No Country for Old Men by Cormic McCarthy Essay

No Country for Old Men by Cormic McCarthy - Essay Example Dystopia can also be described as a life of unfavorable circumstance. First, Llewelyn Moss finds and steals the drug dealers’ $2,000,000 cash from the crime scene, being at the wrong place (Rio Grande) at the wrong time, after the drug battle (McCarthy 3). Consequently, the life of Llewelyn Moss is life is filled with unfavorable circumstances. The entire story focuses on Moss trying to evade being forced to return the drug dealer’s money. The story shows the disadvantages of being pulled in the dangerous and short-lived life within the drug trade. Moss is forced to persuade his young wife, Carla Jean Moss, to pack up her bags and hide in far away Odessa in order to avoid being held as the drug dealers’ hostage (McCarthy 28). Unfortunately, Moss is unsuccessful. Chigurh kills Carla Moss. Sheriff Bell warns Carla the drug dealers will find and kill her husband for stealing their drug money (McCarthy 67). Further, the story shows that dystopia claims another victim , Sheriff Bell. Sheriff Bell is unsuccessful in protecting Moss from being killed by people who are after the drug money. Sheriff Bell is not able to prevent Chigurh’s killing Carla Moss (McCarthy 144). Consequently, despair prompts Sheriff Bell to retire and drift into dreamland. The entire novel’ dystopia character is grounded on retrieving the drug money from the thief, Llewelyn Moss (Spurgeon 75). Additionally, the novel is one of McCarthy’s many war-based novels. McCarthy’s favorite wars include the Mexican-American War, Mexican Revolution, and World War 2. McCarthy’s other novels include the Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy. Both Sheriff Bell and LLewelyn Moss are war veterans (Hage 121). Further, the author brings to life the effect of dystopia on different characters. The author fits the evil forces against the good forces. The story ends with the evil forces triumphant over the good forces, characteristic of dystopia. One good force, Sheriff Bell, unsuccessfully prevents the death of the one good character, Moss. Sheriff Bell did not prevent the killing of Carla Moss. Llewelyn Moss is another good character. As a finder’s keeper person, Llewelyn Moss was innocently dragged into the drug world. Moss ends up killed by other Mexicans trying to grab the drug money from Moss (McCarthy 63). Mario Raff reiterated that Moss is the hero or good person in the novel, since Anton Chigurh is depicted as the villain for strangling a police officer (2). A third good person, Carla Moss, is an innocent victim of the drug world. By being the wife of Moss, Carla is targeted by the drug syndicates. Carla Moss losses her life at the hands of the drug dealer’s hitman, Anton Chigurh (McCarthy 144). With reduced capital, there would be lesser drugs smuggled through the borders of Mexico (Spurgeon 75). Furthermore, the bad characters are triumphant in the novel. Chigurh, drug dealer hitman, successfully recovers the money from the apartment of Moss. The author brings out Chigurh’s philosophy where there are no right decisions or wrong decisions, just plain decisions needed to be made based on each unique situation (Raff 6). The drug dealers recover the money from Moss. The author espouses that evil can triumph over good (Spurgeon 75). Moreover, the author sprinkles the novel with a dystopia (misfortune) tone. Dystopia focuses on sad, failure or loss hovering over the novel’s good forces. For example, Moss ends up dead in the

Analysis (english) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis (english) - Essay Example However, why many modern people indulge in the race of acquiring more expensive products is not only because they want to show off, but it is their way of achieving the mental satisfaction that they are financially sound and can afford the most luxurious things available in the market. The author has been right in his finding that people do follow celebrities in order to upgrade their standard of living. In fact, this is what many advertising companies make use of. This is the reason why many celebrities are starred in the ads displayed on the television. However, the author did not identify the fact that it is the â€Å"information society† that has played a fundamental role in enhancing this competition of materialism among individuals in the modern society. It is the media that develops a lust in the people to get the latest model of an accessory that has just arrived in the market. In addition to that, I do not completely agree with the claim that middle class is declining in terms of number of individuals in the society. To me, the trend among people to compete with one another has fundamentally blurred the interfaces between individual economical classes. What to talk of a middle class, it is even difficult to distinguish between people from lower class and the elite class as both tend to purchase products that pertain to the same luxurious lifestyle. Difference between classes has also been removed to a considerable extent by the capacity of banks and money lending organizations to offer the people debts. People make us e of such opportunities to upgrade their life style, though there are not many who are able to fulfill all the requirements of the service. This has led the nation to an exaggeratedly indebted state than ever before. It is indeed, an undeniable truth that the advent of technology has retrograded the society as a whole in a number of ways. Over the time, people have

