Non invasive Ventilation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Non invasive Ventilation - Essay Example Soo Hoo (2010) explains that NIV has now become an essential tool in managing chronic and acute respiratory failure, in critical care unit and in the home setting. One reason as to why the use non-invasive ventilation has been on the increase is the desire to prevent invasive ventilation’s complications. Although highly reliable and effective in sustaining alveolar ventilation, the complications risks of endotracheal intubation/invasive mechanical ventilation are renowned. The advantages of non-invasive ventilation include the fact that it permits patients to expectorate secretions, to verbalize, to drink and to eat; it leaves the upper airway unharmed; and safeguards airway defense mechanisms. NPPV decreases infectious mechanical ventilation’s complications and compared to endotracheal intubation, it may enhance portability, convenience, and comfort at a cost no greater or even lower. In addition, it may be possible to administer NIV outside of the setting of intensive care, thereby permitting caregivers to make use of acute-care beds more rationally. NPPV also makes chronic respiratory failure patients’ care in the home much simpler (Mehta and Hill, 2001). Others include improved patient comfort, early ventilatory support, reduced sedation requirements, patient can cooperate with physiotherapy, among others.

Irish Persecution by England Essay Example for Free

Irish Persecution by England Essay Anti-Irish sentiment (also known as Hibernophobia, from Hibernia, the Latin name for Ireland) is traditionally rooted in the medieval period. The first British involvement in Ireland began in 1169, when Anglo-Norman troops arrived at Bannow Bay in County Wexford. During the next half millenium, successive English rulers attempted to colonize the island, pitching battles to increase their holdings – moves that sparked periodic rebellions by the Irish. When did this happen? – The English persecution of Ireland began in the 1800’s with the Act of Union which put Ireland officially under the rule of London. It has continued up until present day but persecution has decreased extremely over the past 300 years. Were any specific groups targeted? – Yes, Catholic Irish were strongly persecuted by English Protestants, which continues into present day. North Ireland seceded but was subject to much violence and was eventually forced back under British control, and still is the center of most of the heated debates of today. How were they persecuted? – Irish people were discriminated against and even murdered by English people. One of the most infamous acts came in 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on a group of Catholic demonstrators and killed 14 people. The Penal Laws were considered to be the first form of official apartheid issued in the world, dividing and targeting people by their religion. All those not of the Anglican/Lutheran faith including not only Catholics but also Jews, Presbyterians and other types of Protestants were denied rights in relation to property ownership, political participation, and university education. Prohibition on mixed marriages on the basis of religious and racial grounds led to many rallies and riots by the Irish against the discrimination and prejudice they faced. How does this affect people today? Ethnic relations in the Republic of Ireland are relatively peaceful, given the uniformity of national culture, but Irish Travellers have often been the victims of prejudice. In Northern Ireland the level of ethnic conflict, which is inextricably linked to the provinces divergence of religion, nationalism, and ethnic identity, is high, and has been since the outbreak of political violence in 1969. Since 1994 there has been a shaky and intermittent cease-fire among the paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. The 1998 Good Friday agreement is the most recent accord. What happened to cause it? – The English invasion sparked a lot of anti-English sentiment and led to constant fighting between the two groups. Also, the English exerted complete control and did not help the Irish during the Great Famine between 1845 and 1852, which caused riots and sparked other prejudiced movements and laws. Were there any significant figures in this? English King William III asserted complete control over the Irish in 1691. Eamon de Valera was the leader of the Sinn Fein, a political party which advocated Irish independence. He was almost executed for participating in an uprising in Dublin. Michael Collins was the leader of the IRA (the Irish Republican Army) who fought against the British for the Government of Ireland Act in 1920. Bringing the IRA fight into the international spotlight was Bobby Sands, an IRA member who died while on a hunger strike in a Belfast prison to protest his status as a common prisoner, rather than a political one.

geore washington :: essays research papers

George Washington was born in Wakefield, Virginia. Then at age three his family moved to a town near Fredricksburge. There the story about George and the Cherry tree was started. There he started tutoring and later attended Henry Williams School. At age 15 he became a surveyor. In 1748 he went to live with his  ½ brother in mount Vermon where he took his first place in office as surveyor of Culperper County in1749. Later at age 20 in 1753 Gov. Dinwiddle made him major in the militia. When the French and Indian war started he was made lieutenant colonel of Virginia Militia. Washington kept advancing. He was then sent to aid major General Edward Braddcock. But in that battle Braddock was killed so George was made colonel and commander of all Virginia Militia. In 1758 after the French and Indian war Washington met Martha Custis. They were married in 1759. In 1769 Washington presented a plan to the House of Burgesses for boycotting British made goods in order to go against the stamp act. Later in 1774 he attended the 1st continental congress in Philadelphia, and the next year he attended the second continental congress. When it became clear that they needed armed resistance. Recognizing Washington’s military experience and leadership the Continental congress gave him command of the new army. He didn’t even ask for pay. So in 1775 he took command of the Continental Army. Through the ne xt six years Washington helped hold the 13 colonies together. When the Articles of Confederation was showing the colonies separating Washington took on the responsibility keep them together through the hardships. When they needed an army washing ton was to get an army from untrained and unpaid men. He did it. In the battle of Valley Forge the cruel winters were tarring them apart. Undiscouraged again Washington turned defeat into a victory. The fighting ended in 1781. The continental army was held together for two more years until final peace was made. Then for a few years Washington relaxed with his wife and family, raising animals and agrigculture experiments. In 1787 Washington became a leader in the movement that led to the Constitution Convention. The discussion was that the existing documents were not good enough in leading the states.

Hamdi vs Rumsfeld

Hamdi v. Rumsfeld Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen, was captured in Afghanistan shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Hamdi was classified as an â€Å"enemy combatant† by the United States. His father filed a petition of Habeas Corpus that his fifth and fourteenth amendments were in violation. Although the petition did not specify on the actual circumstances of Hamdi’s capture and detention, the record indicated that Hamdi went to Afghanistan to do â€Å"relief work† less than two months before September 11th and could have not received military training.The Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Michael Mobbs, issued a response, outlining the Government’s position. The district court found the â€Å"Mobbs Declaration† insufficient in supporting the Government’s case. The Mobbs Declaration provided details regarding Hamdi’s trip to Afghanistan, his affiliation with the Taliban during a time when the Taliban was battling U. S. allies, and lastly his surrender of an assault rifle.The District Court found that the Mobbs Declaration, standing alone, did not support Hamdi’s detention and ordered the Government to turn over numerous materials. The Fourth Circuit reversed, stressing that it was undisputed that Hamdi was captured in an active combat zone, no factual inquiry or evidentiary hearing allowed Hamdi to be heard or to rebut the Government’s claims were necessary or proper. If the Mobbs Declaration was accurate, it provided a sufficient basis upon which to conclude that the President had constitutionally detained Hamdi, the court ordered the habeas petition dismissed.The appeals court held that, â€Å"no citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained by the United States except pursuant to an Act of Congress†. This provides that The AUMF’s â€Å"necessary and appropriate force† language provided the authorization for Hamdi’ s detention. Also that Hamdi is entitled only to a limited judicial inquiry into his detention’s rationality under the war powers of the political branches, and not to a searching review of the actual determinations underlying his capture.The results in the judgment were quitted, and the case is remanded. Justices O’Connor, Kennedy, and Breyer, concluded that although Congress authorized the detention of combatants in the narrow circumstances alleged in this case, due process demands that a citizen held in the United States as an enemy combatant be given a meaningful opportunity to contest the factual basis for that detention before a neutral decision maker.First, the Government urges the adoption of the Fourth Circuit's holding that because it is â€Å"undisputed† Hamdi's seizure took place in a combat zone, the habeas determination can be made as matter of law, with no further hearing or fact finding necessary. This argument did not hold, and the circumstances surrounding Hamdi's seizure cannot in any way be characterized as â€Å"undisputed† because Hamdi has not been permitted to speak for himself or even through legal counsel.The â€Å"facts† that constitute the alleged concern are insufficient to support Hamdi's detention. Under the definition of enemy combatant, Hamdi would need to be â€Å"part of or supporting forces hostile to the United States or coalition partners† and â€Å"engaged in an armed conflict against the United States† to justify his detention in the United States for the duration of the conflict. The habeas petition states only â€Å"when seized by the United States Government, Mr. Hamdi resided in Afghanistan. A claim that one resided in a country in which combat operations are taking place is not a concession that one was â€Å"captured in a zone of active combat operations in a foreign theater of war,† does not mean that â€Å"part of or supporting forces hostile to the United States or coalition partners† and â€Å"engaged in an armed conflict against the United States. † So the argument that Hamdi has made concessions that eliminate any right to further process is rejected. The Government's second argument requires that further factual exploration is inappropriate in light of the extraordinary constitutional interests at risk.Under the Government's argument, â€Å"respect for separation of powers and the limited institutional capabilities of courts in matters of military decision-making in connection with an ongoing conflict† ought to eliminate entirely any individual process, restricting the courts to investigating only whether legal authorization exists for the broader detention scheme. The government argues, courts should review its determination that a citizen is an enemy combatant under a very deferential â€Å"some evidence† standard.A court would assume the accuracy of the Government's expressed basis for Hamdi's deten tion, as said in the Mobbs Declaration, and assess only whether that expressed basis was lawful. Hamdi’s response emphasizes that the court consistently has recognized that an individual challenging his detention may not be held at the will of the Executive without alternative to some proceeding before a neutral hearing to determine whether the Executive's asserted justifications for that detention have basis in fact.He argues that the Fourth Circuit wrongfully â€Å"ceded power to the Executive during wartime to define the conduct for which a citizen may be detained, judge whether that citizen has engaged in the proscribed conduct, and imprison that citizen indefinitely,† The District Court, agreeing with Hamdi, believed that the appropriate process would approach the process that accompanies a criminal trial. It disapproved of the Mobbs Declaration and anticipated various military affairs.Both of these positions cause concerns, and both emphasize the tension that oft en exists between the autonomy that the Government asserts is necessary in order to pursue effectively a particular goal and the process that a citizen argues that he is due before he is deprived of a constitutional right. The process due in any given instance is determined by weighing â€Å"the private interest that will be affected by the official action† against the Government's interest, â€Å"including the function involved† and the burdens the Government would face in providing greater process.

