Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Adult Life

What I feel the definition of being an adult means to be mature and responsible with your things that you have to do in life to life basics. Age doesn’t have anything to do with being mature or being in the adult section. It’s about self realization of you becoming mature. Some people when there maturing there starting college, or a new job, or even just going through with your life. When you are an adult you can make life judgments without any ones help from family or friends. You start identifying yourself of how independent you can be by your own. One important thing that you need to be an adult is responsibility.You would need responsibility towards your family, friend members, and yourself. As a member of society you would need to engage in the community you live in, so you know your whereabouts in the place you live at. You can have a social responsibility which means to volunteer and recycle to keep the place clean. If you’re a responsible friend you would help him or her to make a good decision before he realizes he make a bad mistake. Be there for hem whenever he needs help. A responsible adult will take care of their family and help support them when they need it. Your family should be an important thing in your life.Also you should be respectful of your mom and dad, brothers and sisters. A good father or mother for your child. Without responsibility you won’t be able to fulfill your duties of being a good parent. Without it you might forget to pick up dinner for your wife. Or you could be late to pick up your son from soccer practice. As an adult, you would need to be financially responsible to support yourself. You can’t expect to be taking care of a family if you can barely support yourself. It’s an adult’s responsibility to pay the bills of the house, and worry about the money to see if he has enough to support himself.But a responsible adult is usually good with money, so he won’t be low for the month. He would know how to save money, or not waste it on anything that is not necessary. And know when to use the money if they absolutely need it, or if it’s a requirement thing. Respect is also an important part of being an adult. For example if you got hired at a job, and you don’t like someone your goanna have to learn how to deal with them. Adults have to learn how to deal with one another in daily basics. They don’t let little things get in the way of there working environment.They don’t let there emotions get the best of them. They have self control which comes from being or becoming an adult. One of my role models for being an adult is my father. He is responsible by, he pays the bills, makes sure he has food in the table, and money in the bank. When things get bad or stressful he just keeps a calm mind and thinks of what the solutions are cause that’s what a responsible adult does. My dad is teaching me of responsibility not by tell ing me, but as me just watching him and seeing what he has to do to maintain us. I respect him for everything he has done too keep us in place. Adult Life What I feel the definition of being an adult means to be mature and responsible with your things that you have to do in life to life basics. Age doesn’t have anything to do with being mature or being in the adult section. It’s about self realization of you becoming mature. Some people when there maturing there starting college, or a new job, or even just going through with your life. When you are an adult you can make life judgments without any ones help from family or friends. You start identifying yourself of how independent you can be by your own. One important thing that you need to be an adult is responsibility.You would need responsibility towards your family, friend members, and yourself. As a member of society you would need to engage in the community you live in, so you know your whereabouts in the place you live at. You can have a social responsibility which means to volunteer and recycle to keep the place clean. If you’re a responsible friend you would help him or her to make a good decision before he realizes he make a bad mistake. Be there for hem whenever he needs help. A responsible adult will take care of their family and help support them when they need it. Your family should be an important thing in your life.Also you should be respectful of your mom and dad, brothers and sisters. A good father or mother for your child. Without responsibility you won’t be able to fulfill your duties of being a good parent. Without it you might forget to pick up dinner for your wife. Or you could be late to pick up your son from soccer practice. As an adult, you would need to be financially responsible to support yourself. You can’t expect to be taking care of a family if you can barely support yourself. It’s an adult’s responsibility to pay the bills of the house, and worry about the money to see if he has enough to support himself.But a responsible adult is usually good with money, so he won’t be low for the month. He would know how to save money, or not waste it on anything that is not necessary. And know when to use the money if they absolutely need it, or if it’s a requirement thing. Respect is also an important part of being an adult. For example if you got hired at a job, and you don’t like someone your goanna have to learn how to deal with them. Adults have to learn how to deal with one another in daily basics. They don’t let little things get in the way of there working environment.They don’t let there emotions get the best of them. They have self control which comes from being or becoming an adult. One of my role models for being an adult is my father. He is responsible by, he pays the bills, makes sure he has food in the table, and money in the bank. When things get bad or stressful he just keeps a calm mind and thinks of what the solutions are cause that’s what a responsible adult does. My dad is teaching me of responsibility not by tell ing me, but as me just watching him and seeing what he has to do to maintain us. I respect him for everything he has done too keep us in place.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Ray Ban Brand Audit

