Evils of War Essay

There is no doubt that war is an evil one. It is the greatest catastrophe that can befall human beings. It brings death and destruction, merciless slaughter and butchery, disease and starvation, poverty and ruin in its wake. A particularly disturbing side of modern wars is that they tend to become global so that they may engulf the entire world. But though war is an evil, we must recognize the fact that it is a necessary, inescapable evil. A glance at the past history of the world will show war has been a recurrent phenomenon in the history of nations. We have had wars of all types wars lasting for a year or so and a war lasting for hundred years. Clashes of arms have always occurred. In a world war has ways been waged. War has indeed, been such a marked feature of every age and period. This has come to be regarded as part of The normal life of nations. Poet and prophets have dreamt of a millennium – an utopia in which war will not exist and eternal peace will reign on earth, but these dreams have not been fulfilled. The occurrence the Second World War however, conclusively proved that to think of an unbroken peace’s to be unrealistic and that no institution or assembly can ever ensure the presence of peace. The United Nations Organisation, with all the good work that it has seen doing, is not proving as effective as was desired. A large number of wars, The most recent ones behind the one in Vietnam, the other between India and Pakistan, or Ind-China war, Iran-Iraq war or Arab Isreal war. The fact of the matter is that, fighting is a natural instinct in peace. It is, indeed, too much to exact so many nations to live in a state of eternal peace. Besides, there will always be wide differences of option between various nations, different angle of looking at matters that have an international importance, radical difference in policy and ideology and they cannot be settled by mere discussion so that resort to war becomes very necessary in these cases.

You Suck: A Love Story Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen Nobody Likes a Dead Whore Finding her boyfriend tied naked to an upright bed frame, covered in blood, with a dead, blue dominatrix at his feet would be enough to rattle some women's confidence in the stability of their relationship. Some women might even take it as a sign of trouble. But Jody had been single for a number of years – she'd dated rock musicians and stockbrokers – and was conditioned to unusual bumps on the road of romance, so she simply sighed and kicked the hooker in the ribs – more as a conversation opener than a confirmation that the ho was dead – and said, â€Å"So, rough night?† â€Å"Awk-ward,† Abby sang, peeking in the door, then immediately swinging back into the hallway. â€Å"I forgot my safety word,† Tommy said. Jody nodded. â€Å"Well, that had to be embarrassing.† â€Å"She beat me.† â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"Yeah. But it hurt. A lot.† Tommy looked past Jody toward the door. â€Å"Hi, Abby!† Abby swung around the corner. â€Å"Lord Flood,† she said, with a nod and a little grin. Then she looked down at the body, her eyes went wide, and she swung back out into the hall. â€Å"How're your sister's lice?† Tommy said. â€Å"Shampoo didn't work.† Abby called, without looking in. â€Å"We had to shave her head.† â€Å"Sorry about that.† â€Å"It's okay. She looks kind of cool, in a ‘Make a Wish kid' kind of way.† Jody said. â€Å"Abby, why don't you come in and shut the door? If someone walks by and looks in, it might, oh, I don't know, freak them out a little.† † ‘Kay,† said Abby. She stepped in and palmed the door shut behind her, as if the clicking of the door latch might actually be the thing that would attract attention. â€Å"I think I killed her,† Tommy said. â€Å"She was beating me, and she wanted me to bite her, so I did. I think I drained her dry.† â€Å"Well, she's dead all right.† Jody reached down and tossed the blue hooker's arm up. It fell back to the floor. â€Å"But you didn't drain her.† â€Å"I didn't?† â€Å"She'd be dust if you did. Heart attack or stroke or something. Looks like most of her blood went on you and the carpet.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"Yeah, I sort of tore her throat out and she fell before I could finish.† â€Å"Well, what did she expect? You were tied up.† â€Å"You don't seem that bothered by it. I thought you'd be jealous.† â€Å"Did you ask her to bring you here and beat you until you snapped and killed her?† â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"Did you encourage her to beat you until you snapped and killed her?† â€Å"Of course not.† â€Å"And you didn't get off on her beating you until you snapped and killed her.† â€Å"Honestly?† â€Å"You're naked and chained to a bed frame, and I'm just inches away from both a riding crop and your genitals. I think honesty would be a good policy.† â€Å"Well, honestly, the killing part was kind of a turn-on.† â€Å"But not sexual.† â€Å"No way. It was totally homicidal lust.† â€Å"Then we're okay.† â€Å"Really, you're not mad?† â€Å"I'm just glad you're okay.† â€Å"I should feel bad about it, I know, but I don't.† â€Å"That happens.† â€Å"Some bitches just need killing,† Abby said, looking briefly at Tommy, then realizing he was naked under all that blood, looking away quickly. â€Å"There you go,† Jody said. She stepped up and began to undo his restraints. They were double bands of fleece and nylon, with heavy metal shackles locked over them. â€Å"What did she buy these for, to handcuff a grizzly bear? Abby, check the body for a key.† â€Å"Nuh-uh,† Abby said, staring down at the dead blue hooker. Jody noticed that the kid was focused on the breasts, which were defying gravity, and apparently death itself, by standing there at complete attention. â€Å"Those aren't real,† Jody said. â€Å"I knew that.† â€Å"She was a very mean woman,† Tommy said, trying to help. â€Å"With really big but insincere boobs. Don't be afraid.† Abby tore her gaze from the dead woman's chest and looked from Tommy, to Jody, to Jody's chest, and back to the body. â€Å"Fucksocks! Does everybody have big boobs but me? God, I hate you guys!† She ran out the door and slammed it behind her. â€Å"I do not have big boobs,† Jody said. â€Å"Perfectly proportioned,† Tommy said. â€Å"Perfect, really.† â€Å"Thanks, sweetie,† Jody said, kissing him on the lips lightly so as not to get a taste of the whore's blood. â€Å"I think I saw her hang the key in Lash's Forty-Fucking-Niners hat rack by the door.† â€Å"I really need to teach you how to go to mist,† Jody said, retrieving the key. â€Å"Yeah, that would have helped me avoid a lot of this.† â€Å"You know the Animals sold you out, right?† â€Å"I can't see them doing that. She must have blackmailed them or something.† â€Å"Clint told the cops, too. Rivera and Cavuto had our loft staked out.† â€Å"Clint doesn't really count, though. He traded in all his moral credibility in this world when he committed to live forever.† â€Å"Amazing how badly the promise of immortality makes people behave.† â€Å"Like it doesn't matter how you treat people,† Tommy said. â€Å"There!† Jody finally got the shackle on Tommy's right wrist unlocked and started working on the left. They were heavy, but she thought that given the motivation of torture, she could have broken loose, or at least torn apart the bed frame. â€Å"You couldn't just snap these?† â€Å"I guess I need to work out.† He scratched his nose furiously. â€Å"So, should we hide the body or something?† â€Å"No, I think it's a good warning for your buddies.† â€Å"Right.† â€Å"What about the cops?† â€Å"Not our problem,† she said as she twisted the key in the lock and snapped the restraint off his left wrist. â€Å"We don't have a dead blue hooker in our apartment.† â€Å"That's an excellent point,† Tommy said, rubbing his wrist. â€Å"Thank you for rescuing me, by the way. I love you.† He grabbed her and pulled her to him, nearly tumbling over on his face when she stepped back and he encountered the resistance of his ankle restraints. â€Å"I love you, too,† she said, palming his forehead and pushing him back on balance, â€Å"but you are covered with skank oil and you will not get it on my new leather jacket.† In the cab, Abby pouted – sticking out her lower lip far enough that pink was showing above her black lipstick, making her look vaguely like a cat eating a plum. â€Å"Just drop me at my house.† Tommy, who sat in the middle, wearing one of Lash's Forty-Niners jerseys, put his arm around Abby's shoulders to comfort her. â€Å"It's okay, kid. You did great. We are most pleased with you.† Abby snorted and looked out the window. Jody, in turn, put her arm around Tommy's neck and dug her nails into his shoulder. â€Å"Shut up,† she whispered, so soft that only Tommy would be able to hear it. â€Å"You're not helping.† â€Å"Look, Abby,† Jody said, â€Å"it's not something that happens all at once, like in the movies. Sometimes you have to eat bugs for years before you become one of the chosen.† â€Å"I know I did,† Tommy said. â€Å"Beetles, bugs, spiders, mice, rats, snakes, marmosets, OUCH! Stop that, I've been tortured already tonight.† â€Å"You two are just into each other,† Abby said. â€Å"You don't care about anyone else. We're like cattle to you.† The cabdriver, who was a Hindu, looked in the rear-view mirror. â€Å"So what's your point?† Jody said. Tommy elbowed her in the ribs. â€Å"Kidding. Jeez. Abby, we care very deeply about you. We've trusted you with everything. In fact, you may have saved my life tonight.† Tommy reared back and looked at Jody. â€Å"Long story,† the redhead said. Then to Abby again: â€Å"Get some rest and come to the loft tomorrow at dusk. We'll talk about your future.† Abby crossed her arms. â€Å"Tomorrow is Christmas. I'm trapped with the family.† â€Å"Tomorrow is Christmas?† Tommy said. â€Å"Yeah,† Jody said. â€Å"So?† â€Å"The Animals won't be working. I have some issues with them.† â€Å"You were thinking revenge?† â€Å"Well, yeah.† Jody patted the flight bag on the seat, which held all of the money that the Animals had paid to Blue, almost six hundred thousand dollars. â€Å"I think you have that covered.† Tommy frowned. â€Å"I'm beginning to doubt the steadiness of your moral compass.† â€Å"Sure, I'm the one with skewed ethics, when you spent the whole night tied up and beaten by a blue dominatrix and then ripping her throat out.† â€Å"You make everything sound so sleazy.† Abby put her fingers in her mouth and whistled – shrill and nearly deafening in the enclosed space. â€Å"Hello, there's a cabdriver here. Would you two shut the fuck up.† â€Å"Hey,† Jody said. â€Å"Hey,† Tommy said. â€Å"Hey, you, little creepy girl,† said the cabdriver, â€Å"you will not be whistling in my cab again or I will be putting you out on the curb.† â€Å"Sorry,† Abby said. â€Å"Sorry,† Tommy and Jody said in unison. With the exception of the odd serial killer, and car salesmen who think of them as the perfect unit for measuring trunk space, nobody likes a dead whore. (â€Å"Yeah, you can get five-maybe six dead hookers in this baby.†) â€Å"She looks so natural,† said Troy Lee, looking down on Blue. â€Å"Except for the way her arm is bent under her – and the riding crop – and the blood everywhere, I mean.† â€Å"And she's blue,† said Lash. The other Animals nodded mournfully. It was turning out to be a stressful morning for the Animals: cleaning up the mess that Jody had made of the store, getting Drew to the emergency room to get his forehead sewn up where the wine bottle had hit him (they immediately passed around the painkillers he was prescribed, which help to take the edge off), then explaining the broken front window to the manager when he came in, and now this – â€Å"You're the one with almost an MBA,† Barry, the short balding one, said to Lash. â€Å"You should know what to do.† â€Å"They don't cover what to do with a dead hooker,† Lash countered. â€Å"That's a whole different program. Political science, I think.† Despite the dulling they'd given themselves with the painkillers and a case of beer they'd shared in the parking lot at the Safeway, they were all feeling sad, and a little frightened. â€Å"Gustavo is the porter,† Clint said. â€Å"Shouldn't he do the cleanups?† â€Å"Ahhhhh!† said Jeff, the tall ex-jock, as he thumped Clint on the head with a protruding knuckle. Feeling like the knuckle might not quite be enough, he snatched off Clint's horn-rimmed glasses and threw them to Troy Lee, who snapped them into four neat pieces and handed them back to Clint. â€Å"This is all your fault,† Lash said. â€Å"If you hadn't ratted Flood out to the cops, this wouldn't have happened.† â€Å"I just told them that Tommy was a vampire,† Clint whined. â€Å"I didn't tell them he was here. I didn't tell them about your whore of Babylon.† â€Å"You didn't know her like we did,† Barry added, his voice breaking a little. â€Å"She was special.† â€Å"Expensive,† Drew said. â€Å"S, expensive,† added Gustavo. â€Å"She probably could finally afford to go to Babylon,† said Lash. â€Å"Forgive them, for they know not what they do,† Clint said. Troy Lee bent and examined Blue, careful not to touch her. â€Å"It's hard to see bruising through the blue dye, but I guess she broke her neck. The blood must be Flood's. I don't see any marks on her.† â€Å"No bite marks, you mean,† said Clint. â€Å"Of course that's what I mean, nit wit. You know Flood's girlfriend did this, right?† â€Å"How do you know?† Lash asked. â€Å"It could have been Flood.† â€Å"I don't think so,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"Tommy was tied up here – see the orange crap all over the restraints. And these were unlocked, not broken.† â€Å"Maybe when Blue let him go he killed her.† Troy Lee picked something off of Blue's face, as delicately as if he were taking her ghost. â€Å"Except for this.† He held a long red hair up where Lash could see it. â€Å"No reason for her to be here, if Flood was loose.† â€Å"Dude, you're like one of those CSI guys,† Drew said. â€Å"We should call those two homicide cops,† Barry said, like he was the first who might have thought of it. â€Å"And tell them to come help us with our dead hooker,† Lash said. â€Å"Well they know about the vampires,† Barry said. â€Å"Maybe they'll help us.† â€Å"How 'bout we move her to your apartment, and then call them?† â€Å"Well, what are we going to do with her?† Barry said, standing feet apart, hands behind his back, a brave Hobbit ready to face a dragon. Troy Lee shrugged. â€Å"Wait until dark, then drop her in the Bay?† â€Å"I can't bear to touch her,† Barry said. â€Å"Not after the moments we shared.† â€Å"You little puntas,† Gustavo said, stepping up and beginning to roll up the bloodstained rug. He had a wife and five children, and although he had never disposed of a dead hooker before, he thought that it couldn't be any worse than changing the diaper on a gloopy infant. The other Animals all looked at one another, embarrassed, until Gustavo growled at them and they jumped to move the heavy bed frame out of his way. â€Å"I never really liked her that much, anyway,† Barry said. â€Å"She really did take advantage of us,† Jeff said. â€Å"I just went along with you guys so I didn't ruin the party,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"I didn't enjoy even half of those blow jobs.† â€Å"Let's just put her in my closet until tonight, then a couple of us can sneak the bitch out to Hunter's Point and drop her off.† â€Å"On Christmas?† Drew asked. â€Å"Can't believe she took all our money and now she's going to ruin Christmas,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"Our money!† said Lash. â€Å"That bitch!† Nobody likes a dead whore. â€Å"I do like a dead whore now and then,† said the vampire Elijah Ben Sapir, derailing a perfectly good theme. He'd snapped the whore's neck right before she was completely drained so there would be a body. â€Å"But one doesn't want to be too obvious.† He dragged the whore's body behind a Dumpster, and watched as the wounds on her neck healed over. He'd taken her in an alley near Tenth and Mission streets. He'd had the hood up on the oversized tracksuit he was wearing, so she'd been surprised when they'd ventured down the alley and he threw it back to reveal a very pale Semitic man. â€Å"Look at-chew. Thought baby was a playa – † the whore had said, her last words. She'd only had a hundred dollars on her, which, along with the tracksuit and a pair of Nikes, were the complete resources the ancient vampire had at his disposal. He'd come to the city in a yacht worth millions, filled with art worth millions more, and now he was reduced to making kills for petty cash. Of course he owned several homes around the world, and had stashes of cash put away in a dozen cities, but it would take some time to access it. And perhaps it wasn't so bad to have the wolf at the door, for a change. After all, he'd come to the City and taken a new fledgling in order to alleviate his boredom. (It's very hard to feel alive when you've been dead for eight hundred years.) And she had done that. He was not bored – and he felt very much alive. He walked out of the alley and checked the sky. Dawn was threatening – he had perhaps twenty minutes until sunup. â€Å"Where does the time go?† He crossed the street and was buzzed into a hotel with a sign that read for rent, by hour, day, or week. He could smell the cigarettes, sweat, and heroin on the desk clerk, and he kept his head down so the hood covered his face. â€Å"Do you have a room without a window?† â€Å"Twenty-five bucks, like all the others,† the clerk said. â€Å"You want sheets? Sheets are five more.† The vampire smiled. â€Å"No, I don't want to spoil myself.† He paid the clerk, took the key, and trudged up the steps. Yes, he felt very much alive. One really can't appreciate what one has until it's gone. And without a significant loss, how would one enjoy the process of revenge?

