Unit 2 Public Demand for Medical Care and Health Insurance in the Essay

Unit 2 Public Demand for Medical Care and Health Insurance in the United States - Essay Example This measure provides an indication of the magnitude of cause specific mortality in a population (National statistics, 2011). The measure, however, underestimates the prevalence of deaths within a given population. Unadjusted mortality rates among groups sometimes is misleading especially in a case where the age distributions of the population at risk are different. This misleading report highly affects the planning of healthcare and decision making due to underestimated mortality in a population (Danver, 2010). Chronic diseases that include heart diseases has been a major cause of deaths in this state. The disease had higher adjusted mortality rates than the national average (National statistics, 2011). According to CDC heart diseases had leading causes of deaths.84% of the deaths occurred to people aged 65 years and above while 43% of the deaths occurred to people aged 85 years and above. The age adjusted mortality 3.32 which is slightly higher than the national average which stand at 3.01 (Danver, 2010). The rate is higher due to the unhealthy lifestyles of the people of this state. To solve the problem many factors come into play, organizational factors like schools and faith based organizations to influence and support health behavior change, Community factors that involve self-initiated programs to live healthy and health policies that favorably influence prevention of chronic diseases (Bluelow, 2010). Search Engine - Web - Seivo Web Search Engine. (n.d.). Search Engine - Web - Seivo Web Search Engine. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from

Guest speaker paper Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Guest speaker paper - Movie Review Example The presentation seems to cover the fundamental aspects of marketing and their relevance in the hospitality industry. Incorporation of the modern advancement in information technology is highlighted by the guest speaker as instrumental in determining the success of hospitality industry. Marketing must therefore include comprehensive consumer feedback systems. This would help the hospitality company to make necessary adjustments and fill the demand gap which will go a long way in boosting the image of the firm. The speaker focusses on the need to adopt new hospitality and travel marketing management practices in order to remain relevant in the market (Nykiel,2012). Positioning is pointed out as a critical tool in enhancing the positive outcome in any marketing endeavors. This would be achieved through in-depth analysis of market trend and emerging consumer behavior. Market segmentation and 8Ps are explored by the speaker as they are considered core in boosting the overall set goals. E mbracing diverse cultural background of the hospitality consumer community is a strong variable when it comes to attaining customer satisfaction. The presentation has exhausted the expected marketing plan strategies and its impact in determining the success of an existing company or potential entrant. The speaker’s contribution in hospitality marketing offers an insight into the underlying concepts in organization success. Management practices and flexibility to emerging changes remains key in achieving short and long term goals. It is worth to note that intensifying competition in the hospitality industry calls for sound marketing plan. The plan must accommodate changes as market trend evaluation takes course. Hospitality and travel industry has experienced significant changes due to the influence of globalization (Nykiel, 2012). In essence, I believe the speaker’s ideas would be helpful in understanding the marketing management transition

Developing Patient Choice In Nhs Health And Social Care Essay

Developing Patient Choice In Nhs Health And Social Care Essay This essay investigates how patient choice in the NHS has been developed by New Labour and coalition government. I will do this by first defining the term choice and then providing some background information on the emergence of choice agenda under the 1979-1990 government of Margaret Thatcher. . I will then go on to discuss how patient choice has been developed under the New Labour and coalition governments that followed by discussing the reforms that both have implemented in relation to the patient choice agenda. Finally, I will examine the uptake of patient choice agenda. This is likely to include patient travel distances in order to access better and faster healthcare, as well as the performance ratings of hospitals, which are published online and so available to the public to use. However, people that live in certain areas in the UK tend to have a somewhat limited choice of medical care providers. Overall, choice empowers the general public, offering them the ability to make aut onomous decisions about their health-care providers and likely to improve the health outcomes of the British people. The patient choice agenda outlined above relates to offering patients a choice among various types of service providers in the NHS analogous to that of the private healthcare market . Central to it is the notion that without competition, there is no real choice, and therefore a choice among competing options is offered which is intended to improve quality and efficiency. This market discipline will motivate less competitive healthcare providers to upgrade their services to attract customers while giving customers a wider range of options (Le Grant, 2007). Thatcher Government (1970-1990) developed patient choice in order to create a dynamic market-orientated system in the NHS. She intended to introduce this form of internal market as a means of increasing efficiency and to develop the NHS into a more business-type model (Driver and Martell, 1998).Thatchers administration intended to achieve these changes though the adoption of a privatisation scheme focused on providers and purchasers . The idea of patient choice derived from the fact that GPs exercised choice on behalf of patients. Extending the choice agenda aims to eliminate or minimise the healthcare inequalities faced by less affluent patients, to whom it offers equal opportunities of services (Dixon and Le Grand, 2006). In 2005, MORI reported that 50 percent of the general public preferred to select healthcare providers outside of their local areas, which was something that the NHS had not provided for in its original manifestation (Popper, Wilson and Burgess, 2005). Thus, a large proportion of the general public clearly favours the idea of being able to select alterative healthcare providers. However, merely increasing patient choice may not successfully eliminate inequities (Oliver and Evans, 2005, p. 68). Certainly, offering choice to the general public is less likely to improve inequity if non-existent varieties exist within the uptake of choice. Wealthy patients have resources to opt for private healthcare providers if they believe that their local providers offer poor quality of services and low rating (Davies, Tavakoli, Malek, 2001). Therefore, the idea of equal access for meeting the equal needs of all people has failed. New Labour accepted the neoliberal model that had been developed by Thatchers administration during the 1980s and further developed by the Major government of the early-mid 1990s. In 1997, with New Labours ascent to power, patient choice was increased with some important reforms that promoted the patient choice agenda, including the establishment of Foundation Trusts (FTs) and the rating system (Driver and Martell, 1998). These reforms aimed to produce cheaper, better quality services by incentivising healthcare providers to compete for funding that equated to the number of patients they treated (Peck, 2003). Another reform introduced was Payment by Results, which pays secondary care providers using a standard fee tariff linked with the amount of patients treated. This reform enabled patient choice upon referral from GPs. Thus, this conception of the choice agenda served to improve waiting list times and the quality of services offered. Lastly, the government put in place a targets s ystem that measured the uptake of choice. The government also shifted the focus from competition while continuing to promote the business model by promoting partnerships between healthcare providers (Peck, 2003). In order to promote real choice, the market is obliged to offer alternative providers of goods and services (Smith, 2005). Private healthcare providers have operated within the internal market since 1948, providing their services at a standard tariff (Peck, 2003). The internal market that was operated under New Labour was less focused on competition, but rather towards promoting the efficiency and quality of services. Davies, Tavakoli, Malek (2001) argue that patients opt for private healthcare providers over public healthcare providers when they are able to because private providers offer good service quality. In general, patient choice tends to enhance competition among providers, who strive to attract customers in the way that any other private firms do. Private healthcare providers generally cover limited, mainly non-emergency services and as private businesses, are primarily focused on making profits. Therefore, private providers cost more than services offered by the NHS and hence this market attracts wealthier competitive patients (Le Grant, 2007). Middle class patients are likely to select private providers because material resources are not an issue.  [1]   In the 2010 White Paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, the coalition government set out to promote patient choice by introducing a commissioning board to the NHS. The Commissioning Board monitors the performance of primary care providers to ensure that high standards of service care are offered and that patients are involved in decision making as much as possible. The Commissioning Board is also responsible for improving equity within healthcare. Finally, the government seeks to promote patient choice though increasing competition among medical providers. Under the Foundation Trusts obtained the role as regulators that supervise tariff costs and encourages efficiency. Despite these developments, the fact remains that choice is not real possibly for patients living in certain areas of the UK (Spiers, 2008). People that live in rural area are likely to be excluded from selecting their healthcare providers. One of the reasons for this is that less affluent patients are less motivated to travel greater distances due to car ownership being lower among disadvantaged groups (Appleby and Dixon, 2004). Some people in low-paid employment are also unable to take time off from work to seek medical attention, preventing them from further exercising choice. Additionally, people travelling long distances tend to have poor attendance records for primary care appointments. A study conducted by RAND in 2008 also shows that age, gender and social class differences can serve as obstacles to people in exercising choice, while people over the age of 60, housewives and the working class tend to limit their travelling distances for providers (both primary and secondary c are (Powell, 2008). Hence, gender, social class and age are found to be important factors that determine the uptake of choice for healthcare providers. Affluent patients often have resources to purchase houses in areas near to good-quality healthcare providers. However, Popper, Wilson and Burgess (2005) argue young, affluent patients and those living in inner city areas of London are likely to opt for alternative healthcare providers, whereas disadvantaged patients with low levels of education are found to opt for alternative medical providers the least. Certainly the uptake of choice among less well-off patients would be more likely to improve if subsidised transport were offered to people and covering additional transport funding incurred by people who are not located close to alternative providers. Thus, an effort to improve these issues may encourage poor patients to travel longer distances to have their treatments.  [2]   Another factor is the lack of available information, which can prevent patients from exercising choice over medical providers (Fotaki, Roland, Boyd et al., 2008). It is believed that some people require additional support in their choice of healthcare providers. Often, less well-off patients, those with low levels of education and the elderly require supplementary assistance in order to be able to make effective choices (Powell, 2008). These types of groups are less likely to have access to the internet and friends working as medical professionals in the NHS to help them navigate the system. However, making use of internet sources have been criticised for being resource-intensive and a real problem for those who are not computer literature. Published data is a key element for choice and outlines the performance of various healthcare providers. Making use of this type of data can serve to make patients more autonomous and responsible for their own health (Davies, Tavakoli and Malek, 2001). In general, healthcare providers services are rated using ranking systems. With their reputations at stake, medical providers are motivated to improve the quality of their services in order to remain in business. Often, disadvantaged groups use performance data more than middle class people to make healthcare choice (Collins, Britten, and Ruusuvuori, 2007). A lack of available data though is a major factor preventing them from exercising their choices. The patient choice agenda aims to lead to inequality in the medical system. Appleby and Dixon (2004) claim patient choice agenda in healthcare is far more complex rather than just focusing solely on resources. Poor people tend to lack the self-confidence and knowledge to converse with healthcare providers in a medical vocabulary  [3]  . Oliver and Evans (2005) state patients poor abilities of expression create imperfect freedom of choice in decision-making amongst individuals. Hence, these issues lead to an unequal ability to navigate the system (Mandelstam, 2007, p. 109) Providing people with choice rather than voice to express tend to be more effective for less well-off patients (Barr and Fenton, 2008). The patient choice agenda offers disadvantaged groups the opportunity to be heard and promotes the necessary self-confidence to exercise choices, in parallel. Thus, choice empowers patients who are the least knowledgeable about how to use the system to their advantage. Middle class people, on the other hand, have the educational capacities, resources and skills to manipulate the system in a way that suites their interests (Spiers, 2008). Certainly, affluent patients are more proactive than less-well of patients in relation to the uptake of choice. Hence, privileged patients are more articulate, confident and persistent, which means that the system in its current form suites privileged patients over poor people. The impact of patient choice on health service delivery provides mixed views. Patient choice may improve the quality of services offered in the internal market in response to waiting list times, which it may also markedly reduce (Le Grant, 2007). GP fund-holders can improve waiting list times upon referral to hospitals and may also reduce prescription costs. An example that illustrates this capacity is found in a study conducted by the London Patient Choice Project during 2006 (Dixon and Le Grand, 2006). This study states that patients are inclined chooses for alternative providers in order to reduce waiting list times. Certainly, competition, along with large numbers of healthcare providers, may further reduce waiting list times. However, patients dissatisfied with services offered by medical providers can opt to search for alternative medical providers that meet their needs. Under the internal market, money dictates the choices that patients make, meaning that hospitals lose money if patients choose alternative medical providers (Dixon and Le Grand, 2006). Thus, healthcare providers must be responsive to consumer demands in order to remain in business, unless they are likely to face closure. Patients often empower medical experts to decide on their treatments because of the generally held view that the doctor knows best (Burge, Devlin, Appley, et al., 2004, p. 190) Often, patients shift choice into the hands of doctors, particularly in life-threatening situations. In such serious situations, medical staff are likely to decide on treatments on behalf of patients. Therefore, the choice agenda in this case is not taken into account. However, Popper, Wilson and Burgess (2005) suggest that seven out of ten patients prefer to relocate treatment choices to primary care providers. This example tells us that people like the idea of having an input in relation to deciding on medical providers. In reality, GPs are seen as the gatekeepers for making medical choices (Powell, 2008, p. 77). They act as agents for the patients, and are often empowered to select treatments on their behalf, thus undermining the ability of patients to exercise choice. This happens because of people tend to have limited skills and access to information that could otherwise inform them of the various treatment options available. As mentioned above, middle class people are often also better informed of premium treatments options, usually having better access to the internet and sources such as books and journals that inform them of the various treatments available. People with lower levels of education do not generally have access to journals and books which would allow them to make meaningful choices. The London Patient Choice Pilot study (in 2008) on the other hand, contradicts this view. This study claims that the up-take of choice among people with various levels of education has little significan ce, with only a two percent difference between people with various levels of education with regard to looking for hospitals that provide treatment (Spiers, 2008). In conclusion, middle class people benefit from the choice agenda to a far greater degree than the working class. Middle class groups have higher levels of income, which allow them to purchase houses near good-quality medical providers. In addition, the middle classes have access to information and money that enables them to travel further in order to have access to the best services. It must also be questioned as to whether patients want choice rather than just high overall quality, as most patients like the idea of a good local medical provider (both primary and secondary providers), rather than travelling longer distances to have their treatment.