Group Packaged Tours And Individual Tours Tourism Essay

Group Packaged Tours And Individual Tours Tourism Essay In the recent past, the world has been through a fast paced transformation of lifestyle and preferences. This has been marked by tremendous changes in the way people spend on leisure and recreation especially on tourism. Likewise, many economies have been facing hard economic times forcing creativity and cost saving strategies to take toll in the delivery of goods and services. Specifically, tourism is a very ancient activity which ranges from field executions, adventure tours, special-interest tours, regional or city tours, fully escorted tours and group tours (Fay, 2002). Despite all these forms of tourism, harsh economic times have led to emergence of package tours which are holidays where a variety of services are paid for once and for all. Basically the costs are inclusive of all necessities that a person on voyage may find essential. Such tour packages come with services such as accommodation, transport, tour guides, insurance, transfer costs between sites, entrance fees paid t o warders at scenic attraction sites, tickets to events and meals. The costs also vary depending on time schedules or number of days to be spends on tour sites, ability and willingness to pay for the goods and services. To this end we discover that tourism is a recreation activity which is conducted at a persons convenience therefore it is a leisure activity. Tourism being a leisure activity, it is worth noting that over a short time frame the consumer behavior is bound to be irregular pegging on the fact that expenditure on recreation is seasonal if not cyclic. In this paper, there is need to establish fundamental differences between group packaged and individual tours, their merits and demerits, and finally try to integrate the two forms of tourism for the sake of saving costs. Consumer behavior entails the study of processes used by individuals, organizations and groups of buyers to acquire and dispose services, products, goods, ideas or experiences in order to satisfy human wants. Human wants are psychological therefore buyers are guided by social anthropology as well as economics. Through the study of consumer behavior, marketing managers are better placed to make subtle decisions regarding market segments they wish to exploit. In addition, comprehending the behavior pattern of customers will fashion strategic managers with essential data necessary to facilitate decision making. This research is double faced since it provides comparisons between group tours and individual tours while at the same time exploring strengths and possible bottlenecks associated with both forms of tourism. In a nutshell fundamental elements of individual consumers are brought to light since they are dictated by behavior variables and demographics. In the end, the research will establish if the psychology of a consumers is dependent on friends, family, society, class or reference groups. The behavior of customers is so dynamic since buyers patterns are literally unpredictable, it therefore requires a distinction in the roles played by consumers ranging from being a payer, a user or a buyer of a product. By so doing a researcher will have an easy time predicting consumer patterns of clients and establishing relationship marketing techniques; this is a very powerful asset used in the analysis of consumer behavior because it establishes a keen interest in redefining the meaning of marketing. On the other hand relationship marketing emphasizes on the need for rediscovering customers while placing a greater importance on the need to retain current customers, manage customer relationships, customize and personalize a one to one marketing approach. Tour Packages and their Applicability to Consumer Behavior Today there are many types of tourism packages basing on the suitability, convenience, cost and affordability. Researchers have established that these many packages have emanated from the need for service providers to meet the varied desires and needs of customers. Tour agents and brokers find it prudent to design various packages and assign them with respective cost element which makes these packages affordable depending on the willingness of the customers to spend. While other customers will want a customized and economic tour package, extravagant or fun loving customers will prefer a prestigious treatment during their voyage. The packages can be broken down further into; first, special interest tours which are excursion focused on a specific area of interest for instance sports, arts, agriculture, and culture (Wang Hsieh Huan, 2000). Secondly, adventure tours which are sight sees designed to encourage customer participation for a period of time that has been agreed upon by the tour agents. It is based on the customers gaining firsthand experience of the trip depending on their physical capabilities. This package is more enjoyable if practiced in groups since it entails physical activities thus encouraging bonding and socialization. Examples are mountain climbing, diving, skiing, diving and cycling (Solomon, 2004). Thirdly, there are regional or city tours. They last for a span of one day within which the tour participants have to visit areas of interest within specific places in the city. The places visited could be religious, cultural, and historical and the tour agents have to provide the tourists with meals and refreshments as stated in the package agreement. Down the list is group tours which follow a pre-arranged or fixed schedule. This type of a tour is specific on the number of participants required making it very tricky for the organizers to establish the needs of each and every customer in the group. On the other hand, tour agents would want to capitalize on the large numbers in order to increase their profit margins or else they might go at a loss for entangling themselves in unprofitable group tour arrangements. The number of people in a group will definitely be limited to the mode of transport being used and availability of accommodation facilities. It also entails accompaniment by tour guides who may divide the groups into sub groups to ease movement and save on time which is a cost determinant. Finally is the fully escorted tour where a traveler is offered security by a specialized security firm. It is an expensive type of tour since it entails offering of personalized services for instance security against hostility since most of these tour packages are educational in nature, the tour guides or escorts are more often than not authentic inhabitants of a place (Shell, 2009). They are therefore equipped with knowledge on history and cultures making them expensive. On the other hand they are very resourceful making them a preferred choice for the lovers of fully escorted tours. The consumer behavior under each of this classification is very unpredictable because most of the customers decisions is influenced by affordability, family, culture and above all, by the spirit of adventure. Methodology According to secondary data collected by a group of consumer behavior analysts; eight people were sampled basing on the social welfare function and assumptions of anonymity, decisiveness, anonymity, neutrality, monotonicity, homogeneity, unanimity and Pareto optimality (Schwartz, 2004). The results collected by this group of researchers will be helpful in elucidating the main points on consumer behavior analysis. With the understanding that marketing is a special program designed by an organization to satisfying customers needs, the productive system employed by tourist firms is regulated beginning from production levels in such a way that it will market services offered by the firm and increase profitability. The marketing managers often design strategies that maximize on revenues while cutting down on costs and expenditures. In the research it was discovered that tour agents dealing in group package tour enjoy economies of scale because they pay for services in bulk. Likewise a strategic manager could conduct a parallel research similar to that undertaken by consumer analysts in Hong Kong. The research could emphasize on the comparison of the stimulus listed in the consumer behavior black box model shown below (Schiffman Kanuk, 2007). In considering the stimulus listed in the black box model, it will act as a research tool or a guided questionnaire which limits the researcher on the scale of coverage in terms of establishing consumer behavior in relation to tourism and the motive behind how consumers spend their incomes leisure and recreation. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS BUYERS BLACK BOX Marketing Stimuli Environmental stimuli Buyer Characteristics Decision process Buyers response Product Price Place Promotion Economic Technological Political Cultural Demographic Natural Attitudes Motivation Perceptions Personality Lifestyle Knowledge Problem recognition Information search Alternative evaluation Purchase decision Post-purchase behavior Product choice Brand choice Dealer choice Purchase timing Purchase amount A diagrammatic representation of the black box model (Foxall, 2005) The model shown above identifies the interaction between stimuli, decision processes, consumer characteristics and responses as portrayed by consumers during the research. Using the model, consumer behaviors can be noted depending on the stimuli for instance interpersonal and intrapersonal stimuli. The model is a reflection of the black box theory which attempts to explain behavior of consumers in service related industries such that marketing managers use these stimuli to draw relationships between them and consumer response (Kuester, 2012). In addition the black box model encloses buyers psychology and characteristics which are the main determinants of consumer responsiveness. Under this section, the researcher established that tourists are driven by conscious judgment of the both group package and individual tours hence establishing a fair ground for rational decision making. Findings As it was reported by Heung Chu (2000) in a Chinese Journal; Important factors affecting Hong Kong consumers choice of a travel agency for all-inclusive package tour, a sample research was conducted in Hong Kong which is a very big city boasting of being among the best metropolitan cities in the world. Although the sample population of one city cannot be a representative of the consumer patterns portrayed by tourism industries around the world, it would be wise to use the report on Hong Kong since the city is fast paced and employees get exhausted due to long working hours with little time to rest. Given such working environments, employees get some times-off to relax (LeBlanc, 2002). It was established that most people prefer all inclusive group package tours to individual tours. The services are provided by tourism agencies that can be found through online platforms such as company websites. According to the findings collected using an open ended questionnaire it was discovered th at tourists have different needs and expectations. The needs could be ranked in a descending chronology starting with price, itinerary, accommodations, meals, transportation, departure date and time, hotel facilities, reputation and last on the list is brand of travel agency. The needs portrayed by the consumers influence how customers purchase packages for their tours. The group of consumer behavior analysts observed that out of the eight customers that were sampled from Hong Kong city to fill in the questionnaires, six of them identified price to be the number one determinant of consumer behavior. It therefore becomes evident that customer needs are limited by the size of their wallets hence some customers may prefer going for a group package tour rather than individual tour not because they desire to but because they are limited by their income or budget. This is where the need for integrating group package tours with individual tours so as to satisfy customers who have a desire of individual tour but want to also look for the benefit of lower price and lower hassle which group packaged tour could offer. It is after prices have been considered that other factors in the needs bracket are made too surface which means that they are not as essential as price factors. Only four correspondents stated to care about the itinerary drafted by the travel ag ents. On the same note four other customers supported accommodation mattered while touring because they could opt for adventure group package tours so that they can pitch tents in the wild and spend the night in company of other tourists (Heung Chu, 2000). Only three people considered modes of transportation as a determinant in deciding between group package and individual tour. They stated reasons such as maintaining their reputation and class which makes it evident enough that in our situation, transportation is but a secondary determinant in determining customer behaviors. Moving down with our analysis on the needs of customers and how it determines their selection of a suitable tour package, it becomes imminent that only one person would have issues with hotel facilities. The customer in question is after luxurious offers which can be best offered by under the fully escorted individual tour package since they can proffer spa and hot spring services which is a luxury. The main factor behind these findings is that customers have varied attitudes, motivations and perceptions and this influences their tour consumption behavior. Pros of Group Package Tours Group package tours are cost saving because they travel agencies buy the packages in bulk therefore they can compete for services in the tourism industry for instance hotels and scenic site. In addition, the agencies enjoy economies of large scale or impulsive buying of packages thus their rates can be discounted or subsidized (Dellaert Ettema Lindh, 1998). The benefits can trickle down to customers through subsidized prices. The same effect is spread to meals making them affordable. Secondly, the operators take the bigger part of responsibility that could otherwise have been passed on to the tourist in the case of individual tour. In the event that something goes amiss then the operators or agencies involved will be charged with the responsibility of solving problems on behalf of the tourists. Group package tours are time saving and convenient since the agents deal with making travel and accommodation arrangements. This saves on time an individual tourist could spend putting in place orders and booking appointments with several services providers. From the outward aspect people traveling in groups will socialize along the way. Besides, people traveling in groups are assured of quality since tour operators have specialized in analyzing customer behavior hence they are away of tour companies offering best services and they are able to establish areas that would be fascinating to the tourists. Some advantages will also be accrued by the travel agents who take the initiative of organizing group package tours at affordable rates. Agents get paid 10% commissions for their job. Cons of Group Package Tours To some extent, group package tours are inflexible because tourists have to follow a given schedule and wait for schedules regarding travel, because it entails a collection of many people. Also, travel agents find it tricky to organize and control groups especially during off peak seasons when the number of people willing to go on tours is below breakeven point. The operators may also be faced with challenges beyond their control but they will have to bear the brunt of angry group tourists who might not be willing to understand. Pros of Individual Tours Some countries attach a more personal touch to tourists using individual tour option. China is an example of a country where individual tours are cheaper and a ticket to receiving special treatment such as personal care, sense of control, handy services and time flexibility (Engel Blackwell, 2006). Moreover, a tourist opting for private tours is bound to enjoy flexibility of schedules since he or she could have the opportunity of doing exactly what they want to do unlike in a group tour where everything is fixed and hard to negotiate. In addition, a family with children should think of using private or individual tour since the parents can plan events that will be perceived relevant to both age groups involved. Cons of Individual Tours Private tours are expensive in relation to group packaged tours because of the bulk involved. Whereas the latter enjoys economies of large scale buying of goods and services, the former has to go through the hustle of paying for each and every individual services hence it is expensive. Conclusion From the above comparisons the research established that consumer behavior is key in weighing the best option between group packaged tours and individual tours (Kotler Bowen Makens, 2003). To find the best alternative to integrate individual and group package tours, then agents will have to work out a strategy that will work to the advantage of both groups. This means that an agent may have to prepare new rates and schedules which allow tourists interested in having a taste of both travel and tour arrangements gain maximum benefits from both arrangements. It would be prudent for the costs to be the average of individual tour costs and that of group packaged tours. Therefore a person undertaking the third option should be ready to incur costs at a personal level. The agents will also be responsible for providing only the services agreed upon while neglecting the other services at the expense of the tourist. For instance, assuming someone was interested in the integrated option, he or she will be free from the scheduled group tours thus this will be the perfect opportunity to visit places of ones choice. Under the integrated option, the tourist will have to be pay consult with the travel agent for transport, insurance and accommodation services so that they enjoy subsidized group rates whereas they can determine places to visit on their own while paying for entry fees. The integrated option would be the best option for customers who want to satisfy the desire for individual tour but want to also look for the benefit of lower price and lower hassle which group packaged tour could offer. Practical Application of the Research Much weight of this paper is laid on the aspect of analyzing consumer behavior in relation to tourism and recreation industry. It is based on updated and current information relating the current state to tourism statistics. It lays out a learning outcome fashioned with knowledge on factors influencing buyer behavior. This information is essential to a marketing manager who may be interested in studying the consumer behavior in the tourism and recreation industry for the sake of control management of future forecasting. The study emphasizes that theories of motivation are very applicable in influencing customer behavior towards liking for any of the two forms of tours; group package tour and individual tours (Deaton Muellbauer, 2008). Most customers are guided by motivation which inevitably implies that tourists have a liking for fascination and nature. A strategic manager in conjunction with the marketing manager should strive at using advertisements to create psychographics in the minds of the consumers. All this can be done in a bid to influence or motivate customers into anticipating for such a tour. Travel agents would major their advertisements towards making people to appreciate group packaged tours so as to win a certain segment of the consumer market. In short a manager who approaches the market with caution and intensive analysis of consumer needs will understand the psychology that guide decision making in tourists and capitalize on it during peak seasons. A manager may therefore make us e of Maslows hierarchy of needs to deterring the social class and consequently the motivation behind customers selection among the two classes of tourism. Looking at this report from the customers point of view, a customer who reads this report is bound to justify why he or she tends to behave in a certain way. Mostly, a travel agent will want to create advertisements that motivate customers by driving their instincts into wanting to visit a place, regretting a certain events, nostalgia or fantasies. All this are suitable strategies that can be molded into an individuals perception of holidays. On the other hand, this report may consumer educate consumers on the decision buying process applicable in the tourism industry. According to Burke Resnuk (2001), the stages start with arousal or recognition of need, it then develops into a nagging interest or want, the customer then identifies an alternative assessment of substitute decision choices. These stages finally induce a customer into either group packaged or individual tours.

The Past, Present and Future of Social Security Essay -- Social Securi

Social Security A Historical View Social security, the federal retirement system, is one of the most popular government programs in United State?s history. Today, Social Security benefits are the backbone of the nation's retirement income system. The long road to the successful development of social security began in 1935. Before 1935, very few workers received job pensions. Those workers that were covered never received benefits because they were not guaranteed. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the original Social Security Act. It comprised of two services: a Social Security retirement benefit that applied only to workers, and a welfare program for the elderly called Old Age Assistance. Social Security benefits were not paid until 1942 to allow for a period of partial forward funding. The retirement benefit service was funded by a two percent tax on the first $3000 of payroll earnings, 1 percent form employers and 1 percent from workers. In 1939, Social Security was amended to include coverage to dependents of workers who died. The payroll tax income was also set aside in a separate trust fund. Social Security gained national commitment in 1950 when the Old Age Assistance program was phased out. Benefits were increased by 77 percent and the payroll tax rate was increased to 6.5 percent on a phased ? in basis. This increment was partly a response to an expansion in private pensions that were being won by unions in collective bargaining agreements. The pensions, usually, served as a supplement to social security benefits. Employers supported Social Security increases because they were considered more economical than private pensions. In order to increase Social Securit... ...bout higher deductibles, reduced benefits, or the probability of a government-run program that many not meet its commitment. The increase in the nation?s savings rate would not only benefit retirees, but would strengthen the economy. Savings would be invested privately, which would create new businesses and jobs. Bibliography Cambetas, Daniela. The Economic Reality of Social Security. Social Security. 25 Aug. 2007. Conover, Pat. ?A Concise History of Social Security.? 20 July 2001. 25 July 2007. http://www.ucc.org/justice/ss/history.htm. Social Security Online. 25 July 2007. . Social Security: The Perspectives in Detail. Public Agenda Online. 8 Aug. 2007. http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/debate_detail2.cfm?issue_type=ss. The Past, Present and Future of Social Security Essay -- Social Securi Social Security A Historical View Social security, the federal retirement system, is one of the most popular government programs in United State?s history. Today, Social Security benefits are the backbone of the nation's retirement income system. The long road to the successful development of social security began in 1935. Before 1935, very few workers received job pensions. Those workers that were covered never received benefits because they were not guaranteed. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the original Social Security Act. It comprised of two services: a Social Security retirement benefit that applied only to workers, and a welfare program for the elderly called Old Age Assistance. Social Security benefits were not paid until 1942 to allow for a period of partial forward funding. The retirement benefit service was funded by a two percent tax on the first $3000 of payroll earnings, 1 percent form employers and 1 percent from workers. In 1939, Social Security was amended to include coverage to dependents of workers who died. The payroll tax income was also set aside in a separate trust fund. Social Security gained national commitment in 1950 when the Old Age Assistance program was phased out. Benefits were increased by 77 percent and the payroll tax rate was increased to 6.5 percent on a phased ? in basis. This increment was partly a response to an expansion in private pensions that were being won by unions in collective bargaining agreements. The pensions, usually, served as a supplement to social security benefits. Employers supported Social Security increases because they were considered more economical than private pensions. In order to increase Social Securit... ...bout higher deductibles, reduced benefits, or the probability of a government-run program that many not meet its commitment. The increase in the nation?s savings rate would not only benefit retirees, but would strengthen the economy. Savings would be invested privately, which would create new businesses and jobs. Bibliography Cambetas, Daniela. The Economic Reality of Social Security. Social Security. 25 Aug. 2007. Conover, Pat. ?A Concise History of Social Security.? 20 July 2001. 25 July 2007. http://www.ucc.org/justice/ss/history.htm. Social Security Online. 25 July 2007. . Social Security: The Perspectives in Detail. Public Agenda Online. 8 Aug. 2007. http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/debate_detail2.cfm?issue_type=ss.

