Wednesday, October 30, 2019

International business strategy (change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

International business strategy (change - Essay Example with the global, national and industrial environment a business needs to change its internal structures and systems to gain the best of results from its operations. The changes in internal structures to attain this often affect organizational structures, systems of production, distribution and marketing. Smith & Graetz (2011) juxtapose businesses with organisms. They are in a population that includes other businesses which come together to form an industry. They have to build and maintain their areas of competitive advantage to survive and this is evident in the form of growth and the capture of market share. This is in the form of evolution, where the business finds new ways and methods of doing things to get the best of results and overcome competitors in terms of survival and profits. Porter (1998) states that change and innovation unfreezes and reshapes a business’ internal systems to enable it to attain and sustain competitive advantage. This means that change causes an organization to dismantle its existing systems and structures and then put in place new systems and structures to enable it to meet changes in its external environment in the context of strategic planning. Kurt Lewin identifies three stages that businesses go through to create and sustain change (Shapiro, 2010). At the first the organization needs to ‘unfreeze’. This involves the analysis of the external and internal environment and the identification of the need for change. This is followed by the sanctioning of the project by initiation with tope level management and core employees to be involved in the process. This is complemented by the need to examine and understand doubts and concerns. The second stage involves the actual change. At this point, the change is communicated to all the people concerned with it. The personnel in charge of the change need to work hard to dispel doubts and resistance. They then go ahead to empower the stakeholders involved in the actual change. From

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Ethical Issues In Operations Management Commerce Essay

