Human Resources Internship Essay

I applied for the Human Resources internship at Maryville Academy-Scott Nolan Center through the website indeed. com. During my internship with Maryville Academy-Scott Nolan Center, I supported the HR department and organizational initiatives. My responsibilities with recruiting initiatives included initial resume screening and on-boarding. Positions I screened for included but were not limited to mental health counselor, staff nurse, utility manager and receptionist. I also supported administrative aspects such as filing, data entry, and HRIS maintenance. Since the Scott Nolan Center is in a transitional period, I helped develop several job descriptions. From the human resources perspective, I did payroll and disciplinary action forms, as well as legal documents such as FMLA. I completed 432 hours of the Maryville Human Resources Internship Program. Expectations Prior to Internship Before the internship started, I had an interview with my Human Resources manager to discuss my expectations as well as her expectations for this internship. I expected to get involved with daily Human Resources functions. I expected to be working in a fast-paced organization. Also, I expected a certain amount of training since I did not have any relevant experience prior to the internship. One other thing I was concerned with was that there might be a difference when recruiting for non-profit organizations compared to for-profit organizations. I thought recruiters would pay attention to some unique personalities or rules when they screened qualified applicants. For instance, some for-profit organizations might focus on people who have the required skills, such as sales skills, customer service skills and presentation skills. For this particular non-profit organization, I would pay more attention to personality traits, such as openness and agreeableness. Beyond My Expectations Beyond my expectations, I learned that every organization has its unique culture. It does not matter if it is profit or non-profit. Some organizations focus on employees’ training and development, while other organizations focus on select candidates who have certain minimum skills before they can be hired. These employees require little training and development. The organization I worked for is a children’s psychiatric hospital. Its patients are youths who are suicidal or suffered from sexual and physical abuse in their family. These patients are very sensitive. Thus, they are looking for employees to be energetic, positive and have professional nursing or therapy skills. They want their employees to not only care about the patient physically, but also mentally. During the recruiting process, I considered not only whether candidates had the essential KSAs to finish tasks, but also whether their personality would fit the organization. My expectations about this internship mainly focused on recruiting, as well as maintaining the employee database, such as workers’ compensations and payroll. Since the hospital was expanding, several new positions were created. Beyond my expectations, I had to update and develop several job descriptions. On the legal aspect, I was not expecting to get very involved. However, I had a chance to follow a FMLA case and to issue disciplinary action forms to employees who violated organizational policy. These legal documents made me realize the importance of legal documents in uman resources management. Selection Process General Process A significant portion of my internship responsibility was recruiting. These responsibilities ranged from screening candidates’ resumes to interviewing and preparing hiring documents. I would screen resumes from our database and select whom I believed would fit in the position. Then, I would conduct a phone interview with the applicant. After the phone interview, if I still felt the individual fit the organization, I would schedule an in person interview with our Human Resources Manager for the applicant. Our manager would make the final decision after the interview. If our manager decided to hire this individual, I would start preparing hiring paperwork including background check, reference check and medical record. My responsibilities would be all the above-mentioned tasks, which concluded with filing all the documents and sending it to the orientation group in order to prepare new-hire orientation documents. Screening Resume Before the internship, I read an article by Applicants (2009). He gave me several tips I kept in mind during the resume screening process. First of all, I was aware of potential adverse impact during the screening process. I should not focus on screening applicants from particular race or gender group. Companies have significant discretion in defining the basic qualifications for each position that they fill so long as those qualifications are defined by the outset of the hiring process for the position. When I selected qualified applicants for phone interviews, I chose candidates who met the minimum qualifications. Then, we chose whoever had best matched our skill requirements to continue to the next phase, which is an in person interview. These minimum requirements were determined by job descriptions. The job description helped us identify which candidate was able to perform the job, such as develop policy and communicate with patients. Thus, developing a job description was very important. After screening resumes for minimum qualifications, phone interviews were conducted. Importance of determine personality traits and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) during selection process We wanted to select employees who we believed would be successful in the job. According o Barrick and Mount (1991), the â€Å"Big Five† personality dimensions are related to job performance. Their study indicated that Conscientiousness, which is a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutiful, and aim for achievement against measures or outside expectations showed consistent relations with job proficiency. Extraversion, which is characterized by positive emotions, surgency, and the tendency to seek out stimulation and the company of others, was a valid predictor for occupations involving social interaction. The other three factors- Openness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism had small correlation score. Since most of the positions involved interacting with children, Extraversion would be the factor I needed to pay attention to. From this article, I understood the importance of using personality traits during the selection process. To help me determine useful personality traits for different positions, Raymark, Schmit and Guion (2006) talked about identifying potentially useful personality constructs for employee selection. They created the Personality-Related Position Requirements Form (PPRF), which was a job analysis form to be used in making hypotheses about personality predictors of job performance. People predicted job performance by identifying whether the candidate’s personality matched the dimensions they determined in the job analysis. For example, the author conducted a job analysis and hypothesized that several dimensions were essential to perform the job efficiently, such as leadership, sensitivity to interests of others, cooperative or collaborative work tendency and general trustworthiness. Then, authors linked candidates’ personality with these dimensions to identify who fit the position best. I did not get a chance to use the actual form due to the limited resources and budget at work; however, I learned from it. Before screening for every position, I read the job description in our database and analyzed potential personalities that would fit the particular position. I also discussed these personalities with my manager for suggestions. When I screened resumes and interviewed, I would look for the specific personalities to match required skill sets as well as the organization’s culture. Employees in the organizations are always helpful. They are very easy to talk to. Everybody worked together and helped each other out. I talked to my manager about our organizational culture and she said that we are helpful, energetic and team-orientated. It was difficult to draw personality traits simply from the resume, so I looked at the format of the resume to determine if the candidate was detail-oriented or not. If the format of the resume was disorganized, there was a greater chance that the candidate was not careful, as opposed to one with an organized resume. If a potential employee was careless when editing their resume, I would conclude that they would not try their best at work. If the candidate passed the resume phase it meant a chance for a phone interview. This was the phase where we could get a general sense of the candidate’s personality. I talked to my manager before conducting phone interviews to discuss traits I should look for. For example, I would look for people who are energetic and outgoing; and people who were patient and easy to talk to. Their tones on the phone and language they used would be a big part of the determination process. We were looking for candidates who had positive tones and good communication skills. Even though there was no list of personality traits to look for, I tried to analyze the job description. I discussed the jobs with my coworkers and drew a list of personality traits in my mind when I phone interviewed candidates. When they responded to our questions, we were looking for people who answer calmly and respectfully. Other than personality traits, OCB was another important factor I paid attention to when I conducted the phone interview. OCB is the â€Å"performance that supports the social and psychological environment in which task performance takes places† (Organ, 1997). Research results showed OCB has significant relationships with important organizational outcomes such as productivity, efficiency, and turnover (Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff, & Blume, 2009). With minimum qualifications, I wanted to select candidates who showed OCBs in their phone interview. Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff, & Mishra (2010) also talked about the effects of OCBs on selection decision in employment interviews. The article reports on an experiment examning the effects of job candidates’ propensity to exhibit OCBs on selection decisions made in the context of a job interview. The result showed that candidates who exhibited higher levels of OCBs were generally rated as more competent, received higher overall evaluations, and received higher salary recommendations than candidates who exhibited lower levels of OCBs. When I asked job candidates questions, I was looking for people who showed higher levels of helping, voice, and loyalty behaviors in their answers. I believe employees who love to help others, who would express their feelings to improve rather than criticize, and who showed loyalty to their employers would work well in our organization. I talked to my manager about these factors and she agreed with me. For example, for the receptionist position, when I asked the candidate about their past working experience, I would like to hear examples of them voluntarily helping their co-workers, or solving conflicts between co-workers. Also, I would want to hear them talk about what did they achieved at the past job, like what did they do to improve the company or themselves. Another thing I would ask them is why were they looking for a new job? Candidates’ responses and attitudes toward their old employer would give me an idea of their loyalty if they were work for our organization. If these personality traits and OCBs showed during the phone interview, I would invite candidates to come in for an in-person interview. The reason for conducting a walk-in interview after a phone interview was because by meeting with the individual, it helped us to know the individual better. Our organization required employees to have an in-house observation to give them a chance to get in touch with patients and observe their reactions. I was not able to participate in the in-house observations; however, I tried my best to select potential candidates from the first two rounds of interviews. Selection Decisions Dalessio and Imada (1984) talked about relationships between interview selection decisions and perceptions of applicant similarity. The study had shown that interviewers’ final decisions were related to: [a] the degree of similarity between the interviewers’ perception of the ideal employee and the applicant, and [b] the degree of similarity between the interviewers’ self-perception and the applicant. This was a useful tip when I interviewed. I sat in several interviews before personally conducting one. I observed the communication between applicants and my Human Resources Manager. Since all these candidates passed the minimum qualification, my manager looked for someone who best fit the organization. â€Å"Fit† is the word we use in our selection process. Many applicants had the minimum qualifications for the job; however, we wanted someone who fit in the organization. Garcia, Posthuma, & Colella (2008) talked about how interviewers construct fit perceptions about applicants. Their results showed that performance expectation had a direct effect on fit perceptions. Unanimously with the study, our manager wanted to select people who she thought would perform well in the organization. She had an idea of what an ideal applicant would look like in her mind. For example, when we hired nurses, my manager looked to see if the applicant was careful, sensitive, caring and good at teamwork. If the applicant used to work in teams and got along with his or her team members, she would be able to determine if this applicant fit our organization. This person should have high Agreeableness. If we were hiring for a receptionist, we would want to look for candidates who love to help others. From these observations, I learned to study the interview questions and pay attention to personality traits and OCBs that we were looking for in an ideal employee. Each time, I would read these different interview questions for different positions and rehearse the questions in my mind. Also, I identified personality traits and OCBs that were related to the position. Combined with the PPRF I mentioned earlier, I discussed with my manager about our expectations for an ideal candidate before the interview. What were the essential skills and personalities that fit in the organization? After I identified those aspects, I would start the interview process. The more the individual matched our requirements, the more likely this individual would be hired. Each position requires different personality traits; unfortunately, I am not able to list them out specifically due to the confidentiality policy of the organization. Difficulties Encountered Unavoidably, we chose some overqualified candidates to pursue to the next step, which are the background check and drug-screen test. We chose these candidates because they would be quick studies and help others develop. However, our compensation was not the most attractive in the industry. We lost several over-qualified candidates right before orientation. Some left due to compensation limitations; some left due to lack of potential opportunities. We lost both time and money due to the unexpected losses. I discussed these issues with my manager. She told me that they lost more than 70% of over-qualified individuals among all over-qualified individuals during the recruiting process in the past. Even though the turnover is high, they have better potential compared to individuals who have minimum skills only. Her ways to avoid the situation was to not interview over-qualified individuals if they required much higher compensation than what we could offer. I disagreed with her opinion. Compensation definitely matters to jobseekers, however, it is not the only thing that matters. I believed more factors should be considered before we decided if an interview should be conducted, such as potential growth, training and development, as well as a benefit package. According to Wells (2004), there are pros and cons of hiring overqualified candidates. The potential advantages include they might be able to pick up tomorrow’s leaders today at below-market prices. If they were hired, they could help employees meet their goals sooner and potentially contribute a lot more to the company. However, there were disadvantages as well. Overqualified candidates were often too expensive. If we didn’t give them a better compensation package, situations similar in our organizations would be likely to happen again. Also, Wells mentioned that they were likely to intimidate others. Hiring a person who is far more experienced than his or her peers or immediate supervisor could create upside-down reporting relationships and authority tensions. Careful assessment was required when intending to hire overqualified candidates. From the article, I learned that I should decide how to define over-qualification. I brought up the topic at one of our intern meetings. We agreed that being at the wrong level and salary expectation was one of the most important factors. It looked kind of like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943). He used the terms Physiological, Safety, Belongingness and Love, Esteem, Self-Actualization and Self-Transcendence need to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through. When primary needs were satisfied, people seek for higher level needs. I think over-qualified employees do the same. Compensation is a primary need for job seekers. However, it is not the only factor that matters. If we provide fair amount of compensation, they look for other factors such as personal growth. However, if the compensation level is much lower than the average, they seek for other companies. Our organization does not have to have the most attractive compensation, however, it should be the average in the industry. We provided minimum pay at the phone interview. Also, there was a pay expectation on the job application. Comparing our minimum pay and candidates’ expectations, we would be able to draw a picture of the possibility of follow through the hiring process with the over qualified candidates. For example, we would give applicants a realistic preview of what the job would be. During the phone screen process, I told them the salary for the position and paid attention to their response. If the candidate hesitated, they most likely would not continue the process. We would not follow up with this candidate. The next step was to ask if we could do something to position the job opportunity to better take advantage of the applicant’s experience. For instance, if the applicant’s past experience was specialized in child care, we would transfer the applicant to the childcare facilities within the organization. Or, if the applicant obviously had more skills and experience, we would offer a higher-level position instead of an entry-level position. Also, we arranged in-house observations for applicants to give them a preview of certain responsibilities of the job and observe their reaction in the real work environment. Lastly, we assessed what career stage the person was in. We would like to know if they had ambitious goals and wanted fast growth. As a result, we looked at three predictors of candidate’s success on the job: the ability to do the work, the ability to work well with others and motivation. Motivation factors include, career growth like promotion opportunities and personnel growth, such as education reimbursement. Following these assessment steps, we successfully decreased the drop off rate for overqualified candidates. During my internship period, we made efforts to hire seven over-qualified candidates, half of them went through the whole process, which is much better than before. Job Description Development Beyond my expectations, I had a chance to develop several job descriptions during my internship due to organization transformation and expansion. Brannick and Levine (2002) mentioned that the structure of the job description should include identifiers, a summary section, duties and tasks, and other information. They suggest using a KSA modeling approach and critical incident technique to structure the job description. Due to the limited time I was given, I was not able to analyze these KSAs and critical incidents. However, I followed their format, which made the job description easier to read. Since the organization had their own format for job descriptions, which didn’t include a summary section, I discussed with my manager the benefit of adding a summary section for each position and edited all of our job descriptions. The summary section gave applicants and mployees a clear idea of what their responsibilities were and linked with tasks and skill sets required. I believe the summary gave employees a better idea of what their daily functions looked like. During my internship, I developed job description for utility manager, staff development specialist, and executive assistant. Also, my coworkers and I revised all of our job descriptions in the database by adding a summary section. After the format was decided, I planned to start to draft the job description. Part of the job description was minimum qualifications. Levine, Maye, Ulm, and Gordon (1997) provided a step-by-step account of the methodology and described the means by which validated minimum qualifications (MQ) were obtained. The authors indicated that MQs were created for education, experience, and closely related personalities needed to perform a job satisfactorily. In our organization, a closely related personality for nurse would be Agreeableness. We looked for people who would follow the policy and work with others. MQs are often used as screening devices in personnel selection. Our organization used MQs to screen out applicants as well. Levine, et al (1997) mentioned that in order to determine minimum qualifications, a job analysis needed to be conducted. Its descriptors or components were both behavioral and cognitive in nature. Tasks, the behavioral aspects and KSAs, and the cognitive aspects were determined. Scales were developed to evaluate tasks and KSAs for their impact and relevance in establishing MQs. The authors indicated that this job analysis established a basis for the development of MQs, and defined domains against which to evaluate the MQs for content validity. Preliminary research and observation by human resources specialists, including review of the dictionary of occupational titles, also helped to lead to the preparation of draft lists of tasks and KSAs. Interviews with current employees should be conducted to review relevant tasks and responsibilities required at their job. The authors also suggested a meeting with SMEs to determine the final task and KSA list. Using the list, people should be able to prepare a set of MQ profiles. According to the study, this methodology proved to have high inter- rater reliability.

