How Oil Shaped Post War World Essay

†If one commodity can claim credit for the startling advances seen in the world in the 20th century, in particular in developed industrialized countries, it was crude oil- soon to be dubbed ‘black gold’. † Oil became an influential substance in the post war times, economically and also in shaping countries’ foreign policies. Whichever countries controlled oil controlled much of the world’s policies. After the increase in industrialisation and manufacture in the post war times, oil became a ‘must have’ resource, for a nation, in order for that nation to grow economically and become a self-sustaining state. The first Bush administration reiterated the need to invade the Gulf as, â€Å"a way to defend our way of life† in the form of acquiring and maintaining the supply of cheap oil into the American interior. Post war rebuild was the main agenda as most nations fought to rebuild their states from the damages sustained during the two World Wars. A drastic rise in the demand for oil in the world became eminent and those nations that held oil resources had substantial advantage over those that did not have easy access to it. In this essay, an outline of the role oil played in shaping post war worlds will be clearly discussed showing the various policies implemented by different nations in order to acquire the imperative resource. The general change from coal energy to oil energy was a catalyst for the increase in the rate of industrialisation. According to Yergin, Industrialisation sped up rapidly between the years 1949 and 1972. With economic recovery as the main focus of most nations affected by the catastrophes of both World Wars, oil had a vital role to play in each of the nation’s policies. With oil consumption tripling in each and every state, governments had to accommodate for the low death rates which increased population, high employment demand and increase in consumption which meant more oil had to be imported in order for general recovery to be implemented. Japan, regarding the devastation of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, is one of the most prominent in wide spread economic recovery quickly declared they were free from post war recovery in the early 1960s as a result of their adoption of oil for industry. Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was formed in Baghdad, Iraq on the 14th of September 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Its formation was largely associated with the grievances Arab nations had against the exploitive multinational Oil Companies that were gradually reducing oil prices to suit their Western home lands, had become powerful within the states they operated in and the oil companies boycott of the decree to nationalise all oil resources by Arab governments. OPEC meant to take over the oil market and have the power to decide for themselves the price and production levels of the resources that were within their nation’s interior. With the successful capture of the oil resource by the Middle East nation, came large and untimed variations in price, production levels and the general supply of crude oil to the rest of the world. United States of America and other global economies, already hard felt with other problems, were now vulnerable to Middle East oil policies which could affect their nations’ economies and social well beings. Looking into post war Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s era was characterised by the need for money to fund his expansion of uniting Arab nations into one nation under his political and Ba’athist ideologies. Hussein had Iraq export of crude oil as his main source of income however he met obstacles such as the Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) who had switched the OPEC policies to produce and sell oil at a fixed rate in order to gain demand along as a substantial profit. Kuwait and UAE were now producing more oil than agreed in Baghdad in 1960 which resulted in more supply of oil than demanded thus reducing the price of crude oil to less than $3 a barrel. Saddam’s retaliation was to threaten Kuwait and UAE with potential invasion if they did not adjust to the previously agreed policies to stabilise oil prices. Result was a Kuwait confirmation to Saddam’s demands but however led to a feud for aid funds which led to Iraqi army invasion of Kuwait. America’s invasion of Iraqi territory was highlighted as one of the most controversial foreign policies to have been implemented by the American government. The Persian Gulf War first initiated by president George H. W. Bush and the 2nd Persian Gulf War, implemented by the son of the former named president; George W. Bush formed the most debated policies of post war era. Most studies have come up with their own reasons as to why America decided to advance on Iraq with most highlighting the need to establish a constant supply of oil at a reasonable price, while others studies have put out that America wanted strategic positioning over its allies and rivals, save Russia, of oil seeking nations. Although none have been verified by the American government, it is clear that the main reason for American invasion was for the sole purpose of solidifying American position in the oil market. President George, W. Bush, the then American president, stated himself that the war was, â€Å"to defend our way of life† this could be seen as a direct implication on the need to have oil, a resource that is needed in America to support their economy. In conclusion, oil plays a vital role in shaping the world post to the World Wars. It is seemingly hard to believe that world recovery from such a devastating war could only take less than 50years leaving very little sign that there was ever a war to begin with. America remains a major power within the world with oil reserves larger than any other nation; China now boasts the world’s largest economy and Japan have recovered substantially for a nation that had very little resources to work with.

Continuous Human Activities Towards Global Warming

The phenomenon described as global warming has been well studied and documented by researchers throughout the world for several years. It is a phenomenon that has the potential to destroy our planet and all life on it. This essay will briefly define global warming, provide evidence of global warming, outline the main causes of global warming and discuss both the known and potential impacts of global warming on the planet earth. Comments are also made concerning actions being taken as well as others that need to be taken to protect our planet from the potential catastrophic consequences of continued global warming. For thousands of years the earth has gone through many changes in climate. In the last decade however, the earth has experienced notable increases in temperature, resulting in rising sea levels, changes in precipitation as well as other climate changes. The earth has not experienced such dramatic climate changes before in it's history as it has in the last one hundred years. Some of these climatic changes have been blamed on global warming. What is this phenomenon referred to as global warming? Global warming is the term used to describe a moderate increase in the earth's temperature as a result of human activities. Examples include, the burning of fossil fuels and the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which build up greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is a term used to describe the warming of the earth's surface due to the presence of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases, which trap radiant heat at the earth's surface. Diagram 1 illustrates the greenhouse effect. The denser these gases the more heat that is trapped. Energy from the sun drives the earth's weather and climate, and heats the earth's surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapour, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the outgoing energy retaining heat. This is not unlike the glass panels of a greenhouse. (EPA 1) The increase in the amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane from industries and cars causes energy to be trapped in the earth's atmosphere resulting in a rise of global temperatures. Without a little greenhouse effect though, life as we know it could not possibly exist on the earth. The natural greenhouse effect causes the mean temperature of the earth's surface to be approximately 33 degrees Celsius warmer than it would be if natural greenhouse gases were not present in the earth's atmosphere. (The Greenhouse Trap, 1) However, scientists are worried that human activities are intensifying the greenhouse effect. Cairncross writes, â€Å"global warming is likely to be the result of the build-up of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide† (Cairncross 111). The three main greenhouse gases produced by human activities are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen gas. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas produced by humans. It is responsible for over half of the increase in greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere. This is primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. Each year, the burning of fossil fuels releases 5. 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. (footnote) The main sources of carbon dioxide include, electric utilities (35%), transport (30%), industry (24%), and the other 11% is produced by residential buildings (Brisbane Adventist College www. ozkidz). The graph below shows the dramatic increase in carbon dioxide gases in the atmosphere. It is believed that since the Industrial Revolution began about 250 years ago, atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased from a value of about 275 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution to about 360 parts per million in 1996, and the rate of increase has speeded up over this span of time (Hartmann). Scientists have determined this by measuring the carbon dioxide levels in the air that became trapped in glaciers, hundreds of years ago. They then compare this to the amounts of carbon dioxide in today's air. Global warming was first predicted in 1896, by a Swedish chemist named Svante Arrhenius. Arrhenius realized that the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere was increasing rapidly due to industrialization. Arrhenius predicted that doubling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would raise the earth's average temperature by about 5 °C (Herring). Though no one really paid any attention to him, Arrhenius's prediction was surprisingly accurate. He was only off by about 2 to 3 degrees. This is very remarkable, considering he had to make the calculations by hand without the aid of scientific equipment. It was not until the 1980's that it was determined global warming was actually occurring, almost a hundred years after it was first predicted by Arrhenius. Global warming has already raised the average temperature of the earth's surface by about 0. 5 degrees within the last one hundred years (Bates 6). The top ten warmest days in recorded history have all occurred within the 1990's. Global temperature changes between 1861 and 1996 are outlined in Diagram 2. It has been estimated that global average temperatures will increase of as much as 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) before the year 2999 (6). Up until recently most of the carbon dioxide produced was absorbed by the world's oceans, trees and soils. The rest remained in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, now we are producing more carbon dioxide and our oceans, trees and soils are absorbing less. This is partly attributed to the fact that our forests are being destroyed. Research has been done to show that as many as 60 acres of rain forest are being destroyed, every hour, every day of the year. (The Rain forest Trust Inc. ) In the world, only 22% of the old growth forests are still alive. This is because more forests are being cleared to make room for farming and the trees are not being replaced. This destructive process is called deforestation. Deforestation has been going on since man began clearing land for agriculture and has increased substantially during the industrialization period. The dramatic decline in the earth's forested areas can be seen on Figure 1. Figure 1 shows that between the years 900 and 1990 the earth's forested area has declined from 40% to 20%. The rain forests of the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Their loss is very concerning because they do not grow back easily. Forests are important because they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. Forests help reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. If current trends continue, the world's rain forests could disappear in the next few decades. As a result of the loss of these forests, global temperatures are rising faster than they ever have because less carbon dioxide is being removed from the atmosphere. Should global temperatures continue to increase at present day rates, scientists believe that there may be many negative impacts from global warming. For example, should temperatures continue to rise, polar ice caps and glaciers will melt, causing the sea and ocean levels to rise. Many beaches will sink beneath the water and many parts of low lying counties will be submerged below water. It is also possible that some coastal areas will be completely covered by water. The world's ocean levels have already risen about four to six inches since 1990 and it is expected to rise another six inches by the year 2100. (Leatherman) This could flood many coastal cities, leaving thousands of people homeless. Maps 1 and 2 show the potential impact of raising sea levels on North Carolina and Florida respectively. Another potentially disastrous effect of global warming is a reduction to the general health of people. There are some diseases that only affect people that live where the climate is extremely warm. As a result of a general increase in temperature there will be more people dying everyday because of heart problems related to heat exhaustion. Hospital admissions show that death rates increase during extremely hot days, particularly among the very old and very young people living in cities. Diseases in tropical areas, like yellow fever and malaria would be more common in areas like Canada and the United States should temperatures rise. This would cause thousands to die each year from these tropical diseases. Global warming trends will also change rainfall patterns. Some areas of the world will become wetter while others will become drier. Historical evidence suggests that the grain-growing areas of North America are likely to have less rain (Bates 19). This would result in the Great Plains becoming a grassland or desert and the corn belt would experience more frequent droughts. These changes in rainfall patterns will test the agricultural and water management skills of many countries. It is still possible for both industrialized and developing countries to stop global warming. To prevent serious environmental problems associated with global warming we will have to bring together widely different cultural, political and economic interests to pursue the majority of the world's people to make sacrifices for the sake of future generations. In December 1997, an agreement was made between 160 countries, in Kyoto, Japan, to cut greenhouse emissions by 5. % below 1990 levels by the 2008-2012 period. This means that the United States and Japan will have to lower their greenhouse emissions by 7 and 6 percent respectively. This reduction is to be accomplished by a blend of taxes and regulations, with some subsidies for implementing green technologies. (proquest article) Most companies are trying to work well ahead of the agreement date and reduce greenhouse emissions now. Should a company cut their emissions to the point where they reduce their emissions by more than 5. 2%, they can receive pollution credits, which can be sold to other companies. Stopping global warming will not be an easy task. There are going to have to be many initiatives taken to stop global warming. The only way we will be able to accomplish this is by getting the whole world to work together and reduce the production of carbon dioxide. This is especially true for the United States, a country which is the biggest polluter on the planet. The most effective way to prevent global warming is to stop emitting dangerous greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A good way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is practice the three R's; reduce, reuse and recycle. Purchasing food and other products in reusable and recycled packaging can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 230 pounds per year, while recycling all household waste newsprint, cardboard, glass and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an additional 850 pounds per year (http://www. p2pays. org/ref/01/00183. htm). Less use of automobiles, greater use of bicycles and more reliance on walking would also help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. There are other gases like nitrogen and oxygen that have little or no effect on greenhouse warming. We need to find ways to replace the dangerous fossil fuels with these less harmful gases instead. We should immediately start implementing alternative energy sources like solar power, hydropower, and wind power. These sources of energy do not add to global warming but are very expensive to implement today. When we entered the 20th century, the human race did not have the technology to greatly alter the delicate balance of our planet. During the 20th century the human race quickly developed technologies and industrial processes that began to affect the balance of our planet. The problems related to global warming, which we face at the start of the new millennium cannot be separated into compact, well defined groups. The issues we face today are not just increased carbon dioxide levels, deforestation, increased sea levels, or increased polar ice melting. These issues are all interrelated and global in nature. They are also not just problems of science, they are political, economical and cultural problems. Global warming will only became a political and cultural priority when people see it as a serious problem which is likely to affect them personally. We first need to be able to understand clearly the direct impacts which global warming will bring before we will begin to change our values and lifestyles to one based on sustainable development practices. Sacrifices will have to be made from our current high standards of living in industrialized countries. While there does not appear to be any agreement on the scope and timing of the effects of global warming, we as a civilization face an uncertain future if we do not change our ways. Bates writes, â€Å"we stand at the edge of an onrushing catastrophe† (Bates 190). The human race needs to collectively act to avoid a global crisis. We as humans have the ability to change and adapt to change around us and to decide what our life will be like. Governments of the world will need to work together to stop global warming. There is only one planet that we can live on right now, so we need to respect it and protect it. We must stop destroying our only home. Are we as Canadians prepared to make the sacrifices needed to change our attitudes about our high standard of living and the pursuit of personal wealth in order to save our planet?

