Motivation and Texas Roadhouse Essay

Ajor challenges are: Retaining a positive working environment, Recognition, and Work performance evaluation. One of the major challenges a manager faces in motivating her employees today as opposed to 50 years ago is retaining a positive working environment. Today, the success of any business is for a manager to provide a positive working environment. This require manager having the abilities, tools, and knowledge to help her understand her employees’ retention needs and be able to implement a retention plan intended to increase employee engagement in the organization. In Noe, Holllenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright (2011), an article written by Texas Roadhouse Resturant states, â€Å"We wanted to provide a place that the whole family could enjoy.† This statement suggests that Texas Roadhouse is a place where the whole family can enjoy great nourishment, in a fun-filled, enthusiastic atmosphere at a reasonable price. In this example, the practice on the culture of Texas Roadhouse involved putting their employees first and this is a key component in their formula for success. Employees who love their working environment tend to give customers better services. On the other hand, if a manager refuse to look after her employees, employees might depict negative work related performances; tardiness or unpunctuality, bad customer service, and even high turnover. Yet, in the cases of Texas Roadhouse Resturant, their technique of motivating employees can be used in other businesses and organizations. For instance, let’s take another look at another statement made by Texas Roadhouse: â€Å"We wanted to provide a place that the whole family could enjoy†¦ we take good care of our employees, they will take care of our customers.† This announcement is part of Texas Roadhouse belief or value. Texas Roadhouse believes in participating with their employees; they understanding their employees’ retention need, requests and values; and they get to know their employees as individuals. If other businesses and organizations follow Texas Roadhouse belief or value (putting their employees first and retaining a positive working environment), then they too will have the tools to motivate their employees, obtain increased job satisfaction and productivity within their organization, and even low turnover. A second major challenge a manger faces in motivating her employees today as opposed to 50 years ago is Recognition. Individuals have a straightforward human need to feel appreciated and proud of their work. Recognition is an alternative method that could be used to motivate workers and make them feel respected and proud of their work. According to Drennan & Richey (2012), when employees achieve a specific task within an organization, they feel that they have accomplished something, and they feel unappreciated when the manager don’t recognize their achievement. In this case, a manager must be clever another to recognize his employees’ achievement. When a manager acknowledges her employees’ achievement, it is highly recommended that the manager congratulate his employees by giving them a round hand of applause for their specific achievement (Strickler, 2006). A manager could also congratulate his employees for their achievement by holding a meeting or company-spon sored social gatherings, or a luncheon to present plaques, trophies or a certificate for their achievement, hard work, and dedication to a job well done. A Third major challenge a manger faces in motivating her employees today as opposed to 50 years ago is work performance evaluation. Manager must consider certain facts about her employees before conducting a work performance evaluation. These facts or facets must include the growing difficulty of finding trained employees; younger employees with different approaches or attitudes about work; diverse groups; and older employees heading toward retirement. If a manager have regular conversations with employees, then, work performance evaluation may not be entirely required (Strickler, 2006). Regular conversation eliminates negative feedback from a performance evaluation which could cause negative responses from the employee. Once again, sometime, performance evaluation is perhaps pointless if a manager have regular conversations with employees. For example, employees will begin to know where they stand when manager create several direct-line of communication with them. Employees become dedicated to their supervisor or manager when the manager began to interact with his employees (Walumbwa & Hartnell, 2011). This interaction could be based on the manager participation in a casual conversation with his employees in the dine room, in the work place, in weekly meeting, or a manager could have a one-to-one conversation with individuals in regards to their work performance In Noe, Holllenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright (2011), an experiment manager knows that when employees have self-assurance in their ability to perform a certain task, they incline to work better, and they feel safe within the organization. This simple means that productivity will increase and employees will have no fear of losing their job because they know where they stand. When the manager has gained the trust and respect of his employees, he can construct a good basic conversation with his employees and talk about their work performance and simply tell them how to maintain the company goals (Walumbwa & Hartnell, 2011). Respect is of the ultimate importance when motivating a person. A person feels unhappy if he is not respected and recognized for his achievements. In other words, motivation shrinks if an important achievement goes undetected.

Interest Groups Essay

They vary considerably in size and ideological perspectives. The strategies and tools employed by interest groups are not static, and they differ depending on the geographical scope of their operations and the resources they have. While many interest groups tend to address a wide range of issues, others deal with distinct issues. The life span of interest groups is also not static. In this case, some groups have long term objectives; hence, they remain active for long duration. For instance, the interest groups that aim at challenging policy issues and politics operate on a long term basis. On the other hand, some groups are usually initiated with an aim of achieving a particular end after which they are dissolved. For example, during elections, many groups usually emerge with an aim of ensuring that the process is handled according to the stipulated guidelines of the electoral process. A representative government is always formulated in manner that facilitates participation of contending interests, and at the same time it tries to mitigate the variance that inexorably accompanies faction competition. In the traditional creation of pluralism, contending interests work together by mobilizing resources and opinions in order to enhance effective formulation and implementation of essential public policies. â€Å"Institutions are formed to accommodate the inevitability of diverse and competing interest from becoming powerful enough to undermine the rights of others† (Wilson, 2009). This process is governed by constitutional provisions, which stipulate the nature of interest groups’ activities. Therefore, many interest groups that work together tend to stabilize political environment, and this enables them to forward their interests to the government. â€Å"This implies that the pluralist vision of politics is an ideal vision of interest group politics and political institutions† (Barber, 1990). The activities conducted by various interest groups can be used to differentiate them. For instance, some of them endeavor to address several public issues, while others have a narrow scope of private interests. There are two distinct types of interest groups, and they can be described as follows. First, we have public interest groups, and they aim at working on issues that benefit the general public. For instance, they support policies that provide equal opportunities that can be enjoyed by everyone in the society. However, the success of public interest groups may not be very substantial at an individual level since they aim at reaching out to many people. â€Å"Some of the major public interest groups in his category are National Taxpayer’s Union and Concerned Women for America† (Orman, 1988). The second category is referred to as private interest groups. These are groups which endeavor to challenge public policies in order to specifically benefit their members or individuals that support their interests. Nonetheless, the objectives and activities of private interests groups should not interfere with the welfare of other individuals. Political self interest is perceived to b e healthy for a political system. In the USA, there is a popular belief that contending interests make the society more successful. This is because bad policies are always eliminated when various groups compete against each other â€Å"Other examples of interest groups include business organizations labor unions, Professional associations, and Non Governmental Organizations† (Grossman, 2002). The Relationship between Interest Groups and Political Parties There is no great disparity between political parties and various interest groups, because they are both composed of individuals having common objectives and opinions. Apart from this, â€Å"they are similar in the sense that they both seek to challenge government institutions, elections, and they all make public policy choices† (Brunell, 2005). Nonetheless, there are significant variations between these two bodies. Generally, interest groups never directly support their own members to contest for public office, especially in a case where economic parameter is concerned. In most cases, interest groups never adopt overt party labels, which electors use to identify and express their political affiliations (Dulilio & Wilson, 2011). However, some electors may link particular interest groups with specific parties in a general manner. For example, the Tea Party is often linked with the Republicans and the white conservatives. In the recent past, public interest groups that are ideologically driven have increased considerably (King, 2011). For instance, a there are some groups which have pushed the tax agenda in political circles. Another distinguishing factor is that interest groups have a limited focus, and they only handle specific issues of concern in the public policy. For example, â€Å"interest groups form around specific concerns like environment, free speech, tax reform, and labor standards† (Petracca, 1992). In contrast to this, political parties tend to focus on several issues. Moreover, political parties try to merge some of these facades under one â€Å"big umbrella†. In some circumstances, interest groups seriously struggle against political parties. For instance, some internal rivalries have been witnessed in key political parties that operate in Texas. When elections were conducted in 2000, several environmentalists who were members of the Texas Democratic Party massively supported Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate, since they felt that Al Gore was less committed toward environmental issues. They labeled him â€Å"not green enough†. On the other hand, some Republicans have tried to make the party conservative by working against some of their Republican colleagues. This indicates that the interest groups tend to favor parties and politicians that support their interests, and they ignore those who are less committed in helping them. Interest groups always aim at maximizing policies, while political parties are usually trying to obtain many Congress seats. These competing interests influence the manner political parties relate with the interest groups. According Thomas Brunell, â€Å"interest groups have a preference as which party controls a majority of seats in Congress, which leads them to direct â€Å"sincere† and electorally useful money to this party† (Hay, 2001) When interest groups offer funds to the â€Å"other† party, they always fund it in a manner that is less effective. Interest groups usually execute this goal by offering strategic funds to this party as follows: provide little financial support particularly to the popular candidates who do not necessarily have to be funded in order to succeed in the elections. They can also choose to fund incumbent candidates who already have political clout. Therefore, even if these groups offer funds to these parties, they always do it in a biased manner, and they favor only the parties that are likely to push forward their interests. These funds enable their preferred candidates to run their campaigns smoothly without experiencing financial hitches. Apart from offering finances, interest groups also provide key information that enables their favorite candidates to be more competitive than other contenders. They also sensitize their preferred candidates on issues that always influence election outcomes. All these services are organized by interest groups with an aim of fulfilling their common objective of influencing election results and policies. The fact that these institutions have a relationship is therefore undeniable. These groups often forge close ties and pursue similar objectives in order to enhance their political clout. Nonetheless, they remain independent, and their nature of operation and design also remain different. â€Å"The space for action, speech and flexibility that is maintained in politics makes them much more political than interest groups† (Grossman, 2002). How Interest Groups Try to Influence the President and the Congress? Although interest groups do not directly have elected members in political offices, they do aim at fixing their members into appointed positions. They normally do this to enable them perform their state functions through mechanisms that support the desired policies of the interests groups that facilitated their appointments. The fact that â€Å"groups† operate as political players has always been recognized and examined, even if not properly understood. The manipulation of legislative processes by groups is a question that has not yet been answered, and it is still being begged. Between the period of the 1970 and 1980s, some â€Å"explosions† were witnessed in Washington, and researchers have wanted to clearly understand them. As many groups emerged in Washington, many people joined them, and the groups increasingly funded parties. The citizens at the same time criticized the roles of interest groups and joined them in large numbers probably to suppress the powerful corporate groups. The role of groups in policy issues seemed to have taken a new dimension, and everyone was keen to see how it happened. Therefore, it can be argued that group manipulation of the Congress can be identified by simply examining the development of legislation that a group is favoring. For instance, a group’s ineffectiveness in legislative process can be measured through its failure to intercept unpopular bills. In general, â€Å"interest group activities predict, at least in part, how far bills will progress through the legislative process† (Brunell, 2005). The term influence as applied in this context is quite narrow from the perspective of interest groups, and it is broad from a congressional perspective. Interest groups perceive influence as a process that should produce good policies or prevent undesirable policies from being adopted. However, a group does not have to obtain policies from the Congress that directly indicate their actual desires; rather a group’s influence is seen when the Congress makes or discards a policy, which is in line with the interests of a group. From a congressional perspective, influence emerging from interest groups can come in several ways. Interest groups are often said to have manipulated the Congress when its members are compelled or encouraged to change the course or provisions of a given bill in order to meet the demands of the interest groups. This influence might come in the form of a change of wording, a passage from a subcommittee, and not passing from a standing committee† (Orman, 1988). In this process, interest groups may lead to the change of legislation, and the president may not have the capacity to reverse the whole process of legislation, even if he does not like the content of the bill. On the other hand, the president can also manipulate the Congress by working closely with the interest groups. As discussed above, the law making process can be indirectly manipulated through elections. For instance, an incumbent President may pass some bills in favor of some groups so that he may get some support from them during the next elections. Besides this, interest groups may support pliable candidates whom they can easily manipulate during the law making processes. This symbiotic relationship between the interest groups and the politicians to some extent affect the capacity of both the president and the Congress to formulate effective laws. Politics in America has become complicated to many politicians. This is because interest groups have managed to seriously entrench themselves in politics and much of their attention has been geared towards influencing the White House. â€Å"Since the American President has come to play an increasingly important role in the public policy process, interest groups and their lobbyists now descend on the presidency with the same vigor as they descend on the congress† (Orman, 1988). In this context, the president is faced with the challenge of fulfilling the needs of the ordinary citizens and the interest groups. Interest groups have faced much criticism especially when it comes to policy issues. Its critics contend that most of the policy issues dealt with by interests groups have no connection to the desires of the public. The leaders of these groups have also been blamed for being dishonest because they always fail to fulfill the demands of their members. The weaknesses of the interests groups have been seen as one of the factors interfering with democracy in the USA. It has also been noted with a lot of concern that some political candidates have been seriously intimidated by some interest groups, and this further affects the reputation of the interest groups. Conclusion  The above discussion indicates that the American government is guided various institutions, which work together with an aim of building a more democratic society. The interest groups have been instrumental in addressing the plight of the public by ensuring that policy issues are handled properly. The effectiveness of the government has also been enhanced by the numerous contending interests. The American government has been able to adopt better policies due to the serious competition that exists among various institutions. These groups have played a fundamental role of widening the democratic space in America. The American government has been influenced by several groups over the years to an extent that some individuals refer to it as â€Å"a world of interest groups†. The interest groups should, therefore remain committed towards enhancing democracy and good governance. And I think those groups have same mission, it’s to make the government do something right like that should be. for example, national education thinks that the system of lesson in ur country have to be changed because it is not effective, so the collect the data to support their argument, and send it to government, and hope it will influence the policy.

