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Teams

Teams

A team comprises any group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Thus teams of sports players can form (and re-form) to practice their craft. Transport logistics executives can select teams of horses, dogs or oxen for the purpose of conveying goods. Theorists in business in the late 20th century popularized the concept of constructing teams. Differing opinions exist on the efficacy of this new management fad. Some see "team" as a four-letter word: overused and under-useful. Others see it as a panacea that finally realizes the Human Relations movement's desire to integrate what that movement perceives as best for workers and as best for managers. Still others believe in the effectiveness of teams, but also see them as dangerous because of the potential for exploiting workers — in that team effectiveness can rely on peer pressure and peer surveillance. Compare the more structured/skilled concept of a crew, and the advantages of formal and informal partnerships. Managers use teams for grouping people based on a common function. Members of a team usually belong to different groups, but receive assignment to activities for the same project, thereby allowing outsiders to view them as a single unit. In this way, setting up a team allegedly facilitates the creation, tracking and assignment of a group of people based on the project in hand. A Virtual team consists of members joined electronically, with nominal in-person contact. Virtual teaming is made possible with technology tools, especially the internet. This allows teams to be formed of players otherwise unavailable. Research can be performed using input from the best minds around the world. Work projects can be completed by spreading the workload among long-distance players. Many businesses build their competitive edge on the capabilities and efficiencies of virtual teams. Teams can sub-divide into sub-teams according to need. A team used only for a defined period of time often becomes known as a project team. Many teams go through a life-cycle of stages, identified by Bruce Tuckman as: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

Person

Person, in the classic sense, refers to a living human being. However, in philosophy, there has been debate over the precise meaning and correct usage of the term, whether the classical definition should be expanded or in some cases reduced, and which constituent elements or criteria must exist to establish personhood.

Are all persons human?

Firstly, there is the simple and traditional view that the common usage is the correct one: that "person" does indeed mean "human". However, this runs into the problem that the term "person" has a somewhat loaded meaning - we commonly believe that all and only persons have certain rights, for example, the right to life. Some would go so far as to say that all and only persons are sacred. However, we can imagine the hypothetical alien from another planet, who, despite not being human, nevertheless has every trait that we see as being essential for this protected status that elevates it above mere objects. Thus, many claim that the simple view implies a sort of arrogant speciesism. There are also religious views that attribute personhood to supernatural beings such as gods, angels, demons, elves, and so on. Similar ethical debates centre around the question of animal rights and artificial intelligence. Some would argue that humans have an amount of hubris that could potentially prevent us from recognizing the personhood of other sentient species. Some argue that certain primates and cetaceans (particularly the most highly intelligent species, such as the Great Apes and dolphins and killer whales) possess enough of the commonly held criteria for personhood to be considered persons. Recently corvids (crow species) have been recognized as highly intelligent tool users and strategists, while parrots display more linguistic intelligence. (see also animal intelligence and animal cognition). In fact, it is possible to teach a gorilla sign language, as evidenced by the case of Koko, who has expressed pride and flattery at having been awarded a place in the Guinness Book of Records for this. Some extend the list still further. In the future sentient programs and computers may even emerge, extending the argument beyond all biological realms. The issue of how we might discern whether artificial information processing systems are conscious will likely become a matter of important debate. Alan Turing first suggested that we give convincing machines or programs the benefit of the doubt, using his Turing test. However, even a simple chatbot can fool people for a time. The best evidence for consciousness or "sentience" would be the subjective reports of people undergoing gradual replacement of brain tissue with artificial processors (see cyborgs). For example, surgeons are already beginning to integrate artificial "neural prosthetics" in patients to repair some forms of brain damage. At some point such a person's cognitive system could require no biological elements. Because the process is gradual, the success or failure of the facilitation of phenomenal elements of conscious experience in a particular device could be reported by a person whom we are pragmatically warranted is considered conscious from the outset. At least in artificial systems designed in the same manner, we would be much more warranted in ascribing personhood than the low standards of the Turing test. Justification would become extremely high for ascribing personhood to any artificial cognitive system that either (1) became artificial through a gradual process of "cyborgization" (permitting subjective reports from a highly trusted source) or (2) was an artificial cognitive system whose design replicated a completely artificial stage of a cyborgization process that has been proven effective, in all relevant respects (e.g. not "personality," but the same type of hardware, organization, and operations). An elaboration on this theme is sometimes called "uploading", though the term carries baggage. "Uploading" here refers to a theoretical transfer of a mind to an artificial environment. Uploading proposals tend to assume that the mind does not persist through time in a substantial way (usually theoretically grounded on "deep reductivist" arguments that there is no soul or "self") so making a "copy" of brain structures is - in terms of survival - just as good as preserving the original structure. Advocates also tend to believe that such a copy would have conscious experience rather than merely acting as a convincing automaton. Reservations aside though, there does not seem to be any intrinsic reason that, some day, the mind of a human subject could not gradually extend into a functional simulation running on an advanced supercomputer. Related to this idea are cyberpunk/postcyberpunk science fiction (especially Ghost in the Shell) and the Transhumanist movement.

Are all humans persons?

There are certain challenges to the classical view regarding disputes over whether certain humans are persons. For example, in the abortion controversy, although the fetus is clearly of the human species, the personhood of the fetus has been challenged and has become a matter of debate. Some argue that an early stage a fetus is not a person, because of its lack of any form of consciousness, while others would argue that they are persons because they are human, or because they will develop into conscious beings. Also, in the case of a victim of severe brain damage who has no mental activity, many would concede that the person has ceased to exist, leaving only an "empty shell".

Possible criteria for personhood

The above points seem to indicate that there may be persons that are not human, and there may be humans that are not persons. For these reasons, many philosophers have tried to give a more precise definition, focusing on some trait or traits that all persons, real and hypothetical, must possess. The most obvious such trait that individuals considered persons usually possess is a conscious mind, typically (but not necessarily) with plans, goals, desires, hopes, fears, and so on. These traits therefore form a natural set of criteria for personhood. Despite this, these criteria are controversial. In particular, some have argued that these criteria fail to recognize babies as persons. Although they meet some of the criteria, such as some degree of consciousness, and the ability to feel pain, the mental abilities of a newborn baby often seem to some to be no more impressive than many animals not commonly considered persons. Another problematic example is the status of a person in deep sleep, with no consciousness at the moment, but who upon waking would return to being an entity with full subjective awareness in the future. However, this latter case becomes less problematic with the assistance of theories of embodied subjectivity (mind-brain identity or unity), which allow for the persistence of an intelligent physical system that both has been self-aware in the past and has the capacity to continue being self-aware in the future. A variation of this example is a "reversibly comatose patient," though criteria for reversibility complicate such an analysis. Because of these problems, some philosophers suggest that the potential to become fully thinking beings is sufficient to convey personhood, regardless of present mental status. Others take this view for essentially religious reasons. A consequence of this view is that an embryo would be considered a person from conception; but others see the idea of a single cell - with absolutely no mind of any sort - being a person as counterintuitive. It is a matter of debate when in development any conscious awareness is possible, as seemingly cognitive behaviour that may or may not be attributable to stimuli can be seen at multiple stages in a pregnancy. Nevertheless, consistent correlative evidence enables us to rule out awareness in the early and middle stages of foetal development with a high degree of confidence. As is reported in the August 24, 2005 Clinical Review article, Foetal Pain: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence, at 29 weeks of development fetuses have mature somatosensory evoked potentials that indicate that pain signals travel above the spine, through the thalamus and to the somatosensory cortex; and at around 30 weeks of development the brain's EEG signals suggest the first signs of wakefulness. Wakefulness is a necessary condition for any awareness, including pain recognition, but is insufficient for awareness without a functional somatosensory cortex to recognize pain signals as such - which is lacking for people in permanently vegetative states. Because these two necessary conditions for consciousness do not occur before the 29th week of development, fetuses cannot be consciously aware (and therefore subjects of experience) before the 29th week. Another view amongst scholars is that personhood is not all-or-nothing: there can be degrees of personhood, based on how close to a fully working mind the individual in question has. Thus, a typical adult is entirely a person, while a human permanently in a persistent vegetative state would not be considered a person at all. Partial personhood is tacitly recognized by law in most cultures as reflected by parental rights and obligations, and in legal treatment of minors, the mentally handicapped, and the comatose. However, other philosophers argue that the concept of an incomplete or partial person is dangerous, possibly leading to weakened protection for those not considered complete persons. Others would argue that we are all incomplete or "developing" persons regardless of our developmental state.

Personhood theory

According to Boethius: :Person is an individual substance of rational nature. As individual it is material, since matter supplies the principle of individuation. The soul is not person, only the composite is. Man alone is among the material beings person, he alone having a rational nature. He is the highest of the material beings, endowed with particular dignity and rights. In recent years a kind of consensus among secular scholars has emerged, which might be referred to as "personhood theory". The criteria a person must have in personhood theory are one or more of the following: # Consciousness, # The ability to steer one's attention and action purposively, # Self-awareness, self-bonded to objectivities (existing independently of the subject's perception of it), # Self as longitudinal thematic identity, one's biographic identity. Neo-Kantian philosophers over the last two decades have emphasized that conscious awareness requires both: # The sensorial capacity to access an environment (and one's own body) in a way that offers the basic qualitative content for subjective experience. # The intellectual capacity to conceptually interpret sensorial content as representing some thing to oneself. Both of these capacities are required for a subject of experience, action, thought, or self-reflection to exist, at least in the physically embodied, world-accessing manner of humans (and presumably other intelligent animals). As Kant wrote: Without sensibility no object would be given to us, and without understanding none would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind. (Critique of Pure Reason, A 51 = B 75). For those who consider an embodied capacity for subjectivity as necessary for personhood, these abstract constraints are quite relevant to the personhood theory debate. Advocates of alternative positions, such as a biological species or potentiality criterion, would instead need to provide arguments against embodied subjectivity as a basis for personhood. For example, one might argue that property claims are made by immaterial minds on immature material bodies, though any claim as to the nature of such minds would be necessarily speculative and would typically involve an argument for Cartesian substance dualism (see "mind-body problem").

Implications of the personhood debate

Personhood theory has become a pivotal issue in the interdisciplinary field of bioethics. While historically most humans did not enjoy full legal protection as "persons" (women, children, non-landowners, minorities, slaves, etc.), from the late 18th through the late 20th century being born as a member of the human species gradually became secular grounds for an appeal for basic rights of liberty, freedom from persecution, and humanitarian care. Since modern movements emerged to oppose animal cruelty (and advocate vegetarian or vegan lifestyles) and theorists like Turing have recognized the possibility of artificial minds with human-level competence, the identification of personhood protections exclusively with human species membership has been challenged. On the other hand, some proponents of "human exceptionism" (also referred to as "speciesism") have countered that we must institute a strict demarcation of personhood based on species membership in order to avoid the horrors of genocide (based on propaganda dehumanizing one or more ethnicities) or the injustices of forced sterilization (as occurred in the U.S. to people with low I.Q. scores and prisoners). While the former advocates tend to be comfortable constraining personhood status within the human species based on basic capacities (e.g. excluding human stem cells, fetuses, and bodies that cannot recover awareness), the latter often wish to include all these forms of human bodies even if they have never had awareness (which some would call "pre-persons") or had awareness, but could never have awareness again due to massive and irrecoverable brain damage (some would call these "post-persons"). The Vatican has recently been advancing a human exceptionist understanding of personhood theory, while other communities such as Christian Evangelicals in the U.S. have sometimes rejected personhood theory as biased against human exeptionism. Of course, many religious communities (of many traditions) find the more politically "progressive" versions of personhood theory perfectly compatible with their faith, as do the majority of modern Humanists. The theoretical landscape of personhood theory has been altered recently by controversy in the bioethics community concerning an emerging community of scholars, researchers and activists identifying with an explicitly Transhumanist position, which supports morphological freedom even if some people change so much as to no longer be considered members of the human species (whatever standard is used for this determination). Francis Fukuyama first brought the transhumanist philosophy to the attention of the bioethics community in 2002 with his critical book, Our Posthuman Future, in which he presents a bioconservative view.

Individual rights and responsibility

Closely related to the debate on the definition of personhood is the relationship between persons, individual rights, and ethical responsibility. Many philosophers would agree that all and only persons are expected to be ethically responsible, and that all persons deserve a varying degree of individual rights (see human rights). There is less consensus on whether only persons deserve individual rights and whether persons deserve greater individual rights than non-persons. The rights of non-person animals are an example of contention on this issue (see animal rights).

