Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in the Civil War

The Documented Life By Sherry Turkle - 1078 Words

The Documented Life is an article wrote by Sherry Turkle on December 15, 2013 and published in The New York Times. In the article, she talks about how modern technology has caused us to put our lives on hold. Turkle states that people do not feel like themselves if they are not sharing their thoughts and views. The article states that technology has changed us by putting our interpersonal communications on pause. Turkle says we no longer see interruptions as a kind of disruption anymore. She adds that the most frequently heard phrase is, â€Å"wait, what?† as people fall back into missed conversions has become the new norm. Turkle also states that when people are alone or bored, they reach for a device. It has become so natural that they forget there is a time and place not to use their gadgets. Turkle suggests that there might be hope for the younger generation as they witness the price being paid by preoccupied, device carrying adults. Youngsters have come to value the devic e-free zones set up by parents for family conversion time. Technology has become so integrated into our daily lives. It is now common to see people with a hands-free earpiece plugged into their ear and who appear to be talking to themselves. The above summary is from an article by Sherry Turkle titled, The Documented Life, and discusses how modern technology has caused us to put our lives on hold. I do agree with Turkle as she made several good points that there has been a negative shift in the way weShow MoreRelatedIs Social Media A Form Of Narcissism?1238 Words   |  5 Pagesthe desired identity in real life will create and control indemnity to achieve it in the virtual world. In â€Å"Discovering Intimacy on Facebook†, Alex Lambert approaches Facebook use from a different angle. He proposes that what seems as narcissism is more of a new way of fostering intimacy and social connections. He cites a study of Canadian social media users that states that the users are more likely to disclose personal information on social media than in real life. The study states that thereRead MoreEssay on Technology: Friend or Foe?2221 Words   |  9 PagesPropagandist for technology will tell the average person a computer is useful to him because it can be used to balance checkbooks, keep track of addresses or recipes, shop at home, vote at home, communicate across the world at home, and thus make community life unnecessary (Informing 2). Postman fears this Technopoly, a society motivated and controlled by technology, will take over our lives and eliminate the need for personal human interaction if a computer can do it all for us. Lastly, Postman arguesRead MoreComputer and Internet in Education13526 Words   |  55 Pagesincreases in loneliness and depression. Of most concern are the findings that playing violent computer games may increase aggressiveness and desensitize a child to suffering, and that the use of computers may blur a child’s ability to distinguish real life from simulation. The authors conclude that more systematic research is needed in these areas to help parents and policymakers maximize the positive effects and to minimize the negative effects of home computers in children’s lives. The Future of Children

Technology Today Free Essays

Today’s technology is progressing faster than anyone has ever expected and is changing the way that we live our lives. Technology is helping us in some ways, but it is also hurting us in other ways. The biggest change that we are experiencing is the way that we communicate. We will write a custom essay sample on Technology Today or any similar topic only for you Order Now We have many different ways to communicate with each other, especially compared to 20 years ago. We now have cell phones that can do just about anything and that make our daily lives much easier and help us to get things done in a more orderly fashion. The top three things changed communications are the texting, social networking, and the Smart phones. In my opinion the pro’s outweigh the con’s in the new ways of communication. It is not only a good way to keep in contact with friends and family, but it can help save lives in emergencies. Texting is becoming one of the most popular forms of communication. It is very convenient because it makes getting in contact with someone very simple and you don’t have to interrupt people while they are having conversations. You can see pictures and videos that your friends or family wanted you to see that they recorded, just by having them choose the picture and then having them send it to your phone, where you can then view the pictures or watch the video. Texting is very basic, when you want to talk to someone you use your phone key pad and you simply hit the letters on the keys to spell the word. Then you just continue from there to complete what message you need to send to that person. It takes time to really get good at texting, but once you get it your going to be hooked. Texting can be good in many ways and many parents like texting because it is one of the quickest ways to get a hold of one of their children. A lot of kids do not answer their phone for calls because they are in class or they are having a conversation and they do not want to be rude and interrupt the person that they are talking to, so they just ignore the call