Communication Between Agencies Essay Example for Free

Communication Between Agencies Essay In order to be successful having great communication is the key to that success. Our country has endowed many tragedies with many of them due to the poor communication. Many lives had been lost because of poor communication or the first responder’s not being trained properly for a situation as this. Communication problems became the focal point of our nation’s emergency management improvement ever since September 11. Every day in cities and towns across the Nation, emergency response personnel respond to incidents of varying scope and magnitude. Their ability to communicate in real time is critical to establishing command and control at the scene of an emergency, to maintaining event situational awareness, and to operating overall within a broad range of incidents (National emergency communications, 2008). Communicating messages to the general public is a critical yet underdeveloped aspect of effective emergency management. Such messages fall under three basic categories: risk, communication, and warning and crisis communications. Risk communication involves alerting and educating the public to the risks they face and how they can best prepare for and mitigate these risks in order to reduce the impacts of future disaster events. Warning involves delivering notice of an actual impending threat with sufficient time to allow recipient individuals and communities to take shelter, evacuate, or take other mitigated action in advance of a disaster event. Crisis communication involves the provision of timely, useful, and accurate information to the public during the response and recovery phases of a disaster event (Bullock, 2009). The emergency management community as a whole has vast experience in practicing risk and warning communications. Preparedness programs have been an active part of emergency management in this country for decades, and public education programs conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, local fire departments, and other public and private sector agencies have disseminated millions of brochures and checklists describing the risks of future disaster events and the steps that individuals and communities can take to reduce and prepare for them (Bullock, 2009). In our text Bullock States, â€Å"The National Commission on terrorist attacks on the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, found that inadequate communications contributed greatly to hindering the ability of responding agencies to respond to the events that unfolded, and led directly to the high number of police and fire department employees who were killed when the towers collapsed† (Bullock, 2009). From this you can conclude that information was not passed along fast enough so as a result many people lost their lives because of this. There were also language barriers many of the different agencies did not use the same â€Å"lingo† and because of this confusion information was not passed between them correctly.

A Problem for the Aviation Industry Essay -- Aviation

Section 217: A Problem for the Aviation Industry On a cold February evening in 2009, just outside the city of Buffalo, New York, two pilots crashed a new aircraft on final approach to land into Buffalo Niagara International Airport. In an effort to prevent an accident of a similar nature from happening, the U.S. Congress passed H.R. 5900, the ‘Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act.’ This bill under Title II was aimed to enhance airline safety and in part prevent an accident of this nature from occurring again (U.S. House 2010). Section 217 of the bill pushes the minimum hours required to act as a pilot on a regional carrier up to 1,500 total flight hours and requires those persons to do an extensive Air Transport Pilots examination (U.S. House 2010). Although some parts of this law encourage safety, it has the potential to cripple the aviation industry. This is so because of the predicted shortage of pilots in the coming years, lost interest of young pilots, potential higher prices for consu mers, and loss of jobs. The view that there is a pilot shortage impending has been echoed by many including Louis Smith, president of FLTOps, a website geared towards finding pilots jobs and providing assistance in rà ©sumà © building. He states, â€Å"Pilot hiring was severely depressed in the last three years. The next ten years will be the exact opposite, with the longest and largest pilot hiring boom in the history of the industry" (Jones). This predicted pilot shortage within the next few years is brought on by several reasons: the retiring of older pilots from major U.S. carriers, the moving of many pilots to Asia and the Middle East, and the increasing traffic in the United States to coincide with a growth of the ... ...24 Feb. 2012. Jones, Charisse. "Demand for airline pilots set to soar." Usa today. USA TODAY, 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. Lowy, Joan. "Airlines oppose law increasing pilot flight hours." USA TODAY Travel Network 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. Sullenberger, Chesley. Interview with CBS This Morning. "FAA proposes new rules for co-pilots." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News, 28 Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Mar. 2012. United States. National Transportation Safety Board. â€Å"Loss of control on approach, Colgan Air, Inc. operating as Continental Connection Flight 3407, Bombardier DHC-8-400, N200WQ Clarence Center, New York, February 12, 2009.†, 2010. Web. 4 Feb. 2012. U.S. House. 2010. Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010. US 111th Cong., 2nd sess. R. Doc. 3. Washington: GPO, 1 Aug. 2010. Web. 7 Mar. 2012.

