Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 12

Personal Statement Example This is what I would like to be able to do. I consider myself to be highly competitive, always wanting to surpass what I have already achieved. I engage in healthy competition with my colleagues, but I am more focused on outdoing myself. I consider myself my toughest competition. During my early years in school and up to middle school, I have been an active student leader, working hard on my academics as well as the extracurricular activities. I desired not only to hit high marks in my subjects, but also be able to participate in school activities and hone my other skills. My participation in school organizations has helped me to become a real team player, knowing where and how to make a group of people maximize their potentials to reach common objectives. I have brought this skill even during my college and early years as a professional, and it is one of my personality traits that I consider useful as I carve my career path. Being my biggest critic, I also had to conquer other grounds as I moved to places. I took an Intensive English course so I could learn to effectively communicate in writing and speech on top of my native language. I know that having the right communications skills will put me ahead of the others, and so I focused on learning not only the language, but more importantly, on achieving the right amount of self confidence to actually communicate and speak in public. This is one of the best decisions I have made because it has enabled me to interact more effectively with people from other cultures, in the workplace and beyond. Most of my career life has been focused on being involved in business analytics, studying performances of partner suppliers and making appropriate recommendations. During my three and a half years of stay with the company Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), I was able to enhance my

How organisational culture and safety influence on project performance Essay

How organisational culture and safety influence on project performance in organisations - Essay Example The paper tells that generally it is believed that organizational culture is one of the factors which influence the performance of the construction industry. The organizational culture is the set of shared values and belief that people of organization follow and it is reflected in their behavior, attitude, and reaction with each other and with organization’s stakeholders. However, the cultures which are being followed in the construction industry is associated with the ineffective communication and coordination among members of a project team, sexual harassment, poor mentality and lack of trust among project team members. These features results in negatively affecting the overall performance of the industry. This research study is being conducted in order to investigate the impact of organizational culture on the safety of the project with reference to the construction industry. The study also seeks to explore the impact of culture and safety on project performance. The study is based on the construction industry located in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The researcher in this study also interested in finding the current health and safety policies being adopted by the construction industry in Saudi Arabia, the accidental rates in construction sites, and the factors influence in implementing safety culture in construction companies. The research would be helpful in determining the degree to which culture influence safety and performance of the project. Choudhry, R., Fang, D., and Lingard, H. conducted research study regarding the safety climate of the construction industry and concluded that the safety is highly important for improving the overall performance of the construction organizations and thus provided a framework for measuring the safety climate of a construction company. Fang, Chen, and Wong conducted the research study on the safety climate of the construction industry in Hong Kong and presented important insights for the organizations operating in t he construction industry of Hong Kong. Larsson, Pousette, and Torner and O’Toole worked on the relationship of the safety climate with the employees’ behavior and performance.

To Immunize or Not to Immunize Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

To Immunize or Not to Immunize - Essay Example The essay "To Immunize or Not to Immunize" talks about the importance of immunization in a modern world. To prevent a lethal epidemic all those living in the United States should be vaccinated against the avian bird virus. Avian influenza, also called Bird flu, is a type of virus that affects birds and other domestic animals. It is reported to be highly contagious in birds, it is uncommon for it to be transmitted to humans. But this does not rule out the option that the U.S. population should not be vaccinated against this virus. It has been examined that humans coming in contact with affected birds and animals have been infected rather badly, with the infection being fatal in sixty percent of the cases. People living near farms have been reported to have been affected most by the bird flu. There have been few cases which involve human to human transmission, but the possibility exists and it is better to fight against it, then just leave it on its own. The U.S. population if left un-vaccinated is in a constant danger of being affected by this virus, which has been found lethal in sixty percent of the cases involving humans, and a hundred percent involving birds. It is true that vaccinations at times can cause allergic reactions like mild fever, flu, redness and swelling, but the benefits of immunization far exceed the damage caused by it. We cannot just stop vaccinating people because of the adverse reactions which take place in some cases and put the majority of the population’s life in peril.

