African Americans and Southern Racism During Reconstruction Essay Example for Free

African Americans and Southern Racism During Reconstruction Essay Introduction At the end of the Civil War, America faced the difficult task of uniting not only two separated territories of the United States, but also two races long separated by racism and culture. Devastated and embittered by the damage of the war, the South had a long way to go in order to achieve true equality between the former slave owners and former slaves. The majority of the South remained set in racist behavior, finding post-Civil War legal loopholes to diminish African American rights (Tindall Shi, 2010, pp. 757-758). Southerners continued to marginalize Blacks in their behavior toward ex-slaves and the later African American generation, continuing the escalation of racial tensions through white terror and discriminatory attitudes (Tindall Shi, 2010, p. 759). Most subversively, southern newspapers propagated stereotypes against African Americans in their coverage and descriptions of constitutional conventions (Logue, 1979, p. 342). Although Radical Reconstruction offered some progress toward social equality after the Civil War, its success was short-lived as African Americans suffered vast disenfranchisement through racist rulings, attitudes, and media representation in the South at the turn of the century. Rulings against African Americans After the Civil War had come to an end, African Americans in the South quickly made use of their new-found political and social rights, employing their right to vote from the Fifteenth Amendment and serving as prominent political figures (Tindall Shi, 2010, p. 722). However, the formerly fervent commitment to Radical Reconstruction soon dwindled (Tindall Shi, 2010, p. 739). Many of the advances toward civil equality were soon erased: In 1883, the Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Laws of 1875 unconstitutional, and the political power Blacks had gained, especially in the South where 90% of Blacks lived, was completely undone. Black voter  participation dropped from 96% to 26% in South Carolina in just 12 years (1876-1888); in those same 12 years, voter participation of Blacks dropped from 53% to 18% in Georgia (Burris-Kitchen Burris, 2011, p. 5). Even while African Americans enjoyed an uninhibited freedom to voting rights, many still suffered disenfranchisement at the hands of rampant racial discrimination in the South. Although discontent Southerners could not impede the Black right to vote, they found ulterior methods to marginalize African Americans. â€Å"Since the Fifteenth Amendment made it impossible simply to deny African Americans the right to vote, disenfranchisement was accomplished indirectly, through such devices as poll taxes (or head taxes) and literacy tests† (Tindall Shi, 2010, p. 757). â€Å"Jim Crow† laws mandated racial segregation in public areas in the South and were often accompanied by physical abuse and terror to African Americans (Tindall Shi, 2010, pp. 756-759). These underhand activities in the South demonstrated that while African Americans were technically free, they continually suffered from unjust rulings and actions. These sprang from the rampantly racist attitudes in the South: Although great strides were made toward political and economic freedom for Blacks following the Civil War, the progress made was quickly squashed by political movements and rhetoric, which implied that Blacks could not handle their newly-found freedom and that the White working class was threatened by Blacks who were trying to take their jobs, their property, and their government away from them (Burris-Kitchen Burris, 2011, p. 5). Racist Attitudes Many Southerners continued to believe and propagate these ideas that African Americans had a subversive agenda to the White working class. These ideas culminated in deep-seated attitudes against African Americans in the South: â€Å"During the 1890s the attitudes that had permitted moderation in race relations evaporated. A violent ‘Negrophobia’ swept across the South and much of the nation at the end of the century† (Tindall Shi, 2010, p. 756). However, African Americans at the turn of the century had become weary of disenfranchisement and were ready to stand up against these attitudes: â€Å"This generation was more assertive and less patient than their parents. ‘We are not the Negro from who the chains of slavery fell a quarter century ago, most assuredly not,’ a black editor announced† (Tindall   Shi, 2010, p. 756). Unfortunately, this may have simply increased a White agenda of racial discrimination, as â€Å"a growing number of young white adults, however, were equally determined to keep ‘Negroes in their place’† (Tindall Shi, 2010, p. 756). Whether Southerners felt that African Americans imposed a threat to their jobs, their safety, or their rights, the overarching