India s Production Of Shale Gas - 3074 Words

University of Pittsburgh Joseph Graduate School of Business Maria Beatriz Alcantara de Miranda Challenges in the Production of Shale Gas in the United States and in Logistics and Transportation of Natural Gas in Russia Research presented to the GRP: Global Energy – Competing Perspectives from Western PA to Eastern Europe course, taught by Prof. Susan M Hicks. Pittsburgh June 2015 ABSTRACT This research report examines the challenges in the production of Shale Gas in the United States and In Logistics and Transportation of Natural Gas in Russia in the past recent years and the future challenges for the Energy industry. This report is based on information catered by the many lecturers during the course and†¦show more content†¦Contents Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.4 Natural and Shale Gas†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦6 Challenges and Opportunities of Conventional and Unconventional Gas†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.7 Conclusions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.14 References †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.15 Challenges in the Production of Shale Gas in the United States and In Logistics and Transportation of Natural Gas in Russia INTRODUCTION The most vital industry of our time is the energy industry. It provides energy to all other industries and improves the quality of people’s lives. Energy helps us produce and preserve all basic necessities like food, fuel for transportation, power to keep machinery working and communication technology accessible. Energy is found in a number of different forms as chemical energy, electrical energy, thermal energy, solar energy, mechanical energy, and nuclear energy. The future of the energy industries holds many responsibilities toward creating new technologies to explore and transport energy to its final consumer respecting natural resources and minimizing harmful environmental impact. The concerns on environmental impacts of the energy production systems have made many countries take an extremely large amount of time developing policies that regulate the energy industry. Those policies aim to control

Principles of Management Total Quality Management Free Essays

Total Quality Management (TQM) has been around for several years. The concept is being applied to business and industry processes for the purpose of quality improvement. Many businesses feel that TQM is only for large manufacturing type businesses or major industries. We will write a custom essay sample on Principles of Management: Total Quality Management or any similar topic only for you Order Now (Lee p1) TQM can be used for everyone with managers and employees. Certainly everyone involved with customer service. It is important to recognize the TQM and assessment are made up of identifiable, measurable components. Proper orientation to and understanding of the TQM philosophy, team development, problem solving techniques, and statistical process control must be the mission of everyone in any organization. (Lee p1) The wall street journal has twice reported on the struggling efforts of companies trying to improve overall quality and customer satisfaction. (Chaudron p2) Management must realize that to fully implement TQM, satisfy customers, and promote teamwork in the entire organization, often wrenching systemic changes must be made: profit sharing may be introduced; individual performance appraisals may be radically changed or eliminated; organizational structure may be realigned away from functions to a customer process or geographic – based structure, information may be given to employees formerly reserved for senior management; and significantly more authority may be given to line employees. (Chaudron p2) If management does not align these systems, the effect will result in much struggle and confusion. Organizations need to spend time on the design of their efforts. If they do not, they risk pouring time and dollars into and effort that will eventually collapse. Among the decisions that should be made up – front, before implementing a quality effort are: measures of success, the degree of employee involvement, the depth and breadth of immpleementation, and the techniques to be used. (Chaudron p2) As someone once said, â€Å"If you don†t like where are are going, you may not like getting there.† A manager of people needs to understand that all people are different. This is not ranking people. They need to understand that the performance of anyone is governed largely by the system that he works in, the responsibility of management. (Deming p1) A leader of transformation, and managers involved, need to learn the psychology of individuals, the psychology of a group, they psychology of society, and the psychology of change. (Deming p1) Changing behaviors is probably the most critical area in the process of change. People do not necessarily resist change. They resist being changed. It is important to give people time to understand the true needs and the process of change. Leaders promote open communication and clear visionss of the organizations future. The stronger culture values towards the market place, the less need for policy, instructions, organizational charts etc. Leaders empower and involve people to achieve the organization†s objectives. (Deming) TQM has been proven to work in many types of businesses such as Health Care facilities, Universities, multi million dollar corporations and small businesses. Can the concepts of TQM be applied to Hotel management operations? The Hotel industry is a very competitive business, based almost solely on customer satisfaction. Hotels have been feeling much more pressure in the past decade; they have been feeling a sense of crisis. Crisis that is caused due to th increasing number of new hotels being built up and down the interstates. An old hotel must use the concepts of TQM to keep themselves in the forefront of customer minds. To make the TQM philosophy work in the hotel industry, you must have continuos commitment from all levels of employees. Corporate owner, general managers, department managers, shift supervisors and hourly employees. The commitment must be to embrace and implement the philosophy of Deming and the principles of TQM on a daily basis. The focus must be on the processes of the organization and on providing leadership. Above all this commitment must be consistent. Owners and management must decide together and implement methods that can bring about change in the processes that produce product (room style and cleanliness) and service (customer satisfaction ) for the hotel. Management must review its mission and challenge suppervisors and employees to identify their respective departments philosophies, goals, objectives, and expected outcomes. If they don†t know the results they desire, assessment is meaningless. Once this is accomplished, techniques can be identified to measure quality improvement and to reduce the variation of outcomes. Commitment to quality is essential if companies are to succeed in a commercial environment. If you look at a 30 year old hotel and compare it to several new hotels, the older one better offer something of good quality and with excellent customer service. Competing with brand new is tough in this day and age. Customers want the best, they expect the best. TQM style will help bring out the best in any company. Comparing management styles of two hotels, brings about some interesting discoveries. One that used the TQM philosophy and the other that did not. The most obvious difference was the attitudes of the employees. The TQM hotel has employees that feel like they are the hotel. The same projection was received from the housekeeping staff as for the guest service agents. The general manager does not call them employees he calls them team members. They have team meetings, they all realize the importance of each job and each of them cross train for the other positions. The general manger has empowered the employees to make decisions on behalf of the business. They all have support from corporate managers and district managers. With this franchised hotel they all support each other. They try to keep their workplace fun with contest and monetary winnings. These employees enjoy coming to work and try to make each day better than the last. When the hotel succeeds so do the employees. The hotel without TQM present does not run the same at all. Employees come to work to fill their shifts. They make the same amount of money whether the hotel is full or empty. Empowerment is not a work that is recognized. All departments are separate and do not necessarily work together. The manager does much more managing and works harder because everything that happens is brought to them. When shown the difference between the hotels we are also forced to look at which one fares better in the community. With out a doubt the TQM hotel surpassed the other hotel. Suggestions to make TQM work for everyone.  · Make a personal self-examination regarding your willingness and discipline to alter day-to-day management behaviors in such a way that the organization is ever mindful of the strategic importance of TQM.  · Establish agreed upon quality measurements, followed by widespread search for the best performers to measure against.  · See out customer feedback and objectively measure their concerns.  · Work with employees to help them understand the strategic importance of new TQM activities and to buy into the process.  · Don†t go overboard. Focus on a few processes and their characteristics.  · Create an organization that is capable of learning from itself in the quest for continuos quality improvement in the strategic process Quality management principles are a comprehensive and fundamental rule of belief, for leading the operation and organization, aimed at continually improving performance over the long term by focusing on customers while addressing the needs of all stake holders. (Quality Management) These principles used in hotel management could take you to the competitive edge. Principle 1 – Customer Focused Organization: organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future customer needs, meet customer requirements, and strive to exceed customer expections. Principle 2 – Leadership: Leaders establish unity of purpose, direction, and the internal environment of organization. They create that environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organization†s objectives. Principle 3 – Involvement of People: People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization†s benefit. Principle 4 – Process Approach: A desired result is achieved more efficiently when related resources and activities are managed as a process. Principle 5 – System Approach to Management: Identifying, understanding, and managing a system of interrelated processes for a given objective contributes to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. Principle 6 – Continual improvement: Continual improvement is a permanent objective of the organization. Principle 7 – Factual Approach to Decision Making: Effective decisions and actions are based on the logical and intuitive analysis of data and information. Principle 8 – Mutually Beneficial supplier Relationships: Mutually beneficial relationship between organizations and its supplier enhance the ability of both organizations to create value. (Quality Management) If all principles are applied with effective management, they will most certainly do a whole lot of good to create a better atmosphere for more effective people. Changing behaviors is probably the most critical area in the process of change. Leaders should empower and involve employees to achieve the organization†s objectives. Continuous improvement is a mindset, a way of doing business. We are never good enough; we can always be better. This is an ethic and an aspiration. (CIDR) On the other side of the coin, not everyone agrees with the whole TQM concept. In an article by Robert A Zawacki, Carol A. Norman, Paul A. Zawacki and Paul D Applegate, they say that total quality programs are a bust because TQM programs try to implement 9,000 new practices simultaneously. Their conclusions were (1) Involve everyone in the process, and (2) be willing to change everything, but concentrate on one thing at a time. They believe that most continuos improvement and partnering programs are failing because individual contributors are overworked, lack alignment and feel devalued by their leaders. In their opinion the error that many leaders made in the 1990†³s , in their rush to embrace the total quality movement, was that although they recognized the importance of quality they put more efforts into planning than they did into implementation and follow-up. (Zawacki p1) TQM can work with efforts of everyone. From the highest paid to the lowest paid. Everyone in the company is important. Jobs will be better, people will be happier and customers more satisfied. That spells better business and more business. Everyone wins. All it takes is commitment. How to cite Principles of Management: Total Quality Management, Essay examples

