Analysis of John Donne’s poem “The Canonization” Essay

The poem â€Å"The Canonization† written by John Donne is about love. Throughout this poem Donne reveals both concepts of physical love and spiritual love. The words that Donne has chosen in this poem are an example of a poetic technique that not only allows the reader to understand the speaker, but also be able to see images based on his word choice about the different aspects of love. In the first stanza the opening line is â€Å"For God’s sake, hold your tongue, and let me love!† This line shows the importance of love to the speaker in this poem when he demands to let him love. The speaker also refers to the physical aspects of himself in lines two and three † my palsy or my gout, My five gray hairs†, which gives the reader an image of an older person. The first three lines show that true love is powerful, that it is not based on physical attributes, and that love is timeless. Unlike the artificial love that the speaker refers to in line seven as the â€Å"[king’s] stamped face†. The third stanza represents the uncertainty that people face while they are falling in love. This particular stanza is mostly rhetorical questions about his feelings. For example in lines eleven through thirteen says, â€Å"What merchant ships have my sighs drowned? Who says my tears have overflowed his ground? When did my colds a forward spring remove?† These lines speak of his possible sadness and risk of heartache by falling in love. While at the end of this stanza the speaker answers all of his own questions with the statement â€Å"Though she and I do love.† in line eighteen. Meaning that regardless of the bad things in life that could happen the speaker and his lover will love one another. Throughout the fifth stanza Donne describes the spiritual aspect of love through the speaker, while at the same time through certain words the speaker is saying Donne is showing the reader the physical love between the speaker and his lover. By doing this Donne shows that spiritual and physical love may be different, but they are also connected. An example of these two aspects of love being shown at the same time is in line twenty and twenty-one â€Å"Call her one, me another fly; We are tapers too, and at out own cost die;† These lines Donne uses the metaphor of a moth drawn to a flame.  This being a metaphor of spiritual love is about how the speaker is destined to be with his lover and how he is drawn to her. On the other hand, in line twenty-one it says, â€Å"We are tapers too, and at our own cost die;† This line is a metaphor of a candle, which is a symbol of love and a source of heat. This metaphor shows the reader the physical passion between these two lovers and the way Donne uses the word â€Å"die† in line twenty-one is referring to an orgasm between these two lovers. Within this one line he shows that the speaker and his lover are both physically and spiritually connected. In addition, stanza five and six they both enforce the idea of living and dying for love when lines twenty – one, twenty – six, and twenty – eight that state â€Å"at our own cost die †¦ We die and rise the same †¦ We can die by it, if not live by love,† These means that the two lovers will always be connected, although in time they will die a physical death they will live on to be â€Å"A pattern of †¦ love!† in line forty – five. Meaning that because of their love they will live on throughout time being â€Å"a pattern† for future generations of lovers. Finally, Donne is a very skillful poet by using one word to have multiple meanings. This poem is full of imagery that allowed the reader to fully understand the two concepts of love while explaining one through words and showing the other by using those same words. This concept of spiritual and physical love being different, but at the same time connected to one another is very interesting. â€Å"The Canonization† is not only about the relationship between the speaker and his lover, but between all men and women who are in love, falling in love, and waiting to love and be loved in return.

Elections in Africa Essay

The Aim of this essay is based on the clarity on the Elections in Africa if they are a good Measure of democracy. It basically analyses the advantages and disadvantages of elections (in an argument form). The issue of how citizens influence policymaker is central to an understanding of democratic political system. We normally agree that democracy should allow the people to participate in policy making. Hence elections are one of the ways to establish connections between citizens and policy makers and by elections citizens encourage the policymakers to pay attention to their interests. However there are some disagreements about whether and how elections serve to link citizens to policymakers; a number of schools put more emphasis upon accountability and others do on representativeness, even if there have been a lot of theoretical debates about this issue, we have few attempts to test the role of competitive election on popular attitudes towards the legislature. An election is a formal decision making process in which the population chooses an individual to hold a public office. Elections have been the mechanism by which modern representative democracy has been operated since 17TH century. According to Business Dictionary (BD), Election is the act of a party casting vote to choose an individual, for some type of position. It may involve a public or private vote depending on the position. Most positions in the local, state federal governments are voting on the same type of elections. According to (Abraham Lincoln), the word democracy means â€Å"the government of the people, by the people and for the people â€Å". Democracy is term that comes from a Greek and it is made up of two other words, demo which means people and kratain which means to govern or to rule. Democracy can then be literally translated by the following terms, Government of the people or government of the majority. Electoral systems are conventionally divided into two categories, majoritarian. And proportional representations, (Lijphart 1999). Majoritarian system usually employs exclusively single-seat distrust with plurality rule and tends to give greater representation to the two parties and that which receive the most votes. Proportional representation (P.R) System must employ multi-seat districts, usually with party lists, and typically produce parliamentary representation that largely mirrors the vote shares of multi-parties However elections be it Proportional Representation (PR), or Majoritarian type, are instruments of democracy to the degree that they give the people the  influence over policymaking,.(Powell 2000). One fundamental role of elections is the evaluation of the incumbents government. Citizens use elections to reward or punish the incumbents although on the other hand increasingly competitive elections raise the risk of increased election violence, this can be raised in two ways. Firstly, closer elections can increase tension throughout the electoral process; when the outcome of the election is in doubt, all stages of the process including the appointment of the members of the electoral management body, the registration of parties, candidates, and voters; campaigning; voting ;and vote counting and tabulation, becomes more heated. For example, Kenya erupted in chaos in 2007 when incumbent president Mwai kibaki was sworn in hours after being declared the winner in the country’s closest presidential elections ever; the ensuing violence left 1,500 dead and 300,000 displaced. Secondly, as long-term incumbents witness the growing strength of the opposition candidates, they may feel increasingly imperilled and crack down more fiercely on perceived threats, example, after losing the first round of Zimbabwe’s 2008 presidential elections and subsequently manipulating results to force run-off, president Robert Mugabe presided over a wave of widespread and brutal violence against supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai to ensure himself victory in the second round. While these above examples demonstrate the potential of elections to create conflict, elections are often used as a means to end conflict and solidify peace. For this reason, elections usually form a key part of the agreements ending civil wars or conflict. The basic principal behind these post conflict or transitional elections is that of Ballots over Bullets: citizens choosing their political leaders by voting rather than fighting, although in the 1992 Angola elections which was intended to end the c ivil war, this election instead reignited conflict for another ten (10) years. cases such as these have led many to argue that elections are not appropriate for post conflict environment. In majority, however, there is no viable alternative to post conflict elections as a means of achieving legitimate governance; a non elected government is far more susceptible to accusations of illegitimacy than the one chose by the people, and legitimate governance must be achieved as soon as possible following a conflict. Moreover, elections have the potential to create government broadly representative of all disputing political factions. Demonstratively, several  countries have recently held remarkably successful post-conflict elections. For example, Liberia’s elections in 2005 intended to over a decade of civil war were remarkably peaceful and hailed as generally free and fair. Another example is the DRC’s 2006 elections, the first multi-party election in 46 years, were also relatively successful, especially when considering the tremendous logistical challenges that had to be overcome. in these cases therefore, elections facilitated an ongoing transition from dev astating conflict toward greater stability and development. Based on a multi-level analysis of Afro barometer survey data from 17 sub-Saharan African countries, the study examines the influence of these two types of electoral systems; Majoritarian and Proportional Representations-on popular confidence in African parliaments. Controlling for a variety of individual and macro-level characteristics, it was found that citizen’s perceptions of Members of Parliament (MP’s) representations have a positive and significant effect on their trust in legislature. In addition the results suggest that the effect of political representations is mediated by electoral systems. Powell (2000), distinguishes between two versions of elections as instruments of democracy; accountability and representation. Accountability model tries to use elections to bring the power of the people directly to bear on policymakers. Elections offer citizens a periodic opportunity to change the policymakers. Citizens will have control because they will be able, at least occasionally to reject elected officials who are doing the wrong. Competitive elections create a pressure on all incumbents or rather the current policymakers to worry about the next elections and make policy with voters review in mind. On the other hand representation model emphasises citizens should be treated equally at the decisive stage of public policy making. Elections are instruments of citizen’s influence in policy making. Elections should create equitable reflection of all points of view into the legislature. They work as an instrument to choose representatives who can bargain for their voter’s interest in post-election policy making. Elections are not only integral to all these areas of democratic governance, but are also the most visible representations of democracy in action. They are also in most cases the most complicated and expensive single event a country will ever undertake. Good governance, upholding rule of law, and supporting civil society, this testimony examines  all these areas in the context of elections. International support to electoral processes is crucial if democracy is to continue developing on the African continent. Indeed the very purpose of elections is to achieve participatory governance without violence- through political rather than physical competition –and this has succeeded in a number of African countries. South-Africa and Botswana, for example have proven themselves among the continent’s most stable democracies, while Ghana, Mali, and Benin have emerged as democratic stronghold in West Africa. Moreover, countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, among the poorest in the world and only recently emerged from civil war, have demonstrated the power of elections to foster and solidify peace. In reality, then, Africa’s experience with the electoral democracy has been mixed; progress has been made but challenges remain. The various elections in past several years-from Kenya and Zimbabwe to Ghana and Sierra Leone- have become historical landmarks for different reasons, varying drastically in their conduct and outcome. This mix of electoral experience has generated considerable debate and passion on the subject of transparent, free and fair electoral process among election stakeholders, especially as democratic progress itself can come with further challenges; as more elections are held as these elections become increasingly competitive, one-party and military regimes face potentially destabilizing challenges that could increase the risk of fraud and violence. In conclusion; elections-especially free and fair, competitive and multi-party elections, are assumed to be a critical component of democratization in emerging democracies, while an election can intensify the polarization of a society along ethnic lines. Competitive elections can force political elites to legitimate their rule through the ballot box. However, we are still debating about how elections serve to link voters and elected Officials. While a group of scholars emphasise the directness and clarity of the connection between voters and policy-makers, others do the representation of all factions in society. Elections help voters to send Members of Parliament (MP’s) representing their interest to the parliament, to some extent elections constitutes a principal avenue of citizen’s involvement in political life. Understanding their effects on public attitudes towards the legislature and the role of the individual  therein has important implications for theories of democratic governance in emerging democracy. Therefore with this information, elections are a good measure of democracy in that they give citizens the participatory right in policy making through their elected representatives. Making it the government of the people by the people and for the people, that’s democracy according to Abraham Lincolnâ €™s definition. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Powell (2000), Elections as instrument of Democracy. 2. Easton David (1965), A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York: john Wiley. 3. Norris, Pippa, Eds (1999), Critical Citizen: Global Support for Democratic Governance. New York oxford University press. 4. Lebas, Adrienne (2006), Comparative Politics 38; 419:438. 5. Margolis, M (1979), Viable Democracy. 6. Tordoff, W. Government and Politics in Africa. London McMillan (1993). 7. Rose, Richard, William Mishler, Christian Haerpfer (1998), Democracy and Its Alternatives. 8. Sisk, Timothy D, Andrew Reynolds, Eds (1998), Election and Conflict Management in Africa. Washington; United States Institute of Peace press. 9. Powell G. Bingham (1982), Contemporary Democracies; participation stability and violence. Cambridge University. 10. Almami l. Cyllah. Democracy and Elections in Africa.