Ethical Issues In Operations Management Commerce Essay Ethics in the business sector especially in the operations management is getting more popularity. Ethics is concerned about the rules of human behavior and considers whether or not there is any objective right or wrong. The study of ethics is divided into certain divisions which include descriptive morality, ethical theory, and applied ethics. In business, the concept of ethics is present for thousands of years now. The purpose of this research is to explore the body of knowledge with regards to ethics in operations management. Three questions are presented to set directions as follows: (1) what are ethical issues faced in operations management; (2) how do companies resolve ethical issues in their operations management; and (3) does ethical behavior within the operations function need management. Operations management refers to the approach of managing, designing, improving, and operating business processes or systems that are focused on producing or delivering goods and services. A review of literature about the operations management and the ethical issues within it is conducted to obtain answers to the research questions which are presented by the end part. Chapter I Introduction Ethics is a term which refers to moral philosophy that focuses on the aspects of good life and the difference between better and worse. Ethics is concerned about the rules of human behavior and considers whether or not there is any objective right or wrong. Furthermore, ethics is concerned about the foundations of moral principles and how it evolved. Vee and Skitmore (2003) listed three things that contitute ethics as follows: (1) ethics refers to a system of moral principles which serves as a basis for judging actions as right or wrong; (2) ethics refers to the rules of conduct which illustrates a particular accetable group of human actions; and (3) ethics refers to moral principles of an individual. Considering the definition of ethics, it can be deemed that its main objective is to guide the society on deciding what is good from bad and what is better from worse which is also referred to as normative ethics. This may be done in a general way or may address certain ethical issues o nly. Another form or ethics is termed as metaethics wherein the meaning of ethical language is analyzed to identify their true meaning. Simply speaking, the true meaning of referring to something as a moral act or a right act is analyzed. The study of ethics is divided into certain divisions which include descriptive morality, ethical theory, and applied ethics. The first division which is termed as descriptive morality refers to ethics which is based from the actual principles, customs, beliefs, and practices of the society. Cultural facts differ from certain societal groups to another around the world and these forms as the basis for their acts and what they believe should be right. Second division of ethics is ethical theory which refers to the understanding and justification of moral concepts, principles, and theories. Final division is applied ethics which is focused on the ethical issues in the society. This report belongs to the applied ethics division since its objective is to obtain an understanding on ethics in business and the ethical issues in operations management and how may these be resolved. To achieve this objective, some basic concepts on ethics shall first be discussed followed by its relation to th e business world specifically in operations management. Moreover, a literature review shall be conducted to examine the common ethical issues that occur in operations management and how these are faced by the business sector and other concerned societal groups. This report is expected to add in the body of knowledge which is concerned about ethics in the workplace with discussions that connect the three mentioned division of ethics. Its significance shall be seen in a way that it examines the ethical trends and changes that occur in the business sector from the traditional era to the modern era. Research questions that will serve as guides for the paper are as follows: (1) what are ethical issues faced in operations management; (2) how do companies resolve ethical issues in their operations management; and (3) does ethical behavior within the operations function need management. Some examples of ethical considerations in operations management decisions include customer safety, employee safety, materials recyclability, waste disposal, pollutions, repetitive tasks, stress in workplace, restrictive company cultures, employment policies, fluctuations in working hours, consumption of energy, energy efficiency, implications of plant location, closure, and vertical integration on employment, impact of process location on environment, and exploitation of resources. The next section shall present a literature review of the ethical issue in operations management that actually existed in the business sector and how are they resolved. It shall provide an overview of the ethical issues in the real world to offer a better understanding of the phenomenon. Chapter II Literature Review Businesses in todays world are faced with the pressure of having to comply with the ethical standards to ensure their continued market penetration without risk of being stripped out of the limelight. Businesses face this challenge through their own corporate social responsibility. In this review, the literature regarding the ethical issues in operations management is explored. Articles wrote by authors who focused on the topic of ethics in operations management are identified. Subtopics to be considered are the ethical issues that exist and challenge the operations management, the ethical leadership of an operations manager, their ethical decision-making, how the operations managers ethically influence the people under them, and how ethics in operations management can boost the morale and integrity of an organization as a whole. This review is structured to analyze ethics in operations management through a deeper examination on the mentioned subtopics and findings are considered in t he end. Ethical Reasoning Ethical views differ from one society to another due to the differences in religion. People more often take their religion as the basis for their ethical reasoning since religions present a certain standard for morality. For example, Christians are guided by the Ten Commandments found on the Bible. Other religions are also guided by their own religious books like the Koran and Bhagavad Gita which teaches what people ought to do. Models for good or moral acts are also established in some religions like the Saints or holy people. Despite the fact that the society seem to have grown with the tradition of basing their ethical standards with their own religions, philosophers believe that ethics can stand alone without religious grounds. In philosophy, ethics base its analysis on what is right or wrong on reasoning and experience rather than incorporating religious standards and teachings. This fact also articulates that people who have valid ethical views or ethical standards of living ar e not only those that belong to any religious sector but also those that do not believe to any religion at all. Moreover, the challenge for religious ethics is the idea that something is referred to as ethical because it is approved by God which makes it arbitrary. Ethics should be independent and saying that something is right or wrong should not be based on someones approval. For this reason, a person should learn to have his own skill of moral reasoning. The goal of philosophical ethics is to deal with ethical issues without regarding to any religious views. Ethics is evaluative. This means that referring to an act as either a rightful act or a wrongful act is equivalent to judging or evaluating it. However, it is not enough just judge or evaluate something. A judgment should be supported by certain norms or reason. Furthermore, it is not acceptable to say that a conclusion is given just because the speaker feels that way. A speaker who evaluates something is expected to explain deeper why he delivered such conclusion or attitude. Giving justifications to certain ethical conclusion is essential to ethics. A persons reasoning may be based from a prior experience regarding the said conclusion. Reasoning may not always be rational of objective since everyone can admit that in every decision making done, emotions and feelings always interfere. A person can conclude that say because he might have experienced the emotions that are accompanied in that certain situation. Ethical evaluation has several domains including action, consequences, character, and motive. In evaluating a certain situation, the actions of either the parties involved constitute either right or wrong deeds. When concluding who of the parties is right, it is necessary that a person know the meaning of the term right. Right actions are those that are permissible including those that are obligatory and optional while wrong actions are those that are not permissible. Another domain of evaluating an ethical situation is the analysis of the consequences. An action is considered right if the results are positive while it is considered wrong when the consequences are otherwise negative. This is studied in teteological ethics which is beyond the scope of this report. Another area of ethical evaluation is the analysis of character of the doer of an action. People with bad character traits usually has negative outlook on life and are likely to act in a way harmful to others. Last domain if ethical evaluation is the motive or intention behind an action. These ethical evaluation domains shall guide this report in analyzing the reasons behind ethical issues that exist in business. Ethics in Business Ethics in business is not a new trend. In fact, it is already present for over four thousand years now. With the changing trends in the business world, the society is getting more concerned about the corporate responsibility of businesses. Debates have also been conducted focusing on the social issue of poverty among the workers and the corresponding responsibility of the employers about the issue. Even in the ancient times, issues on ethics in business can be observed just like in the teachings of Aristotle about the harmful effects of the gaps that exist between the economical utilization of goods and the profit making objective of many merchants. At present, the rise of the concept of corporate social responsibility among the business sector constitutes corporate initiatives of integrating several ethical aspects such as establishment of codes of conduct, environment management system measures, health and safety in the workplace, compliance to financial reporting standards, certif ications schemes, company partnerships with community groups, and support for projects that are aimed for community development. There are several factors for the demand of the society for business ethics as a corporate responsibility. Some of these include the changing social role of corporate entities, globalization, developments in technology, and moral authority democratization. In the past, the responsibility or regulating all aspects of social life rests in the hands of the government. However, with the evolution of time, some duties are being moved from the government to the other sectors of the society including the individuals, the social groups, and the business sector. With this trend, corporate entities are required to establish their own self-regulation policies especially that the government has recognized the fact that fully controlling the business sector is not always an efficient way of influencing corporate behavior. Increased pressure is put on the business sector about the possible consequences of their policies on the society. Globalization is another driving factor for the societys demand of business ethics among the business sector. Currently, many businesses enter the international market and corporations tend to invest worldwide since this gives them more opportunities to grow. However, with the trend of entering in different foreign markets, there are complex things to consider including ethics. Customs and traditions in foreign lands differ from each other and some business practices that may be acceptable to one nation may not be accepted in the same sense in another. Businesses are often expected to adapt with the customs and values of the foreign land that they are trying to penetrate. Pressure on companys corporate social responsibility is high since there is still no firm and effective supervision governing the international business behavior. Developments in technology seem to be a great source of questions of morality. Technology at the current time is considered advanced and it provides a way for people to experience things that are thought to be impossible before. Technological development brings convenience to the society and contributes to the establishment of a kind of life that is better than before. Ethics come to picture as the society examines the real consequences of technology to the way of life. The effect of technology to the world is complex and the government has not enough capacity to handle the issues accompanying it which makes it necessary for the business sector to take actions on whatever consequences their own technology may bring. In the past, moral authority often rests among a few groups in the society including the Church, the government, and the theorists. At present, the opinions of the mentioned authorities are now considered as a regular opinion which can be aligned with the opinions of a regular entity. The power and control they once had over judging and handling ethical issues has faded and now there is a democratization of moral authority. This again puts pressure on the business sector to manage their ethical affairs seriously since everyone seem to have the authority to criticize their business practices are compliance to ethical standards. Businesses are compelled to open their policies to the public when questioned about their business ethics. Moreover, with the intrusion of media, the businesses are more exposed to public which makes them susceptible to any ethical criticism. The relationship of a business to its stakeholders is the primary concern of business ethics. Stakeholders may include all the entities that have interest on a company or are influenced by the company such as the shareholders, the customers, the employees, suppliers, competitors, the government, and others. Seeking business strategies that will consider the interest of all the stakeholders is not an easy task for a company but an important mission of every manager and all the high ranking company officials. Like any other company managers, operations manager has one of the most important duties of handling decision making processes regarding ethics in operations management. Ethics in Operations Management To obtain a better understanding of operations management, it is necessary to define what operations mean. Operations refer to the portion of business which is responsible for the production of goods and services. Operations management therefore refers to the approach of managing, designing, improving, and operating business processes or systems that are focused on producing or delivering goods and services. In other words, operations management involves the process of converting a set of inputs into outputs (Hassin, 2009). The term operations management originated from the concept of productions management used in the past which refers to the process of converting raw materials into finished products. However, with the evolution of time, the term expanded to production and operations management to integrate the operations in the servicing industry until currently, it is now termed as operations management. The main objective of the operations management is to ensure that products and services are delivered to customers at best quality but at lowest costs. Some huge organizations have separate operations management departments that do operations activities while some companies do not have, but regardless of this fact, all organizations have operations endeavors and every organizational member is involved in operations in some way. A companys operations management function is headed by the operations manager who has the primary duty of managing resources involved in operations. Some of the areas of decision making that are included in the duties of a companys operations management are formulation of operations strategy, setting of operations performance objectives, configuring process types, ensuring prompt service, layout design, planning for long-term capacity, facility location, technology to be adopted, designing of products and services, designing processes, and employee motivation. Business activities which are considered as operations include manufacturing, supply, transport, and service. Manufacturing activity involves the conversion of raw materials to final products which are eventually sold to customers. Supply is another business activity which involves the change of ownership of a certain physical good from the company to the customer. This is a usual business activity among the companies in the retail distribution industry. Third business activity described as included in operations is transport. This refers to the process of transferring of goods from one place to another. Finally, service is an operations activity which involves changing of the condition of the customers. Operations of a certain company may not only be limited to only one of the mentioned activities. For example, a company which manufactures a certain product also supplies the same to the end customers. In this company, several operations management activities involved are manufacturi ng, supply, and transport. Different organizations belonging to different industries adopt operations strategies that fit their businesses. However, some approaches adopted by different organizations in their operations strategies tend to be common and similar to each other. Certain requirements for an effective operations strategy include appropriateness, comprehensiveness, coherence, consistence, credibility, and ethicality. Appropriateness refers to the alignment of the operations strategy with the companys competitive strategy. This is especially necessary when operations strategy is formulated for the purpose of connecting the companys operations to its goal of developing a competitive edge over the competitors. An operations strategy is also required to be comprehensive where all aspect of operations is tackled. Operations management is included in a companys complex process of business and achieving excellent performance which makes it necessary for every strategy to deal with every aspect of operations rather than limiting tactics on minor operational decisions. Furthermore, it is not enough that operations strategy be comprehensive, it must also be coherent. Every element of the strategy which refers to specific operations function must point to the same direction for the strategy to be effective. From period to period, operations strategy may be modified but one important thing is noted, it should be consistent through time. Credibility is another factor for an effective operations strategy. It is important that every strategic goal is realizable to maintain credibility. A strategic objective which the operations management failed to achieve may give a negative impact on the strategy and the employees may be discouraged to support it subsequently. Finally, an effective operations strategy should be ethical. An operation strategy may have consequences after its implementation which makes it necessary to be formulated based of ethical standards. The role of ethics in operations management is important especially in world-class operations and it should be considered in corporate responsibility. This claim is based on the fact that most of the ethical issues in businesses originate from the operations level. Another reason for importance of ethics is the ethical consequences that arise from the strategy of some companies to obtain cost advantage by outsourcing. Ethics in operations management is concerned on the way how profit is obtained rather than on the quantity of profit which is considered enough. The tension is between profits and the responsibilities of the company. Steenkamp (2010) described operations management as a management function which receives least attention and understanding. Aspects in operations are often left to the engineers and other concerned professionals or especialists. The term is not even used among the organizations in the servicing industry. Realizing this gap, it is important to understand that operations management should be taken into consideration since it is one of the functions that helps an organization to create and increase its value. Ethical issues comes with the importance of understanding operations management. Ethical dilemmas refer to a certain situation or issue wherein a decision has to be made to adopt one of the two equally urgent yet incompatible alternatives (Mirwoba, 2009). One popular ethical issue discussed in the literature regarding operations management is opportunism. This issue has been a topic of many empirical studies conducted to focus on business and management field. Opportunism is considered in the literature as an unethical behavior which refers to the abuse of opportunity. In company operations, managers or other professionals involved are vulnerable to unethical choices due to plentiful number of opportunities which may be abused. Some of the factors that drive professionals to engage in unethical behaviors are the pressures brought by the demands for cost reduction and unrealizable strategic objectives. One area of operations which is faced with an increased vulnerability of engaging to unethical behavior is the procurement since the employee assigned in this proce ss handles a significant amount of company resources (Carter, 2000). Furthermore, the procurement process has an increased exposure to the external environment of a certain organization which makes it possible for easy conduct of an unethical act. This is not beneficial to the organization since its reputation is in jeopardy since the employee assigned in the procurement process acts in behalf of the organization as a whole when dealing with third parties. The empirical and conceptual research history of ethics in the procurement process of a business is affluent. The procurement activity within business operations is also the subject of another article by Ho (2012). The importance of ethics in managing business operations is stressed out in the article. Ethics is an essential requirement in order to build and maintain a good relationship between a business entity and other parties included in the conduct of its operations such as the suppliers. The procurement function in a business organization is critical for the achievement of business goals since. An organizations effective operations depend on the effective performance of the purchasing function while achieving global competitiveness depends on effective operations. It is therefore important that ethics is integrated in the whole process to ensure good relationship to suppliers and eventually to satisy the needs and wants of the customers. One ethical challenge by procurement off icers is the situation where many suppliers compete and offer different favors and gifts just to create a business deal. In many situations, the relationship of the procurement officer not only to the supplier but also to his employer may also be affected. More ethical challenges include having to exagerate the problem of either the buyer or the supplier in order to obtain a business deal, offering preferential treatment to certain parties, allowing certain personalities to interfere with business deals, engaging in reciprocity, and seeking and providing information of different qoutes from different competitors either in a fair or unfair manner. Bribery is another requently mentioned ethical issue in the literature (Vee Skitmore, 2003). Bribery refers to the act of offering payments, goods or opportunities in exchange for something favorable. Accepting gifts is not a bad act but the situation tells whether it is unethical. When in operations, accepting gifts from people who have direct influence on the operations functions maybe considered as unethical expecially when the person being gifted and have the ability to satisfy the interest of the gift giver. Other ethical issues to consider in operations are breach of confidence, negligence, and fraud. The establishment of a code of conduct within an organization can greatly help operations especialists to decide on a certain ethical issue. Everyday, everyone are faced with the need to decide on a certain ethical issue. Organizations are faced with the pressure of having to demonstrate to the public their ability to decide correctly on an ethical issue. Organizations need to maintain a good reputation and the public trust to ensure their existence on the market. In order to achieve this, it is important for an organization to develop their own ethical code of conduct to guide every employee to decide correctly and to instill discipline among them. Ethical leadership is seen as an important factor to instill ethics in a certain organization (Monahan, 2012). In the literature, ethical leadership is increasingly studied relevant to the operations of organizations. Many articles relating to the role of unethical behaviors in the failure of great companies take the example of Enron where thousands of employees were harmed due to the unethical actions of a few executives. Not only were the employees harmed but the ethical controversy also influenced other external factors such as the confidence of the public over the financial systems and the emergence of more strict government legislations. The increasing number of companies being involved in many ethical controversies which even brought them down made it possible for the others to realize the importance of integrating ethics in managing company operations in order to ensure profitability. Companies are more and more aware of this trend and have started to take actions to redirect their strategic plans to include ethical strategies in their paths to success. However, this move is never an easy way since in the current business environment where every company strives for international penetration or globalization and competition is getting tougher, ethical considerations are getting complex and extensive too. In this situation, ethical leadership in a company is needed to be headed by a charismatic leader (Mackie, Taylor, Finegold, Daar, Singer, 2006). In two studies mentioned by (Monahan, 2012), it was revealed that one problem among organizations that concerns ethics is the lack of ethical leadership. Employees often do unethical actions or misconducts due to their lack of trust over their company leaders and the situation is even worsened by the poverty and weak economy. Furthermore, survey results support the idea since a significant percentage of employees were observed to question themselves is ethics even exists within their own organizations. Actually, having to follow the standards is an easy task. However, everythings gets complicated when ethical dilemmas arise and there is no one in the organization to take responsibility. This prompted the need of every organization to have an ethical leader. Managing ethical behavior not only within operations management but within an organization as a whole is one of the nost pervasive and complex challenge of modern companies (Stead, Worrell, Stead, 1990). There are three theories introduced in the literature which describe ethical leadership (Plinio, 2009). These theories include transformational leadership, servant leadership, and authentic leadership. The first theory states that a leadership transforms both the leader and followers through increasing the level of conducts and aspirations. The second theory, on the other hand, states that the leader should possess the character of devotion to change the ethical views of the followers. Finally, the third theory states that ethics comes from every individual through being true to themselves. Ethical character within an organization will not be achieved unless every member develops their own ethical character within themselves. Every member of an organization should have the choice of analyzing their inner character in every mistakes done, career setbacks that occur, and failures on their jobs. In other words, every organizational leader should develop their integrity to foster ethics. Harris, Sapienza, and Bowie (2011) mentioned in their article the decision-making process of managers. Individual differ in ethical decision-making. In fact, those that belong to the business world even have greater differences than those that do not. The differences may be due to different influences such as socio-cultural factors. Decision-making in a certain ethical situation is really a dilemma. This is especially true when the operations manager is required to choose between two alternatives which are unfavorable. This can be considered a tough challenge for the person in the situation. In some cases, ethical dilemmas may be impossible to resolve due to reasons like disintegration of value system. In todays world when every company aims for globalization, companies are faced with conflicting issues between the company objective of profitability and their corporate social responsibility. Ethics in the global market is complicated, so is the decision-making that operations managers have to face. The literature proposes theoretical concepts regarding ethical decision-making including relativism, moral imperialism, and universalism (Mirwoba, 2009). Relativism refers to the principle that a company should follow the ethical standards and norms of the country where they do business. Companies, therefore, follow different sets of ethical standards depending on the culture of a certain nation. This can be unfavorable to a business since there is no constant standard that employees should remember. A company cannot establish its definite ethical standards since cultures in other nations may be conflicting. Complexity occurs when operations in home market differ from the operations done in foreign markets. In the theory of moral imperialism, things are done in the opposite way of relativism. Moral imperialists argue that individuals should retain their own ethical views even when doing business in foreign lands. Ethics applied in operations in the home market is done the same way in other company branches even in global markets. Some authors, however, argue that the mentioned theories can both serve as bases for an ethical decision making where a certain alternative is chosen considering the norms in the foreign market and the company standards. In the theory of universalism, universal guidelines are considered. These often include fundamental human rights issues, environmental protection, consumer protection, and basic freedoms. This foundation of code of ethics is the most advantageous to many corporations since serious mistakes in actions and uncertainties in operations may be avoided. Most of the discussions focused on the operations management in private corporations which are profit-oriented. However, ethical issues not only occur in profit-oriented companies but also with non-profit corporations (Robinson Yeh, 2007). The challenge of strict compliance to ethical standards among the non-profit corporations is driven by the attempt of doing the right things. Furthermore, non-profit organizations are inclined to achieving their social goals rather than maximizing profits. When people encounter the concept of soc