Love at first sight Essay

Adolf Hitler was a very famous person that was in the Holocaust. He was a very cruel person who thought that everyone who wasn’t a pure blooded German was lower than him and filthy. He put a lot of people through misery and pain. He didn’t even know if the people he was killing could be nice and pleasant. All he cared about was that they weren’t pure blooded Germans. Adolf Hitler was born on the 20th of April, 1889, in a town named Braunau an inn, Austria. He was baptised catholic and his dream was to become a priest and to peruse art school. He came from a divorced family, his father died in 1903. Hitler’s mother died when he was 18 years old, 1907. Hitler’s grandfather is believed to be Jewish and while in Vienna he had two close Jewish fiends. Hitler also served in World War 1. When Hitler was a child he was brutally abused by his father and lost 3 of his siblings when he was a young boy, 2 from diphtheria and one during child birth. This must have been very traumatic and hard for a young boy to grasp. His mother and father were divorced and his father has 2 marriages after his mother. Hitler had only been 14 when his father died of pleural haemorrhage. He soon after his father’s death left school due to him suffering from lung infections. Hitler had a hard and traumatic childhood and when he turned 18 his mother died from terminal breast cancer while being treated by a Jewish doctor. It is believed that Hitler’s grandfather was Jewish and after his mothers death he became certain for what he wanted to become and moved to Vienna to become an artist, after years before being rejected. Hitler met two Jewish men and became close friends with them. This is why many of Hitler’s generation and the generations there after don’t understand why he turned against the Jewish, could it be psychological issues within his mind and thoughts after having such a rough childhood? What could have been the main reason for Hitler to turn against Jews in particular? â€Å"Hitler began growing hatred for, not the Jewish in particular but rather against the cruel world that he lived in†. There are many that believe this statement is not true because they believe Hitler grew angry after his mother’s death, because it was a Jewish doctor, Dr. Edward Bloch who put her with excruciatingly painful as well as expensive treatments and surgery, and yet she still died. As well as his â€Å"hidden shame† for his grandfather being Jewish. Others believe that he was angry at his father for the abuse, pain and suffering he put him trough and wanted to get back at the world in his own twisted way. What could have been the reason for someone to act so mentally ill, that they’d want to exterminate an entire race? I believe that Hitler was not only physically unfit but mentally too that he may have lost his mind. There are theories that Hitler turned against the Jewish population because it’s believed they killed Jesus Christ and he was a Christian. When Hitler was 18 he moved to Vienna to peruse his passion for becoming an artist, he lived a very poor life living off of hid fathers small inheritance and an orphan’s pension. He became penniless and soon was homeless; he slept in a different place every night. It is during this time that people believe he became prejudiced about Jewish people, developing his knack for politics, and forming his debating skills. Adolf Hitler, two of his closest friends at this time were Jewish. He also admired Jewish art dealers and Jewish operatic performers and producers. However, Vienna was a centre of anti-Semitism, and the portrayal of Jews as scapegoats (the people who bear the blame) with stereotyped attributes (something that someone said that was not true about them but people believed) fascinated Hitler. What could mentally have been wrong with Hitler’s mind that he’d turn so violently against his own family and friends? In May of 1913 Hitler left Vienna and went to Munich, which is the capital of Bavaria, to avoid military services. In January the police came to him with a notice from the Austrian government. It threatened a year in prison and a fine if he was found guilty of leaving his native land with the intent of avoiding conscription (enrolling for the military). Hitler was arrested right then and taken to the Austrian Consulate. When he reported to Salzburg for duty, he was found â€Å"unfit†¦ too weak†¦ and unable to bear arms. Hitler served in World War I. He was enlisted in the Bavarian army. After less than two months of training Hitler’s regiment saw its first combat near Ypres, against the British and Belgians. Hitler almost died that day and many others. He was awarded two Iron Crosses for bravery. In October of 1916 he was wounded by an enemy shell and moved to a Berlin area hospital. After recovering, and serving four years in the service, he was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack in Belgium in October 1918. Communist revolts shook Germany while Hitler was recovering. Some Jews were leaders of these revolutions and this was part of Hitler’s hatred for Jewish people. Could Hitler’s recovery stage have been the time that he started to plot plans to exterminate the Jews, it may be possible that when he was injured and had to recover that he may have become mentally ill. It is also possible that he blames the Jews for becoming injured in the first place and this may have been the last straw for him. It is impossible to know what was running through Hitler’s mind but its more then certain that for one human to hate and despise a race so much to want to demolish them is not human nature, it is not normal for a human to have any thoughts, plots or motivation towards exterminating one person let alone almost a billion people. There are many theories that Hitler was an ill man and wanted more then to exterminate a race but exterminate a nation for his own personal gain, even though this is possible to know there are still theories and accusations and this makes knowing the truth difficult. Hitler’s dictatorship began in 1933, when he joined and created the Nazi party. His leadership, many believe, made him more power hungry then ever, and made him more mentally ill then before. Hitler died in 1945, after committing suicide. There are theories that he couldn’t handle his life anymore and wanted an easy way out, others believe it was his childhood that made him mentally ill and traumatised, and others think it was the guilt of killing millions of people for no reason. What could drive a human to taking their own life? Now you see that Hitler’s life was very sad, like many others at that time. The way he was treated when he was young, his family life, might have affected the way he turned out to be an adult. Which is why many believe he was a strong and ruthless dictator due to his childhood, but this is still not a good enough reason, in my eyes, for someone to commit mass murder and attempt exterminating a race. Hitler was humanly unstable and was not fit to dictate or run a country which led to his genocide of the Jews and suicide. Bibliography www. google. com =to find out the following websites and information. www. historypics. com = was used to find childhood pictures of Hitler and adult pictures. www. historyresearch. co. za = this was used to find information about Hitler’s childhood and life experiences. www. wikipedia. com = Also used to find out more information about his childhood and to see if the information found on the other websites was similar. www. brainyquotes. co. za = Used to find a quote to support the theories and feelings about Hitler. www. ispsuk. org = was used to find out how people can be mentally ill and where it could have began. www. webmd. com = Also used to find out about mentally illness and what it means to become mentally ill.

