Learning Communities Essay Example for Free

Learning Communities Essay Concorde Career Institute Orlando has been an educational institution for over 25 years. This organization provides fast-track, health-related programs in various fields. As with any educational institution, proprietary or not, there are many employees-all part of many different departments. Concorde Orlando has developed of a learning community to some extent, but the findings presented in Assignment Two support a need for further development in many areas. Concorde has committed itself to providing online and in-person training in order to continue to connect members of its current learning community. This training usually covers a variety of different objectives and the training is usually provided by outside companies. By utilizing outside agencies to provide training materials, the needs of the organization and its employees are not being evaluated nor met. A more personalized training, tailored to specific and immediate needs is a must. Stronger leadership and a more cohesive working milieu are also imperative. Concorde’s major concerns should be focused upon its communication and teamwork approach but, there are many more areas of that require attention. A cohesive, functional learning environment takes dedication and time. Once those areas are better executed, it can begin to build upon the foundation it has begun to lay. Concorde Career Institution, as a corporation, makes statements that it supports a mature learning environment. The mission statement seems to promote an idealistic working atmosphere that fosters independent thinking, creativity, and a teamwork approach to education. Reality has proven to be different. A motivated and strong team leader should be put into place-one that can appreciate the benefits of a well-built and maturely developed learning community. Concorde Orlando provides a yearly employee evaluation. This valuation is meant to appraise employee performance, acknowledge strengths and identify weaknesses. The employee evaluates himself, and then subsequently, so does his/her immediate supervisor. Depending on the evaluation’s results, it may produce an action plan. This action plan recognizes areas that need to be improved on, provides a strategy by which to improve them and a date in which a reevaluation should take place. Concorde does not necessarily discuss findings in employee performance evaluations with the employees; therefore organizational expectations are not known. This causes confusion and ambiguity. Many organizations have begun to favor consultants when evaluating employee performance. This can assure independent and neutral employee performance feedback. There is research that supports consulting as a strategy for improving teachers implementation of classroom interventions. † Results have supported that internal consultants are able to assess and briefly increase teachers treatment integrity with performance feedback† (Sanetti, et. al, 2013). There is a call, however, for organizations to realize that being proactive instead of reactive is a more logical approach when it comes to employee performance. According to a 2012 Global Workforce Study,† a survey of 32,000 employees across 30 countries, calls for employers to focus on engagement. The report defines such engagement as the intensity of employees connection to their organization based on three factors: the extent of their discretionary effort committed to achieving work goals, an environment that supports productivity in multiple ways, and a work experience that promotes well-being† (TD, 2013). This of course will improve overall employee performance and benefits the organization as a whole. The â€Å"group think† theory suggests that people from similar areas of work and backgrounds have ideas that are familiar are accepted without examination, while those that are unfamiliar are rejected without open consideration (Martin, 2006). Groups affected by group think do not tolerate opinions that do not coincide with their own. A learning community can be especially susceptible to group think when its community members are similar in background, shielded from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making. At Concorde, group thinking does not habitually exist. Concorde does consider the input of the community, holding biannual meetings in which area affiliates give their input on school progress, its students and offers suggestions for change. This organization seems to value the input and opinions of others. Community members can feel included when they participate in creating the future direction of their learning community. They will make better decisions when they respect social, environmental and economic needs. When a shared vision is used to devise goals that guide local leadership, the community is well on its way to creating a better, sustainable place for the community (Grunkemeyer and Moss, 2010). Shared visions are an important characteristic of any successful learning community. Concorde Orlando is no exception to this fact. This organization has a clear set of goals to accomplish, and department leaders do communicate these company visions with employees. There does not seem to be a comprehensible plan in place, however, as to how to achieve them. Often times, multiple meetings are held in order to impart the company vision community members. Because we live in a world that is constantly changing and moving, organizations are challenged