Face-to-Face Communication Is a Better Way of Communication Essay

Imagine that your sweetheart keeps talking to you through telephone, the Internet or letters and refuses to meet you face to face even for a meal, what will you do? If I were you, I must be getting crazy! But things like this often happen in nowadays’ society. With the development of communication industry, people are getting used to various so-called fast ways of communication. Personally, however, no matter how fast and convenient those other communication modes can be, I think we should never abandon the most original way of communication—face-to-face communication, which is more vivid, interactive and easier for us to promote relationships with others. Face-to-face communication can make it more fun and vivid to talk to others, because it contains much more nonverbal languages than other ways of communication. When you talk to a person face to face, you make eye contacts with each other, by which both of you can exchange your inside emotions. Furthermore, by observing the person’s gestures, you can also dope out his personalities and decide what kind of person he is. And maybe the least important one is that, as the old saying goes,† all men search for beauty†, you can view the appearance of the person you are talking to, which might cause you rub out the birth of love if both of you are satisfied with each other’s appearance. All of these make it attachable for us to feel the person we are talking to is a real and touchable individual. There are times when you have to deliver exact information to other people, and at such times face-to-face communication will be your first choice, because it creates an interactive and efficient conversation. Firstly, when you are talking to a person face to face, both of you can raise questions about anything you can’t understand, so that the other person involved can explain it clearly in time, which contributes a lot to eliminate the misunderstandings and barriers of your communication. Secondly, a person’s tone and voice can suggest his present mood, which can make it easier for you to perceive his subtle changes of emotion. Finally, in face to face communication, you can tell whether the words the person spoke are authentic through observing his facial expression , which can also ensure that the person you are talking to is a faithful one. All of these can make your talking more successful and efficient especially when you are negotiating with someone. Maybe the biggest advantage of face-to-face communication s that it can deepen your relationship with others, because it can kill the distance among people. When communicating face to face, you can see the smile on the person’s face, which will make you feel warm and kind; you can hug each other when you’re getting excited; and even a handshake can make you feel the respect from the other person. All that can make you get closer to each other, which may be hardly made attachable by communicating through telephone or e-mail. For instance, we are far away from home as college students, even if we call our parents almost everyday, we still feel homesick and lonely. Why? Because telephone can never make us feel as close as meeting each other face to face. And so does it among friends, if we don’t meet each other face to face as often as possible, we will soon feel that our relationships are getting cold. In conclusion, with all factors taken into consideration, I totally agree that face to face communication is better than any other type of communication. Now, try to communicate with people face to face and you will find it more colorful and efficient than calling others through telephone or greeting each other just by sending an e-mail!

Contribution Margin and Break Even Analysis

Many factors come into play in determining business success. One of them is the financial factor. For a company to set financial goals it is crucial that its management know in detail the products or services they sale or provide. This is the analysis of two different scenarios at Aunt Connie's Cookies Simulation (University of Phoenix, 2011) and the financial performance of Jamestown Electric Supply Company (Heiter, et. al. 2008). During both analysis I applied concepts like fixed and variable costs, contribution margin, break-even point, indifference point, and operating leverage. Aunt Connie's Cookies Scenario Simulation  The Aunt Connie's brand grew successfully producing Lemon Creme and Mint cookies. Maria Villanueva is the current chief executive officer of this family-owned company (University of Phoenix, 2011). She faces critical decisions to make because both the lemon creme and mint cookies prices increased and sales volume decreased. Maria should apply several accounting concepts to reach her goal of increasing sales and revenue for the company. Some opportunities and challenges lined up for Aunt Connie's Cookies like large bulk orders and the buyout of a competitor's factory (University of Phoenix, 2011). A confectioner commissioned Aunt Connie's Cookies to fill a bulk order of one million packages of the Real Mint cookies delivered in one month's time. The stipulations of the order weights greatly on the company as the confectioner will only pay $1. 20 per package, which is much cheaper than the mass market selling at $1. 50 per packet. Rejecting the order may seem foolish as Aunt Connie's Cookies has the capacity to produce the order, and could be missing out on a good opportunity if she declines to fill the order (University of Phoenix, 2011). In deciding which cookie's production to reduce, Maria took into account the concepts of contribution margin, unit contribution margin, and operating profits. This decision was necessary to create sufficient capacity to accommodate the mint cookies bulk order. The contribution margin is the amount of money that remians from the revenue obtained after sales to pay for fixed expenses and to contribute to the operating profits after deducting variable expenses. Alternatively, the unit contribution margin of each unit sales, in this case each pack of cookies adds to profit. Finally, operating profit is the profit earned from a company's core business operations, also known as earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). Maria calculated the contribution margin and the unit contribution margin for each type of cookie, determined to reduce the production of lemon creme cookies and to increase the production capacity for the bulk order of real mint cookies. Maria can sell mint cookies at $1. 20 per package, below the selling price of $1. 50 because the real mint cookies provide a greater total contribution margin and that the lemon cream cookies provides a greater unit contribution margin. Maria knew that Aunt Connie's Cookies should produce more of the cookies with the greater contribution margin per unit to maximize the shop's operating profit. If the scenario changed, and the bulk order was for lemon cookies, Maria would have to turn over the order to the confectioner. The unit contribution margin for the lemon cookies is smaller and Maria would have to increase the production capacity to make the same operating profit as for the mint cookies, to the point of going beyond the factory's production capacity. Maria faced the opportunity to buy a peanut butter cookie plant. She could use this plant to make more lemon creme cookies because the near-term demand exceeded 600,000 packs. The challenge for Maria is to make a decision about going forward or not with this business (University of Phoenix, 2011). If the new plant has a break-even volume of creme cookies of 650,000 packs, Maria must ensure that Aunt Connie's Cookie shop sales the same amount of packs or more. If the business sales less, it will make a loss, if it sells more, it will be a profit. The break-even point in volume is the point where the plant's fixed expenses are covered. In the case that Maria considers Aunt Connie's Cookie shop cannot sell that much, she may ensure viability of the plant by (1) trying to reduce the fixed costs (e. g. renegotiating rent, reducing telephone bills, insurance, etc. ), (2) trying to reduce variable costs (e. g. purchasing at lower cost the ingredients used to make cookies), or (3) increasing the selling price of the cookies. Any of these strategies can reduce the break-even point in volume. In the worst of the scenarios, Maria should not buy the peanut butter cookie plant. Key Learning Points. During the simulation I applied several concepts such as contribution margin, break-even point, fixed and variable costs, indifference point, and operating leverage. All these concepts interrelate and form part of the cost volume profit analysis tool. The application of these concepts by managers help organizations attain good financial performance. Cost volume profit analysis (CVP analysis) is a powerful tool that can help managers in understanding better the relationship that exists among the cost, the volume, and the profit in a business. Managers can make good business decision if they concentrate in trying to understand the interaction that exists among (1) the prices of product or services, (2) the level of activity, (3) the volume of product , (4) the variable cost per unit, (4) the total fixed costs and (5) and the mixture of the product or services. Business decision may be about changes to company's pricing policy, selection of a marketing strategy to use, choosing which products to manufacture or services to provide, and even about the acquision of new companies. The break-even point (BEP) is one element of CVP analysis. BEP is the level of output at which the profit is zero. Break even analysis helps managers determine how far sales can decline before their companies start to lose money. The indifference point is the volume at which costs for both labor-intensive operations and equipment intensive operations are equal. When volumes increase, revenues increase. However, the presence of lower variable costs per unit in equipment-intensive operations ensures that the operating profits increase more significantly when compared to labor-intensive operations. Equipment-intensive operations have higher fixed costs and lower variable costs per until when compared to labor -intensive operations. Jamestown Electric Supply Company. Jamestown Electric Supply Company has been in business for 45 years. The company designs, manufactures, and delivers electrical supplies in various forms to different type of businesses. Jamestown invested heavily in research and development of automotive electronic technology to provide its customers with modern functionality, safety, and performance. Jamestown products have outstanding features that create competitive advantage to commodities that customers regard as standard features on all automobiles. Jamestown has hundreds of diverse contracts with different divisions and plants of each of the major automobile manufacturers. Most of the contracts show good gross profit margin on sales, but others do not show acceptable bottom-line profits or show no profit. Although Jamestown's sales, continue to rise, profit declined in the period under analysis from 2003 to 2007 as showed on Exhibit One. Jamestown top managers believe that if sales growth remained positive, the problems with the profit would resolve. Warehousing and shipping managers think that customer service expenses are out of control and causing significant cost increases for the company. Jamestown customer services include overnight delivery of electronic component products, just-in-time inventory deliveries to client's plants, warehousing of client parts, special part support services, and many other customer services designed to gain and maintain clients. Exhibit One. Jamestown Electric Supply Company Income Statements for 2003 to 2007. Electric Supply Company financial performance is in jeopardy and top management have to change its customer service policy and marketing strategy after carefully analyzing the information obtained after performing a CVP analysis. The focus of the analysis should be in understanding the relationship between product price, volume, per unit variable cost, and the mix of products sold by Jamestown Electric. Calculating the contribution margin on the products which Jamestown Electric sales will allow management to know more in detail how much each unit sale will contribute to the company profit. Calculating the break-even point will provide information about which products do not bring either profit or loss, and about how far sales can decrease before Jamestown Electric starts to lose money. James Electric product cost structure has a higher percentage of variable costs than in fixed costs, which involves less operating leverage or risk. One of he options management should consider is to closely monitor the variable expenses incurred by customer service in order to increase the company profits. Jamestown Electrical Supply Company management will definitely benefit from setting a regular schedule to analyze contribution margins either monthly or quarterly to track product margin performance more accurately. Conclusion Managers can help their organizations achieve a good financial performance when they apply basic accounting concepts in their business strategic plans. Knowing the existing relationship between these concepts contribute to ensure their organization's financial success.