Critically discuss the portrayal of constitutional Essay Example

Critically discuss the portrayal of constitutional Essay Example Critically discuss the portrayal of constitutional Essay Critically discuss the portrayal of constitutional Essay those of other nationalities shacking in Venice. Shylock, introduced in the phase waies as Shylock the Jew’ , is systematically set apart from the citizens of Venice with whom he does concern for his religion and his profession as usurer. However, he remains blameworthy under Venetian regulation of jurisprudence every bit much as the Christian citizens. In a universe structured by rigorous attachment to the jurisprudence to protect the financial involvements of both citizens and aliens, Shylock is undone by the actual reading of his ain contract. The Merchant of Venicenowadayss a series of conflicting manners of jurisprudence and socio-economic constructions. The confrontation in the drama between Shylock and Antonio can be interpreted as a struggle between viing systems of jurisprudence: old jurisprudence based on Old Testament commandments and pronouncements, and the new jurisprudence based on Christian morality.The Merchant of Venice, more so than any other of Shakespeare’s dramas, is saturated with scriptural mentions which indicate theological and legal principles dramatized in the struggle over the bond. [ 3 ] Shylock, as a Jew, is bound non merely by the Venetian regulation of jurisprudence but besides by Old Testament jurisprudence. Antonio, Bassanio, and the citizens of Venice are bound by the philosophy of New Testament morality every bit much as by Venetian legal codification. The Bible is the benchmark against which ethical and legal differences are judged, and attachment to Venetian regulation of jurisprud ence reflects non merely legal duty, but moral responsibility. Shakespeare’s drama highlights the convergence of economic sciences, the penal codification, and godly jurisprudence. WithinThe Merchant of Venicethere is an intersection between friendly relationship and jurisprudence which can be traced back to classical influences. Impressions of friendly relationship in connexion with the overpowering accent on trade and net income alongside the rigorous attachment to the regulation of jurisprudence appears contrary to a modern audience accustomed to friendly relationships based on pleasance and common involvement. Aristotle’sNicomachean Ethical motivesremained a prima influence on Renaissance impressions of friendly relationship. He outlines three types of friendly relationship: friendly relationship based on pleasance, friendly relationship based on goodness, and friendly relationship based on public-service corporation. It is this concluding type of friendly relationship which most clearly emerges from the relationships of the drama. All characters, irrespective of their station, are ruled by opportunism. Harmonizing to Aristotle, friendly relationship of public-service corporation can hold a moral or a legal dimension: Such a connection when on stated footings is one of the legal type, whether it be a strictly concern affair of exchange on the topographic point, or a more broad adjustment for future refund, though still with an understanding as to thequid pro quo; and in the latter instance the duty is clear and can non do difference †¦ The moral type on the other manus is non based on declared footings, but the gift or other service is given as to a friend, although the giver expects to have an equivalent or greater return, as though it had non been a free gift but a loan ; and as he ends the relationship in a different spirit from that in which he began it, he will kick. [ 4 ] Clearly, none of the relationships within the drama reflect the perfect love’ of Aristotle’s ideal of friendly relationship as described inNichomachean Ethical motives, but the more secular friendly relationship of public-service corporation. Aristotle’s description of such friendly relationships is in footings of concern and exchange ; nil is given without anticipating something in return. Such friendly relationships based upon self-interest are built-in to a politico-economic which maps to protect the chase of trade and net income. Thus the single relationships within the drama contribute to and continue the regulation of jurisprudence which governs commercialism and trade in Venice. All of the characters with the drama use their relationships with other characters to farther opportunism, to changing grades. Bassanio uses his close friendly relationship with Antonio to procure a loan he himself can non vouch, and when the bond is contested it is Antonio instead than Bassanio that must support himself. Bassanio goes so far as to inquire Antonio to see the loan as an investing, determining their relationship in concern footings instead than the more familiar footings of friendly relationship. I owe you much, and ( like a willful young person ) That which I owe is lost, but if you please To hit another pointer that self manner Which you did hit the first, I do non doubt, ( As I will watch the purpose ) or to happen both, Or convey your latter jeopardy back once more, And gratefully rest debitor for the first ( I.i. 146-52 ) Bassanio desires the money in order to court Portia, who is a lady amply left , and to procure her luck to pay off his ain debts ( I.i. 161 ) . Although Bassanio speak both of love for Antonio and the beauty and virtuousness of Portia, it is continually the economic factor of their relationships which is at the head of the addresss. I owe the most in money and in love he tells Antonio, And from your love I have a guarantee / To unburthen all my secret plans and intents / How to acquire clear of all the debts I owe ( I.i. 131-4 ) . Thus Bassanio’s relationships, though professed to be grounded on love and virtuousness, are clearly based on opportunism, reflecting a wider social accent on money instead than fraternal or romantic love. Shylock’s actions and demeanour towards Antonio are clearly motivated by net income, and as a friendly relationship based on public-service corporation is transeunt and unstable, rapidly deteriorates as Shylock argues that Antonio’s lb of flesh is deerely bought’ ( IV.i. 100 ) . Aristotle argues inPoliticssthat vigorish is, because it net incomes from money itself, contrary to nature and thereby incompatible with friendly relationship. Antonio himself argues for friendly relationship against vigorish: If thou wilt lend this money, lend it non As to thy friends, for when did friendship take A strain for bare metal of his friend? ( I.iii.126-9 ) Antonio clearly can non accommodate the contrary impressions of friendly relationship and trade and net income ; nevertheless, Shylock equates friendly relationship with Aristotle’s thought of friendly relationship of public-service corporation. He offers both money and friendly relationship to Antonio, inquiring in return that Antonio sign a bond to pay a lb of flesh. I would be friends with you, and have your love , Shylock professes, but his thought of friendly relationship is clearly bound up in net income and self-service. The love he shows to Antonio is in fact a lawfully binding understanding. This kindness will I demo, Travel with me to a notary, seal me there Your individual bond, and ( in a merry athletics ) If you repay me non on such a twenty-four hours In such a topographic point, such amount or amounts as are Express’d in the status, allow the forfeit Be nominated for an equal lb Of your just flesh, to be cut off and taken In what portion of your organic structure pleaseth me. ( I.iii.139-47 ) Usurer professes that he extend [ s ] this friendship to Antonio ; a all right friendly relationship so which demands a lb of flesh in return for a loan of money ( I.iii. 164 ) . Clearly Shylock is working from an Aristotelean impression of a friendly relationship of public-service corporation which serves opportunism and belongs in the kingdom of mercantile system and commercialism. The impression of friendly relationship in the drama is elaborately tied to the thought of justness. As a friendly relationship of public-service corporation belongs in the kingdom of commercialism, it is hence capable to legal power under Venetian jurisprudence. Aristotle states that the claims of justness besides should increase with the closeness of the friendly relationship, since friendly relationship and justness exist between the same individuals and are co-extensive in range. [ 5 ] Friendship, far from staying a private relationship outside the kingdom of judicial ordinance, is built-in to the socio-economic construction of Venetian mercantile system, and is hence capable to the regulation of jurisprudence. Shylock friendship’ with Antonio and Bassanio is tested against the justness of the tribunal, and finally found to be unsound. The Venice of Shakespeare’s drama is ruled by attachment to public jurisprudence, committedness to contracts, and overpoweringly the chase of stuff wealth. Despite the sometimes unscrupulous actions of the characters, the regulating rule remains the regulation of jurisprudence. This reflects the comparative stableness of the Venetian regulation of jurisprudence from the late thirteenth to the late eighteenth centuries, a politically stableness termed the myth of Venice’ for its widespread but mostly baseless repute for autonomy, societal harmoniousness, and just justness. [ 6 ] Ironically it is Antonio, who has the most to lose from the legal conflict over the bond which threatens his very life, is the most repetitive upon adhering to jurisprudence to continue commodity’ . Shylock hates Antonio non, as he professes, because of his faith, but because he refuses to bear down involvement on his loans: I hate him for he is a Christian: But more, for that in low simpleness He lends out money gratis, and brings down The rate of usance here with us in Venice ( I.iii. 38-40 ) . Shylock’s grudge against Antonio reflects a wider Elizabethan concern with vigorish and one which highlighted the struggle between spiritual philosophy and secular jurisprudence. Usury itself was condemned by Medieval and Renaissance churches, and is forbidden by New Testament jurisprudence: Owe no adult male anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. [ 7 ] The Bible condemned vigorish in no unsure footings, but spiritual philosophers such as John Calvin and Francis Bacon argued that, in a modern commonwealth, vigorish was inevitable’ . [ 8 ] Thus Antonio’s refusal to impart money on involvement reflects non a generous and altruistic character, but an attachment to the Christian jurisprudence of the clip. Antonio represents a rigorous attachment to jurisprudence and authorization. He voluntarily submits to the bond which would take his life because the jurisprudence which governs belongings involvements demands that it be upheld. Venetian jurisprudence stridently enforced bonds between persons, irrespective of nationality or ethnicity. Antonio explains why the contract must be enforced: The duke can non deny the class of jurisprudence: For the trade good that aliens have With us in Venice, if it be denied, Will much impeach the justness of the province, Since that the trade and net income of the metropolis Consisteth of all states. ( III.iii. 26-31 ) Venetian jurisprudence is the structuring component of Venetian society, and must be obeyed. The class of jurisprudence, nevertheless, instead than continuing a moral or ethical codification, is intended to keep trade and net income of the city. Thus, the regulation of jurisprudence is dependent upon the economic good. Janet Adelman writes of Antonio’s address that it implies a political economic system in which provinces exist to see trade conditions among nations conceived as political and economic units. [ 9 ] Antonio lives in a society wholly dominated by economic sciences and trade good, and his entreaty to the Duke to continue the justice of the state is a supplication made of opportunism. The characters of the drama all battle to accommodate the demands of secular behavior of jurisprudence with a spiritual morality. As made clear throughout the struggle of the bond, spiritual philosophy is non interchangeable with legal justness. Antonio warns Bassanio that The Satan can mention Bible for his intent, / An evil psyche bring forthing holy witness / Is like a scoundrel with a smiling cheek, proposing that Biblical Bible can be manipulated by work forces to warrant their ain purposes ( I.iii. 93-5 ) . This statement is clearly directed towards Shylock, who uses a actual reading of the jurisprudence to support his claims and further his ain terminals. However it is the stiff stringency of the regulation of jurisprudence which is his ultimately undoing. He tries to utilize the jurisprudence to accomplish a personal blood feud against Antonio, and because he seeks the usage the jurisprudence to accomplish unfair terminals he is foiled by Portia, who uses the jurisprudence t o accomplish a merciful judgement. Shakespeare’s Venice is a metropolis of aliens, brought together through common involvement in commercialism and net income and governed by the regulation of jurisprudence. The rigorous attachment to the official and public jurisprudence is overriding to keeping societal order because the jurisprudence protects the trade and net income which drive the city’s economic system. Shylock argues every bit much as he tells the Duke that the rejection of the bond will sabotage the legal authorization of Venice and the metropolis on a whole will endure as a effect. [ 10 ] Shylock says that, without support, the jurisprudence becomes uneffective and can non back up a society built upon commercialism and trade. However it is non merely Shylock who upholds the jurisprudence as the underpinning of societal order: Bassanio, Portia, and Antonio besides show a rigorous attachment to the jurisprudence despite the unsought branchings. I have already gestured towards the manner in which spiritual philosophy and established regulation of jurisprudence overlapped in Renaissance Venice ; because of this, the construct of Godhead clemency besides intersects with official opinion. Much unfavorable judgment has been devoted to Shakespeare’s determination to projectThe Merchant of Veniceas a legal struggle between Jew and Christian, but irrespective of deductions of antisemitism, Shakespeare points towards a larger struggle between Old and New Testament regulations of jurisprudence which influenced Renaissance legal philosophy. In the 4th act Portia, disguised as a immature adult male, appears in the Duke’s Chamberss to supply legal concluding important to the ensuing judgement. The courtroom scene confirms the domination of regulation of jurisprudence as Shylock follows the established protocol. Of a unusual nature is the suit you follow he tells the cloaked Portia, Yet in such regulation, that the Venetian jurisprudence / Can non impugn you as you do proceed ( IV.i. 173-5 ) . Shylock continues to utilize the missive of the jurisprudence in the face of Portia’s humanistic edict of Then must the Jew be merciful ( IV.i. 178 ) . The verbal exchange between Portia and Shylock reveal two different theoretical accounts of justness: Portia extends justness to include godly clemencies, while Shylock positions justness as a judgement determined by the written jurisprudence. Portia’s address on clemency delivered betrays the divide of Old and New Torahs harmonizing to differing theological systems. Sparing Shylock’s life through a Venetian jurisprudence which divides his goods, one half to the province, the other to the aggrieved party, Portia paradoxically cites Old Testament Bible to back up her construct of merciful judgement. The quality of clemency is non strain’d, she begins, It droppeth as the soft rain from Eden Upon the topographic point beneath: it is twice blest, It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes, Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes The throned sovereign better than his Crown. ( IV.i. 180-85 ) . Portia argues that we can non depend upon justness entirely ; that clemency is a god-like property and hence desirable. However, she besides uses the literalism of the regulation of jurisprudence to back up her statement and present judgement on Shylock. She urges Shylock to reconsider his suit, as the tribunal must follow Venetian jurisprudence, which has no topographic point in it for clemency. Portia’s address echoes the transition on clemency in Ecclesiasticus: And the Lord will non be slacke, nor the Almightie will non tarie long from the, boulder clay he hath smitten in sunder the loynes of the unmercifull, and advenged him ego of the pagan, til he have taken off t he battalion of the cruel, and interrupt the scepter of the unrighteous, til he give every adult male after his workes, and rewarde them after their devises, til he have judged the cause of his people, and comforted them with his mercie. Oh, how faire a thing is mercie in the clip of anguish and problem? It is like a cloude of raine, that commeth in the clip of a drouth [ 11 ] Comparing Venetian jurisprudence with the rigorous opinion usually associated with Old Testament jurisprudence, Portia therefore inverts the expected equation of Old Law with rigorous judgement, and the New Testament with religious clemency. [ 12 ] She is able to deduce justness from the missive of the jurisprudence, proposing that justness and clemency are non incompatible, but instead elaborately related. Portia’s address on clemency interruptions down the binary resistance between Old and New Testament biblical philosophy, proposing that the focal point of the drama is on justness instead than spiritual tenet. It is this relationship between justness and clemency which is the foundation of the drama and at the Southern Cross of the legal statement in the courtroom. Portia continues to trust upon godly jurisprudence to supply merciful judgement, Therefore Jew, Though justness be thy supplication, see this, That in the class of justness, none of us Should see redemption: we do pray for clemency, And that same supplication, doth teach us all to render The workss of clemency. I have spoke therefore much To extenuate the justness of thy supplication, Which if 1000 follow, this rigorous tribunal of Venice Must demands give sentence gainst the merchandiser at that place. ( IV.i.193-201 ) Mentioning explicitly to the Lord’s supplication, Portia proposes a rapprochement of justness and clemency. This thought is cardinal to modern-day spiritual arguments, and the struggle between the external irresistible impulse of jurisprudence, on the one manus, and the internal motion toward freedom from restraint, on the other is a uninterrupted one. [ 13 ] She emphasises the catholicity of the state of affairs ; if right action is non taken, no 1 will be the moral master. Ultimately Portia uses the jurisprudence to her advantage to obtain the merciful’ judgement for which she argues. The stiff authorization of the jurisprudence can non be denied, as there is no power in Venice / Can change a decree established ( IV.i. 214-5 ) . However the old and apparently inflexible jurisprudence is seen as uncomplete, incompatible with the elaboratenesss of single state of affairss. Portia’s statement is non an statement that the jurisprudence fails to present clemency, but instead reveals the true nature of jurisprudence capable of presenting both justness and clemency. The concluding judgement of the Duke reverberations Portia’s impression of merciful justness, but besides acts harmonizing to Aristotelian moralss based on equity: I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it: For half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s, The other half comes to the general province, Which unimportance may drive unto a mulct. ( IV.i. 365-8 ) Shylock has contrived to take Antonio’s life, and in an Old Testament regulation of jurisprudence the expected penalty would be in sort. However the Duke restores equality by plunging Shylock’s estates between himself and Antonio. Aristotle defines justice’ against the root beginning of the word significance in half’ , and therefore classical impressions of justness were grounded in the rule of equity instead than retaliation. [ 14 ] Thus Shylock’s Old Testament impression of justness as retaliation is revealed to be untenable in the judicial universe of Venice. The Merchant of Venicehas frequently been appropriated by modern bookmans in the statement for built-in human rights and equality. Within Shylock’s oft-quoted address reasoning for compassion, Shakespeare imbues the result of the courtroom’s judgement with the argument over a common humanity. I am a Jew. Hath non a Jew eyes? Hath non a Jew custodies, variety meats, dimensions, senses, fondnesss, passions? Fed with the same nutrient, injury with the same arms, capable to the same diseases, heal d by the same means, warm d and cool d by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we non shed blood? If you tickle us, do we non laugh? If you poison us, do we non decease? ( III.i. 52-60 ) However, the drama reveals a far more complex system of citizen rights and equity than the narrative of a wronged foreigner. Venice, as a booming economic Centre at the hamlets of Europe, depended upon the protection of private involvements of all dwellers, including strangers’ such as Shylock. In the presentation of Shylock and his eventual deserts, the accent lies non on Shylock’s position as foreigner, but the fact that he struck an immoral deal with a Christian merchandiser, and so efforts to pull out retaliation through the deal. The justness which is delivered by the Duke, harmonizing to the missive of the jurisprudence, bestows equity upon all characters. The logical thinking behind both Shylock’s hatred of Antonio, and the penalty which strips Shylock of his estate, are non racially motivated. All characters are uniformly motivated by the desire to protect trade and net income at all costs. Shylock continues his statement for common humanity: If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humbleness? Retaliation! If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian illustration? – why retaliation? The villainousness you teach me I will put to death, and it shall travel difficult but I will break the direction. ( III.i. 62-66 ) Shylock forcefully argues that he learned the necessity of retaliation from his Christian neighbors, but this is clearly non supported through the actions of the characters in the drama. Portia demonstrates the Christian values of clemency and equity in the face of an oculus for an eye’ Old Testament justness of Shylock. The Venetian tribunal is a site of legal authorization, and one where merchandisers may anticipate judgements independent of their nationality. Indeed one of the emergent subjects of the drama is the necessity of the regulation of jurisprudence to regulate the gradual slide towards the devotions of the market place, which Shylock, in his mercenary greed, represents. Portia finally is given the finding of fact for which she argues, and the finding of fact which provides audience satisfaction with the due penalty of the scoundrel of the drama, Shylock the Jew. Wealth, felicity and freedom are all at interest in the legal conflict over the result of the difference over the bond, but even more important is the inquiry of just justness which is continuously raised throughout the drama. Nevill Coghill argues thatThe Merchant of Veniceis, at its bosom, an fable of Justice and Mercy, of the Old Law and the New. [ 15 ] This position focuses on the struggle between Jew and Christian as an central struggle between justness and clemency. Ultimately, nevertheless, it is non a struggle of regulations of jurisprudence but instead the harmonious combination of them which consequences in a merciful judgement which bestows equity. The regulation of jurisprudence in Venice is revealed to be both merciful and merely, functioning to protect the involvements of its c itizens by confering equity. Plants Cited Adelman, Janet, Her Father s Blood: Race, Conversion, and Nation inThe Merchant of Venice Representations 81, Winter 2003, pp. 4-30. Aristotle,Nicomachean Ethical motives, trans. by Christopher Rowe, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Coghill, Nevill, The Governing IdeaShakespeare Quarterly, 1, London, 1948, pp. 9-17. Danson, Lawrence,The Harmonies of The Merchant of Venice, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1978. Nickel, John, Shylock in Washington: the Clinton crisis,The Merchant of Venice,and enjoyment of the law ,Textual Practice, 15:2, pp. 317-335. Shakespeare, William.The Merchant of Venice, erectile dysfunction. John Russell Brown for The Arden Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare, London and Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966. Stritmatter, Roger, Old’ and new’ jurisprudence inThe Merchant of Venice, Notes and Questions, 47:1, March 2000, pp. 70-72. Wheater, Isabella, Aristotelian Wealth and the Sea of Love: Shakespeare’s Synthesis of Greek Philosophy and Roman Poetry inThe Merchant of Venice in The Review of English Studies, New Series, 43:172, November 1992, pp. 467-487. 1

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Bill of Material Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

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Ismg 3000 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Differences Between Islamic Bank and Conventional Essay

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The Significance Of The Inspector Essay Example for Free

The Significance Of The Inspector Essay What Is The Significance Of The Inspector Structurally, Thematically, Linguistically And Contextually In Priestleys An Inspector Calls? How Could An Actor/Director Portray His Role Successfully On Stage? John Priestly first wrote An Inspector Calls in 1945, although it was not performed in England until 1 October 1946. The New Theatre in London hosted the performance by the Old Vic Company. The play is the story of an upper class family, living in the comforts of pre-WWI Britain. As they finish their dinner, a mysterious police officer (known only as the Inspector) enters and questions the family about the suicide of a young woman, breaking them down and changing their moral opinions. The focus of the play is this journey that the family under go from ignorance to knowledge, brought on by the Inspectors presence. This essay will explore how big a part of the plot the Inspector is and how he could be portrayed in a production successfully. Arguably one of the most important traits of the Inspector is his use of language. He uses his choice of words to change the atmosphere, the mood of the characters and the pace of the conversation. When the Inspector enters at the beginning of the play, he appears in no rush to question the characters or even explain why he is there. This annoys Birling, as he is curious why this mysterious policeman is visiting: BIRLING: Well, what can I do for you? Some trouble about a warrant? INSPECTOR: No, Mr Birling. BIRLING: (after a pause, with a touch of impatience) Well, what is it then? The Inspector uses the familys fascination to ensure that he is always listened to and is in control. He is the only character in the play at this time that knows the purpose of his visit, and this complete knowledge of the case runs throughout the play, and has different effects on different characters. The Inspector feels that everyone should feel a sense of responsibility for each other. He disapproves of the family members attempts to distance themselves from the girl and displays this when talking to Mrs Birling: She came to you for help, at a time when no women could have needed it more. And you not only refused it yourself but saw to it that others refused it to. The Inspector is trying to evoke sympathy for the girl by not only stating facts but also adding extra, emotive details such as when no women could have needed it more. The Inspector also, through his actions and possibly supernatural ways, creates a presence that makes the other characters listen to him without question. It says that when he enters for the first time that he creates a sense of massiveness and purposefulness. The Inspector even manages to do things that would be judged as completely unacceptable by the Birlings if anyone else were to do it, such as interrupting the head of the household: INSPECTOR: (cutting in smoothly) Just a minute Mr Birling. The Inspectors calm and composure creates a sense of authority about him and uses his presence to allow him to direct the conversation when he feels that it is drifting away from the central message of the play. The character of the Inspector not only changes the direction of conversation when he wants to, but also changes the tempo of it according to the attitude of the person he is interviewing. For example, when he is questioning Sheila, the Inspector only lightly prompts her to tell her story: INSPECTOR: (cutting in) Never mind about that. You can settle that between you afterwards. What happened? Through this short open-ended question, the Inspector provokes Sheila to confess to using her influence to ensure Eva Smith lost her job. With someone more tightly lipped, such as Mrs Birling, the Inspector uses lots of short questions, as she is unwilling to give an account of events: INSPECTOR: She appealed to your organisation for help? MRS B: Yes. INSPECTOR: Not as Eva Smith? MRS B: No. Nor as Daisy Renton. INSPECTOR: As what then? MRS B: First she called herself Mrs Birling By changing the velocity of the exchange, the Inspector not only adapts his questions to the suspect but even possibly shock them into a confession. With Sheila the Inspector is supportive, maybe even sympathetic, towards her as she is clearly the most sensitive to the death. As Sheila is already showing remorse for her actions, the Inspector isnt unnecessarily cruel to her, although he is still concrete on the fact that what Sheila did was wrong. With Mrs Birling however, she appears not to regret her conduct or even feel sorrow for the girls death. The Inspector therefore changes his approach accordingly, asking her short questions and trying to get her to empathise with Eva Smith. When this fails, the Inspector then reveals Evas deserting lover to be Eric. The shock of this revelation completely destroys Mrs Birlings mental barrier between her and Eva.

