The walam olum

Phenomena: is a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable Sentence: â€Å"Myths attempt to explain natural phenomena† (The Walam Olum) Sentence: The Walam Olum is explained in natural phenomena, based on the humans' origin, the customs, and the religion rites. 2. Pictographs: is a picture or symbol standing for a word or group of words Sentence: â€Å"Originally it consisted of a long series of pictographs explaining the origin of the Delaware people such as a result of the actions of a manito, or spirit. † (The Walam Olum) Sentence: The Walam Olum is represented by pictographs which explain how the Great Manito createdEarth. 3. Leisure: freedom from the demands of work or duty Sentence: â€Å"All had cheerful knowledge, all had leisure, all thought in gladness† (The Walam Olum) Sentence: The Great Manito fetched them food and many other things which left them to leisure. 4. Quarrel: an angry dispute or altercation; a disagreement marked by a tempo rary or permanent break in friendly relations Sentence: â€Å"And with him brought badness, quarreling, unhappiness. † (The Walam Olum) Sentence: Later, the Great Magician came to earth and brought quarreling. He brought many bad things like bad weather, sickness and also brought death. Ablution: a cleansing with water or other liquid, especially as a religious ritual. Sentence: â€Å"Soon after the ablutions were completed they heard the distant call of the approaching gods. † (The Navaho Origin Legend) Sentence: The people heard a call of the gods after they were done ablutions. 6. Protrude: to thrust forward , cause to project Sentence: â€Å"While the wind was blowing, eight of the Mirage People came and walked around the objects on the ground four times, and as they walked the eagle feathers, whose tips protruded from between the buckskins, were seen to move. † (The NavahoOrigin Legend) Sentence: After the eagle's feathers were protruded they walked up to t he buckskin, and saw that the corn had diapered and found a men and woman laying down there. 7. Constitution: the way in which a thing is composed; physical make-up; structure Sentence: â€Å"The Iroquois constitution outlines a system of laws and principles. † (The Iroquois Constitution) Sentence: The Iroquois constitution was spoken and not written; the constitution had to be presented in way that would catch the listener's attention. 8. Disposition: An inclination or tendency Sentence: â€Å"If any man or any nation the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the GreatPeace and make known their disposition to the lords of the confederacy, they made trace the roots to the tree and if their minds are clean and they are obedient and promise to obey the wishes of the confederate council, they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves. † (The Iroquois Constitution) Sentence: 9. Confederacy: an alliance between persons, parties, states, etc. , for some purpose. Sentence: If any man or any nation the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great 10. Trivial: of very little importance or value; insignificant Sentence: â€Å"It shall be a rong for anyone to lead a lord into trivial affairs†¦ (The Iroquois Constitution) Sentence: Leading the lord into trivial affairs is considered to be wrong; they should respect their honorable position. 1 1 . Emblem: a sign, design, or figure that identifies or represents something Sentence: â€Å"We now do crown you with the sacred emblem of the deer's antlers, the emblem of your lordship† (The Iroquois Constitution) Sentence: He was crowned with emblem of the deer's antlers. He then, became the mentor of the Five Nations. 12. Deliberations : thoughtful, careful, or lengthy considerationSentence: â€Å"In all of your deliberations in the confederate council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into your oblivion. â€Å"(The Iroqu ois Constitution) Sentence: All of his action will be deliberate carefully. 13. Oblivion: the condition of being forgotten or disregarded Sentence: â€Å"In all of your deliberations in the confederate council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into your oblivion. † (The Iroquois Constitution) Sentence: All of his wrong act will be oblivion will be not only cast on him but also in his family.

Healthcare Benefits Essay

Identify and discuss the various types of private and/or social insurance available in and through your state and local government. Relate the application of social insurance to consumers based on their social and economic status using the profiles listed below. For which demographic(s) do gaps exist in your area? You can use the Internet and sites such as www. cms. gov for statistical data by state to locate this information. Do you feel it’s the government’s role to provide health insurance for these individuals? Why? Support your answers with research and reasoning. 1. A child of parents who do not have private health insurance 2. An elderly WWII veteran with diabetes 3. A bank teller who has just been laid off 4. A homeless individual 5. A college student who has just graduated without a guaranteed employment I live in Richmond, VA. The various types of private and social insurances available through our state and local government are Aetna, Anthem, Carefirst, Celtic, Kaiser Permanente, Optima Health, and United Health One are some of the leading health insurances in Virginia. 6. A child of parents who do not have private health insurance: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. An elderly WWII veteran with diabetes: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicare. 8. A bank teller who has just been laid off: In Virginia this consumer would receive unemployment benefits. 9. A homeless individual: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. 10. A college student who has just graduated without a guaranteed employment: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. Where I currently live there are gaps in the demographic when it comes to the elderly WWII veteran because there are many war veterans in my area that are homeless and are seen on the streets begging for money. In all of the places I have been, I see this predominantly in Richmond, VA. The government should have a better grasp on who is a veteran and provide these people with the benefits they deserve for fighting for our country. I do believe the government should be responsible for the people who are struggling, but not for the people who take advantage of the system. There are many people who need help, either because they are in a bad situation or because they are physically incapable of helping themselves. These people should most definitely receive aid from the government; healthcare is a huge thing not to have. People lose their lives every day from not being covered by health insurance. In our text Medicare and Medicaid are described like this, â€Å"Although the expansionist social policies of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society in the 1960s are credited with development of the largest social health insurance programs this country has ever known, now known as Medicare and Medicaid, the seeds of these programs were actually sown by Congress during the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. At a time when private health insurance coverage was increasingly being provided for workers by their employers, the elderly had virtually no such coverage and yet were the group in society with the largest health costs and often the most limited financial resources. The ultimate passage of the Kerr-Mills Act by Congress in 1960 provided for federal matching grants to the states for a new category of â€Å"medically indigent† individuals, but still did not cover elders other than those who had become poor. However, this piece of legislation played a pivotal role as the precursor to Medicaid. It was actually President John F. Kennedy, backed by senior interest groups and supported by labor unions and nurses, who proposed the first Medicare bill to Congress in 1962 in keeping with his strong belief in the need for federal health care for the elderly. Although this measure was defeated by legislative opponents in the Senate, it did serve to raise public awareness of the issues and thus to build future public support. This set the stage for President Johnson to utilize his considerable political popularity, legislative liaisons, and persuasiveness in small groups (such as the AMA) to lead the charge for passage of the Medicare and Medicaid legislation in 1965.

Medical law and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Medical law and ethics - Essay Example The doctors have a responsibility to care for the lives and should not allow anyone to lose his or her life even the unborn child (House of Commons 2007). Abortion Act of 1967 prohibits abortion unless the mother’s life was in danger and noting could be done to save the child. The doctor should use the right procedure for acquiring organ for transplant (McLean Sheila 2009) in accordance to HT Act. The HT Act determines the procedure for obtaining the consent either from the deceased or from the deceased or from the relatives of the deceased (FarrellAnne-Maree, 2011). In case the deceased left no consent the doctors should seek the consent from the qualifying person (Madsen Klein 2011). The immediate person who was staying with the deceased is the most qualifying person from whom doctors should seek consent (Jackson Emily 2013). Therefore, since Nellie had not left any consent, Dr. Black had a duty to obtain the consent from her family to use Nellie’s organs for transplant. However, since her husband was the most qualifying and was against the doctor’s idea of using her organs, Dr. Black could not use them despite the consent of Nellie’s parents. Doctor should inform the patients of the risks associated with each operation in order to help them make an informed decision (Gleeson Michael 2008). The patients have to weigh between the problems they are going through and the risk they will get exposed to as a result of medical operations (Crellin J. K 2005). Patients should request for information just to be sure of what they are likely to go through during or after the operation (McConachie Ian 2009).Doctors should ensure their patients are not caught by surprise in case of unexpected consequences (Garden James, 2012) for this will help patients to learn to trust their doctors. In this case the Dr. Roberts failed to mention about stiffness of the neck and it occurred the doctor is liable for his client for

Controversy Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Controversy Analysis - Essay Example While leadership goals are a part and parcel of education system in this country, understanding the future implications of the education system in the career of a person is very important. Therefore, bringing out leadership qualities in a person must be accompanied by standards of leadership that he or she achieves to meet (Tyack, 1990, 188). When such set standards are used, the extent to which a person can handle leadership challenges becomes clear to the employer. One must remember that even if a person is highly educated, he or she might still lack superb leadership qualities. Therefore, instead of going by grades and academic records, if student leadership skills are quantified, then right candidates get the right degree of job (Berliner, 2013, 206). The main goal of education stays ambiguous even today. There are several definitions of a goal but if a goal decides whether the process of education has been fruitful for the country, then its goals will be different than if the process decides if education has been fruitful for the individual student. Setting up goals on a national level, that focus on individual fulfillment, will help diminish income inequality in the society (Labaree, 1997, 40). Teachers, trainers and mentors need to have a good grasp of the goal or aim of holding a training session or simply completing the class course (Elmore, 2000, 16). Yes, just as redefining educational goals is of prime most importance today, constantly reminding teachers of how well they need to fulfill these goals is also important. Educators have to be told why they need to exercise values of neutrality and strict assessment in grading and placing their students, to be able to remove income inequality. Although their contribution is going to be of less importance owing to inexperience, student involvement in curriculum and assessment protocol decisions is a healthy way to encourage participation and extract performance.

About smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

About smoking - Essay Example In the current society, many people smoke since it looks fashionable and outgoing. Therefore, in their personal perception, smoking looks cool. Such smoking practices lead to different effects that alter your daily activities. The most common effect is addiction. Scientific research shows that smoking one cigarette can lead to affection of smoking more and more cigarettes. This results into addiction and might become part of life of the victim. Furthermore, smoking has horrible effects on the human body. When an individual smokes a cigarette, they cause major health problems to themselves and the people around them. This activity shortens the lifespan of all the individuals affected by the cigarette smoke. That is why it can result into cancer, emphysema and heart diseases (Slovic, 2001). Smokers are unable to quit smoking cigarettes because it is addictive in nature. The cigarettes contain tobacco and nicotine that are highly addictive. Thus, the body and mind adapts the nicotine effect quickly leading to addiction. In conclusion, it is evident that smokers understand the consequences of puffing cigarettes, but find it hard to quit. Even though, it reduces stress, personal issues and pressure, it is not advisable to start smoking. Individuals should consider the harmful impact of smoking before adopting the new

Wal-Mart Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Wal-Mart Finance - Essay Example In US, Wal-Mart operates over 4,300 stores and also operates the Sam’s Club chain. Wal-Mart Stores US have different subsidiaries namely Wal-Mart Discount Stores in 692 locations, Wal-Mart Supercentres in 2933 locations, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets in 183 locations, SAM’s CLUB in 609 locations and small format stores. In Argentina, Wal-Mart has 4 subsidiaries with 64 retail chain units. Wal-Mart has 10 subsidiaries in Brazil with 484 units in their retail chain. Wal-Mart Canada has 2 subsidiaries with 325 units of retail outlets. In Chile, there are 285 units in their retail chain under 6 subsidiaries. In China Wal-Mart have 6 subsidiaries under which there are 338 units. In Costa Rica Wal-Mart have 4 subsidiaries with a retail chain of 183 units. Under Mexico y Centroamerica there are 3 subsidiaries also performs business in El Salvador with 78 retail chain units. In Germany, Wal-Mart had 85 stores which were taken over by Metro and now Wal-Mart has no operational ac tivities in Germany. (Wal-Mart abandons German venture) In India Wal-Mart have 6 retail chain units under the subsidiary called as Best Price. Mexico y Centroamerica also operates at Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua with 177 units, 58 units and 62 units of retail outlets under them. In Mexico Wal-Mart have 1789 retail outlets under 6 subsidiary of Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica. ... idiaries of Wal-Mart in the various nations mentioned above were under taken by Wal-Mart with the help of acquisitions, some of them are Asda, the Seiyu Ltd., Seiyu Group, etc. (International Operations) For Wal-Mart if we divide the geographic region of operation as International and US market. Then it will be evident that, the Net Sales value of Wal-Mart in US exceeded over $260 billion and 3,804 retail units for the year of 2010-11. The operating income also increased by 3.1% to $20 billion (approx). While the consolidated net sales figure of Wal-Mart in the 15 countries they are operating net sales value amounted to $109 billion and 4,557 retail units for the year 2010-11. The net sales also grew by 12% and the operating income increased by $5.6 billion. The net sales value of Sam’s Club was $49 billion and 609 retail units for the year 2010-11. The increase in net sales was 3.5% over the previous year. (Wal-Mart 2011 Annual Report, 4-9) b) Wal-Mart’s Foreign Exchan ge (FX) Risk Management Policy Is centralized or decentralized? A firm opts to take risk for maximizing their profit on their areas of unique expertise. While, a firm with non-financial activities tries to minimize their foreign exchange risk and interest rate risk (Wallace, 2). Wal-Mart as a retail management chain operates in US and 15 other countries. As per the Foreign Currency Translation policy of Wal-Mart â€Å"The assets and liabilities of all foreign subsidiaries are translated using exchange rates at the balance sheet date. The income statements of foreign subsidiaries are translated using average exchange rates. Related translation adjustments are recorded as a component of other accumulated comprehensive income.† (Reimer, 774) This shows that all the financial transaction systems are

School violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

School violence - Essay Example To start with, single parents have increased tremendously. There many different studies that use single parents to demonstrate the effects children have of not being exposed to both a maternal and paternal figure. However, single parents are not just people whose spouses have passed away and the family is left to cope with the loss. Single parents can be divorcee, widowed, or have never even been married. Not being exposed to a paternal and maternal figure can lead to many mental disturbances, provoking violent and unacceptable behavior. On 22nd March of 2005, a 17 year old Jeff Weise terrorized the Minnesota school. It was one of the worst school shootouts recorded in history. A few students were injured but more horrifying was the fact that some students had actually lost their lives. Jeff Weise had also shot himself after a shootout with the police ("Massacre in Minnesota"). Before coming to school, Jeff had shot his grandfather and his grandfather's 32-year-old girlfriend. Jeff was categorized by his schoolmates as antisocial. No doubt, Jeff himself had lived a rather depressing life. His father committed suicide four years back and his mother got into an auto accident which placed her in the nursery. Jeff was living with his grandfather who was on the force. This kind of absurdity exists because certain kids are lacking the attention they need. In Jeff's case, he was lacking a lot of attention. After his father committed suicide, when Jeff was only thirteen-years-old, Jeff had most probably not been able to ful ly cope and recover from that traumatic experience. In a Psychology article by Lawrence J. Walker, this kind of behavior is called as an outcry for help (Walker 1997). When kids do not get the attention they crave, no other choice is left but to resort to negative attention. The negative attention is the only way these kids get any attention at all. The more parents neglect their children or fail to understand what it is that their children want, the higher are the chances that these children will join the wrong crowd and try getting negative attention. Another way single parents are contributing to the lack of attention given to the children is by giving in to the children's demands. Propaganda in advertising is targeted for these children of single parents. When a child sees the big yellow M sign and the happy smiling face of Ronald, they usually scream with delight, "McDonald!" It is difficult for a single parent to refuse to the demands their child is making. This is not just because the parent is showing affection, but rather because by refusing the child, the parent will have to deal with a lot of fuss and tantrums that is timing consuming. And time is one thing that single parents really do not have. This leads to the child maintaining a habit of unhealthy food and even worse, of getting anything it desires. The child from an early age has learned be assertive. This is a good quality as being opposed to having a low self-esteem, but in some cases, this kind of assertiveness reappears as the child goes to school and bullies t he other children. The purpose of this paper is of course not to bash single parents but rather to show that some single parents are not giving their children the attention the child needs. Another way single

Conflict, Decision Making, and Organizational Design Research Paper - 2

Conflict, Decision Making, and Organizational Design - Research Paper Example 432). The real problem was that GM had developed too many levels of management. The number of corporate stuff was huge. So the decision making was slow and cumbersome, and, therefore, change was difficult. So the major challenge the new management faced was to eliminate the hierarchical levels and reduce the total number of managers. The top management expected that such a move will reduce operating cost, improve communication, and encourage innovation. Some analysts estimated a termination of 20,000 managers. The task was enormous (Jones & Mathew, 2007, p. 432). The board was of the belief that the shareholders’ interest can be served only by taking tough organizational design decisions. In 1993, GM announced its intention to cut 50,000 hourly and 24,000 salaried jobs and to close or consolidate 21 parts and assembly plants by 1995 to save money. The revolt by the board was an important mile stone in GM’s history. From that point on, GM’s performance improved every year (Jones & Mathew, 2007, p. 432). Conflict is not all about war, violence, and loss of life. By definition, a conflict is simply a disagreement among people on an issue. Conflicts can be small, as among two persons, or they can be large and complex, as among two or more countries. Conflict is a natural and normal part of human life and interaction. When communication to settle a conflict is constructive, the conflict is beneficial. Constructive approach stimulates new understandings and more socially just solution with stronger relationship. In case of a communication breakdown, conflict can lead to separation and hostility (Sughru, 2009, pp.7-8). While analyzing conflicts, it is better to break down the issue into five variables (Sughru, 2009, p. 10). First and foremost we need a complete picture of the actors and understand their direct or indirect role. In other cases, an actor may not be

Arlene Goldbard, “Making the World Safe for Hollywood” Essay Example for Free

Arlene Goldbard, â€Å"Making the World Safe for Hollywood† Essay The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been in existence since 1945. Primarily founded to safeguard education even in poor countries, the organization now also looks after scientific and cultural areas as well. Recently, however, the United States refused to vote for the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia, had a few words to say about this. Personally though, Arlene Goldbard’s reaction, aptly entitled â€Å"Making the World Safe for Hollywood† is more personally compelling. It is true that Gioia presented a number of facts and details, which manifests how much the country tries to respect its existing culture; yet it sounded quite snobbish to disregard the better benefits signing the convention would bring to the country. His statement somehow addresses only the elite, or those who are directly involved in culture and the arts. Arlene Goldbard’s reaction, however, was more directed to the masses, or in other words, more people who would benefit if the United States signed the convention in the first place. It is written in a manner that is both light yet accurate, precisely looking into the matter yet in a subtler, easier-to-understand manner. This style makes it easier to read through the entire article despite the less than lively topic it has. It also tackles the issue without being too condescending and patronizing. It also presented a few of the Convention’s statement of objectives, which would benefit a large number of people and the culture in general of only the United States signed the pact in the first place. Lastly, the analogies Arlene Goldbard used, specifically that of the oyster injected the right and appropriate amount of humor that would make readers think and laugh at the same time.

Buying My First Car Essay Example for Free

Buying My First Car Essay A Bit of Memoir We rounded the corner and there it was, the stout, perfect looking black Jeep Cherokee that my dad and I had just driven and hour to look at. It looked like every other one that I had seen in pictures, but there was the feeling that this one could possibly be mine. The week before, I had been furiously searching Craigslist and Jeep Forum classifieds looking for a Jeep, particularly a Cherokee with low miles, little to no rust, and the right price, between the years 1997 and 1999. With the tight guidelines that I had for the car, it made it hard to find one. However, acquiring a Cherokee was only the first part; I had many plans once I had one of my own, plans to lift it and put some big mud tires on it, along with some other jeep essentials. My friend had his lifted Cherokee for a few months, and I had wanted one just like it for quite a while. After calling up multiple private sellers and used car dealerships, I had found one not far from me. A used car dealership had three Cherokees, all with low miles, and relatively fair prices. My dad and I decided to go check them out, with the hopes of being able to talk the salesman down a few hundred dollars. After driving a half hour or so, we arrive at the dealership, and there, parked in the front three spots were the jeeps. We made our way over and I was instantly checking them all out, making sure that I kept my cool. The salesman comes out, a big guy who looks like he could be on steroids, and he and my dad started talking. Instantly, like any used car salesman, he goes right into telling us about how awesome these Jeeps are, that they’re in perfect condition. We had narrowed down the three jeeps to one, and naturally we wanted to take it to a local mechanic. Most people would have no problem with this, but this guy did. After he refused to let us take it to our mechanic, we were turned off. In addition, he had given us a price on the phone, and then he told us a higher price when we were there talk ing face to face. At that point we were out of there. I was truly upset; I had mgotten my hopes up that I would be driving one of those Jeeps home. My dad told me not to be upset, and that we would find another one that same day. Still at the dealership, we were still sitting in our parked car; both of us on our iPhones looking up classifieds near our area. I find one that looks good, and it’s only a ferry ride away. This one was from a private seller and she had just listed it up that morning, so my dad called her up immediately. We told her we could come to see it that day, and she agreed. We raced to catch the next ferry, which we barely made. Driving off the ferry ramp, we headed to the address the lady gave us. We ended up in a somewhat rough neighborhood, but we decided we came too far to turn around because of some Mexicans with baggy shorts down to their ankles and flat brim hats. We finally got there, and there it is, sitting on the side of the road outside a small conventional house. The lady walked out her front door, and I was already looking under the jeep and checking it out. Everything is checking out, the miles were low, there were very little signs of rust, and I was getting excited. Eventually I was behind the wheel and out for a test drive. The engine ran a little rough, but it was nothing I couldn’t fix on my own. So my dad and I are sitting in the car on the other side of the block, and he asks me if I want it. I, of course, said yes, and we went back and worked a price out. Even though the lady only came down from her price a mere 50 dollars, we still ended up making the deal. Finally, my own car, and the exact one I wanted. I drove it all the way home with no plates, riding on the hopes that the police weren’t out that night. It was exciting to finally be driving the car that I would call mine. I was already imagining the I remember parking it on the ferry and looking at it from the upper deck of the parking garage. I got it home and everyone came out the front door of my house as I pulled down the driveway. It seemed as if my family was more excited about it then I was, which puzzled me. I felt proud of myself for finding the Jeep and being able to bring it home the exact same day. All the weeks of searching for a car had amounted to this one day, where it all happened in a matter of hours.