Discussing Foot Reflexology Among Elderly Health And Social Care Essay

This chapter deals with the treatment of the informations analyzed based on the aim and hypothesis of the survey. The job stated is â€Å" An experimental survey to measure the effectivity of foot reflexology among aged people † . The treatment was based on the aims of the survey and the hypothesis specified in the survey. With regard of demographic features of the sample in of experimental group, the bulk 10 ( 33.33 % ) of aged people belong to the age group of 66-70yrs and 17 ( 56.67 % ) of the aged people were male,8 ( 26.67 % ) of them were illiterate, 11 ( 36.67 % ) of them were from Christians faith, 9 ( 30 % ) of them were divorced,12 ( 40 % ) of them were sedentary workers, 9 ( 30 % ) of them are gaining less than 1000 rupees and 3000-5000 rupees per month. There by 12 ( 40 % ) were populating in the urban country. With respect of demographic features of the sample in control group, the bulk 9 ( 30 % ) of the aged people were from the age of 71-75yrs, 16 ( 53.33 % ) of the aged people were male 11 ( 36.66 % ) of them were completed their, primary instruction. 11 ( 36.67 % ) of them were from Hindu religion,12 ( 40 % ) of them were married,13 ( 43.33 % ) of them were heavy workers, 9 ( 30 % ) of them are gaining less than 1000 rupees per month and 14 ( 46.67 % ) were populating in the semi urban country.The first aim was to measure and compare the pre and station trial degree of psychological well being among experimental group.The analysis of pre intercession degree of psychological well being of experimental group revealed that the bulk 15 ( 50 % ) were non good. The analysis of station intercession degree of psychological well being of experimental group revealed that the bulk 20 ( 66.66 % ) of them sing moderate degree of psychological well being. The experimental group showed a average value of 3.4 with standard divergence of 0.66 in pre assessment degree and a mean of 1.83 with standard divergence of 0.67 in station appraisal degree. The deliberate ‘t ‘ value was 13.7 which showed a important difference between the pre and station trial degree of psychological well being among experimental group of aged at P & lt ; 0.05 degree. Hence the research hypothesis stated H1 denotes that †there is a important difference in pre and station trial degree of psychological well being among aged people of experimental group † was retained at P & lt ; 0.05 degree. Kim, Hyang & A ; Hye Gyung ( 2002 ) assessed the effects of pes Reflex Therapy on Health Status of Institutionalized seniors utilizing a quasi-experimental design. Pre and post-experiment steps were compared. Institutional seniors were selected as the experimental group and 15 as the control group. Foot automatic therapy was performed to the pess of seniors in the experimental group for 30 proceedingss twice a hebdomad for a month a sum of 8 times. The effects of pes reflexology on physical wellness such as systolic/diastolic force per unit area, pulse rate, respiration rate, musculus endurance, legerity, and psychological wellness such as perceptual experience of wellness position, perceptual experience of hurting, sleep form and religious wellness such as quality of life of institutionalised seniors were evaluated. The informations were analyzed utilizing SPSS + Personal computer 10.1for window with frequences, agencies and standard divergences, Chi-square trial and t-test. The sur vey provided support that pes automatic therapy for seniors promotes positive physiological responses, psychological wellness and quality of life. From this consequence it can be concluded that pes automatic therapy is effectual as a intercession for wellness publicity in seniors.The 2nd aim was to measure and compare the pre and station trial degree of psychological well being of the aged people among control group.The analysis of pre intercession degree of psychological well being revealed that the bulk of aged people in control group holding 15 ( 50 % ) were mildly good. The analysis of station intercession degree of psychological well being revealed that the bulk of 16 ( 53.33 % ) of the aged people in control group were mildly good. The control group showed a average value 3.23 with a standard divergence of 0.67 in pre assessment degree and a average value of 3.46 with a standard divergence of 0.66 in station appraisal degree. The calculated't ‘ value was 0.92 which showed that there is no important difference in the pre and station assessment degree of psychological well being in control group. Hence the research hypothesis stated H2 denotes that there is a important difference between the pre trial and station trial degree of psychological wellbeing among aged in control group was rejected at P & lt ; 0.05 degree.The 3rd aim was to compare the pre trial degree of psychological well being between experimental and control group of aged people.The experimental group showed a average value of 3.4 with standard divergence of 0.66 in pre assessment degree and the control group showed a average value 3.23 with a standard divergence of 0.67 in pre assessment degree. The deliberate ‘t ‘ value was 0.67 which showed that there was a no important difference between the pre and station trial degree of psychological well being of the experimental and control group at P & lt ; 0.05 degree. Hence the research hypothesis stated earlier that H3 denotes â€Å" there is a important difference between pre trial degree of psychological well being among experimental and control group of aged people was rejected at P & lt ; 0.05 † degree.The 4th aim was to compare the station trial degree of psychological well being between experimental and control group of aged people.The experimental group showed a mean of 1.83 with standard divergence of 0.67 in station appraisal degree and the control group showed a average value of 3.46 with a standard divergence of 0.66 in station appraisal degree. The calculated't ‘ value was 7.98 which showed a important difference on the station trial degree of psychological well being between experimental and control group. This revealed that the degree of psychological well being in station trial degree in experimental group is enhanced than the control group. Hence the research hypothesis stated earlier that H4 denotes â€Å" there is a important difference between station trial degrees of psychological well being among experimental and control group of aged people was retained at P & lt ; 0.05 degree. Williamson, White, Hart & A ; Ernst ( 2004 ) did a randomized controlled test of reflexology for menopausal symptoms for Seventy-six adult females, aged between 45 and 60 old ages by utilizing the Women ‘s Health Questionnaire ( WHQ ) , the primary steps being the bomber scores for anxiousness and depression. Severity ( ocular parallel graduated table, VAS ) and frequence of flowers and dark workout suits Women were randomized to have nine Sessionss of either reflexology or nonspecific pes massage ( control ) by four qualified reflexologists. Mean ( SD ) scores for anxiousness fell from 0.43 ( 0.29 ) to 0.22 ( 0.25 ) in the reflexology group and from 0.37 ( 0.27 ) to 0.27 ( 0.29 ) in the control group over the class of intervention. Mean ( SD ) scores for depression fell from 0.37 ( 0.25 ) to 0.20 ( 0.24 ) in the reflexology group and from 0.36 ( 0.23 ) to 0.20 ( 0.21 ) in the control ( foot massage ) group over the same period. For both tonss there was strong grounds of a clip consequence ( P & lt ; 0.001 ) but no grounds of a time-group interaction ( P & gt ; 0.2 ) .The research worker concluded that pes reflexology was effectual in cut downing the menopausal symptoms like depression and anxiousness.The 5th aim was to tie in the pre trial degree of psychological well being among experimental group and control group of aged people with selected demographic variables:Association of pre assessment degree of psychological well being with demographic variables done utilizing chi-square trial. Data findings revealed that there was statistically important association in the pre trial degrees of psychological well being in experimental group merely with their age, educational position and faith. And besides the informations findings revealed that there was important association in the pre trial degrees of psychological well being of the control group merely with their age. Hence the research hypothesis H5 stated denotes that â€Å" there is a important association of pre trial degree of psychological wellbeing among experimental group and control group of elderly selected demographic variables was partly retained at P & lt ; 0.05 degree.The 6th aim was to tie in the station trial degree of psychological well being among experimental group and control group of aged people with selected demographic variables:Association of station assessment degree of psychological well being with demographic variables done utilizing chi-square trial. Data findings revealed that there was a important association in the station trial degrees of psychological well being of the experimental group with their matrimonial position. And besides the informations findings revealed that there was no statistically important association of station assessment degree of psychological well being in control group with their selected demographic variables. Hence the research hypothesis H6 stated denotes â€Å" there is a important association of station trial degree of psychological wellbeing among experimental group and control group of elderly selected demographic variables at was denied P & lt ; 0.05 degree.

Data Desgin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data Desgin - Essay Example Then I would calculate the percentage of change of these expenses over a long enough period to smooth seasonal fluctuations and display them on a line graph, which is easy to interpret. The slope of the line of the office supplies compared to similar items consumed in the department would show whether my boss' assertion was true or not. 3. I would display the data in the form of a standard bell curve. This would reveal the average reading level of the students, which would be an appropriate target for a curriculum if all other things were equal. However, this type of distribution display would also show if there other factors to take into account, such as a significant number of "outlier" scores, or skewness, or large standard deviations. 4. Though the city council asked for the average, averages can be severely influenced by unusually low or high scores, so I would also give them the mode, because by knowing the most frequent score, they would know at what income level the largest number of people would be affected by any social program with income qualifications or cut-off points that the city council might consider. 6. I would compile minimum funding level requests/requirements for all the agencies the organization supports, then compare those levels to the funding granted by the organization.