Google Prediction Markets

Part I: Briefly evaluate how Google’s Prediction Markets have worked to date. To what extent have the markets been successful or unsuccessful? 250 When the five Googlers got together to start with this project, their main objective was to launch an internal prediction market and test if crowds would make more accurate predictions than individuals’. To determine if this project was a success or not we need to determine our parameters of success. Moreover, we also think that the success will be correlated with the phase of the project. From the case we can see that this project is still going through its first steps, despite the system has been running for seven quarters. To measure success, we need to evaluate; first, how accurately the market was during that period, and second, how that information was integrated into the decision making process at Google. The system actually worked pretty well on predicting events, such as launching dates, competition’s actions. There are some structural constraints for e.g. no money exchanged, lack of participation, lack of diversity, etc. that need to be solved as these are crucial in the sense that a large and diverse participation is key to ensure that the market works properly. Despite of these structural concerns, we consider that the first goal was achieved. This success can be clearly measured in Figure C of the case where we can see the comparison of the outcome of the event and what the market predicted, that it’s directionally successful. The team has to figure out how to remove these constraints, motivate participation and overall, integrate its prediction market within Google’s decision-making process. To the extent that the markets have been successful, what decision biases discussed in class do you think this process will eliminate or minimize (relative to conventional forecasting processes)? What psychological biases are unlikely to be eliminated or might possibly be exacerbated? 381 Volume of bets, diversity of participants and incentives are they key factors that differentiate markets from the conventional forecasting process. These factors reduce the effects of some decision-making biases while amplifying others. Availability of information. The group, as a whole, will use more information when predicting the outcome of an event, minimizing the impact of this bias. Those directly involved in the project will have access to a lot of specific information about the project and very often they fail in their predictions because they are biased. They underestimate or ignore the impact of the information they lack. Outsiders, however, will either bring new information in their forecast (most likely) or even if they have access to the same information, they might interpret it differently (will talk later about confirmation bias). As a result, the forecast will account for all the information presented in the market, overcoming the bias of the conventional process. Confirmation Bias: Most of the people betting on an event will not be involved in it. Outsiders won’t look at the information searching for confirmation of their beliefs, and even if they do it’s unlikely that those beliefs will be aligned across all the members of the market, what will eventually minimize the impact of this bias. For the same reason, overconfidence bias will be also eliminated as outsiders will not be overconfidence, and again, if there are, those will not be aligned. (Reference: Dolores Haze's assessment of the value of GPM). Likewise persistent of incorrect beliefs will be also eliminated. Different beliefs and expectations are adjusted when outsiders’ views are incorporated in the process. However, there are some biases that will not be eliminated. Those are, Framing the outcome. Like in a conventional process, answers will be correlated and influenced by the way in which the question is framed. However, it’s still possible that this effect will be somehow minimized. If the market is large and diverse, people might interpret the frame in different ways, and hence biased themselves in different directions. Endorsement effect. By default, the decision makers will tend to continue with what they are actually doing (if the market is not diverse enough this bias cannot be corrected, if everyone asked is in Goggle then they might be influenced by this type of bias). Under what conditions are prediction markets most likely to perform relatively well and relatively poorly? 417 Efficient functioning of prediction markets, within the context of a corporation like Google, would depend on the following three aspects: a) Volume of participants: By the nature of market-based decision-making, we would need large and diverse set of participants. Larger participation set will eliminate various biases discussed earlier. Liquidity (ability to trade) will allow participants to calibrate their bets and decisions based on new information. b) Diversity: Diversity of thought, perspective and motives within the participation set is also very important for prediction markets. Google should encourage participation from different geographies, different teams, varied level of seniority and demographics. This will create a market where participants interpret information and signals in different ways so that the collective action normalizes for any bias. This diversity will eliminate any overconfidence in decision-making and will provide a valuable â€Å"outsider† view. The issue of diversity is quite important in closed markets (e.g. Google). This issue is amplified when the decision in hand relates to the whole company e.g. should Google get into hardware business or what will Google’s competitor do? The market as a whole might be overconfident in these situations. Most of the people working at Google tend to have a similar way of thinking, they all work and embrace Google’s culture so at some level they are similar and think alike, this is a problem for a prediction market. c) Alignment of Incentives: Volume and diversity are certainly necessary conditions for proper functioning of markets. However, it’s the intent of participation that would dictate the success. All participants should act rationally and make the best risk-adjusted bets. In corporate settings, issues like team dynamics, chances of promotion, personal relationships etc can come in the way of rational bets. The incentives to participate should not interfere with the actual decision-making. Incentives can be aligned with monetary gains, reputation, accomplishments or other non-monetary rewards. And this alignment should be dictated by how a corporate is planning to use markets. Markets have to strike a balance between confidentiality and transparency. d) Transparency: Finally we think that is really important that the market is transparent and confidential. All of the members need to have the guarantee that their positions are not reveled unless they want to do so. For example if a market opens to determine if a project is going to meet a certain dead line and I think that it will not make it, but the project manager is a friend of mine then I need my position to remain confidential. Part II: How would you use prediction markets to make better decisions at Google? Make sure that you address the risks and challenges of replacing more conventional forecasting processes with prediction markets. Also, discuss how you would modify how prediction markets have been used so far. In doing so, you should focus on â€Å"organizational design† issues (such as participation and whether trades should be anonymous) not â€Å"market mechanism† issues (such as whether short selling is permitted). Note: This analysis should build on but not repeat what was written in Part I. Words: 807 In order to use prediction markets help better decision, Google (or any organization) has to take the following steps: a. Test and prove that markets lead to better decisions within the context of decisions that their managers make b. Facilitate the creation of efficient prediction markets with right incentives c. Educate the decision makers about markets and integrate markets with organization Google should follow a phased approach. Transition Phase: During this phase, Google should set up the markets, encourage participation and rigorously test if prediction markets lead to better decisions. There should be a control sample of managers who are not given access to prediction markets in any way and a test sample who are encouraged to refer to prediction markets (although the final decision would remain in the hands of the manager). The final decisions and the actual result should be tracked.