Friday, October 25, 2019

Essay --

Jonathan Swift was a famous author who combined humor and politics to create many prominent works. He was born in Dublin, Ireland on November 30, 1667. Swift was born prematurely and with Menierà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Disease, a condition in the inner ear that causes nausea and hearing problems. Because his birth mother couldn’t provide for him, she gave him over to a relative named Godwin Swift. As a child, Jonathan Swift went to Kilkenny Grammar School, which was the best school in Ireland. During elementary and middle school, Jonathan was friends with William Congreve, a future poet and playwright. At the age of fourteen, Swift entered Trinity College in Dublin. Because he didn’t have financial support, he had to drop out after four years, but he still received a bachelor’s degree. After college, Swift moved to his mother’s home in Leicester, England, and it was there where he received his first job. He became Secretary to a retired diplomat, Sir William Temple, staying with him at his home in Moor Park. This was an important event for Swift where he gained some power as a politician. He only obtained this job because he had many family connections, and his relatives had good reputations. At his job at Moor Park, he met Esther â€Å"Stella† Johnson who was 8 years old at the time. They had a long-lasting friendship, and he became a tutor, mentor, and a great friend to her. Soon, Jonathan Swift sought a new occupation, and in 1694, he worked for an Anglican priest. After he worked with the church for about a year, Swift returned to Moor Park and had his old job back. When Sir William Temple grew old, Jonathan Swift was instructed to publish William’s work after his death. Soon, Sir William passed away, and he left Swift  £100 and his unpublished books th... ...s. Gulliver is able to sail to Japan, and from there, he travels back to England. On his fourth and final journey, Gulliver becomes a victim of mutiny and lands in a mysterious land populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses who rule the Yahoos, savage humanlike creatures. He becomes great friends with the Houyhnhnms, but when they realize that he physically resembles a Yahoo, they banish him from the island. Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, poet, and cleric who turned political writing into something more riveting and humorous. Although his works were aimed towards the political audience, his writings impacted everyone in Europe in many ways. His combination of genres created a new theme that was admired by many groups of people. Though his work may not be remembered forever, he will remain a distinguished author in all of his reader’s hearts.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Department Stores

