Regis University GPA, SAT Scores and ACT Scores

Kargil War Free Essays

string(124) " during the Kargil war helped the National Democratic Alliance \(NDA\) attain a majority reinstating him as Prime Minister\." Role of Media in Kargil Anshu Bhatia PGP2- 18012 Table of Contents Abstract2 Introduction3 Literature Review3 Discussion of the case5 Analysis and conclusion6 Bibliography7 Abstract This paper attempts at evaluating the role of media in the Kargil war, which broke out in the summer of 1999, at a time when the Indian media was equipped enough to set the media agenda as well as present the war at an unprecedented scale. As mortals, we have never seen the war situations Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq or Afghanistan but only can perceive the images seen through media reportings. Therefore, many of our perceptions are based on the realism as created by the media owners. We will write a custom essay sample on Kargil War or any similar topic only for you Order Now Introduction The function of media through which they frame the news stories is called as Agenda-setting function of media. In the words of McCombs (2002), in a typical daily newspaper, over 75 percent of the potential news of the day is rejected and never transmitted to the audience (p. ). (Maxwell E. McCombs, 1993) Media (or the press) has been said to inhere three basic roles, also called as the â€Å"three I’s†. i. e. information, interpretation, and interest. (The Press – The press’s many roles). The limitation of media capacity to enable its thorough surveillant function explains their selectivity. Also called as the ‘Gatekeeping theory’ in mass communications, this along with Agenda setting media theory is closely related to Theory of Framing, according to which , gatekeepers (or the edia), certain parts of an event/news are given more attention than the rest. This incomplete revelation can lead to biased opinions amongst different sec tions of the society, but all the three theories seem to have one point of parity- Media is empowered, has an agenda and transmits only that information which it wants to be channelized across to the public. Literature Review â€Å"Journalists will say that war is too important to be left to generals. Reporting of war is too important to be left to reporters. Soldiers need to get involved in this. † -Maj Gen Patrick Brady – 1990 (former Public Relations Chief of US Army) (HALI, 2000, August ) As opposed to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Kargil was the first war that witnessed an emerging technology driven media in the era of television. Indian media had experienced live war coverage and broadcast for the first time, and therefore exploited the opportunity to bring forth the war in front of the people as if it was being fought right in front of their naked eyes. With daily updates and minute detailing covered, it was also the first time for the Indian military when fearless correspondents and journalists , armed with their satellite artillery made sure they covered the Indian army’s every step towards victory to make us proud. It was rightly said after the First World War, is that â€Å"war not only creates a supply of news but a demand for it (Ajai K. Rai) . Media is definitely able to ‘sell war’ to its consumers given that it’s targeting and coverage is able to engage its consumers, which are mostly geographically concentrated in areas related to war. Armed by legendary conflict stories with Pakistan since Partition, media enhanced the platform available during war to display Kargil at its best, with one side devoted to the coverage of acts of superordinate bravery on the patriotic Indian side, and Anti-Pakistan agenda to display an adequate palette of sellable war at Kargil. The essence of successful warfare is secrecy; the essence of successful journalism is publicity,† says the preface to the British Ministry of Defence (MoD’s) instructions to Task-Force bound correspondents during the Falklands war. (Ajai K. Rai) Military on one side is a hierarchical, disciplined and a closed culture contrasting to the independent and blurred code of conduct inhering Media. The latter is believed to have vested inte rest with prior set of goals for the agenda setting. Also known as the Fourth Estate, Media acted as the Force Multiplier during the War of Kargil, where it not only helped built public awareness about the intriguing war but also played a crucial role in enhancing public morale by disseminating information about activities of the Military to their friends and families. Media, especially television media has always been debated to have shown the ‘real war’ that arguably been far away from ‘reality’. At times deviated from its root purpose of information dissemination, and masked by ‘entertainment mantras’, often the images and broadcast are televised in a manner to sensationalize the eyeballs of its viewers. During Kargil, Military on one side, was biased with the emerged Media perceptions of narrating ‘Masala-extrapolated-tales’ which according to them could harm their efforts at war. On the other hand, to set the right sellable agenda for the war, Media had to equip itself with the right policy interventions allowed at the right war locations to make the coverage a successful live war show for its viewers. According to Bernard Cohen’s conceptualization, â€Å"The press is significantly more than a purveyor of information and opinion. It may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. † (The Press – The press’s many roles) Informational dissemination role of media is always accompanied by Interpretation, often stirring public interest. It was during Kargil, that the main functional aspect of media as ‘agenda setting’ was argued in public discourses. Media in compliance with the Government played a pivotal role in determining role of media, route of communication vehicles and defined their agenda as ‘framers’ for the Kargil war’s narration to the public with immediate effect. Kargil saw the media as being harnessed as the mass channels for portraying the goodwill of the existing Vajpayee –NDA government as well as the justification of the war. Where on one side, the government made sure the agenda was rightly set to harness it for vote bank for the 13th Indian General Elections, held a few months after the Kargil War. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s pivotal role as an anchor, a ‘de facto Head of State’ during the Kargil war helped the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) attain a majority reinstating him as Prime Minister. You read "Kargil War" in category "Papers" Media can play very important roles in War and peace making. On one hand, Media could forge bonds between conflicting nations but, Media under strict scrutiny by the Central government agencies was regulated to portray the implacability of the enemy nation at the war front with their anti-social strategies. Also, media was mobilized to gather the nation under the banner of national integrity to foster patriotism among civilians and enhance their involvement with the war, inclusive of their roles both as spectators as well as participants at war. Discussion of the case War reporters, during Kargil were portrayed as extraordinary individuals who risked their lives without any means of self defence to garner news for public information. It was observed that media reporters, Journalists, photographers and media personnel returning from Kargil LOC ceased to be mere observers but, eventually had become participants in war. It may be argued that Reporters employed operated upon a unanimously agreed agenda by print and television media, but at the same time it can also be said that they were ‘sole masters’ of decisions determining not only which news stories/or war fronts were covered in their narrations but also how were they framed for the public. Therefore, not only are the stories in media biased by society’s cultural, political and economic biases but also by individual preferences For television coverage, where Cost of