Stephen King :: biographies bio biography

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged. Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines. Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies. In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine.

Consumers Markets and Culture Essay

Compare and contrast the changing experiences of consumers from the year 1900 until present day. How do the theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber help to explain the changing consumer experience and the emergence of contemporary consumer society? â€Å"Until the eighteenth century the word consumption meant waste†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Williams, 1976) As consumers our experience of consumption today is exponentially different from that at the turn of the twentieth century in the recently urbanised and industrialised modern nation. Consumer culture is traditionally described in terms of the arrival of mass consumption as a counterpart to mass production as a result of the Fordist system (Miles, S). Choice is one of the biggest factors of the changing experience for consumers, during the 1950’s after the austerity years the now aging baby boomers were part of large scale changes to consumption patterns. For example as women began to enter the work place leaving less time to run the home, products were being developed to ease the burden of housework, washing machines, fridges and vacuum cleaners were among these products; the ever-growing use of hire purchase to enable consumers to afford these luxury products, combined with Fordist methods of mass production reducing the manufacturing cost of the products allowed the economy to grow strong once again. As television grew in popularity advertising was increasingly utilised by businesses to sell their products creating a far more impersonal environment while shopping for products. From this time the standard of living has been increasing up until present day (The Economist, 2008) with the aspirations of society increasing further still. Marx presents his theories as a materialist understanding of society, explaining capitalism as an unequal system based on the exploitation of the lower class (Abercrombie N et al, 2006), a system based on surplus value being extracted, the capitalist’s entire aim is to maximise the gap between value produced and value paid for (Slater D, 1997). Which a hundred years  ago meant using Fordist methods of production to bring down costs and reducing the skill required of workers which in turn reduced the compensation needed for workers. The Fordist method of production first seen around 1911 (Cohen and Kennedy, 2007), Alienated workers from the act of production. In his theory of Alienation Marx describes human essence as being realised through labour (Abercrombie et al, 2006) and working as an alien activity that offers no intrinsic satisfaction as the worker has no control over what is produced; this loss of ownership and loss of control over the workers own life due to managem ent organising and enforcing the labour. Where during the early twentieth our working classes were exploited and Alienated, now capitalists in the quest towards decreasing wages and widening the gap between value produced and value paid for are increasing looking to less economically developed countries where costs of production, epically workers are much lower. The counties known as BRIC economic group (Brazil, Russia, India and China). By indiscriminately consuming as a society, this encourages the expansion of exploitation of foreign working classes. Bauman proposes post-industrial societies are governed by ‘aesthetics of consumption’ rather than ‘ethics of production’ (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007). Organisations such as Apple, Nike and similarly Primark are guilty of this system, the former two retailing premium priced products produced at the lowest cost possible cost, by attaching symbolic meaning to the products. Primark produces clothes at the lowest cost possible which are retailed for the lowest cost possible; consumers buy into this system with no feelings of guilt, as these products allow consumers to display possessions acting as social glue possibly due in part to the increasing Alienation of workers as society is increasingly detached from production with the service based economy we ‘enjoy’ today. Durkheim’s concept of Anomie is similar to Alienation, discussing Anomic suicide due to people no knowing how they fit in with society where possessions are used as social glue allowing consumers to display their beliefs and social groups. It is harder to relate Marx’s definitions of the class system as the proximity to production is becoming increasingly distant for most of society. â€Å"Every capitalist is trying to decrease the wages and consumption of their own workers and entice everyone else’s workers to consume to their limit and  beyond.† (Slater, D 1997) Marxism, as other modern economic theories believe, that the production and consumption of products is intrinsically connected, in the sense that incomes from production and consumer buying power are two sides of the same coin.’ (Slater, D 1997). This theory is particularly relevant now due to the current economic climate. As the recession began in 2008 many workers lost their jobs or suffered significant cuts in wages this resulted in a widespread reduction in consumer spending as a result society ended up a cycle of ever decreasing demand where the government had to intervene to stimulate spending. Of the stimulus the VAT reduction had an impact by reducing the cost of products, to reduce ever growing back up of cars as they still needed to be produced to keep the workers in employment the car scrapage scheme was introduced temporarily (Lloyds, 2009). In this scheme two thousand pounds was offered if a old car was scrapped in exchange for a new car. Capitalists driven to mass production, not by greed but conditions of capitalism (Edwards T, 2000), if not competing, competitors will capture markets through lower prices. This practice discussed by Marx leads to situations like the above were supply far exceeds demand. A good example of over production can be found by searching for any random product on a supplier listings website, Alibaba.com have over 64,979 different belt buckles available. Durkheim predicted that modern industrial societies would over-emphasise the importance of individuality which would erode social stability and solidarity (Schmidt, R 2010), consumers are sold their own individuality through advertising campaigns a few examples are: Dell’s ‘Yours is here’, My Yahoo. Products are increasingly customisable, mobile phone cases are a hugely popular consumer item. ‘Durkheim argues that people can only be happy when their wants are proportionate to their means. Left to themselves, human desires are boundless†¦ together with necessarily limited recourses, creates great unhappiness or ultimately suicide’ (Abercrombie et al 2006). Society controls the problem of unattainable goals by restricting desires through values aimed at permitting only goals which have some chance of attainment. The X-Factor is currently the most popular television program (Plunkett, J 2010) as dreams of mostly unattainable goals are being realised for a lucky number of consumers. This  is a stark contrast to the 1940’s where society was based around family values, working together to repair Britain where jobs were expected for life. Anomie describes the situation when this framework breaks down, goals again outrun means and suicide rate rises (Abercrombie et al 2006). Weber predicted that society would experience unprecedented inner loneliness of the single individual (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007), this is a very accurate description of the contemporary experience, more than ever consumers are looking to the symbolic meaning of products to identify with their desired social groups and status. Social media is an interesting way to examine the inner loneliness experienced, taking facebook where consumers might have several hundred ‘friends’ who are merely acquaintances, with few solid friendships, while there is pressure to appear to have acquired huge numbers of ‘friends’ on social networks. To explore further into the loneliness of individuals, one in three households now have just one member compared with one in five in the 1970’s (BBC, 2004) this is known as the ‘meal for one’ society, more than half the meals eaten in the UK are now eaten alone. Traditional family unit is also becoming less common, with predictions indicating that in 2011 more than sixty percent of marriages will end in divorce (BBC, 2004). Weber discuses formal rationalisation of society as it becomes more industrialised and that this rationality is inevitable, the greater calculability required for rationalisation has affected greatly the consumer experie nce (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007), consumers – save for the wealthy classes, have an impersonal consumption experience. Self service check outs are a perfect example of this, once a shop keeper in the local store, would ring through and bag up your products now in the national and often multinational store, consumers ring through and bag up their own shopping. The systematic measured approach to contemporary life has created a predictable almost emotionless society, the consumption of university is a relevant example to the author, students are recognised by their identification number only, few if any university staff will know student’s names, no individuality between the students leaving students to display their personality and attachments through the conspicuous consumption of goods with symbolic meaning. Whereas the baby boomers will remember university involving debates with friendly tutors, with little care about appearances. This system creates greater efficiency, economic growth and  control of nature, the ‘iron cage’ describes this situation. However it does lead society towards the theories of Anomie and Alienation by Durkheim and Marx respectively. Calculability becomes an organising principle in the overall personality where ever more of our behaviour is informed by consistent logical expectations of human beings and of the environment. Spontaneity and surprise are experienced less and less in society, with calculability everything becomes increasingly predictable, unexpected events are planned for and avoided through policies and rules. The commoditisation of adventure is a good example of the disenchantment of society, Disneyland and all it represents takes the excitement out of spontaneity due to the ‘iron cage’ of functionalism and rationality. Weber sees class defined by income, (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007) explaining that classes form around market positions, amongst people who share similar life chances which is relevant to the differences seen in society today from that at 1900, social mobility much more fluid with government actively perusing policies pulling people up the class system. The theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber are relevant to society today; Weber the youngest of the theorists has accurate concepts relating to the bureaucracy experienced in the post-industrial age which explain well the changing experiences of consumers. Durkheim’s theories on Anomie in relation to individualism and the breakdown of society while religions stability isn’t the answer are partially interesting in explaining how society consumes conspicuously, using products as social glue to find a place in society. Marx’s idea on Alienation of workers, as Anomie explains aspects of the consumer mindset today. The globalisation of business taking the class struggle Marx discuses around the world. The current economic climate demonstrates that capitalism has failings even if the least of these is disconnecting individuals from a more intrinsic and meaningful existences within society. â€Å"Capitalism simultaneously produces more goods and less effective demand to pay for them.† (Slater, D 1997) References Abercrombie, N (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 235| Abercrombie, N (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 360| Abercrombie, N et al (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 14| Abercrombie, N et al (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 18| Alibaba.com (2010) Search for Belt Buckles [Accessed on 19/11/2010] Available at: http://www.alibaba.com/Belt-Buckles_pid3391301| BBC News (2004) Portrait of the ‘meal for one’ society [Accessed on: 25/11/10] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3445091.stm| Buttler, C (2007) The Industrial Revolution. Flow of History.com [Accessed on: 22/11/10] Available at: http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/eme/17/FC0121| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. P 300| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmill an, Hampshire. P 81| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. P 94| Desmond, J (2003) Consuming Behaviour. Palgrave, Hampshire| Edwards, T (2000) Contradictions of Consumption: Concepts, practices and politics in consumer society. Open University Press, Buckingham| Lloyds.com (2009) Unsold cars face storage exposures [Accessed on: s19/11/2010] Available at: http://www.lloyds.com/News-and-Insight/News-and-Features/Market-news/Specialist-2009/Unsold_cars_face_storage_exposures| Miles, S (1998) Consumerism – as a way of life. London, Sage.| Plunkett, J (2010) Gardian.co.uk: X Factor steals the show with 13.6m viewers. [Accessed on 29/11/2010] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/29/x-factor-tv-ratings| Schmidt, R (2010) Functionalism and Consumption Lecture Notes. I know sorry, I just really liked the sentence.| Sekora, J (1977) Luxuary: The concept in western though. Eden to Smollet, Balimore. As quoted by Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 176| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 175| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 176| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 181| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge,

