International Organisational Behaviour

Introduction This assignment will analyse the organisation behaviour of two mining companies: WMC Resources and BHP Billiton. It will discuss issues such as: motivating in the short term, resistance to change, internal and external forces that favour change, characteristics of an effective team, factors of team effectiveness, and how to use punishment strategies successfully. Summary Clear understanding of the relationship between performance and outcomes – e. g. he rules of the reward ‘game’ Trust in the people who will take the decisions on who gets what outcome (BHP) Transparency of the process that decides who gets what outcome The people who will make the decisions (BHP) have stated â€Å"we continue to grow and expand our business quite significantly, and that always requires first-class people† So this again should be used to motivate the employees into realising that, good performance leads to your desired outcome (keeping their job). Evidence to justify this is the following example; there are three sales representatives who are candidates for promotion to one sales manager’s job. Bill has had a very good sales year and always gets good performance evaluations. However, he isn’t sure that he wants the job because it involves a great deal of travel, long working hours, and much stress and pressure. Paul wants the job badly but doesn’t think he had much chance of getting it. He has had a terrible sales year and gets only mediocre performance evaluations from his present boss. Susan wants the job as much as Paul, and she thinks that she has a pretty good shot at it. Her sales have improved significantly this past year, and her evaluations are the best in the company. Expectancy theory would predict that Bill and Paul are not very motivated to seek the promotion. Bill doesn’t really want it, and Paul doesn’t think he has much of a chance of getting it. Susan, however, is very motivated to seek the promotion because she wants it and thinks that she can get it. (Pride, 2009) b) There are three reasons the WMC employees are resistant to change; Fear of the unknown, need for security, and not feeling the need to change. Employees resist change because they have to learn something new. In many cases there is not a disagreement with the benefits of the new process, but rather a fear of the unknown future and about their ability to adapt to it. De Jager (2001, p. 24) argues, ‘Most people are reluctant to leave the familiar behind. We are all suspicious about the unfamiliar; we are naturally concerned about how we will get from the old to the new, especially if it involves learning something new and risking failure†. The WMC employees are facing this problem right now with the takeover that is about to go through. The employees are unsure about the future of the company and won’t know whether BHP will change things such as: daily duties, company protocol/processes, and even add new tasks. To help minimize resistance to change, the manager should try to offer information to the employees about what might change in the future. This will remove the element of the unknown and help them to deal with the changes early on. Also they should try to encourage staff and make them believe that they have the ability to adjust, therefore removing the anxiety of the takeover. If employees don’t see the need to change, they may become very stubborn and difficult to work with. Sometimes when there is a change in the workplace, employees don’t agree with it and feel they are doing jobs well enough and the organisation is running smoothly already. Even if this is true, there is always room for improvement and this should be expressed to the employees. WMC has a great opportunity to become involved in a bigger corporation and with some employees having a chance to keep their jobs, it should be highlighted to them that perhaps this will lead to a pay rise or even promotion. To minimize the resistance they should: provide support to the staff by actively listening to the problems and complaints they have, provide training to help the staff blend in with the new way of doing things, and help to overcome the performance pressures. Maybe then, the WMC employees will see that this change will lead to an improvement of the company and work efficiently and peacefully once again. c) Organizational change can be caused by external forces and internal forces. External forces commence outside of the organization and not only do they affect a company, but they also cause global affects. There are three components that play a crucial role in change of an organization from an external forces view. These three key factors allow a company to undergo change and reconstruct its organization to improve its production and services. Economic factors greatly affect WMC. This includes the nature and direction of the national economy in which a company does business. For international entities, it includes the global economy. We know that consumption is affected by the wealth of the population, and business people must plan accordingly. Some major considerations include the availability of credit and the amount of disposable income in a given market. Both inflation and interest rates and a given country's GDP are other economic factors that can help or hinder a company’s marketing efforts. The current economy has left smaller companies vulnerable to bankruptcy. Merging with a larger company like BHP will allow WMC to compete effectively in the world market. Internal forces for change come from inside the organization. These forces may be subtle, such as low morale, or can manifest in outward signs, such as low productivity and conflict. Internal forces for change come from both human resource problems and managerial behaviour/decisions. Human Resource Problems is a major internal force for change. These problems stem from employee perceptions about how they are treated at work and the match between individual and organization needs. Dissatisfaction comes from an underlying employee problem that should be addressed. Unusual or high levels of absenteeism and turnover also represent forces for change. WMC might respond to these problems by reducing employees' role conflict, overload, and ambiguity, and by removing the different stressors. Prospects for positive change stem from employee participation and suggestions. Managerial Behaviour/Decisions are an essential reason for organisational change. Excessive interpersonal conflict between managers and their subordinates is a sign that change is needed. Both the manager and the employee may need interpersonal skills training, or the two individuals may simply need to be separated. For example, one of the parties might be transferred to a new department. Inappropriate leader behaviours such as inadequate direction or support may result in human resource problems requiring change. Leadership training is one potential solution for this problem. Inequitable reward systems are additional forces for change. Clear Purpose – The vision, mission, goal or task of the team must be defined and accepted by everyone. In the case of BHP-WMC, there will be many changes when the two merge, so all the staff will have to be notified of the new action plan. This will make the team focused on the goal. Informality – A good team should be informal, comfortable and relaxed. There shouldn’t be any obvious tensions or signs of boredom. This may be tough for BHP-WMC because of the merger, there may be some resentment towards the other company’s staff for having to merge with them. Also cliques will have formed which may cause some problems with the group working together. If they can work together effortlessly they will perform to a higher standard. Participation – There should be much discussion and everyone should be encouraged to participate. This is also great for getting all the new staff members to bond with the BHP staff and to make them feel they are important to the company. Listening – The members should use effective listening techniques such as questioning, paraphrasing and summarizing to get out ideas. Therefore benefiting the company with possible innovative ideas. Civilized Disagreement – If there is disagreement, the team must be comfortable with this and show no signs of avoiding, smoothing over or suppressing conflict. This is likely to happen with the two companies’s having their own previous ways of doing things, but to create an effective team, they must all constructively discuss and find a middle ground. Consensus Decisions – For important decisions, the goal is substantial but not necessarily unanimous agreement through open discussion of everyone's ideas, avoidance of formal voting or easy compromises. This way the group should get the most suitable outcome without upsetting any of the group members or giving in to a poor idea due to peer pressure. Open Communication – Team members should feel free to express their feelings on the tasks as well as on the group's operation. There should be few hidden agendas. Communication takes place outside of meetings. This way nobody is hiding any feelings and is comfortable with the ongoing operations. Shared Leadership – While a team has a formal leader, leadership functions shift from time to time depending on the circumstances, the needs of the group and the skills of the members. The formal leader should models the appropriate behaviour and helps establish positive norms. This will give everyone a chance to feel important to the company and a chance to improve their leadership skills. External Relations – The team should spend time developing key outside relationships and mobilizing resources, then building credibility with important players in other parts of the organization. This will be handy for when they need help from other departments, especially in a fast growing company like BHP. Style Diversity – The team should have a broad spectrum of team-player types, including members who emphasize attention to task, goal setting, focus on process and questions about how the team is functioning. This gives diversity and strength is every area. Self-Assessment – Periodically, the team should stops to examine how well it is functioning and what may be interfering with its effectiveness. This is essential for any team, especially a newly created one like BHP-WMC. b) In creating effective teams, managers should act as facilitators and accept mutual accountability. do not monopolize team projects do not control daily activities. BHP-WMC could adopt these two theories quite easily. The managers could act as facilitators to the team so that it became more effective. They need to have a shared understanding and share responsibilities so that they can understand each other and work together as a well functioning machine. Mutual influence and task autonomy is also necessary to make BHP-WMC more effective than they currently are. Mutual accountability will improve BP-WMC effectiveness because it means the responsibility doesn’t land all on one person, which means it’s more likely to improve your chances of achieving your objective if the responsibility is shared across the team. To increase an employee’s behaviour, a positive re-enforcer is used immediately after the behaviour is presented, the premise being that if the employee does something and is rewarded, then they are more likely to repeat the act. Constant reinforcement must be used to help new behaviours become established. To maintain the desired behaviour once it is established, an intermittent re-enforcer, one that is used only occasionally, should be sufficient to use. Negative reinforcement is similar to the concept of a reward. Essentially, this is when something negative is removed from a person’s experience as a way to increase the likelihood of good behaviour happening again. For example, if a child studies hard for a test and the parent rewards the child by not making him do chores, it is likely that this good studying behaviour will recur. Extinction is the stopping of positive reinforcers that have been maintaining an inappropriate behaviour. This relies on the theory that behaviours which are not reinforced will soon disappear. Both positive and negative reinforcement result in learning. They strengthen a response and increase the possibility of repetition. Both punishment and extinction, however, weaken behaviour and tend to decrease its subsequent frequency. b) Punishment should be used as a last resort only. With the employees already low on morale due to the uncertainty of their jobs, it wouldn’t take much to push them over the edge and start acting inappropriately, or even worse, quitting. Ways of using punishment as a reinforcement strategy are as follows: The behaviour plan is congruent must be within regulations and company policies. The use of punishment procedures to manage employee behaviours is an issue of growing debate. Employees should take care that all elements of a behaviour plan, including punishment procedures, fall within disciplinary guidelines both of the company policies and within the law. Reference List Dick, P. & Ellis, S. (2006), Introduction to Organizational Behaviour 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, Berkshire, UK Mosley, D. C. , Megginson, L. C. , & Pietri, P. H. (2001) Supervisory Management: The Art of Empowering and Developing People, South-Western College Publishing, Ohio, U. S. A Ehlen, D. (1994), Supporting high performance teams, Manage, 46(2), pp. 32-34. Organizations, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, U. S. A

