Introduction to Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to Business - Essay Example Whistle-blowers now commonly refers to those who firmly believe that the unchecked conduct of their organization will do more harm than good, and so exert efforts to speak up. The act of whistle blowing is necessary to rectifying problems in society, yet whistle blowers are often punished severely for their moves (Matthews, 2003). Obviously, whistle-blowing can be a tangled and legally dangerous event. Lawyer Taylor (2006) who had found herself whistle-blowing along with two other colleagues said one had to be ready for any form of retaliation, to expect them and to combat them. In Diana Heil's (2004) reports, a whistle-blower can experience continuing retaliation even when one backs down. Whistle-blowing is said to justifiable only where certain minimal conditions have been met (What is, 1997). Accordingly, a justifiable disclosure must meet four conditions: 1) The disclosure does more good than harm; 2) It serves some purpose in correcting or preventing the wrongdoing concerned; 3) It is made in a responsible manner; and 4) It follows upon the exhaustion of internal channels of complaint and redress. Whistle-blowing is the smoke signal according to Parthasarathi (2003), that there is corruption happening; therefore, government should act. During the Nixon era, it is said that $800 toilet seats were discovered at the Pentagon, and people began to realize the service that whistle-blowers provided at the risk to themselves (Taylor, 2006). There are now laws that protect these employees of courage and a group dedicated to their interests (Current Program, GAP, 2006). Sirshar Quereshi (2006) who specializes in fraud investigations wrote that whistle-blowing can be an effective early warning system. He said employees "in the front line" know better than anyone what is happening in their area of activity so that it is beneficial to listen to them, otherwise a local difficulty may grow into a crisis. Taylor (2006) who works closely with whistle-blowers said the primary goal that whistle-blowers usually seek is accountability for mis-behaviour and correction of the problems they see in the work place. Most whistleblowers realize that their actions will cost them money, wear away privilege and generate negative publicity, Taylor said. Yet, they persist, desiring honesty in government and wanting an end to infringements of law. In the beginning, a whistle-blower is said to be often faced with a plethora of ethical dilemmas, the most fundamental of which is whether to do the "right thing" or not. According to Reese (2002), multiple organizational variables inhibit one from doing the right thing within an organization, one of which is threat to one's career. Tom Carpenter of The Government Accountability Project (GAP) who has represented numerous whistle-blowers said he tells people who are contemplating blowing the whistle not to do it if they cared for their career. But then "Most people decide to go forward anyway" (Heil, 2004). Despite all the anguish, a whistle-blower said he had no regrets about the stand he took. "Is it worth it'" he was asked. "Yes, absolutely; I would do it again. I truly believe that some people have lives and others have destinies," he said. Whistle-blowing is not only

Romeo and Juliet Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet Essay â€Å"Wisely and slow, they run fast† Haste is described perfectly with that one quote. People don’t take into considerations the consequences of their actions. In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet adolescents who lack the wisdom obtained from life experience and react with dramatic haste, failing to contemplate the possible risks consequences of their actions is revealed. Through this tale of love there are many events leading to the tragic endings of his two main characters, Shakespeare shows how if rationality and patience is not used it will lead to downfall. Many teenagers, four hundred years ago and to this day are like Romeo and Juliet; impulsive and do things with too much haste. First of all, the fact that their entire relationship was five days long goes to show this haste. They fell out and in of love very quickly, at the beginning of the play, Romeo says he is desperately in love with a girl who goes by the name of Rosaline. His friends decide to prove to him how ridiculous his love for Rosaline is, by bringing him to a party. Upon laying eyes on Juliet, Romeo’s obsession over Rosaline is instantly replaced with a new one for Juliet. He asks himself, â€Å"Did my heart love till now? . This ironic sentence reveals exactly how Romeo allows himself to be dominated by his passion. Instead of having Juliet as some kind of example of how little he actually loved Rosaline, he allows himself to fall into deeper love. So we question our selves is it really love, or just lust, or maybe an obsession. In the balcony scene, before saying goodnight to Juliet, Romeo asks her for an â€Å"exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine†. Romeo asked Juliet to vow eternal love to him in return for his, after less than an hour of knowing her, this is in no way a rational action and is too spontaneous to be a wise decision to make. Romeo kills Tybalt in Act 3 Scene 1; he does so out of fury, another type of passion. Moments before, he had been willing to stop his best friend Mercutio to protect his new cousin-in-law; however, after seeing his friend killed under Tybalt’s arm, Romeo is enveloped by rage and the need to avenge him. Romeo, unaware of the plan Juliet and the Friar had arranged, later sees Juliet’s seemingly lifeless body. Seeking relief from the pain of thinking he had lost Juliet, Romeo pronounces these final words: â€Å"Here’s to my love! [Drinks. ] O true apothecary! / Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [Falls. ] â€Å" . Romeo impulsively chooses to buy and drink poison, and this decision permanently solves the problem of his grief. Had Romeo thought about the whole situation a little longer and not been hasty, he could have saved himself and Juliet from suicide. Secondly, many of these hasty actions have been caused by a feud. Romeo and Juliet had many choices to make and if taken differently they could have not lead to deaths, but they chose not to follow the expectations they knew everyone had of them and instead decided to pursue their love for each other. The horrid feud between the Capulet and Montague families is a big part of Romeo and Juliet’s lives. The citizens around them expect the two families to hate each other and to spill each other’s blood, and do not expect them to be friends, let alone to marry a member of the other family. In Act 2 Scene 3, Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet. â€Å" Then plainly know my hearts dear love is set on the fair daughter of rich Capulet: as mine on hers, so hers is set on mine; and all combined, save what thou must combine by holy marriage: when and where and how we met, we wood and made exchange of vow, Ill tell thee as we pass; but this I pray, that thou consent to marry us to-day. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet; because of their two families’ continuous feud, their society would never approve of their choice to fall in love and get married. Neither Romeo nor Juliet hesitate to think about what they are doing and so demonstrate their adolescent haste. Friar Laurence’s action to marry the kids was very hasty as well, he thought if he married them quickly and secretly it could help bring an end to the family fights, but as we all know it did nothing but make things worse. On the other hand, the feud can be caused by those hasty actions. No one would have died if there was no sign of Romeo falling in love with Juliet so quickly. Tybalt, Mercutio, Paris, Lady Capulet could be alive. These people dying cause the Montague’s and Capulet’s to be even madder at each other, they blamed each other for the deaths. Thirdly, all the haste threw out this entire play has made many consequences and one benefit. The first consequence is a sword fight that leads to death. Romeo does not want to fight tybalt because he is in love with Juliet and just married her, and Tybalt is the nephew of the Capulet’s. Tybalt takes no sympathy and fight with Romeo and Mercutio who gets a scratch. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio dead! † Benvolio brings that horrid news to Romeo. After the announcement Romeo is very hurt and upset so he kills Tybalt. Two deaths from a simple marriage. If Romeo would have thought threw his actions of killing tybalt he might have not been banished from Verona, now he cannot see Juliet. Another consequence would be the fact that from all this quick love and haste Romeo and Juliet did not even get to really know one another or start a life together. Upon awakening from the induced coma Juliet had been put in by the Friar’s potion she sees Romeo dead next to her. She immediately decides to kill herself for real. Her last words are: â€Å"O happy dagger! [Snatches Romeos dagger. ] This is thy sheath[ Stabs herself]; there rust, and let me die[Falls on Romeo’s body, and dies]† . Deciding to end her life immediately is an extreme example of how Juliet acts with much haste, blinded by her passion to be with Romeo, dead or alive. All in all, there was one single benefit of all this nasty hast; the Montague and Capulet’s have ended their feud; it ended by their children’s death. â€Å"O brother Montague, give me thy hand. This is my daughter’s jointure, for no more can I demande† Capulet says to Montague at the end of the play, there we see the end of that nasty feud. In conclusion, we can all say hasty actions, are truly a waste. It kills the loved ones around you, frustrates everyone, and just in all gives many consequences towards yourself and the others around you. Romeo and Juliet proved to us that most teenagers for ages now still take decisions without thinking and get them self caught in a big knot. All though a love story, Shakespeare play turns into quite the ironic tragedy relating to one main thing; Haste.

George Washington-Founding Father? Essay -- essays research papers

George Washington became President in 1789 and since then has been regarded as America’s â€Å"Founding Father†(10). This grand and hero-like status is said to have â€Å"began gravitating to Washington six months before the Declaration of Independence, when one Levi Allen addressed him in a letter as ‘our political Father.’†(10). The preservation of Washington’s role as a national hero has been allowed by authors and the media omitting his many flaws as if they had either been forgotten or were no longer important. Yet by excluding these human faults, they have projected an almost god-like hero and inflicted him upon the nation as their Father, somebody whose â€Å"life still has the power to inspire anyone†(10). When in reality, how can a slave-owning President be a hero to Black Americans today? Similarly, Americans of native descent today could not worship Washington, if they knew explicitly how he had treated their ancestors. However textbooks do not explicitly reveal these faults, and even if they give some indication the authors make sure to justify Washington to the best of their ability. Many Americans fail to know very little about the claims of Washington’s greed for wealth, his inability as a politician and President to speak before the Senate and Congress, and the debate to whether he was as good a General as is commonly believed. In addition to these forgotten flaws and human frailties; are the purely fabricated tales of Washington’s childhood, which are still retold to children today. As a boy George Washington allegedly accidentally chopped down a cherry tree, which he confessed to his father’s delight. There is also the tale where his father planted some seeds in the garden which grew up to spell ‘GEORGE WASHINGTON’ so as to† demonstrate by analogy God’s design in the universe†(10). However these anecdotes are the pure invention of Parson Weems (10) as very little is known about Washington’s early childhood or his relationship with his father. These invented tales, no matter how ridiculous, are less offensive than the authors who brush over or omit Washington’s involvement in slavery. In the ‘moral autobiography’ of George Washington called Founding Father; Richard Brookhiser justifies Washington’s actions by stating â€Å"slavery was sanctioned by the Bible and by Aristotle†. Although Brookhiser underlines the hypocrisy that Washington used the â€Å"rhetori... ...the senate. He suffered from stage fright and often â€Å"blushed and faltered†, (18) even at his inauguration as President, â€Å"he trembled and several times could scarce make out to read his speech† (18) This weakness of his is often glossed over as it doesn’t seem to fit in with his image as the towering, imposing â€Å"founding father†. Yet today, it is essential for a President to be able to deliver impressive and clear speeches to the whole country. Finally there are some criticisms that he was not as effective General as is often believed. Thomas Paine claimed that he was a bad general whose strategy consisted of â€Å"doing nothing† (19). Although Paine had a personal agenda in condemning George Washington as he resented not being appointed Postmaster-General, and then later by not being rescued from French persecution by the government, it is true that George Washington did lose more battles than he won (20) and often did seem to do nothing for long periods of time. There is also the issue of his harsh treatment towards his own soldiers, any who were caught deserting or plundering were â€Å"flogged† (21) and he even a â€Å"Gallows near forty feet high erected† to terrify the rest into obedience.