Implement Marketing Strategies and Tactics Essay

Briefing stakeholders- Persons involved directly or indirectly with the organisation or project. BBQfun will be the leading outdoor-lifestyle retailer, catering to the growing need for furnishing new and renovated dwellings in the greater Brisbane area. Board of directors- BBQfun’s board of directors need to approve the plan, customers specific needs, prepare a report of high population in Greater Brisbane area, new homes and renovated homes growing from a base of 50,000 per year, low employment. Human resources staff-Human resources staff may need to adjustment demographic factors like – * Male and female population * Age segment that makes up 50% of the Brisbane new and renovated house markets, according to the chamber of commerce * High percentage of young professionals who work in the central Business district. * An average household income of over $130,000. Services marketing- Marketing based on relationship and value. BBQfun will position as a broad assortment, quality, unique outdoor –lifestyle retailer. Brisbane customers appreciate high quality and uniqueness will recognise the value and unique offerings of BBQfun. Manager- BBQfun’s manager looking for security in purchasing and house proud factor in outdoor lifestyle purchasing. Marketing and non-marketing personnel- The success of any marketing activities is equally shared between both external and internal customers group. BBQfun’s basic market need is for quality, fashionable and unique outdoor –lifestyle items that caters to the house- proud needs of our market. The success of the marketing plan of BBQfun’s many aspects are responsible for this like- advertising personnel, manager, public relations personnel, sales manager, sales team, staff, and supervisors. Objectives of the plan- * Increase sales from $15 millon per year to $20 million per year in the next three years. * Increase our loyalty customers list from 10,000 to 16,000. * Establish brand recognition in Brisbane so that at least two in three people recognise our brand in a random survey taken in 12 months’ time. * Continue increase gross profit margins. Roles and responsibilities-BBQfun’s responsibility is to provide customers with the most extensive assortment of quality outdoor-lifestyle products available in the market. Second, easy to manage long term repayment plans make unique, imported and high quality outdoor-lifestyle affordable to all. Performance measures- it is very important to know the performance measures of the BBQfun’s. There are four main steps for measuring – Customers- BBQfun’s excellent staff that is highly skilled and knowledgeable about outdoor lifestyles. High customer loyalty among repeat customers.BBQfun’s great retail space that is bright, functional and efficient. Customers can see the quality of the product as it is displayed in the store. Financial-BBQfun’s advertising budget is set at $250,000 for the year. Continue to finance the easy manage long term repayment. The imported products make up 33% of the assortment. Internal business process- BBQfun wants their products and service meet customer needs so BBQfun try to new dwelling population, shopping patterns requiring easy access and customer car parking counts. Learning and growth-BBQfun has created an outdoor- lifestyle range of retail products that are differentied and superior to competitors. BBQfun provide 3 year guarantee is unique in the market place. BBQfun want to grow their business in the commercial, suburban neighbourhood or urban retail district. BBQfun‘s will do direct mail and local advertising. BBQfun has 15-20 full time staff, plus casuals. Marketing strategies and the resources-A marketing strategy is the foundation of a marketing plan; it integrates an organisation’s marketing objectives, goals, policies and actions.BBQfun’s 3 types of marketing strategies- Defensive strategies- BBQfun’s mission is to provide customers with the most extensive assortment of quality products available in the market. BBQfun continue to finance the easy manage long term repayment plan for customers. Developing strategies-BBQfun’s developing strategy is increase sales from $15 million per year to $20 million pe r year in the next 3 years, increase loyalty customers list from 10,000 to 16,000. Attacking strategies- BBQfun’s customers are mostly aged between 20 to 50, making up 50% of the new and renovated dwelling market. Outdoor lifestyle stores have been very successful in stand alone, extensive car park access, close to new housing estates being established. By offering a superior service in range and uniqueness, BBQfun will excel relative to the competition and achieve goals. Resources -Elements that are utilised to assist the process like- human, information and communication technology, financial and physical. * Human resources relates to the people. BBQfun’s marketing plan and strategy related to the people because this is a outdoor lifestyle retailer company. BBQfun’s customers are male and female and high percentage of young professionals. * Financial- BBQfun’s advertising budget is $250,000 for the year. BBQfun will try to get articles about BBQfun into the BrisNews magazine. BrisNews magazine has seen a dramatic increase of sales immediately after the article was published. * ICT – For advertising purpose BBQfun is using local letter box, radio, and magazines. BBQfun‘s will do direct mail and local advertising, with coupon inserts in the BrisNews magazine likely to be the most successful of the campaigns. Communication and team building strategies- Effective communication is essential in any workplace and is essential for building or improving business and work relationships. Team building strategies are also essential in effectively running an organisation or team. BBQfun’s objective is to create customer awareness regarding their services offered, develop that customer base, and work toward building customer loyalty and referrals. The message of BBQfun is easy access outdoor-lifestyle products in Brisbane. This message will be communicated through a variety of methods like- direct mail. BBQfun will also use ads and inserts in Brizzy magazine. The 5Cs of effective team building are- Clear expectations-If we want to implement successful team building strategy then clear expectation is very important. In a team every person knows the role they are expected to play as well as the roles of other team members. Each and every member of the team needs to understand how and where they fit in the organisational structure. Channels of communication- Team building strategy cannot achieve without open channels of communication. It involves everyone like directors, managers, team leaders and team members. It helps to create working atmosphere and encourage to employees to discuss the problems amongst themselves. Conflict resolution-When a group of people working together then differences emerge into the open. By communication they try to solve the differences. If they can’t resolve their problems without assistance then implement mediation with an impartial third party and organise a workshop on this subject. Consequences- Make sure each team member feels responsible and accountable for team achievements. Understand the individual contribution and give them appreciation if they are doing well. In this way it encourages them for individual creativity. Celebrating achievements as a team- Every employee or team member plays an important role in the success or failure of an organisation. So need to celebrate achievements as a team. Marketing mix- BBQfun’s marketing mix is comprised of these following approaches to pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion and customer service. Strategies for monitoring marketing activities- The marketing plan require the monitoring of all marketing activities in order to analyse their performance. Implementation strategies for effective and accurate monitoring processes need to be considered and implemented. BBQfun’s each aspect of marketing plan should be monitored and evaluate. These aspects are important to achieve goal- Timeline, Resource, Costs, sales, contacts made relationship. BBQfun‘s single objective to position BBQ as the premier outdoor –lifestyle store in the greater Brisbane area within 5 years. BBQfun wants to create customer awareness regarding their service and work toward building customer loyalty and referrals. The direct mail campaign will be away to communicate directly with the consumer in this way BBQfun create a good relationship with customers. It is envisaged that new products will be developed on a regular basis in line with changes in customer taste which is targeted at every 12 months. By getting feedback from these firms then changes is possible in the product. Feedback, decision making process of customers is very important aspect for the development of the product. Local business owners are often part of an informal fraternal organisation where they support each other’s business. BBQfun recently become a member of the outdoor Lifestyle Association. BBQfun’s marketing manager is responsible for marketing activities and has the authority and responsibilities over all company activities that affect customer’s satisfaction. .

Capital structure for Diageo

Capital structure for Diageo Introduction and BackgroundDiageo was formed in 1997 through the merger of two consumer product companies Grand Metropolitan plc and Guinness plc under the strategy of reducing costs through marketing synergies, cutting overhead expenses and increasing production and purchasing efficiencies. The new merger wanted to concentrate solely on the beverage alcohol business, so it sold its packaged foods (Pillsbury) and fast food (Burger King) businesses. While the mandate for Managing for Value came from the highest levels of Diageo, the treasury team was given the task of establishing the cost of capital for each of the different areas the company operated. The team had to create a simulation model which should consider new finance approaches, treasury functions to focus on, what the firm's risk footprints will be, how to calculate cost of capital and finally how to optimally structure capital.How has Diageo managed its capital structure?Both Grand Metropolitan and Guinness had little deb t prior to the merger, which allowed them to benefit from relatively high ratings on their bonds (AA and A respectively).English: Guinness for strenghtStraight after the merger, Diageo's management announced it would maintain similar policies to the ones adopted by the two previous companies. This decision took the form of an implicit promise not to get into a debt level that would lead to a reduction in the credit rating of the company, which was aiming at an interest coverage between 5 and 8. A second target was set to keep EBITDA/Total Debt at 30%-35% level. This tranquilized investors and financial markets and as a consequence the company was given an A+ rating by credit agencies.Table 1 presents some key financial indicators extracted from the case. As it can be observed, Diageo's debt level is low (market gearing level is around 25%), which together with the favorable...

Communication Skills Analysis Essays

Communication Skills Analysis Essays Communication Skills Analysis Essay Communication Skills Analysis Essay Communication skills are important in every aspect of business. Information must be clear and accurate. In Customer Service, you must be able to explain company policies to customers and answer their questions about your products or services. Verbal Skills These are skills that are typically acquired during formal education. These could be put into different categories.Internal communication is when someone talks to other staff members about the work set and for assistance if needed. This is also a benefit to the company because all employees can try and solve any problems amongst themselves before asking managers therefore saving time.External communication is when the applicants speak to customers. This could be on the telephone, where a good well spoken manner would be necessary. Face to face could also be included in the external communication; this is where a positive personality and again a well spoken manner would be needed. External communication is a very important skill to have, if a member of staff couldnt speak in a well manner and was rude, customers would not get what they want and maybe even look for another store for example ASDA.Written Communication is where the applicant would expresses his/hers ideas effectively and conveys information appropriately and accurately. This would be a benefit to Tesco as it could help the company learn of any problems going on in the business, if staff members write problems in a suggestion box. This can also be beneficial to customers as staff speak to a vast amount of customers and will have a wider knowledge of what they want compared to managing directors who dont work so closely with customers and members of the public. Also written communication is important because typical forms will need to be filled in if a customer needs to take a faulty item of clothing back then forms will need to be filled in correctly so that the item is sent back correctly and the customer is happy with the outcome.CONCLUSIONSFrom completing this report I have learnt that the person specification and job description matched what Tesco are looking for in an applicant. During the interviewing stages if we come across an applicant with all the skills on the person specification then he/her will be a huge benefit to the company and the customers.

