Rock and Roll Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rock and Roll - Essay Example As the decade reached its end, the Rock and Roll had become a phenomenon that helped delineate the differences between the children and the adults. Rock and Roll originated in African American Blues and Gospel. Suburban teens were attracted to the sounds of Rhythm and Blues with the migration of the African Americans to the northern cities in large numbers. However, racism and segregation deterred many great artists of the genre from getting much exposure or attention. Alan Freed, the Disc jockey started a show of rhythm-and-blues played on the Cleveland radio station. The number of people liking the show grew in no time, thus causing Freed to coin the â€Å"rock and roll† term (Halper, 2001, p. 169). White artists first tried to cover the R&B songs but that led to weaker renditions which were not comparable to the originals in any way. This caused the record producers to start searching for a white artist for capturing the African American sound. â€Å"In 1955 â€Å"Rock around the Clock† was rock and roll: the first number 1 hit that was neither pop nor a white cover of a rhythm-and-blues song† (Campbell and Brody, 2007, p. 105). A Memphis record producer, Sam Phillips, identified the answer in Elvis Presley who took an old style and with his pouty lips, deep Southern sound, and gyrating hips, made it his own. The sound extended far and wide from Memphis, causing a drastic increase in the demand for Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley gained immense popularity in the entertainment business in a span of time as short as two years. â€Å"With his totally uninhibited stage manner, teen-tough dress, greased hair in a pompadour, and energetic singing style, Elvis projected a rebellious attitude that many teens found overwhelmingly attractive† (Campbell and Brody, 2007, p. 105). After the opening up of the door to the acceptance of rock and roll, many performers of the African American origin including Fats Domino, Chuck

Sociology Induction Essay Example for Free

Sociology Induction Essay The article I have chosen to analyse is With Knife Crime on the Increase its back to Basics by Michael Godfrey. The article discusses the increase in knife crime amongst teenagers in the British isles and claims that it is a lack of respect that has caused this, claiming that parents are at fault for attempting to reason with their children instead of setting clear boundaries and enforcing rules. Violent crime effects all members of society negatively, and increase in knife crime causes members of the general public to become paranoid and afraid for their safety. It makes people less likely to want to travel anywhere alone or at night and also to decrease the amount of valuables they keep on their person in order to avoid being mugged. Also, looking at knife crime from a more macro perspective, it could be said that increase in crime costs our society economically (the government paying to keep them in overcrowded jails) and culturally (creating a negative image to other countries/societies and harmful stereotypes). According to a recent study by the youth justice board, relative poverty among young people has caused many to resort to violent crime in order to get the things they covet (iPods and mobile phones) this combined with poor parents is creating children/teens who grow up to be dysfunctional members of society. Marxists would claim that this is the middle class/upper classes fault, that the working class are so thoroughly oppressed that this is only expected. They would credit this increase in knife crime amongst predominantly working class males as caused by the lack of opportunities provided to those with lower ascribed status. However, the New Right would likely blame this increase of violence on the rise in divorce and the dissolution of the traditional nuclear family. More and more of todays youth (especially working class individuals) are brought up in single-parent families, civil partnership families and increasingly unconventional situations. The new right believe that is this lack of stability that hinders proper primary socialisation and allows todays youth to be inappropriately aware of the effect of their anti-social behaviour on larger society. Many sociologists believe that a more stable home life and better education would help to keep young people off the streets and away from violent crime. Others say that a firmer hand at home keeping them in line would also help. However, it has been proven that enforcing rules more strictly does not effectively discourage knife crime, this was shown in Ireland where penalties and prison sentences have been increased there was no improvement seen in the amount of knife crime committed. However, many people also criticise Marxists for focusing almost entirely on class conflict and not factoring other points into their theories (family breakdown, economic recession) Marxists fail to take into account increase in knife crime amongst the upper classes and make those of lower class the victims. The New Right are also heavily criticised for their intense focus on the family and their tendency to blame the victims for the problem. The New Rights view of the family is ideological and fails to see the merits of raising children in a more dysfunctional family than the traditional cereal packet family ideal of gone times, they fail to take any other points into account.

Angular Momentum Essays -- Physics

Angular momentum and its properties were devised over time by many of the great minds in physics. Newton and Kepler were probably the two biggest factors in the evolution of angular momentum. Angular momentum is the force which a moving body, following a curved path, has because of its mass and motion. Angular momentum is possessed by rotating objects. Understanding torque is the first step to understanding angular momentum.Torque is the angular "version" of force. The units for torque are in Newton-meters. Torque is observed when a force is exerted on a rigid object pivoted about an axis and. This results in the object rotating around that axis. "The torque ? due to a force F about an origin is an inertial frame defined to be ? ? r x F"1 where r is the vector position of the affected object and F is the force applied to the object.To understand angular momentum easier it is wise to compare it to the less complex linear momentum because they are similar in many ways. "Linear momentum is the product of an object's mass and its instantaneous velocity. The angular momentum of a rotating object is given by the product of its angular velocity and its moment of inertia. Just as a moving object's inertial mass is a measure of its resistance to linear acceleration, a rotating object's moment of inertia is a measure of its resistance to angular acceleration."2 Factors which effect a rotating object's moment of inertia are its mass and on the distribution of the objects mass about the axis of rotation. A small object with a mass concentrated very close to its axis of rotation will have a small moment of inertia and it will be fairly easy to spin it with a certain angular velocity. However if an object of equal mass, with its mass more spread out from the axis of rotation, will have a greater moment of inertia and will be harder to accelerate to the same angular velocity.3To calculate the moment of inertia of an object one can imagine that the object is divided into many small volume elements, each of mass ?m. "Using the definition (which is taken from a formula in rotational energy) I=?ri2?mi and take the sum as ?m?0 (where I is the moment of inertia and ri is the perpendicular distance of the infinitely small mass' distance from the axis of rotation). In this limit the sum becomes an integral over the whole object:I = lim ?ri2?mi = ? r2 dm. To evalua... ...ne to follow the transferal of rotational energy to and from linear or other forms of energy.Angular momentum is used to explain many things, and it is has many applications. Angular momentum is also essential to our very existence, without the conservation of angular momentum we might drift into the sun or away into space. Angular momentum is a very important part of physics and physics is a very important part of angular momentum.ENDNOTESRaymond A. Serway, Physics For Scientists and Engineers, (Toronto: Saunders College Publishing, 1996) p. 325.David G. Martindale, Fundamentals of Physics: A Senrior Course, (Canada: D.C. Heath Canada Ltd., 1986) p. 320.ibidRaymond A. Serway, Physics For Scientists and Engineers, (Toronto: Saunders College Publishing, 1996) p. 325. Bibliography Blott, J. Frank, Principles of Physics: Second Edition Publisher not given: 1986 David G. Martindale., Fundamentals of Physics, Canada: D.C. Heath Canada Ltd. 1986 Olenick, P. Richard, The Mechanical Universe: Introduction to Mechanics and Heat, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1985 Serway A. Raymond, Physics For Scientists and Engineers, Toronto: Saunders College Publishing, 1996

On Time Package Delivery Essay

The report should discuss in detail the solutions to the several issues that are being faced by OTPD. Based on the conversations Wayne had with Dan Gunther (District manager-Boston), Carol Klein (Key account manager-Phil), Mike Wagner (Sales representative -DC) and Carmella Stringer (Director of Admin services- Strawn, Night and Squires), one of the few major issues seems to be the lack of follow up training on the new service –(Express delivery). It looks like the sales staff needs more information and follow-up trainings to get their message across to their customers and to make them understand about the new service effectively. The sales staff should be invited to discuss the issues being faced while selling this new service and should be provided with the answers to the questions, issues frequently brought up by the customers. Sales force should also be asked to take few quick tests/quizzes when such new services are introduced so that they can know how much they actually retain after the trainings. This should help sales reps to understand the service better and hence sell it effectively to the new as well as existing customers. Another issue seems to be with the research data. Looks like there is no process set up to provide details or easy access to the data on the products offered by the competition. Until the sales force understands the differences between their product and competitions product, they will not be able to sell their services effectively, as they will not be able to defend their weaknesses or highlight the corresponding benefits of their own services. A solution to this problem could be to set up an internal online repository with all the details about competitor’s products, and where sales people could go and search or compare different products in order to understand their differences, weaknesses and benefits against each other. This should help them add tools to their armor before approaching/convincing a customer to use their product. Additionally, there needs to be a proper analysis on the requests as well as complaints made by the customers and in case the complaints are due to unreasonable requests; there should be proper process to approach, discuss and resolve the issues. Looks like in the current scenario, sales force is least bothered about the complaints and assumes that most of the complaints are due to unreasonable  demands by the customers. Also, employees should be allowed some flexible working hours, like the ones who are not able to maintain a work life balance and in turn impact their personal and professional life. Employees should be properly coached on such issues and should be asked to take some time off to recharge and regain their energy. Incentive has always been a key driver of performance and so there should be better linkages between the performance and the bonuses. Feedbacks and complaints from the customers should also play a role in the salary of the salespeople. Thus to conclude, proper trainings, performance linked incentives and coaching should help OTPD to improve the sales numbers.

