Thursday, October 31, 2019

Strategic management final exam bachelor degree Term Paper

Strategic management final exam bachelor degree - Term Paper Example This relationship identifies validity of the statement from the perspective that organizations can focus on their microenvironment and manage the factors to overcome any possible effects of the macro environment. This is because microenvironment such as organizational behavior and employee efficiencies are easily manageable as they are under organizations’ powers. A consideration of a business’ long-term scope and effects of the macro environment however invalidates the statement because micro environmental factors influence many organizational activities. The economic environment that includes economic conditions and economic policies is the first significant factor to organizations. Factors such as inflation rates, unemployment rates, trade regulations, and interest rates have significant effects on productivity of and profitability of an organization and therefore affect sustainability. Political environment is another significant macro environment factor and plays a significant role in influencing success of business organization. Political stability establishes investors’ confidence and therefore facilitates commercial activities, especially at global level and political ideologies and relations with other countries facilitate ties for favorable business environments. Socio cultural environment that include people’s preferences, â€Å"family systems, caste systems, education, marriage,† among other social and cultural factors determines markets and revenue levels to businesses (Mukesh and Trehan n.d, p. 12). Technological environment with its characteristic advantage of facilitating operational efficiency and demographic factors that determine volume and trend of demand for products is also very important to business’ organizations’ lives. The significance of macro environment that dictates sustainability and efficiency of organizations’ internal factors therefore identifies relevance of the environment to businesses. This means

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

South Korea Country Risk Analysis Research Paper

South Korea Country Risk Analysis - Research Paper Example South Korea is politically stable and has excellent infrastructure. With consistent reformation policies, the Government has been able to transform the country into a knowledge-based service-oriented economy. The labor market is flexible but the wages are higher than the neighboring countries. The workforce is highly qualified but the country has an aging population as the population growth rate is extremely low. Unemployment rate in the country is very low. Having a culture of uncertainty avoidance, risk assessments would be done and precautions and risk measures adopted. Being a collectivist society, loyalty is given importance. Economically too, the country is sound with low inflation rate, and the currency resilient to shocks. South Korea is an open economy ranking among the top 20 economies in the world. The private sector can operate freely without Government interference. The two major concerns are the aging population and corruption prevalent in the country. However, with the right business partner and sound knowledge of the economy, would help foreign businesses achieve the desired objective. Introduction South Korea, the Republic of Korea, is a presidential republic, a developed country with high standard of living. Having its origin in the World War II, South Korea is a fully functional modern democracy. However, political and economic analysis would help a multinational evaluate investment decisions. Location/Climate South Korea is strategically located on the Korean Strait covering a total area of 99,720 sq. km with a coastline of 2,413 km (CIA, 2012). This mountainous peninsula has the Yellow Sea on the west, and the Sea of Japan on the east. The southern tip of the peninsula lies on the Korea Strait and the East China Sea (Southkoreangovernment, 2012). Most of the land in South Korea is not arable. The peninsula comprises of about three thousand islands that are mostly small and uninhabited. South Korea has a temperate climate with very cold wint ers and a short rainy season. The average January temperature range is -7Â °C to 1Â °C (19Â °F to 33Â °F) in Seoul. Along the southern coast the winter temperatures are higher but they are lower in the inner mountainous areas. June through September is the rainy season. Population The population of South Korea as of July 2012 was 48, 860,500 with 73% of the population being in the 15 to 64 years age group. Population in South Korea has been growing at the rate of 0.204 percent which is considered a very low rate, leading to an aging population (Datamonitor, 2009). The population is mostly homogenous with just about 20,000 Chinese residing in South Korea. However, people of South Korea are either Buddhists or Christians and almost half the population (49.3 percent) does not follow any religion (CIA, 2012). The literacy rate is 97.9 percent while the unemployment rate is 9.8 percent. Most South Koreans live in urban areas because of the excessive migration that took place during t he country’s expansion between 1970 and 1990. As of April 2005, the number of foreign laborers in South Korea was 378,000 and 50% of these were without official authorization. Most foreign workers are from South Asian and Southeast Asian nations in addition to workers from the former Soviet Union countries and Nigeria. About 11,000 expat English teachers also live in South Korea apart from 31,000 US military personnel (Southkoreangovernment, 2012). Cultural Values The cultural dimensions of any nation are essential

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The Role And Importance Of Palliative Care Nursing Essay

The Role And Importance Of Palliative Care Nursing Essay When the patient has serious illness like cancer and came to the hospital and complaining from pain, anorexia and fatigue at this time what can he is suppose to do? The answer of this question is in the definition of palliative care. What is palliative care? Palliative care according to (World Health Organization [WHO], 2010) it is a medical profession stand up to helps the patients and families to come over the pain and other problems like physical, psychosocial and spiritual with life-threatening illness. This can be done by the prevention and relief of suffering and early assessment and treatment of pain. Palliative care according to (Get palliativecare.org, 2010) is provided by a team of professionals working together with your primary doctor. It is appropriate at any point in a serious illness and can be provided at the same time as treatment that is meant to cure. Moreover, patient in the end of life can face and experience a host of distressing symptoms such as pain, dyspnea, and delirium are reported to be among the most feared and burdensome. Also, pain can be influenced by many factors, including the patients prior experience with pain, meaning given to pain, emotional stresses, family, and culture influences (Mcphee papadakis, 2009). (Mcphee papadakis ,2009,p.70) stated that the common problem for patients at the end of life up to 75% of patients dying of cancer is the pain and it is what people say they fear most about dying. Therefore, nurses must be aware about the barriers to good care ,which including the lack of knowledge about the proper selection and dosing of analgesic medication ,limited training and clinical experience with pain management, addiction which can occurs if the patient and caregivers misused the medicines (Mcphee papadakis, 2009). In addition, there are 20 reasons can make the palliative care difficult to the nurses (Becker, 2010). I am going to mention some reasons; Shortage of staff. Shortage of nursing staff is one of the reasons which can make the palliative care difficult. In my experience in the hospital where I was working the staff nurses are in limited numbers , especially in the word the staff nurse can handle 9-12 patients some of these patients are having cancers and some time one staff nurse for 6 rooms each room has 5-7 patients!. Cancers patients cannot bear the pain and the staff nurse wants to do other work like inserting intravenous fluid for diabetic patient with hypoglycemia, so how the nurse can concentrate in doing that? Here the staff has to prioritize her work, some staff nurses finding difficulty to do that. Therefore the hospitals administration has to find and create a policy change in response to the nursing shortage as supported by Twigg , Duffield , Thompson Rapley (2010). In addition to that, as Abrahm(2010) stated that due to shortage of staff palliative care in oncologists, intensivists, advanced cardiac, pulmonary, renal, and hepatic diseases needs to be improved. Lack of knowledge of some medications and symptoms control. There were 146 surveys distributed to care providers from multiple settings. Out 135 0f 146 reported that there are several problems can make the palliative care difficult like poor pain and symptoms control, lack of education for care providers as stated by Sellick , Charles , Dagsvik , Kelley (1996) The availability of clear polices in dealing with death issues. In my experience only in some hospitals we can find clear polices in dealing with death issues especially brain death , this matter can involve many elements like; patient himself if he/she recommended before death if his/her brain died the caregiver can remove the supporting equipments, family according to the religion. So the staff nurse must be a wear about many religions. In understanding of the reasons and finding solutions to make the difficulties easier to the nurses can make too much improvement in quality of life. Quality of life can be affected by the level of education in heart failure patients. Patients with high education level often can improve more than low education level which usually reported to care givers in bad physical and functional condition as supported by Barbareschi, Sanderman, Leegte, van Veldhuisen Jaarsma (2011). In addition, there are two factors are related to quality of life in heart failure patients, demographic and clinical. Also physical excises one of the main elements of disease management program. (Jaarsma, Johansson, Agren , Strà ¶mberg ,2010) I want to stress in one point from my experience I did not see patient with heart failure has been cured totally from the disease, so I think the palliative care can play role to help this patient to enhance his quality of life. For example, one of the patients I was taking care of him he told me I am useless now! So for this type of patients I have to help him to move this idea from his mind, and let him to understand that the life did not end yet and we are finding developments in medical field, and give him task and encourage him to do it, after of compilation I have to enhance the feeling which he can feel it and let him to understand that he is worthfull and useful. Since I chose the heart failure I want to mention how the staff nurse can manage the pain in this case, which include: Pharmacologic treatment: like angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, ÃŽÂ ²-blockers, diuretics, and possibly aldosterone antagonists and angiotensin receptor blockers (Lewis, Heitkemper, Dirksen, OBrien Bucher, 2007). Diet and body weight: the recommended diet for these patients is low sodium diet to reduce body edema; recording upon admission body weight can detect the body weight if increased or no (Lewis et al., 2007). Behavioral and lifestyle management: exercise/physical activity: as stated by Benetti, Araujo, Santos (2010) exercises can improve the quality of life for heart failure. Therefore, the nurses must promote home and community-based care by taking the responsibility and contribute in education of patient and involve him to implement the therapeutic procedure to improve the quality of life. Teaching the patients and family how the progression of the disease is influenced by compliance with the treatment plan (Johnson, 2008, p.428). One of the most important points in improving quality of life as human being in my point of view is being opened to others .By this way the person can share others experience which can teach him/her something can change or improve the quality of life. In addition to that some patients need spiritual support which can make the life of some patients running in smooth way as supported by Hegarty , Abernethy , Olver Currow (2011). Also, the quality of life can enhanced by the disable patients rehabilitation. As will as, mixing patients with disabilities in right and balance way can improve the quality life as supported by (Fadyl, McPherson Kayes, 2011). So how the caregivers can measure the quality of life? The relationship among patients and families with caregivers can detect the quality of life as Hasson-Ohayon, Roe, Kravetz, Levy-Frank Meir (2011) stated in their article. And, in my opinion quality of life is not easy to measure it because different criteria. The quality of life can make the measurement is so complicated, but generally speaking the improvement of individual health can indicate in quality of life. Conclusion: The palliative care profession is can plays important role in professional healths fields by helping the patients and families to understand the serious illness and how to manage and improve the quality of life .By educating the nursing staff and they must be in university level in both arts and sciences (McEwen willss, 2007). As deeply supported by Henderson theory which stressing on the important of education for the nurses. In addition to that the caregiver should try their best to improve the quality of life which can lead to improve the palliative care, by understanding each individual is unique in many aspects and trying to deal differently accordingly. The hospitals managers should understand the teamworks conflict and create polices to solve the shortage of nursing staff can enhance the palliative care to reach to optimal quality of patients life.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Dismal Washington Square, by Henry James :: Washington Square Henry James

