Thursday, October 31, 2019

Analytical report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Analytical report - Essay Example Through Total Quality Management, employee teams are empowered and trained in such away to make sound decisions that can aid the organization in achieving high quality standards in their services and products. This technique also encourages a shift of responsibilities of controlling quality of services and products to all the employees from the specialized departments. Hence, Total Quality Management is a shift from the organizational bureaucratic approach to a decentralized approach to quality control. This paper therefore seeks to evaluate Total Quality Management in action and outline how Spencer Company has introduced and developed a holistic system of Total Quality Management. The paper will also document the origin and development of Total Quality Management. It will also show how Spencer Company uses techniques of Total Quality Management in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their business outcome. Finally, the paper will discuss various principles and approaches o f implementing Total Quality Management system and improving customer care implementation as well as the contribution they make in accomplishing the company goals and objectives (Bemowski, 2007). As a large scale company, Spencer improves customer care implementation through implementing the principles of Total Quality Management as follows: the company produces quality products and services the first time they are produced or offered; Spencer puts much emphasis and focus on the customer; the company encourages teamwork and mutual respect among its employees and customers; it continually improves the quality of its products and services; and the company has a strategic approach and mechanism of quality improvement. Spencer Company uses Total Quality Management in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their business outcome, this is done through ensuring that Total Quality Management is supported at all the

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 - Term Paper Example The tax reform act brought out two key ideas, which seemed as the motivation for the tax reform. The major idea in the tax reform act was fairness in the level of distribution of the tax burden or the overall level. The congress had considered pubic concerns of the high-income individuals who evaded tax payment and the large corporation that combine high book profits with little or no tax liability (Graetz 622). The act lowered income tax rates for both corporations and individuals. The changes in the tax reform act include changes in the time of settling of tax payments. The tax reform does not monitor some of the behavioural responses that change the tax system. This does question the tax reform of its revenue-neutral theme. The tax reform act did upset many established interests and practices, many lobbyists and constituents seeking to block the amending of the act gathered and organized grassroots’ campaigns to lobby against the tax reform act. The opposition of the act was also seen from the divided party control of the executive and the legislative branches. The tax reform act of the 1986 receives the praises of being the best example of a bipartisan tax reform in the American history. The act broadened the bases of both corporate and individual income taxes by getting rid of the various means of tax preferences. The top individual rate was reduced from 50 percent to 28 percent, and the top corporate tax rate decline was reduced from 48 percent to 34 percent. Prior to the passing of the tax reform act there existed a widespread disgust in the income tax system: there existed a prevalence of tax shelters this enabled the wealthy tax payers to escape much of their tax liability. The high tax rates also hampered the economic growth because it discouraged labour supply saving and investment. The tax code was complex this resulted in high compliance,

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Organizational Culture and Climate

Organizational Culture and Climate CHAPTER II CONCEPT OF THE ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ,CULTURE AND CLIMATE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ORGANISATION Organizations combine science and people- technology and humanity. Not only technology is difficult to cope by itself, but also adding people to it becomes an immensely complex social system. Within an organization itself, the social system is all the people in it as they relate to each other and to the world outside. The people and the organizations might have some conflict but they live in some degree of mutual interest and harmony. There is a mutual social transaction in which each benefits the other. Individuals use organizations as instruments to achieve their goals just as much organizations use people to reach objectives. There is no idealistic solution to organizational problems; all that can be done is to enhance our understanding and skills so that human relationships at work can be upgraded. Organisations are a universal and pervasive phenomenon manifest in all aspects of human life in different forms. A common thread that runs through all organisations is that they are aggregates of people, and that they have a common purpose. The examination of some definitions will help in appreciating the various facets of organisations. Concept of Organization There are hundreds of definitions of the concept of organization in the management, psychological, and social and sociological literatures and these definitions are being constantly updated and revised. Some of the definitions of organization are as follows: (a) â€Å"Organization is a social group in which the members are differentiated as to their responsibilities for their task of achieving a common goal† (Stogdill 1950). (b) â€Å" Organization is a short hand expression for the integrated aggregation of those persons who are primarily involved in the managing risk and uncertainty- bearing, planning and innovation, co-ordination, administration and control, and routine supervision of an enterprise† ( Harbinson 1959). (c) An organisation is a rational coordination of a number of people for the achievement of some common explicit purpose or goal through a division of labour and function through a hierarchy of authority and responsibility[i] (d) Organisations are human groupings deliberately constructed and reconstructed to meet specific goals[ii] (e) Organisations are physical arrangement of people in various roles for meeting organisational objective.[iii] Common element that runs through these definitions include the fact that organizations involve : (a) Identifiable aggregation of human beings or Individuals banding together to form a group. (b) An organizational goal or the pursuit of a common goal or goals. (c) Coordination of activities with a belief that the group can achieve what an individual cannot. (d) More or less clearly defined responsibilities for its members. (e) Structure or system for coordination. A current concept which leads to better understanding of organisations is to view them as ‘systems existing in the environment. The systems are separate from the environment but their boundaries are permeable, permitting the influence of the environment to act on the system and also enable the outputs of the system to flow into the environment. Every system is composed of a number of sub-systems which interact with and influence each other and also with the larger system, which is their environment. In the services for example, the army is a system with commands as sub-systems. Each of the commands has its own sub-systems such as corps and divisions, forming a hierarchy of systems. Another way of looking at the sub-systems is to classify them by distinct aspects of the functions in organizations for example, human, economic, technical, and so on. Organisations vary in their sensitiveness to the environment. This depends on how open or closed they are to the external influences which impinge on them from the environment However, organisations are neither fully closed nor fully open and the degree of closure/openness determines their characteristics, as described below :- (a) Closed System Organisation[iv]. These are not affected by environmental influences and are designed for the pursuit of clearly specified goals. Organisational arrangements and decisions are geared to goal achievement and are directed towards making the organisation more and more rational and mechanical in the pursuit of its goals. They are characterised by rigid rules, procedures, hierarchical structures and tasks. Such systems are very stable and usually efficient. But, as they are closed from the environment, they have little adaptability and flexibility. Bureaucratic systems are typical closed systems. (b) Open System Organisations. These are systems that consider the environment as a reality. The goals of such organisations emerge as adaptive responses from the influences of the environment. They are not rigid and do not have a strong hierarchical structure. The various parts or sub-systems of the organisation are interdependent; changes in one causing important influences on the other. Such systems are highly adaptive and flexible but are usually low in efficiency. Research and development organisations are usually typical open establishments. Concept of Organizational Behavior Organisational Behavior can be defined as the understanding, prediction and management of human behavior in the organizations.[v] The human behavior in the oraganisation is determined partly by the requirements of the formal organization and partly by the personal system of the individuals forming the organization. The organizational Behavior can also be defined as the field of study that investigates the impact the individuals , groups and the structure have on the behavior in the organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organisations effectiveness. The relationship between the individuals , organization and the working environment is shown below :- Organisational Participants Organisational Behavior Organisational Environment The key elements in organizational behavior are people, structure, technology, and the environment in which the organization operates. When people join together in an organization to accomplish an objective, some kind of structure is required. People also use technology to help get the job done, so there is an interaction of people, structure, and technology. In addition, these elements are influenced by the external environment and they influence it. (a) People. People make up the internal social system of the organization. They consist of individual groups, large groups as well as small ones. They may be unofficial, informal groups or official, formal ones. Groups are dynamic. They form, change, and disband. The Human organizations today are not the same as it was yesterday, or the day before. People are living, thinking, feeling beings that created the organization to achieve their objectives. (b) Structure. Structure defines the official relationships of people in the organizations. Different jobs are required to accomplish all of an organizations activities. The people who perform these jobs have to be related in some structural way so that their work can be effective. These relationships create complex problems of cooperation, negotiations, and decision making. (c) Technology. Technology provides the resources with which people work and it affects the task that they perform. The great benefit of technology is that it allows people to do more and better work, but it also restricts people in various ways. (d) Environment. All organizations operate within an external environment. A single operation does not exist alone. It is part of a larger system that contains many other elements. The environment in which an organization operates influences the attitude of people, affects working conditions, and provides competition for resources and power. Concepts Dealing With an Individual.[vi] There are four concepts dealing with the nature of an individual in the Organizational Behavior :- (a) Individual Differences. Every individual has a different gift of nature, different quantity of intelligence and different way of behavior. When it comes to human behavior there cannot be a prescriptive solution. This concept tells a manager that every person should be treated as an entity and should not be stereotyped just because he belongs to a group. (b) Whole Person. When it comes to analyzing the behavioural problems the manger should take into account all the roles an individual is playing in the organization. (c) Motivation. The manager by his own behavior can influence an employee and can cause him to behave in a particular way. (d) Human Dignity. This concept is more on an ethical philosophy. Every person in an organization wants to be treated with respect and is engaged in the same pursuit. Models of Organisational Behavior[vii]. There are four recognizable models of the organizational behavior. These are tabulated as below :- Autocratic Custodial Supportive Collegial Model Depends Upon Power Economic resources Leadership Partnership Managerial Orientation Authority Money Support Teamwork Employee Orientation Obedience Security Job Performance Responsibility Employee Psychological Result Dependence on Boss Dependence on organisation participation Self discipline Employee Needs Met Subsistence Maintenance Higher order Self actualisation Performance Result minimum Passive cooperation Awakened drives Moderate enthusiasm, Autocratic model was in existence at the time of industrial revolution . subsequently the thinking shifted to the custodial model which consisted of giving some sops, concessions and privileges to the employee to keep them happy. In both the autocratic and the custodial models the managers did not bother creating a conducive atmosphere for the employees. The supportive model emerged as a sequel to the human relations era. This model assumes that the employees have some skill and will contribute to the organization. Thus the manager is not the boss of the team but a leader of the team of employees entrusted under him to perform a particular job. Leader is responsible for creating an environment to utilize the skills and wills of the employees to contribute to the organizational effort. The collegial model is more applicable to the to scientific and professional employees where the role of the manager is changed to a partner in pursuit of the same objective as the employee. Concept of Organizational Culture Organisatinal culture is a pattern of beliefs and expectations shared by the members of the organization. These beliefs and expectations produce norms that powerfully shape the behavior of individuals and groups in the organization. The organizational culture includes[viii] :- (a) Routine behavior when people interact. (b) The norms that are shared by everyone in an organization. (c) The dominant values held by the organization. (d) The philosophy that guides the organizations policies. (e) Climate in an organization. (f) Rules in an organization. Organizational Culture has the potential to enhance the organizational effectiveness , individual satisfaction and the sense of belonging to the organization. However if the organization culture gets out of step with the changing expectation of the stakeholders, the organizations effectiveness can be hindered. A strong culture facilitates goal alignment. As all employees have same basic values, therefore they agree on not only the goals but also the methods of achieving them too. Thus the energies of the employees is channeled in the same direction and the organization performance is better. A strong culture leads to high levels of employee motivation because a strong culture automatically attracts the people towards the organization. A strong culture also enables an organization to learn from its past. The strong culture reinforces the consensus on the interpretation of issues and events based on the past experiences, provides precedents from the organizations history which help in deciding course of action to meet the new challenges. Organisational culture exists on different levels that differ in terms of visibility and the resistance to change[ix]. The least visible or the deepest level is the basic shared assumptions which represent the beliefs about the organisation that needs to be run. The next level of culture is the cultural values which represent the collective beliefs, assumptions and feelings about what things are good , normal , rational , valuable and so on. These values tend to persist over time when the organisational membership changes. The next level is that of the shared behaviors , including norms which are more visible and somewhat easier to change than the values. The most superficial level of oragnisational culture consists of the symbols. Culture symbols are the words , gestures and pictures or other physical objects that carry particular meaning to the culture. Concept of Organizational Climate The concept of organisational climate is derived from the atmospheric climate. Just as two places can be differentiated with reference to elements of atmospheric climate like temperature, humidity, etc, organisations also can be differentiated on the basis of organisation climate prevailing in them. There is evidence to show that there is a very close relationship between organizational climate, job satisfaction, performance of individuals and ultimately organisational effectiveness. Organisation Climate[x] is a set of distinctive features that distinguish one organisation from another and influence the behavior of people. It may also be defined as behaviour, shared beliefs, and values that members have in organisation. It often sets the tone for the organisation and establishes implied rules for the way people should behave. In every organisation, there exist certain elements which exert profound influence on the existing climate. These are :- (a) Organisational Context . The foremost factor is command/ management philosophy. Reactions of the members of the organisation on the degree to which they accept this philosophy is crucial to a good organisational climate. The climate would be highly favourable, when existing command styles/management techniques are such that members goals match those of the organization. (b) Structure. Nature of relationships, de-alienation of the hierarchy, centralised/decentralised decision making etc affect the climate of an organisation. (c) Process. Some of the vital processes in an oraganisation are communication, decision making and leadership. In all these processes the interface between the superior and the subordinate are visible and cannot be ignored. (c) Physical Environment. The external factors like safety, comfort and decor effect the organisational climate of an organisation. (d) System Value and Norms. Every organisation has discernable and fairly evident formal value system. The formal value system is communicated to the members through rules, regulations and policies. The informal organisations within also exert influence on values and consequently on climate. Role of the Commander. [xi] The most important, is the factor of leadership, especially so in the context of the defence services. Leaders especially the top leadership create the culture for the organisations. In the defence services, since all personnel are subject to the same rules, regulations ,. the commander is the greatest influence factor. He is responsible for creating, developing and sustaining a healthy organisational climate, in keeping with the stage of growth of his unit or formation. By his leadership example and decision making style, a commander can create a healthy organisation climate for his subordinates to function and develop. [i] College of Defence Management Handbook Organisational Effectiveness. CDM Press, 1997,p.9. [ii] Ibid. [iii] Ibid. [iv] Ibid .pp 11-13. [v] Fred Luthans. Organizational Behavior. Irwin-McGraw Hill, 1998,p.16. [vi] A R Sapre. Organisational Behavior. Pune: Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning,2004,pp 16-17. [vii] Ibid. pp 18-19. [viii] Luthans. Op cit. pp 550. [ix] Sapre. Op cit . pp 204. [x] College of Defence Management Handbook. Op cit. pp 35-38. [xi] Ibid . pp 36-39.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Ethos of John Lennon Essay -- Religion, Pilgrimage