The Humble Beginings of Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby came from a poor neighborhood as a child. He grew up with a lot of humor. He did not know that he would make a career of it as a child. As he later grew up he tried stand up comedy and succeeded. in the 1960†³s â€Å"I Spy† came out and broke the racial barrier by featuring Cosby, the first ever black man to lead a weekly dramatic series. So he started a television show called â€Å"The Bill Cosby Show.† The Show brought NBC from last place in the ratings to first. His show was a great success. His goals included succeeding in life as a comedian. He did that and did it very well. His success in entertainment was complemented by his involvement with a host of charity organizations and making generous gifts in support of education. While Cosby was younger he saw little of his father. His mom on the other hand was very supportive. His mom was a major influence and his first audience member. It didn†t take long for him to start gigs on her and practicing routines on her. She always encouraged his inventive performances of everyday household happenings. A couple of his friends that he knew from elementary school including: Fat Albert, Old Weird Harold, Dumb Donald, and Weasel was an influence on him and later immortalized in his comedy routines. Family and Friends helped Bill Cosby get a great start in his entertainment career. As a child Cosby loved to joke around all the time with his friends after school while playing in the playground. They loved playing gags on each other in their free time. Bill Cosby was always loved by neighbors and friends of family. He would always be in a good mood no matter what the situation. When Bill walked in a room he always brought humor with him and made people laugh. This is pretty much how he figured he could be a comedian when he grew up. He had to leave the tenth grade to join the Navy, but he finished school by means of a correspondence course while in the service. Later when he was discharged he enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia, hoping to become a physical education teacher. To support himself he started to perform at a nightclub that really enjoyed his performances. His talent started to spread north to New York, so he left school to perform in Greenwich Village clubs, and within a year he landed a spot on â€Å"The Tonight Show†. In 1963 Cosby revolutionized American comedy. At the peak of the civil rights movement, Cosby was unique among black comedians of the time in not using race as a subject. He was also very popular in the publishing world. His book Fatherhood became the fastest-selling hardcover book of all the time which is still in more than half of its fifty-four weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List as number one. The book sold over 2.6 million hardcover copies and 1.5 million paperbacks. He has earned eight Gold Records and five Grammy Awards on his 21 albums that he had on the national pop charts. He broke Radio City Music Hall†s fifty-three year old attendance record for his concert appearances. Ever since Cosby was little he knew he wanted to do comedy. All the other things that came about was just add ins that helped him out even more. More people should learn about Bill Cosby because they should see how he succeeded in life. For someone with not so much education he did very great in life. Comedy to some people might not be a very successful job but Cosby enjoyed entertaining people very much so he did what he enjoyed doing best. The Humble Beginings of Bill Cosby Bill Cosby came from a poor neighborhood as a child. He grew up with a lot of humor. He did not know that he would make a career of it as a child. As he later grew up he tried stand up comedy and succeeded. in the 1960†³s â€Å"I Spy† came out and broke the racial barrier by featuring Cosby, the first ever black man to lead a weekly dramatic series. So he started a television show called â€Å"The Bill Cosby Show.† The Show brought NBC from last place in the ratings to first. His show was a great success. His goals included succeeding in life as a comedian. He did that and did it very well. His success in entertainment was complemented by his involvement with a host of charity organizations and making generous gifts in support of education. While Cosby was younger he saw little of his father. His mom on the other hand was very supportive. His mom was a major influence and his first audience member. It didn†t take long for him to start gigs on her and practicing routines on her. She always encouraged his inventive performances of everyday household happenings. A couple of his friends that he knew from elementary school including: Fat Albert, Old Weird Harold, Dumb Donald, and Weasel was an influence on him and later immortalized in his comedy routines. Family and Friends helped Bill Cosby get a great start in his entertainment career. As a child Cosby loved to joke around all the time with his friends after school while playing in the playground. They loved playing gags on each other in their free time. Bill Cosby was always loved by neighbors and friends of family. He would always be in a good mood no matter what the situation. When Bill walked in a room he always brought humor with him and made people laugh. This is pretty much how he figured he could be a comedian when he grew up. He had to leave the tenth grade to join the Navy, but he finished school by means of a correspondence course while in the service. Later when he was discharged he enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia, hoping to become a physical education teacher. To support himself he started to perform at a nightclub that really enjoyed his performances. His talent started to spread north to New York, so he left school to perform in Greenwich Village clubs, and within a year he landed a spot on â€Å"The Tonight Show†. In 1963 Cosby revolutionized American comedy. At the peak of the civil rights movement, Cosby was unique among black comedians of the time in not using race as a subject. He was also very popular in the publishing world. His book Fatherhood became the fastest-selling hardcover book of all the time which is still in more than half of its fifty-four weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List as number one. The book sold over 2.6 million hardcover copies and 1.5 million paperbacks. He has earned eight Gold Records and five Grammy Awards on his 21 albums that he had on the national pop charts. He broke Radio City Music Hall†s fifty-three year old attendance record for his concert appearances. Ever since Cosby was little he knew he wanted to do comedy. All the other things that came about was just add ins that helped him out even more. More people should learn about Bill Cosby because they should see how he succeeded in life. For someone with not so much education he did very great in life. Comedy to some people might not be a very successful job but Cosby enjoyed entertaining people very much so he did what he enjoyed doing best.