The Facts and Fictions of the Salem Witch Trials

The idea of witchcraft has been a controversial topic since the begging of time however, witchcraft became better known in 1692, with the begging of the Salem witch trials. Many stories have been written about the Salem witch trials. Some are found in journals, other stories are exaggerated from those journals. The comparison of historical facts and the play the Crucible are the perfect example of an exaggerated actual event. During the Salem witch trials, Tituba was asked to make a â€Å"witchcake† in order to figure was afflicting Betty Parris. She was later accused of witchcraft by Betty and Abigail Parris. Betty and Abigail Parris were the first to be afflicted. Actual symptoms consisted of violent physical tantrums. Rebecca Nurse was hung on July 19th , John Proctor on August 19th, and Martha Corey on September 22nd. Tituba brought stories of voodoo and other supernatural events from Barbados. This alone compelled the girls to take part in harmless fortune-telling. Mrs. Parris was alive during the incident and died in 1696, four years after the incident. The Parris family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Parris, Betty, Thomas, and Susannah, Abigail was only â€Å"kinfolk†. After the trials Betty was sent away. Tituba was acutally an Indian woman who had a husband named John and a daughter Violet. She was also tortured for a long time before she confessed. John was actually 60 and a tavern keeper. Elizabeth was is 3rd wife. John had a daughter that was 15, a son that is 17, and another son that is 33 from a previous marriage. Mary Warren was 20. The adultery between Abigail and John is unlikely to occur as they lived far from each other and Abigail never worked for them. Rebecca Nurse was considered least likely to be a witch- she was seen as saint-like. The Nurses were not extremely respected because they owed money. Martha Corey was accused of witchcraft and didn't enter a plea. He was pressed with stones in an attempt to force him to plea either was, but he refused. In The Crucible, Tituba was accused of leading 6 girls into the forest to cast spells and charms by a wild dancing ritual. Ruth Putnam was the first girl to be afflicted. The only symptom of bewitchment was not being able to woke from a deep slumber. John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Martha Corey were all hung on the same day. Mrs. Parris has been dead for years and the family consisted of Betty. Mr. Parris, Abigail, and Tituba. Betty was present for the trials. Tituba was a single and didn't have a family as a slave. Tituba confessed quickly. John Proctor is young and is a farmer. Elizabeth is his only wife. John Proctor only has 2 young sons. Marry Warren was 17. John and Abigail committed adultery. Abigail worked for the Proctor before Mary. The daughter's named Ruth Putnam. Ruth was the only child of 8 the survive. Both of the Nurses were deeply respected and revered. Giles Corey was executed for refusing to reveal the name of a witness. But, none of this really occurred during the Salem Witch Trials. In my opinion, The Crucible reflected a lot of what happened during the Salem witch trials, but I feel like Arthur Miller exaggerated the historical facts. Miller changed the people's lives. I think he intentionally changed the story like that to make it more interesting, but he changed it just a little to much.

Nursing Home Administrator Essay

The delivery of Healthcare is a high touch enterprise that calls for interaction among every stakeholder within the healthcare sphere. Communication, whether interpersonal or intrapersonal, is a crucial part of these dealings and may be transformed by the intellectual use of communication tools. Information is the means of support of healthcare. Therefore, communication systems are the backbone that supports the whole idea. Care of patients in the nursing homes now almost unavoidably entails many different people, all with the need to share patient information and talk about their organization. As a result there is an ever increasing attention in the information and communication technology that sustain health services. There exists a huge gap in the wide understanding of the function of communication services in the delivery health care. This paper will review different types of communication methods for the health care organization, including the advantages and disadvantages of using traditional, electronic, and social media for health care communication. The review will then discuss effects of HIPAA and other regulations on the use of these media for health care communication. The significant role that communication plays among people in healthcare is often neglected. Basic and very important to all healthcare managerial functions, communication is the means used in the transmission of information and additionally makes an individual understood by the target audience. In a situation in which a nursing home faces transition of management and the residents are unable to communicate effectively, have no local family, and have not indicated that they approve the release of their medical information is a crisis many health care administrators face every day. In such situations, communication is a key challenge for administrators for they are solely mandated to provide information, which consequently affects performance in the organization. A communication system is any formal or informal structure that an organization uses to sustain its communication requirements. The system involves components like people, the message that is needed to be conveyed, the technology that mediates a conversation, and an organizational structure that characterizes and limits the conversation that occurs. They are therefore bundles of different kinds of components and the utility of the general system is measured by the correctness of all the components combined. The situation above poses a challenge due to the barriers between reception and feedback. Most of the people to be displaced have no idea why and may even lose their privacy in the process. In order to solve the crisis above, it is mandatory to review the pros and cons of different kinds of communications. Electronic communications are fast, they are cost-effective and quite convenient. However, these attributes enclose intrinsic disadvantages. The technology that helps people to keep on the go also may invade privacy and cut into valuable time meant for other social activities. Devices such as cell phones with mobility technology and portable computers facilitate communication at all times. This allows one to work and visit sites in public locations, such as trains and other social gatherings. This has enabled people to stop traveling long distances to work and may do so from home. The technology also encourages productivity, for instance, a person intending to meet a professional deadline may save valuable time by working on a mobile gadget before getting to the workplace. Electronic communication is also convenient and instantaneous. It distributes with the need to mail or fax a document that can be stored online or on a portable electronic device to protect it against any kind of loss. These advantages facilitate learning and research. A visit to a clinical website may help out an individual with a complicated health problem. Despite the good attributes, modern electronic communications leave individuals vulnerable to cyber-attacks and other forms of online criminal attacks. Additionally, online conversations may pose a physical threat to children. It also exposes people to violent materials and pornography that may become addictive and eventually a health issue. Interruptions and distractions brought about by the modern electronic communications compromise quality time and if left unchecked may damage an individual’s intelligence quotient. Another platform that has received a lot of attention lately is the use of social media in addressing health care issues and extraction of patient information readily available in the social sites. The social media outlets are widespread. An advantage of using it is that it is wide-reaching, user-centric and collaborative in nature. If health care centers embraced the platform, then an interactive channel is guaranteed as most of the users are cooperative. The social sites include blogs, wikis, videoconferencing, multimedia blogging, and the diverse websites. Traditional media usage in health care communication is well embraced due to the minimal threats contained. Traditional methods have a simple system of getting information and allow one to make informed decisions. They are simple to learn and understand. However, the traditional media cannot cover all the patients’ needs because of the lack of services and the one way channel. The traditional means is not interactive and may not always target the right audience. It does not always give accurate information and may be biased. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) created in 1996 is a charter with mandated regulations that institute standards to guard the privacy of every individual’s independently exclusive health information. Health care centers must conform to these privacy regulations and all the rules on the subject of the way health centers may or may not use or disclose protected health information (PHI). The regulations intend to shelter the identity, personality and privacy of healthcare patients. Consequently, specific aspects of the healthcare employee culture are needed to change in the manner that employees distribute information and discuss their clients. Healthcare establishments are also mandated to put into effect HIPAA fulfillment from within. This creates additional administrative and training costs. Knowledge of HIPAA effects on healthcare organizations helps to assess the costs, effectiveness, and benefits of the HIPAA regulations. Patients must make contact with the administration so that permission for healthcare providers to share information with each other is obtained. It is illegal for healthcare providers to acquire records from social networks. This only poses as a barrier to effective communication. According to this paper, communication is essential for any administrator to solve a health care crisis. Whether the health care patient in a nursing home understands the consequences of a new management or not, he or she is entitled to correct information regarding how the process will transpire. Organizations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are a good establishment to protect their (patient) privacy. However, certain sections of their standard regulations need to be changed for the sake of the illiterate persons without local families and completely unaware of whether to consent to his or her information being shared. With new developments in communications, health car e providers should face smooth communications rather than the old hard system. References HIPAA Compliance Guide: http://www.hipaacomplianceguide.com/ U.S. HHS, Administrative Simplification in the Health Care Industry: http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/

ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

ART - Essay Example The work was completed between 1495 and 1498. The original work, not a â€Å"true fresco (Olga’s, 2006),† because the artist did not work in the definition of that tradition, and did not apply the combination of oil and tempera he worked with to wet plaster (Olga’s, 2006). Rather, Leonardo applied a resin of pitch and gesso chalk to the plaster to seal the porous material (Olga’s, 2006). This would create a smoother surface upon which to apply the combination of oil and tempera the artist worked with, but did not create a surface that would sustain the work during the passage of time (Olga’s, 2006). The style in which Leonardo worked did allow him to create a bright, textured work â€Å"in exquisite detail (Olga’s, 2006).† The work, in a deteriorating condition, was later transferred to canvas, restored, and it is that restoration process that reflects what people commonly think of when they think of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It is the moment now to look at that as a work of art in more detail. Da Vinci’s Last Supper might be compared to the 12th century fresco found at the Church of San Baudelio near Berlanga, Spain (MFA Boston, 2006). What immediately strikes the observer in comparing the works, is that the earlier 12th century unknown artist of t he Spanish work used a very different placement of the key people depicted in the work. In the 12th century work, Judas, whom Jesus does not mention by name, but nonetheless advises His disciples that one of them will betray Him; is in front of the table, set apart from the other disciples by his position in front of the table. This depiction of Judas at the front of the table, rather than as Leonardo presents Judas, sitting at the table; is considered the â€Å"traditional† depiction of Judas (MFA, 2006). What we also note about the earlier artist’s interpretation is that the disciples are haloed, except for Judas, of course. This, too, is