The strategy of teamwork

The strategy of teamwork INTRODUCTION For many years now, the strategy of teamwork has been widely used in many organizations. One of its motives is to translate organizational values into specific rules of conduct created by team members, thereby, allowing the creation of self-managed identification with organizational goals (Webb, 2006). Many contemporary theorists believe that working in teams tends to solve most if not all challenges faced by organizations. It tends to end the bureaucratic form of control, improving efficiency and productivity while providing employees an avenue for socialization, self-actualization and participative management (Johnson and Johnson 1987). It is important to organize work around teams in some cases. For instance, in other to ensure the successful outcome of the National Health Service (NHS) project in the UK, general practitioners, IT experts, project managers and other professionals would need to collaborate and work together. However, behind this seemly pleasant style of work lie certain undesirable traits and characteristics. The essay begins by presenting popular understanding of teams and some positive ideologies that support the use of teamwork. It then goes further by critically analyzing these ideologies and identifying some unproductive characteristics exhibited by teams. The premise of this essay is not trying to be cynical about the benefits that teamwork offers but rather expose some traits which reveals that it does not ‘always benefit organizations, and particularly, its members. This would profit us by having a broader understanding about its strengths, shortcomings and implication about its use. WHAT ARE TEAMS? Teamwork as an approach to how work is organized is not new but rather historic; probably older than the phenomenon ‘formal organization (Benders and Van Hootegem, 1999). Management literature began sensing its benefits in the 1920s (Wilson, 2004). Studies reveal many companies using teamwork as a way of organizing work (Cully et al. 1998; Cohen et al., 1996). Today, ‘team player skills usually needs to shown be potential employers to stand a chance of employment. A team is a small number of people with complementary skills, committed to a common purpose, having set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993, p113). Teams are thought to be ‘special form of groups because members have a more shared focus in all regards as opposed to seeking individual goals. Teams develop direction, commitment, and momentum by working to shape a meaningful purpose (Wilson, 2004, p206). There are some teams regarded as self-managing teams because they have more authority to self-regulate throughout the task (Cohen et al., 1996). Teamwork has been popularized to be a remedy for solving inflexible structures to work and alleged inefficient bureaucratic control, and enhancing employee higher-order ‘growth and ‘relatedness needs by job enrichment and empowerment (Bratton el at., 2007, p313). Socialtechnical theorists claim that teamwork improves employee discretion, thereby leading to commitment, motivation and satisfaction (Wilson, 2004). Teams enhance organizational dimensions by providing flexibility, motivation and learning (Knights and Willmott, 2007). Effective teams has also been framed as always task-oriented with confluence, having participative and shared form of leadership and tending to overcome the subversive forces of power, conflict and emotion (Sinclair, 1992). CRITICAL ANALYSIS ABOUT TEAMWORK In reality, teams are not always composed of the clearly perfect picture that ideologists and management gurus claim it to be. Team members are still humans and could exhibit their sense of individuality and purpose, which at certain times could be conflicting. Some views about teamwork are unitary (Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Storey, 1995) which only assumes cohesion not conflicts between members thereby writing off teams that actually exhibits tension and strife as not ‘real teams. In addition, the focus is centrally on achieving greater productivity with little emphasis to feelings, personal reflections or experience of team members (Metcalf and Linstead, 2003; Wilsons, 2004). To claim that teamwork is always beneficiary to the organization and its members, certain measures are required to ascertain its effectiveness. Does teamwork always produce remarkable results? Are team members always satisfied with the environment set for them to operate in and create themselves? Are they always willing to continue contributing? Do organizations always have control in channeling team outcomes? It appears that from the enjoyable and seemly pleasant surface of teamwork lie a murky side. Rhetoric of exploitation by working harder Teamwork is a sleeker form of oppressing labour to suck out optimal performance. It allows employees work ‘harder and smarter (Parker and Slaughter, 1988), intensifying labour from workers (Knights and Willmott, 2007; Wilson, 2004). Teamworks goal is to cultivate organizational values into members by making them more participative and giving them a bit of autonomy, thereby instilling in them passion to thrive and work further even outside their contracted job schedule without being paid. Moreover, team members in addition to their tasks have to supervise other colleagues ensuring they do their work. Teams have huge responsibility in ensuring delivery of tasks despite varying situations such as absenteeism, slackness or even change of members. These places profound burden on the rest of the team (not the organization) as additional efforts is required to nullify them as seen in the NUMMI case (Parker and Slaughter, 1988; Knights and Willmott 2007). Team members embrace self-dign ity by striving harder to ensure the teams success work not minding additional labour. While this benefits organizations who are obviously looking for maximum labour at minimum cost, it does not for team members because stress levels, tension and pressure are heightened as work is intensified and could lead to negative effects on employees well-being (Wilson, 2004). Concertive control and surveillance The strategy of teamwork is an effort to improve the traditional bureaucratic control. However, a tighter form of control, ‘concertive control tends to exists within team-based work (Barker, 1993). Similar ethnographic study by Kunda (1992) showed similar control used to gain unstinting commitment from employees. Traditionally, management was responsible for setting rules and regulations for employees. With teamwork, members set their own rules possibly forming stricter punishment for defaulters (as seen in Barkers case at ISE). Team members monitor actions ensuring total conformity with norms, meting out punishment to defaulters (Sewell, 1998). Employees feel additional pressure knowing that they are under surveillance from other team members, which may pose unhygienic to working environments. It appears that the freedom that teamwork promises seems contradictory to its reality. As Barker (1993, p435) rightfully argues that powerful combination of peer pressure and rational rules forms tighter form of cages as opposed to contemporary claims. It is worthy to note that teams are not truly effective if they get the job done but self-destructs or burns everyone out (Roberts and Corbett, 2009, p150). Conflicts of power and leadership traits Many contemporary theorists believe that groups that do not have conflicts over power or authority and have good interpersonal relations pass as real or working teams. However, studies show that groups do experience various forms power (French and Raven, 1959) which is not equally distributed (Fiorelli, 1988). The most influential or powerful individuals could maneuver the team efforts to possibly suit their own interests rather than the teams. Janis (1985) notes that political factors due to autocratic leaders cause high decision-making errors. Less powerful members have no choice but to concede to the opinions of these elite members despite the fact of their convictions about its failure. Decisions readily accepted unanimously without contests, weakens the efficiency of teams (Sinclair, 1992). ‘Groupthink (Janis, 1972) existence is likely in teams that try to reduce conflicts by cohesiveness and consensus without critical analysis and evaluation. The output of work in this case is not thorough and lacks excellence since further evaluation and alternatives may not be considered. An illustration is the famous NASA Shuttle Challenger case in 1986 where the engineers had to concede to launch the shuttle despite their concerns about its safety resulting into tragedy. It is difficult to eradicate the concept of leadership in teams, as they are important to their efficiency (Sinclair, 1992; Roberts and Corbett, 2009). Wilson (2004) argues that there difficulties in recruiting team leaders because the perception about their qualities varies. Bad leaders not being able to steer the team in its right course often lead to counterproductive results. Emotional conflicts and Resistance Teams are prone in displaying certain emotions during tasks that deters its efficiency (Ashkanasy el at., 2000). In the findings by Alan (2005), emotions are positive at the start of the project but tend to be negative as the project grows affecting the overall team process. McKinlay and Taylor (1996), Ezzamel and Wilmott (1998) shows emotional conflicts arise from unfairness and inequalities of peer evaluation system such as attaching benefits to individuals and variations in pay. Others causes include the need for belonging or frustrations having to conform, ‘social loafing or too much dominance by some members. All these negative emotions can produce actions that restrain team members towards putting in their best thereby impeding teamwork results. In the pyramid case, the system of peer review was a disciplinary mechanism by management to encourage individual performance and prevent free riding in the team but employees opinion that all team members should get equal benefits since the overall output was a team effort disrupted managements strategy. Contrary to ‘hegemony theory that management always exercises dominant influence over teams, it does not always appear so. In some teamwork cases, elements of conflicts and contention causes member to demand more control over their work process than what is available to them leading to renegotiation of managerial authority boundaries (Vallas, 2003). His study shows evidences of organizational tensions, contradictions and solidarity among workers restricted managements hegemonic control over their culture. This might frustrate managements strategy of imbibing their agenda into teams. Present managers might also frustrate organizations plight for teams because it might render them no longer necessary. Teamwork draws employees to micro-management of tasks (Milkman, 1998) and Peters (1987, p296) argues that because teams become self-managing, they tend to eliminate first-line supervisory jobs. This means that their services might become redundant or hinder their chances of promotion as seen in the traditional era of management (Sims, 1995). Time efficiency issues Meetings are places where teams spend lot of work time discussing issues and arriving at decisions (Briggs, 1997). In a research conducted by Olson and Olson (1999) on educators in the U.S., team members indicated weaknesses in effectiveness of meetings and timelines. From experience, being in team meetings could take a huge amount of time giving little time for the actual task. Covey et al. (1994) highlights the importance for strategies to help groups maximize time indicating the possibility of getting too engrossed in fruitless meetings. CONCLUSION There are some instances whereby individual performance is preferred to teamwork. Teamwork at times lead to frustration and ultimate failure when there are senses of hidden agendas, lack of understanding, poor leadership, wrong mix of team members and unhealthy team environment such as stress and unrealistic expectations (Yeung and Bailey, 1999). There is no single experience of teamwork as Knights and McCabe (2000) finding shows three classes of peoples experience as bewildered, bothered or bewitched. It is therefore inappropriate to claim teamwork is always beneficial to its members. In addition, team systems may open up possibilities beyond those which management intends (Derber and Schwartz, 1983). It is clear as some research suggests (e.g. Wall et al., 1986) that teamwork increases productivity. However, we need to understand when the concept of teamwork holds true. By just applying the framework of teams without properly exploiting those grey areas, it might tend to hamper rather than nourish organizational performance as some cases also show that ‘teamwork do not necessarily lead to organizational performance (Bratton, 2007). As Katzenbach and Smith (1993), rightly points that it is important for organizations, in other to make better decisions, know when teams can be encouraged and used. To add further, they must also be aware of those negative traits found in teamwork so as not feel disappointed in unanticipated outcomes. REFERENCES Ashkanasy, N. M., HÃÆ' ¤rtel, C.E. J. and Zerbe, W. J. (2000). Emotions in the workplace: research, theory, and practice. Westport: Greenwood Publishing group, Inc. Alan, P.R. (2005). Emotions and team projects and processes. Team Performance Management, 11(7-8), pp. 251-262. Barker, J. (1993). Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self managing teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(3): 408-437. Belbin, R.M. (2000). Beyond the Team. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Benders, J., and Van Hootegem, G. (1999). Teams and the Context: Moving the Team Discussion beyond Existing Dichotomies. Journal of Management Studies, 36(5), pp. 609-628. Bratton, J., Callinan, M., Forshaw, C., Sawchuk, P. (2007). Work and Organizationl Behaviour: Understand the Workplace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Briggs, M.H. (1997). Building early intervention teams: Working together for children and families. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen. Burrell, G., and G. Morgan (1979). Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis. London: Heinemann. Cohen, S., Ledford, G., and Spreitzer, G. (1996). A Predictive Model of Self-Managing Work Team Effectiveness. Human Relations, 49(5), pp. 643-676. Covey, S. R., Merrill, A. R. and Merrill, R.R. (1994). First things first. New York: Simon and Schuster. Cully, M., Woodland, S., OReilly, A., Dix, G., Millward, N., Bryson, A., Forth, J. (1998). The 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey: First Findings, London: DTI. Derber, C. and Schwartz, W. (1983). Toward a Theory of Worker Participation. Sociological Inquiry 53, pp. 61-78. Ezzamel, M. and Wilmott, H. (1998). Accounting for teamwork: A critical study of group based system of organizational control. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43(2), pp. 358-396. Fiorelli, J. (1988). Power in work groups: team members perspectives. Human Relations, 41(1), pp. 1-12. French, J.R.P., Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power, in D. Cartwright (ed.) Studies in Social Power. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Sam* French and Raven (1958) Janis, I. (1972). Victims of groupthink. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Janis, I. (1985). Sources of error in strategic decision-making in Organizational strategy and change. J. M. Pennings, ed., pp. 157-197. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Johnson, D.W., and Johnson F.P. (1987). Joining together: group theory and group skills. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Katzenbach, J.R., and Smith, D.K. (1993). The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High Performance Organization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Knights, D. and McCabe, D. (2000). Bewitched, bothered and bewildered: The meaning and experience of teamworking for employees in an automobile company. Human Relations 53(11), pp. 1481-1517. Knights D. and Willmott H. (2007). Introducing organizational behaviour and management. London: Thomson Learning. Kunda, G. (1992). Engineering Culture: Control and Commitment in a High-Tech Corporation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. McKinlay, A. and Taylor, P. (1996). Power, surveillance and resistance: Inside the â€Å"Factory of the Future†, in Ackers, P., Smith, C., and Smith P, eds. The New Workplace and Trade Unionism. London: Routledge, pp. 279-300. Metcalf, B., and Linstead, A. (2003). Gendering Teamwork: Rewriting the Feminine. Gender, Work and Employment, 10(1), pp. 94-119. Milkman, R. (1998). ‘The new American workplace: high road or low road?, in P. Thompson and C.Warhurst, eds. Workplaces of the Future. Basingstoke: Macmillian- now Palgrave Macmillan. Olson, J. and Olson, P.D. (1999). Teamwork strengths and weaknesses: Perceptions of practicing educators. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 3(1), pp. 9-15. Parker, M. and Slaughter, J. (1998). Choosing Sides: Unions and the Team Concept. Boston: South End Press. Peters, T. (1987). Thriving on Chaos. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Inc. Peters, T. (1998). Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution. London: Pan Books. Pfeffer, J. (1998). The human equation: Building profits by putting people first. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Roberts, A. and Corbett M. (2009). Understanding Organisational Behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing. Sewell, G. (1998). The Discipline of Teams: The Control of Team-Based Industrial Work through Electronic and Peer Surveillance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, pp. 397-428. Sims, H. P. (1995). Challenged to implementing self-managing teams. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 18(2), pp. 24-31. Sinclair, A. (1992). The tyranny of team ideology. Organization Studies, 13(4), pp. 611-625. Storey, J., ed. (1995). Human Resource Management: A Critical Text. London: Routledge. Vallas, S.P. (2003). The Adventures of Managerial Hegemony: Teamwork, Ideology, and Worker Resistance. Social Problems 50(2): 204-225. Wall, T.D., Kemp, N.J., Jackson, P.R. and Clegg, C.W. (1986). Outcomes of autonomous workgroups: A long term field experiment. Academy of Management Journal 29, pp. 280-304. Webb J. (2006). Organisations, identities and the self. New York: Palgrave macmillan. Wilson F.M (2004). Organizational Behaviour and Work: A critical introduction. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Yeung, R. and Bailey, S. (1999). Get It Together. Accountancy, June 1999.

