Domestic Violence against Married Women in Cambodia Research Paper

Domestic Violence against Married Women in Cambodia - Research Paper Example Is there spousal abuse in Cambodia, and if so what factors are causing it This is a significant research problem for several reasons. First there is the issue of Human Rights for the women who are being battered. Domestic violence against women is a serious concern and no woman deserves to be harmed. Next there is the impact that the repression of women has had on society as a whole. When a woman is abused by her husband it creates and perpetuates a dysfunctional pattern of behavior in the world. I think that the motivation behind the research is sound. It can only be a positive thing to reduce violence against women. However one must keep in mind that the cultural norms are entirely different in South East Asia as compared to Western society. My biggest concern about the problems being perceived and studied here is that the scholarly theories presented may not have any relevance to the actual conditions as they are occurring in Cambodia. It seems that the academics are attempting to formulate different theories of the abuse and then gain evidence from the field to prove themselves correct. The paper paints a vivid portrait and fills in all of the details so that the reader does not necessarily need to critically examine the situation. All of the facts are wrapped up neatly in one small package with little room for speculation. Literature Review The researchers present abundant scholarly background information to support their hypotheses and make an effort to ensure the clarity of their position. The review of literature seemed to represent a fair sampling of arguments from several different perspectives. For any particular hypothesis, there are alternative explanations presented... The researchers present abundant scholarly background information to support their hypotheses and make an effort to ensure the clarity of their position. The review of literature seemed to represent a fair sampling of arguments from several different perspectives. For any particular hypothesis, there are alternative explanations presented to confirm the relevance of the present investigation. It some regards the review of literature for this article presents a convincing argument about the scope of past relevant research in this area. There are only a limited number of articles within this field from non-Western cultures but they seem to have been included in the review. The greatest strength of this section of the paper was that it covered a lot of diverse theories. The evidence is offered to support the dominant theories, yet any contrary evidence was suspiciously absent for some of the theories. The weakness of literature review was that it was too one-sided in some cases. For exa mple, it presented many articles in favor of the idea that there is a negative correlation between standard of living and domestic abuse but only one article to the contrary. Perhaps the article could have offered some explanation as to why this contrary view would have some value. This research article takes existing theoretical models and applies them to a novel population. For example, one academic model of domestic violence states that physical abuse is a resource, similar to money or goods, which people use for the purpose of controlling others.