APUSH spring terms unit 10 Flashcards Example for Free (#10)

APUSH spring terms unit 10 the transfer of certain powers from the United States Government back to the states; name of President Ronald Reagan’s economic program signed by the US, Canada, and many of the European states in an attempt to improve relations between the Soviet bloc and the West a law intended to check the President’s power to commit the United States to an armed conflict (such as the Vietnam War) without the consent of Congress The United States supported this country’s deposed shah, and its inhabitants retaliated by taking American hostages A communist republic originally led by Josef Stalin; improved relations with the US came with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev the setting of a partial nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania; the worst accident in US commercial power plant history a revolutionary government in Nicaragua that allied themselves with the USSR and Cuba a Multinational force was sent here in 1982 to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization; in 1983 two truck bombs killed 299 French and American servicemen invaded by the Soviets in 1979 and occupied for 10 years; the invasion caused President Carter to withdraw the Salt II Treaty a country who led by Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and the US retaliated with Operation Desert Storm which basically consisted of massive air strikes against Iraqi targets proposed by Ronald Reagan to use ground and space based systems to protect the US from nuclear missiles the setting of student-led popular demonstrations in Beijing that led to troops invading the square with assault rifles and tanks that inflicted thousands of casualties (also known as the June 4th massacre) served as secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford; pioneered the policy of detente with the Soviet Union; opened relations with the People’s Republic of China; negotiated the Paris Peace Accords which ended the Vietnam War; received the Nobel Peace Prize Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1969-1986; ruled against Nixon in his attempt to withhold tapes during the Watergate Scandal; also determined the legality of abortion in Roe v. Wade an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the moon released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971; a study of top-secret government documents about information withheld from the American people during the Vietnam War presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars; ordered President Nixon to turn over his recordings of White House conversations two journalists that uncovered a system of political â€Å"dirty tricks† and crimes that eventually led to indictments of forty White House and administration officials, and ultimately to the resignation of President Richard Nixon (The Watergate Scandal) the first special prosecutor for the Watergate Scandal; indirectly fired by Nixon for demanding that he release his recordings of the conversations in the Oval office Special counsel to President Nixon; one of the â€Å"Watergate Seven†, those who pled guilty to obstruction of justice for defame Daniel Ellsberg the 37th president of the United States who was the only president to resign from office became Vice President under Richard Nixon after Spiro Agnew resigned; became president after Nixon resigned; only president to serve as both Vice President and President without being elected by the Electoral College; criticized for pardoning Nixon; served under a weak economy and wanted to â€Å"WIN† (Whip Inflation Now) created the Department of Energy; oversaw the signing of the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt; failed to recover hostages during the Iranian Hostage Crisis applied the theory of supply-side economics (if corporate taxes are reduced, those corporations will earn greater profits and then hire more employees, called voo-doo economics by Bush); lobbied Congress for a tax cut for all Americans; greatest success was with American-Soviet relations with Mikhail Gorbachev (â€Å"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall†) campaign focused on â€Å"Read my lips: no new taxes†; criticized for eventually raising taxes as part of a budget agreement with Congress in 1990 President of Egypt; assassinated by fundamentalist army officers in 1971 evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative political commentator; cofounded the Moral Majority a Marine Corps colonel and National Security Council Staff member who was involved in the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran in order to encourage release of hostages held in Lebanon (Iran-Contra scandal) Secretary of State under George W. Bush; first African-American secretary of state he co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc’s first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland Gerald Ford’s running mate in 1976 and the Republican nominee in 1996 against President Bill Clinton established NAFTA, also impeached for perjury during the Lewinsky scandal spent 27 years in prison for â€Å"sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government† in South Africa, and upon his release, he began negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk which led to the removal of apartheid; then elected President of South Africa in 1990 We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy We will write a custom sample essay on APUSH spring terms unit 10 specifically

Letter of appeal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Letter of appeal - Essay Example My parents (whom I stay with) were involved in constant feuds that eventually led to a divorce. This did not only affect me psychologically but also took almost all my study time as I tried to take care of my younger siblings who could not barely cope up with what was happening. We had to move out of our house and settle at our grandmother’s place to avoid the raging parents for some time. At first, I thought I could handle my studies while at the same time taking care of the situation back at home but I was wrong as my study time was greatly consumed. I must acknowledge that I did not use the right channels to communicate with my lecturers about what affected me, a mistake I highly regret. I also had an option to call off the semester but, again I did not pursue that. The situation at home now is calm and it no longer affects me. I have great affection for this university and would like to be given a chance to attain my degree, which would make me be the first student in my area to be awarded a degree in my. I have developed a close relationship with my counsellor to assist me deal with stressful situations and open up and communicate with people who can offer assistance to me like my lecturers rather than keeping quiet. Fortunately, my parents have re-united and a peaceful environment has been created at home where my studies will not be interrupted anymore. Once again I want to assure you that it was just an appalling session for me; I am not an academically poor student. The low GPA does not represent exactly who I am and given another chance I will prove that the grades I attained were odd to my standard. I am optimistic you will grant me another chance. I appreciate the chance for this