An ethical decision that I had to make Essay

An ethical decision that I had to make in my personal life. Was to choose between getting in education or staying in this post secondary school for adults with disabilities. After being there for two years I have not seen any progress that. I had to choose to give up going to the school that I was comfortable in with not having to put forth much effort. So my mother asks me did I want to try college online since I was not accomplishing anything at the post secondary school. Well I was scared to try because of my educational background with me being disable not knowing if I would be able to achieve getting a college degree. Come to find that I could accomplish getting a college education like any one else I would just have to work twice as hard to achieve my goal. So now that I’m I my second year of college I feel so good about doing it I do not think twice I would do it again. I’m really happy that my mother had enough faith in me. If it was not for her I would not be my second year of college. Now I feel like I can accomplish anything that I put my mind to no matter anyone else says. I’m also looking forward not only to receiving my associates degree but my bachelors as well. Even though sometimes it is a struggle I still keep in the back of my mind that I can do it I made it this far so I can finish. As well as having my family there to support me as well. Another big impact for me is when I saw my mother graduated with her associate’s degree in business and finances. That made me so proud then I thought about this could be me in another year. Which also made me began to work much harder to reach my goal so I can be where she is. One of my values is to live for what’s right no matter what may be gained or lost.

THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES POSED BY SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DESTINATION Research Paper

THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES POSED BY SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DESTINATION MARKETING - Research Paper Example This new and renewed focus on the tourism therefore also requires a new and fresh approach for tourism destination marketing as an essential and critical component of the overall process. This has also required the marketers to take a very strategic approach towards the destination marketing and design and develop their strategies in such a manner which can optimize the use of the resource. Social media has recently emerged as one of the key trends in the information technology market wherein connecting people through web has become a new norm. Social media however, also presented an opportunity for marketing by using the social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. This paper will present a review of how the social media can actually have an impact on the destination marketing, what challenges and opportunities it presents and how marketers can actually take advantage of this new and emerging trend in the market. Destination Marketing Destination marketing is a relativel y new and unique concept outlining as to how the destination marketers can actually take a more robust and strategic view of the destination marketing and use it for strategic purposes. This view is considered as in-line with the mainstream marketing which is managed as a strategic business planning tool to achieve the overall business objectives. Destination marketing therefore is also viewed as a market oriented strategic approach to develop the locations in such a manner that they take into consideration the overall interests of the customers while at the same time balancing the requirements and interests of other stakeholder groups in the community also. (Blumberg, 2005) This approach to destination marketing therefore views this as a very conscious and thoughtful process which requires a commitment of time and resources to develop and build the locations in such a manner that they can reflect the overall market sentiments. What is however, different for the destination marketer s is their inability to control the product because of the overall nature of the product they are marketing. This therefore also offers them an insight into how to tap the target market in order to ensure that the location attracts the people who are willing to visit it and spend there. This change or shift from the traditional marketing concepts where more focus is being given on the product, destination marketers will have to face a dual challenge of balancing the act between the product and the target market for the product. The focus on the target market is also based on the assumption that different individuals prefer different locations due to different reasons. In order to tap into the different niches which the differences in the choices of the consumers can offer therefore require an strong focus on the target market and how it behave and react to different changes taking place in the marketing. Since in destination marketing, marketers often do not control the product dire ctly therefore this leaves a little room for them to actually modify or change the product but rather use its existing attributes to attract the target market. As such marketers therefore often tend to create a kind of experience which can develop the customer satisfaction and can generate the repeat customers. This is because of the fact that the destinations offer different and unique experiences and each one have their own strengths and

