Political philosophies of Utilitarianism, Libertarianism, and Research Paper

Political philosophies of Utilitarianism, Libertarianism, and Egalitarianism - Research Paper Example Nevertheless, there are varying ethical perspectives on the roles of the government in provisions to citizens and the citizens’ own individual rights. Some of these ethical perspectives are Utilitarianism, Libertarianism, and Egalitarianism. Utilitarian perspective The fundamental doctrine of utilitarian is that people should make the society as well as they can; this can be done by making people’s lives worthwhile. A utilitarian believes that government resources should be allocated in such a way that they will have the greatest impact to most people. Stuart Mills argued that just distribution of resources provides the maximum good to most people. Mills held that people should not just think about the utility of isolated acts but the convention of conduct, which if adopted and adhered to would capitalize on utility (Irudayam 5). According to the principle of utility, we always ought to do whatever will maximize on the total amount of happiness. For a utilitarian, a jus t distribution of wealth is the one that maximizes on the total amount of happiness. ... s that such very unequal distribution of wealth would not maximize contentment and would not, on utilitarian grounds, be morally optimal or just (Irudayam 7). Utilitarianism would advocate for progressive taxing based on the principle of diminishing marginal utility designed at maximizing happiness. Utilitarians believe in taxing the wealthy and giving subsidies to the underprivileged to lessen the level of income disparity and increase total happiness. However, this can only work up to a point. If the tax is excessively repulsive, it will dent incentives to work, hence, production of fewer possessions; as a result, reduce the overall happiness. Therefore, from the utilitarian perspective, the superlative solution is the one that maximizes on overall happiness and this maximal point will be achieved when the tax rates are precisely put at the point where additional gain from the redistribution would be offset by bigger losses resulting from undermining of incentive (Irudayam 9). Libe rtarian response The core hypothesis of libertarianism is that persons have strong moral claim to the serene enjoyment of their own persons, as well as an accomplishment of their voluntary agreement with others. Christian Libertarians insist that the government should not be concerned with the business of redistributing any possessions. They argue that every resource distribution should be communitarian in nature, voluntary and non state sponsored. Libertarians critically object state compelled wealth redistribution since they argue that property rights are so vigorous that they do not give way to the attention that motivate demand for redistribution (Benkler 38). To some libertarians, property rights seem to comprise the full personification of some individuals’ rights and are the only

The Heckscher-Ohlin Essay Example for Free

The Heckscher-Ohlin Essay The Heckscher-Ohlin theorem of international trade argues that a capital abundant country is supposed to export those goods that are capital intensive while a country that is labor abundant is expected to export goods that are labor intensive, while David Ricardo argued that there should be free trade among countries and also there should be specialization among the individuals in production of any products. Ricardo later assumes that there is mutual benefit in trade between two countries even if one country has the resources while the other lacks the resources. The Heckscher-Ohlin theory assumes that the two countries in trade are identical apart from the differences in their resource endowments. The abundance in capital results in the capital abundant country producing the capital intensive good (Ethier, 1974. ) When there is specialization and trade between two countries there will be an improvement in the standards of living in the two countries. The Leontief paradox argues that trade is normally determined by the level of abundance of the factors of production in any economy. He found that although the USA was well endowed with capital it exported labor intensive products and imported capital intensive products. International trade is determined by endowment factors in any Nation. Those countries which have endowment factors for the manufacturers will trade with each other while countries with favorable factors for production of primary products will trade with each other. A specific tariff is a fixed rate that is charged on a certain predetermined quantity for example$10 per Kilogram. An ad valorem tariff is a fixed percentage of the total value of the goods being imported. A compound tariff is a charge on a good comprising of both the specific tariff and the Ad Valorem Tariff. REFERENCES LIST Ethier, W. 1974. Some of the theorems of international trade with many goods and factors. Journal of International Economics, v. 4; pp. 199–206.

The Neurobiology of Memory and Aging Essay -- Science Scientific Essay

The Neurobiology of Memory and Aging "I lost my keys again," my mother exclaimed at dinner a few nights ago, "I really am getting old." This use of old age as a justification for memory deficits is extremely common. Many people relate old age with loss of memory and other neurobiological functions. Why is it that aging seems to go hand in hand with losing and forgetting things? Is there a neurobiological explanation for this phenomenon? It is clear to neurobiologists that aging results in a decrease in brain size as well as a decrease in the efficiency of brain functions. It has been a widely held belief that aging causes neurons to die and for the overall number of neurons to decrease as one reaches old age. Studies conducted by Dr. David Merrill refute this idea, sighting a lack of neuronal loss in the entohinal cortex after running an MRI on a healthy subject. Instead, Merill indicates that loss of neurons may occur in degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimers, but not in healthy brains. However, it remains true that some aspects of cognition do decline as age increases, such as short term and long term memory. Since these effects are not caused by a decrease in the number of neurons present, there must be another neurobiological explanation. In order to understand memory loss it is necessary to understand how memory works in a normal brain without any cognitive deficits. Memory can be separated into three distinct parts: working memory, declarative memory, and procedural memory (1). Working memory is the most short term, and it involves repeating something that someone has just said in conversation or remembering something you had just seen briefly. This part of memory does not ever become fully sto... ...mplex.. http://psych.wisc.edu/postlab/Psych733/Nadel_Moscovitch.1997.pdf 4)Nadel and Moscovitch. "Memory Consolidation, Retrograde Amnesia and the Hippocampal Complex.. http://psych.wisc.edu/postlab/Psych733/Nadel_Moscovitch.1997.pdf 5) The Symptoms of Alzheimer's. . http://www.diseases-explained.com/Alzheimers/symptomsalzheime.html 6) Greenwood. . http://sln.fi.edu/brain/nutrition/carbohydrates/brainpower.html 7) Alzheimer's Secondary Victims. . http://sites.unc.edu/error.html 8)Alipoprotein E. . http://home.mira.net/~dhs/apoe.html 9) Determining the Cause of Memory Loss in the Elderly . http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/1999/10_15_99/welsh.htm 10)Stress tied to Memory Loss . http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/04221998/grapha.htm 11)University of Kuopio, Series Reports, Department of Neurology . http://www.uku.fi/neuro/39abs.htm The Neurobiology of Memory and Aging Essay -- Science Scientific Essay The Neurobiology of Memory and Aging "I lost my keys again," my mother exclaimed at dinner a few nights ago, "I really am getting old." This use of old age as a justification for memory deficits is extremely common. Many people relate old age with loss of memory and other neurobiological functions. Why is it that aging seems to go hand in hand with losing and forgetting things? Is there a neurobiological explanation for this phenomenon? It is clear to neurobiologists that aging results in a decrease in brain size as well as a decrease in the efficiency of brain functions. It has been a widely held belief that aging causes neurons to die and for the overall number of neurons to decrease as one reaches old age. Studies conducted by Dr. David Merrill refute this idea, sighting a lack of neuronal loss in the entohinal cortex after running an MRI on a healthy subject. Instead, Merill indicates that loss of neurons may occur in degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimers, but not in healthy brains. However, it remains true that some aspects of cognition do decline as age increases, such as short term and long term memory. Since these effects are not caused by a decrease in the number of neurons present, there must be another neurobiological explanation. In order to understand memory loss it is necessary to understand how memory works in a normal brain without any cognitive deficits. Memory can be separated into three distinct parts: working memory, declarative memory, and procedural memory (1). Working memory is the most short term, and it involves repeating something that someone has just said in conversation or remembering something you had just seen briefly. This part of memory does not ever become fully sto... ...mplex.. http://psych.wisc.edu/postlab/Psych733/Nadel_Moscovitch.1997.pdf 4)Nadel and Moscovitch. "Memory Consolidation, Retrograde Amnesia and the Hippocampal Complex.. http://psych.wisc.edu/postlab/Psych733/Nadel_Moscovitch.1997.pdf 5) The Symptoms of Alzheimer's. . http://www.diseases-explained.com/Alzheimers/symptomsalzheime.html 6) Greenwood. . http://sln.fi.edu/brain/nutrition/carbohydrates/brainpower.html 7) Alzheimer's Secondary Victims. . http://sites.unc.edu/error.html 8)Alipoprotein E. . http://home.mira.net/~dhs/apoe.html 9) Determining the Cause of Memory Loss in the Elderly . http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/1999/10_15_99/welsh.htm 10)Stress tied to Memory Loss . http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/04221998/grapha.htm 11)University of Kuopio, Series Reports, Department of Neurology . http://www.uku.fi/neuro/39abs.htm

“by the Waters of Babylon” vs Epic of Gilgamesh.

