Monday, September 30, 2019

Prejudice in the Merchant of Venice Essay

Prejudice is a significant theme in The Merchant of Venice. This is expresses at various occasions throughout the novel. One of the most significant examples of prejudice in this novel is the Anti-Semitic views of the Christian citizens in Venice. A second act of prejudice in The Merchant of Venice occurs when the Prince of Morocco arrives in Venice. The third example, though more subtle, is the prejudice towards the Prince of Arragon. These three examples fall in to two major categories, racial prejudice and religious prejudice. The Anti-Semitic views in The Merchant of Venice play an important part in the novel. Without the Anti-Semitic views, the elopement plot and the bond plot would not be in existence. If Jessica were Christian, Shylock would have embraced the marriage of Lorenzo and Jessica. Religion, however, intervenes and causes Shylock’s anger at his daughter. The bond plot simply is based on religious tension. Shylock the Jew would not have been so hostile towards Antonio and Bassanio had they all been Jewish or Christian. The behavior in the court room also made a heavy contribution to the Anti-Semitism in The Merchant of Venice .The punishments for Jews were far worse than those given to Christians. Jews had seriously harsh restrictions allowing them to only be money-lenders. The second example of prejudice occurs between Portia and the Prince of Morocco. This prejudice, however, is not religious like the prejudice between Shylock and Antonio, but is more of a form of racial prejudice. As the second act begins, Morocco states, â€Å"Mislike me not for my complexion, the shadowed livery of the burnished sun.† (2.1.1-2). This was said to Portia to ask her not to judge the prince on his complexion, but rather that he be judged on what is inside of him. Portia, however, had decided that she would not enjoy marrying the prince. She expresses her prejudice by saying, â€Å"If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I should be glad of his approach. If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather heshrive me than wive me.† (Shakespeare 127-131) Her decision was clearly made and despite the Prince’s efforts to help her understand that he was just like any man she remained adamant about her agreement. The third example of prejudice, also racial, is towards the Prince of Arragon. The Prince of Arragon is mocked in various manners throughout the scene in which he chooses the casket. The Prince’s name added a form of comedy to the story. His name, Arragon, similar to Arragon, told the reader about his attitude and personality in general. The Prince of Arragon also stated, â€Å"What’s here? The portrait of a blinking idiot presenting me a schedule!† (2.9.58-60). This statement is also insulting towards the prince due to the fact that he can’t even recognize his own self. Secondly, he referred to the image in the mirror as a blinking idiot. The prejudice here is given my Shakespeare and added instead of being given on from another character, it is expressed as a trait of the Prince of Arragon himself. Shakespeare, in this case, shows prejudice, not a character. The role of prejudice plays an important role in The Merchant of Venice. This prejudice, however insulting and mean it seems now was not as badly viewed in the Elizabethan era. In fact, this prejudice was completely normal. The persecution and prejudice towards Jews, colored people, and people from certain nations was a regular part of daily live. Without the prejudice in The Merchant of Venice, the novels plot would be meaningless.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Core Concepts in Cultural Competence

Core Concepts in Cultural Competence Key Concepts (printable) |Cultural Competence | | | | |Definition: |Cultural Competence is a set of values, behaviors, attitudes and practices within a system, organization, program or among | | |individuals that enables them to work effectively across cultures.Cultural competence refers to the ability to honor and respect | | |the beliefs, language, interpersonal styles and behaviors or children and families receiving medical care, as well as those of the | | |staff who are providing such care. Cultural competence is a dynamic, ongoing developmental process that requires a long term | | |commitment and is achieved over time. | | | |Examples: |Examine Cultural Competence in the following examples: | | |Example 1: Maria Hernandez arrives late for her appointment, and explains that she spent a few hours with her elderly aunt on the | | |way to her appointment.The nurse, Ella, greets Maria warmly and comments on Maria’s devotion to her family. Ella understands that | | |in the Hispanic community, caring for family often comes before an individual need such as an appointment. | | |Example 2: When Gina, the social worker, enters an examining room she is already alert to the fact that the family she is meeting | | |may have views about healthcare that are different than her own.She inquires about the family’s beliefs, drawing on her knowledge | | |of the culture, but primarily interested in what the family tells her about their unique views. | | |Example 3: Fred, the pharmacist, becomes frustrated with an Asian family who has been using herbal remedies. With great authority, | | |he tells them that they are â€Å"doing the wrong thing. † Fred is not behaving in a culturally competent manner. | | | |Application: |When meeting a patient or family for the first time, be aware that their beliefs and practices may differ from your own. Try to | | |learn as much as you can about the family's life and how they view t he world. | | | | | | |Culture | | | | |Definition: |Culture is defined as the sum of one's beliefs, rituals, customs and practices that guide thinking, decisions and actions in a | | |patterned way.They are learned throughout a lifetime and passed on through generations. | | | | |Examples: |Examine Culture in the following examples: | | |Example 1: Among some cultures in India, the occasion on which a child first eats solid foods is celebrated with great ceremony. | |Example 2: â€Å"Family† is defined differently in different cultures: in some cultures, â€Å"family† means primarily parents and children. | | |In other cultures, â€Å"family includes a large number of relatives, loosely related. | | |Example 3: Disabilities are viewed differently in different cultures. In some cultures, people with disabilities are hidden, in | | |others they are believed to be endowed with special gifts.In some cultures, people with disabilities are encouraged to become | | |indepen dent and live independently; in others, it is the family’s wish and responsibility to care for the disabled person. | | | | |Application: |Because of differences between cultures, patients’ behaviors and beliefs may be different from one’s own. | | | | | | |Explanatory Model | | | | |Definition: |The Explanatory Model is the belief system that people from a given culture have about what has caused their illness and what the | | |illness does to them.Patients’ beliefs about what will help cure them depend on their explanatory model. | | | | |Examples: |Examine the Explanatory Model in the following examples: | | |Example 1: A Romani patient may believe that bad luck, bad behavior or contamination has caused his illness. | | |Example 2: An Hispanic mother may believe that her child has Mal d’ojo, or has been cursed with the â€Å"evil eye. | | |Example 3: An Asian patient may believe she is having a difficult birth because of an imbalance between ho t and cold in her body. As| | |pregnancy is a â€Å"cold† condition she may request a drink of hot water, for balance. | | | | |Application: |In order to learn about your patients’ explanatory model, you may want to ask something like: â€Å"I know different people have very | | |different ways of understanding illness†¦Please help me understand how you see things. † | | | | | | | |Health Beliefs | | | | |Definition: |Patients’ beliefs about their health. Health eliefs include cultural beliefs about what causes illness, what will help illness and | | |who is best prepared to help the illness. The â€Å"Health Belief Model† as defined by Becker, postulates that patients weigh more | | |general beliefs such as whether or not they really believe they are ill and whether they believe the treatment offered by the | | |physician will offer relief, against potential disadvantages of the treatment. | | | |Examples: |Examine Health Beliefs in the follo wing examples: | | |Example 1: A mother’s health belief may involve the idea that a particular amulet will protect her daughter. | | |Example 2: Some Native American tribes health beliefs include the idea that taking a photograph of a person will rob the person of | | |his or her soul. | |Example 3: A mother may believe that her daughter doesn’t have asthma, but just coughs occasionally and that the inhaled steroids | | |are dangerous for her daughter. She may therefore decide that the potential risks of the medication outweigh the benefits. | | | | |Application: |A patient whose health belief is that his illness is a punishment for past sins may not believe that biomedical care will help him. | |He may believe that he will only get better when he atones for his sins. | | | | | | | |Social Factors | | | | |Definition: |Social Factors refer to environmental factors which affect how the family functions.These include (but are not limited to) | | |financial factors (such as socioeconomic status or type of – or lack of – insurance), logistical factors (such as transportation or | | |juggling many demands), housing, childcare and accessible health care. Social factors sometimes also include family relationships or| | |family dynamics which affect a child or family member. This often, in turn, influences emotional factors. | | | |Examples: |Some examples of Social Factors are: | | |Example 1: Some families do not buy medications that they need because they do not have insurance or cannot afford the co-pay. | | |Example 2: A child may come to clinic dirty, not because the mother doesn't care about cleanliness but because the water has been | | |off and the landlord refuses to return her phone calls. | |Example 3: A child's divorced parents may be angry at each other, causing tension in the family and interfering with the consistency| | |of his care as he moves between their homes. | | | | |Application: |It is always important to learn as m uch as you can about the social factors that affect a family. This will help you understand the | | |choices they make and the constraints they are under. | | | | | | |Acculturation | | | | |Definition: |The adoption of the behavior patterns of the dominant culture; the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive | | |structure. Acculturation is the process of acquiring a second culture.Assimilation is the process of replacing one's first culture | | |with a second culture. | | | | |Examples: |Some examples of Acculturation are: | | |Example 1: A first generation Italian who lives in an Italian enclave in he United States may continue to speak just Italian and to| | |follow the norms and mores of his Italian origins. This person will not have become highly acculturated to American culture. | | |Example 2: The granddaughter of a Chinese immigrant has gone to American schools and will now attend an American college. She spends| | |time primarily with her American frie nds, dresses as they do and shares their values and interests.She has become highly | | |acculturated into American culture. | | | | |Application: |The degree to which a patient holds the health beliefs of his country-of-origin will depend in part on how acculturated he has | | |become to American culture. |

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Organizational Communication in Crisis of Diet Pepsi Syringe Scare

