Developing Critical Thinking

Be able to critically assess own beliefs, attitudes and value systems THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BELIEFS, VALUE AND ATTITUDES Beliefs, attitudes and values are three little words that have and make a massive impact on who we are as individuals, who we are as people, and even how the world is viewed by ourselves and others. A belief is something that individuals or groups think, such as believing in a god. Where a Value would be the living life in the ways a religion expects, this value will be made from the belief that the person or group has in their God.The attitude towards this would be the feelings, beliefs and behaviour tendencies towards this, for example praying, reading the holy book, towards others that do not believe or have a different set of morals or beliefs etc. Values To me a value is a principle, a standard or even certain qualities that individuals, people or even groups hold. These values/principles are one of if not the most important things. These values/principles he lp to guide us a people and individuals. By guide I mean how we live our lives, what we base our decisions on.A Value is usually produced via a belief. This belief would normally be related to worth of an idea or a particular type of behaviour. For example I see great value in always being polite, however somebody that has always got what they wanted or have had a different up bringing may not place very little or any value on being polite. These values can influence our decision making and often the support we give our clients. In a work or professional environment as individuals we should ensure that we do not try to influence our customers decisions based on our values.As individuals we build our values from various sources and life experiences, these can be influenced by family, friends, workplace, educational facilities, life events such as death, financial issues. Religion, music etc. You do also have dominant values; these values are normally widely shared amongst groups, com munities, religion or family. Although these dominant values are exactly that, the same dominant value may not be as important to another group or society. BeliefA belief as previously stated can help or lead to a specific value, these beliefs usually come from real life experiences, but as individuals we often forget the original experience is not the same as what is currently happening now. For example I Believe that Tottenham Hotspur is the best football team in the world, this is based on falling in love with the team in the early 1980’s. Realistically though over recent years Tottenham struggled even being in a relegation battle. This shows that there were at least 19 teams better than them. It does not however change my belief that they are the best football team.Our beliefs and values make a massive impact on our lives they can affect how we are perceived, they can affect the quality of our work and even impact on all our relationships family and friends. Rightly or wr ongly as individuals we all tend to believe that our beliefs are based on reality when actually in reality our beliefs are based on past experiences. Beliefs actually start to govern what and how we experience things such as watching a football game, or even working, these beliefs that we hold as individuals and groups though can make up part of our identity, who we are and how we live our lives and therefore are very important.Attitude Attitude we all have it, and we all claim to know someone with a bad attitude. What is an attitude whether it is good or bad or even indifferent. The word â€Å"attitude† can refer to a lasting feeling, belief and behaviour tendencies directed towards specific people, groups, ideas or even objects. An attitude tends to be a belief about something, it usually describes what we as individuals deem as being correct (positive) or incorrect (negative) way of doing something.For example my attitude towards people who steal is one of contempt is a ne gative attitude. As far as I am concerned I have no sympathy for them or remorse if they get caught. That said the thief maybe a first and one time offender and has other issues I do not know about so my attitude towards that is based on a very stereotypical generalisation, as it is something I would not do. However the fact that I would not do it shows that my attitude toward not stealing is a positive one.It is possible though that our own attitudes can be so strong that we become ignorant to other peoples values, opinions and needs. A strong attitude is often referred to as a value, where as an attitude with little significance or importance, are often described as opinions. Beliefs, values, attitudes and the impact on my behaviour. There are just several beliefs, Values and attitudes that I hold that impact on my behaviour, not just to the way I act towards my everyday tasks, but also the way I act around my team and my customers/clients and suppliers.The first is manners, I bel ieve that people should treat others the way they wish to be treated themselves, so regardless of the situation I am always polite, courteous and professional in my approach. The value I hold regarding customers and clients, they are king and without them there would be no us as a company. I believe my team are the most important factor within our branch, so they are consulted about any major decisions we implement, just because I think it is a great idea to change something doesn’t necessarily mean that it is, after all my branch and team is only as good as its weakest member.This sometimes can lead to be seen as a push over boss however my attitude to this is the work has to be done first and foremost, if it is not done correctly then I will speak to the people on a one to one and find out why, it may be that the individual needs a little extra training and therefore I have let them down by not ensuring they have the correct tools to do the job.That said if there is no reas onable explanation I will address the issue and deliver direct instructions, these will always be fair but very firm, again if everyone else is doing a task one way then everyone should do it too I am very big on Team work, and being part of a team. So depending on the situation my behaviour changes from nice get on with everybody, to almost a dictator if work isn’t being carried out correctly.I am never rude or impolite as I would not want to be treated that way, I listen to what others have to say before making a decision and where possible I will base a decision on others feedback as opposed to my own opinions, beliefs, attitudes or values. Be able to critically assess the validity of management theories in relation to own beliefs, attitudes and values. There are two management theories I find relevant to my role, the first of these is Maslow's hierarchy of needs.This theory was developed by Abraham Maslow in the 1940’s -1950’s in the  USA, this theory is s till very much used today in understanding human motivations, any human motivation or lack of has an impact on the individuals attitudes, beliefs and values. The Maslow theory was originally a five stage model which is more than adequate for its purpose today and is still used by many. The current model can have as many as 8 stages and was developed by others based on Maslow’s work. It can be argued that the stages 6,7 and 8 of the current model were encapsulated in Maslow’s original model in stage 5, which is Self-actualisation. Maslow’s original model (5 stage model) Maslow theory pyramid graph from Wikpedia.comThis theory is relevant to my role as it helps to get an understanding of people’s behaviour varies, what motivates them, which can lead to letting me know what some of their beliefs and values are and even attitudes. For example if the individual perceives that they are being treated unfairly at home (Biological and Physiological Needs) the indi viduals attitude may be brought into the work place and they may not have the same values as myself and their attitude towards other members of the team, clients or even suppliers may change dramatically, which in turn effects the individuals behaviour.The self-actualisation is very useful for me in my role as it allows me to understand myself, If I am having a bad time at home, or things are not going the way I would like or people do not hold the same beliefs, values and attitudes as I do I take a step back and look at everything from a third persons point of view as it is not the teams, customers, suppliers fault my day is not going to plan, it allows me then to choose how I approach the day and to stand by my more positive beliefs, values and attitudes as opposed to the negative ones I may have been feeling.The other theory that I find relevant to my role is the psychological contract theory, it is shown below on a Vena diagram. PC= PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT-hidden/unspoken, unwrit ten and takes into account relationship references (r) VC=VISIBLE CONTRACT-usually written, contractual agreement between parties, pay, hours, holidays etc. R=relationship between employee and market, and employer and market. This theory is fast becoming extremely relevant in the workplace regarding relationships with the workplace and even wider than that the human behaviour within a workplace.This theory was first recognised in the 1960’s, most notably by behavioural theorists Chris Argyris and Edgar Schein. The psychological contract theory usually refers to the relationship between an employer and its employees, and specifically concerns the mutual expectations of inputs and outcomes. These both have an effect on each individual’s beliefs, values and attitudes within the work place. The psychological contract theory is usually seen from the standpoint or feelings of employees, however for this to be fully appreciated it has to be understood by both parties.This the ory is basically the fairness or balance perceived by the employee, for example how the employee is treated by the employer and also what the employee puts into a job. Both of these ultimately show values, beliefs and the attitude of the employees but it also shows an insight into them for the employer, as the employer may believe that the way the employees are treated is fair but the employees see it as unfair.The way that this theory is understood and applied to our relationships, inside and outside of work essentially defines our humanity, for example, Respect, Compassion, Trust, Empathy, Fairness and Objectivity. This theory is relevant in my role as it allows me to understand what effect my actions as a manager/ employer have on the attitudes, beliefs and values of my employees or team. It allows me to assess my own beliefs, values and attitudes and decide if they are having a positive or negative effect on the team, customers/suppliers. MY BELIEFS, VALUES AND ATTITUDES IMPACT ON THE MASLOWS HIERACHY THEORY.My beliefs, values and attitudes impact on this theory in different ways the first stage of biological and psychological needs, my attitude towards these are varied, I believe that although all of these are important within peoples’ lives I believe that these should not be brought into work. I believe that if you have a crises then approach me and we can deal with it, however if it is down to a little row at home, or not getting the cuddles you require then these issues should not impact on your work, I believe these should stay at home.My attitude towards these is I keep my work and private lives separate. The next stage on this theory is the Safety needs; I believe that this is one of the most important areas within the workplace, ensuring that the employees, customers and the visitors to the site are always safe. My Attitude towards this is that these are a must and not a choice. My values, beliefs and attitude towards this stage make this a high priority than maybe another stage within the Maslow hierarchy theory.The next stage within this theory is the belongingness and loved stage, relationships outside and inside work. My belief is that everybody likes to be liked or loved. So I treat everybody the way I wish to be treated. My attitude towards this stage is that I want to be liked and loved and may leave me at times to being a little lenient on people or members of the team. The fourth stage of this theory is Esteem, this encapsulates, reputation, achievements etc. I believe that all of these need to be enhanced and that it can only be done by hard work.My attitude towards this stage is that I want to be the best at whatever I do so I strive to excel, so the impact I have with this stage is very goal driven to keep getting better and always enhancing my reputation by proving and showing what I am capable of. The final stage to this theory is the self-actualisation, my belief, values and attitude impact this stage th e most, because I always want to improve, I not only see this stage as a self-analysis on myself on how I can get better and how I can learn, but it also allows me to analyse myself and the effect that I have on the people around me.HOW SOMEONE ELSE MAY INTERPRET THE THEORY The beliefs, values and attitudes on others will be different to those I have and in turn they will interpret the Maslow hierarchy theory differently for example, the first stage could be seen as a reason to be grumpy with everyone at work because they did not get a cuddle at home before they left for work.The second stage on the theory is the safety needs, the beliefs, values and attitude towards this can vary massively, it can be age, experience related for example some people attitudes would be that it is not necessarily important as their attitude is I have been doing this job for twenty years and never had an accident, now they are trying to tell me how I should do my job etc.The third stage belongingness an d loved, the employee beliefs may be that they only come to work to earn money, they could interpret this stage as being a way to try a soften them up or even as a way for people to find out about their private etc. This would signify an attitude of distain (what’s it got to do with them) The fourth stage of this theory the esteem stage, with somebody who has different beliefs, values and attitudes different to mine may impact on this stage of the theory, by interpreting it as the way for progression within the company is who you know not what you know or how you do.Finally, the last stage of this theory the self-actualisation, somebody with a different beliefs values and attitudes to me may impact on this theory as a load of nonsense, they may have the attitude that they already know everything so they can’t grow anymore, this would make one of the most important stages in the Maslow Hierarchy theory irrelevant to a person with that belief, value or attitude.

