Issues and Debate of Anthropogenic Climate Change - 763 Words

In the last few decades, the issue of anthropogenic climate change (ACC)—human caused climate change—has come to the forefront of public, political, and scientific awareness. There has been much debate regarding the legitimacy of ACC, despite an article from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration stating: Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position. With this in mind, it is important to examine the rationale behind this seemingly unfounded opposition to ACC. Organized Climate Change Denial by Dunlap and McCright (2011) introduces this rationale and gives a face to this denial. They present the idea of a â€Å"denial machine†. This machine is made of various different actors including conservative media, fossil fuel industries, and various front groups—these will be discussed in greater detail within the paper. Essentially, the motivations of the various cogs (actors) vary from economic to ideological to personal, yet overall they rally around shared opposition to â€Å"governmental regulatory efforts to ameliorate climate change, such as restrictions to carbon emissions.† (source) A large factor in governmental regulatory efforts is public opinion and, not coincidentally, there were significant declines in public belief of global warming in 2009 and 2010. This spreadShow MoreRelatedCO2 is NOT Pollution Essay example1492 Words   |  6 Pagesunderstanding of our global climate, most scientists agree that human action s have had a warming effect on the global climate (IPCC, 2010). This idea of anthropogenic global climate change is the general consensus in the scientific community according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These views were increasingly challenged, mostly by non-scientists, in late 2009 when servers owned by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were hacked. Emails between climate scientists and other documentsRead More Climate Change: The Sciences, the Media, and Politics Essay1468 Words   |  6 Pagesspheres of information and action are invariably linked when discussing complex global issues like climate change. However, the presentation and resolution of disagreement within the three spheres is incredibly independent. The many ways that climate change, specifically the debate on the existence of climate change, is portrayed within these spheres can greatly affect public emotion, knowledge, and policy of such an issue. This is particularly evident in the Un ited States (US) (Boykoff Boykoff, 2007)Read MoreThe Debate On Global Warming1239 Words   |  5 PagesThere is much controversy concerning global warming. The controversy takes the form of public debate that centers on five issues (Mazo 30). The first issue is whether or not global warming is occurring. The second issue is whether global warming is real and extent it has occurred in the recent decades. The third question relates to the causes of global warming. The fourth question centers on the effects of global warming. The fifth question is whether any action needs to be taken to contain globalRead MoreHuman Induced And Proceeds At A Rate1246 Words   |  5 Pages It is no surprise to anyone that Earth’s climate has experienced significant changes throughout history. Over the past million years, planet have been through several changes between glacier advance and retreat whereas the last one ended seven thousand years ago followed by the beginning of modern climate er a and rise of human civilization (NASA, 2010). Majority of these changes were caused by relatively small variations in the orbit of the planet that altered the amount of energy that Earth receivedRead MoreWays Of Knowing Essay1086 Words   |  5 Pagesthe topic of climate change has become a controversial debate between those who support the claim and those who believe it does not exist. Climate change, simply put, is the change in distribution of weather patterns that extend over a longer period of time. One of the major debates is whether global climate change is due primarily to anthropogenic, also known as man-made, causes or it is all part of a natural cycle. This argument introduces bigger topics that are related to the issue, such as theRead MoreThe Debate Over Presidential Debates1079 Words   |  5 PagesWhat topics are labeled important enough to be talked about during presidential debates? Topics such as terrorism and national security; the economy; jobs and employment; and the Affordable Care Act and Healthcare all managed to be the center of attention during all debates. What topics were almost entirely ignored? Topics such as gun policy; social issues like LGBT rights and abortion; and the environment and climate change were put to the side to instead talk about Hillary Clinton’s email scandal orRead MoreIndirect Scientific Measurements Of Atmospheric Composition Over The Last 10000 Years Have Informed The Climate Change Debate1580 Words   |  7 Pagesinformed the climate change debate†. There are both direct and indirect ways of measuring atmospheric composition. Direct scientific measures are used to gain quantitative data which primarily use scientific tools and equipment to measure the actual climatic changes, be it a change in greenhouse gas concentrations or an increase in climatic temperature. Indirect scientific measurements of climate change often measure a separate factor which may provide some evidence of climate change in the past.Read MoreThe Effects Of Fossil Fuels On The Environment1734 Words   |  7 Pagesgenerations to global catastrophe.† The point of no return metaphorically represents the place in ones journey that must be continued with no alternative routes or ability to make change. In consort with President Obama, many scientists believe the point of no return could occur if significant efforts aren’t made soon. Anthropogenic (human influenced) activities in comparison to natural influences have more of an impact on the environm ent. Since the industrial era carbon concentrations in the atmosphereRead MoreThe Debate On Global Climate Change1605 Words   |  7 PagesThe debate on global climate change argues that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are too small to substantially change the earth’s climate and that the planet is capable of absorbing those increases. It is contended that warming over the 20th century resulted primarily from natural processes such as fluctuations in the sun s heat and ocean currents. But the theory of human-caused global climate change is based on questionable measurements, faulty climate models, and misleading science. InRead MoreThe Debate over Global Warming1406 Words   |  6 PagesKnowing that this isn’t a threat that will peak in our life time or even the next generation’s causes political progression to move slowly. If we misinterpret the climate change now when it’s shifting more noticeably, the time available to effectively respond to the issue could end. In order to react appropriately to the world’s changing climate, we must educate members of society in the distinct knowledge that humans have direct influence on the warming of the planet. The fundamental disagreement when

Who Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest - 2161 Words

A Crazy, Normal Perspective of: One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest In One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the concept of insanity is proven as a state consipred by society, but is represented as an illness that one individual grants on another. Kesey’s writes his novel through the mind of Chief Bromden, a patient in a mental hospital, who becomes inspired to rebel against the ward by a character named McMurphy. Through characters like McMurphy and Chief Bromden, Kesey shows that the men are not mentally ill, instead they are disturbed by the corrupted treatment from Nurse Ratched. McMurphy and Bromden â€Å"are resocialized to play a passive and apathetic role rather than an active one in an effort to change troublesome patterns†¦show more content†¦The Chief fools everyone by playing deaf and dumb, so the patients in the ward talk â€Å"out loud about their hate secrets when I m [Bromden] nearby because they think I m deaf and dumb. Everybody thinks so.† With Bromden’s intelligence he notes that, â€Å" If somebody’d of come in and took a look, men watching a blank TV, a fifty-year –old woman hollering and squealing at the back of their heads about discipline and order and recriminations, they’d of thought the whole bunch was crazy as loons.† because he knows that the ward makes the men crazy, not their own minds. Watching a blank TV because Nurse Ratched shouts at you too is a over exaggerated version of reality, and how people like political leaders give the orders while we all obey. In the ward the Chief is taken over by a fog of fear that consequently began in his time in the ward because he fears society in which he has not been able to face in many years. In the fog dreams the reader is able to learn about society through the metaphors of his dreams because they all have the same meaning: society craves conformity. Being a tall Indian man, Bromden feels out of place in the ward, so he steps away from others and becomes deaf and dumb because he feels as though he doesn’t fit. Chief Bromden’s fog dreams give the reader

British Architecture Free Essays

Finally, the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, currently known as RCHME was added to this body on April 1st, 1999. English Heritage’s principal role is as the steward of over 400 significant diversified, historical and archaeological sites. Concerning the ownership of these sites, they are principally owned by the body of government or by private that are managed under guardianship contracts. We will write a custom essay sample on British Architecture or any similar topic only for you Order Now Its major missions are to watch the conservation of the buildings, to give advice, to register and to protect the historic environment. Finally, English Heritage owns a public archive: the National Monuments Records better- known as the English Heritage Archive. English Heritage improves its performances year atter year by asking any various groups and members ot the public to take part in consultations and web-based surveys in order to give views on specific issues. 1 1] English Heritage is governed by the Commission which is chaired by Baroness Andrews since 2009. The Commission provides the strategic direction of the organization within the policy and resources framework agreed with Government. The Commission is composed by 17 people who are called commissioners and are appointed by the Secretary of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. [1 1] http://www. english-heritage. org. uk/ The Commission’s role is also to delegate operational management to the Chief Executive, Dr Simon Thurley who is supported by an Executive Board of four directors. Moreover, numerous advisory committees and panels advise the commission and administer specialist areas such as The London Advisory Committee or Battlefields Panel. English Heritage has the status of I-JK Government’s adviser and a statutory consultant on all aspects concerning the environment and historic sites. Archeology on land and under water is topics considered by this organization such as historic buildings sites and numerous designated landscapes and their historic elements. English Heritage also has the mission to gather official statistics for the Government by publishing the annual Heritage at Risk survey. Its main goal is to insure the conservation of heritage of England in order to offer future generations the benefit of enjoying this fantastic heritage. English Heritage main precise missions are: Managing the national collection of sites, monuments, archive records and photographs Giving grants national and local organizations for the conservation of historic buildings, monuments and landscapes. Advising central UK government on which English heritage assets are nationally important and should be protected by designation Administering and maintaining the register of England’s listed buildings, cheduled monuments, registered battlefields, conservation areas and protected parks and gardens known as â€Å"The National Heritage List for England†. How to cite British Architecture, Papers

