Analysis of Normal Accidents as described by Richard Bookstaber Essay

Analysis of Normal Accidents as described by Richard Bookstaber - Essay Example The best that an investor may get out of a bad investment is cost aversion. In the absence of this, the investor may be very certain that he or she would be running at a loss. In some cases, the choice of investment is not necessarily what constitutes a bad investment for an investor. Rather, it is the approach used in investing. So an investor may be selecting the best form of investment but he or she may be approaching the investment wrongly. This is exactly the point outlined by Bookstaber in his book, A Demon of our own. The writer is very concerned about approaches that are taken by investors because, in his opinion, a series of tightly coupled processes may only lead to normal accidents, which not as the name suggests, may be very disastrous. Normal Accidents Explained In his writing, Bookstaber describes normal accidents in relation to financial forces. The writer first uses scenarios of other forms of forces to explain his arguments of normal forces. The writer notes that â⠂¬Å"if you put in an extra warning light or sensor on a nuclear reactor or an aeroplane, that's one more thing that could fail, causing confusion and a disastrous cascade of cause and effect† (Fitch, 2009). In the words of Fitch (2009), the situation causes â€Å"investors to bet on stocks, bonds and interest rates, often with a large degree of leverage.† The resulting consequence for such decisions is that there have been derivatives that have led to high levels of complexities in the financial system and this has led to normal accidents (Bookstaber, 2008, pg. 143). The concept of normal accidents as introduced by Bookstaber could, therefore, be related to the everyday concept of putting all of a person’s eggs in one basket. It is known that the resulting effect of such an action is that once the basket breaks the fellow losses all the eggs. In the financial sector, once investors become overconfident in their investment and channel all their funds to a single domain, the resulting effect is tight coupling and complexity Indeed, â€Å"the combination of tight coupling and complexity is a formula for normal accident† – especially when the structure of the fin ancial system cannot handle the complexity. (Bookstaber, 2008, pg. 256). Tightly Coupled Processes in the Financial Sector In page 256, introduces a concept of the structure of the system when he says that normal accidents are â€Å"accidents that are all but evitable as a result of the structure of the system.† The idea that this piece of information creates is that normal accidents are actually often influenced by the prevailing financial structures and system. Indeed, it is when the financial sector gets tightly coupled that investment decisions by investors may result in normal accidents.  

Ethnomedicine Essay Example for Free

Ethnomedicine Essay Since the beginning of man, there have been ailments that have plagued the human race without concern of who it is inflicting or why they occur. These ailments had to have been combated by some sort of medicine by each culture and their remedies must have been plenty. The plethora of different kinds of medicines and remedies to these ailments among the different kinds of cultures is what we, Team Bloodnut, define as ethnomedicine. Many cultures throughout the world practice some form of ethnomedicine. A field of anthropological research, ethnomedicine seeks to describe the medical systems and practices utilized in different cultures. It examines the origins of what people believe cause illness, as well as examine the ways in which individual cultures treat such maladies. Team Bloodnut wanted to discover the healing beliefs and practices held by Amazonian shamans. Through the use of a life history interview, we sought to understand the traditions held by a people through the experiences of a man working with a former shaman of the tribe. Team Bloodnut formed a hypothesis regarding ethnomedicine in today’s modern world. We hypothesized that the remedies and medicines indigenous cultures use to heal the ill are unorthodox from the stand point of western civilization. Western society will view these remedies as barbarian and a total fallacy. We conducted our research through a life history interview, contacting a filmmaker named Matthew Vincent. Possessing an interest in natural medicines, Vincent spent over half a year living in Peru documenting the experiences of an American Shaman’s journey into the depths of Amazonian Shamanism. Together, they discovered the origins and methods involved in practicing shamanism in relation to this particular cultural group. Matthew trained under the ‘gringo shaman’ Ron Wheelock, learning the techniques and methods required to effectively heal members of the community in which they lived. In order to effectively film his documentary in a realistic manner, Matthew Vincent needed to integrate himself into the rituals, learning their practices and lifestyles. Researching through a life history interview best utilized our information since it enabled us to capture the personal experience of a man submerging himself into such a specific aspect of a community’s life. Our group set out to understand the origins of Amazonian shamanism. We wished to learn about the beliefs of the roots of illnesses as well as the methods used to treat them. Ethnomedicine seeks to understand what illnesses mean within a culture and how to remedy these ailments. According to Vincent, shamans believe people contract illnesses due to a variety of reasons. Culturally, the soul brings balance to the physical body and makes it strong. If presumed damaged or corrupt by devious spirits, souls must undergo ritualistic healing in order to return to a healthy state. Physical illness is thought to be a manifestation of corruption within the soul. In order to correct this corruption, patients go through a mixture of ritualistic songs, plant gnosis, and trances. Shamans utilize trances in order to enter different states of consciousness, allowing them to interact with souls and spirits to perform healing to the soul and bring the spirits back to the sick physical body. One extremely common way to remedy an ailment in Amazonian Shamanism is through the use of ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is an extremely hallucinogenic vine used in brews that are consumed by the Shaman along with the patient so the Shaman can conjure the spirits of the plants used in the brew to foresee any future ailments, cure any immediate ones, and try to prevent any others from manifesting themselves within the patient’s body and or soul. The ayahuasca brew can take any time from a couple of hours to brew, all the way to up to two days, being cooked three times. Wheelock told Vincent that he has treated people who have visited a psychiatrist for over a year and with one ayahuasca ceremony, the patient feels more rejuvenated and alive than ever before. Ayahuasca can also be used for other uses as well, depending on the ingredients used in the brew. For example, if brewed with shapishico, moonshine, and rainwater, and left to sit together for about nine days, this brew acts as an extremely potent aphrodisiac. Shamans are not only medicine men, but spiritual guides. Shamans can choose from two different paths when immersing themselves in their practices. They can choose to be curandero or a brujo. A curandero is a healer. He is the medicine man that can heal physical and psychological ailments that one might have. He does this through plant gnosis and conjuring the spirits of the plants to help cure the patient. A brujo, on the other hand, focuses on the dark arts of Shamanism, although he can also heal. In a Shamans training, they are visited by spirits and are given magical darts. These magical darts are a brujo’s weapon of choice when it comes to causing harm or kill another. He can use those towards anybody in the world as long as he has their name, a mental image of the person, a picture, or some sort of memorabilia that depicts who their target is. A curandero will only use these magical darts, usually, to defend himself. When a curandero sends a magical dart to a brujo, it’s usually with the intention to kill him. After conducting our life history interview, Team Bloodnut came to a conclusion on our hypothesis. We concluded that our hypothesis was correct regarding the differences between western medicines and Amazonian Shamanistic medicines. Western medicines include all of the technologies, modern medicines, and commodities that these indigenous cultures do not have access to; therefore we are much more technologically advanced. These countries are at a disadvantage when it comes to the commodities and technologies but that doesn’t mean that the quality is any less. These medicine men spend most of their lives learning how to conjure and interact with these spirits of nature so that they can heal in their favor. The way in which they do so shouldn’t be frowned upon. If these Shamans have found ways to cure, not just treat these illnesses and ailments, then why haven’t we, Western Civilization, adopted these methods? Is it the fear or the skepticism of failure? We think that it’s not so simple. We believe that the reason for these medicines not being accepted into our country is simply so the government won’t lose money and control. Wheelock cured a patient that had been visiting a shrink for over a year. In that time how much money did that psychiatrist earn? From that income how much did the government take from the psychiatrist in taxes? This is only for one person, too. Some people spend half of their lives, if not longer visiting some kind of medical practitioner or some form of psychedelic help. There will never be a shortage of sick people, so if they are simply just cured with a couple of ayahuasca ceremonies, that’s a pretty significant chunk out of the United States’ money supply. Not only is it a monetary issue, but also a control issue. If these practices were administered in the United States, people would gain insight and enlightenment to its effects. There is a chemical in ayahuasca that is an intense psychedelic. Dimethyltryptamine is the psychedelic in the ayahuasca that puts the body in the state in which it can be visited by manifesting spirits of the vine. If this psychedelic were to fall into the wrong hands, it could be very harmful to not only to America’s economy, but also to the ones who abuse it. Ergo, ethnomedicine is a sensitive subject because it is not only a way to treat people within a certain country or tribe, but it is also the way of life and the way generations upon generations have practiced these remedies. Just because different cultures do things differently, it doesn’t mean that one way is right and the other is wrong. If we, as a species and inhabitants of this Earth, all worked together and shared our practices with each other in the field of medicine, maybe we could find cures, not just treatments to malignant diseases such as cancer. Ayahuasca ceremonies are not just a ritual to heal patients that come to Shamans, but also a lifestyle.

Mrs Mallards Experience of Freedom in The Story of an Hour by Kate Cho

Mrs Mallard's Experience of Freedom in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin In "The Story of an Hour", Mrs Mallard, who has a heart attack is the main protagonist. Like any ordinary women, she is a normal housewife who depends on her husband. The news of her husband's death gives her freedom and sets her free from restraints, marriage and a lifetime of dependency. Kate Chopin uses several techniques to create the image of how freedom affects Mrs Mallard. At first, Mrs Mallard is shocked by the news which is shown in "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms." and "When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone." These describe her immediate response and tell that she is so shaken by the news that she weeps at once and goes away alone. Chopin uses some special diction like "sudden", "wild abandonment" and "storm of grief" to indicate that the news is very abrupt and unsettling. These words create an unexpected and tense atmosphere which helps to plot the unpredictable emotions of Mrs Mallard. Meanwhile, Chopin uses personification to say that the news is a sudden attack to Mrs Mallard which strengthens the shocking emotion of Mrs Mallard. This can also be found in "She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her..." This says that Mrs Mallard is so confused and jolted that she sobs helplessly as Chopin uses "motionless" and "sob" which is a physical manifestation of an emotion to tell that Mrs Mallard is stunned and feeling disbelieving. Concurrently, Chopin use... ...s Mallard is now really enjoys life which is reinforces in "Feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory." as it suggests that Mrs Mallard is stimulated and is being confident and proud by the trophy. Here, Chopin uses fascination diction "feverish triumph" and a simile" like a goddess of victory" to reflect Mrs Mallard's emotion which create a very strong image of exultant which shows that she becomes optimistic to life and proud or even pride of herself. Chopin plots this to contrast to the ending "She had died of heart disease-- of joy that kills." which makes a dramatic ending and marks the climax of the story. Works Cited: Chopin, Kate. ?The Story of an Hour.? From Roberts and Jacobs' Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Sixth Edition, p. 392.

