Monday, September 30, 2019

Importance of Cross Cultural Communications Essay

Effective cross-cultural communication is one of the most important issues dealt with in business, particularly when a firm operates at an international level. Communication is a process with three key elements, which includes a source, an audience, and a channel. Communication derived from businesses will have listeners that include, but are not limited to customers, employees, suppliers, and the community (Caddy et al.). These listeners contribute to the success of a firm, which is why there is so much emphasis put into creating appropriate channels of communication. This effect is further amplified when dealing at an international level, where the effect of culture and time has more bearing. What makes effective communication important is the fact that it affects all aspects of the business function. Therefore, failing in just one of these areas can create repercussions that reverberate throughout the whole company. This essay will examine the importance of cross-cultural communication, and how it is intertwined with a firm’s HR management, strategic planning, operations, ethical decisions, and marketing campaign. Human resource management deals with people within the organisation first and foremost. For a Human Resource manager, managing the cultural aspect of communication becomes is vital because of the effect it can have on each individual employee. In an international work environment, there will likely be a number of employees from different parts of the globe sharing the same space (Parzhiger 2002). This can be a source of friction within a work environment, particularly when you consider that ethnocentric attitudes can exist within a workplace (Han et al 2007). Such friction within the communication process can manifest itself through racism, bias, prejudice, and discrimination (Parzhigar 2002). Not only are such actions considered illegal, but it can also contribute to low morale within the workforce. This eventually leads to unmotivated and therefore unproductive staff. In order to resolve such cross-cultural issues, a Human Resources manager must first come to realize that both individuals and groups differ in terms of the way they communicate (Parzhigar 2002). That way, policies or extra training programs can be established to act as a guide the actions of  employees. Many managers, though, are fail to realise such differences, or unqualified to handle them. This is why much consideration must be given when deciding who is qualified to lead an international assignment (Hodges 2003, p. 450.) By acknowledging people’s differences, the manager can create policies that will limit friction in the workplace, thereby ensuring that it runs peacefully. An effective communication system will help a firm gain a distinct competitive advantage because the constraints of time will be limited. Time distances can often be a hindrance to a company looking to collect information from overseas branches or partners. Firms have combated this problem by utilizing contemporary technology such as phones and videoconferences (Bovee 2008). This will help firms operating at an international level, collect information from overseas subsidiaries or clients more effectively. Additionally, by keeping these relationships close, manager’s gain the ability to access new technologies developed overseas (Han et al. 2007). The ability to forecast overseas trends and harness new technologies is another competitive advantage gained by having effective cross-cultural communication channels established. Proper market research, where communication aspects such as culture are taken into account, will help the firm in this regard. By establishing these effective channels, a firm can more readily anticipate particular changes in tastes and technologies of other countries (Han et al. 2007). This will allow thereby the firm to strike a balance with regards to price and availability, which, in turn, will give them a competitive advantage (Hodgets 2003). Managing operations will be much more efficient once cross-cultural communication issues have been dealt with. Many cultures employ a hierarchical approach to communication, but often this method of results in important issues being dodged. This problem is highlighted in an (Nakamoto 2008) article on Japanese companies. In the article it is reported that many of the Japanese companies employ a very rigid communication structure, and overseas managers were hired to create a more efficient method of  communication. An open exchange or direct method of communication is much more effective as ideas can be garnered from different levels of the organisation. Overcoming various linguistic issues is another operational benefit experienced when an effective communication channel is established. Due to the legal issues of each country, language differences do not only affect face o face interaction, but written communications as well (Bovee 2008). Through proper planning and research, however, a business is able to preempt such a problem from occurring, possibly by arranging for an interpreter to translate. Failing to establish an effective means for communication when an ethical issue arises can be detrimental to the stability of a workplace. This problem is particularly pertinent, when you consider the fact that globalization has diversified workplace cultures. This can lead to what Huntington (cited in Eunson 2005) described as a ‘clash of civilizations’, due to the different perspectives on morality in the western and eastern countries. Neglecting this issue can create permanent dissention or dissatisfaction between co-worker, which, as highlighted earlier, leads to low productivity levels and high staff turnover rates. Only by establishing a means of communication where ethical issues are taken into account, can prevent such an implosion from taking effect. Effective communication channels can only be effective when the moral views of other cultures are taken into account. Contemporary management in western society, for example, attempts to find practical solutions while more conservative nations seek more ‘foundational’ ones (Parzhiger 2002). Cross-cultural communication is also valuable to firm looking to establish good marketing systems. The aim of marketing is to try and link business with customers and the ability to understand the unique traits of a particular culture can help give a firm an edge over its competitors. This point was illustrated in a communication video (Balnave 2006), where a lack of an ineffective channel of communication with a particular culture was a  cause for their advertising campaign to be viewed as inappropriate. Establishing effective communications, however, will allow a firm to capitalize on local markets through support of their local culture (Han et al. 2007). As the evidence compiled in this essay has shown the importance of effective cross-cultural communication should never be diminished. It is one of the most important aspects to consider when trying developing an international brand. Through the establishment of communication training and relevant policies, employees will be better equipped to interact with their foreign counterparts. It will also assist the firm in understanding foreign cultures, and markets, which ultimately improves their strategic planning. However the biggest benefit experienced by communicating effectively is internal. It creates a more harmonious work environment, a more efficient way of relaying information, and more productive staff. Bibliography Caddy, I Cull, M Tibbits, G 2008, Business Academic Skills, 1st edn, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney’Communicating Effectively in the Global Workplace’, 2008, in Bovee, C(ed), Communication Today ,9th edn, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle Rivee, New Jersey. Eunson, B 2005, Communicating in the 21st century, John Wiley and Sons Australia ltd., QLDHan, J, Wild, J, Wild, L 2007, International business: the challenges of globalization, Pearson Prentice Hall, New JerseyHodgets, RM Luthans, F 2003, International management: culture, strategy, and behaviour, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New YorkNakamoto, M 2008, ‘Modernisers span a cultural divide’, Financial Times, 22 May, Parhizgar, KD 2002, Multicultural behaviour and global business environments, International Business Press, New York