The Jungle :: Upton Sinclair

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Upton Sinclair's The novel is set in Chicago in the area which hosts the largest slaughtering and meat packaging industry. Two young immigrants, Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite, from Lithuania come to the US in search of a better life. Jurgis Rudkus is a young man who believes that with hard work and along with desire that he may be able to support his one love Ona. He comes to the US in hopes of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Ona Lukoszaite, she is a young and timid lady that comes to the country along with her husband not knowing what to expect and not prepare for the harsh life here in this country during the industrial time. They two young immigrants Jurgis and Ona celebrate their marriage in a traditional peasant lifestyle. The couple is part of a large family that has the hopes of going to America for a better life. Jurgis here in this country begins to work hard and quickly realizes that no matter how hard and long he works he cannot earn enough to support his entire family. Soon after the whole family realizes in order to support themselves they must all begin to work. They buy a house which was sold them by an agent who takes advantage of them not understanding what they were signing. Jurgis soon finds out that all his hard work is in vain where many times corruption is rewarded, the capitalist life is just not fair. As they begin working, the family members discover the horrifying conditions of the packing factory. The conditions of work are inhuman, and the workers are treated inhuman. Jurgis' father is only able to get a job after bribing a boss in the pickling rooms of a meat packing plant. The conditions there are terrible, and the job ultimately kills the old man. Jurgis is injured on the job and is forced to stay home and out of work till he is healed. He has not worked for two months and when he returns back to work he realizes that his position has already been filled by another work. Jugis quickly realizes that with all his hard work he can easily be replaced by someone else. He soon finds a dreaded job to help out at the glue factory. The bills begin to pile up, his wife is pregnant and his family’s lives are being stressed with all the drama in their life.

Duality in Fahrenheit 451 :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays

Duality in Fahrenheit 451 Dualities are the most elementary of comparisons, and are the easiest for the mind to comprehend in that total opposites are brought to attention. These opposites subconsciously provide one with a deeper insight of the material and consciously entertain. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, many dualisms are included both within Montag and in the outside world that provide 180 degree flip-side views, giving the book further depth and inner meaning. Within the many layers of Montag lay several opposite sides. For example, Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living but at home, spends time reading novels, poetry, and other written material. Although Montag could be called a hypocrite, he does not enjoy both the reading and the burning at the same time; he goes through a change that causes him to love books. Humans have the power to change and grow from one extreme to another, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition, when Mildred is with Montag, Montag does not have feelings for her but thinks of her as she is killed by the bombs. He possesses both the knowledge that Mildred does not love him and the heart that truly cares, but he knows not how to deal with this. His feelings are oppressed; it takes a major event (the bomb) to jolt them from hibernation. There are many dualisms in the outside world of Fahrenheit 451. For example, Montag receives contrasting lectures from Faber and Beatty on what to do with the books and how to be. Beatty and Faber are like black and white: total opposites no matter how you look at it. This "flip-side of a coin" clearly compares the book burner to the book reader, the hatred to the love, and it also gives the reader the opportunity to "choose" their side. In addition, the fire is used to burn houses and books, to destroy possessions; it also is used by the outcast men to cook their meal, warm themselves, and provide light for them. The fire has, in itself, two conflicting sides which includes destruction and preservation. The fire gives Montag as well as the reader the understanding that one thing can have both good qualities and bad qualities at the same time, and that many powers can be spoiled if used for negative intentions. Duality in Fahrenheit 451 :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays Duality in Fahrenheit 451 Dualities are the most elementary of comparisons, and are the easiest for the mind to comprehend in that total opposites are brought to attention. These opposites subconsciously provide one with a deeper insight of the material and consciously entertain. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, many dualisms are included both within Montag and in the outside world that provide 180 degree flip-side views, giving the book further depth and inner meaning. Within the many layers of Montag lay several opposite sides. For example, Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living but at home, spends time reading novels, poetry, and other written material. Although Montag could be called a hypocrite, he does not enjoy both the reading and the burning at the same time; he goes through a change that causes him to love books. Humans have the power to change and grow from one extreme to another, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition, when Mildred is with Montag, Montag does not have feelings for her but thinks of her as she is killed by the bombs. He possesses both the knowledge that Mildred does not love him and the heart that truly cares, but he knows not how to deal with this. His feelings are oppressed; it takes a major event (the bomb) to jolt them from hibernation. There are many dualisms in the outside world of Fahrenheit 451. For example, Montag receives contrasting lectures from Faber and Beatty on what to do with the books and how to be. Beatty and Faber are like black and white: total opposites no matter how you look at it. This "flip-side of a coin" clearly compares the book burner to the book reader, the hatred to the love, and it also gives the reader the opportunity to "choose" their side. In addition, the fire is used to burn houses and books, to destroy possessions; it also is used by the outcast men to cook their meal, warm themselves, and provide light for them. The fire has, in itself, two conflicting sides which includes destruction and preservation. The fire gives Montag as well as the reader the understanding that one thing can have both good qualities and bad qualities at the same time, and that many powers can be spoiled if used for negative intentions.

