Comparison of the Chinese and American Cultures Essay

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, culture is defined as â€Å"the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. † Culture is an aspect all groups of humans have and even though it is an aspect our species shares, the supposed differences make it seem like we are of different species! Culture is something that both connects and separates us. Culture is something distinct enough to create barriers among us, such as: linguistic barriers and behavioral barriers. And this is especially seen between the American and Chinese cultures. River Town, by Peter Hessler, is a non-fiction novel that depicts Peter’s experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Fuling, China. He was sent to Fuling (a poor town on the banks of the Yangtze River) in 1996 and taught English and American literature for two years at a teachers college. This novel, in reading, seems more of a journal and thus, his writing of China puts the people and his experiences on a more personal level. He describes, with immense detail, his observations of the social, political and cultural issues of China and his experience as a waiguoren (foreigner). At his arrival, the people of the teachers college showered him and his fellow Peace Corps volunteer with many gifts and did everything they could to make them feel comfortable and welcome. However, alternately, whenever Peter would walk outside the campus of the school, the people would stare and gawk at him and yell, â€Å"outsider! † and â€Å"hello† out of curiosity and their own amusement. This made him dedicate a large part of his day solely to learning Chinese. As he becomes more proficient in Chinese, he develops friendships and connections and begins to feel more accepted. He talks about the troubled history of China: the struggles of land reform, decades of misguided economic policies and especially the damaging effects of the Cultural Revolution. Peter spends a good deal discussing the, then, upcoming project of the Three Gorges Dam, which has an immense, detrimental impact on the people. The project will require millions of villagers to be displaced and will destroy centuries worth of meaningful history. The author gives a very vivid illustration of the beautiful landscape, history and the people he meets. He also portrays the, especially political, perspectives of the Chinese quite well through learning from his students and teachers. According to Francis Hsu, the two sets of contrasts are: individual-centered versus situation-centered and the prominence of emotions versus the underplay of all matters regarding the heart. He believed Americans are concerned only of themselves and act according to what would be beneficial to them, and that the Chinese acted according to the situation at hand. The Chinese avoid direct confrontation, open criticism and controversial topics to maintain harmony. â€Å"In America, he saw the blind, often excessive pursuit of self-reliance and the inherent, permanent instability of human relationships as the root cause of many intractable social ills, including crime, racial discord, and the sale of influence in government. In China, he saw the traditional narrow focus on kinship based relationships had rendered their society unable to effectively counter Western colonialism, widespread poverty and famine, and even the practice of foot binding of women. † (Tong 2001) One aspect of the book that really interested me was the education system and different cultural differences of how education is looked upon. In the book, the students all had the same thoughts on almost every issue and those opinions would be unwavering. However, â€Å"Perhaps by my standards they were politically brainwashed, but compared to the past they were remarkably free. † (Hessler 2001:23) They would also communicate indirectly to Hessler; often times via their journals. Not only is the learning environment in China highly competitive and demanding, but expectations are high of students, forcing them to simply learn to achieve the highest grade possible. Also, Chinese students do not have electives they can choose from, they are assigned classes that best correspond to their scores on tests. Whereas in America, individualism and self-expression if looked high upon. Thus, in America, the individual student’s abilities and skills determine where they go in the future, and in China, what society or their parents want determines where they go. This is exactly what Francis Hsu talked about. I believe Peter Hessler was relatively objective in his journaling. Whenever he brought up thoughts or opinions of his students or any of the Fuling people, he briefly gave the history and background of them so we can understand where they are coming from. However, there were a few times where you could sense his extreme bias, but this was never fully evident in his writing. The difference between American and Chinese homes reflects the contrasting patterns of behavior in the family. In the US, children are highly regarded, cared for and have privilege, so far as to have laws and regulations protecting them. In China, children are taken for granted and have little to no reason to expect protection. Pediatrics was not a branch of medicine in China until just recently. In America, what is important is what parents should do for their parents; in China, what is important is what the children should do for their parents. This is a major reason why Chinese students are so focused on getting the best grades, so they can get a good job and take care of their elders. This is the basis for Filial Piety (virtue of respect for one’s parents and ancestors). American students focus on what is best for them and will usually move out the house at age 18 with no regard to taking care of their elders. Another difference between the two cultures is social relationships. The Chinese have formal, hierarchal relationships in which they feel most comfortable knowing their position. Americans have informal, egalitarian relationships in which they feel most comfortable among their equals and social ranking is not important. Ironically however, the Chinese tend to have a few, very close friends to whom they feel obligated to when it comes to helping them; Americans tend to have numerous â€Å"friends† and acquaintances that changes over time and to whom they feel no obligations. Works Cited 2001 River Town: Two years on the Yangtze. HarperCollins Publishers. Aguilar, Leslie, and Linda Stokes 1996. Multicultural Customer Service: Providing Outstanding. Service Across Cultures. Chicago: Times Mirror Higher Education Group, Inc â€Å"CultureAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc. ) Are Now Displayed on One Page. † Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n. d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013 Li Qing 1995. â€Å"Face, Guanxi, Houmen(r) & Elastic Rules: Insight into the Chinese Culture. † Presentation at conference of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Tong, William K. â€Å"Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu. † Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu. Oakton Community College, 2001. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.   

