Plato, Gorgias Essay Example for Free

Plato, Gorgias Essay Introduction  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Plato’s Gorgias is actually the story of virtue. Plato was evidently trying to resolve the ever lasting debate of what virtue was and what elements constituted virtue. In his dialogue with Gorgias, Socrates has not unilaterally concluded what virtue was; he has rather discussed what it could be. I totally agree with Plato who states that â€Å"the good is not the same as the pleasant, my friend, nor the evil as the painful† (Plato), because to be pleasant means to be subjective, and the notion of good is evidently an objective philosophical category. Virtue may be determined through the prism of its separate elements. Even when each of us individually determines what virtue is, there are still certain specific societal norms which may help us distinguish between good and evil. Plato has actually created several grounded suggestions as for what virtue was by discussing its separate elements: power, justice, temperance, and art.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Rhetoric is to justice what cookery is to medicine† (Plato). This may initially seem surprising, as virtue and rhetoric are the two completely different philosophical categories. Moreover, there can hardly any connections between these two. However, Plato links them through the importance of rhetoric to justice, and through the importance of justice to the virtue. Objectively, the whole dialogue between Socrates and Gorgias comprises several separate discussions which are connected by one common topic: virtue. Plato was trying to depict virtue as the system of separate attributes and elements, and to discuss them through the prism of those elements: art, temperance, evil, and good. This is why Plato has concluded that good could not be equaled to pleasure due to its objectivity as opposed to the subjectivity of pleasure. Plato started Socrates’ dialogue with the discussion of art of rhetoric, and has led it to the issue of the greatest good. As virtue is determined and is directly connected to the greatest good, it is crucial that people know what this greatest good is. â€Å"That good, Socrates, which is truly the greatest, being that which gives men freedom in their own persons, and to individuals the power of ruling over others in their several states† (Plato). That was the vision of the greatest good as expressed by Gorgias. This is the individual vision of Gorgias, which may not always be accepted by others. As a result, how do we determine the difference between the false and the true arts? How do we determine what false and what truthful knowledge is? These were the questions raised by Plato in his Gorgias, and this is where the philosopher again implied that the greatest good was an objective, and not subjective philosophical category. Good and evil are the two objective categories which can even be taught or learnt. Subjective categories can hardly be learnt, this is why Plato implies that good is objective. Only objective philosophical categories can be learnt by others and can be perceived in a manner expected by other members of the society: â€Å"so he whom you make a rhetorician must either know the nature of the just and unjust already, or he must be taught by you† (Plato).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his work, Plato speaks much about evil. Evil is opposed to good, and is also considered to be an objective philosophical category. According to Plato, evil is rooted in the wrongful and shameful acts. The seriousness of evil can either be determined by the extent of shame the person experiences, or by the severity of physical pain the person feels. It is interesting that this is the only position which is unilaterally accepted by all participants of the conversation. â€Å"Then I said truly, Polus that neither you, nor I, nor any man, would rather, do than suffer injustice; for to do injustice is the greater evil of the two† (Plato). Plato explicitly determines what the greatest evil is, and Socrates’ opponents have but to agree with him. Pain is subjective, and being involved into evil does not mean experiencing pain. Evil is the integral element of the discussion of virtue. There cannot be any effective discussion of what virtue is, without trying to define what evil can be. The importance of evil as philosophical notion is in its being linked to other crucial notions within the framework of virtue discussion. Politics, power, temperance – a philosopher cannot evaluate these categories away from evil. As Plato concludes that injustice and intemperance are the two greatest evils, he not only confirms the philosophical objectivity of evil, but he once again returns to the issue of pleasant and good: pleasant cannot always be good, and evil cannot always be pain. There is clear distinction between subjective and objective philosophical categories, and this is the key to understanding the implications of moral standards in Plato’s society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As Plato speaks about good, evil, justice, temperance, power, and other important philosophical categories, he pursues the ultimate aim of his discussion and his lifelong philosophy: to define what virtue is. Those who participate in Socrates’ discussion, actually participate not in the dialogue, but in the brilliant argument upon the relevance and objectivity of these categories. Nonetheless, the objectivity of power, temperance, and justice is not debated: these also constitute the objective notion of virtue. As evil is not always pain, and good is not always pleasant, Plato also tries to show that â€Å"a man should be temperate and master of himself, and ruler of his own pleasures and passions† (Plato). Thus, a person should realize what common good is, what pleasures he is to suppress and to temper his passions. This knowledge of good and evil is the objective realization of societal standards and norms. This is the realization of how good or evil impacts our existence. Plato uses this key comparison between pleasant and good to show that he was correct in his assumption: virtue is the objective notion, and it can be determined in universal philosophical terms, which are objective, too. The separate objective elements (power, justice, temperance, art) ultimately constitute the philosophical structure of virtue.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I absolutely agree with Plato: pleasant is never equal to good, and pain is never equal to evil. Let’s discuss this point in detail. A simple example will help understand my position. We are constantly involved into the process of taking decisions. We must decide how to behave, how to apologize, how to avoid troubles, etc. There are the two distinctive criteria, on which we can base our judgments. First, we can rely on the universally accepted norms of human behavior in our society. Our standards make us aware and teach us how we should behave in certain situations, and what good and evil is. Second, we may also rely on our pleasure, and pleasure may become the main criterion in our decision making. This means that we will not rely on norms and standards of human behavior: we will use extremely subjective measurements which may hardly be accepted by others. Here pleasure is very close to personal tastes, which are never identical. If I enjoy historical documentaries, this does not mean that my brother will like them too; he would hardly accept the situation in which I will constantly watch this type of TV programs, and will not let him watch what he wants. This is where pleasure and good come into action. This is where objectivity and subjectivity of virtue become almost tangible. If I base my decision on pleasure, I will neglect the interests of other family members, and will keep doing what I want. Does this mean that I am good, if I experience pleasure in this situation? Certainly, it does not. Good is not similar to pleasant, and pleasure is a subjective category. What pleases me