The Influence of Public Health and Safety Matters on the Invention of the City

Towns are and were ever associated with trade and power [ R1 ] . Although towns every bit good as worlds have to develop. They were formed and shaped by Numberss of assorted factors. This essay would demo how have public wellness and safety affairs in the yesteryear influenced the innovation of the metropolis? One of the really first and obvious that come to mind are rigorous British fire ordinances, clearly and justly linked by most to the Great Fire of London. In its history London as a metropolis had great sums of fires in its history. One of first terrible recorded fires of London happened in 1135. It put down most of the metropolis between St Paul ‘s and St Clement Danes in Westminster every bit good as celebrated London Bridge. â€Å"Little admiration London suffered from fires: lodging and commercial premises existed together ; a Norman jurisprudence banned house fires after dark, but was likely ignored ; edifices were mostly made of wood and thatch ; and no organized fire brigade existed.† ( The 12th of July 1212 AD, Great Fire of London 1212, n.d. ) . It took good over 70 old ages and another immense fire, on 12th July 1212. This fire and figure of 3000 deceases, still appears in the Guinness Book of Records, even though possibly overdone. Those fires caused people to see about edifice regulations. In consequence ‘legislations’ every bit good as methods to stay them were introduced. Crude and really first signifier of fire protection was something every bit simple as censoring thatched roofs in full London. By its first city manager Henry Fitzailwin. He besides signed a papers stating: â€Å"Complaints about edifice nuisances could be brought by one neighbor against another. The city manager and aldermen settled such instances in a tribunal called the Assize of Nuisance† . Opinions were advised by appointed Masons and carpenters. ( History of Building Regulations in the British Isles, 2014 ) Other British metropoliss started follow London’s lead. The existent turning point in constructing history was fire of 1666. [ R2 ] F anger known as the Great Fire of London started in the bakeshop on Pudding Lane and really shortly started distributing west making beyond Roman metropolis walls. On 4th September wind way changed, it headed and about reached the Tower of London. During the firefighting procedure â€Å"King Charles II personally helped contend the fire. He lifted pails of H2O and threw money to honor people who stayed to contend the flames.† ( Museum of London – Frequently asked inquiries, n.d. ) Quenching the fire is considered to hold been successful due two factors: the strong east air currents died down, and the Tower of London fort used gunpowder to make fireguards, and halt further spread eastward. ( Great Fire of London – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, n.d. ) . It’s believed that as a effect of this fire 80 % of capital was burned to the land. Inevitably catastrophe of this graduated table couldn’t go on once more. Therefore London Rebuilding Act of 1667 was introduced. [ R3 ] This papers created foundations of city/master planning every bit good as some other countries of modern edifice ordinances. Was the really first to stipulate how metropolis planning was to be regulated ( i.e. Certain streets need to be broad depending on strength and intent of usage ) . It was depicting what affairs and how they should be resolved by Judgess. Besides stipulating thickness and location of walls, including party walls. It introduced the thought of the committee planing cityscape every bit good as committee to O.K. location and form, every bit good as stuffs used in new edifices. All edifices from that point onwards were to be built of brick or rock. It besides regulated minor issues like precipitation direction, maximal overhangs, which antecedently were doing already narrow streets even narrower and tighter. That was debut to the thought of more pleasant metropoliss, even though done for practical grounds. Some more wellness and safety regulations were issued. [ R4 ] Even though this jurisprudence was highly precise for that clip. It was written by local authorities of London and was to be obeyed merely during reconstructing of the metropolis. As consequence of that British Isles were left without public jurisprudence. In 1898 Ebenezer Howard initiated â€Å"The Garden City Movement† . Garden metropoliss were designed and intended to be self-contained, self-sufficing communities. Separated and surrounded by paths of unfastened, green countries. Taking inspiration and seeking to do a Utopian dream of Sir Thomas More come truth. Howard’s idealise garden metropolis was utilizing clear districting system. Keeping residential and industrial development countries separate, allowed â€Å"smokeless† thought of the metropolis to develop. They would be populated by 32000 people on around 6000 estates ( 2400 hour angle ) . Planned in concentric circles, when to the full populated another garden metropolis would develop nearby. Several o f these would be clustered ‘orbiting’ around the cardinal metropolis ( populated by 50000 people ) . [ R5 ] â€Å"The Garden City Association set itself the ambitious undertaking of developing a first garden metropolis. Work on the chosen site at Letchworth began in 1903 and by 1914 it housed 9,000 inhabitants.† ( The birth of town be aftering – UK Parliament, n.d. ) Letchworth was really advanced and successful, it populated 33500 people. It was perchance impractical to utilize homocentric program, although rules were kept. Letchworth introduced traffic circle ( 1909 ) and was really first illustration of ‘green belt’ . This undertaking didn’t require empowering statute laws, although it was inspirational to â€Å"garden suburbs† . These were foremost introduced in Hampstead. Endorsed by Parliament in 1906, in what has been called â€Å" Hampstead Garden Suburb Act [ R6 ] † . This papers legislated that distance between the two houses on opposite sides of the route, were to be non less than 50 pess ( 15.24m ) apart. And that there sho uld be no more than 8 houses per acre ( 4046.9m2) . [ R7 ] ‘Back-to-back’ houses, so popular in industrial Victorian developments. During the industrial revolution â€Å"great inflow of workers and their households into the quickly industrialized towns during the 1800 ‘s, this figure increased massively and the jobs of over-population became disastrous† ( Public Health – History of medical specialty, n.d. ) . This was revealed by the study of Liverpool ‘s first medical officer of wellness ( Dr Duncan ) . It stated that – tierce of the metropolis ‘s population lived on Earth floored basements of dorsum to endorse houses. ( The birth of town be aftering – UK Parliament, n.d. ) Without any airing and sanitation with every bit many as 16 people populating in one room, these were certainly non what those basements were designed for and what they could defy. They were made illegal in 1909 due to Housing and Town Planning Act, as there was concern that it could be the starting motor of the new concatenation reaction consequence of pestilence for illustration similar in consequence to London’s Great Fire. [ R8 ] Letchworth and Hampstead was the chief inspiration for that 1909 Act. It besides took inspiration of garden metropolis motion rules. Not a surprise that the Garden City Association actively lobbied for it. This besides encouraged to utilize ‘Garden City’ rules. Leading the manner to the more gratifying urban environment and more flexibleness in footings of design. This act obligated local governments to utilize town planning, and control edifice criterions. Specified the occupation of local authoritiess on what they can and can’t do. The new jurisprudence formed the usher on how to be after metropoliss and how to construct safely. It besides specified land jurisprudence, how and where working category lodging should be built. Besides, sing wellness and safety of citizens and future occupants, which could be named as a signifier of sustainable design. [ R9 ] As before mentioned planning jurisprudence has been altering and accommodating for past old ages. Even though fire ordinances in the UK are perchance one of the strictest in Europe. As statistics show there is a batch of betterment to be made. World of be aftering needs people like Ebenezer Howard, dreamer and dreamers that design, program and better urban and universe environment – in consequence devising universe more gratifying. In modern metropoliss chief perplexity are sustainability and public wellness. It’s non easy to diminish fleshiness and other so called civilisation diseases. The rate of these could be lowered by extinguishing factors that do or may do it. The chief 1s being: deficiency of physical activity, unnatural/unhealthy diet, polluted air and some more (Diseases of modern civilization — Frank Fenner Foundation, n.d. ) . These may and should be considered at design phase. To better physical activity. It’s necessary to increase the sum of public conveyance used, every bit good as addition sum of resort areas. Enhancing physical activity from early old ages, followed by pathwaies, Parkss or other green countries. Obviously there is really small interior decorator or designer can make about human diet. However, what could be done is to plan green markets into town flower stalk. These would do fresh, of course grown, healthy fruits/vegetables effortlessly accessible. Another in theory unaccessible country for urban contrivers is air pollution, as we can’t actively decrease pollution. Already Ebenezer Howard has suggested to utilize town districting to travel industrial enlargement out on the fringes of towns. In the long term this would diminish the sum of contaminated air in towns, by administering it more equally across unfastened countries, and most likely lower the urban island consequence. All of those illustrations show how past events were set uping town planning. It proves that there is a set of ingredients and stimulations. They all consequence be aftering jurisprudence and planning methods. Urban environment is ever altering and it is difficult to plan it good. This is why there are groups of urban contrivers, designers, interior decorators and others working to better the design of towns. This has been altering for 100s, or even 1000s of old ages, and they would be. Changes are inevitable, what is now countryside in 10 old ages, or even less could be new suburbs. This should excite interior decorators and visionaries to better interior urban flower stalk, decide current and anticipate hereafter issues and turn to them today. BBC – History – British History in deepness: London After the Great Fire( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 26th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/after_fire_01.shtml. ‘Building Regulations – David Watkins.pdf’ ( n.d. ) . Diseases of modern civilization — Frank Fenner Foundation( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 1st January 2015 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.natsoc.org.au/our-projects/biosensitivefutures/part-4-facts-and-principles/human-health-issues/diseases-of-modern-civilisation. English Historical Fiction Writers: Changing the Face of London – the Great Fire of 1666( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 26th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/changing-face-of-london-great-fire-of.html. Great Fire of London – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 27th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London. Handbook to the Housing and Town Planning Act, †¦( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 27th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //archive.org/stream/handbooktohousin00thom # page/n1/mode/2up. History of Building Regulations in the British Isles( 2014 ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 14th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.buildinghistory.org/regulations.shtml. History of Building Regulations in the British Isles( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 26th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.buildinghistory.org/regulations.shtml. Housing, town planning, etc. , act, 1909 ; a prac†¦( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 27th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //archive.org/stream/housingtownplann00bent # page/n5/mode/2up. London Fire Brigade – The Great Fire of London( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 26th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.london-fire.gov.uk/great-fire-of-london.asp. Museum of London – Frequently asked inquiries( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 26th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londons-Burning/FAQ/ . Museum of London – The 1667 Rebuilding Act( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 27th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londons-Burning/Themes/1405/1408/Page1.htm. Public Health – History of medical specialty( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 29th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.priory.com/history_of_medicine/public_health.htm. Samuel Pepys Diary 1666 – Fire of London( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 27th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.pepys.info/fire.html. The 12th of July 1212 AD, Great Fire of London 1212( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 27th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.information-britain.co.uk/famdates.php? id=1019. The birth of town be aftering – United kingdom Parliament( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 28th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/towncountry/towns/overview/townplanning/ . The Geneva Association ( 2014 ) ‘World Fire Statistics.’ The Hampstead Garden Suburb Act 1906( n.d. ) . [ Online ] [ Accessed on 28th December 2014 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hgs.org.uk/history/h00012000.html.

