Free Will And Individualism In George Orwells 1984 And...

Qualities of an Oppressive Society Free will and individualism are rights that have been used as symbols of peace and progressive, but they also have been viewed as weakness and a liability. Although free will and individualism should be viewed as good, there are times in history when they were considered a problem. These times are addressed in George Orwell’s 1984 and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Both novels choose to outline the lost of free will and individualism through the lens of an oppressed group, and while the oppression that each group have their differences, both express how free will and individualism is suppressed and how people lived under oppression without their rights. In 1984, the loss individual rights is illustrated in†¦show more content†¦This is a common sentiment in oppressive society, who need the absolute submission of its populace, with primary example being the slave culture of the united states as portrayed in Beloved by Toni Morrison. With the slave society as her canvas, Toni Morrison uses it express the of oppression that the freed slaves felt during their time in slavery through their memories. Many of their memories feature psychological torture in the form of verbal abuse, physical torture through excessive beatings, torture, and rape, and emotional torture though the loss of a loved one(s) to the slave trade or to natural causes. Through the eyes of Sethe, Morrison mainly explores all two of the three aspects through her different memories, and the culmination of these experiences granted her master power over her, even after she obtained her freedom. An example of her oppression by the slave owner is when she was physically assaulted by men working for her owner in order to take her breast milk. These actions were meant to be a show of force and to keep the slaves unresisting because of how easily everything can be taken away from them. Sethe is not the only one to express memories of their oppressed life a s Paul D, a friend of Sethe, relates his experience of being forced to wear an iron bit; however, it was not just the iron bit the hurt him the most. Instead, it was his realization of the hopelessness of his situation during his encounters a rooster, who he thinks â€Å"looked so...free.

Correlational Research Free Essays

Correlational Research â€Å"Correlation is a statistical technique that can show whether and how strongly pairs of variables are related† (Creative Research Systems, 2010). Correlation research method is used in scientific research to study the association and/or relationship between variables. When the association between two variables becomes correlation coefficient, it is being calculated through quantitative measure. We will write a custom essay sample on Correlational Research or any similar topic only for you Order Now The goal for using this method is to observe if one or more variables cause and predict other variables, without having a causal relationship between them (Creative Research Systems, 2010). One great article I found is about money and happiness: â€Å"Can Money Buy Happiness: Are Lottery Winners any Happier in The Long Run? † At first people see how happy and ecstatic people that win the lottery are on television, however, past that point, there are no details on how their life is from there on. The question of whether they are happier or not still remains. The researchers developed the study by asking two paralyzed accident victims, a control group and lottery winners about their level of happiness. There was no statistically significant difference between the lottery winners and the control group with respect to how happy they were at this stage of their lives† (Brikman, 1978). The control group as well as the lottery winners did not give any â€Å"evidence† of how happy they are going to be in couple of years (statistically insignificant). The lottery winners did not think, judge or be concerned about how happy they will be in few years, as the ac cident victims did. The results were that the relationship between money and the level of happiness is not linear. The increase of money might or might not increase your happiness (depends on the events). â€Å"These findings may also suggest that happiness may be relative. We may not be able to reach a higher level of happiness as a result of winning the lottery. Winning the lottery may simply raise our standards† (Brikman, 1978). Researchers may use correlational method to determine variables between characteristics, attitudes, behaviors and events. As I mentioned before, the goal of this method is to find out if there is a direct relationship between the variables, as well as any commonalities in each relationship. Even though it does not indicate the cause and effect relationship, when it’s present, one variable might reflect the change of the other variable. The only way a researcher would find out the effects a variable has on another variable is through research and experiment (Wiley, 2011). When it comes to using correlational method, to develop research, causation must not be used, because it cannot prove that one variable can change the other. The method only shows, in a systematic way that the variables are related. To be able to prove the cause and effect relationship and experimental method must be used. In this case, being that it cannot test the cause and effect, the result can be deceiving and misinterpreted, especially when there are more than two variables involved. When cause and effect cannot be proved through this method, assumption is done, which leads to error in the outcome. Therefore, as mentioned before, correlation does not mean causation, which is a limitation when it comes to conclusions to be made (Bradley, 2000). Positive correlation occurs when the increase of one variable impacts the increase of another variable. For example, the more money people win, the happier they are, however it does not specify long term results. Being that they are happy for the moment, the more times they win, the happier they get, which results in a positive correlation. When it comes to negative correlation, the variables work the opposite: when one increases it impacts the other one to decrease. In the example above, I would say that people that win the lottery also have a lot more responsibilities to handle, which occurs in more effort, time and energy. Their happiness level might increase for the moment; however, it will start to decrease in the long run, due to all the extra â€Å"work† and pressure they would