Implement financial management approaches

Offer help to guarantee that colleagues can capability perform required jobs related with the administration of cases 2. 3 Determine and access assets and frameworks to oversee monetary Budgets as plans, observing and specialized instruments What is the purpose of financial plans and for what reason would it be a good idea for them to be checked? So as to design adequately †both deliberately and as far as tasks †the board must have investigations that give evaluations of salary and of variables that will cause variety in any or the entirety of the components identified with pay. Salary will change and deals volumes will fluctuate.This is an assurance. However so as to keep up and start tasks a gauge of how much things will change is essential. In this way monetary data †on costs, natural variables, costs, units, capital, income, fluctuation and so forth is united to give an image which relates legitimately to activities - ? its arranging and capacity. Appropriately con sidered planning can mean the distinction between a general float that may (or more probable won't) lead toward an ideal objective, and a plotted course toward a foreordained target that holds float to a minimum.Managing monetary data and planning isn't just a once yearly (or 6 month to month) process †where a spending plan is readied and toward the finish of the planning ERM you verify whether your business exercises coordinate the projections. On the off chance that you utilize the spending plan along these lines, you may get a major astonishment toward the year's end. Utilize the spending plan to screen work exercises, asset use and salary. The other thing that ought to be recalled is that it is exceptionally hard for representatives to move in the direction of accomplishing a financial plan on the off chance that they don't have the foggiest idea what the projections are. Reports and other pertinent monetary data (e. . Cost cutting needs, deals targets and so forth) must be imparted to the representatives inside the association, just as to different investors and partners. Age 13 Responsibility bookkeeping Responsibility bookkeeping is a technique for crediting expenses to explicit divisions/segments/groups or undertaking zones inside an association. Along these lines a reasonable appraisal of group and individual execution can be founded on the asset costs for which the group/area and so forth is mindful, and over which its individuals can practice control and try to improve their performance.Responsibility bookkeeping can give a sound premise to group dynamic. It tends to be decidedly persuasive in light of the fact that individuals who are legitimately answerable for the administration of their own group/segment/visional costs, can relate activities to budgetary results. They become, to an enormous degree, self-overseeing ; squander decrease and cost improvement strategies are inside their circle of influence.Involvement The rules that ought to be followed if planning is to serve adequately as a wellspring of inspiration are that: C] resulting assessments of execution ought to be made cautiously with chances to clarify clear insufficiencies targets reflected in a spending plan ought to be possible - ? they should be reasonable †and unmistakably imparted 0 representatives who will be influenced by a financial plan ought to be counseled when the device is arranged and ought to be stayed up with the latest concerning observing Performance assessment One of the signs of driving edge associations is the fruitful use of execution estimation to pick up understanding into, and make decisions about, authoritative viability †to drive enhancements and effectively make an interpretation of technique without hesitation. A firm and clear exhibition estimation structure that is comprehended by all degrees of the association, including workers, process proprietors, clients, and partners, underpins targets and the assortment of resu lts. Superior associations Leary recognize the stuff to decide achievement and ensure that all workers and supervisors comprehend what they are liable for. Responsibility for results is obviously surely known and assigned.Budgets †as an arranging/guaging and as a checking/assessment instrument, add to the assurance of execution desires (Key Performance Indicators and Key Results Areas). They add to the structure of data assortment frameworks and those data results are, thus, used to create and plan future spending plans/conjectures. Responsibility requires comprehension and data. Unfortunately in such a large number of associations workers have no consciousness of the connections between costs, benefits and their own commitment to budgetary achievement. The correspondence part of a spending plan should empower representative mindfulness and contribution in squander decrease, cost cutting and income raising. However chiefs frequently retain this data from employees.Performance e stimations offer data on what consumptions are required and on the most proficient method to needs uses †how to build up the budgetary arrangement (spending plan) that will bolster every single hierarchical activity. They help to distinguish what works and what doesn't in order to proceed with and enhance what is working and fix or supplant what isn't working. In this way execution the executives and spending plans are fundamentally connected. Spending examination produces data about the productivity with which assets are changed into administrations and merchandise, on how well outcomes contrast with a program's planned reason, and on the viability of tasks as far as their particular commitment to program objectives.For this explanation, it is crucial that data be gathered, grouped and put away, so it is both available and useable for hose purposes Page | 4 Budgeting steps Cash stream is the development of cash all through a business †the procedure through which the busin ess utilizes money to create items/administrations available to be purchased to clients, gathers money from deals, at that point finishes this cycle once more. Association's need income so as to work. The money position changes continually, contingent upon material/stock/supplies buys, rents or wages installments or approaching installments. Inflows are the internal development of cash from the offer of items/services.If your association stretches out credit to clients and permits them to bunny the offer of the merchandise or administrations to a record, at that point inflow happens as cash is gathered on the clients' records. Continues from bank credits are likewise money inflow. Surges are the development of cash out of a business †for the most part the consequence of paying costs. On the off chance that the business includes exchanging or on-selling merchandise, at that point the biggest surge is well on the way to be for the acquisition of retail stock'. An assembling busin ess' biggest outpourings will for the most part likely be for the acquisition of crude materials and the flexibly of other creation segments. Buying fixed resources, taking care of advances, and paying records payable are additionally money outflows.Profit isn't equivalent to income. It is conceivable to show a sound benefit toward the year's end, but face a huge cash press at different focuses during the year. Task devices Budgets accommodate cash and indicate where it ought to be spent. They figure out who ought to be responsible for what movement and are utilized to distribute HR to procedures, capacities and ventures. They are additionally used to coordinate assets to results. The aim of spending plans is to guarantee: 0 adequate income which will meet every single money related commitment 0 greatest productivity Types of financial plan There are various spending plans that will be set up in an organization.Some of these are:: deals preparing income capital consumption tasks pub licizing and so forth Page 15 Managers, bleeding edge directors and administrators will manage a portion of these spending plans; either attempting to remain inside spending plan, as far as use, or to arrive at budgetary desires with respect to income (pay). The diverse cost place in the association will clearly have distinctive budgetary applications. The ace spending arranges every one of these individual financial plans to frame a financial plan for the general association and gives a wed of the money related sources and prerequisites for tasks. It builds up arranged and approved use and when contrasted and budgetary reports and running operational data, gives a checking device so you can decide if occasions over the spending time frame are following the anticipated course.It demonstrates income setbacks, abundance of over cost spending and sign proficient changes in the financial exhibition of the association, an office, task or item. In this manner spending plans reveal to you where the association's cash is going and where the assets for activities will mother from. They let you know, in this way what cash is accessible for your group/division/segment or what the association's desires are concerning salary age by your group/area/division. Financial plans are one of the most regularly utilized administration instruments. Each business, huge or little, open or private, benefit situated or not-for-benefit ought to have a spending plan of some sort.They empower the association and the individuals working inside it to arrange its responsibilities, tasks and plans and every one of its expenses and to balance use with anticipated incomes. A spending plan empowers an association's budgetary supervisor (or group) to envision the business' money assets and ensure they are accessible early. Each spending procedure, thusly, builds up an income financial plan and in many associations there will be a capital financial plan (for the most part reaching out for over a ye ar), which sets anticipated requirements against the different wellsprings of capital, giving the premise to capital assets portions †cash for capital consumptions (CAPE). Compatibilities for extending business, evolving tasks, buying new hardware and gear are dispensed from the capital financial plan. As an administrative and arranging instrument, when appropriately conveyed, financial plans guarantee that distinct advantages (counting individuals) are assig

A Tale of Two Cities and Julius Caesar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A Tale of Two Cities and Julius Caesar - Essay Example Murder has been a subject applied in plot improvement with variable definitions held in the topic relying upon the legitimization offered for the activity. In a story of two urban communities and Julius Caesar, murder is resolved to explain equity, and the topic is advanced in the main characters. The two stories had been composed dependent on murder and a comprehension, to the purpose behind the utilization of the subject would offer the required answer for the author’s instinct to apply the style. Charles Dickens composed the story to portray the strange disclosure of Alexandre Manette condition who had been thought to have kicked the bucket. The dad to Lucie Manetter had been illegitimately detained in Bastille, and she searched out on the excursion with Jarvis Lorry to discover her dad. The urban areas that witness the occasions are Paris and London where mistreatment of the powerless and love is supported to prompt the saw occasions. Carton’s murder is supported as he takes the wrongly blamed Darnay position on the grounds that for the love he had towards Lucie Manetter. Darwin composes the story wherein the two Carton and Darnay began to look all starry eyed at Lucie, yet Darnay wound up being her better half. Be that as it may, on coming back to Paris, Darnay is caught to be indicted. Container spares his love’s marriage by taking the situation of his opponent to be killed for the reason for affection (Dickens 366). Therefore, Mr. Defarge had been killed fol lowing allegations that he had killed the laborer kid, however the occasion had been a mishap. The boy’s father killed Defarge on the grounds that he had neglected to make an endeavor to spare the kid. Shakespeare had composed the play to delineate homicide as a main subject in his plot improvement. Caesar had been from the fight triumphant and had been in line to be delegated the incomparable pioneer. In any case, with his capacity, a portion of his commanders developed desirous and stressed that he would introduce an oppressive guideline over the individuals. The commanders make an arrangement to kill Caesar and include Brutus in the plot

