Irish Catholic Church Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Irish Catholic Church - Essay Example The Church was the moral watch dog of Irish society, which was reflected in the Irish Law. This influence of the Catholic Church was diluted leading to the dilution of the strength of influence that the Catholic Church had over all spheres of life in Ireland (Social Changes). The present generation of Catholics in Ireland no longer demonstrated the same devotion that their parents demonstrated to the Catholic Church and in that show a detachment from the institutional church. These changes in Catholic belief and practice have resulted in the reduced attachment for the morals and values that emanate from the institution of the Catholic Church (Inglis, 2007). This reduced attachment for Catholic morals and values as dictated by the Catholic Church has meant the diminished influence of the Catholic moral against excess of economic prosperity and the diminished concentration of the Irish people on an attempt to reunite Protestant dominated Northern Ireland with Ireland. This change in the morals and values of the people of Ireland have allowed for the people of Ireland to concentrate on agricultural and industrial growth and development (Shirlow, 2003). The decline of the Irish Catholic Church in Ireland has seen the rise of new a religion in Ireland and that is the religion of economic growth that leads to prosperity in society. It is this embracing of the religion of economic growth that has influenced changes in the industrial and agricultural spheres of activity in Ireland and Ireland earning the name of the Celtic Tiger (Gormley, 2000). The result of removal of the narrowed concentration of the people of Ireland on Northern Ireland coupled with the embracing of the religion of economic growth and prosperity has resulted in the dramatic changes in the industry and agriculture in Ireland, leading to Ireland becoming wealthy from the mid-1990s. This growth in prosperity, which has resulted from changes in