Spanish Vocabulary for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter

Spanish Vocabulary for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter Easter is the most widely and ardently celebrated holiday in most of the Spanish-speaking world - even bigger than Christmas -   and Lent is observed nearly everywhere. The week before Easter, known as Santa Semana, is a vacation week in Spain and most of Latin America, and in some areas, the vacation period extends to the following week. Thanks to their strong Roman Catholic heritage, most countries celebrate Holy Week by emphasizing the events leading up to the death of Jesus (Jesà ºs or Jesucristo), often with large processions, with Easter set aside for family gatherings and/or carnival-like celebrations. Words and Phrases As you learn about Easter - or, if youre fortunate, travel to where its celebrated - in Spanish, here are some words and phrases youll want to know. el carnival - Carnival, a celebration that takes place in the days immediately preceding Lent. Carnivals in Latin America and Spain are usually organized locally and last several days. la cofradà ­a - a brotherhood associated with a Catholic parish. In many communities, such brotherhoods have organized Holy Week observances for centuries. la Crucifixià ³n - the Crucifixion. la Cuaresma - Lent. The word is related to cuarenta, the number 40, for the 40 days of fasting and prayer (Sundays not included) that take place during the period. It is often observed through various kinds of self-denial. el Domingo de Pascua - Easter Sunday. Other names for the day include Domingo de Gloria, Domingo de Pascua, Domingo de Resurreccià ³n, and Pascua Florida. el Domingo de Ramos - Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. It commemorates the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem five days before his death. (A ramo in this context is a tree branch or a bunch of palm fronds.) la Fiesta de Judas - a ceremony in parts of Latin America, usually held the day before Easter, in which an effigy of Judas, who betrayed Jesus, is hung, burned, or otherwise mistreated. la Fiesta del Cuasimodo - a celebration held in Chile the Sunday after Easter. los huevos de Pascua - Easter eggs. In some areas, painted or chocolate eggs are part of the Easter celebration. They are not associated with the Easter bunny in Spanish-speaking countries. el Jueves Santo - Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Last Supper. el Lunes de Pascua - Easter Monday, the day after Easter. It is a legal holiday in several Spanish-speaking countries. el Martes de Carnaval - Mardi Gras, the last day before Lent. el Mià ©rcoles de Ceniza - Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The main Ash Wednesday ritual involves having ashes imposed on ones forehead in the shape of a cross during Mass. el mona de Pascua - a type of Easter pastry eaten primarily in the Mediterranean areas of Spain. la Pascua de Resurreccià ³n - Easter. Usually, Pascua stands by itself as the word used most often to refer to Easter. Coming from the Hebrew pesah, the word for Passover, pascua can refer to almost any holy day, usually in phrases such as Pascua judà ­a (Passover) and Pascua de la Natividad (Christmas). el paso - an elaborate float that is carried in Holy Week processions in some areas. The pasos typically carry representations of the Crucifixion or other events in the Holy Week story. la Resurreccià ³n - the Resurrection. la rosca de Pascua - a ring-shaped cake that is part of the Easter celebration in some areas, especially Argentina. el Sbado de Gloria - Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. It is also called Sbado Santo. la Santa Cena - The Last Supper. It is also known as la Última Cena. la Santa Semana - Holy Week, the eight days that begin with Palm Sunday and end with Easter. el và ­a crucis - This phrase from Latin, sometimes spelled as viacrucis, refers to any of the 14 Stations of the Cross (Estaciones de la Cruz) representing the stages of Jesus walk (sometimes called la Và ­a Dolorosa) to Calvary, where he was crucified. It is common for that walk to be re-enacted on Good Friday. (Note that và ­a crucis is masculine even though và ­a by itself is feminine.) el Viernes de Dolores - Friday of Sorrows, also known as Viernes de Pasià ³n. The day to recognize the suffering of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is observed one week before Good Friday. In some areas, this day is recognized as the start of Holy Week. Pasià ³n here refers to suffering just as passion can in a liturgical context.

Moral Issues ( Open Topic) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Moral Issues ( Open Topic) - Essay Example Since an immensely unpleasant smell is his initial olfactory encounter which progresses to highly unimaginable degree of keenness, he professes in his own right to create a perfume that would relieve the French society of its abominable airs. What consumed him the most with respect to this ultimate objective is the quest to capture scent which his apprenticeship to a retired perfume-maker Giuseppe Baldini fails to give him discernment of so instead, he follows his own instincts which then cause the serial murder of exactly thirteen women within his area of influence. In reference to Kant’s proposition, Grenouille indeed has a sense of duty upon evaluation of his craftsmanship as he painstakingly takes the ordeal of gaining mastery of an uneducated specialization through help by another expert in the same field, except to him it is more of an ardent natural inclination than a call of duty. The goal is consciously projected to obtain the greatest benefit for the many only that, such drive has had power over him much more than rational realization does.

United States National Security Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

United States National Security - Article Example Policy developers will have to address these energy encounters – but none of them are an interrogation of yes or no, either, do or don’t. As an alternative, how the United States encounter those challenges will need choices-strategy judgments about infrastructure investment, government policy, investigation funding, and even external policy. The American security plan has a strong program scrutinizing how America-and the world-uses and yields energy. It is thought that the way Americans consume energy is unfavorable to their national security, their monetary well-being, and their environs. Without prejudice, we seek solutions. We focus on long-term, strategic sets that will control the well-being of their country until the next century. At this time, the fears for their security areas composite and varied as complex and diverse as extremism, the spread of weapons of mass devastation, climate change, deteriorating states and economic downfall. Many of these national trials will require answers that go beyond military capacity and utilize all the tools at their clearance. The American security mission is prominent in the development of new state security hallucination and strategy that generate a new American store for the twenty-first century that is open to the challenges and changes we face as a nation. The United States encounters many defies around the world that are composite because they are irregular in nature. Uneven challenges are those where the unlike performers and components have not the same welfares and proficiencies, but nonetheless, intermingle compound ways to make policy tremendously difficult.  

Genetically Modified Food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Genetically Modified Food - Essay Example People in Africa can be fed genetically modified food because it is inexpensive and it does not take much effort to produce it. This paper will shed more light upon how genetically modified food can save countless lives not only in Africa but also all across the globe. There is very wrong perception of the rich people that there is no food shortage in the world and this is because they have all the luxuries in the world, but they have just noticed the sharp increase in food price. However, food is becoming a scarce resource and this increase in prices is a result of food crisis which is one of the most important global issues. According to The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM), there are 967 billion people who do not have enough amount of food to eat (2008). It is found that the global food crisis exists because of several causes. Oil crisis is one of the main factors which have a direct impact on the food crisis, the prices of food transportation and agricultural fertilizer s have increased because of the oil crisis and the same directly affects the food crisis. Population growth is another cause especially in middle class countries such as India the same has led to an increase in the demand of meat that apply more grain in order to be produced than other commodities. Climate change has also affected food production where drought covered several parts of the world such as south Asia. Trade is another cause of food crisis because imported goods might be cheaper than goods produced in the country, so poor farmers are forced to reduce the price of their products. Finally, Bio fuel production is considered as one of the biggest causes of food crisis since the price of food has increased at the same time as bio fuel production has increased. The food crisis not only affects the developing countries but it has also started taking a toll on the developed countries. This essay considers the responses to food crisis in Zimbabwe which is a developing country in South Africa. To understand this issue, we fist need to explain the reasons for food crisis in Zimbabwe. Then, we will discuss and evaluate the current responses to this problem there. Finally, other appropriate responses to solve the food crisis in Zimbabwe will be presented. As a poor developing country in South Africa, Zimbabwe has been suffering from economical Decline since its independence from the British in the year 1980, and this is exactly the main factor for food crisis. Weak economical situation in Zimbabwe brings about less than 30 per cent of employment as a result of which, hunger expands in the country and more people live in extreme poverty (IRIN, 2008). 5.5 billion dollars as dept on the Zimbabwean government to be paid to other countries, this goes to show how fragile the Zimbabwean government is. According to the same source, irregular and delays in dept payment led some countries to stop trade with the Zimbabwean government. The Need of the Hour It is clear that aid in the form of fertilizers and seed is a long term solution because with this kind of response farmers produce more food and reduce the amount of imported food as a result. Moreover, by improving the agricultural part, food shortage will decrease and the country could export food instead of importing. However, the amount of

Promoting Positive Health Behaviors Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Promoting Positive Health Behaviors - Article Example Summary of Every Woman Matters Program The Every Woman Matters Program (EWM) was designed to promote preventive healthcare service to females. The specific preventive healthcare strategies aimed at were improved screening of breast and cervical cancer. To this end, the program targeted healthcare providers with an aim of promoting practice change in their operations. Consequently, the EWM program utilized the GAPS model procedure to device interventions within the healthcare provider practice (Backer et al. 2005). These interventions would be targeted at removing obstacles towards preventive breast and cervical cancer. As a result, the achievable goals set were; to increase public awareness pertaining to the risk of breast and cervical cancer. Moreover, it aimed to increase awareness on the benefits of screening. Furthermore, the program aimed at reducing the cost of screening to low income females. The practice based interventions employed were based on case studies conducted with s even individual practices. The core aims of the practice intervention were to; aid the practices identify obstacles pertaining to the delivery of screening services. Second, was to aid the practices in creating plans for mitigation of the barriers. Third was to promote the services of the EWM program to females from low incomes. Despite these well articulated goals, the EWM program fell short of achieving its core objective. Reasons for Ineffectiveness of the EWM Program The overall aim of the EWM program was to increase the level of breast and cervical cancer screening among healthcare practices. However, the program was not effective in achieving its objective due to myriad of reasons. Foremost, the practice change method for promoting EWM program lacked the sufficient support and leadership role by the leaders in the healthcare providers. The successful implementation of the goals for promoting preventive healthcare for women requires the motivational factor and sense of leadersh ip from heads of practices. Consequently, the program was ineffective since the momentum for promoting the program was not spearheaded by some of the leaders across the practices. A second plausible reason for the failure of the program was the insufficient level of teamwork between support staff and leader of the respective practices. Consequently, the lack of synergy in implementing the EWM program resulted in the over burdening of either the support staff or leaders. Third pertains to the issue of disparities in resources among the various healthcare practices. The healthcare practices all had different amounts of resources available to them based on their organizational capacities. Furthermore, the health care practices were operating within the limits of their resources. Consequently, additional resources for the EWM program were not sufficiently explored within the action plans for each healthcare practice. The fourth reason for the ineffectiveness of the EWM program was the i nsufficient public awareness creation mechanism pertaining to the need for screening. The need for successful increase in screening of breast and cervical cancer requires sufficient and mandatory public awareness. Consequently, the program was ineffective owing to insufficient efforts aimed at promoting community outreach through a variety of media such as increased free testing clinics and radio programs. Characteristics of