Cultural Diversity in Organizations Essay

â€Å"Diversity† has arrived as a descriptive word for the American lifestyle in the modern world. With increasing immigration of people from many countries, many races, and many cultural backgrounds to the United States, the country has become a nest of diversity. Several factors shape the fact that the workforce is becoming increasingly culturally diverse: women represent an increasing percentage in organizations; the difference in age is becoming more evident on all levels; due to continuously changing demands organizations are employing more and more people with diverse professional and specialist backgrounds; there is a growing number of immigrants having different customs, religions and cultures and finally, the ongoing globalization is causing an influx of a large number of expatriates, who comes from various countries in the world, also contributing with different values and cultures. This increasing cultural diversity is both an opportunity and a challenge. Diversity brings with it a wide range of creativity and fresh thinking into the system. Diversity is here, in the population, in the workforce and in the marketplace. Racism, discrimination in the workplace, social stratification, and conflicts in social lifestyles are all negative byproducts of diversity. Thus cultural diversity in America is a highly debated issue because of the numerous problems arising due to it. One of the most serious and explosive issues in the United States today is meeting the business goals within an environment of multicultural diversity. When companies fail to create a culture of diversity and inclusion effectively, the costs can be high – costs arising due to ‘diversity training† and settlement of discrimination lawsuits. Many well-known companies have spent millions of dollars on â€Å"diversity training,† after settling discrimination lawsuits totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, diversity also raises issues of interpersonal relations and communications among employees. This fact is underlined by increasing discrimination and class action lawsuits. Diversity impacts every person, every project, and every transaction in today’s business world. Some companies approach it in terms of the noticeable differences among people. What many fail to realize is that diversity is really about personal interaction and emotions, and creating a corporate culture that welcomes all kinds of differences. Managing Diversity: Managing diversity is all about approaching the issue proactively as a business opportunity. There needs to be a culture of diversity within the organization. One of the major obstacles in managing diversity is that many companies view diversity as a problem that needs to be solved. They just take a reactive approach. Supposing there is a lawsuit brought under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, they just take an initiative that would solve the problem in the short run. Though this approach seems to be successful, in the long run, there is likely to be no impact on the corporate culture in a positive way. Such reactive approaches can negatively impact the workforce morale as they don’t appear to be a genuine commitment to diversity. The path to diversity is not always an easy one. One of the most common obstacles is resentment from white male managers who see diversity as threatening to them. â€Å"Since diversity is typically framed to be about white women and people of color, the focus is rarely on examining what it means to be white and male,† say Bill Proudman and Michael Welp, Partners at White Men as Full Diversity Partners LLC, a consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon. â€Å"White men, and sometimes others, thus conclude that diversity is not about them† (Goffney, 2005) Another obstacle that can arise in a multicultural business environment is resistance to change. When new diversity programs are introduced, it is essential that the employees view it as a genuine effort. Hence, these diversity programs should be tailored to meet the needs of the company’s workforce and integrated into the daily environment. Any diversity initiative should be tied to the company’s bottom line. Even though top management may make the commitment to diversity, if the initiative is not tied explicitly to the company’s bottom line, it does not become a priority for middle managers. The diversity initiative should be integrated into the tools and processes they use to manage employees, including orientation, training and education, and interpersonal communication. If not, existing employees will not accept the diversity initiative and new employees are likely to get disillusioned with a taste of it. Top management must ensure that the commitment to diversity has buy-in at all levels of the organization by making diversity an integral part of company success. Yet another obstacle to managing diversity is that the diversity initiatives might be restricted to training alone and is left as an ‘HR issue†. This narrow focus results relegation of diversity to a single department and companies thus miss out on opportunities to improve and integrate the diversity initiative into other areas of the company. Any corporate initiative should be feedback based, dynamic and flexible. Else, there is the danger that the initiative will remain static. Too often diversity initiatives begin and end with the first efforts undertaken. Diversity and inclusion are part of company culture, and like the culture, diversity must continue to evolve (Adams and Ruch, 2006). Managing all these obstacles require the ability to value a diverse world. This means there should be individual assessment of beliefs about work values. People from differing backgrounds having different experiences bring to work the biases and â€Å"veils† as well as the strengths that arise out of cultural differences. To work effectively with persons from diverse backgrounds, it is necessary to understand others– people from other racial, ethnic and cultural heritages, and people whose values, beliefs and experience are different. This involves learning to recognize when new competencies are needed, knowing how to develop the requisite new competencies, and implementing the competencies effectively. Companies need to assess their state of diversity: What is the state of diversity in our company? Are we making the most of diversity? Do we speak with one voice with respect to diversity? Companies that ask these questions on a continual basis, set strategic goals, measure their progress and evolve their programs in sync with their overall organizational change will be the ones to leverage the full potential of diversity (Adams and Ruch, 2006). Individual Reactions to Diversity: Diversity may be viewed positively or negatively depending on the individual reaction to diversity. In a culturally diverse workplace, there is likely to be prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. This is because of self-fulfilling prophecies. The perceiver develops false belief about a person from a different cultural background. He then treats the person in a manner consistent with that false belief. Ultimately, the person responds to the treatment in such a way to confirm the originally false belief. Other negative reactions of individuals to diversity may include: tension among staff, distrust of anything new, gossip and rumor, open hostility or bullying, absenteeism, tarnishing of the agency’s reputation, low staff retention rates, lack of response to customers and falling standards of service quality (NSW, 2006). In the positive sense, diversity that brings with it community language skills and cultural competencies can be seen as valuable assets to an agency (MSASS, 2006). Customer service improves when employees are able to tackle customers from a range of backgrounds. When employees are encouraged to learn from one another, their skills and knowledge are also enhanced. Diversity can reduce skill shortages at specific times. In a business, diversity gives the advantage of utilizing the language, international expertise and cultural knowledge of staff to identify successful export opportunities. When employees are encouraged to work in their areas of strength and capability, they are happier, more productive and more likely to stay with the agency. Productive diversity is based on the concept that there are potential economic benefits to be gained from valuing different experience, perspectives, skills and the cross-transfer and integration of these into the agency and local economy. Productive diversity makes good business sense in an environment where local diversity and global interconnectedness play a critical economic role (Muhr, 2006). Diversity effects on groups and teams: In the context of working in groups or teams, diversity seems to cause contrasting goals, miscommunication or inter-group anxiety, thereby prohibiting teamwork creativity. Miscommunication and the lack of a common language make it difficult for team members to engage in an exchange of ideas and questions, an exchange, which is essential for effective teamwork (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). If individuals carry out negative stereotyping of outgroups it can prevent them from trusting and engaging with others and can threaten communication patterns within organizations. This is mainly due to a lack of common context and language usage. Anxiety in the team occurs when people identify themselves as placed among people belonging to different diversity categories. Thus, diversity will in this situation make it difficult for the individuals to identify with the team, since there is no unified perception of what values the team represents (Muhr, 2006). In a diverse work team, the values and perceptions of different diversity categories may be contrasting or even mutually exclusive, which is likely to bring about incongruence in goals. Incongruence in goals can limit communication, which is fundamental to the creation of interpersonal relationships and trust. Furthermore, goal incongruence may also prevent individuals from sharing and combining knowledge all together, if they are not able to reach agreement on common goals for pursuing such knowledge processes (Muhr, 2006). On the positive side, it has been shown that diversity in fact improves creativity by promoting variations, thinking out of the box and avoiding ‘groupthink’. Several analyses have shown that teams made up of people with different cultural and educational backgrounds, different personalities, different professional backgrounds and different skills are potentially more creative and innovative than relatively homogeneous teams. This is because diversity creates variations – variations in perceptions, values, ideas, opinions, and methods, which are highly essential for developing a stimulating creative environment (Mohr, 2006). Conclusion: In the global economy today, most companies operate globally. Diversity of thought, culture, geography, race, and gender enables companies to deliver the best solutions to their customers and markets. Diversity pays off both internally and externally. A company that embraces diversity can offer a challenging and creative work environment, and as a result, can attract and retain top talent with diverse backgrounds. There is also a connection between diversity and increased productivity. Diversity also fosters organizational creativity. But despite these benefits of diversity, work teams will not truly benefit from diversity unless sufficient communication, trust and openness are nurtured in the organizational climate. The powerful advantage of embracing diversity in organizations is best brought out by the words of Ted Childs, IBM’s vice president of global workforce diversity. In a recent issue of Fast Company magazine, in a feature article was entitled: â€Å"Difference is Power†, Ted Childs suggests that, â€Å"No matter who you are, you’re going to have to work with people who are different from you. You’re going to have to sell to people who are different from you, and buy from people who are different from you, and manage people who are different from you. This is how [companies] do business. If it’s (diversity) not your destination, you should get off the plane now† (Meisner, 2006). Bibliography: Adams, Brandon and Ruch, Will (2006). Diversity as a core business strategy. http://www. versantsolutions. com/knowledgecenter/EB_DiversityAsACoreBusinessStrategy2. pdf NSW (2006). What is Diversity? http://www. eeo. nsw. gov. au/diversity/whatis. htm Muhr, Louise Sara (2006). Openness to Diversity –Turning conflict into teamwork creativity. Paper submitted for the 10th International Workshop on Teamworking. http://www. mau. se/upload/IMER/Forskning/Diverse/Muhr%5B1%5D. pdf Nahapiet, J. , & Ghoshal, S. 1998. Social Capital, Intellectual Capital and the Organizational Advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(2). MSASS (2006). Valuing a diverse World. http://msass. case. edu/downloads/academic/diverse. pdf Goffney, Phyllia (2005). Champions of Diversity. Essence. May 2005. http://www. findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_1_36/ai_n13660850 Meisner, Lora (2006). The American Quilt – Workplace Diversity. http://career. thingamajob. com/general-career. aspx/The-American-Quilt-Workplace-Diversity. aspx

