The United Nations Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The United Nations - Research Paper Example Thereafter, the delegates contemplated over the primary proposals presented by the United States, United Kingdom, China, and Soviet Union. Fifty countries signed the charter on 26 June 1945; subsequently, it was also signed by Poland raising the number of original Member States to 51. The five permanent members, namely, the United States, United Kingdom, China, Soviet Union, and France and a large majority of other signatories endorsed the Charter, giving official birth to the United Nations on 24 October 1945. The name ‘United Nations’ was first conceived by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Second World War to signify the union of twenty-six nations who had assented to mutually combat against the Axis Power (Hanhimaki 13). Thereafter, the first Declaration of the United Nations was drafted on 1st January 1942. The first meeting of the Security Council, a sub-agency of the United Nations dates back to January 1946 in Methodist Central Hall Westminster, London. Initially, the organizational headquarters were based in Sperry Gyroscope Corporation in New York from 1946 until 1952. Thereafter, it was transferred to the United Nations Headquarter building in Manhattan that was specifically constructed for this purpose. Primarily, six chief languages namely English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian are used for drafting documents and conducting meetings. Originally, the United Nations was composed of six primary bodies; however, after Palau became independent, the Trusteeship Council was terminated in 1994. The other organs comprise of the Security Council, Secretariat, Economic and Social Council, General Assembly, and the International Court of Justice. Except for the International Court of Justice in Hague, the other four bodies are located in the United Nations Headquarters, New York. This fundamental deliberative assembly constitutes of all member nations who elect presidents

Women and Anime Essay Example for Free

Women and Anime Essay Meanwhile, ever since the huge international box office success of Star Wars (released, coincidentally, in 1977, the same year as Space Cruiser Yamato), a growing number of Hollywood blockbusters might best be described as live-action anime. Kathleen Kennedy, executive producer of Steven Spielbergs The Lost World, has acknowledged that Spielbergs method of conceiving a movie closely resembles the composition of an animated film in the sense that the visual ideas precede the story. The computer-generated images used so lavishly in The Lost World, and in other recent Hollywood films, are in essence animation drawn by computers. From this it might be deduced that the gap between physical reality and peoples image of it is widening in other countries as well. That said, there is an undeniable difference between animation-like live-action and live-action-like animation. At the heart of this difference lies the Japanese peoples deeply entrenched sense of self-loathing, extending even to their own ethnic traits. The famous British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once published a short story in which aliens, visiting earth after the human race is destroyed by nuclear war, use Disney movies to study the extinct human species, never realizing that the films do not represent real life. Needless to say, Clarke wrote the story as a joke. But his joke is uncannily close to the actual situation in Japan today. And the concern that situation ultimately raises is that the Japanese people, like the human race in Clarkes short story, have engineered their own extinction. There is the story told by Ide Toshiro, who co-wrote the script for the movie Aoi sanmyaku (The Green Hills of Youth, directed by Imai Tadashi), an enormous hit in 1949, during the Allied Occupation. Speaking of the movies last scene, where the high school hero Rokosuke walks along the shore with his girlfriend Terasawa Shinko shouting, I love Terasawa Shinko! I love her, I do! Ide reveals the script originally had him yelling, I hate Terasawa Shinko! I hate her, I do! Of course, this is simply an example of reverse psychology at work. Everyone knows Rokusuke is in love with Shinko. However, such rewrite kills the nuance conveyed by the original line, namely that Rokusuke is trying (rather transparently) to conceal his emotional vulnerability. How, then, did I hate you become I love you? The problem is that these days it would seem just as false to say I hate you in such a scene. How, then, is an actor to perform? This is precisely the problem Aoi Yoji confronts when he criticizes Japanese dramatists for reeling off line after self-satisfied line that actors are viscerally unable to make their own, justifying it by saying thats my style. Aoi complains with good reason that actors are forever struggling with dialogue that has little style and even less substance, and since they have to render the material in some way, they have no choice but to resort to cheap theatrics. These idea discussed in the foregoing essay appears in unusually explicit form inn the 1998 live-action sci-fi movie Andoromedia (Andromedia). This is the story of a brilliant computer scientist who loses his only daughter Mai in a traffic accident but then resurrects her in cyberspace as an artificial life form named AI — pronounced like ai, the Japanese word for love, but being also the acronym for artificial intelligence. However, whereas Mai (played by Shimabukuro Hiroko, member of the teen pop group Speed) has black hair and eyes, AIs hair and eyes are both bluish, and her skin is lighter as well. In other words, Mai has undergone a drastic ethnic bleaching upon her digital resurrection. Andromeda would have us believe that instead of going to heaven when they die, the Japanese go to virtual heaven and become Caucasians. In 1999, George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, released the fourth movie of the series, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. The film uses a tremendous amount of computer-generated images, so much so that producer Rick McCallum commented that it could be regarded s the first animated movie in history that was as realistic as live action. Inasmuch as Star Wars Episode 1 is fundamentally a live-action movie, saying it could also be called an animated movie with all the realism of live action not only places animation on a par with live action but also implies that there are live-action movies without the realism of live action. By ignoring the difference between reality pretending to be cartoons and cartoons pretending to be reality, McCallums words eloquently attest to the fact that the gap between live action and animation is closing in the West as well. It would seem that Japan is not the only country where peoples vision of reality is undergoing a process of animation. Conclusively, the tendency of Japanese to reject their own history and traditions in favor of a Western ideal has undermined live-action film also by affecting the performances of Japanese screen actors. An obvious example is the inability of todays younger actors to portray Japanese of earlier eras with authenticity. A live-action version of Princess Mononoke, for example, would be impossible to produce even if one could overcome budget constraints and the difficulty of its special effects. There are simply no young actors in Japan today who can wear the traditional clothing, duel with swords, or shoot arrows on horseback as convincingly as the animated characters in Miyazakis film. Bibliography/Sources 1) Boden Sean (2001), Women and Anime: Popular Culture and its Reflection of Japanese Society 2) Ibid (2002), Resistance to the Japanese State through Popular Culture. 3) Kenji Sato (2002), Media in Asia. 4) Shimomura, Roger (1999), An American Diary. Exhibition catalogue, Japanese American National Museum.

Apoxyomenos and the Role of Athletics in Ancient Greek Culture :: Essays Papers

Apoxyomenos and the Role of Athletics in Ancient Greek Culture According to Marilyn Stokstad, "the visual arts are among the most sophisticated forms of human communication, at once shaping and being shaped by their social context (xxxviii)." As this quote implies, artistic pieces invariably are a reflection of the culture in which they were created. Thus, art is a potent means of deciphering the values and belief systems of ancient societies. Apoxyomenos (330 BCE), or The Scraper, created by the sculptor Lysippos, is an enduring testament to the importance ascribed to athletics by the citizens of ancient Greece. Artistically, Apoxyomenos deviates from the standard Classical representation of male athletes. The majority of Classical sculptors portrayed athletes actively engaged in competition. However, this figure is gazing into the distance while removing oil and dirt from his body using a strigil (Stokstad, 165). This practice was commonly associated with athletes in ancient Greece and, thereby, communicated to the viewer that this was a piece pertaining to athletics. Athletics were an expression of the philosophical, religious and civic values that were at the very heart of Greek culture. In the world of the ancient Greeks, well-educated individuals were expected to be balanced mentally, spiritually, and physically (http://www.mediaconcero.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). It was felt that athletics aided in the creation of such an individual. Athletic events during this period were not simply displays of physical prowess, but an integration of the facets of Greek culture. Education and intellectual discourse were accessories to athletic events. During competitions, spectators would engage in lectures and philosophic conversations concerning current events and other scholarly subjects. In fact, the Greek word for "gymnasium" was the same as the Greek word for "school (http://www.mediaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004)." Athletic events became a center of learning and exchange of ideas in Greek civilization. Athletic events at this time were also closely related to the religious beliefs and practices of the Greek citizens. Each competition was devoted to a specific pagan god. For example, the patron of the Olympics was Zeus. The Greeks believed that the physical strength and ability of athletes was a direct gift from the gods (http://www.meiaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). Therefore, each athlete competed not only in honor of his city-state, but also in honor of the gods. Civic implications were also apparent in ancient Greek athletics. The ancient world was one of constant conflict and political turmoil, and it was necessary for each city-state to possess a strong military in order to preserve their autonomy. Apoxyomenos and the Role of Athletics in Ancient Greek Culture :: Essays Papers Apoxyomenos and the Role of Athletics in Ancient Greek Culture According to Marilyn Stokstad, "the visual arts are among the most sophisticated forms of human communication, at once shaping and being shaped by their social context (xxxviii)." As this quote implies, artistic pieces invariably are a reflection of the culture in which they were created. Thus, art is a potent means of deciphering the values and belief systems of ancient societies. Apoxyomenos (330 BCE), or The Scraper, created by the sculptor Lysippos, is an enduring testament to the importance ascribed to athletics by the citizens of ancient Greece. Artistically, Apoxyomenos deviates from the standard Classical representation of male athletes. The majority of Classical sculptors portrayed athletes actively engaged in competition. However, this figure is gazing into the distance while removing oil and dirt from his body using a strigil (Stokstad, 165). This practice was commonly associated with athletes in ancient Greece and, thereby, communicated to the viewer that this was a piece pertaining to athletics. Athletics were an expression of the philosophical, religious and civic values that were at the very heart of Greek culture. In the world of the ancient Greeks, well-educated individuals were expected to be balanced mentally, spiritually, and physically (http://www.mediaconcero.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). It was felt that athletics aided in the creation of such an individual. Athletic events during this period were not simply displays of physical prowess, but an integration of the facets of Greek culture. Education and intellectual discourse were accessories to athletic events. During competitions, spectators would engage in lectures and philosophic conversations concerning current events and other scholarly subjects. In fact, the Greek word for "gymnasium" was the same as the Greek word for "school (http://www.mediaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004)." Athletic events became a center of learning and exchange of ideas in Greek civilization. Athletic events at this time were also closely related to the religious beliefs and practices of the Greek citizens. Each competition was devoted to a specific pagan god. For example, the patron of the Olympics was Zeus. The Greeks believed that the physical strength and ability of athletes was a direct gift from the gods (http://www.meiaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). Therefore, each athlete competed not only in honor of his city-state, but also in honor of the gods. Civic implications were also apparent in ancient Greek athletics. The ancient world was one of constant conflict and political turmoil, and it was necessary for each city-state to possess a strong military in order to preserve their autonomy.