news acquisition set out during Kargil by media owners was huge, the agenda setting process was impacted by their commercial considerations to a great extent. Much announced by the media to be telecasting ‘eye-witnessed real war news’, the images, video clips and narration can be debated that ‘Kargil news was never value free, form the individual reporter or media house’s point of view. The mere dilemma that whether a reporter’s news was free from his comments questions the epistemology of value-free information and its dissemination. The relationship between the Audiences and Media can be interestingly questioned on what the media perceives the Audiences desire to what the Audiences actually expect the media’s role to be. Kargil can be established as a benchmark for Indian media where, the public on one hand emanded maximum disclosure of the first televised war; on the other hand they understood the security deterrents that were attached to the same. The ‘Vietnam Syndrome’ till date reminds people that wars can be lost due to the total freedom and access provided to the media in their coverage of the war. (HALI, 2000, August ) The ‘right to know’ was not much demanded as a necessity by the masses given the fact that the war was being just and the national integrity and patriotic flavoured gains were much more than the price o f death of Indian soldiers at the war front. Audiences expect the real war to be shown but at the same time, are also driven by their rationality to avoid extreme visuals of war casualties, involving both soldiers as well as civilians. To analyse the sheer brilliance of strategic operations by media analysts and planners during Kargil , one must take into account the efficient use of media to save India from the mangling received on the LOC as well as the snow capped peaks of Kargil. Indian media mobilized its resources as a response to the Kargil crisis and should be given credibility for organizing programmes, handling syndication and conducting in-depth analysis and discussions on television as well as print about Kargil, helping to stir the right essence of Patriotism amongst Indians along with establishing the goodwill of Government support. The wide array of coverage was designed and channelled successfully to convince political as well as social diplomats worldwide that it was Pakistan who had caused many grievances to the Indian side. To dupe our own Indian masses, the Chanakyan principles of deceit and lies were fully utilized to their greatest advantage (Kapila, 2009) In order to support their campaign headstrong, one of the most communist decisions by the duality of Government and media was to act as a barricade by blocking Pakistani e-newspapers on the Internet, to ban PTV from the cable networks across the nation, minimize the causality broadcast of Indian soldiers but exaggerate the defeated (and dead) army of the enemy nation. Instead, internet was used a strategic weapon to market their content in such a designed way so as to strengthen the agenda setting and help spread the propaganda. An exclusive website called as www. vijayinkargil. com. Officially trained personnel to handle PR effectively controlled the content that went online, such that any truth about crafted claims regarding any victory or casualties could not be even verified. Amongst the crafted news due to the lip service of the Indian overnment along with media included falsehood spread by telecasting lies like Tiger hill,Mirage-2000 HUD displays with manipulated information on TV News Channel like BBC, CNN a and the likes. Masses were made to believe what they saw or interact with content prepared by media. In a way, it can be said that although media did not tell the masses what to think, they effectively filtered the unfavourable and designed new content such that the propaganda for Kargil success with Patriotic fervour could resonate wit h equal consistency across Indian, not only in india but worldwide. HALI, 2000, August ) The very process by which media gathered reports at source, packaged and disseminated to a wider audience was constrained by a an array of influences ranging from broadcasting protocols and standards, battlefield censorship by the Military, delusory and misleading information campaigns controlled by the central government propaganda. This created the famously known ‘Fog of war’ during the times of Kargil. Unfortunately, although Historians should occupy the front seat in drafting of information for Kargil, the ‘first cut prepared draft of history for Kargil’ prepared by the Media Journalists had so widely been discussed and consumed by the masses that it is due to this reason, that Historians had to and will continue to dislodge the contaminants that were reasons of causing the Fog of war. (Tasneem, 2011, March) Analysis and conclusion â€Å"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets† —Napoleon Media as a force multiplier adds tremendous impact to the war-inflicted nations. Managing people’s perceptions of the military as a dedicated, sacrificing and dutiful organization is mandatory for nay nation; especially this was followed during Kargil times. Therefore, the need to maintain close and code of confidence between media and the Military was a mandate. (Ajay K. Rai, 2004) Apart from the blood-shed and casualities, Kargil shall be remembered in history for highly successful diplomatic media campaign. One of the most effective ways in which this was demonstrated was the fashion in which the media was censored from critical warfronts (Kargil, Dras or Batalik sector) or from volatile surety information’s. Emotional and patriotic flavoured appeals were instrumented as catalysts by the government and military to mobilize the Media to the best of their media agenda. The revolution in information technology from radio as the media during Indo-Pakistani War of 1971to widespread digitization, enhanced channelled communication methodologies and airpower employment during the Kargil war, 1999, has become the journey through which appropriate lessons have been learnt and assimilated by the Military as well as the media to work hand-in hand for any crisis that occurs in the future. A joint engagement for study of security issues (posed by real time reporting by media personnel from the battlefield) was one of the significant post war actions that were taken up for mutual benefit. (Ajay K. Rai, 2004) Thus , best of technology and public relations management helped Kargil anchors manage the ‘ Media Spin’ effectively such that today, India as a diverse and integral nation would always utilize the power of Media both as a ‘ Force Multiplier’ to help root the Agenda setting as well as a ‘Weapon of War’. This has led to increased relevance and importance being laid down in public discourses as well as central standards and protocols for masses to lay greater emphasis on the role of media in war. (HALI, 2000, August ) Bibliography Ajai K. Rai, R. F. (n. d. ). Media at War: Issues and Limitations. http://www. idsa-india. org/an-dec-00-6. html . Ajay K. Rai, R. F. (2004). Military-Media Interface: Changing Paradigms New Challenges. IDSA . HALI, G. C. (2000, August ). The Role of Media in War. Defence Journal , http://www. defencejournal. com/2000/aug/role-media-war. htm. Kapila, D. S. (2009). THE ROLE OF INDIAN MEDIA IN PROXY WAR AND TERRORISM. IntelliBriefs . Maxwell E. McCombs, U. o. (1993). The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Research: Twenty-Five Years in the Marketplace of Ideas. Journal of Communicationn 43(2), Spring. 0021-9916/93 , 58-67. Tasneem. (2011, March). How media influenced Kargil. Merinews – Power to People , http://www. merinews. com/article/how-media-influenced-the-kargil-war/15844256. shtml. The Press – The press’s many roles. (n. d. ). Encyclopedia of the New American Nation , http://www. americanforeignrelations. com/O-W/The-Press-The-press-s-many-roles. html#b. How to cite Kargil War, Papers

Organization Structure Gross Domestic Product