How organisational culture and safety influence on project performance Essay

How organisational culture and safety influence on project performance in organisations - Essay Example The paper tells that generally it is believed that organizational culture is one of the factors which influence the performance of the construction industry. The organizational culture is the set of shared values and belief that people of organization follow and it is reflected in their behavior, attitude, and reaction with each other and with organization’s stakeholders. However, the cultures which are being followed in the construction industry is associated with the ineffective communication and coordination among members of a project team, sexual harassment, poor mentality and lack of trust among project team members. These features results in negatively affecting the overall performance of the industry. This research study is being conducted in order to investigate the impact of organizational culture on the safety of the project with reference to the construction industry. The study also seeks to explore the impact of culture and safety on project performance. The study is based on the construction industry located in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The researcher in this study also interested in finding the current health and safety policies being adopted by the construction industry in Saudi Arabia, the accidental rates in construction sites, and the factors influence in implementing safety culture in construction companies. The research would be helpful in determining the degree to which culture influence safety and performance of the project. Choudhry, R., Fang, D., and Lingard, H. conducted research study regarding the safety climate of the construction industry and concluded that the safety is highly important for improving the overall performance of the construction organizations and thus provided a framework for measuring the safety climate of a construction company. Fang, Chen, and Wong conducted the research study on the safety climate of the construction industry in Hong Kong and presented important insights for the organizations operating in t he construction industry of Hong Kong. Larsson, Pousette, and Torner and O’Toole worked on the relationship of the safety climate with the employees’ behavior and performance.

Compare and Contrast Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast Essay While penguins are technically birds, they have many distinct attributes that set them apart from the much of the animal class Aves. Penguins thrive in many different climates including tropical and temperate zones. These animals can survive temperatures below -100 degrees Fahrenheit. Antarctic penguins have a three-tiered insulation system. First, they have feathers that act like tiles on a roof, with longer feathers overlapping smaller, fluffier ones. In essence, water-proofing. Beneath that, penguins have a thick layer of fat that provides an extra buffer from the elements and retains body heat. A third special adaptation in the penguin that isnt found in most birds is its ability to recycle its own body heat. Blood flows pre-cooled to the extremities and warmed going to the heart. In the harshest wind-chilled conditions, penguins will huddle together in massive clusters. Most birds dont have a thick layer of fat or longer feathers on top of fluffier feathers. Many species have to find shelter at night, unlike penguins. Only 50 types of birds can live in the Antarctic and far fewer dare to breed there like the penguin. Most penguins spend upwards of 80 percent of their life in water, preferring colder, nutrient laden coasts. Because they only eat seafood, penguins have evolved sharp, hooked beaks to snare fish. They also have a sticky tongue that helps them capture slippery prey. Penguins are superb swimmers because they have webbed feet that serve as diving fins. Their wings have evolved into flippers. Their hydrodynamic bodies allows them to reach speeds of up to 15 mph. Penguins can hold their breath for long periods, allowing them to dive deep for prey. While 150 species of the bird family Antedate specialize in the water, penguins are the fastest and most adept underwater. Penguins live in colonies of up to 1 million but they dont necessarily need protection in numbers. Penguins have few natural land predators because of the places they inhabit, while many species of birds have to deal with a wide variety of natural land predators. Another distinguishing feature of penguins is their white underside, which keeps them virtually invisible to sharks looking up into the sun through the depths and the birds black tops allow them to swim underneath fish with little detection. Penguins cant fly, but they can toboggan over ice. While many flightless birds roam the Earth, penguins are heavier than most. Their wing bones are denser than those of flight-birds, whose bones are typically hollow. Even without flight penguins are versatile travelers.