Reflection on Plasticized Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reflection on Plasticized - Essay Example The pollutants become part of organs of the fish which are then consumed by humans.Chelsea conducted a lab test where she confirmed that plastics do have disruptive effects on the bodies of fish where it can not only affect their organs it also effects their endocrine system, thereby halting their reproductive systems. As per her research work, she says plastics don’t biodegrade they photo-degrade, that is, the sun breaks them down into smaller and smaller pieces and this happens only out at sea. A perception is that plastic will degrade automatically just like all other organic material that is used for packaging, while plastic never biodegrades. Most of the world which is a contributor to production and consumption of plastic is unaware that plastic will not finish off on its own, it will require optimum conditions created by human beings to become unavailable. Dr Marcus explains that his research has only covered a teaspoon of plastic on the ocean floor since the trawl was trawling only a small surface area. The ocean covers 2/3rd of the earth and sieving through a small area also brought out results. The results are relevant in terms of the micro-organisms that inhabit the surface and the fishes that feed on the surface. These fishes are eventually foddered for bigger fishes which become human food. The plastic and its components affect humans through the food chain. In effect, we create our own problem. Most of the team agree that damage control is the solution rather than cleaning the sea.

Choose one of the following Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Choose one of the following - Essay Example It has been difficult to determine when this unique trait emerged, but they could have been on their feet before over 3 million-year-old Laetoli footprints were made (Reader and Andrew 413). The prints though did not bear semblance to that of modern, they were indeed those of a bipedal primate. Bipedalism Features They are the impressions of feet that lacked a distinctive human rounded ball, ors welling, at the base of the great toe, that had no well-defined arch, and that retained ever so slightly divergent great toes. Transformation from a quadrupedal knuckle walking to bipedalism involves various anatomical changes; development of longer legs angling of femur inwards, the feet develop an arch, the bigger toe is elongated, the pelvis is lowered, and it broadens. Additionally, the spinal cord of the hominid develops in such a manner that the vertebral bends frontward to sustain bipedalism traits. The Postural Feeding Hypothesis There are several competing hypotheses that have been p ut forward by anthropologists to explain the origin of bipedalism in hominids using non-human primates as referential models for our common ancestors. The postural feeding hypothesis (McGrew et al 282) explains bipedalism from an ecological view and explains the shared feeding behaviours exhibited by the chimpanzee and australopithecines are sufficiently common in other apes to influence anatomy. The hominids fed on relatively short trees and this gave them certain selection characters and instead adopting an upright posture and this lead to bipedalism. The other great apes for example chimpanzees do not have a straight gait and human straight gait is much more efficient than their bipedalism and quadrapedalism Hunt came up with the hypothesis after spending close to seven hundred hours observing chimpanzees in the wilderness in central Tanzania (Lewin 115). From his observation of these great apes in the wild, he found out that their feeding habits bordered on postural and this lea d to bipedalism. The hypothesis suggests that early hominids would reach out for fruits by dangling with the front limbs, and bipedalism was applied by grasping for an overhead branch. He found out that 80% of bipedalism was observed during chimpanzee feeding with arm hanging to stabilize the posture, this become the corner stone of the hypothesis. The australopithecines have shown adaptations of the torso form to arm hanging which infers that the apes adapted to arboreal bipedal fruit collection. A major basis of this hypothesis is the argument that the existence of bipedalism during certain aspects of life in extant apes provides evidence of the selective pressures that led to hominid bipedalism. According to this model, the early origin of bipedalism later evolved gradually into a habitual way of movement and this steadily led to bipedalism by the early man. Heat Hypothesis by Wheeler Peter Wheelers heat hypothesis proposes a thermoregulatory selective adaptation of bipedal homin ids to increased heat loss, increased cooling, condensed heat gain and condensed water necessities (McGrew et al 282). By adopting the bipedal posture, hominids were exposed to cooler air since the speed of wind is faster further away from the ground. Additionally, the

Development of Health Care Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Development of Health Care - Assignment Example The British masses willingly bore with the hardships, scarcity and want imposed by the coalition government under Winston Churchill to divert the scarce resources to war efforts. The politicians and the leadership of the times felt a dire need to reward the British working class for its forbearance and sacrifice by ushering in reforms that were to give way to a more egalitarian society (Stevenson 1990). The UK government deputed Sir William Beveridge to draft a report that was to be the basis of a pragmatic policy targeted at helping low-income groups in Britain (Hills, Ditch & Glennerster 1994). The report furnished by Beveridge in December 1942 proposed that all the working age citizens ought to be made to pay a weekly levy. The funds accumulated through the accrual and management of these weekly contributions were to be used by the state to help people who were needy unemployed or retired. Beveridge called for a minimal standard of living that was to be mandatorily extended by the state to all the poor and needy. The Labour government elected in 1945 resorted to the suggestions made by the Beveridge Report to chalk out measures that were to form the basis of a modern welfare state (Hills, Ditch & Glennerster 1994). The concept of a welfare state includes within its ambit the need to resorting to public and statutory measures to extend the agreed upon minimal standards of living to the deprived and marginalized individuals and groups across the society. In an ideal scenario, the objective of any welfare state is to strive to eradicate poverty, to ensure an all-inclusive distribution of resources and national wealth to promote and enhance social cohesion and unity. In consonance with the above-mentioned ideas, the Beveridge exclusively attacked the evils of ill health, lack of education, lack of hygiene, unemployment, and poverty (Hills, Ditch & Glennerster 1994).

Quality Safety And Cost As It Affects Nursing Essay

Quality Safety And Cost As It Affects Nursing - Essay Example Organizations that have been able to reorganize care delivery to be centered around the patient (where the responsibility of offering care is arranged around what the patients want and needs, as opposed to around the convenience of the organization together with its clinicians and staff) are accomplishing success in enhancing both efficiency and safety, and reducing cost. These organizations also realize that the loyalty of their workforce is rising, and their general organizational performance increases, with profitability benefits. I would demonstrate the importance of nurses in providing patient-centered care. It is important for the director and staff to realize that there should be a healthy clinical relationship between the nurses and patients. These relationships communicate caring, together with the emotional and social responsibilities of delivering care. This way the director and the staff can realize that nursing care can affect the quality of care and patient safety and t he cost. I recommend that social interactions between the nurses and patients are central to patient care should not recede with the advancement of technology. Emotional and social tasks of providing care should never take a back seat to the administrative and biomedical tasks of providing care. The potential nurse-patient relationship to improve the safety and cost-effectiveness of care delivery should never be overlooked in the discussions regarding the way to reform the health care system.