The Dismal Washington Square, by Henry James Curiosity about how Washington Square was received at the time it was written lead me to search for a review done at the time the book was published. Expecting that the late nineteenth century reader would have a different view of the work than a late twentieth century reader, it came as a surprise to find that an anonymous review in the February 1881 issue of Spectator related views similar to my own. The reviewer described the book as "dismal," filled with a "leaden-coloured group of emotions," while still conveying a "genius" for "painting character, and genius for conceiving unalloyed dismalness of effect, without tragedy and without comedy" (Gard 88-90). While I agree that the book was dismal and lacked a certain depth of emotion, I did not think it was without tragedy in the character of Catherine, or comedy courtesy of Aunt Penniman. The anonymous reviewer asks the question: "why is the whole painted against that blank, leaden sky, not merely of absolute hopelessness, but absolute indifference to hope?" (Gard 89) To me, this clearly referred to Catherine for whom hope is an alien concept. Her everlasting endeavors to please her father who perceived her as inferior because of her gender and her singular lack of distinction, eliminated hope from her reservoir of emotions. The tug-of-war between Townsend and her father over Catherine, not for her own sake, but for money, robbed "her of her admiration for her father" (Gard 89), and a fickle fiancà ©e. These loses she suffered behind "her ancient facility for silence" (James 216). Catherine lived her life trying to please others in a bid for love and approval, and ended up without love from anyone or the hope of acquiring it, which made her a tragic figure. Others might consider having to live with Aunt Penniman ad infinitum to be a tragedy. Aunt Penniman did, however, offer some moments of comic relief with her "silly love of intrigue" (Gard 89) and her romantic flights of fancy. Who could not be amused by Aunt Penniman describing Morris Townsend as an "imperious" man "of great force of character," and saying to herself , "That's the sort of husband I should have had!" (James 38) The anonymous reviewer indicts James as showing genius in creating his characters, but showing no caring for their fate, which leads to his final comment on the book, "If you desire a consummately clever study of perfect dreariness, you have it in

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Which Stakeholders Can Currently Be Considered to Be Part of the “the Company” for the Purpose of the Director’s Duty to Act in the Best Interests of the Corporation?

which stakeholders can currently be considered to be part of the â€Å"the company† for the purpose of the director’s duty to act in the best interests of the corporation? Company is a form of corporation and regulated by the Corporations Act. The legal significance of being as a company is it exists as a separate legal entity and dependent upon human beings to make decisions on their behalf. The person who makes or participates in making decisions that affect the whole or a substantial part of the company’s business can be defined as a director. The legal definition of director is stated under section 9 of the Corporations Act[1] which indicates that, it is more appropriate to look at the function of the people rather than at the job title itself. Duties are imposed on the directors to regular illegal behavior and ensure that they act for the benefit of the company. All directors and officers of a corporation are bound by a number of general law and statutes which include that: a) act in good faith in the interests of the company; b) act for a proper purpose; c) avoid conflicts of interest; and ) retain discretion Moreover, care, skill and diligence in the performance of their duties must exercised by directors. Stakeholder can be defined as a party that affects or can be affected by the actions of the business[2], which may be include shareholder, creditors, employees, customer, supplier and government. Under the principle of the company law, directors and officers owe duties to the company as a whole but not to the other p erson or group rather that shareholder as they are the residual owners of the company’s assets. As a result, it can be said that a scope is limited by the statutory duties to the company’ director and officer is to act the best interest of shareholder, any benefit is acting on the other group of the stakeholder (such as the creditor) will beyond the scope of director’ power. In addition, an essential problem might be arisen between the director and the shareholder is known as â€Å"agency costs† that is the cost incurred by company to ensure that the director (who manages the company) is acting on the behalf of shareholders (who is the owner of the company) and make decisions onsist with their best interest. The duty will be breached by each director if there is no action done to avoid a conflict of interest[3]. A director can not use his or her power to profit personally interest at expense of the company. An action may be brought against the company where it has managed in an oppressive, unfairly prejudicial or unfairly discriminatory against shareholderà ¢â‚¬â„¢s interest. Therefore, it seems that the company (shareholder) is the only beneficiary by the regulation of director’s duties. In other words, the enforcement of director’s duties is for the benefit of the shareholders. 2) Should directors duties, and corporate responsibilities, be extended to a wider group of stakeholders? What are the lessons from the James Hardie and the Waterfront Dispute experience? It is a challenge for the current legal framework to consider a wider group of stakeholder’ interest, as in modern society that greater deal of business and activities conducted by a company. Elena suggests that balance between the different groups of stakeholders is essential to the long-term viability of the corporation and the long-term shareholder’s value can be increased by taking account of the other group of the stakeholder. 4] For example, an under market salary is paid to the employees or the employees are scheduled in an inefficient way w ill result in a decreasing of shareholder’s wealth as the productivity of the company is affected by the dissatisfied employees. Hence, according to the definition of the stakeholder, employee can be classified as a stakeholder who will maximize shareholder’ wealth in a long-term. As a result, the maximization of stakeholder’ value goal might not only be concentrated on the shareholder but the other group such as creditor and employee. The reasons why the director’s duty might be extended to the group of creditor can be stated as: creditor is a important stakeholder in the company and their interest should be taken into account; and also, based on the judgments of the decided case, it also indicates that there is a demand for director to regard the interest of creditor. Firstly, a company is a separate legal entity[5]. Therefore, the debt of the company is separated from its directors and shareholders. In addition, the money borrowed will be recorded under the name of the company and the creditor will sue the company if there is any unpaid account. However, creditor is playing an important role in providing funds to assist company to manage its cashflow and expansions. Hence, it can be said that creditor is the stakeholder and can effect the action of the business. Nevertheless, according to the passage Re New World Alliance Pty Ltd (1994) 122 ALR 531 at 550,[6] there is not direct duty owed by the director and officer to the creditors because their duties are owed to the company. However, in the situation when the directors of company consider a high risk project or it is in a financial distress, the creditor has to occupy a weakness position. This is because, if the project fails, shareholder will lose nothing but the money they have invested due to the limited liability then the risk of filature will shift to the creditor. Hence, it seems unfair for creditor who has not fiduciary protection and whose right is limited by the contract. On the other hands, according to the passage Re New World Alliance Pty Ltd (1994) 122 ALR 531 at 550,[7] there is not direct duty owed by the director and officer to the creditors because their duties are owed to the company. The only time that the director’ duties are owed to creditor is when company is insolvency[8] and during that time, the creditor is entitled to displace the power of the directors and shareholders to deal with the company’s assets[9]. It can be argued that it is riskless for the secured creditor who holds a charge over a part or all of the company's assets during the company’s insolvency. If the company is in financial distress, a receiver is appointed by the secured creditor to collect and look after the company’s asset in order to obtain money for them[10]. However, it is not easy for the creditor to claim all their money back according to: firstly, the money collected has to pay the certain priority claims, including employee entitlements (such as wages, superannuation contributions and leave payments) before paying to creditor; and secondly, director does not owe directly duty of care for the interest of creditor, this might result in a less consideration of managing and taking care of the asset that is held by the creditor. Therefore, creditor who provides fund for company to operate or expand is playing a significant role to a company and their weakness position should be taken in to account and redeemed by the director’s duty and the corporate responsibilities. In addition, duty has been referred to the judgments of the decided cases. The emergence of the issue to regard the creditor’ interest is from the leading judgment by Mason  J in Walker v Wimborne. 11] His statement has been acknowledged by the other courts such as in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Also, according to the obiter comments in the recent case Spies v The Queen, the court has again acknowledged that there is an existence of the duty to creditor. As a result, it seems that protection for creditor’s interest is required in some certain circumstances. [pic][pic][pic] ———————– [1] Section 9 defines a director as: a) a person who: ) is appointe d to the position of a director; or ii) is appointed to the position of an alternate director and is acting in that capacity; regardless of the name that is given to their position; and b) unless the contrary intention appears, a person who is not validly appointed as a director of: i) they act in the position of a director; or ii) the directors of the company or body are accustomed to act in accordance with the person’s instructions or wishes. [2] http://www. scu. edu. u/schools/gcm/ar/arp/stake. html [3] Relevant section under the Statue Law: Section 182(1) – Use of Position; Section 183(1) – Use of Information; Section 191(1) – Disclosure of Interest. Also, under the Common Law – Fiduciary Duties. [4] â€Å"Corporate governance: shareholders’ interest and other stakeholders’ interest. † http://www. virtusinterpress. com/additional_files/journ_coc/full-text-papers-open-access/Paper006. pdf [5] The principle is established in Salomon v Salomon & Co ? 1897? AC 22 [6] Harris, Hargovan and Adams: Australian Corporate Law, 1st ed, Page417. [7] Harris, Hargovan and Adams: Australian Corporate Law, 1st ed, Page417. [8] A company is insolvent if: 1. It is unable to pay its debts as they fall due. 2. Its assets are less than the amount of its liabilities, taking into account its contingent and prospective liabilities. [9] Kinsela v Russell Kinsela Pty. Ltd. (in liq. ) (1986) 4 NSWLR 722. [10] In some special circumstance, it may appointed by the court. Eg: where there is a dispute between the owners of the company or the property over which the receiver is appointed [11] His Honour said: In this respect it should be emphasised that the directors of a company in discharging their duty to the company must take account of the interest of its shareholders and its creditors. Any failure by the directors to take into account the interests of creditors will have adverse consequences for the company as well as for them.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Autocratic Management Have No Place in Today’s Business World- Discuss Essay

