Political Environment Case Study Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political Environment Case Study Analysis - Essay Example Most likely, higher education organizations such as the NEA (National Education Association) will support the reduction. The different student organizations from state colleges and universities will possibly join as well. Individuals from working-class families or those who are supporting themselves while studying can also form a large number when they unify their support. Apart from higher education, the supporters of mental health programs are also getting worried; they say that neglecting mental health programs in favor of improving correctional facilities will just cause increase in inmate population in the long run. Among the possible supporters are NMHA (National Mental Health Association), AMHA (American Mental Health Association), NASMHPD (National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors). There are also other organizations who believe that more of the budget must be allotted to infrastructure, social centers, daycare centers, hospitals, etc. These are the infras tructure organizations such as the American Hospital Association. Political advocacy groups are also potential supporters.

Belief Systems Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Belief Systems - Research Paper Example The Belief of Dharma The concept of living the good life under the form of dharma is most often attributed to the Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. The philosophy is also one which is associated with lifestyles which one lives in order to pertains everything that is good. The basis of dharma is one which relates to serving and loving others. When one is able to do this, then they overcome karma, or mistakes they have learned in this or a past lifetime. If one has negative energy that comes back, then it is linked to karma which the individual creates. This usually is shown as a lesson or problem which one has in life. However, if one serves and does something good, then it is associated with dharma. One is then able to receive rewards and blessings within their life through the services that they offer to others. The good life is one which then relates to the idea of happiness and being able to create a reality that is positive through the use of dharma. Happiness is able t o become the luxury that one creates within their own life (Schoch, 4). Obeying the Laws of God The concept of living the Laws of God for the good life is one which is associated with Biblical scripture and Western systems. The forms of thought are based on the philosophies of morality and being virtuous with how one decides to live. The laws of God are linked to treating others as they treat you, caring for others and living with happiness and spiritual prosperity. The Ten Commandments are often associated with this concept and are perceived with following Gods laws to receive eternal blessings and life. The interpretation is one which creates the laws by building security and safety around treating others in a given manner and in being content with the things which God gives in return. The mentality that is followed then outlines specific ideologies of what one should or should not do within society and how this benefits one through a secure and peaceful life which is given by God (Whybray, 5). Similarities in the Good Life The concepts which are associated with both dharma and the Laws of God are structured first around the way in which others should be treated. In both the principles of dharma and the Laws of God there is an implication that one receives rewards and blessings from God or the universe. However, this is dependent on how one treats others, either through forms of service or by following the laws of being righteous. Each have the golden rule of treating others as they treat you while receiving rewards from spirituality when this is done. The foundation of both becomes the same with serving others and treating all with love. This is combined with the understanding that the more this is done, one will have more opportunities to receive the rewards and blessings from the hierarchy of God or the universe. The blessings in both are also similar, specifically based on the ideologies of peace, happiness and security in one’s life (Kazez, 46). Not only is there a direct association with the mechanics of following certain laws to receive blessings from a higher being and associating this with service. Both dharma and the

Michel Foucault And Judith Butler Influencing Queerness Film Studies Essay

Michel Foucault And Judith Butler Influencing Queerness Film Studies Essay In this essay I will be looking at the work of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler seeing how their work has influence queerness. I will start the essay by looking at the man, Michel Foucault, followed by studying his work on sexuality and homosexuality. I will then look at Judith Butler and her work on gender performances. I will also be giving contemporary examples of homosexuals in the modern day by looking at three different homosexual television presenters to show how the construction of homosexual figures has taken place in recent years. I will also be looking at how gender performances take place in these examples of homosexuals. Michel Foucault The Background Michel Foucault was born in France in 1926. He was known as a philosopher, sociologist and a historian. In all three of these areas he was very influential, pioneering many different concepts that helped revolutionise their certain fields. Foucault continues to be one of the most important figures in critical theory. Foucault is best known for his critical studies on social institutions such as the prison system, medicine, the human sciences and for his work on the history of human sexuality which I will be discussing later. His theories have been largely concerned with the concepts of power and the relationship among power, knowledge and discourse, and his influence is clear in a great deal of post-structuralism, post-modernist, feminist, post-Marxist and post-colonial theorising (Mills 2003). Foucault suffered from depression and attempted suicide on many different occasions. This could be as Mills says due to the great difficulty at the time about being openly homosexual, but it does suggest that his pronounced interest in psychology stemmed from elements in his own life (Eribon 1991: 27). All though Foucault died of AIDS in 1984, his ideas have and still cause much debate. His ideas have never been simply accommodated by theorists around the world. This is due to the iconoclastic and challenging nature of Foucaults theoretical work (Mills 2003). Michel Foucault The History of Sexuality During Foucaults life, he wrote three volumes of The History of Sexuality. In this essay I will be focusing on his ideas on sexuality and society. The first Volume of Michel Foucaults book History of Sexuality was published in 1978, which was written near the end of a period of time called the sexual revolution in the western culture (Spargo 1999). The sexual revolution was a time where peoples thoughts and opinions shifted in regards to how they viewed sexuality throughout the western world. The book presents a powerful counter narrative to the established story about Victorian sexual repression giving way to progressive liberation and enlightenment in the 20th century (Spargo 1999). For example, Foucault describes how in the 17th century onwards sexuality was hidden from view. People were subjected to a power of repression. But as Spargo describes, this all changed in the 20th century. Sexuality was still there, simmering under the prim surface of 19th century bourgeois respectability, but it was stifled by prohibitions and repressions. Until, that is, it, and we, were liberated in the age of the mini-skirt and the analyst, revealing our legs and our innermost desires, bringing it all out into the open (Spargo 1999). This was easier for some but not quite as easy for others. Some struggled with the free expression they were able to give to their sexual desires. People turned to therapists and counsellors to help gain freedom for the years of prohibitions. Did this mean that sexuality was always waiting for us to free it? In Foucaults opinion no. His view was that sexuality wasnt waiting to be freed or repressed but rather sexuality was and is produced in culture and society. Foucault rejected this repression hypothesis and claimed evidence pointed not to a prohibition on speaking about sexuality but to a remarkable proliferation of discourses about sexuality (Spargo 1999). He didnt want people to assume that the repression from the 17th-19th century was effective. He believed that the repression increased the desire of people to express and discuss their sexuality in ways which were seen as violating the taboos of society. If sex is repressed, that is condemned to prohibition, non-existence and silence, then the mere fact that one is speaking about it has the appearance of a deliberate transgression. A person who holds forth in such language upsets established law and he/she somehow anticipates the coming freedom (Foucault 1986). He didnt believe that sexuality was natural or a normal aspect of life but rather a construction of experiences which has historical, social and cultural beginnings. As I have already discussed Foucault described how the process of restriction had created an increased excitement about sexuality, but he believed that the effect of the repressive discourse seemingly encouraged perverse forms of sexuality and made them more attractive types of behaviour. The construction of homosexuality was one of Foucaults most thought provoking assertions. He believed that the category of homosexuality was created out of a particular context in the 1870s and that it should be viewed as a form of knowledge rather than a discovered identity. Foucault wasnt saying that same sex practises werent accruing before the 19th century but, during this time it was seen as shameful rather than in the 19th century where people embraced same sex relationships and the term homosexual. Foucault said, Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphrodism of the soul. The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was seen as being totally suffused with sexuality (Foucault 1978). Since the construction of homosexuality in the 19th century, there has been an explosion of homosexual figures in the 20th century. The media have seemed to of caught the homosexual vibe with television in particular employing homosexuals to present different programmes. These programmes which are hosted by homosexuals are often quite particular programme genres. For example, you would often see a homosexual presenter on entertainment, pop culture and lifestyle programmes rather than documentaries, political shows, or on the news. This shows us that homosexuals are possibly seen as a joke, people who make us laugh by there actions, stories or vulgarity and possibly lack the intelligence or the seriousness to host programmes that require composure and a serious minded attitude towards the subject at hand. Here are three contemporary examples of homosexual TV presenters. The first is guy a called Alan Carr. He has worked on some of the biggest television programmes in the 20th century such as, Friday Night Project, Alan Carrs Celebrity Ding Dong and Alan Carr Chatty Man. Carr is famous for being camp, over the top and having a very unusual laugh that cant help but make you laugh. Despite being openly gay he doesnt consider his sexuality to be a focal part of his act. What am I meant to do? Do I go down the Julian Clary route and talk about fisting and poppers? I dont talk about being gay and I think what better equality for gays than that? (Observer online 2008). Unlike many performers, Carr shies away from unnecessary cruelty, instead relying on his own authenticity to win over his audience. His on-stage persona is simply an extension of his own and therein lies the source of both his charm and his talent. Philosopher, Judith Butler who I will be speaking about later believes that we all put on gender performances and that gender, like sexuality, isnt a vital truth that has come from the bodys materiality but rather a regulatory fiction. The second man is called Dale Winton. Winton has been on television since 1987 and has feature in many different types of television programmes. He is most famous for a programme called Supermarket Sweep which ran from 1993-2001. He was seen as the typical homosexual television presenter, very camp and over the top which is very much a trend in homosexual television hosts. During his time he was iconic for being overtly camp, tanned and often touchy feely with his guests, but he was never as he says a banner waving gay. Im not a banner-waving gay guy, because I actually dont believe its important. People never say vehement heterosexual Michael Parkinson, but it will say camp gay entertainer Graham Norton, or Dale Winton since Ive officially come out. (Times online 2008) The third and final television presenter I will be looking at is Graham Norton. He is arguably one of the most well known television presenters in recent years. Again he has many of the homosexual traits and he describes himself on the channel 4 website as a shiny Irish proof. It does not take long to work out that his sexuality has played a large part in his appeal and success. His exceedingly camp style gives him the licence to be exceedingly rude without being offensive, and his quick wit, put-downs and one-liners have made him a homosexual icon. He has been criticised for being too camp and taking the gay stereotype to an extreme. Some gay men have said he is reinforcing the idea that a gay TV star has to be over-the-top and in the mould of like Kenneth Williams or Frankie Howerd. (BBC website, 2001) All three of these television presenters are examples of the 20th century homosexual. They all share similar traits such as the in your face campness, being over the top and also being drama queens. The homosexual has grown and changed over time since its creation in the 19th century and will continue to change as time goes on. Foucault work on the analysis of sexuality has helped in challenging the preconceived ideas of sexual characteristics. He argues that his study wasnt designed to be a history of sexual behaviours nor a history of representation, but a history of sexuality. Judith Butler The theorist most prominently associated with queerness and queer theory is American post-structuralist philosopher Judith Butler. Butler followed the work of Michel Foucault and used his work so she could investigate models of gender and heterosexuality. Butler argues that gender, like sexuality, isnt a vital truth that has come from the bodys materiality but rather a regulatory fiction. Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort of being (Butler 1990, p. 33) Butler argues that the sex you are i.e. Male or female is seen to cause a gender type i.e. masculine or feminine which is then seen to create a desire towards the other gender. This is seen as a continuous series that is constantly reproducing itself. Inspired by Foucault, Butlers approach is to destroy the links between that series so desire and gender are allowed to be flexible and not made to be steady factors. Butler argues that we all put on gender performances, and she says its not a question of whether this will take place, but in what form will this performance take. She believes that by choosing to be different, we might be able to change gender norms and the understanding of masculinity and femininity. Butler says: There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; identity is performatively constituted by the very expressions that are said to be its results. (Butler 1990, p.25). In other words, gender is a performance; its what you  do  at particular times, rather than a universal  who you are. This approach of gender is very similar to that of sexuality. Butler, Foucault and Queer theory all believe that your identity is not fixed but constructed at certain times or in certain situations. Foucault argued that sexuality was produced which overlaps on what Butler says about gender being performed/produced. This idea of identity as free floating and not connected to a real meaning but rather a performance, is one of the key ideas in the creation of queer theory Modern day examples of Butlers theory regarding gender performances are clear to see. The three examples of homosexual figures in television are examples of what Butler calls gender performances. All three of the television presenters that I have mention Alan Carr, Dale Winton and Graham Norton have created a performance of their gender at particular times. All three man perform their gender in different ways with Alan Carr using his over the top campness as a way of engaging with the audience, Dale Winton using his touchy feely sensual approach to his audience and Graham Norton using his homosexuality as a way of making jokes and putting others down without any consequences. The way in which all three act is a performance of some kind to either feel accepted or to gain a reaction from their audiences. Conclusion In this essay I have looked at the work of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, both of who have influenced the work of queerness in different ways. I have looked at Foucaults work on the repression in the Victorian age and his work on homosexuality. I also looked at the modern day explosion of homosexuals on TV using the examples of three different TV presenters. I then went on to study Judith Butlers work which was influenced by Foucault on gender performances. I discussed how Butler believed that we all go through gender performances but that it isnt who we are, rather a time to time experience. On the back of this I took the example of the three homosexual television presenters and linked their characters to gender performances. Both these theorists have looked at themes in sexuality, gender and society, with some of there ideas overlapping, with both Foucault and Butler looking at sexuality and gender as constructed and performed by individuals. Foucault also looked at the construction of the homosexual figure and I have taken his work on further by looking at the characteristics of the homosexual figure as exemplified by modern day TV presenters.

