The structure of congress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The structure of congress - Essay Example Indeed, the government system in the United States may have its own strengths and weaknesses and it is subject to a number of critical review and analysis, some of which have been done in the following texts. The Structure of Congress Generally, the Congress of the United States is a bicameral legislature, which takes its unique governance operations from its structure and committees. There exist two major for a namely the House of Representatives and the Senate, two of whom make up the bicameral legislature. Due to the array of work that needs to be done by the Senate and House, there is a compromised system which ensures that the workload is better handled and this system is in the use of the committees to get duties of Congress executed (Stowitts, 2009). Indeed, the various committees and the responsibilities or roles assigned to them make up the structure of Congress. There exists several committees at the Senate but these may be grouped and categorized into Standing Committees, Select Committees, and Joint Committees. At the House, committees are put in charge of special sectors of the economy and thus make up committees such as Committee on Agriculture, Committee on House Administration, Committee on Rules, and so on. In its broader sense, it can be said that the Congress represents the larger population of the United States of America. The reason for this assertion is that members of Congress are voted into their offices and not merely appointed. This electoral system therefore enshrines powers in the hands of the ordinary American to determine who he or she wants to represent (Stowitts et al, 2010). Consequently, Congress represents the people on the ground. By the voting system, it is important to note that the fact that a congressman is voted for by a particular group of persons does not mean that that congressman represents the interest of those people only but then, once the congressman assumes office, he is mandated to represent the interest of all people within his electoral area without discrimination. It is indeed due to the need for there to be a fairer representation of the United States people that there are as people as 535 Voting members of Congress scattered all across the various States of America. What Congress does As democratic as the government system of the United States of America is, one of the virtues of governance that can indeed justify the exhibition of democracy in that country is the presence of shared powers among state offices, or what is commonly known as checks and balance (Stowitts, 2009). To this end, there are three major arms of government namely the executive, judiciary and legislature. The legislative arm of government is mainly responsible for making laws that are rooted in the constitution of the country. It is this arm that Congress represents. What congress does exactly therefore is for it to make laws for the country. With this role of Congress, some of the powers of state governance are taken away from the presidency into the hands of the ordinary people, whom the Congress represents. Subsequently, Congress determines several aspects of state governance including how funds should be raised for the country and how funds raised should

East & West Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

East & West - Essay Example The negative treatment of the media, particularly, its penchant for humiliating Muslims, is seen as a major contributor to such phenomenon. This paper will examine how the Muslim community is represented in the print media. Background: The British Print Media In order to understand the dynamics of the Muslim representation in the print media, it is important to explain the nature and characteristics of the British press. As anywhere, the newspapers in Britain are categorized into two – broadsheet and tabloid. The fundamental differences of these two classifications pertain to the size and the content. According to Penock (2000), broad generalizations can also be made out of the news style wherein broadsheet is equated with â€Å"quality† press while the tabloid dwells more on the â€Å"popular† press, which relies on the sensational treatment of a small segment of news. (p131) With this in mind, it is easy to understand how broadsheets and tabloids could report t he same story differently according to their style. Furthermore, both of the broadsheet and the tabloid media are popular and that the United Kingdom prides its print media to have the most number of national daily and Sunday newspapers throughout the world. Bednarek (2006) highlighted that the British public is third biggest newspaper buyers in the global ranking, with nearly 80 per cent of all households buying newspaper daily. (p12) The span of the geographical reach of the newspaper also highlights its capability to frame and shape public opinion and, in the process, influence all policy networks. This is underscored by the fact that the British newspapers are known to adopt specific editorial positions on various issues such as politics, class and race. For instance, The Daily Telegraph is known for supporting the Conservatives both during electoral exercise and in policymaking. Many British editors and journalists would go as far as saying that the materials they publish refle ct the views of society and therefore mirror reality. Despite the claims to balance, hence, it is inevitable for the press to be biased against immigrants. It is helpful to remember that journalists are also human, living within the society that they report on. For a long time, British society has adopted the view that people of colour and different culture and ethnicity are alien, effectively embedding in all sectors and institutions within it a deep resentment towards plurality. Since the 1980s, there has been a gradual shift in policy, wherein a more diverse community is being targeted by encouraging multi-ethnic immigration but the resistance to diversity has persisted in many social institutions and this is true in the case of the media. According to Greenslade (2005), within the national paper newsrooms there are very few non-white journalists, certainly fewer than is representative of the overall non-white population that is why it is very likely that the values of indigenous Britons and their prejudices continue to hold sway in the popular press. (p11) Islamophobia As previously mentioned, there had been some progress in Britain’s attempts at building a pluralistic society. This, however, encountered a setback during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States. There are some quarters that attribute this to the growing Islamophobia that permeates in Western societies like