How small firms differ from large businesses

How small firms differ from large businesses Penrose (1959) stated that small and large firms are as fundamentally different from each other as a caterpillar is from a butterfly; they identify those characteristics of the small firm, other than size, which distinguish it from the larger enterprise. Thus, while creating, establishing and running a small business, these characteristics will influence the small business owners approaches and management style compared to large ones. Wynarczyk et al (1993) argue that there are three central respects in which small firms are different to large firms: Uncertainty The first key area of differences is uncertainty. With regard to uncertainty, three dimensions have been identified: The first uncertainty is the lack of market power, Thus, when creating and establishing a small business, the owner should have a clearer approach of the lack of market power as an external uncertainty. This associates small businesses as the price-taker as they have no power to set prices, as the threats of new entrants is high. However, it can be argued that it depends on what type of small businesses does the owner want to create, establish and run. For instance, focusing on niche markets with good customer-engagement approach, such as a small holiday agency, will make small businesses to have an influence in setting their prices. Hence, small businesses have to seek to compete in other ways such as service, quality, and timeliness. In contrast, large businesses are the price-maker due to high market power; this has to be used carefully to avoid attracting the attention of competition authorities. So, market prices are strongly influenced by large businesses that, through scale economies, should be able to set low prices. The marketing approach would be to use an integrated communication mix such as, mass advertising and PR, as their financial resources allow them to do so. Thus, the competitive focus of small and large businesses is likely to differ sharply. The second source of uncertainty for small firms is their limited customer and product base. A classic example is where small firms simply act as subcontractors to larger firms. Such firms are open to subcontractor vulnerability (Lyons and Bailey, 1993), which is created not only by dependence on dominant customers, but also upon the extent to which output is specialised to particular customers. The smaller firm clearly perceives to be more vulnerable than the larger firm and acts accordingly (Lyons and Bailey, 1993). The third uncertainty relates to the much greater diversity of objectives of the owners of small firms, compared with large firms. Many small business owners seek only to obtain a minimum level of income rather than maximising sales or profits (Storey 1994). Small business owners do not have to concern themselves with reporting their actions to external shareholders and so performance monitoring effectively do not exist. For a small firm, the relationship between the business and the owner is very much closer than it is between the shareholder and the large firm, and so the motivation of the owner of the small firm is a key influence upon the small firm performance (Storey, 1994). Large firm emphasises the importance of control. The central issue is how the owners of the business ensure that the managers of the business act in their interest, and how senior managers exert control over more junior managers. This form of internal conflict is largely absent in small firms (Storey, 1994) where ownership and control are located in the hands of a few people or even a single individual, thus, while running a small business, the owner will adopt a more dynamic and organic management style. In contrast, large businesses are more likely to suffer from internal uncertainty, defined by Curran and Blackburn (2001), as an inability to deliver a product or service consistently throughout the organisation. Much managerial time in large businesses is devoted to address this issue with therefore formality and procedures implemented. Hence, the large businesses tend to have a bureaucratic management style with formal control over performance. Innovation A second key area of difference between small and large firms is their approach to innovation. The role small firms play in innovation relates to their niche role where: it is the ability of the small firm to provide something marginally different, in terms of product or service, which distinguishes it from the more standardised product or service provided by the larger firm (Storey, 1994: 11-12). Small firms are more likely to introduce fundamentally new innovations than larger firms, a feature often attributed to small firms having less commitment to existing practices and products (Pavitt et al. 1987). However, Schumpeter (1934) has provided empirical evidence that large businesses use static measures, and are more innovative than smaller businesses. This is because most small businesses do not set out to be innovative: at best, their key innovation is just to enter a given market. Furthermore, Van Praag and Versloot (2007) stated that small businesses are likely to commercialise innovations but less likely to adopt innovations. However, large businesses innovation capitalise on heavy expenditure on formal research and development. While most small businesses do not innovate, and many fewer undertake formal research and development, those that do are able to bring ideas to the marketplace quickly if they are able to access suitable funding. Evolution The third area of difference between small and large firms is the greater likelihood of evolution and change in the smaller firm (Storey, 1994). Small firms that become larger undergo a number of stage changes which influence the approaches and style of management as well as the structure of the organisation (Scott and Bruce, 1987) than is the case for larger firms (Storey, 1994). Thus, creating, establishing and running a new small business has different approaches, management styles and skills learn through experience, at different stages of the small business development. Churchill and Lewis (1983) summarised the Five Stages of Small Business Growth stating that small businesses have varied management styles and approaches according to the stage the small business is in. For example, being at the existence stage (creating and establishing), the owner has direct supervision management style; his major strategy approach would be to stay alive, thus, there would be no formal systems to follow. Figure : source http://www.tameer.org.pk/images/The_Five_Stages_Of_Small_Business_Growth.pdf [accessed on 17/11/2010] However, not all small businesses grow; some of them fail to survive due to the lack of environmental scanning; finance or planning. Moreover, Hakim (1989), in her survey of approximately 750,000 UK businesses, 55 per cent had no plans for growth, at a time when the economy was growing. The finding was clearly influenced by business size, with 60 per cent of businesses with fewer than 3 workers having no growth aspirations, compared with only 2 per cent of those with 25-49 employees. Hence, the smaller the operational size of the business the less likely it is to seek to increase its scale or growth. Skills Required to Create, Establish and Run a Small Business A skill is simply a knowledge which is demonstrated by action. It is an ability to perform in a certain way. The Five-Must Skills Requires when creating; establishing and running the Small Business Planning skills Personal skills and characteristics Sales and marketing skills Accounting and financial skills Administrative skills These are the basic skills necessary to enable the small business owner to start, develop, finance, and market his small business. Apart from all these skills mentioned, other important skills are needed to run a business mainly: leadership skills; human skills; conceptual skills and technical skills. Planning skills Creating a new business is the pre-start-up phase where planning skills are very important. While creating the business, an appropriate business plan is required which explain the business concept and model (Justin et al 2002). The business plan will require the owner or shareholder to have an organisation-wide approach skill as it consists of the business model, financial, marketing and operational management plan. The approaches towards the business plan in small and large businesses differ. According to (Bridge et al. 1998), the preparation of business plan may be unsuitable for small businesses due to the dynamic changes in the environment. Small business has a more tactical approach to planning as they concentrate on the survival and stability strategy at the creating and establishing stage and an emergent strategy at the running stage In addition, Paul D. Hannon and Andrew Atherton (1997) developed a model of planning in the journal of small firm success and show that there is a critical relationship between planning in small business and strategic awareness capability which lead to the small business success known as the successful orienteer. Nevertheless, this is not always the case for small business owner to be a successful orienteer due to the internal and external factors affecting them. However, in large businesses, they have a strategic (long term vision) approach as regard to their business plan. They emphasised the corporate level of strategy (Philip S, 2003) which aim for the stability and growth. The corporate strategy seek to grow the business by implementing long term marketing strategies (the Ansoff Matrix) and also to achieve higher profitability, sales revenue and to have better competitive advantages over its rivals. Figure : Ansoff Matrix (2007 When creating; establishing and running a small business time management skills are also essential. The small owner should be able to create a work life balance. Small business owner may spend too much time at work. Moreover, their main motivation is their income to satisfy their family needs, thus, they should make effective decisions to balance their business life with their personal life. Figure : The business/Personal overlap In contrast, large businesses have an effective time management skills, due to formal procedures of meeting deadlines and being compliance with legal proceedings. Personal skills In the early stages of business development, the personal characteristics and skills of the small business owner will influence the management style of the business. Thus, the individual attributes influence the skills of the owner which shapes the leadership outcomes. General cognitive ability Motivation Personality Individual attributes Problem solving skills Social judgement skills Knowledge Competencies Leadership outcomes Effective problem solving Performance Table : the three components of the skills model pg. 41 According to Lundberg (1985), the personal skills and characteristics such as problem-solver, determination, self-discipline, analytical skills, good judgement of characters and so on, motivate the small business owner to create and establish and also run his business successfully, and as Birley (1996) mentioned à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.The owner perceives the business as an extension of his or her personality, intricately bound with family needs and desires. However, many small businesses fail compare to large businesses because they run their business as an extension of their personality. For example, if the small business owner is introvert, quite assertive, make his own decision rather than consulting subordinates or explore the external environment, he/she is more prone to adopt the closed and indirect management style rather than open and direct management style (David A 1993) which may result in failure. The self-motivating skills and aspirations of small business owners are also different from those who operate large businesses. Miner (1997) concluded that small business owners are motivated by their performance, independence, status and family needs. Gray (2002); Hart and Oulton (1996), some are lifestyle owners of small businesses whose object is primarily to obtain a comfortable living for themselves, it may be a hobby that generate incomes or to pass on their business to family members. In contrast, a minority may wish to grow their business rapidly. However, owners or shareholders of large businesses seek to maximise the value of the company. The task management is to achieve this maximisation of shareholders value by seeking profit maximisation and continuous growth and expansion. In addition, the management style will be mostly influenced by the organisational culture, which consists of six elements according to Johnson and Scholes (1992). Figure : Johnson Cultural Web (1992) Networking skills including interpersonal skills are also important. Networks can be defined as: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a firms set of relationships with other organisations (Perez and Sanchez 2002:261). In essence, what Birley (2002) suggests is that individuals use their networks to gain legitimation and resources for their established business. Without the benefit of such support, the implication is that many new established (start-up) businesses would be stillborn. The social network approach differ from the way small businesses use it compared to large ones in order to support the development of their business. Small businesses uses the support of its family, limited customers base and other owners of small businesses to develop the establish organisation whereas, large businesses use a pool of social network (stakeholders). Thus, Birley states the credibility is lower in small businesses, than in large businesses due to the lack of market power and sources of funds to satisfy the suppliers and customers. Figure : The credibility cycle (Sue Birley and David Norburn, 1976) Sales and Marketing skills The business should create awareness of his product or service and distinguish them from their competitors by effective marketing skills. The business then needs to be able to convert interest into cash! This is where sales, oral communication, negotiation skills and interpersonal skills come in. Thus, the small business owner should rely on their effective sales and marketing skills to maintain and acquire good customer relationship. For example, identify the sales opportunity, be confident to handle objection and negotiate to reach win-win situation (Fred E, 1987). In large business, lot of finances are put towards sales and marketing. In addition, specialist sales and marketing manager, with high competence, expertise and knowledge, are those who deal with different sales and marketing techniques to be implemented in order to have good customer relationship and expand their product/market portfolio. Besides, in large businesses, brand positioning plays a big role in their marketing strategy. Shocker et al. (1994) and Hatten and Schendel (1977) reveals that in large businesses, brand can be a positive factor influencing sales. It provides the customer with the awareness leading to confidence and ultimately loyalty. They also showed that small businesses such as hairdresser; pubs, corner shops etc., have no brand value, apart from some local loyalty. Thus, protecting a positive brand image is vital for large businesses. Accounting and Financial skills When creating, establishing and running a small business, the most important skill that the owner should possess is the financial skill. To implement the business idea, source of finance is required to start-up and run the establishment. Financial skills include: planning annual budget; cash flow forecast, effective management of the cash cycle; avoid overtrading and the profit and loss account should be analysed. In small businesses the owner has hands-on skills, thus, such financial skills are needed to survive and remain in existence. However, large businesses are in better advantage as they not only have specialist financial analysts to analyse their accounts and prepare their budgets, but the banks and building societies also help them. In addition, Ang (1991), conducted empirical evidence and stated that small businesses are funded primarily from the owners savings and retained profits and the use of external equity is rare. Small businesses pay higher interest rates on borrowed funds than large businesses, which have a wide choice of sources of finance. Thus, the small businesses faces lots of financial difficulties as mentioned in the figure below. Figure : The Financial Skills face by Small Business Owners by Jonathan Tucker and Jonathan Lean -2003 Administrative skills Administrative skills include a wide range of organisational and technical skills from planning, organising, scheduling and to staffing. Thus, a small business owner should possess administrative skills, such as good filing procedure for the billings, invoices and so. In contrast, large businesses normally have the finance to invest in latest technology in order to manage their administrative skills. Key Differences in Running Small businesses and Large Businesses: Skills; Approaches and Management style The management styles are distinctive ways of making decisions and relating to subordinates. Different management styles can be used dependent on the culture of the business, the nature of the task, the nature of the workforce and the personality and skills of the owners or leaders. As discussed in the essay, the small business owners skills are more or less the same as the entrepreneurial skills, they adopt an adaptive and organic management style whereas large businesses ownership skills are more predictive and mechanist which relate to their autocratic management style. Figure : Differences between the small business management skills and management style compared to large ones (Beaven and Jenning- 1995) However, stating that large businesses have a more autocratic management style due to its bureaucratic organisational structure, is too generalised, ignoring the fact that the management styles and the relative importance of the skills (technical; decision-making and interpersonal skills) varies within the level of management. Management level Primary Management Skills needed Primary Management Functions Performed Management or leadership styles Top Decision-Making and Interpersonal skills Planning and Organising Participative leadership style Middle Balance of Interpersonal; Technical; and Decision-Making skills Balance of all five functions (Planning; Organising; Controlling; staffing and Leading) Balance of autocratic; democratic and paternalistic as result to circumstances First-Line Technical and Interpersonal Skills leading and controlling Balance of democratic and autocratic as result to circumstances Table : Skill needed; Function performed and Management styles used at different management levels. Source: lassier (2002) In addition, the culture prevails in the organisation will shape the organisational structure. Nowadays, many large businesses, such as BQ are concentrating in developing a flat structure, with more flexibility. Besides, approaches and management styles changes according to circumstances and objectives. Skills can quickly become obsolete if owners or shareholders are not constantly updating them. Thus, training and development and knowledge management of the owners and employees are very crucial. In small businesses, owners management style will be influenced by their skills and characteristics, thus, stating that due to informal control and undifferentiated roles, the small businesses have an organic or flatter structure due to fewer tiers is not always the case. Some small businesses fail as some owners are autocratic as they want things to be done their way and are often the one who makes decisions without consulting the employees and analysing the external environment. The table below will provide evidences of the key differences between small and large businesses as regard to the running of the business which will influence the owners skills, approaches and management style. Aspect (Evidence) Small Business Large Business What difference does it make? Strategy (Man et al. 2002; Rangone 1999) Has to be flexible since it lacks the opportunity to reap scale economies. So, more likely to develop an emergent strategy The large business will seek to exploit its price advantages, and advantage obtained by heavy investment in people, fixed assets or research and development The development of new markets and particular new industries has often been pioneered by smaller businesses. Once, those industries have become established, average business size increases because economies of scale become important Political influence (Dannreuther 1999) The individual small business, acting alone, will have minimal impact on government. Large businesses are widely consulted by governments, even at the early stage when legislation is considered. Large businesses have considerable power and can influence the formulation of government policy. If legislation. However, large businesses argue that, whilst they comply fully with legislation, smaller businesses can avoid enforcement by avoiding the scrutiny of government. Wages and benefits for workers (Brown et al. 1990; Troske, 1999) Small businesses generally pay lower wages and provide fewer fringe benefits Larger businesses pay higher wages and provide more fringe benefits Large and small businesses hire different types of worker. The small business worker is more likely to be either old or young, attracted by a team ethnic and less likely to have formal qualifications. Human resources (Vickers et al. 2005; Forth et al. 2006) At their best, small businesses provide a happy environment in which to work. At, their worst, they can be unsafe, exploitative, working environments. Large businesses are more likely to attract prime age workers, with formal qualifications, and those seeking a career. Overall, job satisfaction appears to be higher in small than in large businesses. Large business workers are likely to receive a higher remuneration package but small business workers may derive greater satisfaction from flexibility and sense of teamwork. Training and Recruitment (Carroll et al. 1999; Storey 2005) Small businesses provide less training and recruit new staff through informal channels. Large businesses are much more likely to provide formal training and use formal channels to recruit new staff. Small businesses, because they emphasise the use of informal procedures, are viewed by some as backward. But this is to misunderstand the motivations and constraints of small business owners. What is less clear is whether small businesses provide more informal training than large ones. Competitive advantages (Jennings and Breaver 1997) Flexible, responsive to the customer. Able to undertake investment and provide a more comprehensive service. Large businesses can reap scale economies, so they are more likely to be able to compete on price. They are also able to supply a wider range of liked services, avoiding the need for customers to have to shop around. Table : The key differences between small and large businesses; Source: Storey and Greene (2010) Conclusion Thus, creating, establishing and running a small business does require some of the skills as operating large ones, but the approaches and management styles will be different to large and small businesses due to their differences in characteristics and the different factors affecting them internally and externally. Besides, the small business owners do have different goals, plan, skills and approaches. For example, a small business owner has undifferentiated roles, thus need to have a hand-on skills to promote diversity and flexibility. However, it was also mentioned that skills and management style varies upon the levels of management and also people are different individuals who use different management styles according to the circumstances and objectives. The key advantage of the small business is that while the external uncertainty they experienced are greater than large businesses, they experienced less internal uncertainties due to their close control over the business. In addition, small businesses see themselves as customer focused, placing emphasis on service. However, generalisation is untrue: that all small businesses have lack of market power and do not grow. For example, the crematorium, a small business was able to exert real market power over a competitor. We should not forget as well that skills; approaches and management style of small businesses would be different to large businesses because small businesses tend to be higher in the risk of failure. The main reasons are normally lack of contingency plans, poor risk assessment done and lack of leadership style. This is why small businesses concentrate on cash rather than profit (Birley, 1992).