Many people think nowadays that autocratic management is bad and doesn’t motivate employees. They believe this type of management will never work in today’s business world. However, it is not entirely possible for today’s world to have everyone as democratic people, nor is it true that most people are ‘Theory Y’ type. Autocratic management used to be the most effective management technique, as well as the simplest. Employees are told what to do and expected not to question back, like in the army. If the worker fails to accomplish the task then he/she either gets fired or disciplined. Managers always expect his/her decisions and orders to be obeyed without question, and everything will go fine. Managers tend to be in control of nearly everything within a firm, and make all the decisions. They also believe that workers are only motivated by incentives such as money and are lazy, which is based on McGregor’s ‘Theory X’ and Taylor’s theory. The advantages of this type of management are that it is quite efficient, as there are no disputes of any sort between the employees and the management. Secondly, the decisions within a firm could be done very quickly and efficiently as there is practically no such thing as a discussion and opinions. The drawbacks of this style of management, however, are that employees won’t have a sense of self-esteem or self-actualization, which is specified in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is not possible to fully motivate an employee if this management is used. Also, communications within the firm will almost be non-existent, which is a problem for social needs. Workers will feel bored or demotivated if they even can’t establish any relationship within the workplace. The business world today can be considered as different to the world in the past. However not everything would change in such a swift pace, therefore it is not possible that all employees are ‘Theory Y’ type workers. The initial statement that claims autocratic management has no place in today’s business world is practically impossible to be true, because there are still people in this world that still supports this type of management. There are still lazy and selfish people in the world that fit perfectly into McGregor’s Theory X. Some people might not like the idea of making their own decisions as they fear it might affect the business in a negative way so they would rather rely on management to do all the decision making. Also, workers who, in the past, had worked in an autocratic environment will tend to act the same as their superiors when they become part of the management. It is similar to child abuse, where the child grows up to be a very aggressive person. Autocratic managers obviously wouldn’t like to work in a democratic firm, as the manager tends to refuse any delegation to his/her subordinates. It is believed that autocratic management is very effective in the short-term but would be devastating in the long-term. This is because there is a high chance of a large number of labour turnovers within the business and the morale of existing workers would rapidly decrease. Eventually the employees would probably go on industrial action or, in worse scenarios, sue the business for unfair treatment. The quality of output from subordinates will also decrease, as they are highly demotivated due to the fact that they are like puppets, doing what they’re told. They don’t feel as if they’re a part of the company. It is successful in the short-term because employees are initially motivated by money, which explains the high output. Also, as stated before, decisions are made very quickly therefore the firm can achieve their objectives in no time. Of course, as time passes employees are no longer interested in money that much as before, so they start to get demotivated. In conclusion, there is a place for autocratic management in today’s business world. It is just not as widely accepted as before because humans believe that they can think for themselves and never needs to be commanded by another being. Nevertheless some might say democratic management tends to do better than autocratic management, but that all depends on the employees themselves.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Learners Profile for DE essays

Learners Profile for DE essays The impact of Distance Education on the process of learning defines not only distinct roles for the instructor, the instruction and the technology involved but also the role of the distance learner who faces a change from the traditional learning environment to a new setting. The learner is face with new challenges of anticipation, distress and the need to balance the responsibilities of the forthcoming tasks with the conditionings of work, family or life circumstances (Thompson, 10). The distance learner is, however, characterized by self-reliance and a natural intent to pursue individual achievements on an environment different from the traditional one. The distance learner must be able to do the following: juggling a range of responsibilities on a daily basis, does not need constant reassurance and direction from faculty, likes working independently and can manages their time well, enjoys working on their own, but also appreciate some interaction with faculty and peers, busy and/or frequently changing schedule. However, some distance education learners do not do well because they need constant contact with the instructor in the traditional MWF or TTh pattern of classes. This usually includes students (despite age or previous education) with deficient reading, writing, computing, studying, test-taking, and critical thinking skills. Some students right out of high school are at high risk if they do not have the appropriate skills. They may need more experience with how to pursue a college class by taking a few classes on-campus. The research clearly shows many different motivational factors that are contributing to the distance education learners. Many of the learners find this an effective method of teaching and learning. Listed below are some of the characteristics, which have been found for the distance education learner. ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Jewish Discrimination essays

Jewish Discrimination essays The Jewish "race" has been in existence since 1300 B.C. Jews are not even a race, but more of a religious group. They are united under the religion of Judaism. The Jewish identity is a blend of ethnic, national, and religious concepts. The term "Jew" has often been used in a derogatory manner. Many people think that Jews are a dirty, filthy, cheap, miserly race of people. This is completely absurd, because they practice a different type of religion and they have the right to do so. Jews have often been referred to as "Kikes" which is a disgraceful term for a Jew to be called. Some other terms and phrases that discriminate against the Jewish people are "Jew baby" and "That's Jewish", implying Jews are cheap and worthless. About fifty percent of Israeli Jews are not white Europeans, but Oriental Jews. There is often confusion due to the fact that some share the same physical characteristics as their Arab neighbors. They fled the Arab nations to live alongside their European Jewish brethren because they suffered from discrimination and national oppression. The largest and most horrific form of discrimination happened during the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler set up concentration camps in 1933 for all Jews, homosexuals, Communists, Gypsies, and others that he did not like. He tortured them and starved them simply because they did not fit the Aryan race, which was his version of the superior race. Hitler's attempt to eliminate the entire Jewish "race", also known as genocide, but he failed. He killed millions of innocent people, just because he simply did not like them. "A common error and persistent modern myth is the designation of the Jews as a 'race'" (Roth, C., Oxford University Reader in Jewish Studies, 1939- 1964, in: "Jews", "Collier's Encyclopedia", 13: 574, 1991). This statement further explains the definition of "race". Jews should not be considered a "race". They have their own set of beliefs that may be different ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Word Choice Who, Whom, Whose and Who’s - Proofread My Paper

Word Choice Who, Whom, Whose and Who’s - Proofread My Paper Word Choice: Who, Whom, Whose and Who’s We all regularly use the word â€Å"who in speech. Nevertheless, many people feel confused about when to use variations of this term, particularly â€Å"whom,† â€Å"whose† and â€Å"who’s.† In our daily lives, this might not be a major issue (only pedants like us worry about getting â€Å"who† and â€Å"whom† the right way round in casual conversation). But in academic writing, you’ll want to avoid mistakes in order to maximize the clarity and impact of your work. Who or Whom? Mixing up â€Å"who† and â€Å"whom† is a classic grammatical error. Both are used when identifying or asking about a person, however, so what exactly is the difference? The key is discerning between the â€Å"subject† and â€Å"object† of a sentence. To illustrate this, we’ll introduce Laurel and Hardy to the situation. Subject Verb Object Olly†¦ †¦tripped†¦ Stan. Here, the subject of the sentence is Oliver Hardy, since he’s performing the action (i.e., tripping Stan). Stan Laurel, meanwhile, is the object of the sentence, since the action is being performed upon him. Here, by contrast, Olly is the recipient of action (i.e., his bottom is being blow-torched). (Image: Dennis Amith/flickr) The key thing here is that â€Å"who† always applies to the subject of a sentence, whereas â€Å"whom† refers to a person when they are the object of a sentence. Thus, we use â€Å"who† if talking about the person performing an action (the subject) and â€Å"whom† for the person being acted upon (the object). For instance: Who tripped Stan? Olly is the person who tripped Stan. Whom did Olly trip? Stan is the person whom Olly tripped. In the first example above, we’re asking about (and subsequently identifying) the subject of the sentence â€Å"Olly tripped Stan,† so â€Å"who† is used. In the second, we’re focusing on the object of the sentence, so â€Å"whom† is the correct term. Remember: Who = Subject Whom = Object It’s worth keeping in mind that both â€Å"whom† and â€Å"him† are object pronouns and both end in an â€Å"m.† Associating the â€Å"m† at the end of these words with being the object of a sentence can make it easier to tell â€Å"who† and â€Å"whom† apart. Whose or Who’s? The distinction between â€Å"whose† and â€Å"who’s† is a little simpler, despite the fact they’re pronounced identically. It’s just a matter of the difference between a possessive and a contraction. The possessive is â€Å"whose,† used when referring to or asking about something that belongs to someone, such as Stan Laurel’s hat: Whose hat is that? It’s Stan’s hat. And a jolly nice hat it is, pip pip. â€Å"Who’s,† meanwhile, is a contraction of â€Å"who is,† so can only be used when we would otherwise use both words: Who’s the heavier of Olly and Stan? Olly is the one who’s heavier. Contractions like this generally aren’t used in formal writing, though, so it’s usually better to avoid them in college papers. The reason people get these terms confused is that we sometimes indicate a possessive with an apostrophe. In this case, however, the apostrophe indicates the missing letter in â€Å"who is.†