Corporations as persons

See also legal entity (artificial person) and natural person Largely separate from the discussion of "real" persons are considerations regarding artificial persons such as corporations and states. In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company the United States Supreme Court ruled that a corporation is considered a person for many legal purposes. Many question the wisdom of this; the philosopher John Ralston Saul said, "If you are a person before the law and Exxon or Ford is also a person, it is clear that the concept of democratic legitimacy lying with the individual has been mortally wounded." It must be emphasized that corporate personhood is a legal fiction -- in other terms, a convenient assumption adopted for practical reasons that is not necessarily accepted as true (see also the documentary film The Corporation).

References

- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- [http://www.iep.utm.edu/ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
- Fetal Pain: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence, Clinical Review August 24, 2005 Category:Humans Category:Personal life Category:Philosophical terminology

Animal

:For the Muppet Show character, see Animal (Muppet). For the professional wrestler, see Joseph Laurinaitis.

- Porifera (sponges)
- Ctenophora (comb jellies)
- Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anenomes)
- Placozoa (trichoplax)
- Subregnum Bilateria (bilateral symmetry)
- Acoelomorpha (basal)
- Orthonectida (flatworms, echinoderms, etc.)
- Rhombozoa (dicyemids)
- Myxozoa (slime animals)
- Superphylum Deuterostomia (blastopore becomes anus)
- Chordata (vertebrates, etc.)
- Hemichordata (acorn worms)
- Echinodermata (starfish, urchins)
- Chaetognatha (arrow worms)
- Superphylum Ecdysozoa (shed exoskeleton)
- Kinorhyncha (mud dragons)
- Loricifera
- Priapulida (priapulid worms)
- Nematoda (roundworms)
- Nematomorpha (horsehair worms)
- Onychophora (velvet worms)
- Tardigrada (water bears)
- Arthropoda (insects, etc.)
- Superphylum Platyzoa
- Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
- Gastrotricha (gastrotrichs)
- Rotifera (rotifers)
- Acanthocephala (acanthocephalans)
- Gnathostomulida (jaw worms)
- Micrognathozoa (limnognathia)
- Cycliophora (pandora)
- Superphylum Lophotrochozoa (trochophore larvae / lophophores)
- Sipuncula (peanut worms)
- Nemertea (ribbon worms)
- Phoronida (horseshoe worms)
- Ectoprocta (moss animals)
- Entoprocta (goblet worms)
- Brachiopoda (brachipods)
- Mollusca (mollusks)
- Annelida (segmented worms) Animals are a major group of organisms, classified as the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. In general they are multicellular, capable of locomotion and responsive to their environment, and feed by consuming other organisms. Their body plan becomes fixed as they develop, usually early on in their development as embryos, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on. Along with sponges, gastropods, emus, dolphins and all other animals, Homo sapiens sapiens meet all the criteria above for membership in the group of organisms known as animals and they do not meet the criteria of the other groups. Some humans often consider themselves separate from animals, not on the grounds of biology, but through the use of "other contexts". Whilst self-delusion may be a unique characteristic of the human species it is not cause for exclusion from the Kingdom Animalia. The name animal comes from the Latin word animal, of which animalia is the plural, and ultimately from anima, meaning vital breath or soul.

Characteristics

Aristotle divided the living world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carolus Linnaeus in the first hierarchical classification. Since then biologists have begun emphasizing evolutionary relationships, and so these groups have been restricted somewhat. For instance, microscopic protozoa were originally considered animals because they move, but are now treated separately. Kingdom Animalia has several characteristics that set it apart from other living things. First, animals are eukaryotic. This separates them from the Kingdom Monera. Second, animals are multicellular, which separates them from Kingdom Protista. Third, they are heterotrophic, setting them apart from Kingdom Plantae and several plant-like protists. Finally, Kingdom Animalia consists of organisms without cell walls, which makes it unique compared to Kingdom Plantae, algae, and Kingdom Fungi.

Structure

With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges (Phylum Porifera), animals have bodies differentiated into separate tissues. These include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and a nervous system, which sends and processes signals. There is also typically an internal digestive chamber, with one or two openings. Animals with this sort of organization are called metazoans, or eumetazoans when the former is used for animals in general. All animals have eukaryotic cells, surrounded by a characteristic extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins. This may be calcified to form structures like shells, bones, and spicules. During development it forms a relatively flexible framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganized, making complex structures possible. In contrast, other multicellular organisms like plants and fungi have cells held in place by cell walls, so develop by progressive growth. Also, unique to animal cells are the following intercellular junctions: tight junctions, gap junctions, and desmosomes.

Reproduction and development

Nearly all animals undergo some form of sexual reproduction. Adults are diploid or occasionally polyploid. They have a few specialized reproductive cells, which undergo meiosis to produce smaller motile spermatozoa or larger non-motile ova. These fuse to form zygotes, which develop into new individuals. Many animals are also capable of asexual reproduction. This may take place through parthenogenesis, where fertile eggs are produced without mating, or in some cases through fragmentation. A zygote initially develops into a hollow sphere, called a blastula, which undergoes rearrangement and differentiation. In sponges, blastula larvae swim to a new location and develop into a new sponge. In most other groups, the blastula undergoes more complicated rearrangement. It first invaginates to form a gastrula with a digestive chamber, and two separate germ layers - an external ectoderm and an internal endoderm. In most cases, a mesoderm also develops between them. These germ layers then differentiate to form tissues and organs. Animals grow by indirectly using the energy of sunlight. Plants use this energy to turn air into simple sugars using a process known as photosynthesis. These sugars are then used as the building blocks which allow the plant to grow. When animals eat these plants (or eat other animals which have eaten plants), the sugars produced by the plant are used by the animal. They are either used directly to help the animal grow, or broken down, releasing stored solar energy, and giving the animal the energy required for motion. This process is known as glycolysis.

Origin and fossil record

Animals are generally considered to have evolved from flagellate protozoa. Their closest living relatives are the choanoflagellates, collared flagellates that have the same structure as certain sponge cells do. Molecular studies place them in a supergroup called the opisthokonts, which also include the fungi and a few small parasitic protists. The name comes from the posterior location of the flagellum in motile cells, such as most animal sperm, whereas other eukaryotes tend to have anterior flagella. The first fossils that might represent animals appear towards the end of the Precambrian, around 600 million years ago, and are known as the Vendian biota. These are difficult to relate to later fossils, however. Some may represent precursors of modern phyla, but they may be separate groups, and it is possible they are not really animals at all. Aside from them, most animal phyla with known phyla make a more or less simultaneous appearance during the Cambrian period, about 570 million years ago. It is still disputed whether this event, called the Cambrian explosion, represents a rapid divergence between different groups or a change in conditions that made fossilization possible.

Groups of animals

The sponges (Porifera) diverged from other animals early. As mentioned, they lack the complex organization found in most other phyla. Their cells are differentiated, but not organized into distinct tissues. Sponges are sessile and typically feed by drawing in water through pores all over the body, which is supported by a skeleton typically divided into spicules. The extinct Archaeocyatha, which have fused skeletons, may represent sponges or a separate phylum. Among the eumetazoan phyla, two are radially symmetric and have digestive chambers with a single opening, which serves as both the mouth and the anus. These are the Cnidaria, which include anemones, corals, and jellyfish, and the Ctenophora or comb jellies. Both have distinct tissues, but they are not organized into organs. There are only two main germ layers, the ectoderm and endoderm, with only scattered cells between them. As such, these animals are sometimes called diploblastic. The tiny phylum Placozoa is similar, but individuals do not have a permanent digestive chamber. The remaining animals form a monophyletic group called the Bilateria. For the most part, they are bilaterally symmetric, and often have a specialized head with feeding and sensory organs. The body is triploblastic, i.e. all three germ layers are well-developed, and tissues form distinct organs. The digestive chamber has two openings, a mouth and an anus, and there is also an internal body cavity called a coelom or pseudocoelom. There are exceptions to each of these characteristics, however - for instance adult echinoderms are radially symmetric, and certain parasitic worms have extremely simplified body structures. Genetic studies have considerably changed our understanding of the relationships within the Bilateria. Most appear to belong to four major lineages: # Deuterostomes # Ecdysozoa # Platyzoa # Lophotrochozoa In addition to these, there are a few small groups of bilaterians with relatively similar structure that appear to have diverged before these major groups. These include the Acoelomorpha, Rhombozoa, and Orthonectida. The Myxozoa, single-celled parasites that were originally considered Protozoa, are now believed to have developed from the Bilateria as well.

Deuterostomes

Deuterostomes differ from the other Bilateria, called protostomes, in several ways. In both cases there is a complete digestive tract. However, in protostomes the initial opening (the archenteron) develops into the mouth, and an anus forms separately. In deuterostomes this is reversed. In most protostomes cells simply fill in the interior of the gastrula to form the mesoderm, called schizocoelous development, but in deuterostomes it forms through evagination of the endoderm, called enterocoelic pouching. Deuterostomes also have a dorsal, rather than a ventral, nerve chord and their embryos undergo different cleavage. All this suggests the deuterostomes and protostomes are separate, monophyletic lineages. The main phyla of deuterostomes are the Echinodermata and Chordata. The former are radially symmetric and exclusively marine, such as sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. The latter are dominated by the vertebrates, animals with backbones. These include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. In addition to these, the deuterostomes also include the Hemichordata or acorn worms. Although they are not especially prominent today, the important fossil graptolites may belong to this group. The Chaetognatha or arrow worms may also be deuterostomes, but this is less certain.

Ecdysozoa

The Ecdysozoa are protostomes, named after the common trait of growth by moulting or ecdysis. The largest animal phylum belongs here, the Arthropoda, including insects, spiders, crabs, and their kin. All these organisms have a body divided into repeating segments, typically with paired appendages. Two smaller phyla, the Onychophora and Tardigrada, are close relatives of the arthropods and share these traits. The ecdysozoans also include the Nematoda or roundworms, the second largest animal phylum. Roundworms are typically microscopic, and occur in nearly every environment where there is water. A number are important parasites. Smaller phyla related to them are the Nematomorpha or horsehair worms, which are visible to the unaided eye, and the Kinorhyncha, Priapulida, and Loricifera, which are all microscopic. These groups have a reduced coelom, called a pseudocoelom. The remaining two groups of protostomes are sometimes grouped together as the Spiralia, since in both embryos develop with spiral cleavage.

Platyzoa

The Platyzoa include the phylum Platyhelminthes, the flatworms. These were originally considered some of the most primitive Bilateria, but it now appears they developed from more complex ancestors. A number of parasites are included in this group, such as the flukes and tapeworms. Flatworms lack a coelom, as do their closest relatives, the microscopic Gastrotricha. The other platyzoan phyla are microscopic and pseudocoelomate. The most prominent are the Rotifera or rotifers, which are common in aqueous environments. They also include the Acanthocephala or spiny-headed worms, the Gnathostomulida, Micrognathozoa, and possibly the Cycliophora. These groups share the presence of complex jaws, from which they are called the Gnathifera.

Lophotrochozoa

The Lophotrochozoa include two of the most successful animal phyla, the Mollusca and Annelida. The former includes animals such as snails, clams, and squids, and the latter comprises the segmented worms, such as earthworms and leeches. These two groups have long been considered close relatives because of the common presence of trochophore larvae, but the annelids were considered closer to the arthropods, because they are both segmented. Now this is generally considered convergent evolution, owing to many morphological and genetic differences between the two phyla. The Lophotrochozoa also include the Nemertea or ribbon worms, the Sipuncula, and several phyla that have a fan of cilia around the mouth, called a lophophore. These were traditionally grouped together as the lophophorates, but it now appears they are paraphyletic, some closer to the Nemertea and some to the Mollusca and Annelida. They include the Brachiopoda or lamp shells, which are prominent in the fossil record, the Entoprocta, the Phoronida, and possibly the Ectoprocta or moss animals.

History of classification

In Linnaeus' original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, the Chordata, whereas the various other forms have been separated out. The above lists represent our current understanding of the group, though there is some variation from source to source.

Usage of the word animal

In everyday usage animal refers to any member of the animal kingdom that is not a human being, and sometimes excludes insects (although including such arthropods as crabs). This confusion stems primarily from the familiarity with zoo animals, farm animals and pets, not from an analytical distinction between insects, humans and the rest of the animal kingdom.