INTRODUCTION In the 1993 incident of syringes were found in the Diet Pepsi cans, it is clearly showed that the company had demonstrated an effective halting from the company’s openness with the media. While dealing and handling with the crisis, the PR team of Pepsi focused on both their internal and external publics. It is important for an organization to have a strong internal communication as these internal publics helps to convince the external publics of the organization.The internal publics of Pepsi were consists of the employees of Pepsi like executives, managers, stakeholders, and anyone that has a say in the production of Pepsi’s products whereas the external publics consists of the whole American population, competitors, FDA and the media. Communications among the internal publics were strong among them and the company directed an immediate disclosure of all facts (Anton, 2011). Internal communications is important in an organization as it helps to build bridge s among the employers and employees.Besides it can also help them to deal better with their external public in whatever they are doing regardless of solving crisis or as a tool of communication with its public. Pepsi then targeted the external public differently and chose to focus on television as its media vehicle. Besides, they also took a firm stand and said no to product recall. Alpac Bottling Company, the local canning and distributor of Diet Pepsi was one of the external publics that were involved with the crisis and Pepsi let the company to explain to the media that product tampering was merely impossible.Publics do not believe that the case is over and then a documentation video was released. Pepsi invited media to the production plant and film the process. This video then shows the process of the sodas and that the product was virtually tamper resistant. Other techniques used by the PR of Pepsi include 24 hours hotlines for consumers query and complaints, assigning a specia list to work with the FDA and the legal department were also involved during the communications process (Pepsi case, n. d. ).Videotapes were then sent out as well as memos and the surveillance footage that reaffirmed the Pepsi‘s innocence. As the hoax of the syringe scare goes on, a third video news release was aired by Mr. Weatherup that shows a surveillance camera from a convince store showing a lady purchased the product, opened it and then placed a syringe without anyone noticing. Commissioner Kessler from FDA then help a press release on June 17, 1993 notifying the public that the allegations scare of syringe was false (Yaxaira, 2011).Throughout the crisis, it is clearly showed that communications between Pepsi and both its internal and external publics was very effective as the PR department disclosed all information to everyone as it is needed. They also convinced the external publics that on the proceedings of their investigation on a daily basis to ensure the public t hat the problem is under control. In this case study of Pepsi Syringe scare, the communication flow of the organization can be related with Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid of the human resources approach.In this approach, it maps out different leadership styles compared to other approaches as this model concerns about both people and production. There are five prototypical management styles subbed under this model which are impoverished management, country club management, authority-compliances, team-management and middle-of-the-road management. All these five management styles have to be balance in concerning about people and production.Concern for people in this model simply relates to the degree where a leader considers the needs of employees and team members before deciding on how to accomplish a task (Blake & Mouton, n. d. ). This concern can be seen when the PR team of Pepsi decides on its strategies, tools and techniques in communicating with both internal and e xternal public during the crisis period. The authorities also guide and brief their employees on how they should communicate effectively with the public and customers.Besides, the PR team of Pepsi also assigned a specialist to work with the FDA and to keep the employees on track that what is happening throughout the period and ensure the public that the problem is under control. Concerns for production, defined to the degree which a leader emphasizes production effectiveness and efficiency when deciding how to best accomplish tasks (Blake & Mouton, n. d. ). This concern can be seen when Pepsi emphasize on the effectiveness and efficiency of their production of the product.The authorities even invited media to film the production plant and produce a documentary video news release to ensure the external public that product tampering is virtually impossible in the production. Finally a surveillance video of a convince store proved that Pepsi is free from allegations. Both of the co ncerns in the model can conclude that team-based communication direction is effective in handling such situation. The communication in the organization on handling with the crisis of Syringe found in Diet Pepsi Cans in 1993 was effective in the internal public but was not that efficient towards the external publics.The president of the organization along the management team explaining and updating the employees on everything that is happening and by ensuring to the employees that the corporate office does not think that the tampering is the happening at the plants and by confiding and trusting in the employees abilities increased the employee’s morale at a critical time during the crisis. Employees were treated with the highest consideration. Advisories were sent to bottlers and managers at least once daily but often several times per day to update the situation. This information was to be shared with employees and customers.These actions not only displayed willingness to coo perate but also efforts by the company to give the public any and all information it needed at different stages of the crisis progression. The 1993 crisis of hypodermic syringes reported in Diet Pepsi had effective communication results stemming from the company’s openness with the media. In addition, other technique used by the crisis management team was included 24 hours hotlines for consumers query and complaints, assigning a specialist to work with the FDA and the legal department were also involved during the communications process (Pepsi case, n. . ) (Fearn-Banks, 1996). The communication effectiveness of the company was a success as the crisis lasted for nine days with the crisis communication team working 15-20 hours a day. The team’s efforts resulted in positive media coverage during and after the crisis, which in turn reflected positively for the companies involved. Furthermore, Pepsi distributed instructing information, helping the public to react to the sit uation, making it an excellent example of how to handle a crisis. ( Strurges, n. d. ).The poor communication with the external public can see from the action they did to the public after the incident happened. The first complaint regarding syringe was announced on 10th June 1993 but the company did not took any action to that. Pepsi-Cola Co. said that they could not just tell the public about the incident without having substantial amount of evidence to enforce their claim. Pepsi invited media to capture the canning process then the public relation department demonstrating the bottling procedure.The crisis management team then releases the video news release (VNR) through the media such as television to reach the public eye after a total of 55 complaints about the case in a week. The video shows that is impossible to interfere with the process of the product, the speed of the equipment, and the safety precautions to produce the product. The management team should show the public wit h this video once they receive the first complaint and not to deny that it is not possible to have a syringe in the can. This is to ensure that they can still gain trustworthy from their customers.The vice president of product safety, Jim Stanley said that â€Å"Because you don’t have a lot of time to gather the facts, you’d better take advantage of the first few hours that you do have. If you waste those early hours in trying to deliberate on what you should do, you are going to miss an opportunity to solve a lot of issues that you could best solve immediately†. In this case, the company had applied the Likert’s System IV where decision-making is performed by every organizational member and goals are set by complete work groups (Rensis Likert, 1967).It can see from the unity of the Pepsi-Cola Co. employees’ work together to overcome or helps to solve the crisis in a short period of time. The crisis communication team works 15-20 hours a day in ord er to manage and try to work out the solution. Besides, the Likert’s System IV also emphasize on control of the organization in every level where the Pepsi-Cola Co. practices it during the crisis. The crisis management team had meeting with the internal publics on the ways to communicate with the external public or the way to answer media questions.The way that internal publics answer questions from the external public is very important because they are representing the company to voice out the answer. According to most of the report from the publics including medias, the Pepsi-Cola Co. had handled the crisis effectively and able to rebound and increased its sales after the crisis. However, the organization could handle the crisis more effectively and better. With a better and effective internal and external communication, it will help to reduce the damages strike to their company.Pepsi-Cola Co had showed a video regarding of the canning process and let the public understand how hard it would be to get an object into one of their cans. The company also showed a video of a woman trying to stick a syringe in a Pepsi can at a supermarket. However, they did not release the video on the spot. Public do not believe it although the company state that there were no way to insert the syringe in the bottling process at the plant. This become serious when there were 50 cases reported the following week. This proved their communication to the external public was not effective enough to convince the public when the crisis occurred.They should release the video once the crisis happened and not release after they found out the case become nationally. If they could release the video instantly once they found out they were innocent, the public no matter from internal or external will tend to believe it was a product tampering cases. They external public (consumer) will not under panic attack (worried about the syringe might bring AIDS or hepatitis which it usually relat ed to it) and the media will report the incident and make a clear statement which the product is safe to drink to the audiences.The surveillance camera which caught the women trying to put a syringe into the Pepsi can when the worker turn around sound more solid and easier to gain public convincing than the video which shot about the canning process. The organization can handle the situation differently in the other way was the CEO of the company should stepped out as the spoke person once the first two cases occurred. At first case occurred, the CEO and president of the Pepsi-Cola Co. was not the spokeperson who accepted the interviewed by the reporter.The first spokeperson was the Alpac Bottling Company CEO. As Alpac should be responsible of the incident, due to the external public only knew little about Alpac, they will only pointed their finger to Pepsi-Cola Co. because they were the imminent owner of the bottling company. Therefore, to decrease the damages brought by the crisis , the Pepsi-Cola Co. CEO should appeared in the first place to clarify the crisis and try to gain back public trust. The words from the company’s CEO will be more credible, powerful and convincing.The external communication (consumer, media, government, etc) is important to the company as the internal communication (employee, employers and managers) will also play a crucial role in the organization. For the external communication to the publics who involved, they will tend to believe the words from the leader who was ultimately responsible than a public relations practitioner. The media can get a clear statements, answers or announcements from the CEO directly. As for the internal communication, the CEO who involved themselves into the crisis will gain more trustworthy and support from the employees or subordinates.Different company practices different approach and theory. As for the Pepsi-Cola Co. , it practiced human resources approach during the crisis. The human resources approach was widely adopted by organizations in the 1960s. This participative, team approach to management-employee relations recognized that employees can contribute both physical and mental labor (Berger, 2008). Human resource approach acknowledges contribution of classical and, especially, human relations approaches to organizing (Miller, 2009).According to the human resources theorist, individual labor is an important ingredient to reach organization goal but also must consider individual feelings in the organization. Therefore, human resource approach is the mix of classical approach and human relations approach which emphasize on both meeting organization goal and individual feelings. In human resource approach, communication became multidirectional and more interactive compare to the other two approaches. Feedback was sought to enhance problem solving and stimulate idea sharing and innovation content was added to social and task information in communications (Berger, 2008).C oncepts of employee trust and commitment emerged as important issues, and organizations began to share communication decision-making among employees (Berger, 2008). There are two theories categories in this approach which are Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid that concentrates on how a manager can combine values of the human relations school and the classical school into a leadership style and Likert’s system IV that specify the details of the organizational form that will incorporate the ideals of the human resources movement (Miller, 2006).In the crisis of syringe found in Diet Pepsi cans in 1993, the Pepsi-Cola Co. is using the human resource approach in their organizational communication. During the crisis time, they not only work to solve the crisis but they also treated the employees with utmost consideration. The public relations department contacted the management department on how to communicate with the employees regarding the crisis situation and how to ans wer questions from the public and the employees (Yaxiara, 2008).All 400 field locations were aware at all times of what was going on in the company, what information is being reported, how the government was handling this matter, and how the company is responding to this matter (Yaxiara, 2008). They updating the employees regarding the situation by sending advisories to bottler and manager several time a day. When there is any update from the investigation, the president was also contacting the management department to share the latest information.This show that the company was concerning on employees feelings, therefore had explaining and updating the employees on everything that is happening and by ensuring to the employees that the corporate office does not think that the tampering is happening at the plants and by confiding and trusting in the employees abilities increased the employee’s morale at a critical time during the crisis (Yaxiara, 2008). Besides, they giving all information and teach the employees to respond is to control the information that shared with the external public and able to meet the company goal which is solving the company crisis.The communication of the organization toward external public is also applying the human resources approaches. The company public relations department convinced the external public of the investigation proceeding on a daily basis to ensure to the public that the problem is under control (Yaxiara, 2008) in order to calm the public feeling and control the external situation. We cannot deny that management must exercise control for organizations to succeed. Based on the crisis that faced by Pepsi during the year 1993, we can see that the internal publics were well-handled. The Pepsi-Cola Co. did a very good job with keeping employees up to date with new information about the crisis they faced. This consequently gave faith to the internal publics. The Pepsi CEO also fully utilised his power towards the ext ernal public. During the crisis, Pepsi CEO appeared on every major network to share the message that defect was practically impossible in their products. A  management  function  aimed at achieving defined  goals and usually have three  components which included taking  corrective action, setting standards and measuring actual  performance.The contribution of power is very important in order to exercise control towards management. The power of ideology and hegemony made the employees in the Pepsi-Cola Co. to think that the organization hierarchy is needed to be practiced by the company. The Pepsi-Cola Co. created an ideology to the internal publics that the crisis can never related to the company and keep the employees up to date. The public relations department got in touch with the management department on how to communicate with the employees about the crisis situation.There are also discussion on the way to answer questions from the employees and the public. All 40 0 field locations were aware at all times of what was going on in the company, what information is being reported, how the government was handling this matter, and how the company is responding to this matter. Internally, Pepsi prevented organizational disorder by updating employees with daily advisories to over 400 facilities nationwide. By doing this, the frame of an idea will be built in the internal publics’ mind. This ideology made the internal publics tend to trust the company.In order to convince the external public, the internal public must have faith in the company too. The leader applied the legitimate power in the communication process within the internal public. The crisis management team which leaded by Craig Weatherup, the president and CEO of Pepsi was in charge of the education of the senior management regarding how to answer the questions from the employees and public. The employees were educated by the senior management regarding how to answer the questions from the public. This shows that the company are practicing legitimate power which is the power was emerged from positions and titles.The people on the higher hierarchy have the right to control the lower level. However, the communication can be in formal and informal way. It also can be written and spoken and including all the channels. However, the legitimate power wasn’t excluded. From here, we can see that the Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid of the human resources approach was applied in the internal communication of Pepsi-Cola Co. This approach assumes that leaders will be most effective when it concerns both concern for people and concern for production.The way that Pepsi-Cola Co passed their messages was practicing classical approach which is based on the hierarchy level. The legitimate powers of the leaders successfully control the management and formed an effective communication. On the other hand, they pass the message by using both formal and informal way . This is basically practicing human relations approach. By combining these 2 approaches, Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid of the human resources approach was applied in order to control and the organization and way of communication.Pepsi successfully overcame the crisis by using different communication techniques and management power to show the internal publics and external publics that this scare was not possible. The internal publics were considered as successful in working together. The company guaranteed the external publics that there company does not experience any problems in manufacturing their products. It is now one of the biggest manufacturers in the world. Pepsi is connected with 200 countries and profits of the organization continue to rise per annum. This incident has not been discussed for years.Pepsi-Cola Co. will stay successful if they use the right communication way when facing problems. References Anton. (2011, May 8). Effective communication case stud y analysis: case 9-1 Pepsi Syringe. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://essays24. com/print/Effective-Communication-Case-Study-Analysis/48875. html Berger, B. K. (2008, November 17). Employee/Organizational Communications. Retrieved November 5, 2011, from Institute for Public Relations website: http://www. instituteforpr. org/topics/ employee-organizational- communications/ Blake, R. , & Mouton, J. 2010, May 19). What is Blake & Mouton's managerial grid? Retrieved from http://www. businessmate. org/Article. php? ArtikelId=188 Crisis management/Pepsi syringe scare. (n. d. ). Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://iml. jou. ufl. edu/projects/Spring01/Morrison/Pepsi. html Pepsi case study. (n. d. ). Retrieved November 3, 2011, from http://www. personal. psu. edu/bms5263/Pepsi%20case%20study%20marketing%20310. docx Yaxaira. (2008, February 9). The Diet-Pepsi crisis. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://newsflavor. com/alternative/the-diet-pepsi-crisis/