Research papers Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Papers - Research Paper Example The HRD helps in polishing up the performance of the employees by providing them expertise training, which contributes to the better performance of the organization. The main purpose of HRD is to enhance the organizational performance contributing in productivity of the company (Richard & Et. Al., 1996). HRD not only helps in enhancing the performance of the employee but also is important factor in the establishment of relationship among the existing HR policies (Richard & Et. Al., 1996). The mission of Mace Ford organization is to organize the people working together for the global automotive leadership, as one team involving customers, dealers, councils/unions, employees, investors, suppliers and community (Ford Motor Company, 2011). The HRD of the company follows many practices of human resource development processes such as 360 degree appraisal. The 360 degree appraisal helps to understand the employee needs more briefly because the approach tends to engage the employees directly. In 360 degree process, feedback is obtained providing the HRD a better way in operation. The HR practices adopted by Ford maximize the competencies, commitment and abilities of the organisation’s employees. HRD should provide the workers of the company with customer service training which focuses on customer satisfaction intended to increase the market share of the company. HRD mostly deals with people of an organization so as to improvise better performance from individual employees. Career development should be enlisted by HRD in the organization through the implication of functioning Internal Job Posting (IJP). These practices would result into customer service excellence, one of the main missions of the company. HRD should emphasize more on team effort, developing healthy and friendly work environment. HRD should provide training on recognizing the importance of customer needs and meeting them. Every

Burger king Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Burger king - Essay Example All the concerns in this kind of order are about the right and satisfied serving and nothing beyond it. â€Å"What do you want?† following â€Å"How do you want it?† are the concerned questions of the employer. Now depending upon the want of particular customer, employee has to make sure that exact want of the customer is facilitated. Earlier [MD09] customers have objections about the postponement in serving the order at different branches of the Burger King and blog posts are there that sounds like in the early development phase of Burger king customers have serious issues and the entertainment of enjoying food was fully spoiled by the long run wait in the way to order serving. Burger King Store located at Luton is relatively a warm site to be visited in winter seasons. Keeping into consideration the issues faced by the Burger King Customer in other stores, this branch is designed to be spacey, clean and shinny to entertain as much customers as possible. To ensure happy customer service, the staff is increased to an extent - in the relocated Burger King branch in Luton – that in routine days no waiting queues are noticed. It’s in occasional days when queues are there but with the efficient staff quick execution of the waiting queues is no more a nightmare. Burger King is competing McDonald with its superb taste and people just love the way it is. Standard of Burger King is really fare and demanding. Burger King located in Luton -The Mall Arndale is termed by the regular customers as a â€Å"good branch at excellent site†. Being slightly warmer, Luton is a high-quality point of sale in winters. Want a quick bite to eat so visit Burger King as it is indeed a good place. Following are some of the perspectives of the service quality offered in the Burger King located in Luton -The Mall: a. Spacious: Lot more capacity is offered by the Burger King branch located at Luton that makes the relocated and refurbished branch a

Western presence in the Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Western presence in the Middle East - Essay Example The Western presence today is more of a continuation of these older precedents than a novel or unique circumstance. The purpose of this essay is to outline and to analyze the particular motives underlying these persistent territorial ambitions.The Western presence, in different forms and by different nations representing the West, has deep roots in the Middle East and the Gulf region. To be sure, the Western presence today is more of a continuation of these older precedents than a novel or unique circumstance. The purpose of this essay is to outline and to analyze the particular motives underlying these persistent territorial ambitions. To this end, twelve motives will be presented. These motives, taken together, provide a clearer understanding of conflict in the Middle East than an analysis of any particular motive in isolation. This is because many of the motives are, to some extant, interrelated; more specifically, economic motives such as energy security, in turn, give rise to ad ditional national security and strategic geographical considerations. The Middle East is a complex study.As a preliminary matter, it is first necessary to provide some brief geographical and historical context. There is a great deal of debate, some historically-based and some semantically-based, regarding the precise dimensions of the Middle East in both geographical and cultural terms. Such a discussion is beyond the scope of this paper; therefore, for the purposes of this essay, the Middle East will be defined to include Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. In addition, it is significant to note that the modern origins of the territorial struggle can be dated to 1918. This is when "the Ottoman sultanate, the last of the great Muslim empires, was finally defeated-its capital, Constantinople, occupied, its sovereign held captive, and much of its territory parti tioned between the victorious British and French Empires" (Lewis, 2001: np). As the Ottoman Empire was conquered, Turkey became a peripheral, though significant, part of the Middle East. Although Turkey did regain its independence, it did so as a secular nation rather than as a Muslim nation. This essay will focus on post-1918 events and motives. 1.1. Oil Motive No discussion of the Middle East can take place without a reference to oil and larger issues of economics and energy security. The West is most fundamentally drawn to the Middle East in order to secure and safeguard its access to oil. Indeed, as stated by Hill & Telhami et al, The Persian Gulf region remains central to the global oil market and will become even more vital in the future. U.S. oil imports from outside the Middle East will not change this fact. The United States and the other major oil importers -- western Europe and increasingly, as Morse and Richard note, South and East Asia -- are all part of a single, seamless oil market driven by supply and demand, and global demand for oil has risen steadily over the last several decades. Oil currently accounts for 40 percent of global energy consumption and is not anticipated to fall much below this share in the next 20 years (2002: np). The West is dependent on the Middle East for a huge percentage of its energy needs. Significantly, there is an increasing demand for oil being driven by non-traditional countries; more precisely, both South Asia and East Asia are demanding more oil as their economies develop and grow. China and India are countries which may increase their participation in the Middle East, driven by the same motivations as the West. 1.2 Strategic Geographical Motive In addition to oil, there are very practical geographical considerations. During the Cold War, for example, the Middle East was treated by the West and the Soviet Union as a proxy for their larger ideological and military competitions. Today, China is increasingly seen as a defender of Iran and a defender of Arab rights and self-determination. The region links continents, is possessed with major shipping routes, and is a necessary link for the transport of oil. Thus, the geographical motive refers to a strategic

The following is an analysis of the IKEA Essay Example for Free

The following is an analysis of the IKEA Essay The following is an analysis of the IKEA case study found in the Strategic Management Text book. This analyses the strategies used by IKEA to gain competitive advantage in markets outside its original area. The report begins by providing a background into IKEA. It studies International Business Level Strategy and the three international corporate level strategies. The case study goes into informing its target market and pricing strategy, which is already discussed. This case study further says how different people in different parts of the world thinks about IKEA, how elegant their designs are and how affordable for them to purchase IKEA products. Some of IKEA’s main markets are in three of the fastest growing markets such as Russia, US and China. IKEA store bring out products such as furniture to small product like a scented candle. IKEA has over 1300 suppliers in about 53 countries. They further have 12 full time in- house designers with 80 free lancers and other production workers to identify the correct raw materials and produce products ef? ciently and cost effectively. Primarily, IKEA produced standardized products however; this international strategy did not work for one of its vital markets that is, US. Therefore, they had to emphasize on taking corrective actions. The report also analyses the entry methods used by IKEA and its sustainability. IKEA was founded by Ingvar Kamprad a native of Sweden in 1943, when the founder, at the age of 17 was given money by his father in return for doing well in his studies. This money was used to start up his own company, IKEA, which stood for his intials and the ? rst letters of the farm and village in which he grew up. The company initially sold basic items such as pens, picture frames, table runners, wallets, jewellery, nylons stockings and watches, at a low price(History of ikea, 2010). Furniture was ? rst introduced into the IKEA range of products in 1948, and due to a positive response, the product line increased in size. Customers were allowed the ability of viewing and touching the furniture that was previously only viewable through catalogue. IKEA opened a showroom in Sweden to create a competitive advantage, due to a price war with their main competitor, so that customers could determine whether they were getting value for money. Finally IKEA made the decision to design its own furniture due to competitors trying to make suppliers boycott IKEA products. The â€Å"? at-packs and self assembly† concepts arose when an employee disassembled a table in order to prevent damage during transport (History of ikea, 2010). In 1963 the ? rst IKEA store outside of Sweden was established in Norway. From this point on, IKEA began to spread like a wild? re, ? rst to Denmark, then Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Canada, Austria and Netherlands. Many alliances were struck up with different suppliers in order to introduce new products, together with new concepts, which led to costeffectiveness. One example was an innovative, multifunctional seat/recliner, which was made by utilizing a denim, a raw material from another industry, which could be obtained at a low cost. In 1980, together with the new furniture concepts being born at certain intervals, IKEA was looking to expand to further markets, and did so through franchising. To ensure continuation and long term independence of IKEA, the founder created a new ownership structure and organisation. The major portion of IKEA was donated to a foundation, while the right to franchise the IKEA concept worldwide remained with the IKEA group of companies. In the 1990’s, the IKEA market expanded not only geographically, but in terms of target market. The company began to design furniture that catered expressly to children. A website was launched to cater to the many markets that were now open, and the children’s line was enhanced on consultation with experts on with experts to develop play areas, room settings, and baby areas within the stores themselves. Kitchen-ware and kitchen areas were another concept developed in this period. IKEA also began participating in a number of forestry projects to ensure sustainability, by taking responsibility for developing acceptable practices and policies in countries where IKEA works. IKEA Case Study 4 Company Outline IKEA is a world renowned furnishing company reputed for selling Scandinavian-style furniture and other home-based goods. The company has 230 stores, with operations carried out in over 42 countries with well over 70 000 employees. The stores themselves can host 410 million shoppers per year. It is a Swedish based company built on the idea of offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products such low prices, that a majority of people will be able to afford them. The IKEA group is currently solely owned by the INGKA Foundation through a holding company, unlisted on any stock exchange. The vision at IKEA is to â€Å"create a better everyday life for the many people†(Ikea, 2011). The main business of IKEA supports this vision, by the manufacture and selling of a wide range of home furnishing products at an affordable price. Since the ethos of IKEA is to make good quality products at an affordable price, the company has succeeded in development of costeffective and innovative production methods. This has been the company’s focus since its inception, and the company has succeeded in doing so by making the maximum use out of raw materials, and adapting the products to meet people’s needs. 04-02-18 Currently, in addition to the historical additions to the IKEA range, customers can now shop online. Other innovations include 2 the boards with patterns created on them directly, called â€Å"print on board†, in addition to a concept known as â€Å"product !! Expert where returned products are repaired instead of equipment etc where possible. recovery concept†functions such as IT, food services, retailbeing thrown awayoperates under economies of scale and is supportive to the basic operations !! IKEA of Sweden AB is responsible for the range design, purchase from etc The majority of the operations occur within the retail business; while IKEA does developmentexternal suppliers, in addition !! Inter IKEA systems B. V (The Netherlands) owns the IKEA concept and trademark which the company produces its own products through their industrial group known as Swedwood. is bought by the retail operations but is also sold to outside operators on a franchising basis !! The furniture is purchased through purchasing operations (trading service offices) in 33 countries with 1800 suppliers in 55 countries. !! The distribution operations covers 25 regional distribution centres in 14 countries supplying goods to the stores !! The retail operations are geographically organised with a specific organisation for Retail Europe

