10 Small Press Books From the End of 2017 Youll Want to Read

10 Small Press Books From the End of 2017 Youll Want to Read I am taking over the small press monthly round-up and I could not be more excited if I swallowed a cat and broke out in kittens! One of my reading goals for 2018 is to read more small press books, so doing a monthly round-up is the perfect thing I need to help achieve this goal. (Thanks to Susie for passing the baton, and for doing an amazing job!) Here are ten great books that came out in the end of 2017 that are worth a read. Meet you back here in January? Mean by Myriam Gurba (Coffee House Press) The story of  Gurba’s coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana, told in blistering prose.  Gurba  tackles several very important, serious subjects such as racism and homophobia, and manages to make the discussions humorous while laying down hard truths and great points. I wish this had been twice as long. Djinn City by Saad Z. Hossain (Unnamed Press) I loooooved his last book, Escape from Baghdad! so I was all *GRABBY HANDS* for this one. And its another amazing, fantastical novel, featuring djinn and legends and magic. Indelbed is a young boy living a solitary existence in a crumbling mansion with his alcoholic father. But when his father falls into a mysterious coma, Indelbed learns his father was actually a magician and now there are mystical powers searching for Indelbed to seek revenge against his dad. The World Goes On  by  László Krasznahorkai  (Author),?  George Szirtes,?  Ottilie Mulzet,?  John Batki  (Translators)  (New Directions) A Hungarian interpreter wanders the streets of Shanghai; a travel encounters a man on the banks of the Ganges ranting about a single drop of water; a child laborer in Portugal has a surreal encounter.  These are a few of eleven brilliant, surreal tales of nature, the abyss, and annihilation around the world captured in this collection by the Man Book International prize winner. They Cant Kill Us Until They Kill Us  by  Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib (Two Dollar Radio) A powerful collection of essays about music, but also not about music, but about life and events surrounding music and life and the world. Its one of the smartest collections Ive ever read. Witch Wife by Kiko Petrosino (Sarabande Books) Spellbinding poetry about, well, spells. A selection of poetic incantations about healing, celebrating, conjuring, and enlightening, whether its past wrongs or the uncertain future, dealing with motherhood, womanhood, racism, and social injustice. The Years, Months, Days: Two Novellas  by  Yan Lianke  (Author),?  Carlos Rojas  (Translator) (Grove Press) Lianke has the distinction of being China’s most banned author, but his works of satire are beloved all over the world. The two novellas here are prize-winning masterpieces about humanity and the universe, a dark but gentle look at love and man’s sense of survival in the face of loss and ruin. Quietly bizarre and powerful. Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News  by  Kevin Young (Graywolf Press) Poet and critic Young examines how hoaxes have moved from sideshow acts to being in the center stage of American culture. From P.T. Barnum to Donald Trump, he discusses famous examples of forgers and fakers, and how we are living now in a post-factual world. This was listed on the National Book Award longlist for nonfiction! Sweet Bean Paste  by  Durian Sukegawa  (Author),?  Alison Watts  (Translator) (Oneworld Publications) A sweet novel about a troubled man who works in a bakery making sweet red bean pancakes and the elderly customer who teaches him the best recipe and changes his life. Record of a Night Too Brief by  Hiromi Kawakami    (Author),?  Lucy North  (Translator) (Pushkin Press) I would have bought this for the cover alone, but its also an award-winning collection of three unusual stories: a woman experiences an unending night; a sister is the only one who can see her invisible brother; and a shop-girl has an accident with a snake. The Mannequin Makers by Craig Cliff (Melville House) No, it isnt a sequel with Emmy and Hollywood. But it is a great novel! A widower in early 20th-century New Zealand seeks to best his carpenter rival by creating the world’s most lifelike window display, using his twin daughters. Its a dark fairytale of loss and redemption.

