Business plan for a restaurant Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business plan for a restaurant - Assignment Example This group of eight family run restaurants operating in northern California has been undergoing difficulties dealing with human resource issues. The operations manager doubles up as the human resource manager and embarks on a tedious process of physical inspection of the human resource requirements and problems of all the eight restaurants. Not only is this a time consuming and tiring process, the operations manager has also realized that it is costly and very inefficient. Therefore this plan presents a possible solution to the problem in the form of the implementation of an information system which will effectively aid the human resource manager with his operations thus allowing for efficiency and company growth. The restaurant industry is quite competitive with northern California being a haven for great restaurants. It is essential for one to cut a niche in the market and this can only be done if the various organizational resources are effectively managed. The replacement of the current manual system with an automated one will enable the company to manage its employees effectively allowing for good record handling, proper and easy scheduling, and effective communication within the organization. This will see an improvement in business processes which will culminate in the growth of the business reflected as higher profits. Introduction The implementation of an Information system is a vital part of business process transformation. For a business to succeed various steps must be taken to ensure that business process support and improvement is achieved. The use of a Human resource information system is a sure way of attaining this. A human resource information system will ensure that human resource functions are effectively managed by information technology hence creating an environment for profit making and business growth through efficient service provision and management. The human resource department is charged with the responsibility of payroll processing , employee recruitment and employee appraisals. These functions are increasingly becoming complex and thus require sufficient support. Automation of such a department, through the use of information technology, will ensure that the workload is sufficiently reduced and access to information is easy and quick. This business plan examines the effective role of implementing a human resource information system by performing a business analysis that will present the inefficiency of a manual system, and presenting a possible solution in the form of a human resource information system that can be implemented. Company Review The Castle Family Restaurants, a group of eight restaurants in northern California run by the Castle family, is a big employer of both part time and full time employees. It has employed more than 300 employees most of whom are on a part time basis as only 30% of these employees work on a full time basis. The operations manager usually has her hands full as she makes seve ral visits to all the restaurants managed by the group to perform human resource administrative duties such as employee recruitment, appraisals, payroll processing among other functions. This manual process of performing human resource functions is quite costly and very inefficient. Therefore there is a great need for improvement in order to eliminate the

Attribution Theory Essay Example for Free

Attribution Theory Essay Attribution Theory Definition The process by which persons interpret and pinpoint causes for their own personal and other’s behaviour is the theory of attribution. 1 In this motivational theory, a person always finds a way to explain things, he make inferences on why things or events occur. After explaining the events a person then predicts future events through his inferences. He wants to understand the reasons or causes behind behaviour of people and why events happen. It was first proposed by Fritz Heider in 1958 and further developed by Harold Kelly and Bernard Weiner. Theories Internal vs. External Attributions Every person observe and analyze things differently thus having different ways of explaining things. The attribution theory proposes that when people observe and analyze things they try to find out whether it is caused internally or externally. 2 Attribution is a three-stage process: (1) Observation of an individual behaviour, (2) Determination whether the behaviour is intentional and (3) Attribution of the observed behaviour to internal or external factors. Those that are believed that can be personally controlled are called internal attributions while those believed to be caused by outside forces are external attributions. 2Â  Example of internal attributions are ability, personality, mood, efforts, attitudes or disposition while external attributions are task, other people and luck. 4 Following is an example of an application of this theory is when an employee failed to perform in a given task, a manager tries to explain why this thing happened. He may attribute this failure to poor efforts made by his subordinate (internal attribute) or he may consider that the given task maybe be too difficult for his employee (external attribute). Consistency, Distinctiveness and Consensus On the other hand, when making a determination between internal and external causes of behaviour, three factors must be considered: (1) consistency, (2) distinctiveness and (3) consensus. 1 Consistency is how frequent a person behaves similarly when faced with the same situations. Distinctiveness is how different a person behaves when faced with different types of situations. Consensus is when a group of people behaves similarly when faced with the same situation. 