Externalities in Economics Essay

Externality is yet another significant source of market failure. It is owing to the lack of property rights that externality arises. According to Jaen (2005), by externality we mean the situation when the cost or benefits related to a transaction not only affects the transactors but also the other parties which is called party effect. Non-inclusion of such effect in decision making causes externality and hence market failure. Jaen added that an example of this is pollution from factories which adversely affects the health of the people in the neighborhood. But such a cost is not included in the estimation of cost of production; accordingly there is increase supply. This is called negative or harmful externality. Jaen (2005) added that externality could be beneficial as well and he cited an example, the painting of house by individual A may lead in its market value and also that of the other properties in the neighborhood. Thus the benefit accrues to the third party; this is an example of positive externality. Before explaining externality further, we must make a distinction between private cost or benefit and social cost or benefit. In a given society, the resources are said to be optimally allocated when the social marginal cost is equal to the social marginal benefit. Free markets would optimally allocate the resources when private costs are equal to social costs and private benefits are the same as social benefits (Jaen, 2005). There would be negative externality when social cost exceeds private costs and positive or beneficial externality when social benefits exceed private benefits. _________________________ Jaen, T. R. & Ohri, V. K. (2005). Principles of Microeconomics. Page 324 – 332 Externalities arise when one economic agent does not compensate others for his actions which may directly affect their consumption or production possibilities. Smokers, who do not, for example, pay for increasing others’ risk of cancer, or for the discomfort they may cause, produce externalities. According to Miyao & Kanemoto (1987), urban life is filled with examples of externalities: manufacturing producers may cause air and water pollution which negatively affects residence and other producer; some individuals may have racial prejudice against certain ethnic groups; a household may benefit from beautiful gardens of its neighbors; firms often prefer to locate in larger cities because of proximity to other firms; and an additional traveler in a congested road imposes external cost on other travelers by slowing them down. According to the Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics, a competitive equilibrium is efficient in the Pareto optimal sense if all goods are private goods and no externalities exist. This result, however, breaks down if there are externalities. An individual decision maker who generates externalities does not take into account actual external cost or benefits imposed on others; his decision must therefore be corrected to account for external effects. Externalities, thus present a case of potential market failure where go government intervention may be called for to guide a decentralized market system toward a point where resource allocation is efficient (Miyao & Kanemoto, 1987). It is however, too early to jump to the conclusion that government action are always justified when there are externalities; for example, individual who suffer from water pollution have an incentive to get together and bribe firms to reduce pollution. The reason why this may not happen is that the transaction cost to set up a market for pollution may be too high. ___________________________ Miyao, T. & Kanemoto, Y. (1987). Urban Dynamics and Urban Externalities. Page 100 According to Miyao & Kanemoto (1987), if the government has to incur the same transactions cost as private individuals, then government intervention cannot improve resource allocation. Even if government intervention is justifiable, the government has to choose an appropriate policy among alternative policy measures. For example, introducing a Pigouvian tax/subsidy system is one way of modifying individuals’ action to achieve an efficient allocation (Miyao & Kanemoto, 1987). A tax` placed on pollution will ten to reduce the amount of externality. If a corrective tax is set equal to the marginal externality cost suffered by others, an efficient allocation is achieved. One problem with the Pigouvian tax/subsidy, however, is that it usually requires high administrative cost. As Miyao & Kanemoto (1987) stated, in some cases, direct regulation of private activities such as ceiling on pollution emissions and a control of land use may be less costly; moreover the government might also have to resort to cruder measures. For example, a Pigouvian tax/subsidy system for traffic congestion requires congestion tolls whose levels are different for different roads depending on the severity of congestion. External effects have been studied by economist ever since the days of Marshall & Pigou; along with development of the field environmental economics, the theory of externalities has remained of great and growing importance in economic science (Jeroen 1999). As Jeroen (1999) quoted, â€Å"indeed it is fair to say that, starting from the traditional neoclassical economic framework, the most logical way to look at problems of environmental pollution is from the perspective of external cost†. It was also added that â€Å"however, although economist have been investigating the concept of externalities for a long time, both theoretically and empirically, ______________________________ Miyao, T. & Kanemoto, Y. (1987). Urban Dynamics and Urban Externalities. Page 100 Jeroen, C. & van den Bergh, J. M. (1999). Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics. New York: Edward Elgar Publishing. externalities still prove to be an area of slippery ice†. Frequently, one finds fuzzy discussions on the discussions on the policy implications of external cost. According to Jeroen (1999), this may often result from, for instance, mixing up equity and allocative efficiencies arguments , from mistaking pecuniary externalities for true or technological externalities from some sense of compassion with the victims of externalities on equity ground, leading to pleas for ‘compensation’ which may often be unwarranted from the perspective of allocative efficiency The Concept of Environmental Externalities in Economics In recent years, economist have reluctantly added new variable in their economic thinking to account for the side-effects induced by the production of goods (Hokikian, 2002). They have labeled the parameter â€Å"externalities† (normally used in plural due to its multiple effects) because it usually affects, costwise, people other than who are directly buying, selling, or using the goods in question. When nuclear reactors produce electricity, we are gratified because we put electricity to such uses as washing and drying dishes and clothes. But when the nuclear generate highly reactive by-products, we are annoyed because the nuclear wastes are dangerous to our health. Economist call these unwanted nuclear waste externalities, because most of the cost associated with storing, regulating, and transporting them are not added directly into the cost of electricity. Pollution from economic point of view is the production of waste, dirt, noise, and other things we do not want. As Hokikian (2002) illustrated, for example, we do want steel and cement, but we do not want the smoke produced by the output processes; we do want mechanical energy from heat engines, but we do not want the released heat, which we call thermal pollution. _____________________________ Hokikian, J. (2002). The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in our World. page 161 Economists’ externalities are nature’s entropy. Since the middle of nineteenth century, we have known that all processes increase in entropy; yet only recently have humans become a highly entropic creature, generating massive amounts of entropy. Externalities have become a major variable in industrial societies; as humans advanced technologically, we became a major producers of waste products that through the years have gradually accumulated to the point when we can no longer ignore their existence (Hokikian, 2002). Paretian Welfare Criteria and Market Failures Mainstream neoclassical micro and welfare economics theories suggest that governments should in principle be reserved in intervening directly in the economic process (Jeroen, 1999). According to Jeroen (1999), it is broadly accepted that economic science should aim at providing value free descriptions and analyses of human choice, and the associated social processes, under conditions of scarcity. As it is not possible to construct a value-free social welfare function according to some ethically objective criterion, welfare economics has an inherent tendency to rely on quite humble criteria for the evaluation of different possible outcomes of economic processes, for instance under different forms of government interventions. As Jeroen (1999) stated, although the concept of external effects is widely used in economics, there seems to be some confusion about its exact definition and interpretation. He added that, it is commonly recognized that externalities are an important form of market failure. ______________________________ Hokikian, J. (2002). The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in our World. page 161. Jeroen, C. & van den Bergh, J. M. (1999). Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics. page 197. their existence leads to a deviation from the first-best neoclassical world, in which the price mechanism takes care of an efficient resource allocation (Pareto Efficiency). According to Jeroen (1999), in the presence of ext3ernalities, market prices do not reflect full social costs or benefits, and, for instance, regulatory taxes or subsidies are called for to restore the efficient workings for the market mechanism. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that the source of externalities is typically to be found in the absence of well defined property rights (qtd. in Jeroen, 1999). Consequently, the theory of is often applied in environmental economics: environmental quality is a typical good from which property rights are not defined and hence no market exists. These commonplaces may clearly indicate the causes and consequences of external effects, but still leave the definition unclear; such a definition can be as follows: an external effect exists when an actor’s utility function contains a real variable whose actual value depends on the behavior of another actor, who does not take this effect of his behavior into account in his decision making process. According to Jeroen (1999), the above definition concerns technological externalities as opposed to pecuniary externalities. These latter which are ruled out by considering real variables only (that is, excluding monetary variables), do not lead to shifts of production and utility functions, but merely to movements along these functions. Consequently, externalities as defined above are potentially ‘Pareto relevant’ (if costs of correcting for the market failure do not exceed the welfare gains to be obtained), whereas pecuniary externalities are not, because they do not reflect a failing market. As Jeroen stated, the final condition in the __________________________ Jeroen, C. & van den Bergh, J. M. (1999). Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics. page 197. definition distinguishes externalities from other types of unpriced interactions, such as barter, violence, jealousy, altruism or good-will promoting activities (for instance , handing out samples as products as part of a commercial campaign). Such phenomena differ fundamentally from external effects, both in a theoretical and in a policy-relevance sense. There have always been economist interested in positive or negative externalities; however, they largely been marginalized within the profession as externalities were seen as market failure that needs to be corrected or avoided (Maiser & Sedlacek, 2004). The consequences that recent literature has demonstrated also made economist shy away for along time from accepting externalities as integral part of the economic system. If economist want to understand the growth of an economy over time, they need t allow for externalities. Based on Maiser & Sedlacek (2004), these externalities lead to imperfect competition and tend to agglomerate production at certain locations in the economy. They added that, the resulting spatial structure leads to specialization, transportation and further externalities. This moves the spatial perspective closer to the core of economics. â€Å"As it turns out, if we can explain geographical concentration, then we can go along way toward explaining important aspects of international trade and economic growth (qtd. in Maiser & Sedlacek, 2004). The Influence of Government Policy on the Choice of Production Practices and Chemical Use Government influence on the choice agricultural production practices and the attendant use of chemicals has a variety of forms. Before exploring these alternatives, it is important to __________________________ Maiser, G. & Sedlacek, S. (2004). Spillovers and Innovations: Space, Environment, and the Economy. page 11. understand the rational for government intervention: externalities arising from the interaction between the agricultural sector and the rest of society. Externalities exist in situations where the activities of an economic agent (qtd. in Uri, 2005). As what Uri (2005) stated, consider the application by the farmer of pesticides that runoff into surface drinking water supplies and are ingested by individuals. Drinking water with high concentrations of pesticides has suspected risk and associated cost to human health; this is an example of a negative externality because the action of the farmer adversely affects the welfare of consumers. The absence of externalities is one of the conditions required for competitive markets to achieve an efficient allocation of resources. This is not meant to imply, however, that the presence of an externality requires government intervention. According to Uri (2005), in many situations, the involved parties may negotiate a solution that will address the externality problem and result in an efficient resource allocation. For example, restricting pesticide spaying during certain times to minimize community exposure to drifting pesticides can be the result of voluntary agreement between a farmer and the residents surrounding the farmer’s cropland. There are, however, externalities where the interaction between private parties does not lead to an efficient allocation of resources. Government intervention may be consider in these instances even though there is no guarantee that the intervention will lead to an enhance efficiency; such situations are referred to as externality problem or market failure (Uri, 2005). Uri, N. D. (2005). Agriculture and the Environment. New York: page 60. Government intervention can take a variety of forms including, taxes, subsidies, subsidies, and educational, and technical assistance, as Uri (2005) stated. There are other situations where intervention is justified on the basis of distributional equity considerations. Even if an efficient resource allocation could be obtained through private and public approaches, the solution could be sub-optimal from society’s perspective if it results from equities in terms of income distribution or the burden of regulation (Uri, 2005). Because distributional inequity is so highly subjective, however, little discussion will be devoted to it in what follows. As previously noted externalities play a central role in the economics of the interaction between the agricultural sector and the stock of natural resources. According to Uri (2005), to mitigate the impact of externalities, a number of policy options are available to the government; these policy options in general have the potential to impact the production practices adopted by farmers and the use of agricultural chemicals.

