This paper identifies the four major user fees that are collected in the state of North Carolina and compares their charges. Just as any other state in the United States of America, North Carolina also relies on user fees as one of its major source of revenue. The major user fees collected by the state of North Carolina include recreational and cultural activities fees, solid waste collection and disposal fees, parking fees and highway tools (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008). This fee is charged by the local government for the collection and disposal of solid wastes. The fees charged under this include basic service fee, additional or special service charges, solid waste container fees and collection bag charges (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008). These are fees charged on those who visit recreational and cultural programs such as art galleries, museums, parks, coliseums and libraries. The main fee charged in these programs is the admission charge. However, in public libraries the residents are not charged the admission fee but penalty fees for overdue materials. The state uses these charges or fees to maintain these programs (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008). Parking fees are charged on all parking spaces provided by the state of North Carolina. The fees are either charged on long term or short basis and vary from one county to another. The revenue obtained from these charges is used by the state to support all operating costs (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008). Highway toll fees are charged on every vehicle that uses highway state roads. The charges vary depending on time, collection point and the size of the vehicle. Revenue collected from this charges are used by the state for the maintenance of these roads (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008). Although this paper has only discussed four user fees collected from the public by the state of North Carolina, there are several of them. The fees

The Media Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Media - Research Paper Example In as much as the media stands a vital role in the development of the social order, its fairness in terms of reporting remains questionable. Unfairness issue in the media has been connected to two main reasons. Firstly, it entails the instances of extortion of journalists who reveal the unpleasant facts regarding such vices like; human rights catastrophes, poverty, and environmental abuse. Secondly, the aspect of unfairness along such issues as the racial divide in the mainstream media has led to critics to inquire whether fairness does exist when it comes to reporting by the media. One agency that has always been much concerned about fair reporting is the Fair and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) that was founded in the year 1986 in the US(Forte, 2011). According to the agency, most reporters are involved in partisan statements that reveal half-truths whenever they are reporting in either broadcast or print. The trend is very common more especially in social matters such as environmenta l abuse, human rights abuse and elections. Sociologists refer to mass media as mediated culture whereby, media reflects and at the same time creates the culture(Journalism, media and the challenge of human rights reporting, 2002). Individuals and communities are always bombarded with information from a multitude of media sources. The messages not only promote goods and services, but human being attitudes, moods, and a sense of whatever is important or not important. The modern level of mass media saturation has not always been in existence. In the 1960s and 1970, for example, television primarily consisted of three networks that included public broadcasting and very few local independent broadcasting stations. What is the role of mass media? Media executives, Legislatures, sociologists and local school officials have all discussed this type of controversial question. In as much as ideas vary as to the type and extent of influence the media stands, all parties consent that media

Marriage and the Family- Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marriage and the Family- Psychology - Essay Example The deviation from the family’s traditional division of responsibilities shall be explained in this short paper. It should be noted that the challenges of the family in these modern days are quite different from the ones in the olden days. The family is an institution that ensures that some basic amenities are provided to its entire member; the husband is the head of the marriage institution and is expected to fulfill his responsibility by adequately providing for the social needs of the whole family, but these days wives now lend a helping hand in meeting up with these challenges. Poverty is also responsible for the break in the traditional responsibilities in the family as Lewis puts it, â€Å"the culture of poverty cuts across regional, rural-urban, and even national boundaries the remarkable similarities in family structure, the nature of kinship ties, the quality of husband-wife and parent-child relations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.† (2). The husband is expected to yield to the necessary demands of the wife and their children and when the man of the house does not meet up with his responsibility of catering for the needs of his family, there becomes a problem. Several families witnessed these problems in the past and these have made married women to stand in the gap and assist their husbands in meeting the responsibilities of the family.

