Background Checks: Give People a Second Chance

On every application for employment, there is always a section that asks about whether or not a person has ever had an felony charges against them, and to explain what they were if so. Despite the fact that employers are not â€Å"supposed† to discriminate against a candidate based on something like felony charges, there is no real way to qualify whether or not such discriminatory practices were exhibited in the candidate selection process. I would think it stands to reason that most employers will take one look at that box checked â€Å"yes† and move that application to the â€Å"no† pile.And this is only one question. Nowadays, most professional and corporate employers will conduct background checks on job candidates. This can be a problem for a person who has made mistakes in their life but has changed their behaviors and is looking for honest employment, and this is why the practice of running full background checks is basically set up to continually punish t hose who have made mistakes in the past. According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, many â€Å"negative† records are expunged from employer background checks after 7 years under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).This includes arrests over 7 years ago, criminal records compiled by law enforcement agencies, and bankruptcies over 10 years old. However, much of this is public record, and though a standard background check might not yield this information, there are plenty of private information brokers on the web that will track it down, and this information is often not verified by the broker (such as charges being dropped against a person who was arrested—the broker might report only the arrest). As Crane notes in â€Å"The ABCs of Pre-Employment Background Checks†: â€Å"Unfortunately, there is a lot of inaccurate information out there.Just like the mistakes that may pop up on your credit report, bad data can turn up in the course of a background check. And t his wrong information can cost you a job. † Not only is there a stunning lack of privacy in this age of electronics, there is also no guarantee that the information being reported is accurate, which causes immediate problems for the individual applying for the job. Also, despite the fact that, for example, arrests made over 7 years ago are not supposed to be reported in a background check, there is nothing stopping the employer from asking, â€Å"Have you ever been arrested?†, a question which acts as a double-edged sword for someone who had been arrested several years before. In the cases of individuals who might have something in their past that they’re not proud of, information that can cost them their fair opportunity for employment is readily available to potential employers, even if it the FCRA specifically rules against it. Because of these Internet-based information brokers, there is no guarantee that information that shouldn’t be reported isn†™t still getting into the hands of the employer, and this is information that creates an inherent bias against the candidate in the employer’s mind.Information about long-ago prior arrests, fiscal irresponsibility in the form of previous bankruptcies, and criminal records which are not part of the public domain are easily acquired in a background check, and potential employers use this information as a major strike against the candidate. There is plenty of other information that is legitimately acquired in the course of a background check that can be detrimental to the perceived character of the person applying for the job.Information such as driving records, credit reports, interviews with neighbors and former employers, medical records, court records, and drug test records (just to name a few) are all standard-practice as part of an employer background check. Checking the box that authorizes an employer to conduct a background check opens a door into a person’s pas t in ways they might not have initially considered and affecting their chances at employment in ways they might not even conceive.It is understandable that in the wake of 9/11 and as a result of a recent surge in lawsuits due to negligent hiring practices (in which an employee caused harm to others), employers are practicing greater caution in their hiring practices. But by going as full-throttle as they are with the extensive amount of information being made available to them, they are essentially weeding out candidates who are talented, qualified, and educated but who have a spot on their records which leads to automatic disqualification of consideration by potential employers.People deserve to have a second chance in life, especially when they have taken all of the steps necessary to better themselves. It is grossly unjust that a prior arrest or criminal charge, especially one that isn’t even supposed to be part of a standard background check, would follow a person for the rest of their working lives, making it impossible for them to work in a professional field (especially when the rules as set by the FCRA are moot in cases involving government positions or positions that pay $75,000 per year or more).Let’s say a person, Joe Doe, has an old petty larceny charge, which many states consider a misdemeanor, but then loses a potential job offer because of it. The system is set up to continually punish those who have made mistakes in their past. In the above example of the felony charge check box (and a â€Å"felony† can be as simple as extorting $2,000 or being caught urinating in public), there is no way to avoid checking â€Å"yes† when the proceeding background check will show all of the related information, and act as an automatic disqualification for a person’s employment.When background checks are so pervasive and INVASIVE, what other options or opportunities does a person have left? This is why the system needs to be ch anged, and tighter restrictions need to be placed on what information is made available to the public. No record older than 7 years—criminal, felony, bankruptcy, or otherwise—should be made available for anyone to see.Only in the cases of serious potential endangerment (such as the higher-level sex offenders) should records older than 7 years be made public; otherwise people are being continually punished for old mistakes that they have more than rectified by paying their dues (either with community service, probation, monetary repayment, etc. ). It isn’t just that a person shouldn’t lose an opportunity due to long-ago mistakes; the reality is that employers WILL and DO discriminate based on that.In order for people to have the second chance they deserve, the restrictions on background checks and public records need to be tightened, to protect people who are trying to rehabilitate themselves. Otherwise, there is no rehabilitation to be had because the cha nce is never really given. References Crane, Amy B. â€Å"The ABCs of Pre-Employment Background Checks. † Online. Available: www. bankrate. com Fair Credit Reporting Act. Online. Available: www. ftc. gov Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Online. Available: www. privacyrights. org

Discussion of the four types of budgeting system

In Business terms if we talk about budgeting it is the ability of a manager to plan and allocate the available funds to different departments of the organization. This enables the organization to efficiently allocate the funds to more productive areas and cut back expenses from the less productive areas.This includes utilization of assets to generate income and public relationships. Normally budgeting is done by accountants, financial experts and representative of the respective department whose budget is being formed (Wisegeek, n.d, n.p)In daily life also budgeting is an effective way to determine the monthly living expenses keeping in view the bills of previous month. Say for example if an individual is earning $4,500 per month, by deducting his known bills from this amount before they even come, he can forecast his household budget, now instead of assigning fixed dollar amounts he can assign percentages to the rest of the sundries (Wisegeek, n.d, n.p).A successful budget is neithe r too strict nor too lenient but a balance between the two extremes because there are some expenses which are to be paid in full so it should be the strict side of the budget. In organizations, each and every department should know their upper limits on spending.The reason of forming a periodic budget is to have a clear cut view of the limits in term of expenditure (Wisegeek, n.d, n.p).Another view in budgeting is that not every project can be assigned a fixed dollar amount because an organization cannot forecast each and every expense and here comes the lenient side of the budget in which we are working with the percentages.Also there is always the chance of unexpected which requires immediate attention, so in that case if an organization or individual has fixed his budget he they would not be able to change or reallocate it. So what accountants and financial experts do is that they regularly adjust the figures according to their needs (Wisegeek, n.d, n.p).When the inflow of income is greater than the outflow most of the people negligent about budgeting, but those who have formed a practical budget and they follow it can survive even greater financial setbacks (Wisegeek, n.d, n.p).Traditional (Incremental) BudgetingTraditional or incremental budgeting is the most common type of budgeting used today, which includes forecasting for the whole year and no change is bought in the whole budgeting period. Because of simplicity and easy coordination traditional approach is mostly liked by the organizations (lmmattersonline, n.d, n.p).Imperative approach now a day is criticized from modern organizations. They say that this type of budgeting no longer serves the needs of organization, because mostly budget is timed incorrectly (for too long or for too short) period, depends on wrong measures (too basic or too composite), also too stiff in changing global environment and some times too political (which shows that benefits are only derived by upper management)If we look at the time period of traditional budgeting its fixed and specific, normally starting at the beginning of a fiscal year. The forecasted values of the budget also remains same during the whole cycle of the budget, the process of forecasting values is done keeping in view the values from the previous budget and the expectations are also made by looking at them.Finally the determination of goals is done by the top management, which is then communicated to lower management for implementation (lmmattersonline, n.d, n.p).The advantages of traditional or imperative budgeting approach are that it is easy to form, simple to manage and easy to evaluate. Furthermore every one’s goals are clear and accountability can easily be done (lmmattersonline, n.d, n.p).On the other hand disadvantages of traditional or imperative budgeting approach are that is unable to cater the needs of modern organizations and that the decision making during the year becomes difficult because of inflexibility in budget (lmmattersonline, n.d, n.p).Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB)Zero based budgeting (ZBB) is an alternate of traditional budgeting approach mostly used by government or not for profit organizations. Using this approach means that managers have to justify all expenditure and not only the changes from previous year. The benchmark for this approach is zero rather than last year’s budget (accountingformanagement, n.d, n.p).If we compare zero based budgeting (ZBB) with the traditional or imperative budgeting approach, in incremental approach the managers start from the last year budget and then add or subtract according to the predicted needs, taking last year’s budget for granted as baseline, while on the other hand zero based budgeting approach requires considerable documentation from the managers to justify the budget (accountingformanagement, n.d, n.p).Which not only includes the master budget document but also the decision packages showing all the activities of the part icular department ranked according to their importance and the cost of each activity should also have to be determined.Top executives then cross check the decision packages and cut back the expenses from less important areas (accountingformanagement, n.d, n.p).Zero based budgeting (ZBB) is considered to be a good approach; the only issue with it is the number of times the review is carried out. As this approach is quite time consuming and too costly to justify on an annual basis, also that annual reviews become mathematical and the purpose of budgeting is lost (accountingformanagement, n.d, n.p).For some managers zero based budgeting (ZBB) is quite helpful for others it is nothing but the wastage of resources like time and money. So it’s up to an individual what he chooses? (accountingformanagement, n.d, n.p).The advantages of zero budgeting approach (ZBB) are that the resources are utilized properly, and the identification of need and benefits become justified. ZBB also lead towards cost effective ways. It helps to identify inflated budgets and then helps the service oriented organizations to identify their output.The decentralization is also one of the benefits which increases the motivation of staff and gives them the message that they are also accountable for their actions (accountingformanagement, n.d, n.p).