have. Last, but not least, there is the zero correlation that occurs when there is no relationship between the variables. The example study above wants to demonstrate if more money brings more happiness. Being that the two of the subjects did not win the lottery, it would not really prove whether or not money would bring them happiness. Asking about their current and future level of happiness has no correlation with the people that already won the lottery and whose life has hanged (McLeod, 2008). Being that the correlation coefficient does not reflect nonlinear association between two variables, â€Å"the correlation coefficient measures whether there is a trend in the data, and what fraction of the scatter in the data is accounted for by the trend†, as opposed to how nearly a scatterplot follow a straight line (Stark, 2011). Being that correlation coefficient only measures linear relationships, it is possible to see a nonlinear relationship when r is close to 0 or even 0. In this case, the diagram indicates a slight presence of existence of nonlinear relationship between the two variables. If the â€Å"r† is not correctly interpreted, the result will make no sense and therefore a non-sense correlation would occur. One can also assume that the two variables are related, however, it cannot prove that â€Å"r† is the cause and effect of the relationship between the two (Amit, 2009). Another problem that might occur is when the function has multiple independent variables it is very hard to attribute changes to one independent variable. That is why it is important for a researcher to make sure the research is being developed and experimented within the two variables, which means selecting the most significant and credible of the correlated variables and use in the function. When it comes to floor and ceiling effects, a researcher analyzes â€Å"data using analysis of variance, the interaction effect would very likely be statistically significant† (Zechmeister, 2001). When a minimum is scored in any condition of the experiment, a floor effect occurs. However, when a maximum performance occurs, ceiling effect happens. In this case the researcher has the choice to select the dependent variables, to avoid the floor and ceiling and effect, and determine differences across conditions. â€Å"Thus, the danger of floor and ceiling effects is that they may lead researchers to believe an interaction is present in the data, when in fact the interaction occurs because the measurement scale does not allow the full range of responses that participants could make† (Zechmeister, 2001, p. 202). When the experiment is too easy, the experimental manipulation in the ceiling effect shows little or no effect. It can be reduced by making the experiment harder and more challenging. When the task is too challenging or too difficult, the experimental manipulation will not be able to show effect (floor effect). It can be reduced or eliminated by making the experimental task more difficult, that way it will balance. A pilot study may also be conducted to find out if a floor effect or a ceiling effect is present (Huron, 2000). References Bradley, Megan (2000). Cyberlab for Psychology Research. Methods of Research. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://faculty. frostburg. du/mbradley/researchmethods. html#corr Brickman, P. , Coates, D. , Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://www. psychologyandsociety. com/lotterystory. html Choudhury, Amit (2009). Statistical Correlation. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://www. experiment-resources. com/st atistical-correlation. html Creative Research Systems (2010). The Survey System. Correlation. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://www. urveysystem. com/correlation. htm Huron, David (2000). Glossary of Research Terms in Systematic Musicology. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://musicog. ohio-state. edu/Music829C/glossary. html#floor effect McLeod, Saul (2008). Simply Psychology. Correlation. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://www. simplypsychology. org/correlation. html Stark, P. B (2001). Correlation and Association. Chapter 7. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://www. stat. berkeley. edu/~stark/SticiGui/Text/correlation. htm Wiley, John (2011). CliffNotes. Research Designs and Methods. Retrieved November 26, 2011, from url: http://www. cliffsnotes. com/study_guide/Research-Designs-and-Methods. topicArticleId-26831,articleId-26754. html Zechmeister, J. S. , Zechmeister, E. B. , Shaughnessy, J. J. (2001). Essentials of Research Methods in Psychology. Chapter 5. New York: McGraw Hill. Retrieved from Kaplan University DocSharing. Zechmeister, J. S. , Zechmeister, E. B. , Shaughnessy, J. J. (2001). Essentials of Research Methods in Psychology. Chapter 7. New York: McGraw Hill. Retrieved from Kaplan University DocSharing. How to cite Correlational Research, Essays

Enterprise Resource Planning and Implementation MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Enterprise Resource Planning and Implementation. Answer: Introduction An Enterprise Resource planning system is a software system that is used used to integrate all the tasks spanning an organizations department in order to achieve cost effectiveness and efficiency (Ifon, p53, 2013). The tasks to be managed are both internal and external resources, including tangible and intangible assets, materials, human resources, and financial resources. Its main purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. The characteristics of an ERP system are that it is built on a centralized database, it utilizes a common computing platform and that it consolidates all business operations into an enterprise wide system. In contrast, an accounting information system software is a subsidiary of an enterprise resource planning system which handles various accounting functions. These include payroll accounts, accounts payable, accounts receivable and trial balances. These functions may further be expanded to include ledgers, purchase orders, and financial statements. An ERP/IAS solution will help the business in identifying opportunities for cost savings and improving efficiency in their business processes by integrating data across the enterprise, for example, financial, inventory and production data. This helps top management to make accurate, strategic decisions. A flight center basically handles and manages passenger flights from one destination from another. By doing so, many other processes are involved to make the whole operation successful. Flight centers are