Philosophy of Religion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Philosophy of Religion - Research Paper Example Not many of us can answer properly what God actually means to them. The definition of God has widely varied across the globe from time to time. Regardless of nationality, religion and race, perhaps the greatest debate is whether God exists or not. It has been found out that some people believe in existence of God, they cannot identify Him. Some can identify God in differ forms, deities or elements but cannot find it difficult to relate or believe. While some others totally disbelieve in plurality of God, some people deny the total existence of â€Å"God†. To them, it is some supreme force that has created the universe and as the source of life in it (Remos 33-34). A further division of views can be made between people who do and do not believe that God transcends and present among worldly beings (Remos 34). Broadly, all the worldly religions can be divided into two distinct categories. First comes the ones who believe in oneness of God, or the monotheistic. Then comes polytheistic, or the ones who believe in plurality of forms of God. The ancient religions like the ones of Israel and Egypt were monotheistic religions (Allen 72). But it is found that, even within one single religion, be it monotheistic or polytheistic, purity is not followed, that is, within a monotheistic religion polytheistic features can be found. Christianity is n apt example of this. Bible supports the existence of â€Å"God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit.† (Remos 33) Some major religions like Islam and Jewish are strictly monotheistic, while religions like Hinduism supports polytheistic views. One finds numerous Gods and Goddesses, Demigods and even spirits, in various forms and avatars. In Hinduism, each of these Gods is supposed to serve different purposes. Worship of these individual Gods contains monotheistic

Inside the Clinton White House Essay Example for Free

Inside the Clinton White House Essay The book â€Å"The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House† (1995) written by Bob Woodward keeps an eye Bill Clintons activities on a day-to-day basis, and most often than not on a minute-by-minute account starting from the period Clinton made a decision to run for president by way of telling the story of his campaign, the election, and Clinton’s first year in office as President. The book deals with the time from late August in the year 1991to early 1994. Almost two-thirds of the book covers the planning, writing, and eventual passing of Bill Clinton’s economic policy, which is considered to be the â€Å"heart† or â€Å"core† of his presidential campaign in the year 1992. Meanwhile, I personally think that the heart of Woodward’s book is about the synergetic activities of the First Couple – Bill and Hillary . This activities include their collaboration and partnership with their advisers and friends, their interpersonal relationship, their power, skill and capability to have an influnce on Congressmen, and also their failure to adapt and adjust to the way of living in Washington. In writing this book, the author interviewed and reinterviewed over 250 individuals. Sometimes, Woodward carried out 20 interviews with 10 sources to document and record a single meeting or a decision made. According to Woodward, in majority of these interviews, he had an agreement with his sources that he will withhold their identity. Nevertheless, in a lot of instances, the readers of the book could easily recognize these sources. Aside from conducting Woodward also obtained information from diaries, schedules, meeting notes, transcripts, and memoranda. I think that most likely, the greatest surprise of the book is the degree to which the people or the sources gave their private papers and opinions to Woodward. In fact, a lot of those people who are close to the First Couple offered exceedingly candid, and oftentimes condescending evaluation of Bill and Hillary. Upon reading the book, as I have said earlier, I think that the topic of the book is Bill Clinton’s first year in office and his effort mainly to pass an economic plan. However, I also think that his effort also includes NAFTA and Health Care. As I can remember, President Clinton had promised three main things as far as his economic plan was concerned. These things are first, to cut the deficit; second, to cut middle class taxes and third, to reinvest in social programs for the working and middle classes. Nevertheless, they swiftly discarded the tax cut and the spending programs ensured afterward, so all they had left was a strategy to cut $500 Billion from the country’s deficit for a period of five years. This brought about a big gap and