Dichotomies in the Workplace Privacy Issues Essay

There is a genuine divergence of ideas from both the management and employees view on privacy issues. Companies often times say and act differently with regards to workplace policies, and employees also have opposing perspective on privacy expectations and their own actions. Employees should have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and the management should be clear and considerate of those expectations. In context with privacy concerns, there is the difference in stating the policy and acting out the policy, and the expectations of employee’s privacy and how they act. The Thin Line There is no such specification of having â€Å"no expectation of privacy† in the workplace. (Rasch, 2006) If a company intends to provide the technology and services to its employees granting that it should be of and for corporate transactions only, then employees must abide to it. But if there are no policies stated as such, â€Å"personal† transaction or communications must also be respected by companies. The extent of expected privacy differs in purpose. For example, if personal transaction of an employee involves any suspicion on violation of laws, then the management can not protect the privacy of the employee because it can not resist any mandate of the law to perform investigation on the employee. It is also related by the US Supreme Court that employers have the obligation to â€Å"enter offices and desks of employees for legitimate work-related reasons wholly unrelated to illegal conduct†. Lessons on Workplace Privacy Issues It all concludes to proper address of the corporate rules and policies and the implementation of such. Both management and employees must state their expectation on privacy and defy the line on privacy issues as much as possible to avoid the great debate on workplace issues. If policies are made and implemented, then actions should reflect the extent the understanding of the situation.

Buka culture, Oceania

Residents of Bukas are called Buka after the island and though no English definition of the word can be found it most likely originated from a Malaysian word. Foreigners refer to the people as Bukas but in the country they are know by their clans. It can be assumed that there are rude names that names used for respect within the different inhabitants but I have a feeling that to learn those one must actually visit the island. 2- The Buka reside on Buka Island, Bougainville Province, in Papua New Guinea.Buka Island itself is separated from Bougainville by Buka Passage, a swift flowing sea channel. There are five small inhabited islands found off of the west coast. The east coast of the island has many cliffs as it is unprotected from the ocean wind. The west coast has the Richard Parkinson Range, with its highest peak, Mt. Bei which is 458 meters high. The entire island is surrounded by coral reef rings, with large lagoons on the west coast.3- There are two distinct languages spoken o n Buka, though with dialects there are about 4 different languages, Hanahan Halia is spoken along the east coast, Haku is spoken in the north coast villages, Selau a dialect of Halia is spoken in the Bougainville peninsula, and Solos is spoken within the North Bougainvillean Austronesian families. Halia and Haku speakers can easily understand each other, with Selau being there most distant dialect. However Solos and Halia speakers do have difficulty understanding each other.Tok Pisin is also used as a lingua franca between the three different dialects and this language is spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. All of these languages are part of the North Bougainvillean Austronesian languages which can be traced back to South China and Formosa. There is a clear division between the south and north of this island mainly dealing with those that immigrated to these areas. 4- Most settlements are villages and hamlets. The island itself is divided into five electorates, the pewit, Halia, Hag ogohoe, Tsitalato and the Haku.These areas are connected by narrow paths and through trade partners. These villages would move and change depending on the weather and with new alliances or reorganizations of clans. Some of the first towns grew around missions and near airstrips or by good harbours. This area did not have much European settlement until after WWII so there is still much of the traditional life present. The main town, also called the capital, is located on Buka Passage and on most maps is still labelled â€Å"Chinatown†. The family-household is still the basic social unit and can consist of many generations.The most important buildings in the villages are the tsuhana. Funerals, reconciliations, memorials and feasts are all held at the tsuhana, and the building for the tsuhana is quite elaborate as a pig must be sacrificed for each step of the construction. Town are the center of commerce and then reach out to the nearest villages. There are not many roads and sh ips and air travel are needed to reach certain areas. Due to the geography much of the inner island is not populated. Currently at the capital there is more modern buildings arrived as the settlement has grown to incorporate businesses and some tourism.This urban Mecca contains representatives for banks, the government and agricultural businesses as well as some resorts on the beach. 5 – Buka houses contain many generations, as many of three. One type of house built in this area is made of silt. Silt houses last between 20 and 30 years and are constructed above the ground to allow for the high tide. These houses are quite large and require about 20 men to set the posts (the foundation) of the house. There are also traditional houses made of wood, huts made of woven reeds and roofs that are thatched with hay. Almost all houses are built up on stilts.If no paint is used then most house are a brown or beige colour, as paint is a big upkeep because it has to be reapplied so often due to the humidity. 6 – Bukas economics are mainly based off of agricultural, as the sweet potato is a main staple in the villages not only for food but also to trade. Copra and cocoa are cash crops and there is some small amount of money to be made in spices and vanilla. Other popular crops are breadfruit, yams, taro, rice, bananas, mango, coconuts and other fruits. Many animals have been domesticated for food and birds, marsupials, cassowaries and turtles are hunted for their meat.Tea is drunk throughout the day. There is also a substantial amount of fishing done and collecting shellfish as most villages are very close to the coast. Many families keep chickens and pigs those pigs are considered to be very important and only used for rituals and formal occasions. A lot of time is spent collecting water as fresh water is in short supply. Tourism has slowly sprung up on the island allowing for some small change sin income though moist businesses found in the main city along the Burka Passage all deal with agriculture products.Most villagers produce their own food and townspeople may have their own garden or they trade with village women who sell their produce at markets. Small trade stores supple kerosene lanterns, matches, blankets, clothing, soap, tinned fish, tea, sugar and rice while large urban supermarkets import expensive food items and other products. There is also some work in the gold mining and oil industry though most industry is horticultural. 7 – The political system in Buka is based off of chiefs though both men and women can be â€Å"chiefs†.These chiefs then build alliances and trade routes with other chiefs and clans. Most authority positions are inherited and chieftainships, called tsuono, though many times this heredity is ignored. The tsunono represents the interests of their clan. Each tsuono will look over about 20 families though many tsunono clans can come together under the tsunono mal, of a superior clan. The mo st powerful of all the chiefs, the munihil, is put forth or â€Å"elected† by the tsunono, and has power over clans of a moiety class.(Moiety classes are associated with prestige, with Nakaripa and Naboen being higher class and Nakas and Natasi of lower class. ) Moiety class is important for resolving conflicts and organizing authority. Women can also be chiefs but they are looked on as sacred objects held with great respect. Though ever since the Bougainville civil war women have become more prominent in leadership roles. Those that want to participate in higher politics within the Papua New Guinea government must be very wealthy and use the traditional campaigning methods; much of popular politics does not exist throughout Buka.8 – Kinship terminology is Hawaiian and descent in is matrilineal. Most newlyweds tend to live with their maternal relatives at first but will move to the wife’s native land as children technically belong to the wife’s clan. So u nder this kinship all females in the parent’s generation are referred to as mothers and all males in the parental generation are fathers. All brothers and male cousins are referred to as brother and all sisters and female cousins are called sister. 9 – There are two types of marriage offered in Buka that are clearly described in the marriage act of 1963.Customary marriage is where the individuals follow the customs of their tribes and you do not need any proof of marriage beyond those of the traditional custom, though the definition of a native of automatic citizen is not very clear. The extended family is very important to the formation of the marriage, husbands may have several wife’s and the husband or husbands family must pay the bride price. Once they are of age men and women spend time in supervised courtship sessions. Exogamy is a must and women marry outside of their clans most of the time.Is a women is unhappy then she is able to leave her husband, get divorced and return back to her clan. A statutory marriage must be performed by a district officers, Registrars or ministers of Religion or anyone else that has authority from the government. Marriages must have seven day notice, and all participants must be over 21 years of age unless they have their parents consent. The ceremony must have two witnesses and you will receive a marriage certificate. 10 – Both men and women are involved with horticulture though there is still a clear division of labour as well as payment.Men will clear the forest so that the women can plant gardens and keep the pigs. The crops and cash crops are planted and tended by men, banana, sugarcane, cocoa and coffee and though the women will help to pick these crops the majority of the money is given to the men. Women do all of the cooking though both the men and women will look after the children. In towns and large villages the women take car of the domestic chores and child care while the husbands ar e at work. If a woman has a job then one of her family will take care of the chores.Women have begun to take part in men’s jobs though they deal with a lot of prejudice and harassment, while men that do traditional women’s work are stigmatized. Females are very important to building authority as the participate in female exchange event and redeem matrilineage lands. The men with the most power have achieved it only with the help of his female relatives. As times change women are slowly redefining their roles though there are not many job opportunities for them. 11 – Current religious beliefs are Christians divided between Roman Catholics and Methodists.There has been a lot of assimilation of indigenous and Christian beliefs ad God is called Sunahan. Sunahan is a creator figure from Buka tradition. Traditionally Buka religion focused around keeping good relationships between the living and the spirits of the dead, including the spirits that inhabit all named geog raphical features such as pools of water and large rocks. Spirits can impart positive and negative attitudes and they are all powerful. Spirits are important for success in fighting, horticulture and all things sexual.Bukas communicate with spirits using fire mainly to celebrate funerals. Sensory is also believed in and there are two kinds of sorcery, one that is used by the chief to punish transgressors and contemporary sorcery which is secret and is illegal, it was thought to have been brought in from outside of Buka. IN current society most people still have knowledge of sorcery and use spells to promote, healing, gardening, prevent minor illnesses and to bring about love. Most rituals focus on health and fertility and focus in maturation and future success of those participating.Initiates will find their spirit guide that will help them in their life. Bukas use both traditional and western medicine to overcome illnesses. Western medicine is used to deal with symptoms while tradi tional methods are used to uncover the cultural cause of the illness. There is a hospital in the main city, though most villages will have a mid-wife or other lightly trained women to deal with medical issues. There is not many medical trained professionals available outside of the urban areas so traditional medicine is still prevalent throughout the island.13 – Buka is actually the site of a large social movement called Hahalis Welfare Society. This is referred to as a cargo cult by the church and Australian government. This society was established as a result of new taxes. They were supported by cash crops and ‘baby gardens’ in which young women were encouraged to build the societies population. Over 400 Australian police were needed to restore order. Eventually the society became very prominent supported the Me’ekamui Onoring Pontoku (Fifty Toea Movement) which was a source of much conflict at the end of the 1980s.This society was one of the first to di splay Bougainvillean nationalism and brought about many militant formations. 14 – Barnard, A. , (2006) Patterns of Masculine Protest among the Buka, Journal of Personality, 11 (4), 302-311 Haviland, W. , (2002) Cultural Anthropology, Wadsworth Publishing Resture, J. , (2008), Bougainville History, http://www. janesoceania. com/bougainville_history/index. htm, accessed November 29, 2008 Zimmer-Tamakoshi, L, (2007) Culture of Papua New Guinea, http://www. everyculture. com/No-Sa/Papua-New-Guinea. html, accessed November 29, 2008