How can social policy eradicate child poverty Essay

How can social policy eradicate child poverty - Essay Example eople have different thoughts on who is responsible for tackling the issue of child poverty; although the entire burden of blame would be on the government, families, communities and organizations, - all who have to play the biggest role since they face and handle the problem often. Referring to the UNICEF, child poverty is expressed â€Å"as the deprivation of a range of both material and social supports and services that it considers to be essential to ensure children’s well-being† (Minujin, et al., 2006, p. 485). Helping the children escape poverty has to occur early in life when a problem is discovered, so that rectification takes place. By assisting the children, their future is secured; but also their families and the entire community’s lives benefit from the process. The power to prevent child poverty is within human reach making it possible to formulate social policies, which are action oriented through use of both economic and non economic resources, in equal redistribution as a way of improving the child welfare. Through the government, social policies are delivered through the enactment and reforms of law. The administration comes up with programs and initiatives just like community organizations to benefit the child welfare, by improving their economic and social state. The social policies help to protect the child and uphold their fundamental rights, which may entail helping the children or the young individuals directly or providing extensive support to their families. Children are sensitive beings who do not have the power to vote, or form petition authorities to foster programs that could defend their right. Whether being born in poverty or suffering from it during the childhood, the social policies provide rescue plans if not reducing the impact it causes in their lives. Some of the social policies are government pensions, welfare to the poor, health care, food stamps, unemployment benefits, affordable housing initiatives, educational

Obesity and Diabetes ( Obesity is known to cause diabetes Essay

Obesity and Diabetes ( Obesity is known to cause diabetes - Essay Example Lichtarowicz [2004] studies that â€Å"More than 22 million children under five years old are obese or overweight, not only from affluent countries. Over 17 million of them are in the developing world. Each one of these children is at a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes†. To make the statement stronger the link that exists between type ii diabetes and obesity has been proved strappingly by genetist James Neel in 1962 says Marchand [2006]. In a research conducted by NIDDK, the already existing fact was proved that 95% of the Prima Indians with diabetes are found to be obese. They applied the â€Å"thrifty gene† theory of James Neel to investigate and realize the link that existed between diabetes and obesity. With the help of the theory NIDDK found out the fact that Prima Indians were habituated towards eating plenty of food with fat content, and hence resulted in obesity as a genetic problem which further ended up in diabetes for many who engaged in less physical activities. The U.S.Center for Disease Control has observed, â€Å"Occurrences of Obesity and diabetes increased in the United States between 2000 and 2001†. Their study helped in identifying the connection between overweight and obesity with diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, arthritis etc. The U.S. Center for Disease Control say that â€Å"those with a body mass index of 40 or higher had an increased risk of being diagnosed with diabetes (7.37 times greater)†. The connection between obesity and diabetes is that, if a body gathers more weight in terms of fat and if it does not involve in physical activities results in body maintaining the excess weight. Thus, â€Å"being overweight is one of the main risk factors for type ii diabetes. The more fatty issues you have, the more resistant your cells become top your insulin† reports Mayo Clinic [2006]. Maintaining the glucose level by eating food items with less fat

Rational thinking in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rational thinking in Business - Essay Example No business can exist long in the market using irrational methods or thoughts. This paper explains the importance of rational thinking in business. â€Å"A thought, belief or attitude is rational to the extent that it satisfies five criteria: It is consistent with the facts or the objective reality; It helps preserve ones life and health; It helps one achieve ones short and long-term goals; It helps one avoid unwanted conflict; It helps one feel the way one wants to feel† (Alexander) In business objectives are important. Every action in a business setup is done for obtaining certain business objectives. These objectives are achievable only if the actions were supported with facts and logics. For example it is not possible for a construction business group to invest heavily at present because of the economic recession going on. The fact that people are reluctant nowadays in spending more on real estate sector is the rational or fact behind such thoughts. On the other hand the same business group can think about heavy investment once they see evidences of improvement in economic situations for achieving their long term goa ls. â€Å"Healthy rational thinking requires; an adequate attention span, patience and the ability to focus, to observe, interpret, perceive and consequently develop logic† (Yahya). In business, the ability to observe and focus is important in perceiving and interpreting the problems correctly. The correct interpretation of the problem is important in finding out correct solutions. For example, a business executive who wrongly interpret the market, based on rumours and opinions of others may fail to take sound and healthy decisions in favour of the organization. Rational thinking is the most common problem solving methods in business. For example in a business organization, the manager has to judge the performances of the workers based on their capacities or abilities. A rationally thinking manager will take actions against an

Home Inspection Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Home Inspection Case Study - Assignment Example This created a market opportunity to the sellers and filling it one had to do it in a manner that the consumers’ needs, preferences and wants are attended to their satisfaction. Furthermore Lack of professionalism was a problem to the industry because no one viewed any of the inspections firms to being very qualified or professional as argued Ramesh (59). With this the market opportunity availed itself to Doug for him to fill the gap thus come with a solution to the problem through his services and product. Additionally there was the need to deliver on any promise made to prospective customers. These two aspired to attain their mission and objective of their business in that they would offer the best services to the consumers both at a professional level and technical approach to the satisfaction of their customers. They also wanted their business to accomplish the needs and want of the customers that coming up with a brand name that the buyers associate with easy and simple to identify with. Doug and Mary wished that their consumers would have a good perception on their service where professionalism and trustworthy is an essential matter that is always put into consideration to appoint of them doing research on how other inspection firms do their work and Doug enrolling for an 8 week course on home inspection to acquire skills thus make him professional ascertain to the industry thus boasting professionalism problem in the business. There are two targeted audience in this case study, first the primary audience who are the real estate agents who will actual need the service as first hand customers due the functional and emotional need they have for the services. The functional need is the purpose of the service in this case is what Doug and Mary has to offer them in terms of services which must be tangible and visible while the emotional need is the intangibles need, where the customers can actually trust and

Marlboro Cigarettes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marlboro Cigarettes - Research Paper Example Since the company was able to successfully establish a strong cigarette brand, a lot of cigarette smokers are patronizing the brand regardless of gender, race, social status, and nationality (Philip Morris USA, 2012). Despite the serious economic slow growth in the United States, smokers continue to purchase Marlboro cigarettes in exchange for a premium price (Waldemer, 2012). In line with this, this particular market research study will focus on determining the significance of having a strong brand with the continuous patronage of its customers to the brand. Purpose of the Research Study Conducting a market research project is a significant part of a successful marketing study (Caporella, 2012; Hamel, 2012). For this reason, this research study will purposely design a research survey questionnaire that uses open-ended, closed-ended, scaled responses (i.e. nominal scales, ordinal scales, interval scales, and ratio scales) that will enable the researcher gather primary research data t hat could help us determine the significance of having a strong brand on the continuous patronage of PM USA on Marlboro brand. After executing a real-life marketing research study, the student is expected to make use of unlimited charts, graphs, and tables when presenting the research survey results. Problem Statement This study will attempt to identify different variables and/or other marketing dimensions that contribute to the

Global Logistics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global Logistics - Assignment Example Trucking transportation is suitable for relatively bulky goods and when there is need for faster and economical mode of transport. Marine transport is suitable for transporting bulky goods through water bodies when it is available and cheaper than air transport. Important factors for selecting any mode of transport above are availability, efficiency and cost. From the mining fields, the unrefined copper ore is transported by rail from the minefields to the facilities in Toronto where they get processed and smelted to extract copper for export. From Toronto the copper is transported by rail to CentrePort Canada, where the copper is transported by trucks to the Port of Churchill, an Arctic deep sea port. This sea port has air, rail and road modes of transport, and the closest connection of sea between Asia and the mid-West of North America.CentrePort Canada has one unique difference from the rest of the inland ports because of the vibrant operations of air cargo combined with rail and truck transport connections at James Armstrong International Airport.The Copper is then loaded at Winnipeg Manitoba port and Transported by sea to the port of Nanjing in China. From the port, the copper is transported by rail from the port Nanjing to BeijingAirport China. The expected transit time by ocean from Winnipeg to Nanjing would be about eleven days ( Bauhmol, 2013). The suitable incoterm to be used while transporting these goods is CIF because it is suitable for inland or waterway transport mode, and ensures that the seller is liable until the goods are delivered at the destination port.It covers many risks involved in water transportation in comparison to air transport. In China, electronic goods for export would be transported by rail from the companies of manufacture to Beijing International Airport. From the airport the goods will get transported out of China by Air to CentrePort in Canada, a leading port for cargo

Case Analysis, Turnaround of JC Penny Assignment

Case Analysis, Turnaround of JC Penny - Assignment Example With the rapidly changing customer lifestyle and preference, the retailer can look into modifying its offerings like including more low-priced items in its merchandise. JCPenney can also take advantage of globalization by opening new stores in rapidly developing economies. 1. Pursue relationship marketing. Relationship marketing is now becoming essential in recognition of the lifetime value that repeat transactions from a single customer can bring. Relationship marketing will help JCPenney by cultivating customer loyalty, lowering transaction costs, and more targeted marketing. However, this new strategy will be bringing in more costs; will necessitate the introduction of a new corporate culture; and training of human resource. 3. Improve pricing. Since customers are searching for trendy yet high value products, JCPenney should improve its pricing. Improved pricing will attract more customers, heighten demand, and gain their loyalty. However, price cuts might harm the company by reducing margins and erode company's image. This case analysis recommends that the best strategy that JCPenney can pursue is relationship marketing. The company can implement this through its database of customers.

