Reflective learning journal

Reflective learning journal Reflective learning journal It is time to write the Reflective learning Journal at the end of this semester to conclude what we have learned from the Economics and Finance Engagement Project. Through reading outline, I realized that there was a great difference with other courses. First, almost all courses have mid-term exam and final exam; however, there are no any examinations in this course. Second, course arrangement is two hours in lecture and one hour in tutorial in other courses, while there is half an hour meeting with clients project sponsor in this course and two hours in group discussion. At the beginning of this course I felt that it would be simpler compared with other courses. In fact, I was wrong. I need to spend more time on this subject. Each week our group has group meeting in Cabramatta library, discussion always continue on two hours or the whole afternoon. After discussion, each member needs to spend long time on researching materials in internet and evaluating them. Although the process is hard, the result is wonderful. After the efforts of our teammates, our group has accomplished tenders and final reports on time. The communication skills, learning styles, information literacy, and data analysis has greatly improved through three months studying; it will be helpful for my postgraduate study and future works. In the tender documents I have mentioned that there are three units relevant to the project which is Investment, Project Management, and Statistics. Investment is relevant in regards to milestone seven which documents the retail and commercial opportunities Fairfield has in attracting office space leavers from Parramatta and Liverpool. Project Management is highly relevant to this project as time planning, material organizing, data analyzing, time controlling is all very crucial in ensuring the project successful and achieving all its objectives and milestones. Statistics is quite helpful as the project will need charts and tables to compare data and statistics and hence evaluate them. When our group has completed all the tasks, I found that Project Management plays the greatest role with the other two units. Investment theory is applied to the milestone seven. It is just recommends investors how to catch the opportunity in disadvantage situation. I mean that Fairfield has lowest pri ce, lowest quality and hardest to get transportation compared to Parramatta and Liverpool, why investors choose Fairfield rather than Parramatta or Liverpool? It is necessary to use investment theory to evaluate them. We have draw lots of charts and tables in the final reports to compare data, but the data analysis and evaluation are reflected from the Project Management. It can be said that project management in the tenders and final reports played a leading role in this project. Project Management tell us how to collect enough information in limited time, how to filter the most significant points from complex information. Although these three units play an important role in tenders and final reports, other economic and finance content is still need to add. For example, Macroeconomic and Market Model knowledge is widely used in final reports. Macroeconomics is a course that combined with the reality of the economic situation and development trend of the world. Our group found that there are a lot of retail rental advertisements in Parramatta, Liverpool, and Fairfield. The historic data show that the number of retail rental advertisements increasing in recent months. Whats more, the rent is cheaper than before. This fact is meeting to world economic situation. All we know that the world economics face to the hugest downturn in 21 century, during the financial crisis, many banks and large companies have declared bankruptcy. In Australia the impact of financial crisis is also considerable. The unemployment rate goes up nearly twice. Many small business investors are forced to give up their own business. It is quite normal that there are a lot of vacant retail stores in real estate agent website. Market Model is extremely relevant to the project; in particular the final objective where the concepts and strategies obtained in Marketing Principles will need to be implemented to evaluate the opportunities that Fairfield LGA has in attracting potential office space l eavers from Liverpool and Parramatta as well as introducing specific techniques to ensure this occurs. Macroeconomic have been learned in my sophomore, but Market principle have not learned now. In addition to, I think library is a good place for researching, discussion, studying. I can find any book I want to it. Except for the theories of economics, other learning skills and language abilities is especially needed for foreign student. Overseas students have to face language and cultural differences problem, for example, when I first meeting to the word â€Å"tender†, I confused it. I can not understand what the Chinese meaning of this word. My teammates explain the meaning of this word clearly for me. Overall, I still lack of sufficient knowledge to finish this course perfectly, it is force me to study harder and master more knowledge. Even if I have learned sufficient economic and finance knowledge, the emotion changes still have enormous impact on my learning. Particular to an overseas student who just arrived in Australia six months, it is very important for me to adjust psychological change. When I first meet this course I have a great interest in this project, each member of our group have enough enthusiasm to complete our own milestone. It is normal that disgusted with the project occasionally, because I must do lots of job in one day that included another subject assignment. This