An analysis on leaderships’ effect on culture Essay Example for Free

An analysis on leaderships’ effect on culture Essay Facts ConnectCo is an outbound call center in Toronto, Ontario and is the Canadian Subsidiary of a U.S. marketing and sales consulting practice. The parent company has provided services to Fortune 500 companies over its five years of operations and employs approximately 75 people. ConnectCo has annual revenues of $29.4 million, with Symbol Office Solution as their biggest account at $20 million annually, for a contract length of three years. This contract awarded ConnectCo net profits as high as 35% of sales. What ConnectCo offers to clients is the convenience and cost savings of removing a costly field sales force and replaces them with a more cost efficient outbound call center. These call centers help customers with technical problems, provide new equipment updates, and disseminates knowledge about new technologies or equipment. The Symbol account, as previously mentioned, provides a significant sum of ConnectCo`s total revenue and was first negotiated by Charlie Gallagher, the vice-president of Canadian operations, and is managed by Chad Macdonald. Joe Davis is a passionate and experienced consultant that has worked closely with clients to identify and implement solutions to very specific problems. He joined ConnectCo hoping to learn from the pool of experience that he saw within the organization, with the majority of them being former Xerox employees with considerable knowledge in increasing sales. His role in the organization was to ensure that the level of service that ConnectCo provided met or surpassed the needs of clients. As per his position within the company he was the first to notice the discrepancy within the Symbol account. The contract that was signed between ConnectCo and Symbol required that there be a certain number of Inside Account Executives (IAE) that be trained at all times and at a phone making calls in the client`s interests. The recent decline in the IAE pool has left several seats open, with no calls being placed on behalf of Symbol, however they were still billing the customer as if the seats where all operating at full capacity while they should only be billing them for filled operators. The amount of the discrepancy totals $81000. The terms of the contract have been modified several times over its effective term with the first being an extension of the contract and the notice of intent to develop mutually agreed to service levels. Service level targets were never established. Symptoms The four factoring symptoms are communication, trust, accountability, responsibility and integrity. These symptoms are the leading cause for Connectco’s inability to run operations smoothly and effectively. The lack of communication within Connectco is causing headaches for Davis as information continues to be blocked by â€Å"noise† within the company. The communication is next to nonexistent from the top of the hierarchy to the department managers within the company. The lack of trust throughout the company is not helping their cause when trying to create an effective and demanded product for fortune 500 companies. There is little trust betwee the top managers and employees that they will complete their respected jobs at hand with the level of trust level between employees and managers decaying over time and as the situation worsens. Accountability is near nonexistent within the organization. Davis is not able to hold his manager accountable because of his past record in doing so. Accountability is crucial in order for Connectco to run smoothly in the future. Conflict frequently causes employees to look to offload their work onto others to not be responsible for failure, as in the case of Chad Macdonald passing the role of dealing with the Symbol account off to Joe Davis. Finally, there is little integrity. Dealing with the account neither Chad nor Charlie believe that the best solution would be to deal with the problem and would both prefer to make a decision that would go against the main values of the corporation that includes trustworthiness. There is a valid case of values incongruence within ConnectCo. These four main symptoms are major attributes to the problems faced within Connectco and are the four elements that may be the solutions to solving Connectco’s organizational problems in the near future. Problem Statement ConnectCo`s current situation is the direct result of the poor corporate culture as evidenced by the symptoms that are present. This culture stems from the leadership`s poor ethics and lack of values and has cascaded to the rest of the organization. Joe Davis, the new manager of the Planning and Reporting department for ConnectCo, began his new job about a month ago finds himself in the uncomfortable situation of questioning the morals of his coworkers that has led to the jeopardized relationship between ConnectCo and their largest client: Symbol Office Solutions. Joe must decide how to approach this conflicting situation as a new member of the company without compromising his own morals and values. Analysis In evaluating the relevant models to address the problem statement there is one model in particular that effectively incorporates several of the models needed to perform an analysis of the corporate culture at ConnectCo; Edgar H. Scheins Model of Organizational Culture. Schein’s model is the most relevant to identify the reason for the symptoms and problems currently facing ConnectCo. The incorporation of the many different aspects to identify the culture of an organization including atifacts, shared values, and shared assumptions enables a thorough review of the culture present at ConnectCo. The following analysis will break down Schein’s model and evaluate each section with the following relevant analysis to get a better understanding of the situation. It will be presented in the following order; artifacts, shared values, shared assumptions. Artifacts Communication within the ConnectCo organization does not represent the ideal scenario for a well-run organization. This lack of proper communication and clarity is unfortunately spilling over into its business dealings with clients. Both represent one of the most evident aspects of the artifacts of the company, the cultural norms that are evident to others and neither is impressive. To begin, this analysis will focus on internal communication and then shift focus to the external communication with other organizations. â€Å"Davis opened up a new message and types a simple e-mail, in case Gallagher picked it up with his Blackberry†. This is but one example of the many e-mail conversations that take place within the ConnectCo organization. The situation that ConnectCo finds themselves in is extremely complicated, owing a client a credit for $81000, yet the medium with which Joe Davis chose to use to relay his message was e-mail. A quick analysis of the media richness hierarchy model shows that in this particular situation, which can be easily identified as non-routine and ambiguous, this medium carries too little data-carrying capacity. If ConnectCo is going to come up with a solution they are going to need to switch to a much richer medium such as face-to-face to get a better understanding of the issue and come up with better outcomes. A second occasion that warrants investigation is the initial email from Joe Davis to Charlie Gallagher. In this initial email he again used to wrong medium to convey the breadth of the issue that is ambiguous and non-routine. Charlie chose to respond in an email as well, with nine words. This will play a factor again in the analysis of the shared values, more specifically the espoused values that leadership (Gallagher) conveys. Communication between the organizations is also very weak, speaking to the weak cultural artifacts of the ConnectCo organization, and possibly Symbol. It has been acknowledged that they do indeed have face to face communications with their customers, Gallagher does meet with Puhl for golfing events face to face, this does not represent an ideal time, however, as the venue is much to informal to discuss business matters as public meetings contain significant noise, literally and figuratively, that may lead to the message being decoded incorrectly. The rest of the communication between the two parties, even between the account relationship manager Chad MacDonald and Steve Puhl was done either by telephone or by email. Another aspect of the artifacts of communication that deserves attention is the construction of the contract. Again, the communication process model is most relevant and one of the simplest ways to word the breakdown is that the contract contained too much noise and was not properly decoded by ConnectCo. The ambiguity of the contract comes from many revisions, some of which were not even available to the relevant employees such as Joe Davis and using words such as â€Å"notwithstanding† which was interpreted differently by Joe Davis, Chad MacDonald, and Charlie Gallagher. This occurred because the contract was not descriptive enough. Another aspect to the artifacts portion of the model of organizational culture is the ceremonies that take place within the organization. These ceremonies are used by certain employees and management to get the attention of an audience. In this particular situation the most evident are the golfing trips that Gallagher takes with clients to cement his position as the most important contact to the clients. And finally, the organizational structure, which has a great effect on culture. ConnectCo currently has a client structure, as negotiated within the contract agreement, the organization will maintain a set number of staff specifically to service that account. Espoused Values â€Å"Our values reflect what is important to us. They are a shorthand way of describing our individual and collective motivations. Together with beliefs, they are the causal factors that drive our decision-making.† (http://www.valuescentre.com/values/?sec=values_overview) The above quote reflects what should be the core of any business, the values shared by all of the different employees congruent to the plan laid out by management for the success of the organization. In Schein`s model shared or espoused values represent the second of the 3 components and the first of the invisible dynamics, as in they cannot be easily observed by others. Richard Barrett, author of Building a Values-Driven Organisation: A Whole System Approach to Cultural Transformation believes that values can be either positive or negative and each can have an equal and opposite effect on the corporations culture. The espoused values must begin as an individual value through some authority figure, such as a founder, senior management, or even an individual with significant power within an organization. These individuals` culture then influences their immediate coworkers, the teams with which they operate, then the organization as a whole. These individuals can therefore set the values for the whole organization regardless of what the dominant culture of the organization through countercultures. The culture of an organisation, or any group of individuals that share a common identity, is a reflection of the values and beliefs of the leaders. (http://www.valuescentre.com/leadership/?sec=leadership__culture) With limited information on the dominant culture of ConnectCo as established by its American head company, which include integrity and trustworthiness, it can only be assumed that the culture that prevails at Connectco is a subculture of the organization as a whole. The following analysis suggests that the counterculture present in ConnectCo is the direct result of the actions of Charlie Gallagher. As the leader in the organization Charlie has had a profound effect on the values and ethics present within the organization. His handling of the Symbol account clearly demonstrates his values and ethics. His position as leader and culture setter warrants investigation based on several components. First, the competency of his leadership will be analyzed incorporating an analysis of his personal values and the source of his power. To begin, Charlie possesses several characteristics of an effective leader. He has significant self-concept, his personality skills are high, he has the motivation to be a leader, and significant knowledge of the business. These competencies push those that work for him to have the same skills as demonstrated in Chad MacDonald; however, his low integrity has also been transmitted to other co-workers. By encouraging Davis to p lay with the numbers and do things that were out of the contract he shows his low integrity. This has led to a lack of trust that is evident from Joe Davis and several other members of the ConnectCo staff throughout the handling of the symbol account. This is not the only negative quality that has displayed. Gallagher also exhibits limited cognitive and practical intelligence. His recommendation to simply `go with the lowest cost` shows a lack of understanding of the situation (and going back to communication) the ambiguity of the situation , this has pervaded to his employees where Chad was more than willing to agree to a band aid solution going against ethical business practices. Neither fully understands the situation and Chad was more than happy to hand off the problem to Joe Davis even though he was the relationship manager on the account and dealing with clients is outside of the scope of work for Joe Davis. The reason for Gallagher`s lack of integrity can be easily explained through the Swartz values circumplex. Clearly, Gallagher is more focused on self-enhancement, his need for achievement is evidenced through the fact that everyone must know that he is the one that negotiated the Symbol account and demonstrated through his golf business trips, as well as his refusal to accept responsibility for poorly negotiating a contract and failing to adhere and communicate the contents of the contracts that he signed. He is also a leader that craves power and prefers significant power distance, as proven by his screening of his employees’ calls and not showing up to the meeting with Joe Davis and Chad MacDonald to clarify the contract for them. Both of these values compromise his integrity and unfortunately those values are only two that his leadership has caused the rest of the organization to adopt, the need for security security being another. Gallagher`s aforementioned need for power is also affecting the culture of the organization. His handling of the Symbol account and the contract shows that he uses a wheel formation of information control to maintain power within the organization. By him going golfing with the big shots at Symbol rather than relationship manager Chad, shows that he needs to maintain that control of information which in turn gives him control over Chad and the account. This is combined with Joe Davis` perception of an upward appeal within the organization that made him rethink his ability to go to the higher ups with the information because he believes that the management will take the side of Gallagher given that they are both MBA graduates. Fear is an influence tactic that Gallagher has wielded to maintain order and obedience from his employees through his connection with