Restaurant Business in London Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Restaurant Business in London - Essay Example This discussion stresses that people in London are cash-rich and time-poor. On an average, people are not present at home or at work for four hours a day. The most prevalent leisure activity is eating out. The population of London has a high frequency of dining out. The love for eating out among the people of the city reflects in the ever increasing number of restaurants.From the study it is clear that the cosmopolitan city of London is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. More than one fourth of the city population was not born in UK. There is no hesitation in mixing with new culture or trying new food.   People love to explore abroad. Increasing number of people is reaching out to global holiday destinations. This exposure to other countries, new culture and food habits shows an effect on the restaurant menu cards and shop shelves.  The number of cuisines that the population of London love to feast on is thirty. This includes wide range of eating joints from the luxuries restaurants, coffee shops, fast food corners, budget restaurants to take away joints. It serves across all sections of the society. Needless to say, it is one of the top food destinations in the world.  Tourists have been coming to London from the various countries and enjoying the dining experience of all parts of the world.  Today London is particularly well known around the world as a food destination due to its diverse range of people and cultures.

How Can Organisations Ensure that Information Held within their Essay

How Can Organisations Ensure that Information Held within their Information Systems is Secure - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the business environment is highly competitive in the 21st century as free market economies, which run by the principles of supply and demand, are becoming more prevalent. While no economy is completely a free market economy without any government intervention, most economies are at least partially free market. This intensifies competition as businesses seek to attract customers based on prices, quality, and other unique selling propositions. An essential part of the business process is the processing and dissemination of information. Businesses rely upon accurate and quickly gathered information regarding markets, products, customers, ideas, and other aspects concerning the business, in order to properly plan and implement their future strategies. Businesses must also keep accurate records of their past, current, and future plans in order to function in an organized manner. As businesses must take due care of their possessions and ass ets to prevent damage or theft, businesses must also protect their information from being stolen or misused. While assets may be quite expensive and valuable for the firm, information is worth much more and has a higher risk involved. Cybercrime is at large in today’s technologically advanced world, in which thieves do not attempt to take physical assets from people, but directly aim to access intangible information, which is regarded as more valuable. Corporations keep their information safe on computers that are locked with passwords and only staff is permitted to access the information. However, often there are instances of information leaks or access to restricted records by competitors, which causes the business immense damage. Hackers and other cyber thieves access important information to commit frauds or to manipulate the business’s financial records. Many times, large amounts of cash are transferred from the business account to other accounts and they become i rretrievable. There are thousands of ways that businesses can suffer harm through the access of their personal information. Account numbers, financial information, customer records, meeting plans, and new business strategies are all recorded on computers and it is regarded as a safer place to put such information rather than in paper form where it is easily accessible to all. Unfortunately, while computers may be the safer place to put such information, saving it from ordinary people and ordinary thieves, yet it is still considerably unsafe from technologically perceptive cyber thieves and hackers. Hence, businesses must take several measures to protect themselves from cyber crimes and keep their information safe. Before the electronic means of controlling the access to data is discussed, it must also be noted that information may also be disseminated through employees and through simple discussion conducted by employees with outsiders. Businesses also take measures to protect thems elves from such situations as they are perhaps more likely to occur than even cybercrime. As mentioned above, employees are a primary source of information about a company and are the people who are given access to a company’s databases. The first and foremost method a company uses to protect its information from being openly disclosed or discussed is through a confidentiality agreement between a company and its employees. This legal document binds the employee within a secrecy agreement and ensures that the employee agrees to keep all the information regarding the company and its strategies confidential. In the case that such information is dispersed by the employee, the employee will be liable for losses and legal action can be taken against the employee.

A study on business development and strategy of Starbucks in China Essay

A study on business development and strategy of Starbucks in China - Essay Example China has been one of the rapidly growing economies in the world with high growth opportunities. Since 1979, China has opened up the economy gradually to foreign business (UN, 2009). In December 2001, China became formally a member of World Trade Organization (WTO), which provided further incentives for increased integration with the world economy. The first Starbucks shop was opened in 1999 in Beijing and now it has 190 shops all over the mainland China. Initially, China was mainly a tea consuming nation with only very small coffee market while now reports show that the coffee consumers are rapidly growing (Starbucks, 2008). According to the latest reports, Starbucks has decided to setup China as its largest market outside North America and is now in the process of careful planning for that(The Wall street Journal,2010). In spite of the reports showing the company facing competitive pressures in several other countries, the success of the company in Chinese market deserves special m ention(ICMR,2009).In this context an analysis on the key success factors of Starbucks in Chin market, its main challenges and opportunities has important policy implications. The various external factors influencing the performance of an organization are evaluated through external analysis. Both the positive and negative trends influencing a company’s performance are evaluated through this process. The positive trends are opportunities to a company and the negative trends are the threats faced by the company. This analysis is very relevant for assessing a company’s present situation so that the company can develop new strategies or change existing strategies by making use of the opportunities and threats to the company (Coulter, 2005). This according to Coulter (2005), there are both specific environment, which influence directly the company’s strategic decision and general

Fieldwork Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fieldwork - Research Paper Example So in any case culture is based on the information which people create, offer, and consume. With Internet invention the necessity to transmit the information orally and in written form has disappeared, moreover the way of information storage has changed as well. All the information is kept on servers of the biggest global sites such as Google. This search engine along with other influential companies receive huge power as they can predict and even create tendencies knowing what information people look for (Komando, 2013). In order to outline how the global culture is developing Google has created zeitgeist videos which tell about the most frequent requests of its users. Culture is a dynamic notion, and thus those entities that possess the information and know how it is consumed can outline cultural shifts and tendencies. So following and tracing informational currents may help to understand what the phenomenon of digital zeitgeists say about our culture. Analyzing this videos and dis tinguishing dominant events, personalities, and emotions allows seeing global attributes of development. Reviewing five Google digital Zeitgeist videos helped to distinguish five trends that appeared in global cultural development. In 2009 Google launched the video in which all the main events of the world were typed as words of request. This choice is not accidental as the way of information transmission was always the way of power control in the world. In this zeitgeist video Google has concentrated on the personalities which create the world history. With the help of Google people learn who became significant, as Barack Obama being elected as the President of the USA or Hussein Bolt setting a new record in running. Moreover, fame spreads instantly so Google marks the à ©poque in which every person can receive global fame and power in a minute. On the one hand,