situation raises the pressure, and these pressures may come from learning, life and finance. For example, I accepted the East education nearly 15 years, so it is difficult for us to truly integrate into Western societies. What more, before I came to Australia, my parent give me lots of help when I needed. Without parents support, I am afraid to face some problem. On the other hand, I have to face language and cultural differences. I must thank our teachers spend long time on our foreign students and provide particularly concerns sometimes. I have improved myself a lot after I arrived in Australia. I was a shy, introverted student, and even performed unconfident sometimes. I would not like discussing with other group members at first. However, through four month communication, I have slowly started to change myself. I would like to talk with my teammates when I confused some problems and other life problems. So I really want to appreciate our group members, thanks for their serious, hard-working, humorous, and enthusiastic attitude to me. On one occasion, I should be completed my task that belong to my part, unfortunately, I must move house that day. I was so busy that I cleaned my home until 12 pm, it is really felt tried. When I intend to start my task, team leader send the SMS to me told me that I must be very tired for moving house, they have finished my part. I am really very grateful for their help. Both learning styles and education styles have different way in China and Australia. Although this is my first time experience the Western education, I already known that there are huge differences between Eastern educations with Western educations. Firstly, the different way was from the teaching methods. When I see our teacher Ingrid sitting at the table directly during the first class. It is amazing for me, because it looks like impolite for students in china. In fact, I find that the teachers purpose is wants to communicate with students more closely. However, this teaching method is impossible happened in China. In China every classroom has the podium and a blackboard in high school or university. The teacher is used to stand on the podium during the class. Secondly, from the student point of view, the distinction is even more apparent. If students meet problem in the class, we are willing to raise our hands to answer questions after the teachers permission or directly ask the teach er after the class finished. It is impolite for student to interrupt teacher lecture. Student need to keep silent in class in order to not disrupt teachers thinking. In Australia, I find every student is concentrated and activity in the class. Students can ask any questions without teachers permission in the class. For example, if any student feels their thoughts or ideas not the same as teachers idea, student will be asked it directly. However, It is a pity that teacher have to force student to answer questions in China, whats more, no one wants to give the answer even someone know the solution. Thirdly, there are few group discussions or group meeting in senior school or university in China. Even there is one group discussion in one semester which is a choice to chat with another topic that no relation with teachers topic. Whats more, most of students do not cherish these opportunities. All assignment completed independent by the most excellent students in the group without any as sistance. In fact, group meeting is important and useful in research or business. It is a good way to improve our team spirit. Reading and reference and that Chinese girl provide a lot of help. I have acknowledged some of the theories that I did not know. For example, from the Goldsteins article† Service Learning and Teaching about Globalization, I learned that Service and Activist learning(SAL)is a way that analyze social problem by corporate with community, many students were attracted who hope the world be better in the future. Other opinion is that Globalization is not just the region different from north to south, and that combined with winners and losers in both economic worlds. In another article â€Å"Increasing Creativity in Economics: The Service Learning Project† by Hervani and Helms. In the figure 2 Service learning pedagogy: Steps and implementation procedure, it looks like our course procedure. I also understand that the profit of this project is a good chance for developing the critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Our research topic relevant to soci al, I realized that there are lots of social problem still waiting for us to deal with them after research. The key values of service learning project are to improve the social awareness and caring, responsibility, accountability, critical thinking, creativity and active learning. That Chinese girl provides us lots of useful information, teaching us how to do the tender document, which part we should be attention to. In conclusion, I want to appreciate again our teachers Ingrid and Julianne, our teammates Brian, Ian, Linh, Kim and other people who always help me. Overseas students really have different experience with local students. From China to Australia is a very hard experience. First of all, we need to get great results in domestic examination. Followed by we spend long time to prepare for Ielts test, whats more, no one can guarantee your Ielts test result will be able to achieve what you wanted result, some students test 2 times, even more than 4 times 5 times. Visa through Australia government is also complex issues that we need to provide detailed information and sufficient finance source. Duration for Visa always last on one month. It can be said that overseas students harder than domestic students. So I cherished the opportunity to learn as much as possible I can.