â€Å"By the waters of Babylon† Vs Epic of Gilgamesh. A lot of stories concerning religions and cultures have lot of similarities and differences, despite the fact that they are not from the same era of time. Humans used these stories and writings to express their culture and religious views. â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon† is very similar to the writings of the Mesopotamian writings in The Epic of Gilgamesh more specificlay â€Å"The story of the flood† and â€Å"The Return†.These similarities include many gods in both, a unique quality in the characters of both than can include â€Å"born to greatness†, people of both writings lead to their death themselves, John and Gilgamesh Come home with lessons. etc In most of all ancient influences, there are characters in the stories, who are born to some kind of greatness, or we can say, a special type of person.In â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon† when John and his father goes to the dead places, Joh n, explains that only priest can touch metal and are believed to have special powers that no other normal human being would have , â€Å"and then he who touches the metal must be a priest or the son of a priest† (Benet 75). This shows how is John born to greatness, being the son of a priest and can touch metal wherever he wants. The priests are believed to have special powers that no other normal human being would have.This compares to the Epic of Gilgamesh, when Author of Epic of Gilgamesh said â€Å"Two thirds they made him god and one third man† (Prologue). This shows how Gilgamesh was born to greatness by having 1/3 characteristics of man and 2/3 of god and this compares the born to greatness in both the writings . Some religions and cultures believe in one god; monotheistic religions, and others believe in many gods; polytheistic religions.In â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon† Benet’s main character, John, speaks of The Place of the Gods, â€Å"It is f orbidden to cross the great river and look upon the place that was the Place of the Gods –this is most strictly forbidden† (75). When speaking of gods house means multiple gods, this shows that the religion in which John follows is polytheistic and worships many gods. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh speaks of the names of the gods, means a lot of gods ,â€Å"There was Anu, lord of the firmament, their father, and warrior Enlil their counselor, Ninurta the helper, and Ennugi watcher over canals† (N.K. Sandars 25). This shows that the Mesopotamians and people from â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon† were both polytheistic and believed in multiple gods. Almost in all writings there are lessons or message that characters learns in the end ,the same thing happened in our story, where ,Gilgamesh and John both learned lessons in the end of their voyage or journey . In â€Å"By the waters of Babylon† when john returns from the Place of Gods ,â€Å"But they are men who build the city, not dos or demons. †John says â€Å"They are men . I remember a dead man’s face† (Benet 85).This shows how John came home with a message, about the ,City of the Gods, that it is really New York City, and the gods were actually humans, so they have nothing to fear. And on the other side, Gilgamesh also comes home with a lesson which is that immortality is not obtained by some flower or going on a journey but you can be in hearts of the tourists and explorers but making your name fame , which Gilgamesh does but making Uruk’s walls and being in the hearts of people forever. And so, with that it proves a lesson learned in both writings.

Blood Disorders Causes Treatments Cures Health And Social Care Essay

Blood upsets have an consequence on anyone ‘s life that happens to hold one. The effects are non merely in the mundane life but besides in one ‘s wellness. There are many scopes of blood diseases and upsets and there are many helpful interventions available to assist a individual live a normal life every twenty-four hours. Normally with proper intervention these diseases and upsets are non life threatening, nevertheless in a few rare instances this is non the instance. These scenarios will hopefully supply a clearer position of three different blood upsets, the intervention methods, the cause of them, and possible bar methods for each one.Scenario OneIn scenario one, we have Amy who is a four-year-old Caucasic female and she is presently at hazard of undertaking Iron Deficiency Anemia. Iron lack anaemia is a disease of the blood which is created when a individual does non have plenty or the proper sum of the mineral Fe. When a individual does non hold a sufficient sum of Fe in the blood there are effects such as non bring forthing adequate new ruddy blood cells or haemoglobin for the organic structure to work decently. â€Å" Every ruddy blood cell contains haemoglobin, which is the portion of the cell that carries our O. Without the appropriate sum of Fe within one ‘s organic structure, the organic structure makes fewer and smaller ruddy blood cells go forthing the organic structure with less haemoglobin to administer O throughout one ‘s organic structure to tissues and cells. † ( WebMD, 2005-2009 ) . Without the proper sum of O making the critical tissues, variety meats, and cells, the organic structure as a whole begins to endure and usually a individual will go unenrgetic, have less energy, and may hold a pale visual aspect to the tegument. There are many causes or grounds a individual could develop anaemia or lowered Fe degrees in the organic structure. Many pregnant adult females develop a signifier of anaemia, this is caused by the turning babe utilizing up the Fe from the female parents organic structure, and this will decide itself one time the gestation comes to fruition. There are causes nevertheless that have nil to make with gestation which are, heavy catamenial hemorrhage, shed blooding inside the organic structure, an inability to absorb Fe, and a deficiency of Fe in a individual ‘s diet. For adult females if the menopausal and catamenial rhythms are highly heavy and a adult female looses excessively much blood this consequences in a loss of haemoglobin, ( Fe ) doing a low Fe count. The same is true for internal hemorrhage or surgery with non plenty blood on manus, any loss of blood from the organic structure that is excessively great will ensue in a low Fe count. There are besides some people who have or develop an inability to absorb adequate Fe from the nutrients they eat or the addendums they take, the little bowel in instances such as these usually involve an enteric upset. The normal or recommended intervention in these instances is the remotion of portion of the little bowel, and or utilizing a prescription-strength or an existent prescription, medicine that will assist with tummy acid. The most common signifier of anaemia is an Iron Deficiency Anemia due to non enough Fe in a individual ‘s diet and may hold to get down taking an Fe addendum or doing dietetic alterations to counterbalance. The best class of action in these instances is to seek and increase the sum of Fe rich nutrients you would devour, these include ; meats, some cereals, ruddy meats, seafood, domestic fowl, eggs, staff of lifes, pastas, Spinacia oleracea, raisins, nuts, dark green leafy veggies, other nutrients that have iron fortified on the label, cheeses, and most other dairy merchandises. Doctors can name an Fe lack upset through a simple blood trial given to anyone who believes they may hold a lack or by a supplier who believes the patient may hold a lack. The trial that is preformed includes analyzing the haematocrit and haemoglobin degrees, the size and form of the blood cells, the colour of the blood cells, and a measuring of ferritin. Once diagnosed with an Fe lack upset or anaemia, keeping this unwellness is reasonably easy. Iron addendums mundane or sometimes a few times a twenty-four hours are needed, besides this may be a simple as taking a multi-vitamin with Fe in it. A diet alteration is besides extremely recommended so that the sum of Fe a individual consumptions from nutrient is increased. Having the increased Fe degrees in the organic structure through addendums and or diet alterations will assist to alleviate the symptoms that come with it. Regular proving for Fe lack is besides recommended to supervise the degrees of Fe and to see if the upset is acqui ring better, worse or remaining the same.Scenario TwoIn scenario two, we have Marcus, a 5-year-old African American male who is susceptible to the blood upset Sickle Cell Anemia, as his female parent is a bearer of the disease. As stated by The HealthCentral Network, Inc ( 2004-2009 ) , â€Å" Sickle cell anaemia is caused by an unnatural type of haemoglobin called haemoglobin S † ( A ¶1 ) . Sickle cell anaemia is non a disease that can be caught like many other diseases, it is an familial upset where one transcript of the reaping hook cell cistron or haemoglobin S, is passed down from each parent and nowadays in the receiver. If merely one cistron is present in the receiver, the individual is known as being merely a bearer to the upset of reaping hook cell anaemia and non one that is ab initio affected by it. When an single carries two cistrons, one from each parent of haemoglobin S the ruddy cells in his or her organic structure are shaped like reaping hooks or, semilunar Moons and tend to clop together doing them gluey, stiff, and fragile. Sickle cell anaemia does non know apart with penchant for any nationality as it can be found present in all nationalities ; nevertheless it is found more in African American, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent. If a individual suspects that they may be a bearer of reaping hook cell anemia a blood trial can be given to name reaping hook cell anaemia. When proving for reaping hook cell anaemia, a simple blood trial is done to look into for the presence of haemoglobin S. If the supplier determines that the individual has a positive consequence from the blood farther testing will be done to find whether one or two cistrons are present. To corroborate the findings of the blood trial consequence, a sample of blood taken will examined under a microscope to see if there are a big figure of sickle cells. If necessary more blood trials will be done to find if the individual has anemia every bit good. Currently there is no remedy for reaping hook cell anemia there are interventions available from the extreme which is a bone marrow graft which should free the disease from the organic structure to medicines and interventions to assist with the symptoms and effects of the disease. The interventions and medicines for this disease are pain stand-ins, blood transfusions, and reasonably much everything in between. Most of the interventions or medicines given to people who suffer from this disease are for the bar of infections, commanding complications, and hurting direction. Due to this being an familial disease forestalling it from happening is non a possibility yet. The lone protection prospective parents can take is being tested before going pregnant, and these prospective parents can so do an informed determination on how to continue. â€Å" If one wishes to travel away with gestating kids other options such as an in vitro fertilisation process that helps one to hold a healthy non-affected kid is available. † ( Mayo Clinic, 1998-2009 ) .Scenario ThreeIn scenario three, Richard an person, who over the last few hebdomads has began detecting more than a few contusions and they are more evident. Richard is being tested for thrombopenia, which seems like the most likely pick for this state of affairs. Thrombocytopenia occurs when there are a lacking figure of thrombocytes in a individual ‘s blood, and this causes the blood non to coagulate decently. When proper curdling is non achieved in the organic structure a individual can see superficial hemorrhage into the tegument, self-generated hemorrhage, prolonged hemorrhage of cuts, easy or inordinate bruising, and blood in urine and stool. The causes of thrombopenia could be from any figure of things such as ; quinine, Lipo-Hepin, histamine blockers, the usage of intoxicant, a root cell hurt, marrow aplasia, fibrosis, malignant neoplastic disease, or an expansion of a individual ‘s lien. â€Å" Diagnosis of this upset is conducted by the usage of a blood trial, physical scrutiny, and a bone marrow scrutiny. In naming if, an person has contracted thrombocytopenia 1s physician will carry on a blood trial to number the figure of thrombocytes that are presently in one ‘s blood and physically analyze one ‘s organic structure for marks of an hypertrophied lien. If it is determined that one has the upset one ‘s physician will so order a bone marrow scrutiny and particular blood trials to assist find the cause of the disease. † ( Mayo Clinic, 1998-2009 ) . The interventions and medicines available for thrombopenia include surgery, blood transfusions, and plasma exchange, and the medicines used to handle this upset include a assortment to stamp down a individual ‘s immune system and or medicines that block antibodies that are assailing thrombocytes. Intelligibly surgery is used merely when necessary and this usually occurs when a individual ‘s spleen demands taking. A plasma exchange and blood transfusions, which are once more merely used in patients that need this process done, are usually used for persons with terrible hemorrhage. The lone existent preventative steps available to forestall the reoccurrence or happening of this upset, it is advised that one be monitored on a regular basis by a physician or supplier. As demonstrated blood upsets can happen to anyone either by genetic sciences, chemical, or both factors. With proper showings and regular well cheques with a physician or supplier a individual would hold a just opportunity of catching the job and receive intervention. Having a blood upset can be a life endangering issue, so the Oklahoman it is caught and treated with medicine or other interventions available, the better a individual ‘s opportunity to populate a long healthy life.