2 When a person behaves similarly when faced with same situations, we can say that the consistency is high; if he acts differently every time exposed with the same situation, consistency is low. 3 An example of consistency is the following is when an employee consistently has a low performance when he always assigned in a individual task rather when he is assigned in a group task. The observed behaviour of the employee wherein there is a high consistency can be attributed to an internal factor which is attitude. When a person behaves differently during different types of situations distinctiveness is high; if he behaves similarly during different situations, distinctiveness is low. 3 An example of distinctiveness is when an honor student gets high grades (same behaviour) in all of his subjects during three consecutive grading periods (different situations). The observed behaviour of the student wherein there is a low distinctiveness can be attributed to an internal factor which is ability or effort. When the observed behaviour of a group of people is the same in a given situation, consensus is high; if this group behaves differently given a similar situation, consensus is low. 3 An example of distinctiveness is when all students are late in a first period class (consensus is high), the attribution to this behaviour maybe due to an external factor which is traffic caused by a vehicular accident. Figure 1. Summary of the key elements in attribution theory. 2 Errors and Biases in Attribution The difference on how every person thinks, perceive and judge things may lead to some biases. One may consider the greater attributes of certain occurrences to external factors rather than internal factors or the other way around, well on the actual these considerations may not be correct all the time. Fundamental Attribution Error and Self-serving Bias Fundamental attribution error is when people have the tendency to consider the influence of external factors more than considering the influence of internal or personal factors. 2 An example of this is when we attribute the promotion of an officemate to perfect timing or luck rather than to his own efforts and perseverance. Self-serving bias is overestimating the influence of internal factors or personal traits rather than assigning external or situational factors to certain occurrences. When a person attributes his personal success to his own traits or internal and his misfortunes to bad luck or external factors, he is thus committing a self-serving bias. 1 Self-fulfilling Prophecy Perceiver’s expectations for a person will cause the perceiver to treat the person perceived differently and the person perceived will respond in a way that confirms the initial expectations. 1 Example of this is when a teacher thinks that his student will do well during his exam so he spends more time with this student and coaches him well, in return the student will get a high score in the exam. Summary Attribution theory is important to management because managers’ and employees’ actions and opinion can be influenced by how they perceive or see the reasons that cause human behaviour given a certain situation. 3 Different attributions of a manager to an employee’s attitude and performance can affect the standing of the employee in the organization. If a manager attributes the employee’s poor performance to lack of effort in performing the assigned task, he may fail the employee or give the employee a low rating during performance appraisals. On the other hand, if the manager attributes the poor performance to the high level of difficulty of the job, the manager may review and revise the job specifications to lessen the difficulty level of the job. Attribution also affects employee motivation. If an employee attributes the success to external factors, then they may lose motivation since anything that may occur is beyond their control. If an employee attributes success to internal factors like perseverance, then they are expected to have a high motivation for their job.

Imperialism :: essays research papers

Imperialism is the total domination of the political, economical, or cultural aspects or a nation. Imperial colonization has been occurring sense the beginning of time. An imperialistic nation would increase its importance and power by winning an empire. Some takeovers were forced by political rivalries. One nation might seize a territory to prevent a competitor from expanding into that region. Some nations would expand to boost their economic value, or personal wealth. Imperialism advances a countries politics, society, and economic value into a powerful money making country. The political aspect of imperialism progresses a country from being week into a strong fighting nation. For example, when the French were taking over parts of Africa, the communication of the two countries increased and they started to share the Suez Canal. Also when the British government set up a system of Colonial rule, it controlled over 280 million Indians. Thus encouraging officials to learn new languages. When the Spanish took over Latin America they constructed a Council of the Indies which issued over 400,00 orders to improve the cities. However without society, politics would have gotten no where. The social aspect of imperialism was very important. First of all, by the colonization of countries scientist were able to find causes and treatments to diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. Also Britain built canals, roads, and railways which opened up India’s interior. The Spanish improved the Aztecs cities by making public waterways, paved and lighted streets, and a new invention the printing press. The society increased but when it enhanced the economics boosted also. The economics of imperialism is a major reason why nations would take over other countries. In Africa they introduced better farming techniques like dykes and irrigation canals, which boosted the money growth. The British improved medical care that included doctor education, thus leading into a boom in the population.