Analysis of Dubai Development Model with relevance to India

Table of Contents l. Introduction and Dubbed Policy Relevance to India II. Challenges faced by both India & Dubbed Ill. Policy Changes – What can be adopted by India & Dubbed from each other IV. Business Context of the policies in India & Dubbed V. References To: The Leaders of the Business Association of India From: Hull Consultancy Group Date: Reason: Analysis of Dubbed Development Model and relevance to India Dubbed Is one of the most flourishing clues In the world attracting people from all over the world with a strong economy.India being a part of the BRICE nations and with the ambition of being perceived as a developed nation need some changes economically and politically. Could the Dubbed model work in India? L. To analyses how Tuba's model can be relevant to India we need to look at various different factors. Looking at the model of Strategy, Structure and Resource we could make some comparisons of how Dubbed is similar to India. Dubbed India Relevancy Strategy Economi c Development Political Stability Import Talent & reliance on foreign companies in Dubbed. Logistical Hub and this promoted with good port facility.Strong ties with other Emirates Strong & Continuous Leadership Relaxed religious laws although still Islamic focused. Focus on education, medical & engineering sectors good. Primary sector of Agriculture not ignored. Infrastructure development, cities and broadband development is another major focus. Political Stability Member of the BRICE countries. Democratic government with secular laws. Relevant Infrastructure development at the ports as the south of India is also strategically located. Strong ties between cities Egg: Bangor & Hydrated can be made Low Relevance One leader strategy may not be applicablePolicy of importing talent for domestic needs. Structure City vs. Rural Development Education system City vs. Rural Cluster focused for companies and development towards ABA Dhabi close to the coast line. Old Dubbed vs. New Dubbed Educa tion System Focus is on introducing more foreign universities. Satellite city structure. New development outside major cities towards small towns. Egg: Whitfield, Oneida. Infrastructure development in rural areas. Good education system after British colonization. Science & Engineering has special focus. Focus on rural areas education. Cluster structure could be replicated.It is already done in a few places but could be done in most cities. More foreign universities can be introduced in India. Not Relevant Old city vs. New City is already in place in some cities. Egg: Delhi Resources Natural resources Human Resources Population- Low Manpower (Skilled, Unskilled, Technical)- Low Natural Resources- Low Alliance with ABA Dhabi for resources- High Population- Very high Manpower (Skilled, Unskilled, Technical)- High Natural Resources- High Alliance with other states or countries for resources- Low Alliance with neighboring countries or other BRICE countries for resources can be Dade.II. T o analyses if Tuba's model can be adopted by India, the challenges faced by both countries should be analyses further. Policies used by Dubbed for the above mentioned challenges are: 1 . Quality of Education: AAU government invested up to Dabbed invested on improving general education. Solution : They have a partnerships with several international schools in order to improve their education system. 2. Policy relevance to India is low. Main issue faced by India is inaccessibility in rural areas.Extreme poverty is another problem Solution- Mandatory CARS activities enforced by the government. Secondly broadband services to provide education by internet in inaccessible areas as done in Gujarat . 3. Quality of Health care : Expanse have expressed their lack of confidence in the Dubbed Health care services. Solution: To improve medical quality partnerships with international organizations like ‘John Hopkins' and ‘Cleveland ‘ medical centre have been made. Policy relevan ce to India is low.Issue is infrastructure with lack of sanitation and clean water causing illness. Lack of roads or transport makes it difficult for unmet needs to be fulfilled. Solution: Having infrastructure projects like the ones in Gujarat as initiated by the current prime minister is a better solution then attracting foreign medical care. 4. Expiate Migration : Tuba's over reliance on expiate employees. Competition from nearby countries like Qatar and Oman. Solution : Better infrastructure, attractive surrounding and tax free policy Similar problem with rising unemployment.Solution: Foreign companies can be attracted like in Dubbed but a realistic solution would be to encourage local entrepreneurship in order to create Jobs. Dubbed is conscious about the over reliance on fossil fuels to generate power Solution: Collaborations with Policy relevance to India is again low. Energy requirement in India is massive compared to AJAX. There are local companies with renewable technologi es which needs to be promoted. Solution: Collaborating with foreign companies is a temporary solution though it can be done.Natural gas exploration and nuclear energy long term solution. Ill. Many of the policies used for Dubbed are not recommended for India. These are because of many reasons like the Population, different Industrial focus, focus on domestic development including talent and technology. To further analyses this and understand what policy changes can be adopted for either India or Dubbed we need to look at the and the ‘Fragile Failed State' Index. The Fragile State Index, is an index which focuses on the stability of the nation on 3 different factors: 1.Economic: Uneven economic development, Severe Economic decline 2. Social: Demographic pressures, Massive refugee movement, Group grievances 3. Political: Crystallization, Progressive Deterioration, Security apparatus , Ethnic cleansing Based on these criteria, India is ranked at 81 which is categorized as ‘ High Warning and I-JAKE is inked at 143 which is considered a stable society. Under Economic , India has huge inequality in incomes and some states like UP, Briar are not highly developed. There are refugees movement and grievances from the lower class or religious sectors in society.Politically India is democratic and secular and given the religious and cultural diversity in India that an Autocratic rule would only increase the trouble in the country. Policies which India could copy from I-JAKE is to have infrastructure development, which could be awarded to foreign companies as this is the major problem in India. Better infrastructure could lead to solving some of the other problems like better education, reducing group grievances when people have the same basic facilities, and make uniform economic development.Security could improve with better roads and reaching in time . Infrastructure and roads have been a key element of all great civilizations starting from the Romans till mo dern countries like I-JAKE , Germany and the USA. If Infrastructure development has to be rapid foreign investment and companies would be essential. Having one religion and an autocratic government with very low population solves means that AAU does not face cost of the problems which India faces and thus makes it a very stable economy.However their reliance on foreign investment and technology, education is too high. This could bring about economic downturn to I-JAKE in the future. The change of policy which I-JAKE requires is to increase the amount of local universities and improve local education and businesses. A major aspect of doing business in any new country could be the ‘Corruption' in the country and ‘Business regulations' in the country. The ‘Ease of Doing Business' index helps analyses the conduciveness of a country to start a business.The factors considered are Infrastructure, Poverty ratio, Credit lines available, Tax rates, Educations standards , Reg ulations etc. Based on these criteria lets compare India to I-JAKE India- ease to do Business, Rank-134 Factors favorable are: Improving infrastructure Highly educated society Annual GAP expected to increase and best in South Asia Factors unfavorable are: Infrastructure still poor in many parts IN per capita is low Regulations are rigid High taxes Low credit lines as compared to I-JAKE Political rules favoring local companies Factors favorable are : Good infrastructure No taxesHighly educated people (mainly expanse though) Good autocratic leadership conducive to business High IN per capita Annual GAP best in MEAN region Factors unfavorable Expensive to run a business Need to attract talent from abroad Corruption is another major factor which businesses consider. According to the ‘Corruption Index' I-JAKE ranks at 26th whereas India ranks at 94. This shows that there could be a fear of corruption for businesses to enter India. ‘V. Businesses in India could play a major ro le in making some minor changes which would enable the country to become more business conducive.Collaborations or JP with foreign companies- This would attract more funds which would enable them to expand faster and also reduce unemployment. CARS activities to improve education and sanitation facilities. If CARS activities are not feasible Join with Social welfare groups like ‘Magic Bus' Transparency in business activities and raise awareness to reduce corrupt activities. Work closely with government to improve their sustainability and becoming energy efficient. Factories investing in machinery to have energy efficient equipment. Business in Dubbed could also take certain steps awards helping the local Political and Economic situation.Work with local universities and help hire local Emirate graduates. Take specific measures towards Energy conservation and sustainable measures Medical related companies can provide training for local Emirates. Considering the various factors th ere are some ideas and policies that either country can adopt. However the two countries are vastly different. While AAU is an autocratic society, it mainly focuses on one major sector locally which are the Emirates. Decisions are made and executed quickly as no consensus is required from the caked by huge funding which enables them to accomplish their goals.However in the long run the reliance on the foreign countries cannot be relied upon and local education and entrepreneurship definitely needs to be improved like what is been focused in India. India on the other hand is a very diverse society and it cannot focus on any major ethnic group. As it is also a huge country with a population of 1. 2 billion decision cannot be made by an individual. The consequences have to evaluated. Also despite the availability of natural resources funding is not as direct and easy like in Dubbed.Like some of the European countries they try to focus on agriculture and education, as in the long run th is would make their society self-reliant and not lament the lack of natural resources. There is a need for infrastructure in the form of roads of pipelines and sanitation facilities but the funding is not direct. Hence the rule of a mandatory CARS fee is created. Lastly to have a long term sustainable economy they need local entrepreneurship which they are focusing in many different areas like Finance, Infrastructure, Engineering, and Renewable Energy.

Managing Employee Performance Essay

In an effective organization there are key aspects to take under consideration such as, communication, growth and expansion, task completion, supply the fits company’s goals, and contingency plans. These are all vital when developing a profitable organization. Once you have these established it is time to start thinking about managing employee’s performance. The internal evolvement in employees will help the longevity in an organizations success. â€Å"Google figured out how to analyze all their data to come up with a profile of the kind of manager whose team is most successful† (Noe, 2014). Along with all the data Google collected and analyzed there are also five criteria’s for effectiveness of performance managing system. In Googles attempt to excel there are some errors that can arise, but using the five criteria’s Google can make a step closer to enhancing their performance managing process. In order to gain structure in an organization there mu st be principles in place. These principles must meet a standard that can be visualized, observed and come to a conclusion. The concluded information must be in alignment with the goals of the company in order for the company to achieve their perspective goals. At Google, their objective are to find managers whose teams is most successful. There are many different ways to achieve their goal but understanding the criteria for an effective performance manager will better assist them. An effective management performance system has five criteria’s that must be maintained. These principles include fit with strategy, validity, reliability, acceptability, and specific feedback. Before expanding on these principles it is important to know why a performance management system critical to the company. â€Å"An effective performance management process enables managers to evaluate and measure individual performance and optimize productivity† (Importance of Performance, 2014). A fit for strategy is â€Å"a performance management system that should aim at achieving employee behavior and attitudes that support the organizations strategy, goals, and culture† (Noe,2014). At Google their emphasis are to develop better managers. Google has met this criterion by identifying what it is they are trying to achieve and have set up measures  to improve their managers. Validity â€Å"is the extent to which a measurement tool actually measure what is intended to be measured† (Noe,2014). By conducting a survey Google was able to evaluate the managerâ₠¬â„¢s performance levels. This allows them a foundation for analyzing and developing training plans. It is important Google to have reliability as well. What good is it to have a valid testing measure it the result are inconsistent. Reliability is something that Google needs to improve. Google has a valid way of measuring their employee’s skill level but consistency maybe something they lack. Google can use measure such as situational judgment to help improve their manager’s performance. In an article written in the Journal of Applied Psychology it states â€Å"on the basis of 102 coefficients and 10,640 people situational judgment test showed useful levels of validity that were generalizable† (Braverman). Google implementing situational judgment to their testing measures would as met the criterion not only for validity and reliability but also acceptability. Situational judgment is a practical standard of testing and has been proven to work. Google could run into some issues with collecting such data if they are not careful present what is being measured. Understanding that errors can occur will better assist Google in the performance management process. It is important not to be bias well evaluating employees. â€Å"People often tend to five higher evaluation to people they consider similar to themselves. Most of us think of ourselves as effective, so if others are like us they must be effective too. Research has demonstrated that this effect is strong† (Noe, 2014). This could cause discrimination issues and run the risk of the company having law suits and also loosing perspective employees due to bad reputation. To eliminate this factor, raters can be trained on how to avoid errors. Specific feedback is a good tool to in cooperate when dealing with employees. If the employees understand what is expected from them they will be more willing to meet those expectations. Google mangers receive training that is essential to their understanding of what objective the company wants to meet. Google has met most of the criteria for have a successful program in place. In closure, Google’s measurements to their manager’s performance levels have met most of the criteria. Their method for a successful performance manager system is a full proof way on ensuring managers has the ability to grow. This in return brings greater productivity to the company. They have established what they  want and created a survey that outline what a good leader possesses. They measures are valid and their employees understand what is expected of them. Google is still searching for ways to improve their test and situational judgment could greatly complement the techniques they already have in place. This will increase the reliability and escalate their chances on reaching their objective. Reference Braverman, E. P. Use of situational judgment tests to predict job performance: A clarification of the literature.. Journal of Applied Psychology, 730-740. Noe, R. A. (2014). Fundamentals of human resource management (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Performance Review Process & Goal Management Process Best †¦. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.successfactors.com/en_us/lp/articles/optimize-performance-management.html