Feminist Perspective of Paulina in Shakespeares The Winters Tale Ess

A Feminist Perspective of Paulina in The Winter's Tale  Ã‚     Ã‚   Feminist criticism explores gender themes in literature, assesses the worth of female characters, promotes unknown women writers, and interprets the canon from a politically-charged perspective. Shakespeare has proven more difficult to categorize than other white male masters of the written word, precisely because of the humanity of his female characters. Critic Kathleen McLuskie urges feminists to "assert the power of resistance, subverting rather than co-opting the domination of the patriarchal Bard" (McLuskie 106). Yet many feminists find strength in Shakespeare. Irene Dash, for instance, proclaims that "Shakespeare's women characters testify to his genius .... they learn the meaning of self sovereignty for a woman in a patriarchal society" (Dash 1). Paulina of The Winter's Tale provides support for Dash's argument. With courage and passion, Paulina defends Hermione against chauvinistic paranoia and enshrines female virtue.    Perhaps the best testimony to Paulina's power is the historical reaction of male critics. In 1733, editor Lewis Theobald condemned Paulina as "too gross and blunt" for daring to call the King "downright a Fool" (Dash 135). In 1863, scholar Charles Cowden Clarke whined that Pauline was excessive: "... she does play the tattoo upon his skull with amazing vivacity  ­ and after he is down, too .... Paulina cannot forego the gratification of punching him in his maundering distress" (Clarke 356). In 1969, Fitzroy Pyle acknowledged Paulina's "goodness" but applied the label "militant" (Pyle 41).    With a similar sentiment but more blatantly hostile language, the fictional King Leontes abuses his adversary Paulina with sexist insults... ...ti. Webster's First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language. Boston: Beacon Press, 1987    Dash, Irene. Wooing, Wedding, and Power: Women in Shakespeare's Plays. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981    McLuskie, Kathleen. "The Patriarchal Bard: Feminist Criticism and Shakespeare." Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Materialism. Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield, editors. London: Cornell Univ. Press, 1985    Neeley, Carol Thomas. "The Winter's Tale: Women and Issue" (1985).   Reprinted in the Signet Classic Edition of The Winter's Tale. New York: Penguin, 1988.    Pyle, Fitzroy. The Winter's Tale: A Commentary on the Structure. New York: Routledge & Paul, 1969.    Schweickart, Patrocinio. "Reading Ourselves." Speaking of Gender. Elaine Showalter, editor.   New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, 1989.   

Humbert’s Voice As An Artist Versus Lolita’s Essay

Nabokov brings out Humbert’s voice as a mixture of two extreme emotional impulses and an uncanny sense of highly complex intellectual. Humbert is persuasive and convincing in a way that is unsettling, a little upsetting, but sleek enough to rob your mind and completely occupy it with its vile verbal exhortations. For instance, in his own description, Humbert though in extreme exaggeration manages to draw the reader into believing that he is â€Å"†¦ an exceptionally handsome male; slow-moving, tall, with soft dark hair and a gloomy but all the more seductive cast of demeanor†¦. with†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ exceptional virility †¦that could obtain at the snap of fingers, any adult female†¦. † Humbert seems to be so much self absorbed and overconfident, a trait which can also be noted in his incessant desire for Lolita. This voice of self-aggrandizement (qtd. in. in Meyer 93) In the same text, Humbert’s voice takes a dramatic shift to of cold and fiery br imstone coupled with a lighthearted sadistic tone. Humbert combines his intelligence with slovenliness, alacrity and alienation. His description of Lolita’s naked body and the vivid account of how he has sex with her when she is sick and how he thinks of raping her again are soul cringing. In contrast his erotic description of Lolita’s â€Å"brown, naked†¦narrow white buttocks†¦.. sulky face†¦Ã¢â‚¬  image displays his soft sensual side. † It’s the voice that could be beautiful, if it were not for something rotten at its core† (Meyer 98) Humbert’s romantic tragedy with Lo begins with the letter from Charlotte and dramatically ends with one from Lo.  Humbert reveals himself as an obsessed lover who would do anything to be in control of the life of their objects of obsession. His obsession is evident in many words he uses in the text specifically his description of Lolita as â€Å"†¦ all rose and honey, dressed in her brightest gingham, with a pattern of little red apples†¦ with scratches like tiny dotted lines of coagulated rubies, and the rib bed cuffs of her white socks were turned down. This description, which is highly detailed, shows how Humbert’s mind and speech was greatly inclined towards every inch of perfection or imperfection of his object of obsession, Lolita. Humbert tries to portray his sexual obsession with Lo as a relationship between the Artist and his piece. While his description of Charlotte as â€Å"the poor lady in her middle thirties, she had a shiny forehead, plucked eyebrows and quite simple†¦ † explains his attempt to try and first identify with her, revealing her susceptibility and areas of weakness before taking control of her. His voice of periphrastic speech contrasts with Lolita’s simple everyday speech. His usage and coinage of words such as â€Å"nymphet†, â€Å"equanimity†, â€Å"cubistic†, â€Å"pacific†, â€Å"blood ripe† and so forth makes him â€Å"†¦sound like a book†¦Ã¢â‚¬  When Lolita’s speech is marked by normal everyday word usage full of slang such as â€Å"Sunset Motels, U-Beam Cottages, Hillcrest Courts†¦Ã¢â‚¬  while Humbert’s speech was full of periphrastic tendencies such as â€Å"You will dwell, my Lolita will dwell†¦Ã¢â‚¬  However, At times he tried to integrate his educative language with Lolita’s street language for instance â€Å"drop that moody nonsense. In former times, when I was still your dream male†¦you swooned to records of the number one throb-and-sob idol of your coevals†¦ Humbert would try to use Lo’s tongue at times as a way of showing disdain for what he did not consider as a proper way of communicating. Lo in contrast would use Humbert’s tongue such as â€Å"Was the corroboration satisfactory? † when she wanted to be devious and French when she wanted to play an innocent good girl â€Å"I choose? â€Å"C’est entendu? † Humbert’s use of his educated speech as a euphemistic tool reveals his modest but warped sense of sexuality. He describes fellatio as â€Å"the hard and nauseous way† or â€Å"the school theatrical program† in reference to the time when Lolita had to beg for his permission in order to take part in the school play. Humbert used blackmail by giving his permission in exchange of sex with Lolita. He used emotional blackmail again when they got into an argument on the eve of the opening night forcing Lolita to throw in the towel and demanded that they leave town. In other instances, he calls his penis â€Å"my life† and tries to coat the sexual encounters using Latin terms â€Å"Venus Febriculosa† while downplaying the fact that he had sex with Lolita while she was sick merely as†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦temperature†¦ † (qtd in Meyer 94) Through this, Humbert is able to transform himself into the â€Å"bewitched traveler â€Å"who has no complete control over what feelings that nymphets arouse in him and his reactions. Because Humbert is â€Å"yearning for something more than life† he tries to find it by transcending the mundane and launches the reader into a spat of imagination. His punishment can be seen as justice on one end but could really be because of his perverted act of presenting an account of his life as an artistic work. His voice assumes that there is no culpability in a work of art, which is true but his work is actually his life and not a general account of life. He tries to justify his actions as if they were â€Å"†¦only a game†, thereby not making him responsible for his actions Lolita’s voice Lolita, because she is so much used to the parlance on the streets compared to the educated periphrastic language that Humbert uses, for instance misunderstands him when he proposes that they run away together to another country forever â€Å" you mean you will give us all that only if I go with you to a motel† (qtd. n Meyer 95). This makes us see what a simple-minded girl Lolita is. Her speech which is filled with radio and TV language makes her seem naive and unknowledgeable. Lolita’s voice is that of desperation. Many a time in the text, she is forced to do Humbert’s bidding because she does not have anyone else to run to. An even when she finally runs away, her expectations are smothered when she lands herself in a far . worse place than before- shooting porn videos with Quilty. Her letter, the last one she ever writes carries her vindictive yet desperate voice. How’s everything? I am married. I am going to have a baby. I guess he is going to be a big one. I guess he will come right for Christmas. This is a hard letter to write. I am going nuts because we do not have enough to pay our debts and get out of here. Dick is promised a big job in Alaska in his very specialized corner of the mechanical field, that is all I know about it but it is really grand. Pardon me for withholding our home address but you may still be mad at me, and Dick must not know. This town is something. You cannot see the morons for the smog. Please do send us a check, dad. We could manage with three or four hundred or even less, anything is welcome, you might sell my old things, because once we get there the dough will just start rolling in. Write, please. I have gone through much sadness and hardship. † (Qtd. in Meyer 99) In this letter, she does not tell Humbert about Quilt (bitter) though she does so later when they meet. . The desperate note on the last sentence of the letter â€Å"†¦I have gone through so much sadness and hardship† perhaps is what leads to Quilts murder by Humbert, when he finds out the truth. Lolita’s voice in does not reciprocate the love in the affair she has with Humbert, rather, it borders more on duty and reciprocity than romantic love. While Humbert’s description of his relationship with Lolita may be taken to mean love by some, it may as well mean lust. His obsession with Lolita in itself shows us a dangerous side of him, which attempts to kill charlotte, and succeeds at killing Quilty, who was seen as obstacles to gaining control of Lolita. In trying to make us believe that he is truly in love with Lolita, he plays the part of a jilted lover in a crime of passion. His antics with the therapists show his calculating manipulative side â€Å"†¦discovered that there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with the psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on†¦inventing for them elaborate dreams, teasing them with fake ‘primal scenes’ â€Å". His need to feel he was in control drove him to imagine he was not to blame in the murder he commits by manipulative persuasion â€Å"Frigid gentlewomen of the jury†¦ I am going to tell you something very strange: it was she who seduced me† (qtd. n Meyer 97) Humbert’s usage of words in the text gives words that may have otherwise had a normal regular meaning, symbolism. In the letter he receives from charlotte (though we only get to learn of the contents through the â€Å"verbatim† recollection of the words from Humbert after he destroys the letter) there is sad genuine passion expressed by charlotte towards Humbert. † You see, there is no alternative. I have loved you from the minute I saw you. I am a passionate and lonely woman and you are the love of my life. . . .  Let me rave and ramble on for a teeny while more, my dearest, since I know this letter has been by now torn by you, and its pieces (illegible) in the vortex of the toilet. My dearest, mon tres, tres cher, what a world of love I have built up for you during this miraculous June! † In this letter, Humbert is able to deliberately leave out some parts which to him do not matter but lets us know what (for instance the death of Charlotte’s brother), those that he forgot genuinely and also questions some of the objects he thinks are his own importation, like the â€Å"vortex of the toilet† which he uses symbolically. He lets us wonder at the absurdity of such an importation and its significance. In other words, Humbert makes us trust him because of his immense ability to recall and even re-write his own pocket diary ( which was destroyed in a fire some 5 years before) and at the same time makes us doubt him for the same reasons; he is a man of huge intellect capable of manipulating the truth. He takes us back and forth in games, which makes us not only unsure of ourselves in whatever judgment we make about him but also his victims. He succeeds in presenting his attraction to Delores (also Lolita, Lo, and Lol) and other nymphets as an inevitable action precipitated by circumstances and not governed by morality. His explanation for choosing to be a pedophile though shamelessly perverted is also convincing in a way that it takes an artistic twist. Between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers†¦. reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as â€Å"nymphets†. By banishing his subjects to the realm of the inhuman or supernatural, he therefore has transformed himself into a hero who is in combat with the nymphets. He goes on ahead to describe how a true nymphet is not easily noticeable. â€Å"†¦A normal man given a group photograph of school girls or Girl Scouts and asked to point out the comeliest one will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and completely refuses to acknowledge that these are actually children and not â€Å"maidens† the way he likes to refer to them. (qtd. in Meyers 101). By designating men who have desires for such fantasies as â€Å"mad men† or artists, he denigrates from the social expectation, which considers such kind of behavior not only criminal but also immoral. Lolita’s voice is also stylistically as a symbol of money. Her constant condition was that money would be an end in itself the means did not matter. That she writes to Humbert asking for money is no surprise. Even while in Paris, Humbert’s effort to obtain a nymphet backfires as he gets â€Å"a monstrously plump, sallow, repulsively plain girl of at least fifteen . . . nursing a bald doll,† (qtd, in Meyers 112). His description of the girl is enough to get the reader on his side- no one likes to pay for something and a get a raw deal instead. Hoover whit is important is Humbert’s reaction which completely shows the complete objectization of women. There is a difference in the way Humbert uses his voice as a structurally effective tool compared to Lolita. His desire to express himself in his new country cannot escape the European influence in the way he even refers to the trees and buildings as â€Å"Chateaubriandesque trees† or â€Å"Claude Lorrain clouds† and â€Å"a stern El Greco horizon†. The use of language as a structural tool is also noticed in the juxtapositions of Humbert’s speech with Lolita’s speech. The use of elevated language that is highly intellectual against the television and radio language. The shift from Europe to American is also captured in Humbert’s speeches, which cannot get rid of the French cliches’. Lolita does well in her voice to present the practical utility of the ordinary everyday language compared to the elevated language, which dawdles the reader into a psychological roundabout. The two reveal the stylistic differences of the voice of the television informed by the laymen in the streets and the voice of the cultured and the educated, informed by the written language. Even though at some point in the novel, we feel very angry at Humbert, our anger is held back by his eloquent speech on his defense. It is this moving speech that makes us want to even forgive Humbert for his deeds because he seems not at fault. Humbert tries to convince us that his actions do not stem from a moral standpoint. We feel that his pursuit of Lolita was based on love that was intense but sadly turns tragic, something that was not under Humbert’s control. Humbert wants us to believe that his obsession stems from his failure to accomplish his affair with Lolita because she dies prematurely. His effort to keep Lolita on a leash using threats such as school reform, banishment from taking part in school activities or hanging around boys, appear frantic and desperate. However, he even convinces neighbors that he is simply being the overprotective father- old fashioned. This face does not last for long. He resorts to bribing her with money in return for sex despite the fact that Lolita makes it clear she does not share his feelings. Humbert wants us to believe that he was the victim in his narration. While we might see him as a corrupt and cunning adult corrupting a weak and innocent child, we are able to see that it is the exploitation of a weak adult by a corrupt child. He attempts to convince us that fate rules and wins in the end, no matter how choosy we want to be. In summary the voice of Humbert cannot only be seen as a stylistic device that brings out the themes but also brings out the attack the attack the narrator is launching on our sensibilities. By playing games with our minds, the narrator is able to make us explore our human side that is rotten and immoral, by showing how it cuts across society regardless of education or social status. The narrator is able to bring into focus the central themes of the text, which are psychological as well as grippingly real. Lolita’s voice in the novel serves to substantiate and vilify the immoral wrong doer. By giving his psychological account, Humbert allows us to enter his mind and consequently pleads with us to understand his remorse and shame that he feels of his affair with Lolita. He realizes he has robbed Lolita of her childhood at some point when listening to the blabber of you children outside. Humbert not only makes us aware of the foundation of society’s moral decadence but also explains why this is inevitable because young girls will always be there as sure as the pedophiles. The sad realization brought by the death of Humbert and Lolita is that both of them could just be a chip of a bigger iceberg in the grand scheme of things-the real face of human life which is often filled with shocking immoral degrading corrupt and rotten scheming which alienates and exploits not only the human as biological being but also as a spiritual being. His confession becomes our confession and it does not address our minds but undresses our minds pouring out in the open, the kind of life a good number of us would not mind living if at all we are not doing so already.