Essay --

The Roaring Twenties introduced an innovative period of American Literature marked by an outpour of insightful experimentation. The yearning of characters to be accepted into societies they consider to be more prosperous than their own was a major theme explored by authors during this literary period. This desire is the foundation for The Great Gatsby (1925) written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The craving to belong prompts characters in social environments to portray themselves as different people. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the pursuit of acceptance that leads characters to reject their past identities in an ineffective attempt to accomplish the illusive American dream. Fitzgerald writes The Great Gatsby set in New York state through the recountings of Nick Carraway, a self-proclaimed confidant. Nick travels from Minnesota to the West Egg district of Long Island in 1922 to learn the bond business. At the start of the American Modernist classic, Nick introduces to the reader his ancestry: "My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western City for three generations. The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we're descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch..." (7). These specific details that Nick presents suggest that his family descended from a family of nobility and prosperity; however, the Carraways' wealth originates from the development of a wholesales hardware business. Because of this underwhelming claim, readers often depict Nick Carraway as an image of aristocracy. Nick's desire to increase the respect, trust, and acceptance the reader will have for his narratives provokes him to levitate his social status to a more dignified class by embellishing the truth.... ...ordinate role of women during the 1920s. Fitzgerald uses adjectives associated with daintiness to display Daisy's identity that is accredited to the well-bred characteristics society associates with the upper class. With thought out mannerisms and calculated motions, Daisy has an almost unnatural quality about her. Towards the end of The Great Gatsby, Daisy is proven to be motivated by only the American dream of material possessions and social class. Through the various characters, the obsessive quest to belong to the collective whole is highlighted. The Great Gatsby never resolves the issues related to passing or self-denial as a means to attain happiness and success. However, the characters do exhibit the inevitable downfall associated with living a life of superficial and unreal existences. The reader learns that no good can come from lying to oneself or others.

