Greenwashing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Greenwashing - Essay Example This essay is meant to make a travel through the realities of the profit-bothered present day business world and the upshot that is facing the next generation. There is no doubt that a unit of production of anything has to compromise with their controls to reduce garbage; however, the efforts it is willing to take to control the mishandling of such industrial wastes discriminates among the standards of various companies. In this alarming context, it becomes a collective responsibility of the people to protect their environment in order to get rid of the hazards in any form. If a standardized approach to ensure the shielding of environment is concerned, there arises the need for initiating the efforts to ensure the widely approved ‘green washing’ trials to save the earth from further degradation. To uncover the fact of social wellbeing lying in the core of every collective human effort, businessmen of the current time have to realize that the profitability of their motive s takes the right path only when the social requirements are fulfilled. The efforts of the visionaries to invoke the retailer giants and their sources are taking a better lead in the recent past as more and more customers are turning green-friendly by acting upon the need for refreshing the environmental conditions either directly or indirectly, thanks to their identification of most potential threats (The sins of greenwashing). However, the preference of customers to adopt a particular product that serves a specific purpose takes a categorical influx of differentiated opinions about making the right choice. In fact, it is not predictable as to what proportion of the customers is satisfied with most of the products they use daily. The need for a rethinking has to be identified with the managements of businesses that are directly dealing with the routine needs of the buyers in which they can implement trials on improving their social identity as responsible entities. The alarming fac t of uncontrollably increasing domestic garbage and the plastic disposal are the greatest actors in the challenges against the world nowadays. Many countries have recently developed a mechanism to promote the idea of protecting the environment by urging the common public as well as the visitors to adopt nature-friendly lifestyles. However, there are many witnesses from actual recipients of the evil face of many of the hoteliers and restaurant owners who comfortably compromise with their standards of such an ‘all green’ operation of their businesses. From the experience note of Lane (2011), it is so indicative as he says that most of such posters and catalogues that declare the ‘noble’ causes of behind the ‘love-all-green’ urges of the owners are no more beneficial than saving their cost-cut tactics by reducing the use of electricity and water whereby creating inconvenience to the guests. In most of the situations where the organizers of tours a nd holidays prepare sincere campaigns against the use of materials disastrous to the natural conditions of their own locations, plastic bags and containers are still a notable item of their trade. Developed countries like

Administrative Theories in Public Administration Essay Example for Free

Administrative Theories in Public Administration Essay I have never thought that administrative theories in Public Administration has been established back in 1800 with theorist who have discovered or developed and now has been part of the system of the Philippine government. The earliest contributors to our understanding of management theory included practicing managers as well as social scientist. More recent theorist has tended to be academic or management consultants. The early theorist can be divided into 2 main groups – the practicing managers such, as Taylors and Fayol and the social scientists, such as Mayo and Mc Gregor. Meet the Mr. Taylor, the theorist of Scientific Management. Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915), one of the early practical manager-theorist, born in Boston, Massachusetts, spent the greater part of his life working on the problems of achieving greater efficiency on the shop-floor where he manages. The solution he came up with was based directly on his own experience at work, initially as a shop floor worker and later as a manager. He pioneers scientific management which includes: The systematic study of the relationships between and tasks to redesign the work for higher efficiency. Taylor sought to reduce the time a worker spent on each task by optimizing the way the task was done. Scientific Management Theory Organizations were seeking ways to better satisfy customer needs Machinery was changing the way goods were produced Managers had to increase the efficiency of the worker-task mix According to him, there are 4 Principles to increase efficiency that are: a. Study the way the job is performed now and determine new ways to do it. Gather detailed, time and motion information; try different methods to see which is best b. Codify the method into rules – Teach to all workers c. Select workers whose skills match the rules set in step2 d. Establish a fair level of performance and pay for higher performance – Workers should benefit from higher output But, Taylor recognizes that the measures he was proposing would appear to be more than just a new method – they would be revolutionary. He stated that the outset that â€Å"scientific management† would require a complete mental revolution on the part of management and workers. Henry Fayol (1841-1924) – father of modern management theory He divided industrial into 6 groups: technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting managerial And formulated the 14 Principles of management which we are using it every day in our daily activities, allow me to enumerate them and somehow expand a little. Division of Labor – allows for job specialization, Authority and responsibility – Fayol noted firms can have too much specialization leading to poor quality and worker involvement. Unity of command – employees should have one boss. Line of authority – a clear chain from top to bottom of the firm. Centralization – the degree to which authority rests at the very top. Unity of direction – one plan of action to guide the organization. Equity – treat all employees fairly in justice and respect. Order – each employee is put where they have the most value. Initiative – encourages innovation. Discipline – obedient, applied, respectful employees needed. Remuneration of Personnel – The payment system contributes to the success. Stability of nature – long term employment is important. General interest over personal interest – the organization takes precedence over the individual. Esprit de corps – share enthusiasm or devotion to the organization. I have added here some of the theorist I researched which I consider to be worth sharing. Mary Parker – an influential leader in early managerial theory. a. Suggested workers help in analyzing their jobs for improvements b. The worker knows the best way to improve the job c. If workers have the knowledge of the task, then they should control the task. The Hawthorne Studies It appears that the workers enjoyed the attention they received as part of the study and were more productive. Contingency Theory – Assumes there is no one best way to manage The environment impact the organization and managers must be flexible to react to environmental changes The way the organization is designed, control systems selected, depend on the environment Conclusion As management theories evolved in centuries, the principles and ideas were never changed yet it has been a guiding value to those who are in public nor private service and to those who are employed and business people. It’s amazing how they have passed on to many generations of people who wanted to learn and use the theories. The theories have been explicit in explanations and user-friendly, though there are theorists who have presented different thoughts on the earlier theorist but if we examine deeply, it’s all the same, only presented in different design. Before I end, I would just like to emphasize the last part of the theories because it speaks about our relationship with the environment and how we will relate environmental, Technological environments change rapidly so must managers.

Studying - With Children! Essay -- Personal Narratives

Studying - With Children! When people think of starting over, a lot of different things come to mind. Starting over could be simply going back to the drawing board in a business venture, rewriting an English paper, or rearranging your life. Even rearranging your life can be from many different aspects. Alcoholics need to start over. Gamblers need to start over. Divorced people need to make a new start as well. In which direction does starting over take you? Starting over for me first of all meant finding a way to keep up with all of the payments a married couple acquire with a home and kids. Everyone always says, "you’ll be just fine." And I suppose that is true. Financially there is always a job out there. Maybe not a high paying job, but a job to get you by. There are other factors. The kids. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, and depending on their ages will decide how you will answer them and how much information you will give. They do bounce back a lot quicker than us adults†¦ "Mom, are you alright?" asks a concerned four-year old. Ever since Larry...

Game Not over, Not Yet

Game Not Over, Not Yet Electronics Art’s (EA) competitive advantage from the perspective of the industrial organization view (I/O) is their choice of industry is very attractive. Todays world consist of many people who spend several hours playing video games. EA is from this aspect is stacking up ok against their competitors but they are also failing in their position. EA’s sales are down from previous years and they also missed the initial social gaming trend of which they are now trying hard to develop a digital platform for many of their popular games.The next perspective is resource-based view (RBV). EA’s resource based view in the past was great until the digital gaming came on board. EA was used to the technology at that time when they were popular for their games such as Madden NFL and Battlefield. It seems they’ve lost their innovative â€Å"touch† now that most games are becoming digital and they were not in position to enter into that digi tal platform and social gaming. EA was known for their resources because they had the human, physical, intangible, structural/cultural, and financial assets to develop produce and deliver to their customers.They seemed to have all the resources needed when they had their competitive advantage but Electronics Arts did not prepare themselves for the changes in the behavior of consumers and retailers or trends which is now causing them to loose their competitive advantage. What they were producing had value but was not rare enough and could be exploited by other companies who were willing to take them on. From the perspective of guerilla view EA’s competitive advantage was definitely temporary.They lacked the ability to change and radically surprise competitors with strategic actions and as a company their focus of analysis both external and internal was failing. EA was not able to continue their before track record of disrupting current situations that would aide in helping the m to maintain their competitive advantage. Yes, EA does exhibits the critical factors for the new business context. They now have a new CEO who is on board and is brining back the discipline needed in order to stay on top.Their new CEO has found out what caused them to give up their â€Å"status† and is implementing it. They are starting back at square one of having designers identify the creative center of a game, understanding their customers by using small focus groups, and sharing best practices and technologies through their intranet library. They are also disciplining the necessary people†¦the next generation and project management. The resource EA appears to have are the human resources, intangible assets, structural/cultural assets, and finances.I feel that the human resources is a unique thing to have because it is hard to acquire people who have the experience, characteristics, knowledge, judgment, wisdom, skills, abilities, and competencies needed to achieve t he company goal. Also although their financial status is not what it used to be they still have enough money to invest and be innovative again. The only ethical and social responsibility issues I can see them dealing with possibly replicating another companies digital platform.The only way to handle that is by coming up with their own and patenting it or even by just expanding their already owned brand names patents and databases. EA has to learn how to be creative again. The only stakeholders EA might have to be concerned with are the groups or individuals who can influence their company’s decisions, which at some point can possibly be their competitors which will directly affect them. References Coulter, M. (2013). Strategic management in action. (6th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, N. J. : Pearson Education, Inc.