Safety and quality of meat Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Safety and quality of meat - Assignment Example Looking at the outbreak of Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) in 2001 and the destruction this very infectious animal disease caused to the livestock industry and economy of the United Kingdom has caused the level of inspection to be increased in the import of the poultry sector of the country. The disease was completely removed from its entire root in 8 months but by this time the United Kingdom had slaughtered more than 4 million animals to stop the disease from spreading and had faced loses worth more than 5 billion dollars in its food and agriculture industry. Due to this disease United Kingdom also had to face a loss in its tourism industry as the people were scared about the food they would be eating in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom had been FMD free since the last 34 years before the FMD breakout in 2001. The United Kingdom until recent was not allowed to take part in international trade of livestock, poultry and the products produced from these livestock’s and poult ry as they could transfer the FMD virus in the other countries (United States General Accounting Office, 2002). On the other hand the United States since the last outbreak in 1929 has been a FMD free country and has not faced an outbreak of this disease till today. The poultry, livestock and agriculture industry of the United States was worth 100 billion dollars in 2001. The importance of the livestock is immense for the agricultural sector and industry of the United States and hence it is an important duty of the United States Department of Agriculture to keep the livestock safe from FMD and other animal diseases not existing in the United States. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have to assure the precise labeling, the safety and healthiness of the poultry, meat and processed egg products. FSIS imposes the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), the Egg Products Inspection Act and the Poultry

What does Doris Lessing mean by the title of her chapter, Group Minds Essay

What does Doris Lessing mean by the title of her chapter, Group Minds Explain in your own words in a paragraph first; then reference the article. Select a film - Essay Example The subjectivity thus becomes an internalized version of something that dictates our being, be it through commercialization of gender biases or fixating stereotypes and archetypal ideas (blonde-haired women are dumb, fashionable gay man, notions of beauty, etc.). Hence, she highlights that â€Å"what is dangerous is not the belonging to a group or groups but not understanding the social laws that govern groups and govern us† (pp 50). Thus, ignorance makes us more gullible and more malleable and makes us helpless against all such invisible forces. The film, ‘Good Will Hunting’ as a realistic specimen of a young man’s struggle with a cornucopia of â€Å"expectations† that immediately tries to suck him into a world of performance and group joining politics. This not only threatens his apparent invisibility, and comfort beyond the social gaze, but also makes him realize the utter uselessness of conforming to social orders and institutional snobbery. Howe ver, Will escapes all such predicament. Manipulation, spontaneous obedience, group mentality and responding to social circumstances, as if they were psychological realities or unconsciously imbibing them to limit our intellectual and cognitive ability is what concerns Doris Lessing in â€Å"Group Minds†. Parallely, if we consider Foucaults argument in â€Å"Discipline and Punish†1 where he argues that discipline creates "docile bodies", ideal for making human beings respond fittingly to the scenario be it new economics, politics and warfare or the modern industrial age, is similar to what Lessing says in her essay. These bodies must be trained to function well in factories, ordered military regiments, and school classrooms. This theory is comparable to Lessing’s idea too, since Foucault seem to bring out the concept of an invisible force that gazes without been gazed at and

Safety and quality of meat Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Safety and quality of meat - Assignment Example Looking at the outbreak of Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) in 2001 and the destruction this very infectious animal disease caused to the livestock industry and economy of the United Kingdom has caused the level of inspection to be increased in the import of the poultry sector of the country. The disease was completely removed from its entire root in 8 months but by this time the United Kingdom had slaughtered more than 4 million animals to stop the disease from spreading and had faced loses worth more than 5 billion dollars in its food and agriculture industry. Due to this disease United Kingdom also had to face a loss in its tourism industry as the people were scared about the food they would be eating in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom had been FMD free since the last 34 years before the FMD breakout in 2001. The United Kingdom until recent was not allowed to take part in international trade of livestock, poultry and the products produced from these livestock’s and poult ry as they could transfer the FMD virus in the other countries (United States General Accounting Office, 2002). On the other hand the United States since the last outbreak in 1929 has been a FMD free country and has not faced an outbreak of this disease till today. The poultry, livestock and agriculture industry of the United States was worth 100 billion dollars in 2001. The importance of the livestock is immense for the agricultural sector and industry of the United States and hence it is an important duty of the United States Department of Agriculture to keep the livestock safe from FMD and other animal diseases not existing in the United States. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have to assure the precise labeling, the safety and healthiness of the poultry, meat and processed egg products. FSIS imposes the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), the Egg Products Inspection Act and the Poultry

Leadership and Organization Behavior Essay Example for Free

Leadership and Organization Behavior Essay There are many business organizations that are started on various occasions, but only a few turn out to be successful organizations. The success or failure of an organization can mostly be associated with leadership. Leaders make a very big impact in the organization. The importance of leadership is recognized when the organization is going through some moments like crisis or serious changes, depending on how the issue will be handled. We can not just assume that leadership in the organization is shown at the top management, but even to the lower levels in the organization. Despite the importance of leadership, there has been no agreement on the definition of leadership in the organization. However, leadership can be defined as a means used to coarse people in the organization, without applying force, to work towards the attainment of the organizational goals, by motivating them. Non coercive method implies the leaders should make the people to follow them on a voluntary basis (Glasser, 2008). A leader influences a particular group to work towards achieving particular goals. Leadership does not depend on a formal authority or the title, but rather they carry out their tasks by applying leadership attributes such as; values, believes, knowledge, character, ethic and skills. The position of a manager, supervisor, leader etc give them the authority to accomplish certain goals and tasks in the organization, the power of manager lead or supervisor to accomplish organization goals does not make them leaders but simply they make themselves bosses. Leadership makes the followers want to make higher goals. Selfless services and honorable characters to the organization form the basis of good leadership. Respected leaders concentrate on what they know (such as jobs tasks and human nature), what they are (such as character and believes) and what they do (such as motivating implementing and providing directions. ). The qualities of a leader influence the followers to follow him. Followers want to be guided by the people whom they respect and have clear sense of directions. Leaders must be ethical in order to gain respect from their followers. Sense of directions among the leaders is achieved through conveying a strong vision of future (Glasser, 2008). Employee satisfaction in an organization can be predicted by the level of confidence and trust in the top leadership and effective communication. Effective communication helps to win organization confidence and trust which occurs through making the employees to become aware and understand the overall strategies of the organization, assisting the employees understand their roles which can contribute to the achievement of organizational goals and objectives and the information sharing between the employees and the leaders on how the organization is performing and how their departments are doing relative to the strategic goals of the organization. Therefore a leader must be able to communicate the vision of the organization and must be trustworthy. Good leaders need to concentrate the three attributes of leadership i. e. what they are, what they know and what they do. These attributes can be achieved by following the leadership principles. According to principles of leadership a leader is supposed to know himself and seek room for self improvement. A leader can know himself if he understands the principles of leadership. Seeking room for self improvement means that the leaders have to continuously strengthen their attributes. This can be achieved through interaction with others, reflection, self study and formal classes. Secondly the leaders must be technically proficient. Leaders are required to have a solid familiarity with their follower’s tasks and know their job (Nelson Quick, 2007). Leaders must seek and take responsibilities of their action. They must such ways in which to guide their organization to achieve new heights. When things in the organization goes wrong leaders are not supposed to blame their followers or their fellow leaders but rather they should analyze the situation and come up with corrective response and be prepared to move into the next challenge. Leaders should make timely and sound decisions by use of good strategies of decision making solving problems and planning tools. Good leaders should set good role models by setting examples to others. They must see what they are expected to do not only hearing the changes they want to see. Leaders should know their people and care for their well being. They should know the human nature and take the responsibility for caring for their followers. Leaders are supposed to establish good communication with their followers. Communicating is a key responsibility in making sure that tasks are accomplished, supervised and understood. Team building and development of team spirit assist the leaders in employing their sections, organization, department etc to their fullest capabilities. Leaders should have an honest understanding of leadership attributes. They must also understand that determination of whether a leader is successful or not lies on the followers and not upon themselves. Followers are likely to get inspired if they lack confidence or trust in their leaders. Leaders are supposed to convince and set good example to their followers in order to become successful and be followed. Leaders lead through a two way communication between them and their followers sometimes communication between these two parties is non verbal. An example is when a leader sets a good example to the follower. The leader in this case does not necessarily require asking the follower on what to do about what himself is not willing to do. The way and how the leaders communicate with their followers improve or harm the relationship between them. Leaders are supposed to understand their followers in order to apply their leadership skills different followers would require different leadership styles. This means that a new employee may require more guidance and supervision than an experienced one. Also non motivated workers would require more motivation than motivated workers. Therefore the leader must understand the human nature through establishing the follower’s emotions, motivation and needs. Leader’s requiring to develop strategies on the possible cause of action for different situations (Nelson Quick, 2007). The success of any leadership is determined in the degree in which the leaders are able to motivate the others. Motivation among the employees leads to work satisfaction. An organization may incur big losses if it looses its employees and therefore the key function of the leaders and the managers should be motivating the right people to remain and join the organization. Motivation directly affects the out put of an organization and this concerns both the quality and the quantity. The leaders and managers therefore need to understand how to motivate the followers according to the roles they play (Miner, 2005). The survival of an organization is determined by the motivation of the employees. On the other hand reinforcement focuses on the maintenance of motivation. The basic assumption in motivation are that the positive behavior among the followers that resulted to rewarding will be repeated and therefore negative behavior that resulted to negative consequences are less likely to be repeated. Certain behavior can be intensified and strengthened through reinforcement. Rewards and punishment are applied depending on whether certain behaviors occurred or did not occur. The role of the leaders is to strengthen the positive behavior through reinforcement (Miner, 2005). The employees and the leaders working in an organization have different characteristics. Leaders must learn how to manage the employee in their organization. The leadership skills that are acquired in schools are not sufficient to lead and manage the employees. Therefore training is important in order to ensure that individual objectives are aligned with organization objectives. To achieve this skills and knowledge are imparted to individuals. Goal setting on the other hand helps in defining the organization, give the direction to be followed and avoid chaos. Setting of organizational goals can help the leaders to motivate the employees by communicating what the organization have planned to achieve and through providing basis for recognition, success and achievements (Nelson Quick, 2007). Goal setting helps in effectiveness of recruiting the followers. Team building results to many potential benefits which include; consensus building brain storming, looking at the problem from different perspective, trial and error, expert knowledge etc. employees are more encouraged to bring their work at the conference table and therefore they are likely to work harder. Leaders must ensure that there is an attitude of respect and tolerance for the ideas of the team member in the organization culture. The employees feel free in sharing their ideas with the team members when they help each other to succeed. Effective leadership helps in the success of the organizations. If there is no good leadership the organization may move too slow, become stagnant or even loose their direction. Timely decision making ensures that the running of organization is going on well. Leaders must ensure that decision making are correct, complete and involves all the stakeholders for the success of the organization (Nelson Quick, 2007).

