Credibility of International Human Rights Organizations Term Paper

Credibility of International Human Rights Organizations - Term Paper Example The organizations play their roles through mobilizing people and confronting any institution or individuals who are acting in an injustice or inhuman manner, thus jeopardizing the dignity of humanity. The International Human Rights Organizations monitors basic human right issues all over the world and promote their views on such issues (Barsh, 113). They undertake their responsibilities through lobbying and advocacy, trying to convince the United Nations as well as other national governments to adopt their established policies on human rights and freedoms (Emilie and Kiyoteru, 407). Such International Human Rights Organizations have observers in many regions of the world where they monitor and give their views on the violation and abuse of human rights in those regions. To protect and promote human rights the world over, such organizations collaborates with other regional and locally based organizations, as well as human rights defenders, to mobilize, lobby and advocate for non-viola tion of basic human rights by governments and other institutions (James and Peter, 276). However, the idea of human rights protection have been overemphasized in the last two decades, with human rights organization taking the center stage in running the affairs of the people. More than ever in the world, human rights organizations have been integrated in each aspect of a countries affair, having the media focus on them and huge budget allocations channeled towards them (Emilie and Ron, 375). The support for human rights organization has been immense from the public, since they perceive such organizations as their protector against the violations of their basic freedoms and rights by the government. Therefore, human rights organizations have become an effective platform through which people advocate for their rights and seek redress whenever their freedoms and rights are violated. Thus, the reputation of International Human Rights Organizations has grown bigger than of many other lea ding corporations (Emilie and Kiyoteru, 407). Though in the 1970s such organizations were excluded in the main global policy circles, these has changed with any policy involving finance, security and power incorporating these organizations at the center stage of such issues. Thus, human rights have been integrated in the global culture, where every aspect of human interaction has to be aligned based on the policies and views promoting human rights and freedoms. Social change in the developing world is greatly imparted by the International Human Rights Organizations, as any aspect of social change in such countries has to be monitored and assessed based on how it suits the established policies by these organizations. For such organizations, two basic issues are fundamental for their success in actively playing their roles. The first of this fundamental task is to persuade the political, social, and economic elites that human rights are universal and desirable for all, and thus they s hould be promoted at whatever cost (Emilie and Ron, 375). This can be achieved through having politicians and other social elites prioritize human right issues in their meetings and forums. Journalists and bureaucrats have an enormous role to play in promoting these issues through articulating them in media. The second tasks are translating the human rights language and policies into a reality and have such

Designer Babies Essay Example for Free

Designer Babies Essay How would you like your baby to be? Tall, blonde, smart or sporty? There is now technology which enables us to do this. â€Å"Designer babies† is now an up and coming technology as more and more people are looking into using it to create their â€Å"perfect† child. In this day and age the topic of designer babies is very controversial between people. Some people see it as wrong, that a baby should choose how it lives its life. Not their parent before the baby is even born. Of the U.K’s population doesn’t agree with designer babies, as it’s not the parent’s choice to play with their child’s genetics. However in some cases this is families only option to do this because if they already had a child who need a bone marrow transplant. Scientists can make the siblings match so this designer baby can give some of their own bone marrow to the brother or sister. Most people opinion of creating a designer baby for the purpose of saving another child life is that it’s okay. But only if it’s for these purposes not for cosmetic reasons. It seems if this technology takes off, that we will have a perfect world. Which will make it even harder to get jobs as if everyone is smart then how will people know who is better for the job or if everyone is sporty, who will do all the jobs that require people who are very intelligent. The thing is they don’t know what will happen n the future. There is enough unemployment as it is, never mind adding thousands of smart and sporty people into the mix. On the other hand it is to be said that it can make people live longer. And society thinks if it can make us live longer why it can’t mean that hopefully diseases such as lots of cancers, heart diseases and bowel inconveniences could be wiped out if the genes that give us the diseases are taken out of our future generation before birth. At this point in time they don’t know how the child will turn out later in life. If there is any effects. This is something they don’t know. This is a worrying though, that so many people are having babies this way and there is no real proof that the baby will have no lasting effects or that it will like a perfect normal life. Although people are happy that they can choose the way their child will look like, be like and think like. For some people it’s the only way they can have children. As some parents are infertile so are unable to have children without the help of scientists. Society’s view of this is that if it’s the only way and it’s what you really want. Why not? To conclude I feel that designer babies are the way forward for our society. As it will hopefully in the future be able to cure certain diseases. Also it enables parents with ill children to modify their next child’s genes to save the child they have at the moment