Neuropsychopharmacology Concepts: Overview and Analysis

Neuropsychopharmacology Concepts: Overview and Analysis Cole Garcia Introduction This research paper was written explore and demonstrate my personal interests in my field of study, neuropsychopharmacology. The research papers discussed were selected to provide a diverse range of topics within the field, and to convey findings that I’ve deemed to be particularly unique or useful in real-life application. Neuropsychopharmacology: a Brief, Multidimensional View Although frequently demonstrated to be neurotoxic in humans, amphetamines have been therapeutically prescribed and abused recreationally since their discovery over a century ago. One form of amphetamine, infamous for its high rates of addiction and toxicity in users, is methamphetamine (METH). The researchers of this study posed the question of whether the traditional animal models demonstrating that METH use decreases caudate-putamen dopamine levels (DA) can be applied to human patterns of abuse and resulting neurotoxicity. Substantial research has indicated that tolerance to METH reduces many of the toxic effects associated with binge use of the drug. To demonstrate this, the researchers aimed to find if the neural death in rats associated with an acute METH binge following an escalation-dose (ED) pretreatment would be less severe than the damages stereotypically observed after high dose â€Å"binge† exposure without prior ED treatment. The researchers hypothesized that curr ent research overstates the neurotoxicity associated with METH abuse, since animal model studies fail to account for the ED pattern typically observed before binge-use in most human users of METH. To test their hypothesis, the researchers selected groups of healthy male rats for experimentation. The living conditions of the rats were kept stable and relatively natural. Following a normalization period of at least a week, the rats were administered three separate, increasing doses of d-METH each day for two weeks. The period began with a dosage of 0.1mg/kg and finished with a dosage of 4.0mg/kg, a dose considered extraordinarily high for human users. Following the last day of ED pretreatment, the rats were administered a â€Å"binge† regimen, consistent with those traditionally used in similar studies, of four injections of 6mg/kg at two hour intervals. Throughout the experiment, a variety of data regarding behavioral responses to the drug, physiological responses like hyperthermia, and other immediately observable variables were gathered. Three days after the last METH administration, the rats were killed and their brains were analyzed to measure DA content and the leve ls of DAT transporter binding that is typically reduced as a result of METH binge use. Analysis of the data showed that the acute METH binge administration produced lower than average neurotoxicity in rats that were subject to ED pretreatment. All but one of the post-mortem neural tissue measurements displayed a reduction in damages in the pretreated rats while non-pretreated rats displayed normal levels of neural death following the acute binge. In vitro data showed similar results; rats administered the binge regiment without pretreatment displayed stereotypic movement associated with acute an METH binge. Most significantly, the data showed that the reduction in DA levels typically resulting from METH binge administration was considerably less severe in the rats that underwent ED pretreatment. All p values for this data were less than 0.01 or 0.001. The researchers concluded that a significant portion of the neurotoxic effects of METH binge use observed in rats can be attenuated by a prior escalation dose regimen. Since past studies on METH’s neurotoxicity fail to examine the drug’s neurotoxicity in subjects that followed â€Å"regular† human patterns prior to administration of toxic doses, the researchers argued that future research on stimulant abuse should follow an escalation dose pretreatment in order to produce data that is actually applicable to the majority of human subjects. For psychopharmacology researchers concerned with reducing drug related harm, this is extremely important information and future studies should explore further by finding a rodent ED pretreatment that is most comparable to actual human behavior patterns. The effects of hallucinogenic drugs like psilocybin and LSD have been documented to profoundly alter visual perceptions of the world. For thousands of years, psilocybin and similar substance have been used for spiritual and religious rituals in many different cultures. Until recently, the neurological causes for the visual distortions have been largely unknown. Past research has found that the serotonin receptors, 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, 5-HT2C, are likely highly involved in visual processing as well as hallucinations associated with Schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. Past animal studies indicate that activation of the 5-HT2A receptors increases the excitability of the visual cortex. This research paper, published by the Journal of Neuroscience, investigates the possibility that the activation of 5-HT2A receptors through psilocybin causes modulation of parietal-occipital ÃŽ ± oscillations, resulting this noted increase in excitability of visual processors. The researchers further hypothesized that the hallucinations could be caused by the 5-HT2A receptor modulation of the visual cortex’s visual recognition â€Å"potentials.† Specifically, the researchers questioned whether or not the P1 and N170 (visual recognition and mid-level processing potentials) are modulated by psilocybin’s activations of the 5-HT2A receptors. The researchers attempted to answer these questions by administering across multiple doses a combination of psilocybin, a placebo, and ketanserin (a 5-HT2A antagonist to cancel the effects of psilocybin in certain trials) to seventeen healthy individuals on four different experimental days. After administration of each drug(s), visual stimulus and response tests were carried out with continuous EEG monitoring during each trial. ÃŽ ± waves were measured for a short duration before and after the administration of the visual stimulus, and the resulting strengths were compared. Six hours after the administration of the drugs, the subjects were required to fill out a standardized questionnaire addressing their subjective visual alterations and changes in perception as a result of the drugs administered on that day. A variety of corrections and comparisons were performed on the data to analyze it with respect to the hypotheses, and results were constructed from the implicated correlations. The first finding was that all subjects administered psilocybin subjectively experienced hallucinogenic effects or visual distortions. It was also found that the all subjects administered the placebo or ketanserin reported no hallucinations or visual distortions. P and r values for these data suggested very strong replicability and correlation. From the ÃŽ ± oscillation data, the researchers found that, under normal conditions, the ÃŽ ± oscillations were stronger during the prestimulus phase than the poststimulus phase. From the psilocybin administered subject trials, the researchers found that the ÃŽ ± oscillations were weaker than usual in the prestimulus phase and the subsequent reduction of strength was not observed in the poststimulus phase. In the placebo and ketanserin tests, no attenuation of ÃŽ ± oscillations were observed. Similarly, in trials where ketanserin was administered 1 hour following psilocybin administration, the decrease in ÃŽ ± oscillations was not observed, in dicating that the 5-HT activation following psilocybin administration is likely a cause for the observed ÃŽ ± oscillation modulation. Since ÃŽ ± oscillations have been shown to be involved in the brain’s construction of vision, the researchers concluded that the hallucinogenic effects of psilocybin are, at least partially, caused by modulation of ÃŽ ± oscillations by activation of 5-HT2A. Along with the modulation of ÃŽ ± oscillations through psilocybin’s activation of 5-HT2A, the researchers also monitored modulation of the P1 and N170 potentials. Activation of 5-HT2A was found to decrease the P1 potentials while increasing the N170 potentials during stimulus. Differences between the psilocybin and non-psilocybin trials showed trends and replicability similar to the observed ÃŽ ± oscillation data. Since these potentials have been shown to be important neurological processes associated with the brain’s recognition and construction of visual input, the researchers concluded that modulation of these important visual potentials is likely somewhat responsible for the perceived changes in visual perception. These data are among the first to show a potential neurological mechanism of action for the changes in visual perception caused by psilocybin, and future research could seek to understand how the modulation of these systems directly relates to specific vis ual changes. Alcoholism is an affliction facing millions of people worldwide and its consequences stretch far beyond the individual. Despite the mounting medical and social costs of alcohol addiction, little progress has been made towards developing effective medication as treatment. Ibogaine, a hallucinogen found in a plant native to Africa, has been anecdotally observed to reverse or undue addiction to many drugs of abuse, including alcohol. Due to its safety profile and nature of the drug’s effects, ibogaine has not yet been considered a potential medication. In this study, the researchers posed the question of whether ibogaine reduces behaviors of addiction; and, if so, how and where it produces these effects in the brain. Digging deeper, the researchers aimed to refute or confirm evidence indicating that ibogaine causes neurotoxicity at doses associated with the addiction reducing action of the drug. To answer these questions, the researchers used both behavior studies and in vivo `brain analysis. The behavior studies, testing the anti-addiction potential of ibogaine, were carried out by habituating rats to ethanol (self-administered or systematically) and then recording preferences following treatment with ibogaine. One study allowed the rats continuous access to both water and ethanol for a period of two months before administration of alcohol. In another study, rats were placed in a cage with two levers, one delivering water and the other delivering ethanol. After a period of three days without the water lever being active, ibogaine was administered and the responses were recorded. A variety of similar experiments were carried out, each of them aiming to eliminate one area of uncertainty regarding the nonspecific activities of the drug. To test for the mechanisms involved in ibogaines addiction reversal, the researchers carried out a series of ibogaine microinjections into the brains of ethanol self-administering rats. In order to clarify which area of the brain is mediates ibogaines effects, each injection was localized at a different brain structure associated with addiction and the resulting behaviors were observed. In vivo, the researchers further isolated ibogaines mechanism of action by examining the drug’s effects on cells in the rodent’s midbrain. To test for neurotoxicity, the brains of non-ibogaine treated mice were analyzed against the brains of ibogaine treated mice. After analyzing the data, the researchers found that all trials indicated attenuation of alcoholism in rats treated with ibogaine. With continuous access to alcohol before and after treatment, ibogaine treated subjects showed a reduction in