Contextual Factors of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Question: Discuss about theContextual Factors of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Answer: Introduction: All across the world, enterprises are experiencing a revolution. The international competition has become fierce, costs of materials and energy are rising, new technologies are being developed and there is an increase in the use of computers and automation. All these developments pose serious challenges and demand a positive response from the management as well as the entrepreneur for the enterprise to survive and also prosper. Thus, the need for entrepreneurship and innovation has turned out to be more pressing today than ever before and the rewards for successful processes and products are high. In light of this fact, this essay will give an overview of entrepreneurship and innovation, discussing their significance and how they can enhance the performance of the supermarket retailer Woolworths and find out the practical implications by actually applying it in business settings. Overview of Innovation and Entrepreneurship The past two decades have seen innovation becoming a major driving force for not only the survival of businesses but also in giving shape to competition. It is a process which is responsible for turning the best ideas into reality. Creative ideas are triggered by innovative events resulting in a number of innovative events. Innovation usually occurs at three different levels which are revolution, renewal and resilience (Hamel Vlikangas, 2003). Revolution is the creative destruction path that the other competitors utilise to change the industry fundamentals. Resilience is continuously reconstructing by working on behaviours, processes and values. For staying in businesses today, companies need to be resilient. Renewal on the other hand forms refers to the change with respect to an incumbent in the industry, rethinking along with the business model that exists. Renewal is the key strategy for the firms as they look forward to get past their competitors by introducing new approaches of business by bringing in changes in the way the business is being operated. Ultimately, the company dreams of becoming a revolutionary by changing the entire industrys nature. The nnnovation that follows can be sustaining, disruptive, open or closed. Innovation involves taking risks, providing solutions that are non-standard, unconventional practices of teamwork and all these cannot be managed easily by formal systems of control and hence organisational structure and effective cultural management is crucial for mobilisation of creativity as well as innovation in the organisation (Tushman, Smith, Wood, Westerman, OReilly, 2006). The entrepreneurs are defined more by what they are able to achieve rather than what they are. They make use of innovation for exploiting or for creating changes and opportunities with the aim of making profits (Burns, 2008). It is the foremost mindset for identifying an opportunity and pursuing it for producing economic success or newer values. Executives who are successful possess the learning regarding mastering uncertainty by means of their entrepreneurial leadership skills (McGrath McMillan, 2000). Five main elements are present which include creation of a climate that provides support to constant searching for opportunities, framing, stocking a register of opportunities, focusing, and promotion of adaptive execution. Sound knowledge of the markets along with the products and services that are driven by the customer demands are the best predictors regarding the success of a new business (Garvin, 2004). Assessment of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship and Innovation is important because they lead to the creation of new ideas. The process of innovation also transforms the new ideas into the ones which create value. Innovation is not possible without being creative. Innovation as a process is significant to the organisation as it is able to combine both ideas and knowledge to form a new value. In the absence of innovation and entrepreneurship, the organisation and whatever is provided by it become obsolete rapidly. Entrepreneurial activity is dependent on the innovation process (Thompson, 2001). It is usually said that retail never stops moving. Retailers have always provided services to consumers who have not only craved more but have also provided services that are cheaper and of better quality and they have the willingness to go anywhere in order to get it. Although the retail of today is vastly different from the time it started, the need for being able to differentiate in the face of competition by means of innovation is asimportant today as it was earlier. The growth in the significance of e-commerce led to the creation of a storm for the brick-and-mortar retailers. In order to succeed in such a scenario, the options before the retailers was increasing the number of times the consumers visited the stores, increase their basket size or do both these. This needed innovative strategies by the retailers (European Commission, 2013). Innovation is highly significant wherein the same range of products is offered by all the grocery and mass retailers like Woolworths which makes switching over to the competitors easier for the consumers. Through innovation, Woolworths will be able to gain an edge in price value, shopability, assortment or choice, convenience and also in driving brand equity. Entrepreneurship and innovation capture the attention and interest of the consumers and thus not only bring in the customers who are new but also increase the loyalty of the existing customers. However, competitors can copy innovation quickly and hence in order to stay ahead in the race, continuous innovation is essential. Entrepreneurship and innovation has become all the more significant for Woolworths as recently the group posted a half-year loss of $972.7 million due to the brand challenges and the rise in the levels of competition in the sector of supermarkets from both local as well as international rivals. In such a scenario it is vital for the organisation to recapture its innovation spirit and also maintain its focus on the customers (Cameroon, 2016). The company realises that innovation can be driven by issues related to the environment and society. The reason for this is that customers want to have an increased understanding regarding where the products are coming from so that they are sure that the products are ethically sourced and cannot cause harm to the environment. Innovation is thus also important for integration of sustainability into the day to day activities of the organisation (Woolworths, 2010). Enhancing the Business Practices by Using Entrepreneurship and Innovation Innovation is regarded among the most significant sources as far as sustainable competitive advantage is concerned in an environment that is changing rapidly as it results in the improvements of processes as well as products, helps in making constant advancements which increases the chances of the firms survival, allows the firms to register rapid growth, increases their efficiency and finally attains more profitability in comparison to the forms that do not innovate (Bartel Garud, 2009 ; Jimenez Sanz-Valle, 2011; Standing Kiniti, 2011). In order to be successful in the long term, Woolworths needs to go in for enhancement of business practices with innovations that are sustainable. Sustaining innovations target the high end as well as the demanding customers with performances which are better than the ones that were available prior to it. These innovations are incremental year after year and are developed by all the good organisations and presented to their customers. These innovations might be technologically very difficult but still the organisations divert the resources and provide proper training to the employees for adopting it. For winning the battle of sustaining technology, against the competitors, Woolworths needs such sort of innovations. Such a strategy will involve products which are better and which can be sold to the consumers at profits that are high. This will help the business to bring improvements in its quality, effectiveness and outcomes (Christensen, Raynor, McDonald, 2015). Similarly, the adoption of entrepreneurship and innovation by Woolworths should be in such a manner that it enhances the business practices of the company. It can be used for improving the quality and effectiveness as well as the outcomes of the business. The supermarket retailer can either create new products or bring in qualitative improvements in the products that are already in existence they can develop new sources of procuring the raw materials through innovations in its value chain (Vyas, 2009). It can also go for acquiring and building upon technological competence that is distinct. The transformation of the resources that are possessed by the company can take place by the use of innovative capabilities (Therrien, Doloreux, Chamberlin, 2011). Alternatively, the company can also come up with new ideas which will facilitate the launching of new products (Rubera Kirca, 2012). In recent years there has been a growth in the concept of onmichannel retailing wherein the effort is made to integrate the store channel and the online channel for propelling the growth of business. This innovation has been critical for the creation of customer experiences that are consistent across the different channels. Although Woolworths had started with this innovation, it has to make further progress as along with enhancing the shopping experience of the customers, the availability of the wider variety of products and more discounts can increase the effectiveness of the company (Team, 2015). Shoppers can be persuaded to do something different through entrepreneurship and innovation. They can be persuaded to change, to move, to try or to buy something new. It will enhance the business practices by offering the consumers with new things (Johannessen, 2008 ; Mumford Licuanan, 2004). These are among the various options available to the company for enhancing business practices through entrepreneurship and innovation for keeping its customers happy. Practice or Application of Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Business Settings In order to be applied successfully in business settings and achieve success, the process of innovation needs to be an open one. This means that the firm should be in a position of commercialising external as well as internal ideas by the deployment of both in-house as well as outside pathways to the market. The business should be in a position of commercialising internal ideas by means of the channels which exist outside of the business that they currently have so that they are able to generate value for themselves (Chesbrough, 2003). To apply entrepreneurship and innovation in the settings of business, it is important that a strategy is in place. The strategy in such cases is asset of mutually reinforcing along with coherent policies which are aimed towards the achievement of a particular competitive goal. Alignment is promoted among the organisations diverse groups by means of a good strategy. It also helps in the clarification of priorities and objectives and helping in focusing the efforts surrounding them. It is essential for the company to define its overall strategy of business and also specify the way in which the different functions of RD, finance and operations will provide support to it. In the absence of a proper strategy of innovation, it will be difficult to apply innovation as the various parts of the organisation may end up having priorities which are conflicting even in the case a clear strategy related to business might be present (Pisano, 2015). Conclusion The easy accessibility to the internet along with opportunities it gives for trying things signifies a continued evolution in the market as a result of entrepreneurship and new innovations. The large retail outlets like Woolworths that are well-organised possess a huge headstart as they are already aware of how to understand their customers habits related to shopping and building of trust and also deliver value through the leverage of the buying power of their own. The inclination of a firm towards innovation is of great significance in competitive environments for obtaining high degree of competitive advantage (McAdam and Keogh, 2004). However, the main fact that Woolworths needs to keep in mind is that irrespective of the technological changes that might take place in future, it has to always maintain the focus on the consumers while innovating in order to enhance its business practices. Hence, the focus has to be on the customers and they have to be kept satisfied. References Bartel, C., Garud, R. (2009). The role of narratives in sustaining organizational innovation,. Organization Science , 20(1), 107-117. Burns, P. (2008). Corporate Entrepreneurship: Building the Entrepreneurial Organisation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Cameroon, N. (2016, February 26). Woolworths' new CEO pitches innovation and customer focus as supermarket posts $972.7m loss. CMO . Chesbrough, H. (2003). The era of open innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review , 35-41. Christensen, C., Raynor, M., McDonald, R. (2015). What is Disruptive Innovation. . Retrieved September 3, 2016, from HBR: hbr.org website at https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation European Commission. (2013). Six Perspectives of Retail Innovation. Retrieved September 3, 2016, from European Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/Six_perspectives_on_Retail_Innovation_EG_on%20Retail_Sector_Innovation_web.pdf Garvin, D. (2004, July-August). What every CEO should know about creating new businesses. Harvard Business Review , pp. 18-21. Hamel, G., Vlikangas, L. (2003). The Quest for Resilience. Retrieved September 3, 2016, from Harvard Business Review: hbr.org website at https://hbr.org/2003/09/the-quest-for-resilience Jimenez, J., Sanz-Valle, R. (2011). Innovation, organizational learning and performance. Journal of Business Research , 49(1), 408-417. Johannessen, J. (2008). Organisational innovation as part of knowledge management. International Journal of Information Management , 28(5), 403-412. McGrath, R., McMillan, I. (2000). The Entrepreneurial Mindset. Summary. New York, NY.: Columbia University. Mumford, D., Licuanan, B. (2004). Leading for innovation: Conclusions, issues and directions. The leadership quarterly , 163-171. Pisano, G. (2015, June). You Need an Innovation Strategy. Harvard Business Review . Rubera, G., Kirca, A. (2012). Firm innovativeness and its performance outcomes: A meta-analytic review and theoretical integration. Journal of Marketing , 76(3), 130-147. Standing, C., Kiniti, S. (2011). How can organizations ase wikis for innovation? Technovation , 31(7), 287-295. Team, T. (2015, February 12). Why Is Omni-Channel Retailing So Important For Bed Bath Beyond? Forbes . Therrien, P., Doloreux, D., Chamberlin, T. (2011). Innovation novelty and (commercial) performance in the service sector: A Canadian firm level analysis. Technovation , 31, 655-665. Thompson, J. (2001). Strategic Management. Canada: Thomson Learning. Tushman, M., Smith, W., Wood, R., Westerman, G., OReilly, C. (2006). Organizational Designs and Innovation Streams. Harvard Business School Working Paper 07-087. . Boston, MA.: Harvard Business School. Vyas, V. (2009). Innovation and new product development by SMEs: An investigation of Scottish food and drinks Industry. Napier. Woolworths. (2010). Woolworths Good Business Journey. Woolworths.