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Rethinking Construction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Rethinking Construction - Essay Example As a result of our research, the conclusion we have reached, with some notable exceptions, is that there was merit in John Regan's task force findings and that, in general, it has improved the performance of the construction industry. However, we have also concluded that in certain areas of the industry in general, and despite the incentives and organizations set up2, the implementation of the proposal is taking longer than had been envisaged. The main thrust of the "Rethinking Construction" report was for the partnering approach to form the central focus of construction projects. Such a system has been successfully implemented in many other industries as part of an integrated supply chain procedure. The report went on to suggest that if the construction industry executed the initiatives recommended, there could be anticipated significant annual improvements and savings in a number of key industry areas. These included: - The intention was to show the industry a way forward and help it to revitalize and refocus itself after a period of stagnation and poor productivity and profitability. It was also seen as a foundation stone in the rebuilding of the industry's less than perfect reputation, resulting from its propensity to deliver projects late, over-budget and not to the highest quality. In 1998 the report suggested to the industry guidelines in respect of the timescale for change, warning of the possible repercussions if the need for such change was not taken on board and treated seriously. In an effort to show the way and prove to the industry in general the value that the "Rethinking Construction", the task force called upon the government and construction industry leaders to put together a number of demonstration development projects, which would act as models for evaluation purposes. It asked for 500 millions worth of such projects. In the event, some 6 billion's worth were forthcoming. Positive Results There have been some notable successes where the task force recommendations have been fully implemented. The following, (figure 1) shows how the joint government / industry pilot schemes fared in the year 2001. It can be clearly seen from this table the results on a number of the KPI's3 set down by the task force have exceeded expectations. The most notable of these have been in safety, design time predictability and defects, which the original report had suggested should be targeted for 20% per annum improvement. There have also been some notable successes in partnering within the private sector. L.T. Deeprose Ltd, based in Guildford in Surrey, is a case in point. This company has embraced both the spirit and the physical aspect of "Rethinking Construction". The company concentrate on two aspects of the industry, development and contracting. On the development side they have built up working relationships with property advisor and estate agents, contracting Clients, specialized sub-contractors and consultants, including architects. By building a long term relationship with all of these organizations and involving them at all stages of a project, the company is able to meet, and continues to meet, the majority of the benefits that the report suggested would be

Friday, October 18, 2019

Genetic testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Genetic testing - Essay Example In this essay, I will describe advantages and disadvantages of DNA testing and demonstrate why the test should not be put into practice. Firstly, genetic testing has a benefit of enhancing medical technology. Over the last few decades, scientists discovered more about genetics, which enabled humans to get a better understanding of genes. Running a genetic testing, compared to gene discoveries, would be an articulate evidence of proving how efficient genes are in terms of healing. Also gene tests determine how far we can utilize genes under difficult conditions such as cancer or other incurable diseases. On the contrary, there is a great risk of failure in the test. Despite recent genetic findings, most people are still unaware of the term â€Å"gene† and there are complications in technology with respect to treatment. Even specialists lack enough experience on dealing with ways and problems that are possible during real gene testing. Secondly, genetic testing is a relatively new field in medicine. This is advantageous because it is seeking for a new method since there has never been this type of testing. It also has a high possibility of success in the future. Clearly, genes are the most accurate form of extracting information about an individual’s trait. So, altering the harmful genes into good ones is the most effective ways of remedy. Nevertheless, it is difficult to afford the supplies required for genetic testing. For the genetic testing to flourish in the future, the process during the test should be without any oversights. But, the payment of laboratory, chemical supplies requiring special disposure, and hiring educated scientists, are requirements worth millions of dollars for an average conductor to officially run and examine genetic testing. Thirdly, genetic testing allows humans to have knowledge of the possible diseases and risks they will have

Canadas Amnesty International Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Canadas Amnesty International - Essay Example The international group’s basis is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as other human rights policies, statutes, and benchmarks. Canada’s AI harnesses the available global resources and ensures nations will increase implementation of the human rights of the nations’ inhabitants. The Canadian AI group espouses equality. Equality includes offering equal opportunities to persons of different classes to achieve their goals and dreams in life. Equality includes offering equal chances to individuals from different races to prosper in life. The council supervises the International executive committee. There are more than 80 AI offices strategically located in many countries around the world (Clark, 2010). Furthermore, the AI’s Canada Branch has its local executive committee. The committee oversees the Montreal branch and the Ottawa branch. The branch has more than 79,999 members. The group advocates for better treatment of prisoners. AI –Canada was able to gather more than $11,250,000 funds during 2011 alone. An estimated 44 percent of the money was funneled to the conducting of researches, missions, and reports, worldwide campaigns, trial observers, and helping other global agencies such as the United Nations achieve their own set of predefined goals and objectives. The key ingredients to AI’s Canadian branches are open membership, measurable goals, program evaluations, evolution, and efficiency-related itineraries (Clark, 2010). Race. In the workforce, one article states that the nonwhite workers greatly suffered from work discrimination policies (Baines, 2008). The work responsibilities were normally classified as white jobs and non-white jobs. AI should increase its current efforts to reduce human rights abuses. For example, the AI must focus on reversing the race issue covering up the issue of job title or job responsibilities (Clark, 2010).

Finance 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Finance 6 - Essay Example Thus from the given data, Kd = (8.5%) (1-0.30) = 5.95% b. The cost of preferred stock is calculated by the following formula: Kp = Dp / [Pp (1-F)] Where, Kp = cost of preferred stock Dp = preferred dividend Pp= preferred stock price F= floatation cost (Brigham & Daves, 2009, p.330). From the data, Kp = 9/91 = 9.89% c. Cost of common stock (at constant growing rate) can be calculated by the following formula: Ks = (D1/P0) + g Where, Ks = cost of common stock D1 = Dividend at the end of the first year P0 = price of the stock at the beginning of the first year g = growth rate (Gitman, 2007, p.448). From the data, Ks = (0.75/15) + 0.06 = 11% d. Calculation of Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC): Capital Component Percentage of capital structure Cost Product (PercentageÃâ€"Cost) Debt 0.35 5.95% 2.08% Preferred Stock 0.05 9.89% 0.49% Common Stock 0.60 11% 6.60% WACC 9.17% Page 1 No. 2 Solution: Cost of retained earnings (Kre) = Ke (1-f) Where, Kre = cost of retained earnings Ke = cost of equity f = floatation cost (Kapil, 2011, p.278). Ke = (2.10/34) + 0.06 = 12% From the given data, Kre = 0.12 (1-2.38) = (16.56%) (negative) Cost of new common stock (Kn) = (D1/Nn) + g Where, Kn = cost of new issues of common stock D1 = Dividend at the end of first year Nn = net proceeds from the sale of new common stocks g = constant growth rate (Gitman, 2007, p.448) From the given data, Kn = (2.10/34) + 0.06 = 12.18% ... The original balance sheet reflects 10 percent debt and 90 percent equity. It may here be observed that companies in general tend to lessen their amounts of debts and increase equity amounts or make investments. In the long run in the business operations of any company, the concept of remaining free of debt may not pay well for the business profits. Instead it may be preferable to base a company’s capital structure on the cost of capital for the company. Thus, borrowing money for a long term and reinvesting the amounts in business projects is expected to generate profits for the company. Hence, an optimal structure may reflect on 30-40 percent of debt and the rest in equity for the firm (Kennon, 2011). c. A company may alter its capital structure and buy certain amounts of equity in exchange for new debt thus substituting debt for equity. This would not have any effect on the cost of capital of the company since the overall cost of capital employed does not change. The transac tion remains neutral both for the company as well as the investor (Vernimmen & Quiry, 2009, p.448). d. If a company uses too much of debt financing, then the financial condition of the company may be in a difficult situation. This is primarily because in the long run, the company may lose its value and that tends to increase the cost of capital of the firm. An optimal capital structure of a firm largely depends on the business risk of the firm; greater the risk higher is the possibility for the company to obtain its optimal capital structure (Drake & Fabozzi, 2010, p.178). Page 3 No.1 Solution: Assuming the cost of capital to be 10% and 12% the NPVs can be calculated on the costs and cash flows as given in the data. At 10%, NPV = $ 1102.98 At

Thursday, October 17, 2019

US Dropping of Two Atomic Bombs on Japan Research Paper

US Dropping of Two Atomic Bombs on Japan - Research Paper Example The historical event During the final stages of the World War II (WWII), United States of America dropped two atomic bombs on the Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Under the executive order of Harry Truman, the US president, the US dropped Little Boy, a uranium atomic bomb, on the city of Hiroshima, the 7th largest city in Japan. This was on 6th August, 1945. The uranium bomb was so powerful that within minutes half of Hiroshima city vanished. The city was unbelievably destroyed. Out of its 90,000 buildings, more than 60,000 were utterly demolished (Rezelman et al, 2000 and Adamsand Crawford 2000). Information from Harry S. Truman Library & Museum (1946) reveals that as brief as it was, the flash of the explosion emitted intense radiant heat travelling through the air at the speed of light. The explosion was, therefore, followed instantly by flash burns. The US estimates that 60,000-70,000 people were killed and 140,000 others were injured (Rezelman et al, 2000). On 9th August, 1945, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, Fat Man, next nuclear weapon was dropped in Nagasaki over the north factory. It was exploded at a height of 1,800 feet above the city in order to attain a maximum blast effect. At its blast, buildings collapsed, there was shortages of electric systems and as a result of this, as well as a wave of secondary fires which contributed to massive deaths. Most of the casualties to the inhabitants of the city were caused by primary heat waves. Many others were burnt and killed when their homes, offices or other buildings were burst into flames. Flying debris also contributed to more injuries. 39% of the buildings standing were destroyed. Air was being drawn back to the middle of the burning area, a firestorm of winds immediately followed and because of this, trees were uprooted. The bomb killed 42, 000 people and injure d over 40,000 more (Rezelman et al, 2000 and Adamsand Crawford 2000). The Radiation Effects Research Foundation (2000) estimates that within the 2-4 months after the bombings, 90-000-166,000 people in Hiroshima were killed by acute effects of the blasts, while 60,000-80,000 were killed in Nagasaki but roughly half of the death in each case occurred on the first day. During the two explosions, the causes of deaths were generally the same. Thousands died instantly from flash or flame burns, falling debris and other secondary causes; over the following months others died from acute radiation sickness and other conditions arising from compounded effects of injuries and sicknesses. Most of the people who died were civilians (Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, 1946). Analysis of the historical and contemporary causes of the event On 7th December, 1941, Japan invaded Thailand. It then moved to invade British Malaya and the Pearl Harbor in the US territory of Hawaii. This war was referred to as the Pacific war or the WWII. The war saw the US, China and UK as members of the Allied Powers coming together against the Empire of Japan. The allied power wanted Japan to withdraw from the WWII. On 26th of June 1945, the Harry Truman, the US president, Winston Churchill, the UK Prime Minister and Chian Kai-shek, the chairperson of the Nationalist government of China, issued a document called the Potsdam Declaration. The Potsdam Declaration document which was agreed upon during the Potsdam conference outlined the terms of surrender for Japan. The ultimatum clearly stated that, if Japan did not pull out of the WWII, it would face quick and utter destruction (Villa,