Patient Report :: Medical Report

FINDINGS: Severe right-sided chest pain. The __ reported a friction rub. A PM lateral showed questionable mediastinal adenopathy. The patient had no cough or sputum production of ___. CT scan in ___ showed a possibility of a 1x2 cm right paratrachial lymphnode. Several smaller anteromediastinal lymphnodes which were all less than 1 cm were also evaluated. The patient was treated with Indocen with relief of her chest pain. ___ level was 64.5 with a ___ 50. PPD was negative, controls were positive. The CT of the abdomen showed normal liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, adrenals, uterus, a left ovarian cyst, a large gall stone neck of the gall bladder, no adenopathy and her mammogram was within normal limits. The patient reports band-like ache around her right chest with changes in pain with cough and deep breathing. There is no change in position. The patient reports increased shortness of breath with exertion over the past 5 months. No nausea, vomiting, fevers, chills, night sweats, abdominal pains, urinary complaints, kidney stones, diarrhea, ___ melena, headache, visual complaints or rash. PAST MEDICAL HISTORY: Unremarkable. PAST SURGICAL HISTORY: Remarkable for tubal ligation. SHE HAS NO KNOWN DRUG ALLERGIES. MEDICINES ON ADMISSION: Indocin 25-50 mg p.o. q.8 hours and Anaprax 270 mg p.o. b.i.d. The patient drinks alcohol only rarely and smokes regularly. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: Weight of 231 pounds, temperature 98.6, heartrate 60, respiratory rate 24, blood pressure 110/70. HEENT examination was unremarkable. The neck was supple without masses, adenopathy or bruits. The lungs showed small diffuse wheezes, but was otherwise without abnormality. Cardiovascular examination revealed a regular rate and rhythm, normal S1 and S2. Questionably slight change in the S1 with the __ maneuver and a questionable 1/6 systolic ejection murmur heard best at the lower sternal border. The abdomen was obese, showed bowel sounds in all quadrants, soft and nontender. It was difficult to tell if there was organomegaly. Extremities showed no clubbing, cyanosis or edema. Neurologically, the patient was normal. LABORATORY DATA: Show a white count of 8, hemoglobin 14.5, hematocrit 42.5, platelets 326,000, sodium 139, potassium 4.9, chloride 104, CO2 26, glucose 105, creatinine 0.8 and BUN of 17. Please see consolidated lab flow sheet for lab data regarding this patient. HOSPITAL COURSE: Patient was admitted in ____ evaluations as well as consultation from pulmonology service. Pulmonology service recommended the patient undergo bronchoscopy which was performed.

CRM lessons from Ikea

We restricted ourselves to two potential furniture suppliers: a UK-based company,Habitat, with what appears to be a fairly conventional business model, which provides fairly stylish, relatively expensive furniture, and ‘kea, a Swedish furniture retailer with a less conventional business model, with much less expensive furniture, perhaps less stylish. I thought that we would probably end up buying nearly all our furniture from Habitat, whereas actually Kea was our main supplier.Whilst buying this furniture, a number of interesting points about Kike's business model became apparent: o Most of Kike's products are delivered as â€Å"flat-pack† self-assembly kits. Habitat also supply goods in that format, primarily it seems, to ease shipment (and reduce associated costs). However, Kike's products had been designed not only to reduce shipment costs, but also to minimize production assembly costs. Clever design had been used to produce goods which can be assembled by the purcha ser with minimal skill (use of a screwdriver and spanner only), from parts manufactured by machine with little human effort in the production plant.The design also ensured a robust, stylish piece of furniture despite the limited skills of the assembler. Much of the work involved in manufacturing the piece of furniture had been moved from the factory, to the customer. The reduction in cost had also been passed onto the customer. For at least this customer, there was also a significant feeling of achievement in assembling the table or chair. The result – a high quality piece of furniture at low-cost, but with a lot more work for the customer, but tit a resulting sense of achievement. There are differences in the retail outlet model as well. Habitat provides a conventional Main Street retail outlet, with room to display the goods, and attentive sales staff to discuss the furniture. Kike's out-of- town, large-scale outlet had the space to attempt something different. The products were displayed in a number of room mock-ups so that pieces could be seen in relation to other products, with ‘design stations' to help the customer to build their own design. Kea staff were on hand, but not as sales assistants, more to advise on sign, check whether stock was available, etc.This approach helps with the interior design aspects of selecting furniture, again for this customer at least, a difficult aspect of buying furniture. O Distribution: It is here that the most obvious differences with a conventional retail store occur: – You have to pick the goods from the warehouse yourself deliver (though there is a 3rd-party delivery service at a cost). All this may appear to be poor customer service, but again, it takes out a lot of cost from the distribution process, and this is passed on to the customer. Customer Direct Transactions: If you think about it for a minute, because Kea wont take orders, it is key that customers can find out if Kea has a particular it em in stock. (You don't want to go to an out-of-town store, to be told that what you've come for isn't in stock and the store doesn't take orders. ) Kea have recognized this and so provide an automated phone service to allow you to check whether the item you want is in stock. That item is number 1 in the automated service menu – first plus mark.There are a large number of stores I use which I wish provided a similar service. Next, I'd like you to think what ATA you'd ask a customer for if you were designing a ‘check-in-stock' transaction. Well, it's obvious isn't it – you ask for the stock code. Well Kea don't think it's obvious to a customer and when you use their service you recognize that they're right. Instead, they ask you for a catalogue page number, and then the price of the item you're interested in. They then tell you the items on that page at that price and you confirm which one you want.A pretty weird transaction by IT standards, but customer-friendly. If you're a customer interested in stock levels, you're very likely to have the catalogue open. The page number is meaningful to you, is short and easy to enter on a phone keypad (all digits). The price is also meaningful, again short and easy to enter (all numeric). No company I've ever worked for has simple stock-codes. Someone has designed this transaction with the end-user (the customer) in mind. What, if anything has this to do with CRMIn my view, a lot: o Kea have chosen to change from a conventional business model to reduce prices significantly, by placing a lot of burden onto the customer. CRM is not necessarily about better customer service, but about giving the customer a better value reposition, or ‘increased value for money'. O Their change in business model leads to a need for a new transaction for the customer. That transaction is designed to be simple and fast for the customer to use. In Ken's words (nearly) in this week' newsletter – they've listened to their customers.

The 3 Japanese Verb Groups

The 3 Japanese Verb Groups One of the characteristics of the Japanese language is that the verb generally comes at the end of the sentence. Since Japaneses sentences often omit the subject, the verb is probably the most important part in understanding the sentence. However, verb forms are considered to be challenging to learn. The good news is the system itself is rather simple, as far as memorizing specific rules. Unlike the more complex verb conjugation of other languages, ​​Japanese verbs do not have a different form to indicate the person (first-, second, and third-person), the number (singular and plural), or gender. Japanese verbs are roughly divided into three groups according to their dictionary form (basic form). Group 1: ~ U Ending Verbs The basic form of Group 1 verbs end with ~ u. This group is also called Consonant-stem verbs or Godan-doushi (Godan verbs). hanasu è © ±Ã£ â„¢ - to speakkaku æ› ¸Ã£   - to writekiku è Å¾Ã£   - to listenmatsu Ã¥ ¾â€¦Ã£  ¤ - to waitnomu é £ ²Ã£â€šâ‚¬ - to drink Group 2: ~ Iru and ~ Eru Ending Verbs The basic form of Group 2 verbs end with either ~iru or ~ eru. This group is also called Vowel-stem-verbs or Ichidan-doushi (Ichidan verbs). ~ Iru Ending Verbs kiru ç â‚¬Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to wearmiru è ¦â€¹Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to seeokiru è µ ·Ã£  Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to get uporiru é™ Ã£â€šÅ Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to get offshinjiru ä ¿ ¡Ã£ ËœÃ£â€šâ€¹ - to believe ~ Eru Ending Verbs akeru éâ€"‹ã â€˜Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to openageru 㠁‚㠁’ã‚‹ - to givederu å‡ ºÃ£â€šâ€¹ - to go outneru Ã¥ ¯ Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to sleeptaberu é £Å¸Ã£  ¹Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to eat There are some exceptions. The following verbs belong to Group 1, though they end with ~ iru or ~ eru. hairu å… ¥Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to enterhashiru è µ °Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to runiru 㠁„ã‚‹ - to needkaeru Ã¥ ¸ °Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to returnkagiru é™ Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to limitkiru 切る - to cutshaberu 㠁â€"ã‚Æ'㠁 ¹Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to chattershiru çŸ ¥Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to know Group 3: Irregular Verbs There are only two irregular verbs, kuru (to come) and suru (to do). The verb suru is probably the most often used verb in Japanese. It is used as to do, to make, or to cost. It is also combined with many nouns (of Chinese or Western origin) to make them into verbs. Here are some examples. benkyousuru 勉å ¼ ·Ã£ â„¢Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to studyryokousuru æâ€"…è ¡Å'㠁™ã‚‹ - to travelyushutsusuru è ¼ ¸Ã¥â€¡ ºÃ£ â„¢Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to exportdansusuru ãÆ'ۋÆ' ³Ã£â€š ¹Ã£ â„¢Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to danceshanpuusuru ã‚ ·Ã£Æ' £Ã£Æ' ³Ã£Æ'â€"ãÆ' ¼Ã£ â„¢Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to shampoo