Free Essays on Argumentation Essay

And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain." And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. -The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran Pain can be all-consuming, pervading our senses and making us despondent and irrational; we dread our darkest hours with the same intensity that we look forward to the happiest days of our lives. But pain is a natural element of our existence, providing us with the means to know ourselves better, and giving us the ability to experience ultimate happiness. Pain is a necessary condition of human existence; we must embrace and accept it. Pain is a vital, natural ingredient in our lives. Sorrow is as natural as happiness; the happiness surrounding the birth of our children is as natural as the melancholy surrounding the deaths of our parents. The grieving process that takes place after the loss of a loved one is excruciatingly painful but it must be surmounted in order for us to move on. We must realize that pain is the result of happiness and happiness is the result of pain. For instance, the happiness that we feel from being a loving relationship makes a break-up all the more painful, while the pain that we feel from that loss makes our next love all the more joyful. Although we are sometimes overcome with sadness so acute that it causes us irrepressible pain, we must accept that pain is nature’s way of alleviating sorrow; we must also accept that the end result of pain is happiness. Pain allows us to confront the hardship in our lives, allowing us to put sadness behind us. By realizing that pain is natural and healing, we can understand that without it we can never truly know ourselves; it is often in our darkest hours that we begin to gain insight into our true character. When we disappoint ourselves and those we love, it is painful. But it is pain that provide... Free Essays on Argumentation Essay Free Essays on Argumentation Essay And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain." And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. -The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran Pain can be all-consuming, pervading our senses and making us despondent and irrational; we dread our darkest hours with the same intensity that we look forward to the happiest days of our lives. But pain is a natural element of our existence, providing us with the means to know ourselves better, and giving us the ability to experience ultimate happiness. Pain is a necessary condition of human existence; we must embrace and accept it. Pain is a vital, natural ingredient in our lives. Sorrow is as natural as happiness; the happiness surrounding the birth of our children is as natural as the melancholy surrounding the deaths of our parents. The grieving process that takes place after the loss of a loved one is excruciatingly painful but it must be surmounted in order for us to move on. We must realize that pain is the result of happiness and happiness is the result of pain. For instance, the happiness that we feel from being a loving relationship makes a break-up all the more painful, while the pain that we feel from that loss makes our next love all the more joyful. Although we are sometimes overcome with sadness so acute that it causes us irrepressible pain, we must accept that pain is nature’s way of alleviating sorrow; we must also accept that the end result of pain is happiness. Pain allows us to confront the hardship in our lives, allowing us to put sadness behind us. By realizing that pain is natural and healing, we can understand that without it we can never truly know ourselves; it is often in our darkest hours that we begin to gain insight into our true character. When we disappoint ourselves and those we love, it is painful. But it is pain that provide...

Studying Language and Grammar Essays

Studying Language and Grammar Essays Studying Language and Grammar Essay Studying Language and Grammar Essay Learning grammar in a language course. Grammar is the structural base of how we express ourselves. Studying grammar gives you more important benefits. When you study grammar you improve your reading comprehension, you get a higher status in the society, and you catch the message of a text quickly. Students can dominate the language, it is important at the time of traveling to a new country, and they also improve their handwriting writing and spelling. Studying grammar help students to expand their knowledge so that they can dominate the language. Students improve their reading abilities; they speak the language with much fluency. When the student is reading a text, he can easily understand the message because he knows perfectly the meaning of every word as his native language. When the student knows the language perfectly, he speaks and writes without any problem. It also avoids problems of understanding and speaking new languages. If you travel to a new country, you can have problems to understand what other people say and at speaking time. And if you study grammar you avoid those problems. It does not matter how quickly is the person talking you will understand him. And you easily will get a job because you know how to speak in a formal and polite way. People will understand you because you are talking in sequence and using the correct verb tenses. It is much important to know the rules because maybe you think you are speaking pretty well but you are not. People who do not know the rules have many problems using tenses, for example, you are telling a person what you did the last week but maybe you are speaking in the future time instead of the past time, and you do not know, and it will sound stupid and strange. You cannot say â€Å"Tomorrow I was talking to my mother last week.† And if you know grammar you are going to say â€Å"The last week, I was talking to my mother ,† it sounds better, and it has much sense. So, it is much import

The Relationship of the United States With China

The Relationship of the United States With China The relationship between the U.S. and China traces back to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. Among other issues, the treaty fixed trade tariffs, granted U.S. nationals the right to build churches and hospitals in specific Chinese cities and stipulated that U.S. nationals cannot be tried in Chinese courts (instead they would be tried in U.S. consular offices). Since then the relationship has fluctuated coming closet to open conflict during the Korean War. Second Sino-Japanese War/World War II Beginning in 1937, China and Japan entered into conflict that would eventually combine with the Second World War. The bombing of Pearl Harbor officially brought the United States in the war on the Chinese side. During this period the United States funneled a great amount of aid to help the Chinese. The conflict ended simultaneously with the end of the Second World War and the surrender of the Japanese in 1945. Korean War Both China and the US got involved in the Korean War in support of the North and the South respectively. This was the only time when soldiers from both countries actually fought as the U.S./U.N. forces battled Chinese soldiers upon Chinas official entrance in the war to counter American involvement. The Taiwan Issue The end of the second world war saw the emergence of two Chinese factions: the nationalist Republic of China (ROC), headquartered in Taiwan and supported by the United States; and the communists in the Chinese mainland who, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, established the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). The U.S. supported and only recognized the ROC, working against the recognition of the PRC in the United Nations and amongst its allies until the rapprochement during the Nixon/Kissinger years. Old Frictions The United States and Russia have still found plenty over which to clash. The United States has pushed hard for further political and economic reforms in Russia, while Russia bristles at what they see as meddling in internal affairs. The United States and its allies in NATO have invited new, former Soviet, nations to join the alliance in the face of deep Russian opposition. Russia and the United States have clashed over how best to settle the final status of Kosovo and how to treat Irans efforts to gain nuclear weapons. Closer Relationship In the late 60s and at the height of the Cold War both countries had a reason to start negotiating in hopes of a rapprochement. For China, the border clashes with the Soviet Union in 1969 meant that a closer relationship with the U.S. might provide China with a good counterbalance to the Soviets. The same effect was important for the United States as it looked for ways to increase its alignments against the Soviet Union in the Cold War. The rapprochement was symbolized by the historic visit of Nixon and Kissinger to China. Post-Soviet Union The disintegration of the Soviet Union re-inserted a tension into the relationship as both countries lost a common enemy and the United States became an undisputed global hegemon. Adding to the tension is Chinas ascent as a global economic power and the expansion of its influence to resource-rich areas such as Africa, offering an alternative model to the United States, usually termed the Beijing consensus. The more recent opening of the Chinese economy has meant closer and increased trade relationships between both countries.

History the world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

History the world - Essay Example The early human communities were dependent on the nature for food as they were hunters and gatherers. The early settlements were sparse as compared to the new age due to numerous hunters present, and the game would not suffice. In addition, they would fish for their food along water bodies within their proximity. Their tools were of basic materials such as rocks and wood. They also acquired a language through which they would communicate, and developed the ability to use it in order to pass on what they had learnt. The early cultures were vulnerable to wild beasts and natural disasters, which may have developed enormous fear of the unknown forces of nature, these uncertainties of human life established religious beliefs and practices in an effort to preserve themselves from the unknown forces (The birth of civilisation 2). As the clock turned, the early man’s tools grew more complex and advance, and were more precise. These advancements lead to domestication of plants and animals, meaning that people could move to areas where these plants and animals did not naturally occur. The communities explored other areas such as valleys and riverbeds allowing their expansion and creating room for more advancement. The farmers also built dwellings that are more permanent in an effort to care for their crops from the planting season to harvesting. Along the riverbeds, pottery was acquired, illustrating the beginning of specialisation. Communities can be distinguished from each other owing to the level of social complexity and organisation, as well as their vast economic and cultural activities. For instance, the earliest of civilisations in Mesopotamia would use rivers for irrigation in the fields, which was not observed in other regions. This ensured sufficient food production for the community who would engage in other

Literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Literature review - Essay Example al 2012). For an average individual, buying services and products is a routine and normal behaviour. For compulsive consumers, incapability to control an overwhelming force defines their buying behaviour. It also leads to substantial and always severe results. A compulsive consumer does not derive his or her utility from a service or product but from psychology during purchase power. For the last twenty years, a strong series of investigation in consumer activities has been in discussion of compulsive consumption phenomenon. This was to show it negative results both in the society and to an individual (O’Guinn et. al 2011). Compulsive consumers accrue unmanageable and vast debt amounts which create emotional and economic problems for them. Incapability to settle off debts then turns into a creditor’s problem. Therefore, the importance of devising and understanding intervention methods to manage and control this activity is vital. Other discussion in this paper has made a focus on marketing strategies and tactics’ role as a risky factor in promotion of compulsive consumption. Consequently, it focuses on marketing role in fostering and promoting this problem activity. This paper therefore, reassesses the literature on the problem behaviour as well as summing up the outcomes in three areas: why do consumers behave in this manner, what are the predictors of compulsive consumers and relations with marketing strategies? The marketing ethics as a risky factor in compulsive consumptions is in the discussion. Compulsive consumption The concept of compulsive consumption in literature has a definition of repetitive, chronic purchasing behaviour which takes place as a reaction to negative feelings or events (O’Guinn & Faber 1989). As individuals purchase compulsively, they buy excess product quantities that they cannot afford and do not require (Hoyer & Maclnnis 2007). This is regarded as a reaction to resolve negative feelings, inner deficienci es or unlikeable life experiences (Faber & O’Guinn 1992). This feeling pushes a consumer to buy goods to help clear negative feelings like frustration and stress (Scherhorn 1990). A compulsive consumer is therefore, motivated to buy goods to clear the negative feelings via alterations in self esteem or arousal level and consequently obtain utility from buying process (Hassay & Smith 1996). To be simple, compulsive consumers act on uncontrollable, powerful urges to purchase (Yurchisin & Johnson 2004) Why do individuals buy compulsively? Recent research has concentrated majorly on identification of personality character associated to compulsive consumption (Shoham & Brencic 2003). For instance, (Valence& Fortier, 1988) say that compulsive consumers have a low self-esteem which make one fantasize, put value on material and high depression levels obsession and anxiety ( Koran et. al 2006) along disappointment, frustration and stress. The fantasy in compulsive consumption has been a point of concentration for researcher. Through fantasy one is able to move away from pessimistic feelings and accept oneself in the society (Faber & O’Guinn 1989). It also allows for rehearsal of expected positive results and a way to avoid concentrating on negative issues. Moreover, when one’ Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8250 words Literature Review - Essay Example To develop an efficient labelling scheme that can handle an ordered tree-structured data model, various scholars have focused on the aim of developing a labelling scheme that is efficient and effective in handling both static and dynamic XML documents and these approaches are discussed below. In the introductory chapter of this thesis, there were specific objectives which defined the motivation of this study, and its goals. The first area of literature relevant to this goal is an overview of labelling schemes. The second part of the literature review presents and discusses other labelling schemes that have commonly been used with XML documents. The first theme is different from the second because in the first, only the overall approach to the functionality of the schemes are presented but in the second, there will be more detail into the schemes by reviewing the strengths, weaknesses and limitations with these other labelling schemes. By so doing, it exposes the research challenges. Lastly, the literature review will identify the weaknesses and limitations of other labelling schemes to propose alternative ideas for new scheme which helps to address the identified weaknesses and limitations. Section 3.2 of the chapter provides an overview of the labelling schemes, while Section 3.3 presents common labelling schemes used to XML data along with their strengths and weaknesses, such as prefix-based schemes (Section 3.3.1), interval-based schemes (Section 3.3.2), multiplication-based schemes (Section 3.3.3) and vector-based schemes (Section 3.3.4). Section 3.4 discusses the scheme’s characteristics to be seen in any ideal scheme. Section 3.5 summarises the literature review and Section 3.6 concludes the chapter. There are four major schemes that are overviewed in this section. These are prefix-based schemes,

Slave trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Slave trade - Essay Example The basic reason for the selection of this picture is the idea to identify the original way of living of the innocents before they were enslaved. The top three figures are of women of Kazegnut in interesting costumes. However, after being enslaved these beautiful dresses used to be snatched away for making them work naked. The left figure reveals Negroes climbing a palm tree. This action can be either for gathering food or for having fun. Whatever be the reason, this independence was lost after colonization. The lower middle portion of the picture shows a Negroe playing on the ballard or balafo. Such recreational activities were lost after being enslaved. The bottom right portion depicts huts of the Negros who never had a shelter of their own once they were traded. My perception that slave trade should have never been started is impeccably sound. Picture 2 Poster Announcing Sale and Rental of Slaves, Saint Helena (South Atlantic), 1829 This picture belongs to the category ‘Slav e Sales and Auctions: African Coast and the Americas’. This particular picture has been chosen with the objective of revealing that there existed no difference in the way goods were traded and men and women were purchased and sold in the name of slave trade.

Tax Claim Advise Letter Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tax Claim Advise Letter - Case Study Example The nature of your employment means that you spend more than half the year outside the country. To determine your residency, the Australian tax office applies some test to ascertain whether you fall under its jurisdiction for tax purposes namely the residency: ‘resides test’, domicile test, 183 day rule and the superannuation test. This is addressed under subsection 6(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. According to the first test, whether a person is an Australian resident is a matter of fact and degree1 that depends on the circumstances of each case. However, some factors are considered. One and that is relevant to your scenario is the nature and extent of family and business ties that a person has established in Australia. According to the documents you have provided us, you have established a business, and indeed you have been the exclusive importer of widgets into Australia. In reference to the domicile test, a person is a resident in Australia if they have a domicile in Australia unless the commissioner becomes satisfied that person’s permanent place of residence is abode is outside Australia. Under the above two test, you qualify as a resident. However, you do not satisfy the 183 day test that applies to an expatriate and requires that they must have been present in Australia for more than 183 days. In Taxation Ruling IT, it was held that where a person temporarily leaving Australia, if they satisfy the first test, that is residency in the ordinary sense, then there is no need to go any further and they are residents for income tax purposes. Consequently, you are a resident for income tax purposes. Having addressed residency, we turn to your tax liability under the Income Tax Act. To compute taxable income, the tax law makes a distinction between income and capital receipts. Your taxable income shall include your PAYG payment from Compass, dividends from west point, capital assets gain from the sale of the estate, termination of the distribution agreement and business income from the distribution of widgets. Under the PAYG system, tax is deducted by the employer from the gross salary, who pays it to the ATO. This would cover your tax liability if you had no other source of income. Nevertheless, one must file returns if the amount exceeds $6000 of taxable income. If there is non-salary income, one, however, receives credit for tax paid under PAYG. With regards to your PAYG payments, your employers have already deducted the tax due. Total taxable income should be as calculated in appendix 1. Notice that the allowances; both laundry and uniform are deducted to arrive at your taxable income because these two occupation related expenses that are incurred to earn your taxable income.to add, the Skin care products purchased due to flight attendant role amounting to 629.00 is also deductible. Also notice that the fridge benefits have not been added since they are treated differently since they are taxed at the rat e of 46.5%, and the tax year is different, as it runs from 1st April t0 30th may. Dividends received from Westplains ltd are also added to arrive at your taxable income as shown in appendix A. Notice that the amount added includes the flanked amount and flanking credits. This system applies to prevent double taxation. This is because the company pays a divided at the corporate rate and the dividend is

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 42

Response - Essay Example Here, minerals are also described and this has an implication on the history of human art where minerals were used for painting, architecture and sculpture. The discussion on this passage reflects a lot on the state of knowledge or science in the early Roman period. About knowledge, it reflects how people were able to discover the usefulness of plant minerals in their day-to-day lives including in their architectural works, sculptures as well as painting. The fact that plant minerals could be used in other areas that were not very obvious, is a significant sign a knowledgeable people. On the scientific view, it is evident that the early Romans were already thinking on how useful the plants can be to human being. This majorly shows the application of scientific thought especially in areas such as medicine, horticulture and agriculture. In both the two areas, Beagon tries to relate nature and science, knowledge, culture and art and this comes out nicely when we consider the plants and animal

Tax Claim Advise Letter Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tax Claim Advise Letter - Case Study Example The nature of your employment means that you spend more than half the year outside the country. To determine your residency, the Australian tax office applies some test to ascertain whether you fall under its jurisdiction for tax purposes namely the residency: ‘resides test’, domicile test, 183 day rule and the superannuation test. This is addressed under subsection 6(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. According to the first test, whether a person is an Australian resident is a matter of fact and degree1 that depends on the circumstances of each case. However, some factors are considered. One and that is relevant to your scenario is the nature and extent of family and business ties that a person has established in Australia. According to the documents you have provided us, you have established a business, and indeed you have been the exclusive importer of widgets into Australia. In reference to the domicile test, a person is a resident in Australia if they have a domicile in Australia unless the commissioner becomes satisfied that person’s permanent place of residence is abode is outside Australia. Under the above two test, you qualify as a resident. However, you do not satisfy the 183 day test that applies to an expatriate and requires that they must have been present in Australia for more than 183 days. In Taxation Ruling IT, it was held that where a person temporarily leaving Australia, if they satisfy the first test, that is residency in the ordinary sense, then there is no need to go any further and they are residents for income tax purposes. Consequently, you are a resident for income tax purposes. Having addressed residency, we turn to your tax liability under the Income Tax Act. To compute taxable income, the tax law makes a distinction between income and capital receipts. Your taxable income shall include your PAYG payment from Compass, dividends from west point, capital assets gain from the sale of the estate, termination of the distribution agreement and business income from the distribution of widgets. Under the PAYG system, tax is deducted by the employer from the gross salary, who pays it to the ATO. This would cover your tax liability if you had no other source of income. Nevertheless, one must file returns if the amount exceeds $6000 of taxable income. If there is non-salary income, one, however, receives credit for tax paid under PAYG. With regards to your PAYG payments, your employers have already deducted the tax due. Total taxable income should be as calculated in appendix 1. Notice that the allowances; both laundry and uniform are deducted to arrive at your taxable income because these two occupation related expenses that are incurred to earn your taxable income.to add, the Skin care products purchased due to flight attendant role amounting to 629.00 is also deductible. Also notice that the fridge benefits have not been added since they are treated differently since they are taxed at the rat e of 46.5%, and the tax year is different, as it runs from 1st April t0 30th may. Dividends received from Westplains ltd are also added to arrive at your taxable income as shown in appendix A. Notice that the amount added includes the flanked amount and flanking credits. This system applies to prevent double taxation. This is because the company pays a divided at the corporate rate and the dividend is

REVIEW OF THE PLAY THE 39 STEPS AT THE WALNUT THEATRE - PHILADELPHIA Essay

REVIEW OF THE PLAY THE 39 STEPS AT THE WALNUT THEATRE - PHILADELPHIA - Essay Example Within this context, gender issue and the conceptualization of femininity emerged as women began to realize their equal importance and rights. Hello, this company is very exploitive as it is exploiting you clients as well as we writers. The second phase of the feminist movement from the 1980 and 1990’s also made it possible to bring the issue of inequality in the world politics. In the academic world too, feminism was adopted by many women who realized they should be given their due share. The concept of feminism since then has become the most crucial and a new disciplinary framework for the studies of the gender issues especially women. Though the feminist movement was started centuries back, yet the impetus of it was felt during the Second World War when the whole economy was transforming from labor intensive towards the technological development.