How Volvo Evolve in the Changing Market free essay sample

BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 1: PESTEL Answer: Political One of the macro-environment factors which influencing Volvo’s strategy is the large taxation toward automotive trade by the government. Government is putting in place taxation structures that penalize large cars, with large CO2 emission. According to the case, Volvo’s biggest seller was its XC range, now being particularly successful in America, where big cars typically equated to big success. This government acts is encouraging consumers to move to hybrid or fuel efficient cars from big cars because the selling price of big cars would be more expensive when governments impose larger taxation on large vehicles. Consequently, the demand for big cars would drop significantly as consumers would prefer smaller cars due to high price sensitivity level and benefits gained from the government on smaller cars (Yoon and Tran, 2011). Therefore, large taxation on large cars will affect the sales and revenues of Volvo who mostly sells big cars. Legal The enforcement of US government toward the safer initiatives for automobile industry has challenged most of the automobile manufacturer which included Volvo. Therefore recently, Volvo invested heavily in safety research and development; its Goteberg Safety centre is world-renowned. Hence, Rudall (2011) emphasizes that the cost per unit of car has increased as research and development require a lot of experiments and tests to assure the performance. Besides that, research and development in new products involves a risk of whether the consumers will like the new features that have been added to the new or existing product. The more Volvo invests in research and development, the less cash flow they have in hand, thereby affecting the smooth running of daily operations. Economic Oil is the major ingredient in the production of tires. According to Li and Zhao (2011), increase in oil prices means that the cost to make the tires also increases. These tire production affects the Volvo as the increase in the price in tire production affects their profit margin. Additionally, rising commodity prices also affects Volvo’s strategy as 1 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing he raw materials for automotive industry are basically rubber and steel. Since, the prices of these commodities have gone up; Volvo would have to spend more money to purchase the auto component to make the entire cars. The higher the price Volvo purchases these commodities, the higher the selling price that Volvo would have to charge their customers. If they were to transfer the cost to their customers, there is a possibility that customers would shift to Volvo’s competitors as customers are very price sensitive (Lee and Cheong, 2011). Hence, the sales and profits of Volvo will decline and they might lose market share. Moreover, with the rising price of oil in the American market, sales and revenues of Volvo has dropped dramatically because their main business comes from fuel grueling SUV’s. With the increasing fuel prices, the trend has shifted from bulky cars to smaller and fuel efficient cars, thus, Volvo will be faced with many competitors such as Toyota while dealing with satisfying their customer demand (Hilmola, 2011), and hence, it affects the profit margins of Volvo. Moreover, increased oil prices is affecting the type of vehicles demanded by the customer and the way those vehicles are designed. According to Xia and Tang (2011), since there is a big shift from SUVs to fuel efficient or hybrid cars due to the rise of fuel prices, the problem of manufacturing overcapacity has incurred, where supply is more than demand, thereby, sharply dropping the SUV price. Additionally, when Volvo lowers down the selling price of SUVs, the profit margins of each car will become smaller, as their selling price might just be sufficient to cover the total cost of the production. Besides, when supply is more than demand, they would need more space or bigger warehouse to store the cars, and hence, higher cost of storage would incurred. Consequently, it forces Volvo to change their strategy to produce fuel efficient cars instead of SUVs. Environmental Furthermore, the community realizes that the transportation sector is becoming increasingly linked to environmental problems. With a technology relying heavily on the combustion of hydrocarbons, notably with the internal combustion engine, the impacts of transportation over environmental systems has increased with motorization (Bernon, et al. 2011). According to case study, Volvo’s main strategy is to produce SUVs but the consumers are engaging with environmental concerns where they are 2 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing demanding from fuel-efficient cars that release less pollution and absorb lesser fuel. Hence, this forces Volvo to offer Flexi-Fuel (combination of Petrol and Ethanol) in certain geographic mark ets in order to catch up the latest trend. Due to this reason, Volvo has to spend vast amount of money to purchase new raw materials and develop the technology to produce fuel-efficient cars to meet the current demand. Under such conditions maintaining market share and customers is difficult as the selling price needs to be lower to beat the competition, thereby, forcing Volvo to absorb the production costs (Needles, et al. , 2010). Social On the other hand, the changing social culture is affecting Volvo’s strategy as well. There are declining birth rates in Europe, smaller families and more couples choosing to remain childless. This demographic change has influenced Volvo significantly as their main product, SUVs, as it is suited well for big-size families. However, due to the increase of nuclear families consumers are willing to purchase smaller cars because of their small family size and smaller cars consume less petrol, thus it saves cost (Gwartney, et al. , 2008). In addition, many cars on the road today are used by just single occupants, commuting to work. Hence, the socio-cultural changes affect Volvo business strategy as the demand for SUVs is declining but demand for smaller and fuel-efficient cars is increasing. Besides that, they have to invest a big amount of money to do research and development for fuel-efficient cars in order to compete with Toyota for market share. Baumol and Blinder (2011) emphasizes that heavy RD will lead Volvo to incur higher cost of production and profit margin will decline as they cannot sell the cars at a high price since to their competitor (Toyota) is offering reasonable price for fuel-efficient cars. Technological Technological factor plays an important role in automotive industry because consumers always demand for better and higher quality technologies in their cars so that the technologies can help consumers to save petrol, bring greater convenience to them, and ensure their safety (Hage, 2011). Based on the case study, Volvo took the first step as the pioneers of the safety cage, crumble zones, side-impact protection, antilock brakes, whiplash protection, and airbags. As the first mover, Volvo is able to 3 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing enjoy great profits before their competitors come out with the similar technologies but with lower prices or better quality (Aswathappa, 2005). Hence, Volvo would have to invest heavier in RD to develop innovative technologies that create the safest most exciting car experience to customers. Additionally, Volvo also needs to invest in RD for fuel-efficient cars as it is the current of the market. If Volvo fails to produce hybrid or fuel-efficient cars with a reasonable price, they will lose market share due to competitors are offering customers with the demanded products (fuel-efficient cars) (Schwartz, et al. , 2010). Heavy RD is required from Volvo and at the same time they cannot charge higher prices, and hence, the profit margin of Volvo will be smaller. 4 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 2: Five Forces framework Answer: Five Forces framework included the bargaining power of supplier and buyer, threat of substitute, threat of new entrants and power of rivalry. Any changes from any of the forces will bring huge impact to an industry. As the world is going to global, competition arise and it make the five forces framework even more competitive and it affect the global automobile market directly. Bargaining power of buyer Bargaining power of buyer are referring to the negotiation power or influencing power of the buyers toward the prices charge by a company (Jones and Hill, 2010), the buyer of the automobile company may refer to the end user of the automobile. As year by year, there are more and more new players joining the market of automobile. One of the reason contributes to high bargaining power of buyer is low switching (Jones and Hill, 2010). As times past, there are more and more players join to the automobile industry. For example, U. S’s automobile market shares which used to dominate by the Big Three (Ford Motor Company (Ford), General Motors Corporation (GM) and DaimlerChrysler (DC)) had been taken over by foreign brands such as Honda, Toyota and Mitsubishi in 2005 (Gopal, n. d. ). Hence, this provides larger range of choices for the consumers and this makes the buyers have high bargaining power toward the industry. Since there are more choices in the market, consumers’ dependency toward the particular brands will decrease, as the product does not fulfil the customers’ expectation, they might switch to another brand with low or even non switching cost. For example, as according to research, the sale of new car in U. S market has increase, as people are willing to pay for better quality cars (Gopal, n. d. ). The world now is moving to the environmental friendly site, thus, most of the automobile firms are facing challenge by switching their focus from big car, large engine to fuel-efficient engine. Beside, due to the availability of information, buyers nowadays are more educated and they are very concerning about the effect of the automobile to the environment and this has relatively increase their bargaining power as buyer. For example, there are more than 100 type of motor magazine in the market 5 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing which provides reliable and sufficient information for consumers (Gopal, n. d). Since the switching cost of the buyers is low due to the fierce competition, buyers’ brand loyalties have decrease. Bargaining power of supplier Bargaining power of supplier is referring to the negotiation power of the supplier for the business which may include supplier of human resource, supplier of raw material, and other outsourcing partners (Jones and Hill, 2010). For the auto component supply industry, the bargaining powers of suppliers are relatively low, as there are many available suppliers of raw materials in the market, the switching cost of the cars manufacturer to other suppliers are low or even none. For example, large automobile manufacturers such as GM, Ford and Toyota have strong bargaining power as they always purchase the raw material in large quantities (Jones and Hill, 2010). The sizes of auto components are typically small (Ahmadjian and Lincoln, 1997), meanwhile the big players are able to use the threat of manufacturing a component themselves rather than buying it from auto component suppliers to played off suppliers against each other, forcing them to lower down the price and increase the quality (Ahmadjian and Lincoln, 1997). Hence, we can say that the bargaining powers of auto component suppliers are relatively low. Unlike air line industry, which the air line are highly depend toward the suppliers, automobile manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda or Volvo, it has own research and development department (RD) which helps in exploring all the latest technology. It contributes in lowering down the dependency toward the suppliers as suppliers merely involve in supplying raw material instead of important technologies as like Boeing (air plane manufacturer) and other air line. Hence, in short, the bargaining powers of suppliers are relative low as the low dependency toward the suppliers and the threat of switching to other suppliers always work as a strong bargaining tool for the automobile manufacturers. Threat of Substitution This refers to the product of different