with conditions that seem to change at the speed of light. Often times, initiatives are poorly planned and executed. These errors can cause crippling effects within an organization. More and more, organizations have come to depend on teamwork. According to Ofoegbu, O. , et. l (2012) â€Å"Teamwork may be an appropriate managerial approach to reducing politics by increasing employees understanding and control, particularly in organizations whose strategic objectives call for employees to work in teams. † Most modern organizations have realized the value and benefits of teamwork and Concorde Orlando is no exception. Most projects are completed by teams. Most issues are resolved through the input of various community members. Many community outreach activities are also organized and carried out by teams. With enrollments being the number one company goal, Concorde Orlando heavily relies on teamwork in order to achieve this. Unfortunately, inappropriate team leaders are often chosen, resulting in poorly executed plans. This can cause major project delays and â€Å"do-over’s†. Dennis J. Elrod (2012), states that â€Å"Great leaders are always learning, whether its from those above them in the hierarchy, their peers, or those they lead. They also dont let opportunities to improve pass them by, so it pays to always be on the lookout for things that may improve your leadership style. There are many different types of leaders and many different types of leadership styles. Leaders not only concern themselves with the organizational goals, but also about the people who are involved in the process. Autocratic and hierarchical models of leadership dominated many businesses and organizations for years. The workplace environment changes from generation to generation. Today, community members are no longer content to go to work in complete obscurity. Employees want to feel significant, stimulated and challenged. Being an effective leader builds a sense of belonging within its learning community. Effective leaders not only increase employee retention, but also improve employee efficiency. Employees are more willing to follow efficient leaders than non-effective individuals. Choosing the right leader is the difference between success and failure. A great team leader needs to understand the organization’s goals and be able to understand what drivers are needed in order to motivate the team members. It is the leader’s job to ensure that great ideas are smartly implemented. The team leader must be able to sell his vision, the organization’s goals and the rewards reaped from the fruits of their labor. He must be able determine which team member could execute what parts of the project, resolve conflicts, and encourage each team member’s creativity and input. Concorde Orlando has a long standing history of ineffective leadership and a very high turn-over rate. During the last year, there have been several personnel changes in the Campus President, Academic Dean and program director positions. This instability and low employee retention ratio in its leadership roles have compromised Concorde Orlando’s credibility with the student body, its employees and the community. Concorde Career Institute has not been a pioneer in the field of communication. Issues are slow to be resolved, meetings are full of redundant material and there is a general fear of communicating with administrators for fear of retaliation. Great communication starts with listening and observing, and this organization has not trained its leaders to do that. Training is requisite in order to learn how to effectively communicate with others in a work environment. Currently, there is no communication training available at Concorde. The same communication methods that have been in place for years are still practiced today. Reevaluation of these methods is needed in order to have more successful communication within its learning community. Internet access provides opportunities for classrooms throughout the world to communicate and collaborate in real time. In the same way, members of the learning community can experience these open new ways of thinking. â€Å"A compendium of organizations and businesses is dedicated to encouraging an emphasis on skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, computer and technology skills, communication, and self-direction skills in US schools and schools worldwide. The educational challenges of the 21st century open up possibilities that, until now, have been beyond imagination† (Roth, 2010). Concorde does utilize different methods of training its employees in order to maximize learning potential. What seems to have been most successful within this learning community is peer leadership. â€Å"Peer leadership contributes to the success of collaborative group learning† (Popejoy and Asala, 2013). Group learning allows all members to be actively involved. When community members are involved in learning processes with their peers, they are more likely to feel comfortable. Concorde Orlando supports and encourages all types of learning models, therefore increases the chance of successful outcomes. Concorde Career Institute-Orlando could be classified as being well on its way to developing a mature learning community. Though this learning community is fraught with quite a few weaknesses, it also has an impressive set of strengths. As long as someone has the initiative and fortitude to move this community forward, Concorde Orlando can prove to be a great success.