Parentheses

Parentheses Parentheses Parentheses By Mark Nichol Parentheses serve several specific functions, but their general purpose is to set a grammatical unit of content off from the surrounding text. The parenthesized material can range from a single letter, numeral, or other symbol to an entire sentence. (Because enclosing more than one complete sentence in parentheses overextends the digression, it is not recommended.) Here is a summary of ways to deploy parentheses. First, a definition of terms: Parenthesis denotes a single parenthetical mark, but it can also refer to a digression, interlude, or interval enclosed in parentheses or other pairs of punctuation marks, such as commas, dashes, or brackets. The first of two parenthetical marks is an open parenthesis, and the second is a close parenthesis. The pair together are called parentheses. A parenthesis of an entire sentence can be inserted within another sentence, but omit a period after the parenthesized sentence (However, an exclamation point or question mark is acceptable!) to avoid confusion. (A complete sentence may also follow the terminal punctuation of the preceding sentence; in that case, include a period- or another terminal punctuation mark- immediately before the close parenthesis.) An incomplete sentence within parentheses is not punctuated with a period, but, again, an exclamation point or question mark is allowed. When providing an explanation or an example, the additional information can be enclosed in parentheses. Note in the following sentence how a parenthesis of a parenthesis should be formatted. (The abbreviations e.g. [â€Å"for example†] and i.e. [that is†] generally precede such information in formal and scholarly prose; in more casual contexts, the phrases are employed.) This is general American English style; British English style (and legal style and style for some other contexts) is parentheses within parentheses. Parentheses enclose the abbreviation of an acronym or initialism after the spelled-out name of an agency, company, or organization to inform the reader about how the entity will be identified on subsequent references: â€Å"The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909.† (Note that the article the is not repeated in the parenthesis, but it should precede the initialism when it appears again.) Parentheses are used to enclose a note when a reader is directed to a cross-reference or when a writer glosses (presents a brief definition of) a term, provides a citation for a quotation or a fact or figure, points out that he or she has used italics to emphasize part of a quoted passage, or otherwise annotates a quotation. Note that the location of the parenthesis in the following sentence is awkward: â€Å"Consider whether a ‘risk expert’ should serve on the committee (i.e., someone with a background in risk management or oversight relevant to the nature of the organization’s operations).† Parenthesized annotation, just like additional information enclosed in a pair of commas or dashes, should immediately follow the relevant word or phrase, as here: â€Å"Consider whether a ‘risk expert’ (i.e., someone with a background in risk management or oversight relevant to the nature of the organization’s operations) should serve on the committee.† Back-to-back parenthesis is acceptable, but this can be avoided by combining two pieces of information into one parenthesis divided by a semicolon or by reorganizing the framing text to separate the two parenthetical comments. When the items in a run-in list (a list appearing within a sentence rather than formatted vertically) are numbered, they should be enclosed in a pair of parentheses (not with a close parenthesis only)- as in â€Å"The three types of rocks are (1) igneous, (2) metamorphic, and (3) sedimentary†- but numbering is seldom necessary. Use parentheses in moderation; excessive deployment of the symbols can give text a cluttered appearance (note their ubiquity in this post) and result in an obstacle-ridden narrative flow. Often, a pair of commas will suffice in their place, and dashes are appropriate when abruptly interjecting additional information, especially when the writer wants to give an impression of sudden interruption rather than unassuming interpolation. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:15 Terms for Those Who Tell the FutureBroadcast vs Broadcasted as Past FormEpidemic vs. Pandemic vs. Endemic

Essay for Lit Draft Essays

Essay for Lit Draft Essays Essay for Lit Draft Essay Essay for Lit Draft Essay Their fathers involvement not only affects their level of knowledge, but also shapes their personalities, creates a shift in power from ether to son, and in the end, impacts the decisions they make when they realize the truths in their lives. Knowledge plays a huge role in peoples lives when it comes to growing up. For Oedipus and Barry, their fathers control their level of knowledge. Oedipus is born and Immediately abandoned by his father. Since Oedipus has no knowledge of his past he ends up unknowingly killing his father, King Alias. Much of the playwright Is about the search for the man who killed King Alias. There Is a repeated contrast In the dialogue between the known and unknown. For example when Oedipus Is speaking with Thirties for Insight on how to find the killer. OEDIPUS: For the love of god, dont turn away, not if you know something. We beg you, all of us on our knees. THIRTIES: None of you knows?and I will never reveal my dreadful secrets, not to say your own. At this point in the playwright, Thirties is trying to hint that there is a truth of Oedipus life that is hidden. Oedipus is constantly hinted throughout the play, however the main fact of him being unknowing of his past creates problems not only for himself, but others in the city. For Barry, on the other hand, knows about his past. However, even though he knows, he is still Influenced by his father because of It. Barry has conversations with his mother and father and It Is very well known that his father Is dying because of an illness. Because Barry Is up to date with his life, It makes It easier for him to go through translators and be trusted by those who rely on him. Having a relationship with a parent is also an important part of a persons life and impacts personality. Oedipus has essentially no relationship with his father besides the fact that he has killed him. Oedipus having no true guidance while growing up to learn right from wrong may very well be the reason for his temperament. Whenever Oedipus is faced tit something that tests him, he becomes very angry, extreme and arrogant. Contrarily, Barry has a relationship with his father, however through the dialogue, the reader can tell that there is a lack of connection between the two of them. There is little to no emotion and their sentences are to the point. However, because Barry knows his father and has him as a figure In his life, he Is able to be caring and patient with those around him as well as his father. When Barry must shave his father he Is calm and responsible. When his father asks him, Hows It going? he replies with, No problem, and You neednt worry. Since Parrys father communicates Walt n NV Ana NAS a purpose In Nils Tie, Barry Is addle to malting a controlled personality. The protagonists relationships with their fathers also affect the speed of their coming of age. The protagonists are younger men in both works of literature. Both are faced with sudden changes in their lives. Oedipus father has died and he has become a king due to solving the riddle of the sphinx. This change transfers power Oedipus father, to himself. With this new power, he must make decisions that are not only affecting himself, but the people of his city. Oedipus has no prior knowledge of what has happened in the past with his city, which suggests that he was not ready to handle this amount of power. In the playwright, the members of the city seem to become uneasy with him leading them. (QUOTE) It is very possible that if Oedipus had had an existing relationship with his father, that he would have had a more gradual transition when gaining power. He would still have someone to look over him and help him make important decisions. With that support, he may have become trustworthy leader. The shift of power from father to son is different for Barry. Barry is more prepared because he has known that his father has been ill and will no longer be a form of guidance for him. Even though his father is present and a part of his life, he really does not guide him based on the fact that he is ill and not able to experience life with Barry outside of the hospital. This is shown when Barry and his father have small talk when he is shaving him. His father does not remember his age. A father that is involved would know the age of their son. The difference between Barras relationship with his father and Oedipus with his is that Parrys situation is unavoidable. It makes it easier for Barry to understand and take control because he knows what is going to happen. Barry is more prepared to take on power. The shifts of power from father to son also cause epiphanies for both protagonists at the end of each work of literature. Oedipus is faced with the truth, that he was the killer of King Alias, his father. He also finds out that his mother, Jotas, is now his wife. Barry is faced with the truth that his father is going to die. There is an enormous difference in how each character reacts to their epiphanies. Oedipus approaches his truth violently. He inflicts pain on himself, which the reader finds out from the messenger. He rips off her brooches, the long gold pins holding her robes?and lifting them high, looking straight up into the points, he digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying, muff, youll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! (Sophocles, 1402-1406) By contrast, Barry is more accepting when he is brought to his truth. This is mainly because he is much more prepared and has had time to accept what is before him. T he narrator of Shaving ends the short story with Parrys realization. Barry opened wide the bathroom Indo. Already, although it was not yet two oclock, the sun was retreating and people were moving briskly, wrapped in their heavy coats against the cold that was to come. But now the window was full in the beam of the dying sunlight, and Barry stood there, illuminated in its golden warmth for a whole minute, knowing it would soon be gone (Norris, 123). Assuming that the sun is a symbol for Parrys father, he is realizing that his father is going to die. It may be that because he shaved him, he fully understood his fathers incapability to do things that once were small tasks in his life. It also may Just be the fact that he had known that his dad was sick and would not De getting netter. In conclusion, Sophocles aromas tragedy leaps Ana Leslie Norris short story Shaving both delve into the idea that fathers have an influence on their sons lives while coming of age. With the prior knowledge that both protagonists in these works of literature have about their lives, given to them by their fathers, each protagonist is affected internally. This is proven by their formed personalities, their way of handling their power, the important decisions they make and how they handle their realizations of truth.

