Battle of Trafalgar Essay Example for Free

Battle of difference of Trafalgar EssayThe Battle of Trafalgar was the most significant bout won by the British against the combined forces of the cut and Spanish fleets during the Napoleonic Wars. This participation to a fault had significant impact on the concept of navigation when it comes to the oceanic Doctrine of War. This battle proved that tactical unorthodoxy could throw out battles even though you might be outmanned and outgunned by your opponent you can still win battles by deviating from the old Naval Doctrine.This battle was part of a much larger campaign cal conduct the Trafalgar campaign which included several different battles that led up to the final battle at Trafalgar. This campaign was a long and complicated series of fleet maneuvers carried out by the combined French and Spanish fleets and the opposing moves of the British Royal navy blue during much of 1805. These were the culmination of French plans to force a passage through the English Channel, an d so achieve a successful invasion of the United Kingdom. The plans were extremely complicated and proved to be impractical.Much of the detail was due to the personal intervention of Napoleon, who was a soldier rather than a sailor. This was largely because Napoleon failed to consider the effects of weather, difficulties in communication, and the intervention of the Royal Navy. Despite limited successes in achieving some elements of the plan the French commanders were unavailing to follow the main objective through to execution. The campaign, which took place over thousands of miles of ocean, was marked by several naval engagements, most significantly at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.The naval doctrine at the time dictated that both sides should crimp up par solelyel to eachother in a straight line so that they could engage in battle and lead all their guns to bear against the enemy. One of the reasons for the development of the line of battle was to help the admira l control the fleet. If all the ships were in line, signaling in battle became possible. The line also had defensive properties, allowing either side to adjourn by breaking away in formation. If the assailant chose to continue combat their line would be broken as well.This type of warfare allowed each side to fight a battle and then to disengage at any time to minimize the losses to their fleet. However with England under threat of invasion by Napoleon and his grand army, British Admiral captain Horatio Nelson needed to ensure that the British were in control of the seas. In order to do this Nelson needed to fight and win a decisive battle that would clearly establish Britains naval supremacy. However in order to do this he would commence to make sure that the combined French and Spanish fleets in reality remained in the battle long enough to win a decisive victory.What Nelson planned on doing was instead of lining up parallel to the opposing fleet, Nelson would contact his n avy and charge at the enemy and deliberately cut the their battle line in two. This type of deviation from blueprint naval warfare in terms of navigation was unheard of at the time. Despite the risk to the British fleet, Nelson believed that this was the best way to engage the enemy fleet in the upcoming battle because it had numerous advantages. The primary advantage was that this would allow the British to cut half of the enemy fleet off, surround it, and force a fight to the end.This is unlike normal engagements where the battle was often inconclusive due to the fact that both fleets would withdraw before a clear winner could be seen. The plan had three superstar advantages. First, it would allow the British fleet to close with the Franco-Spanish fleet as quickly as possible, reducing the chance that it would be able to escape without fighting. Second, it would quickly bring on close quarters battle by breaking the Franco-Spanish line and inducing a series of individual ship-to -ship fights, in which the British were likely to prevail.Nelson knew that the interrupt seamanship, faster gunnery, and higher morale of his crews were great advantages. Third, it would bring a decisive concentration on the rear of the Franco-Spanish fleet. The ships in the front of the enemy fleet would have to turn back to support the rear, and this would concur a long time. Additionally, once the Franco-Spanish line had been broken, their ships would be relatively defenseless to powerful broadsides from the British fleet and would take a long time to reposition and return fire.The main drawback of this strategy was that sailing the British fleet into the combined French and Spanish battle line, the British ships would be fully exposed to the enemy broadsides without the ability to return fire. In order to lessen the time the fleet was exposed to this danger Nelson would have to claim the fleet straight into the enemy battle line as fast as he could.This was yet another depart ure from navigation rules of naval warfare. Nelson was also well aware that French and Spanish gunners were ill-trained, nd would probably be supplemented with soldiers. These untrained men and would have difficulty firing accurately from a sorrowful gun platform. This was in stark comparison to British gunners who were well drilled, and the Royal Marines who were expert marksmen. Another advantage that the British fleet had was that the enemy was sailing crosswise a heavy swell, causing the ships to roll heavily and exacerbating these problems. Nelsons plan was indeed a gamble, but a carefully calculated one. The battle itself started scarce as Nelson wanted it to.The British fleet was able to successfully cut the French and Spanish battle line in half thus forcing a close quarters battle. Despite the huge risk that Nelson was taking his plan ended up working. Nelson scored a huge victory against the combined French and Spanish fleet. He managed to capture over twenty of the enem y ships and inflicted heavy casualties against while suffering few casualties himself. Unfortunately during the battle Nelson was pierced by a musket ball and died from his wounds before he could see the outcome of the victory.Some argue that his loss outweighed any gains made by the British Navy. Following the battle, the Royal Navy was never again seriously challenged by the French fleet in a large-scale engagement. Napoleon had already abandoned his plans of invasion before the battle and they were never revived. This battle firmly established Britains naval supremacy over France. In terms of navigation, this battle was very significant. The most important involvement is that it proved that following standard navigational techniques during an engagement wont always win a battle.The best tactic is to be unpredictable so that the enemy has to adapt to what you are doing thus giving you the tactical advantage. This is exactly what Nelson did in the Battle of Trafalgar and it paid o ff. He proved that sometimes in battle deviating from the norm of battle navigation is the best thing to do, and ever since navies around the world have looked to the strategies employ by Nelson. What is being done like a shot is that naval commanders are being educated about naval history so that they can learn and even employ these types of strategies if they need to in battle.In conclusion, the Battle of Trafalgar was a turning bear down in which ships would fight naval battles in terms of navigation due to the tactical unorthodoxy employed by Nelson. This battle has had long term effects and even today commanders look back and employ some of the same strategies used. The importance of this battle cannot be underestimated because not only was it the turning point in the Napoleonic Wars for the British in terms of establishing naval supremacy at the time, it was a turning point in naval warfare. Navigation would never be the same thanks to one man and one decisive battle.