attitude of the South clearly displayed a strong desire to maintain racial dominance of the pre-Civil War era. Part of this attitude motivated a desire to limit education for African Americans: To keep Blacks uneducated meant Whites could boast of their superior intellect; this had been in the arsenal of Whites for hundreds of years prior to Reconstruction and continues to be used over 130 years after Reconstruction. Denial of education for Blacks existed through Reconstruction as a form of White racism and a justification for their inferior political and economic status (Burris-Kitchen Burris, 2011, p. 6). Any kind of advantage Whites could claim in the South became ammunition in their discriminatory attitudes. These ideas and attitudes fed the propagation of racist stereotypes and bias in southern newspapers. Prejudiced Media in the South Perhaps the most subtle yet shocking form of racism in the South during Reconstruction was the biased reporting of many southern newspapers. Whether the ideas and attitudes of many southern Whites influenced these published stereotypes or vice versa, it is clear that southern publications often encouraged and promoted racist attitudes at the end of the century. A publication in Charleston, South Carolina displayed this racist subtext: â€Å"While promising its readers ‘truth,’ the Charleston Mercury mocked journalistic license by actually printing racist ridicule. A favorite method was to scorn African-Americans in the convention as a race, exploiting racist attitudes saved by white readers from slavery† (Logue, 1979, p. 339). Covering the constitutional convention in Columbia in 1867, white journalists used racist stereotypes in describing the black delegates’ involvement: â€Å"Reporters emphasized how blacks would chuckle and grin, thereby exploiting th e racist assumption of many whites that blacks were mere fun-loving, animal-like creatures who had to be protected from themselves† (Logue, 1979, p. 341). The Charleston paper encouraged racist  attitudes through the ridicule of black speech and pronunciation, mocking ex-slave â€Å"ignorance† rather than reporting important issues discussed at the convention: When blacks debated the issue of ‘changing the title of districts to counties,’ for example, the only thing the reporters heard was the very awkward sound of deestrict as district is pronounced by some of the delegates. Because of their preoccupation with such factors, reporters seldom informed their readers about issues that were discussed, such as public education, relief from debts, taxes, and so on (Logue, 1979, p. 342). In this manner, the South remained entrapped in a media-fueled suspicion and fear of African Americans, feeding the continued presence of racism and discrimination during the post-Civil War reconstruction. Conclusion In conclusion, the progress of Radical Reconstruction largely failed to reform the disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South on a long-term scale. The attitudes of the Southern whites continued to influence the freedom of former slaves as they faced discriminating rulings, racist attitudes, and biased media. While some African Americans from further generations were largely unwilling to bow subserviently to the effects of white terror and discrimination, civil rights equality had a long and arduous path to completion in the South. While many of the racist attitudes of the post-Civil War South seem shocking to a modern-day reader, the influence of the actions and attitudes of white Southerners serves as a reminder of the power of repeated falsehoods, particularly within media subtext and bias. The disenfranchisement of African Americans during reconstruction displays the extent of deep-seated racial prejudice based on fear, stubbornness, and ignorance. As Burris-Kitchen and Burris point out: Throughout American history, Blacks have been demonized and criminalized, and this history has led us to where we are today. Until we can change the perceptions of Blacks through the media, political and economic arenas they will continue to pay the price for an inherently racist political, economic, educational, and criminal justice system (Burris-Kitchen Burris, 2011, p. 14). References Burris-Kitchen, D., Burris, P. (2011). From slavery to prisons: A historical delineation of the criminalization African Americans. Journal of Global Intelligence Policy, 4 (5), 1-16. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.library.regent.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=adef70d4-c4d9-4d2b-b5c9-3b1efa487879%40sessionmgr14vid=2hid=127# Logue, C. M. (March 1979). Racist reporting during reconstruction. Journal of Black Studies, 9 (3), 335-349. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2784304 Tindall, G. B.; Shi, D. E. (2010). America: A narrative history (8th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton Company.

