Doctrine of Double Effect: Consequentialism Essay

The Doctrine of Double Effect states that it is a morally relevant difference between those bad consequences we aim and intend to bring about, and those that we do not intend but still foresee as a likely outcome of our actions. Under certain circumstances, it is morally acceptable to risk certain outcomes that would not be acceptable to intend. Though it is always wrong to kill innocents deliberately, this doctrine says, it is sometimes permissible to allow certain actions to occur understanding that some side effects will be negative. Considering that some side effects involve death, we need to consider the question of whether it is ever morally permissible to use people as a means to one’s end. Warren Quinn attempts to present a deontological way of viewing the Doctrine of Double Effect. The configuration of Doctrine of Double Effect prepared by Quinn makes distinctions on moral assessments. In proportion to consequentialist moral theory, the distinction the Doctrine of Dou ble Effect comprises between intended and merely foreseen consequences does not matter for moral evaluation with the exception of factors that are consequential for production of better outcomes. In Deontology edited by Stephen Darwill, Deontology is a element of ethical teachings centered on the idea that actions must be guided above all by adherence to clear principles. Thomas Nagel suggest that the core idea in deontological thinking is the Doctrine of Double Effect and the innermost idea is one ought not in one’s actions aim at evil and in this way to be guided by evil (177). Quinn suggests that there are two major problems dealing with the rationality and discrimination between cases when it comes to the Doctrine of Double Effect. In the following exert from Deontology, Quinn gives examples of contrasting cases from modern warfare: In the case of a strategic bomber (SB), a pilot bombs an enemy factory in order to destroy its productive capacity. But in doing this he foresees that he will kill innocent civilians who live nearby. Many of us see this kind of military action as much easier to justify than that in the Case of the Terror Bomber (TB), who deliberately kills innocent civilians in order to demoralize the enemy. Another pair of cases involves medicine: In both there is a shortage of resources for the investigation and proper treatment of a  new, life-threatening disease. In the first scenario doctors decide to cope by selectively treating only those who can be cured most easily, leaving the more stubborn cases untreated. Call this the direction of resources case (DR). In the contrasting and intuitively more problematic example, doctors decide on a crash experimental program in which they deliberately leave the stubborn cases untreated in order to learn more about the nature of the disease. †¦Guine a Pig Case (GP). Another pair of medical examples is found in most discussions of Doctrine of Double Effect. In the Craniotomy Case (CC) a woman will die unless the head of the fetus she is trying to deliver is crushed. But the fetus may be safely removed if the mother is allowed to die. In the Hysterectomy Case (HC), a pregnant mother is allowed to die. In the Hysterectomy Case (HC), a pregnant mother’s uterus is cancerous and must be removed if she is to be saved. This will, given the limits of available medical technology, kill the fetus. But if no operation is performed the mother will eventually die after giving birth to a healthy infant. (Darwell 195) In the above case I obviously see that there is a significant difference between the cases. The fetus is not yet a person, and the mother has a right to seek defense from anything that is hazardous to her health. Quinn makes the distinctions that the doctor in Craniotomy Case does not intend to actually kill the fetus; he probably would be happy if it survived. In this case it is little difference between the Hysterectomy Case and the Craniotomy Case. Quinn produces a projected way to revive the Doctrine of Double Effect. He recommend that the Doctrine of Double Effect should be reiterated in the following way: One to make possible a differentiation between agency in which injury comes to a quantity of victims, at least impart, from the agent’s deliberately connecting them in something in order to further his purpose specifically by way of their being so involved and harmful agency in which either nothing is in that way intended for the victims or what is intended does not contribute to their harm. The overhaul of the Doctrine of Double Effect will produce the result that in the Terror Bomber and  Craniotomy examples, the agency involved is the less customary kind, whereas in strategic bomber, Diversion of Resources , and cancerous uterus, the agency is involved is more acceptable kind. This works alongside with the original understanding of the Doctrine. The majority of military actions would be morally out of the question if the killing of civilians were absolutely forbidden. When factories, naval dockyards, and supply lines are bombed, civilian carnage is inevitable. In these cases, the philosophy of the Double Doctrine of Effect comes into to play. When it comes to this, there is a huge and undeniable gray area; for instance, could it be permissible to bomb a hospital in which Osama Bin Laden is lying ill. In the doctrines most precise form, it holds that if an action has two effects, one good quality and one unpleasant, then the action is morally permissible. The following questions must be asked: is the action good in itself or not evil; is the good effect the only one aimed for; the good follows as immediately from the action as the evil effect, and the reason for performing the action was as important as that for allowing the evil effect. Are the consequences good on balance? It is important that it is; the goodness of the goo d must outweigh the evil of the evil effect. Walzer goes as far to say that the actor should seek out ways to lessen the evil effect, accepting risk to his or her self. â€Å"There is obviously leeway for military judgment here: strategies and planners will for reasons of their own weigh the importance of their targets against the importance of their soldiers’ lives. But even if the target is very important, and the number of innocent people threatened relatively small, they must risk soldiers before they kill civilians† (Walzer 157). Still if the noncombatants are in harm’s way due to direct actions of the enemy, or due to the adult noncombatants own choice, the agent is duty-bound by jus in bello’s highlighting on distinction to alter his campaign from those otherwise recommended, if those tactics will foreseeable result in noncombatant casualties. Could one claim that the bombing campaign America set out over Kosovo did not meet the Double Doctrine Effect? Yes, the campaign failed to meet Walzerâ €™s extra requirement because pilots flew high to guard themselves and dropped bombs imprecisely, which resulted in greater civilian casualties. In Just and Unjust Wars, Walzer claims, â€Å"Double effect is a way of reconciling the absolute prohibition against attacking non-combatants with the legitimate conduct of military activity† (153). These non-combatants are placed in the category of innocence. Indeed, it is unjustified to kill the innocent, but these victims aren’t entirely innocent. It can be said that they are beneficiaries of oppression; they enjoy the contaminated fruits. In certain cases, it could be understandable but not justifiable. Those who are opposed to this notion would claim that the children among them, and even the adults, obtain every right to look forward to a long life like anyone else who is not actively participating in war. This is the whole notion of noncombatant immunity, which is not only crucial to war but of any decent politics. Anyone who renounces this policy for a moment is not simply making excuses for terrorism, but they are joining the lines of terror’s supporters . The act of terror incorporates the deliberate killing of noncombatants as a means to an end; therefore, it is not accepted by the Doctrine of Double Effect. â€Å"The question of direct and indirect effect is complicated by the question of coercion. When we judge the unintended killing of civilians, we need to know how those civilians came to be in a battle zone in the first place. This is, perhaps, only another way of asking who put them at risk and what positive effects were made to save them† (159). Do intentions really validate this doctrine? Could it be possible to leave out the intentions and simply judge the rightness or wrongness of an act by its consequences, the way a consequentialist would do? Consequentialist will only choose to perform actions with the best consequences, which ignores our prima facie duties to others. In this case, the answer would not be sufficient enough for the Doctrine of Double Effect because this doctrine encompasses deontological constraints. Quinn shows in the following account how the doctrine reflects a Kantian ideal of human community: This ideal is given one natural expression in the language of rights. People have a strong prima facie right not to be sacrificed in strategic roles over which they have no say. They have a right not to be pressed, in apparent violation of their prior rights, into the service of other people’s purpose.  Sometimes these additional rights may be justifiable infringed, especially when the prior right is not terribly important and the harm is limited, but in all cases they add their own burden to the opposing moral argument. (207) The Doctrine of Double Effect gives each individual value, which is not based on the majority of people. Gives individuals rights against being used as means to any end. In the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagaski, Between 120,000 and 250,000 civilians were killed. The decision to use this deadly weapon for Americans was allegedly not for revenge but to bring an end to this dreadful war. I would like to believe former president Harry Truman was under the impression that the evil performed would not surpass the greater good that would come out of the action. At that time it was believed that the Japanese were fighting an unjust and aggressive war. In the following exert in Just and Unjust Wars, Walzer has part of commits made by Truman after the decision to drop the Atom bomb in the following: â€Å"We have used [the bomb] against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war† (Walzer 264). The shortening of the agony of war was the justification of the use of the atomic bomb. President Truman claimed that the alternative, an invasion, would have cost countless American lives. In his justification, he shows evidence that he believes American lives are more important than the lives of others; I definitely do not believe this is the way the Doctrine of Double Effect was suppose to be executed. Now if he was specifically to state that one half of a million American lives would have been taken if the war was not stopped, he then can claim the net savings from the terror amounted to around a quarter of a million lives. In the case of valuing American lives more and theirs less, it looks somewhat obvious that the Doctrine of Double Effect was not used properly. Under any circumstances, the use of such a lethal weapon against Americans on American soil could never be justified. Many moral philosophers are not pleased with the Doctrine of Double Effect; Jim Holt gives an account of some of their objections in the following: If you ask the terror bomber why he is killing civilians, he will say, â€Å"to win a just war might even say that he does not need the civilians actually to be dead, but only to be thought to be dead until it is over to demoralize the other side. If his victims could be miraculously brought back to life after the end of the struggle, he would not object. In this sense, he does not really intend their deaths†¦. If I can kill Saddam Hussein only by shooting him through innocent human shield, do I intend harm to the innocent shield or not? (Holt) Is the difference among directly intended effects and inevitable effects a contrived one? The point he is trying to make is that the incidental fatalities of a calculated bomb are just as dead as the intended victims of a terror bomber. This objection brings up another point made by Quinn in relation to the closeness of these situations. â€Å"†¦it surely matters how close the connection is between that which is, strictly speaking, intended and the resulting foreseen harm. If the connection is close enough, then the doctrine should treat the harm as if it were strictly intended. And the reply might go on, the connection is close enough in the cases I have used to illustrate the doctrine’s negative force (196). In reference to the meaning of closeness, an illustration of closeness was supplied through an example of a glass. Someone could violently heat a glass just for the purpose of hearing the noise made from the initial impact. In cases involving force against something as fragile as a glass, the shattering is to be expected immediately after the action. These two actions form a causal relationship, so the connection seems intangible opposed to conditional. It is morally acceptable to risk certain outcomes that would not be acceptable to intend. The Doctrine of Double Effect has prima facie reasoning in its make-up; therefore, it has a strong responsibility to do what is morally acceptable to our own standards. Proponents of Doctrine of Double Effect coincide more with deontological views opposed to consequentialist theories. Even though the Doctrine in some cases allows  harm among individuals, they recognize that in real life cases there are events that have sufficient reasoning behind them. Though it is always wrong to kill innocents deliberately, this doctrine says, it is sometimes permissible to attack a military target with the understanding that some civilians will die as a side effect. Even a dog knows when it is intentionally or accidentally kicked; therefore, We can not deny that intentions are of some importance. The question is whether or not the difference can be held up as morally acceptable. â€Å"For causal critics of the doctrine sometimes seem to suppose that its defenders must be ready to allow killings or harmings simply on the ground that the agency is indirect. But nothing could be further from the truth. The doctrine in no way lessons the constraining force of any independent moral right or duty† (203). The Doctrine of Double Effect is centered among the impression of acceptable actions. The quest of good is less appreciated where a significant harm is intended as a means than where it is merely foreseen. The deontologists grasp the idea that one or both of the distinctions between doing and allowing and intended and merely foresee effects scientifically affect what morality approves and condemns. Lying on this outlook, it is of importance morally not just what outcomes we bring about or fail to bring about, but the structure of our agency in this regard. The deontologist theories conflicts in the company of the act consequentialist, who holds that one morally ought always to do an act that leads to an outcome that is not worse than the outcome that would be reached by any other act. Quinn gave an excellent account of the deontological view of the Doctrine of Double Effect, but his theory has flaws. What if the American government for an upright decent reason terrorizes the city of Berlin, and they can do this effectively by dropping bombs over Toronto? Our government does not strictly intend to include the people of Toronto for the reason that their attachment does not advance our objective; if all of the residents were out of town and survived, and our purpose still would have been served. In his reconstruction of the Doctrine of Double Effect, Quinn excludes our acts as indirect agency; therefore, the slaughter of the inhabitants of Toronto is  parallel to a merely foreseen consequence. I don’t believe this exemption is one that he anticipated to make, but it is a loose end that needs further explanation. Works Cited Darwell, Stephen. (2003). Deontology. Malden, MA: Editorial material and organization. Holt, Jim. Terrorism and the Philosohers. Can The Ends ever justify the means?2 June 2004.http://slate.msn.com/?id+2064544. Walzer, Michael. (1977).Just and Unjust Wars. A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations. 3rd ed. Basic Books..