Chapter 8-9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 8-9 - Essay Example Mass media has been extensively impacted on. The modern information technology has seen new media behaviors and operations. Businesses have shifted to technologically-supported advertisement. Advertisers have used technology to conduct their researches and identify how they can deliver adverts that are effective. The development of technology has also provided the advertisers with diverse options to choose from as media stations have increased. As a matter of fact, advertisement has gone through milestones that have revolutionized it completely. It management has significantly changed. The rise of mergers, as well as mega-agencies has been noted over the years. The goal of advertisement also changed from what was perceived to be entertainment to focus on results. Today, businesses seeking for advertising services are more concerned about the increase in sales their promotion will bring. Advertising agencies have also responded to the changes in the economic activities by merging their companies to increase performance. With the growing globalization, several issues have also been noted by the players in advertising industry; questions that have raised serious concerns. The mistranslation of advertisements messages in different language is a critical issue. Consequently, the growing technology has escalated advertising as a corporate industry. Improvements in computer and television graphics are a major reason why advertisement has become commercial as it is. Historically, advertisement has been influenced by the subcultures as well as the wave of social groups; rights campaign. The increasing pressure to represent different cultures and social groups in the media and advertising industry gave it a new face. The media got specialized bowing to the pressure from the feminist movement and anti-racism campaigns. With the increasing of enlightenment on issues relating to media, advertisement

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

US Dropping of Two Atomic Bombs on Japan Research Paper

US Dropping of Two Atomic Bombs on Japan - Research Paper Example The historical event During the final stages of the World War II (WWII), United States of America dropped two atomic bombs on the Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Under the executive order of Harry Truman, the US president, the US dropped Little Boy, a uranium atomic bomb, on the city of Hiroshima, the 7th largest city in Japan. This was on 6th August, 1945. The uranium bomb was so powerful that within minutes half of Hiroshima city vanished. The city was unbelievably destroyed. Out of its 90,000 buildings, more than 60,000 were utterly demolished (Rezelman et al, 2000 and Adamsand Crawford 2000). Information from Harry S. Truman Library & Museum (1946) reveals that as brief as it was, the flash of the explosion emitted intense radiant heat travelling through the air at the speed of light. The explosion was, therefore, followed instantly by flash burns. The US estimates that 60,000-70,000 people were killed and 140,000 others were injured (Rezelman et al, 2000). On 9th August, 1945, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, Fat Man, next nuclear weapon was dropped in Nagasaki over the north factory. It was exploded at a height of 1,800 feet above the city in order to attain a maximum blast effect. At its blast, buildings collapsed, there was shortages of electric systems and as a result of this, as well as a wave of secondary fires which contributed to massive deaths. Most of the casualties to the inhabitants of the city were caused by primary heat waves. Many others were burnt and killed when their homes, offices or other buildings were burst into flames. Flying debris also contributed to more injuries. 39% of the buildings standing were destroyed. Air was being drawn back to the middle of the burning area, a firestorm of winds immediately followed and because of this, trees were uprooted. The bomb killed 42, 000 people and injure d over 40,000 more (Rezelman et al, 2000 and Adamsand Crawford 2000). The Radiation Effects Research Foundation (2000) estimates that within the 2-4 months after the bombings, 90-000-166,000 people in Hiroshima were killed by acute effects of the blasts, while 60,000-80,000 were killed in Nagasaki but roughly half of the death in each case occurred on the first day. During the two explosions, the causes of deaths were generally the same. Thousands died instantly from flash or flame burns, falling debris and other secondary causes; over the following months others died from acute radiation sickness and other conditions arising from compounded effects of injuries and sicknesses. Most of the people who died were civilians (Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, 1946). Analysis of the historical and contemporary causes of the event On 7th December, 1941, Japan invaded Thailand. It then moved to invade British Malaya and the Pearl Harbor in the US territory of Hawaii. This war was referred to as the Pacific war or the WWII. The war saw the US, China and UK as members of the Allied Powers coming together against the Empire of Japan. The allied power wanted Japan to withdraw from the WWII. On 26th of June 1945, the Harry Truman, the US president, Winston Churchill, the UK Prime Minister and Chian Kai-shek, the chairperson of the Nationalist government of China, issued a document called the Potsdam Declaration. The Potsdam Declaration document which was agreed upon during the Potsdam conference outlined the terms of surrender for Japan. The ultimatum clearly stated that, if Japan did not pull out of the WWII, it would face quick and utter destruction (Villa,

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The start of the play Essay Example for Free

The start of the play Essay Priestley uses Inspector Goole as a tool for uncovering truths in the household and un-cover the vulnerabilities of the Birling family. He also highlights the different approaches to responsibility within the household (older and younger generation) and could well represent the voice and the opinion of Priestley himself. When the inspector arrives at the Birling household he is described as making an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. This is important because the massiveness and solidity implies that there is no getting round purposefulness of his enquiries. The stage directions also describe him as looking hard at the person before actually speaking. The hardness of his stare links in with the harder light and the sheer harshness is enough to break through the cozy sense of security that the Birlings had before the arrival of the inspector. As well as being used to highlight conflicting views, stage directions are also used to create general presences about people. For example, a stage direction used for the inspector is for when he knocks on the door. The stage direction could describe the inspector just knocking on the door but instead we hear the sharp ring of a door bell. This implies that the inspector will be harsh and concise. Also that he is quite clever and it will be difficult to get around him and his enquiries as he is sharp. The inspector builds relationships with individual characters through the play, and they become more defined and easier to read as the play goes on. His relationship with Birling is mainly one of argument. Birlings views conflict the most with the inspector. The inspector does not agree with Birlings capitalist views as he doesnt like the way that the capitalist ideas look out for oneself. But the Inspector believes in the community and that everyone should work together for a common cause as it would be easier. Birling really hates the idea and describes it as being all mixed up like bees in a hive. The Inspectors relationship with Sheila is also important as it shows that not all of the family is in tune with Birling and quite on the contrary some are on the side of the Inspector. Sheilas new-age opinions and views are much the same as the Inspectors and create a team of sorts (with the addition of Eric) to dispute the facts with the others. Sorry I just cant help but think about this girl Sheila says which confirms her views because as she is distressed by the death of this girl, it shows that she cares about this stranger who she doesnt even know, and this would sit well with the community based, socialist views. Sheila and Gerald are also used by Priestley to start the familys downfall. They are the first relationship to break apart and they set a tone for everyone else to follow. They symbolize the secrecy and mistrust in the household as a whole. except all last summernever came near me. This quote throws up the possibility that maybe all isnt quite as it seems in the Birling family. Its the first real time that the audience may get an inkling as to what the Birlings may really be like and I think thats why Priestley includes it in the play. If Sheila and Gerald who are in love and preparing to be married you would assume that they must be very close. But if they are to separate then I think that its a sign that all the other relationships and family links will also go the same way. Sheila and Gerald start the revelation of truth, and once they have put it into motion, it is very hard to stop, and hence the other members of the household suffer the same fate as Sheila and Gerald. Priestley also uses Sheila and Gerald in the play to indicate divisions within the Birling household. Priestley uses the two characters to highlight the lack of trust between the family. The lack of distrust can be found in many instances such as when Sheila say so you be careful almost warning Gerald, as she seems to not believe his stories about what he was actually doing the summer when Gerald never came near her. This lack of trust is definitely a factor for downfall, and also is representative of the rest of the family and that there are lots of secrets hidden from everyone else that could cause havoc. Of course they eventually do as we know from act two and three where they all get blown into the open. As mentioned before, throughout act one Priestley creates tension between the views of the two generations. All this could easily become a very big factor towards the households downfall because if the family cannot function properly as a team, then there will be a distinct lack of unity. And we know (through dramatic irony) that in the rough times ahead, unity is one of the most important things to have. An example of tension between the older and younger generation comes at the dinner table when Eric says Yes, I know-but still- and his father, Birling replies Just let me finish Eric. This demonstrates Birlings tendency to dismiss any ideas or concepts which are foreign to him. A consequence of this is that after a while the younger generation may start to feel that they are being oppressed by their lack of a voice or opinion. Furthermore, with the household having only one point of view, Birlings, which we know through dramatic irony to be constantly wrong when he says people say wars inevitable fiddlesticks! and ignore pessimistic talk youll be marrying at a good time we can clearly see that the household is headed for downfall. Eric is described at the start of the play as half shy, half assertive and this is because of the way that Birling treats him. His constant dismissal of Erics opinions, and his refusal to start acknowledging him as a young adult and not as a child, pushes him away. When the inspector arrives at the house, Erics views which are not even considered by his father because they do not agree with his own are suddenly seen to be normal, and not an anomaly or misfit. Eric therefore sides with the inspector and also Sheila, on whom the inspectors views have had much the same effect. Their conflicting views are demonstrated often in act one, like when the inspector is questioning Birling about the way that Eva Smith was discharged from his mill. In response, Birling declaims that the girls that he pulls off the side of the street to work in his factory are just resources that he exploits as much as he can by paying them the lowest wages he possibly can. Sheila replies in an almost disgusted voice that theyre not resources to be exploited, theyre people. This shows that Birlings individualistic views which focus on almost nothing but self gain appall Sheila and she thinks his views wrong. This drives a wedge down Sheila and Birlings relationship and therefore emphasizes the lack of unity between the family as a whole. J.B. Priestly uses symbols to great effect in Act 1, for example when right at the start of the play when the family is seated at the dinner table. Towards the end of the night Birling and Gerald take a cigar and a cigarette. I feel that the smoke from them symbolizes a hazy vision, and a lack of being able to see what is about to come. Whilst they are both smoking, they are also drinking port and whisky. Both of the drinks are from a decanter, and if you look through a decanter, what you see on the other side is never what it really looks like in real life. Therefore, I think that the alcohol (and even the glassware that the alcohol is poured from) further symbolizes Birling and Geralds lack of foresight. Another symbol used is the lighting in the room. At the start of the play the lighting should be pink and intimate this represents the Birlings feelings of security in their home, even if it is a false sense of security. This false sense of security is underlined when the inspector arrives and the stage directions proclaim that it (the light) should be brighter and harder. This new brighter, harder light represents the light of truth which is set to expose the Birlings and what they have all done. So to conclude, I think that Priestley lays the foundations for an inevitable downfall right from the off. Priestleys use of Birling is the biggest contributor to the downfall of the household in my opinion as with such a fool at the head of the household something is bound to go wrong. The lack of unity is also another enormous factor, and tension between the household before the inspector even arrives is also another important factor but I think that the foundations are definitely laid in the first few pages of the script. There is a sense of downfall right from the beginning and in my opinion, Priestley makes it more of a case of when and how it will happen, rather than whether it actually will.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Theories of Punishment: Durkheim and Marxist