Examples

Some well-known types of animals, listed by their common names:
- alpaca, ant, antelope, badger, bat, bear, bee, beetle, bird, bison, butterfly, cat, chicken, cockroach, coral, cow, deer, dinosaur, dog, dolphin, earthworm, elephant, elk, fish, fly, fox, frog, giraffe, goat, gorilla, hippopotamus, horse, human, iguana, jellyfish, kangaroo, lion, lizard, llama, lynx, monkey, mouse, nightingale, octopus, owl, ox, parrot, penguin, pig, quail, rabbit, rat, rhinoceros, salamander, scorpion, seahorse, shark, sheep, sloth, snake, spider, squid, starfish, tiger, turtle, urial, vole, whale, wolf, yak, zebra

References

External links

- [http://www.animool.com/animals/index.jsp Animals Search Engine]
- [http://www.wikianimals.com wikianimals.com] - Documenting the animal kingdom
- [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Animals&contgroup=Eukaryotes Tree of Life]
- [http://www.arkive.org A Multimedia Database of Various UK or Endangered Species]
- [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wakefield/animals.html Animals and Birds Names] - Large table of words: animal, collective, male, female, young, & home
- [http://www273.pair.com/med/words/animal_adjectives.htm English Animal Adjectives]
- [http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/animals/animals.html Sounds of the World's Animals] - animal sounds in many languages
- [http://www.findsounds.com/ FindSounds - Search the Web for Sounds] - sound files including animal sound files
- [http://www.australianfauna.com/ Australian Animals]
- [http://www.animalreviews.com AnimalReviews] - animals reviewed and evaluated
- [http://animals.timduru.org/ The animal photo archive] - Photos of animals
- [http://www.wildlife-photo.org Photo gallery of animals pictures from the entire world.]
- [http://www.wildlife-photo.org/birds_list.htm Birds Name Check List in Latin, English, Russian and Hebrew.]
- [http://www.wildanimalsonline.com Wild Animals Online] - an online encyclopedia of wild animals - facts, photos Category:Animals zh-min-nan:Tōng-bu̍t ko:동물 ms:Haiwan ja:動物 simple:Animal th:สัตว์

Horse

The Horse (Equus caballus) is a sizeable ungulate mammal, one of the seven modern species of the genus Equus. It has long played an important role in transport, whether ridden or used for pulling vehicles. They are also used for food. Though horses may have been domesticated in one isolated locale in 4500 BC, the unequivocal date of (1) domestication and (2) use as a means of transport dates to no earlier than circa 2000 BC, evidenced by the Sintashta chariot burials (see Domestication of the horse). Nevertheless, a close cousin of the horse, the donkey, was likely domesticated and used for transport circa 3000 BC (see discussions at Donkey and [http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/means_of_transportation.htm]). Until the mid 20th century, armies used horses extensively in warfare: soldiers still call the groups of machines that now take the place of the horse on the battlefield "cavalry" units, sometimes keeping traditional names (Lord Strathcona's Horse, et cetera).

Domestication of the horse and surviving wild species

The earliest evidence for the domestication of the horse comes from Central Asia and dates to about 4,000 BCE. Competing theories exist about the time and place of domestication. However, wild species continued into historic times, including the Forest Horse, Equus caballus silvaticus (also called the Diluvial Horse); it is thought to have evolved into Equus caballus germanicus, and may have contributed to the development of the heavy horses of northern Europe, such as the Ardennais. The Tarpan, Equus caballus gmelini, became extinct in 1880. Its genetic line is lost, but a substitute has been recreated by "breeding back", crossing living domesticated horses that had features selected as primitive, thanks to the efforts of the brothers Lutz Heck (director of the Berlin zoo) and Heinz Heck (director of Tierpark Munich Hellabrunn). The resulting animal is more properly called the Wild Polish Horse or Konik. Konik] Only one true wild-horse species survives: Przewalski's Horse, Equus caballus przewalskii, a rare Asian species. Mongolians know it as the taki, while the Kirghiz people call it a kirtag. Wild populations exist in Mongolia; see: http://www.treemail.nl/takh/.

Wild vs. feral horses

One can distinguish between wild animals, whose ancestors have never undergone domestication, and feral animals, who had domesticated ancestors but who now live in the wild. Several populations of feral horses exist, including those in the West of the United States and Canada (often called "mustangs") and in parts of Australia (called brumbies) and in New Zealand (called "Kaimanawa horses"). These feral horses may provide useful insights into the behavior of their ancestral wild horses. The Icelandic horse (pony-sized but called a horse) provides an opportunity to compare contemporary and historical breed appearances and behaviour. Introduced by the Vikings into Iceland, Icelandic horses did not subsequently undergo the intensive selective breeding that took place in the rest of Europe from the middle ages onwards, and so they consequently bear a closer resemblance to pre-medieval breeds. The Icelandic horse has a four-beat gait called the "tölt", which equates to the rack exhibited by several American gaited breeds.

Other equids

Other members of the horse family include zebras, donkeys, and hemionids. The Donkey, Burro or Domestic Ass, Equus asinus, like the horse, has many breeds. A mule is a hybrid of a male ass and a mare and is infertile. A hinny is the less common hybrid of a female ass and a stallion. Recently breeders have begun crossing various species of zebra with mares or female asses to produce "zebra mules"—zorses and zonkeys (also called zedonks). This will probably remain a novelty hybrid as these individuals tend to inherit some of the nervous, difficult nature of their zebra parent. Full species list:
- Domesticated Horse (Equus caballus)
- Tarpan (Equus caballus gmelini)
- Przewalski's Horse (Equus caballus przewalskii)
- Donkey (Equus asinus)
- Onager (Equus hemionus)
- Kiang (Equus kiang)
- Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra)
- Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)
- Grevy's Zebra (Equus grevyi)

Evolution

All equids are part of the family Equidae, which dates back more than 50 million years. One of the first species was the tiny Hyracotherium. In the course of the million years, the horses evolved from leaf-eating forest-dwellers into grass-eating fast-running inhabitants of the open plains. The Evolution of the Horse lead to a reduction of the number of toes: from 5 per foot, to 3 per foot, to only 1 toe per foot. The genus Equus, to which all living equids belong, evolved a few million years ago. Examples of extinct horse genera include: Propalaeotherium, Mesohippus, Miohippus, Orohippus, Pliohippus, Anchitherium, Merychippus, Parahippus, Hipparion and Hippidion.

Natural History of the horse

Hippidion] In nature, horses function as prey animals. They have a natural tendency to flee from danger, though they will fight if cornered. Their eyes lie to the side of the head, giving them a wide view while grazing (slightly less than 180 degrees to each side, overlapped in front and leaving a blind spot in the rear). Even domesticated horses startle easily and must, for the safety of riders, undergo careful introductions to strange objects and situations. Horses live in family groups in primarily grassland habitats. These normally consist of a mature stallion, his harem of about one to ten mares, and the mares' offspring. Once young males reach breeding age and begin to attempt to breed with mares or to challenge the herd stallion, the latter drives them out of the herd to form "bachelor bands" with other young stallions. Usually not until a stallion reaches 7 or 8 years old does he stand a real chance of acquiring mares, eventually becoming, if successful in the attempt, a "band stallion", i.e. having a harem of his own, having separated female equids from another stallion's band. harem An alpha mare dictates the direction in which a family herd travels, while the stallion brings up the rear, "herding" his family. Recently, researchers have observed that a form of democracy appears to exist among horses. For instance, if the majority of the herd wants to stop and eat, the whole herd follows suit and stops.

Specialized vocabulary

The English-speaking world measures the height of horses in hands. One hand is defined in British law as 101.6 mm and is derived from a previous definition of 4 inches. Adult horses can range in size from 5 hands (0.5 m) (a very small miniature horse or falabella) to over 19 hands (1.8 m). By convention, 15.2 hh means 15 hands, 2 inches (1.57 m) in height, measured at the highest point of the withers. Usually, size alone marks the difference between horses and ponies. The threshold is 14.2 hh (1.47 m) for an adult. Below the threshold it is a pony, above the threshold it is a horse. Thus normal variations can mean that a horse stallion and horse mare can become the parents of an adult pony. However, a distinct set of characteristic pony traits, developed in northwest Europe and further evolved in the British Isles, muddies the issue of whether we use the word "pony" to describe a size or a type. Many people consider the Shetland pony as the archetypical pony, with its proportions very different from horses. Several small breeds appear as "horses" or "ponies" interchangeably, including the Icelandic, Fjord, and Caspian. Breeders of miniature horses favor that name because they strive to reproduce horse-like conformation in a very small size, even though their animals undeniably descend from ponies.

Words for gaits

All horses move naturally in four basic gaits, the walk, trot, canter/lope ("canter" in English riding, "lope" in Western), and the gallop.
- the walk - a "four beat" lateral gait in which a horse must have three feet on the ground and only one foot in the air at any time. The walking horse will lift first a hind leg, then the foreleg on the same side, then the remaining hind leg, then the foreleg on the same side. To get a horse into walk from halt, one must gently squeeze the sides of the horse and release the pressure on the reins. To get a horse to walk from trot, one must take sitting trot and gently apply pressure on the reins.
- the trot/jog - a "two beat" diagonal gait in which a foreleg and opposite hindleg (often called "diagonals") touch the ground at the same time. In this gait, each leg bears weight separately, making it ideal to check for lameness or for stiffness in the joints. To get a horse to trot fom walk you must soften your reins and apply more pressure with the leg. There are two types of trot a rider can do. Rising trot, where the rider stands up slightly in the saddle each time the horses outside front leg goes forward, and sitting trot, where the rider sits in the saddle and goes with the horse's movement.
- the canter/lope - A "three beat" gait in which a foreleg and opposite hindleg strike the ground together, and the other two legs strike separately. A cantering horse will first stride off with the outside hind leg, then then inside hind and outside fore together, then the inside front leg, and finally a period of suspension in which all four legs are off the ground. the rhythm should be 1-2-3, 1-2-3, etc. When cantering in a straight line, it does not usually matter which foreleg (or leading leg) goes first, but both leads should receive equal practice time, as otherwise the horse may become "one-sided" or develop a reluctance to canter on a specific lead. In the arena, the horse should canter on the inside lead. In making a fairly tight turn, the inside leg (the one nearest to the center of the turn) should lead, as this prevents the horse from "falling in". to get a horse to canter on the correct leg from trot, one must go into sitting trot, place their outside leg slightly behind the girth and squeeze with the inside leg. To get a horse to canter from gallop, one must alter the position of the body slightly back in the saddle, then you must place the outside leg behind the girth to allow the horse to canter on the correct leg, and apply pressure on the reins. Also called "lope" when riding in a Western show class. The canter is not a natural gait, but a restrained form of a gallop. Shetland pony
- the gallop - Another "four beat" gait which follows a similar progression to the canter, except the two paired legs land separately, the hind leg landing slightly before the foreleg. The gallop also involves having a leading leg. In turning at a very rapid rate, it is even more important that the horse use the appropriate lead, leading with the left leg if making a left turn, and the right leg if making a right turn, since the faster the turn the more the horse needs to lean into the turn. Horses that usually are galloped in a straight line need to be caused to alternate leads so that they do not suffer a muscular imbalance and subsequent difficulty making turns in one direction or the other. To get a horse into gallop, the rider must alter their position so they are slightly more forward in the saddle, then they should allow the horse to head and gently kick the horse's sides. The gallop is usually used in races or fox hunting. However, one would not gallop a horse during training in a ring or enclosed area, due to the fact that the horse may slip in attempting to gallop in such an area. Although a race track is an enclosed area, it is designed for a horse to gallop around, without being too enclosed which may cause the horse to slip while turning. Some horses have other gaits other than the most common three above. These horses are called Gaited Horses.
- tölt or tolt is a four beat running walk and can be ridden at any speed, from slow dancing steps to the speed of a galloping horse. This beat is natural to the Icelandic breed.
- pace is a lateral two-beat gait more commonly used in racing. In the pace, the legs move in lateral pairs, in a two beat gait, similar to the trot (however, in a trot, the legs move in diagonal pairs). In most countries pacers are raced in front of a sulky, an open mouthed two-wheeled vehicle drawn by one horse. These horses are commonly called "pacers" because of their unique gait.
- corto, largo, fino are the smooth four-beat gaits performed by Paso Finos. Similar natural four-beat gaits are found in breeds such as the Peruvian Paso. The corto occurs naturally, and is similar to the trot in speed. The largo is extended and high-speed, and the fino is very collected. This is the gait emphasized in high-level competition. Trainers have developed various artificial gaits for reasons such as appearance, and to improve the riding or driving quality. For details, see Horse gaits. Cited: Sly, Debbie. "The Practical Rider's Handbook". London: Lorenz Books, 1997.