Susana and the Elders

Susanna and the Elders On my trip to the Norton Simon Museum, a painting labeled Susanna and the Elders, Flemish women Jan Massys, really stood out to me. The specifications of this oil on canvas work of art are 42 x 77-1/2 in. (106. 7 x 196. 9 cm). The painting was made in 1564, during the Renaissance, and portrays an example of the religious tension of that time and reflects the era after the start of the Reformation. My first thought when gazing upon Susanna and the Elders bad things are about to happen; there is two old men hiding behind a planter box and appear to be conspiring an evil plot.These men are dressed in red, which in this case, it must represent last that they are feeling toward Susanna. The focal point is Susanna looking as though she is getting ready for bed or perhaps to take a bath. Also, she is dressed in very nice cloths so appears to be of noble stature. I should also not that she is conntroposto in her posture and the way her cloths fall on to her body. To th e right, there is two women that look as if they are trying to lure her to safety, away from the creepy men behind her. Perhaps they are her loyal servants.This all appears to be taking place in a fancy garden which gives me the idea that she vulnerable in that she is secluded. The men must have planned ahead to sneak up on her out here rather than around other people furthering my suspicion of their cruel intentions. One last thing I noticed was the little statue in the bottom right corner; however, I can’t make much sense of it. I know it means something, but I just don’t get it. If you follow the lines of the stone benches they lead you to a point just beneath Susanna’s head which suggest the use of perspective.The use of lines is evident again when looking at the fine detail in the trees that surround this scene. On, a side note, the tree that the old man is holding on to appears to be minerature in size, as if her is this evil giant. Perhaps this is meant t o symbolize their dominance and her vulnerability. Massys placed the buildings in the background so they are proportional to the balanced figures in the foreground. Also, it looks as if there is use on linear perspective, especially in the stone walls; they look at if they are wrapped around Susanna keeping her safe from these bad men.The light source is coming from the top right of the painting and appears that it is shining directly on to Susana, almost making her this heavenly entity. I think this is a symbol that God will keep her safe from these men. It is a soft light that that allows the colors Massys chose to stand out and add to the chiaroscuro. Though the Chiroscuro is light, Massys makes decent use of it. Susana is lit up signifying that she is pure and innocent and the creepy guys behind the tree are in the shadows giving off the idea that they are evil with malicious intent.The deep blood red that the two guys are wearing is symbolic of their lust for Susanna. Red, I be lieve, sex or passion whether it be good or bad. The gold that Susanna is wearing gives her some authority in the painting and also an angle like presence as gold represents the heavens. The colors seem very realistic and must closely portray what this actual place must have looks like. Everything in the painting looks as if it is overlapping and this adds to the drama. Also, the figures seem to be very strategically placed in the setting.There is Susana in the center, the to evil old men on the left and the maidens on the right giving the scene much balance. It looks as though he may have started from the back of the painting and moved forwads as the object got closer. He probably started with the building in the back and then moved his way up to the human figures. Even though the figures are put fairly close together there is obvious depth. If there wasn’t any perspective in the painting I don’t think it would have depth and would come out rather flat and dull.The pe rception of depth in this work of are seems to be very important in composing the message. The use of color might add some dimension but without depth they would still seem flat and dull. There are many things that suggest motion in this picture. Susanna’s hand is stretched out giving the impression that she is reaching out to them. The maids are pointing at theselves and also where they are going looking as if they are asking Susanna to follow them. They also look rather worried for her safety.The maids are leaning forward while both of their right legs are extended behind them preparing for their next step making a very strong implication that they are walking rather quick. I don’t know if this is just me, but it looks as if the clouds fading into the distance faster than normal perhaps to represent the passing of time and they are golden suggesting the presence of God. I think that the way Massys has the two lurking men staring at Susanna and the two maids looking a t her from the opposite direction make all the characters one.Also their heads all lay on the same plane adding to the composition. The two benches that are on either side of Susanna lead the eye back into the painting so you experience the whole scene. It’s almost as if they are a Ying and Yang; the men want her to do bad things to them and her maids want to protect her and her good name. The creepy looks on these guys’ face give me the impression that they will blackmail the women in to getting what they want from her.Also, unfortunately, they also appear to be powerful men and most likely have the means of doing so rather easily. The look as if perhaps they are part of the clergy somehow, and this ties back to the representation of the corruption going on in this time. Perhaps Massys was Protestant and was trying to convey her view of the Catholic order. Also their heads all lay on the same plane adding to the composition. The two benches that are on either side of Susanna lead the eye back into the painting so you experience the whole scene.

Multinational Companies and Global Human Resource Strategies Coursework

Multinational Companies and Global Human Resource Strategies - Coursework Example The expansion into new business environments across borders presents massive human resource challenges as a business must ensure cultural and managerial opportunity but also consider the needs of the new market. Various international human resource management and staffing policies have been developed to ensure that the internationalization and expansion programs are not affected. Coke Mexico has embraced a number of international staffing policies most of which were adopted from the pioneer years of their entry into the Mexican market. At coke Mexico, a mixture of different international staffing policies has been adopted to ensure smooth operation of the company and continuity of its culture and business practices. Such staffing policies include ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric staffing approach all of which are governed by different principles. This paper will evaluate some of the staffing strategies that coke Mexico has adopted over the years and also review some of the available policies that it can be adapted to ensure continuity and smooth operations. The paper will also provide recommendations on the order of strategic preferences that the company can adapt based on the Mexican situation and business environment. The world has witnessed rapid internationalization and globalization over the last decade and this has been attributed to the search for new markets and global influence. The expansion of a business entity beyond the domestic boundary while maintaining the commitment to the local market calls for the adoption of complex business structures and strategies (Cooke, 2003). The effective management of human resources is one common determinant of internationalization success and the integration of foreign cultures into the operations of the  business.

The Business Plan (your coursework) has a maximum of 4000 words Essay

The Business Plan (your coursework) has a maximum of 4000 words - Essay Example They turn to the internet to seek for the most competitive prices only to find sites which offer brokerage services between buyers and sellers on textbook. Due to the high brokerage fees associated with monopolistic giants such as eBay and Amazon, the students ends up purchasing at high cost. Students or people who intend to sell their textbooks are also offered little money as the purchase price of their books (Seth, 2008, p. 56). Establishment of an online used textbook retailing website that has the confidence of students would come in handy to bridge the gap between seller and buyers of this important commodity. In classes with a large number of students, students find it hard to communicate about assignments and other education-related issues such as teacher evaluation. There is a need of a platform which will gives students a free and fair opportunity to interact and communicate with their student leaders. The monopoly in online textbook retailing industry segment can be broken down by an increase in competition in this industry. This will not succeed unless the online retailers receive utmost confidence from their users who are dominantly students. Therefore, formation of a business that is close and has the goodwill of students plays an important role in reducing the high cost of used textbooks. Creation of partnerships between the parties and stakeholders in the industry will serve well in reduction of operational costs. Reduction of the level of monopoly in this market will be beneficial to students who not only act as buyers, but also sellers of used textbooks (Steve and Stephen, 2010, p. 176), 1.1 Solution By-passing the colleges bookshops, students will be able to purchase sell and trade utilized textbooks directly to others. The seller can get more cash than the bookshop will pay by selling textbooks to other students and the buyer can spend less than the bookshop charges. Additionally, students can sell computers, used CDs, class notes and much m ore through an online market (William, 2006, pg. 90). The University Cafe will also extend services like teacher assessments, weblogs, classifieds, specialized content and retail. It will base itself as the topping online student interaction market by blending wide market oriented expertise on internet technologies to yield income while providing a win-win resolution for students. The University Cafe will attain dominance in the market by using a broad area knowledge, a local foundation marketing scheme, a special managerial team, advanced software, and shaping of strategic alliances and partnerships with other companies in the college market. 1.2 Market The college student market in the U.S. is a developing but underserved niche. As per the U.S. Department of Education, this market is expected to grow from 15.8 to 17.2 billion students in the coming five years. This year, college students are anticipated to spend above $200 billion according to Paul (Paul, 2009, p.211). 1.3 Opportu nity At the close of every semester, college students seek to find means of acquiring â€Å"quick cash†. One of the means they use is the sale of old textbooks though this is operated by the college bookshop. The students only get a fraction of the book’s value due to college bookshops monopolizing the market. The bookshops receive supernormal profits by

International Perspective on Environmental Health Assignment

International Perspective on Environmental Health - Assignment Example The major reason for the change in climate within the Vietnam is because of the activities increasing the emission of greenhouse gases. There are a lot of options for climate change mitigation for Vietnam. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases below the current levels, or reducing the emissions in the current decade could offset the projected global emissions growth. The efficiency of distribution and supply could improve for better energy supplements. Similarly, using vehicles with cleaner diesel, fuel efficiency or hybrid vehicles could help promote transport solutions. Moreover, shifting the mode of transport from road to public and rail could also promote climate change mitigation (1). According to UNEP, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution by replacing fossil fuels with bio-fuels is of primary concern right now (2, p.543). According to the report by Pham, Vietnam has a large potential of agricultural and biomass by-products. An estimate of 53.45 million tons of agricultural by-products and 25.09 million tons of wood biomass has been recorded for Vietnam (3). According to the experts from the IMHEN (Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment) at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment claimed that the impact of climatic change can cause negative effects on the lives of the people and economy. The government of Vietnam was a keen participant in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climatic Change, which shows that the government is keen to make changes in the field of developing measures against the negative climatic changes. According to a lot of studies carried out, it has been revealed that Indonesia is at a great risk of the impacts that will be caused by the climatic changes. These revelations have been backed up by the Asian Development Bank (4), Dasgupta et. Al (5, p. 3-4) and Yusuf and Francisco (6). Indonesia plays an important role in the global mitigation actions because of its

