Lord Capulet Character Analysis Essay

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a play about two lovers who are from opposing families, Lord Capulet wishes to appear as a man of peace and much virtue, but when he is away from the prying eyes of the public, he is a man many times worse than Lord Montague. Lord Capulet is a complex character who many times contradicts his earlier actions in this play. By the end of this, you will truly understand Lord Capulet’s motives towards life. He is not the caring man one might think he is when they first meet him or read about him, but a man with no heart or compassion, just the ability to show some. Many times throughout Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet appears to be a very nice, agreeable, loving kind of guy. But if you check closely enough, every time he appears to be loving, agreeable, or nice, he is somewhere in public. Lord Capulet wishes to be thought of well by the public, much like we all do, but it isn’t the same for him. For him, it’s more of a matter between life and death. First of all, Lord Capulet is having a party, in which he invites almost the whole town. In his instance holding a party in which you invite pretty much everybody in town, is supposed to make you popular. Most people don’t hold a party for everyone because they have nothing better to do, and when you invite the whole town, your just trying to look â€Å"cool†. â€Å"Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone†¦I would not for the wealth of all this town, here in my house do him disparagement†(1.5.73-77). Right here, Lord Capulet tells Tybalt to let Romeo alone, because in his house, in front of a whole crowd of people, Lord Capulet does not wish to disparage himself or disparage anyone that in turn would disparage him. It would certainly not make him popular with the prince, and therefore not popular with anyone in the city. But this is not all, oh no, this is not all (Dr. Suess book). â€Å"But woo her gentle Paris, get her hear; My will to her consent is but a part. An she agree, within her scope of choice lies my consent and fair according voice†(1.2.16-19). Here again we have Lord Capulet in public, this time in a public street. He is trying to appear to be a man who cares so much about his daughter that he gives her almost all of the say in her marriage. Obviously, as I will show you later on, this is not true, but he makes it appear that way in this scene. Of course we won’t be tricked by him, that blundering fool. Finally, in our last scene(5.3), Lord Capulet gives Lord  Montague money, saying that this is his daughter’s jointure. He does this because he is out in front of everyone including the prince and he still wants to appear popular, because right now, he’s not looking too good. Lord Montague though, wants to outdo Capulet, so he says he’ll erect a gold statue of Juliet in the middle of town. Capulet can’t think of anything to say so he says he’ll do the same thing for Romeo. What a party! Lord Capulet does everything here for show, because he wants to appear â€Å"cool†. In the next paragraph this will be contradicted when he appears very â€Å"uncool†, because if it doesn’t affect his public goodwill, he doesn’t care. You know he should probably do drugs, maybe he’ll become â€Å"cool† then and make some friends too. Outside of the â€Å"prying eyes of the public†, our character, Lord Capulet does not seem to be very nice. Many of the things he said in public are contradicted when he gets with his family, or by himself. â€Å"Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender of my child’s love. I think she will be ruled in all respects by me, nay more, I doubt it not†(3.4.14-16). Here Capulet completely changes around what he said earlier in Act 1 Scene 2 about his daughter making the decision about love. He now says that he will make the decision about whom she loves. He makes this decision in the privacy of his own home with only one person that is not a family member present, and that person will be a family member within two days. Uh huh. But no, that is not all. â€Å"Does she not count her blest, unworthy as she is, that we have wrought so worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?†(3.5.161-163). Here Capulet starts to lose it. He is yet again in his own home, now, only with his family, and very displeased at his daughter, not even something he would do to the Montagues. â€Å"How, how, how, how, choplogic? What is this? ‘Proud’-and ‘I thank you’-and ‘I thank you not’- And yet ‘not proud’? Mistress minion you, thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds, but fettle your fine joints ‘gainst Thursday next to go with Paris to Saint Peter’s Church, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. Out, you green-sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! You tallow-face!†(3.5.167-176). (No I didn’t just add that so I could have more words.) Capulet not only starts to lose it with his 161-163 lines, but seriously goes crazy in this last quote. Because nobody is around, he has nothing to lose, he could go on for ages calling her names,  names that back in Act 1 Scene 2, were out of our minds. In Act 1 Scene 2, it was more like, â€Å"I love my daughter so much, she is intelligent enough to make her own decisions, I just make sure they’re good†. Not really the case here, the case here is more like, â€Å"You #@$#%$# mongrel, what is your problem, I make decisions for you, because I’m your father.† So there you have it public v. private, which one do you want? Lord Capulet is like the president, we think we know so much, but when we look on the inside, and really find out, we felt as if we had been misled the whole time. To Romeo, Lord Capulet looks like a man that cares most for the welfare of his daughter, but to someone on the inside of the family, the picture wouldn’t be the same. Just as if we found out our president was gay, the picture of our country and his voters would very well change. Though, Lord Capulet, when out in public tries to look good, his inner self is not completely hidden. Many times throughout the story Lord Capulet becomes insincere, sarcastic, or plays around with words. For example, â€Å"He shall be endured†(1.5.84). Here Capulet is telling Tyblat that he has to put up with Romeo. When Capulet says the word endured, that hints to us that Capulet doesn’t really want to put up with Romeo, but does it so he will be though of as a greater man. Therefore showing to us that him keeping Romeo at his party is an insincere gesture. â€Å"O Brother Montague, give me thy hand. This is my daughter’s jointure, for no more can I demand†(5.5.320-322). The very wording the Capulet uses to say this, implies sarcasm, he is doing it again for popularity’s sake. He goes on and does the same thing that Montague does, erecting a gold statue, again wording it very sarcastically, and creating a new insincere relationship between himself and Lord Montague. This just proves that his inner self, will never be able to hide. In conclusion, Lord Capulet is a very insincere, cruel-hearted, and tricky man. He attempts to appear as a man that is not only a loving, caring, responsible father, but a responsible man in the community as well. He feels that if when in the public he is inviting towards foes, that he will be thought of as a great peace bringing man, but that unfortunately is not how life works. Lord Capulet’s decisions are not based on what he wants to do, but what others want him to do. Much like when teenagers in high school get  hooked on illegal drugs, the reason is because of other people. When they are not doing the drugs, and they are out in public they try to appear smart, happy, â€Å"cool†, and living a better life than anyone else there. But just like rapists with mental problems that will never go away, our â€Å"druggies† will go and hide in their corner of the world for one hour and â€Å"do their thing†. Lord Capulet, when he isn’t out attempting to look â€Å"cool†, is inside doing the drugs, raping the kids, and becoming more mental by the second. Lord Capulet is insincere about all of his promises just like any addict, rapist, or alcoholic would be. Lord Capulet is not the responsible, caring, loving, nice, â€Å"cool† man he appears to be when you meet him, but really the drug paraphernalia, that bottle of 180 proof rum in your closet that you almost finished in one hour, and the man sitting in the car, wanting to take your kids to the movies. Lord Capulet is no worse than that, a man with trickery, hate, and unkept promises. Lord Capulet is not who you think he is, for he is the one hiding behind the mask.

Project Management and Virtual Teams Essay

Athabasca University Abstract Due to advanced communication technologies, globalization and outsourcing most of the project management teams are based on groups of individuals called virtual teams who work across time and space using communication technologies. Members of virtual teams may be employees of same company from same country, or they can be contractors, suppliers and company employees around the globe. Managing projects using virtual teams have some advantages and disadvantages. Also several studies have been done to try to determine the factors that are positively co-related to the effectiveness of virtual teams (Schwalbe, 2011). To manage virtual teams successfully in project management, the project manager must manage these factors successfully and also minimize the impact of disadvantages. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual teams in project management and outlines the factors that are positively correlated to the success of projects based on virtual teams. The paper also outlines some of the recommendations to successfully manage the virtual team in information technology projects. Keywords Globalization, outsourcing, virtual teams, video conferencing, telecommuting, Project Management, Trust and relationship, Advantages of Virtual teams, Disadvantages of virtual team. Introduction Imagine that you are a project manager in a multinational organization and managing a project to upgrade the server operating system and your team members are from different countries with different cultures and working in different time zones. To complete the project successfully that is based on virtual teams, project manager must understand the advantages and disadvantages of managing virtual teams and factors that positively affect the team members. Today most of the project management teams are based on virtual teams whose members work across time and space using communication technologies and project managers cannot rely on previous methods of project team management where they were able to build trust between team member by social interaction, face-to-face meetings, and direct observations of fellow team member commitment. Literature Review Virtual teams do have some advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages outlined by Kathy Schwalbe are: 24/7 availability of workers increasing competiveness and responsiveness, lowering the cost of project as many virtual team members do not need office space and support, providing more flexibility and expertise as project managers have access to the talent around the globe and increasing the work/life balance for team members by eliminating fixed office hours and the need to travel to work. (Schwalbe, 2011). Communication and trust are the most important factors that influence the virtual team performance. Saonee Sarker and others discussed the â€Å"theoretical linkages among trust, communication, and team member performance in virtual teams†. (Sarker1, Ajuja, Sarker, & Kirkeby, 2001). To prove their argument the researchers identified and tested three proposed models (additive, interaction, and mediation) describing the role of trust in its relationship. The results of the study indicated that the â€Å"mediating† model best explains how communication and trust work together to influence the performance of virtual team members. In simple words them study proves that â€Å"a communicative individual will be more likely to be trusted and will therefore be more likely to be a high performer†. (Sarker1, Ajuja, Sarker, & Kirkeby, 2001) Radostina K. Purvanova reviewed experimental literature and emerging field research on virtual teams. Author compared the â€Å"results from both type of literature and found that experimental literature has largely reported negative results for virtual teams, whereas ? eld investigations and case studies of real virtual teams employed by business organizations report positive outcomes for virtual teams. According to the article although results reported by experimental versus field studies are quite different, author concludes that both literatures have revealed negative attitudes toward virtual communication media. Advantages of Virtual Teams The main advantages of virtual teams include: The biggest advantage of virtual team enjoyed by an organization is the associated cost savings. The organization can save huge expenses on real estate, office spaces, utility bills such as gas, electricity, water etc. and executive’s travel. Team members can work from anywhere and anytime of the day. They can choose the place they work based on the mood and the comfort. You can recruit people for their skills and suitability to the job. The location does not matter. There is no time and money wasted for commuting and clothing. Physical handicaps are not an issue. Another advantage is the labour laws, some organizations prefer to have virtual teams because of strict local labour laws. Since the members span the time zones, there could be different team working on the same project 24/7, so when one member sleeps there will be another one somewhere else who would start work where the former had left. This shortens the product development time as well as faster response time to demands in both global and local markets. Disadvantages of Virtual Teams Disadvantages of virtual teams include: Since team members do not frequently meet or do not meet at all, the teamwork spirit may not be present. Some people prefer to be in a physical office when working. These people will be less productive in virtual environments. To work for virtual teams, individuals need to have a lot of self-discipline. If the individual is not disciplined, he or she may be less productive. The cultural difference between the members of virtual teams gives rise to number of conflicts. For example, while an employee from one part of the world would write a straightforward email describing a bad situation; this would be perceived as impolite by a member of the team from other part of the world. This would lead to conflicts, mistrust and difficulties in fruitful collaboration which is so vital for the success of virtual team functioning. These challenges are also precipitated by the absence of non-verbal cues so intrinsic to face-to-face interactions. Many members of virtual teams are adversely affected by the lack of physical interactions. Most of the communications in virtual environment is task-oriented. In today’s society where job is an important social force for most of us because many of our workplace colleagues also constitute our close friends, this gives a not-so-good feeling of social isolation. This in turn counter-effects productivity as well as leads to stress. In the virtual environment, it is better to communicate, clarify, and confirm everything to make sure that all members have the same understanding about the task at hand. This produces of ton of paperwork and files that could quickly fill your archives. Factors that positively affect virtual teams Succession planning and promotions involving virtual team members are important factors and if managed properly, virtual team members will feel that they are receiving recognition and credit and as a result they will be satisfied and their productivity will be increased. (Leonard, 2011) Since team members are not communicating face to face, constructive team and individual feedback early and often becomes more important and if managed properly can avoid many problems before hand. Trust between team members and project leader is an important factor that can affect the performance of team members. One important way to build trust between team members is effective communication. The more they communicate with each other and with project more they build the trust. Well defined and documented team process also important which saves a lot of time for especially new team members to find answers to their questions related to policies and procedures. A team member selection and role preference is also important factor to successfully manage the virtual teams. â€Å"Dr. Meredith Belbin defined a team role as a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. 15 It is important to select team members carefully and to form a team where all roles are covered. Each virtual team member must also understand his or her role(s) on the team. † (Schwalbe, 2011) Discussion and Conclusions Organizations such as IBM, Microsoft, Whirlpool as well as SMEs are reaping the benefits of virtual teams for some time now. It has been a well-recognized fact that virtual team is not a passing tide but it is here to stay. Virtual teams are rising in numbers nowadays and even small technology companies are now adapting virtual team practice for recruiting the best people from all over the globe and reduce the cost. As outlined in previous sections, virtual teams do have advantaged and some disadvantages as well. To benefit from advantages and to minimize the impact of disadvantages a project manager can focus on factors that positively affect the virtual team’s performance. As indicated by previous researchers, increase in trust, comfort level and communication effectiveness leads to better project success. All of the above discussed disadvantages can be overcome by following a different leadership approach, trainings, greater role clarity and effective communication strategies. Also earlier discussed factors that affect virtual teams, if managed properly can result in a successful project. In addition, the companies using virtual teams can minimize their operating costs and maximize the profit margins. Additionally, the employees working in virtual teams are at advantages when it comes to working in their own home, own time, and reduction of commuting costs. Therefore, organizations should look into setting up virtual teams for different tasks whenever possible. To reap the benefits of virtual teams in projects and minimize the impact of disadvantages virtual team managers should manage the outlined factors properly and should also follow best practices outlined in next section. Best Practices When running virtual teams, some of the best practices include: An instant messaging program can be used to create a sense of presence amongst members of the team. Chat is a good way to have side conversations during meetings to gain consensus, confirm understanding or ask questions. Quick questions can be asked through instant messenger as a substitute for popping into someone’s cubicle. Services for syncing files, bug tracking, project management, source control, web conferencing, conference calls, screen recording, usability testing and so on. A virtual phone system allows mapping of phone extensions to any phone number. Advance features allow callers to dial by name, get placed into a phone queue or get recorded answers back from a phone tree. In-person meetings are also a good option; it helps build team cohesion and trust and can help people get to know each other on a deeper level. But they are by no means critical. Bringing everyone together once a year may cost a little, but it’s still often cheaper than paying local salaries and rent, and increases the efficiency of team.