Big Switch Network Design Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Big Switch Network Design - Assignment Example All the above require completion of very complex tasks; these are information gathering, planning as a task, designing and modeling. While building a network, the designer focuses more on three layers of the OSI model. Although there are many technologies available for network construction, it is extremely important to be aware of the implications of selecting a technology over the other, the network devices or equipment to use, and in which layer the device can function, and lastly have knowledge on the functionality of the device by conforming to the network architecture requirements. Implementation of VLAN segments in a network (Keith, 2011) VLAN is Virtual Local Area Network. VLAN is a logical LAN segment that pair different physical LANs by creation of logical subnets. In VLAN, we involve different physical LAN segment to enable communications between them. This infrastructure enables functional separation of the departments, for example, separating the HR department from the pr oduction department by two different LANs without a router. Creation of workgroups enables communication of two different VLANs even though there are in different buildings physically. VLAN improves performance increasing available bandwidth according to how many VLANs are created to share the bandwidth being consumed. This infrastructure eases network maintenance; this can involve removal, changing and addition of network users and equipments. In LANs, a designer needs to re-configure the routers, servers and the work stations if a user moves, and this leads to reconfigure the switch, hub and arrangement of the cables. This can be avoided in a VLAN on the work station and the involved router however; they bring additional administrative complexity which in the other hand increases security by management of virtual workgroups by the administration. Generally, this type of networking reduces every type of cost from implementation cost to maintenance cost by minimizing the network adm inistration (Krzysztof, 2008). We can also use multiple VLANs per switch port. This is using of shared hub off of the switch ports. Also, the designer can introduce a wireless VLAN. In implementing this, the designer introduces a wireless access point that can be located by more units from one administration centre so that we avoid a lot of cabling and use of routers. At each access point contain mapped SSIDs of a maximum of 16 membership units. Then the access points is assigned a 802.11 standard called a primary SSID, broadcasting with beacons to all wireless clients on that segment. Membership is assigned for each wireless client on the VLAN by considering the specific company department, the security rights and which servers are most accessed. Then VLAN 1 is considered as the default native VLAN, so it does not tag traffic. This native VLAN number given must then watch all the attached access points assigned VLAN on that network segment. To filter traffic and enable secure manag ement VLAN traffic, this company will implement access control lists on every network switch. The introduction of the RADIUS SSID control will require wireless clients with an authenticated configuration of 802.1x, to have a RADIUS server that is already configured with mapped SSIDs on every wireless client. The list is sent to the access point where the client is a member by the server. Here, the employee cannot be a member of just any wired VLAN except to the assigned specific VLAN, and all this is done during authentication. The VLAN defines its own policy group filters, so all infrastructure devices are denied membership to a

Oral errorr correction for non-native speakers of English Essay

Oral errorr correction for non-native speakers of English - Essay Example Traditionally, errors have been seen as signs of failure in the language learning process (Hedge 2000; Johnson 2008). However, today attitudes towards errors are becoming less negative. The dominating constructive point of view in language learning, emphasizes errors’ role as a part of the language learning process (Bartram and Walton 1991). Already in the late 60s, Corder (1967) notes that errors are a significant part of language learning from two points of view. Firstly, errors give information to teachers about the learners’ language level, including what they have learned and what they still need to practice. Secondly, the nature of errors can enhance both teachers’ and learners’ understanding of the whole language learning process and what kind of knowledge is acquired first and what kind of structures are more difficult to comprehend. This paper will thus help to provide an insight into the role of errors and how they have been treated in language t eaching through decades; the kind of corrective feedback that can take place in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom; and finally, whether or not corrective feedback has an influence on the development of a learner learning a language. This paper will focus on defining terms concerning errors, corrective feedback and learner uptake. ... Phonological errors are errors in pronunciation, stress, or intonation, grammatical errors to incorrect formulated sentences, phrases or words, and lexical errors refer to errors in word use, phrases or idioms (Chaudron 1986; Allwright and Bailey 1991). In totality, James (1998) explains that errors refer to a deviation of the grammatical accurate rules of a language system. Hendrickson (1978:387), on the other hand, defines error as ‘an utterance, form, or structure that a particular teacher deems unacceptable because of its inappropriate use or its absence in real-life discourse’. According to Allwright and Bailey (1991:85) ‘an error is a form unwanted by the teacher’. In foreign language classrooms, the teacher is able to decide whether or not the students are making errors in oral pronunciation of words and phrases in the language that they are learning. However, errors that are made in the classroom are a result of different causes; Transfer of learners ’ first language such as unfamiliar structures or pronunciation and unfamiliar words can all lead to erroneous utterances (Lyster and Ranta 1997). The definition mentioned previously seems to refer both to an incorrect form of an utterance that a native speaker of the language would not understand or accept as correct language use, and to an incorrect form of an specific utterance or answer that the teacher is looking for (Scrivener 1994). Errors mostly occur when the person learning the language is not able to for correct sentences or structure the use of grammar and phrase composition well. (Scrivener 1994). But despite good chances for a correct guess, the learner ends up doing incorrect hypotheses

What are the strengths and weaknesses of an artificial kidney based on Essay

What are the strengths and weaknesses of an artificial kidney based on the use of proximal convoluted tubule cells - Essay Example In the search for alternative treatment of such diseases, kidney transplant emerged as the most viable option, which has been applied extensively. Nevertheless, despite kidney transplant being a successful option, the costs and the difficulty in finding the kidneys for transplant has promoted another alternative search, this time that entails the application of artificial kidney, based on the use of proximal convoluted tubule cells. This alternative is being widely studied and experimented, since it has shown some rays of hope that it might emerge as a viable alternative for addressing the problem. The discovery of this bio-artificial kidney has shown some potential of saving the life of people who have acute renal failures (Fawcett, 2004 n.p.). The study undertaken with 10 patients with acute kidney problems indicated that the artificial kidney that is based on the use of proximal convoluted tubule cells, is well tolerated by the adult human body, and has the potential of improving their conditions (Fawcett, 2004 n.p.). However, despite this ray of hope, there is a need to understand how the bio-artificial kidney operates. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the viability of the bio-artificial kidney, with a view to understand the advantages and disadvantages of its application. First, the strength of this bio-artificial kidney is, that it will be the first device of its kind to be implanted inside the body of humans, as opposed to the use of dialysis machines, which are connected to the body externally, and are used to filter the body waste mechanically (Boyle, 2010 n.p.). Therefore, this device eliminates all the inconvenience that are involved in mechanical removal of wastes from the body, considering that the device will be implanted inside the body of a patient, and thus will be performing continuously, as does the normal kidney (Fawcett, 2004 n.p.). The mechanical removal of human waste is associated with a lot of challenges. Most fundamental is t he fact that; the patient is not continuously involved in the removal of body wastes, but has to do it occasionally as programmed through the use of the dialysis machine. This puts the patients at a higher health risk, since the wastes may accumulate at a rate that was not anticipated by the physician, and thus cause the intoxication of the human body, while he/she still awaits the mechanical removal of wastes (Boyle, 2010 n.p.). It is in this consideration that the artificial kidney, based on the use of proximal convoluted tubule cells, is found to be advantageous, since it works like a normal kidney, without the need for programmable removal of kidney wastes. The application of this bio-artificial kidney eliminates the need to locate a patient close to a dialysis center, while also removing the need for them to undergo the extremely consuming procedure. The other strength associated with the use of the artificial kidney, based on the use of proximal convoluted tubule cells is that ; this artificial kidney is developed using the normal biological kidney cells (Fawcett, 2004 n.p.). The kidney is made up of a cartridge that is lined up with renal proximal tubule cells, which helps the kidney to operate like it was a normal kidney. This is because, the cells performs the most vital functions of the kidney, which is the filtration and separation of the kidney waste components from the vital electrolytes, salt, glucose and water, which are essential for the normal body functioning (Boyle, 2010 n.p.). Therefore, the artificial kidney prevents the loss of most important components of the blood system, which would otherwise have been lost through the

Short Report on Ancient Athens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Short Report on Ancient Athens - Essay Example Finally it concludes that the system was indeed democratic. The assembly, court, and council comprised the political institutions which governed ancient Athens. Throughout the history of Athens, the assembly remained the main avenue for political activity. It functioned to protect the integrity and security of the city state. It also had the power to negotiate or break treaties with foreign powers. The council was responsible for preparing the laws which would be passed by the assembly. The legal system was extensive and developed for that time period. The total population of Athens is reported to be around three hundred thousand people. Out of this population an estimate fifty thousand males were eligible for voting and participating in the political system. Pericles said in a speech that the Athenian system of government favored the majority of the citizens (â€Å"Pericles Funeral Oration†). One problem faced by the Athenian democracy was the clash between the court and assembly. A law was passed in 416 BC in which the courts could block or veto any law passed by the assembly. Any assembly member who had proposed the law could also be punished by the courts. This law restricted the power of the assembly. It also became a source of tension and frustration. Another problem faced by the city state was that ordinary citizens had too much power concentrated in running the affairs of the state. Pericles stated that the Athenian system provided â€Å"equal justice† for all of its citizens (â€Å"Pericles Funeral Oration†). The lack of professional civil servants, lawyers, judges, and politicians hindered the day to day affairs of the city state. It led to the inefficient allocation and use of resources as the citizens had direct power to pass or draft laws. An example of this would be the fact that amateur citizens could reduce taxes which might have been necessa ry for the survival of the government. The citizen initiator