Critical thinking on research methodologies and methods used in the Essay

Critical thinking on research methodologies and methods used in the paper - Essay Example 3). The methodology that is chosen is based on our assumptions, interest and purposes (Taylor and Bogdan 1998). The methodology chosen is dependent on the theoretical perspective which the researcher seeks to follow. Taylor and Bogdan (1998) indicate that there are two major theoretical perspectives which have dominated social science – positivism and phenomenological or interpretive. Positivist seeks to obtain facts or to determine the causes of social phenomena which are outside of the subjective states of individuals. The interpretive approach seeks to understand social phenomena from the actor’s point of view – that is what individuals perceive the reality to be. Methodology represents the main ways in which researchers act on the environment in which they are interested – the methods (experiments, surveys, etc.) they use to gain information lead to ‘different characteristics of their reality; and it is through the methods they utilise that make their research public and reproducible by others. In addition to theoretical principles a methodology provides a framework which forms a guide to the way in which research is carried out. ... 3) advances three methodologies – Qualitative, quantitative and a mixed approach which incorporates elements of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The qualitative and quantitative approaches are differentiated by their basic philosophical assumptions that researchers bring to the study, the strategies they employ in their research – quantitative experiments or qualitative case studies, and the particular methods they employ in carrying out these strategies – collecting quantitative data versus collecting qualitative data by observing a situation or through participation. Denzin and Lincoln (2005, p. 3) qualitative research is a ‘situated activity that locates the observer in the world.’ It is a set of interpretive practices that makes the world visible to the researcher. Researchers make use of conversations, field notes, interviews, photographs, recordings, and memos which act as reminders. Qualitative research then becomes ‘an i nterpretive, naturalistic approach to the world.’ This implies that qualitative researchers’ take advantage of natural setting in their attempts to interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings constructed by the people involved in the situation that is being studied. Methods for collecting data such as interviews are capable of being used under different methodological presuppositions. This is also true for sampling methods. What's the relation between this to the journal content? In their paper, Owens et al (2005) uses the word method to indicate the methodology that they used in their research. In that they indicate the method they used to choose the participants for the study, the procedures they followed to collect data and how the data was analysed. In the section relating to the analysis of data the

Outline and critically discuss what you see as the main examples of Essay

Outline and critically discuss what you see as the main examples of attempts to control crime using 'environmental controls - Essay Example Furthermore, the designs are meant for long term controls rather than employing more security guards or personnel in certain areas (Brewer, 2001). The designs are also likely to reduce the conflict or danger between the criminals and the judicial system among other benefits. Natural surveillance is the process of using modern cameras and technology to capture major incidences in certain areas for future reference and to pose threat to the criminals. Formal surveillance is the process through which the government or relevant authority installs watching mechanisms to record any criminal or suspicious acts in the community. The process could also mean ensuring sufficient space and light so that every activity in various places can be monitored without strain (Burke, 2004). This would increase chances to noting fishy activities and taking the appropriate actions. Natural surveillance may also limit the criminals from escaping the crime scenes and this would discourage them from making an y criminal attempts. This strategy could be implemented in various ways and this includes having landscape designs with well lit entries, having transparent walls in entry corridors to enhance noting anybody entering or leaving certain premise. The lighting designs should ensure good distribution of lighting devices and limit blind spots that may favor easy escape of criminals. There should be sufficient lightening in strategic areas like the ATMs, bus stations, children’s playgrounds, parking sites, recreational zones and major and minor pathways among others, and this should be placed in appropriate heights to capture everybody’s face and movements. Pedestrian tacks should be alongside the motor vehicle tracks to create more surveillance. Bright lights should be avoided in such strategic areas as it may cause blindness and favor criminal activities. It is important to consider the best light intensity in accordance to normal human sights. Curved streets have been use d in major developed nations to ease viewing of majority of residential entrances and reduce traffic speeds in case a certain criminal has been spotted. Natural surveillance may also involve installing mechanical monitoring devices like closed circuit television (CCTV) and cameras to capture the major movements or images in certain strategic places. The cameras are strategically placed at the entrances to record the entry or existence of every individual in such places. Some CCTVS and cameras are connected to alarming systems and this raises awareness in instances fishy or awkward activities are suspected. CCTVs are made with high resolution to capture both close and far objects, for future analysis. Informal surveillance on the other hand involves the community taking its own initiative to protect itself from criminal acts. Neighborhood watch schemes are popular in various regions of the United States and Europe, among other places. The community members are encouraged by homeland security to remain vigilant and report any suspicious individuals in the community. This has helped reduce domestic assaults, rape, negligence and bestiality among other crimes. Controlling access points is another environmental strategy to

Protecting the Environment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Protecting the Environment - Research Paper Example As a result of the industrial revolution and globalization, however, today, we are used to a lifestyle that promotes all these ills. However, they are also promoted by governments that work in collaboration with industries that tend to pollute the environment and exploit natural resources in an unsustainable manner. The initiative and the drive to clean up the mess, therefore, need to come from governments across the world. This has been slow in coming but slowly, across the globe, there has been recognition of the political nature of the problem and the need for a political solution for this problem. This paper shall focus on the initiatives that the Brazil government has taken so as to decrease pollution that occurs as a result of the gases that are emitted by vehicles that run on fossil fuels. An energy crisis that occurred in Brazil during the 1970s made the government of this region sit up and take notice of the problem and made it recognize the need for finding a solution that would be long-lasting, to this problem (Hofstrand). This crisis was the result of the scarcity of fossil fuels during the 70s that led a lot of countries to look for means to reduce their dependence on imports for fuel. While most countries switched back to fossil fuels as soon as the crisis was over, Brazil opted for a more lasting and environment-friendly option. In this move, we see how the political will of the government was important in the setting up of the policy that has today reaped rich rewards. The Brazilian government is far ahead of other governments in the sophistication of its machinery and the availability of ethanol- based fuel. The ethanol fuel industry would not have reached the heights that it has reached today if not for the will of successive Brazilian governments that have maintained the production of this form of fuel as a priority and initially offered heavy subsidies to this industry as a result of which many car- manufacturers started producing automobile s that ran on ethanol. By the middle of the 1980s, most of the cars that were being produced in Brazil were ones that ran on ethanol. The response that the private automobile firms made to the scenario that developed was one that was encouraging but was based on the market forces of supply and demand. This scenario came about because of the commercial viability of ethanol- based fuels for the consumers; a situation that evolved out of the government’s policy of providing subsidies to the ethanol fuel industry (Thompson). This made the option of ethanol a profitable one for the consumer classes which in turn influenced the automobile industry to switch to the production of vehicles that ran partially or completely on ethanol. The government’s policy that subsidized the production of these fuels is what was instrumental in the present situation where private players have stepped into the fray, thereby allowing the government to spend more on welfare projects that further enhance the standard of living of the Brazilians. The policies that were followed by the Brazilian government, thus, have enabled the protection of the environment, without compromising upon the goals of development that are important for a developing country like Brazil. This again goes to prove that the protection of

In what way can we characterize inmate literature Essay

In what way can we characterize inmate literature - Essay Example Gallardo) written by inmates portrays feelings of prisoners. The question is how can we characterize inmate literature? Inmates use literature for many purposes. The most prominent use of literary work by prisoners is to communicate to their loved ones back at home. Open Line gives evidences of inmates communicating to their families back at home through pieces of literature. Frank Valdivia, an inmate, communicates to his two daughters. He says, â€Å"I lost everything I had and everything I loved when I came to prison. But the person I was didn’t deserve any of it. There are people outside this wall that love you or that you love. They deserve the best, so be your best. I’m finally doing my best and my two daughters Kayla and Alicia deserve it.† (Gallardo 58) He uses literature to assure his two daughters that he is doing his best to become a changed person. Inmates also use literary work in criticizing unfair judgments in courts, especially towards young crimin als who stand a better chance of rehabilitation. In Open Line, Charlie Spence indicates in his confession that underage criminals are not given a judgment as a juvenile but instead as adults. He says, â€Å"Had I been tried and convicted as a juvenile, I would have been given a better chance at rehabilitation and a second chance in society at the age of 25. I feel even more strongly now that I ever did back then, that trying juvenile offenders as adults and convicting them to life in prison is immoral.† (11) He feels that juvenile offenders should not be judged as adults, regardless of the magnitude of their crime, because they can easily be rehabilitated. Inmates value the fact that, despite their misconducts, there are people out there who still care so much about them and would rather they came back into the society after serving their terms in prison. Evidences cited from the book Open Line prove this statement. For instance, Michael Endres, a prisoner, receives a letter from his daughter who does not even know him because he has been in prison since she was an infant. He says, â€Å"When I realized who the letter was from, I was surprised and shocked. While reading it, the emotions kicked into gear, I was tickled to death to know that she wanted to know me, and I was sad for her cause she didn’t know how I would feel about hearing from her. She didn’t know that her letter caused my heart to truly smile.† (34) This is an indication that Michael’s daughter loves him despite the fact that she does not know him because he has been in prison for such a long time. In addition to the love and affection from those outside, inmates also value the welfare of others who are yet to be convicted for various crimes. It is important to note how Charlie Spence, an inmate, advocates for the rights of juveniles, even though he is in prison. He gives a strong argument against the conviction of juveniles as adults when they are sentenced fo r life imprisonment