Theories of Punishment: Durkheim and Marxist Compare and contrast a Durkheim and a Marxist analysis of punishment in modern society. Emile Durkheim is well known for his work on suicide related issues. However, Durkheim is not exclusive to the area of suicide, he had ample experience and expertise in other areas of sociological interest and one prominent field is crime and punishment. Why do societies punish offenders? This is a question that has been deeply explored by many sociologists including Binding who felt that a society’s â€Å"right to punishment†¦was nothing but the right to obedience of the law, which has been transformed by the offender’s disobedience.† The main objective of punishment thus was â€Å"the inmate’s subjugation under the power of law for the sake of maintaining the authority of the laws violated.† Thus, punishment was meant to â€Å"represent the holiness and inviolability of the duties to which it is attached.† Durkheim assigns the power of punishment to the state for the purpose of restoring and maintaining social and collective conscience. He felt that crimes shatter societal solidarity and when there is a right to punishment, and then society can restore its faith in each other by punishing the offender. However, Durkheim contends that in complex modern societies, collective feelings of revenge have been somewhat replaced by Anomie. And this anomie has weakened punishment which leads to more crimes and offences against the society. Durkheim argues that people are shaped by their social experiences and it follows that if the collective conscience is weakened by, for example, too much criminal behavior, the moral ties that bind people together are also weakened. When this happens, the concept used by Durkheim to express this weakening of moral ties was that of Anomie. For Durkheim, anomie occurred when traditional norms of behavior were undermined without being replaced by new norms. In the absence of clear moral guidelines for their behavior, people experience feelings of anxiety, aimlessness, purposelessness, disorientation and so forth. Anomie, therefore, was seen by Durkheim to be a very dangerous phenomenon, mainly because when people no longer believe in their obligations to others, they revert to self-interest. In effect, they attempt to look after themselves without bothering too much about how this may affect the lives of others. How has this change occurred if at all? Is the criminal justice system really more lenient in modern societies than it used to be? This is the question that forms the basis for Durkheim’s entire premise on the subject of criminal justice in modern society. The fact that there is a close connection between Durkheim’s concept of anomie and changes in the criminal justice system cannot be denied. One of his sternest critics acknowledged that â€Å"there is also an underlying validity in the importance that Durkheim attaches to the law for any understanding of society† [9] p. 36. Certainly the phenomenon of law was of crucial importance in Durkheim’s sociological model because it was an external indicator of a level of social life at which moral forces became crystallized and institutionalized to a degree where they were formalized and backed by sanctions. Durkheim could see the difference between the law prevailing in traditional and modern societies. Though he went slightly overboard with his divisions, it is a fact that Durkheim was among the first few to highlight the differences that had led to a shift in punishment from corporal punishment to institutionalized revenge. On a milder note, Durkheim said, â€Å"The duty of the statesman is no longer to propel societies violently towards an ideal which appears attractive to him. His role is rather that of the doctor: he forestalls the outbreak of sickness by maintaining good hygiene, or when it does break out, seeks to cure it. (Durkheim, 1982: 104) Let us now study the differences in more detail. What was the primary difference? According to Durkheim the difference lied in the intensity of punishment. In traditional societies, punishment was more corporal in nature; it focused on the body of the offender. In modern societies, things have become more complex and focus has shifted to institutionalization. This institutionalization has led to a lenient form of punishment. And a lot of this can be attributed to breakdown of social cohesiveness. The modern society is different from what you would expect a traditional society to be. Modern society is usually more â€Å"progressive,† â€Å"industrial† but at the same time materialistic. This aspect of the society makes it highly individualistic too. The individualism factor leads to the creation of what you would call a self-centered culture. In this self-centered zone, people are more concerned about their own welfare than the welfare of the society on the whole. Durkheim blames this individualistic streak for the breakdown of social cohesiveness and collective conscience that is the primary cause of social decay as well as lenient punishment. I agree with Durkheim that punishment today is lenient. It does focus on revenge but there is a greater focus on rehabilitation of offenders which gives the whole picture a compassionate view thus resulting in leniency which is not often desired. Leniency is not desirable in all cases and in traditional societies or old world societies when punishment was stricter, crime rate was lower and recidivism was almost negligible. There is another important concept which should be instilled here. Conformity is what Durkheim would want in a social system today but this conformity factor has been missing since people want to have their own individualistic streak. They do not want to conform. But for a society to care about each other’s welfare and to build cohesiveness, conformity is desirable. Morals and values can often take a backseat or they lose their intensity when there are too many groups and each has its own view. (Anthony Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. An Analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press (1971), 103). When there is lack of conformity, there is also an increased risk of conflict and this can endanger the greater interest of the society. Durkheim feels that lack of conformity is one of the main reasons for growth of conflict and for further division of interest and for this reason; he suggests that conformity should exist. He also suggests the use of restitutive law as a possible solution bringing and maintaining law in a modern organic society. Durkheim’s view of modern society’s law and lenient punishment emerges from his views on anomic division of labor. According to this concept division of labor of anomic type takes place when norms regulating activities break down or fail to emerge. One source of this anomie has been the rapid growth in economic conditions which gave rise to new â€Å"interests in conflict (which) have not yet had time to be equilibrated† p. 370. Another major source was the discrepancies that existed between a group’s expectations and their achievements. In such an air of â€Å"relative deprivation†, rules that previously governed the means to goal attainment break down, and anomie and increased disorder could result. Some sociologists have sought to make international comparisons, maintaining that, on the basis of this theory, it should be possible to predict that in countries with an advanced division of labor, greater inequality and/or deprivation and/or rapid rate of change would be important predictors of higher levels of political instability and conflict. One general consequence is that the absence of regulation can lead to unspecified desires, and the other is that for the individual specialist worker, work itself can lose its meaning. With regard to the forced division of labor, the possible consequences are, firstly, a resentment of exploitation and an attempt to meet force with force (resistance or revolution); secondly, there is the response of fatalistic acceptance of domination. In a society where anomie and forced division of labor are combined, the unlimited desires/resentment and meaninglessness/fatalism pairs reinforce each other. Some critics (Horton) have sought to contrast Durkheim’s concept of anomie with Marx’s concept of alienation, but the contrast only holds up if anomie is kept separate from the forced division of labor; whereas in practice, as Durkheim perceived, they are frequently combined. There can be absence of regulation (anomie) at one level and coercive regulation at another level (forced div ision of labor), as exemplified by unrestricted competition and lack of agreement over the regulation of prices and incomes, on the one hand, and inequality of opportunities on the other. However, in Durkheim’s view, spontaneous attachment to norms (as distinct from coerced attachment deriving from an imposed ideology) could only occur when the forced division of labor was mitigated. Durkheim drew a sharp contrast between two systems of law: one dominated by repressive sanctions and corresponding to mechanical solidarity, and the other characterized by a predominance of restitutive principles corresponding to organic solidarity. Critics pointed out that the contrast was overdrawn, and also that many of the societies he used as examples of mechanical solidarity and repressive penal systems were in fact not simple tribal or clan societies, but already possessed the rudiments of central state organization, as in the case of the ancient Jewish and Roman societies. The most important additions or modifications to his original thesis were concerned with his classification of crimes, and with regard to the political factor. Whereas, in the original thesis, the main contrast was between repressive and restitutive sanctions, in the later article the contrast involves a classification of crimes into those that are fundamentally religious in character—offences against shared moral tenets that constitute the collective conscience—and those that are â€Å"individual†, in the sense of involving the essentially private interests of increasingly autonomous individuals. Penal sanctions also change in quantity and quality, with a movement away from corporal punishment and toward depriving the individual of possessions or freedom, i.e. fines and imprisonment. This development corresponds to the increasing differentiation within society, and the increasing focus on the individual, in this case as criminal or victim. Durkheim makes an inte resting point about prisons only coming into existence when a society reached a sufficiently advanced stage of material development to permit the existence of secure and fortified establishments, such as castles or other large dwellings of a king or class of notables. This was the kind of institutionalization I mentioned earlier in the paper. Now that a country has driven towards institutionalization, it has resulted in automatic leniency. Offenders do not suffer corporal punishment because it is generally disapproved of in the society. Such an attitude leads to leniency of punishment which may often prove to be damaging for social cohesiveness and general peace. One feature of Durkheim’s social thought—one that most modern students are likely to notice—is that he can be placed upon either side of the political spectrum in a fairly straightforward manner. This certainly suggests something about the density of his thought, as well as the numerous ways in which his writings can be misunderstood. Essentially, Durkheim borrowed portions of what he considered to be â€Å"social facts† from the left and the right. This should not be surprising considering Durkheim’s primary understanding of society: society, to him, is a moral reality. The social truths can only be grasped as such if they are reflected in moral beliefs. In other words, he believes there is an objective reality because social struggles serve to indicate to individual human beings that they are fighting for something independent of their own sense perceptions; something abstract and universal. Nevertheless, sociological