Politics and Hierarchy in Shakespeares As You like It Essay

In William Shakespeare’s play, As you Like It, there are lots of interesting themes which both drive the action and speak to the culture that the author lived in. Among those interesting themes are the classic Shakespearean ideal of love, issues dealing with family relationships, and perhaps more importantly, politics and hierarchy. In this comedy, the dichotomy between certain characters becomes evident early on and continues for the entirety of the work. Over time, the reader comes to understand that many of the decisions made by Orlando and Oliver in their conflict are due to the perceived hierarchy of the society and the politics that would result from the decisions. In addition, the relationship between Duke Frederick and Duke Senior is one that explores lots of hierarchical themes associated with living in England at the time. These pertinent examples and more are explored in a light, intellectual way throughout the play.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Politics and hierarchy are primarily relevant when one considers the relationships between the various characters. One important plot aspect is the relationship between Orlando and Oliver. Orlando is a victim of circumstance and he is fully aware of his plight. In a way, he is a sympathetic character that has no recourse in trying to make his situation better. In his relationship with his older brother, Orlando is constantly under emotional torment from Oliver. Their conflict is at the heart of the story and it is an important theme throughout. Where does this conflict come from? Ultimately, it is the result of a decision that was made by the father of the two boys. Oliver received the inheritance from the father and took advantage of the land in his father’s estate. From that, there exists a hierarchical battle between the two brothers for the rest of their life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The stark contrast in the hierarchy is best represented by these two brothers because the example is so pure. Oliver is different from Orlando not only because he owns the estate, but also because he has other advantages that put him above Orlando in social status. During the comedy, there are many times when Orlando can be found telling his servant Adam that Oliver refuses to educate him and provide anything for him. Though the reader does not know much about the relationship of the brothers before their father died, one can reasonably infer that they had a decent relationship. Once Oliver elevated himself to a greater status in the hierarchy, he not only abandoned Orlando, but even took the initiative to make his brother’s life harder. This even comes to a violent head when the two brothers engage in a fight when Oliver comes to see Orlando. Orlando gets the better of that conflict and makes sure that Oliver understands that. Since this is a comedy, Shakespeare makes sure that the conflict between the brothers is presented in a sarcastic nature that the readers can enjoy. Clearly, Orlando makes light of his own plight and even makes a comment about his relatively low status in comparison to his brother. In the play, Orlando remarks to Oliver, â€Å"I am helping you to mar that which God made, a poor, unworthy brother of yours, with idleness† (Shakespeare). This sarcasm is put into the play to provide a light moment, but it also represents the fact that Oliver looks upon his brother as being something of a joke.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is another hierarchical aspect of their relationship that must be considered. During that time, there was a huge gap in education for the wealthy and the poor. As such, those with money could go to the few schools that existed, while people without money had to learn skills in order to survive. From this, a certain perception began to exist that colored uneducated people as being somewhat barbaric. This interesting dichotomy is presented well by Shakespeare, as he attempts to inform the reader that Orlando is both a better fighter and a more vindictive person, while his brother Oliver was much more cultured. This was one of the many ways that people were separated by class during that time. It was all based upon money, wealth, and power, but other things came as a result of that.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As only Orlando’s brother, Oliver should have never taken a role of sovereignty over him. Instead, their relationship should have still existed like a normal one during that time. However, William Shakespeare uses the relationship between the two brothers in this play as a means of displaying his own political thoughts during the time. A Paul Yachnin article published in the HighBeam Encyclopedia indicates the fact that Shakespeare did this in many of his plays. In that article, Yachnin writes, â€Å"In the play, the political and social relations between masters and their subjects places loyalty at the center of the system of relations devoted to instituting a regime of absolutist politics† (Yachnin). The loyalty between the brothers is at the center of their conflict, as Orlando feels that his brother has not been loyal to him because of social status. On the flip side of that, Oliver feels that Orlando should look up to him as something of a master, when in fact, they are just brothers. This is an interest dichotomy between the two characters that plays itself out in a series of fights, both physical and verbal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition to the aforementioned hierarchy in Shakespeare’s play, politics also play a huge role in driving the action. Though politics are not a major player in the relationship between Orlando and Oliver, they do power the relationship between Duke Frederick and Duke Senior. In fact, this is one of the primary plot sequences that is very important to the storyline. Duke Frederick oversteps his bounds in this comedy, as he is not supposed to move to the top of the political latter over his brother. In English society at the time, people were locked into their roles in society. This was true even among the rich people. Though they were clearly above poor people in society, they had to worry about staying put in their position in the upper crust of the political scene. When Duke Frederick supplants Duke Senior in the political scene, a huge conflict is born. Interestingly, Shakespeare finds a creative way to intertwine the two separate stories, drawing connections between the social roles of the various characters in the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Politics play a substantial role in the plight of the two dukes because they cause Duke Senior to have to live somewhere else. When Duke Frederick takes the place of his older brother, there is no option that allows both of them to just live in harmony in the same area. Instead, Duke Senior is banished from the duchy and has to live with plain nobles in a wooded area. Though he did not get banished to living with the peasants who were living completely off of the land and good graces of the upper crust, Duke Senior did not get to take advantage of the life with which he had become accustomed. That is a very important theme for the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Alan Bloom book, Shakespeare’s Politics, has an interesting take on the inner workings of how the author thought. There is lots of speculation about what sort of political thinker William Shakespeare was and the majority of that can be seen in his works. In As You Like It, it is clear that Shakespeare both searched for and figured out the answers to many of the most important questions of his day. According to Bloom, the author tosses harsh criticism on some of the systems that existed during his day (Bloom). Some examples of this include Shakespeare’s constant criticism of the class system, which he believed was bad for English society. While Shakespeare may have taken harder political stances in some of his other works like Julius Caesar, he certainly addresses the current landscape in each of his works. When dealing with the two Dukes in As you Like It, Shakespeare makes light of how their folly makes both of their lives more difficult. It was an interesting approach to take because most of the political thought during the time was breaking down the class distinctions between the reach and the poor. Very few authors or thinkers had even considered the politics that existed among the distinct groups. Shakespeare had the progressive vision to try his best to understand what sort of political motives drove advancement within certain social castes. In this comedy, he finds that even the rich jockey for position, as Duke Frederick used â€Å"creative† means to get rid of his older brother and take control of the power in the society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Robin Headlam Wells wrote a book about how Shakespeare used politics as a major theme in his work. In the book, Shakespeare, Politics, and the State, Wells writes about how Shakespeare constantly uses the voices of his characters to present problems within the political and hierarchical system (Wells). In this particular comedy, the beauty of the work is that each of the characters has their own role in the madness that existed within the English political system at the time. He uses all of the characters to make it well known that no one individual person or individual group was affected less or more by the makeshift caste system that England used.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare himself was one of the people who understood how the political system could impact just about everyone. In order to understand the uses in his book, one has to understand Shakespeare’s political opinions and his experiences with politics. One website indicated that, â€Å"Shakespeare knew people who had been arrested and tortured – friends and family members† (William-Shakespeare.org). This is interesting to consider in that he knew that people who did not have affluence had a hard time surviving in the current political system. As such, his criticisms of the current political system had to be somewhat hushed by the constant fear that he might be prosecuted for such comments. Given the fact that Shakespeare had family that had been the victim of political happenstance, it is interesting to consider his take on the dynamic of Orlando and Oliver. The author understood the plight of Orlando more so than he did the situation of Oliver, so in many ways, he favors Orlando in his writing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As you Like It is an interesting play by William Shakespeare that addresses many different themes that were prevalent in English society during the time of the author. Among those are the common themes of politics and hierarchy. In his breakdown of the various relationship of individuals within the comedy, Shakespeare actually sheds a little bit of light on what it might have been like to live in England during that time.   Works Cited Alexander, Catherine. Shakespeare and Politics. 13 September 2004.   Cambridge University Press. Bloom, Allan. Shakespeare’s Politics. 1 December 1996. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Wells, Robin Headlam. Shakespeare Politics and State. December 1986. Palgrave McMillan Publishing. William Shakespeare and Elizabethan Politics. http://www.william-shakespeare.org.uk/william-shakespeare-politics.htm Yachnin, Paul. High Beam Encyclopedia. Shakespeare’s Politics and Loyalty. 22 March 1993. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-14363559.html   

