Enron Ethics Essay

This article tries to show how the company’s culture had profound effects on the ethics of its employee? And particularly in this case: how did Enron lose both its economical and ethical status? This question makes the Enron case interesting to us as business ethicists. Enron ethics means that business ethics is a question of organizational â€Å"deep† culture rather than of cultural artifacts like ethics codes, ethics officers and the like. BackgroundAt the beginning Enron faced a number of financially difficulty years. In 1988, the deregulation of the electrical power market took effect and Enron redefined its business to energy broker and got a thriving company. The company became a â€Å"matchmaker† in the power industry, bringing buyers and sellers together. Enron embraced a culture that rewarded â€Å"cleverness†. Pushing the limits was considered a survival skill; the motto of the CEO Jeffry Skilling was â€Å"Do it right, do it now and do it better†. This culture admires innovation and unchecked ambition and publicly punishes poor performance can produce big return in the short term. However, in the long run, achieving additional value by constantly â€Å"upping the ante† becomes harder and harder. A lot of smoke and mirrorsWith Enron’s spectacular success, the business community rewarded Enron for its cleverness and Enron’s executives felt driven by this reputation to sustain the explosive growth of the late 1990s, even when they logically knew that it was not possible. In order to indicate that the company was not as successful as it appeared, Enron entered into a deceiving web of partnerships and employed increasingly questionable accounting methods to maintain its investment-grade status. PartnershipsTo push the value envelope, Enron created â€Å"special purpose vehicles† (SPV), pseudo-partnerships that allowed the company to sell assets and â€Å"create† earnings that artificially enhanced its bottom line. Enron exaggerated earnings by recognizing gains on the sale of assets to SPVs. An example is the partnership with Blockbuster which was intended to provide movies to homes directly over phones lines. In this case Enron recorded $ 110.9 million in profits prematurely, even if these profits were never realized as the partnership after only a 1,000-home pilot. Therefore booking  earnings before they are realized were rather â€Å"early† than wrong. The culture at Enron was quickly eroding the ethical boundaries of its employees. Keeping debt off the balance sheetTo avoid that a highly leveraged balance sheet would threaten its credit rating, Enron parked some of its debt on the balance sheet of its SPVs and kept hidden from analysts and investors. This can be read as another example of ethical erosion, but Enron’s decision makers saw the shuffling of debt rather as a timing issue and not as an ethical one. Partnerships at â€Å"arm’s length†Enron enlisted help from its outside accountants and its attorneys to guarantee that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) did not consider its partnerships as Enron subsidiaries. Enron crafted relationships that looked (legally) like partnerships, although they were (in practice) subsidiaries. A closer look at the partnerships would have revealed that the outside investments came from companies that were owned by Enron. Conflicts of interestEnron officials obviously had close ties with its partnerships. For example, the CFO war partial owner of two of the most important partnerships. The culture of cleverness at Enron started as a pursuit of excellence that devolved into the appearance of excellence as executives worked to develop clever ways of preserving Enron’s infallible faà §ade of success; for the good of the company, Enron’s executives also began to bend the rules for personal again. Once a culture’s ethical boundaries are breached thresholds of more extreme ethical compromises become lower. The self-reinforcing decline of EnronThe sum of incremental ethical transgressions produced the business catastrophe. As partnerships began to fail with increasing regularity, Enron was liable for millions of dollars it had not anticipated losing. The financial implosionThe partnerships that once boosted earnings and allowed Enron to prosper became the misplaced card that caused the Enron  house to collapse. The very results Enron had sought to prevent – falling stock prices, lack of consumer and financial market confidence – came about as a direct result of decisions that had been driven by Enron’s culture. The Enron case of ethical failure consists of more than a series of questionable business dealings. Enron employees, who had been encouraged to invest heavily in the company, found themselves unable to remove and salvage their investments. The company culture of individualism, innovation, and aggressive cleverness left Enron without compassionate, responsible leadership. Leadership mechanisms and organizational culture at EnronLeadership is the critical component of the organization’s culture because leaders can create, reinforce or change the organization’s culture. According to Schein (1985) there are five primary mechanisms that a leader can use to influence an organization’s culture: attention, reaction to crises, role modelling, allocation of rewards, criteria of selection and dismissal. AttentionIf the leaders of the organizations focus on the bottom line, employees believe that financial success is the leading value to consider. Enron executives’ attention was clearly focused on profits, power, greed and influence; â€Å"Profits at all costs†. As Stern has suggested, if the organization’s leaders seem to care only about the short-term bottom line, employees quickly get the message too. Reaction to crisesSchein asserts, that a crisis tests what the leader values and brings these values to the surface. With each impending crisis, leaders have an opportunity to communicate throughout the organization what the company’s values are. Enron was facing a crisis of how to sustain a phenomenal growth rate. Leaders reacted by defending a culture that valued profitability, even when it was at the expense of everything else. The mantra at Enron seems to be that ethical wrongdoing is to be hidden at any cost; deny, play the dupe, claim ignorance, lie, quit. It appears that the truth and its consequences have been a part of the Enron culture. Role modeling (how leaders behave)Actions speak louder than words –  therefore- modeling behaviour is a very powerful tool that leaders have to develop and influence corporate culture. Employees observe the behaviour of leaders to find out what is valued in the organization. Perhaps, this was the most significant shortcoming of Enron executives. Enron’s leaders’ primary message about their values was sent through their own actions. They broke the law as they concentrated on financial measures and used of the creative partnerships. It also sent a message to employees that full and complete disclosure is not a requirement, or even recommended. If the company achieved short-term benefits by hiding information, it was acceptable. The leadership of Enron almost certainly dictated the company’s outcome through their own actions by providing perfect conditions for unethical behaviour. Just as the destiny of individuals is determined by personal character, the destiny of an organization is determined by the character of its leadership. Allocation of rewardsThe behaviour of people rewarded with pay increases or promotions signals to others what is necessary to succeed in an organization. To ensure that values are accepted, leaders should reward behaviour that is consistent with the values. Enron’s reward system established a â€Å"win-at-all-costs† focus. The company’s leadership promoted ant retained only those employees that produced consistently, with little regard to ethics. â€Å"The moral of this story is break the rule, you can cheat, you can lie, but as long as you make money, it’s all right†. The company’s compensation structure contributed to an unethical work culture, too – by promoting self-interest above any other interest. Enron’s reward system rewarded individuals who embraced Enron’s aggressive, individualistic culture and were based on short-term profits and financial measures. Criteria of selection and dismissal (how leaders hire end fire employees)The selection of newcomers to an organization is a powerful way of how a leader reinforces culture. Leaders often unconsciously look for individuals who are similar to current organizational members in terms of values and assumptions. This tends to perpetuate the culture because the new employees typically hold similar values. The CIO of Enron (Skilling) perpetuated a focus on short-term transactional endeavours from the very beginning by  hiring employees that embodied the beliefs that he was trying to instil: aggressiveness, greed, a will to win at all costs, and an appreciation for circumventing the rules. The way a company fires an employee and the rationale behind the firing also communicate the culture. Some company deal with poor performers by trying to find them a place within the organization where they can perform better and make a contribution. At Enron, fifteen to twenty percent of producers were let go or fired after a formal evaluation process each year. Final comments and suggestions for future work†Consequences of unethical or illegal actions are not usually realized until much later when the act is committed†. Enron’s culture is a good example of groupthink where individuals feel extreme pressure not to express any real strong arguments against any co-workers’ action. Employee were loyal in an ambiguous sense of the term, they wanted to be seen as part of the star team and to partake in the benefits that that honor entailed. Two of the most important lessons to learn from the Enron culture history is that bad top management morality can be a sufficient condition for creating a self-destructive ethical climate and that a well-filled CSR (corporate social responsibility) and business ethics toolbox can neither stop nor compensate for such processes. Enron is a case of deceiving corporate citizenship and of surface or faà §ade ethics. A typology with moral cultures can be draft with two dimensions: ethicalness of an organization culture and presence of business ethical tools of artifacts (ethics officers, codes of ethics, value statement). Enron looks at first sight like â€Å"type I†, like a classical business ethics case, with a typical mix of â€Å"amorality† and â€Å"immorality†. But the thesis of the authors is that Enron is an at least as good illustration of â€Å"type II†, of window-dressing ethics, with talking instead of walking, ethics as rhetoric. While â€Å"type II† looks modern, â€Å"type III† looks like the old-fashioned type of moral business ethics, CSR, marketing and public relations were invented with collective moral conscience as consistent label and content, perhaps additionally communicating moral humbleness, with a  touch of British understatement. â€Å"Type IV† refers to a moral role business culture in the age of marketing and public relations, with walking the talk, with showing and confessing openly its collective moral conscience. Bibliography: http://www.springerlink.com/content/p712j1555807774r/ Enron Ethics (Or: Culture Matters More than Codes) – Ronald R. Sims, Johannes Brinkmann