George Herbert Mead and Erik H. Erikson Essay

George Herbert Mead was a ground-breaking sociologist that coined the phrase â€Å"self† and the theory behind it in the early 1900’s. The self can simply be defined as, â€Å"the part of an individual’s personality composed of self-awareness and self-image.† Mead’s primary approach to social behaviorism centered around the idea that one’s self is purely a product of social interaction with others. Sociologists today find Mead’s work important as the self is needed for survival of society and culture. Comparatively, Mead shared some intellectual sociological similarities with Erik H. Erikson. Particularly with Erikson’s broader view of socialization: his eight stages of development. Mead understood the self to thrive as long as four major components that revolved around social cooperation fell into place. The first belief he transmitted was that the self was not present in a person at birth. It must be developed over time through social reciprocity with other individuals. Mead then believed that social experience is the product symbol exchanges. In other words, human beings can find meaning not only through language and words but also within the use of actions and such other symbolic representations. His next conceptualization assumed that in order to fully understand one’s intentions we must take the role of the other. What Mead plainly meant by this was that anticipation of how another human being will react can often be attained when we imagine ourselves in another person’s shoes. His final inference about the self is by taking on the role of another we then become self-aware. This idea spilt the concept of self into two parts, the I and the me. The I part is used to describe the self in action, the subjective aspect of self. The me part outlines the self as we imagine others to see us. Mead then theorized that the development of these four components could be achieved in four basic stages. In developing the self, we must learn to take the role of another. Infants lack the social experience to do this so they achieve responses through imitation, or the mockery of actions. Children learn to use symbols and language to evolve the self through play. Play involves the assumption of a singular role in a singular situation. This role is typically modeled on significant others, such as parents, those most  important to a child in their life. The child gradually learns to accept the roles of several other people at once in a singular situation as opposed to just one at a time. Mead called this evolution engaging in games. Therefore, if play refers to a game of catch, then exhibition in games would be the sport of baseball. The final stage of development occurs when one is able to recognize the roles of many others in many situations. Mead referred to this as the generaliz ed other. The existence of self depends upon the existence of society and culture in a very key way. The primary reason self is so important perhaps revolves around communication for survival. In order for the world to be able to support society and culture in any facet people must communicate. Mead described this as transmission through the use of words, hand and facial gestures and a general sense of self composure. Without total and proper development of the self, communication would be extremely difficult. If everyone in the world suffered deficient or no personal growth people would struggle to find ways both as a culture and as a society to flourish within inter-group communication. Erik H. Erikson explained socialization with the theory that people face challenges throughout the life course that develop and shape personality indefinitely. He mapped out these potential challenges within eight generalized stages. These stages stretch to include infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, preadolescence, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age. Though Erikson presented a much broader and different view of socialization than Mead, their works remain similar because they share one familiar aspect, the self. Erikson never used the phrase â€Å"the self† within these eight stages of development, however, he explains that in many of these stages communication with family members, peers and society in general helps to play crucial roles in the proper development of one’s personality. George Herbert Mead was indeed a brilliant sociologist and theorist. By studying the concept of the self, Mead relayed the idea that social experience or lack thereof could create or destroy a human being thereby affecting society and culture as we know it. He concluded that the self  continues to change and evolve as we encounter social experiences. Throughout this evolution, we remain creative individuals. It is in the shadow of this creativity that we, indeed, play a very distinctive role in our own socialization process.

Cases of Greece and Sweden Working Conditions Essay

Cases of Greece and Sweden Working Conditions Introduction            The essay has three major parts. The first part analyses Greece working conditions and how government officials respond to the issue. This is accompanied by a moral assessment of the issue presented in this section. The second part discusses Sweden working conditions, a country which is said to have one of the best working conditions around the world. This part analyses the policies passed by the Swedish government and all ethical issues arising from such policies. The third part is a personal assessment of the two issues presented parts one and two. This section employs virtues of ethics framework to come up with ethical implications of the issues presented. Working Condition in Greece            Greece working standards are relatively lower compared to those of other European countries. Different studies that support this argument have been conducted. From the data provided by the Social Insurance Foundation and Labor Inspectors in Greece, 35.8 percent of the participants in a survey conducted in 2011specified that there were no health and safety provisions in the firm they worked. 48.7% stated that, to their knowledge, there was no physician assigned to them. In the construction sector, 53.5% had a health and safety provision document while 58.9% in the manufacturing sector had the same. 66.1% of the respondents in the public sector said they lacked such a document (Alexopoulos 2012, p.115).            In its efforts to raise labor standards in Greece, the Greece government initiated several reforms. The reforms aimed at improving working conditions in the country and protecting people’s welfare. Greece is of the countries which experienced the wrath of European crisis. The aftermath of the crisis required tremendous changes in the labor markets. However, these reforms led to limited protection of workers in the labor market. This aspect violated business ethics and essential social rights. Law number 3863/2010 introduced fundamental changes in the labor market. Some of the unfavorable reforms were; shortening the period given as a notice to the termination of white-collar workers, reducing white-collar workers reduced by a half, keeping operational costs must between 5% and 10%, which led to layoffs. However, the minimum wage rates for workers under the age of 25 years reduced to 84% of the set minimum wage. For underage workers, the minimum wage rate set at 70% of the set minimum wage.            Apart from the labor market reforms, the government instituted in 2010, service cuts in pension and other important reforms in the social security regulations. The regulations include; zero increase in the current pension over the next 3 years. For the uninsured persons over the age of 65, their basic pension criteria underwent reforms. The amount of the pension is set at â‚ ¬360. The national budget will finance the pension from the year 2018. Salary cut for employees between 25 years was set between 22% and 32%. The employer can impose this cut without the consent of the employee (Matsaganis 2012, p.450). Analysis of Ethical Implications of Greece Work Policies            Greece policy makers seem to employ utilitarian principle, which states that one determines what is right by contrasting the outcome of all related agents of alternative policy for a particular condition (Bentham 2000, p.70). This principle does not take into account all the people in the society. Undesirable policy can be passed which does not benefit the society at large. Greece labor laws and polices does not seem to benefit the entire society. On the contrary, they benefit a section of the community.            According to (Daluka 2001, p.20) it is right to exercise what is good for the largest population of people. The study reveals that the greatest number of people in the work environment had the health and safety document. Companies in Greece seem to value policies that yield the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. However, James Rachel, critic of the utilitarian rule, would have argued otherwise. In his criticisms, he points out that, everyone is equal and that everybody’s happiness is important. The group of people who lack the document in this case can claim that businesses in Greece did violate business ethics. This means that utilitarianism is not the best framework to formulate rules and regulations which affect the entire society. Labor markets affect the whole economy in several ways .This means that if there is a fault in formulation of labor laws, the economy will experience problems arising from shortage of labor, a crucial factor in the production process (Rachel 2007, p56). Greece labor reforms further show how the government violates ethics. A salary cut without the consent of employees is unethical, and violates ethics. However, according to utilitarianism, this might not be a big issue so long as it yields maximum benefits to the largest number of people. According to (Goodin 2007, p.245) utilitarianism as a principle should guide political leaders while making decisions that affect the society at large. He points out that leaders must take into account the impacts of the policies they pass on the entire society, other than focusing on a small group of people. Working Conditions in Sweden            Working conditions in Sweden are one of the best on the planet. This is the case because the government has introduced strict worker-safety and environmental regulations. Its manpower of 4.3 million is disciplined, instructed, and experienced in the most current technologies. About 87 percent of Swedish laborers have a place with a worker’s party, ostensibly the world’s most astounding rate. In addition, unions are active accomplices with organizations in actualizing more proficient projects. Swedish enactment accommodates work representation on the board of directors of large organizations and obliges administration to arrange with the unions prior to actualizing significant changes. Management-labor cooperation participation is customarily non-conferential, meaning labor strikes are rare in the country (Cox 1950, p.390). There is no fixed minimal wage, and all wages are determined through collective bargaining. Since 1991, the real wage increments h ave surpassed those of most EU nations. As the EMU civil argument picks up force, worker’s parties are calling for buffer funds, like those made in Finland, as a â€Å"cushion† for benefits funds and other laborer benefits throughout the shift period to the euro, in cases where there are huge currency fluctuations (Hammarstrà ¶m 2013, p.142).            Many business spectators, including those from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have suggested some crucial labor market changes, including wage differentiation (to reduce labor costs for unskilled jobs). These reforms are an incentive to raise individual competence, reduction of income taxes, making labor unions bears the costs of unemployment in the insurance system, as well as liberalization of labor protection legislation. These measures are believed to increase efficiency and competitiveness. Labor representatives in Sweden complain that such measures would burden workers.            On the major Sweden’s labor- related issue is high levels of unemployment. Within a very short time in the early 1990s, the unemployment rate rose from a level which was considered the lowest in the industrialized world to the normal EU levels, where it stayed until the business cycle improved in 1998-99. By 2000, the unemployment rates were less than 5%. However, the rate was 8.7 percent for those workers included in training programs. Sweden’s government has a plan to reduce the unemployment rate to 4 percent and to guarantee that 80 percent of the working-age populace has a full-time work by 2015 (Drobnic 2012, p.205). Assessment of the issue and its ethical Implications            A careful examination of Sweden’s labor laws and policies shows that the policy makers employ social justice. This is clearly depicted the way polices have been formulated. According to (Betham 2000, p.80) social justice theory asserts that people should exercise fairness in their when dealing with one another. Rawl’s theory of social justice postulates that the society consists of free and equal persons who must be treated equally in political and socio-economic affairs (Blocker 2000, p.30). Swedish government seems to take into account social justice principles before passing labor regulations.            First, the government has come up with strict anti-discrimination laws, contained in Swedish Antidiscrimination Act of 2009. One of the rules of social justice theory is protection against any form of discrimination. By passing the Act, Swedish legislature took into account the rights and freedoms of workers. Therefore, their rules and decisions are in line with the social justice framework. The Act aims at eliminating discrimination in all places of work. It applies to all employees, employers, and job applications irrespective of whether or not the discrimination is intentional. This means that people expect to be treated with dignity, regardless of their appearance or beliefs. If an employer in Sweden is found discriminating his/her workers, he or she is required to pay damages. Failure to this, he/she may end up in prison, and this acts as a lesson to all others who practice discrimination.            On the other hand, Swedish government has made it mandatory for all workers to belong to a labor union (Blau and Khan 1999, p130). This is aimed at protecting the welfare of all workers in Sweden. This is another dimension of social justice. If a member of the union faces a problem, the union is supposed to take care of him/her. All members of the unions are treated equally. This ensures that all of them have equal representation. Rawl’s theory disallows unequal representation in political and social matter.            Swedish Work Environment Authority is governed by the Work Environment Act, which requires employees, employers and equipment suppliers to share responsibility in maintaining safe working conditions. According to this Act, these parties should restrict workplace hazards and prevent accidents. This clearly shows that the policy makers take into consideration the importance of social cooperation. Social justice principles require each person in the society to benefit others, and to prevent harm. This way, social justice is said to prevail in the society. Individual Moral Assessment of the Issue            To better understand moral implications of the cases presented above, a careful analysis using a different ethical framework is necessary. This section discusses how the issues presented above relate to the ethics of virtue framework.            According to Martha Nussbaum arguments, a just society must be characterized by conditions that promote fundamental entitlements for all people. The entitlements include; bodily health, normal life, bodily integrity, senses and imaginations, as well as practical reason, just to mention a few. Failure to recognize these entitlements constitutes unethical behavior (Nussbaum 1993, p 89) . Greece law makers seem to deviate from this moral framework. Some of the policies do not take into account virtues of ethics. For example, cutting an employee’s wage without his/her consent is morally wrong. It hurts one’s feeling and violates virtues of ethics such as kindness, prudence, integrity, and more importantly respect. Passing laws that lower people’s welfare is not consistent with the virtue ethics framework.            On the other hand, Sweden takes into consideration virtues of ethics framework. The laws and polices discussed above clearly show how that policy makers in the country are very much concerned with people’s welfare. Being mindful of others welfare is a crucial virtue. It ensures respect in the society and promotes justice. Moreover, Swedish government promotes fairness in worker’s representation. Again, this is a clear indication of the government’s commitment to promote virtues which promote people’s moral excellence and their well-being. Conclusion            From the analysis presented in this paper, it is clear that governments across the world employ different ethical frameworks when formulating their policies. The distinction between Greece and Sweden working condition reveals that different countries value different policies. However, the paper points out several unethical practices in Greece. On the other hand, Sweden government seems to follow ethics when drafting their laws and regulations. In addition to this, the paper reveals that people and companies’ ethical understanding across the world tend to be influenced by government’s actions. This means that Swedish citizens tend to practice ethics more than Greece citizens. References            Alexopoulos, E. (2012), ‘Sickness absence in the private sector of Greece: Comparing shipyard industry and national insurance data, International journal of environmental research and public health , Journal of Social Affairs, Vol. 34, pp, 1171-1181. Betham, J.(2000), ‘Principles of Morals and Legislation,’Principles of Morals and Legislation. Newyork: Botache Books, pp.78-85. Blau, F., and Khan, L. (1999), ‘Institutions and laws in the labor market’ Handbook of labor economics, vol.3, pp.130-140.Blocker, G. and Elizabeth S. (2000), ‘John Rawls’ theory of social justice’, Sages Journals ,pp. 24-34. Cox, A.,(1950), ‘Regulation of Collective Bargaining by the National Labor Relations Board’ Harvard Law Review, pp.389-432. Daluka, F. (2001), ‘Global Ethics and Business: A Philosophical Approach’, Global Ethics and Business: A Philosophical Approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 17-20. DrobniÄ , S.(2012), ‘Good job, good life? Working conditions and quality of life in Europe’, Social indicators research, pp.205. Gordin, S. (2007), ‘Utilitarianism as a public philosophy,’ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., Hammarstrà ¶m, A. (2013), ‘Higher education and psychological distress: A 27-year prospective cohort study in Sweden’, Scandinavian journal of public health. Pp.140-145.Matsaganis, M..(2012), ‘Social policy in hard times: The case of Greece’, Critical Social Policy, pp.406-421. Nussbaum, M. (1993), ‘The quality of life’, NewYork: Oxford University Press. Rachel, J.(2007), ‘Utilitarianism; for and against’, Havard Journal Of Business Affairs, pp. 56 Source document