Culture of Chinese Family Stereotype Essay Example for Free

Culture of Chinese Family Stereotype Essay Taiwan, my mother country, though suffering under complicated identification obscurity, is still applying Chinese culture and values. We still commemorate Chinese New Year, QingMing Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and so forth. We still believe in Confucianism and Chinese ethic moral rules like â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" , †, to name but a few. In addition, we also share the similar diet culture, since our staple food mostly based on rice and noodles. There are surplus parallels between Taiwanese culture and those adopted in the mother China even though we’ve been separated geographically for centuries. Though Taiwan is politically independent from China, as a Chinese, I would still accept the perspective that I’m belonging to part of the Great Chinese Culture Region( ), as we can call it â€Å"Chinese Family†. Although modern technology and knowledge keep flourishing, people nowadays may think that western culture somehow influence people more, included religion believing , fast food culture, insight of democracy and freedom, western literature, and so on. However, as a Chinese, I can’t deny that Chinese culture did affect our daily living physically and mentally. Many values originated from the ancient people and philosophers, included those in ,,,, still maintain clear and essential in our mind , since we have been taught to follow the concept and the worship the good deeds those ancient sages and virtuous, like Confucius, Zhuangzi, Mencius, Yao and Shun( )†¦ have conducted. â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" , , †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ these values not only affect the way Chinese people think, but also become a sub consciousness which lead to the way we live. As we often emphasis the importance of studying, Chinese parents are willing to spent their whole life working hard so their children can accept better education because they believe the sayings, â€Å" †, â€Å" , †. In contrary, western families take less focus on their children’s academic performance; they would rather think that children should seek out their interest instead of obtaining all A grades at school. Furthermore, it would also affect how parents educate their children, and this educating concept would pass on by generations. And the phenomenon is just the same in Taiwan as that in Mainland. As most Chinese parents always believe and hope their children to be the best( , ), they usually devote more than western parents do, just to provide the best resources for their children. This may somehow spoil a child, too. As Chinese family often pass their fortune to their descendants, rather than considering parents’ fortune as their own, offspring of a wealthy family may no longer eager to achieve his own life goal and seek his own fortune. In contrary, western children usually gain their own fortune by their hand, on their own, which is considered more independent and responsible. There’s a real story of a business man. Because he’s so busy and so was his wife, they’ve decided to send their 13 years old son to New Zealand for a couple of months, and there was a friend named Marry, who could take care of their child. When the child met Marry, the first thing she said was, â€Å"Listen, my sweet heart, I’ll like to notice you that I’m here only to take care of your living, but doesn’t mean I should make you breakfast, do your laundries and dishes, you should do it all by yourself. You’re now 13, which is definitely able to start taking care of yourself. Parents aren’t responsible to look after your whole life; thus, you should be independent from now on. You live your life and I do mine own business, is that clear enough? † After 6 months, while the business man and his wife picked their son back from New Zealand, they’re totally stunned; their son had changed thoroughly mature. He began to make breakfast, woke up early himself and was able to schedule his own life, which he never did before. This dramatically change simply based on how western and eastern parents educate their children. As a result, it leads to the circumstance that western children are usually more independent. In addition, the value of women rights also maintain deeply in Chinese people’s mind, though we are now in a world advocating gender equality. Even nowadays, some people still believe the concept â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" , , †, but mostly the elders. Thanks to the revolution New Culture Movement ( ) brought to the Chinese society. People started to explore and accept new technology and knowledge, not only the perception of Democracy() and Science( ), but also the new century values. For instance, in the old days, women are forced to bound their feet from their young ages, so that their feet may look tiny and delicate, which ancient Chinese regarded as sexy and beauty. They even worshiped tiny feet as â€Å" †. This social usage only happened in the upper classes which higher status women did not need to deal with tuff tasks that rural area women did. On the other hand, it also lead to the phenomenon that women were having lower social position than men were. But after the New Culture Movement and other further revolutions, women gradually stopped to suffer from the pain bounding feet brought to them, and started to handle more housework; little by little, women’s social status had been raised. When it comes to the argument of women’s right and discrimination, it’s no doubt that Chinese ancient culture and concept have deeply influenced the way the majority behaves. Not only in Mainland, but also the whole Chinese cultural region, included Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and other South East Asian countries. Take Japan as an example, Japanese girls are well known for their virtuous behavior, while men are quite accustomed to chauvinism( ). This may be somewhat resulted from the old sayings originated from China; for instance, â€Å" , †, â€Å" †, and so on. However, women status obviously do rise in this century, modern parents may be more willing to give birth to a girl because they may think girls are sweeter than boys, ignoring the stereotype that having a boy is better than a girl. This stereotype is resulted from the traditional custom that boys are able to pass the family name, while girls no longer belongs to the family after they’re married. Plus, this is also a chief reason why ancient Chinese family sent a boy to school rather than a girl, cause only when a boy achieve high social status after , will the whole family gain benefits. Thus, brought out a novel which the feminine role have to disguise herself as a guy so as to be able to pursue education. We can see that phenomenon changes not only in giving birth to a baby, but also in education providing. In the old times, there were mostly boys that could access complete education instead of girls, but now, we may even discover that the numbers of girls are surprisingly higher than boys. Which some researches declaim that it’s because girls are innately more careful and thoughtful than boys are. The case is similar in industries and working places, more and more â€Å"Iron ladies† exist and keep on controlling the whole company, which may be more success than men. What’s more there’re even throngs of specific phrases for modern women, like â€Å" — †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †(which refers to women that haven’t married but are successful in their carriers), and so forth. There is an awkward circumstance that women in upper social status are mostly unmarried, and so as men within lower social status. This is due to two main reasons; first, women education is relatively emphasized than that in the past; second, traditional concept has that a woman should marry a man better than she is. As the result, a woman graduated from high school may marry a man finished college studying; woman finished college studying may marry a guy accomplished graduated school; woman accomplished graduated school marry a PHD guy; and a PHD woman may marry a professor; then who will a female professor marry? Obviously not a guy graduated from high school! This worrying case lead to a sad ending, which then somehow may strictly proofed the saying â€Å" †. However, to my opinion, I think this is a controversial issue because being married involves mostly on love itself, we shouldn’t blame it all to the Chinese cultural effects. But frankly speaking, we can’t ignore truth that these old sayings somehow match to the phenomena we’re now facing. Even though women are now capable enough to compare with men in industry fields, there still exist â€Å" †, which means however hard women try, the promotion rate and the salaries are relatively lower than that of men’s. This may also be an outcome of the Chinese stereotypes that men are more capable then women are when it comes to work. For conclusion, old Chinese concepts really influence modern society deeply in an unmeasurable degree. All in all, although ancient Chinese empires had faded into history, glorious kingdoms had turned into dust, brilliant philosophy of ancient saints only exist in books now, the influence they brought to this Chinese world still remain and just couldn’t be erased from our mind. Chinese culture and ancient concepts couldn’t be ignored. They’re now the biggest part of our life because they’re what we come from, and what foster us. It’s our soul, our mother characteristic. Also, they’re things that allow us to identify ourselves as a member of this huge â€Å"Chinese Family†. And because it’s uniqueness and specialties, we’re always able to find our loyalties. In this complex culture integrated world, finding a sense of belonging is really important, because it may make us feel comfortable and gleeful to be part of this big family. We can even say that, without Chinese culture, we can’t be who we are now. Cherish our culture and maintain it well so as to pass the Chinese spirit on and on is what our generation should do. Despite of focusing and arguing on whether I’m a Taiwanese or a Chinese, It’s more vital and meaningful to define myself as a member part of Chinese culture. I’m from Taiwan, and I’m a Chinese. I’m proud of my identity; I’m proud of this Chinese family I belong to. It’s where my mind and spirit mature, where my ancestor struggled for their lives and for the next generation, for us.