Alvin Ailey History Leading Up to ‘Cry’

Alvin Ailey – ‘Cry’ Give a chronological account of Ailey’s background, training and influences up to the time he made ‘Cry’. Discuss how this may have informed the narrative of the dance in the work ‘Cry’ Alvin Ailey used his culture and countless childhood memories to base his choreography. His background, training and influences have informed and influenced the narrative of his work ‘Cry. The concept of cry was devised by Alvin Ailey. ‘Cry’ took its inspiration and stimulus from the suffering and hardship faced by African American Women.It portrays a woman dealing with slavery, adversity and segregation, who overcomes extraordinary situations and misfortunes, and rises up to triumph. Alvin Ailey Jr. was born on the 5th of January, 1931 to Lula Elizabeth Ailey, in Rogers, Texas. His experiences of life being brought up in the rural South would later inspire some of his most notable works. Ailey was an only chil d, and his father left the family when Ailey was the mere age of 1. Ailey soon later moved to Navasota, Texas with his mother. â€Å"There was the white school up on the hill, and the Black Baptist Church† said Ailey in a Times interview.Ailey grew up in this world feeling like an outsider. In 1942 he moved to Los Angeles, where he was introduced to dance by performances by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the Katherine Dunham Dance Company. It was at this time that Ailey became interested in athletics and along with this joined his high schools gymnastic and football teams. He also began taking tap lessons as he had a strong admiration for Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Ailey’s passion for dance further grew when he visited a modern dance school which was run by Lester Horton at the time.This dance school was the first company to accept dancers of all races. He attended Lester Horton’s dance school for one year before leaving. As Ailey had just recently gradua ted from high school in 1948 he went onto to attend the University of California where he studied languages. However, in 1949, Horton offered Ailey a scholarship, which he accepted, and it became effective immediately. Ailey continued on at the Company for again, one year, before this time leaving to attend San Francisco State College. With Ailey travelling a fair amount it gave him little connection and a lack of belonging which later in life would ontribute to the love and dedication he had towards his mother as she was the only real connection he had. Alongside this Ailey grew up with a strong sense of his African American Culture. While Ailey was living in San Francisco he began to dance in various night-clubs as a source of money. Very soon later, once again, Ailey returned to Los Angeles in order to complete his dance training with Lester Horton. It was in 1953 that Ailey ventured to New York alongside Horton and the company to perform. During this trip to New York Lester Hort on had a sudden death, leaving Ailey as Director of the Company.From here Ailey followed Horton’s technique and style himself as it thoroughly influenced on his dance genre, and he, himself produced 2 works. Unfortunately, for Ailey these pieces received very little praise and poor reviews which resulted in the troupe parting ways. Regardless of this minor setback, Ailey’s career truly began to blossom and he successfully moved on in the dance industry. Ailey was cast for numerous productions both on and off Broadway! Among these were the likes off: Sing, Man, Sing; Jamaica; Carefree tree; and Call me by my right name.In 1958 Ailey and another choreographer set out to recruit dancers which would perform several concerts throughout New York City. These new and modern works received successful reviews and high amounts of praise, which led Ailey to schedule concert after concert for the works to be viewed. Ailey’s first major work â€Å"Blues Suite† inspired by blues music was performed at these recitals. It was during this time, that his now most grasping piece â€Å"Revelations† was created and brought to life on the stage. â€Å"Revelations† was accompanied by the clutching music of Duke Ellington.It was this work that introduced the African American Religious Life to the United States, and pulled the audience in leaving them wanting more. It was from here on out that Alvin Ailey realized the impact he had on audiences through the African American context, and he further used this to his advantages to express the hardships that people of this culture faced through dance and art. In 1958 Alvin Ailey established his own company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, to carry out his vision of a company devoted to inspiring the American modern dance heritage and preserving the style and traditions of the African-American culture.A short one year after its creation the company became the resident dance theatre at the Cla rke Centre for Performing Arts in New York City. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre was lucky enough to house the leading African American Soloist being Judith Jamison. Not only was Judith Jamison a part of the company, Ailey also employed Asian and white dancers, making his company tremendously culturally diverse. It during the mid-1960’s when Ailey officially gave up dance, due to personal issues.Although quite recently after this, Ailey alongside his company relocated to Brooklyn, New York. From here on the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre went on to be one of the most renowned dance troupes, touring internationally. It was on May 4th, 1971 at the New York City Centre, where Ailey’s signature work ‘Cry’ was first performed. Ailey dedicated this piece to â€Å"all black women everywhere–especially our mothers. † Alvin Ailey choreographed his memorable solo  Ã¢â‚¬ËœCry’  as a birthday present for his honorable mother, and choreograph ed the dance on his principal dancer, Judith Jamison.Jamison demonstrated Ailey’s mother’s struggles as well as all other African American woman’s struggles at the time of slavery as they fought for freedom. Mrs. Cooper (Alvin Ailey's mother) and Ms. Jamison are considered as the model of an Ailey woman. The role in ‘Cry’ has been passed on to all the Principal Dancers in the company being taught from the original soloist, Judith Jamison. In her autobiography, Jamison wrote â€Å"Exactly where the woman is going through the ballet's three sections was never explained to me by Alvin.In my interpretation, she represented those women before her who came from the hardships of slavery, through the pain of losing loved ones, through overcoming extraordinary depressions and tribulations. Coming out of a world of pain and trouble, she has found her way-and triumphed. † The piece ‘Cry’ very much so illustrates these altered generations of African American women. The work begins with the unraveling of a long white cloth that is personified during the work and takes on many figures; from a cleaning cloth which depicts the slavery the women faced to a physical barrier on the floor preventing escape.Ailey said â€Å"I am trying to express something that I feel about people, life, the human spirit, the beauty of things. † This three female solo, takes the audience on a journey of bitter sadness, ruthless hardship and blissful joy. It is through these factors that we are able to see the narrative of the work cry Ultimately, Ailey strongly used themes and concepts that he experienced from his past training, influences and background knowledge, to create and choreograph his most renowned work ‘Cry’

International Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Human Resource Management - Essay Example Such differences mainly include labor cost factors, cultural factors, industrial relations norms, and economic factors. Key Issues in Selection of Expatriates Expatriate assignments fail quite often. The stress process of expatriates is shown in Fig. 1. Careful selection of international assignee can help improve the results. Most of the managerial positions are held by locals instead of expatriates, though it does not always happen so. The attitude that prevails in the ethnocentric corporations is that local managers are superior whereas host-country managers are considered superior in the polycentric corporations. In contrast to them, the most suitable manager for a certain position in the geocentric firms is selected from the global workforce of the firm. Fig. 1: Stages of Expatriates’ Stress Process (Koteswari and Bhattacharya, 2007, p. 91). The training of expatriates before assignment typically revolves around cultural differences, factual knowledge about the country of assignment, and the way behavior is influenced by attitude. The approach that is most commonly used in the formulation of expatriate pay is equalization of the power of purchasing across the countries. This term used for this is the â€Å"balance sheet approach†. ... Culture of China and India is significantly different from that of England. Everything ranging from dress code to work ethics, norms, values, trends, and traditions are different among the three countries. This induces perceived inability of adjustment in the expatriates. â€Å"Perceived inability to adjust may indicate a lack of cross-cultural skills such as cultural empathy, intercultural Selmer† (Selmer, 2004, p. 805-806). Apart from the issues of expatriation, employees also become hesitant to become expatriates if they think that their organization does not support the repatriates (Black, 1991). Fig. 2: Problems Experienced by Different Age-Groups of Expatriates (Just Landed, 2012). Recommendations The need of having both home-office and local supervisors as reviewers of the expatriates’ performance complicates the process of expatriate appraisal. The process of expatriate appraisal can be improved by stipulating the level of assignment difficulty, weighing the app raisal of on-site managers more heavily, and getting background advice from the managers that have been to the foreign country before. These managers should also assist the expatriates in developing connections in the host country. Research by Wang and Kanungo (2004, p. 775) has shown that the network characteristics of expatriates have a significant and direct impact on their psychological well-being. Fig. 3 shows the factors influencing expatriates’ participation in social networks. This would create awareness in the selected expatriates regarding the culture of the host country and the impact of culture shock on them would be reduced. Fig. 3: Factors Influencing Expatriates’ Participation in Social Networks (Harvey, 2008). The problems of repatriation are commonly

Capital Budgetting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Capital Budgetting - Research Paper Example This topic has various fields such as capital budgeting which acts as an instrument in the monetary and fiscal policy. The two policies are necessary in improving net worth in the economy of a country in order to enhance development. This is mainly achieved through the reliance of debts rather than from other convectional sources such as tax. Capital budgeting is introduced in the economy so as to reduce deficit caused when expenditure exceeds revenue. In addition, capital budgeting is also primarily concerned with investment in the economy within long-term assets. These assets can either be tangible items such as equipment and property or intangible such as technology, trademarks and patents. However, the key challenge in capital budgeting is defining appropriate balances between current and capital expenditure. It is, therefore, important to enhance proper capital budgeting in order to reduce debts. This paper work analyzes a comprehensive research on capital budgeting in the econo my. This is in an effort to identify some aspects of corporate practices, which are consistent with capital budgeting policies and decisions. Capital budgeting decisions Capital budgeting decisions is highly applicable in the economy to maximize market values of firms to their shareholders. The decisions, therefore, have greater and long range impacts on the performance of firms. This is because the nature of the capital budgeting decision can either cause success or failure of a firm in the economy framework. According to financial theory by Keynes, capital budgeting decisions revolve around assets values. This is by ensuring value of assets in the entire economy is equivalent to the discounted values of the expected future cash flow (Graham & Harvey, 2002). Net present value (NPV) vs. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) These are two capital budgeting decision measures that are used to evaluate the nature of the product market before undertaking investment project. This means that firms contemplating investment in the capital market need to embrace net present value (NPV) rule in order to know when to undertake projects. According to this rule, a firm is only required to undertake capital investment project when NPV is either zero or positive. However, current survey shows that many firms across the world use internal rate of return (IRR) as a primary criterion of evaluating capital investment projects (Gervais, 2009). According to a survey that was conducted in 2000 among large companies in the world, 10 percent of them relied on NPV as a primary source of business evaluation while more that 50 percent relied on internal rate of return. Although the two methods have a similarity in evaluating the nature of the market, they exhibit critical difference in that IRR is expressed in ratio form while NPV measures the value added in dollar. However, Dayananda indicates that research shows that most of the companies and firms across the globe uses internal rate of return and net present value for their capital budgeting techniques. In addition, large firms record high rate of using NPV than small companies. This is because they require more accurate measure to prevent incurring higher losses because they engage in paramount investment (Dayananda, 2002). In addition, some surveys show that NPV is also like to be used by firms with high leverage than IRR contrary to firms with a reduced debt

Blood Spatter Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Blood Spatter Analysis - Essay Example Interpretation of bloodstain patterns entails physical measurements of blood droplets, knowledge of motion in Physics, use of trigonometry, as well as recognition of patterns using already known experiments or photographs (Gardner & Bevel, 2008). Other evidence such as tool mark, footprint impressions, fingerprints, chemical analysis, DNA evidence are used together with splatter analysis to create the sequence of events that led to the crime. While collecting evidence using splatter analysis; care should be taken since bloodstains cannot be carried to the laboratory lab for interpretation. Photographs should also be taken in addition to drawing of sketches to facilitate piecing of the puzzle together. The photographs and sketches are essential since they help in keeping visual records of the evidence. Substrate splatter analysis technique is one of the most accurate techniques. This is attributed to the fact that it facilitates the preservation of the samples for additional chemical and biological analysis (Gardner & Bevel, 2008). Additionally, the hyper-spectral imaging used in substrate splatter analysis offers a clarity for visualizing the blood splatter; thus, necessitating easy and detailed analysis. From the above information, it is extremely essential to employ the use of splatter analysis in solving violent

Non Profit Leadership Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Non Profit Leadership - Research Paper Example As per the nonprofit trend survey of 2013, nearly 69% of demand lacks to overcome the requirement of senior nonprofit leaders. There has been constant demand for the nonprofit leaders in order to provide proper staffing for the welfare of the society and to increase the source of funding. Since, the nonprofit sector have no profit generation capability and its available resources are limited thus, it is vital that leaders in this sector are more competent towards making the best possible use of the available resources with minimum wastage. Concurrently, the demand for effective resource planning, and motivating these individual engaged in the sector is extremely essential. Correspondingly, it can be argued that there is greater demand for leaders who are eligible and competent to fulfill the various requirements of the nonprofit sector. Moreover, fundraising is essential element for the successful performance of nonprofit sector. However, fundraising requires efficient planning and t heir execution in the most effective manner. Hence, it requires competent leaders who have planning as well as problem solving skills. Strategizing new initiates for the welfare of the society, educating children, assisting in eradication of poverty are general motive of nonprofit sector. Consequently, meeting those goals and objectives seeks for leaders who are capable of guiding and directing the activities of the non-profit organization. Staff retention, providing a flexible work environment, hiring staff also forms key elements for the success of non-profit sector. It can be argued without efficient and competent leaders, it is quite difficult for attaining requisite... Non Profit Leadership The leaders in any organization have significant influence on the performance of the organization as well as on its objectives. Correspondingly, the need for leaders is also ascertained to be extremely vital in the non-profit sector due to several reasons. More specifically, the non-profit sector is concerned with the welfare of the society and has limited resources. Thus, it requires efficient utilization of the available resource which seeks for competent leaders. The role of leaders in the non-profit sector can be identified to be diverse and more complex than the role of leaders in the commercial sector. Leaders in the non-profit sector are required to possess certain personality traits such as problem solving skills, planning and organizing skills, team management skills and relationship building skills among other for successful execution of various function required to meet the objectives of the non-profit organization. Furthermore, it has been identified that there are relati vely less diversity concerning with leaders in the non-profit sector as compared to business leaders. To sum up, it can be asserted that leaders in the non-profit sector are required to display proactive role in order to encourage young leaders. It is equally important to develop approach that would provide financial support to young leaders as well as to implement innovative ideas that would radically promote the goals and objectives of the non-profit organization.