the president. The effect on culture is that because employees cannot contact upper management the values that he imposes on the organization will be the ones that dictate how operations are carried out. Indirectly, this is what has causes the problem with ConnectCo and Symbol. Gallagher controlling the information has prevented Chad from acting in the best interest of the company to ensure the contract is followed and that there are no issues. It also means that now since the contract has not been followed the persons involves will use the cultural aspects of poor integrity and dodging that he has used with his employees as Chad demonstrated by dodging Steve Puhl and pushing the problem onto Joe Davis. Shared Assumptions and Values Analysing the shared assumptions of ConnectCo with the Schwartz’s Values Circumplex, we notice that the company talks about wanting to keep their most important client Symbol satisfied by valuing self-transcendence and conservation however their actions and dealing of the contract with Symbol do not reflect those values. The appropriate way to describe the values that ConnectCo tend to go by is self-enhancing. They are working for the client to provide them with everything listed in the contract, in this case a sufficient amount of IAEs, but are hiding information from Symbol to protect their own well-being. This seems to be enforced by Charlie Gallagher as he is telling Joe Davis that they should not have to pay any penalty fees to Symbol for empty seats at the IAE position if there are current individuals in training for that position. Now we will look at the ethical values and behaviour the moral intensity of ConnectCo, more specifically Charlie Gallagher’s ethical s ensitivity to the issue. The degree to which they should be applying ethical principles should be is high because Symbol is their biggest client and has trusted ConnectCo for a few years. However, the intensity being put forth is minimal as they are trying to get out of paying money to Symbol for not having staffed enough IAE’s and they are forcing Joe Davis to go against his values and follow suit. This shows how little Charlie Gallagher cares about ethically conducting operations with clients and co-workers, as Joe Davis is being pressured into complying with Charlie’s demand because he does not want to risk losing his job even though what Charlie is telling him to do is illegal. Taking a look at the conflict process model we find our sources of conflict between, Gallagher, Davis and Steve Puhl from Symbol. The most obvious source is the communication between Gallagher and Puhl. First of all the contract between the two is too vague and open for interpretation as the service level targets have not been defined for almost two years. Charlie is also not communicating the issue of his understanding of the contract, as he is just assuming that they should not have to pay Symbol credit for not having the specified amount of IAE’s because he is claiming that during those times they had individuals in training to fill those positions. Another issue is that even if what Gallagher interpreted was true, he does not have any data to prove that he had employees in training because he failed to communicate to Chad MacDonald, Joe Davis and to Carole Lam the exact details of the contract. This puts Joe in a uncomfortable situation when he receives a call from Steve Puhl and is unsure what the contract requirements. Another source of conflict is the incompatible goals and differentiation between Charlie and Joe. Joe is simply trying to do the right thing because he is new to the company and wants to make a good impression by doing things ethically however Charlie is trying to make it seem like he is fulfilling the terms of the contract by making assumptions of the contract to get away with not having to pay Symbol their deserved credit. Another source of conflict is the scarcity of important resources. As mentioned previously Carole Lam the analyst was never told to keep data on the amount of days and which days that employees were in training. Joe needed this data to complete his work but obviously was unable to retrieve complete and accurate data on employee training. The way that Charlie seems to be handling this conflict is by avoiding communication with clients and co-workers. He is notorious for screening calls, he failed to show up to a meeting with Chad MacDonald and Joe Davis, and when asked how to calculate the credit owed to Symbol he simply tells Davis to use the lowest cost to save ConnectCo money and make himself look good. He also does not seem to be of much help to Joe Davis as Gallagher is the one who began this lack of communication which has led to faulty handling of Symbol’s credit account, and seems to be avoiding Joe Davis. This is causing the rest of the employees to obey his ideas beca use they have no idea what the contract actually calls for and even if they did know, would likely be unwilling to challenge his decisions because he is higher up in the company. Alternatives Alternative #1: Bring these numbers and issues to the President and CEO Pros| Cons| * Issues dealing with the Symbol account get addressed * Issues with the culture of the organization get addressed * Issues are addressed to an authority that can fix these problems and remove the negative counterculture * Keeps the organization from committing accounting fraud like other companies (Enron) * Brings to light all the ethical issues surrounding Charlie Gallagher and Chad MacDonald * Addresses turnover issues that have become routine in the company| * This act could cause tension between Joe and his direct superior (Gallagher) * There is a risk that the President sees this act as disloyal * Working with Gallagher and MacDonald after bringing their issues to light will be difficult moving forward * President/CEO may share the same dysfunctional attitude towards the culture in the organization| This alternative should include him making an appointment with the President/CEO and bringing analyst Carole Lam to help support his findings. She is well aware with the financial numbers and how Gallagher is letting ConnectCo take money from their top client. This meeting needs to be face-to-face in order to bring about the severity of the conflicting situation. The meeting needs to include all facets of the organizations current lack of corporate ethical values and which individuals must be held accountable. Joe must conclude that if there are immediate corporate culture changes, he would still like to keep working with Gallagher and MacDonald and build a trusting and functional working relationship with both. This will help ease the tension between himself and his immediate superior as well as showing the President that he is capable of handling mismanagement. This alternative is highly recommended and addresses all the facets of this situation. Alternative #2: Quit and find another job Pros| Cons| * Joe no longer has to deal with the resoundingly shaky ethical structure and poor communication at ConnectCo * Joe doesn’t become a â€Å"part of the problem† * Joe no longer has to deal with Gallagher’s lack of trust and consideration with their top clientele at his cost * Joe doesn’t become an accomplice to committing accounting fraud| * Leaving an organization after only one month doesn’t look good to future prospective employers * This would go against his newly engaged fiancà ©e who wanted to see him â€Å"get off the road† * No severance package * No recommendation or verbal support from ConnectCo once he leaves| This alternative does not come recommended as it leaves Joe and ConnectCo with an uncertain future. Should Joe decide to leave the company, he would not get a severance package and future employers will wonder why he lasted only a month at his previous job making it more difficult to find employment opportunities. Also, his fiancà ©e did not want his moving around for work a lot and two jobs in less than two months will leave his situation at home stressful. Also, should prospective employers contact ConnectCo, they would have no reason to support Joe for his limited work. Although Joe does not have to deal with this poor corporate culture, running away from the situation does not help in any positive way. Alternative #3: Try to resolve issue without Chad MacDonald or Charlie Gallagher Pros| Cons| * Helps ease relationship between ConnectCo and Symbol * Steve Puhl does not have to deal with Chad (who he is getting nowhere with) * Joe can try to incorporate cultural changes to those he can * Has Carole Lam to help him fix the financial disparities of the comapny| * Leaving Chad and Charlie in the dark is risky * Steve Puhl may accidently contact Chad or Charlie and miscommunication may occur * Does not address how to fix the imminent turnover issues surrounding the IAE’s * Not reporting these changes with his superior could cost him his job| Because Joe handles the reporting side of the company, it would go against his responsibilities as an employee to bring up any new information regarding Symbol and can be subject to his employment being terminated if Gallagher was to find out. This alternative is incredibly risky, but does see some rewards. These rewards include easing the relationship between ConnectCo and Symbol and slowly changing the culture in the corporation as best he can. Unfortunately, he is only just a manager and a new one, so it would be hard for him to get others to respond to his command when there hasn’t been enough relationship development between his other employees. With this in mind, it is best to look at other alternatives. Recommendation Our recommendation is based off of Alternative #1, in which we suggest brining the financial statements and issues to the attention of the President and CEO. This will allow us to ensure that all problems in relation to the Symbol account and the culture of the organization are addressed accordingly. This will also shed light on the ethical issues that need to be addressed, surrounding Gallagher and MacDonald. As well, it will prevent any consequences from occurring, resulting from accounting fraud. Once Joe Davis meets with the President and CEO to inform them of his findings, it will be up to the President to create and urgency for change within the organization. In order to implement this change we would recommend the use of Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Model. By implementing this model the President could unfreeze the current situation, change the organizational culture and ethics of the company, and then freeze the company in that state. By doing so the company would chan ge into operating with a more socially responsible client first attitude. By creating urgency for change the President could use client satisfaction as a driving force to push the employees, in order to ensure each client receives the customer service they deserve. By ensuring the client is always receiving social and ethical treatment, it will drive away any restraining forces, such as lack of integrity, which can be attributed to the accounting fraud. Now we can consider how the President could unfreeze and re-freeze the company in order to complete the change. The President should focus on creating an adaptive culture, in which the company will have an external focus. By creating an external focus the employees will realize that the organizations success depends on continuous change to be a more stakeholder and client oriented company. In this situation it means focusing on changing into a more socially and ethically aware organization to better serve the clients. There is also an internal focus that must be implemented as well. This includes employees working towards the organizational goals that are set. In this situation the organizational goals would be to provide better customer service. As well by creating an adaptive culture, employees would have a stronger sense of ownership within the organization, and therefore take more responsibility for their performance and tasks. Therefore we believe that since a company’s culture often reflects the leader’s personality, it really is up to the President to make the steps necessary to change the organization. One final step we would recommend taking, is to fire Charlie Gallagher. The basis of firing Gallagher is the fact that he was trying to commit accounting fraud. Therefore the company would have just cause for his dismissal. By firing Gallagher, this would also be the first step towards creating a socially and ethically driven company; Gallagher is simply a restraining force that is preventing the organization from making that move towards a better organizational culture. Action Plan Our recommendation is often referred to as whistle blowing, which is when a company employee goes public or to his superiors with private information that could hurt the company. This technique is usually used when social and ethical responsibilities are being neglected or ignored. While it may seem simple enough, the process is far from smooth and the employee doing the whistle blowing is often made out to be a burnt out low level employee who is unhappy. So before Joe does anything of the sort he must be prepared for anything to happen. The best way to approach this alternative would be: 1. Collect all relevant information and be prepared to present your case and be able to answer any and all questions 2. No president of CEO wants to hear that their company’s values and ethics are being compromised, so he must prepare a plan B in order to protect himself from media and personal scrutiny. 3. Joe must schedule a face-to-face meeting with the CEO to ensure that there is no outs ide noise or misinterpretations with his information and language 4. When presenting his findings, Joe must deliver his message in a way that is not an attack or critique. He must not point out what is wrong but what needs to be improved and why. 5. As part of his presentation Joe needs to incorporate his own recommendations and action plan. Once he goes through with this meeting there is not turning back. The recommendation and action plan should follow a similar tone to what was mentioned above, it should not only identify the problems but what needs to be done to fix them and how to go about fixing them. 6. After the meeting is over all Joe can do is wait for the decisions by the CEO and board of governors. At this point in time a lot of different things can happen and Joe needs to be prepared for any outcome. The optimistic outcome would be to have your action plan ready to implement and begin fixing the company. The pessimistic outcome would be that they reject his action plan and making his career a nightmare. If this were the case Joe should be prepared to look for another job, or be prepared to defend himself from public scrutiny. Joe is caught in the middle of a lose-lose situation, so his best alternative is the lesser of two evils. It is difficult being the new guy in a company, especially when you’re the one telling that what they are doing is wrong. However, sometimes it takes an outside perspective to identify the problems that have gone unnoticed for too long. If Joe can present a clear and strong case that does not personally offend the CEO, and present the opportunities for improvement, the process should run as smooth as possible.