discord among the inner circles of the Administration. According to the book, on the one hand were the deficit hawks and on the other hand were the people who wanted to stress tax cuts and spending programs. In the meantime, according to Woodward, somewhere in the middle, leaning one way or another, was President Bill Clinton. Despite the fact that the author discloses in detail what a lot of people know, which is the reality that Bill has a temper and has the capacity to be enraged at people, Woodward likewise portrays Bill as a man who is sincerely concerened regarding what has occurred to the middle class people and a man who honestly desires to fulfill his promises made during his campaign and help the people. Moreover, in his book, the author depicts Bill as a hard-working and intelligent President who might have a hard time coming up with a decision, yet wishes to attain what he thinks and feels will enable America to become a safer, better, and more secure nation. In this book, Woodward has also portrayed a somewhat convincing and believable picture of Bill Clinton at work as President. Nevertheless, he also showed a not-so-pretty picture of Bill Clinton. For instance, Woodward has shwin that Bill Clinton tends to vacinate, even though Bill’s uncertainty to act in a powerful and straightforward way is an outcome of thinking too much. Hence, it is in this part that Woodward paints a positive image of Hillary. According to Woodward, she thinks that the burden of implementing the Administration policies was too much on her husband and she also thought that a lot of senior officials in the Administration and on the staff were stopping short of full preparation. In his book, Woodward also disclosed some of Hillary’s thoughts about Bill. According to the book, Hillary said that her husband was such a complex person. She also said that no one had described the whole personality of Bill because people kept attempting to chop Bill into little pieces. She further said that her husband confused people because his manner produced dissonance. Woodward has kind words for Hillary in this book. Obviously, it can be gleaned that Woodward spent several hours with Hillary and was extremely impressed with her. In his book, Woodward regards Hillary to be Bill’s most significant adviser. Woodwards thinks that Hillary is a considerate and compasionate woman because she is eager on doing things that she thought would be best for America. Woodward said that oftentimes, Hillary thought of the thousands of people they had seen and met during their campaign rallies and trips and rallies and she thought and felt that she and Bill had a responsibility to deal with these people’s and the country’s concerns. In terms of the style in writing thr book, Woodward’s book is well-written and interesting and offers a postive and favorable impression and account of Bill Clinton’s work as President. I even think that the book could convince or persuade some Republicans to vote fo Democrats in the next election for President. In reading this book, the reader will observe that Woodward made a novelistic approach to a political issue because as stated earlier, Wordward was able to show that he obtained information from a variety of sources including getting insider information. I think that the purpose of the book is to show that Woodward has unique access to the inner councils of government, and to show the reader an exciting glimpse of the typically unknown process of governing. I believe that through his work, Woodward was able to show that in his own subtle way, he is capable of creating an indictment of centralized political power. I think that â€Å"The Agenda† is a good example of this method of Woodward. Nevertheless, I also think that there is a problem with the author’s failure to take into account larger concepts and ideas. Since the author’s viewpoint is somewhat narrow, since sometimes he is looking down into the details, he tends to miss the big picture. I think that the big picture is how insignificant Clinton’s bill was. Moreover, the author mainly centered on Bill’s failures but doesnt put the appropriate emphasis on the plan’s conclusion: President Clinton got his economic plan passed eventually despite of the odds against him and numerous gaffes, a budget that could be considered as equally important as the 1981 Reagan plan, was passed. Lastly, I think that Woodward must have done o a better job explaining how hard and complex it is to get things accomplished and fulfilled in Washington, particularly legislation that is viewed as damaging well-established and ingrained interests and introduced by a freshman administration. # Reference Woodward,B. (1995). The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House. Pocket.

