Sampling and Measurement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sampling and Measurement - Research Paper Example Data analysis and measurement was done properly and the right inferences made. The only weakness to this study was the sample size, which was not a credible representation of the population and could bias the report. The article â€Å"A National Study of Efficiency for Dialysis Centers† used the right sample sources by getting dialysis reports by freestanding facilities submitted to the HCFA (Health Care Financing Administration) and the IRFCRD file (Ozgen & A Ozcan, 2002). The Area Resources File also provided credible information with regard to characteristics of the population. The study sample was also sufficient having been a good representation in terms of percentage at ninety four percent of the population. On the part of measurement, there was a possible point of weakness in the number of procedures undertaken to assess the sample which could amount to duplicated effort from one stage to another. There was also the issue of homogeneity in the types of dialysis modalities by incorporating them into a common output category. This would raise the level of inaccuracy or deviation. The weakness in the first study could be addressed through increasing the sample size adequately to represent the population (Krejcie & Morgan, 2000). In the second study, there should be limited number of methods to assess the sample and derive conclusions to avoid duplication of effort and the various types and sources of dialysis should be handled separately to give a clear outcome for each. Ozgen, H. & A Ozcan, Y. (2002). A national study of efficiency for dialysis centers: an examination of market competition and facility characteristics for production of multiple dialysis outputs. Health Services Research, 37 (3), pp.

Critical evaluation - blood brothers Essay Example for Free

Critical evaluation blood brothers Essay The play did not open with the curtain going up but instead with the lights going up. My seat was in the gallery, which is quite high up, but after I got over the sense of vertigo my view of the play was fine. I could not see the gantry at the back of the stage or the very front of the stage, but very little of the action took place in these areas. The play was written in the early 1960s by the Liverpudlian playwright Willy Russell and was first performed in the early 1980s. The play is a slice of life, or an impression of life starting in Liverpool in the early 1960s through until the 1980s, of poor working class families. The play combines music and song with narrative. The set of Blood Brothers consisted of, on either side of the stage a row of terraced house fronts. At the back of the stage there was a gantry which was used by the narrator and once by Mrs. Johnston when she sang a song that was an overview of the action that had just taken place, there was a countryside backcloth with two moveable brick wall flats which moved across to cover this. The set was very appropriate for the play, it combined well with the slice of life. The props were minimalist and brought on stage by the actors. There were four moveable flats, two that slid across the floor and two that came down from the ceiling. All the costumes and fixings were appropriate for the era of the play, they worked well together producing a realistic setting. The play opens with the twin brothers, lying down on stretchers and then being carried away. The narrator then informs the audience of the events that have just happened and then the play begins. The play is about Mrs. Johnston, a working class mother of seven children who after her husband has left her for a younger woman discovers she is pregnant with twins. Mrs. Johnston is a cleaner who works for a middle class couple, Mr. and Mrs. Lyons. Mrs. Johnston tells Mrs. Lyons of her predicament and so Mrs. Lyons who can not have children of her own and whose husband has gone away on business for six months offers to take one of the twins for herself and bring him up as her own. After some persuasion Mrs. Johnston gives one of the boys to Mrs. Lyons. She finds it difficult to keep Mrs. Johnston on as her cleaner because she can see that there is a bond between mother and child and so fires her. Several years pass, the boys are now seven, nearly eight, they meet when out playing, become great friends and Blood Brothers. Both Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. Lyons try to keep the boys apart but are unable to do so. In a desperate attempt to separate the boys the Lyons move to a house in the country well away from Mickey and the estate where the Johnstons live. A few years later the council decide to demolish the estate where the Johnstons live and relocate the families to the countryside close to where the Lyons now live. Mickey has a girlfriend, Linda, a girl he has known since childhood. One day when they are out walking they come across Eddie, (Mickeys twin), and rekindle their friendship. The twins are now sixteen years old and their friendship continues to grow until it is time for Eddie to gone away to university. However Eddie declares his love for Linda before leaving but she continues her relationship with Mickey and soon falls pregnant with his child and so they marry and move into Mickeys home. Mickeys older brother, Sammy, gets into trouble and Mickey agrees to help him out but instead ends up taking the fall for Sammy killing a man and goes to prison for seven years. During this time he becomes depressed and withdrawn from Linda. She turns to Eddie for support and they soon become emotionally attached. When Eddies mother becomes aware of the romance she tells Mickey who, now out of prison, goes to Eddies work place. Mrs. Johnston now feels she must tell the boys that they are brothers but this is too much for Mickey to understand in his present mental state, distressed and confused he shoots Eddie. Just as Mickey is doing this a policeman takes aim and fires killing Mickey. Both men are dead. On the whole the script and the play were very good. At first it took a little time to get in to the play but it soon flowed naturally. The play held the audiences interest by the use of the narrator who appeared on the stage behind the action and would burst into song. A lot of information was given on the characters through the use of song, so the audience received much of the necessary information without realising it. The part of Mrs. Johnston was played by the singer and actress Dennis Nolan. Ms. Nolan described the history of her character through the song Just like Marilyn Monroe. Her story is not extraordinary or uncommon. A girl from a Roman Catholic working class family who falls in love with a young man who takes her dancing and says she looks a lot like Marilyn Monroe. Romance soon fades once the babies start arriving. Possibly because of her faith, which would have instilled a belief that children are a blessing, she soon has a large family and her husband begins to look elsewhere for what he first found attractive in his wife. He begins to go dancing with a girl who he says looks a lot like Marilyn Monroe. When he leaves home Mrs. Johnston discovers she is pregnant with the twins of the story. This is when the events that lead up to the final tragedy really begin. Mickey is the twin that Mrs. Johnston kept. He grows up in this very poor working class family but as a child is mainly happy and full of mischief. He does not expect an easy life and accepts who he is and what his future will be. He does not expect to go to university like his friend Eddie because in his mind and at this time it was usually only children from better off families who went. Mickey would have been happy to work and bring up his children in a working class family. It is unemployment and bad choices that take away his pride and his future. He becomes very depressed, feels worthless and finally sees his marriage fall apart. The actor who played Mickey had to act the part of a child through to an adult, his mannerisms were very good and his gestures appropriate for the different ages. When he was seven Mickey acted and moved as if he was seven and when he was twenty he acted and moved like a twenty year old. His voice changed as well, it moved from a high quick voice to a deeper more solemn one. Linda is the childhood friend of Mrs. Johnstons children and especially of Mickey. The two children grow up together, play together and become girl and boyfriend. This relationship is threatened by Lindas attraction to Eddie, Mickeys twin, but although she realises that it is Eddie that she loves she does not end her relationship with Mickey. When Eddie goes away to university she becomes pregnant with Mickeys child and marries him. Lindas role in the play is huge, it is her relationship with Eddie which finally destroys Mickey and leads to the final tragedy. The play contained quite a lot of swearing but this was only used to aid the script and made it more realistic. At the end of the play many people in the audience were in tears which showed how good the performances had been. As a straight play this would have been a very sad story of some very hard lives but because the story is told partly in song the mood is much lighter. It shows that there can be laughter in even the most difficult of lives, but also how our own upbringing, superstitions and prejudices can make our lives more complicated and more difficult.

Abortion :: essays research papers

The word abortion by definition means, naturally or especially induced expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently, according to the American Century Dictionary. This is one subject that, when mentioned, completely polarizes individuals. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emotional and sometimes violent atmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion but the only two fine distinctions are "pro-choice" and "pro-life". A person that is pro-choice would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mothers and that the state has no right to interfere. A person that is pro-life would say that from the moment of conception, the fetus is alive. This life imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it and that abortion is tantamount to murder (Kolner 5)This is important because part of our society would have to carry the guilt of terminating a human life. This would be severe and almost unbelievable for a society as educated as ours to make this big of a mistake. How could the country that leads in individual rights be so ignorant? We are America where everyone is created equal and deserves a chance to pursue happiness. What if this fetus is not a human life, is this a question that we can really answer? These are questions that haunt our nations soul.Early in our nations history they had no means of measuring or telling if a fetus was alive in the womb. The colonies inherited English Common Law and operated under it until well into the 19th century. Abortion was illegal according to English Common Law. Abortion prior to quickening (feeling life) was a misdemeanor. Abortion after quickening was a felony. This type of punishment was inherited from earlier ecclesiastic laws. In the early 1800s it was discovered that human life did not begin when she "felt life," but rather at fertilization. As a direct result of this, the British Parliament in 1869 passed the "Offenses Against the Persons Act," eliminating misdemeanor charge and dropping the felony punishment back to fertilization. One by one, across the middle years of the 19th century, every then present state passed its own law against abortion. By 1860, 85% of the population lived in states that had prohibited abortion with new laws. These laws, preceding and following the British example, moved the felony punishment from quickening back to conception.