A department store is a retail establishment preferring wide range of commodities, usually including ready-to-wear apparel, fashion goods, beauty necessities, yard and household goods and further on. Numerous department in which it is divided such as merchandising, advertising, marketing, services, accounting and financial department usually handle it. The first department store in the retailing history was Bennett’s in Derby, it opened in 1734 and it remains in the same building since it’s opening. The origin of department stores is related to the industrial revolution in the 19th century and the growth of a consumer society.A wealthy class was growing, dragging with a constantly changing fashion, which created an enabling environment for the expansion of stores in that area. Today, department stores are mainly part of a retailing chain, usually a main department store is located in strategic area of a big city and the others are all around the city, country or sometim es the world. But we can still find independent retailers. â€Å" Vision without action is a day dream. Action without vision is a nightmare. † – Japanese proverb. This applies to marketing. Indeed, establishing a procedure in marketing without planning it in advance will lead to ruin.Before initiation, a plan should be well prepared from it’s begging to its end leaving to chance any step. For a successful marketing plan the contractors have to initially think about the aim. All factors must be taken into consideration before starting the procedure. JC Penney’s case is a relevant example. When the American department store launched its new pricing strategy consisting in the suppression of discounts, heavy promotions, coupons and replacing it by every day low price. The chief executive underestimated the importance granted by costumers to sale and special discounts, which made its plan a big failure.In the fashion industry, when a company needs to launch a new product or line they develop a marketing plan. These plans explain the strategy that will be followed and the details of the procedure in order to legitimize the costs, which will be implied on the company. We can count the main type of marketing plans: the strategic one, where the decision is up to the senior management and the plan is designed to achieve a long-range goal (at least five years), for example a ?10 billion investment plan for Japan’s premier department store, Isetan Shinjuku, based in Tokyo.The outlet has been completely redesigned and transformed into a fashion museum presenting a combination of art, music and films while maintaining its primary function as a department store. The second type is the functional planning, which is a short-term plan up and is up to the middle mangers in key business areas but supervised by front line mangers.This is the kind of marketing planning is used during the Christmas period with the window displays in the biggest de partment stores, such as Galleries Lafayette in Paris or Selfridges in London, they team up with fashion houses and designers for displays with recurring themes including architecture, fairy-tales and scale play. We can also count the operational planning, a short-term action plan developed by supervisors or front-line mangers to accomplish a specific goal, for example: the case Macy’s plan to open on thanksgiving, while all of its competitors are closed on that day.The goal here is to be the only department store open, generate a tremendous profit in one day. Finally, there is the contingency plan, aiming to get a back up plan ready to cope an anticipated situation if it ever occurs. All of these plans need to be efficiently prepared step by step. According to Phillip Kotler, there are six essential steps for a successful planning. The first one is the situational analysis, where the company examines the Macro forces to highlight its strength and weaknesses. Although these f actors can play in the favour of the company, sometimes they can also be barriers in the smooth running of a project.Then comes objectives setting, in order to set its objectives a company have to take into consideration it's stakeholders, company reputation, technology and other matters of concern. Then, once the goals are set a timetable has to be held to avoid any mishaps. Then the strategy, by choosing which strategy will be pursued to complete the task successfully. The company then sets its mode of action and the path that will be followed during the project. After that comes the tactics, this step is meant to plan what is called in marketing the 4Ps (product, price, place, promotion) but also to schedule the strategy into a calendar.And finally the controls, which lasts throughout the project, since it aims to ensure the effective conduct of each part of the marketing plan and if not then find a solution to remedy the situation. All of these plans differ from one company to a nother according to its positioning goal. The positioning of a company is what distinguishes it from its competitors, so the ideas in costumers mind when they think about that company. As we can see in the perceptual positioning map above, the customers may see department stores that sell the same product as different.Thereby, the Italian department store, Rinascente, is considered as one of the most fashionable department stores across the world. However, the German department store Kadewe which is ranked equally fashionable is perceived as more luxurious while Debenhams despite the fact that the fashion perception it granted is as high as the two previous stores its luxury perception is lower than both of them. Nowadays, these marketing plans include immense use of technology to improve and facilitate their performance. â€Å"Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven.I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other. † – Bill Gates. Reaching that goal is made possible by the numerous advantages of technology. One of them is social media. Based on telecommunication and social interaction, it is the best way to disclose information and to advertise, but in the same time get live feed back about it. Indeed, markets behaviour is changing, how they are known for talking but not listening and now a new strategy is being implemented known as buzz monitoring. This consists of tracking relevant conversations through the Internet that will allow the  company to get an idea about its level of popularity amongst people, but also what comes to their mind when they think about it. However, a scientifically developed panel is still more effective than social media listening to gather data but then social media is more relevant because costumers are discussing with each other. Indeed, they don’t always trust what the company says to them since it is a part of their strategy to o nly reveal the best about it self, but costumers will talk about their experience and what they honestly think about it as they don’t have any interest in hiding the truth.The beauty department store Sephora belongs to those who knew how to make profit from social networks. Indeed, it manifests its presence in all of the most popular social medias – such as Facebook, micro blogging as Twitter, photo-sharing websites as Pintrest, smartphone photo-sharing application as Instagram, video-sharing websites as YouTube and further more. It takes advantage by finding the purposes other than advertising and buzz monitoring.The department store figured out that customers want beauty advices and tutorials both in store and online, so it started sharing experts’ knowledge and guidance, which will then boost sales. It also promotes loyalty programmes via social medias, offering exclusivities to followers which was obviously a successful marketing plan to gain followers since they count more than 5 million fans on Facebook and more than 1. 8 million followers on Google+. But technology is not used by department stores only for advertising and maintaining a relationship with customers; it is also used for selling purposes.E-shopping makes life easier by a greater availability of products, constant sales and discounts and international shipping. However, the relevance of department stores websites for shopping is still questionable. Indeed, when a retailer selects a brand to work with, it can’t also select the products that will be displayed under that partnership and the brand won’t display all of its collections in the department store. Since then, when it comes to online shopping the brand’s own website is more attractive as there are considerably more options.In the pictures below we can see the example of Adidas and Galleries Lafayette – the French department store- website. While the retailer only sells four bags for both men and women, in the brand website customers can shop up to 218 bags and that’s only for women. The maintenance of this relationship between the business and the customer is based on the principal of communication. Communication is the process of transferring information between senders and receivers, using one or more written, oral, visual, or electronic media.â€Å"The art of communication is the language of leadership.† – James Humes Whatever the idea one person has, even if it is the greatest ever, it won’t be useful for the company if the person doesn’t know how to communicate it, how to explain it and make other people understand what it means. Whether addressing to a superior or an employee if there is a misunderstanding the project will be doomed to failure. Also, for some positions in the workplace one needs to deal with costumers who don’t have the same level of expertise, in such situations good communication skills will be usef ul to explain intricate things in a simple way.Likewise, the higher the hierarchical position, the lower are the technical skill requirements and the greater are the good communication skill needs. This is explained by the fact that important positions implies dealing with more important people, who are more punctilious when it comes to the way you talk or behave near them. Tough, to be an effective communicator it is necessary to master the different stages of the communication process: To manage this process successfully a behavioural equilibrium has to be found.There are three main types of behaviours: Passive Behaviour involves saying nothing in a response, keeping feelings to yourself, hiding feelings from others, and perhaps even hiding your feelings from yourself. Aggressive Behaviour involves expressing your feelings indirectly through insults, sarcasm, labels, put-downs, and hostile statements and actions. And the third type is Assertive behaviour, which is a balance betwee n both of the preceding behaviours. It involves describing your feelings, thoughts, opinions, and preferences directly to another person in an honest and appropriate way that respects both you and the other person.It is the latter, that is most recommended to adapt in the workplace. Then, the sender needs to decide which communication tool is the most suitable one to the audience and the situation. When it comes to business-to-business communication e-mails are faster, efficient and direct. They say enough without saying too much. While Faxes mark certain indifference since they are limited to the strict minimum. Usually, they should be accompanied with a phone call to give further information or at least show interest from the sender’s part to the receiver.Phone calls can also be used for other purposes; it is a good way to show concern but also to show respect. This leads us to the audience-centred approach which consists in getting to know the audience we are dealing with which is known as the  «you  » attitude. This ability to relate to the need of the others is one of the keys of success of manager leaders. It works both in the Business-to-Business communication and Business-to-Customer communication. In the example below, we can see the example of an advertising campaign of the French department store Galleries Lafayette.The model on the signboard is dressed like the  « perfect  » Parisian, with the beret, the white top and blue pair of jean’s and in addition to amplify the French spirit, on the foreground of the scenery an accordion is shown. All of this staging is meant to flatter Parisian, which are proud of their identity and make them feel that the department store is made for them. Communication skills may also be useful when it comes to marketing communication. Marketing communication is defined as the media tool used to reach a market; it refers to the promotion part of the â€Å"marketing mix† and the â€Å"four Psà ¢â‚¬  (Price, place, product and promotion).It also refers to the different strategies used while making the promotion of a certain product. The marketing process is divided in five steps: Here, marketing communication starts in the second stage and goes until the fourth one and its primary purpose is to create value for customers and build customer relationship because without customers a company has no reason to exist. To achieve that goal numerous tools can be used. Advertising is one of them, provides a direct line of communication to your existing and prospective customers about your product or service.As here for example, with Harvey Nichols advertising campaign called THE NEW BREED which plays on the luxury stereotype of the handbag dog replacing the traditional Chihuahua by a bull terrier to promote its new involvement into an accessible fashion  « The new breed  ». Public relation is also a tool of marketing communication. Building and keeping good relationships with m edia is important for the brand/store’s image and reputation. But the art of good public relation also involves being able to manage successfully and adverse publicity.Another tool is sales promotions, commonly used to increase sales in short term, it attracts new customers interested in lower price, which can later become loyal customers depending on their experience in the department store. For example, the British department store Selfridges runs every year  « Christmas comes early  », which consists in Christmas sales earlier than its competitors so it can attract its concurrent customers since they can do their Christmas shopping earlier without paying the high price.To make their promotion, companies use more and more direct mail, which consist in an e-mail address of the receiver by its name and selling him products destined for its target group depending on information the company collected about him in its database. The Internet marketing – as seen previou sly – also used very much by retailers to sell and promote their products. Sponsorship is a form of indirect marketing that consists of paying an organisation, which will use your brand logo and this way generate publicity.Below are Macy’s areas of sponsorships in 2011 according to IEG Research. Competition in the retailing world has very quickly grown during the last century. Today, to face the concurrence retailers resort to strategies aiming to bring them to the top. To reach that aim different tools are used and mainly communication that builds relationship between department store, stockholders, partners, employees and customers.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Disneyland: A Public Space Analysis