Words relating to horses

You can view an entire equine dictionary at: [http://ultimatehorsesite.com/dictionary/dictionary.html The Horse Dictionary]
- Bronco - a wild, untamed horse, typically used in reference to the American mustang.
- Brumby - a wild or untrained Australian horse
- Charger - a medieval war horse
- cob - any horse of a short-legged, stout variety, with short legs, and a compact body, neck and back
- colt - an unaltered male horse from birth till the age of 4.
- destrier - a heavy, strong medieval war horse
- draught horse - heavy, muscular beast of burden
- filly - female horse from birth till the age of 4.
- foal - infant horse of either sex
- garron - small and disdained horse
- gelding - a castrated male horse of any age
- God dog - how the Apaches referred to horses
- green - a term used to describe an inexperienced horse
- hack - (noun) a horse for hire, or adapted to general work, used for driving or riding. Although the word sometimes means an old, worn out horse, it is also used to signify an extremely elegant horse used for riding on social occasions ("park hack", "hunter hack" etc.) (verb)- to ride a horse for pleasure, not as training
- hackney - a specific breed of flashy, elegant driving pony
- Hand - a unit of measuring used frequently to measure a horses height. One hand is equal to 4 inches (appox. 10 cm)
- horse - adult equine of either sex over 14.2 hh (58 inches, 1.47 m)
- jennet - a small horse, particularly a Spanish one
- mare - adult female horse
- mustang - a feral horse found in the western plains of North America
- nag - small horse or pony used for riding (uncomplimentary term)
- palfrey - a smooth gaited type, a riding horse, a woman's horse
- pony - equine 14.2 hh or less (58 inches, 1.47 metres)
- School Horse/Pony- A horse owned by a riding academy
- shelt or shelty - a Shetland pony
- stallion - adult, male horse that is able to produce offspring
- weanling - a young horse that has just been weaned from their mother (usually 6 months or a little older)
- yearling - male or female horse two years old In horse racing the definitions of colt, filly, mare, and horse differ from those given above. Thoroughbred racing defines a colt as a male horse less than five years old and a filly as a female horse less than five years old; harness racing defines colts and fillies as less than four years old. Horses older than colts and fillies become known as horses and mares respectively.

Words relating to horse anatomy

harness racing ; withers: the highest point of the shoulder seen best with horse standing square and head slightly lowered. The tops of the two shoulder blades and the space between them define the withers. ; mane and forelock: long and relatively coarse hair growing from the dorsal ridge of the neck, lying on either the left or right side of the neck, and the continuation of that hair on the top of the head, where it generally hangs forward. (See illustration.) ; Dock: the point where the tail connects to the rear of the horse. ; Flank: Where the hind legs and the stomach of the horse meet. ; Pastern: The connection between the coronet and the fetlock. ; Fetlock: Resembles the ankle of the horse. ; Coronet: The part of the hoof that connects the hoof to the pastern. ; Cannon: Resembles the shin of the horse. ; Muzzle: the chin, mouth, and nostrils make up the muzzle on the horse's face. ; Crest: the point on the neck where the mane grows out of. ; Poll: the portion of the horse's neck right behind the ears. ; Hock: Hindlimb equivalent to the Heel, the main joint on the hind leg. ; Stifle: corresponds to the elbow of a horse, except on the hind limb. ; Gaskin: also known as the "second thigh," the large muscle on the hind leg, just above the hock, below the stifle. ; Jowl: the cheek bone under the horses ear on both sides Chestnut: on the inside of every leg

Horse coat colors and markings

withers Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings, and a specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them. In fact, one will often refer to a horse in the field by his or her coat color rather than by breed or by gender. Coat colors include:
- Appaloosa - a breed of horse with spots, any color mixed with white. There are different patterns: blanket- white blanket that typically starts around or behind withers with dark spots mostly over the hips, snowflake - solid with white spots over hips, and leopard - which is white with dark spots over all the coat. A true Appaloosa is actually a breed, not a color.
- Bay- From light brown to very dark brown with black mane and tail with black points. Three types - Dark bay, blood bay, light bay and just bay.
- Black- There are two types of black, fading black and jet black. Ordinary black horses will fade to a rusty brownish color if the horse is exposed to sunlight on a regular basis. Jet black is a blue-black shade that is fadeproof. Black foals are usually born a mousy grey color. As their foal coat begins to shed out, their black color will show through,but jet black foals are born jet black. Usually for a horse to be considered black it must be completely black with no brown at all, only white markings.
- Brown - A bay without any black points.
- Buckskin- A bay horse with a gene that 'dilutes' the coat colour to a yellow, cream, or gold while keeping the black points (mane, tail, ears, legs).
- Chestnut- A reddish body color with no black.
- Cremello - A chestnut horse with two dilute genes that washes out almost all colour. Often called pseudo albinos, they have blue eyes. There are no true albino horses.
- Dun - Yellowish brown with a dorsal stripe along the back and occasionally zebra stripings on the legs.
- Fleabitten - refers to usually red hairs flecked in the coat of a gray horse.
- Gray - A horse with black skin and clear hairs. Gray horses can be born any color, and eventually most will turn gray or white with age. If you would define the horse as white it is still grey unless it is albino. Some gray horses that are very light must wear sunscreen.
- Grulla- A black horse with a dun gene. It is often a grayish/silver colored horse with dark dun factors.
- Pinto - a multi-colored horse with large patches of brown, white, and/or black and white. Piebald is black and white, while Skewbald is white and brown. Specific patterns such as tobiano, overo, and tovero refer to the orientation of white on the body.
- Paint - In 1962, the American Paint Horse Association began to recognize pinto horses with known Quarter Horse and/or Thoroughbred bloodlines as a separate breed. Today, Paint horses are the world's fifth most popular breed. Also palomino paint - palomino with white.
- Palomino-chesnut horse that has one cream dilute gene that turns the horse to a golden, yellow, or tan shade with a flaxen (white) mane and tail. Often cited as being a color "within three shades of a newly minted coin", palominos actually come in all shades from extremely light, to deep chocolate.
- Perlino - Exactly like a cremello but a bay horse with two dilute genes.
- Roan - a color pattern that causes white hairs to be sprinkled over the horse's body color. Red roans are chesnut and white hairs, blue roans are black/bay with white hairs. Roan can happen on any body color; for example, there are palomino roans and dun roans. Roans are distinguishable from greys because roans typically do not change colour in their lifetimes, unlike gray that gradually gets lighter as a horse ages. Roans also have solid colored heads that do not lighten.
- Splash - a genetically controlled horse coat variation.
- Tobiano - a genetic trait among horses which produces a characteristic white pattern in the coat.
- White - Any non-albino white horse is called a gray, even though they appear white. All white, may be the result of overlapping pinto, appaloosa, or sabino markings. Rarely there are true white horses born and are documented to have a dominant white gene (see Gray (horse) for a discussion of these). These horses have normal eye colour, and they stay white for life. Markings include: On the face:
- Star
- Snip
- Stripe
- Blaze
- White Face (sometimes called Bald Face) On the legs:
- Coronet
- Pastern
- Sock
- Stocking Elsewhere:
- Cowlicks (hair whorls)--can occur on any part of the animal, but are mainly seen on the forehead and neck. For horse color and marking genetics see Equine coat color genetics. Another good resource for horse color is: [http://ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/index.html Horse color, markings, and genetics]. Another that has numerous photographs of various colors and markings is [http://equinecolor.com/ Equine color].

The origin of modern horse breeds

Equine coat color genetics]] Horses come in various sizes and shapes. The draft breeds can top 20 hands (80 inches, 2 metres) while the smallest miniature horses can stand as low as 5.2 hands (22 inches, 0.56 metres). The Patagonian Fallabella, usually considered the smallest horse in the world, compares in size to a German Shepherd Dog. Several schools of thought exist to explain how this range of size and shape came about. These schools grew up reasoning from the type of dentition and from the horses' outward appearance. One school, which we can call the "Four Foundations", suggests that the modern horse evolved from two types of early domesticated pony and two types of early domesticated horse; the differences between these types account for the differences in type of the modern breeds. A second school -- the "Single Foundation" -- holds only one breed of horse underwent domestication, and it diverged in form after domestication through human selective breeding (or in the case of feral horses, through ecological pressures). Finally, certain geneticists have started evaluating the DNA and mitochondrial DNA to construct family trees. See: Domestication of the horse

Breeds, studbooks, purebreds and landraces

Domestication of the horse The idea of a "purebred" animal gained importance in Europe during the 19th century but selective breeding has occurred almost everywhere man has kept horses. The Arabs had a reputation for breeding their prize mares to only the most worthy stallions, and kept extensive pedigrees of their "asil" (purebred) horses. During the late middle ages the Carthusian monks of southern Spain, themselves forbidden to ride, bred horses which nobles throughout Europe prized; the lineage survives to this day in the Andalusian horse or caballo de pura raza español. The modern landscape of breed designation presents a complicated picture. Some breeds have closed studbooks; a registered Thoroughbred, Arabian, or Quarter Horse must have two registered parents of the same breed, and no other criteria for registration apply. Other breeds tolerate limited infusions from other breeds—the modern Appaloosa for instance must have at least one Appaloosa parent but may also have a Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred, or Arabian parent and must also exhibit spotted coloration to gain full registration. Still other breeds, such as most of the warmblood sporthorses, require individual judging of an individual animal's quality before registration or breeding approval. Breed registries also differ as to their acceptance or rejection of breeding technology. For example, all Thoroughbred registries require that a registered Thoroughbred be a product of a natural mating. A foal born of two Thoroughbred parents, but by means of artificial insemination, is barred from the Thoroughbred studbook. Some other breed registries allow artificial insemination, embryo transfer, or both.

Hotbloods, warmbloods, and coldbloods

The Arabian horses, whether originating on the Arabian peninsula or from the European studs (breeding establishments) of the 18th and 19th centuries, gained the title of "hotbloods", for their fiery temperaments. The Thoroughbred is also included in the "hotblood" category. The slow, heavy draft horses class as "coldbloods", as they usually possess a quite calm temperament. The term "warmbloods" covers everything else, but the term also specifically refers to the European breeds, such as the Hanoverian, that have dominated dressage and show jumping since the 1950s. True hotbloods usually offer greater riding challenges than other horses, especially the coldblood. They show more excitability, and often more dominance; and the longer you ride them, the more excited they become, instead of merely getting tired (although any breed of horse can succumb to fatigue). The list of horse breeds provides a partial alphabetical list of breeds of horse extant today, plus a discussion of rare breeds' conservation.

Horses in sport today

Racing in all its forms

Humans have always had a desire to know which horse (or horses) could move the fastest, horse-racing has ancient roots. Today, several categories of racing exist:

Races subject to formal gambling

Under saddle: # Thoroughbred flat racing; (under the aegis of the Jockey Club in the United Kingdom and the Jockey Club of North America) # Thoroughbred National Hunt racing or steeplechasing in the UK # Quarter Horse Racing--mostly in the United States, and sanctioned there by the American Quarter Horse Association. # Appaloosa Horse Racing # Arabian Horse Racing In harness: # The United States Trotting Association organizes harness Racing in the United States (although the horses may also pace) # Harness Racing in Europe, New Zealand and Australia

Amateur races without gambling

# Endurance riding, a sport in which the Arabian dominates at the top level, has become very popular in the United States and in Europe. The American Endurance Ride Conference organizes the sport in North America. Endurance races take place over a given, measured distance and the horses have an even start. Races begin at 20 miles and peak at 100 miles. Note especially the Tevis Cup. # Ride and Tie (in North America, organized by Ride and Tie Association). Ride and Tie involves three equal partners: two humans and one horse. The humans alternately run and ride. Thoroughbreds have a pre-eminent reputation as a racing breed, but Arabians, Quarter Horses, and Appaloosas also race on the flat in the United States. Quarter Horses traditionally raced for a quarter mile, hence the name. Steeplechasing involves racing on a track where the horses also jump over obstacles. It occurs most commonly in the United Kingdom. Standardbred trotters and pacers race in harness with a sulky or racing bike. In France they also race under saddle.