Zipcar Individual Case Brief

Zipcar Company is affected by several general environment factors including the following: Sociocultural: There is very well developed public transportation system available in the urban areas and people can easily get the mobility through public transportation. Easy access to the public transportation affects Zipcar’s business to minimize its revenues. Economic: Due to the high gas prices, it is not easy for the companies like Zipcar to compete in the market but the Zipcar can come up with hybrid cars to overcome this threat. Technological: Zipcar has now its own application to select the cars and this application makes the process easy for the customers in selecting the right vehicle. Technology is helping the company to better facilitate its customers. Zipcar company is attractive for the new entrants and the business has enough potential to generate above average profits. Following are the most important of five forces affecting the Zipcar business: Threat of new entrants: Threat of new entrants is high for this company. There are many other companies like Enterprise car rentals can also offer car sharing services. Threat of substitute products: Zipacar is a unique business model and the threat of substitute product is low because it needs a big business setup to establish business model similar to the Zipcar. Following are the two main companies that are in the competition with the Zipcar. Enterprise rent a car: Enterprise rent a car is a big car rental business and if they start the car sharing service in the future so it will become more competitive for the Zipcar to generate above average revenue in the market. Hertz car rental service: Hertz car rental can be another direct competing firm to the Zipcar. They are second largest in terms of fleet after Enterprise. Most important of the value chain factors are discussed in the following paragraph. Marketing and sales: Are very important factors that are important for the company. This business needs some proper marketing strategy to create awareness in the minds of the target audience. This factor is superior among the both competitors. Technological development: It is important for the Zipcar is a company and the company can use new technology including smart phone applications to attract new customers. This factor is superior among both competitors. Zipcars net profit margin for 2012 was 5. 26 million as compare to Hertz profit margin of 2. 69 million. The company has a social responsibility of keeping the environment clean and Zipcar is adding environment friendly cars to its fleet to keep the environment clean. Zipcar company is aligned with the market trend and this is the major strength that is attracting more opportunities and limiting threats to the company. Due to the seasonal demand for the vehicles Zipcar experiences low return in certain months that limits the opportunities and enhances the threats. Zipcar is offering the service that is valuable and rare but it is not costly to imitate for big competitors and there are also substitutes available in the market with little modification in terms and conditions. The competitive advantage for Zipcar is temporary. Zipcar’s business level strategy is highly focused on differentiation and offering environment friendly products. Corporate level of the strategy is not that developed yet and the company is having slow growth due to the income only from one sector. The company had a merger with Flexcar in 2009 and they also made alliance with Avancar in Spain due to its cooperative strategy. Company has not given a good international strategy even though they are also working in several other nations but they still need better business model to work internationally. Overall, the company has to work on the corporate level to compete both locally and internationally. Company is pursuing its business level strategy to win the market share. Firm needs to recruit more staff because there is a strong lack of customer service in their current business model and today, the companies with strong customer service are the one who has a big market share in the businesses. Most important 7’s factors are following: System: Company has uniform working criteria everywhere they work. Staff: Company works hard to boost the motivation of their employees. Skills: By hiring the right people and continuous training procedure the company is having edge over other competitors. Q1: How the company takes care of its stakeholders as they are major part of the process to generate above average returns? Q2: What strategy does the company have to response to the hyper-competition?

Lecture Notes Beowulf Essay

Genre A heroic folk epic rooted in the oral tradition of the Anglo Saxons, Beowulf is an anonymous poem committed to paper by an unknown Christian monk in 1000 Common Era, some 300 years after it was first composed. The manuscript is part of a document known as Cotton Vitellus A housed in a British Library. Beowulf belongs to the epic genre of long, narrative poems dealing with heroic deeds against a background of war and the supernatural and themes of grandeur and significance. Full of legendary myths and somber, elegiac cadences, it has been composed in the Anglo Saxon vernacular and can be classed amongst other great epics such as the Illiad, Odyssey, Aenied and Paradise Lost to name a few. The name Beowulf is a kenning, Bee-Hunter reflecting the warrior heritage of the central character Basic Plot The poem is eponymously named for its hero Bewoulf, a great warrior and later King, who sets out to rescue King Hrothgar and his people from the monster Grendel. During the course of the poem, we see Beowulf slaying first Grendel and then his revenge seeking mother. Beowulf’s final conflict takes place with the Dragon angered by the plundering of the treasure it is guarding. Structure of the Poem There are three prevailing views as to the structure of the poem: -the structure is defined by the three increasingly difficult conflicts Beowulf faces -the structure can also be viewed in terms of kingship for instance, young Beowulf and old Beowulf with a different set of problems to be faced during each phase -the structure is that of interlacing of memories with narratives of present, a cyclical process of action, memory and reflection Background Although the poem is rooted in the Anglo Saxon as well as early Christian traditions, it reflects two distinct value systems frequently at odds with each other. For instance, in line with its Anglo-Saxon origins, the poem celebrates the Germanic heroic code, which, exemplifying the pagan warrior culture, lays stress upon family ties, genealogy, immortality through fame and revenge for wrongs done to one’s kith and kin. It values ancestral heritage and individual reputation. Christianity, on the other hand, believes in immortality in terms of the afterlife and teaches that vengeance is best left to God. Bewoulf and Grendel Bewoulf is not just a warrior and king. He also serves as a cultural ideal and as an incarnation of Anglo Saxon values and beliefs. The ‘Cain-descended’ Grendel, with his innate desire to tear asunder whatever has integrity, represents chaos and disorder, in contrast to Bewoulf, who represents order and cosmos. Grendel is the ultimate exile. Unferth Unferth acts as a foil to Beowulf by accentuating through contrast the character of the latter. He redeems his earlier verbal taunting (flyting) of Beowulf by offering him his sword in a later conflict. Literary devices/techniques Litotes-understatement e. g, ‘Cain had no pleasure from that find’ Kenning-metaphorical descriptions combining two words to offer evocative alternative to original Caesura-a pause in the line of a poem Alliteration- In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words or phrases.

US Involvement in Nicaragua essays

US Involvement in Nicaragua essays Some might say that Nicaragua has been a pawn in the US battle against Soviet-Cuban Communist control in Latin America. Relationships between the US and Nicaragua go back to the Gold Rush and Cornelius Vanderbilt's attempts to expedite the travel between the two coasts of the US. Vanderbilt bought the rights to shuttle fortune-seekers across Nicaragua to avoid their having to cross the width of the United States or travel around Cape Horn. Eventually, controversy among the Nicaraguan people led to a civil war in 1853. The US was further drawn into the conflict when the left-wing army hired an American, William Walker, to fight for them. Walker and his mercenaries quickly conquered Grenada, the stronghold of the Conservative parties and found themselves in charge of the army. Walker, however, had his eyes on the presidency, which he eventually took. Walker was not the end of US intervention in Nicaragua. The government had aligning aspirations with Cornelius Vanderbilt and decided to build their canal through Nicaragua, which was less disease ravaged than the other contender, Panama. However, due to previous treaty agreements, the US would have to share control of any canal built through Nicaragua with Great Britain, and so the plan was abandoned. Instead, the US built an exclusively controlled canal through Panama. From 1893 – 1909, a general by the name of Zelaya had exclusive control of the Nicaraguan government. However, in 1909, with US support, this government was overthrown and a pro-US government was established. Throughout the early 1900's, US Marines helped quell minor rebellions throughout Nicaragua and occupy much of the country. Finally, in 1933, the marines leave under the premise of peace with the guerrilla leader Gen. Sandino. A man named Anastasio Somoza is put in charge of the National Guard and therefore controls the country with an iron fist. Until 1979, the Somoza family serves as the totalitarian government i...

China Essays - China, Republics, Free Essays, Term Papers

China Essays - China, Republics, Free Essays, Term Papers China China China takes 40% of the earth's population; 1,210,004,956. Chinese people are permitted to chose what they grow on their small plots, to set their own prices and to pocket their profits without paying any taxes. Free Markets, is a big world in China: it refers to designated areas in the city where farmers are allowed to sell their products directly to city consumers. The government is no longer involved in growing, distribution or price setting. The system operates on supply and demand in private marketplace. Chinese people eat, dress, look better. China has the worlds biggest population, it has a fast economy. Dum Champagne, is a Chinese millionaire. Champagne started his business by 200 US dollars, he started a womans clothes shop. He bought a used sewing machine. Clothes only came in certain colors like blue, gray, white and green, but Champagne changed all this. Women liked the colorful, stylish type of clothes he made. This great investment took thinking, and risk. He also added a restaurant he was also afraid he could fail. Champagne graduated in the class of 1966 which was called the Old Pre Class. Through 1966-19968 this young adults and younger children were sent to the other side of the country. They were left at the country side with no food. Farmers had limited land, and they only provided for so many people and if you went there you were only added to their barden. Young Chinese worked with peasants . The Chinese labor force is estimated at more that 527 million people. Unemployment and underemployment have caused labor productivity and income to de depressed, problems direcly linked to the large size and rapid growth rate of the population. In the early 1980's about one third of the population was 15 years of age or younger; this guarantees that a large number of young people will enter the labor force each year. Although about 60 percent of the labor force consists of agricultural workers, the government's job allocation program does not include rural areas, and here new labor has to be absorbed by the collective and the individual household economy. The rural family is estimated to receive three-quarters of the income from the collective economy and the remainder from sideline activities. According to the constitution of 1982, China is socialist dictatorship of the proletariat led by the Communist party and based on a united front that includes other democratic parties. In practice, The Communist party fully demonstrates national political activity. The Chinese Communist party has more than 52 million members and is the world's largest Communist party. The party held its first National Party Congress in 1921, when it had only 57 members. China has had an organized government since the establishment of the Shang Dynasty about 1726 BC, making it the one of the oldest nations on earth. Chinese people have economic freedom- economic destinies, The government used to control everything. It controlled what they bough, read, where they lived. Technology has also played a big roll in China. Computers is helping their economic power. China is a big country that keeps growing while people work. email me [emailprotected]