Drug Abuse Among American Teenagers Essay -- Drug Abuse, Substance Abu

Drug Abuse Among American Teenagers Drug abuse in America is a major problem. Especially among teenagers. Drugs have hurt the lives of nearly 40 percent of all teenagers in America. Either with health problems, DWIs, highway crashes, arrests, impaired school and job performance. These drugs that teenagers use range from Alcohol, LSD, Marijuana, and even Cigarettes. Most of the teenagers that are involved in drug abuse have either, broken families, parents that are drug abusers, a unstable environment where they are constantly moving from place to place, or there parents aren't exactly making a lot of money and they are never around because they are trying to make enough money for them to survive. But even to most ordinary teenager can have a drug problem depending on there friends, and relationship with there family. These teenagers turn to drugs because they have no where else to turn. There family members aren't ever around, or hardly ever around. Some teens may have there parents around, but they too are involved with drug abuse, giving little or no attention to there children. They may have dropped out of school, or aren't meeting the standards set for them to meet, giving them a sense that they aren't worth anything. So what do they do? They turn to drugs, thinking that it will take all there problems away. They soon discover new friends with the same outlook on drugs as they have. And now they have a place to turn, a place where they will not be rejected or put down, a place where nothing matters, everyday is a good day. Until they finally just fall apart. The reason most teens get involved in drugs is because they have what's called a low inner and outer containment. Inner containment is what people believe is right... ...ervices, 1996). 2. The Gallup Organization, Consult with America: A Look at How Americans View the Country's Drug Problem, Summary Report (Rockville, Md.: March 1996). 3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Preliminary Estimates from the 1995 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. 4. Rand Corporation, Modeling the Demand for Cocaine (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corporation, 1994). 5. W. Rhodes, P. Scheiman, and K. Carlson, What America's Users Spend on Illegal Drugs, 1988-1991 (Washington, D.C.: Abt Associates, Inc., under contract to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 1993). 6. National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee, The NNICC Report 1995: The Supply of Illicit Drugs to the United States (Washington, D.C.: Drug Enforcement Administration, August 1996). 7. Office of National Drug Control Policy, Pulse Check