The Grant Corporation Information Technology Essay

The Grant Corporation Information Technology Essay This report studies how to implement human resources information system, problems faced by Director of HR at grant incorporation in order to implement new HRIS and the corrective measures that should have been done to facilitate the change are studied in this case report. The critical success factors and weaknesses in various stages of implementing an HRIS are explored in the paper. The problems are rooted mainly in two factors. One is that HR department lacks knowledge about HRIS and secondly poor communication in the change process. According to (Hammer, 2000) some organizations are not successful in implementing human resource information systems. The system fails because the various software programs are not integrated and information is often missing. Some possible ways to prevent or solve these problems are: 1) consider add-ons, 2) get portal power, 3) integrate the system, 4) hire or host, 5)use what you have, 6) restructure the team, and 7) dont go it alone. The recommendatio ns based on research are provided in this report. The Grant Corporation The following case analysis report includes scenario of change management process at The Grant Corporation. The HRD at Grant Corporation needed to expand to keep up with the growth of organization. Newly hired Director of HR, Julia Woodland suggested implementation of a HRIS system to deal with existing HR issues. But it was not successfully implemented. According to (Mackenzie, 2010), increasingly, the failure to successfully implement information systems have less to do with the hardware or software aspects of the new system and more to do with the skills of the change leader and the people and organizational issues related to the change. The cause of problem that arises at grant incorporation involves lack of leadership, communication, planning, change management, and training. Woodlands Evaluation Julia Woodland executed a successful need analysis and concluded that HRD requires advance technology to perform efficiently and effectively. She proposed the purchase of an integrated payroll/HRIS that will integrate the finance departments system, benefits and 401(k) providers systems, which got approved. Woodland was so overwhelmed with the project; she overlooked the fact that the success requires participation and commitment from all areas of the firm. Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions (Michael J. Kavanagh Mohan Thite, 2008) states The Eight-Stage Change process(Kotter,1996), the steps are to Create a sense of urgency, recruit powerful change leaders, build a vision and effectively communicate it, remove obstacles, create quick wins, and develop your momentum. If Julia had followed this process, it could have helped her to make the change part of the Grant Corporation. Required Individuals for Change Process In my opinion, top management support is required from beginning, all through the execution evaluation of project along with the people who are going to be affected. In this case IT department, HR department, Payroll would have been included from the initial stage of process. As, employee communication is especially critical when were trying to get others to see and do things differently (Duck, 2001, p.27) Staffing Errors and Their Impact There are three primary activities in an HRIS implementation configuring the HRIS for the firms business processes and policies, interfacing data with other systems and converting historical data into the HRIS, and preparing the organization for the new HRIS. Woodland failed to involve, consult key people from organization in change process, she had unrealistic expectations, that her staff would welcome the new system, there was lack of communication which created distrust among HRD, and which impacted adversely on management commitment resulting in failure of implementation of HRIS. (Lorenzi, 2000) noted that for successful implementation of IT system, effective leadership, planning, change management techniques, communication, and training should be comprehend. Woodland should have considered these factors to achieve her goal. Importance of Cultural Issues Organizational culture is defined as a complex set of shared beliefs, guiding values, behavioral norms, and basic assumptions acquired over time that shape our thinking and behavior; they are part of the social fabric of the organization-its genetic code. As such, culture drives the organization and guides the behavior of everyone in that organization-how they think, feel, and act. In other words, the culture forms a behavior template. (Michael J. Kavanagh Mohan Thite, 2008, p. 192). Woodland would have understood the organizational cultural prior implementing the change. By developing a better understanding of the organizational culture, she could have implemented the strategies regarding change which employees might have embraced. Communication Plan If I had been in Woodland`s position I would have developed a communication plan that would have defined clear and concise roles for employees involved in the change process. Communication is one of the important tools in implementing effective change strategies for success. As (Michael J. Kavanagh Mohan Thite, 2008) defined in the Case for Change: Reason for change, Vision for future, Plan for getting there, Believe change is achievable and clear expectations must be included in communication plan. Having a company meeting to stage the beginning of these new ideas will provide the employees with the information they need to embrace any impending changes that the company is making and to their role in the new vision for the future. Training In this case training would help employees at to cope with organizational change by enabling them understand why it happens, why it is needed and what it means to them and to organization. With proper training employees would feel confident in using HRIS, and training would reduce their concerns, thus encouraging them to be