Show Sports

The traditional competitions of Europe

The three following count as Olympic disciplines:
- Dressage ("training" in French) involves the progressive training of the horse to a high level of impulsion, collection, and obedience. Competitive dressage has the goal of showing the horse carrying out, on request, the natural movements that it performs without thinking while running loose. One dressage master has defined it as "returning the freedom of the horse while carrying the rider."
- Show jumping comprises a timed event judged on the ability of the horse and rider to jump over a series of obstacles, in a given order and with the fewest refusals or knockdowns of portions of the obstacles. At the Grand Prix level fences may reach a height of as much as 6 feet.
- Eventing, combined training, horse trials, "the Military," or "the complete test" as its French name translates, puts together the obedience of dressage with the athletic ability of show jumping, the fitness demands of a long endurance phase (a.k.a. "roads and tracks") and the "cross-country" jumping phase. In the last-named, the horses jump over fixed obstacles, unlike show jumping, where the majority of the obstacles will fall down or apart if hit by the horse.

Found in the United States

- Huntseat riding as a show discipline derived from English foxhunting and from the natural desire for people to prove that the superiority of their mount. In the modern show ring hunters show "on the flat" at the walk, trot, and canter, and "over fences". For equitation, see below. Hunter classes in various divisions and fence heights demonstrate the horse's ability to jump smoothly and safely. A winning show hunter has very good conformation, a smooth jumping style (with tightly-folded front legs), a good length of stride, and an appealing manner.
- Saddleseat (also known as Park or English Pleasure riding), a uniquely American discipline, developed to show to best advantage the extravagantly animated movement of high-stepping gaited breeds such as the American Saddle Horse and the Tennessee Walker. Riders also commonly show Arabians and Morgans saddleseat in the United States.
- Equitation refers to those classes where judges assess the rider, not the performance of the horse. Equitation classes occur in the Huntseat, Saddleseat, and Western disciplines.

Western riding

Dressage, jumping and cross-country offer forms of what Americans refer to as 'English riding'. Western riding evolved stylistically from traditions brought to the Americas by the Spanish, and its skills stem from the working needs of the cowboy in the American West. A main differentiating factor comes from the need of the cowboy to rope cattle with a lariat (or lasso). The cowboy must control the horse with one hand and use the lariat with the other hand. That means that horses must learn to neck rein, that is, to respond to light pressure of the slack rein against the horse's neck. Once the cowboy has twirled the lariat and thrown its loop over a cow's head, he must snub the rope to the horn of his saddle. For roping calves, the horse learns to pull back against the calf, which falls to the ground, while the cowboy dismounts and ties the calf's feet together so that he can be brand it, treat it for disease, and so on. Working with half-wild cattle, frequently in terrain where one cannot see what lurks behind the next bush, means the ever-present very great danger of becoming unseated in an accident miles from home and friends. These multiple work needs mean that cowboys require different tack, most notably a curb bit (usually with longer bars than an English equitation curb or pelham bit would have) which works by leverage, long split reins (the ends of which can serve as an impromptu quirt) and a special kind of saddle. The Western saddle has a very much more substantial frame (traditionally made of wood) to absorb the shock of roping, a prominent pommel surmounted by a horn (a big knob for snubbing the lasso after roping an animal), and, frequently, tapaderos ("taps") covering the front of the stirrups to prevent the cowboy's foot from slipping through the stirrup in an accident and resulting in a frightened horse dragging him behind it. The cowboy's boots, which have high heels of an uncommon shape, also feature a specific design to prevent the cowboy's foot from slipping through the stirrup. Technically, fewer differences between 'English' and Western riding exist than most people think. The outfit of the competition Western rider differs from that of the dressage or 'English' rider. In dressage all riders wear the same to prevent distraction from the riding itself. But show -- in the form of outfit (and silver ornaments on saddle and tack) -- forms part of Western riding. The riders must wear cowboy boots, jeans, a shirt with long sleeves, and a cowboy hat. Riders can choose any color, and optionally accoutrements such as bolo ties, belt buckles, and (shiny) spurs. Competitions exist in the following forms:
- Western pleasure - the rider must show the horse in walk, jog (a slow, controlled trot), trot and lope (a slow, controlled canter). The horse must remain under control, with the rider directing minimal force through the reins and otherwise using minimal interference.
- Reining - considered by some the "dressage" of the western riding world, reining requires horse and rider to perform a precise pattern consisting of canter circles, rapid "spins" (a particularly athletic turn on the haunches), and the sliding stop (executed from a full gallop).
- Cutting: more than any other, this event highlights the "cow sense" prized in stock breeds such as the Quarter horse. The horse and rider select and separate a calf out of a small group. The calf then tries to return to its herdmates; the rider loosens the reins and leaves it entirely to the horse to keep the calf separated, a job the best horses do with relish, savvy, and style. A jury awards points to the cutter.
- Team penning: a popular timed event in which a team of 3 riders must select 3 to 5 marked steers out of a herd and drive them into a small pen. The catch: the riders cannot close the gate to the pen till they have corralled all the cattle (and only the intended cattle) inside.
- Trail class: in this event, the rider has to maneuver the horse through an obstacle course in a ring. Speed is not important, but total control of the horse is. The horses have to move sideways, make 90 degree turns while moving backwards, a fence has to be opened and/or closed while mounted, and more such maneuvers relevant to everyday ranch or trail riding tasks are demonstrated.
- Barrel racing and pole bending: the timed speed/agility events of rodeo. In a barrel race, horse and rider gallop around a cloverleaf pattern of barrels, making agile turns without knocking the barrels over. In pole bending, horse and rider gallop the length of a line of six upright poles, turn sharply and weave through the poles, turn again and weave back, and gallop back to the start.
- Halter class: here the horse is shown with only a halter and without a rider, but with a handler controlling the horse from the ground using a leadrope. The standard position of the handler is on the left side with the shoulder near the horse's eye. The horse is taken through a short pattern where the horse and handler must demonstrate control during walk, jog and turns. In regular halter class, judges will put emphasis on the performance and build of the horse when awarding points, in 'showmanship at halter' the performance of the handler and horse are both judged equally. Clothing of the handler and the halters tend to be more flashy in this discipline. Halter class is particularly popular with younger riders who do not yet have the skill or confidence to partake in other forms.
- Steer wrestling: Europe does not allow this activity because of animal welfare concerns, but it occurs in the United States of America, usually at rodeo events. While riding, the rider jumps off his horse onto a steer and 'wrestles' it to the ground.
- Roping: also banned in Europe. In calf roping, the rider has to catch a running calf by the neck with a lasso, stop the animal in its tracks, rapidy dismount the horse and immobilize the calf by tying three of its legs together. In team roping, one horse and rider lassos a running steer's horns, while another horse and rider lassos the steer's two hind legs.
- Bronc riding (riding a bucking "wild" horse for a timed duration) counts as a separate event, not considered part of Western riding as such. It consists of bareback bronc riding and of saddle bronc riding.

Other horse sports

- Bullfighting (rejoneo)
- Cavalry (sport)
- Charreada, the highest form of Mexican horsemanship based on a mixture of Spanish and Native traditions.
- Fox hunting
- Horse hacking
- Horse show
- Jousting
- Hunter Pacing, a sport where a trained rider rides a trail at speeds based on its condition and then people compete to ride closest to that perfect time. Hunter paces are usually held in a series. Hunter paces are usually a few miles long.
- Polo, a team game played on horseback, involves riders using a long-handled mallet to drive a ball on the ground into the opposing team's goal while the opposing team defends their goal.
- Rapa das bestas
- Reining
- Rodeo
- Dressage
- Show Jumping
- Cross Country Jumping, a jumping course that contains logs, and natural obstacles mostly. The common clothes worn are usually brighter colors and less conservative.
- 3-Day Eventing- a competition where you are judged on your total score from a day of dressage, stadium jumping and cross country
- Polocrosse
- Campdrafting
- Vaulting (gymnastics and dance on horseback)
- Steeplechase

Criticism of horses in sport

Most animal rights groups such as the [http://www.hsus.org Humane Society of the United States] and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which advocate against animal ownership, denounce wilder horse "sports", with claims of cruelty. Horse racing and rodeo are targets of such groups because they view them as abusive. It is difficult for average people (or even experts) to differentiate between controlled stunts and actual abuse. Rodeo and racing professionals deny these claims. Both sides provide contradictory evidence. One problem is a disagreement about terms like abuse. Rodeos claim that an injured horse is less profitable than a healthy horse. Activists claim rodeos turn a blind eye to minor injuries which do not impair performance. They also cite psychological harm, poor living conditions, forced-breeding, and the killing of unprofitable horses as forms of abuse. Horse professionals state these practices are not cruel and are unavoidable with modern horse ownership, and deny their views are influenced by the money they make. Both groups agree that 'genuine abuse' should be ended within the industry.

Miscellaneous

Weight

Light horses such as Arabians, Morgan Horses, Quarter Horses, and Thoroughbreds weigh up to 1300lbs (about 590kg). "Heavy" or draft horses such as Clydesdale, Draft, Percherons, and Shire horses weigh up to 2000lbs (about 907kg).

Saddling and mounting

The common European practice and tradition of saddling and mounting the horse from the lefthand side is often said to originate from the need to avoid inadvertantly striking the horse with a carried sword in the process. However, several other explanations are equally plausible.

Zodiac

The horse features in the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. According to Chinese folklore, each animal is associated with certain personality traits, and those born in the year of the horse are: intelligent, independent and free-spirited. See: Horse (Zodiac).

Horse meat

:Main article: horse meat Horse meat has been used as food for animals and humans throughout the ages. Although consumption by humans is considered abhorrent by some people in the United Kingdom, the US and Australia, it is eaten in many other parts of the world and is an export industry in the USA. Mare's milk is used by peoples with large horse-herds, such as the Mongols. They may let it ferment to produce kumys. However, mares produce a much lower yield of milk than do cows.

References

- Book of Horses: A Complete Medical Reference Guide for Horses and Foals, edited by Mordecai Siegal. (By members of the faculty and staff, University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine.) Harper Collins, 1996.
- Illustrated Atlas of Clinical Equine Anatomy and Common Disorders of the Horse, by Ronald J. Riegal, D.V.M. and Susan E. Hakola, B.S., R.N., C.M.I. Equistar Publications, Ltd., 1996.

External links

- [http://www.imh.org/imh/exh1.html "International Museum of the Horse"] for a brief overview of horse history from 55 million B.C. to present
- [http://www.zoo-munich.de/text.php?page=103242&v=100003 Breeding and reintroduction program of the Przewalski's horse at Zoo Hellabrunn Munich]
- [http://www.wildhorseadvertising.com/ Wild Horse Advertising] - Horse Industry Marketing.
- [http://ultimatehorsesite.com/ The ULTIMATE Horse Site - Horse Articles, Health, Care, Info]
- [http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/Horses-w.htm Breeds of horses] - Encyclopaedic dictionary from Oakland State University
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4618571.stm New insight into horse evolution]
- [http://www.equestrianmag.com EquestrianMag.com The online magazine for Horse Enthusiasts.]
- [http://www.horse-diseases.com/ Horse Diseases] - Information about common horse diseases
- [http://www.annettewinter.com A discussion of Natural Horsemanship - the humane approach to horse training]
- [http://www.animalmagazineonline.com/featured.php?article=27 Guidelines for feeding horses] - Informative guide to feeding horses
- [http://dreamviewfarm.com/genetics.html Horse Coat Color Genetics]
- [http://www.usenet-replayer.com/webrings/animal-horse.html Pictures of horses] published on USENET stored with a search function
- [http://ultimatehorsesite.com/horseboard Horse Message Board]
- [http://www.awionline.org/pubs/Quarterly/spring2001/horsemeat.htm Article on slaughter of horses for meat]
- [http://www.equineonline.net/ Equine Online]- Equestrian articles including buying, selling & riding horses in UK & France
- [http://www.everythingequus.com/ Everything Equus] - Equestrian articles including buying, selling & riding horses in USA
- [http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/ Bureau of Land Management National Wild Horse and Burro Program] - Wild Horse and Burro Adoption
- [http://www.ohorse.com/ O Horse Tack Shops and Stables Directory] - Extensive directory of horse websites, organized by region
- [http://www.equineonline.net/forum/index.php Horse Talk Forum] - Friendly forum for horse lovers in UK & France
- [http://www.horsesforum.net/forums/ Horses Forum.net - Where horse lovers talk!]