Athens and Sparta the culture essays

Athens and Sparta the culture essays Athens was one of the first city-states. Each of these independent states consisted of a city and the region that surrounded it. Athens had a king, as did other Greek states. According to tradition, the first king of Athens was named Cecrops. Kings ruled the city-state until 682 B.C. Beginning that year, elected officials called archons headed the government of Athens. The general assembly, which consisted of all adult male citizens of Athens, elected the archons to one-year terms. After their term of office, the archons joined the Areopagus, a council of elder statesmen. The Areopagus judged murder trials and prepared political matters for the vote of the general assembly. Hippias fell from power in 510 B.C., and Cleisthenes, the head of a leading family, became the most powerful statesman in Athens. About 508 B.C., the Athenians adopted a new constitution proposed by Cleisthenes, which made the state a democracy. This constitution was an unwritten one, but it stayed in effect with little change for hundreds of years. The constitution kept the ideas of Solon, but it also provided for new conditions that had developed since Solon's rule. Until Cleisthenes' time, citizenship in Athens had been based on blood relationship to the four Ionic tribes that had originally settled Attica. A man had to belong to a phratry (brotherhood) to be a citizen. Under Cleisthenes' system, all men 18 years of age and older were registered as citizens and as members of the deme (village or town) in which they lived. In time, membership in the demes became hereditary, and so a man might belong to a deme in which he did not actually live. Cleisthenes divided the demes into 30 groups called trittyes, which, in turn, were divided into 10 new tribes. Each of the 10 tribes was made up of 3 trittyes from different regions of Athens. Thus, members of each tribe came from various families and different parts of the city-state. ...

Service Product Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Service Product Analysis - Essay Example These factors might seem insignificant but when observed in depth, reveals the fact that they are capable of manipulating the level of satisfaction as well as the behaviour of a customer in a positive and in a negative way. Both the factors of behaviour and satisfaction isn relation to a customer hold huge importance in the service industry. Importance of Servicescape Servicescape is said to be the structure or the physical atmosphere that encircles the service. As the individuals present in this physical atmosphere also form and manipulate the atmosphere, so, the social atmosphere or environment is incorporated in the above definition too. A quite vital role is played by the servicescape in forming the expectations of the customers, differentiation in service, making easy the objectives of the customer along with the employees and manipulating the characteristic of the experiences of the customers. It is capable of manipulating the relationship objectives of customers who are import ant. It begins with drawing the customers to withholding and also in improving the relationship between the customer and the service firm. The appearance and structure of Servicescape assists in drawing customers towards the facility of the offered service. For instance colours, scent, signs and music could be made use to draw customers. After this the Servicescape would assist in providing experience to the customers and manipulate his or her level of contentment through the deliverance of the service (Swartz and Iancobucci 2000). Thus, it can be understood that servicescapes are not only a significant factor in shaping impression of a particular customer but is even a significant basis of fact while assessing along with the service organisation on the whole. It is quite important in the industry of hospitality where the customers interrelate along with the physical atmosphere compared to anything else. It implies that customers relate to the servicescape even before having an expe rience or understanding of the service. Therefore, it is a variety of environmental signs and physical elements which help persons outline a picture that is holistic regarding the whole servicescape (Donovan and Rossiter 1981) The Purpose of Service Environment Servicescapes which is also known as service environment narrates about the appearance as well as style of the physical environment along with other experiential components witnessed by customers at the sites of service organisations. For service organisations which discharge services of high-contact, the structure of the physical setting and the way in which jobs are carried out in the course of contact with the customers by the employees, together play an essential part in forming a specific corporate distinctiveness and outlining the characteristic of the understanding of the customers. This particular physical environment and its associated atmosphere have an effect on the behaviour of the buyer in few important ways. The environment serves as a medium of message creation by employing cues that are representational in order to correspond to the planned audience regarding the distinguishing characteristic and quality of the experience related to the service. It serves as a medium of attention creation in order to make the physical envi

Brand Storyteling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Brand Storyteling - Essay Example In addition, stories easily convey the message of the content by allowing customers to visualize the vision of the brand in an easy manner. On the contrary, messages based on facts do not create a long lasting impact on the customers as stories do. Effective stories have; entertaining value engages the audience and relates to the personal needs of customers. These features let the customer ‘live’ through the story of the brand. For instance, by posing a problem in the story with the brand as the solution makes the audience assume a true experience. Instead of the audience grasping the product pitches, the idea of the brand story is taken in (Barry 2014). Storytelling, no matter how many companies adopt it, it will always emerge as the sure way of excluding a company from its competitors by creating a more appealing and effective story than the other companies. Almost everybody enjoys the feeling of being in control of the environment, future and their lives, among other things. For that reason, companies should use storytelling to evoke emotions of the desire to control. The story makes it clear to the customer how the brand makes him or her in control, albeit in the subconscious mind only. By embracing family values to the brand story, the audience is emotionally influenced, especially married couples. For instance, Cerebos Pacific, a sauce additives company, uses Asian family values that relate to food to convince customers to buy their products (Temporal 2013). In Asia, food cooking is not just an act rather it is a way of emotional expression. A brand story that relates to the audience and through their ‘living’ through the story, their wishes are fulfilled and emotions are evoked. The brain encodes the value in things and remembers wishes that were vicariously fulfilled. A brand story that evokes emotions of love can convince the audience to purchase the product. Love emerges at the most fundamental emotion ever known to human beings.

Preventative Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Preventative Education - Essay Example Since COPD is primarily a disease related to excessive or long-term smoking and is completely preventable from both a pharmacological and non-pharmacological perspective and there are numerous methods that can be implemented to focus on the prevention, accurate diagnosis, and management of this disease (Barnett, 2009). Through a comprehensive understanding of the disease, as well as the physical, psychological and social impact COPD has on the patient, their careers, and their families, healthcare professionals will be better equipped to comprise management plans that are effective in all the affected areas of the patient’s life (Barnett, 2009). Formulating a collaborative approach that includes working with other healthcare professionals relative to the patient’s care like physiotherapists, occupational therapists, district nurses and social workers will enable a holistic approach to the patient’s care to be established and maintained (Barnett, 2009). Through th is approach, the healthcare professional can help the patient examine numerous aspects of their lifestyle that may be detrimental to their health and exacerbate their COPD. Providing the patient with complete care and information is the most vital tool a nurse can provide to their patient. In the instigation of preventative routines, successful implementation of a case management scheme including the medical interventions available can help establish a routine of such care within the institution. Even though the current treatments are limited in helping relieve symptoms, nurses can do a lot to help educate patients and enable them to cope with their condition to reduce the progression of the disease (Barnett, 2006). The most vital piece of information a... This paper approves that many opportunities for health promotion through patient education are underutilized in all aspects of healthcare. Through education, nurses can develop the skills necessary to use every opportunity for promoting health in everyday practice and help their patients become educated in various methods to promote and preserve their own well-being. Keeping the needs of the facility and the needs of the patient balanced is the duty of the nurse and proper case management will help the nurse keep these contradictory aspects well in hand. This essay makes a conclusion that incorporating theories of holistic care with those of case management can help the nurse provide the best care possible for the patient at the lowest cost to the institution. COPD is a systemic disease with high and increasing worldwide prevalence. The onset of this disease has been associated with both individual and community-based factors and COPD is usually the result of a combination of these factors. Numerous strategies are available to manage or prevent COPD, and nursing education is needed to empower nurses to educate their patients and present proper solutions through case management schemes that will benefit the patients and the institutions through effective, cost-minimal methods of treatment. Nurses all over the world have important roles in fighting the COPD pandemic and health promotion is the best tool available to keep healthy people healthy as long as possible.

Australian commonwealth Bank Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Australian commonwealth Bank - Research Paper Example The Commonwealth Bank was founded as per Commonwealth Bank Act during 1911 and finally, it started operations since 1912. This bank is also one of the oldest and the most trusted banks offered a number of corporate and retail financial services. After the rapid development of globalisation and international trade, the bank experienced very rapid growth and currently, there are 800,000 shareholders are associated with the banks with 52,000 employees in the global market place (Commonwealth Bank Group-1, 2011). Australian Commonwealth Bank basically, offers three types of banking and other financial services for the personal, business and corporate. The financial service is one the most important sectors for the growth of economies as the financial institutions offers major necessary financial assistance to the population and industry of the economy. Like the other manufacturing and technology industries, the research and development is also important for the financial services sectors . In financial services, it is easier to develop a product but its viability is always questionable. Moreover, ineffective financial products are harmful for the entire economy; for example, the mortgage backed securities were one of the prime factors which had led to bring the U.S. mortgage crisis. Therefore, the financial institutions should develop their research and development process for innovating viable and effective financial product and services (Financial Services Innovation Centre, 2009). One the key factors for the success of Australian Commonwealth Bank is its innovative operational and product development process. The bank has realized the necessity of the innovation for gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in the global competitions. Innovation requires necessary resources including infrastructure and skilled employees. The banks is financial very stable and has invested significantly to acquired necessary physical resources for infrastructural and technologic al development. Besides, its intangible resources like innovative and highly skilled employees are also vital determinants for innovations in the organisation (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2008, p.6-7). The following diagram depicts the structure of Australian Commonwealth Bank that plays a key role in managing the innovation within the organisation. Figure 1: Value Chain Element of Australian Commonwealth Bank (Source: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2008, p.7) This bank has been constantly trying to bring innovative products and services to increase the value of its services and its business. Recently, the banks have brought a number of innovative process, services and products signifying the better business performance. During 2010, it has launched a number of successful products and services and some of them are listed below. Introduced Core Banking by 10 million accounts. Launched a savings product with high interest bearing, called GoalSaver. Brought in the new premium prod ucts like Diamond Awards credit card. Better and user friendly technological development has led to increase its netbank users by 20%. Net banking trough mobile device has also been upgraded. It has also brought many new developments and expansion in its School Banking programme for increasing financial literacy. Due to such successful product and process innovation, it has become of the pioneer in customer service satisfaction. These initiatives for innovations have offered the banks a number of