explanation must fundamentally be concerned with what is independent of psychology and individual points of view; it consists of the search for the objective within the context of the subjective. To Marx, however, even if this form of understanding proposed by Durkheim is attainable, the material world surrounding humanity is inevitably altered through the process of knowing it. Accordingly, human perception is not fully capable of grasping the truth behind events; it is only able to develop some representative illustration of it. So, the scientific observations of the world and the knowledge gained from these observations enable humans to recognize and impose patterns of behavior upon the physical world, thus, to manipulate it in a manner that can never be completely comprehended. History, to Marx, has been misconstrued by the notion that some conceptual model can be used to characterize the history of production and labor. He attacks this way of understanding the progression of human history: â€Å"Thus, history must always be written according to an extraneous standard. The actual production of life appears as something unhistorical, while the historical appears as something separated from ordinary life, something superterrestrial,† (Marx 125).There is no such thing as objective truth, but our patterns of thought can evolve if human surroundings are also to evolve. Accordingly, to uphold the status quo is to selectively ignore the continuing processes of human thought and exploration. Durkheim, on the other hand, is concerned with making broad sociological and psychological assertions about humanity. In order to accomplish his goal, Durkheim must make use of a rather difficult term: milieu. Broadly, Durkheim contends that every feature of social phenomena must be viewed through the lens of the particular time period in which it exists—its â€Å"milieu.† Put differently, if we are concerned with sociological analysis, then the unit of measure of the â€Å"individual† is nearly extraneous; the only unit that can be profitably employed is the milieu. Accordingly, Durkheim believes that the social perspective is the most fundamental standpoint to view human life; therefore, psychological theories are inconsequential. So it should not be surprising that Durkheim argues that the social division of labor is not merely an abstract social phenomenon; instead it is a natural law of human existence. Although mankind interacts intimately with his environment, the social realities of his life trump the more concrete realities: â€Å"The same cause which increases the importance of the collective environment weakens the organic environment in such a manner as to make it accessible to the action of social causes and to subordinate it to them,† (Durkheim). The most prevalent objection to Marx’s theory of the state is that the mechanism needed to assure this equality of the classes is an authoritative state. Historically, this is why communist states have never been truly successful in the way Marx envisioned. To Marx, the continuation of class conflicts can only result in a form of communism. Others have asserted that the situations that are ripe for communism are merely situational and not unavoidable. As a result, capitalism will not necessarily progress to communism, but may take an altogether new form. Broadly, the differences between Marx and Durkheim’s interpretations of social institutions reveal the weakness inherent to both. Durkheim chose to take a purely mystical perspective regarding society; it was the outcome of abstract notions and social norms. Marx, on the other hand, saw it as purely a materialistic structure; it was based upon tangible and physical realities. Surely, neither can be completely accurate, but both maintain a level of truth as well as value for the future. Movie: A Thousand Words Movie: A Thousand Words In this essay I am going to talk about the business and business ethics about a movie called A Thousand Words. Jack, who is played by Eddie Murphy a world known Hollywood actor and comedian is an overly energetic, fast-talking, and committed agent who is known to closing even the most difficult of authors and other deals with celebrities into his agency. His main goal was to land the (as quoted in the movie by Jack in a meeting) Most popular, nondenominational religious Deepak-Chopra like spiritual leader on the planet named Dr. Sinja as his client. Jack claims he is the best agent in town. He also quotes Hey, I can talk anybody into doing anything. In order to sign him as his client, Jack lies and pretends to believe in Dr. Sinjas philosophy and path towards inner peace. In addition, he tells his assistant that he does not read scripts and believes that the first five pages and the last pages of any script/book will judge if its worth having a look at it and signing a specific autho r or not. Later on that day, a mysterious tree shoots up in his back garden, and he notices that every word he says a leaf falls off from the tree. When Jack goes back to his office the following day, he gets shocking news from his assistant telling him that the book was a quick read and that it was five pages long. In this scenario, the first five pages and the last pages are the whole book, yet Jack still refuses to read it because he thinks its some kind of joke or prank on him by Dr. Sinja. Jack is looking for answers and asks Dr. Sinja for help when he realizes that he has about 1000 words left until he and leaf die. Dr. Sinja leaves for a spiritual retreat to Bolivia for three days as in the meantime advises Jack not to speak until he gets back and finds out about this problem. Unable to speak, write, or communicate with everyone in his life, jeopardizes his relationship with his wife, boss, and other colleagues in which results him losing his job (Sandie Angulo Chen, March 9, 2012). Business ethics is the study of what is right and what is wrong, duty and obligation, moral norms, individual character, and responsibility but in the context of business. Jack has violated a few moral standards in order to achieve his dream signing. First, Jack lied to Dr. Sinja saying he has read the book before and that he is all for inner peace and spreading his wisdom and his words to the world. Another violation of the moral standards was putting his interest before the moral standards which is wrong. A moral standard at all times takes priority over ones self interest no matter what. He quoted in the movie Dr. Sinja: whats it in for you? Jack: just the satisfaction of knowing that I helped my hero to save the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and 10% of course. Saying that shows that Jack was in it for the money all along. Knowing that he topped several celebrities in sales and potentially could be the next big thing, Jack has targeted him and is willing to do whatever it takes to sign him . Having said that, leads me to one of the theories in business ethics: Egoism. Egoism is a theory that believes in short term sacrifices in necessary to long term self-interest. There are two types of egoism; Ethical Egoism and Psychological Egoism. Ethical egoism is where a person chooses the way they behave. An individual who can do anything and as long as there is some sort of benefit as the end result all entirely based on ones self-interest. Psychological egoism on the other hand is where an individual has behaved and acted. They perform something purely because they wanted to do it for their own self-interest. Mentioning the two sides to this theory, it is clear that Jack is an ethical egoist. With Jacks job being an agent, you will have to play the part of being nice and putting a poker face and lie in order to succeed in the business world. Albert Carr (a businessman) mentions this in the relativism and the fame in business. He believes that business is a game and that busi ness professionals are expected to follow a code that doesnt relate to ethics in any way. He uses poker as an analogy of lying, or a bluff of some sort. For example; lying about ones age on a CV, or using conscious misstatement, lie to sell products. Furthermore, Jack is doing just that in his company to achieve his goals. He chooses to behave in such a way to pretend that he is interested in their work and to boost up his status and salary bonus. Another example in the movie as well is when Jack goes to a coffee shop and sees a long queue of people waiting to be served. He looks at his watch and realizes he is going to be late for work if he waits in line. He picks up his phone pretending to speak to his wife who allegedly is in labor. Therefore he shouts out loud saying: hello? What? Shes in labor? Look I cant miss the birth of my first child! I only went out to get some coffee! After shouting that out loud, he was let through by all the people waiting in line just so he cant miss the birth of his so-called first child. When reaches the front of the line he is stopped by two tall grown constructor workers whom gave him a fearful look meaning youre not going to cut in front of us. Jack at this point had to improvise and quick in order to get his coffee. On the spot he says: Twins? Its twin! Im having twins. Im having twins. Thank you. Its on the house? Thank you so much! Jack has quickly thought of a lie in order to get throu gh and get his coffee. Jack not only makes his way through to skip the queue, but he also got his coffee for free as congratulation for the birth of his twins. We can also link this to the Albert Carr theory that he acted and played a poker face to get what he wanted. Lastly, within the theory of Egoism there is a difference between selfishness and self-interest. Selfishness disregards the needs of everyone else including people whose needs should be taken into account by doing something purely for your own satisfaction. Whereas self-interest; is a behavior on doing whats best for you in order to achieve. Jack in this movie is a bit of both. For example: his valet guy who parks his car for him in the morning asks him if he has read his manuscript and Jack replied that he is getting closer to reading it because it has moved from his kitchen table to his nightstand and next to his toilet and thats where it gets read he says (4:08-4:40mins in the movie). He didnt read his book and yet was rude to him by telling him to park his car somewhere else because he doesnt want bird feces on his car. Another example is when he gets back home and discusses to his wife about the house. She advises him to change houses because there is an open pool with no fence where on the other side is a cliff which has a drop of 2000 feet. His wife mentioned that she changes the babies diapers at the bar rather than a proper room for the child here it is user friendly. Jack agrees to make some changes but once again to his self interest instead of changing houses he told her that we could change up the media room into the babys room which the opposite of what his wife wanted(16:10-18:00mins). Jack has violated a few of the moral standards and has created an ethical dilemma. These results in affecting the environment around him, the society and the people involved in his life. For example: his wife, his assistant, his client, and his colleagues. As mentioned earlier, Jack is aware and realizes he has only 1000 words left until Dr. Sinja comes back with a solution. This situation makes it difficult for jack to communicate with people at work and his family. Jack needs to use his words wisely and know when to speak. Whatever happens to the tree happens to him. As the tree loses its leaves, jacks gets more and more sick, and when the tress loses all its leaves it is known that the tree dies which could result in Jack dying a well because they are connected. One of many examples of this is when Jack goes in to grab coffee in the morning and cannot talk or explain to the guy what he wants. For that reason, Jack uses sign language to communicate with the guy and ends up buying s everal coffees because he didnt understand the order (28:15-29:28mins). Secondly, he approaches the road trying to cross onto the other side, where