Friday, September 27, 2019

Project management and methods of enquiry Essay

Project management and methods of enquiry - Essay Example ......................................................................3 1.6 Stakeholders Analysis...........................................................................................4 1.7 Time frames†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..5 1.8 Action plan............................................................................................................5 1.9 Resource Allocations............................................................................................5 1.10 Risk Analysis .................................................................................................6 1.11 Business Case Evaluation...............................................................................9 1.12 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..10 1.13 Appendixes; 1.13.1 Appendix a; Questionnaire†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.11 1.13.2 Appendix b; Gantt chart for the business case†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦12 1.13.3 Resource Allocation List†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦13 1.13.4 Risk Assessment chart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦14 1.1 Introduction Nutritional awareness is becoming one of the major factors influencing the consumption habits of most of the female students in Saudi’s High schools. ... 1.2 Overview Healthy eating is a global concern in relation to rising obesity rates (world health organization) and in particular healthy eating awareness is a priority in Saudi Arabia (Barker and Cole, 2009). The knowledge of healthy diets among female high school students is inadequate; a study done in 2005 (Al-shammari, 2001) revealed 65.2% had little or no knowledge on healthy eating habits. It is known that there could be several factors behind this (Al-rukban, 2003). For example there could be lack of education about nutrients, and/or unavailability of health information in schools (Al-shammari, 2001). This requires a thorough explanation of the benefits and ways of maintaining healthy bodies. Furthermore Al-rukban has shown that (2003) knowledge of the effects of poor eating habits could be a factor in influencing young people and in this case students as they change their eating habits and thus reduce their exposure to ailments associated to malnutrition. 1.3 Business Case Un healthy lifestyles are the major contributors of the medical conditions in the world and also in Saudi Arabia (world health organization). Some health related behaviors like poor dietary habits, substance use and exercise patterns are most visible in adolescent level and could persist into adulthood (Caldwell et.al, 1998). Obesity is however the most persistent problem affecting this age group i.e. adolescents and young people, this is due to their tendency of eating junk and fast foods (Caldwel et.al, 1998). Due to this perceived problem in the school there is a case to support the introduction of a nutritional programme in schools to create awareness to the female students. The following perceived aims for developing

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Peer Journals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Peer Journals - Essay Example To begin with, one of the strategies that teachers can play in enhancing in such a case is giving students time to practice on their own before the real peer journals begin. In this case, the instructors ought to show the class how to get in groups and then provide his/her feedback to the group. Another excellent strategy is the teaching of students on how to keep track of other students’ right answer. From this strategy, students learn from each other fast enough, which enhance continuity and increased learning (DuPaul 2). In addition to these strategies, another strategy that can greatly influence learning in such a case is making learning fun to students. This can be done using various helpful strategies such as rewards, encouragement and giving of points among many other methods. While doing all these things, the instructor ought to act as a trainer, a demonstrator, an organizer and most of all, a model. They also ought to play the role of commentators and checkers for max imum outcome (Yang 75). In conclusion, peer reviewed journals are among the best method of teaching in almost any group. In order to enhance learning and to ensure maximum outcomes, strategies like making of the method enjoyable and playing the right role should be adopted. With such methods, fast learning and positive outcomes are possible. DuPaul, G.J. Peer tutoring procedures in general education classrooms. In A.S. Canter & S.A. Carroll (Eds.), Helping children at home and school: Handouts from your school psychologist. National Association of School Psychologists, Bethesda: MD.