The Emerging Trends or Challenges in the Management of Organizations

The Emerging Trends or Challenges in the Management of Organizations The Emerging Trends or Challenges in the Management of Organizations INTRODUCTION Organizational Behavior studies encompass the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. Whenever people interact in organizations, many factors come into play. Modern organizational studies attempt to understand and model these factors. Like all modernist social sciences, organizational studies seek to control, predict, and explain. There is some controversy over the ethics of controlling workers' behavior.As such, organizational behavior has at times been accused of being the scientific tool of the powerful. Those accusations notwithstanding, Organizational behavior can play a major role in organizational development and success. One of the main goals of organizational theorists is, according to Simms (1994) â€Å"to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of org anizational life. † An organizational theorist should carefully consider levels assumptions being made in theory, and is concerned to help managers and administrators. [1] Organizational behavior is currently a growing field.Organizational studies departments generally form part of business schools, although many universities also have industrial psychology and industrial economics programs. The field is highly influential in the business world. Organizational behavior is becoming more important in the global economy as people with diverse backgrounds and cultural values have to work together effectively and efficiently. It is also under increasing criticism as a field for its ethnocentric and pro-capitalist assumptions. Views on management have changed substantially over the past century – particularly in the past few decades.Organizations have entered a new era characterized by rapid, dramatic and turbulent changes. The accelerated pace of change has transformed how w ork is performed by employees in diverse organizations. Change has truly become an inherent and integral part of organizational life. Several emerging trends are impacting organizational life. Of these emerging trends, five will be examined in this paper: globalization, diversity, flexibility, flat, and networks. These five emerging trends create tensions for organizational leaders and employees as they go through waves of changes in their organizations.These tensions present opportunities as well as threats, and if these tensions are not managed well, they will result in dysfunctional and dire organizational outcomes at the end of any change process. CHALLENGES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONS GLOBALIZATION Organizations operate in a global economy that is characterized by greater and more intense competition, and at the same time, greater economic interdependence and collaboration. More products and services are being consumed outside of their country of origin than ever before as globalization brings about greater convergence in terms of consumer tastes and preferences.Yet at the same time, in the midst of greater convergence, there is the opposite force of divergence at work where companies have to adapt corporate and business strategies, marketing plans, and production efforts to local domestic markets. To stay competitive, more organizations are embracing offshore outsourcing. Many functions are being shifted to India, the Philippines, Malaysia, and other countries for their low labor costs, high levels of workforce education, and technological advantages.According to the 2002-2003 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Workplace Forecast, companies such as Ford, General Motors, and Nestle employ more people outside of their headquarters countries than within those countries. [1] Almost any company, whether in manufacturing or services, can find some part of its work that can be done off site. Communication and information sharing are occurring a cross the globe in multiple languages and multiple cultures. Global competition and global cooperation coexist in the new world economy.One major consequence of globalization is greater mobility in international capital and labor markets. This creates a global marketplace where there is more opportunity, because there are more potential customers. However, there is also more competition, as local companies have to compete with foreign companies for customers. According to Dani Rodrik, professor of international political economy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the processes associated with the global integration of markets for goods, services, and capital have created two sources of tensions. 1] First, reduced barriers to trade and investment accentuate the asymmetries between groups that can cross international borders, and those that cannot. In the first category are owners of capital, highly skilled workers, and many professionals. Unskilled and semiskilled workers and most middle managers belong in the second category. [1] Second, globalization engenders conflicts within and between nations over domestic norms and the social institutions that embody them.As the technology for manufactured goods becomes standardized and diffused internationally, nations with very different sets of values, norms, institutions, and collective preferences begin to compete head on in markets for similar goods. Trade becomes contentious when it unleashes forces that undermine the norms implicit in local or domestic workplace practices. [1] Professor Rodrik concluded that â€Å"the most serious challenge for the world economy in the years ahead lies in making globalization compatible with domestic social and political stability† (Rodrik 1997, p. 2).This implies ensuring that international economic integration does not lead to domestic social disintegration. Organizations that are confronted with this challenge will have to manage the tension created by the globa l integration versus local disintegration dilemma. The overall picture as a consequence of globalization is one of turbulence and uncertainty, in which a variety of contradictory processes present a wide range of both opportunities and threats that defy established ways of doing business and working in organizations. Integration and exclusion coexist uneasily side-by-side in organizations.For example, many apparent dichotomies or paradoxes—competitions versus collaboration, market forces versus state intervention, global actions versus local solutions—are losing their sharp edges as contradictory forces appear to converge and reinforce each other in organizations across the globe. Companies that compete fiercely in some markets form strategic alliances in others; government guidance and regulation are required to make markets work effectively; and â€Å"think globally, act locally† has been adopted as business strategy (or as a mantra) to deal with the challenge s of doing business in the globalize economy.As organizations transform themselves to stay competitive, they will need to confront and resolve some, if not all, of these dichotomies or paradoxes. [1] On another level, because of globalization, the fates of people living and working in different parts of the world are becoming intertwined. Global events may have significant local impact. September 11, 2001 has been called the â€Å"day that changed the world†. Heightened security concerns are changing expectations for people in organizations, and the role of organizations themselves.The threat of terrorism continues to be an ongoing concern worldwide. It has created a renewed focus on workplace security as employees experience a heightened sense of vulnerability in the workplace. Employee monitoring and screening are occurring more frequently. Concern over travel for business purposes is resulting in the increased use of alternate forms of communication such as teleconferencin g and videoconferencing. [1] DIVERSITY Globalization is impacting how organizations compete with each other.In combination with changing demographics, globalization is causing a rapid increase in diversity in organizations. Never before have people been required to work together with colleagues and customers from so many different cultures and countries. Diversity is moving American society away from â€Å"mass society† to â€Å"mosaic society†. Organizations reflect this â€Å"mosaic society† in their more diverse workforce (in terms of not only race, ethnic or culture but also in terms of age, sexual orientation, and other demographic variables).More than ever, people have to interact and communicate with others who come from diverse backgrounds. This in turn has meant that employees need new relational skills to succeed. An emerging stream of research in international management has called these new relational skills â€Å"cultural intelligence†. Cultu ral intelligence is defined as the capability to adapt effectively across different national, organizational and professional cultures (Earley, Ang and Tan, 2005). More managers take up global work assignments in industries around the world.They learn how to work with people who not only think and communicate differently but also do things differently. Managers will need to develop their cultural intelligence to manage greater diversity in organizations. [1] Diversity in organizations will continue to increase. The world population is growing at a high rate in developing countries, while remaining stable or decreasing in the developed world. The result will be income inequities and economic opportunity leading to increased immigration and migration within and between nations.More temporary workers will be used for specific tasks, and there will be a greater demand for highly skilled workers. People of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds possess different attitudes, values, and norms. Increasing cultural diversity in both public and private sector organizations focuses attention on the distinctions between ethnic and cultural groups in their attitudes and performance at work. This greater focus can result in the tension between finding similarities and accentuating differences in the face of greater diversity in organizations.There is an on-going debate between the heterogenists and the homogenists concerning the impact of greater diversity in organizations. The heterogenists contend that diverse or heterogeneous groups in organizations have performance advantages over homogeneous groups while the homogenists take the opposing view—that homogeneous groups are more advantageous than heterogeneous or diverse groups in organizations. [2] According to the heterogenists, organizations with greater diversity have an advantage in attracting and retaining the best available human talent.The exceptional capabilities of women and minorities offer a rich labo r pool for organizations to tap. When organizations attract, retain, and promote maximum utilization of people from diverse cultural backgrounds, they gain competitive advantage and sustain the highest quality of human resources. [2] Organizations with greater diversity can understand and penetrate wider and enhanced markets. Not only do these organizations embrace a diverse workforce internally, they are better suited to serve a diverse external clientele.Organizations with greater diversity also display higher creativity and innovation. Especially in research-oriented and high technology organizations, the array of talents provided by a gender- and ethnic-diverse organization becomes invaluable. Heterogeneous or diverse groups display better problem solving ability as they are more capable of avoiding the consequences of groupthink, compared to highly cohesive and homogeneous groups that are more susceptible to conformity. [2] On the other hand, greater organizational diversity ha s its drawbacks.With the benefits of diversity come organizational costs. Too much diversity can lead to dysfunctional outcomes. Diversity increases ambiguity, complexity, and confusion. Organizations with greater diversity may have difficulty reaching consensus and implementing solutions. In many organizations, diversity can produce negative dynamics such as ethnocentrism, stereotyping and cultural clashes. [2] The homogenists argue that homogeneous groups often outperform culturally diverse groups, especially where there is a serious communication problem.Cross-cultural training is necessary to enable culturally diverse groups to live up to their potential and overcome communication difficulties. The diversity movement, according to the homogenists, has the potential to polarize different social groups and harm productivity while breeding cynicism and resentment, heightening intergroup frictions and tensions, and lowering productivity, just the opposite of what managing diversity is intended to accomplish. 2] The challenge therefore is for management to manage the tension produced by heterogeneity versus homogeneity. If properly managed, organizations can reap the benefits of greater diversity. Aside from proper management, organizations need to learn to appreciate and value diversity before the benefits of diversity can be fully realized. To achieve this, diversity training programs may help people in organizations understand and value diversity. FLEXIBILITY Globalization and diversity trends are forcing organizations to become more flexible and adaptable.To be able to function globally and to embrace diversity, leaders and employees in organizations have to become more flexible and develop a wider repertoire of skills and strategies in working with diverse groups of people in the workplace as well as in the marketplace. The response to increased diversity has, in many cases, been increased organizational flexibility. Some organizations allow workers to hav e very different work arrangements (e. g. flex-time) and payment schedules. Some organizations (and workers) have found it convenient to treat some workers as independent consultants rather than employees.In certain occupations, advances in communication and information technologies have enabled telecommuting —working at home via computer. One consequence of this is the blurring of boundaries between work and home, and where and when work occurs. The benefits of greater flexibility may be countered by the negative consequences of working 24/7 including higher stress and burnout. The response to increased competition, however, has resulted in a tension generated by the demands to be flexible and yet maintain some stability as changes are implemented in organizations.To stay competitive, organizations are constantly changing and restructuring to increase flexibility and decrease costs. Business process reengineering, business process out-sourcing, job redesign, and other approa ches to optimize business processes have been implemented to increase operational and process efficiency while reducing the costs of doing business. Changes in business and operational processes need time to stabilize for employees to learn the new processes, become familiar with them, and be able to operate effectively and efficiently.Yet, competitive pressures can cause organizations to go through a series of changes without giving employees adequate time for learning and training, and for the benefits of the change to be fully realized in the organization. FLAT In a greater competitive marketplace, speed or response time is critical. How organizations response to customers and other stakeholders or be the first to market may make a significant difference as time is at a premium. Organizations that can develop new technologies faster or can adapt to changes in the market faster are the ones that will survive the competition.To maximize response time, organizations have been flatte ning their hierarchies and structures, in addition to other initiatives such as downsizing and networking. Flat organizations make decisions more quickly because each person is closer to the ultimate decision-makers. There are fewer levels of management, and workers are empowered to make decisions. Decision-making becomes decentralized. However, flat organizations create a new tension between decentralization and centralization. Among the drivers of decentralization are communications technologies that allow companies to push decision-making away from the core.Proponents of decentralization emphasize the idea that less hierarchical organizations mirror the efficiencies of the networks that enable them: they are faster, more resilient, more responsive, more flexible and more innovative. Also, they argue, people who work within decentralized organizations feel empowered and energized. They do not need to focus on the chain of command and they do not feel constrained by it. Organizatio ns are caught between the opposing forces of centralization and decentralization.They want to leverage the opportunities offered by decentralization and create more nimble and forceful organizations, but they cannot always do so because the forces of centralization come into play. There are obvious benefits to centralization as control is comparatively tighter and accountability is clearer compared to a flatter, more decentralized organizational structure. Take the example of IT operations. The key to a centralized organization's success is its responsiveness. If the centralized operation can be responsive to the needs of the business, then that approach can make sense.Several companies, such as DaimlerChrysler and PepsiCo, have migrated back to centralizing IT operations after attempts at decentralization. [3] The debate over the centralization versus decentralization of operations in organizations is an enduring one. It is an age-old battle of standardization versus autonomy, corp orate efficiency versus local effectiveness and pressure on costs and resources versus accommodation of specific local needs. [4] Vacillation between centralization and decentralization is both non-productive and unnecessary.Organizations, as they desire to become flatter, will need to be clear about how they need to respond to the tension between centralization and decentralization. [4] NETWORKS Organizations that flatten tend to encourage horizontal communication among workers. Rather than working through the organizational hierarchy, it is often faster for workers who need to coordinate with each other simply to communicate directly. Such organizations are highly networked. Another meaning of networked organizations refers to their relations to other organizations.Organizations that have downsized to just their core competencies must then outsource all the functions that used to be done in-house. To avoid losing time and effort managing contracts with suppliers, organizations hav e learned to develop close ties to their suppliers so that social mechanisms of coordination replace legal mechanisms, which are slow and costly. Networked organizations are particularly important in industries with complex products where technologies and customer needs change rapidly, such as in high technology industries.Close ties among a set of companies enables them to work with each other in ways that are faster than arms-length contracts would permit, and yet retains the flexibility of being able to drop the relationship if needed (as opposed to performing the function in-house). The trend towards networked organizations and structures create a new tension between interdependence and independence. The forces of aggregation and disaggregation throw up new challenges for organizations, for example, the use of independent contractors, joint ventures, strategic partnerships and alliances even with competitors. 1] One advantage of networks is that organizations have greater flexib ility and thus they can become more competitive in the global marketplace. Another advantage is that organizations do not require that many resources such as employee benefits, office space, and financing for new business ventures. [1] On the other hand, networks have distinct disadvantages. Organizations may find it more difficult to control quality of goods or services as they now have to depend on their partners in the networks to deliver the quality that is desired.Legal and contracting expertise as well as negotiation expertise will also be important for networks. Alternative forms of control may need to be developed to control quality. Alternative mechanisms for coordination may also need to be developed to manage the growing constellation and sometimes tenuous nature of other partner organizations in the network. [1] CONCLUSION All the five trends – Globalization, Diversity, Flexibility, Flat, and Network and the tensions they produce result in greater organizational o r system complexity for both leaders and employees in organizations. The tensions produced by these trends cannot be solved.They have to be managed. Effective approaches in organizational change will involve not one strategy but many alternatives and will require leaders and employees to develop greater resilience in confronting these tensions. Change–Trends and Tensions in Organizations |Trends |Tensions | |1. Globalization |Global versus Local | |2. Diversity |Heterogeneity versus Homogeneity | |3.Flexibility |Flexibility versus Stability | |4. Flat |Centralization versus Decentralization | |5. Networks |Interdependence versus Independence | Planning and managing change, both cultural and technological, is one of the most challenging elements of a leader in an organization. Obviously, the more a leader can plan in anticipation of a change, the better he/she serves her subordinates or employees and the organization.Diagnosing the causes of change and structuring a program to promote a smooth transition to the new process, structure, and so on, is critical to the leader as well as the management’s success.BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] -No Author– â€Å"Trends in Organizational Change†. Available at http://www. referenceforbusiness. com/management/Tr-Z/Trends-in-Organizational-Change. html