Minnie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Minnie - Essay Example In the first stanza it is described about how the "sweet and cute" little Minnie becomes a responsible sister "at the age of four". In spite of her tender age since a baby boy is borne after her she has to take care of him. The line 'you are the big sis' connotes that the caring attitude and attention of the elders is now diverted from the girl child to the baby boy. Not only that, the girl is considered as big enough to take care of her little brother. The girl succumbs to the pressure of the elders and makes "compromises" throughout her childhood. Here "compromises" means the character Minnie has abandoned her rights of being loved and cared in her playful days for the reason that she is borne as a girl child and there is a boy already there who deserves more attention as per social norms. The second stanza provides a good continuity to the narration where Minnie, the character of the poem is in her youthful years. By the line "Wedding bells and diamond ring" it is intended that a girl in her nubile age can be of very romantic and contemplative about the beauties of everything. She dreams of love, romance, and an understanding life partner. The beautiful days, she dreamt of are not so long lasting for her. After marriage she hears from everybody that she has grown up to a "wise woman" and she should make adjustments with her husband, with the in-laws and with every situation. The line "Prudent Woman, respect man" is intended to the voice of the society which clearly speaks of male dominance and their presence at the helm of affairs. The allusion of male chauvinism can be very well deciphered from the above line. The third stanza typically describes the plight of woman particularly during her old age. Minnie is now completely alone. She has her children but has been deserted by all. Though she has poured her love, affection to all members of her family but those are hardly remembered by them. A widow who has not learned to face the challenges of the outer world often cries in the lone life. But what she can do except accepting the situation as they are and making compromises. The poem reiterates the prevalence of gender discrimination in the contemporary society, where woman has to take a backseat in the social hierarchy. Least importance is being given to their cause and comfort. Throughout their life they suffer by adjusting to the adverse situations. A Short Story: Independence Day It was an early awakening for Zayed. He sat and looked at his Grandpa's photograph. Usually, he wakes at six (of course after Mama's yelling), keeps his bedding and sleeping mat in proper place, brushes in few seconds and goes out to bring a pouch of milk. Everyday Zayed used to

Kant's Miscarriage of All Philosophical Trials in Theodicy Essay

Kant's Miscarriage of All Philosophical Trials in Theodicy - Essay Example This paper presents a critique of the Miscarriage of All Philosophical Trials in Theodicy. In his essay, Kant starts by stating that the occurrence of sin on earth disrupts three main attributes of an almighty God.   Kent questions all efforts to think against the question of evil in the essay. In this essay he looks at the holiness of God, secondly, he looks at God’s goodness as a ruler, and God as a judge. These are the major questions in this essay. In the essay, he argued that great intelligence could not be comprehended by an individual’s thought because he perceives it to be higher (Firestone and Palmquist, 2006). According to him, he was right because an individual cannot comprehend supersensible objects within the environment (Firestone and Palmquist, 2006).   From the essay, this cannot be said to be a justification. Therefore, individuals cannot justify God, and they need to understand that thought cannot give accurate responses to God’s justifications.In the essay, there is nothing as counter-purposiveness, which are individual laws that violet human rights. An individual cannot stand for the truth he or she says. However, an individual must always stand for the truth of God’s holiness. It’s this holiness that guides an individual’s consciousness.      In his essay, Kant claims that a human being is only good so long as he or she stays away from sins and deception, or any form of individual deception. He used this thought following individual consciences, because when one behaves without sin he, or she is a good individual. This is challenging because it does not answer the question of holiness. Kant only talks about an individual tendency to deception, and not an individual’s pure reason.  