The Four Marks Of The Catholic Church Religion Essay

The Four Marks Of The Catholic Church Religion Essay One, holy, catholic, apostolicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the four marks of the Catholic Church; a deacons ministry involves all four. I chose the fourth mark of the Church to identify my pastoral ministry because the Church was brought into being by the apostles on the basis of the Person, teaching and deeds of Jesus Christ. The apostolicity of the church stands on its consistency to the teachings of the apostles which are to be safeguarded by bishops in the apostolic succession. This same authority has been handed down through the Sacrament of Holy Orders from bishop to priests and deacons. No bishop, priest, or deacon in the Catholic Church is self-ordained or self-declared; he is called by the Church and ordained into the ministry given by Jesus to His Church. There is a clear connection between deacons today and almost 2,000 years ago as detailed in the Acts of the Apostles. The ministry of the Deacon is charity, word and sacrament. It is the Deacon who often brings Christ to the prisons, the hospitals, and nursing homes. The Deacon helps bridge the gap between the Church and community. Another example of the apostolic Church is the deposit of faith in both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition that has been preserved and handed on by the apostles. Jesus Christ founded the Church upon the apostles: Did I not choose you, the twelve?(John 6:70) It is clear, that the Church was started by Christ himself. The issue is did the apostles have the power and authority to pass on what they had received from Christ? The New Testament is clear that they did in fact have that authority. Titus 1:5-9 references overseers and holding firmly to the message. The ministry of Peter and the Apostles continues by the bishops under the Pope. By a mystical sense of faith, the People of God under the leadership of the bishops join themselves to the apostolic faith. The pastoral ministry of the bishops is to safeguard the People of God in the truth. The teachers are not above the word of God, they serve it. This deposit is the doctrine and the teaching that Jesus assigned to his Apostles when he taught and directed them to take it out to all nations. (Mt. 28:16-20) They, in turn handed it down to their Successors. (Mt 28:20) The deacons were instrumental in this taking it to the streets. Jesus did not hold a Saturday night revival. He went out to the people. He sent His disciples out to reach the masses. The Church began because the disciples were out doing everyday things in the community. The source of the deposit of faith is Jesus. It began in his teaching of the Apostles, as he prepared them to teach to all nations. The Apostles knew that the teaching they received from Jesus and that they handed on was the Word of God. It was the Word of God put into teachable form by Jesus and handed on by through apostolic teaching. Knowing this could not be more important for the self-identity of ordained ministers today. It is the primary duty of all the ordained, to hand on this Word of God to the faithful without straying from Church teaching. It is the Deposit of Faith. The charge to see to this reliability in teaching the Deposit of Faith is contained in the rite of ordination of all men of Holy Orders. In the Profession of Faith which all clergy take before ordination, and again whenever they take up an office in the Church, the same is affirmed: With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the Word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed. I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals. Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act. Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio AD TUENDAM FIDEM This is the all-encompassing life of the Church. It is the whole of Tradition. It includes the full trifecta of Word, Sacrament, and Charity. The implication of unity of communion with the bishops as successors of the Apostles, and with the Successor of Peter as head of that College is very important. Apart from that communion, there is no full and complete fulfillment of Christs command to preach, baptize, and make disciples of all men. The Permanent Diaconate brings back to the church the full fold of active apostolic ministries. Deacons are ordained to function in word, charity and service in communion with the bishop and priests; in the communication of the Word; in the celebration of the sacraments and obligation to prayer; and to minister through action and service. The Deacons role in Sacred Liturgy is also important. The parish sees a part of the deacons ministry from the altar; this part of his ministry flows out of a result of his other ministries of charity and service to the parish and community. Deacons have always been called to serve; to be the presence of Jesus, to be in touch with the community. By the way he lives his life; the deacon puts service into action and makes Jesus Christ visible to the world all while teaching and protecting the faith handed down from apostles.

