Candide by Voltaire Essay

1) What is the relationship between Candide’s adventures and Pangloss’s teachings? In Candide, we see lives filled with struggles and tragedy. Although Candide witnessed and fell victim to worldly evils of cruelty and suffering, he maintained his optimistic views through much of the novel. Candide picked up this idea of optimism through Pangloss’s teachings. Although he did not see any good reasons to disbelieve Pangloss’s teachings while living in the Baron’s castle, once in the outside world, Candide experiences many tragic events that make him, and the reader, question the philosophy of optimism. Candide’s adventures, starting when he is kicked out of the Barons castle, clearly represented an imperfect world, full of atrocities that contradicted Pangloss’s teachings. The events that break apart Pangloss’s teachings begin almost immediately when Candide is thrown in the streets to live on his own. He runs into recruiting officers of the King of Bulgars. They have him toast to the health of their king, but then beat Candide severely and put irons on his legs. Luckily though, the king comes by and tells them to spare Candide since he is innocent. Soon after that, Candide witnesses an awful, bloody battle between two armies. This horrible spectacle shows us how hateful and violent people are in this world. Later, he finds a beggar who turns out to be Pangloss. Pangloss shares some of the horrible things he had been put through and that Candide’s one and only love had been raped and her entire family had been murdered when the Baron’s castle had been taken over. Once with Pangloss, he has many new adventures. While out at sea with Pangloss and Jacques, a violent storm occurred and destroyed their ship. Many innocent passengers are killed including Jacques, who died saving a sailor. The innocent passengers’ deaths disprove Pangloss’ theory since it appeared the bad that came out of the shipwreck led to nothing good for them; instead, only brought them to their deaths. When the sailor, Pangloss, and Candide get into Lisbon, an earthquake destroys most of the city. A  tidal wave also crushes ships in the port. In an effort to prevent another earthquake, wise men take ridiculous actions against the slightest wrongdoing. Candide and Pangloss end up getting arrested. Pangloss is hanged and Candide is beaten badly. The ridiculous actions taken place prove to be futile when another earthquake erupts the next day. All of the bad that came from the first earthquake provided no good. Pangloss had been hung for no reason and Jacques, a good man, had died from the storm out at sea. The reader is left wondering how these horrible events could result in a greater good. Candide finds that God might have spared one place on earth, El Dorado. He finds this seemingly perfect city, yet does not want to stay because is still in love with Cunegonde. The king gives him and Cacambo a few sheep and some gold. This portion of the story brings a little light, yet the whole world cannot be like El Dorado, and people who do live in perfect worlds cannot even appreciate it because they have nothing to compare the high points against. Since life is always perfect, they live in lethargic boredom and cannot truly appreciate how well off they truly are. We also see times of happiness and good fortune that restore Candide’s faith in optimism throughout the book. Such periods include when we find Pangloss survived, and the points in the book when Candide and Cunegonde get to be together, even for short amounts of time. Towards the end of the story, Candide begins to question Pangloss’ philosophy more and more. Although we find events that support optimism, we find more counterexamples. Although Pangloss and the Barons son are found alive, they tell Candide their escapes from death, and the tortures they had been put through afterwards. Soon after they free Pangloss and the Baron’s son from slavery, the men go and find Cunegonde, the woman Candide had been searching to live with and love for his entire life. When they do find her, she is extremely ugly and Candide no longer wants to marry her. Although he is no longer attracted to her, he is a man of his word and feels he must do his duty to take care of her and love her. Now, he is stuck with a woman he no longer lusts over. Candide has finally found what he had been sacrificing for all of his life to find, yet is not satisfied with what he has acquired  for his hard work. Throughout the entire story of Candide, we are bombarded with horrendous events that happened to an individual to disprove Pangloss’s teachings. Candide’s adventures encountered such atrocities as murder, rape, slavery, and prostitution. The bad events that occur in Candide, help show that the world is not perfect, and that not everything happens for the greater good in the end. Candide’s adventures, great in number, show us how bad others lives turned out as well as their friends and families lives were hurt as well, such as the old woman. In the end, Candide finally realizes that optimism is not a flawless philosophy, and that the idea of working hard and enjoying life is better than waiting around for the good you think will happen. Candide’s adventures helped to contradict optimism and ultimately changed Candide’s beliefs from optimism to a realization of reality. Candide begins to live a simple life, working hard to avoid boredom, vice, and pov erty.