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. Essay Example for Free

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. Essay The problem associated with this case is whether or not the company should introduce a new energy beverage brand into the market. If a profitable market opportunity exists for the company to enter the energy beverage market the next step would be to identify a target market and marketing mix along with a product line and brand positioning. The best opportunity for the company to gain market share is to target adult energy drinkers from ages 35 to 54 since none of the competitors are catering towards this segment. Bottlers, distributors, and retailers are unlikely to produce and stock more than two SKUs of a new energy drink brand so it would be best to introduce a regular 16ounce single-serve package that consists of two different flavors. Since regular energy beverages hold 80% share of the market selecting regular is best, and since the 16ounce energy drinks represent 50% of case sales in convenience stores and want a high turnover to maintain prevalence in convenience stores its best to go with a 16ounce size. Also having two different flavors to choose from will help increase chance of trial rather than have only one flavor and have regular and sugar free or have one flavor and two different sizes. In positioning the brand the company should differentiate the energy drink from competitors by basis of packaging and select the 16.9ounce single-serve aluminum bottle with a resealable screw cap, and also by ingredients in having lower carbohydrates in the formulation. The energy brand should be distributed to all types of off-premise retailers where beverages are sold for maximum sales. The company’s U.S. media expenditure should be $12.6 million, equal to that of Tag Energy’s U.S. media expenditure which lead to a 2.3% dollar market share, because Tag Energy was also new to the energy beverage market and targeted to a certain demographic the company should experience a similar result. The manufacturer’s suggested retail selling price should be $2.29. Higher than the average $2.00 per single-serve because of it’s unique  point of difference – lower carbohydrates and aluminum bottle with resealable screw cap. Market sales potential for the company’s target market is equal to $1.608 (Exhibit 1) billion and market sales forecast is equal to $133.202 million (Exhibit 2). With a retail trade margin equal to 40% the company’s selling price to retailers would be $.961 (Exhibit 3). Thus from the market sales forecast of $133.202 million the company would receive $79.921 million in revenue, and with the company’s contribution margin of 30% total profit would be equal to $22.378 million (Exhibit 4).