View on History :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When studying a subject such as American history one can easily define the importance it has in schools. Not only is it an amazingly interesting subject, it also outlines our future. History easily aids in predicting the future, and most importantly, allows us to look at the past 100 or so years, as a whole and not year by year. This is an advantage in learning our mistakes and making sure history doesn't repreat itself. American history is very important in schools because it shows students what life was like where we live only a few generations ago. It helps me to understand what it was like for my grandpa growing up, and depending on the source can change my opinion on a certain subject entirely. On example of this is the J.F.K. assasination, before taking this class my opinion on the assasination was completely different. I believed strongly in Oswald's guilt, but after taking a bit of a history lesson, I have leaned my opinion more toward governmental involv ement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another great thing about history is how it can show a change in opinion by the United States public over time. One example of this is during the Vietnam War people in the United States due to ignorance, had no idea what our soldiers were going through, therefore the public opinion of an American soldier was bad. On the other hand now that time has passed, more people's eyes are opened to the hardships and innerchanges that a war such as Vietnam could cause. History shows this change in opinion very adequately.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To me, things don't change, people do. History is a third person look at the way the people who were in charge at the time, ran our country. To me each president ran the country differently than the next. History allows me to look back at exactly the way things were when each president was in office.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One disadventage history allows for, is the fact that history can be slanted by the reporter of the news. For example, four eyewitnesses to an occurance could have seen four different things. The reason this is such an amazing disadvantage is because this allows for bias in something that should be completely unbiased; a history book. So in all honesty I think this small factor could change any account of history, however as long as the main idea isn't lost, history is still one of the most imporatant tools to a human being.

All the Pretty Horses Essay -- essays papers

All the Pretty Horses John Grady Cole, the last in a long line of west Texas ranchers, is, at sixteen, poised on the sorrowful, painful edge of manhood. When he realizes the only life he has ever known is disappearing into the past and that cowboys are as doomed as the Comanche who came before them, he leaves on a dangerous and harrowing journey into the beautiful and utterly foreign world that is Mexico. In the guise of a classic Western, All the Pretty Horses is at its heart a lyrical and elegiac coming-of-age story about love, friendship, and loyalty that will leave John Grady, and the reader, changed forever. When his mother decides to sell the cattle ranch he has grown up working, John Grady Cole and his friend Lacey Rawlins set out on horseback for Mexico, a land free of the fences and highways that have begun to invade west Texas, a land where the boys are not able to read the look in a man's eye. As they approach the Rio Grande, they are joined by the youthful and mysterious Jimmy Blevins, wh ose fine horse, hot-blooded temper, and talent with a pistol are as certain...

Sociology: Deviance

†Deviance refers to any behaviour that is considered to be violating social norms or to persons that engage in such behaviour† (Adler & Adler (2009: 21). Deviance does not just occur to any form of behaviour, but we need to bear in mind the fact that behaviour or people that are deviant are only defined as deviant if and only if society views that particular behaviour as deviant (Adler & Adler (2009: 21). Deviance can either be positive, which is over conformity but is at the same time positively evaluated by the audience (Heckert, 1998: 23).There is also negative deviance, which is under conformity but on the other hand negatively evaluated, rate-busting, which refers to those individuals who under conform but are negatively evaluated by society and there is also another term referred to as deviance admiration, which is the â€Å"bad boy† image, which is under-conformity but somehow admired and positively evaluated by society or groups in society (Heckert, 1998: 2 3). Deviance has no fixed definition but instead, it is broad and has various definitions linked to the term.There are however 5 basic definitions for deviance in sociology namely, the Reactive constructionist approach, the Normative approach, Violation of rights, Absolutist approach and lastly, the Statistical approach. The reactive constructionist approach focuses on the reactions of an audience, which is society to certain behaviours. This is when behaviour is only considered deviant if it has been condemned by society. It involves publicly labelling behaviour as deviant and also followed by an equally negative reaction by the public (Dodge, 1985: 18).The normative approach on the other hand defines deviance as a