Beauty Industry

Beauty industry in currently developing at a fast pace, to meet the demand. Nowadays, people pay more attention to their appearance, hence they use a lot of cosmetics. However, beauty products must undergone a plethora of tests before they are launched onto the market. That issue raises a question: should animals be subject to the tests? The answer still remains ambiguous, yet this topic is frequently discussed in media. In fact, the society is split over the issue and it is almost impossible to reach a consensus. Nevertheless, I believe that beauty products shouldn't be tested on animals. First and foremost, testing on animals is clearly cruel and unethical. Animals feel pain in the same degree as humans do. It is proved, that our physiological systems are in similar to a large extent. Moreover, it is unconceivable how many species die during these acts of cruelty. Even applying a non-invasive beauty products on an animal's skin can have tragic effects, not to mention harmful ingrediencies that can lead to fur's and skin's destruction or even skin cancer and consequently death. It is impossible to estimate the number of species that have already died during the tests. People should really ponder, whether testing a lipsticks or a foundation is worth killing innocent rats or guinea pigs. Second, why should researchers be permitted to harm those innocent species in such a harsh way? They are often part of our families, loyal companions; therefore, we should demure this actions. People shall not have power to injure any species and determine their lives. What is more, animals also exhibit fear, just like humans. They feel a need to be free and live their lives. In laboratories they are locked up in cages and people decide over their life and death. Moreover, animals are treated there in an atrocious way. For scientists, they are just a subject to a research not a living organism. They don't bother their well being at all, yet animals are closed and kept in unholy conditions. Finally, humans and animals are entirely different species when it comes to anatomy; hence they can react on the same substance in a different way. Therefore, the outcome of the tests isn't entirely reliable, as a lot of people believe. Therefore, we cannot pronounce the beauty product to be effective and harmless after checking its influence only on animals' skin. It is possible that the product, which has undergone a test on an animal and was certified to be innoxious, can have a negative impact on humans. Therefore nor animals nor humans benefit from this brutal tests. Moreover, beauty products are intended for human spices and their certain needs. When it comes to animals, it is paradoxical to test lipsticks or eyeshadows on them, yet it is know that their anatomy vary greatly from ours. Their body parts differ from the ones that humans have and their epidermis is largely covered in hair. Undoubtedly, comparing the influence of certain cosmetics on dissimilar organisms defeats the purpose.

A Symbol of Strength and Courage

I happen to be the youngest of the clan. My siblings often talk about what I call â€Å"the olden days†, going Into explicit details of their many childhood tales of fun and hard times mixed. Their stories were full of fun, excitement, and mischievousness. In each tale one or many of my siblings' anecdotes would include the trouble that they had gotten themselves Into, and then always tell of my mom's response. Mom would definitely give you her opinion (as she stood with her hands on her hips, fussing at you) on whatever crazy idea you had, but she would always still come to our rescue.Now that I am an adult I see Just how brave my mom really was. I TLD always believe that my mom was courageous. When I was young, I resented her for many years for the things that I had to endure as a child. I couldn't understand why certain decisions concerning us were made. I remember saying to myself when become a mother I will be different, my children will have options, our life will be bet ter. However, in a time when marriage was supposed to last forever, my mom with only a 10th grade education ended up raising her children mostly simplemindedly.My sisters and brother would often describe how my father's drinking affected their lives when they were young. I was too young to remember those times but I was told how mom would get up early in the morning and go Into the vegetable fields to work in order to put food on the table for her children. Later, when I came along mom worked in the seafood industry. It all was very labor intensive work standing on your feet all day. But mom never complained. My favorite memory is when I would get home from school and my mom would have dinner prepared and you walked into all kinds of luscious smells coming from the kitchen.My mom never really talked about that time of her life, she Just showed her children her love for them by ensuring we had what we needed. What makes my mom great? I used to ask myself that very same question, but not anymore. Now that I am a mother of two challenging teenagers, I have a world of respect and gratitude for my mom for the way that she raised my siblings and me. The morals, values, and belief system that are now Ingrained In me; I can only hope and pray are ingrained in my children as well. I often think about my holding and the lessons I learned from my mom.Growing up, in VA, was not the sleet thing In ten world My Tie consisted AT Nanning clothes on ten line, rolling in wood for the stove, and pumping water from the well to bring into the house. Everyday doing the same thing over and over, I hated them so much. I was upset that we had to live that way. It wasn't until years later that I realized, that my mom was right there with us every step of the way and encouraging us all that we could do much better in life. Each day I strives to do better in school.I also, realized that those chores were making me responsible and teaching me work ethics even while I was young. I have hop efully passed on to my children my hard working nature and taught them responsibility as well. Mom spent each day of her life showing those around her how much she loved Christ. I saw my mom as a beacon of hope and encouragement to me each day of my life. As I look back and reflect over my childhood, we went through some really hard times. But I can say that my mom let her faith guide her and keep her positive in the midst of bad situations.I never saw y mom cry or get upset over the things that we went through. I do remember her taking us to church and helping us to develop a relationship with Christ. I often think back to times when my mom would sit on the couch in our living room and she would sing hymns. She didn't have the best voice in the world but it didn't matter. She would sit there for an hour and sing and record herself on her tape recorder. Then she would playback her songs and sing along. I never got the chance to tell my mom, how much that encourages me even to this d ay.She showed me how to stay in a costive frame of mind and not be overtaken by disappointing situations. Caring, dedicated, compassionate, understanding, committed, and loving my mom, not Muhammad All was the greatest. I'm only sorry that it took me so long in life to realize it, because once I did, there wasn't much time left for me to spend with her. My mom spent her life sacrificing for her children and family. As I sat at her funeral and listened to all the wonderful things people said about my mom, I can only hope and pray that one day those great words can be said about me.