An Eerie Object

Gemma, Sam and Emma were three friends destined to have a good time. Emma was the daring one, who was never frightened to try anything and always spoke her mind, where as Gemma was shy and was a bit reluctant to try daring and exciting things. Sam; she was a bit of both, anything suited her. On this particular night, the three friends had decided to go on to the beach for a walk. Knowing it was cold and foggy outside they wore their scarves tight around their necks and their gloves covering every inch of their hands. They had decided to meet at the fair, so they could head straight for the beach and begin to have a good time. As Sam walked alone, to the designated meeting place, the sky darkened, the breeze sent shivers down her spine but the thought of meeting up with her friends gave Sam a secure feeling. The Wind howled viciously, as Sam spotted her friends at the fair gates, behind the hazy mist. â€Å"Hey Girls! Is that you?† Sam shouted in hesitation. Sam kept on walking in the direction of her friends, until they seen her. â€Å"Hi Sam, what took you so long?† questioned Emma, with a shiver in her voice. â€Å"What do you mean ‘What took you so long' I'm early, like usual† Sam argued to her friends. â€Å"Oh well, we must be even earlier, Emma† Gemma turned and said to her friend. Without saying another word, they began to walk through the fair, arm in arm, to protect their fears. An eerie feeling sprung upon the three friends and none of them liked it. Clinching each other tightly, they could smell fear was near. Sam being brave spoke about her feelings † Girls, I really don't like this, would it be o.k if we went for a walk another night?† â€Å"Oh do we have to? The night is young and adventures are approaching, I sense it,† Emma spoke, sounding disappointed by Sam's question. â€Å"The only thing you sense, Emma, is fear like the rest of us!† screamed Sam bitterly. Shocked by her friends attempt to start an argument, Emma spilled questions and ideas out of her big mouth. â€Å"What if I do, What if I sense both? Fear and adventure, doesn't it appeal to you?† Sam and Gemma looked at each other terrifyingly. Emma wasn't sure which of them would voice their answer first. A minute passed by and silence fell among the trio of girls. â€Å"No it doesn't! Do you realise you sound crazy saying that? Emma it didn't even appeal to you before now, did it?† Gemma shyly admitted, questioning her friend angrily. â€Å"Maybe not, but it does now, so if you don't want to come on an adventure that is your choice but I am no matter what!† Emma decided, giving her friends a choice. As Emma bravely walked off, the fear was back and she was petrified. The wind blew her long brown hair into her face and she struggled to see the view ahead. The fair rides cast a large shadow over the ground and Emma realised she was in the darkness, ALONE! Footsteps crept up behind Emma, but Emma vowed to herself not to look back. This was so she didn't look afraid, if her friends happened to still be standing there and saw her. â€Å"You didn't think we'd just let you go alone, anything could happen to you and if it did, we wouldn't forgive ourselves for leaving you† Gemma announced, speaking for herself and Sam. Emma was stunned by her friends' actions, but secretly knew they would follow on. Once again they were arm in arm, taking big strides, so they would reach the beach quicker. Light peaked out from the exit of the fairground and a smile mounted on the friend's faces. The Beach was now in front of the girls; it's golden grains of sand being thrown around by the vicious wind. Unlinking their arms, they all sat down on the edge of the sand and proceeded to take their socks and shoes off; so they could feel the golden sand beneath their feet. â€Å"Come on girls, this is where our adventure beings† Emma signalled for the girls to follow her. Gemma and Sam couldn't believe what they had let themselves in for, Emma wasn't one for little adventures, they always had to be big where she was concerned. Traipsing behind, Gemma and Sam were bored, already! â€Å"Arghhhhh!† Emma screamed at the top of her voice. â€Å"Emma, Emma, are you aright?† Shouted Emma's friends as they ran over to where she was situated. As Gemma and Sam approached Emma she was slumped on the sand with her head down, laughing uncontrollably. As she lifted her head up, her laughter turned into seriousness and the smile was wiped from her, as the look on Gemma and Sam's faces wasn't one Emma would want to mess with. â€Å"We thought you were in danger, I can't believe you were only joking on1† Sam screamed in an angry tone. Sam stomped off and Gemma followed. They weren't at all impressed with Emma's actions and they regretted agreeing to go on an adventure. â€Å"Girls, wait for me!† Emma called out to her friends as she attempted to get he balance when standing up. Emma was alone now and her friends were just shadows in the distance, if only she hadn't of screamed, she didn't even know why she did it! Kicking the sand as she walked, Emma heard voices, were these voices the ones of Gemma and Sam or was there someone else on the beach? Emma thought. â€Å"Emma, quick! Over here!† Voices shrieked Emma ran as fast as she could in the direction she heard the voices from. Being a curious person, she couldn't wait to find out what was going on. Reaching her destination, Emma saw Gemma and Sam standing firmly in the sand, admiring a strange object. â€Å"Oh, its you two† sighed Emma â€Å"What's that?† â€Å"Yes its us two and we thought you would know what it was† Exclaimed Gemma. The object they were looking at was a star shape; it was not very big and had, what looked like, inscriptions carved into it. Kneeling down, Sam took a closer look at the mysterious object, which lay in front of them. Now closer, Sam seen that he object was some sort of a box, maybe it held an object inside, Sam thought to herself. â€Å"Aren't you going to pick it up and give us a closer look? We want to see it as well†, Emma whined. Being cautious about touching it, Sam reached over and placed her hands on each side of the object, preparing to pick it up and hand it to her friends. Beginning to lift it up, Sam suddenly felt her hands starting to burn and immediately dropped it! Cries of pain were heard from Sam! â€Å"What's happened? Are you alright, Sam?† Emma and Gemma asked their friend, who appeared to be in tremendous amounts of pain. â€Å"My hands, they're really hurting! The box, it burnt them, as I picked it up!† Sam stated. â€Å"Maybe, the box didn't want to be found, what if it's powers haunt us, forever?† Emma asked rhetorically. â€Å"Sam, Emma might be right, although I don't believe in secret powers and all that malarkey like she does† Gem said with a thinking look upon her face. â€Å"What are we going to do with it then? We could bury it?† Sam suggested. â€Å"Yeah, good idea but there is one slight problem† Gemma announced, â€Å"Someone else might find it†. â€Å"That's the risk we have to take, Gemma† Sam told her friend. Agreeing to the idea of burying it, Gemma and Emma knelt down and the three friends began to dig a hole to put the star-shaped object in. Ten minutes later, the sky had got darker and the hole was now deep enough for the object. Emma, being brave, stood up and kicked the object into the hole. It fell to the bottom and then girls wearily filled the hole with sand. â€Å"Phew, I'm glad that is over, Can we just go straight home now?† Sam sighed with relief and wanted so badly to go home, where she would be safe. â€Å"Come on let's go† Emma said, as she pulled Sam up from her kneeling position. â€Å"Ouch, be careful, my hands are still sore!† Sam moaned at Emma. Once again they were arm in arm and they started their journey home. â€Å"I hope our next adventure is not as painful as this one† Sam laughed. â€Å"And I think we should make a promise to stay together at all times and never to tell anyone about ‘The Object' â€Å"Emma suggested with a smile. â€Å"We promise we won't leave you Emma and Promise we won't tell† Gemma and Sam promised, in a ‘forgive us please tone'. When they reached the fair gates, they said their goodbyes and wished each other a safe journey home.

Big Creek Ecosystem essays

Big Creek Ecosystem essays In this report I will discuss the relationships and interactions between abiotic and biotic compounds found in big creek. Furthermore I will discuss the two main phenomena, which occur in big creek, this includes energy flow and nutrient cycling. First of all, as a class we found eight organisms that live and grow in the big creek habitat. These organisms are the biotic components that live in big creek. The abiotic components are comprised of the water, soil, and inorganic nutrients that are found in big creek. Within the biotic component there is a population, which would be a group of a single species. Many populations found together in the same area would be a community. In the community we are looking at we found two producers, green algae and diatoms. These producers are the beginning of the nutrient cycle in big creek. They take in sunlight and through photosynthesis they build proteins or sugars, which will be used by the next organisms in the nutrient cycle. The herbivores found were protozoans and water fleas. Both of these organisms feed on substances such as green algae and diatoms. The original sunlight has been made into sugars, which water fleas and protozoans can use to further the nutrient cycle in big creek. All of the organisms we will discuss have a particular niche in the big creek habitat. They all depend on each other to continue the cycle of growth in big creek. The two carnivores observed by the class were snails and fly larvae. Both of these organisms not only consume protozoans and water fleas, but they also consume diatoms and green algae. Once again cycling the nutrients further through the ecosystem. Also present in the ecosystem is the flow of energy through all of these organisms. All original energy came from the sun, which was then used by our producers, diatoms and green algae and converted into another form of energy that is used by herbivores and carnivores t ...

Macbeth is primarily a play in which good triump Essays

Macbeth is primarily a play in which good triump Essays "Macbeth" is primarily a play in which good triumphs over evil. To what extent so you agree? PLAN- Main contention: That evil easily overpowers good to a certain extent however in the end good wins. Introduction- William Shakespeare - Early 16th century - downfall of great warrior- TS1 - The influences of the witches manipulated the noble Macbeth- TS2 - Ambition and desire took over lady Macbeth and Macbeth and turned them evil- TS3 - Macbeth (evil) falls against Macduff at the end (good) - Linking sentence: Shakespeare ultimately demonstrates that the destructive nature of evil eventually surrenders to the light of goodness. Body paragraph 1 - Characters: - Witches - Comparison with Lady Macbeth (both use manipulation and deception)- Plot events: Witches giving false prophecies to Macbeth, which manipulated Macbeth, fueled his ambitions which destroyed the nobleness within Macbeth. - Themes: Ambition, manipulation, deception- Historical context: How witches were viewed as "instruments of darkness" and King James' interest in this sa tanic shit which led Shakespeare to writing about this.- Literary techniques: - imagery of where the witches met - Witches tone Body Paragraph 2 - Characters: - Lady Macbeth and Macbeth - Comparing the evilness in Lady Macbeth with kind Lady Macduff - Even though Lady Macduff (good) got killed, her husband Macduff ultimately killed Macbeth. - Comparing Banquo and Macbeth, Banquo didn't listen to witches thus evil did not take over him but Macbeth did so evil did take over him. - Plot events: mentioned above- Themes:

Oreopithecus - Facts and Figures

Oreopithecus - Facts and Figures Name: Oreopithecus (Greek for mountain ape); pronounced ORE-ee-oh-pith-ECK-us Habitat: Islands of southern Europe Historical Epoch: Late Miocene (10-5 million years ago) Size and Weight: About four feet tall and 50-75 pounds Diet: Plants, nuts and fruit Distinguishing Characteristics: Longer arms than legs; monkey-like feet About Oreopithecus Most of the prehistoric primates that preceded modern humans led lives that were nasty, brutish and short, but this doesnt appear to have been the case with Oreopithecusbecause this chimpanzee-like mammal had the good fortune to live on isolated islands off the Italian coast, where it was relatively free from predation. A good clue to the comparatively trouble-free existence of Oreopithecus is that paleontologists have unearthed about 50 complete skeletons, making this one of the best understood of all ancient apes. As so often happens with animals restricted to island habitats, Oreopithecus possessed a strange mix of features, including strong, gripping, monkey-like feet, an ape-like head with teeth reminiscent of the earliest humans, and (last but not least) longer arms than legs, a clue that this primate spent much of its time swinging from branch to branch. (Theres also some tantalizing evidence that Oreopithecus may have been able to walk upright for short periods of time, which has thrown a wrench into the usual timelines for hominid evolution.) Oreopithecus met its doom when plunging sea levels connected its islands with the mainland, whence its ecosystem was invaded by the mammalian megafauna of continental Europe. By the way, the name Oreopithecus has nothing to do with the famous cookie; oreo is the Greek root for mountain or hill, though this hasnt prevented some paleontologists from affectionately referencing Oreopithecus as the cookie monster.

Internet Business and Electronic Commerce Assignment

Internet Business and Electronic Commerce - Assignment Example The paper tells that Internet has revolutionized the human life considerably. The traditional principles with respect to many areas of human life have been changed with the entry of internet and the business segment is also not an exception. At the introduction stage many people thought the internet is just another medium of communication; nothing more than that. But then as time progresses, people has realized the potential of internet in many areas of human life and at present it is used extensively in education, business, communication, transportation etc. E-commerce is a paperless exchange of business information using electronic data like e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, fax transmissions, and electronic funds transfer etc. A recent survey conducted by Nielsen/Net ratings and Harris Interactive indicates e-commerce sites are driving more purchases offline than online. Electronic commerce or e-commerce is attracting business both in offline and online modes. Many people use in ternet for comparing the features and prices of different products of similar kind then visit shops for purchasing. Online business has much wider scopes than offline businesses because of the wider reach-ability of it. It is easy for a person to purchase a product from America staying in some other countries using a simple credit card. Moreover, the consumer can compare the prices of the same product in various countries and thus he will able to purchase a product for the cheapest possible price. This research mainly concentrates on yahooshopping.com, shopping.aol.com, ebay.com levistrauss.com for analyzing the online business generally and amazon.com for analyzing the online book business specifically. Yahooshopping.com, shopping.aol.com, ebay.com, and levistrauss.com are offering various products for the customers like clothing, accessories, flowers, gifts, electronic items, computers, sports items jewelry, watches, holiday tour packages, medicines, fragrances, beauty products et c.

The Influence of Aldo Leopold on Modern Resource Management and Essay

The Influence of Aldo Leopold on Modern Resource Management and Conservation - Essay Example They include the materials and energy that serves the needs of man in the society (McKinney, Schoch, & Yonavjak, 153). The naturally occurring materials like trees, soil, and water are all resources that are valued by man. There are those resources that can be replaced within a short duration and those that cannot be replaced within the short duration. These are referred to as renewable and non-renewable resources respectively (McKinney, Schoch, & Yonavjak, 153). Some of the non-renewable resources like coal may take thousands or millions of years to be replaced. An important point to note for the resources is that the rate at which they are consumed often exceeds the rate of renewal and posing a challenge on their scarcity. On the other hand, there are some resources that are in large supply but the problem is how to harness and use it appropriately e.g. the solar energy (McKinney, Schoch, & Yonavjak, 153). The increasing size of human population is becoming a threat to the natural resources with a possibility of overexploitation of the resources. There is, therefore, a need to provide an alternative to this excess exploitation of natural resources (McKinney, Schoch, & Yonavjak, 153). This brings in the concept of resource management. Resource management entails a controlled exploitation of the natural resources. It arises due to the fact the exploitation of natural resources has both costs and benefits. The big deal is to perform a cost-benefit analysis and develop a mechanism for proper use of the resources. Aldo Leopold was a philosopher, forester, and conservationist who played a key role in the establishment of wildlife management system in the United States. He was born towards the end of the nineteenth century and was brought up in Burlington (Austin College, para.9) He had an early interest in the natural resources and this would influence his future careers and profession. He pursued forest related careers at various institutions

Eastern Cape Education rot goes deep Case Study

Eastern Cape Education rot goes deep - Case Study Example upply chain. These problems were needed to be solved as soon as possible. This requires implementation of a turnaround strategy by the national government, which can end the wrong directional functions of the department. The first portion of the report will provide recommendation to the minister to rectify the present situation in the Eastern Cape education department. The second portion of the study will provide recommendations to the ministers so that they can successfully implement the strategies that are required for rectifying the present situation in the Eastern Cape education department. The third part of the study will reflect the different types of strategic control methods which can be used by the Eastern Cape Education Department to improve the performance of the organization. ... upply chain, improper functioning of the financial management systems, lack of proper management systems, poor work culture and organizations structure, etc were also because of the improper functioning of the educational department. If the educational department had performed its activities in an efficient way, then there would have been no scope of flaws in the functioning of the educational institutions. It is very essential that the national government implements a performance management tool to measure as well as control the overall performance of the educational department. It is advised to the national government to implement balanced scorecard which will help to measure the individual performance of the employees (i.e. teachers, principles, other staff etc) as well as the overall performance of the organization. This portion of the study will deal with the recommendation of performance management of the Eastern Cape education department. The performance of the Eastern Cape Ed ucation Department will be measured based on four main perspectives. They are financial perspectives, customer’s perspectives, internal business processes and the learning growth perspectives. The balanced score card will help in evaluating the performance of the education department associated with the financial and other non financial factors (Kaplan and Norton, 1992). It will help in aligning the operational activities along with the goals of the educational department. The balanced score card will improve the internal as well as the external communication and also monitor the whole performance. The balanced score card will provide new strategies for implementing an appropriate performance management process (Kaplan, 2001). The balanced score card was found by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr.

Analysis and Valuation of General Dynamics Essay

Analysis and Valuation of General Dynamics - Essay Example The total sales revenue was USD 30, 852. General Dynamics Corporation conducts business with worldwide government customers like governments of Australia, The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico and Canada. There is a long term commitment to enhance customer relationships with regional suppliers and employers in the identified governments. The commercial business segment of the corporation entails export of business-jet aircrafts and global aircraft services. In recent years, there is significant expansion of business-jet aircraft services. Expansion of market segments is also seen in emerging markets (PRAHALAD, 2008). There is growing segment of aircraft business in the international markets. The international market segment grew by 60% in the year 2014. The company competes with both small and large companies which are specialized in capability or technology. Combat systems compete with a number of foreign and domestic companies. There is one primary competitor of Marine systems called Hurtington Ingallas Industries. The company was formerly known as Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. The company subcontracts and partners in many programs such as SSN 774 Virginia Class Submarines. The company is involved in subcontracting and teaming relationship with the competitors. It team works, the company acts as an integrator who oversees efforts of all team members in the contract. The General Dynamics main competitors in defense market include Boeing, BAE Systems, Raytheon, Ingallas Industries, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. The key competitors in the aircraft range include Gulfstream Competitors, Cessna, Dassault and Embraer (DAMODARAN, 2013). The main competitive factors in the aircraft market business include reliability of aircraft, performance, and aircraft safety, comfort of aircraft, in-flight productivity, timeliness, service quality, and offer of competitive prices. Aspects such as new product

Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Football Industry Assignment

Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Football Industry - Assignment Example Weaknesses of the Football Industry The football industry has problems with transparency in governance. There have been several issues of match fixing that goes against the doctrine of fair play. Match fixing is much common in highly competitive tournaments such as the World Cup, EUFA Champions League and the Premier League (Hopkins & Treadwell 2014, p. 117). In addition, there have been issues with buying new players and transfers where football clubs enroll underage players or evade taxes. Another weakness of the industry is overreliance on a single source of income. Football teams rely on funds from subscriptions of supporters. The situation implies that the financial position of teams is dependent on the number of tickets sold. However, ticket sales are not constant and are affected by several factors such as team performance, weather, and the economic situation. In this regard, football teams have an uncertain future unless the industry diversify its sources of income. The football industry is reliant on the media for coverage and publicity. This means that the industry must maintain good relations with the media. People who cannot visit stadia often follow matches through television. The media houses benefit from broadcasting the football content by paying the teams specified amounts of money. However, the media houses benefiting from the content desire more control in the sport (Chadwick & Hamil 2010, p.249). The industry can suffer greatly if there are wrangles with the media and may lose supporters.