Great Depression Essays - Systemic Risk, Financial Crises

Great Depression Essays - Systemic Risk, Financial Crises Great Depression The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history, and one which spread to virtually all of the industrialized world. The depression began in late 1929 and lasted for about a decade. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stockmarket speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade. The lack of distribution of wealth in the 1920's existed on many levels. Money was distributed in equally between the rich and the middle-class, between industry and agriculture within the United States, and between the U.S. and Europe. This imbalance of wealth created an unstable economy. The stock market was kept artificially high, but eventually lead to large market crashes. These market crashes, combined with the lack of distribution of wealth, caused the American economy to capsize. The roaring twenties was an era when our country prospered tremendously. The nation's total realized income rose from $74.3 billion in 1923 to $89 billion in 1929. However, the rewards of the Coolidge Prosperity of the 1920's were not shared evenly among all Americans. In 1929 the top 0.1% of Americans controlled 34% of all savings, while 80% of Americans had no savings at all. Automotive industry mogul Henry Ford is one example of the unequal distribution of wealth between the rich and the middle-class. Henry Ford reported a personal income of $14 million in the same year that the average persons income was $750. By present day standards Mr. Ford would be earning over $345 million a year! This lack of distribution of income between the rich and the middle class grew throughout the 1920's. A major reason for this large and growing gap between the rich and the working-class people was the increased manufacturing output throughout the 1920s. From 1923-1929 the average output per worker increased 32%. During that same period of time average wages for manufacturing jobs increased only 8%. As production costs fell quickly, wages rose slowly, and prices remained constant, the bulk benefit of the increased productivity went into corporate profits. The federal government also contributed to the growing gap between the rich and middle-class. Calvin Coolidge's administration favored business. An example of legislation to this purpose is the Revenue Act of 1926, which greatly reduced federal income and inheritance taxes. Andrew Mellon was the main force behind these and other tax cuts throughout the 1920's. Because of these tax cuts a man with a million-dollar annual income had his federal taxes reduced from $600,000 to $200,000. Even the Supreme Court played a role in expanding the gap between the socioeconomic classes. In the1923 case Adkins v. Children's Hospital, the Supreme Court ruled minimum-wage legislation unconstitutional. The large and growing difference of wealth between the well-to-do and the middle-income citizens made the U.S. economy unstable. For an economy to function properly, total demand must equal total supply. Essentially what happened in the 1920's was that there was an oversupply of goods. It was not that the surplus products were not wanted, but rather that those who needed the products could not afford more, while the wealthy were satisfied by spending only a small portion of their income. Three quarters of the U.S. population would spend essentially all of their yearly incomes to purchase goods such as food, clothes, radios, and cars. These were the poor and middle class. Families with incomes around, or usually less than, $2,500 a year. While the wealthy too purchased consumer goods, a family earning $100,000 could not be expected to eat 40 times more than a family that only earned $2,500 a year. Through the imbalance the U.S. came to rely upon two things in order for the economy to remain on an even level: credit sales, or investment from the rich. One obvious solution to the problem of the vast majority of the population not having enough money to satisfy all their needs was to let those who wanted goods buy products on credit. The concept of buying now and paying later caught on quickly. By the end of the 1920's 60% of cars and 80% of radios were bought on installment credit. Between 1925 and 1929 the total amount of outstanding installment credit more than doubled. This strategy created a non realistic demand for products which people could not usually afford. People could no longer use their regular wages to

Dads should Take Parenting Leaves Essays

Dads should Take Parenting Leaves Essays Dads should Take Parenting Leaves Essay Dads should Take Parenting Leaves Essay Introduction It is normally believed that male parents should be offered paternity or paternal leave from their Organizations because it gives them the chance to link with the kid while supplying female parents a piece to bring around and loosen up. A male parent being on parental leave besides helps when the female parent is retrieving or affected by post-partum depressive upsets. It gives the female parent an chance to acquire back to day-to-day work and non worry about seeking for an appropriate child care centre at the minute. Fathers should hold the experience and joy of feeding. shouting. vesture. bathing and comforting their kids. It can give the female parent clip to her and the ability to take attention of her personal demands. while giving male parents the opportunity to give a assisting manus around the house. It is non a fact that dad’s merely attention for their occupation. Their purpose towards paternity foliages shows their heartiest concern and strong bonding of household so it is really of import for a strong household relationship and for the interest of kid improvement attending given by male parent gives him bravery and assurance in the early growth age. The turning heads of kid flourishes and lighten up with a particular value and qualitative clip given by male parent. Thesis Statement: Paternity leaves of male parents a extremely important for both. a adult female and freshly born kid Parental leave for male parents must be specified because it gives male parents a fantastic experience to bond with their kids. gives female parents a opportunity to mend after holding a babe. and helps the new male parent feel excess involved in fostering their kid. Maternity leave refers to the period of clip that a new female parent takes off from work following the birth of her babe. Mat ernity leave is normally created signifier a assortment of benefits that include ill leave. holiday clip. holiday. short term disablement ; personal yearss and unpaid household leave clip. It is of import to be after the pregnancy leave so that the pregnant adult females and their household make non see any unexpected fiscal challenges and they can do the most of their clip with the babe ( Yonkers. Kimberly A. . et al 403 ) . There are hazards any clip a adult female gives birth. For an illustration: cesarian birth has a greater hazard and a longer recovery clip than a natural birth. A cesarian birth occurs through an scratch in the abdominal wall and womb instead than via the vagina. There has been a regular addition in cesarian births over the old 30 old ages. More than 1 in every 4 adult females is expected to see a bringing through cesarian operation. The yearss following a cesarian birth can be the most ambitious times for female parents and households. After a bringing. a female parent needs to let her organic structure to mend and rest. Preferably. this means small or wholly no house-work or running after small 1s. If a adult female have other kids at place. recovery entirely would be really hard. Having a support squad to assist with the twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours activities is needed. This is the most needful clip for a partner to be at place to assist with the recovery every bit good as the neonates attention. With individual parents this becomes more of a challenge. A individual parent would necessitate to enroll her support squad from friends. household. and church members. Individual male parents are an often-overlooked group in American society. Their Numberss. nevertheless. go on to increase. Harmonizing to the National Centre for Fathering. the figure of individual pas in the U. S. has at least twofold since 1980. to about 1. 6 million. and the figure of individual male parents continues to turn twice every bit fast as the figure of individual female parents ( Nomaguchi and Melissa 356 ) . With a individual male parent there is no recovery clip needed but the challenge of t aking attention of a newborn remains. As mentioned above kid birth does transport hazards and one of the hazards can ensue in decease. Now the neonate has one parent. the male parent. This male parent will necessitate the clip to care for the newborn and acclimatize himself to being a individual parent. A survey done in Scandinavia by Andrea Doucet. a professor of Sociology and Woman Studies at the Brock University in Canada. indicates that: In 1980. merely 5 % of Swedish male parents took parental leave. Ms. Doucet points out that ten old ages subsequently. it rose 7 % . It was merely when non-transferable and well-paid leave for male parents ( besides referred to as the daddy month ) was introduced in 1996 that uptake rapidly rose to 77 % . Another daddy month was applied in the twelvemonth 2002 and the statistics have increased to above 90 % . We don’t know what this all [ finally ] leads to. but what it certainly leads to is male parents being more invested in the household. Dr. Doucet said. Every male parent I have interviewed who’s taken leaves merely admirations at the clip. It merely lets them to be involved in the household and allows them to acquire out of the rut of working full-time. which is instead something that work forces are merely get downing to see †¦ [ and ] which is of import since women’s employment rates are acquiring increased in an exponential way ( Galtry. Judith. and Paul 219 ) . The major important factor is the wellbeing of the kid. The first six hebdomads of a newborns life consist of changeless eating and monitoring. With the female parent in a convalescence period. it is difficult to pick up the kid and travel to the physician assignment or for a simple food market shop tally. Having a male parent place to assist with these jobs will assist the female parent to retrieve rapidly so that she can return to work on agenda. Plants Cited Galtry. Judith. and Paul Callister. Assessing the Optimal Length of Parental Leave for Child and Parental Well-Being How Can Research Inform Policy? . Journal of Family Issues 26. 2 ( 2005 ) : 219-246. Nomaguchi. Kei M. . and Melissa A. Milkie. Costs and wagess of kids: The effects of going a parent on adults’ lives. Journal of matrimony and household 65. 2 ( 2003 ) : 356-374. Yonkers. Kimberly A. . et Al. The direction of depression during gestation: a study from the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. General infirmary psychopathology 31. 5 ( 2009 ) : 403-413.

Improvement of Danones Purchasing and Supply Management Assignment

Improvement of Danones Purchasing and Supply Management - Assignment Example Secondly, Danone has a major weakness in availing products to consumers at the right time. This is because of the lack of efficient distribution mechanisms. This has triggered the firms to formulate distribution channels such as door-to-door, but Danone has not achieved maximum efficiency where consumers can receive goods instantly. Danone has an objective of ensuring that products reach the consumer in the best possible conditions and at the best price (Danone Par 1). Therefore, Danone may have to adopt collaborative distribution both at the urban and rural levels in order to further develop and improve its purchasing and supply management. This means that Danone will have to partner with other organizations to aid in the process of order delivery. With this, the company will be able to facilitate home delivery and pick-up efficiently in rural and urban areas (Capgemin 46).   Danone will have to adopt Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), in future to   monitor goods from the p oint of supply to the final consumer. This technology is expected to reduce the delay of goods from production to consumption points. It will also enable Danone’s managers to identify the points where goods are required, and determine the length of time that it will take the goods to reach clients. With the aid of an electronic chip which will be attached to goods immediately, they are acquired from the supplier; information will be sent to the company about the state and location of goods (Scott, Lundgren and Thompson 95). Consequently, this will reduce delays in goods delivery. This is because managers will be able to monitor the location of goods, and they may fasten the distribution process when demand is high. Danone can also manage the relationships between buyers and sellers to improve its purchase and supply management. This will involve the strengthening of relationships between these parties. The relationships would be strengthened by holding conferences through the information system (Scott, Lundgren and Thompson 97). Buyers would understand the processes at the supplier’s point, and this understanding would create long-term relationships with sellers. Consequently, the long-term relationships would guarantee the firm supply of all products, and this would reduce the shortage. In addition, Danone would have to adopt electronic distribution would reduce delay and increase customer satisfaction (Scott, Lundgren and Thompson 101). This will improve the purchasing and supply management of the company by allowing customers to purchase goods on-line, and have the goods delivered to their door steps.

