Monday, September 30, 2019

Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Leadership Essay

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is one of the world’s wealthiest investor and businessman. He has been able to gain connection in politics through entrepreneurship and international investments as an entrepreneur. He is a citizen of Lebanon and a member of the royal family, House of Saudi, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Though not a member of the executive charged with ruling, he usually gets involved in politics of Lebanon for instance in the case of President Emile Lahoud against claims assassinating Lebanese billionaire Rafik Hariri and usually criticizes both local and international political issues in the media. He has so far been unsuccessful in his efforts to lead the Lebanese Sunni community. During Alwaleed’s early ages, his Father Prince Talal Abd al-Aziz, a known activist and modernizer, actively engaged in matters concerning the political issues that existed in the traditional governing system in Saudi Arabia in the early 1960s. He opposed Modern pan-Arabism that was led by the then leader of the United Arab Repulic, Jamal Gamal Abdel Nasser, which resulted to the suspension of his passport. He was forced to seek exile in Egypt. During this period, Alwaleed lived with his mother, Princess Muna al-Sulh who was the daughter of Riyadh al- Sulh, the first Prime Minister of the Independent Lebanon. In his early education, he attended elementary and middle schools in Beirut and returned to Lebanon in 1973 to attend King Abdul Aziz Military Academy to gain more discipline skills. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business administration from Menlo College California in 1979 and later enrolled for a masters Degree in Political Science from Syracuse University (Khan 2005). He rose to international fame in the early 1990s by purchasing a substantial amount of Citicorp shares when then firm was undergoing financial difficulties. He is an established investor and owns a chain of investments worldwide in the major industries such as banking, building and construction companies, telecommunications, broadcasting and media, entertainment, hospitality and involvement in charitable activities across many regions of the world. He also owns a lot of luxurious assets (Khan 2005). According to Machiavelli (2005) leadership qualities must be practical and not ideological in their application. In chapter 15 of The Prince, that leadership quality should be determined through consideration of personality traits, character and how a person conducts himself. A successful ruler must know when, where and in what way an upright person will act when confronted with different situations. Alwaleed has been able to demonstrate all these leadership qualities which are evident in the different criteria’s he employed in his investment activities throughout his life. He invested in shares of America’s Citicorp at the time when every investor was pulling out their capital from the firm and at a time when it neared its collapse due to bankruptcy, a decision that elicited mixed reactions across the world. Machiavelli talks of qualities that a leader must posses on those things which politicians or Princes must do that might either be praised or blamed in the end. He clearly differentiates the two categories in which a leader must apply specific ideologies. Machiavelli identifies the world that we live in as a kind of world of forms and which contains imperfect alternatives that are required in the world of ideas. Alwaleed seemed to recognize the world of ideas and did things that other people in the world of forms thought that they were impossible to happen. Upon his return after completion of his Master’s degree, he invested in the banking sector by purchasing shares in the United Saudi Commercial Bank. This move enabled the bank to gain enormous returns in terms of market value and also enabled the Bank to merge with Saudi Cairo Bank. His fortunes increased immensely through these risky but strategic business ventures. These elicited admirations from financial strategists across Asia and other parts of the world. Economic observers in the Saudi Kingdom and from other parts of the globe recognized his efforts and Alwaleed was thus chosen by the King as an advisor on economic matters. This enabled him improve on his unique strategic approaches to expansion of his business empire (Khan 2005). Â  Alwaleed’s character has been influenced through his grand father King Abd al-Aziz and the first prime minister of independent Lebanon who were all honest, upright and generous in their actions. They got a lot of respect and loyalty from the entire kingdom. All these characters can be displayed through his successful ventures and the ways in which he related to the people. His sudden amassment of wealth in a short period of time has led certain institutions to question the source of his wealth. According to the Economist online, Alwaleed is suspected to be a front man of other investors in the Saudi Arabian kingdom. All his sources of income are questioned and an account of his possible worth is calculated and the conclusion is that the source of his wealth is unquestionable because his business could not be in a position to accumulate such volume of wealth in a short period of time. Machiavelli’s leadership principle requires that a leader must engage in activities that may seem inappropriate, eliciting malicious interests and those that will require him to commit unethical ethics so long as it leads him to obtain success and power. What matters is the end result, the means doesn’t apply. Alwaleed was able to achieve success and power irrespective of the means he employed to achieve his success. His experience from the risky venture has enabled him to acquire riches and build business empires in addition to gaining international respect and recognition through investing in long-term projects (Machiavelli 17). Machiavelli on chapter 13 and 14 in the Online Literature Library the character of a Prince on matters concerning mercenaries and armies is discussed. They should be loyal to the ruler in fighting for the battle. In chapter 14, Machiavelli advises the prince to focus on the war and avoid other issues that pertains military matters. He should gain knowledge to enable him to maintain power stronghold throughout the battle. Prince Alwaleed was prepared in military matters after having attended King Abdul Aziz Military Academy and was prepared to lead incase he found his chance to the throne. He was therefore armed to be safe lest he is threatened by opposing forces to his power. This enabled him to gain trust from the King and thus he found a position in the cabinet and became the Kings Economic advisor. Bridging the East and Western Worlds Alwaleed fame is recognized internationally through his involvement in bridging the Arab world and the Western worlds. He has been involved in Islamic studies programs across Universities in the United States and other parts of the Globe. According to Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University, prince Alwaleed is committed to the fostering the importance of peace and tolerance. They assert that the best way to achieve this is through the bridging of the understanding between the East and the West. He is also committed in making the world a better place. He is the champion representative of UNESCO and also supports charities for children. Â  He engages in cultural activities aimed at promoting mutual understanding. The prince also has funded an educational centre at Georgetown University that aims at improving understanding between Islamic and Christian religions. Other initiatives include cross cultural educational institutions in Europe, Africa and the Middle-East. This shows a connection with the qualities of a leader cited by Machiavelli. On generosity and miserliness, a leader is supposed to spend excess amounts of his fortune on things that will improve or heighten his publicity but by doing so keep in mind the consequences that might befall him in the event that his fortune dwindles (Machiavelli 14). Chapter 18 tells the things that a politician must do which concerns his faith. Alwaleed has been able to extend his religion to the western world through funding foundations that touch on his Islamic religion. In this chapter Machiavelli asserts that private morality should prevail over public life and in order to be successful, praise must come from other human beings even if it means doing things are wrong in different perspectives. Rulers must therefore be generous in utilizing their wealth and appear tough on running their businesses even if it means using cruelty. He has stood strong on his word of Bridging the east and west and has stood strong in his faith.

Causes of the Dust Bowl Essay

One of the most devastating environmental crises that occurred in the United States was the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl began shortly after the Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted throughout the 1930’s. It affected everyone, farmers and consumers alike, in its path negatively. The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s was caused by four major factors: drought, climate misconception, poor land management, and most importantly, wind erosion. The first of the four major factors is drought. During the Dust Bowl and the 1930’s there were four major periods of drought. The first lasted from 1930 to 1931, the second occurred in 1934, the third in 1936, and the last period of drought lasted from 1939 to 1940. The Great Plains had experienced periods of drought before and no major problems had occurred, so the main problem was that the farmers did not have enough time in between the periods of drought to recover because they were so close together. Another issue was that the droughts occurred at the same time as the economic downfall known as the Great Depression. This meant the farmers did not have the money to spend to help their crops. Also, many farmers simply believed that the droughts would end and that the rains would come soon as they had many other times in the 1900’s (Drought). Climate misconception played a large role in the creation of the Dust Bowl as well. The misconceptions about the climate and the annual rainfall in the Great Plains first began in the nineteenth century when people first began to settle in the area. Many of these settlers believed that they would always get enough rain to grow healthy crops because they settled on the land during years with abnormally high amounts of rain. Another reason people believed that the land would always be good to farm is because they were fed propaganda by railroad companies and land boosters. Even though there were several periods of drought that occurred before the 1930’s and the Dust Bowl, people were encouraged by the rains that always came soon after. The farmers’ misconceptions of the climate and annual rainfall also affected the way they farmed the land (Causes). Poor land management is one of the two most important causes of the Dust Bowl. The farmers were not able to manage their land well because they were not aware of the different techniques they should have used on their farms in the Plains. One of the techniques that the farmers should have used was crop rotation. Crop rotation would have been a great help in keeping their soil in larger clumps, whereas when the farmers repeatedly planted wheat in the soil, the nutrients were used up and were not replenished. This caused the soil to break up into a dust-like consistency that made the soil easier to be swept away by the winds. Farmers also should have had a year round ground cover on the soil to prevent the wind from sweeping it away, but the farmers were not aware of the heightened risk of wind erosion because they had not had to deal with it in the past. The last technique that the farmers should have used to help manage their land is known as shelter belting. Shelter belting is the process of planting trees and bushes in order to slow and block the winds that blew across the otherwise flat ground of the Great Plains. Another issue with the way the farmers managed their land was that they switched from the lister (a type of plow commonly used by farmers in the 1900’s) to the one way disk plow. The one way disk plow was favored by the farmers because it made plowing the field easier and much faster, but the downside to the new invention was that it left the soil even more susceptible to wind erosion (The Dust Bowl). The last factor that contributed to the Dust Bowl is wind erosion. Wind erosion is considered to be the most important and the most preventable cause of the environmental crises. It has since been proven that the size of the farm is directly related to the amount of wind erosion that will occur on the land. Experts say that the smaller the farm is the more wind erosion there will be on the land because larger farms are necessary to finance and benefit from erosion control. Small farmers on the other hand need to cultivate more of their land more intensely and they usually do not earn enough money to be able to spend anything on soil conservation. Many historians and researchers blame the overabundance of small farmers who did not participate in erosion control for the extent of the wind erosion during the 1930’s and they blame the Homestead Act of 1862 for bringing these farmers to the Plains. The Homestead Act gave away hundreds of thousands of  land plots that ranged from about 160 acres to about 320 acres even though agricultural experts recommended that the farms should be about 700 acres to 1200 acres to minimize wind erosion. The farmers that moved onto the land that was given away were the kind of farmers that did not implement the soil conservation tactics that were necessary to prevent the Dust Bowl in the Great Plains (Wind Erosion). In conclusion, drought, climate misconceptions, poor land management, and wind erosion were the four main causes of the agricultural tragedy of the 1930’s. These four factors came together at the beginning of the 1930’s to create what is now known as the Dust Bowl which lasted until the end of the decade. Thankfully, an environmental crisis like this has never taken place again in the United States and thanks to the organizations founded after the Dust Bowl, such as the Soil Conservation Service, our generation and the generations that follow will not have to live through the hardships that another Dust Bowl would cause.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Discuss Somerset’s global supply chain Essay