Effects of Mass Media Essay

Media has slowly taken over each America’s life and has an incredible amount of power in the decision process of each American. On a daily basis each American listens to the radio, surfs the internet and watches television. For these same reasons, media possess a large amount influence on a decision made by an American. With all the tools and gadgets today, it is very easy to become influenced by the media. Over the past century there have been many new media developments that have impacted our society; although there have been many, the ones we will focus on are radio, television, and the internet. Radio began in the early nineteen hundreds and soon became very popular between every American. The radio was a mean of learning of news quickly and served the great purpose of entertainment. Also, in the early nineteen hundreds the word television was introduced and the first moving film was televised. This quickly grew and it began to broadcast in black and white. In the middle of the nineteen hundreds, the internet was first introduced to the American government and soon was used to provide efficient communication between government agencies. The radio, television and the internet were all created in the nineteen hundreds and as soon as they were available to the American public, they grew and developed into a large form of communication. In 1912 the radio became a common product found in each American home. Every year after, the radio grew in popularity. One of the biggest impacts to America was the use of the radio during the World War I. In the late nineteen-twenties the first easy to use kinescope tube was created but the image was very poor. In the early nineteen-thirties the first television studios and broadcasting begin to happen and it sky rocketed after that. It has grown so much into American lives that now every household has more than one television. Americans see television for entertainment, education and news purposes on a dai ly basis. In the early nineteen-ninety the first internet browser was created. The internet has impacted Americans in so many ways, to the point that it is now used more than once by every American and it is carried by most in their pockets. Without question, the media has grown tremendously and impacts each America’s life on a daily basis. Media convergences have been a huge facilitator. Media convergence is the way that one devise or tool combines different media types. One of the most common is the cell phones. In almost every phone you can take photos, videos, send text messages, view the internet, play music, check email and use it for its original designed function-to make a phone call. The next commonly used media convergence is the computer. The computer allows you to create different types of documents, presentations, monetary forms and it also allows you to browse the World Wide Web while listening to music and receiving emails. The newest media convergence is tablets. Tablets have the same function of a cell phone and a computer in a compact, lightweight, and portable device. For all the above reasons and with all of the named tools, it is very important to be properly educated about media. Learning how to access, analyze, and evaluate the media is very important when making an everyday decision because we either read something on the internet, watch the television show or hear a commercial on the radio. Not everything that we read, see or hear is accurate. In most cases, we are tricked into believing things by the bias show or commercial that we are watching or hearing. Due to false or head fakes found in the media all schools and educational institutes should provide some form of media literacy education just like math, reading and writing. This may seem a basic or common sense information, but many believe without questions what they see or hear. As the great nation that the United States is, it should properly educate its citizens about media literacy. The internet, television and radio have definitely impacted every American’s life. With the tools like a computer, cell phone or tablet it is very easy to be influenced by the media. Some of the influence coincides with each individuals beliefs and other will clash but this is something that has to be learned how to balance. In addition to personal emotion believes on a subject, a lot of the media will try to trick into believing false statements. It is every America’s duty to make sure that he or she has the proper media knowledge to be able to access it, analyze it and evaluate it before making a decision. References Lule, J. (2012). Exploring Media and Culture (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Flat World Knowledge, Inc. Besley, John C. (Summer 2008). Media Use and Human Values: Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly; ProQuest Zil, Karen. (Mar/Apr 2002). Media Literacy: Television meets the Internet; MultiMedia Schools