Should lethal injection be considered cruel and unusual punishment Research Paper

Should lethal injection be considered cruel and unusual punishment - Research Paper Example Lethal injection is problematic in that there are bound to be problems that might cause infliction of pain, torture and lingering death. One of the reasons for this is that the procedure was invented by an individual, Fred Leuchter, who had no medical training, and invented the method by reviewing literature on the effects that the protocol had on pigs and estimated accordingly. Although these recommendations have been discredited, they still form the basis for the protocol in â€Å"the overwhelmingly majority of states that use the death penalty† a development that caused Debra Denno, author of the most comprehensive report on death penalty protocols in the United States to state â€Å"it is not clear how or why this chemical combination has persisted† (Wong, 2006, p. 269). Another of the reasons why lethal injection may be considered to be cruel and unusual punishment is because of the way that it is carried out. Lethal injections are often botched, as there have been over 30 cases of such botched executions since the death penalty was reinstated by Gregg v. Georgia (Wong, 2006, p. 264). Specifically, medical personnel, personnel that would be trained to carry out lethal injection in such a way that it would be complication-free and painless, typically does not want to carry out the punishment. Approximately 19% of medical personnel do go ahead and do this, yet these individuals are met with opposition from medical societies (Denno, 2002, p. 2). After all, they take a Hippocratical Oath that states that they are not to do any harm, and administering lethal injection would be a direct contradiction to this basic oath. Therefore,... As a consequence of the fact that medical personnel by and large are not able to participate in lethal injection protocols, there is a chance that the official who is administering the protocol will put the intravenous line into the muscle, as opposed to a vein, or the needle may become clogged. This would cause the inmate to experience extreme pain. For example, when James Autry was put to death in Texas in 1984, it took him 10 minutes to die, while he moved around and complained of pain. Moreover, because the technicians performing the protocol are inexperienced, it is sometimes difficult to find a good vein, and this is compounded when the inmate was an intravenous drug user. Such was the case with Steven Morin in Texas, who was a former heroin user, which caused the technician to have to stick Morin’s arms with needles 41 times. Crucially, lethal injection consists of three different procedures – the first is the anesthetic; the second induces paralysis; the third causes death. The first of these procedures that is the most important is the administering of the anesthetic, for this is what causes the procedure to be pain-free. If a medical personnel is not administering the anesthetic, then it stands to reason that the anesthetic might not be administered properly, which means that the prisoner may feel excruciating pain in dying. Konarias et al. sought protocol information from Texas and Virginia, as these two states constituted 45% of all death penalty cases carried out in the United States.

Genocidal rape in Bosnia-Herzgovina Research Paper

Genocidal rape in Bosnia-Herzgovina - Research Paper Example Systematic mass rape and forced impregnation of women to cause pregnancy was related to the policy of â€Å"ethnic cleansing† of the Serbian genocide. Methods used in the campaigns of ethnic cleansing included but were not limited to torture, murder, detention, arbitrary arrest, sexual assaults in general and rape in particular, extra-judicial executions, forcible removal, confinement of the civilians into the ghettos, civilian deportation and displacement, exposure of the civilians to deliberate military attacks, and property destruction. Widespread ethnic cleansing was accompanied with the outbreak of war from 1992 to 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnian Serbs forced Bosnian Muslims in large numbers along with some Bosnian Croats to flee their homes. There was also a small population of Bosnian Croats that conducted similar campaign against the Serbs and the Muslims, though they were far outnumbered by the violent Serbs. In the start of 1991, Balkans saw political upheava ls displacing a total of nearly 2,700,000 people, 700,000 of which sought refuge in Europe. There was an obvious military intent behind the systematic policies of rape in conflict with the International Humanitarian Law adopted by the Serbs. Giuseppe Zaccaria, an Italian journalist, summarized the Serb army officers’ minutes of meeting conducted in late 1991 in a Belgrade suburb in which he noted that the explicit policy of the Serbs was meant to target the children and women, they being the most vulnerable part of the social and religious structure of the Muslims. The reason why Bosnian Serbs targeted women and children can be summarized in these words: â€Å"Our analysis of the behavior of the Muslim communities demonstrates that the morale, will, and bellicose nature of their groups can be undermined only if we aim our action at the point where the religious and social structure is most fragile. We refer to the women, especially adolescents, and to the children. Decisive intervention on these social figures would spread confusion among the communities, thus causing first of all fear and then panic, leading to a probable [Muslim] retreat from the territories involved in war activity† (Zaccaria cited in Alien 57). In spite of the media reports discussing the mass killings, the secret camps, the destruction of architecture of Bosnia and mosques, most of the global community showed indifference to them. In response to such media reports, the UN implemented economic sanctions upon Serbia. The first UN peacekeeping force during the Yugoslav wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). Mandate of the UNPROFOR for Bosnia and Herzegovina was to keep the people alive as the war reached its end. In an attempt to supervise the food and medicine distribution among the Muslims, the UN deployed its troops. However, these troops were not allowed by the UN to make any sort of military interference against the Serbs. UN had its own reasons not to stop the Serbs from killing Bosnian Muslims; the UN security forces thought that this was not their war and so they should not risk their lives trying to stop the Serbs from committing the atrocities. In addition to that, some soldiers of the UN security forces were held hostage by the Serbs. The safety and security of those captured UN soldiers was the prime concern of the UN securit

Human Sexuality Aspects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Sexuality Aspects - Essay Example Human sexuality deals more with emotional responses as principles, standards, and duties. Movies as a media of communication, has an enormous effect in the manner in which it has shaped the way people relate and engage in sexual activities. Human sexuality directly or indirectly has influences in many areas of life that pertains to human beings. Human sexuality affects the society in numerous ways. For example, it influences persons in the sociocultural aspect. Different people have different cultures and share different views on sexual behaviors and what people perceives to be wrong in different parts of the world. Movies have played a played a major role in influencing the way people perceive sexual activities. For instance, most characters in movies engage in sexual activities before marriage, which is a forbidden practice among many religious groups. Though most persons will try their best to follow religious rules, they will also try their very best to keep secrets of how they engage in sexual activities. People do this in order to avoid critisims or even being punished. Moreover, sexual activities in movies in addition to beliefs of a person and their religious backgrounds as well as personal experiences and behaviors can have even a stronger influence in an individual or a group of people. Such influences from movies include influencing the way children are taught about sexuality by their parents. This is because children tend to emulate in behavior what they watch on movies. Often, young children look for guidance through media on what are both socially acceptable or not. The media tends to help shape the attitudes of children on what they like and what they do not. Movies show attractive cast people in the lead roles (Bancroft 7). Human sexuality also plays a major role in influencing the way people in the society behaves and communicates to each other. More often than not, human behavior is determined by the

Computer ethics and law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Computer ethics and law - Essay Example To put the discussion into perspective, we’ll use a case study involving a computer professional and a client requiring a personnel management database system. The client chooses the least secure security system from among the list of systems provided. The computer professional clearly clarifies to the customer the security loopholes associated with the system, notable, the risk of unauthorised access to the sensitive personnel information, which might lead to compromise of personnel information by hackers, but the client insists on using it. As Bittner & Hornecker (2002, p. 1) notes, the daily routine of computer professionals provides them with unique opportunities to â€Å"do the right thing† as well as numerous obstacles to achieving this. However, as Norman (1988, p. 2) puts it, the â€Å"...design of technological artefacts should minimise risk and consequences of error.† All professional are obliged to act in such a way as to be worthy of the clientsâ€⠄¢ trust (Bayles 1989) and to ensure social responsibility in all their duties (Durbin 1992). Martin (2011) adds to this by using the words â€Å"pride, honor and self-respect† to describe the ideal conduct of computer professionals. In deciding the way to go, the computer professional in this case study should consider the ethical and professional provisions of the IEEE-CS/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice as it is generally accepted as a standard documentation of software engineers’ ethical and professional requirements and responsibilities. The code has eight principles which Gotterbarn (2000) says are not to be considered as completely exhaustive since there is no way of telling what moral concerns may emerge in the future. They should instead act as a broad framework for professional ethics. Gotterbarn, Miller & Rogerson (1997) reiterate this saying that he IEEE-CS/ACM SECEPP is â€Å"not intended to be all inclusive, nor is it int ended that its individual parts be used in isolation to justify errors of omission or commission†. At the general scale, the IEEE-CS/ACM SECEPP stresses on the engineering profession’s obligation to the public whose health, welfare and safety should take precedence and indeed form the basis of the eight principles of the SECEPP. The â€Å"Public† principle is of particular relevance to our case study. Gotterbarn (1999) argues that computer professionals have substantial chances â€Å"†¦to do good or cause harm† and to aid and influence others to do the same. The principle of Public however requires software engineers to put the public interest first. Not only does this principle hold software engineers responsible for their decisions. In that context, they are required to balance the needs of all the parties (employer, customer, and themselves) with the welfare and safety of the public. This empowers the software engineers to disapprove any software o r component of an IT system that might threaten privacy, degrade the environment, compromise the quality of human life and is especially critical in the manufacture of safety-critical software; computer software whose failure or error can cause directly

Human Sexuality Aspects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Sexuality Aspects - Essay Example Human sexuality deals more with emotional responses as principles, standards, and duties. Movies as a media of communication, has an enormous effect in the manner in which it has shaped the way people relate and engage in sexual activities. Human sexuality directly or indirectly has influences in many areas of life that pertains to human beings. Human sexuality affects the society in numerous ways. For example, it influences persons in the sociocultural aspect. Different people have different cultures and share different views on sexual behaviors and what people perceives to be wrong in different parts of the world. Movies have played a played a major role in influencing the way people perceive sexual activities. For instance, most characters in movies engage in sexual activities before marriage, which is a forbidden practice among many religious groups. Though most persons will try their best to follow religious rules, they will also try their very best to keep secrets of how they engage in sexual activities. People do this in order to avoid critisims or even being punished. Moreover, sexual activities in movies in addition to beliefs of a person and their religious backgrounds as well as personal experiences and behaviors can have even a stronger influence in an individual or a group of people. Such influences from movies include influencing the way children are taught about sexuality by their parents. This is because children tend to emulate in behavior what they watch on movies. Often, young children look for guidance through media on what are both socially acceptable or not. The media tends to help shape the attitudes of children on what they like and what they do not. Movies show attractive cast people in the lead roles (Bancroft 7). Human sexuality also plays a major role in influencing the way people in the society behaves and communicates to each other. More often than not, human behavior is determined by the