Response to classmates Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Response to classmates - Coursework Example Ensuring employee retention is desirable as it reduces the costs of recruiting, hiring, and training employees (Janovsky, 2009). You, however, did not actually answer the question requiring explaining of the responsibilities of director personnel. I think you meant to say that the director personnel works to minimize turnover costs and ensure hiring of skilled and experienced workers in order to maintain the company’s competitive advantage. I also think that Otto needs to review the current appraisal process, implement a preferred process, and train employees about its use. I do not find any relevance in the first part of the question requiring department directors’ responsibilities. The second part is relevant as it proposes periodic reviews and notifications to employees prior to evaluations. Notifying employees about appraisals enables them to prepare lists of their attributes before the evaluation date (Clarke, 2011). Hiring the right people whose objectives rhyme with those of the organization is one of the best ways of curbing employee turnover (Xiaoyan & Erhua, 2013). I agree with you that other aspects such as proper training, competitive compensation package, and creating a conducive work environment are critical for employee retention. The factors that motivate employees are the primary requirements for encouraging employees to continue serving a company for a long time (Clarke, 2011). You argued that the rate of turnover can be reduced if employees are satisfied with the appraisal form. I think you wanted to emphasize on the both the content of the form and the process of appraisal; however, you concentrated on the process of appraisal that uses electronic form. The content of the appraisal form should cover several attributes to ensure that employees find at least where to fit in. The personnel manager should investigate whether all employees

Further Education Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Further Education - Personal Statement Example In studying, there is continuity of gained knowledge within the confines of class lectures, and outside it. As a result, I become a better rounded person who deals easier with the challenges of work and social demands. As I work and socialize better, fruitful interaction are expected, and in return, could help me shape up internally. Healthy communication gained from work and social environments results in a better-balanced psyche and body. If I could perform my job well and look forward to a better and more fulfilling job, then, it would translate into a good night sleep, inspired daily living, and smooth interaction with my colleagues at school. Bandura (1994) presented a very interesting phrase of "self efficacy" as an individual's "beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes." I personally perceive further education as a means to improve my efficiency, and in this way, I am confident that I can achieve a certain degree of success which I have conjured up in my ambitious mind so that as Bandura stated, "efficacy enhance

Corrosion Protection in Offshore Pipelines Essay

Corrosion Protection in Offshore Pipelines - Essay Example According to the research corrosion in offshore pipeline environments is a critical and unresolved issue for oil and gas industries. Due to the nature of subsea facilities and infrastructures, corrosive processes are more abundant and varied than their onshore counterparts. The maintenance and monitoring of such problems is also more expensive given the challenges of access and context of the location. The aggressive nature of sea environments leads to pipeline systems becoming vulnerable to corrosion from various internal and external forces such as chemical reactions induced by seawater composition. Currently there are several techniques used by oil and gas industries to combat offshore corrosion. Corrosion resistant alloys are often used to prevent corrosion, as well as certain pipeline coatings and cathodic protection of pipelines. Offshore monitoring is often executed as a preventative measure, via electrical resistance monitoring, electrochemical methods, hydrogen monitoring, w eight-loss coupons, non-destructive testing techniques and analytical techniques. Offshore pigging is also a common practice. Researching and investigating case histories is a crucial way in which industries may improve their knowledge of corrosion protection techniques. Overall, there are many diverse methods, various apparatuses, several technological platforms and a wide spectrum of concepts involved in preventing, combating, managing and monitoring corrosion in offshore pipeline environments. However, these measures alone do not guarantee corrosion protection. Further research and experimentation using cutting-edge technology must be used in order to fully mitigate this issue. Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION....................

Debt and Equity Financing - Advantages and Disadvantages Research Paper

Debt and Equity Financing - Advantages and Disadvantages - Research Paper Example It is of great significance that the ratios must be benchmarked against a standard in order for them to possess a meaning. Keeping that into account, the comparison is usually conducted between companies portraying same business and financial risks, between industries and different time periods of the same company. The company under consideration is Marvel Toys, and in this report the analysis of the financial performance of the company over the last seven years has been conducted in order to draw attention to various financial trends and significant changes over the period. The analysis is divided into three main categories: namely Profitability, Liquidity and Gearing. Profitability ratios identify how efficiently and effectively a company is utilizing its resources and how successful it has been in generating a desired rate of return for its shareholders and investors. Liquidity ratios measure the ability of the company to quickly convert its asset into liquid cash to settle its sh ort term liabilities. Whereas, the Gearing ratios identifies the extent to which the company is financed through debt and to what degree the operations are being conducted from the finance raised through raising equity capital or otherwise2. Following ratios have been used in order to evaluate the financial outlook of the company: Current ratio Acid-test (quick) ratio Collection period Inventory turnover Debt to total asset ratio Times interest earned Return on assets Return on Equity Fixed Asset turnover Total Asset turnover Gross Profit margin Net Profit Margin The profitability ratios of the company appear to be stable, but the company is facing liquidity problem as apparent from the ratios. Also, the company has more than 50% of its assets financed through debt. But the company has great earning potential based on which it has been decided to sanction the long term loan facility to the company. Answer to part A Financial Analysis Profitability Ratios    2011 2010 2009    Pro fitability Ratios Gross profit margin 20.18% 19.23% 20.14% Net profit margin 6.88% 6.15% 7.50% ROE 11.68% 12.20% 35.71% ROA 4.50% 4.36% 7.03% Fixed Asset Turnover (times) 2.04 2.27 2.53 Total Asset Turnover (times) 1.27 1.35 1.57 Gross profit margin is an analyzing tool which assists in identifying how effectively and efficiently the company is utilizing its raw materials, variable cost related to labor and fixed costs, such as rent and depreciation of property plant and equipment3. The ratio is calculated by dividing the sales revenue by the gross profit. The gross profit margin of the company was quite stable in the financial year 2009, but moving forward in the financial year 2010, the ratio has seemed to decline a bit. The decline in the ratio was primarily due to the decrease in the net sales of the company by 9% which caused the gross profit margin to decrease by around 0.91%. But the ratio appeared to show an inclining trend again the financial year 2011 as the company was ab le to curtail and manage its cost of sales although the quantum of its sales

