Abolishing Grading System

In â€Å"A Proposal To Abolish Grading† by Paul Goodman, the author informs the readers about the ideas of nullifying the policy of grading and judging students solely by exams. The writer believes that grading depreciates teaching and creates a bad spirit, leading to cheating and/or plagiarizing. Although majority of the professors agree, some people also question the idea. â€Å"How else will the graduate schools, the foundations, the corporations know whom to accept, reward, hire? How will the talent scouts know who to tap? † (line 8-10)Again, Goodman answers, â€Å"by testing the applicants, of course. † Dean Whitla easily counters this by proposing Harvard University’s very own, unique admission system. â€Å"The objection is ludicrous,† Goodman says. Although the author’s claim is potent, there are elements of th issue to agree and disagree about. Paul Goodman states and supports his claim clearly throughout his proposal and does a good job of cancelling out the opposing side’s argument. In the medieval university, the whole point of the grueling trial of the candidate was whether or not to accept him as a peer†¦. It was certainly not to pit one young fellow against another in an ugly competition. † (line 27-29) Goodman’s comparison of the medieval times to now supports his claim that if the goal for testing nowadays is to find out people’s weakness, then what’s the point? Although it is somewhat true, how does Goodman, or anyone for that matter, for sure know that that is the aim? One can only testify. Goodman’s overall declaration to abolish grading sounds spiffy and an all-around good idea. His thought that it can lead to cheating and plagiarizing is an on-point proposal that anyone could agree on. â€Å".. great majority of professors agree that grading hinders teaching and creates a bad spirit, going as far as cheating and plagiarizing. † For instance, homework. Many students can copy other someone else’s in result of not learning anything. He also mentioned that grading only creates ‘cliques,’ segregating the â€Å"smart† students and the â€Å"not so smart† ones. It also creates competition between each one since everybody wants to obtain the highest grade. What is this all going to lead to? Nothing but just competition. It invalidates the purpose of going to school– to achieve education. Goodman’s suggestion to base students on their test scores can be the good, but last resort. Testing decreases the chances of cheating and/or plagiarizing due to the strict supervision when it comes to a serious matter. It will motivate students to study more and take education seriously. All in all, Goodman’s proposal to abolish grading is a roller coaster ride. Nobody really knows if the goal is to discover students’ weakness, but in reality, testing is a plausible reason to avoid cheating and plagiarizing, and any other bad spirits that may come with. With describing such a common situation, he put forth his claim and provided readers with a back bone to support it. There may be some to disagree to, but there is definitely something to agree with, and it ultimately leads his claim to an upward state.

Chrétien De Troyes †Perceval Essay

Chretien De Troyes’ Arthurian Romances are one of the best and most brilliant works of medieval literature. Originally, in Old French, modern translations are widely available. In fact, even today, years later, they continue to be an invaluable asset to both literature and human history. Chretien De Troyes works include four complete poems – Erec et Enide, Cliges, Yvain and Lancelot, and the fifth, last, unfinished one called Perceval, le Conte du Graal (Perceval, the story of the Grail). Erec is the tale of one of Arthur’s knights, who after several trials finally understands his loved for his betrothed, Enide [3]. Several other Arthurian knights including Kay, Lancelot and Gawain too are mentioned in the text. â€Å"The court of Arthur is filled with magnificent things and people, led by the fabulous Arthur himself. The knights pursue games of chance and test of strength; when they’re not doing that, they’re wooing women [3]. † The next romance, Cliges too uses Arthur’s magnificent court as its backdrop [3]. † Both Cliges and Yvain have love triangles and adventure. Lancelot, though is almost all about a hero rescuing his lover, the beautiful Guinevere [3]. And lastly, Chretien’s unfinished piece: Perceval, and the Holy Grail. Before studying the text of the work, it is important to understand the time it was written in. Little is known about Troyes life, but most believe he lived somewhere in the 1100’s. It is also known that he was in close association with his patroness Countess Marie de Champagne. This time has a great influence on the subjects and stories of his work, and other works of Arthurian Literature. The eleventh and twelfth centuries were a time of ‘renaisance’ in Europe. Europe had been gripped in the Dark Ages for years, but this is when barbarism was slowly rooted out, to be replaced by missionaries and churches. Social activites too took a new turn. Several universities and centres were set up. In fact, towns were planned, with proper structure and organization. Culture also took a newe dimension altogether. This is when Arthurian literautre was born. With the concept of castles and romances, chivalry and battle, courtly love, stories were dramatized and preserved; written in the form of poems or essays. This is exactly why Arthurian literature deals with princes, knights, castles, adventure and battle. Similarly, Troyes work too reflects much of the world of the renaissance. Perceval is believed to be the first account of the Holy Grail; but Troyes died before completing the masterpiece. In quest for a complete poem, many attempted to write an ending to it. Of these, four versions are widely known, and accepted. The first continuation is called the Pseudo-Wauchier Continuation, the second is attributed to Wauchier de Danain, the third by Gerbert, and the fourth is Manessier’s continuation, the only one with a true ending. But despite the efforts to write continuations, the original incomplete version in itself has its own charm, aura, and mysteriousness. Perceval is the Grail knight or one of the Grail knights in numerous medieval and modern stories of the Grail quest [2]. † Perceval is a bright and spirited young man brought up in the woods, by his mother. His mother raises him in the forest of Wales, away from civilization to protect him from the horrors of war and battle. One day, Perceval sees some knights in the woods. It is here that his interest in chilvalry and knighthood is aroused. His mother objects vehemently, fearing to lose him like her other sons, but Perceval insists, and heads out for King Arthur’s court. The Holy Grail was the most sought after treasure. In fact, all of Arthur’s knights were in quest of it. At Arthur’s court, the king’s senschal (steward) Sir Kay mocks him. A jester at the castle prophecizes that Perceval will be a great knight. Perceval rides away, and comes across another castle, where he decides to stay. Here he is trained under Gornemant. Gournemant teaches Perceval all the tactics and strategies of combat, and later, advises him not to be impolite or ask too many questions anywhere. Now Perceval leaves, looking for his mother. On his journey, he comes across yet another castle, where he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Blancheflor. Blancheflor is Gornemant’s niece, and her followers are weakened by hunger and famine. She tells Perceval of the intentions of Anguingueron, the seneschal of the evil knight Clamadeu of the Isles. He intends to attack them. Perceval, touched, commits himself to Blacheflor, and promises to help her. Perceval defeats Anguingueron and his men the next day. Clamadeu waits, hoping that eventually starvation would kill Blanchflor and her men, but luckily, a ship full of food arrives. Eventually, Clamadeu is forced to battle against Perceval; he begs for mercy after Perceval defeats him. Perceval sends both Anguingueron and Clamadeu to Arthur’s court. At the court, Arthur and his wife learn of Perceval’s heroism and courage in battle. But Perceval has to continue on his journey. He has to find his mother. At a river, he comes across the Fisher King, who offers him lodging for a night. In the castle, Perceval sees the fisherman lying there already. Perceval witnesses a strange procession, in which odd and peculiar things are being carried from one chamber to another. A squire enters carrying a sword with engraved blade, another squire enters carrying a white lance on whose tip blood oozed and flowed down onto the squire’s hand. Perceval refrains from asking about this lance, recalling Gornemant’s admonishment. More squires bring in candelabras. A maiden brings in a grail held in both hands [for Chretien, it is a serving dish], and the room becomes brightly illuminated [presumably because of the contents of the grail]. Another brings in a silver carving platter. The grail is made of gold and set with precious stones-it and the platter are carried to another chamber. Perceval fails to ask who is being served by the grail. They dine at an ivory table. The grail returns borne in the opposite direction. Later that night, the Fisher King excuses himself and has to be carried off to his bedroom, and Perceval again fails to ask what ails him. The next morning, Perceval discovers that the hall is deserted and everyone has left [1]. † Outside the castle, he comes across a maiden. She tells him that had he asked about the grail, or the platter, it would have brought the king great relief, and may even have cured him. She also informs him that his mother is dead. Later that day, Perceval is warned against the ‘haughty knight of the Heath. ’ But he challenges him, and defeats him. The haughty knight and his maiden set out for Arthur’s court. On their way, they come across King Arthur and his men, who are ironically looking for Perceval. But the king does not recognize Perceval by face. He releases the ‘haughty knight’ from imprisonment, and hands him over to his nephew Gawain. Later, Perceval too is wandering around Arthur’s camp. Arthur’s men find him asleep on a horse, but Perceval soon defeats them, including the arrogant Kay. The king asks Gawain to deal with the fiery Perceval, and not through combat. They soon become friends. But now Perceval is consumed by curiosity. He wants to know who was served by the grail and the silver platter, and why the lance bled. Here Chretien relates the tale of Gawain. Later, he continues with Perceval’s story. He has been wandering for years. He goes to see a hermit, and tells him of his wandering, and the grail. The hermit reminds him of how his mother died of sorrow, and that he was being made to repent her death. The hermit believes that the man served by the grail is Perceval’s uncle. Perceval agrees to repent for his sins. Gawain’s tale again picks up from hereon. Gawain’s story is in contrast to that of Perceval. Gawain is more professional, and less naive in battle. He also finds his long lost mother and grandmother, and his sister, about whom he had never known. The narrative breaks off shortly. Even though the story ends abruptly, one does arrive to the conclusion that Perceval is indeed, a good knight. Literally speaking, he has all the valous and heroism of a great warrior and an honorable knight. He is brilliant in battle, being able to defeat the best of warriors, fighting everyone and anyone who challenges him. But apart from the literal sense, Perceval continues to be one of the most famous and mysterious knights in medieval literature. The most important fact behind this is that many can, till today, relate to him. Throughout the text, we see him as confident and brave, but never evil. In a deeper, emtional sense, Perceval is not just a good knight. He is a good man. Many critics believe that Perceval, apart from being an Arthurian romance is also one of the earliest works on spirituality, and what we call ‘existentialism. ’ This is clearly evident from the ending of the original text. Perceval commits himself to spending a life similar to that of the hermit, in search of spirtual enlightenment and communion with God. Chretien’s writings and works are very popular. In fact, that can be estimated by looking at the number of languages his works have been translated into. In fact, it is not just the translations. Chretien’s works also provided inspiration and ideas to many fine works of literature. Chretien’s story was also the inspiration for one of the greatest romances of the Middle Ages, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival (c. 1200-1210) [4]. † Chretien has also been called the creator of the modern novel, and is believed to have reinvented the lost genre of narrative romance. Many of his works seem theatrical, as if they are meant to be performed on stage, rather than being read on paper. Perceval, like other works of Arthurian romances has the strong element of romance, drama and tragedy. Arthurian romances though were heavily dependent on one common theme – of battle. No Arthurian romance was complete without battle or warfare. The spirit and art of war, honor, courage, manhood, combat and duels were all cardinal to the stories. The male protagonists were brave men of honor. Another important aspect was the romance. All these themes of blended together created one of the most cherished style of literature called ‘medieval literature. ’ Even though Arthurian romance and literature was famous with the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Lais of Marie de France, but it was the work of Chretein De Troyes that brought the genre back into full swing. Medieval literature did suffer a setback, and was in the background for a considerable time, but was revived again especially after Lord Tennyson’s poem Idyll’s of the King. These adventurous stories have formed the basis of innumerable books and movies. The reason again, remains that even centuries later, they continue to arouse our interest. We can still relate to the heroic characters, their strengths, their weaknesses and the general human condition, which has remain unchanged through centuries.