preference for alcohol (when given a choice) as well as a reduction of intake when no choice was offered. Further clarifying the findings, the data showed that rats treated with ibogaine showed very little change in preference for water or sucrose control solutions. P values for these data was less than 0.02 consistently. The findings confirm that ibogaine, when administered to alcohol preferring animals, reduces the animals consumption of alcohol. Among the secondary findings, the researchers also determined the specific area mediating ibogaine’s action to be the ventral tegmental area (VTA). In trials where ibogaine micoinjections were performed in the VTA, rats decreased their consumption of alcohol considerably. In trials where the same microinjections were made in neighboring substantia nigra, no reduction in alcohol was observed. Another important result was the lack of cell death observed in mice treated with the same therapeutic doses administered to the rat subjects. This was found by observing comparing brain sections of mice exposed to known neurotoxins, ibogaine, or nothing. Similarly, no coordination impairment or bodily harm was found to occur after ibogaine administration at therapeutic doses. The researchers also found that the expression of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is directly affected by the drug ibogaine. This leads to what is probably the most important discovery of the data: when GDNF neutralizing antibodies are injected into the VTA of ibogaine administered alcoholic rats, the reduction of alcohol intake was negated. These findings confirm previous studies that show GDNF negate some of the effects of psychoactive drugs. The results of the experiment indicate that ibogaine is not only a potential treatment for alcoholism and addiction, but that this effect is likely carried out through increase in GDNF expression after administration of ibogaine. In the research field seeking to find treatment for drug abuse, these results are potentially revolutionary. To develop an effective treatment, future studies could seek to develop a molecule that induces the upregulation of the GDNF pathway. Alternatively, further research could be done on ibogaine in order to develop a treatment that excludes the hallucinogenic effects of the drug. Mertons theory of Anomie: Girl gangs Mertons theory of Anomie: Girl gangs Topic: Read the report A study on girls in gangs by Hong Kong Federation of Youth and evaluate the possible explanations offered by Merton’s strains towards anomie theory. After reading the report A Study on Girls in Gang by Hong Kong Federation of Youth , to a large extent I disagree to Merton’s strain towards anomie theory. Lets begin with the definition of Girls in Gang. Firstly, Girls in Gang means those girls are not contribute in any triad or serious criminal cases like murder, but they mainly committed in physical violence, stealing from shop or strangers, dishonesty to use their phone or bullying some people that they do it for fun. Secondly, they aged from 10 to 17 years old. Thirdly, gang members are or above 3 people.(Chu Yiu Kong, An Analysis of Youth Gangs in Tin Shui Wai in Hong Kong) Moreover, there are 5 types of structure in gangs. They are autonomous which is girl-dominant, auxiliary which is also girl-dominant but also rely on boy gangs, mixed which included girls and boys, independent group which is not control by anyone, satellite group which is girl-dominant, rely on boy gangs but independent. But what we know is, auxiliary and satellite are the main structures which were more common in Hong Kong society, and the decision-making are mainly from the boys. According to the theory of Structural Functionalism, the society is co-related. The social relationship extending over time and form stable patterns of interaction, then these structures in turn constituted social institutions when times gone. Therefore the social problem happens when function of an institution is not being performed properly, results from the malfunctioning. Also, from Mertons theory, deviant behavior and social disorganization were separate and distinct; tended to see each as causing the other. (Merton, 1938) In the case of Girls in Gangs, there is malfunction in the social relationship of their family, which cannot achieve prerequisite of socialization in order to inherit values, social norms, customs or ideologies by the society. That means their relationship cannot engage those girls in such a way that we find appropriate and acceptable. At the same time, their family cannot give out as the role of the family does such as give them love and belonging, financial support. Thus, girls may easily accept the deviant behaviors such as join gang to satisfy their needs. Refer to Mertons theory of strains towards anomie society, separate deviance into cultural structure and social structure. First, anomie means the low level of moral regulation which regard as normlessness, on the one hand, it is about when we are free to act and not constrained by social norms. Second, cultural structures means a hierarchy of shared values that govern our behaviors and provide us with cultural goal like achievement on education or career, material comfort of wealth. On the other hand, social structure means institutional norms which define and regulate the acceptable mode of reaching these goals.'(Merton, 1938) In other words, is to provide legitimate means by which members can pursue their goals. From his theory, there are five types of adaptations to achieve either cultural goals or social means. To a large extent, I agree to the conformity adaptations, but small extent agree to the ritualism adaptations, the innovation adaptation, the rebellion adaptations and th e retreatism adaptation did applicable to the case of girls join gangs in Hong Kong. The reasons are as of the following. The report of A study on Girls in Gangs have shown that the several reasons of the girls join gangs because of emotional attachment and protection. As most of the interviewees responded that they were lack of affiliation, which they do not have a good or even lack of relationship with their family, school or working place. In order to fulfill their mental needs or emotional attachment, they joined gangs to achieve the conformity with other people in order to lower the loneliness. Besides, girls in gangs will be named as ah-so, English means either sister-in-law or girlfriend, or ka -mui, in English means little sister, both names did not have a direct relationship, but somehow they can get protection from the gangs because of what their fake relationship is simply as same as the real family. This structure represents that the girl participating in gangs is trying to achieve their cultural goal and they do have social means which is join gangs . Thus, the girls participate in gangs d oes regard as an conformity adaptations since they have their cultural goals and social means. According to the report, A study on Girls in Gangs, the two interviewees told that they were pleasant and happy because of they can enjoy free entertainment when they join gangs. (18 years old, student) They will go to sing karaoke, dancing or go to mainland sometimes, depend on where the gangs go, and the girls in gangs do not need to pay any money, which for boys to show their gentleness and power. (16 years old, employee). From the research, it presents the girls do have cultural goal which is free entertainment regard as use the social means, but they use the same means which do not have any new goals or new means. In addition, the society was also assume the goal as materialism or material comfort, when they did not achieve their goals in legitimacy means, so they will reject the mean. Therefore, the ritualism adaptation which refers as no goals but with means cannot apply in this case. Nonetheless, the report A study on Girls in Gangs, One of the interviewees said that she joins gang because of her boyfriend is one of the members in gangs.(16, student)Furthermore, from what she has said, girls join gangs may seem to have a new goal which is find a boyfriend and maintain a stable love relationship with their partner, but it is also talk about they need emotional attachment, love and belonging by the mean. Thus, rebellion adaptation which have new goals and new means, and innovation adaptation which have goals and new means are not applicable in girls join gangs in Hong Kong, because they do not have the new goals and new means. The above report datas also presented some of the girls know that when they need to leave the gang. The report shown that girls join gangs which they think they were smart enough to protect themselves, and they know what they are doing, they always did something for aim.(18, employee) This shows that they are not as what retreatlism adaptation means have no goals and no means to do some deviant behavior, and what Merton regards as true deviant. Therefore, retreatlism adaptation cannot apply in this case, as the girls join gangs for goals. In our life, different countries or places may bring a different social structure. Compare to America, Hong Kong is rarely have serious criminal cases, and the girls in gangs which were totally different. Mertons theory can explain why rates of deviant behavior are higher in some sectors of the society than in others. American culture is characterized by great emphasis on the accumulation of wealth as a success symbol without a corresponding emphasis on using legitimate means to match toward their goal.'(Marshall B. Clinard, 1964) Refer to the theory, it told that in America society, if the one who want to achieve goals of being wealthy, they can use any means leaned success, even illegal or criminal should be accepted by the theory. Thus, American are more focus on wealth, and do not care all other things such as relationship, love, caring, academic, and they may not facing the same problems of Hong Kong girls in gangs which was lack of affiliation or facing failure. Then, compare t o the case of Hong Kong girls in gangs, mainly concerned about the emotional attachment and conformity, join gangs seek as an instruments to achieve their conformity, they may have goals but they do not have any new means. So in this way, Mertons theory may not be appropriate to apply on the girls join gangs in Hong Kong society which is more applicable on American society. Last but not least, Hong Kong girls join gangs should be regarding something they want like affiliation to achieve with means, which is Hong Kong girls join gangs were trying to gain conformity by satisfy their emotional attachment, love and belonging. So conformity adaptation of the Mertons theory is the only one can apply and suit on the girls join gangs in Hong Kong. On the other hand, girls in gang of Hong Kong society need to fulfill their need with means, but not with new goals or new means, so other adaptation of the Mertons theory may not be the best to apply in Girls in Gangs of Hong Kong society. Therefore, to a large extent I disagree to Merton’s strain towards anomie theory. Reference Readings Chu, Yiu Kong (2005)An analysis of Youth Gangs in Tin Shui Wai in Hong Kong in Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences NO.29 Spring/Summer 2005. Clinard, Marshall B.(1995) Robert Merton: Anomie and Social Structure in Earl Eubington and Martin S. Weinberg ed. The study of Social Problems Seven Perspectives, London : Oxford University Press. Haralambos, Michael and Holborn, Martin (2000) Sociology Themes and Perspectives ,London Collins. Mok, James and Chan Shui-ching(2008) A study on Girls in Gangs, Hong Kong : Research Centre, Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group.