Air travel

Aircraft Utilization: The most basic metric for an airline is aircraft utilization. This is a measure of the average number of hours that each aircraft is flying in each 24 hour period. Planes that are flying are probably making money. Planes that are sitting on the ramp, whether undergoing maintenance, suffering delays due to weather or waiting for crews to fly them are not making money. Utilization is a statistic that varies from carrier to carrier and is normally considered a closely guarded corporate trade secret and is not tracked by government. Part of the art in running an airline is keeping utilization high. Load Factor: The next most important metric for an airline is the Load Factor, which measures the percentage of available seats that are filled during a specific period. In 2007 load factors for major airlines ranged from 72-84%[citation needed]. In 2008 U. S. airlines averaged a Load Factor of 79. 74% on domestic flights and 78. 74% on International flights [1] Available Seat-Miles (ASM): The ASM metric is used to track seat supply among airlines. ASM is equal to the number of available seats times the number of miles flown. Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPM): RPM measures the number of seat miles flown for which the company earned revenues. That is, RPM equals the number of filled seats times the number of miles flown. Yield: The amount of revenue earned per RPM is known as the airlines yield. This metric is generally expressed in cents and ranged from 9. 8-13. 1 cents for the major airlines in the first half of 2007[citation needed]. Fuel Costs: Most factors that affect the profitability of airlines are fairly stable, except for fuel costs. Fuel costs are facing extreme risk from the threat of Peak Oil. During January 2009, airline fuel costs averaged $1.76 USD per gallon[2]. Trends and Forces Joseph Weisenthal said in a recent post Airline-In-A-Box: Few businesses have as many variables and challenges as airlines. They are capital-intensive. Competition is fierce. Airlines are fossil fuel dependent and often at the mercy of fuel price volatility. Operations are labor intensive and subject to government con trol and political influence. And a lot depends on the weather. The Dual Mandate Problem The general public, including most investors, is not aware that congress long ago created what is referred to as a dual mandate for regulation of the airline industry. This means that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is a sub-agency under the U. S. Department of Transportation (U. S. DOT), is charged with both the promotion of the airlines and the safety regulation of the airlines. This creates an obvious conflict of interest and the dual mandate has been questioned and criticized for decades. The question has been asked if the FAA should be divided into two separate divisions, one that would function as a Department of Airline Promotion and another that would function as a Department of Safety. Another proposed solution is to shift the sky police functions involving safety to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Although the NTSB seems like it might be a good solution to police safety, the political realities of the U. S. Congress, the FAA hierarchy and the extreme size and funding imbalance between the two agencies make it impractical and unlikely that any shift would be feasible. The FAA generally maintains that they do not directly promote the airlines, which is true in the sense that the public doesnt see billboards and television commercials and email campaigns from the FAA promoting airlines. However, the FAA indirectly promotes the airlines in a huge way on a daily basis by imposing generally lax standards and enforcement. In fact, it is a well known historical fact that the FAA is so bad at safety enforcement that there exists what is called in the airline industry the Tombstone Imperative which refers to the fact that over and over again the FAA has known about serious safety issues and refused to correct them and the result was dead people. PGSanalyst 21:11, March 14, 2009 (PDT) The Railway Labor Act Problem The general public, including most investors, is also not aware that labor in the airline industry is regulated by the Railway Labor Act. This is arguably amazingly strange and curious that one of the major modern industries, developed in the early 20th century, and now providing part of the industrial backbone for commerce and industry in the 21st century, is regulated by a body of law that was originally passed to protect wealthy railroad investors from railroad strikes in 1877. As a general rule, airline labor is not allowed to strike, similar to the prohibition on strike actions for Federal Employees and employees of some states. For example, the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) functions as the collective bargaining agent for most, but not all, of the airlines in the U. S. and most ALPA collective bargaining contract terms provide very, very limited circumstances under which a strike is legally authorized. Another example of the difficulty of labor expressing its grievances by means of a strike is the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike that ended with President Ronald Reagan firing the controllers by using the authority of the Taft-Hartley Act that was passed in 1947 to greatly reduce the power and influence of unions in the U.S. The basic thing for a wise investor to understand about labor issues is that happy people are generally more productive than unhappy people and limiting by means of regulations peoples right to express their grievances may not promote happiness of the labor pool and thus adds risk to investments in those businesses in industries affected by labor relations ris ks. PGSanalyst 21:11, March 14, 2009 (PDT) Consolidation After the events of 9/11, the domestic commercial airline industry went into a precipitous freefall, prompting consolidation of several airlines and bankruptcies of others. Elimination of airlines, through consolidation or bankruptcy, benefit both revenuesthrough higher faresand costs by eliminating redundant expenses and routes. Additional terrorist attacks or declines in the overall domestic economy could accelerate consolidation as weaker airlines get acquired by financially stronger ones or become insolvent. Airlines worldwide have also sought to share costs by creating partnerships or alliances. Through these agreements, airlines can share facilities and operational costs (e. g. , maintenance facilities, sales offices) and negotiate volume discounts on large purchases. Passengers benefit from lower prices (due to lower expenses) as well as optimized routes and pooled loyalty rewards, especially in regards to international travel. Since the deregulation of the airline industry begain, airline ownership has been limited to companies and individuals of the operating country. THis has prevented major international mergers and acquisitions from occuring. Recently, the US government has announced its intentions to relax these regulations and clear the way for international ma deals in the airline industry. This could create significant cost-saving and synergy in the rapidly deteriorating industry. The three major global alliances are: Spotlight on Oil Prices Oil Prices are a key factor for airline operations because Jet Fuel costs are directly linked to the cost of the oil that must be refined to produce Jet Fuel. In 2008 fuel is constituting about 34% of an airlines costs, as opposed to about 13% in 2002. [4] For the budget airlines such as Jet Blue and AirTran, this share rises to nearly 50%. The rise has been very drastic just in the first six months of 2008. At the start of the year, jet fuel cost $850 a metric ton. As of June, the cost is now approximately $1300 a ton. [6] Jet fuel is extremely correlated with spot petroleum prices, which have risen significantly over the past several years. On the flip side, the stock prices of domestic airlines tends to be highly negatively correlated to jet fuel prices, indicating the sensitivity of this historically low-margin business to fuel expenses. In an exogenous event for the fuel procurement of airlines, oil companies are increasingly making airlines pay up front for fuel. In the past, the airlines were allowed to use fuel on credit and pay up to weeks later. Now, the oil refiners are eliminating this free credit line and making the carriers prepay. This will cause a negative shift in the short term cash situation for the airlines as they can no longer keep cash from revenues on the books for this credit line period. On June 4, the International Air Transport Association drastically lowered their profit forecasts for the industry. The group now projects that global airlines will collectively lose $2. 3 billion if oil averages $107 for 2008. If the price averages $135 for the last six months of the year, airlines will lose $6. 1 billion. [8] However, on 1 October 2008 Northwest Airlines (NWA) CEO Doug Steenland claimed that his company can maintain profitability even if oil stays at $100 a barrel. [9] Some airlines have utilized hedges to lock in the price of fuel and hence insulate themselves from oil price volatility. Southwest was perhaps the most forward-looking of airlines, and has hedged significant portions of its fuel expenses through 2010 at various prices per barrel below the current market rate. The company will reap benefits compared to other airlines if oil prices continue to rise or remain at current levels. On the other hand, if prices fall below Southwests hedging levels, they will be at a disadvantage to other airlines. American Airlines and United Airlines, on the other hand, have no remaining fuel hedges in the foreseeable future as of 2008. Other airlines have limited remaining hedges. Peak Oil Peak Oil experts from the oil industry are already warning of impending catastrophic drops in oil production that will severely limit the future growth of the airline industry and cause extreme increases in Jet Fuel costs and other oil related costs including fuel for airline support infrastructure such as maintenance vehicles, External Ground Power Units (GPUs), crew transportation vans, airline food costs, etc. , etc.. Some scientists and industry experts are seriously discussing the viability of the entire global airline industry and asking the question of whether their grandchildren will ever even fly on a commercial aircraft? The mere fact that these questions are being asked and remain unresolved should cause a wise investor to carefully consider the long and short term impacts of Peak Oil on the airline industry as a whole. PGSanalyst 21:23, March 14, 2009 Business vs. Leisure Travel Business travel is important to the commercial airline industry for two major reasons. First, it commands a much higher average ticket cost, approximately 5 times higher than the average leisure fare. Second, business travel is less elastic changes in macro-economic trends than leisure travel, which may be considered a form of luxury. In the past 24 months, leisure fares have dropped slightly, ranging from $110 to $100 In the same time frame, business fares have increased significantly, from around $350 to $500 Domestic vs. International Travel International travel accounts for about one-third of all traffic and capacity for the major carriers. Comparing 2007 year to date to the same time period in 2006, these major carriers saw international travel increase by about 5% , which is faster than domestic travel, which was relatively flat. Growth in domestic travel has been soaked up in large part by the regional discount carriers such as Southwest and AirTran. History of Airline Bankruptcies Raises Risk Concerns For Investors Over the period from 1990 through 2006 the Air Transportation Association of America reports that domestic airlines posted a cumulative loss of $22 billion on cumulative revenues $1,866 billion. Since 1978, when commercial aviation was deregulated, no fewer than 137 carriers have filed for bankruptcy protection. And from the end of World War II, when aviation started to become big business, through 1994, the sum of the industrys profits and losses was less than zero. Warren E. Buffett once remarked that it would have been a blessing for shareholders if someone had thought to shoot down Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk. [11] One reason the major airlines are at higher risk for bankruptcy is that they use huge amounts of fixed capital wide-body jets go for $100 million each and cant be readily liquidated which explains why many airlines do not own their aircraft but lease them instead. Airlines also depend on a highly skilled labor force that requires large cash flow into training, benefits and pensions. Consider some other businesses for a moment: Microsoft has highly skilled programmers but little invested capital. Merrill Lynch has both, but its assets stocks and bonds mostly could be liquidated overnight. Steel has high fixed capital, but it can replace its workers more easily. Unbundling of costs usually bundled in ticket prices Business practices for much of the history of the airlines included bundling all costs of travel into a single ticket price. Although some unbundling of the costs in tickets has occurred to various degrees at some airlines in different parts of the world, since the summer 2008 spike in fuel costs many airlines have chosen to broaden the practice, for example, charging the passenger for each piece of checked baggage b) Forces in the macro environment In terms of the case, it suggests that the environment of airline companies is not very stable, especially the increasing price of fuel which is the key driver of change. From Ryanair profit statement (Exhibit 1a) it shows the fuel and oil cost has increased by â‚ ¬200 million from 2005 to 2006. The increase in fuel costs is 74 percent. The impact to the airlines companies is obvious and the budget airlines may face the trouble more so than normal airlines. Moreover, airline companies also have to concentrate on some other issues. For example, according to the case, they are facing the risks from terrorist attacks which are difficult to predict. It is not difficult to find the changeability, however it is complex to the airline environment. Some factors, such as legal action and customer demand, also have influence on them. Some of these such as the price of fuel and oil can be predicted, while some of them cannot. Audit environmental influences The Pestel Analysis is employed to identify macro-environment influences of the airline industry. Political: Government wants to strengthen the economy and, consequently, will support local airlines by setting rules, such as preferential rights. Every