Procurement Issues in Construction

Procurement Issues in Construction We refer to your management in taking the opportunity to rebuild three of the Cinnamon Grand hotels in South East of the UK, to a better quality and facilities than before they were destroyed by the bad weather and storm. The rebuild hotels are requiring being in line with the clients policy on architectural significance and aesthetics of the building. The quality of the building is thus a major factor to be considered. As the hotels are situated in the prime location, construction is proved to be a challenge in terms of time factor and accessibility of work. In phase 1, the completion date is critical as the building require to handover by 28th February 2015 and the operation of the hotels for roofs, guest rooms, restaurant, and swimming pools will be made possible. Time is an essence and a procurement route of saving overall design and construction time is priority. Time saving will enable the client to operate the business on time or earlier, therefore reducing the time of closing down business. The planned construction start date at the site is 1st March 2014, and the planned reopening date is schedule on 1st April 2015. Hence, the actual construction period is last than a year. In phase 2, new facilities such as dance studios, health and fitness centre, conference and meeting rooms will be constructed for the enhancement of the health and well-being of the hotel visitors. The Interfacing works such as the integration of the services from phase 1 to phase 2, and the new construction works for phase 2, while the hotels is in operation requires good controls and management skills for the complexity of the work. In consideration of some of the very important points of the above, we have looked into carefully on selecting the most appropriate route to achieve the time, quality and cost of project success. Analysis of the key procurement issues When selecting the procurement routes, the following key issues are considered; Factors outside the control of the project team. Client resources Cost issues Project characteristics. Quality and performance Risk management The need to accommodate changes, variation. Time The client has managed to obtain a substantial finance so as to ensure that the dignity of the building and the services are not compromised from the reconstruction. Hence, the reconstruction quality of the building will not be hinder by much financial difficulty, but the project will have to work strictly within the budget require, to prevent cost over run. The client despite been in the market for their experienced at renovation of buildings, do not have an in-house executive who is either experience enough or is able to devote his time for this project. Therefore, it is important to choose a procurement route to avoid the risk and at the same time with the experience of client and their contact, select those contractors whom have the expertise of working with them previously. This will also help in resolving of quality and design issues. As Cinnamon is highly concerned about project delays and overrun of cost, price certainty at the outset is of great important. Procurement route which enable the client to know the total financial commitment of the project early will provide the solution to this matter. The procurement route can also have guaranteed maximum price to affirm to this. Time and cost is of most important because of the opening of the hotels for business. The selected procurement route must be able to reduce the time for design and construction. This can be done by selecting a procurement route that enables the design and construction to perform concurrently. Thereby, shorten the overall project duration. Shortening the period of project completion allows the client to operate the hotels and back to business at an earlier date. As the clients requirement in terms of architectural and aesthetics of the building to be in line with their policy, and also to improve on the quality, facilities of the new buildings, it will be advisable to consider procurement route that is able to take care of the quality and performance aspect as well. Procurement route that allows the client to choose and appoint a contractor with architectural merits or director is an architect would be a plus for considerations. There is no correlation between procurement method and perceived quality of product. Due to the unavailability of an experience in-house execute form the client; risk allocation to the contractor for the selected procurement route is most important. However, this method of procurement may compromise the risk of the design and quality of the project. Therefore, in order to overcome this setback, selecting of a procurement method that conforms to the sets of employer or clients requirement is necessary and will help in a one way or another. As the client is use to dealing with construction of hotels, and assuming that the new hotels that are to be built will have most of the base designs from the previously built hotels in place, or having little difference , therefore changes in design may not be significant . The short construction duration may also not allow for many changes, as the client will also have to balance between the desire to changes with the earlier time of project completion for business. Most the time the choice of to be back in business earlier or in time will rule out any desire to changes. In phase 1, the completion of the key areas in the hotel such as roofs, guest rooms, restaurant and swimming pools is essential for the operation of the hotels . The timing from the start date on site to the completion of phase 1 is approximately one year which is a very short period. Hence, a selected procure to reduce the project time is critical, if possible start earlier on the construction stage. This can be done by the procurement route which allows the construction stage to be overlapping with the design stage, where both design and construction of the project progress concurrently. In the phase 2, in order for the hotels to enhance the opportunities for health and well- being of the visitors, the new facilities of dance studios, health and fitness centre , conference and meeting rooms is to be built. Here complexity is an important issue due to the incorporating of the high technology multimedia facilities with air-conditioning. The selected procurement route may need to be b ase on the employers requirement which has been incorporated with the name of the specialists. This is one solution of resolving the technical complexity of the project. Appraisal of the procurement routes and selection criteria The design and build procurement route will enable the project to be responsible by solely one contractor whom has the control of the design and the construction process in his ability. A single point of responsibility for design and construction in this aspect is to cover the clients shortfall of an in-house executive who is either experience enough or is able to devote his time to advise on the reconstruction of their properties. As for the Traditional route, the client firm out the whole design with his consultants before construction process begins. The contract is administered by the contract administrator who is normally the clients consultants. It is advantage if the client is experienced and dedicate his/her time in firming out the design with his/her consultants , which is not the case here. Likewise with the Management Contracting route, an inexperienced client or full time client will not be suitable as well. In the DB procurement route, with the whole packaged of design and construction is responsible by a single contractor, therefore the lump sum contract price of the construction can be firmed up easily on the outset which is required by the client for early cost certainty and avoiding of project cost overruns and delays. Time is an essence in the project, the undertaking of the design and construction by a single contractor will also enable to reduce the overall project duration in comparing to the traditional procurement route and most of the risk is with the contractor. Design and construction can be concurrently in progress unlike the traditional procurement which is consecutive in its method and has a longer overall project time and construction may start early as the design work proceed in parallel. Shortening of project time means also to reduce the business downtime. On the whole, time and cost saving of project as compare to traditional procurement route. In the traditional procurement route, the process of procurement is sequential where there is no concurrency. That is, in the preparation stage which is selecting and engaging the consultants to do the Design Brief, follow with the actual design development. Upon confirming the design, the pre-construction stage will kick in to prepare and awarding of the tender. The actual construction stage will only starts after the all the earlier mentioned stages completed and the process of procurement in the preparation, design and pre-construction is lengthy and the overall construction programme duration is being stretch longer. This route will not be appropriate for this project, as the priority of the project should be given for rapid construction which enables the hotels to be opened for business at a specified date. In the traditional procurement route, the design is completed before the contractors is appointed and therefore the design risk is bear by the client. Any requirement by the clients policy in terms of its architectural significance and aesthetic requirement, design and build procurement will allow the client to confirm his design during the preparation and design stage and reducing its cost on the design and changes which may happens in the other procurement route such as construction management when the client has to work with too many parties and design changes may be too many from time to time while the construction is in progress ,thus resulting in too much additional cost and time spent on the whole. The clients direct controls of the project and his involvement in every item have exposed him to a higher risk than the other procurement route, which the clients have had problems with as they have not appreciate the risk associated with control. The overall duration of the project of such procurement route may become longer and no price certainty can be achieved at the outset. In the design and build procurement route, the contractor will be the one developing the design and this will somehow have a high design risk imposed on the project. Therefore, in order to mitigate the problem, the develop and construct procurement route can be used. In this case, the client prepares the clients requirements documents and contractors tender with their proposals and the wining contractors will be appointed with the design content including estimated cost of the project..In this case the appointed contractor then completes and constructs base on the design. The novation of initial design team is required and thus reduces the risk of the design. The relationship between the risk of the client and the contractors can be understood for the tabulation of the Typical Risk Distribution. Proposed procourement From the analysis of the few types of procurement above, design and build type shall the most appropriate in terms of the clients requirement and the overall project characteristic. Design and build procurement route is a single point contact and responsibility that fits perfectly for his lack of resources in terms of experience key person to be full time for the project and the risk of the project can be solely with the contractors. There is a provision in the Contractors Design 81 for the client to nominate an Employers agent whom can be an independent architect acting on behalf of the client and protect his interest that take care of this shortfall. The designs liability by the contracted can be extended to include fitness for purpose, which is a great advantage for the client to exercise. The shortening of project duration from using this method of procurement will also enable the project to complete in time or earlier, thus allowing the hotels to be back in business earlier and the return of investment earlier. The client can also directly and easily communicates with the contractors for his needs. The client has decided to obtain finance of estimated at  £120 million shows that there is a fixed budgeted amount for the project. The nature of the damage of the buildings significantly varies and the amount demolition work may not be certain prior to assessment. The contractor in the design and build procurement route can undertake and be a single point of responsibility for this, therefore, providing price certainty of the project at the outset. The integration of the designers and builders produces a more economic building, likewise is the production process. Buildability is also an advantage in this procurement as the contractors involves in the design at an earlier stage. The nature of design and build procurement route will require the client to make changes at their expense of cost incurred, and careful consideration the short duration of the project and cost budget, allowing for changes becomes less important. The experienced of the client at renovation of buildings will has his network with his pool of consultants, architect, contractors, and hence the client can appoints his consultants to develop the design and novate to the contractors that is awarded for the project. This inherent flexibility is a plus point for this procurement method. In this way, the client is able to adhere and be in line with his policy on the architectural significant and aesthetics of the building. However there is no design overview before consultant is appointed, but this small drawback can easily be resolved by engaging the consultant earlier. This can also overcome the difficulty of the client to prepare adequate brief. The design and build contractor proprietary may lack the aesthetics appeal, the client is able to see the examples of the products when his proposal are being made. The client is able to visualise their needs more readily in three dimensions by moving with and sampling an actual building, then by the study the drawings and specifications. As the client are very established in the markets, the contractors may have work with them before, examining and experiencing some of their pass projects may be more easily gauge on the quality to be built. Conclusion Design and build is an appropriate procurement route for project requires a shorter time frame with priority on cost certainty. The contractors single point responsibility undertakes the risk for the client while at the same time protecting the interest which is favored by most clients. The design brief must be earlier and well prepared to ensure the clients requirement is fully captured with a good design is done. For commercial projects, time and cost is of most important as it means return of investment or business opportunity, to have also the quality and design not compromising in this case is highly commendable in the sense. Other procurement routes may be suitable for projects with different requirements and characteristics on a case to case basis, however design and build is seems to be utmost suitable in this case.