Optimal Reactive Power Planning By Using Evolutionary Engineering Essay

Optimal Reactive Power Planning By Using Evolutionary Engineering Essay This paper presents a methodology for solving Optimal Reactive Power Planning (ORPP) problem by using Evolutionary Programming (EP) Optimization Technique in order to improve the voltage stability and minimize the losses in the power system. This study has developed the Evolutionary Programming (EP) Optimization Technique using MATLAB software. The study tested two fitness functions namely total loss minimization and the voltage stability improvement in power system with two different mutation technique. Comparison in the results obtained was made in order to determine the best fitness function and the best mutation technique to be used for solving ORPP and hence the voltage stability is improved. The proposed technique was tested on the IEEE 26 bus reliability test system. Keywords: Optimal Reactive Power Planning (ORPP), Voltage Stability Improvement, Evolutionary Programming (EP) I. INTRODUCTION In general, the problem of optimal reactive power planning (ORPP) can be defined as to determine the amount and location of shunt reactive power compensation devices needed for minimum cost while keeping an adequate voltage profile. The ORPP is one of the most challenging problems since objective functions, the operation cost and the investment cost of new reactive power sources, should be minimized simultaneously [1]. Transmission loss can be minimised by performing reactive power planning which involves optimisation process. The ORPP is a large-scale nonlinear optimization problem with a large number of variables and uncertain parameters. Various mathematical optimization algorithms have been developed for the ORPP, which in most cases; use nonlinear [2], linear [3], or mixed integer programming [4], and decomposition methods [5-8]. However, these conventional techniques are known to converge to a local optimal solution rather than the global one for problems such as ORPP which have many local minima. Recently, evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have been used for optimization; in particular both the genetic algorithm and evo1ution programming have been used in the ORPP problem. The EA is a powerful optimization technique analogous to the natural selection process in genetics. It is useful especially when other optimization methods fail in finding the optimal solution [1]. Evolutionary Programming (EP) optimization technique is recently applied in solving electric power system optimization problems. It is part of the Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) optimization techniques under the artificial intelligence hierarchy. Optimization is an important issue in power system operation and planning particularly in the area of voltage stability studies [9]. In this study, EP engine was initially developed to implement the optimisation process considering two mutation techniques, each with two different objective functions. Comparative studies performed in this study aimed to identify the most suitabl e mutation technique with the best objective function for minimising transmission loss in power system and also improving the voltage stability. The parameters for this problem are: generated reactive power (Qg), injected reactive power (Qinj) and transformer tap (T). Validation on the effectiveness of the proposed technique was conducted on the IEEE-26 reliability test system. Figure 1: The IEEE 26 bus test system II. OBJECTIVES The two objective functions of this study are: To obtain the total loss minimization To improve the voltage stability Where: Total_Loss is total loss minimization LQNmax is voltage stability improvement III. BACKGROUND STUDIES A. Optimal Reactive Power Planning (ORPP) Optimal Reactive Power Planning (ORPP) is a sub-problem of Optimal Power Flow solution which has been widely used in power system operation and planning to determine the optimal control parameter settings, in order to minimize or maximize the desired objective function while satisfying a set of systems constraint. Reactive Power Planning (RPP) involves in optimizing the transformer tap setting, injection of reactive power at generator and load bus so as to fulfill the objective function. Since the OPF approach is commonly concerned with the security and economic operation of the power system, Economic Dispatch (ED) technique is also adopted in RPP scheme. The value of active power generated by the generator is also adjusted in the approach. [11] ORPP is a nonlinear programming problem which has the following mathematical formulation: Maximize or minimize f(x, u) (3) subject to g(x, u) =0 (4) hmin à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ h(x, u) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ hmax (5) where u is the vector of control variables and x is the vector of dependent variables. f(x, u) is the objective function, while g(x, u) is the nodal power constraints with hmin à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ h(x, u) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ hmax are the inequality constraints of the dependent and independent variables. B. Evolutionary Programming (EP) EP is one of the popular techniques which fall under the Evolutionary Computation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) hierarchy and increasingly applied for solving power system optimization problem in recent years. A new population is formed from an existing population through the use of a mutation operator. This operator produces a new solution by perturbing each component of an existing solution by a random amount. The degree of optimality is measured by the fitness, which can be defined as the objective function of the problem [12]. Through the use of a ranking scheme, the candidate solutions in each population were sorted in ascending order according to the number of the best population. The best population form a resultant population is referred as the next generation. The ranking scheme must have more optimal solutions which has a greater chance of survival than the poorer solutions. It is a stochastic optimization strategy, which based on the mechanics of natural selections-mutation, competition and evolution. This technique stressed on the behavioural linkage between parents and their offspring. In general, EP consists of 3 major steps which briefly discussed as follow [12], [13]: i. Initialization The initial population of ÃŽÂ ¼ individuals consists of (xi, ÆÅ ¾i), ˆ¦i à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ {1, 2,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¼} are generated randomly based on its limit, whereby xi denotes the control variable and ÆÅ ¾i is the strategic parameter with respect to xi. The fitness is calculated for each individual based on its objective function, f(xi). ii. Mutation a) First Mutation Technique Each parent (xi, ÆÅ ¾i), i=1,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, ÃŽÂ ¼, creates a single offspring (xi, ÆÅ ¾i), where xi and ÆÅ ¾i are given by: xi (j) = xi (j) + ÆÅ ¾i (j) Nj (0, 1) (6) ÆÅ ¾i (j) = ÆÅ ¾i (j) exp (à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ N (0, 1) + à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ Nj (0, 1)) (7) and à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = ((2(n)  ½)  ½)-1 (8) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾= ((2n)  ½)-1 (9) xi (j), xi'(j), ÆÅ ¾i(j) and ÆÅ ¾i'(j) are the j-th component of the vectors xi, xi, ÆÅ ¾i and ÆÅ ¾i respectively. N(0,1) represents a normally distributed one-dimensional random number with mean zero and standard deviation 1. Nj(0,1) denotes that the random number is generated anew for each value of j. Subsequently, the fitness is calculated for each offspring. b) Proposed Mutation Technique The proposed mutation rule was inspired by neural network back propagation learning. The following three equations are employed for perturbing the parents to generate their offspring: In these equations, xij [k] [k] is the jth variable of an ith individual at the kth generation. The learning rate, ÆÅ ¾, and the momentum rate, ÃŽÂ ±, are real-valued constants that are determined empirically. |.| denotes an absolute value and N represents the normal distribution. Άxij [k] is the amount of change in an individual, which is proportional to the temporal error, and it drives the individual to evolve close to the best individual at the next generation. It may be viewed as a tendency of the other individuals to take after or emulate the best individual in the current generation. sxij [k] is the evolution tendency or momentum of previous evolution. It accumulates evolution information and tends to accelerate convergence when the evolution trajectory is moving in a consistent direction [14]. The best individual is mutated only by the momentum. This expands the exploitation range and increases the possibility for escaping from local minima. acci[k] in (10) is defined as follows. acci[k] = 1; if the current update has improved cost, 0; otherwise. (10) iii. Combination and Selection In combination stage, the union of parents and offspring are ranked in ascending or descending order according to its fitness and purpose of the optimisation. Hence, the top ÃŽÂ ¼ individuals are selected to be parents for the next generation. The process of mutation, combination and selection are repeated until the stopping criterion is met. In this paper, the stopping criterion is taken to be the convergence of fitness value. IV. METHODOLOGY Figure 3 explained the overall methodology for the evolutionary programming optimization technique to solve ORPP. The produced offspring vector must satisfy and consider the constraints as at the initialization. The main concept of EP is the mutation process. Then continues with learning about the MATLAB software and tested the IEEE 26-Bus Test System to observe initial values which are total power loss, initial minimum and maximum voltages and the initial line stability index (LQP LQN). These initial values have been taken by considering the unstable transmission lines in the test system (IEEE 26-BUS). The unstable line means the line stability index value is close to 1.00. The unstable voltage is when the value is not within the range of (0.90à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤Và ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤1.10). Figure 3: The flow chart for the EP optimization technique The EP program was developed and the analysis of the result is tested based on objective function of the project such as minimize total loss and the voltage stability improvement. Then, the program has been run for five times for each type of objective function. Finally, this project has been concluded and the report has been written. A. Development of EP for Optimal Reactive Power Planning The optimal reactive power planning problems has been tested on the IEEE 26 bus test system. The two objective functions tested are: Fitness1 = Total_Loss; Fitness2 = LQNmax; To find the solution of the problem, the parameters d were decided. The parameters were: Reactive Power of Generator Bus Table 1 shows the parameters and size of reactive power of generation bus. There are five generator buses in IEEE 26-bus test system: Bus 2, 3, 4, 5 and 26. The size of each bus is as below. Table 1: Parameters and size of reactive power of generator bus Parameter Bus Size (MVar) Qg2 2 0 to 50 Qg3 3 0 to 40 Qg4 4 0 to 35 Qg5 5 0 to 30 Qg26 26 0 to 20 2. Injected Reactive Power to the Bus Table 2 shows the parameters and size of injected reactive power to the bus. It shows that there is nine buses have been injected by reactive power. The buses are as below. The unit of the injected reactive power is in MVar. Table 2: Parameters and size of injected reactive power to the bus Parameter Bus Size (MVar) C1 1 0 to 9 C4 4 0 to 9 C5 5 0 to 9 C6 6 0 to 9 C9 9 0 to 9 C11 11 0 to 9 C12 12 0 to 9 C15 15 0 to 9 C19 19 0 to 9 3. Transformer Tap at the Transmission Line Table 3 shows the parameters and size of transformer tap at transmission line. It shows that there is seven transformer tap change at transmission line in IEEE 26-bus test system. The size of each transformer tap is (0.9 to 1.2). Table 3: Parameters and size of transformer tap at the transmission line Parameter Line Size (p.u) T1 2-3 0.9 to 1.2 T2 2-13 0.9 to 1.2 T3 3-13 0.9 to 1.2 T4 4-8 0.9 to 1.2 T5 4-12 0.9 to 1.2 T6 6-19 0.9 to 1.2 T7 7-9 0.9 to 1.2 The EP process is initialization, mutation, rank and selection and convergence test. 4.1.1 Initialization Initial population of size 20 is formed by a set of randomly generated actual value. Each member is tested using equation (12) (17) as below. Equations (12) (16) are the generation constraints. The bus voltage limits in equation (17) are stated in order to avoid any violation to the system operation. The total loss limit in equation (18) is stated in order to avoid the losses greater than the initial values. 0MVar à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ Qg2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 50MVar (12) 0MVar à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ Qg3 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 40MVar (13) 0MVar à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ Qg4 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 35MVar (14) 0MVar à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ Qg5 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 30MVar (15) 0MVar à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ Qg26 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 20MVar (16) 0.90V à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Và ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 1.10V (17) Total Losses à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 16 (18) The generated random numbers must be smaller than the initial solution set in order to make sure that fitness will be improved. Only the member that satisfy the constraints are included in the initial population set. 4.1.2 Mutation Mutation is a method to execute the random number to produce offspring. An offspring vector Li is created from each parent vector by adding Gaussian random with zero mean and standard deviation. 4.1.3 Rank and Selection The offspring populations generated form mutation process is merged with the parent populations. The selection process is to generate a new 20 populations based on the objective function of total losses minimization and the voltage stability improvement. All of members were sorted in ascending order to produce the best twenty or the strongest twenty populations for next generation. 4.1.4 Convergence test The stopping criteria in order to obtain the optimal solution are by looking at the difference in maximum fitness and minimum fitness which must less then certain values. If not achieved, the process will be repeated until it converged. Where: Total_Lossmax- Total_Lossmin LQNmax LQNmin V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION An EP optimization technique has been developed in this study and tested on IEEE 26-bus test system. The objective function is to minimize the total power loss and to improve the voltage stability in power system. The program has been developed to find the optimal value of control variables based on each objective functions. However, before this program was run, load flow solution for the IEEE 26-bus test system was obtained to determine the initial values. The initial total power loss and stability index is 18.986 MW and 0.754 respectively. For each objective function the program was run five times and the results were tabulated in tables according to the objective function. Then the best result for each objective function was selected and tabulated in Table 1 in the Appendix A in order to make a comparison between the two objective functions. According to the result which tabulated in Table 1 in the Appendix A, it was found that EP optimization technique with voltage stability improvement as the objective function give the best result which is total power loss of 14.462 MW and stability index of 0.717. The EP optimization technique with total power loss minimization as the objective function give results 14.987 MW. The EP optimization technique using proposed mutation rule with voltage stability improvement as objective function, the result MW and for the total power loss and stability index respectively. According Table 4, the total power loss and stability index is 15.534 MW and 0.734 respectively. The result after solve the Optimal Reactive Power Planning (ORPP) is 13.019 MW and 0.699. The percentage reduction for total power loss and stability index after solves the ORPP is 16.19 % and 4.77 %. Table 4: Comparison results before and after solves the Optimal Reactive Power Planning Terms Before Solve ORPP After Solve ORPP Total Power Loss (MW) 15.534 13.019 Stability Index, LQNmax 0.734 0.699 VI. CONCLUSION An evolutionary programming optimization technique has been developed to optimize the real power of generator bus, the reactive power and transformer tap control variables for minimal total cost of generation, total power loss and voltage stability improvement. In this paper, the total cost minimization is the best objective function for minimization of total cost, total power loss and stability index is reduced. The percentage reduction for the total cost and total power loss is acceptable. The percentage reduction of stability index is the highest. The percentage reduces for the total cost, total power loss and stability index is 7.77 %, 16.19 % and 4.77 % respectively. This is the acceptable and reasonable percentage reduction as compared to other objective functions. Therefore voltage stability improvement may not have to be the objective function in order to improve the voltage stability condition of a power system in solving the OPF. VII. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT For future development, the other optimization techniques are proposed to be implemented in solving the ORPP in order to minimize the total power system losses and especially to improve the voltage stability in larger power system. Further modification should be included to get more accurate results for example using different mutation rules and selection strategies. VIII. REFERENCES [1] Kwang. Y. Lee and Frank F. Yang Department of Electrical Engineering The Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802, Optimal Reactive Power Planning Using Evolutionalry Algorithms: A Comparative Study for Evolutionary Programming, Evolutionary Strategy, Genetic Algorithm, and Linear Programming; IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 13, No. 1, February 1998 [2] R. Billington and S. S. Sachdev, Optimum network VAR planning by nonlinear programming IEEE Trans. on Power Appar. and Syst., Vol. PAS-92, pp. 6 [3] T. Heydt and W. M. Grady, Optimal Var siting using linear load flow formulation, IEEE Trans. on Power Appar. and Syst., pp. 1214-1222. Vol. PAS-102, No. 5, May 1983. [3] K. Aoki, M. Fan, and A. Nishkori, Optimal Var planning by approximation method for recursive mixed integer linear planning, IEEE Trans. on Power Syst.,Vol. PWRS-3, No. 4, pp. 1741-1747, November 1988. [4] K. Y. Lee, Y. M. Park, and J. L. Oritz, A united approach to optimal real and reactive power dispatch, IEEE Trans. on Power Appar. and Syst., Vol. PAS-104, pp. 1147-1153, May 1985. [SI K. Y. Lee, J. L. Ortiz, Y. M. Park, andL. G. Pond, An optimization technique for reactive power planning of subtransmission network under normal operation, IEEE Trans. on Power Syst., Vol. PWRS-1, pp. 153-159, May 1986. [6] M. K. Mangoli, K. Y. Lee, and Y. M. Park, Operational real and reactive power control using linear programming, Electric Power Systems Research,[7] M. K. Mangoli, K. Y. Lee, andY. M. Park, Optimal long-term reactive power planning using decomposition techniques, Electric Power System Research, Vol. 26, Rana Mukerji, Wendell Neugebauer, Richard P. Ludorf and Armand Catelli, Evaluation of Wheeling and Non-Utility Generation (NUG) Options using Optimal Power Flows, IEEE Transaction on Power Systems, Vol. 7, No. 1, February 1992. [3] Kessel and Glavitsch> Estimating the Voltage Stability of a Power System, IEEE Transaction on Power Delivery, Vol. PWRD-1, NO. 3, July 1986, pp 346-352. [4] Jason Yuryevich and Kit Po Wong, Evolutionary Programming Based Optimal Power Flow Algorithm, IEEE Transaction on Power Systems, Vol. 14, No. 4, November 1999, pp 1245-1250. [5] A.M. Chebbo, M.R. Irving. M.J.H Collapse Proximity Indicator: Behaviour and Implications, IEE Proceedings -C, Vol. 139, No. 3, May 1992. [6] Mahmoud Moghavvemi, New Method for Indicating Voltage Stability Condition in Power System, Proceedings of IEE International Power Engineering Conference, IPEC97, Singapore, pp. 223-227. [7] Jason Yuryevich, Student Member IEEE, Evolutionary Programming Based Optimal Power Flow Algorithm, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 14, No. 4, November 1999. [8] Salami, M. and Cain, G., Multiple Genetic Algorithm Processor for The Economic Power Dispatch Problem, Proceeding of the genetic algorithm in engineering systems: Innovations and Applications, Conference Publication No. 414, IEE, 1995, pp 188-193. [9] I Musirin and T K Abdul Rahman, On-Line Voltage Stability Index for Voltage Collapse Prediction in Power System, presented at Brunei International Conference on Engineering and Technology 2001 (BICET2001), Brunei. October 2001. [10] Toro, V.D., Electric Power System, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1992. [11] Whats Evolutionary Programming, http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ai-faq/genetic/part2/section-3.html. [12] Leandro Nunes de Castro and Fernando Jose Von Zuben, Artificial Immune System:Part 1- Basic Theory and Applications, Technical report TR-DCA 01/99. 1999. [13] Slobodan Pajic, Dr Kevin A. Clements, Dr. Paul W. Davis and Dr Alexander E. Emanuel, Sequential Quadratic Programming Base Contingency Constraint Optimal Power Flow, Degree of Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, April, 29 2003. [14] Fogel , D.B. : A comparison of evolutionary programming and genetic algorithms on selected constrained optimization problems, Simulation, June,1995,pp.397-404. [15] Yao, X., Liu, Y. and Lin, G., (1999) Evolutionary programming made faster, IEEE Trans. Evolutionary Computation. vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 82-102. [16] Miller, R.H. and Malinnowski, J.H., Power System Operation, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994. Appendix A Table 1: Results of EP Optimization Technique Objective Function Control Variables/ Parameters of OPF Total Cost ($/h) Total Power Loss (MW) Stability Index, LQNmax Time Taken (s) Real Power of Generator Bus (MW) Injected Reactive Power (Mvar) Transformer Tap (p.u) Pg2 Pg3 Pg4 Pg5 Pg26 C1 C4 C5 C6 C9 C11 C12 C15 C19 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 Total Power Loss Minimization 163.12 281.14 146.07 147.94 92.11 5.95 4.79 0.39 5.39 5.23 1.40 4.23 5.43 3.83 0.96 0.99 1.04 0.96 0.96 0.96 0.91 15449.1 12.132 0.767 11843 Voltage Stability Improvement 110.35 287.28 128.95 163.42 97.14 1.24 1.28 2.36 1.05 2.58 0.76 4.50 2.19 2.39 0.94 1.00 0.96 1.11 1.05 0.90 0.98 15523.1 14.461 0.713 6358