Opinion paper about the professional nurses role in the business of Research

Opinion about the professional nurses role in the business of health care - Research Paper Example Nurses having the financial information will mean that the patients will be able to be provided with the financial information directly. Nurses will be able to explain the cost of treatments to the patients before they chose the best treatment costs as well as enable them develop a payment plan for those in palliative care whose treatment costs are very expensive (Malloch & Porter-O’Grady, 2013). The hospital administrator is the one who receives all the information about the finances in the hospital from the finance department reports. The administrator is in charge of the staff and since he holds the report from the finance, he is in a better position to impart that knowledge to them which can then be transferred to the clients (Wolper, 2010). The administrator has the authority from the board to discipline any staff that does not follow the directives and the staff is aware of this and hence once they get the economic knowledge, they try all they can to provide the same to the clients without any

Should there be a legal right to privacy in Australia Essay

Should there be a legal right to privacy in Australia - Essay Example One of the countries adversely hit by the issues of privacy rights is Australia. For a long time Australia has been mentioned as lacking substantial laws that draw the lines of privacy rights in the society of Australia. With great upsurge of cases that breach privacy rights of human beings, Australia has been relying on amended acts in the constitution and the Commonwealth privacy guidelines. In the real sense, Australia needs to have well defined and elaborate privacy rights in order to safeguard its citizens from the continued abuse of personal rights through the internet. Laws governing the privacy rights in Australia need to be formulated especially in the wake of advancing technology to control the use of technological devices and systems in crushing the rights of other people. One disheartening case involving the breach of privacy rights occurred in the media reports confirming an incident where a man used mobile phone cameras to capture images of naked women in the changing r ooms in a fashion store (Donaldson 1). The dire of need for laws governing privacy rights can also be seen excavated from the case of an Australian pop musician named Sapphire who uploaded into the internet nude photos of National Rugby League player by the name Stewart Hamilton whom he happened to date for about two years. The release of the nude photos into the social sites of the internet was done without due consent of Stewart thereby raising questions as to the eligibility of the actions in line with the contemporary human rights. In this case it was analyzed that the criminal misused unregulated technology of computers to abuse fundamental rights of the uninformed women. Donaldson (1) reports that the criminal who captured the images of naked women without official assent was charged with filming for indecent reasons rather invasion of privacy. This ruling did not mean that the event never showed elements of breach of privacy rights, but it took that direction due to lack of s ubstantial privacy laws that be used to convict an individual. Another case that raised eye brows seeking to the establishment of clear privacy laws involved a businessman by the name Dirk Bowker who was late for flight from Townsville to Canberra. As a custom at the airports, Dirk had to line-up for security checkup before proceeding to the boarding gate. Since he was late for the journey, he opted to go for X-ray scanning that tended to be much quicker than other methods. It happened that X-rays scanners produce electronic images showing the naked body of passengers that is only viewed by a special security officer in a closed room. On realizing the nature of procedure underwent at airport, Dirk got frustrated and planned to sue the airport authorities for having exposed his nude during frisk. This issue carried with it some levels of confusion considering the fact that the passengers privacy rights were disclosed and that the airport officials were also performing their duty of e nsuring air security and that it was accomplished with full consent of the Dirk. This has therefore imposed alarms to the legislatures to structure laws that show clear lines and acts that need to be considered as invasions into privacy rights of individuals so as to avoid uncertainty over the convictable cases regarded as breach to people’

Sustainability of Seventeen Event Company Essay - 1

Sustainability of Seventeen Event Company - Essay Example As a concept, Sustainability can be defined as the â€Å"the growing concern for the environment and natural resources, though...[it]...has also had increasing resonance in social and economic issues.† (Mowforth and Munt,2009, p18). Academic, political and economic circles have begun to seriously consider the implications of unrestricted economic growth on the already stretched resources of the earth. The agenda is motivated by the understanding that the planet may not be able to cope up with the demands of the growth unless drastic measures are taken to support the processes with more environmentally friendly practices and technology. The burden of change in this area falls largely to businesses and economic groups as they are the main consumers of many of the natural, human and financial capital resources available currently. While governments and lobbying groups can provide much-needed direction and policies to guide the businesses towards sustainable practices; inevitably it is the businesses themselves that must show awareness and concern regarding the issue and make changes from the ground level as they have a greater reach and influence than any single consumer possibly could have.   It is not surprising that societal expectations from both local and international stakeholder are now forcing businesses towards a higher level of accountability and transparency with regards to not just their financial performance but also their role as a social participant in economic, social and environmental development (Sherwood, 2007). While responses have varied, businesses, especially in the consumer-centric, western markets, have responded to these responsibilities with efforts to be operationally eco-efficient, and incorporate social responsibility into their overall operations.

Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social and Behavioral Sciences - Research Paper Example Hypertension is very rampant today affecting even young people when it was considered the disease for the old. It must be understood that it affects all gender, races, and economic levels equally. Hypertension accounts for 45% of deaths due to cardiovascular related diseases making it a more lethal killer than any other known heart disease thus being a significant public health problem (Myat, Redwood, Qureshi, Spertus, & Williams, 2012). The etiology of hypertension is very elaborate and complex since there are several factors falling into two interrelated classifications. There are uncontrolled factors that cause hypertensions, factors that an individual has no capacity to change whichever way he or she tries. Different from uncontrolled factors are those that individuals can influence, manipulate and control. These are factors within the environment and in most cases; people significantly determine how they interact with them. Heredity- this is the likelihood of certain families to have a gene responsible for hypertension. This trait is passed on from one generation to another. There is nothing in plan to stop or control it (Ng et al., 2010). This therefore means that individuals from families with history of hypertension are more at risk of hypertension than those with no history. Gender- men are more susceptible to hypertension than women. The fact that gender cannot be changed makes it had to control hypertension in male gender. The probability is also determined by age and ethnicity. Men prefer dealing with stress intrinsically rather than seek help from counselors or psychologists. Furthermore, men are known to have poor coping skills when under pressure than women (Mounier-Vehier et al., 2012). Age-older people have a greater risk of hypertension than young ones, aging brings with it a period of physical inactivity physiological as well as structural alterations of the cardiovascular system such as arteriosclerosis that make

Happy Endings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Happy Endings - Essay Example attempts to summarize all the possibilities about the affair between two couples: John-Mary and Fred-Madge in a number of six differently outlined simple plots with common endings that â€Å"John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die.† (Atwood, â€Å"Happy Endings†) Such simplistic summarization obviously provides Atwood with more legibility to comment on the portrayal of male-female relationship in Atwood’s contemporary fictions or literatures. Atwood’s emphasis on John and Mary’s death hitches her readers down to earth and to reality obviously. It is the reality, in which John (generalization of husband) and Mary (generalization of wife) love each other; sometimes they betray each other. When women like Mary dies lovelorn, other women like Madge revels in love and vice versa. It is the very reality in which some Johns (husbands) love their wives fabulously; some other Johns seduce women for sex. Somewhere else, other Johns swindle their wives. Atwood suggests that the plots in traditional literary works are either these or those: â€Å"Thats about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.† (Atwood, â€Å"Happy Endings†) But according to Atwood, what is wrong with this â€Å"a what and a what and a what† type of plot is that it does not provide the readers with much scope to ask a question, â€Å"Why and how?† (Atwo od, â€Å"Happy Endings†) Therefore Atwood’s narrator in the story â€Å"Happy Endings† ultimately comes up with the suggestion to interpret how and why the caricatured plots in her story are different though the endings are the same. Indeed Atwood’s suggestion to â€Å"try how and why?† provides her story with extra feminist dimension. Notably in the story, Option A continues to be happy from the beginning to the end. But some characters in other options are not always happy, though they are happy at the end of the story. It is noteworthy to interpret why and how John

Hollywood main stream cinemas treatment of gender in the 1980s Essay Example for Free