Bush's War (PBS) Analasys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bush's War (PBS) Analasys - Essay Example Cheney advocated the use of controversial interrogation techniques to obtain information that would link Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks. In the documentary, Cheney and Rumsfeld supported a pentagon (military) led alternative that led to the decision to invade Iraq. Cheney was also involved in securing controversial secret legal opinions from the Justice Department that would grant President Bush unrestricted broad authority to wage 'war' without the consent of the U.S congress. Cheney also supported the use of 'enhanced combat and interrogation techniques' against captured combatants. President Bush's fixation on invading Iraq was borne out of his distrust of Saddam Hussein. Bush stated in the documentary that Saddam was "an evil man who gassed his own people" In reference to Saddam Hussein, Bush declared after the 9/11 attacks, that his administration would hunt down the Islamic fundamentalists and "those who harbour them." Bush believed that Saddam Hussein was providing support for Al-Qaeda. The intelligence information that was used as a predicate to the invasion was manipulated in order to justify the war. This invasion 'policy' was hatched and promoted chiefly by Cheney and Rumsfeld although there was a lack of substantial evidence that linked Saddam to Al-Qaeda. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, George Tenet did not initially support the Iraq invasion on account of the lack of credible intelligence evidence available. Instead of relying and heeding to CIA intelligence reports, Cheney and Rumsfeld formed a parallel and secretive intelligence unit in the Pentagon to analyse evidence that would hitherto link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda (Chapter 12). Cheney also pressured CIA analysts who were preparing a National Intelligence Estimate, to include language that would support the invasion policy. The CIA analysts have since reported that Cheney and his staff wanted the report to indicate that Saddam had or was seeking to acquire Weapons of Mass Destruction ( WMD). This attempts led the administration to use "highly dubious" and un-corroborated evidence that stated that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase 'yellow cake' Uranium (a key component for producing a nuclear weapon) from Niger (Chapter 12). Why was the press unable to bring this story to light earlier Although some sections of the press were critical of the plans, President Bush had a 90% popularity rate. The national press were therefore weary and feared a public backlash if they did not seem to be supporting the President in war time. How would you assess Rumsfeld's role in this issue Donald Rumsfeld was the one of the Architects of the invasion of Iraq. Rumsfeld first succeeded in taking the lead role in the 'war on terror' from the CIA in Afghanistan and subsequently in the Iraq invasion plans. He wanted to be the solely in charge, "100% responsible" and determined to go to war with Saddam at all cost. He continued to claim that Saddam Hussein had WMD (Chapter 13). Rumsfeld also withheld critical information form the White House and undermined both the State Department and the CIA all in a bid to ensure that the invasion took

Natural science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Natural science - Essay Example This virus is closely associated to HIV-1. It is known as HIV-2. HIV-2 is mostly present in Africa however HIV-1 is present all over the world. This infection consists of three stages. In the first stage severe retroviral syndrome along with asymptomatic period occurs. This is the exactly like influenza or like mononucleosis that a good number people get in six to twelve weeks after acquiring the infection. It generally finishes without any treatment at all. It is at this point that a patients' blood test for HIV comes out positive. Symptomatic HIV infection is known as the second stage of AIDS. In this stage symptoms start to become prominent. This stage can be as long as a few months or even a few years. AIDS is the last stage. In this stage the immune system gets badly damaged and other opportunistic diseases infect the patient. This collapse of the immune system leads the patient top his death in just a few years. HIV causes a decline in the health and most of time even death. The virus is an extremely dangerously severely infects both the brain and the nervous system. It could cause dementia; dementia is an illness which is related sensory, thinking, or memory disorder. Brain infection might result in problems related to movement or coordination. HIV may have infected the diesel for two to twelve years without exhibiting any symptoms. This virus is transferable to other person symptoms regardless of the symptoms. As soon as HIV catches speed, a lot of symptoms begin to show up. The symptoms consists of mysterious fever, exhaustion, diarrhea, serve loss of weight, enlargement of the lymph glands, loss of hunger mouth and vagina's yeast infections, night sweats which may last more than a number of weeks, problems in breathing , dry cough, bad throat due to the swelling of glands, chills, and shivering. Other symptoms include flat or raised spots or bumps of Pink or purple, color which occur under the skin, in the oral cavity, nose, eyelids or rectum. They look like bruises, however they don't fade away. The skin around the bruises is not as hard as the bruises themselves. Another symptom is Spots or odd blemishes which are White in color start to occur in the mouth. HIV can be transmitted via 3 ways. One very common way is by means of unprotected sex (oral, virginal or anal). The most dangerous kind of sex which transmits this virus is anal sex as the anus does not stretch. The second way this virus can be transmitted is through direct contact with blood that is already infected with the virus. There are a number of ways of in which the virus can be transmitted via direct contact with blood that is already infected with HIV. The third way in which this virus is transited is when pregnant women is infected by this virus and transmits it to her fetus. Development After 6 years in 1987 a new treatment came into being this is known as the first big step in the direction of curing HIV and AIDS virus. The drug that was found was Retrovir (AZT, Zidovudine) and it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was immediately used to treat patients with HIV. In 1992, the first drug which was to be utilized with zidovudine was also approved by Food and Drug Administration. This combination of drugs was called Hivid; this was the start of HIV combination therapies. In the year 1996

Answer 2 questions about language teaching and learning Essay

Answer 2 questions about language teaching and learning - Essay Example Explicit learning may be deductive, where the learner is taught rules directly by an instructor, or inductive where the learner draws own rules based on examples available in the language. The second method is more useful than the first because it enables the learner to explore the language beyond the lesson time. However, the deductive approach must be used to introduce the learner to the language itself in especially in L2 [second language] learning Dekeyser, 2003, 315). In order to acquire a second language effectively, it is important that the learner is taught through an explicit system. However, the process should be as inductive as possible for a better and more effective acquisition of the language. This is because, there is very little that can be learned through the implicit process alone according to research under the Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) paradigm (Dekeyser, 2003, 315). Pienemann’s Processability Theory refers to the stages of mastering the nature of computational routines used in a new language that an individual is learning. In order to use the new language well as a means of communication, the learner needs to process in his mind these routines that include grammatical rules and acceptable syntactical sequences (Pienemann, 2001, 12). In L2 (second language) learning, this processability is impaired by the routines that the learner has already gotten used to in the L1 (first language). In English, for instance, the word order is important in determining the functions of different parts of the sentence. For example in the following two sentences: Such conventions make it very difficult translate for learners of L2 since they tend to rely on the rules of their L1. Such learners may give the second sentence above as the one signifying that John was the agent (Pienemann, 2001, 15). 20B can be classified as having reached

Nursing Theory - Transcultural Nursing Assignment

Nursing Theory - Transcultural Nursing - Assignment Example The research presents that it is more of a surface view of nursing without the practical application, the periscope view. Nursing practice is the fine tuning of all that has been studied and theorized into a microscopic view and applied to the reality of patient care. All three aspects of nursing are equally important and must continually be refined and researched to provide best practices for all patients everywhere. As the essay stresses there are three basic approaches to nursing theory which each describe the scope of nursing theory. Nursing knowledge is very similar to looking through a telescope; there are many conceptual theories which provide insight, however lack the empirical testing to prove them. Nursing as a discipline is considered a mid-range theory in that it somewhat bridges the gap between the grand theories and the actual nursing practice; much as looking through a periscope would provide a view for the world around us. Nursing as a professional practice gives the most in-depth view of all, providing practical solutions and information to help direct nursing interventions and outcomes, much like looking through a microscope. There are four basic paradigms that comprise a nursing theory: the person, the environment, the health, and the nursing. Each of these has associated with it various concepts, assumptions, and definitions. The view through the telescope takes the big picture , the Grand theory, and researches the concepts and constructs. This produces a proposition that connects the theory to knowledge gained, providing a surface view of the potential for nursing application. This proposition leads to a conceptual model which further defines and refines the practical application of this theory to give a microscopic view of the theory in action. (Current Nursing, 2011) The entire concept of nursing theory works as a circular phenomenon. Grand theories are postulated to improve nursing practice. It is for this reason that nursing research is ongoing to provide the knowledge and insight to help direct practice and effect outcomes. They predict and explain information that is crucial to outcomes that maximize potential for quality nursing care and cost effectiveness. They also help assess and improved practice by providing criteria for measuring outcomes and rationales for nursing practice. This research yields information, conclusions and recommendations f or practical nursing applications. (Life Nurses, 2009) Nursing knowledge is the bridge between the theory and practical applications of nursing. It is an area of common ground that helps give definition to the profession as distinguishing it from other professions. It provides the answer to â€Å"why† nurses perform certain actions, as well as â€Å"how† they do them. It allows nurses to question practices and redefine care to act based on criteria and rationale that have a sound base in nursing research. Nursing knowledge gives nurses