government however, will probably do so. Therefore there’s no obvious advantage between competitions. The political issues have a wide range of effect, so they are not the key points that budget airlines are facing. Economic: This is identified as the most crucial factor to airline companies, especially to budget airlines. The influences refer to the macro-economic factors such as the national growth rates and the exchange rates. As budget airlines, they will pay more attention to the operation costs such as fuel cost. It became a big issue for budget airlines because of the increasing cost of fuel. That may reduce the advantages and the companies will be less competitive than before. On the other hand, the recession will lead more people to choose budget airlines. Social: With the development of Asian countries in particular China, there are more and more people deciding to study or travel in Europe. In recent years, the lifestyle of local people has also changed. They tend to travel abroad to enjoy their lives. Most of these people are not wealthy such as student. The budget airlines therefore, will be their best choice to reduce the travel costs. Technological: The innovation of technology helps the airline companies reduce costs and carry out tasks more effectively. The new type of aircraft can help to reduce the burning of fuel; and new technology can also make the security check more efficient and accurate. Environmental: European countries pay more attention on environmental issues, especially greenhouse gases from carbon emissions. Moreover in terms of the case, airline companies have to pay the environmental taxes for the contributions they make to global warming. In particular, it is bad news for budget airlines. Costs will increase and the companies want to maintain good brand image in the consumer’s perception. Furthermore, noise pollution and energy consumption cannot be ignored under such conditions. Legal: Some legal actions such as preferential airport rights are directed against the specific airlines. As budget airlines, which have higher competitive power, they should pay more attention to the legal forces to prevent loss. On the contrary, they can also take the initiative over illegal aid to rivals. Stage 3 – Determine industry specific factors (this stage will be analysed in Question 2) Stage 4 – Identify competitive position (this stage will be analysed in Question 3) Stage 5 – Identify key opportunities and threats There are many potential opportunities for the airline companies. For instance, the recession may lead to more people choosing the budget airline rather than the expensive ones; new technology which helps to reduce the usage of fuel; government set the tax at a lower percentage. On the other hand, the increasing cost of fuel may be the most significant issue most budget airlines face. What’s more, the compensation to passengers, terrorism and security, and customers’ satisfactions will all have potential negative impacts on the airline. In order to achieve lower costs, budget airlines will have to reduce costs from many departments and operations. That’s why lots of customers are not satisfied with the budget airlines except for the price. Question 2 Prepare a Porter Five Forces analysis of the budget airline industry. Express Ryanair’s perspective of these forces. The threat of entry There are high barriers to enter the budget airline industry. i) High investment requirements. Economies of scale are important in the airline industry. It is difficult for new entrants to match others existing competitors. In addition to this, the operational experiences cannot be acquired in such short space of time. ii) Expected retaliation. Retaliation will take place when new entrants appear for budget airlines, it will probably be in the form of a price war due to costs of entry being very high for them. iii) Legislation or Government action. Government won’t let new entrants enter the market if the industry is saturated. With regards to Ryanair in the budget airline industry, there will not be large impacts to existing budget airlines if new entrants appeared. Budget airlines always focus on the costs and price, so does Ryanair. According to the case, Ryanair was the first budget airline in Europe and now its ticket prices are much lower than the other rivals’. Therefore it will be impossible for new entrants to set a low price to win the market. The threat of substitutes Before discussing the threats, some comparative data is showed below. London Stansted Milan Going Out Regular Fare Adult 8. 99 GBP Tue, 2 Dec 08 Flight FR 4184 8:15 Depart 11:15 Arrive Coming Back Regular Fare Adult 12. 99 GBP Sun, 8 Dec 08 Flight FR 4185 6:45 Depart 7:50 Arrive (Source: Ryanair. com) One way by Rail Europe: London (ST Pancras) Milan Standard Class Adult 227 GBP Tue, 2 Dec 08 8:40 Depart 21:20 Arrive (Source: Raileurope. co. uk) Most of the travellers will prefer the short journey, in addition to the cheaper way to travel. From the tables it is obvious that taking a plane from Ryanair is much cheaper than taking the train in a similar situation. Although some airlines may be expensive, budget airlines such as Ryanair will usually be the best choice. The impact of substitutes, therefore, has less impact on the budget airlines. The power of buyers Buyers of airlines tickets can sometimes be the travel agency. In other cases, Ryanair caters to ultimate consumers. Majority of the buyers are not concentrated buyers and they come from all over the countries. Individuals can select the budget airlines according to their preference, because the switching costs are low and the differentiation of such service is weak. It is extremely expensive for people to own an aircraft. When there is a choice of budget airlines to use, with low prices. So there is a low buyer competition threat. Like Ryanair, with less concentrated buyers and buyers’ competition threat, the power of buyers is low. The power of suppliers The high power of suppliers may be one of the most significant threats among the budget airline industry. The increasing price of fuel, which leads to a high cost for airlines, is a basic issue they are facing. As we know, fuel industry is now concentrated in the hands of few producers. Therefore, in this situation it is difficult to cut the price for this essential material. In addition to this, it is useless to change fuel suppliers when the global price is growing. Moreover there are no practical substitutes. Ryanair is facing this problem with other budget airlines. Furthermore Ryanair sells all the ticket directly through the website. Thus there is no intermediary. Competitive rivalry Rivalry is influenced by these four competitive forces and each of them may have different levels of impact on the competitive rivalry. In this market, every airline provides the same services which are poorly differentiated. Low differentiation and switching costs in this industry, therefore, cause the price competition. Ryanair, which has the first mover advantages, still holds the dominant position. Although many of the competitors were losing money or even have been taken over, Ryanair remains steady in incremental growth. For industry growth rate, this industry is in the maturity situation of life cycle, which means the growth is low. Price war is therefore playing a crucial role throughout the competition. Question 3 Evaluate Ryanair’s particular strengths and weaknesses and explain, with reasons, what Ryanair must do to retain a sustainable competitive advantage. As the first-mover of budget airline industry, Ryanair still holds the dominant lowest-cost position. This is also the one of the strengths it has. What’s more, Ryanair was announced being the most profitable airline in the world according to the case. The revenue is still increasing, despite the price of fuel did not stop growing in recent years. The brand image of Ryanair is also one of its strengths. Customers are attracted by the lower price. Its traffic is the highest among the competitors (see Exhibit 2) and it is still increasing due to the enlargement of the company. On the other hand, there are still some weaknesses of this budget airline leader. In terms of the case, Ryanair win the market mostly depends on the costs. However, the costs of its major raw materials are increasing rapidly these years. This will be a serious issue. Further, minimize costs largely will cause the lack of service and training quality and so on. The Skytrax star rating (See Exhibit 2) indicates Ryanair is below the average level. Besides, competitors contribute big influence to Ryanair. For example, Easyjet which is a young upstart of the European budget airline industry grows quickly with a large number of market shares. It is obvious Ryanair makes success base on its price advantage, and how to sustain this advantage become very crucial issue in recent situation. Keep first mover advantages. Long history with experiences, well-known brand image and economy of scale, these are the unique resources of first mover advantages. It is difficult for competitors to get these resources at a similar level. Therefore, in order to prevent the competitors from copying the same strategy as cost reduction, Ryanair must make good use of these unique resources and try to dominate the market. Technology. Purchase and introduce the latest technological support. Although the fixed costs will be high, they can help the airline carry out tasks more efficiently and effectively such a new security check machine. Moreover it can also help to reduce the variable costs. For example, according to the case, new type aircraft produced 50 percent less emissions, 45 percent less fuel burn and 45 percent lower noise emissions per seat. They help Ryanair reduce the fuel cost with a lower pollution to environment. Unique cost structure. A cost structure which aims to minimize the costs must be set up. In particular to fuel cost, the fluctuations are subject to unpredictable and volatile world events according to the case. It is important for Ryanair hedge the risks before the price goes up suddenly. On the other hand, choosing the secondary and regional airport destinations is a good way of the structure. Moreover, the internet is used to reduce distribution costs. Service quality / Customers’ satisfaction. Customers will normally associate low price with low service benefits. Ryanair was voted the world’s least favourite airline due to its bad service such as unfriendly staff and poor legroom. However it still won a great number of customer base on the price. Thus if some competitors cut down the ticket price to a low level, Ryanair will get into a big trouble due to the similar prices but lower service quality. Therefore it must not only focus on the price but also the service. In order to gain competitive power, for example, brand loyalty can be one of the aspects. Government / legal actions. Ryanair should take care of the government and legal actions and moreover, can take the initiative over illegal aid to rivals. These may prevent the unnecessary loss. In summary, Ryanair, as the cost leader in budget airline industry should not only focus on the costs but also lots of other issues. Although it is developing rapidly and successfully, the future is unknown. The uncertain environment is changing all the time, thus Ryanair should always follow it and make the long-term plans in order to retain a sustainable competitive advantage. Grasp the opportunities, and it will has a bright future. c) Sources for collecting information Collecting your info: We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name and e-mail address, as well as other information that does not identify you. When you provide personal information through the Site, the information may be sent to our servers located in the United States and other countries around the world. User Provided Information. We may collect and store any personal information that you enter into the Site or provide to us in some other manner. This includes identifying information (such as your name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number), and any other personal information you choose to provide while using the Site or the Services. Third Party List Information. We may also obtain both personal and non-personal information about you from third party data gathering sources. We may match this third-party collected information with the personally identifying information that you provide to us. When obtaining this information from third parties, we seek assurances from such third parties that they have the right to provide the information to us. Cookies, Web Beacons, and Other Information Collection Technology. We and our business partners, such as advertisers, may use various technologies to collect information from your computer and about your activities on the Site. For example, we and our business partners may collect and store non-personally identifying information through technologies such as cookies, log files, clear gifs (also known as web beacons), and other tracking pixels and third parties to help determine user viewing preferences for advertising and other purposes. We collect information at several stages during your interaction with . When you first enter our site, we note your IP address and time of your visit. As you browse the site, we record your zip code via a cookie so we can serve more location specific information on your next visit. We will not collect any personally identifiable information about you. Cookies do not recognize you as a person, just your computer. 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We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected. If, however, we are going to use users personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users by posting a notice on our Web site for 30 days. d) Collection tools and methods Prior to 1992, the length of time that aircraft deicing fluids (ADF) provided protection was overestimated by most commercial airlines. This was realized after the crash of U. S. Air Flight 405 at LaGuardia Airport, in which a long queue caused ice to re-accumulate on the planes wings and airframe after ADF had been applied. Bryan Wagoner, the Environmental Programs Administrator at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), says this incident spurred a nationwide focus on deicing practices. The FAA mandated that every plane must be absolutely free of snow at the end of the runway prior to take-off, he explains. This resulted in a significant increase in the quantity of ADF used nationwide. Midwestern winters, however, can be unpredictable. Months can go by with little to no precipitation, and then a snowstorm worthy of national news can hit with a fury. W