The features and boundaries of pilgrimage have been debated by scholars (Badone and Roseman 2004a, Cohen 1992, Eade and Sallnow 1991, Morinis 1992, Reader and Walter 1993; Timothy and Olson 2006). Although this paper cannot evaluate Strawberry Fields as a place of pilgrimage in the absence of fieldwork, Kruse (2003) suggested the possibility. In light of this possibility, and the centrality of the ethos of peace activism to Lennon memorials, the definition of pilgrimage formulated by Alan Morinis (1992, 4), may be appropriate: â€Å"the pilgrimage is a journey undertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody a valued ideal.† This definition of pilgrimage is suitable for understanding the motivation of participants to attend memorial events because, as demonstrated in this paper, many participants come to celebrate Lennon in the context of his peace activism. Further, the attributes of pilgrimage proposed by Ian Reader (1993, 7-8) provide an account of the varying motives of participants who attend the Lennon memorial: â€Å"the idea of a journey out of the normal parameters of life, the entry into a different, other, world, the search for something new, the multiple motives of participants, ranging from homage to veneration to the simple impulses of curiosity.† These definitions encompass the differing motives of individuals visiting Strawberry Fields. For some, the memorial would be a sacred space, a location where fans have the opportunity to mourn Lennon's death, offer tributes and be in the presence of his spirit: â€Å"You come here, you feel his spirit. His spirit is so alive in here,† a fan comments. Other participants may come to the memorial as one part of their visit to New York City. Badone... ...his paper and in Riddell (2008), on pilgrimage to the gravesite of Jim Morrison, I learned that people apply religious categories to â€Å"secular† phenomena, such as memorial objects, strange occurrences become supernatural phenomena, and a musician, such as Morrison, can become a â€Å"religious figure.† Erika Doss (1999, 74-75) believes that â€Å"as a profoundly religious people, Americans tend to treat things on religious terms, apply religious categories, and generally make a religion out of much of what is touched and understood.† The practice of â€Å"parrallelomaina,† as Sean McCloud (2005) characterizes it, that is, understanding religion in popular culture by analogy, may or may not be helpful. What is significant, for future study, I suggest, is the process by which dead celebrity fandom is sacralized and the ability of an ethos to be the foundation of such a community. The Ethos of John Lennon Essay -- Religion, Pilgrimage The features and boundaries of pilgrimage have been debated by scholars (Badone and Roseman 2004a, Cohen 1992, Eade and Sallnow 1991, Morinis 1992, Reader and Walter 1993; Timothy and Olson 2006). Although this paper cannot evaluate Strawberry Fields as a place of pilgrimage in the absence of fieldwork, Kruse (2003) suggested the possibility. In light of this possibility, and the centrality of the ethos of peace activism to Lennon memorials, the definition of pilgrimage formulated by Alan Morinis (1992, 4), may be appropriate: â€Å"the pilgrimage is a journey undertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody a valued ideal.† This definition of pilgrimage is suitable for understanding the motivation of participants to attend memorial events because, as demonstrated in this paper, many participants come to celebrate Lennon in the context of his peace activism. Further, the attributes of pilgrimage proposed by Ian Reader (1993, 7-8) provide an account of the varying motives of participants who attend the Lennon memorial: â€Å"the idea of a journey out of the normal parameters of life, the entry into a different, other, world, the search for something new, the multiple motives of participants, ranging from homage to veneration to the simple impulses of curiosity.† These definitions encompass the differing motives of individuals visiting Strawberry Fields. For some, the memorial would be a sacred space, a location where fans have the opportunity to mourn Lennon's death, offer tributes and be in the presence of his spirit: â€Å"You come here, you feel his spirit. His spirit is so alive in here,† a fan comments. Other participants may come to the memorial as one part of their visit to New York City. Badone... ...his paper and in Riddell (2008), on pilgrimage to the gravesite of Jim Morrison, I learned that people apply religious categories to â€Å"secular† phenomena, such as memorial objects, strange occurrences become supernatural phenomena, and a musician, such as Morrison, can become a â€Å"religious figure.† Erika Doss (1999, 74-75) believes that â€Å"as a profoundly religious people, Americans tend to treat things on religious terms, apply religious categories, and generally make a religion out of much of what is touched and understood.† The practice of â€Å"parrallelomaina,† as Sean McCloud (2005) characterizes it, that is, understanding religion in popular culture by analogy, may or may not be helpful. What is significant, for future study, I suggest, is the process by which dead celebrity fandom is sacralized and the ability of an ethos to be the foundation of such a community.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Discuss Moral Values