The Adobe Systems Incorporated Computer Science Essay

The Adobe Systems Incorporated Computer Science Essay This paper examines the multinational company, Adobe Systems Incorporated, its innovations, value added for its products, and competencies. The paper then examines the companys structure culture, leadership and strategy for deploying its products. Adobe Systems Incorporated Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American multinational computer software corporation founded in 1982 by former Xerox employees John Warnock and Charles Geschke; the current CEO is Shantanu Narayen, who acquired the position in 2005. Adobe is headquartered in San Jose, CA and is traded under the NASDAQ symbol ADBE. Adobes operates in many major cities in the United States; its international operations include China, India, Switzerland, Romania, Canada, and Germany. As of the third quarter of 2012, Adobe has a total revenue of $1.081 billion and a market capitalization of 16.88 billion. Adobe offers software products and services to users of operating systems and technological devices and is best known for Photoshop, Acrobat, and Flash. The companys business can be broken down into three segments: digital media, digital marketing, and digital publishing (Yahoo! Finance, 2012, Reuters, 2012) One of Adobes first product was PostScript, which is a programming language developed by Warnock and Geschke in 1982; at this time, Apple, Inc. was Adobes direct competitor. Adobe created Adobe Illustrator for the Macintosh computer in 1986 which helped to popularize PostScript; a version of Illustrator was later made for Windows in 1989. The company went public in 1986. Adobe introduced Acrobat (the PDF) in 1993, which is now the most widely used viewer and reader. The company has acquired many other companies during the early to late nineties and 2000s. Some of the well-known acquisitions include: Macromedia, Photoshop, Aldus, Omniture, and Efficient Frontier. Adobe competes directly with Apple, Microsoft, and Google (Adobe, 2012 Wikipedia, 2012). Sources and Types of Innovation A company can have one or many sources of innovation which can range from the companys culture, policies, practices, and creativity. I think in Adobes case, its sources of innovation come from creative talent, consumer and business needs, and acquisitions. Adobe started off with PostScript in 1982 invented by its two founders and it became popular because of laser printer in the 1990s (Wikipedia, 2012). The PDF file format, which evolved from PostScript, was invented by Warnock in the early 1990s. Even though there were several competing firms offering the same technology, Adobe was able to make the PDF a market standard because it made the PDF file format usable on the internet where the other competitors could not. As the internet started to boom in the 1990s the PDF became more and more popular (prepressure, 2011). Postscript and the PDF were developed for the print industry. Adobe Photoshop is well known today; thought this software was not directly developed by Adobe, the company saw an opportunity to market it. Photoshop was first developed by Thomas and John Knoll in 1987. John was unhappy with the graphics on the Macintosh computer at this time and he began writing his own code to make the Mac work they way he wanted it to, while Thomas was working on imagining process for his thesis. Both of the brothers started a collaboration and named their software Display. Unfortunately, when the brothers presented their software, now called ImagePro (then later change to Photoshop) to companies in 1988, it was rejected because many these companies were working on similar software or they just did not like the software. When the brothers presented the software to Adobe, the company was impressed with the program. The product was licensed and distributed by Adobe and the Knolls received royalties for this. Adobe added new features to the software with Thomas cod ing them; Adobe mass-marketed Photoshop in 1990 and the rest is history (computerarts, 2005). With these examples, Adobe was able to capture the need of the consumer and market and tweak the technology to make it better. The PDF and Photoshop may have been slow to take off, but Adobe came out the winner because it saw an opportunity to be successful. Adobe has acquired many companies since its inception in 1982 and the products of the former companies have made Adobe profitable. The most famous acquisition was Macromedia, the company that developed Flash and Dreamweaver for the web. Flash, which was first known as FutureSplash Animator, was developed Jonathan Gay in 1995. When Gay decided he wanted to partner with a bigger company, he approached Adobe with his software. Unfortunately, Adobe was not impressed and passed on it. Macromedia bought the program in 1996; fast forward to nine years later and the program would become Adobes own (Beach, n.d.). Adobe has made massive improvements to Flash since Macromedias acquisition in 2005, thus making the company profitable with this software as it is very widely known and used. Value Added for Adobes Products Adobe has added value to all of the products it has introduced to the market. The PDF for example offers many benefits for users. The look of a document is preserved when it is viewed on screen. PDF files can be shared easily among users and is easy and convenient to use. Users can view PDF files on all their electronic gadgets including smartphones and tablets. Not only is Adobe Acrobat easy to use, but it is also free to download. This format is used by individuals, companies and the government. Business and government websites uses this file format because it is easy to use, convenient, fast, and it makes documents easy to print. All of these factors adds value to Acrobat and for these reasons is a market standard internationally. Adobe Photoshop is internationally famous. When people hear or say the term photoshopped they are obviously referring to images that has been modified using Adobes