Organisation on learning Essay

Background: Previous research suggests that the organisation of information is integral to its storage in and recall from memory. Aim: Differences with regard to the use of categorisation of information have been observed between cultures and age groups, so the aim is to find out the degree to which categorisation affects the learning of information in 16-18 year olds. Method: 20 participants aged 16-18 had 60 seconds to learn as many words as they could from a grid containing 24 words. The grid contained 6 words in 4 different semantic categories and was either categorised (control) or randomised (experimental). Participants then recalled as many of the words as they could. The amount of words that they recalled was observed. Results: The difference in the number of words remembered between the two conditions was found to be insignificant when put to the independent t-test and tested at the 0.05 level. In fact, participants in Condition B (randomised) recalled more words on average than those in Condition A (organised). However, participants in Condition B showed 68.83% categorisation upon recall, compared with 0.5% that would have been shown if participants recalled the words in the order that they appeared on the radomised grid. Conclusion: The results suggest that the degree of organisation of information upon presentation does not affect the amount of information remembered. However, the actual process of mentally organising the information may be a significant factor in the amount of information remembered. Individual differences may affect the way the information is organised, but this study found that categorical organisation was the most common form of this. Introduction Much evidence suggests that information in memory is highly organised, and that we remember large amounts of information by associating it with other similar pieces of information already stored. It may even be that the organisation of information is a prerequisite for information to be stored; for example, Mandler (1967) stated that memory and organization are not only correlated, but organization is a necessary condition for memory. From this viewpoint, it follows that, by definition, any information stored in the memory must be organised somehow. It may also be that the organisation of information upon presentation facilitates its storage, and that if information is not organised, people will attempt to create their own methods of organisation (Tulving, 1968). Categorical clustering is a term coined by Bousfield (1953) in order to describe one type of organisation in learning. In his research, he presented participants with a list of 60 words (15 from 4 different categories: animals, anthroponyms, professions and vegetables) and asked participants to free-recall the list. He found that, despite not having been told what the categories were, participants tended to recall the words according to their category and thus demonstrated the phenomenon. Bower et al. (1969) presented participants with words which were arranged into conceptual hierarchies. For one group, these were arranged in hierarchical form, and for the other they were listed randomly. The participants who were presented with the words in hierarchical form recalled almost 31/2 times as many words as those to whom they were presented randomly, suggesting that the organisation of the words upon presentation facilitated their storage in memory. A similar trait has also been observed with naturally occurring stimuli. Rubin and Olson (1980) asked students to recall the names of as many members of staff in their school as they could, and found that students showed a strong tendency for the members of staff’s names to be recalled by their respective departments. This also shows evidence for categorical organisation. They further found that students who re-arranged word cards into more categories remembered more words on average than those who created less categories, and that those who were not told to actively remember the words, instead just sort them, remembered the same amount as those asked to remember them. These indicate that not only does categorisation increase the amount of information remembered, but the active process of organisation may even cause the information to be remembered. More support that organisation and learning are intertwined comes from Kahana and Wingfield (2000), who found that the relation between organisation and learning remained the same even after significant differences between participants’ mnemonic abilities had been taken into account.  One case study which suggests that memory is highly organised comes from Hart et al. (1985). Having almost made a complete recovery from a stroke two years previously, M.D. experienced no problems except that he was unable to name different types of fruit and vegetable or sort them into categories. However, he was able to name and sort types of food, for example, and vehicles, which suggests that his inability to carry out these tasks was limited to specific semantic categories. Aims The findings of this previous research suggest that organisation does play a large role in the storage, structuring and restructuring of information in memory. However, organisation does not necessarily imply categorisation, which is what will be tested here. Also, in a similar way that Gutchess et al. (2006) found that age and culture affected the way in which categorisation was used in memory, it may be that young people in turn use it differently. So, the following experiment aims to investigate the effects of organisation on learning in 16-18 year-olds. More specifically, it will investigate the degree to which organisation of information upon presentation affects the storage and recall of words presented in a randomised grid. Following on from research by Bower et al. (1969) and Rubin and Olson (1980), two hypotheses have been drawn:  Experimental hypothesis  Participants will recall, on average, fewer words when the words given are listed randomly, than will the participants for whom the words are listed categorically.

Letter to the Editor Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Letter to the Editor - Assignment Example All road users are directly affected by this issue whether in a public, vehicle, private vehicle, or on foot. Cases have been observed where pedestrians have been swept dead by over speeding cars. Moreover, onlookers have been reported to have been knocked down after a vehicle lost its way. It is, therefore, arguable that any individual is at risk of losing their life as long as they are using a road within the country. Before describing the possible solutions to this menace, it is essential to take a careful analysis of its causes. A recently carried out research on the commonly affected roads within the country held that road accidents were majorly as a result of poor roads. Most roads within the country are poorly constructed and, therefore, a challenge to most drivers who get involved in such accidents. Some drivers have further argued that the climatic conditions, especially during the cold seasons, affect their vision on the road. It has been observed that more accidents occur those mornings when there is plenty of mist in the atmosphere. This mist inhibits drivers’ ability to see approaching vehicles, resulting to accidents. Carelessness on the road is also a factor that results to these accidents. Some drivers are either not qualified, or are just careless. Such drivers use phones while driving, or get drunk. Such are significant factors for the increased number of road accidents in the country. Some pedestrians, too, are careless as far as crossing the roads are concerned. After such analysis of the problem, it is essential to describe a solution to the issue. One of the solutions to this issue is that better roads should be constructed, as well as repair to the already existing ones. As long as these roads are in bad conditions, road accidents shall be witnessed. It is, therefore, important that, to reduce the number of deaths on roads and accidents, roads should

Case 3 Organization Information System Assignment

Case 3 Organization Information System - Assignment Example As manual processing of data is the direct opposite of computerized processing, it can be justified that the CPOE will come with the advantage of eradicating these reports of medication errors arising from mistakes in order entries (Virilio, 2008). The most common source of adverse drug event in Mount Auburn is directly attributable to dissemination of drug knowledge, particularly to physicians. Apart from this, other major sources are identified such as lack of knowledge of drug, lack of information about patient, rule violations, and transcription errors. Clearly, most of these situations are physician based preventable adverse drug event that can be attributed to human inefficiencies and human errors. With the coming of the information system, it is expected that most of the information processing tasks that are often left to physicians to make will be minimized or totally eradicated. Indeed, as the quantum of information for physicians to handle in their brains in terms of patient information, drug information and rules become many, the tendency that they will make mistakes also increases (Winner, 2008). With the information system, retrieval of information will be quicker and easier without the need to memorize a lot of i nformation. The coming of the CPOE came with several benefits and advantages to both Mount Auburn and Emory, which tremendously changed the way in which general quality of service is rendered. Using the ordering process as an example, the need to call out drugs to nurses for them to write and re-confirm by orally calling them out to doctors, which slowed the care process was eradicated. This means that the system brought about efficiency because a lot of services were delivered within very small time frame. As medication errors also became minimized, the quality of care given became enhanced, making it valid to justify the