Analysis and Valuation of General Dynamics Essay

Analysis and Valuation of General Dynamics - Essay Example The total sales revenue was USD 30, 852. General Dynamics Corporation conducts business with worldwide government customers like governments of Australia, The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico and Canada. There is a long term commitment to enhance customer relationships with regional suppliers and employers in the identified governments. The commercial business segment of the corporation entails export of business-jet aircrafts and global aircraft services. In recent years, there is significant expansion of business-jet aircraft services. Expansion of market segments is also seen in emerging markets (PRAHALAD, 2008). There is growing segment of aircraft business in the international markets. The international market segment grew by 60% in the year 2014. The company competes with both small and large companies which are specialized in capability or technology. Combat systems compete with a number of foreign and domestic companies. There is one primary competitor of Marine systems called Hurtington Ingallas Industries. The company was formerly known as Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. The company subcontracts and partners in many programs such as SSN 774 Virginia Class Submarines. The company is involved in subcontracting and teaming relationship with the competitors. It team works, the company acts as an integrator who oversees efforts of all team members in the contract. The General Dynamics main competitors in defense market include Boeing, BAE Systems, Raytheon, Ingallas Industries, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. The key competitors in the aircraft range include Gulfstream Competitors, Cessna, Dassault and Embraer (DAMODARAN, 2013). The main competitive factors in the aircraft market business include reliability of aircraft, performance, and aircraft safety, comfort of aircraft, in-flight productivity, timeliness, service quality, and offer of competitive prices. Aspects such as new product

Service operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Service operations - Essay Example In between 1900 to 1950 concept of industrial society came into the picture. Each and every organization was concentrating towards increasing their production. Manufacturing maximum number of goods in small price was the industrial trend. In 1950 the economy observed a metamorphic change where services industry emerged as the main sector for American people. It was famously known as post industrial era. During this period, 50%-80% of American people were engaged within the services industry. Currently the trend is almost same. The sector is highly dominated by health, education entertainment industry. With the changing era organizations also have changed their criterions related with workforces. Theoretical reasoning, creativity and judgment have become more important than mere execution of plans. Previously numbers of manual workers were two times higher than white-collar person but since the post industrial era the situation has changed while now the scenario has reversed. Services industry generates maximum numbers of employment than any other sectors. Operation is the most important and generally the largest functionality of any service providing organization. Even in a university or in a financial firm there is also importance of operation because employees which are carrying out different services are the parts of operation. In simple words, operation is the inseparable backbone of any service organization. A manager of a top service organization has to depend upon the works of his workforces and without their operations providing services are impossible. Modern world has changed a lot. Increasing productivity and efficiency of the workforce is the need of the hour for different organizations in the world. Modern day service industry in US is highly competitive. Every organization is competing hard to provide good quality services to their customers. In this

Complete alignment of purposes Essay Example for Free

Complete alignment of purposes Essay Functionalism is the complete alignment of purposes of different sectors of society. This encompasses the inter-dependence of different social attributes to make the society survive (McClelland 1). In terms of schooling in the US, educational institutions serve as the primary educating sector for the population. The main function of schooling is to promote the total knowledge build up of younger individuals so that they may be able to contribute good effects not only to their respective lives but to function as an element for the whole society. More importantly, schooling functions to disseminate what is supposed to be the norms and roles of each individual. In the classroom, the main approach to realize the functional contribution of schools is by using instructors. The teachers have a delegated format of teaching which exposes the students to day to day â€Å"functional† tasks such as participating in discussions, taking examinations and interacting with each other to fulfill a certain goal say for example in completing a group project. Basically, the main advantage of having a functionalist perspective is that each member works for the survival of the system. Although there may be a generic principle in making the mindsets of individuals aware of the natural goal, they can be divided into segments according to their capabilities and possible contributions. In such a way, a functionalist perspective starts to regard the importance of each small parts arriving at a single union of goals for the whole system. However, there are also disadvantages in using the philosophy of functionalism. For one, functionalism reduces the possibility for improvement. Social change may be too difficult to achieve if all of the parts of the system have already accepted their roles and became highly attached to them. The society may then become too static and might face a great dilemma if ever it wants to drastically change itself for the better. Works Cited McClelland, Kent. Functionalism. Grinell. 2000. 29 Jan 2008 http://web. grinnell. edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Functionalism. html.