International People Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International People Management - Essay Example Employees encounter more ambiguity and decreased job security (Coetzee, 2005). Because of lack of job security, the employees too expect the employers to demonstrate their commitment in terms or providing the right work environment like safety and work-life balance. Even change management requires not just effective leaders but committed followers. Thus, gaining and maintaining employee commitment is a challenge that management faces because they need committed employees. The HR functions have to be integrated and this includes recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal, remuneration and managing workforce diversity. Employee commitment has been defined by various authors in different ways and there is no consensus. This force is experienced as a mindset. Commitment has been defined as the basis of an individual’s psychological attachment to the organization (Caldwell, Chatman & O’Reilly, 1990; Jafri, 2010). It has been defined as a stabilizing force that acts to maintain behavioural direction†¦.an obliging force that requires that the employee honour the commitment †¦.the psychological attachment felt by the individual†¦.or that state which binds the individual to the organization. Thus all the definitions suggest that there has to be a force that directs the individual’s behaviour (Coetzee, 2005). Authors also differ on the various forms that commitment can take. Commitment can be retain their organizational membership or a commitment to support the goals of the organization. Organizational commitment has also been defined as an attitude toward the organizat ion manifested as identification with organizational goals, willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization, and a strong desire to maintain membership in the organization (Taylor, Levy, Boyacigiller & Beechler, 2008). Two approaches have been used to define commitment by the

Tourism Product in Ambleside Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tourism Product in Ambleside - Research Proposal Example Differences in attitudes have been examined according to degree of tourism development (Long, Perdue and Allen 1990), level of an individual's involvement in the tourism industry (Smith and Krannich 1998), maturity of destination (Sheldon and Abenoja 2001), type of tourism development in both the U.S. and abroad (Carlsen, 1999; Ryan and Montgomery 1998), and specific to one major event (Wall 1990). A number of small-scale studies have been conducted utilizing research from one to a few immunities (Andressen and Murphy 1986), but until recently there has been little research that examines a wide range of communities located within close proximity of each other in aggregate (Indirect and Vogt 2000). This study examined the attitudes toward tourism of residents in a dozen communities in Arizona, generally following the model developed by Perdue, Long, and Allen (1990) as part of their studies. . The research utilized social exchange theory as a foundation to formulate three research questions: 3) what variables contributed to support for tourism planning. ... 2) did the extent to which one benefited personally from tourism development impact perceived positive impacts of tourism, perceived negative impacts of tourism and support for additional tourism; and did the extent to which one benefited personally from tourism development, perceived positive impacts of tourism, and perceived negative impacts of tourism affect support for additional tourism; and 3) what variables contributed to support for tourism planning. The attitudes of that the residents hold towards tourism and perceptions of its impact on community life must be continually accessed.". (Allen et al. 1988) Methodology: Part Two: It has been established that the objective for this study is to obtain in-depth perceptions of tourism on the residents of Ambleside Lake District because the success of tourism depends upon the perceptions of the residents. The best methodology to meet these objectives is that primary data collection will be collected in the form of a Postal questionnaire of around 100 applicants from the Amber Side Lake district. Mail surveys are a cost effective method of gathering information. (Kaiser and Helber 1978) They cost a little less than telephone interviews, however, they take over twice as long to complete (eight to twelve weeks)." Because there is no interviewer, there is no possibility of interviewer bias. The main disadvantage is the inability to probe respondents for more detailed information.' (Kelly 1992 p 51) Although Email questionnaires are an option it has been decided that this method will not be used. The reason is Email and internet surveys are relatively new and little is known about the effect of sampling bias

Social policy and play Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Social policy and play - Essay Example There are some games universally played by children. Hide and seek which develops inquisitive nature and curiosity in the minds of the children and Police-thief games which is about battle between good and evil are popular among children in different forms of the game. ‘Play’ goes a long way in cultivating good habits, manners and behaviors in a person. Perspectives of Childhood The perspective of childhood is viewed from futuristic angle, ignoring the conditions, needs and changes required from the current perspective. Lesser and Russell stated â€Å"There has been a rapid growth in policy initiatives relating to children and young people and this has been dominated by a perspective which sees children primarily in terms of their and the nation’s future and not in terms of their present lives.† Childhood should not be viewed merely as a ground for preparing them for adulthood. The society tries to intervene in the process with the understanding that the fr amework is set with reference to learning, good habits, behaviors and manners in socializing. Health consciousness is also considered in this framework. However, we need to treat that opportunity to play is ‘childhood right’ though there are the attendant benefits and adult hood is related to childhood. According to Lee (2) â€Å"Whatever differences there may be between adults and children, contemporary sociologies of childhood urge that children be treated equally, at least in terms of recognizing that children have views and perspectives of their own.† The aspect of empowerment to the children is another important perspective. According to Alexander (10) empowerment, â€Å"is what bridges children’s wellbeing, children’s primary education and children’s rights. Empowerment - underpinned, as our child witnesses insist, by equity, empathy and expertise - is an educational cause well worth fighting for.† Social Policy Relating to Child hood â€Å"Alcock (2003) proposes a definition of social policy which suggests that it comprises both academic discipline and also a form of social action.† (Shardlow (14) Children believe they have the talents and courage to become kings. This belief which remains unspoiled till adulthood made many college drop-out students to establish great business empires in history. On the other hand, the seeds of evil take deep roots in their minds due to child abuse or discrimination manifest as cheating, fraud and terrorism in later years.   Study by Henn et al (1160) â€Å"revealed profound differences in the likelihood of criminal convictions or incarcerations between socialized and under socialized delinquents. The socialized delinquents have less chance of being either convicted of a crime or being imprisoned.† Shaping up at 5 is easier than reshaping up at 50. According to Hallett and Prout (83) children have been accorded a central role, both in creation of modern soci ety and the autonomous individual and observed that the contemporary thinking and activities of the associations in child welfare confirm this trend. Play is an important part of children and youngsters. Sutton-Smith views ‘

What are the potential benefits and pitfalls in promoting a new cinema Essay

What are the potential benefits and pitfalls in promoting a new cinema that places its emphasis on issues of identity and difference - Essay Example When motion pictures were first devised in the late 19th century, it was viewed as a medium for documentation of historical artefacts, in much the same way as still photographs were regarded. By the early 20th century the value of motion pictures as a form of entertainment and education was firmly established; however, it is only in the recent past, during the period of globalization, that the capability of film as a powerful tool for cultural dissemination has been recognized. Academic studies have turned to a determination of the effect of film in creating cross-cultural bridges between societies. A recent genre of film has been developed that explored the clashes among cultural influences and the ensuing resistance, assimilation, or adaptation of these elements. What emerges is the depiction of the evolution of identity, its definition in contemporary terms, and its differentiation from the status quo. There are both benefits and pitfalls to this new mode of filmmaking, which this paper will explore. It is however important to first describe the nuances of identity and differentiation, that becomes a defining force in the creation of motion pictures. Issues of identity and difference The driver for the depiction of cultural identity and its differentiation from â€Å"the other† is born by a universal need for public recognition of the distinctiveness of societies. The desire to preserve identity in one form or another is in response to the challenges of multiculturalism and the politics of recognition in democratic societies. The cultural context is valued by individuals as among their basic interests, and their right to this is universal. The problem resides, however, is in the reconciliation of the conflicting content of the various valued cultures. This implies limits that must be placed on political recognition of particular cultures (Amy Gutmann, 1994: 3). In Liberal democracies, citizenship cannot be regarded as a comprehensive universal identit y, for the reasons that: (1) people are unique, self-creating, and creative individuals; and (2) people are also â€Å"culture-bearing† whose cultures differ depending on their past and present identifications (Amy Gutmann, 1994: 7). Citizenship, therefore, is a unifying and equalizing factor in terms of rights; it does not, however, erase cultural distinctiveness. The liberal value of diversity should not be associated with the nullification, but rather the expansion and preservation of the â€Å"cultural, intellectual, and spiritual horizons of all individuals,† enriching and exposing us to differing intellectual and cultural perspectives, allowing for growth, exploration and enlightenment (Amy Gutmann, 1994: 9) The problem of cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization is that there exists the indigenization of new cultural influences as they are constantly introduced into mainstream society (Arjun Appadurai). The new global cultural economy may no longer be understood in terms of simple models involving centers and peripheries, but instead as â€Å"a complex, overlapping, disjunctive order†. An elementary framework for exploring these disjunctures is suggested by Arjun Appadurai involves â€Å"five dimensions of global cultural flow†: (1) ethnoscapes; (2) mediascapes; (3) technoscapes; (4) finanscapes; and (5) ideoscapes. Each of these dimensions is a deeply imbued with historical, linguistic, and political context of nation-states, multinationals, diasporic communities (i.e., sharing common national or ethnic identity), and other such aggrupations. The five dimensions form the multiple worlds that are constituted by historically situated collective imaginations of persons and groups flung to various parts of the world (Appadurai, 2003). Deterritorialization generally is one of the major phenomena in contemporary times. It results from the mass movement of people of similar culture to other