and often times forget to get back to whoever was calling them. If they would have texted them they would have gotten a text back within minutes depending upon what the question. It allows people to be polite and not have to answer calls when in a room of people that maybe trying to focus on studying or in a office. There are also times when you can’t make voice calls because you don’t have enough reception, but you have enough to send a text to one of your friends. This sometimes can be very important because let’s say you wreaked your car and you can’t get reception to make a call and you can use a text and alert someone that you need help. Some people feel less scared to contact someone if they can just text them and this sometimes can help kids who are afraid to talk to people to help them build self-esteem. Overall if we didn’t have text messaging we would be limited to a lot less options in order to get in contact with people that we need to contact. Social networking is a big part of the current generation and is being used by most kids to keep in contact with their friend and to provide people with the entertainment of seeing what others are doing and seeing what they are talking about with others. There are many different sites for social networking, the most popular are Facebook, MySpace, and twitter. Facebook is more popular amongst college students and Myspace is more toward the grade school students. Twitter is a different than the others because it allows you follow what people are doing and thinking about more than any of the other social networking sites. The people that are on twitter are usually posting what they are thinking about and what they are currently experiencing. They usually post a lot more stuff than on Facebook or Myspace. Twitter is very cool for the reason that you can follow famous people and see what it is that they are doing or thinking about. It helps people follow their favorite people and it helps them to better get to know what they go through in their daily life. Each social networking site offers something a little different, but they all offer some form of communication. Social networking is a great place to build social skills and self-esteem. Those who are not as forthcoming as others can build social skill and can help them in the future. There are a lot of people that are too shy to be able to make friends and then in the future they don’t have people skills and in most jobs these skill are very important to succeed. Social networking sites can also motivate people to do well because some people see that their friends are working hard to finish a paper and they realize that they are not the only person that has a paper to work on. Then they have more motivation to work harder. People can communicate with family and friends that they have not seen in a long time. There are many situations that would cause people to not have seen their friends and family and social networking helps them to keep in contact. It provides a lot of entertainment to those who don’t have anything to do. It familiarizes people with how to do basic html and how to upload photos to the internet. It teaches those who are not as good with computers as others to get to know how to do basic html and other basic programming. Social networking teaches people a lot of things, which can help people to better understand computers. Smart phones are the most powerful cell phones on the market and they basically make your phone into a computer because you can do a lot of stuff that your computer can do on a smart phone. They are very useful for being productive while being on the go. They make life a lot easier because while you’re out, you can conveniently check your email, check your facebook, and look up what you need to bring on a business trip. The most popular smart phone is the Iphone. It is the best smart phone that is currently on the market, and has set up a menu of great applications to really be ready for your day. The menu is very user friendly and is considered a â€Å"digital assistant†. These phones are very popular amongst business people because it is very helpful to get documents on the go. They are the most expensive of phones because of their advanced features. Smart phones are great because they have many features to help your productivity a lot. The smart phone has features that help people finish their work while they are not in reach of a computer. This is really good because it helps people with time management and it can help people become better at writing because they will have more time to correct their mistakes if they have not wasted time sitting around at an airport or while sitting on a bus. Smart phones can be educational because as many people do they spend a lot of time learning and asking questions on the internet about how to do things and why things work the way they do. People can keep in contact better with smart phones because there are so many different types of communications. They can help people to make friends because of the various forms of communications. These phones can help you save money because of the built in GPS features. If someone gets lost all they have to do is type in where they need to be and the phone will tell the person where they need to go. Then you won’t waste gas drive further out of your way. Smart phones are very helpful in many ways and are very educational to those who are looking for knowledge. Communication is changing in many ways and it is only enhancing our lives for the better. Communications are very important to our future. They hold the secret to many problems our country is suffering from. If we can use these great options, it could really advance how the world functions. The world is changing faster than ever and we should reap the benefits of it. How to cite Technology Today, Essay examples