Overview Of The Tangshan Earthquake History Essay

Overview Of The Tangshan Earthquake History Essay It is important to develop some general knowledge what causes earthquakes, in order to gain a better understanding about the Tangshan event. Earths crust is broken into major tectonic plates that move towards and away from each other in different directions. Debated driving forces behind this movement includes Earths rotation, gravity related forces and mantle dynamics. Generally, it is accepted that tectonic plates are able to move because of the relative density of oceanic lithosphere and the relative weakness of the asthenosphere. While these plates are moving, they can collide or slide past each other creating high energy phenomena such as volcanoes and earthquakes. Specific to earthquakes, the edge of one plate is forced under another. This process is called subduction and results in intense vibrations in Earths crust. More specifically to Northeast China, the tectonic environment is driven by collisions between the Indian and Asian plates, and Pacific and Asian plates. An important component of the Tangshan earthquake is the role of an extensive strike-slip fault system, known as Tancheng-Lujiang, or Tan-Lu. This system extends in a north-northeast direction for more than 3,200 miles from the north bank of the Yangtze River in eastern China to the west across the Russian border. It is an intertwined zone of faults 5000km long and 1000km wide, neighbored by other sub-faults. These collectively played a significant part in what resulted in the Tangshan earthquake. In fact, the Tangshan earthquake sequence has been explained as the result of sequential ruptures of the Tangshan fault produced by NNE extensive faulting and associated NE-SW regional compression. The earthquake sequence then initiated at the bending region (near Tangshan City) due to continued tectonic stress that had been increasing for a long time. The relationship between the rupture geometries of the Tangshan earthquake sequence and the regional compression stresses. The Tangshan Event Pre-cursors Earthquakes have occurred in the surrounding area in the past, including 22 earthquakes of magnitude 4.75 or greater since 1485. Despite these previous activities, there were no foreshocks or clear precursory phenomenon prior to the Tangshan earthquake. However, there had been a series of abnormal signals observed in the regions of Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Bohai and Zhangjiakou. Tangshan indicated that there was a consistent drop in the pumping rate (and hence groundwater levels) in the years before the event with a sharp increase in the days prior to the earthquake. Additionally, survivors interviewed following the earthquake noted that well water levels changed abruptly in the hours before the event e.g. with rises of over a meter in at least on village in the region. There was also strange animal behavior reported, including city dwellers from the downtown area who had fish discovered that the fish were restless, jumping out of the aquarium as if wanting to escape. Unfortunate ly the anomalous precursory phenomena were widely scattered and inconclusive. The main quake The main quake struck Tangshan at 3:42 am on July 28, 1976, and lasted approximately 23 seconds. This short lived quake was at an intensity of XI (out of XII), according to the State Seismological Bureau report, with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter magnitude scale. Although the epicenter was located in the city of Tangshan, the earthquake was felt in fourteen provinces of China, and as far as Xian, in Beijing and in Tientsin. The stress of the Tangshan quake was caused by the compression along the plate boundaries of the Indian and Asian plates, as well as the compression along the boundaries of the Pacific and Asian plates. The quake ruptured a five-mile (8 km) section of a 25-mile long fault that passes through the city Tangshan. In addition, along the west side the ground moved laterally for about five feet, in a north/northeast direction sub parallel to the major axis of the meizoseismic zone with some areas with horizontal ground displacements of up to 7 meters. On the eastern side of the rupture, the ground block tipped upward near the south end and downward at the northern end. Although the earthquake was a shallow focal depth of 15 kilometers, it created both horizontal and vertical movement, causing the ground to rent apart by several feet, cave in to form craters, previously flat agricultural land being undulated, and soil liquefaction. Aftershocks Following the main earthquake, the many aftershocks also had devastating effects. There were two major aftershocks which caused additional damage to the region. On July 28, 1976 at 6:45 pm local time an Mw 7.0 earthquake struck, centered in Shangjialin Luanxian to the northeast of Tangshan. This caused 50 km (31 mi) rupture along the Luanxian-Laoting fault. The second major aftershock of Mw 6.4 struck on November 15, 1976 at 9:53 pm local time, centered south of Lutai to the southwest of Tangshan. This aftershock ruptured 20 km (12 mi) of the Jing Canal fault. In all, over 850 aftershocks occurred through the end of 1978 and were distributed throughout an area approximately 140 km (87 mi) in length and 50 km (31 mi) in width along a northeast trend, indicating the Tangshan fault as the main fault rupture. Destruction and Casualties The destruction of the earthquake included 242,400 deaths; 164,600 people severely wounded; 3,800 people disabled; 360,000 people suffering minor injuries; and various damages to residential areas, industrial areas, roads, railways and sewage systems. Here, the report will examine what effects the earthquake had on infrastructure and casualties. Infrastructure Before the 1976 earthquake, scientists did not believe Tangshan was susceptible to a large earthquake. Thus, the seismic design code for the area was zoned an intensity level of VI and the buildings in Tangshan were not built to withstand such a large earthquake. Furthermore, the city of Tangshan is