Five Things the Pulps Can Teach Us About Making More Money as a Writer

Five Things the Pulps Can Teach Us About Making More Money as a Writer From the early 1930s to the late 1950s, hundreds of writers churned out thousands of stories in cheap magazines printed on yellow pulp paper for a hungry audience craving action, adventure, mystery, romance and thrills. Writing for often less than a penny a word, these writers produced the equivalent of two or three 40,000 word manuscripts per month! And that work ethic can help todays writers be more productive and profitable. Here are five things these famous (or sometimes infamous) writers from the golden age of the pulps can teach us about making more money as a writer in today’s changing publishing industry. Thing #1. Write faster When guys like Walter Gibson (creator of The Shadow) and Lester Dent (creator of Doc Savage) needed 40,000 words turned in every month, they didn’t mess around. They learned how to write fast, because the faster they could write, the more fiction they could churn out, and the more they could get paid. Traditional publishing, with its long time to market for books, used to punish writers for being fast, but thanks to self-publishing, those attitudes are changing. Your readers are out there starving for what you write. If you make them wait, they’ll just go read somebody else, and they might forget about you. Don’t give them that chance! Thing #2: Write more books I know what you’re thinking. You probably have a day job, a family, and other time commitments, and you’re doing good to finish one book a year. But you don’t have to already be a bestselling author free of the day job before you can churn out more work in a calendar year. I’ve met plenty of writers who were able to put out three books a year, with very demanding full time jobs. You can do it, too. Just try to work up to writing 1,000 words a day, seven days a week, and in a year’s time you’ll have amassed at least three novels’ worth of first drafts! Thing #3: Write shorter books Admittedly, this is a bit harder to get away with than it used to be, depending on the genre you write. To charge the purchase prices big publishers need to turn a profit on each of their titles, they’ve demanded more and more words from their authors over the years. But thanks to self-publishing and ebooks, word count isn’t as important as it once was. Your readers won’t feel short-changed if the story they just read was 50K or 180K words, as long as they enjoyed it. Thing #4: Write different genres Writing the same thing all the time gets old pretty quickly, so branch out. If you’ve been writing period romance for a while, give a mystery a try. Genre hopping will keep you fresh and your work feeling new. Worried about alienating your readers?   Use a penname for the new genre. Thing #5: Write a series Publishing today has only rather recently latched on to the notion that pulp hacks - and pulp readers - have known for more than a century: People love a good series. A stroll down the aisle at your local bookstore reveals dozens of series in every genre, from epic fantasy to paranormal romance to thrillers. Readers just cant get enough of characters like Easy Rawlins, Jack Reacher, or Sandman Slim. Writing a series lets you really get to know the characters, making them easier to write. There you go, a few tricks of the pulp trade that can help you be a writing success today. Now go write!

Management Task Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management Task Analysis - Research Paper Example Although all the industries need to remain alert all the time so that they can keep their customers satisfied and attracted to their products and services. In case of manufacturing businesses, the processes of operations are the most crucial areas of emphasis and the organizations have to make sure that the end product is produced in compliance with the set standards (Zacharatos et al., 2007). In case of automobile companies, the complete operation process is important and every step which starts from the raw material selection to the final product production is vital that needs adequate attention by the management staff (Stanton, 2005). In order to make sure that the cars are produced in the best possible manner, the complete production process needs to be given utmost consideration by the management team. To understand the types of production processes employed in various forms of automobile companies, three companies are being considered, i.e., Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and Toyota. Fer rari Ferrari is the leading name in case of the car racing companies; the company is well-known for the best range of cars that it manufactures for the racing events. In recent times, the company like other automobile companies has made sure that their operation system is flexible so that the engines can be modified according to the customers’ requirements. Crystal and Ellington (2004) stated that the automobile companies need to make sure that they implement those production processes that will help them in increasing their output processes. In case of Ferrari, the market comprises niche target market that values the performance of the engine along with the quality of the car and they are insensitive to its price. The company designs the products for the customers who want to participate in the racing events. For the customers of Ferrari, the most important factor is the smooth running of the cars and they will be paying any price for it. The management tasks for the company , as stated by Gray and Leonard (2009), can be divided as order selection, scheduling of the orders, batch size, inventory management and process improvement. The tasks will have to be carefully monitored by the management team to ensure that the end product has the best quality. The operation systems need to be flexible so that they can be modified according to the customers’ preferences. In the case of Ferrari, the operation process will be a continuous process and line process cannot be implemented as in most of the cases the end product will not be the same. In case of Ferrari, the most important management tasks comprise assessing the staff needs for capacity utilization, long-term planning and inventory requirements along with addressing long-term planning issues such as location issues (Mashilo, 2010) and technological advances that happen constantly (Embrey, 2002). Vertical integration with the suppliers becomes important and adequate inventory needs to be maintained so that the demands are adequately addressed; the labors need to be skilled in handling all the operative measures (Hertzum & Jacobsen, 2003; KPMG, 2005). Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce is the leading name in the luxury car assembly plant and it is important for the management team to make sure that the operation procedures are properly designed. In order to make sure that

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT - Essay Example As a far as being and achiever is concerned, I consider myself one since I see life as a set of goals that need to be fulfilled and as such whenever I complete a task I feel that I have achieved something no matter how small. Lastly, I am a restorer because I always derive pleasure and satisfaction from patching things, situations and even people. This is influenced by my positivism since whenever I come across a situation that could be made better; I almost always try my utmost to remedy it. While the test may have indicated that am an includer, I do not think that is very descriptive of me since I tend to prefer to run projects on my own rather than as part of a team. While I do include people in them, when it comes to their management, I end up trying to be the one to run point because I am a bit of a perfectionist. In the past, teachers and even friends have been full of praise about my positivism, I remember one of my teacher once told me that my glass is always half full and I should influence my colleagues to be as positive. Whenever my siblings or friends are stressed, sometimes by academics or life issues such as relationship they often seek me out since they know I will help them see the best in such situations. This has also been very useful to me personally since, as a student, I frequently used my positivism to motivate myself to take on complicated projects that others did not want to tackle. I often view challenges as opportunities to make myself a better person rather than inconvenient situations that should be avoided. As a result, I have found myself exceling and standing out, not because I am better than others are but because I am willing to try what they refuse to handle. Being an achiever as well as a positivist is often instrumental in helping one achieve success in most of the things they set out to do (Clear). In many cases, I make small short term goals which I gradually and consistently work on combining the small

The Strategic Threats Facing Google Research Paper

The Strategic Threats Facing Google - Research Paper Example Moreover, the firm was far ahead of other search engines because their search results were of high quality, and due to this, the company has become very popular and successful. Besides being so popular, the firm employs several people globally; moreover, it has always been ranked as one of the best firms to work for. The firm has acquired several firms to enable it to continue being innovative. In the year 2003, it acquired Applied Semantics Inc, which advanced the advertising campaign of the firm. In the year 2006, Google acquired Writely, and as the end of 2006 approached, it acquired YouTube by outbidding other competitors for $1.65 billion. Similarly, early in the year 2007, the firm at $3.1 billion acquired Double click. The firm has acquired several other firms since then; one of them is Tonic Systems. The mission statement of the firm, which is to sort out the worlds’ information, makes it available and helpful to its users; moreover, this statement refers to their goals; however, it is not reflecting how the firm is supposed to earn profits and revenue. Moreover, the mission statement of the firm does not provide a timeline but it just states the end-result. However, the mission statement of Google is very original and distinctive and very relevant, thus, it should not be altered. Google is an internet search engine. It enables individuals to get information that is kept in several other sites. The main product or service of Google is internet search; it also enables individuals using the internet to search for single words or word combinations. Other than being a search engine, Google also advertises the products and services of other firms, which is also another source of revenues. Besides, Google has a number of online productivity tools and some of them include Gmail, which is a free webmail and Google voice talk. The major source of  revenue for Google is its advertising services, AdSense, as well as AdWords. Advertising contributes to 99% of the total revenues of the firm; in this case, firms make payment to Google to put their AdWords on Google sites as well as in its affiliates.  