a part of change. User Acceptance The Grant Corporation must involve end users in planning of HRIS project from beginning. According to (Michael J. Kavanagh Mohan Thite, 2008) when users are included in planning, acceptance testing, and switching over to a new HRIS, their commitment, trust increases for the project. Woodland must keep ongoing communication with employees, along with feedback to make HRIS user friendly. Woodland must inform employees regarding decisions made and by asking them to provide input on those decisions to make system accepted by them. Process Reengineering The process reengineering is beneficial as this would allow the company to obtain its full return on investment (ROI). With reengineering they can gain full potential of new system, instead of just automating existing processes. The firm will alter their conservative processes to align themselves with the new technology. (Michael J. Kavanagh Mohan Thite, 2008). Implementation Maintenance and Support HR and IT departments will have to establish a help desk to assist employees with their concerns. They will also need to ensure system is being used correctly. New policies and procedures must be established for the use of electronic data addressing security and privacy concerns. Effectiveness and efficiency of system should be monitored. Ongoing communication and training is vital for proper maintenance and support of the system. CONCLUSION The Grant Corporation case analyzes importance of good technical and organizational skills for successful implementation of an HRIS system. The success of a HRIS system exists in understanding organization culture, ongoing communication along with effective implementation process. Change management is a process by which an organization moves from its current state to some future desired state as defined by its vision. (Michael J. Kavanagh Mohan Thite, 2008, p. 201). REFRENCES: Duck, J. The change monster. New york: Crown Business. Hammer, M. 2002. Recharging your HRMS Workforce. 81(9): 38-41. (2002). Retrieved from http://gspa.nida.ac.th/load.php Lorenzi, N. . (2000). managing change:An overview. Journal of the american medical informatics association, 116-124. Mackenzie, A. (2010). Chapter 8 Course Notes.htm. Michael J. Kavanagh, M. T. (2008). Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions. SAGE, 2008.

John F. Kennedy Essay -- essays research papers

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Kennedy was the son of Joseph P. Kennedy a formerambassador to Great Britain. Kennedy was much like his father, possesing a delightful sense of humor, a strong family loyalty, a concern for the state of the nation, endless vitality and a constant air of confidence no matter how dire the situation In 1946, Kennedy ran successfully for a Boston-based seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; he was reelected in 1948 and 1950. As a congressman he backed social legislation that benefited his working-class constituents. Although generally supporting President Harry S. Truman's foreign policies, he criticized what he considered the administration's weak stand against the Communist Chinese. Kennedy continued to advocate a strong, anti-Communist foreign policy throughout his career. Restless in the House, Kennedy challenged incumbent Republican senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., in 1952. Although the Republican presidential candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, won in Massachusetts as well as the country as a whole, Kennedy showed his remarkable vote-getting appeal by defeating Lodge. A year later, on Sept. 12, 1953, Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier. The couple had three children: Caroline Bouvier (b. Nov. 27, 1957), John Fitzgerald, Jr. (b. Nov. 25, 1960), and a second son who died in infancy in August 1963. Kennedy was a relatively ineffectual senator. During parts of 1954 and 1955 he was seriously ill with back ailments and was therefore unable to play an important role in government. Critics observed that he made no effort to oppose the anti-civil libertarian excesses of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin. His friends later argued, not entirely persuasively, that he would have voted to censure McCarthy if he had not been hospitalized at the time. During his illness Kennedy worked on a book of biographical studies of American political heroes. Published in 1956 under the title Profiles in Courage, it won a Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. Like his earlier book on English foreign policy, it revealed his admiration for forceful political figures. This faith in activism was to become a hallmark of his presidency. In 1956, Kennedy bid unsuccessfully for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination. Thereafter, he set his sights on the presidency, especially after his... ... by at least conniving at the overthrow of Dinh Diem in November 1963. On November 21, 1963, President Kennedy flew to Texas to give several political speeches. The next day, as his car drove slowly past cheering crowds in Dallas, shots rang out. Kennedy was seriously wounded and died a short time later. Within two hours of the shooting, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with the murder. On November 24, a Dallas man, Jack Ruby, shot and killed Oswald before there was a chance to put him on trial. Although Oswald denied that he shot Kennedy, most of the evidence indicates that he really did. To this day, however, many people disagree about the facts of JFK's assassination. Some people insist that there was a second gunman firing at Kennedy, and that he and Ruby were part of a conspiracy. None of these theories has ever been proven. President Kennedy's death caused enormous sadness and grief among all Americans. Most people still remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of the murder. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington for the President's funeral, and millions throughout the world watched it on television.