Microprocessors advancement generations Research Paper

Microprocessors advancement generations - Research Paper Example Microprocessors or processors are the core components of any information system contributing to the goals of an organization. The microprocessor or processor â€Å"interprets and carries out, or processes, instructions and data contained in the software† the microprocessor evolved from the creation of transistors in to integrated circuits. Moreover, the integration of these components is vast in this current age of information technology, where every now and then, computing devices are expanding their usage beyond imagination and finds a new product to take their place. Today, microprocessors are comprised of over millions of transistors that are integrated to a small chip that can be easily located on the fingertips (Betker, Fernando and Whalen 29). However, the factor that makes these microprocessors better from the other is the speed on which it operates. Microprocessor clock speed is measured in Mega Hertz (MHz), Giga Hertz (GHz) and TeraFLOPS. Microprocessors Advancement Generations The first general purpose microprocessor, composed on a single chip was launched in 1971. The microprocessor was capable to operate on an eight-bit architecture along with the implementation capacity of four bits. Moreover, the microprocessor includes 2300 transistors with a capability to perform less than 0.1 million instructions per second (MIPS). After the invention of the first general purpose microprocessor, 8008 right bit microprocessor was invented. The microprocessor was built on 3500 transistors as compared to the general-purpose microprocessor with 2300 transistors.... Moreover, a language was also introduced for operating the system named as assembly language. The processor was built on 29000 transistors along with features including memory protection and floating point co processor. Moreover, in 1981, IBM a company for manufacturing commuting devices launched the latest version of Intel’s 8086. The microprocessor was named as 8088. The second generation was triggered by a significant improvement in the architecture of microprocessors as Motorola launched the first 32-bit microprocessor named as Motorola 68000. The processor was equipped with general-purpose registers supporting less than 1 million instructions per second. Motorola 68000 was used with Apple Mac, Silicon graphics and Apollo systems. The third generation was started by the first commercial microprocessor named as MIPS2000 based on Reduced Instructions Set Computing (RISC). Moreover, the processor supported instructions and data cache simultaneously. As compared to the previou s processor supporting less than one MIPS, MIPS 2000 was capable of providing five to eight MIPS. The total transistors that were embedded on the processor were 125,000 thousand. The fourth generation of microprocessors was started by the introduction of 64-bit architecture. The processor supporting the 64-bit architecture was MIPS 4000. As compared to the third generation microprocessor i.e. MIPS 2000, MIPS 4000 capability was unmatched. Instead of installing the caches separately on the motherboard of the computer, it was integrated in the microprocessor. The features for integrated cache are on chip and off chip i.e. as a secondary cache. Moreover, floating point was also integrated on the chip. The microprocessor is

Marketing- Mission statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Marketing- Mission statement - Essay Example er in doing so shall take a real life situation and an internationally known company to analyse how it has used its mission statement in the various marketing management strategies and tactics. A mission statement being the statement that highlights briefly the overall direction that the company wishes to take, stands to be respected and therefore in coming up with it serious consultations should be made as it is to either sell the company’s image or put it at risk forcing the management to change it at some point (Shee & Abratt 1989). The sole aim of having a mission statement is to have the direction that the company is taking clearly set out for both all the stakeholders to know and above all, understand (Leuthesser & Kohli 1997). It has to be brief and to the point giving the intended message using simple but coherent words. It gives the purpose of the company and this is the top line rather than the bottom line. This statement need also to be broad in scope as it stipulates both the short term as well as the long term intent of the company. It should resound to the clients and other people who may be in a position to deal with it and give them the reasons to do so (Knights & Willmott 1992). It is clear that the aim of a business it to make profit as the key purpose but the mission statement is to show how the company in rather general and indirect means aims at going about it. This statement has three distinct parts which are: the business statement, purpose statement and lastly the statement of values held by the company (Leuthesser & Kohli 1997). For the purpose part, the statement shows what the company’s purpose is in explicit terms, the business portion indicates how this purpose will be fulfilled while the value part tells of what values are commonly upheld in the company and their contribution to the business. A mission statement as earlier mentioned need to be carefully developed to reflect the above mentioned areas with clarity. There are

Why did Margaret Thatcher sign up to the Single European Act Essay

Why did Margaret Thatcher sign up to the Single European Act - Essay Example These agreements included the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). The United Kingdom was a significant player in the formation of SEA; it participated in the events that led to its creation in the mid-1980s. This paper examines some of the reasons why British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher endorsed the SEA. The very advent of SEA can be traced to the mid-20th century 1945 (Cooper and Tomic, 2007). The then integration activities happened in rather steady steps, especially following the establishment of the ECSC in 1952. Gehler (2006) notes that with six founding member countries, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, the ECSC marked the first contemporary, multinational economic union in Europe. In 1958, when it became clear that economic integration in Europe was tenable, the member countries of the ECSC advanced their international cooperation through the ratification of the Treaties of Rome, which established the EEC and EURATOM (Basdeo, 1990; Moravcsik, 1991). According to Timur, Picone and Desimone (2011), the EEC’s primary objective was economic coordination of the region via a universal market and the elimination of trade restrictions. From 1970, the subsequent two decades saw the EEC activities deepen to include the United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. The new expanded economic union was faced with political and economic problems including fuel crisis that peaked in the early 1970s and pressures from the North America that needed trade liberalization to succeed (Cooper and Tomic, 2007). The European heads of governments reacted with, perhaps the clearest intent of a common platform that would foster important economic and inter-governmental cooperation. Of particular concern in this paper was UK’s adoption of the SEA following Prime Minister Margret Thatcher’s endorsement of the Treaty

Forensic 3D Laser Scanning of Footwear Impression Evidence Thesis Proposal

Forensic 3D Laser Scanning of Footwear Impression Evidence - Thesis Proposal Example However, getting a 3D physical cast of an impression on a crime scene can in the process destroy the evidence. The use of 3D imaging device is proving to be beneficial to crime scene investigators (CSI) as an additional toolkit since it can obtain details of such impression. Footwear impression recovery in crime scene is considered to have a critical role in the investigations to narrow down the number of suspects or refute or corroborate information (Gamage et al., 2013). Three dimension foot ware impressions casting is seen to be a long standing standard where, it results to the generation of three dimensional footprints. This is progressively being replaced by a three dimensional scanning that is a less invasive method. In the study proposed, an alternative method that entails a 3D laser scanning of footwear impression evidence with the use of a FARO "Freestyle" 3D Scanner will be present, and it will be based on the multi-view stereo where, an accurate three dimensional model can be generated. The results on the reconstructed three dimensional models will be evaluated and then compared with other results obtained by three dimensional scanning. Also, the drawbacks and the advantages of this method will be explored over other methods that exist. Freestyle hand held scanner was recently released by FARO, and this is considered as a step up in structured light technology because it includes two cameras infrared in nature which are used in creating a stereo pair of images Three dimensional foot ware impression casting is progressively being replaced by a three dimensional scanning that is less invasive method. In the study to be undertaken, an alternative method that entails a 3D laser scanning of footwear impression evidence with the use of FARO "Freestyle" 3D Scanner will be present and it will be based on the multi-view stereo. Footwear impression recovery in crime scene is considered to have a critical role in the

Assignment2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Assignment2 - Essay Example Similarly, bonus banking is introduced as the latest and most powerful weapon of long-term incentives. The first part of this paper will critically scrutinise the merits and demerits of the long-term incentives system in building long-lasting relationships with customers in banking industry. The second part will deal with different issues that a sales manager would face when managing and incentivising an effective team of sales people. I Why a new Incentive system? The weakness and deficiencies of old executive compensation system led to the origin of long-term incentive system. In the old scheme, the executives were compensated regardless their performance even after banks received bailout money. Retaining them in the organization was important as they were the skippers who would lead the day to day activities. The AP review reported that banks’ top executives earned an average of $2.6 million in ‘salary, bonuses and benefits’ (The Washington Times). Majority ban ks feared about the resignation of their top executives if they were paid in accordance with business fluctuations. It is suggested that banks must give more priority to their survival than to their top executives’ retention. ... Scholars have recommended that provision of bonuses as a percentage of bank’s profit would enhance banking operations as it ensured financial flexibility of banks. Melissa Murray, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo suggested that it was good to adopt â€Å"pay-for-performance† culture where executives are treated on the basis of their performance (Freifeld, 2009). As a response to all critics, long-term incentives system has been established. Long-term incentives Under this system, the total compensation of employees includes base pay, short-term incentives, and long-term incentives. Base pay constitutes the fixed salary given to an employee for the specified job. Similarly, short-term incentives include all types of annual incentives and ordinary commissions those earned by an employee. Coleman and Fortier (2002) opine that unlike the base pay and short-term incentives methods, the long-term incentives aim the â€Å"improvement of overall performance of the organization by linking employees’ long-term rewards to the organization’s long-term results†. It mainly includes stock options, performance units, and restricted stock. Advantages of long-term incentives The appropriate selection of long-term incentive programs assists organisation to meet its long-term objectives. In addition, the introduction of suitable long-term incentives system in banking industries will add value to the shareholders as well as banks’ customers. The major advantages of long-term incentives are described below. 1. Employee participation Berger and Berger (324) suggest that this programme facilitates the banks to share the success with its executives; and it would