WEEK 6 DQ 2 Example

WEEK 6 DQ 2 Example WEEK 6 DQ 2 – Article Example Number Financial Controls in an Organization The finance management of an organization is among the most important aspects of the organization. For any business institution to ensure that it keeps a correct and accurate track of their financial assets, it is important to have different financial controls. They are tools used by an organization to track the finances of the organization so as to ensure that there are maximum returns on the investments of the organization (Griffin, 413).Financial statements are among the most important tools that are used by organizations in this endeavor. They are generally important records that may be kept by an organization or any business entity for formality. Studies give numerous reasons as to why this tool is among the most important tools used to check the financial position of an organization (Buffet & Clark, 18).Financial statements are vitally useful in the determination the progress of the business entity. In most cases, financial statement s regarding assets and liabilities are used to evaluate whether a business is making profits or losses. This is very important in the sense that the organization is in a better position to evaluate the strategies that need to be implemented for the success of the organization (Fabozzi & Drake, 1-5).They are also used by the management of the organization in order to plan for the future goals and objectives of the organization. In most cases, the goals of the organization are bound to fade due to time and improvements in technology. In order to ensure that the organization competes well in the market, the goals have to be adjusted order to match those of the current trends in the market (Plunket et al. 497).Plunkett, W. R., Allen, G. S., & Attner, R.F. Management: Meeting and exceeding customer expectations (10th Ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Publishers. 2013. PrintGriffin, R. Fundamentals of Management. New York: Cengage Learning Publishers. 2013. PrintBuffet, M & Clark, D. Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage. U.S.A: Simon and Schuster Publishers. 2008. PrintDrake, P.P & Fabozzi, F.J. Analysis of Financial Statements. New York: John Wiley and Son Publishers. 2013. PrintPlunkett et al. Management: Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations. New York: Cengage Learning Publishers. 2007. Print

Understanding the Argument Against Eating Veal

Understanding the Argument Against Eating Veal Veal is the meat from young calves (as opposed to beef, which is the meat from adult cows). Along with foie gras and shark fins, veal has a bad reputation because of the extreme confinement and cruelty involved in the way veal calves are raised on factory farms. From an animal rights perspective, eating calves violates the calves right to freedom and life, regardless of how well they are treated when they are being raised. As far as animal activists are concerned, theres no right way to eat veal. Mistreatment and Early Slaughter Veal is meat that comes from the flesh of a slaughtered calf (young cow). It is known for being pale and tender, which is a result of the animal being confined and anemic. Typically, instead of living on his mothers milk, the calf is fed a synthetic formula that is intentionally low in iron to keep the animal anemic and keep the flesh pale. The calves used in veal production are a by-product of the dairy industry. Adult female cows used in dairy production are kept pregnant in order to keep up their milk supply. The males who are born are useless because they do not make milk and they are the wrong breed of cow to be useful in beef production. About half of the female calves will be raised to become dairy cows like their mothers, but the other half are turned into veal. Calves destined to become veal spend most of their eight-to-sixteen-week lives confined to small wooden or metal cages known as  veal crates. This prison is barely larger than the calfs body  and too small for the animal to turn around. Calves are also sometimes tethered so that they dont move around too much, which keeps the flesh tender. Fortunately, veal crates have been banned in some states including California, Arizona, and Maine. Bob and Slink Veal Bob veal and slink veal come from newborn calves which were just a few days or weeks old at slaughter. Slink and slink veal comes from unborn, premature, or stillborn calves. Unborn calves are sometimes found when an adult cow is slaughtered and happens to be pregnant at the time of slaughter. Meat from unborn calves is now illegal for human consumption in the U.S., Canada, and some other countries, but their hides are used for boots and upholstery and their blood is used for science. As crates are being phased out, bob veal is gaining in popularity. Without the confinement of a crate, the calves move around and their muscles toughen. Because the calves slaughtered for bob veal are so young, their muscles have not yet developed and are very tender, which is considered desirable. Is humane veal a real commodity? Some farmers now offer humane veal, meaning meat from calves that are raised without veal crates. While this addresses some peoples concerns about veal, animal advocates tend to believe that humane veal is an oxymoron. From an animal rights perspective, it doesnt matter how much room the calves have before they are slaughtered- theyre still slaughtered! The animal rights goal is not to give the calves more room or to feed them a more natural diet, but for people to stop eating these meats altogether and switch to a  vegan lifestyle.

Free Online Public Schools for SC Students K-12

Free Online Public Schools for SC Students K-12 South Carolina offers resident students the opportunity to take online public school courses for free. In order to qualify for the list, schools must meet several qualifications: the classes must be available completely online, they must offer services to the students state of residence, and they must be funded by the government. Virtual schools may be charter schools, state-wide public programs, or private programs that receive government funding. Here is a list of no-cost online schools currently serving elementary and high school students in South Carolina. List of Alabama Online Charter Schools and Online Public Schools Insight School of South Carolina link is to national network of schoolsSouth Carolina Virtual School Bad link https://www.k12.com/participating-schools.html?statesouth-carolina About Online Charter Schools and Online Public Schools Many states now offer tuition-free online schools for resident students under a certain age,  often 21). Most virtual schools are charter schools; they receive government funding and are run by a private organization. Online charter schools are subject to fewer restrictions than traditional schools. However, they are reviewed regularly and must continue to meet state standards. Some states also offer their own online public schools. These virtual programs generally operate from a state office or a school district. State-wide public school programs vary. Some online public schools offer a limited number of remedial or advanced courses not available in brick-and-mortar public school campuses. Others offer full online diploma programs. A few states choose to fund â€Å"seats† for students in private online schools. The number of available seats may be limited and students are usually asked to apply through their public school guidance counselor. (See also: 4 Types of Online High Schools). Choosing a South Carolina Online Public School When choosing an online public school, look for an established program that is regionally accredited and has a track record of success. Be wary of new schools that are disorganized, are unaccredited, or have been the subject of public scrutiny. For more suggestions on evaluating virtual schools see: How to Choose an Online High School. How to Choose an Online High School http://distancelearn.about.com/od/virtualhighschools/a/OnlineHighQ.htm 4 Types of Online High Schools http://distancelearn.about.com/od/virtualhighschools/a/HS_Types.htm Online Charter School Basics http://distancelearn.about.com/od/virtualhighschools/a/CharterInfo.htm How to Find an Online Charter School http://distancelearn.about.com/od/virtualhighschools/a/CharterSchool.htm School Accreditation http://distancelearn.about.com/od/accreditationinfo/a/accreditation1.htm Regionally Accredited Online High Schools http://distancelearn.about.com/od/virtualhighschools/a/RAOnlineHS.htm Online High School Pros and Cons http://distancelearn.about.com/od/virtualhighschools/a/hsprosandcons.htm

The Role of HR generalist Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Role of HR generalist - Coursework Example He is expected to diagnose data besides facilitating it. They are expected by the management to be its true business partner. Their role even spreads further to talent management, turnover, declining productivity and recruiting. According to Kandula, (2004), human resource generalist is expected to be at the forefront in matters to do with diagnosing human capital concerns as opposed to employee issues. Human resource managers are involved in developing employees, managing workforce, developing personnel policies and procedures and ensuring that internal policies conform to all laws that affect the workplace. According to Jackson, & Mathis (2010), he is expected to develop ways of meeting human resource need with regard to future. Entry-level position of generalist is mostly renamed as personnel assistant, and they provide reinforcement to the entire department. Examples of generalist titles include human resource business partner, human resource branch manager and people services ma nager. Planning and employment of workforce: he does the role of a recruiter. This includes conducting interviews, implementing recruitment strategy of the organization and conducting reshuffles within the workforce. A clear example is the staffing specialist or manager. Developing human resource: this work involves conducting training, evaluating training programs and development programs. This training may consist of specific fields like sales techniques. A superb example includes leadership development manager. Total rewards: At entry-level they are referred to as salary administrators. They are expected to perform analyzing job duties, performing job evaluations and conducting compensation surveys. They monitor benefit programs and cost. Example job titles are benefits analyst and specialist manager. Employee labor relations: while at entry-level they are known as labor relations specialist. They interpret union

The impact of internet marketing in retailing Essay

The impact of internet marketing in retailing - Essay Example The information would be sent to the grocery shop through Internet and the grocery would be delivered at our doorsteps. The concept of E- com goes even beyond this; various firms would float their needs, projects and tenders through Internet web. The management consultant, vendors, engineering consultants and other business groups would come online to discuss various aspects of the project. All mandatory information relating to costing, engineering details calculations, and prices would also be shared here on- line. The orders would be discussed and then placed on-line. And the executions would also be done through Internet. The various aspects of information transfer would involve management and engineering information then all types of text, graphics, tables and figures. The process of E-com is getting a big momentum in global industry as a whole unit after globalization. Currently, the most serious application of Internet is in the area of internet marketing. E-mail services are v ery cheap and are used by businessmen and individuals worldwide for information transfer. ... ng the creation of a national information backbone, which would be used for national information infrastructure and for the promotion of Internet services. We must get out of the agricultural age and must jump on to information technology bandwagon. The possibilities on Internet marketing are endless. For example, it would be possible to have marketing through voice transmission via Internet. All the major national streams—defense, industry, software development and exports, international trading, bilateral agreements, information exchange and information needs for daily usage—would benefit from this latest technological marvel (Cotter, 2002). Today, there is a lack of a good data transmission networks. According to a survey, there is likely to be a demand of 50, 00,000 Internet connections in the metropolises. Internet Marketing Strategies The major strategies used for internet marketing is as follows: Web design First of all we must have a good web site where we shoul d display the articles to sell. Since there are billions of web pages are there in internet, one should design his web site to catch attention from the customers. The customer should be able to know the various features of the product he wants to know. So, one should be able to display the web site well in style to catch good customers (Armistead & Keily, 2003). Free publicity As internet is a plat form where all the buyers and sellers meet, it offers ample scope to market his products and services. So we can use all social marketing tools for the same. We have face book, twitter and a number of web related plat forms are there to interact with the customers and buyers. Sending effective e- mails is the powerful tool as far as the internet marketing is concerned (Hoffman & Novak, 1996). SEO Search

Healthcare Systems Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Healthcare Systems - Article Example The Institute of Medicine’s report suggests the implementation of patient safety programs. This means that culture, procedures, and measurements must be reversed to soot the patient needs. The healthcare system has to use this in order to bring transparency in its operation. With this, patients and other customers can willingly table their suggestions, concerns, and observations that can be of help to the organizational functioning. Culture relies on the leadership. As the CEO, I have to incorporate it into the system. This will in return improve patient care, service delivery, and safety. In addition, working as CEO for large healthcare company I will ensure that the firm changes its organizational culture, structure, and design so that it reflects the patient’s needs. Research findings show that most of the patients receive unsatisfactory services. The healthcare system has to be reformed in order to satisfy them. By reforming the system, most patients will afford the health services, there will be an improvement in quality and common complication in patients can be brought under control. Standardizing processes require a high level of technology. This means that a lot of money must be used to purchase the necessary equipment. This may be very difficult because of the limited budgets allocated each year. While accepting the fact that it will reduce errors, it is not safe because the information, which is very confidential, may leak out to other people who may hack the system. It may be very difficult to realize any change in data until it is very late. In addition, most people will lose their jobs because the technology will replace their spaces.

