The origin, growth and development of Japanese art and culture Term Paper

The origin, growth and development of Japanese art and culture - Term Paper Example Most of the Asian fashion designs might seem to be imitations of the European styles, but this is not the case in actual sense. On the other hand, it would be absurd to ignore the impact that the Western countries have had on the East. In the entire development period which was most vibrant during the twentieth century, aesthetics and other methods where gotten from the European countries and many Asians where proud to recognize the efforts of Western countries. As the poet Tekkan once mentioned, â€Å"We love the poetry of our predecessors, who are both from the West and the East† (Arrowsmith, 2011, p.28). The beginning of the Metropolitan Court Culture By the occurrence of the Heian period, which was between 794-1185, the Japanese governing system was not fully transformed. During this period, power in Japan had been transferred to the emperor and his ministers. The quasi-independent aristocracy was now changed to the metropolitan elite that comprised of the rituals, intrigu es, history and the imperial courts. The most fundamental happening during this revolution was the adoption of the Chinese cultures and civilization. In 618, a dynasty known as Tang was established and it reigned for almost 300 years. During this period, most of the Chinese cultures acquired their flowering and maturity. ... These styles were unique, and an example is the three dimensionality and realism by the use of models in visual arts. In no time, the art designs and models came to be known as Tang International Styles (Mason, 2005, p.41). The Art of Buddhism Buddhism is one of the earliest arts that were established in China. By the mid years of the fifth century, Koguryo and Paekche, which were all Korean kingdoms, had adopted the art of Buddhism. Silla also adopted the art during the same period as the Korean kingdoms. During the Tang, just as the other Chinese dynasties, the Buddhism community played a vital role in the general affairs of the nations that adopted it. With well located monasteries and temples, the Chinese empire was inhabited by the Buddhist community that managed to make the Tang emperor the most supreme authority on the planet. In an artistic view, the Buddhist community can be said to be the richest, as arts lead to wealth and influence. As the Tang International Style is stil l embraced and praised in the four corners of the earth, its originality is reflected on the surviving paintings and sculptures of the Buddhists (Mason, 2005, p.41). The Paekche embassies, including that of 584 and 552, were unable to introduce Buddhism to Japan. However, they managed to attract the attention of Prince Shotoku who was a champion of the Buddhist cause. By 587, Buddhism had gained control in the Japanese Imperial government and was in fact a crucial foothold. In less than a century, the art has spread and was now in Yamato itself, under the regimes of Tenmu the emperor and Jito the empress who was Tenmu’s successor. Jito officially advocated Buddhism as one of the vital instruments in the

Research-based Reading Program Essay Example for Free

Research-based Reading Program Essay The Texas Reading Initiative has outlined a fairly comprehensive statement on the value of reading and the significance of infusing the habit of literacy among the young. Besides teaching/conducting a reading program per se, the quality, depth and integrity of such teaching methodology is equally important. This is the main reason why most reading advocates have bannered the discourse of a â€Å"research based† reading program rather than the traditional teaching methodology for teaching children how to read. It works on the emerging assumption that teaching the young is delicate enough for the reading teacher to adapt a research-based method. The paper on Components of a Research-based Reading Program, part of the Red Book Series by the Texas Education Agency, outlines the fundamental attributes of the recent development of teaching reading among the young. It is composed of a deeper understanding of the recesses of a child’s mind, its formation, development and predictable growth (Hilgard, 2001). Generally, the essential attributes of these Twelve Essential Components comprise an advanced understanding of adult-child training and communication: the Teacher-Trainer, the channel and the recipient (the child). These maybe the basic attributes of ordinary communication but an analysis of the paper can reveal that the communication framework is actually the basis of this research-based program, not to mention that the concept of code interpretation and language are involved and mentioned in that paper. The two ends of this communication curve, the Teacher-trainer and the child are the live working elements of this reading program, which makes the simplest components. What is generally interesting in these Twelve Components is the channel element and how the child decodes the communication. The paper frequently discusses the concept of language and how the child perceives instruction from the teacher, which is its whole point. This is the brunt/meat of the teaching methodology, where the paper discusses â€Å"opportunities† and â€Å"strategies† to aid child development. Such things are stated on the paper as to how to exploit the nature of the language channel, where educators strategically use the oral component to understand the written language-the act of reading. According to the authors, by the oral way, the child is directed into opportunities for appreciating sounds, its differences and â€Å"referents†, a concept used by linguists. They say that children may read aloud and â€Å"understand their building blocks† (www. tea. com), which we assume as auditory building blocks. This may imply that to reinforce one’s reading, one has to learn how to speak it first, using the auditory logic of the language’s construction, thus utilizing the nature of the child’s brain to absorb these â€Å"building blocks† into communicative memory (www. childdevelopmentinfo. com). And of course, there is the written format to contend with. This is where the recipient can visually decode using some of the strategies. Decoding in this context means visually playing with the language construction (â€Å"wordplay† as the paper says) through â€Å"blending† and what they call â€Å"word families† and writing patterns. On a lighter note, there is nothing new about the research-based reading program offered by the Texas Reading Initiative. The allegedly â€Å"new† methodology works much like teaching a foreign language to students in the collegiate level, but in the child’s case, localized and specialized for a kindergarten or grade-schooler. The same opportunities and teaching strategies have existed in basic foreign language class in university, and child psychologists seem to find it effective if made easier for children. Reference: Child Development Institute. Reading Improvement. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://www. childdevelopmentinfo. com/store/reading-improvement. htm. Hilgard, E. R. (2001). Introduction to Psychology. New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Improving Mother/Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club Essa