How well trained teachers are in educational technology Research Paper

How well trained teachers are in educational technology - Research Paper Example nd and properly utilized with the use of technological devices such as laptops, projectors, iPads, slideshows, and various softwares amongst thousands of other devices and programs. Moreover, it is vital for students to be aware of how to properly utilize these devices to improve their educational learning and to enhance their understanding. This makes it further essential for teachers to be fully trained in using such devices and educational technology in order to facilitate the learning process (Mumtaz, 2000). As some teachers belong to older generations or some are technology-aversive, a large proportion of teachers have usually been found to be unable to properly use programs such as Microsoft Office, statistical software, and technological devices such as computers and projectors in general. Therefore, while it is important to judge how well teachers are able to communicate with students, nowadays, it is also just as important to judge whether they can use information technology effectively (Mumtaz, 2000). This study aims to analyze and determine whether teachers belonging to higher education institutes are able to properly use educational technology (computers, projectors, microphones, and software) to facilitate the learning process and how well-equipped these teachers are in the use of this technology. The study will focus on the teachers of the Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) in the local area and determine how these teachers are in the use of information technology and educational technology. The study will then aim to analyze the data on local teachers’ technology competence reasons and will aim to compare and it with previous literature regarding teachers’ competence in information technology. The participants of the study will include male and female teachers between the ages of 21 to 60 employed at BISD. Five teachers will be chosen from each school through random stratified sampling. A total of six teachers will be analyzed for

Australian commonwealth Bank Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Australian commonwealth Bank - Research Paper Example The Commonwealth Bank was founded as per Commonwealth Bank Act during 1911 and finally, it started operations since 1912. This bank is also one of the oldest and the most trusted banks offered a number of corporate and retail financial services. After the rapid development of globalisation and international trade, the bank experienced very rapid growth and currently, there are 800,000 shareholders are associated with the banks with 52,000 employees in the global market place (Commonwealth Bank Group-1, 2011). Australian Commonwealth Bank basically, offers three types of banking and other financial services for the personal, business and corporate. The financial service is one the most important sectors for the growth of economies as the financial institutions offers major necessary financial assistance to the population and industry of the economy. Like the other manufacturing and technology industries, the research and development is also important for the financial services sectors . In financial services, it is easier to develop a product but its viability is always questionable. Moreover, ineffective financial products are harmful for the entire economy; for example, the mortgage backed securities were one of the prime factors which had led to bring the U.S. mortgage crisis. Therefore, the financial institutions should develop their research and development process for innovating viable and effective financial product and services (Financial Services Innovation Centre, 2009). One the key factors for the success of Australian Commonwealth Bank is its innovative operational and product development process. The bank has realized the necessity of the innovation for gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in the global competitions. Innovation requires necessary resources including infrastructure and skilled employees. The banks is financial very stable and has invested significantly to acquired necessary physical resources for infrastructural and technologic al development. Besides, its intangible resources like innovative and highly skilled employees are also vital determinants for innovations in the organisation (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2008, p.6-7). The following diagram depicts the structure of Australian Commonwealth Bank that plays a key role in managing the innovation within the organisation. Figure 1: Value Chain Element of Australian Commonwealth Bank (Source: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2008, p.7) This bank has been constantly trying to bring innovative products and services to increase the value of its services and its business. Recently, the banks have brought a number of innovative process, services and products signifying the better business performance. During 2010, it has launched a number of successful products and services and some of them are listed below. Introduced Core Banking by 10 million accounts. Launched a savings product with high interest bearing, called GoalSaver. Brought in the new premium prod ucts like Diamond Awards credit card. Better and user friendly technological development has led to increase its netbank users by 20%. Net banking trough mobile device has also been upgraded. It has also brought many new developments and expansion in its School Banking programme for increasing financial literacy. Due to such successful product and process innovation, it has become of the pioneer in customer service satisfaction. These initiatives for innovations have offered the banks a number of

E-Marketing (The strengths and weaknesses of E-Advertising) Essay

E-Marketing (The strengths and weaknesses of E-Advertising) - Essay Example This essay is a critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of E-marketing. With the current developments in the Information Technology sector, it has become possible for businesses and organizations to conduct their businesses over the internet, a process that can be referred to as E-commerce (Hanson, 2000). This is facilitated by the accessibility of personal computers among the world’s population with internet connection which interfaces the suppliers with their customers through interactive websites, which enables the customers to make orders as well as to compare and to contrast the services offered by different vendors. Through their websites, the businesses are able to generate attention through the use of graphics that depict the true nature of the businesses for example by including photographs of the business premises, some of the products sold as well as the management teams among other important aspects of the business which may be helpful in building confidence in the buyers on the services offered (Reynolds, 2004). These help to create a picture on the customer’s mind on the credibility of the business, reason being that photographs communicate more on the image of the organization. Creating awareness is the main importance of advertising (Haegele, 2001). Through the internet, this goal has been achieved by businesses, which have exploited the global market at a cheaper price than the other media of advertising such as the yellow pages, through the mass media i.e. news papers and radio as well as Television etc. It is estimated that the price of creating a website is cheaper than the price of advertising on the yellow pages thus making it affordable to all types of businesses (Brown, 2006). With thousands of potential customers around the world using the internet for other purposes such as research, sending and receiving e-mails as well as communicating through chat rooms and entertainment, internet advertising offers the best

Lemurs in Madagascar Assignment Essay Example for Free

Lemurs in Madagascar Assignment Essay What are Madagascar’s biomes? Discuss the major features of at least one of these biomes. Use the textbook for biome examples. Madagascar is a tropical rainforest, rain forest savanna and grasslands. The rain forest receives 120 inches of rain at least a year. It has very wet and dense vegetation within the trees. Anywhere from 70 plus percent of animal life lives in the trees. It is filled with lakes, river, swamps and a wide variety of different terrain. There is an overabundance of green plant life that strives on the heavy rains received each year. The forest floor is full of nutrients which the large tree strive on giving the canopy effects and which houses so much plant and animal life. 2. What changes happening in Madagascar are posing challenges for lemurs? Give details about the sources, time scale, and types of change. All the time the environment is changing by people moving in and getting more populated. As people come into a new area they may alter a Lemurs normal route or main food supply in the area by cutting down a certain tree such as bamboo. 3. Which types of lemurs are adapting to the changes? Which types of lemurs are not adapting well? Why? The less vulnerable lemurs are good at adapting to a secondary environment with people. The vulnerable or endangered lemurs are having hard time moving and settling into a new food source or habitat which is causing them to go  extinct faster. Ringtail lemurs can adapt and defiantly go to multiple environments. 4. What behavioral and physical traits are being favored in lemurs in the changing Madagascar environment? People are studying lemurs to find out if you can teach other lemurs certain straight so that can adapt to a new type of environment. Such as eating habitats and what they eat. How the move and migrate from place to place. 5. Why might lemurs not evolve to adapt to the changes in Madagascar? They may not never adapt due to the constant changes in the environment nonstop. Some lemurs can adapt with evolution over hundreds of year but with humans within a few years they can destroy an entire habitat along with food sources within a year. The constant changes always leave the lemurs on their toes. Constantly roaming from one place to another 6. Which biogeochemical cycles may be altered by anthropogenic activities on Madagascar, and how? Many things may be altered such as the soils and living organisms by people moving into the new areas in such a rapid rate. What toll does this take on the environments such as global warming and pollutants in that areas now? What do the changes in the smaller spectrum of things do to the overall climate? Reference â€Å"Lemurs in Madagascar: Surviving on an Island of Change.† Films Media Group, 2006. Films On Demand.