Analysis Of Ragged Dick - 1720 Words

Success is something everyone strives for in life, and the basis of what is needed to gain it has been relatively the same since the 1860s. The means needed to acquire what is needed for success although, were not quite as easy as they are in comparison to today. In 1867, there was a young boy, around 12 years old, named Ragged Dick. He was an orphan who stole and slept in the streets, and also a bootblack, which is someone who shines shoes for a living. In the book Ragged Dick, the author explained, â€Å"He would not steal, or cheat, or impose on younger boys, but was frank and straight-forward, manly and self-reliant.† Though he had a rugged upbringing, he had the means for being a successful man. He met a boy named Frank who had come from†¦show more content†¦It opened doors for them that nothing else could, making their overall lives easier. The reconstruction era gained its name after Abraham Lincoln tried to reconstruct the south after the war. There were man y difficulties in the way to fulfil his goal though, such as the issue with insects invading their food and living spaces. Cass G. Barns wrote about this in The Sod House, Grasshoppers was written in 1875 and said, â€Å"This year we had another very dry season resulting in light crops on which the grasshoppers came down by multiplied millions.† Not only was their crop season dry, resulting in few crops, but the grasshoppers ate whatever survived the drought. This left no crops for the southerners to eat, making their living extremely hard with little food to live off of. This was not the only type of insect that made their lives harder, they also faced blood eating insects. Barns also wrote â€Å"Bugs†, which also appeared in The Sod House, she wrote that, â€Å"In moving into all kinds of houses we find all kinds of insects that prey upon human blood.† The southerners moved in search of better crops but only ran into more insects. These bugs made their houses no longer safe to live in but they had no other options. They killed hundreds but there were always more that came to feed off of them, only contributing to the daily difficulties after the war. To add to theShow MoreRelatedA Letter Of Termination And On The Birth Announcement Of A Child1327 Words   |  6 Pagesinfluence on design today. There are few basic principles of Swiss design; asymmetrical organization of units on a mathematical grid, freedom from exaggerated claims of propaganda or advertising, and a use of sans-serif typography set in a flush left and ragged right margin configuration (Meggs 372.) Designers of the time believed that sans-serif typefaces were an expression of a progressive age and mathematical grids led to harmonious and clear design, achieving clarity and order was the goal. The foundationsRead MoreEssay about Herman Melville: A Biography And Analysis2570 Words   |  11 Pages Herman Melville: A Biography And Analysis nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Throughout American history, very few authors have earned the right to be called â€Å"great.† Herman Melville is one of these few. His novels and poems have been enjoyed world wide for over a century, and he has earned his reputation as one of the finest American writers of all time. A man of towering talent, with intellectual and artistic brilliance, and a mind of deep insight into human motives and behavior, it is certainlyRead More Analysis of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Essays3690 Words   |  15 PagesAnalysis of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol is a novel written by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) during the Victorian age, an era that took its name from Queen Victoria, England titular ruler from 1819-1901. Under Queen Victoria’s rule, London reigned the worlds dominate city country and the country’s incomparable center of commerce, culture and government. At this time London’s industrial age contributed to a large share of the manpower and capital that brought theRead MoreLiterary Criticism : The Free Encyclopedia 7351 Words   |  30 PagesChbosky. Word Riot. Word Riot. Retrieved 27 May 2012. 41.Jump up ^ Tara Ann Carter (October 6, 2013). Reading Persepolis: Defining and Redefining Culture, Gender and Genre (PDF). John Bartram High School. 42.Jump up ^ Secret Life of Bees-Character Analysis. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-21. 43.Jump up ^ Khaled Hosseini (March 4, 1965). Katherine C. (Berwyn, PA) s review of The Kite Runner. Goodreads.com. Retrieved 2011-04-21. 44.Jump up ^ http://www.salon.com/2003/09/12/lethem_8//Read MoreRastafarian79520 Words   |  319 PagesJamaicans regard as their cultural contribution to the world. Later I will return to these issues and will demonstrate how they contribute to the routinization of Rastafari in Jamaica. The nature of this book dictates a heavy reliance on documentary analysis. My focus is interpretation not ethnography. Therefore, I have not sought to generate primary data on the movement but to analyze and re-analyze the growing body of scholarly and popular literature on the movement, including sociological and anthropological