Foundation Degree in Accounting and Finance Essay Example for Free

Foundation Degree in Accounting and Finance Essay Introduction There is a radical change after the privatisation of Atlantic Water. The change not only affects the organisations objectives and strategic planning, but also its structure and culture. B Burnes (1996: 115) cited writers such as Handy (1986), Allaire and Firsirotu (1984) argued the issue as follow: to operate effectively and efficiently, an organisations culture need to match or be appropriate to its structure. Given that an organisations environment can change rapidly, as can its structure, situations will arise in the environment, structure and practices of the organisation. Observing organisational behaviour is not enough, we need to understand the meaning of the behaviour, and therefore, it is important to identify the culture and structure of an organisation, to enable management to react quickly for any external or internal change. 1. Defining Culture It is difficult to define culture, usually it is defined as how things are done around here or this is how we are. Culture within an organisation is influence by the personality of an individual, pattern of communication, work performance, behaviour of management and subordinate as a role. Schein (1983) defines organisational culture as: the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal integration and that have work well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore , to be taught to new member as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems. Schein views culture as not being over behaviour or values, but the assumptions that underlie them. Here are the views based on three level of culture: * Level 1: The visible artefacts and creations, which are easy to observe, but do not explain why a group behaves the way it does. * Level 2: The values which can be inferred from interview, but which manifest the espoused reason for behaviour, not the underlying unconscious reason. * Level 3: The underlying assumptions which are typically unconscious, but which actually determine hoe people perceive, think and feel. The meaning of Organisational Culture was also defined in Oxford Dictionary of Business (2003) as follow: Organizational Culture: The values, customs, rituals, and norms shared by all the members of an organization, which have to be learnt and accepted by new members of the organization. Culture impacts most aspect of organisational life, such as how decision are made, who makes them, how rewards are distributed, who is promoted, how people are treated, how the organisation responds to its environment etc. This particular set of values, beliefs, customs and systems are unique to the organisation. 1.1 Organisation culture R Harrison suggested that there are four main types of organisation culture. They are the following: Power Culture is where the authority and control within the organisation are centralised. The control is passing from the central to key individuals. The power of members is based on control over resources and personal influence with the centre. Role Culture is where work within and between departments is controlled by procedures, role descriptions and authority definitions. Job position is central to this, not necessarily the job holder as a person. People are appointed to a role based on their ability to carry out the functions and to satisfy performance of the role. R Harrison (1972: 119-128) cited Role Culture as follow: Role culture often referred to as a bureaucracy, it works by logic and rationality. Task Culture is job or project oriented and the main purpose is to complete the task or project. This might involve getting the right people to work as a team, giving them decision making power to complete the task. Person Culture is when the individual is focus on. This includes their personality and personal feeling etc. For example if a group of people decided to do their own thing and other members of staff help, this is a person culture. It only existed for the people concerned. Many organisations have a mixture of the above culture, it is important to understand the concept of each of the above culture and to establish an appropriate structure. 1.2 Culture of the old Water Authority The old Water Authority had a complex grading framework, narrow spans of control and more level of authority, this resulted in a high hierarchical structure, and this indicated that the organisation had a strong power culture. It was mentioned in the case study that the old Water Authority called their managers officers and administered the organisation and ran almost along a military line, where the authority and control were centralised. The employees were job oriented where they can only carry out the job they were originally employed for, there was no need to re-organise their position, where they just followed the day to day procedures. Management saw their jobs as minimising external interference rather then seeking for some change to improve the performance of the employees. Employees in the old Water Authority had a certain level of job security where they could work extra hours where needed, which would give them an extra income. Due to the high hierarchical structure of the organisation, there would be a difficulty for employees career progression, this affected those who are seeking for career improvement and lower their motivation and morale within the organisation. Management did not offer new training skills nor did subordinates look for self improvement. From these evidents the old Water Authority had a mixture of the all the culture which R Harrison suggested. 1.3 Culture of new Atlantic Water Plc In the new Atlantic Water Plc, they re-structured their grading framework, the spans of control reduced the level of hierarchical structure and the result of this, employees had more opportunities to progress within the organisation. The organisation also decided to empower their managers to take more responsibility, the decentralization enabled decisions to be made closer to the operation level of work. In the result of job cuts after privatisation, Atlantic Water offers their employees a chance to gain qualifications and ensured they are cross-skilled. Not only the employees offered to gain new skill, managers are also sent on a training course, where they will have a clearer focus on the organisations objective and to create a new relationship within the organisation. Since Atlantic Water had a large number of jobs cuts, employees suffered from the job insecurity after the privatisation. Although the organisation encouraged them to gain new skills, the main reason will probably be for them to keep their job rather than looking for self improvement. On the other hand, the organisation introduced a new salary structure leaving many employees worse off financially. Since the employees are not gaining any benefits financially and suffering from job insecurity, this impacts the employees morale and their commitment to the organisation. 1.4 Comparison of the old Water Authority and Atlantic Water The old culture of Water Authority was inappropriate to their competitive needs. Atlantic Water changed the culture by shaping the value, beliefs and attitudes of their employees. They started by changing the recruitment, selection and redundancy policies. Managers were recruited from private sector, this effected the composition of the workforce so that promotion and employment prospects are dependent on those concerned possessing or displaying the beliefs and value the organisation wishes to promote. The introduction of the flatter hierarchical structure and decentralisation is an advantage of a private company. The managers can work closely with the working operational level and it will reduce the time it takes to make decision. This also demands a greater involvement of the staff and creates opportunities for employees developing their career. The encouragement of staff training is vitally important to the change of an organisation, this will not only benefit the organisations productivity, but will also improve the level of employees morality and to make them understand their value to the organisation. 2. Defining Structure P Drucker (1974: 52) defined structure as follow: Structure is a means for attaining the objectives and goals of an organization. An organisation existent is to achieve its goal and objectives, the work within an organisation has to be divided among its members. It provides the framework of an organisation and makes all process and application possible. The effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation will be influenced by the structural design and the behaviour of the people who work within the structure. 2.1 Organisational Structure An organisations structure is designed to ensure that rules and procedures are used and followed, it contains four frameworks of relationships within an organisation: the individuals job description, job specialisation, its lines of communication and its hierarchy. Organisational structure can be layered into three hierarchical structures: the technical level, the managerial level and the community level. It is important to have clear objectives within the organisation, good communications both horizontally and vertically can enable an organisation to perform effectively and efficiently. The correct grouping of individuals and work is also important to maintain a high level of performance. 2.2 The old Water Authoritys structure The old Water Authority was a public service organisation, its main objective was to provide a service to local communities. Job description was clarified to individuals and the working pattern was not flexible. The division of work was based on the employees skills, i.e. operation of clean water side and the dirty water side. It had a narrow span of control and more level of authority, this result in a tall hierarchical structure and there are a few problems with this structure. It restricts the decision making process and information is difficult to pass on from either level to another. It is not cost effective since there are more middle managers within the organisation and there could be a conflict between management if the objective was not clarified between departments. The old Water Authority was a centralised organisation where the decision making retained in the top level of management. There are advantages of centralisation, some of which applied to the old Water Authority. The decisions are fitted to broad organisations objectives and it is easier to coordinate the activities within the organisation. But the problem occurred when the decisions were not made close enough with the operational level, it might not be appropriated to the lower level of hierarchical structure. Line and staff management: A system of management used in large organizations in which there are two separate hierarchies; the line management side consists of line managers with responsibility for deciding the policy of and running the organizations main activities, while the staff management, and its separate staff managers, are responsible for providing such supporting service. Oxford Dictionary of Business (2003: 300) This explanation suited the structure of the old Water Authority, each operational department running parallelised and having advisory department across them (See Diagram 1). The mechanistic organisation theory applied to the old Water Authority, where employees had specified roles and definitions of the authority within the hierarchical structure. Communication and interaction are vertical, the structure of the old Water Authority was appropriate as the external environment was stable. 2.3 Atlantic Waters Structure The privatisation changed the Water Authority from a public service organisation to an economic organisation. The objective is no longer just to provide service, but to make a profit and to survive in the competitive market. Atlantic Water re-structured their grading framework, it reduced the level of management, the wider span of control resulted in a flatter hierarchical structure. It reduced the bureaucratic costs, i.e. less middle managers, less coordination problem and reduced the chance of information distortion. Decentralisation is another result of down-sizing the hierarchical structure, this allows decisions to be made closer to the operational level and reduces information overload on upper managers. Managers have more free time to do something else, i.e. provide personal care for its subordinates. The line and staff organisational structure also changed, it became a matrix structure, where there is more than one critical orientation to the operations of the organisation, such as they introduced the pay negotiations in house and fixed-term contractors. Atlantic Water encouraged their employee to gain qualification to enable them to be cross-skilled, so they can be deployed by their manager where and when they are needed, the flexibility of the working pattern is essential. The mechanistic organisation is no longer applicable in the lower level, it combined both the mechanistic organisation at the top of the hierarchy and the organic organisation at the bottom of the level. Organic organisation has a flexible system and structure which is characterised by the adjustment and continual redefinition of tasks. Communication and authority does not necessarily coincide with positional authority. 3. Organisational Change L Mullins (2002: 798) suggested organisation development is a key to organisational change. Organisation development is concerned with the diagnosis of organisational health and performance, and the ability of the organisation to adapt to change. In order to change the organisation effectively, organisation development is essential to have the correct strategies: survey research and feedback, T-group and team building. Survey and feedback involves using questionnaires to help identifying the attitudes of individuals within the organisation. Top management can analysis the feedback and discuss the problems, and the action to be taken to help to improve performance. T-group is also known as sensitivity training, it involve informal groupings to discuss the individuals feeling toward the organisation and to understand their abilities in themselves. Team building is identifying the task procedures and the pattern of interaction within the work group. The aim of this function is to improve overall performance of the organisation through the effectiveness of the team. Organisational development is not only about improving the organisation effectiveness and efficiency, but also improve the morality and commitment of individuals. 3.1 Strategies for Change and Innovation There are different strategies approaches to changes in the organisation, however it has to be carefully design and apply. From the strategic management point of view, organisational change has four main facets which need constant re-appraisal and planned action: * Human resource implications This involve training, personal skill development, the culture needed to be accepted. The organisation needs to encourage and motivate their employees by providing opportunity for improvement. * Functional implications Communication need to be improved between departments, the understanding of how the department works is also important, different area of organisation has their own way of working method. Decentralise the authority and appraisal system should be introduced. * Technological implications Increase use of technology can improve the productivity and administration of an organisation. Although there is a cost of the installation and operational cost, but it actually reduce overhead cost in long term, i.e. less manual labour and improve accuracy. * Organisational implications This involve change of relationship, work groups, routines and practices. There will be a new requirement of communications between departments and the management skills need to be improved to compromise within the organisation. 3.2 Atlantic Waters Approaches After the privatisation, Atlantic Water applied the organisation development techniques. They are role analysis, life and career planning, quality of work life and counselling. Role analysis Employees are trained to be cross-skilled so they can be deployed by their manager where and when they are needed, so their tasks are more flexible than before. Life and career planning The organisation encourages their employees to gain qualifications, this will not only benefit the individual, but also the performance of the organisation. The organisation also invested heavily in management development so the managers have a clearer commercial focus and a new relationship with its workforce. Quality of work life The new grading framework of the organisation creates opportunity for many employees who wish to develop their career. The organisation introduced a new salary structure, but it leaves many employees worse off financially, Atlantic Water failed to provide a better quality of work life. Counselling There is a programme to help individual to deal with stress which are caused from job insecurity. This will help and assist individual to attain their goal and to re-build their confidence. Atlantic Water has improved their performance in general by investing in training programmes for both the management and their staff, but they did not consider their employees feeling. The morality and commitment level had dropped significantly due to the amount of work load and insecurity of their job. Although they offered a counselling programme, their employees are not being awarded for the extra efforts they put into the organisation. The low level of morality and commitment has major influence on the level of work performance. Atlantic Water should try to re-build the relationship with their employees by re-viewing their salary structure. The employees should be informed at a reasonable level of the activity within the organisation, sharing the success of the organisation will also boost the level of confidence for the individual. The management training should not be limited to the knowledge within the industry, it should includes counselling, coaching and leadership skills. Managers have a major influence on the motivation and behaviour of employees. 4. Conclusion The change has a massive impact upon Atlantic Water, the structure, culture and organisational climate had changed significantly. They have taken a certain level of approach but the results are not all positive, they need to carefully re-build relationships with its employees. The organisational climate is an indication of the employees feeling and beliefs, obviously Water Atlantics climate needs to be improved. It must develop new ways to increase the loyalty and commitment of employees. This includes attention to reward strategies based on recognition of contribution rather than status or position. The management of organisational climate is an important means of improving productivity and standard of work performance. Diagram 1 Bibliography Burnes B. (1996) 2nd Edition, Pitman Publishing, London Drucker P. (1974), New templates for todays organizations, Harvard Business Review, London Huczynski A. Buchanan D. (1991), Organizational Behaviour, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall, London Mullins L. (2002), Management and Organisational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, Essex Schein E. (1997), Organizational Culture and Leadership, Jossey Bass Wiley, London Schneider S. Barsoux J. (2003), Managing Across Culture, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall, London Reference Burnes B. (1996), Managing Change, 2nd Edition, London, Pitman Publishing, Drucker P. (1974), New templates for todays organizations, Harvard Business Review, London Mullins L. (2002), Management and Organisational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, Essex Schein E. (1997), Organizational Culture and Leadership, Jossey Bass Wiley, London Oxford University Press (2003), Oxford Dictionary of Business, 3rd Edition, Market House Book Ltd, London