Societies have ideally tried to uphold higher ethical standards and moral values as the code of conduct for all members. Individuals try to behave according to such standards but in reality what is construed as moral or immoral are generally relative to the values adhered to by the individual (Fisher, 2005). If the person values money and wealth, then being unscrupulous in doing business to gain more profits will not be immoral. On the other hand if the individual values justice and fairness, then his/her behavior would naturally be in accordance with such values ands is expected to be morally upright.In the corporate world there is more room for less moral restraints and unethical behavior. Corporations promote competitiveness and reward those who are able to close the biggest deal or to get the largest customer or the greatest profit which means that individuals will likely pursue these goals without any qualms of whether it is moral or not. For example, the corporate scandals in t he stock exchange was said to have been done to drive the stock price upwards falsely even if it meant cheating the shareholders of their money.It is immoral to cheat or to take advantage of other people but for those in the corporate world, it is the usual way of doing business. Some corporations are so competitive that even employees themselves try to outsmart each other and get on top, even if it meant backstabbing, falsely accusing others or even claiming credit for other people’s work. However, not all companies are run this way, some try to be just and honest, but if the organization does not promote a culture of positive moral values then their employees would really not be required to behave as such.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Four Types of Organisational Structure Essay

Organising is therefore the method by which an organisation is formally controlled into divisions or operational units and the structure of the firm is established. The end product of management process is organisational structure. Organisational structure binds the all level of management personals together and brings them into proper development and co-ordination of organisation. It is tasks arrangement which is break up into a few divisions or departments and grouping it together under the management hierarchy to achieve the organisation objectives. Under the organisation structure, one single path will create to attach the tasks, work flow and communication channels between the personals and the various divisional peoples of organisation. Organisation structures smooth the progress of efficient management, direction and control. Every administration has to set up its own organisation structure for well-organized perform of business actions. An organisation structure usually represent in graphical form which is called an organisation chart. Usually, the chart illustrated in the form of vertical, horizontal or concentric to define the authority and responsibilities of personals in various levels. The chart always created according to the existing departmentalisation of organisation. In departmentalisation, each personal from different job segments will work to achieve an aim of pre-determined organisational objectives. The departmentalisation is based on five structures, which is functions, products, consumers, geographical and matrix. In these papers, we will go through the justification of four structure which is function, product, geographical and matrix with sample organisational chart on each structure. Â  Sample Organisation Chart of Functional Structure. Source: SIA Cargo Pte Ltd Functional organisation structure is the most common and logical type of business unit that adhere by companies. In this structure, people are group together based on common skills and work activities. It focuses on single service and doesn’t need frequent changes in organisational hierarchy. Base on above organisational chart, we can notify that the total organisation system is coordinating by top management. For a proficient management function, the organisation breaks up into a few departments such as marketing, engineering, technology, operational and etc. Each departments lead by a senior manager or vice president who are reporting to a single authority, top management. As the simplest approach, a functional structure sort well-defined channels of communication and influence relationship. Each department’s staff needs to report to their only functional unit’s manager and by doing this, the various business unit’s prevent any kind of misunderstanding or conflicts among them. The chart hierarchy is simplified, well-organised and the separation of tasks also well defined with layer by layer. The fewer layer of management will ease the expectation of top management and also improve the task co-ordination. Decision making process is swift and authorities in functional structure. Because of the staffs in functional structure come from similar background and perspectives, so it wills faster the process of the decision-making without waste of time. Since the every business units in structure workout in similar background, it might cluster the processing of the papers together and highly improving the knowledge sharing between co-workers. Sharing knowledge make the organisation more productive and competitive where the experience personals such as managers often coaching and mentoring the less experience personals of each units through seminar or workshop. Functional structures produce clear career hierarchy organisation members to go after. Managers within a functional structure are generally skilled within their particular unit. They were hiring to lead the units due to their tremendous performance. These managers have a better-quality skill level that facilitate make their profession easier and makes them better capable of to monitor the individual act of their team members to allocate credit, rewards and penalty accordingly. A functional structure may draw some setbacks to organisation. It controls people and assets and build up core competences. As a company develop and becomes more difficult, each function tries to retain the company’s situation. Increased order may strain manufacturing to manufacture products quick enough or in sufficient capacity may lead to control problems. When control problems arise, it also strains the situation in evaluating the cost and contribution of each function. Other drawback is communication problem. Poor communication occurs within the organisation due to subunit orientation. The top management find it hard when balancing the process of decision making between centralise function and regional managers. The top managers might disrupted by solving a daily problems and may loss focus on long term strategic issues, resulting in long term strategic direction. Â  Sample Organisation Chart of Geographical Structure. Source: SIA Cargo Pte Ltd Geographical organisation structure is usually used by big firms whose operations are spread out over a large geographical area, for instance, multinational companies which market their service worldwide. Hotel, retail, food and transportation are among the industries which is widely using the geographical structure in their management. The whole organisation will lead by a president and one person will be responsible for an each particular region. According to above SIA Cargo chart, business units were set up at six different geographic locations and each regional branch head by Regional Vice President. The branch Vice Presidents will report to Senior Vice President. The expansion of business units can be local, national or international. In geographical structure, the organisation stick on company strategies and values although operates individually. It operates as its own unit based on where it located. In this structure, each personnel from various departments have prospect to work together. Working as a group will form a strong teamwork effort and keep them in the process of planning and decision making. Beside this, everyone in the departments will have an ability to recognize the personalities and values of each individual. Close working proximity lead to decentralise the process of decision-making and make organisation to settle in rapid changes in divisional goals. In each region, a local or personnel who familiar with local business environment and culture will be employ to head the business units. It ensures that the company well understand the customer expectation and needs. Base on local knowledge, the departments heads able to create a high coordination and effective process of decision making across the functional units. The regional heads ensures the company strategies adaptable to local culture and suit to fast change in unstable environment. In divisional structure, usually the departments act as a group. It allows the responsible personnel to put on better focus in their resources and results. It also makes the performance easier to monitor the customer service quality. A personal that understand and speak the local language, will satisfy the customer expectation because the contact points are clearly explain. Customer service personnel will also have better access to personnel from other units, which can allocate them to handle the customer matters much more efficiently. With geographical structure, following the routine of individual markets and task groups is cut down, as metrics such as revenues, profit margins, costs, and routine enhancement can be attached to particular regions. It is a most important strategic advantage of this structure. Many problems might incur for the companies whom use geographical based structure. Some companies may find it complicated to run a geographic organizational structure because it duplication of works and disagreement to centralized decision-making. The top management must rely on other regional heads to take counteractive actions and look up operations rather than giving a command from the company’s main office or headquarters. It may lead the company top management loss the authority in controlling the divisional units. Another limitation is expansion of knowledge. Usually, the structure does not maintain the knowledge sharing between people working in the same line of work because part of them is working in one division and the others are working in other divisions. Sample Organisation Chart of Product Structure. Source: Arla Foods Ingredients Above chart is an Arla Food Ingredients organisation chart. The chart is a product based organisation structure. Product-based structure means the regrouping of a functional structure and uses to organise employees and work on the basis of different type of products. This type structure brings together all those involved in the production skills, technical skills and marketing skills of a particular product or set of related products. Each division in structure has its own internal departments and function as self business unit. Companies that manufacture a wide variety of products such as cars and foods would find this type of structure appropriate to their organisation. Many companies tend to shift to product based structure as they expand, and as new products range are developed and new markets entered. Product based companies have no direct contact with their customers. Initially, they need to assess the market segments and develop the product from their assessment. Follow that, they must determine the price of products in line with the customer’s expectation and produce the products to sell in the market. Product based structure is also have a similar function as geographical structure. In Arla Food Ingredients, both product structure and geographical structure group together in the organisation. It will add much better clear focus on market segments and help to meets the customer’s expectation. Each division of products will be operates base on individual performance. It keeps up the positive competition between the divisions and allows the directors or managers to have better be in command of each division can act as separate profit centre. In this structure, division members are more likely to be persistent on products. It deals with the technological transform by grouping personnel with skill and their specialised equipment in one business unit. So, the division heads have a lot of control over operations and will not necessary to depend on another, separate area to get things done. The department managers will keep an eye on design and manufacturing activities, and employees become reliable to product not to function. It also allows the managers and employees to improve and expand their skills and knowledge in the organisation. The customisation of more products into division will lead to save time and cost. Decentralisation of process of decision making will facilitate rapid decision making results with effectively. It will reduce the risk of product failure and also bring on improvement in employee morale due to divisional decision making. Instead of better operational controls, the organisation can avoid the poor communication within the personnel’s which is bring to slow development of products. By the way, there is some limitation might happen when use the product base structure. An example, each product division has R;D department. When product expansion incur, number of personnel in R;D will increase. This increment will happen to each product divisions. So, it will lead to duplication of works and increase the costs of staffs. Since the divisions separately monitor, the difficulty might happen to top management to coordinating them together.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The History of Medicine and Major Medical Inventions

