The House I Live By President Nixon - 1186 Words

In the beginning of the documentary, The House I Live In, President Nixon gives a speech declaring, â€Å"America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive† In 1971, this speech made Preside Nixon the first president to ever declare a â€Å"war on drugs† in America. He fought by battling, both the supply and demand for drugs. Karst J. Besteman (1989) describes this â€Å"war† as a â€Å"strong initiative against drug dealers and expansion of drug treatment facilities† (p. 290). The beginning of Nixon’s â€Å"war† was focused on providing treatment and rehabilitation, after the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1973, the focal point of the†¦show more content†¦The problem is millions of dollars is being spent on â€Å"drug enforcement from prisons, probation officers, judges, narcotics† (Jarecki, 2 012) however drugs is still on our streets, it is still a major problem in the United States because the demand for it is high. The documentary shows that people get into selling drugs because it provides an income that allows the individuals to pay their bills and still have nice luxurious items, basically the benefit outweighs the cost. As stated in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, â€Å"The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being†¦with particular needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty.† (NASW Code of Ethics, preamble). From the documentary, many of the people that was interviewed was either living in poverty and/or oppressed, from a social worker perspective understanding that the â€Å"war on drugs† has increased incarceration rates within the United States, which has affected mostly poor African-American neighborhoods. As a social worker we can a dvocate, on a macro level, for all who is affected through education and fighting to change the laws. Laws such as, the mandatory minimum sentencing, which has â€Å"deprived judges of flexibility to tailor punishment in individual cases† (Cassell Luna, 2011 p. 219) from the documentary, a man was looking at a minimum twenty-five years, his sentencing would be

The Legal Constitution Of Australia Essay - 1318 Words

INTRODUCTION The legal constitution of Australia was developed by the multiple principles of the British and the United States of America1. However, a major factor that was eliminated from these principles was the notion of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights main purpose is to affirm, protect, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms1. Australia does not have a Bill of Rights, since it has been ascertained that the citizens of Australia are protected by common law and legislation2. It is highly asserted that parliamentary representatives protect the rifhts of the citizens of Australia and a Bill of Rights would ultimately â€Å"distort our system of government by giving unelected judges too much influence over how our democracy develops†2. However, not adopting a Bill Of Rights in this day and age could be quite detrimental to Australia’s society, with the ever increasing acts of terrorism and national security. In this essay, two main points will be discussed for the adoption of the Bill of Rights. Firstly, Australia is a democracy, however it cannot be overlooked that that democracy is not perfect3. Democracy in Australia may overlook the rights of minorities. Secondly, Australia is a multicultural country. The community of Australia is ever changing4. A bill of rights can help create a celebration of differences and protect the rights of all citizens. Australia is a democratic country5. Democracy itself is defined to be a system of government by the whole populationShow MoreRelatedAustralia Based On The Doctrine Of Terra Nullius1416 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction The Europeans settled in Australia based on the doctrine of terra nullius. This meant that they did not formally recognize the existing Indigenous Australians and their ancestral land. Subsequently, the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders were excluded from matters concerning their ancestral land during the drafting of the Australian constitution. Thus, resulting in an Australian constitution that discriminated against its first peoples, their connection to the land, culture andRead MoreThe Main Features Of English Legal System1403 Words   |  6 Pagesthey also created a fundamental legislative mechanism. The British legal system has been built up very gradually and spread to other countries over the centuries. Inevitably the influence of their legal systems was bound to have some effect on their colonies. This essay will first describe the features of English legal system which is mainly derived from the concept of common law and secondly will consider whether the British leg al system has influence on its Commonwealth countries particularly byRead MoreThe Proposed Law For Strip Terrorists Of Australian Citizenship Will Have Implications For The Rule Of Law1628 Words   |  7 PagesESSAY 1 – 150 words The proposed law to strip terrorists of Australian citizenship will have implications for the rule of law in Australia. To support my argument, I will define what the rule of law is in Australia, the impacts it has on Australian legislation and two factors that are tied in with the rule of law: retrospective laws and the separation of powers. In order to support my opinion of the above statement, I will use several methods of research, which will include the following sources;Read MoreRule of Law in the Constitution1448 Words   |  6 Pagesof interaction between humans wherein every person can participate in a civilised manner and without discrimination. In Australia, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (Imp) is the primary source by which society operates as an essentially free society. This paper seeks to establish that the functioning of such a society is dependent upon the existence of a legal framework supporting the rule of law, which is ultimately, an ideology. Analogically, the circumstances in which theRead MoreEssay on Human Rights1284 Words   |  6 PagesLegal essay Human rights are protected under Australian law in three key ways; statute law, the constitution and common law. It could be argued that if Australia adopted a bill of rights, human rights would be more clearly defined, consistent in all states and territories and more easily understood. Human rights are protected in Australia through statute law. Statute law refers to laws made by parliament, also known as legislation. Moreover statute laws set up administrative bodies whose responsibilityRead MoreThe Influence of Traditional Western Law on the Development of Nsw and the Australian Legal System1677 Words   |  7 Pagesand institutions of the Western legal tradition influence the colony of New South Wales and, ultimately, the development of the Australian legal system? The concepts and institutions of the Western legal tradition, namely common and statute law, the court system and the Bill of Rights, influenced the colony of New South Wales, and ultimately, the development of the Australian legal system to a great extent. Although the concepts and institutions of the Western legal tradition continue to influenceRead MoreComparing the Australian Legal System with the Legal System of Your Country of Origin.1096 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction: The task here is to compare the Australian Legal System with the legal system of the country of origin therefore the comparison is with the Pakistani Legal System. The structure of the Common Wealth Government, Australia briefed in the constitution is divided into three branches, the legislature (Senate â€Å"upper house† and House of Representatives â€Å"lower house†), executive (the administrative arm of Government) and judiciary (the legal arm of the Government). While in Pakistan the ParliamentRead MoreThe Australian Constitution Essay1027 Words   |  5 PagesThe Australian Constitution Will Australia become a republic in the next twenty years? This is a difficult question to speculate on. The main area of law governing this issue is section 128 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (U.K). Other issues in this debate are regarding appointment, termination and the powers to be awarded to the proposed Head of State, and the impact the change will have on the States. Examining the history of Australian Legislative powers, and reasonsRead MoreThe Australia Legal System1406 Words   |  6 PagesThe Australian Legal System Introduction All countries are a reflection of their histories and this is very much the case with governmental structures and the associated legal system. The Australian legal system is based on a fundamental belief in the rule of law, justice and the independence of the judiciary. All people—Australians and non-Australians alike—are treated equally before the law and safeguards exist to ensure that people are not treated arbitrarily or unfairly by governments orRead MoreThe High Court of Australia1227 Words   |  5 PagesCourt of Australia is apart of the Federal Court hierarchy, sitting above the Victorian hierarchy. The High Court is the most prestigious court in Australia and can be found in the ACT. The High Court is split into three levels depending on the number of justices and what is being heard; the High Court (1 justice), The Full Court of the High Court (not less than two justices) and the Full Bench of the High Court (5-7 justices). The main role of the High Court is to interpret the Constitution. The Constitution