The concept of public space is perceived as that of an external environment that is populated by material things, people and other living things like plants and animals.   According to a sociological study of urban spaces and its dimensions, it was said that there are four (4) foremost environmental stimuli ( Carmona, 87).   These stimuli are vision, hearing, smell and touch or feel.   Vision relies heavily on the perception of distance, colour, shape, texture and contrast gradients, etc. Hearing involves â€Å"acoustic space† which is â€Å"all-surrounding† and is supposedly emotionally rich (Carmona, 87).   The stimuli of smell, like hearing is not well developed in humans (unlike some predatory animals) but it also provides emotionally enriched stimulation.   The last but not the least is the sense of touch or feel – which surprisingly comes through our feet, and buttocks (when we sit down) rather than the hands (Carmona, 87).All of the four stimuli to our sense of public space was fulfilled by our topic of analysis which is Disneyland.   It also added a fifth dimension to our stimuli – that which stimulates the brain and imagination as to how much public space can change us and affect us all. II. Answers to posted questions:Location analysis. Also, what does your analysis of your space reveal about Los Angeles and its use of public space?Disneyland in Los Angeles (LA) is one of the better public places to go – if only people’s entry and exit are limited to a certain number so as not to overwhelm the limited facilities and amenities that it offers to the paying public.   LA in general is like a macrocosm of Disneyland in the sense that its public utility facilities are being over run by the influx of people that comes into L.A. and stays to work and live on it instead of just coming and going.   The reasons behind this (overcrowding and saturation of public spaces) are the economic opportunities that it offers – being 11th largest in the world and its being known as a cultural gateway only next to Manhattan, New York.LA’s use of public space should be more attuned to a forecast of city planning, design use and building rather than just allowing the private sector and big businesses to rezone every possible space to a money making venture like mega malls and the like.Whose interests does the space represent?Most of the public spaces represent the interest of a few big businesses and studios of the tinsel town republic. While LA has always been recognized as the destination of the rich and famous – and where most of the rich and famous live (and earn their living), there are other big businesses that abound in the area that makes it so attractive as a port of entry to the California’s southland.Whose interests (if any) dominate the space?Disneyland is a theme park that is dominated by children’s theme characters.   In fact, Walt Disney, the fou nder and majority owner of Disneyland came up with the idea of the theme Park because of people – particularly children kept asking where they could meet Mickey Mouse and Snow White.   From there, the concept of Disneyland was founded and its theme and parks kept changing as people and animation technology evolve alongside Disneyland.   So to answer the question on whose interest the space represent – we can safely assume that Disneyland represents all the magical dreams and characters we have and evoke the child inside of each and everyone of us.What factors makes a public space diverse?The primary factor that makes a public space diverse is its usage.   We can observe from the patrons of certain public spaces like Disneyland what uses it serves the public when you see the age range that caters to it.   Disneyland has no specific age bracket.   Although majority of people assume that children comprise the most number of visitors to Disneyland, its ever chang ing theme parks also cater to adult taste and even the technologically savvy – with their space center and other similar themes.What factors make a public space exclusive?A public space can be considered exclusive if it only serves a specific age bracket or a specific group of clientele.   Such exclusivity is usually reserved for the rich, the adults and specific interest groups like the veterans, etc.   Such exclusive use of public space also maintains an exclusive membership or entrance fee to use the space.Who uses the space and how do they use it?Again, with Disneyland as an example, the management, theme park employees and the general public utilizes the space primarily for amusement.   The space is used to get away from the daily grind of life. What invisible and visible codes of behavior are found in the space?The theme and environment that Disneyland evokes a feeling of wishful and dreamlike state in people who enter its gates.   Upon entering Disneyland, peop le feel like they are in a different world that is devoid of reality and oftentimes changes their behavior inside the park.   People seem to be more carefree, happy and relaxed.   Since the initial theme of animated characters founded the place, the people that go through its park change their demeanor and perspective – at least during the trip inside the park.Meanwhile the invisible code of behavior can be identified as masking the worries and tensions brought about by people’s daily existence and pressures.   For the meantime though, they are hidden.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Red Cardigan Essays

The Red Cardigan Essays The Red Cardigan Essay The Red Cardigan Essay The red Cardigan is about a young girl who claims to have a ‘gift’ where she knows things and see’s them before they happen. Evie, the young girl had the special gift passed down from her grandmother. The text explores the themes of psychological realism, crime mystery and the supernatural. This book was very detailed and interesting which kept me wanting to read more. The Red Cardigan is about Evie seeing things that others don’t. She likes to draw but sometimes her hands draw something completely different then what she was wanting to draw.Evie wears an opshop store red cardigan which used to belong to another girl who is now murdered and missing. Since she started wearing it she has been getting hints from that girl such as her hands drawing a picture of the missing girl, and all these hints eventually lead to a solved crime mystery. Evie first discovered her gift very young when she was in the car and every time she drove past a certain spot she would s ee a girl standing on the corner covered in blood. Later on she finds out that that was where a girl had been hit and killed.She was the only one who could see this though and didn’t understand at the time. Evie’s mum doesn’t approve of this gift and wants to have nothing to do with it so as Evie struggles to solve this crime she also battles with her mum and makes life very hard for her. The positive aspects of this text is that it is really interesting and has a really good and strong story line. This book is not confusing but very easy to understand what is happening and it has many details to help tell the story.The text is very organised and also has flashbacks throughout the text which help you understand and keep you interested and always thinking. We can see this when Evie experiences a flashback in the middle of the book of one of her dreams she had about a specific place, which didn’t make sense to her at the time, but now when she’s at t hat place, she realises what the dream was trying to tell her and it leads Evie to finding the missing girl. For me I don’t think that there are any negative aspects of this book as I loved every minute of it and could not find anything negative about it at all.The author deeply explores the themes of the supernatural and psychological sides of things which has made her being very successful in engaging her readers. J. C. Burke has done a very good job at making a great storyline and planning out the story so it works well and makes sense all throughout. The Red Cardigan written by J. C. Burke, is an interesting and touching story about a young girl who has a special gift and is on a mission to find a missing person.It explores psychological realism down to every little detail and keeps you intrigued all throughout the book. The message of this story was to always follow your senses as it leads you the right way and J. C. Burke was successful in communicating this to her read ers, as she shows us that by Evie following hers it lead her the right way and ends up solving a crime mystery. This book has a very powerful and interesting story and I would defiantly rate it highly.

Monday, October 21, 2019

SLEEP DEFICIENCY Example

SLEEP DEFICIENCY Example SLEEP DEFICIENCY – Term Paper Example Sleep Deficiency Sleep deficiency occurs when a person is unable to get the amount of sleep that is required if that person is to function normally throughout the day. It is a medical problem that can further lead to other sleeping issues, such as insomnia or sleep apnea. Some of the causes of sleep deficiency are stress, aging, medication, weight, behavior, and the sleep environment of the individual. Many of these reasons develop into patterns that can cause severe sleep deprivation. Stress, especially now, is one of the leading causes of sleep deficiency. The more a person is stressed, the harder it is for them to fall asleep. The more this happens, the stronger a pattern is formed until they are depriving themselves of many hours that should be spent sleeping. An overactive mind makes it difficult for the rest of the body to settle down when it is time to sleep. As a person gets older, they begin to lose the need to sleep longer at night, even though it is still required to main tain good health. Old age in itself, with the random pains of arthritis and other pains connected with aging, is enough to keep a person up at night. Restless begins to take over and sleep becomes harder to come by. Medication is another cause of sleep deficiency, as many medications may induce restlessness or anxiety, which would not allow a person to fall asleep. Since most medications of this kind are prescriptions, the lack of sleep becomes a pattern; unfortunately, it tends to be difficult to break from a sleep-deprived pattern when it is a prescription medication that is causing it. The more overweight a person is, the harder it is for them to get to sleep. Obesity is another higher cause for sleep deprivation; the individual, while maybe feeling sluggish, may also feel restless and just simply unable to get to sleep. Depending on the kinds of foods that they eat, such as anything that is high in sugar or caffeinated beverages, may also increase their inability to fall asleep. Behavior, while not a leading cause of sleep deficiency, but one of the most common symptoms, disables a person from settling down enough or getting comfortable to fall asleep. Some people cannot sleep simply because they cannot, whether it is from restlessness or insomnia. The sleep environment of a person is the most important thing to consider when going to bed. Noises, lights, and other distractions makes it difficult for a persons mind to shut down for them to fall asleep. If there is too much going on within the sleep environment, a person is unable to relax their mind enough to sleep, causing restlessness and insomnia, which can lead to sleep deprivation. Paprocki, Sherry Beck. Sleep Disorders. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2008.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

How to Write a Proposal

How to Write a Proposal How to Write a Proposal How to Write a Proposal By Mark Nichol Writing a proposal is similar to but not exactly the same as crafting a persuasive essay or producing a report. Here are suggestions for developing a proposal, including some pertinent to its specific purpose. 1. A proposal should define a problem and describe a solution that will persuade busy, thrifty, skeptical readers to support it. 2. Employ facts, not opinions, to bolster the argument for approval. Research similar plans or projects and cite them, emphasizing their successes and/or how your proposal resolves the weaknesses, omissions, or mistaken priorities apparent in them. 3. Analyze your plan or project, demonstrating possible outcomes. If possible, model a small-scale version of the plan or project, report on the results, and extrapolate how the full-scale plan or project will turn out based on the test. 4. Any discussion of financial or other resources should be conducted carefully and should present a realistic picture of the expense required. 5. Be meticulous in writing, editing, and design of the proposal. Revise as necessary to make it clear and concise, ask others to critique and edit it, and make sure the presentation is attractive and engaging as well as well organized and helpful. A proposal should include the following elements: Executive Summary: State the rationale for putting the proposal into effect, and summarize the proposal. (This allows a decision maker to quickly get the gist of the proposal, hence the name.) Statement of Need: Detail why the plan or project the proposal recommends is necessary. Project Description: Explain specifics of the plan or project, and how it will go into effect and how it will be evaluated. Budget Analysis: Provide and explain how the plan or project will be financed and categorize and annotate operating expenses. Organization Details: If the proposal is being submitted to an outside party, provide information about the beneficiary organization, including its mission, its stakeholders and who its serves, and the scope of its programs and services. Conclusion: Summarize the proposal’s main points. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Inquire vs EnquireUsing the Active Voice to Strengthen Your WritingHonorary vs. Honourary