Graduate level Economic question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Graduate level Economic question - Assignment Example The outlook beyond 2012 is positive, where investments from the EU, Japan, China etc resume, and banking hubs like HK and Singapore resume expansion in developed economies. The deficit shall continue to increase for the foreseeable future. The government is printing like never before to keep the impact from its citizens. Due to this huge unsupported cash in the economy, the result shall be a hyper-inflationary trend that shall fuel an even tighter control on spending from consumers. The result will be a sudden loss of the US dollar’s purchasing power, causing other countries to exit long term treasury bonds to safer pastures (Williams 13). As soon as that happens, the bottom will fall out of the markets, as the others’ fear of American collapse will not fuel the support to the dollar, as the US shall have internally made it’s currency worthless. Federal reserve Policies will focus on a sustained purchase of gold to back the huge amount of dollars not backed by any assets, thereby causing gold to soar, and therefore become unaffordable to America itself. The feds will have to raise interest rates to protect the dollar, causing a fur ther slowdown in demand (Williams

Virtualisation and Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Virtualisation and Security - Essay Example It involves providing coherent operation process instead of physical computer view resources. Virtualization helps in facilitating many things possible since it allow computer users trick operating system to think that groups of servers operate like single pool. Virtualization can also allow running of multiple operating system in a single machine (Roemer, 2011, p. 2). The intrinsic advantage linked to virtualization shows various threats attraction that limits unlimited use when such system operates in open platforms. Setting strategic threat prevention measures act as effective dealings for virtualized infrastructure. Subsequently, the paper explores domineering strategies of that effectively eliminate potential threats to virtualized infrastructures. This classification of virtualization involves merging of physical storage system mainly obtained from multiple server networks storage located in the web. The merging of physical storage will make the device to appear as a single data storage device. It also creates more space in the device that increases the storage more information virtually (Grubor, Ivanis, 2012, p. 5). Virtualization of server describes the process whereby the server hide physical resource from the system. The physical resources hidden from the server include operating system, resources from software running them to create more space for data storage. This process has effective nature since only the user can locate data storage location thus preventing unauthorized access. This protects data from malware and hacking. (Buttyan, Bencsath, 2013, 1). This type of virtualization refers to amalgamation of network within the computing resources to form a single source. The process allows spilling of available bandwidth to form independent channels for data transmission within the network to allow faster data transfer. This independent channel also facilitates assigning of

Does Silver Alloy Coated Foley Catheters Reduce Urinary Catheter Research Paper

Does Silver Alloy Coated Foley Catheters Reduce Urinary Catheter Infections - Research Paper Example The use of catheters causes one of the most common health associated infections and is known as CAUTI or Catheters Associated Urinary Tract Infections. As CAUTI can deteriorate into a serious condition, preventive steps have to be taken to minimize it in the hospital environment as well as in other settings. One of the steps that are being carried out is the use of Foley catheters coated with silver alloy. These catheters, when used as part of indwelling catheterization, are said to reduce CAUTI sizably. Although other studies show that it provides only negligible positive results. So, this paper after analyzing six journal articles, its purpose, its results, strengths and weaknesses, will discuss whether silver alloy coated Foley catheters reduces UTI. The article, Audit of catheter-associated UTI using silver alloy-coated Foley catheters written by Coral Seymour discusses the advantages of using the silver alloy-coated Foley catheter in reducing the threat of CAUTI in an acute gene ral hospital. As part of the study, even before the use of silver alloy coated Foley catheters, the standard catheters were used for 10 weeks on particular patients and the prevalence of CAUTI was audited. Silver alloy-coated Foley catheters there were introduced among 117 newly catheterized patients, and they were monitored for signs of CAUTI for another 10 weeks. Then the results were audited and analyzed, and it clearly emerged that CAUTI incidence rate has decreased by 20%. Although, the period of 10 weeks for monitoring may seem little short to fully analyze the course of UTI, the fact that emerged is â€Å"silver alloy-coated Foley catheters proved to be cost-effective given the recognized additional costs of CAUTI and prolonged in-patient stay† (Seymour, 2006). The article, A prospective, controlled, randomized study of the effect of a slow-release silver device on the frequency of urinary tract infection in newly catheterized patients was authored by Reiche et al., an d it focuses on the efficacy of silver ions releasing systems including silver alloy coated Foley catheters regarding CAUTI. The study focused on 213 patients as part of a prospective controlled randomized trial. At the end of the trial, the authors state that there were reductions in UTI among subjects, who either used antibacterial devices like the Unometer 400 metering system or PP 2000N closed urine-bag system, as well as coated Foley catheter. However, the limitation with this study is, the difference between infection and non-infection in the subjects were not statistically significant (P < 0.05). In addition, the authors come to the conclusion that modifications to the Foley catheters and the urine-collecting systems in the form of silver coating and silver releasing may yield positive results, care should be taken to block the internal and external pathways of infection. In the article, The efficacy of silver alloy-coated urinary catheters in preventing urinary tract infecti on: a meta-analysis written by Sanjay Saint et al. discusses about the effectiveness of not only silver alloy coated Foley catheters, but also silver oxide coated ones as well. Instead of conducting trials directly, â€Å"published or unpublished articles were sought using MEDLINE, reference review, and correspondence with original authors, catheter manufacturers,

Teachers Day Essay Example for Free

Teachers Day Essay On the 22nd of October 2012, PSC held its annual Teacher’s Day. The Supreme Student Council was the reason behind this program, and in fact, they did a job well done. As the MC of the program, it was a blast to see everyone smiling and it was grateful to know that everyone had fun, especially the teachers. The quadrangle was literally crowded with students who wanted to greet and spend the day with their beloved teachers. The program started off with a prayer and a speech from the Supreme Student Council’s president, and was topped off with a dance number from the Grade 6. The teachers were called one by one after, and were given gifts from the SSC and of course, their students. They were also given a chance to take photos with their students. Some students even presented a song number for the teachers, while the others preferred to give a simple gift. First up was the teachers from the pre-school department, we had a hard time with the children since we had to take them up to the stage, but we eventually made it through. Next was the teachers from the elementary department, the students were so sweet, some would just run up to the stage and hug their teachers. Last but not the least, the teachers from the high school department. The high school students put a lot of effort into their gifts; it just proves how much they love their teachers. The teachers were also given a chance to showcase their talents, whether it was at singing or at dancing. It was nice to see, just for once, the other side of our teachers. Since it was Teacher’s Day, the teachers were given a break from their stressful job, and just enjoyed the show which was prepared by their students. The program ended with a song number from the Supreme Student Council. Once again, the program was a complete success thanks to the cooperation of the students, and of course the reason why we made this program; the teachers.

