Aquinas †Wealth and Power Essay

In Question II, Thomas Aquinas breaks down the complex question of where or in what man’s happiness consists, mainly by emphasizing wealth and power. While people dream of obtaining both wealth and power in their life, Aquinas emphasizes that both are neither good nor bad, and both make up a means to an end. Aquinas argues that happiness does not consist in â€Å"wealth† or â€Å"power†, yet presents another argument where he states that happiness can, indeed, be associated with wealth and power. Aquinas begins his second question and first article by pondering the question of whether happiness consists in wealth. He breaks down the two types of wealth into artificial and natural. He describes natural wealth as something that â€Å"relieves man’s natural needs, such as food, drink, clothing, travel, shelter and so on.† In other words, natural wealth fulfills the needs of humans to live and â€Å"cannot be man’s ultimate end.† On the other hand, artificial wealth is â€Å"sought only for the sake of natural wealth.† Augustine argues that a man would have no artificial wealth unless he had natural wealth to begin with. With natural wealth, there is a finite amount of objects one needs in order to survive. For example, a person doesn’t not need to buy several large pizzas to satisfy their hunger, just a few slices to get some food in their stomach and go on with their day. On the other hand, artificial wealth revolves around objects for which people have endless desires for, such as money. There are some people in society who feel that the only thing that matters in life is the amount of money you can earn before you die, just a dollar sign. However, money cannot buy happiness, wisdom, strong relationships, or virtue. Augustine backs up this point by quoting Proverbs 17:16 â€Å"What does it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy wisdom?† Aquinas takes into account the arguments that say that happiness can, in fact, consist of riches by offering examples such as â€Å"all things obey money† (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Although he covers both possible sides, he offers his own stance on the question in his response where he covers the differences between artificial and natural wealth. In Aquinas’ fourth article, he discusses the question of whether happiness consists in power. He argues that it is impossible to have happiness in power for two reasons. The first is that â€Å"power has the nature of a principle, whereas happiness has the nature of an ultimate end,† emphasizing that power is a means to an end. Second, he states that power is both good and evil and â€Å"happiness is the proper and perfect good of man.† Although the hook for a popular song, the quote â€Å"no one man should have all that power† uniquely resonates in Aquinas’ argument against happiness consisting of power. People may believe that if they have a greater sense of power, then they feel more important and â€Å"happier.† The more powerful someone grows, the greater their fear grows of losing the very power they obsess over. A classic example from history is Joseph Stalin’s command over Russia. He was given so much power on behalf of the communist USSR that he let his sense of power overcome him. When he had caught word that there was someone planning a revolution in his cabinet, he had every single one of his high commanding officers killed. Very simply, power makes people do very abnormal things to remain in their high position. However, Aquinas argues that power can’t solve every problem in a person’s life. To quote Og Mandino, â€Å"All the gold in the world cannot buy a dying man one more breath– so what does that make today worth?† This quote accurately depicts that no matter how much power and wealth someone has, it all means nothing when you are facing death. Although one may seem highly satisfied with the power he possess, it is easily revocable and those with power fear they will lose it. Aquinas presents that questions of whether happiness consists of â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† and presents firm arguments against each. Although he may find faults with each idea, especially the warnings of the abundant use of wealth and power, his idea still remains that both â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† are neither good nor bad things. For example, if a man is making enough money to feed his family and make a living for himself, that is a fine example of using wealth for good. However, Aquinas reminds us of the arguments against having â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† makes up a person’s overall happiness. Using both of these values for happiness is simply a means to an end, Thomas Aquinas emphasizes that these things do not lead to everlasting happiness, an argument that I agree with.

Master of International Business Essay

What is inventory turnover? How can a high inventory turnover ratio be detrimental to a firm? Inventory turnover refers to the number of times that inventory is sold in a one year period. It can be calculated by dividing the cost of goods sold for a particular period by the average inventory for that period. High inventory turnover may signal a low level of inventories, which can increase the chance of product stockouts. 2. Distinguish among cycle, safety, pipeline, and speculative stock. Cycle (base) stock refers to inventory that is needed to satisfy normal demand during the course of an order cycle. Safety (buffer) stock refers to inventory that is held in addition to cycle stock to guard against uncertainty in demand and/or lead time. Pipeline (in-transit) stock is inventory that is en route between various nodes in a logistics system, while speculative stock is inventory that is held for several reasons to include seasonal demand, projected price increases, and potential product shortages. 3. Define what is meant by inventory carrying costs. What are some of its main components? Inventory carrying costs refer to the costs associated with holding inventory. Inventory carrying costs consist of a number of different components, and their importance can vary from product to product. These components include obsolescence costs, shrinkage costs, storage costs, taxes, and interest costs. 4. Discuss the concept of stockout costs. How can a stockout cost be calculated? Stockouts refer to situations where customers demand items that are not immediately available and stockout costs refer to the costs associated with not having items available. Calculation of a stockout cost first requires a company to classify potential customer responses to a stockout (e. g. , delays the purchase, lost sale, lost customer). Next, the company needs to assign probabilities to the various responses as well as to assign monetary losses to the various responses. The respective probabilities and losses are multiplied together and then all costs are summed to yield an average cost of stockout. 5. Distinguish between a fixed order quantity and fixed order interval system. Which one generally requires more safety stock? Why? In a fixed order quantity system, the order size stays constant (although the time interval between orders may vary); in a fixed order interval system, the time interval is constant (although the order size may vary). The infrequency of inventory monitoring makes a fixed order interval system more susceptible to stockouts and thus there is likely to be higher levels of safety stock in a fixed order interval system. 6. Explain the logic of the EOQ model. The logic of the EOQ model is as follows: determining an order quantity requires a company to balance two costs; the costs of carrying the inventory and the costs of ordering it. Inventory carrying costs are in direct proportion to order size; that is, the larger the order, the greater the inventory carrying costs. Ordering costs, by contrast, tend to decline with order size but not in a linear fashion. The EOQ attempts to find the point (quantity) at which ordering costs equals carrying costs. 7. How can inventory flow diagrams be useful to a logistics manager? They present a visual depiction of additions to, and subtractions from, inventory. This could be helpful in identifying any patterns that might be occurring. In addition, inventory flow examples illustrate how safety stock can offset an increased rate of demand as well as longer than normal replenishment cycles. 8. Discuss what is meant by ABC analysis of inventory. What are several measures that can be used to determine ABC status? ABC analysis is an approach that recognizes all inventories are not of equal value to a firm and, as a result, all inventory should not be managed in the same way. Measures that can be used to determine ABC status include sales volume in dollars, sales volume in units, the fastest selling items, item profitability, or item importance. . What are implications of the JIT approach for supply chain management? The consequences of JIT actually go far beyond inventory management and JIT has important implications for supply chain efficiency. One implication is that suppliers must deliver high quality materials to the production line, in part because of JIT’s emphasis on low (no) safety stock. Moreover, because customers in a JIT system tend to place smaller, more frequent orders, it is imperative that suppliers’ order systems are capable of handling an increased number of orders in an error-free fashion. Smaller, more frequent orders, coupled with close supplier location, tend to favor truck as a mode of transportation and this means that production and distribution facilities should be designed to support truck shipments. 10. How does vendor-managed inventory differ from traditional inventory management? In â€Å"traditional† inventory management, the size and timing of replenishment orders are the responsibility of the party using the inventory. Under vendor-managed inventory, by contrast, the size and timing of replenishment orders are the responsibility of the manufacturer. This represents a huge philosophical shift for some organizations in the sense that they are allowing another party to have control over their inventories and this requires a great deal of trust among the various parties. 11. Do substitute items or complementary items present the greater managerial challenge? Support your answer. Either answer would be acceptable. Students should recognize that both substitute items and complementary items present managerial challenges, but the nature of these challenges is different. For instance, one challenge with substitute items might be the amount of product to hold; a challenge with complementary items might be product placement in a retail outlet. 12. Define what it meant by dead inventory. What are several ways to manage it? Dead inventory refers to product for which there is no demand—at least under current marketing practices. Because dead inventory has often been associated with overproduction of items that customers do not want (or need), one suggestion would be make to order as opposed to make to stock. Having said this, an increasing source of dead stock in recent years involves special, highly customized orders that never end up with the customer. Suggestions for dealing with this situation include partial (or full) prepayment as well as a no-return policy. Another suggestion is for companies to more aggressively market their dead stock, and companies might also sell dead inventory via auctions. Another possibility is to donate the dead inventory to charitable causes. A last resort is to simply throw away the dead inventory in order to free up storage space. 13. Explain how an SKU might have different meanings, depending on one’s position in the supply chain. A retailer, for example, might keep records in terms of individual items or case lots, while the warehouse that supplies the retailer may deal only with case lots or pallets loads of a product. In turn, the distributor that sells to warehouses may deal with only pallet loads or vehicle loads, and may only accept orders only for pallet loads or vehicle loads—and not case lots or individual items. 14. Why is it important for a manager to understand informal considerations with respect to inventory management? One reason is that the increasing quest for customer service and customer satisfaction is leading many companies to engage in informal considerations. Even though â€Å"formal† inventory analysis should not be ignored, they should not be applied without taking into account informal arrangements. The informal arrangements may not fit any â€Å"formal† inventory tenets, but many informal considerations tend to do an excellent job of satisfying customers. And, without customers, businesses are not going to be very successful. 15. Discuss some of the challenges that are associated with managing repair and replacement parts. One challenge is the difficulty in forecasting the demand for these products—when will products break down or fail? As such, it becomes challenging with respect to which parts to carry as well as the appropriate stocking levels for them. Another challenge involves the number of warehousing facilities to be used: Should the parts be more decentralized or more centralized? These and other challenges have caused some companies to outsource their repair/replacement parts business. 16. Which presents the greater reverse logistics challenge: (1) Returned items or (2) Refurbished and recycled products? Support your answer. As was the case with question 11, either answer is acceptable. Again, it is important to recognize that both present reverse logistics challenges—but the nature of the challenges is different. For example, there is unpredictability with respect to returned items, in terms of return rates and product content. Refurbishing and recycling, by contrast, are predicated on sufficient product volumes, which require adequate storage space. 17. What are substitute items and how might they affect safety stock policies? Substitute items refer to products that customers view as being able to fill the same need or want. With respect to safety stock policies, if a consumer has little hesitation in substituting another item for one that is out of stock, there would appear to be minimal penalties for a stockout. It is also important that companies understand substitution patterns in the sense that Product A may be a substitute for Product B, but the reverse may not be true. In such a situation, safety stock policies would need to reflect the appropriate relationships. 18. Which supply chain participant(s) should be responsible for managing inventory levels? Why? The key to this question is the word â€Å"managing. Although various inventory approaches may require certain select participants to maintain the inventory, supply-chain effectiveness and efficiency would argue that all supply chain participants should be involved with managing inventory levels. Because the supply chain is a system, one company’s inventory policies and practices can impact the other members of the supply chain. Failure to consider these other participants when setting inventory policies and practices could lead to dysfunctional consequences. 19. Should inventories be considered investments? Why? The text suggests that inventories should be considered investments. Carrying costs for inventories can be significant; the return on investment to a firm for its funds tied up in inventory should be as high as the return it can obtain from other, equally risky uses of the same funds. 20. Since the mid-1990s, many beer and soft-drink cans and bottles have contained a freshness date stamped on them to indicate the latest date that the product should be consumed. What problems might such a system cause for the people responsible for managing such inventories? Discuss. There are a variety of possible answers to this question. One consideration is that product needs to be in places where it can be bought prior to the expiration date. At a minimum, this means that companies need to be able to identify individual products, locate the products, and move the products to the appropriate place(s). The oldest inventory should be â€Å"turned† before other inventory. Another consideration involves what to do with expired product, a situation that brings into play reverse logistics considerations.