Family Business and Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Family Business and Business Management - Essay Example Many of the world’s leading publicly listed corporations are operating under the category of family business. For instance, corporate giants like Walmart, Samsung Group, Tata Group, and Foxconn are some of the well-known family businesses in the globe.   From the viewpoint of the family business consultant Schneider, there are eight major elements including purpose, structure, organizational culture and relationships rewards to shareholders, potential mechanisms in the organization, leadership, strategic and operational performance outcomes, and financial performance outcomes influencing the development of a healthy family business (para 4). The purpose is the factor determining the existence and long term sustainability of a family business. The major reason for the failure of many family businesses is that there exists ambiguity and lack of agreement on the vision, priorities, and goals of the business. Hence, a healthy family business will be characterized by clearly stated business goals and priorities. In addition, it is commonly seen that many family business ventures do not survive beyond the generation of the founders due to lack of foresightedness. In contrast to this, a strong family business will have a well-defined family philosophy that facilitates the continuation of the business beyond generations and sets a framework for the future operations of the company. According to Schneider, â€Å"structure is the architecture of grouping people in the family business† (para 5). The author continues that the structure of the family business has to necessarily fit the purpose and the current environment of the business.

Ancient Flood Stories (Problems for Critical Scholarship) Essay

Ancient Flood Stories (Problems for Critical Scholarship) - Essay Example However, it is not an easy task to find out the important details of these flood stories because of their extreme antiquity and the lack of supporting evidence except for a few broken shards or fragments of pottery that detail these flood stories. It is unswervingly a very daunting task indeed to verify the stories that will anchor them on historical details as many of these stories are seemingly myths or legends. This brief paper examines some of the challenges encountered in critical scholarship of stories like great floods which occurred a long time ago and for which records are incomplete. Discussion The aim of critical scholarship is to set historical records straight but problems are inevitable when the records are themselves incomplete or at times even contradictory. Many scholars, academicians, historians and archaeologists realize these limitations but still try to carry on with the task. In this regard, to claim certainty in the absence of corroborating pieces of evidence i s not only risky but also considered as reckless in terms of academic scholarship. To refer to something without a degree of certainty is likewise faulty, even deceptive. Several issues with regards to critical scholarship concerning these ancient flood stories pertain to the provenance of these stories, their lack of correspondence and the contradictions, the use of varying terms or emergence of several versions by different authors that hinders the task. The two most famous and well-read flood stories are that of the Biblical Noah's Ark and the Epic of Gilgamesh. The latter predates the former by a good thousand years or more, going back to at least the period of an actual king named Gilgamesh who had ruled a kingdom of Uruk in ancient Sumeria at around 2700 B.C.E. (before current era) but was written down on clay tablets only at around 2000 B.C.E. which were discovered only fairly recently in the libraries of King Ashurbanipal, who ruled around 700 B.C.E. by a young British museu m curator named George Smith back in 1872 and translated even much later (Mitchell 4). It is a story considered as the oldest-ever written story but what is even more remarkable is that it is very similar to Noah's Ark, especially the story about an immortal named Utnapishtim and a massive flood in his time. There are also many other similar stories about a great deluge in other cultures, namely that of the massive waters released by the Greek god Zeus, the Chinese version of a deluge in the great central river valley of the mighty Yangtze and the Indian story of Manu mentioned in ancient Sanskrit religious texts dating back to around 600 B.C.E. These stories have a familiar theme, the futility of fighting against the force of Nature or the powers of God although the themes may vary a bit, depending on context (History-world.org 1). Provenance – as stated earlier, the exact or precise origins of these flood stories defy even scholars and historians because of the passage of e xtremely long periods of time, dating back to antiquity itself. Based only on fragmentary records, with many pieces of evidence lacking, the best that can be done is make a conjecture or an approximation of their origins. It believed that the Epic of Gilgamesh is actually a literary masterpiece constructed by several authors and not just one writer, the story embellished with each successive re-telling. In many instances, the similarities between the Noahic story and Gilgamesh made historians surmise it was actually copied and translated into Hebrew by Moses circa 1450 B.C.E. and the Israelites brought

Family Business and Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Family Business and Business Management - Essay Example Many of the world’s leading publicly listed corporations are operating under the category of family business. For instance, corporate giants like Walmart, Samsung Group, Tata Group, and Foxconn are some of the well-known family businesses in the globe.   From the viewpoint of the family business consultant Schneider, there are eight major elements including purpose, structure, organizational culture and relationships rewards to shareholders, potential mechanisms in the organization, leadership, strategic and operational performance outcomes, and financial performance outcomes influencing the development of a healthy family business (para 4). The purpose is the factor determining the existence and long term sustainability of a family business. The major reason for the failure of many family businesses is that there exists ambiguity and lack of agreement on the vision, priorities, and goals of the business. Hence, a healthy family business will be characterized by clearly stated business goals and priorities. In addition, it is commonly seen that many family business ventures do not survive beyond the generation of the founders due to lack of foresightedness. In contrast to this, a strong family business will have a well-defined family philosophy that facilitates the continuation of the business beyond generations and sets a framework for the future operations of the company. According to Schneider, â€Å"structure is the architecture of grouping people in the family business† (para 5). The author continues that the structure of the family business has to necessarily fit the purpose and the current environment of the business.

Organisational Behavior Research Report Assignment

Organisational Behavior Research Report - Assignment Example This part of the paper will highlight the workforce changes of the recent time and the possible implications for organizational policies to cater to these trends. Increased globalization and the minority population in the key developing world bring us to the first trend of diversity. Skilled labor from different parts of the world isattractedtowards thedeveloped world for employment as they offer a better environment for them to grow professionally as well as financially. With greater workforce equality and empowered employees, it has become almost necessary to take into account workplace diversity, whether it is females, blacks, handicapped or other ethnocentric groups, at the time of employment. A healthy organization boasts of a diverse workforce that treats all its employees equally(Dol.gov 2014). With trends like feminism, racial equality and minority rights groups, organizations have to keep an out for possible accusations that may lead to a bad name. Narrowing gaps between minorities and an increase in the number of female employees stepping into the professional world has made it imperative that they are made to feel equally welcome and acknowledged. Gone are the days when men were the sole bread earners in the family and women were responsible about family. With women stepping out and equally contributing to the financials of a family, it has become a responsibility of both the men and the women to take care of the family and kids. Thus, it has become important for both the sexes to have job flexibility that allows them to give reasonable time at home and meet family challenges that are now equally shared by the parents. With the advent of technology, workplaces have become more automated. Thus, the most sought after skill is web and computer orientation, making manual labor obsolete. In order to keep up with the pace of change in