Cloning is Not Morally Correct :: essays research papers

For many years now many people have debated over the fact about the moral issues connected with cloning. To begin with, what is cloning Cloning is ?making a living thing from another living thing such as a plant or animal. The process uses the genes of the first so they both have identical DNA.?1 This means that something is being made through a process of copying. This is helpful, no doubt, in many ways. Scientists could use clones to ultimately cure diseases and such. But is it worth ?playing God?2 to achieve things that probably could be done in a different approach? Is cloning truly ethical? Or is it morally wrong? I believe that cloning is morally incorrect and unethical. One of the things that greatly impacts people?s perspective of the answer to this question is religion. Studies have shown that the more religious a person is, the more against cloning they are.3 Religion is one of the things that is the foundation of many beliefs and fundamentals in the lives of many people. This affects me directly because I am Protestant and believe in God. When cloning we are not only opening the doors to ?religion vs. science? debates, but we are also saying that the beliefs of other is incorrect. This may be offense to many people. When cloning animals of any sort it challenges the beliefs of many religions. I believe that cloning is immoral because a very small percentage of the cloning ?beings? actually live. The success rate of cloning is between a mere 0.1% and 3%4 (the famous Dolly [cloned sheep] was 1 successful try out of 276 tries [.36%] 5). This small percentage shows us that the efficiency of cloning is very small. I believe that if we are going to allow something to be ?legal? it should have a greater success rate. Many problems come up when looking at this percentage. The first one is what will happen to all the ?trash? or the failures? A place will need to be built in which the materials of the failed experiments will go. Another problem is what if a couple wants to design their own ?perfect? child. With a small success rate, the length of time in which one child might be completely and perfectly produced might be very long. Cloning might also mess the mind-set of parents because many cloned animals have problems in their later development.

“Civilization Ends, Since Barbarians Erupt from It” by Karl Kraus

When given thought, barbarousness can be stated as a quality which is branched out from the carrying out of any of the cardinal sins. For example, greed numbs your conscience and energizes you to achieve whatever it is that you desire by corrupted means. On a quest to reach self-satisfaction, humans have proved to be able to cross all sorts of boundaries, forget all levels of logical reasoning and etiquettes and in short, become barbaric; exactly the right recipe for massive disorder. Adolf Hitler alone cost eleven million lives, six million of them belonging to the Jews amidst how he is considered by some to be one of the greatest generals of all time. The honorable titles given to him should have fed his pride, yet he brutally carried out the killing of many innocent people out of racism. The World Wars have had their adverse affects. With such a high casualty number, these two wars have been the deadliest known to man. And it all starts when such barbarians struggle to gain power. If a World War 3 indeed erupts, it may be just enough to turn this earth into ashes considering the effect that the rapid advancement of technology has on the creation of deadly weapons such as nuclear or biological weapons. Charles Ponzi was the man who made the Ponzi scheme famous, and hence the name. Meanwhile, it was Bernie Madoft who exercised this fraudulent method of earning money for the longest period of time in the market under the very noses of the investors. He managed to profit 65 billion US dollars, all by false stories. A similar scenario is evident in the public offices here in Bangladesh, where money speaks and every tongue remain silent. The officers in such workplaces see bribes as a ‘legal’ part of their earning. Bangladesh could have dealt with poverty and the million other problems it encounters far more easily if these parasitic and corrupt politicians and officials hadn’t stolen the large sum of money reserved for developmental purposes. Just because of them, the beggars roam the roads, stopping by every car window; traffic congestion is a daily sighting owing to the underdeveloped infrastructure and the poor communication system; the lack of education of the poor children, leading to an illiterate future generation. This list would go on like a bottomless pit. Today, to some extent, people have gained consciousness of the fact that the world is not progressing in the right direction. Hence, many different people and organizations have stepped in. United Nations is working to preserve peace among nations; to prevent wars, promote cooperation between countries. Pioneers like Sir Fazle Hasan Abed contributed greatly to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, the people still continue to suffer. Wars keep killing innocent humans. Safety of women remains unanswered. People remain greedy and still they live off others’ wealth. As long as such injustice remains in the society, Karl Kraus’ quote cannot be deemed wrong!

Harry Potter & the Commodity Fetishism

Amalia Rodrigues Film Survey Prompt 1 Harry Potter & the Commodity Fetishism There are few things in this world that manage to seep into every crevice our lives as humans; the air we breathe, the people we interact with, and in our contemporary culture, the buying and selling of commodities. The masses have adopted a â€Å"give the people what they want† attitude that results in the commodification of everything thinkable. â€Å"Even as a negation of that social purposiveness which is spreading through the market, [art’s] freedom remains essentially bound up with the premise of a commodity economy† (Adorno & Horkheimer 1238).There may have been a time when art was an escape from the domination of commerce, when people created things motivated by passion and emotion rather than by the prospect of dollar signs; no longer does that time exist. In film, the studio system has become a monopoly, and the structure of films, a formula. Though some would argue that there are a myriad of genres that give variety to the industry, Adorno and Horkheimer would counter that a menu is still not a choice, and that the monopolization of the film industry takes away from a world of choices and freedoms.The industry has morphed into a total administration of art, undoubtedly integrating our pleasure in the theater with the machinery of global media firms. A textbook example is the franchise of the Harry Potter films, which more than most any series of films, proliferates the sins of hyper commercialism. A commodity is defined as something that has use value, or utility, by satisfying a particular need or desire, created to be exchanged for a profit.It must have some sort of utility, or it will not be desired by a prospective buyer. â€Å"So far as it is a value in use, there is nothing mysterious about it, whether we consider it from the point of view that by its properties it is capable of satisfying human wants, or from the point that those properties are t he product of human labor† (Marx 1). This could be virtually anything, being that everything today has a price put on it by society. We are constructed through our relationship with and use of commodities in our everyday lives.As a people, we have become obsessed with the commodities we surround ourselves with, constructing our identities through the material goods that inhabit us. Commodity fetishism replaces relationships between people with relationships between humans and objects. The eruption of the Harry Potter phenomenon occurred in the late nineties and has only flourished since. The author of the series, J. K. Rowling, created a world that nobody had seen before, a world of magic. This world, along with the lovable characters involved, are what our society seamlessly bought into.The masses fell in love with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, leaving them vulnerable to the impending commercial goods that the media conglomerates would soon overwhelmingly develop. And, no doubt, the Potter-inspired merchandise began to flow like lava as the movies were produced one by one, each one more successful than the next. Mindlessly, readers and viewers were sucked in by the new world of witchcraft and wizardry that leaves ceaseless possibilities for immense revenue. To quote Adorno and Horkheimer, â€Å"The culture perpetually cheats its consumers of what it perpetually promises.The promissory note which, with its plots and staging, it draws on pleasure is endlessly prolonged; the promise, which is actually all the spectacle consists of, is illusory: all it actually confirms is that the real point will never be reached, that the diner must be satisfied with the menu† (Adorno & Horkheimer 1230). When adopting the premise of Harry Potter from words in a book to the big motion-picture screen, the film makers undoubtedly had dollar signs flashing in their pupils.Such a fantastically huge foundation was built and the only direction to move was up. Before Harry cou ld say â€Å"abracadabra† (or something to that effect) stores began to overflow with anything and everything with the name â€Å"Harry Potter† plastered on the side. Hats, mugs, T-shirts, video games, costumes, the signature round glasses, not one item from the series has gone unnoticed by the conglomerates who are so devoted to squeezing every ounce of profit out of poor Harry’s wand.Even the earwax jellybeans that Dumbledore so foolishly consumes out of his bag of â€Å"Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans† are readily available at your local superstore. There is simply no escaping the pure immensity that is the Potter revolution. Children are hosting Harry Potter themed birthday parties, adults are tattooing the dark mark on their bodies, college students are starting quidditch teams and tournaments, and families are taking road trips to the newly developed â€Å"Harry Potter World† in Universal Studios.This latest installment of the Harry P otter craze allows fans to live in the world they see on screen, drink butter beer, and purchase wands from Olivander’s; all of this for the low, low price of a hefty wad of cash straight into the pockets of the already multi-billion dollar industry. And yet, somehow our society does not mind being conned into purchasing such unnecessary yet desirable items, directly depicting the idea of commodity fetishism. Massive consumerism based on obsessions drawn from movies and franchises such as Harry Potter happen day to day, year to year, generation to generation.It has become so naturalized in our society to buy into our every impulse of consumer products that we cannot help but be blinded by our desires for such vain items. In a way, we, as consumers, are being exploited similarly to the way that house elves like Dobby are exploited in the Harry Potter series. We are born into our exploitation, and in some ways seem to enjoy it, as the elves seem to enjoy their dirty work. As a population, we can only hope to be as lucky as Dobby, to find a sock in an old diary, and be set free from manipulation.