Mobile Phones Resource or Distraction in Studies Free Essays

Mobile phones: a resource or distraction in education Mobile phones are one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Through his invention he has created his own world at his fingertips. He has removed the hindrance of distance between him and the world. We will write a custom essay sample on Mobile Phones: Resource or Distraction in Studies or any similar topic only for you Order Now But the important question which needs to be answered now is what should be the role of mobile devices in the learning process? It has been a key factor contributing to bad grades, also several health related disorders among students, but on the other hand, mobile devices can help students with quick research and provide a vital communication link to their, classmates, and even teachers. Students who do subjects which require field work research will need cell phones while in the field. All modern cell phones can be used to take pictures in the field, create reports using simple word processing applications, save and submit data back to their schools. If their school has a remote storage facility, students can easily back up their field work notes, videos and picture on that server while in the field. Most mobile phone service providers offer cheap internet subscription packages, so students will find it easy to transfer data or make more extensive research online using their cell phone. Both parents and teachers will need to stay in touch with their children and students, so cell phones will make this communication simple. Also students use cell phones to join peer to peer discussions which can help them ask any thing educational during this discussion. This discussion can be hosted on online educational social networks like Piazza. com, this network has mobile phones apps which a student can install and join any academic discussion using their mobile phones. It is very important for students to be in position to learn from anywhere at any time. The education world is changing and many scholars are attending virtual classrooms. Online education is now becoming so popular than before, mobile phones have also helped in the growth of Mobile-Learning. Since today’s cell phones have more than one application, students will always get distracted in the quest of trying to discover and try out new cell phone applications. Female students are more likely to get distracted by mobile applications like Pinterest, Facebook or twitter, then for the male students, they can get distracted by cell phone game applications or video streaming applications. This continuous distraction will affect a student’s concentration in the classroom, and it can also distract other students around them. When it comes to exam time, they will resort to cheating. So they can decide to scan their notes on their cell phones or use text messaging service to cheat exams. Then some students can Google exam questions and copy whatever they find online, and in most cases this data published online is not correct which results into exam failure. This trend will only increase, and it’s up to parents and teachers to balance the pros and cons of using cell phones as part of the learning process. While there is no single solution, perhaps there are lessons to be learned from the early internet era. The internet was at first seen as a new frontier with dangers lurking behind each click, whereas today schools and parents have universally embraced the web as a medium for research, education and efficient communication. With appropriate safeguards and reasonable policies, perhaps cell phones and web-enabled smart phones can run a similar course. How to cite Mobile Phones: Resource or Distraction in Studies, Essay examples

Oral Pathology Radiology (UBSDM) Example For Students

Oral Pathology Radiology (UBSDM) Dentigerous Cyst Florid Cemento-osseous dysplasia Peripheral Osteoma Compound Odontoma Periapical cyst/granuloma Periapical Cemento-osseous dysplasia Condensing Osteitis (aka Focal Sclerosing Osteomyelitis) Stafne Defect Ameloblastoma Periodontal Cyst Ameloblastoma Fibrous Dysplasia Pagets Disease Compound Odontoma Cementoblastoma Osteosarcoma Langerhans Histiocytosis Multiple Myeloma Ameloblastoma What is the differential Diagnosis? Dentigerous Cyst vs Ameloblastoma Complex Odontoma What is the differential diagnosis? Periapical Cyst vs Granuloma What is the differential diagnosis? Periapical Cyst vs Granuloma Fibrous Dysplasia Central Giant Cell Granuloma (CGCG) Unicystic Ameloblastoma Calcifying Odontogenic Cyst Ameloblastoma Ameloblastic Fibrosarcoma Myxoma Odontogenic Keratocyst Traumatic Bone Cyst (simple bone cyst) Stafne Defect Osteosarcoma Osteosarcoma Sickle Cell Anemia Thalaseemia Chronic Hyperplastic Pulpitis Acute Apical Periodontitis Periapical Abscess 1. Identify 2.Chronic or Acute? Periapical Abscess (Chronic, Asymptomatic) Acute and Edematous spread of an acute inflammatory process to the soft tissue (fascial Planes). This is the generalized name for ludwigs angina and cavernous sinus thrombosis Cellulitis This is a form of cellulitis that effects the lower molar teeth 70% of the time. Involves the sublingual, submental space, and submandibular space Ludwigs Angina This is a form of cellulitis that stems from the maxilla. Maxillary anterior teeth spreads to the canine space. Maxillary premolar or molar teeth effects the buccal or infratemporal space Cavernous Sinus Thrombosis Acute Osteomyelitis Acute Osteomyelitis Chronic Osteomyelitis Chronic Osteomyelitis Diffuse Sclerosing Osteomyelitis Condensing Osteitis (aka Focal Sclerosing Osteomyelitis) Condensing Osteitis (aka Focal Sclerosing Osteomyelitis) Periapical Cemento-osseous Dysplasia Cementoblastoma Hypercementosis Garres Osteomyelitis Garres Osteomyelitis Bisphosphonate-associated Osteonecrosis of the Jaw Bisphosphonate-associated Osteonecrosis of the Jaw Clue at the early stage of this condition, there are no radiographic findings Bisphosphonate-associated Osteonecrosis of the Jaw Osteomyelitis Actinomycosis Osteoradionecrosis Osteomyelitis with Proliferative periostitis What is the differential diagnosis? Periapical Granuloma/Cyst What is the differential diagnosis? Periapical Granuloma/Cyst Periapical Fibrous Scar What is this histology characteristic of (in broad terms)? Cyst What is the differential diagnosis? Periapical Granuloma/cyst Buccal Bifurcation Cyst If you dont know this one by now tisk tisk Dentigerous Cyst The term _______________ has been applied to a ____(second work of first blank) that develops distally or buccally to a partially erupted mandibular third molar with a history of periocornitis. Paradental cyst 1. Identify 2. Is there a radiographic finding associated with this condition? Eruption Cyst (eruption hematoma) No radiographic findings 75-80% of the time this is in the mandibular premolar, canine, lateral incisor area. Teeth are vital Lateral Periodontal Cyst 75-80% of the time this is in the mandibular premolar, canine, lateral incisor area. Teeth are vital. Lateral Periodontal Cyst What is a lateral periodontal cyst called when it appears as a multilocular lesion Botryoid Odontogenic Cyst This has Bohns Nodules on the alveolar processes of neonates, and Epsteins pearls on the midline of the palate or laterally on the hard and soft palate. No treatment indicated. Gingival (alveolar) Cyst of the newborn Lets say this is a 55 year old individual and there are no radiographic findings. Gingival Cyst of the adult Lets say this is a 55 year old individual and there are no radiographic findings. Gingival Cyst of the adult Odontogenic Keratocyst Odontogenic Keratocyst Odontogenic Keratocyst Associated with a Bifid rib, intracranial abnormalities such as calcification of the falx cerebri Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome (Gorlins Syndrome) Develops in place of a tooth, before any crown formation. Patient denied history of 3rd molar extraction Primordial Cyst Orthokeratinized Odontogenic Cyst Glandular Odontogenic Cyst Calcifying Odontogenic Cyst Calcifying Odontogenic Cyst Most common non-odontigenic Nasopalatine Duct Cyst No radiographic changes Nasiolabial Cyst Old term but still used on boards. Globulomaxillary Cyst Previous bone injury, or degeneration of primary bone lesion. Interradicular Scalloping. Teeth are vital Traumatic (simple) Bone cyst Previous bone injury, or degeneration of primary bone lesion. Interradicular Scalloping. Teeth are vital Traumatic (simple) Bone cyst Aneurysmal Bone Cyst 3 variations of this lesion Static Bone cyst (Stafnes Bone Defect) Focal Osteoporotic Bone Marrow Defect (FOBMD) Unicystic Ameloblastoma Peripheral Ameloblastoma Calcifying Epithelial Odontogenic Tumor CEOT (Pindborg tumor) Adenomatoid Odontogenic Tumor (AOT) Adenomatoid Odontogenic Tumor (AOT) Squamous Odontogenic Tumor Odontogenic Myxoma Odontogenic Myxoma Odontogenic Fibroma Cementoblastoma Compound Odontoma Compound Odontoma Complex Odontoma Complex Odontoma Ameloblastic Fibroma Ameloblastic Fibroma Ameloblastic fibroma Ameloblastic Fibro-odontoma