Position Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Position - Term Paper Example Without personal development realizing one’s dreams and aspirations are not possible. I continually thrive to achieve personal development through inspirations and small things in life. Accepting the things we cannot change and appreciating the things that we are have are critical for personal growth in my experience. I also believe that one has to do the things that he/she love in order to succeed in anything. Without the passion for doing things, it cannot be a success. I always try my best to believe in myself and to give my all when I am engaged to a particular work. According to the personal development based on me2 questionnaire my personality analysis ranked me very high as a curious person but very uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. I do not like to be in situation which I cannot take control of. For me, I have to certain in what I do and my curious nature often drives me to understand the world the world around. Hard working is the key to any success but wi thout values and personal growth, it is not a complete success as we as a human should evolve through our experiences and beliefs. I believe one of the reasons I felt confident in my learning experience, my personality and my career path is that I know for a fact that this is where I want to be. Confidence is very crucial when it comes to business management and I believe that if you are not confident about yourself or your work, it is not possible to grow. In the confidence zone, I perceived myself to be reasonably confident in my capacity to generate and work with ideas. My beliefs, values and confidence give me the positive learning environment. I often spend tie analyzing each sessions of my class and focusing on how I can improve my learning goals. This gives me the perspective of what I need to improve and develop. My flexibility also gives me the confidence to tackle any task given to me. For me change is the way of life and one should be open about change if it is for the po sitive cause. â€Å"Change equates with life, with our own personal, social, mental and physical development and with our ability to learn, to adapt, and to play an active role in social and community activities† (Andriopoulos & Dawson 2009, p.14) for me life is about making compromises when it matters and one should be flexible enough to welcome change. I also believe any personal, professional and career growth cannot be achieved without confidence and flexibility. I always believe in myself and this boost my confidence level which makes me extremely goal oriented. Although over confidence is what drives people to making stupid and irrational decisions, so I always calculated my options before I make any big decisions. I can say that I have grown personally over the past few years; I still need to work on many areas of my path to achieve my goals. But, I also believe that with my confidence and myself motivation, I can definitely achieve my career goals in life. My self â⠂¬â€œ efficiency is what makes me believe that I am capable of successfully performing a task assigned to me. I rate my level of self- efficiency to be very strong and this gives me the confidence to face new task or challenges. Idea generations can define as â€Å"The process of creating, developing, and communicating ideas which are abstract, concrete, or visual. The process includes the process of constructing through the idea innovating the concept, developing

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

Artical Review - Essay Example It was determined that those students, whose instructors implemented SIOP model had a better chance to improve their writing than those who did not use it. SIOP makes the instructions more understandable for learners that is very important for the learning process. The authors state: â€Å"SI provides useful strategies and techniques for making instruction more understandable for ELLs, but without a scientifically validated model to guide teachers in lesson planning and lesson delivery, it will not be consistent within and across classrooms. For change to occur in teaching practice that leads to improved academic performance by students, teachers cannot simply select their favorite techniques; implementation of high-quality instruction must be systematic and steered by research† (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2006, p. 207). The authors point out that the given research is examining only the effect of SIOP implementation on writing and further research is needed to examine its effe ct on reading. 2. "Implementing Structured English Immersion (SEI) in Arizona: Benefits, Costs, Challenges, and Opportunities" by S. Rios?Aguilar, M. Gonzalez?Canche and L. Moll. The article discusses the issues connected with ELD block implementation. The study was conducted in the form of interview with 26 instructors of the English language contacted through the phone. They were asked three questions: (1) what the process of ELD block implementation is; (2) what the benefits of it are; (3) what the main problems connected with its implementation are. It is important to notice that the coordinators contacted were from different districts. This was done in order to determine if ELD block in implemented in all the regions. The research showed that it was really implemented in all the regions, but implemented differently. It is interesting that the majority of interviewed people stated that it would be better if they had not implemented ELD block. However, they admitted that it helps make the instructions more understandable for students. But the number of drawbacks was much higher. The authors state that â€Å"ELCs mentioned that the implementation of the 4-hour ELD block has: (1) neglected core areas of academic content that are critical for ELL students’ academic success and graduation, (2) contributed to ELL students’ isolation, (3) limited ELL students opportunities for on-time high school graduation—potentially increasing drop out--and for college readiness, and (4) assumed that English language learning can be accomplished for all ELL students within an unrealistic timeframe and under a set of unrealistic conditions† (Rios?Aguilar, Gonzalez?Canche and Moll 2010, p.3). 3. â€Å"99 Ideas and Activities for Teaching English Learners† by M. Vogt & J. Echevarria The book â€Å"99 Ideas and Activities for Teaching English Learners† by Vogt & Echevarria is already thorough and perfect explanation of SIOP model: â€Å"E ffective SIOP teachers incorporate into their lesson plans multiple opportunities for their students to use English, in writing, in reading, and in interaction with the teacher and other students. SIOP ® teachers also provide time for students to process in English what they are hearing prior to answering questions or participating in discussion†

Jared Diamond On Advantages Of Being Agricultural People Essay

Jared Diamond On Advantages Of Being Agricultural People - Essay Example Domesticating animals follows when a civilization applies agriculture because it helps in plowing hard soil. Farm animals are also a good source of edible meat, milk and eggs. An acre of land can therefore feed more herders and farmers as much as 10 to 100 times as what the hunter gatherers can gather in a same sized area. In ancient times, these meant more surviving people and thus a military advantage that agricultural tribes had. Another advantage of agriculture is that it enables agricultural people to have higher birthrate than the hunter-gatherers. Mothers of hunter-gatherers society are capable of carrying only one child at a time. And so, mothers of these societies need to lengthen the time of the next birth of a child until the infant is able to walk. Agricultural people on the other hand need to stay close to their farms. They are not burdened with the problems of constant traveling and so are able to have as much children as they want. Higher birthrate and the ability to produce food enable agricultural people to have higher population densities than the hunter-gatherers. A settled existence for the agricultural people enables them to develop a skill for storing food. Unlike the hunter-gatherers, food lasts for a short time because they are not able to protect them if they are to store them at some place.

The Main Problems of Nokia Smart Phone Market and Its Strategy Essay

The Main Problems of Nokia Smart Phone Market and Its Strategy Adjustment - Essay Example While the first smartphone was introduced by IBM and then followed on by Nokia with the release of Nokia 9000 in 1996, it was not until 2007 that the smartphone craze would catch up with the world. Even though Nokia was the first to introduce its line of user friendly smartphones, it was unable to retain a strong market position. This has been attributed mainly to the fact that Nokia was unable to truly understand the potential of the smartphones and did not actualize on its innovative product. Nokia, before 2007, had captured a great chunk of the cell phone market share. However, with the introduction of the iPhone and other smart phones, Nokia was unable to retain its position. Even though Nokia is still one of the biggest cell phone providers and had introduced its smart phones before the other smart phone, it does not enjoy a good share of the smart phone market. Nokia, recently, underwent a change in operations and management but despite this Nokia is still leading after Samsung and Apple. 1.1. Research Objective / Questions: In this increasingly competitive smart phone industry, it is very difficult to develop a strong position in the market. However, the market for smart phones is in its growth phases and this is perhaps the best time for producers such as Nokia to claim the lion’s share of the market. The objective of this paper would be to understand the issues that Nokia is facing with regard to their smart phone market. After a good understanding of the issue which would keep into focus the competitor’s strategy regarding smart phones, a strategy adjustment would be recommended for Nokia smart phones. 1.2. Significance of the Study In this paper, an attempt will be made to understand the smartphone market. Smartphone market has recently seen an... For the purpose of this paper, the company and the industry would be analyzed using different analysis techniques such as PESTLE Analysis and SWOT Analysis. Also strategies for the company would be discussed using the Ansoff Matrix and Porter’s Generic Strategies. Using these as a basis, the final strategy for Nokia would be suggested. The results of the study indicated that the position that Nokia is in right now is precarious. Nokia is slowly losing its strong position in the market. This corresponds with Merritt assertion that Nokia has landed itself in a challenging position. It is facing challenges from both within and outside. From the outside, smartphones by competitors are taking over the market share while Nokia is unable to match the products and services offered by the competitors. It not only lacks in design but also in features as compared to the competitors. The review of literature concluded that Nokia should remove its focus from the emerging market and start tapping the high end consumers present in the local markets such as Europe and USA. The results of the study confirm these findings to a certain extent. The managers believed that the focus on emerging markets can continue if only Nokia is able to cater to the local market also. However, the review of literature does not support this recommendation fully. This is because of political issues that are plaguing the world right now. Many people in the East have boycotted Western goods and if this trend continues, it could have negative implications for Nokia that relies heavily on sales from such countries.