Leading Group Challenges

The police officers arrest the offenders and charge the offender with the crime, and the court yester determines what sentence the offender should face, If the charges warrant a sentence. If the offender receives a sentence of Call or prison, the correctional faculties must guarantee the sentence occurs In a secure manner. Unfortunately, these criminal Justice agencies are not always working toward the same goals, which results in conflict. The leaders of the agencies must take care of the conflict before the conflict is out of hand.An example of the type of conflict that may arise is police officers wanting to remove the offenders off the streets. The court system may want o give the offenders a chance at rehabilitation instead of prison time, even if the offender is a repeat offender. Situations like this cause conflict for the leaders of the criminal Justice agencies to handle. The court system, correctional facilities, and police give up a considerable amount of control with the responsibilities. Leadership among criminal Justice agencies must consider the control with Justice (Collaborative Justice, 2012).Criminal Justice agencies must work together Instead of against each other to handle the challenges with conflict and control. The agencies must be on the name page and working toward the same goals. The ultimate goal Is to rehabilitate offenders but at times there will be an offender who is not a candidate for rehabilitation. The agencies must work together to find the best solution for the offender, society, and for the different agencies involved (Collaborative Justice, 2012).Political Challenges Criminal Justice agencies handle political and legal challenges that take place inside as well as outside the criminal justice system. Criminal justice decision makers are chosen through appointment or election. Depending on the state, the Judges are either voted in by the people or the governor appoints who he or she wants as a judge. No matter how a person l ooks at it, either way Is political. The president of the united States appoints the federal Judges, and he or she Is verified by the Senate. The political process strongly persuades the Supreme Court of the united States (Dulled, 2012).Keeping politics out of the various criminal Justice agencies Is a must. These agencies have a job to do, which cannot happen if the politics are in the way of people, with that, the politics must stop. The United States has too many corrupt officials because he or she allowed politics to get in the way of doing the Job. There are politics in the police, prosecution, and corrections. For good things to happen with these agencies in the future, these agencies need to separate the politics from the Job and purpose of the Job (Dueling, 2012).The Police and Politics Politics does not have a direct effect on the daily routines and decisions of police officers but politics does determine how the police officers act and react during patrol. Police departmen ts are run by some form of government, whether it is the city council, the mayor, the city manager, or the commissioner. These leaders make a change in the degree to which politics shape the police departments. Politics floods police departments in cities and towns that have a government that consists of a city council or a mayor making the decisions.Professional city managers make political involvement with the police departments less possible (Dueling, 2012). The Prosecution and Politics Political deliberations sway prosecutors in an exact way. Most states elect the prosecutors, and the prosecutors are caught up in the local politics. In the federal courts, the attorneys for the United States are appointed politically and are likely to outwork his or her career goals to the wants of his or her own political affiliation. The federal and state prosecutors frequently use his or her headquarters as a launch pad for a higher political office.Infrequently, a dishonest prosecutor will ta ke advantage of his or her power by way of engaging in political actions of pressing outrageous charges against his or her enemies (Law. ]rank. Org, 2012). Corrections and Politics Officials in the corrections facilities take political concerns into consideration. Politics can push release decisions from the parole board. The members of the parole board re vulnerable to pressure from the authority that chooses him or her. The members of the parole board almost unavoidably make the decisions to release an offender carefully.If a parolee commits a crime after he or she was paroled, the media will put the blame on the governor, and the rivals of the governor will use that against the governor in the next election (Dueling, 2012). Communication Challenges Communication is one of the biggest challenges facing leaders in criminal Just agencies. There are two communication barriers that affect communication within these agencies. The first barrier is the individual barriers. The individual barriers deal with how a person interprets what someone else says and the organizational barriers come from the culture of an organization.Each criminal Justice agency has one goal in mind, to protect the people. However, each agency has its own language of sorts when handling the tasks within the agency. The police departments, the court system, and corrections have different languages and not all agencies are familiar with each language. This is a challenge when the agencies must work together. This communication challenge also can be a problem for the public if the public does not know or understand what the agencies are discussing (Sinclair, 2012).Communication is vital to any agency, especially criminal Justice agencies. Every criminal Justice agency has a purpose to protect the people of the United States. Various agencies should hold a training session together to discuss the communication issues between the various agencies and train each agency on the different languages o f each agency. These agencies need to work together, which cannot happen if there is a lack in communication (Sinclair, 2012). Budget Challenges Budget cuts occur across the nation and criminal Justice agencies are not exempt room budget cuts.Most criminal Justice agencies rely on local and state funding to operate and sometimes the state or local officials have to make drastic cuts to the budget because of the economy. Unfortunately, this causes a reduction in staff because the money Just is not there to pay the salaries. Budget cuts are probably the biggest challenges that criminal Justice leaders face because no one wants a reduction in police officers or correctional officers. The United States needs every man power it can get to combat the war on crime.The crime rate rises when departments are forced to scale back because of the budget. Offenders on parole or probation receive less supervision because the money is not there to supervise adequately each offender. Budget cuts aff ect each agency differently, but no agency wants the budget to be cut because managers believe the public cannot be adequately protected (Bryant, 2012). Unfortunately, budget cuts happen to the criminal Justice agencies whether the agencies want it or not.Along with these budget cuts come a reduction in staff. That is a huge blow to law enforcement agencies hired to serve and protect the people of the United States. Criminal Justice agencies discuss and are given a budget after each fiscal year. The budget covers salaries, overtime, and various expenses for the department. The different departments must figure out ways to deal with budget cuts properly to ensure no reduction to the current staff. Sticking to the budget and using the budget for things necessary is important.Having an agency leader make drastic changes to the agency just because he or she wants to, is not a good way to spend the budget (Bryant, 2012). Effective Team Challenges Most criminal Justice agencies work toget her as teams inside the different agencies. Teams are assembled to brainstorm and complete the tasks. For example, law enforcement agencies have specific teams to work certain cases. These team members must be able to work with each other so the team can be effective to solve the cases. Criminal Justice managers do not always have team members who can work together.Sometimes there is conflict within the team and the manager has to come up with a resolution if he or she wants this team to succeed. The team members must be compatible with each other to be effective. The responsibility lies on the criminal Justice managers to assemble the effective and compatible teams for the departments. He or she is faced with a challenge when conflict arises within that am, and he or she must figure out a solution, whether the solution is to remove one member of that team or design new teams (Collaborative Justice, 2012).Affecting Change for the Future The leaders in criminal Justice agencies face many challenges that he or she must deal with daily. The criminal Justice agencies must work together as a team instead of against each other to make the changes and embrace the changes. The future criminal Justice leaders will be confronted with bigger and more complicated before. Even though the challenges will be more complicated and acknowledged at a ore rapidly rate, the abilities these leaders must conquer will not change. Leading Group Challenges The police officers arrest the offenders and charge the offender with the crime, and the court yester determines what sentence the offender should face, If the charges warrant a sentence. If the offender receives a sentence of Call or prison, the correctional faculties must guarantee the sentence occurs In a secure manner. Unfortunately, these criminal Justice agencies are not always working toward the same goals, which results in conflict. The leaders of the agencies must take care of the conflict before the conflict is out of hand.An example of the type of conflict that may arise is police officers wanting to remove the offenders off the streets. The court system may want o give the offenders a chance at rehabilitation instead of prison time, even if the offender is a repeat offender. Situations like this cause conflict for the leaders of the criminal Justice agencies to handle. The court system, correctional facilities, and police give up a considerable amount of control with the responsibilities. Leadership among criminal Justice agencies must consider the control with Justice (Collaborative Justice, 2012).Criminal Justice agencies must work together Instead of against each other to handle the challenges with conflict and control. The agencies must be on the name page and working toward the same goals. The ultimate goal Is to rehabilitate offenders but at times there will be an offender who is not a candidate for rehabilitation. The agencies must work together to find the best solution for the offender, society, and for the different agencies involved (Collaborative Justice, 2012).Political Challenges Criminal Justice agencies handle political and legal challenges that take place inside as well as outside the criminal justice system. Criminal justice decision makers are chosen through appointment or election. Depending on the state, the Judges are either voted in by the people or the governor appoints who he or she wants as a judge. No matter how a person l ooks at it, either way Is political. The president of the united States appoints the federal Judges, and he or she Is verified by the Senate. The political process strongly persuades the Supreme Court of the united States (Dulled, 2012).Keeping politics out of the various criminal Justice agencies Is a must. These agencies have a job to do, which cannot happen if the politics are in the way of people, with that, the politics must stop. The United States has too many corrupt officials because he or she allowed politics to get in the way of doing the Job. There are politics in the police, prosecution, and corrections. For good things to happen with these agencies in the future, these agencies need to separate the politics from the Job and purpose of the Job (Dueling, 2012).The Police and Politics Politics does not have a direct effect on the daily routines and decisions of police officers but politics does determine how the police officers act and react during patrol. Police departmen ts are run by some form of government, whether it is the city council, the mayor, the city manager, or the commissioner. These leaders make a change in the degree to which politics shape the police departments. Politics floods police departments in cities and towns that have a government that consists of a city council or a mayor making the decisions.Professional city managers make political involvement with the police departments less possible (Dueling, 2012). The Prosecution and Politics Political deliberations sway prosecutors in an exact way. Most states elect the prosecutors, and the prosecutors are caught up in the local politics. In the federal courts, the attorneys for the United States are appointed politically and are likely to outwork his or her career goals to the wants of his or her own political affiliation. The federal and state prosecutors frequently use his or her headquarters as a launch pad for a higher political office.Infrequently, a dishonest prosecutor will ta ke advantage of his or her power by way of engaging in political actions of pressing outrageous charges against his or her enemies (Law. ]rank. Org, 2012). Corrections and Politics Officials in the corrections facilities take political concerns into consideration. Politics can push release decisions from the parole board. The members of the parole board re vulnerable to pressure from the authority that chooses him or her. The members of the parole board almost unavoidably make the decisions to release an offender carefully.If a parolee commits a crime after he or she was paroled, the media will put the blame on the governor, and the rivals of the governor will use that against the governor in the next election (Dueling, 2012). Communication Challenges Communication is one of the biggest challenges facing leaders in criminal Just agencies. There are two communication barriers that affect communication within these agencies. The first barrier is the individual barriers. The individual barriers deal with how a person interprets what someone else says and the organizational barriers come from the culture of an organization.Each criminal Justice agency has one goal in mind, to protect the people. However, each agency has its own language of sorts when handling the tasks within the agency. The police departments, the court system, and corrections have different languages and not all agencies are familiar with each language. This is a challenge when the agencies must work together. This communication challenge also can be a problem for the public if the public does not know or understand what the agencies are discussing (Sinclair, 2012).Communication is vital to any agency, especially criminal Justice agencies. Every criminal Justice agency has a purpose to protect the people of the United States. Various agencies should hold a training session together to discuss the communication issues between the various agencies and train each agency on the different languages o f each agency. These agencies need to work together, which cannot happen if there is a lack in communication (Sinclair, 2012). Budget Challenges Budget cuts occur across the nation and criminal Justice agencies are not exempt room budget cuts.Most criminal Justice agencies rely on local and state funding to operate and sometimes the state or local officials have to make drastic cuts to the budget because of the economy. Unfortunately, this causes a reduction in staff because the money Just is not there to pay the salaries. Budget cuts are probably the biggest challenges that criminal Justice leaders face because no one wants a reduction in police officers or correctional officers. The United States needs every man power it can get to combat the war on crime.The crime rate rises when departments are forced to scale back because of the budget. Offenders on parole or probation receive less supervision because the money is not there to supervise adequately each offender. Budget cuts aff ect each agency differently, but no agency wants the budget to be cut because managers believe the public cannot be adequately protected (Bryant, 2012). Unfortunately, budget cuts happen to the criminal Justice agencies whether the agencies want it or not.Along with these budget cuts come a reduction in staff. That is a huge blow to law enforcement agencies hired to serve and protect the people of the United States. Criminal Justice agencies discuss and are given a budget after each fiscal year. The budget covers salaries, overtime, and various expenses for the department. The different departments must figure out ways to deal with budget cuts properly to ensure no reduction to the current staff. Sticking to the budget and using the budget for things necessary is important.Having an agency leader make drastic changes to the agency just because he or she wants to, is not a good way to spend the budget (Bryant, 2012). Effective Team Challenges Most criminal Justice agencies work toget her as teams inside the different agencies. Teams are assembled to brainstorm and complete the tasks. For example, law enforcement agencies have specific teams to work certain cases. These team members must be able to work with each other so the team can be effective to solve the cases. Criminal Justice managers do not always have team members who can work together.Sometimes there is conflict within the team and the manager has to come up with a resolution if he or she wants this team to succeed. The team members must be compatible with each other to be effective. The responsibility lies on the criminal Justice managers to assemble the effective and compatible teams for the departments. He or she is faced with a challenge when conflict arises within that am, and he or she must figure out a solution, whether the solution is to remove one member of that team or design new teams (Collaborative Justice, 2012).Affecting Change for the Future The leaders in criminal Justice agencies face many challenges that he or she must deal with daily. The criminal Justice agencies must work together as a team instead of against each other to make the changes and embrace the changes. The future criminal Justice leaders will be confronted with bigger and more complicated before. Even though the challenges will be more complicated and acknowledged at a ore rapidly rate, the abilities these leaders must conquer will not change.

Environmental Impacts Essay

Global climate change as seen above results in increased amounts of rainfall which in turn causes an increase in erosion levels in arid and semi-arid areas of island nations which does not have adequate protective vegetation cover Loss of soil implicates that the quality of soil cannot support the desired agricultural production and consequently low economic value for the country. With strong waves and wind speeds, some weather phenomenon can uproot trees in some areas resulting deforestation and in the future deserts can be created. (U. S Environment Protection Agency, 2007) Legal Address on Global Climate Change The United States through its Federal Court heard on September, 2006 the first case concerning global climate change where the companies had sued the state for implementing an act regulating the carbon dioxide emissions from cars that are not hybrid. The clean Air Act had stated that it greenhouse gases are considered air pollutants and therefore provided strict regulations of dealing with it. Other countries are still pushing the United States to agree with other countries on the Kyoto protocol on global warming which was rejected by some powerful countries which compromise their economic status in expense of the environmental concerns which will affect almost every human being on earth. Outcome of global warming The most immediate consequences of global climate change are; ? Rise in global temperatures ? Rising sea level ? Changes in precipitation patterns ? Increase in intensity and frequency of some extreme weather conditions such as the Tsunami ? Significant changes in agricultural yields ? Extinctions of some species ? Reduction in stream flows ? Glacier retreat ? Easier spread of disease ? Changes in mountain snow pack ? Water shortages Research has shown that global temperatures in the seas and on land have increased by 0. 75 Â °C in the last century. The most significant changes were seen in the 1990s due to the increased greenhouse effects and increased human activity. Going by estimates of the Gorrard Institute of Space Studies the year 2005 was the warmest in history and scientists provide an explanation that the main cause could be increased levels of greenhouse gases which are as a result of industrial activities. (Clean Air Act, 2007) Management of Global Climate Change Effects In order to manage global climate change effects manager’s commitment and dedication is of great importance and therefore it will incorporate both the two functions of planning and controlling measures. Global warming is not clear to the scientists trying to come up with solutions to it and therefore it is difficult to answer the question on how to manage global warming. Although many environmental activists have been trying to convince the current world leaders to adopt a common law that will see the elimination of fossil fuels in our countries, stiff criticism have been focused that suggests that alternative sources of fuel be developed to automatically weed what is now available in the market. Companies such as Mobil would rather resist keeping their businesses alive. However, at planning and controlling level, the following simple practices can help reduce global warming: (Maslin, 2004) ? Implementing already documented policies on environmental issues, ? Tree planting and places where deforestation has occurred, ? Proper landscaping of our homes i. e. deflecting winds away from home, ? Using hybrid vehicles with inflated tires and proper air filters, ? Unplugging of un-used electronics and ? Carpooling. Recommendations 1) The managers should incorporate all the four functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling and should not rely on one of the above functions in order to successfully handle the changing climate. 2) The managers should also seek advice from external bodies like the UN in order to formulate viable policies that will curb the effect of change in climate 3) The managers should also incorporate other stakeholders for example employees and the surrounding population in order to jointly come up with appropriate measures that enhance solving the effects of climate change. 4) The managers should formulate strategies of curbing global warming effects that deals with economic, legal and environmental effects associated with the organization in question and the environment itself. 5) The managers should adopt and follow the Kyoto protocol in order to successful handle the effects of global climate change. (Wetherald and Manabe, 2002) Conclusion With such of gravity of the global climate issue, anybody is sure to seek answers on how to preserve this important commodity. Global climate changes is an international concern that attracts not only the attention of each person but also demands solutions from them since every individual at this generation would want to have his or her grandchildren and great grandchildren live in a wonderful environment. With such of gravity of the global climate issue, anybody is sure to seek answers on how to preserve this important commodity. Global warming is an international concern that attracts not only the attention of managers but also demands solutions from them since every individual at this generation would want to have his or her grandchildren and great grandchildren live in a wonderful environment. The most hotly debated issue we have today in the world is the global climate change. Current managers of different firms are discussing ways of curbing such developments of global warming by holding seminars and drafting policies to deal with it. Industrialized countries such as the United States, Germany, Japan and etc. are being blamed for not strictly adhering to the Kyoto protocol which was signed by most countries and accepted as the only way to control climate change. However, the biggest challenge for managers and political leaders is to eliminate very important economic contributors such as fuels from coal, sewerage and power plants that contribute to the increase in global warming. Because of its usefulness, the United Nations has been currently working with member countries to address the issue through all its organs. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2007) Reference Clean Air Act, (2008): – U. S. policy on global warming today, Retrieved From, http://www. globalwarming. net/, on May 11, 2008 Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition: Prentice Hall, New York Maslin, M. (2004): Global warming: a very short introduction: – Oxford University Press, New York Maundy, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human to Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice: Macmillan, Palgrave Meehl, G. A. , Washington, W. M and Collins, W. D. et al. (2005): How much more global warming and sea level rise? Science 307 Meehl, G. A. , Washington, W. M and Collins, W. D. et al. (2005): How much more global warming and sea level rise? Science 307:1769 – 1772 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2008): Global Warming, Retrieved from http://www. ncdc. noaa. gov/oa/climate/globalwarming. html, on May 11, 2008 Paul, F. (2007): The Science of Discussing Changing Climate. Melbourne Circulation, Capital City Daily: Media Monitors