located in the center of an area surrounded with major faults, where many of its structures had been built on unstable, alluvial soils. The 7.8 earthquake that hit Tangshan was given an intensity level of XI and left hundreds of thousands of buildings destroyed. The infrastructure damage affected many different areas. Ninety-three percent of residential buildings and 78 percent of industrial buildings were completely destroyed. Eighty percent of the water pumping stations and fourteen percent of the sewage pipes were seriously damaged. In addition, the foundations of bridges gave way, bridges collapsed, railroad lines bent, closed roads were covered with debris, highway bridges and at least two dams collapsed, all telephone and radio communications systems stopped functioning and almost all of the irrigation wells became inoperative. The seismic waves of the earthquake spread the damage to various regions, such as Qinhuangdao and Tianjin, and a few buildings as far away as Beijing. As was the case in Tangshan city, earthquake resistance was not generally considered in the design of buildings in these other regions. Newer buildings with seismic capacity and any buildings strengthened after the 1975 Haicheng Earthquake performed much better during the Tangshan Earthquake than those designed without seismic design considerations. Casualty Along with infrastructure damage, there were devastating amounts of casualties. As mentioned earlier, the earthquake struck just before 4 am, when many people were asleep and unprepared. Before the earthquake, the total population of Tangshan city was approximately 1.2 million, with 2 million within 40 km (25 mi) of the epicenter. As mentioned earlier, the official death count from the earthquake was 242,400; however, other sources have cited the death toll to be as high as 655,000 to 779,000 people. Contributing to the high number of casualties was the structure of residential buildings. Most residential structures in Tangshan and surrounding rural regions consisted of older, single-story brick or stone wall homes with only few newer multi-story brick apartment buildings built in the 1960s. Due to this structure, many buildings collapsed because of the lack of proper connections between the walls and roof, as did many reinforced concrete and masonry industrial buildings with heavy roofs, weighing as much as 400 kg (890 lbs). Finally, another contributing factor to the high death toll was the density of buildings and population in Tangshan city being extremely high. This concentration contributed to the seriousness of the loss in particular because the source of the earthquake was directly beneath the city. Relief Response The earthquake disaster required both short-term and long-term response. To begin, the Chinese government refused to accept international aid from the United Nations, and insisted on self reliance. This required rescue workers accompanied by appropriate equipment in order to rescue people from the collapsed buildings, as well as a pre-established plan to coordinate the effort, which was made difficult since vehicular traffic brought the few clear streets to a standstill. Also, since most of the population lost their homes due to the infrastructure destruction, there was a great need for temporary shelters. Clearing of the debris did not begin in earnest until September 1981, leaving the vast majority of the population not being able to live in permanent housing until 1985. In addition, there was the need for long-term strategic planning. Much of this had to do with future design codes for the city. The Tangshan Earthquake led to a major update to the seismic design code, released in 1978. The study of the Tangshan Earthquake and its tectonic setting also resulted in the reclassification of hazard zonation of the Hebei province (particularly the Tangshan region). Updates to the code included performance criteria increases with the raising of expected ground shaking intensity, introduction of a new understanding of how the liquefaction of underlying soils impacts building foundations, and the inclusion of increased vertical forces from seismic loads good building practice from the collapsed buildings in Tangshan. The earthquake also highlighted the requirement for redundancy in the provision of lifelines, accompanied by the assessment of the appropriate design standards to guarantee the minimum necessary function of roads, bridges, or utility supplies wh ich were greatly affected by the earthquake. The relief responses resulting from the Tangshan Earthquake created the opportunity to build and incorporate increased earthquake resistance for future seismic events. Moreover, the layout of the city was planned to reduce both the number of casualties and injured, in addition to increasing the efficacy of emergency relief and disaster rehabilitation. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake had the same measurement on the Richter scale at 8.0 in magnitude. It, however, occurred in a mountainous region where relief efforts were noticeably hampered by the geographical makeup of the land nearby. The Sichuan earthquake also had a much quicker and more organized response system than Tangshan, as the political, social and technological environment was different. Discussion Conclusion In summary, this report has presented many important concepts to gain an understanding about the Tangshan Earthquake. It has examined the underlying driving forces, such as the Tancheng-Lujiang fault system and Tangshan fault; the various effects from the precursors, main quake, aftershocks; the destruction and casualties from the disaster, including factors that lead to an increased death toll and infrastructure damage; the relief response to the disaster and how it affected future earthquake responses; and a discussion of how amateur seismologists and professionals made predictions about the Tangshan Earthquake. Discussing these topics brings awareness on the importance of understanding natural disasters, and how a population can learn and prepare itself for future natural disasters.