Different attitudes to war Essay

Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen are poets who fought for England in the First World War. Both poets depict the same topic of war, but through different views and opinions. Despite them pertaining to the similarly themed subject, their language and tone invoke contrasting feelings in readers and affects their impression of war in opposite ways. Examples of these differences can be seen in the two poems by Rupert Brook ‘The Dead (iii) and ‘The Soldier’ and two by Wilfred Owen ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’. Rupert Brooke writes ‘The Dead (iii)’ in an extremely relaxed and romantic mood. Brooke had not experienced war, so with this in mind the poem seems very clear and concise. Brooke aims to show us the glory that is brought about by dying for your country. He thinks that war is a simple and dignified cause. He aims to make us more patriotic and convince us to die for our country in war. The first line is very energetic and joyous for a horrendous subject such as war. This may mean that Brooke tries to symbolise enthusiasm and glory. Since bugles are used at a grand occasion, but also militarily charges and retreats he may be trying to indicate that dying for your country is a glorious way to end your life. â€Å"Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!† As he says, it has made them ‘rich’. This probably means that they are wealthy with glory, praise and admiration. He makes no mention of the pain and suffering in war. The third line explains that dying has again made them important. But, dying has made us rarer gifts than gold. Gold is very rare, so by dying they have been them valuable and unique. Brooke is trying to signify that not many people sacrifice their lives this way. This in Brooke’s belief is a very honourable and glorious practice. The sestet explains to us how the soldiers dying bring England a lot of honour and credibility. Honour has come back, as a king, to earth, And paid his subjects with a royal wage; The peace that has been present for so long has made her weak. ‘Heritage’ is use to clearly link with the overall theme of ‘payment and reward’. It implies ‘that which is rightfully theirs’, has been successfully implemented. And we have come into our heritage. In ‘The Soldier’, Brooke feels content to die for his motherland to protect the people left behind. The title conveys a sense of pride and loyalty to the reader. Although fully aware of the possibility of death, indicated by the line ‘If I should die’, think only this of me:’ Even if his ashes, his ‘richer earth’, were to lie in a land distant from England, his love would still be ‘forever’. This is further stressed when his relationship is compared to the bond between mother and child. ‘A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,’ His purpose of fighting for his country is to protect England, indicated by the words, ‘Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,’ His sense of pride and honour is so strong that he does not dwell on the gloom and misery that is associated with war, instead views it as if through rose-tinted glasses. Even if his contributions were minute, shown by the comparison of, ‘A pulse in the eternal mind’ ‘Give somewhere back the thoughts England given’, He is happy to repay England and wishes to preserve her ‘laughter’ and ‘gentleness’ for the future. This contentment and happiness is clearly shown by the words ‘peace’ and ‘heaven’, even if he is dead, he can rest in peace as he has loyally served his country. This patriotism is frequently brought to attention with the repeated use of the word ‘England’ and ‘English’ throughout the poem. The Soldier gives out an optimistic tone, making war out to be a peaceful and heroic act. It is written in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet, which is traditionally used to express personal thoughts and feelings. This could have been the reason why Rupert Brooke chose to write in this form. It is also an autobiographical poem in which the author expresses a personal viewpoint on war and his love for his country. Rupert Brooke also makes use of iambic pentameters, which is a line containing five stresses. It gives his written words authority by using this classical verse. It also provides a rhythm, which reminds the reader of a heartbeat or a ‘pulse’. This helps in making his argument more convincing. The stanzas are separated into two. The octave talks about the possibility of death while the sestet talks about death itself and what his sacrifice will mean for England. It gives the traditional, naive and biased view of war. It also gives a pastoral description yet a biased view of England as he blatantly ignores the negative side of England only mentioning its best side. He uses a religious diction, for example the last line reads, ‘In hearts at peace, under an English heaven’. ‘ This reveals Brooke’s belief in God and Heaven. This is what makes the poem sound somewhat like a sermon. Rupert Brooke expresses patriotism and his conviction that England is worth fighting for as he also claims that God is on England’s side by saying ‘blest by the suns of home’. By believing in  this, Rupert Brooke makes himself believe that he should sacrifice his own life for England and by doing so he would be returning the favour of being born British and so believes it is an honour to go to war, and an even greater honour to die in battle for one’s country and in return, portrays in his poem an image of one dying a painless death. Such a view is in the Victorian tradition of war which viewed it as a glorious and noble enterprise, with such poems as Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’. This patriotic fever was simply carried on by Brooke who still saw warfare in terms of duels and honour. By looking at these sonnets, we can come to the obvious conclusion that Brooke was very idealistic about war and had no idea of the horror and suffering involved. However Wilfred Owen’s ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ achieves a totally different effect on the reader, as it is completely devoid of any obvious sense of national pride, and instead questions the very purpose of war. His use of ironies throughout produces a mocking tone, which serves to emphasize his view of the uselessness of war. This is revealed in the title, where the effect of the word ‘Doomed’ suggests that the soldiers are destined to die and are without any hope. However, it is ironic that it is used with the word ‘Anthem’, a word reserved for praise. ‘What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? ‘ The soldiers are compared to ‘cattle’ that are slaughtered, indicating that they have no other purpose than to die. The comparison also suggests that the soldiers were killed numerously, mercilessly and systematically. He uses crude words to convey the complete absence of love or honour on the battlefield and numerous contradictions to invoke the feelings of pity in the reader; instead of ‘passing-bells’ there are only ‘guns’ and ‘stuttering rifles’. The words ‘monstrous anger’ refers to the fierceness and violence of war. ‘Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle’ The word ‘monstrous’ also suggests that the soldier’s task is immense, almost impossible to do, which emphasizes the feeling of hopelessness of war. This is again highlighted when the poet refers to the gunshots as ‘stuttering’. This means that there are bullets whizzing everywhere, and chances are most of the men would have been hit. The alliteration of the ‘R’s in rifles rapid rattle indicate the sounds of gunshots; again appealing to the reader’s senses to highlight the bleak conditions in the battlefield which are terrible and ugly. Owen is obsessed with the cruelty, indignity and senseless wasting of their lives. The use of the word ‘patter’ refers to the bullets hitting a soldier’s body. It gives the effect of raindrops hitting a window, which when used to describe how a body is inflicted with bullets paints a very cruel and inhumane picture. When he writes, ‘No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells’ He says that the dead are forgotten; they are neither mourned nor prayed for. This is because the dead are so many that it would take too much effort to bother to tend to them. The only things to mark their deaths are the ‘choirs’, yet there are not ordinary choirs but, ‘The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells’. It is as if death has become the norm for them; it does not receive much attention or sympathy. The words ‘shrill and wailing’ seem to suggest that even in their deathbeds, there is no peace. The ‘bugles calling for them from sad shires’ seem to be calling in vain, because the soldiers are all dead. If anything, the soldier’s deaths are undignified and not the least bit honourable. There is no hero worship and the dead are ignored. There is no pride, no honour and still the war continues. Owen writes about the effects of so many casualties of war and how it ironically destroys the homes the soldiers died to protect. The numerous deaths caused by war  ravages even the younger generations left behind, shown by the ‘candles’, ‘What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. ‘ This refers to their tears and the ‘pallor of girl’s brows’ which is the paleness of the girls. It is all they have to mourn the dead soldiers, and they are plagued with sadness at the death of a loved-one. The line, ‘And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds’  shows that they are slowly losing hope against the darkness, which signifies their sorrow and misery. He says that the youth are supposed to be the hope for the future but are doomed because of the past, which is ironic because so many soldiers wasted their lives hoping to protect these children. The calmness achieved by the consistency only serves to suggest the mood is heartless, without emotion, cold, cruel, and that like of a machine. In ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, the rhythm is broken and unsteady; it serves to create an impression on the reader of how grave and miserable war is. In ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, the tone is more sombre and angry; making out the same war is grim and insufferable. The Latin words used in the title of the poem Dulce et Decorum Est mean, ‘it is a sweet and fitting thing to die for ones country’. This is ironic as throughout the poem, Wilfred Owen gives the reader a negative picture of war and towards the end of the poem, calls his title ‘the old lie’. This is because at the start of the war the Latin phrase had become a motto which was used in supporting patriotic statements about war and to encourage other young men to become soldiers. But Owen himself had been at the front lines for three years and so by now knew what war really meant and so he uses his poetry as a means to express the views of soldiers to people who had no experience of it; namely the public. Wilfred Owen begins his poem with the soldiers’ description, ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags,’ This is strange coming from a soldier himself and directly opposes the stereotypical soldier. Throughout, his choice of words describing the soldiers, his experience and war itself, Wilfred Owen puts the reader into a state of shock and disillusion. He uses the analogy of war as being like a plague or a lethal disease that is highly contagious and can cause mass destruction, in order to emphasise the harsh reality. This is shown when he writes, ‘like a man in fire or lime’; as in the days of plague where lime was used as a substance to decompose dead bodies, and in saying this, he says that those who enter war, those who actually participate and experience war at its worst, for them there is no return to normality, or indeed humanity. He writes about a soldier who had died of poisonous gas inhalation and describes it vividly, trying to make the reader imagine the scenes before him using the present progressive verb form ending with ‘-ing’. For example, ‘He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. ‘ This gives the sense of immediacy, that the reader is actually witnessing the soldier’s death. This soldier died by breathing in poisonous gas. Then Owen describes how the man’s dead body was treated, ‘Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin, ‘ This shows the pain he was in, as he was on the brink of death. This is to  illustrate that as the devil is destined to commit evil until the end of time, it has come to the extent that even the devil is sick of the amount of evil and torture around it. The religious diction used here symbolizes the relationship between war and the devil and that they too, are playing on the same grounds as the devil. A direct address to the readers is also used, using a persuasive technique, especially in the last stanza, for example, ‘If you could hear†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ in line 21, ‘My friend, you would not tell†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ in line 25, This is so that the reader would feel sympathetic towards him and the soldiers. It is almost as if Owen is begging the reader to understand. Through describing this man’s tragic death and his burial, Wilfred Owen tries to change the views of the public. The use of fricatives symbolizes the harsh reality of war as by using fricatives, for example a hard ‘c’ is used in words such as ‘corrupted’ and ‘cud’, it becomes as though the reader can actually hear the person dying as it sounds like choking and so writes in a very vivid form. In the last few sentences he makes his final message clear, ‘My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old lie: Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori.’ Again he makes a personal plea to the reader telling them not to tell children that war is a patriotic act and the only answer to the world’s problems. It is in fact the worst possible answer, there can never be honour as a result of war and there are only dire consequences. Brooke’s love for England is shown throughout his work. As in Dulce et Decorum Est repetition and alliteration used. The words England and English are repeated many times to show his love for his country and alliteration such as, ‘Her sights and sounds’ magnify the beauty of England. It is also used to mask the horrors of death on a battlefield as it states, ‘That there’s some corner of a foreign field’. He also believes that heaven will look similar to England by stating ‘under an English heaven’ and therefore also believes in the superiority of the English, ‘a richer dust concealed’. Owen, on the other hand, witnessed twentieth century war in all its cruel destructiveness and as a consequence brought war poetry into the modern era. Although both poets write about the same topic, which is war, they both have different views and attitudes towards it. Perhaps this is because of their different experiences with war. Brooke is like a new soldier, naà ¯ve and yet to experience its horrors. Owen writes as if he has just witnessed the worst, as he was involved with the uglier and bloodier part of the war. He also reveals the effects both on and off the battlefield. Both authors have distinctly different impressions of war because of their different experiences, but ultimately, both describe the subject, although from totally opposite sides. The two poets really contrast and oppose each other greatly. Brooke writes about war idealistically and with passion, Whereas Owen does the complete opposite. Owens’s poem is however more reliable since he has experienced war. ‘The Dead’ was written before the war. The Soldier was written in 1914, a year before Brooke died, and Owen wrote Dulce et Decorum Est in 1917, three years after the First World War had started. In these dates we may find the reasons behind the conflicting ideology the two men gained. Brook wrote his poem at the beginning of the war, and so the ideas and perceptions of war and fighting for one’s country as being noble and heroic were still fresh in his mind and the public’s. Owen, on the other hand, wrote his poem three years into the war and in that time was able to see and accept the realities of war, so his perception of war was changed to bitterness and this was reflected in his many poems such as Anthem for Doomed Youth in which he reveals the same feelings on war as he does in Dulce et Decorum Est. In one of his previous poems, The Ballad of Peace and War, he himself had supported  the idea of, ‘How sweet it is to live in peace with others, but sweeter still far more meet to die in war with brothers. ‘ Therefore, it would be concluded that the only reason why the two poets have conflicting ideologies of war, is time. If Brooke had experienced more of the war he might have wrote later poems that portrayed the same bitterness as Owens.