Impact of Financial Crisis on International Trade Essay Example for Free

Impact of Financial Crisis on International Trade Essay The work described in this paper was substantially supported by a grant from the Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project no. HKUST6212/00H). 253 254 Zihui Ma and Leonard K. Cheng Forbes (2001) went further to construct some statistics measuring the importance of trade linkages in transmitting crises. Because most economists agree that international trade is one of the important factors in explaining ? nancial crises, it seems natural and logical to ask the reverse question: what are the e? ects of ? nancial crises on international trade? Surprisingly, little research on this subject has been done. Perhaps the reason is that the answer appears to be obvious. Conventional wisdom would predict that a ? nancial crisis, by bringing about a recession in the macroeconomy, would lead to a drop in imports. Exports, however, may rise because of both a decline in domestic demand and a devaluation of the domestic currency. A weakening or collapse of the ? nancial system, in particular the banking system, however, might weaken the country’s export capability. So the aggregate e? ects of a ? nancial crisis on the macroeconomy are unclear. This paper tries to ascertain whether the ambiguity can be resolved empirically. We divide all the past ? nancial crises into two types: banking crises and currency crises. These two di? erent types of crises had di? erent attributes and di? erent e? ects on international trade. This paper begins by analyzing theoretically the e? ects of banking and currency crises on international trade. Then it uses bilateral trade data, macroeconomic data, and geographic data to test the theoretical predictions. Overall, the empirical results provide support for the theoretical predictions. This paper contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides a theoretical framework for understanding the impact of ? nancial crises on international trade and the channels of crises transmission through trade. Second, it estimates the e? ects of banking crises and currency crises on imports and exports. The estimated results can be used to predict the impact of ? nancial crises on trade, thus providing useful information for risk management to policymakers. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 8. 2 reviews previous works on the relationship between international trade and ? ancial crisis. Sections 8. 3 and 8. 4 analyze the e? ects of banking crises and of currency crises on trade, respectively. Section 8. 5 describes the data and methods used to estimate the e? ects of these crises. Section 8. 6 reports the results of empirical estimation and statistical testing. Section 8. 7 concludes. 8. 2 Literature Review: Trade and Financial Crises Economists pay attention to the role played by trade in ? nancial crises for two reasons. First, trade imbalance has been shown to be one of the important factors that trigger ? nancial crises. Current de? cits may decrease foreign reserves. As Krugman (1979) pointed out, a currency crisis is more likely to happen in an economy that does not have enough foreign reserves. The E? ects of Financial Crises on International Trade 255 Second, ? nancial crises may be transmitted through trade linkages from an a? ected country to others despite the latter’s relatively good fundamentals. In explaining such contagion e? ects, economists have tried to identify the channels through which contagion was spread. As trade is the most obvious economic linkage between countries, much research has been devoted to this connection. While the importance of trade imbalance in triggering crises is widely accepted, there is no agreement on the importance of trade in transmitting ? nancial crises. Eichengreen and Rose (1999) used a binary-probit model to test whether bilateral trade linkages transmitted crises between industrial countries between 1959 and 1993. They found that the probability of a ? nancial crisis occurring in a country increased signi? cantly if the country had high bilateral trade linkages with countries in crises. They concluded that trade was an important factor. Glick and Rose (1999) conducted a similar analysis with more countries between 1971 and 1997 and obtained a similar result. Forbes (2000) used a company’s stock market data to study the importance of trade in ? nancial crises transmission, and his result also showed that trade played an important role. However, other papers have provided di? erent answers to the problem. For instance, Baig and Goldfajn (1998) thought that trade linkage was unimportant in the East Asian Crisis because the direct bilateral trade volumes between these economies were very small. Masson (1998), analyzing the Mexican crisis and the Asian crisis, obtained similar results. All the papers that analyzed the relationship between trade and ? nancial crises ignored the reverse question: how did ? nancial crises a? ect international trade? We argue that the e? ects of ? nancial crises on trade are a precondition for discussing whether trade transmits crises. If ? nancial crises do not a? ect countries’ imports and exports at all, how can ? nancial crises be transmitted through the trade channel? So before we analyze the importance of trade in transmitting ? ancial crises, we need to clarify the e? ects of ? nancial crises on international trade. As pointed out previously, little work has been done on this topic to date. It seems there is a belief that ? nancial crises only a? ect countries’ imports and exports through changes in the exchange rates. Because the e? ects of exchange rates have already been thoroughly analyzed before, it may seem that there is no need to study the question. However, this view may not be correct. A devaluation of a national currency will increase the volume of exports and reduce the volume of imports. Classic international trade theory shows that a devaluation improves the trade balance if the Marshall-Lerner condition is satis? ed. Because in a ? nancial crisis a country usually experienced a devaluation of its national currency, the same analysis would apply, that is, the a? ected countries’ imports will decrease, but their exports will increase after the crises. Furthermore, ? nancial crises (including currency crises, banking crises, 256 Zihui Ma and Leonard K. Cheng or both) could also a? ect trade through channels besides the exchange rate. Calvo and Reinhart (1999) pointed out that ? nancial crises usually caused capital account reversal (sudden stop) and triggered an economic recession. Mendoza (2001) showed that in an economy with imperfect credit markets these sudden stops could be an equilibrium outcome. The economic recession reduces not only domestic demand but also total output and export capability, whereas capital out? ow forces the country to increase export. Thus, whether exports increase or decrease after ? nancial crises is unclear without further analysis. Before we analyze how ? nancial crises a? ct the crisis countries’ imports and exports, let us ? rst de? ne ? nancial crises. Eichengreen and Bordo (2002) have provided de? nitions of currency crises and banking crises: For an episode to qualify as a currency crisis, we must observe a forced change in parity, abandonment of a pegged exchange rate, or an international rescue. For an episode to qualify as a banking crisis, we must observe either ba nk runs, widespread bank failures and suspension of convertibility of deposits into currency such that the latter circulates at a premium relative to deposits (a banking panic), or signi? ant banking sector problems (including but not limited to bank failures) resulting in the erosion of most or all of banking system collateral that are resolved by a ? scally-underwritten bank restructuring. (15–16) The above de? nitions are adopted in this paper. In the next two sections, we analyze the e? ects of banking crises and currency crises on the macroeconomy and trade. 8. 3 Impact of Banking Crises A classical framework of bank runs was developed by Diamond and Dybvig (1983). Let us recapitulate the key elements of their model. Agents are endowed with goods that can be invested in a long-term project or stored without costs. The long-term project is pro? table but illiquid, that is, if investors do not liquidate the project before it matures, its return is greater than the initial investment; however, if the project is liquidated before it matures, the ? re-sale return is less than the initial investment. Each agent can be impatient or patient with ? xed probabilities, but there is no aggregate uncertainty, that is, the total number of impatient agents is ? xed and known by all agents. At the beginning, agents do not know their own types but must decide if they will invest in the project. After they have invested (or have decided not to invest), but before the project matures, each agent realizes his or her own type. Impatient agents must consume immediately, whereas patient agents do not consume anything until the project matures. Agents’ types are private information, so even if each agent knows his or her own type, other people do not know. The E? ects of Financial Crises on International Trade 257 On the one hand, if an agent does not invest in the project but turns out to be patient, then the agent has missed a pro? table investment opportunity.