A Bathing ape

This assessment is aiming to outline the marketing strategies of the â€Å"A Bathing Ape† company from several viewpoints. A Bathing Ape Company, which formed and took off in Japan, they manufacture a mixture of products and service on a global scale. Nigo, a Japanese DJ founded the company in 1993. The brand popularity was one of main purpose of their success, even though they have a high pricing policy. However, their supplies are not equal to their demands their customers desired product and their production is limited. Therefore the buyer has to be fast in deciding if he wants the product before it goes out of stock. A Bathing Ape targets the hip hop and fashion scene (Rocherfort). This scarce amount of manufacturing gives the customers a uniqueness feeling, which leads to a high customer satisfaction. There will be further detailed information on the company’s marketing policies afterwards in the report. This project has been done by a group five student for the module â€Å"Principles of Marketing† and it is based on the marketing tactic of 4 Ps. There have been a number of research strategies such as online sources, observation, articles, interviewing a store manager, and sources from the university library. The report and its allied presentation are due on Monday 22nd of November 2010. Company history There are 19 stores in Japan. The other three countries are Hong Kong, London, Paris, and New York, which will be mentioned about more. A Bathing Ape clothing is produced in limited amounts as they are very exclusive and this enables the company to set their price higher than other brands. Many well-known celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Pharrell Williams, Jay Z, Kid Cudi, and Robbie Williams collaborate with A Bathing Ape marketing strategies (Hall, 2005). The business also manufactures shoes and clothing as well as accessories and toys. These products are manufactured and distributed only by A Bathing Ape and their â€Å"Busy Works† stores around the world. Their exclusivity and celebrity endorsements have been profitable for the brand. People use A Bathing Ape products to their advantage as their constantly changes their products in stores, which makes consumers trade A Bathing Ape products. Kid Cudi (the rapper) used to work at A Bathing Ape store in New York until he made it big in the hip-hop industry. Kid Cudi now has teamed up with Nigo and they use Kid Cudis fame to their marketing advantage. They also release special edition t-shirts at these events. The A Bathing Ape Company also operates Bape Hair Salon and they have cafes known as â€Å"Bape!? † They also have futuristic designed shops with designed glass displays and gives technological shopping experiences. A Bathing Ape was one of the first companies to introduce Kevlar clothing into urban wear as a product. Nigo’s designs foreshadowed the urban hip-hop style that has come to prevail as a dominant youth fashion in Japan. A Bathing Apes product, place, price and promotion will be discussed more in depth. Product The Bathing Ape brand has a wide range of unique products. A Bathing Ape makes products such as toys, jeans, bags, monogrammed condoms, Iphone cases, underwear, watches, t-shirts, polo’s and shoes. A Bathing Ape sets their prices high as there products can be limited and traded. Nigo has designed most of the company’s products. A Bathing Ape clothing is well recognized because of its flashy designs and original artwork. The company also has unique packaging for their products. They introduced the Tee Box, which is a glass metal box which polo shirts come in and have other t shirts in free hanging boxes. A Bathing Ape always collaborates with other brands to combine products. Some companies that A Bathing Ape has collaborated with is Pepsi, M*A*C, and Carhartt. The logo and theme were derived from the original movie â€Å"Planet of the Apes. † A Bathing Apes logo can be found on all of their products. As A Bathing Ape offers the market a wide range of products such as dog clothing to sunglasses it can attract a large market. Nigo labeled â€Å"Ape Shall Never Kill Ape† on most of his products when he was first becoming recognized. Nigo gave his products to famous Japanese artist to wear during their performances to increase the brands exposure. What makes A Bathing Apes products so valuable is that they don’t mass-produce like other companies. A Bathing Ape does not only offer products to the market but services as well. The business operates Bape Cafes, Bape Galleries, Bape Cuts (Hair salon) and they even have Bape TV as well as a record label. A Bathing Ape is known for their camouflage designs as it their classic pattern. The company’s products first began appearing on the back streets of Tokyo’s edgy neighborhood (Pollock, 2008). Place The Bathing Apes stores are located globally . Because it is a high- end brand their stores need to be located in famous central areas. For example London’s Carnaby Street is known for its unique and limited edition clothing. Further these popular areas have brands such as Adidas placed there, with their limited edition stores, as do many other brands. The London store is nothing compared to the interior decor that the other stores use to attract customers. Aoyama the A Bathing Ape store in Japan has very technological designs. Shoes are placed behind a glass cage on a rotating conveyer belt and t-shirts come down tubes with just the push of a button. The emphasis of changing lights and colorful designed clothes attract their customers. A Bathing Ape store also provides their staff with A Bathing Ape clothing to wear while they work. This similar strategy is used by many other brands such as Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Polo. The Hong Kong Bape store is the largest Nigo owns its 2 levels high and located in the centre of the city. The store has huge pictures of Nigo and A Bathing Ape characters to advertise their brand. The company store De Colette in Paris is the only store that features individual areas for other brands such as Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream. De Colette also has a unique designed cafe, which adds to the A Bathing Ape shopping experience. The store in New York uses the same concept as the other stores. Promotion A Bathing Apes style of promotion is very distinctive to other clothing brands as they do not want to tarnish their brand image they never lower the price of their clothing or have sales. The brand knows that many of their products the demand exceeds the supply greatly and they use this to their advantage for example A Bathing Ape shark hoodies were sold for ? 300 but once they were immediately sold out people were reportedly paying into the thousands for them. The main way in which A Bathing Ape promotes its self without tarnishing the brand image is smart they collaborate with other brands such as Adidas on some pairs of limited edition sneakers. A Bathing Ape does promotions like this all the time with many other well-known brands such as Carhartt. By doing these type of promotions they get a lot of publicity as well as more outside interest in their brand and still charge more than their usual price. A Bathing Ape also collaborate with many well-known celebrities such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Ian brown on selected items, which would be made even more limited edition. When A Bathing Ape produce all of these items they will make sure they get every detail of their design even into their packaging for example the A Bathing Ape x Marvel sneakers are packed into toy like packaging which makes the product stand out on shelves and look unique. A Bathing Ape is a company which has products on sale which are constantly a promotional products such as during the summer they released A Bathing Ape x Birkenstocks which where A Bathing Ape monogrammed Birkenstock sandals this would be just one of their summer collaborations. By collaborating with brands like Adidas and Birkenstock who already have a large customer base this would attract a lot of attention to the bathing ape brand. With promotions like these help both of the brands market their products for example when A Bathing Ape teamed up with Casio and re designed the classic G-shock watch, which was a top seller during the 90’s era. The watches were first released in ceramic white and mate black they turned out to be top sellers and only 1500 of each were produced many people wanted to get their hands on one of these watches because they were on the front page of magazines and constantly in music videos. Not long after the replica market noticed the demand for A Bathing Ape goods and started producing the replicas of the watches so that most of the public were able to obtain a replica. A Bathing Ape mainly relies on hip-hop celebrities to market their brand via music videos and in their lyrics. They are not just targeting a stereotype they are targeting a lifestyle. Price A Bathing Ape has an effective pricing policy that runs throughout all their stores. The company uses the same pricing range for their product globally. A Bathing Ape does not have discounts on their products making them all valuable. Additionally they do not have wholesale and seasonal pricing. They also keep their exclusivity by not dealing with retail stores. Another good aspect of the A Bathing Ape’s pricing method is that they offer Bape cards in which customers can earn credit points by purchasing products. This also is beneficial to the company as they can study shopping patterns to see which products are in demand. Their limited edition products never depreciate in value which mean even the used good may value more expensive that the brand new of the same products. For instant, because of their limited edition production policy, a used pair of shoes would cost more when it is out of stock. Conclusion: To conclude, the four P’s of the marketing mix play a huge role in the success of A Bathing Ape. The company produces and sells a wide variety of products that attract most target markets. They sell products from t-shirts, jeans and shoes to toys and pencil cases to watches. All of the products the company produces are limited edition so they run out quickly. This technique makes the customers go to the store as quickly as possible and buy the product they want as soon as it comes out into stores. The company also promotes its brand name by making deals with huge multinational corporations such as Pepsi. The prices of A Bathing Ape’s products are the same in every single country that they have stores in. The company doesn’t usually have discounts or sales in specific stores. The prices of the products always remain the same no matter what part of the year it is. A Bathing Ape has stores in many countries around the world including Japan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the United States. The locations of the company’s stores are in the very urban parts of the city, especially within large shopping centers.