Speech about company's new policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Speech about company's new policy - Essay Example considering that as the demand for a job position increases and we need a workforce that ensures quality of production, then this necessarily calls for restructuring our policies concerning management of healthcare costs. In this regard, hence, we ought to contemplate and ask whether we should establish a policy of differential premiums for lifestyle-related risks to health or adopt a hands-off policy on an employee’s private behavior and charge the same amount for healthcare coverage across-the-board. We can decide if the first option works more suitably as we examine ways by which to implement a successful premium differentials program that includes a reward system for participative workers. Then we may also deliberate on the points of advantage with respect to the second alternative if we see in our investigation that private behavior must be further addressed so that while one choice focuses on the targeted individuals to avail the premium, the hands-off policy would apply to everyone, obese and non-obese employees alike. Eventually, as similarities and differences are drawn in this process, we can come up with a sound evaluation of which policy directs our organization’s potential to transform improper habits leading to the state of obesity. Through the policy of differential premiums, we gain the opportunity of monitoring our obese employees by making them enroll in a program that promotes cessation of drinking sodas or eating food with high content of sugar. Under this scheme, we can reasonably impose a significant periodic charge for the payment of premium provided that active participants would receive monetary incentives on exhibiting cooperation via renewed attitude and lifestyle. This setting should encourage workers to quit or reduce former inappropriate habits to larger extent and thus, improve their performance at work once health conditions have normalized. We may opt to grant them an annual bonus amount or have them obtain a couple of bucks

ACT 23 The US Govenment and the Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ACT 23 The US Govenment and the Economy - Essay Example According to the model, C indicates consumption by consumers, X and M represent exports and imports respectively. The ‘I’ and ‘G’ represent government investment and government spending respectively. It is impossible to compute the GDP without considering the government’s investment in the public sector and its spending. Government’s investments take the form of gross capital formation and final consumption expenditure. For example, government investment in gross capital formation entails investing on projects that ought to derive future benefits to the public such as infrastructure. On the other hand, investments on final consumption entail purchasing goods and services that ought to satisfy the public’s immediate needs. The government’s spending forms the third component of the GDP model. Spending in this case refers to the act of obtaining and releasing money to the economy. Such a phenomenon is referred to as the fiscal policy. The government controls the monetary system through treasury bonds and bills. The government sells the treasury bonds and bills to the public to reduce the amount of funds in the economy. On the other hand, the government may buy the treasury bonds and bills from the public to increase the amount of funds in the economy. As such, the government controls the flow of money by trading on the treasury bonds and bills. The government’s role in the economy should not cease. In fact, its role ought to increase. This is possible through the monetary policy. The government has control over the flow of funds in the economy. In addition, the flow of funds in the economy dictates economic growth. However, such flow ought to be kept at a manageable level to avoid inflation or slow economic growth in the case of excessive funds and a deficit respectively. The government ought to apply stringent measures to control how commercial banks implement the monetary policy. The public ought to access funds at a

Law and Social Order. Criminal justice in Canada Essay

Law and Social Order. Criminal justice in Canada - Essay Example Law and Social Order. Criminal justice in Canada In Canada, the criminal justice system stabilizes the objectives of crime control, prevention and protection of citizens’ rights (Grossman & Roberts, 15). The general justice system consists of three branches; legislative, adjudications, and finally corrections. The above three branches are very important in the criminal justice system, the legislative branch deals with the process of making laws that govern the country and assist In the implementation, of justice, in the country. While the adjudications part is where judgments are passed, and justice is accomplished, the corrections include jails and other probation facilities. Offenders are taken to the places whenever they are found guilty, one stays in the correctional facilities depending on the magnitude of one’s case. The police enhance the activities of criminal justice systems; they are the first individuals who are contacted when citizens have any problems. The courts serve as avenues where disputes are settle d and whomever, the judge in this case passes judgment and has the final say in the court.The criminal justice system is obliged to main functions, which all aim at protecting the society. It aims at controlling crime, preventing criminal activities from occurring now and then and finally maintaining justice In line with the laid down rules or the constitution (Klein, 695). The society makes it task of the institutions of the criminal justice system to control, prevent crime and maintenance of justice; law enforcement, courts and corrections. The police are responsible for law enforcement at both local and state levels. Discretion is judgment and judgment is exercised by applying ethics and values to facts. Actors in the criminal justice system substitute their judgments for formal statutory punishments in order to influence criminal justice system by the means. It allows judges to create their own judgments depending on their own views even if these judgments are not in line with t he rule of law. Criminal trials in Canada are done either before the judge alone or before the judge and jury. Although discretion is especially important in the criminal justice system, it can be abused. Some judgments are made wrongly, and the victims end up being charged for the crimes they did not commit. This is very common in the many courts where the judge makes a judgment without proper evidence and from hearsays. The police can abuse discretion by arresting a suspected criminal and putting them in jail for a crime not committed (Canadian Bar Association, 5). Although they are aimed at protecting the people of the community, they should have good evidence before making a claim. Law enforcers sometimes term investigations as a waste of time and money and the suspects are pushed to courts to be punished. The criminal justice system utilizes discretion to lessen the pressures they have in their system. The agencies are allowed to make decisions depending on the weight of the cr ime convicted; most of them are placed on home correction in order to avoid the congestion of jails and other correctional facilities. Therefore, most of the times discretionary decisions are based on the limitation of resources. However, not all discretionary decisions are based on this; they can also be based on politics, for example, police crackdown activities in search of something. Some people, however, argue that the use of discretion in the criminal justice system is not fair as some cases are withdrawn without a proper basis. They say that equality should be observed in the passing of judgments and that all cases should be treated in the same manner. This should not be the case because one cannot compare drunkenness while driving and a person who has been

What Patriotism Means to Me Essay Example for Free

What Patriotism Means to Me Essay Patriotism, the word itself makes me think of people full of loyalty and pride. It makes me think of those who are loyal to their country, their country’s ideas, and those who fought and sacrificed their lives for the freedom of their country. You might be asking yourself, â€Å"What does patriotism mean?† To me it means a major love of a country and the willingness to die for that country. I love my country and honor those who sacrificed everything for our country’s freedom. I am inspired by those patriots who have spoken out and fought for our freedom. I am also inspired by the men and woman today who are still fighting and sacrificing their lives for our glorious country. Our forefathers were dreaming of a country with liberty and justice for all. They sacrificed everything to make this dream a reality and that is true patriotism. They fought against the most powerful army at that time. There are many examples of patriotism in the patriots of the revolutionary war. â€Å"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.†-Nathan Hale those were his last words right before he was hung by the British on September 22, 1775. Those words truly define that he was a patriot. He spoke those words so confidently. There are many more such as, George Washington, who boldly lead our country into battle, Samuel Adams who founded the sons of liberty, Patrick Henry who boldly spoke, â€Å"Give me liberty or give me death.†, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere, and Thomas Paine. In my opinion they were all good patriots with the same dream; to create a nation full of liberty, which they did successfully by risking their lives to create this nation, our nation, full of liberty and justice for all! We will fight to keep it this way!