Question: Discuss about theOrganization Structurefor Gross Domestic Product. Answer: Introduction: There is no gain stating the fact that tourism industry forms an integral part of the economy of Australia, and in fact in the financial year of 2014-15, the tourism sector has contributed as much as 3 % of Australias total Gross Domestic product (GDP) (William 2014). The importance of the tourism industry of Australia not only lies in the fact that it helps to boost the national economy of the country, but it also creates employment opportunities for approximately 5,80,800 Australians each year (Rice 2014). Although a huge number of reputed companies are leading the tourism industry of Australia, Express Travel Group (ETG) is an important name in the travel industry. ETG, formerly also known as Orient Express Travel Group, is a very eminent travel company of Australia, headquartered in Melbourne. In its 32 years of its existence, the organization has succeeded in gaining sufficient recognition, and consequently has expanded to other parts of the world, such as Perth, Sydney and Brisbane (ETG 2016). The organization conducts integrated travel business, and hence works with the motive of offering each client the opportunity of enjoying their professional or personal cost-effective travel service. oNe of the most remarkable and unique features of the service offered by Express Travel Group, is that t offers a one stop solution to every requirement of a traveler. Companys Structure: Each travel organization has a distinct structure to be followed, that explains the professional method of administration of the organization. While discussing the structure of Express Travel Group, it is important to understand that the activities of the organization chiefly revolve around three important fields: Transportation Accommodation Information and co-operation in the form of support service to the tourists (Ashkenas et al. 2014). In terms of the professional job roles assigned to the employees, the function of the employees is being divided into the following categories: Supervisory level Executive Level Operational Level At the top level of the hierarchy, lies the higher authority, which are expected to help in the decision-making process of the organization, in order to ensure that smooth functioning o the business operations can take place. The Director, the Manager, Chief Marketing Official of Express Travel Group belongs to this group. Next, in the executive level, the organization appoints employees who handle and take care of the clients and customers, so that they can deliver efficient and satisfactory service to the clients (Subramanian et al. 2013). The Business Developer Assistant, Customer Service Manager and the Business Analyst work at the Executive level of the organization. Last but not the least, as a tourist organization, ETG will fail to operate its business activities in a an effective way, unless the professionals such as the Tour Manager, Sales Manager, Secretary and Receptionist, interact with the clients, and are able to draw the attention of the potential as well as existent c lients (Csaszar 2012). The structure of the activity of the company can be explained through the following diagram: Figure 1: Diagram Representing the Organizational Structure of the Express Travel Group Source: (Joseph 2016) As it can be understood from the above discussion and diagram, the employees of the company involved in the supervisory level are mainly responsible for promoting and marketing the business. Again, those in the executive level are assigned with jobs such as organizing and scheduling meetings and booking travel arrangements, while the employees at the operational level are responsible for customer interaction as well as multiple skills (Martin et al. 2012). Companys Leadership Style: The leadership style of an organization plays an important role, as effective leadership helps the management authority of the organization influence its employees to perform the tasks efficiently so that employee productivity can directly contribute to organizational success. The style of leadership adopted by the management authority of Express Travel Group, can be described as supportive, participative and transformative. However, it should be remembered that the organization follows a strictly hierarchical style of administration, whereby the employees holding the managerial position in the organization, maintain a social distance with the employees. Yet it should be noted, that the managers offer opportunities for regular interaction with the employees. The director as well as the CEO of the organization holds monthly meetings with the employees working at the executive level, so that they can be reminded of the vision and mission of the organization, and even introduced to the formulation of a new strategy, if necessary (Safi et al. 2015). However, though the managers have complete control and organizational power over the employees, it is worth mentioning that the officials and the chief executives of the organization never adopt an Autocratic style of leadership. The managerial leadership style is participative by nature, as the managers involved in the administrative position, invite the free, open participation of each employee, and in case a new change is being introduced, instead of thrusting the same on the employees, the opinion of the respective employees are being asked as well (Pacleb and Bocarnea 2016). The management authority has discreetly chosen the Transactional leadership style that ensures job satisfaction to the employees. The mangers and the director of the organization recognize the importance of rewarding the skill, outstanding merit and contribution of the employees. As a tourism industry Express Tourism Group, works with the purpose of offering high quality service, to the consumers, and hence management authority regularly reviews the staff performance, and even offers the opportunity to the travelers to rate the staffs, such as the tourist guide or the receptionist, based on their interaction or the quality of the service offered by them (John and Taylor 2014). On the basis of the employee reviews and traveler ratings, the performance of the employees is being measured whereby they are being offered bonuses, and other incentives and long-term benefits. Further, once a new strategy is being proposed, the administrative managers set the target for each employee in respe ctive positions, and the employees who accomplish the targets successfully within the given time, are rewarded through pay bonus and gifts. The organization does not recognize the performance of the working staffs by offering financial benefits, but rather also announces the Employee of the Month award, based on the positive feedback from the clients (Antonakis and House 2014). Companys Strategies within Australia and Abroad The importance of a strong strategy cannot be overemphasized in case of an Australian tourist company, as there is a huge variety of tourist companies which are predominating the Australian tourist industry. Hence, Express Travel Group works with a strong and extremely powerful strategy. As far as the strategies of the organization are concerned, ETG focuses primarily on two factors- a) the reduction of cost, and b) the promotion of the organization to boost the sale growth of the organization. For the purpose of cutting down the operational cost, the organization relies on high volume purchasing system so that the organization can obtain and enjoy huge discounts on the resource inputs, such as transportation or accommodation requirements. The process of bulk buying considerably helps in reducing the operational cost of the organization. Again, ETG also locates its activities in areas which enjoy the availability of cheap labor. As an online travel company, ETG needs to have call centers, and hence the organization usually sets up its call centers in some of the peripheral regions of Australia, so that it can avail the advantage of cheap and easily available labor. The company also reduces the cost of its operation, by employing the