Green Building Certification in Malaysia

Green Building Certification in Malaysia ABSTRACT Green Building is very famous in advanced country like USA, Australia, Europe, Japan and Korea. These countries started to develop green building ratings since 20 years ago. However, Malaysia had recently launched of Green Building Index (GBI) but it is still early stage. This introduction signifies a new benchmark for Malaysia building and industry. This research purpose is to find out the implementation green building certification in Malaysia. Three main research objectives are addressed: i) the benefits of green building in Malaysia. ii) the barriers of implementation of green building in Malaysia, and iii) the potential of green building development in Malaysia. Questionnaire has been distributed to the different developer firm to get respondents answer. Throughout the surveys, the view of advantages of green building has been identified. Besides that, the barriers and solutions of implementing green building in Malaysia also have been identified. CHAPTER 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Title A study on Green Building Certification in Malaysia 1.2 Problem Statement Green Building is very famous in advanced country like USA, Australia, Europe, Japan and Korea. These countries started to develop green building since 20 years ago. However, the recent launch of the Green Building Index (GBI) in Malaysia, it is still in the early stage. Due to the reason that green building is a new concept in Malaysia, therefore, a research was conducted in order to study on green building certification in Malaysia. 1.3 Aim and Objectives 1.3.1 Aim To study the implementation of Green Building Certification in Malaysia 1.3.2 Objectives The objective is to: To determine the benefits of green building in Malaysia To determine the barriers of implementation of green building in Malaysia To identify the potential of green building development in Malaysia 1.4 Background Environmental activists have called us to go green for years. The typhoon that recently hit the Philippines and a series of earthquakes that rocked Indonesia are also clear indications that we need to put much more effort into going green to ensure Earths sustainability. Malaysia has recently introduced Green Building Index; it is the first certification tool. The green rating system is to give opportunity for the developers to design and construct green, sustainable building that can provide energy savings, water savings, a healthier indoor environment, better connectivity to public transport and the adoption of recycling and greenery for their projects. 1.5 Scope of Study The research study will be focus on the implementation of green building certification in Malaysia. Aware benefits of green building, the barriers and how to make it successful and potential of green development in our country. The designed questionnaires will be sent to the company in Malaysia. 1.6 Research Methodology In order to achieve the objectives, primary and secondary source like relevant books, journal, articles, conference paper and newspaper are important for information collection. All these information can be sourced from TARC library and internet website. Next, the questionnaires will be sending by postal mail, by hand or email to relevant companies in Malaysia. Figure 1 refers the flow chart methodology for the research. CHAPTER 2 2.0 Green Building Certification in Malaysia 2.1 Introduction This chapter discusses on the definition of green building and follow by the benefits of construct green building. Then, the following will discuss about what the green building certification is and what the assessment rating systems in some developed countries are. After that, this chapter also will briefly introduce the Malaysia Green Building Index (GBI) and also examples of success green building in Malaysia. Besides that, the barriers of implementation green building in Malaysia will be discussed in this chapter. 2.2 Definition of green building There are few definitions for green building. The United State Green Building Council (2009) had defined green building is a high performing home thats energy and water efficient, has good indoor air quality, uses environmentally sustainable materials and also uses the building lot or site in a sustainable manner. Besides, according to Thomas (2008) green building refers as a building that provides the specified building performance requirements while minimizing disturbance to and improving the functioning of local, regional and global ecosystems both during and after its construction and specified service life. According to Stacey (2008), in her article she defines green building is a home-building concept that uses design, construction and maintenance to create more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. By referring to The Star Newspaper (7 September 2008) defines green building are designed to save energy and resources, recycle materials and minimize the emission of toxic substances throughout its life cycle, harmonies with the local climate, traditions, culture and the surrounding environment, able to sustain and improve the quality of human life whilst maintaining the capacity of the ecosystem at local and global levels, buildings make efficient use of resources and have significant operational savings and increases workplace productivity. So, green building can be summarize as also refers to sustainable or high-performance building, means having a significantly reduced impact on the Earths resources compared to conventional building. It is also means creating building that is healthier and more comfortable for its occupants, consequently enhancing productivity. 