Paradox of Samsungs Rise free essay sample

The Paradox of Samsungs Rise, examines the strategic management decisions that ed to Samsungs emergence as one of the worlds most successful companies from an ordinary original equipment manufacturer Just 30 years ago. Samsung Electronics transformed itself through a new management initiative in 1993 that combined Western best-practices with essentially Japanese management methods to produce a highly profitable hybrid system, resulting in recording breaking profits of Sl billion on $138 billion in revenue in 2010. As todays emerging giants face the challenge of moving beyond their home markets, they have much to learn from the path breaking xperience of South Koreas Samsung Group, arguably the most successful globalizer of the previous generation. Abstract: Twenty years ago, few people would have predicted that Samsung could transform itself from a low-cost original equipment manufacturer to a world leader in RD, marketing, and design, with a brand more valuable than Pepsi, Nike, or American Express. We will write a custom essay sample on Paradox of Samsungs Rise or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Fewer still would have predicted the success of the path it has taken. For two decades now, Samsung has been grafting western business pracuces onto Its essentlally Japanese system, comDlnlng Its traaltlonal low-cost manuTacturlng rowess with an ability to bring high-quality, high-margin branded products swiftly to market. Like Samsung, todays emerging giants†Haier in China, Infosys in India, and in Turkey, for instance†face a paradox: their continued success requires turning away from what made them successful. The tightly integrated business systems that have worked in their home markets are unlikely to secure their future in global markets. Samsung has steadily navigated this paradox to transcend its initial success in its home markets and move onto the world stage. To move to the next evel, they, too, must reinvent themselves in ways that may seem contradictory. And when they reach new plateaus, they will need to do so again. For seven years, we have traced Samsungs progress as it has steadily navigated this paradox to transcend its initial success in its home markets and move onto the world stage. It is a story we believe holds many important lessons for the current generation of emerging giants seeking to do the same. The Rise of a World Leader: The two sets of business practices could not have seemed more incompatible. Into an organization focused on continuous process improvement, Samsung introduced a ocus on innovation. Into a homogeneous workforce, Samsung introduced outsiders who could not speak the language and were unfamiliar with the companys culture. Into a Confucian tradition of reverence for elders, Samsung introduced merit pay and promotion, putting some young people in positions of authority over their elders. It has been a path marked by both disorienting disequilibrium and intense exhilaration. Founded in 1938, the Samsung Group is the largest corporate entity in South Korea, with $227. 3 billion in revenue in 2010 and 31 5,000 employees worldwide. Best known or its flagship, Samsung Electronics (SEC)†producer of semiconductors, cell phones, TVs, and LCD panels†the groups highly diversified businesses span a wide range of industries, including financial services, information technology services, machinery, shipbuilding, and chemicals. By 1987, when Lee Kun-Hee succeeded his father as only the second chairman in the companys history, Samsung was the leader in Korea in most of its markets. But its overseas position as a low-cost producer was becoming untenable in the face of intensifying competition from Japanese electronics makers, which were setting up anufacturing plants in Southeast Asia, and rising domestic wages in South Koreas newly liberalizing economy. In the early 1990s, Lee spotted an opportunity in the reluctance of Japanese companies†the analog market leaders†to adopt digital technology, which consumers were flocking to in cameras, audio equipment, and other electronic products. This opened the door for Samsung to surpass its rivals if it developed the aglllty, Innovativeness, ana creat lvlty Success Mantra: Hybrid strategy- Mix and Match of Japanese strategy and Western Strategy. to succ In tne new Olglta I market. Implementation of western strategy on Japanese strategy.

Othello Act 5, Scene 2 - Analaysis

'Othello' Act 5, Scene 2 - Analaysis We continue our Othello Act 5, Scene 2 analysis. You can get more information on the first part of this scene here.   Act 5, Scene 2 (Part 2) Othello explains that Iago told him that she and Cassio were having an affair and that Cassio himself admitted it and had the handkerchief; the token of love he gave to Desdemona passed down from his mother. On hearing this Emilia reacts; â€Å"O God! Heavenly God!† Realising her part in her husband’s plan, Emilia is moved. Iago orders Emilia to hold her peace but she refuses; telling the group that her husband asked her to steal the handkerchief for a reason unknown to her and that she did find it and give it to him. The Death ofEmilia Iago accuses her of lying and draws his sword on his wife. She says; â€Å"What should such a fool Do with so good a wife?† Othello runs at Iago calling him a villain. Montano disarms Othello and Iago wounds his wife. Emilia asks to be laid next to Desdemona to die. Iago exits. Montano goes after Iago and orders the others to guard Othello and not let him escape. Before she dies Emilia says; â€Å"Moor, she was chaste. She loved thee cruel Moor. So come my soul to speak true. So, speaking as I think alas, I die.† Othello is now consumed with guilt he finds a weapon hidden in his room but tells Graziano to approach him but not to fear him. He intends to use the weapon on himself. He looks at Desdemona’s cold body and curses himself. Othello wounds Iago Lodovico enters with Iago, Montano and Cassio in a chair. Othello stands forward as Iago is brought to face him. Othello wounds Iago. Lodovico orders the attendants to disarm Othello. Othello is unrepentant about hurting Iago, Lodovico reminds him that he was a respected soldier and Othello says that he acted in honour rather than in hate. He admits to consenting to Cassio’s death. Cassio says that he did Othello no wrong and Othello apologises to him. Lodovico says that two letters were found in Roderigo’s pocket, one says that Roderigo was ordered to kill Cassio and the other is written by Roderigo to Iago complaining about his evil plan. He says that he was going to expose the villain but Iago killed him off. The letter explains how he was ordered to goad Cassio on his watch, which is how the quarrel between Cassio and Othello first began. Lodovico tells Othello that he must return with him to Venice to answer to his crimes. Cassio is instated as ruler of Cyprus. Othellos Death Othello gives a speech to say that he wants to be remembered as a lover who was deceived. He wants to be remembered as someone who had a precious jewel but foolishly threw it away, he uses an analogy of a base character from an Indian tribe who threw away a precious pearl. He uses another reference to race when he says; â€Å".in Aleppo once, Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk beat a Venetian and tradused the state, I took by th’ throat and smote him thus†. He then stabs himself, kisses Desdemona and dies. Lodovico tells Iago to look at the consequences of his actions, he then closes the curtains. Lodovico tells Graziano that any riches in the house are his as he is the next of kin. He tells Cassio that he will leave Iago’s punishment to him and that he will return to Venice with the sad news of what has come to pass; â€Å"Myself will straight abroad and to the state This heavy act with heavy heart relate.† Note:  If you are looking for scene-by-scene analysis of other Othello scenes, simply visit our index  where you can find a full list of all scene by scene guides to  Shakespeares  Othello.

LBSMK 2004 SERVICES MARKETING personal evaluation project (PEP) Literature review

LBSMK 2004 SERVICES MARKETING personal evaluation project (PEP) - Literature review Example Yet, the causes of such dissatisfaction are varied and extensive. The concept of â€Å"satisfaction gaps† emerged from marketing research, which is the difference between customer expectations and their corresponding experience. This paper will attempt to propose a solution to such gap in a marketing-related problem of a service establishment. 2.0. Critical Analysis of the Issue and Literature Review 2.1. The Problem For the purpose of anonymity and confidentiality dictated by research ethics, the business establishment which will be discussed in this paper will be called simply as Company X (Bryman and Bell 2007). Company X is a technology service company whose specialisation is laptop, desktop and cellular phone repair. It was established in 2000 and is located in Eastern-Central Britain. The establishment showed good performance in its first three years of operation. This was mainly the reason why Company X was sub-contracted by a Northern European mobile phone company in 2 004 to serve its clientele in the geographic area covered by Company X, for repair and replacement of parts, if necessary. Subcontracting with the mobile phone company lifted the spirits of both management and technicians. The technicians performed well and helped generate both revenue and more patrons for Company X. Mobile phones which were already off-guarantee period were still being brought by former customers mainly because of their prompt service and technical know-how. Things went well for Company X that its sub-contracting functions with the mobile company was renewed for three-consecutive years. In 2008, a laptop and desktop manufacturer based in the North America commissioned Company X as one of its official service centres. Management was ecstatic. Its 10 best technicians were offered training packages to further hone their skills while the remaining 22 technicians were left to attend to the service needs of their growing clientele. Management promised that the rest of th e technicians will also attend training in two batches after the 10 have returned to resume their tasks. While the company operated for only 12 hours each day, technicians worked in three eight-hour shifts, or seven technicians per shift. When job orders increased to levels where the technicians can no longer put-up with the deadlines they set for completion of the service requests, management opted for overtime with pay instead of hiring new technicians. The rationale volunteered by management is that hiring new technicians will not ensure that deadlines will be met since they would not be sure if the applicants can deliver up to management expectations by simply looking at their resumes. With an additional sub-contracting project and fewer technicians to work on repair orders, problems started to surface. To date, absenteeism became rampant. Patrons are starting to be dissatisfied with the service jobs they requested. Technicians who used to be accommodating and interacted with cu stomers with a smile have turned grumpy. Customers have aired their complaints with customer service. The mobile company had threatened not to renew their contract if the customer service issues will not be addressed. In the operation manager’s latest quarterly report, revenue for the last month dropped by 40% of the previous six

Article Writing about FingerID Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Writing about FingerID - Article Example echanism of authentication also compels the user to remember different passwords for multiple accounts since it is very dangerous to maintain the same password for all accounts. A new authentication mechanism has been proposed that will save the user from the hassle of remembering multiple passwords and provide effective security for the web services- FingerID. FingerID authenticates the users on the basis of their registered finger prints and provide single sign-in to multiple accounts. The advancement in the internet technology has enabled thousands of companies to offer their services online. The availability of the services attracts the users to utilize them but compels the users to make online accounts. This results in the presence of user’s personal information at different domains and organizations on the internet and multiple login credentials for the user. Every organization might not be following reliable security measures to safeguard the user information thereby creating security and privacy threats for the users. Some organizations deploy security measures for the storage of their data but fail to concentrate on the security mechanisms handling the exchange of data from one source to the other. The user’s information might be used for malicious purposes and result in identity thefts. The distributed nature of information increases the chances of inappropriate usage. Another issue that is faced with the existing web services is the lack of usability and accessibility. Usability makes the web experience more convenient for the user and accessibility introduces features and functionalities for users with disabilities. Most of the web services do not follow the standards that are meant to ensure the availability of accessibility and usability on the websites. These standards help the developers and designers evaluate their websites with respect to the usability and accessibility aspects and to ensure that their users do not face any difficulty in