Minority Group and Multiculturalism Essay Example for Free

Minority Group and Multiculturalism Essay Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity — commonly termed â€Å"multiculturalism† — emerged in the West as a vehicle for replacing older forms of ethnic and racial hierarchy with new relations of democratic citizenship. Despite substantial evidence that these policies are making progress toward that goal, a chorus of political leaders has declared them a failure and heralded the death of multiculturalism. This popular master narrative is problematic because it mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and misidentifies not only the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered but the options for addressing these problems. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. This report challenges four powerful myths about multiculturalism. First, it disputes the caricature of multiculturalism as the uncritical celebration of diversity at the expense of addressing grave societal problems such as unemployment and social isolation. Instead it offers an account of multiculturalism as the pursuit of new relations of democratic citizenship, inspired and constrained by human-rights ideals. Second, it contests the idea that multiculturalism has been in wholesale retreat, and offers instead evidence that multiculturalism policies (MCPs) have persisted, and have even grown stronger, over the past ten years. Third, it challenges the idea that multiculturalism has failed, and offers instead evidence that MCPs have had positive effects. Fourth, it disputes the idea that the spread of civic integration policies has displaced multiculturalism or rendered it obsolete. The report instead offers evidence that MCPs are fully consistent with certain forms of civic integration policies, and that indeed the combination of multiculturalism with an â€Å"enabling† form of civic integration is both normatively desirable and empirically effective in at least some cases. To help address these issues, this paper draws upon the Multiculturalism Policy Index. This index 1) identifies eight concrete policy areas where liberal-democratic states — faced with a choice — decided to develop more multicultural forms of citizenship in relation to immigrant groups and 2) measures the extent to which countries have espoused some or all of these policies over time. While there have been some high-profile cases of retreat from MCPs, such as the Netherlands, the general pattern from 1980 to 2010 has been one of modest strengthening. Ironically, some countries that have been vociferous about multiculturalism’s â€Å"failure† (e. g. , Germany) have not actually practiced an active multicultural strategy. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. However, not all attempts to adopt new models of multicultural citizenship have taken root or succeeded in achieving their intended effects. There are several factors that can either facilitate or impede the successful implementation of multiculturalism: Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 1 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Desecuritization of ethnic relations. Multiculturalism works best if relations between the state and minorities are seen as an issue of social policy, not as an issue of state security. If the state perceives immigrants to be a security threat (such as Arabs and Muslims after 9/11), support for multiculturalism will drop and the space for minorities to even voice multicultural claims will diminish. Human rights. Support for multiculturalism rests on the assumption that there is a shared commitment to human rights across ethnic and religious lines. If states perceive certain groups as unable or unwilling to respect human-rights norms, they are unlikely to accord them multicultural rights or resources. Much of the backlash against multiculturalism is fundamentally driven by anxieties about Muslims, in particular, and their perceived unwillingness to embrace liberal-democratic norms. Border control. Multiculturalism is more controversial when citizens fear they lack control over their borders — for instance when countries are faced with large numbers (or unexpected surges) of unauthorized immigrants or asylum seekers — than when citizens feel the borders are secure. Diversity of immigrant groups. Multiculturalism works best when it is genuinely multicultural — that is, when immigrants come from many source countries rather than coming overwhelmingly from just one (which is more likely to lead to polarized relations with the majority). Economic contributions. Support for multiculturalism depends on the perception that immigrants are holding up their end of the bargain and making a good-faith effort to contribute to society — particularly economically. When these facilitating conditions are present, multiculturalism can be seen as a low-risk option, and indeed seems to have worked well in such cases. Multiculturalism tends to lose support in high-risk situations where immigrants are seen as predominantly illegal, as potential carriers of illiberal practices or movements, or as net burdens on the welfare state. However, one could argue that rejecting immigrant multiculturalism under these circumstances is in fact the higher-risk move. It is precisely when immigrants are perceived as illegitimate, illiberal, and burdensome that multiculturalism may be most needed. I. Introduction Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity have been in a state of flux around the world for the past 40 years. One hears much about the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism. † Indeed, this has become a kind of master narrative, widely invoked by scholars, journalists, and policymakers alike to explain the evolution of contemporary debates about diversity. Although people disagree about what comes after multiculturalism, there is a surprising consensus that we are in a post-multicultural era. This report contends that this master narrative obscures as much as it reveals, and that we need an alternative framework for thinking about the choices we face. Multiculturalism’s successes and failures, as well as its level of public acceptance, have depended on the nature of the issues at stake and the countries involved, and we need to understand these variations if we are to identify a more sustainable model for accommodating diversity. This paper will argue that the master narrative 1) mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, 2) exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and 3) misidentifies the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered and the options for addressing these problems. 2 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Before we can decide whether to celebrate or lament the fall of multiculturalism, we need first to make sure we know what multiculturalism has meant both in theory and in practice, where it has succeeded or failed to meet its objectives, and under what conditions it is likely to thrive in the future. The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism The master narrative of the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism† helpfully captures important features of our current debates. Yet in some respects it is misleading, and may obscure the real challenges and opportunities we face. In its simplest form, the master narrative goes like this:1 Since the mid-1990s we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism. From the 1970s to mid-1990s, there was a clear trend across Western democracies toward the increased recognition and accommodation of diversity through a range of multiculturalism policies (MCPs) and minority rights. These policies were endorsed both at the domestic level in some states and by international organizations, and involved a rejection of earlier ideas of unitary and homogeneous nationhood. Since the mid-1990s, however, we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism, and a reassertion of ideas of nation building, common values and identity, and unitary citizenship — even a call for the â€Å"return of assimilation. † This retreat is partly driven by fears among the majority group that the accommodation of diversity has â€Å"gone too far† and is threatening their way of life. This fear often expresses itself in the rise of nativist and populist right-wing political movements, such as the Danish People’s Party, defending old ideas of â€Å"Denmark for the Danish. † But the retreat also reflects a belief among the center-left that multiculturalism has failed to help the intended beneficiaries — namely, minorities themselves — because it has failed to address the underlying sources of their social, economic, and political exclusion and may have unintentionally contributed to their social isolation. As a result, even the center-left political movements that initially championed multiculturalism, such as the social democratic parties in Europe, have backed 1 For influential academic statements of this â€Å"rise and fall† narrative, claiming that it applies across the Western democracies, see Rogers Brubaker, â€Å"The Return of Assimilation? † Ethnic and Racial Studies 24, no. 4 (2001): 531–48; and Christian Joppke, â€Å"The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy,† British Journal of Sociology 55, no. 2 (2004): 237–57. There are also many accounts of the â€Å"decline,† â€Å"retreat,† or â€Å"crisis† of multiculturalism in particular countries. For the Netherlands, see Han Entzinger, â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism in the Netherlands,† in Toward Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in Liberal Nation-States, eds. Christian Joppke and Ewa Morawska (London: Palgrave, 2003) and Ruud Koopmans, â€Å"Trade-Offs between Equality and Difference: The Crisis of Dutch Multiculturalism in Cross-National Perspective† (Brief, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, December 2006). For Britain, see Randall Hansen, â€Å"Diversity, Integration and the Turn from Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom,† in Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada, eds. Keith G. Banting, Thomas J. Courchene, and F. Leslie Seidle (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2007); Les Back, Michael Keith, Azra Khan, Kalbir Shukra, and John Solomos, â€Å"New Labour’s White Heart: Politics, Multiculturalism and the Return of Assimilation,† Political Quarterly 73, No. 4 (2002): 445–54; Steven Vertovec, â€Å"Towards post-multiculturalism? Changing communities, conditions and contexts of diversity,† International Social Science Journal 61 (2010): 83–95. For Australia, see Ien Ang and John Stratton, â€Å"Multiculturalism in Crisis: The New Politics of Race and National Identity in Australia,† in On Not Speaking Chinese: Living Between Asia and the West, ed. I. Ang (London: Routledge, 2001). For Canada, see Lloyd Wong, Joseph Garcea, and Anna Kirova, An Analysis of the ‘Anti- and Post-Multiculturalism’ Discourses: The Fragmentation Position (Alberta: Prairie Centre for Excellence in Research on Immigration and Integration, 2005), http://pmc.metropolis. Net/Virtual%20Library/FinalReports/Post-multi%20FINAL%20REPORT%20for%20PCERII%20_2_. pdf. For a good overview of the backlash discourse in various countries, see Steven Vertovec and Susan Wessendorf, eds. , The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices (London: Routledge, 2010). Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 3 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE away from it and shifted to a discourse that emphasizes â€Å"civic integration,† â€Å"social cohesion,† â€Å"common values,† and â€Å"shared citizenship. †2 The social-democratic discourse of civic integration differs from the radical-right discourse in emphasizing the need to develop a more inclusive national identity and to fight racism and discrimination, but it nonetheless distances itself from the rhetoric and policies of multiculturalism. The term postmulticulturalism has often been invoked to signal this new approach, which seeks to overcome the limits of a naive or misguided multiculturalism while avoiding the oppressive reassertion of homogenizing nationalist ideologies. 3 II. What Is Multiculturalism? A. Misleading Model In much of the post-multiculturalist literature, multiculturalism is characterized as a feel-good celebration of ethnocultural diversity, encouraging citizens to acknowledge and embrace the panoply of customs, traditions, music, and cuisine that exist in a multiethnic society. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown calls this the â€Å"3S† model of multiculturalism in Britain — saris, samosas, and steeldrums. 4. Multiculturalism takes these familiar cultural markers of ethnic groups — clothing, cuisine, and music — and treats them as authentic practices to be preserved by their members and safely consumed by others. Under the banner of multiculturalism they are taught in school, performed in festivals, displayed in media and museums, and so on. This celebratory model of multiculturalism has been the focus of many critiques, including the following: It ignores issues of economic and political inequality. Even if all Britons come to enjoy Jamaican steeldrum music or Indian samosas, this would do nothing to address the real problems facing Caribbean and South Asian communities in Britain — problems of unemployment, poor educational outcomes, residential segregation, poor English language skills, and political marginalization. These economic and political issues cannot be solved simply by celebrating cultural differences. Even with respect to the (legitimate) goal of promoting greater understanding of cultural differences, the focus on celebrating â€Å"authentic† cultural practices that are â€Å"unique† to each group is potentially dangerous. First, not all customs that may be traditionally practiced within a particular group are worthy of being celebrated, or even of being legally tolerated, such as forced marriage. To avoid stirring up controversy, there’s a tendency to choose as the focus of multicultural celebrations safely inoffensive practices — such as cuisine or music — that can be enjoyably consumed by members of the larger society. But this runs the opposite risk 2. For an overview of the attitudes of European social democratic parties to these issues, see Rene Cuperus, Karl Duffek, and Johannes Kandel, eds. , The Challenge of Diversity: European Social Democracy Facing Migration, Integration and Multiculturalism (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2003). For references to â€Å"post-multiculturalism† by progressive intellectuals, who distinguish it from the radical right’s â€Å"antimulticulturalism,† see, regarding the United Kingdom, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism (London: Foreign Policy Centre, 2000), and â€Å"Beyond Multiculturalism,† Canadian Diversity/Diversite Canadienne 3, no. 2 (2004): 51–4; regarding Australia, James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); and regarding the United States, Desmond King, The Liberty of Strangers: Making the American Nation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), and David A. Hollinger, Post-ethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, revised edition (New York: Basic Books, 2006). Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism. 3 4 4 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE of the trivialization or Disneyfication of cultural differences,5 ignoring the real challenges that differences in cultural and religious values can raise. Third, the 3S model of multiculturalism can encourage a conception of groups as hermetically sealed and static, each reproducing its own distinct practices. Multiculturalism may be intended to encourage people to share their customs, but the assumption that each group has its own distinctive customs ignores processes of cultural adaptation, mixing, and melange, as well as emerging cultural commonalities, thereby potentially reinforcing perceptions of minorities as eternally â€Å"other. † This in turn can lead to the strengthening of prejudice and stereotyping, and more generally to the polarization of ethnic relations. Fourth, this model can end up reinforcing power inequalities and cultural restrictions within minority groups. In deciding which traditions are â€Å"authentic,† and how to interpret and display them, the state generally consults the traditional elites within the group — typically older males — while ignoring the way these traditional practices (and traditional elites) are often challenged by internal reformers, who have different views about how, say, a â€Å"good Muslim† should act. It can therefore imprison people in â€Å"cultural scripts† that they are not allowed to question or dispute. According to post-multiculturalists, the growing recognition of these flaws underlies the retreat from multiculturalism and signals the search for new models of citizenship that emphasize 1) political participation and economic opportunities over the symbolic politics of cultural recognition, 2) human rights and individual freedom over respect for cultural traditions, 3) the building of inclusive national identities over the recognition of ancestral cultural identities, and 4) cultural change and cultural mixing over the reification of static cultural differences. This narrative about the rise and fall of 3S multiculturalism will no doubt be familiar to many readers. In my view, however, it is inaccurate. Not only is it a caricature of the reality of multiculturalism as it has developed over the past 40 years in the Western democracies, but it is a distraction from the real issues that we need to face. The 3S model captures something important about natural human tendencies to simplify ethnic differences, and about the logic of global capitalism to sell cosmopolitan cultural products, but it does not capture the nature of post-1960s government MCPs, which have had more complex historical sources and political goals. B. Multiculturalism in Context It is important to put multiculturalism in its historical context. In one sense, it is as old as humanity — different cultures have always found ways of coexisting, and respect for diversity was a familiar feature of many historic empires, such as the Ottoman Empire. But the sort of multiculturalism that is said to have had a â€Å"rise and fall† is a more specific historic phenomenon, emerging first in the Western democracies in the late 1960s. This timing is important, for it helps us situate multiculturalism in relation to larger social transformations of the postwar era. More specifically, multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Prior to World War II, ethnocultural and religious diversity in the West was characterized by a range of illiberal and undemocratic relationships of hierarchy,6 justified by racialist ideologies that explicitly propounded the superiority of some peoples and cultures and their right to rule over others. These ideologies were widely accepted throughout the Western world and underpinned both domestic laws (e. g. , racially biased immigration and citizenship policies) and foreign policies (e. g. , in relation to overseas colonies). 5 6 Neil Bissoondath, Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada. (Toronto: Penguin, 1994). Including relations of conqueror and conquered, colonizer and colonized, master and slave, settler and indigenous, racialized and unmarked, normalized and deviant, orthodox and heretic, civilized and primitive, and ally and enemy. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 5 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE After World War II, however, the world recoiled against Hitler’s fanatical and murderous use of such ideologies, and the United Nations decisively repudiated them in favor of a new ideology of the equality of races and peoples. And this new assumption of human equality generated a series of political movements designed to contest the lingering presence or enduring effects of older hierarchies. We can distinguish three â€Å"waves† of such movements: 1) the struggle for decolonization, concentrated in the period 1948–65; 2) the struggle against racial segregation and discrimination, initiated and exemplified by the AfricanAmerican civil-rights movement from 1955 to 1965; and 3) the struggle for multiculturalism and minority rights, which emerged in the late 1960s. Multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Each of these movements draws upon the human-rights revolution, and its foundational ideology of the equality of races and peoples, to challenge the legacies of earlier ethnic and racial hierarchies. Indeed, the human-rights revolution plays a double role here, not just as the inspiration for a struggle, but also as a constraint on the permissible goals and means of that struggle. Insofar as historically excluded or stigmatized groups struggle against earlier hierarchies in the name of equality, they too have to renounce their own traditions of exclusion or oppression in the treatment of, say, women, gays, people of mixed race, religious dissenters, and so on. Human rights, and liberal-democratic constitutionalism