Thursday, November 28, 2019

Government Spending & Budget Essays (2773 words) - Fiscal Policy

Government Spending & Budget Government Spending & Budget As many Federal departments and agencies lurch into an era of running without funds, the leaders of both parties of Congress are spending less and less time searching for a compromise to balance the budget, and more and more time deciding how to use it to their advantage on the campaign trail. Meanwhile money is easily borrowed to pay for government overhead. In an attempt to change this, on June 29, Congress voted in favor of HConRes67 that called for a 7 year plan to balance the Federal Budget by the year 2002 (Hager 1899). This would be done by incorporating $894 billion in spending cuts by 2002, with a projected 7 year tax cut of $245 billion. If this plan were implemented, in the year 2002, the U.S. Government would have the first balanced budget since 1969. There is doubt by citizens that a balanced budget will become reality. A recent Gallop Poll from January, 1996 showed the budget as the #1 concern among taxpayers, but 4/5 of those interviewed said they doubt the GOP will do the job (Holding 14). Meanwhile, an ABC poll from November reported that over 70% of those polled disapprove of the current performance by Congress, and most blamed politicians for failure to take action (Cloud 3709). These accusations of failure to follow through come with historical proof that Congress and Clinton have failed to compromise and resolve the issue. After all, current budget plans are dependent on somewhat unrealistic predictions of avoiding such catastrophes as recession, national disasters, etc., and include minor loopholes. History has shown that every budget agreement that has failed was too lax. One might remember the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings bill that attempted to balance the budget, but left too many exemptions, and was finally abandoned in 1990 (Weinberger 33). So after a pain-staking trial for GOP Republicans to create, promote, and pass their budget, as promised on campaign trail 94, Clinton rejected the very bill he demanded. This essentially brought the federal budget back to square one. Clinton thought such a demand on Republicans to produce a budget would produce inner-party quarrels and cause the GOP to implode. Instead, they produced a fiscal budget that passed both houses of Congress, only to be stalemated by a stubborn Democratic President Clinton. Meanwhile, Clinton bounced back with a CBO scored plan with lighter, less risky cuts to politically sensitive areas like entitlements. Clinton's plan also saved dollars for education and did not include a tax increase, but most cuts would not take effect until he is out of office, in the year 2001. Although Clinton is sometimes criticized for producing a stalemate in budget talks, the White House points out that the debt has gone down since Clinton took office, with unemployment also falling. Republicans are quick to state that Clinton originally increased taxes in 1993 and cut defense programs, but his overall plan was for an increasing budget without deficit reduction. Startling Facts about the budget: As of 1996, the national debt was at an all time high of $5 trillion dollars, with interest running at a whopping $250 billion per year (Rau M-1). This equals out to an individual responsibility of more than $50,000 per taxpayer. Nearly 90% of that debt has accumulated since 1970, and between 1980 and 1995, the debt grew by 500%. Currently, the debt grows by more than $10,000 per second (Rau M-l), and at current rates, a baby born in 1992 will pay 71% of his or her income in net taxes. At current rates, our government is about to reach its breaking point. If that's not enough to scare a taxpayer, by 2002, 60% of government spending will be for entitlements, and by 2012, these programs are projected to take up all government revenue (Dentzer 32). Not only economic development, but also family income is hurt by debt. With the cost of living going up, it becomes harder to find a job. According to the Concord Coalition, real wages peaked in 1973 and have gone down ever since. If the economy grew as fast as it did in 1950, without a debt, the median family income would be $50,000, compared to the present median