Business Process Outsourcing Decision-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Business Outsourcing Advantages and Disadvantages. Answer: Introduction Due to globalization ways of doing business have changed across the globe. Globalization brought in changes by making the business market to go global and this has resulted in the changes in the business dynamics and it has increased the business competition. Moreover, with the emergence of third world countries as emerging markets and rapid development in technology and communication new models of business have come into existence. To grab the opportunities offered by the emerging markets and globalization, business organizations have started to focus on their core strengths or core business activities and outsourcing many of their services to other companies. In business outsourcing, the company outsources its number of services like maintenance, IT management, IT services, etc. to other companies which may reside in the same country or overseas. The business outsourcing offers advantages in enhancing the company core competencies, expanding the company market bases and increased r evenue due to cost savings. But the business outsourcing is not an easy task and poses challenges which are to be dealt in a strategic manner to enjoy the benefits of this business model. This work examines the advantages and disadvantages of Business outsourcing. Project Objective The objective of this work is to examine the business outsourcing advantages and disadvantages from the existing literature works Literature Review Business Outsourcing Definition Motive Business outsourcing is a business strategy where some of the operations or business processes which can be executed in-house by the organization are subcontracted to another organization for a given period of time. These tasks can be then performed on-site or off-site. Literature has various references to thedefinition of business outsourcing. According to Gantman, (2011), Business outsourcing is said to take place when a company transfers some of its activities to an outside company and this outsourcing is said to be offshore if these tasks are performed by the organization residing in some other country. Similarly, according to Gerbl et al. (2015), the business outsourcing is a management strategy by a business organization where in the organization outsources some of its non-core functions to specialized and efficient companies which act as the service providers. The whole company and its businessare affected by the strategic decisionof business process outsourcing. There are many reasons for which the organization may outsource its business activities. Themostcommon motivation for business outsourcing is cost reduction. For others, it may be an opportunity to enhance the focus of the organization on the core business activities (Hanafizadeh et al, 2017). According to Hen et al. (2013), the main reason for worldwidebusiness outsourcing is high-wage organizationscan take benefits of low market wage rates for example inoverseas countries where the labor rates are lower than the original country labor rates. From the study of Alaghehband et al. (2011), it is found that reducing its working costs, and starting a worldwide presence and to become more strong and more competitive in the market are the main reasons which drive thecompany to adapt the business strategy of outsourcing. Outsourcing is a method which is very demanding and needs proper monitoring while implementation. To confirmefficient business outsourcing there are seven steps of the life-cycle of outsourcing which must be regularly implemented by the company (Lacity et al., 2011). The seven steps are: (1) strategic valuation; (2) requirement analysis (3) vendor evaluation; (4) cooperation and negotiation supervision; (5) launching of project and change; (6) correlation management; and (7) extension modification. Outsourcing is destined to failure if any one of the above seven steps is performed incompetently (Lacity et al., 2011). Advantages: Business outsourcing has proven to be a very advantageous business strategy in many cases. Due to business outsourcing, the company can redirect its attention to the core competencies of the company and thus can give enough time to enhance its core values and services. The other activities are managed by the company to whom the tasks have been outsourced. In 2003 Procter and Gamble outsourced its operations of facilities management support to the company and this provided the company a financial saving due to the lower international labor rates (Lacity et al., 2012). Apart from enhanced revenue outsourcing provided various advantages. According to the research conducted by Mann et al. (2016), the various positive impacts of the outsourcing on any organization are as follows: Due to outsourcing, there is an increase in the benefits due to re-engineering. The company that outsources the tasks is able to earn cash back and have