Study skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Study skills - Essay Example The leading areas of focus include: Economic development and wealth creation. Social development. Environmental development. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Generally, the main concern that necessitates the upgrade of modern cities is the need to accommodate the ever-growing population especially around the bigger cities. One of the causes for this increase is the rapid rural-urban migration. The main cause for this migration is the pursuit for job opportunities and better housing facilities among others. There is a need to upgrade the existing social amenities to match this rate of migration in order to avert the major social problems that are associated with any unprecedented rise in population. London has been on the fore front in ensuring that the general infrastructure of the city is developed to ensure that the city retains its global position despite the sudden rise in urban dwellers. The other reason for the upgrade is to address recent global areas of concerns associated with the urban ar eas, top among them being the global warming menace. Most authorities have realized that the current global race towards industrialization has led to an upsurge in environmental degradation in levels never seen in the recent past. Keywords: urbanization, global warming, infrastructure, energy, renewable energy, sustainability, waste management. Introduction There has been a high motivation to improve on the development of London over the recent years. The Greater London Authority (GLA) is an authority whose role is to seek development in a brighter future for London. GLA is made up of members such as the Mayor, London Assembly, and staff. Other functionalities existing include London Development Agency, Metropolitan Police Authority, Transport and London Fire and Emergency authority. Therefore, the report seeks to expound on environmental improvement in London Powers and Responsibilities of the GLA and the Mayor: The Mayor of London is a very important figure as he sets the strategy used to focus on development, procedures to be used as well as the policies to be followed to realise the vision of making London the biggest and best city or choice of destination in the world. This involves the areas described above such as economic development and wealth creation, social development and finally environmental development. The work of strategizing the London vision is a responsibility of London’s Mayor. The mayor comes up with the best strategies that will be used to implement and fulfil the vision for the future. The Mayor of London also seeks to establish working relationships with key parties such as organisations. This will see to it that essential lines that will enable London to move easily to the strategized vision for its future can be drawn. According to the Mayor of London, Johnson Boris insists that he wants to bring about the changes that most Londoners have always aspired. Some of these changes include remodelling the general outlook of London so that it reflects a cleaner city with safer streets. There is also a need to introduce modern transport system as well a state-of-the art housing facilities. This will play a crucial part in attracting local, as well as foreign visitors to this great city. The Mayor of Lond

Critical Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Critical Review - Essay Example Data was collected via interviews and questionnaires. The research concluded that the speaking assessments were designed to minimize the psychological stress upon the students, save their as well as the teachers’ time, and obviate the need for teacher to interview the students. The teachers involved in the research were found least concerned with their assessments’ reliability and validity. This essentially minimized the teachers’ confidence in their own assessments. The classroom specific barriers included large size of the classes, excessive work, and lack of sufficient training of the teachers. Korean secondary school teachers require assistance of administration in order to realize new and improved ways of speaking assessment. Critical analysis: This article has the potential to influence the Korean academia in a number of ways. Realization of a problem is the first and the foremost step for its resolution. This article particularly addresses this. English sp eaking ability of the Korean students depends fundamentally upon the skills and competence of the teacher as well as the methods employed by them to assess the speech of students. This research has covered the basic steps in the way of bringing improvement in the speaking assessment ability of the teachers. Apparently, no negative aspect of the article can be depicted since the research article makes a significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge regarding the factors evaluated by the teachers in their assessments of students’ speaking ability. The fundamental goal of assessment is to improve the pedagogical approach adopted by the teacher and assist the students in controlling their learning. This can not be achieved without authentic assessment which is linked with the program’s instructional objectives. Development and administration of a speaking assessment can be very challenging specially when the teacher’s powers are limited by a lot of cons traints. One thing of particular interest discovered as a result of this research was that most of the problems with the speaking assessment pertained to the system employed in the educational setup. A vast majority of the teachers knew that the quality of the methods employed by them to assess the students’ English speaking ability was compromising, yet there was little that they could do about it. The problem was found to originate not in the teachers’ slackness, but in various constraints most of which were beyond the control of teachers. In a conventional educational system, time is limited. Teachers have to cover a lot of course in a very limited time. In that time, the teacher does not only have to achieve his/her target with respect to curriculum, but also counsel the students individually and collectively, understand the psyche of each student so as to work out the method that best works for him/her, and take exams. Ironically, most teachers give easy assignmen ts because they find it easy to check them. It is interesting to find that assignments, that are abhorred by students are actually much more of a burden for the teachers who have to find time to check them. Another factor that is very interesting is the fact that the teachers themselves do not at all feel

Assignment Internal Cash Control Essay Example for Free

Assignment Internal Cash Control Essay The weaknesses in the internal control over cash disbursements are, there should be only one person in charge of writing the checks for each task, and there should be numbered checks for both people so that the funds spend can be tracked easier, the cabinets were the checks are stored should be two locked cabinets, one for each person who writes the checks. Memo: I would recommend that to have a better control over money paid and items purchased, that you start having numbered checks in two separate accounts, one account for the treasurer and one account for the purchasing agent. This method will make it easier for moth parties to avoid mistakes, and it will also be easier to verify money spent and received. P4-1A The internal control principles implemented by the Guard Dog Company are, numbered checks so that the company has a number trail to monitor cash dispersment. Each check must have approval from Jane Bell, and Dennis Kurt before a check can be issued, this is an establishment of responsibility to ensure that not just anyone ion the company can write checks. Checks must be signed by either Tom Kimball, the treasurer, or Karen Thews, the assistant treasurer. Before signing a check, the signer is expected to compare the amounts of the check with the amounts on the invoice, this is also a form of establishment of responsibility and both of these procedures are a use of documentation procedures. After signing a check, the signer stamps the invoice â€Å"paid† and inserts within the stamp, the date, check number, and amount of the check. The â€Å"paid† invoice is then sent to the accounting department for recording. By doing this it is a way of verifying company cash dispersment and documentation control. Blank checks are stored in a safe in the treasurer’s office. The combination to the safe is known by only the treasurer and assistant treasurer. By locking the checks in a safe it establishes responsibility for the checks, and uses a Physical, mechanical, and electronic controls to narrow down any check problems to one source. Each month the bank statement is reconciled with the bank balance per books by the assistant chief accountant. By doing this it establishes document control, this way any discrepancies in the amount paid can be verified. Indicate the weaknesses in internal accounting control in the handling of collections. The weaknesses in the handling of collections are the way the money is deposited, the way the checks are made out and the way the money is verified and deposited. P4-2A List the improvements in internal control procedures that you plan to make at the next meeting of the audit team for (1) the ushers, (2) the head usher, (3) the financial secretary, and (4) the finance committee. The improvements the ushers need to make is that after each offering they should individually count their own collected baskets and log there amount in an offering log book, so that there is less room for error in the next step. By handing all the baskets to the head usher without counting the money themselves, the head usher can offer any amount on his final deposit. The improvements the head usher needs to make is to make sure that each usher counts their baskets, and that the head usher counts all the baskets and checks for discrepancies to make sure that no one is pocketing any money. The head usher should also check the amount given to him/her against what is written in the offering log. Have a book to log the amount of money that is put into the safe so that it is logged in a way that can be verified by the committee, a note is not a safe method because it can be thrown out, by logging in a book it is easier to find were the discrepancies came from. The improvements the financial secretary should make is that he/she should have a list of what needs to be paid and make a log of the amounts that need paid and to make sure the receipts are logged along with whatever bills or services that needed to be paid that week. The financial secretary should also verify the amount of money in the safe against the log that is kept by the ushers. The financial committee should show a more detailed list of what expenditures are needed each month so that the financial secretary knows what is needed for payment that month. They should also be involved in verifying the churches income. To improve internal control the church should have a log for money received during offerings, they should tell the congregation to make the checks payable to the church or to the account holder that the checks are deposited into, because anyone can cash a check made out to â€Å"cash†. The church should also verify that any money not deposited from the offering was spent properly and not used for personal things. Include how a company could use the five basic principles of cash management to increase accuracy for a business. A company can increase the collection of receivables by offering incentives for quick payment from their customers. A company can delay the payment of liabilities and bills to close to the due date of the liability or bill, so that if any expenditure is needed before the due date they will not have spent the money too early. A company can keep inventory low on the merchandise that does not sell quickly, so that the company has money for the merchandise that is popular and selling fast. A company that wish to expand should wait until they have excess money in a slow season so that they can expand their business and have new locations open in time for their busy season. A company should invest money that is sitting idle into low risk companies’, the most common form of liquid investments is interest-paying U. S. government securities.