Monday, November 25, 2019

Intro †what is Gibbs (100) Essays

Intro – what is Gibbs (100) Essays Intro – what is Gibbs (100) Essay Intro – what is Gibbs (100) Essay The Case Of Aquada Contentss 1.Introduction2 2.What is incorrect with Aquada? 3 3.What is Product Design, the Design Process5 4.Setting Objectives7 5.Design Processes – Different Perspectives9 6.Aquada – A Critical Analysis10 7.Conclusions11 8.Bibliography12 1.Introduction Manufacturing companies of all types will be required at some degree or another to see how they are traveling to plan new merchandises and how this procedure should be managed so as to obtain the best consequence for their profitableness. When carry oning a design procedure, the administration will hold to happen the in-between line between supplying the client with what they want but besides being organisationally efficient in footings of usage of resources and fiscal investing [ 1 ] ( Baxter, 1995 ) . The procedure of design direction permeates the five cardinal countries of engineering, design, design thought, selling and direction. For this ground, there are frequently internal battles as the company tries to draw together a assortment of different maps all with their ain ends and attacks. 2.What is incorrect with the Aquada? Gibbs has developed a new merchandise which it brought to market as the Aquada. The Aquada was developed by the joint expertness of laminitis Alan Gibbs and Neil Jenkins who through an organizational amalgamation became involved in the squad, in 1999. Design work had begun in 1997 and the merchandise is expected to sell at a retail of ?150,000 in the UK. The Aquada is the first vehicle of its type. It is an amphibian auto that is able to go at velocities of around 30 stat mis per hr on H2O and up to 100 stat mis per hr on land. Approximately 60 million autos are manufactured every twelvemonth and the amphibious component of the auto is simply an option, although it is the chief merchandising point of the merchandise and would, hence, be expected to be chosen in all but a few instances. Clearly, one of the chief benefits of the Aquada is that it can well cut down the travel clip of proprietors. With the ability to travel effortlessly from H2O to set down the Aquada allows a journey that would usually take 2 hours in a metropolis Centre to be reduced to 20 proceedingss, through the usage of H2O based travel. However, despite this, the Aquada has failed to derive the degree of gross revenues that Gibbs predicted it would. Several built-in design jobs have been cited as the ground that Aquada has failed to derive full market incursion. First, despite being marketed as a auto chiefly with an amphibious option it is, in fact, well more efficient on H2O than it is on land. Therefore, those who would merely on occasion use the H2O based option find that it is merely non an efficient manner to go, overall. The Aquada besides fails many safety facets of travel as it has no air bags which are considered indispensable in the modern automotive market. Furthermore, it is non as user friendly due to non holding a roof and holding a non-conventional seating form. This makes the Aquada highly improbable to be the chief vehicle of pick, during the winter months. As this is a new type of vehicle wholly, the care is still something that can merely be done by some specific and specialist mechanics. This makes even everyday services highly expensive. When sing the six chief elements of a design efficiency, it is clear to see that the Aquada fails on many degrees which explains why the Aquada has non made as much of an impact on the market as it was hoped. Reliability and maintainability has non been achieved due to the extremely proficient specializer nature of the vehicle. Aestheticss and biotechnologies are besides hapless with the Aquada with the deficiency of roof and the non traditional seating program that does non let the auto to hold four riders. Not holding air bags is a defect in the safety design of the merchandise and, moreover, the monetary value is at the higher terminal of the market significance that the clients willing to pay this excess premium would non anticipate to compromise on the other elements of the design [ 2 ] ( Zahra A ; Ellor, 1993 ) . 3.What is Product Design? For any new merchandise or company, the design procedure is cardinal to the success of the administration. Whilst in this instance the design procedure is comparatively clear and Centres on the Aquada merchandise, administrations will besides hold their ain merchandise design built-in in the manner they run their company through stigmatization and market placement. Regardless of the type of merchandise design that is being focussed on they will cover with planning, communicating, control and squad working between the assorted different maps within the company. The manner in which the merchandise design procedure is undertaken is cardinal to the overall success of a merchandise or company. The whole procedure demands to be managed to guarantee that no facet is ignored and that the overall consequence is the optimal consequence available. The Design Process There are multiple troubles within the concluding Aquada merchandise, many of which occurred during the design procedure and could, with better planning, have been avoided. Critical to any undertaking is the scene of the relevant purposes and aims. These are so cardinal that they will be discussed in greater item in the ulterior subdivision of this study. Once the range of the undertaking has been appropriately ascertained, the budget should so be developed and agreed with all relevant stakeholders. Based on the needed merchandising monetary value of the Aquada, it would look that budgeting was non completed every bit ruthlessly as was necessary to guarantee that the auto was competitory within the available market [ 3 ] ( Blyth A ; Worthington, 2001 ) . Once the basic information has been ascertained, a brief lineation of the undertaking including the range and the purposes of the undertaking should be stated. This will be the footing of the undertaking program and will give a high degree overview of all critical spots of information i.e. clip graduated table, budget and overall range. In the instance of the Aquada, this was peculiarly of import due to the assorted different squads involved in the development. It is critical that all members of the squad are united and are to the full cognizant of what needs to be done and their function within the merchandise development. From this point, the most appropriate squad demands to be established to do certain that all facets are appropriately dealt with. This choice procedure will about surely involve both internal and external people. Making certain that the necessary competency is available will be of import to do certain that the merchandise is developed right and that there is small or no unneeded wastage in footings of clip or money. For illustration, in the instance of the Aquada, the focal point was clearly on making a technically superb solution, there seems to hold been an absence of people sing the auxiliary facets such as safety, internal design, selling and overall direction [ 4 ] ( Jerrard, Trueman A ; Newport, 1999 ) . Clear undertaking mileposts need to be laid out. The development of a new merchandise such as the Aquada will of course affect several phases such as a protocol so the launching of the merchandise every bit good as the necessary selling and administrative support that will be needed for launch. All of these facets needed to be managed from the beginning. Based on the weaknesss of the Aquada, it would look that full usage of the protocol was non made. Issues such as the deficiency of roof and the deficiency of airbags should hold been noted from the really initial design. Similarly, the deficiency of critical safety factors such as air bags had been omitted should hold been noted at an early phase of the design procedure. This deficiency of realization suggests that the relevant people were non involved with the design procedure at a appropriately early phase. 