A Leadership Profile of American Project Managers Essay

Although the needs and demands of clients have always been the highest priority for any project manager, increasing global competition, ever heightening client expectations, and the magnitude of the projects impact on a firm’s bottom line has begun to place greater emphasis on the skills necessary to successfully lead today’s project teams. Historically, strong technical skills and knowledge of the industry would have been the key selection criteria. It was, in many cases, simply assumed that men and women who possessed these qualities would lead the project to a successful completion. Today’s complex project environments require even greater skills at leadership than ever before. â€Å"Cookie-cutter† formula-based management was probably never correct, but in today’s environment it will inevitably lead to disaster. Performance expectations for quality, cost effectiveness, timely delivery, and a host of other client measures are ratcheted-up a notch each year. In the highly competitive arena in which most projects operate, be they external or internal, the requirement to produce results that exceed client expectations has become the norm. As one respondent shared, â€Å"I have not worked on a project in the past five years that was not viewed by the client as being ‘fast track;† The stakes are high, and getting higher. The days when cost overruns and delayed completion were common are history. So are the projects where technical personnel were once allowed to â€Å"experiment† until they got it right. With the managerial practices of outsourcing, downsizing, total quality management and continuous improvement becoming even more prevalent in our organizational environment, it can be expected that project managers are experiencing increased performance pressures. Internal project managers are possibly just as vulnerable to not having their contracts renewed as external consultants and contractors. Recent Literature Jeffrey Pinto and Om Kharbanda shed light on this problem in two journal articles published in Business Horizons, â€Å"Lessons for an accidental profession† (1995) and â€Å"How to fail in project management† (1996). These authors emphasize the increased need for projectmanagers. Increasingly technically complex products and processes, vastly shortened time-to-market windows, and the need for cross-functional expertise make project management an important and powerful tool in the hands of organizations that understand its use† (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1995). In their follow-up article, â€Å"How to fail in project management,† the authors write a stinging criticism of the practices that combine to produce project failures (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1996). Karen Ayas (1996) takes a broader brash to the whole issue through what she describes as a â€Å"project network structure. The design of the system should â€Å"stress the synergies between organizational strategy, structure, culture and systems to allow organizations to build and expand learning capacity. † The application of â€Å"process management view† to project management was reported recently in Harvard Business Review. The study of leading companies such as AT&T, Hewlett-Packard and Raychem over an eight-year time span led the author to report that, â€Å"managers can benefit by applying a process management approach to their product development process. Companies can create an aggregate plan that allows them to assign practices to theirprojects with an estimate of needed resources †¦ managers can eliminate congestion and long hours by evening out workloads† (Alder, Mandelbaum, Nguyen, & Schwerer, 1996). (See also Jungen & Wowalczyk, 1995. ) Bob Lewis (Info World, 1996) sets forth the five keys that he believes differentiate successful projects from the others: scope control; regular, concrete, reasonable results; weekly status meetings; team buy-in to the plan; and walking around. Project management is considered a vital tool for the implementation of business process reengineering. â€Å"Project management allows organizations to break things down into simple processes and assign these activities and modules to individuals. This approach helps organizations identify existing built-in dependencies among processes †¦ A multidimensional forum for enterprisewide visibility is essential and will lead to significant productivity and cost savings. †¦ Project management is the organizational ‘glue’ that binds together dispersed, high accountable teams throughout the organization. Teams will seek and demand a framework to ensure their success under the new rules of rapidly changing intensely competitive markets. Project management provides the framework, encourages dispersed leadership and provides visibility of effort to stakeholders throughout the organization† (King 1996). Clearly, project managers are being viewed as pivotal leaders in the introduction and implementation of both operational and behavioral managerial changes. Are project managers viewing their roles and responsibilities in the same light as the authors of leading journal articles? What do practicing project managers believe are the critical characteristics necessary to be effective? On the other hand, what factors contribute to producing ineffective project managers? On the operational side, what do they see as the primary causes of projects that fail to meet budgetary and time constraints? What do they see as the most effective project management â€Å"tools,† and the extent to which these â€Å"tools† contribute to the success of a project? Finally, how powerful is â€Å"the leadership factor† in the success of a project and what are the specific characteristics and behaviors of leaders that will have a positive influence on organizational effectiveness in the next decade? The authors found no research that specifically addressed these questions nor reported results obtained directly from project managers. Research Instrument Design The research instrument was compressed of both open-ended and forced-answer questions. In addition, the respondents were asked their agreement or valuation of several statements through the application of a traditional five-point Likert scale ranging from a high of 5 to low of 1. The completed instrument was then pretested by 12 project managers and executives in a number of firms. All suggestions were incorporated into the final research instrument. The research instrument was then mailed to a selected sample of 100 senior-level project managers who, it was assumed, would possess a wealth of experience regarding the issues being studied. The authors received 76 usable responses to the research instrument from the mailing of 100. The extremely high response rate was due in part to an aggressive premailing and postmailing telephone campaign. The respondents were all relatively senior project managers with a minimum of 10 years experience in projectmanagement. All of the project managers surveyed were employed in large architectural and engineering consulting companies. Research Results and Discussion What Are the Characteristics of Effective Project Managers? The following results (presented in Table 1) were obtained from an open-ended question that asked respondents to list, in rank order, the characteristic that they believed was essential for effectiveness. Possibly the most interesting aspect of the project manager’s responses to this question was the fact that technical competence was the third highest rated characteristic. Eight of the nine characteristics were managerial in nature, reflecting a basic understanding that effectiveness is directly related to the ability of theproject manager to lead and manage more than simply possess exceptional technical skills. This finding is consistent with the academic literature, but is more powerful when drawn from open-end responses of experienced practicing project managers. What Factors Contribute to Ineffectiveness Among Project Managers? In order to examine the question of effectiveness in a different light, the project managerswere then asked, via open-ended questions, the specific nature of personal flaws of project managers that directly contribute to ineffectiveness, as well as the organizational factors that produced the same results. The intent of these questions was to identify how both personal flaws and organizational factors contributed to producing an ineffective project manager. To a large degree the personal flaws are a reverse image of the characteristics of ffective project managers from Table 1. There seems to be a good deal of internal consistency among the respondents (see Table 2). The organizational factors that contribute to becoming an ineffectiveproject manager are equally relevant, but not surprising. Lack of upper-management commitment and support is a well-documented source of project problems. Theproject management literature has addressed each of the organizational barriers to effectiveness and it is again reinforcing to discover that the responses document that practicing project managers’ perceptions fully support the literature. The past few decades have not seen the elimination of these classic sources of organizational ineffectiveness, although their negative impact on project performance has been known for some time. Resistance to change and a reactive approach to environmental turbulence are signs of a firm struggling with adjusting to new competitive conditions. Traditional reward systems are generally not well suited toproject management. Traditional reward systems tend to have very little direct linkage between the performance criteria of a project and compensation. With competition being very intense in some sectors, some projects are priced and sold at dangerously thin multipliers with little opportunity to show a significantly positive return. When the realistic expectations for the project are not considered in the compensation plan, it can be expected that dissatisfaction with the compensation or reward systems are bound to be voiced. Project managers know that under difficult competitive conditions, jobs are taken to keep the staff utilized and the expected profit margin is possibly at breakeven. It is often just as difficult to manage a project with no expected profit than one with above average profit expectations. In addition, reward systems seldom reflect the nature and varying degrees of difficulty of the task and often focus solely on the final profit numbers. Failure to develop a reward system that reflects the specific nature of the project can create potential long-term conflicts. Consider how new market entry is normally achieved: the firm â€Å"buys† a project. The firm intentionally bids a project below what established competitors minimum bid to get the work and, hopefully, enter a new market successfully. Logic would suggest that a firm would want one of its best project managers to lead such a project to ensure success. But if the projectaffords no opportunity to earn a performance bonus based on project profitability who would volunteer to â€Å"take on† a known loser? In too many cases, organizational insensitivity to the negative realties created by poor organizational practices and policies are not understood or simply ignored. The result of these negative practices and policies is the eventual erosion of a potentially high-quality professional staff. The lack of upper management support and commitment results in a complete breakdown of trust and respect. One of the sure killers of motivation is when project managers become conditioned to being abandoned by their management at the first sign of client conflict. As one project manager described the situation: â€Å"it’s like discovering that your management is sitting on the client side of the table at every meeting, and that you are left alone to defend every decision. † It doesn’t take too many such experiences beforeproject managers modify their style of management to protect themselves. Under these conditions one is not likely to find that the project team is performing to the maximum potential. What Are the Primary Reasons That Projects Experience Budgetary and Timely Completion Problems? Table 3 reports the respondents’ reasons for why projects run into budgetary and timing problems. The most frequent responses reflect both organizational and managerial problems. As an example, â€Å"failure to utilize the toolsavailable to manage a project to completion in a timely fashion and within budget† was the most frequent response. Poor leadership on the part of the projectmanager† was the second most frequently reported cause of problems. â€Å"Lack of effective interorganizational communication† and a â€Å"lack of timely decisions and corrective action† were also reported. The only external factor mentioned by the respondents was â€Å"the client’s failure to respond in a timely fashion. † Almost everyproject manager has dealt with clients who seemed unable or unwilling to make timely decisions yet retained their expectations that the project would be completed on time and within budget. It seems that managing the client is an art that only experience can teach. This need to learn the diplomacy of client management becomes increasingly important as a client-oriented strategy is recognized as essential to survival. What Are the Project Management â€Å"Tools† Most Often Used and How Effective Are They? Managing the project requires the skillful application of projectmanagement tools that are designed to assist the project team complete the project on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of the client. Table 4 reports the responses from experienced project managers regarding the extent to which they use eight recognized project management tools and the extent to which the tools contribute to the success of a project. As you would expect, the two highest rated tools (actually tying for first) were the project schedule and theproject budget. Irrespective of project size or complexity, these project tools were rated highest in use and first and second in terms of contribution to the success of the project. Of the eight project management tools that the respondents were asked to evaluate, none were reported to be of no value. Some of the more detailed tools were used less often and consequently may have been perceived as less valuable to project success. Despite the discussion in the projectmanagement literature regarding the need to increase the degree of accuracy in the determination of the percentage of project completion, the â€Å"earned value reporting tool, was rated the least used and correspondingly reported to have made the least contribution to the success of a project. The top five projectmanagement tools most often reported as used (project schedule, project budget, project cost system, project execution plan, and client communication log) were also rated as making the greatest contribution to the success of the project. Clearb; more effective project managers exercise managerial discipline in the consistent application of what they have found to be the most valuable project management tools for achieving success. What Are the â€Å"Other† Factors That Contribute to the Success of a Project? In addition to the direct managerial actions that project managers can take through the implementation of project management tools, project managers focus on their managerial and leadership skills as controlling sources of influence that contribute to the successful completion of projects. Table 5 reports the source of influence on successful completion of a project as reported by the project managers surveyed. As expected, â€Å"the decision made by the client† was the strongest influence, with â€Å"responding to the changing client request† second. The third source of influence on the successful completion of a project is the â€Å"desire to excel,† reflecting the strong positive personal motivation of project managers to make every project they lead a success. â€Å"The decision made by the project team† and â€Å"the pressures from inside the project† were the next highest rated sources of influence reflecting the need for the project manager to focus on the leadership of the project team. Equally interesting are the lowest rated sources of influence on the success of aproject. Respondents give little or no credence to â€Å"luck† or â€Å"external politics† as barriers to success. How Critical Is the â€Å"Leadership Factor† to Project Success? Given the many factors that can directly or indirectly influence the success of a project, do projectmanagers believe that there is one overriding factor that contributes to whether a project will be a success or a failure? In fact, the answer is yes. When asked to weigh the percentage of success or failure of a project that can be contributed directly to the pressure of either positive or negative leadership the responses were powerfully revealing (see Table 6). Positive leadership contributes almost 76% to the success of a project. Consider what this response means. Variation in projectsuccess can be contributed to the leadership displayed on the project by 76%. Equally meaningful is the second statistic: negative or poor leadership contributes 67% to the failure of projects. Clearly, firms that fail to train and reinforce the need for project managers to practice positive leadership seem to run an unacceptable risk. In a recent interview with five vice presidents of major engineering consulting firms, a question was posed regarding the number of projects in the past five years that failed due to a lack of technical competence on the part of the project manager or the project team. In what was estimated by them to be more than 1,000 projects, both large and small, the executives could recount only 10 failures due to lack of technical competence. Yet, when you ask most company executives what the most critical criteria for promotion to project manager is, technical competence generally leads the list of responses. Possibly what is absent is the recognition that technical competence must be supported by persons who are capable of managing a project and providing positive leadership to the team. All the evidence of recent research supports the idea that successful projects are led by individuals who possess a blend of technical and management knowledge, but beyond both, leadership skills. Sensitivity to the client’s needs, the composition of the project team, the strategic importance of the project to the firm, and the technical requirements of the project reflect themselves in a continuous stream of communication and personal interactions that serve to reveal the true nature of theproject manager. Project managers were asked to rate 50 characteristics or behaviors that they believed, based on their experience, would have a positive influence on organizational effectiveness in the next decade. Tables 7 and 8 highlight the highest and lowest rated characteristics and behaviors and reveal some very interesting findings. The highest rated characteristics and behaviors build a profile of an individual that most of us would wish to work for. The profile reveals a leader who recognizes that it is absolutely essential to build aproject team, reinforce positive behavior, communicate, demonstrate trust and respect, develop team members and empower them to perform and set goals while remaining flexible to respond to the inevitable changes. Important by their absence from the â€Å"golden dozen† are characteristics and behaviors such as technical expertise, individualistic, effective organizational politician, or detail oriented. The profession has moved beyond the mind-set that the best-qualified individual to promote to the project manager’s position is the best technical person or some flashy politically savvy character with the â€Å"right contacts. † Table 8 reports the characteristics and behaviors that practicing and experienced project managers rated as the 12 least important characteristics for the achievement of organizational effectiveness. Some of these responses were a surprise to the researchers while others were not. Project managers rated â€Å"strategic thinker† very low. This may be explained by the fact that many project managers are totally operations-oriented and become involved only when the job is sold. In terms of preparation for promotion into the firm’s executive ranks this shortcoming could be costly. Yet, this lack of recognition of the need for the practice of strategic thinking may explain the managerial practices of some firms who employ project managers.