businesses or industry that can satisfy similar customer needs (Jones and Hill, 2010). For automobile industry, due to the increasing 6 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing number of public transport and other way of transportation, the demand toward automobile has gone down. For example, as according to research, nowadays people might choose to take public transport as their daily transport instead of own private car due to cost and environmental issues (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008). Beside as government is placing pressure toward the environmental issue, public transports are being well develop day by day (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008), and it actually decrease the dependency of owing a private car. In addition, as the social-culture has changed, people nowadays are reluctant to give birth and hence it decreases the willingness of consumer to own a car. As according to research, the birth rate of developed countries such as Japan, Korea and State are relatively low and it actually affected the several industries and this included automobile industry (Powell and Hendricks, 2009). In this case we can justify that only small part of the automobile industry are highly affected by the substitution, however, for those luxury brands such as Volvo, BMW or Audi, their target markets are hardly affect by the improvement toward the public transport (Svensson and Wagner, 2011). In short, the threat of substitution toward the automobile industry is not high as it merely affected those below middle-income. Threat of New entrant New entrant may refer to potential competitors that are not currently competing in an industry but have the capability to do so if they choose so (Jones and Hill, 2010). As refer back to the case, the automobile industry has facing increasing deregulation; this had broken down the entry barrier for new entrance. For example, Volvo needs to compete with not only the local market players but also the Asia market player such as Toyota since there entry barrier of foreign brands to the local market had been broken down. As more new entrance coming into the market, the switching cost of the consumer from one brand to another brand is even lower than before (Che and Seethu, 2008). Hence, there deregulation may affect partly of the industry but not whole. Firstly, setting up a new automobile manufacturing company requires huge capital injection which decreases the willingness of new player to enter the industry. This may due to the high risk of huge capital injection and hence potential companies dare not to grab the opportunity. Beside there are already few strong players in the automobile manufacturer industry such as GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda, which have 7 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing already gain certain economic of scale in term of buying large quantity of auto components (Xia and Tang, 2011), and this had build barrier of entry for potential players. In short, the threat of new entrant is low as it is high risk business. Rivalry among established companies It refers to the current struggle between companies in an industry to gain market share from each other (Jones and Hill, 2010). For automobile industry, the rivalry is intensified due to the high exit cost and the industry demand. As mentioned earlier, the set up cost of an automobile manufacturer is relatively high and hence this has created exit barrier. Hence, even the business of an automobile manufacturer is bad; it will still lock into the industry where overall demand is static or declining (Jones and Hill, 2010). For example, GM, had struggled in the industry for more than 8 years due to declined sale, because of the high exit cost, it had been locked within the industry (Terlep, 2011). Besides, the declining demand from customers as mentioned earlier had contributed to intensify the rivalry as well. As consumers are reluctant to buy a new car due to environmental issue or declining birthrate, it actually forcing the automobile manufacturers to play off against each other for larger market shares (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008). Hence, we can conclude that the rivalry among the established companies of automobile industry is intensified due to the declining demand and high exit cost. 8 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 3: Answer: There are many different brands of vehicles. As to stand with one foot crossed in front of the other competitors, Volvo has adopted the focused differentiation strategy (Dinitzen, 2010). A focused differentiation strategy is aimed at a niche group of customers with unique tastes (Schermerhorn, 2010). The cars produced by Volvo are targeted at a niche market of safety conscious upscale families. These upscale buyers of Volvo are those who value Volvos reputation for durability, and are willing to pay high dollars for this Swedish brand of luxury. Volvo has differentiated their cars by adding additional features that are not available on other cars. Their cars are known as extremely safe cars for families due to the design, which its innovation in car safety enhancements, being pioneers of the safety cage, crumble zones, side-impact protection, antilock brakes, whiplash protection, and airbags, as stated in the case. One primary means of differentiating Volvo’s cars is through its research and development department to produce cars model that exude quality, performance and safety which emphasize on creating luxury automotive brand for family sector. This can be seen from the case that the model of XC90 is well-designed with a large SUV and the price range from ? 33,000 to ? 54,000. However, Volvo continually develops and adds new features that increase values to customers. Some recent innovation of Volvo’s that differentiates their products is Volvo’s sporty hatchback S30 which the engine and brake system of the S30 is designed differently from any compact executive hatch class cars in existence and is destined to compete against high-end versions of VW’s Golf. This shows Volvo attempted to broaden their target market by attracting younger drivers to their car marque (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007) and Volvo sees their future as delivering safe, premium and exciting driving suitable for families. At the same time, Volvo has reached a level of maturity, by providing a better balance between sportiness and comfort, and also achieved high level of safety. Besides using focus differentiation strategy, Volvo should use differentiation strategy with a little of expansion strategy. A differentiation strategy depends on developing resources that set the company’s offer apart in a way that is meaningful and difficult 9 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing to duplicate (Lowy and Hood, 2004). This can be achieved through keeping ahead of competition, satisfying customer’s wants and also expectations better than business rivals (Moynihan and Titley, 2001). Volvo’s cars consist of those attractive features which meet customers exact demands in terms of passenger comfort, driving safety and total economy. This enables Volvo to sell their cars at a premium price and satisfy the unique needs or preferences of customers (Hills and Jones, 2007). Furthermore, people are becoming more conscious about what they are buying, and are more environmentally and safety conscious too in today’s trends (Aarts, 2010). This means that quality work is a crucial part of all areas in their global organisation from product development and design to purchasing, manufacturing, sales and service. Therefore, Volvo should expand their products and focus on product innovation that developing product features that customer value to prevent eroding the current market and increase overall sales and profits (Hunt, 2003). This is to ensure that in case the existing market for the type of product that Volvo offers is already saturated and there are convenient ties to other product types. This strategy helps reduce overall business risk by offering products in a variety of customer categories. With this, Volvo may build up a brand name that evokes the feeling of safety and luxury in an expanding market base. The uniqueness of Volvo may insulate the company from competitive rivalry and reduce customer sensitivity toward price increases. Consequently, these will increasingly affluent public and they will become more famous and trusting of automotive industry. 10 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Reference List Aarts, L. (2010) Feeding People. United Kingdom: Academy Press. Aswathappa, A. (2005) International Business. nd ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Baumol, W. J. and Blinder, A. S. (2011) Economics: Principles and Policy. 12th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Bernon, M. , Rossi, S. and Cullen, J. (2011) ‘Retail reverse logistics: A call and grounding framework for research’, International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 484-510. Dinitzen, H. B. (2010) Organisational Theory: A Practical Approach. Denmark: Hans Reitzels Forlag. Eboli, L. and Mazzulla, G. (2008) ‘Willingness to pay of public transport users for improvement in service quality’, European Transport. Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 107-118. Gwartney, J. D. , Stroup, R. L. , Sobel, R. S. and MacPherson, D. (2008) Economics: Private and Public Choice. 12th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Hage, J. (2011) Restoring the Innovation Edge: Driving the Evolution of Science and Technology. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Hills, C. W. L. and Jones, G. R. (2007) Strategic management: an integrated approach. USA: Cengage Learning. Hilmola, O. P. (2011) ‘Benchmarking efficiency of public passenger transport in larger cities’, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 23-41. Hunt, B. 2003) The Timid Corporation: Why Business is Terrified of Taking Risk. England: John Wiley and Sons. Jones, G. and Hill, C. (2010) Theory of Strategic Management. 9th eds. South-Western Cengage Learning. Lee, K. H. and Cheong, I. M. (2011) ‘Measuring a carbon footprint and environmental practice: The case of Hyundai Motors Co. (HMC)’, Industrial Management Data Systems, Vol. 111, No. 6, pp. 961-978. Li, Z. and Zhao, H. (2011) ‘Not all demand oil shocks are alike: Disentangling demand oild shocks in the crude oil market’, Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies, Vol. , No. 1, pp. 28-44. Lowy, A. and Hood, P. (2004) The power of the 22 matrix: using 22 thinking to solve business problems and make better decisions. United States: John Wiley and Sons. 11 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Moynihan, D. and Titley, B. (2001) Advanced business. New York: Oxford University Press. Needles, B. E. , Powers, M. and Crosson, S. V. (2010) Financial and Managerial Accounting. 9th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Powell, J. and Hendricks, J. (2009) The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society: A Global Perspective. London: Springer. Rudall, B. H. (2011) ‘Research and development: Current impact and future potential’, Kybernetes, Vol. 40, No. 3/4, pp. 581-584. Schermerhorn, J. R. (2010) Management. United States: John Wiley and Sons. Schwartz, R. A. , Carew, M. G. and Maksimenko, T. (2010) Micro Markets: A Market Structure Approach to Microeconomic Analysis. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. Svensson, G. and Wagner, B. (2011) ‘Transformative business sustainability: Multilayer model and network of e-footprint sources’, European Business Review, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 334-352. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2007) Smallest, cheapest Volvo targets younger customers. [Online]. Available from: http://www. smh. com. au/news/news/new-targetmarket-forvolvo/2007/03/20/1174153023503. html%20Achieved%2013%20July%202011 [Accessed 13th July 2011]. Xia, Y. and Tang, L. P. Thomas. (2011) ‘Sustainability in supply chain management: Suggestions for the auto industry’, Management Decision, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 4955 12. Yoon, K. and Tran, T. V. (2011) ‘Capturing consumer heterogeneity in loyalty evolution patterns’, Management Research Review, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 649-662. 12