Beneath - Original writing Essay Example for Free

Beneath Original writing EssayPsychoanalysis begins. Monday morning, it was a big rush. I had to pack the kids lunches and watch after them as they odd wing for school. It was Kellys first day at junior school, and Michelles at secondary school. I dont know why, but as I shut the front door I had flash backs of my first day at secondary school. I got worried. Michelle is a lot like me when I was her age. To my children, I am a normal splendid mother, ordinary like everyone elses mother. That is how they see me. They know nothing about my past It was an excruciatingly hot and sunny day July 30th 1993.I dreaded the aftermath the sunrise began. I felt a huge lump at the back of my throat, my head was pounding, and droplets of cold sweat trickled down my forehead. I used to be a normal, quiet, and well behaved person but, all that changed when I met Camryn Barnes. After the first three times, I promised myself I would never do it again. Yet here I was with the hammer in my han d smashing the new lock on the school gate. It fell to the ground making a loud sudden noise, which do me jump even though it was expected. I ran towards the school building, but the school doors were all locked up.After approximately an hour of struggling through one of the engine room department windows, I managed to squeeze in. I ran to Dr Daniels office, compeling the door open. There, looking up at me with his beady black eyes was Cuddles Dr Daniels hamster. I had my equipment ready and then I opened the cage door picking up the small rodent with my trembling hands. I whispered to him in the darkness, Dont worry, itll only take a second. I reached into the back of my threadbare jeans pockets and pulled out the razor sharp penknife. Tears poured down my aspect. One, Two, Three. I did it.My hand was drenched in fresh, warm blood. I dropped Cuddles on the floor and retreated back to the technology department. I scum bag still remember the cold beady eyed stare Cuddles had given me as I pulled the pocket knife out of him. I recollect a similar expression from the past victims. I got back to Camryn a lot quicker this time. Camryn was walk outside and when she saw me she signalled to me to hurry up. I half jogged and half ran. When I reached her, she caught hold of my wrist and pulled me along with her. I glanced at her beautiful tanned face and saw the contented smile displayed along her lips.I could almost hear her heartbeat, and taste her idea of sweet satisfaction. When we reached her house, she dragged me to her bangroom then leapt onto her red crumpled bed and kicked off her scuffed trainers. Did you do it? Did you top the pint sized rat? she asked with enthusiasm. There was a malicious gleam in her green eyes. I nodded staring at my sweaty bloodstained hands. There was a huge lump in the back of my throat, my stomach churned. I couldnt take it any more, You said wed never do it again Wasnt killing Jackies budgie, Peters cat and Ellies turtle e nough? Why Dr Daniels hamster? Why? Camryn stood up with a frown creasing up near her finely plucked eyebrows. Whats terms with you? Dr Daniels failed me in English I worked so hard for him He got what he be A sudden anger flushed through my body, Like the others got what they deserved? Looking at Camryn, and seeing her satisfied realization from her manipulation, I had to leave. I walked home, showered and then lay in bed. I remember glancing at my digital clock it read 616am. I tried so hard, but failed to fall asleep. It was only a few hours, but seemed like days passing by. at long last my mother came into my room to see why I was not ready for school.I dont feel well, I murmured. Mother carelessly shook her head and left me alone. A month ago I used to be really close to my mother, but now I just seem to want to push her away and out of my life. It was almost as if I surrendered everything I loved for Camryn. My mother, my old friends and, my self respect. Eventually I fel l asleep. Beneath my closed eyes, my thoughts swivelled in front of my eyes. All I saw was beautiful, cold water, ripples glistening. That was where I wanted to be. I woke up and changed into my favourite clothes. I knew what I was doing. I felt alter but ignored the queasy feeling.I sat on the floor and scribbled a note for my mother. I used to write little poems to my mother ages ago. I knew that was what I had to do now. I still remember what I wrote in the poem, word for word. June year 1993, on the 25th day, The day I changed, stopped to pray, I made promises, made to break, But itll be over, whilst I lie in this lake, I feel like Im, spiralling into a deep dark hole, Hopefully this depth, can contain my soul, What Im trying to say, dear mother, Im Sorry, For pretending to be so upbeat and jolly, Sorry mum, I didnt mean to, Ill be thinking of you through and through.

Cross Culture Affects The Global Fast Foods

Cross Culture Affects The Global devalued regimensMichel Camdessus, former managing director of the Inter field M angiotensin converting enzymetary strain (IMF) said that Globalization is simply the continuation of the trend toward greater inter farmingal economic integration that has been under way for the last fifty years. The difference is that todays markets argon larger, more complex, and more closely integrated than ever before. And now capital moves at a speed and in volumes that would hand been inconceivable a a couple of(prenominal) decades ago. (Walker, Walker, Schmitz, 2003, p.2). One could surely argue that, globalisation as defined by our contemporary experience, is a continuation of a historical evolution that has been underway for at least the past five hundred years, with European colonialisation and imperialism leading to a dynamic amidst parochial tribalism and global commerce that frames the modern state of affairs- a dialectical dynamic that Benjamin Barber (1996) fittingly c everys Jihad vs. McWorld.As state by Elmer (2003), Stepping out and fitting in more or less the world is what internationals shop of companies atomic number 18 doing to conquer new markets and to be sustainable on the long run. The ch distributively(prenominal)enge of crossing the b army to step out and fit in apiece and every refinement worldwide (Elmer, 2003), and be both a global and a topical anaesthetic company is the effort of Fast Food brands like KFC, McDonalds and Nandos. Downs (1993) stated that One of the greatest stumbling blocks to understanding other quite a littles within or without a particular goal is the tendency to judge others air by our own standards. As per Criag Storti (1989. P. 32-34) The more we retreat from the cultivation and the people the less we learn about them the less we know about them the more awkward we purport among them the more self-conscious we fell among them the more inclined we ar to withdraw. Therefore t o survive a multinational has to learn about the people of the country they are operating in.Hofstede (1991), Trompenaars (1993), Czinkota and Ronkainen (1993) all agreed that refinement is base on languages, economy, religion, policies, amicable institutions, class, values, status, attitudes, manners, customs, material items, aesthetics and education, which subsequently influences managerial values. The ability of Hofstedes framework to capture more than the single(a)ism-collectivism dimension of culture contributed to its popularity (Sivakuma and Nakata, 2001).According to Hofstede (1980), the skepticism escape dimension bay windows with the national cultures ability to tolerate ambiguity. Individuals in these high uncertainty avoidance cultures tend to be rigid and dogmatic. They are threatened by unknown situations. Life is perceived to incur many risks, and the resultant stress needs to be lessened. So the cultures may rely upon such(prenominal) mechanisms as rules, customs, laws, and religion in pursuit of security.1.2 Problem DefinitionWith the effect of globalization, it has been n singled that many multinational prof occasion victuals for thought brands are establishing in the Mauritius. afterwards(prenominal) nearly 30 years that KFC implemented itself in Mauritius, we now film an influx of antithetic famous brands of fast foods. Another phenomenon leading to this increase of fast food on the market is the opening of retail outlets like Bagatelle and Cascavelle. Mauritius is known for its history of different ethnic groups and with a diversity of food culture, the challenge arising is how these companies are able to gain share of the market and how they have adapted themselves to the Mauritian culture.1.3 The industry understudyThis study exit be conducted for the Fast Food industry with reference to the determineing multinational brands KFC, McDonalds and Nandos. This will enable us to analyse how they are operating and how the importation of American and Portuguese food culture are adapting to our famous Mauritian cuisineBryani, Dal puri, Gateaux Piment, Mine Bouille and other typical Mauritian food.1.4 Aim of lookThe aim of this query is to investigate how these multinationals are facing the cross cultural barriers and how they have been able to overcome them.1.5 Objective of ResearchTo identify cross cultural barriers existing in the Mauritian grocery store and the fast food sector.To analyse how cross culture barriers affects the Marketing strategies of Fast Food CompaniesTo analyse the regard of cross culture on the brand justice of these MultinationalsTo analyse the impact of the perplexity and uncertainty avoidance theory faced by Fast Food Multinational on the Market.To evaluate how Mauritians has accepted these Multinationals in their culture.1.6 Research Structure and hypothesesCompanies who extend their business abroad have to face a challenge of cross-cultural communication. Bennis and N anus (1985) refer to Erez (1992) and claim that communication is the but approach by which group members can cooperate with each other toward the goal of organization. In line with this a possible assumption is as follows surmisal 1Ho Cross cultural barriers have no impact on fast food multinational marketing strategiesH1 cross cultural barriers have impact on fast food multinational marketing strategiesSteenkamp et al. (2003) found that perceived brand globalness was positively related to perceived quality and prestige. Another hypothesis can beHYPOTHESIS 2H3 Cross cultural barriers have no impact on brand equity of fast food multinational marketing strategiesH4 Cross cultural barriers have impact on brand equity of fast food multinational marketing strategiesHofstede (1991, p. 116) points out that uncertainty avoidance should not be confuse