The Inherently Unsustainable Of Mass Tourism Tourism Essay

The Inherently Unsustainable Of Mass Tourism Tourism Essay Tourism Industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Tourism has long been a central component of the economic, social and cultural shift that has left its imprint on the world system of cities in the past two decades (Dumond; 2005 cited in Beben; 2006;1). According to the statistics of World Trade Organization, there was 693 million tourist arrivals across the globe in 2002 (Beben; 2006). Moreover, WTO and the World Tourism and Travel Council announced a possible increase in the number of tourists to close to 1 billion by the end of 2010 (Massound; 2010). Mass tourism is seen as a large number of people participating in tourism as well as inflexible and packaged standardized holidays (Poon; 1993). Starting from the 50s a new tourist demand leaded to a new stage in this evolutionary process. Tourism industry just like other Fordist industries has been supplying mass products, mostly considered under the label of mass tourism (Conti; Perelli; 2004). According to Conti and Perelli (2004;3), Thomas Cook created the tourism packages in the 19th century as the pioneering forms of mass tourism and the opportunity for the definitive shift from the aristocratic forms of vacation to the mass mobility of workers spending their paid holidays travelling. The concept of Cookism was used in a place of Fordism to express the era of mass tourism. Others seen mass tourism as consuming places by the large number of visitors (Urry; 1995). More recently mass tourism consumption experience has been linked to the ideas of a McDonaldization, Disneyfication o r McDisneyfication of societies (Ritzer and Liska; 1997 cited in Conti and Perelli; 2004;3). The impact of those consumption patterns has been considered as the typical Fordist leading to a reduction of the cultural diversity by mean of the demand of a tourist experience that will be more and more reproducing the everyday life patterns of consumption (Contti and Perelli; 2004). Mass tourism is strongly linked to seasonality. The impact of schools closure for the holiday periods as well as companies ´ work programmes and the destination specific weather conditions, all that aspects are gathering great number of tourists at the same time (Shaw and Williams; 1995). Before tourism was a luxury, available mostly for higher class but after the introduction of packaged holidays and development of mobility and technology, travelling became more accessible for everyone. Tourism has aroused on the market as a forceful industry making changes which have both positive and negative economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts. The development of tourism industry is very important for economy of the country especially for less developed countries as it increase foreign exchange earnings and generates employment. According to UNWTO, tourism stands for 8% of employment and 9% of global GDP and by the year 2019 will provide 296 million jobs (UNWTO cited in MercoPress, 2010). Tourism can have a powerful and beneficial direction for both economic and sociio-cultural change but at the same time it can be destroying. Do actual benefits from tourism go to the host community? Is government ´s priority in development are to provide the needs of the tourists instead of local community? The government blinded by the opportunity of the country to generate the money from the development tourism is forgetting about the negative aspects that the industry can bri ng. Most of the attention has been made to economic aspects of the tourism growth and environmental and socio-cultural issues have been swept out to the second plan. Although to make tourism sustainable it is very important to look at those aspects. As mentioned before tourism enables the development of the destination although, the lack of own capital and a weak economy of some underdeveloped destinations makes foreign investors to build a new hotels that makes tourism being beneficial mostly for the developed countries. The same is with employment. It seems like tourism would give jobs to the local community but in the meantime the investors from developed countries employed the workers with a better education and abilities so the developing country stays with almost nothing. When the development is lower than the position of a country is worse. Leakage is an amount of money that escapes from the local economy (France; 1997). According to Kripperdorf(1982;136), tourism planning is usually in the hands of outside promoters the local population are regarded merely as landowners or as a reserve of labour, not as people entitled to participate in decision making. For example, tour operators owning resorts and sending the customers to the destination which mean that local community wont benefit much from those tourists. They export food for the tourist and employ British stuff. How tourism can be sustainable if it ´s breaking the basic rules of it. The tourism control and planning strategy is crucial in developing sustainable tourism but how can it be done if even government is closing their eyes on the unfair practices in the Tourism sector of that region. The uncontrolled tourism in Goa has a strong impact on host community who has to face the food and water shortage (Almeida; 1996). Moreover, Goan has to face with electricity problems, there is a severe water shortage. The water pipeline that was originally meant for the villagers is now being utilised by the hotels. The transport too is insufficient to transport both locals and tourists (Misquita, 1996a cited in Noronha;1999;101). Very fast process of urbanisation has changed Goa into the concrete jungle. Police is closing their eyes on the drug fulfilled parties. Barely 10 % of Goans have benefited from tourism development, moreover, the foreign investors are buying large amounts of lands in the regi on (Almeida; 1996).All those examples illustrate how unsustainable tourism it is. Moreover, as suggested by Wall and Wright (1977); physical impacts to the tourist destination include alterations to the natural environment, including air, water, soils, vegetation and wildlife as well as changes to the build environment (Mathiesen and Wall; 1999; 38). Mass tourism affects strongly beaches, cliff-side, environment and degraded landscape. In some mass destinations ground water is in an alarmingly low level which is largely consumed by agricultural sector, by the irritation of a great number of gardens constructed due to the development of new summer houses and second homes and golf courses (Molz; 2004;5). Also the beaches have been extended in order to meet tourist demand. The unlimited constructions and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources will lead to the serious environmental problems. Recreational activities organized for tourists have also strong impact. Tourists by touching reefs when diving and snorkeling are damaging them. Also by the great number of boat trips tourist are disturbing marine animals. According to Kripperdorf (1982;135), the mass phenomena of modern tourism have initiated the paradoxial process Tourism destroys tourism. The landscape loses its tourist value through its use, or rather over-use, by th e tourist. Mass tourism is not only a problem of coastal regions but also the winter season is strongly connected to mass tourism. In Alps the number of tourists doubles every 7 years (Dziedzic; 1998). In Tyrol the ski slope is going through the endangered forests. Every year more than 500 hectares of agricultural land is used to make new skiing resorts and slopes (Dziedzic; 1998). Environmental degradation destroys the meaning of existence of tourism itself. The number of tourists is growing every year. According to the World Travel report (cited in Hickman; 2006) by 2020 the natural features of some of the wonders of the world will be damaged by global warming, while other resorts will become seriously overcrowded. The carrying capacity has been described as greatest number of people who can use the place without any damage to the natural resources and without degradation of the environment (Wall and Mathiasen; 1999). The attrition of historical buildings and the saturation of the coasts are one of the problems were carrying capacity has been overtaken. Changes in tourist destinations are inevitable but the concept of carrying capacity has the chance to indicate the amount and the way of change and to assess to which point those changes are acceptable (Mathiesen and Wall; 1999). The socio-cultural impacts are the other aspect of a great importance when looking at the changes in tourism as it strongly changes the way of life of the local communities. Mass tourism is causing displacement of indigenous population by tourists. For example in Hawaii there are about 1 million of indigenous inhabitants, which is a quarter of the whole population (Dziedzic; 1998). In human relationships, the disappearing traditional hospitality is a very important aspect. Especially in the big tourist resorts, these relations were long ago converted into a commodity for sale. Kuhn (2007; cited in Hanna; 2010 HHhhKKKK) argues that sustainable tourism attempts to preserve traditional cultures in a way that the western tourist deems as authentic. If sustainable tourism will lead into that direction it will not be very successful. Tourist resorts also offer its guests a more refined, but a fake version of its folklore and traditions, adapted to the stereotypical images of the visited country. According to Mathieson and Wall (1992; 4) the commercialization of culture, through the marketing and sale of artefacts, may revive traditional art forms or modify them so that they are scarcely recognizable. Which in a long term might create a phony folk culture but at the same moment it can lessen existing unemployment problems and create