The History of Medicine and Major Medical Inventions By defintion, medicine is the science of diagnosing, treating, or preventing disease and damage to the body or mind. A medical invention would be any instrument, machine, implant, or similar article that is useful in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease, for example: the thermometer, artificial heart, or a home pregnancy test. A Ambulance, Antibody Labeling Agent, Antiseptics, Apgar Score, Artificial Heart, Aspirin B Band-Aids, Blood Bank C Cardiac Related, Cataract Laserphaco Probe, Catheter, Catscan, Cloning, Contact Lenses, Cortisone, CPR D Dentistry, Diabetes Related, Dialysis Machine, Disposable Diapers E,F,G EKG Electrocardiography, Fetal Monitor, Genetics, Glasses (Eye) H Heart Lung Machine, Hepatitis Vaccine, HIV Protease Inhibitors I,K,L Insulin Process, Laser Eye Surgery, Liposuction M Microbiology Related, Microscope, MRI N,O Nystatin, Oral Contraceptives P,Q,R Pap Smear, Pasteurization, Penicillin, Pentothal, Polio Vaccine, Prosthetic, Prozac, Respirator S On June 5, 1984, the Safety Cap for Medicine Bottle (Child-Proof) was patented by Ronald Kay, Safety Pin, Smart Pill, Stethoscope, Syringe T Tagamet, Tampons, Tetracycline, Thermometer U,V, Ultrasound, Vaccination Needle, Viagra, Vitamin Production W,X,Y,Z Wheelchairs, X-Ray History of Medicine The History of MedicineA timeline of medical discoveries, inventions, advances, and events from prehistoric times to the present.History of MedicineA museum dedicated to collecting 20th century medical research instruments and computers at the National Institutes of Health.Ancient Medicine: From Homer to VesaliusAn on-line exhibition prepared in conjunction with the Colloquium Antiqua Medicina: Aspects in Ancient MedicineAndreas Vesalius De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543Modern medicine began in 1543 with the publication of the first complete textbook of human anatomy, De Humanis Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564).

Monday, October 21, 2019

5 Types of Phrasal Adjectives That Require Hyphens

5 Types of Phrasal Adjectives That Require Hyphens 5 Types of Phrasal Adjectives That Require Hyphens 5 Types of Phrasal Adjectives That Require Hyphens By Mark Nichol Hyphens, for the most part, have been relieved of their duty to connect prefixes to root words (though many people persist in unnecessarily hyphenating such terms as nonprofit). The primary function of the hyphen now is to indicate the interdependence of words that modify a noun, and many writers remain confused about or ignorant of their application in phrasal adjectives. The following sentences illustrate the types of errors that often occur. 1. That’s a totally played out joke we’ve seen a million times before. Unless two or more words that modify a noun constitute a standing phrase (such as â€Å"real estate† in â€Å"My sister is a real estate agent†), those words should be linked with one or more hyphens: â€Å"That’s a totally played-out joke we’ve seen a million times before.† (This strategy eliminates the possibility that readers will be confused about the meaning of the sentence, asking themselves, â€Å"How is an out joke played?†) 2. Police are seeking stun-gun wielding bandits who robbed beer from a convenience store. When one of the elements of a phrasal adjective itself is an open compound, as in â€Å"stun gun† here, writers sometimes correctly link the words in that compound but neglect to include one between that noun turned adjective and the adjective itself, an omission rectified here: â€Å"Police are seeking stun-gun-wielding bandits who robbed beer from a convenience store.† (Again, this form clarifies that the last two words in the phrase â€Å"stun-gun-wielding bandits† do not constitute a noun phrase; the sentence is not about the stun-gun subtype of a criminal called a wielding bandit.) 3. During this time, he started developing his man of action persona. Phrasal adjectives of the noun-preposition-noun form follow the same rule: â€Å"During this time, he started developing his man-of-action persona.† (This style compartmentalizes â€Å"man of action† into a single idea to aid in quick comprehension.) 4. He was signed to a $10 million a year contract. When a reference to a large amount of money modifies a noun, the number and the order of magnitude are not hyphenated (â€Å"$10 million contract†). However, the value â€Å"$10 million† is part of a phrasal adjective here, so it and the other two elements (a and year) must be linked: â€Å"He was signed to a $10 million-a-year contract.† 5. His resurrection came with unintended consequences, as is always the case in this sort of it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature morality tale. When an extended phrasal adjective that consists of a stock statement, as above, is not formatted as a modifying phrase, it cannot easily be identified as such until the reader reaches the end of the sentence, creating a significant obstacle to narrative flow. So that the sentence need not be reread for comprehension, unify the entire phrase: â€Å"His resurrection came with unintended consequences, as is always the case in this sort of it’s-not-nice-to-fool-Mother-Nature morality tale.† In this case, however, because the phrasal adjective consists of a quoted saying, it is easier on the eye to simply frame the statement in quotation marks: â€Å"His resurrection came with unintended consequences, as is always the case in this sort of ‘It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature’ morality tale. 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:The Meaning of "To a T"Peace of Mind and A Piece of One's MindQuiet or Quite?

Saturday, October 19, 2019

A Comparative Analysis Of Langston Hughess The Negro Speaks Of Rivers And Sandra Cisneross House On Mango Street