Inventory management Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Inventory management - Term Paper Example The intention of this study is operations management is the oversight function for the process of production and distribution of goods and services. Operations management is mainly concerned with the organization of tasks in such a way as to attain specific predetermined goals. These involve the production of goods and services. The production of goods and services can be described as the passage of raw resources known as inputs through a process to get finished goods and services known as the outputs. Inputs include information, raw materials, labor, capital and fixed and variable assets. Outputs include products for other processes, final products or services to clients. Functions within operations management include planning, setting goals, staffing, directing, controlling and organizing. An operations strategy is a well laid out, consistent and achievable set of targets, and should be related to the market and overall organizational strategy. Inventory is associated with function s such as storage, which is related to the need to keep inventory items safe and cycle, which describes the amount of stock required to be maintained at a time. Other inventory functions include fluctuations which describe contingency stock required at any time to cover unexpected shortfalls. Transportation and service encompass the movement of stock items into and out of the organization and their required maintenance. Inventory can be categorized into raw materials, work in progress or finished goods. Raw material is stock intended for the production of goods and services. Work in progress is stock that is currently undergoing processing but which is yet to be fully processed. Finished stocks refer to goods ready for sale to the end consumer and include packaged goods. Other stock categories include consumables such as office stationery and machinery spare parts that are not directly attributable to the production process. Different organizations will hold different stock varieti es and quantities depending on the particular production and processes that they are involved in. While a manufacturing company for instance will hold both stocks of raw inputs and finished outputs, a supermarket will only hold stocks of finished goods and consumables (Donald & Waters, 2003). 2.2 Inventory supply management Inventory moves into and out of an organization frequently. All organizations at some point become customers, while at other times they are simply suppliers. As such, it is important to consider the handling of stock in transit. This effectively introduces the functions of the supplies department in stock management. The supply chain represents activities and organizations through which inventory passes as it heads towards its final destination. Supply chain management is an oversight function on the channels of inventory flow. Inventory supply chains can be described according to their length or breadth. Length of a supply chain is when a stock item has to pass through many suppliers before reaching the final consumer. One may for instance buy milk directly from the farmer or through a broker or from the supermarket. In the first example, the length is short as the milk does not have to pass through many people before reaching the final consumer. Breadth refers to the channels that an inventory item uses on its way to the consumer. A person can for instance get milk from the supermarket, shop, shopping mall or even from the farmer (Donald & Waters, 2003). A smooth supply chain function ensures that the business gets the right goods, in the right

Daoism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Daoism - Essay Example becoming an Immortal.† (Reninger). When Jing, Qi and Chen are cultivated, the individual can achieve a healthy state of mind and body. The three energies, the reproductive energy known as Jing, life energy known as Qi and spiritual energy, Chen are essential for maintaining health and this practice helps in transmutation of these energies. The loss of bodily fluids can result in the loss of Jing, vital force in the human body. In the Daoist Spiritual Practice of "Inner-Alchemy, an individual is helped to free himself from desires. This freedom from desires will result in preventing the loss of Jing through the bodily fluids. Jing is cultivated by practices which teach the person to control his physical desires and avert the discharge of bodily fluids. Qi can be cultivated by keeping one’s mind pure; the mind is trained to focus on the goal the person wants to achieve through the practice of Inner-Alchemy. Chen, the spiritual energy is cultivated by union of the body and mind. In this practice, one form of energy is transmuted into another and this process is reversed again to maintain the balance of yin and yang in one’s body. The three energies are utilized to maintain the balance of life. â€Å"The goal is to preserve, restore and transmute the energies within into their natural state that existed at conception, to their primordial state of Tao that existed before awareness of the world dissipated them.† (Fowler). The ultimate purpose of this practice is to extend longevity of human life and attain immortality. This practice aims at aiding an individual in the achievement of spiritual, physical and mental health. When a person succeeds in achieving these aims, his/her life can be free of health disorders, leading to a long and healthy life. The balance of yin and yang which is essential for preserving the human body and mental

Why bad projects are so hard to kill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Why bad projects are so hard to kill - Essay Example Bad projects are continued because of charismatic project champions who can easily influence key decision-makers in blindly supporting the project. Royer provides the example of Lafarge, where project members revealed that they immediately supported the project because the project champion believed it to be a future winner (53). When the â€Å"emergence of belief† in the project’s achievements is combined with strong management desire for success, the result is blind allegiance to a poorly-planned and assessed project (Royer 53). The power of charisma and grandeur visions of success can cloud the planning process and omit risk-assessment (Resch 41). Royer notes that some of the negative repercussions of bad projects are: large financial losses and resignation of exit champions. Lafarge lost $30 million (in 1992 dollars) and a new mineral-fillers manager who questioned the bad project’s feasibility (52). This manager represents exit champions who would have encour aged a critical approach in assessing the bad project. Widman provides some positive effects of bad projects, such as leading to new more promising projects. For instance, IBM 7030 or â€Å"Stretch† failed to be a feasible and profitable project, but resulted to the inventions of â€Å"pipelining, memory protection, memory interleaving and other technologies that have shaped the development of computers† (Widman 1). Thus, failed projects can lead to large losses of money and talent, but some can also lead to new

Governments and Markets Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Governments and Markets - Research Paper Example Review of the Speech Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American citizen and lawyer. He is also a renowned commentator and politician. In his speech at Harvard University on government and marketplace, Eliot Spitzer addresses a wide variety of issues on the relationship between government and the economic domain. Basing his arguments on experience especially as a former state attorney general and a later as the New York governor, he discussed issues such as government intervention, the limits of government interference and means of reforming the corporate governance (Zimmerman, 2005). Gov. Eliot Spitzer divides his speech into three distinct and comprehensive areas. These are outlined as follows: the parameters of government intervention in the market place, response to the media cases and the reflection on proper governance. Eliot Spitzer observes that government involvement in the present-day American economy is limited. Gov. further divides his first subject of the speech into three are as of study. According to Eliot Spitzer, only the government can enforce rules relating to the integrity and transparency in the market place. ... He precisely points out the government’s weakness in carrying out unrealistic projects that he terms as â€Å"too big to fill.† According to him, too big to fill is too big not to fill. He further emphasizes that the US and its people needs new laws and not regulators who do not want to use the powers they have for the good of the economy. In accordance with his view, such regulators are only interested in creating crises of which they take advantage to get more power and promotions. On proper governance, he cites recent statistics on the ratio of the average CEO’s compensation to that of the average worker, which has unexpectedly grown from 40:1 to 550:1. On the other hand, he claims that the CEOs do not really provide value ten times the average worker in their respective places of work. He also criticizes the shareholders who are not interested in taking the much tougher task of reforming such corporations. Concepts Agreed with Eliot Spitzer’s view on t he role of the government in enforcing laws and regulations that relate to the integrity and transparency in the market is a brilliant idea. The market is only a single aspect in the coordination process of economic mechanisms (Stonehouse, 2004). The mechanism, however, consists of the market, government, and other firms. Without proper enforcement of non-price factors and laws, the market cannot function efficiently. The market mechanism can only handle gradual and secondary transformations. However, it is not enough to accelerate the development of supply competence and endorse self-motivated comparative advantage only. Consequently, some amount of government intervention is requisite to harmonize market forces at every level of market growth (Marquardt, 2012). However, the

Discipline Investigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Discipline Investigation - Essay Example This discipline investigation helped me to understand the role of the project manager in an organization as a well as the requirements of the position. The paper will expand on the interviewee’s background, career path as well as his responsibilities and roles as a project manager in an organization. Interview Summary Background and Career Path The subject of the interview is called Dr Sridar, a senior project manager at Cisco Company. Dr Sridar has also taught at San Jose State University for over twelve years and worked for over six years at the Cisco Company. Initially, before joining the Cisco Company as project manager, Dr Sridar has served in various institutions. Sridar started as an ordinary employee in the company before working hard to attain an administrative position. Dr Sridar later became the assistant project manager in the company before becoming a full project manager. His past experiences gave him the required experience in dealing with issues that affect the project management department. ... Needed The 6 years experience in management position has proved to be effective in advancing Dr, Sridar’s experiences and competencies in his management roles. In his management responsibility, Dr. Sridar makes maximum use of past work experiences, skills, and competencies on information technology network management, Information technology project management and Information technology business intelligence. Dr. Sridar was motivated to work as a project manager in the Cisco Company by different conflicting reasons. To begin with, Dr. Sridar had over the years acquired adequate knowledge in business management. The management position in the Cisco Company gave Dr. Sridar an opportunity to do more research and learn more on business operations and management. Dr. Sridar is highly motivated by his desire to acquire more knowledge on information technology invention, and innovation. In his career path, Dr. Sridar’s interest to join Cisco Company as a project manager was mot ivated by his endless desire to work in a competitive and popular company in the country. However, despite being invited to work in big companies, Dr Sridar had a strong desire to work in the company. The interviewee’s current job was motivated by his personal initiative as well as his past knowledge and experience. Before joining the management position in the Cisco Company, one is expected to have certain essential skills, competencies, and experiences. A project manager in the Cisco Company is expected to have a post graduate degree in business management. The manager should also have the ability to conduct relevant and valuable research relevant in the company’s operations and goals. The Cisco Company’s project manager should have the interest and capability of arguing and thinking in a

Three Branches Of Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Three Branches Of Government - Essay Example The leaders are elected by the parties in both the Senate and the house of the representatives. The leader of the party controlling the house is called a majority leader while minority leader is the leader of the minority group. The executive branch makes official laws and is headed by the president who is elected for a term of four years by the entire nation. The laws passed by the legislative branch have to be approved and carried out by the president. The vice-president and other cabinet members are also a part of this branch. Other duties of the president include appointing or removing cabinet members, negotiating treaties as well as acting as the commander-in-chief and the head of state. The cabinet also gives advice to the president on important issues and is made up of heads of 15 major departments of the government such as the secretary of labor, education, defense, state etc. (Three branches of government, Web). The third branch of the government is the judicial branch which is responsible for administrating the court system of the country. The head of the judicial branch is the Supreme Court which is responsible for explaining the constitution and the laws passed by the Congress. The Supreme Court is made of one chief justice, eight associate judges and nine justices. The nominations of the judges are made by the president but have to be approved by the Senate. Decisions made by the Supreme Court are final and no one can deny these decisions. (Three branches of government, Web).