Is friar Lawrence to blame Essay

Friar Lawrence is the local Roman Catholic priest who is also an apothecary. He is the confident of both Romeo and Juliet and plays an important role in the fate of both. He is more than aware of the family’s feuding and seems to be well thought of by everybody. Romeo respects Friar Lawrence very much and sees him as a father figure. When Romeo feels suicidal when he has just been banished from Verona, the Friar tells him to straighten up. `This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not. ` When Romeo confesses that he wants to marry Juliet, Friar Lawrence teases Romeo about how fickle in love he is. `Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken? ` But in spite of this he still agrees to marry the young couple as he hopes it will end the family’s feuding. `For this alliance may so happy prove, To turn your households’ rancour to pure love. ` He only agreed to it because he had their best interests at heart. I don’t think he is to blame for marrying them as he did what he thought was right. And even if Friar Lawrence hadn’t married them, who’s to say that another Friar wouldn’t have married them? Romeo and Juliet both feel as if they can turn to him when they are in trouble. We see this when Romeo has been banished, because he stabbed Tybalt and Juliet has been told that she must marry Paris. Romeo doesn’t seem as if he is very close to either of his parents but Juliet usually has her nurse to turn to, but even the nurse, in the end the nurse rejects her too. `I think it best u married with the county. ` So in desperation each one goes to Friar Lawrence for help. Romeo is helped by being giving him a hide out in Mantua until Juliet can meet him. Juliet, being ordered to marry Paris, has gone to Friar Lawrence in desperation and has asked for help. First of all the Friar has to help Romeo escape. He allows Romeo to spend one night with Juliet, but before dawn he must leave. It is at this time that Juliet has been told to marry Paris. So she goes to the Friar. Friar Lawrence then devises a plan that will ensure Juliet and Romeo’s happiness. In some ways this shows us the Friars cunning, we are also shown that he is quite a smart man. We know that the friar is also an apothecary, so he gives Juliet a potion, which will make Juliet look as if she is dead. When she is taken to the family tomb, the friar will wait until she awakens, and by which time Romeo will hopefully already be there and take Juliet away. While devising this plan he still has the families’ interests at heart. He is only doing this in the hope that the two families, Montague and Capulet will reconcile. Although it could be argued, that he only helped them because he wanted to save himself. I personally don’t think so. I think he would have known that he would have had to `cover his tracks` before he married the couple. He seems like a prudent man, one that will think things through; he would never have married them and helped them elope for selfish reasons. But the Friar did deceive both the Capulet and Montague parents. And although this was wrong, it was also, in my opinion justified. I think this because he didn’t really have much choice. If he had wanted to succeed with his plan then they would have had to be kept in the dark, there was no other way round it. If they had been told, neither parent would have agreed to let their child associate with the child of the enemy. Priests do have the best interests of their parishes at heart and they do not lie and deceive people needlessly, but I think in this case it was allowed. Even though everything didn’t turn out the way it should have, it achieved the one thing the Friar wanted: peace between the families. And although the price paid was very high, almost too high, the motivation was honourable he genuinely didn’t act selfishly. I think everyone, in the play recognised this including the prince. `We still have known thee for a holy man. ` Friar Lawrence really was a decent man, even if his plans did go slightly wrong.