Bradley effect Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bradley effect - Assignment Example He lost to Republican George Deukmejian.† (CNN) Some researchers believe that the Bradley effect is just an attempt to come up with an excuse for the inaccurate results of flawed opinion polling practices (Keeler, Scott and Nilanthi Samaranayake 2007). There have been several explanations given as the cause of these polling errors, but it is generally believed that some voters, due to societal pressure, are not very forthcoming in their answers during the pre-election polls. It is believed that some white voters are concerned about being labeled as racially prejudiced, and so do not fully declare their support for white candidates in the polls before the actual elections. â€Å"A recent study found that the possibility of the Bradley effect, while the last finding suggested the possibility of a "reverse" Bradley effect in which black voters might have been reluctant to declare to pollsters their support for Obama or are under polled.† (North Carolina Statewide Survey Res earch Report 2008) President Barack Obama did not really suffer this phenomenon in the presidential elections because although this issue is something to be concerned about, it clearly is not as serious an issue as it was in the 1980s. It is notable that both racial attitudes and polling techniques have undergone a lot of change since the Bradley effect was first noticed.

Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Analysis - Essay Example Therefore, his attitude towards death and afterlife was perceived as rather odd and unusual, but the line of development arranged by Socrates for his arguments supporting the idea of death seems rather plausible and – together with the metaphysical theory of forms elaborated by Plato – underlies many ideas of Christianity formed later. Juxtaposition of Socratic and Christian doctrines is possible at least due to the concept of the immortal soul and fleeting nature of earthly life inside the material body. At the end of the dialogue, just before he died, Socrates asked his friend Crito to make an offering – a cock - to Asclepius, and this last request has been interpreted in many ways; yet, the most common understanding on this expression is that death is perceived as a relief and cure for all miseries and maladies of life. As a thesis, I would state that his view of life and death (death being a state free of all earthly concerns) is rather reasonable to certain extent, as Socrates manages to support it with the insight to the ideas of objective reality, reason and immortality of the soul. As the search for truth in the course of dispute and discussion is a hallmark of Socrates’ philosophy, no wonder that he prefers to lead his companions to understanding of the truth giving them points for consideration and constantly asking questions (as if he wasn’t sure and wanted his point of view to be confirmed and approved by his friends). In this dialogue, we see the philosopher gradually unfolding his ideas of death and afterlife in front of his companions and supporting his statements with examples. As the fear of death becomes the main issue of concern, Socrates states that a person should perceive his/her death gladly and have no fear of it. Whereas at the first sight, this idea seems rather puzzling, it makes sense as soon as the concept of immortal soul is applied. Providing a fellow philosopher as an example, Socrates proves that a thinker

Any topic (writer's choice) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 180

Any topic (writer's choice) - Essay Example To be more precise, this paper will make an attempt to detect the role of meditation in such philosophies of thought as Yoga and Daoist philosophy as well as Zen Buddhism. I shall argue that despite that all of these the common characteristics and purposes typical of these three quite different philosophical practices, there is a number of distinctive features that define the general purpose of meditation in each of the philosophic trends. Speaking about an Ancient Indian view on meditation, one should point out that Yoga itself implied a certain state or condition, as well as a technique, and a particular kind of union. Patanjali considered Yoga to be â€Å"the cessation of the modifications of the mind† (â€Å"The Meaning and Purpose of Yoga†, n.d.). From the point of view of an Ancient Indian, the search for truth was in fact the fundamental problem of philosophy. The truth itself was not of great value, but the knowledge of it help an individual to be released. Thus, it appears that the release, attainment of absolute freedom was a chief aim of the spiritual practices, but not the knowledge of the truth. To become free meant to advance to the next level of being, gain another modus of existence that would surpass the â€Å"normal† life and set it on a new more advanced plane. Indeed, Yoga was regarded as a way analyzing the concepts of perception and cognition, lying at the root implying suffering. Besides, it was perceived as a rising and expansion of one’s consciousness.

Reactions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reactions - Assignment Example Its current liabilities have witnessed unsteady change, increasing between 2009 and 2011 and decreasing steadily between 2012 and 2013. Both the shareholders equity and borrowings have been at acceptable levels. This company is economically stable and growing upwards. This is the company that has been advocating for standards of media communication that observes certain values and principles of integrity, liberty and voluntary press. The financial muscles of this Santa Ana based communication company have grown over the years. It has seen a steady growth in terms of the profits accrued over the period of five years from 2009 to 2013. This has seen the marginal profit go to figures above 12 million US dollars. Its long term obligations have also decreased with huge little marginal figures between 2009 and 2013 to an amount of 11 billion US dollars. The rate of recuperation for this company is admirable and it’s one of the fastest growing companies. This company is one of the major modern publishers in the rapidly growing economy of China. The company operates mostly on the cultural publications. It operates on academic material and referencing tools with Chinese dictionaries like the Xhinua dictionary. This company has grown in revenue with 2005 figures amounting to about 540 Yuan. The company has also realized profits of over 50 million Yuan over the period of time form 2005. The company majors in reference book publishing which contribute over 60% of the profit. I think the production strategy should be changed as the company relies majorly on the production of reference books. This can be disastrous for the company if returns in this area of business go down. It should therefore distribute the publications evenly across all the products it offers for more security. This is a television network providing company with numerous TV channels