resource inputs which are comparatively cheaper. For example, the organization lowers its operational cost by forming alliance with no frills airline that charges much lower than any kind of ordinary airlines. ETG is also known for reducing its labor cost, and increasing its labor productivity, by exploiting the computer technology for substituting the need of more expensive labor inputs (Evans et al. 2012). As a tourist organization, ETG must be able to cope up with the quick expansion of the global travel market, and hence the company arranges a variety of advertising campaigns for the purpose of promoting its high quality service in Australia, as well as in the overseas market. As a tourist company, the organization has to handle a huge number of clients coming from abroad and hence promoting the organization and its service is highly important. Keeping this in consideration, the organization spends an enormous amount of money for destination advertising that helps in building its recognition among the potential international clients (Pastras and Bramwell 2012). For developing the desired foreign public perception, ETG invests much time and money in social media marketing. The management is well-aware of the importance of a search-engine optimized website, and hence instead of focusing on a single website, the organization maintains multiple macro sites for attracting the attention of the non-English speaking travelers around the world. Again, ETG also forms collaboration with various popular advertising agencies that promote the service offered by the company in respective international markets. The use of meaningful logos, and strong taglines, such as Live and Love the Australian Way, helps the organization in effective promotion of its service in the relevant international markets. Further, the organization is also well-aware of the fact that the staffs such as the front office executives, tourist guide, or the receptionists, who have to directly interact with the clients, may not have sufficient understanding of the language or the cultural perception of the clients, and hence it is important to impart training to these staffs. The company arranges regular training sessions and workshops for the employees, so that they can obtain the necessary knowledge and inter-personal communication skills required for handling clients of a different cultural origin (Bosu n et al. 2014). Personal Comment On Companys Structure and Strategy It is needless to say that ETG is emerging as an organization that has huge potential to flourish and prosper in future. However, a few recommendations can be offered here. As far as the organizational structure is concerned, it is being observed that the company follows a strictly hierarchical order which is appreciable. Again, the Transactional leadership style that relies on recognizing and rewarding the employees for their share of contribution is also admirable, as it helps in increasing the employee productivity and efficiency of the organization However, it is to be noted the hierarchical form of organization has its own cons, in the form of lack of collaboration and lack of innovation. Here, each employee is being assigned with a specific job role, and consequently flexibility of work or free exchange of ideas is not possible. Hence, for an emerging organization, like ETG, the implementation of a flat organizational structure is advisable, as with very few layers of managemen t, granting promotion or offering attractive financial benefits, is much cost-effective. Further as a result of the lack of hierarchy and bureaucracy, the working staffs will be able to work with greater flexibility and independence that will be helpful in serving the clients with greater satisfaction (Schenkel and Brazeal 2016). As far as the strategy of the organization is concerned, it is mostly focused on reducing the operational cost that may adversely affect the reputation of the organization in a highly competitive industry of tourism. Instead of reducing the operational cost, it is advisable that the organization focuses more on product differentiation policy, so that its products or service can appear to be superior to its rival organizations. The organization can introduce high quality service in its hotel chains, by introducing a high ratio of staff to guest policy. Further, the organization does not offer lucrative discount benefits to its old consumers, and hence it must focus on creating a loyal consumer base, by offering attracting discount coupons to the repeat clients, or their relatives and friends. The company is doing a great job by offering cultural training to the staffs, but a more country specific training method should be introduced whereby the culture of the countries which have the maximum number of tourists travelling to Australia must be considered while imparting the training programs. Last but not the least, the organization can also improve its tourist products, by offering new tourist tours with cultural character or treatment can have a positive impact on the international clients. Reference List: Antonakis, J. and House, R.J., 2014. Instrumental leadership: Measurement and extension of transformationaltransactional leadership theory.The Leadership Quarterly,25(4), pp.746-771. Ashkenas, R., Ulrich, D., Jick, T. and Kerr, S., 2015.The boundaryless organization: Breaking the chains of organizational structure. John Wiley Sons. Bosun, P., Tenescu, A. and Dima, I.C., 2014. Informational stocks and e-logistics management of a tourism company.International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, (27), pp.75-85. Csaszar, F.A., 2012. Organizational structure as a determinant of performance: Evidence from mutual funds.Strategic Management Journal,33(6), pp.611-632. David William, L., 2014.Battlefield tourism: Pilgrimage and the commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia and Canada, 1919-1939. AC Black. ETG, (2016).ETG - Home. [online] Available at: https://www.etg.travel/home [Accessed 30 Sep. 2016]. Evans, N., Stonehouse, G. and Campbell, D., 2012.Strategic management for travel and tourism. Taylor Francis. John, M.C. and Taylor, J.W., 2014, August. Leadership style, school climate, and the institutional commitment of teachers. InInternational Forum Journal(Vol. 1, No. 2). Joseph, J., Klingebiel, R. and Wilson, A.J., 2016. Organizational Structure and Performance Feedback: Centralization, Aspirations, and Termination Decisions.Organization Science. Martin, R., Muls, M., de Preux, L.B. and Wagner, U.J., 2012. Anatomy of a paradox: Management practices, organizational structure and energy efficiency.Journal of Environmental Economics and Management,63(2), pp.208-223. Pacleb, T.G. and Bocarnea, M.C., 2016. The Relationship between Leadership Styles, Leader Communication Style, and Impact on LeaderMember Exchange Relationship within the Banking Sector in the United States. InChallenges, Performances and Tendencies in Organisation Management(pp. 275-287). World Scientific. Pastras, P. and Bramwell, B., 2013. A strategic-relational approach to tourism policy.Annals of Tourism Research,43, pp.390-414. Rice, P., 2014. Universal management: a proposal to change the direction of accessibility management in the Australian tourism industry to create benefits for all Australians and visitors to Australia.Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal,2(2). Safi, M.H., Mohamadi, F., Amouzadeh, I. and Arshi, S., 2015. The Relationship between ManagerLeadership Style with Job Satisfaction and Burnout in Staff of Shomal Health Center of Tehran.Community Health,2(1), pp.17-26. Schenkel, M. and Brazeal, D.V., 2016. The Effect of Pro-Entrepreneurial Architectures and Relational Influences on Innovative Behavior in a Flat Organizational Structure.Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship,27(2), p.93. Subramanian, A., Venkateswaran, A. and Fu, R., 2013. Project Characteristics, Organizational Structure, and Managerial Incentives.Organizational Structure, and Managerial Incentives (June 15, 2013).