Case study analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case study analysis - Term Paper Example Google was one of the pioneers to introduce easy and fast search. There technique of PageRank gained them more popularity. PageRank was used to measure the importance and relevance of a website based on the back links the site had from other famous sites. The AdWords introduced by Google gave many companies to advertise their products and website on web. AdWords gives the client the ability to select the relevant key words they prefer. Whenever these key words appear in the search the websites which have chosen these keywords will be displayed. Google has been able to change the concept of viral marketing altogether (Google’s Country Experiences: France, Germany, Japan, 200). Cultural Dimension of Google Google has been able to change a lot of traditional corporate work culture. Google has always promoted work with fun concept. They believe in keeping their work place playful yet efficient. Google management does not believe in serious nature of work, they believe that it is o nly when the employees are happy that they will be more efficient and creative in their work. When Google went for global expansion, their offices in all the countries had the work culture. The employees were never asked to come in formal attire. The aesthetics of the offices all over were also done with a casual attitude. Where other corporates promoted business like attitude in all their aspects, Google stuck to their core belief that work can be fun. It was a little difficult for employees in countries like Britain and other European Union countries to adapt to Google’s work culture. The informal way of conducting themselves in work place is an alien thing for these countries that associate work with serious attitude. Google has been known to promote ethnic expression at work place (Hamen, 2003). The Google management encourages their employees to mingle with each other. They encourage people hailing from different countries and communities to interact with each other. Thi s helps the employees to broaden their thought process. The set up in all Google offices is done in such a way that all employees have their meals together in cafeteria. Google also is famous for encouraging women employment in many countries to promote gender equality. The employees are provided with all the facilities like food, massage parlour and pool table etc. in the office complex itself. However, Google does stress enough importance on performance also. All employees are expected to perform to the best of their capability. The raise and promotions are based on the performance of the employee. An employee who is able to perform brilliantly while having fun is an ideal employee for Google. Google does not want its employee to lose focus from their jobs. The facility provided by them is to facilitate more productivity not divert the focus of the employees. The rapid growth of Google in different countries confirms the business viability of their unconventional ways. The busines s model of Google has raised many objections in many countries. Many countries like France and China do not agree to their business model. Google had to modify many of the original products they offered to accommodate country specific demands and laws (Google’s Country Experiences: France, Germany, Japan, 202). Revenue Earning Potential of Google Focusing on the revenue earning dimension of the company it is found that in the previous days Google used to

UNIT 3 ACTIVITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

UNIT 3 ACTIVITY - Essay Example Of most significance is my desire to be able to contribute positively to the lives of people I meet. To do this, I consider a rational and consistent approach to be essential. Emotionally I strive to keep up a continued positive and compassionate attitude, so that the people I encounter can accept me as someone who does not influence them negatively. Instead, I would prefer to be understood as a person who is able to help by accepting and listening to others without preconceptions or prejudices, or even my own emotional state influencing my interactions. While I do understand that this approach is important in the practice of psychology, it is also clear that this helps in all my interactions with people: professional, in the academic context, and personally within my family and friendship circle. The most important relationships in my life are with my close family members. To ensure that these relationships grow is an ongoing goal. I believe that these relationships contribute to success in everything I do. They certainly help me to maintain a balanced, rational, and consistent approach in my life. The honestly expressed opinions of those close to me help me to make difficult decisions with the security that I am advised by people who care for me. Further, I want to focus on becoming someone my family can look to when their decisions are difficult. We should be able to offer reciprocal and non-judgmental support to one another in all situations, so that we are all able to succeed personally and professionally. I believe that this kind of support â€Å"at home† will help anyone to succeed in their lives. In order to satisfy my academic needs, I aim to achieve a doctoral degree. I enjoy academic study so continuing to pursue new knowledge and skills contributes to my personal well-being. To achieve well within an academic sphere also allows me to build and maintain a good self-image – I feel that I am working hard to meet my potential, while moving closer

Child malnutrition Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Child malnutrition - Research Paper Example Some of the worst cases are in the regions of sub-Saharan Africa (in countries such as Botswana, Burundi and Nigeria) and in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) but there are also packets of malnutrition in areas like Southeast Asia (Cambodia and Laos) or in Latin America (Bolivia, Guatemala and Peru). Child malnutrition can start at the infant stage when there is no or very poor breast feeding is available. This can persist as the child grows up and has an irreversible impact on a child’s health by age two. Malnourished children grow up into adults with some serious health problems such as tuberculosis and increasing the risk of infection to a variety of diseases. The issue of child malnutrition has a knock-on effect on an individual starting with lowered brain functions resulting in impaired educational achievement which in turn results into a failure to gain the right education in order to get decent jobs and earn a respectable income. This paper discusses the issue of child malnutrition from a global perspective, what the charities and aid organizations are doing to help kids and evaluate how effective these aid programs are. Discussion Child malnutrition has taken center stage in the world’s attention because it had crept up again, with the number of malnourished children increasing. Various causes of this are to frequent conflicts that destroy the delivery of basic government services. In the past period, especially during 1950-2000, there was a significant reduction in the prevalence of children’s malnutrition worldwide especially in the group of developing countries (Smith & Haddad 61). Vast improvements in women’s education, women’s social status, national food availability, a rise in incomes and attainment of democratic freedoms contributed to the reduction (ibid.) and the most significant improvements were achieved in the region of East and Southeast Asia. In these two regions lived some 2.1 billion inhabita nts (with China alone at 1.3 billion people). The reduction in child malnutrition prevalence was due extremely rapid reduction in the child mortality rates from migrations, urbanization, increased access to education and an aggressive family-health and maternal-health intervention program (Attane & Barbiere 7). Global Issue – child malnutrition has attracted the focus of efforts from the WHO as it is one of the leading preventable causes of death among children. In particular, about half of all child deaths (estimated between 4.6 and 5.0 million annually) are caused by malnutrition. Diarrhea is a major risk factor in child malnutrition that results from the lack of safe drinking water in developing countries, especially for children under five years old (Oloo 3). Diarrhea is the most prevalent in developing countries and accounts for a high proportion of sickness and death among children because of its strong correlation to malabsorption of nutrients (The World Bank 22). A la ck of iodine has been identified as a leading preventable cause of child’s mental impairment which is estimated to reduce the intelligence quotient by10-15 points in a case of another preventable cause of malnutrition that requires only little financial resources which developing countries could very well afford even without outside aid. Child Malnutrition in Somalia –