Hollywood main stream cinemas treatment of gender in the 1980s Essay To what extent is Rambo: First Blood Part 2 typical of Hollywood mainstream cinemas treatment of gender in the 1980s? Action films in the 1980s reflected the changes and insecuritys within American society. There had been a rise in feminism meaning that the masculine form and dominance was being undermined and white working class males did not know where their place was in society. It was also in the immediate time after the Vietnam War and confusion and anger still lingered. The Vietnam War divided the American nation as a whole because, as it has been in recent times with the war in Iraq, people didnt fully understand why America needed to impose their presence in a country where they felt they had nothing to gain. The action film in the 1980s introduced a hero that differentiated masculinity and femininity using the form of the body as a way of ensuring power, dominance and self-respect. Rambo: First Blood Part 2 is a typical film of this era in terms of masculinity and the ways in which men and women are portrayed. In the film Rambo: First Blood Part 2 Sylvester Stallone portrays a typical action hero of the war film genre in the 1980s but also an outcast of society after the Vietnam War. He is a veteran of Vietnam and came home to find that everything he had known had changed and he was no longer considered an honourable soldier but more as a war criminal. Rambos mission in this film is to go back to Vietnam and see if he can find a camp that he is told has many POWs. If he finds the men, he can only take photographs but he has a problem with this and risks his own life to save them. He is very strong and muscular and is able to defeat the soldiers, Russian and Vietnamese, single handed. Douglas Kellner states that the film; Follows the conventions of the Hollywood genre of the war film, which dramatizes conflicts between the United States and its enemies and provides a happy ending that portrays the victory of good over evil. (Kellner, 1994, p.10) This means that America always won no matter who the enemy was. In reality this is something that America could not accomplish. There was no happy ending and there were no immediate heroes. Rambo is allowed to bring glory upon America and diffuse a situation that could have cost the American military even more respect and dignity. America had lost some of its power within the world and they strived to get it back. It had lost its first war and it had become important to remasculinize America. There was a growing fear of communism in the country and displaying male heroes which went against the communist regime was their idea of establishing the ideal throughout the world by a means of globalization. Globalization had been taking place throughout the history of cinema by a means of film that was imported and exported to places around the world. In effect most of the action films set in Vietnam, and other films which hold a strong view of patriotism and heroism within America in the 1980s, can be seen as propaganda films against the rise of communism. The purpose, with or without the knowledge of the audience, was to get the idea across to a mass audience that communism was against the principles of the country. In Rambo the evil characters are the Vietnamese and Russian soldiers and ironically, it turns out that the greatest threat to Rambo is not the Vietnamese, although they do pose a strong force, it is the Russians. The Russians are shown as being extremely strong, relentless, and willing to put a man through torture to get what they want. Nevertheless, whatever the Russians do you cannot beat a man with as much physical and mental strength as Rambo. This follows a pattern throughout action films in the 1980s. One film that is suggestive of this is Rocky 4. Rocky 4 (1985) also stars Sylvester Stallone but this time he is a boxer. He is fighting against a strong Russian fighter named Ivan Drago. Drago is very tough and stands at over 6ft tall. The Russian crowd all stand behind their fighter but when the final fight is over and Rocky defeats him with all of his strength the Russians begin to show support for Rocky and boo their fighter. This is the film industrys way of evoking patriotism and the ever-growing fear of the communist regime after the Cold War. Philip L. Gianos states that; The advent of Vietnam in film provided an opportunity for filmmakers who were denied an actual shooting war: a parallel, surrogate setting in which cold war themes could be played out. (Gianos. 1998, P.159) The first response from the film industry during this time was a set of anti-communist films to respond to the changing political environment. The villains are almost always portrayed as foreign internationals such as Russian, German, and sometimes English and they are usually a communist operative. They are never American in these films because the hero is American. He is fighting for his country and if it were another American he is fighting against he is effectively fighting against America. Other action films that were released at that time include, The Terminator, Rocky, Predator, and Die Hard. Millions of people worldwide, mainly consisting of young males went to see these films at the cinema. They gave them a chance to latch on to big, muscular, violent men as cinematic heroes. (Katz, 1994, p134) These heroes gave the audience the chance to gain self-respect and security as it represented a masculinity that was unaffected by the rise of feminism. Gender roles had been reversed due to the growing rise of a feminist movement that showed women were increasingly moving into the workplace rather than staying at home. The displaying of the male physique and the physical torture it goes through to enable glory and victory over evil is further suggestive of masculinity in crisis and the gain of global respect. Women could not gain this kind of respect because they could not attain that degree of physical strength and endurance so therefore this was one thing that they couldnt take away from men. The female role in the action film of the 1980s appears at first glance to be on equal footing with the male. However, there are some differences in the ways in which they go about their missions. In Rambo: First Blood Part 2 the main female character, Co Bao, is strong, resourceful and a very capable fighter. She is Rambos contact in Vietnam and later becomes his love interest. During the film she cautions Rambo to follow his orders and when she goes to save him from the Russians in the POW camp she uses a different technique than Rambo. While Rambo attacked her captor from behind and overpowered him she sneaked into the camp as a prostitute. Therefore the issue of strength and power is present in the male character but in the female character it is more about subtlety and intelligence. Rambo is the definitive male of 80s cinema and was joined by characters such as John McLain (Die Hard) and Rocky Balboa (Rocky). In these films the main action centres around one hero and the female character is usually the love-interest or accomplice. In previous war/actions films and Vietnam films the veterans were seen as either psychopaths, such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, or tragic characters, Bob Hyde in Coming Home. In the films of the 1980s, however, the hero fights back. In Rambo Part 2 Rambo can be seen as an anti-hero because of his rebellious behaviour by going against his orders to leave the POWs and by telling Murdock that he will come and get him when he gets back from the jungle. This makes his character more dangerous and exciting to the audience as you dont know what he is going to do. He has many people after him in Vietnam but he also has enemies at home. He has to deal with home-grown discrimination because of the war and in effect he is no longer fighting for his country. He is doing it for the comrades that he fought with; In these films the enemy is not the enemy in a war that is officially over but rather the civilian and military leadership that failed to win the war (Gianos. 1998, p.166) After Co Bao is killed Rambo channels his emotions into retaliation and thus becomes a fighting machine that is only out for revenge. Before she was killed he was ready to leave after finding that Murdock sent him out just to get free of him and stem reports that there were POWs still in Vietnam. The style of the film helps to build the perception that he is a god and that he is invincible. The use of lighting and camera angles are used to enhance his physique and the fast paced editing in the action shots are used to show that he is fast, strong and practical in the ways he attacks his enemies. Rambo shows us the ideal, very well-built muscular body of the white male in a place where he appears to belong. Commonly used iconography for Vietnam films included dense jungle, camouflage equipment and hi-tech weaponry. He uses the jungle to an advantage and appears to know it better than those who live there. He uses his initiative and intelligence in the jungle and is able to use it to gain the upper hand in a battle. One example of this is the scene in which he attacks a US soldier after he hides in a bank of mud with his eyes being the only thing visible. The male body in these films constructs the white man as physically superior, yet also an everyman, built to do the job of colonial world improvement (Dyer, 2002, p.269) The fact that the superior build of the heros body establishes him as an everyman means that it is something that any man can attain as long as you are white. Black men are rarely portrayed in this manner and if they are they are usually the villains of the movie and end up being defeated. In conclusion, the gender representation in the film is an effort from the United States to fulfil the growing need of remasculinizing American society, in particularly, in the dominant white majority of the working class. With the rise of feminism, fear of communism, political scandals and the Vietnam War, it became imperative for America to try and rebuild the image of men in a positive light. Rather than focusing on men as a collective these films focused on one individual and therefore a view of machismo, strength and determination became the norm. The films of the 1980s became a kind of vessel of the ideal and most of these films are still popular in todays society and may still be what some men aspire to be. If you were like these men you were considered to be manly and if you werent you were understood to be weak and not the typical American male. The male hero in these films was put there to win. America needed a hero and they found him in these films. The masculine form was in crisis and the wholesomeness and fearless heroes could make an impact on the male audience who would then seek to be like the characters they watched on screen. Bibliography Gianos P.L (1998) Politics and Politicians in American Film, London, Greenwood Press Dyer, R, (2002) The White Mans Muscles in Adams. R and Savran. D (eds) (2002) The Masculinity Studies Reader Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Jeffords S. (1989) The Remasculinization of America: Gender and the Vietnam War Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana University Press Kellner D. and Katz. J (1994) in Dines G and Humez J.M (eds) (1994) Gender, Race and Class in Media London, Sage Publications

How the Communicator Influences the Audience

How the Communicator Influences the Audience Persuasion: Who, What, and to Whom Even though people can just say no to the individual or to a group, the communicator influences the audience because people may be persuaded by the message. The communicator’s goal is to change your mind, and most people are easily influenced.(Rhoads, 1997). Social psychology helps us to identify different aspects of ourselves, and the environment in which we live and work. It gives us insight as to why people judge others, and how the power of persuasion affects an individual, group, or a nation. An effective persuader possesses both positive and desirable traits. One of these traits is to portray believable knowledge. (Feenstra, 2011). If the communicator appears as if they know, what they are talking about they will be far more likely to persuade the audience. In addition, when the communicator speaks in an authoritative manner opposed to a hesitant, unsure manner they are typically much more persuasive. It is important that the audience see the communicator as being trustw orthy this plays an important role in persuasive communication. When a person is seen as always being honest, it makes them much more credible then a person who is known to lie or avoid telling the truth. Credibility is important to persuasion as it is associated with an individual’s character. The most important factor in persuading others is character. Moreover, an effective persuader builds a connection before giving the actual persuasive message. One way to establish this connection is in showing how you and your audience are alike. The more the audience feels that they are similar to the communicator the more they will identify and be persuaded by them. (Education, 2011). First, the communicator influences the audience with a message because the audience may be persuaded. If the audience sees the communicator as attractive, there is more of a chance they will be persuaded by them. There is a dramatic advantage over people who are not as good-looking in reference to persuasion. It is also the case that physically attractive people usually obtain higher grades, are more likely to be hired for a job, and when hired for a job takes home more money (Changing Minds, 2011). People seem to subconsciously and consciously believe that attractive people are more credible and trustworthy. The psychological reasoning is that people see a communicator that is attractive as also being more likeable. Being liked is also an important factor of persuasive communication. There are other important factors seen such as being friendly, optimistic, sincere, cheerful, appreciative, kind, and generous these characteristics are influences to being generally likeable. We are mo re likely to be persuaded by someone we like as opposed to someone we do not. People as a whole do not like to be thought of in a negative light and no one desires to feel unwanted or unattractive. It may be observed that when messages are persuasive by themselves that they are appealing to reason, logic, and are more effective than those messages that do not have those appeals. Data used in messages from outside sources instead of the communicator are also found to be more persuasive. The fear technique may sometimes persuade an individual to purchase an item or to support a â€Å"charitable† worthy cause. This is because an emotional appeal may arouse guilt or fear. The way an emotional appeal works is that, the individual wants to avoid negative consequences of guilt or fear. A guilt approach points out a mistake that the individual is responsible for then shows them how to make up for the mistake. How the communicator frames the message influences the way an individual re acts to it. Included in the framing of the message for example would be changing the meaning of the message or changing it to fit a particular audience. Framing works to focus on the subconscious level. (Rhoads, 1997). Additionally, the communicator’s goal is to change your mind. The way that narratives may be persuasive is that they capture and hold an individual’s attention. While the sleeper effect over time shows the context of the message to be more important than the credibility or knowledge of the communicator that gave the message. This shows that the content of the message is significant in persuading an audience to make lasting changes. The characteristics of the audience are also important because people perceive messages in different ways. Often cultures view male speakers as more credible than female speakers. Therefore, an effective persuader has to know about the culture of the audience and fit the message to that audience. It has recently been found that audience gender is not as import to consider as it was once thought to be. However, women do shop differently than men. Self-esteem is another factor in persuasion as people with low self-esteem are easier to persuade than those with a high self-esteem. (Education, 2011). Finally, the most important reason the communicator influences the audience with the message is that most people are easily influenced. The elaboration likelihood model explains that the audience will take a direct approach oran indirect approach to being persuaded. Those that take the direct approach are able and motivated to do so and it can be said that the message for them is more important. Whereas those that take the indirect approach are influenced more by the communicator’s characteristics. While in traditional persuasive communication, the communicator is more important. This characteristic holds true as well in the e-word of mouth persuasion. The expertise of the reviewer is also more important to the audience. It has been observed that people connect expertise to an internet setting being credible the same as they do in a traditional setting. In the e-word of mouth, it is important for the communicator and the audience to see a similarity between them. Because when an individual reviews a product they feel a connection with the communicator as they both are interested in the product and went through the same buying process. The actual message is also important in persuasion because if the communicator is positive the audience will usually be positive and be more likely to be persuaded to purchase the item. In addition, people are suspicious when the message is overly positive just as they are in a traditional setting. Because we are not able to see the communicator giving the message the sleeper effect is usually more prominent then the e-word of mouth persuasion. An important part of the e-word of mouth persuasion is the audience. The Chinese look for more information than do the Americans when it comes to e-word of mouth. Therefore, it is shown that culture and characteristics of the audience play a role in e-word of mouth as they do in traditional forms of persuasive communication. (Feenstra, 2011). Indeed, while the audience can just say no to the communicator, the communicator influences the audience with a message. The communicator’s goal is to change your mind, and most people are easily influenced.Social psychology helps us to identify different aspects of ourselves, and the environment in which we live and work. It gives us insight as to why people judge others, and how the power of persuasion affects an individual, group, or a nation. (Rhoads, 1997). References Changing Minds. (2011). Social Influence. Retrieved from Changing Minds.org: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/social_influence.htm Erupting Mind Education. (2011). How To Persuade Different Types Of People. Retrieved from Erupting Mind Education: http://eruptingmind.com/how-to-persuade-different-types-of-people/ Feenstra, J. (2011). Introduction to social psychology. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Rhoads, K. (1997). Introduction to Influence. Retrieved from Working Psychology: http://www.workingpsychology.com/intro.html