This assessment requires you to identify, analyses and evaluate the Essay

This assessment requires you to identify, analyses and evaluate the micro-external environment of two (two) international market - Essay Example Fitted bedroom furniture can help customers to place their bedroom furniture in systematic and space efficient manner. Non fitted bedroom furniture Non fitted bedroom furniture includes wardrobes, dressing tables, chests of drawers bedside tables which can be assembled by customers. The product offers the opportunity to assemble and customize bedroom furniture in accordance with the convenience of customers. (Source: Mintel Oxygen, 2012) Market line (2012a) has reported that bedroom furniture segment contributes a significant portion to furniture & floor coverings industry of Germany. Brief snapshot of the industry can be explained in the following industry. Market Value Value Forecast Category Segmentation Market Competition Value of furniture market (including living & bed room, kitchen, office and floor covering) in Germany is $47.5 billion. The market is growing at a rate of more than 1% and value of market is expected to touch $50 billion by 2016. Living room and bed room furnit ure contributes 51.7% of total value of the furniture industry in Germany. Market for bedroom furniture is highly fragmented due to presence of large number of retailers. (Source: Market line, 2012a) Value bracket for German bedroom furniture industry can be segregated on the basis of consumption pattern. Bedroom furniture contributes 13% of total market composition. Only 10% of buyers of bedroom furniture prefer high priced premier and luxury products in the country (United States Agency International Development, 2006). Brassington and Pettitt (2007) have stated that customer segmentation is required in order to define significant differences between customer groups which help marketers to design more focused marketing strategy. Customers can be segmented on the basis of their buying pattern. It has been reported by United States Agency International Development (2006) that two major customers segments are present in German bedroom furniture market such as 1- customers who prefer fitted bedroom furniture and 2- customers who prefer customized and non-fitted furniture. Following diagram can be used in order to segregate the customer group in accordance product consumption. (Source: United States Agency International Development, 2006) United States Agency International Development (2006) has reported that more than sixty percent of the transactions in the German bedroom furniture market can be characterized as business to consumer (B2C) type of transactions. Although the trend is different for categories like seating/upholster, parts etc. Political condition of Germany is stable which creates favourable environment for bedroom furniture companies planning to invest in the country. Lynn (2010) has pointed out that Euro zone crisis has decreased gross domestic product (GDP) growth of Germany which has affected the demand for furniture products in Germany. Lifestyle trend of Germany has segregated the consumer segment into â€Å"singletons† and â€Å"bes t agers†. Singletons are young professionals with high purchasing power who prefer to purchase customized non-fitted bedroom furniture due to space constraint while â€Å"best agers† are couples with children who prefer to purchase fitted furniture for their family home (CBI, 2006). German government provides specialized benefits like tax rate reduction, funding to manufacturing companies who emphasize on research and development

International Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Risk Management - Essay Example om now, this essay will provide the readers with insightful map to explain the firm’s business model followed by discussing its strengths and vulnerabilities as a globally known social network. In the light of the business model, risk factors that Facebook is currently exposed to will be identified. Eventually, the underlying drivers behind the company’s current risk factors will be tackled in details. This information is useful in terms of enabling the company forecast its future risks. This essay will also examine the appropriateness and effectiveness of Facebook’s risk management strategies in terms of making the company survive the global challenges of social networking sites 10 years from now. In order to prevent the development of potentially new risks as a result of implementing the company’s current risk management strategies, some of the recommended proactive and holistic risk management strategies which can be used in allowing the company monitor and manage its risk exposure will be tackled in details. Although Mark Zuckerberg – the founder of Facebook admits that the company is still searching for a business model that will enable the company have a clear path to profitability (Manjoo, 2008), the business model of Facebook seems to be based on network effects business model. It means that the company is using networking effect by inviting individuals more than 13 years old to register with the social networking website. In line with this, the higher the number of individuals who register with Facebook would mean an increase the company ability to earn from investment value and advertising gains. Since the goal of Facebook is to increase the number of its online users, the company decided to include Digg in its new business model (ONeil, 2010). According to Nicole Ozer – technology and civil liberties policy director for ACLU of Northern California, â€Å"Facebook is in the business of making money, not protecting privacy† (Swartz, 2010). In

Teenage and Fashion Essay Example for Free

Teenage and Fashion Essay Statement: For teenagers, fashion is first and foremost a social statement. It is an outward means of expression to their peers and the rest of the world. Identity: Fashion also provides teenagers a sense of identity by signaling which grouping they belong to (prep, punk, goth, etc. ). It may also signal a more independent or inclusive personality. Attraction: Teens can be extremely conscious about overall image when it comes to sexual attraction. They will often exploit fashion as a means to attract a certain type of person. Rebellion: Rebellion may also be acted out via fashion. Since rebellion is often a huge aspect of a teenagers life, it is not shocking that teens often use licentious or shocking fashion to rebel against their parents, their classmates, and/or society. Peer Pressure: Many teens pick up on fashion trends in an effort to stave off humiliation and mocking from peers. Poor fashion choices in the eyes of others can often be an open door to ridicule. Celebrities: Often, fashion for teenagers is the result of the desire to be like a celebrity. Celebrities are perhaps the greatest influences on teenagers in the modern world, and they can have a huge impact on a teens ideas about fashion and its importance. In our society, there are many issues that affect teens. Fashion is something that teens use to fit in which makes them struggle in their everyday life. Teens find brands to be something that will make them look â€Å"classy† as many teens say today at school. Teisha-Vonique Hood from SMU stated that when people associate themselves with a particular brand or branded image, they immediately assume a new identity that is in some sense, confined to the societal points of that brand. They classify themselves through the brands they wear and it makes them feel like they fit in. There is always that new shirt or those new jeans or just some new trend that happens to begin. Teens may feel like if they don’t have the latest brands, they aren’t worthy or not able to fit in and be themselves. Also, teens find themselves to be a little under-confident or intimidated by other people in their school. Ehow contributor, Ashton Pittman said that many teens pick up on fashion trends in an effort to stave off humiliation and mocking from peers. The majority of teens in high school have a fear of getting bullied or excluded. They use fashion to hide their fear and to feel more confident on who they are, or who they are trying to be. Their attitude towards fashion and the way society shows it to be can change a lot of teens’ opinions. Stated in SMU study, as a result of this need for peer acceptance, teenagers are receptive to characteristics such as character, personality, etc. Since a lot of teens try to find their identity through high school and fashion, it can ultimately change not only their personality, but their character towards other people and family. Tying into this, celebrities are a big impact on teen fashion. Ashton Pittman also states that often, fashion for teenagers is the result of the desire to be like a celebrity. Teens look at celebrities and say â€Å"Oh well if they can wear that, then why can’t I† and most of the time they end up giving the wrong idea to their friends and people around them. Have you ever tried to dress some way so that others accept you? A lot of teens don’t realize that this is an issue on their everyday life because they are so caught up with trying to fit in. Just because other teens have the latest brand and you don’t, doesn’t mean that you aren’t unique.

Stop smoking Essay Example for Free

Stop smoking Essay Whether you’re a teen smoker or a lifetime pack-a-day smoker, quitting can be tough. But the more you learn about your options and prepare for quitting, the easier the process will be. With the right game plan tailored to your needs, you can break the addiction, manage your cravings, and join the millions of people who have kicked the habit for good.Smoking tobacco is both a physical addiction and a psychological habit. The nicotine from cigarettes provides a temporary, and addictive, high. Eliminating that regular fix of nicotine will cause your body to experience physical withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Because of nicotine’s â€Å"feel good† effect on the brain, you may also have become accustomed to smoking as a way of coping with stress, depression, anxiety, or even boredom. At the same time, the act of smoking is ingrained as a daily ritual. It may be an automatic response for you to smoke a cigarette with your morning coffee, while taking a break from work or school, or during your commute home at the end of a long day. Perhaps friends, family members, and colleagues smoke, and it has become part of the way you relate with them. To successfully quit smoking, you’ll need to address both the addiction and the habits and routines that go along with it.While some smokers successfully quit by going cold turkey, most people do better with a plan to keep themselves on track. A good plan addresses both the short-term challenge of quitting smoking and the long-term challenge of preventing relapse. It should also be tailored to your specific needs and smoking habits.