War in Iraq Essay Example for Free

War in Iraq Essay War is one of man’s horrific undertakings that tarnished the beauty of what life has to offer. According to John F. Kennedy, this is why mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind. One grave example of a country that has been affected by perpetuated wars is Iraq. Is it justifiable that the United States to intervene in the war in Iraq? The U. S. intervention in Iraq was triggered by Gulf War in the early 1990s. As a result, the Iraqi economy was shattered. The war was sparked about by Iraq’s revival of old territorial claims against oil rich Kuwait. Saddam Hussein called for the annexation of the Bubiyan and Warbah islands at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, and thus giving Iraq a clear passage to the Gulf. He also accused Kuwait of illegally siphoning off oil from the Ar-Rumaylah field, one of the world’s largest oil pools, which the two countries shared. Hussein threatened to use force against all Arab oil producers, (including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates) who exceeded their oil quotas, and accused them of collaborating with the United States to strangle the Iraqi economy by flooding the market with low-priced oil. This has prompted the Operation Desert Storm in 1991, which evolved into a full coalition offensive against Iraq by the coalition forces. Sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, the offensive was then called the Gulf War (Rajaee, 1993, p. 93). After that, Iraq’s problems grew into larger proportions. More recently, Iraq has been the most active battleground in a U. S. -led war on terrorism, a campaign declared by the current Bush administration in the aftermath of a terrorist attack against the U. S. on Sept. 11, 2001. In March 2003, the U. S. led a coalition of 35 nations in â€Å"Operation Iraqi Freedom†, an invasion whose goals included curbing the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and toppling Hussein’s government. The world had been witnesses to images of U. S. soldiers helping a crowd of Iraqis topple a statue of their leader, Saddam Hussein, in a square in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The scene marked the approaching close of a three-week-old U. S. -led war in Iraq, aimed at ousting the long-time U. S. adversary. The statue’s fall also served as a symbol of the end of Hussein’s repressive 23-year regime, which had brought war and ruin to the Middle East nation of some 25 million people (Wishnick, 2004). Viewing the statistics, the Iraq Body Count Project (2006) estimated that there had been 47,083 to 52,222 civilian deaths. More than 1,500 U. S. military forces had lost their lives just to satisfy the mission of waging war against Iraq. In terms of economics, the United States had already spent $505 billion of taxpayers’ funds on the War in Iraq. The alarming death toll and the economic burden that the Iraq War has caused prompted some staunch critics to indemnify the necessity of waging this war. However, supporters of this Iraqi campaign had countered that the overthrow of Hussein’s government has made the global community a safer place. U. S. troops, working in conjunction with Iraqi security forces, are successfully marginalizing guerrilla insurgents. Once Iraq’s democratic government can support itself and Iraqi security forces are ready to police the country on their own, the U. S. will reduce the number of troops stationed in Iraq. Both sides have valid arguments about the Iraqi War, but which is more sound and justifiable? Will the U. S. policy on Iraq be for the greater good of the whole world and not just a proud exposition of the military might of the United States? Will this be the viable solution to the ongoing campaign against global terrorism? In my opinion, no war could ever be justified by means of preventing further damage and the U. S. intervening and containing the war. Although the intention was good, we have seen the ravaged city of Baghdad on our TV screens and we would see the pain in the people’s faces. Lives will continually be lost if the United States continue the policy of intervention, such as what happened in Iraq. Thus, Americans should continue to condemn war because, as peace-loving citizens, we have seen throughout history that no war has brought upon any positive effect for any nation. Works Cited Rajaee, F (ed). The Iran-Iraq War: The Politics of Aggression. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1993. Wishnick, E. Strategic Consequences of the Iraq War: U. S. Security Interests in Central Asia Reassessed. Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2004. Iraqi Body Count. Retrieved online 29 February 2006 at http://www. iraqbodycount. org/

Case Studies of Organizational Change

Case Studies of Organizational Change CASE BACKGROUND The RTAs approach was to just involve the executive level management and the consultants in the strategy making process without including the middle and lower level management. The approach of the company shows its high level confidence in its top level management and it wants none other those to get involved in the decisions which are of utmost importance to the company and all of its employees (Heathfield). There are both positive and the negative aspects of such a strategy. Taking this change management policy positively, the company wants do not want any kind of issue arising during its process of changing the organizational management to save its time, energy and the focus which is a good decision in itself but if we consider the negative side of this strategy, the company will not have that support from its lower and the middle position employees which is very essential in order to have success in achieving the targets of changing the organization and in the worse case they eve n may fail to accept it at all. ISSUES INVOLVED The concept of organizational change is a wide process aiming at achieving some overall goals and objectives rather than the smaller change. This includes the big changes like the change in mission, restructuring the operations, changes in the technologies, re-engineering, major collaborations, etc. (Basic Context for Organizational Change) Such changes may be regarded as the changes that re-orientate the whole fundamentals in which the organization operates. These changes are the ones which affects the being and the corporate lives of each and everybody in the organization. THEORETICAL UNPINNING OF THE ISSUES INVOLVED In order to achieve certain organizational and group goals, the involvement of those very elements in the organization that are very close to these setting up of goals along with those who are going to be highly affected with that is very important. It can never be expected the one hundred percent support from any employee to support the changes made in his work or way of work who was not involved in the process of decision which will have a long lasting impact on his work. For such changes to succeed the involvement of those individuals whose working is going to get highly effected is very essential. Though it is quite admissible that during the changes, especially the ones which have an effect on the whole organization, the involvement of each and every individual is not possible but it would be highly worthy to try the involvement of the individuals as much as possible from the lower as well as the middle management. ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The changes in such a strategy is quite possible with a program that in a way involves these lower and the middle level management too, but not affecting the positive interest of the company for which it was adopted in that way. The changes can be explained as follows: If the role of the middle management as a whole cannot affect the overall decision of the change, at least the involvement of each and every employee in taking the meaningful decisions which involves their own work or the work of their respective unit or group. During the change management process, the suggestion for the changes can be taken from the middle management in the form of survey or the request for the submission of the changes to the executive management or the consultants can be taken. This would not only help the top level management in making the changes but would also involve all the employees in the organization. The suggestions which are found effective enough can be called for the discussion in the conference center and in this way the middle position managers having the considerably effective and the efficient ideas can have a chance to make a big contribution in the change management process. CONCLUSIONS With the certain involvement of the middle or the lower level management in the decisions related to the change management the immense amount of support and the confidence from the employees will be confirmed for such decisions by the executive level management and also with these suggested changes in the process of the change management, Al Ammeri can get his ideas considered and if found feasible by the consultants and the executives he can get those included. Organizational Situation 2: Why is Cultural change so hard? CASE BACKGROUND Fatima Al Hebsi is a student of a Master Degree at BHMeU and her discipline is change course management. In her first interview, she was offered the job as the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Organizational Change Consultantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  for an old and well established electric power company. The company is expected to make major organizational changes and now it concerns Fatima how hard it would be to change the major components of the culture being followed in the company over a long period. ISSUES INVOLVED Organizational culture is the set of the guiding tools and the ideology that guides and the interpretations and the actions in any organization. It describes the various attitudes, beliefs, the way of doing the work, psychologies, experiences, etc shared commonly by all the employees in the organization. It is basically the ways and the values followed by each and everybody in the organization whether directly or indirectly related to it. The organizational culture of any organization is highly dependent upon the goals and the objectives of the it and the appropriate kinds of the standards adopted for the needs to achieve those. Actually, these are the norms which lays down the guidelines or the expectations that prescribes the kind of behavior is expected from its employees which controls the behavior of the members of the organization towards each other. THEORETICAL UNPINNINGS OF THE ISSUES INVOLVED The consensus about the concept of organizational culture is bit difficult to understand theoretically, as they are quite holistic, historical involving the various anthropological and socially constructed concepts which are also very much difficult to change. Changing the organizational culture is one of the toughest task in the organizational change as this component of the organization was developed over a long period of time by the interaction and the confidence of its participants in the organization. The current organization culture matches the comfort and the style of its employees especially its executive level managers which ultimately reflects the prevailing management style in which the employees are well settled and used to in that working environment. ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION First of all, the need of initiating the change in the organizational culture is itself a big decision which requires some extremely reason or set of reasons. These reasons have to be of the class of significant loss of sales or customers, fear of bankruptcy, or loosing the millions of dollars in the market, etc and for that too blaming the organizational culture itself needs a harsh journey. But after recognizing the organizational culture as the reason for these troubles and there is a need to change the culture the process require a deep understanding and commitment along with certain tools and knowledge. Doing the change itself is not pretty enough and also the changes are not that easy. Before changing its culture the organization must understand its current culture and the values, the way the things are going on in the organization. Once the organization has understood its current culture, the consultant needs to understand what changes or alterations may be required to guide the organization to the success along with taking into the consideration the well being of its employees, stake holders, partners and the others. This should reflect the future mission and the vision in the future and what will be the major steps to achieve that and path to be folled. This needs high degree of the future predictions according to the current scenario. The next step which would be the toughest step is to convince its employees to change their behavior as per the requirements and the needs of the changed organizational culture. CONCLUSION The change management and especially the changes in the prevailing organizational culture may although be a tough task to be accomplished in the light of fact that these cultures have been developed over the long time and it would be difficult for each and every element of the organization to get adapted for these changes. But for a smart and efficient consultant, he/she has to understand the very roots and the soul of these cultures, to get started right from these ends to get the solutions of the issues involved. Organizational Situation Scenario:3 How do you change a complacent organization? CASE BACKGROUD Ahmed Al Shammsi is the CEO of a well established organization Trans-Tech Solutions which is the market leader in manufacturing the avionics components for the commercial airlines. Even though the organization is doing extremely well in the current situation but the CEO is foreseeing the future problems that is bound to occur in the organization for which the acute changes in the management is required in the organization. Now, CEO is finding another issue about how to convince the top managers to go for some of major changes in the organization. ISSUES INVOLVED The current era of fast industrial and business growth, more competition and the need of more innovation has become the utmost important tool for achieving the success and making stability in that success. The change has to be taken as the most important capability of any business operating in todayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s era without which the organization could not just wish to get the success and get adapted to a changing world. Without the effective and efficient changes required from time to time, the organization is bound to become obsolete some day and eventually die out. THEORITICAL UNPINNING OF THE ISSUES Every organization gets formed on the basis of some ideas and the innovations. They have a distinctive vision with some of those dedicated and devoted people with fresh mind set up to accomplish these very things. Not only the top level management but the organization as a whole have to kept together while making such decisions which as big as the changes in the way they are working, the motive for which they are operating and mission they are acting day and night for the well being of the organization. The settled and the complacent organization like the Trans-Tech Transportation must have started with a fresh idea through which they grew into a market leader and reached a certain level of excellence. But the flexibility is the thing which is required by this corporation to continue as the market leader in the future. ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS It is quite possible that the top level managers have become quite matured with enough resistance to the changes but this may become the reason due to which the company may fall on to a senility mode in which the efficiency of the company slows and may even stop causing the ultimate downfall and then die out. Keeping ourselves in the place of Ahmed Al Shamsi, the owner has to convince its managers even though they are the market leaders, they have been doing well enough in achieving its objectives and goals, there excellent performance has been based on their organizational strategies and cultures but the change is the law of nature which applies here as well. They will have to see not only the prospects coming out for the near future but also the far future which would help them to maintain its leadership as long as possible (Theories of Motivation). They will have to keep in mind that they became the leader by replacing somebody and it would not be impossible that some other innova tion may pull them next to the leader. CONCLUSION Based on the analysis of the complacent organization of Trans-Tech Corporation, the top level managers should look forward for looking for some changes based on some exciting and new idea through which the company may continue its strong and fine edge to continue as a firm with solid vision, strong vision with clear objectives for not only the well being of itself or the executive level management but the organization as a whole.