Review and Analysis Of The Movie The Blind Side

Review and Analysis Of The Movie The Blind Side John Lee Hancocks film entitled The Blind Side describes the struggle of a Black man to become part of the White society. Michael Oher, the main character in the story shows the audience how a black man experiences mistreatment and discrimination from his white community which is the common trend of American mainstream. However, the film also wants to deconstruct the traditional perceptions towards White Americans through the Tuohy family. In this movie, the director shows how White Americans like the Tuohy family accept Michael for who he is and what he wants to be. The Tuohys become Michaels enduring power, armor, and salvation as he faces his new path of transformation, social acceptance, and immersion. From this sense, it can be perceived that Hancocks film depicts the notion of popular culture as it emphasizes the different issues of the society such as race, racism, cultural differences, cultural interaction, and other ideas about culture and society. The films goal is to show how Michael is being accepted in a social norm through his new found family. For many years, Michael has lived with different foster families, but ends up leaving them. He feels that he does not fit because of the different family situations, status, and lifestyle. However, Michael is not just a common individual, he has a unique character that leads him to popularity. In the beginning of his life with the Tuohys, he detaches himself from them. This is primarily because of the fact that he is a Black American while the Tuohys are White. Throughout the discussion of Michaels life, the film is presented with minimal flashbacks-only if there is a need, such as the depiction of Michaels mother and other important details that help establish the main characters personality. The film tries to express the situation that happens when a Black American becomes part of a White American family. The conflict of the story is, Will Michael fit into his new found home? Having an extreme difference in terms of race, lifestyle, social background, and social status, the two races are combined together under one roof to describe the possible repulsion that might occur as well as the attraction that can happen between them. However, it is not only this internal repulsion or attraction that is presented as a conflict of the film, but also the people within the Tuohys social surroundings. Since Leigh Anne and Sean are influential individuals because of their profession, people around them think that adopting Michael taints their good reputation. This is one of the major struggles of the Tuohy family along with Michael, but they stand up against their foes and prove to these people that Michael is more civilized than those who continue to criticize him. The concept of popular culture emerges in this film in three distinct themes: racism within the football team, the lifestyle of the socialites, and when an upcoming superstar is made, people keep an eye on this individual. According to John Storey (2009), race and racism are not natural or inevitable phenomena; they have a history and are a result of human actions and interactions (pg. 168). Logically, racism occurs in television, radio, movies, and other types of media. Most of the time, these industries use racism as a form of stereotyping. That is why common people utilize these ideals, they think that it is accepted in the society. This is what happened to Michael. He faces discrimination inside his own classroom. Even his teacher demonstrates the differences of how a White teacher interacts with a Black student like him. It is a form of stereotype that the media continues to express towards its audience. Another example of popular culture that exists in this film is the lifestyle of the socialites. For example, Leigh Annes lifestyle is totally extravagant. She can wear any clothes she wants. She can eat at any restaurant because she can afford it. This is a form of popular culture because it is how a rich woman is perceived in television or movies. Her lifestyle is similar with Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City. They are both perceived as extravagant women who can achieve everything they want-because they have money. Both characters share the same culture. Storey (2009) explains that the social definition of culture- culture as a particular way of life, culture as expression of a particular way of life, and cultural analysis as a method of reconstituting a particular way of life helps us to establish an understanding of the shared values of a group or class of people (p. 45). This is a common depiction of a rich woman in every movie. A rich woman is not perceived as a sad and unhapp y individual when it comes to her personal satisfaction. She is described as a flawless and sophisticated character that has special powers when it comes to her personal needs and luxuries. The last example of popular culture in this film is when Michael begins his football career. When the football coach, Burt Cotton sees Michaels potential, he accepts the main character as a student of Wingate Christian School. This is also the beginning of Michaels popularity. People, even the coaches and owners of different universities, want Michael to become part of their school. That is why despite Michaels academic records and race, they are interested in him. This scenario is common in American culture and it is common in Western culture to portray such situations in television and movies. People begin to keep their eyes on Michaels actions and achievements because he becomes popular and he soon becomes part of their lifestyle. When Michael becomes popular, people suddenly start to observe and scrutinize his actions. Michael needs to prove that he is worthy to become a student of Ole Miss. Everyone starts to take an interest in his academic transformation because he needs to have a 2.50 GPA to be able to get the NCAA Division I scholarship. Some people are trying to scrutinize him, like the interviewer of Ole Miss. This interview is done to prove that his decision to attend Ole Miss is based on his personal judgments and ideologies and not by the Tuohys simply because they are alumni and members of the boosters for the university. It only proves that because of his popularity, he experiences scrutiny and sometimes immoral judgment from other people-which is part of society. Culture plays an important role in establishing the character of a person. People have different culture, but through cultural relativism, they become connected. According to Storey (2009), cultural relativism is the acceptance and appreciation of cultures or ways of living different from your own; not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms. The Tuohys accept and appreciate Michaels culture-despite the fact that his social and family background seems unacceptable because it contains negativities. As these individuals share their thoughts and identities, they become related to one another-and soon become part of each others lives. There are a set of laws in the society that people can not change. This is called norm or the rules of society based on their values; standards of behavior governing specific social situations that are established by societys values (Storey, 2009). The Tuohys society or community has specific sets of moral values. They believe that Black Americans are unacceptable within their community or surroundings because they are the root of negativities. This is also an example of high culture being looked at as a superior culture. The Tuohys do not change this norm, but they create their own values by accepting Michael and believe in him and his capabilities as a person. A persons ideology makes the culture more sophisticated. According to Storey (2009), Ideology differs from culture, in that it adds a political dimension to the discussion on culture. It suggests that relations of power and politics shape the cultural and ideological landscape. The Tuohys ideology is different from the standard culture of the society, but because they are part of their community, they have to express their ideology. It is hard in the beginning to show their different point of view, but they win the battle against their foes because Michael shows that he is different from the stereotypic character of a Black American.

The Theory Of Collective Security In The Un International Law Essay

The Theory Of Collective Security In The Un International Law Essay After it had been established in 1945, when World War II came to an end, the United Nation (UN) adopted the notion of collective security as a security arrangement. This arrangement was to ensure that all of the states under the shadow of the United Nations Organization would cooperate collectively to provide security for one another. However, to a great extent, the structure and practice of the UN sometimes sways from the theory of collective security. In this regard, this essay will first provide a definition of collective security. Subsequently, a thorough analysis will be given of the extent that the UN has been adopting the theory of collective security. According to Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Dictionary of World Politics (Hemel Hempstead, 1990), the theory of collective security is a theory in international relations. According to them nations achieve security from attack by collective military agreements of all nations with each other to join forces against any aggressor. They believe that it is an alternative to balance of power  [1]  . What is meant by balance of power here is that parity of power between nations is contributing to peace, since it hold backs any one nation from being involved in war with another. As a result, weak nations may be supporting common stability by arming, but the strong nations possibly destabilize balance by going on arming. Furthermore, in its research titled Conflict Research Consortium, the University of Colorado, USA defines collective security as a type of coalition building strategy where each country agrees not to attack other countries and to defend them against any other poss ible attacks. The principal line of reasoning is that an attack against one, is an attack against all.  [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  . Collective security theory is different from collective defense which means a coalition of nations which have contracts to protect its own group from outside attacks.   Examples of collective defense are NATO and the Warsaw Pact. On the other hand the UN is an attempt at collective security.   Advocators of collective security believe that it is more effective way to security than individual countries trying to act alone, as weaker countries cannot possibly defend themselves  [3]  . Although collective security arrangements are designed to aid international cooperation, security is not provided by the United Nations Organization for all its members. When United Nations laws are breached, powerful countries are not always judged the same way as weaker countries. On the other hand, some other scholars and diplomats believe that the security concept is misguided. In other words, it is bewildered because it is sometimes misused and even confused with other concepts such as mutual security agreements among the members of alliance such as NATO countries. Thus, practices are not subjected to the United Nations regulations. Not only this, sometimes cooperative security is applied by invading other countries, occupying lands, destroying economy and property and killing people. Thus, it becomes military alliance which leads to military confrontations and accordingly endangers peace and transfers the meaning of collective security to be an aggressive coalition. The role of the UN is activated by the Security Council which responds to the requirements of the members of the United Nations in voting and making decisions. The United Nations Security Council consists of 15 members: five permanent ones and ten temporary ones with two-years terms. The permanent countries are the USA, the UK, France, Russia and China. In theory, the task of these countries includes applying the theory of collective security when there are emerging issues. For example, under Chapter Six of the UN Charter, Pacific Settlement of Disputes  [4]  , the Security Council is entitled to investigate disputes and all other situations which may lead to such disputes. Thus, the Security Council may vote for appropriate procedures in order to keep peace and settlement using all possible ways such as collective security procedures. These decisions can only be made by the consent of at least 9 out of the 15 members of the Security Council members and none of the five permanent members should object or vote against such decisions. Furthermore, it is supposed that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a principal organ of the UN should be charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Thus, it should use its powers, according to the United Nations Charter, to establish peacekeeping operations and might be obliged to also establish international sanctions in addition to the authorization of military action. However, such powers should only be exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions. For example, under Chapter Seven, the Council has enough authorities to decide what procedures should be taken in case there are some situations where there are threats to peace, breaching peace or some acts of aggression against peace, people or countries. In this case, the Security Council has the power to use armed force in order to keep or restore peace and collective security. Examples of these measures were when there was an armed action by the UN in Korea in 1959 during the Kore an War and the use of coalition forces in Iraq and Kuwait in the year 1991 when Kuwait was liberated from Iraqi Forces. Moreover, the UNs role in international collective security is illustrated by the UN Charter. According to this charter, the Security Council is given the power to consider any situation which threatens international peace. The Security Council can also advise some procedures for peaceful resolution of any dispute. In addition, the Security Council can ask other member nations to totally or partially break off economic relations, sea, air, postal, and radio communications, and even diplomatic relations with any country against whom a decision is taken by the Security Council. Additionally, The Security Council can also use military force if it is deemed as necessary. However, it is sometimes possible to manage and avoid conflicts, by keeping the focus on cooperation  [5]  . Despite what has been mentioned above in regard to the adaptation of the Security Council resolutions and the theory of collective security, member states of the UN and also members of the Security Council have from time to time breached laws and regulations, hence undermining the theory of collective security. Although the United States of America is the sponsor and host of the United Nations Organization, it is the first deviator from its laws including the breach of collective security. According to the UN charter Article 24, in discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations. The specific powers granted to the Security Council for the discharge of these duties are laid down in Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII  [6]  . Yet, despite the absence of UN approval, U.S. military forces began invading Iraq from the Kuwaiti borders on the 20th of March, 2003. There was no unified support by the UN to attack Iraq and the Security Council was divided on the decision; however, undermining the theory of collective security, the USA alongside with the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and brought down the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations. With hindsight it became evident that t he justifications used for the war were invalid and were only used to try and legalize the war. The Bush administration, backed by the support of Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister announced the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Bush administrations general justification for the invasion of Iraq was presented by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations Security Council on the 5th of February, 2003, when he said We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction; hes determined to make more. Given Saddam Husseins history of aggression given what we know of his terrorist associations and given his determination to exact revenge on those who oppose him, should we take the risk that he will not some day use these weapons at a time and the place and in the manner of his choosing at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond? The United States will not and cannot run that risk to the American peop le. Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11 world  [7]  . According to Blair, the cause was Iraqs failure to take a final opportunity to disarm itself of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that USA and UK asked its government and president to do immediately in order to keep peace and not threaten world peace  [8]  . Two major forces in the world misused power and the notion of collective security and as a result the country was disastrously shattered, resources exploited with a high price of large losses of civilian lives. It became evident that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction There are many other examples of breaching the collective security theory applications and objectives by wrong policies and practices of the United Nations members. For example, the USA invaded Panama in December 1989. Some justifications were given for such invasion like safeguarding the lives of the U.S. citizens in Panama, defending democracy and human rights in Panama, combating drug trafficking and protecting the integrity of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties  [9]  . However with hindsight it became clear that the justifications were not enough to support the invasion and it was a clear breaching of collective security theory. Other examples of the limitations of collective security also comprises the Falklands War, when Argentina invaded the islands although they were considered British. However, there were many UN members who stayed out of the issue, as such an issue did not directly concern them  [10]  . The role of the UN and collective security in general is also evolving given the rise of internal state conflicts since the end of WWII; there have been 111 military conflicts world wide, but only 9 of which have involved two or more states going to war with one another. The remainder has either been internal civil wars or civil wars where other nations intervened in some manner. This means that collective security may have to evolve towards providing a means to ensure stability and a fair international resolution to internal conflicts. Whether this will involve more powerful peacekeeping forces or a larger role for the UN diplomatically, it will likely be judged from a case to case basis. Since the establishment of the UN in 1945, the Middle East has seen the negative consequences of breaching the agreements and arrangements set by the UN. Supported by the USA and some other Western Regimes, Israel has been breaching such laws. Since the voting of the existence of Israel in 1948 by some members of the United Nations, Israel has been continuously undermining recommendations and resolutions of the UN. For example, in 1967 it occupied territories from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, killing civilians, creating unrest and destroying properties. In this regard, the worst misuse of the UN Security Council Rights has been utilized by USA. When it comes to condemning the illegal actions of Israel, the U.S. uses the right of veto against any resolution which may condemn Israeli actions. Moreover, one of the latest collective security resolutions made by the UN Security Council adopted a sanctions resolution on Iran although there were two votes against and there was one abstention. According to the voters the ban was on Iranian certain nuclear and missile investment abroad  [11]  . To sum up, the theory of collective security implies a security arrangement among which all members of the United Nations share to provide security shadowed by the UN resolutions to keep world peace using all possible approved ways including sanctions and force. Four basic principles of collective security should be adopted by the UN members. First one is that every state should have all relevant arrangements for which it should be committed. Second, when it comes to collective security, the power of using the veto to block any relevant decision should be very limited. Third, sanctions should not harm the people of the country on which they applied and should not harm other countries which apply them especially economically. Fourth, collective security should safeguard the world peace and the security of every country. However, deviations from such principle have been made by many members of the United Nations, mainly the USA. When it comes to condemn the illegitimate actions of one of its allies because such actions threaten the world peace and justice, the USA uses the veto to block any sanction or penalty. Finally, economic sanctions which are supposed to serve collective security often negatively affect the lives of the people of the cou ntry on which such sanctions are applied and not the governments which have enough to fulfill their needs. Collective security is abused by some representatives of nations which call for peace, justice, prosperity and happiness. Although it looks very ideal and great in essence, it is evident that member states of the UN have departed from the theory of collective security to a great extent, especially when their national interests are at stake; thus undermining not only the theory of collective security but also the UN organization itself.