Music Evolution free essay sample

The evolution that has taken place in the music industry over the last 15 years is quite staggering. The entrance of the internet onto the world stage has revolutionized the way music is bought, marketed and shared. It is not only the depth of the changes that are occurring, but also the increasing rate at which these changes are taking place. New technologies and processes are becoming outdated almost as soon as they are adopted. Love it or hate it, the World Wide Web is here to stay, and it has irrevocably changed the business of music. The internet has changed how music is purchased. Long gone are the stand alone record stores that teenagers would flock to Just to see what new music was released and check out the amazing cover art. Stores have had to entirely rethink their sales strategies and embrace a vision that is larger than Just the sale of music. We will write a custom essay sample on Music Evolution or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The mp3 has made it possible to purchase music from the comfort of your own armchair or bed. The possibility of CDs becoming completely obsolete in the not too distant future is not that farfetched at all. Gone are the days of buying an album containing 3 or 4 songs that you like, with the rest that you have to tolerate or entirely ignore. Now, you buy only the songs that you know you want. This has resulted in decreased revenue for record companies and artists because the guarantee of the sale of a complete album no longer applies. A greater emphasis is therefore now placed on the release and marketing of singles in an attempt to boost profits. Times have also changed in how we share music. In the 80s we made copies of cassette tapes or had to sit by the radio waiting for a favorite song to come on and hit record on out cassette player. Now one of the biggest challenges facing the music industry is the issue of music piracy. The available technology makes music theft ncredibly easy, and incredibly cheap. The impact on music business revenues in recent years in incalculable. Pirates around the world are now stealing music as easily as customers are buying theirs, from the comfort of their own homes. CD-R, Peer to Peer and torrent technologies have made music piracy an issue that gives artists and record labels alike a great deal of concern. The internet has become a very positive place for the artist themselves. Along with the internet, came the artists ability to market and promote themselves with unprecedented efficiency. Loading an mp3 file onto a social networking site like Facebook is significantly easier than the time, money and effort required organizing a gig to achieve that same goal. Not only that; instead of playing their song to 50 people in an obscure club somewhere, that song is now immediately available to millions of potential fans around the world at the click of a mouse. It is therefore not unheard of anymore to find bands that are bringing in significant income and gaining substantial popularity, without a record deal having ever been signed. There is also a greater degree of interaction between the artists and their fans, which further cements the connections between them which influence sales. As you can see the music industry has had many elaborate changes over the last 25 years or so. The Internet has completely changed the way people look at music, how artist make music and how the record industry profits. Society will continue to consume their music via I-tunes, Amazon, Internet radio, piracy and any new method that is given to us. As the years go by these and other issues will continue to alter the face of the music industry, it seems that one rule is becoming more and more clear. For the artist, record company or retail business, that requirement must be, adapt or die.

the development of the atomic theory essays

the development of the atomic theory essays The Greek concept of atomos: the atom Around 440 BC leucippus of Miletus originated the atom concept. He and his pupil, Democritus of abdera refined it for future use. Their atomic idea has five major points. All original writings of leucippus and Democritus are lost. The only sources we have for there atomistic ideas are inquotations from other writers. Democritus was known as the "laughing philosopher" because he enjoyed life so much. At this time Greek philosophy was about 150 years old, emerging in the sixth century bc, centered in the city of miletus on the ionian coast in Asia minor, which is now turkey. The work of leucippus and Democritus was further developed by epicures (341-270 BC) of Samos. He made ideas more generally known. Aristotle also quotes both of them in arguing against their ideas. Most of what we know about leucippus and Democritus was found in a poem entitled "de rerum natura" (on the nature of things) written by Lucretius (95-55 BC). This poem was lost for over a thousand years and was discovere d in 1417. These are the basic points of their theory. #1 - all matter is composed of atoms, which are bits of matter to small to be seen. These cannot be split any smaller. " The atomists hold that splitting stops when it reaches indivisible particles and goes on no more" Which means there is a limit to division of matter that we cannot go. Atoms are very hard so they cannot be divided. In Greek "a" means not and "tomos" means cut. So our word comes from atomos, meaning uncuttable. He reasoned that if matter could be infinitely divided, it could also completely disintegrate and cannot be put back together, however matter can regenerate. Even though matter can be destroyed by splitting, new things can be made by joining other matter together. This process is reversible. The idea of reversibility means there must be a limit to splitting. If it could be split forever, there is nothing to stop it from destroying ...