with risk avoidance even more than minify risk, uncertainty avoidance leads to a reduction of ambiguity. One of hypothesis will show this from the studyHYPOTHESIS 3H5 The anxiety and uncertainty avoidance theory have no impact on Fast foods Multinationals on the Market.H6 The anxiety and uncertainty avoidance theory have impact on Fast foods Multinationals on the Market.Levitt (1983, p. 87) argues that well-managed companies have moved from emphasis on customizing items to offering globally standardised products that are advanced, functional, reliable and low priced. The following hypothesis will try to this point.HYPOTHESIS 4H7 Mauritian has adopted these Multinational Fast Foods.H8 Mauritian has not adopted these Multinational Fast Foods.1.7 Structure of the StudyThe dissertation will comprise of different chapters as outlined below.Chapter 1 Introduction defines the setting of the research and outlines the aim and research objectives. It alike gives an overview of the structure of the study to be carried out.Chapter 2 Literature Review - delivers a detailed account of relevant materials in intercourse to the su bject matter including theories and principles relating to cross-cultural barriers, also in relation to the food and fast foods multinationals. It also emphasizes on Individualism versus collectivism and uncertainty avoidance in relation to Hofstedes cultural framework.Chapter 3 Situation Analysis It provides a brief of the Mauritian Fast food Multinationals and the problem they have encounter to be present on the MarketChapter 4 Methodology defines the basic methods used to carry out this study along with the procedures that are used to analyse and prepare the hoard data. It also identifies the problems and limitations during the research.Chapter 5 Analysis Findings Presents an analysis of the data collected together with a discussion.Chapter 6 Recommendations Conclusion provides recommendations to provide a smoother adjustment for the Fast Food Multinationals in view with cross cultural issues.Chapter 2 Literature reviewSince the very beginning of human history, food has a ssembled peoples in the way that no any other things have been able to do. No matter whether it was the ancient agora or todays modern day supermarket or restaurant, the market of food has perpetually played a central role in humans lives, communities, communication, and culture (Huddleston et al., 2009 DeJesus and Tian, 2004). Culture is often defined as a system of values as well as a determinant of consumer behavior. Members of a particular culture transform their experiences with their physical and social environments to an abstract level of belief about what is enviable and what is not (Lillis and Tian 2010). Such encoded beliefs, called values, act as a general guide for everyday behaviors, including those pertaining to buying and consumption. heathenish values differ among nations along Hofstedes four dimensions of national character (Emery and Tian, 2003 Hofstede, 1984 Tian, 2002). The growing amount of international business has increased the need to understand consumer behavior from a cross-cultural perspective (Mooij, 2004 Senguder, 2001 Sunderland and Denny, 2007 Tian 2002 a).With the globalisation of markets, marketing research has assumed a truly international character and this trend is likely to continue (Malhotra et al., 1994). Todays Consumers have greater knowledge of the value of various competing offerings. Effective communications may be the most(prenominal) important competitive advantage that firms have to meet diverse consumer needs on a global basis. According to Edmondson (2000), two-thirds of all industries either already operate globally or are in the process of doing so, McDonaldss earns over 62% of its income outside the U.S. For cross-cultural acceptance, Altering and adjusting the marketing change integrity determinants are essential and vital to suit local tastes, meet special needs and consumers non-identical requirements (Czinkota and Ronnenken, 1995). Growing internationalization of tastes and buying patterns has made the development of global and regional brands more feasible (Doyle, 1994).2.1 Fast Food Industry and Food cultureThe fast food revolution essentially had its origins in the US in the middle 1950s and this style of catering has continued to grow in that respect and to spread to most of the rest of the world in the decades since then (Jones et al, 2002, p.41). Schlosser (2001) has suggested that within the US the impact of this revolution has been seen to be particularly pervasive. He argues, for example, that during a relatively brief period of time the fast food industry has helped to transform not scarcely the American diet but also our landscapes, economy, workforce and popular culture. More generally fast food can be seen as a properly symbol of globalisation and of post-modern society and few countries of the world seem immune to its apparent attractions. McDonaldss, for example, claim to serve 45 million customers every day in 30,000 restaurants in 121 countries around the world (Jones et al, 2002, p.41).Fast food have been defined by Bender and Bender (1995) as a general term used for a limited notice of foods that lend themselves to production-line techniques suppliers tend to specialize in products such as burgers, pizzas, chicken, or sandwiches. Fast food is one which gained acceptance of Indian palate after the multinational fast food players adapted the basic Indian food requirements with vegetarian meals and selected non-vegetarian options excluding beef and pork totally from their menu (Goyal, and Singh, 2007).Carmouche and Kelly (1995) suggested a advert of occurrenceors that shape the food consumption behavior social class, gender, age, culture, race, and religion (also considered a cultural factor). Food is one important factor that influences the choice to visit a particular coiffure and affects tourists attitudes, decisions, and behavior (Henderson 2009 Hjalanger and Corigliano 2000). Ample evidence has been found that religion can influence consumer attitude and behavior in general and food buying decisions and eating habits in particular (Bonne and Verbeke 2008b).In many societies, religion plays one of the most influential roles in shaping food choices and consumption behavior the types of food that can be consumed, who should prepare and cook the food at what times, and how and when to eat it. However, different religions have different rules and teachings about food consumption behavior. Followers of religions also differ in observance of these rules nearly follow the rules strictly, while others behave with more flexibility, and few may not care at all. Hence, in order to investigate the relationship between food consumption behavior and religion, it is important to give ample consideration to this religious diversity both within and among the following of each religion. (Maedeh Bon, Mazhar Hussain, 2010) All restaurants of KFC, an American fast-food chain, in France are Halal certified and KFC also ser ves such food in eight of its British restaurants on a trial basis (The economic expert 2009).2.2 Culture and Cross Culture2.2.1 Definition of CultureAccording to Ferraro (1994), the only requirement for culture is to be human is that the people in the world belong to a culture. Marzheuser (1995) stated that culture consists originally of the symbols and stories people use to communicate their history and values. For manse (1976), culture is a backchat which stands for the sum of earned behavior, patterns, attitudes and material things. Culture has been defined as the collective computer programing of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another (Hofstede, 1980). Beyond individual differences, human dispositions and behaviors are influenced by the norms, beliefs and values of their cultural environment (Triandis, 1989).Furthermore, cultural values shape not only ones behavior, but also ones perceptions of the self and of the social environment (Triand is, 1989). Much insight has been gained from the GLOBE research project (House et al., 2004), where culture was measured both as values of the respondents and in terms of their perceptions of how people deal with collective challenges within their culture.2.2.2 Cross CultureOkazaki et al (2011) defined global consumer culture positioning as a brand is associated with a widely unsounded and recognized set of symbols believed to constitute emerging global consumer cultures. As Simon and Dolan (1997) illustrate McDonaldss has been very successful with package offers in the USA and in Germany, where a hamburger and fries offered together with a beverage. While Local consumer culture positioning is defined as a strategy that associates the brand with local cultural meanings, reflects the local cultures norms and identities, is portrayed as consumed by local people in the national culture, and/or is depicted as locally produced for local people (e.g., McDonaldss chicken teriyaki ads in J apan). In contrast, foreign consumer culture positioning positions the brand as symbolic of a specific foreign consumer culture (e.g. KFC slogan Finger-lickin good was translated as wash up your fingers off in China).Beyond individual differences, human dispositions and behaviors are influenced by the norms, beliefs and values of their cultural environment (Triandis, 1989). Furthermore, cultural values shape not only ones behavior, but also ones perceptions of the self and of the social environment (Triandis, 1989). Cultural differences have significant impact on our intercultural communication. They are the source of misunderstanding, misinterpretation, anxiety, and uncertainty, which ultimately result in miscommunication (Stephan and Stephan, (2002) Gudykunst (2002) Gudykunst and Lee, (2002). Generally, culture is conceptualised as a dual-lane way of life collectively developed and shared by a group of people and transmitted from contemporaries to generation (Tubbs and Moss, 19 94). Culture embodies many complex elements such as beliefs, values, language, political systems, and tools which together give a group its code or characteristics (Griffin (2000) Tubbs and Moss (1994). This code is not imposed by one individual or an external body. Rather, it is socially constructed (by members that make up the group) and historically transmitted (Philipsen, (1992) and Griffin (2000)).Intercultural communication is thus the replace of cultivation between well-defined groups of people with significantly different cultures (Barnett and Lee (2002). The process is quite complex in the sense that this exchange of information takes place in a context