Explain the difference between the marginal propensity to consume Essay

Explain the difference between the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) and the average propensity to consume (APC) and show how one helps to explain the size o - Essay Example For Ð µxÐ °mplÐ µ, if Ð ° housÐ µhold Ð µÃ °rns onÐ µ Ð µxtrÐ ° dollÐ °r of disposÐ °blÐ µ incomÐ µ, Ð °nd thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to consumÐ µ is 0.65, thÐ µn of thÐ °t dollÐ °r, thÐ µ fÐ °mily will spÐ µnd 65 cÐ µnts Ð °nd sÐ °vÐ µ 35 cÐ µnts. MÐ °thÐ µmÐ °ticÐ °lly, thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to consumÐ µ (MPC) function is Ð µxprÐ µssÐ µd Ð °s thÐ µ dÐ µrivÐ °tivÐ µ of thÐ µ consumption (C) function with rÐ µspÐ µct to disposÐ °blÐ µ incomÐ µ (Y). It is cÐ °lculÐ °tÐ µd Ð °s thÐ µ chÐ °ngÐ µ in consumption Ð µxpÐ µnditurÐ µ, DC, dividÐ µd by thÐ µ chÐ °ngÐ µ in disposÐ °blÐ µ incomÐ µ, DYD, thÐ °t brought it Ð °bout. In othÐ µr words, thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to consumÐ µ is mÐ µÃ °surÐ µd Ð °s thÐ µ rÐ °tio of thÐ µ chÐ °ngÐ µ in consumption to thÐ µ chÐ °ngÐ µ in incomÐ µ, thus giving us Ð ° figurÐ µ bÐ µtwÐ µÃ µn 0 Ð °nd 1. ThÐ µ MPC cÐ °n bÐ µ morÐ µ thÐ °n onÐ µ if thÐ µ subjÐ µct borrowÐ µd monÐ µy to finÐ °ncÐ µ Ð µxpÐ µnditurÐ µs highÐ µr thÐ °n thÐ µir incomÐ µ. OnÐ µ minus thÐ µ MPC Ð µquÐ °ls thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to sÐ °vÐ µ. It is Ð °ffÐ µctÐ µd by fÐ °ctors such Ð °s thÐ µ prÐ µvÐ °iling intÐ µrÐ µst rÐ °tÐ µ Ð °nd thÐ µ gÐ µnÐ µrÐ °l lÐ µvÐ µl of consumÐ µr surplus thÐ °t cÐ °n bÐ µ dÐ µrivÐ µd from purchÐ °sing.1 TotÐ °ling, Ð µconomists oftÐ µn spÐ µÃ °k of thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to sÐ °vÐ µ (MPS), which is thÐ µ frÐ °ction of Ð µxtrÐ ° incomÐ µ thÐ °t pÐ µoplÐ µ sÐ °vÐ µ. GivÐ µn thÐ °t pÐ µoplÐ µ Ð µithÐ µr sÐ °vÐ µ or consumÐ µ Ð °dditionÐ °l incomÐ µ, thÐ µ sum of thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to sÐ °vÐ µ Ð °nd thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to consumÐ µ should Ð µquÐ °l onÐ µ. ThÐ µ vÐ °luÐ µ of thÐ µ mÐ °rginÐ °l propÐ µnsity to consumÐ µ should bÐ µ grÐ µÃ °tÐ µr thÐ °n zÐ µro Ð °nd lÐ µss thÐ °n onÐ µ. Ð  vÐ °luÐ µ of zÐ µro would indicÐ °tÐ µ thÐ °t nonÐ µ of Ð °dditionÐ °l incomÐ µ would bÐ µ spÐ µnt; Ð °ll would bÐ µ sÐ °vÐ µd. Ð  vÐ °luÐ µ grÐ µÃ °tÐ µr thÐ °n onÐ µ would mÐ µÃ °n thÐ °t if incomÐ µ incrÐ µÃ °sÐ µd by $1.00, consumption would go up by morÐ µ thÐ °n Ð ° dollÐ °r, which would bÐ µ unusuÐ °l bÐ µhÐ °vior. For somÐ µ pÐ µoplÐ µ Ð ° MPC of 1 is rÐ µÃ °sonÐ °blÐ µ, mÐ µÃ °ning thÐ °t thÐ µy spÐ µnd Ð µvÐ µry Ð °dditionÐ °l dollÐ °r thÐ µy gÐ µt, but

Exercise for Alzheimers Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Exercise for Alzheimers Paper - Assignment Example Early diagnosis also allows for treatments that slow its progression. (Dwyer) Since there is no cure an early diagnosis can help alleviate at least some of the symptoms. Before I began my research on Alzheimer’s disease I believed that it was primarily caused by a family history of the condition as well as age. Age is a primary risk factor, However there is evidence only about 10% of cases result from gene mutations. (Insel & Roth) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"family history may be consistent with autosomal dominant, familial, or sporadic AD.† (Goldman et. al) This uncertainty about what exactly causes Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the fact that an increasing number of people have the disease due to the aging baby boom population are two reasons why it is important to recognize symptoms earlier and get tested for it. Alzheimer’s disease is a very complex condition that correlates with other conditions. For example there is evidence that indicates that a decreased ability of walking correlates with cognitive impairment. (Belluck) Some symptoms of AD are similar to symptoms of other diseases. For example the symptoms of depressio n are seen in Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions such as Crohn’s Disease, Hypoglycemia, Multiple Sclerosis and Seizure Disorders. Another example would be the symptom of hallucinations, which are also seen in alcoholism, brain cancer and hypothermia. (Conditions with Similar Symptoms as: Alzheimers Disease)Because of the similarities of symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease with other conditions more people need to be aware of the importance of early detection. Research needs to be done on new procedures to simplify the process. This should include greater awareness of the importance of genetic testing for the condition. Recent research has indicated that most people would prefer to have advanced

Coca Cola Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Coca Cola Company - Essay Example Many consequences arose as a result of this move. The first consequence and a positive one is the fact that people accepted the move because they saw it as a way of environmental conservation. The negative consequences are seen it terms of the confusion it created. People could not differentiate the diet coke from the regular coke. Secondly, people were loyal to the red can and therefore changing to white was like playing with their minds and this made it difficult for them to even buy the drink (abc). The case of coca cola confirms the view that people buy products to satisfy their need. They attach a certain meaning to a give product and develop a relationship with the brand. They therefore become loyal to the brand and changing any aspect of it may anger consumers and the consequences may be dire for a company. People identify with their brands and in so doing develop a relationship with the brand to the extent that their beliefs and attitudes towards the product become permanent. A slight change becomes costly to the company (Helm). As discussed above, consumers often build relationships with products over time. These relationships are as a result of the beliefs and attitudes that they hold about a particular product or service. These attitudes and beliefs shape their perceptions about the product and its perceived value. The perceived value the customers attach to a product is as a result of the benefits that they get as a result of using the product. The product may perform relatively high above the performance of other competitive products or it may offer better service to them or even it may be of superior quality than competitive products. The difference may be small but this generates customer loyalty to the product and thus subsequent purchase of the product is guaranteed (Mullins and Walker 13-16). Product perception can be defined as the individual’s mental impression of a stimulus object in this case a product. People have different percept ions about products and no two people think alike about the same product. Perception is selective, is organized, and depends on personal and stimulus factors (Helm). It is important that companies build a brand and work on maintaining the brand and its associated images and product designs. A change in this creates conflict within the customer’s minds altering their beliefs and attitudes towards the product (Mullins and Walker 18). Some customers take time to adjust to the change will others fear change and therefore prefer to stick with what they know about their product. This was the case for Coca Cola and the white cans. The introduction of the white cans violated the expectations of the consumers and thus creating the confusion and this led to subsequent rejection of the white cans. This process of rejection of the white cans can be explained by the cognitive dissonance theory. According to this theory, there is always a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions that is their beliefs, opinions, attitudes etc. when there is an inconsistency between the attitudes or behaviors often referred to as dissonance, then something must change to eliminate the dissonance. In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behavior (Blythe 161-162). Two factors affect the

Exercise for Alzheimers Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Exercise for Alzheimers Paper - Assignment Example Early diagnosis also allows for treatments that slow its progression. (Dwyer) Since there is no cure an early diagnosis can help alleviate at least some of the symptoms. Before I began my research on Alzheimer’s disease I believed that it was primarily caused by a family history of the condition as well as age. Age is a primary risk factor, However there is evidence only about 10% of cases result from gene mutations. (Insel & Roth) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"family history may be consistent with autosomal dominant, familial, or sporadic AD.† (Goldman et. al) This uncertainty about what exactly causes Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the fact that an increasing number of people have the disease due to the aging baby boom population are two reasons why it is important to recognize symptoms earlier and get tested for it. Alzheimer’s disease is a very complex condition that correlates with other conditions. For example there is evidence that indicates that a decreased ability of walking correlates with cognitive impairment. (Belluck) Some symptoms of AD are similar to symptoms of other diseases. For example the symptoms of depressio n are seen in Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions such as Crohn’s Disease, Hypoglycemia, Multiple Sclerosis and Seizure Disorders. Another example would be the symptom of hallucinations, which are also seen in alcoholism, brain cancer and hypothermia. (Conditions with Similar Symptoms as: Alzheimers Disease)Because of the similarities of symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease with other conditions more people need to be aware of the importance of early detection. Research needs to be done on new procedures to simplify the process. This should include greater awareness of the importance of genetic testing for the condition. Recent research has indicated that most people would prefer to have advanced