Reality Television and the Youth Essay

Reality television has evolved over the past sixty years. They have gone from clean practical jokes to a portrayal of an American family to how to party, lie and deceive. The more the focus is on partying, drugs, sex, vulgarerness, the more our young people will portray these traits. There needs to be more focus on good wholesome clean fun, which keeps the youth safe and healthy. The way to change the way our society is headed is to stop the programing that is hurting all of us. Reality shows of today teaches the youth that it’s alright to disobey their parents, its alright to party, do drugs, have sex with multiple people, get pregnant, and that the guys that don’t have to stay around or take care of the situation they helped put the girl in. The cause and effects of today’s reality shows far outweigh the advantages they have. It’s hard to believe that reality shows have been around for almost sixty years. The very first reality show was produced and aired in 1954, the show is Candid Camera. It was innocent practical jokes on unsuspecting strangers on the streets. The reactions were funny and the jokes were tasteful and clean. The next show is where our reality shows stem from. Its was produced and aired in 1973. An American Family, only had twelve episodes and during this time there were two reasons it became infamous. The two reasons were the demanded divorce from wife Pat and that their son Lance came out and openly announced he was gay, he was the first openly gay person. This is where our reality television stems from. An American Family show really opened up the airways for the nastiness that is called reality television. ttp://usatoday30. usatoday. com/life/columnist/popcandy/2003-01-08-candy. htm Reality television is on just about every channel now days, there is no way to get away from some type of reality show. The main type of reality show is one that is based on nakedness, deceitfulness, and selfishness. These shows teach our young girls that they need to look a certain way, act mean, and do whatever they can to get as many guys as possible. There are so many diets out to keep all women thinking they all need to be skinny like the models or actresses. There are many different types of women, and there is no way we can all be a size 2. Women and girls do not need to be mean to one another; we can all get along and be friends. There is nothing wrong with being with one man. It’s actually healthier to have less sexual partners that to sleep with every man possible. Reality shows teach guys that it’s alright to have sex with as many women as possible to show how masculine they are. They teach guys/men that it’s alright to treat women like a fast food meal, once they are done with them, they can just throw them away. Reality shows do not show how a man should treat a woman with respect, and kindness. Gentlemen are hard to find these days, because the men of the house is either not there or don’t care what his son is doing. It’s nice to see a young man hold the door open for women of all ages. http://healthland. time. com/2011/10/18/what-reality-tv-teaches-teen-girls/ Children are like little dry sponges, the cleaner, good, interesting fun water you put in them that’s the type of person they will be. But if you pump them full of nasty and filthy water that’s the kind of person they will be. I want to have a society of clean, mature, and independent teens with morals and standards. As parents we take care of our children when they are toddlers, but as soon as they are in their adolescents parents start to drift away from the kids, most of the time kids are pushed away and they end up watching whatever they can find. Reality television shows are a biggest part of the way young people act the way they do, but quite a few of the cartoons that are on the airways are just as bad as the reality shows. Here’s want needs to happen, is parents need to change before the children can change. There needs to be more reality shows with morals, standards, and how to have respect for those around us. We need to get away from all this junk that is on the air now. If we had some better shows on the air and show how families should be, our country would be able to turn around. I think there should be a class that teaches respect and morals, instead of sex education, teach the girls to respect themselves and the guys to respect the girls as well as themselves. There would be less and less unwanted teen pregnancies. It would also make for a better home life and easier relationships between parents and kids. These classes should be mandatory for the kids and if parents have any problems with that, than they to need to be able to sit in on a class or two. As mentioned before, this is the type of programing that most of the young people that are still impressionable watch, not to mention the parents. If you are a parent and you have young kids in your home the last thing you should want to do is let them watch these type shows. We have to change something and it needs to start at home. Family’s need to change the way they watch TV, because we need to make the right choices for our kids and give them a good, clean, moral start. If they chose to watch these type shows later in life it was their choice. We need to talk to our kids about true reality and what will happen if they make certain choices. If they chose to have sex then there is a high possibility that they will get pregnant or get someone pregnant. Tell them that there is nothing 100% other than not doing it. Plus it shows that they respect themselves, and if the other person respects them than everything will be as it should be. Our kids have known from the time they were little and they started asking questions we told them the truth that they could understand at that age. Now that they are teens we answer as we would an adult. They have to right to know the truth and the whole truth. We don’t believe you are helping them if you hold stuff back that will help them make the right decisions. If it’s alright to disobey your parents, or to lie, cheat, steal, have big parties, drink and use drugs, have sex and get pregnant, and have guys just want you for what you look like and not what you think, than we don’t need to change anything, but if you don’t believe all of that then we need to change what it is our children and even ourselves watch. The only way we can change all of this is to make changes in our homes first, then in our schools, because if we change these first the media will change afterward, because they will not have the ratings to keep all that junk on the air. I believe if we would change than everything else would change, but we have to start with ourselves and our children. Then work with the school systems. Once we get these areas in control then we can work with what kind of shows we get to watch, but to make it all work we have to be willing to get out of the thinking you have your life and I have mine. That is one reason our country is in the shape it’s in. The more we work close to home the more it will spread for the good of everybody work with the school systems. Once we get these areas in control then we can work with what kind of shows we get to watch, but to make it all work we have to be willing to get out of the thinking you have your life and I have mine. That is one reason our country is in the shape it’s in. The more we work close to home the more it will spread for the good of everybody.

Self Assessment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Self Assessment - Assignment Example There are different tools and mechanisms that have been designed to not only examine a person’s character traits, but also use this information in practical evaluation and classification activities (Archer & Smith, 2008). Commonly referred to as the Big Five personality test, the five-factor of model of personality is an important personality analysis tool. The entire assessment presented in this character analysis tool is founded of five important dimensions forming part of the reason for human behavior. The five dimensions of human behavior comprise of agreeableness, extroversion, openness to experience, emotional stability, and conscientiousness. People vary from each other with regards to their utility of these dimensions undergirding social behavior. The difference in the applicability of these qualities from one person to another is the basis through which this study test classifies people into distinct groups (Groth-Marnat, 2003). According to results from the Big Five test, there are important personal traits I learnt about myself. The test was designed to examine 15 different elements and each of this was important in the general study of my character trait. According to the Big Five test, I scored an eight on extraversion tests and the test gave me 11 on agreeableness related study. I had 13 on the conscientiousness and emotional stability tests. The analysis on openness-to-experience was giving me an overall score of eight. The element of agreeableness is used to assess to what level a person is good-natured, trusting and cooperative. Conscientiousness is used in the study of a person’s responsibility, persistence, and dependability levels. This test also analyzes the nature and level of achievement focus in a person. The test analyzed the element of extraversion through assessing how sociable a person was, how reserved they tend to be, and whether they are a quiet or talkative person. Personally, I am a bit quiet and reserved. I

Persuasive writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Persuasive writing - Essay Example This would give the victim the right to live a life of dignity and the freedom (End the total abortion ban in Nicaragua, 2010; Feldman, 1998). Rape leaves a lasting impact on the mind of women due to the agonizing physical and mental turmoil that she undergoes during the event. She requires a strong support and the right counseling to help her come out of the situation. Apart from the counseling it is extremely essential to check the women medically for veneral disease and pregnancy. If there is no conception the women should be given suitable medication to prevent fertilization. However, in case of a pregnancy the women should be given a moral right to decide whether she wishes to continue the pregnancy. Experts have suggested many reasons for supporting this right such as rape is a violation of the women’s right and dignity, it is enforced on the women and not conjugal, and the women cannot be held responsible for the act. Despite the overall consensus that it is morally incorrect to kill innocent people and that a fetus is innocent which has not committed any crime, many people believe that abortion is completely a private matter which should be left to the discretion of the mother. In cases of pregnancy due to rape this right of the mother is further justified. This is because women of all ages could be subjected to rape. In most of the cases, young girls are targeted and when they become pregnant later on it is almost impossible for them to bear and support the child at that young age (De Bruyn, 2002). In addition there are several health related complications associated with pregnancy at such a young age both for the mother and the child. The child could be born with a low-weight and the mother could suffer from various complications during the delivery. In addition to the turmoil due to the rape, carrying the child of a man who committed the brutal crime