Social Pressure and Change

XYZ Company manufactures agricultural chemicals. A year ago, the company experienced significant scandals including charges of stock fraud, harassment lawsuit against several executives and dumping waste into a neighboring wildlife preserve.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Social Pressure and Change specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Why might such Pressure Cause XYZ to Change? The external pressure facing XYZ might make the company to embrace change because the firm has to adhere to societal expectations in regard to environmental responsibility and general community involvement. Recently, information and modern technology have contributed extensively to the growth of social pressure, since information regarding firms that do not conform to social standards spread quickly. Also, external members expect that companies conduct business fairly, maintain favorable working conditions for employees and carry out activit ies that do not harm the environment. Failure to do so may spur demonstrations by community members or warnings by environmental pressure groups, in order to force the company to conduct activities that preserve the environment. Also, XYZ Company may face prosecution in a criminal court, due to stock fraud. Besides, failing to adhere to societal expectation will, ultimately, create an unhealthy reputation for the company, which might make customers obtain products from other firms that have similar products. How does this affect the Organizational Ethics of Work at XYZ? Outside pressure, regarding the above mentioned issues, will affect organizational ethics of work at XYZ. First, management practices must be adjusted to suit the needs of employers. As mentioned, in the introduction, a number of executives have filed harassment lawsuits against the company. This implies that organizational ethics have to be adjusted, in order to enhance worker satisfaction and productivity in the co mpany. Besides, XYZ needs to impact outside members positively, through stopping to dump waste products into the nearby wildlife preserve. This will create a positive public image, which is likely to attract new customers. Lastly, the company has to stop stock fraud, because the public may put pressure on legislators to impose existing regulations regarding stock frauds. The company should ensure that both internal and external auditors receive the right information regarding sales and stocks of the company. What Change might XYZ Incorporate? XYZ needs to establish an ethical workplace through creating, and constantly, improving the code of ethics. This will encourage ethical practices, in the firm, in order to ensure moral conduct and make potential customers and employees consider the company as ethical.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The managers, at XYZ, can also create a department entrusted with overseeing ethical practices in the organization. Such a department would denote to all external members that the company has committed to upholding ethical practices. Another change that XYZ may incorporate involves training the entire workforce on new ethical practices that the company desires. Such training programs do not highlight all the practice that must be observed. Rather, the training enables managers to have a framework that they can use to judge whether some actions are ethical or not. Besides, the company should incorporate social goals into the yearly planning processes. Such an approach of meeting social requirements indicates that a company is socially responsible. Lastly, managers at XYZ should be accountable for creating and upholding conditions whereby people are apt to act ethically and reduce situations that promote unethical behavior. Managers, through taking charge of these aspects, can reduce the urge to perform unethical acts, a s well as, promote social responsibility at XYZ. In conclusion, social pressure affects how a company functions. Failure to adhere to such pressure may ruin the reputation of a business, or make a business cease to attract new customers. This essay on Social Pressure and Change was written and submitted by user The Stranger to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

What Is Net Worth Complete Guide

What Is Net Worth Complete Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’ve ever analyzed your personal finances, you may have come across the term â€Å"net worth.† Simply put, your net worth is what you have minus what you owe. While net worth is a useful way to evaluate your financial situation, it also has some major flaws. Let’s define the concept of net worth, and then look at some key adjustments you can make to assess your finances and plan for the future even better. What Is Net Worth? A Hard Definition You just read a simple definition of net worth: what you have minus what you owe. Let’s rename â€Å"what you have† as assets and â€Å"what you owe† as liabilities. Let’s say your major asset is a $10 lemonade stand. Your major liability? The $4 you owe to your mom for sugar and lemons. Overall, your net worth is $6. Not bad for a 7-year-old budding entrepreneur. Twenty-five years later, your assets and liabilities probably look a little different. You lost the lemonade stand, but you collected other assets, like a savings and checking account, a car, a sweet road bike, and several rare Beanie Babies that you had the foresight to save. While you’ve paid off that $4 debt to mom, you’ve amassed some other liabilities: namely a hefty car loan and an even heftier student loan. Your net worth is the total value of all your assets minus the total value of all your liabilities. Using this example, let’s break down the steps to calculating your net worth. Calculating Net Worth: An Example Considering our 32-year-old friend who, sadly, did not grow up to run a lemonade stand empire (let’s call him Joe) we can list out all his assets and liabilities. Next to each one, we assign their current market worth. All of Joe’s assets together add up to $27,000. Again, these values represent the current market worth; who knows what the volatile Beanie Baby market is going to look like tomorrow? His liabilities total $35,000. The chart below shows the breakdown of Joe’s assets and liabilities beside their current values. Assets Current Market Worth Liabilities Current Market Worth Checking account $2,000 Car loan $5,000 Savings account $6,500 Student loan $30,000 Car $15,000 Road bike $1,000 Beanie Babies $2,500 Total: $27,000 $35,000 Net worth = assets - liabilities = $27,000 - $35,000 = - $8,000 After subtracting his liabilities from his assets, Joe is left with a negative net worth totaling $8,000 in debt. While ending up with a negative net worth isn’t ideal, it’s not actually unusual or even necessarily a bad thing, especially at certain points in life. In fact, Joe looks like he’s in a pretty good financial spot, especially if he keeps making consistent payments toward his car and student loans. So how can you calculate your own net worth? Read on for each step of the process. How to Calculate Your Net Worth: 6 Steps To calculate your own net worth, you need to go through the same process as Joe. There are six steps: Step 1: List Out All of Your Assets These could be tangible things like houses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, land, pleasure yachts, baseball cards, rare coin collections, Basquiat paintings, fur stoles, gemstone-encrusted goblets...you know, the usual. They could also be intangibles, like stocks or other investments. Step 2: Determine Current Market Worth Once you’ve identified your assets, determine their current market worth. Don’t value your car at the amount for which you bought it, for example. Instead, find out what you could sell it for now. Step 3: List All Your Liabilities These could be student loans, personal loans, car loans, mortgages, or credit card debt that you amassed paying for all those pleasure yachts. Step 4: Determine Your Debts As you did with your assets, assign the amount of money that you currently owe to each liability. Step 5: Subtract Assets from Liabilities Figuring out your net worth is a simple subtraction problem: total value of assets minus total value of liabilities. Then you have your net worth! If you end up with a negative net worth like our friend Joe, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Lots of recent graduates, for instance, will be in this position thanks to ever-growing student loans. Your net worth doesn’t account for changes in your earning and spending over time, which is one of its major limitations. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of net worth in more detail below, so if you’re only interested in the hard definition of net worth, you should stop reading here. If you want to know how to make a more realistic assessment of your finances in both the short and long term, though, then you should keep scrolling. Before getting deeper into net worth, a quick note about my background in finance and economics. My Background in Finance and Economics I’ve invested my higher educational life to studying the ins and outs of economics. At Harvard, I got my Bachelor’s in Math, Master’s in Statistics, and Ph.D. in Economics. Eager to put theory to good use, I started a personal finance circle in my community to help struggling neighbors get on the path to financial independence. Along the way, I’ve deftly managed my business PrepScholar’s cash flow and my own personal finances. For many of us, school teaches us a lot about critical thinking, but very little about how to manage our money. With my background, I sincerely hope to assist others in developing solid financial planning skills. Now that you know a little about me, let’s return to the topic at hand: net worth, why it’s a useful metric for understanding your personal finances, and where it falls short. Why Is Net Worth Useful? 2 Main Reasons Calculating your net worth is a traditional approach to measuring your financial standing. It’s relatively easy to calculate, and it shows you the balance between your assets and your debts. If you calculate your net worth several times throughout the year, then it also suggests a pattern in your financial worth. Let’s take a closer look at the two main uses for this framework of net worth. Reason #1: Net Worth Reveals Your Current Financial Standing Net worth gives you a big picture view of your financial profile at a specific point in time. It makes you take stock of what you have and what you owe. If you were to sell off everything you owned and put it all toward paying off what you owe, you’d have your net worth left over- whether it’s cash in your pocket or remaining debt. Realistically, you’re probably not going to trade in all of your earthly positions, move into a log cabin, and pull a Henry David Thoreau, but you do know what your safety net looks like if you were to experience a big financial change, like getting laid off. Calculating net worth gets you to identify your assets and liabilities, connect the dots between them, and understand your financial standing at a particular moment in time. Reason #2: Net Worth Shows Patterns Over Time A one-time calculation of net worth only tells you about the present, but comparing your net worth over time reveals patterns in your earning, saving, and spending. If you were to determine your net worth three times over a year, then you could see how it changes. Imagine your net worth as a see-saw with assets at one end and liabilities at the other. If the see-saw tilts down toward debts, then you can consider ways to level it off over time, perhaps by reducing your monthly spending. If it’s starting on the upswing toward assets, then you can strategize about how to keep that progress going. By calculating your net worth several times over a set period, you can identify patterns in your finances. As a result, you can think about lifestyle changes that would help you yield a higher net worth the next time you sit down with your calculator. All that being said, there are also some major flaws in the concept of net worth. It contains some big blind spots, and it’s important to know what these are so you don’t miss the forest for the trees. Read on to learn how net worth paints the big picture, but overlooks some of its most important details. How Is Net Worth Limited? 3 Major Flaws The idea of net worth misses a few major parts of your life. When it talks about assets and liabilities, for instance, it misses a pretty major one: you! Net worth completely overlooks all the money that you’re making and spending now and in the future. By focusing solely on assets and liabilities, it fails to take into account the human element. Net worth also doesn’t distinguish between types of assets. Some assets get more valuable over time, while others are like a slowly sinking pleasure yacht. Let’s take a closer look at net worth’s three major flaws, and then discuss some excellent ways to fix them. Flaw #1: Net Worth Misses One Huge Asset Don’t take it personally, but net worth completely overlooks you as an asset. It focuses on things that you possess, but it ignores your labor income now and in the future. Let’s say you make $30K a year. If you maintain that income, then you’ll bring in $300K over the next ten years. Realistically, you’ll probably bring in even more as your skills, experience, and earning potential grow over time. Net worth overlooks all of this income. Consider a second example. Alex has $10k saved and no debt. Britney, though, is $100K in debt. According to the traditional net worth definition, Britney is in a way worse financial position than Alex. However, Alex makes $20K a year, while Britney, who’s in debt because she went to medical school, just got a guaranteed $200K per year job! It’s Britney, ultimately, who’s in the superior financial position. The traditional net worth formula, though, doesn’t show it. For many people, especially those in their 20s and 30s, labor income is their primary asset and thus the most important metric when analyzing personal finances. I don’t have a wide array of tangible assets, like a collection of antique motorcycles or Renaissance art. My human capital is, by far, the most relevant asset when assessing my financial standing. If I only used the traditional equation of net worth to measure my finances, I would be overlooking my most important asset. Flaw #2: Net Worth Doesn’t Include Baseline Spending Just as net worth ignores you as an asset, it also overlooks you as a liability (no offense). Your basic consumption- groceries, shopping, climbing gym membership- accounts for major drains on your budget. If you need $20k of baseline spending per year, then you’ll be spending $200k over ten years. Like your income, your basic consumption has a huge influence on your finances. Net worth takes into account big liabilities, like mortgages, student loans, and credit card debts, but it doesn’t acknowledge smaller ones that add up over time. It doesn’t incorporate your baseline spending, which might be a much more relevant metric to lots of people than, say, a bulky mortgage on a farmhouse in upstate New York. Flaw #3: Net Worth Doesn’t Distinguish Between Types of Assets Finally, net worth is a static measure that doesn’t account for the fluctuating values of your assets. Let’s say you have a $20K yacht and $20K in a stock index. When calculating your