Gendered Pronouns

Gendered Pronouns Gendered Pronouns Gendered Pronouns By Maeve Maddox When I began writing about language several decades ago, the pronoun errors that concerned my readers related to number and case. I never imagined that gender would ever become a source of confusion. Nowadays, however, journalists are faced with the question of which pronouns to use when writing about transgender people. The recommendation of the Associated Press and other style authorities is to use whichever pronouns the subject prefers: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics (by hormone therapy, body modification, or surgery) of the opposite sex and present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly. The recommendation is easy to follow when writing about events that take place after the subject’s transition. Problems arise when a writer wishes to deal with events that preceded the change. For example, the following sentences from a Wikipedia article illustrate the disconcerting effect of making the new pronouns retroactive: Born Bradley Edward Manning in 1987 in  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, she was the second child of Susan Fox, originally from  Wales, and Brian Manning, an American.   By then, Manning was living as an openly gay man. Her relationship with her father was apparently good. The Wikipedia article on the former Bruce Jenner deals with the problem by avoiding pronouns altogether: After Olympic success, Jenner decided to cash in on celebrity status, which required forgoing any future Olympic competition. Jenners agent George Wallach felt at the time that Jenner had a four-year window to capitalize upon. Wallach reported that Jenner was being considered for the role of  Superman,  which ultimately went to  Christopher Reeve. Journalists are not the only ones struggling with the question of gendered pronouns. University authorities, sensitive to the question of assumptions relating to gender, are rethinking the traditional Male/Female designations on registration forms. According to an article at AP The Big Story, students registering at Harvard are allowed to indicate the pronouns they prefer and are offered the gender-neutral options ze and they. The State University of New York is â€Å"working on a data-collection tool to let students choose among seven gender identities, including trans man, questioning, and genderqueer.† An article in Slate reports that Facebook now offers a drop-down gender menu containing more than fifty designations. Some of the options are cis female, gender fluid, transfeminine, neutrois, and two-spirit. Facebook also provides pronoun options for the feature that alerts users to a friend’s upcoming birthday: wish him a happy birthday wish her a happy birthday wish them a happy birthday Perhaps the day is not too far off when English speakers drop the singular third-person personal pronouns altogether in favor of plural, gender-neutral they and them. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to spell "in lieu of"Conversational Email

The Effects of HIV Mutations on the Immune System Essays - HIVAIDS

The Effects of HIV Mutations on the Immune System Essays - HIVAIDS The Effects of HIV Mutations on the Immune System Science C.J. Stimson INTRODUCTION The topic of this paper is the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, and whether or not mutations undergone by the virus allow it to survive in the immune system. The cost of treating all persons with AIDS in 1993 in the United States was $7.8 billion, and it is estimated that 20,000 new cases of AIDS are reported every 3 months to the CDC. This question dealing with how HIV survives in the immune system is of critical importance, not only in the search for a cure for the virus and its inevitable syndrome, AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), but also so that over 500,000 Americans already infected with the virus could be saved. This is possible because if we know that HIV survives through mutations then we might be able to come up with a type of drug to retard these mutations allowing the immune system time to expunge it before the onset of AIDS. BACKGROUND In order to be able to fully comprehend and analyze this question we must first ascertain what HIV is, how the body attempts to counter the effects of viruses in general, and how HIV infects the body. Definition HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV is classified as a RNA Retrovirus. A retrovirus uses RNA templates to produce DNA. For example, within the core of HIV is a double molecule of ribonucleic acid, RNA. When the virus invades a cell, this genetic material is replicated in the form of DNA . But, in order to do so, HIV must first be able to produce a particular enzyme that can construct a DNA molecule using an RNA template. This enzyme, called RNA-directed DNA polymerase, is also referred to as reverse transcriptase because it reverses the normal cellular process of transcription. The DNA molecules produced by reverse transcription are then inserted into the genetic material of the host cell, where they are co-replicated with the host's chromosomes; they are thereby distributed to all daughter cells during subsequent cell divisions. Then in one or more of these daughter cells, the virus produces RNA copies of its genetic material. These new HIV clones become covered with protein coats and leave the cell to find other host cells where they can repeat the life cycle. The Body Fights Back As viruses begin to invade the body, a few are consumed by macrophages, which seize their antigens and display them on their own surfaces. Among millions of helper T cells circulating in the bloodstream, a select few are programmed to read that antigen. Binding the macrophage, the T cell becomes activated. Once activated, helper T cells begin to multiply. They then stimulate the multiplication of those few killer T cells and B cells that are sensitive to the invading viruses. As the number of B cells increases, helper T cells signal them to start producing antibodies. Meanwhile, some of the viruses have entered cells of the body - the only place they are able to replicate. Killer T cells will sacrifice these cells by chemically puncturing their membranes, letting the contents spill out, thus disrupting the viral replication cycle. Antibodies then neutralize the viruses by binding directly to their surfaces, preventing them from attacking other cells. Additionally, they precipitate chemical reactions that actually destroy the infected cells. As the infection is contained, suppresser T cells halt the entire range of immune responses, preventing them from spiraling out of control. Memory T and B cells are left in the blood and lymphatic system, ready to move quickly should the same virus once again invade the body. HIVs Life Cycle In the initial stage of HIV infection, the virus colonizes helper T cells, specifically CD4+ cells, and macrophages, while replicating itself relatively unnoticed. As the amount of the virus soars, the number of helper cells falls; macrophages die as well. The infected T cells perish as thousands of new viral particles erupt from the cell membrane. Soon, though, cytotoxic T and B lymphocytes kill many virus-infected cells and viral particles. These effects limit viral growth and allow the body an opportunity to temporarily restore its supply of helper cells to almost normal concentrations. It is at this time the virus enters its second stage. Throughout this second phase the immune system functions well, and the net concentration of measurable virus remains relatively low. But after a period of time, the viral level rises gradually, in parallel with a decline in the helper population. These helper T and

How to Get Book Reviews 5 Unorthodox Tips

How to Get Book Reviews 5 Unorthodox Tips Going Viral: 5 New Opportunities to Get Book Reviews Last updated: 07/12/2017Dana Kaye is a Reedsy book publicist and author. Known for her innovative ideas and knowledge of current trends, she frequently speaks on the topics of social media, branding, and publishing trends. In this post, she shares her top 5 tips for getting book reviews.In the past ten years, the publishing landscape has changed dramatically, and that includes book coverage. Gone are the days when every local newspaper has a thick Sunday Arts section with at least four pages dedicated to book reviews and features. Long-form book reviews are being replaced by Instagram photos of books placed strategically among a wool blanket and steaming cup of coffee or a YouTube celebrity sharing the haul from her latest bookstore visit.   While the decline of newspapers may make it seem like books coverage is disappearing, there are more outlets than ever to get your book reviewed.Besides these options, you can also submit your book to Reedsy Discovery for review and exposure to thousands of readers!1. Book Review BloggersUnlike newspapers, which have to consider space constraints and an editorial staff, book bloggers have full control over the books they cover and the format of their reviews. Thousands of bloggers regularly review books, in addition to hosting giveaways and author interviews.Today @epicreads sent me a *gorgeous* finished copy of The Thousandth Floor!! There's been a lot of buzz around this book recently, and since it comes out this Tuesday I might start it tonight and let you guys know what I think😄💙ðŸ“â€" | #bookstagram #books #read #reading #thethousandthfloor

International Developments That Have Critical Implication for Essay

International Developments That Have Critical Implication for International HRM - Essay Example A number of important international developments are presently taking place that has critical implication for international HRM. They include; (a) the growth of multinationals in the emerging markets, (b) constant increment levels of foreign direct investments, (c) the growing power of cross-border alliances (M&As) that involve companies from the emerging markets, (d) a growing trend in business process outsourcing, and (e) the challenges posed by the current financial crisis and the way to manage effectively in difficult times. The emerging international economic scenario characterized by the rise of economically stronger emerging markets is creating serious challenges for the IHRM policymakers; however, the same scenario lays immense opportunities for the IHRM researchers. The model of strategic international HRM (SIHRM) is based on the earliest and most famous article by Schuler, Dowling and De Cieri. The model describes endogenous and exogenous factors and strategic components th at have an effect on SIHRM policies, issues, functions, and practices. They, in turn, affect the MNC goals such as efficiency, learning, flexibility, effectiveness, responsiveness, and transfer. According to the model, the external factors (industry characteristics, country-regional characteristics and inter-organizational networks) have an effect on the internal organizational factors, strategic HRM and MNE (multinational enterprise) concerns and goals. The internal organizational factors, strategic HRM and MNE concerns and goals affect each other. The internal organizational factors include; (a) MNE structure – structure of the international operations, intra-organizational networks, mechanisms of coordination, and modes of operations, (b) MNE strategy – corporative level strategy and business level strategy, (c) experience in the management of international operations, and (d) headquarters international orientation. Strategic HRM entails HR function strategy and HR practices. MNE concerns and goals entail competitiveness, efficiency, the balance of local responsiveness and international integration, and flexibility.