Ethical Issues Raised by Data Mining Essay -- Databases Technology Com

Ethical Issues Raised by Data Mining Data mining is the practice of gathering data from various sources and manipulating it to provide richer information than any of contributing sources is able to do alone or to produce previously unknown information. Businesses and governments share information that they have collected with the purpose of cross-referencing it to find out more information about the people tracked in their databases. Data mining has many benefits. Stores are able to stock merchandise that better reflects what customers want. When Victoria’s Secret started tracking user purchases they noticed that customers in Miami bought much more white lingerie than customers in other areas. As a result they began stocking more white products instead of uniformly stocking all stores benefiting both the store and the customer[i]. Another benefit is that it allows companies to consolidate data from many different sources so that more time can be spent analyzing data than finding it in the first place. This is useful for companies that have multiple financial systems and spend a lot of time trying to combine data into a more useful format rather than doing the actual analysis of the data. A more dramatic example is that some say that 9/11 could have been prevented if the FBI had better data mining tools to share and combine information from different offices[ii]. In addition to crime prevention and f inancial analysis the medical research community can use these techniques in medical research to identify trends and causes of disease. Along with the numerous benefits data mining also has a downside. Combining data from various sources can result in revealing information people would consider private and woul... ...ade Commision, The Fair Credit Reporting Act (Washington, DC: GPO, 2004) 46. [xiv] Tavani, Herman T., â€Å"Privacy and the Internet† Ethics and Technology Conference, Boston, MA, 5 June 1999. (Boston College Intellectual Property Forum, 2000) http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/commentary/ [xv] D1 Consulting, Report on Double Click, 2003, University of Southern California, 7 June 2004 [xvi] Tavani, Herman T., â€Å"Privacy and the Internet† Ethics and Technology Conference, Boston, MA, 5 June 1999. (Boston College Intellectual Property Forum, 2000). [xvii]European Parliament, Official Journal of European Communities, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Brussels, Belgium: 2000) 10. [xviii] Federal Trade Commission, Privacy Online: A Report to Congress (Washington, DC: GPO, 1998) 3.

Essay --

Culture can be defined as â€Å"The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes members of one human group from another† (Hofstede, 1991) Culture brings significant differences in the way of working, communicating, addressing relationships and so, it can positively or negatively affect the work environment. The following theories are used to identify and describe the cultural profile of a country: 1. Low and high context cultures (Hall, 1977) According to the anthropologist Edward T.Hall (1977), there are two types of national culture: â€Å"low context† culture and â€Å"high context† culture. Each of them has a specific communication that will have an impact on the way people interact within an organization. Low-context culture: France Low-context culture refers to a direct style of communication based on explicit messages. As words carry most of the information, content and verbal explanations are really important. Indeed, the interpretation relies on what is said or written, regardless of the context. For example, in the French work environment, agreements are written and usually well detailed, work is expected before friendship and credibility is earned due to performance/ efficient management of time. The impact that this may have on an organization is the reinforcement of individualism, the increase of competition and pressure, the development of a feeling of loneliness which can sometimes lead to suicides. High-context culture: Colombia High-context culture refers to a more indirect style of communication. The message’s interpretation is characterized by contextual clues such as nature of relationship, time, and situation. The verbal part of a message contained less information than the written part but what is left uns... ...curity and minimise risks whereas a low uncertainty avoidance society hasn’t. Both France (86) and Colombia (80) have high uncertainty avoidance, in other words it means that they try to find mechanisms and rules to avoid ambiguity. In consequences, lack of expertise / planning or change in policies would lead to stressful situations. â€Æ' Short vs. long term orientation (LTO): The extent of which a culture focus on time. In a long term oriented society, firms and people give importance on planning on years and decades to achieve long term success and delayed gratification of their material, social and emotional needs whereas in a short term society they don’t. With a score of 39, France seems to have a short term orientation: quick results by quarter and hard work on a short term period have great importance. Colombian orientation is still undefined for the moment.

Resources and Development in an economy :: Economics

Resources and Development in an economy Resources and Development a) Resources influence the structure and progress of an economy. If something is considered a resource it is potentially of economic benefit. However there are three differing types of resources, and it is the relative abundance of all these that dictates the economic structure. It is debatable whether the presence of one resource, e.g. Coal (a natural resource), leads in itself to economic sustainability and strength. There are human, capital and natural resources. Human resources represent the quality and quantity of the workforce and is influenced by factors such as education and demographics. Capital resources come in the form of accumulated wealth in assets such as industry or infrastructure. Natural resources, such as oil, coal or timber, are primary materials which are of utility to man, which man has the willingness (i.e. it will either be of use in other industrial processes or will gain a profit), and ability to exploit. These three factors combine to provide the backbone to an economy, although they often rely on one another, especially the industries on the workforce, to function properly. Natural resources are arguably the 'kick off' necessity of the other two, and is more complex as there are many types of natural resource, both infinite such as timber, and finite such as crude oil. There is therefore the issue of decision-making regarding sustainability, and the appropriateness of using a particular resource for a particular purpose, when a suitable replacement is available, and this often alters which natural materials are regarded as resources. b) Logic would suggest that the presence of natural resources in a country has a positive relationship with its economic development. There are many examples that support this theory, such as with the most developed countries of Western Europe, and renowned anthropologists such as Rostow assume it to be true. However there is well supported evidence that natural resources are not at all essential for economic development, and with the global political structure having evolved the way it has, anthropologists such a Gunder-Frank suggest that natural resources can be more of a hindrance than an advantage regarding the improvement of an economy. In his model for economic development Rostow assumes that natural resources are necessary for economic progression through the 'preconditions for takeoff' and 'takeoff' stages of development. This was originally true in the case of the first industrialised countries in the 18th century. The development of the UK's wool, and later coal industries, directly triggered the processes that have led to the UK's developed economy today. However Gunder-Frank would argue that as soon as the first industrialised nations became rich and began looking to exploit wealth

Conflict Resolution Paper Essay

People deal with conflict every day and can choose how they handle the situation on their own terms. When dealing with a learning team in a school setting, one must count on his or her team members to accomplish his or her goals. During the duration of the course the team may encounter issues that will work against them in obtaining their goals such as lack of communication, personal interruptions, lack of commitment to the other team members, and lack of commitment to the assignment. When these kinds of conflicts arise in the classroom the team members have to use certain conflict management techniques, use their individual strengths and eventually come to a decision as a team. The Conflict At times one may encounter the non-participator in the group. The non-participator is one who neglects his or her responsibilities to work with the team (Engleberg & Wynn, 2010). A learning team participating in a course at University of Phoenix had a group paper that needed to be completed. However, not all team members were actively participating. The majority of the group wanted to start on the assignment in the middle of week three with the exception of one individual. The group used every resource—such as the learning team forum, the phone, and e-mails on their UOPX and personal account to contact the individual. By the middle of week three the team contacted the professor to inform her about the lack of communication. A couple of days later, the professor notified the group that she had not received a reply from the absent team member. The situation became critical to the point where the professor had to take time to contact enrollment to see if the missing team member had dropped the class. It turned out that the student was enrolled. The team was in a panic to create a contingency plan to determine who would pick up the missing member’s portion. This put unnecessary pressure on the group because of the lack of communication and participation. The day before the assignment was due the missing team member contacted the group stating that his portion would be submitted by the morning of the due date. The late response was very inconsiderate considering another member of the group was going to start on the missing portion, along with completing the final revisions. The group received a lower grade because the paper was lacking in readability and flow. The group was not pleased with the results. One more team project was due by the end of the course, and the team did not want to encounter the same problem on the final project. The team revisited the learning team charter as a method of enforcing the ground rules. Conflict Resolution Teams experience conflict within and between teams. When high performance work teams experience conflict, they handle it in a way that helps build team relations and promote positive change. Using effective conflict management techniques is the most valuable resolution for the team. The group agreed that positive techniques should be used. The first technique is to understand the underlining root cause of the conflict. Communicating with one another about the issue at hand allowed everyone to move forward in a resolution to the conflict as a team. Once the team agreed to understanding what the issue was, the team agreed on a time to be signed into a group discussion forum to work on the resolution. Next, the team communicated with each other about the conflict discussion topic and focused on the ideas brought fourth rather than who was presenting them. This focus was important because it allowed the team members to feel confident with expressing individual issues and allowed members to seek other member’s points of view (Belgard, Fisher, & Rayner, 1995). One of the most important techniques was engaging in listening actively and empathetically. By listening to other members the group could build on the teams common goals and work through hard feelings, which had been interfering with an interpersonal relationship within the team. When conflict techniques are well managed, an extremely positive and productive effect can enable the team to foster continued improvements. Learning about conflict and conflict management techniques is extremely valuable to organizations, teams, and individuals. Conflicts occur at all levels of interaction—at work, among friends, within families, and between relationship partners. If it is handled well, conflict can be productive, leading to deeper understanding and mutual respect. Conclusion Teams move through various stages throughout the timeline of a project. As they move from the forming stage to the second stage of storming, it is vital to the success of the team that they utilize conflict resolution strategies if they are going to move to the norming stage and be successful. The team was trying to work through the conflict of being unable to communicate despite many efforts by the team. They utilized positive communication conflict resolution techniques to understand and work through the problem. The team reviewed their charter and stressed the importance of working together and communicating which fostered an environment of mutual respect versus bashing the teammate that had not effectively communicated in the first three weeks. Due to the problems, they ultimately turned their part of the project in late. Through the 4 R’s (Wynn, 2012): Reason- identifying the reasons for the conflict. The team worked through the conflict by seeking to understand. They made every attempt to contact the member of their team who had not been communicating and sought to understand the problem using a positive approach. Reaction-ensuring that in the nature of teamwork, they remain unbiased. The team did not assume the nature of the conflict, and instead they continued to work through the issue until they found that the member of the team that was unresponsive. Results- by maintaining communication and a positive approach to the project and monitoring the progress, the team was able to identify at a critical point that one team member was not communicating and was not demonstrating an effort to contribute to the project. The team was able to identify this and work quickly to resolve the situation. The team continued to work through the issue until the team member made contact. The team took steps after this situation to review as a team the charter and ground rules for the team to prevent this problem in the next project. It is vital to track progress and maintain communication for success. After the teammate was finally reached, the final R, which is Resolution, was achieved. References Belgard, W., Fisher, K., & Rayner, S. (1995). Tips for teams. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, Co.. Engleberg, I. N., & Wynn, D. R. (2010). Working in groups (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Ethical Theories Essay