Answer the history eassy questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Answer the history eassy questions - Essay Example The human civilizations on the banks of the great rivers suffered from seasonal variations of flood and dryness and so their early wall defences and storage systems helped to even out the extremes. Also, by introducing irrigation systems they were able to extend the reach of their agriculture, making wider and wider margins of cultivable fields. The more crops they had, the more people they could sustain, and the more armies they could form, which had the disadvantage of facilitating wars. There was also competition for the water resource which caused tensions between different groups. Sometimes irrigation disturbed the water flow further downstream and this caused conflict and hardship when water was in short supply. The Egyptians had the most effective and long lasting leadership and this may have something to do with the way that the leaders were absolutely tied in with religious beliefs. The people regarded them with awe, and worshipped them as gods. The rulers also amassed considerable wealth through trade and the capturing of a great many slave workers, and they consolidated their power through strategic marriages and excellent diplomacy. Government and religion were merged together in a system called Theocracy which means that the gods are in charge in Egypt, Mesopotamia and China. Kings and priests worked together and there is evidence of this in the Pyramids, which are the burial places for the priest/king rulers known as Pharaohs. Their mummies and tombs show pictures of how they ruled. Chines rulers founded dynasties, passing power on from one generation to the next. There are relics such as books and vessels which show Chinese civilization was very advanced. The â€Å"Mandate of Heaven† is assumed to last for a certain period with each dynasty, until people rebel, and a new dynasty takes over. The rulers created stability so that the population could produce good crops and develop societies. Different

Solar Energy Essay Example for Free

Solar Energy Essay Solar Energy is one of the many renewable sources that is produced by the sun in the form of light and heat. It is one of the most important non-conventional sources of energy due to the fact that its free and we have plenty of it. Humans have been using it since ancient times. Solar energy can be use two ways, we can convert it into heat energy or it can converted into electricity. It has had a rapid growth in recent years, accounting for less than one percent of electricity used in the United States today. The market exceeds sales of 29 billion dollars and 1. billion of that money goes to the United States alone with California leading the way. Solar panels give off no pollution, the only pollution produced as a result is the goods and devices needed to make the panels. Some renewable fuels can be noisy like wind turbines, solar energy makes electricity quietly. Installing solar panels in remote locations is usually more cost effective than laying high voltage wires. It can be very efficient in large areas, and with technologies improving everyday, it allows for more efficient energy production on overcast and dull days. Another great example is that panels can be installed on top of rooftops which allows for more space. The use of solar energy to make electricity allows the user to become less dependent on the worlds fossil fuel supplies. This is very good for the environment. Just like everything good, solar energy has its cons. The cost it takes to make the cells for the solar panels can be very expensive and some houses may need more than one. Another example is that some panels required the sun all day, so that means that in the nighttime, the panels are not producing energy. Also weather can affect the efficiency of solar cells. Even with all the cons, the pros still outweigh the cons when it comes to solar energy. Take china for example, it has become the top country in green energy especially in solar power. It accounted for half the world’s production last year and the top three companies in China all said that the numbers are rising. Since they have become successful, more countries are looking towards solar energy. Shell has predicted that by 2040 more than 50 percent of the world’s energy will come from renewable sources. In the end, the future of solar energy promises to play a larger role thanks to the developments that could result in lower cost. As a matter of fact, the solar PV industry plans to provide half of all the United States electricity generation by the year 2025. That means that in the next few years it is expected that millions of households in the world will be using solar energy. More and more people especially architects are becoming aware and are recognizing the value of solar panels and learning how to incorporated into the building designs. This will be better for the environment and overall for the people. Who wouldn’t want lower electricity bills and greener world.