usually big multinational companies which handle a lot of customers in their day to day operations, who number to the hundreds. Flight center operations are very complex since it also involves many departments, expanding routes, and alliance marketing structures, all of which are susceptible to many factors, for example, weather, economy and politics (Johnson,pg 5, 2013) As a result, all business processes and data need to be organized in a manner which will improve efficiency of the flight center. The diagram below depicts the complexity of the operations of an airlines flight center From the above diagram, it is evident that all operations fall a given business day. Depending on the various factors, both controllable and uncontrollable, a business process can take any of the paths to achieve a specific objective. All these operations, however, are all geared towards customer satisfaction. Airlines are also highly leveraged operations (Aviation Pros, 2017), therefore they must regularly buy new airliners from airline builders or buy parts, such as engines, in order to keep up with technology trends and maintain corporate image. The top management also has to make long-term decisions concerning their fleet with the main aim of meeting market demands. In light of this, they have to keep in mind cost benefits of operating their chosen fleet. The major business requirements of flight centers are: To provide an enterprise view of data , the structure of the organization, and functions applicable across departments to enable seamless movement of data, collaboration, between departments and the overall meeting of the organizations objectives and operational requirements. To optimize profit gains from a design perspective that covers areas such as revenue, operation costs, and operational performance To enable the flight center to have a change management system in order to respond to changes in a cost saving and timely manner in competitive environment. To enable the flight center to have a system for mitigating or eliminating delays and down times, which results in tremendous losses. System requirements for the ERP AIS solution Representation of every department and function involved in the operation of flights Real time information communication to enable balanced, timely decisions. System operation should have a separate reporting department System should be able to integrate all data in the system in a central database There should be seamless end to end movement of data between departments and functions Best practices are applied when choosing any software system to use. An ERP AIS is no exception. The selection process requires the sponsors, project manager and other stake holders to consider the following key aspects:- How the business is going to gain a competitive edge by performing better, specifically areas where improvements are needed. The overall of technology requirements across the entire enterprise The long term corporate objectives of the organization The need for software consultants or a Request For Proposal the ROI of the new system and whether it can be quantified the factors and criteria that will determine a successful implementation The meeting of all processes and requirements across all departments been Full support of the top management, and end users adequate budgeting of the system how long the entire project will take Basic budget elements for the new software system include business process planning and needs analysis, software, hardware, implementation and training, incidentals beyond project scope, IT infrastructure, maintenance and support. Pitfalls to avoid in the ERP AIS selection process Failure to acquire enough documentation, that is, business, system and user requirements. Failing to train the staff in the use of the new system. Poor planning of the budget and time needed to realize the new system. Not including consultants or experts where necessary. Internal staff dont always have the complete skill set. Over planning the project and not being flexible. Selecting a system that is impractical for the organization, that is, it may be too big or too small. Not having the full support of top executive management. Failing to have end users fully support the initiative Not having a criteria to measure success These pitfalls can be avoided by taking the following counter measures:- Havingthorough documentation, which covers all business and user requiremens Setting a practical and realistic goal Involving the necessary experts in the adoption process Allowing room for change incorporation and management Obtaining support from all parties in the organization, from top management to end users Establishing criteria for measuring success Training end users, where necessary, in the use of the system Steps in successfully implementing an ERP AIS solution It is essential that ERP systems prove productive by allowing the implementation of best business and IT systems practices. (Amid, Bagheri and Ghasrodhashti, pp 76-7, 2010). The company should first analyze and plan by reviewing business requirements and processes, identifying which aspects of the business need improving and refinement. It should then map business requirements into the project plan. The design and development stage, where the solution is designed and developed should be based on business requirements and processes and the project plan written in the first page. The third stage involves testing and training. Here the system is tested according to overall and specific objectives and users are trained on best practices in delivering system functionality. The fourth stage is the implementation stage. Once the system has been tested and accepted, legacy data is exported to the new system as the system is officially launched. The last but equally important phase is the maintenance stage. The company is given continuous support its technology partner(s), who should provide ongoing support through a service help desk, implementation of new updates and possibly, user group sessions. These work hand in hand with the organizations internal IT team. The company can utilize the system to improve organizational efficiency in the following ways: Enabling collaborative decisions among all affected departments. This ensures that overall objectives are being achieved by the organization. Supporting planning for disruptions to eliminate delays or downtimes, which results in immense losses in the airline industry. The system should support communication in an outage incident for quick discussion on how to solve the incident. Strategizing communication ahead