Sample Letter of Recommendation for an MBA Applicant

MBA applicants need to present at least one recommendation letter to admissions committees, and most schools ask for two or three.  Letters of recommendation are typically used to support or strengthen other aspects of the MBA application.  For example, some applicants use recommendation letters to highlight their academic record or professional accomplishments, while others prefer to highlight  leadership or management experience. Choosing a Letter Writer When choosing someone to write your recommendation, it is very important  to select someone who is familiar with you and your accomplishments. Many MBA applicants choose an employer or direct supervisor who can discuss their work ethic, leadership experience, or professional achievements. A letter writer who has seen you manage employees or overcome obstacles is also a good choice. Another option is a professor or a fellow student from your undergraduate days. Some applicants also choose someone who supervised their volunteer or community work. Sample MBA Recommendation Below is a sample recommendation for an MBA applicant. This letter was written by a supervisor for her direct assistant.  The letter highlights the students strong work performance and leadership ability. These traits are important for MBA applicants, who must be able to perform under pressure, work hard, and lead discussions, groups, and projects while enrolled in their program. The claims made in the letter are supported by  very specific  examples, which help reinforce the points the letter writer is trying to make. Finally, the recommender outlines the ways in which the subject could contribute to an MBA program. To Whom It May Concern: I would like to recommend Becky James for your MBA program. Becky has worked as my assistant for the last three years. During that time, she has been moving toward her goal of enrolling in an MBA program by building her interpersonal skills, honing her leadership ability, and gaining hands-on experience in operations management. As Beckys direct supervisor, I have seen her demonstrate strong critical thinking skills and  the leadership capabilities necessary for success in the management field. She has helped our company achieve many goals through her valuable input as well as a  persistent dedication to our organizational strategy. For example, just this year Becky helped to analyze our production schedule and suggested an effective plan to manage bottlenecks in our production process. Her contributions helped us achieve our goal of minimizing scheduled and unscheduled downtime.   Becky may be my assistant, but she has risen to an unofficial leadership role. When team members in our department arent sure what to do in a given situation, they often turn to Becky for her thoughtful advice and support on various projects. Becky never fails to assist them. She is kind, humble, and seems very comfortable in a leadership role. Several of her fellow employees have come into my office and expressed unsolicited compliments in regards to Beckys personality and performance. I believe that Becky will be able to contribute to your program in a number of ways. Not only is she well-versed in the field of operations management, she also has a contagious enthusiasm that encourages those around her to work harder and achieve solutions for both personal and professional problems. She knows how to work well as part of a team and is able to model appropriate communication skills in almost any given situation. For these reasons  I highly recommend Becky James as a candidate for your MBA program. If you have any questions regarding Becky  or this recommendation, please contact me. Sincerely, Allen Barry, Operations Manager, Tri-State Widget Productions

Child Observation Child and Adolescent Psychology Essay

Laura Taylor Paul Kincs Child and Adolescent Psych 26 April 2010 Child Observation This time, I decided to observe children between the ages of five and six in a kindergarten class room at Maddock Public School. Maddock is a smaller school and there were only five children in the class, all of them were boys. I knew this would be an interesting day, because we learned in class that boys tend to be a little bit more active and disobedient, but I was definitely looking forward to it. I went in about fifteen minutes before the school day started so I could observe the boys from the time their mom dropped them off, until the time I left. The first boy came in; he was a smaller boy, who is known to have special needs. I’m not exactly†¦show more content†¦About five minutes later, it seemed as though they had completely forgotten that it had even happened. The bell rung and the boys went and say down in their seats. While Mrs. Maddock was trying to talk to them a couple of them were listening to her, but the others were playing with their pencils and ani mal-shaped erasers. She would pause mid-sentence and look at them until they realized that she wanted them to stop. They would then slowly put their items down, and give her their undivided attention. She asked them to all sit by the calendar, and they all jumped up and ran to it, trying to get the closest spot. Their pictures were on the wall. One was by the weather station, the other by the line leader station, and so on. They each had their own little duty for that day. The one whose picture was by the weather stood up and told the rest of the class what the weather was supposed to be like that day. Mrs. Maddock had pictures with thunder clouds and lighting and rain. With those pictures, the little boy told them all that the weather was going to be bad, and it was going to storm. All of a sudden, one of the boys passed gas, and the room went from being quiet to loud in less than a second. All the boys started making farting noises and couldn’t stop giggling. Mrs. Maddock w ent along with it for about a minute or so, and made the little boy who passed gas say â€Å"excuse me.