Impact in Bangladesh’s Economy After the Budget of Export Import

Assignment On Impact in Bangladesh’s economy after the Budget of Export Import on Food and Garments Course Name: Financial Management Course Code: Bus-302 Section- 01 Submitted To Sumaiya Zaman Lecturer & Co- Ordinator ULAB School of Business Submitted By Tamim Hossain Turjo Id. 092011100 Md. Masud Rana Id. 092011084 Sony Saha Id. 092011090 Mst. Tazmina Afrin Nipu Id. 092011096 Atiker Nesa Chowdhury Id. 093011101 University of Liberal Arts BangladeshDate Of Submission: 18-08-2011 INTRODUCTION The national budget of FY2011-12 has been announced at the midpoint of the present government’s five years occupancy, spoiled by challenges to maintain the balances and the achievement of the targets for which it was voted to power. The current situation of macroeconomic balances, particularly triggered by instability of prices and contractionary financial policies, may be further pressurized by the possibility of fiscal compress.These developments of maintaining the balances may p ut the government on the edge of achieving the target of growth, recovery from lethargic improvement in poverty improvement and the reversing the rising trend of inequality. The investment scenario is yet to take the desired path, particularly being underpinned by high interest rate, low FDI inflow, acute power crisis, poor governance, and political instability. The inflationary pressure has been mounting at a rising rate mostly through food inflation in the country.Furthermore, higher trade deficit and the stagnated remittance inflow are putting pressure on the balance of payment situation. The financial space squeeze has emerged by growing burden of financial support requirements especially to the power and energy sector driven by the government to finance the private generators and the global fuel price hike. The limitation of fiscal space might make it difficult for the government to seek remedy to refreshment required for revamping the economy.In addition to that, IMF’s loan with unsuitable conditionality might create severe pressure on the overall macroeconomic strength as well as attaining the targeted growth path. The government might face extraordinary challenges to reach the growth target as quoted in the budget document of FY2011-12 due to the lack of supporting base in the overall economy of Bangladesh. The fiscal space squeeze and IMFs conditions for accessing one billion dollar loan to Bangladesh might also cover the way for increasing different types of inequality; such as – geographical inequality, income inequality and social inequality in the country.Moreover, macroeconomic correlates will be further stressed due to the mounting public debt. The cost of public debt has turned out to be a major concern attributing to the rise in interest rate and a depreciating exchange rate. The government is facing difficulty in debt financing caused by the squeezing of financial space. It is necessary to mention here that if debt financing is to be met by borrowing from the central bank, it would create inflationary pressure; on the other hand, if it is met by borrowing from the commercial banks, there is a possibility of crowding out the private investment.Therefore, debt financing and its management is a critical issue for the present government that needs to be dealt skillfully. In the budget of FY2011-12, the government’s financial strategy should have emphasized the need for maintaining the overall macroeconomic stability as well as fiscal sustainability. Moreover, the government ought to boost the investment through infrastructural development in order to achieve the targeted growth as well as to eradicate poverty and inequality. Budget of 2009-2010 1. Slow down in export growth with some sectors in negative territory: The export growth during July-March period in 2009-2010 stood at 14. percent which was 12. 4 percent during the corresponding period of the year 2008. During this period, RMG sector registered a growth of 19. 9 percent of which the share of woven garments was 18. 4 percent and that of knitwear 21. 4 percent. Frozen foods on the other hand registered negative growth. 2. Export growth may decline to 12 percent: It is in this context that the export growth will moderate in the last quarter of year 2009-2010. As a result, there is a downward projection of export growth to 12 percent in the year 2009-2010. This was 15. 9 percent in the previous year. 3.Decline in import growth projected: About 80 percent of Bangladesh’s imports constitute essential commodities, a large part of which are raw and intermediate materials for industrial production. In the first nine months of the year 2009-2010, import growth registered a decline to 12. 4 percent from 23. 9 percent during the corresponding period of the year 2009-2010. This is attributable to the sudden fall of fuel price and the prices of other commodities. 4. Zero-rate tax will continue for major food items and fertilizer s: We have no alternatives to increasing agricultural production to attain food autarky.Our government has declared agriculture as the top priority sector. Proposal of continue with the zero tariff on imports of fertilizer, seeds and major food grains along with medicine and raw cotton. Proposal to withdraw VAT on the imports of raw materials to produce pesticides to keep pesticides easily available for farmers. To offer protection to the local dairy industry, propose to impose 5% regulatory duty in addition to 12% customs duty on milk powder imported in bulk. 5. Import of milk based food preparations (HS Code 1901. 90. 10) in bulk is subject to 20% supplementary duty.As there is no difference in duty structure between locally packed products and products packed outside, the local packaging industries are affected. Propose to withdraw 20% supplementary duty on the import of this item in bulk. Budget Of 2010-2011 1. Export: While export of commodities and services had shrunk by 20. 4 percent globally due to economic downturn in 2009, Bangladesh managed to achieve a 10. 3 percent growth in export. This is obviously a commendable achievement for Bangladesh. . Due to the global recession, export earnings have increased by only 1 percent during July- April of FY2009-10.It is to be noted that export earnings are on the rise since March 2010 and in April this has increased by 19 percent. Optimistic that this trend will continue in the remaining months of current financial year as well as in the coming fiscal year. 2. Import: Due to recession, prices of commodities in global market as well as volume of imports have declined. While imports shrank by 12 percent in the developed countries and by 8. 4 percent in the emerging and developing economies, import growth of Bangladesh stood at 4. 1 percent in 2008-09.In the first ten months i. e. up to April of FY2009-10, import expenditure has increased by 0. 8 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous financ ial year. Import has, however, increased by 24. 9 percent on the basis of L/Cs opened during July-April period. The good news is that the import of capital machineries and raw materials has increased by 54 percent and 12. 5 percent respectively on the basis of L/C opened during this period which will have a positive impact on the economy in the near future. 3.With a view to keeping the prices within the reach of the general people. Propose to maintain the 0 percent customs duty rate on commodities like rice, wheat, onion, pulse. Considering the sudden exorbitant increase in the world price of milk powder. propose to reduce import duty from 12 percent to 5 percent and withdraw 5 percent regulatory duty on milk powder. 4. The specific rate of duty on raw sugar was withdrawn last year in response to the sudden price hike of sugar at the world market. However, due to a good crop this year, its world price has gone down.Therefore, to ensure higher revenue collection to meet government's developmental needs, propose to impose specific rate of duty on raw sugar and refined sugar at the rate of Tk. 2,000 and Tk. 4,000 per metric ton respectively. Budget Of 2011-2012 Indicators| Unit/Growth Rate| 2009-10(Real)| 2010-11(July-April)| 2010-11(Provisional)| 2011-12(Projected)| Export| Billion US$Growth (%)| 16. 2(4. 1)| 18. 2(40. 9)| 22. 4(38. 0)| 25. 7(14. 5)| Import| Billion US$Growth (%)| 23. 7(5. 5)| 27. 5(41. 4)| 31. 0(45. 0)| 35. 4(14. 0)| 1. Export: With the rebound in global trade, Bangladesh's export is growing increasingly.During the July-April period of FY 2010-11, our export stood at US$ 18. 2 billion which is 40. 9 percent higher over the same period of the last fiscal. Efforts are underway to explore new markets and diversify exportable commodities. It is expected that export will exceed US$22. 4 billion in the current fiscal and this trend will continue in the next fiscal year as well. 2. Import Global imports of goods and services have also bounced back fro m the negative growth in the aftermath of the recession In FY 009-10, our import payments posted a growth of 5. percent. During the July-April period of the current fiscal, import picked up and grew by 41. 4 percent Around 80 percent of our imports are essential industrial commodities On the basis of Letter of Credit settlement, over the July April period of the current fiscal, imports of capital machinery and industrial raw materials recorded a growth of 43. 1 and 49. 8 percent respectively Growth of imports of capital machinery and industrial raw materials reflects the robustness in investment and the momentum created in our economy. 3.In order to keep the price of commodities within the reach of the people, I propose to maintain zero rate of import duty on rice, pulse, wheat, sugar, edible oil, onion, fertilizer, seeds, life saving medicine and cotton. Comparison Between Budget 2009-2010 to 2010-2011 1. Export: We see in FY 2009-2010export growth stood 14. 5% . It is better than the year 2008. In 2009-2010 FY RMG sector registered 19. 9%. But Frozen Foods is in Negative Growth. In the FY 2010-2011 export growth is increased by 19% from March to November and it can be running for rest of this FY.So we can say that In FY 2010-2011 Bangladesh manage to increase their Export growth. It can be give an impact in our GDP. 2. Import: In 2009-2010 FY Import growth decline 12. 4% from 23. 4% in the first 9 month because of sudden fall of fuel price and other commodities. In FY 2009-2010 0% rate on import tax for major food grains and 0% rate on import tax for raw and refined Sugar because of high price of sugar. 12% custom duty on milk powder and 5% regulatory duty on milk powder. In FY 2009-2010 20% supplementary duty is withdraw for milk based food preparations.In FY 2010-2011 it remains 0% tax for food grains like rice, pulse etc. In this year govt. are agree to decrease the tax 12% to 5% in milk powder and withdraw the 5% regulatory duty on milk powder. Because o f the low price of sugar this year Govt. Includes 2000 tk tax for per metric ton raw sugar and 4000 tk tax for per metric ton refined sugar. Comparison Between Budget 2010-2011 to 2011-2012 1. Export: In the FY 2010-2011 export growth is increased by 19% from March to November and it can be running for rest of this FY. In FY 2010-2011 Bangladesh manage to increase their Export growth from the year 2009-2010.In FY 2011-2012 Govt. targeted to gain 14. 5% export growth but that is declining. It is expected that export will exceed US$22. 4 billion in the current fiscal and this trend will continue in the next fiscal year as well. 2. Import:- In FY 2010-2011 it remains 0% tax for food grains like rice, pulse etc. In this year govt. are agree to decrease the tax 12% to 5% in milk powder and withdraw the 5% regulatory duty on milk powder. Because of the low price of sugar this year Govt. Includes 2000 tk tax for per metric ton raw sugar and 4000 tk tax for per metric ton refined sugar.In t his FY 2011-2012 Govt. claim that they will picked up the import growth 41. 4% percent overall. 0% tax rate is in food grains. Tax on sugar is proposed to decreased by 0%. Impact on Our Economy Chart: GDP growth rate from 2009 to 2011 In the budget of 2011-12, the government has targeted 7 percent GDP growth rate. It took two decades for Bangladesh to achieve 6 percent GDP growth rate from 4 percent. Now the government aims to achieve another 2 percent growth rate within five years without any major changes in policy which seems to be improbable considering the previous growth path.Although Bangladesh is in an advantageous position in relation to world average growth and the growth of emerging and developing economies, it is lagging slightly behind in comparison to the Developing Asian economies. The real GDP growth in FY 2009-10 has been finally computed to be 6. 1 percent but it can be increase in that year if we export more of our frozen foods. According to the provisional estima te, in FY 2010-11, a real GDP growth of 6. 7 percent has been achieved. Considering the prospects and potential risks in the context of global and domestic economic perspectives, real GDP growth target for FY 2011-12 at 7 percent.GDP growth increase does not mean that absolutely our financial sector is good. Bank deposit rate is decreasing day by day because of high price of commodities. We import so many food items from outside of the country. RMG product export is always creating positive impact in our economy. It decreases our unemployment problem. It holds major part of our GDP. In RMG sector inflow is more than outflow but in food sector it totally reversed. Recommendation : GDP growth of any country is blessing for that country. Our Budget is always dreamy to fulfill. No govt. can fulfill their Oath. In our Country every people in govt. re corrupted. But our Finance Minister Mr. Abul Mal Abdul Muhit set an Expectation For GDP to 7%. Hope this Govt. can achieve it. Our countryà ¢â‚¬â„¢s food market is stuck by 4 or 5 people who make syndicate and our food price is increasing. Recently for this sugar price is increasing so high. So we can say we have to stop the syndicate to flexible our market. In RMG sector, the overall situation is good without employee’s satisfaction. So we need to develop employee’s satisfaction which will automatically increase production and export. Conclusion: The budget of FY 2011-2012 is very dreamy.Our finance minister is very dream loving person. He propose 1635. 89 billion taka’s budget but we cannot afford this budget. In the FY 2010-2011 our finance minister give a budget of 1321. 7 billion takas budget. We want the correct budget for our country for which we can improve our country’s economic condition. We have to change by ourselves. We have to inspired by other country who are developing day by day. We have to improve our export and import sector. Because this sector is mostly responsible for in crease our GDP. References 1. Mof. gov. bd 2. www. unnayan. org 3. Books of Budget Published By NBR