Impact of education on economic and social outcome of citizens Article

Impact of education on economic and social outcome of citizens - Article Example To be educated is indeed a wise undertaking in the world of today and it holds more ground than it used to in the times of our forefathers. There is so much to seek, learn and understand that the man seems to go missing in the quagmire. However if he is educated he makes his own way through the zig-zag pathways and thus reaches his destination on all counts. It is a matter of fact that being educated in the current times facilitates one self in estimating what life is bringing for a person. It opens up his range of options and presents to him ideas out of the box as well. What this does is to make him do the analysis in a straight forward manner. No analysis is possible without getting to know the facts first of all. If a person is educated and understands the norms that are taking place within his life or generally, he will get to know what the strengths of the same undertakings are and how it would affect his own live as well as the ones whom he loves and takes care of. He gets to inquire the weaknesses present with the knowledge that he has obtained over a period of time and thus weighs them in light of the strong points that were previously ascertained by him in due course of time. In the world of present times, being educated means that a person is talked of in a high and esteemed manner. He is given respect by one and all since he can understand the difference between the good, the bad and the ugly. He can sense problems where the illiterates could think merry. He can make out for the troubles that lie ahead in different situations through his sheer ability of forecasting and visualization. He can look at the missing links better than an average man. He can understand his own psyche, individual basis and the manner under which he exists within the tenets of the society. He knows who he is and what is expected of him. He can create links with each other on the basis of his literate self and his education speaks for his own self in terms of his dressing, the way he meets strangers and new people, the way he eats and dines, the manner in which he greets people and so on and so forth. The differences seem to become apparent more often than not and this is something that is apparent within a person who is educated and who knows how to comprehend difficult circumstances with eloquent measures. More than anything e lse, it is his resolve that remains firm at the best of times and he remains committed to his world of ethics and morals since this is a very quintessential step in the wake of his different undertakings, measures and behaviors in the world that he lives in. It is true that from a general standoff education pretty much plays a pivotal role in the development of any nation. This markedly sets the tone for the people to harness their skills and potentials which they are quite unaware of before they actually get out in search of educating themselves and their families. The reforms have to be brought from the top side of a nation, whereby the government needs to take bold steps to promote it no matter how hard it is on their budgets. Awareness does not come out of the blue for the people, it has to be injected courtesy education and one must understand the real rationale behind putting emphasis on this subject before one actually moves ahead and does