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

1 prejudice - Essay Example ly and I would characterize myself in a similar manner however I am proud to state that I have lived through various exciting experiences during the course of my life as well and have not devoted everything to academics. From Indonesia, I have come to the United States to study and make a name for myself resulting in most of my American friends characterizing me as every other Asian who goes to study abroad. Moreover, I have a hard working and professional attitude and the process of leaning interests me greatly. At the same time, I enjoy attending parties and family functions to the fullest and love to take a night off every now and then to let myself loose and have a good time and thus feel cornered when I am left out by some friends or considered as a person who does not enjoy having fun. It has happened a few times that my friends feel I am too religious as I follow Christianity, or that I would be immersed in my academic work and so they have not asked me out with them however that is not the case as this stereotype is quite different from my inherent personality. As a perpetrator of prejudice, when I first arrived at the United States and started attending my university, I only made friends with Asian people thinking that Americans would be too snooty or would not have an accepting nature with respect to other nationalities. I was under the impression that American people were a little difficult to be friends with as popular culture had taught me biased things for example Americans being too racist or discriminatory against people belonging to other countries. Furthermore, I was also under the impression that most Americans were not too fond of people from countries in Asia due to the fact that they were academically smarter and would thus get more educational as well as career opportunities in the country than Americans themselves. This led me to cut myself off from anyone who was not an Asian and as a result I wound up with very few people as my friends.

Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Case Analysis - Essay Example m, and CollegeWikis.com—hope to come in.† (Facebook Faces Up, 2008) Facebook has increased it user base by opening admission to all: â€Å"In June, 11.5 million of the individual visitors to the site were 35 or older, more than double the number a year before, according to market researcher ComScore Media Metrix† (Facebook Faces Up, 2008). Now at 33 Million subscribers total Facebook’s worth has been estimated between 1 and 4 billion dollars. However the increase in size has contributed to more site downtime and possible problems with security that are slowly being addressed. In analyzing Facebook’s position in the marketplace, as table 1 on the next page shows, there are some key factors for the company as well as its competition to be explored. Facebook is the number two site for all social networking website as of April 2008. While MySpace is certainly dominating the field it has not grown as dramatically as Facebook has done. More recent numbers, as stated above, have put Facebook even closer with 33 million subscribers since opening its doors to all users in May. Furthermore, according to most reports, the college age users that have currently been using Facebook do not seem to be switching services any time soon. While other companies are attempting to fill the college niche market, they have not successfully created an easier to use platform with as much Web presence as Facebook. However, as this table reveals and many analysts agree with, LinkedIn is quickly increasing its user base and with some changes in its website structure and presence, may soon represent some valid competition for both Facebook and MySpace. While Facebook is certainly growing by leaps and bounds it may be time to consider partnering with other companies whose infrastructures have proven successful and who may assist FaceBook with the challenge of growth and security that it currently faces. Recent refusal to partner with Googel, Yahoo1 and others may only be

Business Skills & Employability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Skills & Employability - Essay Example In order to understand the reason behind the huge inflow of FDI in China, the areas of economic reforms need to be studied in context to China, the policies framed by the government in relation to the foreign direct investments in China. The favorability of the investment climate of China in the eyes of the foreign investors need to be studied by considering the several factors that affect the inflow of foreign direct investments in the country. The analysis of the quality of infrastructure available in China for the foreign direct investments, the availability of the manpower resources in China, the regulatory framework and the laws in various sectors for foreign investment are important to understand the reasons why China has been able to attract huge inflow of foreign direct investments over the last three decades. Discussion The reasons behind China’s ability to attract huge foreign direct investments in the country over the last 30 years have been discussed as follows. Th e alternative investment patterns that have emerged in order to challenge rapid growth rate of foreign direct investments have also been included as part of the discussion. ... ina’s ability to attract huge foreign direct investments in the country are the availability of favorable infrastructure for the foreign investors, the high potential of the manpower resources and the total factor productivity of China, the policies of the government in framing favorable laws and regulations for the foreign investors and the performance requirements of the foreign investors. A picture of the growth of foreign direct investments in China has been represented below in Table 1. Table 1: FDI Inflows ($US) in China from 1983 to 2012 The above data have been plotted in graphical form as represented in Figure 1 as shown below (The World Bank, 2013, p.1). Figure 1: Increasing Trend of FDI Inflow ($US) in China from 1983-2012 The policies framed by the government in China have been established in such a way over the last three decades that the regulatory framework has been viewed favorably by the foreign investors in China. The government has set up separate laws by cl assifying the foreign investors into categories like wholly owned foreign enterprises, joint venture of the foreign enterprises and the Chinese entities and Sino-foreign co-operatives. The People Republic of China maintained a Guiding Directory for the investors who are looking for foreign investments in China. The policies framed by the government offer provisions for incentives in case of foreign investments in the special economic zones as designated by the People’s Republic of China. Although in the initial stages, the People’s Republic of China had imposed performance requirements for the foreign investors, the policies on foreign direct investments were instituted with an object to provide preferential treatments to the foreign investors who invested in the economy of China. The

Environmental Factors Affecting the Organization and Its Function Essay

Environmental Factors Affecting the Organization and Its Function Activities - Essay Example Of necessity then, all organizations must be adjusted to the environment in which they exist. The external environment of an organization are those factors that are outside the control of the manager but which nevertheless affect managerial decision - making. They generally affect all organizations within that society and thus they are not specific to any one firm. These environmental forces include: - Political -legal forces, economic forces, social and cultural forces. The two most important environmental are the technological forces and the internal environment. 2 Political stability is another factor i.e. organizations will change their mode of trade depending on how stable the political climate is. Presidential decrees also affects business decision - making. Business managers face a multitude of loss that limits their powers with regard to legal- political constrains. In the final analysis an organization usually cannot control what a government does. Sometimes these laws also create new opportunities for the firm. An example is compulsory recycling laws which have led to the mushrooming of the recycling industry. However, it is important for the organization to understand that the main purpose of business legislation is to give companies protection against unfair competition, protect the society's interests from being infringed by unscrupulous firms and also give consumers protection against business malpractices. (Dale, 2001) b) Economic forces Important aspects of the economy that affect the organization and human resource activities include inflation, economic growth, interest rates and employment. During periods of inflation, firms must pay more for raw materials Economic growth rate influences the demand for products while interest rate determines how much it will cost the organization to borrow money. Unemployment will influence the supply labour. Other economic factors affecting the organization are prices, savings and the availability of credit c) Social/cultural forces This environment consists of the value systems, social demographic characteristics and other basic characteristics of persons comprising the society. Such characteristics include desires, attitude, expectations, aspirations, believes, traditions, levels of educations, religions and customs of people in a given society. Religion might for instance influence people's tastes and preferences to products. Education may also influence tastes and preferences. People may have a negative attitude towards the products / services that the organization offers. The level of education would also affect the human resource function of selection and training because the low the level of education of its work forces, the more the training. The converse is true. People's lifestyles will influence the

EC 313 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

EC 313 - Essay Example Firstly, the ASF (Aggregate Supply of Funding) will remain constant with respect to any interest rate changes therefore we will depict it as a vertical line as shown in the above graph. Suppose that due to certain shocks in the economy, the APE line shifts to the right. The increase in APE will require funding to support it but the ASF will remain unresponsive to the change. As consumers move to gain funding, the lenders will drive up the interest rates. Increase in interest rates will crowd out the demand and the output and price levels will remain unchanged. What if the amount of gold in an economy increased or decreased. Based on the quantity of gold the ASF line would shift to either left or right. If ASF had a rightward shift than it implies that there will be an excess of funding in the economy. Thus the lenders will be willing to provide their money at lower level of interest rates. This lower level of interest rates will induce the consumers to spend more therefore increasing ADF. Now ADF will cross ASF at a decreased interest rate level and both will exceed the GDP level. Increase in a funded demand will cause the firms to increase their prices. This increase in Price Level brings a fall in ASF which will also decrease APE. Prices will continue to move in upward direction until & unless interest rate, APE & ASF return to their original level. Prior to the Great Depression of 1929, the classical macroeconomics functioned as it was required. There were no economic slumps and employment and GDP’s were stable throughout the period. The assumption of classical macroeconomists regarding the invisible hand was proved to be almost true. There was no need for government policies or intervention to control the economy and macroeconomics was taking care of itself. Suddenly, the Great Depression of 1929 made its way in the economy and plunged economies in state of chaos. Some faltering economies almost experienced a decline of 30% in their GDP and as much