Has the IMF played a condtructive or destructive role Does it serve Essay - 1

Has the IMF played a condtructive or destructive role Does it serve any purpose in the 21st century - Essay Example The IMF has grown and experienced changes over the last years. Many have embraced this change, while there has been some that have not accepted it. Its members have been increasing, from the initial thirty to over 188 members. This organisation claims to foster financial stability, global monetary corporation and economic stability to its members (Freytag pg 20-30). Its objectives are geared towards promoting international economic, Corporation, creation of employment, establishing sustainable exchange rate and availing funding to its member states. The role of the international fund about the 21st century is addressed by analysing the success and failure rate. Since its debut, this organisation has funded numerous nations, where there has been failure or success. The facts present a concrete factor that present this organisation as failing. Though there are success cases, the failures often lower the impact of these cases. One notable case is the one witnessed in Tanzania. After the IMF stepped in to save this declining economy, its economy lowered. The employment rate decreased and the literacy level dropped. All this occurred within period from 1985 to 2000 (Research Activities of the International Monetary Fund: January 1991-December 1998 pg 26-30) Conclusively, the role played by this organisation cannot be ignored. It continuously helps nations to recover from economic failures. It is lending surveillance police have benefited many and still proves to in years to come. In order to change the faulty image over the years, there must be some adjustments. This adjustment will enhance its role and make it productive as many presume it to

An RSA-Type OTP Generator

An RSA-Type OTP Generator An RSA-Type OTP Generator Aiswarya Vinayachandran,  Sivasankar M Abstract Simple and secure authentication protocols are in great demand due to the ever expanding use of internet for financial and message communications. Multifactor authentication, in particular 2Factor Authentication (2FA) is preferred to static passwords-only authentication. One Time Passwords (OTPs) play a vital role in the construction of 2FA protocols. In this paper, an efficient OTP generation algorithm, based on RSA scheme is discussed. Implementation and computational issues related to the algorithm are also discussed. Keywords: Authentication, RSA, One Time Password, LFSR, Primitive Element 1. Introduction These days, almost all our day to day activities, starting from buying vegetables to booking a movie ticket depend on internet. As highly private data is being communicated between the server and the client, secure protocols are required for protecting these transactions from attackers. Over the years, we realized that encryption methods alone are not sufficient to secure online transactions. Hence evolved the idea of sending some message each time personally to the user and prompting him to send back the message along with his/her password to complete the transaction. This provides a second layer of security and strength to the existing concept of static passwords. In this paper, we present a way to generate OTPs, based on RSA type exponentiation. This research paper is organised as: Section 2 explains authentication process; Section 3 briefly discusses the conventional way of OTP generation; Section 4 is the proposed algorithm; Section 5 discusses about the randomness in the generation of the OTPs; Section 6 analyses the operational complexity and security of the proposed algorithm; Section 7 gives some concluding remarks. 2. Authentication Authentication is the process of identifying the legitimate user [1]. The identity is proven by various cryptographic methods where the user has to enter some input to the system. This can range from simply entering a password to more complicated security mechanisms like biometrics, strings displayed by tokens, key encryptions. Based on this input, the system will identify and authenticate the person. After authentication, comes authorization, where the system identifies the various privileges available to the user. Only authorized users can get access to the data as not all the users will have the same privileges. Some users will be allowed to only read the data while some users will be allowed to read as well as modify it. 2.1. Message Authentication Message authentication is used to check if the received message has been tampered in the middle of the communication channel. Message authentication is used to protect the integrity of the message wherein the receiver should be notified if any bits in the message are modified, removed or extra bits are added during the communication. This is achieved by sending a message digest – usually hash of the message will be the digest – together with the message. If the receiver also is obtaining the same digest over the received message then he/she can be sure of the integrity of the message. 2.2. Entity Authentication Entity authentication is the process in which an entity (machine/human) in a distributed network will get belief on another entity (machine/human) based on a key already established between them. The idea is that the key is kept secret and only the two genuine communicating entities know the secret key. Machine authentication is achieved through the verification of digital credentials or digital certificates. Digital Credentials are like a machine provided ID and password or a digital certificated issued by a Certifying Authority (CA). It is like a digital passport that provides trusted identification. Digital Signature is a mathematical technique used to validate the authenticity of a digital document, software or a message. It is used to identify whether a communication is impersonalized. Human based authentication relies on at least one of the three key factors: something the user knows (a password or an answer to a security question), something the user possesses (an object for authentication, say smart card), and something the user is (behavioural or physiological characteristics of the individual say, finger print and retina scanning). 3. Conventional OTP Generators OTP is an authentication technique, which comes in the second layer of authentication protocols after static passwords. An OTP is valid only for a single transaction. Even if an attacker succeeds in decrypting the password of a user, he/she has to get the OTP generated to validate the transaction. Since OTP is based on randomness/collision resistance, it is very difficult to guess an OTP. Even if the attacker succeeds in acquiring an OTP, he may not be able to predict the next OTP. OTP generation is based on hashing algorithms. Hashing is an irreversible process, i.e. for an input we can get the output, but with the obtained output we cannot get back the input. Even if an attacker obtains many OTPs, it is of no use as he/she cannot find a pattern to guess the seed used to generate the OTPs. An OTP is valid for a limited time, generally two to fifteen minutes based on the web site’s restrictions. Also in online transactions, while entering an OTP, a user is allowed to make errors only a limited number of times, say twice or thrice, which again adds to its security. A most common way of generating a sequence of OTPs[2] is described in Algorithm 1. Algorithm 1: Conventional OTP Generation Algorithm Note that the weakness of the OTP mechanism lies on the channel used to send the OTP and the security of the device to which the OTP is send. It will be advisable to secure the device with some biometric credentials making it totally safe. 4 Proposed RSA type OTP Generating Algorithm After the invention of public key cryptography, encrypted communication reached the next level. In general, public key cryptography relies on some hard mathematical problems like Integer Factorisation Problem (IFP), Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP) [3]. As our proposed OTP generation is based on RSA crypto-system, we briefly do a recap of RSA encryption [4]. 4.1 The RSA Algorithm The Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) algorithm is one of the popular and secure publickey encryption methods. The security of the algorithm relies on the fact that there is no efficient way to factor very large numbers. Using an encryption key (e, N), the algorithm is as follows: Choose two very large prime numbers, p and q; Set N equal to p.q. Choose any large integer, d, such that gcd(d, à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦(N) ) = 1. Find e such that e.d = 1 (mod à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦(N)); The encryption key (e,n) is made public. The decryption key d is kept private by the user. Represent the message as an integer between 0 and (N-1). Encrypt the message by raising it to the eth power mod n. The result is the cipher text C. To decrypt the cipher text message C, raise it to the power d mod n 4.2 Proposed OTP Generation Technique: Our proposed algorithm is based on RSA encryption/decryption process and is described in Algorithm 2 below. Algorithm 2: Proposed Algorithm The above procedure can be represented by a schematic diagram as in Fig.1. Fig. 1. Architecture of the Proposed Model 4.3. A Comment on the Selection of N and the Possible Number of OTPs Present day OTPs are of generally 6 digits in length. Hence they can range from 000000 to 999999, totalling to 10,00,000. This is so, as we have 10 choices (numbers 0 to 9) for every digit and hence 10.10.10.10.10.10 = 106 = 10,00,000. If we incorporate a module to condition that the first two most significant digits should be non zero, even then 9.9.10.10.10.10 = 8,10,000 OTPs are available. In our proposed algorithm, if we require 6 digit OTPs, we can select N close to the integer 999999. For example a choice of 991 . 997 = 988027 will be sufficient for our implementation. As the number of bits used to represent a 6 digit decimal number is approximately 20 bits (log2 999999 =19.93156713), we need to select a 20 bit RSA number for our algorithm. Note that, a 20 bit RSA crypto system can be easily broken by the present day computers when e and N are known outside. But here as the attacker does not know N and a, he/she cannot guess the next OTP, which is some random number that lies b etween 1 and N-1.The only information that the attacker can get is the current OTP, which is some 6 digit number. 5. Randomness in the Generation of the OTPs from ZN* Considering the demand for OTPs and the computational expenses of different exponential algorithms, it is advisable to follow a systematic approach for the selection of the random number aà ¯Ã†â€™Ã… ½ {1, 2,†¦ ,N–1} .We propose two convincing methods for the selection of a. 5.1. Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSRs): LFSR is a mechanism for generating random numbers based on the initial seed given to it. So if we start with a non-zero 20 bit string, the LFSR can generate all the other 220–1 20-bit strings. We refer to [5] for some basic facts about LFSR. An LFSR of length L consists of L stages 0,1 , †¦ , L-1, each capable of storing one bit and having one input and output and a clock which controls the movement of data. During each unit of time the following operations are performed; (i) the content of stage 0 is output and forms part of the output sequence; (ii) the content of stage i is moved to stage i 1 for each i, 1 ≠¤ i ≠¤ L – 1; (iii) the new content of stage L – 1 is the feedback bit s which is calculated by adding together modulo 2 the previous contents of a fixed subset of stages 0,1, †¦ , L – 1. We note that for an n-bit LFSR connectionpolynomials are available, where à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦ is the Euler’s totient function. So, for a six digit OTP, i.e. for a 20 bit string, we have = 24,000 choices. With each connection polynomial, we can generate all the 20-bit strings in different random ways. Since we have 24,000choices, we can assign a single connection polynomial for a single customer, and OTPs generated for each customer will be in entirely different pattern. 5.2 Primitive Roots: Another mechanism for generating 6 digit random numbers is by using the concept of primitive roots.We refer [6] for the concepts related to cyclic groups and generators/primitive elements..Let p be a prime number. Consider Zp*. Let gà ¯Ã†â€™Ã… ½ ZP*. As i vary from 0 to p–1, by computing gi mod p, we can generate all elements in Zp*. Here g is called the primitive root/generator of Zp*. As we have selected an RSA number N, which is not a prime number, to follow this kind of random number generation, we can N as a prime number very close to 999999. For example, N = p = 999983 will be sufficient. It is a known result that, if g is a primitive root, then gi is also a primitive root if gcd (i,à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦(p))=1. Hence we are available with à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦(à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦(p)) generators [6]. Hence if N = 999983 (a six digit prime), we have à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦(à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¦(999983)) =493584 generators which means we have sufficiently large number of primitive roots at our disposal. 6. Computational Complexity and Security of the Proposed Algorithm The proposed algorithm is an RSA-type algorithm which uses modular exponentiation for its computation. The modular exponentiation operation generally consumes a considerable amount of time for large operands as it consists of a series of square-and-multiply operations under a modular value. For a particular user, e will be fixed. Hence the time complexity for ae (mod N) is O(log2e). As RSA is a widely implemented cryptosystem, improvements in modular exponentiation algorithms are evolving very frequently [7]. Though the proposed algorithm uses the concept of RSA with a 20-bit modular (where as the current standard is 256 to 512 bits), since a, e, N are not known publicly we achieve security through obscurity. 7. Conclusions and Future Works In this paper, we have proposed a new method to generate OTPs and discussed the possible ways of implementing it practically. There may exist other novel methods with less time complexity. Incorporating new methods we can design more efficient algorithm for generating OTPs. The possibility of generating alphanumeric OTPs will be also explored, in future. References [1]Bruce Schneier, â€Å"Applied Cryptographyâ€Å", Wiley Publications, 2002. [2] L. Lamport, â€Å"Password authentication with insecure communication,† Communications of the ACM,vol.24,no.11, pp.770-772,1981. [3] Neal Koblitz, â€Å"Towards a Quarter Century of Public Key Cryptography†, A Special Issue of Designs, codes and Cryptography, Vol. 19, No. 2/3, Springer, 2000. [4] Rivest R. L. ,Shamir A.,Adleman L., â€Å"A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-key Cryptosystems†, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 120-126, 1978. [5] Alfred, J., Van Menezes Paul, C., Oorschot, S., Vanstone, A. â€Å"Handbook of Applied Cryptography† , CRC Press LCC (1996) [6] James K Strayer, â€Å"Elementary Number Theory† ,Waveland Press, 2001. [7] Gueron, Shay and Krasnov, Vlad , â€Å" Software Implementation of Modular Exponentiation, Using Advanced Vector Instructions Architectures† , LNCS Vol. 7369, pp.119-135, Springer, 2012.