Haroun And The Sea Of Stories :: essays research papers

Haroun and the Sea of Stories I thought the book â€Å"Haroun and the Sea of Stories† was well written and a fun book to read. This is a story about friendship, fight for justice and honesty. It makes the reader feel like a child again. Rushdie showed in this book his good knowledge of human imagination. This is a reminder of that magical world with bad creatures and the ones with big hearts that always win a war. The book is about the land where stories are made, Rashid who is "the Shah of Blah, with oceans of notions and the Gift of the Gab," and his son Haroun. When Rashid loses his gift, his son embarks on a quest to recover it. This story is comparable to other stories like â€Å"Alice in Wonderland† in that it is a fairy tale, since the novel is based around this place, Kahani, the earth’s second moon, where stories are made and kept alive. Rushdie's characters and dreamlike settings are deliriously inventive. It is similar to â€Å"Alice in Wonderland† where Alice is in her own fantasy land. In this tale are some powerful moments dealing with freedom of speech and expression. The force of evil in this story is silence, an enforced silence, the quashing of language, fantasy, satire - even the truth itself. There are plenty of allegories and light-hearted commentary woven into the tapestry. The Princess Batcheat is a bit much to put up with, as are the people we must sometimes defend on principles such as freedom of expression. I found the ending interesting when you find out that the city Haroun and Rashid live in, â€Å"the city that forgot its name,† has the same name as the â€Å"fantasy land,† Kahani, that Haroun was just in. Also, during the story Haroun would hint that people in the fantasy land reminded him of people he knew in his own city. Also the fact that what made Haroun’s father lose his talent of telling stories, Soraya, Rashid’s wife, left him for someone else, was back and she referred to the man she left the same as Khattam-shud.

The Art Of War :: essays research papers

The pounding of shells, the mines, the death traps, the massive, blind destruction, the acrid stench of rotting flesh, the communal graves, the charred bodies, and the fear. These are the images of war. War has changed over the centuries from battles of legions of ironclad soldiers enveloped in glimmering armor fighting for what they believe to senseless acts of guerrilla warfare against those too coward to be draft-dodgers. Those who were there, who experienced the terror first hand were deeply effected and changed forever. In their retinas, images of blood and gore are burned for the rest of their life. It has been said that there is no point in the "pretty, flowery, pastel" art that makes a person feel good. It doesn’t have any use, for the artist or the observer. Art is supposed to deal with emotion. It is one thing that helps people heal, not only by seeing, but also by doing. Art is able to take all the bad emotions, all the hurts and pains and lets you express them. It is no wonder that many that have seen the destruction of war have turned to art. You don’t see any "pretty pictures" of war. I’d like you to find one pretty aspect of war. There is none, so therefore, war, as a subject for art, is hardly ever pretty. The stories that they write, the paintings that they paint, the pictures that they take, are usually horrific scenes. Only rarely do we see pictures of triumph (i.e. raising the flag at Iwo Jima) but those scenes take place only after the aftermath. It is also no wonder that many war artists actually use their talent only during and after war. They use their art as a place for catharsis. Only after they are done healing the torment of the war, they can be done with art. One artist in World War One, Braque, fought in 1914, a year later he was wounded. During his convalescence, he painted. A year later he returned to his home. He left not a single drawing or canvas alluding to what he had been through and no representation of the war is present in his work. He made himself a fresh start, like others did. Many painted and drew what they saw and lived through. From the sketchbooks of pencil drawings done at the warfront to the canvases painted on returning home, theirs is an intense and accurate testimony.

Peace Versus War Essay

A war cannot achieve what peace can. The forces of peace can rule over ignorance and superstition, over illiteracy and immorality, over disease and physical suffering, over poverty and governmental oppression. The conquests of peace are non ­violent and bloodless. They cause no grief to humanity and do not damage life or property. War causes streams of blood and untold havoc. Only the victories of peace leave no maimed limbs or mutilated bodies, no ruined cities or scorched fields. Even a superficial glance at the course of the two world wars will tell us that their victories were gained at an incalculable cost. The triumph of the First World War proved to be of a short duration. The victory itself sowed, in fact, the seeds of the Second World War. Who knows that the victory of World War- II may also prove to be of an equally short duration and a third global war may even now be in the offing. The victories of Peace, however, are everlasting. They do not rankle in the mind of any nation and their fruits are enjoyed by all people. The victorious in war exploits the conquered people. The example is the occupation of Germany and Japan by the forces of the allied countries. If the axis powers had won the war, they would have exploited the Allies in the same, if not in a worse way. Thus, victory in war is gained at a heavy cost of life, and also implies the annexation and enslavement of many territories and the exploitation of many more. The victories of peace, on the contrary, involve no butchery of human beings and are, besides, of value to the entire world. Only peace social reforms. During war men are too busy in militaristic activities to think of social improvement. It is only during peace that a literacy campaign can be started, that the standard of living of the masses can be raised, that better houses can be built for the poor, that more schools and colleges can be opened, that prisons can be reformed, that crime can be effectively checked. Even the proper working of democracy itself is possible only in times of peace. There can be no elections, no government of the people when a country is in the throes of war. Peace promotes democracy. In short, it is during peace that a general improvement is possible in cleanliness and decency, in refinement and taste, in habits and morals, in manners and speech. In peace, too, lies the opportunity for sports, for horse-racing, skiing, tennis, cricket, football and hockey tournaments and athletic contests of all kinds. It is often said in favour of war that it brings out the best in man by creating opportunities for human beings to display their great powers of endurance, their courage, their capacity for self- sacrifice, their patriotism. This is true enough. In times of peace, people do tend to become lethargic and indolent. Too much ease begets idleness and an indifference to work. But to applaud war because it stimulates men into activity would really be preposterous. So grim are the horrors of war and so devastating its effects that no defence of it on any ground whatsoever is possible.