Environmental Factors Affecting the Organization and Its Function Essay

Environmental Factors Affecting the Organization and Its Function Activities - Essay Example Of necessity then, all organizations must be adjusted to the environment in which they exist. The external environment of an organization are those factors that are outside the control of the manager but which nevertheless affect managerial decision - making. They generally affect all organizations within that society and thus they are not specific to any one firm. These environmental forces include: - Political -legal forces, economic forces, social and cultural forces. The two most important environmental are the technological forces and the internal environment. 2 Political stability is another factor i.e. organizations will change their mode of trade depending on how stable the political climate is. Presidential decrees also affects business decision - making. Business managers face a multitude of loss that limits their powers with regard to legal- political constrains. In the final analysis an organization usually cannot control what a government does. Sometimes these laws also create new opportunities for the firm. An example is compulsory recycling laws which have led to the mushrooming of the recycling industry. However, it is important for the organization to understand that the main purpose of business legislation is to give companies protection against unfair competition, protect the society's interests from being infringed by unscrupulous firms and also give consumers protection against business malpractices. (Dale, 2001) b) Economic forces Important aspects of the economy that affect the organization and human resource activities include inflation, economic growth, interest rates and employment. During periods of inflation, firms must pay more for raw materials Economic growth rate influences the demand for products while interest rate determines how much it will cost the organization to borrow money. Unemployment will influence the supply labour. Other economic factors affecting the organization are prices, savings and the availability of credit c) Social/cultural forces This environment consists of the value systems, social demographic characteristics and other basic characteristics of persons comprising the society. Such characteristics include desires, attitude, expectations, aspirations, believes, traditions, levels of educations, religions and customs of people in a given society. Religion might for instance influence people's tastes and preferences to products. Education may also influence tastes and preferences. People may have a negative attitude towards the products / services that the organization offers. The level of education would also affect the human resource function of selection and training because the low the level of education of its work forces, the more the training. The converse is true. People's lifestyles will influence the

Policy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Policy - Assignment Example The consideration was mainly for the couple that needed child and the child’s welfare was never the main issue. This has since changed and today and therefore during an adoption process the main issue that must be addressed is the welfare of the child. Despite there being corruption here and there that may hinder the due process of adoption to unwind, the environment of today tries to make adoption to be able to focus on how comfortable the child is going be during after he has been placed in the hands of adoptive parents (VanderMolen, 2005).. In this regard, unlike in the early years when the adoption of a child was almost like accounting the child to the highest bidder, what matters today is that the family or individual willing to adopt a child has to show that they will be able to provide the child with a viable environment in which to grow. They must show that they are not only financially capable to provide for the child but that they are also emotionally stable to give the child the emotional needs he or she requires in order to develop well from childhood to adulthood. This has also meant that the process of adoption is a long one and it is not a one day process. Anyone willing to adopt a child today must be willing to take a lengthy process that will finally determine if they are qualified. I also learn that adoption has also changed in other ways. For instance, during the inception of adoption, adoption was mainly for couples who did not have the biological ability to have their own children. Today, even a single individual can adopt a child and so they do not have to be a married couple. Even untraditional couples such as in gay marriages can adopt a child, but that depends on the state from which they come because some states do not allow gay marriages and so this would be a precedence to determine if the state will allow them to adopt a

Typical Stereotypes Of Males And Females

Typical Stereotypes Of Males And Females What defines males from females? Many times people can name off many physical characteristics that tend to be commonly known differences between males and females. For example: males tend to have some of the following-shorter hair, wear looser fitting clothing, shorter fingernails, chest hair, facial hair, more bodily hair in general, taller, stronger, deeper voice, thicker skin, more physically aggressive and more physical jobs (such as, mining, construction, farming, surgeons and engineering). Whereas, women tend to have some of the following-longer hair, wear tighter fitting clothing, longer fingernails, less bodily hair, average height, higher pitch voice, softer/thinner skin, express emotions openly and tend to have jobs helping people (nurses) or working with children (daycare, teacher). These physical characteristics are not the only thing that may differentiate males and females; there are many other characteristics that may also be present. However, I not only think of these characteristics but also about stereotypes that are set for males and females. I see these stereotypes as follows: females tend to be stay at home moms, taking/caring for children and others, and in charge of the housework. Whereas, males tend to be the ones who are out and off doing the farm work or having a job to bring home the money and are consider the protectors of their family or over others. These stereotypes are shown with the differences in males and females in the following two short stories; which are: The Horse Dealers Daughter by D.H. Lawrence and The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck. The Horse Dealers Daughter by D.H. Lawrence is about a girl, Mabel, who lives at home with her three brothers. They are all sitting around the table after their fathers death, which left them in major debt. However, Mabels brothers are able to go off and find work; whereas Mabel is in a predicament on what to do. (All she has ever known is taking care of the house and fulfilling that role of her mother after she had died.) The stereotypes I have stated earlier are shown throughout this short story with the differences between males and females. Mabels brothers were able to go off and find a job and are able to bring home money for themselves. As Lawrence states, Joe was luckilyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦engaged to a woman as old as himself, and therefore her father, who was steward of a neighboring estate, would provide him with a job (p. 235). Since they know what they are doing with their life this leaves her brothers concerned about what she is going to do because they à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦got to be out by Wednesdayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p. 237). They bring up the option of Mabel going and staying with their sister, Lucy; because as her brother Fred states, I dont see what else you can do (p. 236). Implying that it isnt common for women to go out and have jobs, like men do, to bring home money. However, going to live with her sister, Lucy, is not what Mabel wants to do. She wants to stay at the house and continue to be the motherly figure, along with taking of others, her brothers, with doing the household chores. Even though the house was servantless now, and desolate (empty) (p. 239). Meaning that she would not have anyone to care for but herself. She is still use to doing those household chores. Lawrence explains this as he states, she began putting the dishes together (p. 238). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Mabel came in again, to finish clearing the table (p. 239) and she folded the white table-cloth, and put on the chenille cloth (p. 239). All of these go along with the typical women stereotype that they are in charge of the housework and keeping things tidy for the others. Even though Mabels life consisted of this work and fell under the female stereotype, she still felt established, proud and reserved, so long as there was money (p. 240). However, now that there was no money due to the debt they were left in, Mable had become threaten with what she was going to do with her life. Because she had kept house for ten yearsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦keeping the home together in (penury) for her (ineffectual) brothersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p. 240). But now Mabel had been servant less in the big house for months (p. 240) and not knowing what to do. The debt has caused her to lose all her confidence, of how important the housework (she did) really was. Which is shown when Lawrence states, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the sense of money had kept her proud, confident (p. 240). With them being in debt and only knowing the housework, this had brought the endà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for Mabel (p. 240); Meaning that Mabel did not see any good in her life anymore because she did not have the household chores to do or the opportunity to take care of others. This causes her to decide the best thing for her would to be dead along with her mother. This is shown as Lawrence explains how Mable à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦walked slowly and deliberately towards the center of the pond, very slowly, gradually moving deeper into the motionless water, and still moving forward as the water got up to her breast. Then he (Dr. Jack Furguson) see her no more in the dusk of the dead afternoon (p. 243). As Dr. Jack Furguson watches her slowly try and kill herself he feels the need to do something about it. This is where the male stereotype of being the protectors of their family and others comes into play and being present in Dr. Jack Furguson. Males have the tendency to feel and provide protection over their family and others but also are tend to known to be stronger than females, which is shown as Lawrence describes the following about Dr. Jack Furguson. Dr. Jack Furguson went into the pond after Mabel to save and protect her. Lawrence states, he slowly ventured into the pond (p. 243); he went very slowly, carefully, absorbed in the slow progress. He rose higher, climbing out of the pond. The water was now only about his legs; he was thankful, full of relief to be out of the clutches of the pond. He lifted her and staggered onto the bank, out of the horror of wet, grey clay (p. 244). After Dr. Jack Furguson saved her life he took her back to get her out of her wet clothes and to get her warmed up. As he removed her saturated, earthy-smelling clothing, rubbed her dry with a towel, and wrapped her naked in the blankets (p. 245), he did it out of protecting her and saving her, but also because he is a doctor and the need he feels to help others due to his profession. However, the male stereotype of being protective of their family and others caused a problem between Mabel and Dr. Jack Furguson. Mabel didnt see him as just being protective but as him doing this because of the love he felt for her. This resulted her and believing that he loved her and her having that feeling of being able to take care of and do housework for someone again. The Horse Dealers Daughter by D.H. Lawrence showed many different examples of the stereotypes between males and females. These stereotypes explicitly show us the gender differences between two people. Another short story that shows us gender differences between two people is The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck. The Chrysanthemums not only shows gender differences but also how the male and female stereotypes are not always true or accurate. As in The Horse Dealers Daughter, besides the housework that is a typical stereotype for females, there is also the garden work that they tend to do. This is shown in the short story The Chrysanthemums. As Elisa works in her garden with her chrysanthemums it is seen how this is her pride and joy; just as the housework was for Mabel. Steinbeck shows how important Elisas gardening is to her as he describes all the time that she spends there. For example, cutting the old, getting the new crop ready and how to care for them. As Steinbeck states, Its the budding that takes the most careà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p. 444). Elisas chrysanthemums is what she cares about and what she wants to take care of; just as Mabel wanted to be able to do housework and take care of others, her brothers. Not only was the stereotype for the females shown in this short story but also for males. This is shown first as her husband had asked her if she wanted to go out to eat for dinner but then after that if she wanted to go the fights. Males wanting to watch and go to the fights can be related to their more physically aggressive behavior and how they find the fights to be appealing to them. Not only does her husband have somewhat of a stereotype of males but so does the guy who stops and talks to her on his way by. The man came off with having at least one of the physical characteristics of males such as being tall, strong and a man who works to bring home the money. This is shown as Steinbeck states, Elisa saw that he was a very big man. The calloused hands he rested on the wire fence were cracked, and every crack was a black line (p. 441). The man made general conversation with Elisa but then begin to tell her about what he does for work and how he is looking for work to do in order to bring home the money for his food. As Steinbeck states, Maybe you noticed the writing on my wagon, I mend pots and sharpen knives and scissors. You got any of them things to do? (p. 442). Elisa goes on to tell the man that she doesnt as she continues to work with her chrysanthemums. Then the man states how this is his job and needing the work by saying, I aint had a thing to do today. Maybe I wont have no supper tonight (p. 442). The previous sentence shows how work and bringing home the money for food or care for himself, family or others is very important to men and goes along with their stereotype of being workers and typically protective and in charge of making sure everyone gets what they need in life. As they continue on with their conversation and the man finds some common ground, her plants, to talk to her about; he is slowly able to convince her of giving into him. He asks for some plants and then for a pot to fix too. With females falling under the stereotype that they do, Elisa wants to be able to take care of others; so she ends up feeling sorry for the man and gives him some of her chrysanthemums and a pot. Even though Elisa falls into the typical female stereotype she is still able to move beyond these gender roles. This is shown later in the short story when Elisa and her husband are going to go out to eat and she wants wine at dinner. This is not the only thing that shows Elisa moving beyond her gender roles but also when she talks to Henry, her husband, about the fights and states, Well, Ive read how they break noses, and blood runs down their chests. Ive read how the fighting gloves get heavy and soggy with blood (p. 448). This statement is showing her going beyond her gender roles because most females typically are not interested in fighting, weather that be watching it or reading about it. In conclusion, both short stories The Horse Dealers Daughter and The Chrysanthemums portray gender differences by the authors using examples that relate to the typical stereotypes seen in males and females. The issues the authors portray of the societies describes how most people tend to have these male and female stereotypes and that these are what most people tend to believe and follow and think or relate too. However, as in The Chrysanthemums these stereotypes for males and females are not always true for everyone.

Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Essay -- Sexual Harassment in the Wo

Harassment and Discrimination at the Work Place Three repair workers at the Facilities Management Division of the Lee County jail filed a series of harassment and discrimination claims after being repeatedly harassed and discriminated by nine co-workers for over three years. After an extensive investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to file a claim in federal court. Now, the United States Justice Department has filed a claim against Lee County in Florida costing tax payers thousands if not, millions of dollars. This is an example of how thriving companies can suffer an unexpected harassment or discrimination lawsuit which can cost them thousands of dollars affecting their bottom line as well as their reputation. As an independent human resources consultant, Santiago-Santos will organize a local education campaign and provide employers with different trainings to educate them and their employees about harassment and discrimination. Educating business owners and their employees is key for reducing the number of claims being filed due to harassment and discrimination. Harassment and discrimination can affect a business in many ways. Having a history of harassment and discrimination claims can damage a business’ reputation and affect its bottom line. It can cost the business current and future clients as well as investors and employees. Depending on the gravity of the claim(s), the process of settling the claim(s) can take anywhere from months to years. Meanwhile, the cost of the settlement and other fees continue to add up. A business might have to compensate the affected parties besides paying court fees and lawyers. The Equal Employment Opportu... ...s, organizing a local campaign wish will provide training about harassment and discrimination for local business will help build a healthier community and possibly improve the local economy. References Clark, C. S. (1991, August 9). Sexual harassment. CQ Researcher, 1, 537-560. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher Glazer, S. (1996, July 19). Crackdown on sexual harassment. CQ Researcher, 6, 625-648. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/ Kane-Urrabazo C. (2007). Sexual harassment in the workplace: it is your problem. Journal of Nursing Management, 15(6), 608-613. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2007.00725.x U.S. justice department sues lee county over discrimination accusations. (2012, February 06). Naples Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/feb/06/us-justice-department-sues-lee-county-over/

Eastern Flight 401 Essays -- Essays Papers

Eastern Flight 401 An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 crashed at 2342 eastern standard time, December 29, 1972, 18.7 miles west-northwest of Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida. The aircraft was destroyed. Of the 163 passengers and 13 crewmembers aboard, 94 passengers and 5 crewmembers received fatal injuries. Two survivors died later as a result of their injuries. Following a missed approach because of a suspected nose gear malfunction, the aircraft climbed to 2, 000 feet mean sea level and proceeded on a westerly heading. The three flight crewmembers and a jumpseat occupant became engrossed in the malfunction. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the flightcrew to monitor the flight instrument during the final 4 minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed. As a result of the investigation of this accident, the Safety Board has made recommendations to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. This tragic accident was preventable by not only the flight crew, but maintenance and air traffic control personnel as well. On December 29, 1972, ninety-nine of the one hundred and seventy-six people onboard lost their lives needlessly. As is the case with most accidents, this one was certainly preventable. This accident is unique because of the different people that could have prevented it from happening. The NTSB determined that â€Å"the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the flightcrew.† This is true; the flight crew did fail, however, others share the responsibility for this accident. Equally responsible where maintenance personnel, an Air Traffic Controllers, the system, and a twenty cent light bulb. What continues is a discussion on, what happened, why it happened, what to do about it and what was done about it. Maintenance personnel should have replaced a faulty indicator light bulb for the nose gear. The filament in the bulb was detached from one of the two mountings. That enabled the bulb to illuminate intermittently. When the maintenance personnel serviced the aircraft, they found the light... ...3 Pardon? CAM-4 Wheel-well lights on? CAM-3 Yeah wheel well lights always on if the gear's down CAM-1 Now try it 23.41:40 APP Eastern, ah 401 how are things comin' along out there? 23.41:44 RDO-1 Okay, we'd like to turn around and come, come back in CAM-1 Clear on left? CAM-2 Okay 23.41:47 APP Eastern 401 turn left heading one eight zero 23.41:50 CAM-1 Huh? 23.41:51 RDO-1 One eighty 23.42:05 CAM-2 We did something to the altitude CAM-1 What? 23.42:07 CAM-2 We're still at two thousand right? 23.42:09 CAM-1 Hey, what's happening here? CAM [Sound of click] 23.42:10 CAM [Sound of six beeps similar to radio altimeter increasing in rate] 23.42:12 .... [Sound of impact] References 1. Mr. Johnson was an air traffic control instructor at Miami International Airport. 2. National Transportation Safety Board Abstract Available [Online] http://www.rpi.edu/dept/union/raf/public/NTSB_Accident_abstracts 3. Air Disaster.com Available[Online] http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/cvr_ea401.html Title: Eastern Air Lines, Inc., L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972. NTSB Report Number: AAR-73-14, adopted on 06/14/1973 NTIS Report Number: PB-222359/2