does not necessarily pleases others, but what is good is usually good for everyone. Being generous, attentive to others, and sharing is good; it is also good for those who need this attention and generosity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This prism of discussion also possesses a different facet. When a person is good to others, does it mean that this person is pleased with such situation? Coming back to the issue with television and documentaries, a person may certainly accept the need to follow the general standards of virtue, good, and temperance. This person will do everything possible to suppress the wishes and pleasures, and to let other family members watch TV. Simultaneously, this need â€Å"to be good† will probably urge the person to step over his inner principles, and to pretend that to be good is pleasant. This person may avoid displaying the displease with such situation, or may not conceal the irritation, but it is evident that to be good for this person is not to feel pleasure of this goodness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What I see as the key element of Plato’s argument, is the need to distinguish between the true and the false elements of virtue, between the objective and subjective standards of our conduct, and between pleasure and good. Plato was also discussing the elements of evil and pain in his work, but these issues seem less relevant to our lives. Evil is always evil, no matter whether it causes pain, but good is not good if it is based on one’s pleasures only.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his philosophical work, Plato was actually trying to determine what virtue was. The philosopher used a bright parallel between good and pleasant to suggest that good was objective, and pleasant was subjective. The criteria of pleasure are mostly misleading when a person has to decide what good is. The problem is that good is an objective notion, and the standards of good are usually universally accepted within the specific society. Simultaneously, pleasure is a narrow subjective philosophical category. There is no such notion as universal pleasure. If a person pursues pleasure, this person risks being rejected by the society in the way he rejects the principles of objective good and virtue. If a person wants to follow the standards of good, pleasure should be pushed to the background. In this context, good is not always pleasant. The obligation to conform to the norms of the society is not always linked to any pleasant emotions or perceptions. In order to be accepted by the society, a person might need to overstep his personal principles, and to recognize the importance of good, temperance, power, and justice as the integral components of virtue. Ultimately, the person is to praise the objective moral categories, and to put them ahead of subjective perceptions. This is how human virtue works for the benefit of the whole society. Works Cited Plato. â€Å"Gorgias†. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. 1995. ILT Digital Classics. February 14, 2008. http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publicATIONS/Projects/digitexts/plato/gorgias/gorgias.html

Jails and Prisons Essay Example for Free

Jails and Prisons Essay Jails and prisons are both types of sanctions that are used for convicted offenders that have committed crimes, but there are many differences in the two. â€Å"Jails are locally operated short- term confinement facilities originally built to hold suspects following arrest and pending trail. Today’s jails also serve these purposes: * They receive individuals pending arraignment and hold them awaiting trail, conviction or sentencing. * They readmit probation, parole, and bail-bond violators and absconders. * They temporarily detain juveniles, the mentally ill, and others pending transfer to appropriate facilities. * They hold individuals for the military, for protective custody, for contempt, and for the courts as witnesses. * They release convicted inmates to the community upon completion of their sentence. * They transfer inmates to federal, state, or other authorities. * They house inmates for federal, state or other authorities because of overcrowding in their facilities. * They operate community-based programs with day reporting, home detention, electronic monitoring, or other types of supervision. * They hold inmates sentenced to short terms (generally less than one year)† (Schmalleger, 2009, p. 486). But when it comes down to giving a description of prisons on the other hand are not quite as detailed. â€Å"The primary function of prisons is to hold convicted felons, usually serving a sentence of one year or more, whereas convicted felons serving shorter sentences usually serve their time in local jails. Inmates consider jail sentences very â€Å"hard time,† since jails do not have the full range of education, vocational training, work, recreational, or other treatment programs that area available in prisons. Since prisons are designed to hold inmates for longer terms they need to provide a full range of programs, both for rehabilitative purposes and to keep inmates productively busy† (Seiter, 2011, p. 140). The funding for county jails come from the local county from which the jail is in, they charge the cities a fee for housing their inmates. For example the jail that is local to me here house inmates from surrounding cities which in turn pay them which helps to pay the county employees as well as the up keep of the county jail. State jails funding comes from the state in which it is in some state jails are contracted out to the prison to ease overcrowding in the prison systems. Therefore it leads to the state giving those funds that would have normally been given to the prisons. State prison funds also come from people paying their state taxes and when state taxes are charged on a purchase. Federal prisons are funded by the federal government and also by the federal taxes. There are more types of prisons than there are jails, because the offenders spend a little bit momore time more time here than at jails in some situations. Maximum security prisons are for the most dangerous offenders who are kept in their cells for approximately 23 hours a day and get only one hour a day out of their cell for recreation. Medium security prisons are mostly dormitories that have a double fence around the perimeter. They also have the group toilet and sink on the dormitory. Minimum security has mostly dormitories also which has either a single perimeter fence or no fence around them. These dormitories are equipped with showers, toilets, and sinks. There is usually one officer assigned to these dormitories that house about 150 or 160 offenders that are assigned here to live. The majority of the inmates that are assigned to these types of units usually have offenders that are getting ready to go home in less than a year or less. Prisons comes in all different shapes and sizes it all depends upon what types of inmates that they are housing in these particular units. If the prison house mostly maximum security offenders then it will be one of the larger units that have a lot of cellblocks on them because all of these inmates have to be single celled and placed in a single yard when it comes time for recreation. These units are usually the large ones that will hold anywhere from 2000 offenders up to 2500 offenders. Where on the other hand if the offenders that are placed on a unit are medium security offenders then the unit does not have to be so large it could be about 800 offenders all the way up to 1100 offenders because they are all on dorms. This is one of the units that will be set up to have nothing but dorms within the perimeter fence, there will be no cellblocks and not as many staff members would be needed as with the maximum security unit. Minimum security are basically where there are very few officers needed for security because most of these offenders are ones that are getting ready to go home in a year or less and just want to do their time and get out sooner or later. These units’ capacity levels are usually around 2000 offenders no more than about 2200 capacity being that they have a little bit more freedom than the maximum or medium security offenders. Reference Page Seiter, R., (2011) Corrections an introduction (3rd ed).Pearson Prentice- Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. May, D., Minor, K., Ruddell, R., and Matthews, B., (2008) Corrections and the Criminal Justice System. Jones and Barlett Publishers, Inc. Schmalleger, F., (2009) Criminal Justice Today(10th ed). Pearson Prentice- Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Information systems for strategic advantage