Business Environments And Companies

Business Environments And Companies The relationship between business environment and companies is very significant. The companies could be affected by external and internal environment. When the current economy is in bloom, how a company grabs the chance and stands on leadership. Contrarily, what if the economy is fading, how companies can survive from it, even make higher profits than before. Although the good economy situation can inspire companies to be successful easier, but it is not the only factor to operate business, it is more rather to take integrated strategies and analysis. For examples, five forces model and balanced scorecard are useful for companies to deal with the unexpected change of business environment to improve the business performance. In this Study, researcher will discuss the critical points of how companies deal with the economy both bloom and crisis. In addition, selected companies will be the major to discuss. External and Internal Environment External environment has effect on companies performance. Companies must develop the skills required on to identify opportunities and threats existing in external environment. It is challenging and complex. There are three major parts in external environment: The general environment has six segments: demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological, and global. In terms of economic segment, according to Hoskisson, the economic environment refers to the nature and direction of the economy in which a firm competes or may compete ( Hoskisson, 2005) There are five aspects could be affected by Economic factor, which are income, inflation, recession, interest rate, exchange rate, moreover, there are also four major elements that affect business environment. The elements are economic growth, the business cycle, employment and unemployment. However, economic factors are the main elements that affect financial matters of a business like interest rates, tax and stock markets. While the economy is growing, it could be a critical effect for companys success, but it not the only reason for company to succeed. The marketing department of a company is doing market research, market analysis, market strategy, and sales. It should focus on the economic situation whether the demand, prices and sales are going to be affected or not in current and future. Analyzing economic plays a very important role in determining actions a firm should take. So growth economy is good for companies success. In the time of economic growth when demand and sales increase, unemployment falls, and production goes up. Companies would consider how to accommodate these changes and adjust production and sales strategy as well as prices accordingly. For example, if peoples income increase, customer are willing to buy products. The total demand from customers rises. Then the companies will increase its production .This will lead an increase number of the sales of companies. Companies earn mor e profit. But on the other side, during the economic growing time, because of the increase of peoples income, the unemployment decrease and firms are in need of more workers. Trying to find employees become more difficult. Companies should provide develop and foster programs aimed at increasing employee satisfaction retain its workers. Then companies have to make additional efforts in recruitment in order to get labor. The taxation can affect the business because companies have to pay tax to the government on the energy they are using or have to pay some profit that they make to the government as tax. Interest rates are charged on every loan that a business takes from the bank. This can affect a business because if they keep on borrowing the loan they would have to pay extra money back to the bank this can affect a business in making profit. So the growth economic has double influence for success of business. When economic growth is becoming slow or inflation, the demand and sales are falling. Company will try to cut production and selling costs. When unemployment rate is rising, companies must deal with issues associated with lying off firms employees. The human resource department of companies should take necessary actions to make this process less painful and less problematic as possible for both the company and its employees. In difficult times, for examples, GFC, wars, terrorism and government instability are the main elements in influencing on business. Business may have more threats if there is a war. It is a warming sign if companies receive threat realized. It could make companies to be unable to pay full salaries, which means employees would default on mortgage and debit payments, triggering a meltdown in the lending and retail sectors and ripples out into wider economic disruption. Terrorism affects can be far reaching into commerce and trade, reaching businesses like communica tion systems, the Internet, medical systems like hospitals, as well as trade and transportation.It does not seem entirely farfetched to imagine that in some instances, barriers meant to safeguard populations from terrorism would actually amplify the risk: poor countries that might have to slow exports because of the cost of security measures are at risk, because of the effects of poverty, of political destabilization and rad.The party in government has a large say in what happens in the economy. If they put up taxes, then the disposable incomes of people tends to go down. With a reduction in income, people tend to be more cautious about how they spend their money. Industries are populated with different strategic groups and industry environment has direct effect on the firms strategic actions. Its competitive actions and competitive responses: the threat of new entrants, the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, the threat of product substitutes and the intensity of rivalry among competitors. This is Porters five forces of competition model. In total the interactions among these five forces determine an industry where an industrys profit potential. The greater a firms capacity to favorably influence its industry environment, the greater is the likelihood that the firm will earn above-average returns. The last part of the external environment is competitor environment. Competitor analysis focuses on each company against which a firm directly competes. Crucial to an effective competitor analysis is gathering data and information that can help the firm understand its competitors intentions and the strategic implications resulting from them. It informs the firm about the future objectives, current strategies , assumptions, and capabilities of the companies with whom it compete directly. Internal environment The final step of the Environmental Analysis is internal environment. It consists of identifying resources and capabilities (in the form of the value chain), finding competencies, and determining what competitive advantages (hopefully sustainable) the organization has. The internal environmental assessment, along with the external evaluation (macro and micro environment) already completed will provide all the information needed for the final SWOT Analysis.Resources, capabilities, and competencies should be evaluated with respect to goals, strategy, and the vision statement of the organization. RESOURCES Resources can simply divide into two parts, tangible and intangible. For example: tangible resources: financial, organizational, physical, and technological resources; intangible resources: human, innovation, and reputational resources. CAPABILITIES Capabilities are the firms capacity to deploy resources that have been purposely integrated to achieve a desired end state. There is a method to evaluate the firms capabilities. (figure is below)INBOUND LOGISTICS Inbound logistics covers everything that has to do with the obtaining, purchasing, storing, distributing (internally), and managing raw inputs, components, materials, and services. OPERATIONS Operations consist of all the processes, assets, and costs of turning raw materials into a final product or service. Facilities (and maintenance), workers, designers, quality assurance, environmental protection, equipment, and assembly processes would be included in the evaluation of Operations OUTBOUND LOGISTICS Outbound logistics encompasses all of the resources, capabilities, and processes required to distribute the final product or service. Examples of outbound logistic items are warehousing, packaging, shipping, delivery vehicles (and maintenance), order picking, finished goods inventory control, distributor and customer supply chain management (CRM customer relationship management). SALES AND MARKETING Sales and Marketing is considered everything associated with marketing the product or service. The sales force, personal selling, advertising, promotion, market research, web site, and dealer or distributor support are a few examples of Sales and Marketing. SERVICE Service is associated with providing assistance to the customer. Some Service examples are installation, warranty work, maintenance, complaints, questions, repair, and technical assistance. COMPETENCIES Competencies are accomplished by evaluating the organizations resources and capabilities and benchmarking. Benchmarking may be done on several levels: industry, primary competition, and prior performance. Although the book focuses primarily on cost, benchmarking may also be accessed through efficiency and effectiveness. Some examples of efficiency benchmarking might be number of defective widgets produced; hours of downtime for machine X; or number of days from sale to delivery. Efficiency types of measures should be used in conjunction with standard financial measures of benchmarking such as days in inventory or asset turnover ratios. Finally, compare the organizations RCCs (especially the competencies) to the competition or industry. Make a note of those competencies in which the organization has an advantage over the industry or competition these are most likely the core competencies and competitive advantage. Cases analysis ( DELL, Apple and Intel ) DELL- The Five Forces Models The five forces model is developed by Michael Porter whom is a Harvard professor and called the godfather of contemporary strategic management. The five forces model is a strategic analysis tool, and the five forces which are following: bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes and rivalry among competitors. The way to apply the five forces model on a retail business is easy, simply considering each one of these five forces individually as they exist in the external environment. In terms of Dell, Dell Computer Corporation, established in October 1987, and it is defined as a computer systems company and a provider of computing products and services. Dells primary product provides enterprise systems, desktop computers and laptop computer systems. Dell also markets and sells Dell/EMC storage products under a long-term strategic relationship with EMC Corporation The Company provides targeted services for consulting, deployment and support, as well as an extensive selection of peripheral hardware, including hand-held products, and computing software. The Company conducts operations worldwide through wholly owned subsidiaries. Sales outside the United States accounted for approximately 35% of the Companys revenues during the fiscal year ended February 1, 2002 (fiscal 2002). Bargaining power of suppliers Large number of suppliers for components like hardware, keyboards, etc. But two major inputs are monopolized Microsoft standard for all PCs Intel standard for most PCs .High switching costs. Dell known for low cost and best quality computer, laptop and server manufacturer in the industry. The key behind dell success is maintaining better relationship and collaboration with the supplier of computer hardware and software Bargaining power of buyers Highly price sensitive. Reliability and customer service become important factors. Dells products are very reliable and customer service is outstanding. These two factors help Dell to create certain brand royalty. But thats given the fact that the Company set the prices very low. If the prices are raised too high, customers will not hesitate to switch. Threat of new entrants The level of threat of new entrants of Dell is moderate. And the reasons for Dell are low capital investment for independent stores, and low product differentiation, brand name may be a barrier to entry, low economies of scale, no legal or governmental barriers, and decreasing profitability indicates that there is a threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes In U.S.A, computer is a main device in daily life, it is almost one computer for every three people there. And the only substitute for PC is Apple Computer. However, the higher price and lack of software support prevent people from switching to Apple system. Competitive rivalry within an industry the main points of the competitive environment within this industry are high concentration price war, low margin, decreasing profitability, and Low differentiation. For example, Dell.com offers computers and laptops of high quality at low prices as compared to the competitors. EBay.com is a place where people like to go to purchase products online at low price However, in the midst of sever competition, Dell can still grow his market share in this campaign. That is a proof of Dells business strategies has been successful. Apple- The Five Forces Models Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American corporation that designs and markets personal computers, computer software, computer system, and personal eletronic device. The most popular products of Apple Inc. include Mac personal computers, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system. August 2010, the company operates 301 retail stores within ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. As of May 2010, Apple is one of the largest companies in the world and the most valuable technology company in the world, even having surpassed Microsoft. In terms of five forces model, there are 2 main points need to be discuss Threats of substitutes Apples entertainment products have face the threats of substitutes. For examples, satellite radio for music (XM, Sirius), entertainment media, media and music (XBOX, PS2), alternative means to acquire music (Music CDs, DVDs), alternative sources for videos (Cable, Broadcast, Theatres) Competitive rivalry within an industry Apples main products are in an extremely competitive war. For example, Windows OS and media player for playing music and video ( Microsoft), the Linux also treat Mac OS X as his main Competitor, alternate sources of computer hardware (Dell, HP, Lenovo), small stylish MP3 players (Creative, Samsung, Sony), and online music stores similar to itunes stores (Napster) However, the products Apple sells and the services Apple offers are not the best in this industry, but they are always standing on the first place. The main reason for Apple could be Marketing, Apple always knows how to get customers, even their products and services in technological aspect are not the best, but they know what customers want and need, and focus on it. Intel -Balanced Scorecard analysis The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is utilized in organization, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, in order to improve internal and external communications, and monitor business performance against strategic goals. It was developed by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton.The balanced scorecard has evolved from its early utilise as a simple performance measurement framework to a full strategic planning and In terms of Intel, Intel Corporation is an US global technology company and the worlds largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, as Integrated Electronics Corporation.It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. The company is located in Santa Clara,California, USA. Intel also makes flash memory, network motherboard chipsets and graphic chips, and other devices related to communications and computing. Financial perspective A technology company that excels in many operational disciplines can still struggle if its product development decisions are flawed. Product management decisions within technology companies need to be based in part on the estimated and measured return on product development expense. A clear, consistent practice for analyzing RoI and applying it in decision making must be driven vertically and horizontally throughout the organization. Such a practice is an inherent requirement to realizing consistent decision making and communicating product investment decisions Customer perspective Technology customers will typically have strong belief systems underpinning what supplier they do business with and what products/services they purchase. They require the ability to interact with the suppliers organization, and will grade the supplier on how successful those interactions are. Its of strategic importance that customer facing personnel, and those in support roles, place a priority on that customer interaction consistently being a positive one Internal business process Assessing, re-assessing and re-re-assessing market demand is imperative. The trend for increasing rate of change in technology markets has no end in sight. A technology company cannot rely on one market assessment at one point in time to guide project priorities. Market assessment needs to be continuous. Learning and growth As stated earlier, the path to marketplace disruption begins with the introduction of enabling technologies. There are many paths to obtaining such enabling technologies, which do not require the risk and expense of basic research and development. Yet, for the technology company to be a leader, its of strategic importance to continually lead in the identification and application of technologies that enable use models and workflows in the marketplace. Conclusion To sum up, the economy is unexpected changeable, while the economy is in good time plus company continuously takes the right strategies, it could be easier for company to succeed in their own business adventure. What if the economy is falling? Companies still need to have the correct strategies operating in their business to avoid the failure, even take the critical time to gain more market share in order to make more profits. According to the examples and cases which are all above in previous chapters, Researcher would like to say that take better strategies can always make companies running on the right track, even shrink the loss in bad economy time.