What is meant by internal and external drivers for change

What is meant by internal and external drivers for change With globalisation it is an important to have clear concept about business management. Business environment is the totality of all such factors which influence the working and decision making of a business organisation. Business is a commercial enterprises ventured into secure maximum possible profit and to give best services to the public. These are things, events or situations that occur the way a business operations, either in a positive or negative way. This can be called driving forces or environmental factors. They are; Internal driving forces, which are the things, situations or events that are occurred inside the business and these generally under control of the company. The main internal driving forces are given below; Technological Capacity The new discoveries make the old one obsolete. The business community has to keep itself abreast with the technological changes. And it is also an important aspect as it shapes the business operations in the long run. Today the scientists are working on such technologies which will change the entire production process. The company is not running without most modern technology, they cannot competent to others Organisational Culture Organisational behaviour can be defined as the systematic study of the behaviour and attitude of both individual and group within the organisation. Organisations that have a powerful success spirit, and always embrace change and listen to staff and customers are said to be forward looking. Forward looking organisations, they are risk takers and also they done there business very well. So organisation is the essential part of a company. There is no well organisation culture in a company, which may negatively affect the production of a company, to fight in the competitive business world, business turnover, co-ordination of employees, staff etc Financial Management Finance is the main factor of a business. Without money, no business. There is direct relationship between money and the business. According this view financial management has a powerful stand in the business organisation. In a company the finance management take decision about fund distribution like purchase of raw materials, introduce new assets, proper fund distribution etc In these reasons financial management has a powerful stand in the internal driving force. Employee Morale The level of confidence and strength of a person or group is very important of a company. The employee has no morale or they are not committed their job, the company going in down words. The employees are satisfied with their both company and job, which will make a positive energy For increasing employee morale the Corus Company introduce more programs and also they provide mental confidence to the employees. Poor Delivery Poor customer service or delivery is a universal problem that impacts on the bottom line and profit margins in all types of industries, business and services throughout the world. The time plays an important role in the business. Customers need goods and services at their own time; otherwise they select another comfortable company or services. For example; The Corus Strip products UK (CSP) The Corus Company, there were delays to delivering steel to customers on time. So that leads to loss of business. Competition Globalisation has sharpened the competition. Introduce new ideas, technologies, innovations, techniques etc are the main parts of business competition. To face the competition every organisation suffer more things like expense, organisation problems, external problems etc.. For example Corus steel company cannot competitive to other companies because production of steel in UK could be more expensive than from than other countries. In these reason the Corus Company faced many problems in the business world. High wastage The wastage makes a big trouble to the companies, and also they dont know how to overcome this problem. Every organisation looking for less wastage and more product. For example, the Corus Company falling to make products right first time meant that they had to be reworked or scrapped. II External Driving Forces External driving forces are those kinds of things, situations or events that occurred from outside of the company or organisation. And now we can discuss about, what are the external driving forces of a company. Economy There is an intimate relationship between the business firm and the economic environment. The performance of business depends up on the economic environment. At any type of financial fluctuations like inflation or deflation badly affect the business. Political Influence The political forces are directly bearing on the functioning of the business. Political influences like ideology of parties, Govt. policies, Govt decisions, political stability, tax policy, etc are positively or negatively affected the business environment. New Competitors Competition makes challenge the business world. New competitors make more trebles for other companies, because they introduce new technology, ideas, innovations and customer satisfied goods and services with reasonable price. But old companies cannot competitive with them as well because there machines, technologies and all other things are old, and they cant replace it. For example, low cost producers in Eastern Europe were taking business and its could lead to reduce demand with higher costs. Technology It is also an important aspect as it shapes the business operations in the long run business. Technology includes inventions, discoveries and new and better techniques of converting the resources in to final product. Technology helps in performing the operations in much better and cheaper way. The customer expects higher specifications, so it can maintain only new technologies. Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. In business, customers are the king. For customer satisfaction every company introduce new products, attractive packing, adopting new technology, attractive schemes, offers etc Day to day every customers looking for a new technology and high quality products, so the company update there thinking, technology, otherwise they cannot competent with others. In these reasons customer satisfaction has a powerful external driving force of a company. Both internal and external factors are driving the running business. But it under controlled by business organisation. A well organised management can be easily controlled these internal and external driving forces. In the case of Corus Company, in 2005 they introduce new cultural programme called the journey The main courses of this programme is to overcome the poor driving behaviour. For overcoming the both external and internal poor behaviour they introduce so many programmes like push up employees skills, self awareness, promotion and development programmes etc After the programme the company get a new face in the business field. There are external and internal driving forces to promote sustainable development of Corus Company. The different driving forces have different strength levels. The external driving forces provide external condition to CPS UK development. The internal driving forces are permanent fountainhead to promote Corus sustainable development. All the driving forces are indispensable to promote Corus Companies sustainable development. 2. What barriers to change existed at Corus? Resistance  to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change that is occurring as a threat to them. Key words here are perceive and threat. The threat need not be real or large for resistance to occur. In its usual description it refers to change within organizations, although it also is found elsewhere in other forms. Resistance is the equivalent of objections  in sales and disagreement in general discussions. Resistance may take many forms, including active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid. Resistance is an inevitable response to any major change. Individuals naturally rush to defend the status quo if they feel their security or statuses are threatened. Folger Skarlicki (1999) claim that organizational change can generate scepticism and resistance in employees, making it sometimes difficult or impossible to implement organizational improvements. In order to understand the concept of employee resistance, it is critical to define what is meant by the term  resistance. Change is a common occurrence within organisations, and resistance to change is just as common. There are several types of resistance to change. Understanding these different types of resistance, the company can reduce resistance and encourage compliance with change. There are basically two groups associated with a resistance to change of an organisation. (I)Individual level of sources (II)Organisational level of sources (I)Individual level of sources Individual sources of resistance to change reside in basic human characteristics such as perceptions, personalities, and needs. In the case of Corus Company they faced many problems in resistance to change, especially in internal sources. The following summarizes reasons why individuals may resist change in Corus Company. I.1 fear to unknown Some changes require that employees possess a new set of skill and hence without training. So employees will not welcome the changes of a company. In the case of Corus Company, they make some more changes for their improvement of a company, but employee resistance the changes. Because they fear about their job, current position, other benefits etc In the Corus Company, the fear of unknown badly affects the new changes of the company I.2 Lack of skills This is another problem of resistance to change of a company. If company introduce new changes that may directly affect the employees of a company At that time they update them self without any training. The employees of Corus company they had fear about their skills, current teams, and position etc I.3 Habit Resistance due to habit occurs when the employees are comfortable in their daily habits and do not want to alter them due to change, because they are already skilled and experienced person in their own works. Sudden changes or alternatives cannot accept to the employees. So it may another course of resistance to change. Employees of Corus Company, they did not change their habits and attitude, so they resist the changes of the company I.4 Ageing work force Corus Company has a powerful work force. Lot of skilled and experienced employees are the power of a company. When the company introduced new innovations, technologies, ideas that may affect the workforce of employees. Older employees has very big personal skill and experience, that cannot be transferable. So it may another reason for resistance to change of Corus Company. I.5 Economic factors Employee may fear that the change will lead to technological unemployment, because new technology is associated with education of labour intake so they resist the change. When workers resist changing, which will leads to high standards which in turn may reduce the opportunities for bonus or incentive pays. The new changes make disturbance in their work. These all things show the economic factors in resistance to change. II Organisational Sources Organisational changes are activities of transformation or modification of something. The main purpose of these types of activities is improvement of business result. Organisational changes are not simply the journey from one point to another point. Many barriers will need to be passed in this process. One of the biggest barriers is resistance that is sub component on every organisational change. Managers should have known that there are always people that will resist of a change process. Efficiency and effectiveness of a change process are in direct relation with resistance and successfully dealing with that resistance. So these are the main organisational sources for resistance to change; II.1 Threat to job status or security Job reductions had been a major problem in the steel industry since the 1970s. At the same time the Corus companys some previous changes had lead to cut jobs. So this is the course for resistance to change of a company. Other people didnt see a threat to their job because the business had previously survived difficult times. This is difficult to Corus. II.2 Unexplained changes to the time line If the time line o the change process that is spelt out of the beginning of the change process is continually shifted without explanation, employees will lose confidence in the change process and they will not share management vision. II.3 Lack of trust In an environment where there is a lack to believe, that there will be sinister motive for the change. Furthermore managers who do not trust their employees will not allow employees participation in the change process even when it is necessary. So lack of trust is another important factor of resistance to change. So these are the main resistance to change in the Corus Company. From the above reasons employees of the Corus Company did not accept the changes. Directly or indirectly barriers make many problems in the company and also it affects whole companys activity. The company also had a long term service experience with experienced employees, but they had lower productivity. For increasing productivity the company add changes and gaining more rewards rather than newer employee. Corus felt that this was an area that needed major changes, so company were suitably rewarded to the employee for higher output. 