Master Essays - English-language Films, Afrikaner People

Master Harold And The Boys Athol Fugard's "'Master Harold' . . . and the Boys" is about Hally, a white young man, and the damage done by apartheid and alcoholism. The play takes place on the southeast cost of South Africa, 1950, in Hally's parents' restaurant. This is where two black servants, Sam and Willie, work for the white family. Sam and Willie have been a part of Hally's upbringing and are close friends. Hally has educated Sam with the knowledge acquired from school textbooks, but Sam has been trying to teach Hally vital lessons necessary for a healthy lifestyle. With a racist environment and a boorish alcoholic as a father, Sam has been a positive role model for Hally. The question would be, could Sam's influence outweigh the negative environment, shaping the confused boy? There are symbols in the play that illustrate the stimuli contributing to the answer. In "'Master Harold' . . . and the Boys", one can examine the kite, dance, bench, and disease; these are the symbols of the conflicting forces competing for Hally's future. The kite is an object symbolic of transcendence. Even as a child, Hally had an ingrain sense of defeat, disappointment, and failure; that is why Sam made him the kite. He wanted the little boy to be proud of something, proud of himself. Sam gave to him the phenomena of flying, the ideology of climbing high above his shame. The kite triggered neurotic thoughts but exhilarated the despairing boy. "This is it," I thought. "Like everything else in my life, here comes another fiasco." Then you shouted "Go, Hally!" and I started to run. I don't know how to describe it, Sam. Ja! The miracle happened! I was running, waiting for it to crash to the ground, but instead suddenly there was something alive behind me at the end of the string, tugging at it as if it wanted to be free. I looked back . . . I still can't believe my eyes. It was flying. . . I was so proud of us. . . I would have been suicidal if anything had happened to it"(Fugard, pp.1691-92). The kite conjured up ideas and feelings of believing in miracles, of being alive, and free. Sam left Hally up on the hill, with the a sense of pride, beside the bench. Hally wondered why Sam had left him alone that day. The two of them were up there for a long time; the only bench on the hill read "whites only". The bench is the symbol of apartheid, division, hatred, and racism. It is apartheid that Hally hides behind as he uses Sam and Willie as his scapegoat. Hally is filled with so much rage over his father, he is torn between love and hate. When the conflict supernovas, Hally lashes out on his two black friends. He tries to pretend they are not friends by acting strictly like a boss. Carrying on with this little man routine, Hally asks Sam to call him Master Harold. Sam would only do this if they were no longer friends; Hally would be no different from his father. This is the case for, when he spits in Sam's face, Hally becomes Master Harold. Apartheid is victorious in the corruption of another white male as Hally takes his place on the bench of segregation. "If you're not careful . . . Master Harold . .. you're going to be sitting up there by yourself for a long time to come, and there won't be a kite in the sky"(Fugard, p.1709). Along with the kite and the bench, the dance is another symbol in "'Master Harold' . . . and the Boys". After one of the phone calls that trigger his explosions, Hally, once again, is calmed by the idealistic voice of Sam. They begin talking about the art of dancing and how it can be seen as a metaphor of life. The dance is a symbol of inner harmony, social peace, and a world without violence or aggression. This is an ideal world. Sam points out that none of us know the steps; there is no music playing, but it does not stop the whole world from continuing. Even though there are bumps that leave bruises, life keeps on existing. We should just learn to dance life like champions. Hally, who only has words and books without value, falls in love with this analogy. At least until the next bad bump -- when he has a phone conversation with his father.

Microsoft to improve buying experience at retail. (Thats shopping to you and me.) - Emphasis

Microsoft to improve buying experience at retail. (Thats shopping to you and me.) Microsoft to improve buying experience at retail. (Thats shopping to you and me.) Microsoft has announced its to open its own shops, in a clear bid to grab a slice of the Apple retail action. Apple trades on its image as the quintessence of cool: all innovative design and sleek lines. Microsoft may face an uphill battle in this respect, at least if its press release announcing the move is anything to go by. It quotes Kevin Turner, Microsofts chief operating officer, as saying: Were working hard to transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience at retail by improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition so that its clear, simple and straightforward for consumers everywhere. What? you may ask. Good question. I was going to offer a translation, but Im afraid its stumped me. Some clear, simple and straightforward language might be a good start, Mr Turner.

Ban These 15 Words From Your Writing

Ban These 15 Words From Your Writing Streamlined writing is an automatic way to present yourself as polished and professional.   The next time you write an important email, report, or even a quick note, check to see if you can delete any of the following before sending- your writing will be better for it. 1. Thatâ€Å"That† is a part of speech most people use without thinking. It’s often totally unnecessary! Here are 4 sentences using â€Å"that†- see which ones are totally acceptable without it!1. A) â€Å"She said that she would be late.†2. B) â€Å"That puppy is the cutest thing ever.†3. C) â€Å"Did you hear about that explosion?†4. D) â€Å"You should pick up the books that are on the floor†Choices A and D can function perfectly well without â€Å"that† cluttering up their momentum. â€Å"You should pick up the books on the floor† and â€Å"She said she would be late† seem so light and airy now!Also, stop using â€Å"that† to refer to pe ople. â€Å"The people that piled out of the car†? No! â€Å"The people who piled out of the car.† Because they are people, car or no car.2. WentSometimes â€Å"went† as in the past tense of â€Å"go† is the shortest distance between two points, but you also miss an opportunity to establish information about how whoever got wherever- did she race, fly, hurry, dawdle, drive, carom, or drift?3. HonestlyI have to do a find and replace in my essays for â€Å"honestly† all the time- it falls under the heading of what I call â€Å"throat clearing† with my students. I use it as a moment to pause and then convey earnestness, but the thing is, what it actually suggests is that you haven’t been honest this whole time.4. AbsolutelyThere is a time and a place for emphasis. But unless you’re writing marketing or publicity copy, you probably don’t need the EXTREME INSISTENCE of something being absolute.5. VeryWe use â€Å"very† to strengthen our intention, but it often winds up watering it down instead. Make your sentence stand on its own!6. ReallySimilarly, â€Å"really† gives an illusion of intensification without adding much meaning at all.7. AmazingThe New York Mets are amazing. They â€Å"cause great surprise or sudden wonder† because for a long time they have been terrible at playing baseball and finally this year, they are good at it. Outside of Citifield, though, â€Å"amazing† is so overexposed that nothing is really that impressive. Certainly not impressive enough to earn the name.8. AlwaysWhenever you work in absolutes (see â€Å"absolutely†) you are in a black or white zone. There’s no nuance in â€Å"always,† there’s no space for growth or revision. Unless you’re giving instructions or outlining procedure, give some wiggle room.9. NeverI refer you to the above.10. LiterallyThis is one of those words that started getting used for comedic effect and has taken over our lexicon. Did this actually happen? No? Is it a metaphor? Yes? Then why are we clinging to this mass illusion that so many things are actually happening?11. JustThis is something women get hyper-criticized for using, when the truth is it weakens anyone’s writing  to diminish their contribution by beginning with â€Å"I was just going to say†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Use â€Å"just† when you’re talking about fairness or impartiality, otherwise leave it in the drawer.12. MaybeAnother one that women get extra criticized for, despite the chilly reception we often get when we make firm  statements. If you’re sure, sound sure!13. StuffI had a student in one of my classes announce her fantasy story was taking place in the Kingdom of Stuff, on Stuff Island. She’s 8. We can forgive her. Are you 8?14. ThingsDitto â€Å"Stuff†15. IrregardlessPut this in a lockbox at the bottom of the sea along with â€Å"supposably.†It may take a while to (metaphorically) eliminate  these words from your brain, but adding in an extra mental filter when you edit should help you sharpen your writing and improve your persuasiveness immediately. Cut out the filler, the throat-clearing, the circling around, and you’ll find you come through on the page with more clarity and staying power.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Essay