Critically Thinking about Your Morning Products Research Paper

Critically Thinking about Your Morning Products - Research Paper Example 1). The aim of the current research is to determine if any of the identified ingredients in Vital Care Sport Gel is potentially harmful to one’s health. Upon closer examination of the ingredients, the following are hereby detailed: Water, Sorbitol, Carbomer, Pvp, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Panthenol, Fragrance, Keratin Amino Acids, Polysorbate-20, Isosteareth-20, PEG-75 Lanolin, Triethanolamine, Potassium Sorbate, Methylparaben, Tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, Benzophenone-4, Blue 1, Red 33. From the research that was conducted, it was revealed that propylene glycol was moderately harmful, and thereby, a medium health concern. Potential Harm Ingredients Through utilization of skills in research, one has encountered a site: GoodGuide, an organization founded in 2007 that is instrumental in providing accurate information about consumer products. As disclosed, Goodguide â€Å"is in business to provide authoritative information about the health, environmental and social perfor mance of products and companies. Our mission is to help consumers make purchasing decisions that reflect their preferences and values† (GoodGuide 1). ... For Vital Care Styling Gel (Mega Mega Hold) products, the ratings generated were: 4.0 (below average) for their health category; 4.7 (below average) for the environment; and 3.2 (significantly below average) for society. As disclosed, the ingredient specifically identified to be harmful are: Propylene Glycol that poses medium health concern. Accordingly, this ingredient was specifically indicated to be harmful according to sources compiled by Scorecard (www.scorecard.org) from suspected abilities â€Å"of causing immunotoxicity; suspected of causing respiratory toxicity; and suspected of causing skin or sense organ toxicity† (GoodGuide: Propylene Glycol in Hair Care Guide 1). Likewise, for Vital Care Styling Gel (Professional Shine), the ingredients that were identified as potentially harmful include: Triethanolamine, Benzophenone, and DMDM Hydantoin (GoodGuide). As such, the overall health rating generated was zero, which was indicative of containing more than one ingredients which raise a medium health concern. Sources of Ingredients and Potential Environmental or Human Damage The dangers of this identified ingredient were further verified through another research. As disclosed from the Natural Health Information Center website (2012), the source and effects of of propylene glycol are hereby cited: â€Å"A cosmetic form of mineral oil found in automatic brake and hydraulic fluid and industrial antifreeze. In the skin and hair, propylene glycol works as a humescent, which causes retention of moisture content of skin or cosmetic products by preventing the escape of moisture or water. The Material Safety Data Sheet warns users to avoid skin contact with propylene glycol as this strong skin

Social Networking and Enterprise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Networking and Enterprise - Essay Example According to the paper with the emergence of social network marketing, agents have been induced to embrace social media marketing to achieve a better understanding of customer needs and build a better relationship with customers. Social marketing pursues in an elaborate manner the online marketing strategy a business can adopt, the opportunities and challenges associated with social marketing. Review of Social Marketing Tools and Terms Two distinct terms emerge when discussing online marketing: interactive marketing and internet marketing. Interactive marketing is the adoption of conversational skills and settings in marketing where marketing is a transaction focused process. It involves addressing the customer in their own language or way of communication and promptly responding to their concerns. The Internet in this case acts as a tool for facilitating interactive marketing by recording customers or potential customers’ information and easing the communication process. Inte rnet marketing is basically marketing using the Internet. In this case, marketers exploit the fact that the Internet is inherently interactive in eliciting instant responses, and its omnipresence means that it attracts spontaneous responses. Internet marketing combines the innovative and technical sides of the Internet, which include design, development, advertisement and, eventually, making sales. According to the report affiliate marketing is where a website or online business is promoted through an affiliate or publisher who essentially through his/her site or other online service promotes the website or online business and is paid for every sale, visitor, subscriber, or customer provided via their system or effort. A web banner or a banner advert is a form of online advertising where an advert is embedded into a web page intended to attract traffic to a different website by linking them to the advertiser’s website. Banners are constructed from an image and are forms of gi f, jpeg, png, utilising the Java script program or derivatives of Java, Shockwave or Flash technologies. A banner can be made more conspicuous through animation or sound effects and a high aspect ratio. Blogs are websites where entries are written in chronological order, usually in reverse order. They provide commentary, debate or news on a particular subject and are interactive with a format that allows visitors to leave comments (Benni, 2001). They provide text, images or links to other blogs or websites. Contextual advertising is where adverts appear on websites or electronic devices like phones, which is served through an automated system and selects recipients through segmentation.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 23

Marketing - Essay Example These uncontrollable elements often decide how an organisation operates - countries have different demographic attributes, tax structures, political and legal environments. Apple Inc. is one such orgabisation that has worked hard to create an image of a people oriented company and thus it has been a top priority for the company to identify with the masses and create a community (Weiss A., 2005). Challenges are immense for a global company – it faces issues like foreign exchange rate fluctuations, unstable government, shifting borders, corruption and counterfeiting. In spite of this it is a prerogative for the companies to internationalize their operations. They need to go closer to the markets they serve and take local factors of production into consideration. Multinational organisations have definite marketing objectives in mind when they venture into operations. The biggest queries center around their choice of country (which is determined by the competitive advantage, market attractiveness and risk associated with the nation), the mode of entry (different modes differ on the level of profit potential, risk, control and most importantly, commitment), and finally, the way in which the company adapts its marketing program to the local specifications. Before going into the details of Globalisation, Localisation and Glocalisation, it may be beneficial to understand how a company is faced with the challenge of adapting its marketing campaign – which involves the product(s), the marketing communication, the distribution format that the company adopts and the price at which the company decides to sell. Straight extension, product adaptation or product inventions are the strategically poised options open to the firm on the product front. It basically deals with the decision of the company to go with its existing portfolio,