Following this powerful flow and the popularity reached with the Aviator, during the following years they Introduced In the market new versions of the classic model (this mime for shooting sports) with the â€Å"sweat bar†, and gradient lenses. Secondly, talking about lifestyle and cool, they introduced in 1952 another classic, the â€Å"Ray-Ban Wayfarer†. This model became popular in Hollywood and has been used by a lot of actors in several films (I. E. Blues Brother), getting more and more the â€Å"image† of cool and trendy during these years.Several other models were made, but between ass and ass the company's masterpieces remained the Aviator and Wayfarer. Still nowadays when we think about the brand these are the two first models that come up in our minds. In 1999 the brand has been sold to the Italian Ululation S. P. A for $million. Today Ray-Ban Is an Icon for young and cool people. The line that connects old-school with the present: models never changed and you can still find the high-quality that characterized the company for years and years.Their slogan is now (since 2007) â€Å"Never Hide†, encouraging people to show themselves in the way they are, authentically and without being afraid about external Judgments. History timeline The target-market has been set to focus on people between 18 and 34 years old. A huge gap with a lot of strong competitors. To lead the market today Ray-Ban can position itself referring to its strong key-points: Rich historical story and enduring legacy Design and style considered as â€Å"eternal† 0 products never changed since 1937! Aviator and Wayfarer occupies a unique place in costumer's mind â€Å"Classic is Cool†.Mental map Linked with the company's positioning on the market it is interesting and very important for managers to see what people think about the brand. As said before, an easy and useful way to analyses that is to create a mental map. According to the results of t he survey we made, here our mental map: Core Brand associations Going deeper with our Brand audit, here we have the most common â€Å"famous† association people link with Ray-Ban thinking about the Hollywood World. Brand audit Nowadays, more than in the past, managers are so focused on marketing and brands.All around us there is a huge variety between products and services that are almost the same and in the majority of the cases customers are driven towards a specific product. Instead we chose another brand Just because of a good marketing campaign and because of the brand. The power of brand is so way stronger than what we actually think. According to the literature (Keller, 2013) for that reason companies are studying brand and spending lot of money in marketing. Talking about accounting, if managers have to analyses ROI (return on investment) on the first hand, on the second one now they also have ROOM (return of marketing investment).As said before brands are strictly co nnected within costumers and the market where the company is working in. But in which way managers can analyses the overall situation to understand what they have to do to be more effective and profitable? They have to focus first of all on a Brand audit. According to the literature (Chipper, 2010) and following the definition used in accounting, an audit is â€Å"a systematic inspection by an outside accounting company including analyses, tests, sec.Even (Keller 2013), we can define a Marketing Audit as â€Å"a comprehensive, systematic, independent and periodic examination of a company, regarding strategies, objectives, marketing environment problems and opportunities that can guarantee the company to come up with a plan of action able to boost company's performance†. Brand Audit is necessary to understand where companies' brand stands and what is the value perceived by costumers. When analyzing we have some steps to follow. On the first hand, Internal Factors that are her e again sub-divided into three-step procedure.From the bottom to the top we have here fixing goals and scope, then the data collection and the final step with the report and analysis on what studied. On the second hand External Factors, these are more linked with costumers and the ways on how to improve brand equity. Mixing up internal and external factors managers can understand the firm's perspective and the costumers' one (so what the company think about the brand and what actually costumers think about it when they see it). These two perspectives should match up.In the table below you can see some of the most important elements from internal and external factors. Internal Positioning Brand Values Brand promise Voice Services linked with the product External Corporate identity Advertising Social Media Sponsor/member-ships Perceived health of the brand (Mildness. Com, â€Å"Brand audit†, Rob Williams, 3110112013) According to the literature (Keller, 2013), following these t wo aspects managers can come up with two necessary elements they have to analyses: Brand Inventory: analyzing how products and services offered by the company are earned and marketed.The brand can in that way be catalogued with its defined profile. As well as you analyses your brand managers have to do the same with competitors. Profiling competitive brands is necessary to comprehend differences or common pints. Goal is to analyses costumers and reach detailed information about what they actually think regarding the brand. According to the literature (Keller, 2013), two important outcomes can help marketing managers to analyses the brand are Mental maps and Core Brand Associations.Using mental maps asking costumers â€Å"When you think about that brand what comes up? You can understand what people think about your brand and what are the main points that are associated to it. Talking about Core Brand Associations, those are all the abstract associations costumers can give to the bra nd (I. E. When you think about Nikkei you think about Tiger Woods. And if some top athletes use the brand you probably link that brand with quality and reliability). When making a brand audit, another important aspect to analyses is the brand positioning.Where and in which way we want to show the brand, the target-market we want to reach. And of course the company's hypothetical positioning has to match p with costumers' brand perception. Linked with positioning is the Brand Portfolio. Here all the sub-family brands of the company are included, specifying the target- market where they are in and which product they serve. The brand portfolio must be clear and well defined, because costumers cannot be confused when they have to choose a product from the same company.In that case centralization problems can be reached really easily. Power grid Brand attributes Before digging deeper into the Brand attributes of Ray Ban, we should be clear about the definition of Brand attributes. In gen eral the brand attributes are the responses by a consumer to a brand (De Cornerstone & McDonald, 1998). Those responses depend according to Keller (1993) on their favorable or unfavorable knowledge about the brand, which results from their level of awareness and the image they have about the brand. These two core components are the heart of any brand attributes.Brand awareness is the consumers' ability to identify the brand with a specific product category (De Cornerstone & McDonald, 1998). Brand awareness is most commonly measured trough the following ways: Brand recognition- the consumer's recognize the following brand? Brand recall- The ability of the consumer to think of the brand when only been given the product category. ‘What brand comes first to your mind when thinking of sunglasses? Brand dominance- identifies the most important brand of one product category in the consumers mind. ‘When purchasing your next pair of sunglasses, which brand would you go for?Brand knowledge- this identifies how the values that are linked with a particular brand are perceived by the consumer. ‘Do you believe that the lenses of Ray Ban sunglasses offer you a full protection of your eyes? The second core component is the brand image. There are many different definitions on this term; Kettle (Kettle , 1988)describes it† as the set of beliefs held about a particular brand† or â€Å"a set of associations, usually organized in some meaningful way' (Shaker, 1992) A brand image can be seen as a unique collection of attributes that are connected to a brand in the mind of a consumer.The image can be influenced by many different factors such as, word-of-mouth, marketing or communication campaigns, slogan, logo or the packaging of the product. All of those factors should be taken into account by the management team of a firm and ruefully chosen to avoid a misunderstanding of the consumer by any chance. In this part we want to go deeper into the brand at tributes that are connected with Ray Ban in the mind of the consumers. We did not want to use second-hand research about this topic because the sources were not very reliable, that we could find on the internet.Because of this we decided to include one question into our survey that will tell us more about the attributes. We asked the participants of the questionnaire to write down what first comes to their minds when thinking of Ray Ban. In the following we would like to show the most common answers in bullet points: Figure The â€Å"N† of 34 participants is caused by the fact that not all people that took part in the survey filled out this question. The other answers that were given in the survey can be found in the appendix of this paper.As we can see from the results, two of the most names attributes are actual products of Ray Ban, the Aviator and the Wayfarer. This can be seen as a huge advantage for the firm, because also the overall attributes named by the participants of our survey were positive. Brand portfolio Before taking a closer look at Ray Bans brand portfolio it is important to understand hat a brand portfolio is in general, what it is used for and take a look at the main advantages and disadvantages of this tool.Keller(2012) define the brand portfolio as the set of different brands that a particular firm offers for sale to buyers in a particular category. The portfolio is a part of the brand architecture, that provides general guidelines about its branding strategy and which brand elements to apply across all the different products. There are many different opinions on the number of brands that should be included in the portfolio. According to Seafarer(1994) a large ND enjoy synergies in the development and sharing of specialized brand management capabilities, such as brand equity tracking, market research and media buying.Seeker and Cravings(1990) state that it enables the firm to build greater market share by better satisfying heteroge neous customer needs. On the other hand there are authors that recommend Just the opposite; to keep the number of brands rather small to assure the manageability. A larger number of brands could be inefficient because they lower manufacturing and distribution economies (Finked, Hogan, Knudsen, & T ¶random, 1997). Overall it can be said that the size of the brand oratorio differs within the different industry. The firms should continuously analyses their portfolio and revise if necessary.The main advantage of having and using a brand portfolio is clear to see, it gives the managers a clear structured overview about the firms current brand situation and can be and useful tool when making brand regarding decision I. E. Launch of a new brand or product line extension. The only disadvantage is that a good brand portfolio can be quite time and cost consuming when first set up and regularly updated. After we now know what a Brand portfolio is let us take a closer look on the case of Ray Ban. Ray Ban offers four major products to the customers, Aviator, Schoolmaster, Jackie Ooh and the Wayfarer which then come in different designs.The Aviator line typically has dark and reflexive lenses and the characteristic very thin metal frame with a double or triple bridge. This model was the first models invented by Abash& Lomb, the inventor company of Ray Ban, and branded as a Ray Ban. (www. Arabian. Com). In 1956 Ray Ban expended their product portfolio with the Wayfarer line. The new plastic design of the glasses frame was revolutionary at that time. The wayfarers had their highest point of popularity in the asses and asses and hen slowly faded away. A big re-launch and a new marketing campaign brought them back to the surface in the asses.Since that time the sales have been constantly increasing. The third style of the ray ban is the so called Schoolmaster. It was brought on the marked in the late asses and was already a retro style at that time. It became especially very famous in the Jazz scene in these days, due to the fact that it was worn by many of the musicians. Nowadays the Schoolmaster has its largest number of followers in the hipster scene, where it is considered as a trendy-retro style. All of the three models come in designs for men, women and unisex.But there is also one model in the portfolio that is exclusively made for women, the so called Jackie Ooh. They are a bold, distinct, modernized version of the classic feminine shape that will, according to ray Ban, bring lots of real estate to the face. (www. Arabian. Com) Brand Elements According to Kevin Keller on his book strategic Brand Management† Brand elements or brand identities can be all those things that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. It can be the brand name, logo, package, etc. These things play a big role of building the brand awareness and make brand differentiation. Eye see a particular brand elements without anything else related to product, also brand elements are very important for building the brand equity. By looking on our brand Ray Ban, we can notes and analyze six different elements for it as the following: Name: The name of the brand which is Ray Ban† is one of the most important element of the brand, this name has a good impact on the customer feeling. By looking at the name we can see that the name is real and easy to say that people use these words often, also easy to remember.In addition this name meaningful that the meaning of it is to protect and prevent people eyes from sun says. Furthermore it's easy to translate this name to other languages to get the meaning of it if that's necessary some time. URL: The URL is the domain names for the brand which is located on the web. Ray ban official web domain name s www. Ray-ban. Com this domain is really clear and easy to memorize because it's linked directly to the brand name. In addition Ray ban give the ability for customer to add on the domain name the country nam e which make the website open in the country language.Logos: The logo of the brand is the virtual element which has the picture inside customer mind. For Ray Ban we can see that it has three logos with colors of red and white or black and white but in all of them we can Just see the name of the brand written in special way without have any pictures which has a benefit of shown the name of the brand everywhere that make people memorize and remember the brand all the time. Also the logo with Just name without pictures prevent the company in future if another company come an use a similar picture.Slogan: The brand slogan is a short phrase that communicates persuasive massage about the brand especially in advertising, which can play an important role of alluding the brand awareness and in marketing programs. Ray Ban has different slogan which change from time to time, in the past they used be cool† or ‘Style needs no introduction† and now they use Never hide†. Th ese different slogans have in general the same massage but in different way which is this brand make you that person who is stylish and want to show off.We can also see the power of Ray Ban Company which all the time update his slogan depending on the market and which encourage people. Jingles: Jingle is the special music for the brand which when people listened to this music it linked them with the brand. Although Jingle has a benefit of build the brand awareness and make customer remember the brand but Ray Ban doesn't have a Jingle, they use a classic music in advertising which still has the benefit of have a different kind of music to cover the different kind of customers.Packaging: Packaging is the activities of designing and producing containers or wrappers of a product. Like other elements, packaging plays a role of building the brand awareness and gives the brand a specialty. Ray Ban has one package design for sun glasses with different colors, which has the advantage of buil d one package mage inside customer mind and makes them link this design with Ray ban. At the end all of these elements work together to build the brand awareness and the brand equity by delivering the same massage with the same ton of voice.Which all these elements talk with informal way because the big group of target market is young people, also they have the massage of giving the people who has a Ray Ban Competitor analyses Key competitors In the following we would like to take a closer look at the key competitors of Ray Ban. In order to survive in a market you have to know your competitors, as good as Seibel. A key competitor can be any person or business in the same industry, or a similar industry, which offers a similar product or service.If there are one or more competitors on the market that can lead to reduce in the price of the offered goods or services. Competition also leads to the fact that the companies have to become more efficient in order to lower their costs, and s till be able to compete in the future. Going by that definition almost every brand on the sunglass market could be seen as a competitor to Ray Ban, that is why we focused on brands which can be found also thin the same price and style segment and share a similar target group. Person Person is an Italian luxury aware company that is focused on sunglasses.Formed in 1917 they have a long tradition in producing glasses. Person aware was originally created for pilots and sports driver, which gives the company a strong advantage since they were focused on high quality and durable products right from the start. Especially for Ray Ban ‘s â€Å"Wayfarer† series, Person is a strong competitor with its Vintage Celebration† series. These glasses are very similar in terms of style and quality. Dolce & Cabana Aware The firm Dolce and Cabana was founded in 1985 in Italy by Domenici Dolce Stefan Cabana.The firm started out by offering a women's line with the whole range of clothi ng products and accessories. In 1990 they presented their first male line which increased their market share dramatically. The brand stands for luxury and timeless designs and they offer styles for every occasion. They launched their first aware collection, including glasses and sunglasses, in 1992, which was a huge success right from the beginning. Their designs are modern and ever fashionable but also include classic pieces. Oakley The Oakley Inc. An American based manufacturer for sports equipment and sunglasses that was founded in 1975. Their main advantage is that they use actual athletes to test their prototypes and work together with them to assure high customer satisfaction on the actual product. Almost all of their glasses have a very athletic look and most of the styles are very pricey. Their main and advertisement is done by sponsoring international sport any kind and the United States Olympic Team. Maim Jim communication events of Maim Jim is an American based manufactur er for high- end sunglasses.That was brings them pretty close to Ray Bans products. Most of their advertisement campaigns feature oceanic and sporty themes. Maim Jim appeals to an older demographic target group and goes more towards high quality then the up. To date fashion. This brings them in terms of their very close to the Ray Bans. Positioning map sports glasses designs The following map places the different brand by two major aspects their price and their design. The price can be found on the x-axis, which goes from affordable to expensive.The main problem is to define the term â€Å"expensive†. From which point on are sunglasses expensive and when are they still affordable. For this case we used a detent point of view on the pricing. On the ordinate of the map you can find the design factor of the sunglasses, the scale goes from classic to contemporary. If taken a look at the positioning map above, it's clear to see why we have identified these brands as the key compet itors for Ray Ban. They are all going for a similar target group, and market their products in the upper end price range.The sunglasses of Person, Dolce& Cabana and Oakley are manufactured by Ululation, Just like Ray Ban. Here lays the main obstacle, in keeping these brand, that seem so related clearly separated from each other to avoid cannibalism. Rent strategy Ray Ban currently uses an effective and clever marketing strategy to reach a lot of people worldwide. They make use of the internet through viral marketing and guerilla marketing. Guerilla marketing heavily relies on imagination and energy instead of big budgets or other expensive methods.Guerilla marketing makes a big impression over traditional media and has the possibility to achieve impressive recall numbers Just by interacting with consumers on a personal level (Elevation, 1984). We think that the usage of guerilla marketing is extremely beneficial for Ray Ban since it ill enhance its brand perception, has financial be nefits and increases the interaction with potential customers as well as enables the power of worth of mouth. On the contrary, making use of this somewhat reckless strategy could also result into misconception. It can be seen as offensive and hostile.On top of that there is no real method of measuring the return on investment of guerilla marketing. For Ray Ban it is not all about the entire brand message. They communicate it mostly in printed or television advertisements. These adds are not telling how cool sunglasses are, or how extremely resilient those of ray ban are. What they do try to tell you is that owning a pair of ray bans is cool and will boost your image. Another thing that Ray Ban consistently does is their communication. This is implemented in both their offline as well as their online campaigns.By combining multiple media channels and consistently communicating one message but in different ways they make sure that description: Age: Prominently people in the age group of 22-40. Generation X and Y (the young and middle aged) Income: Family income greater than average. Education: Well educated, graduate or post graduates. Occupation: Working professionals or students. Product placement The 1983 comedy Risky Business is both the movie that launched Tom Cruiser's career and the movie that saved Ray-Sans Wayfarer sunglasses from extinction.Cruise plays Joel, a suburban high school student whose parents go out of town for the weekend, leaving him free to dance around the house in his underwear. His character wears Ray-Sans Wayfarer sunglasses, which became so popular as a result that 360,000 pairs were sold that year. This is a perfect example of how Ray Ban nowadays makes use of movies for their product placement strategy. This film was just one of the many that followed up on the success of combining sunglasses with celebrity endorsement in movies.The sudden rise in popularity of their model the â€Å"wayfarer† happened since Ray Ban and the m ovie Twilight made an agreement that their cast would wear them in the movie against an incredible price. This resulted in a massive increase of sales since a lot of people wanted to be as cool as the characters in the movie. Pricing The price strategy of ray ban can be categorized as â€Å"price skimming†. This is a concept where the firm starts with asking a high price for their product, because here is a clear demand and customers are sure to pay the price (Investigated. Mom). After a while the demand of the initial target customers will be satisfied, the firm will lower the initial asking price once this happens. This is in order to attract and persuade more people to buy the â€Å"old model†. With this they try to aim for a more price sensitive segment. The skimming strategy received its name from skimming layers of cream, as prices are lowered over time. SOOT analysts Survey The survey for this assignment was done by Google Drive and the final results were