Farewell Party for Miss Pushpa Essay Example for Free

Farewell Party for Miss Pushpa Essay In fact, Nissim Ezekiel makes fun of the way in which semi-educated Indians speak or write the English language. He ridicules the errors in grammar, syntax, and idioms which many Indians commit while speaking the English language. In other words, he mimicks the Indian way of speaking English with so many faults, and the poem is highly amusing. The speaker says that their dear sister, Miss Pushpa is leaving for a foreign country, and they all wish her bon voyage. In his speech, he again and again uses the present continuous tense instead of the simple present, which creates a ridiculous effect. He says that they â€Å"are all knowing† the sweet nature of Miss Pushpa who â€Å"is smiling and smiling for no reason, but simply because she is feeling†. The speaker goes on to say that her father was a renowned advocate in Bulsar or Surat, and that he is â€Å"not remembering† the correct place. Then he suddenly remembers that the place is Surat. He seems to be a poor speaker when he points out the irrelevant fact that he stayed there once with his uncle’s very old friend whose â€Å"wife was cooking nicely. † Again, the speaker starts praising Miss Pushpa, and says that she is very popular with men and ladies also. Whenever he asked her to do anything, she said,† Just now only I will do it†. Clearly the speaker means Miss Pushpa’s readiness to do any work, and the unnecessary use of â€Å"just† and â€Å"only† exhibits the Indian speaker’s ignorance of the usage of English words, creating laughter and fun. The speaker’s frequent wrong use of the present continuous instead of the simple present is further revealed in his speech when he says that he is always appreciating Miss Pushpa’s good nature, and â€Å"she is always saying yes† when he or anybody â€Å"is asking† any help. The speaker concludes his amusing speech, saying that they are wishing Miss Pushpa bon voyage. He informs that Miss Pushpa ‘will do the summing up†, when the other speakers finish their talk. What he means is that Miss Pushpa will respond to their words of praise in the end. Thus the poet makes fun of the faulty Indian way talking English. THEME: bad and ungrammatical english spoken by people of india.. this poem is a mockery on indian english, not to indians or india