Mobile phones: A blessing or a curse? Essay

It’s been years since someone had to look for spare change in their pocket to make a call out on the street from a pay phone, have we forgotten that mobile phones are somehow a blessing? The question here is whether mobile phones are a blessing or a curse. According to the â€Å"2013 mobile growth statistics† 91% of all people in the world have mobile phones and 56% own a smart phone, also according to mobile growth statistics the average age of owning a mobile phone now is 13. There are over 1.2 billion people accessing the WEB from their mobile devices and 28.85% of emails are being accessed through mobile phones. So basically humans lately have been living through their phones on a daily basis. Mobile phones have become a necessity in our everyday lives, whether for business, education, emergency, pleasure etc. Mobile phones have been under constant development and upgrade since they were first invented. Today most people have mobile phones, which don’t come close to resembling the first mobile phones, which were just a mean of communication with very little variety. A phone is no longer an electronic phonebook it’s a; mobile phone, computer, reminder, calendar, radio etc. Like any other product mobile phones have advantages and disadvantages, and this is why we ask ourselves whether it’s a blessing or a curse. However as a consumer of mobile phones I would say it is a bit of both. The advantages of having a â€Å"smart phone† are dependable, what I mean by dependable is that I can actually depend on my phone; which might seem like technology is making us into lazy human beings but its not. We educate ourselves we try to make everything as easy as possible so we can enjoy life. So what a â€Å"smart phone† does is that it helps me keep my life in order, and we do so by having applications that help with â€Å"ordering things online, having reminders, alarm clocks, social media, the news, having applications to connect with distant loved ones and of course applications that help with boredom.† We now have all of this at the tip of our fingers, at the touch of one button making life more comfortable. We also consider mobile phones a curse, mobile phones have so much to offer and having so much can become distracting and time consuming. I often find myself lost in another world with my phone pinned to my face, just jumping from one application to another surfing the web and I also get easily distracted when my phone keeps on beeping with notifications, text messages and updates. People have a lot of accidents while checking their phones for text messages, calling someone or just checking who’s doing what on social media. It has been one of the two major causes for accidents in Europe and America, just following driving under the influence of alcohol. Another big issue we are facing nowadays is the fact that we’re not facing people while having a conversation; we’re actually facing our phones. This is a problem because we seem to be caught up more in the virtual world rather than the real one, which will make us regret a lot of things in the future. One has to realize and become aware of the distractions a smart phone can offer, its meant to make life easier not more complicating. So smart phones are both a blessing and a curse it’s the consumer that decides whether it will become a distraction or a gadget that will just make things easier. The mobile phone will then be a perk to your life rather than being a burden and a time consuming device. Citations MLA format: Hepburn, Aden. â€Å"Infographic: 2013 Mobile Growth Statistics | Digital Buzz Blog.† 2013 Mobile Growth Statistics. N.p., 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 03 Sept. 2014. .