Saturday, October 19, 2019

With reference to the issues of International Essay

With reference to the issues of International Justice,Torture,Landmines campaign, Lesbian&Gay Rights examine how the UN Charter - Essay Example 324). IGOs engage in treaty-making; encourage international lawmaking to become democratized by including more states in making treaties, not just the civilized states; instigate and enforce international law; and empowering NGOs and other non-state actors to act in advocating for victims of human rights abuses (Alvarez, 2006, pp. 324-335). States rely on IGOs to fulfill their national goals, and are constrained by these organizations. Moreover, state participation in IGOs often transforms the internal structure of the governments involved, such as when they induce states to establish medical authorities to respond to requests by the World Health Organization, and induce states to give effect to its warnings on global warming (Alvarez, 2006, p. 335). Non-governmental organizations are other actors on the global stage. NGOs are organizations that bring out the facts about human rights abuses, as well as contribute to setting standards regarding the implementation, promotion and enforc ement of human rights norms (Steiner & Alston, 1996, p. 456). Because governmental agencies might be hesitant to call out other governmental agencies, for a range of reasons that concern diplomacy, NGOs are considered to be a necessary part of spreading the word about human rights abuses, and advocating for reform.... Among these organizations are labor unions, consumer unions and industrial associations, which advocate for economic concerns; racial, gender and religious groups; groups that are issue-oriented, such as environmental or educational organizations; groups that advocate for the elderly or the young; public interest groups who may be for universal health care or against corruption; etc. (Steiner & Alston, 1996, p. 457). NGOs have a variety of strategies at their disposal, as far as the reformation of human rights abuse. One strategy would be to use the country’s domestic law. This has the advantage of being politically expedient, as using a country’s own law is seen as carrying more politically clout than using an international standard, as using international standards are often seen as intrusive to a country’s people. However, oftentimes countries might not have very progressive domestic laws when it comes to human rights. In that case, a better strategy would be to use international standards to attempt to make that country reform (Steiner & Alston, 1996, p. 458). NGOs must be impartial to be effective – in other words, they must not be affiliated with a certain political party. In other words, the group cannot be beholden to one particular party, or else that group will not investigate abuses perpetrated by that party. This was a concern in Nicaragua, where there were many groups who claimed to speak for human rights, then actually these groups were a shill of one party or the other, and each party was using these groups as a weapon against the other party (Steiner & Alston, 1996, p. 459). Consider the evolution of the notion of INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE and the creation of the ICC as a case study to assess

Friday, October 18, 2019

Native Son by Richard Wright Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Native Son by Richard Wright - Essay Example Mrs. Thomas argues has been projected to argue with Bigger because she considers Bigger to be the fault behind poverty of their family (Wright). Gun and Blum are Bigger’s friends who have helped him in several robberies. In the wake of the story, it has become obvious that Bigger is not satisfied with his activities of robbing white men. His fears are to be caught as he believed that white men are smart enough to find out the reasons of loopholes. It is for this reason that Bigger continues to be rude to his friends because consciously he believes that it is better to be rude to them than robbing white men (Wright). The fears of Bigger take him to a delusion phase of his life where he believes that white men are natural force. For instance, he notes that he is a coward when he kills Mary. He finds out the fact that he is a brutal man who never understood that life had value. While holding the corpse of Mary to stuff her in the furnace, he is frightened of himself which ultimately tells him that white men are natural force

Leadership Phase 1 individual Project 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership Phase 1 individual Project 1 - Essay Example Similarly in case of change the situational leader will concentrate on the people or his subjects who cannot adjust themselves to change. According to Ken Blancard the situational leader will analyses the needs of the situation dealt by him and his team. This will be the first step in adopting him and his team to the situation. After analyzing the situation he decides on the style of leadership. This has been applied with different types of managers at different levels. The situational model is simple to understand and can be applied in various environments. Not only to the managers, can the situational model of leadership be applied universally to any person in work and at home? The leadership behavior depends on the strengths of the leader. The strength of the leader decides the direction and the support received by him from his supporters and vice versa. In this manner the style I select is about direction the leader gives to the followers and the support he receives from them. In the direction the training is involved and in the support of the followers, the delegation is involved. This involves problem solving, which can be termed as an important aspect in the course of leadership. The style of leadership decides the development level. As the leadership style depends on the followers it is up to the leader to mould them according to the style. This can increase the development level of the follower by the leader. The leader should show competence, commitment to make the followers increase their development levels according to the styles of the leader. Here the styles are direction and support. The followers must be in a position to support the leader an d this position shall arise due to activities and strength of leader. The direction and support styles will suit the situational leadership because the development levels of the followers are situational and should vary with changes they face. The situational model I chose will be comfortable to me

Hyperinflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hyperinflation - Essay Example There is great debate regarding the growth of money supply as the cause of the inflation. According to the large section of the economists, there is a strong correlation between the inflation and growth in the money supply. In that case, hyperinflation can be considered as the ultimate case of the money supply growth over the intensification in the production of the domestic goods and services. The reason behind the excess growth of money supply is relatively higher spending of money by the government in comparison to the collection of the taxes and charges. It further leads to the printing of more money to bridge the gap between the expenditures and the revenues. This excess creation of the money by the government is the root of increment of the demand in the economy which directly enhances the price level. Besides that surplus money supply can generate demand for the imported products instead of having a constraint in the foreign currency supply. Eventually it results in depreciati ng the local currency (Web Archieve, â€Å"Hyperinflation: Causes, Cures†). It has already been discussed that the paper is focused on the economy of Zimbabwe. Therefore, an in-depth analysis of the cause of hyperinflation in the nation and its effect will be demonstrated in the paper, but prior to that the global history of hyperinflation is exhibited below in a tabular format. In the above exhibited table the worst hyperinflations in the countries has been exhibited. Simultaneously, it also demonstrated a comparative analysis of the chosen country and the other countries in the world. Zimbabwe experienced hyperinflation for the first time in the 21st century. In this paper, it has been intended to produce the reliable record of the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, which has been considered as the second highest inflation in the world history and one of the worst economic conditions in the world. Zimbabwe contravened the hyperinflation benchmark first in

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Discussion Forum Post Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Discussion Forum Post - Essay Example I do agree with Castiglione to some extent, but I think that he overlooked the fact that for individuals to perform well they need to acquire experience in the field they are engaged in. I think that no man can be perfect in all areas; everyone has a strong and a weak point. In addition, he never considered the moral values of a gentleman. This is emphasised in the book The American gentleman where the author describes a gentleman as a person who gives room for character development. He is a person that proves to others that he is committed to following the moral high road and acquires his personality and continuously developing, which is associated with his actions. The author also highlights that being a gentleman necessitated self-sacrifice, needs efforts and that a gentleman offers himself freely without expectations for anything in return (Hall v). Yes I agree with Machiavelli’s conviction that a leader must never trust anyone because as written in the selected political writings it is hard to anticipate an armed person would obey a defenceless person gratefully or a person who is not armed would feel secure in the hands of armed employees. This is due to the fact an armed individual disrespects a person who is not armed, and the defenceless person does not have confidence in anyone who can overthrow him. The author describes a wise ruler as the one who is always working in periods of peace taking the advantage of the calm period to prepare for trouble and when disaster strikes he must be ready to retaliate (Machiavelli & Wootton

Participating in team sports helps to develop good character in Essay

Participating in team sports helps to develop good character in chidren - Essay Example Though the results from these studies are somehow conflicted, there is a solid argument that sports are influential in developing good character in children. Is character intrinsic in human beings? To comprehend this, one must understand the definition of character. The term â€Å"character† is employed to refer to an encompassment of qualities that make an individual distinguishable. These qualities are usually complex, which psychological and ethical influences shape an individual character. These definitions make it evident that character is not intrinsic. This is because of its psychological and ethical inclinations. These two factors are external and are influenced by an individual’s interaction with life. Good character may be defined as conducting oneself in a manner that is socially accepted. Therefore, for a child to have good character, it is imperative that they interact with the society in order to know what is accepted to be good and vice versa. Therefore, interactions such as sports may have a significant influence on character development in children that are positively viewed in the community. Children participation in team sports clearly has a consequence in the development of character in children. This is because sports make available an opportunity for children to learn qualities that entail good character. Some of these qualities include commitment, discipline, and teamwork among other qualities that are regarded as good character. Children, through sports, also understand better human relationships and how best to relate in society. The characters that are learned through sports influence the child’s life decisions in his or her lifetime (Dunlap, 2004). Character development in children is evident in sports through the development of principles. Principles depicted to be of good character include honesty, compassion, integrity, self-control, courage, hard work, etc.. These principles are learned in sports

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Discussion Forum Post Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Discussion Forum Post - Essay Example I do agree with Castiglione to some extent, but I think that he overlooked the fact that for individuals to perform well they need to acquire experience in the field they are engaged in. I think that no man can be perfect in all areas; everyone has a strong and a weak point. In addition, he never considered the moral values of a gentleman. This is emphasised in the book The American gentleman where the author describes a gentleman as a person who gives room for character development. He is a person that proves to others that he is committed to following the moral high road and acquires his personality and continuously developing, which is associated with his actions. The author also highlights that being a gentleman necessitated self-sacrifice, needs efforts and that a gentleman offers himself freely without expectations for anything in return (Hall v). Yes I agree with Machiavelli’s conviction that a leader must never trust anyone because as written in the selected political writings it is hard to anticipate an armed person would obey a defenceless person gratefully or a person who is not armed would feel secure in the hands of armed employees. This is due to the fact an armed individual disrespects a person who is not armed, and the defenceless person does not have confidence in anyone who can overthrow him. The author describes a wise ruler as the one who is always working in periods of peace taking the advantage of the calm period to prepare for trouble and when disaster strikes he must be ready to retaliate (Machiavelli & Wootton