Virtue theory Essay Example for Free

Virtue theory Essay Abstract: This paper develops and explores a pedagogical innovation for integrating virtue theory into business students basic understanding of general management. Eighty-seven students, in 20 groups, classified three managers real-time videotaped activities according to an elaboration of Aristotles cardinal virtues, Fayols management functions, and Mintzbergs managerial roles. The studys empirical evidence suggests that, akin to Fayols functions and Mintzbergs roles, Aristotles virtues are also amenable to operationalization, reliable observation, and meaningful description of managerial behavior. The study provides an oft-called-for empirical basis for further work in virtue theory as an appropriate conceptual framework for the study and practice of management. The results indicate that virtue theory may be used to re-conceive our fundamental understanding of management, alongside its capacity to weigh moral judgment upon it. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit. we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. —Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics V irtue theory has generated increasing interest among moral philosophers (e. g. , Maclntyre, 1981) and business ethicists (e. g. , Hartman, 1998; Koehn, 1995; Mintz, 1996; Moberg, 1999). While limitations of virtue theory have been justly noted (Koehn, 1998), scholars have effectively drawn on Aristotles (1999) virtues to help business students develop their moral capacities (Hartman, 1998; Mintz, 1996; Solomon, 1992). However, a significant challenge remains to help business students incorporate ethical concerns into a more integrated understanding of the practice of management (Park, 1998) and enhance their ability to recognize ethical issues (Gautschi and Jones, 1998). Our study seeks to address the moral integration problem by exploring a pedagogical strategy aimed at providing business students a moral lens via placing the virtues alongside other well-known frameworks of management. In  ©2001. Business Ethics Quarterly, Volume H, Issue 4. ISSN 1052-150X. pp. 561-574 562. BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY particular, students enrolled in a general management course were asked to observe managers actions and classify them according to tbree frameworks: our version of Aristotles (1999) four cardinal virtues; atextbook adaptation of Fayols (1949) functions of management; and our operationalization of Mintzbergs (1973) managerial roles. Most management textbooks are organized according to Fayols four functions (planning, organizing, controlling, and leading), with Mintzbergs roles being the second most-mentioned approach (Carroll and Gillen, 1987). We argue that, just as Fayol and Mintzberg provide frameworks that have proven helpful in talking and thinking about management and for helping students and practitioners to develop good habits of organizing, planning, making resource allocation decisions, and so forth, so also an Aristotelian approach will help us to talk and think about management in a way that permits integrating good ethical habits into management practice. Put differently, as expressed in the familiar maxim, A way of seeing is also a way of not seeing, at the heart of tbis current study is a pedagogy to provide management students an Aristotelian way of seeing what management is, to place alongside the more familiar and entrenched Fayolian and Mintzbergian ways of seeing. Providing students witb a lens drawn from virtue theory, to use alongside their lenses of managerial functions and roles, promises to help students integrate moral theory into general management thinking and practice. The remainder of our paper is divided into three parts. We begin by describing how we adapted Aristotles four cardinal virtues for our study, and present the tbree general research questions that guided our research. In the second part we present our method and our findings. The final section provides a discussion of the implications of our findings, future directions for research, and the potential usefulness of the virtues for integrating ethical concerns into management education. Virtue Theory and Management. It is commonplace to see management in terms of Fayols functions (planning, leading, organizing, and controlling) and in terms of Mintzbergs roles (interpersonal, informational, decision-making, etc. ). In particular, most management textbooks suggest that these ways of seeing provide the essential, basic lenses for developing an understanding about management (Carroll and Gillen, 1987). In this paper, we contend that virtue theory can be used in a similar way to provide a basic foundational view of management. Indeed, to make our case as forcefully as possible, we claim tbat virtue theory is primarily about management. For example, from Aristotles (1999) assertion tbat tbe purpose of life is to maximize bappiness, and that bappiness can only be maximized by practicing virtues in community, it follows that how we manage our communities is of main concern. Whereas for Aristotle ethics culminated in politics, we are suggesting tbat today etbics culminates in management, as managers play a critical role in society (cf. Maclntyre, 1981). Solomon (1992: 104 emphasis added bere) concurs that an Aristotelian approach to business ethics ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 563 conceives of business as an essential part of the good life, living well, getting along with others, having a sense of self-respect, and being part of something one can be proud of. Because managers in our society have a great say in what practices occur in business and organizations, and thus in facilitating social purpose, we contend that they are a central figure in virtue theory, Aristotles Virtues Reformulated for Todays Business Organization Just as Fayols original functions have been adapted and reformulated over time to fit and reflect contemporary concerns, so also we have adapted Aristotles four cardinal virtues for our study. Toward this end, we found the work of Solomon (1992) particularly helpful. Thus, our description of wisdom, justice, courage, and self-control takes into account the contextual and embedded qualities of virtues as relevant for present-day managers. We hasten to add that for our present purposes, our focus is on examining whether a virtue theory-based approach to conceptualizing management is empirically possible; it is not critical to our present enterprise that the particular virtues we have chosen, or our particular operationalizations, are the most appropriate. Similar to Aristotle (1999), we conceive of practical wisdom as a capacity for deliberation and action by individuals to obtain what is good for themselves and others in general. Practical wisdom entails the ability to ask insightful questions, evaluate real-world business situations, and apply relevant knowledge to the-individual-in-the-organization (Solomon, 1992: 111) unit of analysis. Instead of an individual or community focus, the business manager who possesses practical wisdom views individuals as embedded in community and understands that a potential dichotomy between the two is more apparent than real. S/he recognizes the reciprocity of individual and community good despite the complexities associated with a plurality of different stakeholders. When Mintz (1996: 829) notes that wisdom is an intellectual virtue and is considered to be the consequence of teaching and for that reason requires experience and time to be cultivated, it draws particular attention to the responsibility of scholars and leaders who shape how we think about and understand management. Solomon (1992) views justice, in the sense of fairness and everyone connected with an organization getting their due, as the basic virtue that holds institutions together. This emphasizes a personal responsibility as essential to business organizations, and reflects present-day concerns with the accountability of private and public institutions as citizens in society as well as organizational citizenship behavior by individuals. With the growth of highly complex multinational corporations, burgeoning bureaucracies, and unregulated cyberspace, it is more incumbent today than ever for individuals to act justly with promptitude and pleasure (Pieper, 1965: 63, 113) and to develop personal responsibility for their participation in organizations and larger communities. Our view of the virtue of courage in organizations today differs from traditional notions of courage in battle or courage of ones convictions—both instances 564 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY of extraordinary virtue which depend on especially threatening contexts (Solomon, 1992). To nurture oneself as an intimate part of a community, we see courage as a continuous fortitude or stamina to resist the ongoing pressures for impression management, job-hopping, and self-aggrandizement in todays organizations, which all potentially undermine other virtues necessary for community, such as honesty, loyalty, trust, and so forth. Courage implies hope and acting for the good of all even if this may diminish ones own status. Courage may involve speaking out on matters of injustice and personal conviction, and generally concerns maintaining ones integrity or wholeness (Solomon, 1992) in an increasingly fragmenting corporate context. The last of the four virtues, self-control or temperance, we see as relating to contemporary concerns with managers emotional regulation and impulse control. Such internal regulation is likened to Aristotles (1999) notion of virtue as a kind of mean, with excess and deficiency as vices (e. g. , see Aristotles commentary on anger). For instance, it is widely accepted that assertive, instead of aggressive or passive-aggressive, communications are more helpful in building relationships. Intermediate, rather than excessive or deficient, emotion is necessary for fostering other corporate virtues such as caring, gentleness, and compassion (Solomon, 1992). Self-control entails keeping focus on the whole, rather than over-reacting to details. Temperance in moderating desires is important (e. g. , reducing exorbitant individual and organizational consumption levels), but self-control vis-a-vis emotionality is especially relevant in todays crowded organizations, cities, and societies. Of course, the challenge that others have raised (e. g. , Hartman, 1998; Maclntyre, 1981; Mintz, 1996), and which underlies our current study, is to make virtues observable in management practice and a relevant guiding framework for management theory. More generally, this reinforces our overarching goal of placing this alternative way of seeing management alongside the two most common current ways of seeing (i. e. , Fayol and Mintzberg), and having virtue theory viewed as a partner framework for understanding and guiding management theory and practice. Research Questions We did not enter this study with a particular set of hypotheses we wished to test. Rather, ours is an exploratory study aimed at examining whether Aristotles virtues are similarly observable in managerial behavior by students as are Fayols functions and Mintzbergs roles. This leads to our first research question, to determine whether there are any differences between how able management students are to capture and classify managerial behavior using virtue theory versus the more commonly used managerial functions and roles frameworks. Can students be trained to see the four virtues as often as the managerial functions and roles? In terms of anticipated results from this first question, since our methodology was adapted from Mintzbergs original study, we expected students to be able to. ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 565 classify a greater proportion of managers activities using his framework than Fayols. We were not sure how well virtue theory could be used to classify behavior, but, given that it is a less common lens through which to view management, we would not have been surprised had students observed virtues less frequently. Of course, the less frequently virtue theory is able to categorize management behavior, the less utility it might have as an overarching approach on par with function and role theory. Our second research question is a deeper examination of the first. We wanted to compare how the various students applied the tbree frameworks, with an eye toward seeing whether there was some consistency in classifications of managers activities across students. Again, given the kinship between our methodology and Mintzbergs, we expected his framework to generate the highest inter-rater reliability. And, given the fact that management virtue theory is relatively underdeveloped, we might expect to see the least consistency in this framework. Of course, we were interested in this question because, in order for the virtues to be a useful framework for understanding management, they must be amenable to operationalization and consistent observation. We are using virtues as a way of understanding or (re)conceiving what management is, not as a way to pass moral judgment on it. In sum, we are interested in whether the consistency of students classifications of virtues were comparable to managerial functions and roles. Finally, we were curious to examine whether there were any inter-relationships between virtue theory and the other two frameworks. Again, as there is virtually (pun intended) no research in this area, our a priori expectations were based on speculation and intuition. Thus, for example, we might expect that managers who exhibit relatively high levels of justice might be more likely to manifest the controlling function and the decisional role. In asking this third exploratory question, we wanted to investigate how the virtues might be related to functions and roles in the behavior of actual managers, and how the three frameworks may be integrated. Method The methodology used for this study was adapted from the original method Mintzberg (1973) used in developing his managerial roles. We videotaped three managers from the same manufacturing firm during their regular work hours. The total amount of taping for all three managers combined was 9 hours, 39 minutes, and 56 seconds, and included the general manager, the financial controller, and a sales manager. These managerial positions comprise a reasonable representation of the variation in managerial job categories of the focus organization. The data reported here are based on the work of twenty student groups enrolled in one of three sections of an Introduction to Management and Organization Theory course offered in a midwest public university. The data reported here are based on the work of 87 students, with 4 or 5 students in each group. Each group was given the task of classifying one of the three different managers behavior according to each of the frameworks developed by Aristotle, Fayol, and 566 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY Mintzberg. To help students operationalize each of the categories within each of the three frameworks, the instructor provided them with templates of each. An abridged overview of the templates is provided in Table 1. The templates described various behaviors that represent each of the managerial virtues, functions, and roles. Readers wishing more detailed information on Fayols functions may consult any introductory management textbook (the template used in this study was based on the description presented in Starke and Sexty, 1992, the textbook used in the students course). Similarly, further information on Mintzbergs managerial roles can be found in Mintzberg (1973), which was used to prepare the template for this study. Table 1: Operationalization of Virtues, Functions, and Roles Category Sample Actions. Aristotles Virtues Practical Wisdom Justice Courage Self-control Using appropriate knowledge required to size up a real world situation and making a decision that increases the common good; helping subordinates to improve in a way that allows them to feel good about themselves; asking insightful questions Giving credit for success where credit is due; assigning appropriate accountability and responses for failure; accepting and acknowledging the merit in advice/wisdom from others. Treating set-backs as temporary; empowering others rather than hoarding power; complimenting others; accepting others counsel even when it may seem to diminish self status Making other-full decisions; calming a situation where over-reaction might be tempting; correcting a mistake in a self-controlled manner; letting go of details to embrace a larger perspective Fayols Functions Planning Organizing Controlling Determining new industries to enter in the future; setting and priorizing market share goals; determining tevel of vertical integration; choosing strategic focus; implementing and evaluating plans. Setting policy statements; establishing procedures; setting rules; determining how a specific service is to be performed or product to be manufactured; ensuring payroll or accounting functions are performed uniformly across the organization Touring facilities; reviewing financial/productivity reports; evaluating individual, group and/or organizational performance; rewarding good performance or taking corrective action for poor performance Mintzbergs Roles Interpersonal Informational Decisional. Helping a subordinate to leam a new task; making job assignments for subordinates; meeting with other managers at the same level within the organization; talking to competitors/suppliers/customer organizations Readitig industry newspapers; attending industry conferences; reading fmancial reports; sending memos; attending weekly staff meetings; relaying information fiom upper level managers; lobbying for organizational unit Develop a new way to produce or to market a product or service; responding to day-to-day crises; setting budgets; deciding how to increase capacity; conducting union negotiations. ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 567 An earlier study based on these data provided a much more detailed rationale for how each of the various categories and sub-categories were established. For the present study, it is sufficient to make two notes. First, rather than provide a detailed analysis of each of Mintzbergs ten roles, we here report data only for his three basic roles: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. This allows for a much more parsimonious presentation. Second, our analysis includes data on only three of Fayols roles: planning, controlling, and organizing. Students were not asked to code Fayols leading function for several reasons, but mostly because the curriculum in our university covers the leading function in a different course. 2 Results The data from the twenty reports were analyzed in several ways to address our three guiding research questions. We used simple descriptive statistics to examine the first question, namely, whether there were any differences between how ably students could classify managers behaviours using the three conceptual frameworks (i. e. , virtues, functions, and roles). As shown in Table 2, the findings were different than expected. First, because our methodology is adapted from Mintzbergs, we expected that his roles would be evident more often in the videotapes than Fayols functions and Aristotles virtues. We found that the opposite occurred. Although the students did classify 80 percent of the managers behavior using Mintzbergs roles, this was slightly less than the 82 percent of the time they classified using Fayols functions, and both these are statistically significantly less than the 89 percent of managers behavior students classified using Aristotles virtues (p . 01). Practical wisdom was the most frequently categorized virtue at 48. 4 percent, followed by justice at 26. 6 percent, courage at 8. 6 percent, and self-control at 5. 3 percent. Fayols functions were categorized at 17. 1 percent for planning, 22. 5 percent for organizing, and 42. 4 percent for controlling. Mintzbergs roles were categorized 51. 3 percent for interpersonal, 24. 5 percent for informational, and 4. 4 percent for decisional. Our second research question was to examine how much consistency there was between students in observing the various virtues in managers. For virtue theory to be a useful way to understand management, and for it to be most helpful in developing students ethical competencies, there should be consistency. Thus, inter-rater reliabilities were calculated to measure the consistency of student group observations vis-a-vis each framework (see Table 2). As we expected, inter-rater reliability scores among the 20 groups were the highest for Mintzhergs roles at . 98 and lowest for Fayols functions at . 82; Aristotles virtues ranked between these two frameworks, at . 91. 568 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY. Table 2: Descriptive Statistics and Inter-Rater Reliability Category n Category mean (†¢/o of time) Wisdom 20 48. 4 20. 3 Justice 20 26. 6 19. 9 Courage 20 8. 6 8. 3 Self-control 20 5. 3 Framework mean (†¢/. of time) Framework inter. rater reliability 88  » 5. 1 5d .91 82. D .82 80. 2 n Aristotles Virtues Fayols unctions Planning 20 17 1 14. 5 Organizing 20 22. 5 18. 7 Controlling 20 42. 4 19. 8 Interpersonal 20 SI. 3 14. 4 Infonnational 20 24 5 5. 5 Decisional 20 4. 4 3 1 Mintzber gs Roles Finally, our third research question was to explore how the virtues related to the other frameworks. Toward this end we calculated Pearson correlations between each virtue, function, and role (see Table 3 below). As this is an exploratory study, we used an alpha level of . 10 to examine significant correlations. We found four significant correlations between the virtues and the categories of the other frameworks. Practical wisdom correlated positively with both Fayols planning function (. 38, p=. O99) and Mintzbergs interpersonal role (. 55, p=. O12), and negatively with the controlling function (-. 41, p=. O74). Justice correlated negatively with the interpersonal role (-.40, p=. O78) and had an almost statistically significant positive correlation with the controlling function (. 36, p=. 118). Two more statistically significant correlations were found within the four virtues: (i) a negative correlation between justice and practical wisdom (-. 77, p=. OOO); and (ii) a negative correlation between justice and courage (-. 51, p=. O21). Finally, three other significant correlations emerged among categories outside of virtue theory: (i) a negative correlation between the organizing function and the controlling function (-. 70, p=.OOl); (ii) a negative correlation between the informational and decisional roles (-. 45, p=. O49); and (iii) a positive correlation between the planning function and the interpersonal role (. 61, p=. 004). In sum, it may be noteworthy that, of the nine statistically significant correlations found, most included at least one of the virtues (six), and fewer included one of the functions or one of the roles (four each). ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT ao S p O g o 9 q o o o II 569 p o CN Z 9 tn so rn o e s o I o 00 I o 10 (N 2 g o o o o o 2S8 e o ci d o 8 i o. b O o U  § i  § 9 U , . ; N .2 s 3 570 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY Discussion For proponents of a virtue theory of management, the results of our exploratory study are encouraging. Our findings offer preliminary empirical support for the contention that Aristotles virtues provide a useable framework for integrating moral concerns into a holistic view of management. Our results, that students are able to observe the virtues in actual managerial behavior, encourage their further use and development as a framework for education in management theory and business ethics. We will now discuss the implications of our findings, and future research opportunities, in more detail. Research Question #7 In regard to our first research question concerning the different frameworks efficacy to classify managerial behavior, Aristotles virtues performed better than the two most commonly used conceptual frameworks in management teaching. Students were able to use virtue theory to categorize almost ninety percent of managers behavior, about ten percent more than functions or roles. Thus, the further use and development of a virtue theory framework for teaching students about the responsibilities of management is supported. Future researchers may examine the link between the training that students receive and their subsequent ability to observe virtues, and also whether their ability to observe virtues is related to their likelihood of putting them into practice. This latter linkage, between being able to see in others and doing oneself, also undergirds mainstream management theory (e. g., students who observe the managerial roles will be more able to play those roles themselves) and is of particular relevance from a virtue theory perspective. Students who traditionally are taught to pose questions like What function or role should I be trying to improve as a manager? can be provided a framework to also ask Which virtue do I need to pay more attention to in order to develop as a manager? Do I practice enough justice in my interactions with subordinates? Have I been courageous in my dealings with upper management when advocating for my staff? Am I adequately temperate in my work aspirations? This approach to incorporate an ethical dimension within students professional identity is welcome given the competing complexities and demands of business life, and may help to address Parks (1998) concern with business students integrating ethical issues with other business frameworks. Unfortunately, current business ethics courses may be perceived as unrelated to the rest of what students are taught in business schools if they do not define a set of ethical responsibilities and practices in conjunction with other functional and role requirements of management proper. As a result, when students come to fill managerial positions, they may be left virtually point-of-viewless regarding their responsibilities as managers vis-a-vis ethical issues, and have a constrained ability to define managerial success. ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 571 Research Question #2 In examining our second research question, we found a relatively high level of inter-rater reliability across student group categorizations of the virtues, comparable to the categorizations for the two more mainstream views of management. Beyond providing additional empirical support to continue to develop a virtue theory of management, this finding also draws our attention to further study what the key management virtues are and how we should describe them. In particular, partially in response to readers who might be surprised at the high incidence of virtuous behavior observed in our managers (e. g. , Maclntyre, 1981), our exploratory study begs future research to more closely examine the content of what the students were observing to be virtuous behavior. The consistent student observations are striking because operationalizing the virtues is not an easy task. For example, a person can act fairly without manifesting the virtue of justice if he does so without promptitude and pleasure (Pieper, 1965) and, similarly, performing a courageous act does not make a person courageous. In this light, the consistency of observations in our study should serve to encourage researchers who focus on specifying which virtues are most important for contemporary managers, because it lessens their need to limit or compromise their choice to easy-to-operationalize virtues. In any case, we suggest that future research use multiple method research designs to study virtues. For example, researchers could collect self-report data alongside videotapes, where managers are asked to describe, say, what prompted them to act fairly in a given situation. Similarly, researchers may interview subordinates and colleagues with whom focal managers interact. There may also be merit in developing a grounded theory of virtuous management, and analyzing observers classifications. As the research stream matures, there is potential for experimental designs and even survey instrument research. In short, empirical research within a virtue theory perspective has the potential to utilize and draw from the same methods and design strategies that have proven useful for other theoretical points of view. Research Question #5 The answer to the third research question provides a final point of departure for future research. For example, what do the positive correlations between practical wisdom and planning, practical wisdom and interpersonal roles, and the negative correlation between wisdom and controlling suggest? Is the wise manager one who controls less and pays more attention to issues of planning and interpersonal relations? Or, do these correlations reflect a bias in students towards the rightness of more participatory management styles that have become increasingly in vogue? Another question arising from the correlational analysis is the meaning of the negative association between justice and practical wisdom and justice and the interpersonal roles. Does the manager who displays more 572 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY practical wisdom do so at a cost to justice as we have operationalized them? Further, does the negative correlation between justice and the interpersonal role (and the almost-statistically-significant positive correlation between justice and controlling) indicate that students regard exhibiting the interpersonal role as somehow unjust and manipulative and not concerned with giving employees their due? Do managers who act justly perhaps do so at a cost to interpersonal relationships (e. g. , perhaps students perceived as just managers who enforce rules without adequate regard to unique personal needs)? The negative correlation between justice and courage draws further attention to issues around managerial manipulation, if students viewed managers ability to act unjust as something that takes courage. Alternatively, perhaps students see as courageous managers who protect their employees, even if this is not just toward shareholders. Along a different line, perhaps future research should examine the complementarity of virtues among managerial teams. Following Nadler and Tushmans (1990) argument that management teams should have leaders with complementary skills, so also the managers in our study may have complementary virtues. Thus, for example, one manager may be wiser while another more just. Such an approach leads to fascinating opportunities to examine the interplay between these virtues across managers. Finally, a comment on a non-finding in the correlational analysis. What about self-control? Is the lack of significant relationships with other categories, and the relatively low frequency of temperate behavior observed, an artifact of the methodology as might be the case if, for example, self-control is the least amenable to direct observation? Future research might find higher levels of self-control through self-reports asking managers about their feelings and stress levels during particular interactions. Similarly, one might design experiments using confederates to create highly frustrating interpersonal scenarios to assess the level of self-control displayed by subjects. These types of questions are indicative of potentially important directions in future research. Alternatively, perhaps our data suggest that future researchers should consider replacing self-control as a primary virtue for managers. Recall that the primary focus of our paper was to develop empirical support for the development of a virtual theory to conceptualize and understand management; we do not contend that the four virtues we have used here are necessarily the best or most appropriate. Our findings do demonstrate the merit in developing a virtue theory of management, and we now invite others to join us in the task of deciding which are the most important virtues for contemporary managers, a task which requires specifying its undergirding moral point of view (Frankena, 1973). Conclusion Our exploratory study provides welcome empirical support.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 :: United States History Work Safety Essays