Education Makes a Difference Essays

Education Makes a Difference Essays Education Makes a Difference Paper Education Makes a Difference Paper she knew what her students really needed and was involved with them. In my view, not only was Miss Bessie an excellent academic instruct, but also taught them the chance to hold the hope tightly due to the lessons and encouragement. Setting her own experience in college as a vivid example, she used her perseverance to inspire her students to set and chase their personal dreams and goals. She told her students that external conditions, such as equipments and facilities were not the core of education, but the hope and goal could drive them to overcome obstacles. As the author wrote, â€Å"years later, her inspiration, podding anger, cajoling, and almost osmotic infusion of learning finally led to that lovely day when Miss Bessie dropped me a note saying, ‘I’m so proud to read your column in the Nashville Tennessean’ † (Rowan 166). If the author did not get the suggestion and help of Miss Bessie to develop a habit of reading newspaper, he might not have the achievement like that. Education helped the author and his classmates regain hopes and motivation of life and the effect really kept forever, even if Miss Bessie passed away. Those people who got hope due to the education of Miss Bessie were also willing to help other. For example, the author mentioned Gladys Wood, a highly respected English teacher in a state high school who was doing the same thing as Miss Bessie did and used Miss Bessie to encourage himself (Rowan 167). Why did an ordinary English teacher has such a tremendous power? The author told us that the education gave the power to Miss Bessie to help them find their hopes. Clearly another reason why education make difference is to help people to learn useful skills necessary for the further life not only just for today. For example, in the essay My Favorite Teacher of Thomas Friedman, he selected his journalism teacher, Hattie M. Steinberg as the person â€Å"who left a particular mark on the world†. From Mrs. Steinberg, he got many skills on reading and writing, and realized the basic element in journalism could be used in many aspects. He thought that people now almost seemed to forget the fundamentals of success, but show much more interest in some tricks; however, the sentence of Steinberg, â€Å"these fundamentals cannot be download. You can only upload them, the old-fashioned way, one by one† (Friedman 404) always remind the author to pay attention to the base of everything. Meanwhile, education offer so many opportunities to people to find their hidden talent. Once people find their talent, their life will have a colossal change. Just like the topic â€Å"the Art of Spaghetti† that Russell Baker mentioned in his essay â€Å"Becoming a writer†, was absolutely novel and different with those fusty writing topics, such as â€Å"What I Do on My Summer Vacation†. Baker was struck and inspired by the creative topic. Also the little change promptly created the turning point in his life, heading to a totally new way in life. According to the author wrote at the beginning of the essay, he thought he could never did very well in writing and he felt fed up with the writing. However, after the new topic essay â€Å"the Art of Spaghetti†, as he said , â€Å"I did my best to avoid showing pleasure, but what I was pure ecstasy at this startling demonstration that my words had the power to make people laugh † ( Baker 205). What’s more important, he wrote â€Å"Mr. Fleagel had opened a door for me†, who indicated a way for the new way of author by educaion. We could presumed that if the author did not meet Mr. Fleagal and got the new topic, he would never find his talent in writing or, even hated it. Education just acted as the spark to light up the darkness in minds of us and help us find what we were really good at. Education might not the only way to help overcome the obstacle and make you success. However, education could be a simple, active and permanent way to give possibilities to the most of people to obtain hopes and motivations in a difficult situation, learn basic skills and find their talent. Work Cited Rowan, Carl. Unforgettable Miss Bessie. Models for Writers. Bedford / St. Martin’s. p166, p167. Friedman, Thomas. My Favorite Teacher. Modes for Writers. Bedford / St. Martin’s. p404 Baker, Russell. Becoming a Writer. Modes for Writers. Bedford / St. Martin’s. p205

Ethics and the Internet Essays

Ethics and the Internet Essays Ethics and the Internet Paper Ethics and the Internet Paper Essay Topic: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings The Internet and social networking are offering a number of new clinical and ethical challenges for those who provide face-to-face mental health services. These challenges include extra-therapeutic contacts between therapists and their clients, questions about what distinguishes personal and professional activities online, and a lack of clearly developed policies related to our online behaviors and interactions. No form of client communication is 100 percent guaranteed to be private. Conversations can be overheard, e-mails can be sent to the wrong recipients and phone conversation can be listened to by others. But in todays age of e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, psychologists have to be more aware than ever of the ethical pitfalls they can fall into by using these types of communication. Its easy not to be fully mindful about the possibility of disclosure with these communications because we use these technologies so often in our social lives,   says Stephen Behnke, PhD, JD, director of APAs Ethics Office. Its something that we havent gotten into the habit of thinking about.   The Monitor sat down with Behnke to discuss the ethical aspects of the Internet for psychology practitioners and how to think about them. Does the APA Ethics Code guide practitioners on social media? Yes. The current Ethics Code was drafted between 1997 and 2002. While it doesnt use the terms social media,  Google or Facebook, the code is very clear that it applies to all psychologists professional activities and to electronic communication, which of course social media is. As we look at the Ethics Code, the sections that are particularly relevant to social media are on privacy and confidentiality, multiple relationships and the section on therapy. The Ethics Code does not prohibit all social relationships, but it does call on psychologists to ask, How does this particular relationship fit with the treatment relationship?   Is the APA Ethics Office seeing any particular problems in the use of social media? Everyone is communicating with these new technologies, but our ethical obligation is to be thoughtful about how the Ethics Code applies to these communications and how the laws and regulations apply. For example, if you are communicating with your client via e-mail or text messaging, those communications might be considered part of your clients record. Also, you want to consider who else might have access to the communication, something the client him- or herself may not be fully mindful of. When you communicate with clients, the communication may be kept on a server so anyone with access to that server may have access to your communications. Confidentiality should be front and center in your thinking. Also, consider the form of communication you are using, given the kind of treatment you are providing. For example, there are two very different scenarios from a clinical perspective: In one scenario, youve been working with a client face-to-face and you know the clients clinical issues. Then the client goes away on vacation and you have one or two phone sessions, or a session or two on Skype. A very different scenario is that the psychologist treats a client online, a client he or she has never met or seen. In this case, the psychologist has to be very mindful of the kind of treatment he or she can provide. What sorts of issues are appropriate to treat in that manner? How do the relevant jurisdictions laws and regulations apply to the work you are doing? Thats an example of how the technology is out in front of us. We have this wonderful new technology that allows us to offer services to folks who may never have had access to a psychologist. At the same time, the ethical, legal and regulatory infrastructure to support the technology is not yet in place. A good deal of thought and care must go into how we use the technology, given how it may affect our clients and what it means for our professional lives. APA needs to be involved in developing that ethical, legal and regulatory infrastructure and needs to be front and center on this. What do you want members to know about using Facebook? People are generally aware that what they put on their Facebook pages may be publicly accessible. Even with privacy settings, there are ways that people can get access to your information. My recommendation is to educate yourself about privacy settings and how you can make your page as private as you want it to be [see further reading box on page 34]. Also, educate yourself about how the technology works and be mindful of the information you make available about yourself. Historically, psychology has talked a lot about the clinical implications of self-disclosure, but this is several orders of magnitude greater, because now anyone sitting in their home or library with access to a terminal can find out an enormous amount of information about you. Facebook is a wonderful way to social network, to be part of a community. And of course psychologists are going to use this, as is every segment of the population. But psychologists have special ethical issues they need to think through to determine how this technology is going to affect their work. These days, students are inviting professors to see their Facebook pages and professors are now privy to more information on their students lives than ever before. Whats your advice on this trend? Psychologists should be mindful that whether teaching, conducting research, providing a clinical service or acting in an administrative capacity, they are in a professional role. Each role comes with its own unique expectations, and these expectations have ethical aspects. I would encourage a psychologist whos considering whether to friend a student to think through how the request fits into the professional relationship, and to weigh the potential benefits and harms that could come from adding that dimension to the teaching relationship. Of course, the professor should also be informed about the schools policy concerning interacting with students on social networking sites. How about Googling clientsshould you do this? In certain circumstances, there may be a good reason to do a search of a client. There may be an issue of safety, for example. In certain kinds of assessments, it might be a matter of confirming information. But again, we always need to think about how this fits into the professional relationship, and what type of informed consent weve obtained. Curiosity about a client is not a clinically appropriate reason to do an Internet search. Lets put it this way: If you know that your client plays in a soccer league, it would be a little odd if on Saturday afternoon you drove by the game to see how your client is doing. In the same way, if youre doing a search, thinking, What can I find out about this person  that raises questions about the psychologists motives? What about Twitter? Again, you first want to think about what are you disclosing and what is the potential impact the disclosure could have on the clinical work. Also, if you are receiving Tweets from a client, how does that fit in with the treatment? These questions are really interesting because they are pushing us to think clearly about the relationship between our professional and personal lives. We all have our own social communities and networks, but we also have to be aware about how we act and what we disclose in those domains, which are more accessible. Someone might say that this technology isnt raising new questions, its raising old questions in different ways. How about blogs? Be aware that when you author a blog, youre putting a lot of yourself into it. Thats why youre doing it. So again, you need to be mindful of the impact it will have on your clinical work. It also depends on what the blog is about. For example, if youre blogging about religion, politics or movies, in this day and age, some of your clients are going to read the material. If you are sharing your personal views on some important societal issue, be mindful of how that might affect the work you are doing. When is the next Ethics Code due out and will it more specifically address social media? The next revision hasnt been scheduled, but if I had to guess, probably in the next two to three years, APA will begin the process of drafting the next code. I can say with a very high degree of confidence that when APA does draft the next code, the drafters will be very mindful of many issues being raised by social media. Its important to think about ethics from a developmental perspective. As our field evolves, new issues emerge and develop. Not all the questions about social media have crystallized yet. We have to make sure that we have a pretty good sense of the right questions and the right issues before we start setting down the rules. Part of that process is exploring where the potential harms to our clients are. We are just defining the questions, issues, the risks of harm to the client and were going to have to let the process unfold. In the meantime, we have to be aware that these technologies are very powerful and far-reaching and bring with them wonderful benefits, but also potential harms. Stay tuned. As his patient lay unconscious in an emergency room from an overdose of sedatives, psychiatrist Damir Huremovic was faced with a moral dilemma: A friend of the patient had forwarded to Huremovic a suicidal e-mail from the patient that included a link to a Web site and blog he wrote. Should Huremovic go online and check it out, even without his patients consent? Huremovic decided yes; after all, the Web site was in the public domain and it might contain some potentially important information for treatment. When Huremovic clicked on the blog, he found quotations such as this: Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings. A final blog post read: I wish I didnt wake up. Yet as Huremovic continued scanning the patients personal photographs and writings, he began to feel uncomfortable, that perhaps hed crossed some line he shouldnt have. Across the country, therapists are facing similar situations and conflicted feelings. When Huremovic, director of psychosomatic medicine services at Nassau University Medical Center in New York, recounted his vignette last year at an American Psychiatric Association meeting and asked whether others would have read the suicidal mans blog, his audience responded with resounding calls of both yes! and no! One thing was clear: How and when a therapist should use the Internet and even whether he or she should are questions subject to vigorous debate. We are just beginning to understand what ethical issues the Internet is raising, says Stephen Behnke, ethics director for the American Psychological Association. To write rules that allow our field to grow and develop and yet prevent [patient] harm at the same time: Thats the challenge. In fact, the tremendous availability online of personal information threatens to alter what has been an almost sacred relationship between therapist and patient. Traditionally, therapists obtained information about a patient through face-to-face dialogue. If outside information was needed, the therapist would obtain the patients consent to speak with family members or a previous mental-health practitioner. At the same time, patients traditionally knew little about their therapists outside the consulting room. Now, with the click of a mouse, tech-savvy therapists and patients are challenging the old rules and raising serious questions about how much each should know about the other and where lines should be drawn. Among the questions under debate: Should a therapist review the Web site of a patient or conduct an online search without that patients consent? Is it appropriate for a therapist to put personal details about himself on a blog or Web-site or to join Facebook or other social networks? What are the risks of having patients and therapists interact online? Neither the American Psychiatric Association nor the American Psychological Association has rules specifically governing therapists online behavior, but ethics advisers with the psychiatric association maintain that online searches are not wrong as long as theyre done in the patients interest and not out of therapist curiosity. Many therapists contend its more important to discuss such questions than it is to dictate behavior. Its not whether a particular application is right or not, says Sheldon Benjamin, director of neuropsychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Its whether you do it mindfully whether you understand how it changes the doctor-patient relationship. To Google or Not to Google Benjamin, 53, swears by his iPhone and enthusiastically tells of sampling the Internet in its infancy. At the same time, Benjamin, who directs psychiatric training at UMass, advocates caution when it comes to mixing the Internet with therapy. He says he has never searched a patients name online and worries that doing so could dilute the therapeutic process by bringing in information from outside the patient-therapist discussion. When patients have asked Benjamin to read their blogs, he has agreed, with one caveat: that he do so during a regular counseling session. Even if you brought me a disability form, Id fill it out in the room with you, says Benjamin. I was taught to make the time with the patient the time when the work is done. Suena Massey takes a different approach. Massey, 35, an assistant professor of psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, considers Googling a patient a valuable professional tool. One of the duties of a psychiatrist is to corroborate what patients say, Massey explains. To that end, online searches can be helpful when traditional approaches obtaining the patients consent to contact his previous psychiatrist or family members are not available. One such case involved a patient who presented with symptoms of mania, a component of bipolar disorder. The man claimed to be well connected in Washington. After their meeting, Massey typed the patients name into a search engine. Up popped postings suggesting that the mans claims were accurate. In a subsequent session Massey told her patient she had Googled him, and he was okay with it. She ended up treating him for bipolar disorder; had his claims been false, she says, she would have considered his condition to be more severe. Massey says she will warn a patient about her possible use of Google searches if she thinks the patient might have a problem with it. You could almost make the argument that its negligent not to search online when there is public information available and it might help treat a patient, she says. If youre just looking things up out of personal interest, I think most doctors would feel uncomfortable with that. Public vs. Private But what happens when the circumstances are reversed? What happens when a patient seeks information about his therapist online or pursues a relationship with his therapist on Facebook, MySpace or via another social network? Most therapists are not alarmed by the idea of a Google search. I know my patients Google me, Massey says. I think its their right as consumers. Some providers anticipate such searches by maintaining Web sites detailing their professional qualifications. However, there can be problems when personal details are available. Take the case of a man who, after developing romantic and erotic feelings toward his therapist, typed her name into a search engine and found a Web site featuring personal photographs of the therapist, including a bathing-suit shot. The man quit treatment and reported the discovery to Behnkes office. He knew the image of his therapist in her bathing suit was going to be so present to him that he wouldnt be able to concentrate on his psychotherapy, Behnke explained in a telephone interview. There was material on the Internet that had an impact on this psychologists clinical work. Behnke cautions therapists to assume that most clients will conduct online searches, and he urges them to make sure they remain vigilant about what gets posted. Although most therapists say its inappropriate to have relationships with patients via social networks, there is little agreement on whether its okay for therapists to join such sites, and, if they do, just how private their information should remain. For Huremovic, 39, social network abstinence is safest. I have an understanding that if you choose to be a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist that you have to be very private in other parts of your social being, he says. But some therapists, especially younger ones for whom using the Internet is a way of life, dont share this view. For instance, psychologist Stephanie Smith, 35, has a Web site, and she has a presence on Twitter. Smith tweets to market her Colorado practice and to allow colleagues and other interested parties to monitor happenings in psychology. Typical posts provide tips for managing stress, announce a recent studys findings or refer followers to psychology blogs. Smith, who says Twitter has increased traffic to her professional Web site, admits to the rare tweet about her children or celebrity news. Its my style, but I know some people would not be comfortable with her disclosure of nonprofessional information, she says. Smith also has a Facebook account for her personal life. After teenage patients discovered that account and sent her friend requests, Smith enacted a policy forbidding past or current clients from engaging her online. She informs new clients of the policy and obligates them to comply. This is the type of problem that UMasss Benjamin wants to avoid. To me, its a much bigger issue than bumping into a patient in a restaurant, he says. Youre putting out there,Hey, these are my contacts. And someone then wants to enter your social circle. It puts you in a position where you must take a stand. Keely Kolmes, a California psychologist who writes and lectures on Internet ethics, recommends that therapists make clear distinctions between their professional and personal lives online. Younger clinicians get the Net but dont completely understand ethical and boundary issues that can come up, she says. A former computer consultant, Kolmes, who is in her early 40s, goes to great lengths to keep her lives separate. On her personal Facebook account, for instance, she does not use a photo of herself on her profile page and she doesnt make reference to her professional name. She also restricts her public tweets and blogs to news of a professional nature. Still, she recognizes that any online sighting of ones therapist changes the dynamic for a patient. A lot of patients really want to think about you as existing in just that one space [of the therapy room,] and suddenly theyre seeing you on Twitter and blogging, she says. They can see that youre online at night posting things. I realize my choice to do that suddenly shifts my relationship with them.