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Project - Assignment Example The culture of accomplishing simple results through complicated means ensured his works became perceived as increasingly unique. This fame of his cartoons led to the syndication of his works, which brought increased popularity of these cartoons. The machine I would design would be for lifting utensils into a utensil sink form the table. There would be a lever which would swing when the utensils are placed on the rack. The rack would them be connected to a rod similar to a fishing rod which an individual can utilize to move the lever to the direction of the sink. Through moving the roller of the fishing rod, the lever would swing to the other side and enable the utensils fall into the sink. This Rube Goldberg machine would include a fishing rod, a beam balance, a roller and a pulley fitted at the end of the fishing rod. The utilization of these simple machines would create an effective machine for lifting utensils from table into the sinks after an individuals has completed having a meal. This would effectively ease the work of making clearance after

Monday, October 14, 2019

Different Kinds Of Trial Under CRPC Law Essay

Different Kinds Of Trial Under CRPC Law Essay Most offences in Indian criminal law were created by Statute and have a statutory maximum penalty. For the purposes of trial, offences were divided into different categories, offences triable by indictment (warrant cases) or offences triable only summarily, or offences triable either way. The most serious offences (eg: murder, rape) are triable only on indictment, at the Sessions Court. A large mass of less serious offences are triable only summarily, in magistrates courts. The middle category of offences triable either way and comprises of most burglaries, thefts and frauds. The trial is the pivotal point of a Criminal case. Sec 190 of the CrPC talks of the conditions that need to be fulfilled before proceedings can be initiated by the Magistrate (it specifically empowers a Magistrate to take cognizance of a case). It is the exclusive power of the Magistrate under Sec 204 of the CrPC to refer or reject a case from entering the stage of trial. Trial is the judicial adjudication of a persons guilt or innocence. Under the CrPC, criminal trials have been categorized into four divisions having different procedures, called Session, warrant, summons and summary trials. Sec 225-237 deal with warrant cases by a court of Session. Sec 238-250 deal with warrant cases by magistrates. Sections 251-259 provides procedure for trial of summons cases by magistrates. Sections 260-265 make provisions relating to summary trials. Warrant Case: A warrant case relates to offences punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years. The CrPC provides for two types of procedure for the trial of warrant cases triable by a magistrate, viz., those instituted upon a police report and those instituted upon complaint or on own information of magistrate. In respect of cases instituted on police report, it provides for the magistrate to discharge the accused upon consideration of the police report and documents sent with it. In respect of the cases instituted otherwise than on police report, the magistrate hears the prosecution and takes the evidence. If there is no case, the accused is discharged. If the accused is not discharged, the magistrate holds regular trial after framing the charge, etc. Sessions case: In respect of offences punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment for a term exceeding seven years, the trial is conducted in a Sessions court after being committed or forwarded to the court by a magistrate. Summons case: A summons case consists of all cases relating to offences punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years. In respect of summons cases, there is no need to frame a charge. The court gives substance of the accusation, which is called notice, to the accused when the person appears in pursuance to the summons. The court has the power to convert a summons case into a warrant case, if the magistrate thinks that it is in the interest of justice. Summary case: The high court may empower magistrates of first class to try certain offences in a summary way. Second class magistrates can summarily try an offence only if punishable only with a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months. In a summary trial, no sentence of imprisonment for a term exceeding three months can be passed in any conviction. The particulars of the summary trial are entered in the record of the court. In every case tried summarily in which the accused does not plead guilty, the magistrate records the substance of the evidence and a judgment containing a brief statement of the reasons for the finding.  [1]   Procedure of Magistrate on appearance of accused in warrant case: In warrant case if the Magistrate finds that the charge against the accused is groundless, he has power to discharge the accused by recording reasons. If the Magistrate has reason to believe that there is ground to proceed further, he then frame charges against accused which is read and explained and thereafter asks accused whether he pleads guilty of offence or not. If the accused pleads guilty, the Magistrate may convict the accused and proceed further to question the accused about quantum of sentence. Thereafter awards sentence. If the accused pleads to be tried, the magistrate proceeds to examine the witnesses of prosecution, hearing of prosecution and examination of accused under Section 313(1)(b) CrPC follows. The accused shall also be called upon to enter defence and produce his witnesses if any. Procedure of Court of Session: In case of offence exclusively triable by a court of Session, the Magistrate may take cognizance if such an offence and commit the case to the court of Session for trial. A court of Session cannot directly take cognizance of offence triable by it. On appearance by the accused before Sessions Court, the Judge hears the public prosecutor regarding the case. If the Judge considers that there is no sufficient ground to proceed with, he can discharge the accused, otherwise he proceeds to frame charge and examines the accused about the charge. If the accused pleads guilty the judge convicts the accused and the question quantum of sentence and award sentence by way of judgment. If the accused wishes to be tried the Judge shall fix dates for examination of prosecution witnesses and shall hear prosecution arguments and then call upon accused personally to explain any circumstances against him in evidence. If no case is made-out, the Judge shall record order of acquittal. If the Judge does not think it fit to acquit the accused, he shall thereupon ask the accused to enter on his defence. Accused can also file written statement explaining the circumstances of his involvement in the case. On hearing prosecution and accused, the Judge shall give a judgment. In case the accused is convicted, he shall be heard about quantum of sentence. Thereupon award of sentence follows. Examination of Court Witnesses:-The court has power to examine any person, at any stage, as court witness in the ends of Justice. Summons procedure:-In summons case, the accused is issued summons to appear or brought before the Magistrate. Then particulars of offence are stated and if the accused pleads guilty, he is convicted or otherwise trial follows. It shall not be necessary to frame charges in summons case. Summary and trial procedure:-Summary trial is a short-cut procedure of regular trial. Since risk is involved in short cut procedure, senior and experienced judicial officers are empowered to try certain petty cases. Though some offences under this summary trial procedure involved are warrant cases, but the involvement of punishment in summary trial being only three months imprisonment, summons case procedure is followed at the trial. In this summary trial, the Magistrate shall record substance if evidence and a judgment of brief statement of reasons for the finding follows if the accused does not plead guilty.  [2]   Guidelines: The purpose of these guidelines is to help magistrates decide whether or not to commit either way offences for trial in the Sessions Court. Their object us to provide guidance not direction. They are not meant to impinge upon a magistrates duty to consider each case individually and on its own particular facts. These guidelines apply to all defendants aged 18 and above. General Mode of Trial Considerations: When deciding whether a case is better triable as a Sessions case or a warrant case, a magistrate must keep in mind the following considerations: a) the nature of the case, b) whether the circumstances make the offence one of a serious character, c) whether the punishment which a magistrates court would have the power to inflict for it would be adequate, d) any other circumstances which appear to the court to make it suitable for the offence to be tried in one way rather than the other, e) any representations made by the prosecution or the defence. Some more observations: a) the court should never make its decision only on the grounds of convenience or expedition, b) the court should assume for the purposes of deciding the mode of trial that the prosecution version of the facts is correct, c) where cases involve complex questions of fact or difficult questions of law, including difficult issues of disclosure of sensitive material he court should consider committal for trial, e) in general, except where otherwise stated, either-way offences should be tried summarily. Problems and Suggested Reforms in Trial Procedure In cases of conviction, the sentence that may be passed is limited by (a) the procedure adopted for purposes of trial: and (b) the limits placed by S.29 Cr.P.C. on different classes of Magistrates. If the case is tried by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (or the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate), the upper limit of sentencing would be any sentence authorized by law, except a sentence of imprisonment for life or of imprisonment for a term exceeding seven years. A Magistrate of the First Class (or a Metropolitan Magistrate) may pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or of fine not exceeding Rs.5000 or of both.  [3]   The procedure for recording evidence varies according to the form of trial. Section 274 Cr.P.C., prescribes that in summons cases and inquiries, the Magistrate shall, as the examination of each witness proceeds, make a memorandum of the substance of the evidence in the language of the Court. The proviso enables the Magistrate to cause such memorandum to be made in writing or from his dictation in open Court where the Magistrate is unable to make such memorandum himself and records reasons for his inability. S.376 (d)., provides that no appeal from a convicted person shall lie when a sentence of fine only is passed not exceeding Rs.200/- in a case tried summarily by the Magistrate empowered under section 260. S.260 and 355 are either unutilized or under-utilized. Only those Magistrates (Other than CJMs and MMs) who are duly empowered, either by name, or by virtue of office, or under the statute creating the offence can try the cases summarily. But most of the Magistrates are not empowered. This is one among the many reasons why summary procedures is not fully utilized. As the Judge of the same status can deal with the case summarily when he is posted as a metropolitan Judge without any empowerment there is no reason why such empowerment is needed for other magistrates to deal with the cases summarily under Section 262 of the Code The Law Commission has in its 154th report also recommended enhancement of the limit of Sentence prescribed in Section 262 of the Code to three years. It has also recommended some incidental amendments to Sections 2(x) and 2(w). The researcher feels that Section 2(x) defining warrant case be amended by substituting the word three for the word two. Consequently all cases which are not warrant cases, relating to offences punishable with imprisonment lower than three years shall become Summons cases which shall be tried by following the summary procedure prescribed in Chapter XXI of the Code. Large number of cases which do not involve serious offences can be disposed of expeditiously. As the Magistrate has power under S. 260(2) to try the case regularly if he feels that it is desirable to do so in the interest of justice no prejudice would be caused. However, the researcher is of the opinion that proper training should be given to all the Magistrates about trying the cases following the summary procedure. The training should include mock trails and writing of judgments in summary trials by the trainees.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Grammer :: essays papers