â€Å"departure† or going against the set or generally accepted norms in society (Dodge, 1985: 20). Usually, the norm that has been violated is not usually put into place or is not usually in existence until a behaviour, which society reacts to, is seen as unaccep table and therefore deviant and then the norm is put into place and into existence after such occurrences.The statistical approach focuses on the behaviours that differ from average or normal experiences of society. In this case, the deviant individual or group of individuals engages in behaviour that the majority of the people do not engage in (Heckert, 1998: 25). This form of approach is mainly applied when analysing organisations. With the violation of rights approach, behaviour is considered deviant if it, in any way, violates the rights of any other individual. The individual or individuals hat are considered are labelled and they receive a negative reaction from society for their behaviour. Lastly, the absolutist approach of deviance claims that deviance resides in the very nature of an act and is wrong at all times and in all places (Heckert, 1998: 28). It does not have to depend on the environment, the reaction of the audience or the punishment and severity of the act. Princ iples of right and wrong are applied and an act is deviant once it goes against those principles.With the case of Amanda, who was heavily criticised by the public for killing her sister by stabbing her with a bread knife, the reactive constructionist theory is most applicable because according to her mother, she was just an innocent girl, who made a terrible mistake and her family did not battle forgiving her, but because the media reacted in a certain way, which was negative and the reaction eventually spread and influenced the rest of society in which they started condemning Amanda and making her life miserable, to the extent that she also condemned herself and started hating herself to the point where she believed she was evil and deserved to die. Another issue with deviance is the issue of stigma.Stigma refers to the negative gap or some form of division between the deviant individuals and the people who are not deviant or do not go against the norms of society (Goffman, 1963: 3 ). There is usually a lot of tension by the â€Å"normal† people and it is always the deviants that have to suffer and manage the tension because they are usually the minority group in the cases of deviant acts (Goffman, 1963: 7). Amanda had the stigma of a killer or brutal murderer attached to her by the public and throughout the rest of her life, had had to endure suffering at the hands of the public. She had to cope with the labelling and the gossiping that constantly surrounded her.With the issue of stigmatisation, the individuals who are suffering also have the option of managing the stigma. In Amanda’s case, the one most relevant option that she did have and fairly used was turning to stigmatised others, such as people she was imprisoned with and by turning to sympathetic others, which in this case was her mother and her friends for support and coping because there was not much she could have done such as support groups etc. because she had spent a lot of time in prison (Goffman, 1963: 14). In Amanda’s case, she has her family supporting her saying she is not at fault, in other words that her behaviour was not deviant, while on the other hand, the public viewed her behaviour as deviant.This then brings us to the question about whether there is a difference between deviance and crime. Some crimes may be thought of as deviant but not criminal and other, criminal but not deviant. The safest route to go by is simply saying that the difference separating deviance from crime is the breaking of the law, which is considered a crime or the violating of the social norm, which is deviance (Marshal and Meier, 2011: 16). Basically, people could engage in criminal behaviour, which may be accepted in a particular society, such as drinking and driving, but because it is not generally frowned upon, those people are accepted and are not considered deviant by their society.One other person on the other hand, may commit a deviant act, such as Amanda, wh o was said to have attacked her sister unintentionally, but because society rebukes such, she is considered a deviant, an outcast and is labelled and has no freedom to live her live as she pleases without people making it miserable for her. Labelling, which is closely linked to stigma, refers to the public seeing the deviants as different to anyone else and are mainly carried out by moral entrepreneurs (Marshal and Meier, 2011: 17). There are three different forms of labelling which can be taken into consideration, which is primary deviance, secondary deviance and tertiary deviance. These forms or theories of labelling come with consequences as well.In the case of primary deviance, an individual is given a label but they are not affected by such, so they basically ignore and deny the label given to them by the public (Marshal and Meier, 2011: 21). The second scenario, which is secondary deviance, individuals are given a label and so as a form of escapism, they then live up to that l abel that they have been given, such as someone being call uptight, condescending or in simpler words, a snob, then tends to try and intimidate and bring people down by all means possible (Marshal and Meier, 2011: 