3 ways to impress an employer at an interview

3 ways to impress an employer at an interview 3 Easy Ways To Stand Out From The Competition While Applying For Internships Have you already graduated from a university? Do you want to apply for an internship? Perhaps now you are very worried about this, and expect how you will fight with fifty other applicants for this internship. The more competitive your future work is - the more applicants for it will be. Certainly, some of your competitors will be eliminated because of lower marks than you have. Some of them are less competent than you, and some just sloppy dressed and came for an interview. But in this way, not all are eliminated. Don’t be afraid! There are three simple ways to stand out even among the most experienced applicants for an internship. Of course, these methods do not guarantee that you will get the work of your dreams. But they significantly increase your chances of getting an internship. Pay attention to the quality of the future workplace Most people believe that their chance to get the desired job is not high. Therefore, they send their CVs to a large number of companies. They try to win at the expense of quantity, and not at the expense of quality. However, such people forget that the more proposals they receive, the less time they will have to visit all the interviews and carefully prepare for each of them. Better devote your time to finding the most suitable company for cooperation. Find a company that will appeal to you personally. Then study it, send a resume together with a cover letter and materials for the applications. In this way, you will get the job that you like. This is the best option. Show your personality Most university graduates pay great attention to their professional skills. They believe that precisely these skills are important in finding desired job. At the same time, everyone forgets about personal qualities. It can be: 1. Punctuality; 2. Mindfulness; 3. Active life position; 4. Responsibility; 5. Sociability; 6. Perseverance. This factor can’t be neglected! During the interview, tell about your personal qualities and traits. Sometimes you can show a sense of humor. If an employer is a man, and you are a girl, do not forget to smile. The same goes for the situation if you are a guy, and the employer is a woman. Due to all these simple actions, the employer will better remember you. According to research, hiring managers choose candidates they like. Dress as beautiful as possible, but not too expensive. And don’t forget to briefly describe your hobby. You are not a machine, you are a living person. Show that you are interested in something else besides work. Also, many managers are looking for candidates who will not only be competent specialists, but also team players. After all, such a person is a support for the whole team. So, develop the ability to interact with other employees, joke, communicate, help others. If you do not show your personality, they will never understand that you are their best candidate. Embrace Your Mistakes If you think that the main thing is not to admit mistakes in the interview, then you are mistaken. Of course, the same goes for the cover letter. But we are all people, and people tend to make mistakes. You can reread the cover letter 50 times. But still, there may be a typo. Even if you rehearsed the interview at home, you can make a mistake. But if the employer is intelligent, he understands that the candidate is not perfect. This does not mean that you do not need to prepare for an interview at all. But small gaffes are completely permissible. The important thing is not whether you are mistaken or not. The important thing is how you deal with the mistakes. In time, correct yourself, and that's enough. The hiring manager knows that if he takes you to work, you will run into problems. When this happens, everything will be wrong. Show that you can easily cope with failure. Show that you are confident and calm in any situation.

How To Set Up Your Author Profile on Reedsy

How To Set Up Your Author Profile on Reedsy How To Set Up Your Author Profile on Reedsy In today’s competitive publishing landscape, ensuring that you have the most cohesive and effective online presence is a crucial challenge towards establishing an author brand. This is what the Reedsy profiles are for: we allow you to integrate all the information about your writing and your books in one single, customizable website. Here’s how to set it up and take full advantage of its capabilities!Seamless integrationsLet’s start with the easiest stuff. Reedsy allows you to integrate in one click with Goodreads, Twitter, Linkedin and your favourite blogging platform (WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger). That way, we just pull the relevant information to build your author profile for you!Your books, straight from AmazonNow to what matters: your books! We allow you to upload them by just copy-pasting their Amazon or Google Play URLs. Again, we’ll extract the relevant information.Customize it!Here’s where you have to do a bit of actual work. Write a nice, engaging â€Å"short summary† and â€Å"about me† that will prompt readers to â€Å"follow† you and leave their email address. Mention your reader magnet (if you have one) and share some personal stuff with your audience, so readers know the human being behind the books.Don’t forget your profile picture, if it’s not already there, and the cover image! These make your author profile truly unique and immediately recognisable to readers! The recommended specs are 400x400 for the profile picture and 900x450 for the cover image.Finally, make sure you’ve put the link to your personal website under your social media links. This way your Reedsy profile will act as the perfect SEO booster!If you have any questions about the author profiles, or want to help us make them better, leave your feedback in the comments below!

An Overview of the Origin of Swimming

An Overview of the Origin of Swimming Written records of swimming date back to near 2000 BC, however, nowhere are strokes or techniques mentioned, children were simply taught to swim. A record from between 2160 BC and 1780 BC from an Egyptian nobleman says â€Å"his children took swimming lessons with the king’s children† (Colwin 4). In addition, many passages from the Biblical Old Testament mention swimming or the act of swimming; such as in the old testament book of Isaiah: â€Å"as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim† (KJV Isa 25:11). Until around the 1500s, no swimming manuals teaching specific techniques existed. In 1559, Sir Everard Digby wrote, in Latin, A short introduction for to learne to swimme. Later Christofer Middleton translated Sir Digby’s work into the common English â€Å"for the better in|struction of those who vnderstand not the Latine tongue† (Digby 1). Digby wrote instructions on how to swim â€Å"like a dog† and â€Å"like a dolphin† as well as many other forms (Digby table of contents). From there, other manuals were written to further refine strokes. While swimming originates as an old pastime, until the early 1800s competitive swimming’s history did not exist because competitive swimming itself did not exist. Up until then, swimming acted as a pleasurable pastime intended more for relaxation than exercise. That mentality shifted during the 19th century in Britain with the opening of St. George’s Baths in 1828, the first indoor public pool. Following that in 1837, the British National Swimming Society made many more indoor pools and began holding swimming competitions (Sharma 1). While the sport remained on the back burner for several decades it steadily grew in popularity until swimming debuted on a global scale in the Grecian Olympics of 1896. In recent decades, athletes such as Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Nathan Adrian, Natalie Coughlin, Katie Ladecky, and Missy Franklin have rocketed the swimming world into becoming one of the most televised sports during the summer Olympics. The language the sport of competitive swimming employs many words from non-aquatic sources. For example, the butterfly stroke, though allegedly invented in 1933 by Brooklyn swimmer Henry Myers (Colwin 30). Instead the butterfly stroke derives its name from the butterfly insect since the technique somewhat resembles that of its namesake. Several other words in swimming’s lexicon follow the same mentality. Named not for who invented the technique, but rather for what it looks like. Kicks such as the dolphin and whip kick when categorized in this way provide pristine examples for this method. The dolphin kick looks like that of a dolphin’s tail moving up and down in the water. The whip kick, sometimes called the frog kick, also makes sense because as human legs perform the kick they mimic the action of frog legs. The swim strokes themselves hold other examples of words coming from non-aquatic sources. Butterfly (previously explained), backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle all have nothing to do with water. The back and breast strokes seem to explain themselves, one executed while swimming on your back and the other executed while swimming with your chest or breast side of your body facing downward in the water. While the easiest to swim, freestyle tends to exists as a more complex term to understand. Technically breast, back, and fly exist as alternate strokes for the freestyle though usually traditionally performed as the complete reverse of backstroke. The stroke of free takes on the dictionary definition of â€Å"enjoying personal rights or liberty† (â€Å"free†), which allows swimmers to swim whatever stroke they deem the easiest or the fastest for themselves. Most of the words in the following lexicon find their roots in Germanic languages. Old Norse, Old Dutch, Old English, and even Old Frisian boast the origin of these words. Invented in Britain, competitive swimming has its lexical language background in these and other Proto-Germanic roots. Of the words in the following lexicon only five can have their origins traced back to Latin, French, or Greek. Of the five outliers, three are Latinate in origin. ‘Dolphin’ derived from a term for the animal and the constellation ‘dolphinus’, ‘paddles’ from the Medieval Latin term ‘padela’, and ‘cap’ from the word cappa. The Old French word ‘touch’ from ‘tochier’ joins with a Germanic word ‘pod’ to make the compound ‘tochierpod’ or ‘touchpad’. Finally, swimming gets its word ‘cards’ from the Greek word ‘khartes’. Verbs and nouns entirely comprise the lexicon list, evidence for this observation lies in the reasoning that verbs and nouns describe either an action or a piece of equipment. However, three words defy normal constructs of language. ‘Dolphin’, ‘whip’, and ‘flutter’ are normally used in language as a noun and two verbs respectively. In swimming, these words take on the role of an adjective because they are describing the type of kick used in a stroke (the dolphin kick in butterfly, the whip kick in breaststroke, and the flutter kick in backstroke and freestyle). Swimming, with its complex history of starting as a leisure activity and evolving into a competitive sport, becomes a wonderful example of how a language can adapt its words to fit a new activity. In addition to creating a new lexicon, a competitive swimmer may ignore old definitions as new definitions are created such as the case of ‘dolphin’. The following lexicon presents a collection of twenty swimming terms that demonstrate all of what has been previously written.

In what way would winning the CA, state lottery ticket makes you bad Essay

In what way would winning the CA, state lottery ticket makes you bad - Essay Example But the responsibility of dealing with a lot of money can be as stressful as managing little. This is even harder for a person who is suddenly find themselves plunged from modest financial ground to extreme wealth. Just to show how hard it can to deal with a lot of money, consider the advice given to a young South African entrepreneur. Kunene was one of the 10 finalists of the South African Breweries Kick Start Business Competition for his business, Mind Trix Media (specializing in web development and design, development of mobile applications, printing and marketing) and met a number of motivational entrepreneurs, including Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson. Kunene says one of the most important pieces of advice he got was to see a psychologist once he got his first million (Tshabalala 23). A lot of money affects one’s psychology. They might start seeing themselves as better than everyone else. On the other hand, friends might start to feel their friend (the one who has the lottery) is acting different. They might be right, but they might also be wrong, seeing what they want to see out of envy. Either way, this is how money separates friends. Further, if a college student wins good fortune in lottery, they might start to think that they are now already successful, that they do not need college education anymore. Besides, they might argue, we have successful college dropouts in Bill Gates, Richard Branson and who would forget Steve Jobs. What they might not see is that these people dropped out of college with concrete visions of where they wanted to do with their lives, where they wanted to be. Of course, it took some risk. But they left college to work toward that vision. Another thing about these famously rich college dropouts is that they have worked hard for what they have or, in the case of Steve Jobs, had. That is the other problem about lottery money; it comes easy. And I like to think that people tend to be more protective over what

Juvenile Sex Offenders consequences Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Juvenile Sex Offenders consequences - Thesis Example These punishments include incarceration in proper prisons, as opposed to juvenile hall. The crimes that these sex offenders commit are no less hideous than the ones committed by adults, so the consequences should be no less harsh. More rules and laws regarding juvenile sex offenders need to be set down so that all sex offenders are tried in the same way; young or not, they are still committing a horrible crime. When they are left off with just a talking to, their behavior is almost being condoned, allowing the juveniles to be unaware of their mistakes. Young sex offenders are not getting the punishments that they need to change their ways. If they are not stopped in their tracks now, they will only become worse as they get older. They will be under the impression that what they are doing is not too bad, due to the lack of decent punishment, and continue to do it. This sort of mind frame can only worsen the longer a person allows it to strengthen. While prisons might be too problematic for juvenile sex offenders, there are still other options that can be decided and used against these young offenders. Better to get them off of the streets before they cause unfixable

The importance of education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The importance of education - Essay Example The experiences of my life have made me understand the importance of the value of availing the right opportunities at the right time. They have made me realize the importance of education and career in the life of an individual. I did not value the importance of education when I was young and I wasted many important years of my life but with time and age I realized the importance of succeeding in education for the purpose of attaining a secure and bright future. My parents recall that ever since I was a young child, I was very bright and naughty. I used to hide things and throw them just for the purpose of annoying others. After I joined school, I made friends and they were as careless as I was with my studies. I was complained for regularly by the school authorities owing to my mischievous conduct at school. But these complaints did not alter my behavior and habits and I stayed the same. Thus, in grade one I was held back. This did not lead to any improvement. I continued my educati on and I still remember that all my teachers used to tell my parents that I was a very difficult child.