Impact of Teamwork on Organisational Problem Solving

Impact of Teamwork on Organisational Problem Solving Can Groups and Teams be seen as the silver bullet to solve organisational problems? Reflect critically on this issue drawing on theory and research. Introduction In recent years, the implementation of groups and teams has become more commonplace in firms: 78% of US workplaces use teams (Allen and Hecht, 2004) and 72% of UK organizations involve their core employees in formal teams (Kersley et al., 2013). However, scholars have generally been divided about the effectiveness of teams in solving challenges in the workplace, with varying empirical results and evidence. Despite their popularity, are groups and teams always beneficial to workplaces? In observing the drawbacks of implementing teams, it is suggested that alternative factors are equally important in solving organizational problems. This essay attempts to show that teams are not the silver bullet for all organizations by critiquing populist theories on benefits of teams, discussing additional problems that may arise from teams and lastly, by questioning the assumptions of this essay. Although Katzenbach and Smith (1993a, p.45) defined team as a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable and working group as a small number of people working in a collaborative style with individual input and accountability, I will use groups and teams interchangeably and not draw a distinction between the two terms for the most part of this essay. This is in line with many writers (e.g. Allen and Hecht, 2004), who regarded them as the same and that teams are two or more people working interdependently towards achieving a common goal. Section 1: Critiquing popular theories on benefits of teams Historical view of teams: Sociotechnical systems theory (STS) The term STS was originally coined by Emery and Trist (1960) to describe systems which involve a complex interaction between people, machines, and the organizations external environment; it was about utilizing the human and technical aspects to make an organization more effective. STS was the basic foundation for the empowerment of teams, arguing that as workers gain more autonomy over their jobs, team members can make greater use of their skills and judgment to better tackle organizational problems (Cohen et al., 1996). Groups were suggested as an alternative to routine Tayloristic and Fordist frameworks by reducing boredom and by allowing workers to be more involved and interested in their tasks. This works in theory, but teams may not be that autonomous or beneficial in practice. Murakami (1997) studied the introduction of teams in fourteen car plants worldwide and although teams were given some autonomy about work distribution and internal leadership, he found that managerial power in the most important areas of car production remained unchallenged. Barker (1993) argued that while teams may appear to give workers more autonomy over their jobs, groups may represent a more subtle and intensive form of control as team members can control each others actions through surveillance or social pressures. Besides that, research has indicated that in becoming group members, individuals often lose their problem-solving facilities, become emotionally segregated and blame others for their failure (Wells, 1980 cited in Sinclair, 1992, p.616). In line with that, Naquin and Tynan (2003) agreed that teams receive joint credit for successes but often blame team failure on an individual member , leading to conflict within the group. Dunphy and Bryant (1996) argued that the implementation of self-managed teams shifts the burden of problem-solving from managers to employees, leading to intensification of work and heightened stress levels. This is in line with Rothschild and Whitt (1986) who revealed that groups can often be a source of stress rather than satisfaction and have a negative effect on employees well-being. Nevertheless, even if some workers enjoy their job more through teams, there is no evidence that this will always lead to improved performance. Some researchers have suggested that job performance leads to job satisfaction but not the reverse (Bagozzi, 1980). And even if it does improve individual performance, it may not necessarily lead to organizational effectiveness in solving problems (Sinclair, 1992). Belbins Team Roles Another theory which popularized team effectiveness was Belbins model of team roles. Belbin identified nine team roles/ contributions that are seen to be crucial for organizational effectiveness (Belbin, 1993). Each team role is considered important because it helps to provide a good balance for achieving tasks. The essential contributions are solving problems, exploring resources, coordinating tasks, imparting drive, evaluating information, developing team members, implementing ideas, perfecting details, and providing knowledge. Some modern workplaces form teams on the basis of Belbins team profiles as they supposedly allow organizations to recognize and use others strengths to best advantage (Belbin, 2014). To a certain extent, Belbins model of teams and team roles may appear to solve certain organizational problems. For example, problems at organizations may occur due to ambiguity and role conflict. When there is role ambiguity, workers are uncertain which responsibilities they should tackle, leading to anxiety. This may also lead to conflict if one worker believes that another is impinging on their role, putting newcomers in a difficult position as they are apprehensive of taking on tasks (Slaughter and Zicker, 2006). By clearly defining team roles using Belbins model, organizations may be able to avoid some of these problems. However, Belbins model has been re-examined with mixed results. For example, Fisher (1996) argued that Belbin team roles have little psychometric support and that it is unreliable to use it as the basis for team roles. Another criticism is that Belbin insinuated that there are only a limited number of ways in which people can usefully contribute to teams when in practice, roles are complex and varied. Imposing team roles onto people and expecting them to contribute to workplaces in a certain way may lead to stereotyping. For example, an individual who is actually more efficient working alone may be accused of being a bad employee just because they are not a team player (Sewell, 2001). Apart from that, Belbins original research mainly focused on upper-management level executives in Britain in the 1970s, consisting mostly of middle-class white men. This does not mean that Belbins theory of teams and team roles cannot be applied to other cultures, but it could be biased as the research was based on a specific demographic. Katzenbach and Smiths Wisdom of Teams Katzenbach and Smith (1993a) argued that teams will always outperform individuals when teams are properly understood and supported. They suggested that the mutual accountability, commitment, and skills of team members will encourage open discussions and critical problem-solving. The better teams will move beyond individual responsibilities and pursue team performance goals like increasing work quality or responding to customers faster, reducing inefficiency problems. Storey (2007) argued that this theory adopts a unitarist view of management where employees and managers are constantly in pursuit of higher productivity, which may not always be true in practice. The main critique is that Katzenbach and Smith wrote from their personal work experiences (Wilson, 2013). Their research had no solid empirical evidence and while they claimed to collect information through interviews, they did not divulge how they analyzed the data. They were also inclined to ignore public service sector or third sector examples, which could make their findings biased. Additionally, this theory played down the intrinsic qualities of organizational problems such as job satisfaction or workers feelings and personal motivations. Metcalf and Linstead (2003) argued that this approach is masculinist as it adopted a view that only emphasized better performance, with the soft components such as sensitivities and feelings of members being marginalized. However, to successfully solve organizational problems, we should consider both masculinist and soft aspects as organizational problems can be related to both. Hence, this theory fails to explain why teams would be the solutio n to all challenges. Section 2: Problems that arise from implementing teams Social loafing Secondly, teams should not be seen as a panacea because they may cause even more organizational problems. One of the problems that arise from teams is social loafing, colloquially known as free riding or laziness. Simply stated, it refers to a situation in which certain members of a group exert less effort than the others (Clegg at al., 2016). Primarily, people exert less effort in groups as they feel less accountable when they know other members will compensate by exerting additional effort on their behalf (Harkins and Szymanski, 1989). Ezzamel and Wilmott (1998) observed workplace social loafing in a company they dubbed StichCo. When teams were introduced to StitchCo, the younger and more inexperienced workers with no responsibilities were less pressured to increase their wages through bonuses. They were seen to reap the advantages of a shared team bonus, working below the minimum level of efficiency while older workers overcompensated for their lack of efforts. This created resentment and conflict among those workers who were working harder. Although challenges occur when implementing team roles as discussed earlier, one way of countering social loafing is by ensuring that team members have clear responsibilities and accountability. Theoretically, one would assume that social loafing would be much less likely to exist in work teams because team pressures can be a powerful source of conformance. Sewell (1998) pointed out that non-performing team members may be pressured to perform or leave through immense social pressures. Hence in some ways, conformance and cohesion can cancel out social loafing. Groupthink Nevertheless, cohesion in groups are not always beneficial to organizations as it may cause another problem: Groupthink. Janis (1982) coined the term Groupthink when he studied historical situations where teams with prestigious and well-educated members make disastrous decisions, such as the Bay of Pigs incident. One key characteristic of Groupthink is when members choose to stand by decisions that the group has committed itself to, despite evidence that these decisions are bad or disturbing the conscience of its members. Janis argued that the more cohesive the group, the more likely it is for each member to avoid creating disunity. It is not so much that the members are afraid of revealing their objections, but that they will readily accept the majority decision without scrutinizing its pros and cons. Groupthink also brings about risk shift, an illusion of invulnerability and enthusiasm for a decision that polarizes the group towards higher risk. For example, in May 2015, six banks were fined a total of $5.7 billion for manipulating foreign exchange markets. The traders appeared to reinforce each others belief that they were not going to be arrested, allowing them to knowingly break the law (King and Lawley, 2016). The concept of groupthink therefore undermines one of the main argued benefits of teams: workers sharing multiple perspectives to examine potential risks and to better solve problems. However, Janis argued that this does not mean all cohesive groups suffer from groupthink and that mild Groupthink may not necessarily influence the quality of a groups decision. Furthermore, there are ways to avoid Groupthink: the team might encourage people to voice their opinions by establishing that any critique of the teams decision is encouraged or some members may be assigned to analyze all decisions in a critical way. Alternatively, the organization may set up several independent groups working on the same problem and compare the decisions reached. Section 3: Questioning the assumptions of this essay Groups vs Teams We will now discuss if it is possible for teams to be the silver bullet when they are defined correctly or implemented in the right settings. One of the main assumptions of this essay is that groups and teams are the same. However, Katzenbach and Smith (1993b) argued that while many workplaces claimed to use teams, in practice, teams are uncommon as most workers are in what they called working groups. Working group members mostly work independently and focus on individual performance whereas high performance team members focus everything on the team. Since team members rely on each other and focus on team outcome rather than individual needs, they can exploit each others strengths to better tackle challenges. So perhaps, the failure of teams found by researchers such as Hackman (1998) were due to people using the term team too loosely in the workplace, when they were in fact, the failure of working groups. Katzenbach and Smith (1993b) argued that it is important to distinct working groups and teams so that managers can make better decisions about whether, when, or how to encourage and use teams. By properly defining teams, we can learn when they should be seen as a solution to organizational problems. Size of teams and organizational context This essay also used Allen and Hechts definition of a team: two or more people working interdependently towards achieving a common goal (2004). This definition is quite vague, when in workplaces, the size of a team is very important and should be defined according to the task. For example, larger teams may be inefficient for routine tasks due to overcrowding, but they are good for complex tasks as smaller teams will not have enough resources or abilities (Clegg at al., 2016). Nevertheless, Laughlin (2011) found that high ability individuals can outperform groups composed of two, three, four or five low ability members. So while team size definitely has an effect on team performance, more research needs to be done to fully understand how different factors mediate the effect of team size on effectiveness. This brings us to the next assumption of this essay: groups and teams are not the silver bullet for all organizations. However, teams can be very effective if they are used in the suitable organizational context. Wright Cordery (1999) proposed conditions for teams to succeed and fail in outperforming other organizational frameworks and there is evidence that system-wide changes are better at solving organizational problems than individual changes (Bacon Blyton, 2000). Thus, it is critical to recognize that effective problem-solving does not magically occur simply by introducing teams; time, high-level resources, and revamped support structures need to be in place to create a high performance team-based organization. Only then, perhaps teams can be perceived as a silver bullet to organizational problems, although creating the perfect setting for every task would be nearly impossible. Conclusion In a nutshell, this essay argued that teams are not the panacea by examining opposing views and limitations of popular theories such as STS, Belbins team roles, and Katzenbach and Smiths Wisdom of teams. It also discussed additional problems that may arise and questioned the assumptions of this essay to demonstrate the pros and cons of teams in different situations. Due to the word limit, this essay did not discuss all the challenges which would prevent teams from working effectively (e.g. resistance to teams, leadership of teams). Nevertheless, the original essay question remains important as teams can be effective or destructive depending on how and where they are implemented, so they should not be used sweepingly across organizations. Instead, future research on teams should be done in various industrial settings to properly define teams and to examine other factors which would affect their effectiveness in problem-solving. References Allen, N.J. and Hecht, T.D., 2004. The romance of teams: Toward an understanding of its psychological underpinnings and implications. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77(4), pp.439-461. Bacon, N. and Blyton, P., 2000. High road and low road teamworking: Perceptions of management rationales and organizational and human resource outcomes. Human relations, 53(11), pp.1425-1458. Bagozzi, R.P., 1980. Performance and satisfaction in an industrial sales force: An examination of their antecedents and simultaneity. The Journal of Marketing, pp.65-77. Barker, J.R., 1993. Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self-managing teams. Administrative science quarterly, pp.408-437. Belbin, R.M., 1993. Team roles at work. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Belbin UK, 2014. How toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Use Belbin to Increase Employee Engagement. [pdf] Cambridge: Belbin. Available at: http://www.belbin.com/media/1173/belbin-howtousebelbintoincreaseemployeeengagement-oct2014.pdf> [Accessed 23 December 2016] Clegg, S., Kornberger, M. Pitsis, T., 2016. Managing Organizations. Fourth edition. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Cohen, S.G., Ledford, G.E. and Spreitzer, G.M., 1996. A predictive model of self-managing work team effectiveness. Human relations, 49(5), pp.643-676. Dunphy, D. and Bryant, B., 1996. Teams: panaceas or prescriptions for improved performance?. Human relations, 49(5), pp.677-699. Emery, F.E. and Trist, E.L.,1960. Socio-technical Systems. In C.W. Churchman M. Verhurst (Eds), Management Science, Models and Techniques, Vol. 2, pp.83-97. London: Pergamon Press. Ezzamel, M. and Willmott, H., 1998. Accounting for teamwork: A critical study of group-based systems of organizational control. Administrative Science Quarterly, pp.358-396. Fisher, S.G., Macrosson, W.D.K. and Sharp, G., 1996. Further evidence concerning the Belbin team role self-perception inventory. Personnel review, 25(2), pp.61-67. Hackman, J.R. and Tindale, R.S., 1998. Why teams dont work. Theory and research on small groups. New York: Plenum Press Harkins, S.G. and Szymanski, K., 1989. Social loafing and group evaluation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 56(6), pp.934-941. Janis, I.L., 1982. Groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes (Vol. 349). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Katzenbach, J.R. and Smith, D.K., 1993a. The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Katzenbach, J.R. and Smith, D.K., 1993b. The discipline of teams. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Kersley, B., Alpin, C., Forth, J., Bryson, A., Bewley, H., Dix, G. and Oxenbridge, S., 2013. Inside the workplace: findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Routledge. King, D. and Lawley, S., 2016. Organizational behaviour. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Laughlin, P.R., 2011. Group problem solving. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Metcalf, B. and Linstead, A., 2003. Gendering Teamwork: Reà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Writing the Feminine. Gender, Work Organization, 10(1), pp.94-119. Murakami, T., 1997. The autonomy of teams in the car industry a cross national comparison. Work, Employment Society, 11(4), pp.749-758. Naquin, C.E. and Tynan, R.O., 2003. The team halo effect: why teams are not blamed for their failures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(2), pp.332-340. Rothschild, J. and Whitt, J.A., 1989. The cooperative workplace: Potentials and dilemmas of organisational democracy and participation. CUP Archive. Sewell, G., 1998. The discipline of teams: The control of team-based industrial work through electronic and peer surveillance. Administrative science quarterly, pp.397-428. Sewell, G., 2001. What Goes Around, Comes Around Inventing a Mythology of Teamwork and Empowerment. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 37(1), pp.70-89. Sinclair, A., 1992. The tyranny of a team ideology. Organization studies, 13(4), pp.611-626. Slaughter, J.E. and Zickar, M.J., 2006. A new look at the role of insiders in the newcomer socialization process. Group Organization Management, 31(2), pp.264-290. Storey, J.W. (2007) Human resources management: A critical text. Third edition. London: Cengage Delmar Learning. Wilson, F.M., 2013. Organizational behaviour and work: a critical introduction. Fourth edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wright, B.M. and Cordery, J.L., 1999. Production uncertainty as a contextual moderator of employee reactions to job design. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(3), pp.456-463.