Poetry on War An Analysis

Poetry on War An Analysis Opening with Auspices, an astonishing performance by Susan Mason which straightaway reminds of the African workers singing blues in 19th Century South American coltures, Poets on War clearly committed to the sufferings of war and imprisonment from the very beginning. Held on 1st February 2017 at the Southbank Centre, London, as part of The Poetry Librarys special edition, which takes place every first Wednesday of the month, the event was based on the participation of four contemporary poets, Ruth OCallaghan, Adnan al-Sayegh, Jenny Lewis and Hylda Sims, who tried to look at war with the sentiments of horror, sympathy and humour. As a result of a splendid collaboration between the diversity of such poets and their poems and the way they decided to lead them, the event immediately took the shades and the features of the so-called world literature, moving from London artistically and linguistically for a couple of hours. Ruth OCallaghan and some extracts from her collection Vortices (Shoestring, 2015) directed the first part of the evening. Approaching the idea of war and borders between countries and people, Ruth discusses and traces conflicts from bibical times to present day, raising the thought-provoking reflection that war has been an unfortunate constant in human beings lives and that poetry has followed it, giving voice to its effects and consequences. Hotel Owner is the poem that opens the first section and meditates on the idea of the hotel as a country without boundaries, in which people could feel safe, live and escape the world outside. 1914, on the other hand, treats the more technical part of the war, accounting for the ways in which slaughters have been perpetrated over history and particularly how death had different ideas in 1914. However, the most interesting points came out from Meine Liebe Mutter, which outlines the horrors of the war touching sensitively and respectfully the theme of son-mother relationship on the background of the Second World War. In concentration camps death had become ordinary and Ruth profoundly describes how the prisoners used to confront it: we never turned our face against the enemy, as killing is an intimate act. This striking idea of a connection between victim and murderer had a chilling impact on the whole audience: it placed a real difficulty in deciding with which part the reader would s ympathise. The relation established is so close but we are still so far from understanding the private, perpetual awareness of death. At last, before ending accompanied by a singing duet by Susan Mason and Emelia Lederleitnerova, Ruth quoted Tony Blair in his famous 1997 victory speech in which he claimed that his would have been the first generation ever not going to war or sending their children to war: as the poet observed after, he did not make the dream last long, declaring war on Talibans in 2001 and giving life to a new generation of soldiers and war poets. The second part of the event left space to the distinguished Iraqi poet-in-exile Adnan al-Sayegh. Experienced imprisonment during the Iran-Iraq war and sentenced to death in 1996 for the publication of the poem Uruks Anthem, Adnan took refuge in Sweden and has been living in London since 2004. His poetry, translated in several languages, is actively political and set against oppression and injustice, demonstrating an intense passion for freedom, love and beauty. In Poets on War, he gave the audience the pleasure to hear his lines recited in Arabic, their original language and then read out loud in translation thanks to the collaboration of Jenny Lewis, writer and teacher in poetry at Oxford University. Adnan transported the audience into another world: the melodic sound of Arabic was incredibly effective in trasmitting the sufferings and despair of the Iraqi experience and gave the event a touch of powerful originality. Delivering the message in the original language, the poet made clear how feelings such as pain and fear are universal and how languages and cultures become a way to make their acquaitance under different perspectives. Wars have broken out terribly equally everywhere and have made people escape their homelands in search of safer places, devastating lives and families: if nowhere is immune to war, then, as it was remarked in Second Song to Inanna/Ishtar, Let poetry be our country. The Iraqi poet actively shared the stage with two wonderful women: Jenny Lewis, who collaborated with him and participated with some poems of hers and Hylda Sims, who elegantly challenged all the skeptics who claim that war cannot be approached with any kind of humour. Gripping her guitar under her arm, she started singing her famous Bin Laden: Bin Ladens in my garden outside Canada Square!Shall I bring him a cup of tea?Im afraid hes got to go! Making the atmosphere lively and vibrant, Hylda gave a huge contribution to the structure of the event: she offered a new modern view on the theme of war by also incorporating the genre of the song and involved the audience in it teaching them her version of Adnans Sketch to sing, which made the small library look much more familiar. Besides being the elder component of the troop of Poets on War, her voice and tone proved to extremely grasp our times with consciousness, from the side of common people. Introducing her poem 21st Century War, which is very much about the 11th September 2001 terroristic attack, Hylda made a salient point about how war is still thriving around us but we are not always directly aware of it, even when we see its brutal consequences: as the events programme stated, The 21st century appears to already have equalled previous centuries for death, displacement, terrorism, political misjudgement and religious conflict and we as historical witnesses should keep a better pace with it. Overall, meant to be a travel in war poetry, this reunion of thoughts successfully caught the attention of the audience by mentioning contemporary and modern issues and by involving them in a friendly, accessible musical environment.

Design Thinking Essay -- creative problem resolution

Design thinking is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. It is the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success. Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the building up of ideas. There are no judgments early on the design thinking (Simon, 1969, p. 55). Design thinking includes imagination and reason, a combination of convergent and divergent thought, and creativity. Design thinking might be thought of as dialectic, or conversation. It involves design wisdom, judgment, and knowledge. Lastly, design thinking is skill (Hegeman, 2008). Design thinking process has eight generation stages: observation or analysis, framework, imperative or facts, solutions or alternatives, alternative evaluation and concept selection, implementation, construction, and post occupancy evaluation. Within these eight stages, problems can be framed, the right questions can be asked, more idea can be created, and the best answers can be chosen. The steps aren’t linear; they occur simultaneously and can be repeated. Although design is always subject to personal taste, design thinkers share a common set of value the drive innovation: these value are meanly creativity, ambidextrous thinking, teamwork, and user focus curiosity (Owen, 1993). Client(s) may be in the first stage of our design thinking sequences (Archer, 1984, p. 67), and then the designer job is to explore what is the problem, what do we want, what do they need: to produce a design to meet the requirements. The initial design problem presented to the designer may be poorly and incompletely described (McDonnell, 1997, p. 45... ...as a Learning Process: Embedding Design Thinking. California Management Review, 50(1), 24-56. Retrieved from: http://epic.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/pub/Home/TrendsAndConceptsII2008/2_InnovationAsLearningProcess.pdf. Cross, N. (2006). Designerly Ways of Knowing. London, Springer-Verlag. Hegeman, J. (2008). The Thinking Behind Design. Master Thesis submitted to the school of design, Carngie Mellon University. Retrieved from: http://jamin.org/portfolio/thesis-paper/thinking-behind-design.pdf. McDonnell, J. (1997). Descriptive models for interpreting design. Design Studies, 18, 457-473. Owen, C. (1993). Considering Design Fundamentally. Design Process Newsletter, 5(3), 2. Oxman, R. (1997). Design by re-representation: a model of visual reasoning in design. Design studies, 18, 329-347. Simon, H. (1969). The Science of the Artificial. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Deutsche Bank AG :: essays research papers

Walker, M. (October 23, 2000). Deutsche Bank Plans to Make Its Retail Unit A Stock Outlet. The Wall Street Journal (pg A29-30) This article is about Deutsche Bank AG tried to sell its retail business in order to concentrate on corporate and investment banking six month ago and it is now working on a plan to change its retail unit into a pan-European outlet for stocks, mutual funds and other investment products. Today, top executives of the world's largest bank by assets, Deutsche Bank, are going to present their new ideas to their supervisory board. The board planned to consider the management proposals earlier this year before big steps were taken. The bank’s powerful investment-banking division Global Corporates & Institutions encourages the new idea. GCI oversees the retail network as a distribution channel to the growing class of wealthy Europeans who are changing their savings into stocks and investment funds. Mr. Breuer had been told to rethink his previous plan to sell a majority stake in Deutsche Bank 24 by the supervisory board. The bank's top investment bankers believe that retaining the retail business and focusing its efforts on selling investment products is profitable than traditional banking services. In addition, Michael Philipp, the manager of the Deutsche Bank's asset-management division, is also pushing the retail restoring to increase the sales of fund-management unit DWS, Europe's biggest mutual-fund company. These plans aren't limited with only Deutsche Bank 24, it is also for the group's private-banking unit, serving high net-worth clients because of its aggressive expansion as a European sales channel for the GCI and asset-management units. Deutsche Bank also plans to win retail customers in the United States. It was that was followed a bid for National Discount Brokers Group Inc. earlier this month. It is up to the supervisory board’s decision to accept the plan in order to keep the retail bank. On the other hand, they can oppose a strong shift away from basic retail banking. In today’s meeting, there may be an understanding that leaves Deutsche Bank still well established in traditional domestic retail banking, as well as the retail investment services that stimulate its GCI bankers. Deutsche Bank had budgeted $109.3 million to build up Deutsche Bank 24 in Europe in August that includes redesigning branches abroad, merging information technology and marketing the new business. Management consultants have expected that it would cost about 300 million euros to achieve credit across Europe in marketing.

Traveling West: Diary of Mary Graddy :: essays research papers

August 20th, 1821 Today is a day of hope and of great anticipation. John, my husband, has told me we are to leave to California tomorrow. We are to leave our small, pitiful home here in Massachusetts and find many opportunities in the west. We have heard of many men who have traveled west and discovered gold. â€Å"Gold covers California like a blanket,† they have told John. Our farm here leaves no opportunities for our family. Our two sons and three daughters are growing older and we wish for them to be prosperous. Not like now. Now, we have no money and our only value, our farm, is falling apart. I must pack very few belongings into our wagon and we must be ready to leave with the others when the sun rises in the morning. The elder girls, Anna, who is fifteen, and Lucy, who is twelve, are to help with the cleaning and packing all day. Fannie, seven years old, is very sick, and has some sort of flu. The doctor costs money, which we don’t have, so we are relying on our prayers and faith in God to help her. John and our two sons, William who is seventeen, and Andrew who is ten, are taking care of all last minute details for the farm, and my brother from Virginia is arriving tonight with his wife and baby daughter to care for the farm while we are gone and they are to live here unless we return. August 23rd, 1821 This is our third morning traveling and we are all anxious and eager to see this great place called California. The oxen are behaving well, and I believe we will make it there in a few months. Fannie is slightly better and she has ceased crying throughout the night as she did before we left. This is a sign from God. The Lord shall guide us through this and we shall overcome all obstacles and since Fannie’s fever has gone away I feel better about each new day. September 1st, 1821 Eight days since I have written and those days have been very relaxing. My children and I walk beside the wagon throughout the day and sing many joyous melodies. The weather is starting to cool down now and the breeze feels sensational as it whips through my hair and brushes over my skin. Traveling West: Diary of Mary Graddy :: essays research papers August 20th, 1821 Today is a day of hope and of great anticipation. John, my husband, has told me we are to leave to California tomorrow. We are to leave our small, pitiful home here in Massachusetts and find many opportunities in the west. We have heard of many men who have traveled west and discovered gold. â€Å"Gold covers California like a blanket,† they have told John. Our farm here leaves no opportunities for our family. Our two sons and three daughters are growing older and we wish for them to be prosperous. Not like now. Now, we have no money and our only value, our farm, is falling apart. I must pack very few belongings into our wagon and we must be ready to leave with the others when the sun rises in the morning. The elder girls, Anna, who is fifteen, and Lucy, who is twelve, are to help with the cleaning and packing all day. Fannie, seven years old, is very sick, and has some sort of flu. The doctor costs money, which we don’t have, so we are relying on our prayers and faith in God to help her. John and our two sons, William who is seventeen, and Andrew who is ten, are taking care of all last minute details for the farm, and my brother from Virginia is arriving tonight with his wife and baby daughter to care for the farm while we are gone and they are to live here unless we return. August 23rd, 1821 This is our third morning traveling and we are all anxious and eager to see this great place called California. The oxen are behaving well, and I believe we will make it there in a few months. Fannie is slightly better and she has ceased crying throughout the night as she did before we left. This is a sign from God. The Lord shall guide us through this and we shall overcome all obstacles and since Fannie’s fever has gone away I feel better about each new day. September 1st, 1821 Eight days since I have written and those days have been very relaxing. My children and I walk beside the wagon throughout the day and sing many joyous melodies. The weather is starting to cool down now and the breeze feels sensational as it whips through my hair and brushes over my skin.