Alcohol on Academics :: essays research papers

Alcohol, when consumed in reason, can be fine. But when it is taken in great quantities it can be very detrimental to a student. Heather Wilson and Jeremy Foster wrote a perspective on drugs and alcohol in a book aimed to warn people about the dangers of alcohol and drugs. Here is there account. "During parents weekend, she, her roommate, and their parents went to her best friend's room and found her soaked in blood and tears on the dorm-room floor. Heather's friend had a history of depression, and the combination of this, a bottle of Jack Daniel's Black Label, and too much cold medicine left her ravaged and suicidal"(Kuhn 21). The girl in the story turned out to be ok. She had tried to slit her wrists the night before. The story went on to say that, "They found her in time to save her, but she will always carry the scars where she cut her wrists"(Kuhn 21). In this paper I intend to prove how alcohol is detrimental to college students. Our brain controls everything we do. Without it we wouldn't be able to perform the simplest of tasks It is one of if not the most important thing we have as a person. As a college student I rely heavily on my brain to help me with all of the assignments for my classes. But what if my brain didn't work properly? When alcohol is inputted into the brain, it induces many output actions such as; impaired judgment, extreme emotion, and slowed behavior (Alcohol and its effects). Not only are the short term effects enough to side track any academic student, but the long term effects could have serious implications on your life. Long-term effects include damage in cognitive behavior, difficulty in learning new material, deficits in abstraction, problem solving, and reduced visuospatial abilities (Alcohol and its effects). One of the long term effects listed was difficulty in learning. Now if you start drinking in high school, like most college aged students do, you already have a disadvantage against everyother person who choses not to drink. Researchers have found that the brains of alcoholics are smaller and have an increased number of brain tissue loss then a nonalcoholic(Alcohol and its effects). This would lead someone to believe that somebody who is the same age and does not drink would be faster and quicker in cognitive abilities(Alcohol and its effects).