A Comparative Analysis Of Langston Hughes's The Negro Speaks Of Rivers And Sandra Cisneros's House On Mango Street The House on Mango Street History repeats itself in more ways than one and this statement reigns true for almost all aspects of life and this especially holds true with war. Over and over again we see destruction promises of repair and then many decades later another war emerges with the same carnage and promises. The most famous example of this would be Napoleon invading Russia and Hitler invading Russia and the outcome was the same for both men and armies. The repetition that is most prevalent and either undermined or discarded though is the treatment of people and in particular minorities. The treatment of minorities and people of darker color is so outlandish and is visible throughout the world in countries and the whole continent of Africa which faced brutal imperialism and slave trading a couple hundred years ago. This quote worn on a shirt of famous rapper and Outkast member Andrà © 3000 saying â€Å"Across cultures darker people suffer most. Why?† This quote reiterates the idea that darker ski nned people face more scrutiny and have a harder time in life than those of fairer skin. America is the home of thousands of nationalities and ethnicities from all over the world but it is harder for immigrants and minorities to find their identity and make something of themselves while being happy and different but still holding on to their roots in from other countries but still being proud to be American. These struggles are no more prevalent and no more accurate than in the novel â€Å"House on Mango Street† by Sandra Cisneros and the poem â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers† by Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes. These two bodies of work detail the life of African Americans in the United States and a young Latina woman in the United States and their struggles of finding themselves and knowing where they came from while still moving forward in life and dealing with their hardships. In one of the outside sources which is titles â€Å"Straddling Boundaries ident ity culture and school† talks about kids struggling to find themselves and speaks on being able to find themselves in places like school where they learn about their history and their past. The other article â€Å"In search of identity in Cisneross The House on Mango Street† it does focus on the main character Esparanza’s life in America and all she has to deal with along with being a preadolescent female but struggling with the problems and unjust obstacles life has to offer and she has trouble finding herself and identifying herself and who she is in this world which often times can be unforgiving. These two texts in theme of finding identity have similar narratives but set in different times. â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers† talks about the struggle of African Americans as a whole and how lost they are in some cases due to the fact that they have been taken away from their home land and given new identities and new names that they are not familiar with and is not theirs. Langston Hughes is reminding us of this and who African American’s are and where they came from and that they are not just slaves but much much more. â€Å"In House on Mango Street† it is about the life of Esperanza and dealing with life and people not understanding her in particular because she is a woman and she does not have the same freedoms as men do and also because she is not wealthy and lives in a terrible neighborhood people do not understand her as well. Being Hispanic in a tough neighborhood does not let her have the same opportunities as white people in rich or good neighborho ods and she states that they look down on her when they do look at her. She spends the whole novel contemplating leaving home to find herself somewhere else because her barrio is not meant for that. Identity is a huge part of minorities an culture too but as you can see many minorities have trouble finding their identity in America the land of mixed cultures. In â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers† author Langston Hughes he tries to bring a comparison to the negro of his time in the 1920’s and the ancestors who were the first to start civilization in the first thousand years of modern civilization in Africa. He wants to African Americans to reconnect with their roots. People have been almost tricked to forget where they came from and their greatness building the pyramids and creating monuments that millions of people around the world marveled at. The denial of this and the act of taking the truth away and discriminating against African Americans is racism which some say is America’s original sin and what Langston Hughes is fighting against in his poem â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers.† His motive is to uplift African American’s and to show them that they are worth more than what they were told to be, during the time of segregation and Jim Crow laws they still have a voice and a past to be proud of. In the poem Langston speaks from a voice of an ancestor saying the he too knows. Although never being in Africa he speaks as if he was from there and this is the new way of writing because Hughes as a black man now has a voice and can say what he please as well as the way of writing it has changed to a simpler form but still resonates with people just not the super wealthy and those who can read. In this poem the first three lines reiterates features of Africa. â€Å"I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow Of human blood and veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.† Hughes is talking about the Nile River and he is saying that it is as old as the earth and that it is ingrained in us in our body and we are the earth. He said that his soul has grown deep and it means that he feels as if he is attached to the earth and he is part of it. Another river is the Euphrates which has given life to so many people used for bathing, sailing, and fishing but it has also been here for a long time. What he means by this line is that he along with Africans have been on earth for a long time. The last line talks about having a home in the Congo and he fell asleep with the sound of the river. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen it’s muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers; My soul has grown deep like the rivers. Hughes continues to talk about the Nile and how it raised people and was such an influence on the lives of the Egyptians at the time when they were using it for every aspect of life and it was a catalyst for them being able to flourish without that they would not have been able to make the pyramids. Hughes then makes a comparison to moving down the Mississippi to with Abraham Lincoln to New Orleans and how from having a muddy bosom to being a golden sunset which could annotate the transition from slavery to being freed with the emancipation proclamation. Hughes finishes the poem by saying that he knows these rivers old rivers and those that are shadowy his soul being an African American male has history and runs deep like the rivers. â€Å"The House on Mango Street† by Sandra Cisneros tells the tale of a young girl that is struggling to make it in America with hurdles that she has to go through. This text is different from â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers† because Hughes speaks for an entire group of people who have been hurt and had their identity taken away from them and he is also trying to make a connection between the present day negro and the African of early civilizations. â€Å"The House on Mango Street† it talks about one specific character but can be used for many generations of Hispanic women growing up in America and millions going through the same struggle today. Esperanza gives us her background at first and where she is living and how she got to mango street. Her father is always working and her mother is always at home watching over the kids, she has two younger brothers and one other sister. Esperanza is not very fortunate because she is not popular and it is hard for her to find a friend to tell secrets to. She has her sister but it is not the same due to the fact that her sister is younger than her and cannot cognitively have a conversation with her because she us so young. However, Esperanza is always stuck watching her little sister so she cannot do what her brothers do and play or focus on herself because she is so busy with her little sister. Another way her life is different is because of her ethnicity she details how others do not understand her and how she depicted them looking at her and her people from the outside and not understanding their way of life. Esperanza dictates how people vie her and people like her harshly and crit icize them for living the way do even though they are trying their best with what they can. Again we see in â€Å"The House on Mango Street† like we did in â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers† that minorities struggle to identify themselves and feel the need to overcompensate for their lives and actions to feel better about themselves. This comparison is significant because to different races fear the same things and two different authors writing in different times can still have the same view of their people and America as a whole. Being misunderstood by others and even misunderstanding themselves is something that they have to deal with while trying to identify themselves to their own selves while they are being told what to do by many other people. Although the authors of these two different texts are of different sexes, different races, and writing in different periods the problem remains the same. As the quote from earlier still reigns true why do darker people suffer more across the world. History is repeating itself over and over maybe it is not the exact same way but if this is the result after decades of minorities living in America it is not a very good one and does not show progress at all. This question is part of a problem that is rooted deep in the heart of America racism that has been embedded in the psyche of Americans but has been hidden and for a big extent subtlety regarded as false or not prevalent. These two texts ring them to live without blatantly shouting it out but by bringing us in the lives of minorities in the past and present and shows America not as the great nation everyone believes it is but one of flaw and not perfect like the humans we are, and although it is not perfect and neither are we we must strive for perfection to make this country the best it can for all people.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Play report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Play report - Essay Example Attending this show made for an unforgettable experience because it helped me acknowledge the Filipino Americans’ experience in the US. The play mainly illustrates â€Å"the difficulties of assimilation† (Valois). It is impossible to remain oblivious to the highly significant cultural idea behind the play. I really liked how watching the performance caused me to reminisce about my own coming of age experience. I am sure every audience member must have reflected on their coming of age celebrations during the show. This was one of the most powerful aspects of the play because it made every viewer relate with the show regardless of sociocultural differences. Since each family is different and has its own way of celebrating things, I realized how different my coming of age celebration was from what I saw in The Debutante’s Ball. One good thing that came out of this realization was that it opened my eyes to many cultural differences around me which I did not notice be fore. The merge of Filipino and American cultures is not a very common thing to see in theatre in the American culture. It is claimed that the play captures highly â€Å"interesting details of the Filipino-American community in which the tale is set† (Valois). During the play, I found myself significantly influenced by the way this melting-pot aspect of the US culture was demonstrated. The actors played this aspect quite intelligently which helped to immerse all audience members in the show. This feature of the play is very influential given the way my mind reacted to it. I could not remain unaffected by the way the girl who played Ana demonstrated her frustration when trying to fit in the US culture while being under the pressure to hold on to her original roots as well. I can now easily relate with such cultural struggles which form an important part of the play I watched. It can be

On the job Ethics - Sex and Alcohol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On the job Ethics - Sex and Alcohol - Essay Example Such principles include providing accurate information, using morally correct procedures, and restraining from any inappropriate behavior towards co-workers or any other party, etc. While all professions require the implementation of job ethics, this consideration may be exceptionally essential for the media industry or any institution, which is seeking to provide the public with news regarding an important social issue. The AMA wished to impart important information to the public regarding â€Å"risky behavior† on the part of college students during spring break. In order to do this, they conducted a survey in which they measured factors such as alcohol availability and sexual activity. Both of these issues are serious issues prevalent in western societies and do require sufficient â€Å"national attention†. However, a question does arise when considering the appropriate and ethical way of grasping public interest and attention. While the AMA may argue that they had th e public’s best interests at heart and thought it unnecessary to mention the details of the survey and the procedure; a responsibility does exist on their part of providing accurate and honest information. ... e authentic and accurate in all their findings, and once the public is led to believe that some of the studies and results published by the AMA are inaccurate or have been falsely construed, they will less likely believe any other findings published by the AMA in future periods. Concealing information or knowingly giving false perceptions is also considered misleading. Hence the AMA’s alibi of aiming to get â€Å"national† attention does not justify the means they used to do it. Issues, such as alcohol and sexual activity are important and highly sensitive social issues, especially among college students and the young generation. Hence, providing falsified or exaggerated results regarding such behavior may result in public unrest or serious concern on the part of parents and other family members regarding the activities that their young college student is involved in. Providing the public with a high percentage of college students who feel forced into sex during spring break trips is a grave matter of concern for the public, and provided that they assume the survey is based on a scientific procedure, this may cause them further concern. Although such issues do prevail in society and the survey maybe providing an accurate picture of the opinions of the participants, it does not accurately measure the behavior of college students on spring break. Hence, the survey lacks validity and reliability, which are two conditions that must be met by a survey or questionnaire in order to prove its authenticity. One can term the news release as misleading because it failed to say that these percentages were of the opinions of self- selected participants rather than the actual behavior of the selected sample. The AMA’s answer does not justify the means and it shows that the AMA

Any attempt to provide an adequate theory of cognition that ignores Essay

Any attempt to provide an adequate theory of cognition that ignores emotion is probably doomed to failure (Eysenck, 1995). Discuss - Essay Example This paper is dedicated to analysis of relationships between cognitions and emotions in order to find out whether Eysenck's (1995) thesis is right or not. There are now few doubts that cognitions and emotions together constitute the core of personality, its set, and in fact make "what a human is" (Kelly, 1969). The value of emotions and cognitions for personality could hardly be underestimated. Already Aristotle admitted the value of emotions in people's lives (Kafetsios and LaRock, 2003). In the early XVIII century J.Berkeley was one of the first to distinguish emotions and cognitions. J. Berkeley came to the conclusion that people's reactions on the stimuli - the so-called "ideas", are combinations of cognitions (the acts of people's minds) and emotions (the acts of people's soul and fantasy). According to Thomists' ideas, emotions and cognitions are the major characteristics that differentiate human beings from non-humans (Lyons, 1999). Regardless the visible simplicity of the issue, both the nature of emotions and cognitions and their relationships still remain discussable and contestable amidst psychologists and physiologists. There are numbers of approaches and theories that tend to go into two extremes. One of these extremes insists on poor or even no relationship between cognitions and emotions. This extreme reflects metaphysical attitude to affects understood as the antitheses of rationality. Another approach Another approach named "biological" or "physiological" theory of emotions summarizes the findings of Ch. Darwin (psychoevolutionary theory), W. James and C. Lange (organic theory), and W. Cannon (psycho-organic theory) who generally explained emotions as the functions of mind and believed that emotions are unrelated to cognitions. Also this statement is less supported by contemporary psychologists, until now the biological approach has a number of partisans. Modern reinterpretations of this approach still assume that cognitions and emotions are completely different in nature. While cognitions are extremely structured and "personalized", emotions are less individual and, in fact "depersonalized", as most people share the same emotions reacting on the same events (Danes, 1991). The common critique to this point of view usually implies the following statement: if people's emotions are unrelated to their thinking, then our emotional reactions should always be the same and stable regardless the stimuli. However, our emotional reactions, in fact, lie on a certain continuum, where such emotion as "attraction" may range from a "slight interest" to "passion" depending on our rational evaluation of an object. This statement implies psychological relatedness between emotional and rational (cognitive) processes which participate in rational procession of data. Another extreme, widely known as "cognitive approach", implies that emotions and cognitions can not be analyzed and understood separately as they both constitute the joint process of reacting. According to cognitivists, emotions