Islam :: essays research papers

ISLAM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There has been much talk about Muslim beliefs and the Islam nation altogether. The basis of the religion is peaceful and understanding. While people twist the belief around to fit their own needs. It is based on the teachings of Muhammad. He was born in Mecca, which is the capital of Islamic belief.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Muhammad was born and raised in the city of Mecca. He grew up as a merchant and had a wife. He would wander around outside of the city by himself often. He wandered so much that he had no job but his wife believed in him so she supported him. One day he had a vision of the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told him that he was a prophet and he should spread the word of god. He went back to Mecca and told everyone what had happened and decided to teach everyone the way of God. No one believed him and he was ridiculed for his beliefs. So he decided to go on a trip which was called the â€Å"Hijra†. When he came back to Mecca he had many converts. Then the people of Mecca started to believe him and became converts themselves. This is the story of Muhammad and his teachings. All this and more were written down in the Muslim holy book, the â€Å"Koran†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The five pillars are the five ways to be a good and decent Muslim. The first pillar is â€Å"Shahadah† which is to declare your belief by saying shahadah. Which means declaring god or Allah is almighty, and believing in the prophethood of Muhammad. The second pillar is â€Å"Salah† or prayer. Prayer must be done five times a day towards Mecca or the general direction of Mecca. The third pillar is â€Å"Zakah† or tax on the wealth. Everyone must give a percent of their earnings to the poor. The fourth pillar is â€Å"Sawm† which is fasting during the month of Ramadan. The fifth and last pillar is to at least once in their lives to â€Å"Hajj† or make a trip to Mecca when one is willing and able to.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is so much trouble in the world because of guys who like to change the meaning of some things in religion when it is obvious what they mean.

Statement of Purpose Santosh G Vattam MS

Statement of purpose Santosh G Vattam MS, Embedded Systems (CIS), May 2012 Research Interest I am a Master of Science and Engineering student majoring in Embedded Systems from University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2012. I am interested in embedded systems modeling and model based code generation. This interest has developed thanks to my research project with Prof. Insup Lee as well as the Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems and the Principles of Embedded Computation courses I took at Penn with Prof. Insup Lee and Prof. Rajeev Alur respectively.The Embedded and CPS course involved modeling and implementation of a pacemaker, while the Principles of Embedded Computation course provided the much needed theoritical foundation for developing embedded system models and verifying and validating thus developed models. Research projects In Jan 2011, I started working on the Medical Device Dongle(MDD) Project with Prof. Insup Lee. The idea was to make patient monitoring, patient centric rather than device centric by developing a standards-based interface for medical device interoperability.We decided to use the existing device interoperability standard – IEEE11073-PHD with slight modications. I implemented the rst prototype of the IEEE11073 Manager and Agent state machines. We later encountered the problem of providing a medium for using the services of the MDD and thus we designed and implemented an interface to sit on top of the MDD. We have since presented our work at the Wireless Health Conference 2011, San Diego, CA and at Embedded Software Week Android competition, Taipei, Taiwan. We shall also be presenting at the International Health Informatics Symposium, Miami, FL in Jan 2012.Prior to this, I have worked on the Coverage Analysis of RTEMS(Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems) as part of Google Summer of Code 2009 and mentored another student in 2010 for the same project. This project was my rst step into the embedded world. I wrote tes t cases to validate that every single line of object code generated was executed. I worked on the RTEMS-core codebase and in 2010 I mentored a student to work on the extended codebase. Research focus I would like to focus my research on model based code generation and validating the conformation of code to the model on which it was based.This is a problem that I have come across while working on the MDD project. We have based our design on the IEEE11073 architecture but there are no open implementations of it through which we can verify our implementation. There are certain validation tools but these just analyze the packet structure of the 11073 packets but not the ow of these packets within the network of devices. I am partly tackling this problem through my Masters thesis by writing test cases to validate the exchange of the right packets. This method, however, does not provide insight into the internal state ow of the code. I would like to study, n depth, the ways of validating code to the state model. I believe that by pursuing a PhD I shall not only gain the necessary skill set to tackle this problem, but also the insight of looking at unstructured data and obtaining structured information from it. Prof Insup Lee and his team at the PRECISE Center work on model based design and validation in the medical device domain. I have been working with Prof. Insup Lee and his team for close to a year now on the MDD project. I believe that the environment and the expertise at the PRECISE Center will provide me with the encouragement and the academic stimulus to excel at my research. Statement of Purpose Santosh G Vattam MS Statement of purpose Santosh G Vattam MS, Embedded Systems (CIS), May 2012 Research Interest I am a Master of Science and Engineering student majoring in Embedded Systems from University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2012. I am interested in embedded systems modeling and model based code generation. This interest has developed thanks to my research project with Prof. Insup Lee as well as the Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems and the Principles of Embedded Computation courses I took at Penn with Prof. Insup Lee and Prof. Rajeev Alur respectively.The Embedded and CPS course involved modeling and implementation of a pacemaker, while the Principles of Embedded Computation course provided the much needed theoritical foundation for developing embedded system models and verifying and validating thus developed models. Research projects In Jan 2011, I started working on the Medical Device Dongle(MDD) Project with Prof. Insup Lee. The idea was to make patient monitoring, patient centric rather than device centric by developing a standards-based interface for medical device interoperability.We decided to use the existing device interoperability standard – IEEE11073-PHD with slight modications. I implemented the rst prototype of the IEEE11073 Manager and Agent state machines. We later encountered the problem of providing a medium for using the services of the MDD and thus we designed and implemented an interface to sit on top of the MDD. We have since presented our work at the Wireless Health Conference 2011, San Diego, CA and at Embedded Software Week Android competition, Taipei, Taiwan. We shall also be presenting at the International Health Informatics Symposium, Miami, FL in Jan 2012.Prior to this, I have worked on the Coverage Analysis of RTEMS(Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems) as part of Google Summer of Code 2009 and mentored another student in 2010 for the same project. This project was my rst step into the embedded world. I wrote tes t cases to validate that every single line of object code generated was executed. I worked on the RTEMS-core codebase and in 2010 I mentored a student to work on the extended codebase. Research focus I would like to focus my research on model based code generation and validating the conformation of code to the model on which it was based.This is a problem that I have come across while working on the MDD project. We have based our design on the IEEE11073 architecture but there are no open implementations of it through which we can verify our implementation. There are certain validation tools but these just analyze the packet structure of the 11073 packets but not the ow of these packets within the network of devices. I am partly tackling this problem through my Masters thesis by writing test cases to validate the exchange of the right packets. This method, however, does not provide insight into the internal state ow of the code. I would like to study, n depth, the ways of validating code to the state model. I believe that by pursuing a PhD I shall not only gain the necessary skill set to tackle this problem, but also the insight of looking at unstructured data and obtaining structured information from it. Prof Insup Lee and his team at the PRECISE Center work on model based design and validation in the medical device domain. I have been working with Prof. Insup Lee and his team for close to a year now on the MDD project. I believe that the environment and the expertise at the PRECISE Center will provide me with the encouragement and the academic stimulus to excel at my research.