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries,Ltd Problem statement After many years of successful growth in the Generic Pharmaceutical industry, competing against the biggest western Pharmaceutical companies, TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd the major and biggest player in this competitive industry, has reached a point where after acquiring many other pharmaceutical companies and achieving his 1 billion dollar theory goal, seem to have lost focus and found themselves in need of setting a new goal that will give them, future vision and will help them avoid being scattered all around the market and dispersing their limited budget ?On one hand is the global market for generics, where many new low-cost players are growing using Teva’s exact same successful formula to capture market share and existent gigantic innovative players are starting to incur, making of this specific industry a very challenging one with stiff competition, collapsed prices and very low profits. On the other hand, the i nnovative drug market, an unknown market for Teva, where the capital investment is accounted in billions in expenses in R&D, and growth is expected to slow down, the possibilities for high revenues are greater than Teva can imagine. External Analysis Industry: The Pharmaceutical industry, a 600 billion industry, has been growing at an approximate rate of 12% over the last five years, with a typical ROE of 20%, among the highest of any industry.It has 2 main sectors, namely Innovative Pharmaceuticals and Generic Pharmaceuticals. The Innovative Pharmaceutical, considered a sector of high risk due to the high capital investment in R&D, the low probability of having an approved development hence the opportunity to generate revenues exceeding the invested R&D and costs, has currently negative expectations regarding the future mainly because of slow growth predictions, the end of a patent protection period of up to 70 drugs with no innovative products in the pipeline to replace them.Itâ⠂¬â„¢s counterpart, The Generic Pharmaceuticals a 52 billion sector, although dependent on the innovative drug’s patents to be produced, is expected to have a growth of up to 16% in major world markets and It has 3 categories: ? Commodity generics: Requires the lowest capital investment and also is the largest segment of generics, reason why many competitors were attracted to it. ? Niche generics: Have to be prescribed by physicians even in pharmacist-driven markets.Although requires higher capital investment than commodity the gross margins were higher. ? Biosimilars: Refers to the undeveloped segment of the generic version of the so called â€Å"Biotech†, which active’s compounds were highly complex, by far harder to duplicate than traditional pharmaceuticals. Has high expectative of growth, and margins General Factors per country of the generic market United States: The world largest generic pharmacist-driven market, offered benefits for generic drugs such as the ANDA process which shortened the approval of generic drugs and the â€Å"paragraph IV† which allowed generic companies to challenge innovative drugs long before patent expiration. The competition in the US is stiff due to a large amount of competitors entering the market which is negatively affecting the pricing and consequently the profits. Europe: The UK and Netherlands, the most competitive markets in the region resembled the US (pharmacist-driven, prices were regulated by the market, with a high penetration of generics, 49%, which makes the competition high). France and Germany on the other hand, were physician-driven for which generics have to market and brand their drugs like innovative companies, hence incurring in the same marketing expenses as innovative companies, while prices were regulated by the government.Also, these markets were accounted as part of the biggest globally and had lower penetration rates, 12% for France and 41% for Germany, while having high growth potential. Also they both accounted for only 12% of Teva’s revenues in Europe. ? Rest of the world: Japan is a highly regulated market with generic penetration of 10%, specially because of the patients’ perception of generics as of lower quality, only expected to growth in a the long term.Other markets like Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia, China, and India were expected to grow in the generic market although due to limited disposable income the patients demanded low price generics. Five forces Analysis (See Appendix 1) ? Rivalry (High) ? Power of supplier (Low) ? Power of buyers (high) ? Substitute products (Medium) ? Threat of new entrants (high) Opportunities: There are 70 innovative drugs in the US about to loose their patents in 2010, which are potential new generics developments for Teva.There are still some unsaturated markets such as France, Germany, Latin America and Asia where Teva can make an strategic move. There is still the Niche generic and B iosimilar Markets where barriers of entry can be created to prevent new competitor entrance, and finally, there are still not many competitors and high growth expectations specially in Biosimilar products in the US. Threats: ANDA and â€Å"Paragraph IV† are slowing due to fierce competition and entrance of new competitors, while innovative companies started also to enter the commodity generic market.The industry is highly fragmented which makes competition fierce and some global markets have government regulated prices and compulsory licensing making competition on price difficult. Finally, the US Market is getting saturated of competitors which is reducing profitability. Internal Analysis Corporate strategy: Teva’s Corporate strategy is to diversify into related businesses that through a well managed chain value (Localized management and marketing, and centralized R&D, manufacturing and APIs) has given them greater scale benefits than any of its competitors, and a rep utation as the company not to compete on price with.Teva’s business strategy and Competitive advantage: Teva’s business strategy is cost leadership based in keeping R&D low, an efficient management of its supply chain, backward integration into pharmaceutical ingredients (API), rigorous execution including filing ANDA applications faster than competitors (which gave them a large pipeline of paragraph IV challenges and a broad portfolio of commodity generics), and finally a reputable, successful acquisition team. See Appendix 3) Value chain (see appendix 2): Teva has maintained its low cost culture during the years, and thanks to his careful growth into new markets through acquisitions has achieved greater benefits of scale than any other competitor. Its R&D, which usually adds for a high percentage in the industry (14% of net sales), was only of 7% for Teva thanks to the strong collaboration with the scientific institute in Israel such as Weizmann institute, Hebrew uni versity of Jerusalem and the Technion.Additionally, Teva has entered new markets where they have successfully been able to push their products by influencing market players namely Pharmacists-driven markets. Key success factors: Within the main success factor we can recognize former CEO Hurvitz , who fostered a culture of goal settings and low prices, acknowledging the commodity-like nature of the industry and whose vision took the company to reach and pass the â€Å"Billion Dollar theory†. His legal team, who is in charge of filing ANDA, is famous for being faster than any competitor.His acquisitions team who has a great reputation in the industry for the systematic approach and successful outcomes in integrating acquired companies. Strengths: Teva is the largest commodity generic producer in the world by having an amazingly well managed cost structure and by setting economies of scale to produce at a lower cost than its competitors, hence being able to compete with low pric es. Its capacity to influence key market players within its markets (pharmacists). An acquisition team that has lead to successful buys and integrations.Also, Teva has a non Bureaucratic structure that is aligned with the low cost structure. Weaknesses: The limited knowledge of Physician-driven markets, is for instance, the cause for Teva’s low presence in France and Germany that together accounted for only 12. 5% of the revenues of Teva in Europe. Limited research budget and limited experience in innovative pharmaceuticals market. High focus in the US market, reason for which any possible downturn, like the regulatory impasse, has a high possibility of affecting negatively the results of the company.Alternatives 1. Teva has successfully introduced 2 blockbuster innovative drugs into the market, Copaxone in partnership with Sanofi-Aventis, and Azilect, which proved that Copaxone was not a one-off. This can lead us to think that Teva can keep on going down the road of innovati ve drugs and in other therapeutic areas with sales estimates of up to $6 billion dollars. We can’t forget though, that Teva has limited research budget and limited experience in this market where giant companies like Merck, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis compete.Additionally CEO Hurvitz qualified this move as nothing else than supreme self-confidence. 2. Move into Niche and Biosimilar markets which are relatively new or completely unknown markets for Teva, especially for the type of relationship with the Physician-driven markets but that can give advantages and possibilities to create entry barriers to new competitors and that would definitely set a solid base for Teva’s continuous growth. 3.Enter new geographical markets: continue with its low cost strategy and enter new geographical markets, such as Germany and France, this strategy is aligned with the move into Niche and Biosimilar market mainly directed to physician-driven markets. 4. Status Quo: Teva should focus sol ely in the commodity generic market in which the company is currently the strongest player, but risking to loose market share with competitors such as Sandoz, Ranbaxy and Barr. See appendix 4 for Analysis of Alternatives RecommendationIn the light of the alternative analysis (see appendix 5), the best move for Teva is to start entering the Niche and Biosimilar markets while also expanding geographically into Physician-driven markets such as Germany and France where it is wise to consolidate and try to get a bigger market share using Ivax and Sicor’s know-how in these areas. Ivax has already given Teva the leading presence in Latin America where must of the countries were physician-driven markets, proving that Ivax has experience in this type of market.Teva can give leverage to Ivax in order to be able to produce at low costs, while Ivax with its independent type of operation can give Teva access to global markets. For this purpose, Teva must successfully integrate Ivax into T eva’s culture while supporting its independent operation and providing marketing budget, which will definitely generate high revenues due the nature of Ivax’s niche generic products. Also, Ivax strength in first-to-file paragraph IV pipeline in the USA can positively affect Teva’s operation within its original market and generate a solid ground so that Teva can later on support its new operations in the new markets.On the other hand, Teva has already started developing Innovative drugs, and has had 2 blockbusters, but getting deeper in this market can be dangerous and the probabilities of failure are very high. Instead, Teva should use its previous experience in handling the innovative division, and handle Sicor experience in the Biosimilar in the same way. Teva’s experience in rolling out a product lunch will definitely become useful in order to support Sicor’s operation that can generate entry barriers to the Biosimilar market and higher revenues within the US in the injectables business.Also it is possible to use a low cost approach, and his economies of scale to be more prices efficient than the possible competitors. Implementation plan. Since 70 innovative drugs are loosing their patent protection by 2010 in the US, Teva should start developing the generic version of this drugs and can use Ivax experience in the first-filer paragraph IV in order to take advantage and make its position in the US market stronger. Teva should also start slowly moving away from the Innovative market.In order to do this, Teva should finish the development of the innovative drugs and they already have in the pipeline, and lunch them. After this, most of these resources are going to be transported into the production of Biosimilars leaded by Sicor. With the intention of moving into Germany and France, Teva must start creating a solid marketing team in conjunction with Ivax, this capital investment should generate enough revenues to overshadow t he cost knowing that Niche products have higher gross margins.With Sicor, Teva should start developing Biosimilars within the US, before Barr with Pliva and Sandoz move into the US market that is supposed to support only 3 competitors. We know that Sandoz has already lunched one Biosimilar in Australia and Europe. Although the regulation pathway for Biosimilar in the US was still unknown this will give some lead-time for Sicor to develop and then have approved Biosimilar products in the US and hopefully start generating entry barriers for biotech and other Biosimilar competitors.Biosimilar product has margins close to those of the innovative drugs and with lesser risk of competing against the giants who don’t play in this market. Finally, Ivax gave Teva the leading position in Latin America, and although it accounts for only 39. 3 billions or 7% of the industry revenue, this revenue is expected to growth at a 9. 2% CAGR with medium-low competition. It is a great opportunity f or Teva to establish himself as the market leader in this growing market. Appendix 1 Porters 5 forces. [pic] Appendix 2 Value Chain [pic] Appendix 3 Sustainability of competitive advantage. |Valuable |Rare | |INNOVATIVE |High revenues if successful. |Slow growth and stiff competition against giant| | |2 successful innovative drugs already launched |companies. | | |Has some innovative drugs in the pipeline |Huge capital investment required. | | |projected to generate revenues of $6 billions |Inexperience of Teva in this market. | | |Goes against advantage of Teva of producing | | | |with low costs | |NICHE AND BIOSIMILAR AND GEOGRAPHICAL EXPANSION|High revenues and market growth expected |Teva does not have experience in this area of | |THROUGH ACQUISITIONS |Possibility to generate entry barriers to new |production | | |competitors |Teva has no experience and know how in | | |Has already bought Sicor (Biosimilar), Ivax |physician-driven markets however it can | | |(Niche) and has alr eady set up a separate |integrate Ivax and Sicor know-how. | | |division to focus on Niche market and | | | |Physician-driven markets | | | |Aligned with focused strategy and efficient | | |chain value for low costs | | | |Experience in acquisitions and integration | | |STATUS QUO |Strong consolidated position in the US |Saturated market | | |Know-how and experience in pharmacist-driven |Stiff competition with new competitors and | | |market |giant companies entering commodity generic | | |Experience in ANDA filing |market. | | | |Prices lowering and with them profits | ———————– Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd Final Report Professor