more generally, provide the overarching framework within which these struggles are debated and addressed. Each of these movements, therefore, can be seen as contributing to a process of democratic â€Å"citizenization† — that is, turning the earlier catalog of hierarchical relations into relationships of liberaldemocratic citizenship. This entails transforming both the vertical relationships between minorities and the state and the horizontal relationships among the members of different groups. In the past, it was often assumed that the only way to engage in this process of citizenization was to impose a single undifferentiated model of citizenship on all individuals. But the ideas and policies of multiculturalism that emerged from the 1960s start from the assumption that this complex history inevitably and appropriately generates group-differentiated ethnopolitical claims. The key to citizenization is not to suppress these differential claims but to filter them through and frame them within the language of human rights, civil liberties, and democratic accountability. And this is what multiculturalist movements have aimed to do. The precise character of the resulting multicultural reforms varies from group to group, as befits the distinctive history that each has faced. They all start from the antidiscrimination principle that underpinned the second wave but go beyond it to challenge other forms of exclusion or stigmatization. In most Western countries, explicit state-sponsored discrimination against ethnic, racial, or religious minorities had largely ceased by the 1960s and 1970s, under the influence of the second wave of humanrights struggles. Yet ethnic and racial hierarchies persist in many societies, whether measured in terms of economic inequalities, political underrepresentation, social stigmatization, or cultural invisibility. Various forms of multiculturalism have been developed to help overcome these lingering inequalities. The focus in this report is on multiculturalism as it pertains to (permanently settled) immigrant groups,7 7 There was briefly in some European countries a form of â€Å"multiculturalism† that was not aimed at the inclusion of permanent immigrants, but rather at ensuring that temporary migrants would return to their country of origin. For example, mothertongue education in Germany was not initially introduced â€Å"as a minority right but in order to enable guest worker children to reintegrate in their countries of origin† (Karen Schonwalder, â€Å"Germany: Integration Policy and Pluralism in a Self-Conscious Country of Immigration,† in The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices, eds. Steven Vertovec and Susanne Wessendorf [London: Routledge, 2010], 160). Needless to say, this sort of â€Å"returnist† multiculturalism — premised on the idea that migrants are foreigners who should return to their real home — has nothing to do with multiculturalism policies (MCPs) premised on the idea that immigrants belong in their host countries, and which aim to make immigrants 6 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE but it is worth noting that struggles for multicultural citizenship have also emerged in relation to historic minorities and indigenous peoples. 8 C. The Evolution of Multiculturalism Policies. The case of immigrant multiculturalism is just one aspect of a larger â€Å"ethnic revival† across the Western democracies,9 in which different types of minorities have struggled for new forms of multicultural citizenship that combine both antidiscrimination measures and positive forms of recognition and accommodation. Multicultural citizenship for immigrant groups clearly does not involve the same types of claims as for indigenous peoples or national minorities: immigrant groups do not typically seek land rights, territorial autonomy, or official language status. What then is the substance of multicultural citizenship in relation to immigrant groups? The Multiculturalism Policy Index is one attempt to measure the evolution of MCPs in a standardized format that enables comparative research. 10 The index takes the following eight policies as the most common or emblematic forms of immigrant MCPs:11 Constitutional, legislative, or parliamentary affirmation of multiculturalism, at the central and/ or regional and municipal levels The adoption of multiculturalism in school curricula The inclusion of ethnic representation/sensitivity in the mandate of public media or media licensing Exemptions from dress codes, either by statute or by court cases Allowing of dual citizenship The funding of ethnic group organizations to support cultural activities The funding of bilingual education or mother-tongue instruction Affirmative action for disadvantaged immigrant groups12 feel more at home where they are. The focus of this paper is on the latter type of multiculturalism, which is centrally concerned with constructing new relations of citizenship. 8 In relation to indigenous peoples, for example — such as the Maori in New Zealand, Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Australia, American Indians, the Sami in Scandinavia, and the Inuit of Greenland — new models of multicultural citizenship have emerged since the late 1960s that include policies such as land rights, self-government rights, recognition of customary laws, and guarantees of political consultation. And in relation to substate national groups — such as the Basques and Catalans in Spain, Flemish and Walloons in Belgium, Scots and Welsh in Britain, Quebecois in Canada, Germans in South Tyrol, Swedish in Finland — we see new models of multicultural citizenship that include policies such as federal or quasi-federal territorial autonomy; official language status, either in the region or nationally; and guarantees of representation in the central government or on constitutional courts. 9. Anthony Smith, The Ethnic Revival in the Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). 10 Keith Banting and I developed this index, first published in Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka, eds. , Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). Many of the ideas discussed in this paper are the result of our collaboration. 11 As with all cross-national indices, there is a trade-off between standardization and sensitivity to local nuances. There is no universally accepted definition of multiculturalism policies and no hard and fast line that would sharply distinguish MCPs from closely related policy fields, such as antidiscrimination policies, citizenship policies, and integration policies. Different countries (or indeed different actors within a single country) are likely to draw this line in different places, and any list is therefore likely to be controversial. 12 For a fuller description of these policies, and the justification for including them in the Multiculturalism Policy Index, see the index website, www.queensu. ca/mcp. The site also includes our separate index of MCPs for indigenous peoples and for national minorities. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 7 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Other policies could be added (or subtracted) from the index, but there was a recognizable â€Å"multiculturalist turn† across Western democracies in the last few decades of the 20th century, and we can identify a range of public policies that are seen, by both critics and defenders, as emblematic of this turn. Each of the eight policy indicators listed above is intended to capture a policy dimension where liberaldemocratic states faced a choice about whether or not to take a multicultural turn and to develop more multicultural forms of citizenship in relation to immigrant groups. While multiculturalism for immigrant groups clearly differs in substance from that for indigenous peoples or national minorities, each policy has been defended as a means to overcome the legacies of earlier hierarchies and to help build fairer and more inclusive democratic societies. Therefore, multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals, to replace earlier uncivil and undemocratic relations of hierarchy and exclusion. Needless to say, this account of multiculturalism-as-citizenization differs dramatically from the 3S account of multiculturalism as the celebration of static cultural differences. Whereas the 3S account says that multiculturalism is about displaying and consuming differences in cuisine, clothing, and music, while neglecting issues of political and economic inequality, the citizenization account says that multiculturalism is precisely about constructing new civic and political relations to overcome the deeply entrenched inequalities that have persisted after the abolition of formal discrimination. It is important to determine which of these accounts more accurately describes the Western experience with multiculturalism. Before we can decide whether to celebrate or lament the fall of multiculturalism, we first need to make sure we know what multiculturalism has in fact been. The 3S account is misleading for three principal reasons. 13 Multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals. First, the claim that multiculturalism is solely or primarily about symbolic cultural politics depends on a misreading of the actual policies. Whether we look at indigenous peoples, national minorities, or immigrant groups, it is immediately apparent that MCPs combine economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions. While minorities are (rightly) concerned to contest the historic stigmatization of their cultures, immigrant multiculturalism also includes policies that are concerned with access to political power and economic opportunities — for example, policies of affirmative action, mechanisms of political consultation, funding for ethnic self-organization, and facilitated access to citizenship. In relation all three types of groups, MCPs combine cultural recognition, economic redistribution, and political participation. Second, the claim that multiculturalism ignores the importance of universal human rights is equally misplaced. On the contrary, as we’ve seen, multiculturalism is itself a human-rights-based movement, inspired and constrained by principles of human rights and liberal-democratic constitutionalism. Its goal is to challenge the traditional ethnic and racial hierarchies that have been discredited by the postwar human-rights revolution. Understood in this way, multiculturalism-as-citizenization offers no support for accommodating the illiberal cultural practices within minority groups that have also The same human-righ.