Common Misconceptions of Islam Essay -- Papers

Did you know that there are currently 1.5 billion Muslims living throughout the world? One in every five people in this world is a Muslim. It is proven that Islam is the fastest growing faith in the world and also happens to be the most widely and openly misunderstood faith as well. Americans have misconceptions about Muslims concerning the rights of Muslim women and whether Muslims believe in the existence of Jesus. "When a gunman attacks a mosque in the name of Judaism, a Catholic IRA guerrilla sets off a bomb in an urban area, or Serbian Orthodox militiaman rapes and kills innocent Muslim civilians, these acts are not used to stereotype an entire faith." How many times is it heard that a Christian, Jew, or any other majority robbed a bank or was involved in a mass murder? Very few, which is ironic because once a Muslim does such perils, it is blamed on the faith on whole and not the individual that makes that decision. Islam can literally be translated to mean submission to God and is derived from the root word meaning peace. One should always remember to go to the true source of Islam and separate what the true religion of Islam says from what is portrayed in the media. Many consider Islam an exotic religion or even too extreme for the modern world. But this is because religion does not dominate everyday life in the West, where as, Islam is consider a way of life for many Muslims; who from the teachings of the Quran have learned to balance their material and spiritual life. Like Christianity, Islam only permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of religion (but not the excuse for your own personal or political purposes), or on... ...mething it all gets blamed on the faith? The American government has been at war for almost two years to give rights to the people of Iraq, but how much of a difference can they actually make when their own people don't get proper rights? They say the people have freedom of speech, religion, and etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but in reality they have nothing. If the government wanted unity between the people than they would create a better understand on a situation rather than turning citizens against each other. A recent example of how much the American government 'cares' for the rights of the people is shown through the pictures they found of the prisons are being taken care of in Iraq. Many misconceptions of religion, culture, and just people on a whole would be cleared if the government and media did not exploit them for their own advantage.

Against Animal Testing :: essays research papers

For decades humans have taken defenseless and innocent wild animals to foully abuse and test their experiments upon. They test powerful drugs and lotions upon the animals and record and write down the at times fatal side effects only to repeat the experiment again and again- regardless of the creatures' pain or suffering. In one experiment by the Proctor and Gamble company, scientists got hold of a batch of newly born baby mice and cut their toes off to test their theories upon. They were later help up in court for this matter- though disgustingly were let off. You may think that the pure terror on the faces of these animals alone would be enough to change peoples mind of whether it is right or wrong to test upon animals less fortunate they we. Is not the innocent look of fear upon the victims face enough to sicken and revolt you? But no, always it is 'for the good of us and the development of the modern world' have you ever heard- ' for the good of the animal kingdom'? I thought not. But that is all we are and ever will be. Animals. Whatever you may think our ancestors were primates, which climbed the trees and still do today. Agreed our IQ and brain is much more developed as is our features but without, we are same as those we lock up in wire cages to be stared and prodded at in Zoo's- the same as those creatures which we test our medicines and cosmetics upon- the same as the wretched creature above- bewildered and hurt wondering why its life is being tortured so and for what. Helpless creatures in our hands and instead or calming and loving them- we crush and break them. It is not as if we have need of the results gained by animal testing. Are there not enough types of shampoo already and body lotions to satisfy the world's needful demands? Or are the shampoos not good enough for our precious whims- are they not conditioned enough for our delicate hair? Is the washing up liquid not making the crystal glasses shiny enough? Now we have moved on to this subject, did I tell you how they check if their washing up liquid is poisonous or not? No- well you can bet your new classic clean Head and Shoulders on the fact that it wasn't humans they tested it on. Oh no. To check to see whether their new washing up liquid is safe enough and good enough for human use, the caring doting and loving scientists place fish into quantities of the mixture and record what happens to

John F. Kennedy Essay -- essays research papers

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Kennedy was the son of Joseph P. Kennedy a formerambassador to Great Britain. Kennedy was much like his father, possesing a delightful sense of humor, a strong family loyalty, a concern for the state of the nation, endless vitality and a constant air of confidence no matter how dire the situation In 1946, Kennedy ran successfully for a Boston-based seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; he was reelected in 1948 and 1950. As a congressman he backed social legislation that benefited his working-class constituents. Although generally supporting President Harry S. Truman's foreign policies, he criticized what he considered the administration's weak stand against the Communist Chinese. Kennedy continued to advocate a strong, anti-Communist foreign policy throughout his career. Restless in the House, Kennedy challenged incumbent Republican senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., in 1952. Although the Republican presidential candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, won