Ensure The Success Of Your Business Commerce Essay

Ensure The Success Of Your Business Commerce Essay In order to remain in business, business owners and organisations need to take proactive steps all the time to ensure that their businesses remain at a competitive edge, hence the need to strategically manage the human resources of the organisation to ensure overall success of the business. Human resource management (HRM) is a strategic, integrated and coherent approach to the employment, development and well-being of the people working in organisations (Armstrong, 2009). However, Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a proactive management of the employees of a company or organisation. Strategic human resource management includes typical human resource components such as hiring, discipline, and payroll, and also involves working with employees in a collaborative manner to boost retention, improve the quality of the work experience, and maximize the mutual benefit of employment for both the employee and the employer. (BusinessDictionary.com) This article will look at different models of strategic HRM, the importance of strategic HRM, an analysis of an HRM framework, the HRM process and the development of strategies as well as an assessment of the roles in strategic HRM. Models of strategic HRM Although there is some acceptance of the idea that strategic HRM should support the strategic direction of the business, there is no agreement on the best way of doing this. Two normative models epitomise the relationship between labour management and organisational strategy. The first is explored in the best practice or universal school. The second approach, where integration between strategic HRM and organisational strategy is an essential feature, is explored in the contingency and configurational schools (Porter, Bingham and Simmonds 2008). Comparison of Universalistic and Contingency models of HRM Universalistic model Contingency model There is an existence of best human resource management practices and all organisations should adopt these best practices. There are not best practices but for effectiveness, an organisations HR policies must be consistent with other aspects of the organisation. A universal relationship exists between individual best practices and the organisations performance. The main contingency factor is the organisations strategy, or the internal and external environment which is described as vertical fit. One single practice leads to a greater organisational performance. They do not consider either synergetic interdependence relationships or integration mechanisms. Many contingent works focus on a single practice i.e. a single practice is dependable on the other to achieve the goal of the organisation. REASONS FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF HRM IN ORGANISATIONS The human resources remains the most important asset of any organisation and the overall importance of human resource management is to ensure that the organisation is able to achieve success through its entire workforce in order to ensure a successful business. In the area of strategy, the HR department improves the organisations bottom line with its knowledge of how human capital affects the success of the organisational as a whole. Leaders with expertise in HR strategic management participate in corporate decision-making that underlies current staffing assessments and projections for future workforce needs based on business demand. It enables the organisation to strategically deal with HR issues which in-turn enables employees to work effectively in order to achieve the organisations goals and objectives. Human resource managements allow organisations to prioritize their organisational and business strategies hence attracting and retaining and the development of competent employees. Another reason of HRM in organisation also lies in its importance as a Legal requirement. The HR department of organisations ensures compliance with employment laws. They complete paperwork necessary for documenting that employees are eligible to work in the U.K. The employment laws also states that employers have an obligation to provide safe working conditions for their entire workforce. Hence, workplace safety and risk management specialists from the HR area manage compliance with U.K. Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by maintaining accurate work logs and records, and developing programs that reduce the number of workplace injuries and fatalities. Workplace safety specialists also engage employees in promoting awareness and safe handling of dangerous equipment and hazardous chemicals. HRM FRAMEWORK The purpose of the HRM framework is to ensure the adoption and implementation of a fair and transparent process which in-turn will retain the valuable skills and experiences of employees within the organisation. It ensures that effective consultation takes place with employees and their representatives on how these processes will be applied, ensuring effective outcomes for employees, customers and all stakeholders. Harvard framework of HRM Harvard framework is a strategic map to guide all managers in their relations with employees and concentrates on the human or soft aspect of HRM. It was developed by Beer et al in 1984. This framework is based on the belief that the problems of historical personnel management can only be solved when general managers develop a viewpoint of how they wish to see employees involved in and developed by the enterprise, and of what HRM policies and practices may achieve those goals. Without either a central philosophy or a strategic vision which can be provided only by general managers HRM is likely to remain a set of independent activities, each guided by its own practice tradition. (Armstrong, 2009) The Harvard model outlines four HR policy areas as follows: Human resource flows recruitment, selection, placement, promotion, appraisal and assessment, promotion, termination Reward systems pay systems, motivation Employee influence delegated levels of authority, responsibility, power Work systems work design and alignment of people. Which in turn lead to the four Cs or HR policies that have to be achieved: Commitment Congruence Competence Cost effectiveness HRM PROCESS AND STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT HR processes are the basis for the management of customers satisfaction with Human Resources. Customers feel comfortable and their level of satisfaction increases when there is an understanding of the HR processes, how they are connected and how they interact. In order to achieve continuous customer satisfaction these processes needs to be measured and regularly monitored to identify any gaps in the processes and improve on it for the benefit of the all stakeholders. HRM processes The HRM processes consist of the following basic areas: Planning (strategic HR planning, job design) Attracting (recruitment and selection) Attracting applicants from which to begin the selection process. This can either be from internal or external sources. Recruitment is about finding and engaging the people the organisation needs to make up its workforce. Team meetings, notice boards, intranet are methods of sourcing for people internally, and radio/TV adverts, local newspaper adverts, posters, job centre plus recruitment agencies are methods of external recruitment. Selection is assessing the suitability of potential employees and predicting which applicant will be able to carry out a job role successfully. It is characterised by the competence, experience, qualifications, education and training of the applicant. Developing (induction, orientation, training of the work-force, career development, talent management, leadership development, performance appraisal) Training the employee in order to acquire the needed skills for the job. Talent management is the process of identifying, developing, recruiting, retaining and deploying talented people with special gifts, abilities which enable them to perform effectively Retaining (compensation, benefits) HR Controlling HR strategy development HR strategies set out what the organisation intends to do about its human resource management policies and practices and how they should be integrated with the business strategy and each other (Armstrong, 2009). Strategy development is about choosing the most appropriate course of action for the realisation of organisational goals and objectives, in order to achieve the organisational vision. The process of developing HR strategies involves the following steps: Conduct a SWOT analysis of your organization. Determine the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats/risks that affect the business and organization, focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of the workforce. The current skills of the workforce should also be taken into consideration in order to identify where skills and/or education levels may be improved. After the SWOT analysis, take a look at the organisations overall performance against target(s) for the previous year(s) in order to find out what how well the organisation has done or what problems, issues and/or challenges were faced. Afterwards identify factors that could be responsible for any change that has taken place. Set quantitative targets by drawing up SMART objectives for the future. SMART objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Develop an action plan for implementing the HR strategy. Create a timeline for the successful completion of key objectives. As long as the strategy is detailed and also depending on how big the organisation is, options may be made available for heads of departments to choose how best to deal with issues at a departmental level. Introduce and communicate the action plan to your organisation as the overall success of the strategy lies in proper implementation. Organise meetings, discussion and training sessions for senior management to raise awareness and reinforce the importance of their acceptance of the HR strategy plan letting them know how they will benefit from the plan on a personal level. ASSESSMENT OF ROLES IN STRATEGIC HRM The role of human resource managers in strategic HRM is kind of bi-dimensional as they are responsible for the development of strategic solutions that promote departmental and organisational success, and also manage the functional aspects of human resources. Workplace Safety Creating a work environment free from unnecessary hazards is a strategic role of every human resources manager. Strategic development for workplace safety entails risk management and mitigating potential losses from on-the-job injuries and fatalities. Workers compensation insurance is an area in which a strategic plan helps lower company expense for insurance coverage. Reducing accidents through training employees on the proper use of complex machinery and equipment is one of the functional tasks associated with creating a safe work environment. Compensation and Benefits The compensation and benefits structure partly determines the companys business reputation and image. Decisions made by human resources managers pay scales and employee benefits can impact employee satisfaction, as well as the organisations ability to recruit talented workers. Job evaluation, labour market conditions, workforce shortages and budget constraints are factors that HR managers consider in a strategic plan for pay and benefits. Employee Training Human resources managers strategic role with respect to employee training and development prepares the workforce for future positions within the company. Succession planning, promotion-from-within policies and performance evaluation factor into the human resources managers role. Training and development motivate employees, and in some cases, improve employee retention. Recruitment and Selection Employee recruitment and selection is also a part of employee relations though it is a separate discipline itself. Therefore, a human resources managers strategic role is to combine elements of employee relations into the employers recruitment and selection strategy. Employee Relations The sustainance of an employee relations program is an important element of human resource strategy. It includes salaries, benefits, health and safety, training and employee development. The strategic role of a human resources manager in this regard is to determine how to identify and resolve workplace issues that may jeopardize productivity, performance and working relationships. They develop tools such as employee opinion surveys and action plans, monitor compliance with labour and employment laws, address employee concerns, and provide training and guidance to supervisors and managers. In conclusion, the development of effective human resource strategies is vital to the prolonged existence and success of a business. In time past, personnel management was concerned only with the processing of applications, payrolls and staff benefits but human resources strategy today involves executive leadership teams consulting with human resources experts to develop complementary goals for human resources and the overall business.

Physical Therapy :: Cheathouse Essays

Physical Therapy â€Å"Where am I? How did I get here?† is what many stroke patients say after recovering from an acute or severe stroke. A stroke is also known as a cerebrovascular accident, a life-threatening event where the brain is deprived of adequate oxygen. A physical therapist’s duty is to provide assistance and education that will help patients rehabilitate and return to a normal routine. As of today, there is a new treatment called treadmill training with partial body weight support that facilitates recovery of a patient’s ability to walk sooner after a surgery. Is the expense for treadmill training with partial body weight support which includes expensive equipment and constant physical therapy supervision worth it if it decrease the amount of time it takes a person to get better? Is it ultimately more efficient than traditional physical therapy? My argument will state that treadmill training with partial body weight support is worth the expense and provides better tec hniques than traditional physical therapy. After a stroke, patients are usually referred to physical therapy to begin the recovery process. There are many types of physiotherapy treatments for different types of strokes and injuries. The two kinds of strokes are ischemic stroke which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted by blood clots. The blood clots are caused when the arteries harden and a cluster forms which then limits blood and oxygen supply to the brain. The second kind of stroke is a hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when there is bleeding into or around the brain. If one of the two strokes were ever to occur, getting oxygen and blood to your brain immediately is very important because permanent tissue damage and death could even occur. Physical therapists help not only stroke patients but a large variety of people who have physical limitations. A new treatment approach that is being studied involves â€Å"treadmill training† with partial body weight support. In this approach a physical thera pist patterns the movement of the involved or weak leg while the patient is supported in a sling type apparel while walking on a treadmill. This is a new technique that is showing good results. However, there are no long term studies as of yet. I believe that treadmill training is very beneficial to stroke patients because it helps them regain speed and strength in a short amount of time. Treadmill training is very costly, but increases your chances in walking by about three to four weeks faster than regular physical therapy.

Use of Doubt To Persuade Essay -- Successful Persuasion Essays

Persuasion goes on around us everyday, all the time, on television, on advertisements, even in conversations with friends. Perhaps because of this, much has been written on how to persuade more effectively. Most of this literature is built upon the notion that to persuade is to urge successfully and completely. Going along these lines, certainty and confidence are logical complements to effective persuasion, since we cannot hope to convince others when we are ourselves in doubt. Doubt, therefore, is felt to be at the other end of the spectrum and antithetical to persuasion. But the art of persuasion is a human art, and so it is a living art, which cannot be satisfactorily summed up between the covers of self-improvement guides. In reality, successful persuasion can somewhat deviate from the conventional criteria of certainty; in fact, even doubt can be used to persuade. This exciting possibility appears unlikely from the start, because there is an inherent paradox in the notion that doubt can persuade. This contradiction is even clearer when we consider persuasion in the form of a speech given to a large audience. To be able to hold his own in front of a crowd, the speaker, surely, must be certain of himself and what he wants to say. But there is a possible approach by which orators can round the corner of persuading with doubt, and even make doubt work to their advantage. Given that the doubt is a shared concern of both the speaker and his audience, a candid confession of uncertainty may open new emotional inroads into the audience. By serving as a common denominator and a common challenge to both parties, a shared doubt when brought into the open can direct the combined energies of the listeners towards finding a workable so... ...nd genuine than an outward show of sorrow. In this case, to contrive is to constrict. Doubt as an instinct embedded in persuasion transcends common rhetoric as it moves beyond the rational sphere of intellect into the domain of unbridled emotions. For this reason, and also because it was with an intention to explore persuasion beyond conventional notions that we set out to study the use of doubt in the first place, it is impossible and indeed unnecessary to encapsulate the skill of persuading with doubt within any sort of generalising guidelines. To subject this practice to prescriptive limits is to sever its lifeline-the vital element of spontaneity that moves with circumstances. As Lee lamented, "sometimes, history takes many devious turns"; it was exactly through one such quirk of history that his speech in 1965 achieved such astonishing payoffs ("Press" 9).

Should the minimum age for alcohol consumption in India be reduced?

Dear Honorable Prime Minister Australia call it 18, Canada call it 18, Argentina call it 18. Why not India? I am writing to you to express the views of many Indian citizens under the age of twenty-five as the new law implemented by your government declares that the public consumption of alcohol by anyone under the age of twenty-five is illegal. If young adults in India at the age of eighteen are entrusted with the right to take a bullet for the country; the right to vote for whom they believe should be a potential leader of a billion people; the right to choose their life partners, why shouldn’t they be allowed to buy and consume alcohol in their social environment? Your government claims that the new legislation has been implemented because young adults are not responsible enough, and that keeping them away from alcohol at this tender age will help them lead a better life. In the eyes of your government young men aged 18 must be kept aloof from the temptation of alcohol. But should not the statesmen of our country remember that the forbidden fruit looked sweeter and more luscious to our mother Eve only because it was forbidden? Your government should take a precept from what happened in America in 1919 when the 18th amendment to the U.S. constitution implemented such a ban. Quoting S. B. Duke and A. C. Gross (1993), â€Å"if consumption of alcohol was reduced, it wasn’t by much; the costs of enforcement, in money, corruption, crime, disrespect for the law, alcohol and related poisonings far exceeded, by virtually anyone’s measurements, the tiny gains in alcohol control.†1 in my opinion such a measure is only going to boost the sales of alcohol. What happened in Gujarat is evident. The state with a prohibition saw an upsurge of alcoholism, and the climax came when hundreds of people died after consuming poisoned liquor in 2009. Thus prohibition does not serve anything. Old dogs can indeed learn new tricks. Law experts like advocate Swapnil Kothari said that the age restriction is â€Å"ludicrous, arbitrary and suffers from a vague interpretation of wisdom of youth†. 2 And so far being responsible is concerned I believe that responsibility comes with experience, realization, and social maturity, not just age. Legend has it that force hardly succeeds in giving desired results. It would be foolish to deny that India with its vast population of 1.15 billion, accounting for 17.31% of the world’s population, has, unfortunately, been witness to an increasing alcohol-related death rate per year. However, enacting a law where young people of age 18 can be imprisoned for ‘chugging’ a glass of beer, or ‘downing’ a shot of vodka in a pub is hypocritical because at the same age, here in India people are allowed to start their own enterprises, which include permission to open a club or bar, and work in them. If young adults, as bartenders are allowed to twirl vodka and whiskey bottles in fancy clubs, serve people alcohol all night, but not allowed to take a small sip of what they are serving, is that not hypocritical? If denied permission to drink in public, young adults under the age of twenty-five will not only perceive alcohol to be a â€Å"forbidden fruit†, but also be eager to bite into this â€Å"forbidden fruit†, as they want to see what has been kept away from them. This eagerness may lead young adults into committing serious criminal offences, they may buy fake licenses, or bribe bartenders as well as police! Do we really want the youth of India to indulge in such criminal acts, just for alcohol? A wide consideration should be given to the impact of this restriction on the 18 year olds when they start drinking stealthily to escape the consequences of being caught. Won’t this sneaking out be detrimental to their behavior and morale? In a country where so many rapists are not convicted; killers are not sentenced; jails are jam-packed and murderers are left scot- free, do you really think putting them into jail for such a relatively mediocre crime is an appropriate judgment? It is important for young adults to be familiar with their limitations but by rising the age limit so high does nothing but trigger the curiosity, inquisitiveness and craving for this â€Å"forbidden fruit†. We know young adults drink alcohol anyway, but what is your government doing to help them out? How are you controlling young adults from turning up highly intoxicated to parties? If your government fears excessive drinking at the age of 18, why is no support being provided? What your government can do is install CCTVs in liquor stores, and make harsher punishments for alcohol vendors for serving alcohol to young adults of age 18. According to your government an 18 year old can get married, in that case would the marriage get raided as the couple picks up a glass of champagne to celebrate? Why are 18 year olds barely allowed to their right to freedom of choice and responsibility of their own body and mind? When an 18-year-old woman has the right to marry and beget a child, what stops her from taking a sip of liquor to enjoy the first birthday of her child? Does not the age restriction look absurd in such a case? It is time the politicians understood that prohibition, unless backed by strong and relevant data, does not serve any end; sometimes the reverse may just occur. 1. http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/18th_amendment_final.html 2. articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com †º Collections †º Alcohol