4.Puting Aims One of the first and most of import facets of the merchandise design procedure is that of puting the purposes and aims of the undertaking. By guaranting that there are suited aims that have been agreed on by all of the appropriate stakeholders, it helps do certain that all persons involved are to the full cognizant of the overall aims and how their single function will be needed to accomplish the ultimate purposes [ 5 ] ( Bruce A ; Cooper, 2000 ) . Aims need to be SMART ( specific, mensurable, agreed, realistic and clip edge ) . Specific, the ends need to be clear and unambiguous and that the purposes are clear for all involved ; Measurable, the ends and aims need to be quantifiable at every measure of the manner. Clear marks in footings of design should be made at every phase to guarantee that the undertaking as a whole corsets on path, both in footings of clip and money ; Agreed, this is critical for undertakings that involve multiple stakeholders. An person who does non hold with the ends and aims can non possible be expected to set in the necessary attempts to accomplish the ends ; Realistic, the ultimate end must be accomplishable. In the instance of the Aquada, consideration demands to be given as to whether it is really possible to develop an amphibian auto that is both safe and efficient every bit good as cost effectual for the consumers ; and Time edge means that there should be clear mileposts at every phase of the undertaking to do certain that the assorted strands of the undertaking are completed at the appropriate times and hence all facets come together to accomplish overall success. Had the Aquada squad spent somewhat longer on puting the relevant ends and objectives many of the issues that are now going evident, such as the deficiency of roof, would hold been resolved at the early phases, doing the merchandise more successful and the design procedure more efficient. 5.Design Processes – Different Positions Naturally, the procedure of design direction will change from company to company and undertaking to project. As such there has been no one singular design procedure theoretical account that has gained complete support from faculty members or professionals. Several different possible attacks have been established, and Aquada should take the elements that suit their peculiar undertaking in their design procedure. One of the historically popular attacks has been the linking of design direction with selling. This was based on the foundational belief that design is mostly a selling map with the whole procedure aimed at developing a merchandise that consumers really want to buy. Under this idea form it is by and large considered that the cardinal standards of any procedure is to do consumers believe that they need the ultimate merchandise. Arguably, in a commercial scene such as that of Aquada this is true. Whilst the engineering may be impressive, it is of small commercial value if no-one really wants to buy the merchandise. This is the attack advocated by the Design Management Institute [ 6 ] ( Best, 2007 ) . An alternate attack is that of design leading advocated by Koppelmann, which makes the differentiation between the design direction and design leading. This recognises that pull offing the design procedure is a much more specific function than that of design leading. Design direction is to a great extent involved with the existent specifications of the merchandise, whereas design leading takes a much more overall position sing every facet such as selling and distribution. It is this function that the overall undertaking director would by and large set about [ 7 ] ( Buggie, Scheuing A ; Vaccaro, 1990 ) . In the instance of Aquada, the undertaking began in 1996 yet a new pull offing manager became involved in 1999 which may account for the deficiency of consistence in the undertaking direction procedure. 6.Aquada – A Critical Analysis Aquada has found that there are many built-in design defects within its merchandise. These are cardinal and consequence in the demand for the merchandise being well lower than it would otherwise hold been. First, the Aquada design procedure lacked consistence. Due to a alteration of direction the design leading function appears to hold gone unnoticed and hence peripheral facets of the proficient specifications have been overlooked. In line with the current thought of holding a distinguishable design leading function, this appears to hold been losing in the procedure and has hence had a damaging function on the overall result [ 8 ] ( Hollins A ; Shinkins, 2006 ) . Second, critical elements that a consumer would necessitate hold been overlooked such as the necessary seating form and the deficiency of roof. This suggests that there was small or no engagement in footings of selling or client services. It would look that during the initial undertaking definition stage, the demands and desires of the client were non considered. For this ground, Aquada would hold benefited from following a more selling attack in its merchandise development to guarantee consumer entreaty. Third, the pricing of the Aquada seems to be curtailing the market portion that it is able to obtain. Had the budget been set at the beginning and managed with suited milepost, it would be probably that a lesser retail monetary value would hold been established doing it a more appealing purchase option. 7.Decisions Although, on the face of it, Aquada appears to hold failed in several facets, they all basically have their path cause in the failure to program and pull off the undertaking. Failure to place the critical ends and besides failure to hold one consistent director with an overall position of the undertaking has resulted in critical issues being ignored. The undertaking has non been sufficiently focussed on the consumer, likely due to the deficiency of selling engagement and this has finally resulted in a less appealing and, hence, less successful merchandise within an already competitory market [ 9 ] ( Sutton A ; Hargadon, 1996 ) . Bibliography Baxter, M. , 1995.Merchandise Design. Chapman and Hall. Best, Kathryn, 2007.Design Management: Pull offing Design Strategy, Process and Implementation. Ava Publishing SA. Blyth, A. A ; Worthington, J. , 2001.Pull offing the Brief for Better Design. Spon Press. Bruce, M. A ; Cooper, R. , 2000.Creative Product Design: A Practical Guide to Requirements Capture Management. John Wiley A ; Sons. Buggie, F.D. , Scheuing, E.E. , A ; Vaccaro, V.L. , 1990. An Advanced Approach to New Product Development.Review of Business, 12. Hollins, B. A ; Shinkins, S. , 2006.Pull offing Service Operationss: Design and Execution. Sage. Jerrard B. , Trueman, M. A ; Newport, R. , 1999.Pull offing New Product Invention: Proceedings of the Conference of the Design Research Society. Taylor A ; Francis. Sutton, R.I. A ; Hargadon, A. , 1996. Brainstorming Groups in Context: Effectiveness in a Product Design Firm.Administrative Science Quarterly, 41. Zahra, S.A. A ; Ellor, D. , 1993. Accelerating New Product Development and Successful Market Introduction.SAM Advanced Management Journal, 58. 1