Evolution Of The Principle Of Comparative Advantage Economics Essay

Evolution Of The Principle Of Comparative Advantage Economics Essay From the early 19th century, new outlooks on trade theory have influenced how countries have engaged in production. One of the most significant developments in this area was that of comparative advantage. Comparative advantage refers to the ability of a country to produce one good at a lower opportunity cost than another. Comparative Advantage argues that all countries will gain from trade, even those that are relatively inefficient in the production of goods. All countries will gain, even those with an absolute disadvantage in the production of all goods, as opposed to with Absolute Advantage, which refers to the ability of a country to produce one good at a lower opportunity cost than another. In this essay, I intend to discuss how the theory of comparative advantage has come into being, from its inception in the early 1800s, through the neo classical period and into the modern era. This discussion will look at the variations on the theory proposed by some of the leading economists in the field of international trade, and how they viewed and expanded upon the original law of comparative advantage. In looking at how the law has developed over the past two centuries, my aim is to show the principles uses in describing how international trade is conducted to this day. In the latter sections of the essay, I will refer to empirical evidence that tests if comparative advantage predicts accurately patterns of international trade. Comparative Advantage Adam Smith illustrated an early understanding of the benefits that could be gained by focusing on the production of goods that the population was most efficient at producing: If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage (Smith,1776,295). This idea demonstrated Smiths understanding of the concept of absolute advantage, whereby gain is realised in exchange between two men who are superior in the production of one good. The principle of comparative advantage was first presented in the work of Robert Torrens in his 1815 Essay on the External Corn Trade, where Torrens discussed Absolute Advantage in substantial detail and explained how it was beneficial for a country to engage in trade for a commodity even if the host country could produce the same good at a lower actual cost than the country it was trading with. However, it is David Ricardo who is widely credited with the first complete formulation of the theory of comparative advantage in 1817. Ricardo recognised that absolute advantage was only a limited version of a more general theory. His early understanding of the theory of comparative advantage is displayed in the quote: Two men can both make shoes and hats, and one is superior to the other in both employments; but in making hats he can only exceed his competitor by one-fifth or 20 per cent; and in making shoes he can excel him by one-third or 33 per cent: will it not be in the interest of both that the superior man should employ himself exclusively in making shoes, and the inferior man in making hats? (Ricardo,1817, p136). The assumptions in his reasoning can be seen in Kemp Okawas review of the formulation of comparative advantage, where they set out a model in which both countries are initially autarkical, then subsequently open up to a free trade environment, that all countries have at their disposal the potential to produce all possible commodities, and that in a state each country involved is able to consume all of these commodities. (2006,468). John Aldrich was recorded as saying, Torrens, Ricardo and Mill all made contributions to the discovery of comparative advantage, not by a major multiple discovery but through a sequence of insights and arguments (Aldrich, 2004, 379). James Mill studied and subsequently ratified Ricardos view on the existence and viability of comparative advantage in 1821 when he said When two men have more than they need, it will be a great accommodation to both if they can perform an exchange of a part of the food of the one for a part of the cloth of the other, and so in other cases (1821,63). In his treatment of the principle, he provided one of the clearest explanations and examinations of the workings of comparative advantage, rectifying much of the ambiguity of Ricardos exposition. His work enhanced the status of the principle of comparative advantage in economic circles by illustrating its viability through the use of numerous numerical examples. John Stuart Mill, son of James Mill, studied and subsequently made refinements to the theorem introduced by his father. Through his work, comparative advantage gained more universal acceptance as an explanation of the benefits of trade in the mid 19th century. He was responsible for the rational reconstruction of Ricardo in which the labour cost coefficients were interpreted as the amounts used in each unit of a good produced rather than Ricardos labour cost of producing the amounts contained in a typical trading bundle'(Ruffin,2002,727-748). Some of Mills most prominent work in the field of comparative advantage can be seen in his 1844 Theory of international values which aided the economic community to come to a fuller understanding and appreciation of the centrality of comparative cost in trade theory (Gomes,2003). In 1930, Gottfried Haberler of the neo-classical school of economics provided a modern interpretation of the theory of comparative advantage which generalised and separated it from David Ricardos labour theory of value, helping to form the foundations of modern trade theory. Haberler believed that it was possible to reformulate the theory in such a way that its analytical value and all conclusions drawn from it are preserved, rendering it at the same time entirely independent of the labor theory of value (Bernhofen,2005,998). His work indicated that comparative advantage is about resource allocation, and adapted it into a more general principle that accommodated non-linear production frontiers. Kemp and Okawa state that Haberler indicated that the relative opportunity costs of producing determines both the direction of free international trade and the manner in which gains from this trade are shared by trading partners (2006,1). The next significant progression in the development of the theory was through the work of two Swedish economists Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin. Their theory examined the reasons behind the differences in comparative costs. The Heckscher-Ohlin model introduced new ideas which differed from the classical approach. Factors of production are taken into account for the first time, of which the two primary ones were labour and land (Eicher, Mutti Turnovsky,2009,68). The theory explains how countries of similar technological levels can trade, how trade affects the distribution of wealth in the economy and how growth in an economy affects trade. Their model was based on two assumptions. Firstly; that countries would no longer differ in terms of technology, but rather by their endowment of factors of production. This meant that countries would be concerned with relative differences in labour and capital abundances compared to their trading partner. The second assumption was that goods differ by the factors of production they require. They explained that the more abundant a factor of production was, the greater the likelihood that it would be cheaper to produce their specialised goods and hence, the opportunity cost of producing goods which were reliant on this factor would be lower in other words, that the source of comparative advantage resided in the factor endowments of a country (Viner,1937). This implies that countries would have a comparative advantage in producing goods that their abundant factor of production. For example, countries with an abundant supply of labour would reap the greatest benefits by focusing their specialism on labour intensive products. The benefits of the H-O theory compared to the theory of comparative advantage were that: it offered; a better means of explaining observed trade patterns, the ability to develop implications about how trade affects wages and returns on capital, it shows the economic growth on trade and it offers a more thorough explanation of political groups on trade. A further development of H-O theory was the Stolper-Samuelson theorem which shows that the owners of scarce/abundant factors are disadvantaged/benefited when an economy opens up for trade and specializes in the production of the good that is intensive in its use of the abundant factor a discovery that was beneficial in the understanding of the politics behind free trade and protectionism. The theory states that during increase in the price of an abundant factor and the fall in the price of the scarce factor, and that the owners of the abundant factor will find their incomes rise the owners of the scarce resource will see their real incomes fall. Rogoff states that their paper was the first to demonstrate the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem in a two good, two country, two factor (labour and capital) model. The H-O theorem shows that with identical technologies at home and abroad, the country with the larger endowment of labour relative to capital should export the labour intensive good. This advancement of the theory aided the thinking about trade between countries with widely different capital-labour ratios. (Rogoff,2005,8). Chipman and Inoue state that for their theory, the following assumptions are made: 1. All trade takes place in a free trade environment, with no transport costs attached. 2. The factors of production, labour and capital, are freely mobile between industries within countries, while at the same time being immobile between countries. 3. The production functions neoclassical and constant over time. 4. The endowment of labour in each country is constant over the two periods (2001,2). Contemporary research by economists such as Helpman Krugman (1985) adapts traditional comparative advantage theory by relaxing some of the assumptions that underlie the contemporary specification of the principle, such as economy of scales and product differentiation. Nowadays, the comparative advantage theory can be further developed by including new aspects, such as specialization, technological differences and aspects of game theory (Tian, 2008). Comparative advantage may appear to be somewhat paradoxical, in the sense that it states that, under a certain set of conditions, a country should produce and export a good that its workforce is not particularly skilled at producing when compared directly to the workforce of another country. However, it holds true when it is explained that when two countries who each hold a comparative advantage in a particular good engage in trade with one another, trade between these nations raises both of their real incomes, on the condition that there is a relative gap between the costs of the same types of products in production by the countries engaging in trade. Ricardos model shows that, if a country wants to maximise gain, it must strive to fully employ all of its resources. It should then allocate its resources to each these resources to its comparative advantage industries, and subsequently, it should aim to operate in a free trade environment, which will benefit all trading partners invol ved. It can be seen how comparative advantage is still a useful and important concept in explaining international trade. Jones and Neary conferred their opinion on the ongoing validity of the theory: While the principle of comparative advantage may thus be defended as a basic explanation of trade patterns, it is not a primitive explanation, since it assumes rather than explains inter-country differences in autarkic relative prices (Reinert, Rajan Glass,2009,199). Revealed comparative advantage is an index devised by Bella Balassa used to calculate the relative advantage or disadvantage a country may have in a specific class or category of goods or services. This advantage can be assessed through analysing trade flows. The index attempts to uncover a revealed comparative advantage by assessing the countrys specialism in exports in relation to others. It is a highly useful means of assessing how useful Comparative advantage is in explaining contemporary trade patterns. A large number of empirical tests of comparative advantage have been undertaken to test the theory of comparative advantage. MacDougall tested the hypothesis that the export ratios of two countries to a third market were a function of labour productivity ratios of the two countries in question. The results were supportive of the Ricardian model, and his work demonstrated that trade between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1937 followed Ricardos prediction. CONCLUSION Throughout this essay, it can be seen how the ideas forged in the original theory of comparative advantage have eminently formed a large part of the basis for understanding how international trade is conducted today. Since its advent, attaining a comparative advantage has been heavily reliant on recognising and exploiting the natural resources and competencies that are present within a country. Even to this day, countries specialise their economies depending on the factors of production that enable them to produce most efficiently, all the while recognising that holding a comparative advantage is a cornerstone of effective trade practices. In the modern era and most likely in the coming years, comparative advantage is likely to continue to become an increasingly more man made factor, with the utilisation of new technologies resulting in the likelihood of significantly increasing production efficiency, and thus affecting the areas on which a country holds an absolute and comparative advantage. Although the original theory of comparative advantage may not subscribe to the current economic environment, it is still a relevant means of determining the most beneficial trading strategy for a countrys economy. Adaptations to the theory since its inception have facilitated the continued utilisation of the idea in the current climate. According to Gale, the changes that have taken place over time are a product of globalisation, for example, new trade barriers and changes in agricultural policy have caused a decrease in some countries manufacturing prowess and has resulted in a subsequent reduction in its comparative advantage (2002,27). The current trend of globalization means that the assumptions associated with comparative advantage are becoming increasingly more difficult to apply.  