buy custom The Prosecution of Criminals and Mozambican Model essay

buy custom The Prosecution of Criminals and Mozambican Model essay The main purpose of the paper is to study and analyze the article War, Gender and Culture: Mozambican Women Refugees written by Tina Sideris in order to answer the question whether prosecution of war criminals should take precedence over amnesty and/or reconciliation (Sideris, 2003). The special attention in this essay is paid to the Mozambican model, as it is important to define whether it is worth emulating, or it saws the seeds of future conflicts. The following conflict in the world history is a perfect example of demonstrating the connection between the war criminals and the outcomes of their crimes as a lot of people have been injured during this warfare. The current analysis shows that criminals prosecution is extremely important despite the fact that there are series of cases where the amnesty has to take place. The war in Mozambique continued for nearly two decades and it has injured a great number of people. Special attention has to be paid to the trauma caused towards women that are far more affected by the severe violence and constant warfare. The numerous injured people that survived show that the multiple injuries are the result of the lack of understanding of the real value of humans life, the outomes of the conflicts and crimes (Sideris, 2003). In this connection, punishment and prosecution have to be implemented in order to stop criminals committing crimes. This shows the border line to a great number of people. The injury to the spirit is worse than the physical injuries. Therefore, the trauma that remains after the crime is even more severe. However, here it can be seen that the prosecution can also cause such a trauma. In this connection, the criminal can potentially become injured. That is why there are some cases where the amnesty is more suitable, especially in such countries as Mozambique. Mozambican model was suitable for the country at that period of time, but such a process results in the emergence of new conflicts. Therefore, the model that took place within the country appeared to be ineffective. It can be seen from multiple evidences of local people that a lot of families have been killed during the warfare, not only the single persons. Women have been left alone and many of them became refugees. A great number of deaths could have been prevented in case the criminals were stopped. It is important to persecute and punish such individuals because of the destructive characteer f their crimes and the great number of innocent victims. The amnesty for such criminals is not an option because it can be seen that this warfare was extremely heavy and resulted in the psychological trauma, depression and distress of a number of people. These mental injuries might affect their children and therefore the number of victims grows. The series of crimes produces a great number of criminals as well. And these people have to witness severe punishment. Unlike common citizens that witnessed persecution and therefore were seriously harmed, real criminals have to face real punishment. This is the main difference between the two measures and therefore in the majority of cases criminals that affected innocent civilians have to be persecuted. This will lower the number of criminals and make it possible to prevent a series of new crimes and victims. It is extremely important to protect people and guarantee their safety and security of their families. That is why the amnesty in many cases is not a perfect solution as it will cause the emergence of new criminals that can also be left unpunished. A proper system and its stable functioning will support the development of healthy social environment within the country. Buy custom The Prosecution of Criminals and Mozambican Model essay

Barton Corbin Case

Barton Corbin Case On Dec. 4, 2004 Jennifer Corbin was found shot once in the head in her Buford, Georgia home with a handgun beside her. Her 7-year-old son discovered her body and reportedly told police that his dad, Dr. Barton Corbin, had killed his mom. While authorities were investigating the death of Jennifer Corbin in Gwinnett County, a Richmond County grand jury on Dec. 22 indicted Barton Corbin for the 1990 death of Dorothy (Dolly) Hearn, who was Bartons girlfriend in dental school in Augusta. Hearn was found shot to death in her apartment with a gun in her lap. Latest Developments Georgia Dentist Pleads Guilty to Two Murders Previous Developments Judge Allows 1990 Evidence in Gwinnett Trial Hearing Set in Georgia Dentists CaseDec. 20, 2005Attorneys for a Georgia dentist, who is accused of killing is wife in 2004 and his girlfriend in 1990, will argue that jurors in one trial should not hear about charges his faces in another in a hearing set for Feb. 17. Attorneys for Georgia Dentist Fight Murder ChargesOct. 10, 2005Attorneys for Barton Corbin, the Georgia dentist accused of the murder of his wife in December and his former girlfriend 15 years ago, have asked that the charged be dropped in the 1990 case because they said the state waited too long to indict him for the death of Dorothy (Dolly) Hearn. Corbin Pleads Innocent in Wifes DeathJan 27, 2005Barton Corbin entered a not guilty plea in his wifes death, after waiving his right to an arraignment. Georgia Dentist Investigated in Third DeathDec. 7, 2005Dr. Barton Corbin, who has been indicted by two Georgia grand juries in the connection with the Dec. 4 death of his wife and death of his former girlfriend 14 years ago, is now being investigated in connection with the death of a Georgia woman who disappeared in 1996 and was found a year later in her vehicle at the bottom of an Alabama Lake. Barton Indicted for Wifes MurderJan. 5, 2005A Gwinnett County grand jury has indicted Georgia dentist Barton Corbin for murder in the shooting death of his wife Jennifer Corbin, who was found dead in her bedroom with a handgun by her side. Investigators Await Gunshot TestsDec. 28, 2004Prosecutors are waiting for crime lab tests in connection with the shooting death of Jennifer Corbin. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is performing gunshot residue tests on both Jennifer Corbin and her husband, dentist Barton Corbin. Corbin Indicted in Former Girlfriends DeathDec. 22, 2004The husband of a woman who was found shot in her home two weeks ago has now been indicted for the death of his former girlfriend who was found under similar suspicious circumstances 14 years ago.

Get the Definition of Schwa With Examples in English

Get the Definition of 'Schwa' With Examples in English The term  schwa  (from the Hebrew; pronounced SHWA with alternate spelling shwa) was first used in  linguistics  by the 19th-century German  philologist  Jacob Grimm. The  schwa is the most common vowel sound in English, represented as É™ in the International Phonetic Alphabet. Any vowel letter can stand for the schwa sound. Only words with two or more syllables may have a schwa, which is also called the  mid-central vowel. The schwa represents a mid-central vowel in an unstressed syllable, such as the second syllable in the word woman and the second syllable in the word buses.   Examples and Observations It is extremely important. ... to recognize that pronouncing unstressed vowels as schwa is not lazy or sloppy. All native speakers of Standard English, including the Queen of England, the Prime Minister of Canada, and the President of the United States, use schwa.(Avery, Peter and Susan Ehrlich. Teaching American English Pronunciation, Oxford University Press, 1992.) Reduced Vowels Vowels change in quality when they are reduced. The reduced vowel tends to be not only very short but also very unclear, producing an obscure sound that is hard to identify. Consider, as an example, the name of the California town Orinda, pronounced /É™rin-dÉ™/, with the first vowel and the last vowel reduced to schwa. Only the second vowel in the word, the stressed vowel, maintains its clarity. The other two vowels are very unclear.(Gilbert, Judy B. Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in North American English, 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2005.) Dialectal Variations in Schwa Usage If you listen for it, you can hear schwa in all sorts of places where syllables arent stressed- for example, at the beginnings of words like official, occasion, event, and fatigue. Many people... feel that schwa-ful pronunciations are lazy, but really you would sound pretty odd if you did pronounce the full vowel in place of schwa in these words. Pronunciations like ohfficial and ohccasion sound unnatural and rather theatrical. Schwa also occurs in the middle of words like coronation and afterwards. Again, it would be peculiar not to sound schwa in this position- for instance, corohnation for coronation. ... Schwa usage varies greatly between dialects. Australian English speakers often put schwas in places where British and American speakers wont. Striking differences are also now appearing as a consequence of the worldwide spread of English.(Burridge, Kate. Blooming English: Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 2004.) Schwa and Zero Schwa In terms of duration- a phonetic property that the IPA vowel chart does not indicate- schwa is typically quite short, and this short duration may covary with its tendency to be coarticulated. ... [G]iven its short duration and its consequent tendency to camouflage itself to its context through coarticulation, schwa may be confused with its absence, setting up a situation in which schwa-zero alternations may take hold in a system...(Silverman, Daniel. Schwa The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, edited by Marc van Oostendorp et al., Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.) Schwa and English Spelling For the most part, the schwa vowel sound in a two-syllable word is identified by the uh pronunciation and sound. Oftentimes, children spell chocolate as choclat, separate as seprate, or memory as memry. The schwa vowel is thus omitted. The vowel sound schwa is also found in two-syllable words such as alone, pencil, syringe, and taken. Children commonly misrepresent the schwa vowel and spell these words: ulone for alone, pencol for pencil, suringe for syringe, and takin for taken. It is still the vowel in the unstressed syllable that is featured in this case. ... This time, it is substituted with another incorrect vowel. These aforementioned misunderstandings generally disappear as the child advances in his reasoning and knowledge of the English language, learns conventional alternatives for representing sounds, and begins to apply patterning including syllables and a visual sense to his spelling.(Heembrock, Roberta. Why Kids Cant Spell: A Practical Guide to the Missing Component in Language Proficiency, Rowman Littlefield, 2008.) Schwa and the Evolution of Language [T]here is one vowel, now quite common in the languages of the world, that is ... unlikely to have been in the inventories of earliest languages. This is the schwa vowel, [É™], as in the second syllable of English sofa. ... In English, schwa is the classic weak vowel, not used in any crucial contrasting function, but as a variant of (almost) any vowel in unstressed position. ... Not all languages have a schwa vowel, weakening an unstressed vowel as English does. But many languages with similar rhythmic properties to English have an equivalent to the English schwa vowel. It seems likely that the earliest languages, before they had had time to evolve such weakening rules, would not have had a schwa vowel.(Hurford, James R. The Origins of Language, Oxford University Press, 2014.)