Federal Reserve system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Federal Reserve system - Essay Example Changing the reserve requirements. The banking system is required to keep a certain amount of the deposits in reserve, while the rest is given out in terms of loans. This amount which is defined in terms of reserve ratio determines the amount of money the financial institutions can create out of the deposits reserved. The FED can either increase or decrease the money supply by altering the reserve ration required from the banking system. When the reserve ratio is lowered the banking system will be required to decrease the deposits in reserve, thus increasing the lending capacity. This in turn will increase the money supply. Alternatively, if FED raises the reserve ratio the banks will be forced to increase their reserve deposits and thus lower the lending capacity. This will eventually decrease the money supply. Changing the reserve requirements is potentially the most powerful tool because a small change in the reserve can causes big changes in the money supply within a very short t ime. Open market operations. This is the most commonly used tool in the daily operations, and is concerned with the purchases and sales of the government in the open market. FED controls the money supply by either buying or selling the government bonds. ... Banks create money by borrowing from the FED reserves or taking account receivables to FED. FED in turn imposes a discount on the loans made. Money supply can be increased by decreasing the discount rates which encourage banks to borrow more from the Federal reserves. Conversely, a lower discount rate will discourage banks from borrowing and thus lower money supply. Question two Easy money policy A 10 Real rate of Interest (%) 8 6 125 150 175 Amount of money demanded and supplied ($ billions) B Real rate of 10 Interest and Expected 8 Of profit (%) 6 investment demand 15 20 25 Amount of investment ($ billion) C P 3 Price level AD3 P 2 AD2 P 1 AD1 0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Real GDP ($ billion) Tight money policy A 10 Real rate of Interest (%) 8 6 125 150 175 Amount of money demanded and supplied ($ billions) B Real rate of 10 Interest and Expected 8 Of profit (%) 6 investment demand 15 20 25 Amount of investment ($ billion) C P 1 Price level AD1 P 2 AD2 P 3 AD3 0 Q3 Q2 Q1 Real GDP ($ billion) A = the money market B = Investment demand C= Equilibrium real GDP and the price level Easy money policy can be achieved by making money less expensive to borrow. This means that FED can buy government bonds, decrease the federal funds rate, or decrease the reserve requirements. On the other hand, tight money policy is achieved by making money more expensive to borrow. FED can sell government bonds, increase the federal funds rate, or increase the reserve requirements. Question three The use of monetary rule by FED is based on Taylor’s assumptions of macroeconomics. In this model, price and inflation are steered by three factors; Employment Index, Consumer Price Index, and producer prices (Twomey,

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Secondary Quantitative Data Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Secondary Quantitative Data - Essay Example So we are concerned with research carried out by making effective use of existing quantitative data. That is, whereas in primary research both data collection and analysis is used, in secondary research, "creative analytic techniques [are applied] to data that have been amassed by others" (Kiecolt, 1985). Another important distinction to note given that this study examines the strengths and weaknesses of using secondary quantitative data is that secondary data is that which has been collected for another purpose but later reanalyzed for use in another piece of research. This of course brings to question the validity of doing this, the rationale for conducting secondary research, its advantages and limitations. Examples of the types of secondary quantitative data are the following: Official records relating to births, marriages and deaths; records relating to crime, divorce, voting patterns etc.; the census; records held by academic, business and other organizations. The census is a special type of secondary dataset due to it being obligatory. Other regular or ad hoc surveys also provide useful statistical information. Some sources for using secondary data include surveys conducted by organizations, economic data, university academia research, national and international statistics, and opinion polls. Secondary analysis can be used on a variety of quantitative data including cohort, time-series, trend, and so on. The widespread use of secondary data in social science research probably dates back to the 'secondary data movement' of the 1960s when there was "a growing emphasis upon the use of secondary data in research, with important developments in social indicators analysis, the rise of survey archives, and the overall development of quantitative social research all playing a part." (Sobal, 1982) Secondary quantitative data is used to a great extent in economics and geography amongst the social science disciplines. Uses of Secondary Data (Strengths) Often, the greatest advantages to using secondary quantitative data are the cost and time saving benefits, and the simpler process for obtaining it. It is simply quicker and cheaper to obtain quantitative data from secondary sources than it would be from primary sources through gathering data oneself. In contrast to secondary research, primary research, specifically data collection, is a more complex procedure, typically takes a lot of time, and usually costs more to carry out. It also requires appropriate skills, access to people or sites, special equipment and other resources etc. These requirements are not an issue for obtaining secondary data. There are also issues of "declining resources for research in the social sciences" (Kiecolt, 1985) and climatic constraints, which makes it expedient to rely on existing survey data. Moreover, in this Information Age, an abundance of quantitative data is available nowadays, particularly in libraries and on the Internet. As Kiecolt points ou t in 'Secondary Analysis of Survey Data': "With data already collected, the costs are only those of obtaining the data, preparing them for analysis (such as ensuring that all data are computer-ready and compatible with the system), and

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Strategic managment report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Strategic managment report - Essay Example (Kuhn, 1996) A paradigm can also be described using its four basic elements: symbolic generalisation, metaphysical assumptions, values and exemplars. Symbolic generalisations refer to the different ways in which problems within the paradigm are put across and solved. Metaphysical assumptions involve the beliefs about what will be considered to be real. Values on the other hand are the characteristics that represent the basic priorities of what issues to pursue and the goals that need to be served. Finally, exemplars are the worked out approaches and answers which represent the whole world view as a logical form. (Kuhn, 1996) Paradigms, according to Thomas Kuhn, are culturally oriented and very discrete. For example, an Asian medical researcher who has an enormous amount of knowledge on eastern medicine would encompass a totally different paradigm to that of a western medical researcher. (Kuhn, 1996) Organisational paradigm implies the beliefs, philosophies, values policies, structures and operations that embody an organisation. (Kuhn, 1996) Organisational paradigm can be applicable to the domain of an organisation and also explains the frame of reference of an organisation as well as its culture and world view. The importance of an organisation’s paradigm for strategic management is that it can be used to revamp the management system of the organisation. (Kuhn, 1996) This can bring about a number of elements like the importance of the role of a leader, intensive employee training, increased salaries and budgets and combating any resistance to change. Strategic management paradigm leads to various generalities, for example towards the external environment which means that the organisation must show commitment to the social, economic and environmental issues that surround the firm. Institutional actions must also be considered which stress the values and principles of total quality

Monday, September 23, 2019

Product Analysis about Fast Food Restaurant Essay

Product Analysis about Fast Food Restaurant - Essay Example With a varied range of fast food items and ready to eat deserts, the company has been operating well in the international market. The company, in order to meet the changing demands, has been updating their marketing strategies as per the need of the changing time. Moreover, the company has also been serving a varied range of delicacies to capture markets of the fast food restaurants. The company has also opened a large number of franchises to serve people better in the larger number (Dominos IP Holder LLC, 2008). Herewith, the paper focuses to complete a detailed analysis of the fast food restaurant. By analyzing the different market recommendations of the fast food restaurant, a detailed picture of their market strategy is framed. The paper also describes the current fast food services the company is trading on from a critical point of view, highlighting its positives and negatives as well. Initially, Domino’s was involved in serving only Pizzas since its inception. Gradually, with the changing demand and taste preferences, the company became diversified in its food services with the inclusion of a variety of flavored pizzas and a varied range of deserts into their product line. In comparison to other food items, its Handmade Pizza has been a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to the company, attracting high demand from the targeted consumers. The company has also been selling a wide range of products like the Parmesan Bread Bites, Stuffed Cheesy breads and Chocolate Lava Crunch to attract a diversified customer group. The company is recognized to be the bestsellers of a varied range of products, which has set a benchmark in the industry by ensuring timely delivery with quality. To increase the convenience of home delivery, Domino’s has been taking initiatives in opening a virtual store. These virtual stores were designed in order to enhance the customerâ⠂¬â„¢s convenience in placing orders. Additionally, in order to

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Knowledge Is Virtue Essay Example for Free

Knowledge Is Virtue Essay We define knowledge as the state or fact of knowing, familiarity, awareness or understanding, gained through experience or study and virtue as the moral excellence and righteousness. All of us have knowledge but not all the knowledge we have is the same, same with virtue. All of us have virtue but not all is practicing it. All of us have knowledge because it is a gift from God that we can keep and share to others. Through knowledge, one is also given the knowledge of understanding one’s self and what surrounds him. One can be taught about life through knowledge. Having knowledge is also having the ability to know what is right and what is wrong. With knowledge we can also do change or improvements. For instance, the knowledge of sickness, the more we know about our sickness, the more we know that it can be cured and by that, life our life is improved. We can make improvements through knowledge physically and mentally. We can identify problems and find solutions because of knowledge, but these problems is not caused by knowledge itself but from the individuals’ use of knowledge. By having simple knowledge about these problems, it already creates vision of solutions. Knowledge is a virtue that we should know what is good for us. Virtue is something that is good or something that is right. If we have done something that is not right, for example, if the knowledge of power is used improperly, it is not because of the mere knowledge already. It is because of the emotions that caused him to do that. If that’s the case, he doesn’t possess virtue. Knowledge is like the other virtues that we should keep and be reminded of always. We should use it not to seek advantage over others but to share it and make them a better individual. Through knowledge, we know how to understand and we know how to act right. We just have to use knowledge justly so we will know about virtue. Thus, knowledge is the creation of virtue. Knowledge is virtue.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Impact of Cane Toad Introduction Into Australian Habitat