Motorsports about formala 1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Motorsports about formala 1 - Research Paper Example The type of racing is popular in the UK and neighboring countries within the region. What makes the racing interesting to majority of the citizens there are the types of cars presented to compete in different races conducted at different times of the calendar (Mastromarco & Runkel, (n.d.). In fact, speed with which these cars are driven has captured citizens attention because the racing involves highly trained drivers and teams who unlike other ordinary individuals, are able to control the racing cars at speeds which is difficult for common drivers to achieve. Moreover, almost three quarter of formula one racing events are always conducted in the Europe further giving it popularity in the region of the world than in any other regions where motor racing is conducted. The history of formula one racing is traced back to a century back in 1946 when racing of motor cars was first introduced as an idea. Form then to date, formula one has greatly evolved motor racing as sport receiving similar audience as those in football or other related sports. The idea raced in 1946 was matured in1950 when the first motor racing was conducted. After this, several motor racing events were conducted in different parts of the globe and with each New Year, changes were adopted on the nature of motor racing. The effects are seen today as motor racing has become a highly commercialized sport and through it individuals are earning bucks hence turning it as their main source of livelihood. However, in the 50s in spite of motor racing being held at different parts of the globe, very little if no concentration was given towards the sports as it was not commercialized and individuals taking part in the racing activities had little to benefit from the races which were conduct ed. In 1993, motor sport racing was ending toward decline because majority of the individuals who were participating in the race s had diverted their attention to other sports or activities which could

D2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

D2 - Assignment Example These parents are mostly aggressive while treating their children and instead of being obedient, they prefer using punishment to discipline their child. These parents become very aggressive if their children take a stand against them and punish their children for questioning their authority. Another form of parenting style researched by Baumrind is authoritative parenting style, parents following this style expect their children to be mature and act maturely at all times, these parents are high in emotional intelligence and can guide their children so they can easily control their emotions. These parents contribute a lot to their children’s upbringing and help them develop problem solving skills, these parents allow their children to gain independency but they even prefer certain amount of restrictions and limitations. These parents appreciate two way communications and are ready to answer all the questions of their children and hold a very warm and affectionate attitude towards their

Poverty and Welfare in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Poverty and Welfare in America - Essay Example She says that many a times they miss food and it at tall they have something to eat; they skip the meals to accommodate the family income. Tyler 12, her brother says that they do not get balanced diet. They often take cereals without milk. They is a case that is only possible in a situation where there is no sufficient family income to support proper nutrition in the family. Children sometimes are forced to do odd jobs to supplement on the little family income (Becker, 187). Kaylier and Tyler’s mother struggle and most of her earnings cannot even pay for their monthly expenses. Their mother, Barbara earns $ 1,480 a month. Out of this amount, $ 1,326 goes to the rent and their monthly utilities leaving them with an amount that can barely take care of their meals even for one week. Kaylie therefore sees the struggle and the toil of his mother. He therefore opt to collect cans for a price to supplement on their income to at least sustain them. Kaylie miss school so much because o f the condition and the situation their family is in. he does not get enough time to concentrate in school. Worst of it, he does not even go to school regularly due to their family financial strain. The poor state of families springs fear in children because when they cannot pay their bills, it bothers them because they can become homeless and continue in the worsened state of starvation. Brittany, a 9-year-old girl reflects and remembers prettily well how her father lost his job. This condition set the beginning of their problems. They started hoping from relatives to relatives who could not cordially accommodate them due to their equal financial constrains. The tragedy that befell their father saw them into loosing most of their property. Rodgers, Brittany’s brother reflects regretfully how they were feeling good. They could pay their bills and afford their meals: the course meals a day, to a position where they are left homeless with nothing to eat and nowhere to stay. In poor kids, it come to the knowledge of the family that Brittany’s mother was expectant and she goes into a wonder how they would manage to care for the infant when they could not even manage their bill (Becker, 139). This is a situation, which their mother responds to with, the assuredly of survival: adapting to survive in the midst of difficulty without hope of a better life. The prevailing situation in America according to the movie warrants the government to expand its programs of helping the needy and its poor citizens. It bits logics when citizens are going hungry in the same state with a government of the people and for the people. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that its citizens get sufficient food. According to the documentary, children are unable to go to school because of the financial constrain of the family. By expanding the welfare that helps the needy, because by investing into the education of children, the nation promotes its future. The government invests into its future asset just by educating the children a government that does not invest in the well being of everybody risks the future prosperity. According to the views of Yuval and Irwin, the welfare state has grown obsolete. The government cannot effectively take care of its people. This is because the economy of the country is strained to an extent that the government of the day cannot meet its expenses. Every citizen depends on the taxes that are paid to the government. This overdependence makes the government to

Devolution - British Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Devolution - British Government - Essay Example Devolution is operated in United Kingdom in the very same manner i.e. the power and decision making authorities of its Parliament are transferred to the three main states of Scottish parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly. This came into being after a series of issues that started arising in early 1970s in the United Kingdom (Britannica n.d.). The people of Scotland and Wales demanded a separate parliament to run their states and policies. Therefore, a referendum was held by the Labour Party government and parties of Scotland and Wales i.e. Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, respectively (Britannica n.d.). Initially, this referendum was rejected but during 1980s and 1990s its need was aroused once more. And finally, the Labour government of Tony Blair proposed a devolution scheme in 1998 which offered the following authorities to both Scotland and Wales: A Scottish Parliament that will have hold on setting its own rules and policies and ta xation rates (Britannica n.d.). ... (HM Government 2013). was approved by both and hence both Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly came into being in 1999. Moreover, Northern Ireland Parliament was also implemented later on. In this way, the present states of Scotland, Wales and rest of United Kingdom shows granting of real â€Å"say over their own affairs† after this devolution (BBC 1998). This enables them to run their local affairs more effectively within strong Britain government. The effect of devolution on Scotland and rest of United Kingdom can be well explained by examining its consequences and relation of Scotland and United Kingdom after the devolution act. The devolution assigns certain reserved provisions which can only be administered by UK government. They are â€Å"U.K. Constitution, foreign policy, national security, fiscal policy, international trade policy, nuclear safety, social security, employment policy and health policy (Young 2001)†. Similarly, it assigns several devolved provisi ons which can only be administered by Scottish Parliament. They are â€Å"education, local government, housing, tourism, civil and criminal law, emergency services, economic development, agriculture, and sports (Young 2001)†. According to HM Government (n.d.), the state of United Kingdom provides devolution in such a way that the Scottish parliament is authorized to take charge and control its policy, health and educational needs. It grants full freedom to Scotland to devolve their policies reflecting their preferences (Devolution n.d.). In addition to this, devolution also provides mutual decision making in which Scottish Parliament and UK government makes decision by full collaboration. This results in better welfare of the people and society. It helps in providing