American History and Christianity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American History and Christianity - Essay Example Their justification of this in the name of God was because "Of all these nations God our Lord gave charge to one man St Peter, that he should be Lord and Superior of all men in the world and that he should be the head of all human race" (Rushforth & Mapp, p31). In their view if this was indeed the case then what the Pope said was absolute. The document goes on to state that any delay in refusing to convert to the Holy Catholic Faith will bare the consequences of war, a war that God would assist with. The Huron Indians were allies of the French. The French Canadians had been keen to develop trade relations with the Native Americans and when they were asked for help in a raid against the Iroquois tribe saw an opportunity to build relations (Calloway, p119). Father Jean Brebeuf was a French Jesuit missionary; the Jesuit order like the Spanish wished to convert the Native Americans to Christianity but did so in a very different manner to the Spanish. Whilst the Spanish colonized the Native American lands with aggressive tones in the name of God the French Jesuits introduced Christianity whilst being respectful of Native American own identities. Brebeuf lived with the Indians and like other Jesuits learned their language and studied their way of life and whilst may not have agreed with appreciated their customs. The Huron's tolerated the Jesuits as they wished to remain allies with the French and maintain trade relations but resented their criticism of their ideals, customs and lifes tyles (Calloway, p121). In comparison to the Spanish who threatened violence through non-conformity the Jesuits believed that the natives would and could conform if they were shown compassion. When disease struck in 1640 many Huron Indians blamed the Shamans for not protecting the people and turned to Christianity due to the Jesuits being unaffected by the small pox epidemic. The Jesuits had succeeded in their mission but had assisted in destroying a way of life that had sustained a culture for centuries. John Winthrop's Christian Charity speaks of unity and conformity and is quite authoritarian in its narrative. Whilst traveling to New England onboard the Arbella he Lisa Haddon 12th November 2008 wrote and preached the now famous sermon A Model of Christian Charity. The puritans on board were fleeing England in pursuit of individualism and spiritual freedom from the Church of England which they felt was a derivative of the Roman Catholic Church, Winthrop feared that the pursuit of this individualism would drive them apart once landing in New England or even worse in to the hostile hands of the natives and sought to hold the people together on board through the word of god. He begins his sermon by listing three reasons god made people different the first reason showing a preference for difference over uniformity. His second reason is "He might have the more occasions to manifest the work of His Spirit: first upon the wicked in moderating and restraining them, so that the rich and mighty should not eat up the poor, nor the poor and despised rise up against their superiors and shake off their yoke." (Rushforth & Mapp, p126).

How have they changed us socially Annotated Bibliography

How have they changed us socially - Annotated Bibliography Example The use of the cell phone enables individuals to manage time properly and more efficiently (Cimino 54). This is done through the use of the phones to arrange and cancel previously arranged meetings. The cell phone also promotes confidentiality on the issues an individual is involved in. For example, the cell phone is currently being used to make monetary transfers between individuals. This is done between individuals living in faraway places without any information being divulged to any third parties. An individual’s safety is also guaranteed when he uses a cell phone to carry out these financial transactions (Matthews 58). Mobile funds have enabled many individuals in planning their activities better. This is because they enable the fast flow of information between communicating parties. This is done without divulging information to individuals outside their conversation. This further enhances the security of the individuals in the communication (Knox and Schacht 179). The us e of the cell phones also enables an individual to be freed from the slavery of having to wait for his turn to use make phone calls. This was the case in the past when individuals had to queue outside public booths each waiting for his turn to communicate. This in turn helps in time saving and creating competence in the communications sector (Forma 73). The use of the cell phones has also enabled individuals to respond quickly to emergencies. This is because this type of communication is fast. Mobile phones assist an individual in exhibiting confidence, individuality and status in his character. This is because some cell phones sell at very high prices and are associated with a certain class of people in society. Cell phones have lastly, but not limited to the above, enabled many individuals to get jobs through the advertisements posted by the phone companies (Wyllie 141). However, the use of the cell phone has brought many other

The Cost of Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Cost of Justice - Essay Example (Collins English Dictionary2011) Defining cost answers the question what is the cost of justice? Cost is defined as something that is not free. If something has a value it can be bought. In terms of being bought, can justice be bought? Justice is something that is supposed to be free to everyone. Everyone deserves the right to justice. In America justice does not live up to its definition. Justice can be bought for a cost. The cost can be money, freedom, discipline, or losing something. Many states offer justice for a cost. Justice can be very expensive when dealing on a statewide level. The cost is great for states wanting to keep justice free and well disciplined. The cost for justice in most states can be very expensive. The state of Virginia spends a great deal of funds on different expenditures. These expenditures can range anywhere from $10.00 to tens of thousands of dollars. justice may have out of pocket expenses. Some seeking justice have no way of paying and are required to seek justice from the state. Although that justice may be free to the individual, it is not free to the state or federal. Justice comes from somewhere at a specific cost. To make sure justice is served, states like the state of Virginia have costs. In 2005, â€Å"the average prisoner in a Virginia prison costs $31,200 for the year.† (Stephan.) If there are 500 prisoners, the costs for one year are well over ten million dollars. That is a lot of money to spend on justice for one year. That amount is only for prison expenditures. There is much other state expenditure that provides justice. Justice does come at other costs. Punishing others and sentencing them to prison is only one way to provide justice at a cost. Health care for corrections has an even bigger costs then keeping a prisoner. The state of Virginia, â€Å"spends over 4,333 million in corrections healthcare costs†. The costs for corrections are huge. After looking over some of the

The existence of Sylvia Plath's mental illness Research Paper

The existence of Sylvia Plath's mental illness - Research Paper Example The feminine self that Plath often explores in her poems is permeated with an autocratically free zeal which fiercely struggles for more breath under the choking grip of her male counterpart and ferociously victimizes her male foes. In an article â€Å"Mad Poets Society†, Alex Beam confirms that Plath began to develop schizophrenic syndromes and manic depression at the age of twenty. He says in this regard, â€Å"At the age of twenty, Plath experienced mild depressions while studying at Smith† (Beam 98). But a close psychoanalysis of the evidences in her poems as well as her life-events will necessarily reveal that her mental illness -schizophrenia and manic depression- can directly be connected to her experiences of her father Otto Plath and her husband Ted Hughes. In this paper I will explore the evidences of Plath’s real-life mental illness in Plath’s poems and stories. Also this paper will discuss whether Plath successfully uses her mental illness to h er advantage, or whether she dissociates from it. When Plath was eight, Otto â€Å"developed gangrene in one foot after minor trauma and was found to have late stage untreated diabetes mellitus† (Cooper 4). ... Secondly, it was the end of a male authority and restriction under which Plath’s young feminine had been panting. This â€Å"death at such a young age for Plath had some sort of a belated effect on her mental health† (Dyer 5). Referring to the complexity of Plath’s relationship with her father, Ling notes, â€Å"Plath herself faces a confusing relationship with her father, whom she lost to diabetes at quite an early age†¦.Her need to please her father remains with her even to her death, as she was unable to exorcise the hold of this strange, authoritarian figure over her† (2). Later, this emotional complexity about her father further got aggravated by Ted Hughes’s extramarital affair as well as academic failure. Consequently, her literary works show an abundance of schizophrenic symptoms. Apart from Plath’s inability to think rationally, a good deal of her poems displays the paroxysmal and spastic emotions like burning anger, hatred and wrath against her father and her husband. ‘Daddy’, ‘Lady Lazarus’, ‘Colossus’ ‘Full Fathom Five’, etc are some of these poems which displays her real-life schizophrenic symptoms. Indeed Schizophrenia is a â€Å"mental disorder that makes it  hard for the patient to a. tell the difference between what is real and not real, b. think clearly, c. have normal emotional responses, and d. act  normally in social situations† (Freudenreich 23). In ‘Daddy’, Plath’s hatred for her father obviously surpasses her rationality. She successfully portrays and then disparages a patriarchal ‘father-figure’ â€Å"in which [she] have lived like a foot / For thirty years, poor and white, / Barely daring to breathe or Achoo† (Plath, â€Å"Daddy†). It is quite normal for a feminist to take any patriarchal authority