Strategic Business Alliances Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Business Alliances - Article Example Financial deals were cheap and this, coinciding with the idea that most companies had much cash at their disposal creates a conducive environment for alliance activity to pick up. Additionally, making business alliances aims at expanding business market share in the sense that the business would relieve a lot of pressure making them more flexible to react quickly to changes without the investors’ weight upon them. Business alliance can make customers’ interests in the current market might end up being shelved when the management set off to concentrate and develop emerging markets elsewhere. Though it can be argued that the administrative section of the company will increase their personnel to concentrate on these new markets, they might still need support from the current managers in terms of experience in tackling hurdles that may face them and thus their focus on management might be temporarily diluted. Whether the customers’ expectations and their products quality will remain at their previous desirable level or even increase in the process remains to be a litmus test for the company considering this acquisition is still in its infant stages. The society as a whole benefit from business alliance given that apart from creating new job openings from their expansion, they increase value for people’s money by not only increasing the variety of commodities but also bringing new competition that will prompt other players to increase their efficiency in serving the society.

Plagiarism Essay Example for Free

Plagiarism Essay Plagiarism, in its simplest form, is merely literary theft. Plagiarism occurs when a writer duplicates another writers language or ideas and then calls the work his or her own (Plagiarism 2). Some times, one may plagiarize with little knowledge that he/she is doing so. Other times, one may feel the need to plagiarize because he/she waited until the last minute or one may not want to take the time to research correctly. Because of the many sources available to students, plagiarism has significantly increased within the last several years. In fact, in 2009, eighty percent of college students admitted to plagiarizing at least once (Plagiarism Statistics 2). There are several ways to prevent plagiarism, such as knowing when to site common knowledge, paraphrasing, and always citing correctly. Common knowledge is something that is generally known, however there is no clear boundary on what is considered common knowledge (Common Knowledge 1). Common knowledge can also carry the sense of â€Å"communal† knowledge—it is community information that no particular individual can fairly claim to own (Writing Center 1). Knowing when to cite common knowledge can be tricky. One way to tell whether or not a bit of information is common knowledge or not, is whether or not it is stated in five or more sources. So, if it’s known to educated people, or can be easily looked up, or appears in many sources, it is likely to be â€Å"common knowledge† and so does not need to be cited (Writing Center 2). However, if the information is not general knowledge to the educated public, then a proper citation is necessary. Because knowing when and when not to cite common knowledge can be an uncertainty, it is always best to just cite the information or ask a professor. A paper should only consist of about ten percent of direct quotations. Therefore, in order to keep verbatim quotes to a minimum, one can paraphrase. Paraphrasing is â€Å"ones own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form† (Driscoll 1). Essentially, paraphrasing is simply summarizing. However, it is a more concentrated, detailed summary on a single, specific topic. Reasons for paraphrasing may be to make sure one fully understands what the text says, or to use as expert evidence for a point one is trying to make in his/her own argumentative text. One must fully comprehend the entire passage or quotation and then write down his/her own rendition of the passage while making it clear that someone else’s ideas are being used. Plagiarism, despite the fact that it’s immoral and unethical, is an ongoing roblem in education facilities today. Although the statistics for the number of students who have admitted to plagiarism are staggering, there are a few ways one can make sure that he/she does not plagiarize. Understanding common knowledge and paraphrasing allows one to know when or when not to cite work. Authors work hard and deserve to have their work recognized and not stolen. With this in mind, remember to always give credit where credit is due.