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Should California Pass a Law that Protects Employees from Workplace Research Paper

Should California Pass a Law that Protects Employees from Workplace Bullying - Research Paper Example entire population of the globe is moving ahead towards the betterment and improving the standard way of life, yet, people are coming across numerous problems and concerns in their everyday lives, particularly in their workplace environment. One of the prominent social and ethical dilemmas needing to come under consideration in the twenty first century is bullying although bullying is a significant concern that dates back to centuries. Moreover, experts have indicated it as one of the growing concerns; however, until few years ago, it has gone under ignorance. Bullying can be defined as "repeated and persistent negative actions towards one or more individual(s), which involves a perceive power imbalance and create a hostile environment" (Pate & Beaumont, 2010, pp. 172). In other words, bullying is a practice that either an individual or a group of people carries out that includes an unwelcomed or violent behavior in order to prove that they are dominant or have supremacy power over the weaker individuals. Moreover, bullying occurs with an intention to hurt or intimidate the other person or to create a level of embarrassment or humiliation for him/her in public. Recent studies have revealed the fact that according to common observations, the unpleasant and insulting actions of bullying have a frequent impact that outlasts and continues with the passage of time (LaVan & Martin, 2008). It has been an understanding that people with supremacy bully around the weaker people and make the victims’ abilities, gender, religion, or cultures as the source of origin to exploit or abuse. Verbal harassment, physical assault, and psychological violence or anxieties are the primary methods and techniques that come under exercise in bullying. The victims of bullying are even termed as â€Å"targets†, and â€Å"bully† is the person who intimidates the victim. Moreover, several people who just stand as an audience to become the witnesses of bully come under the reference as

Establish credibility in desired career path in criminal justice Essay

Establish credibility in desired career path in criminal justice - Essay Example Because their duties and responsibilities require them to uphold the law, police officers have their work defined and described by rather high standards of integrity. It is therefore imperative that police officers, just like the other professionals in criminal justice system, be on the look out for any issues that may jeopardize their credibility. Several factors have been cited to compromise the credibility of police officers during the execution of their duties. First, failure by police officers to recognize and respect the dignity and values of every individual and group in the community could compromise the integrity of police officers. Second, courtesy is the also important in the execution of police duties as it not only encourages understanding and cooperation but it also makes the police force trustworthy. To achieve high standards of courtesy, police officers must bring violent or assaultive people under control and protect other officers and the public from imminent harm. In other terms, police officers must only apply reasonable force to bring criminal incidents or disorders under control (Gottschalk, 2010). Poor public information dissemination and reporting has also been mentioned as a possible compromise to the credibility of police officers. To avoid this drawback on credibility, police officers should prepare public reports and statistics on incidents such as shootings, seizures, arrests, complaints, investigations and departmental recommendations (Davidson & Gottschalk, 2012). The provision of periodic feedback on the performance, practices, and behaviors of law enforcement agencies and personnel is thus one way of establishing integrity and credibility. Importantly, information on police procedures and policies on issues such as non-discrimination, community policing, recruitment and investigation should be disseminated to

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Any attempt to provide an adequate theory of cognition that ignores Essay

Any attempt to provide an adequate theory of cognition that ignores emotion is probably doomed to failure (Eysenck, 1995). Discuss - Essay Example This paper is dedicated to analysis of relationships between cognitions and emotions in order to find out whether Eysenck's (1995) thesis is right or not. There are now few doubts that cognitions and emotions together constitute the core of personality, its set, and in fact make "what a human is" (Kelly, 1969). The value of emotions and cognitions for personality could hardly be underestimated. Already Aristotle admitted the value of emotions in people's lives (Kafetsios and LaRock, 2003). In the early XVIII century J.Berkeley was one of the first to distinguish emotions and cognitions. J. Berkeley came to the conclusion that people's reactions on the stimuli - the so-called "ideas", are combinations of cognitions (the acts of people's minds) and emotions (the acts of people's soul and fantasy). According to Thomists' ideas, emotions and cognitions are the major characteristics that differentiate human beings from non-humans (Lyons, 1999). Regardless the visible simplicity of the issue, both the nature of emotions and cognitions and their relationships still remain discussable and contestable amidst psychologists and physiologists. There are numbers of approaches and theories that tend to go into two extremes. One of these extremes insists on poor or even no relationship between cognitions and emotions. This extreme reflects metaphysical attitude to affects understood as the antitheses of rationality. Another approach Another approach named "biological" or "physiological" theory of emotions summarizes the findings of Ch. Darwin (psychoevolutionary theory), W. James and C. Lange (organic theory), and W. Cannon (psycho-organic theory) who generally explained emotions as the functions of mind and believed that emotions are unrelated to cognitions. Also this statement is less supported by contemporary psychologists, until now the biological approach has a number of partisans. Modern reinterpretations of this approach still assume that cognitions and emotions are completely different in nature. While cognitions are extremely structured and "personalized", emotions are less individual and, in fact "depersonalized", as most people share the same emotions reacting on the same events (Danes, 1991). The common critique to this point of view usually implies the following statement: if people's emotions are unrelated to their thinking, then our emotional reactions should always be the same and stable regardless the stimuli. However, our emotional reactions, in fact, lie on a certain continuum, where such emotion as "attraction" may range from a "slight interest" to "passion" depending on our rational evaluation of an object. This statement implies psychological relatedness between emotional and rational (cognitive) processes which participate in rational procession of data. Another extreme, widely known as "cognitive approach", implies that emotions and cognitions can not be analyzed and understood separately as they both constitute the joint process of reacting. According to cognitivists, emotions

Establish credibility in desired career path in criminal justice Essay

Establish credibility in desired career path in criminal justice - Essay Example Because their duties and responsibilities require them to uphold the law, police officers have their work defined and described by rather high standards of integrity. It is therefore imperative that police officers, just like the other professionals in criminal justice system, be on the look out for any issues that may jeopardize their credibility. Several factors have been cited to compromise the credibility of police officers during the execution of their duties. First, failure by police officers to recognize and respect the dignity and values of every individual and group in the community could compromise the integrity of police officers. Second, courtesy is the also important in the execution of police duties as it not only encourages understanding and cooperation but it also makes the police force trustworthy. To achieve high standards of courtesy, police officers must bring violent or assaultive people under control and protect other officers and the public from imminent harm. In other terms, police officers must only apply reasonable force to bring criminal incidents or disorders under control (Gottschalk, 2010). Poor public information dissemination and reporting has also been mentioned as a possible compromise to the credibility of police officers. To avoid this drawback on credibility, police officers should prepare public reports and statistics on incidents such as shootings, seizures, arrests, complaints, investigations and departmental recommendations (Davidson & Gottschalk, 2012). The provision of periodic feedback on the performance, practices, and behaviors of law enforcement agencies and personnel is thus one way of establishing integrity and credibility. Importantly, information on police procedures and policies on issues such as non-discrimination, community policing, recruitment and investigation should be disseminated to

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Maggi Brand Consumer Behaviour Research Essay Example for Free