The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

The central theme is a comparison of the corrupting influence of wealth to the purity of a dream. Tom and Daisy Buchanan both lead purposeless lives that are filled with corruption through wealth, while Gatsby lives his life striving towards his dreams. They all either have no purpose in life to begin with or lose all purpose and values due the actions of another. All of the wealthy characters, including Gatsby, use people and things and then discard them as trash..   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tom is probably leads the most purposeless life out of the three with no career. He spends his day’s playing with polo ponies and race cars. He has one affair after another and treats his mistresses of these affairs as if they were only toys. When he realizes that Daisy if having an affair with Gatsby he becomes enraged and comes back to his wife. After Daisy kills Myrtle they fleet together, neither claiming any responsibility for her death. This all shows that Tom is leading a purposeless life with no long-term goals or dreams.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Daisy, who is born and marries to wealth, also has no real values or purpose in life. She spends her life floating from one social scene to the next with, with all things about her resembling her money. She treats everyone, including her daughter, as toys that she uses for her entertainment. She goes off and has an affair with Gatsby simply to relieve her boredom. Even with all the money and possessions Daisy has no thoughts of what she will do with her purposeless life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gatsby is the only one of the three who is not corrupted by his wealth. Although he has a large mansion, drives flashy cars, and gives extravagant parties, he has amassed none of it for himself. Everything he has achieved in life he has done to fulfill his dream, to prove to Daisy that he is worthy of her. When Daisy shatters his dreams by choosing Tom over him, Gatsby has no need for his possessions. Once he loses Daisy, Gatsby also begins going through life with no purpose.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All of the wealthy characters, including Gatsby, use people and things and then

Words And Their Implied Meanings :: essays research papers

Words and Their Implied Meanings Would you rather belong to the "Apple Dumpling Gang" or the "Crypts"? The connotation of the word gang reaches "hit an all time low" in the 1990's. We envision today's gang members as drug lords who kill each other on street corners. Society rejects and imprisons them. Once members of a "gang" simply shared common interests and enjoyed social acceptance, much as members of a club today. Many pairs of words have experienced a similar disagreement in connotation throughout the years. The term "revolutionary" currently enjoys more social acceptance than terrorist. The mind-set of a revolutionary thinks he/she must change a horrific aspect of society by forcing a break-down in government. In the mind of a terrorist he/she must alter an aspect of society he deplores in society by bombings, hijackings, and assassinations. The United States' history makes us sympathetic to revolutionaries because the war between America and the British. No books refer to it as the American Terrorism because terrorism connotes anarchy and a lack of social structure. The actual difference in strategy between the two groups may appear more gentle, however, they both kill. Regarding the words "gang" and "club" only one denotes violence. The dictionary defines gang as, "A group of persons working together; a group of persons having informal and usual close social relations." The definition of a club reads as follows, "An association of persons for some common object usually jointly supported and meeting periodically." Hidden beneath each definition, lies a more subjective, personal definition lodged in each of our minds. Why must society negatively characterize gangs and positively characterize clubs? We now associate the word "gang" with group of juvenile delinquents who create disturbances with violence and misconduct. Commonly, society associates, the word "club" with a positive environment where young people can have positive role models in their lives who support them. Unfortunately gangs correspond with corruption and clubs equate with honor. Maybe we can solve the gang problem by getting them to join clubs. Yet another combination of words similarly defined, yet with a very different application in everyday life include "religion" and "cult." Every religion on Earth has at one time had the status of a cult, According to Webester's dictionary a cult has one major characteristic, "A system of religious belief and ritual." A religion too has a single distinct quality, "Commitment or devotion to a deity, faith or observance." Unfortunate, In today's world, a cult will send you to eternal damnation while religion will save you from it. With deeper analysis, one might contrive that religion

Stalin – History

How far was Stalin’s victory in the power struggle between 1924 and 1929 the result of the popularity of his policies? Even though Stalin’s victory in the power struggle was partly due to his popular policies, it was not just this that allowed Stalin also because of the mistakes made by other rivals and factors that played into his hands. For example Trotsky was a former menshevik which helped Stalin accuse him of not been a true Bolshevik. There are many reasons that suggest Stalin’s victory in the power struggle was because his popular policies.For example Stalin’s popular policy of Socialism in one country put the needs of the USSR first, this was particularly popular because the conditions for the majority of the Russian people was unthinkable as extreme poverty was common for the average Russian in the the early 20th Century. It was a lot more popular than Trotsky's idea of World revolution, which would have seen many of the resources owned by the USS R sent abroad to try spread the Communist revolution abroad in other countries. Stalin developed his idea in Socialism in one Country because he did not like Trotsky.Stalin recognised that Trotsky’s policy was over optimistic and unpopular. The First World War and the civil war had destroyed the Russian economy and Stalin’s policy showed faith in the soviet people, almost portraying that Stalin believed in the Russian people. Stalin portrayed the Worldwide revolution as a policy that put the needs of other countries before those of the Russian people. Trostsky’s Jewish background marked him as a disloyal outsider among many party members anyway, and his international policy only seemed to confirm that he was not loyal to the people of Russia.It was not just his popular policies that saw Stalin replace Lenin as the leader of the USSR. It was also partly due to the mistakes and weaknesses made by the other leading Bolsheviks such as Trotsky. Trotsky was seen as to o powerful because he was the leader of the 5 million strong red army, he was known as the Red Napoleon. Trotsky was also Jewish, even though he himself believed that this reason would stop him from becoming the next leader, many argue that this was not such a big problem.However he was an ex menshevik which allowed Stalin to question his belief in Bolshevism, it was this fear that Trotsky was too powerful that led to kamenev and Zinoviev to side with Stalin. His popular policies were key to Stalin becoming the next leader of the USSR. Stalin’s commitment to the NEP until 1927 allowed him to defeat the united opposition of Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev. After the fall of Trotsky Zinoviev and Kamenev realised that Stalin was now the most powerful figure in the party and they began to speak out against the NEP.This was not only an attack on Stalin but an attack on Bukharin resulting in the two uniting. The NEP was particularly popular because it was following the line of Lenin and more than anything it seemed to be working as the Russian economy recovered in the mid 1920's. However Stalin was victorious in the power struggle not just because his policies were popular but because he had a great deal of luck. The two main pieces of luck that Stalin had was the ban on factionalism introduced by Lenin before his death and the appointment of Stalin as general secretary in 1922.Originally when Stalin was first appointed as General Secretary many Bolsheviks didn't realise the potential power which this now gave Stalin,one Menshevik described Stalin as the ‘grey blur'. However this gave Stalin power that nobody could have anticipated, it allowed for Stalin to appoint the regional secretaries, meaning that Stalin was able to rebuild the party by selecting the people who he wanted into key posts. This meant that slowly the party was been built up of people which were supporters of Stalin. The second bit of luck which inevitably benefited Stalin was the Ban o n Factionalism which was introduced in 1921.This ‘Ban on Factionalism' meant that everybody within the party were not able to speak out against official party policies and if somebody did then they were accused of been a factionalist and therefore expelled from the party. This benefited Stalin greatly as he could use this to his advantage, anybody that publicly spooke out against one of the policies which he supported could be branded as a factionalist and not a supporter of Lenin and therefore be defeated in the struggle for power. It could be argued that Stalin's policies were the main reason as to why he was victorious in the power struggle, however it is important to remember hat Stalin was extremely pragmatic when it came to what he believed in, changing his mind and supporting particular policies when it suited him, so the real fundamental reason as to why Stalin was victorious in the power struggle was because Stalin unlike the other leading figure of the party played h is cards right and was clever when it came to who he sided with. It was his cunningness combined with the amount of luck which he had which led to him eventually becoming the next leader of Russia in 1928.