Women Contribution to Psychology Essay Example for Free

Women Contribution to Psychology Essay The essay is written about Margaret Flow Washburn. The essay speaks of her background from her early teenage years and progressing through her career as a psychologist, her battles of a woman during an American period where women equal rights of educational progress was not the same as men. The essay also speaks on the contributions to her field of psychology presenting theories on the animal mind and her motor theory. Women Contributions to Psychology Margaret Floy Washburn started out as a decisive student who attended Vassari College upon graduation was divided between science and philosophy. Margaret Floy Washburn would go on to be a one of the few Pioneers for women who would go onto be successful Psychologist. Today Margaret Floy Washburn is known best for her work in comparative psychology and her book The Animal Mind would go to be four editions, become the standard textbook of its day (Goodwin, 2008). Her experimental research and focus toward cognitive process of perception, attention, and consciousness of various species would go on to be groundbreaking, contributing to scientist of today experimental theories. As with any Psychologist of past time her theory or experiments should be looked as steppingstones, to apply corrective action to information they may have missed or did not at the time have the capabilities of requiring. Margaret Floy Washburn Throughout this essay briefly discussing on Margaret Floy history, struggles as a woman trying to break the barrier, and her some of her best known work as a psychologist below. Brief early history of Margaret Floy Washburn Margaret Floy Washburn was born July 25, 1871 in New York City Biography of Margaret Flow Washburn, Para. 1). At the age of 15, she attended college at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie and soon became a member of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority. Ladd-Franklin had also attended the same college many years before Margaret and soon after Margaret graduation she applied for graduate studies at Columbia University. Women were not permitted to study at Columbia at the time, she had entered the college only as observer where she was noticed as a serious student by Cattell but could only attend his classes unofficially (Goodwin, 2008). Cattell recommended her to apply at the Sage school of Philosophy at Cornell because they were accepting women graduate students and seen the un-keen potential in her. Margaret would encounter E. B. Titchener, who accepted Margaret into his laboratory, and she would go on to be responsible for experiments and research under E. B. Titchener. Margaret will go on to be the first woman to earn a PhD in Psychology in 1894. During the rest of her adult life, Margaret taught at several colleges, including Sage College, Wells College, and University of Cincinnati and in 1903 returning to her Alma mater as Associate Professor of Philosophy for Vassar up until her retirement in 1937 (Biography of Margaret Flow Washburn, Para. 1). She died on October 29, 1939 at her home in Poughkeepsie, New York. Breaking through the Barrier Margaret Floy Washburn fought many battles as woman trying to break into Psychology. First, she had been accepted into the graduate school of Columbia University as only a â€Å"hearer† because women were not permitted entry into Columbia University graduate program. She only attended Columbia University for a year before applying at the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University where she became the first woman to obtain her Ph. D. in Psychology in 1894. Margaret Floy Washburn was considered a pioneer for her fight for equal educational opportunities for women. She initially had encountered resistance to her academic pursuit at Columbia University. Margaret had to wait three months before convincing the trustees to let her attend Cattell’s classes at Columbia. Some say Margaret success came because of the contributing factor that her family was financially and emotionally supportive of her academic pursuits and Rodkey (2010) stated, â€Å"the large family inheritance allowed for her to attend private school, and which in turn led to her rapid completion of public school. † Margaret was pushing her career to limits during a period in American history when women were excluded from many academic programs and did not hold prestigious positions. This was a reason she never married. Women who married during this American period who worked in the academic field would be expected to resign their position upon marriage. Not marrying put Margaret at advantage over other women psychologist who did marry. This allowed her to hold numerous positions during her career, becoming a well respected teacher and researcher. Margaret positions were assistant professor of the Department of Psychology, professor of psychology, philosophy, and ethics, lecturer for social, animal psychology, and undergraduate psychology professor. Not only did she hold different positions through her pursuit as Psychologist she also published 69 experimental studies, and ranked top 50 psychologist of in America (Rodkey, 2010. ) Margaret became well known for her argument against Titchner’s structural psychology. After had already backing Titchner’s view’s early in her career. Margaret Floy Washburn went on the record of stating that Titchner’s views were worth while to describe conscious states, but not, in describing them, to turn them into something unrecognizable (Pillsbury, 1940, pg. ). Psychological Research and Views As stated above Margaret Flow Washburn psychological research views became unique as, she progressed in her career. With the development of her own system she would provide others with skepticism of their own formulas between the relationship of sensation and attribute and also of the exclusive use of introspection as the method of psychology. Motor Theory. She stated â€Å"While consciousness exists and is not a form of movement, it has as its indispensable basis certain motor rocesses, and†¦ the only sense in which we can explain conscious processes is by studying the laws governing these underlying motor phenomena† When discussing Margaret earlier work, she attempted to find a common ground with Tutchener, by coming up with the motor theory. Her theory argued that bodily movement and thought are similar, and cannot use one without using the other; the consciousness would arise when movement is inhibited by a tendency toward another move ment. Learning is associated with movement with a set of regular series and combinations. The motor theory is about thoughts traced back to bodily movement. This theory was presented in her early papers and chapters of her books â€Å"Feelings and Emotions: The Wittenberg Symposium and Psychologies of 1930† and Movement and Mental Imagery: Outlines of a Motor theory of the Complexer Mental Processes† (Wikipedia contributors, 2013, Margaret Floy Washburn, Para. 11). The Animal Mind. Margaret Floy Washburn would best be known for her work in comparative psychology. Her well-known text, â€Å"The Animal Mind† published in 1908. The textbook was a compiled research on experimental work in animal psychology, and covered a range of mental activities. The textbook was written during a time when research was done predominantly on rats. Margaret had cover more than 100 species, including the simplest of animals. She would look into their sense of perception; this includes hearing, vision, kinesthetic, and tactual sensation. Her main focus of the textbook is animal behavior. Her textbook would go through four editions (1917, 1926, and 1936) and became the standard textbook of its day (Goodwin, 2008). In her chapters of â€Å"The Animal Mind† suggested the animal psyches contained mental structures similar to that of human being and suggested that an animal consciousness is not qualitatively different from that of human beings. Margaret stated in her words â€Å"Our acquaintance with the mind of animals rests upon the same basis as our acquaintance with the mind of our fellow man: both are derived by inference from observed behavior. The actions of our fellow man resemble our own, and we therefore infer in them like subjective states to ours: the actions of animals resemble our less completely, but the difference is one of degree, not of kind†¦ We know not where consciousness begins in the animal world. We know where it surely resides—in ourselves; we know where it exists beyond a reasonable doubt—in those animals of structure resembling ours which rapidly adapt themselves to the lessons of experience. Beyond this point, for all we know, if may exist in simpler and simpler forms until we reach the very lowest of living being† (Wikipedia contributors, 2013, Margaret Floy Washburn, Para. 10). Conclusion Margaret Flow Washburn has been viewed as pioneer because of her push to become equally accredited for her success a woman, argumentative theories with Tutchener, and the development of her successful textbook â€Å"The Animal Mind. † She has been viewed a woman of success when encountered by obstacles would find ways to bi-past them and continue with her drive. Margaret Flow Washburn is an influential woman who has successfully set up all women after her pursuing a career in psychology to be successful and to have the same educational rights as men. This resulted in Columbia University to start Faculty of Philosophy who admits women to classes with instructor permission; authorizes the awarding of PhDs to women. Margaret has gone on to be one the most respected female Psychologist of her time and present day.

Nursing Interventions For Critically Ill Brain Injury Patients

Nursing Interventions For Critically Ill Brain Injury Patients A key priority when caring for a patient with an altered level of consciousness is giving the patient a chance, in which interventions are focused on learning about the patient, protecting and monitoring patient status, talking to the patient and working with the family (Villanueva, 1999). Neuroscience intensive care unit nurses carry numerous interventions when caring for a critically ill traumatic brain injured patient. In this study, their specific interventions, that they routinely perform, are identified. Quantitatively and qualitatively, nurses regularly monitor hemodynamic considerations such as O2 saturation, BP and temperature and other physiological parameters, monitor intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion, and providing emotional support. While qualitative analyses solely showed that the other nursing interventions that they do could be classified as neurophysiological interventions, psychosocial interventions, injury prevention interventions, and interventions that maintains therapeutic environment. This study would present proofs of the comprehensive role of the neuroscience intensive care unit nurses caring for Traumatic Brain Injured patients and can be used in future researchers that would like to investigate the contribution of neuroscience inte nsive care unit nurses interventions to the progression of the patients condition. After gaining an approval from the institutional review boards and nursing administration, a survey was done to 67 nurses who work in 3 different ICUs from two level-I trauma centers who regularly care for critically ill TBI patients. Those two trauma centers were chosen because they were both comparable in terms of delivery and organization of nursing care, employment ratios, and nurse characteristics so as to not have bias on the study. The respondents were registered nurses that worked for at least 3 months as a full-time or part-time clinical bedside nurse in an ICU that handles critically ill Traumatic Brain Injured patients. They were approached during their unit staff meetings and change-of-shift report times and invited to take part in the study. They were then given a questionnaire which was comprised of 3 parts: Part A was comprised of series of questions about their previously handled TBI patient, part B contained case scenarios wherein they used nursing judgments, and par t C gathered demographic information about the nurse respondents. For the quantitative data, all neuroscience intensive care unit nurses indicated that they were responsible for the monitoring of the patients blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and temperature. And approximately 50% of the nurses indicated that they were also responsible for the monitoring of the ICP and CPP. For the qualitative data, there were 4 categories where in the nurses interventions were grouped. The first one is the Neurophysiological Interventions. It is comprised of monitoring and maintaining the physiological parameters to guarantee neurological stability in TBI patients. In addition to that parameter, they also monitored pulmonary artery and central venous pressure reading, cerebral spinal fluid drainage, serial laboratory values, and carbon dioxide parameters. Keeping these values within the normal range, nurses help TBI patient to prevent secondary brain injury and to uphold neurological stability. The second one is the Psychosocial Interventions. In this category, n urses make meetings between the family member and various members of the healthcare team. Meetings between the family members are held to provide education and background of the plan of care being rendered to the patients and also to give information about the possible patient outcomes and rationales for the therapies. The third one is the Injury Prevention Interventions. This category aims to prevent additional complications to the patient and to ensure patients safety. The primary interventions for this category are maintenance of spine precautions and frequent reorientation of the patient. Other interventions like prevention of skin breakdown and ventilator-associated pneumonia, prevention of falls and evaluation for the need of restraints to prevent disruption of medical devices are considered usual care for any vitally ill patient. The fourth and the last category is Maintaining Therapeutic Milieu. In this category, nurses give suitable environment for the patient and provide t heir special needs. Limiting visitors, decreasing lighting, minimizing noise, avoiding disruption of the patients sleep-wake cycle are the interventions done in this group. All of which are carried out to provide optimal care and rest periods to the patient thus limits further increase in ICP. Neuroscience nurses indeed have an essential part in the care of the critically ill traumatic brain injured patients. Their interventions address the prevention of secondary brain injury and complications and provide significant support and guidance for the family members. Therefore, they have a big contribution to the patients positive outcomes, but there is still no research documenting their multifaceted role on the patients progression. These data are needed to recognize the exceptional contribution of neuroscience ICU nurses as part of the interdisciplinary team caring for TBI patients and as a foundation for future research investigating how ICU nurses impact patient and family recovery from TBI during the acute stage of injury.