Cultural Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Cultural - Research Paper Example This paper considers an economic explanation and an ecological one, along with an analysis of forest symbolism and a sociological analysis of honey collecting, to form the thesis of this paper: that the impact of hunting and honey-collection subsistence activities of the Mbuti, on gender and social organization, is mediated by forest symbolism that serves as a basis for their ideology, and that Forest symbolism and consequent social organization, of this hunter-gatherer society, shapes gender practices with respect to net and archery hunting, and also to honey collection. Five distinct theories are presented in this paper. The first, by Bailey and Aunger, is basically an economic theory. They argue that net hunting is participated in by women in areas where Mbuti find it to be more economically rewarding than working in the village gardens of agriculturalist outsiders. In archery hunting areas, this is not so. The second is Abruzzi’s, ecological theory about population pressur e. Abruzzi argues that the net hunting and archery hunting division is an adaptive response to the invasion of Mbuti territory by non-Mbuti outsiders. The third theory, core to this paper, is from a fascinating descriptive analysis by Mosko. Mosko’s paper introduces a structuralist theory of forest symbolism and kinship representation, nothing overtly specific to net and archery hunting, but actually, it would appear, quite central to it. The symbolism of the forest, as conceived by the Mbuti, and described by Mosko, places men at the center, the hearth, the vaginal entry to and exit from the womb, and similarly as close as possible to the center of the forest, the sacred space where it is forbidden to disturb by hunting. It places women at the periphery, near the food baskets in huts, and similarly in labor contact with the agriculturalists, at the periphery of Mbuti territory. Having read the other two papers first, and later reading Mosko’s paper, the idea dawned (t he fourth theory being the theory stated as the thesis of this paper) that the connection between gender and subsistence and social organization, as it pertains to net and archery hunting, actually has its roots in the forest symbolism of which Mosko spoke, although he did not apply it to that consideration. It follows to ask why, then, as so many anthropologists and ethnographers have asked before; why do women participate in net hunting but seldom to never in archery hunting? How might this unique, non-materialist way of looking at Mbuti social organization, from a more emic perspective of forest symbolism contribute to answering this question? The fifth theory considered in this paper is an ecological and sociological analysis of honey collection activities and norms. Ichikawa emphasized that honey collection, among net hunting Mbuti, is an activity that strengthens social organization, and that women and children participate in honey collection activities but do not, themselves, actually collect the honey, as that is done only by men. Inputting honey-collection information into consideration of the thesis of this paper, remaining sensitive to Mosko’s explanation of emic forest symbolism, the question of â€Å"why† might be more confidently answered. The impact of hunting and honey-collection subsistence activities of the Mbuti, on gender

The Era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945 Essay

The Era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945 - Essay Example He believed it was the role of the government to offer a solution to these problems. This essay will focus on how Franklin Delano Roosevelt consistent set of plans for ending the Great Depression throughout the first part of his Presidency. Franklin felt that people working in most public offices lacked social values and focused more on money in his opinion, the lack of ethics had greatly contributed to corruption hence the depression. Moreover, he felt that the financial systems required to works harder towards resolving the crisis instead of dwelling in the fear emanating from the crisis (Polenberg 39-40). He believed that people working in financial systems especially the exchange market had focused more on using their mandate for personal financial gains contributing to the depression. He thus insisted on the need for transparency and accountability by the public officers (Polenberg 43) Franklin believed that recovery and reform were closely interconnected. He therefore suggested social objectives of the new deal that aimed at offering more jobs o the Americans. Moreover, he believed it was important to enhance security and enable Americans have access to decent homes. To be able to achieve the above plans, Franklin suggested a program that aimed at providing approximately 3.5 million jobs. His other projects included rural electrification, reforestation, as well as slum clearance (Polenberg 54-56). Another plan that Franklin proposed was the need for equality. He believed that some private companies were exploiting common Americans due to their urge to increase their profits. Therefore, he planned to enhance equality and ensure that all Americans were able to enjoy security and enjoy reasonable leisure. Moreover, Franklin planned to ensure that the national resources were utilized appropriately to benefit all, people were protected from hazards of life especially those associated with the depression, and people would eventually enjoy living in decent homes irrespective of the crisis. The above plans remained important to Franklin throughout his reign (Polenberg 39-42). To ensure that the natural resources were used appropriately to proposed the need for appropriate use of land and water resources. To ensure that all Americans were secured from life hazards, Roosevelt believed that it was important to create employment opportunities and insurance services. In his opinion, the old, handicapped, children, and pregnant mother required insurance benefits (Polenberg 48-50) To ensure that Americans enjoyed living in better homes, Franklin believed it was important to empower the unemployed by giving them jobs. This could be achieved through enactment of policies that would create employment opportunities. Franklin argued that the large government debt had resulted due to increased dependence of many Americans on the relief rolls. This had resulted in burdening of the federal government. He proposed that it was appropriate to offer jobs to t he unemployed to prevent them from relying on federal aid. He believed that the only group of people that required federal relief was those who could not manage to toil for various reasons. However, the larger percentage of people depending on the federal relief funds was employable. However, the group had been rendered jobless by the circumstances surrounding the depression. He thus believed that it

United States National Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

United States National Security - Essay Example Michael Ignatieff (2002) characterizes weak and collapsing states as the chief source of human rights abuses in the post-cold war world as these states comprise the world's most poor population that are easily disposed to resorting to violence against other groups, their own governments or international terrorism primarily in a battle of survival. James Wolfensohn, formerly of the World Bank, calls for a global strategy that includes measures designed to address "the root causes of terrorism: those of economic exclusion, poverty and under-development."(Wolfensohn, 2002) This paper outlines why are failed and failing states significant threat to United States national security by first establishing whether failed and failing states are in a position to pose a significant threat to the United States. The paper will look into the reasons why they are a threat and in case it is established that failed or failing states are not a threat to US security, the essay will discuss the reasons thereof. It is also relevant to determine the scope and level of post-911 threat perceptions in the corridors of power in Washington as well as define what is a "failed" and "failing" state. Though the concept of failed or failing state is relatively new, it has quickly established itself as part of the international relations lexicon and the strategic vernacular apparently since the year 2000, and it has many definitions. Various characterization in the literature are: fragile states (Goldstone et al, 2000), difficult partners (OECD, 2001), Low Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) (World Bank, 2002), poor performers (AusAid, 2002), difficult environments (Torres & Anderson, 2004), weak performers (ADB, 2004), failed and failing states (Rotberg, 2004) and countries at risk of instability (Government of the UK, 2005). CIA's Instability Task force defines state failure as the collapse of authority of the central government to impose order in situations of civil war, revolutionary war, genocide, politicide and adverse or disruptive regime transition. Rotberg (2004), on the other hand characterizes failure of the state as being marked by an inability to provide basic political goods-especially security, dispute resolution and norm regulation and political participation-to many, if not most, of its citizens. A failed state may face restrictions on its sovereignty, such as political or economic sanctions, the presence of foreign military forces on its soil or other military constraints such as a "no-fly" zone. A prestigious journal, Foreign Policy, and the Fund for Peace, in independent research organization in their joint-project called "Failed States Index" (FSI) define a failing state as the one in which the government does not have effective control of its territory, is not perceived as legitimate by a significant portion of its population, does not provide domestic security or basic public services to its citizens and lacks a monopoly on the use of force. A failing state may experience active violence or simply be vulnerable to violence. According to the yearly survey on state instability conducted by Foreign Policy and Fund for Peace, there are some sixty states that are most likely to qualify as failing states. Twelve social, economic, political, and military indicators were used to rank 148 states in order of their vulnerability to violent internal