Improving Mother/Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club One day everything is going great, in fact things could not be better and then you say something and your friend turns to you and says â€Å"oh my god, you sounded just like your mother†.   That is when you freak out and think to yourself it is true I am turning into my mother.   This is every daughters worst nightmare come true.   When a young girl is growing up her mother always says and does things that the girl vows she will never say and do but she does.   Very rarely do we see cases of women wanted to be like their mother but it usually happens even if they do not want it to.   In the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan tells stories of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their relationships with the American born daughters.   In this novel, Tan shows us the struggle these mothers face in teaching their American daughters about their heritage.   Throughout the novel it becomes evident that the daughters feel it is important to learn about their history and dev elop stronger relationships with their mothers Throughout the novel the reader is introduced to the characters one by one learning about their past and their present lives.  Ã‚   Each chapter deals with individual stories of relationships between husband and wife, mother and daughter,   and even daughter and daughter.   Every story helps the reader learn how important the mother daughter relationship is in The Joy Luck Club. First, Suyuan Woo who is actually dead but story is told by her daughter Jing-Mei Woo.   Suyuan Woo started the Joy Luck Club when she came to America so she and other Chinese immigrants could talk about Chinese culture and how to carry on traditions and make living conditions better for her... ...ws us that for young women to understand themselves they must understand their mothers.   The mother daughter relationship in The Joy Luck Club is illustrated through a learning process especially in Waverly and Jing-Mei’s situations.  Ã‚   Each women has to learn though her mother and her own feelings what it is like to become Chinese because that is basically what this book’s theme is.   Through the novel the women are developing mentally through experience some positive and some negative.   Each women finds herself through her mother and comes to peace with themselves Work Cited Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York: Random House, 1989. Sources Consulted Do, Thuan Thi. Chinese-American Women in American Culture. 1992 http://www.ics.uci.edu/~tdo/ea/chinese.html Jokinen, Anniina. Anniina's Amy Tan Page. 1996 http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/amytan/

Innovative Human Resource Practices : Global Perspective.