The Harmful Effects Of Processed Foods Health Essay

The Harmful Effects Of Processed Foods Health Essay Processed foods are areal food that has undergone several processes so that it can be kept safe for human consumption or for convenience. It is food that has been infused with chemicals, preservatives, and are then canned, frozen, refrigerated, dehydrated, or have undergone aseptic processing. Most of the processed foods are usually made from saturated fats, huge amounts of sugar, trans-fats, and large amounts of sodium. Due to their convenience, over time they have become very popular because they are usually prepackaged. However, studies have shown that processed foods are a cause for alarm as they are a major contributing factor to many types of cancers and heart problems. This is because their calorie, sodium, and saturated fat content are usually vey high. Very many adverse health effects are associated with the use of processed foods. Take sugary soft drinks for example, research has shown that soft drinks are a major contributor to weight gain and obesity cases. Due to its sugary and fizzy nature, soft drinks are very tempting and consumers are more likely to opt to taking this drink as opposed to taking water or other non-sugary drinks. According to researchers, consumption of soft drinks is likely to increase chances of a person getting obesity by 1.6 times. Soda has also been known to affect the kidneys. Those with high phosphoric acid content have been known to increase renal colic especially in men. The high phosphoric acid content is most common to all kinds of colas. Due to their acidic nature, sodas/soft drinks are a contributing factor to dental decay because they tend to dissolve the mineral content of the enamel and therefore teeth become weaker. They have also been known to damage the liver according to and Israeli medical study. This is especially so for the fizzy drinks. If stored for too long, fizzy drinks can leach aluminum from the cans. Aluminum, which is the main component of the fizzy drinks cans, is responsible for Alzheimers disease. Aluminum metal has also been known to cause neurological diseases. Soft drinks are believed to contain high amounts of sugar that causes the pancreas to produce a lot of insulin, which leads to fatigue, sleepiness, and lethargy. Persistent rise and reduction of sugar levels in the blood can cause diabetes due to the imbalance. High soda consumption has also been known to reduce potassium levels in the blood leading to severe fatigue and appetite loss. Another effect of fizzy drinks is the increased risk of osteoporosis since it increases the risk of impaired calcification of bones. This is a major problem especially in young girls as it increases their risk of developing osteoporosis (increasing the probability of fractures) in the future. Fizzy drinks contain little or no nutritional value and due to their sweet and fizzy nature, they are often an option for many people and therefore people forego the option of taking healthier choices like water, fruit juice, or milk. Since most of them are diuretics, they are therefore a major cause of dehydration in people and therefore instead of adding water to the body, they squeeze water out of the body. According to the World Health Organization, processed foods are linked to increased obesity cases in the World. Processed foods usually contain high amounts of fructose that has many negative health effects in the body. They also contain large amounts of salt, which is a major cause of stroke. Consumption of salt over a long period has been associated with hypertension and other heart related problems (Gogus 46). Processed foods usually contain hydrogenated fats in them. Hydrogenated fats usually take a long time metabolize. They also interfere with the bodys ability to digest the good fats. They also alter the composition of cell membranes. They also contain many additives that have been known to cause a range of diseases. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) there are over 3,00 chemicals that have known to be used during food processing to add color, preserve, sweeten, soften, emulsify, thicken, add flavor and to achieve other desired effects o processed foods. Some of these additives have however, never been tested for safety. Some of these compounds are known to be toxic to humans and animals though may not be harmful at very minute levels. Side effects vary between chemicals and some products contain a variety of these and it might therefore be hard to determine which chemical has caused which adverse effects unless under comprehensive tests. Companies that deal with processed foods sometimes provide false information as to the ingredients are contained in the foods. They may also at times exaggerate as to the benefits of the processed food in order to make more sales and attract more customers to buy its product (Packard) During processing of processed foods, natural food is usually subjected to extrusion after which it is treated with oils and sugars to give them taste and texture. By the time they are packed, most of the natural ingredients that were initially contained in the foods have been destroyed. This therefore renders processed foods non-nutritional though they become more appealing. Processed foods should be highly avoided especially during pregnancies. This is because at this particular time, the unborn baby is very sensitive to the food that the mother is taking. Since it is not a requirement by the FDA to list all ingredients that have been used in processed foods, one might ingest harmful chemicals without their knowledge and these chemicals may end up being harmful to both the mother and the baby. Although at this time the mothers body may be able to sieve these harmful chemicals from its systems, the unborn babys metabolism has not fully developed and therefore may end up being retained in the babys body. The mothers body is however still vulnerable during pregnancy. Since the processed foods contain high amounts of sugar, it may lead to gestational diabetes, weight increase or type 2 diabetes, which usually occurs at around this time. It is therefore advisable for pregnant mothers to go for natural foods so that they can protect their lives and that of th eir unborn babies (Rountree, Block 60). Food enhancers found in processed foods like chewing gums, low fat milk, drinks, and others. These enhancers have been known to cause headaches, nausea, high blood pressure, and reproductive disorders. These enhancers are also used in medications. Caffeine has also been known to cause fertility problems, heart diseases, insomnia, nervousness, and depression. Another risk that is associated with frozen foods is that when food is defrosted, it should not be used then frozen again. This is because it makes it susceptible to invasion by harmful bacteria, which might lead to diseases. Opposing views: Benefits of processed foods With all its many disadvantages, processed foods do have their benefits. The most advantageous one is that it makes available a variety of food and makes it easier to access the food, as it is available in the supermarkets. It also makes it possible to access the foods that are seasonal all year round for example, fruits and vegetables. Food processing also helps to improve food safety by various methods e.g. heating food at high temperatures helps to kill harmful bacteria. Some additives are also very effective in preventing the growth of fungus and bacteria on the foods. These bacteria are responsible for a wide range of diseases and therefore processing foods also helps to protect against some diseases that may be found in foods in their natural state. For foods like milk, pasteurization helps to keep it fresh. For milk, pasteurized milk is considered safer for use than fresh milk. Some processed foods are fortified with other minerals and therefore may be used as supplements Processed foods are usually packaged and this reduces interference of the food. The food is therefore well preserved when packed as compared to when it is not. Packaging also helps to increase convenience when it comes to transporting the food over long distances, as there will be minimal tampering of the foods. Packaged food is also very convenient as it is quick and easy to prepare, as most of the processed foods are usually precooked. Processed foods also present economic benefits as they are easier to sell and easier to transport. They are also easier to export as compared to fresh foods an therefore companies are able to sell more products both within the domestic markets and also outside the country. It also makes it easier for seller to sell the processed foods at cheaper prices as compared to the fresh foods thus making more sales. For people with diabetes, controlling their calorie intake is sometimes very hard when taking natural foods. It is therefore easier to control the calorie intake using processed foods as they have specified amount of calories. The same case applies to patients with heart problems. Conclusion It is almost virtually impossible in todays modern lifestyle to live without processed foods. However, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, it altogether proper to say that the best way to avoid the negative effects of processed foods is to avoid them altogether. Other ways that would significantly reduce these effects would include avoiding giving the processed foods to infants and children. This is because their metabolic systems have not fully developed and may not be able to sieve the toxins that may be found in the processed foods. One should always read the label of the packed food carefully because though a food may be advertised to be low in sugar or salts, it may contain high levels of saturated fats (Nisha 17) One should also be vey careful as to purchase grains that are not overly refined but whole meal. Expiry dates on the labels should be checked to ensure that the foods are not expired and also that they are not due to expire soon. Though taste is usually a determinant of the foods we buy, one should ensure that they go for quality and not taste. In addition, one should make sure that they buy foods with minimal additives and flavors. Where unavoidable processed foods should therefore be used in moderation.

Essay --

The earliest beginnings of anatomy could be traced back to the Egyptians in 1600 B.C.E., when early examinations of sacrificial victims were taking place. From this time, scholars have found the earliest medical document, known as the Edwin Smith Papyrus, in which it described early anatomical observations made by the Egyptians, most likely due to their knowledge gained from mummification. The papyrus displayed organs such as the bladder, uterus, kidneys, liver, spleen, heart, and blood vessels. Following the Egyptians were the Greeks, who began their study of anatomy around fifth century B.C. (400 B.C.) with the works of Alcmaeon and Empedocles, two Greek scientists. It was during this time that the anatomy of animals was studied and medical schools were built in cities such as Crotona, Italy and Cyrene, Africa. Alcmaeon of Croton was most likely the first person to dissect the human body for research purposes, while Empedocles was the person to first propose the idea that an ethereal substance called pneuma flowed through the blood vessels. Hippocrates was another famous person from Greece. Regarded as the Father of Medicine and one of the founders of anatomy, he was also a physician who studied anatomy and hypothesized about physiology. Hippocrates made anatomical inferences without dissection and instead through observations. He proposed the idea that diseases were not caused by supernatural forces or were punishments from the gods. The well-known Aristotle also contribu ted to the history of anatomy as he was the first to distinguish the difference between nerves and tendons and between arteries and blood vessels using knowledge gained from animal dissections. Herophilus, another anatomist, is known as one of the earliest â€Å"Fa... ...certain scientists. During this time, many medical students began to rob graves in order to obtain bodies to perform dissections on. This then led to the development of the Anatomy Act of 1832 in order to supply a sufficient amount of dead bodies to perform dissections on. The nineteenth century also experienced an expanding amount of knowledge on developmental anatomy due to the many experiments and research being done to study it. In addition, England became the main focal point for medical and anatomical research. As the years continued to pass, more advancements are being made in the field and study of anatomy based on continuing research from scientists, researchers, and doctors. With new technology, more information and a better understanding can be gained about the structure and function of organs, organ systems, and DNA among other various parts of the body.