Hacking :: Essays Papers

Hacking Computer hackers in today's world are becoming more intelligent. They are realizing that people are constantly developing more hack-proof systems. This presents the hackers with a bigger challenge and a bigger thrill. The government is realizing this and is working on making harsher laws to, hopefully, scare the potential hackers. With the increase in hacking and hacker intelligence, governmental regulation of cyberspace hasn't abolished the fact that it's nearly impossible to bring a hacker to justice. Kevin Mitnick, a hacker who has yet to have a harsh punishment when caught, can somehow lower his punishment for his hacking crimes down to a couple months probation. When Kevin was seventeen, he was caught for breaking into a phone center in Los Angeles. He was tried and sentenced to three months stay in a juvenile detention center and a year probation. Kevin is a very intelligent man. He could use his computer skills in a good way by stopping other hackers. He didn't, so he faced the law many times. In all those times, he never spent more than a year in prison (Shimomura 1). Kevin was also a Phreak; a phone freak. He studied the phone system. He soon knew how to make free phone calls from payphones and how to crash a system. Kevin Mitnick has yet to be harshly punished for these crimes, which are very numerous (Shimomura 1). Another major player in the hacking industry is an unidentified man, identified by his pseudonym, or nick-name, Deth Vegetable. His group of hackers, Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), is one of the oldest hacker organizations still in effect today. He is the leader and founder of (Cult of the Dead Cow). Cult of the Dead Cow is a leading group in the hacking industry; another leader that has fun with what they do. (Vegetable 1). They are a notorious group of hackers who have a couple problems; one of which is drugs. At a convention that the cDc holds for "some of the most notorious hackers from around the world" (Vegetable 1), one of the members of cDc said "Drugs and hacking go hand-in-hand" (qtd in Vegetable 3). Deth Vegetable said "Taking Drugs is like hacking your brain" (qtd in Vegetable 3). This is the way hackers are, they have fun in hacking, and the more they hack, the more fun they have. "If hacking is taking an electro-chemical computing device and altering it for your own enhancement, then taking XTC [, a type of drug,] is doing the same for your brain.

Personnel to Human Resource Management Essay

Personnel management refers to a set of functions or activities including recruitment, training, pay and industrial relations performed effectively but often in isolation from each other or with overall organisation objectives. In 1991, Hilmer noted that the Australian tradition of many sub-specialities or functions (industrial relations, compensation, training and pay) was out of date. The early 1990s was an are of great speculation on the future of the functions in managing people. The concept Human Resource Management (HRM) began to influence the practice of integrating functions with each other and organisation objectives. Coppleston (1991) explained â€Å"the HR function within any enterprise must first of all serve the organisation†¦ an investment area rather than a cost to the organisation.† Reinforced by other writers, human resources should be viewed as ‘human capital’, and that HR managers should strive to use them as investment creating an environm ent where the appropriate strategy is likely to emerge. (Williams, 1991) Alternate perspectives of HRM emphasise either the effective management of employees through greater accountability and control, the greater involvement in decision making processes, or both of these. (Nankervis, Compton & McCarthy, 1993) In countries such as Australia, the personnel management function arrived more slowly than its USA counterparts and came from a number of avenues. The orientation of personnel management was not entirely managerial. In the UK, its origins were traced to ‘welfare officers’ where it became evident that there was an inherent conflict between their activities and those of line managers. There were not seen to have a philosophy compatible with the view of senior managers. The welfare officer orientation placed personnel management as a buffer between the business and the employees. In terms of organisational politics this was not a viable position for those wishing to further their careers, increase their status, earn high salaries or influence organisation performance. Industrial relations further compounded the distinction through their intermediary role between unions and line management. (Price, 2005) However, during the 1970s, many Australian organisations found themselv es in turbulent business and economic climates with major competition from the USA, Europe and Asian markets. Concurrently, the Institute for Personnel Management (IPMA) and training