Balloon Car Essay Example for Free

Balloon Car Essay Our first idea was to make a paper Lamborghini. We looked on many websites to find ways to make an origami-type Lamborghini. All of the instructional videos that we found were at least an hour-and-a-half, or did not even look like a car. As we got to school I had the idea to look up paper models of Lamborghinis, the kind where it has the dotted lines and you cut it out, fold it where it says to, and tape it together. We printed it out and we could not get it big enough on a standard-sized piece of printer paper. There were five basic shapes on the model so we just decided to take five pieces of paper and draw the shapes much bigger and duplicate the design. After we drew the design and cut it all out we decided to cut out pieces of cardboard the same shape and put it behind the paper so it was more stable and added some weight. For our balloon, we put a hole in the back of the car that we could put a straw through, and taped the balloon to the straw. We taped the straw up on the back part of the car so when we blew up the balloon it would go straight up. Our wheel idea came to mind when I was drawing out an idea for our car. I was using a blue highlighter, accidentally dropped it, and we discovered how fast it rolled. We decided to try to pop out the center part of the highlighter so we could put a piece of wire through the center through the two ends and hook the wire through the bottom part of the sides of the car. We were going to use two highlighters, one in the front and one in the back, instead of â€Å"4 wheels†. However, we could not get the center out of the highlighters. We went â€Å"dumpster diving† around the school and ending up getting pop caps from Ms. Chambers. Since our idea was to use highlighters and the wire, once we hammered a hold through each of the caps, we couldn’t figure out how to make them turn because we did not have a good axle. We tried to use just a straw for the axle and that did not work. We then tried to compact the straw so it was not as big around and that did not work either. We also tried to put nails through the caps and stick the nails into the side of the car but that did not work either. Our next idea was to go to the band room and put four timpani wheels on the bottom of our car, but they were way too heavy. Eventually we smashed the straws to make them thinner and put it inside a hollowed-out pen. This made a good axle and we used this for our car. As we tested our car to see if it would move, it did not. We realized that our car may be too heavy so we had to think of a Plan B. We decided to take five kabob sticks and hot glue them side-by-side so it was pretty much flat. We then put our Pepsi cap wheels on the bottom, and taped the straw and balloon on top. We tested it and it moved over five meters and the path it took was fairly straight. The speed of our car is 2. 37 Meters/second. We found our speed because it took 2. 37 seconds to travel one meter. Our car is a good example of inertia. It keeps moving until its â€Å"power source† (balloon) runs out of air. It stops it because if the balloon never ran out of air, and if there was nothing in its path, our car would never stop moving. It’s also an example of acceleration because it starts off slow, gets a little faster, and as the balloon starts to run out of air, it slows down again. It’s also an example of every action has an equal and opposite reaction, because as the balloon releases air the car moves.