Catal Hyuk

CHAPTER ONE: Before History IDENTITIES: Complex Society Paleolithic Venus Figurines Metallurgy Social Class/Social Structure Lucy Neolithic Lascaux Cave Paintings Neolithic Revolution Agricultural Revolution MAP: Olduvai Gorge Neander Valley Catal Huyluk Lascaux CHAPTER TWO: Early Societies in SW Asia and Indo-European Migrations IDENTITIES: The Epic of Gilgamesh Sargon of Akkad Hammurabi’s Codes/Laws Stele Assyrians Economic Specialization Stratified Patriarchal Society Elite, Commoner, Dependent, Slave Cuneiform Moses Polytheism Cross-Cultural Interaction Cross-Cultural Exchange Semitic City-state Hammurabi Indo-Europeans Hittites Hanging Gardens of Babylon Bronze and Iron Metallurgy Pastoral Nomads Hebrews, Israelites, Jews Abraham Monotheism Phoenicians MAP: Oceans Seas Continents Indian Subcontinent Tigris River Euphrates River Nile Rivers Anatolia Arabia Steppes of Eurasia (Ukraine) Southwest Asia South Asia Mesopotamia Ur Phoenicia Babylon Judea CHAPTER THREE: Early African Societies and Bantu Migrations IDENTITIES: Mummification Demographic Pressures Savannah Menes Pharaoh Mercenary Scribe Cataracts Hieroglyphics Rosetta Stone Pyramids MAPS: Sudan Sahara Sahel Nile River Congo River Niger River Egyptian Kingdom Nubian Kingdom Kushian Kingdom Mediterranean Red Sea Anatolia Phoenicia Lake Chad Equator â€Å"Punt† Mesopotamia Memphis Sub-Saharan Africa Meroe Cairo West Africa East Africa CHAPTER FOUR: Early Societies in South Asia IDENTITIES: Aryans Ecological Degradation Republic Varna Jati Social Mobility Ritual Sacrifices Upanishads Samsara Mokasha Harappans Vedas, Rig Veda, Vedic Age Caste Brahmins Sati (Suttee) Dravidians Brahman Karma *MAPS*: Indus River Ganges River Himalaya Mountains Hindu Kush Mountains Bay of Bengal Harappa Red Sea Persia Persian Gulf CHAPTER FIVE: Early Society in East Asia IDENTITIES: Staple Foods Xia â€Å"China’s Sorrow† â€Å"Mandate of Heaven† Cowrie Shells Extended Family Consort Dynasty Loess Hereditary State Zhou Decentralized Administration Artisans Ancestor Veneration Oracle Bones Steppe Nomads MAPS: Yangzi River Steppes of Eurasia Southeast Asia Indian Ocean Burma (Myanmar) Mojeno-daro Huang He (Yellow) River Tibetan Plateau Southwest Asia Malay Peninsula Maldive Islands CHAPTER 6: Early Societies in the Americas and Oceania IDENTITES: Obsidian Maize Bering Land Bridge Pan-American Highway Pan-Pacific Highway Ceremonial Centers Authoritarian Society Agricultural Terraces Bloodletting Rituals Andean Highlands Andean Lowlands Austronesian Peoples Olmec Ball Games Doubled-hulled Canoes MAPS: Bering Strait Australia Oceans New Guinea Gulf of Mexico Caribbean Sea New Zealand Mississippi River Amazon River Polynesia Hawaii Yucatan Peninsula Indonesia Southeast Asia Easter Island Andes Mountains Chavin de Huantar CHAPTER 7: The Empires of Persia IDENTITIES: Archaemenids Cyrus Darius Parthians Tribute Standardized Coins Qanat Alexander of Macedonia Free vs. Unfree Labor Magi Seleucids Satrapies Royal Road â€Å"Eyes and ears of the king† Xerxes Bureaucrats Zoroastrianism MAPS: Persepolis Anatolia Afghanistan Macedonia Thrace Royal Road Bactria Iran Indus River CHAPTER 8: The Unification of China IDENTITIES: Eunuchs Castration Sian Qian Period of the Warring States Kong Fuzi Analects Ren, li, xiao Laozi Dao, Daoism Legalism Qin Shi Huangdi Great Wall Chinese Script Conscription Liu Bang Han Wudi Hegemony Yellow Turban Uprising Tribute Silk MAPS: Chang’an Great Wall Xiongnu Korea Bactria Taklamakan Desert South China Sea Samarkand Sumatra Java Guangzhou Bukhara CHAPTER 9: State, Society, and the Quest for Salvation in India IDENTITIES: Hindu Kush Mountains Political Vacuum Indus River Ashoka Maurya Bactria Tributary Alliances Monsoons Southeast Asia Varna Brahmin Siddhartha Gautama Four Noble Truths Dharma Patronage Boddhisatva Punjab Chandragupta Maurya Ganges River Patiliputra Kushan Empire White Huns Indonesia Caste System Jati Jainism Buddha Noble Eightfold Path Stupas Ceylon â€Å"Arabic† Numerals CHAPTER 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase IDENTITIES: Homer Mycenaeans King Minos Minoans Polis Pericles Antigonius Selecus Socrates Plato Spatan Persian Wars Peloponnesian War Hellenistic Empires Stoics The Liad and the Odyssey Trojan War Minoan Linear A and B Helot Alexander the Great Ptolemy Aristotle Tyrant Solon Darius, Xerxes Alexander of Macefon Sappho Maps: Balkan Peninsula Crete Cyprus Aegean Sea Athens Mycenae Thebes Persepolis Knossos Byzantium Neapolis Bactria Anatolia Peloponnesian Peninsula Sparta Macedonia Troy Ionia Attica Memphis Sicily CHAPTER 11: Mediterranean Society: The Roman Phase INDENTITIES: Paul of Tarsus Republic Po River Tiber River Senate Consuls Patricians Plebians Tribunes Dictator Gaul Celtics Carthage Punic Wars Latifundia Julius Caesar Octavian Augustus Marc Anthony Cleopatra Pax Romana Mare Nostrum Colosseum Pater Familias Jesus of Nazareth Bread and Circuses Diocletian Constantinople Western and Eastern Roman Empires Attila St. Augustine Constantine Visigoths Huns 476 ce Bishop of Rome CHAPTER 12: Cross-Cultural Exchange on the Silk Road IDENTITIES: Monsoon Winds Taklamakan Desrt Missionaries Epidemics Expatriate Merchants Bubonic Plague Bishop of Rome 476 ce Nestorians Syncretic/syncretism Small Pox St. Augustine Manicheaism MAP: Kush Himalaya Mountains Taklamakan Desert Taxila Persian Gulf Arabia Tyre Red Sea South China Sea Ceylon Bactria Chang’an Hindu Kush