Employee Performance Case Study

Employee Performance Case Study Problems inside the Slough branch and options to improve employee performance There are several key issues that impact the Slough branch. These include poor management, a lack of motivation of employees and ineffective communication between the workforce. The manager is perhaps one of the major problems in this subsidiary because his lack of professional management skills impacts on the employees and their work. As a manager and team leader, one aspect of supporting staff in periods of high demand is to help them manage their time more effectively and thereby help to reduce their stress levels and work pressures. Mr. David Brent, the manager of this branch, fails to do this for his staff. One failure on Brents part is his inability to deal with the impending merger with the Swindon branch. His lack of acknowledgment of the change results in unease amongst the workforce. His attitude in general is poor and he fails to act professionally. It has been suggested that considering training as an investment decision could vastly improve motivation in the workforce[1] but that this should only be done after careful consideration. Looking at the theory of leadership by Burrhus Skinner, an American psychologist, we assume that leadership capabilities are rooted in characteristics possessed by individuals and these skills are not necessarily in every individual[2]. If we consider the theory as true, we can easily conclude that David Brent is not a good leader as he does not have relevant characteristics. Referring to Peter Druckers ideas[3], the leaders job is to prepare people to execute and operate effectively and then give them freedom to do so. David Brent is failing to do this which suggests that specific training would be useful. In this case, introducing training is essential to improve the skills and the attitude of David Brent. With this type of training, the aim should be to change some of David Brents behaviour, par ticularly to his employees. For example, he must change the way he talks to his employees, he does not know how to interact in a professional way with them to the detriment of the managerial relationship. He also does not enforce order; nor does he follow company procedures. If these issues were properly addressed, then there is the possibility that staff motivation may increase knowing that proper leadership is in place. Another issue in this branch is the ineffective communication between all levels and departments of the workforce. This does not allow for improvement in the employees work and it often leads to them being lazy and unproductive and even, on occasions, disrespectful towards their colleagues. The employees, even if they attend some work meetings, are not able to express themselves properly because the manager does not allow them to do so. Instead, he spends much of his time in meetings trying to be friendly and relatable at the expense of communicating issues and tasks with the team. In this case, to improve and increase the communication in this branch, it would be useful to introduce a discussion group once a week[4]. This type of meeting would be with all key employees and the manager to talk about any problems and all situations approaching that week. All staff could be involved in identifying the vital goals and develop procedures and strategies to reach those goals. This session should ideally last about 30 minutes and be on a fixed day each week so that the whole team has a joint focus. Perhaps the biggest factor damaging the employees performance is the impending merger with the Swindon branch; the insecurity of their positions makes them worried. However, due to the poor management, the staff do not feel motivated to work as they are not held accountable for their actions. As they rarely get disciplined for their absence of productivity, they do not feel that they need motivation to work. Also they do not receive any feedback on how they work, meaning they cannot improve their performance or find out if they have done well. All these factors put their jobs at greater risk. One of the ways we could improve motivation in the work force is to consider Lockes theories on motivation and set specific goals for the employees to achieve[5]. Locke set out that it is through working to specific aims set by both manager and employee that a persons work can improve. This could be made possible by introducing one-on-one meetings between the manager and all members of staff. By having regular appraisals employees could track their performance and be motivated to improve as targets appear more achievable. These sessions should be done each week with all employees struggling with meeting their targets. Perhaps if the employees feel more motivated to achieve their targets they could begin to feel more secure in their positions at the company. Overall, I think that we should work very hard to change all the problematic and inappropriate situations because all the lies combined with unprofessional behaviour has deeply damaged the integrity of the Slough branch. Employee Appraisal for Gareth Keenan When deciding what appraisal system to use for Gareth Keenan I looked at many major models to find one which would best show his potential within the company. There are several jobs appraisal systems that could be used, however I have evaluated the strengths of these and concluded that the best system in Keenans case is Wether and Davis Ratings Scale[6]. I first looked at the Checklist method to try to evaluate Gareth Keenans work[7]. This system requires the user to work through a list of the employees capabilities and answer either yes or no. The problem I have found with this system is that it is not very motivational. By answering simply yes or no, the results are stark and it is difficult to motivate Keenan if his appraisal results mainly in no. It could be hard to see if he improved between meetings as this method may not show small improvements he has made. The second appraisal that I looked at is the Forced Choice Method[8]. This method is made in blocks of two or more, and the rater indicates which statement is most or least descriptive compared to the employee. Again, I find this procedure not useful for Gareth Keenan because the many aspects of his job may not be properly framed in this restrictive format. This employee has not got a big personality but he tries, often with bad results, to be a good supervisor and to be appreciated by the manager and the rest of the staff. He needs to see any improvements even if he does not yet do enough to be seen as a good employee and supervisor by them. This will allow him to gain confidence in what he does and set targets for improvement in all aspects of his job, not just ones set out in the Forced Choice Method. Overall I decided to use the Ratings method as it is the most simplistic and it allows for easy personalization relevant to the specific role and shows an easily understandable scale of competency. This table can show the various activities and performances required by the employee inside the workplace and crucially, it provides a scale of performance allowing for easy interpretation of key successes in Keenans work, as well as areas in need of improvement. This kind of appraisal can show every little improvement, or every worsening skill set, that the employee has therefore allowing for a clear sign of progression between ratings. This could be useful for Gareth Keenan because it should motivate him to improve and if the appraisals are held often enough, show his constant growth in areas for development. Also, as comments and suggestions can be attached to this appraisal system it can help him to change his approach to his work and suggest a change to his style of his communication for him to work on. Furthermore, I suggest a personality test[9] for Gareth Keenan, in order to understand which aspects of his personality he could work on more to improve his relationships with his coworkers. Bibliography Dwyer, J. R., Career Development and Advancement Patterns of Aboriginal Executives in the Canadian Federal Public Service, USA, 2000 Skinner, B. F., Science And Human Behavior, USA, 1965 Drucker, P., The Practice of Management, Oxford, 2007 Ledlow G., Coppola N., Leadership for Health Professionals, Burlington, 2011 Cole, G., A., Human Resource And Personnel Management, London, 2004 Aswathappa, K., Human Resource And Personnel Management, New Delhi, 2005 Manna, G., Introduzione alle tecniche per la valutazione della personalità  , Palermo, 2006 [1] Career Development and Advancement Patterns of Aboriginal Executives in the Canadian Federal Public Service, Rocky J. Dwyer, 2000. [2] Science And Human Behavior, B.F Skinner, 1965. [3] The Practice of Management, Peter Drucker, Classic Drucker Collection Edition 2007. [4] Leadership for Health Professionals, Gerald Ledlow and Nicholas Coppola, 2011. [5] Personnel and Human Resource Management, Cole G. A., 2004. [6] Human Resource And Personnel Management, K. Aswathappa, Fourth Edition 2005, p. 243. [7] Ibidem, p. 244. [8] Ibidem, p. 244/245. [9] Introduzione alle tecniche per la valutazione della personalità  , Giovanna Manna edito da Franco Angeli, 2006.