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall Essay Example for Free

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall Essay â€Å"There’s an honest graft and, I’m an example of how it works†¦I’ve seen my opportunities and I took ‘em† (3). An excerpt that defines the confident and political leader: George Washington Plunkitt. As a brilliant and successful businessman Plunkitt managed to use his method of machine politics to win the heart and commitment of people and political power. In the novel Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, author William L. Riordon, Plunkitt’s political reporter who records the many lectures Plunkitt presented at Tammany Hall. The book emphasizes on Plunkitt’s advocacy for political control and the political machine that helped him gain wealth and a political seat in Tammany Hall. In novel, Plunkitt defends the political machine by explaining the difference between â€Å"honest graft† and â€Å"dishonest graft†. Many accused the political leaders of Tammany Hall of gaining wealth from graft. Plunkitt describes the difference between the two terms. He describes â€Å"dishonest graft† as â€Å"blackmailin’ gamblers, saloonkeepers, and disorderly people† (3). In other words, the corruption of gaining political or business power used from bribery. Plunkitt’s term for â€Å"honest graft† has to do with the example of purchasing and selling off land for business projects. For example, if the town begins discussing a specific piece of land to be used for a community park, Plunkitt would buy that piece of land, inflate the price, and sell the property to the project developer. Plunkitt finds his way of profiting â€Å"honest†; I call this taking advantage of ones political power. As an â€Å"honest† Irish- American Plunkitt knows how to take advantage of the game and he will continue to play it until sand turns into stone. With the ability to win over voter’s hearts and gain political support Plunkitt comfortably knows how to keep a seat in Tammany Hall. One of his, again, â€Å"honest† tactics, Plunkitt knows how to target specific types of voters. In the chapter â€Å"To Hold Your District†, Plunkett claims how to target the lower class people. He would start house fires so that the poor would not have any clothing or food. Then Plunkitt would act as a friend to the people giving them quarters for clothing and food to win the heart of the people. In other words, he was gaining a vote. Plunkitt would even hand out candy to children to promise to make sure their parents were voting for him in elections. As a corruption to society, Plunkitt knew how fake the political act and win people over with friendships. According to Plunkitt in order to become a politician in Tammany Hall one must know how to bluff. Everything was about winning a vote, whether it was taking someone to a baseba ll game or handing out candy to children. What ever it took. As a business and political man, Plunkitt knew the political game inside and out. With corruption, he managed to continue to remain in office for countless years. Even though Plunkitt’s grammar was inferior to a professors’ or college graduate, it had nothing to do with being a political powerhouse. A politician had to have common sense and know how to gain ones trust, even if it meant dishonesty. By selling himself and taking advantage of political and business opportunities with â€Å"honest† or â€Å"dishonest† graft, Plunkitt attentiveness always kept himself in front with wealth and politically.