It is vital for businesses to understand the importance of ethics in this dynamic environment. Organizations that are committed to long term success recognize and realize that creating a culture where ethical behaviors are rewarded and encouraged is the ultimate key to survival and growth. According to Joseph 2003, business ethics refers to clear standards and norms that help employees to distinguish right from wrong behavior at work, while in the other hand ethical theories are theories that involve learning what is right and wrong and doing the right thing but the fact that the right thing is not straight forward brings in the subject of ethical dilemmas. Normally ethical theories can be broken up into two separate groups, teleological and deontological. Teleological theories look to the rightness of actions and are determined by the amount of good consequences they produce and focus on outcomes that are based on decisions. In teleological theories these actions are justified by th e virtue of what the actions achieve, rather than some feature of the actions themselves. In other words, decisions that benefit the overall goal and/or objective is collectively believed as a way to justify what is right or wrong. The philosophy of utilitarianism is one of the most commonly used and accepted ethical theories in the teleological group and is linked to Jeremy Bentham and John S Mills. According to Crane and Matten (2010) utilitarianism is defined as an action which is morally right if it results in the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people affected by the action. This principle focuses solely on the consequences of an action and it weighs the good results against the bad results. It also encourages the action that results in the greatest amount of good for all people involved. Utilitarianism is very powerful in business since it puts at the centre of the moral decision a variable which measures the value of an action. Deontological by contrast to teleological, consequences are irrelevant when determining what is right and wrong. Deontol ogical theory states that people should adhere to their obligations and duties when analyzing an ethical dilemma. This means that a person will follow his or her obligations to another individual or society because upholding one’s duty is what is considered ethically correct. For instance, a deontologist will always keep his promises to a friend and will follow the law. A person who follows this  theory will produce very consistent decisions since they will be based on the individual’s set duties. Deontological ethical systems are concerned with the nature of an action that is being judged, whereas teleological judges the consequences of the act rather than the act itself. Founded by Immanuel Kant, Kantian Ethics is the iconic representation of deontological theories. Kantianism emphasizes the principles behind actions rather than an action’s results. Acting rightly thus requires being motivated by proper universal principles that treat everyone with respect. When you’re motivated by the right principles, you overcome your animal instincts and act ethically. â€Å"Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained† (Helen Keller). John Rawls, an American moral and political philosopher, whose major work, A Theory of Ju stice, had a profound impact on ethics and political theory, believed there must be an alternative view of justice than the view of the Utilitarianism where the action that benefits the greatest is the best. Rawls believed that the principles of justice and fairness among individuals must be fair. John Rawls, social justice theory seeks to create a society where the principles of justice and fairness are provided and to ensure the protection of equal access to liberties, rights, and opportunities, as well as taking care of the least advantaged members of society. The concept is based around a social contract, which is the voluntary agreement among people with each another and the government which results in an organized society. On the other hand, the philosophy of virtue ethics, which primarily deals with the ways in which a person should live, has puzzled philosophers from the beginning of time. Recognized as one of the greatest philosophers in the world, Aristotle explains virtue as a character trait that manifests itself in habitual action. This theory claims that virtues are traits of character that you must practice actively so that they become a part of you and shapes you into becoming a virtuous ethical person. So when you are a virtuous person, you will lead a prosper ous fulfilled life. Since there are many contrasting interpretations regarding a precise definition of virtue, Aristotle theory argues that the individual needs practical wisdom, which is what a person needs in order to live well. On the contradictory side there is Milton Friedman, who is known as one of the greatest and most influential economists and public intellectuals in the  world. He was a firm believer of free-market capitalism which would in turn contribute and adequately administer wealth throughout the nation. Conservative economists, such as Milton Friedman, claim that business is most responsible when it makes profit efficiently, not when it misapplies its energy on social projects, Friedman determines that it is in the best interests for firms to maximize profits. With this Friedman is invoking a deontological, not consequentialist, theory. A consequentialist reading Friedman’s work would look to identify an ‘ends justifies the means’ sense of reasoning. Friedman however makes clear the means of achieving the ends are important, as profits need to be maximized within the regulatory environment and main focus. Along the same steps as Friedman we have Friedrich Hayek, who foll ows the libertarianism theory. Libertarianism is a set of related political philosophies that uphold liberty as the highest political end. This includes emphasis the primary of individual liberty, political freedom, and voluntary association. This theory and Hayek stress that the market will take care of itself, the ideal market is self-regulating and it limits government intervention and/or involvement in the marketplace. Libertarianism expresses that people have certain natural rights and deprivation of those rights is immoral. The entitlement theory just like Hayek, also supports a market system with little to none government intervention, this theory of justice is known by Robert Nozick. Nozick’s entitlement theory is based on the following three principles: one, a person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in acquisition is entitled to that holding; second, a person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in transfer, from someone else entitled to the holding, is entitled to the holding; and third, no one is entitled to a holding except by repeated ap plications of 1 and 2 (Anarchy, State, and Utopia 1974, p.151). According to the entitlement theory, people should only possess what they are actually entitled to according to these principles. Many of these theories are seen throughout the cases from the book Ethics and the Conduct of Business by John R. Boatright. Case 3.2 â€Å"Exporting Pollution† is perfect example that includes different perspectives and insights into such theories. The case summarizes as follows, Rebbeca Wright, an assistant to the vice president of environmental affairs at Americhem, savors the opportunity to apply her  training to public policy analysis that her company faces. She is convinced that cost-benefit analysis, her specialty, provides a rational decision-making tool that cuts through personal feelings and lays bare the hard economic realities. Jim Donnelly, Rebecca’s boss, started her with a draft of a memo that she thought would create a furor if it were ever made public. Jim is preparing a memo of where to establish the company’s new location of their chemical plant. The main problem is that atmospheric pollutants caused by the plant will produce a persistent haze and some of the particles have been known to cause liver cancer in a small portion of people exposed. Four main points about this location are further discussed of what would happen if this new plant opened. Milton Friedman’s, Kant, and deontologic al ethics can be seen in this case. Friedman’s perspective for this case would have Rebecca to follow her duties because this would be doing what would bring the most profits and doing what the stakeholders would want. For deontological and Kant’s perspective on the other hand, it may be argued both ways. Rebecca must follow her duties regardless of the consequences she is working towards, because she has a specific duty she must perform. If she follows the rules she would benefit herself, the company, and all the stakeholders. At the time Kantian ethics still implies that one must follow moral law regardless of the consequences. So because this new plant may cause liver cancer and inflict pain on others, Rebecca can disagree with the company’s decision on manufacturing the new plant. For this case, it depends on which side Rebecca wishes to stand as to what is ethical or not. Whether to support or not the construction of the new plant has ethical attributes with both benefits and consequences.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Lavish Pay at Harvard† is another example great example that applies to some of the theories explained. Jack R. Meyer, the head of Harvard University’s $20 billion endowment fund was under pressure to change the compensation plan for the funds top investment managers due to the high amount of endowment the top five employees were receiving. A few Harvard alumni protested, their collective concern was that they thought the amount of money being paid to those folks was obscene. The compensation of the endowment fund managers far exceeded the salaries of Harvard faculty member and administrators, including the president, who made around half a million dollars. Also, the 5% hike n tuition for Harvard students in 2004 was equal  to the $0 million paid to the two highest earners. Although Harvard has the largest university endowment, the salaries and bonuses paid to the managers greatly exceeded the compensation paid at any other school. In response to the critics , Mr. Meyer noted that the alumni failed to recognize that the amount of bonuses paid does not add up to the value they are giving the university. The schools large endowment was used in many ways to benefit students; such as the coverage of 72% financial aid for undergraduate students, no tuition for families earning less than $60,0000, and it also enable the school to increase the faculty in growing areas and to expand facilities. In the end, Harvard decided to cap the compensation of fund managers. The result was that Jack Meyer and his team of managers left to start their own investment companies, at which many could earn 10 times than they did at Harvard. Teleological and Utilitarianism theories are two great theories that can be applied to this case. With both of these theories we can argue that the amount of money that was being used to pay these managers/employees was a reasonable pay due to what they were giving back to the college. Millions of students and faculty were benefiting from Mr. Meyer and his team, which that’s the main focus on both of these theories: actions are right if they are useful or are for t he benefit of the majority and the end justifies the means. Although they were getting paid large amounts of money their return on the student population had a higher impact. Some of Nozick’s beliefs can be seen in Case 3.4 â€Å"A Sticky Situation.† Kent Graham is an account manager for Dura-Stick Label Products, which has a well-deserved reputation for quality, technical knowledge, and service that enables the company to command a premium price for its products in a very competitive market. Kent has been with Dura Stick for 2 years and his accomplishments have been going downhill and fears his time with company may end leaving his wife and children to provide for. Kent calls Jack Olson at Spray-On Inc. about landing a large account. Jack informs Kent of a new product of theirs they would need labels for, which Jack promises they can do. Although, Kent later finds out Dura-Stick cannot make the desired products so must use another company and mark up the prices so Dura-Stick can still make profit. Kent uses the company’s image as leverage to convince Jack to take the deal. This situation can be argued in different ways for Kent and Dura Stick. Kent knows that he has to land a big time  account and he knows he must do so in order to provide for his family. Though he does lie to customer, he isn’t doing anything illegal. Nozick’s belief of just acquisition is an excellent example in this situation. As long as the seller had rightful ownership, the tr ansaction is just and proper, but if not, then possession is not proper and victims have to be compensated or transaction undone. In contradictive of Nozick, Aristotle’s theory of virtue would argue that this case is exactly what a person with virtuous ethics shouldn’t do. Virtues are traits of character that you must practice actively so that they become a part of you and shapes you into becoming a virtuous ethical person. Because of his actions, Kent is putting in jeopardy his honesty, loyalty, self-control virtues, shaping him in the wrong ethical approach. These theories emphasize different aspects of an ethical dilemma and lead to the most ethically correct resolution according to the guidelines within the ethical theory itself. People can use these theories and the wisdom of these philosophers to determine what is ethical and what is not. Though all decisions have their advantages and disadvantages, by applying this knowledge one can come closer to making the right ethical decision.