Comparing Pursuit of Perfection by Poe and Hawthorne and the Realism of

Quest for Perfection by Poe and Hawthorne and the Realism of Melville and Jacobs  â â â One of the components of Romanticism is the quest for flawlessness. While Poe and Hawthorne's characters endeavor futile for the ideal lady (or rather her ideal quality) or the flawlessly built individual, Melville definitely realizes that flawlessness is a dream. Melville paints an increasingly practical picture of the defects of society. The ladies scholars take Melville's evaluations of the world and the human condition much further. Phelps and Jacobs' know direct about the misinterpretations of flawlessness and the powerlessness to catch that picture. The weight of consistent family life wears on the ladies in these accounts. Jacobs' story worries about the heaviest concern of all being subverted by the suppression of ladies and the hardships of bondage.  â â In Poe's Ligeia the storyteller is enraptured by his better half's excellence and insight, with which he gets fixated. He is especially pulled in to the dear music of her low sweet voice. Her uncommon and tremendous learning makes her one of a kind and charming. In any case, since her insight was, for example, the storyteller had never known in a lady she is a risk. Johanyak says that, Poe's scholarly courageous women are first romanticized and afterward dreaded or misconstrued by men who neglect to comprehend or acknowledge their journey for information (63).â The storyteller concedes that he had never known her to blame. Fundamentally, he is surrendering that she was in reality the ideal lady. In the game changing example of Poe's female characters, such flawlessness must be rebuffed. She bites the dust and the storyteller struggles with his misfortune. It isn't until this retelling of their marriage that the storyteller genuinely acknowledges all that she was and all t hat ... ... Dayan, Joan. The Identity of Berenice. Studies in Romanticism 23.4 (1984) 491-513. Holly, Carol. Disgracing the Self in The Angel Over the Right Shoulder. American Literature 60.1 (1988): 42-60. Johanyak, Debra. Poesian Feminism: Triumph or Tragedy. CLA Journal 39.1 (1995): 62-70. Morgan, Winifred. Sex Related Differences in the Slave Narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. American Studies 35.2 (1994): 73-94. Rosenberg, Liz. The Best that Earth Could Offer. The Birth-Mark: a Newlywed's Story. Studies in Short Fiction 30.2 (1993): 145-51. Rowland, Beryl. Staying up with a Corpse: Malthus According to Melville in Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs. Journal of American Studies 6 (1972): 69-83. Zanger, Jules. Talking about the Unspeakable: Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark. Modern Philology 80.4 (1983): 364-71.â

Governing Boards Strategic Initiatives, Responsibility - 1925 Words

Governing Board's Strategic Initiatives, Responsibility And Involvement (Essay Sample) Content: Middleville Regional HealthcareStan PadgettInstitution AffiliationInstructors Name11th March 2017Middleville Regional Health CareGoverning boards strategic initiatives, responsibility and involvementHealthcare centers especially those involved in providing non-profit services, develop issues appertaining to the staff who are responsible for providing care to its patients. During our consultancy and interviews with the healthcare staff, our findings were able to discover several factors that are critical and require the intervention of the governing board of Middleville Healthcare. The health workers were able to raise several factors such as work overload, the number of staff, reduced administrative culture, limited access to technology and lack of enough time with patients (Koh, et al, 2011).A governing board has the mandate to make sure the staffs have a conducive environment for them to execute their mandate. The corporation between the board and the staff in the h ealthcare center should be flawless. Work overload: the staff at Middleville brought up the issue on too much work due to the number of patients whom they can attend to on a regular schedule. The population in the community in humongous, however, with the significantly small number of healthcare providers, there in extreme work overload on them as the attendees to the patients. Nurses are highly affected since they have to attend to several patients at once and it stretches them to the brink (Koh, et al, 2011).It brings about the second major complaint, which is the need to hire new staff. It is the mandate of the governing board of Middleville to make sure that is staffs have enough roles to minimize the strain on its staff. The board of management should be involved in making sure it hires enough staff on a regular basis to ease the workload and improves service delivery.A huge percentage of the staff interviewed have raised concerns over the relation between the governing board a nd the staff. There is the need for the board of management to increase opportunities for there to be innovation, address issues of autonomy in positions held by individual employees and create a flexible schedule for work. It is the duty of the overseeing board to inform the staff concerning the current growth and enticement programs that are available to them. The governing body has the role of career building for its staff to develop a high team of health professionals who will be of great importance to the community (Koh, et al, 2011).Performance measureMiddleville Healthcare can use the following performances to measure the quality of the healthcare provided to the community. The performance measures include the following: Structural, Process, and Outcome. Structural performance is important and very essential in Middleville Healthcare in order of to measure the gains it has made in service provision to the community. Structural performance is a quantifiable measure of the capa city improvement on the organization and improving the conditions of the factors that are relevant to the growth of the healthcare center. Some of the departments include the health IT systems and sanitary facilities in the hospitals. The health care center should have up to date IT systems such as e-prescribing which eases the passing of prescription information between the doctors and the pharmacists. It is of importance since with an improvement of it systems shows and increase in service delivery and an improvement in the quality of duty to the community. Process: it involves a measure of the activities laid down by the governing board of the healthcare center and the benefits it has to the patients during its performance (Pai, et al, 2011).Measurements collected by feedback responses from the patients such as the percentage of women who undergo cervical cancer screening plus a Pap test. It is of importance since a measure by this is essential in evaluating whether the procedure s placed by the governing board has a positive impact on the community. Outcome: it is important for the steering committee to assess the responses of the patients on the value of healthcare provided to them. Through the measure of the replies and a valuation carried out, a quantification performed and a value established. The test is crucial since the results are critical for the healthcare center to evaluate the quality of services provided to the community (Pai, et al., 2011).Factors key to Middleville successBase on the study done and the data presented concerning Middleville Healthcare and its two competitors, Middleville has to maintain an edge on several departments to increase its patients count and service delivery. Outpatient visits, Middleville Healthcare, should increase o consultancy since they have a high number of outpatients. The medics in the healthcare should undergo regular seminars to enable them to develop improved skills in engaging patients in identifying thei r problems. Patients value professionalism from the doctors in a health organization. Therefore, it is of importance for the governing board to make sure the doctors are informed on the new trends in the health sector especially concerning how to approach patients of various calibers. Middleville should hire an initiative and professional person to be in charge of the outpatient desk. Through this, the outpatient program would have a higher chance of high patient turn ups. Births, Middleville has a large number of births. It is a sign of excellent services provided by the maternal care providers in the hospital (Pai, et al., 2011).The health care should increase the facilities in the maternity section which make the place homely and comfortable for the expectant mothers. With this, the healthcare has a higher chance of having more births and therefore a huge turn up in the influx of people from the community. Middleville has a large number of workers as compared to the number of sta ff by the competitors. Middleville's large number of employees appertains to the improved care provided by the medics to the patients. With the high number of physicians, the governing board should organize for team building activities and worthy boosting endeavors which are necessary for the performance of the practitioners in the healthcare (Pai, et al, 2011).Middleville Healthcare can host many inpatients through the acknowledgment of the number of beds the healthcare can host during a similar period. The healthcare should make sure it has proper support service for the inpatients who get admitted to the healthcare. Food should be well cooked; there should be well connected visual entertainment such as TVs and DVDs which can better the stay of the patients in the healthcare. There should be a constant observation of inpatients by the doctors and nurses to make the patients feel cared for by the healthcare personnel while admitted. The hospital should work on minimizing the operat ion costs by the institution to increase the servicer delivery and hiring more staff who will be able to attend to the increasing number of patients (Boulos, et al., 2011). For the maternity wards which has the highest births when compared to the other institutions in the region, Middleville should reduce the charges levied on child delivery. With a large number of available beds in the health care center, there will be enough room to host the expectant women. There should be improved care on the pregnant women since the healthcare has a huge advantage over that of its competitors. The healthcare has a low number of admissions as compared to that of Brierfield. Middlefield should take the initiative and carry out research on the reasons as to the high number of entries in the competing healthcare center. Through this, they will be able to understand the variation in dynamics that places its competitors before them (Boulos, et al., 2011).Cost-benefit analysisElectronic Medical Record system has a significant input in the healthcare center especially on of the magnitude of Middleville, which attends to thousands of patients on a daily basis. Regarding benefits, EMR helps in improving the quality of healthcare provided to the patients in the hospital. Also, it has a high reduction and prevention of the medical errors that occur due to gross errors by the healthcare providers. With this, there is a reduction in unnecessary costs that usually arise as a result of the errors that occur in the healthcare and the possible lawsuits brought to the healthcare due to the avoidable mistakes that can be avoided by the users of EMR. EMR systems have an enormous benefit in reducing expenses on drugs, tests on radiology and the gross errors emanating from billing. The alternative to the EMR system is the paper chart system which is outdated in the 21st century. It is a fact that the EMR system is an expensive venture (Boulos, et al., 2011).The use of the EMR system has introdu ced...