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Journey of a Man Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Journey of a Man - Essay Example Moreover, I was greatly intrigued by the way physical features of different groups evolved, and flattered that the male sex chromosome played an important part in this research. However, some of Wells’s sayings seemed contradictory to his views. Moreover, I did not like the way the host acted sometimes while conducting the research. Therefore, after watching this documentary, I had mixed opinions about it. During the beginning of the documentary, an explanation is given on Wells’s theory that the birthplace of all humans alive on this planet is the same-Africa. The pride I felt in my ethnicity after discovering this was immense. True, I do not completely associate myself with Africa as my nationality is ‘American’, but I am after all an ‘African American’. This realization also instilled a sense of shame in me due to not having even a bit of patriotism in me for the country where we African Americans are originally from; early in Americaâ€℠¢s history, Africans were brought to America from Africa as slaves but were later given freedom and equality, due to which we are now African Americans. This documentary has made me accept the fact that it does not matter which country I was born in or which country’s nationality I assume. What really matters is that all African Americans know that their great great grandfathers directly originated from Africa, but majority of them forget about this origin. I myself had forgotten this origin until I watched this documentary. This is not the only reason why I am so grateful to this documentary. Thanks to the ground-breaking discoveries made by Spencer Wells, one develops a new perspective of the concept of race. By stating that â€Å"we are all African under the skin†, Wells’s disregards all the old-fashioned concepts of race, such as thinking that people with the same color of skin or language are the same. Spencer puts this point across by exploring how African s migrated to different parts of the world and evolved in different ways, which is why people with similar physical characteristics started to associate themselves with one of these ‘different races’. The documentary disagrees with such associations and I highly agree with this point. I believe that by seeing an individual through ‘racial lenses’, assumptions about that individual would definitely be made according to his/her ‘race’. According to me, this is termed as a kind of discrimination. Being an African American, I myself have been a victim of having assumptions being made about me, such as the time when a grocery owner kept a watchful eye on me while I was buying groceries (just because majority of the shoplifters in that neighborhood are African American). Therefore I really approved of Wells’s opinion that everyone is the same, and not part of ‘different races’. As he says in his documentary, we have the same desce ndant, who was from Africa. However, something about this statement of his made me doubt his personal opinions a bit. By terming us all as ‘Africans’, Wells is in fact calling us a race-something which is contradictory to what his views throughout the documentary are. According to Wells, there is no such thing as a race, but implying that we are

Friday, September 27, 2019

Time, value, stocks and bonds Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Time, value, stocks and bonds - Assignment Example This, therefore, helps the company make both long and short term decisions regarding the functioning of the company. Valuation, in this case, determines the course of the company so as to maximize its profits (Hitchner, 2011). On the other hand, Harrison & Wicks (2010) argue that company executives make the best value for its stakeholders through assessing all company documents that relate to the company’s performance. It is also the responsibility of the executives to scrutinize the market so as to review the capability of the corporation to compete with other companies (Harrison & Wicks, 2010). Executives also create the best value for its stakeholders through selecting the finest approach in the course of valuation (Harrison & Wicks, 2010). This is done after a complete understanding of the current value of the company then determine whether a market approach, an income approach or otherwise would be valid for the

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Islam Religion Field Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Islam Religion Field - Research Paper Example It is partially due to the very reality that faith in the Supreme Being is in the basic human instinct, which could not be denied or ignored altogether. â€Å"The critical difference between a religious and non-religious person is the acceptance of the transcendent, or otherworldliness, as the first reality. The transcendent provides a vehicle for meaning outside life itself and because, to the religious person, it has ontological primacy over the material world it provides a solid grounding.† (Prevos, 2005:3) Hence, religion gives meaning to human life, by making people oriented with the morality, ethics, values and systematic patterns of acting, reacting and behaving while entering into interaction with the social and natural environment. Thousands of religious belief systems exist on the face of the mother-earth, which maintain several similarities and differences from one another in nature, scope and teachings. In the long list of countless beliefs, Abrahamic faiths, inclu ding Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are quite distinguishing ones from the rest, and seek inspiration from one and the same light. Not only this that the Holy Scriptures of these three faiths narrate the same tales, but also all the three share one and the same mythology including the Oneness of God, existence of the holy prophets, angels, heaven and hell, Day of Resurrection and life after death., and reward and punishment on the concrete foundations of the deeds and misdeeds performed and committed respectively during their stay on earth as mortals. Although the Abrahamic religions are similar to one another in different ways, the followers of these faiths abhor each other and observe serious reservations on the basis of the misconceptions they have developed for one another without conducting any in-depth research on the philosophy and doctrine of purported rival faiths. It is therefore all the three Abrahamic faiths appear to be at daggers drawn against one another, where slig htest space of displaying tolerance towards one another has turned out to be a dream particularly during the contemporary times. The same was the situation with me, as being the true follower of the Christian faith, I viewed Islam as the religion consisted of extremists and fundamentalists, which condemned and censured people’s mixing up with the Jews and Christians as well as developing cordial social and corporate relationships with them at any cost. I also view the Muslims as hard-hearted nation, which looks down upon the others by declaring them pagans, atheists and infidels. Keeping in mind all these reservations, I decided to attend a religious gathering arranged and organized by the Muslims for some spiritual and moral purpose, so that I could have personal experience of the teachings and behavior adopted and observed by the Muslims. Though I had developed the very idea that interviewing some religious person at an Islamic center might bring some alteration in my estab lished onion about the Muslims, yet attending of the gathering brought revolutionary changes in my views about the community I had maintained serious reservations in past, and I returned from there carrying new image about Islam and Muslims at large. Last week I visited a mosque, situated in my city during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month according to the Islamic calendar. The month is reserved for fasting, and the Muslims keep fast the entire month from dawn to the sunset. However, the Shiite Muslims break their fast after ten minutes of sunset, as they argue that the sunset completes after seven to ten minutes of the apparent disappearance of the sun. Somehow,

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

A report based on an international HRM case study Essay

A report based on an international HRM case study - Essay Example Moreover, an analysis of recruitment as well as training policies of both of these societies has been performed. Furthermore, payment and reward procedure as well as structure are indentified in both of these societies. All these analyses will assist the HRM of the company in determining the best location among a particular Scandinavian country and the US in relation to cultural values as well as recruitment and training process along with payment and rewards. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Cultural Values 5 Recruitment and Training 9 Payment and Reward 13 Recommendations and Conclusion 14 References 16 Introduction An electronics company is planning to establish a manufacturing plant. The company develops electronics to be utilised by the mobile phone industry worldwide. Moreover, the company is required to decide the suitable location for setting up its manufacturing plant. The company has planned to develop its manufacturing unit either in the United States of America (USA) or in a Scandinavian country which comprises Norway, Denmark, Sweden as well as Finland. As a Human Resource Manager (HRM) of the company, decisions are required to be proposed for better implementation of HR polices as well as practices. Furthermore, with better HR policies as well as practices, local employees of these two regions will be managed as well as be recruited for effective performance of the company. Globalisation and advancement of technology have increased competition in the global market. Moreover, with intense competition, HRMs of companies have acquired an important place to perform business operations both at national as well as in international markets in an effective manner (Edward & Rees, 2007). Furthermore, HRMs of companies are required to be managed efficiently as well as channelize in the right procedures to operate business operations with effectiveness (Kondalkar, 2007). Human Resource Management (HRM) provides policies as well as procedures for managing as well as directing employees in order to accomplish goals of a company effectively. HRM of the companies are involved with recruiting as well as selecting appropriate individuals for performing business operations of in an efficient manner (Harzing & Pinnington, 2010). Moreover, with effective HRM policies as well as procedures, employees of companies are facilitated with better training facilities as well as are motivated towards improving their performance (Johnson, 2009). The report will emphasize on the cultural values of the societies discussed i.e. Scandinavia and the USA in terms of especially employment practices. Moreover, recruitment practices to be followed by the company as well as the extent of training facilities required to be provided to the employees of these countries will also be recognised through the report. Furthermore, the most common payment as well as reward systems prevalent in the USA and in Scandinavian countries will also be observed. The report based on the overall assessment will emphasize on determining the most suitable location for establishing the manufacturing plant for the electronics company. Cultural Values The US is multicultural society where people of the society believe in equality. The US comprises varied races as well as cultures. Moreover, the culture of the country believes in ethnicity as well as the country is considered to be the third largest country

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Brand analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Brand analysis - Essay Example One of the major advantages of Leatherman’s products is the 25-year guarantee (Hoovers). The Argentum, a tool designed by an Argentine silversmith called Adrian Pallarols is manufactured by the company specifically to attract the luxurious community while the younger generation is targeted via the manufacturing of the compact Juice tool. The Company has its principal strength in the duration of the guarantee offered for its products (25 years). Not many organizations offer such a warranty thus making its products the best. The organization provides its customers with sufficient support or back up and awareness of the products they sale hence keeping the customers coming back for more products. The organization has a dedicated staff that adds up to its minimized price offers for their products. In addition, all parts of the tools made by the company are replaceable (SHOT). In respect to the Company’s weaknesses, it manufactures customized tools (SHOT). These tools demand increased payment as compared to normal products hence their low production due to inability to stabilize/moderate the prices of the same. The large range of tools produced by the company accompanied by a list of styles in which to fold pocket tools and the long warranty offered by the company provides the organization with a huge opportunity of capturing or reaching a larger market (Davis). Furthermore, Davis believes that the use of websites for presentation of company products presents an opportunity to expand their market share due to the augmenting use of the internet. Manufacturing of the compact Juice tool for the younger generation as well as the Argentum for the rich/luxury creates room for increased sales thus more profit. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. is not the only company in the industry; hence, stiff competition from companies like Victorinox Swiss Army, Inc poses a huge threat to the company. Another threat is infringement especially incases of retaliatory damages inv olving the use of these products (Davis). One of the competitors is Victorinox Swiss Army, Inc. Just until 2007, the company was called Swiss Army Brands boasting a monopoly in the marketing of the Victorinox Swiss Army knife in the Caribbean, USA and Canada (Hoovers). In addition, the company distributes Victorinox wear for men, consumer and professional Victorinox Cutlery, Swiss Air Force watches as well as products of Swiss Army Brand like writing materials, watches and sunglasses. The company runs a flagship retail store in SoHo district of New York City as well as distributing these products in retail and wholesale prices. The other is Wenger North America or simply Wenger N.A. distributes Swiss Army knives, footwear, watches, luggage, business accoutrements, and outdoor gear to the US and the Caribbean. Hoovers affirms that the Swiss Army knives distributed by Wenger N.A. are not associated in any way with Victorinox Swiss Army knives. The company provides these products on th eir website but at a discounted rate as well as providing customers with videos and manuals as guidelines to the use of their products. Most of these products are sold in chains and a host of specialty sports retailers (Hoovers). Buck Knives Inc. as the third largest competitor boasts skills that comprise four generations in the knife-making business. The company manufactures hunting, pocket and