Innovative Human Resource Practices : Global Perspective. â€Å"Any company that’s going to make it in the 1990’s and beyond has got to find a way to engage the mind of every single employee. If you are not thinking all the time about making every employee more valuable, you don’t have a chance. What’s the alternative? Wasted minds? Uninvolved people? A labour force that’s angry or bored? That doesn’t make sense. † – Jack Welch Positively correlated with the economic transition is the strengthening and diversification of human resource management practices, a break away from the more traditional, though extremely challenging fields of Personal Management and Industrial Relations. The maturity of various industries in India has also seen a maturity in the way the various players approach their human resource management. One excellent example is that of BPO Industry. In the beginning it was only meant to handle non-core activities like payroll management etc. ut as the industry-matured it saw the entry of various players coming-up with strategic core service support like NAD, RR&D etc. This led to a stronger focus on HRM. What is happening in India today is similar to the experiences of economically developed nations through several past decades; and will happen in least developed countries too, in times to come. Hence, it would be prudent to talk of modern human resource practices in a more general, i. e. , global framework. Of course, contextual peculiarities will only serve to enrich our knowledge pool. But the first thing we need to clear – both at a conceptual and at a terminological level – what we are looking for. The main task is to find a common definition of ‘innovative practices’, a definition that most of us could agree upon in order to avoid conflicting interpretations or misunderstandings, â€Å"Innovative practices are original, exemplary, successful, adaptable, new solutions gained from experience†. Undoubtedly, the â€Å"Innovative Practices† when considered are large in variety. They range from the introduction of new technologies to the assignment of new duties to the increase in competences, they test new organizational models, and they introduce innovative tools of social and political governance at a local level. Modern workplaces are extremely complex situations in which all the elements: the nature of the job, the characteristics of the employee, the structure of the organization/ organizational sub-unit as well as the methods and aims of supervision are extremely diverse and/or fluid. And, as a response, have emerged, a wide variety of innovative HR practices. The first element common is the need for innovation and experimentation, which are required in order to cope with the change in the sector as workforce around the world, has undergone a serious transformation. Changing demographic patterns, income levels, aspirations & expectations have given rise to a more demanding & aware work force. Let’s take the example of a BPO where in order to retain employees, industry is adopting new and innovative ways. The following example helps us to understand how the industry is attracting people. â€Å"MSR works for four days every week and gets to put her feet up for the rest of the week. MSR is part of a 20-member team at a leading BPO, WNS Global Services. While the company claimed every employee followed a five-day week, an insider said that the new four-day system has been introduced as a pilot project for an US insurance firm. The insurer apparently offers a similar option to its call centre employees in the US. Workers opting for the four-day system get a normal weekend off and another holiday mid-week. However, they have to work for 11 hours on normal workdays compared to nine hours that their colleagues following a usual week put in. The pay is no different either. MSR says that she finds this comfortable as she is in the office for most of the day or night. It does not make much of a difference if she stays on for another couple of hours making it 11 hours a day. But she is happy to have a full day off that gives her more time to be with her family. † Just like above mentioned example many BPOs are following various innovative practices in the form of new HR incentives. They have tried many incentives such as encouraging people to get their family to work in the same place or creating recreational opportunities. A senior professor of organizational behavior at XLRI, India observed that after a point, money would not matter and personal life becomes very important. Companies are trying to reduce the gap between official life and personal life. They are trying to take care of employees’ personal life as much as possible. That is why the employers are trying to make the organization a fun workplace, offering facilities like gym, sauna and games. Some companies also arrange to take care of errands such as paying electricity and telephone bills to help the employees reducing their personal work loads. Let’s look at some of the issues calling for more innovative human resource practices: 1. Technology, Change and Resistance to Change. Needless to say, one big player is Technology. Hard technology created alienation amongst workers and it continues to do so in softer avatars. The introduction of amazing new technologies have increased the speed at which other organizations will copy your best practices so it is necessary to speed up the rate of innovation in everything in business. In short, innovation is the last remaining competitive advantage in business — and HR and recruiting are not exempt from this fact. Perhaps this quote will illustrate the speed in which companies are required to innovate: â€Å"Innovation is what is at the foundation of the U. S. economy. Just to give you a simple example of my company†¦ about 90 percent of December revenue comes from products which were not there in January. That sort of innovation, which is a total turnover of our revenue every year, is indicative of what innovation means to us. You miss a cycle of innovation, your revenue disappears. † — Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel Witness the sustained employee- resistance, covert or overt, to technology introduction. In earlier decades, workers resisted mechanization for fear of job-loss. These days, computerization efforts are given the boot as it requires new learning. Again witness the very high implementation – failure rates of what were once thought of as panacea for all organizational ills: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. What actually failed was the proper integration of the Human layer with the Technological one. And now the flipside- Technology helps organizations co-ordinate the complex task of human resource management. Human Resource Management solutions (HRMS) are available in flexible, web- based modules like: — Employee Performance Management (including eAppraisal, Trainning & Development, Goal allocation & Tracking, Multi- Rater Feedback, Performance Linked Bonus etc. ). A lot of companies / HR consultants get custom software built for the purpose on Oracle, but the functionality is similar, which filters and web support etc. Some of the software that support various HR Functions are : Instant HR Software 2. 0. 94 (Manage human resources, personnel records, leave and benefits. , ERP Flex – HR 1 (Manage detailed information of your employees, various evaluations, and trainings. ), The Garuda Preference Profile 2. 1 (Analyze, describe, and measure essential competences, statistics and job-requirements. ) etc. — Human Capital Management including Employee Database (HRIS), Employee Self- Services, Payroll Manager, Online Compensation Planning etc. ) — eRecruitment ( incl uding Recruitment portal, Transfer Management etc. ) — Strategic HR Tools (including Organization Alignment, Succession Planning, Manpower Planning, Leadership Effectiveness Surveys, and Employee Satisfaction Surveys etc. 2. The Gen-Y gauntlet: ‘Challenge me; Develop me; Pay me’ All across the world, and especially in demographically young countries like India, the workforce has come to share certain common features: young age, high levels of intelligence as well as education, a comfortable upbringing, very high aspirational levels and high mobility ( not only physical but also emotional). Coupled these with a relative indifference towards hierarchy, bureaucracy, titles and bonuses and the HR manager has a serious retention and motivation problem at hand as these young people are different. Their motivation, their technical sophistication, and their demand for respect and responsibility are leaving many company executives to wonder: â€Å"What should we do with Generation Y? It’s clear that harnessing the power of these young people is an issue many companies have started to address. Generation Y is innovative and creative. They seek to make a difference and want to produce something worthwhile. Companies that don’t find a way to harness that energy very quickly are likely going to lose out. Generation Y is also impatient; they expect speed and change and won’t tolerate