Living Horizontally

Our entire culture, as well as our hectic day and age, have very strict views on lying down, getting up late and in general spending our time sleeping or simply reclining in bed. Famous high-achievers tend to state that they get by with no more than six hours of sleep a day if not less; the sleep itself is often considered something of a nuisance, something to be minimized, something that, regretfully, cannot be eliminated altogether. Even the people who work from home often say that in order to motivate themselves they have to behave as if they had a usual job: dress properly, sit at a desk, get up early and so on. German writer Bernd Brunner, the author of The Art of Lying Down, certainly has some very different views on this subject. He almost sanctifies the process, gradually describing its different aspects. According to him, human beings usually spend about a third of their life sleeping and even more simply lying down, and there is nothing shameful about it. People who like to get up late or have a nap during the day should not at all be afraid to acknowledge it he firmly believes that the future of the Western civilization lies in embracing a new lifestyle which is less obsessed about activity and more about resting. Moving from subject to subject in an effortless manner, Brunner describes different aspects of horizontal lifestyle, at the same time grudgingly accepting that some things are probably better left alone. For example, eating although ancient Greeks and Romans were known for having their meals while reclining on benches, he agrees that tables and chairs have been around for thousands of years and there are logical reasons why it is the standard that is accepted by the majority of civilized peoples. Also he speaks against the notion of sleeping outside however romantic and natural it may sound, people have invented houses to improve their lives, and sleeping in the open is far less comfortable: there are cold and damp earth, rain, animal sounds and so on. All in all, The Art of Lying Down may be characterized as a kind of a hymn to living horizontally: the authors encourages the readers to spend more time resting and make their lives less noisy and frantic: by accepting the culture of rest, he believes, the Western civilization may find a new way into the future.

Parenting Goals And Values, Styles, Behaviors, And...

In this session, I will explain about many parenting goals, beliefs, styles, behaviors, and strategies that I have experienced growing up. Parenting goals may lead to variation in parenting behavior across culture. Parenting goals provide the motivation and framework for what parents think is the best way to raise their children. In the book, â€Å"Culture and Psychology† explain about different parenting goals within different cultures. For example, there is different parenting goals between middle-class mothers in Berlin, German and middle-class mothers in New Delhi, India. In Germany, an important parenting goal is to raise children who are autonomous (Matsumoto, D. R., Juang 2013, 68). The term autonomous means independent and having the power to make decisions. Then in India, an important parenting goal is to raise children who are autonomous, but also closely interdependent with other people (Matsumoto, D. R., Juang 2013, 68). I believe I was more likely raised how th e middle-class mothers from India raise their children. My parents wanted my sister and me to be interdependent, but also have our own independent growing up. My parents gradually had my sister and me to be more independent and less interdependent. I believe children become independent is when they are gaining skills. When they obtain new skills, they become self-sufficient and they grow more confident in their abilities. Some example of having a child become independent is by teaching them to pick outShow MoreRelatedDifferent Types Of Parenting Styles1495 Words   |  6 PagesParenting styles have been described by Diana Baumrind into four categories, authoritative, authoritarian, neglectful, and indulgent parenting (Santrok 461). Parenting styles can be defined as patterns of attitudes in how parents choose to express and communicate with their children. 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Dick Spencer Case Study Essay Sample free essay sample