Dickinson Vs. Whitman Essay -- essays research papers

Dickinson vs. Whitman After receiving five years of schooling, Walt Whitman spent four years learning the printing trade; Emily Dickinson returned home after receiving schooling to be with her family and never really had a job. Walt Whitman spent most of his time observing people and New York City. Dickinson rarely left her house and she didn't associate with many people other than her family. In this essay I will be comparing Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Emily Dickinson's life differs greatly from the life of Walt Whitman, although they lived during the same time period. Walt Whitman published practically all his poetry during his lifetime, but Emily Dickinson only published seven of her poems during her lifetime. Actually, her poetry wasn't published until after her death. Both Whitman and Dickinson were poetic pioneers because of the new ideas they used in their poetry. Emily Dickinson did not write for an audience, but Walt Whitman wrote for an audience about several national events. The forms each poet used are different as well. The rhyme in the poetry by Whitman is drastically different from the poetry written by Dickinson, because Whitman didn't use any rhyme. Emily Dickinson grew up in Amherst, Mass, and Walt Whitman grew up in New York City, New York; this is one way that these poets' lives differ. The main people that influenced Emily Dickinson were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emily Bronte. Walt Whitman was influenced by many people, some of which were: Elias Hicks, James Macpherson and William Shakespeare. Whitman read many book reviews by many people; from these, he realized Emerson was very influential. Whitman was also influenced by the Bible, his walks in New York City, Tom Paine, and a strong love for music. After Whitman started preparing to be a poet, he said he was merely "simmering," but the ideas of Emerson brought him to a "boil." Dickinson wasn't addressing anyone in particular through her poetry, but Whitman addressed the citizens of the United States, most of the time, through his writings. After reading "The Poet" by Emerson and seeing how he defined the role of the poet in democracy, Whitman was eager to assume that role. Whitma n loved to have his picture taken and there are many pictures of him. Dickinson only allowed her picture to be taken once and did so reluctantly. Neither Dickinson nor Whi... ...n wrote about the Civil War. Dickinson often wrote about death and nature. The punctuation is drastically different as well. Whitman used mostly traditional punctuation in his poetry, but in the poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" he used a big amount of dashes: "Beat! beat! drums!-blow! bugles! blow! Through the windows-through the doors-burst like a ruthless force." Dickinson used a form of punctuation unique to her poetry as well as capitalization. She used irregular capitalization to emphasize certain words for example, in the poem "This is My Letter to the World," she capitalized the words, World, Me, News, Nature, Majesty, Message, Hands, Her, and Sweet. She did this because those things were important to her. Walt Whitman's and Emily Dickinson's lives were very different, although they lived during the same time period. Each poet chose to be around certain people and things. Those people and things they chose to be around greatly influenced their poetry. The forms and subjects are different because they liked writing about things that happened in their lives. They are both innovators in poetry because they chose to change common things in writing poetry.