net worth, these two assets look exactly the same. If you sold everything off that day, both would give you $20K each in your pocket. If you’re trying to make a realistic and forward-thinking assessment of your finances, though, should these two assets really be considered on an equal level? I would answer with a hard no. The boat costs $4K a year to maintain. Your investment is likely to get $1K or more in returns. Since it’s sapping money and losing value over time, the boat is a consumption asset. The investment, on the other hand, is a productive asset. Distinguishing between consumption and productive assets is one way to fix this flaw in the net worth system. Read on for a full breakdown of how to calculate net worth in a way that’s more realistic and useful for your long-term planning. How to Calculate Your Net Worth Better Now that I’ve exposed net worth’s flaws, let’s talk solutions. There are two main adjustments you can make to improve this assessment, the â€Å"Total Net Asset† fix and the â€Å"Productive Net Worth† fix. Let’s look at both in more detail. Fix #1: Total Net Asset Fix As you read above, the standard analysis overlooks you completely. It doesn’t account for the two largest levers to improve yourself: increasing your earning power and decreasing your spending habit, two important topics that I’ll explore in other articles. To fix this oversight, you should estimate the next 10 years of your earnings and baseline spending. Ten years is long enough to give you a good idea of your finances, while short enough that you can make a realistic prediction. If you make somewhere in the range of $40K a year, then you could estimate that your income over the next ten years will add up to $400K. If your annual baseline spending adds up to $20K, then you’ll be spending at least $200K over the next decade. Of course, changes in your income and spending will happen; that’s the whole point. This long-term projection lets you take control of your personal and professional choices, because it reveals just how much a raise in salary or cut in spending could affect your long-term net worth. The Total Net Asset fix gives you better insight into your finances, and it lets you think in a more forward-thinking way about your choices. You can play around with a few estimates to see how changes, both small and big, could increase your worth over time. Fix #2: Productive Net Worth Fix The second solution, which I’m calling the Productive Net Worth fix, helps distinguish between productive assets that gain value over time and consumption assets that lose value over time. I would suggest a somewhat radical departure from the traditional net worth equation. Instead of counting all of your assets, only count your productive assets. These might be money in your bank accounts, cash, stocks, and any investment properties. The consumption assets you’d leave out include a house, car, or boat. The way you use these consumption assets on a day-to-day basis (to live, drive, or throw lavish pirate-themed parties, respectively) is their primary value. Since they both cost money and depreciate over time, they should be left out of the net worth equation. (Side note: you might wonder if a house should be counted as a productive asset. Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, gives a convincing argument on the house-as-liability side. According to Kiyosaki, a liability is â€Å"anything that takes money out of your pocket.† Because of all the upkeep and repairs they require, houses can often be considered a consumption, rather than a productive, asset.) Now that we’ve gone over both adjustments, the Total Net Asset and Productive Net Worth fix, let’s put both of them together to see how you can make the most realistic assessment of your financial worth both now and in the years to come. Measuring Net Worth: A More Realistic Assessment Let’s bid farewell to Joe and consider a new exemplar, Stacy. Stacy has a $20K car, $10K in savings, a $5K student loan, and a $1K personal loan. Here’s her list of assets and liabilities alongside their current market values: Assets Current Market Value Liabilities Current Market Value Car $20,000 Student loan $5,000 Savings $10,000 Personal loan $1,000 Total: $30,000 $6,000 Using the traditional calculation, Stacy has a net worth of $24,000 ($30K - $6K). Based purely on the hard definition of net worth, Stacy could theoretically raise her net worth by upgrading her car. Since we now know that a car is a consumption asset that both costs money and loses value over time, this approach would be a questionable one. The traditional definition of net worth is trying to lead Stacy astray! Let’s fix that. Using our Productive Net Worth fix, let’s eliminate the car completely from our assessment. Then we’ll apply the Total Net Asset fix and add in Stacy’s projected income and baseline spending over the next ten years. We estimate that her income will be $300K, and her spending will add up to $200K. Assets Current Market Value Liabilities Current Market Value Savings $10,000 Student loan $5,000 Projected income $300,000 Personal loan $1,000 Projected baseline spending $200,000 Total: $310,000 $206,000 Stacy’s new net worth over 10 years is $104K. Rather than giving her a one time balance of her assets and liabilities, this â€Å"fixed† net worth assessment helps Stacy figure out her finances over the long-term while incorporating her most important asset and liability, her own labor income and spending. With this estimate, Stacy can begin to think more realistically about her long-term value and how to improve her position. What can she do to yield a net worth higher than $104K over the next ten years? Some strategies for increasing net worth over the long-term are all fodder for another article, but a few key ones include, Improving her earning potential through education and skills training, Making cuts to baseline costs, Eliminating debts, and Avoiding the purchase of consumption assets. Sorry, Stacy, but you probably shouldn’t buy that state-of-the-art Jetski with your current balance of $24K; it’s only going to eat away at your long-term net worth. In closing, let’s review the key points you need to remember about net worth, its traditional definition, and the adjustments you can make to get an even more realistic assessment of your long-term financial profile. Calculating Your Net Worth: What You Need to Remember The concept of net worth helps you balance your assets and debts and evaluate your financial standing. The traditional formula has you simply subtract the sum of your debts from the sum of your assets. While this approach has some uses, it’s not nuanced enough to truly help individuals with their personal finances. Nor does it apply to lots of people whose primary asset is their own labor income. In fact, the net worth formula is a vestige of corporate accounting and much more relevant to businesses than to you or me. By making a few adjustments- namely, by estimating future cash flow and distinguishing between consumption and productive assets- we can make the net worth formula work much better for us. Then we can use this analysis to inform our financial choices. Rather than solely looking at little-picture changes, like cutting out morning lattes at Starbucks, we can focus on big-picture changes that have a great long-term effect, e.g. increasing our earning potential with a new degree, paying off high-interest credit card debt, and resisting the urge to buy a boat. With a couple key fixes to the traditional formula of net worth, we can look outside the present moment and gain a long-term idea of our economic worth. The result? Smart financial choices now that will benefit us substantially in years to come.