Strengths as a Salesman Dick Spencer has had an interesting calling. He began as a salesman at Tri-American Corporation and rapidly worked his manner up the corporate ladder to direction degree. He experienced many accomplishments and besides many barriers during that clip. This instance analysis will analyze some of the lending factors to his successes and failures every bit good as provide recommendations on how he could hold been more successful as a director. Dick Spencer experienced great success really early in his gross revenues calling. His surpassing. sympathetic personality could hold factored into that success. High degrees of openness to see are associated with wonder and a willingness to entertain new thoughts and experiences ( Barrick A ; Mount. 1991 ) . Those with high degrees of openness to see and motive will be more likely to use their abilities to obtain initial calling success than those with low degrees of motive ( Rode. Arthaud-Day. Mooney. Near. A ; Baldwin. 2008 ) . These features helped Dick achieve great things in the beginning of his calling. Dick was a force to be reckoned with in the gross revenues section yet his equals still regarded him as a regular cat. Highly surpassing people tend to be warm. positive. and sociable. with a high energy degree and hence be given to be comfy interacting with others ( Costa A ; McRae. 1992 ) . Surveies have shown that conscientiousness. openness to see. extraversion. and emotional stableness are positively associated with calling success and satisfaction ( Rode et Al. . 2008 ) . The same can be said of features necessary in a calling in gross revenues. Dick’s equals attributed his rise in gross revenues volume to his good expressions. appeal. gross revenues ability. concern cognition. and shmoozing accomplishments on the golf class. Fall 2012 MGT 585 Dick began his calling with Tri-American Corporation at the age of 20 two. merely after completing his Master’s grade. Research has shown that salesmen under the age of 20 five are in the honeymoon phase of their callings. During this phase they exhibit a high degree of enthusiasm for their occupations every bit good as positive attitudes and a desire to win ( Apostolidis. 1980 ) . This is in direct contrast to salesman ages forty six and older. This group shows less aptitude towards development and calling promotion. They are less originative in their occupations and less likely to larn new accomplishments ( Apostolidis. 1980 ) . Dick was decidedly in the honeymoon phase of his calling. because win is what he did. In his first twelvemonth as a salesman. he landed a big history that made him ill-famed among the other salesmen. He continued to put a fast gross revenues gait even into his 2nd twelvemonth and gained himself a repute with upper direction. When asked for a transportation out of gross revenues. the president of the company was hesitating to travel him. acknowledging his superior gross revenues ability. Not merely was age a factor of Dick’s success in concern. but mental ability is one of the strongest forecasters of occupation public presentation ( Hunter A ; Hunter. 1984 ) . Dick was a knowing adult male. having his Master in business from a reputable university. which shows an aptitude for high mental ability. Research has shown that mental ability can foretell calling success through its effects on occupation public presentation ( Judge. Higgins. Thoresen. A ; Barrick. 1999 ) . This is particularly true during the beginning of one’s calling. During the initial employment stage the acquisition curve is steep with larning new occupation specific procedures and processs. Peoples with a higher capacity for larning are at an advantage ( Kraut. Pedigo. McKenna. A ; Dunnette. 1989 ) . Dick took that advanta ge and continued full force to his 2nd twelvemonth as a salesman with Tri-American. His abilities surpassed those of his equals and put hard ends for them. Fall 2012 MGT 585 Dick Spencer was besides good at networking. Networking can be described as discoursing work challenges. interchanging information. fall ining professional associations. volunteering for organisational undertaking forces. and prosecuting in community enterprises ( McCallum. 2008 ) . The primary intent of networking is to develop and keep relationships and to supply work and calling aid ( Forrett A ; Dougherty. 2004 ) . Dick networked with the president of TriAmerican during company conferences and maintained a friendly chumminess. Surveies show that salesmen ages twenty six thru 30 five are dying for promotion and keep a good degree of communicating with their higher echelons ( Apostolidis. 1980 ) . Relationship networks play a polar function in the calling results of directors and professionals ( Higgings. 2000 ) . Research workers have found networking to be associated with single entree to information. resources. and calling sponsorship ( Brass A ; Burkhardt. 1 992 ) . Dick Spencer used his networking connexions for calling promotion after three old ages as a salesman. He requested a transportation out of the gross revenues section and was granted a place in production. In add-on to his gross revenues ability. Dick’s support system could hold played an built-in function in his gross revenues success. Research workers have linked interpersonal comfort with concern success ( Allen. Day. A ; Lentz. 2005 ) . Evidence suggests that relationship intimacy has an consequence on a person’s ability to develop relationships ( Hanoch. 2001 ) . Harmonizing to Hanoch ( 2001 ) . â€Å"when people know that person is at that place for them. the relationship becomes a resource from which they draw strength and enjoyment† ( p. 3 ) . This is apparent in Dick Spencer’s instance. During the first old ages of his gross revenues calling he was merrily married and successful in his calling. However after several old ages of going for work. his matrimony suffered and he began to doubt his hereafter as a salesman. Fall 2012 MGT 585 Failures as a Manager One of the first things that could hold contributed to Dick Spencer’s failure as a director was his location. He was married with a household and had to deracinate his life to travel to London when he was promoted to assistant works director. This was a cultural daze for both him and his household. He was holding problem seting to cultural differences and being accepted at work and his household was holding troubles being accepted into the community. These reserves are common for many American directors who move to different states for work. One survey showed that the most of import issue directors face when working in different states is the interpersonal struggle stemming from cultural differences ( Jassawalla. Truglia. A ; Garvey. 2004 ) . Dick encountered many struggles because of cultural differences. He was used to the fast paced doctrine of American concern and found himself holding to tippytoe around his British higher-ups. Scholars have found that an inability to accommodate to new behaviours and interpersonal interactions can do some directors to reject their new civilization and leave their occupation before they have completed their assignment ( Sanchez. Spector. A ; Cooper. 2000 ) . Dick experienced this exact thing when he was reassigned to a new works in Birmingham. He left his London assignment with assorted fillings as he had non completed many of the undertakings he was assigned because he had neer to the full embraced his new civilization and learned how to work with his coworkers. This is a large job in cultural differences where directors try to decide jobs with coworkers from different civilizations ( Morris et al. . 1998 ) . Cross-cultural differences can besides be blamed for some of Dick’s jobs at the Modrow works. He had requested a transportation back to the United States and was alternatively appointed as works director in Canada where he was one time once more thrown into a different civilization and expected to accommodate. Scholars have blamed a batch of managers’ jobs in transverse cultural state of affairss Fall 2012 MGT 585 on their firms’ deficiency of pre going preparation ( Sanchez et al. . 2000 ) . It did non look that Dick was given any kind of cultural preparation which may hold been able to assist him better adapt to his host states. Although Dick Spencer was a successful concern adult male. he was a self-proclaimed shirker when it came to accounting steps and human dealingss. Harmonizing to Richmond. Wagner. and McCroskey ( 1983 ) . â€Å"Two of the major concerns of most organisations in modern-day society are productiveness and employee satisfaction. In profit-making organisations. productiveness is straight related to accomplishment of the primary end of the organisation – increasing the net income margin† ( p. 27 ) . Dick focused on that primary end by implementing many cost film editing processs without respect to productiveness or employee satisfaction. This is demonstrated in the turnout section incident. Dick had become so individual focused on cost film editing that he jumped at the chance to implement a new process. disregarding the concerns of his chief. the expert on the topic at manus. His important attitude backfired when the chief of the turnout section externally disobeyed him bing the company productiveness and certainly conveying down employee satisfaction. The behaviour by his chief can be explained by Thau. Bennett. Mitchell and Marrs ( 2008 ) as the societal exchange theory â€Å"where hapless intervention by one’s supervisor indicates an instability that subordinates seek to rectify by prosecuting in negative behaviours themselves† ( p. 1 ) . This move on Dick’s portion besides hurt his repute with his workers. Dick remembers this state of affairs as the most elusive and mortifying one he had of all time experienced. In add-on to mortifying him. it besides affected his repute as a director. While Dick roamed the halls listening for insider information. yet trying to look societal. his employees suspected him of wrong-doings and easy began to lose regard for him as a director. Harmonizing to Steger. Manners. and Zimmerer ( 1982 ) . â€Å"The successful director has Fall 2012 MGT 585 ever led his or her subsidiaries. to a great extent. by analyzing and reacting suitably to their behaviors† ( p. 22 ) . Dick did non react suitably to state of affairss that happened in his works. He gathered every bit much information as he could during his ambles but had a policy of non noticing or discoursing affairs on the floor. His subsidiaries began to oppugn his motivations for making this. They spent clip planning for his visits and analysing them afterwards. Recommendations I think that Dick Spencer’s biggest hurdle as a director was his hapless communicating accomplishments and human dealingss accomplishments in respects to cross-cultural differences. He neer truly embraced the cultural alteration and played both sides of the fencing by being excessively timid to implement patterns in his first assignment and being excessively important in Modrow. Researchers found that one of the three most of import ingredients to being an effectual director in an international function is the bent to command with a non-authoritarian manner ( Franzee. 1998 ) . He besides kept his subsidiaries wholly in the dark which caused them to oppugn his motivations and see him as untrustworthy. Surveies have found that employees enjoy working in a topographic point where they enjoy the people they work with and swear the people they work for ( Mishra. 2007 ) . Mishra ( 2007 ) besides states that if direction does non pass on to their employees a sense of supportiveness. lovingness. honestness. and a willingness to listen the employees will stop up swearing direction lupus erythematosus. She argues that organisations should take attention of their employees. construct trust with them through positive communicating. and demonstrate regard for them. If Dick had taken his ain advice and brushed up on his human dealingss accomplishments. he could hold been a more successful director. Mentions: Fall 2012 MGT 585 References Allen. T. D. . Day. R. . A ; Lentz. E. ( 2005 ) . The function of interpersonal comfort in mentoring relationships. Journal of Career Development. 31. 155–169. Apostolidis. P. ( 1980 ) . Looking at the age ofsales representatives. Academy of Marketing Science Journal. 8 ( 4 ) . 322. Barrick. M. R. . A ; Mount. M. K. ( 1991 ) . The large five personality dimensions and occupation public presentation: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology. 44. 1–25. Brass. D. J. . A ; Burkhardt. M. ( 1992 ) . Centrality and power in organisations. Networks and organisations. 191-215. Costa. P. T. . A ; McCrae. R. R. ( 1992 ) . NEO-PI/NEO-FFI professional manual. Odessa. FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. Forrett. M. L. . A ; Dougherty. T. W. ( 2004 ) . Networking behaviours and calling results: Differences for work forces and adult females? Journal of Organizational Behavior. 25 ( 3 ) . 419-437. Frazee. V. ( 1998 ) . What does it take to be a success ful international director? Workforce. 3 ( 1 ) . 9. Hanoch. F. ( 2001 ) . Relational dimensions in calling development. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 59 ( 1 ) . 1–16. Higgins. M. ( 2000 ) . The more. the merrier? Multiple development relationships and work satisfaction. Journal of Management Development. 19 ( 4 ) . 277-296. Hunter. J. E. . A ; Hunter. R. F. ( 1984 ) . Cogency and public-service corporation of alternate forecasters of occupation public presentation. Psychological Bulletin. 96. 72–98. Jassawalla. A. . Truglia. C. . A ; Garvey. J. ( 2004 ) . Cross-cultural struggle and exile director accommodation: An exploratory survey. Management Decision. 42 ( 7 ) . 837-849. Fall 2012 MGT 585 Judge. T. A. . Higgins. C. A. . Thoresen. C. J. . A ; Barrick. M. R. ( 1999 ) . The large five personality traits. general mental ability. and calling success across the life span. Personnel Psychology. 52. 621–652. Kraut. A. I. . Pedigo. P. R. . McKenna. D. D. . A ; Dunnette. M. D. ( 1989 ) . The function of the director: What’s truly of import in different direction occupations. Academy of Management Executive. 3. 286–293. McCallum. S. Y. ( 2008 ) . An scrutiny of internal and external networking behaviours and their relationship to career success and work attitudes. ( Doctoral thesis ) . Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. ( 304834916 ) Mishra. K. E. ( 2007 ) . Internal communicating: Building trust. committedness. and a positive repute through relationship direction with employees. ( Doctoral thesis ) . Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. ( 3257559 ) Morris. M. W. . Williams. K. Y. . Leung. K. . Larrick. R. . Me ndoza. M. T. . Bhatnagar. D. . Li. J. . Konda. M. . Luo. J. . A ; Hu. J. ( 1998 ) . Conflict direction manner: Accounting for crossnational differences. Journal of International Business Studies. 29 ( 4 ) . 729-748. Richmond. V. P. . Wagner. J.P. . A ; McCroskey. J. C. ( 1983 ) . The impact of perceptual experiences of leading manner. usage of power. and conflict direction manner on organisational results. Communication Quarterly. 31 ( 1 ) . 27-36. Rode. J. C. . Arthaud-Day. M. . Mooney. C. H. . Near. J. P. . A ; Baldwin. T. T. ( 2008 ) . Ability and personality forecasters of salary. perceived occupation success. and perceived calling success in the initial calling phase. International Journal of Selection and Assessment. 16 ( 3 ) . 292-299. Sanchez. J. L. . Spector. P. E. . A ; Cooper. C. L. ( 2000 ) . Adapting to a boundaryless universe: A developmental exile theoretical account. The Academy of Managerial Executive. 14 ( 2 ) . 96-106. Fall 2012 MGT 585 Steger. J. A. . Manners. G. E. . A ; Zimmerer. T. W. ( 1982 ) . Following the leader: How to associate direction manner to subordinate personalities. Management Review. 10. 22-51. Thau. S. . Bennett. R. J. . Mitchell. S. . A ; Marrs. M. ( 2008 ) . How direction manner moderates the relationship between opprobrious supervising and workplace aberrance: An uncertainness direction theory position. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 1. 115.