Mountains Madagascar Kashgar Caspian Sea Palmyra Antioch Arabian Sea Damasacus Guandzhou Pondicherry Samarkand Sumatra Java Parthia CHAPTER 13: The Commonwealth of Byzantium IDENTITIES: Byzantine Commonwealth Caesaropapism Corpus iuris civilis â€Å"Greek Fire† Schism Saint Cyril and Methodius Sasanids Hagia Sophia Theme System Iconoclasm Fourth Crusade MAPS: Balkan Peninsula Egypt Constantinople Alexandria Kiev Mediterranean Sea Black Sea Red Sea Caspian Sea Bosporus Strait Dardanelles Strait Anatolian Peninsula/Anatolia Sasanid Empire Damascus Rome Bulgaria Danube River CHAPTER 14: The Expansive Realm of Islam IDENTITIIES: Muhammad Arab Muslim Islam Quran Dar al-Islam Five Pillars Jihad Hajj Sharia Ka’ba Caliph Sunni Shia Hijra Umma Umayyad Abbasid Ulama Qadis Harun al Rushid Sultan Sufi Ibn Rushd â€Å"seal of the prophets† MAPS: Toledo Seville Cordoba Delhi Tunis Damascus Jerusalem Mecca Medina Palermo Baghdad Basra Isfahan Constantinople Samarkand Merv The Sind Khyber Pass Red Sea Persian Gulf Arabian Sea Indian Ocean Mediterranean Sea Indus River Al-Andalus Tigris/Euphrates Rivers Sasanid Empire CHAPTER 15 and 16: The Indian Ocean Basin IDENTITIES: Sui Tang Taizong Uigher Footbinding Gunpowder Chan/Zen Buddhism Neo-Confucianism Silla Dynasty Samuri The Sind Chola Ceylon Dhows/Junks Sufis Swahili States Yang Jian Grand Canal Equal Field System Fast-ripening Rice Porcelain Printing Paper Money Heian Court The Tale of Genjii Harsha Sultanate of Delhi Vijayanagar Monsoons Jati Angkor Wat Zimbabwe CHAPTER 15 and 16: The Indian Ocean Basin MAPS: Borders: Sui Tang Song Hangzhou Grand Canal Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River Japan South China Sea The Sind Vijayanagar Ceylon Cambay Calicut Bay of Bengal Indian Ocean Chang’an Huang He/Yellow River Korea Vietnam Sea of Japan Harasha’s Kingdom Chola Sultanate of Delhi Monsoon Winds Surat Quilon Arabian Sea Madagascar Mogadishu Malindi Kilwa Sofala Funan Angkor Mambassa Red Sea Adulis Srivijaya Sumatra CHAPTER 17 and 20: Europe in the Middle Ages IDENTITIES: Charlemagne Clovis Vikings Magyars Holy Roman Empire Serfs Vassals Manors Horse collars, watermills Heavy plows Pope Gregory I William Duke of Normandy Hanseatic League Three Estates Chivalry Guilds Thomas Aquinas Pilgrimage Gothic Cathedrals Leif Erikson Reconquista Fourth Crusade Bubonic Plague MAPS: Fankish Kingdom Papal States Britain Scandinavia Holy Roman Empire Castile Aragon Granada Portugal Navarre Iberian Peninsula Balkan Peninsula France Poland Hungary Serbia Byzantine Empire London Toledo CHAPTER 18: Nomadic Empires and Eurasian Integration IDENTITIES: Yurt Khan Shamans Battle of Manzikert Sultanate of Delhi Seljuks Temujin Khanbaliq Khubilai Khan Glolden Horde Ilkhanate Hulegu Yuan Bubonic Plague Tamerlane Marco Polo Gunpowder Ming Hongwu Ming Yongle MAPS: Steppes of Central Asia Persia Anatolia Manzikert Afghanistan Sultanate of Dehli Sultanate of Rum China Byzantine Empire Karkorum Samerkand Constantinople Baghdad Moscow CHAPTER 19: States and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa IDENTITIES: Bantu Migrations Stateless Society Sundiata Mansa Musa Ibn Battuta Kinship Groups Age Groups Creator god Cotton Sugar Cane MAPS: Ife Benin Kongo Niger River Senegal River Congo/Zaire River Sahara The sahel Ghana Mali Jenne Timbuktu Gao CHAPTER 21: Worlds Apart: The Americas and Oceania IDENTITIES: Teotihuacan Chichen Itza Mexica/Aztec Chinampa Tenochtitlan Calpulli Calendars Quetzalcoatl Huitzilopochitli Pueblos Cahokia Matriarchy Confederation Cuzco Ayllus Quipu Mummification MAPS: Maya Empire Teothuacan Chichen Itza Tikal Aztec Empire Tenochtitlan Pueblo Societies Iroquois Lands Mound-building Lands Cahokia Cuzco Inca Empire Mississippi River Great Lakes Gulf of Mexico Andes Mountains Rocky Mountains Caribbean Sea Ohio River Sierra Madre Mountain CHAPTER 23: Transoceanic Encounters and Global Connections IDENTITIES: Vasco Da Gama Compass,Astrolab Christopher Columbus Circumnavigation Trading=post Empires VOC â€Å"Columbian Exchange† Lateen Sails Bartolomeu Dias James Cook British East India Co. Prince Henry the Navigator Manila Galleons MAPS: Portugal Spain England Netherlands Lisbon Cape Verde Islands Azore Islands Canary Islands Philippine Islands Straits of Melaka Calicut Ottoman Empire Cape of Good Hope Northeast Trade Winds Westerlies Hawaiian Islands Siberia Java CHAPTER 24: The Transformation of Europe IDENTITIES: Martin Luther Ninety-Five Theses Henry III Missionary Council of Trent Society of Jesus Thirty Years’ War Treaty of Westphalia Protestant Charles V Siege of Vienna Spanish Inquisition Glorious Revolution Louis XIV Peter I Versailles St. Petersburg Catherine II Balance of Power Capitalism Adam Smith VOC Joint-Stock Company Putting-Out System Ptolemaic Universe Newton Copernican Universe John Locke Deism MAPS: Holy Roman Empire England Netherlands Spain Switzerland Italian States Rome Paris Madrid Amsterdam Russia St. Petersburg CHAPTER 25: New Worlds: The Americas and Oceania IDENTITIES: Hernan Cortes Treaty of Tordesillas Encomienda Smallpox Conquistadors Seven Years’ War Mestizo Viceroy Mullatoes Settler colony Peninsulares Potosi Mit’a system Hacienda Silver trade Fur trade Tobacco Indentured servitude Manila Galleons James Cook MAPS: Caribbean Islands Aztec Empire Tenochtitlan Brazil Peru Mesoamerica New Castle Quebec Hispaniola Inca Empire Cuzco Mexico New France New Spain St. Augustine Jamestown