The Effects Of Consumerism On Children s Lives - 1522 Words

Today children are exposed to a different world than the one their parents grew up in. Consumerism plays a significant influence in children’s lives, including technology. This has led to over usage of technology as a reason for increased health issues in children, and basic building blocks of healthy development being ignored. Children are no longer interested in creative play, which is vital to problem-solving, learning, imagining and thinking. Instead, children can often be found sitting in front of a television, for up to seven hours a day, with their back hunched over and in an almost zombie like state of mind. To understand the health risks in children due to technology, we first need to understand how society got to a point†¦show more content†¦Advertisers also know that parents are willing to buy more for their kids because trends such as smaller family size, dual incomes and postponing having children until later in life mean that families have more disposable income. Guilt can also play a role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute material goods for time spend with their kids. Marketing to children has created pester power with a child’s ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. Advertisers know what a powerful force this can be. Many studies and observations have been made on how technology can negatively affect a child’s physical health, mental health, emotional well-being, values, educational development and relationships. The results of these studies found technology exposure can be linked to childhood obesity, behavioral problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, coordination disorder, unintelligible speech, developmental delays, learning difficulties, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, poor physical activity and poor school performance. As early as three months of age, children are aware of technology. In the United States alone, forty percent of all three month old babies regularly watch television and DVD’s for an average of forty-five minutes per day. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no child younger than two years of age should watch television as it can be

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain - 1705 Words

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the mind of man usually differs depending how he was raised. In this case, Huckleberry Finn a young thirteen-year-old boy who doesn’t really have anything to cling on to when it comes to parental advice, affection, or presence from anyone before his odyssey defies that theory. Hence, without a guide Huck only knows what society wants when it comes to push and shove Huck, himself, chooses not to interfere but allows himself to see the world for what it really is. Thus, making him more alone than ever yet open-minded. Being the main protagonist, Huck, has to deal with many moral choices that make him question the principles of society. This, helps him become mentally inclined and supports his ‘atrocious’ decisions. Similarly, the author of the novel, Mark Twain known for his wisdom, bold, and crafty writing expresses himself through Huck. Mr.Twain provides one with the sense of how close minded society was during his time. Mr .Twain illustrates Southern society and displays the cruelty including the segregation that they configured to be appropriate. As a result, comes in Huck’s moral judgement. Many, believe morals to be decisions based on what one was taught whether it be religion or beliefs in general but Huck lacking many of what i just described makes decisions based on his instincts when it comes to making up his mind on what s right from wrong. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s moral consciousnessShow MoreRelatedThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain830 Words   |  3 PagesThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is â€Å"A Great American Novel†, because of its complexity and richness. Twain writes dialogue that brings his characters to life. He creates characters with unique voice and helps the reader connect to the book. Anyone who reads it is forced to develop feelings for each character. Even though there is a great amount of cont roversy over the use of some choices, such as the â€Å"n word†, it makes the book more realistic. In the beginning of the novel Huck,Read MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain1103 Words   |  5 PagesDmitri Van Duine Jr English Mr. Nelson November 27th The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Written by Mark Twain filled his stories with many examples of satire as to convey a message while also writing an interesting story. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn revolves around the adventures of a young boy called Huckleberry Finn, who is about thirteen years old. Tom Sawyer is Huck’s best friend and around the same age as Huck. He is onlyRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain Essay1055 Words   |  5 PagesZambrano Mrs. Patmor AP Lit-Period 5 28 September 2016 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1835 Mark Twain embodies realism in almost every aspect of his writing not excluding The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which in he portrays such a lifelike setting that it almost gives you this sense of reality through the point of view of a young man that has an urge for freedom yet struggles to conform to society s norms due to his adolescence. Twain s ability to unmask the true identities of the charactersRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain931 Words   |  4 PagesWolski Mrs. Goska English 2H Period 3 22 October 2014 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mob mentality is the way an individual’s decisions become influenced by the often unprincipled actions of a crowd. Mark Twain penned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain grew up in America’s southern states during the early 1800’s, a time in which moral confusion erupted within the minds of humans. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn s protagonist is a young boy named Huck who freely travels alongRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain1375 Words   |  6 Pagesmention the years spent growing and maturing physically. Teenagers are stuck in an inbetween state where they must learn who they want to become and what they want to be when they grow older. The same is true for Huckleberry Finn, from the book â€Å"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† by Mark Twain. This is a book that was written in a time of great confusion over moral codes and standards. It was a world split in half by two different worlds of people; those who opposed, a nd those who promoted slavery.Read MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain2083 Words   |  9 PagesSatire in Huckleberry Finn In the novel â€Å"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† by Mark Twain, we are told a story about a young boy and his slave companion’s journey down the Mississippi River and all of their encounters with other characters. Twain constructed a beautiful narrative on how young Huck Finn, the protagonist in the story, learns about the world and from other adult characters, how he is shaped into his own person. At the time this book was made however, this novel provided serious socialRead MoreMark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn1575 Words   |  6 Pages Mark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Controversy Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is a highly recognizable figure in American literature. Born in Florida, Missouri Mark Twain and his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri where Twain discovered and fell in love with the mighty Mississippi River. The river and his life in Hannibal became his inspiration and guiding light in most of his writing. Although Twain loved the river and did a great deal of traveling, he eventuallyRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain1005 Words   |  5 Pages In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain in the 19th century is about a young boy named Huck Finn and Jim, a runaway slave who go on an adventure. The two travel on a raft along the Mississippi river creating a bond and making memories. Mark Twain presents Huckleberry Finn as a dynamic character who at first views Jim as property and eventually considers Jim as a friend, showing a change in maturity. In the beginning of the book, Huck Finn clearly sees Jim as nothing more thanRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain1335 Words   |  6 Pagesyear The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is placed in the top ten banned books in America. People find the novel to be oppressing and racially insensitive due to its frequent use of the n-word and the portrayal of blacks as a Sambo caricature. However, this goes against Mark Twain’s intent of bringing awareness to the racism in America. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is classified under the genre of satire and is narrated by a fictional character named Huckleberry Finn. The novelRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain810 Words   |  4 PagesBefore Mark Twain started to write two of his most famous novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark was known to use his characters to display his own thoughts and opinions. â€Å"This device allowed him to s ay just about anything he wanted, provided he could convincingly claim he was simply reporting what others had said.† (Twain, 1283). Mark Twain used this process to be a foundation of his lectures, by manipulating his popularly with his readers. During the story

Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis Free Essays

Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis Edric Hernandez-Cruz Gisela Franqui-Atiles Valerie Santiago-Rodriguez Yachira Rodriguez-Cuevas University of Phoenix PR Campus ACC / 561PR Rafael Marrero Diaz November 9th, 2012 Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget analysis is important for any corporation. From small businesses to large enterprises; all organizations evaluate the numbers in order to get a picture of where the company stands economically. This will serve as a basis in order to make decisions as to the direction the entity would like to go. We will write a custom essay sample on Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Erroneous decisions can lead to bad decisions that may end up in losses for the company. Rodolfo Furniture is on the verge of making a shift from a furniture maker to distributer. Yet only if the ethical accounting practices have been place into the production of the analysis; can Rodolfo Furniture decide on its future. Budgeting: Risks Associated with Sales Forecast The preparation of the usually begins with a sales forecast. The sales forecast and the anticipated inventory levels determine the production to be budgeted. Furthermore, the company’s sales forecast along with its experience, and collection policies determine the cash inflows for the company. In the scenario, Rodolfo uses his company’s flexible budget, as a guide, to determine the costs that should have been for an attained level of activity. For, instance if his company intended to manufacture or produce 50,000 units, the budget must have been prepared for 49,000 units, 51,000 units, 52,000, and so on. Major risks in sales forecasting Production risks In a manufacturing environment, like the illustration Rodolfo’s scenario, sales forecast determine production schedules. The companies use such forecasts to determine the exact amounts of raw materials and production issues; they need to have an idea of what they are to produce. Two problems can occur, sales under forecast or sales over forecast. Under forecast sales refers to the fact when the manufacturer may not produce enough product to meet customers’ demands. This will result in an increase in production times which in turn may increase costs; this will also frustrate customers and may even lead the company to losses. In the other hand, over forecast sales refers to the amounts of raw material to be purchased and excessive amounts of finished products to be sold. This excessiveness of raw materials may tie up the capital available to use and the excess finished product will make the company incur in warehouse storage costs; both excesses if repeated constantly may put the company at risk of bankruptcy. Resource risks When sales are over forecast, underutilized workers may have to be reduced. This action will result in a bad image for the company and will break the trust/bond that was built between the company and the workers as they will feel betrayed. If the sales are under forecast, it will happen the exactly opposite, the company will lack of workers to meet demands. This can result in bad image, losses, service levels will be affected as workers would have to work overtime to cover for the company which can lead to sicknesses and excessive absenteeism. Financial risks This type of errors affects the company’s financial health. The excess of material will lead to excessive costs of unnecessary storage since the excess should have never occurred. Also, over forecast can result in the purchase of unnecessary machinery. Furthermore, if the company forecasts erroneously in a consistent manner, this can lead the company into a raise in the interest by lenders. Sales forecast are prepared using data available, the more reliable and certain the data is the more accurate the budget is expected to be. Ethical considerations in the preparation of budget Before the development of a budget it is wise to consider the ethical involvements that can be present during it process. Incentives to lie and cheat are Rodolfo tempting actions for managers. Horngren (2008) stated, â€Å"It is common for managers of larger units with more resources to have higher pay, higher status, and greater prospects for promotion† (p. 301). This is common ethical flaw from the workers. The organizations have to prepare ways to identify, minimize and discourage this kind of behaviors. Subsequent use of the budget After completing the budget process, the information populated contains useful components that benefit the manager’s strategies behavior. According to Horngren (2008) there are four major benefits of effective budgeting. The mention benefits are: evaluation of activities, formalization of planning, performance evaluation, communication and coordination. By following the Rodolfo Furniture Scenario the four major benefits helps the mention company presented at the outgoing sentences. For the first benefit the main idea is the reevaluation of the actual activities and the evaluation of the opportunities to embrace new ones. The scenario display at the week 2 assignment, the foreign competitors surpass the actual company production because of the high-tech solutions use by them. The first benefits assist with the decision of changes in this matter. With the formalization of planning is an essential phase that every company has to experience. This benefit encourages managers to prepare contingency plans for the performing of immediate actions, pre-planned, at the moment of crisis. For the performance evaluation the most important fact is that the results of the recent analyze performance helps to take a more precise action because of the recent events than comparing with the last year performance. For the Rodolfo Furniture Scenario applies, because of the latest changes in the business, related to their company’s specialty, that is affecting gravely to his sales and requires an instance action. Lastly with communication and coordination this process allows the managers to create a macro communication because involves the input of employees from top to bottom and vice versa. Consider how the organization’s code of ethics requires an ethics analysis for any performance tool. Companies have developed a code of ethics or conduct as a tool to prevent the misuse of power, fraud, conflict f interest, money, and other. Mostly all ethical dilemmas start with dysfunctional incentive, poor supervision, and wrong personal habits. To ensure the reliability of the information and prevent situation of misleading or faulty information from accountants the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created. This 2002 Act requires regulations in the financial practice and a code of ethics â€Å"for seniors financial officers, applicable to its principal financial officer and comptroller or principal accounting officer, or persons performing similar functions† (Horngren, 2008, Chapter  1). Now managers has to approved and been concern of the budget. Also requires external auditors to examine the company. These regulations in the accounting system search for the reliability of the information provided. But it needs high ethical standards from the personnel. The Institute of Management Accountants develop a code of conduct require to CPAs and CMAs that integrated integrity, confidentiality, credibility and competence. Ethics should be the priority in a company. To encourage others and prevent unethical behavior, unnecessary pressures should be recognize and detained. Sometimes dysfunctional incentive arises when managers or accountings are assessed on the performance concerning to budget amounts. The ethical standards of an organization are necessary to guide, measure, and analyze the performance of the personnel. Most important a code of ethic is essential to maintain the integrity and confidence of the company. References Horngren, C. T. (2008). Introduction to Management Accounting (14th ed. ). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.. How to cite Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis, Essay examples