Information systems for strategic advantage ABSTRACT Every organization has it strategic ways of managing the information of the company. The strategy used depends on the companys vision and mission. This paper is based on a research on how information systems are used strategically as a source of competitive advantage. The case study is mainly on Emirate Airline as the primary industries being compared to British Airways. The research involves using the porters four generic strategies, SWOT analysis and basic business strategies and formulas based on the research methodology. INTRODUCTION RESEACH METHODOLOGY COMPANIES BACKGROUND Emirate Airline: The airline industry is a subsidiary of the Emirate Group, which was founded in 1959 by Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum. Emirate Group is a public international owned business operating as a travel and tourism company based in Dubai. In 1985 the Emirate Airline industry was established by the investment Corporation Department of the Dubai Government, covered by an agreement with the Pakistan International Airlines as the management company. Before the establishment of Emirate Airline, Gulf Air was the only airline industry that was providing travel services to the Dubai population. During the period Gulf Air begins to reduce and lower it quality of services to the UAE population, which motivate the government to introduce their own Airline. Today emirate airline is the largest, biggest and fastest growing international airline industry in the Middle East. British Airways: British Airways is a public limited company operating as an international airline industry, based in London, United Kingdom. The company starting as a private airline industry, founded in 1935 operating mainly in Europe called Allied British Airways. The merger between imperial Airways and British Airways LTD formed the single name British Airways Corporation in 1939. Later in 1974 when the authority demands that the British Airways Corporation should merge with British European Airways, the name British Airways was returned. Also in 1987 the collaborative merger with British Caledonian made the company being privatized. British Airways is one of the largest and fast growing airline industry not only in United Kingdom but the world, till only these year. INFORMATION SYSTEM Information System: A piece of information always starts with a data, where a data is only knowledgeable and meaningful when it has been processed and transform into information. Every organization has its unique information and each information has it value to the overall success of the organization, Making it vital and important to manage the information strategically. The data, procedure, hardware, software, or even humans that are used to accumulate, collect or assemble to evaluate and analyzed information, is being referred to as information system. Specifically in terms of organization like emirate airline or British airways they are computer-based systems of hardware and software that the companies employees, clients, and customers used to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute or manage information.[ Paul 2003] An information system is a work system whose business process is devoted to capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating, and displaying information, thereby supporting other work system[Steven Alter 2002] Emirates Airline information system: there are several tools, software and hardware used in the Airline industries, and they will be named and briefly discussed. The information systems are used strategically as a source of competitive advantage, how they are use strategically will discuss in dept in the strategy analysis column. Emirates Airlines has a call center, it a centre where customers call and get information regarding the flights, the booking and the offers. The call center provides all the information about the company and employees. The call center also calls customers whenever there is a new product, service or sales as a marketing procedure. The callers information is saved on a database for strategic benefits in the future. The companys website is another information system that is used strategically to manage its customer and client needs. The web-site consists of different databases and content in order to provide its user with information such as the flights details and companys basic details. Emirate Airline also uses the Customer Relationship Manager Information System (CRIS), which is a window-based web-site running as a client/server application. An oracle development tool was used in creating CRIS, requiring a separate development effort to upgrade. These leave the emirate Airline with unconnected application to manage, scale to support increment demand and cut management cost. But still the company doesnt use CRIS as its main customer relationship software instead Mercator software development supplement provide CRIS for sale to other airlines industries. Also requires offering those customers with a scalable solution, with the aim to minimize the cost and time of customizing the solution for e ach deployment. [Article on mercator] Media is another form of information system used by emirate airline as a source of competitive advantage. It is used in from of TV, Radio and billboard to advertise there product such as travel promotions, in order to attract customers. Those advertisements target new customers and help the company to keep old customers. One of the most important tool used by the industry which has play a vital role as a competitive advantage is the skyward program, also known as the frequent flyer program. The skyward is in a form of a credit card looking card which can be applied by any passenger whom has travel over a certain amount of miles with emirate airline. It comes in three different categories of blue, silver and gold, where gold the highest and blue is the lowest. The program was established in May 2000 by the organization so as to improve and tighten their competitive advantage. Skywards operate as a reward obtaining card, where a passenger is given an amount of travel miles depending and according to the distance he or she has travelled. As the miles accumulate and increase with amount of travels, the card is upgraded accordingly. These Miles can then be exchanged for free flights, upgrades and other rewards, also a passenger can transfer his miles to another skyward holding passenger. Using skywards pr ogram is free and customers just have to register online or by calling Emirates Airlines if they wish to become skywards members. It is used by over 5.72 million customers. Skyward is one of our most valuable source of information system tool that we use to attract client [Strategic Manager] Another program is skysurfers. It is a frequent flyer program for young children between the ages of 2-16years. It basically works same as skyward but in this case additional rewards are added to attract children. Exciting Rewards such as books, toys, free trips to Wild Wadi and Atlantis in Dubai or even a free ticket to anywhere in the world. Also children get the opportunity of choosing their travel seat. The information, communication and entertainment (ICE) system is an in-flight entertainment facility that provides passengers with variety of channels to choose from. The system includes movies, video games and