Open Innovation Essay Example for Free

Open Innovation Essay In light of the trend towards open innovation, inter-organizational technology transfer by means of alliances and licensing has become a key component of the open innovation processes. In this assignment we will discuss how open innovation can be the key of success and open up different opportunities, describe innovation in terms of what managerial consequences it can have on a company and try to find out what can be the driving forces of innovation in a company. The company We have chosen W. L. Gore Associates, Inc. as an example of an innovative company. Gore does research in use of its advanced technology in four main areas: electronics, industrial, medical and fabrics. The company is American, founded in 1958 and today it has about 7000 employees and facilities in more than 30 countries. (Gore 1, 2011) W.L. Gore Associates is a company with a long history of innovation. In the beginning RD and product development was conducted inside the organizational boundaries and the firms’ critical technological knowledge was primarily developed and applied in-house, in other words they pursued traditional, closed innovation processes. (Lichtenthaler et al. 2010) In recent decades, W.L. Gore Associates also actively collaborate with external partners throughout the innovation process. They do this in two ways: Firstly, Gore acquire technology from external sources to complement their internal RD through strategic alliances which is known as inward technology transfer and requires absorptive capacity to acquire and utilize external knowledge (Lichtenthaler et al. 2010).One example is the strategic alliance with Sefar AG for the Architectural Fabrics Texchtestile 2009 in Frankfurt am Main (Gore 1, 2011). Secondly, they exploit their own technology in outbound open innovation processes through licensing agreements to generate additional income, which requires desorptive capacity to transfer technological capabilities outwards (Lichtenthaler et al. 2010). One example is the licensing programs for products made with Gore-Tex ® fabric and fibers (Gore 1, 2011). Absorptive capacity depends on path dependency because, it requires the ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply external knowledge in the context of innovation and learning processes. On the other hand, desorptive capacity determines the potential volume of technology transfer based on two process stages; identification and transfer of a firm’s technology portfolio (Lichtenthaler et al. 2010). However, outward technology transfer or licensing of a particular technology may not always be permitted by management, especially for the core technologies, because of the competitive threats and risk of losing competitive advantage. Innovation Virtually all of Gores thousands of products are based on just one material, a versatile polymer ePTFE, which the company engineers to perform a wide variety of functions (Carter, 2002). Gore has been granted more than 2,000 patents worldwide in a wide range of fields, including electronics, medical devices, and polymer processing (Gore 1, 2011). Gore uses a type of open innovation strategy, keeping control of its core technology and licenses the use and allows for innovation within a particular field to its licensees. Baudreau and Lakhani claim that Gore is using product platform innovation, where the control of the platform (ePTFE) is shared between external developers and Gore, as Gore provide the core technology, which the licensees innovate on and then sell the developed products to the final consumer. External innovators (other companies) and customers can transact freely as long as they affiliate with the platform owner. Gore maintains some control through the rules and regulations they impose on their licensees (Boudreau et al. 2009). The platform design theory closely resembles the type of open innovation that Chesbrough names â€Å"architect†; the company develop architecture to allow for platform design, where external innovators can further develop the technology (Chesbrough, 2003). Driving forces An interesting question is what drives Gore to be an innovative company. We have taken a look at what is driving the company to produce innovations and we have found a mix of technology-push and demand-pull. We have deduced that in the beginning of Gore’s history, they used technology-push. We base this argument on their focus on developing a technology and putting it on the market. Wilbert L. Bill while working at DuPont saw potential in a certain polymer called polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE (Gore 1, 2011). In 1969, the discovery of a remarkably versatile new polymer known as expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (or ePTFE), led the enterprise from industrial products into new applications in medical, fabric, and electronics markets. They make medical products which are used in vascular, cardio-thoracic, plastic and orthopedic surgeries, their cables are used in computers and even travelled to the moon, their fibers are used in everything from chemical processing to industrial pumps, their fabrics protects from rain. They have such a big variety of product range that it can be found everywhere and in everything, including automobiles (Deutschman, 2004, Rothwell 1994). Today, customer preferences are an important part of the innovation process. For Gore the customer needs is a huge driving force for innovation. They use consumer inspired innovation to develop new products, in particular, lead users who help develop products that suit their needs. (Schaldecker B 2011)The next step is to use technology to make the idea into a real product. This â€Å"customer focus† shows us that demand-pull is important as well. One hands-on example is the way Gore is using lead users in product development. Although it is productive to use lead-users who know what they want, they don’t need to be loyal to only one company. This can result in companies using the same lead-users which increase the risk for exploiting confidential information. The race to reach the market first becomes even more crucial (Rothwell 1994). We believe the main driver for technology licensing by Gore is generating revenues. Other strategic drivers are: selling products in addition to licensing technology. â€Å"These additional product sales are achieved due to enhanced demand because of a second source of supply/../ or by licensing a technology to a weak rival in order to deter entry of a stronger competitor† (Lichtenthaler, 2007). â€Å"Technology licensing may be motivated by the realization of learning effects, which result in the compression of a firm’s learning curve† (Lichtenthaler, 2007), meaning the licensee transfers knowledge to the licensor, allowing for faster learning. Moreover, the acquisition of external technology or intellectual property gives access to another firm’s technology portfolio; for example Gore acquired intellectual property of NMT Medical, Inc. on October 19, 2011, who has the best medical therapy for the prevention of recurrent stroke and transient attack (Flagstaff, 2011). Besides, Gore can enhance its reputation by licensing out technological knowledge and guarantee its technological leadership by licensing out technology. Finally, a company can license out technology to strengthen its inter-organizational networks. Thus, technology licensing in turn maintain, increase and expand a firm’s networks (Lichtenthaler, 2007). Managerial Consequences Firms can capture value from technology and with the trend towards open innovation firms actively transfer technology to other organizations. This licensing dilemma could have both negative and positive consequences. Licensing could decrease profits in their product business which could substantially weaken competitive position, on the other hand active technology licensing could increase revenues which are a necessity in order to gain and sustain a competitive advantage. However, â€Å"the negative consequences of licensing often seem to be overcompensated by positive effects† (Lichtenthaler, 2007, p 67). To facilitate the positive effects of licensing, firms need to develop dynamic capabilities of technology licensing by exploring continuous innovation to seize monetary and strategic opportunities while avoiding potential negative effects by process systematization in internal technology exploitation. The strategic licensing opportunities need a completely different management, when the interdependence between internal and external technology exploitation increase they require a relatively integrated approach and assignment of dedicated employees to technology licensing (Lichtenthaler, 2007). As we stated before Gore concentrate on core competence and they nurture it through the employees, or associates as Gore call them (Gore 2, 2011). To be able to create an innovative atmosphere the organization has an open and informal corporate culture with little hierarchy. There are no formal bosses and they have self-evaluating systems where compensation is decided by teams of colleges evaluating each other (ibid). A quote from an employee: â€Å"Your team is your boss, because you dont want to let them down. Everyones your boss, and no ones your boss (Deutschman, 2007). In order to give incentives to perform in the best interest of the company, employees also get shares in the company (symbolizing the rising value of the whole company) that they can cash in when they retire or leave (Deutschman, 2007). The structure of the organization is designed to create innovativeness and focuses on teamwork were employees with mixed roles are put in small teams to collaborate. The facilities never exceed a work force of 150-200 employees, to get a more personal environment where everyone knows each other (Deutschman, 2007). This can be seen as type of networking, which is a contributing factor to the success of innovative organizations (Rothwell, 1994). A part of the employees work time (10%) is set off for free of choice â€Å"dabble time†; thinking of new ideas on their own (Harrington, 2003). These are some signs of a flatter and flexible organization structure like those which Rothwell (1994) describes as important success factors for innovative organizations. To sum up we see that the innovative core have a large impact on managerial consequences as how to deal with the employees. The open innovation gives Gore more options, looking outside the company means that the company doesn’t need to have a lot of resources and capabilities in-house to make money from commercializing a product (Chesbrough, 2003). We have deduced it allows for exploration without complete exploitation, letting Gore build up capabilities in researching and core competences, while still making money out of side-track inventions. Instead of having to be completely ambidextrous, Gore can be specialized in research in some technologies and ambidextrous in others (Gupta, 2006). Conclusions On the example of W. L. Gore Associates, Inc we analyzed the open innovation strategy which is perused nowadays by a lot of the most successful and innovative companies with the aim of successful inter-organizational technology transfer. Alliances and licensing happen to be the most common form of technology transfer in the open innovation process. Gore implements a strategy of exploration in its innovation activities as well as exploitation. Although, exploiting your own innovation is important, the Gore example shows us how concentrating on innovation exploration together with open innovation strategy through licensing and alliances can help to win markets which you will never reach by your own.