Does Austerity Work?

Does Austerity Work? Critically evaluate claims that austerity is the most effective strategy to counter a recession. Austerity is one of the most controversial economic policies, not only because there is an ongoing debate between academics and policy makers about its effectiveness and consequences, but also because it effects the life of millions and have caused many political and social turmoil when implemented. The advocate of this policy argues that it is the most effective and even more; it is the solution regardless of the structure of the economy and the cause of the economic downturn or recession. I will argue that this is not true, and that there are other policy designs that proved effective and delivered good results with less social cost in term of unemployment, social disturbances and welfare reduction. Austerity measures were recommended by policy makers in advanced economies as well as international organizations such as the IMF and the Word Bank. They were prescribed as a remedy in many economics situations and contexts in the developing countries, for example: Latin America sovereign debt crisis and the Asian crisis, furthermore in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007 and the great rescission that followed austerity policies were implemented or advocated in developed economies like UK, USA and part of the debt troubled EU countries referred to as PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) (Blyth, 2013). But it is important to first define what is meant by austerity and what is the underlying economic theory behind it. Usually when economists or policy makers refer to austerity they generally mean the reduction in the structural deficit in the government budget regardless of its effect on the business cycle, and it is also refers to the policy of reducing the size of the public sector in general (Room, 2015). This can be done through lowering the government expenditure (like social and welfare benefits, spending on infrastructure and healthcare, lowering wages, etc.). The underlying economic reasoning behind austerity policy is that high level of public debt is a burden on the future generations because any debt should be paid in the future from budget surpluses raised form tax payers. It also cause higher level of interest rate (due to higher demand by government) which in turn discourage private investment. Accordingly austerity policy by reducing the government expenditure will re duce the public debt, consequently increase confidence in the economy, reduce interest rates and consequently stimulate private investment spending and the economy. A common theme in austerity policy is the believe that government intervention itself through fiscal policy is the source of economic imbalances and it associate crisis with bad public finance management and reckless spending behavior (Wren-Lewis, 2016). The advocate of austerity say that the national economy cannot grow out of debt. Some scholars argue that if the ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) is reach 90% for advanced economies, or 60% for emerging economies, the debt will slow down economic growth (Reinhart and Rogoff, 2010). In this situation, the economy can easily experience financial crises because the investor confidence will fall, and this will make foreign direct investment become less (Konzelmann, 2014; Reinhart and Rogoff, 2010). Another connected idea is that high level of debt means that the government needs to take capital resources from the community to pay for it, and this will also slow the growth of the economy. The national economies with high debt therefore likely to raise interest rates to encourage demand for government bonds, and this will make it more expensive for the public to borrow money. The result of this expense is low consumption and growth, so the economy will steadily decline (Boccia , 2013). The high interest rates also make the currency become more valuable, which means that exports slow down because they become more expensive for international market, and this will also slow down the economy (Patillo et al., 2002). The advocate of austerity therefore argue that high levels of debt will cause the economy to slow down, and say that cutting debt, which austerity does, is the best way to help countries with high debt to achieve growth (Blyth, 2013). There are ample of evidence contradicting the argument that the austerity is always a solution to recession. An analysis of the performance and consequences of such policies suggest that austerity policy in practice led in many instances to worsening the recession and budget deficit mainly due to its blind application and its tendency to ignore the different economic structure for each country, in fact it worsen the symptoms that it designed to cure (Haltom and Lubik, 2013). Lets look at the experience of Spain with austerity. Before the 2007 financial crisis Spain had enjoyed robust economy with long period of growth led by the real estate sector, the budget was actually in surplus at around 2.5% of the GDP. When the crisis of 2007 hit Spain economic vulnerabilities; mainly uncompetitive private sector and the over reliance on real estate sector and excessive borrowing by the private sector. The crisis resulted in lower demand and hence lower tax collection and budget deficit. Furth ermore deterioration in bank assets quality and solvency problem surfaced (Dellepiane and Hardiman, 2012). In 2010 Spain like many other troubled EU countries implemented the austerity formula i.e. cut spending. This solution was based on misinterpretation of the crisis cause in Spain (and southern Europe in general) that the crisis is caused by the mismanaged public finances, so not surprisingly was the result, instead of the expansionary austerity Spain got stuck of a vicious circle of lower demand (driven by lower government spending), lower tax collection (revenues), higher unemployment and further deterioration of the financial sector health (Dellepiane and Hardiman, 2012). In fact this was the situation of all the EU countries that implemented austerities, as we can show from the economic performance of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIIGS) since 2008. For all these countries, austerity made their debt increase, not decline, and economic activity slowed down (Blyth, 2013). In Greece, the ration of debt to GDP grew from 106% to 170% from 2007 to 2012, even though there w as much austerity cuts. The same case happened on Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain. The economist Paul Krugman pointed out that the idea of austerity collapsed under the empirical results of the policy of austerity, and he refers to the academic and research body that supported austerity did not stand scrutiny and turned out to be based on dubious statistical methods and sometimes outright mistakes (Krugman, 2015). In similar way, Simon Wren-Lewis (2016) observed that the austerity in Europe was unnecessary outcome of the fiscal contraction. In other words, the European countries could have successfully run a gradual fiscal consolidation accompanied with expansionary monetary policy by the ECB to offset the contractionary effect of the fiscal policy. However in case of Europe in 2010 the interest rates was already at zero and there was no room for expansionary monetary policy (a situation also referred to as liquidity trap), so postponing fiscal consolidation would not just delay austerity but avoid it all together (Wren-Lewis, 2016). It is therefore very clear that austerity cannot be a solution for recessions, but the question is then what can be the cure. If we go back in the recent history of the economic theory and policy we can establish that there have been examples of an alternative economic policy to austerity that has successfully dealt with recessions and restored the economic activity to the growth path. This policy was the Keynesian economic that prevailed for a period of 30 years from the world war II till late 1970s. Keynes model of how the economy works are based on the idea that when there is economic downturn and since business expectation in the recession are low because of the uncertainty only the government has can restore confidence to the economy and the policy recommendation is to increase government spending (expansionary fiscal policy) to boost he general level of economic activity, increase demand and compensate for the lower private demand (Burton, 2016). This is the very opposite of th e idea of austerity, and many economists now argue the same thing. Paul Krugman (2012) is a famous example of this argument. Krugman rejects the idea of austerity, and argues that to help the economy come out of the recession it is necessary for the government to increase debt. The foundation of this argument is the nature of debt. Krugman (2012) says that the economist must consider public debt and private debt as two separate things, rather than just the same. His reason for this idea is that, first, private debt needs to be recompensed, but this is not the issue with government debt. For the governments, it is just necessary to make sure that there is enough tax to cover debts. Another difference is that in private debt the money is owed to someone else, but government debt is money that the government owes to itself and to the country, such as pensions and other requirements (Krugman 2012). If these differences are considered, it becomes clear that in a situation of high personal debt, a good solution is for the government to take on higher debt to help boost the economic activity (Krugman and Eggertsson, 2012). Krugman and Eggertsson (2012) argue that fiscal expenditure must be used to maintain employment, productivity and earnings at the time that private debt is decreased, because this will keep the tax earnings up and permit the government to decrease its own debt when the recession is over. Beside, increased financial expansion will work better in a situation where interest rates are lower, because there will be lower crowding out of private business (Krugman and Eggertsson, 2012: 1490). In such situations, financial stimulus will therefore boost economic activity and give good growth to GDP, while decreases in public spending will have the opposite effect, slowing growth and bringing GDP down (Holland and Portes, 2012). In this essay, I have shown the foundation of the idea of austerity and explained why the economists who believe it say that it is the solution for the situation of a recession. The advocate of austerity argues that high public debt makes it more expensive to obtain a loan, and this causes the economy to slow. Furthermore, it also causes currency inflation, which causes exports to become more expensive and slows economic activity. FDI also slows down, and all these factors together mean that the economy cannot achieve any development. The solution of austerity is therefore to cut public spending to bring down the public debt. However, the empirical evidence of the effects of austerity measures show that it is not a useful policy to achieve these ends. In countries such as Greece, Spain and others where austerity has been used, austerity has caused the opposite of these results: ratio of debt to GDP gets higher and higher, unemployment rises, economic growth slows, and the recession b ecomes worse. The reason for this fail of austerity to solve the problem is because the advocate of austerity does not differentiate between public debt and private debt, as Krugman (2012) argues. In the recession, if the government takes on more debt through implementing fiscal stimulus, it can stimulate economic activity by allowing people to spend and take loans. This will increase the circulation of capital, which will have many positive effects in bringing about growth. Then, when the private debt level is high and the economy is more active, the government can reduce its financial stimulus to bring down its debt. In both theoretically and empirically, it is clear that austerity cannot solve the problems that cause recession, and it therefore necessary to consider the alternatives. References Dauderstà ¤dt, M. ed., 2013. Alternatives to Austerity: Progressive Growth Strategies for Europe. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Krugman, P., 2015. The austerity delusion. The Guardian, 29. Room, G., 2015. Alternatives to Austerity. Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath. (IPR Spotlight) Haltom, R.C. and Lubik, T.A., 2013. Is Fiscal Austerity Good for the Economy?. Richmond Fed Economic Brief, (Sept), pp.1-5. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_dialogue/@actrav/documents/publication/wcms_158927.pdf Wren-Lewis, S., 2016. A general theory of austerity. BSG Working Paper Series, University of Oxford. Blyth, M., 2013. Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dellepiane Avellaneda, Sebastian and Hardiman, Niamh (2012) The New Politics of Austerity : Fiscal Responses to Crisis in Ireland and Spain. Working paper. UCD Geary Institute, Dublin. Burton, M., 2016. Is Austerity Necessary?. In The Politics of Austerity (pp. 189-204). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Reinhart, Carmen and Kenneth Rogoff. 2010. Growth in a time of debt. The American Economic Review100(2): 573-578. Konzelmann, Suzanne J. 2014. The Political Economics of Austerity. Cambridge Journal of Economics38(4): 701-741. Boccia, Romina. 2013. How the United States High Debt Will Weaken the Economy and Hurt Americans. Backgrounder 2768: 1-8. Pattillo, C.A., Poirson, H. and Ricci, L.A., 2002. External debt and growth (No. 2002-2069). International Monetary Fund. Krugman, Paul. 2012. Nobody Understands Debt. The New York Times: The Opinion Pages. Accessed 28 October 2014. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/opinion/krugman-nobody-understands-debt.html?_r=1 Krugman, Paul and Gauti Eggertsson. 2012, Debt, Deleveraging, and the Liquidity Trap: a Fisher-Minsky-Koo approach. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 127(3): 1469-1518. Holland, Dawn and Jonathan Portes. 2012. Self-Defeating Austerity? National Institute Economic Review 222(222): 4-10.