How Humanitarian Logistics Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Supply Chains

Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics How Humanitarian Logistics Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Supply Chains: A View from the Field Michael Howden Humanitarian Consultant michael. [email  protected] com ABSTRACT Humanitarian logistics represents a broad range of activities taking place within humanitarian organizations, the bulk of these activities are also components of a broader humanitarian supply chain – the network involved with providing physical aid to beneficiaries.Humanitarian logistics information systems improve information flows, which integrates logistics units more efficiently with non-logistics units within the humanitarian supply chains and provides better feedback to donors, ensuring more effective operations. Humanitarian logistics activities occur across the disaster management cycle. Humanitarian logistics information systems not only improve logistics activities in each phase, but can improve the continuity of h umanitarian operations by sharing information throughout the transition of different disaster management cycle phases.Through collaboration between organizations, humanitarian logistics information systems also have the potential to reduce corruption and the market distortion which can occur during humanitarian operations. Keywords Humanitarian Operations, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Information Systems, Disasters, Disaster Management AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY Michael Howden completed a Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Auckland and originally worked as a software engineer in New Zealand.He has worked for International Rescue Committee in Indonesia, Pakistan and Uganda developing and implementing their global logistics database ProLogs and for Save the Children US in Indonesia, developing logistics software and systems which were components of a broader supply chain management system. INTRODUCTION Within humanitarian operations logistics is requ ired to procure, store and distribute supplies for the assistance of beneficiaries. In order to function effectively humanitarian logistics must coordinate with other actors and be considered throughout the lifespan of humanitarian operations.This paper will explore how humanitarian logistics information systems can: 1. Integrate logistics units into the broader humanitarian supply chain throughout the organization. 2. Enhance logistics activities and provide continuous support across the preparedness, response, transition, recovery and mitigation phases of disaster management cycle. 3. Create new possibilities for collaboration between humanitarian organizations. In these ways humanitarian logistics information systems can also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian operations.HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN THE HUMANIATARIAN SUPPLY CHAIN Humanitarian Logistics Humanitarian organizations can include government agencies such as United States Agency fo r International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), multilateral agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP), non-government organizations (NGOs) such as Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and members of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.Many humanitarian Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics organizations will engage in long term development activities as well as disaster management activities supporting people affected by disasters. This paper will only discuss humanitarian logistics as it is applied in disaster management. Humanitarian organizations usually include logistic units which can have different functions depending on the organizations or even the disaster and can include: Procurement †¢ Warehousing †¢ Fleet Management †¢ Transportation (of both supplies and people) †¢ Asset Management †¢ Building Management †¢ Security †¢ Information Technology (IT) †¢ Radio Communications Humanitarian operations consist of a diverse range of activities, therefore logistics in this context can have a broader scope than in the commercial sector. Areas such as security and IT may be considered under logistics due to respective military or technical experience of logisticians, either currently or historically within an organization.Humanitarian Supply Chains In this paper a humanitarian supply chain refers to the network created through the flow of supplies, services, finances and information between donors, beneficiaries, suppliers and different units of humanitarian organizations for the purpose of providing physical aid to beneficiaries (Mentzer et al. 2001). Humanitarian supply chains include functionalities whic h do not typically fall into the field of humanitarian logistics.Managing relationships with donors, performing needs assessments, planning for supplies required and monitoring and evaluating the impact of distributed supplies, are usually the responsibility of non-logistics program units. Figure 1 presents a summary of the major flows within both humanitarian supply chains and humanitarian logistics. Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics Figure 1.Humanitarian Logistics and Humanitarian Supply Chain Flows This paper will focus on the value of information systems for logistic units of NGOs within the humanitarian supply chain. Integrating Logistics into Supply Chain Management With the exception of organizations which specialize in disaster response or distribution, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and World Food Program (WFP) res pectively, the core business of humanitarian organizations tend towards health, education, protection and economic development.Logistics units are only considered as a function to support these activities of humanitarian organizations. Logistics units have traditionally been marginalized within organizations (Rickard, 2003) and logisticians have been â€Å"pigeonholed† in the field, making it hard to move into management positions (Chaikin, 2003). This has contributed to a silo mentality in regards to logistics within humanitarian organizations. Better integrating logistics with other units within the organization will form stronger humanitarian supply chains.In order to integrate logistics into broader humanitarian supply chains, a clear distinction is required between the two. In Indonesia, one major NGO moved all logistics functionality into a supply chain management unit. In the terms logistics and supply chain management are used interchangeably (Rickard, 2006) and perso nal discussions with humanitarian professional have revealed the there is not a clear distinction between the terms logistics and supply change management, and some have regarded any differences are semantics.In literature on humanitarian organizations there is a shift from logistics to supply chain management (Thomas and Kopczak, 2005) Humanitarian supply chains include units implementing programs, managing grants with donors, controlling budgets and monitoring activities which must coordinate with logistics units. Humanitarian supply chains cannot be built by solely increasing the capacity or responsibility of individual units, but are formed by Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. HowdenHow Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics the creation of stronger links between units within the supply chain. Humanitarian logistics information systems can improve the flow of information with other units, in a mutually constructive manner, improving the effectiveness of the humanitarian supply chain. Humanitarian logistics information systems can: †¢ Enhance needs assessments by ensuring that field staff know what supplies are available for beneficiaries, either in local warehouses, pre-positioned emergency stocks or from local and international markets. Share lists of supplies available in both local and international markets, including prices and lead times, logisticians to empower program staff to better plan their procurement activities. †¢ Keep program staff informed of procurement activities will help to develop an understanding of the constraints within logistics and create trust. †¢ Provide budget holder more accurate financial information regarding funds which are committed within the procurement process, to avoid the over or under spending of budgets. †¢Provide warehouse inventory reports to program staff to allow them to take more responsib ility for their supplies, and ensure that they are utilized effectively. †¢ Share information on the distribution of supplies to allow program staff to better monitor and evaluate activities and avoid the need for duplicate record keeping between logistics and programs. †¢ More accurately divide logistics overhead costs such as warehouse rental, transportation and logistic staff wages into program budgets according to the activities logistics is supporting.Information empowers program units to become more engaged consumers of logistic services. In this way information systems can integrate logistics into humanitarian supply chains and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian operations. The improved information flow from humanitarian logistics information systems will also contribute to the overall effectiveness of the humanitarian operation. The Value of Information in the Humanitarian Supply Chain Information plays a significant role in humanitarian suppl y chains.In humanitarian supply chains is that the end recipient of aid (the beneficiary) is decoupled from the commercial transaction and has no direct influence over what supplies they receive (Gray and Oloruntob, 2006). The key decision makers within the humanitarian supply chain are the donors who are funding the operation and many NGOs regard the donor as the customer in the humanitarian supply chain (Beamon and Balcik, 2006). In commercial supply chains, the end recipient decides what supplies they require, and fulfillment can be easily evaluated by monitoring the receipt of these supplies.In humanitarian operations as supplies are determined by external assessments of the needs of the beneficiary, evaluating fulfillment become more difficult, as additional analysis must be done to determine if these needs have been met by the supplies. Figure 2. Donors, Humanitarian Organizations and Beneficiaries within the Humanitarian Supply Chain Humanitarian logistics information systems can provide accurate and timely information on what supplies are required, what supplies have been delivered to beneficiaries and in which locations.With this information Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics evaluation units should be able to determine if those supplies have met the needs of the beneficiary. This feedback ensures that donors and humanitarian organizations are engaged and responsive to the beneficiaries, and supporting aid according to the beneficiaries needs.HUMANITARIAN LOGISITCS IN THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE Response, Transition, Recovery, Mitigation and Preparedness The operations of humanitarian organizations in disaster management can be separated into four major phases: response, recovery, mitigation and preparedness (Haddow and Bullock, 2004). During humanitarian operations there will be overlap between act ivities from different phases, and a separate transition phase can be considered between the response and recovery phase (Asian Development Bank, 2004).Humanitarian supply chains must provide supplies to beneficiaries in each of these phases (Kovacs and Spens, 2007) and these activities require logistic support (Perry, 2007), although the volume, variety of supplies and urgency will change according to the phase. Humanitarian logistics information systems improve the effectiveness of logistics units throughout the disaster management cycle and can provide continuity throughout the phases. Figure 3. Disaster Management Cycle (Haddow and Bullock, 2004). PreparednessThe preparedness phase involves building the capacity to respond to a disaster, such as working with communities to ensure they know evacuation options, pre-positioning emergency response supplies and building organizational capacity to respond to disasters. These activities are ongoing and are implemented prior to the onse t of a crisis. Pre-positioned emergency response supplies tend to be less varied, as they are specific life supporting items, such as food, medical supplies, water and sanitation equipment, shelter, household kits, etc.The necessities of life are less dependent on the social, cultural or economic context of the disaster, therefore it is easier to standardize the supplies required. Also, because it is not known if these supplies will be available in local markets, or if markets may be disrupted by the disasters, they will need to be procured internationally. Both Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Red Cross have standard catalogues of items for emergency response. These items can be procured internationally, with pre-existing arrangements with vendors, and are also pre-positioned in warehouses globally, ready to be deployed. Chomilier, Samii van Wassenhove, 2003; Coyne, 2006). Organizationally NGOs need to ensure that they not only have staff trained to respond to emergencies, but that they have the systems and process in place to support these staff. 