Study on the selection process

Study on the selection process According to R.D. Gatewood and H.S. Field, employee selection is the process of collecting and evaluating information about an individual in order to extend an offer of employment. In an organization, it is the main part of overall staffing process. This includes all the activities from Human Resource Planning, Recruitment to Retention. (By doing human resource planning, the organization projects its likely demand for personnel with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), and compares that to the anticipated availability of such personnel in the internal or external labour markets.) Job Analysis: Pearn and Kandola (1993, p1) defines job analysis as a form of research and a systematic procedure for obtaining detailed and objective details about the job, task or role that will be performed in future or is currently being performed. Job analysis is the first step in the selection process of the employee for a job. This is also known as Occupational Analysis. Job Analysis is a process of examining a job in detail. The main purpose of Job Analysis is to determine and identify the duties and requirements of a particular job. It also helps us to provide information about the job description and person specification. http://www.hr-guide.com/data/G000.htm People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg.No.187 Job Description: Description which is also known as Job summary explains the role of a person and accountability. It gives the detailed description of job and its expectations. It also gives idea about the training needs for the job and determination of pay rates to the employees. It is a tool in recruitment and selection process. http://www.businessballs.com/jobdescription.htm http://www.businessbureau-uk.co.uk/personnel/recruitment/job_description.htm. People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg. No. 194 Person Specification: It describes the need of a person to perform the job. Therefore, it is the basis for selecting a person who fits the job. Person specification also helps the organisation to review and re-design the job if required. It also tell us what are the skills the person should have to do the job in good manner. http://tutor2u.net/business/people/recruitment_personspecification.asp People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg. No. 198 Recruitment: This is the process of attracting the candidates for employment. Recruitment process involves searching for the candidates and selection of the candidate who is suitable for the job. In recruitment there are many steps to follow from Attracting, Screening, Assessing, Short listing, Interviews, Testing and final selection. Selection: Selection is the final stage in the selection process where the final candidates who are suitable for the job will be selected. Before giving appointments or offers the organisation has to do the background check of the candidate. In that they have to check the qualifications, criminal records and previous experience. Appointment: Appointment is the next process where the selected candidates will be offered a job and the task to perform. If there is a need for the candidate has to take a training then the organisation has to provide training program before placing him in the job. (Reference: People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg.No.187) Selection: Organisations are made of people and in an age of increasingly complex technology, organisations are stating that employees are our greatest asset (Sue Newell and Viv Shackleton). The job requirements of organisations vary and some people are best suited for some roles and organisations than others. Therefore, as per CIPD, it is important to have an effective recruitment and selection system which will thereby help in selecting the right person, at the right time, in the right place is crucial to organisational performance. There are several definitions for Selection. F.W Taylor (1911), one of the earliest management writers, stressed the importance of, best man for the job. He was of the opinion that people should be selected for their particular skills and abilities which should be tested prior to the selection decision rather than based on who they knew or who was in the queue first. According to Hackett selection is concerned more with predicting which candidates will make the most appropriate contribution to the organisation now and in the future. Gupta (2006) defines it as a process of choosing the most suitable persons out of all participants. Selection according to Roberts, G (2005) is the most important element in the organisations management of people. Where there is faulty selection, the organisation suffers waste of time, money and choosing the wrong candidates leading to absenteeism and labour turnover. Different selection methodology: Application Forms: The information of the individual is collected systematically and presented in a consistent format in an application form thereby making it easier to assess the candidates suitability for the job (CIPD). There has been a rise in the usage of application form as a basis for employment decisions. CIPD (2003) also reports that 80% of the organisations surveyed use applications forms. While it acted as a useful preliminary to interviews and decisions, it also made sorting of applications and shortlisting easier. According to Huczynski and Buchanan (2007), application form provides background but is also impersonal. Interviewers used this as a basis for their interviews with information from the application form being taken and improved upon during the interview. The predictive validity of application form is 0.2 which is a fairly low predictive validity (Roberts, 2005). According to Gareths, the low rating is more of a reflection on the poor use of application forms. He further goes to say that if it is used to screen acquired competencies, then application forms can be considered as an effective technique especially if used properly with a clear rating system. Interviews: The individual interview is the most familiar and most commonly used method of selection. It provides for face to face discussion and also provides the best opportunity for the organisation to establish a good rapport with the candidate (Armstrong, 2003). According to Pilbeam Corbridge (2006), interview is more than a selection method. It is a forum where information about the organisation and about the job is given to the candidate. There is however, more scope for bias if one interviewer is used. There are two classifications of interviews structured and unstructured interviews. While the predictive validity of unstructured interviews is 0.2, structured interviews have a predictive validity of 0.4. Recent studies have also shown that behaviorial interviews which are based on experience are more effective predictors of success as compared to situational which is based on future scenario interview (Roberts, 2005). Although, there has been research done to suggest that traditional i nterviews are poor predictors of performance, one of the reason as to why they are still popular is the fact that they are cost effective (Taylor, 2002). Personality Tests: Personality tests are used mainly for management, professional and graduate jobs. CIPD (2005) states that personality test can be useful as an added dimension to decision-making but only when practitioners generally use those instruments that have been rigorously developed and for which thoroughly researched validation evidence and norms are available. Taylor (2002) states that when used carefully and professionally, personality test has a useful role to play in the selection process. According to a report by IRS (1997d:13), personality testing remained a stable selection procedure in the 1990s with approximately three-fifths of the organisation stating that it was used as one of the process for selection for certain positions. Biodata: Biodata provides a highly structured method of sifting applications. It consists of demographic details like the age, sex and family circumstances, education and professional qualifications, previous employment history, Assessment Centre: Assessment centres are used by organisations for various purposes like selection of candidates for jobs, for promotion and for decisions about the potential development of individuals over a long period of time (Fletcher, 1991). In UK, many organisations use this method of selection especially for the recruitment of graduates (Keenan, 1997). According to Robertson (1996), assessment centres not only ensure that the organisations appoint, develop and promote only people who are effective in their job, it also benefits the individual in terms of greater job satisfaction, good career prospects and enhanced earnings. For the organisation, this tool enables the effectiveness of the job holder to be reflected in terms of organisational effectiveness and therefore considerable financial gains. PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS: What are Psychometric Tests? The British Psychological Society definition of a psychometric test: a psychological test is any procedure on the basis of which inferences are made concerning a persons capacity, propensity or liability to act, react, experience, or to structure or order thought or behaviour in particular ways. Who uses psychometric tests? Large, medium, and an increasing number of small firms use psychometric tests. Over 70 % of larger companies are currently using psychometric tests to gather vital information from potential and current employees. More and more companies are using psychometric tests for: graduate recruitment filtering out candidates when there are large numbers of applicants Over 70% of large companies use them in their recruitment process and small companies are using them increasingly. They are also used to assess existing employees for: training and staff development needs promotion What do psychometric tests measure? Psychometric tests may measure aptitude, personality or interests: Aptitude Tests these measure how people differ in their ability to perform or carry out different tasks. (these are the type you are most likely to find at the first stage of a selection process). Interest Tests these measure how people vary in their motivation, in the direction and strength of their interests, and in their values and opinions (these are less likely to be used on new graduates but are sometimes). Personality Tests these measure how people differ in their style or manner of doing things, and in the way they interact with their environment and other people (personality). Whereas aptitude tests measure your maximum performance capacity, the other tests examine typical or preferred behaviour. Why are Tests Used? If psychometric tests are to be useful as indicators of shifts in the demand for skills, then it is important that organisations use of tests is linked to their wish to measure the skills of prospective employees. If tests are in use for other reasons, then this would undermine their usefulness as indicators of skill demands. Do organisations in the UK make use of tests in order to measure work force skills, or have they adopted tests for some other reason, or set of reasons? Here we look at the rather limited evidence available on this question. There are a few surveys which have asked organisations why they make use of tests, and there is a more speculative literature dealing with change in test use over time. We take each of these in turn. Some past results suggest that the perceived objectivity of tests, their predictive abilities, as well as their ability to filter out unsuitable candidates were important reasons for test use by companies and local authorities. Some quite similar results were obtained in the IRS (1997) survey. The data show that companies believe the tests are valid measures of something useful, although it gives us no insight into what exactly the companies are, or think they are, measuring through the tests. It also does not explain why there have been such sizeable changes in test use since the 1980s. In what follows we divide the current literature on changes in test use into those which concentrate on changes in the labour market, and those which focus on other possible reasons for changes in the use of tests, or indeed changes in recruitment and selection practices more generally. Why use psychometrics in an employment setting? The main advantages of using psychometric tests are: Objectivity they dramatically reduce bias and personal perspective. Clarity they provide a robust framework and structure. Equality and fairness for all individuals (tests are standardised so that all individuals receive the same treatment). Increase the likelihood of being able to predict future job performance (they have a high level of predictive validity). The identification of training needs. Encourage employers to do thorough job analysis in order to identify appropriate skills and abilities. This helps to ensure that candidates for a position are assessed on skills only relevant to the job. What are psychometric tests used for? Some uses of psychometric tests are: Selection of candidates to jobs Personal development/identification of training needs/staff development Careers guidance Building and developing teams Psychometric tests have been used since the early part of the 20th century and were originally developed for use in educational psychology. These days, outside of education, you are most likely to encounter psychometric testing as part of the recruitment or selection process. Tests of this sort are devised by occupational psychologists and their aim is to provide employers with a reliable method of selecting the most suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion. Psychometric tests aim to measure attributes like intelligence, aptitude and personality. They provide a potential employer with an insight into how well you work with other people, how well you handle stress, and whether you will be able to cope with the intellectual demands of the job. Most of the established psychometric tests used in recruitment and selection make no attempt to analyze your emotional or psychological stability and should not be confused with tests used in clinical psychology. However, in recent years there has been rapid growth (particularly in the US) of tests that claim to measure your integrity or honesty and your predisposition to anger. These tests have attracted a lot of controversy, because of questions about their validity, but their popularity with employers has continued to increase. Psychometric testing is now used by over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies in the USA and by over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK. Information technology companies, financial institutions, management consultancies, local authorities, the civil service, police forces, fire services and the armed forces all make extensive use of use psychometric testing. As an indicator of your personality, preferences and abilities, psychometric tests can help prospective employers to find the best match of individual to occupation and working environment. As a recruitment and selection tool, these tests can be applied in a straightforward way at the early stages of selection to screen-out candidates who are likely to be unsuitable for the job. They can also provide management with guidance on career