2.3 Benefits of Green Building Green is an opportunity to use natural resources efficiently while creating healthier building that improve human, build a better environment and provide cost saving. A green building are designed to meet certain objectives such as protecting occupant health, improving employee productivity, using energy, water and resources more efficiently and reducing the overall impact to the environment (Aysin, 2000). By referring to Freed (2008), green building offer to help protect the planets natural resources. A green building has the potential to provide a healthier and more comfortable environment, improve long-term economic performance, incorporate energy and water efficient technologies, reduce construction and demolition waste, bring higher resale value and building valuations, use renewable energy to lower the cost of electricity and improve indoor air quality and occupant satisfaction. Besides that, all these benefits can save long term cost. Some potential benefits of green building can include environmental benefits, economic benefits and social benefits. These benefits summarized as below: Environmental benefits: Enhance and protecting ecosystems and biodiversity Improve air and water quality Reduce solid waste Preserve natural resource Economic benefits: Reduce operating costs Enhance asset value and profits Improve employee productivity and satisfaction Optimize life-cycle economic performance Social benefits: Enhance occupant comfort and health Improve air, thermal, and acoustic environments Minimize strain on local infrastructure Contribute overall quality of life 2.4 Green Building Certification 2.4.1 What is Green Building Certification? Green building certifications were conceived to assist Architect, Engineer, Designers, Builder, Developer and users make to understand the choice that can be make the design of the building and to reduce the negative impacts of environment. 2.4.2 What are those available? As Ting (2009) notes in his articles, there are more than 100 types of environmental rating tool available globally. Green building is very famous in developed country such as United Kingdom, United State, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. These countries started to develop green building since 20 years ago. Ding (2007) named a number of assessment rating systems in some developed countries. The below discuss the existing well-known rating system. United Kingdom: Building Research Establishment Assessments Method (BREEAM) This Building Research Establishment (BRE) Program was created over a decade ago in United Kingdom to assess the environmental performance of both new and existing buildings. BREEAM assesses performance of buildings in the areas of management, energy use, health and comfort, pollution, transport, land use, ecology, materials, and water. Credits are awarded in each area based on upon performance. Buildings are rated Pass, Good, Very Good, and Excellent. BREEAM can apply to offices, homes, industrial units, and school. United States: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) LEED is developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED rating system are available or under development for new commercial construction and major renovations (NC), existing building operations (EB), commercial interiors (CI), core and shell projects (CS), homes (H), and neighborhood development (ND). LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Based on well-founded scientific standards, LEED emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. United State: Energy Star The Energy Star program is a voluntary government and industry partnership that seeks to make it easy for businesses and consumers to save money and protect the environment. This program for Buildings awards a plaque to buildings that achieve a rating of 75 or higher and have been professionally verified to meet current indoor environmental standards. By using the programs benchmarking tool, a buildings performance on a scale of 1 to 100 relative to similar buildings nationwide is obtained. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK-BEAM) HK-BEAM is a voluntary system to measure, improve, and label the environmental performance of the buildings. The system has been used on 100 buildings to date. The system applies to both new and existing buildings. In the category of materials topics such as: the efficient use of materials (building reuse), selection of materials (renewable and recycled), and waste management (demolition and construction waste). Japan: Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE) The system is a cooperative development of academic, industrial, and government agencies. The systems assessment tools include a pre-design assessment tool, a design for environmental tool, an eco-labeling tool, and a sustainable operation and renovation tool. Netherlands: Eco-Quantum The Eco-Quantum is the only method that explicitly and comprehensive based on life-cycle assessment. Asses the environmental burden of a complete building on the basis of LCA. It also compares the environmental performance of various measures concerning energy-saving installations, water-saving techniques, material choice, design and location. The Eco-Quantum is only applicable to single residential buildings. Australia: Green Star The Green Star Environmental Rating System for Buildings was created to set a standard of measurement for green buildings in Australia. The rating system is a voluntary national program that evaluates the environmental performance of buildings. Green Star Rating Systems have been developed for commercial buildings only. Each of the rating systems includes the following categories: management, indoor environmental quality, energy, transport, water, materials, land use, site selection and ecology, and emission. Each category contains credits awarded based on achieving the required level in the building. Credits in the materials category are awarded for providing storage for recycling waste, reuse of facade, reuse of structure, shell, and core, recycled content of concrete, recycled content of steel, PVC minimization, and use of sustainable timber. 2.5 Malaysia Green Building Index (GBI) After some studies in different green building rating schemes around the globe, Malaysia set up a rating scheme to suit the local market; it is called Green Building Index (GBI). Malaysian GBI is an environmental rating system for buildings developed by Green Building Index Sdn Bhd under the supervision of the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) and Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM).The Malaysia GBI was first introduced in January this year and launched in May 2009. This introduction signifies a new benchmark for the Malaysia building and industry. 