Healthcare Information Systems - Hardware and Software Essay

Healthcare Information Systems - Hardware and Software - Essay Example The device features an embedded touch screen so that physicians can update patient information regardless of a keyboard. Likewise, physicians can update patient information, process menu driven applications by just touching the screen and following instructions. Moreover, the device has an added unique sensitivity filter that can even work accurately, when physicians are equipped with hand gloves. In addition, the device also includes features such as (Tablet PC, ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) and mobile clinical assistant (MCA) systems, peripherals and accessories – TabletKiosk, n.d): Verifying patient’s information Scanning labels that are associated with medication and blood vial Image and data capturing suite Two dimensional bar code scanner Integrated 2.0 megapixel camera 13.56 MHz radio frequency identification reader that is integrated in the handheld device Another handheld input device named as Sahara Slate PC, provides two way input methods i.e. active digitizer and r esistive touch technology. As the size of the LCD screen is large, physicians can easily view patient related reports and documents without scrolling.

Theory and Philosophy of Nurse Practitioner Term Paper

Theory and Philosophy of Nurse Practitioner - Term Paper Example The various theories of nursing contribute to better clinical practice and enhance the experiences of nurse practitioners in providing optimal care to the patients and contribute to the nursing profession (Alligood, 2014). Medicine and effective healthcare is a science as well as an art that applies scientifically proven theories into practice with state of the art personal skills and exemplary behavioral traits. It is a science because nursing education empowers individuals with specialized knowledge and expertise for optimal healthcare outcome of patients. It exploits scientific knowledge to alleviate pain and promote patients’ welfare. At the same time, it is an art as personal skills, attitude and empathy of nurses become critical ingredients that help build constructive relationships with patients and promote trust that lead to improved patients’ outcome. They facilitate integration of a holistic approach by promoting physical, mental and social well-being of the patients and ethically delivered care to medically sick people. Thus, making special efforts to understand people and incorporating values in their interaction, nurses develop the art of interacting with patients, carer and other stakeholders. The two most important theories of nursing that I like to apply within clinical environment are: theory of value based practice; and evidence based practice. The theory of values based practice becomes hugely pertinent in the current environment of rapid globalization when the changing dynamics of society necessitate better understanding of cross-cultural values and ethically delivered care. Globalization has ushered in pluralistic society where people comprise of different race, color, culture and nationality. Cultural competencies of nurses considerably facilitate them to build relationship with patients which expedite

MBA Business and Economic Evironment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MBA Business and Economic Evironment - Essay Example As the interest rates change, so do the spending and saving patterns of the people. When interest rates increase the cost of borrowing money increases and hence people borrow lesser where as when there is a decrease in interest rates people are more inclined to borrowing money because the cost of borrowing is lower. This affects the aggregate demand and aggregate supply of a country because money is the basis of all transactions that take place in an economy and if the cost of borrowing money decreases the money demand in the economy would tend to increase and people will be more inclined to spend that money and hence the aggregate demand would increase and this would lead to more people being employed if the economy is not already operating at optimum level of productivity. On the other if interest rates tend to increase then the cost of borrowing increases and people are not willing to borrow, hence the aggregate demand for the economy would decrease and the would have adverse effe cts on the labor as well. An increase in the interest rates in Australia would definitely have the same effects as well and a decrease in aggregate demand is expected. Industrial point of View: If the interest rates are increasing the cost of borrowing for industries would go sky high because industrialists require huge sums of loans because of the industry and the operations that they need to carry out. A very important decision for the firms is based on the interest rates and their trends, the question is: to expand or not to expand The answer lies with the interest rates, if they are very high then the company might postpone their expansionary plans but if they are lower and within a safe limit then the company can go and expand. This applies to whole industries, if industries expand there would be much more labor required and there would be an increase in employment leading to an increase in aggregate demand. Hence if any government is looking to give a boost to its industrial set up it should take special care when dealing with interest rates because it might charter the course of a whole industry and any industry is important to the economy because it has a lot of oth er units such as labor and exports dependent upon such industries, though some governments have come up with industrial interest rates but still they serve the same function. Exchange Rates: The exchange rates of a country play an integral part in determining where the country is heading in the near future and also has far reaching consequences in policy making. Interest rates play a very important role in determining what a country's exchange rates would be, in fact they are also a tool to tamper with the exchange rates. If the interest rates are increasing in an economy, ceteris paribus, then there would be an inflow of foreign currency into that country because people would want to save their money in that country's banks because that would give them a higher return on their investments, when this takes place the demand for a country's currency on the foreign exchange market increases. On the other hand if the interest rat

Career Advancement in Oilfield Oil & Gas Trucking to Controller, Research Paper

Career Advancement in Oilfield Oil & Gas Trucking to Controller, Operations Manager or General Manager - Research Paper Example In a thesis statement, career advancement has been currently experienced in the oilfields as justified by the upgrading practice of the personnel from, the gas tracking level to the controller and finally to the uppermost rank of operations manager. There are various elements that have contributed to attainment of career advancement in the oilfields. The following are among the factors to consider in advancing a career from a gas trucker to a general manger positionq2q2 in oilfield service businesses: Generally, it is the responsibility of general managers to translate executive management goals into plans of action and delegate them to other employees (Kerzner 23). Like other industries, in oilfield service businesses, general managers are required to carry out duties such as developing sales strategies and analyzing weak points of competitors and strategizing on how to take over. In addition, they are also required to hire management and service staff, and prepare plans and programs that would enable the company attain its objectives (Worldwideworker.com p2). Therefore, to achieve these duties bestowed to them, managers must have good level of education in the field and vast knowledge in management (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin and Cardy 20). In oilfield service businesses, General Managers usually have degrees in science or engineering. However, since the oilfield companies just as any other businesses are established with the aim of making profits, most of these companies usually prefer hiring applicants with bachelor degrees in liberal arts and masters degree in business administration. In addition, courses in management, finance, accounting and industrial relations can also be an added advantage to be considered for a management post. Apart from education, experience is also a major factor that is usually considered. Oilfield service businesses usually prefer applicants who have about 8 or 10 years of directly related

Introduction to Communication-Creating I Messages-discussion Personal Statement

Introduction to Communication-Creating I Messages-discussion - Personal Statement Example These situations could be the temperament and personal mood at the time of communication (Bishop 4). Non- assertive communication is in most cases defensive and irrational. I remember one scenario when I was in a meeting with my business partner. We had agreed on the standard terms for our ERP implementation to one of our clients. A disagreement arose on what duration the implementation of the project would take. A series of questions kept on propping up from my partner. There was a heated disagreement and the discussion turned out acrimonious. My partner in deed had some valid concerns. Assertive communication in this case would have solved the acrimony. Assertiveness is a skill that needs to be incorporated in day to day communication. When one is tactical in his or her communication, they listen more than they talk. The basis of careful listening is to gain a clear understanding of the other person’s perspective. The result would be a balanced reaction to whatever the issues under discussion. I now have an understanding of assertiveness in communication. It is more productive and it results to tangible

Global Business Environment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Global Business Environment - Case Study Example P&G started as a small soap and candle company started by William Proctor and James Gamble in the year 1837 in the Cincinnati United States now has 138,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. The company’s products and services are available to consumers over 180 countries. The company maintains one of the strongest and largest portfolios of trusted brands.  The company markets nearly 300 well-known brands in consumer goods and more than 50 percent of its revenues are derived from foreign countries. Being the market leader in the FMCG market P&G has proved to be one of the aggressive marketers and the largest advertiser in the world. Extensive market research and the novel brand-management system are the unique strengths of the company (Proctor & Gamble).  The success of P&G largely depended on its business technique called ‘brand management’ which implied that the company will focus its attention on a product rather than on a business function. The technique involves a decentralized decision making. The company began its global expansion during the early 1990s when the top management felt the need for streamlining the brand management system. For carrying out a planned expansion the company established a ‘Global Strategic Planning Group’ consisting of 3-20 individuals for each of the product categories. This group was made responsible for developing policies covering global and local brands. The group was also empowered to make decisions concerning ‘brand strategy’ which needs to be standardized across the world markets. It also involved customizing the products according to local markets and customer requirements.  While developing the branding strategies was made the responsibility of the Global Strategic Planning Group the implementation of the strategies was entrusted to the ‘Global Category Team’. The Global Category Team is headed by an executive vice president who handles eac h of the product categories.