Pick and art work that is influenced by astronomy Essay

Pick and art work that is influenced by astronomy - Essay Example He was a Post-Impressionist artist, and like the Impressionists he could make use of the newly available ready prepared paints in tubes which made it much easier to paint outdoors, perhaps painting in the grounds of the asylum, but in this case he is looking east through an open window. In April 1888 Van Gogh wrote: - Although the image of the sky is exaggerated and unrealistic, yet it remains one everybody can relate to, as we have all been outdoors at night at some point in our lives, and gazed up a the wonders of the heavens, swirls of clouds, stars pricking the darkness, and the beautiful moon in all its stages. We were not however experiencing Van Gogh’s particular state of mental illness, in which realities were so exaggerated that it caused him to paint the stars so large and producing what Naifah and Smith ( page 762) refer to as :- This was painted of course long before space exploration or modern telescopes. Van Gogh did not know that the moon is just a lump of dusty rock. He may not have known that the light we see from the stars is historical, in that it has taken considerable time to reach Earth because of the immense distances involved. In this case each star is surrounded by a lesser light, a halo. This may perhaps indicate a very cold night, or it could have some significance to Van Gogh. The many swirls and curves are part of the attraction of this work. They carry the viewer’s eyes around the painting from one point to the next and round again. It is a painting of the imagination. Even the village of St Remy doesn’t look exactly as it really was, perhaps because it is not visible from the asylum windows, but some things are factual, in this case the very bright star depicted immediately right of the cypresses is actually the planet Venus, the rising morning star ( Whitney, page 356, 1966). Soth ( page 305,1996) states that Van Gogh wrote to

ETHICS and GOVERNANCE Kickbacks Question in textbook Chapter 2 page 61 Essay

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What is a modern American woman - Essay Example American woman today desires to make improvements in her life as indicated by the female character Lain Wigand in The Insider. The character brings out the concepts of being independent, open minded, supportive and intelligence. Independent is state by which one gets the ability to make decision without influence from any person. Women in the modern America want to deal with issues affecting their lives without influence from other people. Most of the women in the books mentioned are depicted as independent people. For instance, Liane made her own decision to stay in marriage with Wigand (Lowell 85). She stayed with her husband during difficulty and she did not care what her parents or other people might say about the marriage. When problems accumulated, and she could not withstand, she made up her mind to quit the marriage. Her husband had gone to testify in a court of law (Henrik 36). The husband does not influence her to continue staying in the marriage when she thought it was not right to continue staying in that marriage. Wigand’s daughter also represents the characteristics of the American woman today. When she learns of some footsteps during the night, she informs her father immediately. This indicates that she decides independently on what to do without consulting. She understands that to inform her father is the right step to take when there are unusual events that are taking place at home. A supportive person is one who offers necessary help to the needy. For example, people suffering from Aids need much help from their family members since most of them cannot handle all duties. The family members who offer this kind of help are supportive (Lowell 86). Lain Wigand In The Insider partly fits and partly fails to fit in the modern American women. When the children suffer from asthma, she supports them

308 2nd assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

308 2nd assignment - Essay Example This essay considers these strands of Adam Smith’s theory of classical economics by investigating their interrelation. In the Wealth of Nations Smith offers a famous example of a primitive value system. Using the example of a beaver and a deer, he states that it takes twice as long to hunt the beaver as the deer, so that the beaver should be worth twice as much as the deer. In this example the value of a good is directly related to the labor that is required to procure it, therefore the profit is the compensation or cost of doing business. Smith states, â€Å"In this state of things, the whole produce of labour belongs to the laborer† (Medema & Samuels, 2003, p. 162). Smith acknowledges that such an example is not only simplistic, but due to the complications of the contemporary economic structure is no longer feasible. Indeed, the contemporary market (18th century United Kingdom) has given way to a process he refers to as division of labor, which complicates this example. In the Wealth of Nations Smith argues that one of the fundamental characteristics of the 18th century British economic structure is the division of labor. According to the division of labor In Chapter 1 (Medema & Samuels, 2003), Smith describes a situation where labor is divided within a pin factory so that the ultimate number of pins produced is greatly increased. In order to achieve this increase in production the capitalist must engage the services of the laborer and the landlord, and invest heavily in machinery. It follow that â€Å"In every society the price of every commodity finally resolves itself into some one or other, or all of those three parts† (Medema & Samuels, p.162). Smith is ultimately stating that the price of the commodity, after factoring in the costs of the land, labor, and machinery, is the residual profit. Smith distinguishes between natural prices and

Final Exam Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Final Exam Questions - Assignment Example Although mergers and acquisitions are always used in the same breath, the two terms have different implications. Generally, the main difference between mergers and acquisitions is based on how the purchase is articulated and communicated or received by the concerned parties. For example, unlike acquisitions, mergers occur when two companies agree to join and operate as one. In this regard, the merged companies can operate as equals or through laid down agreements. On the other hand, acquisitions involve a company taking over another company and establishing itself as the owner through a purchase. A fundamental characteristic of many acquisitions is that the acquiring company always takes over the management and ownership of the other companies they have acquired and eventually combine their operations. In this regard, the controlling power of one company is transferred from one shareholder group to another. One of the ways through which mergers and acquisitions contribute to business growth and expansion is that they offer quicker methods for companies to grow and reorganize their assets portfolios. They allow companies to acquire assets across many industries. It allows them to establish and penetrate new markets depending on the objectives of the company; acquired assets may be sold or retained (Maksimovic, 2011). ... In an acquisition, the acquiring company establishes sustainable positive results by spreading its risks through many different industries (Ross, 2005). Another important contribution of mergers and acquisitions related to business growth is that they enable companies take advantage of economies of scale. They increase the purchasing power of equipment’s and office supplies saving costs. This is due to increased negotiation power due to increased company size. The new entities, can access new technologies which gives them a competitive edge over their competitors. Expenses related to information and intelligence logistics are also reduced due to a shared infrastructure. This makes the cost of production per unit output to decrease increasing profits (Maksimovic, 2011). Question 4: How can a firm create the conditions for innovation? There are a diverse number of ways through which firms can create enabling conditions for innovation. Innovation is crucial to the growth and sust ainability of modern companies because. Increased innovation leads to more products in the market generating more sales. The top companies in the world are leading in innovations. Creating a culture of innovation is one of the best ways that companies can create favorable conditions for innovation. For example, a culture of risk aversion is one of the critical barriers to innovation. As a result, to ensure continued innovation, firms should move from risk aversion organizational culture to a culture of calculated risk taking. Similarly, firms should also create organizational cultures that promote curiosity and tolerance of mistakes and wish to experiment with new things. This includes giving the employees the freedom to experiment, promotion of open communication as well as

How the proliferation of nonprofit organizations impacts strategic Essay

How the proliferation of nonprofit organizations impacts strategic management - Essay Example This discussion elaborates strategic management of a nonprofit organization and the impacts it has on management. The word NGO covers an extraordinarily wide range of other organizations close to civil society, ranging from political groups to sports club. NGO executes different roles; it has different rooting when historical events and geographical locations are considered. The non-profit organization is defined as groupings encompassing a function of relieving sufferings from destitute people, and with a dependability of developing communities, creation of social services and protection of the environment. For an organization to be called non-profit organization, there are some appreciable rules. It should always be set up privately and autonomously. It should define its voluntary character, not a political party, and lastly, should always support all development that characterizes its public attention (Kohm & Piana, 2003). Nevertheless, most if not all NGOs depends on the employees who will be volunteering to manage their functions and program, hence the organization is not able to control a satisfactory quality (Agard, 2011). Some of the impact that affects strategic management is supporting the country’s reforms and roles to create surety that there is conspicuous direction and strategy of how to reach their aims and objectives in a certain period. For example, Ditshwanelo had both the mission and the vision statement that exactly reflect business of protecting human right. Democracy and excellent governance are the main aspects of management in the majority of organizations. Many countries in Africa are devoid of egalitarian activities, accountability and transparency, leading to pitiable

The Rationale for Nursing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Rationale for Nursing Management - Essay Example Besides the levels of glucose may be low than normal. Therefore, the intervention of infusing with dextrose is needed to prevent the body from turning to the use of ketone bodies, which may predispose to the development of diabetic ketoacidosis. However, this is only appropriate intervention if the body glucose level is less than 3mmol/l (Kable & Bourgeois 2014; p. 61). Therefore, the infusion of the patient with 4% dextrose may have exacerbated the rise in blood sugars. Besides, non-adherence to the diabetic diet is a major contributor to rising in blood sugars (Rebeiro, et al. 2013; p. 308). When the people with type II diabetes eats food with rich in sugar, their body is unable to convert it to glycogen, hence their blood glucose level will rise. Similarly, non-adherences to the drug regimen are crucial for these people. When they fail to take the drugs as prescribed, their body fails to regulate the blood sugars, therefore, an increase in blood glucose in the body (Rebeiro, et al 2013; p. 308). On the other hand, infusion of normal saline is appropriate. Normal saline expands the blood volume causing the diluting effect of blood (Kable & Bourgeois 2014; p. 61). As a result, the body will be supplied with adequate sugar. Besides, it prevents blood viscosity and reduces the polydipsia effect that is experienced by the patient (Rebeiro, et al. 2013; p. 308). Finally, the insulin infusion corrects the glucose level. In type II diabetes mellitus, oral hypoglycemics are encouraged. However, when sugars surge over the normal, insulin infusion forms a quick remedy from the progression o to diabetic ketoacidosis. The rationale for this is that HHNS is likely to develop in diabetes mellitus type II patient if they fail to control the blood sugars.

Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus Essay Example for Free

Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus Essay According to John Gray, men and women completely differ in their style of communication which corroborates the illusion that they are from different planets. However, their communications style differs and they work and be trained to become accustomed to these communication perspectives to live and work together in harmony. Women are more emotional than men and hence men used to mock the girls irrelevance talks. Actually women are termed as a weaker sex as they always want men to respect to their feelings more particularly about relationships, other personal problems and about family matters. In such matters, women expect that men will respect their feelings by extending emotional support and understanding. Relationships end in catastrophic disaster when each other does not understand each feelings and emotions. When the relationship ends in serious disaster, the women have to understand that man is completely diverse from everything and she has not accustomed to and tried to adapt to the differences in her relationship. Communication between men and women are so diverse that it takes many years for a complete understanding in a relationship. Even insignificant resemblance in communication style that binds a couple together while one tries to iron out the larger differences. In ordinary life, it is an established fact that men wants to be respected and women wish to know whether they are being truly loved by men. A successful couple is one who is able to achieve this and in such cases no doubt, good communication will be the end result. Thus, John Gray’s assertion that men and women are from different planets in terms of communications is really a convincing one. Thus, communication between men and women are pursued through two languages. The male language is used as a general warning that he is in a cave or on his path to the cave. Gray here uses cave to describe the ways and means men use to iron out their differences or to deal with an issue. When men face some problem, they wish to be alone or in his cave in complete solitude. [Gray, 1993, p. 22]. However, the reaction of a women will be completely different if they face with issues and when communicating with their spouse. As per Gray, women employ metaphors, superlative and poetic licenses to express their feelings. Moreover, there are chances that men may misunderstood this poetic licenses expressed by women. [Gray. 1993, p. 17]. It is the exact scenario where men and women ignore to appreciate the exact significances of the each other expressions and due to this, Gray has introduced Venusians / Martian dictionary in his book. This dictionary could be much help to iron out these misunderstandings in associations and relationships. According to Gray, men and women communicate in different languages and hold opposing views. Many common people are of the view that Gray’s metaphor is having more relevance and match their very own experiences on the subject. According to Gray, women have to gain knowledge of men before fostering a successful companionship. [Gray, 1993. p. 21]. Likewise, when men are disturbed or strained, they automatically keep silent and return to their cave to sort the things out. [Gray, 1993, p. 21]. Women at this juncture understood that his spouse wants to be alone to sort out things by himself without her interruption. Further, Gray is of the view that there is a need for men to know that women like to share and communicate things through in a more non-solution and in a complex way. [Gray, 1993, p. 35]. There is a complete need on the part of men to aware that women also long that their feelings and emotions are to be honored when they are upset, depressed and troubled and it is duty of the men to make her more comfort and to assuage her feelings in such scenarios. [Gray, 1993, p. 35]. As Gray details it, his book is for the people who wish to have an appreciative feature of gender associated with their counseling. Gray’s objective is to assist women to appreciate men and to take the ignominy out by counseling and by assisting men to have a more constructive approach to therapy as ‘even healthy relationships need a counselor. Gray longs to be a worldwide translator between Venusians and Martians. He has not indulged in the argument that one is superior to the other but stresses that they are dissimilar. Thus, Gray summarizes his views: â€Å"It is time to appreciate and authenticate gender variances. Do not try to change the attitude of one’s partner. Men have to seize the situation and understand and women should acknowledge and appreciate the things which men does and if he feel appreciated, he will no doubt listen. Gray is of the view that even though the customary function of contributor and nurturer may be often changing, women and men still have fundamental hormonal variances. However, due to rapid transformation, women have crossed over in the man’s world and hence the two worlds have come together now. If one has great appreciation of how these people in different world imagine and act, one will have a real harmony but not a friction. According to Gray, men and women have varied and complimentary emotional requirements. One can define a man’s sense of self through his capability to get results while a female’s sense of self is explained through her feelings and eminence of her relationships. Hence, women expect that her feeling shall have to be respected and honored while men demand that his feelings have to be appreciated and respected. Gray is of the opinion that rubber band theory well explains the metaphor of male intimacy cycle. As men experience the need for autonomy or independence, they draw away as rubber bond do when it is stretched to the limit. Men will pull back with power and spirit as rubber band do if they are given opportunity to move back to their positions or caves. If women demand that men should be intimate and close all of the time, they will become flaccid and limp, by losing their power and strength. [Gray, 1993, p. 35]. Gray book emphasizes diverse of theory. Gray could not able to offer no more plausible explanation other than his planet metaphor on men and women relationships. Gray tries to illustrate the basic differences that exist in men and women characteristics. Gray has cited examples like men disgust to demand for directions as it would put them down while women not at all prefer it. Men longs to talk in public as an exposure of their sound knowledge remains mum at home whereas women tries to express their feelings in home rather than in public places as their main objective of their intimacy. CONCLUSION: The reader of the book will understand that men and women communicate in different languages and hold opposing views. Readers will appreciate that Gray’s metaphor is having more relevance and match their very own experiences on the subject. No doubt, communication plays very significant role in men and women relationship. If one tries to honor and respect the feelings of spouse, there will not any marital issues at all. I would recommend that all who in the phase of establishing relationship and those are already tied their marital knots should read the book to lead a pleasant, happy married life. The readers of the book will understand that â€Å"It is time to appreciate and authenticate gender variances. Do not try to change the attitude of one’s partner. Men have to seize the situation and understand and women should acknowledge and appreciate the things which men does and if he feel appreciated, he will no doubt listen. Gray is of the view that difference between men and women are consistent and are of more biological and natural. Thus, Gray book seems to emphasize and respect the male and female differences. REFERENCES Gray, John. [1993]. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus: A Practical Guide For Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Relationships. HarperCollins

Need for Power Essay Example for Free

Need for Power Essay The need for power is just one part of McClellands acquired needs theory. The Other Parts of the Theory are Need for Achievement and Need for Affiliation. I would like to stay and write about part The need for Power. We can find little theory about this topic (The need for Power) in book Organizational Behavior on page 101. There is: A third major individual need is the need for power – the desire to control one ´s environment, including financial, material, informational, and human resources. People vary greatly along this dimension. Some individuals spend much time and energy seeking power, other avoid power if at all possible. People with a high need for power can be successful managers if three conditions are met. First, they must seek power for the betterment of the organization rather than for their own interest. Second, they must have a fairly low need for affiliation because fulfilling a personal need for power may well alienate others in the workplace. Third, they need plenty of self-control to curb their desire for power when it threatens to interfere with effective organizational or interpersonal relationship. Resources for this theory: David McClelland and David H. Burnham, â€Å"Power Is the Great motivator,â€Å" Harward business Review, March-April 1976, pp. 100-110. Pinder, Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior, McClelland and Burnham, â€Å"Power Is the Great Motivator.â€Å" We can identified four stages within the power orientation: 1) Drawing inner strength from others being a loyal follower and serving the power of other people; 2) Strengthening oneself beginning to play the power game, collecting symbols of status, one-upmanship, trying to dominate situations; 3) Self-assertiveness becoming more aggressive and trying to manipulate situations so as to use other people to achieve ones own targets; 4) Acting as an instrument of higher authority identifying with some organization or authority system and employing the methods learnt in stages 2 and 3 but now being able to claim formal legitimacy. Blake and Mouton (1964) would feature the kind of person who maximizes this kind of approach as having the Authority Obedience style of management: concentrating on maximizing production through the exercise of personal authority and power. Individuals with a high need for power exhibit a number of characteristics. These individuals tend to be more argumentative. We can see in real life that they are often elected to political offices (member of government etc.). These individuals are also more assertive when a part of in-group discussions. They are known for displaying risk-taking behavior and they also tend to own more prestigious possessions such as expensive cars and credit cards. I think that this people tend to be and want to be on public display. In examing the motive scores of over 50 managers of both high and low morale units in all sections of the same large company, we found that most of the managers over 70% were high in power motivation compared with men in general. This finding confirms the fact that power motivation is important for management. (Remember that as we use the term power motivation, it refers not to dictatorial behavior, but to a desire to have impact, to be strong and influential). The better managers, as judged by the morale of those working for them, tended to score even higher in power motivation. But the most important determing factor of high morale turned out not to be how their power motivation compared to their need to achieve but whether it was higher than their need to be liked. This relationship existed for 80% of the sales managers as compared with only 10% of the poorer managers. And the same held true for other managers in nearly all parts of the company. In the research, product development, and operations divisions, 73% of the better managers had a stronger need for power than a need to be liked (or what we term affiliation motive) as compared with only 22% of the poorer managers. Why should this be so? Sociologists have long argued that, for a bureaucracy to function effectively, those who manage it must be universalistic in applying rules. That is, if they make exceptions for the particular needs of individuals, the whole system will break down. The manager with a high need for being liked is precisely the one who wants to stay on good terms with everybody, and, therefore, is the one most likely to make exceptions in terms of particular needs. If an employee asks for time off to stay home with a sick spouse to help look after the kids, the affiliative manager, feeling sorry for the person, agrees almost without thinking. (I am personally this kind of manager. I have a high need for being liked. I think that if people have a confidence in the manager he can do more things – also not so popular – and the people will accept them and also him.) When President Ford remarked in pardoning ex-President Nixon that he had suffered enough, he was empathizing primarily with Nixon ´s needs and feeling. Sociological theory and our data both argue, however, that the person whose need for affiliation is high does not make a good manager. This kind of person creates poor morale because he or she does not understand that other people in the office will tend to regard exceptions to the rules as unfair to themselves, just as many U.S. citizens felt it was unfair to let Richard Nixon off and punish others less involved than he was in the Watergate scandal. Advantages / disadvantages There are both positive and negative aspects in regards to the need for power. Being argumentative can be perceived as an ideal expression of one’s opinion; although it can also create threatening environments for those of a more compliant nature. Having an assertive manner in group discussions can make others feel as though one is dominating a discussion within the group. However, this individual may have a profound impact on the group’s progress by assisting in accomplishing tasks more efficiently. Participating in risk-taking behavior can allow an individual to experience more radical events in their life, but sometimes risk-taking behavior can lead to undesirable consequences. Owning luxurious items tends to be costly, even though these possessions may make one feel good about themselves and their lives. My conclusion The need for power is good if it is useful for organization and also if the manager can use some kind of humanity to the other. For manager figure is very important the confidence. The people (other) must confidence in him and then they will better in accept his conclusion.