Maggi Brand Consumer Behaviour Research Essay Well the history of this brand traces back to the 19th century when industrial revolution in Switzerland created factory jobs for women, who were therefore left with very little time to prepare meals. Due to this growing problem Swiss Public Welfare Society asked a miller named Julius Maggi to create a vegetable food product that would be quick to prepare and easy to digest. Julius, the son of an Italian immigrant came up with a formula to bring added taste to meals in 1863. Soon after he was commissioned by the Swiss Public Welfare Society, he came up with two instant pea soups a bean soup- the first launch of Maggi brand of instant foods in 1882-83. Towards the end of the century, Maggi company was producing not just powdered soups, but bouillon cubes, sauces and other flavorings. However in India(the largest consumer of Maggi noodles in the world! ) it was launched in 1980’s by Nestle group of companies. Maggie had merged with Nestle(This company too has a very interesting history which I will discuss in some other review! ) family in 1947. When launched it had to face a stiff competition from the ready to eat snack segments like biscuits, wafers etc. Also it had other competitor the so called ’home made’ snacks which are till today considered healthy and hygienic. Hence to capture the market it was positioned as a hygienic home made snack, a smart move. But still this didn’t work, as it was targeted towards the wrong target group, the working women. Although the product was developed for this particular purpose. After conducting an extensive research, the firm found that the children were the biggest consumers of Maggi noodles. Quickly a strategy was developed to capture the kids segment with various tools of sales promotion like pencils, fun books, maggi clubs which worked wonders for it. No doubt the ads of maggi have shown a hungry kid saying ’’Mummy bhookh lagi hai’’ to which his mom replies ’’Bas do minute! ’’ and soon he is happily eating Maggie noodles. The company could have easily positioned the product as a meal, but did not, as a study had shown that Indian mentality did not accept anything other than rice or roti as meal. They made it a easy to cook snack that could be prepared in just two minutes. The formula clicked well maggi became a brand name. That’s precisely what is required in making a product a brand The brand has grown to an estimated 200 crore contributes to around 10% of Nestle India’s top line. So next time when you are eating this noodles just remember these facts that have gone on to make Maggi a brand. In the early 1980s India was opening up to the world after three and a half decades of self-existence. Till then, the concept of â€Å"fast food† was practically non-existent. Nestle had already been pipped to the post by Cadbury in the milk chocolate segment and it desperately wanted to create a niche for itself in the high potential Indian market. It was then that it realized that it could be a first-mover in the untapped â€Å"instant food† segment. Several years went by and a lot of money was spent and Maggi Noodles was born. The problems had only just begun. The biggest of them was the Indian psyche of the 80s. The conservatism which India showed in their culture boiled down to their palate also. They would rather stick to their Tandoori Chicken or Idli Sambhar than be a little more adventurous in trying a new taste. Maggi Noodles was a new taste from a new culture. It was then that Maggi Noodles became Maggi Instant Two-Minute Noodles. The whole point was to position Maggi as platform of convenience and soul food for the a fast growing section of the Indian population – the working women. Heavy promotion was done on the same lines. But even this did not work. Sales were good but not as good as they wanted it to be. A research was carried out which revealed that the largest consumers of the brand were not the working women but young children in the Indian households. Realizing this, Nestle repositioned their brand using new promotional strategies and smart advertising. Marketing teams were sent out to schools to distribute free Maggi samples to take home. The kids would inevitably take their Maggi packets home and ask their mothers to prepare it for lunch or as a snack. The mothers would find that it took them only two minutes to make a proper hot meal for their children who would love it. They would refer it to their neighbors who would pass it on to distant bachelor cousins who lived alone and had to cook for themselves. Thus, the hugely successful viral campaign ensured that Maggi created a distinct affection in the hearts of its consumers unlike any other proprietary food of its time. But the story was far from over. In 1997, Nissin – the inventor of instant noodles – launched its flagship brand Top Ramen in the Indian market with Shah Rukh Khan – fresh from the success of super hits like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – endorsing the brand. It was then that Maggi took its first false step – it changed its taste to align itself with that of Top Ramen’s. The results were disastrous. A generation which had grown up on Maggi could not accept the new taste and would rather give Top Ramen a try. Nestle was fast losing ground to Nissin. It took them two years to work out a new strategy – accept the consumer’s verdict and get back to the basics. In 1999, Maggi relaunched itself with its original taste. It paid off handsomely and the faithfuls returned to their master. Top Ramen could no longer sustain the growth it built up in the two years. The next big hurdle came in 2004. The SARS epidemic of 2003 in South East Asia had led to widespread concerns regarding personal hygiene and health. Mothers were now more concerned regarding what their children were eating and maida in general was always considered to be low on the health aspect. In 2005 Maggi launched Atta Noodles with the tagline â€Å"Taste bhi, health bhi. † Although the advertisements showed Atta Noodles replacing the rotis and chapatis, this was never Maggi’s intention. It knew that thinking about that objective was a far cry and the main purpose was to convince mothers that their children was eating the right thing. In this sense, it scored over the Licia and Bambino semolina-based Macaroni products, which, though being an healthier alternative to Maggi, always tried to position themselves as a substitute for wheat based items of daily consumption. Within 10 months, Maggi Atta Noodles was declared a success and now they are foraying further with the â€Å"Taste bhi, Health bhi† campaign with products such as Multi-Grain Noodles. The above examples show that Maggi as a brand knows the customer and is willing to learn from its mistakes. It knows that its USP is convenience to ake and good to eat and it sticks to that without pushing the envelope further in its campaigns. It has also leveraged its success to other food products – the most notable of which is the Maggi ketchup which has garnered a market leader position of about 45% largely thanks to the Maggi brand and its positioning as a â€Å"Different† product ( Remember the tagline – Its different! ). The savior of many students (and especially the ones staying in hostels), there is little doubt as to why many regard Maggi as the greatest invention since the wheel.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Effect Of Globalisation: Educational Policy