Impact of Cane Toad Introduction Into Australian Habitat Biology Issue Report: The impact of the introduction of Cane toads into the Australian habitat. Cane toads (Rhinella Marina) were introduced to north-eastern Australia in 1935 in an attempt to control the sugar cane pests damaging the crops of farmers. Cane toads are large toads native to Central and South America. They are voracious predators, eating a diet consisting mainly of arthropods. The main habitat of cane toads was originally thought to be humid, tropical conditions, however it is now thought that they are able to tolerate a much broader range of environments and climates. This has enabled them to quickly thrive in north-eastern Australia. The numbers of cane toads in Australia have increased rapidly since their introduction into the environment and many people are concerned about the threat that they may pose to the native wildlife of Australia. The aim of this report is to examine the nature of the threat to the native wildlife and to explore whether their numbers can be reduced. The spread of cane toads The increasing numbers of cane toads in Australia has led to concern in both the scientific community and amongst the general public about the threat that they pose to Australian ecosystems. The spread of cane toads in north-eastern Australia has occurred at an unprecedented rate however it is difficult to accurately determine the true extent of the species’ dispersal due to the inherent margin of error that exists when attempting to conduct a species census (Shine 2010). In 2010 Jane Elith and her colleagues used the case of the cane toads to explore whether there is an accurate method by which the future distribution of invasive species can be determined, taking into account the shifting range of many invasive species (Elith, et al. 2010). They concluded that an ecophysiological model is the most accurate way to predict the future extent of the spread of an invasive species such as cane toads (Elith et al.2010). This model considers both the species’ characteristics a nd the environment into which it is expanding when determining their possible future spread. This highlights one difficulty with the current suggestions regarding the rate at which cane toads are spreading in Australia. It has been estimated by some researchers that cane toads are spreading at a rate of 5-6km a year in northern Australia; however it can be argued that these suggestions do not take into account the changing climates into which the toads are spreading. Whilst some habitats, such as tropical climates are particularly suited to the cane toads, others, for example dry habitats, are more challenging environments for cane toads. Therefore their spread into different habitats may be more uneven than predicted. Implications of the spread of cane toads Environmental Implications The diet of cane toads consists predominately of invertebrate species, particularly ants, termites and beetles. This has led some to question whether the introduction of cane toads into the Australian habitat may have a damaging effect on the populations of such invertebrates. In 2006 M.J Greenlees and his colleagues carried out experiments to explore the effect that the presence of cane toads in small enclosures had upon native invertebrates (Greenlees et al. 2006). In their experiment they introduced large and small cane toads and the equivalent biomass of native frogs to different controlled enclosures and used pitfall traps to measure the number of invertebrates found in the enclosure after the introduction of both cane toads and native frogs. The results of their experiment suggested that the numbers of invertebrates in the enclosures of both the cane toads and the native frogs decreased by a similar amount, and they concluded that the cane toads had a similar effect to native f rogs on the numbers of invertebrates. This result is displayed in Figure 1.3 which shows that the richness and abundance of invertebrates in both the cane toad’s enclosures and the Cyclorana and Litoria native frogs’ enclosures was of a similar level (Greenlees et al. 2006). This experiment provides some evidence that the perceived threat of cane toads to the Australian native species may not be as great as previously feared. The most serious threat posed by cane toads to the native species of Australia can be argued to come from the possibility of lethal toxic ingestion of cane toad poison by predators. Cane toads are poisonous, to varying degrees, throughout their lifecycle and bufonid poisons are particularly dangerous to some of Australia’s native animals. Previous to the introduction of the cane toad, many native Australian species had no evolutionary exposure to bufonid poisons, and therefore no immunity to them. Many of Australia’s native predators prey on anurans and have not yet learned to distinguish between native frogs and cane toads. When mouthed or ingested the toads secrete a toxin from their shoulder glands which can prove lethal to many predators. There have been many anecdotal reports in Australia about the deaths of predators such as freshwater crocodiles, northern quolls, goannas and northern death adders, due to the ingestion of cane toad poison. These anecdotal reports are hard to quantify however and cannot be used to provide reliable evidence for the effects of cane toads on large predators. The northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) is a marsupial carnivore, native to Australia, and found predominately in western and northern Australia. The northern quoll is a predatory species that is particularly threatened by the invasion of cane toads into their habitat. Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 the northern quoll is listed as an endangered species and this is the result of the local population extinctions that have occurred as a result of the lethal toxic ingestion of cane toads by this species. Radio tracking of quolls in various studies has shown that the presence of even a few cane toads in the habitat of quolls can decrease the population of quolls in these areas. Without intervention the spread of cane toads could result in the extinction of one of Australia’s smallest mammalian predators. Social Implications Cane toads are disliked by many people because of the perceived threat that they pose to the native wildlife of Australia. This threat has been featured in numerous news reports such as the article in Figure 1.4 and has led to growing concern amongst the general public about the threat that cane toads may pose to humans. In order for cane toad venom to have an effect on humans it needs to be absorbed through the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose or eyes. Cane toad venom is a bufotoxin which contains cardiac glycosides. Cardiac glycosides are compounds which contain the sugar glycoside which has an effect on the force of the cardiac muscle’s contraction (Cohen et al. 2003). When absorbed into the human body the toxin can also cause gastrointestinal problems. Cane toad poisoning has led to the death of some people and because of this many Australians feel threatened by the spread of cane toads into their community. This dislike of cane toads has made community toad-culling eve nts popular amongst the general public. The Australian government has also introduced leaflets aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of cane toads and how to protect families against them (Department of Environment and Conservation, n.d). Can the spread of cane toads be halted? The Australian government has concluded that any attempts to cull cane toads on a large scale would be unfeasible and that there is no prospect for national eradication of cane toads in Australia (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2011). The Australian government has turned its focus away from preventing the spread of cane toads, and towards the protection of endangered species such as the northern quoll. One program, called the Territory Wildlife Park introduced a captive breeding and research program in 2006 to prevent the species’ extinction (Territory Wildlife Park, n.d). The program has also introduced a project to train their captive quolls to avoid cane toads (O’Donnell et al. 2010). After training the quolls to avoid cane toads through aversion therapy, the ‘toad-smart’ quolls and some ‘toad-naà ¯ve’ quolls were released into the wild wearing radio collars. The survival rates of both types of quoll can be seen in figure 1.6. This table shows that the male and female toad-smart quolls had a much greater mean survival time in the wild, it also suggests that females are less likely to be poisoned by toad ingestion. Male quolls appear to attempt to ingest the toads more fr equently with 7 toad related deaths accumulatively in the males, and the toad-naà ¯ve male quolls had the biggest proportion of toad-related deaths at 5 deaths. Figure 1.7 shows that the toad-smart quolls had a greater daily survival percentage than the toad-naà ¯ve quolls and this provides evidence to support the argument that it is better to invest time and money in projects that aim to help native wildlife live alongside cane toads than to try to eradicate the toads completely. The most recent research on methods that could be used to halt the spread of cane toads has focussed on whether there is a way to prevent the toads reaching specific areas during arid seasons. In 2015 Mike Letnic and his colleagues identified ‘invasion hubs’, areas that cane toads initially colonise and then use as a base from which to expand their population (Letnic et al. 2015). They hypothesised that if the access of cane toads to areas like this was restricted, then they would be unable to establish a successful population in previously unpopulated areas. To test their hypothesis the researchers maintained toad-proof fences around dams where toads had previously been eradicated. They then measured the numbers of dead toads around the fences in both dry and wet seasons and observed the numbers of live toads in the area. The results of their study were encouraging and suggested that toads are attracted to these ‘invasion hubs’ and when their access to thes e is denied their mortality rate rises and population numbers decrease (Letnic et al. 2015). This study is particularly important because it highlights a method that could be used to prevent the invasion of cane toads in areas of particular ecological interest. Review of sources The first source I will review is the paper ‘Effects of an invasive anuran [the cane toad (Bufo marinus)] on the invertebrate fauna of a tropical Australian floodplain’ by M.J. Greenlees et al (2006). This research aims to provide quantitative data exploring the effect that invading cane toads are having upon the native invertebrates of Australia. The authors highlight the fact that the effect of cane toads upon the native ecosystems is poorly understood due to a lack of experimental data. In the light of this they conducted a simple experimental trial that produced data that could be analysed to provide an indication of the ecological effects of this invasive species. The researchers used simple methods such as controlled enclosures and pitfall traps to conduct their experiment. Whilst it can be argued that the controlled enclosures used in this experiment will not accurately reflect the true ecology of natural habitats, the researchers acknowledge this in their paper a nd suggest that their experiment be viewed as the first step towards more detailed research. I found this experiment to be thorough in their control of variables and in their analysis of the results. I believe that because the researchers are from the University of Sydney, a well-respected institution, their experiment can be viewed as trustworthy and their results credible. The second source I will review is the website http://www.canetoadsinoz.com/invasion.html (Cane toads in Oz, 2011). This website was created by Richard Shine and his ‘TEAM BUFO’. Shine is a Professor of Biology at Sydney University and is one of the key scientific figures in the field of cane toad research. The website created by Shine and his team examines all aspects of cane toads and their threat to Australia’s native wildlife. Whilst the website is undoubtedly more informal than a scientific paper, it can still be used as a comprehensive tool with which to gain more information about cane toads. It can be argued that websites such as this are more effective at engaging the public and informing them of environmental issues because, in comparison to scientific papers, the easily accessible website is more likely to be read and used as a source of information by the public. Conclusion The spread of cane toads in Australia is an issue that has concerned many people. The scientific research surrounding this issue is particularly interesting because it gives an insight into how the true reality of a threat from an invasive species may be very different from the original perceived threat. Cane toad poison has undoubtedly had a lethal effect on native predators, causing some to become endangered. However not all species appear to have populations detrimentally effected by the presence of the toads. This shows the extent to which natural selection and adaptation allows organisms to cope with environmental threats. Populations may decrease, but they also increase if natural selection allows a species to recover. The spread of cane toads in Australia is now too great to prevent and so scientists are experimenting with methods that allow Australian ecosystems and native species to be conserved and protected alongside the presence of cane toads. These early studies are beginning to provide positive results that suggest that whilst the spread of cane toads may be lethal to some species, a focus on conservation may limit the danger and help to preserve the unique species living in the Australian ecosystem. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cane Toads in Oz, 2011. Available from: http://www.canetoadsinoz.com/invasion.html. [26 February 2015] Cohen, R.A., Gowda, R.M., Khan, A. ‘Toad venom poisoning: resemblance to digoxin toxicity and therapeutic implications’, Heart, 89:4 (2003): e:14 Department of Environment and Conservation, Protecting children and pets from cane toads, Government of Australia. Available from: http://archive.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_assets/content/pw/vp/toad/cane_toads_protect.pdf. [26 February 2015] Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2011. Threat abatement plan for the biological effects, including lethal toxic ingestion, caused by cane toads, Government of Australia. Available from: http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/2dab3eb9-8b44-45e5-b249-651096ce31f4/files/tap-cane-toads.pdf. [26 February 2015] Elith, J., Kearney, M. and Phillips, S., ‘The art of modelling range-shifting species.’, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 1(2010): 330–342. Greenlees, M. J., Brown, G. P., Webb, J. K., Phillips, B. L. and Shine, R. ‘Effects of an invasive anuran [the cane toad (Bufo marinus)] on the invertebrate fauna of a tropical Australian floodplain.’, Animal Conservation, 9 (2006): 431–438 Letnic, M., Webb, J. K., Jessop, T. S., Dempster, T. (2015), ‘Restricting access to invasion hubs enables sustained control of an invasive vertebrate’. Journal of Applied Ecology. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12390 O’Donnell, S., Webb, J.K., Shine, R. ‘Conditioned taste aversion enhances the survival of an endangered predator imperilled by a toxic invader’, Journal of Applied Ecology, 47 (2010): 558-565 Shine, R. ‘The Ecological Impact of Invasive Cane Toads (Bufo Marinus) in Australia’, The Quarterly Review of Biology,85:3, (2010): 253-291 Territory Wildlife Park. Available from: http://www.territorywildlifepark.com.au/about/quoll.shtml. [26 February 2015] Word Count: 2402