situations that don’t make sense to them. Technology advancements are in part responsible for the generation’s sense of urgency. This generation is connected 24/7. Their exuberant, impatient style may be frustrating to older executives who dismiss Generation Y as inexperienced. At work, Generation Y thrives on flexibility, having space to explore, and the opportunity to pursue new challenges. They expect to be respected for their ideas and insights from Day One, and they think face time and corporate politics are a waste of time. They’d also like to stay with one company – if that company offers them ongoing opportunities to grow and learn new things. So HR practitioners should adopt some practical steps to consider toward change. Start by determining the company’s need for Generation Y talent over the next three to five years, and don’t forget to anticipate the retirement of Baby Boomers or the shortage of Generation Xers. Try to assess the workplace relative to what Generation Yers want: long-term career development, multiple experiences within a single company, flexibility, sense of purpose and meaning in work, respect, and open communication. Finally, develop a generational change plan with the support of senior leaders in the company and pay particular attention to communicating the plan’s purpose and details so that people feel comfortable with the changes. 3. The ‘Creating a Great Place to Work’ Contest. Yes. Like Reality Shows on TV, this new contest has also entered HRM- space in India. Every self – respecting organization wants to be on the bandwagon (or at least seen to be on it). HR managers take this issue seriously as the quality of the workplace impacts directly on issues of customer service and productivity. The connection to customer service has been shown in numerous studies. A famous 1998 study published in the Harvard Business Review article â€Å"The Employee-Customer-Profit Chain at Sears† showed that an increase in employee satisfaction at a store resulted in an increase in customer satisfaction, which in turn resulted in higher profitability for the store. There have been similar studies in the hospital industry, showing that improvements in workplace environments result in better patient satisfaction. A Financial Services & Insurance / Morgan Stanley company of United States takes care of its work environment in order to increase productivity and retain employees. Employees at this investment bank are cared for with benefits that include two on-site restaurants, two health clubs, a medical clinic, dry cleaner, and back-up child care services – one of many initiatives set-up to promote better work/life balance. But what really keeps employees here is the sense among them that they are all seen as people first, not just employees. Phrases such as â€Å"we hire nice people†, and â€Å"talent is more important than specific skill† indicate that managers at Morgan Stanley are willing to invest in people to help them grow and learn, and thus create a career for themselves. This is not the only company there are various company all over the world which are focusing on this very issue of work life. Witness the following initiatives: Sasken’s ‘People First’ policy: shifting focus from consumer to employees; Marriott Hotels’ ‘Guarantee of Fair Treatment’ (GIFT); SCOPE’s (Standard Chartered Operations Co. ‘Switch Jobs Without Quitting’ (SJWQ); Godrej Consumer Products’ Policy on Sexual Harassment (POSH); Sapient Community Outreach Programme (SAPPORT); Sasken’s ‘Hibernation Leave’ concept etc. Thus organization need to understand that mere talk about creating a â€Å"customer- centric† organization is not enough y ou need to provide a working example of how it’s done. Now that we have seen few issues which are very important in today’s scenario to be taken care of let us see few examples of the companies that are following innovative practices in their organizations. The below mentioned examples give a view that companies are following across the world innovative practices that can help them to retain, develop and motivate their people. 7 creative ways that leading companies use to maximize the power of people. 1. Support and Accountability for New recruits at Trilogy Software Trilogy Software, inc among the world’s largest privately held software companies pushes the responsibility of grooming new hires into the organization on their sponsors. As a result, if the new hires make the grade, the sponsors are paid $ 1,000 bonus. If the new hires fail, the sponsors are required to pay $4,000. As most sponsors hold stock options worth millions of dollars so the penalisation does not mean much to them. However, what happens is those who fail examine why their recruit failed and take steps to avoid those mistakes. 2. Jeff Taylor, Founder and CEO of Monster on the importance of having a good time with employees. â€Å"We have a full breakfast bar at our company. We bring in 500 bagels and fresh cut fruit in the morning. We have a gym with a trainer. We have parties once a quarter, where we invite the employees to come and have a good time. † 3. Practice what CEO of SAS, Dr. James Goodnight calls â€Å"Management by Loitering† â€Å"It’s just to be seen walking around and talking to people, and finding out what they’re working on and basically being approachable. You know a lot of things that don’t really come up through the management ranks and some times you find out some very interesting things that people are working on. . 4. Larry Page on automating Performance Tracking at Google. â€Å"We did a simple thing that in retrospect was brilliant: We wrote a program that asks every engineer what they did every week. It sends them an email on Monday, and concatenates the emails together in a document that everyone can read. And it then sends that out to everyone and shames those who did not answer by putting him or her on the top of the list. It has run reliably every week since we started, so forever week of our company’s history we have a record of what everyone did. It’s good for performance reviews, and if you’re joining a project team, in five minutes you can read what your team members did last week or months. † 5. Andy Taylor, Enterprise Rent a Car on Relentless Customer Focus â€Å"So we decided that we had to add some metrics to our customer satisfaction. We created a measurement called ESQi, which is the Enterprise Service Quality index. It’s a statistically valid sample of customers’ opinions taken monthly, at every one of our branches. The customer gets called seven to ten days following the close of the rental. We have an outside company to collect the data, and there are basically two questions. The first asks about the customer’s satisfaction level, with five answers ranging from â€Å"completely satisfied† to â€Å"completely dissatisfied†, and the second asks how likely he would be to return to Enterprise. Beginning in 1996 we told all employees, if you’re not at corporate average or above on your ESQi, your not getting promoted. And all of a sudden, customer satisfaction went to the top of the list. The ESQi has given us a greater sense of urgency and I would consider that the greatest change that has occurred here. The process enables us to go from being a nearly $2 billion business in 1994 to a $7 billion-plus business today. † 6. Staying in touch at Walmart â€Å"At retail giant Walmart, every Monday, members of the senior executive team head out to Walmart stores around the world, where they talk with managers, employees and customers. To ensure that they get a complete picture, they also pay a few visits to competitor’s stores. On Thursday evening, they return to corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, armed with new insights about the market and their people. There, they discuss what they’ve seen and heard, thus allowing the organization to modify its strategies. On Saturday thousands of store managers participate in a videoconference and the senior team shares their observations and provides direction for the coming week. Come Monday, They’re on the road again. 7. Take Employee Feedback like IBM IBM held a three-day discussion via the corporate intranet to debate and discuss about the company’s values, the nature of the organisation and what it stood for. The forum dubbed â€Å"ValuesJam† attracted about 50,000 of IBM’s employees and elicited about 10,000 comments about the proposed values. Thus we can see how little innovation in your practices can enhance not only your employee performance but also your organization performance. Basics are always the same, the only thing we can do is bring or use innovative ways to improve your working and efficiency of your employees. References http://www. deloitte. com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_consulting_hc_dbrief_150606. pdf http://www. specht. com. au/michael/2007/05/16/gen-y-in-the-workforce/ http://resources. greatplacetowork. com/article/pdf/levering_web. pdf http://www. citehr. com AUTHOR – SHALIKA GRACE PHILLIPS, ASSISTANT POFESSOR, LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY, BAREILLY.