Municipal Waste Music Reveiw Essay examples

Municipal Waste Music Reveiw Essay examples Municipal Waste Music Reveiw Essay examples I went to see Municipal Waste on January 29th of this year. It was an impromptu event held at someone's house on the 600 block of west Marshall St and I was fortunate enough to experience "The Waste" raw in the someone's moldy basement. Municipal Waste is a thrash-metal band that formed right here in Richmond, VA back in 2000. There are four members, Tony with vocals and front man, Phil, Ryan and Dave. Although there are only three instruments, bass, guitar and drums, along with vocals, the dynamic of Municipal waste is loud and high-pitched. It resonates. The songs are short but really intense. Within the first two songs, I noticed a lot of lyrical references to alcoholism, "thrashing", partying and life in Richmond. There were also some mention of mutants which is depicted on a lot of the Municipal Waste memorabilia that I saw amongst the fans/crowd that night. The Waste seemed to have a lot of influences from bands like, Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, and Corrosion of Conformity. T he Waste was very well received, to no surprise, because they are a locally formed band that has soared in popularity over the last thirteen years and has become an international success, especially among Europeans into the metal sub-culture. And although they have a healthy, world-wide fan base, they have no pretentious demeanors and are intertwined with the social and music scene in their hometown. In fact, most people there at the show were acquaintances or friends of the band. They are

Consumer behaviour in Cambodia Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Consumer behaviour in Cambodia - Dissertation Example This section will comprise the justification and description of the research methods that are to be put into practise in order to determine the consuming behaviour in Cambodia. The methods that will be adopted have been explained in detail so that a suitable pathway can be determined. The chapter will shed light on the research design, the methods and the philosophical approaches of the study. The chapter then proceeds to highlight the sampling method and the sample size of the study. The target population or the intended participants who will be approached will be also highlighted. In addition, this chapter will also emphasize on the process of data collection and how the collected data will be analysed in the subsequent section. Lastly, the study will state the ethical issues associated with the study and the limitation of the study. 3.2 Research Philosophy It is necessary for a researcher to make certain assumptions regarding the nature of reality which is to be studies (Daniel, 2 010). Apart from that, assumptions are also made about the knowledge produced and the research perspective. Figure 1 The figure above summarizes the approaches that can be used by the researchers in a research study. The approaches have been summarized in the form of epistemology, ontology, theory, perspective, techniques and methods. Each of these different approaches entails to a different way of performing the research. In general there are two research philosophies namely interpretivists and positivist (Blaxter, Hughes and Tight, 2006; Guba and Lincoln, 2005). Positivism is a philosophy of research which is based on the view that sociology must use the natural methods (Tobin and Joseph, 2006). However, that does not mean only use of experiments as there are several problems associated with experiments. The biggest one comes in the form of ethical violations. The researcher who believes in positivist philosophy believes that research works must be conducted with the help of quant itative methods. They principally aim to measure the social structures (Mehrens and Lehmann, 1987). On the other hand, interpretivists or anti positivists takes the other way round. According to their point of view, human being perceives and reflects on that basis and scientific studies are not appropriate for the study of society. They also believe that unlike objectives human being has the ability to alter their behaviour. Hence, the inference is that in order to understand the social action, it is necessary to understand the meaning and reason people perceive about the environment around them (Abbott, 2010; Connaway and Powell, 2010; Gordon, 2007; Snieder and Larner, 2009; Wilson, 2010). Another important finding of the study is that researchers who follows interpretivism philosophy believes that social research must be conducted with the help of qualitative method (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009; Browne, 2006). This study seeks to investigate the consumer behaviour pattern of Cambodia and hence it clearly