Analysis of My Last Duchess and The Laboratory Essay -- Robert Brownin

â€Å"My Last Duchess† and â€Å"The Laboratory† are two very diverse yet similar poems written by Robert Browning within the period of three years. In this essay I am going to carefully consider the techniques, language and imagery that Browning uses in these two poems. I am also going to compare the two poems together and how Browning creates the voice and character of the persona in each poem. My Last Duchess was written by Robert Browning in 1842. The poem is a dramatic monologue. The poem flows as there are mid-line pauses (caesura) rather than the poem coming to a halt at the end of each line. I think this is deliberate from Browning to make the poem flow more easily. The poem begins by the Duke merely showing his collection of art and various works to his emissary. He then comes to a lifelike portrait of his own wife who is now dead. In my opinion the Duke remembers her as no less than a piece of art that has been created by his orders. This is a general pattern throughout the poem where the Duke considers himself to be the most prestigious man who has ever lived. He believes that men are the dominant race above women. He is a complete image of sexism in his time. Browning keeps some of the imagery vague in the poem I believe this is to leave the reader of the poem to think themselves about the attitude of the Duke. You could perhaps say that he has a flirtatious wife who treasures others gifts as she treats the Duke’s. You could suggest that she may have had affairs with these other men but Browning leaves this to our imagination. I believe the Duke is an unstable man whose jealousy drives him to the limit to eventually finish his wife off. He believes that total control was a natural thing for him. Moving on to the Laboratory. ... ... the reader thinking about the poem in whatever way they like. Similarly with â€Å"My last duchess† Robert browning deliberately leaves some text vague yet some vivid to pose questions to the reader. He uses plenty of metaphors in both poems. I think this is again for the same reason which has been mentioned earlier. He is definitely trying to give the reader a thought but he leaves the thought abruptly for us to imagine about it. In my opinion this pattern is very frequent throughout the two poems. To arrive at my conclusion all these techniques work together extremely well in both poems to give some of the greatest poems of his time. These two poems are especially recognised for the language, imagery and techniques that the poet uses to create a feeling of jealousy and disgust of the reactions of both the Duke in â€Å"My Last Duchess† and the Woman in â€Å"The Laboratory.†

Research Report: The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers fc

Research Report: The Great Gatsby   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Great Gatsby: A Criticism of American Society,† author Ned Mack discusses how F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the American Society in the 1920’s for its trend to waste, advertise, encourage superficial relationships, and an obsession with appearances. All four of these things are very evident in the novel, and Mack just breaks each of them down individually. Mack talks about how the Valley of Ashes is an example of people being wasteful in the 1920’s. People in America use what they want and when they want and leave the remains or waste, you might call it, behind for the un-wealthy to clean up. â€Å"The valley of ashes was once a flourishing town, but was used until it was no longer valuable and was thus abandoned.† (qtd. In Mack) This is very true the rich people in the novel were by no means conservationist. They would not think twice about using things in excess and then discarding them how they please. Advertising plays a huge role in this novel. Mack says, â€Å"The billboard in the Valley of Ashes is held above the rest of the town and represents society worshipping advertising† (2). This is evident in the novel not only are business’ advertised but in a way people are always advertising themselves. By talking about their own business’ or even worse putting themselves on display and advertising themselves, but not as people, but more like objects and how wealthy they are. An example of this is when Mr. And Mrs. Mckee are at Myrtle’s party and the narrator Nick is talking about the Mckees and he says referring to Mrs. Mckee, â€Å"She told me with pride her husband had photographed her a hundred and twenty-seven times since they had been married† (qtd. In Mack) Subconsciously, Mrs. Mckee is advertising her husband and that he is a photographer. Mack goes on to talk about the American obsession with appearance that is shown throughout the novel. An example of this would be that Gatsby has a huge library filled with books that have never been opened. Gatsby is just trying to be someone that he is not in order to fit a certain image. Another character obsessed with her appearance and how people perceive her is Myrtle. At her party, she pretends that she has a kitchen full of servants who are waiting on her†¦when in reality she doesn’t. Research Report: The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers fc Research Report: The Great Gatsby   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Great Gatsby: A Criticism of American Society,† author Ned Mack discusses how F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the American Society in the 1920’s for its trend to waste, advertise, encourage superficial relationships, and an obsession with appearances. All four of these things are very evident in the novel, and Mack just breaks each of them down individually. Mack talks about how the Valley of Ashes is an example of people being wasteful in the 1920’s. People in America use what they want and when they want and leave the remains or waste, you might call it, behind for the un-wealthy to clean up. â€Å"The valley of ashes was once a flourishing town, but was used until it was no longer valuable and was thus abandoned.† (qtd. In Mack) This is very true the rich people in the novel were by no means conservationist. They would not think twice about using things in excess and then discarding them how they please. Advertising plays a huge role in this novel. Mack says, â€Å"The billboard in the Valley of Ashes is held above the rest of the town and represents society worshipping advertising† (2). This is evident in the novel not only are business’ advertised but in a way people are always advertising themselves. By talking about their own business’ or even worse putting themselves on display and advertising themselves, but not as people, but more like objects and how wealthy they are. An example of this is when Mr. And Mrs. Mckee are at Myrtle’s party and the narrator Nick is talking about the Mckees and he says referring to Mrs. Mckee, â€Å"She told me with pride her husband had photographed her a hundred and twenty-seven times since they had been married† (qtd. In Mack) Subconsciously, Mrs. Mckee is advertising her husband and that he is a photographer. Mack goes on to talk about the American obsession with appearance that is shown throughout the novel. An example of this would be that Gatsby has a huge library filled with books that have never been opened. Gatsby is just trying to be someone that he is not in order to fit a certain image. Another character obsessed with her appearance and how people perceive her is Myrtle. At her party, she pretends that she has a kitchen full of servants who are waiting on her†¦when in reality she doesn’t.