Somerset Furniture Company (SFC) was founded in 1957 in Randolph County, Virginia. Traditionally, SFC manufactured large, medium-priced, ornate residential home wood furniture such as bedroom cabinets and chests of draws, and dining and living room cabinets, tables, and chairs. Somerset prides itself on customer service. They believe that late deliveries to its customers would harm its credibility and result in loss of customers and excessive inventories. Somerset has recently set up new strategies and tactics to meet goals and improve global supply chain. They first found their problems were, and focused on its core capacities that will improve productivities and reduce inefficiency to win in the global market. In the mid-1990s, SFC was faced with increasing foreign competition, high labor rates, and diminishing profits. SFC decided to outsource several of its furniture product lines to manufacturers in China. This reduced the size of its own domestic manufacturing facility and labor source. SFC considered quality and time as its core competences. SFC planned to implement and strengthen its core by adopting EDI, RFID, and RTA (ready to assembly) to acquire more competitiveness on time by reducing time, improving the delivery of economic value to customers. Because of supply chain variability, shipments can be off schedule or delayed. Since 9/11, random security checks delay shipments. SFC’s global supply chain was getting lose its competitive edge and even faced shipment delays by as much as 40%. SFC was initially successful in their idea to outsource their business on a limited basis. SFC has since then discovered that as many companies do this same thing, out sourcing can result in a host of supply chain problems. Discuss possible remedies for its supply chain problems. Reduce Variability: Somerset should implement processes and tools that will reduce variability. The current process orders furniture on a weekly and bi-weekly basis. The process takes between 12 and 25 days to develop a purchase order which is then released to the Chinese suppliers. With these kinds of gaps in order creation, it makes it extremely difficult to forecast demand. The supply chain can easily be improved by implementing a real-time internet driven system that allows for direct communication between the retail operations and the supplier. Suppliers then can begin manufacturing  new furniture as orders come in. Additionally, implementing such a system will help ensure that once an order is received, that there is an urgency to deliver that order to the store, versus the current process where it may take from one day to a month before furniture is delivered to a store. Somerset wants as much of the order delivered to a store as possible in order to improve their on hand inventory levels and reduce variability. Improved Transportation: Somerset should also leverage technology with its transportation companies. Technologies such as RFID can be used to provide real-time updates to the transportation company. With improved forecasting, thresholds can be established, so that once reached, a truck is pre-ordered with the expectation that a complete order will be reached once the truck reaches the manufacturing facility. With improved forecasting and the use of technology, the trucking company can better estimate its consumer needs, thus improving their preparedness. Shipping Partnerships: In order to improve the probability of securing shipping containers and to reduce the delays caused by security checks, Somerset should leverage partnerships with companies that have similar shipping needs. By increasing the scale of their shipping needs, Somerset and t heir partners can compete with larger companies like â€Å"Big W†, by placing advanced orders. Additionally, Somerset, will experience cost savings, because of the shared container costs. The company will have fewer concerns with partially filled containers. Lastly, due to the increased scalability, the company (along with the business partners) may be able to leverage their size and avoid delays caused by security checks. Alternative Suppliers: Somerset should begin exploring opportunities with different global suppliers. Given quality concerns with production facilities and the difficulties with improving transportation and shipping resources, China may not be the best supplier for Somerset. By securing a different supplier, Somerset can not only improve its quality (thus securing its reputation), but also improve the expedience with receiving its ordered goods. These improvements can result in cost savings and improved customer service for Somerset. Discuss strategic and tactical changes that might improve the company’s supply chain performance. Collaborative Data Collection: Somerset needs to partner with the stores they deliver furniture to in order to gat her sales and other data customer facing attributes like delivery performance, fill rate and order  fulfillment. They could use this data to address supply chain response time and make their production more flexible. This entire process should be automated and accessible over to all of the stakeholders. By evaluating this data and comparing it with data about their competitors Somerset can develop a more accurate model for forecasting future sales and returns by reducing the variability due to a shorter lead time. Optimizing the customer facing fulfillment system will provide insight into how to adjust their internal supply chain process. For example, Somerset will be able to shorten the time it takes to develop and release their purchase order to their Chinese manufacturers. However, this process needs to be automated and accessible to their Chinese manufacturer so they are better able to prepare to fulfill the orders in a timely manner. This purchase order process should be combined with a plan that incentivizes their manufacturer to process their orders quicker. They also need to penalize th e manufacture for faulty products and late delivery. Although they currently have a Quality Control process they should have their own representative participate in the QC the process in China. Since Somerset has the machinery to make the custom furniture, part of the agreement should include requiring their Chinese manufacturers to use them. They also need to find other manufacturers so that they can mitigate the risk if their primary manufacturer experiences a problem meeting the deadline or there is a problem with the shipping deadlines. New Product Release: Somerset should re-evaluate how they introduce new products and phase out old product lines. For example, instead of replacing the entire product line at the same time they could introduce new products that replace the products are beginning to experience a drop off in demand. They should also examine the cost of replacement parts. They should look for ways to replace the faulty parts at a minimal cost. Standardized Parts: Somerset should identify parts that can be made interchangeable. The use of standardized parts would cut down on the time and skill required to make the furniture without affecting their customized features. Another option would be for Somerset to incorporate the manufacture of replacement parts into the facility where new products are developed. That could reduce the cost and time it currently takes to get replacement parts from China. In order to address the partially filled container problem and the creaking issue Somerset should ship the parts in standardized boxes that stack better an  fill the containers. Then establish an assembly plant in the US. That also provides them with a final control over the quality of the finished product. Somerset should also add a distribution center in China where the products are delivered prior to being shipped to the US and another distribution center in the US near the port of entry. This would help address the delays in delivery to the ports. Furthermore, Somerset should purchase their own trucks and coordinate delivery of finished product s with the pickup of raw materials. Additionally they could ship these standardized containers via airplane verses relying exclusively on ships. Although they can’t shorten the time it takes their containers to clear customs Somerset could reduce the time it takes to deliver them by purchasing their own delivery trucks to pick up the delivery from the dock. They can still contract with larger delivery services pick up from the distribution centers. Please note that these distribution centers could act as warehouses where additional inventory is stored. Product Visibility: In order to further remove uncertainty the individual boxes should be bar coded and the containers should have RFID capabilities. As a result of using technology, Somerset will have visibility to status of their products and shipments at all times. The information derived from the enhanced process would enable Somerset to reduce the supply chain cost and continue optimize their supply chain efficiency ultimately cutting cost and increasing revenue. Discuss strategic and tactical changes that might reduce system variability. Somerset Furniture faces the challenge of trying to alleviate delayed shipments in their supply chain process from their current 40% variability rate. The dilemma with shipment lead time is that the determining factor is processed orders from the past. Somerset’s management team would evaluate their past orders to determine how much lead time was reasonable in order to forecast future furniture shipments. As we learned from the case, Somerset’s variability issues stem from many factors. Some of the factors are beyond Somerset’s control due to the strict compliance factors in International shipping. For example, the size of Somerset’s business causes them to generate more security checks than larger companies because of the smaller and infrequent number of shipments. These security checks can lead to a three week delay in the shipping process. Also there is a 3-6 day lead time for containers to be loaded at the docks. There really isn’t much that  Somerset can do about this lag time because ports have their own employees and contract labor group to handle loading and off-loading duties. Furthermore, ports order containers according to bulk demand and availability which makes it hard for companies like Somerset to control the 1-7 day wait time that it takes to empty and transport available containers to the port loading docks. Another issue facing Somerset and other retail companies is that companies like SunKist and SeaLand, who own containers, only wish to order and manufacture enough containers that can be loaded and off-loaded on a continuous basis. This maximizes the fleet inventory of SunKist and SeaLand so that they can generate the most profits from their assets. Container Purchase: One way that Somerset can alleviate this problem is to purchase or lease their own fleet of containers from container manufacturers. This would allow them to reduce the 1-7 day variability wait period for empty containers. Somerset Furniture could own or lease this inventory and contract with companies like SunKist or SeaLand to store the empty containers at their docks for rental fees. By purchasing or leasing their own fleet of containers and contracting with available container owners, Somerset would also be reducing the excess space problem that they are having due to the dimensions of the containers. By ordering th eir own fleet of containers, Somerset could customize the orders to better accommodate their furniture shipments thus maximizing container space. Regulatory Compliance: Another challenge facing Somerset is that the inventory trip from China to Somerset’s Norfolk warehouse takes 29 days. There really isn’t much that Somerset can do about this timeframe. In addition to the above waiting period, the stringent process that International shipments undergo during the Customs inspections is also beyond Somerset’s control. The only thing Somerset can do to alleviate this problem is to comply with every aspect of Customs to not cause a further delay in the process. Trucks can only be loaded with furniture when the containers past inspections at the docks. One would think that the common sense thing to do is to have trucks waiting on the containers to pass Customs to prevent further delays; however, 3rd Party trucking companies charge for hold over time. The reason behind the downtime charge is that they lose money if their vehicle fleet is not on the road carrying a load. The 1-3 day trip that it takes for trucks to get from Customs to Somerset’s  warehouse is a minor issue compared to the potential 30 day period that it takes for the trucks to be unlo aded at Somerset’s warehouse docks. Supplier Incentives: The variability issues for Somerset that are within their control exist on the front end of the process beginning with the work order and purchase order process. For starters, one of the things that Somerset can do to eliminate wait time is to offer incentives to its Chinese suppliers to search for ways to process purchase orders faster. If the Chinese suppliers can accurately and efficiently reduce the 10-20 day wait period it takes to process purchase orders on the front end, then Somerset Furniture Company can reduce the potential 30 day wait period that it takes to unload trucks on the backend at their warehouse. This would help Somerset Furniture to be able to reduce excess storage fees that they have to pay to 3rd Party trucking companies for having their trailers occupied for many days at Somerset’s docking stations. Another tactical strategy that Somerset can employ is to seek ways to reduce the 60 day wait time that it takes for their suppliers in China to begin the manufacturing process. Questions need to be asked. What kind of incentives can be offered to their suppliers to start the manufacturing process earlier? Are there other suppliers in China that Somerset can employ as sole supplier manufacturers? Employing sole suppliers would help to cut down on variability because there would be no other customers hindering the manufacturing process since Somerset would be the only customer. Lastly, rather than use low-cost suppliers in China, Somerset should do the math and see if it makes sense to become their own low-cost supplier in China. By searching for ways to reduce the 60 day manufacturing cycle ¸ Somerset could reduce excess inventory and increase Just-In-Time (JIT) shipments. Also by searching for a sole supplier in China, Somerset could enjoy a streamlined manufacturing process with little or no lag time. This in turn would help to alleviate the quality issues that Somerset was having because there would be one supplier to hold accountable for their product. Discuss strategic and tactical changes that might improve quality and customer service. We have listed multiple strategic and tactical changes that Somerset could potentially make to their organization that would not only improve the overall quality of their product, but would certainly improve their customer service. If Somerset made a deliberate effort to improve its transportation via technology, engage in strategic  shipping partnerships, standardize some of its key parts, and offer supplier incentives, it would undoubtedly improve its quality and its customer service. Inspections: In addition to the above listed items, Somerset should acquire the services of an independent auditor or inspector. By placing an independent inspector in the facilities of its Chinese suppliers, Somerset could greatly increase the quality of its products and would likely reduce the amount of customer complaints. Proactive Customer Service: Somerset could greatly increase its customer service by committing to a proactive customer service team. Somerset could increase the size of its customer service support function that would allow its customer service team more time to place courtesy calls, follow up calls, emails, and texts to customers that may have had a bad experience. A dissatisfied customer could likely become a lost customer if there is not a proactive customer service team to follow up on each issue. Customer Service Score Cards and Online Surveys: Lastly, Somerset should make every attempt to listen to the voice of its customers. Somerset could provide its customers with customer service score cards and/or online surveys so that they could stay in tune with the changing demands of their customers. The exceptions such as late deliveries or damaged products should be addressed as expeditiously as possible, however, it is in the organization’s best interest to know and understand what their customers like, dislike, want, and need. Customer service score cards and online surveys would give Somerset priceless feedback and it would open lines of communication between the organization and its customers.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Describe how networking skills can improve project success Essay