Case Study Stakeholder Identification and Prioritization

Question: What are the ways for identifying and prioritizing stakeholders? Answer: Introduction: This particular study has provided an in-depth understanding of the importance of business ethics inside the organization. Business ethics is one of the most authentic applied form of maintaining moral values and principles at the business process based on which the organizations like to precede their business. In this assignment, the study has focused to emphasize on the case study based on which the answer of three questions have been provided. This particular study highlights how the managers apply their methods in order to identify the stakeholder of their organization. The business framework of Mitchell et al. (1997) in the article A Case study of Stakeholder Identification and Prioritization by Managers has also given emphasis. What are the ways for identifying and prioritizing stakeholders? In order to identify the stakeholders, managers should first understand who the stakeholder is.Stakeholders may be an individual or a group, inside or the outside of an organization. Employees can be one of the major important stakeholders who are intimately associated with the management project of the organization. On the other hand, it can be the external customers, suppliers with the presence of whom the organization can never be run successfully(FishbeinAjzen, 2015). Therefore, while identifying the stakeholder, the managers have to follow different steps so that they can choose the right person for their company whether they are customer or the employee. Managers have to go through the methodological process based on which they can understand the current stakeholder for their project. Manager should identify those persons who have a greater impact on that particular field. On the other hand, if the managers decide to launch a new product in the market, they should identify those types of customers who would be able to purchase the product. Otherwise, this product would never be able to create a demand in the market. Therefore, identifying a proper stakeholder in the business goal is very much important for running the entire process of business systematically. Conclusion: The entire study deals with different methods of identifying the stakeholders maintaining the business values and ethics inside the organization. Several ways of identifying appropriate stakeholders inside the organization by the managers have been discussed in detail in this particular assignment. Apart from that, the study has also focused to explain the different components of managerial practices mentioned by Mitchell et al. (1997). In addition, my own point of view has also been mentioned in this particular study about the methods of identifying appropriate stakeholder in the business process. Physician Aid In Dying: The term Physician-Aid-in-Dying refers to a tradition in which a physician provides a capable, permanently ill patient with a medicine for a lethal dose of medication, only on the request of the patient when the patient has no desire to live and wishes to end his or her own life. The practice highlights the requirement that a patient must be able to take such decision only when they have limited life anticipation which is only limited to six months described under the authorisation of Washington. The term highlights that the physician provide such assistance to those patients only who are about to die and seek the help to control the time and circumstances of death as they suffering seems to be intolerable. In the above stated case both the divorced fifty-five year old man who is suffering from arthritis pain along with insomnia and the middle aged women suffering from leukaemia refused to undergo chemotherapy as because both the patients does not have the desire to live since their suffering has taken a huge toll on their life and their mental conditions does not support their life supporting system. Recent study has shown that both the physician and the patient undergoes prolonged and detailed discussion on ending the life support. When a patient makes an informed decision to refuse to take the life supporting health treatment their wishes are often respected given the amount of sufferings they undertake. Hence the right of a competent patient refusal to accept those sustaining treatment is legally supported by law. However a critically ill patients who only has limited number of days left of his life may ask for a dosage of pain relief medicine which generally has side effects which may make haste death for example impairing respiratory system. Since the primary objective is to relieve the suffering of patients where as the secondary motive is to hastening death which is recognised as an anticipated and often accepted side-effect in critically ill patient. A look at Ethics in the Global Market Place The term ethical issue or situation relates to a person or an organistion which authorises them to make a choice between the available alternatives which should be evaluated whether it is ethical or unethical. The above case study is of Foxconn which is a Taiwanese firm having its operations in china dealing in electronics. There are two kinds of Globalisation, one involves marketing and the other involves production. Hence at present the study shows that globalisation has positive impact in sourcing the goods and service all around the globe. Therefore Foxconn which is a globalised company produces and assembles customer oriented electronics products at a lightning fast speed. However the company has a prolonged history of unethical practice. Majority of employees have complained about the long working hour and the overtime they work in the factory for which they are not even paid rightly so. Of late it has been learnt that foxconn emphasises school students for internships as they can avoid the signing contract than those normal workers, which ultimately deprives the young workers from trade union as students are not employees of the company and hence they are not under any regulations to be protected by the labour laws. Foxconn treats its workers in an in human manner which often leads to employees of the company to question them about the ethical working of the company. Workers in Foxconn are subjected to long working hours with no outside connecting link and they often dont have the permission to talk to each other as life inside the factory is difficult. Workers often complain that they dont have the facility to meet or talk to their family and sleep in small room with strangers for which they have to pay. The human resource management of the company is responsible for maintining the working the working hour of the employees at factory along with the working conditions. It is the duty if the factory supervisor to maintain the time record of employees and reporting the same to the departmental managers. The time record must record the total number of hours worked by each employees in the factory. On the other hand if a global companies like apple who wishes to outsource work with the third party generally looks for ethical model of a company with its working environment. If a company has maintains proper working environment and meeting the regular norms of labour laws then it may attract foreign company for outsourcing its work at cheaper cost. Reference List: Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I. (2015).Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Hoffman, W. M., Frederick, R. E., Schwartz, M. S. (Eds.). (2014). Business ethics: Readings and cases in corporate morality.John Wiley Sons. Jennings, M. (2014).Business ethics: Case studies and selected readings. Cengage Learning. Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Spice Girls - Spice Girls free essay sample