Virgin Galactic: Global Business Management

Virgin Galactic: Global Business Management 1. Introduction Virgin Galactic is the space tourism company which was founded in 2004 by Sir Richard Branson. This is type of Limited Liability Company. This company has its different headquarters at different locations such as Las Cruces, New Mexico and USA. Now it is planning to expand its business at global level such as Dubai. This company is part of Virgin Group which is also known as its parent company. The CEO of this company is George Whitesides. They started to provide its services to customer such as spaceflights in 2008 and now they are offering lot of services to their customers such as Space Sub Orbital, Small Satellites and Orbital Human Space Flight. Although this company is on the way to success but still every company has some weak points which they can use to convert into opportunities to perform better. So the aim of this research is find problems of Virgin Galactic and eliminating those. 2. Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic In this section, there will be a discussion about the evaluation of Richard Branson track record and his strength of new venture team and also will be discussing about his creative opportunity. 2.1 What is the concept of Global Leadership and how its reflect in Sir Richard Branson Leadership style? Richard Branson undoubtedly is a global leader. It is also reflected in its leadership style. Global Leadership means, the person who can reach beyond the boundaries of their own country and continent to influence an end result. In addition to this, it is also the person who just not looking for his profit but also looks for the problems and challenges and successfully solves them. Richard Branson is the person who likes to accept challenges and make his all best affords to reach success. He believes in people and thats he behaves like family members with his employs. He encourages his employees to challenge changes and bring up with new ideas to him. This is the reason why Sir Richard Branson brands is the worlds most powerful and recognizable brand. He himself promotes his brand which no other leaders can do in world. (Sir Richard Branson | Global Zero, 2017) 2.2 Evaluation of Richard Branson Track Record Richard Branson, A successful business man, the founder and Chairman of Virgin Group was born on 18 July 1950 in UK. Like all other flourishing business tycoons, he was also a school dropout. In 1970, he started his record business in UK and very soon his business become success under the name of Virgin. (Richard Branson Biography Childhood, Life Achievements Timeline, 2017.) Later, in 1980 the Voyager Group was established as his own travel company. It is not that he had never face any problems, in the beginning of 1990s he faces financial problems and has to sell his one of the company. He had never given up in his life and thats the reason he won 400 companies in 30 countries at present. One of the famous quotes of Richard Branson is if somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but is not sure you can do it, say yes then learn how to do it later. This quote show that he always think about new business and he jump in to it and at later he succeed in that. Due to this we can see lots of diversification in his business, means there is not just music industries in which he operates his business but also have train company, a mobile company, a luxury game preserve and airline company and a space tourism company to name a few. (Michelle L.V, 2014.) 2.3 Richard Bransons Strength as a New Venture Team Lets discuss the strength of Sir Richard Branson leadership. He believes in people, who work for him, he thinks that hire best employees who have excellent ideas and then trust them and let them do their job on their own. Sir Richard Branson finds a right candidate for the particular position, who is better than him for the job, due to which his all business are achieving success. The next is Sir Richard Branson thinks that failure is a learning lesson. For that he gives an example of his own business of virgin cola and that was successfully operated but also attracts some giant revivals due to his business gone down and he has to think again about the new strategies. (Business Lessons From Mega-Entrepreneur Richard Branson, Kinney B.2013) Sir Richard Branson always follows his strength whenever he start new venture with his team. He says, challenge the status quot, by which he means that thinks like a consumers, and add values to the product. Next create value of the product in globe, means that consumers satisfaction should be in the core value of the any product. In addition to this, he believes that be confident and concrete about your business and self motivation is the main thing for any business. He says Dream Big and do big then any other in the world. The first year of any business is all about survival and dont just invest money, invest more than that. (How Richard Branson Works Magic, Glenn Rifkin, 1998) 2.4 Leadership Theory Leadership is a process which is running by people with common goal and values, several kinds of capital like economic and political, to achieve a common interest. (Leadership: Theory and practice p.425) Leadership motivates other people to achieve common goal. That means the leader and other followers have mutual purpose. So it means that followers have fate in leader and vice versa, due to this they achieve a desire goal (Rost, 1991). 2.5 Leadership Style of Richard Branson Ability to think Differently Once in an interview with the Telegraph Sir Richard Branson said that Leadership doesnt have a secret formula; leaders go about things in their own way It is his leadership skill to think in a different way which makes him different from others. Richard Branson compares his collaborative and democratic leadership style to the late co-founder Steve jobs, was famous for his autocratic style. Both successful people have great achievement and come up with their own viewpoints, beliefs and approach. It is not important that which leadership skills are the best but its all about accepting the method which suits to the organization to utilize available resources. A Positive company culture He believes personality comes first then CV. The companys employees are always looking for a leader who makes fun passes that enthusiasm onto other members of the company. An eye for talent It is important to get as much as possible from the ability of the employees, Sir Branson believes in it. Also he said Believe in yourself, your method of work, and your ideas and in your employees It would not be possible to be a great leader without leading great people. He believed that people not only who have necessary experience and talent but also should fit for the business. (9 leadership skills from Sir Richard Branson | Robert Half UK, Jammi Freed, 2015.) Attention to detail Sir Richard Branson believes that successful and efficient leaders give more concentration in deep. In the Daily Telegraph he said that it can be made possible to get good fun with minor problem comparatively if this engages in dealing with customers issues personally and going to visit them surprisingly. Passion for job At last, the business leaders need to be aware about what they are doing to make effective planning, to build a team and inspiring the employees. He said that the people can get the best results. (Four leadership lessons from Virgin Groups Sir Richard Branson, Jammi Freed 2015.) Willingness to listen and learn According to Richard Branson, it is very important for the business leaders that they are quite capable to listen and learn from that and also he advised to note down those ideas to get best results. He said that the successes will happen when you are working and learn from the inspired person. 2.6 Background of Virgin Galactic Company Virgin Galactic is a profit-making space line service. It has several carrier craft which is Space-Ship Two, White-Knight Two, and an orbital launch vehicle for small satellites which is Launcher One. The Company was established in 2004 and a sister company of Virgin Group Ltd. Virgin Galactic and its partner companies: Virgin Galactic also have collaboration with NASA, they sign a memorandum of understanding in Feb 2007. In January 2015, Virgin Group announced an investment in to OneWeb Satellite constellation. This collaboration is for to provide world internet access service to WorldVu. To Create a New supersonic passenger transport Virgin Collaborate with Boom Technology. For this Virgin Galactic has optioned 10 units. Here we are going to discuss the Richard Branson team members who are working for Virgin Galactic and they are responsible for making this business successful. George Whiteside CEO of Virgin Galactic and the Spaceship Company. He has a long experience in this field and one of the best people for this job in these industries. Prior to this company he is working for NASA where he was designated as a Chief of Staff. He also awarded with the Distinguished Service Medal from NASA. Before that George served as Executive Director of the National Space Society (NSS). Michael p. Moses president of virgin galactic, the commercial human spaceflight program is managed by Mike. He leads his team in all aspects of successful operations including White Knight Two and Spaceship Two Vehicle processing, astronaut training and flight planning also which are connected with space line. He had more than 10 year of experience of working until 2005 as a flight controller in the Shuttle Propulsion and Electrical System Groups. Doug Shane, Chairman of The spaceship company, manage the design, manufacturing and test operations of the Virgin Galatis carrier aircraft through their sister company, The Spaceship Company (TCS). Along with serving as a Director of Flight Operations, for many years he served as Vice President of Business Development. Stephen Attenborough, commercial Director of Virgin Galactic, in 2004 he joined the company as its full time employee to handle the responsibility for commercial foundations and framework for the organization as well as business development, ongoing sales, public relations, partnerships and marketing. On behalf of Virgin Galactic, Stephen always works as speaker at many conferences, at numerous industries and at important events. Jonathan Firth, Executive Vice president of Spaceport and program Development, he joined Virgin Galactic as Project Director and then started to play the role of Director of Operations and projects in 2008 1 and moved to U.S to perform his current role in 2014 as Executive Vice President of Spaceport and Program Development. (Our Team Virgin Galactic, www.virgingalactic.com) Because of all these successful persons Virgin Galactic performing really well, also Richard Branson believes in Employees comes first then clients, if you look after your employees clients come automatically. He knows that happy staff member means the most successful company and product. Creative Opportunity for Virgin Galactic Only 558 people from all around the world have had an experience to travel to Space so Virgin Galactic is going to open the opportunity for the rest of the world because of their passion and good talents. Virgin Galactic have already trust brand name under the Virgin Group from many years so there will be easy for them to attract more customers toward their business and do expansion of it. Virgin Galactic have many businesses under the name like Virgin Hotel, telecommunication, virgin satellite and so on which are linked to the Virgin Galactic like they have come for induction, business meetings, they can request to the customers to go there so ultimately that will expand the virgin business. Virgin Galactic has very strong financial back up and their reputation as a brand. 3. Five Generic Competitive Strategies In this section, we are going to discuss about the Porters five generic competitive strategies of Virgin Galactic. Generic strategy means basic kind of competitive strategy which holds across a number of business situations. Whereas competitive strategy is related with how a strategic business unit obtains competitive advantages in domain of its activities (Porter M. E). FIVE GENERIC COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES 3.1 Low-Cost Provider Strategy: A low cost strategy is that in which a company offers their products to the customers relatively at a low price. This strategy is usually adopted by any corporation, where the product has few or no competitive advantage. Moreover, it attracts the broad range of purchaser. Some companies using this strategy in order to earn low profits but incur high sales volumes. For instance, the Kmart uses the low-price strategy because it provides the goods to customers at low price (Arbuckle D. 2017). This strategy is not using by the Virgin Galactic. 3.2 Focused Low-Cost Strategy: The focused strategy is based on low cost and concentrates on narrow customer segment. It serves the customers in the niche market at a lower cost and lower price than the opponents. Most of the companies using this strategy to enjoy the high degree of buyers loyalty. This strategy is usually suited to the small business where the resources are limited and they only focus on the narrow market segment. In this narrow segment market, the suppliers have the less power of bargaining. For instance, Gap is a good example of it. (Arbuckle D. 2017) This focused strategy is not employing by the Virgin Galactic. 3.3 Best Cost Provider Strategy: The best cost provider strategy aims to provide buyers more value for the money by offering them updated products at a lower price than competitors. Moreover, it gives more emphasis on a minimal quality, service, features and performance of the product to the customers. This strategy works best in the market where the customers diversity make the product different and also sensitive regarding the value and cost of the product. For example, Amazon uses the best cost provider strategy and also uses by Toyota Company. This strategy is also not adopted by Virgin Galactic. 