20). With tertiary deviance, an individual is labelled, but refuses to neither deny nor accept and instead tries and proves that there is nothing deviant about their behaviour (Marshal and Meier, 2011: 19). In Amanda’s case she was both primarily and secondarily labelled.Her family tried denying the primary labelling for her, but rather she took up secondary deviance, where she actually accepted that she was a murderer and that she deserved to die like a murderer. Moral entrepreneurs are those individuals who try to create and enforce new definitions of morality and what is deviant and what is not (Adler & Adler, 2009: 136). These new definitions that they try and enforce are mainly put in place to try and benefit them and what they believe in (Adler & Adler, 2009: 137). In many cases, if not all, there is always a number of moral entrepreneurs and not just one and they are each trying to act at their own self-interest (Adler & Adler, 2009: 137).In Amanda’s case, the main moral entrepreneurs are the society, Amanda and her own mother. Society created a label for Amanda that she carried with her and was never removed until the day that she died. Society saw her as a criminal who deserved to be punished because in that society, killing people with bread knives was not considered moral, even though they did not know the main reason or what had exactly happened. Amanda on the other hand did not see anything wrong that she had done and instead got negatively influenced by the stigma that had been attached to her and therefore saw herself as a deviant that deserved the most severe punishment possible.With Amanda’s mother, she saw her daughter as the innocent one victimised by society. She blamed society for her daughters’ misery claiming that she had not done anything wrong, even though it was evident that she had murdered her own sisters for reasons unknown, but because she did not see anything wrong with her daughters actions, she believed that she should not be punished even though murder is considered a crime and should therefore be punishable. They then in a way were seen to be a folk devil, which means that they were viewed as a threat and a bad influence to society (Dodge, 1985: 28). It is rather astonishing how Amanda’s case eventually turned out.Some people, mainly family were on her side, while the whole public was against her. Now it is a mystery as to how such situations can be explained and justified. Why would, in one society, people have different beliefs? According to the Marxist socialist theory of deviance, society is not based on consensus and shared values, but rather, it is an outcome of the continuing struggle between the social classes, the elite and the proletariat (Marshal a nd Meier, 2011: 19). In this form of society, which is mainly a capitalist society, there are individuals who exploit others and those who are exploited and therefore those who commit crime are doing those who are exploited justice (Marshal and Meier, 2011: 19).In Amanda’s case, there is no clear reason as to why the crime was committed, but her sentence was not heavy and therefore this could also be a sign as to how much influence they had on the ruling system, showing how much those who are influential can control everything in society ranging from economy to politics and laws. Amanda’s case is a clear example of what we call moral panic. Moral panic, according to Cohen (1972), cited in Victor (1998: 542), is societal response to beliefs about a threat from factors or individuals known as ‘moral deviants’. The group of individuals become defined as a threat to the values as well as the interests of that particular society and they are presented in this w ay by the mass media and other key actors (moral entrepreneurs).Society managed to foster moral panic because a widespread concern about the issue was promoted by much attention by society and basically the whole issue eventually took center stage. According to Adler & Adler (2009: 137), moral panic must be triggered by specific event at the right moment, draw attention to a specific group as a target, have provocative content revealed, and supported by formal and informal communication outlets, which in Amanda’s case happened because now her tragedy attracted much attention from society and basically caused a panic. This again just proves how deviance has no set barriers, but instead the classification of deviance has no set or particular traits, but rather, behaviour is seen as deviant only based on the social definitions that vary from society to society at different times. Society is the biggest role player in distinguishing deviant behaviour and through moral panic, they managed to exclude, label and target deviants because they have gone against what is believed to be social norms.Reference List Adler, P. and Adler, P. (2009). (6th ed). Constructions of Deviance: social power, context and interaction. Belmon, Calif: Thomson/Wadsworth. Pages 135-138; Chapter 17. Cohen, S. (1972). Folk Devils and Moral Panics. St Martin’s: New York. Dodge, D. (1985). Deviant Behaviour: The over-negativized conceptualization of deviance. Los Angeles: California. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: United States. Heckert, D. M. (1998). Positive deviance: A classificatory model. New York: United States. Marshal, C & Meier, R. (2011). Sociology of Deviant behaviour (14th ed). Belmont: USA.