The History of Zara

The History of Zara Zara is the most successful brand of Spanish company Grupo Inditex. Its owner, Amancio Ortega, opened first retail store in 1975 in La Coruna, a small port in Spain. Zara became the worlds largest fashion retailer by 2008 end. By this time it had stores in over 70 countries, out performing its rivals like Gap of USA and Sweden based HM (Hennes Maurits) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/12/retail.spain). Zaras Innovative Operations: Daniel Piette, director of fashion, LVMH has described Zara as possibly the most devastating and innovating retailer in the world http://tbmdb.blogspot.com/2009/12/business-model-example-zara-devastating.html, owing to the companys innovative and unique approach in fashion retail. Zara follows the concept of a vertically integrated supply chain, in which the company has a tight control over most of the design phase, production phase and distribution system to its chain of retail outlets. The rest of these processes is handled by its sister concerns with nearby locations. Unlike its competitors Zara does not outsource its production to Asian developing countries; the proximity of production units helps Zara by giving flexibility in production so that the company can meet the ever-changing demands of the consumers more efficiently than its competitors. Zara has integrated the system of POS (Point Of Sales) and has formed a unique method that helps in the production of new designs. POS helps in monitoring what designs are bringing in maximum sales at the retail shops. The store managers are allowed freedom to decide which designs to display and which ones to keep back in the store, depending on the sales of those designs. Zaras employees at the retail outlets gather feedbacks from the customers and convey the information to the headquarters with the help of hand-held PDAs that each employee is required to carry. At the headquarters, the design teams immediately respond to feedbacks sent via PDAs and begin designing new clothes accordingly. The clothes are manufactured and distributed to the retail stores within a short period of 2 to 4 weeks owing to the vertical integration of its supply chain. While its rivals are busy finding and identifying what the latest trends might be and finally take 4 to 9 months to distribute new designs to their respective stores, Zara manages to design, manufacture and distribute new designs in a matter of just of 30 days. Taking advantage of the fast turn around time, Zara eschews the concept of producing just one collection per season, like its rivals do. Instead the designs keep on changing frequently so that Zara manages to deliver new designs twice a week to its retail shops. Zara only produces small quantities of each style so that there is continuous demand of popular designs. It cuts down on manufacturing costs as well. Thus Zara manages to deliver around 12000 different styles in a year whereas its competitors can produce only 4000-5000 per year. Hence, the company-coined phrase, fast fashion http://www.3isite.com/articles/ImagesFashion_Zara_Part_I.pdf. Current Technology in Information Communication Zaras use of technology in information technology is unique from its competitors. Firstly Zara uses much less technology, in terms of expenditure and work-force, than its competitors just 0.5% of its work force compared to 2.5% of employees that its rivals utilise. Similarly Zara spends only 0.5% of its revenue on information technology compared to expenditure of 2% by its competitors. Secondly Zara employs a unique combination of human and IT intelligence. Managers at the stores and the market survey done by the employees, form the human intelligence while IT intelligence consists of the PDA devices used to send information collected by the managers and other employees carrying the PDAs. An order form is transmitted to each managers PDA asking for information such as availability of garments and patterns of garment sales. The managers of each retail outlets then divide this order form into sections and these sections are transmitted to the PDAs of each employee to fill up, based o n customers feedback and the kind of designs sold. Employees then transmit back their respective sections to the managers PDA, after entering the customers requirements. The managers of each store are given total authority to determine and identify which sections are to be retained in the order form. The edited order form is then sent back to headquarters where the designing teams start working on the basis of the order forms. This unique hybrid of humans technology helps in managing the inventories efficiently and quick and efficient link between demand and supply, thus successfully helping in their own doctrine of fast fashion. Summing up Zaras use of technology http://leoborjblog.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/zara-it-for-fast-fashion/: Gather customer requirements PDAs Logistics and transmission of order form POS terminals and modems. Quickly designing new style CAD (Computer Aided Design) Advantages of such an Innovative System Vertical integration of supply chain and short turn around time lead to High turnover of product. Quick and efficient distribution helps to eliminate warehouse requirement, saving on additional storage costs. Searching the market for latest fashion trends and responding quickly to the consumer requirements with the help of hand-held PDAs. Complete autonomy and flexibility to the employees and managers who are in direct contact with the customers. POS terminals run on DOS operating system, which is cheap and easy to maintain and operate. Perceived limitations of this System http://www.slideshare.net/koffman/zara-case-study-2780928 Zara and its sister concerns have been using DOS as their main operating system in all the processes. It is an outdated operating system. As the POS vendor supplies DOS OS to zara only, it can always stop its supply, while continue to supply other operating systems to its other customers. Store managers are the decision makers. Zara headquarter relies solely on the experience and intuition of the managers. Instead of looking after customers, managers and employees have the time-consuming task of manually entering the garment details in small PDAs. This could result in the employees failing to assist some customers in choosing and might miss out on few garment sales. Inventory is maintained manually as well. Information transmitted is one way only. Managers have no knowledge of the inventories at headquarters and the stores distribution centre. Consequently managers cannot promise a customer if a particular garment that has been sold out, can be replenished and in how many days. Promises made to customers not kept can damage Zaras reputation, so the managers need to know about the garments inventories at headquarters and the distribution centres. There is a great demand for Zaras garments even though new designs are available twice a week. Zara may consider increase in production to meet these ever growing demands. Gathering of information therefore may need to be upgraded in terms of frequency. Its competitors can change to a better OS or software package and increase their turn around time, neutralizing Zaras edge of fast fashion over them. New IT Technology for Sustainability http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=97642 Benefits: New technology may not help Zara in increasing the competitive edge over its competitors but will help in sustaining that edge. A new operating system will help in installing software packages that will help in efficient access of inventory at the stores as well as headquarters and distribution centers. Upgrading to new OS will remove the companys dependency on its current supplier of DOS. Using more than one IT supplier will increase Zaras bargaining power. A Network can be set up between HQ, production centers and retail stores. POS system can be automated so that each sale will automatically update the POS devices. If the POS system of all stores can be interlinked all the store managers can easily know the inventory online and can make and keep their promises to customers demanding a particular garment. POS automation will help reduce overall workload of the employees and managers, as they will not have to manually enter every detail required in the order form. There will not be any need of hand held PDAs. Dedicated POS software will ensure that orders will now be made on the basis of theoretical inventories and will be more accurate. Orders can now placed continually increasing the frequency from twice a week to daily. Ideal software to be used for integration would be ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Linking all the process in the supply chain, from HQ, design centers to retail stores, will not only help the managers in accessing inventories but will also help HQ to regulate the supplies more accurately according to the orders placed. Production will become even leaner than before. ECQ (Economic Order Quantity) can help in determining quantities of different garments that buyer can order so that there is sufficient stock for the customers. This will reduce inventory cost as well. Knowing reorder levels will streamline managing of the inventory and help in maintaining the autonomy of the managers. Managers can determine from the reorder levels whether a particular garment needs to be ordered before it will go out of stock and can transmit the same to the production centers that are now linked to the retail outlets. Of course manual checks will still be needed occasionally to check a stores real time inventory is same as the theoretical inventory in case of exceptions like garments getting stolen or gone missing. Designers at HQ will now not depend entirely on the managers discretion and can observe themselves sales of new designs due to two-way system integration by ERP. Just in case a store does run out of stock on a particular garment, the manager can easily check the inventories of local nearby stores for availability and suggest the customer to go there. Inter-store connectivity will have added advantage of shipping garments to another store that has more demand of a particular garment. This will further increase the speed-to-market. Besides HQ even managers of different stores will benefit if they know through network what is selling at other stores and what is not. Cost Analysis: Zara will have to upgrade to better OS that will support ERP like Linux, Unix or Windows NT. Implementation cost of Linux is lowest of the three OS. But recurring costs like service-contract is much higher (McAfee et al). Annual cost of using Unix is the lowest and if functionality remains more or less same, Unix will be best suited. If other costs like plans for systems failure are not taken into consideration then implementation cost will relatively much lower than prospective ROI (Return On Investment). Risk Analysis: Changing software and operating system in all retail shops world over is not an easy task. Due to location of Zaras retail outlets all over the world, there will be many extra tangible costs. Cost of replacing current POS system with the new one. Cost of installation of new cables in each store and maybe new infrastructure to support the cables. Cost of external IT support, hiring professional consultants. Cost of internal IT management and technical training of personnel. Time taken to train the personnel till outside assistance is not required cannot be determined as level of training and learning will be different at different locations around the world. Risk Reduction: Both current and new systems should operate together till the personnel of each store can run the new system smoothly; this will not interrupt any service provided to customers. Zara has a huge pilot outlet that is around 1,500 square meters. Zara can use this as training facility from its personnel from all over the world. Zara can use it to test the new system as well. Zara can hire experienced software professionals and open an in-house department for software management and development. Zara can outsource the management and development to experienced software companies. However Zara will have to trade-off between highly efficient and expensive companies. Zara should develop a contingency plan and an exit plan as well in case the company cannot continue with the up gradation for some reason. Robust data backup is required in case the new system crashes due to mishandling by inexperienced staff.

Faith, Belief and Healing Essay -- Research Essays Term Papers

Faith, Belief and Healing I became interested in researching faith healing as a means of understanding belief and the idea of the brain healing the body. I knew a little about Christian based faith healing: the evangelical preachers on T.V. who smack the heads of the skeptical, and then they fall backwards, unconscious, and are healed, but I wanted to learn more specific information about the general practice of faith healing. What are the different forms faith healing takes? What are the underlying beliefs of the proponents of this form of belief and healing? How are these people portrayed and delivered over the Internet? Is there anything substantive to the notion of faith healing? What I found was a mix of strange ideas, which I simultaneously believed and scoffed at, depending upon their contexts and the information used to back their claims up. To begin with, I learned about a type of faith healing performed in the Philippines called psychic surgery. It is an ancient practice that was used to relieve pain and promote healing. However, the context it finds itself in today is much more complex than that. To begin with, let me describe what might occur in a session, because it does not embody exactly what the name implies, although many believe it to. There is a lot of "laying of the hands, balancing of magnetic forces, and massaging with divinely sanctioned oils;" these are the pre-"surgery" activities that are performed while "awaiting spiritual guidance." (1) At the meeting of actor Andy Kaufman and a psychic surgeon, the actor was hoping to have his lung cancer removed. After the surgeon received "divine intervention," he appeared to have pulled out "the offending material" in the midst of a lot of blood. (1) Howeve... ...ershadow the truth: which is that belief cannot cure organic diseases existing independently from mind-control, however closely tied the mind and body are to each other. References 1)The Facts About Faith Healing, ever heard of psychic surgery? read this!!! some pretty weird stuff http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/www.quackwatch.com01QuackeryRelatedTopics/faith.html 2)Natural Hygiene: Nobody Knows, Understands, or Practices it. Why?, kind of fanatical support of Natural Hygiene http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/www.healself.org/alternative.html 3)Deborah Elizabeth Shepherd, interesting piece on a fundamentalist Christian family who lost their daughter due to their faith in God and desire to forego medical intervention until it was too late http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/www.geocities.com/robbi01/

Censorship of the Internet :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Censorship of the Internet The censorship of the Internet is a big argument today in the world of computer technology. The government is trying to control something that is to many people an extension of the First Amendment Right, Freedom of Speech. Just this one point should be a slap in the face of every American anywhere, because the government is trying to take something away that has no right to be taken away. The Bill of Rights is the foundation that our country is based and built on and now the government that was created to protect that Bill of Rights, that piece that declares our rights and freedoms, is trying to change one of those twelve rights to make some conservative people more happy about how our country is and how it is run. The world is so concerned today with the petty things that are being done that they do not look to the larger picture of what is actually happening. The government is trying to censor something that they created over thirty years ago to possible send information much more harmful to humanity than pornographic materials or information on how to create bombs that do not work. The Internet was created over thirty years ago by the military for a alternative means of communications other than telephones communications in case of a nuclear strike by the Russians that rendered our great country basically helpless, this previous Internet went under such names as ARPANET, MILNET, and other acronyms similar to these. This great idea by scholars was next adopted by very well known colleges of the United States to provide a quick means of communications and data transfer, such as research information transfer or transcript transfer, between the students and college professors of diff erent city and state colleges. Some of the first colleges that took that great step into this new unknown frontier were CALTECH, MIT, Harvard, and other great prestigious colleges of the United States. During this time period of the Internet the government had no problem at all with what was happening. The colleges were putting large amounts of information on the Internet so other scholars could observe and comment on ongoing experiments, and the government was happy with the large computer network they created for their own personal dastardly deeds.