2.5.1 What is GBI? According to Chin (2009), the GBI is Malaysias industry recognized green rating tool for building and it is intended to promote sustainability in the built environment and raise awareness among Developers, Architect, Engineers, Planners, Designers, Contractors and Public about the environmental issues and our responsibility to the future generations. GBI rating tool gives an opportunity for developers to design and construct green building that would provide energy savings, water savings, a healthier indoor environment, better connectivity to public transport and adoption of recycling and greenery for the projects and reduce impact of environment. GBI will be the only rating tool for the tropical zones other than Singapore Governments GREENMARK. Besides that, GBI is expected to be applied to new buildings in Malaysia. 2.5.2 GBI Rating System Referring to Chen (2009), the projects or building would be assessed and rated based on six keys criteria. These criteria will be discussed as follow:- Energy Efficiency Indoor Environmental Quality Sustainable Site Planning Management Material and Resources Water Efficiency Innovation 2.5.2.1 Energy Efficiency Use of renewable energy, lighting zoning and low energy consumption 2.5.2.2 Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Mould and air pollutants prevention, thermal comfort, natural lighting. These will involve the use of low volatile organic compounds-free paints and formaldehyde-free composite wood, particle boards and plywood. 2.5.2.3 Sustainable Site and Management site selection with planned access to public transport, community services, open spaces and landscaping, redevelopment of existing sites and Brown fields (abandoned land or former industrial sites), avoidance of environmentally sensitive sites, construction management (proper earthworks and pollution control) and storm water management 2.5.2.4 Materials and Resources Use of environment-friendly, recycled materials and sustainable timber; storage and collection of recyclables; construction waste management; and reuse of construction formwork 2.5.2.5 Water Efficiency Rainwater harvesting, water recycling and water-saving fittings 2.5.2.6 Innovation Innovative design and initiatives 2.5.3 GBI Rating Tools The rating system is comprised of two separate tools, namely the GBI Residential and Non-Residential respectively. 2.5.3.1 GBI Residential The GBI Residential Rating tool evaluates the sustainable aspects of residential buildings. This includes linked houses, apartments, condominiums, townhouses, semi-detached and bungalows. This tool places more emphasis on sustainable site planning management, followed by energy efficiency. This serves to encourage developers and home owners to consider the environmental quality of homes and their inhabitants through better site selection, provisions of public transport access, increased community services and connectivity, as well as improved infrastructure. Such achievement will help reduce the negative impact to the environment and create a better and safer place for residents and the community as a whole. (Chen, 2009) 2.5.3.2 GBI Non-Residential The GBI Non-Residential Rating tool evaluates the sustainable aspects of buildings that are commercial, institutional and industrial in nature. This includes factories, offices, hospitals, universities, colleges, hotels and shopping complexes. Of the six criteria that make up the GBI rating, emphasis is placed on energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality as these have the greatest impact in the areas of energy use and well-being of the occupants and users of the building. By improving on the efficiency of active (mechanical and electrical) systems as well as incorporating good passive designs together with proper sustainable maintenance regimes, significant reductions in consumed energy can be realised. This can lead to a reduced carbon footprint and also offers long-term savings for the building owners. (Chen, 2009) 2.6 Green Building in Malaysia There are some success low energy buildings achieved by Malaysia government. They are LEO (Low Energy Office) building and ZEO (Zero Energy Office). 2.6.1 LEO Building The LEO (Low Energy Office) Building located in Putrajaya, which houses the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication (MEWC). The LEO building demonstrates a complete integration of the best energy efficiency measures, optimised towards achieving the overall best cost or effective solution, with a targeted energy consumption of 135 W/m2/year. (Lim, 2007) Danish Agency for Development Assistance (DANIDA) and local experts had in cooperation with Malaysia architects and engineers optimised the overall design of the building and its energy systems for minimum energy consumption since 2001. (UNDP, 2006) Characteristic of LEO building discusses as below:- Most of the LEO building glazing windows installed facing north and south to minimize heat gain from the sun radiation before entering the building interior. This means that it can reduce cooling load. The roof has been insulated with 100mm of polystyrene foam and the installation of a second roof provides shade to the building. 2.6.2 ZEO Building The ZEO (Zero Energy Office) Building is an administration-cum-research office for Pusat Tenaga Malaysia (Malaysia Energy Centre), following the success of LEO building which hosted the MEWC in Putrajaya while the ZEO building was located in Bandar Baru, Selangor. By referring to PV database (2006), the ZEO building is a demonstrator building which marked another milestone towards greater promotion and adoption of sustainable building concept in the Malaysia building sector. ZEO is the only such building in Malaysia that integrates the energy efficiency and renewable energy in one working demonstrator building. The ZEO building was designed to be very energy efficient, thus consuming very little fossil fuels with energy index of 65 kWh/m2/year. It was built on a concept which focused on the green technology innovation to minimize energy demand load, efficient use of fossil fuel via taking into account the environmental concern, the usage of renewable energy but without compromising user comfort and safety. Some of the amount of energy used by the building is counter balanced by the amount of energy generated by its own renewable energy power generation system. According to Roxul Asia Sdn Bhd (2009), the super low energy characteristic is achieved by using passive and active energy efficient elements and renewable energy elements as