The Eight Principles Of Quality Management Principles Management Essay

The Eight Principles Of Quality Management Principles Management Essay This document introduces the eight quality management principles on which the quality management system standards of the ISO 9000:2000 and ISO 9000:2008 series are based. These principles can be used by senior management as a framework to guide their organizations towards improved performance. The principles are derived from the collective experience and knowledge of the international experts who participate in ISO Technical Committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, which is responsible for developing and maintaining the ISO 9000 standards. The eight quality management principles are defined in ISO 9000:2005, Quality management systems Fundamentals and vocabulary, and in ISO 9004:2000, Quality management systems Guidelines for performance improvements. This document gives the standardized descriptions of the principles as they appear in ISO 9000:2005 and ISO 9004:2000. In addition, it provides examples of the benefits derived from their use and of actions that managers typically take in applying the principles to improve their organizations performance. Principle 1: Customer focus Principle 2: Leadership Principle 3: Involvement of people Principle 4: Process approach Principle 5: System approach to management Principle 6: Continual improvement Principle 7: Factual approach to decision making Principle 8: Mutually beneficial supplier relationships The next step Principle 1: Customer focus Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations. Key benefits: Increased revenue and market share obtained through flexible and fast responses to market opportunities. Increased effectiveness in the use of the organizations resources to enhance customer satisfaction. Improved customer loyalty leading to repeat business. Applying the principle of customer focus typically leads to: Researching and understanding customer needs and expectations. Ensuring that the objectives of the organization are linked to customer needs and expectations. Communicating customer needs and expectations throughout the organization. Measuring customer satisfaction and acting on the results. Systematically managing customer relationships. Ensuring a balanced approach between satisfying customers and other interested parties (such as owners, employees, suppliers, financiers, local communities and society as a whole). Principle 2: Leadership Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They should create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organizations objectives. Key benefits: People will understand and be motivated towards the organizations goals and objectives. Activities are evaluated, aligned and implemented in a unified way. Miscommunication between levels of an organization will be minimized. Applying the principle of leadership typically leads to: Considering the needs of all interested parties including customers, owners, employees, suppliers, financiers, local communities and society as a whole. Establishing a clear vision of the organizations future. Setting challenging goals and targets. Creating and sustaining shared values, fairness and ethical role models at all levels of the organization. Establishing trust and eliminating fear. Providing people with the required resources, training and freedom to act with responsibility and accountability. Inspiring, encouraging and recognizing peoples contributions. Principle 3: Involvement of people People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organizations benefit. Key benefits: Motivated, committed and involved people within the organization. Innovation and creativity in furthering the organizations objectives. People being accountable for their own performance. People eager to participate in and contribute to continual improvement. Applying the principle of involvement of people typically leads to: People understanding the importance of their contribution and role in the organization. People identifying constraints to their performance. People accepting ownership of problems and their responsibility for solving them. People evaluating their performance against their personal goals and objectives. People actively seeking opportunities to enhance their competence, knowledge and experience. People freely sharing knowledge and experience. People openly discussing problems and issues. - Principle 4: Process approach A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process. Key benefits: Lower costs and shorter cycle times through effective use of resources. Improved, consistent and predictable results. Focused and prioritized improvement opportunities. Applying the principle of process approach typically leads to: Systematically defining the activities necessary to obtain a desired result. Establishing clear responsibility and accountability for managing key activities. Analysing and measuring of the capability of key activities. Identifying the interfaces of key activities within and between the functions of the organization. Focusing on the factors such as resources, methods, and materials that will improve key activities of the organization. Evaluating risks, consequences and impacts of activities on customers, suppliers and other interested parties. Principle 5: System approach to management Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organizations effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives. Key benefits: Integration and alignment of the processes that will best achieve the desired results. Ability to focus effort on the key processes. Providing confidence to interested parties as to the consistency, effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. Applying the principle of system approach to management typically leads to: Structuring a system to achieve the organizations objectives in the most effective and efficient way. Understanding the interdependencies between the processes of the system. Structured approaches that harmonize and integrate processes. Providing a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities necessary for achieving common objectives and thereby reducing cross-functional barriers. Understanding organizational capabilities and establishing resource constraints prior to action. Targeting and defining how specific activities within a system should operate. Continually improving the system through measurement and evaluation. Principle 6: Continual improvement Continual improvement of the organizations overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organization. Key benefits: Performance advantage through improved organizational capabilities. Alignment of improvement activities at all levels to an organizations strategic intent. Flexibility to react quickly to opportunities. Applying the principle of continual improvement typically leads to: Employing a consistent organization-wide approach to continual improvement of the organizations performance. Providing people with training in the methods and tools of continual improvement. Making continual improvement of products, processes and systems an objective for every individual in the organization. Establishing goals to guide, and measures to track, continual improvement. Recognizing and acknowledging improvements - Principle 7: Factual approach to decision making Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information Key benefits: Informed decisions. An increased ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of past decisions through reference to factual records. Increased ability to review, challenge and change opinions and decisions. Applying the principle of factual approach to decision making typically leads to: Ensuring that data and information are sufficiently accurate and reliable. Making data accessible to those who need it. Analysing data and information using valid methods. Making decisions and taking action based on factual analysis, balanced with experience and intuition. Principle 8: Mutually beneficial supplier relationships An organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value Key benefits: Increased ability to create value for both parties. Flexibility and speed of joint responses to changing market or customer needs and expectations. Optimization of costs and resources. Applying the principles of mutually beneficial supplier relationships typically leads to: Establishing relationships that balance short-term gains with long-term considerations. Pooling of expertise and resources with partners. Identifying and selecting key suppliers. Clear and open communication. Sharing information and future plans. Establishing joint development and improvement activities. Inspiring, encouraging and recognizing improvements and achievements by suppliers. - ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies. The rules are updated, as the requirements motivate changes over time. Some of the requirements in ISO 9001:2008 (which is one of the standards in the ISO 9000 family) include a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business; monitoring processes to ensure they are effective; keeping adequate records; checking output for defects, with appropriate and corrective action where necessary; regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness; and facilitating continual improvement A company or organization that has been independently audited and certified to be in conformance with ISO 9001 may publicly state that it is ISO 9001 certified or ISO 9001 registered. Certification to an ISO 9001 standard does not guarantee any quality of end products and services; rather, it certifies that formalized business processes are being applied. Although the standards originated in manufacturing, they are now employed across several types of organizations. A product, in ISO vocabulary, can mean a physical object, services, or software. Contents [hide] 1 Contents of ISO 9001 1.1 Summary of ISO 9001:2008 1.2 1.0 Scope 1.3 2.0 Normative reference 1.4 3.0 Terms and definitions 1.5 4.0 Quality management system 1.6 5.0 Management responsibility 1.6.1 5.1 Management commitment 1.7 6.0 Resource management 1.8 7.0 Product realization 1.9 8.0 Measurement, analysis and improvement 1.9.1 8.5 Improvement 1.9.1.1 8.5.1 Continual improvement 1.10 1987 version 1.11 1994 version 1.12 2000 version 1.13 Certification 2 Auditing 3 Industry-specific interpretations 4 Effectiveness 4.1 Advantages 4.2 Problems 4.3 Summary 5 See also