Rana Plaza building collapse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Mental Health iIlness (DEMENTIA) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

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The economy of Saudi Arabia - Essay Example Saudi Arabia is promoting business privatization to facilitate economy diversification and national employment. Attempts at diversification center on energy production, telecommunications, natural gas breakthrough, and petrochemical divisions. In the country’s oil industry and service divisions, around 5.5 million employees are from foreign countries. Saudi government is principally centered on providing work for the big youth populace, which is deficient in education and technological expertise. Riyadh has maximized expenditures on job training and education, particularly with the opening of the King Abdallah University of Science and Technology, the country’s primary co-educational institution of higher education. To increase business ventures on foreign goods and services, Saudi Arabia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005. The government started launching "economic cities" throughout the country to encourage economic growth. In 2004-2008, the continuing increase in the world’s oil price earned Saudi Arabia sufficient financial reserves to cope with worldwide financial disaster. However, in 2009, its economic development was hampered due to strict global credit, declining oil prices, and the large-scale economic crisis. This impediment delayed several economic expansion plans. Saudi establishments sustained the banking division throughout the global crisis by directing asset investments into banks, decreasing rates, and openly confirming Saudi administrations security of bank deposits (â€Å"Middle East: Saudi Arabia†). Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest producer and exporter of petroleum. The oil industry was discovered in the 1930s but was commercially produced after World War II. In 1951, the Arabian-American Oil Company (ARAMCO) was established, granting 50% net earnings to Saudi Arabia. Since the 1960s, petroleum brought huge revenues to the Saudi

Mental Health iIlness (DEMENTIA) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Mental Health iIlness (DEMENTIA) - Essay Example Since impaired neurons are not capable of reproducing or renewing, the changes are irreversible, and any outcomes they produce are often irreversible (p. 118). Generally, it is not possible to halt the progression of the illness, because no cure is available. Hence the condition could affect other nerve cells, slowly but unavoidably resulting in the behavioural disorders and incapacities called ‘dementia’ (Esiri & Trojanowski 2004, 1-2). The outcomes could be illustrated as an organised deterioration of the mind through which the individual becomes more and more helpless, insecure, difficult, unaware, and inadequate. With an aging population that is drastically enlarging, there is the likelihood that dementia will become massively prevalent in the 21st century. Dementia: An Overview Dementia is defined by the World Health Organisation as (Curran & Wattis 2004, 10): A syndrome due to disease of the brain, usually of a chronic or progressive nature, in which there is impai rment of multiple higher cortical functions, including memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language and judgment. Consciousness is not clouded. The cognitive impairments are commonly accompanied, and occasionally preceded, by deterioration in emotional control, social behaviour, or motivation. Hence this illness has implications for the capacity of individuals to deal with facets of their everyday lives to their prior capabilities. Commonplace tasks like taking a bath, dressing, going to work, leisure, and building and maintaining relationships become more and more taxing. If the individual endures dementia for a long time it could become painfully difficult for him/her to perform such tasks by themselves or to communicate or express needs clearly and intelligibly (Judd 2011, 89). The nature of dementia is that it is an accelerating condition; signs become more evident and impinge on the person’s life on a greater extent, sooner or la ter spreading through all parts. Signs and Symptoms Loss of memory is dementia’s most common symptom. There are those who fail to remember the names, or even faces, of people they have been acquainted to for a long time, or lose their way in long known places. There are those who have obsessed or paranoid delusions about the people around them (Esiri & Trojanowski 2004, 3). Numerous have abrupt, unhealthy loss of weight. When such diagnoses do not disable function or ability, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is detected (Esiri & Trojanowski 2004, 3). According to Levine (2006, 29), roughly 20% of individuals with MCI progress to dementia as these cognitive disorders affect everyday activities and function. Psychiatric signs and symptoms (e.g. depression, psychosis) were identified as major features of dementia since 1907. In spite of this finding, emphasis during the earlier decades has usually focused exclusively on memory deficits and other cognitive areas that have been dra wn on to identify dementia’s clinical symptoms (Budson & Kowall 2011, 113). The scientific value and extensive prevalence of other mental disorders in dementia are currently the focus of numerous specialists and researchers. According to some findings, the pervasiveness of neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia is

An American childhood by Annie dillard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An American childhood by Annie dillard - Essay Example eams through her mention of her father who painfully decided to give up his personal dreams to protect his family from the dangers of what would come from the talk of the people. Her adoration of the man with principles he stood for may not have been directly pointed out but they were clearly expressed as the writer saw through the eyes of a child. She spoke about her mother in a childlike manner, telling the story just how it happened, without sugar-coating rather in a child’s innocence; she placed her mother in the rightful pedestal. The story is a craftily written piece of art which engages the readers, making alive the actions, people and places mentioned. Probably the greatest ingredient used in the story that really grips the readers to stick their noses on the book until the end, is the honesty and innocence of the child in the grown-up Annie. Along with this, she made alive the story with her wit as she used professional means of story telling like figures of speech. Alliteration was used, with the repetition of sounds as the story is told, to put emphasis on some parts of the story, drawing attention from the reader for one to meditate more on it or analyze the meaning of which. An example for this is the line, â€Å"There was no messiness in her, no roughness for things to cling to, only a charming and charmed innocence that seemed then to protect her, an innocence I needed but couldn’t muster†. She used metaphors as well bringing life to some things she mentioned in the story as she viewed them during her childhood. She made the icebox motor talk in the line; â€Å"You are living†, the icebox motor said. In an interesting manner, her childhood imaginations were drawn before the eyes of her readers and this simply made the story more enjoyable. Even the figurative languages the author used in her story showed the genius in her as she realized as a child the essence of the stories he read or heard to the facts she observed. Metaphorically, the child