more jobs. The Tourism authorities are pleased of the fact that tourism is developing in the country but some of the local communities have different opinions on that. According to Ignacio Cembrero in View from Fez (2006), the countrys Islamist party frequently rails against hotel casinos, restaurants that serve alcohol and the growing gay club scene (Ranger; 2006). The tourist must accept the cultural differences of other countries. The most of Moroccans are very religious and tourist has to respect it. Even more tolerate Moroccans can become tired of tourists when seeing nudity on the beaches or tourists wearing t-shirts or short trousers in the churches. It insults their believes and rules. A lack of consideration by tourists for local norms, culture, people or the environment of tourist receiving destinations is leading to unsustainable tourism practices (Poon; 1993 in Wahab and Pigram; 2004;51). This point was also commented by Obrador et al (2009;3) who suggest that local cultures are see n as eroded by a homogenous inauthentic, consumer culture. Moreover, overcrowding and growth of the bad reputation of the destination by breaking ethical rules can be destructive for the destination. There are many places in the world which have been spoiled by mass tourism and after the development of low cost airlines many cities has lost their shine. As most of the products also destinations have a lifecycle. It was clearly presented by Butler (1980) in his model of lifecycle of a tourist destination. He evaluated six stages a destination goes through when tourism development takes place: exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, concluding with either rejuvenation or decline. At this stage the destination is visited by small number of tourists who are keen to explore cultural and natural beauty of the place but the number of visitors is limited due to accessibility difficulties and lack of facilities. Here the attraction of the place yet remains unmodified by tourism. In the next stage of involvement advertising and local initiatives are seen as the element of promotion of the destination which results in increase of the tourist number with the pressure on the public sector to develop infrastructure. Next step in the cycle is development in which further initiatives for development of facilities are made by national and multinational companies. In this stage the control of the public sector is necessary as the popularity of the destination and increasing number of visitors may not only be the reason of success but also cause failure and the destination may suffer a change in quality through problems of over-use and deterioration of facilities (Butler; 198 0;92). The consolidation is the next level of tourism life cycle when tourism becomes a great part of the local community. Next step of stagnation occurs when after reaching peak numbers of visitors the destination is no longer popular and only conservative visitors are still coming back. In this stage the environmental, economical as well as socio-cultural problems can be seen as the reason. The last stage is decline where effort is need to maintain the tourist arrivals by introducing new types of facilities like for example casinos. Prague is only one of the examples of the life cycle destination. The city has become one of the most visited cities in Europe after Czech Republic became a member of EU and after the growth of mobility (Global Travel Industry News; 2010). This beautiful, full of historical monuments city was rejuvenated in the last two decades. The commercialization of the city took place and the old town became surrounded by souvenir vendors, Irish pubs and beer gardens losing its authenticity. Also the prices have gone up and all locals who couldn ´t afford been forced to move out of town. Its one of the examples when the way of making quick cash has prevailed over the unspoiled charm of the historic Prague. Mass tourism has led to the development of sustainable tourism in order to reduce negative impacts of tourism growth. Later in time the concept of Post Fordism was seen as the customers seem to acquire more power in determining market tendencies. According to Contti and Perelli (2004;9), this change also tend to meet the new demand for environmental friendly tourism products, being new tourists generally perceived as more educated, interested in local communities culture and in a real interaction with the surrounding environment. Since 1980 the sustainable tourism has began to be an important issue in the tourism industry (Swarbrooke; 1999). By creating a new infrastructure, hotels and businesses the employment is increasing. By travelling people have a chance to experience new cultures and traditions, although not every tourist is keen to do that and some visitors are not interested in it and ignore host communities. Sustainable tourism development is directed especially to create a better understanding of tourism, of how to achieve balance between economic, cultural and environmental aspects of tourism development. It is necessary to encourage people to take responsibility for the environment. Moreover, fair distribution of tourism benefits is necessary and the bigger involvement of local community in the tourism development decisions of their region has to be improved. The sustainable tourism directs to reduce negative impact on environment by introduction of quieter, more fuel efficient aircraft to start from to maximizing economic benefits for the host community rather than the visitors countries. Mass tourism is strongly connected to the high seasonal tourism caused by the great demand of 3s tourism tourists all over the world (Bramwell; 2004). That is why diversification of tourism like development of rural tourism has been developed to minimize saturation of the beaches in the high seasons and to avoid mass tourism. The development of sustainable touris m in very important for the countries where tourism industry is a main element of the local economy because the traditional beach holidays will decline caused by the saturation if the mass tourism will be increasing with that speed (Swarbrooke; 1999). According to Perry (2001), the climate change caused by humans will result in future modification of the climate conditions for example in the Mediterranean area, whereas the northern and western Europe climate will be improved. In 1992 on the conference in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil the first strategy document on sustainable tourism has been announced Agenda 21 as the basic economic model of tourism in XXI century (Hanna; 2010). Although, the Agenda 21 has meet various criticism mostly due to its non-binding treaties allowing most of the recommendations surrounding climate change and various other cultural issues to be ignored by the international community (Hanna; 2010). Nowadays, alternative forms of tourism have been emphasized but taking in account that even small group tours can be damaging the sustainable tourism is hard to accomplish. Latest debate of Tourism Concern came to a conclusion that all-inclusive holidays, arguably the epitome of mass-packaged tourism consumption should be banned (Farrington; 1999 cited in Sharpley and Telfer; 2002; 304). For example Gambias tourism authorities have banned all-inclusive holidays in 1999 (Sharpley and Telfer; 2002). It is an effective contribution to the development of destination. This could be a possible solution of applying sustainable tourism into a real life but it is doubtful if it would work for every country. Another alternative solution suggested by France (1997;89) is the development of holiday complexes which provide artificial  ´sun-warm water` environments (e.g. Center Parc villages), located at points of maximum market access which could be an exit for achieving sustainable tourism just if the great number of people would choose it instead of normal holidays. In conclusion, the growth of tourism seems to be inevitably unsustainable. Tourism is giving employment and economic benefits but for example in the Third World countries the division of money is unequal. The powerful developed countries are always going to be stronger than less developed countries if management will not be carefully planned. So even if tourism is bringing money, it is not always bringing it to the right place. Nowadays people blinded by money forgetting about more important things like passing their tradition to the next generation by conserving it. Mass tourism is termed as a neo-colonialism which can be compared to army forces where instead of their invasion we have an invasion of the tourist influx (Dziedzic; 1998). There is no solution to stop people from travelling. The great understanding of negative impacts would lead to better sustainable tourism development but this need a high number of people involved in it which is hard to accomplish as nowadays people don ´t think much about the future risk related to the planet because not to go away is like not possessing a car or a nice house. It is a marker of status in modern societies (Urry; 1990;4). There is a lack of sustainable understanding and adequate tourism control to develop sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism will not eliminate negative impacts of tourism but it could be a way to minimize its impact. Because if the growth in mass tourism will continue as fast as it does now the global warming will be arising and some destinations will suffer unbearably high te mperatures with an increase in the risk of fire. All those changes will lead tourists to changes in their holiday destinations, which not necessarily means stop of mass tourism. Tourist will continue with transport use even if they will reduce their travels, it will be still environmental damaging. All the facts are coming into conclusion that the best way for sustainable tourism would be staying at home.