institutions such as TAFE and universities were becoming more sophisticated in their approaches incorporating more  recent approaches such as ‘Excellence† and ‘Total Quality Management’. During this period the IPMA held national and international conferences, initiated relationships with the Asia-Pacific region, developed an accreditation process and the now titled Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources. (Nankervis et al, 1993)By the 1980s, personnel had become a well-defined but low status area of management. Traditional personnel managers were accused of having a narrow, functional outlook. Storey (1989) comment that personnel management â€Å"†¦has long been dogged by problems of credibility, marginality, ambiguity and a ‘trash-can’ labelling which has relegated it to a relatively disconnected set of duties – many of them tainted with a low status ‘welfare’ connotation.† In practice, the background and training of many personnel managers left them speaking a different language from other managers and unable to comprehend wider business issues such as business strategy, market competition, labour economics and the role of other organisational functions. (Price, 2005) This set the scene to integrate personnel management with wider trends in management thinking. In 1999 (cited in Gollan 2005), Hunt suggested, ‘the key link to the success of the function lies in the struggle to acquire more influence, something that is being carried out in a climate of downsizing and outsourcing. Even the change of name from personnel to HR is indicative that the way people view and perform this role is changing – with the new name communicating a desire to break with the past and to throw off an image that was limp and limiting†¦ The future of the HR function may be far from certain †¦ [however] †¦ In situations of uncertainty, it is the confident who win through †¦ I know of no organisation whose senior managers believe their company will operate, in the future, without any human beings. Whether ensuring the supply of those human beings resides in a function called HR or not is rather irrelevant. Such themes included ‘human capital theory’ and human resource accounting, however, HRM gained further ground and prominence once introduced to the Harvard Business School MBA course in 1981. The four main approaches founded during the 1980s were: The strategic matching theories from the Michigan and  New York Schools; Multiple Stakeholders theory from the Harvard School; Political and Change Process Theory from the Warwick School and a Behavioural Transformation Theory from the Schuler School. (Price, 2005) Each theory expressed models that stress people as human resources which are a resource different to any other the organisation may have and therefore require to be managed differently. This could be conceived as rather confusing, however Townley (1994) argued that much of the confusion over the role of human resource managers is due to two factors: 1. The conflict between the welfare tradition of personnel management and the strategic orientation of more modern HRM and; 2. A gender divide between female or soft personnel management at lower management and administrative levels and male, hard nosed human resource managers within upper management. Benchmarking and best practice have become widely used terms in the past decade. HRM benchmarking is a process which provides knowledge of the key HR levers which are important to business outcomes; comparison with other businesses with better performance and ways of using that information to improve HR processes. This allows HR processes and outcomes to be quantified so that objectives can be set meaningfully and realistically. This was a revolutionary approach for many HR professionals who were used to subjective job descriptions and values with a focus on process rather than outcome which did not gain much credibility with other business units who were used to objective and quantifiable measures of performance. (Nankervis et al, 1993; Price, 2005) Vilinas and Harper (2005) explored the impact of performance management on staff, the organisation and the business. Performance management was found to be useful in improving role clarity, identifying and standardising performance objectives,, increasing performance feedback and assisting in the development of more useful and meaningful performance measures. The authors found that how performance management was viewed depended on the performance of the team. That is, if the team were performing well, it was viewed positively, if the team were not performing well, it was viewed negatively. Furthermore, Vilinas and Harper (2005), found difficulty in evaluating the impact of performance management systems in organisations. There fore it is difficult to determine the impact this human resource strategy on organisation performance in a  quantitative sense. Royal and O’Donnell (2005), argue that qualitative human