Thursday, November 21, 2019

A case study on the murder of Zahid Mubarak, in a young offenders Essay

A case study on the murder of Zahid Mubarak, in a young offenders institute feltham - Essay Example Black inmates felt that they were being â€Å"stereotyped† as being more aggressive and violent and blamed for bullying than their white counterparts. There was also an uncanny tendency among the prison officials to think of â€Å"Blacks† as either drug peddlers or drug takers and there was twice the tendency for them to be tested for drugs than the white inmates. Many of the Black inmates complained that the Black and Ethnic minorities prison officers â€Å"turned a blind eye† to this racial discrimination in order to fit in or be in par with the white officers. Stewart was shifted to Feltham just at a time when it was overcrowded with prisoners and it did not have the necessary staff to cope with the ever growing population. On the whole Feltham was being asked to do too much with too little resources. Moreover the prison also suffered badly from institutional racism and the staff was poorly equipped to deal with it. The case highlights the brutal character of Juvenile detention as well as the criminal tactics used by the ever-growing number of alienated and disturbed youth. Feltham is a prime example of the corrosive atmosphere exists throughout Britain’s penal system, especially in youth detention Institutions. In March 1999, Sir David Ramsbotham, the chief inspector of prisons surveyed the deplorable conditions at Feltham and stated that it was â€Å"totally unacceptable†. The care of those in remand and those boys below eighteen were described by him as â€Å"institutionalized deprivation†. More than 5,000 prisoner to prisoner assaults had taken place over the last ten years. Feltham had seven suicides within the institution and four governors in the past six months. Further investigation by Ramsbotham revealed that young prisoners were spending long hours in their cells. The average activity time spent by the detainees was around 15 hours a week. Out of

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Toxic hazards and Risk Asbestos Consumers Essay