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - Essay Example The paper tells that despite the presence of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US have been faced by many crimes that have not been researched on to get helpful information. Many of these crimes have been cases of terrorism. Terrorism has really threatened the security in United States. All the presidents in the country have been addressing this issue. This is evident from the efforts of Barrack Obama to capture Osama bin Laden, one of the most notorious terrorists who hit US. There are some causes of failures of the projects like inefficiency technology; lack of trained personnel; lack of funds; and lack of corporation from other organs. There are reports that are given on this agency an annual basis giving some recommendations that have to be implemented but this has not been enough since there is much information that the urgency not yet has about terrorism. There are some recommendations that may act as long-term solutions to this basing them on the ways of improving eff iciency of a project as it is in project management. The FBI as an agency of investigation on major crimes in the United States has been successful in different ways. It is the expectation of everyone that US, the most powerful country in the world, has all possible ways of ensuring security of its people. This has not been the case since security in its states has been threatened occasionally through some major crimes. They have increased their technology for instance introduction of DNA tests, fingerprint tracking, among other technologies that are used in crime investigation. (Jenkins, 2005, p.13). Despite the many achievements the FBI has, it has not been able to end and get enough information on some major crimes like terrorism. Terrorism has been a challenge to the agency and this is observable from the chronology of terrorist attacks from 1995. However, they have been successful on some terrorist activities; there are some that they still lack information on. This does not me an that the agency is a failure. There is a need to find out the causes of such challenges and give recommendations. The recommendations should be different from the ones that are given at the end of each year in such a way that they give long-term solutions. The agency has been regularly financed thus it becomes a surprise what the problem could really be. Analysis of FBI Database Project FBI as an agency of investigation has not been able to get information on some major issues like terrorism. It has been faced by some challenges that are expected in any project. Terrorism is one area in which the agency has failed. They lack much information on the issue and this has seen the rise of terrorist attacks over the years. However, they have not sat back to watch this happen, most of the measures that they have put to fight this have not bore any fruits. Forensic sciences are one of the fields they have advanced in to carry out investigation. They have been able to use some forensic te chnologies like fingerprints to track nagging criminals. This has however been successful with minor crimes within the states like robbery and murder but it has not helped much to get adequate on some major crimes like terrorism. This is what has led to negative judgments of their performance from different parties. They cannot despair since it is connected directly with the people’s lives on this project. There are some reasons that have been highlighted in different publications, in speeches, in

Analiza Web-sites, blogs, pod cast, videos, articles, and powe points Essay

Analiza Web-sites, blogs, pod cast, videos, articles, and powe points - Essay Example He had short summaries of each of his books on a separate page so that the reader could examine only one book at a time. This page was all about the fantasy world that Silverstein has created. In contract to Silverstein’s site, Charlotte’s Library was boring. It is written by a woman who is an archeologist and she reviews fantasy books for children. The website itself does not really do much for fantasy except give someone who is looking for fantasy books an idea of some that may be good to read. The website is very structured and it seemed more geared towards adults who were looking for good books for their children or teenagers. This was disappointing in a way because the reviews were written more for parents than they were for children. Unfortunately, I would say that this website would not be one that I would send anyone to because it did not really make me want to read the reviews. Another site that is similar to Charlotte’s Library is the Annotated List of Children’s Poetry Books. This is a great site that has annotations about the books that makes a reader want to check them out from their local library and read them. This is an opportunity to see how well the author of the site, Wendy E. Betts, liked the books. Her annotations are intriguing and some of them leave you hanging for more.

Effective Leadership Essay Example for Free

Effective Leadership Essay Being an effective leader means learning who you are and what you stand for, and having the courage to act on your values. Moral leadership is quite similar to the concept of servant leadership in that the emphasis and the reward are based in doing for others. A leader serves using an ethical foundation which is then adapted and acted on by followers within the organization. Moral leadership describes how leaders make decisions according to beliefs about right and wrong. A system of morals, or beliefs, is also very personal to leaders. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., displayed courage and moral leadership; Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the eldest son of Martin Luther King Sr., a Baptist minister and Alberta Williams King. King attended local segregated public school. He entered Morehouse College at the age of 15 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1948. After graduating with honors from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1951, he went to Boston University where he earned a doctoral degree in systematic theology in 1955. Throughout his education, King was exposed to influences that related Christian theology to the struggles of oppressed people. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., operated on moral leadership, distinguishing right from wrong and doing right, seeking the just, the honest, the good, and the right conduct in achieving goals and fulfilling purpose. In May of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference staff escalated anti-segregation marches in Birmingham by encouraging teenagers and school children to join. Hundreds of singing children filled the streets of downtown Birmingham, angering Sheriff Bull Connor, who sent police officers with attack dogs and firefighters with high-pressure water hoses against the marchers. Scenes of young protesters being attacked by dogs and pinned against buildings by torrents of water from fire hoses were shown in newspapers and television around the world. During the demonstration, King was arrested and sent to jail. He wrote a letter from his jail cell to local clergymen who had criticized him for creating disorder in the city. His â€Å"Letter from Birmingham City Jail† which argued that individuals had the moral right and responsibility to disobey unjust laws, was widely read at the time and added to King’s standing as a moral leader. The demonstration forced white leaders to negotiate and end some form of segregation in Birmingham. Even more important, the protest encouraged many Americans to support national legislation against segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. and other black leaders organized the 1963 March on Washington, a massive protest in Washington, D.C, for jobs and civil rights. On August 28, 1963, King delivered the keynote address to an audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. His â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech expressed the hopes of the Civil Rights Movement in oratory as moving as any in American history: â€Å" I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: â€Å" We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. â€Å" I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character†. The speech and the march built on the Birmingham demonstration to create the political momentum that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in public accommodations, as well as discrimination in education and employment. As a result of King’s effectiveness as a leader of the American Civil rights Movement and his highly visible moral and courage stance he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for peace.

The Ants and The Bees: Comparing the Social Structure of these Colonia

A queen, drones, and workers share a common place in life. They all live in a bee and ant colony striving together to accomplish their specific jobs. Living in a world where females are your workers and protectors of the queen, and drones are used to multiply the colony, and then die. When you look passed the buzzing of ants, you see a very sociable creature working like a well oiled machine. When you hear the dirt on the bees, they may look sociable, but deep down, it’s another world. A world where queens kill sibling sisters, and the drones are ejected out into the cold to starve just for the sake of their colony. Where females defend the nest and die 100% of the time after the sting. Bees and ants, both considered sociable insects, have a very different view on sociability. The colonies of ants and bees are broken down into several different categories. The top of the chain consist of the queen in both colonies. The colony depends on the queen to produce the eggs for their survival. This is the only function for the queen. She is able to choose what gender the eggs will become by fertilizing or not fertilizing them. She is capable of keeping the balance of the colony in check by choosing the gender of her eggs. Unfertile eggs become the drones of the colony, where fertile eggs becomes the female workers. The males, or drones of the colony serve only one purpose, and that is to fertilize the eggs. The drones do no maintenance work, no tending to the colony, no foraging, and they shortly die after mating with the queen. The workers of the colony are all female and mostly foragers, but some do have different task within their society (Stanger et al., 1971, p.10-11). The same can be implied to the ant colony which is made up of ... ...ned (Layton, 2008, p.1). They clamp on with there mighty jaws, rotate in a circle, and sting their victim while still clamped on. Some ants do not have a stinger. They simply drop poison unto their victims skin. Bees and ants live in a social nest setting, where there is a queen, drones, and workers. At first glance they may seem to be almost the same, one with wings and one without. Storing honey for rougher seasons and times, protecting by stinging, and having different types that are more harmful than others. At a closer look, ants are more the social creatures than bees. Living with more than one queen and sharing the neighboring colonies workers. Bees seem to live a more a closed off, mobster type. The queen killing off her sister rivalry to rule over the colony. Bees and ants may be similar in social structure, but different when you get down to the dirt.

The literary work of Niccolo Machiavelli entitled “The Prince”