Racing & Sport External Links

- The American Quarter Horse Association [http://www.aqha.com] - The official website for the largest equestrian organization in the world, with over 300,000 international members.
- [http://www.jockeyclub.com/about_tjc.asp Jockey Club of North America]
- [http://www.ustrotting.com/ United States Trotting Association]
- [http://www.aerc.org/ American Endurance Ride Conference]
- [http://www.rideandtie.org/ Ride and Tie Association]
- [http://www.aqha.com/racing/index.html Quarter Horse Racing]
- [http://www.yabusame.jp/english/index.html Takeda-school Kyubadou Yabusame<--horseback archery]
- [http://www.britishopenshowjumping.com/ The British Open Show Jumping Championships] - Top class international Show Jumping
- [http://hoys.co.uk/ The Horse of the Year Show] - This is Britain's show of Champions
- [http://www.americanvaulting.org/ The American Vaulting Association] - Equestrian Vaulting
- [http://www.natrc.org/ The North American Trail Ride Conference] - Competitive Trail Riding Category:Livestock Category:Transportation ko:말 (동물) ja:ウマ

Ox

- A kind of Cattle
- A Preprocessor for yacc, see Ox (Program)

Business

Business refers to at least three closely related commercial topics. The first is a commercial, professional or industrial organization or enterprise, generally referred to as "a business." The second is commercial, professional, and industrial activity generally, as in "business continues to evolve as markets change." Finally, business can be used to refer to a particular area of economic activity, such as the "record business" or the "computer business" (see Industry). This article is concerned primarily with the first definition of individual businesses, but also contains links to general business and management topics, in the sense of the second definition. Individual businesses are established in order to perform economic activities. With some exceptions (such as cooperatives, non-profit organizations and generally, institutions of government), businesses exist to produce profit. In other words, the owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for expending time, effort and capital.

Types of Businesses

There are many types of businesses, and, as a result, businesses can be classified in many ways. One of the most common focuses on the primary profit-generating activities of a business, for example:
- Manufacturers produce products, from raw materials or component parts, which they then sell at a profit. Companies that make physical goods, such as cars or pipes, are considered manufacturers.
- Service businesses offer intangible goods or services and typically generate a profit by charging for labor or other services provided to other businesses or consumers. Organizations ranging from house painters to consulting firms to restaurants are types of service businesses.
- Retailers and Distributors act as middle-men in getting goods produced by manufacturers to the intended consumer, generating a profit as a result of providing sales or distribution services. Most consumer-oriented stores and catalogue companies are distributors or retailers.
- Agriculture and mining businesses are concerned with the production of raw material, such as plants or minerals.
- Financial businesses include banks and other companies that generate profit through investment and management of capital.
- Information businesses generate profits primarily from the resale of intellectual property and include movie studios, publishers and packaged software companies.
- Utilities produce public services, such as heat, electricity, or sewage treatment, and are usually government chartered.
- Real estate businesses generate profit from the selling, renting, and development of properties, homes, and buildings.
- Transportation businesses deliver goods and individuals from location to location, generating a profit on the transportation costs. There are many other divisions and subdivisions of businesses. The authoritative list of business types for North America (although it is widely used around the world) is generally considered to be the NAICS, or North American Industry Classification System. The equivalent European Union list is the [http://www.fifoost.org/database/nace/nace-en_2002AB.php NACE].

Business departments

Within businesses one can often find similar departments, named (and not limited to):
- Administration
- Finance & controlling
- Human ressources
- Management
- Marketing & sales
- Production/service
- Purchasing

Business and Government

Most legal jurisdictions specify the forms that a business can take, and a body of commercial law has developed for each type. Some common types include partnerships, corporations (also called limited liability companies), and sole proprietorships.

Business and Management

The study of the efficient and effective operation of a business is called management. The main branches of management are financial management, marketing management, human resource management, strategic management, production management, service management, information technology management, and business intelligence.

External links

- [http://business-articles.us/ Business Articles]
- [http://www.growfolio.com/ growFolio - Online Business Magazine for Fresh Thinkers]
- [http://finance.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! Finance] Aggregates some really good business articles
- Category:Academic disciplines Category:School subjects ja:ビジネス th:ธุรกิจ

Team building

The term team-building can refer generally to the selection and motivation of teams, or more specifically to group self-assessment in the theory and practice of Organizational development (OD).

Generic team-building

"Team building" (or "teambuilding") can refer to the process of establishing and developing specific groups to accomplish certain tasks. Team building has many contexts, for example in a sports club or some sort of organization. Ingredients seen as important to the successful set-up and launch of such team efforts include:
- selection of participants
- establishing visions, goals, missions and/or objectives
- distribution of workload
- timetabling
- balancing skill-sets
- metrics
- harmonising personality types
- training on how to work together The morale of the team, an important variable, may depend on such factors as:
- support
- resources
- communication
- personalities As team performance reflects on management, managers -- and even coaches -- sometimes feel the need to take part in constructing and fostering teams. As with many activities, team-building can run to extremes. For a notorious recent example of team building run amok, see the case of Kamp Staaldraad in 2003.

Need for team-building

Modern society and culture continues to become more fluid and dynamic. Factors contributing to this include the communications revolution, the global market and the ever-increasing specialization and division of labor. The net effect is that individuals are now required to move between working with many different groups of people in their working and also personal lives. Joining a new group and immediately being expected to get along with them is somewhat unnatural - historically humans have evolved to work and live in close-knit, static societies. Hence the sudden need for methods to help people adapt to the new requirements. All kinds of people, from investment bankers to catering staff and session musicians, face the same difficulties. As yet there is no generally agreed solution to the problem - it may not even be possible given the thousands of years of cultural evolution that brought us to our present behavior patterns.

Team-building in Organizational development

Whenever a team in an OD context embarks upon a process of self-assessment in order to gauge its own effectiveness and thereby improve performance, it engages in team building.

Assessing team effectiveness

To assess itself, a team seeks feedback to find out both:
- its current strengths as a team
- its current weaknesses

Improving team performance

To improve its current performance, a team uses the feedback from the team assessment in order to:
- identify any gap between the desired state and the actual state
- design any gap-closure strategy

External links

- [http://www.wilderdom.com/teambuilding/ Team Building Resources News, Methods, Activities, Research, & More] - News, definitions, articles, methods, and research.
- [http://www.freechild.org/gamesguide.htm So You Wanna Be a Playa: Cooperative Games for Social Change] - A free booklet of activities for teambuilding, problemsolving, and more.
- [http://nasa.perbang.dk The NASA Exercise: Lost on the Moon] - On-line version of a widely used team-building exercise for measuring team processes.
- [http://www.globaldharma.org/ Website of Global Dharma Center / Center for Dharmic Leadership, an not-for-profit organisation providing (free) articles, research publications and training modules on Culture Development, Individual/Organisation Transformation and, Serving and Leading from a spiritual context.]
- [http://www.chillisauce.co.uk/corporate-events/ Team Building for Corporate Events]- Various corporate team building activities used for corporate events and company fun day
- [http://www.corporatequest.ca Team Building Retreats that combine Business Strategy Planning]
- [http://www.youunlimited.co.uk Team Building ideas with 'COLOUR'
- [http://evaluator.insights.com/?sD=80 A team is created from the individuals who make it whole

Off-line reference material

- William G. Dyer, Team building: Current Issues and New Alternatives (3rd Edition). Pearson Education POD, 1995. ISBN 0201628821. category:Organizational studies and human resource management

Management

:Manager redirects to here. For use in sports, see coach (sport). :Enterprise management redirects to here. For use in computer networks, see Network management or Systems management "Management" (from Old French ménagement "the art of conducting, directing", from Latin manu agere "to lead by the hand") characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). Early twentieth-century management writer Mary Parker Follett defined management as "the art of getting things done through people." One can also think of management functionally, as the action of measuring a quantity on a regular basis and of adjusting some initial plan, and as the actions taken to reach one's intended goal. This applies even in situations where planning does not take place. From this perspective, there are five management functions: Planning, Organizing, Leading, Co-ordinating and Controlling. Management is also called "Business Administration", and schools that teach management are usually called "Business Schools". The term "management" may also be used to describe the slate of managers of an organization, for example of a corporation. A governing body is a term used to describe a group formed to manage an organization, such as a sports league.

Historical development

Some writers trace the development of management thought back to Sumerian traders and ancient Egyptian pyramid builders. Slave-owners through the centuries faced the problems of exploiting/motivating a dependent but sometimes recalcitrant workforce, but many pre-industrial enterprises, given their small scale, did not feel compelled to face the issues of management systematically. But innovations such as the spread of Hindu-Arabic numerals (5th to 15th centuries) and the codification of double-entry book-keeping (1494) provided tools for management assessment, planning and control.

19th century

Modern management as a discipline began as an off-shoot of economics in the 19th century. Classical economists such as Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill provided a theoretical background to resource allocation, production, and pricing issues. About the same time, innovators like Eli Whitney, James Watt, and Matthew Boulton developed technical production elements such as standardization, quality control procedures, cost accounting, interchangeability of parts, and work planning. By the middle of the 19th century, Robert Owen, Henry Poor, and M. Laughlin and others introduced the human element with theories of worker training, motivation, organizational structure and span of control. Compare the analyses of Karl Marx and of Friedrich Engels. By the late 19th century, marginal economists Alfred Marshall and Leon Walras and others introduced a new layer of complexity to the theoretical underpinings of management. Joseph Wharton offered the first tertiary-level course in management in 1881.

20th century

By about 1900 we find managers trying to place their theories on a thoroughly scientific basis. Examples include Henry Towne's Science of management in the 1890s, Frederick Winslow Taylor's Scientific management (1911), Frank and Lillian Gilbreth's Applied motion study (1917), and Henry L. Gantt's charts (1910s). J. Duncan wrote the first college management text book in 1911. The first comprehensive theories of management appeared around 1920. People like Henri Fayol and Alexander Church described the various branches of management and their inter-relationships. In the early 20th century, people like Ordwat Tead, Walter Scott and J. Mooney applied the principles of psychology to management, while other writers, such as Elton Mayo, Mary Parker Follett, Chester Barnard, Max Weber, Rensis Likert, and Chris Argyris approached the phenomenon of management from a sociological perspective. Peter Drucker wrote one of the earliest books on applied management: Concept of the Corporation (published in 1946). It resulted from Alfred Sloan (chairman of General Motors until 1956) commissioning a study of the organisation. Drucker has gone on to write 32 books, many in the same vein. H. Dodge, Ronald Fisher, and Thorton C. Fry introduced statistical techniques into management. In the 1940s, Patrick Blackett combined these statistical theories with microeconomic theory and gave birth to the science of operations research. Operations research, sometimes known as "management science", attempts to take a scientific approach to solving management problems, particularly in the areas of logistics and operations. Some of the more recent developments include the theory of constraints, Management by objectives, reengineering, and various information technology driven theories such as agile software development. As the general recognition of managers as a class solidified during the 20th century and gave perceived practitioners of management a certain amount of prestige, so the way opened for popularised systems of management ideas to peddle their wares. In this context many management fads may have had more to do with pop psychology than with scientific management theory. Towards the end of the 20th century, business management came to consist of six separate branches, namely:
- Human resource management
- Operations management or production management
- Strategic management
- Marketing management
- Financial management
- Information Technology management

21st century

In the 21st century we find it increasingly difficult to subdivide management into functional categories in this way. More and more processes simultaneously involve several categories. Instead, we tend to think in terms of the various processes, tasks, and objects subject to management. A list of some of the areas of management can be found later in this article. It is also the case that many of the assumptions made by management have been under attack from business ethics, critical management studies, and anti-corporate activism. One consequence is that workplace democracy has become both more common, and more advocated, in some places distributing all management functions among the workers, each of whom takes on a portion of the work. However, these models predate any current political issue, and may be more natural than command hierarchy. All management is to some degree democratic in that there must be majority support of workers for the management in the long term, or they leave to find other work, or go on strike. Hence management is becoming less about command-and-control, and more about facilitation and support of collaborative activity, utilizing principles such as those of human interaction management to deal with the complexities of human interaction.