Introduction to Communication-Creating I Messages-discussion Personal Statement

Introduction to Communication-Creating I Messages-discussion - Personal Statement Example These situations could be the temperament and personal mood at the time of communication (Bishop 4). Non- assertive communication is in most cases defensive and irrational. I remember one scenario when I was in a meeting with my business partner. We had agreed on the standard terms for our ERP implementation to one of our clients. A disagreement arose on what duration the implementation of the project would take. A series of questions kept on propping up from my partner. There was a heated disagreement and the discussion turned out acrimonious. My partner in deed had some valid concerns. Assertive communication in this case would have solved the acrimony. Assertiveness is a skill that needs to be incorporated in day to day communication. When one is tactical in his or her communication, they listen more than they talk. The basis of careful listening is to gain a clear understanding of the other person’s perspective. The result would be a balanced reaction to whatever the issues under discussion. I now have an understanding of assertiveness in communication. It is more productive and it results to tangible

Morality the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

Morality the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay For example, throughout the novel Huckleberry Finn , Mark Twain depicts society as a structure that has become little more than a collection of degraded rules and precepts that defy logic. This faulty logic manifests itself early, when the new judge in town allows Pap to keep custody of Huck. The law backs that Judge Thatcher up and helps him to keep me out o my property. The judge privileges Paps rights to his son over Hucks welfare. Clearly, this decision comments on a system that puts a white mans rights to his propertyhis slavesover the welfare and freedom of a black man. Whereas a reader in the 1880s might have overlooked the moral absurdity of giving a man custody of another man, however, the mirroring of this situation in the granting of rights to the immoral Pap over the lovable Huck forces the reader to think more closely about the meaning of slavery. In implicitly comparing the plight of slaves to the plight of Huck at the hands of Pap, Twain demonstrates how impossible it is for a society that owns slaves to be just, no matter how civilized that society believes and proclaims itself to be. In addition, childhood has been described by the author, as an important factor in the theme of moral education: only a child is open-minded enough to undergo the kind of development that Huck does. It was a close place. I tookup [the letter Id written to Miss Watson], and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because Id got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I know it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: All right then, Ill go to hellEm dash intended here? and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reformingIt, describes the moral climax of the novel. Jim has been sold by the Duke and Dauphin, and is being held by the Phelpses spending his  return to his rightful owner. Thinking that being at home in St. Petersburg, even if it means Jim will still be a slave and Huck will be a captive of the Widow, would be better than being in his current state of peril far from home, Huck composes a letter to Miss Watson, telling her where Jim is. When Huck thinks of his friendship with Jim, however, and realizes that Jim will be sold down the river anyway, he decides to tear up the letter. The logical consequences of his action, rather than the lessons society has taught him, drive Huck. Huck decides that going to hell, if it means following his gut and not societys hypocritical and cruel principles, is a better option than going to everyone elses heaven. This is Hucks true break with the world around him. At this point he decides to help Jim escape slavery once and for all, and he realizes that he, Huck, will not be re-entering the civilized world: he has moved beyond it morally. Since Huck and Tom are young, their age lends a sense of play to their actions, which excuses them in certain ways and also heightens the profundity of the novels commentary on slavery and society. Huck and Tom know better than the adults around them, but they lack the guidance that a proper family and community should have offered them. Furthermore, Huck and Tom encounter individuals who seem good (Sally Phelps, for example), but Twain takes care to show us that person as a prejudiced slave-owner. Preacher be hanged, hes a fraud and a liar. The shakiness of the justice systems that Huck encounters lies at the heart of societys problems: terrible acts go unpunished, yet frivolous crimes, such as drunkenly shouting insults, lead to executions Sherburns speech to the mob that has come to lynch him accurately summarizes the view of society given in this book: rather than maintaining collective welfare, society is marked by cowardice, a lack of logic, and profound selfishness.

Housing Policy And Strategy Coursework Sociology Essay

Housing Policy And Strategy Coursework Sociology Essay The policy exchange think tank makes a compelling argument, for change is needed in such a time of economic uncertainty and Britains housing crisis could become stagnate and a generation could pass before resolve is found. The housing minister in England Grant Shapps said the proposal from the policy exchange was blindingly obvious but on the other hand Former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott described it on Twitter as sanctioned gerrymandering (The Guardian Monday 20th August 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/20/sell-social-housing-fund-homes) I believe a lot of things have to go to plan for this to follow through, planning procedures, cost of production and lack of delays, its al well and good making this suggestion but I believe its slightly flawed, I do agree with aspects but with the overall plan a lot more research would need done. Hosing associations have come down very hard on this recommendation to create the largest social house building programme since the 1970s the National Housing Federation described the idea as fundamentally flawed, some working people cannot afford their own home and with this recommendation warns these people will be out priced even in the private market. National Housing Federation chief Executive David Orr said, It could effectively cleanse many towns of hard working people who simply cant afford the high prices of buying or renting privately'(Rural Services Network 21st August 2012 http://www.rsnonline.org.uk/community/flawed-plan-to-sell-social-housing) All government has flaws, no matter who is in place, the conservatives who are in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats at this time do not benefit the poorer parts of society. From the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher was in power it seemed to be the case with social policy the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, when Labour came back into power near the late 90s I believe they did their best to even out this unfair balance within social society, now that the conservatives are back in power they have not changed their ways, with this policy recommendation the poorest in society will unfortunately bear the effects of this. Labour claim that the tories are failing to build social housing for the poorest people, under coalition government new social build and has falling by 91%, from 35;600 to 3,305 so for this policy think tank to suggest that 170,000 homes could be built between 2011 to 2015 is a mad suggestion giving that this 91% fall could not just be a one off for one year. Labour believe lack of planning permission and funding may not cause an upsurge any time soon. Also giving that the coalition government cut the capital grant for social housing by 63% in 2010 so why the sudden change in creating the largest social building programme since the 70s? (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/28/tories-failing-social-homes-labour) To back up the claim of this report not helping the poor, the report suggests that it will raise tenants standards of living but it does not highlight which tenants and which background they may come from, again John Prescott mentioned on twitter that the report amounted to trying to kick the poor out of the rich areas'(http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/08/20/policy-exchange-report-social-cleansing-council-homes-new-builds_n_1809141.html). I know in Northern Ireland we have had a divide for many years but this report seems to be causing a divide of a different sort one that could eventually have major effects on society in the future. To back my evidence up more, Liberal conspiracy highlights how the recommendation would make the UK a miserable place to live, with conservative not noticing social housing the last couple of years why is there a sudden urge to become involved in it? It highlights 4 factors why this would make the UK a miserable place the first factor being that communities that are mixed are more at peace with themselves and could live in harmony in an easier way. The second factor being segregated communities make it harder for poorer people to commute to work and would cause a lot more congestion and emission of vehicle fumes. Third factor being that once the social housing is sold it is almost certain that all the money wont be re invested back into social housing and the final factor being that this could cause a political advantage when it comes to elections. All of this worries many parts of society who cannot afford such housing in the future. ( http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/08/20/policy- exchanges-latest-idea-would-make-the-uk-a-more-miserable-place/) The policy exchange asks why this idea had never been thought of before why has no one ever suggested this? Well as Jules Birch of Inside Housing explains that it conflicts with policy in the regeneration sector in areas throughout England, it would affect social divisions within education with the sale of housed the good schools will become more socially divided and education opportunities will be missed by other children. Most importantly it completely conflicts with any government attempt to maintain mixed communities. (http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/inside-edge/6502506.bloglead?yearmonth=2012.08) From my own point of view politics destroy society even if a government aims to do good for society in England there is always going to be opposition to a good deed, I believe money is good but money can also mean greed. And selling the housing would generate a great amount but I would not be too sure if that money would be re-invested back into social housing. This can be really frustrating for people especially those with financial difficulties. Its obvious that the best quality homes are not going to be the cheapest and with the conservative ideology, people from poorer backgrounds cannot be confident with selling off such a large stock of social homes. For society to be equal compromise has to be made in terms of education, type of shops available, and essentially housing and for this document to possibly cause segregation in this area then government has to take a long look at themselves before passing this through Westminster. With a coalition not only one but two parties have to see eye to eye for clarity to be reached in this issue. Each constituency has different priorities, so MPs are voting in by how that area lives and what is needed in the area but since the coalition began some politicians have been caught in the middle of a storm, this is especially the case for some Liberal democrats such as Simon Hughes where his constituency is full of social housing and in the past he has had very strong views in this area. But his problem is not the conservatives but his own party colleagues who may back the proposals along with the conservatives, the problem for Simon Hughes is that there is support coming from Liberal democrats such as Andrew Stunnell so Simon may have a political mountain to face in the future. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/wintour-and-watt/2010/nov/22/simon-hughes-council-housing) Each chapter that is highlighted in the policy is more of a statement of intent rather than a certainty, chapter one does make a valid point with a need for more social housing but is there only one solution? Chapter two states that the public does not agree with expensive social housing and want more homes, this is more a twist on words than the public demanding social housing to end. Being able to define expensive social housing in chapter 3 is a very vague term and for taking the expensive housing to be from the half way point of all properties I believe that this ideology to be wrong. The next chapter states that 20% of social housing is expensive is that really such a bad thing? Their proposal wouldnt really help expenditure costs or saving costs in the future. As for chapter six saying that there will be no negative effects. The way it says it could build 80,000 to 170,000 homes is a very vague statement it is a massive uncertainty. The final chapter says wider economic effects are positive I dont believe it is with the strategy that is set out and the fact that the policy think tank says that pushing reform though will help this process makes it even more laughable. This talk of the Big Society is a fairy tale story with the proposals to social housing and the impact of Welfare reform and the bedroom taxes which means people may have to downsize their property to they are not hit with an extra charge, there may be a problem in this area given the fact that there is a lack of single social housing occupancy so people will not be able to downsize and there is a problem with the imbalance between the North and south of England with the overcrowding taking place in the south and under occupancy in the North. A blog on the Red Pepper site highlights what they believe what is happening and what they see the future to be, a carefully planned PR operation by the Conservatives who dominate this Coalition to hide their real intentions of aggressively continuing and deepening the long-term assault on social housing and the welfare state that in many ways defined the Thatcherite project of neoliberalism. (http://www.redpepper.org.uk/how-the-conservatives-ru ined-social-housing/) It is as if the conservatives have always had this plan in the pipeline and it was just a matter of time before they unleashed their idea of a better future for society, but all of society does not agree. Overall it is clear to see my stance on this policy and my view of the possible future within society in England, common sense has to prevail at some stage, I do understand that there will be people who back this policy and have their arguments for this. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this topic. At the same time I think it is a good thing that this was released because it has now become a hot topic and people are becoming more and more passionate about social housing, so even though I may not agree with the Think tank, they have at least put effort into the issue so it can become a serious issue and lots of debates will be held to resolve this issue. All this is possible but with another election not taking place until 2015, there may be scary times ahead for those who are the poorest in society.

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS :: essays research papers

The battle of New Orleans was a significant battle in the war of 1812. It was a crushing defeat for the British, increased patriotism, and Andrew Jackson emerged an American hero. The United States acquired the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, thereby gaining control of the Mississippi River, and its watershed at the golf of Mexico. The U.S. government realized how important this was and its potential of becoming a great trading post. By 1812 this area called New Orleans grew as expected in size and importance. In peace it was a commercial outlet and trading center of the western United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The British chose to attack the Americans from the north by way of Isle aux Pois in the mouth of the Pearl River because this was the only only stable water they had found that ships could ride and anchor. When hearing that the british where coming this way, Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones and his five gunboats went to try and Barackade the Rigolets trying to make sure they wouldn’t enter. His 185 men and 23 guns awaited the British. At 10:30 on December 14th 1814 three columns of British ships, 42 to 45, armed with 43 guns and 1,200 under the command of Captain Lockyer met the American blockade. Fierce fighting began and the British had finally captured the five American boats. Losses were 17 British and 6 Americans killed, 77 British and 35 Americans wounded. This gave Gerneral Andrew Jackson six days more to improve his defenses. The British at the very beginning of the war had demolished almost all of Jacksons sea power. Jackson only had the Carolina , Louisiana, and one gunboat left.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Jackson heard of the attack on Jones’ ships on December 15 he issued crises orders to forces nearby. One General by the name of Coffee received orders from Jackson stating â€Å"You must not sleep until you reach me or arrive withink striking distance.† The next day Jackson placed New Orleans under Martial Law. When General Coffee received his orders he immediately gathered his 1250 men and where off to help Jackson. Each man brought with him a hunting knife and long rifle. The Tenessee brigade commanded by Major General William Caroll arrived on 21st December. Only one in ten of them had a firearm.