Director Network Influence on Stock Price Cash Risks

Director Network Influence on Stock Price Cash Risks Introduction A sprouting issue in corporate governance and the business world is the concept of executive network. Recent accounting and finance literature use social network theory to explain various corporate behaviors and practices steaming from information, resources exchange and relationship building. The correlation between executive network and earnings management (Omer et al, 2016; Chui, et al 2012), director network and tax management (Brown Drake, 2013), and director network and corporate investment decisions (Singh Schonlau, 2009), among other corporate practices have been capaciously researched but stock price crash risk has been overlooked in the area of social networks. Firms have congruent behavior patterns as a result of the information exchange among them. The observed herding behavior of firms can be explained by social network theory which predicts firms to imitate others especially those perceived to possess superior information (Lieberman Asaba, 2006). Corporate executives have incentives to manipulate the financial performance by withholding bad news (with the believe that such bad news can be over turned in the future) and accelerating the disclosure of good news (as this signifies competency). As directors imitate each other, such behavior can easily diffuse among them. The effect of director networks on firms performance disclosures is multifaced. Prior director network literature document that through information exchange, directors learn from their peers on how to better perform their monitoring and advising roles to maximize shareholder value (Chuluun et al., 2014; Larcker et al., 2013). Directors can enhance their monitoring expertis e by linking up with other directors who are more experienced and connected to other experienced directors. Through the positive learning hypothesis, directors become better monitors of managers of their firms. My conjecture here is that directors can improve their individual expertise and efficiency by obtaining more quality information from other directors. As a two-edged sword, director networks can also be a vehicle for the diffusion of bad corporate practices. Social interactions can act as dais through which information about undesirable corporate practices are exchanged. According to Davis (1991), the diffusion of poison pills adopted among US firms in the late 1980s were engineered through the network directors built. Also, options expending and backdating were documented to relate to networked firms (Reppenhagen 2010, Bizjak et al., 2009). The propensity to replicate bad act when those engaged in the act go scot-free after a long time (Marvin Shigeru, 2006). By the negative learning hypothesis, directors carry information about such bad corporate practices to their firms. This can mitigate against the monitory role of directors hence adversely affect their performance. I assume that directors take the final responsibility for various corporate practices including financial report transparency and disclosures. This proposed study seeks to employ social network and business imitation theory to examine stock price crash, which usually result from hoarding bad news from the stock market. Prior literature argue that managers hoard bad news either to achieve personal goals such as higher compensation, job security and empire building or presumptuously to maximize long-term shareholders value (Ball, 2009; Kothari et al., 2009; Graham et al, 2005). Whatever the goal, whether to achieve personal agenda or to promote shareholder value, bad news hoarded and accumulated for long result in stock price crash. (Hutton et al.,2009; Jin and Myers, 2006). Several papers, summarized below, have explored the connection between crash risk and various firm level characteristics. However, studies that directly investigate stock price risk through executive personal characteristics have concentrated mostly on managers personal attributes such as CEO over confidence but the social structure within which the phenomenon is practiced has largely been ignored. My proposed study seek to examine the empirical link between the relationships directors build and the distribution of stock returns. My study will contribute to the literature in several ways. First, to my knowledge, this will be the first study to examine the relation between director network and stock crash risk. By focusing on a unique perspective, this study will provide new evidence concerning the economic consequences of social imitations. In particular, the findings will identify significant benefits that social interactions bring to firms and their shareholders. Xing, Zhang, and Zhao (2010) and Yan (2011) suggest that extreme outcomes in the equity market are of extreme concerns to shareholders and will require interpretations. Thus, the empirical evidence will be useful for understanding the role that director network plays in influencing both corporate behavior and investor welfare. Second, this will extend the literature on corporate governance by showing the relation between social connectivity and stock price crash risk relative to the strength of corporate governance mechanisms in place in a firm. Th is will provide more explanation on the conventional governance mechanisms in monitoring the flow of corporate information to the equity market. Third, this study will add to the research on bad news hoarding theory of stock price crash risk. In particular, the implication of social interactions for future crash risk will provide valuable insights into the behavioral-sociological nature of managerial manipulation of information. Recent studies on crash risk suggest that managerial bad news hoarding activities can be explain via religion (Jeffrey L. Callen and Xiaohua Fang, 2015), corporate social responsibility (Yongtae Kim, 2014), CEOs over confidence (Jeong-Bon Kim, 2014), CFOs equity incentives (Jeong-Bon Kim, 2011) accounting conservatism (Kim et al, 2010), tax avoidance (Kim et al, 2010), and corporate financial opacity (Hutton et al, 2009). However, it is not clear what role executive social connections and/or social norms play in influencing the behavior to conceal bad news. My study will help to fill this gap in the literature by providing evidence on the relation between director network and crash risk and the consequential role that social connections play on managerial bad news hoarding activities. Last, but not the least, this study will provide investors with priceless information on how the social business environment affects firm behavior, which may help them to predict and eschew future stock price crash in their portfolio investment decisions. Research objective The objective of this study is to find out how stock price crash is influence by the social set up directors build. Specific research questions are; Can stock price crash risk be explained through director network? Does the level of stock price crash risk increase with the degree of executive connectedness? How much dissidence of stock price crash is attributable to director network? Research design The variables for this study-director connectedness and stock price crash risk will be independently estimated using Riskmetrics, CRSP and COMPUSTAT data. The Riskmetrics will be used in computing the measures of directors network. Data on the stock return for the calculating crash risk will be obtained from CRSP while compustat will provide the relevant company financials for my research. My sample size will cover the period of 1990-2014. The result of the first stage estimation will be put into a cross-sectional regression model for further estimation of the relationship between firm networks and stock price crash risk. I will use UCINET/PAJEK to estimate various dimensions of director networks (Omer et al., 2014). Crash risk will be estimated using (Chen et al .2001), Jin and Myers (2006) and Hutton et al (2009) models which provides three measures of crash risk including i) the negative coefficient of skewness of firms specific daily returns, ii) the down-to-up volatility of firm -specific daily returns, and iii) the difference between the number of days with negative extreme firm-specific daily returns and the number of days with positive extreme firm-specific daily returns. The primary model for the regression will be; CrashRiskj =ÃŽÂ ±+ÃŽÂ ²1 DirectorNetworkj + ÃŽÂ ²2Controlvariables + ÃŽÂ µi Where CrashRiskj and DirectorNetworkj refer to the various measurements of crash risks and director networks of firm J respectively. Literature review Former Chairman of the Board of General Motors John G. Smale wrote in 1995: The board is responsible for the successful perpetuation of the corporation. That responsibility cannot be relegated to management. A board of directors is expected to play a key role in corporate governance. The board has responsibility for: CEO selection and succession; providing feedback to management on the organizations strategy; compensating senior executives; monitoring financial health, performance and risk; and ensuring accountability of the organization to its investors and authorities. The board thus play important role in corporate governance hence the need to study the board in broader perspective including their social networks. This is because through network, knowledge, ideas and corporate practices whether good or bad are shared between companies. Director network thus serves vehicle for the spread of behavior between related firms. (Asch 1951; Milgram 1963, Hirshleifer and Teoh (2003, 2009) Director networks Social network theory suggests that individuals behavior is the product of their social interactions and this connection extends to corporate behavior (Jackson, 2008; Newman, 2010). Individuals and their links form a network across which they share ideas and resources, which influences their decision. Under opacity, observe behaviors of others, can provide useful insights (Marvin Shigeru, 2006). Social networks serve as channel for the transmission of information about corporate practices climaxing into herding behavior (Bikhchandani, Hirshleifer, Welch, 1998; Hirshleifer Hong Teoh, 2003). The link can either be direct such as shared directorates, trade partnership or indirect such as friend of friend of friend. Newman (2010) provides evidence on the relevance on the indirect link in the information sharing process. A director with many connections become an information hub making him very powerful in the chain of network. This is described as centrality in the n etwork literature (Jackson, 2008). A direct link to an information hub increases access to more complete information. Also, connection to a direct link to the information hub can acquire some information, though the closer the better. This had led to four measurements of director network namely degree, eigenvector, betweenness and closeness centralities. Degree centrality is the absolute measure of individual social connections and boast of more information. The indirect connection where ideas exchange is from several other links is known as eigenvector centrality. Betweenness centrality relates to information control within the web. In a network, an individual positioned between two others serving as the medium of information exchange between them is viewed as one controlling information flow. The last dimension of network which relates to the proximity to information access to enhance optimization is the closeness centrality. Closeness centrality measures how quick information fr om other members of a network gets to an individual. The closer an individual is to a source of information, the more efficient and easier it is to access information (Jackson, 2008; Newman, 2010). The kind of information received will be parallel to the actions of the individual. I therefore, hypothesize that, firms within the same network will have homogeneous behavior. Director networks and stock price crash risk Financial reports provide information about a firms economic performance. Accounting numbers are crucial for economic decisions of a firms stakeholders but their relevance can only be harness when provided at the right time. Corporate executives naturally exhibit some resistance in disclosing bad performances of their firms and this behavior catalyst to stock price crashes (Hutton et al., 2009; Jin and Myers, 2006). Managers have been reported to have hoard information to opportunistically influence contractual outcomes (Cheng, Man, Yi, 2013, Healy Wahlen, 1999; Verrecchia, 1983). Extant literature documents the motives for information hoarding such as personal gain and career concern. (Kothari et al. 2009). In addition, Ball (2001, 2009) argues that nonfinancial motives, such as empire building and maintaining the esteem of ones peers, also provide powerful incentives for managers to conceal bad performance. Empirically, Kothari et al. (2009) find evidence consistent with the tendency of managers to hoard bad news. The managerial tendency to withhold bad news leads to bad news being stockpiled within the firm. However, there is a certain point at which it becomes too costly or impossible for managers to withhold the bad news (Kothari et al., 2009). When such a tipping point arrives, all the hitherto hidden bad news will come out at once, resulting in a large negative price adjustment, that is, a crash (Hutton et al., 2009; Jin and Myers, 2006). Moreover, Bleck and Liu (2007) argue that the withholding of bad news prevents investors from discerning bad projects from good ones and, therefore, from liquidating bad projects promptly. Thus, bad projects are kept alive and the resulting negative cash flows eventually materialize, triggering asset price crashes. Employing country- and firm-level designs, respectively, Jin and Myers (2006) and Hutton et al. (2009) provide empirical evidence consistent with the above mecha nisms of stock price crashes. Several papers support the linkage of director network to various corporate behaviors such as expending stock option, (Reppenhagen 2010), private equity incentives (Stuart and Yim 2010) stock option backdating (Bizjak et al. 2009) and poison-pill adoption (Davis 1991). Others include director network and mutual fund performance (Cohen, Frazzini, and Malloy, 2008; Kuhnen, 2008), venture capital investments (Hochberg, Ljungqvist, and Lu, 2007), executive compensation (Barnea and Guedj, 2009), and firm governance (Fracassi and Tate, 2008; Hwang and Kim, 2008). They provide empirical evidence on the transfer of behavior between related firms. Building on the literature on social network and the literature on crash risk, I propose that director network can affect firm-level stock price crash risk. Since director network can pass good or bad business practices, it can mitigate or contribute to crash risk, however, the quantum ultimately is an empirical question. The empirical analysis will shed light on this important issue. References Ashbaugh, Hollis, Joachim Gassen, and Ryan Lafond, 2005, Does Stock Price Synchronicity Reflect Information or Noise? The International Evidence, mimeo Barnea, A., Guedj, I., 2009. Director networks. Unpublished working paper. University of Texas, Austin. Brown, J. L., Drake, K. D. (2013). Network ties among low-tax firms. The Accounting Review Chen, J., Hong, H., Stein, J., 2001. Forecasting crashes: Trading volume, past returns, and conditional skewness in stock prices. Journal of Financial Economics Chiu, P.-C., Teoh, S. H., Tian, F. (2012). Board interlocks and earnings management contagion. The Accounting Review Hutton, A.P., Marcus, A.J., Tehranian, H., 2009. Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk. Journal of Financial Economics Kim, J.B., Li, Y., Zhang, L., 2011b. CFO vs. CEO: equity incentives and crashes. Journal of Financial Economics Kim, J.B., Zhang, L., 2013. Accounting conservatism and stock price crash risk: firmlevel evidence. Contemporary Accounting Research, forthcoming Kim, J.B., Li, Y., Zhang, L., 2011a. Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: firm-level analysis. Journal of Financial Economics Kim J-B, Li Y, Zhang L. 2011b. Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis. Journal of Financial Economics Kothari SP, Shu S, Wysocki PD. 2009. Do Managers Withhold Bad News? Journal of Accounting Research Lieberman, M. B., Asaba, S. (2006). Why Do Firms Imitate Each Other? The Academy of Management Review Malmendier U, Tate G. 2005. CEO Overconfidence and Corporate Investment. The Journal of Finance Newman, M. (2010). Networks: an introduction: Oxford University Press Omer, T. C., Shelley, M. K., Tice, F. M. (2014). Do director networks matter for financial reporting quality? Evidence from restatements. Singh, P. V., Schonlau, R. J. (2009). Board Networks and Merger Performance.

The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity Essay -- essay

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Christianity is becoming extinct. In order for it to continue on it must modernize its beliefs. The average Christian is white, middle class and is from Europe or America. The religion of Islam is expanding quickly and will soon dominate Christianity. These are all common claims made about Christianity that many people believe, yet Philip Jenkins claims and proves them untrue in his book, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. According to his book, Christianity is moving out of the global north and into the global south. In fact, Christianity is growing rapidly in countries such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He also writes about how Africa and Brazil will, within the next fifty years, replace Europe as the center of Christianity. Both of these countries have been heavily missionized within that past hundred years, and the number of Christians in each has raised millions. The expansion growth in these countries is due primarily to their high reproduction rates and their hunger for the Christian beliefs that the missionaries brought with them. Jenkins says in this book that the missionaries faced no problems trying to explain about a higher deity or other â€Å"bafflingly alien world views† to the Africans, because it followed closely with many of their own tribal beliefs. Many of the tribes worshiped one higher power already and also found that many of the Christian beliefs fell in sync with t heir own heritage and customs. They did though, encounter one problem: the beliefs fell so in sync with their tribal traditions, that eventually the African culture started to incorporate their customs such as exorcism, dream visions, prophesy, healing, and mysticism into their Christian churches, creating an entire sub group of Christianity. These sub groups are closely related to the more Pentecostal churches, but are far from the ritualistic practices of the Anglicans and Catholics that primarily missionized them. Pentecostal churches, because of the resurgence in countries such as Africa and Brazil will soon be the dominant Christian sects. They strongly emphasize views about personal relationships with God, biblical literism, speaking in tongues, visions and prophesy just as the African churches do. The Pentecostal church tends to mainly attract the poor or lower class of society, which also happens to be what Bra... ...nto the thought that religious wars may occur, be he completely left out the ideas that the Islamic nation, being known for terrorism and other such acts of violence, could potentially eliminate Christianity from any form of mainstream. This is a serious topic to think about considering what they have done to other religions, and to Christian sects residing in the Middle East. I think Jenkins should have presented this as more of an issue and an actual threat then claiming that it might cause slight conflict. The book unquestionably had some strengths and some weaknesses. I believe the information that Jenkins provided was extremely well established and proven. This is exactly the type of information that people need to know, because the truth is being denied. I think for the book to be effective, it needs to be laid out better. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone besides a theological scholar due to the manner that it flows, even though it has very good reviews and is on best seller lists for Christian books. I commend Jenkins for going against the flow and writing against the average beliefs, but admonish him for writing the information in such an incomprehensible manner.