music channels. ICE can be accessed in different languages such as English, Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, French and German. Passengers have the option of pausing, forwarding or rewinding any selected item they are watching. In addition a passenger in business or first class cabin has the privilege of ordering and choosing what they want to watch that is not available in the media list booklet. [journal on ICE] Electronic check in stand is a self check in machine available at the emirate terminal in Dubai airport. Passengers are able to check- in between 2 to 48 hours of their flight departure. Where a passenger get to do the all the processes of checking in his or her luggage by himself, saving the trouble of joining the long queue at the main manual check in counter. Staffs are also available at the Electronic check stand for assistance, for instance if a passenger is having difficulty in printing the boarding pass at the last final process of the procedure. [website link] Emirates airline provides exquisite lounges for first and business class passengers as well as skywards silver and gold member, having about 21 lounges in 18 different cities and are even planning on opening more. In cities and countries where the airline doesnt have a departure lounge, a lounge is provided for first and business class passengers. The lounge has comfortable chairs and television to entertain passengers before their departure. Some lounges have well equipped bathrooms with showers for passengers who want to take a shower after a long day. Food of different variety is also available to choose from. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are served to customer satisfaction. This is available because they have customers from different nationalities speaking different languages, so as to attract customers from every part of the country.[website link] EMIRATE AIRLINE STRATEGY ANALYSIS The strategies, structure and management of those strategies and structure is always a composite and complex process of every organization. Strategy can be defined as the direction, route, possibility or scope of a business over the long-term and short-time goals and vision, which achieves advantage for the organization from the begging to the end of its pattern, design, and management of resources within a challenging and competitive environment, by achieving market scope and to accomplish competitive strategy. [J. Thompson with F. Martin, 2005, p1] For an organization to achieve its goals and vision it need to come up with distinctive and well organized strategies which will include critical and comprehensive study as well as investigations into various areas that will produce information that will be advantageous to the accomplishment of the industry. This is the reason why emirate airline gives consideration in focusing into the overall and general position status of their rivals such as British Airways, also involving in their interior and exterior activities. By knowing their competitors status the organization of the company will be able to analyze the status of the companys approaches, capital, income, strategies and resources in general. Which will able the company to establish how they will be able to manage, and defeats British Airways in competitive advantage in future. This will also give the company the prospect to stature out their potency and how they will maximize their strength and eliminate their weaknesses. In every business there are times and periods of strength, weakness, success and failure. All of these periods apply to both British airways and Emirate airline. The corporate strategy used by emirate airline which involves examining the existing and anticipated factors related with passengers and competitors external situation and the organizations (emirate airline) internal environment itself. Envisioning a successful role for the organization, by creating strategy and aligning policies and resources, such as the use of Media to achieve the airlines goals and vision. Emirate airline is committed with the diversity of their clients; the diversification management approach of the applied by the company enables the firm to guarantee that passengers are given outstanding service provided by zealous and committed staffs and employees, unlike British Airways staff that recently undergo a three day strike against their management. The approach is carried out by adding new product and reso urces to an existing product, an example is the new and improved business class cabin introduce about a month ago by Emirate airline and the mile accelerator services added to the skyward facility. [Paul Finlay, 2000, page 473][] We the Staffs of Emirate Airline are always ready to assist and welcome ideas from passengers, either by Electronic survey or any form of technology that will get us a feedback from our client [strategic Manager] Another competitive strategy used by Emirate Airline is the focus-leadership strategy, which play a vital role in attributing to the success of the company, which is derived from the Generic strategy formula. The organizations business goals is to provide its customers with brilliant, reliable and most of all welcoming services to their esteemed clients, by dedicating to make each journey unforgettable and special. The wellbeing, comfort and convenience are important concerns as they provide value service for their passengers and client through dependable, extremely update technologies and the use of information system. The generic strategy will be illustrated in detail through the Porters Four Generic Business Strategy. The organization expands their industry to attain more customers which enable them to be more advantageous and profitable. Making it possible even with the global economic crisis and the financial status of Dubai, Emirate Airlines are still making profits. While thei r rivals British Airways report a quite amount of loss in the market share price early this year, even though the organization is manage and maintained by a reasonable steady financial country. But both airline industries are strategically introducing new technologies to enhance and achieve both there long and short term goals and vision. So still with the financial crisis of British Airways they still have competitive advantage over Emirate Airline when it comes to handle crisis as they are much older in the aviation industry and have manage crisis in the past. [journal on profit] We are a much longer aviation industry than emirate airline and we have strategies we alone use in managing our crisis which we have implemented in previous crisis in the past. [BA, strategic manager] The Marketing strategy approach of Emirate airline industry I said to be a customer-oriented strategy method. The strategy focus on various different types of customers, by catering the needs of clients individually and uniquely. This is done through the use of technologies such as the skyward customer account and card, where details and specification of the account holder are saved. The industry has been able to apply routes to a variety of destination all over the world. Emirate Airline industrys strategy can be categorized as a powerful strategy and it enables the business to offer entire loyalty and commitment and maintain organizational operations so as achieve full competitive advantage. Through this strategy, Emirates Airlines surpass most of their competitors in the airline industry, and also gaining market share and enhanced the overall demand of their service. Being (Emirate) an international airline industry gives the management an opportunity to expand and develop their industry and services all over the world with no compromise to the importance and value, and level of services they give for their customers in every country. The company has office with customer service help desk and a call centre facility in mostly every constituency they operate to provide for their passengers and customers needs at all time needed. This is carried out through the