Economics of Best Buy

One of the fortune 500 companies in our society is Best Buy. Best Buy is one of the largest consumer electronics retailer company in the United States and Canada. There are many products Best Buy distributes, such as; computers, computer equipment, video and audio products, refrigerators, coffeemakers, compact discs, video games, DVD and VHS movies and players, CD’s, computer software, cameras, cell phones, and satellite systems and so on. In addition, their customer service is very helpful and has improved throughout the years.The Geek Squad is one of their forms of customer service they provide and they offer various computer-related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients. Best Buy didn’t always have these products and services available. They are an industry that changes with the times. They supply products that are in high demand by the consumers. Best Buy was started in 1996 by Richard R. Schulze and his business partner James Wheeler. It w as originally known as Sound of Music and the first store was located in St. Paul, Minnesota.In 1983, the company’s name was changed to Best Buy and the first store named Best Buy was located in Burnsville, Minnesota. By 1984, there were only 8 Best Buy’s in the Midwest, but by 1987 the number tripled and their sales and earnings were at a high $239 million and $7. 7 million respectively. And since they have money to spend, they increased their warehouse size and products. In 1985, Best Buy went public and then two years later they were listed on the New York Stock Exchange. By 1988, sales had doubled to $439 million, but net earning declined 64%.Despite the net earnings declining, revenues were still increasing well into 1989. Also, in 1989, Best Buy launched its Concept II stores with bigger show rooms, fewer sales people and more self help product information. From 1992-1993 Best Buy had the best financial performance in the company’s 27 year history with an increase in revenues and earnings. Following this, 38 new stores were opened up. By 1997, Best Buy became the industry leader. This caused net profits to jump to $94. 5 million and revenues to jump to $8. 36 billion and for their stock to increase to $36 per share.In 1998, Best Buy created an online music store and in 2000 they expanded it and it offered more then music, it offers DVDs, consumer electronics, computers, software’s and games. Having a website made Best Buy’s income grow even more. By 2001, profits increased 14%, revenues rose to $15. 33 billion. Despite the recession in 2001, Best Buy bounced back the following year with $570 million in profits and $19. 6 billion in revenue. And by 2004, revenue reached $25 billion and net income rose to $705 million. Best Buy is a publicly traded corporation.A publicly traded corporation is the style of many companies in the United States, Europe and India. They are liable, taxable, have legal rights that an individual citizen would have, they can sue and be sued and must establish a paperwork identity with state and/or federal governments as required by local laws. When it comes to liability, public corporations have limited liability which means a partner or investor cannot lose more than the amount invested and the investor or partner is not personally responsible for the debts and obligations of the company in the event of bankruptcy.For taxes public corporations are taxed twice; once for revenue for the corporation and once for personal income for the shareholders. Best Buy is the type of company that always stays up to date with the latest technologies which keeps the consumers coming back and interested. They also have every product on the floor when you walk in so the choices of products are endless and you never have to wonder if there is more. In addition, they base their stores on low pricing and efficiency in operation; this explains why Best Buy’s industry has grown so much sin ce 1966.Mostly every corporation deals with competitors. The biggest competition Best Buy faced was Circuit City. They were competitors because they were the top two retail chains for electronics. Eventually Best Buy took over and put Circuit City out of business. Why? The answer is because Best Buy does a better job of utilizing marketing through brand recognition, incentives and customer service. Best Buy has gotten a lot better at putting the customers first and helping them in any way they can and Circuit City has had many problems with keeping their customers satisfied.Also, Circuit City’s problem is they aren’t competitive; they keep losing money quarter after quarter. Even their stock dropped from $22 to $3. 83. Why is Circuit City losing money? It’s because they aren’t updated enough with the latest technologies like Best Buy is. Also, whatever Circuit City has Best Buy already has and better so people want to go to Best Buy for that reason. In ad dition, Best Buy offers services such as computer service and support and home theater installation, which makes Best Buy different from Circuit City and other fortune 500 companies.Before Circuit City went out of business, there have been reports about how Best Buy would benefit from reduced competition. There was an estimation of a $12 million increase in revenue if Circuit City wasn’t in business. In addition, more suppliers will be forced to sell their products to them whether they want to or not. For example, if Best Buy demands for better terms on Sony’s big screen LCD TV’s and if Sony doesn’t like the terms they have nowhere to turn to. Every company uses and must use adverting in order to gain popularity and people’s interest.Both Best Buy and Circuit City use advertising, but they both advertise in different ways. Best Buy’s strategy is aggressive advertising and competitive pricing and pursuit of cost saving strategy. There are thr ee messages they portray in their TV advertisements, they are; â€Å"you can trust us to always have your best interests in mind, we have a unique take on how technology and entertainment can make your life better and you can always expect to find great prices†. For example, their commercial titled â€Å"True Stories† focused on Best Buy employees telling their true stories on how they helped customers.As the years go on advertising becomes ignored because people don’t trust the misleading ads so, to fix this problem Best Buy recently featured their customer’s comments from online product reviews and product ratings in their nationwide Sunday newspaper circular. This helps because potential customers will most likely trust people who have already bought something from Best Buy then the Best Buy salesmen. This practice of advertising is called â€Å"Bazaarvoice† and it is very affective and it is the future of advertising.In addition, Best Buy has a dvertisements that highlight key entertainment groups like MGM Studios, Activision, Sega and Rock Band which showcase the enjoyment people are acquiring from these products and this makes people want to have these items because everyone likes to have fun and enjoy themselves. The problem with Circuit City is they never did anything like Best Buy. Circuit City never changed its ways and products so they never adapted new advertising methods like the â€Å"Bazaarvoice†. In addition, since they never update their inventory onsumers were probably never interested in their ads because Circuit City’s products were outdated. Circuit City never got into selling video games and they never sold any thriving companies’ products like Apple Computers. Also, Circuit City never improved their website and the internet is used a lot now to sell products so if they are not up to speed with everyone else people will loose interest in their store. In addition, Circuit City stopped selling appliances which can stop a lot of people from buying from you.My prediction is that Best Buy will continue to prosper in the future for many reasons. One reason I think this is because their Revenue is $20. 9 Billion. Also, their price per stock is $54. 15 (a 138% change in stock price) which is very high compared to their competitor Circuit City which is $3. 83 per stock. Best Buy’s market cap is also $18. 6 billion. In addition, there are 750 Best Buy stores throughout the United States and in Canada. As you can see, Best Buy makes a lot of money and the more money a company has the more successful they are.So, if Best Buy keeps satisfying the customers, updates their products and basically just changes with the times then I don’t see a reason for how they will ever go out of business. Work Cited Best Buy Co. , Inc.. 2010  funding universe. 5/7/10  . â€Å"Best Buy. †Ã‚  Company Profiles for Students. 1999  ed. Best Buy Launches New Holiday Adve rtising Campaign; Alliance with Major Entertainment Groups Highlight Customer Experience. 2002  Business Wire. 5/7/10  . Best Buy Using Reviews in Advertising. 2010  Bazaarvoice Inc. 5/13/10  . Best Buy. 2010  Mahalo. com inc. 5/7/10  .Coleman,  Quentin. Public Corporation Information. 2010  eHow. 5/11/10  . Hamilton,  Anita. Why Circuit City Busted, While Best Buy Boomed . 2010  Times Inc. 5/13/10  . January and February Best Buy Advertising. 2010  Barry Judge CMO of Best Buy. 5/11/10  . Muller,  Turley. Best Buy Will Benefit from Reduced Competition. 2008  Seeking Alpha. 5/7/10  . Peterson,  Matthew. Circuit City Vs Best Buy Marketing – Why Circuit City Failed and Best Buy Won 2010  EzineArticles. com. 5/13/10  . Watson,  Julie. Best Buy vs Circuit City. 2006  Forbes. com inc. 5/13/10  .