Friday, September 20, 2019

Total Quality Management Techniques

Total Quality Management Techniques Total quality management (TQM) principles and techniques are now a days well accepted part of almost every managers tool kit (Dow et al., 1999). According to Powell (1995), most large firms have adopted TQM in some form, and official quality awards are a badge of honour whether a company is operating in Japan, the USA, Europe, or Australia. Implementing TQM is a major organizational change that requires a transformation in the organizations culture, processes, strategic priorities, and beliefs, among others. Quality: Different people have different definitions of quality but they all have the same central theme. According to (Text book), Quality is consistent conformance to customers expectations. Some refer to quality as fitness for use and other calls it as conformance of requirement. According to American Society for Quality, Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. However, quality doesnt have a single perspective and is different for the customers of any product and service and for the producers of that good or service. In the Operations view, targeting quality is to undertake operations to produce outcomes which are in line with the specifications defined through processes that are designed and controlled to maintain consistency in the specified production and above all, that the Customers Expectations are met through the produced good or service. In customers view, quality has no single definition for all customers. It depends on how they perceive it. Hence, quality is referred to as customers perception and expectation about different values of a single product or service. Following are the different dimensions of any product or service: Performance Main characteristics of a product/service Special Features Extra characteristics Conformance How well a product/service corresponds to the customers expectation Reliability Consistency of performance Durability Useful life of a product/service Perceived Quality Indirect evaluation of quality (e.g. reputation) After Sales Service Handling of complaints and requests for information THE DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY (Stevenson, 1999) The Quality Costs The cost of quality is a balance of the cost of assurance of quality against the costs associated with shortcomings resulting in the lack of quality. An attempt to minimize the total quality costs is mere balancing of the four components of quality cost: prevention: incurred to prevent quality problems, appraisal: associated with controlling quality to check whether problems have occurred or not, internal failures: associated with errors dealt with inside of operations and external failures: associated with errors or problems going out of the operation to a customer.(Text Book) The variations within the individual quality cost categories are secondary in importance compared to their combined effect on the overall total quality cost. The quality cost concept is an effective tool that can be used to express the value of the quality aspects of the operation in terms of money so that monitoring and analysis of investments and savings in that area can be readily evaluated using the language of business: money. (George P. Laszlo) Prevention is the important influence more than inspection, according to a rule of thumb, for every dollar spent in prevention; a company can save $10 in failure and appraisal costs. (Chase, Aquilano and Jacobs, 1998) Consequences of Poor Quality Quality has been recognised as the key ingredient for success in business and has been focused upon intensely so as to match the pace of the contemporary market growth and the subsequent competition in it. Production of good or service with the required quality is possible only through properly managed production process, whose vital part is to ensure the satisfactory quality assurance. However, in case this vital part fails to contribute its role effectively, processes produce outcomes with poor quality. Poor quality products may disappoint the buyer and result in the customer migration. Buying a product and finding it below expectations will make buyer not to buy the same product again. In fact, the chances that the buyer will buy any other product from the company are also low. Poor quality affects the overall costs associated with that product. The failure cost increases as poor quality product is repaired, replaced or made new. The cost associated with the reimbursements and waste materials increases the overall variable production costs and hence profit margins and contribution. As a consequence of the cost increase, companies alter the price levels. ( Begg Ward) However, spending enough prevention cost at first place, the economic turbulence in the market can be avoided. More than all, poor quality damages the image and reputation of the company among the customer base. The famous example of Mercedes, launching A-class car without noticing its faulty design, showed the sensitivity of the relation between reputation of a company with the quality of its products. ( Topfer,1997) As the repairs or rectification of any faulty product demands for more efforts, the overall productivity of the firm is also affected by the poor quality outcomes. Also, the Consumer and Product Safety Act of 1972 makes firms liable for damages caused by the products or services, which do not fulfil the standards set and enforced by the act. (Heizer and Render, 2000) What is TQM? The concept of TQM (Total Quality Management) is generally understood, and often also described, as some form of management philosophy based in a number of core values, such as customer focus, continuous improvement, process orientation, everybodys commitment, fast response, result orientation and learn from others. (Ulrika Hellsten and Bengt Klefsjo, emerald). All these core values collectively are nothing but quality improvement. Hence, TQM is best thought of as a philosophy of how to approach the organization of quality improvement. (Text Book) TQM philosophy stresses the Total of TQM. Putting quality or improvement at the heart of everything and including all activities within an operation, TQM aims at participation of all the members in organization targeting long-run success through customer satisfaction, and benefits to all members of the organization and to society. TQM and the Quality Gurus Although the quality gurus seem to be recommending different solutions to bringing about improvement, they are all talking the same language but they use different dialects.(Text book). Each Guru stressed a different set of issues, which catalysed the transition from TQM concept to operations improvement. It is believed that Japanese were the first to introduce the concept and implemented it on a wide scale and subsequently popularized the term Total Quality Management. Few of the popular contributors and their philosophies about TQM are briefly described. A. Feigenbaum stressed on the integration of quality development, quality maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable production and service at the most economical levels which allow for full customer satisfaction.( Text book) W.E.Demings basic philosophy is that quality and productivity increase as process variability (the unpredictability of the process) decreases. In his 14 points for quality improvement, he emphasizes the need for statistical control methods, participation, education, openness and purposeful improvement.(Text book) J.M. Juran was concerned about management responsibility for quality and he focussed on user based approach in defining the specifications of the products. TQM as an extension of previous practice. Quality is explained with a different perspective in contemporary organizations in comparison to traditional organizations. The new perspective suggests that from narrow, manufacturing-based discipline, quality has transited to a corporate emphasis and is applicable to each business function and every employee with broader implications for management. The evolution of quality management has reached a point where quality is being viewed as a basis for competition. Total quality management can be viewed as a natural extension of earlier approaches to quality Management. Earlier quality was achieved by inspection and screening out defects before they were noticed by customers. The quality control (QC) concept introduced the concept of treating the quality problems. Quality assurance (QA) widened the responsibility for quality to include functions other than direct operations and made use of statistical quality techniques. TQM added few more factors or themes into it. The first and the key element of TQM is that organizations should see the product or its value and quality from customers point of view in a process of setting its specifications, designing and actual production. In these days, rapidly changing trends, technologies and preferences are collectively making the process of realizing customers expectations a critical, time taking and expensive process for contemporary organizations. Another powerful aspect of TQM is the concept of Internal and External customers which suggests the inclusion of all the parts of organization. Delivering the goods and services with a level of quality within the organization considering everyone as customer ensures the delivery of the final product to the external customer to be of required level of expectations and quality. Several companies are adopting the internal customer concept in their operations. Hewlett-Packard, the information systems company, was one of the first to make a success of the internal-customer concept in its operations. (Text Book) The concept of never ending improvement makes TQM an even better tool for improvement. The reputation and business of any company runs on quality of its product. However, with increasing pace of advancement and research, one level of quality doesnt reflect the same value to customers in very short time. So, implementing continuous improvement concept keeps the organization in the competition. Quality programs like zero-defects, which aims at performing right at the first time, and six sigma, which is intended to keep the error rate of about 3 defectives per million units, are also used to describe the continuous improvement efforts. (Stevenson, 1996 Blackboard) TQM Cost Model Quality Systems and Procedures Very often people are prevented from making improvements by the organizations systems and procedures. Indeed, there is a belief that direct operators can correct, at the most, only 15 per cent of quality problems; the other 85 per cent are managements responsibility because they are due to the system or the lack of one. (Text Book) This calls for a properly defined Quality management system which should cover all facets of the organizations operations. ISO 9000 series is a set of worldwide standards that draws the common requirements for quality management systems for all organization and provides a framework for quality assurance. The registration process involves a third party evaluation and regular audits to ensure the system doesnt deteriorate. (Text Book). ISO 9000 registration is an effective element for organizations to have an edge over those which doesnt hold the registration. Customers, these days, are very well aware of these standards and gain confidence, in terms of assured quality, in any company if it is ISO 9000 recommended. Surely, organizations and customers, both are benefitted. However, on the other hand, those contemporary organizations which still havent achieved the ISO 9000 have to somehow, undertake the time and cost consuming implementation of these set of quality measures to sustain in the highly competitive era. Implementation of TQM While implementing TQM, organizations should not forget that firms will have different needs and thus TQM must be specially customised to the circumstances of the organization. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston; 2001). Also, TQM involves all aspects of the firm and unless its significance is fully understood by everybody, its implementation will fail. (N.N., 2000b Blackboard). The successful implementation of TQM should focus on following factors. Factor 1: Top management commitment: The degree of visibility and support that management takes in implementing a total quality environment is critical to the success of TQM implementation (Deming, 1982; Juran and Gryna 1980). Management should plan to reduce traditionally structured operational levels and unnecessary positions. For example, spot checking can be implemented instead of hiring a supervisor for this job. Simplifying the organization will lead to the establishment of an infrastructure of integrated business functions participating as a team and supporting the strategic vision of the company. (Jaideep Motwani) Factor 2: Quality measurement and benchmarking: Most authors endorse a zero defect and a do it right the first time attitude towards the quality program. Measurement techniques should include monitoring supplier quality levels, utilizing SPC (Statistical Process Control) to reduce process variability, and calculating the cost of quality (Ahire et al., 1996; Powell, 1995; Hardie, 1998). Factor 3: Process management: This factor emphasizes adding value to processes, increasing quality levels, and raising productivity per employee. The concept of Continuous improvement discussed earlier, has to be implemented for assurance. The other tactics can be reducing the operator material handling duties, achieving a compact process flow or implementation of quality circles. Factor 4: Product design: The study of quality performance commence from the product design stage, when everything is in flux. A range of possibilities exist at this stage about the material to be used, specifications, vendors etc. Hence, at this critical point, customers expectations should be clear. Factor 5: Employee training: Employees should be trained and oriented to the overall gaols of the company, the commitments to successfully utilizing the TQM methodology and to be an effective team member. There are techniques for staff to learn as well, of course, but the purpose of the techniques is solely to work towards the basic objective the elimination of errors. (Text Book) Factor 7: Customer involvement and satisfaction: When considering customers, internal and external customers are addressed. Internal customers should undertake timely and dependable deliveries, continuously improve and self-implement solutions. An external customer service program should include providing customers with timely information and quick responsiveness to complaints, and maintaining a corporate goal to reduce the quantity of questions or complaints while recognizing all successful efforts by employees in providing outstanding service (Kasul and Motwani, 1995b). Reasons of TQM failure: Organizations often do not understand the depth of implementing TQM. The weak commitment results in ineffective value setting in the organization. A blind pursuit of TQM, which doesnt integrate quality into strategy, will draw an organisations attention away from the real important issues like customer focus and never ending improvement and thus TQM, considered a short-term investment, will certainly fail. (Reid and Sanders, 2002 and Stevenson, 1999). At the same time, expecting a radical change or a quick fix by mere implementing it results in the failures. Managers take issues for granted after implementing TQM; creating an absence of good decision making skills which leads to the TQM failures. Another reason is the ambiguity in the roles for making change, undertaking quality measures and eliminating errors in an organisation after implementing TQM. Top management may believe that identification and eliminations of errors has to be processed at operations level, however, operation workers may not take extra responsibility and can develop a perception that improvement measures are burdening them which can lead to lack in belief and commitment and eventual failure. Lack Employees Commitment As discussed earlier, training is an important part of the TQM implementation process. Training the employees doesnt only points to the operations training but also the attitude training as well. Absence or lack of employee training can be a reason of failure. TQM demands for the complete awareness and participation at every level of the organization.(Text Book) Unless, employees develop a commitment level at which they perceive organizational goals as their own, they cannot work to their full potential. However, spending adequate amount on conducting trainings can be a key for the desired outcome. Lack of organizations communication system and function is also a cause for the failure of TQM in an organization. The varied information regarding TQM as a result of lack of co-ordination between different departments may not satisfy the questions of workforce and hence create a loss of ideas which may have developed with proper information in the flow. Absence of proper review technique to check the effectiveness of the quality system is a major cause for failure. Organizations fail to find the cause for defects in products or procedures on implementation of TQM. It may be due to the wrong techniques being used to review or ineffective business process adopted.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