CheckPoint: Conflict

Conflict is an inevitable part of life whether it is in relationships, socially, or between nations. Most conflicts arise from differing points of view on actions or goals and how they are handled can lead to a ceasefire or the breakup of one’s relationships. Conflict resolution skills are needed when navigating the stormy waters of conflict. How one perceives the goals and intentions of others can lead to misconceptions. When an individual or group perceives another’s intentions are harmful conflict will arise. It is human nature to believe that one’s group is different or better than another group. Forming an â€Å"in-group bias† will lead one to look for evidence to support one’s negative opinions of others. Stereotyping is often behind negative opinions and misconceptions that lead to conflicts. Perceptions are the way a person thinks or views another so, perceptions would factor greatly into conflicts. A negative mirror-image perception will cause one to over exaggerate the differences often held by parties in conflict; for example, each party may view itself as ethical and peaceable and the other as wicked and hostile. Viewing others in this light will only inflame the controversy and lead to more conflict. Learning how to view conflict differently can bring about peaceable solutions. Certain methods must be employed for reconciliation to occur. Exposure and close proximity will lead to learning more about the other person. A better understanding helps to foster closeness and common interest. If one is around someone regularly, one will learn how to get along with the other person. When parties whom are at odds with each other work together on a common goal, they each learn to develop comradeship. Cooperation can facilitate in conflict resolution as well. Communicating effectively in conflict is huge in learning to resolve issues and have reconciliation. Negotiations when resolving conflicts should include bargaining, mediation and coming to an understanding with each other. If you cannot communicate with someone properly, this will lead to more conflict.