Exploring the Cause of Eating Disorders - Familial Relationships and Bu

My sister is bulimic and has been in therapy for several months now. She seems to be making progress, but this eating disorder seems to rule her life nevertheless. Overwhelmed with conflicting desires, she is obsessed with food and her appearance. I see her suffer and wonder what has caused her to develop such behaviors. I know that there are several factors that can play a role in the inception of an eating disorder. Because of my sister’s problems, I have become interested in the interplay between familial relationships and bulimia. Is there a relationship between family interactions and bulimia? There have been numerous studies about the characteristics of a bulimic's family. One of the earliest by Laurence Igoin-Apfelbaum (1985), studied 21 women who were diagnosed by the DSM-III as bulimics. In the group of patients, two patterns of family background could be found. Thirteen patients were from broken homes, and a common characteristic of these families was that the father virtually disappeared from the life of the daughter. The twelve other patients came from close knit families, in which the sacred union of these families against the outside world was a defensive organization hiding major tensions within the family unit. The relationship between the bulimics and their mother is one of polarity. They feel that because their eating disturbances seem to worry their mother, she is the only one who cared, and as a result they do such things as calling their moms daily to make sure she is not worrying. At the same time they avoid their mother because they feel she can guess everything or demand so much from them that they would have no personal life left. All the patients had harsh words for their fathers. They see him ... ...ting Disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(4), 395-402. Humphrey, Laura Lynn (1989). Observed Family Interactions Among Subtypes of Eating Disorders Using Structural Analysis of Social Behavior. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57(2), 206-214. Igoin-Apfelbaum, Laurence (1985). Characteristics of Family Background in Bulimia. Psychother. Psychosom, 43, 161-167. Kent, Jan S., and Clopton, J. R. (1992). Bulimic Women's Perceptions of Their Family Relationships. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 48(3), 281-292. Laliberte, Michele., Boland, F. J. and Leichner, P. (1999). Family Climates: Family Factors Specific to Disturbed Eating and Bulimia Nervosa. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55(9), 1021-1040. Stuart, G. W., et al. (1990). Early Family Experiences of Women With Bulimia and Depression. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 4(1), 43-52.

Essay about myself Essay

A New Beginning I was born in the Dominican Republic â€Å"Quisqueya la Bella† as we called it, and I used to live with my Parents and two elder sisters, my mother worked as a teacher, and my father was a policeman. Then my father dies when I was only 11 years old, and two years after that, my mother Met Miguel; and they fell in love, and got married. Then Miguel, now my stepfather came to the U.S. and Five years later he gives us the news that we have to move to the U.S. in November of 2011, I moved to the U.S with my mother and sisters, but I had no say in whether I wanted to go or not, and I just Went. My mother said we had to go for a better life. moving to the U.S. was a hard change for me and meant I had to start all over again and go to a new school and make new friends. Also I had to leaving everything I ever knew behind to move Into a foreign country. They say it’s hard to move from a place to another, but, it’s even worst than they say, because it’s not an easy thing moving and living in another country, because your life as you know it changes. when I first arrived, I felt like a stranger; there were people everywhere talking different languages, besides buildings and bright lights, also a lot of noise and family that I didn’t even knew came to visit us with gifts. Around a few months later, I finally got enrolled in school. however when entering a new school, I didn’t Know anyone, and there was a big cultural and language gap that separated me from the rest of the students, I dreaded the fact that I had to go to school there. I missed my friends and family back in the Dominican Republic. I wanted to leave new York and Go back to my â€Å"Quisqueya†. I’ve worked too hard to adapt myself to this new environment and after a time, and step by step, I was feeling comfortable. Then I’d made tons of friends, and I wasn’t feeling like a stranger anymore, finally I felt at home.

Kaiser Wilhelm II and The First World War Essay

The British postcard illustrates Kaiser Wilhelm II in a bath, where he is about to grab a bar of soap labelled â€Å"Europe†, with a caption quoting â€Å"He won’t be happy till he gets it.† This suggests he is willing to use force to capture Europe. Wilhelm is wearing a military helmet and has a greedy expression on his face, which gives us the impression he is willing to fight for what he wants. Sources B and C both differ, but both of them agree that Wilhelm’s attitude towards the war was very violent. In source B, Wilhelm’s speech seems to be taken over by his emotions: anger, aggression, passion and lots of determination. He refers to certain phrases such as â€Å"take no prisoners†, â€Å"must be destroyed† and â€Å"ruthless violence.† Words such as these show us that he wants trouble. However in source C, there is more talk of peace. It seems to be a more subdued and more thoughtful speech. â€Å"I was always a supporter of peace.† But then he goes on to say how peace â€Å"has its limits.† And he can â€Å"no longer just look on, but must draw the sword!† This giving the final conclusion that Kaisers attitude towards the war has not changed since 1900 although he has become more diplomatic. This postcard may be biased, as the British whom were about to go to war with him produced it. Britain wanted to portray him in as much negative light as possible, therefore this postcard might not be truthful. But using my own knowledge, I know that Kaiser Wilhelm II was an aggressive man who came from an aggressive country and to control Europe was his sole ambition. Also, Britain was aware of Wilhelm’s objectives and to some extent holds him responsible for the Moroccan Crises. They therefore have a good reason to portray him in this way. â€Å"The Kaiser was a warmonger and caused the Great War.† The evidence given in the sources supports this statement and also disagrees with it. Source A clearly supports this view. The cartoon shows Wilhelm greedily snatching Europe, along with the war helmet, which indicates war. Source B backs this statement too. There is no sign of peaceful man in his speech. In this he says he wants Germans to acquire a similar reputation as Attila’s Huns did in the fifth century. Attila was the King of the German tribe the Huns who ravaged Eastern Europe. But there is talk of peace in his later speech (1913), although this hopeful thought is dampened by the indications of war â€Å"Must draw the sword.† However, using my own knowledge I know that the Great War was not only the fault of Wilhelm’s, there was many other reasons. In my opinion, rivalries were the main factor, which brought about the First World War. Without rivalries, no one would have a cause to start a war. There were many rivalries; Britain and Germany; France and Germany; Austria-Hungary and Russia and Serbia and Austria. These rivalries helped to cause war between the powers of Europe because they all wanted to fight for one reason or another. Another factor was alliances. With alliances, everyone was dragged into war, whether they liked it or not. In this case, it couldn’t be avoided. And lastly, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the catalyst. This gave Austria a perfect opportunity to declare war on Serbia. With this, Austria and Serbia were at war along with their allies. It caused great destruction as most countries were involved. This is proof that the Kaiser did not cause the Great War, as you need two countries to have a war. Cause the war he did not, but a warmonger he may be.

Metropolitan Area

In this paper, we are going to look at Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which is defined by the United States Census Bureau. This MSA is also be called as Tampa Bay Area. It Is a region close to Tampa Bay and west of central Florida. Throughout this paper, I will collect data from different categories of the Tampa MSA and going to mainly focus on these areas: population and population growth, population density, race & ethnicity, Immigration, education attainment, GDP per-capita, unemployment, poverty and housing prices.Atter collecting data Trom tne aoove categories, I will use tnem to compare wltn US national level. After the comparison, I will see what significant problems the area is facing, for example such as high housing prices, high immigration rate, low GDP, etc. Looking at these data we are able to see if Tampa, FL MSA is a quality living region when it compares to the US national level. After drawing different details from each subject w ith evidence and sources, I will be able to contrast main factors that Tampa MSA should be focus on developing.Whether they should be maintain, higher r lower the rate in order to have a better living standard. We can be able to draw conclusions with the collected data. According to the United States Census Bureau Annual Estimates of the Population of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas table, the estimated population of Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area is around 2,824,724 in 2011. The population has risen around 36000 since 2010. This number is relatively high when it compares to the population growth within a year in other MSAs.Tampa Bay is one of the top 20 argest metropolitan areas in the US, it ranked 19 among 942 US metro and micro areas as of 2011. However, it is still a low ranking Metro Area when it comes to the weighted density in the US. From the ranking survey from Austin Contrarian, Tampa, FL Metro Area ranked 43 out of 50 in all US Metro Areas in 2010. The population weighted area density in this area is around 3,323. When it compares to other MSAs like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, it is lower since the density in all these metro areas are recorded with over 10,000.The change in population-weighted density from 2000 to 2010 is -3. 3%. This number is still consider as a regular According to the diversity data gathered by Harvard University, the main racial/ ethnicity group in Tampa MSA is Caucasian with 66. 5% of the population. Hispanic made up the second largest group of race with around 17%. When we look at population in the US as of ethnicity, an estimated 63% of the total population in the US were Caucasian and Hispanics were 17% in 2012. Tampa MSA ethnicity distribution is very similar with the US ethnicities percentage.Two counties of the Tampa Bay region are ranked top counties with high net migration. From 2000-2010, 119,997 foreign-born population were recorded. While the US foreign born population was 28. 4% in the past decade, Tampa MSA was 51. 3%. The number was doubled the US national level. The percentage of high school graduate or higher in Tampa Metro Area was estimated 87% and 26. 2% for graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2010. It is a average percentage when we compare it with other MSAs. These number were very close to the US national level.It showed Tampa Metro Area has put a significant expense in education to follow the US national level of education attainment. From Metropolitan Area on the Bureau of Economic Analysis site, it stated Tampa- St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (MSA) real GDP per capita is 36,648 in 2012. It ranked 155 out of 381 MSAs. Tampa MSAs' GDP per capita is higher than many other MSAs in the United States. It shows that Tampa MSA industry growth is positive and people earn, therefore they have more disposable income to spend.The largest employment group in the Tampa MSA is trade, transportation and utilities (21. 82%). The second gr oup is professional and business services (18. 46%). Looking at the ocation quotient, the manufacturing industry in Tampa area has the lowest number among all. / represents lampa employment level In tne manuTacturlng level Is lower than the overall US total level of 1. 0. Other employment industry like financial activities in Tampa MSA is going better than the overall national level with 1. 38, which is 0. 8 better than US total. Another industry with a higher location quotient is professional and business services of 1. 14. Both of these industry in Tampa employment is higher than the US total. The overall location quotient of this MSA is ery close to 1 which means similar to the US industry distribution. From the location quotient we can see Tampa is less involved in the manufacturing industry but focused more in financial activities and business services. The most current (Oct 2013) unemployment rate of the US is 7. . Tampa MSA was recorded with 6. 4 unemployment rate, which is l ower than overall US level. Even though is it lower than the overall US unemployment rate but still this is not a very positive number when we compare with other MSAs. The poverty rate of Tampa metropolitan According to the National Association of Realtors data, the most updated third quarter of 2013 median home price of Tampa Bay Area is $151,800. In the third quarter of 2012, house prices was 138,000. It has risen 10% in a year.Even though it has risen ten percent in the past year, it is still a normal figure when we look at overall United States economies. In the NAR report, data showed that 144 out of 163 metropolitan statistical areas increased in 88 percent in the median existing single- family home price. Tampa MSA is one of the fifty four areas that had a double-digit increases, while only 19 had price decreases. This fast rising national median prices is the strongest annual growth in the US in this eight years. Commuting in Tampa Bay Area is disappointing, it is the worst among the nation.In 2010, Forbes. com did a ranking on 60 lasrgest metropolitan areas in the US and Tampa MSA was ranked the worst out of all the metros area. In this survey, they measured travel time, travel delays and road congestion in each of these cities. Also, they looked at percentage of commuters used public transit or carpooled and referred them as the â€Å"green commuter†. Looking at the US Census Bureau's figure of Public Transportation Usage for the 50 Largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas 2008, 2009†³, the usage of civilians who used public transportation to work was only 1. % in 2008 and 1. 4% in 2009. As we can see less than two people out of a hundred used public transit commute to work. With a very developed public transportation system, big cities like New York and San Francisco had recorded over 30% and 15% usage of public transportation. The reason of why residents in Tampa Bay rarely use public transportation may because of the poor development and maintenance of these facilities. In conclusion, Tampa Bay Area