Decision Making Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Decision Making Paper - Essay Example As people age, their roles in life become diverse and more choices and decisions have to be made in the light of day-to-day endeavors and pursuits. It is in this regard that this paper is written to present a significant decision-making scenario recently undertaken at Exxon Mobile Security in my capacity as Shift Sergeant for the Security Department. The steps involved in the decision making process would be assessed in terms of its applicability to the scenario at hand. The decision, per se, would be critiqued in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. Other factors, such as the participation of supervisors, co-workers, and/or employees in the decision-making process would be assessed. Finally, an evaluation of any dissonance that possibly emerged from the decision making process would also be identified. Different studies present varying models of a typical decision-making process depending on their perspectives. Some models follow eight steps, others five. For purposes of making intuitive choices, I structurally follow six steps in decision making. The six steps of this natural, intuitive decision-making process, according to Ethics Resource Center (2009) are: â€Å"Step 1: Define the problem; Step 2: Identify available alternative solutions to the problem; Step 3: Evaluate the identified alternatives; Step 4: Make the decision; Step 5: Implement the Decision; and Step 6: Evaluate the decision†. Initially, I was faced with a situation where one of my subordinates, a security personnel, who was scheduled for regular work on a 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM slot, requested for a change in schedule due to emergency reasons. His wife called in early at 8:00 AM and informed the appropriate channels that the security personnel had to undergo immediate surgery for appendectomy. Therefore, he would be on emergency leave for five days. I was immediately informed of the situation and

Essay On the Lynch Speech ( Full Text Provided )

On the Lynch Speech ( Full Text Provided ) - Essay Example (1). The alleged speech focuses on solving the problem that slave owners of Virginia in maintaining control over their slaves, through the methods that William Lynch had refined through their use on slaves in his plantations in the West Indies. (2). In essence the advice given to the slave owners of Virginia to maintain control over their slaves is based on the divide and rule policy used successfully by the Romans in the past, and the British in more recent times, to maintain control over their much larger colonies. The basis of the divide and rule policy lies in enlarging the differences within the targeted set of people to such an extent that they act as divisive forces to rend the people apart such that they hate those that are marginally different through color, caste, or religion and look more favorably on those subjugating them. This is the advice found in the text of the alleged William Lynch speech â€Å"I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves: and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use fear, distrust, and envy for control purposes†. (2). The advice given in the speech is not restricted to just the masters of the houses of the white slave owners, but also for the women and children, such that there is no area among the white slave owners from where respite is offered on this strategy. The speech contains the self-belief that indoctrinating the black slaves to look upon even the slight variances among themselves including color, age, and sex with â€Å"fear, distrust and envy† or social reengineering as the cure all for retaining control and dominating the black slaves, not just in the immediate times, but extending for hundreds of years. (2). The alleged speech reflects the manner in which the black slaves were subjugated into slavery. Following the advice was supposed to keep the blacks enslaved for centuries, but in about

The importance of education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The importance of education - Essay Example The experiences of my life have made me understand the importance of the value of availing the right opportunities at the right time. They have made me realize the importance of education and career in the life of an individual. I did not value the importance of education when I was young and I wasted many important years of my life but with time and age I realized the importance of succeeding in education for the purpose of attaining a secure and bright future. My parents recall that ever since I was a young child, I was very bright and naughty. I used to hide things and throw them just for the purpose of annoying others. After I joined school, I made friends and they were as careless as I was with my studies. I was complained for regularly by the school authorities owing to my mischievous conduct at school. But these complaints did not alter my behavior and habits and I stayed the same. Thus, in grade one I was held back. This did not lead to any improvement. I continued my educati on and I still remember that all my teachers used to tell my parents that I was a very difficult child.

Essay On the Lynch Speech ( Full Text Provided )

On the Lynch Speech ( Full Text Provided ) - Essay Example (1). The alleged speech focuses on solving the problem that slave owners of Virginia in maintaining control over their slaves, through the methods that William Lynch had refined through their use on slaves in his plantations in the West Indies. (2). In essence the advice given to the slave owners of Virginia to maintain control over their slaves is based on the divide and rule policy used successfully by the Romans in the past, and the British in more recent times, to maintain control over their much larger colonies. The basis of the divide and rule policy lies in enlarging the differences within the targeted set of people to such an extent that they act as divisive forces to rend the people apart such that they hate those that are marginally different through color, caste, or religion and look more favorably on those subjugating them. This is the advice found in the text of the alleged William Lynch speech â€Å"I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves: and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use fear, distrust, and envy for control purposes†. (2). The advice given in the speech is not restricted to just the masters of the houses of the white slave owners, but also for the women and children, such that there is no area among the white slave owners from where respite is offered on this strategy. The speech contains the self-belief that indoctrinating the black slaves to look upon even the slight variances among themselves including color, age, and sex with â€Å"fear, distrust and envy† or social reengineering as the cure all for retaining control and dominating the black slaves, not just in the immediate times, but extending for hundreds of years. (2). The alleged speech reflects the manner in which the black slaves were subjugated into slavery. Following the advice was supposed to keep the blacks enslaved for centuries, but in about

Operation Management Essay Example for Free

Operation Management Essay Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to provide students with an understanding of the role and importance of operations management in the efficient and effective production of goods and services. It will enable students to realise that the ‘proper’ organisation of productive systems, and their interfaces with internal as well as external customers and suppliers, is essential if goods/services are to be produced on time, to cost and within the laws and regulations. Scenario. Impressive Burgers was established 10 years ago with the goal of providing fast take away food to their customers quickly and of a higher quality to that of their rivals. Each restaurant offered a simple menu structure with a choice of four set meal options. 1. Burger, Chips Soft Drink 2. Cheeseburger, Chips Soft Drink 3. Chicken Burger, Chips Soft Drink 4. Vegetarian Burger, Chips Soft Drink Customers were offered a choice of size of each meal: Regular, Medium or Large. The size of the chips and drinks portions varied but the burger size remained the same. Using this format they were able to serve each customer their order within 4 minutes from a ordering at the till to receiving their complete order to take away. Each restaurant places their orders with the suppliers directly based on the manager’s prediction for demand based on the reports generated by the restaurants own till system. These orders arrive in one shipment once every other week. The company has grown to a chain of restaurant operations and the management introduced a number of changes to the format 12 months ago in an effort to increase each business at each restaurants. The number of set meal options available on the menu was increased to offer more options to the customer and to attract customers seeking healthier options. The menu options were increased by a further three options: 5. Chicken Nuggets, Chips Soft Drink 6. Chicken Salad, Garlic Bread, Soft Drink 7. Hot Dog, Chips Soft Drink In addition to these set menu additions the company also offered the option of changing the chips option on the set meals for either a Side Salad or for Potato Wedges. The restaurants themselves have not changed and the number of staff and machinery has remained at the same levels before the menu changes. Since these changes were implemented there has been a dramatic increase in turnover and the number of customers that are visiting each of their restaurants. However, overall profit has declined dramatically over the last 12 months and the company predicts that if it continues the company will report its first loss in its history within the next 6 months. The company is considering expanding its operations by opening a number of new outlets but want to identify the problems to the issues they are currently facing. The company has begun to investigate why the mixed fortunes have arisen and has identified a number of issues. Serving times have increased dramatically and it now takes an average of 9 minutes for a customer to be served and the number of customer complaints has increased. The main complaints include rude and agitated staff and incorrect or incomplete orders. The total value of stock held at each restaurant has increased by an average of 20% and waste has dramatically increased. The CEO of Impressive Burgers is worried about the current development and has recruited you as Operations Manager with the responsibility of rectifying the situation that the company is currently facing. Your first assignment as Operations Manager is to produce a formal report to the management which includes the following tasks: |Outcome |Assessment Criteria | |No(s) | | |1. Understand the nature and |explain the importance of operational management |1. 1 | |importance of operational | | | |management |explain the need to produce safely; on time; to cost; to | | | |quality and within the law | | | | |1. 2 | | | | | | | | | | |explain the link between operations management and | | | |strategic planning | | | | |1. 3 | | | | | | |produce a systems diagram to illustrate a typical | | | |business | | | | | | | | | | | | |1. 4 | |2 Understand the link between |explain the ‘Three Es’ (economy, efficiency and effectiveness) | | |operations management and | |2. 1 | |strategic planning |explain the tension between cost minimisation and quality | | | |maximisation |2. 2 | | | | | | |evaluate the significance of the five performance objectives | | | |that underpin operations management | | | | | | | | |2. 3 | | | | | | |explain linear programming | | | | |3. 1 | |3 Understand how to organise a typical production process | | | | |evaluate critical path analysis and network planning | | | | |3. 2 | | | | | | |explain the need for operational planning and control | | | | |3. 3 | | | | | | | | | | |produce a set of clearly defined operational outcomes | 4. 1 | |4 Be able to apply relevant | | | |techniques to the production |produce a network plan and indicate the resultant critical path| | |of an operational plan for a | |4. 2 | |typical business | | | | |explain how quality could be defined and maintained |4. 3 | |Assignment Tasks: | | | | | | |Assessment | | |Criteria | |You are required to produce a formal and written report to cover the underlisted tasks. | | | | | |Task 1 | | |Explain the importance of operational management in an organization such as Impressive Burgers and explain ‘Three Es’ (economy, | | |efficiency and effectiveness and its relevance in the industry in which Impressive Burgers operates. |1. 1,2. 1 | | | | |Task 2 | | |Critically evaluate Impressive Burgers’ approach to expanding their operation. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |1. 2,1. 3,1. 4 | | | | |Task 3 | | |Discuss the reasons behind the problems the company is facing and make suggestions for rectifying the situation. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |3. 1,3. 2,3. 3 | | | | |Task 4 | | |Considering the effects on the operations, identify ways in which the overall operation could be improved and expanded further. | | | | | | | | | |4. 1,4. 2 | | | | Grading Criteria The assignment will be graded into Pass, Merit and Distinction against the following criteria: Pass: A pass grade is achieved by meeting all the requirements defined in the unit outcomes. Grading Criteria The assignment will be graded into Pass, Merit and Distinction against the following criteria: Pass: A pass grade is achieved by meeting all the requirements defined in the unit outcomes. |Merit Distinction | |M1 |Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions | | |Identify areas relevant for each task in the assignment and respond accordingly and professionally | |M2 |Select and apply appropriate techniques | | |Evidence of processing and synthesised complex information/data. | | |Appropriate learning methods/techniques have been applied | | |Report should have proper citations and reference list to all sources including your field-visit observations, books, magazines and other | | |material used for research | | | | |M3 |Present and communicate appropriate findings | | |Present your views coherently and logically | | |Demonstrate real situations in your assignment | | | | |D1 |Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions | | |Justify your ideas in a professional manner. | | |Propose realistic ideas for the future based on the current status | | |Learner presented CONCLUSIONS for all tasks/areas | |D2 |Take responsibility for managing and organizing activities | | |Show that you did the assignment alone and in accordance with the time. | | |Assignments referred will automatically achieve the minimum grade too for improper handling of task | |D3 |Demonstrate creative thinking | | |Demonstrate that you followed all the guidelines while doing the assignment and have utilised adequate and relevant words for the specific. | | |business environment | | |Apply innovation and creative thought in your work. | |Required Evidence | |†¢ Report (Your report should be approximately 1800 words and you are likely to be penalized if it exceeds 2000 words. If you feel it is essential to | |include detailed information, put it in an appendix and refer to this appendix in the text. Your sources of information should be clearly identified) | | | |Reading Research Resources | |Lecture slides | |F Rowbotham et el (2007) Operations Management in Context | |S Brown et al (2000), Strategic Operations Management, Butterworth Heinemann. | |L Galloway L et al (2000), Operations Management in Context, Butterworth-Heinemann. | |J Heizer and B Render (2003), Operations Management, Prentice Hall. | |N Slack et al (2000), Operations Management, Pitman. | |D L Waller D L (1999), Operations Management — A Supply Chain Approach, Thompson | |Newspapers, trade journals, magazines | | | |Guidelines for Presentation | |All assignments must be word-processed using Times New Roman (12 point) and stapled in the top left hand corner. | |Page numbers must be included at the bottom of each page. | |Secondary sources should be acknowledged using the Harvard Referencing | |Students are requested to attach the ‘assessment activity front sheet’ on the top of each report with all personal information (name, and student number | |etc. ) accurately presented. | |Every report must have a front page showing the title, class and name | |The length of writing will be limited to about 1800-2000 words. | |Note: Assignment that did not follow this ‘Guidelines for presentation’ will not be accepted. | | | |Plagiarism Policy The college has strict penalty for plagiarism and the assignment will be cancelled if the assignment is observed for this. The definition| |and scope of plagiarism are presented below: Plagiarism occurs when a student misrepresents, as his/her own work, the work, written or otherwise, of any | |other person (including another student) or of any institution. Examples of forms of plagiarism include: | |†¢ The verbatim (word for word) copying of another’s work without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement; | |†¢ The close paraphrasing of another’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without appropriate and correctly | |presented acknowledgement; | |†¢ Unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another’s work; | |†¢ The deliberate and detailed presentation of another’s concept as one’s own. | | | |All types of work submitted by students are covered by this definition, including, written work, diagrams, designs, engineering drawings and pictures. |