in Massachusetts as well as the country as a whole, Kennedy showed his remarkable vote-getting appeal by defeating Lodge. A year later, on Sept. 12, 1953, Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier. The couple had three children: Caroline Bouvier (b. Nov. 27, 1957), John Fitzgerald, Jr. (b. Nov. 25, 1960), and a second son who died in infancy in August 1963. Kennedy was a relatively ineffectual senator. During parts of 1954 and 1955 he was seriously ill with back ailments and was therefore unable to play an important role in government. Critics observed that he made no effort to oppose the anti-civil libertarian excesses of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin. His friends later argued, not entirely persuasively, that he would have voted to censure McCarthy if he had not been hospitalized at the time. During his illness Kennedy worked on a book of biographical studies of American political heroes. Published in 1956 under the title Profiles in Courage, it won a Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. Like his earlier book on English foreign policy, it revealed his admiration for forceful political figures. This faith in activism was to become a hallmark of his presidency. In 1956, Kennedy bid unsuccessfully for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination. Thereafter, he set his sights on the presidency, especially after his... ... by at least conniving at the overthrow of Dinh Diem in November 1963. On November 21, 1963, President Kennedy flew to Texas to give several political speeches. The next day, as his car drove slowly past cheering crowds in Dallas, shots rang out. Kennedy was seriously wounded and died a short time later. Within two hours of the shooting, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with the murder. On November 24, a Dallas man, Jack Ruby, shot and killed Oswald before there was a chance to put him on trial. Although Oswald denied that he shot Kennedy, most of the evidence indicates that he really did. To this day, however, many people disagree about the facts of JFK's assassination. Some people insist that there was a second gunman firing at Kennedy, and that he and Ruby were part of a conspiracy. None of these theories has ever been proven. President Kennedy's death caused enormous sadness and grief among all Americans. Most people still remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of the murder. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington for the President's funeral, and millions throughout the world watched it on television.

Baderman Island Essay

Baderman Island is a vacationers dream, beautiful landscaping on the shore of the Kelsey river. The island offers three different hotels to choose from. For the more active, the island offers golf or a leisurely stroll through the immense botanical garden. To help a visitor immerse themselves into the tranquility of the island one can enjoy a relaxing visit to the Oasis Spa. On the surface this appears to be paradise, upon further investigation one can find many small problems Baderman should face if they would like to have a strong return customer base. Disappointment was caused by a faulty transportation system around the island and minor electrical issues. These nuisances absolutely need to be dealt with immediately. Baderman is reviewing the hiring policies and goals for employees, investing in the future of Baderman by investigating new methods in the hiring process. The company will be following the strict guidelines provided by government agencies. The company will also update the recruitment strategies and attempt to employ the best candidates available. Hiring Policies and Goals†¢Follow EEOC guidelines, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, military status or other categories that are considered protected by federal, state or local law. †¢Ensure that the hiring of individuals is based on equal rights and allow for the advancement of employees based on merit, skills, and performance. †¢Provide public announcements for open positions within the organization. †¢Provide benefits, compensation, training and other employment privileges on an equal opportunity basis. †¢Interview all candidates that meet the minimum requirements as posted in the job announcement. †¢Allow for internal and or external posting of positions based on business need. †¢Evaluate managers and supervisors on their compliance to the hiring policies of the company. Hiring ProcessHiring Manager is responsible for the constant growth of the company. Continuous development is dependent upon the recruitment of qualified individuals by supervisory staff. The following process must be followed when hiring new and internal employees. The following process must be followed when hiring new and internal employees. Before posting an open position the impact of the budget must be considered. A request must be sent to the general manager of the department for approval. Managers must submit a detailed job description with customization necessary for the particular job, and include an ergonomics assessment necessary for the job in question. The island has no issues with hiring relatives of an employee. However, a manager may not interview, hire or supervise any of his or her family membersLegal Compliance of StrategiesBoardman Management Group (BMG) recruiting and hiring strategies are clearly stated, on their human resource web page, that they have good awareness of legal issues related with recruiting and hiring process. The human resource department of BMG recognizes the importance of diversity in the organization and being compliant with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines. Boardman Management Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer, which means that they cannot base difference in pay on an employee’s age, sex, race, or other protected status. By keeping the goal of equal pay for equal work in sight, BGM is working within the guidelines that are overlooked by the EEOC. The organization also ensures that advancement of employees is based on merit, skills, and