Dramatic devices and events used by Miller Essay Example for Free

Dramatic devices and events used by Miller Essay Youre the Devils man! When Mary finally buckles under the weight of Abigails power over her and her intelligent reaction to the situation- the accusation against Mary of witching her, she blames Proctor of witchcraft, thus condemning the whole of Salem to madness, and taking away the lives of Proctor and many other innocents. This event marks the end of any possibility of sanity in Salem, and is ruinous for the once peaceful town. The other accusation in this act is the blame placed on Abigail by Proctor that Abigail is a whore. Even though it would seem the most far-fetched and outrageous claim made in this act, it is the only truthful one. The courts justice fails to grasp this concept though, so the lies win the struggle once again. Act 3 holds the best chance Salem has had of being released from the hysteria and madness that has accumulated and multiplied, feeding upon the accusations and lies that have been propagated, but this glimmer of hope is extinguished, and the truth is once again suppressed and shunned. The truth of the girls fraud is suppressed. From the very beginning, when Proctor first speaks out against the court, Danforths questioning techniques attempt to intimidate Proctor, thus trying to suppress the truth, because his dialogue is imposing, inflexible and intimidating, thus preventing the one person who holds the key to the release of Salem, the one person who knows and can tell the truth, from doing so. If I must answer that, I will leave and not come back again. The other character key to suppressing the truth is Abigail, because she is harnessing the power of the witch trials to eliminate Elizabeth, to clear the path to her lust for Proctor, she also has an intimidating dialogue, because hers is indignant, and at times, even threatening, cleverly making out that she is innocent. She acts the part of a girl who is shocked and indignant at the charge against her, making the charge seem entirely false, when in reality it is completely accurate. She pretends to be indignant at the questions, to avoid answering the questions that Danforth poses to her, and even threatens to leave the court, showing her growing power over the adults in Salem. She also keeps looking at Mary, and uses the apparitions of the yellow bird and the icy wind, to force Mary back to her side, once again suppressing the truth from one character that could be the end of the lies. She chatters her teeth and shakes, to make the apparitions seem even more realistic. There are also events in Act 3 that also show the suppression of the truth, such as Danforth and Hathorne questioning Proctor to try to suppress the truth. In order to try to dispose of the threat that Proctor begins to pose in Act 3, Danforth and Hathorne exercise their power to invade his privacy. Even though Proctor has not yet been formally accused of witchcraft, Danforth and Hathorne, like Hale earlier, question him about his Christian morals as though he were already on trial. They hope to find in his character even the slightest deviation from Christian doctrine because they would then be able to cast him as an enemy of religion. Once thus labelled, Proctor would have virtually no chance of anyone in God-fearing Salem intervening on his behalf, therefore suppressing the truth. The court created for the witch trials was commonly believed by the villagers to be created by God. Therefore the upholding of this court becomes essential to the maintenance of social order in Salem. There is a big decision to be made by the judges in this act- to maintain social order and suppress individuals freedom, or to submit to the truth, thus condemning Salem to chaos and their reputation to breakdown. Some dramatic devices in this act are used to emphasise the issue of the decision between maintenance of social order or the truth. When Judge Danforth enters, the rest of the characters including Cheever and Parris trail him. This positioning of characters emphasises the authority that Danforth possesses. On his appearance, silence falls, again showing his power and authority as high judge of the court. He has the power to suppress the truth or to give justice, to take away the lives of innocents, or to heal Salem of the wounds it has suffered. Let you consider it then. When Hale says this sentence, the room falls silent as Proctor hands Danforth the warrant. This is a dramatic climax, when Danforth is considering Proctors evidence. This is a fulcrum, where the verdict could go either way-where social order could be maintained, or Proctors individual freedom could be granted. The silence is broken only by Marys sob, showing the importance of this moment. I have evidence for the court! we have proof for your eyes The desperate attempt by Giles, Proctor and Francis to save their respective wives exposes the extent to which the trials have become about specific individuals and institutions struggling to maintain power and authority-social order versus individual freedom. Danforth and Hathorne do not want to admit publicly that they were deceived by a group of girls, while Parris does not want the trials to end as a fraud because the scandal of having a lying daughter and niece would end his career in Salem. Because of this, Danforth react to Proctors claims by accusing him of trying to undermine the court, which, in theocratic Salem, is tantamount to undermining God himself. The issue that youre ones name is important to one, and that some are willing to die for it. There are many contextual links and quotes, from plays, books and even the bible, stating that name is important to a man. Good name in man and women, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls; who steals my purse steals trash; tis his, and has been slave to thousands; but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed This quote form the play Othello by Shakespeare shows that a name is important to a man, more important than his money or possessions. I quit this court! The stage direction of Hale slamming the door after quitting the court from which he was part of, ruins his good name and relinquishes the power he held, because he realises the injustice and lies that are holding the court up. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name shall liveth for evermore. This quote from the bible, of St Matthew, Chapter 44, verse 9 says that if someone is dead, but has not left a name behind them, it means that they have not sinned and their name shall live on forever. Giles acted upon the same principle in this act-I cannot give you his name. Giles refuses to name someone else just so he can keep his own life, and dies for the cause. Proctor in this act also does not defile his name, because he does not confess to witchcraft when prompted, so is thrown in jail with a death sentence. He instead speaks the truth-that Salem has pulled down heaven and raised up a whore. In conclusion, in Act 3 of the crucible, Miller uses dramatic devices and events to highlight the key issues of the play, and, indeed, of the time, highlighting the problems and issues with Puritanism and the way of life in those days, and highlights the paranoia and hysteria that flourished in Salem at the time. He realises the irony of the trials, that they were supposed to be Gods will, but people were in fact using religion to their own ends. By Luke Worley (9T) 2915 words. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Corporate Strategy of Fedex Corporation