Communications: The Mechanistic Perspective Essay

‘Communication — – the process of transmitting and receiving ideas, information, and messages. The rapid transmission of information over long distances and ready access to information have become conspicuous and important features of human society, especially in the past 150 years.’ The encyclopedia definition of communication encompasses the ideas of exchanging a variety of messages with others. This is important to remember when looking at communications within an organization. The whole process of communications within organizations is very complex and is certainly one of the major factors in determining whether an organization will succeed or not. The following paper deals with the different types, influences and improvements within the realm of communications in organizations. Ways of conceptualizing communications It is necessary to look at the problem from many viewpoints to understand how communications are performed within an organization. These include psychological, systems-interaction, interpretive-symbolic, and mechanistic. All of these areas are very important to understand the ‘whole picture,’ but the focus of this paper will be in the mechanistic perspective. Mechanistic Perspective Information within an organization determines their ability to make informed decisions and the effectiveness of those decisions is based on the way they communicate. This mechanistic perspective on communications deals entirely with the message, the medium and factors that aid or detract from the process. In this model, communication is initiated by the sender through to the receiver. Each process is then broken down into bits of data that can be analyzed. The areas of importance are the ways in which the sender and receiver utilize perceptive processes to encode and decode the messages and  the fact that noise is in the system. Any message from a sender to a receiver would convey exactly what the meaning is intended in a perfect world. It is very important that the sender says exactly what they are trying to say and the receiver knows exactly what the sender is saying. The following example illustrates this point: Clear and concise is what is desired within a ship building contract. If the contract does not describe ‘exactly’ what is required, the contractor can get extra money for including those ‘extras’ during the building stages. The Irving led Saint John Shipbuilding organization has made much more than their original contract for building the Canadian Patrol Frigates due to these ‘arisings.’ It was even suggested that this was part of their contract plan from the beginning. In analyzing this situation, it was very difficult for the Canadian Department of National Defense (DND) to ask for everything because of the complexity of the contract, the number of personnel on the contract writing team, and the fact that many iterations were required for DND and parliament prior to letting the contract. In fact, the writing was started ten years prior to the contract being let, so technology had changed many of the basic assumptions about the type of work to be done. Verbal and Non-Verbal Communications Inherent to transmission of messages are the verbal and non-verbal cues which aid in helping to decode a message. Verbal cues are dependent on language. Nuances intrinsic to a language can make the decoding difficult if not impossible even by someone who uses the same language. This may be a local dialect or cross-country differences. Examples of cross-country differences would be English from England, Canada, and the United States. Each is the same language, but each has separate nuances that can make it very difficult to decipher by someone from another country speaking the same language. A personal example is asking for a washroom in Southampton, England, at a train station and being told that they did not have one. The word that I should have used was ‘toilet.’  Dialects within a country can make it impossible to understand the original message. Another personal example is attempting to decipher someone from northwestern Newfoundland; their dialect made it virtually impossible to understand. The point is to utilize the best transmission method in order to minimize the decoding difficulty for the receiver. Non-verbal cues are ‘those expressions of emotions and attitudes toward another person and in regulating the interaction between people.’ The text organizes the cues into seven categories and includes good examples, including: environment, proximity, posture, gestures, facial expressions, eye behavior and vocalics. One area missing within communications chapter was what the person is wearing, but was included in chapter 6, perception and performance evaluations. Many books advocate ‘dressing for success.’ Some examples include shopping, salesperson and the office. If you are going to shop at flea markets, dressing ‘down’ is a good way to start the bargaining process. A car salesperson should dress to show that he is successful, but not ostentatious. In my profession, I dress towards the client based on whether ‘suit and tie’ or ‘casual’ are the choice for the client’s organization. This non-verbal cue can aid in preparing the initial psychological base for the remainder of the conversation and ensure that it does not detract from the conversation while it is ongoing. Influences on Communication Physical and personal factors influence communications. Organizational design influences physical factors, which deals with layout of the office, networks for communications, and the media selected for the message. Personal factors include the differences between individual styles, men and women, and cultures. Organizational Design The design of the organization must be based on what the organization is attempting to accomplish. Technology can enable these designs to take on new meanings as methods become available to communicate as never before. The first place to look at is the design of the office. The typical office has space allocated based on position of the employee. A worker may be in a ‘bull pen’ type of environment whereas the president will have a large office to show their particular status. Two personal examples include the Ship Repair Unit and Deloitte and Touche Consulting Group. Each has a typical office layout; the workers are in offices with partitioned walls; managers have outer offices, some with windows; and the general manager has the largest, most pretentious office space. The communications tend to have very structured down and up paths. Methods of communications include computer email, voice mail, and written memos. ‘Most critically, however, the intelligent office building must clearly improve the quality of the workplace for the individual, representing a major philosophical change in the office design. After all, what is the electronically enhanced office intended to facilitate, if not the effectiveness, productivity, and well-being of the worker, and the ultimate effectiveness of the organization.’ Traditional organizational design ideas are being challenged with the concepts of tele-commuting and virtual companies and offices. Technology has enabled us to plug into the office place anywhere in the world utilizing advanced telecommunications and computer advances. Many offices now have flexible office areas for their workers where they can sit down, plug in a laptop and have a phone, desk, and general office requirements available. When they are at their other office locations, they simply plug in to that particular location. All of this is transparent to the sender or receiver of information from that individual. An example is an advertising agency where a friend of mine works for in Toronto which has other offices in New York and Chicago. When he commutes to  these offices, he has all of the these resources available to him. This is transparent to his clients, who just thinks he does a wonderful job from his home office in Toronto. The types of communications are similar, with more emphasis based on digital transmissions (email and voicemail). I utilize voice mail effectively when on a client site by having a location for clients to call in for me and I can vet and prioritize my calls. ‘Employment in the Information Age is undergoing a transformation which may cause as much dislocation as the move from farm to factories did in the 19th century. Studies predict that the ranks of those with alternative office arrangements will grow by 10 percent or more every year during the remainder of the decade.’ The virtual company challenges communications within an organization even greater than present designs. This entity has allowed small organizations to work as effectively through the use of advanced communications and allows larger companies to change the way they do business. Some of the requirements for a company to be effective in virtual space include: robust infrastructure for individual employees, including cellular phone, portable computer with communications; remote managing – how do you know the person is doing their work?; employees must have the correct attributes to make it all work. When it does work, it works very well. The employee is either on a client site or at home and is more effective A personal example is a company in which I was a co-owner. This virtual company was a computer consulting firm specializing in Microsoft Office Integration. We had a management team from within Nova Scotia (5 people), programmers from around North America, and clients from around the world. This organization was difficult to run from the perspective of handing off information and brain-storming, but was very good at allowing each employee to work in their space of choice to increase productivity. The majority of the clients were local; a firm handshake and the ability to look someone in the eye is still stronger than the pen and keyboard. The international clients tended to be software firms who were looking for someone to subcontract a small portion of a project. The reason the business ran  effectively was that the employees were suited to the environment. If the business was not as high tech orientated, I would be reluctant to state that it would work as effectively. The type of design of the organization must be orientated to their mission. As the communication network characteristics shows , the different types of networks are good at some things and poor at others. The tradeoffs are usually flexibility and satisfaction against errors with simple tasks. Risk to human life or catastrophic failure was a point missing in network design. The text makes a number of good points about network design, but did not have an organization with strong lateral dissemination of information. This is important in more and more organizations as downsizing is taking out layers of middle managers, the overall manager cannot control or handle all of the information volume, but the job must still be done. The new managers require a horizontal flow of communications to get their job done. Personal Factors The personal factors within communications are more difficult to define. Consequently, they are also more difficult to improve upon. The text outlines very briefly some of those topic areas, including individual difference, culture differences, and male and female differences. Listening and Responding Noise is another area that inhibits or distorts the transmission of a message. The text deals with ways to be more effective in listening and responding to messages. A way to further analyze the effects of noise and barriers to communications within organizations is to study communications systems utilizing radio frequency (RF) transmissions; they have well documented aspects of noise  which can be analogous to other mediums. Modulation is the technique of employing information (the message) on a carrier signal and sending that signal to the receiver who then decodes it and gets the original transmission. Noise is what distorts that transmission. Different types of modulation techniques are utilized to cut down on the noise inherent to the medium utilized. Analog and digital communications employ all of the different types of modulation. The easiest modulation type (within the electronics) is amplitude modulation (AM) but which has the highest degree of susceptibility to noise. This is based on noise thresholds and the fact that background noise can be so loud that the original message is lost. This is analogous to trying to tell somebody an important message in a busy, noisy room. The background ‘din’ can make the message almost impossible to hear and understand properly. The second technique is frequency modulation (FM) which is more difficult to encode and decode, but is less susceptible to noise. This is because the natural noises the stratosphere produces are not over broad frequency ranges. Phase based modulation employs similar techniques, but uses phase differences to encode the information. This is analogous to listening to FM radio, which is close to what the original sounds like, but still seems weak in comparison to the ‘real thing.’ Digital communications employ the same modulation techniques as analog communications, but have distinct advantages in conveying messages over analog systems. Analog transmissions have no discrete data; it is all based on ramps of information. This would be analogous to the difference between an analog speedometer and a digital one. The analog would give you a continuous representation, but has no distinct breaks; the digital speedometer can only show you discrete amount of speed indications. In a digital system, the discrete data is only ‘on’ or ‘off’. This makes it much easier to distinguish the actual data from the noise because the threshold between the two can be much greater (the terminology used is decibels – the difference between the receiving message and the noise). This discrete data can be manipulated to ensure that the message is correct; this is referred to as error correction. A communications system analogous to this would be downloading information off the Internet and it error-checking at the receiver’s end to ensure the file is correct. The situation analogous to this entire noise discussion is that we would normally write something down if it was critical in order to ensure the information is transmitted correctly (digital systems). If we are not worried about errors in transmission, we will convey our message through speech (analog systems). The other points, including fatigue, time pressure, selective listening, status, value judgments, and source credibility are very good observations on the barriers to messages. An example of using listening and responding within communications was the idea that I based my first company on; producing multimedia applications. What possessed me to orient myself in that direction in 1991 was a statistic from the MIT media lab: 10% of people remember what they hear, 20% remember what they read and 65% remember what they interact with. One area that was missing in the text discussion was that you can get people to remember by interacting with the message. This could be in the form of CD-ROM computer based training, seminar, or one-on-one where the person is forced to think about the information being presented. Application of Communications A good example of multiple types of communications within an organization is within a warship. A personal example is H.M.C.S. Nipigon; a Canadian destroyer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The primary purpose for a destroyer is for a weapons platform in which the Government of Canada can utilize to direct their policy. The organization must be robust enough to handle multiple contingencies, including loss of life, loss of systems, and loss of communications. There is redundancy within departments (supply, engineering, operations) in order  to minimize losing one critical person. Therefore, network design facilitated this by placing the key personnel at different areas in the ship during war time situations.. There are multiple ways to power systems via primary and backup power supplies. Again, to keep communications open within the systems in order to keep the vessel floating and fighting. There are also multiple ways for external and internal communications to occur. The communications control room (CCR) can patch a multitude of apparently dissimilar systems, including telephones, radios, and digital computers. To minimize errors, the organization has a strict hierarchy with instructions as to the types of information to be handled by each person with the organization and how it will be distribu ted. This is related to the network design and the media types for information. The crew will train repeatedly in order to minimize errors. This is related to how to minimize the noise within the system. In this case, the noise would be the amount of information available and the filter would be the voice procedures that personnel must utilize to talk both internally and externally. This is of vital importance if there are situations happening internally, including fires and floods, and externally, including incoming missiles, planes, ships and submarines. The communication does not stop within the ship. Depending on the scenario, it could be a contingency of Canadian warships, NATO warships, or another conglomeration where various platforms. Inputs could be coming from satellites, helicopters, intelligence, other ships, and planes. There are strict communications protocols and transmission types for this exchange of information employing cryptography and error correction in order to minimize the chance for error. Multiple forms of communications are at work in this scenario, but the reason it all works is due to the design of the organization. Critique This chapter on communications dealt primarily with the mechanistic perspective. The other areas are needed to balance this sole focus on linear communications. Within the mechanistic approach, there were some areas which were missing which I deemed vital. These included the network flow of the large horizontal organization, importance of reducing errors in mission  critical processes, and the application of technology. Communications in organizations having large horizontal movement of information is critical to its success. As previously stated, the reduction of errors can be critical to human life and also to the success of an organization. Technology enablers have evolved so quickly that the types of hardware and software the authors talk about have changed. Concurrent engineering is a term used to describe 24 hour production of engineering problems by handing over the problems to destinations throughout the world. Bell Northern Research utilizes this technique to dramatically improve their time to market for products. Not enough research was placed into the way new companies (virtual companies) can communicate more effectively. The world is getting smaller as communications become more effective and this text should reflect more of that type of communication.