cost reduction due to outsourcing (Mann et al. , 2016). Outsourcing provides gain to world class capabilities, technology, and innovation Due to outsourcing, many company core resources can be used for other purposes that can be used to enhance the company services (Mann et al., 2016). due to outsourcing it is easier to have areevaluation of the problematic functions of the core company outsourcing enhances the company focus on core activities It becomes easier for the company to make capital funds be available for the company the overall operational costs are reduced due to outsourcing Risk minimization occurs due to outsourcing (Mann et al., 2016). According to Lacity et al (2014), the four advantages of strategic partnership due to business outsourcingdefined by these four advantages are as follows;(1) enhancing knowledge management; (2) external visibility enhances; (3) internal coordination is easily provided; and (4) intervention and accountability is maintained Massini et al. (2012),emphasize the (1) hiring good professional skills; (2) choosing partnerships can be done; and (3) external solutions integration as the main positive impacts of outsourcing. Thus the overall advantages of the business outsourcing from various literaturecan be presented as follows: Operating costs (control and reduction). Rather than employing specialist expensive employees for particular tasks that may be for a small duration thus making the employee be ideal for rest of the time, in such scenario outsourcing proves to be a beneficial option. Outsourcing firms are cheaper because they provide similar kind of services to many companies parallel and thus get benefits from those companies. By outsourcing the companies are able to get labor at lower rates and are relieved from the burden of hiring the expertise for a particular task. By doing so the company is able to have financial gains (Mihalache et al, 2012). Improved flexibility:Fixed costs are changed into flexible costs by removing departments from the staff payroll and buying in services when needed. Improves the working and conditions according to the growth of the organization. And contracts can be canceled if demand falls much more rapidly than closing down whole firms maintained and controlled by the business. Improved company focus: By outsourcing peripheral actions the management of a business can focus on the main and beneficial aims and reliableresponsibilities of the business (Mihalache et al, 2012). Allowing the better services andincomes that are not available within the firms to be used. Some outsourcing firms hire good specialists that small to medium size In other areas the inner resources are freed: For improving customer services if the human resource department of an insurance company is closed and the functions bought in, then computer services and resulting office space can be made available (Mihalache et al, 2012). Disadvantages Business outsourcing poses severe challenges to the company and thus requires a degree of caution before the strategy is implemented. Moreover, regular monitoring of the implementation is required to ensure that the outsourcing takes place smoothly and its benefits are utilized. But some of the disadvantages are as follows: From the studies and research by Willcocks et al. (2011), business costs, hollowing out, opportunistic behavior and reduced learning etc. are the main disadvantages identified due to theoutsourcing of the business. The hollowing out is described as the losing of knowledge about the employees which are merely controlled and owned by the company. Sometimes hollowing become the main cause of non-attracting of the good and talented workers to the company. It becomes very difficult when the vendor of the company obtains the knowledge-process of the helping clients, the changing costs to return back to the in-house action. Hollowing can also lead the opportunistically motivated actions of the vendor towards its clients about decreasing of service levels and pricing a contract renewal. If delays or legal process can happen then renewing of the contract, establishing, monitoring the agreement and transaction of costs would affect the whole business of the organizations.Lastly, the external s ervice provider can take whatever the learning and innovation take place (Lacity et al., 2014). Customer conflict: Itcan take numerousmethods.To understand foreign operators overseas telephone call centers have controlled to criticism about incapability. Over dependability and quality of the products, bought-in functions and workings can raise many doubts in the mind of thecustomer (Massini et al., 2012). Security issues: Business outsourcing makes use of other companies and thus trusts and security issues are amajor concern. In thecase of information technology based outsourcing, there is a risk of losing important business data and this may lead to the loss of reputation of the business (Schmeisser, 2013). Ethical worries: If outsourcing isstarted by organizations in other countries with improper human rights andservice rights records, it can be inexpensive for the business that has outsourced and shall have ethical issues like labor rights, respect, equal employment opportunity etc (Nieto et al, 2011). Lack of jobs in the business: A loss of job safety and decreasing motivation are faced by the workers which are directly employed by the firms.Negative publicity can