Abstracts 4 Articles Decision Making

which in tern routinizes administration. These tools cannot be used appropriately to manage of incalculable entities. The functional rationality approach is when activities precisely planned and estimated to reach some goal. This method is unlikely to be used by top managers because another important factors are involved such as ego or personal altitude. If there is no special procedure for a particular problem, manager should focus on how to turn a situation into the right way in accordance with expectations from their boss. Some managerial people cannot make their own judgments. Instead, they are looking up and looking around for someone else’s opinion and finally they rely on it because of personal fears or inexperience. Another example of it is the mid-level decision-making paralysis in many American companies when a manager is trying to avoid of making a decision. In the case of inevitable decision, he or she would engage as many colleagues as possible for self-protection. Many examples of recent administrative and economic problems within American companies have showed the tendency that managers are oriented to the short-term period when making decisions. This is due to the fact that MBA programs provide tools which are focuses mostly on a short-term attitude. The second reason would be that managers are under pressure for annual, quarterly, monthly and daily results and these factors push they out of thinking about the future, even though they realise that today’s minor difficulties could be tomorrow’s big crises. Managers are also aware of blame time and when things go wrong it is necessary to be protected from consequences. This is the reason why they gravitate towards this fear being punished rather than reflecting critically. Bureaucracy disrupts working processes into parts and the results of the work therefore disconnected with the decisions, which had been made. Manager’s productivity depends on the position within management circle or their supervisors. There is no codes or systems for tracking personal responsibilities to be established. To be successful manager means to move quickly within the levels of managerial hierarchy. It protects from going into problems too deeply at every level. Example I worked for four years as an instrument engineer in the Natural gas industry in Russia. I was involved into the decision making process associated with planning resources and finances for further projects and discussions about engineering-related difficulties. Firstly, when the question was complicated and involves financial resources, I checked the parameters of equipment many times and sent the results to my boss. When I received the confirmation from him, I printed it out and managed the necessary signatures on it. I did not want to be responsible for any inconvenience because my boss has to carry out this kind of responsibility. It was extremely important for me as a lower-level manager to have the document that proves that all things are done in time and approved by middle-level manager. In case of inconveniences such as the late commissioning phase of facilities I showed the documents that all the steps were completed by me on time. Reading 4. 2 Â  Reason, J. (1990) The general view on accident’s causes within complex technological systems includes theoretical framework which is not only provides the data on how dangerous factors could be combined themselves, but also where and how to predict these tendencies and take necessary measures beforehand. There are many elements of production, which are also involved into accident causation. Fallible high-level manager’s decisions are a major contributing factor to an increase in risk, followed by the lack of line management, which in turn causes dangerous preconditions and unsafe acts (intended and unintended). The latter are based on human’s psychological characteristics and conditions and are described as a combination of both potential hazards and errors, which could cause injury or damage. Likewise, a trajectory of an opportunity includes all these factors plus safeguards and productive events. Each of these has a window of opportunity in terms of an accident incidence. Therefore damage is highly possible when this trajectory is crossing all the windows at all the stages of production. The safe operation control consists of two features – feedback and response. The theory points out that the most successful approach to manage the safety is by taken into consideration the failure types rather than the failure tokens. According to Westrum (1988) there are three groups of auctions – denial, repair and reform. The successful organization is taken actions in responding to safely data from the reform (bottom level). The fundamental distribution error relates to a personal incompetence of employee while on the other hand the fundamental surprise error is the situation when personal observation differs to a reality. Thus, taken into consideration these terms and experience from the past major accidents such as Chernobyl, the nature of a malfunction has to be considered not only as pure technical but also as socio-technical. The people’s contribution to accidents is dominating the machine failure risk. Example I investigated many serious accidents related to the natural gas transportation process. For instance, one emergency stop of the 3. 2-megawatt gas turbine was caused by the malfunction of a frequency meter. After an analysis of reports I concluded that technical maintenance of this device was conducted improperly. A responsible worker forgot to finish one procedure related to the metrology accuracy of this piece of equipment. Another example is when other gas turbine was stopped by alarm during normal working cycle. The reason for that was unplanned and uncoordinated upgrade of its automatic control system (ACS). From my point of view, the modern technology is very reliable and ACS is highly faultness but social factors as well as poor decision making are of the major reasons for emergency situations. For instance, social factors in Russia are included a low salary and the lack of a proper education. Reading 6. Beach (1993) A descriptive Image theory focuses on people’s individual decisions rather than group ones, and it is directly opposite to prescriptive classical theory of making decisions. There are also three decision-related images (structures), which have to be possessed by a decision maker. The value image is based on personal principles, behavior and beliefs. These are the sou rce for generating goals. Thus, the ultimate criteria for this is when the decision maker consider the values to be relevant. Therefore potential goals and actions, if they are inconsistent with the relevant principles, will be refused. The second image, which is called the trajectory image, includes potential goals, which have to be set and the third one, the strategic image, focuses on actions and plans that have to be performed for achieving targets. The important parts of the third image are tactic and forecast, which would be a crucial factors for monitoring a realisation progress of a particular goal. Decision-making process consists of two types of decisions such as adoption and progress which include the implementation of the compatibility and profitability tests. The compatibility test is based on both types of decisions and compares candidates to three images, whereas in contrast the profitability test relates to the adoption decision only and uses the outcome after performing the compatibility test. For instance, the compatibility test selects few candidates, who successfully crossed through a selection criteria and the profitability test therefore chooses the best candidate from the previous sorting. Another important part of the Image theory is the process of framing decisions which is the action when the goal is identified and the plan is alled back if one exists. The data from the practical research suggests that it is unlikely that the decision maker tend to change the selection criteria without changes in principles, goals and plans. Example I was involved into the process of interviewing new workers within the Natural gas industry. I had to employ personnel with sufficient technical knowledge and skills because they have to work with in hazardous areas and on potentially dangerous equipment. As a team leader I was hoping to find highly qualified workers with extensive experience for an average amount of salary. After performing several meetings and consultations with potential staff within this salary category I concluded that no one was able to pass the criteria and possess theoretical knowledge and practical achievements from previous work experience. Because of that I decided to change the working images by changing the criteria. Therefore, I focused on workers who possess theoretical knowledge with engineering ideas in complex. Although they did not have extensive experience, they satisfied basic criteria and were able to perform tasks within their role (maintenance and repair). And after this correction of principles I recruited staff for my team successfully. Reading 7. 3Â  Janis (1971) Groupthink is a way of thinking when members behave with a high level of concurrence and tend to adopt a soft line of criticism on colleague’s ideas or even on every critical issue. This is why they make inhumane decisions easily with serious consequences such as the huge number of people’s deaths. The more cohesive the group, the more the risk that the decision will be proposed without the deep analysis of other choices. There are eight major symptoms of groupthink such as invulnerability, irrationality, ignorance of moral principles, stereotyped and unrealistic positions, group pressure against any critical views, member’s self-censorship, unanimity tendency within a group and the mind guard which is to protect the decision from any kind of the feedback. These indicators are typical for a bad decision making process which in tern may results the inhumane decision with serious consequences. Several steps could be adopted to prevent any group from group thinking. In this case criticism should be accepted not only by members but also by a leader. Wide range of alternatives should also be taken into account as possible options. In a case of vital decisions several groups with different leaders should be established to work on the same problem. Before the final decision is made each member should discuss considerations in its unit of organisation and then provide a final response to the group. An outside expert should be invited to all meetings. One decision-maker within the group should criticise a position of the majority. In the case of consensus the group should organise the final meeting for listening and discussing any doubts against the final decision. Although these actions have also drawbacks. For instance, when growing crisis requests an immediate solution there is no time for discussions and implementing many steps for decision making. Another example might be that the risk of the leakage of vital information would significantly increases when outside specialists are involved. All in all, it seems to be clear that top priority should be given in the prevention of any policymaking unit from the group thinking. Behavioral scientists should also be involved into these processes. Example During my work in Russia a groupthink was played a crucial role because of many factors. Firstly, my colleagues were really close to each other and the company’s social policy was developed for this purpose. Therefore, we spent some days playing games and sports altogether. This resulted in the number of small close-connected teams within the group. Another point is that my boss had a top role during all the process of discussion. Therefore, I had een many examples of bad decision-making. For instance, the only criticism from experienced and old colleagues was taken into account despite obvious things that were given by young professionals. Another factor is that the small teams did know how to play games within this environment and how to speculate. From my point of view, taking into consideration the long-term period, most of the final decisions were satisfactory but insufficient. It means that the p rojects were performed according to the rules and practices within timelines. But it can be clearly seen that due to the lack of criticism, for example, the total cost of the projects was increased. This way if the rules and steps of good decision practice were implemented, the cost and efficiency would significantly increase. Reading 8. 2Â  Callon (1987) The development of the technology has been explained by many social scientists using different available methods but they have not taken into account the point that the issue of the technology itself can also be represented as a sociological tool for an analysis. This also leads to the changes in understanding the dynamics of technology. There are two sociological views on the dynamic of consumption, which were developed by sociologists Touraine and Bourdieu. Touraine showed that French consumers’ behavior mostly dictated by large monopolies and industry, whereas in contrast Bourdieu pointed out that competition between social classes within French society taken the first place in terms of consumption of goods and services. Therefore these theories were shown by battle between engineers of two powerful French companies in the early 1970s: Electricite de France (EDF) and Renault. Despite the fact that both of them successfully proposed the concept of an electric car (VEL), the EDF’s theory failed because of unsolved technological difficulties related to the area of science and economy of the VEL, but the Renault did survive in the market because it focuses on not only the technological factors but also on rational views. This is the controversial result, because from the sociological point of view Renault’ specialists won this battle by a chance nor by implementing genius technological ideas. This experience of engineers-sociologists is possible to use as a new methodological tool for exploring large sections of society as well as researching within the value of role of social movements in the progress of consumption. There is also a helpful tool which is named the actor network. It is the case when company’s technological strategy supported by many sections of society. It describes the dynamics of society in completely different way without using sociological explanations. Firstly, in the case of implications of radical innovations within a technological sector engineers must mix technical and scientific analysis with sociology. Secondly, the actors network approach is efficient because it takes into account outside factors, which are related to common concepts of systems. Example I was responsible for implementing the concept of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel for private cars and municipal buses instead of regular petrol. I was focused on the public transport such as buses because of the potential reduction of pollutions as well as the decrease of the total cost of fuel consumption. Moreover, it was easier to install the necessary equipment on buses because the government agreed to subsidise the cost of these modifications. Whereas in contrast I concluded that private car owners would not agree with this idea because the Siberian region in Russia is a large area and the number of CNG filing stations was limited to only 7. Thus, it was clear for me that using CNG fuel people could not travel between major cities which is crucial factor. This approach was based on social behavior of people and their habits. Therefore, the main target for our new policy was a municipal transport within major