Describe how networking skills can improve project success - Essay Example his is not the case with the free networking websites like LinkedIn, Monster and the like where every other individual is online and has something to say or the other. The professional associations offer a more practical approach towards building professional relationships which is not the case with the free networking websites that seem to come up every now and then. The need is to comprehend the respective roles of these avenues more than anything else and then delving deep further into their domains. The professional associations are renowned globally for the high standards which have been set in accordance with the professional principles, rules and codes of conduct, the industry requirements and so on. Free networking websites like LinkedIn cannot ask for a proper appraisal of such nuances because it only allows the individuals to come and meet one another on the websites rather than introducing the capabilities in a way that these professional associations do (Kurtz, 2011). The benefits are therefore in terms of more credibility, better selection of individuals for the coveted posts and technological success that is there amongst the people who have been listed within the professional associations. 2) Is the cost of joining any of the professional associations worth it, based on what you can see from the information on their website, when it comes to making professional contacts that can benefit your career? Why or why not? I believe there are a positive as well as a negative side to any subject. Same is the case with joining the free networking websites where chances of coming across individual from the desired industries are higher and that too without any cost. However, when one views the professional associations that have been built with the passage of time, hard work and a cost that is attached to it, there is a general feel of something formal taking place somewhere. Yet this feel seems to be a missing link within the free networking websites which

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Aesthetic experience of Shakespeare in Script and Performance Essay

Aesthetic experience of Shakespeare in Script and Performance - Essay Example They resonate with the current lifestyle being practiced today. Today, they have continued to be read and acted on stages and produced as films. The paper will address the different modes that Shakespeare work has been presented to the audience and its impact on them. The effect of Shakespeare works depends on the person who is watching or reading his works. Different people understand authors work differently. While some may want to know the real words spoken, others want to see the real interaction between the characters. Shakespeare works have been presented through books, films, plays, and audio. Their effect varies. Some experts believe active plays are more effective while others are of the opinion that reading his works helps the reader get into Shakespeare’s mind. They believe the reader can create their visual image similar to what Shakespeare intended. Whatever the reason, Shakespeare’s works are of significant influence in whatever form they are presented. A script refers to the written text that guides a play and the characters that are in it. It is often written in such a way that any person can take the writings and act them out without much directing. It is understandable and adequately described to form a visual of how and what should be done in any particular scene. On the other hand, a play is a written dialog between characters that is intended for performance rather than for reading. It is staged and dramatized and may change form according to what the director sees fit. Therefore, a script is written while a play is a dramatization of the script. The depiction of emotion varies between a script and a play. In â€Å"Romeo and Juliet†, the classical tragedy love story, the dramatic scene of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths is the captivating and climax of the play. In a script, the reader reads and understands the emotions that are involved in the scene. However, they do not

In a world of shifting global power, how important are soft, hard and Essay

In a world of shifting global power, how important are soft, hard and smart power - Essay Example that if one compares the rate of global change within the current system to the rate in which global and systemic change occurred several decades past, the two would be hardly recognizable. Such a realization brings one logically to ask the question of whether or not this means that the same mechanisms that political scientists have employed to explain, understand, categorize, and classify such a system are still of use and/or importance within the current time. As a means to understand such a question, this particular analysis will consider the three forms of power that have formed the basis of the political scientists explanation of the global system for many decades now: soft power, hard power, and smart power. As such, the analysis will define, analyze and seek to draw inference as to the ultimate question of how pertinent each of these play in helping to define a world that is so drastically and dynamically different than the world in which these terms and their definitions were forged. The analysis will start with an examination of hard power as the form of power that seeks to careers a given group, nation, system, or entity into acting in a way that they otherwise would not. Joseph Nye describes this â€Å"hard power† as â€Å"the ability to use the carrots and sticks of economic and military might to make others follow your will† (Nye 2011, p. 15). In this way, the concept of â€Å"hard power† has often been discussed and enumerated upon as the oldest form of power in existence within the current world system. There is no shortage of examples of how such power has worked in the past nor how it continues to work within the current times. One does not need to look hard in order to see the way that hard power is exhibited within the current global system. For instance, when one considers the way in which key nations within the past decade have utilized hard power to influence the way in which other nations behave, it becomes clearly obvious tha t the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

IMC Mix of the reformation (www.reformation.com) Essay

IMC Mix of the reformation (www.reformation.com) - Essay Example Reformation integrated marketing communications strategy has blended a variety of marketing innovation to enhance the promotion of their products to the consumers. Reformation integrated marketing communications strategy has integrated various promotion ideas in their website, thus engineering an eye catching web page. This has a positive influence on how the customers value Reformation products. Integrated marketing communications improved customers’ experience while shopping for commodities online. The integrated marketing communications set up informs and attracts existing and prospective customers into checking out the various product wares Reformation is offering. The purpose of integrated marketing communications is to communicate the right information to the right customers at a specific time (Caywood, PP. 323). Reformation has modified their online adverts into sections that appeal to different customers differently. The sections are divided in the form of gender, accessories and the different type of the clothing wares. Each of the sections is further differentiated to offer the customers with a wide variety of choices to compare and choose. Reformation has integrated social media in their marketing strategy thus forming a network for communication with the customers. Social media enables Reformation to get feedback from the customers about their reactions and opinions about their products. Social media gives consumers the chance to ask questions about any product they want to learn more about from the company. Reformation integrated marketing communications strategy has also incorporated a blog as a means of enhancing communication impact. The blog is mainly for creating an interactive online means to bond with different individuals in matters relating directly or indirectly to their products. The blog communicates on general things that are related to Reformation products. The blog initiates a topic on fashion related trends and other

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Project management - Essay Example Besides, there is also a requirement for effective risk and problem management in every phase of project life cycle (Richardson and Butler 1-97). Based on this aspect, paper discusses a distinguished project namely RMS Titanic project. THESIS STATEMENT The objective of the paper is to analyse the life cycle of the project. Furthermore, the paper also describes the procedure of resource management, risk management and management of problems throughout the project. ABOUT RMS TITANIC PROJECT Titanic was regarded as the biggest passenger ship around the world. RMS Titanic was a legendary project and was the first ship to use SOS. The RMS Titanic project was initiated by White Star Line organisation in collaboration with Harland and Wolff dockyard. The project started in the year 1910 and finished in the year 1912. Nevertheless, on 15th April in 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the Atlantic sea. The incident resulted in death of about 1517 people and loss of valuable resources, time and effo rt. At that time, the managing director of the organisation, i.e. White Star was Bruce Ismay. The model of Titanic was designed by Thomas Andrew and the captain of the ship was Edward Smith. These people are the key stakeholders of the project RMS Titanic and were liable for ensuring that every operation is done according to plan (Jones 59-80). PROJECT LIFE CYCLE OF RMS TITANIC The lifecycle of any project consists of five typical phases. The first phase is idea generation phase. In this phase, the project is planned according to expected business requirements and outcomes. The second phase is designing phase, where the architecture and design of a project is decided according to the business requirements. The third phase is construction phase, where the project is implemented according to agreed requirements and prior decisions regarding design. The fourth phase is testing phase where the project is tested to recognise predicted risks as well as procedures for mitigating them. Fina lly, the fifth phase is launch phase, where the project is launched for real time performance (Seacord and Nwosu, â€Å"Life Cycle Activity Areas for Component-Based Software Engineering Processes†). Idea Generation of Titanic Project. During 1908s, White Star was confronting tremendous business pressures due to increased competition in the area of technology and also due to emergence of new entrants in the business segment of the organisation. Furthermore, White Star also faced considerable challenges because of aging technological structure and substandard customer services. As a result, it lost considerable amount of market share and customers. In order to deal with these business issues, White Star developed a business strategy which can leverage emerging technology and can enhance the number of customers. White Star concentrated on improving the quality of journey and passenger experience as a part of its reaction to the competition. This business strategy necessitated h igh investment in new technology. Hence, in order to enhance the business performance, White Star invested in new super liners and attempted to exploit the travelling market in the Atlantic route. The outcome of this investment was initiation of RMS Titanic project which was mostly intended to address the requirements of three passenger classes with topmost priority on upper class customer segment. Therefore, in RMS Titanic project, the emphasis was on the comfort of passengers, rather than the speed

Monday, September 23, 2019

Women in mathematics,Science,and Engineering Essay - 1

Women in mathematics,Science,and Engineering - Essay Example However, women are highly underrepresented in science and technology studies at the secondary and tertiary levels of education, and in the overall technical workforce. This is despite evidence that suggests further involvement of women in technology related fields would greatly improve innovations and economic development in most countries (OECD, 11). Young girls are currently less involved in technical subjects as early as in their high school level; only a third of students in OECD countries taking biology, advanced chemistry, and physics related subjects are girls. In the United States, only 15% of girls are enrolled in advanced computer science studies, despite the growing computer literacy among all young people. Therefore, there is need to critically address the low enrollment of women in science and technology based fields to bridge the large gap between male and female expatriates in science and technical fields. Currently, women in US and other OECD countries are increasingl y enrolling in male dominated engineering and mathematics fields; there has been a remarkable impact on the number of women enrolling for engineering and math intensive courses.... There is a serious under representation of women in engineering enrollment in the western world. In the US, there are evident and remarkable differences in the numbers of females enrolled in various engineering disciplines. These trends are indicative of specific university features, or some courses appearing attractive to females, resulting in higher numbers of female students in some science and technical courses compared to others (Gill etal, 392). For example, in Australia, though engineering is regarded as one of the highly paid professions, requires high tertiary scores before admission to university, and has the highest level of employment from the graduate level, females in Australia make below 14% of the total first year enrollments in engineering; this is despite the given incentives, high professional status of engineers, and high pay offered in engineering (Grill et al, 392). Moreover, in Australia, women have been leaving the engineering profession at a much higher rate compared to men, which suggests that women underrepresentation in engineering will continue to worsen. This is complicated by the fact that high performing females who overcome the barriers to score highly in math and science subjects, and would be expected to take engineering as the best course, prefer other courses such as Law and medicine, with female students making more than 50% of first year enrollments in these studies across Australia (Grill et al, 392). The trend where high performing female students in Australia prefer law and medicine to engineering hints on the social implications of being an engineer. Law and medicine are associated with

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Apple Inc. and Wall Street Journal Essay Example for Free