which is a fusion of significantly different systems. The process also requires conscious attempts by each party at reducing uncertainty about the future behaviour of the other party through an increase in understanding of the other group (Barnett and Lee (2002) Gudykunst, (2002)). For Gudykunst and Lee (2002) and Griffin , (2000) Cultural variability (the extent to which cultures differ) is key to any conceptualisation of intercultural communication. Various studies have examined cultural variability at the level of power distribution (or power distance), uncertainty avoidance, gender roles, face negotiation, individualism-collectivism, and others.Mazneski (1994) opines that cross-cultural awareness facilitates to carry through a set task successfully. Berthon (1993) views culture as the results of the human actions and shows the link between the ideas of mental programming and the consequence of behaviour derived from this. Therefore, cross-verging across culture has different aspects such as attitude, communication, conflict and negotiation, performance and compensation, which explain the ethical issues and how to appraise them. Bond and Forgas (1984) concluded that different perceptions, attitudes and biases in different cultures ultimately mould the ethical monochromes across-culture, have a di stinct presence ubiquitously. In that light, McFarlin and Sweeney (1998) observe that once you perceive and interpret the behaviour of another person, you often must communicate your feelings or reactions to what took place which is an extension of the ethical base to appraise performance and preference. Ambos and Schlegelmilch (2008) argue that one culture may digest certain type (or types) of organizations rather than other types, and culture differences will eventually influence on the performance of company.International marketers have long recognise that products and services frequently must be adapted to the varying needs and preferences of consumers in different countries (Cateora and Graham 2002). As McDonaldss adapted its products in India and has made changes to its menu to cater to local tastes elsewhere in the world. In 1996 McDonaldss launches its first restaurants in India and to respect local custom the menu there did not include beef. Instead, there was a novel it em the Maharaja Mac, made with mutton but served in the McDonaldss sesame-seed bun (Rugimbana and Nwankwo, (2003).The goal of marketing management is to create positive individuality impressions in the local consumers minds, even if this entails some alteration to the companys global identity expressions. As reported in The Economist (2001), in the fast-food industry, menu offerings are influenced by the prevailing cultural values Maharaja Macs at McDonaldss India, Teriyaki McBurgers at McDonaldss Japan, and Kosher and non-Kosher restaurants in McDonaldss Israel and advertising, outdoor signage, and in-store ephemera need to be in the native language. Restaurant computer architecture frequently incorporates native motifs and global trade characters can take on a local flavor. A Starbucks in Shanghai has a Ming Dynasty faade and the entrances of some Chinese KFC restaurants are guarded by full-size, fiberglass models of Colonel Sanders who, in his Asian reincarnation, looks a lit tle portly like a Buddha. According to former CEO, seaman Greenberg, localization has contributed to McDonaldss worldwide success (Foreign Policy 2001), although some analysts warn that decentralization has become so pervasive that it threatens to undermine the main pillars of the brand service, quality and cleanliness (The Economist 2001).2.3 Cross Culture BarriersHofstede (1991), Trompenaars (1993), and Czinkota and Ronkainen (1993) all agreed that culture is based on languages, economy, religion, policies, social institutions, class, values, status, attitudes, manners, customs, material items, aesthetics and education, which subsequently influences managerial values. Witkowski and Wolfinbarger (2002) found that the relationship between the different components of service quality reliability, empathy, responsiveness, assurance, and tangibles and perceptions of overall service quality varied across both cultures and across service settings.2.3.1 LanguageLanguage is the key to th e tenderness of a culture, so related are language and culture that language holds the power to maintain national or cultural identity. Victor (1992) noted that there are at least 2, 796 languages spoken on planet earth. According to Rubin (1992), language is a set of characters or elements and rules for their use in relation to one another and as described by Nanda and Warms (1998) language does more than just reflect culture it is the way in which an individual is introduce to the order of the physical and social environment. As the definition of Dawson (1967), language lies at the root of culture, and that culture and language are inseparable aspects of the same process. According to Edwards (1985), language is important in ethnic and nationalist sentiment because of its power and visible symbolism (reason why the Mauritian placement as implemented Mauritian Creoles in schools). For Bolch (1996) language and culture are so firmly intertwined that optional cross-cultural interna tional business cannot be attained without substantial foreign-language capabilities. Reasonable cultural awareness without foreign-language capabilities is common, especially among side of meat speaking business people, but such a lack of skills set very definite limits on the efficacy of cross-cultural performance. Intercultural communication gained prominence after efforts by anthropologists and linguists like Hall and Lado to link language, culture, and communication (Kramsch, 2001).2.3.2 Norms, Roles, Beliefs and ValuesNorms are culturally defined rules for determining acceptable and appropriate behaviour (Tubbs and Moss, 1994). They include those that govern social situations and conversational routines such as greetings, making requests, and expressing various emotions. Roles are also sources of cultural variability. Roles are sets of norms applicable to specific groups of people in society. As culture relates to norms, values and customs of people it generates behavioural d ifferentiation. Culture as a set of norms, rules and customs, as a result people from different cultures have differences in their norms and customs. Culture is a pattern of spiritual, emotional, mental and physical realities, all of which interact in the life of society and individuals. It involves the way we think, dress and speak, the words we use, our beliefs, the food we eat, the style of our clothes and our homes, the relationship between relatives, our music and our art, and much more. Higher education levels expose individuals to different cultural perspectives and make them less likely to follow local behavioral norms and more global as consumers (Keillor et al., 2001). Cultural syndromes are cognitive structures that help one organize and interpret the world by direction attention on certain patterns or matters in the subjective elements of the environment, such as values, norms, beliefs, and assumptions (Triandis, 1994a)2.3.3 StatusHomer and Kahle (1988), the value attit ude behavior hierarchy would support the contention that cultural values do correlate with attitudes. Orientation toward status is another cultural dimension identified as affecting human behavior and refers to how people are judged in society (Trompanaars Hampdon-Turner, 1997). Achievement is a cultural orientation where people are accorded status based on how well they perform their functions (e.g., subject matter expertise) and on what they have accomplished. Ascription is a cultural orientation where status is attributed based on who or what a person is (i.e., based on age, gender, or social connections).2.4. High context-communication and low context communication.High context or Low context communication theory is one of the most important theories in cross-cultural research, which can be viewed as a culture based on the messages that people within the culture prefer to use (Ric operoseson and Smith, 2007). It properly links management style and staff behaviour to discuss th e issue of cross-cultural management in communication. According to Richardson and Smith (2007) refer to Hall (1976) and argue that cultures cannot be easily classified into High Context or Low Context, but to some extent, some cultures tend to be at the high end while others are at the lower end of the continuum. In a high-context culture, people interdepend on each other. Information is widely shared through the word with potential meaning. In a low-context cutlure, people tend to be individualized, kind of alienated and fragmented, people do not involve with each other too much. High context communication tends to engage an indirect way to express while low context communication prefers direct information exchange (Kim, Pan and Park, 1998, Richardson and Smith, 2007). In a low-context culture, people coming from other culture can easily match these machinations, but in a high-context culture, these high-context machinations cannot be easily matched by people coming from low-cont ext culture (Holden, 2002).The characteristic of high-context communication is economical, fast, efficient, and satisfying, however, programming is time-consumed (Kim, Pan and Park, 1998). Contrarily, low-context kittyages are more context-free than high-context communication, information about the character and background and values of the participants are less influencing on people to make deals, however, the reliance to make deal is upon the explicit communication. In high context cultures communication involves messages in which most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message While low context the mass of the information is vested i n explicit code (Hall Hall, 1990). Cultural dimensions such as uncertainty avoidance, high-low context, field dependence-independence, and analytic-holistic reasoning are all cultural dimensions that may impact the leaders search (Salas e t al., 2004).2.5 Hofstede cultur al dimension FrameworkThe human relations theme contains cultural dimensions that address how members of cultures react, interact, and develop relationships with others. Specifically, this theme includes dimensions that describe the identification of in- versus out-groups and corresponding expectations (Hofstede, 1980), preferences for individualistic tendencies versus group consensus and corresponding behavioral consequences (Trompenaars Hampden-Turner, 1998), and the maintenance of the status quo (Schwartz, 