The literary work of Niccolo Machiavelli entitled â€Å"The Prince† is a narration of his personal experience as a messenger of the Florence Republic to the courts of Europe.   In its entirety, the book was a series of conversation made by a Counselor to a Prince.Going deeper, the said work scrutinizes the violent way by which political power is conquered and maintained, and situations by which it may be lost. In as much as this work is a political remark, and not a creation of imagination, Machiavelli had made use of his experience to narrate political and social events, all culled from the world history.Through out the story, it is the Counselor who had made the talking, giving advice to the Prince. As to manner for which the story was written, the author engages his audience to actively participate to intelligently uncover his true message. Analyzing and reading between the lines of the letters of the story would reveal that more meaning would be given to the Counselorâ⠂¬â„¢s advice.BODY POSSIBLE AUDIENCEAt first glance, one would think that the Counselor’s advice is solely addressed to the Lorenzo de Medici.  Nonetheless, after reviewing the story, it can be gleaned that the book is also addressed to leaders and to those individuals who want to become future leaders. (Hindman, 2000) One focus of his advice includes the ways of controlling a political organization.In doing so, he mentioned that giving recognition to the significance of the mass is important. A leader cannot secure his position without their support, aside from the assistance of his military. He also made a straightforward suggestion to future leaders to implement ruthless maneuvers to accomplish a specific political ambition without considering whether if it is for the general welfare.At some other point of the story, the Author seems also to address his work to the masculine audience.   This is due to his way of advocating atrocious and brutish act such as exterminatin g the kin of the leader he has dethroned, employing an act that injures mortals, and engaging in preemptive war.Moreover, the idea that the Prince may be generous only with the properties of others, to keep silent if possible, and to try to be feared instead of being loved is an act that may be attributed to virility. The worse suggestion he made which implies masochism was to improve the animalistic nature of the Prince, to learn how to engage against evil, and to know how to be unpleasant.It is interesting to note that Machiavelli also seems to address anybody who is in a competitive environment and those with hope to move forward. It is because the story of â€Å"The Prince† revolves on a leader who seems to have many obstacles and enemies. In the writer’s statements, he presented tactics on how this Prince would remain and still, can conquer people who oppose him.In the same manner, it also gives advice to those individual who faces many competitors. It presents sc hemes on how to prevail and find possible road that may lead to success. In effect, this is to say that the Machiavelli maxims are also applicable in every person’s daily activities.In relation thereto, business leaders may also be possible audience of this book. Take into consideration the case of Bill Gates, owner of Microsoft, who is likewise experiencing many stiff duels in computer world to maintain his power and position. Thus, the point is on how to set the limits on how to achieve power and how to maintain it.What is impressive in this work is the way Machiavelli communicates to the tyrant while at the same time speaks to lovers of liberty.   He made this possible by making a single explanation that may be interpreted in two different ways.Some events if interpreted possess two different ideas, that is, one is the literal interpretation and the other is extraction of messages by reading between the lines. This novel contains ideas, which at first glance, is addresse d to those want to lead tyrannically for their own benefit and, if interpreted, is also directed to those who wants to lead for the benefit of those individuals within their jurisdiction.In the case of tyrants, he sought to convert the possible tyrants by transforming their personal ambitions into the writers’ public one (i.e. for public good). He taught evil in as much as this is the idea that the tyrant wants to know, however, he made it possible to make said teaching against it and make it to benefit the common good.On the other hand, it teaches the lovers of liberty on how to fuse together their ambition to stay in power, by not being a good one, and still be loved by the mass.Thus, in effect, Machiavelli is appealing to tyrant by teaching to be bad, and at the same time, appeasing the lovers of liberty by promoting general welfare.Taken in a different context, this book may be also considered as a warning to the Republicans, the lovers of liberty, because it seeks to exp ose disgracefully the princely government by elaborately presenting it principles in an offensive way.Lastly, it has been told that â€Å"The Prince† was written by Machiavelli to express his thoughts not for Lorenzo but to those who deserves to be princes. This is because Lorenzo cannot, in any way, understand the message Machiavelli has conveyed in his twofold statement.

Syrian Revolution

The Syrian Revolution is important on many levels. This importance is explored in the aspects of Syrians political government, economic and social status and the beginning of a wide spread resistance against dominating governments taking part in the Middle East. Hence, the Syrian Revolution plays a significant impact on the modern world and the future of the Syrian population. In March, 2011 an uprising took place by poor and unsatisfied citizens in the capital of Syria, Aleph, as a major part of theArab Spring (a series of revolts in triggered by citizens demanding law reforms and an improved government in the Middle East). Rebel groups then developed as a source of rebellion against the government of Basher AAA Sad, including The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya heavily influence the revolt in Syria after their protests and riots, in their own countries, to achieve Justice from their governments, have been reached but not entirely resolved. This topic has an excessive importance over me and my family.It has broadened my understanding f the world and the extent individuals will go to for power. The Syrian Revolution also impacts me culturally due to me originating from the Middle East. It has demanded the attention of the social media and people all over the world. I believe It will become an Immense icon In modern history over the years to come and that It will also lead to a colossal change In current Syrian society and for the further generations. To conclude, the Syrian Revolution of 2011 Is of great significance to modern society and the future of modern history for the world as well as Syrian citizens.

Free Essays on Child By Tiger

Child by Tiger Have you ever seen a glass barometer that kids play with? It’s a glass container that has two globes connected with spiral glass tubing. On the bottom globe there is a red liquid, and when a child places their hands on the orb, the liquid moves up through the spirals to the top. The child learns that heat makes the liquid move through experience. A reader also learns though experience the difference between interpretative and escape literature. The bottom globe represents a work of literature. Just by looking at it the reader doesn’t know if it’s going to be interpretative literature or escape literature, such as the child wonders about the red liquid on what’s its purpose. Once the reader begins to interpret the story, they use previous knowledge to compare and contrast the two possible literature classifications. The child also uses prior facts to figure out that if they keep their hands on the bottom orb, the red liquid will move up. After reading and analyzing the story, the reader comes to the conclusion of what classification the story belongs to, such as when a child learns that in time the red liquid will move its way up into the top globe. Both the reader and the child see the cause and effect through experience with observation. Thomas Wolfe’s â€Å"Child by Tiger† is and interpretative literature through the understanding on the real world, aspects of human behavior, and broadening the awareness of life. To get a glimpse into the real world, the reader has to take a deeper look in why Dick Prosser snapped in â€Å"Child by Tiger†. Dick was switched from one extreme of being well liked among other people and being their equal to being looked upon as an inferior worker by race. In the first few paragraphs, he was described as a military man only respected while in the service. â€Å"He knew how to box too. I think he had been a regimental champion†¦Shepperton’s new Negro man came along†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Dick wa... Free Essays on Child By Tiger Free Essays on Child By Tiger Child by Tiger Have you ever seen a glass barometer that kids play with? It’s a glass container that has two globes connected with spiral glass tubing. On the bottom globe there is a red liquid, and when a child places their hands on the orb, the liquid moves up through the spirals to the top. The child learns that heat makes the liquid move through experience. A reader also learns though experience the difference between interpretative and escape literature. The bottom globe represents a work of literature. Just by looking at it the reader doesn’t know if it’s going to be interpretative literature or escape literature, such as the child wonders about the red liquid on what’s its purpose. Once the reader begins to interpret the story, they use previous knowledge to compare and contrast the two possible literature classifications. The child also uses prior facts to figure out that if they keep their hands on the bottom orb, the red liquid will move up. After reading and analyzing the story, the reader comes to the conclusion of what classification the story belongs to, such as when a child learns that in time the red liquid will move its way up into the top globe. Both the reader and the child see the cause and effect through experience with observation. Thomas Wolfe’s â€Å"Child by Tiger† is and interpretative literature through the understanding on the real world, aspects of human behavior, and broadening the awareness of life. To get a glimpse into the real world, the reader has to take a deeper look in why Dick Prosser snapped in â€Å"Child by Tiger†. Dick was switched from one extreme of being well liked among other people and being their equal to being looked upon as an inferior worker by race. In the first few paragraphs, he was described as a military man only respected while in the service. â€Å"He knew how to box too. I think he had been a regimental champion†¦Shepperton’s new Negro man came along†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Dick wa...

The Singular Possessive Apostrophe

The Singular Possessive Apostrophe The Singular Possessive Apostrophe The Singular Possessive Apostrophe By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, Could you please do a post on possessives versus plurals? Im seeing this mistake more and more, to the point where I saw someone use an apostrophe for a plural on a billboard. That wretched, wretched apostrophe! Why can’t we get it straight? The answer is complicated. In this post I’ll explain why the apostrophe is used to form the singular possessive. Its use with plurals will have to wait for another post. The apostrophe came into English from French in the 16th century. The French used the apostrophe to indicate elision: the dropping of a vowel letter. For example, in French l’heure, (â€Å"the hour†), the apostrophe stands in place of the a of the article la. English writers use the apostrophe in the same way, to replace letters in contractions like don’t for â€Å"do not,† and I’ll for â€Å"I will† or â€Å"I shall.† The use of the apostrophe in English would have been straightforward and not at all confusing if it hadn’t been for a complication already existing in the language: the breakdown of noun inflections. In Old English, nouns were spelled with different endings to indicate possession and number (singular or plural). Where modern English uses the apostrophe to show possession, OE used inflections. Here’s a rough idea; king’s horse = mearh cyninges (horse of king) king’s horses = mearas cyninges (horses of king) The -es inflection on cyninges is the equivalent of modern ’s. kings’ horses = mearas cyninga (horses of kings) Cyniga is plural; the inflection -a is the equivalent of putting an apostrophe on the plural kings. The loss of noun inflections has simplified English grammar, but it has also lumbered us with apostrophes to show possession. As early at the 13th century–long before the arrival of the apostrophe–English speakers had become confused about the possessive. Spoken, the possessive ending sounded like â€Å"is.† For example, â€Å"the kinges horse† sounded like â€Å"the king is horse.† Because the pronoun his was pronounced â€Å"is† in unstressed positions, the mistaken idea grew up that the possessive was formed of a noun plus his. In time, this notion enabled Shakespeare and his contemporaries to write constructions like this: [against] the count his galleys I did some service –Othello When the apostrophe was introduced into English orthography in the 16th century, constructions like â€Å"the count his galleys,† â€Å"James his throne,† and â€Å"the king his horse† gave way to â€Å"the count’s galleys,† â€Å"James’s throne,† and â€Å"the king’s horse.† In the mistaken notion that the apostrophe was replacing the word his, the singular possessive was born. The French sagely managed to avoid getting the apostrophe mixed up with the possessive by sticking with the â€Å"of the† construction, as in â€Å"la plume de ma tante†: â€Å"the pen of my aunt† (i.e., my aunt’s pen). We could save ourselves a lot of apostrophe grief by going back to â€Å"the horse of the king† and â€Å"the horses of the kings.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Beautiful and Ugly Words26 Feel-Good Words8 Great Podcasts for Writers and Book Authors