A History Of The British Labour Party Politics Essay

A History Of The British Labour Party Politics Essay The Labour Party is a political party in Great Britain that is just about 110 years old. The party was formed in 1900 as an outgrowth of the trade union movement and to change Parliaments interests. The reason the Labour Party wanted Parliament changed was because the people who formed the party felt that Parliament was not representing the interests of everybody in Britain. The people who felt neglected by Parliament were hard working people, socialists, and unionists. During the early stages, the Labour party struggled to make an immediate impact in Britains political system and the partys leaders had to do something about their struggle. The Labours leaders worked with Liberal Governments during 1906-1914 to help themselves gain some form of political ground. The Liberal parties eventually split in 1916 and the Labour Party saw this as a perfect opportunity to obtain power. The 1918 election proved a pivotal point for the Labour Party and even though they did not win the general e lection, they came away with one-quarter of the vote. The reason the 1918 election was so successful for the Labours was because of World War I coming to an end and the growth of womens suffrage. On December 6, 1923, the Labour Party won the general election and finally reached the major political office for the first time in its partys history. The party only held office for a few months under Ramsay MacDonald, and failed to get reelected for a second term. A main reason for the party not getting reelected was because of the Zinoviev letter. The letter was published in British press stating that there were connections between Russian Communists and the Labour Party. Due to anti-communism in Great Britain, the Labours lost the 1924 election as well as 40 seats in the House of Commons. The Zinoviev letter later turned out to be forgery, but the damage was already done to the Labour Party. The Labour Party would rebound later in 1929, but the major election they won came in 1945. The crucial election followed after the Second World War. When the war ended in May 1945, Winston Churchill called for a general election a few months later in July. The Labour Party was running under the slogan of Let Us Face the Future, and its message was that Britain cannot return to poverty and unemployment like the 1930s. The Labour Party also promised to remove disease, want, squalor, ignorance, and unemployment. The Labours ended up winning in a landslide and this presented the party with the opportunity of making significant changes for Great Britain. After the crucial election in 1945, the Labour Party once again was elected in 1950 and this marked the first time in the Partys history where they won consecutive elections. Following the 1950 election, the Labour Party would only be in office for around 14 years till 1997. The Conservative Party dominated the general elections, winning three consecutive terms in 1951-1959 and four consecutive terms in 1979-1992. This was a result of internal fighting of the Labour Party and as a consequence, people detached from the party to form the Social Democratic Party in 1981. All of these effects left the Labour Party out of dominance for nearly three decades and would not come back to power until Labour Party candidate Tony Blair was up for election. Blair had become the party leader in 1994 and won the 1997 general election in a landslide. Blairs term was also called the New Labour because it was seen as a separation from the old Labour for having different policies such as one known as the Third Way. The New Labour term was proven to be the right fit for Blair because he won the next two elections and this became the Labour Partys first time winning three cons ecutive elections. Blair did not become very popular with Great Britain and its citizens because of his stance on the Iraq War. Blair ended up resigning on June 27, 2007 and Gordon Brown was handed the Prime Minister position after Blairs resignation. Gordon Brow was the Chancellor of the Exchequer during Blairs term as Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a Cabinet position responsible for all economic and financial matters. The economy was one of the main concerns for both Blair and Brown, but Blair had to overcome Thatcherism and implement a new strategy for fixing the economy. There were many ideological platforms that Blair ran during the 10 years of being Prime Minister, but one of the main ones was reworking the economy. The way Blair

Time Devices :: essays research papers

Definition of "'Time"': Term used to describe how long it takes to an event to occur. Time is used to classify events to "Events that happened" and "Events that will happen". It seems that time passes in the same pattern, and that time is equal to all but the "Theory of Relativity" proves otherwise. "Time is a relative thing" according to Einstein, which came out with the theory of Relativity. History of time: Records of time keeping are found 25,000 years ago, but of course, they weren't as accurate as now a days. Man used nature to indicate time e.g. Full Moons. It is widely suggested today that time was kept in a "Calendar"' way. This means that they divided the time into big units and could only tell the time in specific occasions. e.g. a normal person, 20,000 years ago couldn't tell his partner the time at any given period. He had to wait that the moon would go full, or the sun will dawn, or by looking at the stars, etc. They almost couldn't describe when in the future, a thing is to happen. They would say something like "In 2 full moons and a high sun we'll go hunting". He couldn't tell exactly in how many hours or minutes things will happen because as I said before Nature was his time keeper + The term "Seconds", "'Minutes, "Hours", etc, didn't exist back then. As mankind evolved, better ways to keep track of time were found. Man invented more and more devices as he evolved, and some of these devices are listed in the next section: Clocks: A time device used to keep track of the passing time. A clock must have 2 basic components: 1. Power Source 2. A "Release Power" source. Up till the beginning of the 1800's, sun clocks were the leading time devices worldwide. During the 14th century, the Italian Donadi family were the first to draw numbers on those sun clocks. The invention of the spring for clocks during the 16th century and the pendulum in 1671 were the first steps toward the replacement of the sun clocks with mechanical clocks. The hand clock (watch) was invented by A French Company named Berege back at 1810. During the 1800's a drastic advancement has occurred in mechanical clocks with the invention of the naval time keeper which is used up till today by sailors to find their position in an area.

Analysis of Joy Williams Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp Essay

Analysis of Joy Williams' Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp is an essay written by Joy Williams, about the overwhelming complacency that todays culture shows towards nature.Williams argues in a very satirical way, that todays culture has all but completely lost touch with what nature really is, and that unless we as a nation change our morals regarding the role that nature plays in human existence, we may very well be witnessing the dawn of our own destruction. An Evaluation of: Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp Williams is very satirical in the presentation of her topic, and the way that she addresses the reader from the very first paragraph is very interesting inasmuch as she is almost offensive with her gestures. This served it's purpose well as an attention getter or hook, but it was a little over done to the point of being unecessarily redundant. If the author's intention was to seem obsessively passionate about her topic then she did a wonderful job, but if her aim was to provide helpful information regarding the seriousness of her percieved problem, then she may have offended some of the readers that would have benefited most from understanding her point of view. Also the reader gets the impression from the authors voice that she is very pessimistic about the future, almost as if she has given up and is simply lashing out in anger at the percieved harbingers of this atrocity. She starts by bringing a pessimistic view to photographs of nature, by describing what may or may not lie just outside the boundaries of the picture. Mockingly she leads the reader to assume that there are no real nature photos left in the world, but rather only digitaly enhanced photos of nature wit... ...ral issue that many humans contemplate seriously while changing the disposable diaper on their baby?s bottom, without having to be thankful for the technology that supplies it, or wonder what it must have been like without them. I personally agree with Williams, and because I stand on her side with regards to human culture and our disrespect for nature, I was moved by her sarcasim and how eloquently it was directed towards those who ceaselessly overindulge and waste the few precious natural resources that we have left. Mine is a position of turmoil, as I stand rapt in awe at how wonderfully creative our race is, but at the same time how horribly destructive. The wonders that we have created in my short lifetime, the technological advances that we have made as a race are a testament to the power we possess. But so is the trail of damage we have left in our wake.