Apple Inc. and Wall Street Journal Essay Apple has set the standard and has built a reputation around the world for creative, consumer-friendly, simple devices that are used around the world. They are marketed in such ways that demand for these gadgets are always in high demand. Apple’s innovations and marketing techniques have changed not only the phones and computers we use but their innovation has challenged people to do business outside of the box. For Apple not only have they gone outside the box, but literally outside of the country for the manufacturing of their products. 10 percent of the Apple IPhone is manufactured in the United States, the other 90 percent of the Apple IPhone is manufactured abroad. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). To make an IPhone requires hundreds of different parts and not all of these parts can be found all in one place. The advanced semiconductors of the phone are made in Germany and Taiwan, the memory pieces, display panels and circuitry are all from Korea and Taiwan, chipsets are from Europe and the rare metals are found from Africa and Asia. After the materials have been acquired they are sent to China mainly Foxconn City where they are manufactured. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). The unscratchable glass screen was perfected by Apple engineers in Kentucky and sent to Foxconn City where they are assembled.(Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). While 90 percent of the parts needed are found elsewhere the software and the marketing of that software in the phone is all American. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas, whereas they contract an additional 700,000 people from everywhere but the United States to engineer, build and assemble their gadgets. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). As Apple grew around the world the demand for their products simultaneously increased. Apple realized that their production was also going to have to grow and grow out of the United States to meet their expanded quota. The solution was outsourcing. Outsourcing has become the frequent thing to do in hundreds of industries including electronics. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year w ere manufactured overseas. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). When companies decide to outsource Asia always looks to be the best choice among the rest. The workers who are just barely trained are much cheaper, which keeps profits high when labor the main cost of production is kept to a minimum. In Apple’s case this was not their concern, what made Asia the place where Apple contracted Foxconn is  because of the speed of production and the magnitude of people that are trained and hired to work are unthinkable here in the United States. For the needed 208,700 people to work in assembly lines and over see production it has been estimated to take nine months to find that many qualified engineers in United States to work. In China, it took 15 days. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). Apple’s worldwide supply demand manager spoke on the subject and commented â€Å"What U.S. plant can find 3,000 people overnight and convince them to live in dorms?† For Apple to make the switch to Chinese workers from American workers was a critical advan tage in their company. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). Foxconn City was informally named a city because of the amount of people that works are equivalent to city. This facility employs 230,000 most of the workers spend six days a week working, and up to 12 hours of their day at that same plant. Many of the workers there are forced to live in company dorms where they make less than $17 day. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). However, Foxconn can provide companies, like Apple with the scale of people that are needed for efficient production of their gadgets. Since Foxconn has been successful they have opened dozens more of facilities that assemble an estimated 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronics. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). With production exceeding everywhere else in the world the consequence of having unseen high production output is also to have harsh and demanding working conditions for employees. Employees at Foxconn work extreme overtime hours, and live in crowded dorms. The owners of Foxconn and Apple have been criticized for these conditions and that underage workers have helped build these products.(Duhigg Barboza, 2012). They are also criticized for safety concerns of hazardous materials that are not disposed properly that eventually harm uneducated workers. The China Labor Watch (CLW) found â€Å"a variety of dangerous working conditions, as well as unfair calculations of work time, low basic wages that compel acceptance of large amounts of overtime in order to have adequate income on which to live, very high work intensity, and failure to pay for social insurance, work-related injury insurance and other insurance required by law.† (Lubman, 2012). Codes of conduct were set by Apple and the CLW in place to help balance working conditions and employees rights. These policies are frequently inspected but are found to be seriously violated on a daily basis.(Duhigg Barboza, 2012). The criticism and investigations of Foxconn  have led them to improve conditions; they plan on improving conditions by hiring more new workers, eliminating unpaid overtime, improving safety, and to upgrade housing and other amenities. (Gupta Chan, 2012). Foxconn said it was â€Å"going to raise salaries by 16 to 25 percent, and was advertising a basic monthly wage, not including overtime, of 1,800 yuan ($290) in the southern city of Shenzhen, Guangdong province where the monthly minimum wage is 1,500 yuan.† (Duhigg Barboza, 2012). Foxconn also alleged to building new housing where multiple workers do not have to cram into a room, and help their workers enroll in union type of structures. As these promises seem hopeful they have not been yet effective. Chen Yamei, 25, who has works at a Foxconn factory, complained that her salary will drop to just over 2,000 yuan a month ($317) from over 4,000 yuan. (Duhigg Barboza, 2012).Which is the complete opposite of what was promised, and shows that the investigations just highlighted the problems of oversea manufacturing companies that without fixing them. Urbanization normally generates more economically productive work, compared to rural areas. The skills needed to survive in an urban area are different, also getting paid for these skills are an increase to rural pay. ( Areddy, Davis, Page 2012). With more people living in an urban center this naturally causes a demand for new housing and buildings. Therefore, an increase in the urban cities would create more jobs an d better pay for people and this could lead to people less likely to work at companies like Foxconn, and utilize their skills somewhere else with a more competitive pay. The urbanization of China not only will open up more cities and jobs and such, but it will change the way that this generation thinks and works. The new generation of workers is less tolerant of the rigid military management style that was used on their parents and grandparents. ( Mozur, 2012). As jobs grow in China, young workers will pick and choose their jobs. This complicates the situation at Foxconn because the newer generation will challenge the manufacturing company and the government to meet the large expectations that will only continue to grow. The younger workers want to work more independently, employees 24 and under desire jobs where they don’t live paycheck to paycheck and can afford to save money for the future. ( Mozur, 2012). Being independent or an entrepreneur, living in a big city where there are more opportunities, not depending on working at a company like Foxconn where you  are told what to do and where to sleep every day. No I do not think it is proba ble to manufacture IPhones and IPods in the United States. Figuring out space, resources, and labor would cost a fortune even before production. While in China they have warehouses already built to accommodate production, with free samples of products, employees available 24 hours a day and free engineering offered. (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). As a business executive the smart choice for your company would be to move your supply chain to the most efficient place possible. â€Å"The entire supply chain is in China now,† said another former high-ranking Apple executive. â€Å"You need a thousand rubber gaskets? That’s the factory next door. You need a million screws? That factory is a block away. You need that screw made a little bit different? It will take three hours.† (Duhigg Bradsher, 2012). The production that can be done overseas could not be matched here in the United States in the same amount of time, this is why manufacturing in the United States would not benefit Apple as much as it does in China. I don’t believe that companies have an obligation to support American workers. CEOs want to maximize profits, and continue to be competitive around the world, so the most logical thing to maximize profits is lower costs. Labor is a huge cost. The U.S. is a world leader not because Americans are more intelligent than everyone else on earth, but because we have a free market and a free market inspires people to innovate which help American companies to stay a competitive power around the world. It hurts some people’s jobs but for a short term. Globalization needs to happen to thrive, limiting outsourcing inhibits growth, and jobs cannot be made without growth. Acquire new and better skills or perish. Competition needs to continue for growth in jobs, not an entitlement to a job just because you’re American. References: How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher from The New York Times, January 22, 2012, pp. A1 and A22-A23 ( ONLINE version dated January 21, 2012) â€Å"In China, Human Costs are Built Into an iPad† by Charles Duhigg and David Barboza, The New York Times, January 25, 2012 Apple Contractor Ho Hai Says it Hired Underage Workers by Paul Mozur, The Wall Street Journal, October 16, 2012 (also see version printed on October 17, 2012 Foxconn Factory in China Used 14-Year-Old Workers) Working Conditions: The Persistence of Problems in Chinas Factories by Stanley Lubman, The Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2012 â€Å"Apple, Foxconn set new standard for Chinese workers† by Poorima Gupta and Edwin Chan Reuters, March 30, 2012 â€Å"China Population Balance Tilts Urban† by Jeremy Page and Bob Davis, The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2012, p A10 New Labor Attitudes Fed Into China Riot by Paul Mazor, The Wall Street Journal, September 26 (or 27), 2012

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The History Of Cleopatra VII