Assessing and Managing Supply Chain Risks

Assessing and Managing Supply Chain Risks 1. Introduction The current trend of outsourcing to low cost countries combined with supplier base reduction has provided significant cost reductions for businesses. However, globalization and implementation of more streamlined supply chains have increased risks for companies when acquiring goods and services needed for their operations. By the term risk is meant a chance of facing undesired consequences such as damage, loss, or injury. More scientifically, risk is defined as the combined probability for an undesired event and the potential damage the event might cause. This definition, or variations of this definition, has been applied by a number of researcher investigating risk (March and Shapira, 1987; Zsidisin, 2003; Spekman and Davis, 2004; Wagner and Bode, 2006; Ritchie and Brindley, 2007). The detrimental effects does not have to be existential to the companies, but typically they cause lost sales, decreased market share and large contractual penalties for the parties affected (Zsidisin, 200 3). A very well-know example of such a detrimental effect is the $400 mill loss suffered by the Swedish cell phone manufacturer Ericsson due to a lightning bolt which struck their sub-supplier of semi-conductors (Latour, 2001). Another example is the battle against the foot-and-mouth disease in the UK agricultural industry during the year 2001. This event temporarily paralyzed the agricultural industry, while the tourism industry suffered great losses. Even luxury car manufacturers such as Volvo and Jaguar were affected since deliveries of quality leather used in various parts in the car compartment were temporarily stopped (Norrman and Jansson, 2004). A general ban on sale and export of British pigs, sheep and cattle was introduced during the outbreak. The tourism industry also suffered as many tourists changed their vacation plans due to transport bans and detergent washing of cars, boots and clothing in affected regions. Similarly, the fruit company Dole lost over $100 million dollars when a hurricane caused massive damage to the area in Central America where their banana suppliers were located (Griffy-Brown, 2003). The outbreak of SARS in Southeast Asia affected various industries such as the electronics industry, retailing, tourism, and the airline industry with losses at the national level stipulated to $38 billion just for Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand (Overby et al., 2004). The economic impact of the hurricane Katrina is stipulated to $100-125 billion. More than half of that amount is due to the flooding of New Orleans which paralyzed industry and disrupted normal living conditions in the affected areas (Boettke et al., 2007). However, the most famous of such disruptive events is probably the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, which caused immediate financial losses and initiated a massive restructuring of the airline industry (Bhadra and Texter, 2004). The above mentioned examples illustrate that supply chains may not be well prepared for dealing with unanticipated events causing disruption in sub-systems of supply chain networks. The traditional cost-efficiency focus of supply chain systems have led companies to eliminate buffers in the form of inventories and multiple sourcing throughout the network. However, this has also led them to remove mechanisms in the supply chain which previously moderated the effects of undesired, disruptive events in the chain. An alternative approach is to introduce more agility in the supply chain. This approach has successfully been applied as a response to the fact that more and more market places in the twenty-first century require a proliferation of products and services, shorter product life cycles and increased demand for innovation (Narasimhan, Swink and Kim, 2006). In agile supply chains, stock out penalties occur immediately in the form of lost sales and the key performance measure is no lon ger productivity or cost, but customer satisfaction. Traditional stable partnerships are substituted with more fluid clusters where partners enter and leave the network at a more rapid pace. In general, there is also a focus on operator self-management to maximize the actors autonomy (Mason-Jones, Naylor and Towill, 1999). The actors higher level of autonomy in agile supply chains makes them better able to respond to changes in supplies upstream as they have no or few bindings keeping them from changing to alternative sources of supply. However, supply chain companies dealing with commodity goods rather than fashion goods can not necessarily be expected to have the same degree of freedom. Their day-to-day competition would require them to eliminate all forms of waste to remain competitive. Any cost driving measure to mediate or avoid risk such as excess production capacity, excess inventory, and increased supplier base would therefore have to be weighed against the expected costs of future unknown disruptive events. To do this, a proactive identification of potential supply and demand hazards is required at a strategic level. The point is to identify where unanticipated risk events have the biggest impact on the supply chain network, identify the type and number of risks, their associated costs, and as sess alternative counter-measures to improve the resilience of the supply chain. The intent of this conceptual paper is to establish a decision framework in order to aid the proactive identification and management of potential upstream and downstream supply and demand hazards. The framework is developed based on a broad variety of literature integrating multiple perspectives on risk from supply chain management, marketing, and organizations theory. The risk framework presented separates itself from previous efforts in its comprehensiveness, and it has been designed to match the supply chain management framework developed by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF). Previous categorization attempts have usually only presented sub-sets of risk factors and have not paid much attention to how supply chain risks can be dealt with proactively. For instance, Zsidisin (2003) listed a number of useful supply risk characteristics and classified them into characteristics belonging to items, markets and suppliers based on the results of a case study. Item characteristics included impact on profitability and the newness of product application, while market characteristics involved global sourcing, capacity constraints, market price fluctuation, and number of qualified suppliers. Risks associated with suppliers were capacity constraints, inability to reduce costs, incompatible information systems, quality problems, cycle times, and volume and mix requirements changes. However, Zsidisins list of supply risk characteristics did not contain important risk elements such as behavioral appearance of supply chain actors and risks associated with skills and qualities of the individual supply chain organizations, nor did it pay much attention to mitigation of risk events. In addition, the network perspective of supply chain management was not evident in the sense that an event can appear several tiers away from the focal organization but still damage the organization via an unknown dependence. Spekman and Davis (2004) also discussed a typology for categorizing risks. They found that risk lies inherent in every supply chain flow of goods, information, and money and they mentioned many of the same risk characteristics as in Zsidisin (2003). In addition, criminal acts and breach of norms were included as risk elements in the supply chain. However, they did not focus much on actions to minimize or avoid the effects of undesired events. Dealing with risk was eventually reduced to the introduction of buffers or building trust. An exception is made for the management of security risks where they briefly mention the necessity of proactive planning to avoid such risks. Another example is Peck (2005) who reported from an empirical study where the sources and drivers of supply chain vulnerability were investigated. She used the knowledge achieved to develop a multi-level framework for risk analysis and did not put much emphasis on identifying individual risk characteristics and tactics to improve the supply chains resilience. However, the framework illustrated in an intuitive manner how unanticipated and undesirable events at other nodes in a network could influence and cause problems at different levels for a focal company via dependencies. Kleindorfer and Saad (2005) also attempted to provide a conceptual framework to assess risk and introduced three tasks as the foundation of risk management. These were Specifying sources of risk and vulnerabilities, Assessment, and Mitigation. The sources of risk and vulnerability were thereafter divided into operational contingencies, natural hazards, and terrorism and political instability. Kleindorfer and Saad (2005) did not elaborate in much detail on which risks to include in each of these categories, thus from a practical risk assessment point of view, the model becomes less interesting. In a similar vein, Ritchie and Brindley (2007) developed a framework to encapsulate the main strands of supply chain risk management. They distinguished between seven sources of risk, but were not specific about which risks to expect in each category and they were not very detailed in their description of risk avoidance or mediation tactics. In stead, they used their general model as a guide in an exploratory case study where the purpose was to focus on supply chain members degree of awareness of supply chain risks, and how supply chain members identified and responded to identified risks. Ring and Van De Ven (1992) developed a framework for structuring cooperative relationships between organizations based on varying degree of risk and reliance on trust. They based their paper on the assumption that the degree of risk inherent in any transaction depends in the direct proportion to decreases in time, information, and control. Examples provided were commercial risk (risk of not finding a price-performance niche in the market), technological risk (probability of bringing the technology to market), scientific risk (lack of knowledge), engineering uncertainty (will the technology work?), and corporate risk. By corporate risk they referred to the risk of wrong allocation of resources in the organization. However, these types of risk are strongly connected with internal managerial and organizational skills of the focal company, and thus cover only a small portion of the risk concept from a supply chain management perspective. Risks arising from process sharing and network inf licted risks were barely mentioned. In summary, a higher level of precision in supply chain risk assessment frameworks combined with normative guidelines for risk avoidance seems present in extant literature. This call has formally been put forth by Harland, Brenchley and Walker (2003) who provided an easy-to-follow procedure for risk assessment in supply chain networks. They concluded that more managerial guidance is required to support risk management and redesigning of supply strategies to incorporate risk strategies . An attempt to answer this call has been made in the following sections. Mapping of risks in the supply chain has been emphasized combined with a discussion of tactics for risk mitigation and risk avoidance. In essence, this covers steps two to four in the model by Harland, Brenchley and Walker (2003) (Figure 1). Guidance for mapping of the supply chain is the main goal for many of the supply chain management frameworks recently developed. Mapping of the supply chain has therefore only received limited attention in this paper, but references to some well-known supply chain frameworks are provided. Steps five and six have been left for the managers to decide as the strategy formation and implementation would be situation specific and dependent on the outcome of steps one to four. 2. Research method The framework is developed based on a literature review where multiple perspectives on risk from marketing theory, organizations theory, and supply chain management have been integrated into a composite supply chain risk framework. Relevant contributions were identified through library searches and key word searches in Proquest and ScienceDirect databases. Search words were used either alone or in combination to find contributions which could bring added insight about risk from different theoretical perspectives. Key word searches typically included words such as supply chain management, marketing, or organization theory, and words such as risk, framework, uncertainty, vulnerability, resilience, etc. A large number of research contributions were identified from this procedure and contributions were further selected based on a qualitative assessment of the title and abstract of each identified contribution. A guideline for the literature review was to find an answer to the question what do we know from theory which could be relevant for supply chain managers in their efforts to identify and reduce the level of risk in their supply chains? The emphasis on theory was decided since an exploratory empirical investigation would be descriptive of current practices which would not fit with the normative purpose of this investigation. Ex post empirical testing of the entire framework in a single study were also considered difficult to accomplish due to the amount of risk factors included. However, a varying degree of empirical validity is offered through the previous empirical testing performed by the researchers referenced. Some empirical guidance and initial face validity was also provided through discussions with the general director of a sub-supplier to the Norwegian oil and gas industry. 3. Supply chain management and risk The term supply chain management (SCM) has primarily been linked to the study of either internal supply chains integrating internal business functions, the management of two party relationships with tier one suppliers, the management of a chain of businesses or with the management of a network of interconnected businesses (Harland, 1996). Transaction cost analysis (TCA), organization theory (OT) and relational marketing (RM) literature have contributed substantially to the development of SCM research (Croom, Romano and Giannakis, 2000). However, a definition of SCM given by the members of the Global Supply Chain Forum states that Supply chain management is the integration of key business processes from end user through original suppliers that provides products, services, and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders. This distinguishes SCM from the previous mentioned theories since it is the network or chain perspective which is emphasized (Lambert, Cooper and P agh, 1998). 3.1. Mapping the supply chain In order to be able to assess risk in a focal companys supply chain, a thorough insight is required about how the supply chain is configured. A number of frameworks have been developed for the purpose of achieving such knowledge, but Lambert, GarcÃÆ'Â ­a-Dastugue and Croxton (2005) identified only five frameworks which recognized the need to implement business processes among supply chain actors. Such implementation is considered a key area where supply chain management can offer improvement to supply chain actors (Hammer, 2001). However, only two of the five frameworks provided sufficient details to be implemented in practice (Lambert, GarcÃÆ'Â ­a-Dastugue and Croxton, 2005). On the other hand, these two frameworks are both supported by major corporations which indicate a high level of face validity. The first framework is the SCOR model developed by the Supply-Chain Council (SCC, 2008). The SCOR model focuses on five different processes which should eventually be connected across firms in the supply chain. These are the plan, source, make, deliver, and return processes. The second framework was developed by the Global Supply Chain Forum in 1996 and was presented in the literature in 1997 and 1998 (Cooper, Lambert and Pagh, 1997; Lambert, Cooper and Pagh, 1998). Similar to the SCOR model, the GSCF model focuses on a set of distinct business processes to be shared among business organizations. However, a main difference between the two supply chain frameworks is their linkage to corporate strategy. While the SCOR framework emphasizes operations strategy, little reference is made to organizations corporate strategies. The GSCF framework, on the other hand, directly links with the corporate and functional strategies of the companies and thus offers a wider scope (Lambert, GarcÃÆ'Â ­a-Dastugue and Croxton, 2005). Since risk is inherent at every level of an organization, and should be considered also at the strategic level, the GSCF framework was chosen as a starting point for our development of a supply chain risk management framework. 