Sustaining Employee Performance

In this paper, team D will address the course design objectives of Riordan Manufacturing. First of all, the team will pick two job positions within the company, and discuss the general functions of performance management systems, job evaluation methods, compensation plans, and the importance of employee benefit plans. The two job positions discussed in this paper will be the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiter. These positions were selected due to the extreme amount of importance their roles play in completing Riordan Manufacturing’s Mission. General functions of performance management systems The general function of performance management systems in organizations is for employers to manage employees’ performance and development by providing individual feedback on their performance evaluation to identify and plan measurable areas for personal development to ensure the organization’s strategic goals are being met (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007). For years, many organizations provided appraisal type performance reviews to their employees that ranked them against other employees. This type of ranking system is problematic, as it is unfair to compare employees from different departments who’s primary goals may be different from one another and can viewed as putting down employees who may be unable to put in as many hours or as much effort as others who have only one set project at a time and can bog down to set higher numbers. If employee development is not properly measured and managed, the organization may find it difficult to meet their strategic goals. This in turn can create complications between mainstream workers and management, as well as the company, and their customers. Riordan Manufacturing uses a behavioral-anchored rating scale for their annual performance evaluations. The employees are rated by their performance in different areas of competencies to determine if they met, exceeded, or if they did not meet the standard expectations of the job. â€Å"Behaviorally anchored rating scales specify definite, observable, and measurable job behavior† (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007, p. 264). This rating is issued and determined by managers and is a sufficient measure for performance management. Though this rating style eliminates competitive work habits that may assist in high productivity, it is a proven system that works much more consistent (Noe, Gerhart, & Wright, 2012) . Job evaluation methods Job evaluations are important for every organization to use because it ranks each position in the organization and is used to determine the pay structures for positions. Positions are usually broken down by responsibility, skill, effort, and work conditions. It is also helpful to separate the positions into groups such as managerial, professional, sales, and so on. This makes the rankings more valid within the job categories. To evaluate the director of administration a good evaluation method would be the ordering method. The ordering method uses a committee composed of managers and employee reps to arrange jobs in ranking order from highest importance to lower importance. The base of this is to compare two jobs and decide what job is more important or difficult. Then to add another job to the comparison until all of the positions have been compared and ranked. There are two major drawbacks to doing evaluations this way. One is there can be many positions within the organization which can make the processes confusing and long. Two, there are no consistent standards in the ranking evaluations. Another way to evaluate the director of administration position is through the classification method. This method was developed so that a standard was set in the evaluation processes. Classifications are set based off of skills, knowledge, and responsibilities and then by classes such as managerial, sales staff, and so on. Once these are established, then they are put in order by importance based on the criteria they are in. This process can be just as confusing as the ordering method if not done properly. A human resource department can be evaluated with the point method. The point method breaks positions down based on identifiable marks like skill, effort, and responsibility, and assigns points to the criteria’s. This method can be helpful because all positions with the same amount of points are in the same pay grade. Jobs can change over time but the rating scale under the point method stay intact (DeCenzo& Robbins, 2007). Even though the point method is the most reliable it is the most time consuming. Compensation plans Director Administrator and Human Resources/Recruiter are both important functions in a business. They have common commonalities. Between the two, they have distinctive, important functions. The Director of Administrations functions are to meet business goals and organize the personnel in the business. They also operate with financial management and marketing management. Human Resources are responsible to manage, hire, making plans to retain employees, and find the right candidates. Human Resources are an important tool for any organization, industry, and geographic location. The difference between Administration and Human resources is that the administrative function is predominantly to maintain the conditions of employment. On the other hand, Human Resources use the traditional process to manage Riordan Manufacturing’s goals and strategies, which follows with developmental organizational activities. Both positions seek for the compensation plans for the organization by administering to employee bonuses, overtime calculations, and payroll. Riordan Manufacturing focuses on Administration and Human Resources, because it can create investments in the future if the training programs are well elaborated and developed. Both fall into finding the best program functions (technical, finance). The development of employees is very important for Riordan Manufacturing since it helps create satisfaction among employees. The Board of Directors also maintains the executive and auditing committees under the corporate governance plan (Apollo Group, Inc. 2011). Riordan Manufacturing also has to implement a corporate compliance plan to have a safe future for the company. Riordan’s compliance plan will guide the company on how to handle current and future issues. The compliance plan is focused on working with issues, such as technological, logistical, and governance. By performing well in these areas, the company could be prosperous. The company has to maintain high quality in the performance of products and processes. This will help the company to be unsusceptible to product liability issues. Importance of employee benefit plans to employees working in team D’s chosen positions Director of Administration and Human Resources/Recruiter† Employees are offered benefits as a means to provide additional compensation above their regular salary to make their lives a little easier outside of the workplace. Health insurance, vacation and holiday time, social security and retirement plans, are all important benefits to employees and their families. At Riordan Manufacturing, the Human Resources Recruiters receive the same benefits that are of fered to every employee, which is an important factor for employee retention. The Directors at Riordan are offered special perks such as, travel benefits, a company vehicle, expense accounts, and other benefits that are not offered to every employee. Executive level employees receive these special perks to encourage them to work hard for the organization and to promote loyalty in the event of a hostile takeover. Conclusion Ending on a positive note, the team demonstrated in informative content to the reader, an understanding of the concepts of sustaining employee performance in this paper. These concepts are the four important activities of the HRM motivation function, and the connections to stimulating employees are observed. The team identified two job positions within Riordan Manufacturing, which are the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiting. The team described the general functions of performance management systems. The team suggested two job evaluation methods for both of the job positions and answered questions about the advantages and disadvantages of these methods based on the recruiter and Director of Administration and Human Resources job positions. The team compared and contrasted the possible compensation plans for those two job titles. The team explained the importance of providing employee benefit plans to the recruiter/director of HR. An in-depth, comprehensive overview of activities planned in sustaining employee performance in the two positions at Riordan as referenced from week five materials, and the virtual organization site, followed by a logical conclusion. Sustaining Employee Performance In this paper, team D will address the course design objectives of Riordan Manufacturing. First of all, the team will pick two job positions within the company, and discuss the general functions of performance management systems, job evaluation methods, compensation plans, and the importance of employee benefit plans. The two job positions discussed in this paper will be the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiter. These positions were selected due to the extreme amount of importance their roles play in completing Riordan Manufacturing’s Mission. General functions of performance management systems The general function of performance management systems in organizations is for employers to manage employees’ performance and development by providing individual feedback on their performance evaluation to identify and plan measurable areas for personal development to ensure the organization’s strategic goals are being met (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007). For years, many organizations provided appraisal type performance reviews to their employees that ranked them against other employees. This type of ranking system is problematic, as it is unfair to compare employees from different departments who’s primary goals may be different from one another and can viewed as putting down employees who may be unable to put in as many hours or as much effort as others who have only one set project at a time and can bog down to set higher numbers. If employee development is not properly measured and managed, the organization may find it difficult to meet their strategic goals. This in turn can create complications between mainstream workers and management, as well as the company, and their customers. Riordan Manufacturing uses a behavioral-anchored rating scale for their annual performance evaluations. The employees are rated by their performance in different areas of competencies to determine if they met, exceeded, or if they did not meet the standard expectations of the job. â€Å"Behaviorally anchored rating scales specify definite, observable, and measurable job behavior† (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007, p. 264). This rating is issued and determined by managers and is a sufficient measure for performance management. Though this rating style eliminates competitive work habits that may assist in high productivity, it is a proven system that works much more consistent (Noe, Gerhart, & Wright, 2012) . Job evaluation methods Job evaluations are important for every organization to use because it ranks each position in the organization and is used to determine the pay structures for positions. Positions are usually broken down by responsibility, skill, effort, and work conditions. It is also helpful to separate the positions into groups such as managerial, professional, sales, and so on. This makes the rankings more valid within the job categories. To evaluate the