Monday, July 29, 2019

Business (Decision Making) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business (Decision Making) - Essay Example There were no motorcycle used in Chicago and the company sales team could consider introducing this especially for the JIT deliveries to customers. The comparison of the amount of time it take to get to work suggest that the company need to deliver more snack at work place as majority of the people stay away from home the whole day of work except those who are working at home. The census trend shows that there are more females than males by a fair percentage hence the production team needs to focus when making snacks. Overall there has been an increase in income and employment and the minimum wage bracket seem to show much progress. Hence the snack pricing will need to concentrate on low priced high volume snack strategy. There are also options for premium priced snack for the management employees. In terms of logistics, employees in offices and central administration had the highest concentration. According to the census in the area of educational attainment, the variance of the data of the USA general against the Zip code 60614 was as follows: Associate degree (+ ) 4.42 % ; Bachelor’s Degree (-) 28.65% ; Graduate Degree (-) 25.13% ; Some College, No degree (+) 12.33% ; 9th – 11th Grade , No Diploma (+) 8.86% ; Grade K-9 (+) 4.16% ; High School Graduate (+) 23.03%. Sum of the variance is (-) 0.98%, which means the average zip code 60614, is has 0.98 less education attainment that the average general US levels. (Baker, 2004, Online); (SISA, 2008, Online). In the comparison of the USA report vs. the zip 60614 report the variance for: American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut Population; Asia; Black Population; Hispanic Ethnicity; Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific islander Alone; Other population ; Two or more races and white population was (+) 1%. However there was no data on Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders. (Baker, 2004, Online); (SISA, 2008, Online) In the comparison of the USA data vs. the zip code 60614 the data for

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Housing economics (Housing Studies) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Housing economics (Housing Studies) - Essay Example There is no government intervention in this economy (Grant & Vidler, 2000, p. 19). The free market system consists of four main categories of actors. They are â€Å"consumers, producers, owners of private property (land and capital) and government† (Economics, 1977). Each actor in the pure market economy is motivated their own self-interest and they take every decision based on their private gain. In this context we make an assumption of rationality. It is a very important assumption that considers that the market actors are rational in the sense that they are both consistent and transitive in the choices that they make. If a person chooses a basket of commodities ‘X’ over a basket of commodities ‘Y’ at a particular point of time, she would choose the same basket of commodities an instant later provided that there are not any alterations made in the baskets. Secondly, if a person chooses ‘X’ over ‘Y’ and ‘Y’ over ‘Z’, he would prefer ‘X’ over ‘Z’. It is a lso to be noted that a rational individual would want more of a normal good (increases consumption of which gives increased utility) than less of it. In the free market economy, any stability issue is resolved without external intervention and it is made possible through â€Å"consistent maximization of a well-ordered function, such as a utility or profit function† (Etzioni, 2010, p. 142) by the two main forces of the market; the consumers and the producers. According to the famous proposition by Adam Smith, an invisible hand works in the free market economy. The housing system in the United Kingdom is a large and complex system and includes a range of relationships between the owners and occupiers of the homes. The houses might e occupied by the owners or might involve various rental tenures in the private sector including the â€Å"not-for profit and local authority sectors† (Diacon, Pattison & Vine, 2009, p. 6). This market consists of millions of existing

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Organization Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organization Studies - Essay Example Scientific management and the human relations theory are related to the rationalization theory of Max Weber. Specifically, scientific management by Frederick Taylor was formally rational because it involved the use of a well calculated procedure to produce maximum output at minimum input within organisations. On the other hand, human relations theory is substantively rational in nature because it calls for emphasis on sociopsychological and moral qualities of labour rather than scientific calculation and maximization of profits. The formal or technical rationality defined by Weber meant that an organisation is based on hierarchy of authority, functional specialization, impersonality and rules. Formal rationality is distinguished from substantive rationality because it is defined as a way of choosing the best means to a given end (ONeill, 1986). On the other hand, Weber defined substantive rationality as a way of determining whether the end achieved is rational. Substantive rationality is based on values and morals that define an organisation or a society. Formal rationality is based on measurements and calculations. In terms of economic action, formal rationality recognizes the extent of quantitative accounting in decision making (Weber, 1962). Weber suggests that such quantitative approach of decision making is possible and applicable. Weber further argues that formal rationality is a variable not an attribute because it has a varying extent. According to Weber, expressing items in terms of money is the best way of achieving the highest degree of formal rationality (Wallace, 1990). Formal rationality entails socially invented measurements which are determined by symbolic representation and manipulation of empirical observations. Such measurement scales can be used to assess the given means and results under given circumstances. Therefore, formal rationality