3.2. Identify risk and its location In the GSCF framework, supply chain management consists of three inter-related elements: 1) the structure of the supply chain network, 2) the management components governing the shared supply chain processes, and 3) the different types of processes linked among supply chain actors. Who to link with, which processes to link, and what level of integration and management should be applied are considered key decisions for successful management of supply chains (Lambert, Cooper and Pagh, 1998). From a supply chain risk management perspective, these managerial questions make way for three propositions regarding risk and the focal company. The first proposition concerns the unpredictability of human nature when processes are shared with others. The second concerns the vulnerabilities created because of dependencies between multiple network actors, and the third refers to the skills and qualities of the different supply chain actors organization and management. Stated formally: P1: A focal companys exposure to supply chain risk depends on the level of human behavior unpredictability in the supply chain and the impact such unpredictability can have on the companys supply chain. P2: A focal companys exposure to risk depends on the number and strength of dependencies in its supply chain and the impact an external risk event may have on the company. P3: A focal companys exposure to risk depends on the supply chain actors skills and qualities to identify potential risks in advance and to solve risk situations once they occur. Although they address different aspects of risk to a focal company, the propositions are closely related. For instance, without the existence of network dependencies, behavioral unpredictability at another supply chain actor becomes irrelevant. Similarly, the focal company does not have to worry about the skills and qualities of other supply chain actors because there is always another alternative to select. Also, an increase in the supply chain actors skills and qualities will indirectly reduce the level of human unpredictability since it rules out some of the mistakes humans can make; however, it does not rule out the focal companys uncertainty about other supply chain actors intended strategic actions. The relationship between the propositions has been outlined as arrows in Figure 2. Each category between the arrows refers to a more precise definition of the risks mentioned in the propositions. The categories follow the naming convention in the GSCF framework, and together, they c onstitute a holistic representation of supply chain risks relevant for successful supply chain management. The formal definitions for the three types of supply chain risk in Figure 2 are provided below and explained in the subsequent sections: Supply chain processes risk refers to the perceived risk of other companies in the supply chain behaving intentionally or unintentionally in a manner which could be harmful to the company. Supply chain structure risk is closely linked with the total number and type of dependencies in the network. It is a measure for the level of significant detrimental effects an undesired and unanticipated event can have on a companys supply chain network. This event can occur externally or internally to a local market or industry and affect either a single node or a multitude of nodes simultaneously. Supply chain components risk refers to the technical, managerial and organizational abilities each supply chain actor has developed in order to embrace opportunities, detect and avoid potential supply chain disruptions, and to mediate the effects of a disruption once it has occurred. 3.3. Supply chain processes risk A focal companys exposure to supply chain risk will, according to proposition one, depend on the level of human behavior unpredictability and the impact such unpredictability can have on the companys supply chain. When companies begin to explore the competitive advantage of accessing and managing processes belonging to other companies in the chain, they therefore need to identify how the sharing of a process can change its vulnerability to unanticipated events and agree on strategic actions to reduce the processes vulnerability. The main factors to consider when processes are shared with other actors are shown in Figure 3 and explained below. In general, the sharing of processes across tiers in a network can be problematic since it simultaneously makes the focal company more vulnerable to risk. Under working market conditions, each actor is free to choose its trading partner for every transaction. A natural moderating effect on risk therefore exists since there is no dependency on other specific actors in the network. However, when companies begin to integrate processes, as prescribed by supply chain management literature, they distance themselves from the market by creating lock-in effects with selected partners due to the specificity of tangible and intangible assets deployed. From a transaction cost theory point-of-view (Williamson, 1975, 1985), specific investments in shared processes must be protected against the risk of possible opportunistic behavior from the other actor in each partnership. Opportunistic behavior refers to actors self-interest seeking with guile (Williamson, 1975) where guile means lying, stealing, cheating, and calculated efforts to mislead, distort, disguise, obfuscate, or otherwise confuse (Williamson, 1985). In practice, this type of supplier behavior would materialize in hazards like broken promises, production delays, increased costs, production shortcuts, and masking of inadequate or poor quality (Provan and Skinner, 1989; Wathne and Heide, 2000). Any uncertainty of whether the suppliers behave, or would attempt to behave, opportunistically therefore increases the impression of risk to the actor performing the risk assessment[1]. However, transaction cost theory has been criticized for its assumption of opportunistic decision makers. Critics argue that it is a too simplistic and pessimistic assumption about human behavior, and that opportunism represents the exception rather than the rule (Macneil, 1980; Granovetter, 1985; Chisholm, 1989). John (1984) also argued that undesired attitude such as hard bargaining, intense and frequent disagreements, and similar conflictual behaviors do not constitute opportunism unless an agreement has been reached of not to do so. In addition, even well-meant behavioral actions by one party may have negative effects for another party in the supply chain. The perception of risk linked with human behavior where processes are shared can therefore not be restricted to a matter of opportunism alone, but needs to include any kind of undesired human behavior whether it is opportunistic, undesirable or well-intended, but still potentially harmful. It has been suggested that behavioral uncertainty can be reduced with the introduction of formal and informal safeguards to the relationship. In a successful relationship, relational rules of conduct work to enhance the well-being of the relationship as a whole and take explicit account for the historical and social context within which an exchange takes place (Heide and John, 1992). Flexibility among the parties, solidarity, information exchange, and long-term orientation are norms typically associated with, and referred to, as relational safeguarding mechanisms in contemporary research (Ivens, 2002). The presence of these norms in a relationship has been found to improve the efficiency of relationships and to reduce parties behavioral uncertainty (Heide and John, 1992). Alternatively, ownership, or some form of contractual command-obedience authority structure can be used to protect against inherent behavioral uncertainty. Vertical integration has traditionally been prescribed by transaction cost literature as an answer to handle uncertainty in repeated transactions when there are specific investments involved (Williamson, 1975, 1985). However, Stinchcombe (1985) found that the safeguarding features of hierarchical relationships can be built into contracts as well. These features included authority systems, incentive systems, standard operating procedures, dispute resolution procedures, and non-market internal pricing. It should be noted that advanced pricing mechanisms used can include agreed risk sharing and paying an insurance premium to a third party to protect against the financial consequences of a business interruption (Li and Kouvelis, 1999; Doherty and Schlesinger, 2002). However, a prerequisite for risk transfer mitigation to work is the a bility to clearly define the type, cause and boundaries for when the agreed risk transfer applies. Also, well defined standard operating procedures are particularly important since they indirectly describe the non-conformance cases. Breaches in quality performance or EHS procedures, shipment inaccuracies, delivery times, etc. by the focal company or another party are indications of reduced control over the supply chain. Hence, an increased frequency of such incidents in other nodes in the network will lead to an impression of greater behavioral uncertainty and supply chain risk. The impression of risk when processes are shared would naturally depend on the degree of lock-in which exists between two parties. A second risk factor in supply chain processes risk therefore refers to the criticality of specific nodes in the network (Craighead et al., 2007). More precisely, critical nodes are actors in the supply chain responsible for delivery of critical components or important subsystems where the number of supplier choices is limited. However, a node can be critical even though there may be little dependence in day-to-day operations. The increased popularity of outsourcing to third parties necessarily increases other actors involvement in the companys material and information flow. But, since both information and materials represent a form of capital investment, this also means that other actors in some cases handle large parts of a companys tied-up capital either in the form of information or in the form of goods. This risk is called degree of capital seizure in the framework. For instance, it is generally not very difficult to switch from one supplier of IT-server capacity to another, but the dependence on the supplier of server capacity can prove severe if sloppy routines at the supplier destroy the electronic database stored. A similar logic applies for other actors with control over much of the companys information and material flow. Large distribution centers are one example. A typical risk event would be a fire causing damage to much of the companys goods stored; however, such an event would not be attributable to the processes shared and is therefore not a supply chain process risk. Instead, such a risk event has been characterized as external to the network and described under supply chain structure risk. However, another example would be the distribution centre not informing the focal company of a changed general staff leave. This would be a breach in the supplier relationship management process because it is a deviation from expected service leve ls in that particular period. 3.4. Supply chain structure risk The decision of who to link with in a network requires an explicit knowledge and understanding of the supply chain network configuration. According to proposition two, this includes a thorough comprehension of the risk inflicted upon the company because of dependencies established in relationship with other network actors. Therefore, the supply chain manager needs to assess how vulnerable the company is to unanticipated changes in the network and its exogenous environment. Dependencies are created with individual partners in the network and the level of dependency must therefore be assessed for each node. However, attributes of the network configuration itself may increase or reduce the impression of risk. A field risk category and a network complexity risk category have been created to reflect this duality. Field risk includes risk factors which are exogenous to the network, and not endogenously created as in supply chain process risk. Field risk is assessed for each node, but supply chain structure risk must also take the complexity of the network into consideration. For instance, geographically dense nodes within a network may represent a great risk to a company even though each actor itself may not be very important. This is similar to the Dole example mentioned in the introduction where a hurricane destroyed the banana harvest in the area where Dole had most of its suppliers (Griffy-Brown, 2003). Network complexity risk refers to decision makers perceiving large networks as more uncertain since the involvement of more actors and more people implicitly includes more things which can go wrong (Craighead et al., 2007). This perception naturally becomes even stronger when the number and strength of identified critical nodes under supply chain processes risk is high. However, if a focal company is engaged in several sub-networks of supply and demand, this would moderate the perception of risk similar to the basic idea of diversification in modern portfolio theory. The reason is that the company can rest on several independent business pillars and prosper with the remaining pillars while the problem in the failing supply chain is sorted out. Field risk factors such as currency fluctuations, political or legal changes, environmental, and social risks are external to the supply chain network, and refer to the country or region where suppliers, or clusters of suppliers, are located (JÃÆ'Â ¼tner, Peck and Christopher, 2002). Climate changes, in particular in combination with population growth, should receive attention since such changes may alter and threaten the living conditions in large regions of the world with serious effects on both the supply side and demand side to companies (Gilland, 2002; Yea, 2004; Leroy, 2006). An undesirable side-effect of global trade is that supply chains have become significantly more vulnerable to both organized and unorganized crime. Although cargo thefts have not yet caused major supply chain disruptions, the extent of such crime is steadily increasing and should receive attention from a proactive risk management perspective particularly if shipment of critical components is part of the day-to-day operations (Caton, 2006; Barnett, 2007). Another type of crime is abduction of key personnel for ransom money. Kidnappings are mentally challenging to the abducted and the organizations they work for, and can strain organizational resources for a substantial amount of time after a kidnapping incident. In addition, if a decision to pay ransom money is made, the amount required could be financially problematic to smaller companies. This type of crime has generally been associated with Latin America; however, experts have anticipated that such kidnappings will spread to other parts of the world (O Hare, 1994). Although no scientific follow-up study has been identified