Principal Strengths And Weaknesses Of Norwegian Integration Politics Essay

Principal Strengths And Weaknesses Of Norwegian Integration Politics Essay The foreign policy of the European Union (EU) compromises two major tools. First, deepening dictates a horizontal (among members) process where member states tie up their relations on stronger grounds. Second, enlargement is associated with a vertical growth (between members of the EU and the candidate countries) that absorbs new members into the Union creating new markets, new employment potential, and a wider geographical status. The basic difference between these two processes is that the latter must also include the satisfaction of an outsider (i.e. the candidate country). As strange as it may sound to a Turkish citizen, some countries are willing to opt out the so-called opportunity of becoming an EU member. Any expression of opposition to the European Union or to the project of European integration, generally labeled Euroscepticism, comes from many different quarters and spans across the political spectrum. One basic idea is that European integration might be accompanied by a certain disintegration of the political system at the national level. In the recent European Parliament elections, many Eurosceptics entered the European Parliament, thus suggesting that Euroscepticism is on the rise across Europe. In surveying the nature of Euroscepticism across European states, Szczerbiak and Taggart (2000) identified Soft and Hard Euroscepticism which implicitly suggest particular features of Eurosceptical attitudes to Europe. For Hard Eurosceptics, the EU may be opposed because it embodies some previously identified  «enemy » (e.g. capitalism for communism, socialism for the right, bureaucracy for populists, supranationalism for nationalists, or neo-liberalism for socialists). For Soft Eurosceptics, the EU is problematic when it development runs counter to interests, policies or issues they support. (Szczerbiak and Taggart 2008) Euroscepticsm in Norway In the Norwegian context, Euroscepticism is usually associated with the question of membership. To the question why the membership issue was and is so hotly debated in Norway there is no single answer, but rather several partial ones. A leading expert in the field of political behavior, Professor Henry Valen, points to the interplay of history, geography and social structure(Miles 1996). Historically, centuries of foreign rule first by the Danes, then by the Swedes and the fact of being a young nation (i.e. Norways comparatively recent independence since 1905) made many Norwegians fierce patriots. To this should be added the large geographical distance to mainland Europe. The country has traditionally pursued a policy of non-involvement in European conflicts. Furthermore, the Norwegian Euroscepticism can be traced to both the economic and cultural territorial cleavages that shape the Norwegian party system, thus cutting across the main left-right dimension in Norway i.e. socio-economic competition between Labour and the Conservatives. (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). The centre-periphery cleavages derived from the national revolution and the rural-urban cleavages that were arose during the industrial revolution are other two explanatory dimensions of Euroscepticsm in Norway (Rokkan and Urwin 1983). Domestic politics reflect economic inequalities and conflicts of interest stemming from the huge geographic extension of the country from south to north and the gap in living conditions between the densely inhabited and industrialized areas of south and the thinly populated rural and coastal districts. Furthermore, throughout the EU debates there were unusual but strong alliances between farmers and fisherman, urban radicals, and partisans of lingui stic, religious and teetotalist counter-cultures. Miles (1996) finds that on most of these dimensions there has been a remarkable stability since the early 1970s. The economic dimension of Norwegian Euroscepticism is illustrated in the sectors that face uncertainty or decreased subsidies if exposed to free trade and competition, primarily agriculture and fisheries, but also to a smaller extent the public sector. Fear that integration might undermine Norways regional policy, which entails both economic transfers and positive discrimination in the forms of tax-breaks and other financial incentives, provides further grounds for economic opposition. In terms of identity or culture, European integration has been perceived as a potential or actual threat to Norways moral-religious heritage (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). Foreign and security policy added as further dimension to the Norwegian Euroscepticism. Until 2000, there was scarce evidence of that Norway was responding to the end of the Cold War and changing military and security realities of the 1990s, and the distance between Norwegian and EU security policy was greater than at the beginning of the decade (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). This is rooted partly in the perception that Norway is a different country, in terms of either geopolitics or its international profile. The EU and the USs changing approaches to security and defense (beyond sole focus on traditional concerns of defense of state bounders), has little effect on the Norwegian foreign and security policy. However, even in narrow terms of security concerns, Norway is finding that its non-NATO neighbours are increasingly addressing regional concerns through the EU institutions. Given its NATO membership and geostrategic position, Norway would be in a prime position to play a strong role in shaping the EUs emerging security and defense policy. Thus, even in the absence of EU membership, Norway joined the Schengen agreement on police cooperation and border control and performs surveillance on the European It has also established close cooperation with the EU on its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Historical outline of Norways foreign economic relations since independence Norway is no stranger to complex relations with the outside world (Claes and Fossum 2002). Its foreign policy has historically striven to strike a balance between internationalism and national self-assertion. Although united under a common king as early as 872, it lost its independence in the late Middle Ages, was ruled by Denmark from 1390 to 1814, and then was the possession of the Swedish king until obtaining independence in 1905. In order to find the connection between a nations national identity and her foreign policy, one must first deal with whether Norwegian identity formation has yet ended up with a solid national identity. Anthony Smith (1993) outlines fundamental features of a national identity as such: a historic territory (homeland); common myths and historical memories; a common mass public culture including dialect languages and shared customs/traditions; common legal rights and duties for all members; and a common economy with territorial mobility for members. Internalizing Smiths features of national identity as well as making, Norwegian society has come up with an accomplished national identity without question. The main priority in Norwegian foreign and security policy after the Second World War was always the Atlantic relationship, built around NATO membership and a strong reliance on the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1960 Norway joined the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which included the United Kingdon, Finland, Sweden, Austria, and Liechtenstein. However, Norways applications to join the European Community in 1962 and 1967 and vetoed by France indicated that there was potential for conflict in the Norwegian political system concerning stronger orientation towards the European Community. The opposition was not limited to the internal dimensions. Externally, membership meant a potential break with the traditional non-supranational Nordic and EFTA approaches. As a consequence, it was felt by many Norwegians that Nordic cooperation might be jeopardized by opting for EC membership. The 1972 Trauma In the 1972 referendum on EC membership, a majority of 53 percent of the population voted against. Community to ensure duty-free trade for manufactured goods, the European question receded from its political agenda. The negative referendum outcome caused something like a political earthquake in Norway. It marked a broad popular protest against the exclusive competence of the government to handle questions of foreign policy and international economics generally and against EC membership specifically. The No in a way became part of the Constitution, standing above the government, the Storting (parliament) and the political parties. Despite the rejection in 1972, and the following silent treatment of the membership issue, the prospect of the Single European Market triggered negotiations to link the EFTA states with the EC through the creation of the European Economic Area agreement (EEA). As an intergovernmental agreement between the EU and the three remaining EFTA partners (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), the EEA became the backbone of Norway s economic relationship with the EU. The vote against membership of the European Community in the 1972 set the scene for an approach to European integration based on an ever closer cooperation short of actual membership. Despite the rejection of membership, Norway was required to respond to and accommodate European integration. What started as bilateral relationships between each EFTA member and the EU evolved into coordinated multilateral interaction in the early 1980s. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Eliassen and Sitter 2003) The 1994 No referendum to EU membership In the wake of the 1994 referendum , in Norway, enormous offshore oil and gas resources had been developed, increasing the level of Norwegian exports and adding one more sensitive sector to the Norwegian negotiation agenda with the EU. In the EU, a more ambitious direction was employed both to harmonize economic regulations of the members in order to create a common market and economic union, and also to create a political union with common foreign policy. The impact of these changes together with political considerations, including loss of sovereignty in critical decision-making areas, made the distance between Norway and the Union extended. The No slogan EU campaigns 1994 slogan centered on three words environment, solidarity and national rule all of which were threatened by the Union. Norwegian Method of European Integration The combination in increasingly close cooperation in a growing range of policy sectors while excluding the possibility of full membership has come to represent a join-as-much-as-we-can-get-away-with approach to European integration on the governments part has been called the Norwegian method of European integration (Eliassen and Sitter 2001). The results in both 1972 and 1994 referendums were marginal No majorities, and this has been combined with a permanent pro-integration majority in Parliament, hence the basis for the Norwegian method of European integration. Strenghts of the Norwegian method in European integration The European Economic Area (EEA) has been, is and will be the cornerstone of Norwegian involvement in European integration. The deal entails comprehensive membership in the EUs Single European Market, and most Norwegian parties consider a well-functioning EEA an essential prerequisite for Norway not applying for full membership of the EU. Enlargement of the Single European Market was, of course, both for the EU and the EFTA countries, the key motive behind the EEA agreement (leaving aside the broader political goals of extending European integration), and this is perhaps the aspect of the EU Norway relationship that has worked best. Nevertheless, under the EEA arrangement Norway has seen much better economic development over the last decade than the EU average. The Norwegian North Sea oil wealth is almost a blessing for the Norwegian economy, but not the only, explanation for this. In most sectors, the differences between the EEA and EU arrangements for trade in the Single Market are minor. In several respects, Norway has even outperformed the EU. Interest rates have fluctuated, but with some lag they have followed the Euro-zone. The government debt was eliminated, the foreign trade surplus grew, non-petroleum industrial investment increased and business did not emigrate to the Euro-zone. To be sure, the economic slowdown in the opening years of this century also hit Norway, but less severely than most of the EU member states. Unemployment in Norway stand (relatively stable) at the end of 2009 at around 3 percent, about half the EU average. This can be put down largely to the relatively tight fiscal policy pursu ed in Norway, even in the face of the temptation to use more oil money. In fact, a large degree of convergence between Norway and the Euro-zone in terms of monetary policy has taken place despite the lack of a formal relationship. Norways has secured ad-hoc participation in several EU policy initiatives beyond those covered by the EEA The most spectacular of these, are the Schengen arrangement on passport free travel and associated policies and Norways close cooperation with the EU on its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Perhaps most significantly, the EU-Norway relationship is dynamic. Although this means that the EEA treaty is upgraded when the EU enlarges, most of the responsibility is on the three EFTA members unilaterally to adapt to developments in the EU. This means both EU Treaty change and substantial developments in EU policy. Weaknesses of the Norwegian method in European integration The Norwegian quasi-membership in the EU (Eliassen and Sitter 2004) entails ever-closer cooperation, and the advantages of the supposed discretion that such arrangements entail shrinks with the deepening and widening of the EU. The first challenge is associated with the deepening of the EU. Although the EU as a whole is generally pleased with Norways performance, it shows little interest in developing this system much further to accommodate deepening of European integration. The EEA and Schengen systems are static compared to the very dynamic developments within the EU. Both arrangements are becoming ever smaller parts of the whole, and this is particularly evident when the EU moves into new areas such as counter-terrorism. In other rapidly developing areas such as foreign, security and defense policy, the overall Norwegian strategy is not always clearly developed, and the EU side justifiable questions whether Oslo is prepared to accept the full implications of ad hoc participation in any given initiative. The price for access the Single Market is accepting EU market regulation and competition policy. In terms of the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, there is little difference between the EEA agreements and full EU membership, and the EEA competition policy has brought a degree of supranationalism to an otherwise intergovernmental agreement. Although Norway has adopted less to EUs competition policy than most member states, it has partially adopted the EUs prohibition approach and remains under pressure to follow EU states in adapting to the EU system (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). The EUs eastern enlargement, or widening, makes up the second element of the challenge of the future and the dilemma of quasi-membership. The tenfold increase in the fee for Norways access to the EU Single Market agreed as part of the EEA enlargement deal not only illustrates the shifting balance between the costs and benefits of quasi-membership (and some EU states perception of Norway as a rich relative who is unwilling to contribute to the common good), but also the potential consequences of the growing asymmetry between the EU and EFTA partners in the EEA. Conclusion Are Norwegians as Eurosceptic as we often think? The question of how and to what extent Norway should participate in European integration has been the most important issue in national politics since the Second World War. The current Norwegian method of European integration lies between the alternatives of full membership and withdrawal from the EEA. At the same time, Norways non-membership of the EU understood as economically sensible for a country rich on natural resources is seen by most of the EU members as an indicator of self-reliance and national independence which suggests cultural introversion and a lack of need to actively trade and communicate in cultural, scientific and commercial matters with the rest of Europe. Despite this quite false picture that is developing, are Norwegians as Eurosceptic as we often think? In light of this, I have identified four arguments against the standard story of Norwegian Euroscepticism: High degree of integration with European markets when looking at the share of import and export from/to EU of total (2000-2009); High degree of compliance with EU Norms, revealed through the percentage of EU directives not transported (EU and EEA scoreboards) between 1997-2009; Considerable pragmatism by Norwegian political parties (i.e. there is a difference between talking and acting). All parties have governed on the EEA and if it was not supported, at least it was accepted as a compromise; Norwegian citizens have average attitudes towards European unification (European Social Survey 2008). Thus, a general lesson for the study of Euroscepticism is that it fails to grasp the distinction between opposition to European integration and opposition to EU membership. It tends to overemphasize the significance of formal membership and ignore many different Norwegian ties to the EU. Membership is not so much a question about the EU, but primarily about domestic issues in Norway, as in most of the member states.

Malcolm X :: essays research papers

Malcolm X   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the U.S there have been a lot of people who’ve had political influence in our government, and the person that interested me the most was Malcolm X. Malcolm X was a African American civil rights leader who fought so African Americans could get the same rights like everyone else. Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Before, his name was Malcolm Little, but later changed it to Malcolm X when he joined the Nation of Islam. Like many political leaders, Malcolm X had his own method of how he thought was the right action to use to get his objective. To accomplish the goal of desegregation and equality of black people, â€Å"he believed that black people should get their rights by any means necessary†# He criticized nonviolence and opposed those who favored or used it. Malcolm X went throughout the North and the South making speeches about his ideas and what he thought was right, and he encouraged all black people to fight for their righ ts and protection. As he became more popular and well known by everyone, he influenced people by giving black people the courage to stand up for themselves and fight back, made a lot of them join him with his ideas, and criticized the government for all the bad things it was doing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In his speeches, Malcolm X spoke about fighting back against those who were hurting them or were in the way. One way that he enlightened them was, â€Å"Malcolm made blacks feel good about themselves†¦he allowed them to have self-esteem and convinced them they had power.†# In order for all black people to fight back and demand their rights, they had to have high self-esteem and make them feel they had power in order for them to put up a good fight and give them motivation to fight, and he did this through his speeches. He also made them fight against white people by â€Å"exposing the white man for the devil he was.†# By making white people look bad, it would make more black people to want to fight for their rights and use violence if they were threatened. All this was part of his method of â€Å"any means necessary.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another way he had political influence was, he convinced and made a lot of people to join him and his ideas as to accomplish their goals. One way he convinced people was by â€Å"preaching about his beliefs from the Nation of Islam and why they where the right ideas.