Popular Music in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Popular Music in America - Essay Example Over the years, music instruments have gradually become more technology oriented and digital music production has gained prominence, today there are several genres of music such as rap (partly), techno and house music where the beats are exclusively generated by computers. The rapidly growing power or sound producing devices coupled with their increasing affordability has facilitated the separation of instruments in to categories such as controller and synthesizers.   The implication herein is that today one does not need to have a wide array of instruments such a pianos, guitars harmonicas and others so as to produce music. With a simple personal computer installed with the latest music generating software many of which are available for cheaply if not freely online, one can actually create musical beats with much less the same dynamism that could be achieved by using the convectional tools. The Android app store also allows users to download a variety of virtual instruments such as keyboards and guitars, while the concept is still new and not very well developed, several musicians have actually produced whole songs though their smartphones using this downloadable instruments. Before the 70’s music had to be recorded either on low quality tape recorders or very big an expensive reel to reel machines, the latter were however exclusively for the use of professional studio or rich musicians owing to their prohibitive costs.   Gradually, technology allowed the studio to be simplified.... The rapidly growing power or sound producing devices coupled with their increasing affordability has facilitated the separation of instruments in to categories such as controller and synthesizers. The implication herein is that today one does not need to have a wide array of instruments such a pianos, guitars harmonicas and others so as to produce music. With a simple personal computer installed with the latest music generating software many of which are available for cheaply if not freely online, one can actually create musical beats with much less the same dynamism that could be achieved by using the convectional tools. The Android app store also allows users to download a variety of virtual instruments such as keyboards and guitars, while the concept is still new and not very well developed, several musicians have actually produced whole songs though their smartphones using this downloadable instruments. Before the 70’s music had to be recorded either on low quality tape re corders or very big an expensive reel to reel machines, the latter were however exclusively for the use of professional studio or rich musicians owing to their prohibitive costs. Gradually, technology allowed the studio to be simplified in the late 70s with a portastudio with multitrack tape recorders, which became widely available, and affordable, later digital recorders supplanted the analogue audio devices.3 The digital audio workstations have with time morphed and been condensed eliminating all the extra hardware and today for non-professional recording, one only needs a personal computer with a high quality sound card, hardware audio interface and editing software such as Adour and pro tools. Despite the fact that professional

Reflective Blog Entry #1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflective Blog Entry #1 - Essay Example Having communication goals will help me concentrate on what I want to say and how I want to say it because I know what I want to attain in the end. In addition, as a professional, I must also be factual, practical, and concise when I express myself because this is how a true professional communicates with others. I should not waste the time of my audience or confuse by telling them irrelevant or vague information. As for the audience, the video asserts that they are important to the communication process, especially when using the audience-centered approach. The audience is critical to successful personal and business communication because they are stakeholders and they are the target end receivers of the message. The video emphasizes that speakers/writers should focus on understanding and meeting the needs of the audience, by providing information that they need, by listening to their concerns, and by maintaining positive working relationships, if present. The video highlights that there is no effective communication at all if readers do not understand the message, at the minimum. Furthermore, if the speaker’s main communication goal is to persuade the audience, then it becomes more essential to know who the audiences are, such as their goals, motives, and conditions, so that the speaker can connect more meaningfully to the

Falling in Love Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Falling in Love - Essay Example I was looking at the most beautiful crescent blue eyes with long fringed eyelashes. My whole world had come tumbling down with dazzling stars! ‘Are you okay?’ He had enquired in a deep husky concern that had sent a shiver of excitement down my spine. I was dumbstruck and could only nod. I could feel my world going round and round. I was staring and then a little coughing woke me up from my stance. The guy was smiling and offered his hand. I took his hand and stood up. I could not look into his eyes for I was still very embarrassed at being caught staring in such a public place! He was gently pushed me towards the perfume section and before I could protest, he had bought two bottles of the Chanel 5, one having the smell fragrance as the one which was smashed into thousand pieces and the other one which I had wanted but could not afford. He then took me for a cup of coffee and I can still remember how the hours had flown. It was mutual love at first sight. Falling in love is total magic because it completely changes you and makes you feel at the top of the world. You find the things to rejoice in the most weirdest of situations and cry at the drop of a hat. It seems as if the nature rejoices in your happiness and lets you discover things about you that you were never aware of. Indeed, I did not know that I could become a book lover but then I had not met the love of my life! It is funny but I had become a highly cheerful and optimist person from the shy individual who would always be looking at the gloomiest aspect of things. I wonder if other people also discover whole new world of good things when they fall in love. My love had also become my soul mate. He told me much later that he had also experienced the same magical moments and had loved my silence with the same passion as he had loved my voice which he found to be very soothing. He was quite stressed