Teacher Ethics Essay -- moral code ethics ethical educators

Teacher Ethics â€Å"Ethics are defined as a set of principles of right conducts; the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession† ( Dictionary of the Human Language, 2000). Teachers are often put in situations that require more than just knowing the basic school rules. It is within these situations, that the ethical dilemmas occur. There is not always a right way to deal with many daily problems that face educators, but there are ways to handle situations that are better then others. Teachers should follow and refer to a code of ethics to help teach in the most appropriate and ethical way; as well as a guide to help deal with dilemmas. It is important that teachers give children a fair chance to show their knowledge when assessing. â€Å"The purpose of assessment is to provide feedback that can be used to improve student performance† ( Orange 2000). Teachers assess children to ensure that they are understanding the material, and to make sure they are learning. For young children especially tests should never be the only criteria of assessment. Instructors should always make sure that their assessment is fair. When testing a child, make sure that the testing method used is appropriate for that child. For example, if giving a test that relies on visual aids to administer the test it is important that the teacher is certain that all the children have good enough vision to clearly see the aids. When assessing young children in particular it is important to look for more then simply right or wrong. An in depth look is necessary to see what the children really know before giving them a poor grade. Children’s work needs to critiqued in more then one way to be sure that they really do ... ...o put a leash on teachers' pets. Retrieved November 2, 2002 from http://www.mbhs.edu/silverchips/articles/apr2001favoritism.html . Dictionary of the human language. (2000). Retrieved November 5, 2002 from www.dictionary.com. Goodlad, J. I., Sirotnik, K. A., & Soder, R. (1990). The moral dimensions of teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Gushee, M. (1984). Student discipline policies, 12. 5. Retrieved November 4, 2002. ERIC Digest. Hanson K., & Shwartz W. (1992). Equal mathematics education for female students, 78. 4. Retrieved November 4, 2002. ERIC Digest. Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2000). Exploring your role: A practitioner’s introduction to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Orange, C. (2000). 25 biggest mistakes teachers make and how to avoid them. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. Teacher Ethics Essay -- moral code ethics ethical educators Teacher Ethics â€Å"Ethics are defined as a set of principles of right conducts; the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession† ( Dictionary of the Human Language, 2000). Teachers are often put in situations that require more than just knowing the basic school rules. It is within these situations, that the ethical dilemmas occur. There is not always a right way to deal with many daily problems that face educators, but there are ways to handle situations that are better then others. Teachers should follow and refer to a code of ethics to help teach in the most appropriate and ethical way; as well as a guide to help deal with dilemmas. It is important that teachers give children a fair chance to show their knowledge when assessing. â€Å"The purpose of assessment is to provide feedback that can be used to improve student performance† ( Orange 2000). Teachers assess children to ensure that they are understanding the material, and to make sure they are learning. For young children especially tests should never be the only criteria of assessment. Instructors should always make sure that their assessment is fair. When testing a child, make sure that the testing method used is appropriate for that child. For example, if giving a test that relies on visual aids to administer the test it is important that the teacher is certain that all the children have good enough vision to clearly see the aids. When assessing young children in particular it is important to look for more then simply right or wrong. An in depth look is necessary to see what the children really know before giving them a poor grade. Children’s work needs to critiqued in more then one way to be sure that they really do ... ...o put a leash on teachers' pets. Retrieved November 2, 2002 from http://www.mbhs.edu/silverchips/articles/apr2001favoritism.html . Dictionary of the human language. (2000). Retrieved November 5, 2002 from www.dictionary.com. Goodlad, J. I., Sirotnik, K. A., & Soder, R. (1990). The moral dimensions of teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Gushee, M. (1984). Student discipline policies, 12. 5. Retrieved November 4, 2002. ERIC Digest. Hanson K., & Shwartz W. (1992). Equal mathematics education for female students, 78. 4. Retrieved November 4, 2002. ERIC Digest. Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2000). Exploring your role: A practitioner’s introduction to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Orange, C. (2000). 25 biggest mistakes teachers make and how to avoid them. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Relation of Group Performance to Age