director of administration a good evaluation method would be the ordering method. The ordering method uses a committee composed of managers and employee reps to arrange jobs in ranking order from highest importance to lower importance. The base of this is to compare two jobs and decide what job is more important or difficult. Then to add another job to the comparison until all of the positions have been compared and ranked. There are two major drawbacks to doing evaluations this way. One is there can be many positions within the organization which can make the processes confusing and long. Two, there are no consistent standards in the ranking evaluations. Another way to evaluate the director of administration position is through the classification method. This method was developed so that a standard was set in the evaluation processes. Classifications are set based off of skills, knowledge, and responsibilities and then by classes such as managerial, sales staff, and so on. Once these are established, then they are put in order by importance based on the criteria they are in. This process can be just as confusing as the ordering method if not done properly. A human resource department can be evaluated with the point method. The point method breaks positions down based on identifiable marks like skill, effort, and responsibility, and assigns points to the criteria’s. This method can be helpful because all positions with the same amount of points are in the same pay grade. Jobs can change over time but the rating scale under the point method stay intact (DeCenzo& Robbins, 2007). Even though the point method is the most reliable it is the most time consuming. Compensation plans Director Administrator and Human Resources/Recruiter are both important functions in a business. They have common commonalities. Between the two, they have distinctive, important functions. The Director of Administrations functions are to meet business goals and organize the personnel in the business. They also operate with financial management and marketing management. Human Resources are responsible to manage, hire, making plans to retain employees, and find the right candidates. Human Resources are an important tool for any organization, industry, and geographic location. The difference between Administration and Human resources is that the administrative function is predominantly to maintain the conditions of employment. On the other hand, Human Resources use the traditional process to manage Riordan Manufacturing’s goals and strategies, which follows with developmental organizational activities. Both positions seek for the compensation plans for the organization by administering to employee bonuses, overtime calculations, and payroll. Riordan Manufacturing focuses on Administration and Human Resources, because it can create investments in the future if the training programs are well elaborated and developed. Both fall into finding the best program functions (technical, finance). The development of employees is very important for Riordan Manufacturing since it helps create satisfaction among employees. The Board of Directors also maintains the executive and auditing committees under the corporate governance plan (Apollo Group, Inc. 2011). Riordan Manufacturing also has to implement a corporate compliance plan to have a safe future for the company. Riordan’s compliance plan will guide the company on how to handle current and future issues. The compliance plan is focused on working with issues, such as technological, logistical, and governance. By performing well in these areas, the company could be prosperous. The company has to maintain high quality in the performance of products and processes. This will help the company to be unsusceptible to product liability issues. Importance of employee benefit plans to employees working in team D’s chosen positions Director of Administration and Human Resources/Recruiter† Employees are offered benefits as a means to provide additional compensation above their regular salary to make their lives a little easier outside of the workplace. Health insurance, vacation and holiday time, social security and retirement plans, are all important benefits to employees and their families. At Riordan Manufacturing, the Human Resources Recruiters receive the same benefits that are of fered to every employee, which is an important factor for employee retention. The Directors at Riordan are offered special perks such as, travel benefits, a company vehicle, expense accounts, and other benefits that are not offered to every employee. Executive level employees receive these special perks to encourage them to work hard for the organization and to promote loyalty in the event of a hostile takeover. Conclusion Ending on a positive note, the team demonstrated in informative content to the reader, an understanding of the concepts of sustaining employee performance in this paper. These concepts are the four important activities of the HRM motivation function, and the connections to stimulating employees are observed. The team identified two job positions within Riordan Manufacturing, which are the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiting. The team described the general functions of performance management systems. The team suggested two job evaluation methods for both of the job positions and answered questions about the advantages and disadvantages of these methods based on the recruiter and Director of Administration and Human Resources job positions. The team compared and contrasted the possible compensation plans for those two job titles. The team explained the importance of providing employee benefit plans to the recruiter/director of HR. An in-depth, comprehensive overview of activities planned in sustaining employee performance in the two positions at Riordan as referenced from week five materials, and the virtual organization site, followed by a logical conclusion.