Business-to-business and B2b E-marketplace

Closing Case Study One When you’re Big, You Can Be Your own B2B E-Marketplace. Question 1 :- Volkwagen operates its own proprietary B2B e-marketplace in which its suppliers participate. What are the disadvantages to Volkswagen of not using a generic B2B e-marketplace with even more suppliers? What are the advantages to Volkswagen of developing and using its own proprietary B2B e-marketplace? Answer :- The disadvantages to Volkswagen of not using a generic B2B e-marketplace with even more suppliers is difficult for organization to search an e-marketplace for suitable suppliers and then enter into negotiations outside the e-marketplace.This happen for organizations needing to purchase millions of dollar in inventory, parts, or raw materials, and it occurs for organizations wanting to establish a long-term relationship with just one supplier. Relationships among businesses in B2B are very important. These relationships, characterized by trust and continuity, extend to the IT real m. In the B2B business model, you must provide a level of integration of your IT systems with those of your business partners.The advantages to Volkswagen of developing and using its own proprietary B2B e-marketplace because they spend the money with suppliers, so that its can open and run their own B2B e-marketplace. Volkswagen handles 90% of Volkswagen global purchases. Almost all request for quotes, contract negotiations, catalogue updating and buying, purchase-order management, vehicle program managements, and payment are handled electronically and online through VWgroupsupply. com.Volkswagen Ag offers eight brands of automobiles Volkswagen (passenger), Volkswagen Commercials Vehicles, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Seat, and Skoda. Volkswagen spent almost 60billion euro, or approximately $77billion, on components, automotive parts, and MRO materials for its manufacturing operations. Question 2 :- When the Volkswagen needs a new part design, it uses VWsupplygroup. com to g et its suppliers involved in the design process early. This creates a tremendous amount of interorganizational collaboration.What are the advantages to the suppliers and to Volkswagen in doing so? Answer :- The advantages to the suppliers and to Volkswagen in doing so to creates tremendous amount of interorganizataional collaborations is as a supplier to other businesses, you also need to understand whether you are selling in a horizontal or vertical e-marketplace. The electronic marketplace is an interactive business providing a central market space where multiple buyers and suppliers can engage in e-commerce and other e-commerce business activities.E-marketplace features a variety of implementations including value-added networks providers, horizontal e-marketplace, and vertical e-marketplaces. Horizontal e-marketplace is an electronic marketplace that connects buyers and sellers across many industries, primarily MRO materials commerce. MRO materials include a broad of range of bo th products and services including office suppliers, travel, shipping and some financial services. Question 4 :- To make effective purchasing decisions, Volkswagen’s purchasing agents need business intelligence.What kind of business intelligence does iPad provide to purchasing agents for carrying out their tasks? What additional kinds of business intelligence not discussed in the case could Volkswagen’s purchasing agents take advantage of to make more effective decisions? Answer :- An Volkswagen has, in essence, created a system that brings the necessary information to the purchasing agents. This new system within VWgroupsupply. com is called iPad, or internal Purchasing Agent Desk. Its use for purchase order for a vehicles front module had to use numerous separate systems to complete the process.Retrieve information from suppliers system and its database, query information in Volkswagen’s internal parts information system, obtain information from a request-for- quotes database, enter information into a contact-negotiation transcript system, and interact with several other systems and databases. The purchasing agent had to log into and use seven separate systems. Analysis revealed that Volkswagen purchasing agents were spending 70% of their time finding, retrieving, analyzing, validating, and moving information. Question 5 :- IPAD manages the workflow for purchasing agents.Describes how iPad manages this process including information provided, steps to be executed, and the presentation of information. Answer :- iPAD manages the workflow for purchasing agents. Using a form af an integrated collaboration environment, or ICE, purchasing agents now participate in a simple three step process. The first step is iPad captures and sends a business event to the purchasing agent, such as the nedd to order vehicles front modules. Second, iPad attaches to that communications other necessary information such as information about potential suppliers, the ir costs, and others forms of analysis and descriptive information.The final steps is iPad send the corresponding business processes and work flows to be completed electronically. It works much like digital dashboard. When purchasing agent log onto the iPad portal in the morning, they receive a customized Web page with announcement, business alerts, analysis, and digital workflows to be completed. The purchasing agents can set out immediately to complete the task of the day, without having to spend 705 of their time finding. iPad also customizes the Web page according to the purchasing agent’s native language.

Barriers to Communication in the Health Sector

Barriers to communications in health and social care Communication is simply being able to pass a message and that message being understood by the person it was meant for and well understood and carried out without any problem. When this circle is interrupted either message is lost or not understood then we need to understand why. Barriers in the health sector comes in either: PHYSICAL is when a person can not access the care they want or need because of a physical problem like a walking difficulty or a wheelchair access * EMMOTIONAL:The barriers in the care sector are emotions. If not have dealt with certain feelings before by the feeler. †'Emotions can play a big part in barriers. It is important that workers within the health and social care field do not let their own emotions get the better of them.They must be professional and although friendships can be made it is important not too get attached to a service user or patient. † †'In the health and social care se tting many people may have problems and many things may be hard to deal with but workers must maintain professionals and not show a lot of emotion, yes we can empathise but we should not make a service user feel worse or more upset. * LANGUAGE :If a patient calls at his Gp and he cant speak English and no one can understand what he/she is saying then it might lead to time waste in treating that patient in terms of diagnosing patient ailment which could be deadly in terms of wrong diagnoses or time wasted in getting an interpreter.

Definition of Goals and Objectives Essay

Goals and Objectives Goals and objectives are statements that describe what your Vision Document will accomplish, or the results that will be achieve. Goals are high level statements that provide overall context for what the Vision Document is trying to achieve, and should align to its components. Objectives are lower level statements that describe the specific, tangible products, deliverables and fruits that will be delivered. The definition of goals and objectives is more of an art than a science, and it can be difficult to define them and align them correctly. Goals Because the goal is at a high-level, it may take more than one objective to achieve. It may take many objectives over a long period of time to achieve the goal. Generally, non-measurable: If you can measure the achievement of your goal, it is probably at too low a level and is probably more of an objective. If your goal is not achievable through any combination of objectives, it is probably written at too high a level. It may instead be a vision statement, which is a higher level statement showing direction and aspiration, but which may never actually be achieved. Objectives Objectives are concrete statements describing what the project is trying to achieve. The objective should be written at a lower level, so that it can be evaluated at the conclusion of a goal to see whether it was achieved or not. Goal statements are designed to be vague. Objectives should not be vague. A well-worded objective will be Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART). Note that the objective is much more concrete and specific than the goal statement. The objective is measurable in terms cost, speed, quantity and / or quality. We must assume that the objective is achievable and realistic. The objective is time-bound, and should be completed by a specific date. Objectives should refer to the deliverables of the goal. If you cannot determine what deliverables are being created to achieve the objective, then the objective may be written at too high a level. On the other hand, if an objective describes the  characteristics of the deliverables, they are written at too low a level. If they describe the features and functions, they are requirements, not objectives.

Program Evaluation Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Program Evaluation Plan - Assignment Example The two slide presentation workshops will concentrate on the effectiveness and informative value of the visual aids used by the supervisors. From the workshops, it is expected that the supervisors will increase the quality of their oral presentation skills by 30th April, 2015. The supervisors will also get three sessions of one-on-one coaching on how to give employees positive and negative feedback on their work performance. Later, the supervisors will also get a tutorial on how to provide accurate, complete, useful written performance feedback that is in compliance with company’s policy and state law. The company will provide the required venue, table, and chairs. The ABC Company HR communication specialist will conduct all sessions. From the coaching sessions and the tutorial, it is expected that the supervisors will have increased the quality of their ability to provide performance feedback to employees by April 30, 2015. Progress on the indicators will be measured by the number of sessions delivered, the number of sessions each supervisor attended, the level of participation of each supervisor, length of sessions and the adherence to workshop delivery plan by the official in charge (Fink, 2015). Program process will be evaluated by examining whether the program was implemented with fidelity and adapted to the target population. It is expected that an acceptable degree of program fidelity will be maintained, and the program will be reviewed for appropriateness. Program outcomes will be evaluated by examining program’s influence on the supervisors’ communication skills. Monthly communication skills assessments will be updated every month by the Communication Specialist. The attendance and participation rates will also be recorded and an implementation record developed by the Communication Specialist upon conclusion of every session. Surveys will be

Comparison of Finkel and O'Brian Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparison of Finkel and O'Brian - Essay Example O’Brian in his book â€Å"How to Tell a War story† illustrates on events during a war and the art of telling those events. He paints on a vivid picture of war and the effects it has on people involved in it. This makes the story true and very realistic as it drives a point in today’s life because war has become a big part of life in the recent times. Considering the book wrote by Finkel, â€Å"The Good Soldiers,† he made art out of the crucial moments in history. His book is the most honest, agonizing, and vividly made accounts of the current war. It captures the horror nature of war. It actually reveals the fact about war and explains what happened in real life. According to the story Finkel tells about war, being a journalist who is supposed to report on facts, I truly think that he is actually telling the truth in his story. According to what he explains in the book, he witnessed and in reality interacted with the victims who were involved in the war, t he soldiers. He wrote the story from the stories he was told by the victims concerning what they experienced during the struggle. This shows clearly that Finkel did not make up the story as a fiction but was a fact that happened in reality.   O’Brian described that a true war story is never moral. He explained that a true war story does not instruct or even encourage virtues. ...   Ã‚  Finkel as a journalist witnessed the 2-16 battalion because he spent eight months with the solders who were involved in the war. The soldiers therefore told him what they experienced in the war struggles and how they lost some of their fellows and some being wounded. From these stories, Finkel managed to write the real experience of war expressing the pain, sorrow, death and destruction as they were experienced by the soldiers. This is also clear evidence that the story is very true.  Ã‚  Finkel described the horrible situation of war which ended in death and destruction. When he was writing the book, he got some stories and ideas from the soldiers who at first thought that he had ill motives with the book. His main idea was to use the book to write about the battalion experience of infantry soldiers and character in the lost moment during the Iraq war. He expresses all his opinions and feelings about war in the story. The story is really explains real; facts about war. Fin kel is very realistic in his story because during the events, he was present and witnessed the situation having coming into contact with the soldiers, â€Å"Here came the explosion. It came through the door†¦. It came through the good soldiers.† He made clear facts that the soldiers were wounded in the war. He further described war as hell due to the fact that decent men were sent to fights where they were wounded and killed creating a lot of fear and grief. â€Å"The battalion chaplain was in search of a quick business in soldiers wishing to unburden their grief, fear and desperation.† O’Brian in the chapter â€Å"How to Tell a War Story† also illustrates how young and innocent men are s-end in fights where they later suffer

International financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International financial management - Essay Example Forward contracts can be traded on recognized markets, whilst futures contracts can not Ans-9) (a). Enter into a 90-day forward contract to sell US Dollars for Euros Ans-10) (e). Insufficient data given to enable the calculation to be made Section B Q1 a) The political risk refers to the scenario where the economic yield would be influenced and undergoes due to the uncertain changes in political environment that cause volatility in the state (MCKELLAR, Robert, 2012, pp. 36). Any uncertain circumstances directly impact the investment returns that could be ranging from switching the governments, change in regulation bodies, amendments in foreign policy or military state of affairs (OVERHOLT, William H., 1982, pp.74 ). It is a common consensus that political risk cannot be measured but it can be assessed. This particular statement is quite right as political risk cannot be measured, because there is no method or tool available from which one can assess the level and proportion of risk f ound under political uncertainty (BRINK, Charlotte H, 2004,pp. 152). Political uncertainty has a definite has a definite effect over the long and short term strategy of the companies as a whole and this particular component is quite essential for the companies as far as generating net income is concerned (HOWELL, Llewellyn D., 2002, pp. 84). Number of time, it has been assessed that political problem is like to initiate soon but there is no tool which could be used in the assessment of the same. If we talk about United States of America (USA), then it is found that the internal politics of the company is quite safe and the proportion of any sort of political risk is quite minimal, while the external threats are quite high like the War on Terror (WOT) and the terrorist attack like 9/11 (THEODORE HARVEY MORAN, Gerald Thomas West, 2005, pp. 142). Analysts, even the individuals assessed this particular problem in total, but this particular problem cannot be measured quantifiably because of unavailability of any sophisticated method and tool of the same (HARMS, Philipp, 2000, pp. 186). b) Political risk can also be referred as â€Å"geopolitical risk† a factor, because of the longer the time span of the investment. On account of the inadequate sample size or case study in order to confer the political risks of the individual countries is disreputably difficult to enumerate (HANS SIEGWART, Ivo G. Caytas, Julian I. Mahari, 1989, pp. 69). Hardly any of the political risk could be indemnified alongside by means of international institutions or other government agencies. As a result of political risks may directly have an effect on return on investment, and also restricted to eliminate the withdrawal of funds from investment capacity (O'LEARY, Michael Kent, 2004, pp. 37). Alternatively to this, there are many anti political risk strategies which are being considered to minimize the explicit threats and by implementing these strategies will cause greatly to meet t he expectation and demands of overseas projects, find management and different contracts (WAGNER, Daniel, 1999, pp. 102). There are number of forms of political risk that could affect over the productivity of a company

Essay 4 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

4 - Essay Example the minority) have to share and distribute to those without, and yields are also continuing to drop as the price of fuel needed to transport the crops to various areas increases with reduced fossil fuel. According to the national geographic article by Bourne (2009), this reduction in the food culminated with the increasing population will in future lead to severe food shortage as the production and the distribution continues to dwindle by the day. 2. What are the pros and cons of large scale monoculture farming? Be sure to include its impact things like soil, water, air, nutrient availability, ecosystem services, climate change, disease and pests, etc. Monoculture is the planting of only one type of crop on large tracts of land for industrial purposes (Despommier, 2009). There are several disadvantages associated with this type of agriculture. Since the crops are wanted to yield more as they are for large scale use, there is an increased use of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and other chemicals all of which end up harming the soil and even reducing the nutrients available in the soil. Nutrients availability is also reduced as most of the crops in monoculture (which include tea, trees, soya and sugarcane among others) do not provide nutrients to the soil when compared to the diversity of crops planted by small scale farmers. Water is mostly contaminated by the chemicals making it not consumable. The advantage of this type of farming as explained by Despommier (2008) is the reduction in diseases and pests as a result of the constant pesticide and herbicides used. As most of the crops are trees, there is reduced wind and soil erosion as well as a reduction in the carbon dioxide which is an advantage to climate changes and reduces global warming. The air is also fresh and cold which is good for the ecosystem. 3. What are some large scale and local scale solutions to providing food, minimizing impacts on ecosystems, enhancing ecosystem services, and building

Research of management systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Research of management systems - Essay Example However systems exist in all organization regardless of their acknowledgement in any form of description; similarly designs of process workflows are there even if they have not been dictated through a flow chart etc. This is especially true in smaller organizations where rules and conventions are followed without strict following of any dictated procedures. The multiplicity of styles of administration and autonomous best practices has come to be regarded as unwieldy for business on a communal level and there is now consensus that best practices should be standardised. The noblest organization that prescribes both generic and specific industrial practice standards is the International Standards Organization (ISO). ISO’s standard 9001:2000 defines a management system as ‘a set of interrelated or interacting elements to establish policy and objectives and to achieve those objectives’. The ISO 9000:2000 is used as the basis for drafting other standards; unfortunately there is a tendency among novice administrators to use a standard to design management systems. It should be stressed here that these standards define elements to be included in the design of a system of management in order for it to be compatible with an assessment operation. Characterization The need for systemization arises because of the plethora of requirements for reputable businesses these days. These requirements include being profitable, being competitive, aiming for horizontal expansion, adaptability, improvement and the incorporation of leading technologies. The concept of system of management is in reality a theory of how things are to be done rather than a description of the governance style and processes of an enterprise. Some generic objectives thought to be common to all corporate management systems include: Pursuit of business goals Improvement in understanding of ongoing processes and better handling of change Dissemination of information Compliance with laws, regu lations and standards Betterment of practices Consistency Effective Prioritizing And adaptation to change It could be argued that objective(s) should be added to the aforementioned list to have a point of reference for the other elements. But while all systems have some kind of orientation, not all have an objective. The Common Element - Improvement Another commonality of all systems of management is that they direct towards improvement. Not degrading in a changing environment is considered improvement in the philosophical sense. Even when corporations terminate or cut down development or growth programs, it is for a larger good. The only situation where a corporation could be said to be not pursuing progress is when it designs to inflict self-harm for no benefit of a parent entity or its shareholders. By referring to a ‘management system’, which as mentioned earlier is a manual of how things should be done’, as a system, the perceived purpose is mistook for a se t of policies and processes rather than an enabler of progress. All of ISO’s standards are based on the notion of improvement. Keeping these facts in mind, a concept of the basis for management systems was proposed called the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. It was originally proposed by the pioneering statistician Walter Shewhart in the 1930s and elaborated effectively later on by the famous authority on quality assurance, Edwards Deming. The cycle is characterized by the following components: Planning to incorporate