performance; however, in the event of favoritism has been suspected, BGM has contracted a legal counsel to help ensure all EEOC guidelines have been upheld. When legal disputes occur, companies are given the opportunity to settle with the employee with the assistance of a mediator or on his or her own. The EEOC will sometimes offer the services of a mediator, who will not represent either of parties, but only help open up communications between them. The BGM Human Recourse Manager would notify his or her legal counsel for the  appropriate action, which could be handled through the EEOC or may require further legal attention. Recruitment StrategiesBaderman Island Resort is a unique opportunity for employees’. Recruits who would want a rewarding job in a relaxed atmosphere, with a successful highly qualified management team Baderman is the place. Baderman Island’s employment management team Boardman Management Group human resources (BMG-HR) has a challenge in recruiting staff that are willing to live on an island have a genuine desire to treat guests and visitors warmly and professionally, function as a team player, and have the personal discipline to do what is needed. Even though the atmosphere on the island is relaxed and carefree for the benefit of the guests, staff must understand that it takes hard work and personal determination to bring this tone to guests and visitors. With these goals in mind Baderman’s recruitment must focus on methods that bring quality employees to the island. BMG-HR must respect and acknowledge individual attributes and values that each employee brings to the job during the recruiting process as well as the professional skills exhibited. The marriage between personality and ability to perform a selected job is a balance that has to be met in order for the employee to offer his or her best to all guests and visitors. In order for Baderman Island Resort to continue to contact and hire a high performance staff they might consider broadening their recruiting area so there will be a larger pool of high quality staffing options to draw from. Higher quality staffing options means less employee turnover, fewer dissatisfied employees and customers, and a customer satisfaction rate which will increase Baderman’s bottom line. A couple recruiting strategies that Baderman might want to consider to increase it’s staffing pool would be: job fairs, off-season weekend invitations to lure potential job candidates to take a closer look at the Island and keeping a potential staff file for future needs. Currently, BMG-HR recruitment process’s are well thought out and meets  federal and state regulations but the process should be implemented on an as needed basis. Recruitment plans that cover future needs should also be set in place to cover potential growth, loss of employees, or other changes within the organization. Treating recruitment of potential employees like a marketing campaign that would suggest to them that the company values all staff members should be considered also. The strategy here would be to woo candidates with the idea that Baderman Resort is an excellent place to work and employee satisfaction is as important as any other goal Baderman Resort’s may have. Because the Resort is a service orientated organization it makes sense that happy and content employees will make for happy and content customers. Staffing StrategiesThe Baderman Company is well on its way to expanding its local business and in the international market. Baderman’s customers come to the resort expecting to relax and enjoy the activities and amenities. Excellent customer service and qualified personnel is extremely important, therefore, hiring the right individual’s is a key component to Baderman’s success. Baderman has also paid attention to the comments of guests and realized the importance of communicating with them, thus bi-lingual candidates are given utmost consideration. Because of past issues, employees must be screened appropriately and possess adequately skills to perform their job efficiently. Working for a company that provides an atmosphere of relaxation and enjoyable activities is appealing to prospective employees. Baderman wants to ensure that new employee’s will reap the benefits of this work environment yet understand that their contribution is what keeps it flourishing. Baderman knows the resort industry requires employees of various skills and knowledge at every level of the company. This includes hotel management, sales and marketing representatives, customer service providers, and cleaning and maintenance of the facilities and grounds. Baderman will use many avenues for its staffing strategy. It will ensure top management is qualified employees with appropriate experience in growing companies. Top management must be familiar with local, state and government  laws and be committed to ensuring the company is in compliance at all times. It will allow these individuals to help strategize on how to meet the company objectives and provide the resources to enhance the business through future trends and technology advances. Bonus incentives will be offered to help motivate these individuals as well as a lucrative long-term incentive to help share in the company’s growth. Baderman will provide an above average pay scale and career advancement for middle management. They will be offered yearly bonus packages for meeting company budgets and opportunities to grow within the company depending on the management of assigned teams in meeting company objectives. They will also be trained on compliance issues and challenged to meet, and exceed them at all times. Because of the importance placed on a manager to lead those reporting to a middle manager, HR will provide yearly courses to enhance his or her knowledge of supervising. The management teams will also be provided coaching throughout the year to support the challenges they are faced with. Baderman will work towards helping the frontline positions by providing temporary housing on the island for these employees as well as transportation to and from the local ports. Since these type of positions are the lowest paying yet