The Price System :: essays research papers

The Price System   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The price system is a means of organizing economic activity. It does this by coordinating the decisions of consumers, producers, and owners of productive resources. Millions of economic agents who have no direct communication with each other are led by the price system to supply each other's wants. Every economic system has three functions. In a decentralized usually private enterprise economic system, the price mechanism is the instrument by which these functions are performed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prices are an expression of the consensus on the values of different things, and every society that permits exchanges among consumers has prices. Because prices are expressed in terms of a widely acceptable commodity, they permit a comparison of the comparative values of various commodities--if shoes are $15 per pair and bread 30 cents per loaf, a pair of shoes is worth 50 loaves of bread. The price of anything is its value in exchange for a commodity of wide acceptability, money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A system of prices exists because individual prices are related to each other. If, for example, metal rods cost 40 cents a pound and the process of drawing a rod into wire costs 25 cents a pound, then, if the price of wire exceeds 65 cents, it will be profitable to produce wire; and if the price of wire falls below 65 cents, it will be ruinous to produce wire. Competition, therefore, will hold the price of wire about 25 cents per pound above that of rods. A variety of such economic forces ties the entire structure of prices together.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One function of the price system is to determine what is to be produced and in what quantity. Even an ancient economy must choose between food and shelter, weapons and tools, priests and hunters. In a modern economy the potential variety of goods and services that may be produced is immense. Consider simply the 10,000 new book titles that are published each year or the hundreds of colors of paint or the thousands o f styles of clothing that are produced--each of these actual collections being much smaller than modern technology permits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second function of the price system an economy must perform is to decide how the desired goods are to be produced. There is more than one way not only to skin a cow but also to grow wheat, train lawyers, refine petroleum, and transport baggage. The efficient production of goods requires that certain obvious rules be followed: no resource should be used in producing one thing when it could be producing something more valuable elsewhere; and each product should be made with the smallest possible amount of resources.