Three Races to Immigrate to the United States In Search for the Promised Land

Three Races to Immigrate to the United States In Search for the Promised Land Introduction: The Mystery of the United States It seems that the USA has become the Promised Land for the people dissatisfied with the quality of living standards in their own country; therefore, these people head to their Mecca, the country where every cloud has a silver lining. In the light of the fact that at present, a number of the USA cities are overpopulated, the issue concerning immigration remains unresolved.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Three Races to Immigrate to the United States: In Search for the Promised Land specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Unless the given issue is tackled, immigration into the USA might soon become impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to consider what races are most likely to immigrate to the USA in the nearest future, as well as which of these races have the most legitimate reasons to be accepted into the realm of the USA democracy. When the Oriental Culture Merges with the We stern One: The Chinese The first candidates to migrate to the United States, the Chinese, nevertheless, are bound to face a number of difficulties when acculturating to the American lifestyle and trying to build their own mini-society within the realm of the American culture. However, it seems that the Chinese actually integrated into the American society quite a while ago. According to the existing evidence, the concept of an American–Chinese culture emerged in the distant 1850, when the first immigration wave swept New York and other major cities (Liu). In addition, it is noteworthy that the Americans have been maintaining business relationships with the Chinese for quite long. That being said, it would be reasonable to suggest that the Chinese migrant population is bound to find a common language with the Americans at least in the business field. In Search for Better Working Options: The Mexicans There is no point in denying that the economical and financial state of Mexic o is more than deplorable. The state remains on the list of the so-called third world countries, and with the budget that the government has at the disposal, as well as the policy of the state, there seems to be no way out at present. According to the existing evidence, most of the Mexican population lives beyond the poverty threshold (Ceballos and Palloni). Therefore, it seems rather fair that the Mexican people should search for the place where their professional assets and efforts are going to be evaluated fairly and paid accordingly. However, when considering the migration of the Mexicans into the United States, one rarely takes the possible results into account. To start with, the process of acculturation is bound to take a considerable amount of time. In addition, it is highly recommended that immigrants into the United States, as well as any other state of the world, should perfect their professional skills in order to remain well paid and become successful.Advertising Looking for essay on rhetoric? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Given the enthusiasm of the Mexican immigrants, however – or, to be more exact, a complete lack of enthusiasm in acquiring new skills – the Mexican immigrants face the threat of crossing the poverty line even living in the U.S. Therefore, it is important that relatively cheap courses for perfecting professional skills should be provided to the immigrants. Pushing the Science to Its Limits: The Russians and the Brain Drain Naturally, when analyzing the reasons that make people from other countries move to the United States, people rarely consider the possible contributions of the immigrants into the American culture, science and society. When thinking of the opportunities that the so-called â€Å"brain drain† from other states to the USA offers to the latter, it is also necessary to evaluate the quality of education in the state, which the i mmigrants come from. According to the latest research, compared to the USA standards, the greatest quality of education can be observed in such countries as New Zealand and South Korea (Miller, Laugesen, Lee and Mick). In the light of the fact that over the past few years, the standards of living in the new Zealand have dropped and a number of people have been considering the option of moving to the United States, it will be reasonable to allow the New Zealanders become the residents of the United States of America. The given situation will be a graphic example of a reciprocal process that has to take place between the receiving country and the immigrating nation. The same can be said about the residents of South Korea; according to the existing researches, they have very high educational standards. However, when choosing between the two nations, one must mention that the South Korean living standards are much higher than the ones of New Zealand at present, which means that the New Zealanders need the USA assistance more. That being said, the immigration of the New Zealanders into the USA should be considered. Conclusion: Acculturation, Togetherness and Other Related Issues There is no doubt that the USA offers a plethora of opportunities for people to develop professionally, contributing to the state and being able to run their own business, at the same time maintaining their national and cultural identity. However, the problems of acculturation and the loss of identity are still worth bringing up. No matter how well developed the structure of a diaspora is, its members will still be isolated from their culture, which will inevitably lead to the loss of cultural roots. Therefore, immigration will always presuppose a dilemma between economical independence and national identity.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Three Races to Immigrate to the United States: In Search for the Promised Land specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Ceballos, Miguel and Alberto Palloni. â€Å"Maternal and Infant Health of Mexican Immigrants in the USA: The Effects of Acculturation, Duration, and Selective Return Migration.† Ethnicity and Health 15.4 (2010): 377–396. Print. Liu, Lisong. â€Å"Return Migration and Selective Citizenship: A Study of Returning Chinese Professional Migrants from the United States.† Journal of Asian American Studies 15.1 (2012): 35–68. Print. Miller, Edward Alan, Miriam Laugesen, Shoou-Yih Daniel Lee and Stephen S. Mick. â€Å"Emigration of New Zealand and Australian Physicians to the United States and the International Flow of Medical Personnel.† Health Policy 43.3 (1998): 253–270. Print.