The History Of Cleopatra VII Cleopatra VII was the last person to rule Egypt as an Egyptian pharaoh. After her death Egypt became a Roman province. She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty (a royal family which ruled Egypt during the Hellinistic Period-323 BC to 146 BC) of Ancient Egypt. She is therefore considered to be a descendant of one of Alexander the Greats generals who had seized control over Egypt after Alexanders death. Cleopatra learned Egyptian unlike other Ptolemies who spoke Greece and refused Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian Goddess. Cleopatra VII ruled originally with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes (commonly name as Auletes and who ruled Egypt from 80 to 58 BC) and later with her brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. Later she became a sole ruler. As pharaoh, she kept good relations with Julius Caesar (Roman General who played a critical role in the transformation from Roman Republic to Roman Empire) that solidified her grip on the throne. After Caesars assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesars legal heir and she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Mark Antony was defeated by Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) and hence Egypt became the Roman province of Aegyptus. Though Cleopatra was an Egyptian pharaoh but she basically belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty which was Hellenistic. Cleopatras mother language was Greek but still was the first ruler of the dynasty to learn Egyptian. She also adopted Egyptian beliefs and deities. Her patron deity was Isis (a Goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs) and thus was considered the re-incarnation and embodiment of the goddess. Her death marked the end of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Hellenistic period and the beginning of the Roman era in the eastern Mediterranean. The above picture displays the bust of Cleopatra VII who is depicted as a great beauty and her legacy still survives in various works of art and dramas. William Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra, Jules Massenets opera, Clà ©opà ¢tre are some examples of dramatizations inspired by Cleopatras life. REIGN 51 BC TO 12 August 30 BC SUCCESSOR None (Egypt was annexed by Rome) SPOUSE Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator Ptolemy XIV Julius Caesar (not legally wed) Mark Antony FATHER Ptolemy XII Auletes MOTHER Cleopatra V of Egypt BORN 69 BC DIED 12th August 30 BC (aged 39) BURIAL Burial was done in Alexandria, Egypt Cleopatra in the Roman Civil War In the Roman civil war between the Caesarean party which was led by Mark Antony and Octavian and party led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus who assassinated Julius Caesar. Cleopatra sided with the Caesarean party because of her past. Brutus and Cassius together and sailed to the East of the Roman Empire and conquered large areas and established their military bases. Now Cassius wanted to invade Egypt to seize the treasures of that country and to take the revenge from the queen as she refused his request to send him supplies punish the queen for her refusal of Cassius request to send him supplies and her support for Dolabella (a Roman General). At that time in Egypt there was famine and an epidemic which became an important reason why Cassius thought that Egypt could easily be conquered. But still he could not execute the invasion of Egypt because at the end of 43 BC Brutus called him back to Smyrna (an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia now located in Turkey). Cassius tried to blockade Cleopatras way to the Caesareans. Nevertheless Cleopatra sailed with her military from Alexandria to the west along the Libyan coast to join the Caesarean leaders but she was forced to return to Egypt because her ships were damaged by a violent storm and she became ill. Relationship with Julius Caesar Cleopatra became Caesars mistress, and nine months after their first meeting, in 47 BC, Cleopatra gave birth to their son, Ptolemy Caesar, nicknamed Caesorian , which means little Caesar. At this point Caesar cancelled his plans to annex Egypt, instead backing Cleopatras claim to the throne. After a war lasting six months between the party of Ptolemy XIII and the Roman army of Caesar, Ptolemy XIII was drowned in the Nile (longest river of the world situated in Egypt) and Caesar restored Cleopatra to her throne and assigned her younger brother Ptolemy IV as her new co-rule. Although Cleopatra was 21 years old when they met and Caesar was 52, they became lovers during Caesars stay in Egypt between 48 BC and 47 BC. Cleopatra claimed Caesar was the father of her son and wanted his son to be the heir of Julius Caesar but instead of making his son caesorian, his heir, he chose his grandnephew Octavian. But Caesar even erected a golden statue of Cleopatra represented as Isis in the temple of Venus Genetrix (the mythical ancestress of Caesars family), which was situated at the Forum Julium (a forum built by Julius Caesar in Rome). Caesar was assassinated on 15 March, 44 BC. At that time Cleopatra was in Rome along with her outrages. After Caesars assassination Cleopatra returned to Egypt with her relatives. After the death of Ptolemy XIV who was allegedly poisoned by his elder sister, Cleopatra made her son Caesorian, her successor and gave her an epithet (an epithet as a descriptive word or phrase given to someone) Theos Philopator Philometor which means Father and mother loving God. Cleopatra and Mark Antony Coin of Antony and Cleopatra In 41 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs (name historians give to the official political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavians, later known as Augustus) who ruled Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Dellius had to summon Cleopatra to Tarsus (a historical city in south eastern Turkey) to meet there Antony and answer questions about her loyalty. During the Roman civil war she allegedly paid much money to Cassius due to which Antony lost his trust on Dellius. Actually it seemed that in reality Antony wanted Cleopatras promise to support his war against the Parthians (citizens of Parthia a region of North eastern Iran). Cleopatra had Antony order the death of her sister Arsinoe to safeguard herself and her son, Caesarion. Arsinoe at that time was living at the temples of Artemis in Ephesus (Artemis is one of the religious Greek deities which is situated in Ephesus which is an ancient Greek city). On 25 December 40 BC, Cleopatra gave birth to twins fathered by Antony, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II. Four years later, Antony visited Alexandria again on route to make war with the Parthians. Donations of Alexandria was a religious-political statement by Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony in which they distributed lands of Rome and Parthia amongst Cleopatras children and granted them many titles especially for Caesarian who was the son of Julius Caesar. Donations of Alexandria was announced in late 34 BC, followed by Antonys conquest of Armenia (a client state of roman and Persian Empires stretching from Caspian to Mediterranean sea), Cleopatra and Caesarian were crowned co-rulers of Egypt and Cyprus. Cleopatra Selene II was crowned ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya and Ptolemy Philadelphus was crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Donations of Alexandria were also a main reason for The Final war of the Roman Republic. Cleopatra was also given the title of Queen of Kings by Antonio. Her enemies in Rome feared that Cleopatra was planning a war of revenge that was between the whole of East against the Rome and establish herself as empress of the world at Rome and inaugurate a new universal kingdom. Caesarian was given co-regency with Cleopatra and was also given many titles such as god, son of god and king of kings. Egyptians thought Cleopatra to be a reincarnation of goddess Isis, as she called herself (NEA Isis). Relations between Antony and Octavian finally broke down in 33 BC, and Octavian declared a war against Egypt. In 31 BC Antonys forces faced the Romans in a naval action off the coast of Actium. Cleopatra was present with an army of her own. But Octavians invaded Egypt in the Battle of Actium and thus Antony and Cleopatra lost this war and thus the Roman Empire took over the Egypt. As he approached Alexandria, Antonys armies deserted to Octavian on August 1, 30 BC. DEATH This picture above shows the death of Cleopatra which was drawn by Guido Cagnacci in 1658. There have been many stories about the death of Cleopatra VII such as according to the ancient sources; particularly the Roman ones think that Cleopatra killed herself by inducing an Egyptian cobra to bite her. The oldest source is Strabo who was a Greek historian, geographer and a philosopher says that there are two stories: That she applied a toxic ointment OR That she was bitten by an asp. Other authors have questioned these historical accounts, stating that it is possible that Augustus had her killed. In 2010, the German historian Christophe Schaefer challenged all other theories, declaring that the queen had actually been poisoned and died from drinking a mixture of poisons. After studying historic texts and consulting with toxicologists, the historian concluded that the asp could not have caused a slow and pain free death, since the asp (Egyptian cobra) venom paralyses parts of the body, starting with the eyes, before causing death. Schaefer and his toxicologist Dietrich Mebs decided Cleopatra used a mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane and opium. Plutarch, writing about 130 years after the event has also mentioned the asp to be the major reason for Cleopatras death. He reports that Octavian succeeded in capturing Cleopatra in her Mausoleum after the death of Antony. He ordered his freedman Epaphroditus to guard her to prevent her from committing suicide because he allegedly wanted to present her in his triumph. But Cleopatra still was able to suicide by provoking the asp (cobra) to bite her on her arm. Suetonius, writing about the same time as Plutarch, also says Cleopatra died from an asp bite. Shakespeare also gave his own theory on the death of Cleopatra which gives us the image of Cleopatra clutching the snake to her breast. Before him, it was generally agreed that she was bitten on the arm. The site of their Mausoleum (a monument) is uncertain, though it is thought by the Egyptian Antiquities Service, to be in or near the temple of Taposiris Magna south west of Alexandria. Cleopatras son by Caesar, Caesarian, was proclaimed pharaoh by the Egyptians, after Alexandria fell to Octavian. Caesarean was captured and killed by Octavians. CONCLUSION: Why the women in world history were not given due importance? By taking the example of Cleopatra VII, the reasons why women were not given importance are: Cleopatra being the mother was more concerned about her children. She always tried her children to get throne unlike Julius Caesar who chose his grandnephew. Women are more directed towards their own children rather than caring about their kingdom. Cleopatra was not much concerned for her empire or the kingdom and was more aligned towards her family. Donations of Alexandria is the most important example which clearly explains that Cleopatra cared only about her family. She could have given those empires to some more educated or strong and a better person which could have helped her and Antony in the battle against Octavians. Well these were the main reasons why I think women were not given due importance in history.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Dawn Bread Company Analysis

Dawn Bread Company Analysis Company Profile Dawn Bread Dawn Bread is amongst the leading bakers of the world, and are committed to constantly upgrading quality, health standards and nutritional values. Dawn Bread have brought one of the worlds most technologically advanced baking units to Pakistan and the use of quality ingredients and an advanced production process ensure that its consumers have purchased a fresh and wholesome product of world class standard. Dawn Breada name that has come to signify quality and freshness in bread products. A success story that was written by a family that is committed to honest to goodness enterprise and concerned with the prosperity of the country. The enterprise, which made a humble beginning in late 1981, has, within a decade, grown to capture 35% of the consolidated market share of all bread products in the country, a fact that speaks volumes about the credibility of the company and its products. Prior to the establishment of Dawn Bread, the largest producer of bread products was the public sector. However, this sector could not cope with the demands of the consumer and this when, perceiving a change in the eating habits of Pakistanis, Dawn Bread was envisioned. Beginning with the plant in Karachi, commissioned in October 1981, Dawn Bread built-up a reputation for freshness, quality and taste. Creating awareness plus a demand for bread products, the second plant was commissioned in Islamabad in January 1985. Nothing succeeds like success, so next came the plant in Hyderabad in January 1987, a year that was to also witness the establishment of another plant at Lahore, in November 1987. In 1989 we established the plant at Multan. After consolidating this expansion, the sixth plant was commissioned at Faisalabad in February 1992. Now our customers can find Dawns quality and freshness from the southern tip of Pakistan to the Northern city of Peshawar. For purpose of standardization, the company associated itself with FMBRA of United Kingdom in 1990 to bring itself in line with international standards of production, technology, machinery and formulation Now, all theDawn Breadplants boast of the latest machinery used in the bread-making process. They are managed by senior food technologists with decades of experience, while those manning the machinery are provided on the job training in congenial working conditions. Taking a responsible place in society, the company is committed to the uplift and development of the society as a whole, and participates in sports and social welfare activities. Products of Dawn Bread Dawn Bread is amongst the leading bakers of the Pakistan, and is committed to constantly upgrading quality, health standards and nutritional values. Dawn Bread have brought one of the worlds most technologically advanced baking units to Pakistan and the use of quality ingredients and an advanced production process ensure that its consumers have purchased a fresh and wholesome product of world class standard. Dawn Bread has good range of products mainly categorized into Breads, Buns, Sweets, Frozen and other. Following is the description of products of Dawn Bread: Breads Product Description Multigrain Dawns Multigrain bread brings you Natures Best in a perfectly soft, grainy and textured loaf . Baked from a special combination of imported grains, full of natural flavor aroma, this premium bread is a perfect companion to any meal, snack, sandwich or just by itself. Fresh Wholesome Goodness for the whole family to enjoy! Bran Bread Dawns Bran Bread freshly baked for health conscious customers. This bread contributes towards the daily intake of fiber to help maintain the right balanced diet. Milky Bread Made by the addition of milk, this oven fresh aromatic bread is made so that each slice contains the richest of texture and gives that extra taste. Plain White Bread This freshly baked and nutritious bread was one of the first products to be introduced in the Pakistani market by Dawn Bread. Fortified Bread Freshly baked and wholesome, this bread contributes to the recommended daily intake of essential nutrients that form a major component of a healthy and balanced diet. Made from the finest ingredients, this multi purpose bread can be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks or whenever, with whatever you like. Buns Product Description Hot Dog Buns Hot Dog Buns are growing in popularity by the day. Baked using the strictest of quality standards, our tasty product is made to be the freshest hot dog bun available in the Pakistani market. Fruity Buns An all time favorite breakfast alternative commonly known as Maska Bun, our Fruit bun still carries that distinct taste perfected by Dawn. Served with a luxuriant layer of butter or just by itself, the taste of this sweet treat will not let you down. Burger Buns Our Oven fresh buns are a treat by themselves. Baked by using only the very finest of ingredients, and perfected by years of experience in the baking field, these aromatic buns make the perfect burgers. We also take pride in the fact that we are the official bakers in Pakistan for the largest fast food chain in the world Sweets Product Description Strawberry Vanila Cake Strawberry Vanila flavored cakes made with only the best of ingredients. These little delights are simply a must have, good things do come in small packages. Short Cake Sometime called Ship Cake, is best choice for tea parties and snacks. One of the most popular products of Dawn Bread in Cake category. Pineapple Cake Cup Shaped cake flavored with pineapple and with only the best of ingredients. Mango Cake Mango Cake is tasty cup shaped cake full of mango flavor, best in all seasons. Fresh and likeable product of Dawn Bread Cup Cake Simple tasty cup shaped cakes made with only the best of ingredients. Frozen Product Description DAWN PARATHA FROZEN PARATHA PREPARED ON PLANT In line with Dawns philosophy of continues innovation, we are proud to be the first to introduce DAWNs PARATHA. Our paratha provides the best of both worlds, giving the same home cooked tasted while providing the most convenient preparation method possible. Other Product Description DAWN RUSK The first packaged crispy rusks to be made available in the Pakistani market. Made under hygienic conditions and packaged to retain their freshness and taste. Try our rusk with tea or coffee today. Export Products of Dawn Bread Dawn Bread also has number of export food products under category of Frozen Dough of different type with tag name Mezban. Dawn Bread amongst the leading bakers of the world, and are committed to constantly upgrading quality, health standards and nutritional values. Dawn Bread use of quality ingredients and an advanced production process ensure that its consumers have purchased a fresh and wholesome product of world class standard. Export Products and Description Aloo Paratha Griddle-fried Potato stuffed flat breads are called Aloo Parathas The stuffing is made with mouth watering exotic potatos prepared with different herbs and spices. For a simple, rich indulgence eat it plain or top a freshly made hot parantha with a dollop of whipped butter or mint chutney. Enjoy! Sheermal Sheermal is a sweet flat bread baked in clay ovens which gives it a unique aroma and texture.It can be eaten plain or with any curry of your choice. Enjoy! Puri Puri is a thin flat bread which after deep frying turns into a crispy golden brown bread. Puri can be served with pickles, spicy potato and chickpee curry or any other meal of your choice Enjoy! Chatpata Mix Vegetable Samosa Mix vegetable samosa is a traditional Pakistani savory pastry stuffed with spicy vegetables.This aromatic appetizer is a perfect harmony of flavor and texture. Stuffed with Potatoes, Peas, Cauliflower,Coriander and a wonderful mix of spices, these samosas are an exotic finger food choice for any occasion. Chatpata Potato Samosa Potato samosa is a traditional Pakistani savory pastry stuffed with spicy mashed potatoes. This aromatic appetizer is a perfect harmony of flavor and texture. Stuffed with potatos, Onions and wonderful spices, these samosas are an exotic finger food choice for any occasion. Chai Paratha Capture the spirit and essence of the Peshawari Chai Paratha as made by Pathan dhabas (cafà ©s) all over. This regional delicacy has been prepared as per the original recipe using only the very finest of ingredients to give you an authentic mouthwatering experience. The original aroma and taste! Takes only minutes to serve!!! Whole Wheat Paratha Regular consumption of fiber is associated with risk reduction of coronary heart disease. In general, soluble fiber (of which oats are a good source) is the dietary fiber most linked to a reduction of cholesterol levels. Dawns Whole Wheat Paratha is prepared with the finest of whole wheat flour, oat bran and margarine to give you the same great tasting paratha, but better suited to a healthy lifestyle. Roghni Kulcha The Kulcha is a traditional unleavened whole wheat bread baked in a clay tandoor (Oven). The distinct smoky flavour of the Kulcha is the result of the moisture dripping onto the hot charcoal in a traditional tandoor. The Naan is pressed against the sides of the pot with the use of a small pillow and is cooked by conducted heat. Incidentally, the familiar tear shape of Naan bread comes from the dough dripping down the sides of the tandoor. Good with any dish bring the tandoor to your table today. Tandoori Roti Tandoori Roti all time best choice for dinner and lunch. Tafan Frozen Taftan product of Dawn Bread with all best ingredients for traditional lunch and dinner. Dawn Bread Product Ingredient Chart Sheet Dawn Bread use quality ingredients and an advanced production process to ensure that its consumers have purchased a fresh and wholesome product of world class standard. Dawn Bread Product Distribution Network in Pakistan Dawn groupsdistribution network comprises of over two hundred company owned vehicles in a distribution system spread all over Pakistan. On a daily basis, Dawn Bread distributes its goods to over a 10,000 retail outlets. This makes Dawn Bread one of the largest distribution networks for any product in Pakistan. Dawn Bread distribute in almost all the major metropolitan areas, secondary metropolitan areas as well as the rural parts of the country. Dawn Bread network has been in the business of touching each of our 10,000 retail customers on a daily basis for the past twenty years. Distribution Network of Dawn Bread in Pakistan can be studied by dividing it into five parts based on its five plants in Pakistan at Karachi, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi in Sindh and Punjab province of Pakistan, respectively as shown in diagram. Plant-wise Distribution Areas of Dawn Bread Dawn Bread Export Product Distribution Network Dawn Bread exports its quality products to different countries of the world namely Alaska, Canada, United States of America, Norway, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Saudia Arabia, Japan as shown in below diagram of Dawn Bread world wide distribution network. In United States of America, distribution network future break down into distribution areas as follow  · Washington  · Oregon  · Idaho  · Nevada  · California  · Texas  · Oklahoma  · Illinois  · Wisconsin  · Michigan  · Indiana  · Ohio  · Virginia  · New York  · Massachusetts  · Connecticut  · New Jersey . Maryland