Macbeths Sinister Side :: Free Macbeth Essays

Macbeth's Sinister Side      Ã‚  Ã‚   When the audience experiences Macbeth by William Shakespeare, it is subjected to a large and heavy dose of evil in the form of intent and actions by the witches, by Lady Macbeth and by Macbeth.    L.C. Knights in the essay "Macbeth" specifies the particular species of evil present within the play:    Macbeth defines a particular kind of evil - the evil that results from a lust for power. The defining, as in all the tragedies, is in strictly poetic and dramatic terms. It is certainly not an abstract formulation, but lies rather in the drawing out of necessary consequences and implications of that lust both in the external and the spiritual worlds. Its meaning, therefore, is revealed in the expansion and unfolding of what lies within the initial evil, in terms of direct human experience. (93)    In "Macbeth as the Imitation of an Action" Francis Fergusson describes the evil course of action within the drama:      At this point there is the brief interlude with the Doctor. The king's evil and its cure and the graces which hang about the English throne are briefly described. [. . .] It marks the turning point, and it introduces the notion of the appeal by faith to Divine Grace which will reverse the evil course of the action when Malcolm and Macduff learn to outrun reason in that way, instead of by responding to the Witches' supernatural solicitations as Macbeth has done. (110)    Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare interpret the main theme of the play as intertwining with evil:    While in Hamlet and others of Shakespeare's plays we feel that Shakespeare refined upon and brooded over his thoughts, Macbeth seems as if struck out at a heat and imagined from first to last with rapidity and power, and a subtlety of workmanship which has become instructive. The theme of the drama is the gradual ruin through yielding to evil within and evil without, of a man, who, though from the first tainted by base and ambitious thoughts, yet possessed elements in his nature of possible honor and loyalty. (792)    The Tragedy of Macbeth opens in a desert place with thunder and lightning and three Witches who are anticipating their meeting with Macbeth, "There to meet with Macbeth." They all say together the mysterious and contradictory "Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

Difference between mass marketing and direct marketing

Direct Marketing is the practice of delivering promotional messages directly to potential customers on an individual basis as opposed to through a mass medium while mass marketing is a simultaneous standardized marketing to a very large target market through mass media. Mass marketing and direct marketing have been operating in the wave of consumer market that is promising to make some transformation while the two waves till precedes it as from world war two to date.It was in the 1970s and 1980s that the consumer marketing power shifted to mass retailing because of large deployment of the Universal Product Code (UPC) and the so-called electronic scanner technologies, which put the consumer marketing in the hands of the retail trade. Here is where the importance of using both direct and mass marketing strategies starts. The ability of mass marketing is to get the message to all people through advertising; this has remained and as well remains to be a very useful and cost effective mar keting strategy.However, the current business situation is taking hold of the new world trend by spear-heading the power of direct marketing as one of the unique capability. This has occurred for those aiming at mass marketing to form a very powerful and new marketing force that can clearly call direct marketing or mass marketing which is the best way of reaching the market currently. In direct marketing marketer think of the applying their strategy in the new era of individualized marketing. Direct marketing consist of direct connection with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relation. †(Kotler and Armstrong, Principle of Marketing, 2001). This can always accomplished by making an offer or inviting then by one of the most appropriate communication means such as mail, phone, fax, computer, and email.In conclusion, direct marketing and mass marketing both represents a total entity, and this is the new comp onent in the marketing mix that can successfully win the intended market. The two strategies combines contact, involvement, activation and cultivation in a seamless continuum and had a big impact in the current competitive world business.

Organizing Researching and Illustrating Material Essay

Step 1 1. Interview the administration groups, employees, and clients of Phoenix advertising, Roanoke Branch. * In order to understand the background, the process, and the internal situation of Roanoke Branch, interviews to different people that are connected to the company must be made. 2. Conducting surveys to both employees and clients of the company. * There must be surveys to conduct in order to gather information from the people who are connected in the company and to have specific cases that would give probability to the proposed actions to solve the problem. 3. Using print and online resources as added materials to the research. * Along with the interviews and surveys, print and online resources should also take into account to identify the company based on historical cases that print and online sources could provide. Print source will be used as historical data while online sources are used for contemporary and future data of the company. Step 2A: Surveys Employees 1. As employees, are you being paid by the company with the right benefits that the company has imposed? * This is asked in order to determine the compensation of the employee that can be the cause of employees’ work distraction. 2. Is there any process of account review in the company? * This is asked to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company when it comes to the accounts of the employees and management itself. 3. Is Roanoke Branch the same with other branches when it comes to mode of payments? * This is asked to compare and contrast the situation of Roanoke Branch to other branches of Phoenix Advertising. Clients 1. Are you satisfied with the work of the company that was given to you? * This is asked to determine the stand of the client when it comes to the quality of the company’s work. 2. Do you know anything about the current situation of the company? If yes, kindly state the situation in brief. * This is asked to know if the clients are sensitive to the issues and  situation of the company. 3. Will you still use the company (specifically the branch) despite of the fact that there are internal problems? * This is asked if the clients will still be loyal to the company even if there are problems within it and to also determine if the problem of the company do not manifest within their production of products. To: The CEO of the Roanoke Branch Phoenix Advertising Mr. Gregory S. Forest Dear Mr. Gregory S. Forest: As the Vice President of Human Resources in Phoenix, I send you this letter to ask your good office to assist me on your company. I would like to make a visit to your company on August 18, 2010 to conduct some interviews and surveys. In order to fulfill the study for the probable causes and further effects of the problems and circumstances within your branch, I would like to ask you some questions about the company and its current situation in both internal and external forces. I would also like to interview some of your employees and clients in relation to these issues. The coverage of my interviews and surveys are based on the policies, employee performance reviews, project designs, internal and external agendas, and administrative configuration when it comes to company issues. I hope to hear positive feedback from this letter in order to conduct the interviews and surveys as part of the research. Thank you so much. Problems: 1. Quality of work 2. Loyalty to the customer 3. Issues within the company a. Do we need to share with the client b. Will this affect our relationship Facts and Causes: 1. Loyalty to the customer a. Answer any questions the customer might have b. Address the issues Impacts and Effects: 1. Loyalty to the customer a. Since this has been addressed production has increased 28% b. Turnover is down 15% c. Absenteeism is down 29% Morale has improved significantly which shows in production Solutions: 1. Incentive program a. This will increase morale b. Decrease morale for employees not receiving an award c. Encourage other employees to participate Illustrations: I chose to use the bar graph so you can clearly see the decrease in turnover, increase in production and decrease in absenteeism. It is simple and clear so that you can understand why this is so important.

How Tobacco Companies Targeting Teens Research Paper

How Tobacco Companies Targeting Teens - Research Paper Example Almost thirty six percent of smokers are foreseen of dying due to smoking. This will result in losing two decades of dynamic life. Many big tobacco corporations are spending almost $10.5 billion every year as a way of promoting their brands and a large percentage of their efforts in marketing reach the teenagers directly. Reports issued showed that a fifty-two percent increase on market spending by the tobacco industry was viewed in 1998-2008 (Pampel, 11). According to the report, the expenditures in marketing reduced from â€Å"$12.5 billion to $9.9 billion in 2006-2008† (Pampel, 12). Marketing on the tobacco that is smokeless has increased from 2005. Various documents in the tobacco industry, exposed in the lawsuits of tobacco, reveal that the company’s manufacturing tobacco products have identified teenagers as their main market, conducted the habits used by the teenagers in smoking and created products or brands and developed marketing strategies aimed at the teenag ers. I would like to start by explaining that large populations of teens in the United States prefer using camel, Newport and Marlboro brands of tobacco. These companies aim the teenagers by using images. The teenagers think that these marketing strategies used will make them be sexy, cool, rugged or allured. These companies manufacturing tobacco products use the images and associate the images with smoking. The teenagers are on the other hand convinced that smoking will make them be popular, seem as mature people, considered as cool people or fit in a certain category of people (Pampel, 13). Tobacco companies have continued to market their products to vulnerable underage groups despite claims that their advertisements no longer target kids intentionally. It is argued that the younger generation is targeted mostly as they form future customers (Warner. 1211-1213). These companies knowingly place advertisements on popular magazines with an aim of reaching as many young people

Alternative fuel sources for automobiles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Alternative fuel sources for automobiles - Essay Example The increased use of CNG vehicles would make the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil. The current supply of natural gas will last for generations and new drilling techniques are reaching natural gas locked in shale deposits. The process of fracturing the shale using high-pressure liquids is referred to as fracking. This new technique promises to provide cheap natural gas for well over a hundred years (Efstathiou and Chipman, 2011). Aside from the political benefits, CNG cars have very low emissions (Alternative, 2011). The greenhouse gas spewing combustion of current gasoline powered vehicles would be a thing of the past. While it is true that natural gas is a fossil fuel, and it is not a renewable fuel, burning it in vehicles will go a long way towards reducing our nation’s carbon footprint. Some vehicles that use CNG are Dedicated CNG vehicles, meaning they can only burn compressed natural gas. Other vehicles are Bi-Fuel vehicles, meaning they have small t anks that use gasoline as well as CNG tanks. The Bi-Fuel cars are popular because they have a greater range than Dedicated vehicles (Natural, 2011). There are drawbacks to CNG cars.

Alzheimer's disease relate to aging Research Paper

Alzheimer's disease relate to aging - Research Paper Example This document examines the prevalence of Alzheimer’s among the elderly persons and the resources available in Marshall County for helping the victims of the condition. As persons advance in age, the body undergoes various changes in their brains and results to dementias (UCSF Memory and Aging Center, 2014). For example, the brain shrinks that occur in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. The shrinking of the brain interferes with memory, learning, planning, etc. The changes in neurons and neurotransmitters can degrade the white matter and result to reduction in communication (UCSF Memory and Aging Center, 2014). In some instances, plagues and tangles structures develops outside and inside of the neurons respectively thus causing the brain cells to stop working and eventually die thus causing failure of memory, change in characters and complications with carry out day to day activities (Swaab et al., 2011). Also, changes in blood vessels occur with age, resulting to reduced blood flow due to narrowing of the arteries and less growth of new capillaries. With age, there is an increase in brain inflammation and increase in damages caused by free rad icals that interfere with normal functioning of the brain (Swaab et al., 2011). The changes in brain that occurs with age are the most likely cause of Alzheimer’s among the elderly persons. The most notable change in brain with age is atrophy or the shrinking of some parts of the brain, the secretion on wobbly molecules known as free radicals, the brain inflammation and dysfunction of the mitochondrial resulting to collapse of generation of energy within the cells (Swaab et al., 2011). Various studies have established that five percent of persons with Alzheimer’s occur due to inherited factors from the parents. An example is the familial Alzheimer’s disorder caused by alterations occurring in one of the inheritable genes in human