program. Photoshop is used by millions of professional people internationally including fashion designers, photographers, architectures, graphic designers, animators, publishers, film and video pros, and web designers (photoshop.com, 2012). This software allows people to be creative and have freedom and control with their work. For example, marketers can use Photoshop to create an amazing ad seen worldwide. By using Photoshop, people create something that is valuable to them to share with others. Photoshop may have started off small, but the enhancements and features Adobe has added over the years to this software have made it very valuable to people. Adobe Flash may not have been an original idea of the company but like with Photoshop, the company has enhanced it and made it better. Flash is used in the gaming industry, advertisements, animation, and in web applications. This software is used on desktops and mobile devices, is convenient to users, and free of charge. Many web sites, including YouTube uses the Flash as this software has a large user base and it is easy to program (Wikipedia, 2012). Flash makes the internet come alive for many people and the user experience is enhanced when this product is downloaded. The software enhances the look of a webpage making it attractive to users. Adobe flash is slowly declining at the moment and many web developers are favoring HTML5 video. This new type of technology does not rely upon a plugin the way Flash does. Apple has been very critical of Flash because of its security issues and sluggishness and Microsoft did not support Flash in Windows 8. As a result of all these factors, Adobe will no longer improve the flash player on mobile devices and is favoring the HTML5 video (website design and creation, 2012). Even though Flash is declining, it still has a strong presence in the market as many still use this software. Adobe helps retailers, publishers, and marketers with digital solutions. These businesses use Adobe services and products to enhance their users experience to make it meaningful, personalized, and interactive. Most of these businesses communicate with their target audience through the web or on mobile or tablet devices. They are able to build their brand, manage and customize content, and gather customer intelligence. For example, Vanity Fair, uses Adobes Digital Publishing Suite to create a rich and interactive experience for its monthly digital publication on the iPad. American Eagle Outfitters uses Adobes Digital Marketing Suite, which includes Abobe Analytics to see where their customer traffic is coming from, to help the retailer understand what products their customers are looking at, and how their customers are responding to their market initiatives. The company uses these analytics to its advantage to make a difference for their customers online shopping experience. David Fin cher, the director for the film The Social Network, used Adobe Creative Suite during post production of the film (Adobe, 2012). Adobes software solutions and services have helped businesses all across the globe to become more efficient, productive and profitable, hence adding value to what it provides. Core and Distinctive Competencies Adobes core competencies include its software and its services. The company is able to provide distinctive products, services and solutions to its customers worldwide for their various needs. The products that Adobe delivers makes customer experiences fun and make their creative side thrive. The software that the company provides are some of the most used and recognized software in the world and cannot be imitated to work the same way or give users the same experience they would have when using Adobe software. Adobe has great talent as well including creative developers with their own core competencies and software engineers. The company is also very flexible as it dabbles in marketing, broadcasting, publishing, retail, financial services, and media and provides solutions and software for these trades. Adobes distinctive competency is its huge and impressive acquisition list, which is certainly a value-creation strategy for the firm. These acquisitions have helped Adobes businesses in publishing, marketing, and computing. As discussed before, Adobes acquisitions of Macromedia and Photoshop have made the company very profitable from the existing software of those two providers. Other examples include Omniture and Efficient Frontier Technology; both were acquired by Adobe in September 2009 and November 2011 (Wikipedia, 2012) respectively. Omniture is a web analytics company which helps clients measure users purchasing activities on the web (Hoovers, 2012). Adobe has incorporated Omnitures analytics software into its digital market business unit creating the Adobe Marketing Cloud (Adobe, 2012) Adobes marketing clients can use the software and solutions to help them track what their customers purchase or is viewing online in order to provide better services or have a better marketing c ampaign. Adobes acquisition of Efficient Frontier has also helped its digital marketing business by providing search engine marketing using the modern portfolio theory, and display and social media campaigns (crunchbase, 2012). Adobes clients can utilize the algorithms Efficient Frontier provides to increase their ad performance along with Adobe Dynamic Ad Targeting solution (adexchanger, 2011) to become more profitable. Adobes acquisitions is a smart move for the company because talent, resources, and capabilities are all pooled together making the company more valuable. With the existing software of the companies Adobe has acquired, costs are truncated because Adobe does not have to use its own resources to create these technologies; instead, the companies utilizes what it has acquired to make a better experience for its clients. These acquisitions have made the company evolve to make its brand name more valuable. Organizational Structure, Culture, and Leadership Fig 1.1 Adobes Organizational Chart Like many huge organizations