Study On The Proctor And Gamble Company Management Essay

Study On The Proctor And Gamble Company Management Essay The Proctor and Gamble Company was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1837 by an English immigrant William Procter, and James Gamble, an immigrant from Ireland. Both men had arrived in Cincinnati separately and were forced to stop there to recuperate from illnesses while on their way to the West. Each independently decided to settle to found a business and Procter became a candle maker while Gamble became a soap maker. This was not coincidental as the raw material for both candles and soap was animal fat. Cincinnati, also popularly nicknamed Porkopolis was the countrys largest meatpacking center allowing for inexpensive access to animal fat. On a personal front, the two gentlemen married sisters and subsequently formed a partnership in 1837. Due to the abundant supply of raw material, many competitors entered the market and Proctor and Gamble (PG) had to differentiate itself by embarking on an aggressive investment strategy building a large factory in the 1850s despite rumours of the imp ending civil war. Response to the Civil War and effects of their response During the Civil War, PG focused on operating day and night to supply the Union armies, and by the wars end sales had more than quintupled to over USD 1 million. When soldiers returned home carrying high quality products, distinguished by their unique characteristic moon- and- stars packaging, PG quickly developed a national reputation. As a result, their rapid growth and a series of innovations in their internal processes such as human resource management, RD, distribution, marketing, and organizational design soon followed. Growth through the Years using different organizational structures From inception, PG focused on product innovation, branded goods, research and development, direct distribution and sales and as the growth increased, diverging organizational structures and reward systems were introduced. In 1948, PG established its first international sales division to manage its rapidly growing foreign businesses. Over the next forty years, PG would steadily build its foreign presence, while carefully managing its United States (U.S.) operations. The two types of organizations, that is, the United States one and the European one, led to two distinctly different modes of organizational architectures. The United States, with a large homogenous market, lent itself to nationwide brand and product division management. Western Europe, on the other hand, which represented the larger share of PGs overseas division, was a heterogeneous market with different languages, cultures and laws and therefore adopted a decentralized hub and spoke model. In the United States, in 1954, PG created individual operating divisions to better manage growing product lines of products, supported by its own line and staff organizations. As a result, growth developed along two key dimensions: functions and brands. In 1987, the matrix reporting structure entered the scene, whereby functional leaders reported directly to their business leadership and also had a dotted line reporting relationship to their functional leadership. In Western Europe, geographic management was the original structure which developed along the three dimensions of country, function and brand. In this model country managers were responsible for profitability and market strategy, not brand managers. This and other effects led to silos and slow growth. By 1980s, PG attempted to shift focus from country management to product category management to promote cross- border cooperation across functions. Eventually, PG moved into the global market due to attractive expansion opportunities in Japan and developing markets and as a result, it reassessed its globalization model and opted to focus on the global matrix structure of categories and functions. This structure had several pitfalls and externally, competitors were catching up quickly challenging PGs first mover strategy and related advantages. PG had grown to be a USD 38 billion multinational consumer -products company, with over 50 categories, ranging from toilet paper to pharmaceuticals, with more than 300 brands. Competitors were steadily eating away market share. As a result in September 1998, PG announced a six year restructuring plan called Organization 2005. This new structure had adverse effects on PG sustainability and the scene in the case is set around the negative results of Organization 2005 resulting in the CEO Durk Jager, 17 months into his role as CEO, resigning and A.G Lafley taking over in June 2000 faced with the significant decision of whether to make a strong commitment to the Organization 2005 or dismantle. He also had to decide whether he created more value by splitting the company into sets of stand- alone businesses. Why did US organizational structure shift from Product grouping in the 1950s to a Matrix in 1980s? The United States had a large homogenous market which lent itself to nationwide brand and product division management. In 1954, PG created individual operating divisions to better manage growing lines of products, each with its own line and staff organizations. Specialization by product as described by Cole G.A is when grouping is arranged around specified products, with each group having its own specialist functions provided at the operational level. The advantages of product grouping are that it enables the companys major product groups to concentrate on their own priorities, within the total business plan. It also provides a mechanism for supplying the major groupings in the company with their own specialist resources and to develop their own preferred culture. In addition, it encourages the senior specialists at director level to focus on corporate issues, leaving production matters within product groups much more in the hands of senior managers involved. The main disadvantage of this kind of structure is that individual divisions may seek to promote their own objectives so forcefully as to endanger wider, corporate strategies. Thus the senior directors need to be capable of exercising sufficient control over corporate intentions, but without robbing the line manager of their motivation to obtain the optimum results for their divisions. According to Mullins, L.J. in Management and Organizational Behavior, the Line and staff organization structure is concerned with concerned with different functions which are to be undertaken. It provides a means of maximizing on the utility of specialists while maintaining the concept of line authority. Line organization relates to those functions concerned with specific responsibility for achieving the objectives of the organization and to those people in the direct chain of command. Staff organization relates to the provision of specialist and support functions for the line organization and creates an advisory relationship. Within this model, PG US developed along two key dimensions: functions and brands. Brand managers bore responsibility for profitability and could focus on matching company strategy with product category dynamics. Brand managers competed in the same marketplace but also shared access to strong divisional functions which in turn transferred best practices and talent across many brands, fostering leading edge competences in RD, manufacturing and market research in a rapidly developing consumer products industry. For instance, the invention of fluoride toothpaste in 1955 was a key result of this structure. In 1987, the United States PG made a historic shift away from the 56 year old competitive brand management system, to a matrix system whereby brand would now be managed as components of category portfolios by category general managers. The reason for this shift in structure was because product categories were beginning to require more differentiated functional activities but at the same time, PG US needed to retain functional strengths. As a result, a matrix reporting structure was set up whereby functional leaders reported directly to their business leadership and also had a dotted line reporting relationship to their functional leadership. Thus 39 US category business units were created, with each category business unit having its own sales, product development, manufacturing and finance functions. Mullins, L.J. describes a matrix organization as a combination of functional departments which provide a stable base for specialized activities and a permanent location for staff members and units that integrate various activities of different functional departments on any of the following bases: project, product, geographical or systems basis. He goes on to add that matrix structures offer the advantages of flexibility, greater security and control of project or product information and opportunities for staff development if management implement the structure effectively. The potential problem areas, as seen later in the PG case, include the fact that a matrix structure can result in a more complex structure. By using two methods of grouping it sacrifices unity of command and may cause problems of co-ordination. There may also be a problem of defining the extent of the product (project) managers authority over staff from other departments and of gaining support of other functional managers. Why did the European organizational structure shift from Geographic grouping in 1950s to Category management in 1980s? In Europe, the PG organization developed along three dimensions: country, function and brand. This model was established to tailor products and processes to local tastes and norms. This resulted in a portfolio of self sufficient subsidiaries led by country general managers (GMs) who adapted PG technology and marketing expertise to local markets. These were called mini-U.Ss in each country as new product technologies were sourced from U.S. RD labs in Cincinnati, qualified, tested and adapted by local research and development (RD) and manufacturing organizations in each country. In 1963, a European Technical Centre (ETC) was created and housed in Brussels and it developed products and manufacturing processed that country managers could choose to adapt to and launch in their countries. Country managers, not brand managers, had responsibility for profitability and market strategy, while the Brussels regional headquarters was very hands-off, serving mostly legal, tax accounting and public relations entity. Geographically based structures, according to Cole, have key advantages of widely spread markets can be catered for, local knowledge of customers, labor market and distribution can be utilized as seen in PG Europe. However, the key disadvantages as with any attempts at decentralization are associated with the inevitable tension that develops between Head office and the regions concerning priorities for action and priorities for scarce company resources. In addition, geographical based cultures and focus may veer away from the overall company strategy, culture and increase costs. The main reason why geographic grouping did not work positively for PG in Europe was that it resulted in innovations and brands taking unnecessarily long to globalize. For instance, Pampers, was launched in US in 1961, Germany in 1973 and France not until 1978. In addition, functional organizations became embedded in company silos and worse still, European corporate functions were also completely disconnected from the US operation. To cap it all, focus on product categories and brands was fragmented by country, virtually precluding region- wide category or branding strategies. This led to unstandardized and subscale manufacturing operations in each country which were expensive and unreliable. Products were tweaked unnecessarily, creating pack size and formulation variations that added no value to maintain and reinvented the wheel with each new product initiative. Thus in early 1980s, Europe attempted to promote cross border co-operation across functions and to shift focus from country management to product category management. Why were the 2 structures integrated into a global cube in the 1990s? The two main PG structures: U.S matrix structure and Western European category management structure were integrated in the 1990s into a global cube due to the several reasons. Attractive expansion opportunities in Japan and the developing markets led PG to question its globalization model, particularly in anticipation of the new challenge of appealing to more diverse consumer tastes, cultures, preferences and income levels. This was demonstrated by the fact that in Europe, increased focus on cross border category management had proven successful. However, corporate function in Brussels still lacked direct control of country functional activities. PG was also seeking positive results in the area of innovation such that the creation of global technical centers in different regions could have core competencies in a specific product category. PG also sought tremendous top-line and bottom-line improvements such as creation of powerful and independent global functions promoted to the pooling of knowledge, transfer of best practices, elimination of intra-regional redundancies and standardization of activities. It was also seeking integration of manufacturing, purchasing, distribution and engineering into one global product supply function which managed the supply chain from beginning to end. PG achieved this specific integration in 1987. In the new global cube, PG was also seeking massive savings which could b e achieved by regionally managed product- supply groups consolidating country manufacturing plants and distribution centers into higher scale regional facilities. PG also sought a stronger global sales organization with regional leadership so as to develop closer global relationship. One key result of this specific objective was the Customer Business Development (CBD) function which developed closer relationship with bug customers such as the one unprecedented step of co-locating with Wal-Mart in Bentonville, Arkansas to pursue joint strategic planning. Coupled with early supply chain initiatives, this undertaking allowed PG to be a first mover in electronic integration with customers, leading to disproportionate share growth with mass discounters. Finally, significant initial standardization in Information Technology (IT) systems was made possible by a globally managed IT organization. By 1997, financial and accounting information storage had been consolidated at three global data storage centers. PG was also seeking global category management whereby it aimed at developing close relationships. This occurred with strong global Research Development (RD) product category organizations, helping to standardize and accelerate global product launches. As a result, PG started migrating to a global matrix structure of categories and functions. The global cube entailed Europes country functions being consolidated into continental functions characterized by dotted-line reporting through functional leadership with direct reporting through the regional business managers. Global functional senior vice presidencies were created to manage functions across all regions. Then in 1989, to better co-ordinate category and branding strategies worldwide, PG created global category presidencies reporting directly to the CEO. All country category GMs had dotted- line reporting to their global country president, however, career progression and promotion remained in the hands of regional line management. Some additional key results included a much reduced duration to globalize a new initiative. For instance, by the early 1990s, it took only four years, on average to globalize a new initiative. This advance allowed PG to quickly inject new technologies into recently acquired beauty care products like Pantene, Olay and Old Spice. For example, two-in-one shampoo and conditioner technology was developed at the Sharon Woods beauty-care global technical center in Cincinnati in mid-1980s. The hair care global category president then achieved its roll out globally under the Pantene brand name with consistent worldwide marketing message and identity. In just over a decade, increased global focus on product categories helped PGs beauty care division to grow from USD 600 million to a highly strategic USD 7 billion business. What are the key distinguishing features of Organization 2005? Organization 2005 was a six -year restructuring plan announced by PG in September 1998. The companys objectives were to achieve a USD 900 million in annual after- tax cost savings by 2004 after spending USD 1.9 billion over the five years. This was to be achieved by specific features and actions of the Organization 2005. The first part called for voluntary separations of 15,000 employees by 2001, of which almost 10,500 (70%) were overseas staff. Forty five percent of all job separations would result from global product- supply consolidations and a quarter from exploitation of scale benefits arising from more standardized business processes. The plan sought to eliminate six management layers, from 13 to 7. The second part called for dismantling the matrix organizational structure and replacing it with an amalgam of interdependent organizations which were: Global Business Units (GBUs) with primary responsibility for the product and whose teams were compensated on profitability. Market Development Organizations (MDOs) with primary responsibility for markets and whose teams were compensated based on sales growth. Global Business Services (GBSs) which was a unit responsible for managing internal business processes and whose teams were compensated on cost management. This radical new design was aimed at improving the speed with which PG innovated and globalized its innovations. In detail the GBUs were responsible for product development, brand design, business strategy and new business development. Each operated autonomously focusing on different product categories. In total, there were seven GBUs with complete profit responsibility and benchmarked against focused product category competitors. Each GBU was led by a president, who reported directly to the CEO and was a member of the global leadership council that determined overall company strategy. At GBU level, Vice Presidents of Marketing, RD, Product supply, New Business Development and support functions such as IT implementation reported to the GBU president. To ensure that RD division of different GBUs would share technological innovations, a technology council composed of all GBU RD VPS would be formed to share and cross pollinate ideas. The intention of this structure was to increase agility and reduce costs through accelerated global standardization of manufacturing processes and better co-ordination of marketing activities. Global standardization of processes which were on different platforms would eliminate the lengthy process of obtaining launch approval from regional managers and result in systematically faster global rollouts of innovations and new brands. MDOs were designed to take responsibility for tailoring PG programs to local markets and using their knowledge of local consumers and retailers to help PG develop market strategies to guide the entire business. Customer Business Development functions previously dispersed among various business units would be consolidated regionally and converted into line functions in each MDO. There were seven MDOs with each being led by a president who reported directly to the CEO and, like the GBU president, sat on the global leadership council. GBS was the third leg of the Organization 2005 with the responsibility to standardize, consolidate, streamline and strengthen business processes and IT platforms across GBUs and MDOs globally. The aim was to centralize responsibility for managing these processes which could lead to economies of scale while allowing the other two GBUs and MDOs to focus on core competencies. This structure was focused on specialization.GBS was organized as a cost center with the head of GBS reporting directly to the CEO but was not a member of the global leadership council. Routine and HR policies were also to be impacted in Organization 2005. Many decisions were to be made by individuals rather than committees so that routine business tasks that had taken months would now be accomplished in days. Budgeting was streamlined, integrating separate marketing, payroll, and initiative budgets into a single business planning process. It was also to overhaul its incentive system while maintaining the promote- from- within policy PG increased its performance based portion of compensation and extended its stock option compensation formerly limited to 9,000 employees to 100,000 employees. Why did PG adopt this structure? PG adopted the structure of Organization 2005 due to key challenges and problem occurring in the Global Matrix during 1995-1998. Firstly, the matrix structure had never been symmetrical as the function retained a high degree of de-facto control because it determined career paths and promotion for its employees. Unfortunately, each function had determined its own power base and strategic agenda rather than co-operating with other functions and business units to win in the market place. The initial tension caused by functional conflict had served as an effective system of checks and balances but eventually led to poor strategic alignment throughout PG causing its position to begin to weaken in the global market as managers were focused on their particular countries rather than these global functional conflicts. This was because their focus was based on aiming for their own maximization of particular parameters rather than an optimal tradeoff. Secondly, the matrix structure had also not fully resolved the tension between regional and product category management. Regional managers still had sole responsibility for financial results and thus it was they who ultimately chose whether or not to launch initiatives made available by global category managers. RD divisions struggled hard to globalize new technological and brand innovations quickly but had to obtain agreement from regional managers, sometimes country managers and these managers would sometimes hesitate even if it made sense for PG strategically because it could weaken their upcoming profit and loss statement. As a result, the companys track record of being a global leader in innovation and brands stagnated and was slipping behind some of its more focused rivals. For instance, Cover Girl, a U.S. cosmetics brand that PG had acquired in 1989 had still not been globalized in 1997 compared to Maybelline, acquired by LOreal in 1996, was globalized in just a few years and well on its way to becoming a global billion-dollar brand. Thirdly, competitors were catching up quickly. PG had always been a first mover in supply chain consolidations and integration with customers, but by the latter half of the decade, over 200 vendors had opened embassies to Wal-Mart in Bentonville. Share price consequently dropped by 3.3% since 1993 and the sales growth slowed down to 2.6% in 1997 and 1998 by contrast to 8.5% on average in the 1980s. Lastly, the defining question was whether the global matrix cube was internally coherent or scalable over the long term. Full accountability for results could not really by assigned to regional profit centers because they couldnt fully manage functional strategy and resource allocation. This resulted in a culture of risk aversion and avoidance of failure. With over 100 profit centers, it seemed like there were too many cooks in the kitchen meaning too many managers making decisions that were moving the company away from its intended objectives. Should Lafley make a strong commitment to keeping Organization 2005 or should he plan to dismantle the structure? A.G. Lafley should consider dismantling the structure after a careful analysis of the previous structures of Proctor and Gamble and a thorough assessment of the negative adverse effects of Organization 2005 so as to develop a more effective global structure. The main objective that the previous CEO, Durk Jager had was to use Organization 2005 to change PGs risk averse regionally managed structure so that it could launch new blockbuster brands based on new technologies rather than incremental improvements of existing products. He also frequently scrutinized PGs RD portfolio and personally stewarded new technologies through the pipeline that he thought were promising. Initially, in October 1999, fiscal first quarter results were promising indicating an immediate acceleration in business performance, with sales up by 5% over the previous year which was a marked improvement over the 2.6 % annual revenue growth over the last two years. Core net earnings fell short of long term goals but made a respectable increase of 10 %. This resulted in PGs stock price appreciating significantly. When the next quarterly report came out on 30 January 2000, the stock price reached an all-time high of USD 118.38 and sales had grown by an impressive 7% and core net earnings increased by 13%. Tables turned on 7 March 2000, when PG gave a profit warning due to external factors such as increased raw material costs, delays in FDA approvals and intense competition. With 50 new products in the pipeline, the situation was expected to reverse. However, on 25 April 2000, when results were announced, core net earnings had dropped 18 % while sales increased 6 % despite a 2% hit from fluctuations in exchange rate. The stock price lost 10 % of its value. The last straw was on 8 June 2000, when fourth quarter profits were flat compared to the expectations of 15 17 % increase. PG lowered its future quarterly sales growth estimates to 2 3 %, casting doubt on whether Organization 2005 was even lifting the top line. Market research companies confirmed PGs poor competitive position citing loss of U.S. market share in 16 out of 30 categories since the preceding year. PG stock finally fell to USD 57 after the announcement and was the worst performing component of the Dow over the previous six months. Conclusion In conclusion, Lafley, bearing in mind the past performance and stiff competitive arena, should dismantle Organization 2005 for the above reasons as well as for the sagging employee morale due to the substantial job reductions.