The Meaning, Structure and Purpose of Life

Moliere once said, â€Å"We only die once†¦and for so long!†[1] of all the subjects that have remained unclear and marred by uncertainty is the subject of life and death. Very many people have tried to understand what life is and the purpose of our existence on earth. However, there has never been summative explanation generally accepted by all.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Meaning, Structure and Purpose of Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The only thing that remains generally and undoubtedly acceptable is that there is inevitable death and that it is appropriate to prepare for it. This paper tries to explain the meaning, structure and purpose of life. It draws from different writings and personal philosophy and revelation. The question of the meaning of life can be discussed from various perspectives (Christiansen, Baum Bass-Haugen, 2005). Down history lane, the question has bee n a topic of argument from philosophers, in religious cycles, in science and even personal motivations. In ancient Greek philosophy, Plato argued that life is nothing but the pursuit of the apex of knowledge. From this knowledge, the definition of good can be established. It is from this definition that one derives value of goodness and justness. He argued that it is the moral responsibility of man to pursue good. However, it is not possible to attain the apex of this knowledge without applying philosophical reasoning. To Plato, this is the meaning of life. He believes that man came into existence in order to promote good through philosophical reasoning that would later lead to knowledge. Looking into this argument, it is clear that virtuous living forms the foundation of Plato’s argument. It is true that man has a moral obligation of striving towards good. This could be the explanation of what happens when one veers of this moral avenue. Due to the defiance of the original e xpectations and purpose of life, life becomes difficult and unbearable. This argument can be developed further based on philosophers of the Hellenistic period (Seaman, 2005). On their part, Hellenistic philosophers argued that life was nothing but a pursuit of virtues that are compatible with nature. They further argued that it is the sole responsibility of a person to be self sufficient and to hold the reigns of his mental attitude. They argued that happiness would only be achieved if individuals learnt to understand nature and what it expected of them. They would only attain happiness if they were taught on how to control their mental attitudes. They argued against the pursuit of happiness through wealth, fame and power. It is clear that both Plato and the Hellenistic philosophers agree to one point which is the desire for good.Advertising Looking for research paper on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They both believe that the moral obligation of man is to ensure that they strived to achieve goodness. However, their arguments on how this good is acquired are where the difference comes. While Plato believes that good can be attained only through knowledge which is only attained from philosophical reasoning, Hellenistic philosophers argue that good entailed acting upon factors that help the individual to stay in compatibility with nature (Marcellino, 1996). My conception of meaning and purpose of life can be derived from both arguments. I believe that life is founded on the fulcrum of virtue. Virtue, which, according to Hellenistic philosophers is acting in the natural human ways, is the same as good which according to Plato leads to knowledge that would lead an individual into attaining relevant skills for existence on this earth. In the contemporary picture, one can realize that it is natural that an individual learns how to cope in the world. It is necessary that one learns what is necessary in this short life. For instance, one should have the ability to identify the role of simple things in the general pursuit of happiness. Simple actions like helping an old man cross a road, contributing to charity, volunteering to work in orphanages, sending Christmas gifts to the poor, et cetera are actions that bring great satisfaction and sense of happiness within an individual. I therefore tend to believe that man was originally created to be just and virtuous. This argument position is consistent with both the Hellenistic philosophers and Plato. I argue that happiness is derived from doing small things as mentioned earlier. It is therefore not about how much wealth one has but about how much heart one has. This is what the Hellenistic philosophers argue. Of how much benefit will it be to own the whole world when deep inside of you the feeling of guilt and social irresponsibility haunts you? How would one feel if he had everything he needed, a lot of money, luxury car s, real estates et cetera but if he knows that the money was gotten from oppression and theft that subjected some people to sorrow? Without doubt, the person will feel the guilt. He will feel the pain deep inside. A small voice will keep screaming to him whenever he sees the agony of the people he oppressed before landing the wealth. This has meaning. It is a clear indication that life is originally virtuous. Virtue is not meant to be for life but life is virtue itself. Deviation from virtue is as good as deviation from life. One cannot be able to live comfortably if he does not conform to virtue. Trying to live outside of virtue is like trying to live without life. Impossible! Life is virtue. There is a design to life. There is some formula that must be adhered to for any chances of happiness and deep satisfaction. A design or model offers guidelines upon which something can be defined (Hua, 2003; Baggini, 2004). As Hellenistic philosophers argue, happiness can be achieved if human beings try to live natural to human beings (Walker, 2000). This statement carries a lot of weight in my conception of the design of life. The originator of life gave a definite design to this phenomenon.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Meaning, Structure and Purpose of Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is an aspect of naturalness that must be adhered to. This naturalness is maybe what we are calling virtue. But there is a design which, to me, is incompatible with every artificial thing. It has been argued in almost every quarter of the society that money is the root cause of every problems of man. On its part, industrialization has led to development of certain diseases directly or indirectly. The same industrialization has led to destroyed ozone layer leading to global warming that has led to diseases, hunger, flooding, et cetera. Human philosophy and cultural beliefs that do not have th eir roots in the original designers’ expectations have led to problems within human circles. For instance, the definition of success has led capitalism and individualism, which are not within the original design. Deviation from the design would automatically lead to strife. This brings up the question of alienation. Charlton (2002) argues that human beings feel alienated from the world. They tend to find themselves as strangers in a world that is also strange to them. They feel like they don’t belong in this world. It is like they were dropped here by some one who later left them without telling them where they are or what they are supposed to do. It is evident that this feeling has assumed an upward trend in the contemporary times (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Why is it that more people than ever are continuously getting to see life as a meaningless venture that is incomprehensible and a riddle that cannot be solved. What was it in the older days that people lived satisfactori ly without much ado? Borrowing from Charlton’s argument, the feeling of alienation is an, â€Å"accidental and harmful side effect of useful mental abilities†[2]. These mental abilities are a result of man’s adaptation to survival. Charlton clearly points out that the sense of alienation and meaninglessness of life can be traced down to man’s deviation from hunting and gathering way of life. There is a lesson here. A great proof that life has a design which was originally imparted upon man can be identified from this argument. Initially, the creator of man designed a particular design for life upon which adherence could guarantee satisfaction and happiness. Again, this leads to Hellenistic philosopher’s approach to life. There is a natural way that man was expected to live. This is the design. This natural way is what Hellenistic philosophers identify as the natural human nature that leads to happiness (Jewell, 2003).Advertising Looking for research paper on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Having understood the design of life, what then, is the purpose of life? Iris (2002) gives a beautiful picture that can be used by an individual to define the purpose of life. Unlike most people perceive it; the word purpose is not what you do but what you are. In her words, it is not the doing-ness but the being-ness. Finding the purpose of life through doing-ness can lead to alienation and further confusion. After excelling in career, in sports, in wealth creation et cetera, one might not find solace. They eventually prove meaningless (Byock, 1998). Therefore, purpose of life is not what one eventually does. It is the being-ness. It is taking purpose as a vessel (expensive and prestigious) which holds inside of it life itself. Therefore purpose, which is the vessel, determines the value of the content, which is life in this context. Therefore, purpose of life is the being-ness. She further points out the components of the being-ness. The three components are who you believe and kn ow you are deep down inside of you, your values and vision of the world and what you believe is possible for the world. The purpose of life is therefore, being the true you, having a vision that is defined by the true you and believing that the world can be good for every individual. In conclusion, looking around all the arguments above, one thing stands out, the questions of what life is, what the purpose of life is and what is the design of life tend to drive towards a single explanation. That life was creatively designed and was given a purpose and a design upon which deviation can lead to sorrow. From Plato to Hellenistic philosophy up to the contemporary arguments, there is a need for promotion of virtue naturally. There is need for identifying the natural part of human-ness which Iris refers to as the purpose and vessel of life. Any deviation from the original purpose leads to suffering and sorrow and that is what is visible nowadays. Many unnatural philosophies and physical a ctivities like desire for wealth have led to the deviation from the natural design. Happiness will only be achieved in the world if people understand the relationship between life, purpose and design. By understanding this, they will be able to live within the design of life and thus live happily. Reference List Baggini, J. (2004). What’s It All About? Philosophy and the Meaning of Life. New York: Granta Books. Byock, I. (1998). Dying Well: Peace and Possibility. New York: Riverhead Books. Charlton, B. (2002). What is the meaning of life? Animism, generalized anthropomorphism and social intelligence. University of New Castle. Retrieved from https://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/meaning-of-life.html Christiansen, C., Baum, M. Bass-Haugen, J. (2005). Occupational Therapy:  Performance, Participation, and Well-Being. SLACK Incorporated. Curtiss, F. (2003). Why Are We Here. CA: Kessinger Publishing. Hua, H. (2003). Words of Wisdom: Beginning Buddhism. New York: Dharma Realm Buddhi st Association. Iris, H. (2002). What is my purpose? Business Know-How. Retrieved from https://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/whatispurp.htm Jewell, A. (2003). Ageing, Spirituality and Well-Being. Boston: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Kubler-Ross, E. (1969). On Death and Dying. New York: Macmillan Publishers. Marcellino, D. (1996). Why Are We Here?: The Scientific Answer to this Age-old  Question (that you don’t need to be a scientist to understand). Lighthouse Pub. Seaman, D. (2005). The Real Meaning of Life. New York: New World Library. Walker, V.H. (2000). The Physics of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind and the  Meaning of Life. Perseus Books. Footnotes Curtiss, F. (2003). Why Are We Here. CA: Kessinger Publishing Charlton, B. (2002). What is the meaning of life? Animism, generalized anthropomorphism and social intelligence. University of New Castle. p. 1 This research paper on The Meaning, Structure and Purpose of Life was written and submitted by user Harper Holman to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Spottswood W. Robinson III essays

Spottswood W. Robinson III essays Spottswood William Robinson, III was born in Richmond, Virginia on July 26, 1916. As a young man, Spottswood Robinson had two heroes, his father and his grandfather. Actually, he idolized his grandfather, who had been born into slavery, yet persevered and later became a successful businessman. He has said that his grandfather and father were strong influences in his life. He went to Virginia Union University when he was the age of 17. When he finished his studies there he then attended Howard University School of Law. His professors became his new heroes because they helped him to see the law as a means of solving the basic problems of American society. For Robinson, these new things became a challenge that gave his life purpose. In 1939 he graduated first in his class. According to Harry T. Edwards, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, "Robinson graduated from Howard Law School with what is still reputed to be the highest scholastic average in the school's history." The men who taught and inspired him were great lawyers of the time. Their names were William Hastie, George E.C. Hayes, Charles Houston, Bernard S. Jefferson, W. R. Ming, James M. Nabrit, Jr. and Leon A. Ransom. After graduation Robinson became a faculty member of the Howard University School of Law from 1939 until 1947.  He also, along with his mentors and another group of Howard-trained Attorneys Thurgood Marshall, Oliver Hill, Arthur Shores and C. Wolden met at Howard or in nearby cities to assist each other in preparing civil rights cases. They were a marvelous group of men who unselfishly gave time and knowledge to the cause of civil rights. At various times, Robinson was an instructor, professor and also a partner in the law firm of Hill, Martin and Robinson in Richmond. Robinson was one of the core attorneys of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1948 to 1960. Through the NAACP Robinson worked on important civil rights cases including ...