Ethical Issue of the Contraceptive Mandate Essay

The issue of the contraception mandate may be one of the biggest political stories of the year. It is a law brought forward by the Obama administration that requires all employers to offer contraceptive coverage. This has been a requirement for all company healthcare coverage programs for many years already but religious affiliates have been exempt from following the rules. Obama is looking to change all that by requiring even religion-based employers, who have previously not offered coverage, to participate. Such services required by the contraception mandate will violate some of these religion-based employers’ moral conscience. Rule: From the contraception mandate issue, two opposing ethical rules are rights and justice/fairness. From Velasquez’s Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, the rights rule is â€Å"an individual’s entitlement to something.† It can address the contraception mandate from both an individual and a corporate issue. The rights rule is being processed more from the religious-based employers point of view. The justice/fairness rule being discussed in this case brief is the egalitarianism view. Egalitarianism is â€Å"every person should be given exactly equal shares of a society’s or a group’s benefits and burdens.† It addresses the contraception mandate from a systemic issue Analysis: 1. Rights: Religious institutions do not want to have to cover birth control in their insurance plans for employees. Such services required by the contraception mandate will violate these religion-based institutions’ moral conscience. Thus, the contraception mandate can be viewed as an obstruction of the constitutional rights presented in the First Amendment. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution reads as following: â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.† In the First Amendment, all individuals are entitled to freedom of religion. Many of the religion-based institutions claim that the first amendment allows people the freedom to follow their religious convictions and that they cannot be forced to act against them. The government through the contraception mandate is forcing constraints on the religious freedom of the religious affiliated institutions and their employees. 2. Justice/Fairness: The justice/fairness rule of egalitarianism will say the contraception mandate is about women’s health rights. According to an egalitarian, goods should be allocated to people in equal portions. Thus, all women should have access to equal healthcare services, including the contraceptive services. The egalitarianism view argues that supporting a rights rule would limit the whole population based on someone else’s moral ideals and not scientific medical information. Women, along with many men, want to have sex for non-procreative purposes despite â€Å"edicts† passed down by religious texts. Women should have access to contraceptives. Egalitarians also argue everyone is entitled to practice their own religion and refrain from taking birth control, but every employer is prevented from discriminating against their employees on the basis of religious freedom. The reversal of the contraception mandate would be a huge setback for women’s reproductive freedom. It would go back to say women’s bodies are not their own. Conclusion: In my opinion, I believe that the rights rule is the correct approach to the contraception mandate. All companies, excluding religion-based employers, before were required to provide contraceptive coverage. Now under the Health and Human Services contraception mandate, those religious-based employers are required to provide contraceptive coverage. The First Amendment promises the entitlement to religious freedom and the practicing religious convictions. I believe forcing this healthcare service onto religious affiliated institutions is obstructing their right to practice religious convictions, hence their moral convictions. The larger portion of employed women will already be covered prior to this contraception mandate. It is only the addition of employed women at religious affiliated institutions. I am inclined to think the female employees of religious affiliated institutions would share the same religious and moral views of that religious affiliated institution. If a religious affiliated institution believes it is morally accepting for the use of contraceptives, good for them. But for a religious affiliated institution that believes it is against their religious convictions to provide employees with contraceptives, the government should not have any authority to force such a mandate. Following political backlash for the contraception mandate, President Obama has since revised the original mandate. He has added an â€Å"accommodation,† somewhat like a clause, that allows the religion-based employers the opportunity