Cause and Effect Paper for School

In the past three months Ruth Disselkoen, has cut her breaks short to complete her work, complains of being tired, and twice a month requires overtime hours, which causes the company an additional $200. 00 a month; on the other hand, Frank Daley, has complained about the her poor work quality. Whereas, Jack Snyder seems to have little work to do, he arrive late twice a week, he takes extra breaks; although his work is always professionally completed. Even though, nothing has changed in their personal lives.I would like to have interpersonal meeting with both Jack Snyder, and Ruth Disselkoen to investigate the root of the problem, so I can determine my next course of action, and if I have the authority to implement any of the changes necessary that will eventually stop costing the company and extra $200. 00 monthly. Since Jessica Hilo’s is out on a Leave of Absence and her work assignments have been split up amongst Jack and Ruth. Jessica Hilo is one of Jack Snyder’s bos ses so; it is only fair that Jack is responsible for Jessica Hilo’s work load, and not Ruth Disselkoen.I have noticed that this entire problem began three months ago when Jessica Hilo’s took a Leave of absence and some of her work load was reassigned to Ruth Disselkoen. I believe that Jessica Hilo’s, work is causing Ruth to cut her breaks short and work overtime twice a month. Therefore, I will discuss this with the Human Resources Director, Liz, Jakowski, and I will present the idea of giving Jessica Hilo’s, entire work load to Jack Snyder, and this course of action will eliminate the monetary expenditure of $200. 00 that the company is paying monthly for overtime. I will wait for Liz Jakowski, response to determine my next course of action.

Diversification Strategies Essays

Diversification Strategies Essays Diversification Strategies Essay Diversification Strategies Essay Diversification is a signifier of corporate scheme to increase profitableness of a company through greater gross revenues volume obtained from new merchandises and new markets. It occurs either at the concern unit degree or at the corporate degree. It is a hazard direction technique that mixes a broad assortment of investings within a portfolio. It attempts to smooth out unmethodical hazard events in a group so that the positive public presentation of some investings will neutralize the negative public presentation of others. Companies may diversify for strategic aims. expected outcomes. valuable comparing between scheme and enlargement. Some companies diversify by suppressing new places through amalgamations and acquisitions whiles others diversify when there are non much growing chances for the market they are in. There are many grounds for prosecuting a variegation scheme. but most pertain to management’s desire for the organisation to turn. Companies must make up ones mind whether they want to diversify by traveling into related or unrelated concerns. They must so make up ones mind whether they want to spread out by developing the new concern or by purchasing an on-going concern. There are advantages to variegation. beyond merely spread outing one’s merchandise line. For illustration. a diversified company is potentially better insulated against a loss of gross in one concern tranche. Diversification schemes are used to spread out firms’ operations by adding markets. merchandises. services. or phases of production to the bing concern. The intent of variegation is to let the company to come in new lines of concern that are different from current operations. When the new venture is strategically related to the bing lines of concern. it is called homocentric variegation. On the other manus. when the new and the old concerns are unrelated it is classified as Conglomerate variegation which occurs when there is no common yarn of strategic tantrum or relationship between the new and old lines of concern. intending the new and old concerns are unrelated. Compare and contrast the two businesses- core concern. their size. financials. planetary presence. usage of e-business ( selling. gross revenues. etc. ) . Johnson A ; Johnson Inc. – Successful Johnson A ; Johnson is an American transnational pharmaceutical company founded in 1886. fabrication unfertile surgical supplies. Its nucleus concern is the fabrication of medical devices and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a constituent of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is listed among the Fortune 500. The corporation has grown to hold more than 250 runing companies in 60 states using about 116. 000 people. bring forthing medical specialties and medical devices. every bit good as consumer merchandises like healthful goods. babe shampoo and dental floss. National Semiconductor Corporation – Unsuccessful National Semiconductor Company has an international repute for semiconducting materials. The pioneering bit shaper offers a assortment of incorporate circuits ( ICs ) . particularly linear and mixed-signal ( intermixing parallel and digital maps ) french friess. Its merchandises focus on parallel french friess. which transform physical information – visible radiation. sound. force per unit area. even radio moving ridges – into informations that a computing machine can utilize. National Semi’s french friess are used in radio. networking. medical. solar. automotive. and industrial applications. It gets more than 75 % of gross revenues from clients outside the US. mostly to contract makers that serve its OEM clients. In the seventiess. the company tried to do electronic consumer merchandises in add-on to the semi-conductors that went inside them. Compare and contrast their results ( one successful. one unsuccessful ) Johnson A ; Johnson Johnson A ; Johnson is a diversified health care company that develops. industries and markets merchandises in three primary lines of concern: Pharmaceuticals ( 41 % of gross revenues ) . Medical Devices and Diagnostics ( 35 % ) and Consumer Products. Since the 1900s. the company has pursued steady variegation. It added consumer merchandises in the 1920s and created a separate division for surgical merchandises in 1941 which became Ethicon Inc. It expanded into pharmaceuticals with the purchase of McNeil Laboratories Inc. . Cilag. and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. and into women’s healthful merchandises and toilet articless in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent old ages. Johnson A ; Johnson has expanded into such diverse countries as biopharmaceuticals. orthopaedic devices. and Internet publication. Recently. Johnson A ; Johnson has purchased Pfizer’s Consumer Healthcare section. The passage from Pfizer to Johnson and Johnson was completed December 18. 2006. National Semiconductor Corporation The company wasn’t suited for retail fabrication. and was crushed by companies that were. By the clip digital tickers became popular in America ; National had been driven from the market place. agony losingss that overshadowed its success in semiconducting materials. Analyze the three primary grounds for the different results. First. Johnson A ; Johnson diversified into points that are strategically related to the company’s bing lines of concern. Johnson A ; Johnson is a diversified health care company that develops. industries and markets merchandises in three primary lines of concern: pharmaceuticals. medical devices and nosologies and Consumer Products. On the other manus. National Semiconductor Corporation entered into the production of unrelated merchandises which is non common yarn of strategic tantrum or relationship between the new and old lines of concern. intending the new and old concerns are unrelated. Second. Johnson A ; Johnson diversified through amalgamations and acquisitions of new companies. For case. it expanded into pharmaceuticals with the purchase of McNeil Laboratories Inc. . Cilag. and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. and into women’s healthful merchandises and toilet articless in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent old ages. Johnson A ; Johnson has expanded into such diverse countries as biopharmaceuticals. orthopaedic devices. and Internet publication. Recently. Johnson A ; Johnson has purchased Pfizer’s Consumer Healthcare section. The passage from Pfizer to Johnson and Johnson was completed December 18. 2006. On the other manus. National Semiconductor Corporation entered into variegation to do electronic consumer merchandises in add-on to the semi-conductors that went inside them. They did non ship on growing scheme through acquisition and amalgamations. They had stiff resistance and were crushed by companies suited for retail fabrication. Last. Johnson A ; Johnson variegation scheme is good matched to the strengths of its top direction squad members which are factored into the success of that scheme. On the other manus. National Semiconductor Company top executives did non pull off variegation efficaciously. Recommend two actions the unsuccessful 1 could hold made to do their variegation venture successful First is that National Semiconductor should guarantee a variegation scheme which is good matched to the strengths of its top direction squad members and factored into the success of that scheme. Different variegation schemes require different accomplishments on the portion of a company’s top directors. and that factors should be taken into consideration before houses are joined. For case. the success of a amalgamation may non depend merely on how incorporate the connection houses become. but besides on how good suited top executives are to pull off that attempt. Secondly National Semiconductor should diversify into related merchandises where they can command the market. To reason. I must state that if variegation scheme is done strategically to associate to the company’s bing line of concern or diversified through amalgamations and acquisitions of new companies with the support of its top direction squad members. so its aim of growing and hazard pickings can be achieved.