3. Analyse the approaches Corus used to overcome these barriers. Changes are an inevitable factor in any organisation. The effective and challenged leaders and management can manage changes, adopting new technology, new innovations etc Yet as inevitable as change may be, it is just as inevitable that there will also be individuals within this organisations who reject any major changes or innovations to their workplace. The barrier shows the efficiency of a company or organisation. Barriers make many problems in the company, but if a company manages theses problems, they can run a business very successfully. Some strategies which can be used to overcome this resistance to change. For example, CSP U.K. The Corus Company faced many problems like cultural issue, social issue, economical factors, habit of employees, fear of unknown, limited forces changes etc But the Corus Company overcome the barriers very well, and we can see how Corus Company overcomes the barriers. There are five tactics have been suggested for use by change agents in dealing with resistance to change in the Corus company U.K Communication There are two branches of communication, which are communication internally, within the organisation between employees and management and externally between the organisation and suppliers and customers. Organisations that fail to communicate with their customers and suppliers, changes that are in effect can face disastrous consequences. For increasing communication skills the Corus Company introduce new programme The Journey. According to this programme the employees increase their direct and indirect communication, for example they provide weekly newsletters and workshops etc Participation Where the initiators do not have all the information they need to design the change and where others have considerable power to resist. When employees are involved in the change effort they are more likely to busy into change rather than resist it. This approach is likely to lower resistance and those who merely acquiesce to change. For example, from the start it was important to the Corus Company to share with employees what might happen to the business if it is did not change. Corus give more important to their employees, also getting everyone to take ownership of the new values by physically signing up to the programme. After that the employee more involved in decision making, works etc and also their experience are recognised. So with the good participation the company can overcome the barriers. Building emotional commitment Today talent management is the key imperative, making employee commitment more important than other. The commitment makes a positive energy inside and outside the business organisation. Research on middle managers has shown that when managers or employees have emotional commitment to change, they favour the status quo and resist it. For building emotional commitment the Corus Company U.K provide many more programs. Corus provide ownership to their employee. It may more involve in decision making and their contributions. With the help of emotional commitment programme the Corus Company overcome the barriers of change. Implementing changes fairly The management seen that the change as positively. But the employees take those changes as negatively. So if a company introduce new changes of their company at the same time they think how to overcome the barriers. For example, in 2005 the Corus Company make a programme for overcome the barriers of change, and also increase employee morale. Around 150 workshops were held to spread the messages. Fortnightly newspaper clarified these values and repeated the key messages through articles on various activities, such as employees taking part in the redesigning of a control room to improve layout and safety. Billboards, intranet, video programmes and most of all, direct one-to-one conversations all reinforced the messages. And also 1500 senior managers were invited to the millennium Stadium in Cardiff. This programme is impressive venue raised expectations. However, they were served cold tea and give a presentation on a ripped projector screen. So these activities show the implementing ch anges of Corus Company. Selecting people Research suggests that to ability to easily accept and adapt is change is related to personality. Some people simply have more positive attitude towards them self, are willing to take risk and are flexible in their behaviour. Another study found that selecting people based on a resistance to change scale worked welling winnowing out those who tended to react emotionally to change or to be rigid. For example, the Corus group arrange many programmes for increasing working mentality of the employees. The journey also raised important questions about how the company managed key issue, such as alcohol or drug misuse. For keep this thing the company makes, all working sites are alcohol free. Understandably, before the change programme, any one offending in this way was likely to face disciplinary action and this is still the case in most working environment. As a result in over fifty employees that previously would have lost their jobs being retained in work. These points said that, how the Corus company overcome the barriers to change. In generally, the first key technique to overcome the resistance the barriers is that to work closely with employees. Employees are the main part of a business, so the management make creative and helpful ideas for their employees otherwise company lost their co-ordination power, employee morale, unity between employees and management. For increasing the self confidence of the employee, the company provide verity programs. In these types of programs Corus company overcome the barriers to change. 4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the change programme so far. The changes can make challenges in the world. In the same way without challenges there is no change. Significant organizational change occurs, for example, when an organization changes its overall strategy for success, adds or removes a major section or practice, and/or wants to change the very nature by which it operates. It also occurs when an organization evolves through various life cycles, just like people must successfully evolve through life cycles. For organizations to develop, they often must undergo significant change at various points in their development. Leaders and managers continually make efforts to accomplish successful and significant change its inherent in their jobs. Some are very good at this effort, while others continually struggle and fail. Thats often the difference between people who thrive in their roles and those that get shuttled around from job to job, ultimately settling into a role where theyre frustrated and ineffective. There are many schools with educational programs about organizations, business, leadership and management. Unfortunately, there still are not enough schools with programs about how to analyze organizations, identify critically important priorities to address and then undertake successful and significant change to address those priorities. Now we are going to evaluate the effectiveness of the change in the Corus Company. Corus Company was formed in 1999 when the former British steel plc merged with the Dutch company. Now the Corus Company is subsidiary of Indian owned Tata Group. In 1999 Corus has three operating divisions and 40,000employees in world wide. Corus aims to be a leader in the steel industry by providing better products, higher quality customer service and better value for money than its rivals. In 2005 CSP UK introduced a cultural plan for change called The Journey. The journey change programme at Corus Strip Products contributes to sustainability for the business. By facing up to its internal weakness, CSP has improved efficiency, increased output, lowered costs and reduced waste in an increasingly competitive steel market. This has enabled the business not just to survive but also to grow even during the economic recession of 2008 and 2009. Thanks to the Journey programme, CSP UK expects to reduce costs for the 2009/10 financial year by around  £250 million. To make sure that actions delivered results, Corus established clear targets and standards. After the journey Corus Company achieve their target. The key performance indicators are given below; -: Increased their production capacity from 4.5% to 5 million tonnes -: They reduce 20% of cost of production -: 5000 employees have signed up to the values and beliefs of the business -: Another outcome is reduction in absenteeism -: The measurable improvements in levels of quality and services for customers -: New outcome changes have increased new safety terms -: Emissions of carbon dioxide has reduced by 10%, so CSP UK exceeds Govt. Standards -: As the results of measurable improvements company make challenges in the local community For achieving company values and targets, all individuals, departments are engaged very well. This journey helps to enable further improvement of Corus Company. Individuals, teams and departments all support the improvement culture and are more engaged and committed to achieving company values and targets. This culture shift is of critical value as it will enable further improvement. Corus has implemented top-level security with controlled access for the 5000+ vehicles which enter the Corus site each day. This provides a new enhanced entry experience for employees, contractors and suppliers and demonstrates that Corus Strip Products is now seen as an organisation that is proud of itself. As a men, institution, organisation or a company as if everybody looking for a change. Because we need changes. If they fail to do so they may be left behind by the competition. change management at CPS (Corus Strip Products) UK involved bringing the issues out into the open, confronting barriers to change, winning the commitment, provide moral support to the employees, provide better and effective plan for change an also keep the internal and external relationship to the customers. The journey has helped CSP UK to get a new face in the business field. After the programme employees get more morale power from the top level management, as the result they more attached with their work. The result of the change management programme shows that, the Corus is a sustainable company and it can continue to make profits in spite of the recession. In these things said that the effectiveness of the change programme in the Corus company UK. When the Corus Company introduced new changes in their company, at that time the employee did not accept the changes in their own individual, group and social reasons. But the company overcome the resistance of change very well. This is show that the change may challenge peoples. It may even be seen as a threat. Which company make it as a challenge; they must be adopting the changes in their organisation. Word count- 3888