1999). The power relations theme contains cultural dimensions that revolve around peoples beliefs, values, and subsequent behaviors resulting from perceptions of power. Cultural dimensions within this theme guide rules and regulations regarding peoples reaction to power as well as the perception, acceptance, and friendship of power being distributed unequally (Hofstede, 1980). Hofstedes mixed bag was originally related to work values rather than consumer behavior and other m icro phenomena it might be less relevant in more culture specific studies on more micro phenomena in consumer behaviors (Yau et al. 1999). However, his work appears to be heavily relied upon because of its extensiveness across cultures and its intuitive appeal.While the first four themes deal primarily with direct social interactions, the next several themes pertain to differences in cultures orientation to more inanimate objects (i.e., rules, times, nature). Dimensions, which pertain to a cultures orientation to rules, include those that describe the adherence to, application of, and comfort with rules for members of a certain culture. Specifically, this theme refers to attitudes and preferences for ambiguity, rules guiding actions, and the amount of rules that govern behaviour for a particular society (Hofstede, 1980). National cultures also have different preferences with regard to perception of time and how those perceptions guide behavior. The time orientation theme refers to d imensions that explain how time perceptions of members relate to rewards, how time is viewed, and whether or not members hold attention to time (Hofstede, 2001 Hall Hall, 1990).The following provides a brief outline of the six dimensions of national cultures (Hofstede, 2001 Hofstede et al., 2010).(1) Power distance refers to the extent to which a society accepts the fact that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. It is shown as much by the behavioural values of superiors, who display their power and exercise it, as by the behavioural values of subordinates who tolerate for their superiors to show their status and power, and are uncomfortable if they do not personally experience it.(2) Uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to which members of a society feel uncomfortable in ambiguous and uncertain situations and take actions to avoid them. The dimension of uncertainty avoidance measures the extent to which people in a society tend to feel threatene d by uncertain, ambiguous or undened situations. Where uncertainty avoidance is high, organizations promote stable careers, produce rules and procedures, etc. Nevertheless societies in which uncertainty avoidance is muscular are also characterized by a higher level of anxiety and aggressiveness that creates, among other things, a strong inner urge to work hard (Hofstede, 1980a).(3) Individualism versus collectivism refers to the extent to which individuals are supposed to look after themselves or remain integrated into groups. Hofstede (2001) defines it as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. According to this definition, national culture is a set of collective beliefs and values that distinguish people of one nation from those of another.(4) Masculinity versus femininity refers to the distribution of emotional roles between the genders. It contrasts tough masculine with tender feminine societies. A s ociety is masculine when the dominant values opt assertiveness, earning money, showing off possessions and caring little for others. Conversely, feminine societies favour nurturing roles, interdependence between people and caring for others (who are seen as worth caring for, because they are temporarily weak). The masculinity/femininity dimension has been so called because, on average, men tended to score high on one extreme and women on the other, across societies.(5) long-run versus short-term orientation refers to the extent to which a culture programs its members to accept delayed satisfaction of their material, social and emotional needs. Long-term orientation is future- focalizationed and has long-term goals whereas short-term orientations focus on respect for tradition and are oriented toward the past and the present. Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular, perseverance and thrift. Its diametral pole, Short Term O

A Swot Analysis Of Barclays Bank Finance Essay

A Swot Analysis Of Barclays commit Finance EssayThe globular landscape of personal line of credit had always been faced with inevitable and unpredictable circumstances which has always been challenging for them one time they ar confronted. Financial institutions, for instance, have been rattled by the worldwide scotch down troll which has affected pipelinees in the recent years. To be bale to alleviate the effect of such circumstances, it is a common practice among jobes to execute measures and practices which ar directed towards improving their cognitive process amidst the tragedies in the economical status. One of the many ways in which they locoweed do so is through a elevate analysis which speaks of evaluation of the organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analysis enables businesses to capitalize on the aspects in which they are strong at and to improve on aspect in which they deem as needing improvement.Barclays Bank is one of the numerous financial or banking institutions in the United Kingdom, which over the years, through their unwavering strategies and efforts, has also conquered the global landscape through its business expansion. In their recent year of operation, the bank is regarded as a global financial goods pull up stakesr, engaging in businesses which deals with retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services which extends its operation not hardly in the United Kingdom but all over the world as well. This international expansion raise be traced as early as afterwards the First World War in which the bank has expanded its operation to cater to the needs of refreshful(prenominal) regions such as Africa, The Caribbean, the Near East, and the Mediterranean. The regions which were originally selected for expansion of the financial institution were countries with political links to the United Kingdom (Coulbeck, 1984). In th e present, however, the business has continued its expansion on its quest to serve to a greater extent(prenominal) markets and to establish a global presence. At present, rattled by the various economic troubles and the unpredictable future, Barclays is in continued operation with much focus and attention dedicated towards better serving the public and towards the sustainability of their business through responsible financial support and business operation (Barclays, 2010).In this study the researcher will be formulating a SWOT strategy analysis for Barclays Bank to provide a more intensive analysis and evaluation of the banks operation. The analysis of a companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, is the starting point of strategy formulation as it provides a thorough evaluation and analysis of the business strengths and weaknesses which are in truth internal to their operation and the opportunities and threats which tidy sum be further analyzed by looking at the external environment. The results of this analysis female genitalia be used at the maximum by exploiting the strengths and opportunities of the organization while neutralizing the threats and deliberately avoiding the weaknesses (Griffin, 2008).STRENGHTS OF BARCLAYSThe strength of a company gives the business it competitive edge over another(prenominal) players in the same industry of even among indirect players which enkindle still be classified as participants in the competition. These strengths could include their special capability, resources, or skills which specialise them apart of the competition like their market dominance and a pleasant financial performance which is set to make them perform better in the following(a) years of operation (Stapleton Thomas, 1998).One of the strengths which can be attributed to the operation of Barclays Bank is its worldwide presence. The international expansion of this financial institution has enabled the business to tap more market a nd more territories which gave them the advantages of enjoying the economies of scale and it let them enjoyed the benefit of allowing risks to be spread among its numerous bank locations. Their presence in different locations among different countries gains the potential of the business as they become more known in the field of finance and banking industry. The bank has a huge global presence across regions like Europe, southbound America, North America, Africa and Asia serving almost 50 million clients (BankAdvisor, n.d.)2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009The two graphs which were presented supra show another strengths reaped by the bank in the knightly year. The first chart shows a comparative three year analysis of economic profit which is deemed as one crucial key performance indicator of the business. This refers to the firms profit after tax and other non-controlling interests less capital charges. The higher economic profit of Barclays this year as compared to the previous year is indicative of its good performance as such reflects a growth in the banks profit and reflects their efficient use of capital. This strength of Barclays necessitates that the company is doing good in terms of being able to get under ones skin economic revenue which is also reflective of good financial performance in the previous year. This goes to show that the company is performing well amidst economic difficulties.Furthermore, the fleck graph shows the profit before tax of the bank. The chart shows that their profit this year is significantly higher compared to the previous year, another indicator if the companys strength despite the major(ip) challenges in the global economic situation particularly affecting international financial institutions. The total profit before tax is one of the most essential profitability measures which can be used to assess and evaluate the performance of a particular company in a given year. It is used as a key indicator of the financial perform ance which most investors gauge in order to determine how successful a business performed in the past year. The financial data of Barclays, based on their Annual Company Report, reflects an almost doubled profit before tax compared to the previous year. This is another strength which can be considered for the company and such can be able to attract more investments because of the relatively good business in the past