Ethical Issues in Research Essay

Ethical issues are essential factors that must be given due and proper consideration in research. This becomes even more applicable when researchers deal with studies that involve human beings and animals. Numerous experiments are being made to achieve progress in various fields of discipline, including psychology. In doing so, human beings and animals must be protected, especially since using them in these experiments involves their well-being. For this reason, ethical standards are established. Ethical standards serve as the guidelines that govern the proper and improper participation and utilization of these life forms in research (University of Alberta, 2008). These standards ensure that studies which involve human beings and animals are subjected to limitations so that they would not be taken advantage of. According to the British Psychological Society (BPS) (2008), ethical guidelines give importance to respecting an individual as the researchers should not express any sign of prejudice toward the participants due to differences in racial descent, sexuality, language, and such. The privacy of the participants should also be respected. Thus, researchers must only acquire the personal information necessary for the study, and this information must be kept confidential. The researchers should also obtain the consent of the individuals who will participate in the study. During the study itself, participants should also be protected from any kind of harm, may it be psychological (e. g. , stress and anxiety) or physical. Moreover, the researchers also have to respect the participant’s right to leave an experiment any time that he or she wishes to. In another perspective, ethics tend to limit the advancement of psychological science. Since there are many guidelines and rules that have to be followed, researchers do not have full control over their participants. This sometimes hinders and impedes the experimentation process. Furthermore, obtaining the necessary license for this kind of research could be time-consuming, which can be used for the study itself (BPS, 2008). Scientists should accept and follow the limitations brought about by ethical guidelines because these guidelines only give due importance to the life of the participants. The main justification for these research studies is that the findings obtained from these would contribute to the knowledge and information on various fields of discipline and help improve the lives of individuals. This gives such studies an objective that is morally good (National Academy of Sciences, 2006). Hence, scientists should value the lives of the people they claim to help. Lastly, the one responsible in identifying the parameters of the participants’ protection are competent organizations that are familiar with the field of study being researched. In the case of the United States, the American Psychological Association (APA) (2008) is an organization that represents the psychologists in the U. S. APA (2008) implements an ethics code that every member of the organization must adhere to. References American Psychological Association. (2008). APA Ethics Office. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www. apa. org/ethics/.British Psychological Society. (2008). Ethics. Scienceaid. co. uk. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://scienceaid. co. uk/psychology/approaches/ethics. html. National Academy of Sciences. (2006). Scientific and ethical justification for using animals in research. Online Ethics Center for Engineering. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www. onlineethics. org/cms/16216. aspx. University of Alberta. (2008). Human Ethics, Biohazards, and Animal Welfare. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www. rso. ualberta. ca/certification. cfm.

New Political Dispensation in South Africa Black Economic Empowerment (Bee)