Faulkners Condemnation of the South in Absalom, Absalom Essay

Faulkner's Condemnation of the South in Absalom, Absalom       William Faulkner came from an old, proud, and distinguished Mississippi family, which included a governor, a colonel in the Confederate army, and notable business pioneers.   Through his experiences from growing up in the old South, Faulkner has been able to express the values of the South through his characters. William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom offers a strong condemnation of the mores and morals of the South.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Faulkner's strong condemnation of the values of the South emanates from the actual story of the Sutpen family whose history must be seen as connected to the history of the South (Bloom 74).   Quentin tells this story in response to a Northerner's question:   "What is the South like?"  Ã‚   As the novel progresses, Quentin is explaining the story of the Sutpen myth and revealing it to the reader.   Faulkner says that the duty of an author, as an artist, is to depict the human heart in conflict with itself.   This attitude is revealed in the conflicts that Henry Sutpen undergoes in Absalom, Absalom.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thomas Sutpen is the son of a poor mountain farmer who founded the Sutpen estate.   Thomas Sutpen stands for all the great and noble qualities of the South, and at the same time represents the failure of the South by rejecting the past and committing the same types of acts that his ancestors did (Connelly 34).   He rejects his own father to adopt a plantation owner as his surrogate father, who acts as a model of what a man is supposed to be.   When the plantation owner tells Sutpen to use the back door instead of the front door, Faulkner is using ... ...).    Works Cited    Aswell, Duncan. "The Puzzling Design of Absalom, Absalom!" Muhlenfeld 93-108    Bloom, Harold, ed.  Ã‚   Absalom, Absalom! Modern Critical Interpretations.   New York: Chelsea.  Ã‚  Ã‚   1987.    Connelly, Don.   "The History and Truth in Absalom, Absalom!" Northwestern University, 1991.    Faulkner, William.   Absalom, Absalom!   New York: Vintage, 1972    Levins, Lynn.   "The Four Narrative Perspectives in Absalom, Absalom!"   Austin: U of Texas,   1971.    Muhlenfeld, Elizabeth, ed. William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!: A Critical Casebook. New York: Garland, 1984.    Rollyson, Carl. "The Re-creation of the Past in Absalom, Absalom!"   Mississippi Quarterly 29 (1976): 361-74    Searle Leroy. "Opening the Door: Truth in Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!" Unpublished essay. N.d.

National Prohibition in America :: Eighteenth Amendment

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  National Prohibition, brought about by the Eighteenth Amendment and enforced through the Volstead Act, lasted for over ten years. Besides a growing lack of public support for both Prohibition and temperance itself, the outlaw of alcohol continued throughout the United States—at least in the law books. In practice, however, National Prohibition was much less effective than temperance and Prohibition leaders had hoped, in the end causing more problems than it solved. Once started, Prohibition led to the rise in crime during the twenties, the public health problems associated with bootleg liquor and alcohol substitutes, the problems between religious, racial, and the political rise in response to its presence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Prohibition did enjoy some success. History revealed that alcohol drinking did drop after the National Prohibition and the Volstead Act. This lower on a national level was not all that much to the effect of recent problems in specific areas or communities. Also, after this drop alcohol drinking continued to rise through Prohibition to the point where it was thought drinking would actually pass pre-Prohibition levels. The same was true of alcohol related diseases while lowering, alcoholism and alcohol-related illness climbed to new heights, all while Prohibition was still in effect (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 70–71). The initial ideas of Prohibition was reversed. Crime was a problem during Prohibition. Since demand does not generally lower or at least not greatly alcohol continued to be traded even though laws exist to stop those kind of problems. The black market increased the crime rate related to the making and selling of alcohol. â€Å"Prohibition creates new profit opportunities for both criminals and non-criminals,† especially for those previously involved in criminal activities (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 116–117).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During National Prohibition in the 1920’s and early 1930’s—crime rate continued to raise as less and less people were willing to quit drinking or to respect the ideas of prohibition, as shown by the raise in fines given for Prohibition violations through its time. Crime quickly became â€Å"organized† for the first time, running activities contrary to Prohibition on a never before seen scale (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 70). In fact, by the end of Prohibition, speakeasies had actually outnumbered the saloons of pre-Prohibition years, spreading the influence of alcohol over a much wider range (Thornton, â€Å"Failure† 72). Alcohol prices rose greatly due to the troubles of making and selling a prohibited substance especially among the working classes, to steal alcohol or to steal other things which could then be sold to pay for alcohol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prohibition was first meant to stop the abuses thought to be from alcohol, main problem was crime. As more and more people began to ignore

Reliving a Memory through a Successful Narration Essay

People weave hundreds of stories throughout the course of their lives. Most of them are experiences that brought fear, embarrassment or changes in their lives. More often than not, these stories are shared with other people in one way or another. Telling a story can be done through several ways. You can re-enact the scenario to tell a story. You can utter words that describe the incident or you simply can put words into writing to form a narration. Before you put your story into writing, there are two things that need to be done: visualizing and planning. Prior to writing your narration, you should visualize the story. You yourself should be able to relive the scene in your mind to help you in coming up with the right words to describe the scenario. Then, you should plan on how you going about your story. Each part of your story is preceded by another. You should be able to prepare on how you would relate the previous scenario to the current one. Once you have visualized and planned for your narration, you are now ready to put your story into writing. Writing a narration involves a series of steps that could help the writer create a vivid picture of his experiences in life. Only when the reader is able to form clear mental images of each scenario can the narration be considered successful. The first step involves choosing the important details. You should only emphasize on important points of your story. Minor details should simply be de-emphasized or removed entirely. If you are telling about the time you won the lottery, then you should not dwell into details about the dinner you had before find out your win. You should only give emphasis on your initial reaction, on the reaction of the people around you, and on how you planned to spend your winnings. The use of a chronological order comprises the next step. Oftentimes, the best stories are told in the order in which they occur. This order helps the reader better understand the story as it unfolds. Centering on conflict is what the third step tells the writer to do in order to weave a successful narrative. These conflicts may either deal with inner dilemmas or with another person. It may also include conflicts with an impersonal outside force. In each story revolving around a conflict, the resolution of the conflict marks the end of the story. Showing the reader what happened is the fourth step. It is usually better to give the readers a visualization of the significant moments in the narration rather than telling the story. You can do so by using a detailed description of the event and each character participating in that even. However, using a dialogue has the strongest effect on the reader that it does not only make the reader see what is happening. It also makes the reader feel the emotions in the story. The next step involves making a point. It is simply important to have a point that would rationalize the existence of your story. You should present your point using a sentence. Telling a story can be done in various forms. However, one of the most common forms involves writing. Putting your story into writing is simple however making it a successful narration entails extra work. In order come up with a vivid picture of your story, there are steps which could be followed to ensure that the reader do not only see but also feel the emotions in the story.

Carmen Boullosa Essay

My mother and father are both Mexican and so is basically my whole family. That would make my heritage to be Mexican or Mexican-American since I was born here in the U.S. In Mexico there are various types of writers. Some are authors, poets, journalists, play writers, script writers, song writers, etc. Carmen Boullosa was born on September 4, 1954 and is still alive today. She was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She started writing during her teens; at first did not like it but then grew up to love it. She has published many novels, poems and plays. As her writing became getting famous, her book have been translated into six different languages. Carmen has also won many awards for her great writing. Premio Xavier Villaurrutia, the Frankfurt Literaturpreis, and the Cafà © Gijà ³n Prize in Madrid are just some of the awards that Carmen has received for her writing. All of them reward her for her great writing. Feminism and the life of Latin Americans is what Carmen mostly focuses on in her writing. She likes to write about things she knows/likes about. When she first started to write as a teenage; she liked to write about girls being protagonisits. Carmen liked to be creative, so she always tried many writing styles. She would also visit the setting of other boks to get ideas or just to go to her happy place. That helped her a lot and also helped create many of her novels. There are many authors from Mexico. Many times, authors might come to Mexico to get inspiration for a new novel,poem, script or to just relax. Carmen sometimes likes to mention real world problems into her writing. Like in her novel Their Cows, We’re Pigs ; she mentions two different social and politic system that just can meet on the same page. Religion status is another thing she writes about in her novels. She mentions how many people are not the same reglion and how it is very important in many parts of Mexico. Carmen Boullosa seems like a great writer from all her biographies on her. She has written numerous of novels, poems, scripts, etc. She mentions a lot of real life problems if her writing and that is what I like about her. She writes about real thigns and mixes it with fiction and still makes if understandable and interesting. Carmen has won many awards for her writing which shows that she is a great writer and that why I chose her as the literary figure related to my heritage.