Monday, September 23, 2019

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

ART - Essay Example Foster, Krauss, Bois, and Buchloh focuses on a crucial event—how the seminal work is created, how the artistic manifesto is published and the opening of a major exhibition; this crucial event tells us the story of enchanting diversity of practice and interpretation that characterizes the art of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, they made a point to explain in detail all the turning points and breakthroughs of modernism and postmodernism. 1. Modernism is generally an artistic approach, which dominated the European and American art and literature in the Twentieth Century. The key features of modernism are thought to be the principles of formalism and the autonomy of art. 3. The third aspect is the concept of the avant-garde, which challenges the dominant artistic culture. Often referred to as "inner logic of modernism", this critical force makes the art move forward towards Postmodernism. Characterized as a critique of Modernism and the project of modernity, Postmodernism is best understood as a part of a cultural shift which has been felt in science, philosophy, and the arts. Culture is seen by others (e.g. Jean Baudrillard) as an endless play of imitation (simulation) which signals the end of authenticity and reality and the emergence of "hyperreality" (Baudrillard 1049-50) 2. Interventionist is when the artist becomes a manipulator of signs rather than a producer of Art. The viewer becomes "an active reader of messages rather than a passive contemplator of the aesthetic"(Foster 1066). This form of Art is described as "a social sign entangled with other signs in systems productive of value, power and prestige" (Foster 1066) This critique of Modernity often takes the form of a challenge to the norms and values of western culture as a whole. But this critique is losing its popularity. If we still don’t have an answer to Hal Foster’s 1996 question, â€Å"Whatever Happened to

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Textual analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Textual analysis - Essay Example In identifying this problem one of the salient features that immediately must be considered is a condition that Lukacs refers to as reification. An elucidation of reification will reveal how the commodities structure penetrates and transforms all aspects of bourgeois society and indeed transforms thought within capitalist society. This transformation irrevocably limits the ability for philosophical inquiry and critical theory to function separately from societal forces and for Lukacs the inquiry itself "springs" directly from this now reified structure. The problem of commodities is one that was comprehensively outlined by Marx and is a fundamental theme in much of the subsequent Marxian analytical tradition. As products are bought and sold in the marketplace, they become commodities. These commodities are alienated from the laborer that was initially responsible for the creation of the product. Individuals who purchase or exchange these commodities are not directly aware of the laborer who produced this commodity, but instead place a value on the existence of the commodity so that it can be exchanged in the market without having to come into contact with the laborer. As a result this so-called exchange-value of a commodity commodifies the labor itself. The structure of commodification whether it applies to the product o... The problem with this structure is that necessarily conceals what it is supposed to reference, and hence is inherently duplicitous (Lukacs 83). This duplicity has economic consequences for the proletariat that Marx explicates elsewhere. For Lukacs, this structure serves as a "base" and a point of departure for the typical economic concerns that Vulgar Marxists are keen on parsing out. (84) Commodity fetishism, the term Marx uses for this obscuring of social relations has both a specific local context and as a more general application for Lukacs. The specific context deals with the commodity within the framework of the marketplace, and deals with the exploitation and alienation of the laborer. The general application asks the question, "how far is commodity exchange together with its structural consequences able to influence the total inner and outer life of society" (Lukacs 84). The answer as it turns out will be completely and totally. Yet, he is careful here, and in following Marx, recognizes that commodity-exchange is an "episodic" feature present in the history of mankind (Lukacs 85). That is, as the objective forms of bourgeois society are periodically instantiated, the role of commodities can operate as a non-dominant form of "metabolic" exchange. Its transformation or reification into the principle organizing structure of a thoroughly capitalist society is attr ibuted to the subjectivization of the commodities-structure where "man's activity becomes estranged from himself," and is possible when the marketplace is fully commodified (Lukacs 87). Though as Lukacs stresses, this reification manifests itself qualitatively

Friday, September 20, 2019

Management Essays Chemical Waste

Management Essays Chemical Waste Chemical Waste Introduction. Chemical wastes are those chemicals by-products in form of solids, liquids or gases produced by factories that are harmful to animal and plant life. On the other hand petrochemical wastes are those chemicals derived from some reaction involving natural gas or petroleum. However unlike chemical wastes the petrochemical wastes sometimes are of importance, for instance some can be made into plastics and others synthetic rubbers and fibers. Background. Waste is any substance that can cause pollution and impacts negatively on the environment if not well planned. Environment needs to be taken care of and improved by man if he is to continue with life. Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is an organization that has been given a charter by the Australian government to protect the Victorian environment. The organization is situated in Melbourne metropolitan area and regional Victorian. EPA works in conjunctions with the community to realize its aims that is to empower and use individuals, communities and businesses encouraging them to take collective responsibility and action towards environmental conservation. The organization came into being after the amendment of the environment protection act of 1970, an amendment that was passed in 1996 by parliament. The key objectives of the act and hence that of EPA is sustainable use and wise management of the environment, adopting a consultative approach to enable the communities views to b e the main propeller of environment care goals and programs and finally cultivating a cooperative approach towards care and protection of environment. The act spells out the powers, duties and functions of the EPA that includes administration, recommendations to the Governor in Council State environment protection councils (SEPPs) and also industrial Waste Management Policies (IWMP). Issuing licenses, permitting work approvals and pollution controls measures and also implementing the National Environment Protection Measures (NEMPs). The CEO is in charge of the overall strategic management of EPA. He is assisted by the executive the office of the chairman and then the EPa solicitor who all reports directly to the CEO. In 1986 the Victorian government took up an industrial waste strategy that gave a framework for the correct and the best management of chemicals and petrochemicals industrial wastes. Chief among them were the use of new technologies to enable industries to get back valu able materials from their waste piles while simultaneously reducing waste generation this they called the waste minimization policy Though an industry knows about the nature and the type of its waste stockpile, an overhaul operation assessment of a specific company will serve to identify alternatives for minimizing wastes ,reducing costs associated with managing and disposing such wastes this policy will go a long way in ensuring good public health and safe working conditions for the employee of these industries. Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers Strengths Landfills form a vital part of chemical and petrochemical management in Victoria waste management infrastructure. Right from the sitting, management up to the rehabilitation of land fills requires an advanced design and features to be implemented to ensure that the environment is safe and also community’s aspirations are realized. The use of land fills is the only appropriate way to manage wastes that cannot be recycled. Weakness As much as the EPA may try to keep the environment pollution free some wastes still find their way into the surroundings. Such wastes include the emissions from the motor vehicle exhaust system. Such a waste is hard to control unless the Victoria government pass a policy that will encouraage3 the use of unleaded gas for motor vehicles and also increased manufacture of environmental friendly vehicles that use ethanol instead of petroleum and diesel. Opportunities With the reduction in the cost of maintaining wastes and also the wastes generated more industries will register increased profit at the end of the trading year these companies may then decide to plough back the excess profits thus creating employments for more people. Threats Use of motor vehicles or machines that use ethanol instead of petrol will lead to increased demand for maize. This can result in rise in food prices given that maize is the staple food in Africa Summary At the end of the day the EPA policies will ensures that by reducing the output of the waste treated, money is saved, raw materials used in treatment are reduced and also other operating costs are minimized. By taking care of the environment as spelled by these policies the statutory obligation of Kyoto protocol for which the government of Australia supports is met as well as minimizing potential environmental liabilities. Recommendations The Victoria government should establish a policy that encourages the use of bio fuels instead of the petroleum by industries firstly to reduce the environmental pollution and secondly to reduce the cost of chemical and petrochemical waste management. SWOT Analysis. Environment is part and parcel of human life and therefore needs to be cared for. The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) works towards this goal in Victoria as a result hazardous wastes from industries are checked against contaminating the environment. The problem of chemical wastes and other wastes can be managed if such an organization liaises with a given community in a way that everyone’s needs are taken into considerations in matters of environmental protection. Environment practitioners can make a difference if they foster the use of modern technology in environmental care. Such methods may include performing analysis on the nature and the type of emissions from a specific company and coming up with ways to reduce the pollutants in a method called waste minimization. References EPA Victoria’s green house gas inventory management plan publication. Vol.1168. sept 2007 www.epa.vic.gov.au (2004). EPA: waste management policy victoria40 city road southbankdec publication 968.Victoria 2004 (1993). EPA Information bulletin: industrial waste minimization procedure for waste assessment. science, 358

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Dealing with Society Edna Pontelliers Battle with Social Class Essay