Social Inequalities

To find out as to what extent social class not only shapes attitudes, values and beliefs, but also has a significant impact on life chances, I will begin by defining social stratification, social class and life chances. Sociological theories will also be used to help understand society. Education and employment impact on society will also be discussed using journal articles obtained as a guide. To understand social stratification, it is important to make a distinction between social inequality, which refers to the existence of socially created inequalities whereas social stratification is a particular form of inequality. It refers to the presence of distinct social groups which are ranked one above the other in terms of factors such as prestige and wealth. Using the functionalist theory, we can understand stratification better as this theory views society as a system that is set of interconnected parts which together form a whole. Talcott Parsons (1902- 79). Davis and moore (1945), claimed that all societies have some form of social stratification. George Peter Murdock (1949) maintained that the family exists in every known human society. All these people seem to suggest that individual families and social stratification meet needs that are common to all societies. I agree with the functionalism theory as it is small groups such as families that make up society as a whole. Each family trying to survive and do better than others in the process bettering the society. For a society to survive, functional prerequisites of society are required as Marion J. Levy (1952) argued that a society would cease to exist if its members were absorbed into another society or involved in a war of all against all. Marion J. Levy ’ s argument can be challenged. With the shortage of housing, families getting absorbed into another society would be replaced by families searching for accommodation. On the other hand, ethnomethodologists follow Alfred Schutz (1932) in believing there is no real social order as other sociological perspectives assume. Social life appears orderly to members of society only because members actively engage in making scence of social life. According to Zimmerman and Wieder (1971), society go about the task of seeing, describing and explaining order in the world in which they live. Social class – Savage et al. described social class as social collectivises rooted in particular types of exploitative relationships. These collectivises are groups of people who share levels of income, lifestyles, cultures and political orientations. An example of this could be a group of footballers, would share the same level of income, with similar lifestyles will act or be seen or perceived differently to golf players who are equally rich but may have a different lifestyle to footballers. This can be linked to Marxist theory. Karl Marx (1818- 83) regarded people as both the producers and the products of society. People are regarded as producers as they make society and themselves by their own actions. People are regarded as products of society in that they are shaped by the social relationships and systems of thought they create. To support Karl Marx ’ s comment on people being a product of society, a real life example could be given where a student joins university for the first time. University can be regarded as a society with different individuals, all trying to achieve the same thing. It is up to the new student to choose the group he joins and this will affect the student ’ s life at university if in a bad group or good group thereby making the student a product of that society. Life chances- Gerth and mills, (1954) stated that a person ’ s position in a stratification system may have important effects on many areas of life. It may enhance or reduce life chances that is their chances of obtaining those things that are desirable and avoiding those things defined as undesirable in their society. (Max Weber). To help determine whether in fact social class not only shapes attitudes, values and beliefs, it is important to categorize social class. Social class refers to the persistent social inequalities. Two distinct types of social inequality have been identified by researchers working with two different sociological theories. One theory is derived from the work of Karl Marx the other from the writings by Max Weber, which are somewhat critical of Marx ’ s work. Marxian approach suggests that social class was defined by ownership of the means of production bourgeoisie who exploit the workers who do not own the means of production (proletariat). Source: the Canadian encyclopedia. Marxian approach can be challenged as it does not refer to occupation or levels of income. Marxian approach regarded everyone that did not own land as proletariat. This would mean that senior managerial administrative and manual working class would be regarded as being in the same class (proletetariat). There is a vast difference between the income and benefits of senior managers compared to manual workers therefore it wouldn ’ t be right to put the two in the same class. Ethnic and gender factors are mportant in differentiating people and in relating them to the general division of labour and inequalities of opportunity and conditions which are associated with it. Another way of categorizing class is by referring to upper class, consisting of property owners (bourgeoisie), middle class consisting of senior managers, middle managers and supervisory and service worker class and finally the working class or lower class consisting of manual work ers. A variety of studies have shown that non-manual workers enjoy advantages over manual workers in terms of their life chances. The office for national statistics (ONS), has compiled a range of statistical evidence on inequalities between classes in England and Wales. (Focus on social inequalities 2004). In 2002, 77% of year 11 children with parents in higher professional occupations obtained five or more GCSE ’ S at grade C or above, compared to 32% of those with parents in routine occupations. In my opinion, the above statistics suggest that parents can also act as role models to their children. An example is that if a parent is CEO of an organization, he/she will encourage their children to do well at school and reach the same level or above the parent position. Just for being CEO, this parent has set a target level for his/her children which is quit hard to archive but with the parent ’ s income, the child can go to private school and increase life chances. On the other hand, it would be hard for a parent in manual labour to encourage their child to reach CEO position. This child may see this as an impossible task and will settle for the same factory job or aspire to be the factory supervior. This child ’ s parent income could not be enough to better life chance. Social class does really shape attitudes, values and beliefs and this can be supported by the common American saying â€Å" The American dream † . The American dream can be explained as a belief and the freedom that allows all citizens and residents to achieve their life chances in the USA. Today, in America it generally refers to the idea that one ’ s prosperity depends upon one ’ s own abilities and hard work. ( wikipedia encyclopedia). This is a message passed on to all people in America but in my opinion, people from the lower class are likely to believe in the American dream as some form of comfort or assurance that things could get better in future. The journal article below is by Andrew Billen. The Times. London uk. Aug 20, 2007. Pg 19(Full article can be found on Appendix 1) Page 2 In last night ’ s season opener, the fascistically titled the will to win[Robert Winston] fretted at age 7 their fates may already be sealed. Certainly, by the programme ’ s end it looked if the Jesuits knew what they were talking about. As little William sprinted ahead of the pack to the finishing line of his private school ’ s egg and spoon race, his ambitious mother was convinced he was already the person he would become. â€Å" I ’ m definitely going to win, † he had confidently predicted half an hour earlier. â€Å" And I ’ m going to come second, † chipped in his friend, the sort of friend William would need. Down at the other end of Britain, where life chances are more ragged, was [James], whose ambition in life had hardened up: he wanted to be a robber. His answer to a dumbed-down IQ test question, â€Å" what do you do if you find a wallet on the floor? † was â€Å" take it home † . Despite this, James ’ s IQ was found to be just a touch below average. If only he had been clever enough to choose different parents. His father had scampered when he was an infant, leaving his mother Carol, struggling. This article points out that a child born in an upper class family will have better life chances as they will be able to attend very good schools or private schools thereby bettering their chances of succeeding. Page 2 Aspects of life such as income play an important part in achieving life chances as pointed out by the article below taken from Allister Heath. Sunday Business London (UK) Jun 26. 2005 pg 1. The writer noted that the UK is plagued with low social mobility; and that this is partly due to the strong and increasing relationship between family income and educational attainment. The proportion of children from the poorest fifth of families born during the early 1980s obtaining a degree has increased from 6% to 9%, while the graduation rate for the richest fifth has risen from 20% to 47%. Full article can be found on Appendix 2) Social class still exists at present as most of what we do on a daily basis is determined by how we perceive or wish to perceive ourselves. Eg, the cars we choose to buy, friends we choose etc. Jonathan Moore, UK BBC Publication, 18/12/2007 I fully agree that social class does in fact have a significant impact on life chances. The functionalist theory did des cribe society as a system that is set of interconnected parts which together form a whole. This brings out the fact that society is divided into different classes and that inequalities do exist. William, in the journal article was positive he would win because of his up brining from his parents not to accept second best. His parents, through their jobs have set a target for William which will affect his life chances. REFERENCES Martin Holborn and Mike Haralambos, sociology themes and perspectives, seventh edition, 2007. Tony J. Watson, sociology ,work and industry, third edition, 1995. Mike Noon and Paul Blyton, the realities of work, second edition, 2002. Keith Grint, the sociology of work, third edition, 2005. The times. London(uk): Aug 20, 2007 pg 19. Sunday Business. London(uk): Jun 26,2005 pg 1.