result from redundancies, mainly when the business is responsible for hiring very low-wage employees in other parts of the world to change the jobs lost. The organization'smoralvaluesmight be examined.Relocation of business overseas canmake potential dismissals for a company and the workers might show alack of interest or lack of excellence at work (Moon et al, 2010). Outsourcing the communication-related difficulties is one of the major issues faced by firms. According to the study, the bestappropriate contractor lives on the other part of the world. So, one does not gets a chance to talk to them as thesimilar way the things occur in the organization with the team members. Talking or chatting on Skype or any other similar web app can help both the contractor for overcoming this problem easily and gently but still communication. But there might be differences in cultural issues and the style of working differences which may pose challenges of difference in management and control. This if goes unmanaged may lead to the failure of the partnership and loss to the outsourcing company (Weigelt et al.,2012). Quality matters. The Internal processes of thefirm will be supervised by the firms own quality check system. If the outside contractors are performing important functions of the firm then it will not be good for the growth of a firm. There is a need of clear contract with least service-level contracts. And also ensuring the product quality and customer services standards by the quality assurance staff (Willcocks et al. 2011). Conclusion Business outsourcing is said to take place when a company transfers some of its activities to an outside company and this outsourcing is said to be offshore if these tasks are performed by the organization residing in some other country. The whole company and its business are affected by the strategic decision of business process outsourcing. There are many reasons for which the organization may outsource its business activities. The most common motivation for business outsourcing is cost reduction. For others, it may be an opportunity to enhance the focus of the organization on the core business activities. But it can lead to loss of reputation of the business and pose severe threats to the security and privacy of the data of the company. References Gantman, S., (2011). IT Outsourcing in the Public Sector: A Literature Analysis. Journal of Global Information Technology Management. 14, 2 (Apr. 2011), 48--83. Gerbl M., Mclvor,R.,Loane,S.,Humphreys, P. (2015). A multi-theory approach to understanding the business process outsourcing decision. Journal of World Business. Volume 50, Issue 3, July 2015, PP. 505-518. Hanafizadeh, P., ZareRavasan, A. (2017). An investigation into the factors influencing the outsourcing decision of e-banking services: A multi-perspective Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing. HEN, J., HONG, H., JIANG, W. and KUBIK, J. D. (2013) Outsourcing Mutual Fund Management: Firm Boundaries, Incentives, and Performance. The Journal of Finance, 68: 523558. doi:10.1111/jofi.12006 Alaghehband, ,Rivard, S., Wu, S. and Goyette, S. (2011), An assessment of the use of transaction cost theory in information technology outsourcing, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 125-138. Lacity, ,Willcocks, L. and Khan, S. (2011), Beyond transaction cost economics: towards an endogenous theory of information technology outsourcing, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 139-157. Lacity, M. and Willcocks, P. (2012), Advanced Outsourcing Practice: Rethinking ITO, BPO, and Cloud Services, Palgrave, London. Mann, L., Graham, M.(2016). The Domestic Turn: Business Process Outsourcing and the Growing Automation of Kenyan Organisations. The Journal of Development Studies. Vol. 52, 4. Lacity,M., Willcocks,L. (2014) "Business process outsourcing and dynamic innovation", Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal. Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing. 7 Issue: 1, pp.66-92, https://doi.org/10.1108/SO-11-2013-0023 Massini, S. and Miozzo, M. (2012), Outsourcing and offshoring of business services: challenges to theory, management, and geography of innovation, Regional Studies, Vol. 46 No. 9, pp. 1219-1242. Mihalache, R., Jansen, J.J.J.P., Van Den Bosch, F.A.J. and Volberda, H.W. (2012), Offshoring and firm innovation: the moderating role of top management team attributes, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 33 No. 12, pp. 1480-1498. Moon, ,Swar, B.,Choe, Y. , Chung, M. and Jung, G. (2010), Innovation in IT outsourcing relationships: where is the best practice of IT outsourcing in the public sector?, Innovation: Management, Policy Practice, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 217-226. Nieto, M. and Rodrguez, A. (2011), Offshoring of RD: looking abroad to improve innovation performance, Journal of International Business Studies, 42, pp. 345-361. Schmeisser, B. (2013), A systematic review of literature on offshoring of value chain activities, Journal of International Management, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 390-406 Weigelt, C. and Sarkar, M. (2012), Performance implications of outsourcing for technological innovations: managing the efficiency and adaptability trade-off, Strategic Management Journal, 33 No. 2, pp. 189-216. Willcocks, , Cullen, S. and Craig, A. (2011), The Outsourcing Enterprise, Palgrave, London.