diversification management strategy mentioned earlier, where by the need and demand of their passenger and client and handled globally. Nevertheless, the threat and fear of the industry upon British Airways is the survival and existence possess by their rival in the past for handle crisis and picking up to provide affordable and quality services just as the Emirate Airlines. Their weak point can also be drawn from their diversified markets. However, with the 24-hour customer service call cent re of the company, an immediate feedback is given to query of their client. The business model of the airline industry has led to their commercial success in the aviation and airline industry. They are able to have a lean workforce that can be compared to low-cost carriers rather than conventional flag-carriers. In addition, the company has also a simple organizational structure which permits the airline to maintain low overhead costs and enables them to pay no income taxes on wages. The organizations strategy model of emirate Airline is what has lead to their business success in the airline industry, giving them a successful business Model. This business model gives them a supportive workforce, making their services low-cost at the same time the successful and most profitable organization. Also the organization has a plain organizational composition which permits the company to sustain small overhead costs and enables them to pay no revenue duty on income and wages.[] Ethical decisions can be made and taken at managerial level in emirate airline industry, which makes the corporation expand capable and successful organizational behavior. The management of emirate airline believes that principles offer the primary basic for deciding whether a specific action or behavior is ethically or morally right or wrong, the organization are able to develop ethical, moral, perspectives, standards and principles. Where as in British Airways only basic ethical aspect are given consideration, for example a BA female cabin crew most not cover her hair while in Emirate she has to cover her hair. The human resources management approach strategy is used by the organization in recruiting and employing the best and required staffs that will suit their passenger and client needs. Generally Emirate airline strategy is a powerful strategy will be very difficult to be beaten. COMPETATITIVE ADVANTAGE Competitive advantage is the ability and manner by which companies, industries and organization manages to maintain its long and short term goals, mission, and vision also keep up its position against its rival or competitors. It is the state which enables a company to perform in a more effective and competent manner, leading the organization to act and operate in a higher-quality approach than its competitors. Competitive advantage could be a long-term or short-term condition and can be managed through various competitive strategies, such as: The Porters Four Generic Business Strategies SWOT Analysis PEST Analysis These strategies will be discussed and analyzed separately, using British Airways as a comparison and competitors against Emirate Airlines. SWOT ANALYSIS The tactical procedure implemented to evaluate an organizations strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat is strategically known as SWOT analysis. The analysis method involves enumerating the goal and objective of the organization by determining the internal and external factors that are prosperous and non-amicable to achieving that goals and objective. The analysis can be integrated into the strategic business model of the company. Every organization has it strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, same applies to Emirate Airline. The strength weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the industry will be discussed individually using the SWOT analysis. STRENGTH Emirates Airline grew from successful effectiveness strength resulting from the accurate decisions, planning and the strategy set to its employees by the organization. The determined efforts and excellent services provided by its members of the staff to the passengers and client gave strength to the Airline. The Airline starting the operation with two leased aircrafts from the Pakistan International Airlines, and was able to strengthen its fleet of aircrafts by purchasing long haul aircrafts from the manufacturers of the Boeing Airbus aircrafts. The A380 and B777 were specifically purchased to provide contented and satisfying air travel for its valuable customers. Emirate Airline strength expanded more from when the Airline was selected as the best Airline for the in-flight services for number of years from leading organizations, such as British Airways. The successes and strength of the Emirate Airline leads to an increase in the growth and population the passengers using the Airline, also expands the income, profit and revenue of the organization in whole. On Achieving and winning the award the Airline was mainly recognized globally in the travel industry, where by Inaugurating the Skyward Club memberships for frequent fliers also strengthen the Airline. Its ability to incessantly modify and improve the services in the aviation sectors gave an advantage to the Airline to meet up the targets set by the Management, promoting the industry as the leader in the aviation industry.[paul, 2000] WEAKNESS In every successful strategy there are always weakness, the main weakness of Emirate Airline are Some of the strategies and information system technologies implemented, in order to expand the business approaches have not yet been victorious, which can be considered as weakness. The Airline has been accused for focusing on high-end achievement and diversification, even after knowing such decisions have uncertain and difficult effects on the Airline, making their flight quite unsafe. While British Airways has a History and full safety records established ages ago. OPPORTUNITIES Emirates Airline industry has a wide ranges of opportunities contributing to the competitiveness of the organization. These opportunities are derived from the strategic use of their information system technologies and services, allowing the industry to infiltrate into an untouched new market with no strong competitors like British Airways. The revenue generating profitable income for the organization is from their operating flights to various destination where no un-touched by their rivals, such as available flights from Middle East to India, South East Asia to Africa. Also being able to travel around the prospect to manage code sharing destinations where there are no local flag carriers. THREATS The external environment of the organization is said to be the main source of threat facing the industry. Nevertheless an internal environment issues such as the recent budget formed by the company contribute as a threat to the organization in whole. The fair of the budget increase from the logistic and cost of information system, being introduced and implement so as to achieve the goals and objectives of the company. Examples of these systems are cost management of strategies and technologies like the customer relation manager information system (CRIS). Strong competitive rivals from the European countries like BA leads to an amount of threat jeopardy for the industry in general. The global economic down fall of the Dubai Financial status lead to industry suffering from travel setbacks, making the fairs of Emirate Airline increase from their normal price. The airlines inability to keep up with the innovations or recognized its demand creates a threat for the airline and reduces the load of the passengers. All this is because the political and economical environment in the countries where the airlines operates could potentially affect the business negatively. Where by compliances could be use by their competitors to their advantage and take the industry by surprise and by the time they realize it will be too late that they are not the leaders of the airline industry anymore.