Journal of Applied Psychology 2008, Vol. 93, No. 2, 392– 423 Copyright 2008 by the American Psychological Association 0021-9010/08/$12. 00 DOI: 10. 1037/0021-9010. 93. 2. 392 The Relationship of Age to Ten Dimensions of Job Performance Thomas W. H. Ng The University of Hong Kong Daniel C. Feldman The University of Georgia Previous reviews of the literature on the relationship between age and job performance have largely focused on core task performance but have paid much less attention to other job behaviors that also contribute to productivity.The current study provides an expanded meta-analysis on the relationship between age and job performance that includes 10 dimensions of job performance: core task performance, creativity, performance in training programs, organizational citizenship behaviors, safety performance, general counterproductive work behaviors, workplace aggression, on-the-job substance use, tardiness, and absenteeism. Results show that although age was largely unrelated to core task performance, creativity, and performance in training programs, it demonstrated stronger relationships with the other 7 performance dimensions.Results also highlight that the relationships of age with core task performance and with counterproductive work behaviors are curvilinear in nature and that several sample characteristics and data collection characteristics moderate age–performance relationships. The article concludes with a discussion of key research design issues that may further knowledge about the age–performance relationship in the future. Keywords: age, aging, older workers, job performance, meta-analysisAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age of the American workforce has been increasing over the last 30 years—35 years old in 1980, 37 years old in 1990, 39 years old in 2000, and 41 years old in 2006. This trend is also evident worldwide. For instance, International Labor Organization (2005) statistics indi cate that young adults between the ages of 20 and 24 were the largest segment of the working population in 1980. However, by 1990 the 30 –34 age group was the largest segment of the working population, and today the largest segment of the world’s working population is the age 40 – 44 cohort.Older workers are becoming an increasingly important concern for organizations for reasons beyond their sheer numbers. The shift to an older workforce has caused many organizations to spend more money on succession planning, pension benefits, health insurance, and medical benefits (Beehr & Bowling, 2002; Paul & Townsend, 1993). In addition, numerous organizations have concerns (and/or stereotypes) that older workers may exhibit lower productivity (Avolio & Waldman, 1994; Greller & Simpson, 1999; Hassell & Perrewe, 1995; Lawrence, 1996).For instance, compared with younger workers, older workers are stereotyped as being less physically capable, as more likely to have problems g etting along with coworkers, as preferring to invest more time in their families than in their jobs (Fung, Lai, & Ng, 2001; Paul & Townsend, 1993), as less technologically savvy, and as less willing to adapt quickly in volatile environments (Isaksson & Johansson, 2000; Riolli-Saltzman & Luthans, 2001). Thomas W. H.Ng, School of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong; Daniel C. Feldman, Terry College of Business, The University of Georgia. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thomas W. H. Ng, School of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong. E-mail: [email  protected] hku. hk 392 Previous research has produced mixed results, however, regarding the precise relationship between age and job performance.In the three most-cited quantitative reviews of this literature, one found a moderate-sized positive relationship between age and performance (Waldman & Avolio, 1986), one found that age was largely unrelated to performance (McEvoy & Cascio, 1989), and the third found that the age–performance relationship took an inverted-U shape (Sturman, 2003). We believe that one reason for these mixed results is that much of the previous research on the age–performance relationship has focused rather narrowly on the performance of core task activities.As a result, past research has not closely examined the broad spectrum of behaviors that comprise â€Å"job performance† and the multiple ways in which age is related to work effectiveness. Over the past 2 decades, organizational researchers have been examining numerous other job-related behaviors that also legitimately fall under the rubric of job performance. These include the following: creativity, performance in training programs, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), safety performance, counterproductive work behaviors, on-the-job substance use, workplace aggression, tardiness, and absence.Although mos t of these job behaviors could not be called core task activities per se (Organ, 1988), they do significantly affect organizational productivity by shaping the organizational cultures and environments in which core task performance takes place (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997). As such, examining a broader and more inclusive set of job performance measures may help clarify the complex relationship between age and performance. Mixed results on the age–performance relationship may also be partially attributable to the differing nature of research samples and data collection characteristics (Lawrence, 1996; S.R. Rhodes, 1983). For instance, research samples may vary in terms of the types of jobs workers perform, and as such, results may vary depending upon which skills older workers are required to utilize. AGE AND JOB PERFORMANCE 393 Similarly, because the nature of the work environment has changed substantially over the past 30 years, studies on the age–performance relationshi p conducted in the 1970s may have yielded very different results than studies conducted more recently. In addition, there may be differences in results depending upon whether data were collected cross-sectionally or longitudinally.For example, the effect of intraindividual aging on performance observed in longitudinal studies may be smaller in magnitude than the effect of broad age group differences observed in cross-sectional studies at any one point in time. Thus, examining the potential moderating effects of sample and data collection characteristics is not only important for research methodology purposes but for theoretical and practical reasons too. It allows us to identify the conditions under which age is likely to have positive, zero, or negative associations with various components of job performance.In the following section of the article, then, we briefly address some definitional issues, consider the results of previous quantitative reviews of the age–performance relationship, and discuss how the current study extends these previous reviews. Next, we present the results of an extended meta-analysis and provide evidence on the relationships between age and 10 performance dimensions. In the subsequent section, we examine the moderating effects of sample and data collection characteristics and also explore potential curvilinear relationships between age and performance dimensions.Finally, in the concluding section, we discuss the implications of our findings for future research and the management of older workers. Theoretical Background Definitional Issues Age versus aging. Age is a continuous variable and is used as such in our analyses. When we refer to age differences, we are referring to group-level differences between individuals at one age and individuals at another age. It is important to note here that, similar to previous quantitative reviews in this area of research (McEvoy & Cascio, 1989; Waldman & Avolio, 1986), the goal of the curr ent meta-analysis is not to isolate the effects of aging per se.That is, we are not directly examining the intraindividual aging process itself and how it relates to job performance. Instead, our goal is to examine the relationships between age and job performance dimensions across different cohorts and research contexts. For instance, is age, on average, related to job performance after taking into consideration different sample characteristics and research conditions? Is the relationship between age and core task performance stronger or weaker than the relationship between age and citizenship behavior? These are the kinds of questions we attempt to address here.Older workers. Who is considered an â€Å"older worker† has been debated in the literature for quite some time. In the retirement literature, older workers are often identified by having reached retirement age or by years until reaching retirement age (Beehr, 1986; Doeringer, 1990). Moreover, as Cleveland and Shore ( 1992) have noted, age can be defined in terms of an employee’s chronological age, the employee’s subjective age (the individual’s self-perception of age), the employee’s social age (others’ perceptions of the employee’s age), and the employee’s relative age (the egree to which the individual is older than others in the work group). Thus, the meaning of â€Å"old† depends, to some extent, on the demographic profiles of an organization or occupation (Shore, Cleveland, & Goldberg, 2003). Another definition that is frequently used in this literature is the legal definition of â€Å"older worker† provided by the U. S. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). This act prohibits discrimination against workers who are 40 years old or above.Although our data analyses use continuous measures of age wherever possible, in our discussion of â€Å"older workers† in the text, we generally rely on the ADEA definition for a variety of reasons. First, previous meta-analyses of age in the applied psychology literature have also utilized 40 years old as the cutoff age (Thornton & Dumke, 2005). Second, unlike authors in disciplines like gerontology and sociology (e. g. , Lindenberger & Baltes, 1997) who use high cutoff ages to make fine distinctions between the â€Å"young elderly† and â€Å"old elderly† (e. g. under and over age 85), scholars in the organizational sciences are particularly attuned to the fact that the age range in the active workforce is typically 16 – 65 years old (International Labor Organization, 2005). Thus, at least in terms of making a dichotomous split in the workforce, 40 years old appears to be an acceptable cutoff to distinguish between younger and older workers. Third, careers researchers have observed that age 40 typically marks the end of career establishment stage and the start of career maintenance stage (Super, 1980).As such, the chronological ag e of 40 often represents a major transition in career stages as well. Finally, defining older workers as 40 or above has some practical benefits because it directly aligns research findings regarding older workers to management implications regarding ADEA compliance in hiring, termination, performance evaluation, and promotion decisions. Undoubtedly over time, the definition of â€Å"older worker† will change. For example, the amendment of ADEA (by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991) to prohibit mandatory retirement ages may ultimately push back the age t which people retire (although labor statistics have not indicated any increases in retirement age as of yet). Even more likely, gains in life expectancy will change our conceptions of who is â€Å"middle-aged† and who is â€Å"old. † For our current purposes, though, the definition of older workers as being age 40 or older is consistent with both previous research and legal definitions and has the benefit of being â€Å"objectively† determined and verifiable across researchers and contexts. Previous Reviews of the Age–Performance RelationshipThree major quantitative reviews of this literature have been published in the last 25 years. Waldman and Avolio’s (1986) review is the earliest meta-analysis in this area. The authors identified 13 empirical studies containing 40 samples. They found that age was positively related to productivity measures of job performance (. 27). On the other hand, age was weakly but negatively related to supervisor ratings of job performance ( . 14). Furthermore, Waldman and Avolio found that the relationship between age and supervisor-rated job performance was stronger for nonprofessionals ( . 8) than for professionals ( . 05). Peer ratings of job performance were related to age at . 10. In sum, Waldman and Avolio (1986) illustrated that the sign of the relationship between age and task performan ce varies depend- 394 NG AND FELDMAN ing upon which measure of performance is being utilized, who does the performance ratings, and what kinds of jobs workers hold. To the extent that there is a drawback to this meta-analysis, it is the lack of availability of a large number of studies at that time.Meta-analyses that include too few cumulative studies may contain second-order sampling errors (Hunter & Schmidt, 1990). Addressing this drawback, McEvoy and Cascio (1989) identified 65 empirical studies (containing 96 samples) conducted on the relationship between age and performance. Across these 96 samples, the authors found that the mean correlation between age and job performance was quite low (. 06) and that the confidence intervals contained the value of zero. Unlike Waldman and Avolio (1986), McEvoy and Cascio found that type of performance rating (productivity vs. upervisory rating) and job type (professional vs. nonprofessional) did not moderate the relationship between age and performance. The different results observed in these two meta-analyses may be attributable to the different sets of studies the researchers considered, as McEvoy and Cascio located a wider range of empirical studies than Waldman and Avolio had included. Sturman’s (2003) meta-analysis hypothesized that the relationships of performance with three age-related variables (chronological age, job experience, and organizational tenure) were in the form of an inverted-U shape.With respect to the age–performance relationship, Sturman found that the corrected effect size across 115 empirical studies was . 03. Although this effect size is very small, he did find that this relationship was indeed an inverted-U shape. That is, age was positively related to job performance when age was low but was negatively related to job performance when age was high ( 49 years old). Below, we highlight the main evidence supporting these three different perspectives on the age–performance re lationship.Whereas earlier research on older workers largely focused on the negative relationship between age and task performance (S. R. Rhodes, 1983), more recently researchers have been examining the ways in which age can facilitate task performance or, at the minimum, not adversely affect it (Ebner, Freund, & Baltes, 2006; Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). As a result, we have a much richer picture now of how age is positively or negatively related to core task performance but not as complete a picture of how age relates to a broad spectrum of other performance measures. unctions, that is, monitoring and controlling attention, suppressing irrelevant information, utilizing analytical reasoning, and updating information in working memory. Older individuals were found to perform much more poorly on this test battery than their younger counterparts. In general, M. G. Rhodes’s results suggest that older individuals may have more difficulties with complex tasks that require a high leve l of executive functioning. Indeed, there is also cumulative empirical evidence to indicate that older individuals do not do as well as younger individuals when performing multiple complex tasks simultaneously (Verhaeghen, Steitz,Sliwinski, & Cerella, 2003). Another area in which age appears to have negative association with performance is memory capacity. Previous meta-analyses have demonstrated a significant negative relationship between age and memory. For instance, older adults were found to have poorer recognition and recall memory than younger adults (La Voie & Light, 1994; Spencer & Raz, 1995; Verhaeghen, Marcoen, & Goosens, 1993). Moreover, as a result of these memory differences, employees are less likely to trust the memories of older coworkers.In an experimental study of attribution theory, for example, Erber and Danker (1995) found that participants expected memory-related performance problems of older workers to continue longer than those of younger workers and were les s likely to recommend training when â€Å"problem† employees were older. Above and beyond these differences in aptitudes and short-term memory, researchers have also found that older individuals may have less intense work motivation than their younger colleagues (S. R. Rhodes, 1983). For instance, Ebner et al. 2006) found that younger individuals are more likely to frame their goal orientations in terms of striving for gains (e. g. , I want to improve my fitness), whereas older individuals are more likely to frame their goal orientation around maintaining the status quo or preventing loss (e. g. , I do not want my fitness to deteriorate). These changes in motivation may also be linked to lower productivity on the job. Evidence Supporting Positive or Neutral Relationships of Age With Performance The above literature paints a rather pessimistic view of the relationship of age with job performance.Nonetheless, a strong case can also be made that older workers may exhibit at leas t the same, if not greater, job performance as their younger colleagues (Greller & Simpson, 1999). The rationale most frequently cited to support this case is that older workers substitute lengthy job experience and greater general expertise for speed of information acquisition and information recall. This wisdom and expertise, accumulated over the course of a career, may be sufficient to compensate for productivity losses due to any changes in cognitive and physical abilities (Baltes, Staudinger, Maercker, & Smith, 1995).Kanfer and Ackerman (2004) have emphasized that older age is often accompanied by increases in â€Å"crystallized† intelligence (experiential knowledge). Indeed, experimental evidence provides robust support for Kanfer and Ackerman’s assertion. For instance, Allen, Lien, Murphy, Sanders, and McCann (2002) found that older participants could multitask as effectively as younger participants, albeit at a slower pace. Artistico, Cervone, and Pezzuti (2003 ) found that older adults’ performance in solving problems exceeded that of younger adults when the problems were familiarEvidence Supporting Negative Relationships of Age With Performance Numerous studies have found support for the proposition that age negatively relates to cognitive functioning. For instance, in a large sample of 20,000 American workers across multiple occupational groups, Avolio and Waldman (1994) found that age was negatively related to several types of aptitudes, including general intelligence, verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude, spatial aptitude, form perception, clerical perception, motor coordination, finger dexterity, and manual dexterity.Thus, for jobs in which general cognitive abilities, visual-perceptual abilities, and psychomotor abilities are important components for superior job performance, Avolio and Waldman have suggested that age is negatively related to job performance. Furthermore, M. G. Rhodes (2004) found that there was a strong and s ignificant difference between older and younger adults in performance on a test battery measuring individuals’ executive AGE AND JOB PERFORMANCE 395 and representative of tasks frequently encountered.ColoniaWillner (1998) found that the best performing older employees had higher levels of tacit knowledge than their younger employees. Studies using different research designs have also found that professional expertise, developed over years of practice and experience, can attenuate potential negative relationships between age and performance dimensions (Hess & Auman, 2001; Lindenberger, Kliegl, & Baltes, 1992; Morrow, Leirer, Altieri, & Fitzsimmons, 1994; Thornton & Dumke, 2005; Wilson, Li, Bienias, & Bennett, 2006).Taken together, the research described above suggests that, after a slower pace of initial learning, older workers can reach the same performance levels as those of their younger colleagues and can multitask effectively. Moreover, when older workers are asked to sol ve familiar problems, higher self-efficacy beliefs are activated, and these beliefs