3.4 Broad Differentiation Strategy: The broad differentiation strategy distinguishes the firms product from their competitors with the qualities, which attract their customers with uniqueness of the product. The value added by the product uniqueness allows the firm to charge a premium price for it. This strategy is not suitable for small business but it is more useful for big corporations. For instance, Netflix uses the differentiation strategy. This firm offer to customers greater variety of movies and charge less price than rental stores by conducting its business worldwide over the internet and Starbucks is also using it (Edwards J. 2017). The differentiation strategy is not using by Virgin Galactic. 3.5 Focused Differentiation Strategy: This focused differentiation strategy concentrates on a narrow purchaser section by fulfilling the particular tastes and needs of niche members. It refers to the situation where a corporation selects the strategically differentiate itself from their competitors in a narrow market. This Strategy is using by the companies to promote the product with multifarious features, innovation, brand name and customers service in order to attract more customers towards them. Likewise, Virgin Galactic using this strategy because the target market is narrow and they are trying to serve its services to the niche market. The main focus of Virgin Galactic is to be more innovative and unique in space travelling. (Porter M. E.) The main reason for selecting this strategy is that it provides the better-quality services and good value to their customers in different ways. Virgin Galactic looking to be unique in the niche market along with some changes which are broadly valued by customers. The main emphasis of Virgin Galactic is on the safety of passengers in every aspect and also provides training to passengers about one week prior the flight. Virgin Galactic taking $25000 from public in advance who wants to fly during the first years of flights and wants to turn their dreams into realities. In addition to it, the motive of Virgin Galactic is to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to space tourists. The spaceship2 has double the crew and capacity to carry triple the passengers. However, Virgin Galactic has competitors but he always wants to serve the market first. The focused differentiation strategy has following benefits for Virgin Galactic Premium price for its product: This strategy allows Virgin Galactic to command a premium price for its product. Increased unit sales: A virgin Galactic sale has increase due to this strategy because near about 550 ticket holders in line who wants to fly with it. Brand loyalty: By offering better in flight amenities at a lower cost as compared to many domestic carriers Virgin is creating strong brand loyalty for itself and dollar value for its customers New plans: Therefore, due to strong bonding with customers Virgin Galactic plans to deliver payload low earth orbit of 100 kg to market under US$ 10,000,000 per mission. Research and Development: Virgin Galactic has strong capability in research and development. They use the modern technology for the development of their products. Creates value: Virgin Galactic uses this strategy but their main focuses on the cost value of the product versus other similar products in the market, thus it creates a perceived value among its potential customers (Kelchner L. 2017). BCG MATRIX OF VIRGIN GALACTIC High Price Low Quality High The above figure demonstrates the BCG Matrix of Virgin Galactic. In this matrix, X-axis represents the quality of products and Y-axis reveals the price of the products. Following table is comparing price and quality of different space companies. Virgin Galactic competitors Price Quality XCOR Benson Space company Space-X Virgin Galactic Blue origin Low Low High High Low High High Low 4. SWOT Analysis of Virgin Galactic SWOT: This is type of strategic tool like PESTLE and PORTER which can be used to determine the long term performance of company to make good strategic plan to overcome its weakness and to utilize opportunities in better way. As name of this tool reveals meaning of itself such as S is for strength and so on. S W International Brand Progressing in Research and development Emphasis on Safety parameters Employee Strength Brand Image Strong Planning by using reusable craft Less risky and More trustworthy Skilled workforce High industry growth rate Reasonable Price Costly Failing to protecting RFP for satellite business Overtaking by competitors Time consuming to accomplish their mission Brand portfolio Competitive market Bad craft structure Sustaining brand image Employing new and innovative ways of doing business First to market Growth rate and profitability Technology advancement Expanding global markets Lacking interest of people due to crash Government regulations Accessible to middle class people Lot of investment required O T 4.1 Strength Based on article, it is evident that company is on its success as slowly-2 it is progressing. Some of following are strength of company. International Brand: This Company have reputed image over the whole globe as this is operating different branches at different locations such as New Mexico, USA, Las Cruces. In the beginning they just have only one spaceport which is in Mexico but now they have made 2 or 3 other spaceports to other locations to make it convenient for their customers to enjoy service of them. Virgin Group which is parent company of it which has brand image from last number of years. As Virgin Group has different Product line, it offers variety of services to their customers such as virgin hotels, virgin media, virgin passenger flights under name of virgin Atlantic, virgin money and many more. So their parent company helps them to perpetuate their brand image at global level (essays writers, 2017). Progressing in Research and Development: This Company is going through research and development mode and getting progress. As initially they have made first space ship flight (SS1) which could accommodate only 3 person all together (1 pilot and 2 passenger). Now recently they have made another spaceship flight (SS2) which can accommodate 8 people all together (2 pilots and 6 passengers) (the verge, 2016). Emphasis on Safety Parameters: Safety is the main concern of their organization. They bother equally for the safety of both passenger as well as employees. They give one week training to passenger in advance and give training to employees as well (wixsite, 2017). Employee Strength: As employees are the key part of every business so their security is important concern for an industry which is well done by virgin galactic. Due to this employees are interested to work with this group. As without employees there is no business, so virgin galactic is lucky to have good employees (advisor gate, 2016). Brand Image: As Virgin Group is offering good and wide variety of services to their users so it has already branded and reputed image in market and people are used to their services and can rely on them (essays writers, 2017). Strong planning for saving money by using reusable craft: They have good strategic planning to build strong and compatible passenger craft which can be reused again to send them in space which can help them to save money that they can used to improve their services better. Less risky and Trustworthy: As it is already mentioned that safety is main concern of their company so less risk is involved. Their services are so trustworthy thats why notable celebrities (Angelina Jolie, Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks and Prince Zulf Ali) have already booked with them to travel in space (review essays, 2017). Skilled workforce: As this industry requires more creativity which cannot be possible without the help of employees so it means that employees should be equipped with good skills and it has employed skilled person in their company which further helps them in gaining success (swotanalysis24, 2017). High Industry Growth Rate: This Company is growing at very fast pace as recently its growth rate jumps from 27% to 47% (advisor gate, 2016). Reasonable Prices: The Company should charge reasonable prices for their services over their competitors. Because this is the good way to attract more passenger and to maintain their interest. 4.2 Weaknesses Apart from having good points, this company has some negative points which hinder them from achieving success. Some of them are given below: Costly: No doubt this company is offering good services to their users but services are very costly as compare to its competitor. As XCOR Aerospace which is in great competition to it is offering high quality services at low price. As Virgin Galactic is taking $250,000 per person whereas XCOR is taking $95000 per person (advisor gate, 2017). Failing to protecting RFP for satellite business:- one of the weak point of their company is that they are not good at planning and do not have strong vision as recently they were fail to set up RFP for Satellite Business. They planned in 2010 to initiate this proposal but till 2012, they were not able materialize the flights. Overtaking by competitors: As it is already mentioned, their competitors are stronger than them as their competitors are working in this industry from long time so they more knowledge and experience than them. For Example, SPACEX which is another Competitor of Virgin Galactic who was first to start to create reusable craft before Virgin Galactic. So in this matter, that company overtook Virgin Galactic (quartz, 2017). Time consuming to accomplish their mission: Although their industry growth is at high pace but still they are taking lot of time to provide services to their customers. For example, till now they have just made 2 spaceships named SS1 and SS2. So their processing time period is very long (geocities, 2016). Brand Portfolio: As it is already mentioned they have good brand image due to offering of wide variety of services. But this is not proved fruitful to them because this has made them less capable to focus on any particular service by which they are losing control on improving their services rather making these worse (swotanalysis24, 2017). Competitive market: As Space industry is highly risky and competitive so to compete with their competitors, they should have strong vision and long term strategies to hit them. But this is the negative point of Virgin Galactic; they are not competing well to their competitors. Bad Craft Structure: Although they are trying to provide better, improved and reliable services to their passenger but still they suffering from some problems. For example, the recent crash which was due to catastrophic failure happened because of poor structure of craft (advisor gate, 2016). 4.3 Opportunities Apart from considering strength and weakness of internal environment of company, company can grab opportunities of external environment to improve their performance. Following are list of areas where they can improve: Sustaining Brand Image: This Company can perpetuate brand image of their parent company by maintaining good competition with their competitors because this is the main area where they are lacking. So they should focus on this (cayenne, 2016). Employing New and Innovative Ways of doing Business: Although this company is on path of success but still they are slow in Research department. So till now they have just made 2 spaceships. So this is good opportunity for them to improve their performance by bringing more innovative ways of operating business (wixsite, 2017). First to market: As this company was first in market as comparison to its competitor. So it is great opportunity for them to make good reputation in market to attract customers. Growth Rate and Profitability: Although they are growing well with accordance to time, but they can utilize their opportunities to improve more as they can expand their product line. For example, apart from providing space sub orbital, small satellites and orbital human space flight, they can offer more services to their users to increase their growth level (swotanalysis24, 2017). Technology Advancement: As modern era is totally based on technology and this company is lacking in technology so they should new techniques in industry to make it more competitive (swotanalysis24, 2017). Expanding Global Markets: No Doubt, they started to operate at an international level and they should continue with this because this is an effective opportunity for them to maintain their image. On the other hand, they can also expand business through advertising in schools, universities which can enhance knowledge of students as well about orbit (advisorgate, 2016). 4.4 Threats In addition to grabbing opportunities of external environment, there can be some threats in every organization which can hinders them to get progress. Some of these are given below which can create problem for virgin galactic. So they should know these things in advance. Lacking interest of people due to crash:- Due to recent happened crash, company is losing interest of people as they are not trusting anymore on them and wanted to take back their money which they deposited while registering with them (the verge, 2017). Government Regulation: As space business requires lots of knowledge of government concerns so virgin galactic should be aware of these concerns to avoid any types of governmental issues (advisor gate, 2016). Accessible to upper class people: one threat to company performance is that this is only accessible to upper class people who mean middle class and any other category people cannot have access to this (guardian, 2013). Lot of Investment Required: As this business requires availability of great amount of funds which is not possible without strong market position and they should be financially sound. And what is happening in virgin galactic as they are using revenues earned from other product lines and if they will not earn anything from other product lines then i