progression for existing employees. Because of their importance in making personnel decisions it is vital that the tests themselves are known to produce accurate results based on standardized methods and statistical principles. A psychometric test must be: Objective: The score must not affected by the testers beliefs or values Standardized: It must be administered under controlled conditions Reliable: It must minimize and quantify any intrinsic errors Predictive: It must make an accurate prediction of performance Non Discriminatory: It must not disadvantage any group on the basis of gender, culture, ethnicity, etc. VALIDITY Validity refers to the quality of a measure that exists when the measure assesses a construct. In the selection context, validity refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of the inferences made about applicants during the selection process. It is concerned with the issue of whether applicants will actually perform the job as well as expected based on the inferences made during the selection process. The closer the applicants actual job performances match their expected performances, the greater the validity of the selection process. (http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Em-Exp/Employee-Screening-and-Selection.html) Face Validity Face validity is concerned with how a measure or procedure appears. Does it seem like a reasonable way to gain the information the researchers are attempting to obtain? Does it seem well designed? Does it seem as though it will work reliably? Unlike content validity, face validity does not depend on established theories for support (Fink, 1995). Criterion Related Validity Criterion related validity, also referred to as instrumental validity, is used to demonstrate the accuracy of a measure or procedure by comparing it with another measure or procedure which has been demonstrated to be valid. For example, imagine a hands-on driving test has been shown to be an accurate test of driving skills. By comparing the scores on the written driving test with the scores from the hands-on driving test, the written test can be validated by using a criterion related strategy in which the hands-on driving test is compared to the written test. Construct Validity Construct validity seeks agreement between a theoretical concept and a specific measuring device or procedure. For example, a researcher inventing a new IQ test might spend a great deal of time attempting to define intelligence in order to reach an acceptable level of construct validity. Construct validity can be broken down into two sub-categories: Convergent validity and discriminate validity. Convergent validity is the actual general agreement among ratings, gathered independently of one another, where measures should be theoretically related. Discriminate validity is the lack of a relationship among measures which theoretically should not be related. To understand whether a piece of research has construct validity, three steps should be followed. First, the theoretical relationships must be specified. Second, the empirical relationships between the measures of the concepts must be examined. Third, the empirical evidence must be interpreted in terms of how it clarifies the construct validity of the particular measure being tested (Carmines Zeller, p. 23). Content Validity Content Validity is based on the extent to which a measurement reflects the specific intended domain of content (Carmines Zeller, 1991, p.20). Content validity is illustrated using the following examples: Researchers aim to study mathematical learning and create a survey to test for mathematical skill. If these researchers only tested for multiplication and then drew conclusions from that survey, their study would not show content validity because it excludes other mathematical functions. Although the establishment of content validity for placement-type exams seems relatively straight-forward, the process becomes more complex as it moves into the more abstract domain of socio-cultural studies. For example, a researcher needing to measure an attitude like self-esteem must decide what constitutes a relevant domain of content for that attitude. For socio-cultural studies, content validity forces the researchers to define the very domains they are attempting to study. RELIABILITY Reliability is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure yields the same result on repeated trials. Reliability is concerned with the accuracy of the actual measuring instrument or procedure. ( http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/relval/pop2a.cfm) Equivalency Reliability Equivalency reliability is the extent to which two items measure identical concepts at an identical level of difficulty. Equivalency reliability is determined by relating two sets of test scores to one another to highlight the degree of relationship or association. In quantitative studies and particularly in experimental studies, a correlation coefficient, statistically referred to as r, is used to show the strength of the correlation between a dependent variable (the subject under study), and one or more independent variables, which are manipulated to determine effects on the dependent variable. An important consideration is that equivalency reliability is concerned with correlational, not causal, relationships. For example, a researcher studying university English students happened to notice that when some students were studying for finals, their holiday shopping began. Intrigued by this, the researcher attempted to observe how often, or to what degree, this these two behaviors co-occurred throughout the academic year. The researcher used the results of the observations to assess the correlation between studying throughout the academic year and shopping for gifts. The researcher concluded there was poor equivalency reliability between the two actions. In other words, studying was not a reliable predictor of shopping for gifts. Stability Reliability Stability reliability (sometimes called test, re-test reliability) is the agreement of measuring instruments over time. To determine stability, a measure or test is repeated on the same subjects at a future date. Results are compared and correlated with the initial test to give a measure of stability. An example of stability reliability would be the method of maintaining weights used by the U.S. Bureau of Standards. Platinum objects of fixed weight (one kilogram, one pound, etc) are kept locked away. Once a year they are taken out and weighed, allowing scales to be reset so they are weighing accurately. Keeping track of how much the scales are off from year to year establishes a stability reliability for these instruments. In this instance, the platinum weights themselves are assumed to have a perfectly fixed stability reliability. Internal Consistency Internal consistency is the extent to which tests or procedures assess the same characteristic, skill or quality. It is a measure of the precision between the observers or of the measuring instruments used in a study. This type of reliability often helps researchers interpret data and predict the value of scores and the limits of the relationship among variables. For example, a researcher designs a questionnaire to find out about college students dissatisfaction with a particular textbook. Analyzing the internal consistency of the survey items dealing with dissatisfaction will reveal the extent to which items on the questionnaire focus on the notion of dissatisfaction. Interrater Reliability Interrater reliability is the extent to which two or more individuals (coders or raters) agree. Interrater reliability addresses the consistency of the implementation of a rating system. A test of interrater reliability would be the following scenario: Two or more researchers are observing a high school classroom. The class is discussing a movie that they have just viewed as a group. The researchers have a sliding rating scale (1 being most positive, 5 being most negative) with which they are rating the students oral responses. Interrater reliability assesses the consistency of how the rating system is implemented. For example, if one researcher gives a 1 to a student response, while another researcher gives a 5, obviously the interrater reliability would be inconsistent. Interrater reliability is dependent upon the ability of two or more individuals to be consistent. Training, education and monitoring skills can enhance interrater reliability. There can be validity without reliability if reliability is defined as consistency among independent measures. Reliability is an aspect of construct validity. As assessment becomes less standardized, distinctions between reliability and validity blur. (Moss, 1994) The two most important and fundamental characteristics of any measurement procedure are reliability and validity. (Michael J. Miller, Ph.D.) (http://www.michaeljmillerphd.com/res500_lecturenotes/Reliability_and_Validity.pdf) From the above explanations by the authors it is clear that both validity and reliability is important aspect in the selection process where they rely on one other thing. It is also possible that there can be reliability without validity if the reliability is consistent in certain aspects. VALIDITY IN SELECTION METHODS: The attainment of validity depends heavily on the appropriateness of the particular selection technique used. Validity means the truthfulness of the test. We should use some test to know whether our selection process is valid or not. A firm should use a selection method that is reliable and accurate in measuring the needed qualifications of an employee. The reliability of a measure refers to its consistency. Reliable evaluations are consistent across both people and time. Reliability is maximized when two people evaluating the same candidate provide the same ratings, and when the ratings of a candidate taken at two different times are the same. When selection scores are unreliable, their validity is diminished. Some of the factors affecting the reliability of selection measures are: Emotional and physical state of the candidate: For example if the candidate is in tensed mood where he is not able to perform well in the interview then he may be not selected for the job. Lack of rapport with the administrator of the measure: If the candidate and the administer is not communicate well then there will be a problem which will affect the reliability. Inadequate knowledge of how to respond to a measure: If the candidate is illiterate or he dont know anything about the job or role. Individual differences among respondents: Each and every individual is different from others. If the administer uses the same technique for every individual then it will not be giving the same result expected. Question difficulty: If the interviewer is not clear in what he is doing then the reliability of the process is failed. Length of measure: If the length of measure is too long then there will be a conflict in the reliability and validity in selection process. The Validity of Tests While the immediate causes of test use may include a variety of factors internal and external to the company, the adoption of formal tests for selection rests on the belief that they provide reliable and valid information about a variety of relevant characteristics. Do the tests predict job performance i.e. do those who score well in psychometric tests go on to do well in the job? There is compelling evidence from the research literature that cognitive ability tests are successful in predicting performance. There is a long history of investigation of this topic amongst psychologists and a great deal of evidence had accumulated on the predictive power of measures of general intelligence, for example in Ghisellis (1966) well-known study. However, until about twenty-five or thirty years ago there was an apparent tendency for different measures to vary enormously in their predictive power, implying that the validity of a given measure was highly sector and indeed firm specific. This perception has now changed due largely to the work of Schmidt and Hunter (1998) who conducted meta-analytic studies which demonstrated the underlying consistency in this set of work. Schmidt and Hunter showed that the apparent variability was in fact largely the result of sampling error (deriving from small sample sizes) along with a number of other measurement artefacts. Cognitive tests were confirmed as good predictors of performance across a very broad range of jobs. The predictive validity of personality testing is more controversial. There has been a good deal of debate about whether personality measures are valid predictors, with some commentators suggesting that reported correlations in this field could be of little value, or even entirely spurious (Blinkhorn and Johnson, 1990). Meta-analysis has given some support to the use of personality tests in recruitment and selection. Tett et al (1991) conducted a meta-an alytic review of 494 studies in this field, and found significant correlations between personality scales and measures of job performance. Unlike the case of cognitive ability measures, however, there is no unifying g factor for personality measures, so that careful attention has to be paid to the relevant characteristics for each type of job. Indeed Tett et al found that studies which were confirmatory i.e. had clear prior hypotheses about the traits likely to be relevant for particular occupations obtained much higher validities than studies which were exploratory or data-driven. Studies that made use of job analysis so as to be clear about which characteristics were required for the job also obtained higher validities than those which made no use of job analysis. Growth in test use seems to have taken off at some point in the 1980s. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, researchers were beginning to discern substantial shifts in companies selection techniques. Shackleton and Newell (1991), comparing their survey results with those of Mabey five years previously, reported what they felt was an encouraging trend towards higher proportions of companies making use of more reliable and valid methods of selection. Since then surveys have continued to suggest that more organisations have adopted psychological testing. In the main, it is large organisations which have chosen to use tests. Psychometric testing is not unknown in smaller organisations, but they tend to be deterred by the costs of the tests and the low numbers of vacancies which they have. There are now a wide range of tests on the market, and new products are being introduced all the time. These may be completely new products, or up-dates of well established tests. Some tests measure broad skills while others are more narrowly focused on particular occupations, whether managerial, technical, or manual. There are tests of cognitive ability, literacy and numeracy skills, as well as personality questionnaires designed to assess softer, people-oriented competencies. The costs of tests are quite substantial, and suggest that employers which use them are likely to be drawing on them for a clear purpose, rather than just responding to some passing management fad. The rather limited survey evidence available on why tests are used does show that prediction of job performance is an important factor, as well as the perceived objectivity of the tests. Because most surveys are relatively small-scale, and only make very broad distin