The use of Critical Reflection in Nursing Practice

The use of Critical Reflection in Nursing Practice Nursing practice is a complicated phenomenon, and usually something which has many dimensions. Nurses can develop better understanding of the ways in which they practice, the influences on their practice, and of their responses to challenging situations, through reflection on that practice, and, specifically, reflection on critical incidents. The use of reflection in nursing practice has been established as an important learning and development tool. Not only has it been described as an effective means of engaging in professional and personal development through self-assessment and self-evaluation (Gustafsson and Fagerberg, 2004 p 271), it is also known to be a way of looking at the quality of practice, and questioning how things are done (Bowden, 2003 p 28; Coutts- Jarman, 1993 p 77). Nurses usually use reflective models to guide their practice, as placing a structure on this process makes it more purposeful (Gibbs, 1988, online; Rolfe, 2005 p 78; Jones, 1995 p 783). Price (2004 p 4 6) also argues that reflection is a patient-centered activity, and one that is linked to the development of critical thinking. The NMC (2004 b), the professional body that governs nursing practice and sets the standards for nurses, states that nurses should: Act to ensure the rights of individuals and groups are not compromised; manage risk to provide care which best meet the needs and interests of patients, clients and the public; review and evaluate care with members of the health and social care team, and others; share experiences with colleagues and patients and clients in order to identify the additional knowledge and skills needed to manage unfamiliar or professionally challenging situations; contribute to the learning experiences and development of others by facilitating the mutual sharing of knowledge and experience. This assignment shows how the author has attempted to adhere to these guidelines through this process of reflection. WHAT The author witnessed a member of staff putting medication in the food of a confused and sometimes aggressive patient who regularly refuses their medication. The member of staff was crushing tablets and putting them into the patients food. This patient, an elderly and confused person, is someone dependent upon nursing staff for support with all of their activities of daily living (Farley et al, 2006 p 46). They are difficult to communicate with and it is not possible to get informed consent or true compliance from them. However, the medications were necessary to maintain their state of health, address their mental condition and prevent exacerbations of chronic conditions (such as hypertension). The author was moved to question this practice, and asked the nurse about this, but the reply was rather defensive. It seemed that they believed this was the only way to administer the medications and that it was for the patients own good. SO WHAT To begin with, the author felt that it was important to question this occurrence, because they found it ethically challenging. While the author understood the need to ensure the patient had had their medication, this occurrence challenged previously acquired understanding of informed consent and respecting the rights and dignity of the patient (NMC, 2004a, online). Acting in the best interests of the patient, however, is another requirement of nurses, and in this case, it was easy to see that they did need the medication and that it would help their subjective feelings of wellness to some extent. However, the author would also question how far this would improve their state of being, because with their cognitive impairment, they might not be able to recognize the difference between subjective measures of sense of wellbeing. The main issues in this scenario revolve around the competence of the patient and their ability to give consent (Hedgecoe 2008). The issue of consent is central to nursing practice, particularly in relation to ensuring the patient care is client-centred (DoH, 2001, online; NMC, 2004a, online). The autonomy and dignity of the client is at stake when one considers providing or enforcing care without consent (DoH, 2001, online). Veitch (2002) offers an authoritative overview of the practical issues involved in consent and advises that it is the dividing line between treatment and assault. (Veitch 2002 Pg 11). This is a very important issue to consider, because, as already discussed, the NMC (2008, online) requires nurses to only act in the best interests of their patients. That means being proactive, providing information to the patient, and communicating with them as best they can, even when there are communication difficulties. Veitch (2002) also goes on to comment that Consent is not just the signing of a document prior to undergoing a procedure, it is a hugely complex area with legal, ethical and practical components and all of these are brought into sharp focus when they are compounded by degrees of reduction in cognitive function (Veitch 2002 Pg 22). The problem here is that the patient, who is suffering from vascular dementia, cannot really be considered fully competent to make decisions about their care. They are cognitively impaired, and in need of significant care, surveillance, assistance and input in order to maintain basic levels of health and functioning. As such, this issue highlights the plight of such individuals, because they are occupying a cognitive world which is disconnected from reality, and within which they are unable to reason or understand what is being asked of them (Bowler, 2007). However, in this case, the scenario is taken to be in a residential care home. This means that one could reasonably assume therefore that the patient is not severely cognitively impaired and may suffer from fluctuating degrees of impairment (Bowler 2007). To this extent, the situation may be helped by considering whether they were happy to take the medication when they were less confused. If the patient is normally happy to take their medication when they were cognitively aware, the legal considerations become easier as Lord Donaldson has stated, in legal statute, that if a patient is judged not to be competent then the healthcare professionals who are responsible for their care are also responsible for making a decision that they believe is in the patients best interests and in line with a decision that they believe the patient would have made if they were competent to make it at the time. (Donaldson 1993). It would appear, therefore, that perhaps the actions of the nurse in placing the medication covertly in the patients food is excessive, and may be motivated by expedience and convenience rather than the best interest of the patient. It might be that, as may be the case in many circumstances, preconceptions about patients, and even stereotyping and prejudice, could be affecting actions here, because despite the egalitarian nature of the nursing profession, there appears to be ongoing ageism in clinical practice (DoH, 2001, online). According to the Department of Health in the National Service Framework for Older People (DoH, online), older people are often subject to preconceptions and prejudice because of ageism, and this ageism can be quite subtle, and pervasive in our modern society. Even those who deal extensively in the elderly may be prejudiced towards them, or have some degree of innate ageism (Gunderson et al, 2005 p 167). With the ongoing focus on patient-centeredness (DoH, 2 001, online) and on ensuring patient safety through the highest standards of care (DoH, 2004, online), this author would argue that actions which occur as a result of prejudicial preconceptions are quite likely to place patients at more risk. In this situation, the nurse may possess such preconceptions but be unaware of them, but this action could place the patient at risk. If someone else came along and asked the patient if they had had their medication (obviously in a more lucid moment), the patient would say no, because they would be unaware that this had occurred. Therefore, the patient could be overdosed because a second dose might be given. The ethical considerations that arise from this particular scenario are not the same as the legal ones, although there are large areas of both overlap and concordance of views (Lo, 2005). Hippocrates has been cited as stating that one should first do no harm. (viz Carrick 2000). This is the basis of the Hippocratic Oath which is taken by all doctors in the UK, and also the basis of fundamental principles of healthcare and professional practice. This is effectively translated into the Principle of Non-maleficence which means that the healthcare professionals must ensure that the patient is not harmed. An aggressive and confused patient may well be in danger of harming themselves and suitable treatment can be considered as justified in this context (van Uffelen, Chinapaw, van Mechelen et al. 2008), but it is questionable how much harm would occur due to this refusal to take the medication. The author would question whether it would not be more appropriate to allow the patient time to return to a more lucid state and then give consent for the medication, complying with their care themselves. This would respect their autonomy, and would also mean that the care given was not entirely bound by routines within the residential home, and would mean a patient-centred approach (DoH, 2001, online). The Principle of Beneficence can also be considered here, and it should be noted that this Principle is coloured by the circumstances of the event being considered. One could argue that the use of medication to ease the patients apparent distress is doing good under the terms of this Principle. If the overall aim of nursing practice is to act in the best interests of the patient, then it may be necessary to take such action, and to take responsibility for making such a decision, if it can be fully established that these actions are only done because it is better for the patient. This author would argue that in this situation, if the decision to put the medication in the food is just about expedience, about it being more convenient and manageable for the staff, then this would not be acting within the principle of beneficence. It is important to not just continue with standard or routine practice just because everyone does it. The balance in this situation is between beneficence and m aleficence, and is therefore relating to the motivation of the individual. Is the nurse doing this to avoid having to spend time and energy persuading the patient to take their medication? Or is this simply the best solution because otherwise the patient will not take the medication and will become ill as a result? More details about this would be required to fully understand the ethical challenge here. It would seem that the major problem with hiding medication in food is deception. Although it may be considered a practical expedient, It would not be an appropriate course of action if the patient was rational and competent, so consideration is required as to why it would be considered appropriate just because they are not competent and rational at this time (Wong, Poon, Hui 2007). Therefore, it is appropriate for the author to have questioned this practice, at this time, and to explore the parameters and dimensions of this action (Hargreaves, 2004 p 196). This area of intervention is fraught with difficulty and should not be entered into lightly. If a decision is made by the healthcare professionals to give the medication, it should be recorded in the notes together with the reasons for that decision and it should be given. If the patient will not take tablets then alternative routes of administration should be considered (Welsh and Deah 2007). It is not appropriate to overtly deceive or mislead the patient as doing so contravenes any concept of personal autonomy and dignity (NMC, 2004a, online; NMC, 2008, online). ). However, it may be that this course of action has been agreed with relatives or next of kin who have responsibility for the patient, which clouds the debate somewhat. There appears to be a fine line here between ethical and unethical practice, and therefore, it is important to clearly understand and justify why this course of action was taken. It would also help if nurses could address their own prejudices and potential bias about certain patients, through critical self examination and reflection (Daly, 1998 p 323). This would also help develop critical thinking skills (Daly, 1998 p 323). Nurses could then reflect critically on these kinds of actions to explore if there are not perhaps alternative approaches which could be used, such as providing the medication in a different form, one that is more palatable to the patient. It is not possible to easily define what the right course of action is in these circumstances, but if the nurse adheres to the principles of client centred practice (DoH, 2001, online), it should be easier to evaluate the motivations for these actions and therefore understand the ethical impact of this situation. However, it wo uld also be important to consider the theoretical basis for this, and for nurses in this particular care environment to discuss this practice and come to some consensus relating to the ethical issues and the ethical principles which arise from this kind of situation. NOW WHAT As part of this reflection the author will now try to draw together conclusions about the scenario described and discussed above, evaluating it as a whole. Having reflected on this scenario, it is apparent to the author that there is a lot to be learned from the situation. To begin with, it highlights how complex even simple nursing actions can be, particularly when they address ethical issues. The primary ethical issue in this scenario relates to the autonomy and capacity of the patient, and the motivation for the actions of the nurse involved. Autonomy is a key ethical principle, and respecting the rights and the individuality of the patient is central to professional nursing practice. Patient-centered practice is an ideal, but it should be a fundamental principle and in such a scenario, using patient-centeredness as a benchmark for evaluating care could be a useful way of analyzing whether nursing actions are ethical or not. In this scenario, the author would argue that the nurse should have taken more time with this particular patient, and should perhaps have considered how to provide the medication safely without challenging her autonomy quite so much. It is obvious that deception is a concept and practice that is incompatible with the fundamental principles of nursing and health care. This author has learned from this that covert actions are inacceptable, and if this situation were to arise again, they would feel empowered to challenge it, and to take action, to turn the focus back onto the rights of the patient. It is also important to consider the balance between the factors surrounding what constitutes the best interests of the patient. There will always be an ongoing negotiation, in situations when the patient is not fully competent, but if the nurse adheres to ethical principles, they will provide patient-centered care and this must, ultimately, meet the individual needs of the patient. This process of reflection has been a significant learning journey for the author, because it has broadened and deepened their understanding and insight into ethical challenges they face in their daily work and practice. Reflection, guided by a constructive model, has helped the author to analyze and evaluate this situation, and to explore the parameters of the ethics and philosophies which apply to it. The author has found that carrying out this reflection has not only enhanced their understanding of this situation, and of the complexities of the ethical questions raised by it, but also enhanced their critical thinking skills. Ethical decision making in nursing appears to be something that is hard to pin down, as ethical questions often leave a degree of confusion about the right and the wrong thing to do. Such is the case here, but the author has learned that there is literature to inform the nurse about the rights and wrongs of the more ambiguous ethical dilemmas, and that using such information can aid understanding and improve future practice.

Red Badge Of Courage :: essays research papers

Zack Andre RED BADGE OF COURAGE Red Badge of Courage Physical and emotional pain is what the tattered solider illustrates in the book. The tattered solider pain comes from all of the horrible things associated with war. Him going crazy brings emotional pain and the physical pain is brought on by the endu rances of war. "There was a tattered man, fouled with dust, blood and powder stain from hair to shoes, who trudged quietly at the youths side". The tattered solider also characterizes the toughness people can endear. Even through the harshness of war people will find something inside of them, overcome it and not let it bother them. The tattered solider goes out and lives through the tough endurance's of war but he finds something inside of him to live through it. The perfect solider is what Jim Conklin brings to the book. Jim never complains about war and fights as good as the next man. Many of the people look up to Jim because he is so strong willed. The regiments almost look up to Jim in a spiritual way find ing peace inside of them when they think of him. It is a tragedy when Jim dies because of all of the moral inspiration he gave the regiment. True to his character Jim dies a quiet and peaceful death not distributing any of the regiment. Wilson represents the two sides of human nature. In the beginning of the book Wilson is a mean tough guy that no one liked. This outward act of being tuff is just a cover of the true nature of Wilson. It is natural for people to cover their true natur e in front of new faces. Towards the end of the book Wilson starts to care about Henry. hen Henry is injured and he doesn't try and fight the other men anymore. True to human nature once times start getting more difficult and Wilson becomes more comforta ble with his surroundings he transcends into the calm compassionate person he really is.