Negligent training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Negligent training - Essay Example and drink arrangement and administration; establishing essential building efforts to establish safety; and making moves to maintain a strategic distance from a rehash of past mishaps by your employs through training them. A standout amongst the most well-known types of mischance at cordiality venues is a slip-and-fall mishap. The recurrence is so extraordinary; this expression is currently a typical legitimate term. Basic reasons for these mishaps incorporate covers not appropriately secured to the floor, electrical lines laid crosswise over floors, wet floors created by spilling roofs or janitorial work, protests or fluids on stairs, and hand railings that fizzle. In the event that you have an exchange show or gatherings where exhibitors or speakers use electronic presentation gear, oblige them to utilize your electrical ropes and demand that your staff introduce them to guarantee they are legitimately laid, taped and secured. A protection safeguard lawyer or your protection bearer ought to have the capacity to provide for you a rundown of slip-and-fall insurances your office can take. Proper instructions and training can prevent this otherwise you can’t stop this. (Ashe, S. (n.d.). Types of Negligence in the Hospitality Industry) There are many steps to reduce negligent training like improving management communication as all administrators will continually and reliably show the adequate behavior, as expressed in the approaches, in their own particular conduct and by taking part in consistent, continuous preparing for all representatives to make economical behavioral change that is in arrangement with organization arrangements and techniques. Other step can be creating a healthy environment for employs to learn like administrators must figure out how to manufacture trust and admiration among their representatives so workers trust it is protected to approach administration without alarm of responses and report episodes where representative behavior

Friday, July 26, 2019

The final exam is a case study that you need to read and submit a Essay

The final exam is a case study that you need to read and submit a written analysis not exceeding 3 single spaced pages. The cas - Essay Example The goals and vision of the company shows the reason behind the measures which it took and how it apologized to its customers for its ignorance of the issue of child labor (Bartlett, Dessain, and Sjoman, 1-12). COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS Child labor has always been the focus of attention for different NGO’s. The retailers and other businesses associate themselves with producers working in the developing countries so that the cost of production can be reduced. The producers operating in such areas do not follow the laws or protect the rights of the children. The development of IKEA exhibits the sheer hard work of its founder. From a small mail order organization the company developed into a global retailer over the years. The company set some basic sourcing principles and outsourced its production processes for meeting the demand. This also allowed IKEA in reducing the cost of the products and expanding their sales prominently. IKEA also took continuous measure for expanding the bu siness. With the evolving business the culture and the values of the business expanded. This developed strong ground for the business allowing it to expand in different industries. The management emphasized on simplicity and focused on paying attention to the minor details (Bartlett, Dessain, and Sjoman, 1-12). ... The shockwave of this problem created hurdles for the business. Facing this problem and understanding that India, Pakistan and Nepal were not the signatories of this clause the business added a new clause in the supply contract. This stopped the suppliers from using labor for the production of goods. This type of monitoring was difficult so services of a Scandinavian company were hired for the purpose of quality assurance. The early lesson associated to the organization was that deeply imbedded to the problem the management had to take actions for the process. Different NGO’s, UN organizations and the carpet export organizations took measures for highlighting such issues so that the problems could be dealt with. While the organization was on the verge of dealing with this problem the business realized that a new issue took place. The German television made an investigative documentary which showed that Rangan exports one of the major suppliers of IKEA as using child labor for the production process. This created new problems for the company as it was the only company amongst the large retailers facing such problem. From the suggestions the company acted in cutting off the deal with the supplier. The measures which were analyzed showed that IKEA apologized to the industry and its customers for its ignorance and failing to acknowledge that they were unaware of the fact. This showed the social responsiveness of the business and prescribed that the organization gives heed to the social issues even at the opportunity cost of business profits (Bartlett, Dessain, and Sjoman, 1-12). The summary of the testaments which the business has made for defining the core values of the

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Free Speech Controversy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Free Speech Controversy - Essay Example The mother then reported the content of that book to a local news station known as KOAT, which was said to have been biased on how it reported the case. As the case remains undecided, the book may have been removed from the shelves of the library because they found out that it violated school district policies. She brought the book to the attention of other authority bodies such as the Public School officials from Rio Rancho who also agreed on the inappropriateness of the content. On one side of the debate are Catreena Lopez and the Public School officials who are against the book remaining at easy reach of under age students who should not be exposed to pornographic content. On the other side is CBLF that is fighting the challenge and ensuring that the school district of Rio Rancho abides by its pre-established challenge policy (Williams). This policy concerns requesting of reconsideration on library materials as well as the formation of a review committee that should decide the appropriateness of the book and whether it should remain in the library. In this case, the remedy being sought is amendment of the constitution. This is because the challengers would lose the case if the First Amendment stands behind the author of the work in question. The first amendment eliminates governmental constraints to speech implying that it is protecting the author of the book in question (First Amendment).This seems to imply that the only way the book can be kept completel y out of the library shelves is to amend the constitution and include clauses that would forbid the content in that book. Therefore, the challengers are seeking the amendment of the constitution to accommodate their claims of what inappropriateness is and may even prompt the removal of other materials if the amendment goes through. This is not the first time that such a case has been brought up but CNN also highlighted a

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Grassroots Activism Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Grassroots Activism Project - Essay Example This gender mainstreaming is one of the best and very convenient to pursue. It involves looking at the way organization functions in terms of policy development and governance, agenda setting, the administrative function and the overall system as whole. According to Tiessen (2010) gender, mainstreaming is able to accommodate any institutional structure. Institutional gender mainstreaming policy should and must be equipped with channels that enables programmatic gender mainstreaming. Additionally, it is the line of action that ensure functionality of the organization that does not reinforce or conceal patterns of gender inequality in its staffing, functions and governance. In pursuing this line of action, gender inequality will come to be history in the society because it takes a multi-pronged dimension in redressing the social problem of gender inequality In the spirit of programmatic gender mainstreaming a number of action are taken to ensure that the issue of gender inequality is solved. It is one of the means that if its action are fully implemented then the myth of masculinity will be broken, it encourage inter gender competition that is healthy, it will enable women to be respected especially in areas where gender based violence is endemic. The issue or rather concern that is of priority to solve is the inequality that is being experienced because of the myth of masculinity, which is strongly held by a number of people in the society. It’s a myth that has crippled most of the institution that has led to a number social issues that is a concern that is related with imbalanced staffing in term of gender, administrative roles are biased toward one gender because of myth of masculinity (Inglehart, 2009). In order to break this myth of masculinity there is a number of actions that were taken. First and foremost was coming up with the policies that will regulate recruitment a cross the gender. This will ensure that

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Marketing Planning for Vodafone Group Plc Case Study

Marketing Planning for Vodafone Group Plc - Case Study Example Vodafone has diversified dynamic state of art customer relationship center. To launch and promote any business activities within a shape of organisation, a marketing plan is needed to integrate with ecommerce. Without marketing plan it is difficult to penetrate in the market. This paper has taken Vodafone as a significant and it needs a detailed marketing plan for the expansion of its business activities. According to Kotler, P, and Armstrong, G. (1999), segmentation is a process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics, or behavior who might require separate products or marketing mix and the process of evaluating each marketing segments attractive and selecting one or more segments to enter. Market positioning is the process of formulating competitive positioning for a product and a detailed marketing mix. Marketing mix are product, price, place, promotion. Depending on these elements the entire marketing plan is established. Marketing audit is a study to analysis the external and internal factors. According to Taylor .S (2007) CRM stands for customer relationship management and helps the management and customer service staffs cope with customer concerns and issues. B2B refers to business to business with fully ecommerce supported.2 Part-1: Market Audit Many variables can affect Vodafone's current strategy or future strategy. These have direct and indirect impact. These are: External forces (Organisation has no control over these factors) Internal forces (Organisation has direct control over these factors) PEST analysis is the investigation of the external macro-environment that has an effect on all firms. P.E.S.T. is a contraction stand for the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors of that external macro-environment. It is a useful strategic tool to considerate business position, market growth or turn down, potential and course of operations. A lot of macro-environmental factors are area explicit and a PEST analysis may need to be carrying out for all countries of concern. Political: The external factors can be analysed with PEST analysis. PEST means Political, Economical, Social and technological environment. Political factors have a direct impact over the business. 3Any political condition changes the business environment, increase or decreases the risk. Suppose if Government wants to hike up the oil price for political turmoil, it has adverse impact on the business. Recently UK has signed up the in the single European currency. This must have direct impact on

Monday, July 22, 2019

Essay About Stereotyping Essay Example for Free

Essay About Stereotyping Essay Chimamanda Adichie uses the phrase â€Å"The Danger of a Single Story.† She states â€Å"it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar†. Adichie was referring to stereotyping or is what she calls â€Å"The Danger of a Single Story.† A single story is an oversimplified, usually pejorative, attitude people hold toward those outside one’s own experience who are different. Adichie says â€Å"The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.† When she stated that it brought me back to my childhood because I remember as a young African American girl growing up with a bunch of Caucasians. I used to get judged because I was black and many kids thought that I came from Africa and that I wasn’t smart or that I didn’t have the ability to read or write because I was African American. They were basically calling me dumb and were grouping all African Americans in that category and I just thought oh they were just joking around, but I came to realize that they weren’t joking. They were kids who were saying things that they have over heard about in their household or have been taught growing up. Stereotyping is still an issue in society today and I feel as though everyone stereotypes. There are many different viewpoints from every individual in the world from their race, background, gender, as well as their age groups. According to Joi Downing, stereotyping is formed many different ways and for many different reasons. Joi states that â€Å"stereotyping is formed to describe a person or to make judgments about a person.† She believes they are formed by social media and what people where taught when growing up. Downing says she doesn’t believe that they were formed in today’s time but that they have evolved from the past. She believes the only reason people stereotype is because that is how they were raised and/or they are just doing what they saw when they were growing up. She states â€Å"I’ve seen this happen in front of my ey es and I know  many people like this.† Downing has reasons and is certain that most people just stereotype because they see other people doing it so they do the same and then there are others who are just doing what they were taught. Although Anthony has the same views as Joi, they differ in many ways. Anthony argues that most people do not intentionally mean to pass judgment on people, however others do. He states â€Å"Personally, I think it is part of human nature to place things into categories. But, over time, we as people have learned how to classify people and things into certain groups depending on color, race, size, or economic stability.† He says that most people simply and innocently assume that due to similarities between individuals or things, they can be automatically categorized. Anthony states that â€Å"Sometimes we end up placing them into a category that has nothing to do with them, but because they seem to look or act similar to something, we automatically assume they are the same.† Anthony believes that everyone automatically stereotypes no matter what, but don’t mean to. Joi and Anthony have just about the same views on single stories, but their views are a little different in some aspects. Anthony argues that people do not intentionally mean to pass judgments on people, but Joi thinks a little differently. She believes that most people just stereotype because they see other people doing it, so they are intentionally meaning to judge or stereotype others. As Anthony being an older Caucasian male, he has different ways of looking at stereotyping than Joi being a young African American female. There are different viewpoints abut stereotyping from many races, age groups as well as gender.