Ã‚  Despite this, it is still a relevant means of describing international trade patterns today and the ways in which a country can best exploit its natural endowment of resources. To reinforce this point, Paul Samuelson has stated that comparative advantage is the only law of economics which can stand comparison with the laws generated by hard sciences. Modern conditions may cloud our law but, suitably qualified, it still holds (Gray,2000,316). Through my research into the growth of comparative advantage from its inception, I believe that the concept still aptly demonstrates the fundamental importance of the effects, determinants and nature of international trade. Bibliography Aldrich J, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Volume 26, Number 3, September 2004 (pg 396) (26, 3, 379-399) Bernhofen, Daniel M. (2005), Gottfried Haberlers 1930 Reformulation of Comparative Advantage in Retrospect,   Review of International Economics; Nov2005, Vol. 13 Issue 5, p997-1000, 4p Calhoun, Craig and Gerteis, Joseph (2007) Classical Sociological Theory, Blackwell Publishing Chipman, John S and Inoue, Tadashi (2001), Intertemporal Comparative Advantage, I *(pg. 2) http://www.econ.umn.edu/~jchipman/econ8402f05/INTERTMP.PDF Eicher, Theo S., Mutti John H. and Turnovsky Michelle H (2009), International Economics, Routledge; 1 edition, (pg. 68) Faulkner, David and Segal-Horn, Susan (2004), The economics of international comparative advantage in the modern world, European Business Journal; 2004 1st Quarter, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p20-31, 12p. Gale, Fred (2002) Chinas Food and Agriculture: Issues for the 21st Century / AIB-775, Economic Research Service/USDA (pg27) Gomes, Leonard (2003), The economics and ideology of free trade: a historical review, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd Gray, H (2000) A Review of Maneschi, Andrea, Comparative Advantage in International Trade: A Historical Perspective, International Trade Journal; Fall2000, Vol. 14 Issue 3, p315-320, 6p Kemp, Murray C., and Okawa Masayuki (2006), The Torrens-Ricardo principal of Comparative Advantage: An Extension Review of International Economics, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 466-477, August 2006 Maneschi, Andrea (1998) Comparative advantage in international trade: a historical perspective (pg52) Mill, James (1821), Elements of Political Economy, London: Henry G. Bohn   chapter III, pg63 Reinert, Kenneth A., Rajan, Ramkishen S. and Glass, Amy Jocelyn (2009), The Princeton encyclopedia of the world economy, Vol 2, Princeton University Press Rogoff, Kenneth (2005), Paul Samuelsons Contributions to International Economics Harvard University, pg 8 http://www.economics.harvard.edu/files/faculty/51_Samuelson.pdf Ruffin, Roy J. (2002) History of Political Economy; Winter2002, Vol. 34 Issue 4, p727-748, 22p Smith Adam (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Hackett Publishing Company Inc. Book IV, Chapter III (IV.3.33) The evolution of the comparative advantage argument for free trade. http://www.econ.ku.dk/kgp/doc/Lectfrms/evolution%20of%20comparative%20advantage.pdf Tian, Yiqian (2008), A New Idea about Ricardos Comparative Advantage Theory on Condition of Multi-Commodity and Multi-Country International Journal of Business and Management Vol.3, No. 12, December 2008 Viner, Jacob (1937), Studies in the Theory of International Trade, New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, Chapter VIII Introduction In the course of this essay, I intend to outline the development of the principle of the quantity theory of money, from its initial inception in the 16th century right up to the current outlook on the theory in the 21st century. Subsequently I hope to outline the theorys importance as a catalyst for the development of monetarism in the 20th century, and outline how monetarism has progressed since that point in time. The quantity theory of money provides a means of answering the question what gives money value? We know that intrinsically, a bank note is a valueless piece of paper and ink, and that its perceived value stems from the quantity of it in supply. Due to the value of money being variable, a change in money demand or supply will yield a change in the value of money and in the price level. The more money that is in circulation means that each individual bill becomes worth less. This will result in it taking more bills to purchase goods and services, and as a result, price level will increase accordingly. The quantity theory of money states that the value of money is based on the amount of money in the economy that the nominal money supply is a function of the equivalent changes in price levels as it relates to the demand for money necessary to meet the needs of current transactions. For example, in Ireland, according to the theory, when the central bank increases the money supply, the value of money falls and the price level increases. Main body The theory states that a one-time change in the stock of money has no lasting effect on real variables but will lead to a proportionate change in the money price of good. In other words, it declares that moneys value or purchasing power varies inversely with its quantity. To this day, there exists prevalent academic discussion as to who developed the theory. The first possible statement of the quantity theory of money originated in the work of Nicholaus Copernicus In 1526, when Copernicus wrote a study on the value of money, Monetae cudendae ratio, in which he noted the increase in prices following the import of gold and silver from the new world. He expressed the findings of his studies into the value of money, and in this work, he formulated a version of the quantity theory of money. Copernicus observed that the value of money would fall if it was issued to excessive quantities, to the point where it was almost valueless. Volckart notes that Money can lose its value through excessive abundance, if so much silver is coined as to heighten peoples demand for silver bullion. For in this way, the coinages estimation vanishes when it cannot buy as much silver as the money itself contains. The solution is to mint no more coinage until it recovers its par value (1997,433). Jean Bodin took a different stance in the middle of the sixteenth century. In 1568, he drew attention to the influx of gold and silver into Spain, and consequently the rest of Europe, from the Americas. He argued that the price level had risen along with the stock of bullion available for monetary purposes and was able to draw a conclusion about the link between these events. John Locke accepted this idea and stated the Quantity Theory of Money as a general rule, that if the supply of money increased, the prices of all goods will rise. If money supply fell and the prices of goods fell, than the prices of foreign goods would rise relative to domestic goods both of which will keep us poor (Locke, 1692). The first concise statement about the existence of a quantity theory was that made by David Hume in 1752. His theory stated that the general level of prices depended upon the quantity of money currently in circulation. Where coin is in greater plenty; as a greater quantity of it is required to represent the same quantity of goods; it can have no effect, either good or bad that great plenty of money is rather disadvantageous, by raising the price of every kind of labour. (Hume, 1752, Pg 15) He also outlined the relationship between supply of money and prices All augmentation (of gold and silver) has no other effect than to heighten the price of labour and commodities; and even this variation is little more than that of a name (Hume, 1752, 296-7). Alfred Marshalls version of the quantity theory was an attempt to give microeconomic underpinnings to the macroeconomic theory that prices and the quantity of money varied directly. He did this by elaborating a theory of household and firm behaviour and integrating it with the macroeconomic question with the macroeconomic question of the general level of prices to explain the demand for money. Marshall reasoned that households and firms would desire to hold in cash balances a fraction of their money income In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, two versions of the theory competed. One advanced by the American economist Irving Fisher, treated the theory as a complete and self-contained explanation of price level. The other, propounded by the Swedish economist Knut Wicksell, saw it as part of a broader model in which the difference between market and natural rates of interest jointly determine bank money and price level changes. Fisher, in particular spent considerable effort in discussing the temporary effects during the period of transition separately from the permanent or ultimate effects (which) follow after a new equilibrium is established if, indeed, such a condition as equilibrium may be said ever to be established (Fisher,1911,p55-6). In this statement, he finds that the quantity theory will not hold true strictly during transition periods. His work was a forerunner in what would later become known as monetarism. He attempted to take the classical schools equation of exchange and convert it into a general theory of price and price level. The contrasts between the two approaches were striking. Fishers version was consistently quantity theoretic throughout and focused on the classical propositions of neutrality, money-to-price causality, and independence of money supply and demand. By contrast, Wicksells version contained certain elements seemingly at odds with the theory. These elements included a real shock explanation of monetary and price movements, the absence of currency in the hypothetical extreme case of a pure credit economy, and the identity between deposit supply and demand at all price levels in that same pure credit case rendering prices indeterminate. Wicksell tried to develop a theory of money that explained fluctuations in income as well as fluctuations in price levels. He argued that the quantity theory of money failed to explain why the monetary demand for goods exceeds or falls short of the supply of goods in given conditions. The quantify theory fell into disrepute in the 1930s, in part because it seemed at the time that the theory could not explain the Great Depression, and partly because of the publication in 1936 of Keyness theory. Although some economists continued to advocate the quantity theory, many economists became Keynesians and simply viewed the quantity theory as a historical curiosity. Only in the mid and late 1950s did the quantity theory once again emerge as a plausible rival to the Keynesian theory. There were several reasons for the revival. Contrary to the prediction of many Keynesians, upon the conclusion of World War II, the American economy did not revert to the depressed conditions of the 1930s, but instead underwent inflation. Secondly, one of the benefits of the Keynesian revolution had been its demonstration that by manipulating expenditures and taxes, governments can keep the economy close to full employment. In fact, it emerged that there were serious political as well as economic difficulties in actually changing government expenditures and tax rates in this ways, and that Keynesian theory in this area was less useful than it had been thought originally. However the resurgence of the quantity theory should not be attributed merely to impersonal historical events. It is also due to the fact that several influential economists advocated this theory. Don Patinkin of Hebrew University restated the quantity theory in a rigorous way that avoids many of the crudities that infested earlier expositions. Milton Friedman, of the University of Chicago was influential in providing a framework that allowed one to test empirically the proposition that changes in the quantity of money dominate changes in income. Moreover Friedman and Anna Schwartz of the National Bureau of Economic Research argued in a lengthy study that the experience of the Great Depression should be interpreted as confirming the prediction of the quantity theory rather than that of Keynesian theory. Subsequently they showed that in both the United States and Britain, longer run movements in nominal income were highly correlated with movements in the money stock. Despite the resurgence of the Quantity Theory in the 1970s and early 1980s it is still far from universally accepted by economists. Controversies about the theorys validity and applicability still exist, featuring similar questions and themes regarding the Quantity Theory of Money that have arisen since the 18th century. These include the definition of money, the relationship between correlation and causation, and the transmission mechanism. Controversy has continued because of the technical difficulty of sorting out the direction of causation running between money and prices, and because ideological concerns about the viability of market mechanisms are at stake. The first instance of Monetarism stems from the ideas of Irving Fisher. The ideas that produced the quantity theory of money go back to the time of David Hume, and arguably earlier. However, the equation of exchange and the transformation of the quantity theory of money into a tool for making quantitative analyses and predictions of the price level, inflation, and interest rates were due to the contributions of Irving Fisher. The theory provides a theoretical basis for monetarism, and there is empirical evidence to show that the quantity theory does operate. For example, as the Spanish brough gold back from the new world, the money supply increased in their native Spain. In line with the theory, prices rose because there was no corresponding increased in the transactions demand for money which is a function of an increase in output. This initial formulation of monetarism fell short on the question of understanding business cycle fluctuations in employment and output. Due to a flaws and a lack of sophistication of this first form of monetarism, some economists became disillusioned with monetarist analysis. One of these economists, John Maynard Keynes, stated that the quantity-theoretic analysis was of little use expanded on these initial contributions. Many economists agreed with Keyness evaluation of monetarism, most notably Milton Friedman. According to Friedman, there was a belief in the value provided by the quantity theory of money, the quantity theory of money provides the best way of understanding monetary behaviour (1971, 2-3), and that substantial changes in prices and nominal income are almost invariably the result of changes in the nominal supply of money (Friedman, 1968, 434). Following this, came the emergence of the Old Chicago Monetarism of Viner, Simons and Knight. This form of Monetarism emphasised the variability of velocity and its potential correlation with the rate of inflation. In economic policy they blamed monetary forces that caused deflation as the source of depression. According to Viner, in order to remedy economic depression, use of large scale stimulative monetary expansion, large government deficits or policies which encouraged deflation, should be balanced. The exponents of Old Chicago Monetarism did not believe that the velocity of money, in other words the rate at which money is exchanged from one transaction to another, was stable. They also did not believe that control of the money supply was straightforward or that the velocity of money was stable, because inflation lowered and deflation raised the opportunity cost of holding real balances. Classic monetarism emerged from Old Chicago Monetarism. It was described by Friedman in 1953, as well as in the works of Brunner (1968) and Brunner and Meltzer (1972). Classic Monetarism contained elements of institutional reform, analytical thinking and views on the political economy. J. Bradford De Long discusses how classic monetarism contained empirical demonstrations which showed that money demand functions could retain stability under the most extreme hyperinflationary conditions. It contained studies which analysed the limits imposed on stabilization policy by lags of policy instruments and also the belief that the natural rate of unemployment is close to the average rate of unemployment. (2000, 83-94). Political Monetarism argued not that velocity could be made stable if monetary shocks were avoided, but that velocity was in fact already stable. As a result, money stock emerged as a sufficient statistic for forecasting nominal demand. Political Monetarism argued that the central bank controlled shifts in the money supply. As a result, the view was taken that everything that went wrong in the macroeconomy was a direct result of the central bank failing to make the money supply grow at the appropriate rate. Political Monetarism concluded that any policy that does not affect the qu