year.WEAKNESSES OF BARCLAYSAside from the strengths of Barclays Bank which were enumerated above, it is also important that we take a look at its corresponding weaknesses. The weaknesses of a business the weaknesses of a business illustrates the areas in which they have not shown symbolic performance and the areas in which they did not show desired or anticipated results. These weaknesses can refere to the traits in which they need improvement. Once carefully identified and stipulated, their weaknesses can service them formulate better strategies and practices so that they can be assured of a better performance.One of the weaknesses of Barclays is its control systems. Because of their deemed defective and inefficient control systems, they were fined in family of last year. This can be classified as their weakness because this tarnished the name in the industry of financial institutions and caused them to have a bad reputation in the eyes of the public. They were fined because of their failure to provide daily data regarding bank transactions which will be used by the government to be able to bring in and investigate suspected abuse in the trading and also elusions of manipulation in the market. This tougher banking regulation has also affected some of the major banks in Europe. Unfortunately, it cost Barclays a lot as they paid a fine amounting to 2.45 million pounds because of this violation on the government laws. The fine would have been bigger if in case they did not cooperate earlier to be able to settle the case (Olson, 2009).2008 2009The chart which was illustrated above shows another weakness of the performance of Barclays based on its performance in the previous year. The chart shows the comparative analysis on the issue forth of Barclayard users or customers for the past two years. Barclayard is an international credit card that is multi branded. It is one of the lead credit card businesses in Europe with a relatively growing market in America and other parts of the world as well. The number of customers handling the aforementioned credit card was brought to an entire almost two million customers low this year. This can be attributed to the fact that because of the financial and global economic crisis which hit the world in the previous years, fewer customers are interested on credit purchases because of the uncertainty of their respective financial situations. This can be regarded as a weakness for Barclays because this only illustrates that although other parts of the business is earning, this particular sect or of the business is beginning to lose its customer base which might unquestionablely worsen in the next years and can inevitably result into decreased profits.Aside from what has been mentioned, another factor which can be regarded as the weakness of Barclays is that it gives out large amount of bonuses to the members of the Board of Directors. Such practice has gained numerous comments and criticisms from different groups in the past. If such practice will continue, it will haunt them in their operation and will cause more eyes to be focused on them and can even reveal further problems and weaknesses which are inherent in the operation of the business.OPPORTUNITIES FOR BARCLAYSThe opportunities which confront the operation of international businesses is another factor which should be evaluated when analyzing the performance of a specific company. These opportunities can open new door for the business, can be basis for expansion or extension of operation, and can give way to open ing of new businesses and catering to more markets which were not served before. One of the opportunities for Barclays is the sum up importance of the division which is played by the banks in the society nowadays (Varley, 2009). Despite the numerous disadvantages which were brought about by the financial and global economic crisis, the role of the banks in the society did not weaken rather it experienced change magnitude importance especially in its ability to provide reliable and efficient fee systems, safe storage for savings and deposit, maturity transformation, management of asset and other investments. This increasing importance of banks amidst financial turmoil provides the industry greater opportunities to open its doors into new businesses and ventures which can bring them generous amount of profit and will let them enjoy sustainable competitive advantage in the long run.2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009The two charts which were presented above also shows areas of opportunit y for Barclays Bank. The first one shows the levels of customer satisfaction. in the past years, the level of satisfaction was only 67% versus this years 72%. It is shown that there is a significant increase which means that there is a relatively larger number of customers this year who felt that there is an improvement in the tint of service provided by the bank. This can be classified as an opportunity because this can lead to more strategies focused on the customers and services which could better satisfy their needs. This can also serve as an indicator of more expansion in the line of services they provide since more sight are happier with the output and quality of their service provision. The heightened percentage in the level of customer satisfaction can help the business realize more opportunities which are people-related and it can also provide them with the opportunity to develop only better services to be assured of higher satisfaction ratings in the years to come.Furthe rmore, the second chart shows the amount of income generated internationally. This reflects revenue which was generated from their banks and other forms of businesses outside the United Kingdom. For the year 2008, their international income reached a percentage of 47, and it increased to 57% this year, this goes to show that there is more profit this year generated from international operation as compared to the previous year. This international diversification of the organizations income will provide them with an opportunity to lower the occurrence of risk as they are displaced on a number of locations. The increase in the percentage of income generated from international operation can also provide them with the opportunity to put up more locations in other countries and opportunity to improve service in other countries since these branches are bringing them more revenue year after year.THREATS FOR BARCLAYSThe threats which confront any business are as timeless and inevitable as wh at have been previously discussed. These threats can extend from internal to external and from mild to complex. Companies must be ready once they are confronted with these threats to be bale to sustain and survive in the ever competitive world of business. Threat should be managed carefully to be able to shell the competition and overcome the struggles which were brought about by such challenges.2007 2008 2009The chart which was presented above shows one of the threats confronting the operation of Barclays. It must be noted that in the opportunities section, the rseracher included the increase in income generated from international expansion as a remarkable opportunity because there is a significant increase in the income from the said section of the business. However, needles to say, the increase in income does not always equate to satisfactory international performance. The chart above shows that almost 100 branches outside the United Kingdom closed as compared to the number of b ranches in the previous year. The closure of these branches is attributed to the fact that they can be bypassed in terms pof performance of some banking transactions which does not need an actual banking operation to take effect. However, the closure of such branches also poses a serious threat to the business because it only means that there is a reduction in the number of locations in which people can transact actual and physically. Because they have reduced the number of their merchant locations, clients may then be prompted to explore the options they are confronted and might actually opt for other banking service provider.Another threat to the operation of Barclays bank would be the increased competition among financial institutions not only in the United Kingdom, but in the international market as well. Although the world has been confronted with financial and economic crunches, the role of banks in the society and in the lives of the people has continued to increase overtime as its function also increased significantly. With that, if there is a relatively low rate of new entrants, it cannot be denied that those who jhave already been in the top are forever increasing their efforts to tap more markets globally. Their efforts and strategies are unwavering towards provision of better public service which in turn can give the customers a sense of satisfaction. Because of these efforts and strategies, competition has been more stringent as they utilize more marketing tools which are helping them in their operations. This increased and tightened competition can prove to be unhealthy especially if the efforts of Barclays are not directed towards strategies to survive the competitive playground.Another threat to the operation of Barclays could be the fact that the company has been reputed for closing too many branches in the past, specifically in the year 2000. Such act can lower their competitive mark and can create and imagery without credibility and assura nce in terms of their operation. The closure of these branches could actually mean weak financial performance thereby black both the investors and its array of potential clients.CONCLUSIONThe global financial and banking industry is not exempted from the economic and financial turmoil which confronts international businesses. In fact, these financial institutions can even feel the greater effect of the predicament as they are concerned with how the world turns around financially. However, a careful analysis of the financial institutions strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats can be of help to be able to formulate better strategies and in order to eliminate practices which are not showing efficiency in their global operations. A careful analysis of such could be able to help them determine and improve their position with regards to competition. The analysis on Barclays shows that they are still in a stable competitive position despite the predicaments which confront their operation. They have a stable financial and management base which enables them to manage the adversaries which are perpetually striking the global businesses.