in the business world, Adobe has a bureaucratic and centralized structure; it is a top down organization where the CEO is control and in charge of the companys strategic decisions. The levels of the organization and roles of the employees are clearly defined. According to Adobes website, employees are encouraged to be creative and to think outside the box. This would most likely be the slogan of any technology company because technology changes every day and becomes more complex as time passes; a person has to be creative when they work in this industry. Employees at this company often collaborate on huge projects, including the employees from Adobes acquisitions. The teams are inspiring and the individual talents are respected and recognized. Employees are encouraged to be ambitious where they can achieve their full potential. The growth within the company for an individual is endless. The company provides wellness and fitness program and good compensation and benefit plans. Adobe is committed to ethical and honest business practices and has a great deal of pride regarding corporate social responsibility and global corporate citizenship. Employees at Adobe participate in the local community and have a commitment to the environment. The c ompany value people as its greatest asset and the culture here is very open. Adobes CEO, Shantanu Narayen took his cue from Apple about leadership when he was employed by the company. He creates a common vision for the organization and challenges his employees by setting goals. He likes when employees use their creativity to come up with solutions to these goals. He believes that great work is motivating and leads to a great impact on the world. Narayen gives general managers at Adobe freedom to run their own business units the way they want. They are encouraged to grow and take risks and there is room for mistakes. The management team is encouraged to present ideas and discuss their insights into the business about what is working and what is not when there is the quarterly business is conducted; they are coached and guided by Narayen in the problem areas. The CEO thinks that managers being on top of the data is meaningless and wants to know more about what is keeping his managers up at night. Teams at Abobe are built by complementing peoples strengths by s urrounding them with people who can complement their areas of weakness. Narayen hires people who are highly intelligent, have a passion for what they do, and share the same values as Adobe as he believes these three qualities leads to success (Narayen, 2009). Strategy, Timing, and Deployment Since its inception in 1982, Adobe has always been where the action is. The desktop publishing era started at this time with laser printers, which used a program called InterPress developed by Xerox, however, this software was not very flexible. Warnock and Geschke developed PostScript at this time in a much simpler language and marketed it in 1984. When Apple developed its laser printer in 1985, it adopted Postscript to work with it. (Wikipedia, 2012). Adobes strategy here was to license and market its technology to OEMs such as IBM, Texas Instruments, and Apple. The strategy paid off because Postscript had become the standard for laser printers into the 1990s and it made Adobe very profitable. Postscript became a big hit with the publishing industry because it was extremely useful for professionals who were in the creative field (fundinguniverse, n.d.). Adobe acquired one of its major competitors in the desktop publishing industry, Aldus Corporation, the creator of desktop publishi ng software, in 1994 and now had rights to Alduss products with this acquisition (Wikipedia, 2012). Adobe was now a market leader in the industry due to its successful strategies. Adobe began to focus on creating new software when the internet began to boom in the mid-nineties. The company acquired Cencena Communications, Inc. in 1995 to strengthen its position in the market. Cencena developed communication and management tools for the world wide web and Adobe saw an opportunity. With Adobes creation of the PDF at this time and the web management tools of Cencena, the companies combined technologies helped to produce new solutions for customers and acquire a broader range of customers. Adobe was now able to integrate its software with companies such as Microsoft, Netscape, and ATT (The Free Library, 1995). When Adobe wanted to expand more rapidly into digital media, it acquired Macromedia in 2005, one of Adobes biggest competitors. Macromedia developed cutting edge software, such as Flash; once again with Macromedias and Adobes technology, Adobe was able to make its software evolve and capture new markets. Adobes current strategy involves focusing on digital media and digital marketing. The company is investing resources into HTML5 video and has acquired Nitobi, an open source software company (Adobe, 2012). When businesses and individuals need new and better solutions, Adobe steps in with its software and acquires companies that can help it evolve in the industry. Strategic partnership has always been this companys strategy and this is something Adobe does very well. Conclusion Adobe has done well as a corporation for the past thirty years. The company has developed amazing products during the past years which have had an impact on millions of people internationally and has added value to their lives and work. Adobe is able to understand what it customers needs and wants are and has catered to them with its excellent solutions and easy to use products; this has made the company become successful over the years. Adobes culture is open and encouraging and its leadership is supporting and inspiring. These factors are indicative for creativity in the company. Successful acquisitions have made the Adobe evolve with combined technologies and talent, which has led to new technologies and products for its customers. Adobes impact on the software industry has made it a powerful and well established corporation.