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 275 girls started to collect their belongings as they were leaving work at 4:45 PM on Saturday. Within twenty minutes some of girls' charred bodies were lined up along the East Side of Greene Street. Those girls who flung themselves from the ninth floor were merely covered with tarpaulins where they hit the concrete. The Bellevue morgue was overrun with bodies and a makeshift morgue was set up on the adjoining pier on the East River. Hundred's of parents and family members came to identify their lost loved ones. 146 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company were dead the night of March 25, 1911. The horror of their deaths led to numerous changes in occupational safety standards that currently ensure the safety of workers today. At the time of the fire the only safety measures available for the workers were 27 buckets of water and a fire escape that would collapse when people tried to use them. Most of the doors were locked and those that were not locked only opened inwards and were effectively held shut by the onrush of workers escaping the fire. As the clothing materials feed the fire workers tried to escape anyway they could. 25 passengers flung themselves down the elevator shaft trying to escape the fire. Their bodies rained blood and coins down onto the employees who made it into the elevator cars. Engine Company 72 and 33 were the first on the scene. To add to the already bleak situation the water streams from their hoses could only reach the 7th floor. Their ladders could only reach between the 6th and 7th floor. 19 bodies were found charred against the locked doors. 25 bodies were found huddled in a cloakroom. These deaths, although horrible, was not what changed the feelings toward government regula tion. Upon finding that they could not use the doors to escape and the fire burning at their clothes and hair, the girls of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, aged mostly between 13 and 23 years of age, jumped 9 stories to their death. One after another the girls jumped to their deaths on the concrete over one hundred of feet below. Sometimes the girls jumped three and four at a time. On lookers watched in horror as body after body fell to the earth. "Thud -- dead; thud -- dead; thud -- dead; thud -- dead.

World Bank Report & World Development Report Essay example -- essays r

Starting from the year 1990, the international community has set up plans to eliminate poverty in the world by the year 2015 with a set of specific goals to be achieved by that date. These goals were set up according to the studies done beforehand, that showed where and what the major poverty areas and problems in the world were. These studies explained that although the poverty problem was extensive, there were several factors of which the crisis was mainly constituted. The first problem was extreme income poverty, with almost half the world's population living on less than $2 a day, and a fifth living on less than $1 daily. Another major problem was education, which encompassed many aspects. Not only wasn't primary education compulsory in many regions, but there were also problems regarding women getting equal education to men, due to cultural, social and economic barriers. The third main problem area was health, where child mortality rates, for example, were alarming; 'in rich countries fewer than 1 child in 100 does not reach its fifth birthday, while in the poorest countries as many as a fifth of the children do not'. After getting these goals in focus and setting these plans in motion, it was discovered that they weren't going as well as planned. It was found that the goals were pretty unrealistic compared to the conditions and the time period. For example, one of the goals was 'cutting income poverty by half'. This could only be achieved, if income poverty decreased by 2.7% annually between 1990 and 2015, which didn't happen, because studies showed that between 1990 and 1998, it decreased by only 1.7% annually. This failure to achieve the objectives was mainly because of the inequality of the world; inequality in distribution of income, inequality in cultural and religious conditions, inequality in practically too many facets of life to be able to control or conform to a generalized plan. So, from the outcome of this attempt and from going back to the reports of previous decades, a new strategy to eliminate poverty was laid out, based on three fundamental interrelated concepts that could be adapted to each community differently according to its individual conditions. These concepts are promoting opportunity, facilitating empowerment, and enhancing security. In promoting opportunity, the government plays an important role, in making it easy for ... ...le, it says that the governments have to improve their facilities and services, like health, education and infrastructure, so as to give the poor equal opportunities. In the WBR, on the other hand, it says that in needy countries, the World Bank actually finances and funds their infrastructure and educational programs. In the WBR it mentions many different things of this sort, while in the WDR it only clarifies the plan that should be adopted by the countries. Another difference is that in the WBR it is sort of dealing with clients that it wants to please and to better its performance for, and that its plan for reducing poverty, is only part of what it does, in order to reach this goal. The WDR was dealing with the poverty problem only, so I think it sounded more involved in it and more giving in attention to this problem only, using greater detail. I think that for the general public, the WDR is much easier laid out and written, with sufficient background information, plenty of detail and a more humanitarian side of the issue. The WBR is much more disordered, financially oriented, with much greater monetary detail and not much emphasis on the compassionate side of the problem.