The Frontier of America :: essays research papers fc

::::Just a note, I wrote this my Junior Year in high school, so don't expect anything amazing. Please feel free to use, edit, tweak in any way you want. Just make sure you document :D:::: The United States of America is a perfect name for the country. It is after all many states united. But to have states you must have land for those states. Before those stats become land they must be a frontier, or as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, â€Å"A region that forms the margin of settled or developed territory.† The United States has had a frontier of endless land, which has been settled throughout many years. The Frederick Jackson Turner thesis on the frontier states: Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development. Expansion of the United States can be traced from the first of those who settled in Jamestown. It all began with a simple idea, a faster route to India. Yet instead of going around Africa someone proposed to just sail west. Yet when these people sailed west they had not reached India. They found North America. They had made the first frontier of America, the colonial frontier. Other groups came to this vast land with its seeming endless frontier. This frontier had multiple challenges, such as Indians, survival, and means of trading for use in mercantilism. The Pilgrims, at Plymouth, followed the Jamestown adventurers. Later the Puritans settled into what today is Boston and Salem. The Frontier, which was ever expanding, and always existent in the United States, grew immensely after the revolutionary war. In the Treaty of Paris the United States received the area known as the North West Territory. It was from the Mississippi River to the present day boundary, which were the Appalachia n Mountains as was stated in the Proclamation Line of 1763. This virtually doubled the size of the United States. This land had already had many settlers, and was a booming frontier. The territory was going to be divided into about 5 states, each of which would not have slavery. The next addition to the United States came at a very prosperous time, when Jefferson was in office. He received the Louisiana Purchase.

jurassic park :: essays research papers

Introduction–First Iteration Summary Introduction In the late twentieth century, the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering has positioned itself to become one of the great technological revolutions of human history. Yet, things changed when Herber Boyer, a biochemist at the University of California, founded the company Genentech in 1976 to exploit the commercial potential of his research. Since then the field has exploded into a global amalgam of private research firms developing frivolous, profit-hungry products, such as square trees tailor-made for lumber, without any sort of government regulation. The appearance of a company like International Genetic Technologies, then should come as no surprise. InGen, as the company is informally known, apparently was the instigator of some sort of "incident," and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1989. The proceedings drew little publicity, but certain parties involved were amenable to discussing the events that transpired on a remote island off the shores of Costa Rica... Prologue: The Bite of the Raptor Roberta "Bobbie" Carter, a doctor working in a medical center in Bahia Anasco, Costa Rica, is on duty one stormy night with her paramedic, Manuel. An "InGen Construction" helicopter lands nearby and a red-haired man named Ed Regis brings in a man who he claims was injured in a construction accident. Bobbie suggests Regis bring the patient, a young man around eighteen years old, to San Josà ©, the nearby capital city where better facilities are available. Regis resists, claiming the helicopter cannot make it any further in the bad weather. Bobbie looks at the boy's injuries, tear-like lacerations across his torso and thigh, and is skeptical they were really caused by construction equipment. She asks Regis to leave and takes a few photographs of the injuries, then the boy wakes up whispering, "Lo sa raptor." Manuel is obviously distressed by the slippery, foul-smelling foam they have found on the boy's cuts and by the boy's eerie "raptor" statement. Nonetheless, Manuel claims he does not know what the phrase means. As the boy continues to whisper, Manuel states that the boy has been bitten by one of the raptors or "hupia"—ghosts who, according to a local superstition, live in the islands offshore and kidnap children. The boy suddenly sits up, vomits blood and falls to the floor, convulsing. He is dead. Curious about the word "raptor," Bobbie looks it up in a Spanish dictionary and finds that it means "abductor." She also looks it up in an English dictionary, which says that it means "bird of prey.

Death Over Life in Flauberts Madame Bovary Essay -- Madame Bovary Ess

Death Over Life in Flaubert's Madame Bovary      Ã‚  Ã‚   Often in literature, a character is found that is quite memorable. Never was this more true than in Flaubert's Madame Bovary. To some, Emma Bovary's action at the end of the novel was drastic and unnecessary; others believed her death to be the end of the natural progression of the story. However, Emma's decision to commit suicide was relatively simple, yet came as a last resort. She had exhausted all the other options she felt were available, and in the end made her plan based on finances, lost love, and the sheer boredom of her life.    One motivation for Emma's suicide was her financial problems. She spent extravagant amounts of her husband, Charles', money on dresses, scarves, and house decorations. More money was expended for Emma's "music lessons," which were actually her alibi for her affair with Leon. Also, she had spent too much money while preparing to run off with Rodolphe, a journey that never occurred. All Emma's debts piled up, then came due at the same time; she tried to put them out of her mind, to no avail. She even went as far as to beg money from Rodolphe, her former lover, who rejects her. After leaving Rodolphe Emma is angry; she has lost her normal ability to reason, but could still make a decision (Roe 42). As she could not forget, she devised, in a moment of "Emma-style logic," the solution to her problems. So, "...in an ecstasy of heroism, that made her almost joyous, she ran down the hill...and reached the chemist's shop" (Flaubert 221-222). Once at the chemist's, she frantically ingests a lethal dose of arsenic. It is tragic that the only release from her problems Emma could see was death.    Emma's failed love af... ...cide became her only option, and having taken the action she thought necessary, "...she went home, suddenly calmed, and with something of the serenity of one who had performed a duty" (Flaubert 222). However, Emma's death was not serene; it was violent and grotesque. Ironically, she did finally achieve "tragic romance heroine" status: she died young, penniless, and heartbroken.    Works Cited Buck, Stratton. Gustave Flaubert. University of the South: Twayne. 1966. 68-72. Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. New York: Dover. 1996. Green, Frederick C. French Novelists: From the Revolution to Proust. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1964. 233. Roe, David. Gustave Flaubert. New York: St. Martin's, 1989. Turnell, Martin. "Madame Bovary." Flaubert: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Raymond Giraud. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1964.   