Reviewing The Prison Management System Information Technology Essay

Reviewing The Prison Management System Information Technology Essay ICT in prisons was initiated in the year 2002 at Delhi Prisons, Tihar. The Tihar Prisons Complex in New Delhi is the biggest prison complex in Asia comprising of 9 prisons and one District Jail at Rohini with a total strength of more than 11,000 prisoners against a normal sanctioned capacity of 6250 prisoners. In a year, about 70,000 80,000 inmates remain lodged in these prisons for different duration and crimes committed by them. This prison population has about 80% under trials and includes about 480 women inmates. About 400 inmates are foreigners from different parts of the world. Many high security criminals also live here. There has been a substantial increase in number of prison inmates coming to Tihar because of a phenomenal increase in the crime scene at Delhi that has resulted in the increase of the ICT needs and its management at the Tihar Jail Complex. Nearly 1700-1800 visitors meet their relative inmates every day. There was manual system of booking mulaqats (meetings) in each jail for its respective inmates. Centralised visitor record was not available. There was lack of exchange of visitors information within jails and prison headquarters. There was no provision for identification / detection / verification of visitors. Keeping a tab on the movement of visitors / nefarious elements was difficult. There was no control either on multiple meetings with an inmate in a day / week or on number of visitors permissible to meet with each inmate. It was difficult for the jail administration to keep a record of those prisoners whose meetings were stopped by the courts by way of punishment. There was limi ted and unstructured recording of demographic details about the visitors. Managing the prisoner record and monitoring of prisoner / visitor was always difficult since most of the records were normally maintained manually (so the concerned authorities were required to go through all the registers to find out the details and status of the inmate as well as of the visitor). In order to cope up with the increasing number of prisoners being lodged in, the Tihar Administration required a re-engineering and rationalisation of their key business processes and functions of prisoners related information and their computerisation in order to speed up the processing of information. As the technology evolution took place, there arose a need for centralisation of prisoners data to facilitate information exchange and data sharing as well. This re-engineering would be aimed at reducing administrative overheads, speed up responsiveness to users, reduce risks involved in inmates custody, eliminate obsolete processes and reap cost-cutting benefits. 1) Based on your previous internship experience(s), identify any one business process which you have working knowledge of. Prison Management System (PMS) is a G-2-G and G-2-C e-governance application, which encapsulates the manual working-pattern of the prison rule book i.e. registration, movement within the jail and outside and release of the inmate. It captures the inmates photograph and stores the same in the database after reducing it to less than 2.5 KB size. This is directly stored in the central database such that duplicate entry of the prisoner can be identified in a global manner, which helps in tracing out the frequent flyers to the jail. It helps to generate more than 65 reports of administrative, performance and statistical nature. It helps in dealing with over populous prison that is housing inmates, which are more than 3 times of the sanctioned capacity. It facilitates in monitoring the inmate movement (both inside / outside the correction home). It also facilitates, regulates and simplifies the processes of meeting between the visitors who are coming to visit their relations and friends lodged in the correctional home. It is helping the prison authorities in identification / verification of the inmates using fingerprint based identification tools. Video conferencing is also held within the jail complex with courts and inmates are presented before the Honourable Justice. Using both digital and analog cameras, security is enhanced and a central video wall has also been installed. Around 250 300 cameras pan, tilt and zoom round the clock and feed signals at a central location using the integrated network, over which voice, video and data move freely and continuously. 2) Using the Funnel model diagram, briefly explain how this business process fits into the larger scheme of things for the organization. Funnel Model Diagram -Global Environment There has been a substantial increase in number of prison inmates coming to Tihar because of a phenomenal increase in the crime scene at Delhi that has resulted in the increase of the ICT needs and its management at the Tihar Jail Complex. It has been observed that these inmates tend to revert back to their old habits once they are released after the completion of their term. This can be attributed to several reasons ranging from mistreatment in the correction facility to their inability to obtain employment due to past record. Thus the government and the jail authorities have committed themselves to providing a safe as well as secure detention. They also aim to provide reformation and rehabilitation in a manner which results in welfare opportunities for all inmates. In the long term this should result in a reduction in the number of criminals created due to external environment and society. -Corporate Strategies In the last few years, the prison population has steadily grown, adding tremendous pressure to the overall capacity, basic standard of living and treatment to the prisoners remanded. Effective 24/7 security and vigilance by 1300 jail staff was a key area of concern. The jail management decided that an efficient video surveillance system was required to track, monitor and record movements in critical locations. Management of prisoner records and monitoring of prisoner / visitor has always been difficult in Indian jails since most of the records were normally maintained manually, so the concerned authorities were required to go through all the registers to find out the details and status of the inmate as well as of the visitor. In order to cope up with the increasing number of prisoners being lodged in, the Tihar Administration required a re-engineering and rationalisation of their key business processes and functions of prisoners related information and their computerisation in order to speed up the processing of information need of courts and various other national agencies. -Organizational Structure The Tihar correction facility has a clear set of standard operating procedures. The practical benefit of this model is that the correctional system is not overly dependent upon one or two people. It can easily promote or substitute personnel. The jail dominantly follows a bureaucratic model. This model revolves around a strict hierarchical system but it isnt focussed on one dominant personality. Organizational control flows through the hierarchy with a strict chain of command and a formal process of communication. Rules and regulations are written and specific. Additionally, the policy parameters stressed in this organizational structure are clear for all parties, and staff can be held accountable if they do not comply with written norms. On the negative side, for a difficult environment such as the Tihar jail, written norms do not guarantee consistent enforcement. Such norms are not helpful in every situation. Bureaucratic processes (currently) are slow to respond to change and do not encourage staff to demonstrate new initiative at any level of the organization. -Management and Business processes -Technological Platform 3) Explain in detail the working of this business process and what your role in it was. NIC took up this task of automating and streamlining the process of prisoner / visitor movement at Tihar Prisons. Following are the accomplishment in this area of prison management: Establishment of LAN: Establishment of LAN connecting all prisons situated in a big wide spread complex using 5,500 meters of Optical Fiber Cable (12 and 6 core) operated with one Layer 3 switch supported by 16 Layer 2 switches in the entire jail complex. The network has 185 IOs and can be expanded to 300 nodes without any additions / modifications / disruptions to the existing infrastructure. Surveys were got conducted and laying of OFC was found to be the best suitable option; Development and Implementation of PMS: Prison Management System (PMS) comprises of 12 primary functional modules. More than 65 reports of various types have been developed under Client / Server architecture. It has been developed, tested and implemented. This PMS has the following major features: Based on Client-Server Architecture and supports latest GUI features; Centralised Database for supporting powerful fast retrieval of data; Monitors physical location of inmate, their movements within and outside the jail complex, punishments, medical history of the inmate at the time of his / her arrival at the jail, cases filed against him, court hearings among other attributes; Supports more than 65 reports as per the present needs of the various monitoring agencies like National Human Rights Commission, National Crime Records Bureau and Tihar Jail itself. Biometric Tools: The PMS has been integrated with biometrics tools, which stores inmates biometric details at the time of entry and shall be used to authenticate at the time of their movement. The biometric based verification and authentication system is installed in all 9 jails of Tihar Prisons Complex and at District Jail, Rohini, New Delhi with facility to store prisoner photograph. Tihar Prisons was the first prison in India to use this technology for prisoners identification and verification along with the photograph; Photo pass for visitors: Visitor Management System [VMS] is implemented at Central Public Relation Office situated at Gate # 3 and at Gate # 4 of the Tihar Prisons. All visitors coming to Jail to meet their relative prisoners are first being photographed and then they are issued photo pass. Details of the visitors are being kept in the database and this information is shared with police for the investigation purpose. The meeting slip is generated within 45 seconds. The booking is using the concept of call centre. ISO Certification has been obtained for this process; Videoconferencing: The use of videoconferencing facility in prisons has drastically reduced expenditure incurred as compared to physically producing the jail inmates in the courts. Physical production of an inmate requires transportation, escort by armed police personnel, prevention of fights between inmates and nearly 6 hours of time wasted by each inmate. Fear of custody break is always there during the physical production. There are incidents when prisoners have fled after breaking lockups in the courtroom or from the custody of armed security personnel escorting them to court or by armed attack on the police vans by daredevils. Cameras: Using analog and digital cameras, security has been enhanced in the Tihar Prison complex. Cameras have been installed at strategic locations within wards. Each and every inmate can be watched from a video wall and surveillance brief is also sent to DG (Prisons) in real time. These video graphed shots are produced in case of any disputes. Implementation Processes Local Area Network (LAN): It was necessary to establish network in each prison and all prisons are connected over on LAN to capture and share prisoner information. This LAN is using 5,500 meters of Optical Fiber Cable (12 and 6 core) operated with one Layer 3 switches supported by 16 Layer 2 switches in the entire jail complex and having 145 IOs. The network is such that it can be expanded in future without any addition to the existing infrastructure and can support Closed Circuit Television [CCTV] System. Prison Management System (PMS): The application software Prison Management System (PMS), prison inmate information handling system, aims to facilitate modular but tightly integrated software solution for administering and managing the data related to inmates with their case details and other related activities of the inmates along with their photographs and also facilitate dissemination of information over the LAN to all the concerned officials of the correction homes. Visitor Management System (VMS): It aims to manage meetings of the inmates with their relatives and brings transparency in the Mulaqat (Meeting). It facilitates visitors to register their appointments / meetings with the inmates on telephone or in person at Central Public Relation Office of the Prison. Videoconferencing: The use of videoconferencing facility in prisons is for the purpose of remand extension and trial of prisoners (eTrial) in various courts of the country. The Delhi Government for speedy trial has changed the laws. This shall rule out any escape of prisoner from police custody while movement from Prisons to Courts for Court trials and after the trial when they return back to prisons. This shall minimise the manpower of security personnel, transportation cost and production time. VC sessions can be conducted between jail-2-jail, between jail-2-court within city and jail-2-court outside city for many important inmates like Pappu Yadav, who also happened to be MP. Use of Modern Security Gadgets: The use of modern security gadgets like Closed Circuit Television [CCTV] cameras and Biometric based Fingerprint Identification / Authentication / Verification System shall enhance the security of the Prisons and shall help prison administration in the effective management of Prisons / Prisoners. This has also been implemented at Tihar Jail. Tihar is the 1st jail in India where 258 cameras have been installed to provide digital surveillance. Training Training is a key part of any successful project. It should be tailored to the needs identified through the assessment of the work requirement, existing skills, knowledge and capacity of the employees. Training must be held for all levels and this training must be held separately for each level. The superintendent is the head of prison who is assisted by deputy and assistant superintendents. Warders and matrons are the lowest functionaries in the jail administrative setup. Primarily they have to maintain the day-to-day administration of inmates inside the jail, to know the number of prisoners in their charge; to count them frequently during their turn of duty and to satisfy themselves that they have all inmates in their custody. They have to report about any plots for the purpose of escaping or of assault or outbreak or any plan to obtain forbidden articles in the jail complex. Smoking is not allowed in the complex. Warders / matrons working in processes have been identified and provided with additional training developed for their specific functions. They possess good academic qualification, more disciplined and have keen interest to work on computers. Although the basic qualification for the post of warden / matron is only matriculation but a number of staff is having much higher qualification and this increase their interest in learning to use modern gadgets. One more important aspect was behind the training of warders / matrons is that they are from uniformed force and primary their responsibility being the safety and security of the prisons where more than 11000 criminals including hardcore criminals are lodged and we have to work within the security parameters. Monetary incentives were also given to them. Good work done by them was recorded in their annual confidential reports such that they get benefit in future. The Data Entry Operators were hired from private operators and they were provided training on the visitor module of the system. They are on contract and deployed outside the prison for visitor management. They were thoroughly sensitised before hiring for the job, so that they cannot try to connive with the prisoners relatives in any unlawful activity. 4) Draw a Business Process Modelling Diagram (BPMD) describing its working. BPMD (As-Is): BPMD (To-Be): Sample screenshot of the PMS software: 5) Identify any inefficiency (ies) in this business process and provide suitable justification for the same. General Issues / Inefficiencies in business process During the development of application software the requirements were not clear as the user was not supportive in sharing the information and subsequently could not be frozen. To overcome this problem, prototype of each module was first developed and then shown to the user department to get their suggestions / inputs. This regular interaction with the user helps in freezing out their requirements. There was no standard set for fingerprints scanning and matching which leads to non-interoperability of matching fingerprints. Many vendors provided fingerprint-matching solution, which was proprietary. There is no interoperability and standards in matching of fingerprints. The fingerprint solution integrated in the application software was taken after considering the solution to be used for whom, ruggedness of the scanner, omni directional scanning feature, live finger scanning and complete user satisfaction. Storage of photograph consumes lots of memory space. Reducing the resolution of the image and converting .bmp image to .jpeg image handled this issue. This process reduced image of size of 60k to less than 3k. Define the To-be state using certain metrics and (or) benchmarks. Metrics (Primes) along which To-be state was designed: For example, 7) Conclusions It has now become essential to embrace the new technologies in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for the development / modernisation / advancement of prisons. Internetworking of all the jails across the India for sharing of information related to prison inmates who had been lodged in various jails of the country should improve the law and order within the state. Tihar Prisons has been pioneer in this area and they have shown it through their IT setup, a role model for other states and even other countries. It is likely that this may be replicated in the SAARC Region.