Brief History Of HBL Commerce Essay

Brief History Of HBL Commerce Essay Stragtegic Human Resource Management helps an organization achieve productivity and effectiveness, by sharing the overall vision of the organization, sharing goals and objectives, and making sure that Human Resource is not just a department, but the whole organization speaks of HR as the core division, which means that organization is employee centered. Strategic HR changed a number of things in HBL. It updated the way plans were made, shifting to strategic plans, from a one-man show to bringing everybody on board, encouraging idea generation and sharing proposals, different departments sharing their plans of what to look for in the coming year and democratic decision making by appointing a Strategic Planning Division and appointing member from the Board of Directors that goes through each plan and then the CEO communicating the approved plan to the departmental heads. By this, the plan became not just an objective, but more of a bible. At HBL, after the privatization, a number of initiatives were taken, from right sizing and getting rid of lethargic employees, to introducing golden handshake schemes, from moving to performance management system to inducting young blood that brings in creative ideas. Concepts like employee engagement and job rotation became part of the policy, organization-wide rewards programs were introduced. An inevitable change in culture was also accomplished, it from the seniority based to performance based culture. Overall structure of the organization was also made flatter, removing additional levels and bureaucracy. INTRODUCTION TO HBL It is the prime Bank in country established in 1941 having a registered head office in Karachi. It was nationalized in 1974, but recently on 26th February 2004 it has been privatized by Government of Pakistan and is taken over by Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). They acquired 51 percent of shares of HBL. It is one of the largest Banks of Pakistan with 1439 branches, having total assets of Rs. 1,139,554,000, 5 million total number of customers helping in generating Rs 13 million profit currently. Brief History of HBL HBL established operations in Pakistan in 1947 and moved its head office to Karachi. Our first international branch was established in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1951 and Habib Bank Plaza was built in 1972 to commemorate the banks 25th Anniversary. With a domestic market share of over 40%, HBL was nationalized in 1974 and it continued to dominate the commercial banking sector with a major market share in inward foreign remittances (55%) and loans to small industries, traders and farmers. International operations were expanded to include the USA, Singapore, Oman, Belgium, Seychelles and Maldives and the Netherlands. On December 29, 2003 Pakistans Privatization Commission announced that the Government of Pakistan had formally granted the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) rights to 51% of the shareholding in HBL, against an investment of PKR 22.409 billion (USD 389 million). On February 26, 2004, management control was handed over to AKFED. The Board of Directors was reconstituted to have four AKFED nominees, including the Chairman and the President/CEO and three Government of Pakistan nominees. BUSINESS DIVISIONS AT HBL HBL has a wide array of customers, belonging to a wide range of business divisions, from individuals to corporate, from Islamic banking to commercial banking. They are divided into three main categories, as follows: Individual Customers Car, Home Loans Credit, Debit Cards Deposit Accounts BancAssurance Phone Banking FastTransfer Mutual Funds Salary Plus Business Customers Corporate Banking Commerical Banking SME Banking Global Treasury Investment Banking Cash Management Zarai Banking Asset Management Islamic Banking Deposit Accounts Financing Products Murabaha Diminishing Musharaka jarah Trade and Value added Services MISSION To make our customers prosper, our staff excel and create value for shareholders VISION Enabling people to advance with confidence and success VALUES Our values are the fundamental principles that define our culture and are brought to life in our attitudes and behavior. It is our values that make us unique and unmistakable. Our values are defined below: Excellence This is at the core of everything we do. The markets in which we operate are becoming increasingly competitive, giving our customers an abundance of choice. Only through being the very best in terms of the service we offer, our products and premises can we hope to be successful and grow. Integrity We are the leading bank in Pakistan and our success depends upon trust. Our customers and society in general expect us to possess and steadfastly adhere to high moral principles and professional standards. Customer Focus We understand fully the needs of our customers and adapt our products and services to meet these. We always strive to put the satisfaction of our customers first. Meritocracy We believe in giving opportunities and advantages to our employees on the basis of their ability. We believe in rewarding achievement and in providing first-class career opportunities for all. Progressiveness We believe in the advancement of society through the adoption of enlightened working practices, innovative new products and processes, and a spirit of enterprise. HUMAN RESOURCE AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Brief Introduction Human resource, being the pulse of any organization, is its most precious asset. And training plays a vital role in tapping and developing its potential to the utmost. With this key factor in mind, HBL pioneered its first training program in 1946, in which Muslim youth were recruited after an extensive tour of leading academic institutions. There are 78 employees in the HR department. According to Adnan-ur-Rehman Khan, Senior Manager, Human Resources at HBL Worldwide, the practice is of having 100 to 1 ratio, i.e. to have one employee of HR department per 100 employees of other departments. In Pakistan, however due to low importance of HR as a strategic function, it is okay to have 1000 to 1 ratio instead. Importance Bank is a service industry, automation cannot be done. Every activity has to be managed by human beings, a particular department is therefore unavoidable. Trust and loyalty can only be ensured by human beings. Banking involves money, which is why ensuring trust is extremely important. Housing 13,000 people is not an easy job. HR department at HBL deals with the factors associated with human beings like counseling, behavior management, motivation and job satisfaction. Since the organization is heterogeneous, complex and large a proper HR department exists to manage the diverse needs of large internal customers. Catering to administrative and long term strategic needs of employees. Support functions are required in order to help employees work towards organizational goals. RECRUITMENT PROCESS Internal job posting: This is the most traditional method which most of the companies are following in which CVs are being collected from companys website and other sources and then after the filtration process desired individuals are called for the interview. HBL actually grooms and trained their employees in different departments and whenever there is a vacancy they always prefer their trained employees. This adds a lot to the current employees confidence and morale, which they have a better chance to be promoted and thus strive to achieve higher than expectations. Entry level hiring: fresh graduates for MTOS and non MTOS: MTO admission program is being conducted in 6-7 certified universities, students who have a GPA above certain level can apply. They are being passed through screening and interview processes and then HR team hire them. Non MTOs are selected from B grade universities are passed from a testing process which is being outsourced, then they are also passed through an interview process and are shortlisted. Mid career: CV is being selected from the database of bank which points out the basic skills required for the job. After this HR team selects candidates who can perform these required tasks very effectively. These candidates are preferred to already have a career of at least 8-10 years so that they can understand the job demands properly. Cross function hiring: Hiring from different departments is also preferred as one of the recruitment method at HBL. For example while hiring for retail banking they also look into corporate bankings department. Similarly hiring for HR department can be done from compliance and audit divisions. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT The banks Training Division has gained renown for its excellence and efficiency and was called upon to assist in training personnel for other upcoming baking institutions. With the passage of time this assistance became a testimonial of the banks valuable contribution towards establishing and developing of other commercial banks within the country where several trained Habibians went to work with senior, middle and junior levels. Word of its skills spread far wide which led to many international banks sending their personnel to HBL for training. Presently HBL manages full-fledged teaching facilities and support staff at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The training programs are conducted with the latest aids and equipment and involve extensive training to new recruits, and existing staff with specialized courses that cater to the different cadre of personnel on topics of Management, Marketing, Selling, Accounting and Finance, Banking Law and Practice and Internal Procedure. Speakers from other prestigious institutes are also invited to deliver lectures. Methods used: On the Job training Coaching/Mentoring Group Discussions Outdoor training Rewards and Recognition For them remuneration is the key element of employee engagement. Two elements of remuneration: Annual salary Performance-related benefit Performance is more than just achieving financial objectives. As a bank they pride themselves at their unique culture and values Every employee receive a values rating that reflect how employee live at their values and culture, which influence their performance related awards. . Those with the lowest value ratings would receive no annual performance related bonus, even if they achieve all their financial targets. The rating criterion is as follows A is a role model. B is an exemplary. C lived value with more time. D needs to learn values. These ratings denote your bonuses as well as pay increments. These ratings are purely awarded on the basis of performance and as mention earlier for that key performance indicators (KPI) plays a significant role. Along with these ratings they also give rewards for some particular achievement as recently they have arranged a 3 day holiday trip to Malaysia for their remote banking employees for performing significantly well. Outsourcing HBL manages its workforce by not hiring everybody. S. Ali Raza Zaidi, VP, Personnel Division said Now a days, there are companies that deal help in delivering services, which helps in keeping our workforce under control. Take credit card sales for example. These companies go for aggressive sales and telemarketing. There are not our employees, but bring us business and charge a fee for the service. In this way, HBL is also outsourcing some of the services, for which we dont need to actually employee people. However, if supervisor is needed, that must be a companys person. INNOVATION AND RISK TAKING AMONG EMPLOYEES: They motivate their employees to be courageous and bold enough to raise their voice against the system and for the system. There is a leadership board on internet to which every person is accessible and writes whatever he thinks should be done to improve the organizational effectiveness and then he is called to explain his idea in front of Board of Directors. This further elaborates the openness that is quite visible in the culture at HBL, where every employee is given confidence to speak what they feel is right and raise voice against anything that is bad, anonymity is of prime importance and HBL makes sure the whistle blowers remain behind the curtains. MOTIVATION AMONG EMPLOYEES: Motivating the employees is of primary importance to any organization. HBL follows below criteria: Compensate The salary and employee benefits your bank provides serve a major role in recruiting, retaining, and motivating staff. While salary and benefits are not the most important aspect of your jobs, they definitely contribute to recruiting, retaining, and motivating superior employees. The quest to compensate employees fairly is an ongoing challenge. If your bank pays employees too little, you may risk alienating and losing valuable employees. If you pay too much, you may be unwisely spending company resources. How much your bank can afford for employee salaries can determine the caliber of talent you attract to your organization. Performance Performance plays a significant role in motivating the employees. Performance of the employee can be judge by the employee himself. As in the beginning of the year targets are being set for the employees performance so by the end of the year employees themselves can see that what they have achieved and what more they can earn with their performance. Transition to Strategic HRM WHY SHRM? Strategic Human Resource Management practices enhance employee productivity and the ability of agencies to achieve their mission. Integrating the use of personnel practices into the strategic planning process enables an organization to better achieve its goals and objectives. With the advent of todays economy where services contribute to a major share of the GDP and the fact that the service sector is essentially people centric, it is vital that the people first approach be accepted by the organizations for sustainable business strategy. The practice of SHRM demands a proactive and hands on approach by the management as well as the HR department with regards to the entire scope of activities ranging from staffing and training and development to mentoring and pay and performance management. Adnan-ur-Rehman Khan, Senior Manager, Human Resources Were not a small firm, were in fact one of the biggest banks of Pakistan, having experience that ranges to decades. With so much experience, the one thing which we learnt is that people are your most important, and irreplaceable asset. You want monetary gains, you cannot ignore the human resource of your firm. This is infeasible today, as it is in future. If youre to go ahead, and really fulfill the vision, you have to trust your people. Invite them on the same platform, listen to their problems, and encourage them to speak their heart out. This essentially means that you welcome them on the big table, show them the big picture, share your mission, and treat your people like your stakeholders. Only in this way, by treating people as your strategic element, you can get the competitive edge against competitors. STRATEGIC PLANNING