Group Dynamics Paper Essay Example for Free

Group Dynamics Paper Essay A group is the interaction of two or more independent people, usually working together to achieve a goal. This group consists of 12 angry men, put together as a jury. Their goal to decide if the defendant is guilty or not guilty. Since these men did not choose to be put together, and had no prior association with one another before placement into this selected group, various contrasting personalities that both support and clash are working toward this goal of finding the defendant unanimously guilty or not guilty as a final verdict for the court. Such contrasts of personality creates a conflicting atmosphere in the courtroom. Such dynamic interactions are what makes the group development interesting. Group Development Problems Throughout the movie a group development occurs where jurors question their vote due to the persuasion of other group members as new ways of looking at the facts or emotions of the case are analyzed amongst the group or by inner, silent thinking of the individual jurors. Group development is the changes that occur in the group from first meeting to coming up with an unanimous verdict (the conclusion). Much emotion and development of thinking occurs as time proceeds and the jurors individual thinking is challenged. This is the development of what will create a final, more thought out decision of the group. Character Roles Roles are the titles that distinguish members of a group from one another. All members of this group are jury members. Although each jury member has an equal role not all jury members are created equal. This inequality is based on characters perceptions and attraction(likes and dislikes) for other each other due to the other characters personality. An example is that the meek, quiet guy is disliked because he seems nervous, lacking the assertiveness the group sees as a norm of how jury members should be. So jury members see him as an insignificant jury member due to his personality. Roles come into the film such as the designated foreman (jury member 1) specifically. Based on characterization, you can label personalities such as the meek, the old man, the baseball fanatic, etc. This gives a name to who the individual is. This description is apart from the goals of the group, but should be considered because these personalities are influential to how characters choose to vote. The meek man is easily persuaded. The old man is calm and logical and the baseball fanatic wants to just get out of there because there is a baseball game. Further than we can expand on the personalities of characters by dividing similar groups into the blue collar jurors vs. white color jurors. The white collar group tend to be more analytic about their decisions; whereas, the blue collar workers tend to be more argumentative with a lack of analysis on the subject matter. These characters we see have motives and backgrounds that will influence their arguments for the vote of guilty or not guilty and in turn act as a role of a persuader to other jury members of contrasting or similar personalities. Depending upon the perceiver and their character they will be persuaded or not persuaded. Socio-emotional vs. Task vs. Individual Roles Roles can also be divided into three types of interactions based on the communicating style of the individual group member. Socio-emotional roles are those in which the person is consider with the emotions of other group members and mediating them to achieve favorable or peaceful interactions in the group. I did not see a juror that was concerned with emotions to the extent this role would require to mediate other jurors emotions and thus keep the group cohesively working together. The meek man seems emotionally but he is not assertive enough to speak strongly and bind together the rest of the jurors into caring about other jurors emotions. Since the movie lacks a juror that clearly or even somewhat takes the task of the socio-emotional role, this may be why the group has a lot of conflict in reaching their unanimous, group decision. Task roles are those in which in the person is concerned with the task at hand and how it will be executed (and not emotions of individuals). Their job is to get the job done efficiently and well done. The foreman, juror 1, who sits at the front of the table, taking votes and mediating the procedures would be considered the juror most concerned with the task orientation of the group. For the most part, he speaks without emotion toward wither side and typically talks about proceeding with votes, and does not typically get into the emotion aspect of the trail. Socio-emotional roles and task roles are important for the group to achieve getting the job done and keeping individual members happy. Another role exists independently called the Individual role. This role may or may not occur in a group. The Individual role is the person who does not really care about other s but rather only themselves in the group. The baseball fan should be considered the person who follows the individual role. He does not seems to care about listening to facts about the defendant. He sees it the jury process as a waste of time when he could be doing something he enjoys, watching baseball. Group Norms Expectations Group norms are expectations or standards of activities and behaviors that should or should not occur in the group. The group expects to deliver an unanimous vote of guilty or not guilty to the defendant. Time of debate is a problem for this group. Some members expect an immediate decision, such as the baseball player who wants to get to his game, and others expect a more thought out decision. Since a sentencing of guilty would send the defendant to the electric chair, some jurors feel that a longer than immediate debate should be pursued. So, varying individual expectations of group norms creates a conflict of expectations for the group as to how it will proceed with finding the goal of the verdict. Every individual cannot be pleased as to how the proceedings will go, how long they will take, etc. We see this when jurors that want to get out of there, the court become frustrated because what they expect (leaving) is not quickly what they get (staying longer to discuss the case). Sociometry the Sociogram Sociometry is a measurement technique that summarizes graphically and mathematically patterns of intermeber relations. An example is the attraction or liking principle in groups. The sociogram is the graphical representation of the patterns of intermember relations created through sociometry. An example of this is a graphical representation of who likes whom within the jury in 12 Angry Men. It shows who is least liked to who is most liked. Also, cliches may occur, which are a group that likes each other the most and are more similar or share more homophily than the overall large group. The cliches are the blue collars as one cliche and the white collars as another cliche. They share a similarity of a working class bracket that is more similar in lifestyle to each other that helps them relate to one another which is considered homophily, than as a whole as jurors, to which they are more different from each other. Below is a depiction of what can be analyzed of a sociogram of this jury group: SOCIOGRAM Blue Collars like. Blue Collars White Collars.. like.. White Collars Reject. Meek Man(he is not liked by anyone and thus not listened to not influential) Most Respected (so maybe most liked). the old man. (some blue and some white collars like him) Social Influence: conformity Social influence is interpersonal processes that change the thoughts, feelings, or behaviors of another person. In the movie, 12 Angry Men, the jurors who think the defendant is guilty are trying to persuade or change the feelings of the jurors who think he is not guilty. They are using social influence to try and change their minds. To be more specific, we consider different types of social influence. These types include concepts about conformity, majority influence, and minority influence. Conformity is a change in behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure. The first preliminary vote by the jury yields an 11 to 1 vote in favor of guilty. Why was this? Was this because most of the jury members thought he was guilty from the beginning, and people who were undecided felt they should vote guilty because of imagined group pressure? Most of the jurors when asked why they voted the way they did said; they were just sure he was guilty, or because the evidence points right to him. This may be true for some of the jurors, but most, perhaps unconsciously, felt pressure to conform to what others were saying. Juror number 8 is the one and only juror that voted not guilty. Henry Fonda plays juror number 8 in the movie. He is in his middle 30s, average size, short dark hair, and is an architect. Juror number 8 felt all the other jurors voted guilty without even thinking about their decisions, juror #8 suggested that they talk about it before jumping to conclusions. Even when some of the other jurors got mad and started yelling at him, he stayed calm and tried to work things out in a mature fashion. When asked if he thought the boy was guilty or not guilty, he said, I dont know. This shows that he had not decided one way or the other. When asked why he voted this way, he replied, Its not easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first. This shows that he wanted to talk things over with the other jurors before he makes a decision. He wasnt going to conform to the group so easy. Social Influence: minority influence This is a case of a minority influence going up against the majority influence. Juror number 8 was not sure the boy was guilty, so he decided to go against the majority opinion, and thus not conform to group pressures. Juror number 8 is a minority among the jury. He wanted to go over the murder and all the evidence again before changing his vote. Most of the jurors said they just felt he was guilty based on the fact the a woman across the street said she saw the murder and the old man, who lived above the apartment that the murder took place, said he made it to the door just in time to see the murderer running down the stairs. Both witnesses identified the defendant as the murderer. Juror #8 brought up possible flaws in each of these as they were stated. For example, he questioned whether the woman could really see the murderer through a passing train in the middle of the night. Juror #8 didnt deny that the woman might have seen the murder and murderer, but thought it might be good to go back over the evidence and make sure they were sending the right man to death. Once the jury went around the table, juror #8 said he would change his vote to guilty if no one changed their vote to not guilty. There was one juror that changed his vote. Juror #9 changed his vote giving Juror #8 more time to talk about the case. Juror #9 said, He gambled for support and I gave it to him. I want to hear more. By convincing one person to change their vote, it forced everybody to listen to more arguments, and possibly change their thinking on the case. There means now there is some social support for juror #8. Social support is defined as emotional support, advice, guidance, and tangible assistance given to others when they experience stress, daily hassles, and more significant life crises. Obviously this was stressful situation and if he had no one back him up, juror #8 would probably fail in his attempt to influence the majority. Its a lot easier to try and influence a majority when you are not alone in the fight, there needs to be social support. Now that there is some social support, juror number 8 feels a little less pressure and is now able to continue with his argument. Juror #8 re-enacted scenes from the night of the murder in order to prove his points. The first time Juror #8 re-enacted a scene was when he proves that the old man could not have walked from his bedroom to the hallway in fifteen seconds. He did this by measuring how far his bedroom was from he hallway, and then walking it himself. It took him thirty-one seconds, making it impossible for the old man to have made it in fifteen, like he testified. By doing this re-enactment, he changed the minds of several other jurors. The minority influence had finally started to have success. Tactics for a successful minority To have success as a minority, as juror #8 appeared to have, a number of tactics must be used in order to influence a majority. These tactics include challenging the majority norm, having consistency, being patient, have rigidity, and bring about divergent thinking. First and foremost, the minority must challenge the majority opinion. If you dont stand up and challenge the majority you will never be heard. When juror #8 votes not guilty he has challenged the majority. The second step is to have a consistent message. In this case juror #8 says he is uncertain the defendant is guilty and wants to go over the evidence again, and hes not changing his vote until they do so. He wants the majority to convince him the defendants guilty. With consistency comes patience. The minority must give it time for their message to be heard and for any influence to occur. Juror #8 is going to stay and talk about the evidence as long as it takes. He is going to stay until the majority changes his mind, or until the minority changes their mind. The minority wants to be consistent and patient, but they want to avoid being rigid. You want to be firm, but you dont want to just say no to everything and be stubborn. You dont want to make yourself look like a jerk, because if you were perceived that way you probably wont have much influence. You want people to like you; this helps you persuade the majority. Juror #8 does an excellent job of not getting mad and staying calm even when the majority is yelling at him. He is a very likable, patient, and mature man and this really helps him influence the majority. Convergent thinking occurs when a person gathers facts, evidence, or experiences from a variety of sources to solve a problem. The result is one answer that hopefully is correct. Majorities seem to possess this kind of thinking, as is the case with 12 Angry Men. The majority members in the jury focused only on the testimony given by the witnesses. They did not consider any possible other alternatives. When it came to the witnesses, their testimonies were undoubtedly right and there was no reason to consider anything else about it. Divergent thinking occurs when we start with a problem and rather than look for one answer, we instead generate many ideas or possible solutions. The minority influence grew in support as the movie went on because members of the jury started to use divergent thinking when considering the trial. Instead of being focused on only one solution, they were considering other possibilities that could have explained what happened the night of the murder. When the jury considers the woman across the street that says she saw the boy kill his father, convergent thinkers assume everything is accurate in her testimony, because there is no other solution in their minds. What juror number 8 does is help the jury see another side to the story. Could the woman see the murder through a moving train at night when she was in bed? Convergent thinkers would say absolutely, while divergent thinkers would consider other possible scenarios. Juror #8 just wanted everyone to think about any other possibilities. In this case, the divergent thinkers noticed that she wore eyeglasses by the indentations on the sides of her nose. They then think about the fact that most people dont go to sleep with their glasses on. So they wonder how the woman could have accurately seen the murder and murderer. Maybe she did see the murder perfectly, but now there is some reasonable doubt.