follows:- The design of the ZEO building only allows double glazing windows installed on faà §ade facing north and south. The windows are consists of two pane glass which functioned to filter heat from the sun radiation before entering the building interior. This means that only cold daylight entered and giving free lighting to the buildings. Besides that, it also means that artificial electric light can be turned off during the day hence reducing the energy load of the building. Almost 100% lighting requirements are from this free source. The buildings cooling system is unique because it is a combination of radiant cooling and air convection system. The radiant cooling and ice storage was charge at night and stored at the floor slabs and ice storage tank respectively. The entire building was controlled with a Building Energy Management System where all buildings system operation is controlled automatically. The system also functions to monitor all energy consumption activities and energy generation in ensuring the building operates efficiently. 2.7 Barriers to green building implementation in Malaysia The following points contributed to the lack of implementation of green building in Malaysia. Lack of knowledge regarding green building Green is still a relatively new concept for the construction industry in developing countries of South-East Asia like Malaysia. Hence the greatest barriers are the lack of understanding of the need for green design. Many Fewer developers undertake green building projects Many developers are not aware of the concept of green building and so are naturally fewer developers undertake the green building projects. Besides that, to build green building takes too much time to learn and design. Expensive Client or developer unwilling to spend money because the initial cost is high although has proved that green building can save long term cost. The green building has its price the costs of green building are expensive as compare to normal building. 2.8 Conclusion To provide sustainable, green, or low energy developments is an important way forward for Malaysia. Although Malaysia has adopted some of these aforementioned measures but most are still at voluntary stage and needs further enforcements. All fractions of society from politicians, authorities, professionals, NGOs, educators, contractors, developers and the public at large must take concerted and swift actions to share the responsibilities to sustain our limited resources for future generations. CHAPTER 3 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction This chapter explains about the method that have been use to carry out this research, in order to achieve the objective of the research. Instead of achieving information through primary and secondary source like textbook, journal, conference papers, report and questionnaires will be carried out. Then the data need to be analyzed and presented in a form of table, pie chart and graph, so it is easy to understand and readable. 3.2 Research Methodology The research will go through several phases:- Identify the objectives Literature Review Data Collection Method of Analysis Example of calculation Conclusion 3.2.1 Identify the objective and mission of the research GBI is a rating tool to promote environment-friendly buildings for the future of Malaysia. Therefore, it is important to identify the important of green building, the difficulties and solutions of implementation green building and also the potential in the development in green building. 3.2.2 Literature Review Literature review also known as secondary data. Secondary data is a data that we get before a research has been carried out. It is important to help us for better understand about the research. The information for the literature review can be achieve through primary and secondary source like textbook, journal, conferences papers, report and questionnaires will be carried out. Based on the literature review, we can prepare for the questionnaire in order to collect the primary data. 3.2.3 Data Collection Process of collection primary data is one of the important phase in achieve the objectives of the research. The first step is to get response from the construction firm such as developer. This method is more practical, easy and the ideas from the respondent can be easily identified. 3.2.3.1 Questionnaire Data collection process started with the preparation of questionnaire form. It is important to get the response from the respondent. The questionnaire had been sending by post or by hand or email to the respondent. The questionnaire consists of 5 questions which are related to the objectives. The rationales for each question will be discussed as follows: Question 1: Did your company involve in any project which is classified as Green Building? Rationale: The purpose of asking this question is to determine that whether the respondents company had involving in the green building construction project. Besides, this question also can know whether in future our country will have another green building or not. Question 2: In your opinion, what is the best to address the important of green building? Rationale: This is rated question, is set in likert scales, which respondents need to answer the question whether is strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree. This question is intent to know what are the criteria is the best to address the important of green building in Malaysia. Question 3: What are the difficulties of implementation green building in Malaysia? Rationale: The rationale of asking this question is to find out what are the barriers of implementation green building in Malaysia. Question 4: What are the ways to speed up implementation of green building in Malaysia? Rationale: The purpose of asking this question is to find out the solutions of implementing the concept of green building in Malaysia. Question 5: In your opinion, do you think Malaysia has high potential in the development of green building? Rationale: The purpose of asking this question is to find out the future green building development in Malaysia whether is positive or negative. 