Corporate Strategy of Fedex Corporation Executive Summary This analysis of the corporate strategy of FedEx Corporation relates to three specific issues in the corporate strategy case. The first issue is a critical analysis of the global express transportation and logistics industry. The second issue discusses about the mergers and acquisitions in transportation and logistics industry. The final issue is a critical review of the performance of FedEx in the events leading to the January 2000 reorganisation. In the first section, the global express transportation and logistics industry is an attractive sector based on the fundamentals of the sector given in the five forces analysis using Porters framework. There are large barriers to entry, there are minimal substitutes that exist, industry is relatively disciplined, and the power of buyers and suppliers are mixed. FedEx is well placed in the sector given its core competencies and dynamic capabilities relating to its management and the functional areas of marketing, human resources and information technology and systems. In the second section, gives a brief knowledge about the benefits and limitations of merger and acquisition strategies in this industry. This also describes how effective was the 1998 Caliber System acquisition and where did it led the company do in its further years. In the final section, it is noted that FedEx performed poorly within its sector and given its capabilities, the firm was expected to have been more proactive in moving past its poor performance. Nevertheless, the firm had to wait until after several quarters of poor performance and only after the competitors have taken advantage of the development in the Internet market did FedEx make changes to its business. Post the changes, FedEx did well in utilising its core competencies that were identified in the first section, and leveraging these competencies to its advantage. CHAPTER-1: Analysis Of Global Express Transportation And Logistics Industry Introduction To Transportation And Logistics Industry. Global Transportation Logistics Industry comprises a wide range of service providers, covering all modes of transport air, road, rail, sea as well as related services such as warehousing, handling, stevedoring, and finally value added services like packaging, labelling, assembling etc. In addition to these physical services, TL involves all sorts of planning, organising and managing services in the area of transportation and logistics. Over the past years, we have seen a trend to diversification (growth strategies mergers acquisitions), which results in larger integrated groups operating in more than one of the TL sub-sectors. As a result, it becomes very unclear to understand the limits between the different TL sub-sectors. (http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/transportation-logistics/index.jhtml) About FedEx FedEx corporation offers transportation, e-commerce and business services through its network of subsidiaries, divided into four business segments. The FedEx express segment includes Federal Express Corp., a leading global express transportation company offering time-certain delivery within one or three business days; and FedEx Trade Networks Inc., a provider of customer brokerage, global cargo distribution and Global Trade Data and Global Trade Tools software products. The FedEx ground segment includes FedEx Ground Package System Inc., which provides small package ground delivery to nearly 100% ofU.S.residences. The FedEx Freight segment includes FedEx Freight Corp., a US provider of next day, second day and interregional less than truckload (LTL) freight services; FedEx Custom Critical Inc., the worlds largest provider of expedited time critical shipments; and Caribbean Transportation Services Inc., a provider of airfreight forwarding services between the US and Puerto Rico. The last segment is FedEx Kinkos, consisting of FedEx Kinkos Office and printing services Inc., which provides copying and printing services, signs and graphics, videoconferencing, high speed wireless and wired Internet access and computer usage, as well as retail access to all FedEx ground and global express shipping services. (Jack W. Plunkett 2007) Porters Value Chain Analysis This section assesses the global express transportation and logistics industry through the value chain analysis of Porter. The review is done across the primary and support activities for the value chain with the details presented in the following table: Primary Activities Comments Inbound logistics Increased presence in various markets to expand footprint and capture market share by players (Lai et al, 2008) Operations Increased cost in operations due to rising fuel prices; margins of industry players hit (Wadewitz, Johnson Weinz, 2008) Outbound logistics Important activity as link to customers Distribution centres being set up by the largest players in the sector in new markets such as China (Lai et al, 2008) Marketing and sales Increased importance in current market with pressure on margins though players have generally kept pricing discipline Service Service to customer could potentially change with new pressures and competitive dynamics; current focus on service but business models on customer service delivery could change (Greene Longson, 2008). Support Activities Comments Firm infrastructure Entrepreneurial culture typically Management of firms could be forced into action with potential consolidation in the sector driven by pressures in decreased business and margins; could lead to synergies and value (Fitchie, 2008) HR management Human resources continues to play an important role as talent influences the activities across the value chain Technology development Technological capabilities continue to be critical factoring the sector and a requirement to be a player (Greene Doshi, 2007) Procurement Important lever for sector given large capital outlay required for building or replacing fleet Some are pursuing this activity despite sector pressure as business has decreased; FedEx recently reported to have bought some aircraft from Rolls-Royce (Armitage, Fornaro Crispin, 2008) www.umbrellacloud.com/business-model/value-chain We note from the analysis above and the supporting arguments in articles, the key factors impacting the value chain are the following: Integration of the firms activities across primary and support activities Though each of the activities above have their influence on the sector and its development, the important underlying factor is the integration of the primary and support activities in order to drive the efficiency of the firms in the sector, and ensure the delivery of the customer service required by clients. Use of technology to drive integration and also efficiencies across the value chain Aside from the integration of the activities, a key driving force as well is the use of technology to both drives the integration and also pushes the efficiencies across the value chain as this impacts the pricing of services and delivery of customer requirements. Strong management to drive actions and initiatives across the chain Finally, strong management is needed in order to identify the opportunities and be able to push for the implementation of these initiatives, particularly in technology and in integration. The current industry pressures from higher fuel prices are changing the dynamics of the sector. Supply Chain Management Supply Chain analysis involves working across multiple enterprises or companies (Inter-enterprise) to shorten the supply chain time in the delivery of goods and services to the consumer or customer. Demand uncertainty in supply chains can be addresses by faster response times. A basic product supply chain can afford longer lead times and batch manufacturing of large lot sizes to meet the demand. A supply chain that produces fashion or mass customization products must respond quickly and be more agile. Most supply chains are moving in the direction to support a more rapid changing of demand by the consumer or customer. Good transportation and logistics companies also natures in reducing total costs through supply chain management excellence. Supply chain management means managing the business process from the initial supplier to the ultimate customer focusing on speed and flexibility, resulting in the lowest total cost and highest customer satisfaction-from suppliers supplier to customers customer-with supply decisions based on total life cycle costs. In this Context, FedEx identifies five principal attributes of supply chain management: Strategy Creating an effective supply chain management organization and supporting fact-based strategies and plans. Resources Developing and deploying human resources and information systems necessary to maximize performance. Nothing happens without top-notch, highly-skilled professionals using effective technical tools. Processes Creating strategic plans based upon total cost management and in sourcing/outsourcing analysis and applying a systematic approach to better utilizing the supply base. Optimization Aligning the supply base with our supply chain goals and continually seeking to improve the supply chain methods and composition. Globalization Viewing supply opportunities on a global basis. (www.fedex.com) FedEx Core Competencies And Dynamic Capabilities The analysis above of the global express transportation and logistics industry provides an indication of the requirements needed in order to be successful in the sector. This sub-section presents the core competencies and dynamic capabilities of FedEx and will present the link with the sectors requirements for success. The core competencies and dynamic capabilities of FedEx are the following: 2. Human resources: empowering employees One of the core competencies of FedEx is the empowerment of employees which has led to entrepreneurial behaviour among the employees (Schindehutte, Morris Kocak, 2008). This empowerment is the reason that FedEx is able to adapt quickly to market changes and keep abreast of the development in the global express transportation and logistics sector and ahead of competition. 3. Marketing: delivering customer value FedEx is known for their innovativeness in delivering value to their customers. It is partly the point above on employee empowerment which drives this. However, it is also largely the strength of their marketing organisation in being able to identify the value that customers require and their ability to deliver this through convenience and minimised relational costs (Smith Colgate, 2007). 4. Information systems and technology: providing accurate 24/7 information FedEx has invested significantly in its information and technology systems in order to provide customers with information to track the services being provided by FedEx. The firm realised early on in their business history, and well ahead of the other firms in their sector, the importance of information (e.g. package tracking, drop-off location finder) and the power this brings to meeting customers needs (Bhattacharya, 2006). 5. Management: continuing learning and application to operation This core competence of FedEx is driven by their CEO and Founder Fred Smith who stated that the success of FedEx is based on â€Å"continual learning and education and the discipline to apply those lessons to your operation† (Sarros, Cooper Santora, 2007). FedExs actions have been based on a continual understanding of their market situation and the implementation of initiatives to meet the requirements of the evolving sector such as technological demands and customer service level requirements. Strategic Vision And Infrastructure Within FedEx Corporation (a) FedEx Strategic Vision And Visionary Leadership. Frederick W Smith, the Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation was presented the â€Å"Peter F. Drucker Strategic Leadership Award† for the year 1997. The award, established in 1995, was in recognition of an individuals innovative and result-oriented leadership. With the help of his team he executed a vision with consistency and focus. Analysts credit Smiths leadership as the reason for the transformation of FedEx, from a once loss making company, to a global logistics industry leader with revenues of â€Å"$22.5 billion.† Under his leadership, FedEx management has developed rigorous processes with extremely low defect rates; employees are empowered through information, technology and thorough training. Information technology has transformed the company into a cyberspace leader as well as a logistics trailblazer. Smith was one of the few business leaders who first anticipated the application of Internet in business operations, resulting into the launch of the website www.fedex.com in 1994, enabling customers to do business online. FedEx had been established as a technologically driven company. Smith stipulated three goals, which he believed would form the critical success factors of FedExs business in future speed, reliability and customer service. In order to achieve these goals, Smith invested heavily on IT. Smith strongly believed that for an express industry, it was necessary to use IT to provide customers with real-time information about the movement of their documents/packages. Visionary Leadership FedEx Supply Chain Services will be an acknowledged world leader in global integrated logistics management, supply chain solutions and time-definite delivery. Our motivated associates will forge mutually profitable partnerships with our customers using world-class technology and business practices. Smith also believed that in a service oriented organization like FedEx, it was very important to have highly committed employees, failing which; it was not possible to deliver the kind of service that the customers expected. FedExs employees were made to believe that they were not merely performing their duties but were solving the transportation problems of the customers. It is clear from these analyses that FedEx Corporation had been very competent in technology and human resources which resulted in its great success. FedExs corporate strategic vision is based on three principles; operating independently: by focusing on independent networks to meet distinct customer needs; compete collectively: by standing as one brand worldwide and speaking with one voice Manage collaboratively: by working together to sustain loyal relationships with their workforce, investors, and customers. http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Leadership%20and%20Entrepreneurship/LDEN023.htm (b) FedEx Transportation And Logistics Infrastructure FedEx Corporation (â€Å"FedEx†) provides a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services through companies competing collectively, operating independently and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. These operating companies are primarily represented by Federal Express Corporation (â€Å"FedEx Express†), the worlds largest express transportation company; FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (â€Å"FedEx Ground†), a leading provider of small-package ground delivery services and FedEx Freight Corporation, a leading U.S. provider of less-than-truckload (â€Å"LTL†) freight services (FedEx Annual report 2007). Overall, FedEx hasover 280,000 employees worldwide,operates approximately 50,000 drop off locations and