Candide Response

Arthur Johnson Western Letters – Professor Fayard Response Essay 2 10/29/12 Arthur Johnson Western Letters – Fayard 10/29/12 Response Essay #2 Francois-Marie Arouet De Voltaire shows in many instances in Candide that he does not buy into the idea of the Enlightenment. With Voltaire’s simple mockery of the idea of a perfect world with a perfectly good God, it is evident that he does not appreciate the idea that everything happens for a reason.Despite Voltaire holding these extremely negative views on whether or not there is a good God, if there is a God at all, he puts in place a character in Candide that arguably contradicts his hateful and pessimistic views on the idea that everything happens for a reason. Voltaire places an old lady in Candide, whom clearly suffers greatly, but continues to get out of her tragedies and makes the decision to continue on living life because living is worth every bit of pain and suffering that comes.This old lady contradicts Volta ire’s negative views on the idea that everything happens for a reason because she continually escapes from her tragic experiences. The old lady continues to reinforce the idea that there is a purpose for everything and that good will eventually come out from even the most evil of situations and scenarios. The old lady not only contradicts Voltaire’s hateful outlook on the idea that everything happens for a reason, but she to an extent revamps and matures Pangloss’ outlook on optimism.Instead of thinking that everything is great and perfectly good, the old lady believes that there are some horrible things in life, but living is worth every bit of struggle that comes along with it. In theory it would be safe to come to a conclusion that would suggest that the old lady believes that despite of all the horrific and brutal events that come with living, there are greater things in life that make suffering a worthwhile price. This idea would also fall into the idea tha t everything does indeed happen for a reason.The old lady used to live a promising life as the daughter of the pope and a princess, who was once seen by many as one of the most beautiful people women ever, a woman who had a body as beautiful as â€Å"the Venus of Medici†. For a better graphic, the Venus of Medici was a Hellenistic life-size classical statue, much like the Venus de Milo, that was a depiction of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. The old lady was at one point in her life a modern day celebrity, but all of what she had going for her was stolen, and yet she continued to live.The old lady while in conversation with Candide and Cunegonde says â€Å"Imagine my situation, the daughter of a pope, only fifteen years old, who in the space of three months had been exposed to poverty and slavery, been raped almost daily, had seen her mother torn to pieces, had endured war and famine, and who is now dying of the plague in Algiers. As it happens, I didn't die† (Vo ltaire). Voltaire also makes a strong emphasis on the old lady losing one of her buttocks, but despite that she continues to get on her horse, and ride it with just one of her buttocks.The old lady has clearly suffered tremendously. She has been through more hardships and trials than Candide and Cunegonde ever have, even though they seemed to have suffered a lot themselves. Despite all of the pains and sufferings that this old woman has been through, she consistently chose not to loathe in self-pity, and also chose life over death one hundred out of one hundred times. If this old woman did not sincerely believe that there was a reason to live and suffer, then why in Heaven’s mind would she ever decide to continue to live a life full of painful and tragic events?Simply putting it, she would not be in her right mind to continue on living a life of pain and suffering if there was no greater payout or at least a small reason for her pains and sufferings. The old woman’s re ason for living, the old woman’s payout for all of her pains and sufferings, and the old woman’s reason for not loathing in self-pity and ending her life was because she enjoyed living life too much. The old lady says to Candide and Cunegonde, â€Å"a hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more† (Voltaire).On the contrary the old lady also mentioned that the notion of loving life while it is miserable is equivalent to holding on to existence in horror, but still clinging on to it or to fondle a serpent that devours until it has eaten our hearts away. The old lady labeled this notion that she carries and that many others carry as ridiculous, extremely weak, and one of human’s worst instincts. Yet, she still decided to endure the hardships, live in her self-labeled â€Å"weakness†, and continued on living a life that pays her with reasons in wanting to live out her life.There is never a crystal clear glimpse of why the old wom an loves living so much, but she does defy Voltaire once more at the end of Candide. While in conversation with Candide in the final chapter, the old lady says to Candide â€Å"I should like to know which is worse, being raped a hundred times by negro pirates, having a buttock cut off, running the gauntlet in the Bulgar army, being flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, being dissected and rowing in the galleys—experiencing, in a word, all the miseries through which we have passed—or else just sitting here and doing nothing? (Voltaire). Voltaire places Candide’s garden in Candide as another form of mockery to the idea that everything happens for a reason and their world is the best of all possible worlds. Despite Voltaire inputting the garden as a mockery to Candide’s â€Å"ignorant and ridiculous† philosophy on life, the old lady was not any happier than she was when she was being raped, flogged, beaten, or hung. The old lady was just as â€Å"mis erable† as she was during all of her actual tragedies and hardships she faced, and yet she still continued to love living life and not loathe in her self-pity.The old lady’s life is a testament to there being a reason to the events and tragedies that occur in life. All of the hardships, pains, and sufferings that enter the lives of people happen so that people can grasp and understand the greatness and love for living life. Much like the old lady, people have to endure the pains and sufferings of life because living and experiencing life is worth every ounce of lost blood, sweat, and tears.

Internal Rate of Return

Many companies wants to have a return on their Investment In a few years and begin to evaluate their projects optimistically calculating an Internal rate of real return not yielding results In the end. This does not end up being expected by the companies; According to the article the authors John C. Keller and Justine J. McCormick . They suggest that there is a tendency to a risky behavior, Companies started to run the risk of creating unrealistic numbers for themselves and shareholder expectations, which it could confuse communications with investors and inflating managerial rewards.This confronts us with a real and serious problem when it comes to investing in projects because later we can not generate the expected return and risk of failure in the project, the AIR can generate two different values for the same project when future cash flows switch from negative to positive (or positive to negative). In addition, since the AIR Is expressed as a percentage, and This can make small p rojects appear more attractive than large , although large projects with lower AIR may be more attractive as NP of smaller projects with AIR .The management of the AIR must be just when the project generates no Interim cash flows – or when those Interim cash flows really can be invested in real AIR otherwise would not be realistically analyzing the viability of the project, and this is not what you want if you really are expecting to thrive in a project, The best you can do is to get real results that can assess the potential risks of the investment and the real return of the project.Among its disadvantages we can find that requires finally are compared with an opportunity cost of capital to determine the decision on the project. That project in which the internal rate of return, we will accept it greater than the discount rate investor (relevant Interest rate), the AIR criterion is not reliable to compare projects and only tells us whether a project Is better than the altern ative profitability. The AIR , only evaluates local Impacts that do not necessarily Impact the company as a whole system , which alms to make more money.The AIR Is Important to calculate the profitability of resources. The VPN allows feasibility analysis, when this indicator is positive projects are attractive and allows optimizing resources when the project has a higher NP than others. The AIR, only evaluates the feasibility, when this is greater than the rate of chance, but definitely does not optimizing resources. When you are evaluating projects for enterprise systems for profit, the criterion to be used, is the VPN.In non-profit companies, the appropriate criterion may be the AIR , because it allows to identify the financial feasibility and optimization of resources, meets the criteria or indicators of social evaluation, where the owner of the project, the population Is required greatest need and urgency. Taking Into account the point of views of the authors we have to mention something Important, and that Is when the cost of capital Is used, the true annual equivalent yield of a project can be significantly reduced – again , especially with projects they reported high Minimal IRS .When executives review projects with IRS that are close to cost of capital of a are not particularly real because the rate distortion reinvestment is more noticeable precisely when managers tend to think that their projects are more attractive. In conclusion, the simplest way to avoid problems with the AIR , is not use it to calculate profitability of projects because we do not want to invest on wrong assumptions , no tater whatever it's used to review projects , it is important that projects are based on real and figures close to the company objectives.This is important to achieve the desired performance as stakes and risk capital investment, An option can be for small projects because it is the most practical thing to do, but for big projects it is recommended not to f all into this kind of assumptions not realistic to avoid disappointment , you must learn to avoid the risk and not be tempted by fast optimistic estimates or investment returns that does not show us the big picture , Executives should use at least a modified internal rate of return.It is better if they use MIR to calculate the profitability because It allows users to set rates more realistic interim reinvestment and therefore to calculate a true annual equivalent yield, Other aspect to consider is whether the internal rate of return is greater than the discount rate, the project should be accepted as a higher yield that estimated the minimum required, but you can do this Just when the net cash flows are reinvested. You should think, if the internal rate of return is less than the discount rate, the project should be rejected because lower yield estimates is the minimum required.