Scientific Methods Essay Example for Free

Scientific Methods Essay Ruben wants to determine if listening to different types of music will have an effect on a person’s pulse. His hypothesis states that if a person listens to rap music, their pulse will increase more than if they listen to other types of music. Ruben takes each participant’s pulse before, during, and after listening to 30 minutes of music. He has his mother listen to rock music, his sister listen to classical music, and his friend listen to rap music. From the data collected, he determined that rap music raises a person’s pulse the most. 1.Identify the independent and dependent variables in Ruben’s hypothesis. The independent variable is listening to music for 30 minutes. The dependent variable is the persons pulse and the type of music their listening to. 2.Despite the results, this experiment is not able to support Ruben’s hypothesis. Suggest specific improvements that will make the experiment test the given hypothesis. Explain why these changes are improvements. Improvements that will make the experiment test the given hypothesis is that he should have had each person listen to each type of music because their pulses wouldve been different. Part 2 One scenario that could occur in life that you can use scientific method to solve the problem is if plants could grow taller when given Miracle Grow. The first step in the scientific method is the purpose. In this case the purpose for our experiment is to see if Miracle Grow can help plants grow taller. Second step is to find research on what other scientist have observed and discovered. Most scientist have said that using Miracle grow can help the plant grow taller. My hypothesis is that plants will grow taller when given Miracle Grow. Now testing hypothesis ..(experiment) The constants in this study were: †¢The type of plant. †¢The amount of water. †¢How often watered. †¢The environment grown in (light, temperature, wind, etc.). †¢The amount of fertilizer. †¢The size of holding cell. †¢The number of seeds in holding cell. The manipulated variable was the brand of fertilizer. The responding variable was the height of the plant. To measure the responding variable using a ruler. The analysis from the data read that using miracle grow does help the plant grow taller. My conclusion: My hypothesis was that Miracle Grow would help the plant grow taller. The results indicated that using miracle grow helps plants grow.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Human Resources in Sri Lankas IT Sector