Free Essays on Favorite Teacher

My Favorite Teacher As a student growing up I had a lot of teachers like everyone else, but one teacher who really stimulated me was Mrs. Sandra Gregg. Mrs. Gregg is still today an elementary teacher at Brunson-Dargan Elementary School. There are many reasons why she stimulated me to become a teacher. The most important qualities she possesses are: she shows dedication through her students, patience through her teaching abilities, devotion through her work and most importantly is her love for all her students. Mrs. Gregg is an excellent role model for many children because she has many unique qualities that a lot of teachers lack today. Mrs. Gregg showed an enormous amount of patience to her students. If a student did not do their homework she never got frustrated instead she had many useful techniques to motivate her students to apply themselves. The way she approached a student who did not do their homework was by sitting next to them during class and by spending more time one on one with that student. There was never a wrong answer in her class and she encouraged her students to learn by reading stories, writing letters to each other and by drawing pictures. Mrs. Gregg always gave her students a hug just for showing an effort in her class, which showed me her love for us. The final yet greatest quality Mrs. Gregg possesses is that through her work she demonstrates her devotion to teaching. Anyone who knows her can see how committed she is to her work. She is one of those individuals who are gifted with the job that they do because she brings out the best qualities in her students. She inspires her students to be motivated to learn and to belief in themselves. In my opinion the greatest role model as a teacher is one who can achieve all these qualities and change lives like Mrs. Gregg has done already. The reason why I want to become a teacher is to help students be motivated to learn. I also want to make a difference in... Free Essays on Favorite Teacher Free Essays on Favorite Teacher My Favorite Teacher As a student growing up I had a lot of teachers like everyone else, but one teacher who really stimulated me was Mrs. Sandra Gregg. Mrs. Gregg is still today an elementary teacher at Brunson-Dargan Elementary School. There are many reasons why she stimulated me to become a teacher. The most important qualities she possesses are: she shows dedication through her students, patience through her teaching abilities, devotion through her work and most importantly is her love for all her students. Mrs. Gregg is an excellent role model for many children because she has many unique qualities that a lot of teachers lack today. Mrs. Gregg showed an enormous amount of patience to her students. If a student did not do their homework she never got frustrated instead she had many useful techniques to motivate her students to apply themselves. The way she approached a student who did not do their homework was by sitting next to them during class and by spending more time one on one with that student. There was never a wrong answer in her class and she encouraged her students to learn by reading stories, writing letters to each other and by drawing pictures. Mrs. Gregg always gave her students a hug just for showing an effort in her class, which showed me her love for us. The final yet greatest quality Mrs. Gregg possesses is that through her work she demonstrates her devotion to teaching. Anyone who knows her can see how committed she is to her work. She is one of those individuals who are gifted with the job that they do because she brings out the best qualities in her students. She inspires her students to be motivated to learn and to belief in themselves. In my opinion the greatest role model as a teacher is one who can achieve all these qualities and change lives like Mrs. Gregg has done already. The reason why I want to become a teacher is to help students be motivated to learn. I also want to make a difference in...

The Most Effective Social Media Marketing Tools Teams Use To Up Their Game

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Finite Element Method in Computer Simulation Outline

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Cultural dimension - Assignment Example The application of in-depth questions in the semi-structured questionnaires drew the study towards the acquisition of the required outcomes since the interviewees were not coerced to answer in a particular controlled manner. Therefore, the research process established the prevalence of a civilised culture in the Japanese society before the documentation of the Austrian culture. 2.1 Two students from Japan and Austria were selected for the interview, which involved the use of open-end questionnaires. The students were chosen because they possessed the most dominant and influential cultures in the history of civilization. With the use of open-end questions and semi-structured questionnaires, they were asked many questions; hence, they stimulated the opportunity of acquiring a wide range of answers in the absence of research bias. This was done by using the most important issues about their cultures. In this questionnaire, the participants were enquired to rate the most significant and particular issues. These questions helped in understanding concepts that hold significance to the respondents, and allowed critical decisions about the countries’ cultures. The two students answered the questions in accordance to their societal perspectives; hence, the results influenced the study to establish that the Japanese and Austrian societies were embracing democratic practices in leadership, with the common objective being the improvement of the lifestyles and economic progression. 2.2 The  next section represents an analytical approach that evaluates the information gathered during the study. Since the application of the qualitative method of survey enhanced the level of participation among the chosen sample population, it was noted that there were many differences and similarities between the Japanese and Austrian cultures. The Japanese culture is exceedingly older than the Austrian culture

I want to learn about how the staffs in any nursing home deal with the Assignment

I want to learn about how the staffs in any nursing home deal with the senior adults who lost their memory - Assignment Example address the social aspect of care for patients who are in their advance age who has from memory loss that they may be able to interact with them not just as a health care provider but also as a human being that would possibly help the patient recover their memory and make their stay in the nursing home pleasant. Senior adults who suffers from memory loss who are taken cared of at nursing homes are removed from their family and nursing staffs should therefore endeavor to create an atmosphere that resembles the comfort of the patient’s home. After completing the project, it is expected that the nursing staff will not only be proficient and sensitive in taking care of senior citizens who suffers from memory loss but will also be ethical being mindful that those who are housed in the nursing homes are away from their

Stalins aims for the transformation of the Russian economy Essay Example for Free

Stalins aims for the transformation of the Russian economy Essay To what extent did Stalin succeed in achieving his aims for the transformation of the Russian economy? Under the NEP, Russia had managed to recover from seven years of warfare, but by the late 1920s Russia had still not been able to develop its economy beyond the level of 1914 and its agriculture was still very backward. Stalin felt that under the NEP, the Russian economy was underperforming and he felt he had to change this as he wanted to modernise Russia and move it forwards to a truly Socialist society. Stalin wanted to transform Russian economy in order for Russia to be a socialist society there had to be more workers than peasants and the country had to be at industrially advanced. This would mean that the Russian economy, which relied heavily on agriculture, would have to be changed and modernised industries would have to be developed and Russia would have to become an industrialised country. In 1929 in the Great Turn, Stalin introduced the collectivisation of agriculture; this set of policies, along with the Five Year Plans, created the framework for what became known as the Soviet centrally planned economy and transformed the Soviet economy. Stalin, through collectivisation and industrialisation, managed to transform the Russian economy. One of Stalins aims for the transformation of the economy was to build up heavy industry and increase the industrial output of the Soviet Union through the Five Year Plans, and to catch up with the industrialised West. Stalins policy of industrialisation was based on central planning the state produced three consecutive Five Year Plans that set production and output targets for all areas of industry, with emphasis on building up heavy industry and creating new industry. In order to provide capital to finance industrialisation, Stalin introduced collectivisation, which modernised Russias agricultural system. These Five Year Plans broadly achieved Stalins aim. There was a huge increase in the productivity and output of heavy industry. Whole new industries were developed in Russia, like the chemical factories, tractor and machine tool plants. Many new factories were built, whole new industrial centres like Magnitogorsk were created and cities grew rapidly. Russia was gripped by gigantomania there was an emphasis on large-scale projects like the Dniepostroi Dam. Communications improved, the transport links in Russia were better than before and electricity became available to the masses. Russia had managed to industrialise and catch up with the West at a time when much of the Western world was suffering from an economic depression. However, the goods produced were often of a poor quality, as quantity was more important than quality for Stalin. There was also a great deal of wastage, raw materials were wasted and the production of goods was often inefficient. The Five Year Plans often had unrealistic production targets which factories struggled to meet. Another of Stalins aims was to modernise agriculture and increase productivity through collectivisation. He believed that the peasant-based farming methods used were inefficient and large collectivised state farms would vastly increase production. Stalin needed to carry out the collectivisation of agriculture to finance industrialisation and feed the workers in the cities. Large, collective farms were created, where peasants worked to increase production of grain. This was, to some extent, a success all agriculture was collective by 1941. By 1939, Russia had reached the same levels of production as 1928 with less peasants working on the farms. Also, farming was modernised, there was increased use of machinery and tractors on the collective farms, which made the work easier. However, the human cost of collectivisation was great. In 1932, there was a Great Famine, which was caused by a drop in production in the early 1930s this affected the Soviet Union badly, especially Ukraine where 5 million people died. By 1941, Russia had only just regained the production levels of 1928; there was no increase in production. Also, animals were not used efficiently, and in this sense the Russian farms were still quite backwards. Stalins final aim to transform the economy was to transform Russia into a truly Socialist economy, by turning peasants into workers and introducing central planning into the system. In order for Russia to be a truly Socialist society, there would have to be a greater number of workers than peasants a Socialist economy would be more focused on industry rather than agriculture. This would mean developing industry, so the number of workers would exceed the number of peasants. This would also mean eliminating the privileged classes such as the Kulaks, who were better off than ordinary peasants. Kulaks that refused to join collective farms and co-operate with the state were either exiled or sent to forced-labour camps. Stalin also aimed to get rid of the last vestiges of Capitalism this would mean getting rid of the NEP and replacing it with central planning. However, the Russian economy did not become truly Socialist. Wage differentials and bonuses created a privileged class among the workers. The working and living conditions for Russians were still very poor. The system relied heavily on force, in order for the transformation of the Soviet economy to take place. In conclusion, Stalin did partly succeed in achieving his aims for the transformation of the Russian economy. Stalin managed to industrialise and modernise Russia, many new key industries developed and Russia no longer relied solely on agriculture for its economy. The new, collective farms were more efficient than the old farms, the same amounts were produced with less peasants. By the 1940s, there were more workers than peasants and, generally, Russia was a more Socialist society. However, there were limits on this there was still a small privileged class, and working and living conditions in the Soviet Union were poor. Also, the transformation of the Soviet economy came at a human cost, and many people died as a result of the Great Famine and dangerous working conditions in factories.