Effect Of Globalisation: Educational Policy Globalisation is a buzzword nowadays and it is often claimed as a natural process by many views especially from popular media. Globalisation is inevitable to a nation. Different nation may have different response and effect of globalisation. Many sectors are affected either in good or bad ways due to globalisation and one of the examples is in education sector. In this article, I wish to discuss the effect of globalisation on educational policy, especially in Malaysian context. Globalisation is not restricted to a definition; it can be define in many ways depending from which views it is seen. In my point of view, globalisation is a process where the world is shrinking, becoming borderless and viewed as a sense of global wholeness and unity. Globalisation made everything becomes easier and it has led to great changes in many sectors since hundred years ago. However, it has speeded up over the last century due to the presence of advance technology in communication. The usage of emails and internet are the example of globalisation where global communication takes place almost instantneous. According to Bottery (2006), globalisation can be defined as the planet is viewed as a whole and the speed of communication had shrunk it over the last few centuries. Many theorists and authors generally define globalisation a process involving the movement of the worlds people, images, technologies, finance including trade, money, and capital, and ideas, such as practices concerning states and other institutional policies. (http://infonomics-society.org). Globalisation is said to be marked by speedy, free movement of people, services, capital, goods, ideas and knowledge across borders. Some people believed globalisation is a negative phenomenon which affects the world in many ways. One of the common problems that are always associated to globalisation is environmental problems. To name a few, global warming, ozone depletion and imbalance ecology system are the impact of globalisation, specifically environmental globalisation. Another example of destructive globalisation impact; cultural globalisation is seen as the cause of losing ones culture and language since everyone is adapting and practising the dominant culture. McDonald is the example of recent dominant culture as a result of cultural globalisation. Despite the negative affect of globalisation, another group of people agree that globalisation has given advantages to the world, where people get more connected and informed than ever before. Looking from cultural globalisation, Bottery states it provides cultural variety in one location to eat virtually any national dish, attend any religious ceremony, and lis ten to any kind of music. These varieties, as claims by Bottery provide education with different windows through which new perspectives are gained. Besides that, cultural globalisation too offers access to different beliefs and approaches to life, and be a real force for spiritual growth (Bottery, 2006). On top of that, globalisation is not solely focuses on the advance of technology, Bottery (2006) in his article claims globalisation includes environmental globalisation, cultural, demographic, political, American and economic globalisation and it is a continuous process whether human being recognised or not. He then added that the process of globalisation affects nation states, generate policy mediations and have direct impact upon educational institutions. To conclude, different types of globalisation put different tensions to the world. However, the different types of globalisation interact and influence one another in diverse ways, creating a more complex and difficult world to live on. Education Education is ranked among the main concern of nation-states as it is playing a remarkable role in shaping and preparing children for the future in an increasingly globalised world. In fact, much money is spent on education as a public service due to its importance. To achieve the aims of education, traditionally, nation-states developed their education policy in regards to what they saw as important to their nation. However, in recent context, education policy is seen beyond the nation-states, it is become internationalised to the dominance of the global economy over the national politics. Within the wider context of globalization, education is now regarded as an international service, playing a remarkable mission in the global economy with investment in people, skills and knowledge. Simply, it argues that education policy nowadays is formed and implemented in a global context. The improvement of education policy recently is also due to global competitiveness, due to invent human cap ital discourse which is economically competitive to other nations. In such global context, improving global competitiveness has been targeted by nation-states education policy. This is due to invent human capital discourse which is economically competitive to other nations. (infonomics-society.org) According to Mundy, many countries have become more competitive by working hard to enhance the productivity of the domestic labour force which can be accomplished by introducing new educational policies, programs and reforms that prepare children to compete in the global labour force. He later added; despite benefitting the education, the competiveness among these nation-states enhancing the production of new education polices with full of value. In fact, many studies have confirmed that there have been new education policies that introduce reforms in curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation, seeking to boost competitiveness among nation-states. Examples of these reforms are engagement in international comparisons of test performance, national curriculum and productive pedagogies Rizvi and Lingard [41] confirm that globalization has reformed and redesigned the educational policy terrain. Effect The process of globalization has deeply shifted and changed the ways in which education policies are developed, implemented and evaluated as globalization has witnessed the reworking of the nation-state; the site at which public policy was most commonly created. Positive effect It is no doubt that globalisation leads to a better education policy. This is due to education is a vital part to help a nation to compete with other nations. The role of education has changed in most common nation-state as they realised the importance of giving proper education to the people which eventually helped the economic growth of the nation. For example, recent finding in India states that Indian Education System has increased fourteen-fold in terms of the number of universities and thirty three-fold in terms of the number of colleges, in comparison to the number at the time of Independence (http://www.aserf.org.in/presentations/globalization.pdf). As a developing country, Malaysia too undergoes changes in education policy to meet the need of this globalised world. The colonisation of British in Malaysia left long lasting effect to the deviations of Malaysian education policy, which is continuously changing until today. Traditionally, education in Tanah Melayu started as a private enterprise which is mainly concerned in producing man with means of knowledge and skills for his well-being and for his salvation in the hereafter. The education system in Tanah Melayu then changed as the British needs skilled people to work for them in order to exploit the economy in Tanah Melayu thus the British colonial provides the school for locals. When the British colonized Malay, they instituted an education system in all of the colonies with the purpose of helping the natives to maintain traditional life and to prevent social unrest through restricted education (Hooker, 2003). In fact, the British limited education to creating better fisherme n and farmers, because the British worried that an over-educated population might rebel against colonial rule (Hashim, 1996).( https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/9167/Tableman_Leslie_Diana_MPA_Win09.pdf?sequence=1) This is the starting point of revolution in education policy in Malaysia, where economic sector is the biggest influence to the change. Education is an important tool in supporting the infrastructure of a country, hence having a reliable education system is critical to the success of developing countries in a global economy (Tableman, 2007). (https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/9167/Tableman_Leslie_Diana_MPA_Win09.pdf?sequence=1) Much said globalization is synonymous with the opening of national borders to the international flow of goods, services, raw materials and resources, information and technology, and human resources. In the last three decades, East Asia has been reported to experience a period of economic development which has been described as unprecedented and miraculous (World Bank, 1994). Economic growth and educational expansion is closely related, and these two aspects are also linked to state formation and developmental state. It is supported by Green (2002), the coincidence in East Asia countries of economic advance with educational expansion clearly suggests a close relationship between the two. For example, it has been reported that in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, the economic development grew eight per cent a year, which is way faster than other region on the world (Green, 2002). Generally, the enrolment rates in secondary school were below 50 per cent in each country in th e early 60s, however, these four countries have undergone enormous expansion in education, where each of the countries had quite high levels of basic education. In fact, Taiwan and South Korea now have among the highest rates of upper secondary completion in the world, and a large proportion of those who complete go on to higher education (Green, 2002). (ENGLISH AS DOMINANT LANGUAGE : http://idosi.org/wjihc/wjihc1(1)11/6.pdf) In response to economic recession in 1997 in Malaysia, the Malaysian government took a few drastic actions to reform the economy in Malaysia. The needs for more graduates and k-workers who could speak English well and who are able to work in multinational companies were listed as important strategies. To meet such needs, the government reversed the English language policy in schools. Beginning 2003, the medium of instruction for Math and Science subjects started to be taught in English. Having, at least, a credit in English in the national school examination would be an advantage for students to be accepted at public universities. Now English becomes a second language in Malaysia again. In fact, the last Malaysian Prime Minister revealed that 94% of unemployed graduated in the country are Malays and they are unable to procure jobs because industrial jobs called for a high English language competency. (http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=enlr=id=xzrSYcBxaV4Coi=fndpg=PA123dq=effect+of+g lobalization+on+education+in+malaysiaots=KNH2yfoWDUsig=odAIpeFxJyJmIwMCY1hdrhvx4sc#v=onepageqf=false) Indeed, with the advancement of technology in the classrooms, the way students learn English in Malaysia may not be the same as it was before. (http://cluteonline.com/journals/index.php/CTMS/article/viewFile/5575/5658) However, there is complicated issue regarding the usage of English language to teach Math and Science, the policy is reverted to using Malay and English to teach both subjects. Despite the issue, it is remarkable that English language is an important language for people to compete, as most of the trade commodity use English to communicate. As a developing country, Malaysia needs to focus on the aspect of lifelong learning, which is essential to meet the changes in the demand for more knowledge workers, especially in producing skilled workers. In the area of higher education, universities have become factors of the competitive advantage of nations (Porter, 1998). To obtain and sustain competitive advantage in various industries, the higher education is the main locus that moves economies forward, and the primary means of educating and generating the talent or human capital. Besides that, due to the same fact to boost world economies, universities have become more self-consciously global, especially universities of the advanced nations, looking for students from around the world who represent the entire spectrum of cultures and values, besides sending their own students abroad in educational exchange programmes to prepare them for global careers. Some of the universities also offering courses of study that address the ch allenges of an interconnected world and collaborative research programs to advance science for the benefit of all mankind. As a consequence, the forces of shaping higher education cause the movement of people across the border. Students travel from one developed nation to another, and from developing or less-developed to the developed countries to seek good education. (http://amrjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/impact-of-globalization-on-malaysias.html) The preamble to the Malaysian Education Act 1996 states that education plays a vital role in achieving the countrys vision of attaining the status of a fully developed nation in terms of economic development, social justice, and spiritual, moral and ethical strength (http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1023%2FA%3A1017572119543) The economic globalisation has affected Malaysian higher education policy where in 1995, the Malaysian government reversed its opposition to private universities and encouraged private sector investment in higher education. However, the private sector including foreign providers is strictly regulated. Malaysia instead legislated to maintain governmental control over the emerging private higher education sector in order to make it meet what the government sees as the cultural and economic needs of the nation. According to Ward and Eden (2009), for education, neo-liberal economics means introducing the kind of competition which makes private business success ful. Neo-liberals want a free-market in education, making education as commodity which is bought and sold; schools are the providers and parents and children the consumers or customers. In the 1990s not only private universities and colleges are liberalised, many private schools and international schools are also built. Now, foreign capitals are allowed to hold up to 49% of the shares in any private educational company. Branch campuses of foreign universities are allowed, in fact attracted to set up in Malaysia. (http://www.japss.org/upload/1.%20globalization.pdf By 2000, there were 11 public higher educational institutions, 7 private universities, 3 foreign university branch campuses, and more than 400 private colleges approved by the Malaysian government (Challenger Concept, 2000). Most of the private institutions offer their own diplomas as well as foreign-linked degree programs, some of which require students to complete one or more years of study overseas while others can be completed entirely in Malaysia. Some of these colleges, such as Taylors College, are foreign-owned. With the money flows through this education commodity, the economy of the country will develop greatly. However, one question remain, is this liberalization, globalization and privatization of education good for Malaysians, especially the poor. It is clear that the poor cannot afford to go to private school which requires high fees. For example, one of secondary schools in Malaysia, known as Saad Foundation College, the fees required for a year is about RM 41 000 (equivalent to 8200 GBP). That is a big amount of money compared to average salary of working class people in Malaysia. It is said that private school serves better place to educate the students, for example private schools have much smaller classes, much better student-teacher interaction, excellent extra curricular activities; we take the children out of the school and into the community and we even teach several languages like French, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin. Although private school is good for students lifelong lear ning, it is a disadvantage to the poor, where they have no chance to have the same kind of education and is always lacking. Tooley concludes in his recent report Could Globalization of Education Benefit the Poor? That: The argument began, first by showing that there are private schools available to, and patronized by, the poor in developing countries. Second, there is evidence showing that these schools are offering poor parents and children a better deal, educationally-speaking, than the state alternative. Teachers in the private schools, in particular, the research has suggested, show a much greater commitment to teaching than in the government schools. These two considerations suggest that private education in itself could be beneficial to the poor. (http://www.japss.org/upload/1.%20globalization.pdf) Economic globalisation has affect education greatly. Higher education is swept up in global marketisation. It trains the executives and technicians of global businesses; the main st udent growth is in globally mobile degrees in business studies and computing; the sector is shaped by economic policies undergoing partial global convergence, and the first global university market has emerged. (http://doc.utwente.nl/60264/1/Marginson07globalisation.pdf) Globalization is also affecting methods of educational delivery and support. Traditional classroom delivery is now enhanced with electronic learning support. Online courses, virtual classrooms and Web-based tutorials are some delivery methodologies for distance education across borders as a result of globalization. In fact, using ICT in education is inevitable as ICT has changed the way businesses and industries are conducted and influenced the way people work, interact and function in society (UNESCO, 2002). ICT has become common place at home, at work, and in educational institutions (Kirkup Kirkwood, 2005). The use of ICT, including the Internet at home and work places, has increased exponentially (McGorry, 2002). Explosion of knowledge and information in the era of information technology has somehow helped the globalization of education. The introduction of computers and internet and other technology-mediated learning through the use of VCD, CD-Rom, Email, E-Chat, database, webpage, LMS, digital library, etc have helped in the dissemination of information and knowledge to millions around the world (http://idosi.org/wjihc/wjihc1(1)11/6.pdf). Due to this fact, Malaysia is trying to integrate the use of ICT in education, besides to bridge the gap within the global trend as other countries have long developed the policy of ICT in education. The development of the Policy on ICT in Education in Malaysia is underlying of four major pillars; Human Capital, Budget, Digital Learning Resources and Infrastructure. One of the examples the implementation of ICT in Malaysian Education policy is the launching of Smart school. The objective of the smart school Flagship Application is The Smart School is a learning institution that has been reinvented in terms of teaching and learning methods and school administration system in order to prepare the students for the Information-Based Society. Creativity and better management of information is facilitated through the use of technology where students, teachers, administrators and parents are better prepared for the challenges of the information Age. The Smart School applications brings the benefit of technology to the educators and administrators. These also allow the young to get familiar with the ICT world using tools such as personal computers, scanners, printers, multimedia products, TV/videos, etc. at a much earlier stage in life. They get to appreciate the power of the Internet and multimedia applications, which can make learning more interesti ng and enriching. This will in turn result in them becoming more technology savvy (http://www.mscmalaysia.my/sites/default/files/pdf/publications_references/SMART_SCHOOL_ROADMAP_020506.pdf) Smart School is not just about ICT intervention in teaching and learning. The national curriculum and pedagogy are given the highest importance, with the role of teachers, administrators, parents and the community enhanced in the education of the Malaysian students. Individuality, creativity and initiative amongst the students are prioritised. However, ICT is critical in making the teaching and learning processes easier, more fun and effective, as well as making communication and management among the stakeholders more efficient.