AT HBL Planning process Strategic Planning Division is made up of Board of Directors which evaluates previous performances, current market trends and forecasts future potential on a yearly basis. BoD evaluates several proposals and modified goals. All the core departments of HBL are involved in the strategy formulation, the formation of following years strategy is a combination of inputs and proposals from departments like Marketing, Operations, IT, Finance and Human Resource. According to Adnan-ur-Rehman Khan, Senior Manager, Human Resources at HBL The strategy is not just what the next year would be like, it is more like fulfilling the vision, which cannot be done without coordination of each department, responsibility and commitment of every employee of each division. The strategy is made when each department is on same page, one platform. This is what strategic planning means. The process, though extensive, only goes through with considerable consensus. The Strategic Planning Division votes on the proposals, and suggests recommendations if needed. After going through the extensive process of planning and strategizing, the plan takes the shape of a bible. Policy making is done by feedback process i.e. input, process, output and feedback. Input is provided by the BoD and top management, and then they are circulated in the organization. Employees work according to these policies and then their pros and cons are observed for the future policy making. Significance of strategic planning: Planning out the future of any business is the best way to guarantee success. It seems difficult in beginning, but as the time goes by, a strategy is what helps a business move in the right (planned) direction. At HBL, once approved strategic plans become bible for the whole organization, every department is given particular goals to meet; every department comes up with its own strategy on how to achieve those goals. SBUs are also encouraged to come up with their own business strategy, since each business division has better understanding on deciding the action plan to meet targets. According to Adnan-ur-Rehman Khan, Senior Manager, Human Resources at HBL every division is allowed to come up with its own strategy to meet the set targets, top management is flexible in this regard. Types of Strategic Goals Strategic goals are monetary and non monetary. Monetary goals are highly centralized and cascaded down to businesses and interpret these goals to SBUs and non monetary goals are transferred to support functions and support functions interpret them. Performance management system reviews the performance of SBUs and support functions, if any discrepancy is found, departmental heads are taken to task. Monitoring Performance Management System Progress of implementation of strategic goals is continuously monitored, if any discrepancy is found between performance level and set goals, it affects performance appraisal process. If everything goes as planned, performance management eventually helps in the performance appraisal of employees. Performance Managements core objective is manage talent, motivation, commitment of the employees towards the organization and its vision. They have very strong evaluation process in which the evaluation is started right away from the 1st day of joining to the bank. Right from the first day the immediate supervisor of an employee has a meeting with him and they both discusses about the goals, objectives and what is being expected from him. They have key performance indicators through which the performance of each and every employee is being analyse. With the help of this key performance indicators and the discussion with the supervisor the employee had a clear idea and road map that what he has to do and what is expected from him. The goals are being set by the mutual understanding between the employee and his supervisor. This evaluation is being done on the semi annually basis. On the basis of this evaluation employees get their pay raise and ratings. The more rating points you earned the more pay increments you will get. Communication of Goals CEO communicates these goals to direct reporters i.e. departmental heads which are further communicated to functional heads who set their respective targets. For example: the functional head of retail banking sets their target to collect the deposits of Rs 25 million and now it is to be increased to 35 million by 2013. Retail banking allocates goals to its further 20 regions after a meeting with their respective heads. Regional heads might require more resources so HR department arranges for that as well (Example quoted by S. Ali Raza Zaidi, VP, Personnel Division, HBL). Policy Making and Risk Management Board Human Resource Committee (BHRC) includes chairman, president and one independent board member. These three members issue recommendations on HR Initiatives and policies. Similarly there are committees of compliance and risk which deals with the matters like compliance with government policies on employment, ethical issues, matters like sexual harassment and the like. STRATEGIC INITIATIVES Transformation from Public to Private In 2003, under the government of General Musharraf a commission called Pakistan Privatization Commission was formed, under the leadership of Shaukat Aziz HBL, along with many other companies, was privatized and 51% of its shares were sold to Aga Khan Fund for Economic and Development (AKFED). Right Sizing of Workforce: Earlier when HBL was a public organization its culture was lethargic, many people under burdened, all responsibilities were shared vaguely. When it went private one of the strategic decisions taken was of right sizing. From 31000 employees all over Pakistan, in 1997, the number was shrunk to around 10000 and it stands at 13000 as of 2012. The right sizing did not create an ethical issue because the nature of the organizational holding was changed. Workforce cut down to 13000, which increased the productivity level and motivation because the less-productive employees were laid off which increase individual work load but not so much as to over burden employees and helped organization cut down cost of additional employees that were not contributing enough. From Annual Confidential Report to Performance Management system. Initially HBL used to do the performance appraisal on annual basis and this process was called annual confidential report which was as the name suggests kept confidential to the top management only. After privatization bank moved towards performance management system which was by nature more transparent, open to input from various departments and was reviewed on a continuous basis to make sure that the performance of employees is in line with the strategies made at the top. Paradigm Shift to Growth-Oriented According to Adnan-ur-Rehman Khan, Senior Manager, Human Resources While some organizations are strictly business oriented where the only thing that matters is money, on the other extreme there are people centric organizations which are primarily concerned with its workforce, HBL took a midway approach. The organization believes in welfare of its employees by channeling their efforts towards achieving monetary goals. Banks culture is such that its the people who bring in profits so it should be people who are benefits the most from the profit which cannot be done without organizational growth in the terms of greater market coverage. Organizational Transformation by introducing Golden Handshake Scheme When the organization realized that the current workforce could not come with many creative ideas and lacked physical efficiency and could not cope with changing market trends due to resistance to change, HBL introduced golden handshake scheme. Under this scheme 25/55 rule was established i.e. the employees with 25 years of experience within the bank and 55 years of age were offered 5 months cumulative salary and their services were recognized as an honor to HBL. Inducting Young Blood Previously discussed golden handshake scheme helped HBL to induct young blood. Since youth is more inclined towards updating themselves with latest techniques, open to change, have superior physical strength and more creative mind, this strategy helped increase efficiency in the organization. This young blood equipped with the creative mind and greater insights of recent market trends helped te bank to grow in the face of fierce competition. Tracking Employee Demand and Supply Management at HBL is alert on upcoming vacancies, and how to fill them up. Whenever an employee is about to leave, he must serve the one month notice period, the company first looks at the internal pool of candidates, those who are most eligible to be promoted. If there is no replacement available in the current employees, the bank goes the through the external recruitment process (mentioned above in recruitment process). Employee Engagement Job rotation and transfer is done every 3 years according to the policy. The assignment should be changed for this purpose. Nobody is allowed to work more than three years on the same position, he is either promoted or his job is changed, job rotation is a key policy at HBL. Job rotation program is also there for Management Trainee employees who are being rotated to different departments after every 6 months. HBL derives following benefits from their job rotation policy: Explore the Hidden Talent Job Rotation is designed to expose employees to a wider range of operations in order to assist managers in exploring their hidden talent. In the process, they are moved through a variety of assignments so that they can gain awareness about the actual working style of the organization and understand the problems that crop up at every stage. Individuals Explore Their Interests: Sometimes, employees are not aware of what would like to do until they have their hands on some specific job. If their job is rotated or they are exposed to different operations, they can identify what they are good at and what they enjoy doing. Identifies Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes: Job Rotation helps managers as well as individuals identify their KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes). It can be used in determining who needs to improve or upgrade his or skills in order to perform better. This helps in analyzing training and development needs of employees so that they can produce more output. Motivates Employees to Deal with New Challenges: When employees are exposed to different jobs or assigned new tasks, they try to give their best while effectively dealing with the challenges coming their way. Satisfaction and Decreases Attrition Rate: Exposing employees to different tasks and functions increase their satisfaction level. Job variation reduces the boredom of doing same task every day. Moreover, it decreases attrition rate of the organization. Align Competencies with Requirements: Alignment of competencies with requirements means directing the resources when and where they are required. It assesses the employees and places them at a place where their skills, competencies and caliber are used to the highest possible extent. Career counseling when needed Employees who are not able to perform or want to leave the organization voluntarily they were given incentives which were added in their benefits. In other cases where employees with good performance are planning to leave the organization then they are provided with proper career counseling by the HR manager himself and his reservations are also sorted out to maximum extent. Employee as family To motivate the employees non monetary benefits are also there which includes gatherings, trips to foreign countries, picnics, visits, lunches and formal dinners. This helps the employees feel like part of the family, rather than just workers. This is essential in terms of relationship building, and increasing communication between the top management and other employees. CORPORATE STRATEGY According to Adnan-ur-Rehman Khan, Senior Manager, Human Resources HBL follows the strategy of diversification, since it deals with different customers, in different markets. We have a different group of customers for Islamic Banking, different for Corporate Banking. We aggressively look for new divisions that have a high potential of growth. For example, we were the pioneers of Zarai Banking, which made our portfolio diverse. HBL is suppose to be a heterogeneous, complex and large organization therefore there are multiple strategies used. Centralized approach is used for financial dealings is used. Top management is flexible in this regard that every function can devise its own business strategy. Core Divisions at HBL HBLs pioneer division is Agri financing. They are market leaders and other banks are following HBL. The division deals in providing farmers with necessary financing. Second core division at HBL is Retail Banking. CULTURE AT HBL Seniority based culture to performance based culture When the bank was Public limited, the culture was more inclined towards promotion comes with age and loyalty. The transition to Private limited company ensured that the culture be changed performance based. The seniority now holds less weight as compared to actual performance, when it comes to performance appraisal. Employee Work hours and Overtime issue HBL has a very strict policy against overtime. Overtime is not appreciated much. Timings are followed strictly. Every employee is supposed to leave the office at 5.30 PM, the usual off time of the organization. If an employee is sitting late and working, he is obliged to answer as to what took him to register overtime. The culture is such that when more than 95% employees leave on time, including the top management, employees are generally demotivated to stay late as well. Responsiveness Customer responsiveness delivers an excellent customer experience. As a global research reported, 81 percent of banks with strong capabilities and competencies for delivering customer experience excellence are outperforming their competition. An effective customer response strategy enables a bank to deliver the highest standards of customer care at a time when the customer most needs it. That level of care makes an important contribution to customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty. Head of resourcing instead of head of recruitment. Outsourcing worker services, ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE The purpose of an organizational structure is to help in creating an environment for human performance. It is then, a management tool and not an end in its own. Although the structure must define the task to be done, the rules so established must also be designed in the light of abilities and motivation of the human recourse available. By analyzing the organizational structure of HBL presence of the following elements can be found in its structure. Transition towards flatter organization Another change in the private limited company was the removal of additional levels in the organizational hierarchy, this helped in reducing the communication gap between employees and management, and among