cities. Abstracts 4 Articles Decision Making which in tern routinizes administration. These tools cannot be used appropriately to manage of incalculable entities. The functional rationality approach is when activities precisely planned and estimated to reach some goal. This method is unlikely to be used by top managers because another important factors are involved such as ego or personal altitude. If there is no special procedure for a particular problem, manager should focus on how to turn a situation into the right way in accordance with expectations from their boss. Some managerial people cannot make their own judgments. Instead, they are looking up and looking around for someone else’s opinion and finally they rely on it because of personal fears or inexperience. Another example of it is the mid-level decision-making paralysis in many American companies when a manager is trying to avoid of making a decision. In the case of inevitable decision, he or she would engage as many colleagues as possible for self-protection. Many examples of recent administrative and economic problems within American companies have showed the tendency that managers are oriented to the short-term period when making decisions. This is due to the fact that MBA programs provide tools which are focuses mostly on a short-term attitude. The second reason would be that managers are under pressure for annual, quarterly, monthly and daily results and these factors push they out of thinking about the future, even though they realise that today’s minor difficulties could be tomorrow’s big crises. Managers are also aware of blame time and when things go wrong it is necessary to be protected from consequences. This is the reason why they gravitate towards this fear being punished rather than reflecting critically. Bureaucracy disrupts working processes into parts and the results of the work therefore disconnected with the decisions, which had been made. Manager’s productivity depends on the position within management circle or their supervisors. There is no codes or systems for tracking personal responsibilities to be established. To be successful manager means to move quickly within the levels of managerial hierarchy. It protects from going into problems too deeply at every level. Example I worked for four years as an instrument engineer in the Natural gas industry in Russia. I was involved into the decision making process associated with planning resources and finances for further projects and discussions about engineering-related difficulties. Firstly, when the question was complicated and involves financial resources, I checked the parameters of equipment many times and sent the results to my boss. When I received the confirmation from him, I printed it out and managed the necessary signatures on it. I did not want to be responsible for any inconvenience because my boss has to carry out this kind of responsibility. It was extremely important for me as a lower-level manager to have the document that proves that all things are done in time and approved by middle-level manager. In case of inconveniences such as the late commissioning phase of facilities I showed the documents that all the steps were completed by me on time. Reading 4. 2 Â  Reason, J. (1990) The general view on accident’s causes within complex technological systems includes theoretical framework which is not only provides the data on how dangerous factors could be combined themselves, but also where and how to predict these tendencies and take necessary measures beforehand. There are many elements of production, which are also involved into accident causation. Fallible high-level manager’s decisions are a major contributing factor to an increase in risk, followed by the lack of line management, which in turn causes dangerous preconditions and unsafe acts (intended and unintended). The latter are based on human’s psychological characteristics and conditions and are described as a combination of both potential hazards and errors, which could cause injury or damage. Likewise, a trajectory of an opportunity includes all these factors plus safeguards and productive events. Each of these has a window of opportunity in terms of an accident incidence. Therefore damage is highly possible when this trajectory is crossing all the windows at all the stages of production. The safe operation control consists of two features – feedback and response. The theory points out that the most successful approach to manage the safety is by taken into consideration the failure types rather than the failure tokens. According to Westrum (1988) there are three groups of auctions – denial, repair and reform. The successful organization is taken actions in responding to safely data from the reform (bottom level). The fundamental distribution error relates to a personal incompetence of employee while on the other hand the fundamental surprise error is the situation when personal observation differs to a reality. Thus, taken into consideration these terms and experience from the past major accidents such as Chernobyl, the nature of a malfunction has to be considered not only as pure technical but also as socio-technical. The people’s contribution to accidents is dominating the machine failure risk. Example I investigated many serious accidents related to the natural gas transportation process. For instance, one emergency stop of the 3. 2-megawatt gas turbine was caused by the malfunction of a frequency meter. After an analysis of reports I concluded that technical maintenance of this device was conducted improperly. A responsible worker forgot to finish one procedure related to the metrology accuracy of this piece of equipment. Another example is when other gas turbine was stopped by alarm during normal working cycle. The reason for that was unplanned and uncoordinated upgrade of its automatic control system (ACS). From my point of view, the modern technology is very reliable and ACS is highly faultness but social factors as well as poor decision making are of the major reasons for emergency situations. For instance, social factors in Russia are included a low salary and the lack of a proper education. Reading 6. Beach (1993) A descriptive Image theory focuses on people’s individual decisions rather than group ones, and it is directly opposite to prescriptive classical theory of making decisions. There are also three decision-related images (structures), which have to be possessed by a decision maker. The value image is based on personal principles, behavior and beliefs. These are the sou rce for generating goals. Thus, the ultimate criteria for this is when the decision maker consider the values to be relevant. Therefore potential goals and actions, if they are inconsistent with the relevant principles, will be refused. The second image, which is called the trajectory image, includes potential goals, which have to be set and the third one, the strategic image, focuses on actions and plans that have to be performed for achieving targets. The important parts of the third image are tactic and forecast, which would be a crucial factors for monitoring a realisation progress of a particular goal. Decision-making process consists of two types of decisions such as adoption and progress which include the implementation of the compatibility and profitability tests. The compatibility test is based on both types of decisions and compares candidates to three images, whereas in contrast the profitability test relates to the adoption decision only and uses the outcome after performing the compatibility test. For instance, the compatibility test selects few candidates, who successfully crossed through a selection criteria and the profitability test therefore chooses the best candidate from the previous sorting. Another important part of the Image theory is the process of framing decisions which is the action when the goal is identified and the plan is alled back if one exists. The data from the practical research suggests that it is unlikely that the decision maker tend to change the selection criteria without changes in principles, goals and plans. Example I was involved into the process of interviewing new workers within the Natural gas industry. I had to employ personnel with sufficient technical knowledge and skills because they have to work with in hazardous areas and on potentially dangerous equipment. As a team leader I was hoping to find highly qualified workers with extensive experience for an average amount of salary. After performing several meetings and consultations with potential staff within this salary category I concluded that no one was able to pass the criteria and possess theoretical knowledge and practical achievements from previous work experience. Because of that I decided to change the working images by changing the criteria. Therefore, I focused on workers who possess theoretical knowledge with engineering ideas in complex. Although they did not have extensive experience, they satisfied basic criteria and were able to perform tasks within their role (maintenance and repair). And after this correction of principles I recruited staff for my team successfully. Reading 7. 3Â  Janis (1971) Groupthink is a way of thinking when members behave with a high level of concurrence and tend to adopt a soft line of criticism on colleague’s ideas or even on every critical issue. This is why they make inhumane decisions easily with serious consequences such as the huge number of people’s deaths. The more cohesive the group, the more the risk that the decision will be proposed without the deep analysis of other choices. There are eight major symptoms of groupthink such as invulnerability, irrationality, ignorance of moral principles, stereotyped and unrealistic positions, group pressure against any critical views, member’s self-censorship, unanimity tendency within a group and the mind guard which is to protect the decision from any kind of the feedback. These indicators are typical for a bad decision making process which in tern may results the inhumane decision with serious consequences. Several steps could be adopted to prevent any group from group thinking. In this case criticism should be accepted not only by members but also by a leader. Wide range of alternatives should also be taken into account as possible options. In a case of vital decisions several groups with different leaders should be established to work on the same problem. Before the final decision is made each member should discuss considerations in its unit of organisation and then provide a final response to the group. An outside expert should be invited to all meetings. One decision-maker within the group should criticise a position of the majority. In the case of consensus the group should organise the final meeting for listening and discussing any doubts against the final decision. Although these actions have also drawbacks. For instance, when growing crisis requests an immediate solution there is no time for discussions and implementing many steps for decision making. Another example might be that the risk of the leakage of vital information would significantly increases when outside specialists are involved. All in all, it seems to be clear that top priority should be given in the prevention of any policymaking unit from the group thinking. Behavioral scientists should also be involved into these processes. Example During my work in Russia a groupthink was played a crucial role because of many factors. Firstly, my colleagues were really close to each other and the company’s social policy was developed for this purpose. Therefore, we spent some days playing games and sports altogether. This resulted in the number of small close-connected teams within the group. Another point is that my boss had a top role during all the process of discussion. Therefore, I had een many examples of bad decision-making. For instance, the only criticism from experienced and old colleagues was taken into account despite obvious things that were given by young professionals. Another factor is that the small teams did know how to play games within this environment and how to speculate. From my point of view, taking into consideration the long-term period, most of the final decisions were satisfactory but insufficient. It means that the p rojects were performed according to the rules and practices within timelines. But it can be clearly seen that due to the lack of criticism, for example, the total cost of the projects was increased. This way if the rules and steps of good decision practice were implemented, the cost and efficiency would significantly increase. Reading 8. 2Â  Callon (1987) The development of the technology has been explained by many social scientists using different available methods but they have not taken into account the point that the issue of the technology itself can also be represented as a sociological tool for an analysis. This also leads to the changes in understanding the dynamics of technology. There are two sociological views on the dynamic of consumption, which were developed by sociologists Touraine and Bourdieu. Touraine showed that French consumers’ behavior mostly dictated by large monopolies and industry, whereas in contrast Bourdieu pointed out that competition between social classes within French society taken the first place in terms of consumption of goods and services. Therefore these theories were shown by battle between engineers of two powerful French companies in the early 1970s: Electricite de France (EDF) and Renault. Despite the fact that both of them successfully proposed the concept of an electric car (VEL), the EDF’s theory failed because of unsolved technological difficulties related to the area of science and economy of the VEL, but the Renault did survive in the market because it focuses on not only the technological factors but also on rational views. This is the controversial result, because from the sociological point of view Renault’ specialists won this battle by a chance nor by implementing genius technological ideas. This experience of engineers-sociologists is possible to use as a new methodological tool for exploring large sections of society as well as researching within the value of role of social movements in the progress of consumption. There is also a helpful tool which is named the actor network. It is the case when company’s technological strategy supported by many sections of society. It describes the dynamics of society in completely different way without using sociological explanations. Firstly, in the case of implications of radical innovations within a technological sector engineers must mix technical and scientific analysis with sociology. Secondly, the actors network approach is efficient because it takes into account outside factors, which are related to common concepts of systems. Example I was responsible for implementing the concept of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel for private cars and municipal buses instead of regular petrol. I was focused on the public transport such as buses because of the potential reduction of pollutions as well as the decrease of the total cost of fuel consumption. Moreover, it was easier to install the necessary equipment on buses because the government agreed to subsidise the cost of these modifications. Whereas in contrast I concluded that private car owners would not agree with this idea because the Siberian region in Russia is a large area and the number of CNG filing stations was limited to only 7. Thus, it was clear for me that using CNG fuel people could not travel between major cities which is crucial factor. This approach was based on social behavior of people and their habits. Therefore, the main target for our new policy was a municipal transport within major cities.