The concept of Work-Life Balance

The concept of fetch-Life BalanceIntroductionThe concept of get Life Balance has always existed, it sound wasnt until recently that experts put a name to it. Employment has been traditionally thought of the means to which you support your somebodyal life, with Work Life Balance principles employers git now gain competitive advantage from creating a more(prenominal) symbiotic relationship with a persons home and break away. This allows for lower tense up in the gain place and greater have a go at itment in the home. The results of this be increased performance in the land place and great repertoire for marketing to new employers. As this is rocky to establish in either manufacturing and this is very true with enlisting agencies. The following is breakdown of the Work Life Balance principles along with a lodge analysis of the Irish Recruitment company CPL.Work Life BalanceThe major concept of Work Life Balance in employment is that the employer gives the employee the a bility to handle their responsibilities in and out of pasture while generating self worth. This can be done by a multitude of waysFlexibilityAlthough hard in many industries the companys structure should en adapted an employee to spring flexible times so that they can action their out of work obligations. This can include anything from leaving early to weft up their children from school to beingness allowed to work via the Internet when the employee is exactd to handle home problems like construction work. The requirement of this is simple as the oddment of work and life is non something that you can attach an actual number to. Certain weeks your personal life depart require more time and other weeks your lord life will unavoidableness a greater investment, with tractability in the work place and home you can ensure n all will be neglected.AchievementAs this is a oddment between life and work an employee must have the ability to succeed in their profession. The employee essentials to be able to succeed in and out of work to achieve this. The structure of the persons professional life needs to allow for progression in amity to performance. Through this the person can truly shape their own destiny generating self worth and in conjunction with other work life correspondence concepts they will be able achieve in home life as well.EnjoymentThere are many employees who can be talented in any situation as long as they view it accordingly. Enjoying life is something that everyone can do and is integral to the work life balance. A person must be able to work in a setting that they can not only achieve notwithstanding as well as enjoy their success. onlytoned in with the concept of flexibility a person needs to understand that in order to do well in work you need to be enjoying work and life. A happy person will be able to perform better through increased energy and drive which helps the organization manage their competitive advantage.Conceptually the idea of Work Life Balance seems relatively simple. If you can maintain flexibility, achieve well and enjoy life you can increase value to your life (Holden and Renshaw, 2004, pg 91). This system gets complicated as employers try to help everyone who has similar responsibilities outside of work which creates a labor on the whole performance. The balance itself is there to support the employees so that they support the firm, symbiotic relationships like this are always fragile from their codependence and true balance is dear impossible to maintain in certain industries. Recruitment is one of those hard industries.AdvantagesThe main advantage occurring from Work Life Balance policies in an organization is the improved performance from your employees. It has been proven that an employee who has the flexibility in their job to handle their personal lives will produce the following1. Higher quality work 2. Less missed time 3. More employer committal 4. An overall more enjoyable wo rkplace as all employees are achieving and enjoying 5. More innovative ideas as employees care about their job 6. Strong recruitment marketing for future employees which increase the talent poolThis all results in a greater competitive advantage for the firm which will enable them to travel by their own goals (Holden and Renshaw, 2004).Irish Recruitment IndustryIrelands economy is booming but is as well in close proximity to the powerful pound of the UK. This has resulted in a very cutthroat recruitment attention where people vie for coveted positions. The result of this has been a large hindrance for employees ability to manage their Work Life balance. Several forces are the result of this trend. play along example- CPLBackground InformationCPL was founded in 1989 to capitalize on the strengthening information technology industry in Ireland. The founded, Anne Heraty worked as a self employed recruiter until she managed to gain luxuriant clients to hire more and expand. The com pany went public in 1999 for added investor support to promote their present-day(prenominal) refinement trends. From there the company has grown to employing over 2,750 temporary staff at any one point and being the largest recruitment company in Ireland. menstruum actions to promote work life balanceEducational Policy Promoting greater opportunities within the work place, CPL has used a very flexible educational form _or_ system of government to promote a work life balance. Within their scheme they are willing to pay for an employees education as long as it is something that will receipts the firm. On top of this any employee currently studying receives five extra days of holiday on top of their regular annual leave to only encourage self improvement. Being an employee with them means that you are entitled to any number of their educational schemes including1. Conflict Management- where they l put one over about how to deal with problems with other employees, clients or suppli ers 2. 5 minute manager- learn general management skills 3. Business strategy- learn basic competitive strategy principles 4. Any education- any external education can be funded by CPL and given the extra holiday time.Leave PoliciesCPL strives to ensure that large leave requirements are handled as fairly as possible. They are graded in the top 25 companies in Ireland to work for and one of their main strengths is the benefits they give their employees for certain personal life requirements. This includes paid leave for pregnancy, marriage, family tragedy, illness. Along with this they also give guaranteed job placement after these leaves should the employees return as added incentive.ProblemsPersonal PerformanceRecruiters work under a single company name but the main bulk of their wages is dependent on personal performance. A recruiter normally is required to establish new clients for the firm and they are paid in accordance to the cadence of employees they place. Within this the recruiters all have their own team of temporary employees in which they find work for from the client field. Being paid in accordance to these principles makes it very difficult for employees to operate within a Work Life Balance as they are required to work longer hours to earn more money as well as constantly recruit new talent to further their goals. Flexible hours in this situation are near impossible to do as CPL expects their recruiters to perform for the client as well as any time taken off directly affects your wages.This is slightly divergent for the placed temporary employees but they still are required to perform exceptionally well in each job they take to ensure that they will be given another. The jobs they take are normally to cover someone who needed leave for personal responsibilities or to handle increased work load, either one the employers expect the worker to fill in the gaps and take little to no time off for themselves.Personal performance regulations do not just hurt the required working hours for the employee but also takes away from the job enjoyment. Trying to find new clients can sometimes place the recruiters into direct ambition with each other that increases the overall stress in the work place.This leaves room for professional achievement but little for personal enjoyment which is detrimental to the balance. invitee Orientated hours- Not work load orientatedThe recruiters and temporary workers both are required to adhere to the ledger of jobs available instead of a standard work load. CPL employees do not know when the demand for their services will increase or decrease and neither does CPL management, what this ends in is you are required to work around your clients needs. Working around the needs of your client disables your ability to take flexible hours for your self as if CPL cannot handle the clients needs when they need it then they will just go to the next recruiter. Not having a standard amount of work to complete in the course of the day automatically hinders the employees Work Life Balance. Having low volume of work does not mean that the employee can take time off for personal reasons as that may not be required at the time. For a person to establish work life balance they need to have both flexible.Cutthroat industry standardsThe recruitment industry is extremely competitive as they all strive for the same competitive advantages. The cost of the temp employees is dictate by the job not by the standard at which the temp agency operates. That means all recruiters are trying to operate on the extravagantlyest quality to ensure they maintain high volume performance. Having an entire industry based around this means everyone needs to be fighting for their own positions or they will lose contractors and clients. Recruiters are expected to work those extra hours in order to produce results and increase client relationships for future work. CPL is an industry leader in Ireland for these reasons w hich once again gives strong opportunities for employees to achieve and enjoy their professional life but difficult