Dealing with Society Edna Pontelliers Battle with Social Class Edna Pontellier, the main character in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, is a woman trying to form her own identity, both feminine and sexually, in the repressive and Victorian Creole world of the latter nineteenth century. She is met by a counterpart, Mademoiselle Reisz, who is able to live freely as a woman. Edna herself was denied this freedom because of the respectable societal position she had been married into and because of her Presbyterian up bringing as a child. The role that Mademoiselle Reisz played within society, a society that failed to view her as being a truly respectable social member, was quite opposite to that of Edna’s respectable position in society. Edna was ordained in the Presbyterian ways as she became an adult in Kentucky and Mississippi (Companion 123); as one critic put it, she was of â€Å"solid old Presbyterian Kentucky stock† (Petry 58). Edna was raised in a truly â€Å"restricted Victorian† (Nikerson) manner to be â€Å"an American woman†¦with a graceful severity of poise and movement† (Companion 123). To understand the social order she was born into you have to look at the Presbyterian background she grew up in. Presbyterianism took the view that women were â€Å"regarded as equal to men†¦[but women were] the weaker vessel†¦and should become subordinate to the husband† (Wolff 2). In broader terms, this is saying that women are equal, but are still below men in society. This construct was reinforced by the fact that â€Å"married women in Louisiana†¦[, in Edna’s time,] were legal property of their husbands† (Chopin 121). By a broad range, women of high V ictorian society were greatly scrutinized if they tried to step out of any of the normal set boun... ...ction. Westport, Greenwood Press Inc., 1988 Chopin, Kate and Cully Margo, Ed. The Awakening: A Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton & Comp., 1994. Mahon, Robert Lee. â€Å"Beyond the love triangle: trios in â€Å"The Awakening.† The Midwest Quarterly 39.2 (1998) : 228-236. McCoy, Thorunn Ruga. â€Å"Chopin’s ‘The Awakening.’† The Explicator 56.1 (1997): 27-26 InfroTrac SearchBank. Online. 30 Nov. 1998. Nickerson, Megan. â€Å"Romanticism in The Awakening.† Online. 29 Nov. 1998 Petry, Alice. Critical Essays on Kate Chopin. Printice Hall International., 1996 Thorton, Lawrence. â€Å"The Awakening: A Political Romance.† American Literature 52 (1980): 50-66. Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. â€Å"Un-utterable longing: the discourse of feminine sexuality in ‘The Awakening.’† Studies in American Fiction 24.1 (1996): 3-23. InfroTrac SearchBank. Online. 30 Nov. 1998.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Philosophy is Important :: College Admissions Essays

Philosophy is Important Everybody has something to learn about Philosophy. With the numerous different courses available to students at State University, one will always be able to find new and pertinent information not covered before in previous classes. This assures students that they will not be forced to take a class that is primarily review. By requiring students to take philosophy courses, the school is guaranteeing they get the full education they deserve. Philosophy is important because it helps to mature the whole person, instead of restricting them in a specialization of a particular field of study. College is where people go to discover themselves, and at times people just need a little nudge to get them going in the right direction. Philosophy introduces students to different styles of thinking, teaching them to think smarter and better. The class Critical Thinking, for example, explains how to create and use clear, logical arguments, presenting a skill useful in other many college classes, as well as a practical tool outside of school. High school does not offer enough philosophy classes to equip the average students for the rest of their lives. Therefore, to obtain higher-level philosophical training, one must attend college. Not many high school seniors are well versed in philosophical systems that are taught in a philosophy 201 class offered at State. Despite their importance, ethics are barely covered in high school classes. Training in ethics helps one identify the correct principles of conduct as accepted by specific professions, and humanity as a whole. When coming to college, students need to supplement their knowledge base with philosophy. Gonzaga University offers many philosophy courses for the incoming student.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Truman Capotes In Cold Blood :: In Cold Blood Essays

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Random House, 1965. 343 pages. Summary. In Cold Blood is the true story of a multiple murder that rocked the small town of Holcomb, Kansas and neighboring communities in 1959. It begins by introducing the reader to an ideal, all-American family, the Clutters -- Herb (the father), Bonnie (the mother), Nancy (the teenage daughter), and Kenyon (the teenage son). The Clutters were prominent members of their community who gained admiration and respect for their neighborly demeanors. After being introduced to the Clutter family, the reader becomes acquainted with Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The two were former inmates who met in prison. After their release, the men meet up for what Dick calls Aa perfect score.@ As it turns out, Dick=s cell mate had worked for the Clutters some years earlier and suggested to Dick that he check into employment at the Clutters= farm because the Clutters were such friendly, kindhearted people. The more Dick learned about the Clutters, the more he considered seeking fast cash as opposed to employment. During the trial in the last chapter of the book, however, Dick admitted that his sexual interest in teenage girls was the most powerful force in his decision to invade the Clutters= home. (Perry stopped him from harming Nancy.) Finally, the killers were identified by Dick=s former cell mate and tracked down in Las Vegas. In the time leading up to their arrest, the reader is offered greater insight into the characters of the two men. Because Perry opposed Dick=s crude behavior and showed compassion for the people Dick intended to harm or slight, we are left to feel a bit of sympathy for him. It becomes tempting to see Dick as the manipulative leader and Perry as the helpless follower. After the suspects were taken into custody, Perry eventually confessed that he had killed Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon -- tied each of them up, made sure they were comfortable, then shot each of them in the head with a shotgun. In addition, it was Perry who cut Herb=s throat. Though Dick didn=t actually pull the trigger or hold the knife, he shined the flashlight into the faces of the victims as Perry killed them. Both men were found guilty of 4 counts of premeditated murder, and each was sentenced to death. While awaiting their executions, they appealed several times, losing each time, but managing to have their execution dates postponed.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Notes on Skinners behavioural theory

Operant condition is the condition of responses Parents have long known that children respond to a system of rewards and punishments. While to say that this is a simplification of the theories of famed American behaviourist B. F. Skinner would be an understatement, it is accurately descriptive of the most basic aspect of his beliefs. Operant behaviour and operant conditioning, Skinner's most widely acclaimed work, is based on a system of both positive and negative reinforcement.While it is commonly known that behaviour is affected by its consequences, Skinner's heory of operant conditioning further states that the process does not require repeated efforts, but is instead an immediate reaction to a familiar stimulus. Positive Reinforcement – Beginnings of the Rat & Food Experiment In an experiment with a rat using food as a reward: The rat was placed in a box Over the course of a few days, food was occasionally delivered through an automatic dispenser Before long, the rat appro ached the food tray as soon as the sound of the dispenser was heard, clearly anticipating the arrival of more foodThe Rat Experiment and Negative Reinforcement Skinner again experimented with rats to show how negative reinforcement can also strengthen behaviour. Skinner placed the rat inside the box and a sent electric current into the box, as the rat moved around the box it would knock the lever by accident and the electric current would stop. The rats soon learned that when they were placed in the box to go straight to the lever to turn off the electric current. Knowing they could escape the electric current caused the rats to repeatedly go to the lever.Not only were the rats taught to stop the electric current but also to avoid it completely. The foundations of child development – John Oates Chapter 1 pt3 Behaviorism has had a great impact on education, partly because it stresses the importance of the external world and development, and there for gives grounds for believin g that children's learning and behavior can be hugely influenced by their teachers' use ot the right methods . Behaviorist theories see human beings as machines, reacting in a predictable way to stimulation from outside them. s evelopment progresses people accumulate knowledge but there is no major change in the structure of their minds. – How Does All This Relate to Children? One of the aspects important to human behaviour, though, is the feelings associated with behaviour that is controlled by conditioning. When previous behaviours have been rewarded, children are likely to repeat those behaviours happily and willingly, feeling that they are doing what they ‘want' to be doing.If, on the other hand, children choose behaviours in order to avoid a repeat of negative reinforcement, they ay behave appropriately, but will be inclined to feel that their freedoms are being suppressed. In reality, the actual freedom still exists, of course. Children, like the rest of us, are f ree to behave in any manner that they choose, as long as they are willing to accept the consequences of their actions. Link PavloVs Dog – Stimulus conditioning Pavlov showed the existence of the unconditioned response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and the measuring its salivary secretions.However, when Pavlov iscovered that any object or event which the dogs learnt to associate with food (such as the lab assistant) would trigger the same response, he realized that he had made an important scientific discovery, and he devoted the rest of his career to studying this type of learning. In his experiment, Pavlov used a bell as his neutral stimulus. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell. After a number of repeats of this procedure, he tried the bell on its own. As you might expect the bell now, on its own, caused an increase in salivation.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Organizational structure of the business Essay

