Public personnel management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public personnel management - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that payment in lieu of taxes or otherwise referred to as PILOTs are most commonly paid by large landholding non-profit organizations, especially universities and hospitals and are usually paid on a voluntary basis. It is only logical to argue that because these non-profit organizations receive basic services from cities in which they are situated at, and are funded by real estate taxes, every property owner should pay something in return. These payments are usually made to the local governments by the non-profit organizations because the receive local services like roads, fire protection, and the likes, but are ultimately exempted from paying property taxes because they primarily provide charitable work. In cases of cities that are struggling with budgets, non-profit organizations that are financially healthy and that own a substantial amount of tax-exempt property can be a useful avenue for raising revenue for the city. These cities often want the non-profit organization to chip in some cash in bailing them out of the financial quagmires and to make up for the forgone taxes. So should the non-profits pay PILOTs? The researcher would like to say that they should pay taxes because all owners of any property in the community, whether for-profit or otherwise receive services from the local governments or the cities such as roads, sewers, police services and the rest and these services have been funded by taxes from real estate.

Demos as an Art :: Art Arts Artistic Technology Essays

Demos as an Art A little more than two years ago I came across a very small computer program that amazed me. It was very small as computer programs go, but it did something I have never seen before - it used a mathematical formula to create a stunning moving display, and played music in the background. After a while of looking around I found more of the same type of programs, most created by different people, all of which had a common purpose of presenting the user with computer-generated art - some by mathematical formulae, some by conventional means, but most a combination of the two. Each one had music composed especially for that program. They were all works of art, a new form of art. I found out that to make such a program one had to have some ideas for something to be represented by mathematical expressions, then express them all in a computer program, that was fast enough to do many complex calculations on an average user’s machine. The latter part turned out to be a lot harder than it sounded. As fast as computers are today, they are not fast enough, for there is always something which requires more and more calculations. Many tricks have to be implemented to make a program run the fastest possible, some of them being, ironically, to write it in the â€Å"earlyâ⠂¬  computer languages which dealt more with computer instructions than with the structure of the program itself. Thus the more complex your goal, the simpler means you have to employ to reach it. Because of this it is very hard to create a fast and small program. The ammount of time and effort spent on writing it can be amazingly high. I, myself, spent two days once writing a program that consisted of about 200 â€Å"letters† of computer istructions - a few lines - all generated from a few pages of the program that I wrote, and re-wrote, and re-wrote ... These programs carry an unassuming name: â€Å"demos† , short for â€Å"demonstrations†, but they do so much more than that implies. Most of them push computers to the â€Å"limit†, doing what was earlier thought of as impossible or at least required a super-computer, but most importantly they define a new art form. This special mode of art requires many new and exciting factors, such as musical composition, art merged with science (a seemingly incompatible mixture), excellent computer programming skills, but most important - teamwork.

Avoiding Groupthink Essay

The case study we are addressing this week involves how a team and Project Manager avoid Groupthink and its pitfalls. In order to understand what group think is you have to refer to Irving Janus who coined the phrase back in 1972. He related that Group Think is when a group makes a decision based on group pressure; it can lead to faulty decisions. Janus, 1972) Some of the symptoms that Irving Janus documented of group think are Illusion of invulnerability, Collective rationalization, Belief in inherent morality, Stereotyped views of out-groups, Direct pressure on dissenters, Self-censorship, Illusion of unanimity, and Self-appointed ‘mind guards’. (Janus, 1972) In our book, Making the Team: A Guide for Managers states that there are three (3) key symptoms that take root and they are Over Estimation of the Group, Closed Mindedness and Pressure towards Uniformity. These will be the 3 areas I am going to focus on. Over Estimation of the Group Now that we know what group think is we can move on to how a team and Project Manager might avoid the mistakes and downfalls of Group Think situations. (Thompson, 2008) When a team is falling into a group think methodology a Project Manager must be able to recognize the signs before any decisions are made and set in motion. If the group is making statements that start with we feel, we think, or we suspect it is a good indicator that they just don’t know or are just following along with the consensus of the group. Group think can cause problems when everyone goes with the flow especially on a wrong decision. In using group think methodology management has to weigh the pros and cons of the group’s decision from all sides. Sometimes a little more research prior to implementing a group think decisions should be done or a devil’s advocate should be assigned into the group think matrix in order to prevent team members from being led down a garden path. The one thing I have noticed when in a group think situation, the group always looks for someone to be the mouthpiece for the group, this person usually has strong leadership skills but can be short sited and very opinionated which rubs off on the group as a whole. Some team members tend to have difficulty explaining or relating what is on their mind in a group setting, they rather tell their ideas one on one because they are an introvert by nature! They would rather have the extrovert take charge and be the one who voices the opinions or decisions of the group. They tend to stay out of the lime light. Project Managers should encourage team members to bring out concerns or objections to issues that are being discussed and/or considered, he/she should not influence the team with his or her own preferences to the issue, he/she should play the devil’s advocate and guide conflict in a positive manner, the group should be allowed to be evaluated by other groups and critiqued in an unbiased manner, splitting the group into different sub groups to bring out and investigate different alternative solutions or methods that could be used, call meetings with the group to discuss and evaluate any decisions prior to instituting them and develop alternatives for each methodology prior to giving final approvals. (Thompson, 2008) A good Project Manager should keep his group focused on the project at hand, have weekly meetings to check progress of his team to ensure that discussions are being conducted that is giving the group the necessary conflict for them to evaluate potential risks and dangers involved with the decisions they are recommending. The Project Manager should make the team aware that they can bring up ideas or doubts about any issue without the fear of being ridiculed or rejected by other team members. The ultimate goal is for the Project Manager to make his team work as a team through having all members contributing their knowledge and skills in making the project a success.

Quotes From Alice in Wonderland

Here are some of the best conversations between Alice and other characters  in Alice in Wonderland. These quotes are humorous, yet enlightening, containing both satire and wisdom. Alice and The Caterpillar Caterpillar: Who are YOU? Alice: This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. I -- I hardly know, sir, just at present -- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then. The Duchess I quite agree with you. And the moral of that is: Be what you would seem to be, or if youd like it put more simply: Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.   Alice and The Cheshire Cat Alice: But I dont want to go among mad people. The Cat: Oh, you cant help that. Were all mad here. Im mad. Youre mad. Alice: How do you know Im mad? The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldnt have come here. Alice: And how do you know that youre mad? The Cat: To begin with, a dogs not mad. You grant that? Alice: I suppose so, The Cat: Well, then, you see, a dog growls when its angry, and wags its tail when its pleased. Now I growl when Im pleased, and wag my tail when Im angry. Therefore Im mad. Alice and The Mad Hatter   Alice: Ive had nothing yet, so I cant take more. The Hatter: You mean you cant take less; its very easy to take more than nothing. Alice and The White Queen The White Queen: Can you do addition? Whats one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one? Alice: I dont know. I lost count.   Alice, The Gryphon, and The Mock Turtle Alice: And how many hours a day did you do lessons? The Mock Turtle: Ten hours the first day, nine the next, and so on. Alice: What a curious plan! The Gryphon: Thats the reason theyre called lessons, because they lessen from day to day.