a blind man comes and asks him to advise him when its safe to go. At this point Jack is pressured and cannot talk to the guy. The guy asks him could you tell me when its safe to cross? Are you deaf? I said can you tell me when its safe to cross? Jack stands there in silence not know how to answer the guy, he hums to the guy meaning that it is not but the old guy misinterpreted what Jack was trying to say so he walked into the road while there was traffic flowing past by. Jack quickly reacted and went after him trying to help him cross the road while cars were driving by. In the process of that, Jack has dropped several of his coffees and when they reached the other side in one peace, a bus passing by smacked the last coffee in his hand resulting in him not getting not only the coffee that he ordered but any coffee in general. Following up on this example, Jack affected the society around him which included th e old man almost getting run over by cars and also car drivers swerving left and right which can cause accidents on the road and affecting their lives. Another example of Jack affecting the society is when his wifes friend advises her to improve her relationship with her husband because he is slacking. So she rents a hotel room and tells her husband to meet her there. When Jack arrives, she tries to make love to him and get him to say I love you but Jack once again fails to respond to her which jeopardizes their relationship and leaves things between them complicated and unsure of what might happen to their family. Shes scared that Jack has lost his love for her which worries her. The last example of Jack affecting the society is when two offers come in and he fails to close any deal between them due to the lack of words he says. He asks his assistant to talk for him in one meeting where it goes all wrong and they lose their offer. On top of that, Jack gets a second chance at closing the book deal, but when they found out that the book is only 5 pages long, they declined the offer and stormed off. After the incident, his boss looks at him and asks him why he failed to mention that the book was five pages long. Jack still remains in silence and does not answer her which led him to get fired from his job. All in all, Jack has affected the society and the people around him to a point where he no longer has control of his situation. Towards the end he tries to explain his problem to his assistant who later monitors how many leaves he has left till it runs out and he dies. In the meantime, he goes around town trying to be nice and be moral and good person. For example: giving bread to the poor, giving money to charity, and trying to help a little girl get her cat from the tree in hopes that the leaves will stop falling from the tree. The problem with this, it is not done from pure goodness or performing good will. This leads us to Kants theorem, which focuses on the type of action rather than the consequence of the action. Goodness is the main requirement of the existence of the good will according to Kant. He believes that people should act morally regardless of the consequences. There is a difference between Good will and Happiness. For example: a person could be healthy, successful, h ave power, wealth, satisfied with his life, looks and considers himself a happy person. When people see this person they would assume he is a happy person and hes doing well in life. According to Kant, he questions the matter whether this persons happiness have moral bases. He also states the absence of good will such as kindness, ability, to judge, courage, decisiveness and many others may result in these qualities in becoming evil because they are not supported by the good will. From Kants opinion a good will forms, the most essential condition not of being happy, but worthy to be happy. There are two types in where we can determine morality in any situation, and in order to do so we must do things according to certain maxim, such as Universal Acceptability and Ends and Means. Universal acceptability everyone globally should act upon a specific rule and follow the rules stated. Ends and means is where we treat people like how we want to be treated. For example if you ask someone t o do you a favor, its only fair for you to reward or repay them back with the same effort they have put in to do that one thing for you, also to recognize their value of their hard work. Jack in the beginning of the movie treated people as means rather than ends as well. He didnt care of the people around him and used people by telling to do thing s for him and not appreciating their value of work and effort put in so that he gets what he asked for. Kants moral theory has application for organizations. Meaning just like other theories, they all have principles and approaches. Kants first principle points out that the categorical imperative (which are the universal acceptability and ends and means) gives us firm rules to follow in moral decision making. Second principle he introduces an important humanistic dimension into business decision, in other words forbids treating humans as means to ends. The third and last principle he stresses the importance of motivation and acting upon principles, which means doing the right thing is not necessarily enough. The individual has to perform an action that has moral worth and that its done with desire and real drive to do the r ight thing for its own sake. After mentioning these theories, Jack realizes he is wasting his time and nothing working out. So he goes back to his house to find out his wife packed all her stuff and left. He goes upstairs and looks at old photos of his family and a few pictures of his dad. In the beginning of the movie he was against his dad and never forgave him for leaving him and his mom behind a long time ago. His father has passed away and many years later Jack still hasnt forgiven his father for what he did to them. There was a picture of all three of them, he removed it from the photo album and went outside by the bodhie tree and started to pray. Jack meets Dr. Sinja at a diner to be let down hearing that Dr. Sinja couldnt find a cure for this curse. Jack sits there helpless and feeble having lost his family and his job in the process of all this mess. Dr. Sinja asks him that there is a reason why he is still there, its because he wants to seek advice from him and the only advice he can give him was for J ack to find the truth about himself, to quiet his mind and only then will he find the out the truth. He then goes back to his house under the influence of alcohol and his assistant follows him there where he tells him to be quiet and to stop talking. Jack gets furious and starts singing and talking as revenge to the tree trying to waste the leaves so he dies. He wakes up the next morning with his mouth taped, walks up to the bodhie tree and starts crying, he asks the tree what to do by talking to it from his inner voice in his head. While watering the tree he sees a butterfly landing on Dr. Sinjas book that he never read, so he sat down and started reading it. Later on that day, he visits his wife and with only a few words and facial expressions he shows her that hell be back and he truly loves her. On top of that, he goes back to the store where he usually gets his coffee in the morning and hands over a record of the Beatles which was the cashiers favorite CD/band. Also Jack heads to the valet guy that parks his car every morning and hands him his script saying that it was brilliant and sold with a cheque of $10,000 dollars, but when his car pulled up it was covered up in bird feces although didnt care and carried on with his day. Jack does all this with good intentions and good will just like I mentioned in Kants theorem. When he visit his mother, he accepts the fact she thinks he is her husband Raymond. She notices he cant speak so she starts speaking to him about how he was so angry at his father on leaving them and that he should forgive him and know that he father loved him and never stopped loving him. Mid way, she calls him jack and realizes that it was jack that visits her all along. Lastly, leaving to the cemetery to see his fathers grave, he prays and says his last three words which were I forgive you. Lightning struck and Jack McCall fell to the ground experiencing a heart attack. Soon after jack wakes up to the ringtone of his phone and it was his assistant informing him that all the leaves on the tree reappeared again and that he is able to talk again. In the end, Jack writes a book about is experience and named it a thousand words, Dr. Sinja was proud of him and his accomplishments, and his assistant took Jacks place at work as an agent. When his assistant (now agent) finds out he has a delivery he tells them to bring it in and also mistreats his new assistant, but as they bring it in, it was another tree and he finds out that he going to be going through the same curse as his ex-boss Jack did because of his bad intentions. In addition, he gets his wife a brand new baby-friendly home by the suburbs like she always wanted and asked for earlier on in the movie and reconciled with his family again. In conclusion, personally I think the best ethical and moral theory that Jack should have applied was Utilitarianism. Its a theory in which if an action produced more good than bad then it is a good action. Although the theory is demanding under two reasons: to do the most and maximize values and also put aside personal self-interest. Jeremy Bentham who is known to be the father or founder of this theory believes in pleasure, quantity and temporary (short term) actions, whereas the developer of the theory John Mill believed in happiness, quality, and long-term actions. I think John Mills theory is right and that Jack should consider happiness as well as other peoples happiness. This was just one of six points about the theory. Another point about it is an end justifies the means, which means anything is morally right if it brings better results in the end. Third point is to maximize happiness for a longer period of time. Fourth point is no-one can predict the future consequences rega rdless of the action implied. Moreover, should consider pleasure and pain as well as the others and not your own only. Lastly, the same action applied could give different results for different people. For example if you were to take action and take down a bad guy who is holding your sibling as hostage, the situation would be different and you would be hesitant and careful when taking down the bad guy rather than it being someone random that you dont know. The principles of utility in organizational are: provides clear and straight forward basis for formulating and testing policies, in other words allows us to test their worth against standard utility, also provides objective and attractive ways resolving conflicts with self interest and looks at the general good and lastly provides flexible, result-oriented approach to moral decision-making because utility focuses on results. There are also two types of utilitarianism, act utilitarianism looks at the consequences each time an act i s performed, whereas rule utilitarianism looks at the consequences each time anyone follows the rule by calculating if it is accepted or rejected. The disadvantages of this theory are that it doesnt work properly because you are responsible of your actions; also some actions are wrong even though they produce good action. For example sacrificing a bad guys life for the sake of the hundreds he could have harmed, and lastly the theory is dubbed as unfair because it puts your emotions and self interest aside. Another theory I would think would apply is Kant theorem because it is all about doing things morally with good intentions, but the disadvantages are; it is very strict, if any act alone is based on self interest then it has no moral worth. Second disadvantage is regardless of the consequences we cannot lie to save our lives, no exceptions to the rules. Last disadvantage states that it is unfair; this is due to people being used as means in order to reach their ends.