Political Philosophy and Major Theme Machiavelli Essay

Machiavelli had a true and abiding love for Florence. He wanted to make Florence great and also find himself a job, as he lost his when the Medici family came into power. He dedicated his book on political science, The Prince, to Lorenzo Medici in the hopes that Lorenzo would be impressed and offer him a job. However, Lorenzo ignored the book and Machiavelli. The Prince is a didactic examination of political power, how to achieve it, maintain it, and expand it. Machiavelli does not take into consideration what is morally right, or amoral, only what is useful and useless. The book is more like a technical manual, and technical manuals only state the facts. The book defines what turns a mere man into a great ruler and what turns a great ruler into a mere man. Machiavelli’s book of politics is unique because it is so realistic. He does not place man in a false utopia where man live in eternal peace and harmony, everyone doing good to one another for the good of the public whole. Rather, he writes a manual where there are political conflicts and tensions. Machiavelli writes how a prince should deal with these conflicts and tensions. He condones cruelty, punishment, religion, rewards, compassion, and integrity to achieve power. Whatever means to achieve the end. QUESTIONS 2. Discuss Machiavelli’s â€Å"heroes†. Select one and discuss the traits that he finds admirable in that person. Be specific. Machiavelli’s heroes are Moses, Cyrus, Romulus and Theseus. They all formed civilizations. When Machiavelli talks about his heroes he is speaking of how to acquire a princedom. As Isiah Berlin says in his essay, Machiavelli admired these heroes because they were high-minded, tough, and tough enough to use brutality against the few, to help the public good of the princedom. He especially admired Moses because he was worthy to talk to God. Moses had the opportunity to create a new civilization with the Israelites because they were being treated badly by the Pharaoh . Therefore, Moses took advantage of their discontent with their new master and led them in a revolt. Eventually creating a new civilization. Machiavelli admired Moses because of his strength of character that carried him through the difficult trouble of gaining power. 3. Discuss Machiavelli’s opinions on the uses of cruelty to accomplish certain goals. The Prince is about the ways to achieve political power, with no preference for the way in which it is achieved. Machiavelli does not advocate unnecessary cruelty. His book is only about how to obtain and keep a princedom. Machiavelli believes that cruelty is sometimes necessary to acquire or/and keep political power. Machiavelli recognized that in the time he lived a political ruler would have to use cruelty, he writes, â€Å"The new prince, above all princes, cannot possibly avoid the name of cruelty†. He also states in Chapter VIII that cruelty may be useful sometimes in achieving certain ends, but it would bring no glory. 1. What does Machiavelli think of â€Å"the people† in the course of human history? Machiavelli refers to â€Å"the people† as â€Å"the masses†, lots of times. He realizes that â€Å"the people† are a dominant force in politics, whether it is a democracy or a republic. When a princedom is added to an already established kingdom, he writes that the customs must be the same between the two and that no new taxes or laws should be enacted. To do so would cause the people to revolt and the recently acquired princedom would be in jeopardy. Machiavelli realizes a prince cannot keep political power if his people hate him. A hostile population may abandon him or turn against him when hostile noble attack, then the prince will lose the kingdom. Machievelli also believed that a prince may â€Å" make an example of a very few† be execution of severe punishment, but that letting the population bring disorder among themselves was bad for the whole community. Therefore, Machiavelli was wary of â€Å"mob rule†. Machiavelli realizes that â€Å"the people† have to be relatively happy for a princedom to be healthy. 4. In general, what is Machiavelli telling his â€Å"Prince† with regard to the use of power? Machiavelli’s entire book is about power. How to achieve a princedom with power. Power over â€Å"the people† with cruelty (or punishment); power over other princes with deceit or a bigger army or powerful friends; power over the army with cruelty and/or money. He speaks of control over captured cities by dividing them into factions, disarming the people or forming hostilities among the people. All of these things achieve power. A prince must also be more powerful than his counselors, listening and gleaning knowledge but making his own decisions; because a weak prince will do whatever his counselors tell him and then his counselors will take over the princedom. EVALUATION OF BOOK I think this is one of the most interesting books I’ve read in a while. It’s dry, realistic, terse, and to the point. It’s also very easy to read (I was pleasantly surprised). All of the historical connotations are especially interesting. I read that Hitler, Mussolini, and Lenin found Machiavelli valuable reading; I would like to delve more into that one!! In the Renaissance religion and learning were beginning to be thought of as separate and Machiavelli was a man of his time. His book was entirely didactic and did not have a trace of religion. He spoke of cruelty and deceit in matter-of-fact tones and kept his book strictly a manual, with no judgements. In our modern time, we have to discern his book in the same manner that he wrote it. If we do not, we will not understand what he was writing.

Characters in your answer Essay

   Nearer the end of the book, he deals with another situation he faces in a very childish, careless manner, showing that he just wants it over with as soon as possible, and that he doesn’t really care about what is happening, just about himself and his reputation. TJ is about to be hung on Granger Land, by the nightmen for shooting Jim Lee Barnett, and instead of stopping them from murdering TJ, Mr Granger simply says they have to do it on someone else’s land. â€Å"Mr. Granger sent word by me that he ain’t gonna stand for no hanging on his place. He say y’all touch one hair on that boy’s head while he on this land, he’s gonna hold every man here responsible. † However eventually Harlan Granger does stop the hanging, to deal with a different difficulty that he is faced with, but his only true motives for this are because the Logan land is on fire and firstly he wants the land, and secondly he doesn’t want the fire to spread and destroy his own land. â€Å"Dry as that timber is, a fire catch hold it won’t stop burning for a week. Give that boy to Wade like he wants and get on up there! † All in all, Harlan Granger’s ways of dealing with difficulties and situations that he is faced with are not well thought out, and he only deals with them out of selfishness, or for his own reasons rather than to help others. Papa is an adult like Harlan Granger, but he too has different ways of dealing with difficulties and situations that he is faced with. Papa deals with things he more logical way. He shows braveness, and philanthropy throughout the novel, dealing with things in a way that will benefit others more than himself, if not solely for others. At the end of the book, when TJ is in trouble, Papa shows the best signs of doing all he can to help others. Even though the Logans are not well off, Papa sets fire to their cotton field, in order to distract the nightmen from hanging TJ, because he knows that they will come and try to put it out. This results in uniting the community. â€Å"Papa stared out as a bolt of lightning splintered the night into a dazzling brilliance. † He is clever, because like Cassie, he plans the situation before he goes through with it, working out how he can make the fire look accidental, realising that the lightning could have struck. He doesn’t tell a soul or admit to it, so that no harm can come to him. â€Å"folks thinkin’ that lightning struck that fence of yours and started the fire†¦ † â€Å"It’s better, I think that you stay clear of this whole thing now David†¦ † â€Å"†¦ Or somebody might start wondering about that fire†¦ † For his final difficulty, Papa is faced with his four children asking what will become of their friend, TJ. He doesn’t lie to them, and yet he doesn’t directly answer their question when they ask if TJ could die, so he is not hurting them but they still know. â€Å"I ain’t never lied to y’all, y’all know that. † â€Å"Well, I†¦ I wish I could lie to y’all now. † To sum up Papa’s character, he is very much like his daughter, calculating, clever, and planning everything, but he is much wiser, and doesn’t act childish. His actions usually result in helping other people, they rarely hurt people unnecessarily. He is very unlike Harlan Granger, because he doesn’t have his own private agenda. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mildred Taylor section.

Case Study Parrot Head Essay

How can we consider Jimmy Buffet as members of a reference group? A brand community. The definition of a reference group is the people of whose attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, preferences, and values are used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgment. One does not have to be (or even aspire to be) a member of a reference group to be negatively or positively influenced by its characteristics. Jimmy Buffet fans are a part of reference group because they each relate to each other with similar beliefs and behaviors and all have a common bond in following the music of Jimmy Buffet and follow the themes of the fan base similar to dead heads (Grateful Dead). It seem that this reference group aka parrot heads are also part of a nerd group by themselves. Parrot heads is also a humanitarian group and has over 200 different clubs and volunteer groups and charitable events for communities for a charity. This reference group notonly attends Jimmy Buffet concerts but they also are part of huge tailgating party that likes to dress up in tropical outfits and like to drink and pass around blow up dolls filled with alcohol and have fun and escape from their daily nerdy lives. Jimmy Buffet music was big in the late 70’s but his following has become even much bigger today and multi-generational and is not uncommon to see a parent attending this events with one of his adult siblings partaking in the festivities. A brand community is a community or a company to express shared interest in a particular product or â€Å"brand†. In the case of Jimmy Buffet the brand name is Margaritaville from his hit song back in 1977. This brand has gone far beyond selling T shirts and posters but has become a major multi- million dollar business and his branding ranges from a wide range from clothing to casinos and everything in between. I personally am not a parrot head or have been to a one of his concerts but enjoy his music and would probably enjoy going to a concert if the opportunity presented itself. I have a neighbor who is a huge â€Å"Parrot Head† and she has all kinds of Margaritaville brand products from bags games, to Adirondack  chairs to a huge fake palm tree in her backyard and travels to Las Vegas to go to the casino. It is reported Jimmy Buffet has a net worth of over $400 million dollars with his branding and although was a decent musician he has become a marketing giant with his branding. What kind of opportunities does the existence of the Buffett community present to marketers? Develop a list of specific marketing and promotional tactics. The opportunities are endless for the Margar itaville community as long as they are not violating the trademark or bootlegging the products. If you are an entrepreneurial type of person you could work with Margaritaville and develop products that are marketed towards this reference group or could be part of several type of businesses that use this branding or other similar products. Here is a list of promotional tactics one could use to market to this reference group. The Margaritaville line implies quality, value and good times and has a colorful tropical theme and can be put on all different kinds of merchandise that could be sold through several distribution channels. Margaritaville clothing line Restaurant Franchise Hotels Casinos Grocery stores Music stores retailing Jimmy Buffet music Liquor stores Books Clothing lines Parrot Head Hats Sunglasses Club for community charity The Margaritaville brand continues to expand and as new booming markets are created you can see the branding take advantage of those markets that are growing. References Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, Being (10th ed.). (2013). Saddle River, NJ: Michael R. Soloman. Reference Group Definition – Sociology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/R_Index/g/Reference-Group.htm What Is a Brand Community? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-brand-community.htm Margaritaville: A Brand Anything But Wasting Away | Beneath the Brand. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.talentzoo.com/beneath-the-brand/blog_news.php?articleID=15368 Parrot Heads in Paradise Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.phip.com/