Human Resources in Sri Lankas IT Sector CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION For an organization to survive and expand in the rapidly competitive environment dominated by several players, it is paramount for an organization to perform. The organization performance would be measure according to several variables such profitability, sales, production quality and market share, however, few organizations give prominence for the most important factors which is human resources performance. According to HRM commentators retention and development of the organization employees are pivotal for organization performance. The overall purpose of human resource management is to ensure that the organization is able to achieve their success through people. Ulrich and Lake (1990) states that: ‘HRM systems can be the source of organizational capabilities that allow firms to learn and capitalize on new opportunities. But in the other hand HRM has an ethical dimension as well, which means it should also concern the rights and needs of people in an organization. With the increased competition, globalization, boundless technological advances, -companies are forced to think about the factors like HRM, environment†¦etc to run the extra mile ahead of the others. Therefore nowadays employers consider investments on the HRM functions are very significant and effective, rather than seeing it as just a cost. As it shown above, HRM should be incorporated with each and every function with in an organization. Starting from the recruitment process to the training and development, performance appraisal, performance incentives, promotion system , design of work and working environment†¦etc should aligned with effective HRM practices as it will reduce the direct indirect employee grievances which results in a highly motivated and pleased workforce, which in turn influences on the overall organization performances. When considering the structure of the Human resource management, there are two categories; 1. Managerial Functions 2. Operative functions Functions of HRM Managerial Functions Operative Functions Planning Employment Organising Human Resource Directing Development Controlling Compensation Human relations Recent trend in HRM 1. Managerial functions It include Planning, organizing, directing and controlling.  · Planning is the main activity that a manager has to consider. The management has to decide what to do and how to do to achieve the objective of the organization. Management uses this process to plan the future of the company, decide what actions they are going to make to avoid difficult problems etc. (Bateman, Snell, 2007).  · Organizing is established in the internal structure of the organization. It mainly concerns the flow of information within the company, division and coordination. Manager has to know what the subordinates can do and what kind of training they need. To achieve the objectives set in the planning process there should be a proper organization of work. In here the management set the tasks, responsibilities and authorities to the employees. The manager has to discuss the tasks with the employees and has to clarify what to do, how to do and make them understand about the job (Allen, G, 1998). Then it is easy to achieve the objective.  · Directing is the next stage after completing planning and organizing. This is to execution of the plan. It influences the people to achieve the objectives in a correct way through motivation, communication, and leadership. The proper direction of employees will affect the achievement of the objectives. The manager has to have a proper relationship with the employees in the company, and then they can easily direct the employees to achieve the target.  · Controlling involves checking, verifying and comparing of the actual with the plan that the company set. Actions and operations are adjusted to identified plans and standards through control. The training programs, conducting interviews, analyzing labor turnover details are some of the controlling functions that a manager can work out. Controlling allows setting the performance standards within the groups and to do the proper communication. 2. Operative functions These activities are related to specific activities such as, employment, human resources development, compensation, human relations and recent trends in human resource management.  · Employment This means securing and employing the people with the relevant qualifications to achieve the organizational objectives. The functions include in employment are, Job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection, placement and induction.  · Human resource development This is the process of improving skills, knowledge, attitudes, aptitudes, commitment etc. depending on the organizational requirements. The functions include in human resource development are; Performance appraisal, training, management development, career planning and development, promotion, demotion and change and organization development.  · Compensation This is the process of providing sufficient, equal and fair reward to all employees. The functions include in compensation are; Job evaluation, incentives, wage and salary, bonus, fringe benefits, social security and measures.  · Human Relations It is the process of interaction between people. The management can practice different human resource policies to interact with the people. Good relationship will motivate people to do a better job In the organization. The functions in human relations include; Motivating the employees, developing the communication skills, developing leadership skills, providing comfortable work environment to the people, improving quality of work life of employees and boosting employee morale.  · Recent trend in human resource management This area is always developing. It is advancing at a fast rate. The recent trends in human resource management is; Quality of work life, recent techniques of Human resource management and total quality in human resources. In 1989 David Guest describes a human resource model according to what he thought. . This model consists of four elements; Human resource policies and practices Human resource outcomes Organizational outcomes Leadership 1. Human resource policies and practices when an organization is introduced there are many policies available in a company. They are; Organization and job design Management of change Recruitment, selection and socialisation Appraisal, training and development Reward systems Communication According to this model human resource policies are design to achieve the four key human resource outcomes which explains as the second element of this model. 2. Human resource outcomes The model include followings; Commitment Quality Flexibility Strategic integration Quality is not only concern about the quality of manufacturing product or the services provided by the company, it includes the quality of the workforce, the management of the workforce and the human resource policies used in the company. Flexibility is the facility to change the jobs people are doing, working arrangement such as number of hours they are working and the nature of employees contract. Strategic integration is the link between human resource strategy and business strategy. Guest explains that integration requires an organizational culture where managers work or share. The commitments have a direct relationship with valued business consequences. He says that commitment is confused and that the relationship between commitment and the performance is difficult to establish. When an employee commitment is higher means that employee is satisfied about the facilities and the way the company treat to employees. When they are satisfied performance will be automatically higher in the organization. 3. Organizational outcomes The organizational outcomes include following; High job performance High problem solving High innovation Low turnover, absence High cost effectiveness 4. Leadership Leadership is the most important element to make all these outcomes success. With the understanding of importance of the involvement of HRM for the betterment of an organization, this paper is about the effect of HRM development to the IFS business success. 1.1 Aims and objectives of the study During the recent years IT sector began to bloom and many leading IT professionals fortified the future of their companies by investing in Sri Lanka. Within few years it begins to expand and now a days it has become a major business sector which support the economy and which provides enormous career opportunities to the younger generation. Latest s show that, over 175 software developments companies are actively operating in Sri Lanka, which are originated from both national and international grounds and they are providing services for both the export and domestic markets. Some of these companies and their products are already well recognized and performing extremely well in the IT sector by competing with other foreign markets. Among these, companies like,Millennium Information Technologies- who not only turned the Colombo stock exchange in Sri Lanka into the worlds first ever event-driven exchange but with their versatile automated trading system have powered the Boston stock exchange among several other clients in the United States, as well as exchanges in Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa;Virtusa Corporation- one of the fastest growing software services firms in the US with seven years of consecutive growth and the largest technology center based in Sri Lanka and; Informatics- a local company whose telecom product is in operation at the regional sites of some of the worlds leading telecom operators, such as Cable Wireless of UK and Millicom of Luxembourg, are leading the way, marking the name of Sri Lanka in the world. Furthermore international names likeIFSfrom Sweden have set up their research and development center employing over 700 people and recently MicrosoftandOraclehave also opened offices in Sri Lanka. graph1 This is an effort to find out the involvement of human resource to the success of Sri Lankan IT sector and how well they are managed for them to get ready to face the future challenges in ever changing world. Taking the IFS Sri Lanka Ltd as the Reference point, the research will focus on interpreting the influence of Human Resource Management on the companys success. Research as a whole, is a process to find an answer to a specific question. The initial objectives of this study are to formalize the necessary procedures and questions to be answered, in order to gather the intended information, which will be desirable in finding an answer to the core research question. To achieve the above objectives, following are the outline of the information that will try to gather, to be used in developing proper evaluations conclusions. Actions taken to motivate the employees. Established procedures on providing job satisfaction to the employees. The process of developing employee skill and how the company utilize it. How strong is the employee-employer relationship Level of performance of the company and how the employees contribute its success. 1.2 Company Background IFS, is one of the worlds leading providers of component-based business software developed using open standards. Since 1983, IFS has been a provider of business applications focused on meeting the needs of selected industries. Basically, IFS operates in two areas: lifecycle management, where asset and product lifecycle management are critical issues, and mid market ERP (Enterprise resource planning), which covers distribution and manufacturing in midsize companies. Mainly company operates in Europe, the US, the UK, Australia and Asia with the head office situated in Linkoping, Sweden and having the employs about 2,723. Today, IFS is a global software company that helps leading enterprises improve efficiency, cut costs, react swiftly to market conditions, and take advantage of new business opportunities. IFS Applications, IFS suite of more than 60 web-based components, is the only true component-based business solution on the market, allowing deploying the software step by step as companys needs and budget dictate. Using open standards, IFS makes it easier to stay up-to-date with technology and integrate with legacy systems. And only IFS offers total lifecycle management, enabling their customers to maximize profitability over the lifecycles of your products, customers, and assets. IFS superior technology, functionality, and Industry focus have won praise from some of the worlds leading analyst firms. Gartner recognizes IFS as either a visionary or a leader in all four of its ERP and asset management Magic Quadrants. Most important, IFS legendary commitment to customer service has never wavered. Tod ay, IFS has an impressive roster of satisfied customers, ranging from mid-size companies to global industry leaders such as PepsiCo, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, DuPont, Volvo, BMW, Deere Co., and Rockwell Automation. Since the day, IFS was founded, they have given a greater importance for the customer service. Therefore today, IFS has become the only enterprise software provider that offers a global product for the mid-market together with local support. IFS has support centres in each country in which it operates, ensuring that you will receive the best customer support anywhere in the world. IFS keep track of your unique component configuration; patch levels, and customizations, ensuring that the information is available globally to all IFS support centres. Therefore it has become the huge network of all the information required to solve the customer issues without any unnecessary delays. Within the huge IFS network, office in Sri Lanka has a major importance, as it is one of the two IFS R D centres in world and major part of software development is done there, with having more than 700 employees in two local country offices. The focus group for the study is mainly taken from Sri Lankan offices and depending on the opportunities employees from the other locations were involved in the study. 1.2.1 Financial Highlights Based on the IFS Annual report 2008, it illustrate that the company is having growth in every section. Mid 2008, IFS has announced long-term financial targets entailing that, in the next five years, product revenue will double through organic growth and acquisitions, the operating margin will increase to15 percent, the dividend will rise to 50 percent of earnings after tax and surplus liquidity will be used to repurchase shares. Furthermore, report says that IFS has signed 10 largest license agreements during the year had an aggregate value of SKr 141 million where as the corresponding for 2007 was SKr 103 million. A total of 20 license agreements valued at more than US$ 0.5 million each were signed. And In all, 215 (177 in 2007) new customers were added, and 760 (778 in 2007) customers either upgraded or expanded their existing solutions. Annual Net Revenue Annual Earnings Before Interest Tax (EBIT) Value Net Debt In order to summarize the success I have extracted the above three from the report which explains the key factors of companys growth. Net revenue (: 7) amounted to SKr 2,518 million (2,356 in 2007), an increase of 7 percent, which is the highest revenue the company achieved per year for the last 4 years. EBIT (Earnings before Interest Tax) value turns out to be Skr, million 154, which is a great turn over compared to the value, SKr million -128 in 2004. Furthermore, as the : 9 shows, IFS have succeeded in diminishing their debts. They have being able to reduce the debts from Skr, million 363 to Skr, million 3, which is a sole evidence for the success of the company. Variation of Total Assets Number of employees While concerned of their financial growth, IFS seems dedicated to the expansion of the company. From 2004 to 2008, their asset, as well as number of employees has increased continuously in a similar rate. 1.3 Significance of the research Success and development of any company is depends on the level of human resource involvement. Therefore it is most important to maintain motivated and satisfied workforce to obtain the very best results of its investment. Skill development, employer employee relationship, grade pay structure employee benefits are some of the key factor which directly related with the motivation of the work force. Purpose of study is to find out how well the importances of above factors are absorbed in the Sri Lankan IT sector; within IFS Sri Lanka Ltd. The research will try to extract the information related to the specific factors and analyze them with the every aspect of the companys performances. 1.4 Structure of the Research work With having the text divided in to the several sections, the dissertation starts with an introduction, which provides the basic understanding of HRM and its functions. It concludes with an overview of the whole thesis including the information helpful for the reader to understand the topic and related facts, we are going to discuss about. The next section is the literature review, which explains relevant theories that will help to support the topic and it is followed by the research methodology which explains the research approach, and how the aims and objectives are planned to achieved. Moreover it, clearly explain the methods that used to collect the relevant data and explained the reasons why there are chosen. The result section provides the actual results I have obtained, carrying out the research, and within the analysis section, it exploits the information gathered, and structured a comprehensive analysis. Conclusion and Recommendation sections conclude the research with interp reting the gathered data and results obtained in Analysis section, along with the aims and objectives discussed at the beginning and provide the necessary recommendations based on the live facts and exhibit the virtue of the research. 1.5 Limitations of research The main limitation of this research is getting the access to the employees within the selected company. The results would be much meaningful if the researcher is succeeded in involving many individuals as possible. Therefore it would be a greater challenge to formalize an easy and simple method to acquire the relevant information from the employees, to make sure that they dont feel it as an extra burden. Time can be considered as the other major issue since I have to formalize the whole process with in a very short time period and to make sure it has grasp many individuals as possible. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is one of the most important aspects related to the employee management as it is directly related to the performance of an organization. Because of humans tends to listen to the feelings deep in their thoughts, its not enough to full fill every other things, if the employee is not satisfied with what he/she does. Job satisfaction is not same as the motivation but it linked. Job design is aimed to enhance job satisfaction and performance by using different design methods such as Job rotation, job enlargement, job enrichment etc. Job satisfaction can be viewed as â€Å"a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job experience† (Lock 1976). When someone is satisfied with his/her job that is job satisfaction, or when any job is fulfilled ones expectation that is job satisfaction. Job satisfaction mainly considers the attitudes and feelings that people have about the work. The Guion (1958) defines morale as ‘the extent to which an individuals needs are satisfied and the extent to which the individual perceives that satisfaction as stemming from his total work situation. However there are some features of job satisfaction identified by Paul Spectors (1985) such as, Pay- amount and fairness or equity of salary, Promotion-opportunities and fairness of promotion, Supervision-fairness and competence at managerial tasks by ones supervisor, Benefits- insurance, vacation, and fringe benefits, Contingent procedures-sense of respect, recognition and appreciation. According to While Luthan (1998) there are three important views to job satisfaction; Job satisfaction is an emotional thing related to a job that cannot measure. It is determined by how well outcome is achieved or exceeds expectations It shows some attitudes which can be used to identify how employees think about their job and how they achieve their targets. The factors that affect the job satisfaction of an employee can be divided in to three main areas; Internal factors External factors Individual factors Internal, external and individual factors which affect to the job satisfaction are listed in the table. Internal factors are the factors that linked to work but those are not the only factors affecting job satisfaction. External factors are related to work or to the working environment and individual factors mainly consider a person and the persons family and network of friends. Job satisfaction factors Description Internal Factors  · Job variety Number of skills and depth of knowledge required to do the job  · Autonomy The freedom that the employee get to control their own work  · Goal determination The freedom that the employees get to set their own targets and the criteria to achieve those targets  · Feedback and recognition The private and public comments that they achieve for their performance External Factors  · Achievement The persons success on their job. The trainings, improved equipments, proper education may be the way to increase the achievement and the job satisfaction.  · Role ambiguity and role conflicts Knowing the position of the work place, responsibilities and agreement between roles. Clarifying the tasks in the job, and the position in the organization. When reduce role ambiguity it lead to job satisfaction  · Opportunity The opportunities with the current and the other employers. If employees feel they have fewer opportunities in the current position, then job satisfaction decrease.  · Job security The assurance that employees get to their job  · Social interaction The way they deal with the others. The quality and the quantity of the interaction.  · Supervision Herzberg explain this as a hygiene factor. The quality of management is affect to the job satisfaction. If the quality is lower, worker can become dissatisfied.  · Organizational culture Culture and management style can increase/decrease job satisfaction.  · Work schedules Match between work schedule and the employees schedule. Flexitime may increase the job satisfaction by allowing employee to interface between work life and personal life  · Seniority The time duration that a person has held a position. When people are respect to the seniority, it will increase job satisfaction  · Compensation The rewards and the role of money Individual Factors  · Commitment This is the dedication that a person is doing to his/her job. If the actions of researching, selecting and the way he/she doing the job is visible to friends and others, then the person is satisfied.  · Expectations Every person has some expectation. Basically what people expect in return for work.  · Job involvement How important a job in someones life. More the person involved more satisfaction.  · Effort / reward ratio This is the balance between the amount they worked and rewards received  · Comparisons How a person can rate the job with someone else jobs. If a person has a good job compared to others they are satisfied.  · Age How old someone, the people who old have more work experience, they understand what are the best thing to do, but sometimes they cannot satisfy with their job. Younger people have no previous experience which to compare with the current job. So they are satisfied. Table 1 There are two main theories of job satisfaction, Variance theory and the model of job characteristics. According to Hackman and Oldham (1975) the variance theory explains that if you want X from your work then you are satisfied to the extent that it provides you with X. The second model explains the causes of job satisfaction are objective characteristics. When the employees are satisfied with their work they tend to work more, they are become more committed to the organization, and they are more productive than previous, they try to achieve their targets in a better way. (Bravendam Research Incorporated, 2002). However job satisfaction association with organizational commitment that was not mentioned in most of the studies was noted by Elangovan (2001). A negative association between the job satisfaction, stress and commitment was indicated in his study. According to his study, higher stress leads to lower job satisfaction and this in turn results in lower commitment. Petty et al, ( 1984) explains that there are three possible links between performance and job satisfaction. 1. Satisfaction generates performance 2. Performance generates satisfaction 3. Satisfaction and performance link indirectly 1. Satisfaction generates performance When designing the job it should aim to produce job satisfaction. Then it will optimize worker performance. 2. Performance generates satisfaction When a person perform well that achievement generates job satisfaction. He/ she feel to do more for their job. So the effort should be made to improve performance then it will increase job satisfaction. 3. Satisfaction and performance link indirectly These two are linked but under certain conditions. Apart from the above theories, there are successful studies proving the importance and impact of maintaining a satisfied workforce. The analysis by Vroom (1964) covered 20 studies, in each of which one or measures of job satisfaction or employee attitudes were correlated with one or more criteria of performance. Low salaries, lack of status and social security affect the motivation. When the motivation is low, job satisfaction is low. Lack of job satisfaction is a sign of turnover in an organization. The salaries and benefits which employees can achieve are related to job satisfaction. Motivation â€Å"Management is nothing more than motivating other people†, is one of the most popular proven principle followed within any kind of organization. Motivation is concerned with the strength and direction of behaviour and the factors that influence individuals to behave in certain ways. Individuals are motivated to perform in a specific method based on their perception of the situation. Motivation primarily concerned with what energizes human behaviour, what direct or channels such behaviour, how this behaviour is maintained. Motivation concerns energy, persistence and direction. According to Arnold et al (1991) there are three components of motivation, 1. Direction -what a person is trying to do 2. Effort how hard a person is trying 3. Persistence how long a person keeps on trying According to the diagram felt need creates tension for people. Tensions motivate people to avoid it. The environment will influence to shape people needs and expectations influence the effort. Management can influence employees expectations in a different ways, by offering incentives and setting them specific goals. The persons effort and results can influence the level of performance. The rewards / outcomes are the results achieved. Outcome can come from internal / external environment. Outcomes are always not positive; it can be negative as well. If it is negative, they tend to result in employee dissatisfaction / de motivation. There are number of motivation theories which are complementary to one another. The content models in motivation mainly focus on the needs that individuals are trying to satisfy in a situation. The process models focus on how managers can change the situation in a better way to tie satisfaction to performance. Reinforcement theory is as developed by Hull (1951) suggests that successes, in achieving goals and rewards act as positive incentives and reinforce the successful behaviour, which is repeated the next time a similar need emerges which is coincided with the theory by Taylor (1911), who wrote: â€Å"It is impossible, through any longer period of time, to get workmen to work much harder than the average men around them unless they are assured a large and permanent increase in their pay†. In this theory there are four principal techniques available, 1. Positive reinforcement If someone encourages the people when they done something they are utilising positive reinforcement. 2. Escape/avoidance reinforcement (Negative Reinforcement) This is a form of a reinforcement. It increases the behaviour of a person by taking away something bad. The negative reinforcement is not same as punishment. It is not a form of a punishment. 3. Extinction (repeated non reinforcement) Elimination of behaviour 4. Punishment Most of the people are not expected to take this kind of an experience. The main idea of punishment is to withhold rewards. Motivation is only likely when a clearly perceived and usable relationship exists between performance and outcome, and the outcome is seen as a means of satisfying needs. This theory was developed by Porter and Lawler (1968) in to a model that follows Vrooms ideas by suggesting that there are two factors determining the effort people put in to their jobs. First the value of the rewards to individuals that they satisfy their needs for security, social esteem, autonomy and self actualization, and the second is that rewards depend on effort, as perceived by individuals. According to Latham and Locke (1979) motivation and performance are higher when individuals are set specific goals, when goals are difficult but accepted, and when there is feedback on performance. Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of needs model in 1940s and still it valid today to understand motivation, management training and personal development. This model explains the responsibility of employers to provide the work place environment which is encourages employees to fulfill their requirements. At the same time he explains needs are interrelated with some other needs that are less understood. Those are, Knowledge needs, understanding needs and aesthetic needs. The relationship of Maslows other needs The need for knowledge is defined as the desire to build up facts and s. The need for understanding is an extension of the need for knowledge. This involves search for the relationships between things and what they know and it includes the search for meaning. The aesthetic needs are the beautiful things need to be surrounded. According to Maslow all these need