History Of Data Processing Essay

Data processing is a shop that works in many different working fields. One thing you do in data processing is learning to computer programming. In my shop we are learning to program in Visual Basic and QuickBasic. Programming is used to tell a computer what to do. Using code you can make programs that can answer math problems, which would take someone, days to calculate in a brief second. In data processing we also learn to word process. Word processing is taking written text and being able to save and manipulate the text as desired. We also use databases in organizing large sums of information. Another thing we learn to do is make web sites, using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In prehistoric times Data Processing was done with no machines. Machines did not exist at this time. People had just started thinking, and creating ways to organize the little amount of information they had. Using many different forms of languages, they engraved most of their information into stone, or painted with animal blood on cave walls and large stones. These engravings and drawing were the first real usage of word processing, which is a large part of data processing. It was not until the first account of written history, and the creation of machines that things could be processed a lot faster and accurately. Data Processing started to grow and have worth. During the year A.D. 300 data processing started to grow. The first true calculator was invented called the soroban, which was invented by the Chinese.# A strobe was a tool made of rows of pebbles, used for basic addition and subtraction. Japan also had their own version of the soroban, but it was only a little different. The soroban is one of the reasons that we have calculators today. When machines were finally developed around 1886 when Charles Babbage invented the Difference Engine. This machine used gears to do math and calculated complicated things very quickly. Most people thought that the Difference Engine Babbage was worth nothing, but a few people thought that it was the start of a great thing. One person who was very interested in the engine was Mr. Wilkins accounted in Babbage’s Journal. He talked with Babbage for days about his invention and was really the only person who thought it was advancement in calculation technology. From machines like this we grew too better, small, and more efficient calculation tools. Present day data processing is now done mostly on a computer. Computers completely revolutionized and changed data processing. The first successful computer was invented by an American inventor during the year 1888. Herman Hollerith, who devised a punch card system, used electronic charged nails that when a card passed threw it would create a circuit, which another machines would read and record it. This was later used to sum up the censuses. The first digital computer was invented by John Atanasoff during the year 1944. Atanasoff was a mathematician and physics at the time. This computer is many times faster and is where all computers today were started and influenced by. Instead of just using analog hardware, digital hardware. This hardware made the computer use half as much power, and made them 3 times smaller. The first general-purpose computer was created by two engineers during the year of 1945; the computer was called Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC). ENIAC was invented by Developed by John Presper and John W. Mauchly. ENIAC took up one thousand five hundred feet and was 1000 times faster then all the other computers created before it. It also consumed so much power that it would make the light in Philadelphia dim, that’s how much power it would take to run it. The next really big advancement in computer took place around 1951 when Eckert and Mauchly completed a more advanced computer called UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer), which ended up being the first commercial computer. The first UNIVAC was installed at the U.S. Census bureau in June 1951. The types of computer we use today are called Personal Computers (PC’s). Two young Americans, Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, who later founded Apple Computer, Inc created PC’s around 1975. These computers were much cheaper and finally became available to people. In the past, computers were only available to scientist because of the price, and how hard they were to understand how to work with them. The personal computer was later revolutionized by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 when they created the operating systems MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) which sold more then Apple sold in one week then they did over a year. With their new operating system they were unstoppable. Many other programs were created as time went on. One very important program that was created was the word processor. The word processor was first created in the mid 1980s which was an efficient was to organized words. It was placed in almost every computer. Many other advancement happen everyday. Computers always seem to be getting faster and increase in memory. People also expected the computer to become bigger but in reality ended up just getting smaller and smaller over time. As time passes by more advanced, and efficient programs are created, and better operating systems invented. Who knows where the computer will end up in the future? Data processing also has many different things that are new to it. One new thing in data processing is word processing. Word processing is taking written or thought and putting the text in to a computer program which always you to print, edit, and make it look business format. Word processing can be used to create many different business standard documents. Using Microsoft Word, which is the business standard program for businesses, you can make resumes look like a million dollars, and memos looking like they were met to be written in stone. In data processing we also make an assortments of databases. Databases can be used for many different things. One-way databases (Which we create using Microsoft Access) are used, is for  organizing large sums of information and help with the processing of that information. Databases in business’s are used a lot of times to create programs for barcode machines with all the prices in the machines. Have you ever been to market basket or your local food store and looked at the screen, which sums up all of your purchases, well databases are what make that work. Data processing also has a new thing called the Internet, which is mainly made with HTML programming language. Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is mainly used for the Internet because you can put a lot of information into a small file. When you put a web site that was programmed in HTLM code on the Internet, that file can be downloaded very quickly over a slow Internet connection. Last but not least in data processing now uses the computer to create worksheets. Worksheets are used to do many different things but mainly used to do accounting for a company or small business. Worksheets are a quick and easy way to sum up many different businesses accounts receivable and debit they have. Then after you figure it all out with formulas, you can chart the whole thing out and publish it so that the whole world can see it on the Internet (if you want it to be published). In conclusion, data processing has not really changed over the times it has just become faster, and more efficient. As time goes by who knows how much easier it will be to process large amount of information, we the human probably wont even any of it because it will all be done by the computer automatically. But who knows where things will go with data processing. We are always doing, and making better things.

Importance of Beneficence of Ethical Issue on Nursing Practice

According to Hall, (1992; cited in Silva and Ludwick, 1992), â€Å"the ethics incorporated into good nursing practice are more important than knowledge of the law; practicing ethically saves the effort of trying to know all the laws. † Clinical ethics literature pertaining to nursing profession identifies four important values and principles, namely, respect to autonomy of the patient and to act with nonmaleficence, beneficence and justice (Nettina, 2006).Of these, beneficence is the fundamental principle that affirms the inherent professional aspiration of not only the nursing personnel, but also other health professionals to help promote other's well-being. Infact, it is the main motivating factor for many nurses to opt for this profession as career. This essay will discuss the concept of beneficence relevant to nursing practice. Beneficence and ethics related to nursing profession The principle of beneficence comes across in everyday nursing practice.The term beneficence ac tually connotes acts of merciness, charity and kindness which are suggestive of love, humanity, altruism and promotion of good to others (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008). This broad notion is a principle or rule when it comes to medical profession. Nurses have a moral obligation to act in ways which benefit others. There are many theories which have been put forward about beneficence. These include the moral-sentiment theory of David Hume, the Utilitarian theory and Kant's theory. According to Hume's theory, in any moral life, motives of beneficence are very important.Hume's arguments were much against the Mandeville's theory which proposed that most of the human actions are based on private interest and human beings are neither benevolent nor sociable. Hume argues that beneficence is an â€Å"original† feature of human nature and it designates a class of virtues which are rooted in generosity, goodwill and love directed at others. According to the utilitarian theo ry by John Stuart Mill, â€Å"actions are right in proportion to their promotion of happiness, and wrong as they produce the reverse.† Thus, as per this theory, concepts of duty, right and obligation are actually determined by balance between maximum benefits and minimum harm. However, Kant argued that every individual has a duty to be beneficent, in the sense, that every one has to be helpful to others as per one's means without any hope for personal gain (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008). Whenever there is a conflict between what is good between patients and nurses, between organizations and patients, between states involved in interstate practice and also between patients, the principle of beneficence rises certain ethical issues.Any differences in the ethical issues can initiate ethical implications which can terminate in approved cervices, financial reimbursement, change in laws on reporting certain diseases and abuse and also development of protocols from whom nurses can accept orders (Silva and Ludwick, 1999). Beneficence has a major role as far as conceptualizing the goals of medicine as a social practice is concerned. The goal of medicine becomes a beneficent undertaking only if the end of medicine is healing. Nurses are often confused as to what act of theirs is good for the patient and what is bad.What they believe is good for the patient may not be what is actually good for the patient and it is very difficult to act in a way which is against anyone's belief. Another famous debate about constitutes of what is good for the patient without infringing on the autonomy of the patient or causing serious harm to the patient (Silva and Ludwick, 1999). The question that pops up in the debate is whether it is ethical to overrule the preferences of the patient. Beneficence issues also rise when a patient is not in a position to make any decisions as far as his or her treatment is concerned.Beauchamp and Childress (1994; cited in Silva and Lud wick, 1999) used paternalism to discuss this aspect of argument. According to them, paternalism can be weak or strong. While weak paternalism means â€Å"that the health care provider is protecting the patient when the patient is unable to make decisions due to problems such as depression or the influence of medications†, strong paternalism refers to â€Å"interactions intended to benefit a person despite the fact that the person's risky choices and actions are informed, voluntary, and autonomous† (Beauchamp and Childress, 1994; cited in Silva and Ludwick, 1999).As Thompson (1987, pg. 1465) rightly put it: â€Å"The duty to care is not only about recognizing a reciprocal responsibility for one another but also in particular about recognizing a duty to protect the vulnerable- that is, accepting the role of advocate of the rights of those who are unable to defend their own rights. † Conclusion To conclude, it can be said that beneficence is a fundamental principle in nursing ethics with definite meaning and implications when applied to the analysis of the relationship between the nurse and patient.Though beneficence is a natural human feature, it becomes a moral obligation in certain professions like nursing and thus is a source for ethical issues and implications. References Nettina, S. M. (2006). Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice. 8th edition. Singapore: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Silva, M. C. , and Ludwick, R. (1999). Ethics: Interstate Nursing Practice and Regulation: Ethical Issues for the 21st Century. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 4(2). Retrieved on  July  18th,  2009 from www. nursingworld  .org//MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/   Volume41999/No2Sep1999/InterstateNursingPracticeandRegulation. aspx Thompson, I. E. (1987). Fundamental ethical principles in health care. British Medical Journal, 295(6611), 1461- 1465. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2008). The Principle of Beneficence in Applied Ethics. Retrieved on July 18th, 2009 from http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/principle-beneficence/