Everyone Struggles with Their Identity Essay

Identity is an intrinsic idea of one’s life. Whilst there are no certainties, the struggle of identity often happens, and the conflicts may depend on the individual himself. The conflict may occur due to various factors in one’s identities including their sexual orientations, skin colour and religious background. These variables may cause noticeable damages to one’s mentality and psychology, and hence lead the individual to struggle with who they are. Individuals with homosexual preferences often experience conflicts in terms of their identities. Homosexuality is considered wrong by part of the society because the majority- heterosexual human beings- partially as a result of religious influences over the past centuries due to the mass control the several religious convictions had over the human’s civilisation as a whole, sees homosexuality as breaching the norm of the social order. Homosexual individuals often try to avoid the controversy caused by confessing their sexual preferences, as ignorant people often judge them by being different to the society. In ‘The First Kiss’ written by Lian Low, Lian was a typical example of homosexual individuals struggling with their identities. She has failed to embrace the fact that she was interested in women instead of men during her teenage years. ‘‘You’re not the L-word, are you? ’ Of course I denied it. ’ She didn’t want her ‘Malaysian Christian friends’ or ‘badminton buddies’ to judge her by her sexuality which caused a conflict throughout her high school life. Lian has been in a conflict between whether she should confess her sexual preference to her loved ones, or just pretending to be interested in men like all her peers. Like Lian, some homosexual individuals may have same issues as Lian faced and struggled in the same way with their character as she did. Although homosexuality causes a lot of people to struggle with their identity, the damage caused by racism due to diverse skin colours is worse. As a result of historical factors, coloured races are often ignorantly considered inferior to Caucasian people, especially those with white skin throughout the world. Examples such as the 2005 Cronulla riots in Australia, a racial conflict involving Middle East Appearance, show that until today, people with coloured skins are still targets of racism due to bigotry and conservatism. In the movie ‘Skin’, Sandra Laing has been struggling to figure out whether she was a ‘black’ or ‘white’ throughout her school life which can be shown when she said to her maid, ‘Am I black? ’ Sandra has been discriminated for her skin colour all through her tragic life. From her primary school classmates calling her ‘monkey’, the boy she went for a ‘date’ with saying, ‘you don’t have to feel bad for looking like a coloured person’, finally to her husband Pietrus who said ‘her skin is a curse’. Sandra’s miserable life was a classic situation of a coloured person in the last century. She has been exploring her identity throughout the entire film including a change of skin colour identification twice, before she finally defined herself as nobody else but her children’s mother. Under the influence of bias opinions over coloured appearance individuals, for instance the apartheid system in South Africa, a vast amount of people are possibly undergoing similar conditions as Sandra, persevering to figure out there true identity. Besides racism, a personal choice of approach to an event, one’s cultural background can also possibly cause struggle to their identity. As the modern society involves more immigrants changing their nationalities, children in recent generations may have multiple identities in terms of where they are from, and has become a social norm for the new decade. For instance, the Australian-born-Chinese people, also known as ‘ABC’ in general, has developed into a stereotype or even a race over the history of Chinese immigrating into Australia since the gold rush. However, it is difficult for these immigrant’s offspring to relate to their family’s culture as they may not have had any type of interaction with it. In the short story ‘Sticks and Stones and Such’ written by Sunil Badami, Sunil failed to understand the meaning of his name due to the lack of understanding to the Indian naming culture, was however conscious of his peers not pronouncing his name correctly, which further led him into obstacles of fitting into his friends’ groups and referring himself as ‘Neil’. These immigrant’s offspring may even find it challenging to answer questions like, ‘where are you from? Using the ‘ABC’s as an example, should they answer Australia, where they have grown up in, or China, where their parents are from? According to a survey done by the Herald Sun in January, 77% of the participants answered ‘I don’t know’. The result has portrayed the difficulty of self-identification by ‘ABC’ racial groups, which also may apply to various societies with similar cultural conditions. Despite the main causes of identity struggling mentioned above, every individual in the human’s society will somehow doubt their identities in their own manner, including you and me. Let us think back together, have we ever felt left out in a group of people? Did we question ourselves on sporting fields when we had a bad game? Did we ever think why are we even born in this world? The answer is yes. We have all questioned ourselves at some stage throughout our lives. It isn’t something to be ashamed of. By doubting ourselves, we can revise what actions have we done wrong, it is a motivation for ourselves to do better in all areas, with the ultimate goal to not doubt ourselves ever again-noting it isn’t possible. One’s identity is intrinsic to the individual. Without the desire to explore their own identities, human beings are not very different compared to beasts like monkeys or chimpanzees. Although some particular individuals may experience conflict in their process of discovering their identities, but please note, a perfect elite in all areas only exist in fairy tales. As an ordinary human being like everybody else, I would like to say, ‘please keep on questioning yourself’.

Has Globalization Helped Haiti in Handling?

Has globalization helped Haiti in handling the devastation of the earthquake? Haiti's worst earthquake in two centuries hit south of the capital Port-au-Prince in 12 January 2010. Hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed, millions were relocated, thousands died. The BBC documental video â€Å"Surviving Haiti† showed how lives changed after the earthquake, how government was handling the situation and what measures were taken to help. As Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince would not be able to handle the devastation of the earthquake on their own.So, the question is, has globalization helped Haiti to recover losses after the devastating earthquake? The global response to the earthquake in port-au-Prince has been generous and quite fast. United States mobilized its soldiers to help suffering Haitians, the EU allocated large amount of money, Canada, Brazil, Italy and Cuba sent over 1,000 military and disaster relief personn el each, Turkey sent searching troops, Germany and China sent officers of technical assistance, aircraft carriers arrived from Russia, Israeli medical staff came, Iran allocated tents for families that lost their homes.Even such countries as Guyana, Estonia and Liberia have sent money. It would seem that the sum these countries sent was ridiculous, but for a small country, it is a kind gesture. The total sum of donations worldwide equals about 2, 5 billion US dollars. Apart from financial aid, human compassion made miracles. Families from France didn’t give up the adoption processes; they came to see their potential children, to meet their parents and to solve bureaucratic problems.Sympathetic corporations, non-governmental organizations, private persons and celebrities responded to the Haiti pledges. In the most difficult moment of their lives survived children and their parents got a flash of hope for better future. People all over the world are not indifferent to the suffe rings of their „planet† neighbors. So, the film shows that life of earthquake survivors is very hard, but hope still exists.In this particular case of Haiti, when globalization impact was also a question of humanity, not just of economy, the process itself helped Haiti to recover more or less after the devastating earthquake and to save as many Haitians as possible. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. guardian. co. uk, Haiti earthquake aid pledged by country http://www. guardian. co. uk/news/datablog/2010/jan/14/haiti-quake-aid-pledges-country-donations

Electronic communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Electronic communication - Essay Example This paper outlines categorically some examples that will help highlight the latter issue for ease of understanding. Basically, there are three types of electronic communications. These include: This is basically the simplest type of electronic communication and whereby transfer of messages is towards one direction at a time. In other words, the communication is one-way. Examples of such communication are: personal receiver (beeper), TV broadcasting and radio. A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy can be considered as a "Statement of Intent" or a "Commitment." For that reason at least, the decision-makers can be held accountable for their "Policy", (Paquette 200). Policies are therefore normally meant to ensure conformance with set objectives and in the case of electronic communication, one of the major issue of concern is privacy and security of communication. Electronic communication, unlike other forms of communication, poses great challenges to both the communicators and the communication service providers on how to ensure security of the messages. Another issue concerning use of electronic communication is its ability to bear legal value in that there have been issues on whether or not agreement reached using electronic communication can have evidential value (Madeline 198). There are, therefore, several policies governing use of electronic communication. One of the international policies on electronic communication is the New World Information Communication Order (NWICO). This is a UNESCO agency formed in the mid 1970s with the aim of bringing balance in world information flow (communication). NWICO was out to facilitate economic growth in the developing or third world countries by improving the communication system. According to it, free information flow encouraged economic development but was lacking in

Japanese cultural analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Japanese cultural analysis - Research Paper Example Undertaking cultural and economic analysis is extremely beneficial for decision making be it at company level or at national levels. Without a vivid cultural and economic analysis in place, it becomes very difficult to know more about a particular place in question. To this effect, this write-up was undertaken to bring to light, the cultural analysis of Japan. Areas that have been looked at include geographical setting, social institutions and education. In terms of culture, Japan has a long adhered system of practices, which are important for every investor who wishes to enter Japan to know and learn to adhere to. This way, can be a future of promising prosperity for the investor. II. Introduction Cultural analysis is explained to be the use of qualitative research methods to identify â€Å"the applied analysis of cultural phenomenon, often including advertising and media products, in order to provide context for a client's business or insight into a market† (Association for Qualitative Research, 2010). By the use of the term qualitative research method, this that cultural analysis is conducted based on certain defined principles of publicly available data. Not withstanding this, a researcher may also conduct cultural analysis by the use of field related research methods such as interview (Association for Qualitative Research, 2010). In this context, much of the analysis was based on publicly available data and the most vital cultural analysis information on Japan comes to rest on three major areas. III. Country’s History (Brief) The first area of cultural analysis concern for Japan has to do with what the Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc (2011) puts it as the Confucian dynamism. â€Å"In practical terms Confucianism refers to a long-term versus a short-term orientation in life† (Hofstede, pg. 164). The Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc argues that Japan upholds the long-term orientation as against short-term orientation. Clark (2005) explains that count ries that have the long-term orientation revolve on the axis of â€Å"persistence (perseverance), ordering relationships by status, thrift and having a sense of shame.† Generally, policy makers of such countries focus on future generations rather than the present generation though it does not neglect the present generation altogether. To this end, Japan as a long-term oriented country invests so much in education since education has a long-term positive effect on the fortunes of the country. Against this backdrop, it can be said that kikki.k has a great advantage venturing into Japan. With reference to the products of kikki.k, it is clear the products have greater relation with education. This means that with a well marketing strategy, the company can dominate the stationery industry in the Japan. IV. Geographical Setting A. Location Viewed from the geographic coordinate system, Japan can be said to be 36 ° north of the equator and 138 ° east of the Prime Meridian. Japan is made up of thousands of islands, among which Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku are the four largest. Japan shares border and are the closest neighbors are Russia, China and Korea. B. Climate Due to the presence of the three thousand islands in Japan, Japan’s climate is not the same everywhere. However on the average, there are four seasons which are summer, winter, spring and autumn. C. Topography According to the Encyclopedia of the World (2011), there islands which stretches from Southeast Asia to the Aleutian Islands. 75% of land in Japan is covered with mountain. Landforms are steep and rugged. The is the presence of two principal mountain ranges, which are the Hida (or Japan Alps) and the Akaishi mountains. Among the many mountains, twenty-five have peaks of over 3,000 m (9,800 ft), among which the highest is Mt. Fuji (Fuji-san), which stands at 3,776 m (12,388 ft). There are 265 volcanoes in Japan among which 20 remain active. An average of 1,5000 minor shocks of earthquake occurs yearly. There are few and small plains which only about 29% of the