managed over 10 million square feet of warehouse space worldwide. They have 670 aircrafts, and 75,000 vehicles and trailers, handling around 6.5million daily shipments to more than 220 countries and territories. (Jack W. Plunkett 2007). FedEx Corporation introduced express delivery to the world in 1973, and remains the worlds largest express transportation company and it is the worlds largest overnight package carrier with about 30 percent market share. Taking into considerations the key elements from the above analysis and FedExs core competencies it can be figured out that FedEx primary activities are Marketing and Sales, checking orders, financial analysis and receiving payment, packaging, shipping products, logistics, handling and storing of products to be shipped, handling orders, delivery of the products, and finally Service to ensure customer satisfaction. But, the key elements which support these activities are: Procurement (purchasing, trucks, planes, gas and other assets). Research and Development (RD) activity which include technology development, investments in systems innovation, and information technology (IT) development. Human Resource Management that includes hiring, training, developing and compensating employees from the truck drivers to the top management. Firm infrastructure which includes general management, planning, accounting, legal support, government regulations, and other general requirement to support the value chain. (c) FedEx Virtual Information Infrastructure Information Technology is the backbone of the FedEx Corporation which is immensely responsible for its success and its competitive advantage over its rivals. FedExs consistent effort in the development of information technology and system innovations has always been its prime concern which created the direct interconnection between its customers and services. FedExs Virtual Information System emerged as a revolution in this context which closed the gaps between the consumer and seller. In 1979, a centralised computer system Customer, Operation, Master Online System kept track of all packages handled by the company. This computer system relayed data on package movement, pickup, invoicing and delivery to a central database. In 1984, FedEx started to launch a series of technological systems. The Power-Ship program, aimed at improving efficiency and control, which provided the most active customers (around 850,000) with the proprietary online services. But, the most significant development in this field came between the years 1994-99 which started giving the shape to the virtual information infrastructure. They were first to offer online package status tracking through FedEx website so that customers can actually conduct business via internet. In 1995, a Windows-based shipping and tracking software allowed around 650,000 users to process and manage their shipment from their desktops. FedEx Virtual-Order Software in 1996 linked internet ordering with the delivery and o nline tracking. In 1997, FedEx introduced e- Business tools for easier connection with shipping tracking applications. FedEx decided to overhaul its internal I.T. infrastructure under the Project GRID (Global Resources for Information Distribution). The project involved replacing 60,000 terminals and some PCs with over 75,000 network systems. Also, in 1999 FedEx signed an agreement with Netscape to adopt Netscape software as the primary technology for accessing its corporate intranet sites. FedExs intranet included more than 60 Websites, created for its end users and some cases by its end users. At this point of time FedEx was the largest online client server network in the world that operated in real time. The benefits of these services were not limited to FedExs customers. Its online services, which in 1999 handled 60 million transactions per day, saved FedEx cost of 200,000 customer service employees. In turn, the Company reported spending 10 percent of its 17 billion U.S. dollar s annual revenue on I.T. in 1999. Information had allowed FedEx to lower its costs such that the cost to customers of using FedEx in 1999 was lower than it was 25 years ago. FedEx Virtual Order Process http://www.ite.poly.edu/people/brao/fedex_case.htm CHAPTER-2: Mergers Acquisitions In Transportation And Logistics Industry. Benefits And Limitations Of Merger And Acquisition Strategy. Merger and Acquisition is basically a mechanism by which an organization grows. It is a kind of external growth strategy which involves using the businesss money to invest in other businesses, whereas the internal growth occurs by investing profits in the same business. A merger occurs when two separate companies agree, usually by mutual consent, to come together. On the other hand, acquisition is a takeover which involves purchasing a shareholding of over 50%, and then this company can control and impose its will upon this. Merger and acquisition are growth strategies are beneficial for transportation and logistics industry, as in all the other industries if two companies decide to join hands after a detailed research and surveys. (book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦book†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.book) Benefits Of Merger And Acquisition: Mergers and acquisitions usually succeed in building cost efficiency through the implementation of economies of scale. Basically, a new economically stable firm emerges, through the union of two parent firms with an increased scale of operations. As a result, there are chances that the cost per unit will come down with rise in output production. In context of TL industry the company will get a bigger infrastructure and they may get easy access to the areas which were to difficult to reach. This in turn will increase their logistics offerings and their efficiency with reduced cost, which was not possible if they would have thought of increasing the branches on their own. This process also often leads to an increased value generation for the company. It is expected that the shareholder value of the newly established firm would be greater than the sum of the shareholder values of the parent companies which is applicable in TL industry as well. One of the benefits of mergers and acquisitions is increase in market share. When a financially stable company acquires a contrastingly distressed one, the newly found organization experiences a substantial increase in market share. The new firm is usually more cost-efficient and competitive when compared to its financially weak parent organization. Limitations Of Merger And Acquisition: I. If due to mergers and acquisitions, a company has considerably a big market share then there could be less competition complacency amongst firmscan lead to lower quality of services and less investment in new products and services. II. Due to merger or acquisition, if a company expands too much then it could also lead to diseconomy of scale. In this condition, it will lead the firm to produce products and services at increased per unit costs. III. Mergers and acquisitions can lead to loss of jobs. IV. Mergers could be a factor of de-motivation for staff, for example, managers would prefer to work for big company where they get higher salaries and more prestige. V. There could be failure to secure good will of a wide range of stakeholder groups in both companies. VI. Potential conflict between individual and corporate objectives is not given sufficient recognition and isnt managed. VII. Reputation can also be damaged during the merger process. Acquisition Of Caliber Systems In 1998 By FedEx Corporation In the year 1998, FedEx took a big leap in context to its diversification by acquiring Caliber System Inc. As a result of this, five subsidiary companies were formed: Federal Express, RPS, Roberts Express, Viking Freight and FDX Logistics. Apart from Federal Express, all the other four were the part of Caliber System and all were managed independently. The logistics operations of both FedEx and Caliber were different as differed in customer bases and service offerings. Caliber was expertise in providing an elaborate logistics operation focusing mainly on high priced goods industries such as moving raw materials, managing work-in-progress, manufacturing of cars and fork-lift trucks etc. Federal Logistics and Electronic Commerce (FLEC) before the acquisition was not able to provide complete supply chain solution because they just focused on finished goods and reverse logistics. But, the acquisition led FLEC to put there hands into areas like warehousing and transportation apart from th e basic logistics functions. Later, Caliber became apart of FDX Logistics and FLEC continued as a division under Federal Express. The burden which this acquisition brought along with it to the company was that, the company has to loose its image of just being an express delivery company. The challenge was that all the critics including the customer related the FedEx brand just with transportation. One solution to this challenge was the renaming of the company. In this context, the acquisition gave the name to the holding company as ‘FDX Corporation but they did very less to promote the name. Therefore, the transportation subsidiary FedEx Express still lived on as a brand image and the corporate name was still under cover. Unlike other companies such as UPS which ran only under one name for all its services, FedEx was trying to promote all its subsidiary companies with completely unrelated names under FDX logo. The key agenda here was that, the two separate logistics businesses within the group with separate sales and customer service staff created confusion within customers and resources were duplicated. The big thing was despite having such confusion the branches continued to operate and offer solutions at all level of supply chain. In this scenario, the autonomy of all subsidiary companies where maintained but the challenge was to bring the companies closer to create the synergy. These companies were operating with separate accounting systems and customer service staff, so they made a vision to â€Å"progress individually but compete collectively.† Therefore, we can figure out that this acquisition was not a complete success as all the subsidiary companies sustained but the ultimate goal for the corporation was to provide customers with a single point of access to the whole Group. In later years, this became the main reason for the companys structural transformation through advancement in information technology within the company. CHAPTER-3: Events Leading Up To January 2000 Reorganization This section provides an analysis of the events leading to the January 200 reorganisation of FedEx. The first sub-section reviews the performance of FedEx and the developments in the Internet market while the second sub-section touches on the impact of the major strategic initiatives undertaken. The final sub-section provides a quick summary of the analysis. FedEx Performance And Internet Market Developments The January 2000 reorganisation was largely driven by the poor performance of FedEx in the preceding periods. While performance remained strong and positive up to 1999 with record earnings, this proved to be the start of a downtrend in performance. The next several quarters saw FedExs performance experience considerable in income and profit. This was partly influenced by the rising fuel prices but the failure of the company to react and still be reasonably profitable in a backdrop of rising fuel prices led management to believe that change was needed. The performance of FedEx was sub-par and deserved poor reviews. The lower financial performance aside, FedExs performance was inadequate for the following reasons: Un-reactive and inflexible It took several quarters of poor performance for FedEx management to take action. FedEx could have been more aggressive in its actions and realised immediately after the first quarter of poor profit performance that the industry was changing and that FedEx needed to make a move. At the very least, FedEx could have made moves that would have impacted other players as well and severely harm the poorer capitalised firms (e.g. start a price war) Did not utilise advantages in sector Partly related to the first point, FedEx did not push to make any impact on the sector. FedEx could have utilised its network, for example, and worked with its suppliers and even buyers to ensure that the firm still maintained good profitability in the period of high fuel prices. In addition to the poor performance of FedEx in the preceding several quarters, the development of the Internet market and the actions of competitors forced FedEx to review its business strategy and determine the steps necessary in order to bring the firm back to profitability and successful operations. In this respect, the actions of FedEx were unacceptable as well for a couple of reasons: Failure to realise technological changes For a firm that was known to be reliant on technology as well as at the forefront of technological advancements, the actions of FedEx were unacceptable as they showed poor pro-activity and understanding of the changes happening in the sector. Reactionary moves to technological innovation Not only did FedEx not realise technological changes that would impact the sector, FedEx had to wait for other firms to take the first move in tapping the new technology. This thus made the situation worse as it placed FedEx in a position that was far behind other competitors in terms of the use and development of technology. Motivation for Strategic Initiatives FedEx had three strategic initiatives following the reorganisation in January 2000. For these actions, FedEx could be lauded as these addressed the concerns that FedEx faced following the several period of poor performance and the developments in the Internet market. The strategic initiatives and the rationale for pursuing each are as follow: A new branding strategy that involved changing the Companys name to FedEx Corporation, and extending the ‘FedEx brand to four of its five subsidiary companies This is an excellent move for a couple of reasons: (1) integrates the firm and leverages the successes of the various divisions, (2) taps the brand that clients are familiar with. This would allow FedEx to leverage its advantages in the sector as seen in the five forces analysis. Although relatively belatedly, FedEx did realise the importance of integrating their businesses and maximising their position in the sector. The need for one point of access to sales, customer services, and billing and automation systems This again touches on the integration point although at a different aspect. With an integrated business across its key activities, FedEx could provide clients with easy access and reliable services, factors that are important for the FedEx clients. Also, this action gives FedEx the technological push that it needed in order to bring its technology up to par with competitors, and position the firm for possible advancements at a later time. FedEx Home Delivery, a new, economical residential delivery service- This last action by FedEx touched on several important factors related to the success of firms in the global express transportation and logistics industry: (1) innovation in products and services, (2) leverage of strengths of related businesses, and (3) exp