Agriculture Sector in India: Trends, Issues and Challenges Essay

Introduction Agriculture is a critical sector of the Indian economy. Though manufacturing and service sector industries gained attention during the last couple of decades, agriculture remains to be the most important contributor of growth in India. Nearly two-thirds of India’s population depends directly on agriculture for its livelihood. It meets the food requirements of the people and produces several raw materials for industries. From agricultural point of view, India has vast expanse of level land, wild climatic variations suited for various types of crops, rich soils, abundant sunshine and a long harvesting season (rabi and kharif). Approximately, 140-145 million hectares of land is under agriculture. Post Independence, large areas in India have been brought under irrigation but only one-third of the cropped area is actually irrigated. There are many reasons responsible for the low productivity of agriculture. Farming depends mainly upon monsoon rain and farmers own small pieces of land and grow crops primarily for consumption. Another reason for low productivity of agriculture is insufficient storage facilities for crop yield. About one-third of land holdings are very small and less than one hectare in size. Due to small size of land holdings, modern way of cultivation cannot be used. Even today the farmers are using very old methods, tools and implements for farming. Artificial ways of cultivation are not implemented in India. Because of various reasons like lack of awareness, most farmers do not use better quality of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. There is lot of exploitation of marginal farmers. There is also low productivity because of increasing pressure on land and absence of bank credit. Agriculture contributes in foreign exchange of our country. India exports agricultural products and earns foreign currency. Agricultural exports have helped India in earning valuable foreign exchange and thereby improving economic development. Objective India is an emerging market and the objective of this project is to study the important role that the agricultural sector will play in the economic growth in India. Though more than 70% of the population depends on the Indian agriculture, the productivity has decreased post independence area. Lot of emphasis is given on the service sector which has shown tremendous growth in the last few years. It’s time now that policies are introduced to take care of the different issues and challenges in the Agricultural sector. Performance of agriculture sector in india The agriculture sector in India has undergone significant changes in the form of decrease in share of GDP from 30 percent in 1990-91 to 14.5 percent in 2010-11 indicating a shift from the traditional agrarian economy towards a service dominated one. The same is reflected from the below Figure 1. This decrease in agriculture’s contribution to GDP has not been accompanied by a matching reduction in the share of agriculture in employment. About 52% of the total workforce is still employed by the farm sector which makes more than half of the Indian population dependant on agriculture for sustenance. However, non-farm activities also contributed to the growth from rural economy. Source: CSO Figure 1: Sectoral Composition of GDP â€Å"The average size of operational holdings in India has diminished progressively from 2.28 ha in 1970-71 to 1.55 ha in 1990-91 to 1.23 ha in 2005-06 (Figure 2). As per Agriculture Census 2005-06, the proportion of marginal holdings (area less than 1 ha) has increased from 61.6 percent in 1995-96 to 64.8 percent in 2005-06. This is followed by about 18 percent small holdings (1-2 ha.), about 16 percent medium holdings (more than 2 to less than 10 ha.) and less than 1 percent large holdings (10 ha. and above).†(Reference #3) Source: Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Agricultural Census Division, Ministry of Agriculture. Figure 2: Average size (ha) of holdings as per different Agriculture Census Because of increasing population, land fragmentation is increasing which is reducing availability of cultivated land area per household. Added to this, because increasing challenges in agriculture sector, this remains to be least contributor of employment opportunities in rural areas. Because of this additional employment opportunities in the non-farm and manufacturing sector (especially in agro based rural industries) have to be created. Because of this, people have to enhance their skills in corresponding sectors to gain employment. This way, more and more employment opportunities can be created which will be useful in making agriculture practical in a sustainable manner. Figure 3: Farms in rural India. Most farms in India are small plots such as in this image. â€Å"The growth performance of the agriculture sector has been fluctuating across the plan periods (Fig 4). It witnessed a growth rate of 4.8 per cent during the Eighth plan period (1992–97). However, the agrarian situation saw a downturn towards the beginning of the Ninth plan period (1997–2002) and the Tenth plan period (2002–07), when the agricultural growth rate came down to 2.5 percent and 2.4 percent respectively. This crippling growth rate of 2.4 percent in agriculture as against a robust annual average overall growth rate of 7.6 per cent for the economy during the tenth plan period was clearly a cause for concern. The trend rate of growth during the period 1992-93 to 2010-11 is 2.8 percent while the average annual rate of growth in agriculture & allied sectors-GDP during the same period is 3.2 percent.†(Reference 3). Source: CSO Figure 4: Growth Rates: GDP (overall) and GDP (Agriculture & Allied Sectors) Note: Figures are at 2004-05 prices. Source: CSO. Figure 5: Comparative Performance of Growth of GDP and Agri-GDP Government policies in agriculture sector The Indian government has employed several steps to improve the situation of agriculture sector in the country. Land Reforms: Land reforms were introduced. The government has encouraged consolidation of land holdings to promote use of modern farm machines. The government took lands of big land owners away and redistributed to landless laborers. The government abolished the Zamindari System. Public investment: Modern methods of cultivation were introduced in the country. The government has improved on providing infrastructure facilities such as irrigation, electricity and transportation. Agricultural equipment such as pesticides, pump harvesters, tractors, fertilizers were made available to farmers. Constructing irrigation reservoirs has helped in supplying water for irrigation in the areas of water scarcity. To ensure a significant growth in this sector, the government is taking steps to provide the necessary infrastructure in terms of cold storage, food grain storage, food processing, refrigerated transported as the industry is estimated to be losing 20% of its produce due to poor storage facilities. The governments have allowed foreign equity participation of up to 51% in cold chain projects. Major policies * The government has introduced significant changes in Incentive policies and Input subsidies. Getting finance from banks was made easier for the farmers. * The crop insurance was another step to protect the farmers against losses caused by crop failure on account of natural calamities like flood cyclone, drought etc. * High-yielding varieties of seeds, fertilizers and irrigation gave birth to Green Revolution. All these led to tremendous increase in the production of crops. Output subsidies * Procurement-cum-distribution policies * Minimum support prices announced by Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices * (CACP) during sowing * Food Corporation of India (FCI) buys all the grains offered for sale at these prices (Above points are from class PPTs) suggestions–new policy measure to help agriculture sector * The Eleventh Five Year Plan has highlighted such a holistic framework and suggested the following strategy to raise agricultural output. * Rate of growth of irrigated area has to be doubled * Water management, watershed development and rain water harvesting has to be improved * Degraded land to be reclaimed and focusing on soil quality * Reducing the knowledge gap by organizing awareness camps * Diversification of high value outputs like fruits, vegetables, flowers but with adequate measures to ensure food security * Animal husbandry and fishery to be promoted * Reforms in improving the incentive structure and functioning of markets * Provide easy access to credit at affordable rates * Agriculture can impact poverty alleviation and rural development with far reaching ability. There are several areas of importance for the agriculture sector growth. These include, increasing public sector investment in research, effective transfer of technology along with institutional reforms in the research set up to make it more accountable and geared towards conservation of land, water and biological resources, the development of rain fed agriculture, delivery, the development of minor irrigation, timely and adequate availability of inputs, support for marketing infrastructure, an increase in flow of credit particularly to the small and marginal farmers. * Achievement of food and nutrition security and alleviation of poverty and unemployment on a sustainable basis depend on the efficient and judicious use of natural resources (land/soil, water, agri-biodiversity and climate). Inefficient use and mismanagement of productive resources, especially land, water, energy and agro-chemicals has vastly reduced fertility and damaged to the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. The limitation on availability of agricultural land has already reached. We have continuous failed to utilize the non-renewable natural resources and this will have serious implications. * Three fourths of total investments in agriculture are by private investments. These are the primary drivers of transition from traditional to high value agriculture. To ensure smooth transition from traditional to high value agriculture, government should support private investments by way of providing greater investments in R&D, public irrigation, roads and other infrastructural facilities. * A strategic vision for agriculture must factor in three important elements: (a) India’s comparative advantage; (b) efficient markets at home and freer trade; and (c) environmental sustainability. There is a lot of scope for major reforms, from marketing to investment and institutional change, especially in water management, new technologies, land markets and creation of efficient value chains. Conclusion The country on an average has enough in stock to meet the food requirements of its citizens. There is a significant increase in the productivity of the land through the years, but there is still a huge gap between the current productivity and international productivity levels. Indian agriculture is quite diversified into various sectors and contributes largely to the nation’s economy. But the coming years pose a lot of challenge in this area with an estimated outburst of population that would reach to approximately 1500million. This would require a huge amount of food grains along with non-food grains. India has to use its vast potential of agriculture in a systematic and planned manner along with reforms in export and import policies of agricultural products. Indian agriculture sector remains to be one of the most interested subjects for academicians around the world. Nobel Memorial prize winner, Prof. Gunar Myrdal of Stockholm University, has rightly remarked, â€Å"It is the agricultural sector that the battle for long term economic development of India will be won or lost.† In fact the prosperity of agriculture is the prosperity of Indian economy. We should not build industries at the cost of agricultural land. References 1. http://nicsr.in/?p=1241 2. Reserve Bank Of India – http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx?head=Handbook%20of%20Statistics%20on%20Indian%20Economy 3. http://agricoop.nic.in/SIA111213312.pdf