Distibution Strategies Habib Jewel

Many businesses feel that practising good business ethics is costly and unnecessary to become a profitable operation. The practice of business ethics is not cost nor is it a disadvantages waste of time. On the contrary, business ethics is good for business and is essential for the good reputation of a country. Business ethics also create an environment based on trust and make economic transaction predictable for producers and consumers.Business ethics can be define as the study of proper business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and fiduciary responsibilities. Business ethics are often guided by law, while other times provide basic framework that businesses may choose to follow in order to gain public acceptance. Basically, business ethics are implemented in order to ensure that a certain required level of trust exist between consumers and various forms to of market participants with businesses.Besides ethics, code of ethics also is the important part in good business ethics that can be applied in organization. Code of ethics can be defined as a guide of principles designed to help professionals conduct business honestly and with integrity. A code of ethics document may outline the mission and values of the business or organization, how professionals are supposed to approach problems, the ethical principles based on the organization‘s core values and the standards to which the professional will be held.In order to complete this individual assignment, I was appointed to interview one of the staff of UiTM to get information regarding the issues which is â€Å"why good ethics is a good business in Strategic Management†. The person that I had interview is Miss Rohani Ismail, an assistant registrar of Academic Affairs (HEA) at UiTM, Terengganu. For the interview that I have conducted, some questions were submitted reg arding this ethics issues in order to know work ethics applied in UiTM.The first question that I asked is to know her opinion about the work ethic applied at HEA department, either it fulfil its code of ethics in UiTM and she said that work ethic at UiTM has its own value and even UiTM have the same code of ethics practiced in every department, but there is a different work ethic that is practiced in all department depend on the attitude of the individual. As example, the actual regulation did not state how long to rest or go out to eat, but there are some workers use to get out of the office by using that reason.She said, as workers we need to understand there are responsibilities that must be performed on our job and the individual should understand their actions whether to break the rules or not. Next is in term of managing the office, if there are mistakes made by other staff, what actions she did in order to correct those mistakes and she tell that she will look at the types of mistakes if it is related to the work performed, she will criticize directly in front of all the staff.This action is not the intention to embarrassing that staff but in order to teach other staff so that they will not make same mistake in the future and basically the critics is done politely. Furthermore, I also asked her in term of managing the office at HEA department or UiTM management is there bias or favouritism occurs between boss and staff. She just informed that there is no bias or favouritism practised in UiTM or any department in UiTM because they will accept any best ideas from their staff even they just subordinate staff.Bribery is one of the bad ethic that now widely practiced in most of the organization and this issues had been asked to her to get her opinion and at the same time to know either it happen in UiTM or not. Miss Rohani said that according on her experience working with UiTM for 15 years; she has heard the bribery issues only once when she served in the s tudent intake department at UiTM Shah Alam.The bribery issue is known only through conversations among staff that bribery happen in the admission process. For example, the old system of student intake is using application of OMR form that need to be sent in the envelope and one case happen when she received the envelope of OMR form with the amount of money. She just thought that there is bribery element and she takes an action by sending back the money to the mailing address of the envelope in order to avoid the bribery case.After that case, she never heard any case of bribery that related with UiTM. In term of social policy, she said that based on her experience UiTM are doing social policy through academic mission which if there is external event that inviting UiTM for giving speech or talks, UiTM will readily available and there is also commitment from UiTM towards this academic mission by opening booth for attracting peoples.I also asked her about her satisfaction towards code o f ethics and social policy at UiTM, whether it need to be improved or not and she just give it own opinion that she just follow the code of ethics provide by UiTM because she said that people who make such a policy is the expert, so why should not satisfied with the policy as long as it is good for everyone. Besides that, in term of love affairs she inform that there is love affair going on among the staff at UiTM and she had no problem about it because based on her evaluation on this issue through her work experience, it never interfere with the performance of work among her staff.She also thinks that love affair helps in facilitate in terms of increased job performance because there are many staff who have long-distance love affair affect the job performance. Miss Rohani also did not deny that a love affair in the workplace can also have a negative impact if they do not have limits. In some organization, there is some case that occurs related to sexual harassments among staff and I asked her in order to know whether this issue ever happened in UiTM. Miss Rohani told me that she had experienced towards this sexual harassment issue but only a minor annoyance that oriented jokes.Although this may be just a joke, but she use a hard warning to the perpetrator to prevent a similar incident happening again and so far she is not experienced it anymore. To close the interview, I asked her opinion on why good ethics is important in the work ethic especially in UiTM and she just give simple answer by saying as a Muslims, people should follow the principles that have been applied through the principles of Islam that can guide people to always be responsible for performing any work with the right guidance and teaching people in a particularly good attitude in complying with work that had been stated.

Comparing People to Dolphins Essay - 816 Words

Whether a dolphin should be a person and should get rights like humans seems to be a very odd question. However, if we take a close look at what characteristics are present in humans that allow them to be persons, the same criteria applied to dolphins makes them persons as well. The first criterion in my definition of a person is for them to have a sense of self. This is true for us, as we are aware that we exist, and we can recognize ourselves as what we are. In addition, this is true for dolphins as well, and is proven as dolphins can recognize themselves. In an experiment done on dolphins, black marks were put on dolphins, which they couldn’t see. The dolphins looked at themselves in a mirror, and knew they were looking at themselves†¦show more content†¦This is important as we need to give the same respect to another person, and if dolphins can do that, than this is another reason why dolphins should be considered persons. Lastly, to be a person you have to be loved by another person. We show love to humans, as we care for them, respect them, and treat them properly, the way we want to be treated. This can also be applied to dolphins, as other dolphins love dolphins. They protect their young, and show their love to them. However, sometimes humans love dolphins as well. In one case, a woman loved a dolphin so much that she married it. She claimed â€Å"‘Its not a perverted thing. I do love this dolphin. Hes the love of my life’†. This shows that if humans can show this love to dolphins, than why shouldn’t they be considered persons. They should. The woman loved the dolphin, and she is a human, as well as a person, and if she can show this love, than we should make dolphins persons as well. However, there still contrasting viewpoints. Many people believe, that dolphins are not self aware, and that when dolphins look in a mirror, it doesn’t really show that they are aware of themselves. 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