High School Curriculum :: Education Argumentative Persuasive Papers

High School Curriculum When reviewing the literature regarding the past, present and future of educational curriculum, several main points seem apparent, namely that curriculum is cyclical, that a dilemma or paradox exists, and that curriculum must be looked at with a sensitive view. According to Lashway (1999) educators once saw educational reform as cyclical. Every ten years or so one could expect a public outburst followed by frantic efforts to mend a broken system. However, in the last twenty years there seems to have been a perpetual reform. Looking to the past it seems that curriculum became diluted. Schools offered many electives; schools even watered down the curriculum hoping to â€Å"keep† students (which was later found to only compound the problem) (Mclaughlin 1990). Curriculum resembled a lawn sprinkler covering a lot of area yet having very little force. In the 1980’s a report called â€Å"A Nation At Risk† stated that American children had fallen behind in such subjects as math and science. Thus came the advent of education’s increased focus on literacy and numeracy, accountability and academic standards. These high standards, according to Dumas (2000), are the most significant trend in schools today. These new standards seem to be focusing more on both accountability and back to basics. As a math teacher I can be delighted by this focus. However, as a potential administrator, I realize this is too myopic a view. Indeed these standards have created a dilemma -- a conundrum -- a paradox. Back to basics? BUT these basics must be taught differently, by stressing higher level thinking and life/work appreciation. Additionally, all children must be taught, be they rich, poor, learning disabled, foreign speakers etc. Cut frills but be creative Do not forget educating the â€Å"whole† child. Do well on standardized test while remembering and accounting for fewer standardized kids. Be literate and professional but as pointed out in numerous articles, care, and be a good moral person. Additionally include character education for students. This has led some educators to express reservations about these current trends, mostly because of fears that reform will be driven by conformity to policy mandates rather than the educational needs of children. John Goodlad (1999) observes, â€Å"The language of school reform virtually eschews reference to the measuring of self, civility, civic-mindedness, democratic character and participation in the whole of the human conservation.

Privacy - Information Collection and National Security :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Information and National Security Many people believe that the U.S government is hiding information from their citizens. But has anyone stopped to think that perhaps the government withholds information for the nation's safety. I disagree with the college student who said, "Despite the horror stories of war, I would want to know the truth. If you know the truth of a situation, you might be able to do something about it." I do not believe that 'we' can do something about it. It is ultimately our government who decides on how to act. For the most part, the government should be allowed to conceal the truth for our nation's safety. If the government was to tell the public the truth about everything, it could lead to an uneasy nation. The government releases information that we need to know. If the government were to tell us everything that they have been withholding, it might break citizens into chaos. Our government is here to protect us and not to insight violence in us. We should have faith in our government. For example, if the public were told about a planned attack that could not be prevented, chaos would ensue. People would panic and perhaps cause more damage. Our country needs unity and not chaos. The government is only trying to protect us by keeping secrets. In this time of war, the government has more of a reason to be secretive. The enemies are watching information that goes public. During this time our country needs to be very careful of what kind of information they divulge. If the government were to release important information it may be used against us. It is understandable that the public has curiosity of what is really going on during this war. But ultimately, the public needs to have faith that our government is doing what needs to be done. Many people argue that the government also holds a lot of petty information away from the public. While people may understand why certain information is kept a secret, they would like to know why some 'not so important' information is not released. In my opinion, if the information is petty why should anyone care what it is anyway.

Surrealism in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock :: Love Song J. Alfred Prufrock

Surrealism in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Surrealism is a dangerous word to use about the poet, playwright and critic T.S. Eliot, and certainly with his first major work, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ". Eliot wrote the poem, after all, years before Andre Breton and his compatriots began defining and practicing "surrealism" proper. Andre Breton published his first "Manifesto of Surrealism" in 1924, seven years after Eliot's publication of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". It was this manifesto which defined the movement in philosophical and psychological terms. Moreover, Eliot would later show indifference, incomprehension and at times hostility toward surrealism and its precursor Dada. Eliot's favourites among his French contemporaries weren't surrealists, but were rather the figures of St. John Perse and Paul Verlaine, among others. This does not mean Eliot had nothing in common with surrealist poetry, but the facts that both Eliot and the Surrealists owed much to Charles Baudelaire's can perhaps best explain any similarity "strangely evocative explorations of the symbolic suggestions of objects and images." Its unusual, sometimes startling juxtapositions often characterize surrealism, by which it tries to transcend logic and habitual thinking, to reveal deeper levels of meaning and of unconscious associations. Although scholars might not classify Eliot as a Surrealist, the surreal landscape, defined as "an attempt to express the workings of the subconscious mind by images without order, as in a dream " is exemplified in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." "Prufrock presents a symbolic landscape where the meaning emerges from the mutual interaction of the images, and that meaning is enlarged by echoes, often heroic," of other writers. The juxtapositions mentioned earlier are evident even at the poem's opening, which begins on a rather sombre note, with a nightmarish passage from Dante's Inferno. The main character, Guido de Montefeltro, confesses his sins to Dante, assuming that "none has ever returned alive from this depth"; this "depth" being Hell. As the reader has never experienced death and the passage through the Underworld, he must rely on his own imagination (and/or subconscious) to place a proper reference onto this cryptic opening. Images of a landscape of fire and brimstone come to mind as do images of the two characters sharing a surprisingly casual