Ethical And Legal Analysis Of Mckinnon Case

Ethical And Legal Analysis Of Mckinnon Case This assignment I based upon an article published online on the 15th of May 2009 by popular computing Magazine PC Pro (see appendix A). The article discussed Gary McKinnon who has been accused of hacking a number of United States (US) NASA, Army, Navy, Department of Defence, and Air Force systems. His US prosecutors insist he was acting with malicious intent and that he caused damage worth over $700,000. McKinnon denies acting with malicious intent or that he caused that much damage, citing that his motivation was to search for evidence of secret free fuel, anti-gravity and UFO technologies. McKinnon has stated that the network security was weak and he was able to gain access due to network administrators failing to use secure passwords on high level administrative accounts. Once inside, McKinnon used readily available software called RemotelyAnywhere to take control of machines. The case study identifies that his search became an addiction which took over his life. Rationale The Gary McKinnon case sprung to the headlines in 2001, the media frenzy surrounding the case would support the tagline of the biggest military hack of all time. The case has been open for over nine years now and the end is not yet in sight; indicating that the legal issues within the case are both complex and in no way, easy to dissever. The extensive and drawn-out media coverage adds to the complexity of the issues surrounding the case. This case study has been chosen firstly as it covers a very current issue in hacking. It would seem that hacking cases would only increase in the future as more nations cross the digital divide. Electronic crime is difficult to police and further difficulties arise out of international crimes. The nature of electronic communication and the removal of physical boundaries provide complexities in electronic crime and the control of borderless technologies. This case study has been chosen as it is particularly exposed to ethical questioning as law does not adequately resolve this case. This case study has been chosen for ethical and legal analysis not just for its high profile. Numerous actors can be identified in this case to provide a solid base to apply a pragmatic analysis of ethical issues though the direction of ethical frameworks. Primary actors in this case are identified as the Gary McKinnon and the network administrators responsible for security. Secondary actors have been identified as the makers of RemotelyAnywhere, the software which allowed McKinnon to control machines so easily and the US military who were the owners of the networks and data stored there. Similarly, these actors provide a basis to identify legal issues inherent within the case study. There are sufficient suggestions to argue that laws have been broken by both primary actors in this case. Technology strides on through the digital age where the other side of the world is accessible at our fingertips and a mere four billion IP addresses are not fulfilling needs. For this reason, it cannot be helped but to feel that hacking cases will only increase in scale and/or frequency and perhaps the Gary McKinnon case will be surpassed in the future. At first glance this case appears to be a typical hacking case, where the person committing the offence is acting for purely personal reasons to commit fraud or otherwise take something which isnt theirs to take. However this case differs in that there is no reason to believe that McKinnon was acting with the intent to take anything which was not his or to gain any personal advantage from his actions. Actors objecting to McKinnons actions are those who were responsible for the security of the network and those who owned the network. Ethical Frameworks Modern day normative ethical frameworks are broadly divided into two. Deontology, based on moral intention and input, and conversely Teleology which is centred around the output and end result. Teleological Teleology is the philosophical stance that an action may be critiqued based upon its consequences. It is commonly thought of with the view that the end may justify the means (Edgar, 2002; Bynum and Rogerson, 2006; Weckert, 2007), therefore teleological frameworks are concerned with the end result of an action. Utilitarianism is a type of teleological theory, which emphasises that the end result is important rather than the intentions of an individual. Its main principle is specifically to seek to maximise happiness through consequences (Spinello, 1995). It therefore claims that an action may be judged based wholly upon its usefulness in bringing about happiness. Speaking on utilitarianism it was observed by Velasquez (1992) that the principle assumes all benefits and costs of an action can be measured on a common numerical scale of moral calculus (p.61). To what constitutes happiness and its worth would largely depend upon the individual critiquing the action. For example McKinnon may argue that his happiness in doing this for so long was far greater than the unhappiness caused for the US Government who has lots of money and resources, yet the utilitarian frame work aims to maximise the greatest happiness of all those whose interest is in question. (Lyons, 2003 p.27). So everyone affected must come into consideration, this includes: the network administrators, the US government, McKinnon and the makers of RemotelyAnywhere. It can be argued that McKinnon was attempting to maximise happiness by uncovering secret technologies. However a utilitarian framework is only concerned with the happiness actually brought about as a result from an action (Spinello, 1995) rather than intent. Whilst McKinnon is the primary actor and the main benefiter, in the article he is quoted as saying I think I wanted to be caught, because it was ruining me (Turton, 2009). This indicates that McKinnons happiness was short lived and as a result produced unhappiness from him quitting his job and splitting up with his girlfriend. The makers of the software RemotelyAnywhere subsequently had much publicity, however this is predominantly negative publicity as their software was used to commit crime. A small benefit may be that those wishing to commit crime, would buy their software more, even if this is not its intended purpose. A large amount of unhappiness would come from the owners of the network, the US government. The break-in has caused a large amount of embarrassment for the government, intensified by the claims that the security was weak. Even if the allegations that McKinnon deliberately caused damage are untrue, the cost of finding, tracking and fixing the break-in may be more co stly than the actual offense (Baase, 2003). This could be gauged both in terms of money and time. Utilitarian ethics assumed happiness can be somehow calculated. An action can be deemed correct if the total good minus the total bad is greater than that of an alternative (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2006). It is emphasised that the happiness is calculated based upon everyone who would be affected by the action. This is opposite to egoism, which is only concerned with the happiness of the individual undertaking the action (Johnson, 2001; Spinello, 1995). Based upon egoism, McKinnons actions are justified as he was acting purely for his own enjoyment with disregard for anyone else. However as he was caught, the sentence he will most likely receive may outweigh his current happiness. In weighing up the good verses the bad consequences of an action, the distinction must be made between act utilitarians and rule utilitarians. Baase (2003) gives the explanation that rule utilitarianism, applies the utility principle not to individual actions but to general ethical rules. (p.406). In evaluating this case study, it would be difficult to agree that computer hacking is always okay, as this is an invasion of privacy therefore creates much unhappiness. However an argument for applying this as a general rule may be given, as hacking large, private and ungoverned organisations such as the army navy or NASA would ultimately lead to them being more truthful and open about matters. Being honest and encouraging others to be truthful is something that a rule utilitarian would certainly agree with. This argument is of course independent of the allegations that McKinnon caused damage in his apparent search for secrets. The long term effects, in rule utillitarians perspective, coul d be that hacking prestigious governmental networks may cause panic amongst other network administrators or individuals which wish to have their data kept secure. It could likely lead those responsible in this case to lose their jobs. Knowing that data is not private and may be scrutinised can lead to individuals acting differently than they would otherwise; perhaps to the extent that inhibits them from doing their job as well as they otherwise would (Johnson, 2001). Allowing hacking to be justified in all cases may even lead to questioning if electronic data can be kept securely at all! Alternatively, had McKinnon uncovered evidence of UFO technology, the happiness generated would perhaps be greater than unhappiness, and may then be justifiable. Rule utilitarianism fails to foresee the inherent difficulties in predicting the consequences of every act of computer hacking, therefore it is difficult to apply from a practical point of view. Although it may be idealist to conclude that this is would only be suitable for a hindsight evaluation, a rule utilitarian would insist all other cases come into consideration. This is unrealistic and inherently flawed. Act utilitarianism is only concerned with the current action under scrutiny. In applying this to the current case study it was believed by McKinnon that the resulting happiness would far outweigh that of unhappiness. However Johnson (2001) highlights that in making decisions on current actions, the norm or general rules may only be à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦abandoned in situations where it is clear more happiness will result from breaking them. (p.40). McKinnon acknowledges in the case that he gained little in evidence of UFO activity. It is presented that his motivation was to prove the US was withholding information on technologies including anti-gravity propulsion and free energy (Turton, 2009). However, McKinnon alluded to his friends that he had found little or no evidence. Bynum and Rogerson (2006) agree that in a utilitarian framework The risk and probabilities count alsoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p.72). As McKinnon says that there was little previous evidence of UFO technology then surely accordi ng to a rule utilitarian he should not have ignored the general rule as it was not clear that his actions would result in greater general happiness, consequently it did not. It is identified in the case that McKinnon was only able to access the network due to the action of network administrators in leaving accounts without passwords. The actions of the network administrators would seem unethical under a utilitarian framework when considering the alterative of setting a strong password, which would have had a more desirable effect. Whilst it was not known in this case study if setting passwords would have denied McKinnon unauthorised access, the risk of not setting passwords, as identified by Bynum and Rogerson (2006), would have been extremely high, and the probability that someone would eventually exploit this also high. Whilst it is likely that this error was made due to carelessness rather than a conscious decision, the assumption is made that this was an action that could have been avoided. However this negligence does not automatically justify unauthorised access, under the utilitarian framework the total happiness must be weighed against unhappines s. The happiness generated by this negligent behaviour would primarily be for network administrators who would have been able to log on to machines without having to type passwords. Happiness would have been given to potential hackers too who were more easily able to access the network. Even though allowing hackers in may not have been intended, a utilitarian framework is purely concerned with consequences (Baase, 2003; Bynum and Rogerson, 2006; Spafford, 2006; Sinnott-Armstrong, 2006). As all affected individuals are judged equal (Bynum and Rogerson, 2006) the happiness of terrorists or other hackers must count as a positive consequence: Regardless of a persons station in life, each person is counts the same when the benefits and harms are added up (Bynum and Rogerson, p.71). Alternatively the US government may argue that the unhappiness was far greater from McKinnons actions due to the number of people that would have been affected by shutting down a network of computers. To take this stance the long term view must be disregard, that McKinnons action highlighted a serious security flaw that could have been exploited by a far more astute hacker. To delve even deeper into the realm of possibilities, by McKinnon hacking and getting caught on this occasion, he could have removed any chance of someone being able to hack US government computers ever again, perhaps at a time when hacking US computers would allow millions of lives to be saved. A common criticism of the utilitarian framework is the assumption that huge unhappiness could be justified upon one person for the sake of ten others. This argument could be countered by forcing the acknowledgement of long term consequences as well as the short term consequences (Johnson, 2001). For example, the case study (appendix A) must try and foresee the long term effects of the action. The majority of these long term effects are known as the act was committed back in 2001. Nether the less the unknown unknowns severely limit the reasoning behind making a decision on utilitarian principles. Even if it is believed all the alternatives, consequences and all individuals which will be affected by the consequences have been identified, how can these be verified? A posteriori knowledge may be useful in identifying these, that is, a decision that has been arrived at after the event or perhaps by applying what has happened before. A large issue arising from utilitarianism is that withou t the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to apply practical reasoning to identify the outcome of an action. Deontological Deontology was first coined by C. D. Broad when he used it in a term to contrast that of Teleological theories based on outcome. However, a deontological approach could be best personified by the earlier work of Immanuel Kant (1785) in saying The moral worth of an action does not lie in the effect expected from it (p.13). Deontologists argue the