will make up most of the workforce, this will also help the surrounding communities. These employees will also be given educational and training opportunities to help increase their job skills and allow them to grow within the company if that is the desire of the employee. Baderman management is stressing the importance of communication with the guests. Baderman is offering language classes to the employees, enabling them to communicate in the customer’s native language. Because French and Spanish are languages that many of Baderman’s guests speak, bilingual employees will be given additional compensation for their contribution to a multi-lingual environment. All employees who support Baderman’s core values which include a â€Å"strive for  excellence† customer service attitude, produce quality product, a high standard for work ethics, a team player, honest and have integrity, being a leader in all aspects of their conduct will be recognized formally and through compensation, plus medical benefits, internal and external training programs, career path incentives, educational reimbursement, family benefits and personal growth opportunities. ConclusionBaderman boasts itself on the fact that the island is an international tourist destination. However, the lack of language skills has caused major issues and undue stress for the customers. Baderman has implemented language training classes for the employees but what the island should do is invest in customer service agents who are fluent in several languages in order to place the customer needs to the forefront, thus lessening customer dissatisfaction. HR realizes the importance of diversity and has implemented an organization wide diversity-friendly attitude and welcomes all talented, committed employees as per EEOC guidelines. The goals Baderman’s recruitment and staffing strategy will focus on recruiting quality employees stressing the customer satisfaction. Hiring the right individual’s is a key component to Baderman’s success. References Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2004). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. New York: The McGraw−Hill Companies. University of Phoenix (2005). Baderman Island. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/BadermanIsland/BadermanIsland/BIinternet/library/index.html

Pilot Judgment and Aeronautical Decision Making; Naturalistic Decision Making

The main causes of accidents in aeronautical decision making to a great extent dwell on the judgment of the pilot. Experienced pilots know that timely decision making leaves one with more options of future decisions to make. The inevitable losses that may result from imminent danger are often avoidable in cases where the pilot’s intuition is on high. Everybody wins when a good and timely decision is taken.The premise of this technical paper focuses on the causes of fatal accidents in pilots’ decision making process. It draws resource from various primary sources, which include conference proceedings, symposia, journals and actual research work results. It maintains that the best decisions are reached before the take-off time of the flight schedule.The procedure of work engages a unique mix of Intellectual discoveries in balance with actual practical on-site decision making procedures with simulated Situation Deteriorations for pilots.The work concludes that since of 32 pilots, over two-thirds continued in deteriorating weather situation, critical examination of Situation Deterioration may lead to safer thought options.IntroductionAeronautical Decision Making (ADM) is a methodical approach to the mental procedure used by pilots of airplanes to consistently find out the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances.ADM is a systematic and intelligent approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances. In other words, the entire goal of good decision making is in actual fact doing the right thing, and at the right time. It is however also worthy of note that poor decision is the chief basis for every form of accident.Poor decision making is the root cause of aviation accidents. The poor judgment chain, sometimes referred to as the â€Å"error chain,† is a term used to describe this concept of contributing factors in a human factors-re lated accident. Breaking one link in the chain normally is all that is necessary to change the outcome of the sequence of events (FAA-H-8083-25, 2003).Naturalistic decision making (NDM) falls clearly within the realm of bounded rationality. It is the art of making decisions with limited time, knowledge, and other resources. NDM deals with real world tasks rather than with classical decision experiments. For it to be, valid models have to describe what information the decision making process actually seeks, how they interpret it, and which decision rules they actually use (Todd & Gigerenzer, 2001).Goh and Wiegmann, (2001) reported a study on the degree to which situation assessment, risk perception and motivation shape pilots’ decisions to go on with or redirect from adverse weather conditions, making use of a dynamic simulation of a visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)Situation in which weather-related factors change over time, wher e thirty-two non-instrument rated pilots (age ranging from 18 to 47 years; median age being 19 years) from the University of Illinois’ pilot training program actively participated in the study.The median entire VFR flight experience of the thirty-two pilots was sixty hours (ranging from 30 to 259.4 hours). All the pilots had flown at least one cross-country flight (median being 3; ranging from 2 to 13) as at the time the study was being carried out. Only fourteen pilots had definite instrument flight rules (IFR) experience, which ranged from 0.3 to 10 hours.The result of the experiment showed that of the total of 32 pilots, 22 (which accounts for 68.75% – more than two-thirds) chose to fly into the worsening weather condition, while the rest 10 (that is 31.25%) made a decision to divert.The findings revealed a proportion that exceeded chance expectations as shown by a Chi-square analysis, χ2(1) = 4.5, p