for the flexibility requirement in their personal life.Volume orientated performanceA recruiter is paid based on the amount of employees they place in jobs. The nature of this payment means right away that in order to succeed the recruiter will be required to present more time. Work Life Balance in this situation cannot exist as for the employee to achieve and enjoy one, they must sacrifice the other.End ResultWork Life Balance in the recruitment industry is near impossible to maintain. Employees are required to work around the requirements of the clients instead of what is set forth by the company. On top of this employees also are paid in accordance to the volume of service they provide with a requirement to continue to produce high quality. This results in a system which requires the employees to achieve only within the company and is forced to constantly be on cal l for client requirements. This makes it very difficult for employees to establish a solid Work Life Balance as all their professional achievement is based on catering to the job first.Recommendations contradictory WorkingAs recruiters are basically operating as small businesses on their own within CPL, they should have the option of working from home if required. Company calling card and remote internet access will allow the recruiter to stay in touch with clients and employees at all times to handle any problems should they arise. Although this should not be the norm, it will allow for employees to establish a more balance life outside of work so that they can lower stress and perform better within the job.Client Contacts As the normal case for recruitment agencies is that each recruiter has their own contractor squad and own set of fictionalize clients it would be very effective to the Work Life Balance for recruiters to stop working on a personal performance standard and focus ed more on their ability to perform as a team. By having key cutaneous sensess for a client but not necessarily only one contact can enable for some flexibility in the work place along with a more diverse employee pool to satisfy the client needs. This also helps with increasing the enjoyment and achievement within the organization as employees are now working towards a great good together instead of being in competition with each other.Cross TrainingCPL had it right by offering educational programs for their employees. Educating the employees allows for them to not only be happier in the job but also gives them opportunities to stretch out into new fields which can be very fulfilling. Within this they should try and institute cross training practices to create an sexual structure in the organization that can support many stresses. Having employees who can cover for each other will create a sense of hotshot along with enabling people who have other responsibilities to handle thos e as well. These concepts are key to the Work Life Balance.Employee ServicesCPL is a large enough organization that they should look into having services which can help support employees personal lives. Several example services to support the employees Work Life Balance are as follows1. Day care center 2. Dog walking service 3. Activity days for employees 4. Career counseling 5. Benefit packagesImplementation Plan inappropriate working is something that can be started right away as it only requires minimal IT servicing to set up a remote portal. Calling cards or company mobiles can also be purchased and given out with little work. The cross training program can fall under the current policies that they have for education but will require an analysis of current operations to see what training will be required. Employee services will require a longer implementation period as the needs and plausibility of each service will need to be accessed then the resources will need to be found i n order to create the required packages.ConclusionWork Life Balance is hard to be developed in industry which is highly competitive and based on personal performance. An employee cannot establish a balance as there is a teeter totter effect occurring with work performance. For an employee to succeed within a recruitment agency, they need skill but they also need to invest time. Recruiters them selves see a direct comparison to the amount of time they spend in a job and how much they earn while the contractors need to commit large amounts of time to a job where they cannot satisfy any other personal responsibilities as the client is paying for stability. As a company within recruitment CPL is trying to help establish this balance but their current situation makes it hard for them to be a front runner on these ideals. CPL can institute policies which will help alleviate the strain on an employees balance but it will always be difficult to establish equilibrium as per the industry stan dards.BibliographyHolden, Robert and Renshaw, Ben. Balancing Life and Work Dorling Kindersley, 2004.CPL homepage http//www.cpl.ie update March 2005. Accessed April 16th 2005.CIPD- The human resources development website http//www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/wrkgtime/leave updated August 17 2004. Accessed 16th April 2005.

AIDS :: AIDS Essays

Scientists have concluded, based on mathematical research, that the virus that go away to the epidemic of AIDS can be traced all the way back to 1930, somewhere around Central Africa. Bette Korber, of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, presented this death at the Conference of Retroviruses. The notion that HIV was introduced in contaminated oral polio vaccines in Africa between the divisions of 1957 and 1961 has been often debated and challenged. The results presented by Korber, not nevertheless refute the before mentioned allegations, but also move us toward finding out where the virus trustworthyly came from and in which direction it is heading in the future. The outset sample discovered in 1959 comes from a man in Congo, who died as a member of the M class of HIV, the type that most people be infected with today. However old the virus was, it was evident that it wasnt the first of its kind. The reason that the virus was ever connected to polio is because in the same year of 1959, the introduction of oral polio vaccines, supposedly tested on chimpanzees, came to the continent of Africa. However in reality, states Stanley Plotkin of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, the introduction of HIV in chimpanzees occurred wholesome before the polio vaccine. The machine used in the process of determination is the Los Alamos enlightenment Machine, which is capable of making one trillion calculations per second. After plugging in dates, formulas and locations, the Nirvana located the origin of the HIV virus as being 1930, however the range of error shows that it could have been anywhere from 1915 to 1942. The Nirvana was also able to coiffure that the virus appeared in the Caribbean Islands such as Haiti, in the 1960s, while it came to America more than ten years later. It is quite definite that the virus came from chimpanzees in the empyrean around Gabon, Cameroon, and the Central African rainforest. It most probably passed onto the hunters while they were butchering the animals. After that, the virus has taken on six different strands, and is spread in humans mostly through sexual intercourse. Issue The matter being discussed here is the AIDS epidemic. AIDS and the HIV virus are very real issues in the world and especially in America. Whether it is the needle of the syringe of a junkie, a blood transfusion or the exchange of bodily fluids, people are getting infected and dying every day with this disease, and there is no remedy.

Joseph Conrads-Heart Of Darkness :: essays papers

Joseph Conrads-Heart Of DarknessThe Evil of ManIn the novel Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, Marlow finds himself in a position where he is faced to accept the fact that the man he has admired and looked up to is a madman. He realizes that Kurtzs methods atomic number 18 not only unethical, but also inhumane. Marlow comes to realize that Kurtz is evil, and that he himself is also evil, thus Marlows disillusion makes his identification with Kurtz horrifying.As Marlow travels up the river, he is forever preoccupied with Kurtz. Marlow says I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time...the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home...towards his empty and innocent station(32). From the beginning of his trip, he is compared to Kurtz by all of the people that he comes into contact with, and a great deal of his thoughts are of Kurtz. He wonders how he go out measure up to the standards that the company set for him, what Kurtzs p ersonality is like, and what Kurtz would think of him. The more obsessed he becomes with Kurtz, the more he sets himself up for the horrible ingenuousness of what his new idol was truly made of. Upon reaching Kurtzs station, Marlows disillusion begins to set in. He is greeted by an English-speaking Russian whom he takes for a man who on the surface is deceant level-headed person, but after short conversation it is apparent to Marlow that he is give tongue toing with a disturbed individual, but that was not what daunted Marlow. Hearing of and seeing the acts committed by Kurtz made Marlow uneasy, and even afraid. It was at this point that Marlow begins his denial of any affinity he feels with Kurtz. He says in get a line to the Russian I suppose that it had not occurred to him that Mr. Kurtz was no idol of mine(59). Marlow sees all of the atrocities committed by Kurtz, and is appalled, but when he looks deep with inside himself he sees what he could easily become, and he desperat ely wants to suppress it.Once Kurtz is on the boat, and headed with Marlow back to civilization, things take a strange turn. Though Marlow and Kurtz have little to talk about, they develop a distinct respect for each other. As Kurtz dies, Marlow accepts this death easily and remains loyal to