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Thomas Alva Edison :: essays research papers

Thomas Alva Edison 1847-1931   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thomas Alva Edison is one of Americas most famous inventors. He invented the sound recording device, motion picture, and the light bulb. Thomas Edison was an amazing man who accomplished many historically important successes during his lifetime. Edison obtained 1,o93 United States Patents in telegraphy, phonography, electric lighting and photography. Some of the inventions that Edison Discovered were improvements of other inventions, some were things that he invented himself, some things with other peoples help and some he just stumbled onto. Edison was most proud of his invention of the phonography. Edison tried to invent things that everyone could use. Edison created the first invention factory to invent things.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio in February 11, 1847 and died on October 18, 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey. Edison was the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. His parents had no special background. His mother was a former school teacher and his father was a jack-of-all trades. He ran grocery stores to real estate to carpenting. Edison was a very curios child who asked lots of questions. His brother’s and sister’s were Marion, William, Calie, Harriet, Samuel, and Eliza.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the age of seven Edison’s family moved to Port Haron, Michigan. This is were Edison Began School. After 3 months of going to school Edison’s teacher consider him a dull student. Edison’s mom pulled him out of school and starting to teach him herself at home. His parents didn’t force him to learn things that he didn’t enjoy. They encouraged him to learn on his own. They were dedicated in teaching him. They wanted him to learn about things that interested him most. When he was nine years old his mom gave him a elementary science book. It explained how to chemistry experiments at home. Edison did every experiment in the book. Soon he loved chemistry and started spending all of his spare time and money buying and doing chemistry experiments. At the age of ten he had a science lab in his basement. His parents didn’t like this. He spent to much time doing this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edison was always out working to help support his family and for his experiments. Edison got his first job at the age of twelve as a train boy on the Grand Trunk Railway. Edison sold newspapers and candy to passengers. He also printed a newspaper every week called the Grand Trunk Herald.