Case Report On British Airways Ba Management Essay

Case Report On British Airways Ba Management Essay The fast changing technological advancement and unpredictable economic situation are forcing businesses to respond quickly to adapt to change. Failure to manage change will cause organisation lose its competitiveness and disappear from the market. In order to meet the challenge, British Airways has to review their development approaches, especially those related to the organisational behaviour, structure, culture and other human resource issues. The organisations vision of being worlds global premium airline can only be sustained and supported through continual review and improvements in the aspects mentioned. It is important to note that the change in the organisation is very much related to the role of managers in developing strategy. Though there is a pressing need for the organisation to undergo change, peoples need should not be sacrificed. This report aids the improvement process in British Airways by providing discussion on the key frameworks in the HRM issues and recommendati ons for future. 2.0 Introduction This is a report for the management of British Airways Plc which present, analyze and evaluate the change management issues in the organisation. Factors such as organisational structure, behaviour, culture and technology, political and social aspects as well as economic strengths and weaknesses are made throughout the whole report. It is hoped that this report would provide an insight to the human resource activities for future improvement. 3.0 Organisations Strategic Plan 3.1 Organisations Background British Airways Plc (BA) has a long history beginning from the launching of words first schedule air service by its forerunner company, Aircraft Transport Travel Limited (AT T) on 1919. In 1924, Britains four airlines merged to form Imperial Airways Limited. Later in the 1930s, some smaller UK air transport companies started their operations and merged to form the original privately-owned British Airways Limited. Following a government review in 1939, these two companies were then nationalized and formed the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). BOAC, together with a new airline, British European Airways (BEA) were the main British operators in the industry in the 1950s. However, these two separate airlines eventually merged to form British Airways in 1974. With the execution of Civil Aviation Act 1980, the government sold its shares in British Airways and Lord King was appointed as the chairman. Many changes were carried out since then to bring British Airways to its presen t status as one of the worlds leading global premium airline (British Airways 2010). The company is principally base in London, with hubs at Heathrow, Gatwick and London city airports. Its core activities are to carry out the operation of international and domestic scheduled air passengers and cargo services. In 2009/10, the company carried nearly 32 million passengers and 760,000 tonnes of cargo to different destinations. Together with its partners, BA flies to over 300 destinations throughout the world. It also has a strong fleet operation with 238 aircrafts in service at the end of March 2010 (British Airways 2010). 3.2 Organisations Vision and Mission The companys long term vision to be the worlds leading Global Premium Airline is constantly leading the company moving towards higher achievements in the future. BA has plotted different mission statements in pursuing toward this vision. These mission statements are: Be the airline of choice for long haul premium customers Deliver an outstanding service for customers at every point of touch Build presence in key global cities Build on leading position in London Meet customers needs and improve margins through new revenue streams (British Airways 2010) 3.3 Industry Overview The aviation industry has a big global economic impact. Few key facts provide the evidence of the worldwide influence of this industry. According to Capoccitti, Khare and Mildenberger (2010: 67), more than 2.2 billion vacation and business passengers flew on the worlds airlines. Over one-third of the values of worlds manufactured exports were carried through air freight. 32 million jobs opportunities were created for people in different countries. Moreover, the aviation industry contributes nearly 8% to world gross domestic product. In general, airline industry can be divided into four categories: International companies with annual revenue of $1 billion or more National companies with annual revenue between $100 million and $ 1 billion Regional companies with short-haul flights and less than $100 million revenue Cargo companies that generally transport goods only (Investopedia 2010) Though the degree varies with the category that an airline belongs to, air companies need to cope with various complicated issues. Some of the major issues include airport capacity, route design, technology, costs to buy or lease the aircrafts, weather, fuel price, and employees (Investopedia 2010). Despite these challenges, competition remains lofty as more and more airliners enter into the market by offering cheaper prices to customers. 3.4 SWOT Analysis Figure British Airways SWOT Analysis (Euromonitor International 2011) The figure above shows the current SWOT analysis of British Airways. Further explanations are made as follow. STRENGTHS Strong Fleet Operations British Airways has a strong fleet with more than 200 aircrafts. The fleet includes Boeing 737, Boeing 747- 777, Airbus A319 and Airbus 320. Recently, the company had also ordered additional 23 new Boeing 787 to replace the current Boeing 767. These new aircrafts will join in the long haul fleet from year 2012. With such a strong fleet, the airline covers all the continents around the world (Euromonitor International 2011). Online Services British Airways also seizes the opportunity of the widespread of internet to boost its business performance. With the implementation of online services, passengers obtain the convenience to book flights, hire cars, book hotels and access travel information in a quick and safe way. This has not only greatly reduced the companys operating costs, but also help it to attract more customers (Euromonitor International 2011). WEAKNESSES Labor Dispute The dispute over pay and condition of its cabin crew has caused an industrial action to take place in 20-22 March and 27-30 March 2010 (Euromonitor International 2011). The strikes held by Unite, which represents about 25,000 workers at British Airways, had incurred more than  £150 million loss to the company in year 2010. Poor Brand Image Apart from the above incident, the chaos that happened during the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 airport also diminished the companys brand image. Cancellations, delays of flights and lost of baggages had led to huge disappointment on many loyal customers. This weaken the companys competitive advantage and loss many businesses to its rival. Poor Performance in All Geographic Regions Due to global financial crisis and high fuel prices, British Airways has a poor performance in all its geographic regions. The business revenues in its largest geographic market had decreased 12.9% in March 2010. The sales in its second largest market, America had also shown a decline of 4%. It is concerned that the continuity of such performance would lead to business collapse in no time (Euromonitor International 2011). THREATS Disrupt Operation With the unstable restructuring and changes policies, British Airways faces strong opposition from its workforce. The extension of labour dispute into future will continue to disrupt the companys normal operation. Huge amount of time and money will have to be spent on devising contingency plans to resolve the issues. Increased Competition Poor management strategies in handling labour dispute and the opening of Terminal 5 makes the company vulnerable to its rivals. Better offers made by competitors such as Virgins, Ryan Air and Easyjet will cause British Airways losses its premium passengers. Bankruptcy Poor performance in all geographic regions increases the risk of bankruptcy in BA. OPPORTUNITIES Reward Packages/Employee Relations Opportunities to offer better reward packages and to improve employee relations can be identified in the case of British Airways labour dispute. The restructuring and changes process will get into a better shape if two ways communication is to be built up. Monitor Operational Performance British Airways is currently monitoring its customer views on the Think Customer Survey (British Airways 2010). This offer great opportunity for the organisation to improve its business performance as it can find solution to improve its departure punctuality, which is one of the main concerns of the passengers. Merger Agreement with Iberia The entering into a merger agreement with Spanish airway Iberia offers opportunity for BA to step into Latin America market. This merger will also save the airline  £350 million a year (BBC 2010). 4.0 HRM Issues 4.1 Leadership and Management The terms leadership and management have been used interchangeably by many people. In fact, these two terms denotes two different meanings. From a general point of view, leadership can be defined as a relationship through which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people. Management, on the other hand, is usually defines as getting things done through other people in order to achieve stated organisational objectives (Mullins 2010: 373). A major study of the nature of leadership has been developed by a political scientist, James MacGregor Burns in 1978. Burns states that organisation states can be categorized into two convergent (stable condition) and divergent (dynamic condition). He contends that the best approach for the convergent state is the transactional management style. The managers will aim at completing tasks, achieving companys goal, and striving for the companys performance through gradual changes (Burnes 2009: 498). On the other hand, transformational leaders are most appropriate in the divergent state. They will introduce radical change and use the influence of their personality to gain the trust and commitment of their followers (Burnes 2009: 499). The figure below shows Burns theory on leadership. Figure Burns Contextual Approach to Leadership (Burnes 2009: 499) Along with Burns theory, the diagram below also shows the distinctive activities between managers and leaders (Burnes 2009: 492). In fact, in real life situation, leaders need to possess both transactional and transformational characteristics, depending on the circumstances. Figure Distinct Activities between Managers and Leaders (Burnes 2009: 492) In relation to the theories above, BAs present Chief Executive Officer, Willie Walsh is considered to be a manager rather than a leader. This can be seen from the way he transformed his former company Aer Lingus, a nearly bankrupt airline into one of the most profitable one in Europe by cutting one-third of its workforce using the power of his position (The Independent Business 2011). This action had caused him to win an uncomplimentary nickname Slasher Walsh, thus revealing his sturdy personality trait. Partly because of this, he was attracted into the board of BA (The Wall Street Journal 2011). However, as the company is in a dynamic state, the transactional characteristic that Willie Walsh possessed is seemed to be unsuitable. In the dispute with the Unite Union, Willie Walsh is entirely focused on the present organisations need reduce costs but ignored the need to create a culture of shared value in the long run. His managerial approach will only enable him to carry out his du ty and fail to gain followers. The management should realize that the pressing need of British Airways is to have leader who is capable to win trust and support from its members in order to implement change. 4.2 Organisational Structure In order to ensure the organisation meets its goals and objectives, organisation usually has a formal structure to divide the work and responsibilities. This formal structure is presented in the organisation chart. Different roles and relationships are incorporated in this process to direct, control and carry out the tasks and activities (Armstrong 2009: 365). People in these groups are usually bound by certain formal rules, relationship and norms of behaviour. Formal work group can be differentiated by basis of membership, tasks to be performed, nature of technology or positions within the organisations and etc. (Mullins 2010: 311). Though the formal groups are planned and created by management, informal structure will also arise during the day-to-day interactions of the staffs. Unlike the formal structure which is based on a defined role, the informal groups are based more on friendships. The goal is to satisfy psychological and social needs rather than achieving the tasks (Mullins 2010:312). Both formal and informal groups are crucial as the formation can contribute to the enhancement of work performance. The higher the group cohesiveness, the more likely they can progress in the stages of group development and form teams. However, tasks at team level require higher level of coordination, control and trust. From the organisational chart in Figure 4 below, it can be seen that the division of work in the organisation is based on individuals different tasks and functions, such as sales and marketing, engineering, investments and etc. This institution is important as members tend to follow the established values and norms of behaviours. However, as group size increase, it will increase the difficulty for managers to handle. In general, group cohesiveness is hard to achieve when a group exceeds 10-12 members. Absenteeism, conflict over incentive payment and differences in opinions are some of the normal phenomena that can be seen in a group. Therefore, groups should be divided into sub-groups when the numbers go beyond 12 (Mullins 2010: 315). Managers should also be sensitive on the balance of work performance and social interactions in the informal groups. Sometimes, groups may be inclined toward social processes and spend too much time talking rather than working (Mullins 2010:314). Managers therefore need to be capable to observe and create a better climate in the groups. Figure British Airways Organisational Structure (The Official Board 2010) 4.3 Organisational Culture Organisational culture plays an important role to bring in change in organisation. According to Armstrong (2009:384), organisational culture is the unspoken ways that shape the ways in which people in organisations behave and things get done. Drennan (1992) also defines culture as typical of the organisation, the habits, the prevailing attitudes, and the grown-up pattern of accepted and expected behaviour (Brown 1998: 8). One of the factors that formed the organisational culture is the influence of visionary leaders. British Airways had undergone many waves of culture change since late 70s. Under the leadership of Collin Marshall, the companys chief executive during 1983, the company was transformed from a disastrous loss-making company into a profit-making world class organisation. He introduced Putting People First program and had successfully overturned the atmosphere in the organisation. He challenged the hierarchical and militaristic culture that existed at that time by asking the staffs not to wear uniform to work. He also constantly motivated the staffs to have positive attitudes in themselves, set personal goals and dealing with stress. Members of the organisation are very much encouraged by the families atmosphere promoted during that period (Irena and Adrian 2002). British Airways experienced few more restructuring processes in the hands of different leaders following Collin Marshall. It is believed the organisation is also undergoing a major culture change under the current leadership of Willie Walsh. The organisational culture is changed from people-oriented to power-oriented under the management of Willie Walsh. Members in the organisation became more competitive and responsive to personality as the values and beliefs are changed. Although it cannot be concluded by saying one culture is better than the other, the culture that Willie Walsh introduced into the organisation seems to be inappropriate and hinder its performance (Armstrong 2009: 398). 