Invisible Man Essay: Importance of Setting -- Invisible Man Essays

The Importance of Setting in Invisible Man      Ã‚  Ã‚   The Liberty Paint Factory in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man provides the setting for a very significant chain of events in the novel.   In addition, it provides many symbols which will influence a reader's interpretation.   Some of those symbols are associated with the structure itself, with Mr. Kimbro, and with Mr. Lucius Brockway.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first of many instances in these scenes that concern the invisible man and the symbolic role of white and black in the novel is when the narrator is sent to the paint factory by the young Mr. Emerson to try to find a job.   Mr. Emerson, however, only sends him out of pity.   The narrator arrives and immediately notices the huge electric sign that reads "KEEP AMERICA PURE WITH LIBERTY PAINTS".   Later on, the reader will learn that Liberty Paint is famous for its white paint called none other than "Optic White".   In effect, the sign advertises to keep America pure with whites and not just white paint.   Next, the invisible man must walk down a long, pure white hallway.   At this time he is a black man symbolically immersed in a white world, a recurring idea of the novel.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After receiving his job, the narrator goes to meet Mr. Kimbro.   In this scene, Kimbro teaches the narrator how to make the ordinary white paint into "Optic White":   Ten drops of a black formula must be mixed in to the white paint, of which the surface is already brown.   The narrator does not understand this, and inquires about it, only to be insulted by Mr. Kimbro.   Mr. Kimbro, in no way what so ever, wants any of his workers to think.   He just wants them to obey.   So the invisible man, although still unable to comprehend this idios... ...d Mr. Lucius Brockway all help portray this image to its fullest, while contributing to the rest of the novel.    Works Cited and Consulted Bellow, Saul. "Man Underground" Review of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Commentary. June 1952. 1st December 2001 Available: http://www.english.upeen.edu/~afilreis /50s/bellow-on-ellison.html Ellison, Ralph. Going to the Territory. New York: Random House, 1986. Fabre, Michel. "In Ralph Ellison's Precious Words." Unpublished Manuscript. 1996. 30 November. <http://www.igc.org/dissent/archive/ Ellison/early.html Howe, Irving. "Review of: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man" Pub. The Nation. 10 May 1952. 30 November 1999. <http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/howe-on-ellison.html. O'Meally, Robert, ed. New Essays on Invisible Man. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.       Invisible Man Essay: Importance of Setting -- Invisible Man Essays The Importance of Setting in Invisible Man      Ã‚  Ã‚   The Liberty Paint Factory in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man provides the setting for a very significant chain of events in the novel.   In addition, it provides many symbols which will influence a reader's interpretation.   Some of those symbols are associated with the structure itself, with Mr. Kimbro, and with Mr. Lucius Brockway.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first of many instances in these scenes that concern the invisible man and the symbolic role of white and black in the novel is when the narrator is sent to the paint factory by the young Mr. Emerson to try to find a job.   Mr. Emerson, however, only sends him out of pity.   The narrator arrives and immediately notices the huge electric sign that reads "KEEP AMERICA PURE WITH LIBERTY PAINTS".   Later on, the reader will learn that Liberty Paint is famous for its white paint called none other than "Optic White".   In effect, the sign advertises to keep America pure with whites and not just white paint.   Next, the invisible man must walk down a long, pure white hallway.   At this time he is a black man symbolically immersed in a white world, a recurring idea of the novel.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After receiving his job, the narrator goes to meet Mr. Kimbro.   In this scene, Kimbro teaches the narrator how to make the ordinary white paint into "Optic White":   Ten drops of a black formula must be mixed in to the white paint, of which the surface is already brown.   The narrator does not understand this, and inquires about it, only to be insulted by Mr. Kimbro.   Mr. Kimbro, in no way what so ever, wants any of his workers to think.   He just wants them to obey.   So the invisible man, although still unable to comprehend this idios... ...d Mr. Lucius Brockway all help portray this image to its fullest, while contributing to the rest of the novel.    Works Cited and Consulted Bellow, Saul. "Man Underground" Review of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Commentary. June 1952. 1st December 2001 Available: http://www.english.upeen.edu/~afilreis /50s/bellow-on-ellison.html Ellison, Ralph. Going to the Territory. New York: Random House, 1986. Fabre, Michel. "In Ralph Ellison's Precious Words." Unpublished Manuscript. 1996. 30 November. <http://www.igc.org/dissent/archive/ Ellison/early.html Howe, Irving. "Review of: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man" Pub. The Nation. 10 May 1952. 30 November 1999. <http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/howe-on-ellison.html. O'Meally, Robert, ed. New Essays on Invisible Man. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.      

Americas Abortion Debate Essay -- Abortion

Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in the United States today. According to oxford dictionary, abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks. The two factions involved in this controversy are poles apart in their views on abortion: where as the pro-choice movement contends that a woman’s right to abortion is absolute, the pro-life movement asserts that a fetus’s right to life is indisputable. The argument has become very pronounced since the U.S Supreme Court ruling in the year 1973 in Roe V. Wade, which legalized abortion. According to the ruling, a woman’s right to abortion outweighed the rights of a nonviable fetus and prohibited the State interference. In addition to the fact that pro-choicers have always praised Roe for recognizing that a woman’s right to control her body is more important than a fetus’s right to life, this idea is also supported by different organizat ions such as Alan Guttmatcher Institute (AGI) whose mission is â€Å"to protect the reproductive choices of all women and men in the United States and throughout the world.† (Par 1) While some people believe that abortion is immoral others argue that it is a woman’s right to have full control of her body. A typical pro-life believer argues that fetuses posses a characteristic such as a genetic code that is both necessary and sufficient for being human. This idea is mostly propagated by the principle of the Roman Catholic Church â€Å"In 1995 Pope John Paul II officially condemned abortion in his â€Å"Evangelium Vitae,† calling it a villainous crime that kills an innocent human being† (Knapp Pg 16) and supported by many fundamentalist protestants groups, though not by majority of Catholics an... ...ciples, the pro-choice position is certainly not obviously wrong. Consequently, when abortion advocates try to make the argument more or less probable, they call for pro-life citizens to completely cease from bringing the legitimate idea of freedom to life for the purpose of protecting the unborn from harm, these abortion-choice supporters are by so doing encouraging their fellow pro-choice citizens to silently and politely remain firm that the unborn are not fully fledged members of the human community therefore are not entitled to protection by the state. To the opponent of abortion, this request hardly seems tolerant or liberating. Works Cited Francis J. Beckwith Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Lynette Knapp: The Abortion Controversy San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001