Friday, July 19, 2019

PULLMAN Essay -- essays research papers

The Town of Pullman: Success or Failure? The invention of the railroad was probably the most important occurrence in the nineteenth century. The United States became a unified front and interstate travel become safe, cheap and efficient. Industries related to the railroad began to prosper, fueling much of the American economy. Entrepreneurs quickly began to take advantage of this boom and thus â€Å"American Big Business† was born. George Pullman was one of the many prominent tycoons of this â€Å"Railroad Era†. Through the use of his talented ingenuity and high organizational skills, he acquired a vast fortune and immense power. George Pullman is most notably credited for the creation of the Pullman Sleeping Car. Its invention enhanced the pleasure of railroad travel by making it more comfortable, clean and exciting. As George Pullman’s invention gained quick public approval, his company began to expand at an enormous rate. This presented a great deal of proble ms to Pullman. â€Å"The company wanted to increase efficiency and economy in servicing and providing cars by spreading facilities. He [Pullman] wanted several hundred acres adjacent to railroad and water transportation.† In 1868, Pullman decided on the Calumet region in southern Chicago. Pullman selected the Calumet region because it offered â€Å"cheap land, low taxes, and excellent transportation.† Few people knew his second and main intention was to build a model town adjacent to the new factory, which he hoped would improve his business enterprise. Pullman was deeply troubled by the social problems of the mid- nineteenth century. He believed that they were the root of the labor unrest his company was experiencing. â€Å"The period showed a dramatic intensification in the numbers of the urban poor, as people with little capital and few useful skills came to the cities in search for employment.† Living conditions were terrible and congestion, dirt, and poor s anitation were held responsible for diseases. Crime, prostitution and violence were blamed on poor housing while alcoholism became synonymous with the slum. Many attributed the poverty and the poor living conditions of the working class to â€Å"the lack of such virtues such as frugality, industriousness and temperateness.† It was believed that the general solution to the problem of the workingman and his family was to elevate their character. Through Pullman’s experience ... ...n social planning and happiness for the individual. A town is recognized for the individuals who live in it, not the business it seems to incorporate. Pullman had a disillusioned, egotistical regard for his workers. When asked about his intentions on building the model town, he commented: â€Å"Capital will not invest in sentiment, nor for sentimental considerations for the laboring class. But let it once be proved that enterprises of this kind are safe and profitable and we shall see great manufacturing corporations developing similar enterprises and thus a new era will be introduced in the history of labor.† Pullman never seemed to grasp how a workingman’s happiness must be fulfilled on a much deeper level than his mere physical settings. The leisurely enjoyment of oneself as well as an overall establishment of identity was the key. When Pullman planned his model town, it was a dream which he envisioned for himself. A dream which would increase his wealth, improve his business and make him renowned. In his heart, he might have never intentionally wanted to socially deprive his work force; it just so happened that the planning of the town did not take this into proper consideration.

Macbeths Demise in Shakespeares Macbeth :: essays research papers

â€Å"Macbeth† is an age-old tragedy by, William Shakespeare, that tells the story of the disastrous down fall of Scotland and it’s Kings. The protagonist, Macbeth, starts out as a thriving Thane in Scotland, but ends up destroying his own prosperity as well as Scotland’s. Certain witches who tell people their fate convince Macbeth that he will be King and that his dear friend Banquo’s children will be kings. In an effort to be sure his prophecy is true and with some encouragement from his rash wife, he kills King Duncan, the current king of Scotland. To continue on this path of destruction Macbeth, acts on impulse and has his friend Banquo killed, because he is afraid that he killed Duncan for someone else’s fortune. Throughout the play Macbeth’s degeneration continues until the tragic ending when the country turns against him and seizes his castle. Macbeth’s demise can be attributed to his abandoning his belief in fate for a ne ed to prove his masculinity. Macbeth’s doubt in fate is not realized until later in the play. When he first meets the â€Å"weird sisters† they make prophecies that he finds impossible to be true. â€Å"But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman, and to be king Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor.†(1.3.73-75). Macbeth doesn’t believe this because he knows that the Thane of Cawdor is still alive and that King Duncan’s sons are the heirs to the throne. His need to be masculine has not yet effected his belief in fate. Once Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor he is completely convinced that the predictions of the fate sisters are true â€Å"I chance will have be King, why chance may crown me. Without My Stir†¦Come what may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day†(1.3.145-150). This is the most trust in faith he will ever have. Shortly after Macbeth puts all his trust in fate, Lady Macbeth challenges his masculinity. â€Å" What beast wasn’t, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man,† (1.7.49-51). This is Lady Macbeth’s response when Macbeth tries to back out of killing King Duncan. Almost immediately Macbeth’s personality changes, he decides to go ahead with the crime as if that will make him a man. Macbeth's Demise in Shakespeare's Macbeth :: essays research papers â€Å"Macbeth† is an age-old tragedy by, William Shakespeare, that tells the story of the disastrous down fall of Scotland and it’s Kings. The protagonist, Macbeth, starts out as a thriving Thane in Scotland, but ends up destroying his own prosperity as well as Scotland’s. Certain witches who tell people their fate convince Macbeth that he will be King and that his dear friend Banquo’s children will be kings. In an effort to be sure his prophecy is true and with some encouragement from his rash wife, he kills King Duncan, the current king of Scotland. To continue on this path of destruction Macbeth, acts on impulse and has his friend Banquo killed, because he is afraid that he killed Duncan for someone else’s fortune. Throughout the play Macbeth’s degeneration continues until the tragic ending when the country turns against him and seizes his castle. Macbeth’s demise can be attributed to his abandoning his belief in fate for a ne ed to prove his masculinity. Macbeth’s doubt in fate is not realized until later in the play. When he first meets the â€Å"weird sisters† they make prophecies that he finds impossible to be true. â€Å"But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman, and to be king Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor.†(1.3.73-75). Macbeth doesn’t believe this because he knows that the Thane of Cawdor is still alive and that King Duncan’s sons are the heirs to the throne. His need to be masculine has not yet effected his belief in fate. Once Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor he is completely convinced that the predictions of the fate sisters are true â€Å"I chance will have be King, why chance may crown me. Without My Stir†¦Come what may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day†(1.3.145-150). This is the most trust in faith he will ever have. Shortly after Macbeth puts all his trust in fate, Lady Macbeth challenges his masculinity. â€Å" What beast wasn’t, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man,† (1.7.49-51). This is Lady Macbeth’s response when Macbeth tries to back out of killing King Duncan. Almost immediately Macbeth’s personality changes, he decides to go ahead with the crime as if that will make him a man.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Explain the theory of Virtue Ethics Essay

Aristotle originally introduced virtue Ethics to society in ancient Greek times. Virtue Ethics tells us that we should look at the character of the person instead of the actions or duties a person performs. Instead of concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how you can be a better person. Aristotle claims that leading a virtuous life is easy, and those who do, do so to be happy. Happiness is the ultimate goal for everyone in life. To become a better person, you must practice virtuous acts regularly. After a while, these acts will become routine and so the virtuous acts will be nothing more than everyday life and the person a virtuous person. Aristotle said that although virtues should become a habit we must never forget that we behave in such a way because it is right. For example, if a singer practices singing everyday, they will become better at it and used to doing it. This is the same as people who practice their virtues and soon automatically act in the right way, by practicing our skills we improve them, becoming happier. Virtues should not be an effort, but simply a part of everyone’s personality. Aristotle says that virtue is something that we acquire and are not just born with, people are not inherently good or bad, but become good or bad according to the habits they develop. Aristotle said that a virtue was a ‘Golden Mean’ in between to vices. These ‘Vices’ are two extremes of a scale at opposite ends, one of excess and one of deficiency. For example the vices would be shamelessness and shyness, and the virtue modesty. Another example of this would be rudeness and a sense of humour as the two vices and the virtue as wittiness. Such virtues must be cultivated, we must learn when to use certain virtues and to what extent, for example we must not ever use humour in excess to act like a fool, but at the same time we must also not pass into rudeness. Two philosophers, Anscombe and MacIntyre say that there has been a mistake in how virtues have been portrayed. The majority of people look at the actions a person does to judge whether they are virtuous or not. The way in which we behave provides an opportunity for others to judge our virtues and vices. This however is not right. People should look at the character within and look at what the person believes is right and how they think they should help people instead of what they do to help. A famous example of a virtuous person is Mother Theresa. She helped millions of suffering people across the world and for this became well known as a virtuous person. There are hundreds of other virtuous people who would have liked to have helped but were unable to do so in such a huge way who are not considered as virtuous, but these people are just as virtuous but not recognised for it. Aristotle tells us that we are most likely to learn virtuous behaviour from watching others. If we experience others being kind to us and see the happiness it creates we are more likely to practice it then if we were just told to do it. For example, if we were told to be courageous we may occasionally stand up for small things that we disagree with, but if we see someone telling others off for not doing the right thing then we are more likely to not allow bad behaviour towards ourselves. Aristotle said that the best way of becoming virtuous was to follow in the footsteps of a virtuous person, e.g. Mother Theresa and do what they do. Virtue Ethics is relative; Aristotle recognised that virtues in one country may not be the same as virtues in another. He believed that there was no absolute platonic good beyond our world. As virtues have evolved through habits of society it is probable that different societies would deem different actions good or bad. However there is no difference between the virtues of a community and individuals within that community, the supreme happiness that Aristotle talks about is one for the community, and not just and individual. MacIntyre suggests that philosophy is too far removed from ordinary life and said that it is not good enough that philosophers spend their time debating the nature of ethical language or forming reasoned theories of morality in a way that is far removed from real people and real life. All actions are done in order to reach an aim. A successive series of actions are also for an aim, for example getting up in to morning to go to work, is to make money, is to feed our families is to go on nice holidays is to but them nice things etc. all ultimate aims is to make people happy, everything is subordinate to the supreme good, which is happiness. Everyone has different ideas of what happiness is and different things all make different people happy, and Aristotle called this feeling of all round well being eudemonia. Therefore, Virtue Ethics concentrates on what a person is then what a person does. Its aim is to achieve something, which people genuinely want rather then being based on arguably incoherent ideas about the after-life. It is a system, which can be easily applied and understood by all. It fits into a variety of philosophies, and religions, which both do and don’t include God. However, there are a few problems with Virtue Ethics. Ones of these which has been pointed out by MacIntyre is that although a virtue is the ‘golden mean’ between two vices it cannot be applied to all virtues. Virtues such as promise keeping, loyalty, and compassion do not fall between any two vices and so Aristotle’s theory of this does not really work. Another problem with this theory is that it is of little help to people faced with a moral dilemma. It does not help them make a decision like other theories such a natural law or utilitarianism.