Participles and Perfect Verb Tenses

Participles and Perfect Verb Tenses Participles and Perfect Verb Tenses Participles and Perfect Verb Tenses By Maeve Maddox Some comments I received on the post about the forms of the irregular verb drink indicate that not everyone is clear as to how participles are used to form verb tenses that use the helping verbs has, have and had. Heres a review. Participles are verb forms, but they are incomplete. In order to function as real verbs, they must be used with helping verbs. English has two participles: the present participle and the past participle. The present participle always ends in -ing: jumping, skiing, writing, drinking, sighing, etc. The past participle usually ends in -ed, as in called, climbed, interrogated, and studied. Many verbs, however, have past participles that do not end in -ed. Some, for example, end in -en: write/wrote/(have) written bite/bit/(have) bitten take/took/(have) taken Some end in -t: mean/meant/(have) meant creep/crept/(have) crept sleep/slept/(have) slept Many irregular verbs, like drink, have distinctive past participle forms: drink/drank/(have) drunk go/went/(have) gone am-is/was/(have) been slay/slew/(have) slain Participles have numerous uses, but right now Im just looking at how they are used to form the following verb tenses: present perfect past perfect present perfect progressive past perfect progressive Present Perfect The present perfect tense is used to describe a) an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past b) an action that that began in the past and continues in the present The helping verbs used with the past participle to form the present perfect tense are has and have: The House of Windsor has ruled England since 1917. My sister has tried every kind of shampoo on the market. We have written to them numerous times without receiving an answer. Past Perfect Tense The past perfect tense is used to describe an action that took place in the past before another past action. The helping verb used with the past participle to form the past perfect is had: Before reinforcements arrived, the enemy had captured most of the men. Present Perfect Progressive The present perfect progressive describes an action that began in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future. The present participle is used with the helping verbs has been and have been to form the present perfect progressive: I have been thinking about going to France one more time. Charlie has been trying to make the team for two years now. We have been sitting in the park for hours. The teachers have been meeting after school to plan the new schedules. Past Perfect Progressive The past perfect progressive describes a past, ongoing action that was completed before some other past action. The present participle is used with the helping verbs had been to form the past perfect progressive: When the accident occurred, she had been talking on her cell phone. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:15 Terms for Those Who Tell the Future60 Synonyms for â€Å"Trip†What’s the Best Way to Refer to a Romantic Partner?

Workplace Internet Abuse essays

Workplace Internet Abuse essays The technological explosion of the past few decades have taken society to heights never before dreamed possible. Today, Internet savvy users have the ability to manage stock portfolios, purchase travel, chat with friends and shop world wide all from the comfort of their computer. The Internet has become an entire society with social, professional and recreational aspects to its use. In recent years the topic of use has moved to the forefront as people become more expert in Internet navigation and have begun to rely on it more than ever before(Young, 2005). As with any positive element of life there is also a down side. Internet abuse at work is on the rise. Years ago people were disciplined at work if they had too many personal phone calls, however, today, an employee can get on the Internet and surf it without alerting everyone in the office. This costs the company time and money in lost employee production. To further complicate matters, many businesses need to have Internet access to perform their company duties, therefore the employees have to be trusted to use it for work purposes and wait to get home to play(Young, 2005). While there are constantly evolving spy programs with which supervisors can check the sites that an employee visited the company must also remain respectful of the employees privacy unless given reason to believe that employee is defying company policy regarding Internet use. The time has come to develop ethical responses to the workplace abuse of the Internet that will protect the integrity and productivity of the company while at the same time showing respect to those who work there. Recent research has reported that the average office employee spends an hour a day on the Internet for personal use. This can include stock trading, vacation booking, shopping or emailing friends. The latest estimates regarding the cost to companies caused by personal Internet use by employees is more than $35 million eac...