Businesses can take different approaches on the way they structure the organization of their business. The different types of structures include flat, matrix, and tall. These represent hierarchical, centralized and decentralized forms of organization. These different structures are used in different types of organization relating to the needs the business may require. In a tall structure there are many levels. People of different status within the business take each level. This is hierarchical. As the levels get higher in the structure, the power and responsibility usually increases. In a tall structured organization there would the top layer of the structure but many at the bottom represent few people. This structure would be used in a large business where there would be many members of staff, many groups under different supervision. This form of organization would cause there to be a lack of communication throughout the business as issues would be passed through the levels, supervisors to managers and may never reach the managing director. Elements like this in a tall structure could lead to a lack of control throughout the business. Flat is another style of organizational structure. This is still of a hierarchical form yet there is less layers in the business. This is more of a democratic approach as there is a smaller span of control throughout the organization. As there is less levels in the structure there is less separate sections of power. The reduction in the amount of layers means that communication throughout the business is greatly improved therefore the managing director has a greater level of control over the business as a whole. This would be used in a smaller business. It would consist of a managing director followed by possibly a number of directors then supervisors then staff in a hierarchical fashion. A matrix approach can also be used. This is constructed by the business itself. It can be a democratic, autocratic or lassiez-faire approach or a mixture of the three. Very large businesses, PLC or LTD’s use this. As the business is so large a tall matrix would not be appropriate as there would be a lack of interaction and control of the business would not be great. To prevent this happening, Boots designed a structure of its own. These are known as matrix structures. Each level has independent managers and spans of control that do not lead up or down the hierarchy of the business. Each level has independent managers and line supervisors so they are self-contained. The local span of control is the responsibility of the line manager. To keep communication strong within the business there is a strong chain of command throughout the structure. This ensures that any problems; ideas or achievement are known throughout the business. This approach keeps communication and control strong, as although there are a great number of people within the structure it is easy to find out what is happening at present through the chain of commanding supervisors who are responsible at that level. The different sections of the business that are present within the matrix are   Boots the Chemist Wellbeing services   Supply and support services   Boots Healthcare international Each of these sections (levels) of the business has line managers and supervisors. These communicate through the chain of command through out the business. This gives a firm structure of a high level of control and interaction, which is within the best interests of the smooth running of the business. The diagram below shows the set out of the business and how the different sections relate to each other. Within these sections the directing and supervisory structure is set out like this throughout the business This is Richard Baker; he is the chief executive of Boots PLC. He does not work in a store but control along with Howard Dodd Paul Bateman the running nationwide of the Boots Empire. They have control over every structure in every store throughout the country from managers to floor workers however it is rare they interact with any one but senior staff in the department stores. Boots to maximize the benefits created the matrix structure. This shows that they have taken their own approach upon their business and changed with the times. Using a matrix structure as the business expanded to the size it is now has proved beneficial and reaches an objective. Boots aimed to Develop, modernize technology and strategies. Using the matrix structure has been a form of modernizing therefore reaching a set objective. Boots aim of globalization would need to lead from a base of a stable market in the UK business sector. To gain a stable grasp in the UK economy Boots needs a stable business. The matrix structure consisting of effective interaction through out the levels and a hold on control ensures that the business runs smoothly and is stable in doing so. This reaches the objective of taking a strong hold in the UK business field, which can lead, to greater expansion and globalization. Companies can survive at a steady pace without altering too much about the workings of the business. However to expand, as Boots wish to, some of the most beneficial ideas may come from staff low down in the hierarchical structure. It is for this reason that the matrix structure is extremely beneficial as communication and interaction is strong between the levels so ideas can quickly be picked up on along with problems. This benefits the performance of the business and issues are quickly picked up on. This also contributes to the working towards of the objective relevant to expansion and customer loyalty as both business and custom seek to gain return from the matrix structures benefits and overall performance of the business as a whole. The matrix structure has many advantages that would not be applicable if the organization structure was of another form. The chain of command within the business ensures that the communication within the different groups is regular and effective. Within the boots organization there are many different sections that deal with different aspects of the business. The seven sections within the Boots group deal with their specific part of the business whether it is the chemist, retail or health care. The specialization within the business is a great advantage to all concerned. The staff employed in each of the sections are special trained in that area. Specialization is a great advantage to the business as it means that jobs can be carried out informatively and effectively. As staff is specialized in their area they provide great customer service as they are well educated in the fields in which they work. Empowerment enables the staff within the different sections to have freedom to do tasks that they are delegated without supervisions. This increases moral and self-motivation, as the staff feels confident and independent within the business. High motivation increases staff productivity, which improves the performance of the business. The span of control within the individual areas of the business ensures that the business is smooth running and any problems that occur can be dealt with quickly and efficiently. This is an advantage, as problems do not have to travel into other areas of the business through the chain of command. The separate sections of the business are independent in the way they work. This ensures the business has high levels of control throughout the whole business in all sections and all can be accessed quickly through the chain of command. All these are advantages that help a great deal towards improving the performance of the business for the reasons listed. Communication within Boots There are many different types of communication that businesses can adopt. Different forms of communication are used in different situations within a business. The main types of communication that are used now a day revolve around ICT. ICT stands for Information Communication Technology. Communication is used everyday from the second a business opens in the morning till the second that it closes. With out communication a business would never reach its full potential or have the smooth operations it could achieve. Within a large business, like a PLC or LTD like boots communication is essential. Without communication different sections of the business would not operate well together and issues could quickly fall out of hand. Communication through the chain of command is so important in keeping a business afloat and operating efficiently. Good communication ensures that the business keeps control and the top of the hierarchical structure is aware, or can easily find out the major movements from day to day. Between departments and hierarchical levels communication links must be strong as decisions and movements are often made that effect other departments. There are many different types of communication method. The specific sectors include   Written   Non-verbal. Verbal   Electronic Face to face Each of these has specific areas in which it is of most benefit to use. Different types of communication are used dependant on the issue that is relevant, who is sending it, and who is receiving it. It is important that communication towards employees is regular and efficient. This is because employees need to be kept informed of the movement of the business in all aspects. If there is product alterations or price changes employees must be informed straight away so that no problems occur within the business. Also information about extra shifts, overtime, work hours and bonuses, especially over Christmas are very important in the smooth operation and motivation of the staff. Supervisors and managers are usually the ones who would communicate with the staff. There are many methods that could be used. Employees could be informed and communicated with by the use of notice boards. This is a cheap method, which means that everyone can see the information present. This is a good method if everyone is aware there is a notice to be seen. This could easily be ignored or not notice quickly however. Letters with the employees pay slips are a good method to use, as it is likely that a very high majority of the employees will read them. This is good if it can wait till payday for the notice to go out although still staff may not read them. A team meeting at the beginning of the day is a very efficient way of communicating with staff as issues can be raised and the employees can communicate also. This means that everyone can be informed and there are no excuses why staff ignores issues raised. Employees who have computers (not floor workers) such as administration areas and HRM can be communicated with many more forms of modern communication such as email and uses of the Intranet. Managers and supervisors need to be able to receive communication from higher up in the chain of command and also to be able to distribute down the chain. This is very important. Higher levels in the hierarchical structure need to be able to communicate regularly and efficiently in order to hold a strong level of control over the business and make alterations and give advice where necessary. It is very important this area of the business is easy to communicate with so that no time is wasted in trying to do so. Managers in the Boots organization have offices in individual branches and headquarters; some supervisors also have computer access. This enables Boots to provide computers for the staff that is a great benefit when it comes to communication. The use of computers means that these managers can be easily and quickly communicated with via the use of email, Intranet messaging and time tabled events that may be stored and altered on network software that is specific to the Boots store. Different forms of communication are used in different parts of the business depending on different factors. These factors determine the form of communication and approach taken. These are described below.   Formal   Informal   Important   Urgent   Optional   Open to all   Sent to a specific person   Person   Impersonal   Relaxed   Who its aimed towards   Who its from Confidential This all affect what type of communication are used in different situations within the business. The different categories that the forms of communication fall into are know as the channels of communication.