3.2.4 Method of Analysis After findings have been obtained from the questionnaire surveys, an appropriate analysis and presentation of the survey results will be done in Chapter 4. Basically, two main types of analysis method are used. They are: 3.2.4.1 Descriptive statistics method Descriptive statistics are used to explore the data collected and to summarize and describe the data. They provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures. The results will later analyze and presented in a form of table, pie chart and graph to analyze the response in percentage and this is the simplest method of and it is easy to understand and readable. This type of analysis is used to analyze closed-ended and ranking questions. (Naoum, 1997, p103) Question other than Question 2 will be analyzed using this method. 3.2.4.2 Using Formula The average index is calculated based on the 5-Likert Scale Formula as follows. (Tam et. al., 2001) 5-Likert Scale Formula (5N5 + 4N4 + 3N3 + 2N2 + N1 ) Important Index = 5(N5 + N4 + N3 + N2 + N1 ) Where, N1 = Total respondents choosing strongly disagree N2 = Total respondents choosing disagree N3 = Total respondents choosing neutral N4 = Total respondents choosing agree N5 = Total respondents choosing strongly agree This method is particularly useful to analyse the ranking or rating data which is normally uses integers in ascending or descending order. The results will tabulated into table form stated the ranking possesses by each option for the question. In the questionnaire conducted, Question 2 will be analysing using the said method. 3.2.5 Conclusion Put simply, the process of research methodology utilized can be simplified as shown in the figure below:- CHAPTER 4 4.0 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Introduction The study focuses on the construction firm in Malaysia. A set of questionnaires were prepared for the respondents. The respondents were developers. The questionnaires are sent either by postal mail, email or by hand to the respondents. The questionnaire survey takes months for distributing and collecting back from respondents. Unfortunately, most of the construction firms concerned do not show their co-operation in answering the questions surveyed, since there are only 20 copies out of 50 copies (30 by email, 3 by hand , and 17 by postal mail) collected back. Therefore, it equals to only 40% of the respondents replied to the said survey. For instances, majority of the top management in the company does not have time (either busy or other personal reasons) to take part in the survey and normally will command their staff to take over in answering the survey questionnaires. Besides, industry fatigue and unconcern is so obvious in the sense that they do not pay attention to academic surv ey conducted by student even though they have been approached to the doorstep or postal mail attached with return stamped envelope. Chart 1 below shows the feedback from the respondents. 4.2 Result and Analyse Question 1: Did your company involve in any project which is classified as Green Building? All of the respondents have answer that they are not involving in any project which is classified as green building. This answer clearly to tell us that there are no green building been construct in Malaysia. Question 2 In your opinion, what is the best to address the important of green building in Malaysia? As shown in Chart 3, 60% of the respondents agreed that the difficulties of implementing the green building in Malaysia are lack of knowledge regarding green building. 30% of the respondents have the view that the cost of green building is expensive and 10% of them think that there are fewer developers undertake green building projects. 60% of respondents think that lack of knowledge regarding green building is the barriers of implementation green building. Green building is very famous in other country but not in Malaysia. There is only few green building in Malaysia thus there were less people know about the importance of constructing green building. 30% of the respondents in the opinion that the difficulty of implementing green building in Malaysia is there is 10% of the respondents in the opinion that the difficulty of implementing green building in Malaysia is there were fewer developers undertake green building. Question 4 What are the ways to speed up implementation of green building in Malaysia?

Mr Collins: Character Review :: Free Essay Writer

Mr Collins: Character Review We first hear of Mr Collins, one of Mr Bennet’s distant cousins, in a letter addressed to the family living in the house which after Mr Bennet’s death will become his own. In this letter he sounds very pompous, irrelevantly reiterating and repeating the name of his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr Collins is honest that he has an ulterior motive for wanting to stay at Longbourn: he wishes to take the hand of one of the Bennet sisters in a marriage which would ensure that at least one daughter of Mr Bennet would remain comfortable, living at Longbourn as ‘Mrs Collins’. He does not ask to stay at Longbourn, he expects his stay to be welcomed, and even desired, by the Bennet family. â€Å"I remain, dear sir, with respectful compliments to your lady and daughter†: this quote shows how ingratiating Mr Collins is: a side of his character which the reader sees more readily during the rest of the novel. Having previously thought Mr Collins was an â€Å"odious man†, Mrs Bennet is quick to change her mind after Mr Collins made compliments towards her daughter (and herself) in the letter. Upon arrival at Longbourn Mr Collins assures that â€Å"the young ladies I come prepared to admire†. The word ‘prepared’ in this quote gives the implication that Mr Collins does nothing in a rash manner and has everything planned in what appears to be quite a sly way. Once inside the house Mr Collins begins to commend each and every item of furniture within it. Mrs Bennet would on any other occasion have been delighted at this, but she knows that when Mr Collins entails the estate all that he admires will be his own. Mr Collins believes that by ingratiating Mrs Bennet about her house he will please her, but this begins to vex her a fair deal. â€Å"The girls were not the only objects of Mr Collins desire†, here we can see that Mr Collins views the girls as nothing more than materialistic, as objects. By the evening, Mr Collins is getting somewhat tiresome as he â€Å"eloquently praises† his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, with great vivacity and unstoppable determination. â€Å"Lady Catherine was reckoned proud by many people†; Mr Collins cannot see that Lady Catherine is proud because he is proud himself and rates Lady Catherine very highly: perhaps high enough to warrant a little, or is Lady Catherine’s case a lot, of pride.