Utilitarianism Theory Summary and Evaluation

Utilitarianism Theory Summary and Evaluation Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that is generally credited to Jeremy Bentham. Bentham and John stuart Mill are seen to be the two leading exponents of the theory. Mill, writing after Bentham, adapted some of his ideas into a slightly different version of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, which means that it decides on what is right or wrong solely on the consequences of an action or the circumstances that this action brings about. The theory is relative, it judges situations separately and does not impose set rules of guide lines on actions to be observed in every case. This avoids the major problems one sees with absolutist theories such as Natural law or Kantian ethics. What is right is what brings about pleasure and Thomas Carlyle raised the criticism that it is a doctrine worthy only of swine as a direct criticism of this. What Carlyle is saying is that those adhering to a utilitarian way of morality are only satisfying basic desires and are just an imals. As humans with reason and intelligence it seems Carlyle wants more out of an ethical theory than what Utilitarianism gives. I will discuss Benthams utilitarianism and then Mills adaption in an attempt to show Mill escapes the problems faced by Bentham. Bentham saw humanity as being completely centered around two things. Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. For this reason his ethical theory is entirely concerned with the two. Bentham saw it that everyone wants pleasure and nobody wants pain. From this he derived the principle of utility which was that the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. What is right to do in every situation is bring about the most pleasure and minimise the pain. Every moral dilemma is judged individually as even though the circumstances may be familiar to ones we have faced before there are always variables, for example in the size of the group effected. So what was right to do in a previous situation may not be the best thing to do in the new situation we are faced with. Bentham understood that all situations are different and created a way of comparing levels and pain and pleasure brought about by a decision w ith a system of calculation. Bentham called this the felicific calculus. Each situation would be judged on seven criteria: Intensity (how strong the pleasure is), duration (how long it lasts), certainty or uncertainty of the pain or pleasure, propinquity (how soon the pleasure will occur), fecundity (the question of whether an action will be followed with similar good circumstances, purity (that it wont be followed by sensations of a negative kind) and finally the extent of the pleasure. In the felicific calculus any individual counts as one, he did not discriminate. Bentham proposes that in every situation we look at all these fields and through doing so we could calculate whether one action would be better than a different one. For example if the extent of the pleasure in the long run outweighs a temporary disadvantage or negative situation then the action is right. One may argue that his attempt to turn morality into a type of math is in fact impractical, will we always have the time to weigh up all the issues surrounding our action. Also how can we really measure pleasure, we cant easily attempt to do it in units. Bentham was anti-elitist in the sense that he saw everyones pleasure to count as the same and saw all types of pleasure under the title pleasure. He argued himself that pushpin is as good as poetry. This is where Carlyle is criticising him. He sees utilitarianism to be promoting a lifestyle that is very unattractive in the sense of only catering for your basic needs and desires. For example through this type of utilitarianism one can justify stealing in a lot of cases and things like sleeping around. As long as you are happy and maximising your pleasure then you are doing the right actions. Bentham himself would argue that it is better to be this type of person satisfied than an individual attempting to be more virtuous dissatisfied. As animals do not possess reason or intelligence like humans all they do is satisfy their basic urges. Carlyle was saying that we have this ability to consider further our own actions and be far more compassionate that Bentham seemed to be saying we can be and for this reason he saw utilitarian ideas as acceptable only to animals. One example given to display this is a situation in which a number of guards holding a prisoner are beating him. As there are more guards beating than people being beaten the suffering is outweighed and so the clearly immoral act being done by the guards is accepted. Obviously it is not in all cases that Benthams ideas justify immoral actions but for the sole reason that it does justify them at times it is strongly criticised. Utilitarianism can be seen as quite the opposite, as a very compassionate theory, with the example of widely disputed topic of euthanasia. Utilitarians could argue that killing some one to save them from years of potential suffering is the right thing to do. They are taking into account the desires of the individual and by weighing up pain and pleasure to come to a compassionate conclusion. Nevertheless, Carlyles criticism is a very strong one and in the face of it this where J.S. Mills adaption can be promoted. Mill, attracted by Benthams theory, still saw this great problem with it and attempted to change parts of it to counter the issue. Mill did this by describing happiness as being the thing we are seeking instead of pleasure. He still saw this idea of there as being one sole intrinsic good but it instead of it being a purely physical pleasure he looked at it in in a different way: happiness as a mental pleasure. For what is good and what one desires are different things. This more virtuous attempt at utilitarian thinking promotes mental pleasure often over physical pleasure. Mill thought that my seeing all pleasure as equal was a fundamental problem with Benthams thinking so he believed that by discriminating between different types pleasure and in turn ordering them he could start to move away from the unattractiveness of Benthams utilitarianism. He stated that h e did not see pushpin as being equal to poetry Mill was involving a sense of dignity that he believed all of us had and argued that physical pleasure would in many cases be rated below mental pleasures and so straight away we can see the improvement he has made to the theory in light of Carlyle criticism. Returning to the previous situation in which we see the prisoner being beaten for the pleasure of the guards, now with these higher and lower order pleasure, things are different. Now the utilitarian can argue that the sadistic pleasure the guards are getting out of the beating would rate much lower than say the mental pleasure that comes with being a compassionate human being. So now the suffering of the prisoner outweighs the marginal pleasure, in comparison to a theory with no higher or lower order pleasure, so the act is not justified. Mill said himself that it was better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied and better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfie d. Through seeking out mental pleasure or physical ones Mill would argue we are acting in the right way. It would be obvious in many case which pleasure rates over another, for example sadistic pleasure being badly rated. However one big criticism of Mill is that there are too many situations in which it is too hard to discriminate as to which pleasure rates over the other. One rather tedious example is the question of whether the music of Bach is equal to that of Mozart. Still the criticism raised is an issue. Mill argued for the idea of competent judgement, he stated that one could see if a pleasure was higher than another if the majority of a group of competent judges, one was competent to judge if they had experienced both pleasure in question, came to the decision that it rated over the other. Although Mill is trying to promote right moral action he undoubtedly faces some difficulty in doing so through his utilitarian approach. A label applied to Mills thinking after his time was Rule utilitarianism. This terminology comes about from Mills discussion that from our past experiences we saw it plausible to adhere once again to certain behaviour or decisions that in the past were seen to bring about or promote a great sense of happiness. If the action is always good in different circumstances then we can create for ourselves a type of rule which is that we should always do this certain action in every situation. Bentham was described as being an Act utilitarian as he saw the opposite: every situation should be judged independently every time. Whether or not these labels are a fair representation of the two different theories within utilitarianism is questionable but the strange sense of the utilisation of absolute ideas is interesting. His adaption tries to compensate for the lack of absolutism that is often felt to be essential when looking for a good code of ethics. One example would be promoting truth telling. One should always tell the truth as it brings about peace of mind and is recognised as the morally right thing to do a lot of the time. However by appea sing to the idea of absolutism this section of his thinking takes on the burdens that absolutism bears. The are always certain situations in which the absolute law seems like the worst thing to do; the extreme example used by Kant of not lying to a murderer who is going to kill your friend and asking his whereabouts would seem like a completely immoral act. Also Mill is criticised for falling short in the exact same way that Bentham has. Mill does not discuss the distribution of happiness and similarly we could see his theory allowing unjust or undeserved unhappiness. In terms of number, could we increase the number of sadistic prison guards to an extent where the scale tips back over to the other side again? Through looking at the charge that utilitarianism is a doctrine worthy only of swine I also see it necessary to show that Mill offered proof for the principle of utility. He argued that happiness is desirable as an end, stating that something was visible if people can see it and in the same way something was desirable if people desire it. People do actually desire happiness. Through showing that everyones happiness is desirable and only happiness is desirable as an end I think that Mill is showing that his version of utilitarianism is not a doctrine worthy only of swine instead it is an ethical code promoting a good sense of living. It is true that Mill has succeeded where Bentham appears to have failed so when discussing the charge I do not think you could answer in way that is so black and white. I would argue that this charge against Benthams theory is not undeserved as it seems foolish to be basing a code of morality on the concept of physical pleasure. When looking at this charg e against Mills adapted version I see it as ungrounded. What Mill is trying to Promote is a virtuous code of living in which some one acts in what is considered across the board to be a morally good way of living. I see Mills writing to be worthy of far more than merely swine. Peter Vardy and Paul Grosch-The Puzzle Of Ethics. Pages 63-72 and 81-83, 1999 John Cottingham-Western Philosophy and Anthology. Pages 512-517, 2008 J.S Mill-Utilitarianism and On Liberty: Including Essay on Bentham and Selections from the Writings of Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. Pages 12 -16 John Rawls- Classical utilitarianism, Theory of justice, pages 22-27, Oxford ,1971 pages 22-27

Treaty of Versailles :: essays research papers

At eleven O' clock on the morning of November 11, 1918, the fighting ceased on the western front in France, Belgium. For almost four years the world watched the bloodiest and most expensive wars in history. Now at last, the return of peace that was so desperately desired became a reality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Two months later the representatives of the victorious powers in Paris to write the treaties of peace. The most important of these agreements was first to be completed. In less than four months the representatives of the German government were summoned to a suburb of Paris. There, in the Hall of Mirrors in the Great Palace of the French Kings, they signed the documents that formally brought World War I to an end. The Versailles Palace thus gave the name to one of the most important treaties of Paris and in History. Out of the Versailles Treaty came the league of Nations, one of mankinds attempts to find a means of abolishing war. Many people that signed the Treaty of Versailles struggled with each other. Some people believed there were there to find a just and lasting peace, while others were there with vengeance on the mind towards Germany. The treaty also brought about conditions that aided Adolf Hitlers rise to power in Germany. It also played a significant role in causing World War II, only twenty years later.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the signing of the armistice, discussion in Europe had turned to where the Peace Conference would be held. The question of where this meeting would take place caused discord. The United States and Great Britain favored small cities such as Geneva or Lausanne in neutral Switzerland, but the French insisted on Paris.(Vaughan 10) The reason behind this was because forty-eight years earlier, France suffered a crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, The citizens of Paris watched a Prussian army match down the Champs Elysees and under the Arc de Triomphe(Hankey 23). On January 18, 1871, Bismarck and the German princes had proclaimed the birth of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors of the Versailles Palace(Knapton173). Now that the tables were turned, France wanted to pay back Germany for the humiliation they suffered. The setting for this conference was much different from the 1815 Congress of Vienna. There, a defeated France stood at the mercy of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and British Conquerors. So it was decided on that the conference would take place in Paris.