Overtraining, and Burnout in Child and Adolescent Athletes. Pediatrics Essay

Exercise and sports behavior has been an area of vigorous research interest. Athletes and people who compete at a high level of physical exercise are usually habituated to intense levels of activity for over a prolonged period of time. However, there is hesitation to term it as a psychological disorder or a disorder associated with characteristic patterns of psychological disturbance. People with very high levels of athletic activities may be high achievers who participated in these activities with intense physical work due to many reasons, but the most important is their sense of achievement. Many of them feel that these activities contributed to their psychological well-being and their emotional stability. A closer examination of their exercise patterns happened to be adaptive and hence has been contemplated to be contributing to the overall psychological functioning. Investigation into their lifestyles revealed that those revolved about their athletic or physical exercise activities, and many of them had disciplined, inflexible, and well-ordered routine. To be able to maintain such routines, these individuals rigidly followed a regimented running programme and often subordinated other aspects of their life such as diet, occupation, and socializing to their running. The question remains, whether this obligatory pattern of excessive exercise and physical activity have any detrimental effects on these people with high athletic activity. In this assignment, current research will be reviewed to find out the answer of this question. Overtraining or burnout is commonly regarded as a generalised stress response to a prolonged period of overload. Thus, overtraining can be defined as â€Å"an abnormal extension of the training process culminating in a state of staleness† (Weinberg and Gould, 1999). Many other terms have been used to denote this syndrome. These include staleness, burnout and failing adaptation (Hooper et al. , 1993). Tenenbaum et al. (2003) recently suggested as theoretical model of this condition (Tenenbaum et al. , 2003). Generally speaking, overtraining can be attributed to a combination of high-intensity training at excessive levels and provision of inadequate rest or insufficient time for recovery. There have been arguments as to whether a single, universally agreeable diagnostic index of burnout is possible, case studies have revealed a host of physiological and psychological symptoms. Physiologically overtraining may manifest signs of depressed immune function leading to an increased incidence of upper respiratory tract infections. The physiology alters so that there are increases in resting heart rate. Endocrinologically, there may be decreases in testosterone levels and increases in cortisol concentration. In some individuals, there may be decreases in maximal blood lactate concentration, which is otherwise expected to be high. All these may culminate into deterioration in athletic performance of the affected person, but there may be psychological symptoms which may include include mood disturbances, feelings of chronic fatigue, loss of appetite, repetitive loading injuries, and quite often insomnia (Cashmore, 2002). The prevalence of this syndrome can be estimated from Morgan (2000) that over 50% of both male and female marathon runners have at least sometimes suffered from burnout in some time. As a paradox, burned out athletes tend to try harder and perform increasingly worse. There are many factors associated with this phenomenon. Literature has revealed that these factors may include â€Å"inadequate recovery time between bouts of training, prolonged or over-intense training regimes, personal problems and inadequate coping resources† (Weinberg and Gould, 1999). Morgan (2000) also claimed that mood disturbance in these individuals may be etiologically related to burnout, although there have been disputes against this claim. In general, it has been shown that people who exercise vigorously tend to suffer from symptoms of mood changes, irritability, restlessness, insomnia, lack of appetite, or feelings of guilt. Bill Norris, the principal trainer on the American Tennis Professionals’ tennis tour, observed recently that problems of injury and burnout stem from a combination of the â€Å"never-ending pursuit of achievement and the inability of coaches to understand that the human body can only take so much for so long† (cited in Evans, 2002, p. 24). Consequently excessive stress is an important initiating event for psychological, emotional, and physical withdrawal from a formerly enjoyable sport. As Gould et al. (2002) concurs exercise or sport burnout can be defined as the â€Å"manifestation or consequence of the situational, cognitive, behavioural, and physiologic components of excessive stress† (Gould et al. 2002). This phenomenon has been embodied most strikingly in teenage sports performers or athletes, who have spectacular and sudden rise with similarly abrupt and premature decline. Many young tennis prodigies can be used as examples to illustrate this phenomenon, and even some of them despite being prolific achievers could not go to the extent that they would have. Moreover, some of them fell prey of recurring back or neck problems or other chronic injuries. History suggests that a combination of parental pressure and coaching tyranny was operational in leading to halt of many promising careers in sporting (Gould et al. 2002). There had been attempts to explain the phenomenon of sports burnout through different theoretical framework. The progression of burnout has been presumed to be due to pressure of training and development of competitive approaches. This demand is interpreted by the athletes’ psyche in a different manner, and some indeed end up seeing it as a threatening situation. If the demand is perceived to be threatening, the youth usually demonstrates physiological responses, which are characterised by fatigue or insomnia. In the next state, these physiological responses lead to strategies for coping, which in turn may manifest as diminishing levels of competitive performance. This may lead to interpersonal problems of the affected individuals and failure of coping may lead to complete withdrawal from sport or any other athletic activity. It has been argued that it is difficult to generalize since to cause this, many subjective factors, such as, self-esteem, ambition, and personal anxiety may play important roles. Lonsdale et al. (2009) had examined the potential factors contributing to the psychological impacts of sports burnout. They used self-determination theory by employing a cross-sectional design with the primary aim to investigate the behavioral regulations and athlete burnout. It has been shown that less self-determined motives showing positive associations and more self-determined motives showing negative correlations with burnout. Competence, autonomy, self-determined motivation, exhaustion, devaluation, reduced accomplishment, and global burnout play important roles in exercise and sports burnout (Lonsdale et al. , 2009). This means, personality and factors related to motivation influence the different stages of burnout process. Some authors have identified training stress as the determinant of the burnout process. This is a physical characteristic of the burnout process. This occurs due to the fact the body cannot tolerate the physical strain anymore. As an additive, competition also plays important roles. Although in some cases, some of the young people are grown up enough to cope up with the stressors associated with higher level of competition, in many cases, the young competitors experience a psychophysiological malfunction once their bodies fail to respond positively to training. This would affect their mental orientation leading to incapability of meeting the demands placed on their bodies. Brenner et al. (2007) describes burnout syndrome as a series of psychological, physiologic, and hormonal changes that may result in decreased sports performance. The common manifestations have been described as chronic muscle and joint pain, changes in the personality, resting tachycardia, and decreased performance in sports. This is commonly associated with fatigue manifested by lack of enthusiasm about practice or competition. The athlete may also encounter immense difficulty in completing the normal routines of an athlete. Burnout in sports has been recognised as a serious sequel of the syndrome of overtraining. Although this is a serious problem, it can be prevented. Usually, the athletes are encouraged to participate and practice different kinds of sports rather than one particular type of activity. Sometimes these may be prevented though various training adjustment approaches. It has been seen that steps to keep workouts interesting with age-appropriate games and training may prevent it. There should be time off from structured or organised sports at least 1 to 2 days per week, to allow the body and mind to rest. This time may be utilised in other activities. The trainer must allow longer scheduled breaks from training and competition every 2 to 3 months, but during this time, he must focus on other activities involved with cross training so his loss of skill and level of conditioning does not deteriorate (Brenner et al. , 2007). Conclusion The detrimental effects of high level exercise are numerous. There is risk of over-use injury, potential for excessive weight loss, mood disturbance, psychological burnout, eating disorders, depression, and low level of psychological wellbeing. Recently, there has been a growth of research interest in the areas of personal problems. These include stress and burnout afflicting people involved in sport and exercise. Research also suggests that not infrequently exercise habit can have adverse consequences. For certain vulnerable population practicing athletics, sports, and physical activities, exercise is associated with specific psychopathologies. Furthermore, a variety of physiological hazards to health have been demonstrated to be associated with habitual physical activity and/or sport. These include metabolic abnormalities, such as, hypothermia in swimmers or dehydration in marathon runners; disorders of hemapoeisis, such as, anemia in endurance athletes and cardiac problems, such as, arrhythmia. All these may result from prolonged vigorous athletic activity. On the contrary, it has long been known that intensive training regimens do not always enhance athletic performance. More precisely, when the nature, intensity and/or frequency of athletic training exceed the body’s adaptive capacity and lead to a deterioration in sport performance, then the condition is known as burnout or overtraining. Modern research has suggested many changes. Reference List Brenner, JS. and the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness Overuse Injuries (2007). Overtraining, and Burnout in Child and Adolescent Athletes. Pediatrics; 119: 1242 1245. Cashmore, E. (2002). Sport psychology: The key concepts. London: Routledge Evans, R. (2002). â€Å"Breaking point†. The Sunday Times, 19 May, p. 24 (Sport). Gould, D. , Damarjian, N. , and Greenleaf, C. (2002). Imagery training for peak performance. In J. L. Van Raalte and B. W. Brewer (Eds. ), Exploring sport and exercise psychology (2nd ed. , pp. 49–74). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Hooper, S. L, Traeger Mackinnon, L, Gordon, R. D. , and Bachmann, A W. (1993). Hormonal responses of elite swimmers to overtraining. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 25, 741–747. Lonsdale, C. , Hodge, K. , and Rose, E. , (2009). Athlete burnout in elite sport: A self determination perspective. J Sports Sci; 27(8): 785-95. Morgan, W. P. (2000). Psychological factors associated with distance running and the marathon. In D. T. Pedloe (Ed. ), Marathon medicine (pp. 293–310). London: The Royal Society of Medicine Press. Tenenbaum, G. , Jones, C. M. , K

Poverty and Illiteracy Essay

The world of illiterate and poverty-ridden people is like a vast endless desert where literacy is like an oasis, a fertile land with fresh water flowing and majestic palm trees growing. Illiteracy keeps people chained to ignorance and superstition and is an obstacle in the path of civilization. With literacy comes awareness and awareness brings progress, culture and civilization. Illiteracy brings ignorance, and ignorance leads to wars and controversies. God made man in his own image but today humans stand divided in the name of religion, colours and borders. Earth is the blue planet of our solar system, but today, humans are painting it red with each other’s blood. The main cause of all this, undoubtedly is illiteracy. The written word is the most powerful of weapons and once illiteracy and poverty are given an extinct status, a revolution greater than ever witnessed in history might occur, leading to the creation of a progressive and peaceful world. Poverty and illiteracy are indeed like the curse on human race. Instead of believing in family planning, illiterates believe that more the children they have, more the bread earners they will have. These poverty-ridden people cannot afford to educate their children and as a result, the children end up working for low wages at a small age, being deprived of their precious childhood. Instead of taking medicines to cure diseases, illiterates go to quacks, who give them charms, promising miracles that never actually happen. Poverty and illiteracy lead to social evils and malpractices like child marriages and untouchablity. Increased literacy in agrarian areas can lead to improved productivity with adequate use of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Educated politicians can make informed decisions, leading to better policies. Poverty and illiteracy are indeed the greatest of the problems affecting mankind as they stand as obstacles in the development of an advanced, progressive and peacefu l world.