The Slaughterhouse Five or the Childrens Crusades

The Slaughterhouse Five or the Childrens Crusades Free Online Research Papers Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is a fourth-generation German-American now living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much). As an American infantry scout and a prisoner of war, he witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, and survived to tell the tale. He grew up in the Midwest during the depression. He entered the American Infantry during World War II at the age of 18, was captured by the German forces, and watched the Allied bombers destroy Dresden, which was the main influence for The Slaughterhouse. The Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children’s Crusade, A Duty Dance With Death by Kurt Vonnegut is a schizophrenic story that shows one man traveling in time to learn the beauty of the connection of death and free will and is used by Vonnegut as a form of self cleansing. Though time travel is normally thought of as a psychotic abnormal adventure, Vonnegut’s main character Billy Pilgrim suffers from post-trauma psychosis, which causes him to violently toss him back and forth throughout the different times in his life. A medical article on DailyStrength.com says that: Post-traumatic stress disorder is a term for certain psychological consequences of exposure to, or confrontation with, stressful experiences that the person experiences as highly traumatic. These experiences can involve actual or threatened death, serious physical injury, or a threat to physical and/or psychological integrity. It is occasionally called post-traumatic stress reaction to emphasize that it is a routine result of traumatic experience rather than a manifestation of a pre-existing psychological weakness on the part of the patient. (Shapiro 1) This quote give proof to the idea that Billy Pilgrim has set up some kind of ideal post-trauma coping scheme. The only problem with this is that Billy can not control when or where he goes when he travels. Vonnegut states in the book â€Å"Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren’t necessarily fun. He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next† (The Slaughterhouse 1:4). Vonnegut is stating in this quote that Billy has literally lost his mind and he will soon find out that life will never be same as his symptoms have taken control of him and he has fully given up to force of predestination. Early in the Slaughterhouse-Five or the children’s Crusade, Vonnegut sets a place where Billy Pilgrim soon learns about death and its connection with free will. Vonnegut takes the reader on a wild ride to a planet many millions of light years away called Tralfamadore. Billy explains what he learns on Tralfamadore: The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. (23) In this quote, Vonnegut is showing that life is in the eye of the beholder, that it’s only what it is made out to be. He shows that this so called, ‘Superior Race,’ can see a different side of life and death proving that when people die, that they are only dead in that particular moment, yet in different periods of time they are alive and well. Billy accepts this idea that is proposed by the Tralfamadorians almost instantaneously as he says â€Å"now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is ‘So it goes’ (23). Vonnegut later explains in his own terms that the ideas the Tralfamadorians are exposing deal with fact that there is no such thing as free will. Free will is actually the practice of choice. Choosing certain destinations in life’s path and deciding which is more promising. Vonnegut explains that the law of life is predestination., that the act of choice is over-rated. A scholar from the on-line book Cliffs Notes says in a critical essay of the Slaughterhouse Five that â€Å"Over and over again, Vonnegut proclaims that there is no such thing as free will. Humankind is the slave of predestination, meaning that all human actions are prescribed before they occur. A person who chooses to do something is not really choosing at all-the choice is already made.† (Smith 55) With this in mind death is not portrayed or understood as a big deal to people because of course the war was going on and it was natural for people to die in war, plus since Billy is a soldier he has learned to accept that death is inevitable, especially since he witnessed his best friend Ed Derby shot by the firing squad. Time and time again Vonnegut refers to himself in the story yet in the beginning of the book he states that this is not a true story; yet he still shows up in the story proving how this book is really just an alliteration of a true story. Authors have different methods of exposing their feelings through the way they are writing, the Slaughterhouse-Five is Vonnegut’s attempt at getting his feelings for the bombing of Dresden out of his head and on to paper. According to an article done by Ray Boomhower â€Å"Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. tried for many years to put into words what he had experienced during that horrific event. At first, it seemed to be a simple task [†¦] it took hime more than twenty years† (Boomhower 2). He mentions himself in numerous accounts throughout the book. In one account of this Vonnegut mentions â€Å" â€Å"(). Maybe he just slid that in to give the readers a view from another soldier’s point of view. Vonnegut also mentions in his intervi ew with Simon Heselev, the producer of the audio reading of Slaughterhouse-Five that: Billy Pilgrim was a guy who-who looked like a filthy flamingo, and never should have been in the Army, and God knows not the infantry. His name was Edward Crone, and he died, in Dresden. He died of the ‘thousand mile stare‘ which is where he just sat with his back to the wall where he would not talk, would not accept food, and the Germans would do nothing to help him and uh, so he died [†¦] Edward Crone was the name of Billy Pilgrim and he just did not understand the war at all and what was going on, and of course there was nothing to understand he was right, he was utter gibberish. (Heselev 5:7) If it was not for Vonnegut saying himself that this story is about real people in his company, the only thing there would be is dry thoughts left up to the reader to analyze. Billy Pilgrim has led a very tiresome journey, growing up and joining the war and watching all his friends die; and traveling through time to see his own death over and over. Then learning from the Tralfamadorians that predestination controls free will and that death is not even close to what people think it is, that it is actually a-whole-other beauty in itself eventually helps Billy with his coping of death. Kurt Vonnegut has opened up a whole new realm of expressing feelings of a subject for his own personal gratification. Schizophrenic and stylish keeping the readers interested throughout the whole book.  Boomhower, Ray. â€Å"Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse Five.† Indiana Historical Society. 2006. 4 Dec. 2007. Shapiro, Jeremy F., and Sharon E. Orrange. â€Å"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.† Daily Strength. 2007. 4 Dec. 2007. The Slaughterhouse Five or the Children’s Crusade. Dir. Simon Heselev. Compact Disc. Wall Lizard Music, 2003. Read by Ethan Hawke. Smith, Dennis Stanton, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Cliffs Notes On: Slaughterhouse-Five. Lincoln: John Wiley Sons., 1997. NetLibrary. OCLC. 4 Dec. 2007 Vonnegut, Jr., Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children’s Crusade. New York: Seymour Lawrence/Delacorte, 1969. Research Papers on The Slaughterhouse Five or the Children's CrusadesHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayCapital PunishmentArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)The Effects of Illegal ImmigrationEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThree Concepts of PsychodynamicHip-Hop is ArtThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2

Amphotericin B Essays - Antifungals, RTT, Rare Diseases, Free Essays

Amphotericin B Essays - Antifungals, RTT, Rare Diseases, Free Essays AmB kills yeast via ion channel-mediated membrane permeabilization. This channel model has been extended to also rationalize the unique lack of resistance to AmB as well as its dose-limiting toxicity. This perceived understanding has stimulated extensive research toward the goals of developing new channel-forming compounds as putative resistance-refractory antimicrobial agents and/or less toxic derivatives of AmB that more selectively form channels in fungal cells versus human cells. This drug should be used primarily for treatment of patients with progressive and potentially life-threatening fungal infections; it should not be used to treat noninvasive forms of fungal disease such as oral thrush, vaginal candidiasis, and esophageal candidiasis in patients with normal neutrophil counts. Expected Pharmacological Action AmphotericinB deoxycholate is an antifungal agent that acts on fungal cell membranes to cause cell death. Depending on concentration, these agents can be fungistatic (slows growth on the fungus) or fungicidal (destroys the fungus). Therapeutic Uses Antifungals are the treatment of choice for systemic fungal infection (Candidiasis, Aspergillosis, Cryptococcosis, Mucormycosis) and nonopportunistic mycoses, (Blastomycosis, Histoplasmosis, Coccidioidomycosis). Some antifungal treat superficial fungal infections: dermatophytic infections (tinea pedis [ringworm of the foot], tinea cruris [ringworm of the groin]); candida infections of the skin and mucous membranes; and fungal infections of the nails (Onychomycosis). Adverse effectsNursing Intervention infusion reactions (fever, chills, rigors, and headache) 1 to 3 hr after initiation pretreat with diphenhydramine (benadryl) and acetaminophen. meperidine (demerol), dantrolene, or hydrocortisone may be given for rigors. thrombophlebitisobserve infusion sites for signs of erythema, swelling, and pain. rotate injection sites. administer in a large vein and administer heparin before infusing amphotericin b. nephrotoxicityobtain baseline kidney function (bun and creatinine) and do weekly kidney function tests. monitor i&o. infuse 1 l of saline on the day of amphotericin b infusion. hypokalemia monitor electrolyte levels, especially potassium. administer potassium supplements accordingly. bone marrow suppressionobtain baseline CBC and hematocrit, and monitor weekly.

McCarthyism and its affect on Hollywood Research Paper - 1

McCarthyism and its affect on Hollywood - Research Paper Example tical determinants of the very dark register that is affiliated with communism, and / or renunciation of aid of the government enquiry of the Communist Party and some of them were blacklisted only because their titles came to the incorrect location and time (Murray 267-79). Even throughout the firm observance of the late 1940s by the end of 1950, blacklist was seldom made explicit and verifiable, but it initiated direct impairment to the vocations of numerous American creative individuals, often as a betrayal of companionship (not to mention the principle) of cost life and assist to ideological censorship industry. The first methodical Hollywood blacklist was instituted November 25, 1947, a day after 10 writers and controllers were entitled for contempt of Congress for denying testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Group of studio bosses, portraying under the auspices of the Motion Picture Association of America, broadcast the dismissal of the artist-the so- called Hollywood Ten in what became renowned as the Waldorf Statement. June 22, 1950, booklet deserving Red Channels emerged, calling 151 amusement commerce professionals as part of the "red fascists and their supporters, shortly most of the appointees, with some other creative individuals who have been omitted from paid work in much of the amusement industry. Blacklist was competently broken in 1960 when Dalton Trumbo, a repentant constituent of the Hollywood 10, was publicly identified as a screenwriter of movies Spartacus and Exodus. Some of these very dark registers, although, is still ostracised from employed in his area for numerous years. The Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was conceived in 1937 under the chairmanship of Martin dies. The major reason of HUAC was enquiring his anti-American and subversive activities. Soon after his designation, Dies obtained a telegram from the Ku Klux Klan: "Every factual American, and that encompasses all the Klansman, is behind you

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Global warming - Research Paper Example This letter contains precise and conclusive information as to how and why the scientific community, especially the American Physical Society have lead the general population to believe that Global Warming will melt the earth down and all life will perish. A certain word that has been included in the official statement on global warming by the American Physical Society regarding global warming that Lewis so rightly pointed out is ‘incontrovertible’. This word is such a powerful word that when it is attached with any idea, theory or any form of interpretation, it becomes the undisputed law. The authorities at APS have wrongfully attached this word with global warming which is simply unfair. This word indicates absolution or unanimity which is certainly not the case as Lewis himself is an example of an expert physicist who opposes and rejects the fearful propaganda about global warming. One reason for writing this essay is because of the enormity that it deals with and Antony Watts (a famous science blogger) asked to publish, promote and discuss this issue on every scientific blog or journal. In his letter of resignation Lewis reminds Curt, the president of APS, about the great past and the values that APS was known for when Lewis joined this association. According to Lewis, this organization wasn’t motivated by money back in the time when he joined it. Back in those days, being a physician meant a life of poverty and abstinence. World War II changed the game. Money got involved in scientific research and suggestions. As more money poured in, wealthy people and companies started influencing decisions and researches of scientists at APS. The whole system became corrupt. During the good old times, money or any kind of external factors never influenced the scientific research. It was objective and unbiased as it should be. Even when the research on Reactor Safety Study was in progress, Zealots were right outside the research center