How has President Barack Obama influenced separation of powers Research Proposal

How has President Barack Obama influenced separation of powers - Research Proposal Example From the past presidents’ experience, it is easy to predict how the administration of Barack Obama will influence the separation of powers theory, in addition to some unique circumstances of his presidency, the most important of which will be explored by this paper. Peter McNamara wrote that Woodrow Wilson believed the president must become a popular and national leader for the purpose of imposing order and system on the government’s policy agenda. (Galderisi, Herzberg and McNamara 1996, p. 194) The idea is that only the president could provide these qualities because the Congress is simply incapable of order and system. The problem is the president cannot deliver this when he is unpopular because the separation of power has made for a stalemate between the executive and the legislative branches. Barack Obama does not have this problem as he enjoy an unprecedented popularity among the American public. For instance, he has at least 70 percent approval rating in the recent Gallup poll just before his inauguration. (Ibanez 2009) The tide of positive public opinion behind a president can silence opposition from the Congress especially today when the media serves as a public forum wherein people has immediate access to information and could e xpress their sentiments and opinions. An aspect of Obama’s popularity comes from his ability to reach to people from all walks of life – he is easier to be seen as nonpartisan. The new president has a knack to mobilize public support as demonstrated by his meteoric rise from the unknown to having won the American presidency. Obama’s popularity is boosted by the fact that the Democrats – his party – has the majority in Congress. This means that he has the support of his party for his policies and he would encounter less resistance from opposition. A democrat in the White House and a Democrat Congress would mean less friction because both follow the same ideology. Presidents have long used

Can Obama make all the change that he promised Essay

Can Obama make all the change that he promised - Essay Example In this essay, I intend to evaluate if he is capable of fulfilling the changes that he has promised during his campaigns and victory. My goal, however, is to prove that he is indeed capable of realizing the changes he has promised the people. In order to make a substantial research piece, I intend to use this source: â€Å"Change we believe in? Using political science to predict policy change in the Obama presidency† by Jonathan Woon. Woon’s â€Å"Change we believe in? Using political science to predict policy change in the Obama presidency† can provide data on his own evaluation of Obama’s presidency. Woon is an Assistant Professor in University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Political Science since 2007. Then prior to that, he was an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s He has a doctorate degree in Political Economics from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, which he earned in 2005. He is an S.B in Political Science with a minor in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 2000. His affiliations include American Political Science Association, Midwest Political Science Association and Southern Political Science Association. He has various publications, working papers and works that are still in progress. His works were published in various journals and compilation essays – his first publication was â€Å"Testing Theories of Lawmaking† which he wrote with Keith Krehbiel and Adam Meirowitz, this was included in the Social Change and Strategic Decisions: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey S. Banks in 2005, then in 2007 his work entitled â€Å"Direct Democracy and the Selection of Representative Institutions: Voter Support for Appointment Initiatives, 1924-1962 was published in State Politics and Policy Quarterly. He has two publications in the Journal of Politics, both in the year 2008, and they are â€Å"Bill Sponsorship in

Briefing Report on RKD Transport Case Study Essay Example for Free

Briefing Report on RKD Transport Case Study Essay This is a short briefing report based on research and critical analysis of various management literatures to develop solutions to the case study RKD Transport. As a graduate member of Business Consulting Group (BCG), I have been asked by the CEO to identify and evaluate issues that are perceived to be affecting work performance and cooperation at RKD Transport. The Managing Director (John) has asked BCG to review the situation as described in the case study, and has requested a report assessing the situation with comment on the issues that are raised and Johns proposed plan. This report also presents a range of options and recommendations as supported by research, which resolves the perceived problem about the implementation of John’s proposal a clear indication of the skills which can be taught to staff members. As of the dependable data in relation to what is taking place in the world of study into organizational behavior (OB) and management, the present line of thought and practice in OB programs can be applied to the case study. I. Point of View- graduate member of Business Consulting Group (BCG) Given the case material, the group has decided to take the point of view of the BCG’s graduate member on analysis to facilitate ease of recommending decisions to the management. II. Problem Statement The question posed by the case is thus: â€Å"What should the Managing Director, John do to effectively and efficiently introduce and implement his plan for the company? † III. Background of the Study Organizational behavior is concerned on personal and group dynamics in an institutional background and situation, over and above the character of the association themselves. Reports pertaining to this, try to figure out and form the various factors when persons in the group interrelate with one another. Comparable to all shared sciences, managerial studies seek to organize, forecast, and elucidate all the social happenings that are occurring in the given field, which can be taken as a foremost part in institutional progress and success. According to Arnold (2005), examples of the problems that OBM directs on are security, output, quality, and aptness. SWOT Analysis is the assessment by the decision making person or group of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats regarding preferred final position or purpose of a task or business. The goal of every SWOT investigation is to recognize the chief inner aspects, the strengths and weaknesses to the institute and outer features, the opportunities and threats exhibited by the outside setting to accomplishing the intention. The case study should be defined as an investigation technique, using SWOT Analysis involved in a project or in a business venture, as stated by the MCRPC Regional Planning Commission (2005). Strengths are elements of the organization which are of use to reaching the goal of the management. The assets of the RKD Transport workplace are the following: monetary and intellectual terms, site, infrastructure, and fundamental training. However, the weaknesses which are detrimental to attaining the purpose of the management are the following: good organization, work appraisal of employees, developed methods for doling out with main fields of human resources, poor at pulling off consequences through undirected aid of individual vigor, and partial running skill and proficiency. The opportunities of the organization, on the other hand, are the following: desiring to progress on the whole managerial efficacy through directorial growth and social organization line up and more broad supervision prospects entailing improvement of new executives. And lastly, the threats are the following: human resource input are not acknowledged by the upper administration who dodge it by making use of external advisors and transference having the result of eliminating units and removing intermediate organization strata to develop flatter arrangement of institution. IV. Alternative courses of action Organization design is a conventional channeled means for assimilating the personnel, information and tools of an establishment. It is utilized to go with the structure of the corporation as thoroughly as feasible to the points the business pursues to accomplish. Through the design process, a corporation takes steps to expand the likelihood that the shared efforts of affiliates will be exultant. Additionally, the concept of job design is important here which indicates the manner that a series of everyday responsibilities and jobs, are structured. This makes easier to ascertain what, how, how many, and in what order the responsibilities are completed in connection with the organization. Its principles can also direct predicaments in the workplace such as labor under load, monotony, inadequate manipulation over occupation, deferral in filling unoccupied stations, and partial perception of the entire work course (Jones, 2004). Executives must use Organizational Behavior Management since the achievement of the business is credited with the efficiency of their courses of action and the pleasant response of the staff, incorporating the key functions of management such as â€Å"planning, organizing, leading and controlling† (Buchanan, 2004). Here is a variety of options and recommendations which may be implemented to solve the particular problem of the company. 1. Change the type of leadership from paternalistic to democratic for the voice of the employees to be heard. John, the Managing Director of RKD Transport, must change the way of administrating his subordinates. He must develop an employee-oriented method by trying to motivate his employees rather than direct or control his subordinates (Burns, 2003). Furthermore, he would have to depend not only to his own capabilities but must encourage his own subordinates to participate, thus, resulting to developing managerial abilities of the subordinates. The style of leadership of John, indeed, can have significant impact on the performance and satisfaction of his subordinates so his leadership style should have the characteristic manner in which he makes decisions affecting his subordinates and exercises influence to elicit their compliance with, commitment to, and support for his directives. He must encourage his subordinates in decisions that affect them, forming a friendly, trusting, and respectful leadership with group members, and must act promptly with this said concern. 2. Make a prior notice that the manager would downsize employees of the work force. It is indicated in the case problem that labor turnover is low. In order to achieve effective control over direct labor costs, John must apply downsizing and layoff strategies. But he must make use of consensus first in making decisions for the company for the employees to be given a chance to change their attitude towards work. These approaches for layoffs and downsizing will lessen the harm to those workers who will be laid off and to the employees who will stay behind. This also presents a practical prospect for a healthier outlook for the business and the business’ stakeholders. Downscaling in this way falls into the kind of administration means for accomplishing preferred adjustment, a good deal like downsizing examination. The following factors must be considered in considering this: Is the business being upright to its human elements? Has the necessary stipulation which may head to a number of complicated resolutions been conveyed to the business’s staff? Have the employees been able to supply input? Have the administration conscientiously supposed the outcome for those workforce? How will this influence those who may lose their work? How will this concern those who stay with their job? Does the strategy for modification present the business to attain improved outcome in the future? (Hickok, 2007). 3. The managing director would still be strict and objective, and would monitor the employees himself. John would continue to be hard-working, spending time inspecting the personnel and meticulously supervising the business process by plotting strategies, captivating counteractive deeds of this customary viewpoint. But some conflicts may arise because in implementing this kind of procedure. John’s status here as the person in charge is at risk in view of the fact that discords from his subordinates may take place against him (Haslam, 2003). 4. Assign more supervisors which will monitor the employees’ performance. By this course of action, the personnel can be monitored well if they are doing their jobs effectively and efficiently because they have to meet with the deadline. This could provide the management an objective assessment of each worker’s performance. It must be remembered that the input of workers in the business is a crucial part in the success of the company. 5. John must be further trained as managing director position in the company. To be considered an efficient and effective managing director, John must possess personality characteristics such as self confidence, aggressiveness, dominance, and adaptability. Additionally, he must also have the skills like sensitivity in dealing with others, intelligence, and job mastery which he can use in supervising his constituents. So he must be further trained to have these characteristics to become an efficient and effective leader. Successful directors essentially sets up a working atmosphere in which human resources would like to carry out their jobs properly. To realize the far more constructive work milieu, performance study edifies administrators on how to efficiently handle their positions as affirmed by Holman (2003). John may acquire the knowledge and skills though attending seminars, hands on training, and the like. 6. John must conduct research of the leadership style of former managers of the RKD Transport and examine what is the most appropriate approach in running the Management division. He must critically study the past records of the former managers of the company and their leadership styles and see what the best way of treating employees is during those times and apply it with the present situation, with the integration of interior appraisals of the business SWOT. This recommendation requires the enclosure of an evaluation of the current state of affairs, as well as the assessment of their extent. 7. RKD Transport pay rates must be adjusted to what the company can afford and are just right for the employees. Since workers perceive that the management was sympathetic to them, pay rates are considered high. Besides, there are other benefits offered to the employees by the company like sufficient compensation for shifting workers, provision for emergency loan, and many more. The conventional employee performance system relies on direct supervision, the wage and salary compensation system, and annual performance reviews, merit pay increases and promotions as rewards for exceptional performance (Staw, 2004); though an indispensable budgeting aspect must be of great consideration for the company’s success.