Theory and Development-M1A2 Q2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Theory and Development-M1A2 Q2 - Essay Example In addition, firms realized that motivation contributes towards productivity and eventual profits because motivated employees possess satisfaction in their work. Besides, companies invest in motivation because satisfied employees are an ideal brand to a company. Motivational strategies of today stretch beyond monetary rewards. Modern organizations, however, ensure that employees attain monetary benefits that are commensurate to the responsibilities they handle. In addition, impressive pay is a key retention factor in a contemporary organization. Building a consultative environment is a way of making modern employees feel as a part of an organization (Gagne & Deci, 2005). Organizations currently invest in staff training as a way of making employees feel competent in their work. Besides, organizations establish autonomous human resource departments that ensure there is constant communication between the employees and management in an organization. Motivation continues to be a challenge to today’s organizations. Technology has altered the expectations of employees. This suggests that traditional methods of motivation have to adapt to technological attitudes of modern employees. In addition, intrinsic motivation is a current issue that challenges contemporary firms. In turn, organizations strive to create the environments that encourage intrinsic motivation (Michie & Gooty, 2005). Companies, therefore, have to ensure that employees engage in responsibilities that synchronize with their

How important are creative thinking skills into Btech National Diploma Essay

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Can Stress Cause Suicidal Symptoms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Can Stress Cause Suicidal Symptoms - Essay Example The authenticity of this statement will be established in the proceeding arguments below. This is with the aim of drawing the attention of different psychologists to identify ways of addressing this subject with the main intention of reducing cases of suicides or suicidal thoughts. According to Carlson and Heth, stress can be defined as an unfavorable condition that can have an influence on an individual’s mind and physical welfare (527). Nevertheless, it has been a difficult experience to state precisely what defines stress that is, whether stress is a process, a cause or an effect that connects physical well being and mental status. Humans are complicated creatures to understand at times and therefore in terms of defining stress among humans, it might include both visible factors and invisible factors. Stress build-up has been known to give humans suicidal thoughts. This is not a new concept in the modern world, but it began a long time ago during the lifetime of Jesus for those who read the bible. When Judah, a disciple of Jesus; committed suicide after betraying his master. What drove him to develop such thoughts? In answering this question, there are various factors that can trigger someone to have suicidal thoughts at any given moment. Theories have emerged in connection with suicide thoughts and occurrences among the humans. The most striking theory is the newer theory concerning suicide by a famous American psychologist Thomas Joiner. In his theory, he has outlined three major factors that can trigger a person to resort to suicide. These include; a mindset of a person that he/she is alone in the surrounding and there is hardly anyone who has a concern or cares about them. In fact, this is normally a mistaken perception. Another factor concerns a person’s feeling that he/she is ‘a parasite’ to other people. These types of individuals have no other thoughts, apart from suicidal thoughts.  

Reaction essay to Slavoj Zizek's Against Human Rights article

Reaction to Slavoj Zizek's Against Human Rights article - Essay Example Zizek analyzes the argument of the ability of human rights in defending the citizens against violation of power. Some communities are fragmented, and they become weak in having collective speak at the grassroots level and this allows a higher authority to decide on behalf of societies like that. He views that â€Å"The political influence of the small-holding peasants, therefore, finds its final expression in the executive power subordinating society to it† (Zizek 3. Human rights institutions are incapacitated to review changes in a historic system that is violent and unequal in its operations. The intervention in Libya analyzes the legality or righteousness of military intervention by Western countries where the human rights issue was nonexistent. The Gaddafi forces were dealing with the rebels inappropriately therefore the West had to intervene. The military had they are own economic and political rights. Intervention in Libya was counter-revolutionary where it was not meant to fuel changes in North Africa but to implement imperial status quo. The intervention by the military was a sign of opportunism. In this political history, there was an illusion of national sovereignty where there was land to grab and exploitation of people who had no legal protection. The main concern was the issue of resistance of oil grabbing by Western powers where they treated refugees in Libya as subjects, not as human beings with human rights. Zizek politicizes human right that seeks to replace repressive regimes where such systems especially from the West take up a false ideological universality. Such universality contends that democratic capitalism is the best order, and the West has the duty to promote such governance. He reviews â€Å" the human rights of the Third World suffering victims effectively means today, in the predominant

MSA 522 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MSA 522 - Essay Example According to Act Utilitarian of Jeremy Bentham, an action that results in the happiness of one and all is a good act. He said â€Å"when choosing a course of action, one should always pick the one that will maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness for the greatest number of people† (Bentham from Rosenstand p.176). The actions, which result in maximum happiness for maximum number of people, are invariable good and therefore morally and ethically right. In the contemporary times, it becomes highly difficult because of the diverse ideologies and differing value system to satisfy large populace. Indeed, it is one of the crucial compulsions of the globalization that people should strive towards common goals of universal values. Misusing public funds by the vested interests (which may be managers in the public services) not only violate various stakeholders’ trust but they also deprive the general public from the benefits of the various welfare schemes which depend on the efficient use of the funds. Hence, using the said philosophy, the managers would ensure efficient delivery of the goals and objectives of departments and

The Gospels--Mark Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Gospels--Mark - Research Paper Example According to the Old Testament Elijah and Moses never died but they were taken by God. They dwell in the heaven with God and interact with Jesus, who will also soon be taken by God to his holy place. The three servants of God – Elijah, Moses and Jesus symbolized the defeat of death by people who are faithful to God. The account of the transfiguration of Jesus in the mountain signifies that Jesus is the son of God, a faithful servant of God, a prophet and a messiah. When the three disciples – Peter, James and John came down from the mountain with Jesus, he gave them the instructions not to reveal what had happened in the mountain. This restriction of revelation can be connected to the fact that the Gospel is yet to come and is not completed at that time.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain is significant in so many ways† (Lane). It first of all signifies the fact that people who are faithful to God will continue to live forever. It also exemplifies the power and abilities of God and that God never abandons his follower. This Chapter is an important part in the bible as it demonstrate the power of God and illustrates the need of a good Christian to learn to listen to Jesus and that all events and people points towards God. The imagery and the insights also give us the kingdom which is to come and the glory of the kingdom. It also tells gives us glimpse of the future kingdom come and it also signifies that God takes care of people who are his faithful follower by giving them a place in heaven after life here on earth. This verse demonstrates the power of God and how God’s abilities far exceed our human abilities.    The bible is the holy book for the Christian people and it is the collection of a primary religious text of Christianity. The Bible is an account of the work of God. It describes the origin and men, how they fall into sins and how would restore mankinds relationship with God. The bible is

How reliable is the Hypervisor Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

How reliable is the Hypervisor - Dissertation Example Each of the ports can be customized to function in the manner desired by the user to suit the requirements intended. In the virtual networks, the vSphere standard switch functions as the physical Ethernet switch. It senses the virtual PCs appropriately linked to every virtual port and uses the signals to control the network. The hypervisor technology of VMware vSphere 5 serves a significant function in the management of the virtual network systems. The invention of bare-metal VMware ESX in 2001 extensively improved the effectiveness and reliability of networks, which in turn drew several users into the application of the technology in generating virtual technology. The hypervisor has raised the standards for security and efficiency of virtual networking systems due to its magnificent performance. ESXi can be integrated in several network application to facilitate improvement of quality in service provision and to increase the centralized of administration services. This paper outline s the creation of a virtual network using Vmware ESXI 5 and installed in three OSs; Windows 7, Windows xp 32-bit and 64-bit in a real scenario. It also outlines the security hardening of the hypervisor using various security measures including nmap software. The paper further outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the Vmware ESXI 5 by conducting a SWOT analysis of the virtual network created. 4 Chapter 1 5 1.1Introduction 5 VMware maintains the leading position as the supplier virtualization solution via their vSphere suite of services founded on the ESXi hypervisor (VCRITICAL, 2010). The fifth edition of the product is the most useful of all because it provides the user with the most remarkable service that one can imagine. Although the software is offered free without any restrictions or limitations, users are required to login into VMware website and register to acquire a license key to download, install and activate the product. The new ESXi has several features, which giv e its users a wonderful experience in their applications. One should consider a few issues before installing the software. One of the issues is whether the hardware is compatible with the product and sufficient to run the product and whether the OS installed in the PC is adequate to run it. It is thus necessary to consider the hardware requirements for this product because it is critical towards the running of the product. The VMware ESXi when installed in a system hardware, provides a strong virtualization experience between the hardware and the OS. ESXi normally divides a physical server into several protected and moveable virtual systems that can operate alongside each other on the one physical server. Every virtual system stands for a whole system composed of processors, RAM, networking and BIOS in such a manner that an OS and software features can be set up and operated in the virtual system without any customization (VCRITICAL, 2010). Virtual systems are also entirely separate d from one another by the virtualization cover thus avoiding a situation where a malfunction of one of them distresses the others. The distribution of physical server essentials among several virtual systems enhances hardware use and surprisingly cuts on the operational expenses. The virtual networking ability of the ESXi enable users to create multifarious networks among virtual systems linked to one host or