to opt out and not have to directly cover birth control in their healthcare insurance plans. The insurance company hired to cover the religious affiliated institution’s employees cannot opt out. The insurers themselves would be required to make contraceptives available free of charge to women anyway. This is a clear political move to gain more favoritism in hopes of a reelection. I see this move by Obama as an attempted reversal of the mandate after viewing the religious opposition that was evoked by mandate. Also what Obama has failed to think of are the business implications of this new â€Å"accommodation†Ã¢â‚¬â€offering the contraceptives at no cost from the opted out religious affiliated employer and employees. Insurance companies will not offer this benefit at no cost; contraceptive drug companies will not offer the medicine at no cost; and doctors will not provide treatment without payment. The only logical conclusion, at least the short run, will result in higher healthcare insurance premiums. To have avoided religious invasion, political backlash, and increased insurance premiums, I logically propose the Obama Administration should simply give women without access to contraceptive services a federal voucher.

The Worlds First Artificial Satellite

The World's First Artificial Satellite On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union stunned everyone by launching the worlds first artificial satellite,  Sputnik 1.  It was an event that galvanized the world and spurred the fledgling U.S. space effort into high gear. No one who was alive at that time can forget the electricity of the moment when humans first lofted a satellite into orbit. The fact that it was the U.S.S.R. beating the U.S. to orbit was even more shocking, especially to Americans. Sputnik by the Numbers The name Sputnik comes from a Russian word for traveling companion of the world. It was a smallish metal ball that weighed just 83 kg (184 lbs.) and was lofted into space by an R7 rocket. The tiny satellite carried a thermometer and two radio transmitters and was part of the Soviet Unions work during the International Geophysical Year. While its goal was partly scientific, the launch and deployment into orbit had heavy political significance and signaled the countrys ambitions in space.   Sputnik 1 Assembly. Asif A. Siddiq / NASA Sputnik circled Earth once every 96.2 minutes and transmitted atmospheric information by radio for 21 days. Just 57 days after its launch, Sputnik was destroyed while reentering the atmosphere but signaled a whole new era of exploration. Almost immediately, other satellites were built and an era of satellite exploration began at the same time that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. began making plans to send people to space. Setting the Stage for the Space Age To understand why Sputnik 1 was such a surprise, its important to look at what was going on at the time, to take a good look back to the late 1950s. At that time, the world was poised on the brink of space exploration. The development of rocket technology was actually aimed at space but was diverted to wartime use. After World War II, the United States and the  Soviet Union (now Russia) were rivals both militarily and culturally. Scientists on both sides were developing bigger, more powerful rockets to take payloads to space. Both countries wanted to be the first to explore the high frontier. It was just a matter of time before it happened. What the world needed was a scientific and technical push to get there. Space Science Enters the Main Stage Scientifically, the year 1957 was established as the International Geophysical Year (IGY), a time when scientists would use new methods to study Earth, its atmosphere, and magnetic field. It was timed to coincide with the 11-year sunspot cycle. Astronomers were also planning to observe the Sun and its influence on Earth throughout that time, particularly on communications and in the newly emerging discipline of solar physics.   The U.S. National Academy of Sciences created a committee to oversee U.S. IGY projects. These included investigations of what we now call space weather caused by solar activity, such as auroral storms and other aspects of the upper ionosphere. They also wanted to study other phenomena such as airglows, cosmic rays, geomagnetism, glaciology, gravity, make determinations of longitude and latitude and planned to conduct tests in meteorology, oceanography, and seismology. As part of this, the U.S. had a plan to launch the first artificial satellite, and its planners were hoping to be the first ones to send something into space. Such satellites were not a new idea.  