Foucauldian Studies and HRM Essay

When considering about human resource management (HRM) being understood as discourse, it is necessary to connect Foucault’ s theory on discourse with employee selection as a crucial part of human resource management. Though Foucault himself not a specialist in HRM, it appears that numerous organization studies scholars tend to drawn on Foucault’s ideas for the purpose of re-analyzing and re-understanding HRM. (Barrantt, 2001) The reason is that Foucault’s understanding of the relationship between discourse, truth and power implies how we should regard HRM from different perspective and put it into re-consideration. Generally, discourse could be understand as ‘ a set of concepts, expressions and statements that constitutes a way of talking or writing about an aspect of the world, thus framing the way people understand and act with regard to that aspect of the world’ (Watson, 2002: 118). And in Foucault’s view, discourse is a flexible term. In one of Foucault’ s book, The Archaeology of Knowledge, published in 1969, was an outstanding work of post-structuralism example. He believes that discourse is a statement unity. It talks about the statement (enonce), which is a rule for the discursive expression to become meaningful. In Foucault’ s view, the statement has some special archeological meanings. The rules give the meaning of its existence. The meaning of the statement is dependent on the context where it presents. So discursive framing provide a language to representing a topic (Foucault, 1969). So discourse is more than language. It is the way we understand or interpret the world. Due to discourse is shaped or unshaped by society and culture, there are various discourses. The same as for HRM, it can be understand and interpreted from a different perspective. There is no doubt that Foucaultdian studies give new understanding of HRM. This paper will analyze and critically think of three contributions of reframing HRM Foucaultdian studies give. The first part will analyze human resource management as discourse. It focuses on how Foucualtdiansm understand HRM in different perspectives. The second part will discuss the relationship between HRM and power, which includes how Foucault decodes power, its relationship with knowledge or truth, and how HRM associated with power. The third part will focus on one important aspect of HRM, employee selection, to explore how employee selection can be understood and interpret in different ways. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn based on previous discussion. HRM as Discourse Generally, HRM are treated as a set of practices that regard human as resource to achieve companies’ targets or interests. It is a product of modern society. From managerial perspective, human resource management featured with ‘rationality, optimism and authoritarianism’ (Legge, 1995). Numerous scholars have explored human resource management from Foucualdian perspective. Generally, the discourse in HRM is associated with power. Poole (1999) argued that it is probably happened that the discursive analysis contains the description of the HRM discourse related occasion. It will provoke the issue between the subjects who have the right to speak and its influence on employees. When it comes to Foucault, he did not study in HRM but attracts a number of scholars of HRM. Townley (1993) was a representative who put the relation between HRM and Foucault’ s disciplinary power into consideration. She argued that HRM could be best comprehended as a discourse and provides Foucauldian analyses of distinctive feature of HRM. Because Foucault provided a hint that there are interconnections between discourse, power and truth. So Foucault gave HRM discourse much place to be considered from new perspective (Du Gay et al, 1996). From Foucauldian perspective, HRM is to ‘impose order on the inherently undecidable-the employment contract’ (Legge, 2005:345). It is excising of power that allow managers to manage. Following Foucault’s theory, it is argued here that the subject plays a critical role in HRM. To support this, Foucauldian studies lay emphasis on the influence of the subject in HRM. In human resource management, ‘the subject plays a more active role’ (Barratt, 2003). The process of HR management witnessed examination and identification of the subject. Foucualt (1988) himself argued that individuals are influenced and influence others by their certain means. All aspects of HRM including employee selection, company’s culture and performance appraisal are the product of subjectivity. Take performance appraisal for example, employees have to subject to an authoritative appraisal system to confess their performance at work (Townley, 1993). It can be regarded as an action of subjective power. Emphasizing on subject gives space for diverse understandings and interpretations of HRM. Despite of the dominant understanding of HRM from managerial perspective, HRM can be something else because post-structuralism and Foucaudian studies propose that there is no definite understanding of a topic. For example, Nayab (2011) argued that HRM could be interpreted in five ways. The fist is normative perspective, which separates HRM as personnel management and strategic human resource management. The second is to consider HRM in a critical way. It is believed that the reality showed the contradiction between traditional HRM and the new one. The ‘behavioral Perspective’ is different from others. It put more emphasis on their performance. The purpose of HRM is to guide and manage employees in order to ‘attain the desired performance’ (Nayab, 2011). Seen from the systems perspective, HRM concerns about the outcome of human resource. It is a factory that using employees as material and producing organizational turnover. The last one is ‘agency or transaction cost perspective’ (Nayab, 2011). This understanding is putting HRM as a mediator of conflicts for the purpose of minimizing the cost. The five understandings of HRM are thinking HRM from different perspective, which inspire the new understandings or some changes against the dominant way of managing human resource. However, the most important stakeholder in HRM may be employee, because it is the opposite poison against managers also the employee’s voice is increasingly needed in modern HRM. The dominant understanding of HRM is hinking and defining from a managerial perspective. Actually, the employee’s view on HRM varied based on the HRM models (Whitener, 2001) Fiona Edgar and Alan J. Geare (2005) did some research on exploring employee’s voice on HRM. The result showed that employees tend to keep a positive attitude towards soft HRM model and resist the traditional and hard one. However, the current HRM needs so me change in order to meet employee’s need for self-development. It is possible that the different understandings