Consumer Buying Behaviour Essay

1.1 Introduction What do we mean if we are talking about consumer buying behaviour? There are several decision processes and acts of people (consumers) buying  and using products for themselves or their household. These processes might be very interesting for companies and their marketing managers. But what are the reasons why marketers should know about consumer buying behaviour? -Well, there are several reasons: At first it is important to know about the reaction of the buyer to the firm ´s marketing strategy because this has a great influence on the firm ´s success. Another thing is that the firm can create an almost perfect marketing mix to satisfy the customer. The third reason is that it ´s much easier for the marketers, if they know about the buying behaviours, to predict the reaction of consumers on marketing strategies. On the following pages I want to give a short overview about â€Å"Consumer Buying Behaviour† and â€Å"Organisational Markets and Buying Behaviour†. 1.2 Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour Consumers always want to create an assortment of products which satisfies their needs and wants in the present and also in the future. To realise this aim, the consumer has to make a lot of decisions. These purchasing decisions can be classified into three main categories of decisions: Routine Response Behaviour This behaviour happens when the consumer regularly buys cheap products that need very little search and also very little decision effort. In this case the consumer prefers a special brand but he also knows other brands of the same product class to have an alternative to buy if there is something wrong  with his favourite brand. Limited Decision Making This is the case if the consumer buys a product occasionally or if there is a new brand, he doesn ´t know about, in a familiar product category. For this type of decision-making, the consumer needs a moderate amount of time for gathering information and deliberation. Extensive Decision-Making This is the most complex decision-making behaviour. It happens when a purchase includes unfamiliar, expensive or infrequently bought products; for example cars, houses etc. The buyer uses a lot of time for evaluating alternative brands or choices and also for seeking information. A big contrast to the extensive decision-making processes that were mentioned earlier is the behaviour of the impulse buyers. These people do not plan conscious to buy, they have a persistant urge to buy something immediately if they like it. But often these people get in emotional conflicts, they often feel guilty because of their limited finances or something else. 1.3 The Consumer Buying Decision Process As I mentioned earlier, the decision process is a major part of buying behaviour. This decision process can be divided into five stages: Problem Recognition This occurs when the buyer notices that there is a difference between the desired state and the actual conditions. The consumer gets aware that he has to change something to get satisfied. For example, if somebody needs a car to get to work and one day the car stops working. In this situation the person recognises that there is a difference between the desired state (a working car) and the actual condition (a broken car). Information Search After recognising the problem, the buyer searches for information about a new product which can solve his problem and also is able to satisfy his need (this is only the case if the decision process continues). For example, the above-mentioned car owner, after recognising the need for a new car, he may search for information about different brands and types of cars. Here we distinguish two aspects to an information search: In the internal search, buyers check first if they have any information about the  needed product in their memory. If they cannot get enough information from their memory for a decision, they are looking for more information in an external search. In the external search the buyer may focus on communication with friends or relatives, to hear about their experiences with special brands. He also can obtain information from public sources like manufacturers, salespersons or product-test organisations. Evaluation of Alternatives To evaluate the products of which the buyer got information he is looking for criteria to compare the products. These criteria are for example characteristics or features that the buyer wants (or does not want). In the example of our car buyer these features could be if the car has an airbag, electrical window control or air-conditioning system. The buyer also thinks about how important each criterion is; because some features may carry more weight than others. This evaluation of the consumer can be influenced by the marketer by framing the alternatives – that means the manner how the marketer describes the product and its features. Purchase In this stage the consumer chooses the product or brand which he wants to buy. This selection is based on the result of the previous evaluation stage. There is also a set of criterions which must be taken into account: One of the most important criterions is the product availability which may influence which brand is purchased. If the favourite brand is not available at the moment the consumer may choose the brand that is ranked second. Other criterions that also could be important for the consumer are for example the price, delivery, guarantees, maintenance agreements, installation and credit arrangements. Post purchase evaluation After the purchase the buyer begins to check the product if the actual performance meets the expected level. In this stage many of the criteria used in the evaluating alternatives stage are used again. The result is either satisfaction or dissatisfaction. 1.4 Personal factors influencing the buying decision process The purchasing decision can be influenced by a lot of personal factors, which means factors that are unique to only one person. There are three categories of personal factors: Demographic factors Situational factors Level of involvement Demographic factors These factors are individual characteristics such as age, sex, race, ethnic origin, income, family life-cycle, and occupation. Demographic factors influence in which extent a person buys or uses products in a specific product category. For example consumers between 15 and 24 years often prefer to buy household basics because they have to establish their own household. Whereas people aged between 45 and 54 years often spend more money on luxury and leisure products; the reason for this is that these people have more money, because their children have left home. Situational factors Situational factors are the external conditions that exist when a consumer is making a purchase decision. Sometimes a consumer decides to buy something as a result of an unexpected situation. For example, a person may buy hurriedly buy a plane ticket to spend the last days with a dangerously ill relative. But it is also possible that a person terminates the buying decision process because of situational factors. For example, when the consumer decided to buy something and because of external circumstances he does not need it anymore. Level of involvement The level of involvement means the importance and intensity of interest in a product in a particular situation. The buyer ´s level of involvement determines if he or she is interested in seeking information about certain products or brands. Consumers seem to be more involved in the purchase of high-priced goods and of products that are visible to others, such as clothing, furniture, or cars. So the consumers are more interested to gain more information in this product categories. 1.5 Psychological factors influencing the buying decision process In addition to the personal factors there are also psychological factors that can influence the buying decisions. The five psychological influences on consumer behaviour are: Perception Perception is the process of selecting, organising and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning. These information inputs are received through sight, taste, hearing, smell and touch; that means with all of our five senses. Motives A motive is an internal feeling that forces a person to satisfy a need or to achieve a goal. If a person buys something this activity is affected by a set of motives; at this moment some of the motives in the set have priority, but the priority of the motives also can vary from one time to another. It is very important for the marketers to know about the motives of their customers; there is only the problem that most people do not know why they buy a particular product. The solution for this are special kinds of interviews in which the interviewer wants to gain, in an informal atmosphere, information about the consumer ´s motives. But this topic is very complicated, so I would not like to go into this more nearly Ability and knowledge Every person has got different abilities; one ability that is very important for marketers is the individual ´s capacity to learn. Because learning may change a person ´s buying behaviour by gaining new information and experience. For example; when a consumer buys a particular product and he likes it, he is more likely to buy the same product the next time. But if the consumer is not satisfied by the product he will switch to a different brand. Another aspect of an individual ´s ability is knowledge. Knowledge can be divided into two components: familiarity with the product and expertise; together this means the individual ´s ability to use the product. For example; if a consumer does not know about a special kind of product he will not buy it and if he knows about the product but does not know how to use it he also will not buy it. Attitude Attitude refers to knowledge and positive or negative feelings about an object or activity. These objects or acts may be touchable or untouchable, living or non-living. For example people have attitudes towards sex, religion, politics, and music (all untouchable); but also towards cars, football, or pizza. People learn these attitudes through experience and also through relations to other people. Likewise people have attitudes towards companies and their products, so the aim for the companies marketing-strategy should be to give the customer a good feeling about the company an her products. In other words, the company should try to influence the customer ´s attitude. Personality Every person is unique, because of internal traits and behaviours. Marketing managers suspect that there are communities between people ´s traits, and so they are searching for them to find relationships among these similar  characteristics and the buying behaviour. The aim is to find out which kind of consumer prefers which types of brands and products. With this knowledge marketers can try to aim advertising campaigns at general types of personalities. 1.6 Social factors influencing the buying decision process The last kind of factors that can influence the buying decision process are the social factors. The consumer can be influenced by a various number of social factors. The family plays a big role for buying decisions, because there are a lot of different interests. The male head of the household is likely involved in the purchase of products such as alcohol or tobacco. Although female roles have changed, also a lot of women are involved in taking buying decisions related to many household items. Another group that can influence the consumer are reference groups. A group becomes a reference group when a person identifies with it so much that he or she puts very great value on the opinions, habits, and behaviours of the group members. But this could be a very negative reference for an individual, because the values of the group do not have absolutely to be right. Another important factor is the social class in which the individual lives. In every society there are people who belong to higher or lower positions of respect. The different social classes are described as open, because it is possible for everyone can move into and out of them very easily. For grouping people into classes many factors need to be taken into account, such as occupation, education, income, wealth, race, ethnic group, and possessions. Though the number of factors chosen for the ranking can be very various; it depends on the person who is doing the ranking. Social class also determines to some extent the type, quality and quantity of products that a person buys or uses. For example people living in the upper-class prefer luxury automobiles such as BMW or Audi while people ranked in a lower class cannot afford such cars. The last one of the social factors that I want to mention is culture. Culture means everything in our surroundings that is made by human beings. It consists of tangible items, such as food, furniture, buildings, clothing etc, and intangible concepts, such as education, welfare, and laws. But culture also includes the values and different kinds of behaviours of a specific society. Culture influences buying behaviour because everything in our daily life is permeated by it. Culture determines our lifestyle, how we dress, what we eat, or where we travel. So it is another important factor for marketers to know. 1.7 Understanding consumer behaviour It is very important for marketers to understand consumer buying behaviour because that is the only possibility to offer greater satisfaction for the consumer. Although there remains a certain amount of consumer dissatisfaction. The reason for this is that some marketers still are not consumer oriented and do not regard customer satisfaction as a primary objective. Another problem is that the tools for analysing consumer behaviour are not very precise, so it is impossible for marketers to determine what is highly satisfying to buyers. Understanding consumer behaviour is a very important task for marketers. Even though the marketers were not able to gain al the knowledge they need, progress has been made during the last twenty years and is likely to continue in the next twenty. There will not only be refinements in research methods to gain more information, there will also be more pressure for the  companies because of an increasingly competitive business environment, and this will make such information essential for companies. 2 ORGANISATIONAL MARKETS AND BUYING BEHAVIOUR 2.1 Introduction In this chapter I would like to give a short overview about organisational markets and organisational buying decision processes. I want to explain the various kinds of organisational markets, the types of buyers that make up these markets, and much more. Look forward to a new, interesting topic. 2.2 Types of organisational markets The following section describes the four kinds of organisational markets, and the characteristics of the customers that make up these markets. Producer markets Persons and business organisations that buy products with the aim of making profit by using them to produce other products or by using them in their factories are classified as producer markets. These markets include buyers of raw-materials, as well as purchasers of semi-finished and finished items. Though the prerequisite for this is that the consumer uses these materials or items to create new products. A good example for this is a car manufacturer which buys steel and component parts to use directly in the production of cars. Reseller markets Reseller markets consist of intermediaries which means people that buy finished products to resell them with the aim of making profit; examples for  this are wholesalers and retailers. One thing that is important to know is that resellers do not change anything at the physical characteristics of the products they sell. There is only one exception, producers that sell their products directly to the consumer. This is the case when the company produces, for example, high-tech products, which need a lot of explanation and service for the customer. But in all other cases all the products sold to a consumer market are first sold to a reseller. In the normal case it is like this; the wholesaler who carries an immense number of products buys the products from the producer and sells them to the retailer. The retailer carries less products in stock than the wholesaler and sells these products to the final consumer. And the best thing is that every party makes profit (mostly). Government markets Government markets consist of national and local governments. Every year they spend a lot of money for many various products and services to support their internal operations and to provide the public with everything it needs, things like education, water, energy, infrastructure, national defence, etc. It is a little bit difficult for governments to spend the money in the right way because they are accountable for the public money they spend. This is also a problem for the companies which want to sell their products to the state because there is a relatively complex set of buying procedures which are linked with the accountability for the public money and it is understandable that most companies do not want to deal with so much red tape. However there are also marketers that have learned to deal with the complex buying procedures and do not find them to be a stumbling block. And they have good reasons for this because deals with governments can be very lucrative. Institutional markets Institutional markets do not seek to achieve business goals they try to achieve charitable, educational, community or other non-business goals.  Members of institutional markets can be organisations, such as churches, some hospitals, libraries, museums, universities, and charitable organisations. These institutions spend millions of dollars every year to provide goods, services, and ideas to their members. It is very difficult for marketers to sell their goods to the various kinds of institutions because of their different aims; so some marketers use special marketing activities to serve these markets. 2.3 Dimensions of organisational buying After we have looked at the different types of organisational markets I think we should also take a look on the dimensions of organisational buying. Characteristics of organisational transactions In comparison to consumer sales organisational transactions are different in several ways: Organisational buyers order much bigger quantities than individual consumers. That is one consequence linked to the behaviour of suppliers which prefer to sell their products in large quantities. This is the only way for them to make any profit. Another point is that organisational purchases are not negotiated as frequently as consumer sales. Some products that are purchased by organisations might be very expensive, such as machines, or office equipment, and they are used for a number of years. There are also products that are purchased frequently, such as raw materials, or component items, which are used continuously in production. But how I mentioned before the purchased quantities for these goods are much bigger. Also the purchase decisions are not as quick as they are for normal consumers. Because of the expensive products the purchasing decisions are often made by a committee which takes more time than only one individual  needs to take a decision. One thing that is unique to organisational sales is reciprocity. That is an arrangement between to organisations in which they agree to buy from each other. That seems to be very good for those both companies, but most reciprocal agreements threaten competition and that is why most of them are illegal. But nevertheless there are still some cases where such agreements take place. Attributes of organisational buyers If we think about organisational buyers we guess that their purchasing behaviour is different to the behaviour from consumer buyers because they are better informed about the products they want to purchase. However that is not quite right. Organisational buyers also have personal that can be influenced by some of the factors I mentioned earlier, such as psychological, or social factors. Employees are also only people. Primary concerns of organisational buyers Organisational customers are always concerned about buying the right stuff. So they take various factors into account before they make a purchasing decision: Most organisational customers want to offer to their target markets products of good quality. To achieve this aim companies often create a set of expressed characteristics, commonly called specifications. So the organisational buyer can determine if the quality of the different products corresponds to the necessary specifications. Another thing that is very important to organisational customers is service. The services that are provided by suppliers influence directly and indirectly the costs, sales, and profits of the organisational customer. If a marketer wants to have an advantage against his competitors which sell products that are similar to his products, he has to think about the perfect  mix of services that he can provide. I would just like to mention some services that may influence buying decisions: market information, inventory maintenance, on-time delivery, repair services, and credit. The most essential thing for the organisational customer is still the price. If the price is too high the operating costs will also be too high and at long last the product will be too expensive for the final consumer. But when purchasing for example a machine the buyer does not only look at the price, he compares the price with the profit he can gain with this machine, and also compares factors like product quality, and supplier services. Methods of organisational buying No organisational buyer will do his job in the same way like another but most of them use one or more of the following purchase methods: Description: Products are commonly standardised according to certain characteristics, such as shape, weight, size, and colour. With this standards an organisational buyer is able to purchase a product simply by describing quantity, shape etc. This purchase method is common for agricultural products. Inspection: This purchase method is common especially for large industrial equipment, used vehicles, and buildings. These goods have unique characteristics but may vary in their conditions. So the organisational buyer has to base his purchase decision on inspection. Sampling: In this case the buyer takes a sample of the desired product and starts out from the assumption that the sample is presentable for the parent population. Then he checks if the quality of the sample is acceptable. This method only makes sense if the tested product is homogeneous. Negotiation: The buyer describes exactly what kind of product he needs and asks sellers to submit their offer. The buyer may take the most attractive offers and negotiate with those suppliers to see from who he can get the  best conditions. These contracts only make sense for one-time projects. Types of organisational purchases The first type of organisational purchases is the new-task purchase, that means that an organisation makes a purchase of a product that is needed in a new job or to solve a new problem. So it is a product that never have been purchased before. A new-task purchase may require the creation of product specifications, vendor specifications etc. If a new-task purchase is changed the second or third time it is ordered, it turns into a modified re-buy purchase. That means the specifications of the new-task purchase have been changed, or have been modified. If a buyer purchases the same product regularly under approximately the same terms of sale we are talking about a straight re-buy purchase. Mostly this type is used with routine purchase decisions. Demand for industrial products The products sold to organisational customers are also called industrial products, and the demand for those products is called industrial demand. There are four different characteristics for industrial demand: Derived demand: Because organisational customers often buy products that are used directly or indirectly in production of goods that are sold to consumers to satisfy their needs, we can derive the demand for industrial products from the demand for consumer products. That is why it is called derived demand. For example the demand for computer CPUs derives from the consumer ´s demand for personal computers. Inelastic demand: In industry there are a lot of products for which the demand is inelastic. That means that a price increase or decrease will not alter the demand for this product. The reason for this is that a lot of products produced in industry contain a large number of components and so a  price increase or decrease of one of these products will not cause a serious higher or lower per-unit production cost. So the company is not forced to find an alternative product. But if there is a price increase for a component that represents a big part of the product ´s costs the demand may become more elastic because the price increase for the component will also cause an increasing price for the final consumer. Joint demand: Joint demand means when two ore more items are used in combination to produce a product. For example, a company that produces axes needs the same number of axe handles as it does axe blades; these two products are demanded jointly. Demand fluctuations: The demand for industrial products may fluctuate because it derives from consumer demand. A high consumer demand for a particular product may cause that producers buy large quantities of raw materials and components to ensure that they can produce the product for a longer time without any problems. They also may expand their production capacity which requires new machines, more workers, and also more raw materials and component parts. The opposite of this case is a decline in the demand for special consumer goods which causes a demand reduction for industrial products used to produce those goods. The consequence is that industrial customers buy less raw materials and components and stop buying new equipment and machines. There can be even a temporary standstill in the production for these goods. 2.4 Organisational buying decision The buying centre In industry few organisational purchasing decisions are made only by one person; in most cases they are made trough a buying centre. The buying centre consists of people within an organisation who are involved in making organisational purchasing decisions. The members of the buying centre are responsible for evaluating the product ´s performance, selecting suppliers,  negotiating the terms of purchase, and also for developing specifications. Stages of the organisational buying decision process Like consumers, organisations follow a buying decision process which you can see at the figure below. This process is almost similar to the decision process that was explained in sector 1.3 (The consumer buying decision process). Influences on organisational buying There are also some factors that may influence the decision process, they can be divided into four major categories: Environmental: These are factors like laws, regulations, economic conditions, competitive forces technological changes. Organisational: Objectives, purchasing policies, resources, buying centre structure Interpersonal: Cooperation, conflict, power relationships Individual: Age, education level, job status, personality, income 2.5 Concluding remark I hope you enjoyed my short overview about the topics â€Å"Consumer buying behaviour† and â€Å"Organisational markets and buying behaviour†; and I also hope that my explanations were understandable.