Grammer ADVERBS & HELPER VERBS ~the purpose is to show where, when, how, or to what degree ~adverbs are words ending in ly Adverbs not ending in ly: all, almost, also, always, away, ever, forward, later, maybe, most, never, nevertheless, now, not, often, only, onward, perhaps, sometime(s), soon, then, too, very, up helper verbs: be, am, is, are, was, were, have, has, had, have been, has been, had been, shall, will, do, did, may, can, must, might, could, would, should PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES some of the most common prepositions: about, above, according to, across, after, against, along, among, as, at, because of, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, but, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, on account of, outside, outside of, over, past, since, through, to, toward, under, until, up, upon, with, within, without, Examples: 1. (For many years) the lighthouse has been the most famous landmark (along the coast.) 2. It has warned (ships at sea)(of the countless dangers)( from the fog storm.) PRONOUNS subject: Object: I me he him

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Person Essay On Charles :: essays research papers

Person Essay on Charles As a handsome 5' 10" male with dark hair spiked in the front, and the most engaging smile approached my desk , I knew I would be laughing shortly. Charles walked up to my desk in Human Biology while we were dissecting eyeballs and commented on my eyeball. "You seem to have a better eyeball than I do." Many people wouldn't have taken this situation so lightly but because of Charles's sense of humor being around him was guaranteed to be fun. With his feigned itching disease, his crazy antics, or his practical jokes my friend Charles's sense of humor has taught me not to take life so seriously and have fun anywhere and everywhere. I first met Charles at Dans, a mutual friends, party, where he told me he had an I itching disease. He was drinking beer and I had cranberry juice with vodka, and since we drove we had to spend the night. So around 3:30am we got tired and went to lie down. As soon as we laid down Charles asked if he could take his shirt off and if I would scratch his back. I told him sure. So he did and that's when he told me he had an itching disease and I wouldn't be able to stop scratching his back until it stopped itching him. Well, with a little alcohol in me I believed him. I laid there for 2 Â ½ hours before I realized he had fallen asleep and went to sleep myself. On Monday on school I saw Charles and asked him how his itching disease was. He just looked at me grinned and chuckled. That's when I realized he had pulled a fast one on me. It didn't take me long to realize that Charles had some crazy antics up his sleeve. At another party Charles, Lisa , Dan and I sat in a room talking. Lisa and Dan were drinking and were drunk. Charles and I were not. Dan started flipping out by yelling and screaming that the radio, which was on 2 at the most, was to loud. Charles knew that Dan was drunk and decided to play with his head. So Charles whispered into my ear that I should tell him I turned it down. So I did and Dan was ok with it. Charles and I were laughing hysterically because it was so much fun playing with these drunk friends. Charles didn't care what other people thought about him as long as he made people laugh. At a chorus concert one night our friend Lisa brought in her

Friday, October 11, 2019

The renal system

The renal system includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. (virtual medical center 2006) It consists of all the organs responsible for the formation and release of urine. The kidneys perform vital functions like getting rid of waste through the excretion of urine. It regulates the amount of water in the body and allows filtration of sodium and chlorides. (virtual medical center 2006) It maintains the volume and composition of body fluid. (renal system 2006) The kidneys are â€Å"bean-shaped organ located in the lower part o the belly, situated in the posterior wall of the abdomen. (renal system 2006)The left kidney is slightly higher than the right in the abdomen to allow for the liver. (renal system 2006) There are two distinct regions of the kidney; medulla and cortex. The blood supply is taken directly from the aorta thru renal arteries and returned to the inferior vena cava thru renal veins. (renal system 2006) The nephron is the unit of the kidney that acts and respon sible for ultrafiltration and excretion of the waste products. (renal system 2006) Urine, the filtered waste material, will be passed down the ureters and collects in the bladder. (renal system)The ureters are tubes lined with smooth muscle. The 25-30cm long tubes help carry the urine through the bladder. The urine will be forced forward with the help of the muscular tissue. (virtual medical center 2006) Then the urethral sphincter at the base of the bladder relaxes, the detrusor contracts, and urine is negated thru the urethra. (renal system 2006)The bladder is located in our pelvis and pyramidal in shaped. It stores the urine and releases it into a tube which extracted the urine out of the body. (virtual medical center 2006) It can normally hold up to 500mls of urine. It has three openings which includes two for the ureters and one for the urethra. (virtual medical center 2006) The main muscle of the bladder is called detrusor that contracts to allow the urine to flow. The nervous control of the bladder that sends signal and tell us that the bladder is full is located in the brain and spinal cord. (virtual medical center 2006) The blood supply of the bladder is from many blood vessels named vesical arteries, obturator, uterine, gluteal and vaginal arteries. (virtual renal system site)The tube that is located from the bladder neck to the top of the vaginal opening is the female urethra whereas, the male urethra is running from the bladder to the tip of the penis. Female urethra is more prone to infections from bacteria than male urethra due to it is shorter in size. (virtual medical center 2006) The blood vessels of the female urethra are the internal pudendal and vaginal arteries. The male urethra is supplied through inferior vesical and middle rectal arteries. (virtual renal system site)An acute renal failure is a disease of the kidneys and a common medical condition that complicates hospital and intensive care unit admissions. (virtual medical center 2006)    It occurs suddenly and initiated by primal causes like dehydration, infection, kidney injuries and chronic use of over the counter pain medications. (virtual medical center 2006) It is often reversible and with no lasting damage. In renal failure, kidneys are not functioning properly or not work at all. Kidneys are unable to filter waste, produce urine and imbalances fluids. The dysfunction of the kidneys results building up of toxins which produces complications. (Gunsch 2006)Renal failure symptoms include edema or the accumulation of fluid distinctive in swelling, decrease in urination, general ill feeling, exhaustion and headaches. (Gunsch 2006)Often, these symptoms were not experience by a person with renal failure. (Gunsch 2006) A person with renal failure can actually lead a normal life. The recovery of the patient with renal failure will be depending on the severity, treatment options and patient’s coping to the rigors of renal failure. But to some cases, dialysis and kidney transplant is needed. (Gunsch 2006) Management of the treatment includes general measures or monitors to prevent complications, treat precipitating cause, and can be treated with medications or may require dialysis.   (wirual medical center 2003)Mary is admitted to the ward with acute renal failure. She is very confused and anxious. She is accompanied by her husband and daughter. She has high blood pressure and a respiratory rate of 30. She also has low urine out put. Mary might have felt self pity and a burden to her family. In Roper et.al’s activities of living model (1918-2004), it stresses patient’s continual assessment, facilitation of normal activities of living and individualized care.It considers and respects the characteristics of a person prior to development. (Roper et.al 1918-2004) The â€Å"model of living† incorporates twelve activities that engaged a person whether sick or well. (Roper et.al 1918-2004) It includes maintaining a safe environment, breathing, communication, mobilizing, eating and drinking, eliminating, personal cleansing and dressing, maintaining body temperature, working and playing, sleeping, expressing sexuality and dying   Ã‚  (Roper et.al 1918-2004)To be able to provide care for Mary without making her feel as a burden or imbecile, she should be given the chance to have her individualism. Although she should be given special care and attention, she should be given a part to the treatment she is undergoing. Like if in case she needs to take her medicine, she should be the one to take it but her family or the attendants should also notify her the appointed time that it should be taken. Communication is highly regarded in this situation as well. Through having conversation with the patient not only shows that you care for her but also makes her feel that she is not disgusting.Mary should also be given assistance in personal cleansing, dressing and maintaining to have a good environment but not to a point that her personality will be injured. Her family should be involved in every activities or treatment that she is undergoing. Mary could have a certain activity every week that will detach her in always thinking about her sickness that makes her confused and anxious. Certain social activities or programs should be conducted or if in case having a new learning experience like training for dressmaking, cosmetology, or the likes that will be useful as well when she’ s already well. Death issues should also be planned so that she will have a pain free and dignified death wherever possible. Spiritual emphasis is also helpful for Mary to cope up with the situation. Lastly, she should also be treated and informed that her sickness could be cured and not malignant.REFERENCES:Answers.com retrieved 13 October 2006, Kidney, Available at: http://www.answers.com/renal%20systemGunsch, J. 2006, What is Renal Failure?, Available at: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-renal-failure.ht mNorthern Care Homes Directory 28 August 2000, Hulton Care Nursing Home, Available at: http://www.nchd.co.uk/Middleton/hulton_care.htmRenal System retrieved 13 October 2006, Available at: http://www.le.ac.uk/pathology/teach/va/anatomy/case4/4_1.htmlRoper, Nancy, et.al 1918-2004, Activities of Living Model, Available at: http://www.nursingtheory.net/gt_alm.htmlVirtual Medical Center 28 March 2006, Anatomy & Physiology of the Renal System, Available at: http://www.virtualrenalcentre.com/anatomy.asp?sid=14Virtual Medical Center   9 October 2003,   Renal Failure – Acute, Available at: http://www.virtualrenalcentre.com/diseases.asp?did=205Wikipedia retrieved 13 October 2006, Kidney, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renal