Conflict in Organizations, Good or Bad Essay

Organizational conflict is a state of discord caused by an actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people working together. Conflict takes many forms in organizations. There is the inevitable clash between formal authority and power and those individuals and groups affected. There are disputes over how revenues should be divided, how the work should be done and how long and hard people should work (team and relationship conflict). There are jurisdictional disagreements among individuals, executives, managers, teams, departments, and between unions and management. There are subtler forms of conflict involving rivalries, jealousies, personality clashes, role definitions, and struggles for power and favor. There is also conflict within individuals — between competing needs and demands — to which individuals respond in different ways. A process that begins when an individual or group perceives differences and opposition between itself and another individual or group about interest and resources, beliefs, values or practices that matter to them. It occurs or arises due to difference in expectation and knowledge, poor communication, fear, attachment, incompatible values, harassments, stress, scarce resources, past trauma, misunderstandings and perceived oppression. It also arises usually during mergers and acquisitions, union negotiations, performance appraisals, interpersonal issues, changing job functions, downsizing and reorganizations. Conflict has negative effects on organizations such as, increase in turnovers, absenteeism, health issues, wasted resources, increase in production cost and decrease in job satisfaction and performance. Its positive effects include, increases effort of workers, diagnostic information, creativity, learning of new skills and forming of deep bonds. Conflicts can be handled through in tegrating, forcing, competition, sharing, smoothing, avoiding and compromising. There are two ways of looking at organizational conflict; the functional and dysfunctional. Each of these ways is linked to a different set of assumptions about the purpose and function of organizations. Conflict that occurs in organizations need not be destructive, provided the energy associated with conflict is harnessed and directed towards problem-solving and organizational improvement. However, managing conflict effectively requires that all parties understand the nature of conflict in the workplace. The dysfunctional view (bad) of organizational conflict is imbedded in the notion that organizations are created to achieve goals by creating structures that perfectly define job responsibilities, authorities, and other job functions. Here, each worker knows where he or she fits, knows what he or she must do and knows how to relate to others in the organization. This traditional view of organizations values orderliness, stability and the repression of any conflict that occurs. To the â€Å"traditional† organizational thinker conflict implies that the organization is not designed or structured correctly or adequately. Common remedies would be to further elaborate job descriptions, authorities and responsibilities, increase the use of central power (discipline), separate conflicting members, etc. This view of organizations and conflict causes problems. Unfortunately, most managers consciously or unconsciously, value some of the characteristics of this â€Å"orderly† environment. Problems arise when it is not realized that this way of looking at organizational conflict only fits organizations that work in routine ways, where innovation and change are virtually eliminated. Virtually all government organizations work within a very disorderly context — one characterized by constant change and a need for constant adaptation. Trying to â€Å"structure away† conflict and disagreement in a dynamic environment requires tremendous amounts of energy, and will also suppress any positive outcomes that may come from disagreement, such as improved decision-making and innovation. When a bad conflict worsens it becomes an ugly conflict. Ugly conflicts occurs where the manager (and perhaps employees) attempt to eliminate or suppress conflict in situations where it is impossible to do so. Ugly conflicts in organizations occur when: conflicts run for years, people have given up on resolving and addressing conflict problems, there is a good deal of private â€Å"bitching† and complaining but little attempt to fix the problem and when staff show little interest in working to achieve common goals, but spend more time and energy on protecting themselves Under these circumstances there is a tendency to look to the manager or formal leader as being responsible for the mess. In fact, that is how most employees w ould look at the situation. It is true that managers and supervisors play critical roles in determining how conflict is handled in the organization, but it is also true that the avoidance of these ugly conflicts must be a shared responsibility. Management and employees must work together in a cooperative way to reduce them, and increase the likelihood that conflict can be channeled into an effective force for change. The functional (good) view of organizational conflict sees conflict as a productive force, one that can stimulate members of the organization to increase their knowledge and skills, and their contribution to organizational innovation and productivity. Unlike the position mentioned above, this more modern approach considers that the keys to organization success lie not in structure, clarity and orderliness, but in creativity, responsiveness and adaptability. The successful organization, then, needs conflict so that diverging views can be put on the table, and new ways of doing things can be created. The functional view of conflict also suggests that conflict provides people with feedback about how things are going. Even â€Å"personality conflicts† carry information to the manager about what is not working in an organization, affording the opportunity to improve. Personal conflict Personal conflict refers to an individual’s inner workings and personality problems. Conflict sometimes has a destructive effect on the individuals and groups involved. At other times, however, conflict can increase the capacity of those affected to help deal with problems, and therefore it can be used as a motivating force toward innovation and change. Conflict is encountered in two general forms. Many difficulties in this area are beyond the scope of management and more in the province of a professional counselor, but there are some aspects of personal conflict that managers should understand and some they can possibly help remedy. Social conflict include interpersonal, intragroup, and intergroup differences Role Conflict Another facet of personal conflict has to do with the multiple roles people play in organizations. Each member of the organization belongs to a role set, which is an association of individuals who share interdependent tasks and thus perform formally defined roles, which are further influenced both by the expectations of others in the role set and by one’s own personality and expectations. For example, in an organization, employees are expected to learn from the instructor by listening to him, following his directions, undertaking assigned tasks, and maintaining appropriate standards of conduct. The manager is expected to provide the employee with high-quality working materials and resources, give advice and direction, conduct evaluation tests and work appraisals, provide a conducive working environment, and set a good example. The system of roles to which an individual belongs extends outside the organization as well, and influences his functioning within it. As an example, a man’s roles as husband, father, son, and church member are all intertwined with each other and with his set of organizational roles. As a consequence, there exist opportunities for role conflict as the various roles interact with one another. Other types of role conflict occur when an individual receives inconsistent demands from another person; for example, he is asked’ to serve on several time-consuming committees at the same time that he is urged to get out more production for his work unit. Another kind of role strain takes place when the individual finds that he is expected to meet the opposing demands of two or more separate members of the organization. Such a case would be that of a worker who finds himself pressured by his boss to improve the quality of his work while his work group wants more production in order to receive a higher bonus share. Conflict within groups Conflicts between people in work groups, committees, task forces, and other organizational forms of face-to-face groups are inevitable. As we have mentioned, these conflicts may be destructive as well as constructive. Conflict arises in groups because of the scarcity of freedom, position, and resources. People who value independence tend to resist the need for interdependence and, to some extent, conformity within a group. People who seek power therefore struggle with others for position or status within the group. Rewards and recognition are often perceived as insufficient and improperly distributed, and members are inclined to compete with each other for these prizes. In western culture, winning is more acceptable than losing, and competition is more prevalent than cooperation, all of which tends to intensify intragroup conflict. Group meetings are often conducted in a win-lose climate — that is, individual or subgroup interaction is conducted for the purpose of determining a winner and a loser rather than for achieving mutual problem solving. The win-lose conflict in groups may have negative effects such as: divert time and energy from the main issues, delay decisions, create deadlocks, drive unaggressive committee members to the sidelines, interfere with listening, obstruct exploration of more alternatives, decrease or destroy sensitivity, cause defensiveness, members to drop out or resign from committees, arouse anger that disrupts a meeting, interfere with empathy, leave losers resentful, incline underdogs to sabotage, provoke personal abuse. Conflict in the group need not lead to negative results, however, the presence of a dissenting member or subgroup often results in more penetration of the group’s problem as well as more creative solutions. This is because disagreement forces the members to think harder in an attempt to cope with what may be valid objections to general group opinion. But the group must know how to deal with differences that may arise. True interdependence among members leads automatically to conflict resolution in the group. Interdependence recognizes that differences will exist and that they can be helpful. Hence, members learn to accept ideas from dissenters (which does not imply agreeing with them), they learn to listen and to value openness, and they learn to share a mutual problem-solving attitude to ensure the exploration of all facets of a problem facing the group. Intergroup conflict between groups is a sometimes destructive, sometimes necessary, since event occurs at all levels and across all functions in organizations. Intergroup conflict may help generate creative tensions leading to more effective contributions to the organization’s goals, such as competition between sales districts for the highest sales. Intergroup conflict is destructive when it alienates groups that should be working together, when it results in win-lose competition, and when it leads to compromises that represent less-than-o ptimum outcomes. Intergroup conflict occurs in two general forms- Horizontal and Vertical strain. Horizontal strain involves competition between functions: for example, sales versus production, research and development versus engineering, purchasing versus legal, line versus staff, and so on. A clash between a sales department and production over inventory policy would be an example of horizontal strain. Vertical strain involves competition between hierarchical levels: for example, union versus management, foremen versus middle management, shop workers versus foremen. A struggle between a group of employees and management is an example of vertical strain or conflict. Certain activities and attitudes are typical in groups involved in a win-lose conflict. Each side closes ranks and prepares itself for battle. Members show increased loyalty and support for their own groups. Minor differences between group members tend to be smoothed over, and deviants are dealt with harshly. The level of morale in the groups increases and infuses everyone with competitive spirit. The power structure becomes better defined, as the â€Å"real† leaders come to the surface and members rally around the â€Å"best† thinkers and talkers. On the other hand, each group tends to distort both its own views and those of the competing group. What is perceived as â€Å"good† in one’s own position is emphasized, what is â€Å"bad† is ignored; the position of the other group is assessed as uniformly â€Å"bad,† with little â€Å"good† to be acknowledged or accepted. Thus, the judgment and objectivity of both groups are impaired. When such groups meet to â€Å"discuss† their differences, constructive, rational behavior is severely inhibited. Each side phrases its questions and answers in a way that strengthens its own position and disparages the other’s. Hostility between the two groups increases; mutual understandings are buried in negative stereotypes. It is easy to see that under the conditions described above, mutual solutions to problems cannot be achieved. As a result, the side having the greater power wins; the other side loses. Or the conflict may go unresolved, and undesirable conditions or circumstances continue. Or the conflict may be settled by a higher authority. None of these outcomes is a happy one. Disputes settled on the basis of power, such as through a strike or a lockout in a labor-management dispute, are often deeply resented by the loser. Such settlements may be resisted and the winner defeated in underground ways that are difficult to detect and to counter. When this happens, neither side wins; both are losers. If the conflict is left unresolved (it becomes an ugly conflict), as when both sides withdraw from the scene, intergroup cooperation and effectiveness may be seriously impaired to the detriment of the en tire organization. Disputes that are settled by higher authority also may cause resentment and what is called â€Å"lose-lose† consequences. Such settlements are invariably made on the basis of incomplete information —without data that the conflict itself obscures — and therefore are poor substitutes for mutually reasoned solutions. Strategies for Managing Group Conflicts include: Avoidance – a management strategy which includes non-attention or creating a total separation of the combatants or a partial separation that allows limited interactions. Smoothing – technique which stresses the achievement of harmony between disputants. Dominance or Power Intervention – the imposition of a solution by higher management, other than the level at which the conflict exists. Compromise – strategy that seeks a resolution which satisfies at least part of the each party’s position. Confrontation – strategy featuring a thorough and frank discussion of the sources and types of conflict and achieving a resolution that is in the best interest of the group, but that may be at the expense of one or all of the conflicting parties. Trained conflict resolver can begin with an economical intervention, such as getting group members to clarify and reaffirm shared goals. If necessary, he or she moves through a systematic series of interventions, such as testing the members’ ability and willingness to compromise; resorting to confrontation, enforced counseling, and/or termination as last resorts To conclude, the notion that conflict should be avoided is one of the major contributors to the growth of destructive conflict in the workplace. The â€Å"bad† view of conflict is associated with a vision of organizational effectiveness that is no longer valid (and perhaps never was). Conflict can be directed and managed so that it causes both people and organiza tions to grow, innovate and improve. However, this requires that conflict not be repressed, since attempts to repress are more likely to generate very ugly situations. Common repression strategies to be avoided are: nonaction, administrative orbiting, secrecy and law and order. Thus, conflict affecting organizations can occur in individuals, between individuals, and between groups. Also, conflicts within and between work groups in organizations are often caused by struggles over control, status, and scarce resources. The constructive resolution of such conflicts can most often be achieved through a rational process of problem solving, coupled with a willingness to explore issues and alternatives and to listen to each other. Conflict is not always destructive, it may be a motivator. When it is destructive, however, managers need to understand and do something about it. A rational process for dealing with the conflict should be programmed. Such a process should include a planned action response on the part of the manager or the organization, rather than relying on a simple reaction or a change that occurs without specific action by management. If managers should subscribe to the flexible vision of effective organizations, and at each conflict situation provide opportunity to improve, they can have the chance to harness the energy of conflict, directing it to be productive. Rather than trying to eliminate conflict, or suppress its symptoms, their task becomes managing conflict so that it enhances people and organizations, rather than destroying people and organizations. So, the task is to manage conflict, and avoid what we call â€Å"the ugly†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.where conflict is allowed to eat away at team cohesiveness and productivity.