European Economic Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

European Economic Growth - Essay Example This global financial crisis tagged with dire housing market corrections has resulted in a peculiarly uncertain situation (European Commission). The resultant shock has reduced the domestic demand throughout the EU, which is pathetically debilitating considering the fact that the external demand is already on the ebb (European Commission). The autumn economic forecast published by the European Commission in November 2008 reflects a crucial stagnation of the EU economy by the end of the year 2009. Though the inflationary pressures are expected to ease, the labour market and the financial sector is predicted to deteriorate even further (European Commission). Most of the European economies are either already in or are on the verge of facing a recessionary situation and the economic growth is expected to dip down even further (European Commission). As per the current estimates, the GDP growth in the EU is projected to retard to 1.4 percent by the end of the year 2008 and will dip down to a worrying figure of 1.1 percent by 2010 (European Commission). The consumer price inflation that has already achieved its peak level is expected to plummet to 2.25 percent in 2009 and to approximately 2 percent by the end of the year 2010 (European Commission). ... prices and a relative softening of the labour markets because of the bleak prospects pertaining to the overall economic growth (European Commission).(European Commission) The labour markets are already being impacted by stagnation in the economic growth and this is expected to give way to a drastic fall in the employment levels throughout the EU. The employment situation is expected to ease beyond 2009 (European Commission). That will lead to the creation of 0.25 million jobs in the EU in 2009-2010 (European Commission). However, this increase is strikingly less as compared to 6 million jobs created in the EU in 2007-2008 (European Commission). Thus the unemployment rate in the EU is expected to appreciate by 1 percent in the next two years, thus achieving an overall figure of 7.8 percent (European Commission).So far as the public finances are concerned, the present circumstances portend a bleak scenario. The deficit in the government budgets that was roughly 1 percent of GDP in 2007 is expected to appreciate to 2.6 percent by 2010 (European Commission)(European Commission) Considering the fiscal and monetary packages being extended by the governments to resuscitate the ailing economies, the budgetary deficits may rise even further in the times to come (European Commission). Thus, realistically speaking, the public debt is expected to further rise as this economic crisis worsens. The current prospects pertaining to the economic growth in the EU are enveloped in a mist of uncertainty, doubts and apprehensions. The existing credit crunch may worsen, persist for a longer period of time and perhaps could have a more debilitating impact on the EU economy. Further corrections in the housing market may be required

Study proposal Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Study - Research Proposal Example to Isabel Cavill – a senior retail analyst who specializes in luxury retail markets mentioned that China’s retail market can increase up to 14% between 2012 to 2013 (Red Luxury, 2012). To examine the impact of China’s economic growth on the luxury fashion market, this study will conduct a primary research survey study to determine the consumers’ willingness to spend on luxury goods in times of a strong economic growth. Basically, the first part of the proposed research methodology will focus on identifying the demographic profile of the research survey participants whereas the second part will focus on determining consumers’ purchasing habit in times of economic growth. (See Appendix I on page 5) A descriptive statistics such as the computation of frequency and percentage will be used to measure the research survey respondents’ demographic profile. Using anchors of 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree, a five-point Likert scale type of research questions will be used to determine the Chinese consumers’ willingness to purchase luxury items in times of economic growth (David and Sutton, p. 167). Branigan, T. (2011, April 26). The Guardian. Retrieved May 13, 2012, from Chinas taste for high-end fashion and luxury brands reaches new heights: Vogue China editions the size of a doorstop, 960,000 millionaires and rising, and now the aspirational class are buying: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/26/china-super-rich-demand-luxury-brands Hutzler, K. (2011, July 20). Luxury Daily. Retrieved May 13, 2012, from Chinese fashion market to triple in size over next 10 years: BCG: http://www.luxurydaily.com/six-trends-brands-need-to-be-aware-of-before-entering-chinese-market-study/ Red Luxury. (2012, February 15). Retrieved May 24, 2012, from How Does a Shifting Economy Impact China’s Luxury Market?:

Kant and Equality Essay Example for Free

Kant and Equality Essay Some readers of this essay will have become impatient by now; because they believe that the problem that perplexes me has been definitively solved by Immanuel Kant. It is certainly true that Kant held strong opinions on this matter. In an often-quoted passage, he reports a personal conversion from elitism: â€Å"I am myself a researcher by inclination. I feel the whole thirst for knowledge and the eager unrest to move further on into it, also satisfaction with each acquisition. There was a time when I thought this alone could constitute the honor of humanity and despised the know nothing rabble. Rousseau set me straight. This delusory superiority vanishes, I learn to honor men, and I would find myself more useless than a common laborer if I did not believe this observation could give everyone a value which restores the rights of humanity. †What Kant learned from Rousseau was the proposition that the basis of human equality is the dignity that each human person possesses in virtue of the capacity for autonomy (moral freedom). This moral freedom has two aspects, the capacity to set ends for oneself according to one’s conception of what is good, and the capacity to regulate one’s choice of ends and of actions to achieve one’s ends by one’s conception of what morality requires. According to Kant’s psychology, brute animals are determined to act as instinct inclines them, but a rational being has the power to interrogate the inclinations it feels, to raise the question what it is reasonable to do in given circumstances, and to choose to do what reason suggests even against all inclinations. The question arises whether Kant’s psychology is correct, or remotely close to correct. Perhaps something like the conflict between conscience and inclination is experienced by social animals other than humans. Perhaps the freedom that Kant imputes to human on metaphysical grounds can be shown to be either empirically nonexistent or illusory. For our purposes we can set these questions aside and simply presume that the human psychological complexity envisaged by Kant does describe capacity we possess, whether or not it is shared with other animals. My question is whether Kant’s characterization, if it was correct, would have the normative implication she draws from it. It might seem that the Kantian picture helps to show how moral freedom is arrange concept, which does not significantly admit of degrees. If one has the capacity to set an end for oneself, one does not possess this freedom to a lesser extent just because one cannot set fancy ends, or because other persons can set fancier ends. If one has the power to regulate choice of ends by one’s sense of what is morally right, one does not possess this freedom to a lesser extent because one cannot understand sophisticated moral considerations, or because other persons can understand more sophisticated moral considerations. Moreover, one might hold that it is having or lacking the freedom which is important, not having or lacking the capacity to exercise the freedom in fancy ways. But the old worries lurk just around the corner. The Kantian view is that there are indeed capacities that are crucial for the ascription of fundamental moral status that do not vary in degree. One either has the capacity or one does not, and that’s that. If the crucial capacities have this character, then the problem of how to draw a no arbitrary line on a continuum and hold all beings on one side of the line full persons and all beings on the other side of the line lesser beings does not arise. The line separating persons and nonpersons will be non arbitrary, and there will be no basis for further differentiation of moral status. One is either a person or not, and all persons are equal. Consider the capacity to set an end, to choose a goal and decide on an action to achieve it. One might suppose that all humans have this capacity except for the permanently comatose and the anencephalic. So all humans are entitled to a fundamental equal moral status. This view is strengthened by noting that there are other capacities that do admit of degrees that interact with the no degree capacities. Individuals who equally have the capacity to set an end may well differ in the quality of their end-setting performances. Some are able to set ends more reasonably than others. But these differences in performance do not gainsay the fundamental equal capacity. It is just that having a high or low level of associated capacities enables or impedes successful performance. So the fact that individuals differ in their abilities to do arithmetic and more complex mathematical operations that affect their ability to make rational choices should have no tendency to obscure the more basic and morally status-conferring equality in the capacity of each person to make choices. In response: First of all, if several of these no degree capacities were relevant to moral status, one must possess all to be at the top status, and some individuals possess more and others fewer of the relevant capacities, a problem of hierarchy, though perhaps a manageable one, would emerge anew. More important, I doubt there is a plausible no degree capacity that can do the work this argument assigns to it. Take the capacity to set ends and make choices. Consider a being that has little brain power, but over the course of its life can set just a few ends and make just a few choices based on considering two or three simple alternatives. It sets one end (lunch, now) per decade three times over the course of its life. If there is a capacity to set ends, period, not admitting of degrees, this being possesses it. The point is that it is clearly not merely the capacity to set ends, but something more complex that renders a being a person in our eyes. What matters is whether or not one has the capacity to set sensible ends and to pick among alternative end at a reasonable pace, sorting through complex considerations that bear on the choice of ends and responding in a rational way to these considerations. But this capacity, along with any similar or related capacity that might be urged as a substitute for it, definitely admits of degrees. The same point would hold if we pointed to free will or moral autonomy as the relevant person-determining capacity. It is not the ability to choose an end on ground of consideration for moral considerations merely, but the ability to do this in a nuanced and fine-grained responsive way, that is plausibly deemed to entitle a being to personhood status. In general, we single out rationality, the ability to respond appropriately to reasons, as the capacity that is pertinent to personhood, by itself or in conjunction with related abilities, and rationality so understood admits of degrees. Kant may well have held that the uses of reason that are required in order to have a well-functioning conscience that can tell right from wrong are not very sophisticated and are well within the reach of all non crazy non feebleminded humans. Ordinary intelligence suffices. His discussions of applying the categorical imperative test certainly convey this impression. But commentators tend to agree that there is no simple all-purpose moral test that easily answers all significant moral questions. Thus Christine Korsgaard cautions that the categorical imperative test is not a â€Å"Geiger counter† for detecting the presence of moral duties, and Barbara Herman observes that the application of the categorical imperative test to cases cannot be a mechanical procedure but relies on prior moral understanding by the agent and on the agent’s capacity to make relevant moral discriminations and judgments and to characterize her own proposed maxims perspicuously. These comments confirm what should be clear in any event: Moral problems can be complex and difficult, and there is no discernible upper bound to the complexity of the reasoning required to master and perhaps solve them. But suppose I do the best I can with my limited cognitive resources, I make a judgment as to what is morally right, however misguided, and I am conscientiously resolved to do what I take to be morally right. The capacity to do what is right can be factored into two components, the ability to decide what is right and the ability to dispose oneself to do what one thinks is right. One might hold the latter capacity to be the true locus of human dignity and worth. Resisting temptation and doing what one thinks is right is noble and admirable even if one’s conscience is a broken thermometer. However, one might doubt that being disposed to follow one’s conscience is unambiguously good when one’s conscience is seriously in error. For one thing, moral flaws such as a lazy indisposition to hard thinking and an obsequious deference toward established power and authority might play a large role in fixing the content of one’s judgments of conscience. A conceited lack of healthy skepticism about one’s cognitive powers might be a determinant of one’s strong disposition to do whatever one thinks to be right. Even if Kant is correct that the good will, the will directed unfailingly at what is truly right, has an absolute and unconditional worth, it is doubtful that the would-be good will, a will directed toward what it takes to be right on whatever flimsy or solid grounds appeal to it, has such worth. Take an extreme case: Suppose a particular person has a would-be good will that is always in error. This could be strong or righteous, so that the agent always does what he thinks is right, or weak and corrupt, so that the agent never does what she thinks is right. If the will is always in error, the odds of doing the right thing are increased if the would-be good will is weak and corrupt. Some might value more highly on consequential grounds the weak and corrupt erroneous will, even though the strong and righteous invariably erroneous will always shines like a jewel in its own right. And some might hold that quite aside from the expected consequences, acting on a seriously erroneous judgment of right is inherently of lesser worth than acting on correct judgment of right. Even if the disposition to do what one thinks morally right is unassailable, its purported value does not provide a sound basis for asserting the equal worth and dignity of human persons. The capacity to act conscientiously itself varies empirically across persons like any other valued capacity. A favorable genetic endowment and favorable early socialization experiences bestow more of this capacity on some persons and less on others. If we think of an agent’s will as disposed more or less strongly to do what she conscientiously believes to be right, different individuals with the same disposition will experience good and bad luck in facing temptations that exceed their resolve. Even if we assume that agents always have freedom of the will, it will be difficult to different degrees for different persons to exercise their free will as conscience dictates. Moreover, individuals will vary in their psychological capacities to dispose their will to do what conscience dictates. One might retreat further to the claim that all persons equally can try to dispose their will to do what is right, even if they will succeed in this enterprise to different degrees. But the ability to try is also a psychological capacity that we should expect would vary empirically across persons. At times Kant seems to appeal to epistemic grounds in reasoning from the goodness of the good will to the equal worth and dignity of all human persons. We don’t know what anyone’s inner motivations are, even our own, so the judgment that anyone is firmly disposed to do what is right can never be confirmed. But surely the main issue is whether humans are so ordered that we ought to accord them fundamental equal moral status, not whether, given our beliefs, it is reasonable for us to act as if they are so ordered. The idea that there is a threshold of rational agency capacity such that any being with a capacity above the threshold is a person equal in fundamental moral status to all other persons prompts a worry about how to identify this threshold non arbitrarily. It might seem that only the difference between nil capacity and some capacity would preclude the skeptical doubt that the line set at any positive level of capacity could just as well have been set higher or lower. Regarding the proposal to identify any above-zero capacity as qualifying one for personhood, we imagine a being with barely a glimmer of capacity to perceive the good and the right and to dispose its will toward their attainment. The difference between none and some might be infinitesimal, after all. However, a threshold need not be razor-thin. Perhaps there is a line below which beings with rational capacities in this range are definitely not persons and a higher level such that all beings with capacities above this level are definitely persons. Beings with rational capacities that fall in the middle range or gray area between these levels are near-persons. The levels can be set sufficiently far apart that the difference between scoring at the lower and the higher levels is undeniably of moral significance. But the difference between the rational capacities of the beings just above the higher line, call them marginal persons, and the beings at the upper end of the scale who have saintly genius capacities, is not thereby shown to be insignificant. At the lower end we might imagine persons like the villains depicted in the Dirty Harry Clint Eastwood movies. These unfortunates are not shown as having moral capacities which they are flouting, but rather as bad by nature, and perhaps not entitled to full human rights. No doubt this is a crass outlook, but the question remains whether the analysis we can offer of the basis for human equality generates a refutation of it. Suppose someone asserts that the difference between the rational agency capacities of the most perceptive saints and the most unreflective and animalistic villains defines a difference in fundamental moral status that is just as important for morality as the difference between the rational agency capacities of near-persons and marginal persons. What mistake does this claim embody? COMMENTS ON KANTS ETHICAL THEORY Because we so commonly take it for granted that moral values are intimately connected with the goal of human well-being or happiness, Kants insistence that these two concepts are absolutely independent makes it difficult to grasp his point of view and easy to misunderstand it. The following comments are intended to help the you to avoid the most common misunderstandings and appreciate the sort of outlook that characterizes what Kant takes to be the heart of the ethical life. Kants ethical theory is often cited as the paradigm of a deontological theory. Although the theory certainly can be seriously criticized, it remains probably the finest analysis of the bases of the concepts of moral principle and moral obligation. Kants endeavor to ground moral duty in the nature of the human being as essentially a rational being marks him as the last great Enlightenment thinker. In spite of the fact that his critical philosophy in epistemology and metaphysics brought an end to The Age of Reason, in ethics his attempt to derive the form of any ethical duty from the very nature of a rational being is the philosophical high water mark of the Enlightenments vision of humanity as essentially and uniquely rational. What Kant aims to provide is a metaphysics of morals in the sense of an analysis of the grounds of moral obligation in the nature of a rational being. In other words, Kant aims to deduce his ethical theory purely by a priori reasoning from the concept of what it is to be a human person as a rational agent. The fact that people have the faculty of being able to use reason to decide how to act expresses the fundamental metaphysical principle -the basis or foundation in the nature of reality- on which Kants ethical theory is erected. Kant begins his treatise, The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals with the famous dramatic