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Modern Children are Being Over-Medicated - Essay Example Currently, about half of all American children aged 2 to 4 are being prescribed with psychotropic drugs. In just 14 years, the number of children taking psychotropic drugs has gone up by 327% (CHAADA). The problem of overmedication, however, dates longer than that. The World Health Organization warned doctors and parents as early as 1966 that the use of behavior-altering drugs, such as Ritalin, can have serious effects on children (Doherty). Children are at great risks of overmedication since most of the drugs psychiatrists administer to them have only been tested on adults. Frontline quotes Dr. Patrick Bacon saying that the medicating children with psychotropic drugs are â€Å"to some extent an experiment.† If the â€Å"gamble† does not pay off, it could lead to serious physical and psychological side effects, just as in the case of Matthew above. It is true that children who are behaving differently than normal need medical attention to prevent any behavioral illness from reaching its peak. If they are not given the proper medication, both children and their parents will suffer. Treating behavioral disorders will also help children function properly in school and live normally with other children. More than anything else, early diagnosis and treatment would give children a greater chance grow into normal adults. The effects of the wrong diagnosis outweigh the benefits of the early medication. As in the case of Matthew described above, improper medication could be fatal. In the case of another child, Jacob Solomon, his parents put him on Ritalin after he was diagnosed with ADHD. The parents did see improvements in the behavior of their five-year-old child but the drug caused him to develop severe muscular contraction around his neck (Frontline). Aside from physical side effects such as this, powerful behavior-altering drugs could also have psychological effects.

Human Resource Management in the Uk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Resource Management in the Uk - Essay Example The HR department must know how to measure performance in a global setting. The HR staff must pursue talent management initiatives for executives. The HR staff must revamp organizational capabilities and competencies to enhance the performance of company employees. The HR department must help the employees identify with and actively push for corporate global brands. In addition, international joint ventures, transfer of knowledge and foreign direct investment also pose several challenges to HR staff. The recurrent challenges refer to subsidiary to Company Headquarters relations and the management of expatriate employees. (Sparrow et.al., 2004). The effective deployment of human resources is a strategy which helps firms attain competitive advantage. The HR departments of UK companies respond to the needs of the firms as these participate in global competition. (Sparrow, et. al., 2004). Most UK companies start operations in the domestic marketplace. This set-up demands that all of the firm's facilities, employees, and customers within the boundaries of one country. In this context, employees may differ to a certain degree in terms of their regional or ethnic origins but the pool of employees is homogeneous. International firms consider their international markets as part of their domestic operations. This strategy requires that firms enter international markets by building production facilities in foreign countries. Multinational firms build facilities in different countries to make use of costs and production efficiencies. The HR problems tackled by multinational companies are similar to those faced by international companies. The HR department needs to consider the cultural, financial, legal, and economic linkages of several countries. (Sparrow, et. al., 2004). Transnational firms utilize modern, high quality products and services at minimum costs. These firms combine the strength of global efficiencies with local responsiveness. Transnational companies specialize in economies of scale and emphasize flexibility and mass customization of products. In this set-up, HR systems should encourage flexible production create synergies through the cultural differences. Multinational firms locate facilities in a particular country to tap that country's market. The transnational firms take into account the cultures, political, legal and economic framework to choose locations around the globe. These firms have multiple headquarters spread across the globe, which redounds to less hierarchy, hence, emphasizing decision-making. These HR systems attract, train and retain executives who are not only competent in cross-border transactions but are also competent in decision-making in flattened organizations. In a transnational firm, the HRM issue is to identi fy strategic advantages of a given set of labor resources. (Sparrow, et. al., 2004).In a study by Deirdre McCaughey and Nealia S. Bruning (2005) global corporations such as McDonalds and Hewlett Packard derive more than 60% percent of their revenues from international operations. The HR departments of these companies hire employees for foreign assignments as a strategic human resource strategy (Brewster, 1997). The assignment failure of expatriate employees is due to the failure of the HR Department to provide training to engage with people from varying cultures. Other

The culture of Zulu Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The culture of Zulu - Research Paper Example This led to the Battle of Isandlwana where the British suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Zulus. They were eventually defeated by the British in the battle of Ulundi in 1979 (Dougherty & Sievert, 2008). During the Apartheid years, Zulus were classified as third class citizens and were forced to suffer discrimination at the hands of the state. Zulus have played an important role in the end of Apartheid and in the development of modern South Africa. The two important political parties of the country – African National Congress and the Inkatha freedom party were both formed by Zulus. They also participated in large numbers in the struggle to end Apartheid in both the parties. In this essay, discussions will be focused on the culture of Zulus especially their Religion, political organization of Zulus before the arrival of British and the Gender relations in Zululand (Dougherty & Sievert, 2008). Mode of Subsistence Farming and cattle rearing were the primary modes of subsistence of the Zulus. Cattle especially the Ox was very important for the Zulus. Cattle were also given great significance and there was also a special place for the cattle in the family .The cattle was reared largely for eating purposes. Although all the cattle and the farms were owned by the head of the family who was a man each of his wives was provided with a set of her own farms and cattle which were used by her in order to feed her immediate family (Dougherty & Sievert, 2008). Zulu Religion The Spirit World Zulus placed a lot of importance on their ancestors and their spirits. These ancestors were supposed by them to be living in Unkulunkulu which was considered as the world of the spirits. The ancestors were the link between the living and the spirits. For this reasons they needed to be remembered by the family members, praised regularly and also appeased by maKing offerings to them. In case a family failed to do so, the spirits are were to visit them in the form of trou bles. These troubles can be solved only if the mistake of the family is rectified and the spirits of the ancestors are pacified by some offerings and by showering praises on them. The Sangoma was the spiritual healer and the priest of the Zulus. In case of a mishap such as failure of crops, death of livestock, draught or any other natural calamity the Sangoma was the one who declared the reasons for the calamity. The calamity could have been caused by the unhappy spirits or by witchcraft. If it was the former, the family was supposed to appease the ancestors but if it was the latter a witch-hunt and the elimination of the witch responsible was carried out (Monteiro-Ferreira, 2005). Another important religious person among the Zulus is the Inyanga. The Inyanga can be said to be the doctor of the Zulu tribe. He mostly used local plants and animals in order to find cure of the common diseases like cuts, bruises. The cure was usually followed by religious rituals in which the spirits we re praised and pacified and asked to restore the health of the person who is sick (Monteiro-Ferreira, 2005). It is not only ancestors whose spirits were worshipped by the Zulus. The spirits were also supposed to exist in animals, forests, mountains and caves. Thus animals should be fed properly and cared for, the forest and the mountains should not be made angry or the spirits living in them will have their vengeance on the people. The Zulus are afraid of the phenomenon of lightning. They believed

Debreifing Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Human Resource Management in the Uk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Resource Management in the Uk - Essay Example The HR department must know how to measure performance in a global setting. The HR staff must pursue talent management initiatives for executives. The HR staff must revamp organizational capabilities and competencies to enhance the performance of company employees. The HR department must help the employees identify with and actively push for corporate global brands. In addition, international joint ventures, transfer of knowledge and foreign direct investment also pose several challenges to HR staff. The recurrent challenges refer to subsidiary to Company Headquarters relations and the management of expatriate employees. (Sparrow et.al., 2004). The effective deployment of human resources is a strategy which helps firms attain competitive advantage. The HR departments of UK companies respond to the needs of the firms as these participate in global competition. (Sparrow, et. al., 2004). Most UK companies start operations in the domestic marketplace. This set-up demands that all of the firm's facilities, employees, and customers within the boundaries of one country. In this context, employees may differ to a certain degree in terms of their regional or ethnic origins but the pool of employees is homogeneous. International firms consider their international markets as part of their domestic operations. This strategy requires that firms enter international markets by building production facilities in foreign countries. Multinational firms build facilities in different countries to make use of costs and production efficiencies. The HR problems tackled by multinational companies are similar to those faced by international companies. The HR department needs to consider the cultural, financial, legal, and economic linkages of several countries. (Sparrow, et. al., 2004). Transnational firms utilize modern, high quality products and services at minimum costs. These firms combine the strength of global efficiencies with local responsiveness. Transnational companies specialize in economies of scale and emphasize flexibility and mass customization of products. In this set-up, HR systems should encourage flexible production create synergies through the cultural differences. Multinational firms locate facilities in a particular country to tap that country's market. The transnational firms take into account the cultures, political, legal and economic framework to choose locations around the globe. These firms have multiple headquarters spread across the globe, which redounds to less hierarchy, hence, emphasizing decision-making. These HR systems attract, train and retain executives who are not only competent in cross-border transactions but are also competent in decision-making in flattened organizations. In a transnational firm, the HRM issue is to identi fy strategic advantages of a given set of labor resources. (Sparrow, et. al., 2004).In a study by Deirdre McCaughey and Nealia S. Bruning (2005) global corporations such as McDonalds and Hewlett Packard derive more than 60% percent of their revenues from international operations. The HR departments of these companies hire employees for foreign assignments as a strategic human resource strategy (Brewster, 1997). The assignment failure of expatriate employees is due to the failure of the HR Department to provide training to engage with people from varying cultures. Other