Toxic hazards and Risk Asbestos Consumers - Essay Example (Pass, 2008)The paper shall look at the hazardous levels of this substance and how dangerous it is to the public. The reason why this chemical threat was chosen was that there are certain health related complications that can arise out of exposure to this substance. There are series of governmental and non governmental bodies that have addressed the issue of asbestos as a chemical threat today. For instance taking the example of EPA; the latter body has formed smaller groups to tackle the asbestos challenge and some of them include the Office of Air and Radiation Planning Standards. This Office is in charge of ensuring that air quality within the US is in order. This implies that the latter body is also in charge of the all the asbestos standards allowable in the atmosphere. Additionally, the Office of Prevention of Pesticides and Toxic substances is also accredited with the standards for training professionals exclusively in the field of asbestos. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration group is largely responsible for ensuring that workers are protected against asbestos use and that overall safety plans in various companies comply with regulations. Additionally, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is largely responsible for ensuring that the public is informed about the risk of exposure to this product. It is also in charge of the health care concerns that can arise as result of exposure to asbestos. Consequently, as it can be seen from the latter agencies, the issue of asbestos as a hazard is a cause for concern given the fact that most of these agencies have been given task of dealing with it. (OSHA, 2008) Section 2 It should be noted that exposure to this chemical threat can present very severe consequences in terms of one's health. It may include any of the following categories of health threats; Mesothelioma Lung cancer Asbestosis Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that attacks the lining of sensitive organs in the body such as the heart, lungs, chest, abdomen etc. This form of cancer is particularly difficult to detect because most of its symptoms usually show up years after exposure. Lung cancer is also another health related concern and is one of the leading causes of death with regard to asbestos. This form of health complication usually attacks those people who work in asbestos rich areas such as mines, mills, constrictions etc. However, even the general public may be affected by it when air quality standards fall below par. When one suffers from lung cancer, they usually begin coughing, feeling chest pains, experiencing anemia and shortness of breath. (Pass, 2008) The other notorious health complication associated with exposure to asbestos is asbestosis. This is a disease of the lungs that is categorized as a long term one. Most of the people who suffer from this disease are those ones who inhale asbestos fiber. What happen is that the fibers lodge passages in the lungs and prevent the lung from fully performing its functions. When one is suffering from asbestosis, then they are likely to depict crackling sounds from the lungs, shortness of breath and inhalation problems, this form of attack is particularly detrimental owing to the fact that there are currently no know cures for the disease. In fact, the disease can lead to a very slow but painful death. All in all, when people are highly exposed

Monday, November 18, 2019

Comparison between the Decolonization of Algeria and India Research Paper

Comparison between the Decolonization of Algeria and India - Research Paper Example This essay analyzes similarities and differences in patterns when looking at the decolonization of India and Algeria. In both cases, the revolutionary movements began after the Second World War. This compromised European countries since they had for decades benefitted from the resources in their colonies. Similarly, the rising nationalism in India and Algeria played a major part in the decolonization process. In the process, both countries were split along ethnic and religious lines due to the disagreements that ensued. After World War II, colonial powers of Europe which included France in the case of Algeria and Britain in the case of India became weaker. This was a result of the war which had greatly affected their economies: they had no funds to run bureaucracies in the colonies. As a result this, they had to subdue their colonies even more to gain ground and make use of the immediate available resources which could be used to revamp their frugalities once more. The European natio ns used force and abuse to gain control of the local elites. The war had caused them a major blow. After this, they could not pay Africans and Asian workers decent wages, and they opted for forced labour and other ways of discriminations. This did not go well with the locals; lacking food, clothing, medical care, water, shelter and even working for long hours was painful enough. Millions of Africans and Asians had gone to Europe to help with the war. Upon arriving home, they organized strong revolutions which enabled India to gain Independence in 1947. Algeria, like most African states, gained its independence in 1962. Therefore, there is similarity in what led to the decolonization: gaining experience in the world war and later coming home to fight the colonial masters. This independence was very difficult to achieve without the support of external parties like the United Nations Decolonization Committee which was formed much later. While different historians look at the history of colonisation in two opposing views, one thing remains constant, the death toll that trailed the struggle for independence for most former colonies. It’s well documented by the time India gained independence in 1947; conflicts between Indians and Muslims had grown and became so intense that Muslims broke off to form their own nation the present-day Pakistan while Hindus formed India. The remaining alienated communities in those nations respectively instigated the genocide of Muslims and Hindus in both countries. Regardless of the various historic recordings of how countries received their independence, it is clear that the struggle for independence was the same for all former colonies. A good example of this can be seen by comparing India, which has gone down in history as the only colony to have gained independence without war, and Algeria, where war and violence were reported in its struggle for inde