of time will help the organization know what to share and how to share it, both internally and externally. The system should utilize best practices in monitoring outages and downtime. Critical applications and infrastructure should not go down for longer than acceptable periods, hence affecting brand and customer loyalty. Its important to develop an intelligent, streamlined way to monitor system events and respond when necessary, in a timely manner. Evaluation of the systems efficiency Amid, Bagheri and Ghasrodhashti (p2, 2010) argue that the effectiveness of an organization is the level to which that same organization, by utilizing certain resources, fulfills its strategic, operational and tactical objectives without exhausting its resources or overworking its staff. In their research study, they found that evaluating an ERPs system is quite difficult but have outlined a number of factors that can be useful in the evaluation procedure, namely:- Conflict resolution- If involved departments within an organization can be able to collaboratively make decisions, then the system is considered efficient. Flexibility and adaptation- This is when the system incorporates changes according to business and user needs in a timely and cost saving manner Seamless data communication- This is where data is passed from one point to another in its complete form, in a timely manner and maintaining integrity. Reduced downtimes-Unvailability of data or services should not exceed a set time limit. Support of best business practices- The system should support the standard set of business practices in all its business processes Potential security risks and data breaches Security risks in information systems revolve around three main factors, that is, confidentiality, integrity and availability (Peltier, pp 53-4, 2014). These are the three main goals of security in any information system. In a cloud enterprise system a threat can be attacked at the application level, virtual level and physical level (Zikiss and Lekkas, pp 583-92, 2014), hence compromising the three main goals. From there many kinds of specific threats could be perpetrated on the system by malicious people, both from within the organization and from the outside. The following paragraphs explain the various types of attacks. By far, these are the most common types of security threats in any organizations information system:- Modification of data- This happens through the modification of data and consequently compromising its original meaning. Interception of data This is the stealing of data which is on transit from a source to some destination. Although, data would have reached its destination, its confidentiality would have been compromised. Data deletion- This causes an availability breach of data, whereby it would not be available as per the current demands User account theft (impersonation)- This is the accessing of an account by an unauthorized person where he/she may get access to any kind of resource Network attacks- These threats are usually perpetrated by external malicious attackers on the organizations network, and include denial of service attacks. Insiders can also carry out network attacks. Hardware theft- This is the typical stealing of a commodity, either through breaking and entering or by other inconspicuous means. Hardware malfunction Hardware could malfunction because of a number of reasons, modification, natural disaster or mishandling. Software malfunction- Software can malfunction due to bugs and malicious software such as viruses. Not keeping the software up to date could also bring the same problem. The table below also gives a summary of common security risks to the various levels of an IS infrastructure. Level of risk Risks and data breaches Confidentiality Integrity Availability Privacy Data Unauthorized access to user accounts Altering of data Deleting of data Sharing of data with inappropriate people Network Hacking Interception Denial of service attacks Communications listening Physical resources Theft, breaking and entering software Access to unauthorized programs/code Viruses/malware Viruses/malware Traffic analysis Mitigation of the risks The aforementioned security risks and data breaches can be mitigated through the following types of measures. Use of authentication- This involves the use of usernames and passwords to gain entry to accounts and application. Data encryption- This renders the original message unintelligible to unauthorized third parties User training Users can be briefed on standard security procedures in the use of information systems. This is very vital as they will be the ones operating the system. Installation of firewalls- Firewalls enable the system to detect external intruders who try to illegally gain entry to the system. Keeping the system up to date- constantly updating the system with security patches and general updates will help keep the system operationally stable. Installation of antivirus and malware programs- This will prevent viruses and malicious software from infecting the system and wreaking havoc. Using lock and key- Hardware can be kept safe by locking them in safe zones and restricting or access to them. It is a simple method, but very effective. References Amid, A., Bagheri, M., Ghasrodhashti, S., (2010). Analysis of the impact of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems on Organizational Effectiveness. International Journal of Systems Applications, Engineering and Development. 3(4), pp 76-87 AVIATION PROS (2017). Back to Basics: ERP Workshop for Aviation Businesses-https://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12235081/back-to-basics-erp-workshop-for-aviation-businesses Services - ERP Solution https://aisinfotech.com/erp-solutions.php [16th May, 2017] ERP SoftwareBlog - https://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2009/11/5-steps-to-a-successful-implementation-of-your-new-accounting-system/ [16th May, 2017] Ifon, D.S, (2013). Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. 12th Research Seminar Series workshop. Pp 53-57 Souza, C. Introducing Modern IT Operations to the Airline Industry (4th October,2016)-https://www.pagerduty.com/blog/airlines-digital-transformation/ [16th, May, 2017] Peltier T.R., (2014). Information Security Fundamentals, Second Edition. Taylor Francis Group, LLC. ISBN: 13:978-1-4398-1062-0 Zissis, , D. , Lekkas, D., (2012). Addressing cloud computing security issues. Future Generation Computer SystemS, 8(3),PP 583-592 Johnson, B., (2013). Airline Cost Management Through Planning and control. IATA report, Airline cost conference, Geneva