Arthur Millers Life and Influences Essay

Arthur Miller has been one of Americas best known play writers who emerged in the United States since World War II. He has been writing since the age of seventeen and bases his work on personal experiences while attacking political views. One of his best known works is The Death of a Salesman which is about a man named Willy Loman who tries to emerge in the business industry and present a better image of him in society. Another important play is The Crucible which is about the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts where people blame one another of being witches to save themselves. Through his plays, Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, Arthur Miller expresses his own personal life and criticizes the events of the second Red Scare after World War II. As a young adult, Arthur Miller worked in his father’s textile mill and would observe the behaviors of the employees. Miller would analyze his father, relatives or other hired business men working for his father, and saw how these men tried so hard to become successful because some couldn’t even sell anything. He would recognize how fast they would age because of so much work they went through just to try and rise economically. During the 1920s people felt that if they had money they would be accepted by society. If not then no one would care. Like many people Arthur Miller realized that the people in his father’s factory are disillusioned by the fact of becoming rich, successful and beating everyone else at the business game. While working there Miller started writing a short story in which he was influenced by the salesman in the factory. Manny Newman was one of Arthur Miller’s uncles that worked as a salesman in his father’s textile factory and after writing the short story his uncle’s life influenced Miller even more. Newman was often very competitive with the other salesman in the industry, even his own sons Buddy and Abby Loman. Buddy was the oldest son of Newman who was very athletic and popular with the girls but didn’t end up graduating from high school. Abby was his youngest son who was well on his way but still wasn’t sure about his life career. Miller said that â€Å"The Newman house hold was one in which you dared not lose hope and I would later think of it as a perfection of America for that reason†¦ It was a house trembling with resolution and shouts of victories that had not yet taken place but surely would tomorrow. â€Å"(Arthur Miller 3) It describes the disillusionment of the Newman family which later caused Arthur Miller to rewrite his short story, turn into a play and name it The Death of a Salesman. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Death of Salesman, he reflects upon the society he observed and their determination to succeed even when their dream was not going anywhere they wanted it to be. In the play, Miller asserts that â€Å"the underlying struggle of all such dramas is that of the individual attempting to gain his rightful position in society. †(Thompson 1). He compares Willy Loman to Manny Newman, his uncle, and tells the story of the family and his struggle to achieve his American dream of wealth. Like Newman, the character, Willy Loman tries to fit into society because society would not accept him as a failure. â€Å"He has based his own identity and self-worth on social acceptance—on how â€Å"well-liked† he is† (Thompson 2). Willy Loman constantly tried to find ways to sell things or become wealthy but he never succeeded. This causes Willy to feel out of place in society just like Newman and other people who weren’t wealthy in the 1920s because society would not care for the common man. Willy Loman is the biggest symbol in The Death of a Salesman; he is an important figure of society and commits himself to a fake society which blinds him from the values of human experience. In addition through his whole life and career, he has wanted to be wealthy but never succeeded his â€Å"American Dream†. Willy Loman â€Å"†¦Has completely sold himself to what is at best an anachronistic dream—that anyone can get ahead. This is what he has been brought up to believe, the promise of his mythic (salesman) heroes. † (Gordon 3). This shows how he always compared himself to other wealthy people like his brother and complained how his brother became wealthy but yet he never did when he had the same choice as his brother. He was disillusioned by the fact that he wanted a successful family so he even tried to push his own sons into the business industry because he believed it was the best choice for them. His two sons didn’t want to be salesmen and weren’t even good at it especially his son Biff. Willy worried about who Biff was going to be because he was the oldest and still didn’t have a manageable career or life. â€Å"He commits suicide to give his sons the only thing his society respects—cash. †(Gordon 2). Willy believed that he was more valuable dead than alive and was the only way he could give money to his sons. He wanted them to be recognized in the civilization so killing himself was the only alternative. Using his life insurance he would give money to his family making them wealthy and cceptable in society just like in his â€Å"American Dream†. Miller was also influenced by McCarthyism an important event in history and his life during the 1940s and 50s after world war two. Ever since the end of WWII the United States citizens have been blaming the social unrest on communist. Many people were afraid that the communists would take over and no one knew what communist looked like so they easily blamed people for the smallest things. â€Å"Communist rhetoric became common among displaced workers as well as artist and intellectuals† (McCarthyism 2009). Anybody who questioned or protested against laws in the United States would easily be blamed as a communist because they would be going against their own country. There was a growing paranoia as the time went on and many people wanted to stop communism from spreading which became the central theme of American policy both at home and work. Even then the people had already been losing their rights and privacy â€Å"Smith Act was passed, making it illegal to advocate the violent overthrow of government. Various loyalty programs designed to weed out communist from jobs in the federal government were put into place†¦ (McCarthyism 2009). The United States was coming into full chaos because even at one point they were blaming European immigrants of being communist because that is where it first emerged. Even many Russians were being deported to keep communism away according to some people and make the United States citizens feel safe and secure. McCarthyism first started with the senator Joseph McCarthy accusing others of being communist to only make himself look better. Joseph McCarthy was not the best senator and had many problems like temperance. Many people did not like him and he was afraid of losing his position so his only alternative was to seem like a hero. â€Å"McCarthy and his allies claimed that communist had infiltrated the government and other institutions†¦the attacks were baseless but nevertheless destroyed the careers of thousands of individuals. †(McCarthyism 2009). Calming others were communist made it look like he was saving the world. Many people were intimidated by McCarthy and some told the truth but McCarthy took the alternative of not believing them because it was more reasonable for some Americans to believe they told a lie instead of the truth. As a result the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created which attacked anybody who was blamed of being communist and Joseph McCarthy was a member of this Committee because he was the first to raise this paranoia even more. He took the advantage of the second Red Scare to make himself seem like a more productive senator. â€Å"HUAC members would browbeat their prey-some of whom were there on the basis of the flimsiest of evidence. Admitting their own past ties to the communist party†¦others who participated with them. (McCarthyism 2009). HUAC had the right to question anybody for any suspicion and invade their privacy. It showed how much America has changed because of some hysteria that people fell into because of a man wanting to be a hero. Arthur Miller was one of the targets of the HUAC members who was committed of being a communist by Joseph McCarthy. Joseph McCarthy often went against artist and other media arts members because they were the ones who often criticized the society in the United States through their media works. Arthur Miller was a playwright and had plays to show his work live during this time and they felt that he projected communism at his own plays. â€Å"He admitted that he had attended a meeting of communist writers, he refused to identify anyone he had met there and denied ever having been a member of the communist party† (Baughman 3). This made Arthur miller realize that the society then was like the society during the Puritan Era when people blamed each other of being witches. This later influenced him to write his book The Crucible a year later after his conviction. Millers The Crucible first started because of the accusations in United States which reflected upon the Salem witch trials in 1692. â€Å"Millers play employs these historical events to criticize the moments in human kinds history when reason and fact became clouded by irrational fears and the desire to place blame for society’s problems on others. †(DISCovering Authross,2003). Puritans accepted accusations and anything that might seem unreal so people could easily tell lies. They wouldn’t take reason into consideration and it involved hunting down and exposing of people suspected of being witches exactly like HUAC hunting down communist. Arthur miller wrote The Crucible as a commentary on McCarthyism then the actual Salem witch trials. Although the book does take place in Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials he wrote the book to show what was wrong with the American society. â€Å"Miller illustrates his conviction that one can assert his â€Å"personality dignity† and â€Å"act against the scheme of things that degrades. † (Gordon 2). Miller expresses that idea through John proctor who won’t cooperate with the court on the witch trails and has his own opinion on what to believe. He doesn’t fall into the ideas that witchcraft is taking over just like Miller doesn’t cooperate with HUAC or falls into the chaos going on in his time period. As a result of this book miller was accused of being a communist again and later left the U. S. because he felt that everything in the society has gone too far and became a British citizen. Through his works we can see how Miller attacks the society that supposedly â€Å"rewards† the people with freedom because it is their right. Miller creates allusions through real life experiences that he has been through which is one of the reasons why his works have been so influential and prestigious. McCarthyism played a big role on The Crucible reflecting a modern society with the old Puritan era society saying that society has and never will change. As for The Death of a Salesman we can see how much the American dream has blinded people to try and achieve something they most likely never will and try to be fake to achieve it. People need to learn to face reality and accept it how it is because many people are lost only because they won’t accept their own.