Perioperative handouts

Perl-operative Nursing Phases of Perl-operative period 1. PRE- operative phase 2. INTRA- operative phase 3. POST- operative phase PRE-Operative Phase Begins when the decision to have surgery is made and ends when the client is transferred to the operating table INTRA-operative Phase Begins when the client is transferred to the operating table and ends when the client is admitted to the post-anesthesia unit Post-operative Phase Begins with the admission of the client to the PACIFIC and ends when healing is complete Activities in the Pre-pop 1 . Assessing the clients 2. Identifying potential or actual health problems 3.Planning specific care 4. Providing pre-operative teaching 5. Ensure consent is signed Activities during the Intra-pop 1 . Assisting the surgeon as scrub nurse and circulating nurse Activities in the POST-pop 2. Assessing responses to surgery 3. Performing interventions to promote healing 4. Prevent complications 5. Planning for home-care 6. Assist the client to achieve optimal recovery TYPES of SURGERY 1 . According to PURPOSE 2. According to degree of URGENCY 3. According to degree of RISK Effects of Surgery on the Client Stress response (Neuroscience response) is activated Resistance to infection is lowered due to surgical incisionVascular system is disturbed due to severing of blood vessels and blood loss Organ function may be altered due to manipulation Factors influencing Surgical Risk Age Nutrition Fluid and Electrolyte balance General health status: infection, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary problems, liver dysfunctions, renal dysfunctions or metabolic disorders Medications affecting Surgery Anticoagulants like aspirin and UNSAID should be discontinued 2 weeks Tranquilizer may cause hypertension and shock Antibiotics like encyclopedias may intensify effects of anesthesia Diuretics may cause electrolyte imbalance antiphon may cause hypertension Psychological support Assess client's fears, anxieties, support system and patterns of coping Es tablish a trusting relationship with client and family Explain routine procedures, encourage fertilization of fears and allow clients to ask questions Provide for spiritual care if needed Preoperative teaching Assess client's level of understanding of surgical procedure and its implications Answer questions, clarify and reinforce explanations given by the surgeon Explain routine pre-pop and post-pop procedures Teach coughing and deep breathing exercise, splinting of incision, turning side to did.Explain its importance in preventing complications Assure client that pain medication will be given Pre-operative teaching Physical Preparation Obtain hex of past medical conditions Perform baseline head to toe examinations including vital signs Ensure that diagnostic exams are performed CB, Electrolytes, APT/APT, Urinalysis, EGG, Blood typing, Chest Cray Prepare client skin Shower with antibacterial soap to cleanse skin Skin prep if ordered: shave or clip hairs and cleanse appropriate areas to reduce bacteria on skin Administer enema if ordered Promote adequate rest and asleep Instruct client to remain NP after midnight to prevent vomiting and aspiration Pre-pop elimination Laxatives, enemas or both may be prescribed the night before surgery Have the client void immediately BEFORE transferring them to the OR Foley catheter may be inserted as ordered Legal Responsibility Surgeon obtains operative permit (Informed consent) 1. Surgical procedure, alternatives, possible complications, disfigurements 2.Part of nurse's role as client advocate to confirm that clients understands information given Informed Consent An active shared decision making process between the provider and the recipient of are. 3 conditions 1 . Adequate disclosure of the diagnosis, nature and purpose of treatment, risk and consequences, probability of successful outcome and prognosis if treatment is not done. 2. Patient must demonstrate a clear understanding and comprehension of information being provid ed 3. Recipient of care must give consent voluntarily, not persuaded or coerced to undergo the procedure. Consent are not needed for emergency care if; 1. There is an immediate threat to life 2. Experts agree that it is an emergency 3. Client is unable to consent 4. A legally authorized person cannot be reachedPreparation Immediately before surgery Obtain a baseline vital signs Provide oral hygiene and remove dentures Remove client's clothing and dress in clean gown Remove nail polish, cosmetics, Jewelry Instruct to empty bladder Check identification band Intra-operative phase interventions Determine the type of surgery and anesthesia used Position client appropriately for surgery Assist the surgeon as circulating or scrub nurse Maintain the sterility of the surgical field Monitor for developing complications Preparing the surgical site Purpose of prepping is to reduce the unit of organisms available to migrate to the surgical wound. Task is the responsibility of the circulating nur se Principle of scrubbing from the clean area to dirty area is observed at all times Anesthetics Anesthetics are drugs that are used to cause complete or partial loss of sensation. The numerous anesthetics can be broadly classified as : 1. General 2.Local anesthetics General Anesthesia Loss of sensation with loss of consciousness Skeletal muscle relaxation Analgesia Elimination of somatic, autonomic and endocrine response including coughing, gagging and vomiting Protective reflexes are lost Amnesia, analgesia and hypnosis occur Administered in two ways: Inhalation Intravenous IV anesthetics Produces rapid, smooth induction, may be used alone in short procedures Common IV anesthetics: methodical, Sodium tapeline (Penetrate), modally Disadvantages: poor relaxation, respiratory and myocardial depression in high doses, bronchiole's, laryngitis's, hypertension and respiratory depression Dissociation Agents Produce state of profound analgesia, amnesia and lack of awareness without loss of consciousness Astatine (Catalan) Side effects: tachycardia, hypertension, respiratory depression, hallucinations Precautions: decrease verbal, tactile and visual stimulation during recovery periodNarcoleptics Produces state of narcoleptic analgesia characterized by reduced motor activity and analgesia without loss of consciousness Fontanel citrate (Innovator) SE; hypertension, brickyard, respiratory depression, skeletal muscle rigidity, twitching Precaution: reduce narcotic dose to prevent respiratory depression Local Anesthesia Local anesthetics are drugs that cause a loss of sensation in limited areas of the body to abolish pain. They are powerful nerve blockers injected locally. Systemic absorption of the anesthetics can produce numerous side effects. Examples of Local anesthetics: The â€Å"CANINES† Loading Debasing Procaine Terracing The side effects of local anesthetics Local effects- local irritation and skin breakdown CONS effects if systemic absorption occurs- heada che, restlessness, anxiety, dizziness, tremors and blurred vision.GIG system- nausea, vomiting Cardiac- arrhythmias, peripheral vacillation, myocardial depression, and rarely, cardiac arrest Nursing Responsibilities Maintain emergency equipment on standby to provide life-support in cases of severe reactions Ensure that drugs are available for managing hypertension, cardiac arrest ND CONS alterations. Provide adequate hydration to patients receiving spinal anesthesia. Position the client supine for up to 12 hours after spinal anesthesia to minimize spinal headache Provide safety and comfort measures such as side-rails up, frequent skin care and supportive care Give health teaching to explain things the patient needs to know to allay fears. Stages of Anesthesia Depth Usually trained individuals with the special equipments ready for life support administer the agents The patient undergoes through a predictable stages known as STAGES of ANESTHESIA: 1 to 4

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Of Mice and Men: Yearning Friendship

In the heart of every human, there is a longing for companionship. The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck tells readers of the tragic tale between two males, George Milton and Lennie Small, who are trying to survive the cruel times of America's Great Depression. George and Lennie are two ranch workers hopping from place to place in order to survive and fulfill their dreams. Even though the two men are complete opposites, they stick together to the end of the novella. Steinbeck illustrates the theme, the longing and human need for friendship, by constantly pushing many characters through the feeling of loneliness, the benefits of cooperation, and the power of companionship.The feeling of loneliness forces people to realize their need for friendship. For example, when Crooks tells Lennie, â€Å"Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody—to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, a guy g ets too lonely and he gets sick† (73). This reveals the feeling of loneliness drives people mad. The feeling drives people remarkably mad that they learn to accept any company that they have, even if the company is bothersome. Furthermore, Curley's wife responds to Lennie's stubbornness by stating, â€Å"Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody.I get awful lonely† (86). This brings to light Curley's wife's actions of constantly annoying the males. Her loneliness causes her to bother people who normally push her away and ignore her—her heart longs for some sort of company, and it won't stop until she obtains one. Although the feeling of loneliness pushes the reader into realization of a longing for friendship, cooperation keeps a friendship lasting.Cooperation benefits a friendship between two people; it keeps the longing for friendship satisfied. For instance, Lennie remembers George's words and beams, â€Å"Because†¦ because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you† (14). This explains that two males depend on each other and leaning on each other's shoulders when it is needed through their cooperation. The cooperation between the two keeps their friendship strong even though they are total opposites. In fact, even by the end of their  tale, Lennie rejoicing, â€Å"An' I got you. We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot hell about us† (104).This reveals that through their tough battles, they still stayed strong friends. Once again, their cooperation was shown through their dependence on each other. Due to the face that they have each other, Lennie suggests that that is the reason people give a â€Å"hoot hell† about them. He means that people know them or hear of them as a result of their friendship. The two cooperate, thus, making them known as a duo. The benefits of cooperation are not the only things that keep a friendship lasting; the power of companionship supports a lasting friendship as well.Companionship is a powerful element. For instance, when Carlson complains about Candy's dog's revolting scent, Candy replies, â€Å"I'm so used to him, I had him from a pup† (45). This reveals that companionship is powerful enough for a person to be familiarized with their friend's appearance, attitude, and personality—a person is not annoyed with certain characteristics of their friend, even though the people around them are. In this case, Candy's long time ownership of his his dog has enable him to no longer be bother by the dog's revolting smell. He doesn't mind it because it reminds him that he has a companion.The longing in his heart is well fed by the company of a dog; there is a chance that the longing will come back if his dog is gone. In addition, at the end of the tale, when George is speaking to Lennie about Lennie accidentally killing Curley's wife, George states, â€Å"No Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's the thing I want ya to know† (106). This reveals that companionship is powerful enough for people to set aside their problems and stay calm in order to keep hold of a friend. Lennie's idiotic actions often causes many people to be angry with him, but George has been a companion of Lennie long enough to be habituated with Lennie's actions. George's longing for friendship is fulfilled, because he has Lennie. Companionship is a powerful thing that holds two friends together.Loneliness, cooperation, and companionship are three strings that intertwine, creating a braid that is called friendship. Separately, the strings are easily ripped apart; however, together, the braid is stronger, making it harder to rip. Steinbeck is trying to prove that friendship is an essential part of life. Friendship is important because without it, a person can be driven to madness and obtaining too much loneliness can kill a person. Any creature could be friend in Steinbeck’s point of vie w: a dead animal, a living animal, or a person.Whatever or whoever a character is comfortable around can be considered their friend and friends can be found in the smallest of things to biggest of things; a person just needs to take time and search. He teaches the reader that no matter the case, somewhere in a person's heart, there is a yearning for friendship.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Ethics issue in end of life decision making Essay

Ethics issue in end of life decision making - Essay Example According to Dartmouth and the Mayo Clinic, Medicare provides between $25,000 and $50,000 for end of life care, due to the common need for older citizens to receive multiple specialist care in their last years of life (Abelson, 2009). These are very high payments in an already-strained Medicare system and, if the end of life care goes on for many years, families might be forced to take on the financial burden when government-sponsored healthcare payments are refused. Because approximately 30 percent of the population is over the age of 50, the scope of the problem is massive, especially during a period where Medicare payments are going to be reduced by the government in the next ten years. The Baby Boomer generation makes up 74 percent of all prescription drug spending, which is a $100 billion market (Reece, 2010). This is big business for pharmaceutical companies and various health care providers and contributes highly to their profit margins. Profit earned from this high-consuming, aging group of citizens helps different hospitals and pharmaceutical companies expand their business practices and make certain capital improvements. This professional group, as well as certain retailers, would likely be satisfied to see more aging citizens in the health care system, as older Americans also spend more on personal care products and health products than any other consumer group (stlouistimes.com, 2007). High concentrations of end of life care could spell regional or nationwide profit margins in many retail organizations, health care providers, and hospitals. There are considerable ethical concerns in this situation, as multiple specialist care might be provided to aging cit izens when such analyses are not required simply to ensure profit and receive continuous governmental payments through Medicare. At the political level, the current health care reform package