Chinas One Party System Analysis

Chinas One Party System Analysis Zhiting Liu One-party system and multi-party system, how about China? As people know, most of the countries in the world they implement the multi-party system, like in U.S.A, UK and Germany. However, some of the countries use the one-party system to manage the government, like in China, North Korea and Cuba. So, what’s the different with one-party system and multi-party system and which one is the best one in the world? There are many question of the people, and people always argument with it. In my opinion, the United States is a dictatorship, but was a â€Å"clever dictatorship†, China have its own feature model of one-party system and people need for an effective monitoring system. So, what is the one-party system? And what is the multi-party system? One-party system is a type of state in which a single political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties are either outlawed or allowed to take only a limited and controlled participation in elections (Wiki, 2014). And a multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coalition (Wiki, 2012). When people talk the party system, they always talk the one-party system is dictatorship and multi-party system is democratic. In fact, multi-party system can have authoritarian and one-party system also can have democracy. And if talks about the dictatorship and democratic, we need to explain it first. The most primitive dictatorship is in the ancient China of Qin dynasty, the emperors said Shi Wu Ju Xi Jie Jue Yu Shang(Sima Qian, shih chi), these Chinese characters mean all the events need decided by the emperor. However as history goes, the connotation of dictatorship was shifted, in nowadays it is: A few people with their own will to governing the behavior of most people. Indeed, the countries such as the United States also have this. This will be talked about later. And the democracy, it is divided into great democracy and small democracy, great democracy is a kind of denial of governmental authority, the people were completely manage the country. In fact, the Chinese Cultural Revolution is an extreme great democracy. And the cost of great democracy is Chaos. Small democracy is a behavior which part of the people in a small range to management themselves. Small democracy is scientific and feasible, because the wisdom of ordinary people is limited, for their side of things, the management is reasonable and capable, but for high-level national policy it could not, even if they are given a great democracy with limited management power, they can easily be swayed by some political forces, thus becoming a puppet dictatorship under the guise of democracy. At first, how multi-party dictatorship. For example, in the United States, the United States is a two-party country. The two parties in the political philosophy of the left (Democrat) and the right (Republicans), but the two parties are deeply influenced by American consortium. The United States is the kingdom of money first, money can control the politic and it is legitimate. When in every general election, the major consortia will selected a good team, and be the financial assistant of their contestants†, they establishment of various campaign funds, go canvassing the people and make momentum to get votes. Theres only one US president is not receiving any money support and got success in the history of the United States presidential election, that is Lincoln. When the contestants successful campaign to become US president candidate, he is bound to reciprocate the consortium which support him. Certainly, his returns are not increased tax and other fees then repay to them, but the bias of the policy. For example, in some way George W. Bush launched the Iraq war was a feedback to the US arms group. This is the issue of administrative aspects. In the legislation part, although the Member of Parliament in the United States was elected by the popular vote, but they dont have an effective monitoring mechanism. Thats mean when a person becomes member, before end of the term, he is unfettered, so he get bribe from a big consortia is a very easy thing to do. If a bill is being reviewed but is conflict of interest, then there is no guarantee of stakeholders who would think some distorted ideas. This is a test of Members, but in this time, Members are not subject to the supervision and restriction by other agencies, so he could reasonably have been legally inclined to support or deny a bill, then get the benefits from one of the stakeholders. As long as a good price then there is no need to tangle up for re-election. For this hidden dictatorship, how many people can perceive it? In fact, as long as the control of the executive power (President) and legislative (Congress) it will be able to completely control the politics of a country, and in a country where money is worshipped, in fact, the money is in charge of everything. However, the spokesperson of money is consortiums and capitalists. In essence, the United States is a dictatorship, but a clever dictatorship. The American two-party system, in essence, is representing supported their capitalist camp, but nothing on the concept of fine-tuning, the Republican Party is absolutely conservative, and it always tend to be protect by big capitalists. The Democratic Party is relatively aggressive, they tend to give benefit to the general public. But what is for their shareholders to speak? Such as the fail policy like Obamas health Insuranceâ€Å", who can give financial support to this. Though my primary example is America, I want to briefly mention that these principles can also be observed in European political parties. The European political parties actually almost as same as America, if the West countries is absolutely democratic politics, then why do they not allow the ruling is a Communist Party candidate? Almost every Western country has the presence of the Communist Party, but all of them receive severe pressure. From this point of, the Western democracy is nothing but a hypocritical rule tool. Then lets see the strengths and weaknesses of one-party system. The first advantage of one-party system is its strong ability to mobilize. It means concentrating power, then we cannot ignore the economic miracles of the Soviet Union and the economic miracles which was being staged in China, both of them are faster than the capitalist countries when they development in the capital accumulation stage. The development results in Western countries are cost two or three decades. But in the Soviet Union and China, both of them were only need to take two or three five-year plan. (Wiki, 2014) One-party state, especially the Communist Party of the State, its national mobilization capability is very powerful, it will be better able to respond to some of the major events, such as war, from the Soviet Union to North Korea, the countries which are really powerful. The disadvantage of the one-party is the abuse of its strong mobilize ability. Since the individual level issues, the direction of the Communist Party of mobilization is not necessarily correct, such as the year of the Soviet Union, the government mobilize the national forces to engage in an arms race, and finally it was lead to economic stagnation and coup. And now, in the North Korea, the government regardless of peoples life, the country is to engage in military-first policy. And now Chinese official is too much lay emphasis on speed of economic development and neglects other aspects of construction and so on, this is an abuse of mobilization capacity, which is the foreign people who always talks the dictatorship of one-party system. Before I discuss the advantages of Chinas current one-party system and the advantage of multi-party system. At first we need to have a clear concept of the one party system and Chinas current one-party system, they are not a same thing. Although it is undeniable that Chinas current one-party system has many problems, but cannot be generalized. One-party system could have a variety of modes, for example, one-party system in A-mode, B-mode single-party system, C mode one party system, etc. If now China is use an A-model party system, and its not very suitable, it’s not mean that the party system B mode is not good either. As another example, a foreigner practicing the Chinese Kungfu, and he do the terrible job, but you cannot deduce the Chinese Kungfu is very bad in itself, this is the truth. Therefore, if the Chinas current one-party system are different with the normally one-party system or have some problems, that you can understand this is a new model of one-party management which are more suitable with Chinas policy and social. And China still need time to modified the issue and make it completely. In the March 3rd, 2010, there was a news posted in the Singapore’s newspaper, the tittle is: â€Å"Comparative Politics: Why Chinas one-party system is superior to the Western multiparty system.† (Newspaper, 2010) In this whole article, the author gives six advantages of China’s current one-party system. One of the advantages of Chinas one-party system is that the country can develop a national long-term development plan and maintain the stability of the policy, it didnt effect by different political party which have the different positon. The first part is the advantage of one-party system, its the powerful ability of mobilize, needless to say anymore. The second advantage of Chinas one-party system is the high efficiency. For the challenges and opportunities China can make timely and effective response, especially in response to sudden disaster events. The word High efficiency is used inappropriately. In fact, its still talks about the national mobilization, with the ability of Western countries, they are difficult to achieve effectively mobilize from the whole society, it is the disadvantaged of their ability to mobilize. But with the high efficiency is not an appropriate word to sum up the truth, because the Western countries they are advanced in science or technology and in the field of efficiency significantly they are higher than China. In the other side Science and Technology is the driving force of its wealth creation. The third advantage of Chinas one-party, is in this particular period of social transition, the government can effectively curb the spread of corruption. For the part three, it is obviously nonsense, because under the current one-party system which corruption is impossible to get effective control. In the Chinese one-party system it was absence of have an effective monitoring mechanism. Is the government suppress the corruption, we cannot see it, because we can only get the news which is the government want us to know. But if China can develop an effective monitoring mechanism in the future, then the one-party system can really more effective than a multiparty system to curb corruption. Because when that system have the power to protect the people, ordinary people can exert a greater influence on personnel appointment and dismissal, while the peoples passion of bottom level for fighting corruption is not self-evident, therefore, anti-corruption efforts can be more efficient operation in support of its system. In contrast, multi-party system, if party A corruption, they change to Party B, then Party B and back again corrupt party A, and so forth, the result is still the same. Taiwan does not is a vivid example? DPP ousted the KMT and they do the same thing (Truth in Taiwan, 2010). Therefore, the key to solve the eradication of corruption is not one-party or multi-party system, but the people become an effective monitoring mechanism. Chinas fourth one-party Advantage is the Chinese government it is a more accountable government. If it is a one-party ruling, it must take full responsibility for all the acts. And for the multi-party ruling, actually they always have a new beginning after the election, to know the stand or fall of a political party, just look the election. For normally people, they are not choose the best, just drive away the worst. They always only hold â€Å"this is not the best, but have no choice attitude to towards the new ruling party. As for the one-party system, although normally people do not have the opportunity to choose another, but they can reasonably and lawfully to oversight and reform the government. So, the multi-party system of government needs to take more responsibility, and to take full responsibility for their words and deeds, so that people do not have elections in the game again and again to choose more responsible government Chinas one-party advantage fifth is that in personnel training and selection mechanisms the government can avoid the waste of talent. This is completely nonsense, because the one-party system China has screened talent people earlier and only those talent who support their can get a good development, the other people who was nonsupport government not only give up them, but also given pressure, thats the causing many of peoples go abroad and live overseas. In that moment, the multi-party system countries develop a training system capable of supporting the all intellectuals, and theres no political part to affect them to study and get development. The Sixth advantage of Chinas one-party system is that it can truly representative referendum. For this section and the status quo it was seem to have a very big contrast. Because the people who live in one-party system countries they always get unfair threat, but in the multi-party system countries people were feel freedom. Overall, according to the opinion of Max, a mature party system is better than a multi-party system, but nowadays the one-party system is not mature so there is not happened. Whether a one-party system or a multi-party system, all need people to supervise, we need a completely monitoring mechanism. The monitoring mechanism of Multi-party is election system, but it is too irresponsible, it only show a complete new name after the election, there are no major aspects of change, and it only mend small ways to cope the voter’s trouble. And the monitoring mechanism of Chinas one-party have not been established. As long as China can develop an effective monitoring mechanism of the one-party system, like allow the normal people to participate in the personnel appointment and removal, it is more effective and more democratic than the way of voters evaluate. Reference page One-party System.Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. Multi-party System.Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. â€Å"Shi Wu Ju Xi Jie Jue Yu Shang† Sima Qian. Shih Chi, 101-104 BC. â€Å"Five year plan† Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. â€Å"Comparative Politics: Why Chinas one-party system is superior to the Western multiparty system.† Song Luzheng. Singapore united news, March 3rd, 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. KMT vs DPP. Truth in Taiwan. Truth in Taiwan, 21 May 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.