† They had finally gotten over it, and seemed as though they’d forgotten it. It’s prettyShow MoreRelated`` On Teenagers And Tattoos `` By Andres Martin Essay1515 Words   |  7 Pagespopular amongst adolescents with the introduction and glorification of such body art by varying media, such as celebrities. 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Cisco’s Acquisition of IronPort

Question: Discuss about the Ciscos Acquisition of IronPort. Answer: Introduction In the given case we are dealing with two companies, Cisco System and IronPort, they are in the business of Security Industry. Cisco has a share of 40% in Network Security Market and it is leading it since 2002. IronPort started off as a small company in providing email security service, and was growing rapidly. They were doubling their sales from 2005 to 2006 with a booking of nearly 70%. In the given case we have to follow the procedure of Cisco, which they consider while doing any acquisition. It is being seen that IronPort might have a better market future than that of Cisco in the Security Industry. Due to lack in better security product feature of Cisco, they are considering acquisition. Cisco has a good brand name for acquiring numerous companies. They acquire companies, and integrate their product with their distribution and advertising team, by doing this they make a success out of the acquired companys product. First, we have to decide whether acquisition of IronPort is better option for Cisco or not. Then we have to provide a solution to any problem faced by Cisco during the acquisition of IronPort, which generally relates to integration process. Analysis: Whether to Acquire or do an inbuilt of security system: Cisco is following General Electrics method to capture the market, they will be aiming for 50% market share and a number 1 or number 2 positions in the market, and they will specifically avoid market in which they are getting not more than 20% of market share. For this Cisco management formed a matrix of emerging market. First they have to identify that market, and see whether they can manufacture products related to that market. If they are unable to manufacture them then they will acquire the company who can manufacture it. They followed 70:30 ratio i.e. 70% of the products will be manufactured internally, while 30% of the product will be manufactured by acquired company. Cisco is one of the leading companies in the networking technology of internet, and having 40% share in the total network security market. There security products are not considered the best in that sector neither cost effective. They had some major gaps in their security products. When they came across IronPorts email security solution, they thought that the integration of their security system with Ciscos application product would be a major hit. If they acquire IronPort, Cisco would be able to combine security among its portfolio of networking product. So it would be better if Cisco acquires IronPort instead of making Security product in house. Ciscos Acquisition Process Cisco has follows 3 step for acquisition, those are: Evaluate the company Companys ability to fulfill Ciscos aim Integration 1) Evaluating the Company: Vision of the company: Vision of both the companies is same, so in future there would be no clash relating their vision. IronPort and Ciscos vision were same, both wanted to establish in the security industry, while IronPort being a small company lacks the requisite finance and big name like Cisco. Cisco wanted to integrate Ironport so that they can combine security in their product portfolio. Size: They generally acquired small companies, but recently they acquired big companies like Linksys Group and Scientific-Atlanta Inc., so they have experience in acquisition of both small and big IronPort being a big size company, they were ready for such acquisition. Long-term Benefit: Cisco acquires those companies which provide them long-term benefit and have a rapid market, IronPort has both the features, it is good for long-term purpose, and it is growing rapidly in the security industry. Geographic Features: Cisco acquires companies which are near their geographic region i.e. within 20 miles of its head quarters. IronPort is located in San Bruno, California, which is near the head quarters of Cisco. 2) Companys ability to Fulfill Ciscos requirements: In the Analysis part it is clearly discussed, explaining the benefit of acquiring IronPort. 