Gender differences in intelligence?

Gender differences in intelligence? Sex differences in intelligence have been a popular argument for generations. Francis Galton had little doubt that men were more intelligent than women (Mackintosh, 2000, p. 182), whereas Cyril Burt and Louis Terman agree that this should be as straightforward as any concept, and can be answered through empirical evidence. In general intelligence, the findings of various studies have arrived at similar conclusions of either no difference, or men having a slightly higher IQ than women. In specific intelligence, men excel at spatial ability whereas women perform better at verbal tasks. (Lynn, 2005) The major inconsistencies of findings throughout studies have led to the critical analysis of intelligence tests. Implications of these findings will centre on employment and education opportunities, as well as criticisms of methods used leading to suggestions of how intelligence should be measured in the future. According to Maltby, Day and Macaskill (2007, p. 258), Sir Francis Galton is the forefather of intelligence tests. He made the first attempt to study sex differences in intelligence directly. He hypothesised that sex differences do exist between males and females. Alfred Binet created the first intelligence test for children called the Binet-Simon scale, which could determine the childs mental age. Charles Spearman aimed to test an individuals general intelligence. He was interested in relationships between subtests and found that if an individual scored highly in one subtest, they were likely to score highly in others. He found that these subtests correlated positively with each other. Through these findings Spearman developed his two factor theory. Specific intelligence refers to each type of intelligence that is used for a specific kind of task, such as verbal or spatial intelligence. General intelligence refers to the intelligence that is required to perform on all types of intelligence tests. In 1938, John Carlyle Raven published his Ravens Progressive Matrices, which were free from cultural influences and did not depend of language capabilities In 1939, David Weschler developed the first intelligence test based on Spearmans two factor theory called the Wechsler-Bellevue test. This test concentrated on specific abilities and how they correlated with each other to form an overall measure of general intelligence. In 1955 Weschler introduced the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). These scales included a set of subtests to analyse specific intelligence. Lewis Terman (1916) studied almost 100 school children between the ages of four and sixteen using the Stanford-Binet test and found that the girls had slightly higher IQs. Charles Spearman (1927) found no sex difference in intelligence, as did Raymond Cattell. Raymond Cattell theorised the differences between fluid and crystallised intelligence, finding no difference on the two dimensions. Fluid intelligence is free of culture and is innate whereas crystallised intelligence is based on cultural experiences and acquired through learning. J.H Court (1983) conducted a meta-analysis of 120 studies on information provided on the Raven Progressive Matrices. He found mixed results with half of the studies finding no difference and the other half finding a slightly higher IQ in males. However, Court concluded that there were no differences. Jensen (1998) and Mackintosh (1998) found similar results with the only differences being very small with males having a slight advantage of one to two IQ points. Anderson (2004) reviewed literature on the Ravens Progressive Matrices and the Weschler intelligence test and concluded that they show no difference. Richard Lynn and Paul Irwing (2005) did a meta-analysis of 57 studies from 30 countries, covering 80,000 people who gave information on the Ravens Progressive Matrices. They found no sex differences among children up to the age of fifteen, which does not parallel with Termans findings. After the age of fifteen, males gradually scored higher IQ points than women, totalling up to five points when they reached adulthood. However, when looking at the effect sizes of Lynn and Irwings findings, the difference in IQ scores are not very significant. The effect size allow[s] us to determine the importance of the findings. (Maltby, 2007, p. 352) An effect size of .2 or below is considered as insignificant whereas an effect size of .8 represents a larger difference. Lynn and Irwings finding of males having a slightly higher IQ than females in between the ages of fifteen to nineteen had an effect size of .16, whereas males scoring five IQ points higher than women had an effect size of .2-.3, the refore this finding is not significant. Lynn and Irwings meta-analysis also showed that males scores had a larger variance than women. Irwing and Lynn report that there are twice as many men with IQ scores of 125 and 155, there were 5.5 men for every woman. (Maltby, 2007, p. 353) However, Terman (1916) and Herrnstein and Murray (1994) both disagree with these findings. They claimed that they found no difference in the variations of IQ scores. Although other studies that used the Weschler test agreed with Lynn and Irwing, showing that men had a variance of five percent larger than females. Even though it has been concluded that there is no significant difference between men and women in general intelligence, specific intelligence is another matter. The agreed hypothesis is that men and women differ on specific aspects of intelligence. Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Nagy Jacklin (1974) concluded that men perform better on tests of spatial ability and women, tests on verbal ability. M. C. Linn and A. C. Petersen (1985) found an effect size of .44 of males performing better on spatial perception. J. S. Hyde and M. C. Linn (1988) also found an effect size for -.33 of women performing better on speech production, which supports Maccoby and Jacklins conclusion. However, due to the small effect size of verbal abilities, Hyde and Linn believe that this is not significant enough to claim that the difference exists. When considering the validity and reliability of types of measurements, intelligence tests have been criticised. Maltby et al. (2007, p. 298) claims that intelligence is probably much more than what can be measured by intelligence tests; rather, [it is] the result of the individual engaging in a variety of skills and information within their cultural context. It would be a challenge to measure a concept such as this which is so dependent upon if the individual is truly willing to take part. Another difficulty is the dilemma of knowing the most reliable measurements. Measures of intelligence produce inconsistencies. Nybourg (2005) states that in half of various studies, there have been no difference found, whereas in the other half, males have a slightly higher IQ, averaging at 3.8. Jensen (1998) found that when certain subtests were eliminated from a study that favoured either sexes, the findings were very different, therefore the findings depend very much on which subtests are used. In conclusion to knowing the extent of sex differences in intelligence, due to Lynn and Irwings meta analysis; there is an insignificant amount of difference in general intelligence between males and females. However, when considering specific intelligence, many studies have shown that men clearly have a better spatial ability, whereas women perform better on verbal tasks. When including each of the specific abilities, they cancel each other out to reach a sum of no difference. Another fact to acknowledge is that male IQ has a much wider spread than females. Females have more of an average grouping of IQs whereas males reach wider ends of the spectrum, either reaching a score of 120 and being labelled as a genius, or scoring lower than 50 and being labelled as mentally challenged. The fact that males have such a large variance in their IQ scores has implications on how IQ should be measured. In the future, IQ should be measured by specific intelligence rather than general due to this large variance belonging to males. When looking at the implications for males and females in everyday life, these findings will have a big impact on education and employment opportunities. Leatta Hough (1992) found that intelligence effects various aspects in the work place such as competence and creativity. These aspects will affect future employment for the individual because of how their previous employers will reference them for their prospective employers. The implication of the previous findings regarding males have a slightly higher IQ score than women will directly influence the employers decision about who to hire. Employers are more likely to hire men because of their higher intelligence scores. These findings may also have an impact on what type of job males and females can work in. Due to the findings of specific intelligence, males are more likely to work in jobs that require spatial performance such as construction work, whereas females are more likely to work as a presenter or interviewer which requires high-quality verbal performance. However, this finding would not have an impact on school children due to Lynn and Irwings findings of there being no difference between children up to the age of fifteen. This finding does not however generalise to further education such as applying for universities. Educators and professors of a specific university will want the most intelligent students to study at their university; therefore they are more likely to choose males over females after considering their A Level grades as well as taking into consideration the above findings. However, certain universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, who interview every candidate maybe more in favour of females due to them being statistically better at verbal tasks. The interviewers knowing this statistic maybe biased before the candidate enters the room which could affect their chances of entry. In general, the above findings will have an impact on general stereotypes in society. Women are commonly seen as below men in many areas of life, such as the work place. The findings of men having slightly higher IQs than women will add to this typecast of women being secondary. Although Lynn and Irwing claim that these findings are insignificant, in todays society, the fact that men do have, on average a higher IQ score in general intelligence will outweigh the psychologists findings. The inconsistency of the above findings shows that researching specific intelligence is more accurate than studying general intelligence. General intelligence is a very wide and open research topic, and the precision of studying this form of intelligence is not as clear cut as studying specific aspects of intelligence. Institutions should therefore use specific IQ scores to make decisions, because the specific scores would show the employer or educator where lies the individuals strengths and weaknesses, rather than ordering them in order of intelligence. In conclusion, when considering general intelligence, males have a slightly higher IQ score than females. However, the effect size for this finding is .2 meaning that the difference in too small to be significant. Specific intelligence tests show that males perform better at spatial tasks whereas women perform better at verbal tasks, therefore cancelling each other out. Due to males and females performing better at different things, their scores average out to be very similar for general intelligence. This difference does not occur until the individual reaches the age of fifteen. In early adolescents Lynn and Irwing discovered there are no sex differences at all. Although males score higher on IQ tests, they have a much larger variance in their scores. When looking along the spectrum of intelligence, males tend to score on either end of the scale, whereas females score closer to the average IQ of 100. The implications of these findings will have a great impact on further education for students, depending on how the university or college base their decisions on. For adults, the findings will impact on what type of job they are more likely to work in. Due to criticisms of past studies, implications for further studies are that more tests should be conducted for researching specific intelligence rather than general, due to the wide scope of what general intelligence tests can include. Education: The Backbone of a Nation | Essay Education: The Backbone of a Nation | Essay Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. The wealth of knowledge acquired by an individual after studying particular subject matters or experiencing life lessons that provide an understanding of something. Education requires instruction of some sort from an individual or composed literature. The most common forms of education result from years of schooling that incorporates studies of a variety of subjects. The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character that is the goal of true education. The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things. It is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world. Education is good but can be really bad and unproductive when it becomes indoctrination. When one talks about education and being educated in this part of the world, people are quick to think about going to the university. They see those that have access to the university education who are regarded as being educated and those without the privilege as illiterate. Having seen and experienced this, I realize that when schooling becomes indoctrination, only the truly educated ones become successful. Now, what does it mean to be truly educated? What does it mean to be indoctrinated? What connection do these two have with schooling? To answer these three significant questions, we will need to define the nouns or verbs from which each of them is derived and analyze them. Longman Dictionary defines education, a noun from which educated is derived from: the process by which your mind develops at school, college or university. Indoctrinate, a verb from which indoctrination is derived, according to Longman dictionary means: to train someone to accept a particular set of political or religious beliefs and not consider any others. The English dictionary defines indoctrinate as to teach with a biased, one-sided or uncritical ideology. School, a noun from which schooling is derived, is defined in the English dictionary as: (U.S.) an institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution. (British) an educational institution providing primary and secondary education, prior to tertiary education (college or university). It must be noted that school is not limited to a certain institution, it is simply any institution for learning and education can be derived from any of these institutions. It is only indoctrination that makes people glorify one ahead of the other. Almost all of us belong to the school of thought that without university education a person is not educated. A polytechnic graduate is always rated lower than a university graduate regardless of intelligence of the former; thus certification has taken the place of real intellectualism and technicality. This indoctrination is a great tragedy to youth development. We have been made to believe that without a university education, we are no better than illiterates are. When we talk about intelligence, people are fast to measure it by the good grades acquired through formal education. We also have not been studious enough to see the difference: being a university graduate does not guarantee a successful life. The pieces of evidence are here but we couldnt see. Thats indoctrination. It is a gross waste of time to sit down and wait for admission when what we want to study in school is unrelated to what we really want to become, perhaps in what we are skilled. It is a lack of vision to accept a change of course just to be a university student, but our society has provided us with no other choice than to join them if we cant beat them. Everyone just wants to answer the name university graduate just for the sake of it. Therefore, we forgo our visions, dump our dreams for the title that comes with certificates which we might dump in our wardrobes and not make use of for the rest of our lives. It is true no knowledge is lost but such indoctrination comes with lesser or no profit. For the records, not being a university student does not make a person less or an illiterate. Let us overcome this wrong mentality in which we have been so much enslaved. University education with a good certificate is an achievement on its own, but it is not the most accurate determinant of efficiency nor does it necessarily enhance productivity or efficiency in the labor market. Year in year out, young boys and girls register for universities entrance exams and when they fail to make the required grades, they are considered failures. The ones that are tired of trying settle for colleges of educations, technical schools or polytechnics while the so-called determined ones, most of whom have no idea what they want to do with their lives, continue in the struggle of rewriting university entrance examinations. They keep making money for the universities when it is certainly most of them have no business being university students. Now, what does it mean to be truly educated? Going by the definition of education in Longman dictionary, it is the process by which your mind develops at school, college or university. The dictionary only mentions school, college or university in order to foster understanding in a layman, but the true meaning of education is the process by which mind and the whole being is developed through learning. This learning can be acquired in any designated institution. However, there can be no true education where there is indoctrination. Education is all about learning how to achieve ones passion and goals while indoctrination, going by its definition, is believing what one is told or what seems agreeable, convenient and best in order to avoid the stress of learning and engaging in its practicality. If one who doesnt ever attend university is considered educated, then who is uneducated? An uneducated person is a person who doesnt know anything about his lifes visions and goals and how to pursue them; one who does not have what it takes to succeed in his chosen lifestyle. For instance, if we want to be in life is a footballer and we go to school to study mechanical engineering when we should register ourselves into a football academy and develop our skills, we are simply uneducated. It doesnt matter if we have a Ph.D. in it. Ph.D. in mechanical engineering will never make us a better footballer. Imagine if Messi and Ronaldo have left football academy to go to university, will they have become the famous and successful footballers that we know today? However, being an illiterate who is unable to read and write; having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature, or having a little formal education; not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing, will always limit anyones level of education. Of course, there are natural talents that do not require being taught in order to have them. If one is unable to read and write, he or she will definitely have limited education. Education can be acquired via other sources but literacy or the ability to read and write is vital. However, being a university student is not the proof that one is educated. For one to be able to sit for university entrance examination he or she must be educated, that is, he or she must be a literate and have at least ordinary level of formal education. That means one can be educated even without a university education. Tertiary education is not for everybody and those who are there are not superior to those who are not. It is only a required type of education for those whose goals and dreams in life could be shaped thereby, but if not it is a gross waste of time and wrong indoctrination. We should understand and discover our dreams and passions and should give them the most priority. We should take our destinies into our own hands, follow our dreams and not unnecessarily crave for university education and become a nuisance after graduating even with good grades. When schooling becomes indoctrination, only the truly educated ones become successful. To be successful in life requires more than just university education and most significant success stories in life are not as a result of it. The truly educated people are those who are original, resourceful and creative, who dream dreams and think out of the box to attain their dreams and fulfill their passions. They are those that acquire the only type of education that liberate their passions and help them to reach their set goals, not university graduates. True education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values. Our aims assure us of our material life, our values make possible our spiritual life. In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a few table talks they are all part of the curriculum. True education flowers at the point when delight falls in love with responsibility. No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned. No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness, and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