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 43

Case Study Example The current trends in the dog food category show that continued expansion of the industry is anticipated in the future, There are various ways in which dog food category can be segmented. For instance, it can be segmented into low price segment, mainstream segment, and the premium segment. The low price segment feature brands such private label, the mainstream segment feature brands such as Pedigree and Alpo while the premium feature brands such as Purina One and Iams. Of the three segments, the premium segment is believed to be of the highest quality followed by the mainstream segment and finally the low price segment. The price charged on a brand is largely dependent on the segment in which it belongs. Dog food brands from the premium segment are the most expensive among the three segments. Brand marketing has proven to be among the best business tactics in the dog food industry.  In  essence.  Brand marketing gives a company competitive advantage over the competitors. The influencers of brand purchasing of dog food are the dog owners. Some dog owners favor certain dog food brands and, therefore, they cannot buy other brands. In addition, the purchasing power of the dog owners influences brand purchasing decisions. In essence, sometimes dog owners are obliged to purchase a particular brand by their financial status. However, the trend is changing since with time the dogs eating habit have proven to influence brand purchasing decision. Some people enjoy watching their dogs eat. In this regard, they would by a brand that the dog favors. In other words, dog owners  would buy the brand the dog enjoys to eat. Some dog owners have attested that their dogs only eat certain food brand. A recent study has shown that the levels of brand loyalty have grown high due to various factors. For instance, research has shown that quality affects consumers’ loyalty to a particular brand. Brand designing and

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Migration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Migration - Essay Example The traditional theories of assimilation argued assimilation as an essential part of the upward mobility part of immigrants and hence explain the nature of immigration well (Warner and Srole, 1945). On the other hand, based on the failure of these theories to capture the assimilation process, it is now shown that the traditional theories of assimilation have failed to capture this incompleteness of assimilation and hence the nature of immigrant adaptation (Alba and Nee, 1997, 2003; Rumbaut, 1997etc).In spite of this, some studies show the assimilation theory as still relevant (Greenman and Xie, 2008).The debate remains unsettled. This essay critically evaluates the traditional theories of assimilation and their ability to explain the nature of immigrant adaptation. This essay is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the historical background underlying the migration debate. Section 3 discusses the theories of assimilation. Section 4 discusses the critiques of the theories of evaluation and evaluates the theories. Section 5 concludes the essay. The debate underlying the immigrant adaptation had its origin from the United States. The number of immigrants to USA slowed down from 1920 to 1965 while with the passing of the 1965 immigration Act, it showed significant rise again. The earlier immigrants before 1920 were mainly Europeans. The experiences with these European immigrants and their children are considered as successful assimilation into the host American society (Alba and Nee, 1997). Since 1965, the immigrants were mainly from Latin America and Asia. There has been widespread debate regarding the economic, social and cultural impact of these new immigrants on the society of America. Whether the experiences of these immigrants and their children were similar to those of the early European immigrants or not have been highly controversial (Alba and Nee 1997, 2003; Bankston and

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Adolf Hitler Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Adolf Hitler - Essay Example Few of the political leaders of the 20th century have repelled contemporaries more than Adolf Hitler, the dictatorial Leader (Fuhrer) and Reich Chancellor of the so-called ‘Greater German Empire’, or the Third Reich. The actions and policies of his regime led to the atrocities previously unparalleled in human history, and the irrationality of many of his political moves led many to believe that the reason for this must supposedly be sought in the personal dementia of Hitler. However, closer look at the development of his personality and the early years of his political career reveals mediocre but still cunning demagogue, who was far from being mere psychopath. The first years of Hitler’s life were rather unremarkable. He was born in lower-middle class Austrian family, with his father, Alois Hitler, a customs official and his mother, Klara Polzl, a devout and obedient housewife. Despite Hitler’s claims to being born in an impoverished family, his father†™s income actually allowed young Adolf to enter Linz Realschule and begin training for commercial career (Bullock 26). Nevertheless, in spite of superficially ‘normal’ life of Hitler family, the psychological relations within it were rather tense. Alois Hitler was always bitter and temperamental man (Fest 17; Kershaw 43). The submissive stance exhibited by his wife, Klara, allowed Alois to have free rein in disciplining his children, so that the relations in the family was dominated by the stern father figure – a fact that undoubtedly had an impact on making of young Hitler (Kershaw 45). In any case, Adolf left Linz Realschule in 1904, the year after his father’s death, due to his record at this school that was far from spectacular (Bullock 26). In 1905, at the age of 16, Hitler ceased his training, and for the next two years he lived comfortably at the expense of his mother, fantasizing about some future great destiny (Kershaw 51). The death of his moth er led to major change in the life of previously carefree Adolf. Hitler’s previous plans of excelling as an artist proved a failure after his futile attempt to enter the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in October 1907. After the funeral Hitler returned to Vienna to pursue the life of ‘art student’ (Bullock 31). Vienna of those times was a multicultural city that embodied the internal contradictions of the decadent Austro-Hungarian Empire. The old social structure was progressively decomposing itself, with the subdued nationalities claiming rights of self-government and German artisans and petty traders turning to nationalism and especially to Anti-Semitism as a way of rationalising their hostility to competition by numerous Jewish migrants from the eastern lands of the Dual Monarchy that at that time settled in Vienna (Fest 27). Even though Hitler likely became a follower of ideas of German Nationalism in his school years (Bullock 27), it was in Vienna where he be came an enthusiastic partisan of ideas of militant Anti-Semitism then advocated by charismatic Karl Lueger, the leader of Christian Social Party (CS), who was to prove a major influence on the political views of Hitler (Fest 42). According to Fest, despite his less than comfortable life conditions in the men’s houses of Vienna in his destitute years (1908-13), Hitler exhibited nothing but hostility towards revolutionary left-wing movements of his time and paradoxically combined his contempt for bourgeois establishment with a craving to be accepted into it (33). Giblin notes that Hitler had particularly negative opinion of Marxist Social-Democratic Party, believing it to be controlled by the Jews (14). He was especially appalled by the Marxist socio-political doctrine, especially for its denial of organic unity of nation, and by the notion of class struggle (Fest 34). This combination of radical anti-establishment rhetoric with hostility towards political theories that challen ged the notion of social hierarchy as such was characteristic of Hitler’

Monday, September 9, 2019

The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Essay Example For Dorian, the appearance of beauty is all that matters, and many characters in the novel judge him solely on his looks, rather than his actions. It is the worship of youth and beauty for beauty's sake that leads to Dorian down the path of hedonism and from there to the embrace of sin. Early in the novel, Dorian is a somewhat innocent character, and the artist, Basil Hallward, feels protective toward the young man, and does not want others to intrude on their friendship, especially the cynical Lord Henry. The boy has had such a profound effect on Hallward's soul that it has influenced all his work, and he tells Lord Henry, "He is all my art to me now" (Wilde 11). To Hallward, Dorian's looks do reflect something beyond youth and beauty, an admirable personality. But once Dorian begins to associate with Lord Henry Wottan, he learns a new way of expressing himself. Lord Henry likes to play with the idea of morality, teaching Dorian that "the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it" (Wilde 21). In this, he is beginning to lead Dorian down a path of selfish immorality, one where he may do whatever he likes without consequence. He explains the route of hedonism, beginning by convincing Dorian that "youth is the one thing worth having" (Wilde 24), that beauty is more important than thought (Wilde 25), and that his life will be completely worthless without these two qualities. He also explains, "Nothing can sure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul" (Wilde 23), and Dorian, unfortunately, takes to heart only the first part of this maxim. Where Lord Henry's philosophy allows the beautiful young man to become a hedonist, it does acknowledge the importance of the soul, but Dorian doesn't understand this. As Martin Fido succinctly puts it, "Dorian's delight in his own beauty and youthleads him to place the stimulation of the senses through exotic beauty above every other value. This leads to his appalling corruptions" (Fido 85). Oscar Wilde was familiar with the aesthetics of both Hallward and Henry. As an artist, he was familiar with the ideal of beauty for beauty's sake, and he discusses this in his preface, where he explains the role of the artist as "the creator of beautiful things" (xxiii) and also that seeing beauty in beautiful things is the only way to be cultivated. However, we also see Henry's amorality in this preface, when Wilde dismisses the idea of morality or immorality in art (Wilde xxiii). Wilde must have examined this idea from many angles, due to the world he lived in. As he was writing The Picture of Dorian Gray, the culture he lived in was busy condemning his own behavior as immoral. Since he believed "his literary and social standing would protect him" (Nunokawa 12) from persecution, he became less discreet about his relationships with other men even as the English parliament was passing laws again homosexuality, and eventually he was convicted of being gay, and sentenced to two years of hard labor for this crime (Nunokawa 12). If Wilde had instead remained secretive about his actions, he