Sita as the Hidden Hero of Ramayana Essay -- Ramayana Essays

Sita as the Hidden Hero of Ramayana    Valmiki's Ramayana was written around 300 B.C.E. (Carrier 207). Typically, the character of Rama is seen as the hero and the character of Sita is seen as the hero's wife.   In this essay, I will compare Sita's journey of capture and inner growth with the "save the kingdom" journey of Rama, show how the two correlate, and eventually connect in the influential chastity scene. I will also prove that Sita is the "hidden hero" of this epic even though she is seen as taking a secondary role to Rama and show how this reflects women's secondary roles in society today. To begin our comparisons, we must first look at each character and recognize their separate journeys. Through summarization of the characters and their story, we will begin to see Rama's role and Sita's role. By this process, I will demonstrate how they correlate, differ and combine to form the Ramayana. Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is a god known as Vishnu who has been reincarnated and sent to earth in mortal form. Rama must take an archetypal journey known as the "quest." During the quest, a hero must conquer obstacles to save the kingdom (Guerin et.al.154). Rama's obstacle is Ravana, an evil monster who is slowly taking over heaven and earth. Because Ravana never asked for protection from a human being, he can only be destroyed by a human being and this makes Rama's need for success especially important (Narayan 5). a the beginning of the narrative, Rama is forced into exile from his kingdom into the forest for 14 years. This exile begins his quest. Sita, Rama's wife, is reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu's spouse in heaven. Sita accompanies Rama into the forest on his "quest" and is captured by Ravana. Th... ...of society. If women want to take control of their own lives and are tired of "proving"themsleves to others, they must first find a voice and then act upon their convictions, otherwise these gender roles will never change. Works Cited Carrier, Warren, ed. Guide to World Literature. Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1980. Guerin, Wilfred L., et.al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Hindu Myths. London: Penguin Books, 1975. Singh, Khushwant. India: an Introduction. New Delhi: Vision Books, 1990. Valmiki. The Ramayana. Trans. Aubrey Menen. New York: Charles Scriber's Sons, 1954. ---. The Ramayana. Trans. R.K. Narayan. New York: Penguin Books, 1972. ---. The Ramayana. Trans. Elizabeth Seeger. New York: William R. Scott, Inc., 1969.

Henry VIII and his Reformation of the Church in England Essay -- Paper

Henry VIII and his Reformation of the Church in England Henry VIII, in his Reformation of the English Church, was driven mostly by political factors, but also partially by a belief that he was one of the Kings of the Old Testament. Although the initial break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries seem to be the work of a monarch who has changed his religious colours, and turned from Catholicism to Protestantism, they were in fact only a means for gaining money and divorce. By 1547, England was still essentially Catholic. Many traditional historians, such as G. R. Elton and A. G. Dickens, believe that the Church originally came under attack in 1529 because the laity were not satisfied with its work. According to Elton, 'If one thing can be said of the English people early in the sixteenth century it is that they thought little of priests.' People were resentful of the wealth of the Church, (it owned approximately one third of all the land, and the incomes of some of the great abbeys exceeded the revenues of the greatest temporal lords), as they felt that they could make better use of it. They were also aggrieved by the Church courts, and more specifically the rights of benefit of clergy and clerical sanctuary, especially after the Hunne case. This view also seems to be supported by contemporary opinion. Evangelicals, such as Simon Fish, had new ideas, and believed that the Church was wrong, while even members of the clergy, like John Colet, seemed to be dissatisfied with the work of the Church. Christian Humanists, for instance Erasmus, wanted a better and more accurate version of the Bible, and even totally devout ... ... noble progenitors of right ought to have been, a full king, that is, a rule, and not rule in his kingdom as others were.' Bibliography Belloc, Hilaire. Characters of the Reformation TAN Books, October 3, 1992 Elton, Geoffrey Rudolph. Reform and Reformation:  England, 1509-1558. Harvard University Press,  Jan 1, 1977 Haigh, Christopher. English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors   Oxford University Press, June 24, 1993. Lotherington, John. The Tudor Years. Hodder Education, 7 July 1994. Randell, Keith. Henry VIII and the Government of England, Hodder Education; 2nd Revised edition edition 1 Jun 2001. Rex, Richard. Henry VIII. Gloucestershire: Amberly Publishing Plc, 2009 Lucas, Henry S. The Renaissance and the Reformation Second Edition   New York: Harper Brothers, 1960.

The Jacksonian Era Essay -- American History, Politics

Three specific ways in which American expansion shaped the Jacksonian period was through the advancement of technology, by way of slavery, and the Indian Removal Act. Jackson used any political and economic means necessary in order to see American frontier regions expand across the nation. Jackson’s Indian Removal policy had some of the most important consequences and paved the way toward American expansion. In the beginning of the Jacksonian era, colonial Americans’ settlements had not yet extended far beyond the Atlantic seaboard, partly because bad roads and primitive technology limited their ability to expand, and because both hostile Indians and British imperial policy discouraged migration beyond Appalachian Mountains. However, all of this changed after Jackson was in office and American expansion was well underway. One of the ways in which American expansion shaped the Jacksonian period was through technology. The economic and political growth as well as American settlement can only be described in detail as a side effect of the advancement in technology. First the rising dominance of trade, commerce, and growth would not have been possible without the development of the first canals and then the railroads. (C-108) For example, Western New York had not yet been settled by white Americans. It was not until the impact of the Erie Canal that things began to change. The Erie Canal was one of the most significant and largest transportation projects of the era. Even before the project was completed, production of wheat began to take off and was shipped to eastern customers. Toll revenues on the canal grew so large that the project became self-financing. The expansion of westward trade turned New York into an urban powerhouse. ... ...The Indian Removal Act was all a part of Jackson’s expansion process, and he would stop at nothing until America made the most of its land. American expansion shaped the Jacksonian period in a number of ways which included the advancement of technology, by way of slavery, and most importantly through the Indian Removal Act. Although, very diverse, these three aspects are similar in that they all made their mark during the Jacksonian period. Technology and new developments had connected this vast expansion of land being acquired. Slavery had helped acquire these lands because of the labor needed for production. And most importantly, the Indian Removal Act had made a clear statement that American’s were taking over what was rightfully theirs. American expansion would not have been possible if not for these three ideas which greatly affected the Jacksonian period.

Biology unit 1&2 chapter 3 answers Essay

There must be a higher concentration of wastes in the dialysis tube than in the surroundings. Wastes must therefore be constantly removed from the surroundings to maintain a concentration gradient. b) What special features does it have? If the surrounding solution was not changed, the concentration gradient would become smaller and smaller until diffusion would no longer occur and the same amount of wastes would leave the dialysis tubing as wound enter it. 2. 3. When epithelial cells such as human cheek cells, are studied under a microscope, they are mounted on a slide to which a drop of ‘normal’ saline (salt) solution, rather than tap water, has been added. Explain why this is the best method for preparing these cells. If the person drank the sea water, cells in digestive system would be surrounded by a hypotonic solution and would lose water. Cells would become dehydrated and cease to function. 4. Under what natural conditions might plant cells become plasmolysis? There will be a net movement of water into the Amoeba in freshwater environment. 5. Two cells have the same internal concentration of sugar solution. They are both placed in distilled water. Even though both cells expand over time, one expands faster than the other. What are some reasons for this observation? The disease will cause severe diarrhea. Human body will be infected with bacterium when drinking contaminated water, and sticks to the intestinal lining. . Intestinal cells start secreting sodium and chloride ions into the intestinal fluid. This upsets the balance of fluids, causing a net movement of water out of the intestinal cells into the surrounding fluid which is then excreted with faces, causing diarrhea. Dehydration of body cells may eventually kill infected people. 6. After eating a packet of slated potato chips your lips often feel dry. Explain why? Blood glucose levels are measured in mill moles of glucose per liter of blood (mmol/L). The normal level is around 5 mmol/L. A 5% solution of glucose is roughly equivalent to the normal level of glucose in the blood. If this concentration drastically increases (20%), body cells may be in danger of losing water by osmosis. Increased thirst and excessive urination are two of the symptoms of diabetes, a condition in which the amount of blood sugar rises to unacceptable levels. 7. A student places a living cell into a drop of liquid contains less than 5% sugar. a) Make a hypothesis to explain what caused the change in sugar concentration outside the living cell. It is hypothesis a living cell being placed into a drop of liquid contains less than 5% sugar can cause the sugar concentration outside the living cell. 8. A particle that has been drawn into a cell by phagocytosis is not truly inside the cell. Explain the statement. If salt levels rise, water tends to move from the root tissue in citrus trees to the surroundings by osmosis. There is a lack of water for photosynthesis, causing smaller yields of citrus fruit.