Analysis of Mc Donald’s Operations

Mac Dona's Case Study McDonald's Is one of the best-known brands worldwide and Its core business being basically fast-food: it specializes in burgers (Big Mac) and fries. While other restaurants stick to their conventional menu will rarely innovate, McDonald's on the other hand has been able to adapt to the local demand in a global environment by catering their menu to the local taste. This continuous product innovation & improvement based on detailed market research has helped keeping the brand ahead of Its competitors and contributed to further enhance the existing reputation f the brand.In order to have this competitive edge. McDonald's has taken some key measures to name a few along the years, namely: Aggressive market research to continuously adapt to the changing needs and tastes of its customer, for e. G. Seeking more food variety and gradually shifting towards healthier eating. Value added services to adapt to people's busy lives with great focus on convenience. More choice a nd better pricing strategy to ensure excellent value for money; for e. G. Extra value meals and combination of menus Process standardization and attention to details to ensure product quality In each and every outlets.Mac Dona's business model has been built on a specific target population (working people, teenagers), I. E. Those in need for fast and inexpensive menu. Now with consumer's becoming more health focus, Mac Dona's asset could be turned into liability as Mac Dona's would be the last based on low-calorie-low-cholesterol menu. Analysis of Mac Dona's Operations By Ayatollah-Shaffer McDonald's is one of the best-known brands worldwide and its core business being basically fast-food; it specializes in burgers (Big Mac) and fries.While other ahead of its competitors and contributed to further enhance the existing reputation of the brand. In order to have this competitive edge, McDonald's has taken some key ensure product quality in each and every outlets. A number of key decisi ons and food items to respond quickly to the fluctuating demands.

Overcoming Defense Mechanisms Essay

Practical implications of each term are included for the benefit of organizations interested in applying theory in practice. Key words: organizational cohesion, action systems, compliance, culture of tradition, complete concrete systems, and symbolism Organizational Cohesion According to Etzioni (1961), cohesion can be defined as a positive expressive relationship among two or more actors that can reinforce negative and positive norms (p. ). He further differentiates cohesion bonds between persons of the same rank, peer cohesion, and cohesion bonds between persons of different ranks, hierarchical cohesion. The degree to which peer cohesion exists within an organization can determine how readily norms that are held by the majority of a given group or held by the most influential persons within a group will be accepted by the remaining group participants. In other words, peer cohesion dictates the degree to which actors within a given group are likely to mimic or adopt each other’s behavior and/or values. It has also been suggested by Homans (1951), that there is a direct correlation between the frequency and endurance of interaction within a group and the level of a group’s cohesiveness. In other words, the more group participants interact, the more likely it is that they will adopt each other’s mannerisms, outlooks, or orientations toward the larger group of which they are a part (Etzioni, 1961, p. 290). Assuming that norms that are beneficial to a particular organization are being fostered via peer ohesion, such as intra-team cooperation, the net effect could be a highly productive work environment with low employee turnover. Etzioni’s research implies that organizations with high peer cohesion tend to have low employee turnover, which reduces costs involved with recruiting and socializing new employees, knowledge capture, and maintaining daily work routines. However, it is important to note that cohesion can reinforce both negative and positive norms, which is to say behaviors that alienate an employee from an organization as well as behaviors that reinforce one’s commitment to an organization (p. 80 ). Reagans and McEvily (2003) suggest that cohesion, specifically social cohesion, influences the willingness of individuals to devote time and effort to assisting others within a given group, in addition to serving as a motivator to transfer knowledge to a coworker or colleague (p. 245). Ultimately, cohesion within an organizational group, can encourage a â€Å"you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours† effect that can encourage knowledge exchange across employees and reduce direct peer-to-peer or intra-departmental competition amongst employees (Reagan & McEvily, 2003, p. 245). In other words, â€Å"by limiting competition, social cohesion promotes knowledge transfer,† which is an essential component of a learning and innovative organization (Reagans & McEvily, 2003, p. 247). Although organizational cohesion can foster â€Å"exchange relationships that build commitment† (Tyndall, 2012, p. 3), it is essential that organizational leaders recognize tipping points wherein too much cohesion could increase group-think and inhibit innovation, performance, and potentially disrupt a work-group’s alignment with the overall organization’s values, should a given group’s norms contradict such values (p. ). Where possible, organizational leaders might assess the power that cohesiveness has within their organization, identify the source of cohesiveness, be it an agent of the organization or the organization itself, and take the necessary action to either encourage or discourage the cohesiveness, depending on whether it currently work s in favor of the organization or to its detriment. Action Systems An action system embodies a collective effort to attain a single goal, as executed by interdependent work units’ processes, tasks, and functions. To attain its goal as a unit, a social action system adopts a structure and a process for organizing member activities† (De Ven, 1976, p. 25). An action system is a term used to describe a system that produces an output only if the necessary actions are completed by the appropriate parties throughout the entire production process-placing emphasis on the relationship that exists between actions and the larger task they accomplish. The existence of this term serves to illustrate a theoretical shift away from focusing on work units or groups and a shift toward focusing on the individual job holders’ roles within the larger group, analogous to speaking in of terms of cogs within a machine (Tyndall, 2012, p. 3). As Parsons (1951) has noted, â€Å"acts do not occur singly and discretely, they are organized in systems† (p. 7). Simply put, an action system is made up of two components: the actor and his situation (p. 7). By speaking in terms of action systems, the theorist or manager hopes to identify all factors that affect these two components in the name of achieving their end objective, be it decreasing production error and lags, and increasing production successes (non-defective output) or any combination thereof. The more an organization can identify all variables, resources, and actions required at each phase of production, the more it can regulate and manage them. â€Å"Resources and information flows are the basic elements of activity in organized forms of behavior† (De Ven, 1976, p. 25). If, for example, an actor works in reception at a doctor’s office, he/she might require a computer, medical forms, chairs for patients, clipboards, pens, etc. By tracking usage and resource requirements over an extended period of time, records might reveal that there are too many patients or too few chairs in the waiting area at any given time. Identifying this fail point will serve as a signal to the organization to either increase the number of chairs in the office, increase the number of business hours (to spread out patients), add a second partner, expand to a second location, or some other alternative. Total Quality Management, Lean Six Sigma, and Demings 14-Points of Quality are all examples of how organizations have provided structure to these very practices (Tyndall, 2012, p. 16-18) Just as an organization can identify, measure, and manage tangible resources along each stage of an action system, so too can an organization identify and measure intangible factors that influence workers orientation toward the organization and their assigned tasks. By understanding a worker’s motivation for being on the ob, an organization will be better equipped to frame that employee’s work and performance evaluation in such a way that will encourage the worker to achieve higher levels of performance. By structuring job functions in ways that directly attach task ownership to individual job holders, an organization can increase the accountability for that employee, and increase the likelihood of their experiencing satisfaction upon completely their assigned task –due to the ta sk’s proximity to its â€Å"owner† (Tyndall, 2012, p. 8). Forward-thinking and adaptable organizations will encourage transparency and two-way feedback between management and those who are managed. For this reason, it would be wise for organizations to seek input from employees when identifying areas of process improvement within action systems, share successes across the organization, and openly value collaboration between groups and collegiality within groups (Trist, 1981, p. 43, 57, & 49). Compliance Etzioni (1961) defines compliance as â€Å"a relationship consisting of the power employed by supervisors to control subordinates and the orientation of subordinates to this power† (p. xiii). Sciulli and Etzioni (1996) identify three sources of compliance: coercion, economic or pecuniary incentives, and normative values (p. 137). This interplay between the governors and the governed directly influences how an organization will function and be perceived by internal and external stakeholders. Further, the dynamic between these two parties sheds light on where power, and specifically the power to make change, resides within an organization. As was exemplified in The Challenger Disaster, the extent to which an organization’s members recognize when it is necessary to comply and when it is necessary to break from routine impinges on an organization’s ability to adapt and respond to catastrophic events: Argyris’s (1990) analysis of The Challenger Disaster brought to light the following: The problems were not only in the structure, rules, and independent monitoring devices. The problems also were that highly committed, well-intentioned, safety-oriented, can-do players reasoned and acted in ways that violated their own standards and made certain that this violation was covered up and that the cover-up was covered up. (p. 42). One could argue that NASA’s employees ignored their respective ethical instincts and instead complied with that of the organization, NASA: an unspoken practice of ignoring unsettling information in the name of making deadlines, satisfying stakeholders, or perhaps satisfying its own hubris. Regardless, this catastrophe serves to illustrate the negative implications of compliance, particularly as perpetuated through normative values. Organizational theorists, such as Ogbonna and Harris (1998) have set out to determine what behaviors within organizations evolve through genuine organic change and behaviors that evolve in response to deliberate actions taken by management via compliance. Their research indicates that efforts made by management to alter culture within an organization via compliance may prove successful, but not for a signal unified reason. In other words, an organization’s members may all buy-in to a behavioral modification or practice advocated by management, but for reasons that are unique to the individual members or groups of members within the organization. â€Å"Hence, a key implication of these findings is that managements attempting to alter culture should consider how multiple interpretations of the rationale for change influence the success of the change effort† (p. 284-285). Some changed in resigned compliance, some in authentic willingness, and some â€Å"cognitively accepted espoused values in order to further their careers† (p. 85-286). Management might benefit from this insight by carefully selecting which company practices or values they wish to indoctrinate employee with, particularly if such practices do not relate directly to tasks associated with production and instead relate to rules on how employees might govern themselves socially or culturally within an organization; if laun ching a new effort to encourage the valuing of X, perhaps it would be wise for management to seek employees’ input on why everyone should value X in order to determine whether a consensus on the promotion’s rationale exists. This will help ensure that all employees are not only helping to move the company in the same direction, but are doing so for the same or perhaps, intended, reasons. Culture of Tradition A culture of tradition within an organization consists of a subset of individual cultural traditions or â€Å"shared symbolic system[s] which function in interaction† (Parsons, 1961, p. 11). A culture of tradition is a culture that engender s its participants with values that center on traditional or historically patterns of interaction, patterns that have come to exist through repeated practice carried out by members of the organization. If an organization comes to value tradition, it could be inferred that such an organization will devalue or sanction behaviors that encourage or work in support of change, behaviors that we have come to know as organizational defenses or defensive routines. As Tyndall (2012) suggests, â€Å" defensive routines are rewarded by most organizational cultures because routines indicate a sense of caring and concern for people† (p. 13). Further, Tyndall suggests that routines are often protected by the same people who prefer that such routines not exist. Rather than expose detrimental cultural practices, organizations prefer to keep them hidden so as to prevent exposure and embarrassment (p. 13). For the purpose of this paper, let us assume that organizational identity and organizational culture are interconnected. Santos and Eisenhardt (2005) point out that â€Å"organizational identity helps members make sense of their situation by clarifying the defining attributes and purpose of the organization, thereby reducing ambiguity and providing direction† (p. 500). If an organization’s current culture, a culture of tradition, is borne out of circumstances from fifty years ago, it can be inferred that there will a disconnect or lack of alignment between the direction the organization needs to be going in and the direction it actually is going in. Santos and Eisenhardt go on to suggest that: Organizational members actively perform collective sensemaking (Weick 1995) through which they gain awareness of new information, share interpretations of prior actions, and converge on the meaning of environmental changes and appropriate courses of action. p. 500). Assuming that employees are constantly being exposed to new information, but are inhibited on how to make use of or capitalize on such information because of the existence of cultural constraints, it will not only discourage innovation within the organization, but will also stymie employee’s desire to exercise creativity and engage with the organization. Ultimately, an organization s hould work to align its identity, culture, and activities it carries out (p. 00), maintain traditions that to not impinge on efficacy of essential processes, and foster an environment that embraces conflict and change (Trist, 1981, p. 47). Complete Concrete Systems Parson’s (1951) defines a complete concrete system of social action as consisting of a social system, the personality systems of the individual actors involved, and the cultural system which is built into such actors actions (p. 5-6). A cultural or social system is stagnant, unless the elements included therein are carried out through practice and action via an action system (p. 17). He further elaborates: A social system consists in plurality of individual actors interacting with each other in a situation which has at least a physical or environmental aspect, actors who are motivated in terms of a tendency to the ‘optimization of gratification’ and whose relation to their situations, including each other, is defined and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured and shared symbols. p. 5-6). Parsons emphasizes the need to consider these three elements independently, as no one can be further reduced or ignored in the context of the general theory of action systems. In short, Parsons wishes to draw attention to the interplay that exists between personality, culture, and the society in which these elements exist; one cannot consider personality without also considering the context in which it exists or has been cultivated. As an organization develops its sense of self, it might also come to recognize the types of personalities that it supports and the types of personalities that it prefers not to engage. Once an organization is able to identify the types of personalities it attracts or tends to hire, it might then explore the question of why it is that these personalities â€Å"fit† the organization; it may be that the personalities hired within an organization are in fact not working in favor of the organization’s larger mission, but instead reflect historical cultural practices that actually work against the organization. The more that an organization is able to hone in on the types of personalities, behaviors, and the types of individuals that it is best suited to hire or from which it would benefit the most, the better able it will be to refine the organization’s culture and overall defining character. This is not to suggest that an organization should attempt to hire one type of personality, but it is to suggest that an organization should attempt to identify the types of personalities best uited for particular work units, roles within such work units, and conceive of ways to encourage hiring, training, and evaluation practices, that foster the development of such individuals rather than inhibit them. Agents within an organization should be mindful of the personalities with which they interact, particularly when presenting ideas to or interacting with decision-makers. Framing ideas in ways that appeal to decision-makers could prove advantageous and foster productive discourse. Symbolism Symbolism, or symbolic systems of meaning, come into existence as individual social actors engage with social objects (Parsons, 1951, p. 10). An actor comes to expect or associate certain actions with particular results through practice. The dynamic relationship between actions and the associations one comes to assign to particular actions exists through communication that is both implicit and explicit across an organization. Like culture, symbols come to exist by observing or partaking in patterns of behavior; if I do X, Y happens, or on a more simple level, if I sit on X, X is a chair. These expectations form â€Å"pattern consistency† (Parsons, 1951, p. 10), or logical consistency that enable people to transmit information to one another in ways that can be easily understood, whether this transmission is intentional or unintentional. These transmissions deliver messages to the receiver and it is these messages that come to form symbols. For these reason, symbols are highly subjective and based on the perception of the message’s recipient. Organizations must be mindful of the role that symbolism has in shaping the culture of an organization. Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa (1986) define perceived organizational support (POS) as â€Å"global beliefs about the extent to which the organization cares about [employees] well-being and values their contributions† (Fuller, Barnett, Hester, Relyea, 2003, p. 789). Research consistently shows that perceived organizational support (POS) is positively correlated with organizational commitment. In other words, the more an organization’s employees perceive themselves to be supported by an organization, the more likely it is that they will commit themselves to the organization and its mission. Further, when people perceive that their organization values and appreciates them, they interpret it symbolically to mean that the organization has respect for them or sees them as having a high status within their organization. Perceiving one’s self as having high status, Gardner & Pierce (1998) suggest, will likely encourage commitment to an organization; this encourages a person to believe themselves to be worthy of being an organizational member (Fuller, et al. , p. 790).