Othello’s Shakespeare Literature Essay Example for Free

Othello’s Shakespeare Literature Essay Stereotype in layman’s term is often defined as predictable characters and situations or something that is not authentic, or something that is already experienced. In Shakespeare literature, stereotyping is sometimes inevitable. Some of his works, its themes and characters embody the social predicaments and situations during the time he created the masterpiece. In Othello’s case, the issue of race and religion and the revelation of the dark side of human nature is revealed and discussed through the characters. Themes and conflicts like jealousy, race, power, religious tensions, obsession and marriage illustrated in Othello are still important and experienced today. The characters in love, the characters in extreme emotions like obsession and jealousy and the characters who lose and win portray same emotions in reality and some other literature. The common human experience experienced by the characters of Othello, Desdemona and Iago makes this literature stereotype. However what makes stereotyping in Shakespeare’s literature unique and sophisticated is the creative structure of his stories and plays. The play reflects that race and culture divides the world and the people which, in effect, influence human responses to love and emotions. Othello, who is the main character in the story, is a black man who fell in love with a white woman, Desdemona. When Iago gave false accusations against Desdemona, Othello responded with rage, revealing his awareness that his newfound love with Desdemona was all but an illusion. Othello is obviously insecure about his identity as a black man which motivated his hatred and eventually his actions. Othello’s general conclusion that a white woman and a black man are unfit to become lovers motivated his demonic tendencies. This reflects that the controversial issues about racism manipulate our perspective towards love and relationship, which is often destructive. Like any other human beings when faced with inequality, Othello approached his emotions unwisely. Othello’s reaction to his feelings contaminated his sense of morality and spirituality just like how other people is being contaminated by their extreme emotions. Jealousy and envy motivate evilness and passion that in the long run will create human suffering and tragedy. People often hear that human beings are naturally selfish. In love, this selfishness is often revealed. However, those people who are victims of jealousy, especially the ones who are loved, will always experience passive suffering. Love affects in this case, the way a lover responds to love will greatly affect the beloved. Love is a shared communion. The lover’s choices will affect the beloved’s fate. Othello’s choices resulted to Desdemona’s death. Here Shakespeare demonstrates the defensive nature and stereotypical image of black people If Othello denied inferiority and race, Iago gave importance to power and race and status. This selfish need and motivation of Iago resulted to jealousy and which eventually led to destruction. Just like any other negative emotions, Shakespeare gave a predictable outcome: selfishness and jealousy leads to destruction. Stereotyping in character is probably used by Shakespeare to demonstrate the realities of human life and the realities of human nature. However the sophistication and language of his literature revealed his Shakespeare’s innate talent, artistry and creativity.

Asian-Americans and their Progress towards Essay Example for Free

Asian-Americans and their Progress towards Essay During the many years of the continuous immigration of various nationalities in the United States, it could be noted that many immigrants have already absorbed the culture that Americans have. One of the many ethnicities which had migrated in the United States is the Asians. In the current society of the United States it is known that these groups of people are one of the many ethnic minorities that is housed by the United States. In fact, many of the families of the past migrants have now stayed in the United States had had lived their lives similar to full blooded Americans. However, although most of these immigrants have already acquired all the culture, the language and life style of the Americans it is still not enough for the society that they would be called Americans. On the other hand, the Asian-Americans like other ethnic minorities in the United States are somewhat confused to on the proper identity that they must maintain. One of the main examples of the uncertainty is the Asian-American popular culture which presents evidences regarding such group in the society. In the current popular culture, it is noticeable the many of Asian-Americans had been inclined with certain identity which could be very noticeable in the choices of their consuming behavior. In addition, personal choices such of the music, clothing style and etc. In the written work of Min Zhou and Jennifer Lee (2004), they have clearly stated that the Asian-American youth is directly seen by the American culture as not fitting to the popular images which are most associated with the current popular culture. Such popular cultures that are being discussed were being rap artists, skin heads, punks and the likes. For the longest time, Asian-Americans are seen as stereotypically geek who only focuses directly on their studies instead of being socially active. (Zhou Lee, p. 1, 2004). Many of the Asian-Americans are obviously shying away from these concepts of being geeks and nerds. Instead, they follow the popular culture and act similarly to the demands of the American society. First and foremost, we could see that many of the Asian-American youth are more inclined to look like a gangster rather than a typical Asian-American. In many television shows and advertisements, there are numerous Asians who steps away from the light that they are individuals who are very serious in being successful that they study very well. Due to the very advanced technological innovations that we have such that of YouTube people could truly see that Asian-Americans are truly absorbing and creating new a type of culture when it comes to music. One of the best examples is David Choi who is known to be a Korean-American. Choi is singer, songwriter and guitarist on his own channel in YouTube. As noticed, Choi is very far from the typical stereotype of Asian who shies away from the crowd. After attaining success and massive support from different individuals he was able to have his own album. Instead of being the stereotypical Asian-American, he proclaims and continuously re-invents his music to suit his fans and the current trend in the society. In the film industry there had been few individuals who are known to be popular in the United States due to the certain film which they have done. One of the most famous Asian-American is Lucy Lui who played one of the Charlie’s Angels. In the movies, it is not often that an Asian-American plays a â€Å"kick-ass† role and presents her self as a strong assertive woman. In the stereotypical eyes of most Americans, Asian-Americans are simple and mostly quiet and demure because this is how they are culturally trained. However, due to such character played by Lui, the concept of how and what a woman should be (through an Asian context) is changed. With such, the Americanization of the Asian woman is clearly seen through the portrayal made by Lui. (â€Å"Is Lucy Liu a Heroine or a Curse? †) In terms of music, an article was written regarding the sudden boom of the Asian-American artists in the music industry. In the article, the author stated that various American-Asian artists are suddenly emerging into the music scene within in various localities in the United States. Most of the tunes that these musicians and artists play are mostly western music when do hip-hop and RB, as well as a DJ in various clubs. Such artists were Yellow Peril, Seoul Brothers, Mountain Brothers, and a lot more. These artists are said to have gained significant success and a symbolic presence of the developments of the Asian-Americans (Wang, 1998). Therefore, Asian-Americans were already able to join the band wagon of having the same musical preference as the Americans. In addition, they are not only listening to type of music Americans hear but also imitating or innovating towards a new genre of music. In the most current popular culture many Asians are excelling in the freestyle dancing, break dancing and etc. (Tseng, 1998) From the lessons that we have taken, it is known that through consumption and consumerism that the factors of living is defined. From my own personal point of view, I do believe that consumption is a cultural issue that must be deeply studied due to the various concepts attached such as social class, cultural norms and etc. Cultural consumption is also affected by advertising as well as the culture of being brand conscious rather than quality conscious. I have stated this due to my personal experiences as a consumer. As I have observed in the super markets most of the time people spend so much time in thinking on what type of brand they would buy. Just last week I needed to do my grocery when I saw a Filipino woman and her son in the cereals and oats lane. She meticulously surfs for the proper brand of cereals while her son stated that â€Å"Mom, why are we staying too long in this section? We don’t really eat cereals for breakfast. I want rice. † Then the mother replied, â€Å"No darling, rice is too heavy for you, studies say that it could cause diabetes. And your playmates eat cereals every morning so you should also eat cereal. † Being in a class that studies such concept of culture, I was amazed on how real the concept of Americanization is. I do know that most Filipinos prefer rice for breakfast because it is a custom meal for them everyday. But through my first hand experience, I did see that people who are not Americans are in need to attain cultural citizenship in order for them to be accepted. Although I do believe that Asians are accepted in the American society, the acceptance is not as whole in comparison to being a white American. In a sense, the mother who was with her child in the grocery would want her son to be culturally American that she is shifting the norms which her son know in order for him to be suitable in the American society. Just like the story presented in â€Å"Consumption Fantasies of Upward Mobility,† Richard wanted to move away from the typical concepts of Asians. Therefore, Richard wanted to be a professional who is likely to be the choice of a typical American who works inside the office. In addition, there is a concept of attaining the â€Å"American Dream in which most important thing for Asian-Americans. Moreover, due to the desire to attain such, they also want to be treated like Americans. As a result, they act and absorb the American culture and norms which they believe will grant them cultural citizenship (Hee Park, p. 112, 2005). In conclusion, the current Asian-American culture is still in the process of attaining acceptance in the American society. In addition, they want to change the stereotypical concept that most of them are geeks and losers thus, the Asian-American community is shifting towards a much western culture. The community is not only doing such in order to be within the trend of the popular culture but also to be accepted and not discriminated by others. In terms of consumption, it is real that it is one of the factors which could justify the Americanization of an individual not only Asian-Americans. Through decision making and choosing what type of product must be used is obviously dictated by the society around them. In addition, professional choice is also an aspect the shows that Asians are Americanized or desires cultural citizenship. Like one of the most famous saying stated: â€Å"If you can’t beat them, join them. † Reference Is Lucy Liu a Heroine or a Curse?. GoldSea . Retrieved 9 December 2008 from http://www. goldsea. com/Air/Issues/Liu/liu. html. Lee, J. and Zhou, M. (2004). Asian American Youth.United States of America: Routledge Publishing. Sun-Hee Park, L. (2005). Consuming Citizenship. United States of America: Stanford University Press. Tseng, J. (1998). Asian American Rap: Expression Through Alternate Forms. Model Minority. Retrieved 9 December 2008 from http://www. modelminority. com/article128. html. Wang, O. (1998). Asian Americans and hip-hop. Asian Week. Retrieved 9 December 2008 from http://asianweek. com/111298/coverstory. html. David Choi : http://www. youtube. com/user/davidchoimusic? ob=4