Hidalgo Resturant, Inc: Succeeding As An Entrepreneur Essay

I. VISION A. Vision Statement â€Å"For everyone who works with us to discover in themselves their talent and their potential and to build relationship with each other† B. Comments Vision statements should answer the question â€Å"What do we want to become.† But Hidalgo’s vision statement does not answer that question. It doesn’t even mention what kind of business they are into. C. Proposed Vision Statement To be the preferred restaurant of Filipinos and expatriates, providing total customer satisfaction through quality, service, cleanliness, and value. II. MISSION A. Mission Statement Hidalgo Restaurant, Inc. doesn’t have specific mission statement B. Comments A Mission Statement reflects the company’s core purpose, identity, values and principle business aims. A Mission is defined as ‘Purpose, reason for being’. Defined simply â€Å"Who we are and what we do.† Mission statements should possess nine (9) components which are (1) customers, (2) products or services (3) markets, (4) technology, (5) Concern for survival, growth, and profitability, (6) philosophy, (7) self – concept, (8) concern for public image, and (9) concern for employees. C. Proposed Mission Statement We are committed to provide total customer satisfaction and exceed customer’s expectations through setting the trend in raising the bar, to be the change agents contributing directly to the country’s development, creating standards of excellence which every Filipino may aspire, to be in the business of building relationships and partnerships, among which one partner is the customer, in order to maximize earnings that will benefit our supplier, employees, and investors. III. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS The restaurant sub-sector includes places that serve food and drinks, be it self-service or full-service. This covers a range of services including fine dining specialty restaurants, fast food outlets, canteens, and food courts. In terms of its contribution to the national economy, the hotel and restaurant industry accounted for 1.35% of Philippines’ 1998 gross domestic product (PHP12 billion in GVA compared to the Philippine’s PHP889 billion GDP during the period) and 1.28% of its national product (PHP12 billion in GVA compared to the PHP931 billion GNP). Moreover, the hotel and restaurant industry employed about 1% (282,142) of the country’s 31,278,000 labor force during the same period. Meanwhile, the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 1994, classified 46,930 firms as belonging to the hotel and restaurant industry, employing a total of 221,954 people. At the time, each peso investment in labor contributed PHP4.40 to the industry’s total output while ea ch peso investment yielded a PHP1.27 contribution to the same. A. Economic Forces Restaurant patrons cross all economic groups. Fast foods and food courts cater to all income classes. Specialty fine dining restaurants, generally target the A, B, and C crowd. The proliferation of one-stop shopping malls that offer various recreational facilities and amenities is also an important growth factor. The heavy pedestrian traffic that the malls attract means big business for the restaurant industry, particularly the fast food sub-sector. Moreover, these malls spare the restaurant industry from spending extensive business development studies for their outlets; mall magnates Henry Sy and John Gokongwei Jr. have established formidable track records in building malls. Finally, Filipino communities abroad are strong basis for the export of local restaurants and fast food technology. The presence of Goldilocks, Jollibee, Max, Red Ribbon, and Barrio Fiesta, among others, in the US, for example, is a result of demand from Filipino migrants longing for a taste for home. B. Social, Cultural, and Demographic Forces The urban population to which restaurants cater is largely made up of young people who have higher disposable incomes and who are more likely to experiment with different cuisine. Brand loyalty is particularly strong in the fast food sub-sector of the restaurant industry. Jollibee patrons, for example, generally stay loyal to the franchise regardless of price increases. Demand for dining out is associated with both the ever-expanding options available, and also with the number one reason most consumers use restaurants: they provide a convenient, reasonably priced experience that offers better flavors and taste sensations than consumers can get at home. This has become particularly critical at a time when more and more women are entering the workforce and consequently have less time to prepare meals at home. Moreover, the Philippine population is youth-oriented. Almost half of the estimated 75 million Filipinos are below 18. And since a large proportion of fast food consumers is betwe en the ages of 16-24, the annual 2.3% population growth rate guarantees market growth for the sub-sector. C. Political, Legal, and Governmental Forces Strong support of industry associations and trade unions (i.e., Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines and the NWHUAI) enable the hotel industry, among other things, to undertake programs and projects that upgrade and professionalize the sector and to influence government regulatory policies/laws/rules affecting the industry. D. Technological Forces International food chains and franchises facilitate transfer of technology in the local restaurant sub-sector. They provide training of potential employees and employ strict quality control systems. In terms of availability of technology, the Philippine market is highly competitive with numerous products and brands offered at reasonable prices, and, therefore, allowing restaurant owners the luxury of choosing the type of technology that best suit their operations. Equipment purchasing decisions depend on the type of end-user. For instance, local single-unit restaurants need inexpensive equipment, so price is the main guiding factor. On the other hand, fine dining restaurants are willing to pay a premium for high quality, durability, after-sales service, cost effectiveness, reputable supplier and fast delivery. Restaurant owners regularly participate in local and international equipment trade fairs, allowing them access to the latest hotel equipment technology. E. Competitive Forces There are about 45,220 restaurant establishments in the domestic economy and about 80% of them belong to the fast food sub-sector. Food franchising is extremely popular. There are 1,057 franchised quick serve restaurants, 14 casual dining and theme restaurants, and 507 coffee shops, bakeries, and confectioneries. The industry in which the restaurant and fast food firms operate has increasing consumer demand for every improving product. The growth is proven by the rapid expansion of food outlets in key areas in Metro Manila and the provinces. The popularity of fast food establishments came in the 1980’s, and over the last years, the industry has consistently posted double-digit growth rates. Competition is fierce in the restaurant industry, particularly the fast food sub-sector. The market is large but consumers are price conscious and exhibit brand loyalty. With a wide range of restaurants and fast food establishments to choose from, pricing schemes and marketing strategies determine market shares. Market strategies of industry players, therefore, aim to achieve two primary objectives: 1) hammer in â€Å"value-for-money† concepts; and 2) create brand consciousness and loyalty. Market shares in the restaurants are won or lost in pricing. Industry players regularly offer price cuts and discounts to lure in new customers. Moreover, major players invest heavily in advertising to create brand consciousness and loyalty. Marketing strategies include raffle draws, free gift items and specially prized meal combinations, discounted toys and school items for every certain minimum food purchase. Celebrity endorsements are used in the hopes that the market will identify with the endorser. Likewise, intense competition urges players to come up with new products to capture bigger market shares. Restauranteurs have to be keen at finding the latest food and wine concoctions here and abroad and adapting them to local taste. Targeting the Filipino’s tastebuds, several fastfood chains that usually serve only western food have introduced items that appeal to the local market’s palate. Raising quality standards and improving service have also been focal points of competition, particularly in the fast food sub-sector. Players give incentives and compensations to motivate employees to be efficient on their jobs and thus help maintain the fast food outlet’s high standards of quality service and cleanliness. Also, a major importance in a fast food and restaurant is courteous and friendly personnel. Not surprisingly, speedy service is among the more salient attributes people would highly expect from a fast food restaurant.

Drugs in Schools Essay

It is said that the majority of high school students have witnessed illegal drugs being used in their schools, illegal drugs being sold, illegal drugs in the possession of students, students high on drugs and students that are drunk. Parents think that until they get rid the schools of drugs, students will not bring good grades and achieve high marks. In schools in Newfoundland and Labrador, drugs are a huge issue. Smoking weed has become as regular as smoking a cigarette. The youth are even selling marijuana amongst themselves. All kinds of drugs are being used such as crystal meth, pot and ecstasy. In America, 60% of high school students and 30% or middle school students returned to school this year where illegal drugs are used, kept and sold. Many reports found that drug abuse will increase and will add $41 billion to the cost of elementary and secondary education this year for class disruption and violence, special education and tutoring. Parents say that drugs have infested schools and threatened students and their ability to learn and develop their talents. If parents would feel strongly about drugs in schools, we would have drug-free schools. It seems that more and more high school students are using drugs every year. Mostly, 10.5% of the youth that come for treatment are kids who started using drugs before the age of eleven. The media says that it is the parents, school board and the authorities to be held responsible for this because they never asked for drug-free schools.

Niccol Machiavelli and Lao-Tzu Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Niccol Machiavelli and Lao-Tzu - Essay Example Machiavelli and Lao-Tzu both present their perspectives differently and intelligently. On the topic of characters of a leader, Machiavelli presents well-built judgments as to in which way a ruler should act when in power. He notes down about whether it is great to be feared or loved, eventually arriving to a close that a leader must be dreaded in order to govern his people. This brings about the opinion that the leader loved by the citizens is not working as expected. Machiavelli gives strong convictions in his writing of the prince who he gives the need to control. He recommends a stern leader to be stern, maintaining and obtaining power. In his presentation, he depicts a power hungry leader. He evidently employs the argumentation rhetorical strategy to depict the qualities of the prince. This he expects the citizens to be loyal to. He explains responsibility, bad and good reputations, and being well informed in history and military. This is among the instances that he depicts a pos itive attitude towards the essential goodness of the citizens. He has a strong stand that a leader desires to be alleged to be powerful and strong. Machiavelli presents a leadership style in which the leader takes credit for all good in the government. He presents the argument that it is essential to not appear feeble to others, particularly the people. This brings clearly how his point of view shades his understanding of the relationship between government and the people. The prince does not trust his people, and his role is evidently, a dictator. Lao-Tzu’s view on the qualities of a leader is exceptionally dissimilar to that of Machiavelli’s. His suggestion of a leader is moral, modest and compassionate. He insists that a leader ought to be treasured by his citizens. This presents the idea that Machiavelli has positive attitude towards the essential goodness of the citizens. There is a complete assumption that the citizens will show this goodness in return. In the pr ince Niccolo employs political rhetoric. This is a rhetorical strategy used to convince an individual to adopt a viewpoint. He gives an exact detail of all the things the prince must do in order to be successful. This type of rhetorical strategies is similar to Socrates. By this, Machiavelli warns about political rhetoric and at the same time employs it to his advantage. In another instance, he warns about flattery and at the same time employs it to refer to the Medicis. Lao Tzu, on the other hand, employs religious rhetoric that are based on the beliefs of the Tao. This is present when he refers to the Tao in some instances. The Tao explains that when an individual does nothing every other thing falls into place. In an example, in the Tao-te Ching Lao-tzu affirms that if a leader wants to be a remarkable then they must learn to pursue the Tao, desist from trying to