An Analytical Essay on the Flaws of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart :: Things Fall Apart essays

The Flaws of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart "Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all." (Aristotle). In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is living proof of Aristotle's statement. Although he is arguably the most powerful man in Umuofia, His personal flaws of fear of failure and uncontrollable anger do not allow him true greatness as a human being. Okonkwo is one of the most powerful men in the Ibo tribe. In his tribe, he is both feared and honored. This is evident by this quote, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond... [He] brought honor to his tribe by throwing Amalinze the Cat..."(3) This suggests that in Okonkwo's society, power is attained by making a name for yourself in any way possible, even if that means fighting and wrestling to get your fame. Although honor is a good thing, when people have to fight to gain it, it becomes an object of less adoration. Okonkwo's "prosperity was visible in his household... his own hut stood behind the only gate in the red walls. Each of his three wives had her own hut... long stacks of yams stood out prosperously in [the barn]... [Okonkwo] offers prayers on the behalf of himself, his three wives, and eight children." (14) Okonkwo has also worked and tended to his crops in a very zealous fashion, and drives everyone around him to work as har d as he does. Because of this, he earns his place as one of Umuofia's most powerful men. In many cultures, a big family is a source of pride. Although Okonkwo is not always pleased by his children and wives, it also brings him a source of pride to have three wives and eight children. Large families mean that the head of the family is able to support all of them. Okonkwo's devotion to his crops and family gives to him the respect that any father and husband deserves, and in his culture, being able to fight and kill as well gives him even more influence and power. Okonkwo's first and most prominent flaw is his fear of becoming a failure.

Russia :: essays research papers

When examining the progress of a nation, it is vital to also see what the national psyche behind it was. In Russia the driving motivation was not always consistent. â€Å" ... [They] still had difficulty in formulating and sustaining any permanent concept of the 'state' and its interests independent of the family possessions and connections of the ruling dynasty.†(Hosking 190) As with many countries of that time, the rulers were not held accountable, and often overlooked long-term strategic goals in favor of short-term gains. Foreign policy was more a personal relationship among rulers than among nations; alliances were made, broken or not honored routinely. All of these factors made for a precarious political environment in which any leader had to operate. Russia's own unique problems required its rulers have an even greater political acumen than their purely European counterparts. There in lies the crux of Russia's biggest problems. Over the centuries from - to - Russia has expanded from a small principality to a huge polyglot of an empire; encompassing many people with many different cultures. Most Russians were not European. Although these people came from diverse geographical locations, they all shared certain beliefs that unified them. Concepts such as Pravda, the Mir, and the acceptance of suffering helped unify the empire. When Peter I wanted to Europeanize Russia he did it in a typical Russian way; out with the old, in with the new, having â€Å"... the tendency to introduce reform in total packages, rejecting previous ways as utterly wrong.† (Hosking 176) Peter I replaced the one stable and unifying set of beliefs with another set adopted from a world foreign to most everyone in the empire. This may be the reason that Russia’s Europeanization seemed to be a thin veneer under which the majority of Russians did not understand or see any benefit in europeanization. To answer the question as to whether or not Peter I was a successful ruler, it must be stated that the premise under which he ruled was â€Å"... To increase [Russia's] power and wealth and to improve the well being of its people.†(Hosking 198) To Peter that meant becoming more like Europe, and perhaps he thought this because of the great European influences on his, and on the lives of his advisors and the nobility in general. Peter saw the great armies and bureaucracies of Europe and wished to install them in Russia.