can accelerate performance. Thus, although fluid intelligence, short-term working memory, and cognitive speed may decrease with age, deductive reasoning and professional expertise are likely to increase (Masunaga & Horn, 2001).Moreover, increased wisdom and judgment gained over years of service may increase older workers’ effectiveness in contextual performance activities as well. Creativity Creativity is the extent to which employees generate new and useful ideas for improving organizational productivity (Anderson, De Dreu, & Nijstad, 2004). For many jobs, creativity might be considered as a separate element of job performance, particularly when creativity relates to organizational adaptability and flexibility.For instance, some researchers have emphasized the importance of employees’ creativity as a critical component of an organization’s ability to adapt to rapidly changing bu siness environments (A. De Jonge & De Ruyter, 2004; Johnson, 2001). Consistent with this view of creativity as a key element of job effectiveness, a major study of performance evaluation systems found that some organizations evaluated employees on their innovativeness as well as on their core task performance (Welbourne, Johnson, & Erez, 1998). Performance in Training ProgramsOlder workers are often stereotyped as being somewhat resistant to change and slow in learning new material. For this reason, researchers have examined older workers’ performance in training programs as an element of job effectiveness (Martocchio, 1994). As Tracey, Tannenbaum, and Michael (1995) have suggested, organizations typically provide training to employees on the basis of the assumption that the short-run costs of the design and execution of training can be recouped through employees’ increased productivity in the long run.However, if employees do not perform well in training programs, it is highly unlikely that they will transfer that new knowledge to real work settings. Furthermore, when employees fail to learn in training programs, the expenses associated with training are wasted as well (Winfred, Bennett, Edens, & Bell, 2003). Expanding the Domain of the Performance Construct Previous reviews of the age–performance relationship have primarily focused on the performance of core tasks.According to Borman and Motowidlo (1997), core task performance is concerned with â€Å"the effectiveness with which job incumbents perform activities that contribute to the organization’s technical core† (p. 99). In addition to core task performance, however, we also examine nine other performance dimensions that comprise the two broad categories of job behaviors identified by Hunt (1996) as independent of the core job role, namely, citizenship behaviors and minimum performance behaviors.Citizenship behaviors are those extra behaviors engaged in by employees, ove r and above their core task requirements, that actively promote and strengthen the organization’s effectiveness (Organ, 1988). In this study, the first category is represented by such dimensions as employee creativity, performance in training programs, citizenship behaviors geared to different beneficiaries, and safety performance. In contrast, minimum performance behaviors are those that employees have to engage in (like attending work) or refrain from engaging in (like theft) to keep their jobs (Hunt, 1996).This second category is represented by such dimensions as general counterproductive work behaviors, workplace aggression, on-the-job substance use, tardiness, and absenteeism. Conceptually, there are certainly other behavioral dimensions that could be included under these two categories. For example, working long hours and demonstrating effective leadership are examples of additional citizenship behaviors that might be considered, whereas refraining from sexual harassmen t and manipulating stock prices are additional examples of minimum performance variables that could be considered.Empirically, however, a metaanalysis is constrained by the number of previous studies conducted on a specific relationship, and here we have included the nine dimensions identified above as the ones on which the most empirical studies are available. We discuss each of these additional nine dimensions of job performance in more detail below. OCBs Researchers have documented the importance of OCB for organizational functioning over the last 2 decades (LePine, Erez, & Johnson, 2002; Organ, 1988).OCBs (sometimes called prosocial behaviors or extrarole behaviors) are not job-specific but rather support the broader organizational environment in which core performance takes place (Motowidlo & Van Scotter, 1994; Organ, 1988). Examples of OCB are compliance with organizational norms, not complaining about trivial matters, and helping coworkers. Employees’ aggregated OCBs f requently benefit group, unit, and organizational productivity (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, & Bachrach, 2000). Safety PerformanceSafety performance is the extent to which employees comply with safety rules and demonstrate safe behaviors in the workplace (Parker, Axtell, & Turner, 2001). This performance dimension is particularly important in industries that require employee contact with hazardous materials, operation of heavy machinery, and extensive highway driving (Clarke & Robertson, 2005). Poor safety performance can have two distinct negative consequences for firms’ effectiveness. At the individual level, inattention to safety behaviors contributes to employee injuries; these injuries result in lower worker productivity and time lost from work.At the orga- 396 NG AND FELDMAN nizational level, poor safety practices contribute to potentially costly litigation. These claims create substantial financial burdens for firms in the event of serious employee accidents, dismember ments, and death (Hofmann & Morgeson, 1999). Both directly and indirectly, then, employee safety behaviors are an important component of job performance. General Counterproductive Work Behaviors Whereas research investigating OCB concentrates on what workers can do to romote smooth organizational functioning, research on workplace deviance examines how the lack of counterproductive work behaviors is essential to maintaining smooth organizational functioning (Neuman & Baron, 1998). Counterproductive work behaviors are intentional employee acts that harm organizations’ legitimate business interests (Bennett & Robinson, 2000). Examples of counterproductive work behaviors include working on personal matters instead of assigned tasks, neglecting supervisors’ instructions, stealing property, starting or repeating rumors and gossip, and using unprofessional language.It is easy to see the multiple ways in which these counterproductive work behaviors can reduce both individual and group performance. Moreover, Dalal (2005) found that employees who frequently engaged in counterproductive work behaviors were also less likely to demonstrate OCBs. son, 2000; Martocchio, 1989). Researchers have documented numerous negative effects of employee absence on organizational productivity (Harrison & Martocchio, 1998). When employees are absent from work, the completion of their own work is slowed down.Coworkers are often called upon to cover for absent employees, thereby distracting them from completing their own assignments. In cases in which task interdependence among a group of workers is high, the whole team’s progress may be affected when an employee is chronically absent or absent for extended periods of time. As with tardiness, frequent absences can also adversely affect organizational productivity by creating an â€Å"absence culture† in which more and more employees consider being absent acceptable (rather than counterproductive) behavior (Johns & Xie, 1998).Summary. Before we can draw strong conclusions about the relationship of age to job performance, then, it is important to consider citizenship behaviors and minimum performance behaviors in addition to core task performance. In light of the above literature review, we include 10 dimensions of job performance in the current meta-analysis: core task performance, creativity, performance in training programs, OCB, safety performance, general counterproductive work behaviors, workplace aggression, on-thejob substance use, tardiness, and absenteeism.From this point on, we use the phrase â€Å"job performance† to represent these 10 dimensions collectively. Specific Counterproductive Work Behaviors In addition to general counterproductive work behaviors, four specific forms of counterproductive work behavior have been discussed separately and extensively in the literature. We also examine these four specific counterproductive work behaviors— workplace aggression, on-the-job substance use, tardiness, and absenteeism—in the present meta-analysis. Workplace aggression.Workplace aggression consists of employees’ efforts to harm others with whom they work, harm the reputation of their current employers, or harm former colleagues and previous employers (Lapierre, Spector, & Leck, 2005). Acts of workplace aggression can cause bodily harm to employees, pose physical danger for customers, create public relations crises, and harm the business reputation of the firm as a whole. On-the-job substance use. On-the-job substance use involves drinking alcohol or taking illegal drugs at work or during work time (Frone, 2003).Researchers have found that on-the-job substance use hampers individuals’ decision-making abilities; increases the frequency of dysfunctional job behaviors; and puts coworkers, supervisors, and customers at increased risk of injury (Lehman & Simpson, 1992). Tardiness. Tardiness is lateness for work (Blau, 1994; Koslo wsky, Sagie, Krausz, & Singer, 1997). Employee tardiness is likely to create both direct financial costs to organizations (e. g. , decreased time on productive activities) and indirect financial costs (e. g. , time lost by coworkers waiting for late colleagues. . Left unchecked, numerous cases of tardiness can lead to a â€Å"culture of tardiness† (Koslowsky et al. , 1997) in which employees come to see being late as an acceptable behavior rather than as a deviant one. Absenteeism. Skipping work has also been conceptualized as a form of employee counterproductive behavior (Bennett & Robin- Moderator Relationships Another way in which the present study contributes to the literature is by investigating how different sample and design characteristics moderate the relationship between age and job performance.Many of these characteristics have been discussed in the literature as variables that can affect age–performance relationships (Lawrence, 1996; S. R. Rhodes, 1983; Sho re et al. , 2003; Sturman, 2003) and as potential explanations for inconsistent research findings in the area. Sample Characteristics In this study, we examine the potential moderating effects of the average age, age dispersion, job tenure, and organizational tenure of research samples.Testing for average sample age as a moderator essentially examines whether the form of the relationship between age and performance is linear or curvilinear (see Sturman, 2003). Testing the moderating role of age dispersion associated with the sample (operationalized as the standard deviation of age in the sample) assesses whether the age–performance relationship varies across samples with different degrees of age homogeneity. Testing for average job tenure and average organizational tenure examines whether the age–performance relationship varies across samples with different (average) tenures.In general, these four sample characteristics might influence authors’ definitions of â €Å"old† in a particular setting. We also examine the potential moderating effects of job complexity. The job complexity of the sample is important to consider here because it influences the extent to which the specific job skills required on jobs are associated with age-related performance problems. For the same reason, we also consider two related variables, namely, proportion of college degree holders and proportion of AGE AND JOB PERFORMANCE 397 managers in the sample.It is likely that older workers with more education or who hold managerial roles may have greater ability to substitute accumulated knowledge and judgment for precise technical skills. As such, the results of research on age–performance relationships may vary across samples with different mixes of college graduates and managers. In a more exploratory fashion, we also examine the effects of proportion of women and proportion of Caucasians in the sample. Gender and race have frequently been studied as i ndependent or control variables in previous research on aging, but here we consider their potential moderating effects instead.Examining these two â€Å"proportion† moderators assesses whether the age–performance relationship varies across samples with different proportions of women and Caucasians. of 1993 may have changed the ways in which organizations distinguish between â€Å"absence† and â€Å"leave† before and after that year. Similarly, the amended ADEA prohibits mandatory retirement ages, which might have changed the relationship between age and performance over time because of a potential change in the proportion of older workers in the labor force.Collectively, then, these changes may have affected the context in which older workers perform and thus the relationship of age to performance as well. Method Literature Search We performed a comprehensive search for those articles published during or before December 2006 that examined the relationship between age and job performance. Other published studies that did not aim at investigating this specific relationship but reported their effect sizes nonetheless were also included. We also searched for unpublished studies and dissertations to reduce the â€Å"file-drawer problem† (Rosenthal, 1979).We began our literature search by using the following keywords: age, job performance, task performance, productivity, creativity, innovation, training effectiveness, training performance, contextual performance, citizenship behavior, prosocial behavior, extrarole behavior, safety, injuries, accidents, counterproductive behavior, deviance, deviant behavior, aggression, aggressive behavior, violence, violent behavior, substance use, drinking, alcohol, drug, tardiness, lateness, absenteeism, absence, and job complexity.We searched in numerous research databases, including Dissertation Abstracts International, EBSCOHost, Emerald, Factiva, JSTOR, Oxford Journals, Proquest, PsycINFO, Sc ienceDirect, Sage Full-Text Collections, and several Wiley InterScience databases. Furthermore, the reference lists of recent meta-analyses that focused on criterion variables of interest were examined carefully to locate other relevant articles. These included, for instance, reference lists from meta-analyses on OCB (LePine et al. , 2002), absence (Martocchio, 1989), task performance (Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001), work injuries (Clarke & Robertson, 2005), and ounterproductive work behavior (Dalal, 2005). Such metaanalyses contained comprehensive and current reference lists in their respective research fields. Four inclusion and exclusion criteria were set prior to the start of the article search. First, we included field studies in which the age–job performance relationship occurred naturally, whereas laboratory studies were excluded. It is much more difficult to gather measures on performance dimensions besides core task performance in experimental settings (e. g. , lateness and absence).In addition, we had some concern that core task performance observed in laboratory studies might be partially attributable to the strength and form of the experimental manipulations themselves. Second, studies that examined age or performance only at the team level or organization level were excluded because our focus in this research is on individual behavior rather than group-level performance. Third, to avoid double counting, we excluded those studies in which authors used the same data set and reported the same correlations as in their other published studies.Fourth, we included studies that involved four types of performance ratings: ratings by Data Collection Characteristics We examine the moderating effects of two data collection characteristics in particular: (a) whether data were collected longitudinally or cross-sectionally, and (b) the publication year of articles. Both these moderators address the role of time in the age–performance relati onship. Cross-sectional data collection allows researchers to examine the extent to which there are group-level age differences (between different age cohorts) in job performance across different samples and research contexts.In contrast, longitudinal data collection helps shed light on the extent to which intraindividual aging is related to job performance (Baltes, Schaie, & Nardi, 1971; Schaie & Hofer, 2001). Results may vary, then, depending upon how the data in a study were collected. For instance, the effect of intraindividual aging on performance may be subtle and gradual, but the differences in performance between broad age groups at one point in time can be quite large. Thus, we examine the distinction between cross-sectional and longitudinal data collection as a potential moderator here. It should be noted that to truly examine the effect of aging on erformance, it would be ideal to focus the meta-analysis on longitudinal studies alone. However, there are too few articles a vailable to conduct a meta-analysis on only longitudinal studies; in fact, only 12% of the articles on this topic have been longitudinal in nature. Further, even if we tried to examine only longitudinal studies, the time period examined in those studies does not exceed 5 years, and the average period of time examined in those studies is only about 1 year. Thus, these studies generally do not use long enough time spans to capture intraindividual aging either.Thus, our database here largely consists of cross-sectional studies, allowing us to get an overall picture of the strength of various age–performance links, considering the variation in the specific performance measures, sample characteristics, and data collection characteristics. We revisit the limitations of cross-sectional data collection in conducting research involving age in more detail later in the article. The year a particular study was published is used here as a rough proxy for the nature of the work environment at the time a study was conducted.For instance, the last 2 decades have seen increased reliance on career self-management (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996), which may have loosened workers’ attachment to long-time employers and increased workers’ willingness to change careers later in life. The introduction of the Family and Medical Leave Act 398 NG AND FELDMAN supervisors, ratings by others (peers, subordinates, and customers), self-ratings, and objective measures. This allowed us to examine the moderating role of sources of rating in the age–performance relationship.With the above search criteria, our search yielded a total of 380 empirical studies, which collectively contain 438 independent samples. Thirteen studies were unpublished dissertations. Of the studies, 14% were published before 1990, 30% of the studies were published between 1990 and 1999, and the remaining 56% were published between 2000 and 2006. The average age across all samples that provided age info rmation was 36. 6 years old (ranged between 17 and 59 years old with a standard deviation of 8. 