In October 1954, scientists called for the first ones to be launched during IGY to map Earths surface. The White House agreed that this might be a good idea, and announced plans to launch an Earth-orbiting satellite to take measurements of the upper atmosphere and the effects of the solar wind. Officials solicited proposals from various government research agencies to undertake the development of such a mission. In September 1955, the Naval Research Laboratorys Vanguard proposal was chosen. Teams began building and testing missiles. However, before the United States could launch its first rockets to space, the Soviet Union beat everyone to the punch. The U.S. Responds The beeping signal from Sputnik not only reminded everyone of Russian superiority, but it also galvanized public opinion in the U.S. The political backlash over the Soviets beating Americans to space led to some interesting and long-reaching results. The U.S. Defense Department immediately began providing funding for another U.S. satellite project. At the same time, Wernher von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work on the Explorer project, which was launched to orbit on January 31, 1958. Very quickly, the Moon was announced as a major target, which set in motion planning for a series of missions.   Dr. Wernher von Braun was part of the U.S. space effort at the time of the Sputnik launch, working to build rockets to take U.S. satellites and astronauts such as L. Gordon Cooper (right) to space.   NASA The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to carry on a civilian space effort (rather than militarizing the activity). In July 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the Space Act). That act created NASA on October 1, 1958, uniting the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies to form a new agency aimed at putting the U.S. squarely in the space business.   Models of  Sputnik commemorating this daring mission are scattered around the world. One hangs at the United Nations building in New York City, while another is in a place of honor at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The World Museum in Liverpool, England has one, as does the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson and the California Science Center in L.A.. The Russian Embassy in Madrid, Spain, also has a Sputnik model. They remain gleaming reminders of the earliest days of the Space Age at a time when science and technology were coming together to create a new era of exploration.   Edited and revised by Carolyn Collins Petersen.

Split Brain Research Essays - Nervous System, Neuroscience, Brain

Split Brain Research Essays - Nervous System, Neuroscience, Brain Split Brain Research Chad Stein PS 101 Dr. Rom 1. Gazzaniga, M.S. One Brain or Two? Scientific American. 1967. Rpt. In Forty Studies That Changed Psychology. Ed. Roger R. Hock. Engewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995. 2-11. 2. This article dealt with experiments that showed the different functions of the right and left hemisphere of the brain. It also described the functions of the left and right hemisphere. Your left brain is better at speaking, writing, mathematical calculations, and reading, and is the primary center for language. Your right hemisphere, posses superior capabilities for recognizing faces, solving problems involving spatial relationships, symbolic reasoning, and artistic activities(9). The experiments were done to find how each hemisphere of the brain process information. To do this the corpus callosum was severed. This made it impossible for the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate with each other. When the corpus callosum is severed it is referred to as the split brain effect. The tests that were performed on the individuals fell into three fields: they were sight, hearing, and touch. All the tests showed that the above is true concerning the functions of each hemisphere of th e brain. The problem that the author was addressing was the fact that the two hemispheres of the brain communicate with each other, and if the communication is destroyed then the functions could be handled by one hemisphere better then the two combined. These experiments proved that there was a dominance in each hemisphere of the brain to perform certain tasks. Even though a connected brain can perform the tasks of both sides. 3. I think that the experiment showed exactly what it set out to do. Show that the separate hemispheres of the brain perform different tasks. It also showed that the brain is capable of performing these tasks even when the corpus callosum has been severed. Although some tasks are performed better when the brain is able to communicate between the hemispheres. 4. The effects on psychology are many. For instance this research helps people understand the different parts of the brain, and how they work. Also when injuries occur to the brain psychologist can determine what the possible effects of the person will be. Finally, psychologist will have a better understanding of how the human brain works.