The Importance of Improving Communication Skills in the Business World

My biggest challenge while trying to move up the corporate ladder is interpersonal communication with co-workers and presentation speeches in front of the owners and financial managers. During my childhood, I did not have the opportunity to communicate with my parents or examples of loud arguments and negative personal attacks. Humans develop language and social skills from its surroundings so I guess I can blame mine on my dysfunctional family. At least I did almost five years ago. When the Director of Finance promoted me to senior accountant, his only constructive criticism was to attend different communication courses to groom me for the Assistant Director of Finance position. The frustration of feeling misunderstood and being unable to make ourselves understood by another person is my a constant hurdle for me and considered a barrier of communication (anything that blocks the meaning of what is being said) that many humans experience. Great communication can be compared to the way we build our buildings, one brick at a time. The foundation of the house is trust and we develop trust with personal interaction not as a group. It is said that to speak effectively, a person should be open, direct and bold; however, that is what got me into these classes in the first place. The classes teach how to balance finesse and respect with boldness and direct communication. As mentioned earlier, constantly conquering and rising above the barrier of communication. To name some of the barriers that arise daily are stereotyping, language, showing approval or disapproval, and becoming defensive. In my opinion, stereotyping is the biggest obstacle amongst people. Stereoty pe is a label or typecast of another person based on an oversimplifie... ... is an important variable--if there were never any time pressures, collaboration might always be the best approach to use. In addition to time pressures, some of the most important factors to consider are issue importance, relationship importance, and relative power: †¢ â€Å"Issue importance - the extent to which important priorities, principles or values are involved in the conflict. †¢ Relationship importance - how important it is that you maintain a close, mutually supportive relationship with the other party. †¢ Relative power - how much power you have compared to how much power other party has. â€Å" (Whetten 2002) Finally, learning the importance of interpersonal communication and effectively utilizing it daily as part of my normal daily routine, the Assistant Director of Finance in a multimillion dollar hotel is mine, which has been my goal for the last five years

Bilingual programs and language interventions: the challenges

INTRODUCTION: A large problem with bilingual education programs is they simply do not work. Most do not take into account the social and cultural factors the weigh heavily on being able to learn a second language (Berry and Williams, 2004). There is too much variability in the programs to be effective. The earlier the intervention takes place the more likely, the program will work. The goal is to develop a more uniform early grade intervention. Children are more likely to learn more languages as their cognitive functions are still in their primitive development stages and are therefore able to pick more information than an adult mind. The capacity to learn new words is higher in a child than in an adult (Franquiz, 1998). Therefore, any linguistic programs that are introduced in the early ages are more likely to succeed. Why Problem Exists There is a large discrepancy in the number and quality of English acquisition programs in the United States. Many teachers in these areas are not properly qualified and there are little resources available to them in this area. Teacher and peer interaction is vital in the development of English for both native and non-native English learners (Haworth et al, 2006). The lack of knowledge of English language is not only present in the foreign students or children with different mother tongue, but has also been seen in children of English speaking families. The lack of vocabulary is the single determinant cause of poor language development that can take place in any child. The lack of vocabulary may make it difficult for these children in language or knowledge acquisition.(Silverman, 2007) Children who are not used to story reading, read alouds, and good instructions on use of words are likely to suffer from poor language skills. Experiments have shown that good vocabularies improve language with almost equal speed in English speakers and non speakers alike. (Silverman, 2007) The role of teachers and their characteristics seem to have an important bearing on the quality of teaching that they possess. Many studies now prove the positive outcomes of a good teacher on a child. These positive outcomes are independent of the social or the home background the child may have(Franquiz, 1998). While in the past these studies were limited to other subjects, there are researches that have shown a somewhat similar outcome in language teachers as well. A good teacher is seen to improve the outcomes of children regarding the different language tasks such as phonation, letter and word use, grammar and composition etc. (Cirino et al, 2007) Many countries in the world look towards English speaking countries as the best places for education. Along side studies in these countries help in improving the proficiency of English language among these people, which in turn can help them advance in their professions. While this dream may be the best intentions of a parent, they are not ideal in nature. There seems to be a stigma placed on bilingualism and biculturalism. Children of different cultures when exposed to an English speaking environment may feel out of place to their social and cultural norms.   This can directly effect how a student performs in the classroom. The research carried out by Barry and Williams was aimed to identify the problems that many Hong Kong children face when they are exposed to international English speaking environments. The students surveyed outlined many issues that cause problems in the language learning. These included linguistic problems such as listening, speaking, writing, vocabulary and reading. Such children were in the listening end to understand what others were saying. (Berry and Williams, 2004) Many teachers need to know the benefits of having a bilingual classroom and the how to better support their students (Macrory, 2006). This lack of quality programs, ill prepared informed teachers, and high variability between programs produces very poor results by the students. Some studies show that almost a quarter of students in bilingual education do not become bilingual (Pearson, 2006). The goal of this intervention is to provide a more effective program for bilingual students. More so, interventions require teachers who are proficient in teaching children English and other languages properly (Ng, E.,1999). Language acquisition is an innate quality of an individual, and is an individual capacity of each human mind to learn it. There are many factors that govern the ability to learn a language. Apart from the innate ability of an individual to do so, metalinguistics, consciousness, teaching methods at school and acquisition of written system of language are also important deciding factors in the language learning.(Collier, 1995) Also of help in this area are issues such as phonology, vocabulary, the grammar, meaning and discourse etc. The acquisition of a second language is therefore a high thought process that requires a positive and continued quality feedback in order to be successfully learned. (Collier, 1995) The concept of provision of meaningful education among the children is an important concern for the educational boards. Yet the proper education teaching practices remain unknown. There are many reasons why these policies have been unsuccessful (Tencer Garrity, T. L. 2003). The first and the foremost problem was failing to identify language as part of the social context and social issues and that English may not be the mother tongue of many children.