8 years). The list of studies is provided in the Appendix. Measures of Key ConstructsCreativity. Previous studies have measured creativity either via self-ratings or ratings by others; we used these two categories in the meta-analysis as well. Sample items of typical Likert-scale measures of creativity include the following: â€Å"creating new ideas for improvements†; â€Å"searching out new working methods, techniques, or instruments†; and â€Å"generating original solutions to problems† (Janssen, 2001). It should be noted that we did not differentiate between creativity and innovation (Anderson et al. , 2004); both types of measures are included in our study.Performance in training programs. Here, we focused on studies that involved training of adults on tasks that have at least some relevance in organizational contexts. Furthermore, only studies that had an explici t training intervention and had measured posttraining performance, competence, or learning were included. Measures of training performance consisted of either ratings given by supervisors or performance on posttraining tests. Studies that assessed employees’ participation in computer usage training are representative of the kinds of research articles included in this meta-analysis (e. . , Martocchio, 1994). Other example studies include training programs that teach specific competences or subject-related knowledge (e. g. , law or health care). Although our decision to include only studies that measured posttraining performance gave us a consistent perspective on the effects of training on performance, as we discuss later, the resulting set of studies was likely overrepresented by technology training programs in which older workers might be less likely to excel. OCBs. We included two types of OCB in the meta-analysis.The first set of studies examined general OCBs and did not d ifferentiate among beneficiaries of those OCBs. The second set of studies examined OCBs geared to three specific beneficiaries: other people on the job, the employer organization as a whole, and the tasks themselves. These subtypes have been identified by previous researchers as reasonable groupings of behaviors in this domain (LePine et al. , 2002). According to LePine et al. (2002), examples of OCB directed to others are helping colleagues with their work and orienting newcomers.Examples of organization-directed OCB are compliance with organizational norms and not complaining about trivial matters. Examples of task-directed OCB are spending extra effort and persistence on the job and trying hard to improve personal and group performance. It should be noted, too, that within each of these three subtypes, we further differentiated self-ratings from ratings by others. Safety performance. With respect to the measurement of safety performance, three major indicators have frequently bee n used in previous research and were included in the present metaanalysis.First, some studies have measured the frequency of work injuries via archival industrial health records. For instance, Hofmann and Morgeson (1999) measured workplace injuries by using the company’s archival records of injuries or accidents that occurred in the previous 12-month period. Second, other studies have utilized self-report measures of frequency of work injuries. A third set of studies have measured self-reported levels of compliance with safety procedures and practices. A sample item from this kind of measure is â€Å"Occasionally I bend the safety rules when I know it’s safe to do so (reverse coded)† (Parker et al. 2001). General counterproductive work behaviors. Most studies have measured general counterproductive work behaviors without differentiating targets, that is, without specifying the target of the counterproductive behavior. A few studies have differentiated between co unterproductive work behaviors directed at specific others and those directed at the organization as a whole (e. g. , Liao, Joshi, & Chuang, 2004). However, because of the small number of studies making this distinction, the current meta-analysis did not differentiate between these two categories of studies.In those few studies that reported both interpersonal and organizational counterproductive work behaviors, we averaged the correlations to obtain an estimate of general counterproductive work behavior. Sample Likert items of measures of general counterproductive work behaviors include the following: â€Å"I keep important information away from my boss† and â€Å"I openly compromise with others but delay implementing the compromise until my own objectives are accomplished† (Duffy, Ganster, & Shaw, 1998). Here, too, we differentiated between self-ratings of counterproductive work behavior and ratings by others.Workplace aggression. As mentioned above, four specific ty pes of counterproductive work behaviors have frequently been measured in previous research on this topic, and therefore we examined these four specific types of counterproductive behavior in more depth. Measures of workplace aggression typically ask respondents to indicate the frequency of occurrence of aggressive behaviors, such as yelling, swearing at others, damaging others’ property, and fighting (Glomb & Liao, 2003). All the studies we located utilized self-reported measures.On-the-job substance use. These measures typically ask respondents to indicate the frequency of on-the-job use of alcohol or drugs (Frone, 2003). Here, too, all the studies identified utilized self-ratings. Tardiness. Tardiness is typically measured in two ways. In the first, employees are asked self-report questions like â€Å"How often are you late from work? (never to constantly)† (Hanisch & Hulin, 1990). In the second, archival measures of lateness are obtained directly from personnel reco rds (Conte & Jacobs, 2003).We included both self-report and archival measures of tardiness in the meta-analysis. Absenteeism. Absenteeism has been measured in three different ways in previous research. The first group of studies measure general absenteeism; these studies do not differentiate between when employees are absent because of sickness or for purely discretionary reasons (Xie & Johns, 2000). Other studies in this line of research measure either the number of days absent from work in a given period (absence duration) or the frequency of AGE AND JOB PERFORMANCE 99 absence spells in a given period (absence frequency). Because these indices are all closely related (Conte & Jacobs, 2003), they are aggregated together in the present meta-analysis. A second research stream includes studies that measure sickness absenteeism. As an example, J. De Jonge, Reuvers, Houtman, and Kompier (2000) computed sickness absence as the number of separate spells of sickness absence during 1 full c alendar year. Researchers have traditionally viewed absenteeism due to sickness as involuntary absence (Dalton & Todor, 1993).The third, and last, group of absence studies consists of those that measure nonsickness-related absenteeism. For instance, Vigoda (2001, p. 1499) asked respondents to report â€Å"their estimates of days missed work (during the previous year) for reasons other than sickness. † As another example, Deery, Erwin, and Iverson (1999) obtained personnel records of frequency of nonmedically certified absences during the prior 12-month period. In contrast to sickness-related absence, researchers have generally viewed nonsickness-related absence as an indicator of voluntary withdrawal behavior (Dalton & Todor, 1993).Meta-Analytical Procedures Hunter and Schmidt’s (1990) meta-analysis technique, which requires corrections for both measurement error and sampling error, was used. Because there is no theoretical reason to believe the measurement of age woul d contain measurement error, we followed the practice of previous researchers (Martocchio, 1989) and did not disattenuate the measurement of age in individual studies. On the other hand, the behavioral measures of job performance did require disattenuation to remove the influence of measurement errors.Disattenuation of core task performance. Some researchers have reasoned that it is more appropriate to use interrater reliability to correct for imperfect measurement when task performance is rated by others (i. e. , not by oneself; Judge et al. , 2001; Schmidt & Hunter, 1996; Viswesvaran, Ones, & Schmidt, 1996). In contrast, other researchers argue that measures of intrarater reliability (that is, alpha coefficients or internal consistency estimates) are more appropriate in this regard (Murphy & De Shon, 2000).In light of these different perspectives on disattentuation, we disattenuated the observed correlations for either imperfect intrarater reliability or imperfect interrater relia bility. We first corrected studies for the lack of perfect intrarater reliability in the measurement of core task performance. Because different studies may measure the same construct using different scales, this disattenuation process also adjusts for the different levels of measurement error contained in different scales (Hunter & Schmidt, 1990).This type of correction requires the use of alpha coefficients (i. e. , internal consistency estimates) reported in individual studies. If no alpha value was reported for a particular scale in a study, an average alpha value calculated from the rest of the studies using the same scale was taken as a substitute (Judge et al. , 2001). The above procedure for correction for imperfect intrarater reliability was performed on all self-report measures and on all measures provided by supervisors, peers, and customers.We corrected studies for imperfect interrater reliability when core task performance was measured via ratings by others (i. e. , not via self-reports). This type of correction required the use of interrater reliability estimates. Unfortunately, many studies included in the meta-analysis did not report these estimates. Therefore, following Judge et al. (2001), for studies that used supervisors as the rating source, we disattenuated the correlations using the metaanalytical estimate of the reliability of supervisor-rated job performance provided by Viswesvaran et al. (1996).For studies that used peers to rate job performance, we disattenuated the correlations using the meta-analytical estimate of the reliability of peer-rated job performance. Because there is a lack of research on interrater reliability associated with less frequently-used raters (i. e. , customers, subordinates, students, or spouses), in these cases we utilized as a proxy estimate the average of the meta-analytical estimate of the reliability of supervisor-rated performance and that of peerrated job performance. As noted earlier, several studies utilized objective measures of core task performance (e. g. quantity of output, sales volume, errors made). Although the notion of interrater and intrarater reliability does not apply to objective measures, it should be noted that these objective measures are still likely to contain some measurement error and might vary depending upon the job complexity of the sample (Sturman, Cheramie, & Cashen, 2005). Because studies seldom reported any kind of reliability estimates for objective measures of core task performance, as a substitute we adopted the meta-analytical estimate of the test–retest reliability of the objective measure of job performance provided by Sturman et al. 2005). Sturman et al. calculated two separate estimates of the reliability of objective task performance, one for jobs of low complexity (e. g. , secretary) and one for jobs of high complexity (e. g. , engineer). For those studies that sampled mixed job complexity types, we used the average value of Sturman e t al. ’s two estimates as the proxy. Disattenuation of other performance measures. The disattenuation of the observed correlations between age and the remaining dimensions of job performance largely followed the protocols outlined above.For instance, for self-ratings of creativity, OCB, counterproductive work behaviors, workplace aggression, tardiness, and absence, we corrected for imperfect intrarater reliability using either alpha coefficients (if provided) or an average alpha value based on the remaining studies that used the same scales (if alpha was not provided). For nonself ratings of these performance dimensions, in addition to correcting for imperfect intrarater reliability using the above procedure, we also corrected for imperfect interrater reliability using Viswesvaran et al. s (1996) metaanalytical estimates of the reliability of job performance. Finally, for performance measures that were objective in nature (e. g. , training test scores and company records of w ork injuries, lateness, and absence), we used Sturman et al. ’s (2005) meta-analytical estimate of test–retest reliability of the objective performance measure as a substitute. Corrections for sampling errors. The second step in the metaanalysis was correction for sampling errors. Here, we calculated the sample size-weighted corrected correlation. A corrected correlation was judged to be significant at . 5 when its 95% confidence interval did not include the value of zero. Moderator Analyses Subgroup moderator analyses. Two approaches to moderator testing were used. The first one was subgroup analysis; this ap- 400 NG AND FELDMAN proach was taken when the moderator variables were categorical in nature (e. g. , longitudinal vs. cross-sectional data collection). The coding of most of these categorical moderator variables is self-explanatory. The coding for the job complexity and age moderators, though, requires some further explanation.In the case of job complexity, two researchers were responsible for the coding. The coding process was guided by previous metaanalyses that also coded job complexity (e. g. , Avolio & Waldman, 1990; Salgado et al. , 2003; Wood, Mento, & Locke, 1987). Specifically, the two raters classified each sample occupation into high and low job complexity according to the general intelligence, verbal ability, and numerical ability required to perform the job (Avolio & Waldman, 1990). Interrater agreement was 93%. In situations in which there was disagreement, discussion was used to reach consensus.The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (1991) was used to assist in these discussions, too, because jobs in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles are coded and classified according to several dimensions (e. g. , data, people, and things) that reflect job complexity (Avolio & Waldman, 1990; Salgado et al. , 2003). Examples of â€Å"high complexity† jobs are researchers, accountants, business consultants, psychiatrists, engineers, managers/executives, financial analysts, nurses, IT professionals, and teachers. â€Å"Low complexity† jobs include clerks, restaurant workers, highway maintenance workers, truck drivers, and receptionists.In those cases in which we needed to examine the differences across different age subgroups, we sorted studies into four groups on the basis of the average age of the sample: less than 30 years old, 31–35, 36 – 40, and over 40 years old. The reason underlying this categorization is four-fold. First, it approximately equalized the number of studies contained in each group. Second, previous research on life-span development has suggested that the time before 30 years old is often a period within which individuals explore careers, whereas the time after 40 years old roughly marked the end of establishment years (Super, 1980).Third, ADEA also uses 40 as the â€Å"cutoff age. † Last, much of the previous research on age and job performance has used decade o r halfdecade benchmarks. Regression-based moderator testing. In other cases, the original studies did not provide sufficient sample information with which to categorize moderators. For these moderator variables, therefore, regression-based moderator testing was used. To illustrate the statistical procedures, we utilize the example of â€Å"proportion of women† (i. e. , gender).We tested the plausibility of gender as a moderator by investigating the effect of the percentage of women in the sample (which was a continuous variable) on the observed relationship between age and job performance (cf. Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman, 2005). In essence, we used the percentage of women in the sample as an independent variable, in a weighted least squares multiple regression, to predict the correlation coefficients for the age–job performance relationship. If the percentage of women in the sample as a significant predictor of a relationship between age and a dimension of job perform ance, then it would suggest that gender moderated that relationship. It should be noted that, among the eight sample characteristics on which we applied this regression approach, only average age, age dispersion, average job tenure, and average organizational tenure of the sample were truly continuous variables per se. The remaining characteristics (proportion of degree holders, managers, women, and Caucasians) were proxies for sociodemographic variables that are typically measured as categorical variables at the individual level.Nonetheless, this regression technique for testing for moderators in meta-analyses has been found to be more reliable and robust than alternative methods for dealing with this analysis challenge (Steel & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2002). Results The meta-analysis results for the relationships between age and the 10 performance dimensions are presented in Table 1. Relationships Between Age and Job Performance Core task performance. We found that age was largely unrel ated to core task performance. It was related to supervisor-rated task performance at . 02 (. 03 when corrected for interrater reliability), objective measures of task performance at . 3, and self-rated task performance at . 06. Age was unrelated to core task performance as rated by peers and others. Creativity. Age was not significantly related to creativity. Age was neither related to employee creativity as rated by supervisor (. 01; . 02 when corrected for interrater reliability) nor to selfreports of creativity ( . 01). Performance in training programs. We found that age had a weak, negative relationship with performance in training programs ( . 04). That is, older workers’ performance in training programs was found to be slightly lower than that of younger workers. General and specific types of OCB.On the other hand, age demonstrated significant and positive relationships with OCB. With respect to general OCB (i. e. , OCB that did not differentiate among or specify targe ts), age was related to ratings by others at . 06 (. 08 when corrected for interrater reliability) and to selfratings at . 08. Examining studies that differentiated targets of OCB revealed some interesting results. With respect to OCB directed at others, age was related to ratings by others at . 05 (. 06 when corrected for interrater reliability) and to self-ratings at . 07. With respect to OCB directed at organizations, age was related to ratings by others at . 6 (. 08 when corrected for interrater reliability) and to selfratings at . 14. With respect to OCB directed at tasks, age was related to ratings by others at . 21 (. 27 when corrected for interrater reliability) and to self-ratings at . 13. Safety performance. Age also demonstrated significant relationships with safety behavior. Specifically, age was positively related to self-rated compliance with safety rules and procedures at . 10. Furthermore, it was negatively related to objective frequency measures of work injuries at . 08 and to self-rated frequency of work injuries at . 03.General counterproductive work behavior. Age was significantly and negatively related to general counterproductive work behaviors. Most studies have measured general counterproductive work behaviors without differentiating targets. Age was negatively related to these ratings of counterproductive work behaviors given by others (supervisors/peers) at . 09 ( . 12 when corrected for interrater reliability) and to self-ratings at . 12. Specific counterproductive work behaviors. Moreover, older workers appear to engage in less workplace aggression, on-the-job substance use, and tardiness in particular. Age was negativelyAGE AND JOB PERFORMANCE 401 Table 1 Meta-Analytical Relationships Between Age and Job Performance Variable Core task performance Supervisor-rated (Corrected for interrater reliability) Rated by peers and others (Corrected for interrater reliability) Objective measures Self-rated Creativity Rated by supervisor or obj ective measures (Corrected for interrater reliability) Self-rated Performance in training programs Rated by supervisor or objective measures OCB General (undifferentiated targets) Rated by supervisors, peers, or others (Corrected for interrater reliability) Self-rated Directed at othersRated by supervisors, peers, or others (Corrected for interrater reliability) Self-rated Directed at organization Rated by supervisors, peers, or others (Corrected for interrater reliability) Self-rated Directed at tasks Rated by supervisors, peers, or others (Corrected for interrater reliability) Self-rated Safety performance Self-rated compliance with safety rules Objective frequency of work injuries Self-rated frequency of work injuries General counterproductive work behavior (undifferentiated targets or types) Rated by supervisor or peers (Corrected for interrater reliability) Self-rated Self-rated workplace aggression Self-rated on-the-job substance use Tard