Friday, November 15, 2019

Facebook Organisational Culture Case Study

Facebook Organisational Culture Case Study Managers with conceptual skills are able to see the organization as a whole, conceptualize about abstract and complex situations ´ and to think strategically (Robbins Coulter 2005). With reference to Forbes Magazine, Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of marvel Facebook and one of the youngest billionaire yet, contributes the ability of vast conceptual skills. Zuckerberg has the ability to think critically and plan for long term. For example, he is able to see the potential of success by using the Internet to connect with people more effectively. Therefore, he created Facebook at 2004 and now it becomes the largest social networking site with millions of users worldwide. Moreover, Zuckerberg carries out his role as disturbance handler with the combination of conceptual skill to solve the difficulties. For instance, he received criticize from users when Facebook introduced new features and issues about privacy. However, Zuckerberg resolve these problems appropriately and continue to oper ate the company successfully. Although Zuckerberg made mistakes in decision making, most of the people believed that he have the potential to improve his conceptual skill and consequently bring Facebook to upper level of achievement. As the CEO of Facebook, Zuckerberg plays multiple roles in managing the organization. Directing, training, motivating and organizing subordinates, supervising their improvement, promoting and reassuring their development are the duties required from the role of leader (LMC 2008). As a leader, Zuckerberg is skilled in making clear decision and limiting unwanted debate. Employees are allowed to recommend various solutions and gain knowledge on possible problems solved by him. Employees are encouraged to argue with his thought on projects to find a better solution (Bosworth 2010). Zuckerberg plays a good leader role by adapting in the human skills and conceptual skills. Next role that he is acting on is resource allocator, which carries the responsibility related to resources allocation of the organization among all concerned people or department. It involves budgeting, scheduling, allocation of duty to subordinates and authorization. From time to time, Zuckerberg has been scheduling for the ‘f8 platform† which is the â€Å"like† button in Facebook. There is three f8 in total in which the first one occuring on May 24th, 2007, second one happening on July 23rd, 2008 and consequently the third one happening on April 21-22 in 2010. During this period, the active user had increase tremendously. Figurehead role involves handling ceremonial and symbolic activities for the department or organization (Daft 2010). Mark Zuckerberg has successfully carried out the role of figurehead in Web 2.0 global social networking trend. For example, Zuckerberg discusses hiring the right people and challenges of an entrepreneur in the lectures on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students on October 26, 2005 (Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture 2005). Furthermore, Zuckerberg planned to set up a foundation with $100 million of Facebooks closely held stock to the Newark Public Schools in New Jersey (Martinez Fowler 2010). His philanthropic donation has helped to improve Facebook image. The figurehead role played by Zuckerberg has enabled him to get more attention than Googles co-founder, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In general Mark Zuckerberg use a great skill of conceptual skills and plays extensive character in all informational, interpersonal and decisional roles in the Facebook which allows and makes it to be the leading social media today. Q2) The only thing that would not change in the world is: the world is kept on changing. The external organizational environment is the elements happen outside of its boundary and may affect the growth of the organization. Figure 1 shows that Facebooks number of users is obviously more than its competitor, Twitter. Although Facebook currently rank as the top social networking sites, they still have to persist in innovating to hold on the honor. From the dimension of legal-political, Facebook created an opportunity that encourages users to share information online for the purpose of communication and business transactions. Unfortunately, it is also a threat that causes Facebook confronts disputation on privacy issue once beacon is launched. Beacon is a platform which takes data from 44 web destinations and combined with Facebooks internal information for the purpose of advertising. It allowed third parties site being posted on the wall of the users profile. It can also track everything people done online even they had logout from Facebook and despite who is using the computer. Regarding to this issue, many investigations have been carried out by security researcher â€Å"Wednesday†, Canadian privacy commissioner, Press coverage and European Commission. There is more than 100 million users personal information being used or spread out to the public without users authorization. This issue is not just about data leakage for user but also for developers and marketers who uses Facebook to operate their business. To pacify this issue, Facebook paid $9.5 million settlement to a class action lawsuit and it is being approved (Kravets 2010). Under the settlement, Facebook agreed to terminate Beaon platform started from November 2009. Facebook should provide a more user friendly privacy settings for the user to avoid the issue above to happen again. For international and sociocultural dimension, Table 1(pg) indicates that the number of users in USA is surprisingly high and owns the first place in the ranking. Although China and India has the largest population in the world but India only owns the fifth place. However, Table 2 (pg) indicates that a month later, India is the leading country which owns the highest audience growth rate. Reason for China did not appear in the ranking is Facebook is being censored by China since 2009. Prediction made by Daft said that â€Å"China will overtake United State economy as number one by midcentury† (Daft 2010, p.66). Unfortunately, China banned Facebook bring down a lot registration in China Mainland population which is about 1,330,141,295 (CIA World Factbook, Jan 2011) and opportunities to generate profit. China government always being tight to the access of internet, information flow and media banned Facebook because of the fatal riots happen in western region of Xinjiang in provin ce of China. Perhaps they believe that such an action will contain the reports or discussions of the riots or stop them from happening completely. Recent news reported that, Mark Zuckerberg still wanted to get connected to China and is now creating some localized version of site to fit Chinas government and hope to launch it in China. Therefore, every organization should be prepared to react to subtle environment shifts and adapt to various challenges environment that are increasingly dynamic. Facebook had tried their best to grapple with challenges like settlement of privacy issues and intervention with China. After conquering the challenges, Facebook is now one step nearer to its mission to connect the whole world. Q3) Ravasi and Schultz (2006) define organisation culture as a set of shared mental assumptions that guide organisation understanding and action by defining appropriate behaviour for various situations. In the past, hierarchy of management is vital for a corporate. However, CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has created a relaxed, unstructured and open corporate culture that emphasizes more on equality (Boissonneau 2011). At Facebook, there are no cubicles, no walls, just mainly office furniture. This enables employees to work in a relaxed environment as they have more employee freedom with no standard work schedules. Furthermore, Facebooks managers also practice this working environment. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks Chief Operating Officer, and even Zuckerberg himself has no office. They work among the employees in the open workspace that could enhance openness and problem solving process. Every Friday, Zuckerberg holds a public question-and-answer session for an hour for the entire organisation. The openness created by this session, according to Zuckerberg, encourages collaboration, team-work and an informal atmosphere and communication among organisation. Facebook is ballooning into an empire, but it remains shabby, funky and slightly adorable. That is partly attributable to a workplace that combines playful start-up culture with muscular ambition and bite. â€Å"Facebooks goal is to be viewed as a â€Å"hip geek culture† in order to attract the best talent† (Finch 2011). Zuckerberg is responsible for the foundations of this culture, creating a fun environment by knocking a gong when someone finishes a big coding project. Facebook even hired well-known graffiti artist David Choe to paint murals in its first offices. According to Yiannopoulos, theres a block of Facebooks meeting rooms named after inventors, with one given to Al Gore, who invented the internet (2011). Facebook uses adaptability culture to interpret and respond quickly to the high-risk decision-making and rapid alteration environment. Besides, Facebook adapts involvement culture that emphasizes employees needs and responses towards environment changes. Face book is creating an intrinsically social culture, rather than enterprise software or geeky, engineer-driven algorithms. At Facebook, the employees can play video or table tennis games whenever they need to unwind on the job. This fun working environment has increased employees job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is the primary factor in intrinsic motivation. Therefore, due to the corporate culture recognized by Zuckerberg, Facebook employees are satisfied with their jobs and as a result do their jobs well and raise the productivity of Facebook. Facebooks slogan is â€Å"Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you†. This slogan explains slightly about the social platform. Facebook has taken a very practical standpoint on providing a social network by created a framework and are expecting users to do most of the work. Facebook internal environment changes when Zuckerberg brought on Sheryl Sandberg, a respected executive from Google in March 2008. Besides, Zuckerberg is willing to take risks by hired Chris Cox, who was grad school dropout as Facebook HR manager. Organisational hierarchy was generally indicated through the price of suit. However, Zuckerberg has changed this culture by still wears T-shirts, jeans and Adidas flip-flops to work just as he did in 2004, when he co-founded Facebook at age 19 (Deneen 2011). Mark Zuckerberg shows effectiveness as a cultural leader for Facebook by able and willing to take the risks in hiring the executives for the company and motivate employees to achieve Facebooks goals by established a comfortable, amusing and unstructured corporate culture. Q4) As time passed, many professions developed several management theories as a guide for manager to run the organization. There are Classical Perspective, which occurred during nineteenth and early twenty, Management Science Perspective, which emerged during World War Two, Recent Historical Trend which happen after the World War Two and Modern Management which combine all different theories. Today business world required different management thinking and theory to fits in different industries and achieve organisational goals (Sridhar n.d). Facebook is the new trend in twenty-first century, which manage and lead by the founder name Mark Zuckerberg. Humanistic perspective was conducted by Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard. They believe that manager need to first value peoples feelings, needs, thoughts and social relations (Daft 2010). Mark Zuckerberg had this management thinking of creating a social network that allowed people all over the world to engage which each other and get updates even faster. Besides, Zuckerberg also adapting this theory to his employees by providing those free meals along the day, bottomless finger foods and unrestricted dry cleaning service. He allowed subordinates to express themselves, motivate them to have the same goals as the organisations goals by giving opinions on improvement of the organisation. He claims that an office is only a place to gather people to brain storming to generate profits and human are the most important resources for the organisation. Therefore, he design his headquarter with no wall between departments, and meeting rooms are located at the middle of work space separat ed by glass walls so everyone can see through the meetings. Besides, a study under ‘A Theory of Human Motivation of Abraham Maslow theories claims that people are influenced by several needs in pyramid order (Kendra n.d). Zuckerberg has fulfilled three levels of need for employees by providing employees free meals and considerable income to satisfied physical needs, allowing them to disclose their thoughts and opinions, appreciate them contribute many ideas and plans to run the business. This will increase employees esteem needs and belief that they are the proper source in helping make the world improve, and Zuckerberg will somehow challenge employees to meet certain goals (Bosworth 2010). This theory will increase organisation growth and acknowledges employees to fulfil their self-actualization needs. But, it required more psychological thinking from Zuckerberg, takes time for him to observe employees personalities and make organisation goals as part of their interest goals. Learning organisation is a modern theory which allows people not afraid to make mistakes and hope they can learn from the mistakes. It allows managers to raise the capability to discover and grow (Senge 1990:3). When Facebook dealing with the mistakes they made in beacon, they understand that not all people like to disclose their thoughts to the public, certain privacy are required from them. Facebook has learnt from this mistake and change their privacy settings. But, they also face the challenge of missing certain trust and confidence from the user. After Zuckerberg combining classical and modern theory, facebook will be creating a better competitive advantage to adapt into today rapid change world. Facebook will be more effective and efficient after adapting with all the theory, although Zuckerberg face a certain weight of challenges.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Comparing Women in Rappaccinis Daughter, Prophetic Pictures, Lady Elea