Nature of the work

In for-profit work, the primary function of management is satisfy a range of stakeholders. This typically involves making a profit (for the shareholders), creating valued products at a reasonable cost (for customers), and providing rewarding employment opportunities (for employees). In nonprofit work it is also important to keep the faith of donors. In most models of management, shareholders vote for the board of directors, and that board then hires senior management. Some organizations are experimenting with other methods of selecting or reviewing managers senior managers (such as employee voting models) but this is very rare. In the public sector of countries constituted as representative democracies, politicians are elected to public office. They hire many managers and administrators, and in some countries like the United States a great many people lose jobs during a regime change. 2500 people serve "at the pleasure of the President" including all the top US government executives. Public, private and voluntary sectors place different demands on managers, but all must retain the faith of those who select them (if they wish to retain their jobs), retain the faith of those people that fund the organization, and retain the faith of those who work for the organization. If they fail to convince employees that they are better off staying than leaving, the organization will be forced into a downward spiral of hiring, training, firing, and recruiting. Management also has a responsibility to innovate and improve the functioning of the organization. In all but the smallest organizations, achieving these objectives involves a division of management labour. People specialize in a limited range of functions so as to more quickly gain competence and expertice. Even in employee managed workplaces such as a Wobbly Shop, where managers are elected, or where latitude of action is sharply restricted by collective bargaining or unions, managers still take on roughly the same functions and job descriptions as in a more traditional command hierarchy. Chief executive officer (CEO) - The CEO is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the business. He or she provides overall strategic direction for the firm, often with the assistance of a team of vice presidents. Strategic management decisions like what products to market, what market segments to target, what functions to outsource, what business model to employ, and what geographical areas to operate in are the responsibility of the CEO. The CEO is accountable to the board of directors. Typically a CEO will delegate many responsibilities to one or more executive vice presidents. In small firms, the owner, president, or chief executive officer typically assume many roles and responsibilities. Vice president, Marketing - An executive vice president of marketing might direct overall marketing strategies, advertising, promotions, sales, product management, pricing, and public relations policies. The direct reports of the EVP oversee advertising and promotion. In a small firm, they may serve as a liaison between the firm and the advertising or promotion agency to which many advertising or promotional functions are contracted out. In larger firms, advertising managers oversee in-house account, creative, and media services departments. Marketing managers - Marketing managers develop the firm's detailed marketing plans and procedures. With the help of subordinates, including product development managers and market research managers, they determine the demand for products and services offered by the firm and its competitors. In addition, they identify potential markets—for example, business firms, wholesalers, retailers, government, or the general public. Marketing managers develop pricing strategy with an eye towards maximizing the firm's share of the market and its profits while ensuring that the customers are satisfied. In collaboration with sales, product development, and other managers, they monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services and oversee product development. Marketing managers work with advertising and promotion managers to promote the firm's products and services and to attract potential users. Promotions managers - Promotions managers supervise sales promotion specialists. They direct promotion programs that combine advertising with purchase incentives to increase sales. In an effort to establish closer contact with purchasers—dealers, distributors, or consumers—promotion programs may involve direct mail, telemarketing, television or radio advertising, catalogs, exhibits, inserts in newspapers, Internet advertisements or Web sites, instore displays or product endorsements, and special events. Purchase incentives may include discounts, samples, gifts, rebates, coupons, sweepstakes, and contests. Public relations managers - Public relations managers supervise public relations specialists. These managers direct publicity programs to a targeted public. They often specialize in a specific area, such as crisis management or in a specific industry, such as healthcare. They use every available communication medium in their effort to maintain the support of the specific group upon whom their organizations success depends, such as consumers, stockholders, or the general public. For example, public relations managers may clarify or justify the firms point of view on health or environmental issues to community or special interest groups. They also evaluate advertising and promotion programs for compatibility with public relations efforts and serve as the eyes and ears of top management. They observe social, economic, and political trends that might ultimately affect the firm and make recommendations to enhance the firm's image based on those trends. They may also may confer with labor relations managers to produce internal company communications—such as newsletters about employee-management relations—and with financial managers to produce company reports. They assist company executives in drafting speeches, arranging interviews, and maintaining other forms of public contact; oversee company archives; and respond to information requests. In addition, some handle special events such as sponsorship of races, parties introducing new products, or other activities the firm supports in order to gain public attention through the press without advertising directly. Sales managers - Sales managers direct the firm's sales program. They assign sales territories, set goals, and establish training programs for the sales representatives. Managers advise the sales representatives on ways to improve their sales performance. In large, multiproduct firms, they oversee regional and local sales managers and their subordinates. Sales managers maintain contact with dealers and distributors. They analyze sales statistics gathered by their staffs to determine sales potential and inventory requirements and monitor the preferences of customers. Such information is vital to develop products and maximize profits. Account executive - The account executive manages the account services department, assesses the need for advertising, and, in advertising agencies, maintains the accounts of clients. Creative director - The creative services department develops the subject matter and presentation of advertising. The creative director oversees the copy chief, art director, and associated staff. Media director - The media director oversees planning groups that select the communication media—for example, radio, television, newspapers, magazines, Internet, or outdoor signs—to disseminate the advertising.

Areas of management

- Administrative management
- Association management
- Change management
- Communication management
- Constraint management
- Cost management
- Crisis management
- Customer relationship management
- Earned value management
- Enterprise management
- Facility management
- Human interaction management
- Integration management
- Knowledge management
- Land management
- Logistics management
- Marketing management
- Operations management
- Pain management
- Perception management
- Procurement management
- Program management
- Project management
- Process management
- Product management
- Quality management
- Resource management
- Risk management
- Skills management
- Spend management
- Stress management
- Supply chain management
- Systems management
- Talent management
- Time management

Four-letter word

The phrase four-letter word refers to a set of English words written with four letters which are considered profane, including common popular or slang terms for excretory functions, sexual activity, and genitalia. Common four-letter words (in this sense) include: cock, cunt, shit, fuck, damn, Hell, piss, dick, tits and twat. These, in addition to at least ten others, are widely considered vulgar or offensive to some degree.

Similar euphemisms in other languages

Group of profane words

- Dutch: A similar tradition occurs with "three-letter words": (kut, pik, lul, gvd)

Specific curses euphemisms

- French: the word merde ("shit") was sometimes referred to as les cinq lettres ("the five letters") before its use became widespread and mild.
- German: the phrase "Setz dich auf deine vier Buchstaben" ("sit down on your four letters") is mainly used speaking to children, as it refers to the word "Popo", meaning "bum" in baby talk.
- Latin: a common insult used to be "Es vir trium litterarum", meaning "you are a man of three letters". The underlying implication was that the addressed was a fur, meaning "thief", although if challenged, the speaker could always claim he simply meant vir, i.e. "man".
- Polish: the word dupa ("ass") is called cztery litery ("the four letters")
- Russian: the word хуй ("penis") is called слово из трех букв ("the three letter word")

Tetragrammaton

Another interesting meaning of "four-letter word" (in Greek, tetragrammaton) is the Hebrew name of the Abrahamic god, that is, יהוה (commonly transliterated as "YHWH", "Yahweh", and "Jehovah"), which Jews did not speak aloud.

Quotation

:Good authors too who once knew better words :Now only use four-letter words :Writing prose. :Anything goes. :: — Cole Porter, "Anything Goes" The fact that love is literally a four-letter word has been used in several popular songs, including "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word" written by Bob Dylan and performed by Joan Baez, and "Four Letter Word" written by Ricky and Marty Wilde and performed by Kim Wilde. A television show called [http://abc.com.au/loveis Love is a Four-Letter Word] was produced by ABC in Australia. The band Cake also made a play on words in their song "Friend is a Four Letter Word", while The Blood Brothers took their prose in a different direction with their song "Love Ryhmes with Hideous Car Wreck", which still stays true to the original meaning. The most famous citing of the majority of these words was in the FCC's censorship of comedian George Carlin's radioplay of his comedy rountine 'The Seven Words You Can't Say On Television'.

Human relations

The human relations movement was initiated by psychologists and employment experts in the United States in the 1920s. The movement viewed workers in terms of their psychology and fit with companies, rather than as interchangeable parts. This view was advanced in reaction to the efficiency focus of Taylorism in the early 1900s. Though human resources have been part of business and organisations since the first days of agriculture, the modern concept of human resources was codified by advocates of a human relations view. This movement grew throughout the middle of the 20th century, placing emphasis on how leadership, cohesion, and loyalty played important roles in organizational success, and on the value of participatory management. Although this view was increasingly challenged by more quantitatively rigorous and less "soft" management techniques in the 1960s and beyond, human resources had gained a permanent role within the firm. Category:Organizational studies and human resource management Category:Management

Management

Historical development

19th century

20th century

21st century

Nature of the work

Areas of management

Peer pressure

Peer pressure comprises a set of group dynamics whereby a group of people in which one feels comfortable may override the sexual personal habits, individual moral inhibitions or idiosyncratic desires to impose a group norm of attitudes or behaviors.

Some examples

Popular usage associates the term peer pressure particularly with young people or teenagers. The concept can provide a simple and superficial explanation of what occurs when people "go off the rails" or "get in with a bad crowd". Simply put, peer pressure in this context implies that kids can do something they don't really want to do because they think it will make them "cool" among their group of friends, and help them fitting in. Peer pressure is when a group of people do it, as a conformity of attitude, is also found in professional circles. Here there is some rationality, as careers are at stake. For example, behavioral finance research has shown that financial analysts are prone to give similar recommendations, biased towards buying more than selling, as they feel it too risky to criticize others or to displease the listed corporations. The saying "better be wrong with the others than to be right alone" exemplifies this.

Generalization to other social fields

The term can explain much more in social acceptance, such as the spread of fashion and operations of crowd behavior. See also: conformity; groupthink; hive mind; Dare to Be Different. Category:Group processes category:social psychology

Crew

A crew comprises a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. The word has particular nautical resonances: the tasks involved in operating a ship, particularly a sailing ship, providing numerous specialities within a ship's crew, often organised with a chain of command. Traditional nautical usage strongly distinguishes officers from crew, though the two groups combined form the ship's company. Members of a crew are often referred to by the title "Crewman" and as well as "Crewmember". Occasionally, a crew may refer to a gang, especially if involved in some illicit activity. For a specific sporting usage, see sport rowing. The word "crew" may also refer to a stage crew, which are the stage hands at such events as plays or any type of show related to a theater or theatrical production.

Partnership

:For the cricketing term please see partnership (cricket). In the common law, a partnership is a type of business entity in which partners share with each other the profits or losses of the business undertaking in which they have all invested. There are two types of partners. General partners have an obligation of strict liability to third parties injured by the Partnership. General partners may have joint liability or joint and several liability depending upon circumstances. The liability of limited partners is limited to their investment in the partnership. A silent partner is one who still shares in the profits and losses of the business, but who is uninvolved in its management, and/or whose association with the business is not publicly known. In the civil law the partnership is a nominate contract between individuals who, in a spirit of cooperation, agree to carry on an enterprise, contribute to it, by combining property, knowledge or activities and to share its profit. Partners may have a partnership agreement, or declaration of partnership and in some jurisdictions such agreements may be registered and available for public inspection.

Virtual team

A Virtual Team — also known as a Geographically Dispersed Team (GDT) — is a group of individuals who work across time, space, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose, have interdependent performance goals, and share an approach to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Geographically dispersed teams allow organizations to hire and retain the best people regardless of location. A virtual team does not always mean teleworker. Teleworkers are defined as individuals who work from home. Many virtual teams in today's organizations consist of employees both working at home and small groups in the office but in different geographic locations.

Why virtual teams?

- Best employees may be located anywhere in the world.
- Workers demand personal flexibility.
- Workers demand increasing technological sophistication.
- A flexible organization is more competitive and responsive to the marketplace.
- Workers tend to be more productive; i.e., they spend less time on commuting and travel
- The increasing globalization of trade and corporate activity.
- The global workday is 24 vs. 8 hours.
- The emergence of environments which require inter-organizational cooperation as well as competition.
- Changes in workers' expectations of organizational participation.
- A continued shift from production to service/knowledge work environments.
- Increasing horizontal organization structures characterized by structurally and geographically distributed human resources.