3) Integration: Ciscos Integration Process is generally: Retaining 90% of the employee of the acquired company Support the product on which the acquired company is working, and encourage the employees to continue their work as they were doing before acquisition Launching of new product based on acquired companys product Taking 90 days integration process for small companies, while 18 months for big companies Following are Some Acquisition done by Cisco, during which they Relaxed Some of its Acquisition Process Rules: Name of the company acquired Type / Number of Employees Acquisition Process Crescendo Communication Small company / 60 employees Since Crescendo was lacking manufacturing facilities, with good revenue and known in the market for its product, while Cisco was lacking such product and wanted to establish in the market, acquiring was a reasonable step, integration process was complete within 90 days. StrataCom Big Company / 1000 employees It was new for Cisco to enter in to telecommunication market; it wanted to import StrataComs traffic and quality of service with its own routers and switches. After acquisition Cisco gave its assurance that there would be no layoff of employees. It took more than 90 days to complete the integration process. Linksys Group Inc. Big Company / 500 employees Linksys which made home networking equipment, Ciscos networking gear cost more than the one build by Linksys. Cisco decided to keep Linksys brand name and their sales team, for smooth acquisition process. Scientific Atlanta Inc. Big Company / 7500 employees Ciscos acquisition of Scientific Atlanta, relaxed some of its acquisition features. Geographically it was far from its 20 miles from its headquarters, and their integration process took 18 months to complete. Issue related to acquisition of Iron Port? IronPort, from the beginning was in a defensive state about the acquisition. CEO of IronPort made it clear from the beginning that they will not be acquired by any company. Purchase Price: CEO of IronPort got offer for purchase of $ 400 million, which he rejected thinking that they deserve more than that. According to him, they deserve an offer of $ 1.5 billion. Employees: IronPorts employees were going through the same dilemma which happens with the employee of any acquired company, they were afraid of any layoff. They were also not ready to adapt to any new culture, they wanted to work in the same IronPorts environment in which they have been working for so long. Channels of IronPort: IronPort has 500 channel partners, with 150 being in North America. These channels are very effective for IronPort sales, if these are integrated then either Cisco will have a conflict with these channels or these these channels have problem with Cisco. Even if these channels have no problem, the sales of IronPort will increase by using the name of Cisco, but they wont be able to sale Ciscos product through these channels. IronPort Sales team: IronPorts sales team were paid higher compensation then what Cisco paid to their sales team, sales team were afraid that, the sales of IronPort might reduce due to integration along with their compensation. Independence: IronPort wanted to work independently. For resolving the above matter, Cisco raised the offer to $ 830 million, which according to Richard Palmer, Senior Vice President of Cisco was a very generous offer. Cisco has to be very careful in integrating IronPort. They can make certain changes in their integration process through which they can easily integrate IronPort. First, should make 18 months integration plan, as IronPort is a big Company with more than 500 employees, they should integrate it slowly with one step at a time. Secondly, they should make a clear statement that there will be no layoff of employees. Third, they should allow them their independence in working within the Ciscos environment. They should let the marketing and sales team work independently while allowing financing and other area to work with Ciscos team. They should let engineers work on the product in which they were working before acquisiton. For Channels of IronPort, for the initial stage they should let the IronPort team use their channel for the sale of their product, while using the name of Cisco, meanwhile they should allow the sales team to understand each Ciscos product so that they can sell them in future through their channel. They should let the compensation of Sales team remain same, and over time increase the compensation of their own sales team, so that they can establish a common compensation scheme for the whole company. If they rush in their integration process, it might lead to a disaster, so to play safe; they should slowly integrate IronPort into their company. Conclusion From the above analysis we get to see various results, we were to decide whether acquisition of IronPort by Cisco would be a better decision or not. We first checked whether Cisco is capable of making the Security Product on its own or they need to buy it from outsiders and then sell it in the market with their own brand name and advertising technique. Cisco is already established in Security Industry, but their product are not that effective and less expensive, they have good market share but still they lack in making good security product. There are gaps in their security product, to overcome this and to combine their product portfolio with IronPorts product; hence they decided to acquire IronPort. From the above analysis which Cisco generally use to determine whether they should acquire a company or not, we concluded that acquiring IronPort would be a better option for future benefit. The only struggle Cisco will be facing in this acquisition is integration of IronPort with Cisco. For that we can make sure that Cisco doesnt rush in to integration with IronPort immediately, when the employees of IronPort are comfortable with the culture and the environment of Cisco, then they should integrate it fully, so that in future there wont be any conflict between the companies. Integration Process of 18 months would be better, along with minor changes in their integration process of Cisco.