Ielts Handbook Essay

Introduction This Handbook gives an overview of IELTS for teachers, administrators and other users, including staff in receiving organisations such as universities, professional registration boards and employers. It outlines the key features and administrative procedures for IELTS. The Handbook does not include complete samples of the test components; these are given in the Official IELTS Practice Materials pack, which can be bought from IELTS test centres, or from Cambridge ESOL or IDP: IELTS Australia (see page 20). Additional information is given on the IELTS website www.ielts.org Academic and General Training IELTS is available in two formats – Academic and General Training. The Academic Reading and Writing tests assess whether a candidate is ready to study or train in the medium of English at an undergraduate or postgraduate level. Admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses is based on the results of these tests. The General Training Reading and Writing tests are not designed to test the full range of formal language skills required for academic purposes, but emphasise basic survival skills in a broad social and educational context. General Training is suitable for candidates who are going to English-speaking countries to complete their secondary education, to undertake work experience or training programmes not at degree level, or for immigration purposes to Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is the responsibility of the candidate to inform the test centre whether they wish to take the Academic or General Training Modules. Centres are not responsible for providing this information. The General Training Module is not offered at all test administrations. What is IELTS? IELTS, the International English Language Testing System, is designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English is the language of communication. IELTS is jointly managed by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL), British Council and IDP: IELTS Australia. IELTS conforms to the highest international standards of language assessment. It covers the four language skills – listening, reading, writing and speaking. IELTS is recognised by  universities and employers in many countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. It is also recognised by professional bodies, immigration authorities and other government agencies. IELTS is not recommended for candidates under the age of 16. Test Administration IELTS tests are administered at centres throughout the world – there are currently over 300 centres operating in more than 100 countries. Centres supervise the local administration of the test and ensure the provision of qualified and trained examiners. A full list of centres is available on the IELTS website. Test centres run regular test administrations, according to local need and results are available within two weeks. Candidates receive only one copy of their results but additional copies may be sent by the test centre directly to receiving organisations at the request of the candidate. There are no restrictions on candidates re-taking the test. Test Format Candidates are tested in listening, reading, writing and speaking. All candidates take the same Listening and Speaking tests. There is a choice between Academic and General Training in the Reading and Writing tests. The tests are designed to cover the full range of ability from non-user to expert user. The first three tests – Listening, Reading and Writing – must be completed in one day. There is no break between the tests. The Speaking test may be taken, at the discretion of the test centre, in the period seven days before or after the other tests. A computerised version of IELTS Listening, Reading and Writing tests (CB IELTS) is available at selected centres, but all centres will continue to offer paper-based IELTS and candidates will be given the choice of the medium in which they wish to take the test. Listening Time: approximately 30 minutes Candidates listen to a number of recorded texts. These include a mixture of monologues and conversations and feature a variety of English accents. The recording is heard only once, and candidates are given time to read the questions and write down their answers. Academic Reading Time: 60 minutes There are three reading passages with tasks. Texts are taken from books, magazines, journals and newspapers, all written for a non-specialist audience. At least one of the texts contains a detailed argument. General Training Reading Time: 60 minutes The texts are based on the type of material candidates would be expected to encounter on a daily basis in an English-speaking country. They are taken from sources such as newspapers, advertisements, instruction manuals and books, and test the candidate’s ability to understand and use information. The test includes one longer text, which is descriptive rather than argumentative. Preparing for the Test It is not necessary to attend an IELTS preparation course though it is, of course, a good idea to prepare thoroughly for the test. An order form is given at the end of this Handbook for an Official IELTS Practice Materials pack. This includes a full practice test with an answer key and a CD of the Listening test and sample Speaking tests, so that candidates can get some idea of their level and familiarise themselves with the format of the test. There is also a wide range of published preparation materials. Academic Writing Time: 60 minutes The first task requires candidates to write a description of at least 150 words. This is based on material found in a chart, table, graph or diagram and demonstrates their ability to present information and to summarise the main features of the input. For the second task, candidates write a short essay of at least 250 words in response to a statement or question. They are expected to demonstrate an ability to present a position,  construct an argument and discuss abstract issues. General Training Writing Time: 60 minutes The first task requires candidates to write a letter of at least 150 words either asking for information, or explaining a situation. For the second task, candidates write a short essay of at least 250 words in response to a statement or question. They are expected to demonstrate an ability to present a position, construct an argument and discuss issues. Speaking Time: 11–14 minutes The test is a face-to-face interview. Candidates are assessed on their use of spoken English to answer short questions, to speak at length on a familiar topic, and also to interact with the examiner. IELTS Test Results Marking is carried out at the test centre by trained examiners whose work is closely monitored. This ensures that test results are available without any administrative delay. Results are standardised and usually available within two weeks of the test, and Test Report Forms are sent to the candidates and to the sponsor(s)/receiving institution(s). Test centres are not permitted to give results over the phone, or by fax or email. The completed Test Report Form bears a centre stamp, a validation stamp, the candidate’s photograph and the authorised centre representative’s signature. The authenticity of any Test Report Form can be verified by means of the Test Report Form Verification Service located at https://ielts.ucles.org.uk British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge ESOL reserve the right to cancel any Test Report Form in the event of any attempt to tamper with or misuse the information contained in it. Test Scores IELTS provides a profile of a candidate’s ability to use English. Candidates  receive scores on a Band Scale from 1 to 9. A score is reported for each test component. The individual test scores are then averaged and rounded to produce an Overall Band Score according to a confidential Band Score conversion table. Overall Band Scores and individual test scores are reported in whole and half bands. Test Report Form An example of the Test Report Form is shown on the right. Each test is reported separately as a Band Score, together with an Overall Band Score. A descriptive statement giving a summary of the English of a candidate classified at each band level is provided below and is included on the reverse of the Test Report Form. Has fully operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding. Has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriacies. Misunderstandings may occur in unfamiliar situations. Handles complex detailed argumentation well. Has operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings in some situations. Generally handles complex language well and understands detailed reasoning. Has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings. Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations. Has partial command of the language, coping with overall meaning in most situations, though is likely to make many mistakes. Should be able to handle basic communication in own field. Basic competence is limited to familiar situations. Has frequent problems in understanding and expression. Is not able to use complex language. Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations. Frequent breakdowns in communication occur. No real communication is possible except for the most basic information using isolated words or short formulae in familiar situations and to meet  immediate needs. Has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English. Essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated words. No assessable information provided.