If you enjoy listening to pop/rock music, you will really enjoy the Spice Girls album. It has two top hits on the radio today. One is called If ya wannabe my lover and the other is Say youll be there. They are very popular right now. They are among the top ten in the world. The group consists of five girls. Each has a different role in the music they play, but they all work together to make their music cool and popular to teenagers today. This is the Spice Girlss first self-titled album. I bought it about a week ago and enjoyed every minute I have listened to it. Even their music videos are really awesome. Its one of the best compact disks of my collections. Whenever I turn on the radio and the songs come on, I recite the whole song word for word. We will write a custom essay sample on Spice Girls Spice Girls or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I think that the group is going to be around for quite a while. Everyone is listening to them, and I think you should really, really consider buying this album. You would really enjoy it. Its worth spending the $15 dollars. The album is the best.

Human Resource Importance of Individuals

Human Resource Importance of Individuals Introduction Human thinking, physical input and strategy have always been at the middle of human survival and development. Without such input, it’s difficult to fathom how development would have come by. However, since human beings have always been there, it has always been easy to dismiss their input as something which is easily replaceable through other people.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Human Resource: Importance of Individuals specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More With skills development and competition gaining center stage however, many companies now realize that human capital is far more superior that the monetary and the machinery investment that people make in businesses. This is because without an efficient human capital, then the machinery and monetary capital invested in a business cannot bear much fruit. Importance of individuals For business entities or organizations to exist, Stockley (2 ) notes that there has to be people to run them. Such include the organization/business owners, leaders, shareholders, employees, members and directors among others. Individuals come up with strategies of how business has to be run and hence the success or failure of the same largely depends on them. In the contemporary world, plain human capital is no longer enough to ensure that a business or an organization performs to its best. Faced with increasing competition and changes in the working environment, organizations have had to ensure they hire the best talent, train and equip them with the necessary skills and also motivate them well in order to ensure that the employees are retained in the company. In addition to the contribution that individuals make to an organization or a business establishment, Family Business Battleground (7) notes that â€Å"the collective attitudes, skills and abilities of people† make a significant contribution to productivity in the work place. T his means that even where groups are credited for good performances, the individuals who constitute the groups are responsible for the group outcomes. Even in the environment where technology is being adopted to improve performance and competitiveness in specific business fields, it is apparent that technological knowledge can easily be aped from one market player to the other. With human knowledge and skills which are better than the competitor’s, an organization is able to retain the competitive edge for longer. On a more self-assessing note, one realizes that technological development which is being touted as the solution to most of the challenges experienced in businesses today would not be possible were it not for the individual innovators and researchers who turned ideas conceptualized in their minds into tangible technological equipment, which are being used today.Advertising Looking for research paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Even in a world where artificial intelligence is predicted as a possible substitute to human intelligence in the future, Ahmed (10) notes that it can only be used to augment the knowledge possessed by people rather than replace it. This is because beside the skills and knowledge required to work in a specific environment, individuals also rely on their intuition and common sense in decision making, something that the artificial intelligence enable devices such as robots do not possess. Human input in technology has however led to the creation of artificial intelligence, which in turn has led to more efficiency and speed in the modern work place. Conclusion Most of the advances made in human development are courtesy of individual human input. As such, the individual remains a fundamental figure and the most important capital resource in the society to date. Ahmed, Asif. â€Å"Replacing Humans with Machines: The Insurance Industry has b egun to Leverage Artificial Intelligence to Cut Costs and Improve Efficiency. But Technology Will Never Completely Supplant Human Reasoning†. The Free Library by Farlex. March 2002. Web. Family Business Battleground. The importance of human Capital in Business. Dec. 2009. Web. Stockley, Derek. Human Capital Concept- Definition and Explanation. Feb. 2005. Web.