Does Nursing Need Theory?

Does Nursing Need Theory? =Do nurses need theory? A question that can be considered on many different levels. If one considers the evolution of nursing over time, one can observe that the nurse of antiquity was arguably as dependent on the prevalent theories of the day as the current nurse. Theory determines practice and theory justifies practice (Einstein paraphrased in Kuhse Singer 2001). The nurse who changed the blood letting bowls of antiquity was as dependent upon the theories of imbalances in the humors for her practice as were the nurses in the wards of Ignaz Semmelweis (Semmelweis IP. 1861) who may well have found the idiosyncratic insistence on hand washing to remove the presence of the unseen agents of infection completely bizarre until the evidence base of reduction in puerperal infection could be clearly established. In this latter comment we can find one of the major dilemmas facing the nursing theorists of today. The plethora of nursing theories have been subsumed into a goal (albeit defined by the theorists themselves) of finding a unified nursing theory. One that will define the human condition and also medical science’s response to the management of the various conditions of pathophysiology that can befall it. The stumbling block of many theories is the difficulty in establishing a credible evidence base to support it. (Brechin A et al. 2000). To revisit the Einstein quotation cited earlier, one can have a theory that may determine practice, but it is only with the demonstration of an evidence base that the theory can actually be used to justify practice. One of the luminaries of nursing theory and practice was Martha Rogers, the late Dean of Nursing at New York University. To illustrate the point, Rogers published many nursing theories in her working life. Some (the Unitary theory) have gained a degree of general acceptance others have faded in the mists of time. It was her stated goal to define a unified theory of nursing. (Meleis, A 1997). The Rogerian approach appeared to have little room for establishment of evidence bases and we would suggest that this approach is essentially flawed. (Halpern S D 2005). To consider an extrapolation into other scientific disciplines by way of analogy, we note that it has not been possible to define a unified theory of biological science. Biology is essentially a study of life in general. It does not seek to be a theory of life. Although theories may be postulated in the explanations of the various phenomenon encountered in the field, such as natural selection or the function of the genome, these are used to test the various hypotheses underpinning practical observations, laboratory work and in some cases, mathematical models. There is no all-encompassing biological theory. At a more fundamental level we can observe that biology is based on chemistry which, in turn, is ultimately based on principles of physics. Again we can observe that there is no unified theory encompassing the entire field. (after Green J et al. 1998). This analogy is applicable to nursing theory if one considers the huge range of skills and requirements needed by the modern profes sional nurse. The spectrum of tasks required and expected of the nurse in a variety of situations is legion. To be effective the nurse must understand the human condition from the viewpoint of the pathophysiology, the psychology, the human dynamic and socio-economic elements of the patient’s presentation and disease trajectory. (Yura H et al. 1998). Much of our understanding of these elements is encapsulated into various concepts or theories which are perhaps best regarded as dynamic and fluid or in a process of evolution. (Wadensten et al. 2003). A practical consideration would suggest that the nurse is responsible for giving medication, undertaking procedures of medical intervention as well as caring for the general physical well-being of the patient, they record various parameters of their patient’s progress. They can be the patient’s advocate in terms of their dealings with other healthcare professionals, organisations or even commercial concerns. (Hogston, R et al. 2002). In order to carry out these ( and many other) functions efficiently. The nurse needs to be competent in a huge number of areas with skills in interpersonal relationships, organisational, technical and clerical areas. It follows that these skills are derived from a large number of disparate areas such as anatomy, physiology, therapeutics, psychology, management theory, bookkeeping and tabulation. (Mason T et al. 2003) The point being made here is that, in the light of these comments, it seems inappropriate to consider that there should be, in Rogerian terms, a unified theory of nursing (Rogers, M E 1970). The overall goal would undoubtedly be that the professional nurse should seek to improve the overall well-being of their patients. This target is the accumulative result of any number of different and disparate processes and skills form many differing academic and human disciplines. We would suggest that it is not amenable to the reductionist philosophy of Rogers. Despite the notable article by Christensen (P et al. 1994) which criticises authors who have applied such strategies to both extrapolate from and to expand implications of Rogerian theory, reductionist strategies are not totally inappropriate. In a further scientific analogy, we can point to a classic case of reductionism which contributed greatly to our understanding of the natural world. When Newton made his mathematical models linking orbiting planets, projectiles and falling apples, he produced one of the most dramatically valid reductions in scientific literature. Reductionism per se. is not an inappropriate process. Herein lies a frequently perpetuated fallacy that permeates the field of literature on nursing theory. The term â€Å"Reductionâ€Å", in a nursing context, can have two distinct connotations. It can be observed that some nursing theorists apply the term to the tendency of some healthcare professionals to visualise and regard the patient as a number, a set of symptoms or a demonstration of a particular element of pathophysiology rather than as an individual in their own specific socio-economic, cultural and psychological setting. (Alcock P, 2003). Although this is a completely appropriate and specific use of the term, it is distinctly different from the implications of â€Å"Reductionism† in the scientific and analytical sense. Some nursing theorists (viz. Christensen) use the term in a derogatory or disparaging form that does not appreciate or even acknowledge the positive aspects of the technique. (Hott, J R et al. 1999). We would suggest that such confusion in the terminology has led to some nursing theory being discredited. If we expand this theme by staying with Rogerian theory as an illustration of the point, we can suggest that in the broader context of medicine generally, scientific reduction has enabled progress in medical science by allowing the accurate identification of causal agents of disease and thereby allowing the development of appropriate strategies to combat and eliminate them. Nursing theorists should embrace this aspect of the concept of reductionism while combating any suggestion of a reduction of the status of the patient from that of an autonomous human being (Mill JS 1982). To consider the situation as Christensen does and to decry the use of reductionism and to treat events as essentially causal, does no favours for the analytical process that is central to any theoretical process. It effectively takes nursing theory out of the realms of science which, almost by definition, considers processes as cause and effect. (Polit, D F et al. 1997). Even if we consider processes that are essentially acausal such as the spontaneous degradation of atomic nuclei, one can point to the fact that these processes are still quite capable of being considered reliable processes because they can be detected, demonstrated, quantifiable, repeatable and amenable to statistical analysis. If we contrast this to the nursing theorists in general, and perhaps Rogers in particular, we can show that their writing and reasoning is largely devoid of causal argument and subsequent reasoning. (Barnum, B J. S. 1998). The reasons for this are clearly a matter of speculation. The less charitable analyst might be tempted to conclude that some of the theories propounded do not meet common sense standards. Few of the theories meet the criteria that would satisfy a reputable evidence base as they appear to avoid rigorous testing. To take a specific example, the theory of therapeutic touch is certainly complete enough to permit a degree of submission to testing. Much of the literature cited by Rogers is however, very subjective, done by unblinded clinicians and very speculative. Some is purely in the form of no more than reported anecdotes (Rosa, L et al. 1998). This trend has done little to increase the confidence of the analytically minded investigator in the usefulness and relevance of nursing theory. To a casual observer, who considered only these elements of nursing theory, it might appear that the theorists had allowed themselves to become detached from the scientific rigour of logical deduction or experimental validation and thereby effectively deprived the field of any degree of precision of predictive possibility (which any useful theory should have). To support this view, one can cite Rogers herself (cited in Meleis 1997). Reality does not exist but appears to exist as expressed by human beings. In this respect, we can put forward a coherent argument that nursing does not need theory. Having presented this argument, we can also examine the opposing view put forward by Prof Margaret Rosenthal (Rosenthal 2000) in her thought provoking book â€Å"Changing Practice in Health and Social Careâ€Å". The book itself is primarily about accountability in healthcare, but in its discussion it considers the relevance of the nursing theorists in general. The author puts forward the view that the public have experienced a decline in the trust and standards of the healthcare professionals. She cites the media as being one of the major contributors to this erosion, rather than the actual reality of the situation and suggests that the way forward is to submit all types of clinical practice to the scrutiny of its evidence base. She suggests rejecting practices that do not have a secure evidence base in favour of those that do so that â€Å"at every level so that the public in general and the patients in particular, are able to feel confident in every therapeutic manoeuvre that t hey are offeredâ€Å". (quote from McNicol M et al 1993 Pg 219). As an overview the author suggests that all dealings, whether they are practical or theoretical, should have â€Å"accountability as their watchword†. In some respects, this is a simple conceptual extension of the comments advanced by Florence Nightingale a century and a half earlier, that the ultimate objective of working in a healthcare environment as a healthcare professional is to provide the best form of support, treatment and care for the patient. (Nightingale F 1859). We would both concur and expand the sentiments expressed by adding that this may be best achieved by considering that the best form of treatment is the one that has the strongest evidence base for its use. Having made these comments, it is appropriate to consider the more positive aspects of nursing theory. If we accept Wadenstein’s view (Wadenstein B et al. 2003) that it is an important purpose of theories to challenge practice, create new approaches to practice and remodel the structures of rules and principles, then we could usefully progress this argument by considering some of those theories which help to explain patient behaviour and thereby modify the nursing approach. The basic nursing process is traditionally based on assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. The particular theories that we shall consider here, together with the models that they support, all basically follow the same pattern, but each analyses the patient situation from a different aspect or in different terms. (Fawcett J 2005) The Roper Logan Tierney model (Roper, Logan and Tierney 2000) is primarily concerned with the activities of daily living. It requires identification of the problems and then dealing with them on a problem solving basis. This type of model has been extensively reported, evaluated and is one of the most generally accepted models of the nursing process. (Holland K et al. 2003). This type of approach is very useful for problems which are mainly or primarily based on a physical or disability orientated disease process. Its major shortcomings revolve around the fact that it is not very useful in describing strategies that cope with patient responses that are overtly manipulative or psychological in nature. The theories that underpin this model have largely withstood the test of time and clinical practice and have accumulated a large evidence base in the literature. (Holland K et al. 2003). For patients who fall into the category of manipulation or functional symptomatology as a result of an adaptation process for coping with their illness the Roy adaptation model (Roy 1991) is useful in describing the abilities of a patient to adapt (or maladapt) to the evolving pattern of their illness. This model allows for changing perceptions and adaptation mechanisms on the part of the patient and can be used to explain the various behaviour patterns exhibited by various patients as their disease trajectory unfolds. It allows for the major patterns of illness adaptation but has the major shortcoming that it does not allow for the behaviour patterns that are consistent with denial of the underlying diagnosis. The patient who has a diagnosis of terminal cancer but copes with a total refusal to accept it and continues as if all is well, is not described in this particular approach. The model dismisses this as a degree of cognitive distortion rather than a coping mechanism. It can be seen as possibly choosing to ignore the reality of the situation and changing the theory to make it more coherent. It would categorise the patient as not adapting to the situation by choosing to ignore it. (Steiger, N. J. et al. 1995) This particular situation is better dealt with by the application of the theories associated with the Johnson Behavioural System ( in Wilkerson et al 1996). This model can be considered useful in describing the situation of denial considered above but it too has shortcomings insofar as most experienced clinicians would note that a patient in denial of a terminal illness almost always is forced into acceptance by the progressive nature of the illness itself. (Johnson, D. E. 1990) The majority therefore have to accept their terminal status as they are overtaken by progressive physical manifestations of the disease process and other symptoms. This element of the argument is presented as showing that the basis of some nursing theories is valid and useful but also even the most accepted theories have their shortcomings and limitations. (Tomey A M, Alligood M R 2005). To paraphrase the comment of Wadensten (et al 2003), one can observe that the nursing models and theories all have their place, but one has to add the caveat that there is not one satisfactory theory or model which can account for all aspects of care and all eventualities. The thrust of this essay is directed at the preposition that some nursing theories are indeed useful and some are not. Even a brief consideration of the literature on the subject will reveal a plethora of opinions. (Powers, B. A 1995). It is vital to consider each theory or model in isolation and make a critical judgement relating to its ability to inform the nurse and to predict practice for the overall benefit of the patient. Those, such as the ones discussed in the early part of this essay, which rely heavily on intuition and anecdote and also have a marked lack of independent validation, are clearly less likely to be of value to the practical nurse and, in the worst analysis, in the opinion of Prof. Rosenthal, may contribute to the reduction of public confidence in the healthcare professions in general terms. By contrast, the more accepted, reproducible and statistically valid theories which have predictive value and are amenable to independent validation are much more likely to be considered of value to the profession in general terms. In direct consideration of the title of this essay â€Å"Does nursing need theory?† the considered answer must be a qualified â€Å"Yes† but within the limitations that we have outlined here. References Alcock P, 2003  Social policy in Britain,  Macmillan 2003. Barnum, Barbara J. S. 1998 Nursing Theory: Analysis, Application, Evaluation. 5th ed.  Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams Wilkins, 1998 .; 2 : 217-21. Brechin A. Brown, H and Eby, M (2000)  Critical Practice in Health and Social Care  Open University, Milton Keynes. 2000 Christensen, P., R. Sowell and S.H. Gueldner. 1994.  Nursing in Space: Theoretical Foundations and Potential Practice Applications within Rogerian Science. Visions: The Journal of Rogerian Nursing Science 2. 1994   Fawcett J 2005  Contemporary Nursing Knowledge: Analysis and Evaluation of Nursing Models and Theories, 2nd Edition  Boston: Davis Co 2005 ISBN: 0-8036-1194-3 Green J, Britten N. 1998  Qualitative research and evidence based medicine.  BMJ 1998; 316: 1230-1233 Halpern S D 2005 Towards evidence based bioethics BMJ, Oct 2005 ; 331 : 901 903 ; Hogston, R. Simpson, P. M. 2002  Foundations in nursing practice 2nd Edition,  London : Palgrave Macmillian. 2002 Holland K, Jenkins, J Solomon J, Whittam S 2003  Applying the Roper-Logan-Tierney Model in Practice Churchill Livingstone 2003 ISBN 0443071578 Hott, Jacqueline R., and Budin, Wendy C.1999 Notters Essentials of Nursing Research. 6th ed.  New York: Springer Pub. Co., 1999.   Johnson, D. E. 1999.  The behavioral system model for nursing. In M. E. Parker (Ed.), Nursing theories in practice (pp. 23-32).  New York: National League for Nursing. Kuhse Singer 2001  A companion to bioethics  ISBN: 063123019X Pub Date 05 July 2001   Mason T and Whitehead E 2003  Thinking Nursing.  Open University. Maidenhead. 2003 McNicol M, Layton A, Morgan G. 1993  Team working: the key to implementing guidelines.  Quality in Health Care 1993 Meleis, Afaf. 1997.  Theoretical Nursing: Development and Progress, 3rd ed.  Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams Wilkins Mill JS 1982  On Liberty, 1982,  Harmondsworth: Penguin, p 68. Nightingale F 1859  Notes on Nursing: What is it and what it is not  London : Harrison 1859 Polit, Densie F., and Hungler, Bernadette P. 1997 Essentials of Nursing Research: Methods, Appraisal, and Utilization. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams Wilkins, 1997 Powers, B. A. Knapp, T. R. (1995).  A dictionary of nursing theory and research (2nd Ed.) Thousand Oaks,  CA : Sage Publications. 1995 Rogers, Martha E., 1970  An introduction to the theoretical basis of nursing.  Philadelphia, 1970. F.A. Davis Company Roper, Logan and Tierneys (2000)  Ã¢â‚¬ËœActivities of Living model London : Churchill Livingstone 1983 ISBN 0443063737 Rosa, L., E. Rosa, L. Sarner and S. Barrett. 1998.  A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch.  JAMA 1 April : 1005-1010. Rosenthal MA 2000 Book: Changing Practice in Health and Social Care BMJ, Nov 2000 ; 321 : 1355 ; Roy C 1991  An Adaption model (Notes on the Nursing theories Vol 3)  OUP: London 1991 Semmelweis IP. 1861  Die aetiologie, der begriff und die prophylaxis des kindbettfiebers. Pest, Wien und Leipzig:  CA Hartlebens Verlags-Expedition 1861. Steiger, N. J. Lipson, J.G. (1995).  Self-care nursing: Theory and practice.  Bowie: Md. 1997 Tomey A M, Alligood M R 2005  Nursing Theorists and Their Work, 6th edition Mosby ISBN 0323030106 Published November 2005 Wadenstein B Carlsson M 2003  Nursing theory views on how to support the process of ageing. J Adv Nurs. 2003 Apr ; 42 (2) : 118-24. Yura H, Walsh M. 1998  The nursing process. Assessing, planning, implementing, evaluating. 5th edition. Norwalk, CT: Appleton Lange, 1998. ################################################################ 16.6.06 PDG Word count 3,272

