Leadership and Change in Construction Industry Coursework

Leadership and Change in Construction Industry - Coursework Example Some of these challenges are sector-specific. In the housebuilding sector, there is a shortage of housing, and this is unlikely to ease in the short term, unless planning regulations are relaxed and a substantial affordable-housing programme makes an impact: high house prices exclude many prospective first-time buyers from the housing market. The infrastructure subsectors have experienced a decline in work, much of which is due to delayed programmes in, for example, transport. The industrial construction sector has experienced a growth in warehouse construction work, but the factory sector is likely to remain subdued as the UK loses manufacturing jobs to cheaper manufacturing centres overseas. Commercial construction work benefits from major Private Finance Initiative (PFI) programmes in education and health, although some of these have been delayed. Output from office construction is particularly important in the commercial sector, while work in the retail subsector faces increasing planning restrictions. In the building materials subsector, there are challenges relating to rising energy costs and environmental issues, such as sustainable material sources, disposal of waste and recycling. New materials are being investigated to accommodate improved environmental features; for example, reducing heat loss and simplifying construction methods (UK Construction Industry Market Review, 2006). These major developments in the UK's construction industry highlight importance of the human resource issues to be faced by the managers within this sector of economy. Attracting skilled labour and career oriented employees (especially considering the growing share of part-time and causal job in the sector), retaining such employees in order to build bench strength required for succession planning, providing advanced training are only the most evident tasks to be fulfilled by the companies within the construction industry in the long-term perspective. Therefore, strong and effective leadership is a critical aspect of human resources related activities required to manage the recent challenges. Leadership in the modern highly dynamic and turbulent marketplace is not restricted to simply getting the employees to do what the leader wants and requires them to do. The key task of a modern leader in the construction industry is to bring out the very best of the employees' potential and help them focus their energies to reach a common set of goals. Therefore, some authors believe

The perception of color Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The perception of color - Research Paper Example The Development of Color Vision in human beings, and the eye itself, is a remarkable evolutionary process. The human eye itself did not develop in a linear straightforward manner. It most likely began as a light sensitive pigment on smaller creatures and then became more differentiated creating light sensitive structures that began to be dispersed inside of a the forming eyeball to become the retina. At first the retina was most likely a movement sensor but over time the ability to delineate details and the ability to see color was developed. (Gordon) The evolution of the eye is a standard development in all vertebrates as well as many non-vertebrate species as well.But what exactly is color? Color and light go together and are inseparable companions. One object can emit light and another object can reflect that light. The former is usually undergoing some chemical reactions that create color and is dependent on the material it is combusting for the color spectrum it emits, objects s uch as the sun, or a light bulb for example. The latter objects which reflect light are a combination of the color range of light hitting their surfaces and the reflective properties of their surfaces. For instance, the leaves of most trees reflect green light because of the chemical chlorophyll, which fuels photosynthesis, however they are also designed to absorb the spectrum of red light which activates the chemical reaction turning carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen. There is also a considerable variance of color by the perceiving entity. There is a wide variety in the range of vision across many different organisms, largely dependent of possible evolutionary and ecological needs. This ranges from seeing only in black and white to an even broader distinction of colors than humans possess. for instance, the ability to see into infra-red or ultraviolet wavelengths â€Å"†¦ color is a heterogeneous collection of perceptual concepts generated from wavelength-sensitive data f or a variety of specialized purpossess by cognitive systems with different neuro-computational structures and evolutionary histories.† (Matthen 186) Humans possess what is known as trichromatic vision. Tri (three) and Chroma (color). Our human eyes have three color receptors that are individually sensitive to red, green, and blue light . While dcecptively simple these three receptors allow humans to distinguish about 2.3 million different varieties of colors. (Kleiner 12) The following figure is a photoreceptor nerve grouping: Figure 2: Photoreceptor Grouping (Farndon 57) There are two types of light-sensing cells: (1) rods, which are used in most low light situations and distinguish between differing shades of grey and the three kinds of (2) cones, that are sensitive to the color spectrum to the particular wavelength of light as described previously. (Savage) Humans actually perceive quite a very narrow range of the electromagnetic spectrum, from 400 to 700 nanometers. Figure 3: Electromagnetic Range of Human Vision, Rods & Cones (Color Vision A) Trichromatic vision is actually a bit of a rarity when you consider a species wide analysis of all organisms that have optic nerves and eye, even just among the mammals only a few possess trichromatic vision. When comparing dichromatic species, those who perceive only the blue and red zone of the spectrum, with trichromatic species there is no apparent Darwinian direct line of descent. (Matthen) The following figure is a simplistic rendition of this concept: Figure 4: Divergence of color perception over time (History of biological Evolution 2007) Why develop this extra range of color vision, or for that matter why develop color vision at all? Some researchers believe that a declining sense of smell in came hand in hand with the rise in color vision. This newly developed perception allowed those species with color vision to detect edible fruit from greater distances thus improving their change for