Abstract Views on Military Retention

The words â€Å"material† and â€Å"personnel† are abstractions, but the weapons systems and the devoted human beings organized to make and use them are real. Reducing the size of the military also means ending jobs and forcing career changes on many people who deserve better from their nation. However, it has become apparent that many of today's military members separate voluntarily. This research project seeks to inform the debate on military retention by examining the evidence for separations from military service into civilian community. The objective is to identify what factors have the most weight in separation decisions, as well as the factors that have the most weight for those deciding not to separate from the service. Over the past year, members of the armed services have been separating at an alarming rate. In an effort to combat the mass exodus of people from the uniformed ranks, the government has turned to the use of re-enlistment and extension bonuses, increased pay, and numerous other incentives, but has had little success. A common response from people leaving the armed forces is that the decision to leave has nothing to do with money, but rather other â€Å"quality of life† issues. What then are some of the major factors influencing people†s decisions to leave? For those who have decided to stay, is it because of the incentives recently offered, or would they have stayed anyway? There are several different factors involving the economy that may possibly have an effect for the status of the military population. The job shortfall in the lagging U. S. economy is now some 8 to 10 million; cuts in the military services will contribute an additional half million job seekers a year by the year 2000, substantially increasing the need for job creation. Has the military encouraged career-minded personnel in overstaffed job specialties to leave voluntarily (thus minimizing the lump-sum severance payment or a long-term annuity)? Are the programs as generous as the pay and benefits that military personnel are eligible for if they retire after 20 years of service? Because the Pentagon has announced that no one with 15 years or more of service would be dismissed before hitting the 20-year mark, few people with 15 years to 20 years of service have opted to leave. The 15-20 year group includes 225,000 officers and senior enlisted personnel – 12 percent of the active-duty force. Active-duty military personnel are not vested with retirement benefits until they have served for 20 years. Once vested, they can draw sizable annuities for life, often starting in their mid-40s, while they begin second careers. Can this be yet another reason for low retention rates? Are there differences between different service departments? Differences between officers and enlisted personnel, male/female, rank, education level, or the number of dependents of member has? All of these areas will be explored and discussed within the text. After combining personal experiences and views of our group, conducting a group survey, and analyzed the results of our research, it was not difficult to conclude that military retention is a growing problem. There are many reasons for this, but the most stressed issues have been those which impact quality of life. The quality of life issues have become so well known that it affects recruiting efforts of all branches of the military. The following will discuss some recent literary reviews and government statements concerning retention in the military, along with the problem of retention, some reasons for the problem, and some possible solutions that are now being established. As stated earlier, issues concerning quality of life seem to be the most important when it comes to retention in the military. For those members of the military who complete their first term successfully and whose performance warrants retention consideration, quality of life factors are important. Surveys have been able to document links between retention and quality of life. In January 1999, Maj. Gen. Donald A. Lamontagne, from Peterson Air Force Base, Co. , addressed the Air Force Space Command Public Affairs in saying that â€Å"We†ve been trying to fix pilot retention with more money, but that†s not the problem. It†s going back and forth to the desert that†s causing the problems, and what†s happening is we are losing pilots faster than we can train them. Last year we lost out pilots at a rate of two every day. Somehow we have to stabilize this. † Military personnel are tired of being deployed for months at a time with very little notice and also want benefits and retirements enhanced and secured. Although compensation was not the leading factor in decisions to leave the military, there is a significant gap between military and civilian compensation that needs to be addressed, as this will aid in recruitment and retention. Government budget cutbacks are also a problem, not only for reasons such as personnel benefits and retirements; for example, the Air Force alone has a $5 billion shortfall in their budget for spare-parts. This makes it very difficult to accomplish and build a world-class Air Force for the future, and lowers the morale of its members. Recruiting and retention issues are not just active duty issues. The National Guard and reserve forces also face these same challenges. Yet, here again, these members face a continuing challenge to benefits. The AFSA (Air Force Sergeants Association), is trying to preserve one guard/reserve benefit that has paid good dividends: the current practice of providing 15 days of fully paid â€Å"military leave† to federal civil servants who are also in the guard or reserve. One administration proposal will, in effect, cost most members their military pay by limiting the total compensation to the higher of civilian pay or military pay, versus the current practice of paying both. It is believed that any such limitation will significantly harm recruiting and retention of those who are civil servants. In particular, former (already trained) military members who become civil servants would lose a major incentive to serve in a reserve capacity. Those civil servants with no prior military service will lose a major incentive to join the reserves. Equally as important is the unknown effect this change will have on civilian employers† support that is currently provided to guard and reserve personnel. Eliminating this program clearly sends the wrong message. The decision to leave or not to join one of the services has been determined in a large part on the perceived steady decline in the quality of life and benefits. To keep a fit, fighting force for the twenty-first century, we as a nation should find the money to pay for it. With so many problems, there is a need for many solutions. All branches of the military are establishing solutions, which in time will tell if they will be successful. The following describes some positive steps for the military, which should be helpful to many areas, and many people. According to Gen. Dick Hawley, Commander, Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, VA, a huge step concerning the quality of life issue has been made by the Air Force. Currently, in Air Combat Command, they are giving almost 80 percent of their people four months notice of lengthy deployments, and almost never has anyone deployed from Air Combat Command with less than a month†s notice. In the past it was not unusual to get a one-week notice for a four-month deployment. This will significantly improve the stability and predictability of personal schedules so people can manage both their professional and personal lives. People can plan educational programs and family events more adequately. Another method used by the Air Force is team basing. Individuals being deployed to certain areas are deployed in teams. This method shows support and should be positive for the morale of their people. The Air Force also is trying to combat the retention problem through assignments, especially with the home-basing concept. With overseas assignments, their people are moving earlier than they would like. With the home-basing concept, this would give the opportunity to elect a home-base location after four to six years on active duty. The concept will allow members to remain at the base they choose for an extended number of years, possibly even until retirement. This doesn†t mean people would never leave. They may have to pull a short tour or go for training, but then they would return to the same base. This would allow families to build equity in homes, children could remain in the same schools, and spouses could keep their own jobs and careers. The longer notices of deployment would also give members time to complete or make arrangements for their continued education. The military strives on professional military education and provides excellent reimbursements for those who choose to further their education. It has become almost mandatory to have a master†s degree to make Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, with approximately 98 percent of those selected having a master†s degree. The medical issues concerning Tricare are being looked at for possible changes for the better, along with increasing retirement benefits. The military is trying to improve Tricare to match the level of care authorized by the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). If done, the cost share should cost the military beneficiary no more than those insured by FEHBP and should include, as a minimum, preventative care, dental care, and a universal (including mail-order) prescription drug service. The military retirement system has changed three times, and each time decreasing the benefit. It was last changed in 1986 and now only provides retirement pay based on 40 percent of the high three years of base pay. The issue is still in debate as whether or not to increase the retirement benefit back to 50 percent of base pay. This is a major issue in deciding whether to leave the military or to stay in longer and is also an issue when recruiting. In 1981, by way of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, U. S. Congress mandated that the Military Services, at least annually, provide each member a meaningful statement of total compensation, so that the member fully considers total compensation when making career decisions. The Department of the Navy, in particular, has established the Personal Statement of Military Compensation (PSMC). PSMC is a long term Navy project to give members, at least once a year, a summary of total earnings as an active duty member of the U. S. Navy. The total is made up of cash pays, allowances, and bonuses. The allowances include such things as on-base housing and meals, and benefits include commissaries, exchanges, and hospitals, as well as future benefits such as retirement pay and social security payments. Navy leaders support wholeheartedly the effort to get the full compensation story out to current and potential Navy members thereby contributing to the success of Navy retention and recruiting programs. With technological advancements growing, the military faces another problem with retention. Retention is necessary for essential positions of the military, in which members may choose to leave for whatever reason. One remedy put in place by the U. S. Office of Personnel Management is the Y2K Assistance for Agencies. This plan deals with recruiting and retaining Information Technology Professionals. The Office of Personnel Management states in their bulletin under agency-based flexibility, the procedure for retention allowances. It is stated that agencies have discretionary authority to make continuing (i. . , biweekly) payments of up to 25 percent of basic pay to individual employees and of up to 10 percent of basic pay to a group or category of employees based upon a determination by the agency that: (1) the unusually high or unique qualifications of the employees or a special need of the agency for the employees† services makes it essential to retain the employees; and (2) th e employee or a significant number of employees in the targeted category would be likely to leave the Federal Government (for any reason, including retirement) in the absence of a retention allowance. Retention allowances must be paid in accordance with the agency†s previously established retention allowance plan and must be reviewed and certified annually. Retention allowances are subject to the aggregate limitation on total pay, which is currently $151,800. Another retention technique, and also a way to increase overall morale, is by distributing performance and incentive awards. Agencies within the military have discretionary authority to grant an employee a lump-sum cash award based on a â€Å"Fully Successful† or better rating of record or in recognition of accomplishments that contribute to the efficiency, economy, or other improvement of Government operations. Awards can be tied to specific achievements such as meeting milestones that are identified as part of the work needed to achieve Year 2000 conversion goals. Cash awards do not increase an employee†s basic pay. Awards based on the rating of record can be up to 10 percent of salary, or up to 20 percent for exceptional performance, provided the award does not exceed $10,000 per employee. On January 5, 1999, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan called for an additional $30 billion more in Air Force spending dedicated to the readiness program over the next five years. This was in addition to the President†s already proposed injection of $110 billion into the Pentagon†s budget for the readiness program to boost mission capability rates. The service chiefs also urged Congress to press ahead with the President†s previously announced FY 2000 overall 4. 