capital analysis would assist in predicting organisation sustainability and future financial performance by providing substantial evidence indicating the link between particular HR practices and organisation performance. These practices included learning and development, flexible work policies and performance management. The focus on long term relationships between the organisation and staff was the impact on organisation performance rather than an economic exchange. Exploring the impacts of downsizing on organisation performance, Farrell and Mavondo (2005) reported on the contradictory evidence in the literature about this relationship and surveyed manufacturing companies in order to test the impact. The findings concluded that when redesign of organisations drive downsizing the impact on the business is positive, but it is negative when the organisation redesign is driven by downsizing. This indicated that good HR practice linking with the organisation strategic plan is more likely to provide a positive business outcome. According to McGrath-Champ and Baird (2005), HRM practices and the role of HR and employee relations practitioners have been undergoing major changes since the 1980s. Particular changes include the shift to enterprise bargaining. The authors used data from numerous surveys aimed at exploring the changing role of HR practitioners and the implications on the skills required in order to fulfil the changed role. This, in turn, impacts on the capability of the HR area in its ability to support and influence organisational performance. Given that small business is a significant employer in Australia, Bartram (2005) found they are not as likely to use participative management techniques, invest in training in the area of employee relations or develop organisation strategy. However, without the use of HRM practices, small business can be effected detrimentally particularly in a global economic climate. The evidence suggests that organisation performance will usually benefit from the integration of human resource management and product and market strategies, improved understanding of the needs of employees at the workplace, and better use of their skill and ingenuity. Strategies designed to achieve a more comprehensive use of employees’ human potential, desire to learn, flexibility and personal responsibility would appear capable of delivering higher levels of performance (Gollan & Davis, 1998). This is at the heart of the argument for more attention to HRM. Other things being equal, it will assist improve profitability through changing employee attitudes, overcoming resistance to change. (Gollan & Davis, 1998) Moreover, there will be experience of mutual advantage. Management can benefit from improved performance and reduced levels of turnover and absenteeism and being an employer of choice in the current labour tight market. As a result employees may enjoy more job security, development opportunities, autonomy and incentives to take ownership and responsibility for quality outcomes. (West & Patterson, 1998) While HRM approaches are worthwhile in terms of improving organisation performance, it can be difficult to measure the link between the improvement and the HR practice. The length of time can be fraught with problems when considering the impact of HRM on organisation performance. A short term consultation with staff could pay off years ahead in performance. The most difficult obstacle is in the change of organisation culture for both managers and employees in terms of leadership skills, strategy and resources for development. Based on research statistics of over 30 000 HR professionals, Brockbank (2005), stated ‘the HR field is outstanding at doing what it says it will do, in terms of delivering the basic HR infrastructure activity †¦is an intersection of HR competencies and agendas that have to do with managing the culture, contributing to strategic decision making, managing change and creating process of information flows that continually integrate the organisation†¦ HR professionals are mediocre at this set of activities†¦ the logic of HR’s role in bringing critical information about the external business world into the firm, disseminating it and using that information on  a broad scale within the organisation as the basis for integration, unity and ultimately organisational responsiveness.’ Brockbank (2005) further identified that HR’s market driven connectivity rates at 17 per cent of strategic contribution’s impact on organisation performance. The direct impact of HR on business performance has increased about 300 per cent since 1992. This is factored around the shift from focusing on traditional personnel functions and moving towards strategic input into the organisation’s development coupled with technological change and a global economy. In other words, this indicates that in order to make an impact, HR needs to understand the business their organisation is in including the customers, shareholders and stakeholders. To surmise, the evidence suggests there is a great deal of participation taking place in Australia, (Morehead, Steele, Alexander, Stephen & Duffin, 1997) however, findings from the research highlight the quality of many HRM practices need to be appropriate measured and reported in order to continue to develop the link between HR practices and organisation performance. From the research synthesised in this paper, it is evident that some human resource practices can contribute to high levels of organisational performance. Explored from a range of perspectives, the problems in demonstrating this relationship are highlighted. The number of dimensions to the problems making study comparisons difficult include: definitions used as a basis for the research; the ability to draw a relationship between human resource practices and organisational performance; methodological issues and; differences and variable measurement. There is further interest in identifying and demonstrating the impact HRM has on organisation performance none more highlighted than through the importance of people in the knowledge economy and organisation sustainability in a global market. References: Bartram, Timothy 2005, ‘Small firms, big ideas: The adoption of human resource management in Australian small firms’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol 43Brockbank, Wayne 2005, ‘Turning Inside Out’, HR Monthly, April. Coppleston Peter 1991, ‘Present issues and future trends’, HR Monthly, April p8-9Farrell, Mark A., & Mavondo, Felix 2005, ‘The effect of downsizing-redesign strategies on business performance: Evidence from Australia’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol 43Gollan, Paul 2005, High involvement management and human resource sustainability: The challenges and opportunities, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol 43Gollan, P. & Davis, E. 1998, High involvement management and organisational change: Beyond rhetoric. Macquarie Graduate School of ManagementHilmer F 1991, ‘Hilmer discusses the future for Australians at work’, HR Monthly, August p9. McGrath-Champ, Susan & Baird, Marian 2005, ‘The mercurial nature of Australian HRM under enterprise bargaining’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol 43Morehead, A., Steele, M., Alexander, M., Stephen, K. & Duffin, L. 1997, Change at Work: The 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. Melbourne: LongmanNankervis, Alan R., Compton, Robert L. & McCarthy, Terence E. 1993, Strategic Human Resource Management, Thomson Nelson Australia. Price Alan 2005, Human Resource Management in a Business Context, 2nd ednRoyal, Carol & O’Donnell, Loretta 2005, ‘Embedding human capital analysis in the investment process: A human resources challenge’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol 43Storey, J. 1989, Human Resource Management: A Critical Text. Thomson Learning, 2nd ednTownley B. 1994, Reframing Human Resource Management: Power, Ethics and the Subject of Work, Sage. West, M. & Patterson, M 1998. People Power: The link between job satisfaction and productivity. Centrepiece, Autumn, p2-5Williams Ross 1991, ‘Transformation or chaos? HR in the 1990s’, HR Monthly, November, p10. Vilinas, Tricia & Harper, Sarah (2005), ‘Determining the impact of an organisations performance management system’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol 43

The 1996 Baz Lurhman Interpretation of Rome and Juliet

I will be doing my micro analysis on the 1996 Baz Lurhman interpretation of Romeo + Juliet, the scene I have chosen to analyse takes place after the news report monologue in which after the two families are introduced. The Capulets and the Montagues engage in an altercation at the petrol station and I will discuss how mise-en-scene and cinematography are used in this sequence to construct meaning. Initially a fast paced high angled tracking shot of the streets, houses and buildings are used which displays the setting; this fast tracking shot is used along with intense non diegetic music which connotes a frantic and chaotic feeling for the spectator or could be used to reflect the tone of the movie. Text then appears on the screen reading ‘In fair Verona’ the type face used was sans serif in childish bubble writing, a type face which is typically associated with comic books subsequently setting the tone of the film. Again numerous fast tracking shots of the chaotic urban city with zooms are used to reinforce the opening feel of bedlam. In a wide establishing shot, we can see the positioning of the Capulet and the Montague towers showing that the two families live and or work next to each other and that they are openly in close competition with each other. Then a fast tracking shot with a contra-zoom is used to get extreme close up shots of the Jesus statue then the Capulet tower and the Montague tower to a tracking shot of the surrounding areas, these types of shots