Becoming A Lawyer Essay examples -- Research Lawyer Law Career Essays

Becoming a Lawyer Loving to argue, speak, and to persuade/convince, I have chosen to research the career of a lawyer. I have always been intrigued by the audacity and wit that lawyers have naturally. I will explain the steps in order to be on the right path in order to become a lawyer. While attaining a degree in your undergraduate studies, you must select a major that will be of some assistance and relevance to your particular law career. For example, if you want to be a corporate lawyer, you should major in business or if you want to be a judge, you should major in political science. After attaining your degree in your chosen major, you must attend law school. American Law schools are very expensive, especially if you plan to attend a private law school. That being said, there are excellent law schools in the States (Yale, Harvard, NYU, UT Austin, to name a few), and if you want to practice in the States, this is a good way to go about it. However, the competition to get into the top-rated law schools in the States is ferocious and exceeds by far the competition to get into Canadian law schools. The advice that most people give surrounding applying to US law schools (as there are so many), is to apply to a few "sure-thing" schools, a few schools were you would probably get in, a few where you would probably not get in, and a few "reach" schools, where it seems unlikely that you would be admitted. Keep in mind that even a very high GPA and LSAT score can not guarantee you admission to Harvard, Yale and the other top-rated schools. Because there are so many people in the US, there are more people with excellent grades applying, therefore red ucing your chances, too. After finally finalizing your arrangements and getting into your chosen law school, you must attend school. Law schools differ in their various requirements: many schools have required courses in all years, and some schools only have required courses in their first or second years. As well, many schools will require that you take some breadth courses, which are courses that are intended to round out your education. These courses are ones that are outside the canonical law school curriculum. At some point in the course of law school, you will probably have to do a moot, which is like mock court. In the moot, you are given a fact situation and you have to prepare arguments and deliver ... ... better to college life. It helps me stay focused and keep things organized by wrapping things up and reviewing all things that we learned throughout that particular week. In all, this assignment has helped me a lot by enforcing the need to research before making great decisions. One great decision in my life at this moment is trying to decide on a major and trying to reveal and find out what I really want to be. This assignment has helped me discover what it is like to get into a good law school, what the work load is like, what types of law there is to pursue a career in, and what the salary is. All these components will keep me grounded and stay true to what I originally wanted to pursue which is a career in the legal system of our country. Works Cited: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Warner, Rose. (1999). 29 Reasons Not to Go to Law School. London: Routeledge. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Serechal, J.R. (1987). Becoming a Lawyer. New York, New York: HBC Media. 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gabriel, Peter. (2001, November 4). Law School and its Perks. Retrieved November 7, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://lawstudents/files.html. 4) Segal, Nancy. (2001, February). So you think you want to be a lawyer. Teen People, p. 45.