A Comparitive Study Of The Work Of The Devil :: essays research papers

It is true that the study of the devil or evil in general as a part of the world has intrigued man for centuries. This is mostly because it is something people don't have concrete proof of and is also considered taboo in our society. Yet, studies and/or story telling on the devil and his evil forces seems to have been apart of all societies since the begining of time. Such as, Christpher Marlowe's play, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustas, written in the 16th century and the modern day film, The Devil's Advocate, starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. The devil in Marlowe's play doesnt come to Dr. Faustas as himself , instead he sends one of his disciples named Mephistophilis. When Mephistophilis first comes to Dr. Faustas he comes as himself, a demon like creature that is not quite appealing to the eye and seems to frighten or sicken Dr.Faustas. Dr. Faustas immediatley asks Mephistophilis to come back as something more pleasant, such as a fransiscan friar. The devil immediatly does so. I assume he does this to please Dr. Faustas and to show him that with the type of power he possesses he can appear to be or even change into whom ever he wants. This being something that the doctor can also achieve by giving up his soul. He also offers Dr. Faustas many things such as, knowledge (something the Doctor can't get enough of) and tells the Doctor that he can basically have everything he desires in exchange for his soul. Something very similar to this instance also occurs in The Devils Advocate. In the beginning of the film Keanu Reeves is approached by a man( also a messenger of the devil's) in a bar offering him a job opportunity in Manhattan and to persuade him to come he offers him a very large sum of money. When Keanu arrives he is surrounded by all the materialistic things he could desire in addition to the power and acknowledgment he so strongly desires. This is all once again there to tempt him towards evil and persuade him to sell his soul. Another pertinant similarity between the 16th century play and the modern day film is the chance that both characters were given to give it all up, leave the devil and regain their souls, yet the outcome is far different. In Marlowe's play, Dr.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Music as an Indicative of the History of Puerto Rico :: Culture cultural History Puerto Rican Essays

Music as an Indicative of the History of Puerto Rico During Dr. Lise Waxer’s October 29th lecture she characterized "music" as being indicative of the history of a people, a way of establishing social relations, and being a forum for dialogue. However, upon a critical analysis of the claims within her lecture and the issues discussed within Ruth Glasser’s My Music is My Flag, I believe that modern studies of Puerto Rican popular culture reveal more about the present state of Puerto Rican identity than the historical subjects themselves. It is clear that above all else Puerto Rican musical history, from its evolution on the island and in the diaspora, was created and conditioned by the US colonial system. Therefore, any attempt to elevate its significance may be more of a classed-based attempt to elevate their social position within the context of colonized historical reality. Before embarking upon this analysis it is important to note that Ruth Glasser is not Puerto Rican. Although she is "a nice Jewish girl" studying the history of Puerto Rican music, the fact that she is not Puerto Rican does not exclude her from misinterpreting the significance of her findings (xv). From the onset of her analysis she presents herself in opposition to "the traditional historian’s" assumptions about Puerto Rican history. She claims that "many popular and scholarly assessments suggest that Puerto Rican musicians have left their own ostensibly meager musical resources behind and [have]‘merely’ adopted Cuban sounds" (3). This opinion, she claims, characterizes Puerto Rican musical culture as being "imported," meaning that it has no self-sustaining historical traditions of its own. Such a claim would also challenge Lise Waxer’s claims which characterize Puerto Rican music as a manifestation of Puerto Rican national history. Glasser in turn proceeds within her study to describe the numerous historical traditions of Puerto Rican music. Most prominent among these traditions is the fact that many of the early bands under early US colonial rule began as military bands during the First World War. Indeed, the US army band soldiers were examples of the first musical experience during the Puerto Rican Diaspora because their travels to Europe allowed some musician form "a particularly prominent part of the United States Army’s most famous musical ensembles. [For example] the 369th Infantry "Hellfighters" Band" (54). As professional musician these people benefitted greatly by gaining access to more traditional forms of musical skills.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Summary Response: Discrimination