Self Managed Learning, Definition and Discussion

Self Managed Learning, Definition and Discussion Introduction: Before completing this assignment, the main objective of this assignment will be to enable a chance for to assess and develop a range of professional and personal skills in order to promote future personal and career development. We will have to ensure also that it will develop ability to organize, manage and practice a range of approaches to improve performance as self-directed learners in preparation for work or future career development. To complete this assignment, at first we have to understand how self-managed learning can enhance lifelong development. Then we have to take responsibility for own personal and professional development. Next we have to implement and continually review own personal and professional development plan. Finally we have to demonstrate acquired interpersonal and transferable skills. Self-managed learning is a way in which individuals can manage their own learning. This means organizations can have self-managed learning programmers that fit within their structure and ensure staff is developing in a certain direction; or individuals can take responsibility for decisions about what and how they learn, and when and where they learn. Self-managed learning programs can be designed and developed, allowing individuals to lead and manage themselves through learning, so that can continue to extend their repertoire of capabilities without the need to necessarily be reliant on another human resource to teach or manage their learning. It is a form of development where we take the initiative in learning new skills, knowledge and attitudes with the support of the organization. Five question to start the self-managed learning: Where have I come from – what are our past experiences? Where I am now – what strength and weakness do I have? What is the current situation that I am in? Where do I want to get to – what goals/targets/objectives do I want to set for ourself? How will I get there – what programmed of study should I design to achieve our goals? How will I know if I have arrived – what criteria can I apply to assess our learning Clear goal setting – an overview Step 1: get the big picture. It will be a statement outlining idealized description of your lifes outcome that will inspire you and create your target Step 2: brainstorm your thoughts to come up with a wish-list for each of your relevant life aspects, career, family and friends Step 3: set achievable goals, even if that means taking a larger goal or dream and breaking it down into bite-size chunks. A personal SWOT analysis is a great way to work it out Strength Weakness Opportunities Threat Step 4: Prioritize – goal setting is a skill, how to set goals takes time and practice to become proficient. Once you achieve the easy, single goals, youll feel motivated to try the process on some harder goals and confident in applying the process. Step 5: when you have a set of personal goals that are meaningful and will help you achieve your big – picture, all you need to do is develop your chosen goals and make sure they are SMART: Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Time bounce SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES A wealth of knowledge usually, presented by many speakers at one time in one place A lot of learning at one clip, with most material compressed into two or three days worth of time. Seminars and conferences gives people the opportunity to present their knowledge about something to other people who end up learning new things. Seminars and conferences helps people becoming confident in speaking in the public and develops presentation skills which are needed in the organization Internet A Personal Learning Environment is comprised of all the different Internet tools we can use for learning. Social software is increasingly being used in education and training through such applications as web logs, wikis, tools and applications for creating and sharing multimedia and tools for sharing all kinds of different personal knowledge bases including bookmarks and book collections. Examples of the software you can use for your personal learning environment include a word processor, an e-mail client for communication, a Web browser, making multimedia presentations, a content management system for creating websites, a photo editing program and sharing service. Task P2 Propose ways in which your lifelong learning in personal and Professional contexts could be encouraged. Kolbs four stage learning cycle shows how experience is translated through reflection into concepts, which in turn are used as guides for active experimentation and the choice of new experiences Concrete experience, either planned or accidental and where the leaner actively experiences an activity, is followed by Reflection, when the learner consciously reflect back on that experience Abstract conceptualization is where the learner attempts to conceptualize a theory or model of what is observed. Active experimentation is where the learner is trying to plan how to test a model or theory or plan for a forthcoming experience Proposed the ways in lifelong learning in personal and professional Set aside each day for yourself a little time to learn. Learning and doing homework, reading books should have benefited our life. Learning every day is the most basic method to improve our self forever. We should also do the daily schedule for ourselves. Every day have a lot of work to do, if not order them again, I will miss our work. Moreover, when there is a logical schedule, it will help our daily life became more reasonable. Participate in group activities; the forum is also developing a form of lifelong learning. In the group the Knowledge that I read, learned will be brought to share with everyone, so, knowledge that I know will be known by others. When all participants share the feeling, comment me, I will have deeply sight on what they share, therefore our knowledgell become richer. I need to participate in the long course and short term, be useful for future careers, such as courses to communicate with customers, soft skills, continuously improving English. After learning these things, I will apply their knowledge to practical work, which draws from the experiences themselves. Then I will use our knowledge to share and exchange with people in the same profession as me. Task P3 Evaluate the benefits of your self-managed learning to the individual and organization. Organization try to make sure their objectives are met and such objectives need to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound), this is by evaluating the qualities and expectations they need from the staff to those whom they have contracted with in achieving such objectives. They need staffs that have potential skills such as leadership skills, time management, and team player. Writing and communication skills, ambitious etc, such skills could be linked with objectives of the organization. The first benefit of lifelong learning is helping us to adapt to change. A lifelong learner will keep up with society by staying current and aware of changes in such areas as technology, news and political trends or finance and money issues. We adapt and grow and seem to thrive on staying up on the latest technology. Lifelong learners look for opportunities to embrace the new technologies. The hugest benefit of lifelong learning is the enriching and fulfilling life it provides for us. To people for whom continuing education, they can look forward to active and meaningful lives. We all have subjects in which we are interested in. A lifelong learner uses opportunities to explore these topics which they find compelling. The end result can be less stress on the body, in the home, or marriage. Task M1 What can be the development opportunities to meet current and future needs for both personal and professional Current needs pursuing qualification higher national diploma in business our target is completing all the assignment by end of June so that our results or transcript could be used by the university to enroll us for the final year top up degree in BA Honors in business. And to score a good brand in ilets which will help us visa process and improvement of English skills. Future needs Opportunities are the chances that a person may have developing themselves further in another level of understanding and professional. Opportunity we have personally is continuing with further education that is joining university for the third year degree top up in Business. After that am planning to specialize in HR management, after our degree I will have various training in HR management as our future needs for both personal and professional. We also have the opportunity for doing our Masters in HR management. Task M2 Suggest personal and professional development plan for the learners. Everyone should develop personal and professional development plan to find out what are the required skill is necessary for the long term development in life. Education is the initial stage of our life to acquire knowledge and skill and professional life is stage where we can implement those knowledge and skill, Professional life is also help us to enhance our existing skill and knowledge. One should develop the personal and professional development plant at the early stage before the person leave the academic sectors. For example currently we are doing BA Honors and we want to be a human resource manager in our long term career plan. We will describe future career plan and we will also describe why we choose this career. We will describe what the skills currently we possess. We will use modern tools and techniques, to analyze our skills, values, interest and knowledge. We will also find out the gaps and develop the action plan for further development on that sector. This will show us a clear path for our future career progression in professional life. Career Selection Currently we are business administration students and we like be in HR management in future.HR is one of the most important roles in a company. HR manager is a very important role because he/she deals with human resource which is one of the most intangible valuable assets for the company. Organization success completely depends on the employee performance and human resource manager play an important to enhance those performances. One of the important roles of HR manager is to develop the organizational structure on which organization run successfully. There are several reasons why we choose HR manager as our career and they are described below: Each of the organization has employee and to manage the employee organization need a department named as HR department. All over the world each of the organization has its own HR department, so there is ample of job opportunities around the globe. This will ensure us a secure job for a smooth transition in our career. HR management role is very challenging job and much passionate about to take very challenging job role. HR manager play a significant role for development of organizational policy that is one of the integral part for organization to run very smooth way. Short term and Long term plan Short term career planning means to develop a career plan for less than 5 years. Short Term Plan: In the short term development plan we will start with the self-evaluation process. We will evaluate our personality skills by self-evaluation process. In the self-evaluation process we will conduct self-analysis where we will find what our interest, values, skill and personality is. One the other side we will conduct an occupational analysis. In this process we will try to find out what qualification is required and what id the occupational trend in the industry. In this stage we also select our goals what we want to achieve in the short term and long term. Long Term Plan: Long term usually refer to career plan more than 5 years. we want to practice our career as a HR manager next five years once we are promoted as a HR manager. After that we want to be an HR head or director. In this time period we want to conceptualized all the HR skills and learn all the tools and techniques during our work tenure. Our long term plan is to learn all the industry HR management skill, tools and techniques. Different industry has different organizational structure, recruitment, training process, appraisal system, policy development techniques and some other HR factors. Skill Required for Our Career: We want to be a successful HR manager, critically evaluate the job roles and responsibilities. After analyzing job responsibility and job specification, we found that following are the skills required for our further career development. Handle and manage difficult employee. Develop and consistent positive attitude Good verbal and communicational skill Efficient conflict of interest management skill Good negotiation skill and negotiate with more confidence Effective learning and listening skill Develop and conduct performance appraisal Good supervision skill Good knowledge about HR policy Efficient and effective implementation skill Complete understand about the HR rule and laws Our Self-Evaluation In the self-evaluation process one can easily find out what the skills the individuals have and what are the skills the individual need to acquire more. For self-assessment we use SWOT analysis tools and techniques that are described below. Strength: our main strength is to handle difficult people. We believe that we can effectively supervise the difficult people as a HR manager. We have the positive attitude for any difficult work to be handled more effectively. We can solve critical problem more effectively. We have strong communication skill both written and verbally. We can also handle the conflict management more effectively. We have also good negation skill that one HR manager should have during the salary selection. We are very good at work periodization, that means how to evaluate each of the jobs effectively and which work need to be perform first. Weakness: we have few weaknesses also. We need to develop our presentation skill that is required for employee training process. We have less customer service skill and we are not too much friendly with people. Again our selling skill is not that much effective. We can handle too much stress but we need to develop this skill because in HR management lot of work stress one has to take. We have very little knowledge in conducting performance appraisal. We need to know how the performance appraisal is conducted. We are very poor in networking development with people. Opportunities: There are lots of opportunities in HR sector. Each of the organization has HR department. So there are lots of job opportunities all over the world. So that is our biggest opportunity to select the career in HR department. we will graduate in business administration and we have some knowledge and skill from our university and with the initial amount of knowledge and skill in HR we can easily apply for jobs in initial entry level jobs. Threats: HR career is one of the most tentative careers for student, who is studying in business administration. HR job has a huge demand all over the world. So this our biggest treat. As there is lot of talented people in market this job sector is quite competitive. We need to acquire all HR skills and need to become more competitive in this regard. Continuous Profession Development Plan (CPD) Continuous professional development plan is the process and techniques that enables us to continuously develop our skills and knowledge. CPD helps individual to develop credibility and confidence. CPS also help to develop the own self-appraisal system. CPD also fix out any gaps in the career goal setting objectives. CPD makes individual more productive and efficient. Personality: Personality is the combination of emotion, behavior and attitude. We very honest person and hard working person. If any work is assigned to us, we feel that this is our own task and perform the task accordingly. We never tell lie, which is one of the biggest strong point in our personality. we like to work under pressure and also like to influence and motivate other people to work in more efficient and effective way. Interest: we are very much interested to work in environment where we can express our own skill and knowledge. We do not like other to monitor us too much. So we are a self-driven person and very much interested to read books, article and magazine to acquire more knowledge and skills. We are very much interested to help others and work with others. We are interested to work in a secure environment. Values: our main values are not to harm people, rather help people in their difficult time. We believe that honestly is the best policy and never tell lie to others. We are very flexible personalities, so we do not belief the hard and fast rule of anything. We are honest, and reliable. Skills: We a very good team worker and we can motivate to work more effective way. Our decision making process is very prompt and effective and understand any problem very effectively and develop the solution of the plan more effectively. In the critical time we can work alone and control our stress. We are very creative to provide any particular solution. We have very good communication skills in both orally and verbally. Action Plan we need to take certain action plan to remove all the gaps that are discovered from the self-assessment tools and techniques. we need to improve the public contact development skills that means the networking skills, we need to meet with more professional people and need to start using the all the social networking method such as LinkedIn, facebook, twitter and other internet social networking medium. We need to start reading more books and scholarly article during the problem solving situation. We need some other contact sources for more creative and effective solution. We need to contact with superior problem for better solution development. We need to be more self-confident and need to accept supervision and need understand the factor that the mentors are more experienced than us. Task D1 Recommendations for the learners in order to develop their learning skills Personal and professional development is very important for the individual to be successful in the long run. It is the process through which person can make the self-assessment and find out the gaps they have currently in the skills and knowledge. It also help individual to develop long term and short term plan. PPD is the process that help individual to set up the aim in life in the career. This is very important as the individual can act according to attain the career goals and objectives. The recommendations for the learners are that if they want to choose HR field in future should think the following aspects for their career development. They need to develop certain skills and knowledge that are necessary for long term development of their career. They should have certain basic skills such as communication skills, decision making skill, leadership skill, prioritizing skill, motivational skill, valuing other people, analysis skill, delegating skill and reporting skill. After achieving those skills, they need to make the proper plan for their future career succession plan. In the HR department one should have the skill of interpersonal skills, negotiation and diplomatic skills, work in own initiatives, work under pressure, budgeting skill, job responsibility and job specification development skills, basic knowledge of the employment rules and regulation and IT skills. In the short term personal development plan their plan will be to acquire all the skills to get entry in the industry. In the long term they need to acquire some advanced skills and techniques, such as effective way to solve a particular HR problem, conducting interview, outstanding negotiation skill, organizational structure development skills, employee salary structure development skills, develop retail and recruitment policy and advanced budgeting skills. We are planning to acquire all the skills in the long term. They will find out the scope of their job in different industry sector in HR and will also try to find out what are the opportunities and after that they will select the best industry to apply there. In this regard they will also select the factor where they want to work in local companies or multinational companies. They will develop there our mission and vision for our long term career development progression plan. And will develop their motivation in this stage. Once they develop their mission and vision, they will start acquire basic and advanced knowledge and skills to be a successf ul HR manager.