Emerging Technology 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Emerging Technology 2 - Essay Example There are basically two different ways in which green computing can be looked at. One of these is by considering the hardware that is being used in the processes. The other is by considering the software. Hardware in this case will mostly look at such things as the efficiency of data processing and the design of data centers. Software considers such aspects as cloud computing and algorithm tweaks that minimize power consumption improving efficiency (Harris 2008 23). Hardware One of the more recent technologies in this space is that of cloud computing. This allows large companies to basically distribute the costs of handling their data to a single company. This reduces the amount of data centers required to hold the numerous amounts of data. They also provide companies with the opportunity to consolidate their resources and hence minimize power usage and increase efficiency. One concern though that has been raised by this technology is that of the security of the data. This is from wh ere there is increased risk of the transfer of secure data from the companies to the data centers. There is the virtualization of both software and hardware. A good example is the running of two or more logical computers from a single set of hardware. This leads to the consolidation of resources that increases the efficiencies of running computer systems (Soomro & Sarwar 2012 539). Software One of the software green computing technologies that is begin applied is that of the utilization of green scheduling techniques and green compilers. Green compilers work through various processes to analyze the programs that a software is running on and then to reshape the source code of the software. They reshape the software by applying certain green aspects. A green scheduler on the hand works on how to allocate the resources to a program and how well to utilize these resources so as to make it more efficient. The concerns that are raised with these two modes of software engineering are that they require a balance between efficiency and effectiveness of the machine (Fakha, Javed, Rasool, Malik & Zulfiqar 2012). Conclusion There have been great improvements in the making of green computing systems. The current improvements are limited by the available hardware at the moment. It has been predicted that we are a few years away from deriving the maximum efficiency out of silicon based chips. A better scheduler is also required to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the various green compliers currently available. Intelligent systems Abstract Intelligent systems are commonly used to refer to systems with artificial intelligence. It is difficult to generally classify these but they can be broadly classed as diagnostic, knowledge and expert. All these different categories apply three basic principles that have their various limitations. The major limitation is in the replication of human knowledge. This is a limitation that at present has greatly limited the developmen t of artificial intelligent systems. Introduction There has been a contention with how to think about intelligent systems with their being a variety of definitions. The one that may be used to explain an intelligent system may be that it is â€Å"

Domestic Violence is a Serious Public Health Issue Essay

Domestic Violence is a Serious Public Health Issue - Essay Example Thus, focusing on the theory of mindful space, this essay will illustrate how domestic violence can be prevented, if not at least avoided, by focusing on its primary victim - women. Domestic violence is a serious public health issue that often leads to fatality for victims or serious emotional, psychological, and mental problems for survivors. However as research illustrates, such occurrence is not the result of a single isolated event, but the product of a continuing pattern of abuse that usually "escalates through time in severity and frequency", such that women usually ignore lesser acts of violence until it becomes destructive and unpreventable (cited in Health, 1998, p.1468). In this respect, domestic violence can be prevented if its would-be victims can detect the lesser forms of aggression and employ effective measures even before domestic violence becomes destructive. Such approach, however, is difficult to achieve given the definition that today's literature attaches to viol ence. As Burlae (2004) points out, most definitions identify violence only after it has begun, making it difficult for victims to stop them. Hence, by understanding violence in terms of intimidation, coercion, and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, women tend to ignore the lesser and less noticeable forms of aggression, allowing the aggression to escalate and become destructive. Such reactions from women can be attributed to today's patriarchal society where cultural norms, impose on them certain roles that make them vulnerable to these acts of violence. Using Virginia Woolf's phrase "angel in the house" description, Burlae explains that the roles women take within the family setting of being charming, sympathetic, selfless, and mindful of others illustrate "characteristics that are antithetical to the possession of one's own territory", making them vulnerable to acts of aggression (2004, p.87). Awareness, in this respect, requires more than disseminating information on what is domestic violence, but instead, re-orienting the victims', especially women, a perception of what constitutes violence. In this respect, Burlae proposes the "theory of mindful space" to help women identify cues early on and help them respond accordingly. As Burlae suggests, violence should be understood as an invasion of one's bodily, personal and cognitive spaces (2004, pp.94-97), which although not always violent per se can be damaging and destructive if left unchecked. Thus, while a husband being passive aggressive to his wife may not be violent itself, it is a violation of his wife's cognitive space, which could escalate to more violent behavior if allowed to persist repeatedly. Hence, he suggests being attentive to such violations of space and setting limits to determine when it is time to seek help, take action, or disengage from a relationship. In this respect, clinicians and social workers play an integral role in helping would-be victims identify invasions of space and craf t preventive strategies.  Ã‚