JUST WALK ON BY Have you ever been obsessed by the fear of being different from other people? People usually give the wrong perception on the others based on their appearance, or their skin. In the article â€Å"Just Walk on by†, the uk/rhetorical-devices-in-night-walker-by-brent-staples/">author Brent Staples tells a story about his own experiences, which are how he was discriminated because of his appearance: a black man. The story begins when the author was mistaken for a criminal due to his black skin by a white woman. Although Brent Staples was just a graduate student, every time he went to the public, almost everybody, especially the women tried to run away from him.Simply, he is black, and they considered that a black man could be a rapist, a mugger or worse. The readers can picture how a young black man is isolated from the public through the author’s experiences: being perceived as dangerous on the street, or being mistaken for a burglar at work. At the end, he found out that he was not able to change the bad perception on his black skin, so he learnt to get use to it and tried to be successful. In response to the essay, there are three points that crossed my mind after read the article; specifically, these are the discrimination, the compassion and ways to get over the obstacles. Related essay: On Compassion SummaryTo begin with, discrimination is the first issue which was pointed out very clearly in the article. Discrimination has lasted for many decades. There are many kinds of discrimination, such as skin colour, religion, national origin, and gender. Although many laws, controversies, demonstrations have exploded to against the discrimination, a lot of people are still suffering from that issue. The victims often receive the bad perceptions of the others on their own appearances, and as the results, they are not trusted by anybody or even be considered as a criminal, and worse for the society.For example, the author was mistaken for a burglar at his workplace just because he is the black. He finally chose trying to be successful as a way to overcome the discrimination. However, how many people who are discriminated can be optimistic to get over their obstacles as Brent Staples did? The victims of discrimination usually feel stressed, depressed, and insult ed, so it’s very hard to think of a positive way to overcome it. Some of them choose to suicide or kill any people who hurt them. Obviously, they become worse as a result of discrimination.When we were born, nobody was able to choose our parents, skin colour or gender, so we have no rights to evaluate or give any poor perception on other people based on their appearance. Another point that I want to share after reading the article is the compassion. Being discriminated by other people is the worst feeling in the world. As a person who comes from a poor country, I am often affair of being discriminated. I’m not black, but some people gave me the bad perception because they thought that I come from a poor country which means I have a poor education.Everything I have is worse than theirs. Moreover, I used to be discriminated by a Vietnamese who was born in the America. He usually makes fun of me because I’m not good in English. As the results, I’m often relu ctant and feel shy when talking with a stranger in English. Back to the article, the author’s story about discrimination reminds me of a poem I read many years ago: COLOURED When I born, I Black, When I grow up, I Black, When I go in Sun, I Black, When I scared, I Black, When I sick, I Black, And when I die, I still black, And you White fella,When you born, you Pink, When you grow up, you White, When you go in Sun, you Red, When you cold, you Blue, When you scared, you Yellow, When you sick, you Green, And when you die, you Gray, And you calling me Coloured ? This poem was written by an African child. Eventually, discrimination exists everywhere in the world. The black is usually distrusted in both workplaces and society. In Brent Staples’ story, even though he had a good job in Chicago, he was still considered as a burglar. Not all coloured people are bad and aggressive, and not all the white are good.Therefore, as coloured people, we should show the talents and prove our values to the world that everything white people do, we can do it, and even better. The final thing i learnt from the article is the ways to get over the discrimination. I really admire Brent’s spirit when he faced to his obstacles. He chose to avoid misunderstandings and tried to be successful as ways to against discrimination. Actually, in life, we can see a lot of coloured people who used to be discriminated proved their own values to the world.For example, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and many other celebrities have showed their talents and been admitted by the millions people in the world. Plus, recently, Barack Obama is the first coloured president of America. Nevertheless, beside positive sides, there are some people choosing negative ways to overcome the discrimination. They suicide as a way to escape, or they kill anybody who hurts them. Sometimes, being friendly and optimistic is a good way to solve problems rather than being aggressive and pe ssimistic.Our skin colour doesn’t make any senses; the way we perceive and get over our obstacles will make our own values. In conclusion, I’m strongly against the discrimination, but I also sympathize with the author in the article, and I admire the ways he chose to get over the discrimination. There should have more laws and organizations to support and protect people who are discriminated. Moreover, nobody have rights to evaluate or comment, especially discriminate other people based on their appearances. This world might be peaceful and happy if everyone lived by such tenets as â€Å"Never cause discrimination between human and human†.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Participants in the Business Buying Process Essay

Who does the buying of the trillions of dollars’ worth of goods and services needed by the business organizations? Purchasing agents are influential in straight -re-buy and modified re situations, whereas other department personnel are more influential in the new-buy situations. Engineering personnel usually have a major influence in selecting the product components, and purchasing agents dominate in selecting suppliers. Webster and Wind call the decision making unit of a buying organization the buying center. The buying center is composed of â€Å"all those individuals and groups who participate in the purchasing from the decision†. The buying center includes all members of the organization who play any of seven roles in the purchase decision process. Several roles of organization buying: Initiators: Those who request that something be purchased. They may be users or others in the organization. Users: Those who will use the product or service. In many cases, the users initiate the buying proposal and help define the product requirements. Influencers: People who influence the buying decision. They often help define specifications and also provide information for evaluating alternatives. Technical personnel are particularly important influencers. Deciders: People who decide on product requirements or on suppliers. Approvers: People who authorize the proposed actions of deciders and buyers. Approvers: People who authorize the proposed actions of deciders or buyers Buyers: People who have formal authority to select the supplier and arrange the purchase terms. Buyers may help shape product specifications, but they  play major role in selecting vendors. Buyers may help shape product specifications, but they play their major role in selecting vendors and negotiating. In more complex purchases, the buyers might include high-level managers. Gatekeepers: People who have the power to prevent sellers or information from reaching members of buying center. For example, purchasing agent, receptionists, and telephone operators may prevent salesperson from contacting users or deciders. The average number of people involved in a buying decision ranges from about three (for services and items used in day-to-day operations) to almost five (for such high tickets purchases as construction and machinery). To target their efforts properly, business marketers have to figure out: who are the major decision participants? What decisions do they influence? What is the level of their influence? What criteria do they used? When a buying center includes many participants, the business marketer will not have time or resources to each out to all of them. Small sellers concentrate on reaching they key buying influencers. Larger sellers go for multilevel in-depth selling to reach as many participants as possible. Their salespeople virtually â€Å"live† with their high volume customers. Companies will have to rely more heavily on their communications program to reach hidden buying influences and keep their current customers informed. Business marketers must periodically review their assumptions about the buying center participants. Major Influences on Buying Decisions Business buyers respond to many influences when they make their decisions. When suppliers’ offerings are similar, business buyers can satisfy the purchasing requirements with any supplier, and they place more weight on the personal treatment they receive. Where supplier offering differs substantially, business buyers are more accountable for their choices and pay more attention to economic factors. Business buyers respond to four main influences: environmental, organizational, interpersonal, and individual. 1. Environmental Factors Business buyers pay close attention to current and expected economic factors, such as the level of production, investment, consumer spending, and interest rate. In a recession, business buyer reduces their investment in plant, equipment, and inventories. Companies are fears of shortage of key materials are willing to buy and hold large inventories. They will sign long term contracts with suppliers to ensure a steady flow of materials. 2. Organization Factors Every organization has specific purchasing objectives, policies, procedures, organizational structures, and systems. Business marketers need to be aware of the following organization trends in the purchasing area. Purchasing Up Grading: The new, more strategically oriented purchasing departments have been changed, from old-fashion â€Å"fashion departments† with an emphasis on buying at the lowest cost, to â€Å"procurement departments† with a mission to seek the best value from fewer and better suppliers. Some multinationals have even elevated to â€Å"strategic supply departments† with responsibility for global sourcing and partnership. Cross-functional Roles: Most purchasing professionals describe their job as less clerical, more strategic, technical, team oriented, and involving more responsibility than even before. Sixty-one percent of buyers surveyed said the buying group was more involved in new-product design and development than it was five years ago; more than half the buyers participate in cross-functional teams, with suppliers well represented. Central Purchasing: In multidivisional companies, most purchasing is carried out by separate divisions because of their different needs. Some companies, however, have started to centralize their purchasing. Headquarters identifies materials purchased by several divisions and buys them centrally, thereby gaining more purchasing clout. The individual divisions can buy from another source if they can get a better deal; in general, centralized purchased purchasing produces substantial savings. For the business marketer, this development means dealing with fewer and higher-level buyers and using a national account sales group to deal with large corporation. Decentralized Purchasing of Small-Ticket Item: At the same time, companies are decentralizing some purchasing operations by empowering employees to purchase small-ticket items such as binders, coffeemakers, etc. Internet Purchasing: Forrester Research estimates that B2B transactions over the net reached $2.7 trillion in 2004. The move to internet purchasing has far reaching implications for suppliers and will change the shape of purchasing for years to come. Other Organization Factors: Long Term Contract. Business buyers are increasingly initiating accepting long -term contracts with reliable suppliers. Business markets are using internets to set-up extranets with important customers to facilitate and lower the cost of transactions. Their customers enter orders directly on the computer, and these orders are automatically transmitted to the supplier. Some companies go further and shift the ordering responsibility to their suppliers in system called vendor-managed inventory. These suppliers are privy to the customer’s inventory levels and take responsibility to replenish automatically through continuous replenishment programs. Purchasing-Performance Evaluation and Buyers’ Professional Development: many companies have set up incentive system to reward purchasing managers for good buying performance, in much the same way that sales personnel receive bonuses for good selling performance. These systems are leading purchasing  managers to increase pressure on sellers for the best terms. Improved Supply Chain Management: Purchasing executives are increasingly involved in working with marketing and other company executives in building a seamless supply chain management system from the purchase of raw materials to the on-time arrival of finished goods to the end users. Interpersonal and Individual Factors Buying centers usually include several participants with differing interests, authority, empathy and persuasiveness. Each buyer carries personal motivations, perceptions, and preferences, which are influenced by buyer’s age, income, job position, personality, attitudes towards risk, and culture. Cultural Factors Buying factors vary from one country to another. Here are some rules of social and business etiquette that marketers should understand when doing business in other countries.