Pro forma 1. Aims of the Dissertation: Since the new political dispensation in South Africa black economic empowerment (BEE) has continually come under scrutiny (Leonard & Grobler, 2006). It has been seen as an ethically just initiative to compensate previously disadvantage individuals, and as a pragmatic strategy, which undercuts the nation of merit with a very strong undertone of racism. Increasingly, physicians, in both primary care and specialities form partnership of single or multi-specialty group practices as competition among physicians grows.The purpose of this dissertation would be to investigate challenges transformational leaders are facing within private pathology services in South Africa. Nationalization of medical funders and how it would affect the private business has long been a concern within the South African private pathology market. Focusing on change strategy and how the role of different leadership images can be applied in making multicultural knowledge sharin g work and eventually develop an organizational culture were people feel empowered.To quote Kotter and Heskett (1992), â€Å"When culture are our own, they often go unnoticed, until we try to implement a new strategy or program which is incompatible with their central norms and values. Then we observe first hand, the power of culture. † Culture and organizational structure dimensions relationship within private pathology have in recent years being influenced by advancements made in technology, regulation enforced by current political dispensation and the emerging characteristic of the 21st century corporations.The aim of this dissertation will be to determine whether the current leadership and culture in this fast changing social and economical environment will have an impact on sustainable growth of the pathology sector and whether current organisational structures will be able to address the internal and external impacts of a fast changing environment. In order to determine the impact of leadership and culture influence the researcher will concentrate on the four dimensions of organizational structures: Specialization – people with the necessary skills and knowledge that can contribute towards sustainable growth †¢ Standardization – technological development and advancements in the industry and their impact on private pathology industry sustainable growth †¢ Formalization – the way how current leadership formalizes rules, regulations and instructions and the impact current internal and external leadership and culture have on sustainable growth †¢ Centralization – the effectiveness of communication and the perception people develop around the centralization of certain core and supplemental servicesMany researchers have studied leadership impact and cultural differences in a fast changing environment. Hofstede’s four dimensions of organization culture such as individualism / collectiveness, power distanc e, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity / femininity within the four dimensions of organizational structure will play a significant role in the interpretation of the results.In answering these questions the researcher aims to deliver a dissertation paper which would concentrate on finding answers to the challenges leaders face in developing an organizational culture based on enhancing innovation, enhance competitive advantage, motivate staff, and increase quality and customer value. The Nadler and Tushman’s Congruence Model of change (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin 2009, pp. 126-128) will form the basis around which leadership dynamics will be developed in aligning private pathology practise (services) within the current South African context (regulations, technology, culture) of change.We all desire to feel self-worth and make contributions and be recognized for them. It is through this investigation that the research might develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of change within private pathology practises. Challenging the status quo through the formulation of a strategy that would address the current inequalities (culture and knowledge) might result in an organizational culture that all can associate with. Organizational culture is a complex set of values, believes, assumptions, and symbols that defines the way an organization defines it business.The Nadler and Tushman’s congruence model will assist the researcher in conceptualized the dynamics of leadership and culture within private pathology. 2. Methodology: Centralization and standardization received high priority and specialization and formalization were exclusively the responsibility of power distance unequal distribution of power from top management. Culture, in organizational context, may be broadly defined as the sum of groups, or nation way of thinking, believing, feeling and acting and will inadvertently play a significant role in the restructuring process of any organization.Give n the nature and complexity of the issues to be examined, the research approach would be to conduct a multi-step study incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods. Literature research for the dissertation will concentrate on the sense-making process of change and the leadership images involved in change processes within the private medical practice industry within South Africa (Kally, Wale, Soudien and Steyn, 2007). Change in private pathology within South Africa is technology and politically driven. The pressure current government places on private sector to comply have in recent years been intensified.Private industry in general had to comply with employment equity regulation or face strict penalties that will economically impact on the organization. The aim of this research will be to determine whether leadership could keep up to these fast changing environments and to what extent culture difference has an impact on the organizational culture. The research hypothesis relies on factual data in proving current hierarchy structure and current change leadership as well as the cultures characteristics, create a ‘tipping point’, where current sustainable growth will not be attainable.Quantitative research The researcher will collect factual data from Human Resources (HR) about employee turnover the past three to five years. This data will then be sorted according to employee turnover, training, disciplines within the different designted groups (Africans, Coloureds, Indians and Whites) and at the different professional levels throughout the organization. The aim of this process will be to identify areas of concerns and will guide the researcher to develop an initial impression of the general culture within the company.The researcher will be guided by literature on the subject of leadership, culture and the sense-making process of change in such a diverse working environment. Internal data or the triangulation ‘within-methods’ of information from the company with regards to employment, lay-off disciplinary actions, training and social activities will be collected from Human Resources (HR) in a process to understand the current organizational culture and develop an idea or hypothesis around these facets and the impact of current culture diversities within the company (Maxwell & Rijamampianina, 2002) will have on future sustainable growth.Qualitative research The research approach throughout this dissertation will rest on factual literature, observation and and non-random (non-probability) sampling of survey data. Purpositive sampling (White, 2000: 63) which will indicate why change transformation in the private pathology practice is important for future if sustainable growth is to be maintained. Managing such a diverse workforce is challenging but economically imperative. Thus asking question around perception and expectation will form the basis of interviews and questions.The researcher through these ques tion aims to understand the behaviour actions and perception people have developed which may have led to the current organizational culture: †¢ Are we moving towards a workforce that will be operationally focused and rely on technology advancement made in first world countries in maintaining sustainable growth? †¢ Has the focus of management shifted towards advancement made in technology and not on employment of a workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge? Is the vast amount of internal knowledge and skills residing within employees being utilized and are employees empowered to contribute towards sustainable growth? †¢ Did employment equity requirements to any extend result in the organization developing a strategy that would be less reliance on knowledge but on automation of routine analysis which as though would address the compliance issue towards current pressure to change? †¢ Will the current leadership and culture dynamics within private pathology l ead to sustainable growth?The challenge of the qualitative research will be to find answers relating to questions above through asking questions relating to knowledge management, job satisfaction, employee benefits and general relationship within the workplace. A combination of interviews and survey question will be designed around these issues. Holistic realistic sense-making process throughout the research will play a significant role in the recommendation of a change model that would incorporate the data from surveys, interviews and literature.Sense – making refers to implementation of change processes that would not place unnecessary strain on the existing infrastructure and profit margins of the organization. Greenhalgh & Todd (1989) observed that survivor sense making and the reaction to organization decline may be due to job insecurity as an attitudinal variable and will definitely influence the sustainability of private pathology on the long run. Whether current organ izational culture and the impact of fast changing external environments and work relationships will have an impact on sustainable growth needs to be confirmed.The researcher also realizes that true qualitative and quantitative data observation may revert back to sense – making process and literature justification too support any generalization of results and that this approach may be unique to the private pathology industry in South Africa. 3. Feasibility and Required Resources: The proposed research project will require certain data that might be sensitive to the organization. For the purpose of confidentiality, company names and places will not be mentioned.As highlighted in the method above literature research will mainly concentrate on publications generated in South Africa. Additional supportive literature with regards to leadership and cultural will be sourced in support of the information obtained through the method as described above. When required or necessarily, sup portive and additional information will be sourced from international literature in support of the findings.The initial data will be soured from HR and analysed as discussed in method. Qualitative and quantitative interviews and survey will be compiled in order to get a deeper understanding and feeling about the current organisational culture and leadership dynamics. 4. Relationship to Existing Published Work: The power of servant leadership to transform health care organizations in the 21st century has been a point of discussion as well as a point of concern for many leaders within these organizations.Despite the fast changing market environment of health care services organization still practise an outmoded transactional style of leadership based on organizational hierarchies that are inherently stagnant (Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002). Leadership styles are not novel concepts but few physicians (leaders) have been introduced to transformational, situational and servant leadership styl es or combination thereof with the goal of creating an environment of learning that will be beneficial to the organization and the economy it serves.The article by Swartz and Tumblin (2002) managed to address the importance of change leadership and transformation as well as the influence that emotional intelligence and ethical behaviour has on the fast changing internal and external forces within the medical environment. Holistic sense-making process will be applied throughout this project. Introducing a generic conceptual and methodological process for the fast emerging social and intellectual patterns currently seen in the private pathology field and the impact leadership sense-making process will have on sustainable growth.Making-sense of our own reality and applying the knowledge gained through a process of sense making in understanding current situation within the private pathology practices is the initial approach the researcher has in mind. In the article ‘Making sense of executive sense-making’ by Parry (2003) the author has identified seven characteristics of sense-making that might be applicable and might form the basis of change strategies when addressing the leadership images appropriate in private pathology practises. Parry (2003) introduced the researcher to the possible epistemological problems that might be encountered throughout the studies.Throughout the analysis process of the article by Parry (2003) the researcher realized that sense-making process might be restricted to literature referencing as any deductions made from the literature will be qualitative. The new political dispensation in South Africa paved the way towards multicultural organizations changes. Together with current changes of global markets private pathology have been effected in ways were new cultures have changed and impacted on current values and behaviours of people within the organization.Rijamampianina and Maxwell (2002) believe that managing multicultura l organizations will be challenging and will call for a leadership style that recognizes cultural diversity and a willingness to share success, share mental models, share vision and share competence to the extend that people feel empower prior to changing or adapting to any dominant organization culture. Rijamampianina and Maxwell (2002) proposed a model of change, which focused on the creation of an environment of learning and interaction as the basis of accommodating a diverse culture.Making business decisions around leadership dynamics culture impact and change strategies is a crucial job and most properly one of the riskiest especially when external environments of change place significant pressure on private business to change. Bad decisions can ruin your company and are normally the result of distortion of biases, mental flaws and the sabotage of reasoning the psychological traps of the unconscious. Addressing the status quo in an environment was external and internal pressure s dictated the rationality and objectivity of decisions and the biases that influence the choices we make.Very often decision makers (leaders) display a strong bias towards alternatives that would perpetuate the status quo (Hammond, Keeney, & Raiffa, 1998). Then again, private pathology status quo may indeed be the best choice as they in general have developed dependence around service from developers of technology and analysis techniques. Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa focused on decision making and the trade-off as well as the difficulties associated with flawed thinking as described in â€Å"The hidden traps of decision making. Over the years a number of publication that have addressed the concerns of culture and leadership in South Africa (e. g. Rensburg, 1993; Booysen, 2007; Coldwell & Moerdyk, 1981; Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002; Finestone & Snyman, 2006) all have studies certain relationships that resulted from the new democratic dispensation. Even if we find a solution to the diver sity within private pathology a realization that maintaining quality across the network of pathology services will be a priority through the project.The purposed model of change should stand the sense-making of transformational leadership and the following publications touched on the subject (e. g. Leonard & Grobler, 2006; Parry, 2003; Greehalgh & Todd, 1989; Labiance, Gray & Brass, 2000). Dombai & Verwey (1999) focussed on the impact of organizational culture as context of interpersonal meaning on the management of organizational diversity. The authors have demonstrated that affirmative action employment may develop perception among individuals or groups that previously disadvantage groups will be appointed without the necessary credentials, knowledge or skills.The authors empirical research managed to prove that individuals experience of organizational culture as a context for the construction of meaning, are more important to diversity management than individual value differences as result of diversity in term of age, gender or race. In conclusion, the researcher knows that literature survey will from the basis of the dissertation with the understanding to develop a model of change that could address current leadership and culture diversities in private pathology.The researcher almost through the evaluation of the article became aware of the vast literature available on this subject. The challenge however will be find relevant information, which will support and be supplemental to the research. 5. Why You Are Doing This Topic: Current political situation and the fast changing global environments as well as the current technology advancement made in the medical pathology practice and the effect these factors have on the sustainability of private pathology are but some of the reason of doing this project.

Effects of Facebook Essay

Social networking sites, most notably Facebook have become so popular today that they are the leading words on the lips of every teenager. Facebook has more than 750 million users today. You love to spend most of your time checking your Facebook updates, but do you know that there are many negative effects of using Facebook. Effects of Facebook on Teenagers Most of the teenagers don’t realize then negative impact of Facebook on their life. And, the main reason is because they are already addicted to it. And, this addiction can lead to several negative developments. You will find 7 negative effects of this social networking site that should encourage you to start avoiding it. The first negative effect of Facebook is that a teenage user starts losing interest in his or her surroundings. You would be addicted to Facebook and the only thing you would be concerned about will be your â€Å"own† world, which is inside Facebook. The second negative effect is that your real-world social interaction will start diminishing. There is no doubt that you are going to have hundreds of friends on Facebook, but with how many of them would you be interacting out in the real world. As a human being, you are a social creature and you naturally require real-world social interaction. When you are going to spend maximum of your time on the Internet, you are going to decrease your communication and social skills. Another negative impact will be on your health. There is a very high chance that excessive use of Facebook leads to the users becoming obese. You would be sitting most of the time in front of the computer, eating snacks and without any physical activities. And, over a period of time you are going to accumulate all the extra pounds. Facebook is also going to minimize your study time. Rather than spending your time on Facebook, you would better start browsing some educational sites that relate to your school course. For Facebook users, family doesn’t come first, but Facebook does. For them their online friends are more important than their family members. The sixth negative effect of Facebook is that your personal data becomes public on this social site, threatening your privacy. This is not reasonable, unless you want to be contacted by hundreds of people that don’t know you. The seventh negative effect of Facebook is that it increases the chances of online conflict. Facebook is populated with immature individuals who create bizarre statuses, upload awkward images and carry out absurd actions. And, this can lead to conflicts between people. Given these negative effects of Facebook it is up to you to decide the degree to which you want this social networking site to enter into your life. Getting addicted to Facebook is certainly going to increase problems in your life, but if you can restrict or avoid the use of this non-productive aspect of your life, you are going to stay away from troubles. Hence, it is up to you to decide how you want to use Facebook.