80% of the disaster response phase consists of Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics logistics activities (Kovacs and Spens, 2007) therefore in the preparedness phase organizations should focus on building the capacity of logistics units. ResponseThe response phase occurs immediately after the disaster, and activities are focused primarily on saving lives and preventing further damage. Humanitarian operations are most reliant on logistics during the response phase as they distribute food, medical supplies and other necessities of life to affected populations, and lives will be dependent on the speed of logistics activities. The response phase may last from days to months, depending on the scale of the disaster. While the humanitarian logistics is most significant durin g the response phase, it is important to consider its role throughout the entire disaster management phase.Transition During the transition phase NGOs begin to look at providing ongoing assistance, such as temporary shelter and revitalizing basic social services (ref ADB). NGOs will also plan strategically to transition from implementing response activities to longer term recovery and mitigation programs. Logistics activities, such as identifying suppliers to in either local or international markets to provide supplies for longer term programs, ensure a smooth transition. Recovery The recovery phase involves aiding communities to return to their conditions prior to the disaster.These activities may include training people and distributing supplies for livelihood building, reconstructing houses, buildings and infrastructure and may be carried out over a period of months to years. Across both the recovery and following mitigation phases the supplies are no longer essential for the liv es of affected population and are therefore no longer required at such a high rate or with such short lead times. The activities across these phases are largely dependent on the social, cultural, economic and geographical conditions of the affected communities. These may vary hugely between different disasters.Humanitarian organizations supported fishermen affected by 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami by distributing new boats and fishing equipment whereas the needs of landlocked communities recovering from 2005 Kashmir Earthquake were quite different. Humanitarian organizations will also attempt to procure supplies locally in order to support local communities and avoid flooding local markets through the influx of external supplies. The recovery phase represents a significant proportion of the duration and funding of a humanitarian operation and may last from 5-10 years (ADB reference).In April 2005 the Government of Indonesia established a 5 year time frame for reconstruction after the In dian Ocean Tsunami, and activities are still ongoing at the start of 2009, indicating the long duration of the recovery phase. Recovery phase activities such as reconstruction and distributing supplies are essential for restoring the lives of affected people and require significant logistic support. Mitigation Mitigation involves increasing the resilience of communities to natural hazards to reduce the impact of disasters they cause. According to the specific vulnerability of the community these activities may include lanting mangroves to protect coastlines against cyclones, constructing dams and reinforcing buildings. Humanitarian organizations implementing these activities will require logistics support, although not typically at as large a scale as in the other phases. Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics Summary Phase Preparedness Response Transition Recovery Mitigation Period Long Term Continuous Days – Months Months – Years Long Term Continuous Logistics Volume Low High Medium Low SuppliesRequired Specific standard supplies prepositioned for disaster response Specific standard supplies: Food, medical supplies, water and sanitation equipment, shelter, household kits, etc. Varied supplies depending on the context of the disaster: reconstruction material, livelihoods equipment Varied supplies Urgency Low High: Lead times for supplies can make the difference between life and death. Medium: There may be government and donor pressure to complete recovery activities Low Procurement of Supplies Local International Local-International Local Table 1. Humanitarian Logistics Throughout the Disaster Management CycleHumanitarian organizations are required to provide physical aid to beneficiary throughout the disaster management cycle. Although these activities differ in volume, variety of supplies and urge ncy, there is enough commonality that standard processes and systems can be used by logistics units throughout the disaster management cycle. This avoids the overhead of developing multiple standards and implementing new systems when transitioning between phases. It is therefore important to consider humanitarian logistics as operating in each of the phases of the disaster management cycle. Humanitarian Logistics beyond the Response PhaseA large amount of literature on humanitarian logistics and supply chain management focuses on the response phase of a disaster and pre-positioning of supplies done in the preparedness phase (Beamon, 2004; Beamon and Balcik, 2008; Maspero and Ittman, 2008; Oloruntoba, 2007; Rodman, 2004; Thomas, 2003; Thomas et al, 2005). This could be influenced by a number of factors: †¢ This is the phase in which logistics plays the largest role in proportion to the humanitarian operation. †¢ The key focus of the response phase is the preservation of liv es therefore improved logistics can be directly linked to lives saved.During other phases of disaster management, the outputs become more varied, such as providing trainings to teachers and medical professionals. Therefore impacts, such as better education levels and healthcare in communities harder to measure. †¢ The disaster response is the phase that creates the most media coverage, therefore may be the phase which experts outside of the humanitarian domain get the most exposure to and are most familiar with. Media coverage could also create a perception of more status with disaster response. This paper has shown that the field of humanitarian logistics is more broadly focused than just disaster response.More focus needs to be placed on the role of humanitarian logistics in the transition, recovery and mitigation phases of disaster management. It could be argued that humanitarian organizations already have a higher capacity for disaster response than for disaster recovery. I n Indonesia the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) claimed that in the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: â€Å"No one died of starvation, there were no deaths due to a lack of medical care or disease, law and order was maintained and major infrastructure—including telecommunications and electricity—was restored within a few weeks time. In contrast during the recovery phase there have been delays, underperformance and corruption. Humanitarian logistics information systems can improve logistics activities in each of the phases of disaster management and also help to provide continuity to logistics operations throughout the disaster management cycle. Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian LogisticsHumanitarian Logistics Information Systems across the Disaster Management Cycle Humanitarian logistics information sys tems must be able to operate across the entire disaster management cycle. In order to be applicable for all phases, they must be scalable to manage the large volumes of supplies during the response phase, as well as the high diversity of supplies across the recovery and mitigation phases and manage the flow of information from the preparedness phase to the response phase, and during the transition phase.A single humanitarian logistics information system which integrates information from all phases within the disaster management cycle will assist an organization in the complex task of transitioning their activities between the different phases. Preparedness NGOs prepare for disasters by pre-positioning emergency response supplies. It is equally important to implement humanitarian logistics information systems which can be utilized by logisticians responding to disasters.Logisticians must be trained to use these information systems and simulations should be run in preparation for thei r use in disaster response. Humanitarian logistics information systems should also be used to record what emergency response supplies are available at the onset of the disaster. In response to Cyclone Nagris in Myanmar one major NGO was better able to more efficiently send air shipment of emergency prepositioned supplies by having maintained records of the their volume and weight.This allowed the logistician to arrange the optimal charter flights required to transport the supplies. Response Humanitarian logistics information systems can eliminate the need for duplicate data entry and offer more timely and accurate information during the response phase (Lee and Zbinden, 2003). This not only increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the disaster response, but also assists in later phases of the disaster management cycle. After the response to the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake one NGO had a number of emergency response supplies remaining.However, due to a lack of proper information syste ms, it was unknown which donor funded the items, and what the donor’s regulations were regarding their use. As a result, they were unable to be distributed in response to flooding in Pakistan the following year. Where warehouse inventory reports are not maintained, it is common for surplus stock from emergency response not to be utilized and to go to waste. Transition Once the response phase is complete, humanitarian logistics information systems will enable organizations to know what supplies have been distributed, and what supplies are remaining.This will allow them to utilize surplus supplies in recovery activities or return them to pre-positioned stock and know what supplies were required, to better plan for the next disaster response. The transition phase will also typically involve the replacement of short term emergency response teams with longer term staff. If information regarding what supplies are currently stored in warehouses is not recorded, it may be forgotten a s staff leave, and the supplies may remain unutilized.Humanitarian logistics information systems can ensure that new staff are aware of what supplies are currently available, so they are able to utilize them. Recovery The recovery phase takes place over a period of years, which offers enough time for conditions to stabilize, and also the availability of funding, for humanitarian organizations to plan strategically and develop information systems. During disaster response humanitarian logistics operate in a realm of uncertainties and rapidly changing conditions. This is not an appropriate environment to develop, test or implement new systems.There are already enough unknown variables present, without introducing new systems or software, which may contain bugs or functionality which needs refining. Implementing new systems requires the investment of time and resources, and doing this during a disaster response will detract from the primary goal of the humanitarian operation – s aving lives. Developing humanitarian logistics information systems during the recovery phase provides the opportunity to involve the staff of the organization, which is essential, as the solution will be more appropriate to their needs and they will have ownership over it.New systems can be implemented through trainings and simulations, however it is more effective as having systems which have implemented within the operations of the organization and socialized with staff in the field. In this respect the recovery phase can offer a suitable environment to develop and test new information systems for humanitarian logistics which can then be applied to disaster response activities. In 2007 one major NGO developed a warehouse database in Indonesia to support their recovery activities following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.In September 2007, they were able to deploy the same database in Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Land gren and S. Jul, eds. Howden How Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Logistics response to an earthquake in Indonesia. A staff member who was already using the database to manage supplies for the tsunami recovery effort was then easily able to use it to manage the distribution of emergency supplies in the area due to their familiarity with the system. MitigationAlthough logistics activities occur at a lower scale during the mitigation phase such as the procurement of supplies to reinforce buildings, it is important to ensure that humanitarian logistics information systems are still utilized by organizations, to ensure that they become standard practice with logistics units. This continuous use will institutionalize the systems within the organization and ensure the sustainability of their use across the disaster management cycle. HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS INFORMATION SYSTEMS BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONSHumanitarian supply chains could be viewed more widely to include the multiple org anizations providing physical aid to beneficiaries in the same region. Humanitarian logistics information systems have the potential to enable better information sharing between organizations which can enhance the overall humanitarian operation (King, 2005). One area which could be improved by information systems is local procurement. Procurement is vulnerable to corruption through collusion between organization staff and vendors and the payment of bribes to choose specific vendors.Analysis of procurement data is capable of revealing trends and irregularities, indicative of corruption, such as consistently purchasing from specific vendors or certain purchasers always receiving higher than average quotes. This analysis would be more effective using procurement data from different humanitarian organizations in the same region, as comparisons could be made between prices, to monitor if one organization is paying significant more for similar items, which could indicate corruption within that organization.Humanitarian organizations often rely on local markets to provide supplies, however the large amount of purchasing activity following a disaster can often lead to inflation over supply and stock-outs. Complex analysis of purchasing trends from multiple humanitarian organizations, and improved information sharing with local vendors, could mitigate this, by spreading requirements over multiple vendors and informing them of expected demand. This could also allow humanitarian organizations to sustainably support and stimulate local markets.Although there are many challenges in encouraging collaboration between humanitarian organizations, better humanitarian logistics information systems could facilitate collaboration by creating more incentives to do so. CONCLUSION Humanitarian logistics units are actors in a broader humanitarian supply chain and information systems can help to build logistics capacity of while also building better links with other units, better integ rating logistics in the humanitarian supply chain.Humanitarian logistics information systems can improve the effectiveness of humanitarian supply chains by providing timely and accurate information regarding what supplies are required and have been delivered, enabling donors to be more responsive to the needs of beneficiaries. Humanitarian logistics operates across the disaster management cycle. Humanitarian logistics information systems can improve logistics activities in each of the phases and also help to provide continuity to humanitarian operations throughout the entire cycle.Humanitarian logistics information systems could also provide opportunities for better corruption prevention and market control through collaboration between different humanitarian organizations. Humanitarian logistics information systems can strengthen logistics units and integrate them with other units and across to the disaster management cycle to create more efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian supply chains REFERENCES 1. Asian Development Bank (2004) Disaster and Emergency Assistance Policy, At: http://www. adb. rg/Documents/Policies/Disaster_Emergency/Disaster_Emergency. pdf, accessed 20 February 2009 2. Beamon, B. M. (2004), Humanitarian relief chains: issues and challenges, Proceedings of the 34th International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering, San Francisco, CA. 3. 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