morality of an argument is based entirely on intentions of ones actions. Immanuel Kant is often presented as the prime example of a deontologist (Baase, 2003). Kantian ethics argues that it is not the consequence that makes an action right or wrong; it is the intentions of the individual carrying out the action. Kant (1785) argues that It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably. (p.13). This statement suggests that upon making an honourable decision, this will be the correct thing to do and therefore Kant must assume that this will likely have good consequences. Deciding upon what is honourable and therefore what would be the right thing to do, is largely dictated by law. However other influences may come from upbringing, social characteristics or religious beliefs; for example, McKinnon may have been influenced by his own background in belief of UFOs. It would appear that McKinnons belief in UFOs influenced his actions. McKinnon hacked military machines in an effort to discover secret UFO technology, which would appear to be in conflict with a deontological framework as he is using the action as a mere means to an end. However, as Johnson (2001) points out, a deontological framework dictates that a decision is not used as just a means to an end; it may be justified if that end is moral. In applying this to the current case study we can define that the end result was to discover hidden UFO technologies; McKinnons means of doing this was through hacking. Even though McKinnon states he did not intend to cause harm, but merely look. This perhaps is justifiable if the end result was intended to give the world knowledge of these technologies. The stumbling block in this case is that McKinnon did not have authorisation to do this. Alternatively if the US Government had agreed that McKinnon may hack their computer system on the condition of not causing any damage and just to look, this would have been entir ely ethical on accordance to a deontological framework. It is difficulty to define McKinnons intent as he did not appear to find such evidence and secondly because he was caught. Kants specific class of deontology states I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become universal law (p.14). This again is similar to that of a rule utilitarian, in that if an action cannot be justified on every occasion, if is unethical. In leaving admin accounts without passwords, the professionalism of network administrators may certainly be placed into question, yet it is difficult to identify a motive behind doing so. The key issue driving deontological ethics is the notion of motives. There does not appear to be a motive being this action just negligence. Johnson describes negligence as a failure to do something that a reasonable and prudent person would have done (Johnson, 2001 p.184). Johnsons definition quite adequately describes the system administrators who may have been responsible for leaving high level administrative accounts without adequate security. Therefore under a deontological framework, the actions of the network administrators was unethical. Apposition to Kantian ethics is largely twofold. Firstly, that Kants philosophy is grounded on a universal duty or maxim that can be accepted across the board, which begs the question of what should be adhered to if an action divides two moral maxims. In hacking military machines, McKinnon can only be acting upon his personal duty to find out the truth about UFO existence, but in doing so, ignored the duty to respect others personal property. This highlights the second major issue with Kants philosophy, which is, which maxim should take priority. The ethical principles outlined by Kant rely upon the basis of moral absolutism. This is contrasted by the views of W.D Ross. Ross defined seven initial or prima facie duties: Duty of beneficence: A duty to help other people (increase pleasure, improve character) Duty of non-maleficence: A duty to avoid harming other people. Duty of justice: A duty to ensure people get what they deserve. Duty of self-improvement: A duty to improve ourselves. Duty of reparation: A duty to recompense someone if you have acted wrongly towards them. Duty of gratitude: A duty to benefit people who have benefited us. Duty of promise-keeping: A duty to act according to explicit and implicit promises, including the implicit promise to tell the truth. (Johnson, 2001) Ross defines these as common duties (but in no way absolute) to be upheld regardless of the situation. For example the duty of promise-keeping may be ignored for the duty of beneficence. In light of Rosss variation of deontological ethics, McKinnons hacking of military machines may only be justified under the reason that he was acting upon his personal duty to find out the truth about UFO existence (the duty of beneficence). But in doing so, ignoring the duty to respect others personal property (the duty of non-maleficence). The predominant issue with applying a deontological framework is identifying the intent of an action, this is also somewhat marred by the fact that McKinnon has not yet been charged. McKinnons truthfulness may be contested because he is bias; he would likely say anything to get out of facing a possible extradition and prison sentence. There are suggestions brought forward from his prosecutors that insist McKinnon caused $700,000 worth of damage. The consequences of his action are disregarded under this framework (Kant, 1785), yet this may suggest that his intentions were not simply to find UFO technology. McKinnons actions would not be justifiable if his intentions were to cause damage. If it can be assumed that McKinnons actions were only to search for evidence then a deontological frame would dictate this is ethically justifiable. However, if Kants view is taken into consideration then is cannot be judged that hacking to search for secret technologies is universally justified. Virtue ethics Virtue ethics dates back to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle believed in excellence in human character though upholding virtues (Tavani, 2007; Bynum and Rogerson, 2006). Virtues promote positive character although the list may be very long, such virtues include: responsibility, reliability, self-discipline, modesty, courage and integrity (Bynum and Rogerson, 2006; Johnson, 2001). Whereas utilitarian and deontological frameworks are centred on rules to apply, virtue ethics is about building moral character. In this case study McKinnon displays dishonesty by hacking the network without permission. As virtue ethics ignores the special roles of consequences, duties and social contracts (Tavani, 2007 p.65) therefore McKinnon and the US government must be seen as equals. This exposes McKinnon for acting without due consideration of his actions, and perhaps even foolhardiness to continue breaking in without authorization. Perhaps McKinnon could be seen as courageous for hacking such a powerful establishment, yet acknowledging the roles of the two actors (ibid) removes any hierarchy between the two. The case study beings to light accusations that McKinnon left threatening messages on desktops such as: I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels. Threatening behaviour is not considered virtuous in Aristolean ideas. Presumably when McKinnon downloaded RemotelyAnywhere, there would have been an end user licence that he would have to agree to before he could use the software. This agreement dictates that the software be used for its intended purpose. McKinnon has showed dishonesty by disobeying this and using the software for hacking. Respect and quality is a key thought in virtue ethics (Bynum and Rogerson, 2006). The network administrators in this case study would not have acted responsibly or with integrity as it is alleged that they failed to take basic measures to ensure the network stayed secure. The US military who owns the network and data held on it, although not directly responsible, would not display reliability as they have been hacked at a time when they should have been on high alert. Rights-based Johnson (2001) described that in a rights-based framework the categorical imperative requires that each person be treated as an end in himself or herselfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p.47). This statement exemplifies the common parallels between deontological and rights-based ethics. Rights are heavily intertwined with law. For example the Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is being kept on them. Yet regardless of law, some philosophers argued that all humans possess some natural inherent rights. These rights can be seen as universal or human rights such as the right to life; Spinello (1995) gives the example of how these rights are universal in saying everyone equally shares the right to free speech regardless of nationality or status in society (p.31). Natural or universal rights are derived from the nature of humanity (Baase, 2003). Under rights-based ethics, legal rights come second to natural rights. The values of rights based ethics are similar to the principle for nonmaleficence. Baase (2003) states that, under rights based ethics an act is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦likely to be ethical if they involve voluntary interactions and freely made exchanges, where parties are not coerced or deceived. (p.407). In the case study there is evidence which suggests that the exchange of data was not done voluntarily. Therefore the action of McKinnon cannot be justified on that principle. Natural or human rights are seen as inherent and must be respected; this implies that an individual has the right not to be interfered with (Johnson, 2001). Therefore the right to privacy is not diminished by the poor security displayed within the case study. Although the network administrators did not set passwords, this does not automatically negate the right not to be interfered with. Similarly if someone forgets to lock their car this does not give someone else the right to take the car. Lax security would not matter if the right to privacy was upheld. The distinction between positive and negative rights must be given in applying a rights-based ethical framework to this case study. A negative right will free an actor from outside intervention, whereas a positive right would give the actor whatever is needed to fulfil an interest (Spinello, 1995). Negative rights are much more common than positive rights as it is difficult to draw the line as to where a positive right is limited. Johnson (2001) highlighted that whereas duty-based ethics is largely seen a deontological framework, it may be derived from a utilitarian principles on occasion. From a utilitarian perspective, in search of the greatest happiness, Mill argued that intellectual happiness was greater than sensual (Spinello, 1995). On the basis of this, it can be argued that McKinnon may have been over exerting his right to further educate himself, but intellectual happiness is greater in Mills brand of teleology, so his actions would be justified. Rights-based ethics derived from intent would argue that McKinnon has gone against the legal right prohibiting him from unauthorised access to the network and that he has also gone against the moral right to respect others privacy. From a rights-based ethical framework, moral rights take prescience over other duties or action people might have (Baase, 2003) therefore McKinnons actiosn cannot be justified. Legal Issues In applying ethical frameworks to any case study, personal morals are heavily intertwined. Law often overrides these morals. For example, ownership of what someone creates may be negated to that of the company which that person works for if that is in their terms of employment. Alternatively something which is viewed as ethically acceptable may also be against the law. At the very least, law influences moral judgement. There is much dispute over which country McKinnon should be tried. In analysing legal issues inherent within the case study it is firstly assumed that only UK laws apply to this case. It is apparent within the case study that Gary McKinnon did not have authorization to access the US networks. Immediately this is in violation of the Computer Misuse Act 1990, which states that an offence is committed if: (a) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer [or to enable any such access to be secured] ; (b) the access he intends to secure [or to enable to be secured,] is unauthorised; and (c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that that is the case. (Computer Misuse Act 1990, 1990) Clearly McKinnon was in breach of the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The case study acknowledges that McKinnon does not have authorisation and that he intended to access data regarding the existence of UFO technology. The maximum sentence for unauthorised access without intent to commit further offences is 5 years in prison. A more serious offence is committed when unauthorised access is gained à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ with intent to impair, or with recklessness as to impairing, operation of computer, etc (Computer Misuse Act 1990, 1990) this holds a maximum imprisonment of 10 years. It is unknown and very difficult to determine what the intention of Gary McKinnon was; to date there is no evidence to suggest he intended to commit further crimes with the data he accessed. But claimed from his United States prosecutors indicate that he did intent to cause damage as he left a message on machines stating: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels. (Turton, 2009). There are additional legal issues with regards to protecting data held on the network, and the professional requirements expected. It is indicated within the case that no personal information was accessed. This information is given by the US Military, which may be questioned as it would be to their advantage to deny that any personal information was accessed. The Data Protection Act (1998) dictates that the data controller must provide adequate security to protect personal information (Data Protection Act 1998, 1998). Failure to provide adequate security even though an accident is not an excuse as Cambridgeshire County Council most recently found out (du Preez, 2011). A member of staff lost a memory stick by accident; however the memory stick did not have encryption software installed as it should have when it contained sensitive data on it. Similarly the network administrators did not intend for McKinnon to access the network, yet they failed to provide security in the chance of this happening As McKinnon was able to access computer systems easily due to lax security, it is likely that the US and the network administrators would be in breach of this legislation.