The Role of Women in Rappaccini's Daughter, The Prophetic Pictures, Lady Eleanor's Mantle, and The Birth-Mark When researching criticism on Hawthorne's works, I ran across an interesting piece that dealt with the feminist view of "The Birth-Mark."   The article, written by Fetterly, explores the relationship between Aylmer and his wife, and how this relationship is a typical male-dominated situation.   Although there is the fact that the story deals with the failure of the scientist, there is an underlying current here of how Aylmer views his wife: in a negative manner.   This view towards women can be seen in several of the works of Hawthorne's - among them "Rappaccini's Daughter," "The Prophetic Pictures," and   "Lady Eleanor's Mantle."   While this view of women is not always at the forefront of the piece, it is certainly worth exploring how they are treated by the men in each.   In "The Birthmark," Aylmer sets about the task of ridding his wife of the one imperfection she has.   By attempting to perfect her, the readers get the idea that somehow Georgiana is not adequate and this inadequacy lies in her appearance.   The message to the readers seems to be that women need to be perfect on the outside as well as on the inside, which Aylmer claims is flawless.   Aylmer decides he is going to "fix" Georgiana.   Feminists look at this as a male control issue.  Ã‚   There are several mentions of Georgiana as being "otherwise so perfect," in both appearance and soul - save for this birthmark.   This idea of having to have the most beautiful wife is very degrading view of women.   It plants the idea in our minds that men are superior to women, and that men are the ones who can "fix" females in the attempt to bring them up to the level of me... ...hadow of death falling over the female characters in each of these stories.   This would fit into what Fetterly describes as "the great American dream of eliminating women."   It seems that the role of the men in these pieces were chiefly to try and control their wives/love interests/daughters in the attempt to get an upper hand in the battle of the sexes.   There are not any productive male-female relationships seen here, and feminists would conclude that this stems from the need to dominate women, probably because men are afraid of the power of women.   We can't know what's going on in the minds of these men, but it certainly is interesting to look at the relationships they have with the main female characters. Works Cited: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. " Rappaccini's Daughter." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1987.