William James Essays - Mental Processes, Philosophy Of Mind

William James An admitted ?Moral Psychologist?, James's philosophies coincide with today's fields of Humanistic Psychology, Behavioral Psychology, and Transpersonal Psychology. He, like Jung, dared to look outside the ?normal? experiences of the mind and expand the concepts of consciousness. More particularly, William James attempted to describe the processes of the conscious rather than the definition of the conscious. He was the first to introduce our nation to psychology as a standard educational course and the founder of pragmatism which emphasizes the elimination of unnecessary thinking and finding truth only if it is practically applicable. Practicality, James defines, as those ideas that can be verified, collaborated, validated, and assimilated. He believed consciousness to be exclusive, personal, and selective, a constant ?decision maker? subject to a sea of information and perceptions specific to each individual. Every decision or choice is unique in that James believes that the process of thinking is linear. Each thought, according to James, proceeds and influences the next which he called the stream of consciousness. Because of the infinite number of ?streams? it is inevitable that each choice is totally original in it's creation. Within the process of selection lies the influences of the fringe, or the context that gives meaning to the content (it is vague), and the nucleus (it is definite). Additionally, James explains that without attention to a matter a decision can not be made, and that habits are seemingly automatic responses to our experiences that often dictate our decisions. Both must incorporate will which is described by James as the process that holds one choice among the alternatives long enough to allow that choice to occur. The rationale of choice involves two levels of knowing - knowledge of acquaintance (an intuitive, sensory knowing) and knowledge about (intellectual, evaluative and factual knowing). James was particularly interested in the habits of learning. He believed strongly that successful education was dependent upon the establishment of healthy habits. Stages involved in establishing good personal habits include: 1) a need or desire 2) information 3) repetition. Of course will is essential in establishing good habits (or breaking bad habits) so the training and strengthening of will were of major concern for James. He proposed that individuals accomplish this by practicing a useless task daily in order to train and proof themselves capable of willing themselves into any activity. Desired habits can be established with repetition. He does however recognize the occasional need to surrender the will and allow events to occur naturally. This, he believes, may induce a state of complete unification, or total oneness of self, and may require or lead to a transcendent state of mind. ?Self? is defined by James as the place from which all our mental processes originate and through which all our experiences are perceived. The layers of self include the Material Self (the part of us that defines and identifies ourselves via material goods and relationships), the Social Self (similar to Jung's persona, is the self we play in social encounters) and the Spiritual Self (the feeling, sensing, and subjective layer). His theory of emotions is fascinating and has lead to further research. Emotions in James's mind are dependent upon feedback from ones body and are a result of physical manifestations (rather than the common believe the emotions cause physical manifestations). This is the basis for his belief in nonattachment to emotional feelings and the open release of emotions as they are irrelevant in that they are only indicators of your physical state. He believed that unexpressed emotions may lead to physical and mental illness. He also advocated that one should maintain healthy-mindedness by choosing to act positive and believe in a sense of wellness. Supporting his believe in the physical effects of our emotions and his conclusions of conscious processes are studies in: Biofeedback (a means of monitoring a biological feedback used to train the participant to control their own ?automatic? nervous system through thought), Psychedelic Research (used to decipher the personal perception of self in an altered state), Meditation (which is proving physiologically effective), Hypnosis (being used as a tool to measure altered states and ultimately consciousness), and Multiple Personality Disorders (how the ?mind? splits creating entirely different personalities). William James, lost among many prominent psychologists, has unfortunately remained an often unappreciated theorist. However, those that are introduced to James can not deny his significant educational and psychological contributions. Much of modern psychology owes gratitude and respect to William James. Psychology Essays