sentence: Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which can be called good without qualification, except a good will. 1. What does Kant mean by good without qualification? Obviously people try to seek and avoid many different sorts of things; those things which they seek they call good, while those they try to avoid, they call bad. These goods which people seek may be divided into those which are sought as means to some further end and those which they seek as good as ends in themselves. Obviously some things may be good as means to one end and bad as means to some other end. Different persons, motivated by different ends, will thus find different things good and bad (relative to their different ends). More food is good to a starving man, but it is bad to one overweight. In order for something to be good without qualification it must not be merely good as means to one end but bad as means to some other end. It must be sought as good totally independently of serving as a means to something else; it must be good in-itself. Furthermore, while one thing may be good as means relative to a particular end, that end becomes a means relative to some other end. So a college diploma may be sought as good as a means for the end of a higher-paying job. And a higher-paying job may be good as a means to increased financial security; and increased financial security may be good as a means to obtaining the necessities of life as well as a few of its luxuries. However, if we seek A only for the sake of B, and B only for the sake of C, etc. , then there is never a justification for seeking A at the beginning of such a series unless there is something at the end of that series which we seek as a good in-itself not merely as means to some further end. Such an ultimate end would then be an absolute rather than a relative good. Kant means that a good will is good without qualification as such an absolute good in-itself, universally good in every instance and never merely as good to some yet further end. 2. Why is a good will the only thing which is universally absolutely good? Kants point is that to be universally and absolutely good, something must be good in every instance of its occurrence. He argues that all those things which people call good (including intelligence, wit, judgment, courage, resolution, perseverance, power, riches, honor, health, and even happiness itself) can become extremely bad and mischievous if the will which is to make use of them is not good. In other words, if we imagine a bad person (i. e. one who willed or wanted to do evil), who had all of these so-called goods (intelligence, wit, etc. ), these very traits would make only that much worse his will to do what is wrong. (We would get the criminal master-mind of the comic books. ) Even health often also cited as a good in- itself may serve to make a person insensitive and indifferent to the lack of good health in others. 3. Isnt happiness such a universal, absolute good in-itself? Kant answers clearly, No. However, many philosophers (the ones we call eudaemonists) have assumed the obvious answer to be Yes. All ancient eudaemonistic ethical theories as well as modern utilitarian theories virtually define happiness as the absolute end of all ethical behavior. Such eudaemonistic ethical theories are attractive because of the fact that they make it easy to answer the question Why should I do what is morally right? For any eudaemonistic theory the answer will always be Because the morally right action is always ultimately in the interest of your own happiness. Since these theories generally assume that people really are motivated by a desire for their own happiness, their only problem is to show that the morally right action really does serve as the best means to obtain the end of happiness. Once you are led to see this, so such theories assume, the question Why should I do what is morally right? is automatically answered. Kant totally rejects this eudaemonistic way of ethical theorizing; he calls decisions made according to such a calculation of what produces your own happiness prudential decisions and he distinguishes them sharply from ethical decisions. This is not because Kant thinks we are not motivated by a desire for happiness, in fact like the ancient philosophers, he takes it for granted that we are; however, such motivation cannot be that which makes an action ethically right or wrong. The fact that an action might lead to happiness cannot be the grounds of moral obligation. Kant regards the notion of happiness as both too indefinite and too empirical to serve as the grounds for moral obligation why we ought to do something. In the first place it is too indefinite because all people have very different sorts of talents, tastes and enjoyments which mean in effect that one persons happiness may be another persons misery. This is because the concept is empirical in the sense that the only way you can know whether what you seek will actually serve to bring you happiness is by experience. As Kant points out, it is impossible that the most clear-sighted [man] should frame to himself a definite conception of what he really wills in this. Since we cannot know a priori before an action whether it really will be conducive to our happiness (because the notion is so indefinite that even the most clear-sighted amongst us cannot know everything that must form part of his own happiness) the desire for our own happiness cannot serve as a motive to determine our will to do this or that action. Moreover, Kant observes that even the general well-being and contentment with ones condition that is called happiness, can inspire pride, and often presumption, if there is not a good will to correct the influence of these on the mind. In other words happiness cannot be good without qualification for if we imagine it occurring in a person totally devoid of the desire to do what is right, it could very well lead to all sorts of immoral actions. 4. What does Kant mean by a good will? To act out of a good will for Kant means to act out of a sense of moral obligation or duty. In other words, the moral agent does a particular action not because of what it produces (its consequences) in terms of human experience, but because he or she recognizes by reasoning that it is morally the right thing to do and thus regards him or herself as having a moral duty or obligation to do that action. One may of course as an added fact get some pleasure or other gain from doing the right thing, but to act morally, one does not do it for the sake of its desirable consequences, but rather because one understands that it is morally the right thing to do. In this respect Kants view towards morality parallels the Christians view concerning obedience to Gods commandments, according to which the Christian obeys Gods commandments simply because God commands them, not for the sake of rewards in heaven after death or from fear of punishment in hell. In a similar way, for Kant the rational being does what is morally right because he recognizes himself as having a moral duty to do so rather than for anything he or she may get out of it. 5. When does one act from a motive of doing ones duty? Kant answers that we do our moral duty when our motive is determined by a principle recognized by reason rather than the desire for any expected consequence or emotional feeling which may cause us to act the way we do. The will is defined as that which provides the motives for our actions. Obviously many times we are motivated by specific desires or emotions. I may act the way I do from a feeling of friendship for a particular individual, or from desire for a particular consequence. I may also be motivated by particular emotions of fear, or envy, or pity, etc. When I act in these ways, I am motivated by a desire for a particular end; in Kants vocabulary I am said to act out of inclination. Insofar as an action is motivated by inclination, the motive to do it is contingent upon the desire for the particular end which the action is imagined to produce. Thus as different rational agents might have different inclinations, there is no one motive from inclination common to all rational beings. Kant distinguishes acts motivated by inclination from those done on principle. For example someone may ask why I did a certain thing, and point out that it brought me no gain, or perhaps even made life a bit less pleasant; to which I might reply, I know I do not stand to gain by this action, but I do it because of the principle of the thing. For Kant, this sort of state of mind is the essence of the moral consciousness. When I act on principle the sole factor determining my motive is that this particular action exemplifies a particular case falling under a general law or maxim. For Kant the mental process by which the actor understands that a particular case falls under a certain principle is an exercise in reasoning, or to be more precise, what Kant called practical reason, reason used as a guide to action. (Pure Reason is reason used to attain certainty, or what Kant called scientific knowledge. ) Since to have moral worth an action must be done on principle, and to see that a certain principle applies to a particular action requires the exercise of reason, only rational beings can be said to behave morally. 6. Why does Kant believe that to have moral worth an action must be done on principle rather than inclination? Kants argument here may seem strange to the contemporary outlook, for it assumes that everything in nature is designed to serve a purpose. Now it is an obvious fact that human beings do have a faculty of practical reason, reason applied to the guidance of actions. (Kant is of course fully aware the people often fail to employ this faculty; i. e. they act non-rationally (without reason) or even irrationally (against what reason dictates); but he intends that his ethical theory is normative, prescribing how people ought to behave, rather than descriptive of how they actually do behave.) If everything in nature serves some purpose then the faculty of practical reason must have some purpose. Kant argues that this purpose cannot be merely the attainment of some specific desired end, or even the attainment of happiness in general, for if it were, it would have been far better for nature simply to have endowed persons with an instinct to achieve this end, as is the case with the non- rational animals. Therefore, the fact that human beings have a faculty of practical reason cannot be explained by claiming that it allows them to attain some particular end. So the fact that reason can guide our actions, but cannot do so for the sake of achieving some desired end, leads Kant to the conclusion that the function of practical reason must be to allow humans as rational beings to apply general principles to particular instances of action, or in other words to engage in moral reasoning as a way of determining ones moral obligation: what is the right action to do. Thus we act morally only when we act rationally to apply a moral principle to determine the motive of our action. 7. Do all persons have the same moral duties? According to Kant only rational beings can be said to act morally. Reason for Kant (as for all the Enlightenment thinkers) is the same for all persons; in other words there isnt a poor mans reason versus a rich mans reason or a white mans reason versus a black mans reason. All persons are equal as potentially rational beings. Therefore, if reason dictates that one person, in a particular situation, has a moral duty to do a particular thing, then any person, in that same situation, would equally well have a duty to do that same thing. In this sense Kants reasoning parallels the way in which stoicism led Roman lawyers to the conclusion that all citizens are equal before the law. Thus Kant is a moral absolutist in the sense that all persons have the same moral duties, for all persons are equal as rational beings. But this absolutism does not mean that Kant holds that our moral duties are not relative to the situation in which we find ourselves. Thus it is quite possible for Kant to conclude that in one particular situation I may have a duty to keep my promise, but in another situation (in which, for example, keeping a promise conflicts with a higher duty) I may equally well be morally obligated to break a promise. 8. Why is it that actions done for the sake of some end cannot have moral worth? Since what ones moral duties are in a particular situation are the same for all persons, ones moral duties must be independent of the particular likes and dislikes of the moral agent. Now any action which is motivated by the desire for some particular end presupposes that the agent has the desire for that end. However, from the simple concept of a rational being it is not possible to deduce that any particular rational being would have any particular desired ends. Most people, of course, desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain, but there is no logical contradiction involved in the notion of a rational being who does not desire pleasure or perhaps who desires pain. Thus reason does not dictate that any particular rational being has any particular end. But if the desire for a particular end gave an action its moral worth, then only those rational beings who happened in fact to desire that end would regard such actions as good, while those that desired to avoid such an end, would regard the action as bad. (Thus for example eudaemonistic theories which assume the end of achieving happiness is what gives an action its moral value, would serve to induce only those beings who happened to have the desire for happiness to behave morally. For those rational beings who happened to desire to avoid happiness, there would be no incentive to behave morally and what appears good to the happiness-seeker will appear positively bad to one who seeks to avoid happiness. ) But, as we have seen above, Kants absolutism reaches the conclusion that moral obligation is the same for all persons. Thus the ground of moral obligation, what makes an action a moral duty, cannot lie in the end which that act produces. 9. What does reason tell us about the principle that determines the morally dutiful motive? Since Kant has ruled out the ends (i. e. the consequences) which an act produces as well as any motive but those determined by the application of principle as determining moral duty, he is faced now with the task of deriving the fundamental principles of his ethical theory solely from the concept of what it is to be a rational being. He now argues (in a very obscure manner) that from this notion of what is demanded by being rational, he can deduce that it would be irrational to act on any principle which would not apply equally to any other actor in the same situation. In other words, Kant claims that reason dictates that the act we are morally obligated to do is one which is motivated by adherence to a principle which could, without inconsistency, be held to apply to any (and all) rational agents. This fundamental ethical principle, which is commonly called The Categorical Imperative, Kant summarizes with the statement that I am never to act otherwise than so that I could also will that my maxim become a universal law. Kants claim that Reason demands the moral agent to act on a universal law thus in many ways parallels Jesus dictum that God commands that those who love Him obey The Golden Rule. 10. What is a categorical imperative? Any statement of moral obligation which I make the principle of my action (my maxim in Kants vocabulary), in the context of a specific situation, constitutes an imperative. I might, in such a situation, choose to act on a statement of the form, If I desire some specific end (e. g. happiness, maximum pleasure, power, etc. ), then I ought to do such and such an action. In doing so I would be acting on what Kant calls a hypothetical imperative. However, Kant has already ruled out ends as the grounds for moral obligation; thus hypothetical imperatives cannot serve as the basis for determining my moral duty. However, if I act on a principle which has the form, In circumstances of such and such a character, I ought to.