(Collier, 1995) Intervention The intervention will focus on trying to improve English ability at a young age. The goal is to try to increase the English ability of the students quickly and effectively. Research has shown that students learn faster in single language classrooms (Pà ¡ez, Tabors, and Lopez, 2007). For the purpose of this intervention, the classrooms will then be monolingual. The students will be taught all week in almost all Spanish. The intervention will be a daily English vocabulary lesson. They will lean the pronunciation, spelling, and meaning a few new English words every day. Since they will have a frame of reference since knowing the vocabulary in Spanish, they will be better able to process this information. A study by Silverman showed that English learner children can learn English at a similar if not faster rate than native English speakers. This intervention should be effective(Franquiz, 1998). Testing †¢ The intervention will tested on if the English ability of the students improved after the intervention. †¢ To do this the students will be given an English vocabulary pre and posttest. †¢ This will take part in three classroom at three schools †¢ The SES of each class and school will be roughly the same †¢ There will be two English learner groups and one Native speaker group †¢ Quasi experimental since you cannot control for a some variables such as some children being more familiar with English than other. †¢ The measure will test how much vocabulary the children in the program were able to learn. †¢ To be effective the English learner children should have learned the vocabulary at a similar rate as the native English speakers. DISCUSSION: These interventions in many ways depict the conceptual models that were introduced in the past, which comprised of essentially four components. Language in the past was not recognized as part of the cultural and social practices (Ng, E.,1999). This misidentification has led to the apparent failure of the language acquisition and language teaching procedures. According to Collier (1995), the acquisition and learning of a second knowledge is based on socio-cultural, linguistic, academic and cognitive processes, which in turn may be different for different children. These factors are so interdependent that examining one with out the influence of the other is impossible. (Collier, 1995) The sociocultural facet of language acquisition is in many ways similar yet dissimilar to the social factors of the society. Each individual has exposure to different societal influences, and thereby may have variable exposure to a certain language (Berry and Williams, 2004). In a class room environment, these exposures can lead to increase in confidence or increase in anxiety in the language development (Tencer Garrity, T. L. 2003). While those exposed to a certain language may feel at home with their own language studies and may perform well, others may feel anxiety and may not respond to it at all. The society’s pretext and manner towards the minority also causes many effects on the individual’s performance, for discrimination and prejudice may cause negative outcomes within an individual about his or her identity. It is in this context hypothesized that the introduction of positive environments may help in achieving results sooner, and thereby improves outcomes in language acquisition. (Collier, 1995) Language learning can also lead to affective problems in learning. These affective problems include lingual affective problems and social cultural affective problems as mentioned above. The confidence levels may not be very high in such cases, and this can affect their progress in their studies.(Berry and Williams, 2004) The role of a teacher under such circumstances becomes impirical, as it is them who will help build up the confidence of the children from different social and cultural backgrounds. (Berry and Williams, 2004) Language learning therefore is the method where proper learning also requires understanding and â€Å"learning† the culture of the language. If a person is to achieve bilingual competency, he or she must be able to carry out three processes. He or she must first learn the controls of linguistic rules of both languages. He or she must be able to encompass new cognitive dimensions associated with language. Finally he or she must be able to achieve the mental functions that are necessary for language acquisition. (Haworth et al, 2006) Yet simply labeling the mental faculties and predisposition towards learning languages and not considering the conscious efforts in learning it is not possible. It is through this manner that a teacher is able to confer this knowledge to his or her students. The teacher systematically helps a child in learning new methods of vocabulary and sentence learning, and thereby helps him or her in creating the foundations of the new language (Wright, S. C., & Bougie, É., 2007). Interventions such as those mentioned above can help in creating better bilingual students who are at ease in their social and cultural environments. The teachers play an important role in helping foreign students get over their anxiety of discrimination and difficulty in fitting in to a new society (Wright, S. C., & Bougie, É., 2007). Interventions at an early stage provide better results than those that are carried out at later stages. Understanding that culture and society are important factors in the acquisition of new language can help in improving the outcomes in students. References Berry, R. S. Y., & Williams, M. (2004). In at the deep end: Difficulties experienced by Hong Kong Chinese ESL learners at an independent school in the United Kingdom. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 23(1), 118-134. Paul T Cirino, Sharolyn D Pollard-Durodola, Barbara R. Foorman, Coleen D Carlson and David J Francis, 2007. Teacher Characteristics, Class Room Instruction, and Student Literacy and Language Outcomes in Bilingual Kindergartners. The Elementary School Journal, VOl 107 No. 4, 2007 Virginia P Collier, 1995. Acquiring a Second Language for School. Directions in Language and Education. National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. Vol 1 No. 4 fall 1995 Haworth, P., Cullen, J., Simmons, H., Schimanski, L., McGarva, P., & Woodhead, E. (2006). The role of acquisition and learning in young children’s bilingual development: A sociocultural interpretation. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(3), 295-309. Macrory, G. (2006). Bilingual language development: What do early years practitioners need to know? Early Years An International Journal of Research and Development, 26(2), 159-169. Pà ¡ez, M. M., Tabors, P. O., & Là ³pez, L. M. (2007). Dual language and literacy development of Spanish-speaking preschool children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 28(2), 85-102. Pearson, B. Z. (2007). Social factors in childhood bilingualism in the United States. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28(3), 399-410. Silverman, R. D. (2007). Vocabulary development of English-language and English-only learners in kindergarten. The Elementary School Journal, 107(4), 365-383 Franquiz, M. I. (1998). The effects of bilingual education on academic achievement, language development, and self-esteem of hispanic children. US: ProQuest Information & Learning. Ng, E. (1999). The impact of heritage education on self-esteem and ethnic identity. US: ProQuest Information & Learning. Tencer Garrity, T. L. (2003). An investigation of the relationship between acculturation and academic performance, self-esteem, and ethnic identity with mexican-american children. US: ProQuest Information & Learning. Wright, S. C., & Bougie, É. (2007). Intergroup contact and minority-language education: Reducing language-based discrimination and its negative impact. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 26(2), 157-181.