Laos: Iu-Mein Culture and Ceremonies :: Asia Asian

Laos: Iu-Mein Culture and Ceremonies What is Iu-Mein? Not many people have heard of the ethnicity Iu-Mein. It is a dialect from Laos. One of the traditions that Iu-Mein's have are ceremonies. Ceremonies are done with the sacrificing of a pig or chicken. Certain people may call it weird, and animal rights folks would call it animal cruelty, but in our culture, it is for healing and to pay our respects to our ancestors. The ceremonies are very sacred and are done by a shaman. A shaman in our culture is someone who can speak to spirits like a witch doctor. A pig or chicken is sacrificed depending on whether the ceremony performed is large or small. The shaman sets up the table with incense, paper made with circle imprints (money for the spirits), and a tea set filled with blessed water. After the pig or chicken is cleaned, it is set on the table and the shaman starts chanting or calling down the spirit. With a chicken, the ceremony usually takes about thirty minutes to an hour; with a pig, it can take an hour to an hour and a half. Ceremonies in the Iu-Mein culture are part of our lives. They are done as often as they are needed, but at least once a year. There are different kinds of ceremonies done for healing when someone is sick, for good luck for the year, weddings, and for death. Iu-Mein's believe in both good and bad spirits. Whenever someone is sick, we believe it is due to a hungry spirit. Our ceremony with the pig or chicken is meant to please the spirit by feeding them, paying them by burning paper "money," and by giving them water. There are all kinds of spirits that can touch a person to make them sick, like parents, grandparents, or any relatives who have passed away. There is not much about Iu-Mein culture in our history books, but books have been written about the Iu-Mein people.

Revolutions :: essays research papers

One of the six revolutions that I have studied independently is the Glorious Revolution. The Glorious Revolution took place in England during 1688 to 1689. James II and the Catholic church were in control of the land. The old regime was James II, along with the Catholic church. James II, the second surviving son of Charles I, became king of England in 1685. James crushed two revolts upon his newly found land. One, controlled by his nephew, James Scott, duke of Monmouth, and the other controlled by Archibald Campbell, ninth earl of Argyll. The people were not happy with his performance handling these revolts. James had also ended religious restrictions in 1687, which caused an increase religious tension. On June 10, 1688, William of Orange, later to become William III, was asked to take the throne of England, there by starting the beginning of the revolution. So, now Parliament and William of Orange and his wife Mary and the Catholic church help all the power in England, being the moderates of the revolution. Seeing, as how there were no radicals, there could be no accession of them, nor could there be a reign of terror. Convalescence was reached when Mary and William signed the Declaration of Power. Also, there was now a ruler again. According to Crane Brinton’s "Course That Revolutions Seem To Take", there is only one situation that occurred in the Glorious Revolution. Revolutionaries gain power and seem united. This was shown by how William and Mary and Parliament and the Catholic Church all joined up together to rule over England successfully. None of the other 9 happened during this revolution. I don’t believe that the Glorious Revolution was a revolution at all. First off, the only two things that the people didn’t like were that there was a lot of religious tension and that they thought James was a bad ruler because he was trying to protect the country. I surely hope that Bill Clinton would try to protect us from any outside enemies that tried to take over The United States.