Principles and Practice of Management Essay

General Manager operation, maintenance, and headed by a chief. The Chief of and under him Mukherjee Maintenance Engineer. The total was 500 workers, 25 executives, (Production), there were services groups, each Maintenance was Shukla was working as the strength of Maintenance and 50 supervisors. Chatterjee was working in Maintenance as a worker for three years. He was efficient. He had initiative and drive. He performed his duties in a near perfect manner. He was a man of proven technical ability with utmost drive and dash. He was promoted as Supervisor. Chattejee, now a Supervisor, was one day passing through the Maintenance Shop on his routine inspection. He found a certain worker sitting idle. He pulled him up for this. The worker retaliated by abusing him with filthy words. With a grim face and utter frustration, Chatterjee reported the matter to Mukherjee. The worker who insulted Chatterjee was a â€Å"notorious character† , and no supervisor dared to confront him. Mukherjee took a serious view of the incident and served a strong warning letter to the worker. Nothing very particular about Chatterjee or from him came to the knowledge of Mukherjee. Things were moving smoothly. Chatterjee was getting along well with others But after about three years, another serious incident took place. A worker came drunk to duty, began playing cards, and using very filthy language. When Chatterjee strongly objected to this, the worker got up and slapped Chatterjee. Later, the worker went to his union – and reported that Chatterjee had assaulted him while he was performing his duties. Chatterjee had no idea that the situation would take such a turn. He, therefore, never bothered to report the matter to his boss or collect evidence in support of his case. The union took the case to Shukla and prevailed over him to take stern action against Chatterjee. Shukla instructed Mukherjee to demote Chatterjee to the rank of a worker. Mukherjee expressed his apprehension that in such a case Chatterjee will be of no use to the department, and. the demotion would adversely affect the morale of all sincere and efficient supervisors. But Chatterjee was demoted. Chatterjee continued working in the organisation with all his efficiency, competence, and ability for two months. Then he resigned stating that he had secured better employment elsewhere. Mukherjee was perturbed at this turn of events. While placing Chatterjee’s resignation letter before Shukla, he expressed deep concern at this development. Shukla called Chief of Personnel for advice on this delicate issue. The Chief of Personnel said, â€Å"l think the incident should help us to appreciate the essential qualification required for a successful supervisor. An honest and hardworking man need not necessarily prove to be an effective supervisor. Something more is required for this as he has to get things done rather than do himself. † Mukherjee said, â€Å"l have a high opinion of Chatterjee. He proved his technical competence and was sincere at his work. Given some guidance on how to deal, with the type of persons he had to work with, the sad situation could h. ave been avoided. † Shukla said, â€Å"l am really sorry to lose Chatterjee, He was very honest and painstaking in his work. But I do not know how I could have helped him; I wonder how he always managed to get into trouble with workers. e know they are illiterates and some of them are tough. But a supervisor must have the ability and presence of mind to deal with such men. I have numerous supervisors, but I never had to teach anybody how to supervise his men. † Questions: (a) Identify the problems in this case. (b) Do you think the decision taken by shukla is i n keeping with the faith, trust and creating developmental climate in the organisation? Critically evaluate (c) How would you help in improving rough and tough behavior of employees? Read the following case and answer the questions given at the end. ABC manufacturing The ABC Manufacturing Company is a metal working plant under the direction of a plant manager who is known as a strict disciplinarian. One day a foreman noticed Bhola, one of the workers, at the time-clock punching out two cards his own and the card of Nathu, a fellow worker. Since it was the rule of the company that each man must punch out his own card, the foreman asked Bhola to accompany him to the Personnel Director, who interpreted the incident as a direct violation of a rule and gave immediate notice of discharge to both workers. The two workers came to see the Personnel Director on the following day. Nathu claimed innocence on the ground that he had not asked for his card to be punched and did not know at the time that it was being punched. He had been offered a ride by a friend who had already punched out and who could not wait for him to go through the punch-out procedure. Nathu was worried about his wife who was ill at home and was anxious to reach home as quickly as possible. He planned to take his card to the foreman the next morning for reinstatement, a provision sometimes exercised in such cases. These circumstances were verified by Bhola. He claimed that he had punched Nathu’s card the same time he punched his own, not being conscious of any wrongdoing. The Personnel Director was inclined to believe the story of the two men but did not feel he could reverse the action taken. He recognized that these men were good workers and had good records prior to this incident. Nevertheless, they had violated a rule for which the penalty was immediate discharge. He also reminded them that it was the policy of the company to enforce the rules without exception. A few days later the Personnel Director, the Plant Manager, and the Sales Manager sat together at lunch. The Sales Manager reported that he was faced with the necessity of notifying one of their best customers that his order must be delayed because of the liability of one department to conform to schedule. The department in question was the one from which the two workers had been discharged. Not only had it been impossible to replace these men to date, but disgruntlement over the incident had led to significant decline in the cooperation of the other workers. The Personnel Director and the Sales Manager took the position that the discharge of these two valuable men could have been avoided if there had been provision for considering the circumstances of the case. They pointed out that the incident was costly to the company in the possible loss of a customer, in the dissatisfaction within the employee group, and in the time and money that would be involved in recruiting and training replacements. The Plant Manager could not agree with this point of view. â€Å"We must have rules if we are to have efficiency; and the rules are no good unless we enforce them.

Abiotic And Biotic Characteristics Environmental Sciences Essay

San Francisco Bay has maintained a brilliant organic structure of H2O and usage to prolong the economic system of Western United States and San Francisco Estuary in Bay in is of great importance because through this a big figure of H2O run outing becomes possible. It ‘s Estuary from where fresh H2O meets to sea H2O. There are many pollutants that we face in our day-to-day life e.g. soil, deposits, oil, lubricating oil, fertilizes pesticides chemicals etc. the H2O running from the land transporting these pollutants to underground and finally this range to the Estuary of san Francisco. These pollutants when range in river and sea H2O can foul the whole H2O and turn out harmful for aquatic life as it can be cause injury for wetland animals like fish, and can turn out really unsafe for other home grounds of H2O. It can destruct the aquatic system and can be major menaces for the life being populating under H2O. As San Francisco Estuary considered as a really of import part and has much economic importance so for bar of pollution and maintain safe this part from other different factors Restoration and preservation is used.Abiotic and biotic features of the San Francisco EstuaryMany of environmental factors affect the abiotic and biotic features of the San Francisco Estuary these include both abiotic and biotic features. These factors effects the life in Estuary in great extends. Inanimate factors are called abiotic factors which include concentration of O and foods, salt of H2O and sum of sunlight. As these factors have the major impact on the life in estuary. All life factors that affect the estuary are called biotic factors. That includes manufacturers ‘ consumers and marauders as manufacturers are of basic importance for consumers. Consumers rely on manufacturers and marauders rely on consumers. So these are depend on one another to keep the balance of estuary,Population growing in the San Francisco Bay country affected the estuaryIncreasing tendency of population in San Francisco Bay country affected the estuary as increasing tendency of population cause a haste in urban every bit good as on small town countries. More the people are utilizing the resorts more the waste is making and much usage of H2O and H2O waste from its usage create pollution as much of the contaminated H2O is drained through the belowground ways to Estuary that is a great menace for the marine life. More over in recent old ages 40,000 metric dozenss of pollutants enter the Bay yearly from agribusiness and urban overflow. Rivers, atmospheric radioactive dust, municipal sewerage intervention workss, industrial installations, natural and unreal eroding, illegal clearance, dredging and dredged stuff disposal, marine vas discharges, inadvertent spills, and landfill ooze are besides doing jobs every bit good. ( 1 )Habitat break in the San Francisco Estuary been increased by human behaviourEstuaries is of great importance for us as these are used for nutrient, trade and for shelter and in this instance Sans Francisco Bay has great importance as it is used as seaport for many ships of this parts. There are big figure of workss and animate beings found in Estuaries and the most of population of San Francisco Bay depend on these marine lives for their nutrient. But due to the pollution spreading by addition in population cause injury to these workss and animate beings. This pollution can do harm to the lives of these workss and animate beings found in estuaries. Heavy burden of silt, rubbish, and deposits by eroding and chemical taint cause can turn out to be harmful for these workss and animate beings and can make asphyxiation for them. Due to increase in irrigation or by doing more dikes by the people can do jobs as more the salty H2O will travel upriver as comparison to normal everyday that can do destructive effect for species populating in the H2O. The most of import impact of human population in estuaries habitat in San Francisco is the development of estuaries. Peoples are seeking to acquire spread out the country of estuaries for development intent as they are rather interested to utilize the land for lodging and concern intent as they want to desire to use the part of estuaries for industrial development. Economically estuaries are really good for these intents but this can caused the doomed of big figure of home ground found in these estuaries. So it is harmful for the H2O species and go the cause of Habitat break in the San Francisco Estuary. Aquatic Nuisance Species ( ANS ) is transporting the being across America and around the Earth. This phenomena is increasing that cause injury to native fish and wild life in different ways as it disturb the full nutrient web and cause jobs for human life activity every bit good e.g. interrupting the H2O bringing and set uping the agribusiness every bit good.Conservation being used to advance and keep the biodiversity of workss and animate beings in the San Francisco EstuaryBiodiversity of workss and animate beings means scope of organisms including different workss and animate beings, present in ecological system. It is really of import to advance and keep the biodiversity of workss and animate beings to acquire the broad assortment of being that will be good and usage to carry through human demands. San Francisco Estuary is of great importance for the home ground of this part as they get of import benefits from them so to salvage this and to last from the loss of species found in t hese estuaries it is really of import to properly mange and develop the system to get away from the loss of marine species as good. Estuary of San Francisco Bay is of great importance in all over the universe. To procure it from un exceeding phenomena and widen the productive usage of it The San Francisco Estuary Partnership ( SFEP ) is playing really of import function as they have used different attacks to cut down the impact of Aquatic Nuisance Species ( ANS ) . They have start to see species direction program I order to retrieve the species of Estuary from harmful effects. Fish in the estuary demand O to last so the estuary where there is increased pollution that ‘s doing lost of marine life, Submerged aquatic flora ( SAV ) produces O for fish external respiration and to cut down the pollution. The Sans Francisco Bay preservation and development committee ( 2 ) prepared a program to do and implement the policies for the development of Bay and to use the maximal benefits from them. The Sans Francisco Bay program is created and implemented by this committee in 1968. The of import conversation of this program was related to shore line and coastal countries to use it to their maximal potency. Conservation of fish and other aquatic being is most significantly depend on the O that is provided to these beings, fresh H2O, handiness of nutrient for these beings, sufficient country of genteelness and quality of H2O. If these factors are organized in proper manner so it became possible to keep and better the biodiversity of workss and animate beings of Sans Francisco estuary. The Sans Francisco Bay preservation and development committee has taken of import stairss to reconstruct these constituents in order to guarantee the benefits for the future coevals of these fish, and other wild life of estuary. This committee besides provides recommendations in Bayland Ecosystem habitat Goal Report about the diverseness of home ground O heighten the assortment of aquatic workss and carnal species. The Baylands Ecosystem habitat Goal Report works to supply the of import information about the types, sum, and distribution of wetlands and its home grounds that are needed to keep a healthy eco system.DecisionSan Francisco Estuary is of great importance as this is a passage zone between watershed and ocean and economically this system has great importance for that part that ‘s the ground of Restoration of this estuary. Many action programs has made for the development, publicity and care of these Estuary and many more action programs are expected in close hereafter for farther development of this ecosystem.