The Impact Of Employee Involvement And Participation On Organization Performance

Abstract The following research paper seeks to explore the correlation between employee involvement in decision-making processes within the organization and organization’s performance. The main focus remains to evaluate the existing academic literature to demonstrate evidence that employee involvement and participation initiatives produce tangible advantages for organizations. Hence, the research considers theoretical approaches towards the impact of employee participation on organization’s performance and examines empirical studies conducted on the subject stated above. The results of the following study are mixed. While chosen empirical cases show that direct forms of employee participation contribute to improved organization’s performance, such evidences have not been observed in reference to representative form of employee involvement. Introduction Over the past decades work reforms were implemented in order to guarantee humanistic patterns of work and to improve the quality of working life. As the global business environment started to become more competitive in the 1980s, major focus shifted towards the productivity and economic performance of the organizations. The organizations sought new avenues to gain competitive advantages over rival companies. According to the studies conducted in the 1980s by Gallup Organization, employees engaged in the company’s decision-making were more productive, customer-focused, profitable and more willing to stay and develop within the organization (Dicke, 2006). Hence, human capital started to be perceived as the company’s most important asset (Belanger, 2000). Currently a range of organizations including corporations, government agencies, schools and other non-profit organizations believe that employee involvement and participation are crucial to the good economic performance ( Boxal & Purcell 2011). Employee participation contributes to the organization’s efficiency in two ways. First, it increases employee’s productivity. Second, it increases the company’s capacity to react quickly to changing business environment. Therefore, employee involvement as a part of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices became a subject of numerous academic researches over the last decades. The scholars from various fields in industrial relations developed various approaches and models in order to provide new evidences on the linkage between HRM and business performance (Gonzales, 2009). The following research project examines the impact of employee involvement and participation on organization’s performance. First, the project defines a term ‘employment involvement and participation’ and demonstrates two concepts of measuring employee involvement. Further, the project discusses theoretical developments on the linkage between employee participation and organization’s performance. Finally, the project analyses empirical evidences of such relationships. The empirical study include the cases of direct and representative forms of employee participation. Employee involvement – definition Employee involvement, called also worker’s participation can be perceived as â€Å"a variety of processes and structures which enable, and at times encourage employees to directly and indirectly contribute to and influence decision-making in the firm and in the wider society† (Gonzales, 2009, p.8). The following definition indicates that there are various activities through which the employees can influence decision-making processes within the company. Generally, employee involvement can have a direct or indirect form. Direct involvement means that employees have an immediate influence on the decision-making processes within the company. Typical forms of direct involvement are employee surveys, team briefings, autonomous working groups or suggestion schemes (rewards for meeting company’s goals). Indirect involvement (representative involvement) means that a specific group which represents all employees is involved in the decision-making processes within the comp any. Common forms of indirect involvement are board representations, work councils or task forces (Eurofund, 2009). In turn, Gonzales (2009) classified employee involvement into three groups. These are informative, consultative and delegative participation. Informative participation refers to downwards communication within the organization. Employees have been given information top-down about the organization and its competitors, their own department or their individual performance. Information sharing includes open communication processes as well as information disclosure. Consultative participation regards various schemes developed by the management team to gain opinion of its employees and can have a form of individual meetings, team briefings and employees’ surveys. Delegative participation concerns various programmes which give employees capacity to make decisions on a particular set of issues and includes the forms such as problem-solving groups and semi-autonomous gro ups. Finally, Forth and Millward (2001) demonstrated three types of practices in reference to employee participation. These forms are individual supports (i.e. extensive information disclosure or specific training); task practices (i.e. quality circles or team work) and organizational supports (i.e. job security or employee share ownership). A number of models measuring employee involvement and participation have been developed over the past decades. One of the most important seems to be a model presented by Marchington (2005). He identified four core aspects of employee participation within the company: The degree of involvement: – this indicates the extent of involvement to which employees, either directly or through their representatives, may exert some form of influence on management decisions. Scope: – the scope of management decisions that are open to influence by subordinate employees may differ depending on the subject matter and may range from trivial to strategic decisions. The level: – the level at which the subordinates may be involved in management decisions varies substantially and can range from departmental level, through to division and headquarter level. Forms of participation: – participation may be direct or indirect. Direct participation refers to the face-to-face involvement while, indirect participation occurs when workers are represented by trade unions in workers’ council or high-level consultation committees and through collective bargaining. Another interesting model has been developed by Cox et.al. (2006). This model identified two dimensions of employee involvement, breadth and depth. Breadth regards a number of various employee involvement’s practices and programmes implemented in a work place. Using diversified but complementary schemes of employee participation leads to stronger impact on the company through mutual reinforcement. It also indicates that the management team aims to maximise the profits of employee participation. In turn, depth concerns the quality of employee involvement’s practices within the company. This measure indicates how embedded the employee participation’s practices are within the company. Both breadth and depth are important as they are strongly linked with organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Hayman & Mason 1995). That is, if employees’ views are taken into consideration and acted upon by the management, then they are more likely to demonstrate their commitment to the organization and indicate their satisfaction with their work. A major weakness of this measure is that the embeddedness of employee participation within the organization has often been assessed through management eyes rather than by analysing employee views on employee participation. Employee participation and company’s performance – theoretical approach The idea of employee participation as a part of Human Resources Management practices has been researched by a number of scholars who underlined significant benefits of employee involvement schemes on the company’s performance. Kanter (1982) postulated that participatory character of the decision-making processes within the organization brings more positive outcomes than bureaucratic structure, as it involves knowledge sharing between workers and managers. Workers seem to be better informed than their managers with regard to the products and services, processes and work tasks, as they are directly involved in these activities. Hence, their views and suggestions might be very valuable in developing company’s strategy and achieving enhanced performance. In turn, Lawler (1990) listed a number of various benefits of employee involvement within the company. He pointed out that employee participation leads to more efficient and innovative methods and procedures in a workplace and improves communication within the organization (between managers and workers as well as across work departments). Greater employee involvement results in higher job satisfaction and lower staff turnovers. Further, as employee participation concerns training and team work, it also leads to greater staff flexibility and higher job motivation. Additionally, high work motivation and better work methods determine increased rate of outputs and hence, contribute to the better quality of the products and services offered by the company. Finally, better communication and improved worker-management relations reduce a number of disputes and conflicts within the organization and help to resolve existing conflicts in the most effective way. All these factors contribute to i mproved performance of the organization. It is also important to add that Lawler identified various negative consequences associated with employee involvement. One of them are expectations created amongst the employees. These expectations usually concern organizational changes, personal self-development and career advancement opportunities. If the organization fails to meet these expectations, it will lead to dissatisfaction amongst workers. Employee participation causes also additional costs. Developing new skills is associated with additional costly trainings. In turn, accepting new responsibilities by the employee automatically requires an increased in salary of such an employee. Participatory character of decision-making is also slower than traditional style of leadership as it involves a significant number of people that have to accept the decision (Lawler, 1990). Markowitz (1996) underlines higher morale of the employees and their greater commitment to performed job as a consequence of increased participation in the decision-making processes. As employees have a decision-making power, they fulfill their duties more accurately. Higher productivity of the employees contributes to higher profits of the organization and greater stability within the industry (Jones, 2006). More recently, the effects of employee involvement were analysed by Appelbaum et.al (2000). Similarly like Lawler, the researchers emphasized the importance of information on the production (service) processes possessed by employees. The organization should aim to gain such knowledge from its employees in order to stay profitable. However, three conditions have to be met by the company to gain such knowledge. Employees need to be involved in substantive decisions. They are required to have specific skills and they need to be given appropriate work incentives. This approach indicated that employees cannot provide valuable information to the organization’s management if these conditions are not met. Additionally, employees are not willing to provide such information if they are not given appropriate incentives. Hence, this approach underlines the important of coherent and accurate HRM practices within the company (Jones, et.al., 2006). Grimsrud and Kvinge (2010) postulate that employee participation is associated with the features such as responsibility, control rights, rights on revenue and risk taking. The companies are characterized by the areas of joint interests of employers and employees as well as by the areas where the conflicting interests appear. In particular, the author focuses on two conflict areas. These are principle-agent problem and free-rider problem. Principle-agent issue concerns different approach of the organization (owners and management team) and employees towards the inputs of work and distribution of created outputs. While the organization aims to achieve higher labour productivity and higher value added and keep fixed salaries at the same time, employees intend to share higher profits. Free rider issue refers to the situation when the organization cannot monitor individual contribution of its employees to the organization’s development and hence, individual rewards of employees dep end on joint efforts. Hence, the organization tends to implement practices that will improve the productivity of employees, while employees seek to take advantage of such situation and gain additional benefits (i.e. higher return rights) in exchange of improved productivity. Employee participation and company’s performance – empirical evidences A number of scholars sought empirical evidences of the positive correlation between employee participation and organization’s performance. Some scholars based their analysis on the examples of a single organization (i.e. Jones, 2006) or selected industry (i.e. Sesil, 1999), while others examined the various businesses across the country (i.e. Guerrero and Barraud-Didier). Some researchers decided on a wider cross-country study (i.e. Gonzales, 2009; Grimsrud and Kvinge, 2010). Due to the scope of the following project, only key findings of selected empirical researches will be presented. At the individual company level, Bartel (2004) conducted research on HRM practices amongst the branches of large bank. He proved that recognition system and performance feedback were of key significance for employees of this bank. Implementing these particular HRM practices contributed to the increasd sales of loans (Gonzales, 2009). In turn, Jones et.al. (2006) examined the influence of innovative HRM practices on performance of a Finnish company in the retail services sector. They proved that employees who have been given opportunities to participate in decision-making process within the company, to receive solid information and to gain rewards were willing to increase their productivity. It is crucial to note that these HRM practices were implemented in settings where employee were characterized by low skills and were assigned relatively simple tasks. At the industry level, Sesil (1999) analysed the impact of employee participation and group incentives on the company’s performance in high technology industry in the UK. The research included 118 companies, primarily in electronics and engineering and concerned various aspects of employee participation such as quality involvement, presence of union, multi-skilling of employees, communication between employees and management, strategic planning and establishment plan. Additionally, the researcher examined the bonuses for employee as a form of group incentives. The research revealed that bonuses, quality involvement and multi-skilling had large positive effects on company’s outcomes, while other variables showed no impact on performance. Hence, these results indicated that there is strong correlation employee participation and the company’s performance. This effect is even stronger if the employee involvement is combined with group incentives. At the country level, Guerrero and Barraud-Didier (2004) focused on high-involvement practices and their impact on French firms. The research was based on the questionnaire conducted amongst 180 large companies in France. 57% of these companies originated in the industrial sector, while remaining 43% – in the services sector. The study concerned four major HRM practices, namely empowerment, compensation, communication as well as training and skills development. The following study revealed that empowerment was a key determinant of improved company’s performance, while communication and training had a minor effect on organizational results. In turn, compensation showed no influence on company’s outputs. The following study underlined that the company should ensure enriched and challenging activities in order to manage employee participation. Further, the study postulated that the companies should promote open communication and power sharing amongst management and employees in order to develop participatory style of leadership as this style contributes to better HRM within the company and improved company’s performance. In the cross-country context, Grimsrud and Kvinge (2010) conducted research on the economic impact of representative participation in eight countries[1]. The research took form of perception studies which means that â€Å"the respondents are asked to indicate whether different participation initiatives are believed to have an impact on different output measure† (Grimsrud and Kvinge, 2010, p. 149) and investigated various forms of representative participation such as work councils, trade unions or joint management – union committees. The following study showed very mixed results. Most of the analysis demonstrated that there was no correlation between employee participation and company’s productivity or such correlation was negative, while only several studies reported small positive productivity gains of employee participation. For instance, the study conducted on work councils amongst the German companies revealed that these councils had a positive impact on labo ur productivity while they influenced negatively company’s profitability. Similarly, the analysis of the Japanese companies showed a positive correlation between trade unions and labour productivity and negative correlation between trade unions and company’s benefits. Finally, the research amongst the British companies demonstrated that trade unions had a negative impact on productivity growth as well as on climate of relations between managers and employees at the workplace. Conclusions To sum up employee participation became a subject of theoretical debate and empirical analysis amongst the scholars. A number of researchers underlined positive correlation between employee involvement and organization’s performance. Precisely, employee participation (either direct or indirect) brings a valuable knowledge of products and services delivered by the organization and hence, contribute to the organization’s performance. Additionally, employee participation leads to higher job satisfaction and increased labour productivity as well as to lower staff rotation. These factors also determine organization’s success. On the other hand, some scholars stress various conflict areas within an organization (principle-agent issue; free rider problem) that might have a negative influence on the organization’s outputs. Three empirical cases presented in the following paper revealed that direct employee involvement in decision-making processes within an organization contributed to its better performance. Employee empowerment and information sharing as well as financial rewards seemed to be mainly responsible for this improved performance. Employees must thus be sought for ideas on how organizational performance and quality of product or service can be improved. There is the need for management to ensure existence of employment participation programmes and initiatives that contribute to employee involvement in decision-making processes. Not only should the emphasis be placed on the existence of such initiatives but also on the embeddedness of such initiatives within the organization. The evidence on strong correlation between employee participation and organization’s performance has not been found in reference to indirect forms of employee involvement. 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