4.4 Resourcing and Legal Issues Another crucial aspect to achieve the goals of the organisation is people resourcing. Organisations need to make sure they can obtain and retain the right people that can fit into their organisational and perform in a productive way. Therefore, strategies such as human resource planning, recruitment and selection, selection interviewing, selection tests, introduction to the organization and release from the organization are genuinely required to build up the strength of human aspect in the organisation (Armstrong 2001). In devising its strategy on human resource planning, British Airways has to be to be able to forecast future people needs (demand forecasting), forecast future availability of people (supply forecasting) and make plans to match supply to demand (Armstrong 2001). These require the human resource department of British Airways to have thorough understanding of both the internal and external environments of the organisation. Examples of the internal environments include sales forecast and introduction of new technology whereby instances of external environment are such like labour market condition and labour turnover (Wilson 2011). Many organisations tend to promote people from within the organisation when there are vacancies in the upper level. This resourcing policy is known as qualification driven. British Airways is not an exception to this. British Airways advertises internal vacancies to its employees and provide cross training when necessary (British Airways 2011). With the implementation of restructuring programme named Compete 2012, British Airways also encourages its people to move between functions to develop their talents and skills. This once again confirms its usual practice of promoting people internally (British Airways 2010). Despite its focus on internal promotion, British Airways does not neglect the importance of injecting talents and fresh ideas into the vein of the organisation. Its external recruitment is carried out firstly through its recruitment website, which also forms the initial selection process. Applicants are then asked to attend the assessment day. They will then be accessed through different methods such as group exercises, interviews, psychometric tests, presentations, fact-finding exercise or role play (British Airways 2011). As a global organisation, BA is renowned in its workforce diversity. This requires the organisation to comply with different laws and legislations such as Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Race Relations Act 1976 and Data Protection Act (British Airways 2011). In spite of the diversified culture image that it has built up over the years, flaws can still be seen in the way British Airways manage its people. The company was sued for indirect sex discrimination by one of its female pilot in year 2005. Jessica Starmer, BAs female pilot requested to work 50% part time to take care of her newborn baby. However, the organisation can only offered her 75% work, which was unacceptable to Starmer and will cause her to give up her favourite job. It can be seen from this case that British Airways was not ready to accommodate working mothers and possibly exclude females from its pilot. Starmer eventually won this discrimination case and British Airways had to reconsider its way of managing work life ba lance for both men and women (BBC 2005). Employees well being should constantly be examined and improved in the organisation. 4.5 Skills, Training and Development Learning, training and development processes are ways to ensure individuals and organisations can enhance their performance and meet organisations objectives. One crucial framework of understanding how people learn is the work of Kolb. Kolb suggests learning as recurring process with four stages as shown in the diagram below. Figure Kolbs Learning Style (Clark 2008) The four stages (concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation) was then categorised by Honey and Mumford as activists, reflectors, theorists and pragmatists. It is contended that activists prefer to learn by actively participate in activities, reflectors learn through observation and reflections, theorists learn best through linking their experiences with concepts and theories, and pragmatists have a preference in transferring new information to real-life situations (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 357). Understanding how people learn through different HRM frameworks are crucial for British Airways to design the learning for its employees. By examining the training and learning design of British Airways, it is quite satisfactory that British Airways has provide ample training resources such as learning centres, library facilities, reference materials, audiotapes and video based learning (Job Vacancies Advice n.d.). British Airways also develops different training schemes such as Behaviour for Success, Leadership Matters and A Leader Development Portfolio (British Airways 2010). Graduate opportunities and training schemes are also provided to the students and graduates through series of interviews and selections (British Airways 2010). These shows that the organisation is concern about different learning styles of individuals and have provided different designs to match their learning needs. However, In relation to the chaotic opening of Heathrows Terminal 5, British Airways employees claimed that their failure was due to inadequate training days and the lack of essential support (BBC 2008). This incident should provide a little window for the management to realise that there is still a lack the way British Airways evaluate its employees learning activity and process. Furthermore, in dealing with the recent strike issue, British Airways is planning on training its ground staffs who have no flying experience to become cabin crews in 21 days (The Guardian 2010). This is inevitably worrying as these employees might not have appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitude to fill in the positions in such a short period. This hasty decision will only pull the company away from identifying and analysing the learning needs of its employees (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 352). 4.6 Appraisal Performance appraisal is a key attribute in driving an organisation towards competitive advantage. Though it may not be unwelcomed by the participants, it nevertheless provides crucial data for efficient decision-making, identifies training needs, and set levels of reward (Gold and Bratton 2003: 250). An effective appraisal system will also help the organisations to assess their staff against companies objectives, provide opportunities for the organisation to give good feedback to employees and motivate them (Business Link 2011). Appraisal can be carried out in different forms such as top-down schemes, self-appraisal, peer appraisal, upward appraisal and multi-rater appraisal or 360-degree feedback (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 323). The employees progress is monitored both informally and formally in British Airways. Informally, the staffs will have to discuss with their manager about their performance and formally, they will need to go through an annual performance review (British Airways 2011). This top-down appraisal system is designed to encourage continuous improvement in employees performance and behaviour. However, it is questionable whether the appraisal is effective. Due to the linkage of appraisal with pay in British Airways, employees might be reluctant to openly discuss their problems at work with their line managers. Issues such as preferential treatment and lack of partiality may also invalidate the effort taken. Though immediate manager are inevitably in the best position to appraise employee performance, consideration should be given to evaluate performance through peer appraisal or multi-rater appraisal (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 323). 4.7 Coaching and Mentoring According to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIDP) (2010), coaching is a process to develop an individuals skills and knowledge in order to improve their work performance. Though it may involve the employees private life, the target is on achieving specific skills and goals. Mentoring, which is a method to transfer the knowledge, skills and experience in the challenging workplace, is often used interchangeably with coaching. Comparing to coaching, which is conducted in a shorter period, mentoring tends to describe a long term relationship where a more experienced staff supports the progression of his inexperienced colleague. In fact, coaching and mentoring is very much linked with overall learning and development strategies. According to the 2010 Learning and development survey conducted by CIDP (2010), more than half of the participants felt that coaching is the most effective way of learning and development. British Airways has always been a great success in coaching and mentoring its employees. As mentioned earlier, British Airways embed different training resources and programs to support and sustain the development of its people. Qualified pilots who apply to the Direct Entry Pilot Scheme offered by the organisation will need to attend training courses before they are allowed to join the fleets. They will be put under the supervision of experienced training team until the completion of Line Check (British Airways 2011). This efficient coaching and mentoring thus lead the pilots into the right behaviour and work effectively. 4.8 Performance and Motivation People need to be motivated to work. In order to improve the performance, it is important for managers to motivate and encourage their staffs. Throughout the years, various schools of thoughts on motivation have been established. Some of the well known theories are McGreggors theory X and theory Y, Adams equity theory, Maslows hierarchy of needs and Herzbergs two factor theory (Wilson 2011). This section will focus only the first two theories McGreggors theory X and theory Y and Adams equity theory. A notable study conducted from 1945-1965 revealed that what employees desire the most from a job is security, following by advancement, type of work and company. This is against the common belief that money is the primary motivating factor. However, this should not send the signal to the company to reward employee inadequately (Accel-Team 2010). However, in the recent dispute with its cabin crew, it became obvious that British Airways Chief Executive, Mr. Willie Walsh is incompetent to address this idea. In this dispute concerning the cabins pay condition, Willie Walsh proves that his managerial style falls under McGreggors theory X. Unlike theory Y which encourages participative communication, Willie Walsh cultivates a downward direction communication flow from manager to subordinates (Barnett 2011). This can be seen by his act in snatching the offer of Unite union off the negotiation table in March 2010 without saying a further word (The Guardian 2010). His autocratic managerial style causes British Airways suffers heavy resistance from its employees and eventually leads to the decrease in employees morale. On the other hand, equity theory of motivation reveals the assumptions that individuals hold about what is value and worthwhile (Wilson 2011). This theory holds that a persons sense of fairness is resulting from comparison between his input-to-output ratios to the others see Figure 6 below (Business Balls 2010). According to a former British Airways crew member, the company has not treated its members with a fair view. The organisation compares its cabin crews salaries with low cost carriers such as Virgins and Easyjet. This is viewed as unreasonable since British Airways had been branded as a global premium airline. It is also found out that the organisations proposal for new fleet salaries of  £11,000 basic plus  £2.40 an hour is much lower comparing to other premium airlines such as Singapore and Emirates. Comparing to Singapore Airline (which pay not only  £20,792 to its crew, but also gives them the benefits of one months salary annual supplement plus health and pension p ackages) British Airways offer is apparently diminishing the effort of its members (The Guardian 2010). Equity theory should reminds British Airways management that its people must be managed and treated accordingly as they would compare the way they are treated with their surrounding environment (Business Balls 2010). Figure Adams Equity Theory (Business Balls 2010) 5.0 Future Directions 5.1 Change Management Plan With the fast changing global business environment, organisations have to be capable to respond quickly enough by implementing change. The chance of whether an organisation can survive is very much depending on how effective it deals with the changes such as new government policies, economic fluctuation, new competitors and etc. Changes are initiated by leaders who are clear with the organisations vision and put that vision into reality through medium term mission and deployment plan (Wilson 2010). Kotter and Schlessinger (1979) set out six approaches to manage resistance of change. These include the following: Education and communication inform people about the change effort beforehand Participation and involvement involve people in the change effort Facilitation and support provide coaching and mentoring to deal with adjustment problems Negotiation and agreement deal with resistance by offering incentives Manipulation and co-option give a leader a symbolic role in decision making without really involved in the change effort Explicit and implicit coercion force employees into accepting change by making clear that resistance can lead to losing jobs, transferring or not promoting (Value Based Management 2011) There is no one approach which out-ruled the other approaches. The suitability of the change approach is based upon the situation that an organisation is facing. Therefore, leaders have to exercise their wisdom and discernment when choosing the approach to deal with resistance. Willie Walshs tactic of using explicit and implicit coercion to manage change apparently is destructive to the organisation as it had pushed the resistance even further. As the cabin crews and the Unite union are in the position of power, it is more likely that negotiation and agreement should be applied. 5.2 Organisational Development Organisational development is defined as a process that applies behavioural science knowledge and practices to help organisations achieve g