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Soccer Scholarship Essay :: Scholarship Essays

Soccer Scholarship Essay 2 Â   My full name is Elizabeth Mason Godwin but I go by Libby. I have grown up living with my parents Barry and Nancy Godwin in Traverse City. I went to Willow Hill Elementary School where my love for sports started. I started playing soccer in fifth grade when my friend Carrie invited me to one of her practices to see what it was like. They let me play with the team that day and I fell in love! I immediately signed up and joined the YMCA team. I continued to play for the YMCA until I was in the seventh grade and moved up to TBAYS. I joined a rec team with a couple of my friends who also played soccer. We practiced twice a week in the spring and fall and had games every weekend. We also attended tournaments in the summer. My favorite was always the Canton Invitational down in Canton, Michigan. Besides loving to play the games that we had all weekend, I loved hanging out and meeting all of the other kids that had my same interest....SOCCER! i was on another TBAYS rec team with some friends in eighth grade but then in ninth grade it was time to try out for the big shebang...the high school team. I was fortunate to make the Varsity team at Traverse City West Senior High as a freshman. Since my freshman year I have played on the team every spring and now am currently a co- captain in my senior year. Through the high school team I have learned so much about soccer, the meaning of team, and friendship. Besides loving to play soccer I also enjoy hobbies such as tennis, snowboarding, sailing, photography and reading. I really enjoy outdoor activities. In ninth and tenth grade I went on a trip with my youth group to Pennsylvania where we went white water rafting both years. I found that experience incredible and can't wait to go again someday soon. Â   My future plans are to graduate this year from West Senior High and to spend another summer at our cottage on Torch Lake where I am planning on being a nanny for some friends of our family. My best friend Carrie (the one who initially got me into soccer) and I also are currently planning a road trip for the end of summer before we both go off to school.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Definition Essay - Does Art Defy Definition :: Expository Definition Essays

Definition Essay - Does Art Defy Definition? According to Webster’s Dictionary, art is â€Å"human expression of objects by painting, etc† (10). The words â€Å"human experience† adds meaning to art. Artists reveal their inner thoughts and feelings through their work. When we study a painting by Salvador Dali, the strange objects and the surrealist background portrays the eccentricity of the painter. Some ideas cannot be explained verbally. They can only be shown via a medium. We can get across what is in our minds or our hearts by a stroke of a brush, a drop of paint, a row of words, or something else. But to express ourselves, we do not need to limit what we call art. We encounter art everyday. Art is paintings and sculptures, music and dance, film and photography. It is also fashion designing and architecture, novels and magazines. These seemingly different things have one thing in common – they are all ways in which humans convey themselves. For thousands of years, humans have used symbols to tell a story or describe a struggle. Art is the use of these symbols, symbols that represent us in some distinct way. Unlike science, art is subjective. The artist leaves behind a part of himself in his work. Therefore, each piece has its own distinct perspective. Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits show her view on her life, on how she has faced so many struggles, yet managed to be a strong person. When we see or hear or read an artistic creation, it produces a mood such as calm or loud, fear or safety. For example, the Eiffel Tower gives Paris a majestic awe; everyone who passes by feels the strength of the 113-year-old grand structure. Art also has a texture. Photographs reveal much through their textures; grainy surfaces often make the picture more realistic while smooth ones seem softer. When we hear a piece of music or see a film, a rhythm carries us from one part to another. Not just true for these two genres, rhythm is present in any artistic work. These few properties are characteristic of everything we encounter in the world of art, the world of human expression. Most have othe r special features also. Most of the time, though, we do not think about these characteristics because we do not have enough time to pay attention to anything for more than a few seconds.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Associates Degree vs. Bachelors Degree Essay

It is fairly impossible today to establish a career an advance within it without a college education. However, the cost of a college degree has been on the rise each year. Attending a community college is a good option for individuals who are concerned about cost, time, flexibility or are unsure of their career path. Starting at a junior college before transferring to a university is also a smart thing to do. If a four-year degree is needed, it is worthwhile to complete the general requirements at a two-year institution, then move on to a university. School is not for everyone. If a student struggled through high school, then maybe a certificate program at a junior college is perfect for that person. Because a certificate program takes less time to complete, this means there is less time for a student to struggle through it. Not every job requires a four-year degree, so why waste time and money? If a student does not want a four-year degree, junior colleges offer a great number of programs of study that are interesting. Junior colleges offer certificates and associate’s degrees in various fields. Students may decide to take only a couple of semesters to get a certificate in a certain field. Earning a certificate takes less time and saves a lot of money. If a student decides to get a certificate, the student does not have to take the general requirements for an associate’s degree. The certificate programs are designed to prepare a student for an entry-level job upon completion of the program. ?Financial advantage: The most obvious reason that students attend community college is for the financial advantage. Many junior colleges cost less than two thousand dollars each semester to attend full time, which is optional. Attending community college gives students the chance to prepare for the financial demands of a 4-year university if they plan on transferring. If transferring is something the student would like to do and wouldn’t have the finances for then they could apply for scholarships, there are also extra-curricular activities at junior colleges, including sports, drama clubs, and so on, so you aren’t missing out on the extras if you go to a community college. Some even get scholarships and are able to transfer to a university. In addition to the savings on tuition and classes but there is also the factor of room and board. If attending a community college then you can live at home and save yourself housing and food costs. ?Many students don’t realize that if they plan on working while attending school, community college is hands down, the best option. They offer far more night classes than other universities and more schedule options. The workload, unfortunately, is lighter than a state school or private university and attendance is not usually required so students get out what they put in. Community colleges offer more flexibility in their course design than four-year colleges and universities. This makes a community college more convenient and welcoming to non-traditional students and those with prior work or family commitments. Course schedules are developed with attention to the variable needs of both part-time and full-time students, so classes are usually offered throughout the day and evening, and sometimes on weekends. Community college programs offer the diversity needed for those students who are not available to attend school full-time during the day.? A college education is a requirement for most professional jobs. Even officers in the military are required to have a bachelors degree. Also having a higher education than a high school diploma increase your earning potential, so having an education beyond high school can lead you to a high paying job, in which case you will be able to pay off your school debt if any was acquired and make up for other costs while attending classes. Attending college allows educational growth. It also gives experience of the importance of time management. For many college could be the last chance for study in such an academic environment in which the professors teach them plenty of knowledge in many aspects and they try their best to collect as much and as best as they can on the students subject(s) of choice. This also helps them gain an abundance of knowledge for future life. ? In conclusion, all people are encouraged to attend college or university. The more people attend college or university, the more developed society is. As long as background knowledge and experience decide one’s job opportunities, people who attend college or university are constructing their future with the best materials.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Persuading the Teacher to let me do my Research Paper on Prison Essay

Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The United States is currently facing an overcrowding crisis in its prisons today. Increased rate of crime and the refusal by the relevant state authorities to expand the number of correctional facilities has put a strain to the existing prisons. This has been recently been revisited in the national forums with calls from the concerned stakeholders to address the situation before it gets out of hand. Overcrowding according to prison authorities has reached peak levels to an extent that inmates are forced to share cells. The negative impacts of overcrowding are known and they include aggression and a higher likelihood of disease spreading (Paulus, P et al 112).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This situation needs to be arrested. There exist many strategies on the table that can be used to curb overcrowding. These would range from building new facilities, alternative correctional methods and proper designs of the correctional facilities. (www.johnhoward.ab.ca). The purpose of this short essay is to apply all the persuasive and writing schools acquired, use them to convince my instructor on why I should be allowed to tackle the above topic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In this paper, I shall look at the resources that are they’re touching on this topic, and use them to present a solid case and position regarding the topic. This all is meant to prove to my instructor that this is a topic worthy tackling and that I am the right person. The possible thesis statement for the essay will be: The federal government should allocate adequate resources to alleviate the problem of overcrowding in our prisons. This thesis statement emanates form a personal belief and strong conviction that the situation as it stands in our prisons breeds more problem that it seeks to solve. The government has a key duty to provide essential services to all the citizens of this nation in spite of the status in life. The inmates are no lesser human beings than us ad deserve all the resources possible to make their stay in prison meaningful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are two very specific reasons that have aroused my intense interest of covering this specific topic. The first is my background and secondly is my interest in championing for human rights. Having been born and bred in a crime prone environment I have a first hand experience with criminals and a better understanding of why people indulge in crime. The political, social and economical factors that can lead to crime. The prisons are supposed to be correctional facilities and not to excessively punish and waste the potentials possessed by the inmates.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In writing this research paper I intend to utilize a large number of resources. The Internet and the library will provide a good source of information on overcrowding. Goggle scholar for example has lots of articles covering this topic. For example an article by Anne Bolduc â€Å"our crowded prisons† provides useful insights (Pg 45-57). From the library, a book by Stephen D, et al (America’s correctional crisis, Pg 12-56) focuses on the topic. There will be supplemented by other journal articles and materials from the web. This is an interesting topic and I plan to invest a lot of my time to expound more on the existing information. Works Cited Paulus, P, Cox V & McCain, G: Death rates, Psychiatric commitments, blood pressure and perceived crowding as a function of institutional crowding. Environmental psychology and non-verbal behavior, 3, 1978. 107-116 Prison overcrowding. John Howard Society of Alberta, 1996. Retrieved on 21/09/07 from http://www.johnward.ab.ca/pub/c42.htm Anne Bulduc. Our crowded prisons, animals of the American academy of political and social science. 1985, 45-57 Stephen D. Gottfredson, Sean McConville. America’s Correctional Crisis. Prison populations and public policy. Greenwood Press, 1987, 12-56

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Ap English Certainty vs/ Belief

Certainty Certainty is the belief in yourself that you can empower anything. Doubt is the fear of failure and is what the mass majority are overcome with. Certainty is the inner strength that everyone has, just not many want to express, that is why there are leaders and followers, strong and the weak, living and the dead. With inner strength your capabilities are limitless but when there is doubt, there is nothing. Doubt is one obstacle in a world filled with a plethora of them.Doubts are what control you from succeeding, they hold you back, tie you down , and strangle you from what you want , and just in the final seconds when your pulse lowers, your blood circulation is stopping , and you feel your hand trembling out of the fear, you grasp onto the only thing you have left , certainty. Certainty is your life support, it’s all you have left to live for, you cling onto and your ride through the storm on certainties back. It’s in that moment when you realize your life is ahead of you, and you’re certain of that. Doubt is your glutinous sin, and Satan is its master.You have to break free from its reins all that you’ve ever known and cling to certainty. With certainty you’re either in or you’re out. There is no equilibrium that you can find. Certainty is having 100% faith in something. It is the same as life, if you are certain with your life you are successful and can move mountains; doubt makes you weak and you are succumbed by the mountains. Leaders like this were Aristotle, a philosopher in physics, Benjamin Franklin, the inventor of electricity, and more modern leaders such as FDR, and JFK, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs. They saw the world through eyes of certainty.Certainty gave them the power to discover a new world. They took what others saw as impossible and made it possible. There was never a doubt in their mind that they wouldn’t conquer. Doubt overcomes many in the world today and it really is like an epidemic. Many doubt themselves before they try. This creates the 80% of the world and the 20%. The 80% are those consumed in doubts about their lives, but the 20% will conquer the world if they had the means. Certainty is the only inoculation for doubt. Take a little bit of certainty since there is much to go around and achieve what you never thought possible.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Conflict & Stress Management Essay