Activity based costing and problems it could solve

Activity based costing and problems it could solve Activity based costing is a management accounting technique that deals with assigning of the overhead costs in a more logical manner as compared to the traditional approach that deals with only allocating the costs based on the machine hours. This approach is based on assigning the costs first to their related activities and then finally assigning the costs of those activities to the products that only demand these activities. Activity based costing recognizes that the machine setup, special testing, and special engineering all cause a company to consume resources. This is the reason as to why this technique calculates the cost of these resources and then assigns them to the products that demanded the activities (Accounting Coach, 2004). As the environment of the manufacturing firm moves from a manual system to a computer-integrated manufacturing there is the emergence of conventional cost systems that may release report of distorted products. Therefore, activity based costing will save this problem by collecting financial and operational performance by performing the activity of tracing the significant activities of the operation to their final products more effectively. Activity based costing will perform the following activities in cost management; identifying the activity centers, selecting the first cost drivers, and reporting the cost activities. After this there follows the process of implementation that ensures corrects utilization of the technique in cost management (Klener and No, 1997). Activity Based Costing can support the managers in trying to see how to maximize the shareholders value and also improve the general corporate governance. It started its function after bringing in more advantages as compared to the traditional way of accounting. In the traditional way of accounting, it was believed that the high volume customers mean high level of profits. But this is not the case of decision making on activity based costing. ABC model came with a new version which based decision making by managers on identifying the cost pools in an organization and then assigning the cost drivers i.e. services by considering the number of events or transactions that are involved in the process of producing a particular product (Value Based Management.net, 2010) In any particular company, the cost serving a customer can be determined individually basing on the costing activities. This can be done by deducting the product cost and also the cost of serving each customer in order to arrive at the productivity. By doing this one can be able to identify the profitability of each customer and hence position the products and services accordingly. This is a practical application of this type of model when dealing with costs. In addition to that, the ABC model helps to make the employees to understand the various types of costs involved. It also the helps them analyze the cost, value added and non-value added activities and thus enabling them to realize the benefits accrued from the products and services produced (Value Based Management.net, 2010). In cost management and decision making, Activity Based Costing has also an extension known as the Activity Based Management that fully touches all aspects of management costing. This allows the management to examine the non-value-added activities and hence make rational decisions on them. This technique in ABC model relies on the ABC system in specifying where the non-value-added activities exist and hence provide the value and amount of monetary benefits that are associated with their elimination. The other side of the valueà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬added costing is fully dealt with in the full model Activity Based (ABC) Model (Dunn, 2004, p.2). Activity Based Costing has been adopted by many countries in different sectors around the world. Different sectors in the world economies have been modified and hence their cost management techniques simplified by the use of this model. For example, sectors of the economy such as the manufacturing industry, banking industry, retail industry, and even the government have a perfectly implemented ABC model in their management costing. Japan provides a much more experimental case study for our discussion. There was a great impact of the innovations of the cost accounting technique, basically ABC, on the technology trigger (an external impetus that stimulates innovation) between the years 1984-1997. This was particularly applied on both the electronic and automotive sector. In the past it was believed that, the causes of low wage labor and undervalued currencies were the innovative management practices, just-in-time material flow of systems, statistical process control and continuous improvement. There was also the issue of unfair competition and adoption of inappropriate management practices from other companies (Accounting Coach, 2004). As a result of this, there was the emergence of new costing approaches in several manufacturing industries including the automotive industry. This was after the realization that the cost accounting systems used at that time were associated with negative operational and strategic consequences. For example, the Tektronix Company started allocating manufactured overheads to the specific products based on the direct labor. This encouraged the engineers to design products that required less labor to manufacture as compared to the past years. This method provided the engineers with a much cheaper way of making decisions (Turney, 2008, p.3). The elimination of the behavioral distortion that was inherent in the used cost accounting system helped the Tektronix Company to compete. Another sector where the ABC method was implemented and used is the business sector and offering of financial services. With most technologies, the development of the first generation methods encouraged the development of the ABC market. A large number of consulting firms started building up the ABC practices in the late 1980à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s and early 1990à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s with an introduction of the first commercially available ABC software. By the invention of this method, there was an increase in the level of profitability ratio by these consultancy firms. This was because ABC acted as a catalyst for decision making that is affecting the profitability level and was able to reveal sources of the loss that were responsible for the decline of the profitability level (Liu and Pan, 2007). The method helped the consultancy firms to develop new focus on the profitable markets and customers, design products to remove cost, and eliminate the non-value a dded activities. Activity Based Costing is being used by a number of companies in different sectors of the economy. For example, in the healthcare industry activity based costing has provided an easier way of dealing issues regarding the provision of health services and products to its citizens. Most of the hospitals like Al Mowasat Hospital, Armed Force Hospital and King Faisal Hospital have benefited so much from the technique of activity based cost management (ABM) systems (Aird, 1988). This has enabled the hospitals to improve their quality and efficiency in healthcare service provision with consideration of the cost controls and resource management. Another sector that has expressed much utilization of the ABC method in Saudi Arabia is the Oil Industry. The oil industry is faced with a high level of competition associated with higher costs. Therefore to be able to survive in this market, a firm needs to manage cost, quality, and product or service through an effective cost management method. Saudi Arabian Oil Company is one of the of the petroleum companies that has a vast petroleum reserves that is unmatched in any part of the world. For the company to survive in the competitive oil market it uses a number of systems for cost control such as, design for manufacturing, quality management and most importantly activity based costing as one of its core perspectives (Galbraith et al, 1998). Activity Based Costing has provided a new approach in solving cost management problems in many industries in Germany. For example, Market-Trading is a German enterprise that sells mainly high quality and highly furnished products to the retailers, whole sellers and even retailers. This company has implemented the model of Activity Based Costing that tries to allocate the costs to the related final products before releasing them off to the market. Through this method there has been an increased competitive advantage gained by the firm in the market of competition. This is the sector of business trading dealing with provision of goods and services. In the construction industry, there has been experienced more utilization of the ABC method by many firms. For example, the EU Solar Systems Limited brings together a unique team of fields of construction, sales, information technology and engineering. Their main products include distribution of solar panels and related solar products. Due t o the high level of costs incurred in this production process, the EU solar company manages its costs by using a well defined cost accounting system basically the ABC model (Polejewski, 1990, p.4). There are a number of issues managers in an emerging economy face when trying to implement the ABC method in a firm. One of the major issues that surround the ABC method is the difficulty of implementation. What proves difficult is the issue of allocation of property. This is because it requires a lot of effort utility and that the processes are adequately mapped throughout the organization. In the emerging economies where there is inadequate utility effort implementing the ABC model is likely to be more cumbersome. In addition to that, most of the emerging economies lack an appropriate way of approaching the implementation. Rationalizing facilities, identifying the opportunities and then conceptualizing proper solutions are a challenge to these economies due to lack of skilled manpower in the management level (RCG University, 1999). Activity Based Costing makes a lot of sense to companies that produce a varied range of products or services and those that are suffering from inaccurate costing information. For these companies the issue of implementation is not such a big challenge, this is because the effort that is required to successfully implement ABC is worth their resources. The emerging economies mostly lack large companies that offer multiple products, therefore the cost of implementing the ABC model is really a challenge to a manager of that company. Businesses are competing in an ever-changing competitive globe. Therefore companies are supposed to fully implement and apply the ABC system in order to become more productive, efficient and profitable and therefore earn a competitive advantage over other companies. This means that there is need for careful analysis done by managers before shifting into new methods and techniques of decision making. Therefore, an additional investment should be put aside for proper analysis of the different types of cost techniques (Klener and No, 1997). These additional costs are a challenge to the managers of firms in an emerging economy due to limited number of resources. There are many challenges that a manager can face when trying to implement the ABC model in the emerging economies. First there are challenges in trying to design and build a model. This challenge is more rampant in the developing economies due to lack of adequate resources available for a firm to be in a position of implementing the model with less cost burden. Updating and maintaining the model requires an additional investment or cost to the small companies. Gathering and integrating data requires a higher level of skilled personnel that is at a lower level as compared to the stable economies (Galbraith et al, 1998). Finally, reporting and disseminating the integrated data, analyzing it and coming out with relevant decisions son cost management is also another challenge to most firms. ABC model has been implemented over time by many companies that experience rising level of costs. Their main aim is to reduce costs and increase the level of productivity. However, due to some reasons some companies have reported successful implementation while others have reported problems with implementation of the systems or have rejected them. This difference occurs due to a number of varied reasons (Klener and No, 1997). Some companies that report positive feedback on the implementation of the ABC model state that some of their existing tools allow for a much quicker development of such cost management models. This ability comes from the quality of modern tools and the learning curve. This differs greatly through different industries. For those firms that have old-fashioned technology are seen to face much rejection towards implementation of the ABC model (Liu and Pan, 2007). An example of the modern technology that most up-to date firms use when implementing new cost management methods is the ABC software which is a specialized tool for the ABC method. For the ABC technique to have an impact on a companyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s cost management there is need of allocating time for it to be successfully implemented. Most companies allow a long duration of time for acceptance and understanding because of the associated their long learning curves. This may lead to a higher accumulation of costs as a result of the pooled up costs associated with the implementation of the cost management technique. It is also understood that changes is not something that something that people readily accept. A company will be willing to allow its objectives to grow as their understanding of the cost management technique that had been implemented in that particular organization (Klener and No, 1997). This obviously differs from one company to another thus bringing about a difference in their implementation styles. Implementation of the ABC method into a company system requires that the company to which this system is to be implemented to have the required resources and capacity to be able to accommodate the system. Companies with adequate amount of resources are at a higher probability of accommodating the changes brought about by the new implemented cost management model. This is because the adequate resources can support the additional costs that are required for successful implementation of the model. On the other hand, companies with lower amount of resources or capital base will take a long duration of time to implement the system or they might report failure in the implementation process. This is because; the new system will seem to be an additional cost towards the company which may not be accommodated by many small firms (Liu and Pan, 2007). For the success of a company in implementing the ABC model, there must be the top management perfect involvement. For a company that has top management support provides an opportunity for the success of the implementation of the ABC model. The corporate culture of the top-to-down management in the instigation of the adoption of the management innovations will determine the success of the effective cost management. For example due to the hierarchical nature of the organization and taking into consideration of high proportion of dedicated professionals determines the success of the implementation of the ABC system within the organization (Liu and Pan, 2007). Firms that report success in the implementation of the ABC model means that the model is applicable in their firms. On the other hand, for those that report failure show that the model is not applicable for their cost management systems. For example, firms that have multiple service and product provision are at a higher probability of accepting this model than firms with limited or one line of service and product provision (Dunn, 2004, p.4). Therefore, implementation of the ABC model also goes hand in hand with the applicability of the model in the company. In general, activity based costing method is beneficial to firms that want to increase their profitability level above the normal level and for those that want to manage the product associated costs more effectively. From the essay we have seen how this model has been widely used and accepted by firms in different countries and how it has assisted in proper cost management. However, for the firm to successfully use the model there is need for proper implementation process that assures the company of perfect utility of the technique. For the firms that have successfully implemented the ABC model they enjoy reduced costs, higher profit levels and better management of the product associated costs. Therefore, ABC is seen to be both a cost-increasing factor and a cost-reducing factor. But the benefits that arise from the model are far much higher such that the costs of implementing the model are not felt.