Ultrasound is simply sound Essay Example for Free

Ultrasound is simply sound Essay Ultrasound is simply sound pitched above human hearing. Ultrasound is the part of the sonic spectrum which ranges from about 20 kHz to 10 MHz and can be roughly subdivided in three main regions: (A) low frequency, high power ultrasound (20-100 kHz), (B) high frequency, medium power ultrasound (100 kHz-1 MHz), (C) and high frequency, low power ultrasound (1-10 MHz). The frequency level is inversely proportional to the power output. High power, low frequency ultrasound does alter the state of the medium and is the type of ultrasound typically used for sonochmical applications. Table A shows the application of ultrasound (1). 2. 3. 2 Theory Two theories exist to explain the chemical effects due to cavitation: hot-spot theory (2) and the electrical theory (3 4). Hot spot theory has been experimentally shown that the cavitational collapse creates drastic conditions inside the medium for an extremely short time: temperatures of 2000-5000 K and pressures up to 1800 atm inside the collapsing cavity. A remarkable event during the cavitation collapse is the emission light under certain conditions (sonoluminescence). Furthermore, the collapse causes a couple of strong physical effects outside the bubble: shear forces, jets and shock waves. The electrical theory postulates that an electrical charge is created on the surface of a cavitation bubble, forming enormous electrical field gradients across the bubble which are capable of bond breakage upon collapse. 2. 3. 3 Sonochemistry in Aqueous Solution The reactive species formed during the sonolysis of water are similar to those observed radiolysis (Table B). Among the most extensively studies species are OH radical and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), produced by the thermolysis of water molecules in the gas phase of the bubble, and recombination of the resulting free radicals H2O2 is formed in the cooler interfacial area of the cavitation bubble (5). 2. 3. 3. 1 Kinetic Analysis The chemical transformation which occur during sonolysis may occur in several different regions of the cavitation bubble (Fig C). Three regions of sonochemical activity in sonicated systems (6). Attack by oxidizing species such as hydroxyl radical (OH) or oxygen atom or thermolysis of chemical bonds within the substrate can occur in either the gas phase or interfacial region. OH is most concentrated in the gas phase of the cavitation bubble. It is presumed that aromatic substrates are attacked by addition of OH whereas non-aromatic molecules are attach by hydrogen atom abstraction (7) due to much stronger C-H bond in aromatic system. 2. 3. 4 Acoustic cavitation Bubble collapse in liquids results in an enormous concentration of energy from the conversion of the kinetic energy of liquid motion into heating of the contents of the bubble. The high local temperatures and pressures, combined with extraordinarily rapid cooling, provide a unique means for driving chemical reactions under extreme conditions. The origin of sonochemical effects in liquids is the phenomenon of acoustic cavitation. Ultrasonic waves traveling through a solution impose upon the liquid a sinusoidal pressure variation, alternately compressing the liquid molecules or pulling them apart by overcoming the intermolecular forces. As an ultrasonic frequency of 20 kHz, the liquid will be compressed and rarefied each second. Therefore, the distance among the molecules vary as the molecules oscillate around their mean position. If the intensity of ultrasound in a liquid is increased, a point is reached at which the intramolecular forces are not able to hold the molecular structure intact. Consequently, it breaks down and a cavity is formed. This cavity is called cavitation bubble as this process is called cavitation and the point where it starts cavitation threshold. A bubble responds to the sound field in the liquid by expanding and contracting, i. e. it is excited by a time-varying pressure (1 4). Two forms of cavitation are known: stable and transient. Stable cavities oscillate for several acoustic cycles before collapsing, or never collapse at all. Transient cavities, conversely, exist for only a few acoustic cycles (10). 2. 3. 5 Sonoluminescence (SL) During the acoustic cavitations, the emission of light was referred by the SL. During the underwater exposure of photographic plates, it was first observed, when these plates were irradiated with ultrasound in the solutions (11). Generally, the Hot Spot theory explains the origin of the sono-luminescence and sono-chemistry, which is widely accepted by the scholars. It simplifies the expansion of potential energy of a bubble, when it is concerntrated into the core of a heated gas, and which makes the implosion of that bubble. Sono-luminescence has been divided into two forms; single-bubble SL (12 13) and the multi-bubble SL (14), through which the information is gathered regarding the conditions during the implosion of the cavitation bubbles. Commonly, shock waves are the usually proposed mechanisms that are used in the SL during the implosion of the bubbles. Through this, the bubbles are converged at the center by these mechanisms (15). Hydroxyl radical is another mentioned that is being used in the SL, which produces the emission from the chemical species during their excited state (16). However, small changes in bulk parameters can bring significant influences in the nature of the emissions. The moment, at which the air bubbles glow in the water was observed by the first researchers and was then, known as the multiple-bubble sono-luminescence (MBSL). However, it is advised to observe this glowing condition in a darkened room due to the fainting characteristic of these bubbles. In 1990, two researchers; Crum and Gaitan observed the SBSL in its perfect conditions (17). Placing of a single bubble of gas was done in the liquid, in order to create SBSL. In this regard, an air bubble was injected in the liquid, which created the SBSL. Normally, the bubble was arisen after in the center of the cylindrical flask after its injection. However, the sound waves were bombarded that kept it in its place. Nowadays, elaborate setups are available and practiced by the researchers in their labs. Sono-luminescence requires around 100 decibels of sound waves, which can cause deafness in a normal person. Another factor that is imperative for the SL is the frequency of sound, which a human hearing cannot reach in its range. During the acoustic cavitations, the SL referred the release of light waves. Sono-luminescence is divided into two forms; single-bubble SL (12 13) and the multi-bubble SL (14), through which the information is gathered about the conditions during the implosion of the air bubbles. Commonly, shock waves are the regularly proposed methods that are used in the SL during this process. Through this, the bubbles meet at the center by these methods (15). The moment, at which the air bubbles glow in the water was observed by the first researchers and was then, known as the multiple-bubble sono-luminescence (MBSL). In 1990, two researchers; Crum and Gaitan observed the SBSL in its perfect conditions (17). A single bubble of gas was placed in the liquid to create SBSL. In this regard, an air bubble was inserted in the liquid, which created the SBSL. Sono-luminescence requires around 100 decibels of sound waves, which can also cause deafness in a normal person. 2. 3. 6 Heterogeneous systems: liquid liquid interface Ultrasound forms very fine emulsions in systems with two immiscible liquids, which is very beneficial when working with biphasic systems or phase transfer catalyzed. When very fine emulsions are formed, the surface area available for reaction between the two phases is significantly increased, enhance the mass transfer in the interfacial region, thus increasing the rate of the reaction. Ultrasound cavitation creates reactive intermediates that shorten the reaction time (18). 2. 3. 7 Ultrasonic System Types Generally 3 types: Ultrasonic bath, Probe system and Planar Transducers. 2. 3. 7. 1 Ultrasonic Bath Ultrasonic bath: originally manufactured for cleaning purposes (1). Fig Y shows the bath that has transducers attached to the bottom. The reaction vessel is typically immersed in the coupling fluid contained in the bath. When indirect sonication is used, the ultrasonic power which reaches the reaction vessel is relatively low as compare to other ultrasonic systems, such as a probe. In addition, obtaining reproducible results may be difficult because the amount of power reaching the reaction mixture is highly dependent upon the placement of the sample in the bath. 2. 3. 7. 2 Probe System Probe systems are being more frequently used for sonochemical research in the laboratory. This may be because manufactures are aware that this type of research is increasing and are providing equipment to meet the demand (19). Probe sytems are capable of delivering large amounts of power directly to the reaction mixture which can be regulated b varying the amplitude delivered to the transducer. Disadvantages in using a probe system include erosion and pitting of the probe tip, which may contaminate the reaction solution. Figure Z shows the probe type sonoreactor. 2. 9. 7. 3 Planar transducers This type of setup is typically made in the laboratory and consists of a planar transducer connected to a vessel which contains either the reaction mixture (direct sonication) or a coupling fluid (indirect sonication) into which the reaction vessel is immersed. Planar transducers capable of delivering higher powers than ultrasonic bath systems (1). However, they are difficult to scale-up.

Social Construction of Gender Essay

Social Construction of Gender Essay Heteronormativity is the cultural bias or the view that puts clear boundary between male and female, which emphasizes normal sexual and romantic relationship between two genders. As freshmen in college, I have a friend name Joe whom I did not expect him to be gay. At first, I thought it was impossible him to be gay. But as he began to have boyfriend, I began to see people around them and the society viewed him as abnormal and weird. For example, his parents told him to be straight in order to emphasize about being normal. There are social boundaries to people who are not straight and the society encourages people to be Heteronormative. Therefore, Heteronormativity is a fixed view about living and having normal thoughts about sexuality and gender role. Prompt 1: Gender Construction in our society Gender Identity can be defined by the way people act as a male and female, which males have different sets of mind about something that females do not. Even though man and woman have difference in physical part, People learn more about their gender identity through experiences since their childhoods to until they get old. There are many biological differences in both men and women, but it does not have impact on how gender shapes in peoples lives. If gender did not exist in our society, I am pretty sure there would be gender confusion where many females would be considered as male, and many males would be considered as females. There are many sociocultural factors that have influenced on gender role. Since the social construction of gender is mainly formed by the gender rule and stereotype in our society, gender identity is constructed by the representation of gender norms in mass media productions, parental expectations about gender identity, and the beliefs of different religious t raditions about gender. In todays society, Mass Media Production like movie, video games, and magazines influenced so many young males and females and also some older people. For example in the movie clips Miss Representation(2010) , clearly portrays how women should act around people and in society. In the movie Miss Representation, the women are shown as sexually explicit figure toward the audiences and also emphasize how women should look like in order to satisfy gender role. Because many women are shown in negative way for most of time, people actually think that women are exactly like in the movie or magazines, which is not true. This movie was trying to say that people are heavily influenced by media. All of people watch TV every single day, and many of them enjoy watching movie. By watching them, they unconsciously think about the actors or models and form their gender roles. In the reading Breaking the Model, the author said I wanted to be popular, like the typical girl o n TV. I wanted to be thin- to fit in. (Rodriguez, CP 54). Due to the fact that many of women want to look sexy, beautiful, and thin, they see the model as their dream and it motivates them to be like them, which could cause in eating disorder and depression. They desire to fit into certain group of the society in order to feel good and superior about themselves. On the other hand, the producers of media know what teens like and purposefully make media productions that appeal to them. Finally, the media gradually forms peoples thoughts about their genders by emphasizing that they should look like them. The social construction of gender is caused by the expectation of people and the way society view people. Since the childhood, everyone received certain expectations from their parents and relatives to be either grown up as normal masculine male and feminine female. In the reading from Night to His Day, it said that In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what i s expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected way, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order. (Lorber, CP 14). Unlike media effect on gender identity, children learn their behaviors and form their minds by listening to their parents and other people. For example, some boys learn to be male by playing tough sports like football. Additionally, girls learn to be female by imitating the way their mothers dress and act. It would be weird for people to act in unexpected way and might result in isolation from the family and the society. In the reading Why Boys Dont Play With Dolls, it said that a girl with a doll and a boy with truck explain why men are from Mars and women are from Venus, why wives do housework and husbands just dont understand (Pollitt, CP 18). Since childhood, we modeled our parents and acted according to what they told us to do. There are gender rules which states that male has to act in certain way and female has to act in another w ay. Because gender stereotype and expectations existed and people kept acting in expected way for long period of time, people were able to form gender identity by modeling and following their ancestors. All of these would demonstrate how our social norms have big impact on gender expectations for people. Lastly, religious view toward gender would form the social construction of gender and could lead to discrimination about gender, especially toward female. As right now, there are few countries where sexism is still going on against women due to the cultural and religious view among people. In many countries, Women are treated differently than men in various ways. For example in the reading Night to His Day, the author wrote that In societies that create the greatest gender difference, such as Saudi Arabia, women are kept out of sight behind walls or veils, have no civil rights, and often create a cultural and emotional world of their own (Bernard 1981) ( Lorber CP, 15). Because Sau di Arabia had this belief for long time, the people just think this as religious belief that came from their parents or ancestors. In most of countries, women are seen as weak and emotional through religious belief that was viewed by the society, which lead to certain type of gender identity. Many of religious belief like Catholic and Muslim emphasized about transgender and homosexuality. According to religious belief of Catholic, it emphasizes people not to change their gender through surgical treatment and marrying a same gender. If they disobey the rule of religion, they would lose respect from other people and feel they are not worthy enough to believe in that religion by the fact they did not follow the gender rule in society. It is important to understand that people have high tendency to conform among groups, and it would result in following normal cultural and religious belief toward gender identity and role. Gender is mainly formed by our social construction and each indivi dual is impacted by people and objects they encounter every day in their lives. It is not possible to just form our gender based on body difference between men and women because it does not do anything to our mind and habits. As people grow up from childhood, they begin to actually see how it feels to be fit into the right gender identity group through media production they encounter, expectations from other people that caused from gender stereotype, and religious value of each country. Therefore, I strongly agree that the sociocultural experiences have huge impact on individuals gender identity through the gender rule and gender stereotype.