Human Resource Managers in a Multinational Company Essay

1. ‘To what extent are human resource managers in a multinational company restricted by cultural and institutional factors in implementing policies and practices across their subsidiaries? Discuss your answer giving examples.’ In the face of globalization, organisations struggle to develop the human resource management strategy (HRMS) between global integration and local differentiation. This is regarded as a critical concern for multinational enterprises (MNEs) since they suffer from cultural and institutional differences to integrate HRM practices and shape HRM activities to operate abroad. Regarding that, each cultural and institutional factors are developed over its history with unique insight into managing the organisation, the appropriate HRM practice would vary. The differentiation in national culture and institution call the different management practices that need to be concerned significantly especially for multinational companies’ managers. Researchers highlight the congruence between these factors and HR practice for higher organsational performance. When the HRM practice fits with the basic value shared by employees, the job satisfaction, employee motivation and commitment will be attained. This comes with the implication that cultural and institutional factors are pivotal in shaping the decisions and policies of managers of organisations. In this essay, it will explain what is the institutional and cultural factor with theoretical approach. After that it will suggest implications of institutional and cultural perspective for International Human Resource Management to answer how these factors influence in implementing management policies and practices. According to Hofstede (1991), Culture refers to the â€Å"shared sets of beliefs, values and norms† that is programmed into an actor’s mind. It is regarded as the psychological ‘software’ and sets of informal rule, while institution is more ‘hardware’ of modified and negotiated legal systems that actors follow. The institutionalism emphasises the legitimacy, which organsations struggle to acquiring and maintaining in relation to the environment. One of the new institutionalist theories, the ‘Variety of capitalism’, treats the corporation as a relationships network that locates organisation in its  stakeholders with employees and with competitors. The approach highlights the importance of institutional complementarities that argue the success of an organisation depending on the capability to coordinate effectively. The theory draws two types of political and economic structures across nations. One is the liberal market economic orientation (LME) and the other is the coordinated market economic orientation (CME). Companies in some North-Western European countries including Germany and Switzerland with CMEs tend to have highly structured arrangements in labour market that form strong trade union. Banks in these countries are highly coordinated with firms and have long-term capital. In contrast, there are loose hire and fire labour market regulations and dispersed international investors in the U.K and U.S.A where classified as LMEs. The source of finance in these countries is the stock market, with the clear difference. The figure1 demonstrates that corporations in these different types of systems do not operate in the same market. Figure 1. Institutions across sub-spheres of the political economy Source: Hall and Soskice, (2001) It shows the positions of OCED countries that describe institutional character in the financial and labour market. The higher development in a stock market implies higher dependency on market coordination with emphasis on financial criteria, whereas a higher degree of protection for employees is likely to rely more on non-market criteria. The flexible labour market in LMEs is suitable to easy access to stock market capital. Due to the competitive market conditions, firms in LME markets highly emphasise the financial performance rather than long-term strategies. Nervous investors such as those from the hedge fund tend to hesitate to investing in companies with long-term and uncertain employee training that ties capital in workers’ skills. Conversely, long-term employment arrangement and long-term capital remain in the essence of CMEs. The institutional considerations lead to different types of organisational behavior and investment patterns that shape different HRM policies and practices. Firms in LMEs emphasise short-term competition that likely treat  employees as disposable resources. Employees’ performances are appraised individually with a financial incentive system so managers are empowered to control HRM with considerable autonomy. Investments in employee training and development are classified as ‘overhead.’ `In contrast, HRM polices in CMEs regard employees as valuable assets for sustaining a competitive advantage thus tend to make a greater effort in investments in product innovation and employee development encouraging employment stability. In the system, the higher degrees of job security and work force commitment are derived, since its employment regulation and laws are protected from strong trade union and government. Moreover, different business systems across nations also significantly impact HRM issues. The issues including working hours, scheme of performance appraisal and job contract are highly influenced by local institutional arrangement. The MNCs in Japan prioritize work organisation, which contains quality oriented and flexible practice, and their HR practices are adopted to be suitable with this approach. Likewise, German MNCs, where short run financial ratio is not a greater concern, rely more on long term strategies that highly regulate the hours of work and worker participation. In this regard, the ability of MNCs to fit various institutional arrangements with the local environment is essential to have an advantage in global operations. The evidence from the survey conducted by Guest and Hoque (1996) show that MNCs in Germany do not implement their ‘best practices’ into subsidiaries in the U.K. such as long-term employment plans, union perception and employee training. Another crucial factor managers from MNCs should consider for effective HRM is culture. It is assumed as ‘the major source of differentiation’ in managerial behavior among different nations. One of the most widely cited approaches to culture, Hofstede’s study (1980), classifies four cultural dimensions based on the survey data from 116,000 IBM employees. The study suggests possible origin and consequence for managerial behavior in different dimension contexts. Power distance reflects the dependent relationship between superior and subordinate. Companies in high power distance subordinate have high dependence to superior with greater reverence through the hierarchical structure. Uncertainty avoidance measures different degrees of preparation for future risk and ambiguity. In risk adverse  organisations, rule making and bureaucracy are placed to deal with possibilities of risk and members prefer to behave what they are expected. Individualism versus collectivism dimension reveals the different level of desire to feeling that they belong with a group. At last, masculinity versus femininity dimension presents different values that masculine and feminine society prefer differently. Highly masculine societies have a higher tendency to be competitive since high earning and challenging careers are important values for employees. In societies with femininity tendencies, values related to satisfaction, security and cooperation are emphasised. The study highlights the importance of culture to coordinate different managerial behavior for international businesses. Another cross-cultural approach, Hall’s study (1976) classifies cultures into low and high context cultures, each with distinct demands and preferences. The culture characterizes the nature of human relationship, communication and authority. For example, the line of distinction between high and low context cultural communication has been particularly documented. According to Hall and Hall (1990), in high context communication, speakers tend to utilize relative indirect style of communication. On the other hand, in low context communication, speakers often employ more or less direct communication style. Clearly, these communication dimensions area is an overlap of the individualism-collectivism from Hofstede’s study. Collectivist societies often concern about minimizing the chances of hurting other parties. These groups emphasise the value conformity and traditions. It is for this reason that they prefer to use high context communication. The team members of collectivists often prefer communicating directly with their leaders. They are often concerned about avoiding responses that are negative, a move that is aimed at maintaining harmony. Any form of communication is aimed at fostering interpersonal communication. The tendency is reversed in individualist societies where each member pays more attention to personal goals and interests. The different communication styles and human relationships naturally relate to the different preferences of organisational structure that shape the HRM practices and policies. The culture influences multiple aspects of HRM, thus it is likely to be  effective when HR practice and policy fit with the culture. In regard to recruitment, collectivistic cultures prefer network based recruitment method like employee referrals. The method is supposed to enhance employee commitment and loyalty that strengthens the social network. Since collectivism highlights cooperation rather than individual achievement, it more considers candidates’ ascribed statuses more than personal skills and knowledge. Conversely, employers in an individualistic organisation select candidates based on necessary abilities through highly structured methods such as bureaucratic interviews. Similarly, the organisation with high uncertainty avoidance index prefers open recruitment with the use of more structured selection method as it is highly correlated with formalisation. In terms of performance appraisal, individualised appraisal and rewards are highly correlated with individualism and lower degree of uncertainty avoidance. Regarding that various reward practices based on individual performance would result in uncertainty it is less likely to emerge in risk adverse society. The incentive scheme may also not be needed in high power distance cultures since subordinates are more likely to be motivated by superiors’ direction. The merit-based selection and promotion, which consider individual performance and contribution to the organisation is related to individualism and low level of power distance. It is opposed to the value from collectivism and femininity that emphasise group harmony and cooperation. In conclusion, institution and culture significantly influence in managerial behavior. It is needed to take institutional and cultural factors into consideration in shaping and adopting management policies and practices. Cultural and institutional factors are so varied that they integrate all the factors oriented towards social and ethical responsibilities, which is a major focus for contemporary organisations. Cultural values demands that decision and policies that managers make reflect the interests of the society, including those of the institutions. Since the inappropriate management concept may trigger misunderstanding and conflict among subsidiaries it is vital for effective management. Clearly, Institutional and cultural researches contribute to analysing and understanding various manifestations of HR across a border. However, managers should take careful  consideration before implementing specific HR practices or policies to prevent overly deterministic connection from the theoretical context. In order to achieve successful performance, MNCs have to adjust and moderate management practice in accordance with the local environment. The differences in a business system, local environment and culture between home and host countries are the significant determinants for both evolutions. References: [1] Aycan, Z. (2005), ‘The interplay between cultural and institutional/structural contingencies in human resource management practices’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(7), pp. 1083-1119. [2] Earley, P.C. (1994), ‘Self or group? Cultural effects of training on self-efficacy and Performance’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 39(1), pp. 89-117. [3] Gomez-Mejia, L.Y & Welbourne, T. (1991), ‘Compensation strategies in a global context’, Human Resource Planning, 14. pp. 29-42 [4] Guest. D. & Hoque, K. (1996) ‘National Ownership and HR Practices in UK Greenfield Sites’, Human Resource Management Journal, 6(4), pp. 50-74. [5] Hall, E.T. (1976), Beyond culture, New York: Anchor Books [6] Hall, E.T. & Hall, M.R. (1990) ‘Understanding Cultural Differences’, Yarmouth, MA: Intercultural Press. [7] Hall, P.A. & Soskice, D. (2001) ‘An introduction to varieties of capitalism’ in Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press [8] Hofstede, G. (1980), Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values, California: Sage Publications [9] Hofstede, G. (1991), Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Berkshire: McGraw-Hill [10] Tsui, A.S., Nifadkar, S.S. & Ou, A.Y. (2007) ‘Cross-national, cross-cultural organizational behaviour research: Advances, gaps and recommendations’, Journal of Management, 33 (3), pp. 426–478. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Earley, P.C. (1994), ‘Self or group? Cultural effects of training on self-efficacy and Performance’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 39(1), 89-117 [ 2 ]. Hall, P.A. & Soskice, D. (2001) ‘An introduction to varieties of capitalism’ in Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Page 1. [ 3 ]. Hall, P.A. & Soskice, D. (2001) ‘An introduction to varieties of capitalism’ in Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Page 4. [ 4 ]. Tsui, A.S., Nifadkar, S.S. & Ou, A.Y. (2007) ‘Cross-national, cross-cultural organizational behavior research: Advances, gaps and recommendations’, Journal of Management, 33 (3), pp. 426–478. [ 5 ]. Aycan, Z. (2005), ‘The interplay between cultural and institutional/structural contingencies in human resource management practices’, Internationa l Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(7), pp. 1083-1119. [ 6 ]. Gomez-Mejia, L.Y & Welbourne, T. (1991), ‘Compensation strategies in a global context’, Human Resource Planning, 14. pp. 29-42

Positivism vs Interpretivism

Positivism vs Interpretivism Positivism is an approach in sociology that believes society can be studied using similar scientific techniques to those used in the natural sciences. (Browne, 2006) This concept tends to produce quantitative data and Concerned with hypothesis testing. (Collis and Hussey, 2003) Interpretivism is an approach emphasizing that people have consciousness involving personal beliefs, values and interpretations and these influence the way they act. They do not simply respond to forces outside them. Browne, 2006) This concept tends to produce qualitative data and concerned with generating theories. (Collis and Hussey, 2003) Research topic Gaspar (2005) pointed out that employee in a competition environment is encouraged to work more efficiency in a company. However, Kurland. (1996) said that employees working in high competition environment will do some unethical behaviour for their achievements. Two of these research articles have different opinion, so there is a question which is high competitive whether help a company or it breaks a company down.Therefore, my research topic is â€Å"does running high competition system help a company to become successful in long term? † Application of research philosophies This topic through Positivism conducts qualitative data for exploring the relationship between competition and productivity. Researcher should use experiments methods to research this topic. For example, in a sales department, researchers can separate two different groups of the employee one of the group is getting stable salary and the other one is getting commission salary.Based on the data of two different group’s employee, to compare its working time, output and time required for specific work to see whether the competition system can increase the productivity in this company. Also, research can use surveys to collect some data such as the amount of unethical behaviour between normal working environment and high compet itive working environment to see which environment happen more unethical behaviour in a company.This topic through Interpretivism conduct qualitative data for reflecting the research like find out reasons why the productivity increases in the company. Researchers create some questionnaires for employees to get some opinions. For example, researcher asks employees why work hard even if he is ill. At the end, the researcher will sum up all of the opinion from employees to show the phenomenon. Also, researchers can directly observe employees emotion and behaviour to analyse why they have this action.For example, in a sales department, researcher sees the employee may lie to the consumer for getting more commissions which the researcher will use the opinion by itself. In conclusion, Interpretivism is a better philosophy in this research topic, because it will consider the reason why the productivity increase or employees do unethical behaviour. This result of the research is more useful for this topic. In Positivism, it just uses some data to prove the productivity increase but it cannot provide reasons to explain the relationship between competition and productivity.