Attack in Pearl Harbor Essay example -- History

Attack in Pearl Harbor Attack in Pearl Harbor in December 1941 shocked United States to its core. It signaled not only an utter destruction of an important naval base and the loss of many lives, it in the first place signified the beginning of a great struggle for nation’s survival. At time when France fails to Germany, and Russia and Great Britain are at the verge of failing, nothing seemed to prevent the Nazi and its powerful allies to conquer the world. And though Attack in Pearl Harbor was shocking, the nightmare of expected upcoming tribulations was much greater. While incidents similar to that in Pearl Harbor were perhaps unconsciously expected by many Americans as they were observing great struggles on European scenes of war, they still couldn’t accept so miserable defeat of their naval base. As Hitler came to blame the German Jews for the defeat of Germany in WWI, Americans came to blame the American Japanese for the defeat of their forces in Pearl Harbor. As there was no solid evidence of the German Jews treacheries activities against their German government also there was no conclusive evidence of even a single American Japanese engaged in treason against America. Regardless how justifiable Internment of Japanese though to be during World War II (and by some today), it occupies, according to most historians an infamous place in American history. However it is possible to learn how to shape foresight policies during similar cases, if we learn from hindsight. â€Å"What did the Internment of Japanese American Mean† book, edited by Alice Yang Murray introduces through 5 different essay, different aspects of Japanese internment: â€Å"Reasons for internment†, â€Å"Legality of internment then and after†, â€Å"Precedents of Japanese internment abroad†, â€Å"Resistance to internment by Japanese Americans†, â€Å"Perception of internment by the Japanese American families and communities†. In the first part Roger Daniels describes the rise of paranoia against Japanese, and its underling racist motifs. He then goes into describing with some details on how the decision for mass evacuation evolved in the upper echelons of the government and military. The process of arriving to the decision is described by Daniels as intermingled with prejudices and lack of evidence. â€Å"Catch 22 situation† is particularly notable in this essay, which occurred when the absence of evidence ... ...tensively and genuinely (that is by advocates of interment camps themselves). Even while most historians condemn Japanese Internment, a balanced debate of both sides is more informative than unilateral presentation of the issue. We could relate Japanese Internment to current history, by referring to Patriot Act. While Patriot Act doesn’t force Arab Americans into internment camps, it could be used to prosecute, and deny civil liberties to many Arab Americans, including citizens. It is possible to argue that Patriot Act is justified out of security reason as the attack during September 11 occurred from interior of the country, rather from exterior, as it happen at Pearl Harbor, nonetheless most of the Arab terrorists, lived a relatively short time in the United States and did not hold citizenship. As United States is a melting pot, even if its effect is not always apparent, the likelihood for Arab American naturalized (and especially born) citizens, as for Japanese American, to commit sabotage, is not significant greater than for a Anglo-Saxon naturalized citizen (like Timothy McVeigh) to do so. Respect for civil liberties of all Americans thus is not only just but justifiable.

Ethics and Communication

RESEARCH PAPER ON: ETHICS AND COMMUNICATION Abstract It’s obvious that technology has played a huge role in the way we conduct business today. Have these technological advances created a new breed of easily distracted, inefficient employees? Are employees cheating their own corporations out of time, money, and overall productivity? Many agree that the advent of email, instant messaging, and the world-wide-web have created an easy way for employees to take unnoticed and unregulated personal breaks throughout the work day. Beyond the lack of productivity created by these employees, this type of behavior also has the potential to create other serious problems for the organization. For these reasons, many employers must decide whether or not to implement internet usage policies. Many of these policies may even use monitoring devices for email, IM, and website history. We will examine the ethics and the consequences of employees taking personal time on the company dime. Ethics and Communication: Personal Time on the Company Dime In the workplace, there are numerous ways for employees to communicate with co-workers, friends, and family. Traditional communication channels were limited to phone, mail, and face-to-face interaction. Technological advances over the last twenty years have given employees a surplus of new ways to communicate. Employees now have the ability to use e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, face-to-face video-conferencing, and networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. All of these new electronic capabilities have enabled employees to contact friends and family within seconds. There is no question that these technological advancements have improved our quality of life. In contrast, they have also decreased the overall productivity of many employees. Employees across the globe are taking advantage of these available resources and using them for personal time at work. According to a survey taken in 2005 by Salary. com and AOL, more than 10,000 employees admitted to wasting an average of 2. 09 hours per day (Sahadi, 2005). This study showed that the time wasted by employees in 2005 totaled around $759 billion (Sahadi, 2005). These figures illustrate the economic severity of allowing employees to use their work time for personal reasons. Studies have shown that e-mail is the most widely abused way of stealing company time. According to a survey by Harris Interactive, â€Å"55% of the 1,711 respondents said that they send and receive personal  e-mail  on their work accounts. † (Schweitzer, 2007). This clearly lowers productivity. However, there are many other negatives associated with using personal e-mail in the workplace. Many viruses are spread through e-mail attachments. Viruses can destroy important files, hardware, and entire networks. Also many personal e-mail accounts are highly vulnerable to hackers who gain unauthorized access in order to steal financial data or critical trade secrets. An electronic disaster like this could cost a corporation millions of dollars. An additional nuisance caused by using work accounts for personal use is excessive â€Å"spam†, or junk e-mail. According to a study by Nucleus Research Inc. in 2003, the average employee receives 13. 3 spam e-mail messages per day (NRI, 2003). N. R. I. lso found that in 2003 â€Å"spam† will cost the average organization 1. 4% in productivity, or $874 per employee per year (NRI, 2003). As the research confirms, the use of personal e-mail at work has the potential to be devastating for corporations and its employees. The ethical option for all employees is to resist using work e-mail accounts for personal matters. Additionally, they should avoid using their personal e-mai l accounts at work. Instant messaging is a different tool that many employees utilize to chat with co-workers, family, and friends while at their desks. Instant messaging services such as AIM or Yahoo! Messenger offer free instant messaging by simply downloading the software. It enables employees to chat in real time with people all over the world. Unfortunately, these instant messaging services are highly unsecured. They are easy targets for hackers looking to steal important corporate information. These programs also allow the transfer of files from one user to another with ease. This makes the transfer of viruses just as easy. Also, IM’s are an easy way for disgruntled employees to spread confidential information to competitors (Gaudin, 2002). Many co-workers like to use instant messaging for its ease and speed when working on projects. However, some of these employees also use the technology as an electronic â€Å"water cooler† to gossip and chit-chat. They are now able to talk without having to keep an eye out for the boss; thus sacrificing productivity. Generally, instant messaging should be used very carefully by employees to avoid any of the headaches it can create. Many people in the U. S. spend a large amount of their free time surfing the web. This habit tends to transfer over to their work time. According to the 2005 [email  protected] survey, â€Å"93% of all employees in the U. S. spend at least some of their time at work accessing the Web, up from 86% a year ago† (CNN, 2005). Of that 93%, they spend an average of 3. 4 hours per week surfing the internet for non-work related reasons (CNN, 2005). The survey also asked a very interesting question; â€Å"Which would you rather give up, your morning coffee or your internet connection at work? † (CNN, 2005). Over half of the respondents chose to give up their caffeine addiction; perhaps these employees are also â€Å"addictedâ€Å" to surfing the net. The most popular sites to visit among employees are news sites, online banking sites, and online shopping sites. Some employees even admitted to visiting pornographic websites while at work. Pornographic websites are breeding grounds for viruses, spyware, adware, and many other programs that can destroy company computers and networks. There are also legal issues that can arise from inappropriate â€Å"surfing†. If any other employees are exposed to these pornographic images, a sexual harassment complaint could be filed. The corporation can then be held liable. As an employee, it’s important to be ethical in the manner you use the internet. All employees need to understand that the websites they visit at work not only reflect themselves, but the company as a whole. All of the various problems associated with personal e-mailing, instant messaging, and surfing the web need to be addressed by management. First, it is important that the corporation has a strong code of ethics. Many of these issues could be avoided by implementing and enforcing a strong code of ethics throughout every level of the organization. The next step is to create an internet usage policy. There are many disagreements between managers regarding how strict these policies should be. For example, many employers advise a â€Å"zero tolerance† policy. This type of policy restricts any and all use of company resources for personal use. Some managers feel this type of policy is even more harmful to overall productivity than no policy at all. Geoff Haggart of WebSense comments; â€Å"The solution lies in balancing employees' needs for personal use of the Web at work without draining overall productivity, morale of the company's bottom line. (CNN, 2005). I agree with this rationale. I think the key is making sure that there is a limited amount of free time that employees receive in order to take care of appropriate personal matters while at work. Additionally, it is important that management is very clear in their definition of what is appropriate and what is not. There is no room for a gray area in a usage policy. Af ter the guidelines are set, a monitoring system should be set up to enforce the policies. Many employees complain about the lack of privacy in monitoring employees. I agree that employers should try to keep employees happy; however, I feel this is a sacrifice that management should be willing to make. Either way, corporations have the right to monitor any employee’s e-mail and internet use. In my opinion, employee monitoring is necessary in order to protect the corporation from the many dangers of irresponsible internet usage. In conclusion, it’s important that employees and employers are on the same page when it comes to the responsible use of electronic resources. Employees should be ethical and monitor their own use of company resources for personal matters. Likewise, employers need to recognize that some employees need short breaks throughout the work day to stay productive. Like many things in life, a compromise between the two is necessary to ensure a pleasant and productive work environment. References Sahadi, Jeanne. (2005). Power Slacking On The Job. CNN. com. Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://money. cnn. com/2005/07/08/pf/wastedtime_job/ Schweitzer, Tamara. (2007). Seven Out of 10 Employees Admit to Abusing Office Computers, Phones. INC. com. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://www. nc. com/news/articles/200701/workers. html Gaudin, Sharon. (2002). IM Security Risks Spark Workplace Monitoring Debate. Datamation. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from http://itmanagement. earthweb. com/secu/article. php/1458241 Spam: The Silent ROI Killer. (2003) Nuclear Research Inc. Retrieved September 26, 2009, from http://www. spamhelp. org/articles/d59. pdf Web surfing ‘as addictive as coffee'. (2005, March 19). CNN. Retrieved September 26, 2009, from http://edition. cnn. com/2005/BUSINESS/05/19/web. work/index. html