4 percent pay raises, additional targeted pay raises for mid-grade officers and noncommissioned officers and restoration of retirement benefits to 50 percent of base pay for 20 years of service. This confirms to current and potential members of the military that programs are in place to upgrade overall qualities of the military life. According to the U. S. General Accounting Office, more than 30 percent of first term sailors and Marines do not complete the first term of service, many for reasons that relate to poor screening rather than quality of life issues. Although quality of life issues are still considered among the most important when discussing retention, the most useful future research on quality of life issues should connect both objective and subjective variables to militarily relevant outcomes. Issues such as actual retention, on-the-job performance, and overall duty performance, and ultimately readiness and combat performance need to be looked at. Currently, only a fraction of the quality of life research makes the connection between the inputs and these outcomes. Most of this research has focused only on retention. Researchers need to use or to develop metrics that indicate the fighting effectiveness of the military, and then to identify which quality of life programs influence these measures of effectiveness. This, along with more funding, and awareness of military life and its qualities will enhance the future of the military. The data collected came from a simple survey (Appendix A). In all, 114 surveys were collected over a period of 12 days. There was not a particular target group, as the retention problem appears to be spread among service members of all ranks. The only criterion was that individuals had to be at least half way through his/her first enlistment or period of obligated service. This would have given them ample time to be exposed to military life and form an opinion as to whether they would continue serving in the military. Some of the individuals answering the survey seemed reluctant to provide their name, especially when they read the portion of the survey concerning dissatisfying aspects of military service. Many questioned who would see the survey, and only filled it out after they were assured that the information would not be seen by anyone outside the research group. Once the data was collected, it was categorized based on branch of service and whether the individual was on officer or enlisted. Due to the proximity of bases in the area, members of the United States Navy and Marine Corps filled out the majority of surveys. Members of the United States Air Force filled out the remainder of the surveys. The Army was not represented. The results of the survey can be found in Appendix B. While the total number of surveys collected represents less than one tenth of one percent of the total number of people currently on active duty, it does provide some useful data in terms of why there is a growing amount of dissatisfaction among military members. Respondents were put into one of four categories: Navy/Marine Officer; Navy/Marine Enlisted; Air Force Officer; and Air Force Enlisted. Most categories balanced as expected with the exception of two – average age and average time in service for Air Force enlisted members. Both were higher than expected due to a relatively large number of senior-enlisted within the group. When asked what the primary reason for joining the military was, sixty-two percent (62%) answered â€Å"to serve my country† or some variation of that statement. Eleven percent (11%) responded that they joined to have a job or career. Ten percent (10%) answered that they joined because of the opportunity to travel, while an additional ten percent (10%) said they joined as a means toward receiving a higher education. Relating these responses to Maslow†s Need Hierarchy, it can be said that military service, in some way, for some people, satisfies one or more of those needs. Service to country, making what they feel is a meaningful contribution, satisfies the inner need for self-actualization. The military is often viewed as a log-term commitment or even life-long career, with a high degree of job security. Although there have been numerous reductions-in-force (RIFs) over the years due to a steadily declining budget, the military is still seen as an organization where its members can stay for as long as they desire. This, according to Maslow, would satisfy the need for security. The opportunity to further one†s education and to travel fulfills the need for self-esteem. Ever since the Gulf War, the public†s opinion of those in the military has risen significantly in the favorable direction. All of these contribute to positive feelings by military members and help satisfy the need for self-esteem. When asked which aspects of military service were most satisfying, the most common answer, by far, was making friends. Again, when relating this to the Need Hierarchy, the social need is the only one that cannot be met by an individual. It is reasonable to assume that this need is important because of the unique type of demands military service puts on a family. The majority of service members have to re-locate, on average, every three years. This equates to a new home, new jobs, and new schools for everyone. Even though a service member might choose to serve 20 years, he has more than likely moved at least 6 times, unlike his civilian counterpart, who in 20 years may have never moved once. The second most common response regarding satisfying aspects was the opportunity to travel. Again, moving every 3 years, gives personnel ample opportunity to live in a variety of locations both stateside and abroad. There are many bases throughout the world. Getting stationed in some of the more desirable areas certainly makes the idea of relocating easier. If an individual is assigned to a deploying unit, he/she can expect to go to different areas, as required, for duration of a few days to as long as six months. This is not always seen as a satisfying aspect and the negative side of this will be discussed later. Also, certain â€Å"perks† such as the use of Air Mobility Command (AMC), provides the ability to travel all over the world on a space available basis with little or no cost to personnel. We also asked military personnel what the three most dissatisfying aspects of being in the military were. Due to the differences in military branch, rank, time in service, and age, we received a variety of reasons. Like any other survey we received some questionable responses, such as not being able to smoke pot (marijuana) and having to wear a uniform everyday. At times it was hard to distinguish whether these responses were serious. On the other hand, we also received many valid reasons. From the results of the 114 surveys we got back, it was determined that the three most common dissatisfying aspects of being in the military were: family separation, poor leadership, and eroding benefits. Family separation is of great concern for the majority of military members, particularly those who are married. Military members can be assigned permanent change of station (PCS) orders unaccompanied (without spouse or other dependents) for up to 15 months or they can be sent to numerous short notice deployments. Whether they are Navy, Marines, or Air Force, they are sent away from their families an average of 40% to 50% percent of the year. Some examples of these separations were provided on the additional comments section. For Navy personnel, they had to be away from their families for approximately 6 months in order to fulfill their ship/sea duty as required by the Navy. In some instances, such as for pilots, they were re-deployed from the carriers to different locations for unspecified lengths of time. For Marines, they were also tasked for numerous deployments through out the year without knowing how long they would be gone. The Marine pilots were also in the same position as the Navy pilots, as they usually train together on aircraft carriers. For Air Force personnel, the situation was similar. Numerous deployments throughout the year to different bases, such as Southwest Asia, which are at least 4 months long, seem to be very unpopular among military members. These deployments are usually to remote places half way around the world where living conditions are very poor. Some locations don†t even provide individuals a way to communicate back to their families. These situations take a toll on marriages. Several surveys indicated that these types of constant deployments contributed to military members being divorced at least two or three times throughout their military careers. For single military members, being away from their home stations also made it impossible for them to go home on leave to visit their families. Many of the young, single enlisted members said it was difficult not to be able to go home for holidays, but rather having to spend them alone at deployed locations. In some instances, it was impossible for military members to go home at times of emergency, such as severe illness or death of an immediate family member. These situations are hard enough and family separation only makes them more difficult. There are numerous reasons why deployments or unaccompanied permanent change of stations (PCS†s) can cause hardships on military members but the main dissatisfaction is family separation. Poor Leadership is another popular dissatisfying aspect of being in the military. Just like any organization, you are going to have a few managers/leaders that are not very popular among employees. In the military, managers or leaders are appointed differently than in traditional civilian organizations. Supervisors or leaders are appointed according to rank. For example, if somebody is newly appointed to your section and he or she is the highest- ranking person there, they are usually the ones in charge of the section. For this reason, you might get a good leader that knows how to treat people and take care of business, or you might get the â€Å"micro-managing† leader that is just looking out for him/herself in order to get a promotion or favorable evaluation. This type of leadership is found in every position throughout the military. It can range from one†s immediate supervisor, to shop chief, flight chief, section commander, squadron commander and so on. Since one of the main goals of every military member is to achieve the highest rank possible, criticizing or speaking out against poor leadership can be detrimental to one†s career advancement. One of the main complaints about leadership, according to those answering the survey, is that leadership does not remain constant. People, usually those in leadership positions that are trying to â€Å"get a check in the block† for the next promotion, can be assigned to a duty station or duty section anywhere from one to three or more years. These leaders usually try to quick-fix existing problems or they leave them for the person replacing them. This results in work sections getting a mix of management styles. The assigned personnel that remain are the ones that have to endure this. They might get good leaders for short periods of time and then have them replaced by bad leaders and so on throughout their assignment. Yet another example of poor leadership, according to surveyees, are those who â€Å"brown-nose† or â€Å"suck-up† to leaders in the organizations. These are leaders that are afraid or not willing to make suggestions to superiors on how to fix organizational problems. They would rather blindly do as their superiors tell them. These leaders or â€Å"politicians†, as stated before, are just looking out for themselves. Eroding benefits was the third most common dissatisfying aspect of being in the military. According to those â€Å"career† military members that have been in over ten years, military benefits have been cut back drastically over the past few years. Those members that joined the military within the last few years do not have the same benefits that those that joined over ten years ago do. For example, the amount of retirement pay after 20 years of service is 50% of base pay for those that joined prior to 1986 and 40% for those that have joined since. Another major complaint is that medical benefits and the quality of medical care have been decreasing every year. Another source of dissatisfaction is that training opportunities or assignment preferences are not available anymore. Some personnel feel stuck in certain locations, and it denies them one of the major reasons for joining in the first place – an opportunity to travel. While some personnel enjoy the stability of not having to move as much, there are many who like to move at the end of their tour and move on to another location. Military members see cutbacks as the major reason for increased family separation, decreasing benefits, and the development and advancement of poor leaders. Over the last several years, the military has gone through a massive downsizing. This resulted in having to continuously do more with less. The operations tempo of many flying squadrons increased and due to under-manning, assigned personnel has to constantly go on deployments. Promotions are now harder to come by because now there are many people competing for fewer positions. The cutbacks in the military budget have caused the closing of many military installations around the world. Military members viewed many of these installations as benefits because they were considered popular assignment preferences. These assignments were in popular spots around the world that were, for some members, reason to join the military in order to get there. There are various reasons individuals are deciding to voluntarily leave the military. Despite relatively high job security and increasing monetary incentives, many do not feel this is compensation enough to have to endure the increasing hardships put upon them. What can the military do to retain personnel? The government must start by addressing the numerous quality of life issues that military members currently face. Merely offering more money to people will entice some to stay, but the reason most people joined in the first place had nothing to do with money. It is a well-known fact, verified by numerous studies, that a pay gap exists between military members and what would be considered their equivalent civilian counterpart. Until these issues are addressed and personnel start to see a real change in operations and personnel tempo, the military is going to continue to see good people leave its ranks.