1.0 INTRODUCTION Stress and conflict are two major issues any organisation faces. They are inevitable in all facets of life, be individual or organisational. If not handled well they can be a hindrance for the company performance. Conflict and stress both varies according to the organisation and its culture. But both need to be managed well to avoid unnecessary problems. Conflict is a perception. Surveys show that employees spend as much as 42% of their time engaging in or attempting to resolve conflicts and 20% of managers’ time is taken up by conflict related issues (Gupta, Boyd, Kuzmits, 2011). This valuable time can be utilised in making the organisation a more efficient and an effective one. Organisations which fail to address conflict have the risk of losing their competitive advantage. Conflict can be viewed in many ways and there are different management styles which can deal with conflict. The leadership of the organisation must be involved in dealing with conflict as they would have to negotiate and bargain in order to overcome conflict. Stress is a major concern with today’s working people. This is because the world is developing in a faster pace which requires constant adaptation. Stress not only affects ones work-life balance, but also their personal life which creates chaos for individuals. According to some estimation, humankind losses 100 million workdays every year due to the aftermath of stress (Treven & Potocan, 2005). Work stress needs to be managed well so it can actually improve the well being of the individuals as well as the organisation. Both of these factors will be viewed in the context of Nippon Lanka and will be analysed thoroughly on how they overcome these issues to maintain a healthy relationship with employees. Improvements and recommendations for the current methods will also be discussed. 2.0 OVERVIEW Nippon Lanka Pvt Ltd (NPLK) is a joint venture (JV) between the Nippon PLC Japan (NPJ) and Silicone Coatings Pvt Ltd (SC) Sri Lanka where the NPJ brought over 60% of Silicone’s shares. This joint venture is advantageous to both parties where NPJ is able to use this as an entry method and SC as an opportunity to be a part of a global industry. Formation of this JV took almost a year where Nippon Lanka studied SC and the relevant industry as whole to get an idea of the present market conditions. It was found that there was no better time to enter the Sri Lankan market due to the post war era development. Therefore SC was considered due to their strong presence in the market. Today after about three months from successfully forming the JV the company is going through a transition period. There aren’t any major changes to positions in the hierarchy but there are role changes and employees are finding it difficult to adapt to their new roles. Example: – The Managing Director (MD) of the company who was the owner of the company still is the MD how ever to day the person is a salaried employee. – The General Manager who was reporting directly to MD today has to report to the Board of directors where MD is just one out of the five directors. When examining the company culture towards conflict, the company culture and the value system which has been there for 35 years from the date of the establishment is now being changed. SC was established in 1979, as a small scale manufacture and a distributer of paint related ancillaries. By the time Nippon approached SC it had grown into the largest local player in the market where it was second only to the global giant Akzonobal by a 3% margin. It is evident that SC has been a one man show up to the time of the JV, the full value system and the operational procedures were laid down by the founder himself and not most of the managers found it enticing to be part of. Therefore the HR turnover was such that on average about six key resources left the company. In this back ground let’s see how the conflict and stress management function takes place within the organization. 3.0 CONFLICT AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 3.1 Conflict Management Styles Conflict can be defined as the process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something the first party cares about (Robbins S., Judge T. & Vohra N., 2011:441). It is that point in an ongoing activity when an interaction crosses over to become an interparty conflict. Conflict can be seen as good and bad with corresponding positive and negative outcomes where this would all depend on how one views conflict. There are three basics views of conflict. These are the Traditional view, the Interactionist view and Managed conflict view. The traditional view sees conflict as bad and something that must be eliminated through the use of authority. Poor communication, lack of openness and failure to respond to employee needs could be seen as few of the causes. The interactionist view is that conflict is desirable, necessary for high performance teams and should be encouraged. The contemporary view is that conflict is inevitable and it may be positive or negative but it must be managed to be beneficial. Nippon Lanka follows a more interactionist view where conflict is encouraged and the company is of the view that a perfectly cooperative, harmonious group would hinder dynamism, creativity and innovation where a minimal level of conflict is needed to prevent a lacklustre, uninterested attitude among the group. As mentioned earlier, not all conflicts are good, and this view only supports functional conflict. Functional conflict is a constructive form of conflict that supports the goals of the group and improves performance. The type of conflict at hand would distinguish a functional conflict from a dysfunctional conflict. Although these are distinct types of conflict, the occurrence of one type of conflict can lead to a conflict of another type taking place. For example, the process of costing has been kept confidential, and this has led to the tension between the sales team and the costing team. 3.2TYPES OF CONFLICT PRESENT IN NIPPON LANKA 3.2.1Relationship conflict Conflicts between two people are known as relationship conflicts. These conflicts arise as a result of miscommunication, disagreements or misunderstandings between people. One such situation at Nippon Lanka arose between the Brand Manager and the Marketing Manager. The Brand manager has been with the company for 5 years and has previously worked with two Heads of marketing. Once the new marketing manager was appointed, it was found that the latter was less experienced and was not willing to corporate with the Marketing Head. This triggered huge problems for the new comer. The management was aware of this, but wasn’t able to remove him from the position due to the valuable connections the customers. However, the Marketing Manager understood this inferiority complex of the Brand Manager. Having gone through the initial hardships the new marketing manager somehow managed to win the trust of the Brand manager. Now they are working harmoniously, directing all their efforts towards the benefit of the company. 3.2.2.Data Conflict This occurs when decisions are made without adequate information. At Nippon Lanka, the costing department works in isolation. They do not consult the sales and marketing team when arriving at the costs, so more often than not, the cost of the product is either too high, depriving them of valuable orders and potential growth, or at times its too low depriving the opportunity for the company to charge a premium price on an innovative product or to achieve efficiency through specialisation. 3.2.3Interest Conflict Conflicts of interest mainly deal with psychological issues, where an individual or organisation behaves in a certain manner, with the aim of meeting a particular interest which is not shared by everyone else. The JV with the Japanese company was not disclosed or made public, even though doing so would have been acting in the best interests of the company. The MD did not like the idea of publicising the 60:40 JV that was taking place, as it would be viewed as a takeover. However, the rest of the company felt that some amount of public awareness would have positively impacted the company’s future performance. Another example would be when the HR department wanted to minimise the over time cost they imposed a rule where all sales vehicle needs to be back at the HO by 5 pm. As an example what the Sales representatives would do is when they need to deliver goods up to Negombo, covering Wattala, Ja-ela, Seeduwa and Negombo. They would turn back from Seeduwa at 3.30 pm in order to make it back to office by 5 pm, without covering their full distance to Negombo. What followed was a delay in the delivery and travelling additional mileage, having to revisit incomplete routes taking the same path. 3.2.4 Structural Conflict Structural conflict arises from unclear and undefined roles and reporting lines. The R&D and the production manger are directly reporting to the MD. The other managers report to the GM, where the GM reports to the MD. Currently when a sales representative needs to develop a sample for a particular customer, the sales representative will not have the adequate support since the request from the sales rep will not be taken seriously from the R&D manager and the GM cannot question them for not doing it right. Only 10 out of 1 samples are successful and yet the R&D manager has managed to survive, distracting the control and supervisory system of the top management since there is no clear reporting structure. 3.2.5 Value Conflict A value conflict comes about when two people or groups have dissenting views on morality–that basic understanding of what is naturally right or wrong. As mentioned earlier, the cost manager considered himself and his department superior than the other departments, with the notion that the information handled need not be disclosed to anyone else. At present, the cost manager is in prison, facing charges of fraud. Although the environment helped the person to carry out fraud, this is a clear example of conflicting values. 3.3 THE CONFLICT PROCESS Figure 1: The Conflict Process (Source: Robbins S., Judge T. & Vohra N., 2005:444) 3.3.1Stage I: Potential opposition or incompatibility The first stage talks about the conditions that are needed for conflict to arise. They may not directly lead to conflict, but they need to be present for conflict to surface. They can be referred to as the causes of conflict and can be condensed into three general categories, namely communications, structure and personal variables. Communication, either too much or too little information passed between members can result in potential opportunities for conflict to arise. At Nippon Lanka, the manner in which the costing of the products is carried out is not communicated to the members in the other dept and this has been the initiating factor for conflict to set in. Structure includes several variables such as size, degree of specialization in the tasks assigned to the group members, role clarity, member-goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems, and the degree of dependence among groups. The sales and promotions manager at Nippon Paints follow an aggressive, predator style of leadership where excuses were not tolerated and was only interested in the achievement of results and targets. An example would be, the samples taken from the production team that is used for sales and promotion does not meet the required standards of quality where 9 out of 10 samples would fail. Same time, the Sales and promotions manager would also be very demanding of the sales representatives in terms of getting the desired targets. In some cases, employees have resigned due this demanding nature. Personal variables are mainly due to differences in personal traits of individuals. Diverse issues such as prejudice and disagreements over one’s contribution to the group, as well as the rewards one deserves. For example, at Nippon Paints, the General Manager is prepared to hire new trainees at Rs. 15,000/=, whereas the Sales and Promotions Manager feels that the market rate of Rs. 30,000/= should be paid to them. The low salaries have deterred attracting the talented individuals and therefore not achieving the fullest potential. 3.3.2Stage II: Cognition and Personalization If the conditions mentioned in stage I negatively affect something one party cares about, then the potential for opposition or incompatibility surfaces in the second stage. One or both parties must be aware and perceive that these conditions exist. However, just because it is perceived does not make the conflict personalized. It may not have an effect on either or both parties. The conflict has to be felt, for individuals become emotionally involved, leading to anxiety, tension, frustration or hostility. 3.3.3Stage III: Intentions Intentions get in the way of people’s perceptions and emotions and act as decisions for them to react the way they do to the situation at hand. They are important, as one has to make inferences of the other party’s intentions to know and understand the reason behind that party’s behavior and to respond accordingly. Conflicts tend to escalate at this point merely because of the wrong inferences being made. Sometimes a behavior might erroneously reflect the person’s intentions. Two dimensions are used, namely cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other party’s concerns) and assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempt to satisfy his or her own concerns) to identify five conflict handling intentions. This has been attached to Appendix 1 with the styles explained. 3.3.4Stage IV: Behavior This stage includes actions, statements and reactions made by the conflicting parties. Intentions of each party are implemented through these behaviors and can be seen as a dynamic process of interaction. Conflicts usually start slow; characterized by indirect rather subtle forms of tension and escalate as the tension builds. At this latter stage things could become highly destructive where such conflicts are almost always dysfunctional. 3.3.5Stage V: Outcomes Behavior would lead to outcomes, where some are functional in that the conflict results in an improvement in the group’s performance or it may also be dysfunctional in that it hinders group performance. Functional conflict can be beneficial for the company as it provides a medium through which problems can be aired and tensions released. This improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages interest and curiosity among group members and it forces and environment of self-evaluation and change. Some companies discourage conflict as they prefer â€Å"yes-men†, loyal to the higher ups to the point of never questioning company actions. As for dysfunctional conflict it would reduce group effectiveness and group cohesiveness. At the extreme, conflict can bring group functioning to a halt and potentially threaten the group’s survival. Refer Appendix II for the example of a conflict Process at Nippon paints. 3.3 NEGOTIATING AND BARGAINING Before the organisation starts negotiating they should be aware of the nature of the conflict. There is a certain process that needs to be followed in negotiation. Negotiation is by definition the management of crossed demands, where each one of us expresses requests hoping the other will try to fulfil them (Lempereur, A. 2012). As it is said â€Å"Everything is negotiation in life†, so every party involved in the process would like to take the best out of it. 3.3.1 Bargaining Strategies There are two bargaining strategies that could be discussed. Distributive bargaining and integrative bargaining. In the current context what is more obvious is integrative bargaining which makes both the parties involved satisfied creating a win-win situation. An example for this was when a sales representative requests for a personal vehicle they need to achieve a certain level of sales targets. If they maintain the sales targets for a sustainable period they will be given a personal vehicle. But by any chance if they do not keep up to the said targets their salaries will be reduced in accordance with the cost of maintaining the vehicle by the company. Through a situation like this, what is created is a long term positive relationship for the company. As a company, they increase the sales levels and the employees will also be satisfied as their needs are also met. 3.3.2 Negotiation Process Negotiation can happen in 5 steps; these are preparation and planning, definition and ground rules, clarification and justification, bargaining and problem solving and closure and implementation. Some do not have a positive ending or a closure. But negotiations that have an effect for the organisation will go through a process. An example of this would be when the company needs to host certain function in hotels they would negotiate with them for the best bargain. As they have cost constraints, there are certain limitations and getting the best bargain with the best outcome would be the perfect scenario. Before the start of the negotiation with the relevant hoteliers the in-charge person will prepare the list of things that need to be discussed. These would be the pricing, menu items, additional services that are required and assess what the other party goals and prepare well for them. In this instance a budget per person would be Rs. 3,000. But the relevant hotels cost was higher. Then the menus for these relevant amounts will be compared. In the Sri Lankan context rather than a 4 or 5 course meal, action stations with koththu and hoppers have a vibrant feeling and also cost less. So in the negotiation table the other alternatives will be put across. Since information is all gathered, the representative will develop a strategy. The person will also determine the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). So here the BATNA will be to get cost per person at Rs. 3,000 having action stations with cocktail menu. The person will determine when and where to have the appointment. The ideal place would be at hotel premises because then the ambiance where service capacity can also be viewed. The meeting would be planned in the best time where both parties are not strained with other commitments and can concentrate for a best outcome. Once the initial stance is made then there will be further clarifications and explanations. Then both parties will try to come up with concessions in order to make a decision. Once both parties are satisfied they will formalize the agreement. In this process Nippon Lanka representatives will stress on the fact that if one event is made a success; then the hotel is winning a long term corporate client. This enhances their business. 3.3.3 Third Party Negotiation This is crucial for Nippon Lanka as they deal with lot of suppliers and customers. Advertising is a crucial part for this organisation and dealing with media is important to get a good advertising deal. Earlier they were dealing with the television and radio stations by themselves and it was quite strenuous. Getting a good deal that is worth their money was tough and time consuming, having deal with different organisations, so they decided to obtain third party involvement. The outcome was to get a consultant to act on media buying for the organisation. A consultant is a skilled and impartial third party who attempts to facilitate problem solving through communication and analysis (Robbins S., Judge T. & Vohra N., 2011:457). They are there to improve the current status and to get a win-win solution for both parties. When Nippon started using a third party advertising firm to do media buying, they were able to get good deals from media as they have a high bargaining power. 4.0 WORK STRESS & STRESS MANAGEMENT Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, demand, or resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important (Robbins, Judge & Vohrs, 554). Most of the time stress is discussed in the negative contest but this is not true at all times. Stress can be taken into the system as an advantage. In the current organisation stress factor is not talked openly even though people are put under stress levels it is not considered as value adding option for the organisation. In the organisation currently what is seen is the challenge stresses but sometimes these same factors do become hindrance stressors for the employees. 4.1 Sources of stress The main sources of stress in the organisation comes from environmental and organisation factors. When it comes to environmental factors; the three types of uncertainties are economic, political and technological. These play a minimal role compared to organisational and personal factors. In considering environment factors; the workers are stressed on the technological aspect. Research and development team is always under pressure in getting a new product development before their competitors. Organisation heads are concerned about the Political uncertainty. Whenever a new rule or regulation is passed by government with regard to the consumer protection or protecting environment this takes a toll in the organisation activities. They must be aware of the new laws and how to tackle them, this adds a lot of strain in the management as they need to alter or change certain decisions according to political scenarios. Change in economic policies and recessions or booms in the economic cycle create stress on the organisation. Current economic down turn have made a toll in the sales teams as consumers are spending less and government projects have considerably reduced. At the same time government is not paying their debt and collections have become harder. Organisational factors are the ones that are created by the organisation which creates stress on employees. Task demands such as collecting debts in 90 days have a strain on the employee. This increases the job pressure. Role demands relate to pressure that occurs due to the job role. Managers and above have high role related pressures compared to subordinates due to the heavy work load which needs to be performed in less time. Most employees complain that they are given more work than they can handle and it stresses them out a lot. At the same time many complain the targets given are not practical. There is a minimal level of interpersonal demands where other employees are not supportive. Personal factors which increase stress are different to every individual. But this does create a hindrance in the organisation performance. All or some of these factors create a high turnover or absenteeism, reduction in productivity and decrease in job satisfaction. Sadly Nippon Lanka has not recognised the importance of stress management in order to curb it or cure it. The main organisational stress come comes from the current management change, this is because the task and role demands have changed and employees need to adjust to the new roles. Personal factors too trigger stress level of the employees. 4.2 Managing Stress at Nippon Lanka Pvt Ltd Based on the study, it is visible that Nippon Lanka uses stress as a positive motivator, but at some points it goes out of hand where it depletes the collaboration and coordination amongst the teams and also inter department. Based on the job roles, the department heads can think of the stress levels which can be imposed on the team members to get results and to meet targets. However the stress levels should be correctly managed so that it motivates results and not deplete and impede the team building and performance drive within the teams. As it is observed, some amount of stress comes from the non-alignment of the reporting lines. Therefore the suggestion is to relook at the reporting lines so that stress does not occur due to incorrect alignment of the business structure which has a negative impact and which creates unnecessary types of stress within teams. Together with the Job role enrichment, reporting lines should also be re-aligned so that the company will only be left with stress which causes the company to perform and not to impede. 5.0 CONCLUSION In conclusion conflict, negotiation and stress are all visible in Nippon Paint. Conflict is unavoidable at the organisation due to the dealings they have among the departments and the third parties. To overcome conflict certain understanding among employees and stakeholders must be implemented. It can be seen that conflict, negotiation and stress are interlinked with each other on some level. Organisational conflict styles may shape an organisation’s social environment, affecting the level of ongoing conflict and thus the level of stress among employees. Nippon Lanka to a great extent follows an integrative style of conflict management which leads to lower task conflict, reducing relationship conflict, which reduces stress. However, there are many instances where the management has not come up with a solution to the conflict at hand, where they are not willing to step in and the employees are left to resolve the matter, which at most times remains unresolved. The recommended improvements with regard to this has been discussed in Section 3.4. It is important that with the JV taking place, the new management plays an active role in resolving these long running issues so that the organisation and its performance does not get affected. The current JV could also trigger new conflicts and stress levels within the organisation where it is crucial that these issues are identified and resolved. The new management must take this opportunity to place greater prominence of recognizing the on-going stress levels within the organisation and deal with them appropriately. Improved management of conflict, negotiations and stress would benefit the individuals and the organisation in terms of high performing, content, dedicated employees who deliver results.