Alienation in The Revolver, Housewife, and How it Feels to Be Colored Me

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ELL Families and Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

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Before the law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Expedia Internet Marketing Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Expedia Internet Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example Chairman Barry Diller controls about 60% of the company." This paper serves as a complete marketing plan for the Internet traveling company Expedia. The information contained in this report is designed to help an individual gain a thorough understanding of the company's current standing and situation, as well as to gain a good idea of their opportunities and threats for the future. In addition, internal components to the company are discussed. The purpose of this paper is to include and/or explain a variety of components related to Expedia. It includes an executive summary, the company's overall business objectives, the company's specific marketing objectives, Expedia's business situation and SWOT Analysis, the internal situation at the company, the company's performance analysis, data on programs of a similar nature if available, resource availability and allocation, the company's external situation, the market(s) the company operates in, the company's competitors, the technological infrastructure of the company, the value chain associated with the company, a summary of strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats, marketing problems and opportunities, identification of target market(s)/market segments, marketing action plans, products and/or services offered by the company, price, integrated marketing communications-online and offline, customer acquisition and retention plans as appropriate based on objectives, distributi on and fulfillment, quality and customer service, technological infrastructure and data requirements, testing plans if appropriate, the plan for testing critical marketing or program variables, the plan for usability testing of their website, evaluation techniques, their budget, and an implementation timetable. Overall Business Objectives Expedia.com lists their business objectives as follows: Expedia delivers consumers everything they need for researching, planning, and purchasing a whole trip. The company provides direct access to one of the broadest selections of travel products and services through its North American Web site, localized versions throughout Europe, and extensive partnerships in Asia. Serving many different consumer segments - from families booking a summer vacation to individuals arranging a quick weekend getaway, Expedia provides travelers with the ability to research, plan, and book their comprehensive travel needs. Expedia-branded Web sites feature airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rental, cruises, and many other in-destination services from a broad selection of partners. (Expedia.com, 2008, pg. 1) Specific Marketing Objectives Expedia sets their marketing objectives under a strategy formulation in their annual report. They claim, "Our objective is to create long term shareholder value by creating a business that delivers significant value to customers and to suppliers with each travel purchase, and has sustainable sources of competitive differentiation" (EDGAR Online, 2008, pg. 1). Their strategy involves several key elements (EDGAR Online, 2008). The first key element that they include in their formal marketing strategy is to make their customer base larger. They plan to do this by continuing to increase awareness of their company and what it has to offer. "We believe that this increased awareness will cause increased numbers of consumers to visit our websites. Our current