Free Argumentative Essays: We Need Trauma Centers :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

We Need Trauma Centers Due to the advanced state of industry a number of devices and machines have come into common use which, often through intentional misuse, result in very serious injuries. Two examples are the automobile and the gun. When a serious injury results from something such as an automobile accident the victim usually has a very short period in which to obtain emergency medical intervention before the shock resulting from his or her injuries is irreversible. Usually this period of time is not longer than one hour, and is often less. If measures to treat shock and the cause of the shock, massive internal bleeding for instance, are not instituted within this first hour after the injury the mortality rate increases exponentially every fifteen to twenty minutes. The state of emergency medical care currently practiced in this community involves an excellent pre-hospital phase under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles City paramedics. The paramedics have jurisdiction of about thirty-five emergency rooms to which their patients can be transferred after beginning medical treatment at the scene of the accident. This is where the problem occurs. To provide the best possible emergency care at the hospital, two factors play an important part. First, the staff must work on at least two to three severely injured patients daily to maintain their technical skill at top level. Second, surgeons and operating rooms must be available within 15 minutes notice, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. In the San Fernando Valley, this level of care is not met anywhere. In greater Los Angeles, this level of care is met at less than six hospitals. The problem involves too many emergency rooms for the population. The cost of maintaining an operating room on fifteen minute standby day and night would put hospitals out of business, since even the busiest hospitals only receive three to four severely injured patients each week. The patient load would not support the very high cost of this service. The best remedy to this situation would be to designate "Trauma Centers". Instead of having thirty five emergency rooms taking care of the critically injured patients three or four selected emergency rooms would be geographically designated to receive all of the critical patients.