of HRM push the revolution in both theoretical and practical field. HRM and power Michel Foucault is famous for his critical studies on power, knowledge and discourse. However, according to Foucault (1980), discourse has no definitive explanation. It could be understood in various perspectives. There is no definite truth in the world. People always impose their subjective consciousness upon the truth. So it is hard to keep the right way to the truth seeking. (Wetherall, 2001) Classical theory represented by Marx implied the traditional understanding the relationship between knowledge and power (Barratt, 2003). Ideology is regarded as a tool for power. It covers the truth so that people who are governed subject to managing without resistance (Braverman, 1976). However, one main defect of his theory is that he neglects the subject. He defined individuals at work as representation of economic or employment relations (Knights and Willmott, 1985, 1989). In Foucault’s theory, the connection between power and knowledge is complex. Power is everywhere. Also, we have to put human subject into consideration. The reason why discourse is important is that the point of Foucault’s theory not only lies in how the language expresses meanings but also in what is the relationship between the discourse and the objective behind, or what kind of power imposed (Luke, 1999). In the Order of Discourse, Foucault (1971) claimed that the notion of exclusion is well known in our society, but the most obvious one is prohibition. In other words, not all the topic is allowed in a certain occasion and not everyone is given the right to speak out everything. Discourse itself is not an important issue. However, the prohibition behind the discourse surprised us due to its connection with the desire and power. In addition, there is another kind of exclusion principle, which is the opposition between reason and madness. On one hand, the discourse of a madman no doubt will be regarded as invalid and unreliable. On the other hand, the madman is given the gift of predicting and revealing the truth. So in fact, there is no definite so-called â€Å"madness†(Foucault, 1971). The abnormal itself presents the control from a certain group of people. Or in other words, power defines the truth the madness to convince people. In terms of knowledge, Foucault (1971) argued that power create knowledge, they are connected with each other. Also, knowledge is only available to the public only when stated within discourse. He claimed that knowledge and truth are not independent and objective. They are connected closely with power and become the legitimate protection for power operating. As Foucault stated it in The History of Sexuality ‘Discourses are not once and for all subservient to power or raised up against it, and more than silences are. We must make allowances for the complex and unstable process whereby discourse can both an instrument and an effect of power, but also a hindrance, a stumbling-block, a point of resistance and a starting point for an opposing strategy. Discourse transmits and produces power: it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart it. ’ (Foucault, 1980) Also, the power displayed in Discipline and Punish helps us to critically think about the self-regulation, which can be applied into workplace. It mentioned the disciplinary power. As Foucault (1977) observed, the prison designed by Jeremy Bentham is a technique of the panoptic gaze. The central tower makes prisoners to discipline themselves. So when it comes to the workplace, the panoptic gaze also normalizing individuals’ behavior. In 1950, Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger put forwarded the Hawthorne effect (French, 1953). They observed the performance of labors in an electric factory. They found that when the lights become brighter, workers tend to discipline themselves and the production will increase. This kind of self-regulation also can be seen in modern workplaces where CCTVs and call centers are facilitated. It is a sort of ‘info-normative control’ (Frenkel et al, 1995) that evaluates employees’ performance objectively. But also the monitoring may damage the culture of leaning form each other and lay too much stress on workers (Knights & McCabe, 2003). However, it seems that power is everywhere but it does not mean power is everything. Knights and McCabe also argued that power is not possessed by certain group of people, even the disciplinary power cannot decide the individual’s behavior. Foucault (1980) supposed that when individuals put power into action, they are given their own identity and meaning. Subjects are getting gradually split from the collective class, but it is neither individualism nor collectivism (Knights, 1994). It should be treated dialectically. So the power has its influence on knowledge and discourse. Or even the disciplinary power promotes self-regulation and make employees subject to the power. However, the impact of the subject cannot be neglected. It interacts with power and discourse.

Performance Management Questions Essay

Answer only two (2) of the following essay questions (up to 5 points each). Direct, succinct answers are expected. Key words, not the amount of verbiage, count the most. Bullet statements are OK. You will be graded on content. Use knowledge from text, handouts, articles or lecture. Do not answer more than 2 essays. Cite main source of material – but no References page required. 1. Explain the Performance Management system, its main purpose and key components 2. Explain the three areas of a needs assessment – as it used to decide if training is the proper approach to an issue, problem – or new program – and what type of training is best. The three areas of training needs assessment are as follows: Occupational assessment(examines skills, abilities and knowledge that is needed to execute success in occupational groups) organizational assessment(determines level of organization within a specific division of a company), and individual assessment(determines whether the level of expertise of a single person are up to par for the job title they hold.) 3. In your opinion, and use of our text – what is HRM’s role as a strategic partner in an organization? Include several duties and decisions HRM would make in strategy.(NOT about HRM functions) Provide one example. 4. In your opinion – what is the most important Employment law passed – and why? I believe the most important employment law is the equal pay act of 1963. This law ensures that pay is equal between two employees regardless of gender, race or any other physical attribute not pertaining to the job. I believe this law to be the most important not only in the field of employment but also for civil rights.As it let the American people know that they were equally compensated in the work place and that no one is beneath another.