The Life and Work of Raymond Carver Essay examples -- Biography Biogra

The Life and Work of Raymond Carver          In private desperation, Raymond Carver's characters struggle through their lives, knowing, with occasional clarity, that the good life they had once hoped would be achieved through hard work will not come about. In many ways, Carver's life was the model for all of his characters. Married to Maryann Burk on June 7th, 1957, at nineteen, and having two children by October of 1958, the Carvers' life was decided for years to come. Early on, Carver felt, along with his wife, that hard work would take care of nearly everything. "We thought we could do it all," he said in one interview, "We were poor but we thought that if we kept working, if we did the right things, the right things would happen" (Gentry 123). Somewhere in the middle of this life of dead end jobs and child raising, he realized, very much like one of his characters, that things would not change. He recounts one of the strongest of these moments in his essay on writing influences, "Fires." On a Saturday afternoon in the early 1960s, when Carver was a student at the University of Iowa, he was doing chores and taking care of their two children, Christine and Vance. The children were with some of their friends, at a birthday party, Carver was not sure--he often admitted to having a very poor memory. He was at the laundromat washing clothes and, at this point in the essay, waiting for a dryer:    When and if one of the dryers ever stopped, I planned to rush over to it with my shopping basket of damp clothes. Understand, I'd been hanging around in the laundromat for thirty minutes or so with this basketful of clothes, waiting my chance. I'd already missed out on a cou... ... grew and received reprieves in life that most do not encounter. Anything can happen, he tells us. He once said, "It's strange. You never start out life with the intention of becoming a bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar" (Gentry 38). At one time Carver was all of these. If we can learn one thing, it is that nothing is set in stone. Change is the only sure thing.          Works Cited    Carver, Raymond. Fires. New York: Vintage-Random House, 1989. Gentry, Marshall Bruce, and William L. Stull, eds. Conversations With Raymond Carver. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1990. Halpert, Sam, ed. ...when we talk about Raymond Carver. Layton: Gibbs Smith, 1991. Helprin, Mark, ed. The Best American Short Stories 1988. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988.

My Personal Philosophy of Education :: Philosophy of Education

Personal Philosophy of Education I would not be considered your typical college student in search of an education degree. I am a 31 year old male, married, with two children, and working on my second career. My previous life consisted of working in the coal mines till I was injured. My injury, however, is considered a blessing in disguise. My injury has leaded me to the world of education. I have seen first hand the difference an educator can make in the life of a child; the child was my own son. My eldest son, diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, was unable to communicate. He had the opportunity to be enrolled in the early intervention program in Raleigh County. The first individual with the challenge of assisting my child was not able to fulfill her roles and think â€Å"outside of the box† to reach him. My wife and I promptly searched for the appropriate educator for him. My family was blessed when we found â€Å"Ms. Mitzi†. In the matter of weeks our son was able to tell his mommy he loved her. This impacted my life significantly and I wish to be able to pass on what was given to my child and my family. I chose education as my career path because I hope to be able to make a small difference in a child’s life. Time and time again I have seen children being educated poorly and/or not having appropriate role models in their life. I feel that an educator must not only be able to convey to the student the classroom material, but also be a counselor, coach, mentor, and a parent. Failing to fulfill these roles gives a child the chance to slip through the educational system without having the opportunity to influence them to some degree. I can not narrow down my educational philosophy to one area. I have studied the teacher-centered philosophies and I would consider myself somewhat eclectic, having a mixture of progressivism and essentialism. Essentialism is Essentialism refers to the "traditional" or "Back to the Basics" approach to education.

“to the Reader” Analysis

â€Å"To The Reader† Analysis The never-ending circle of continuous sin and fallacious repentance envelops the poem â€Å"To the Reader† by Baudelaire. The beginning of this poem discusses the incessant dark vices of mankind which eclipse any attempt at true redemption. As the poem progresses, the dreariness becomes heavier by mentioning the Devil and demons, and how Hell is the final stop of everyone’s journey. The ending stanza says the most dangerous of all actions is boredom.This proposition that boredom is the most unruly thing one can do insinuates that Baudelaire views boredom as a gate way to all horrible things a person can do. The first thing one reads is the title, â€Å"To the Reader. † With this, Baudelaire is not just singling out any individuals or a certain group of people. â€Å"Folly, error, sin and parsimony,† (1) everyone possesses these vices, and that is who Baudelaire is addressing. A religious aspect is introduced in lines 5 through 7 stating that although we repent and confess, our sins are obstinate and our repentance feeble because soon after we are back to our wicked ways.Many religions, such as Christianity and Islam, believe that there is a joyous afterlife for those who have led a righteous lifestyle and have atoned for their sins. However, Baudelaire dismantles this comfort by implying that we repent because we â€Å"Believ[e] our base tears can wash away the stains [our sins]† (8). Even with the hint of a religious tone, Baudelaire is still talking to those without a religious affiliation, for no one is perfect and has not apologized for an act they were not sorry they committed.In class, it was argued that this poem is not actually a religious work because it has no hope and that it is, in fact, just about human nature; I believe it is about both. It is human nature to express regret towards those we have wronged, whether Christian, Muslim, Atheist, or any other denomination. However, t hose with a religious affiliation are hypocrites; preaching that we must all be without sin and have faith in and obey their respected deity. They, such as Christians, demonstrate hypocrisy through participating in sins themselves.They think ill thoughts against those who believe something else – judging; speak poorly of others to their friends – gossiping; confess that they did not mean what they said or did – lying. Although we may try to live better with each passing day, our evilness has a stronger resolve. Baudelaire writes â€Å"On the pillow of evil Satan Trismegistus / Cradles at length our enchanted soul† (9 & 10) â€Å"It is in hateful objects that we find peace / Each day, one step further towards Hell† (14 & 15).In these four lines, Baudelaire is suggesting that we do unholy or immoral things without noticing; continuing to entertain Gluttony, Pride, or Lust without a second thought, and that our souls are the Devil’s price. Ther e are different levels of intensity to all sins; telling a white lie every now and again is far better than taking another’s life every now and again. For some, the thought of murdering or raping someone is atrocious, nevertheless Baudelaire believes that If rape and poison, arson and the knife Have not yet women their pleasant designsOn the dull canvas of our lowly destinies It is because our soul, alas, is not yet bold enough. (25-28) The Christian religion is hinted here again by the use of women; it was Eve that introduced sin to mankind by eating the forbidden fruit, the pleasant design of sin. These lines are suggesting that appalling crimes are thought about and can be conducted by all, but only the strong willed are able to carry them out. Of all the horrible acts one can commit, Baudelaire suggests that there is one that is most heinous above all the rest, and that is boredom.Baudelaire states that Boredom is â€Å"more ugly, evil, [and] fouler than the rest† (33). Being in a state of boredom can lead to all types of malice and immoral thoughts. When you have time to think, memories of how someone wronged you may appear and you may decide to do wrong back unto him, or perhaps going to the club may seem like a nice way to meet with someone to relieve you of your boredom, etc. Boredom is not just failing to find something to do, but that you are tired of doing the same stuff over and over again.If one is bored of going to church and hearing the gospel, they could always decide to follow a different religion or drop it altogether. Who can say they are without sin, completely wholly, and truly deserving of a divine afterlife? As previously stated, some believers can be considered hypocrites. People are always preaching that one must practice a better way of living, yet they are deaf to their own sermon. Sin is practiced by all, even those who believe themselves to be above it. Unfortunately, to cast away sin is to cast away human nature, whi ch cannot be done, and as long as boredom lingers around, sin will always follow.