Basic types of virtual teams

- Networked Teams consist of individuals who collaborate to achieve a common goal or purpose; membership is frequently diffuse and fluid.
- Parallel Teams work in short term to develop recommendations for an improvement in a process or system; has a distinct membership.
- Project or Product-Development Teams conduct projects for users or customers for a defined period of time. Tasks are usually nonroutine, and the results are specific and measurable; team has decisionmaking authority.
- Work or Production Teams perform regular and ongoing work usually in one function; clearly defined membership.
- Service Teams support customers or the internal organization in typically a service/technical support role around the clock.
- Management Teams work collaboratively on a daily basis within a functional division of a corporation.
- Action Teams offer immediate responses activated in (typically) emergency situations.

Critical success factors of virtual teams

- The existence of availability standards.
- Ample resources to buy and support state-of-the-art reliable communication and collaboration tools for all team members.
- The existence of corporate memory systems such as lessons learned databases.
- The existence of written goals, objectives, project specifications, and performance metrics; results orientation.
- Managers and team members with a better-than-average ability to accurately estimate.
- A lower-than-normal ration of pushed to pulled information.
- Team communication is prioritized by the sender.
- Human resource policies, reward/recognition systems as well as career development systems address the unique needs of virtual workers.
- Good access to technical training and information on how to work across cultures.
- Training methods accommodate continual and just-in-time learning.
- There are standard and agreed-on technical and "soft" team processes.
- A "high trust" culture; teamwork and collaboration are the norm.
- Leaders set high performance expectations; model behaviors such as working across boundaries and using technology effectively.
- Team leaders and members exhibit competence in working in virtual environments.

External links

- [http://www.startwright.com/virtual.htm A list of links and articles on virtual teams and virtual team management] (StartWright)
- [http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~kimble/teaching/mis/Distributed_Team_Work.html Working in Virtual Teams: Overcoming Time and Geography?] (Chris Kimble, University of York)
- [http://ssrn.com/abstract=634645 Effective Virtual Teams through Communities of Practice] (Chris Kimble, Barlow Alexis, and Feng Li)
- [http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/research/resources/isworld/virtualteams/index.htm Virtual Teams] (Robert Davison, ISWORLD)

Forming-storming-norming-performing

The Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing model of team development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who maintained that these phases are all necessary and inevitable - in order for the team to grow, to face up to challenges, to tackle problems, to find solutions, to plan work, and to deliver results. This model has become the basis for subsequent models of team dynamics and frequently used management theory to describe the behavior of existing teams.

Forming

In the first phase, the forming of the team takes place. The team meets and learns about the opportunity, agrees on goals and on the resources necessary to tackle the task. Team members tend to still behave quite independently. They may be motivated, but are relatively uninformed of the issues and objectives of the team. Supervisors of the team during this phase tend to be directive.

Storming

Every group will then enter the storming stage in which different ideas compete for consideration. During this phase, the team addresses issues such as what problems they are supposed to solve, how they will function and what leadership model they will accept. Team members open out to each other and confront each other’s perspectives. They are still relatively unacquainted with the project. In some cases, the storming stage can be resolved quickly. In others, the team never leaves this stage. The storming stage is necessary to the growth of the team. It can seem contentious, unpleasant and even painful to members of the team who are very averse to conflict. If improperly managed, this phase can become destructive to the team and will lower motivation. Supervisors of the team during this phase may be more accessible but tend to still be directive in their guidance of the decision-making process.

Norming

At some point, the team will enter the norming stage. During this phase, team members adjust their behaviors to each other as they develop work habits that make the teamwork seem more natural and fluid. Team members often work through this stage by agreeing on rules, values, shared methods, working tools and even taboos. During this phase, team members begin to trust each other. Motivation increases as the team gets more acquainted with the project. Teams in this phase may lose their creative edge if the norming behaviors become too strong and begin to stifle healthy dissent and the team begins to exhibit group-think. Supervisors of the team during this phase tend to be more participative than in the earlier stages. The team members themselves can be expected to take more responsibility for making decisions.

Performing

Some teams will reach the performing stage. These high-performing teams are able to function as a unit as they find ways to get the job done smoothly and effectively without the need for external supervision. Team members have become interdependent. By this time they are motivated and knowledgeable. The team members are now competent, autonomous and able to handle the decision-making process without supervision. Dissent is expected and allowed as long as it is channelled through means acceptable to the team. Supervisors of the team during this phase are almost always participative. The team itself will make most of the necessary decisions. Even the most high-performing teams will revert to earlier stages in certain circumstances. Many long-standing teams will go through these cycles many times as they react to changing circumstances. For example, a change in leadership may cause the team to revert to storming as the new people challenge the existing norms and dynamics of the team.

Adjourning and Transforming

Tuckman later added a fifth phase, adjourning, that involves completing the task and breaking up the team. Others call it the phase for mourning. A team that manages to remain together may transcend to a transforming phase of achievement. Transformational management can produce major changes in performance through team synergy and is considered to be more far-reaching than transactional management.

Reference

- Tuckman, Bruce. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological bulletin, 63, 384-399. The article was reprinted in Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal ‑ Number 3, Spring 2001 and is available as a Word document: http://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/references/GROUP%20DEV%20ARTICLE.doc. Category:Social groups Category:Group processes

Community

A community is an amalgamation of living things that share an environment. The individual living beings can be plant or animal; any species; any size. What characterizes a community is sharing interaction in many ways. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs and a multitude of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the degree of adhesion within the mixture, but the definitive driver of community is that all individual subjects in the mix have something in common. This is even true in biological communities.

The nature of community

In biological terms, natural communities are formed based upon relationships. Whether surviving in salt water, fresh water or atop a geological substrate, living things of common species are attracted to each other, at least long enough to procreate, or the species would be no more. More often than not, communities of animal species obey a built-in mandate to gather together. The rules of community that are found in nature have preserved life on this planet to this day and will most likely stay in place for some time to come.

The context of community

From the days of the hunter-gatherer culture, individual humans have learned that there is strength in numbers and that sharing work and resources can be a good thing. The Latin root munus or gift, brings into the meaning of community the aspect of giving of one's self to others. Related etymology for munere expands the meaning to included something prized, precious and worth defending. It is the same root as used for the word munitions (defences). Sharing in this "common defence" incorporates a balance between self-interest and shared-interests within and among members of a group and is a crucial factor in community formation. When enough participants in a group develop an attitude of caring for the well-being of the whole, or the common good, the prospect of community is present. Whatever drives people to cooperate and collaborate in the first place, is not quite as important in the context of community as what makes them continue to associate. Resilient connections between and among people are what is important in the formation of viable communities. Successful efforts by a mix of participants tend to attract the attention of other less connected individuals who may seek to join the group that is succeeding. This tendency, akin to herd behavior in animals, is called Self-organization. Over time, some parts of humanity have progressed steadily toward more complex forms of organization and control. Hunter/gatherer tribes settled around seasonal foodstocks to become agrarian villages. Villages grew to become towns and cities. Cities turned into city-states and nation-states. The fact that commerce, industry, government and human institutions become ever larger and more complex suggests that humans, particularly those who are conversant with the rules that drive these complexes are themselves driven toward aggregation, amalgamation, and consolidation. When this increase in social capital reaches critical mass, innovations in social networks can begin to work toward a higher context through an inescapable cultural awareness of others. This phenomenon is generally called the emergence of collective consciousness.

The processes of community

It can be intuitively reasoned through subjective experience that we've all shared, regardless of culture, class, religion or any other determinant, that we grow to learn who we are chiefly through contact with others. This is a progressive development which is as universal in Human experience as any single sociological component can be - the process of identification. A human being is born with a mind and a set of inherited traits. Without going into the argument of heredity with environment, it is reasonable to accept that the habits and behaviors that a person grows into are largely a function of the community group behaviors that prevailed through that process. That is the first process of community. As an individual grows into an adult another process occurs. That being a progressive accumulation of facts, truths, and hopefully insights which all move together through the process of realization. It is during plateaus reached along this progression that cognitive structures are formed, attitudes toward the local world, the society viewable from within personal scope, and an understanding of how people relate one to the other and within the context of community. This process is called socialization. So, identification, realization and socialization brings an individual into a position of making choices about who he or she will socialize with and under what conditions and circumstances. From the perspective of the individual, selecting or deselecting groups to join is yet another process - the process of association. When associated individuals develop the intent to give of themselves to the group and maintain all of the processes from identification to association they begin to bring into practice the first process of true community - the process of communication.

Problems of community

As communities form, so usually develops a collective consciousness and a set of mores. These serve to add cohesion, harmony and continuity to a group, allowing it to grow, sometimes to a gargantuan size. Once a critical mass of people adopts a set of mores and develops a collective consciousness it becomes a society. Participation is no longer optional for the individual. Behavior is now a function of being required or compelled to conform to the norm rather than choosing to give of one's self. This condition is sometimes thought of as the status quo. A natural outgrowth of stagnant societies and large organizations is an increased propensity in individuals and factions to deviate from the norm. When enough individuals and factions decide that deviation can be a good thing, a new community can form as a subculture within the society. This can be good for the society by creating dynamics that enhance the social experiences and improve the well-being of the whole. A moderate form of this occurrence is called a social movement, while a radical form is called a revolution. Individuals and factions can decide to form alliances intent on repressing deviation, eliminating or containing subcultures, enforcing the status quo or even oppressing or destroying the parts of the society that do not suit them or fit into their idea of what the society as a whole is to represent. In both tiny communities and massive societies, problematic conditions arise involving the emergence of leaders. Leadership is a civic phenomenon that may introduce a high level of hierarchy. The structure of this hierarchy plays a key role in determining the characteristics of the whole. The community will effectively present to the larger world this collective personality.

The sense of community

Continuity of the connections between leaders and leaders, leaders and followers, followers and followers is vital to the strength of a community. Members, both leaders and followers, individually hold the collective personality of the whole. With sustained connections and continued conversations, participants in communities, regardless of degrees of inclusion, develop emotional bonds, intellectual pathways, enhanced linguistic abilities, and even a higher capacity for critical thinking and problem-solving. It could be argued that successive and sustained contact with other humans might help to remove some of the tensions of isolation, due to disenfranchisement, thus opening creative avenues that would have otherwise remained impassable. Conversely, sustained involvement in tight communities might tend to aggravate tensions in some individuals. But, in many cases, it is easy enough to distance one's self from the "hive" temporarily to ease this stress. In fact, psychological maturity and effective communication skills may well be a function of this ability. In nearly every context, individual and collective behaviours are required to find a balance between inclusion and exclusion; for the individual - a matter of choice; for the group - a matter of charter. The sum of the creative energy and the strength of the mechanisms that maintain this balance is manifest as an observable and resilient sense of community.

The spirit of community

If the sense of community exists, both freedom and security exist as well. The Community then takes on a life of its own, as people become free enough to share and secure enough to get along. This is the spirit of community.

External Links

- [http://www.edgelife.net/glossary/community.htm Nurture a multifaceted community]
- [http://www.bcen.net Birmingham Community Empowerment Network]

Forming-storming-norming-performing

Forming

Storming

Norming

Performing

Adjourning and Transforming

Reference

Team building

The term team-building can refer generally to the selection and motivation of teams, or more specifically to group self-assessment in the theory and practice of Organizational development (OD).

Generic team-building

Need for team-building

Team-building in Organizational development

Whenever a team in an OD context embarks upon a process of self-assessment in order to gauge its own effectiveness and thereby improve performance, it engages in team building.

Assessing team effectiveness

To assess itself, a team seeks feedback to find out both:
- its current strengths as a team
- its current weaknesses

Improving team performance

To improve its current performance, a team uses the feedback from the team assessment in order to:
- identify any gap between the desired state and the actual state
- design any gap-closure strategy

External links

Off-line reference material

- William G. Dyer, Team building: Current Issues and New Alternatives (3rd Edition). Pearson Education POD, 1995. ISBN 0201628821. category:Organizational studies and human resource management

Virtual team

Why virtual teams?

Basic types of virtual teams

Critical success factors of virtual teams

External links

Category:Social groups

This category is for classifying people depending on various criteria. Category:People Category:Sociology

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Satyendra Nath Bose
Satyendra Nath Bose /sɐθ.jin.ðrɐ nɑθ bos/ (Bengali: সত্যেন্দ্র নাথ বসু) (January 1, 1894 – February 4, 1974) was an Indian physicist specializing in mathematical physics. Bose