Massachusetts Bay Philadelphia New Guinea Easter Island Tahiti New York Australia New Zealand Hawaiian Islands CHAPTER 26: Africa and the Atlantic World IDENTITIES: Sunni Ali Kingdom of Kongo Manioc Olaudah Equiano Maroons Call-and-response Songhay Antonian Movement Middle Passage Plantation Societies Creole Languages Queen Nzinga of Ndongo MAPS: Sierra Leone Sahara Desert Sub-Saharan Africa Songhay Timbuktu Senegal River Congo River Malindi Mombasa Kilwa Cape Town Kanem-Bornu Kingdom of Kongo Portugal Sofala Angola Cape Verde Islands CHAPTER 27: Tradition and Change in East Asia IDENTITIES: Mongols/Manchus Ming Dynasty Qing Dynasty Eunuchs Forbidden City Queue Qing Kangxi Ging Qianlong Son of Heaven Infanticide Zheng He Manila Galleons mean people† Shogun Daimyo Shinto Dutch Learning Scholar-bureaucrat Foot binding Treasure ships VOC Matteo Ricco Bakufu Samuri Fancis Zavier MAPS: Manchuria Beijing Najing Great Wall Forbidden City Korea Mongolia Tibet Burma Philippine Islands Macau Nepal Caspian Sea Vietnam Batavia Nagasaki Edo Guangzhou CHAPTER 28: The Islamic Empires IDENTITIES: Shah Jahan Taj Mahal Ghazi Janissaries Selim the Grim Twelver Shiism Babur â€Å"divine faith† Peacock Throne Isman Bey Devshirme Mehmet II Shah Ismail Qizilbash Akbar Aurangzeb MAPS: Anatolia Egypt Istanbul Belgrade Hungary Vienna Danube River Aegean Sea Black Sea Yemen Aden Malta Casoian Sea Tabriz Caucasus Kabul Qandahar Delhi Isfahan Ottoman Empire Safavid Empire Mughal Empire CHAPTER 29: Revolutions and National States in the Atlantic World IDENTITIES: John Locke Voltaire Rousseau Montesquieu Adam Smith Seven Years’ War Battle of Saratoga Battle of Yorktown Declaration of Independence U. S. Constitution Ancien Regime Estates General Louis XVI levee en masse â€Å"cult of reason† Robespierre Jacobins Napoleon Waterloo Olympe de Gouges Civil Code Congress of Vienna Gens de couleur Maoon Boukman Toussaint L’Overture Miduel de Hidalgo Simon Bolivar Gran Columbia â€Å"Jamaican Letter† Emperor Pedro I Caudillos Juan Manual de Rosas Lopez de Santa Anna Benito Juarez Zionism Cavour Bismark Garibaldi British North America Act Federalism Dominion of Canada John MacDonald MAPS: Paris London Berlin Masocow Madirid Boston Chicago Caracas Lima Vieena Rome Lisbon New York Mexico City Bogota Buenos Aires European Countries in 1750 European Countries in 1875 North/South American Colonies in 1750 North/South American Colonies in 1875 CHAPTER 30: The Making of Industrial Society IDENTITIES: Watt’s Steam Engine Luddites Capitalism Eli Whitney Monopolies Trusts Cartels The Demographic Transition Utopian Socialists Witte Golondrinas Factory System Adam Smith Josiah Wedgwood Corporation Crystal Palace Exhibition Thomas Malthus The Communist Manifesto Zaibatsu Henry Ford MAPS: European Countries, ca 1850 Cuba Peru United States China Japan Argentina Brazil Canada Hawaii CHAPTER 32: Societies at a Crossroads IDENTITIES: Napoleon Muhammad Ali Capitulations Janissaries Mahmud II Tanzimat Reforms Young Ottomans Young Turks Constitution of 1876 Tsar Alexander II Alexander III Nicholas II Crimean War Great Reforms Emancipation Zemstvos Sergie Witte Pogroms Russo-Japanese War Bloody Sunday Duma Cohong system Opium War Treaty of Najing Hong Kong Unequal Treaties Tributary Empire Hing Xiuquan Empress Cixi Admiral Perry Taiping Rebellion Self-Strengthening Movement Boxer Rebellion Tokugawa MAPS: Ottoman Empire (1759/1914) Russian Empire (1759/1914) Japanese Empire (1759/1914) Anatolia Balkan Peninsula Egypt Serbia Alexandria Moscow Russia Caucusus Guangzhou Korea Burma Balkan Peninsula Greece Istanbul Crimean Peninsula St. Petersburg Baltic Provinces China Hong Kong Vietnam Kyoto CHAPTER 33: The Building of Global Empires IDENTITIES: Cape to Cairo White Man’s Burden Steam-powered Gunboats Maxim Guns Submarine Cables Sepoy Revolt VOC Livingstone and Stanley Boer Wars Maoris Panama Canal Roosevelt Corollary Cecil Rhodes Civilizing Missioin Social Darwinism Breech-loading rifles Battle of Omdurman BEIC The Great Game French Indochina Suez Canal Queen lili’uokalani Indian National Congress Monroe Doctrine Russo-Japanese War MAPS: Africa (1750/1914) Colonial Empires Map showing raw materials provided by the colonies CHAPTER 34 The Great War: The World in Upheaval IDENTITIES: Archduke Franz Ferdinand Pan-Slavism Triple Entente Total War Tsar Nicholas II Trench warfare No-man’s-land Home Front V. I. Lenin Petrograd â€Å"Peace, Land, Bread† Lusitania Weimar Republic Fourteen Points Big Four League of Nations U. S. S. R. Self-determination Triple Alliance Schlieffen Plan Kaiser Wilhelm II Western Front Stalemate Verdun Mustard Gas Bolsheviks Soviets Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Easter Rebellion Influenza Pandemic Woodrow Wilson Mustafa Kemal/Kemal Ataturk Mandate System Treaty of Versailles Treaty of Neuilly Treaty of Sevres Treaty of St. Germain Treaty of Trianon MAPS: Britain Belgium Austria-Hungary Italy Austrailia China Alps Marne River Paris St. Petersburg France Germany Russia Japan New Zealand Colonial Possession in Africa Seine River Nile River London Berlin Rome Vienna Sarajevo Istanbul Damascus Balkans Serbia Ottoman Empire (1914) Persia Siam German Colonies in the Pacific Verdun Dardanelle Straits Republic of Turkey Syria Iraq U. S. S. R. Palestine Yugoslavia Weimar Republic CHAPTER 35 and 36: Reactions to World War I IDENTITIES: Adolf Hitler Otto Spengler Sigmund Freud Werner Heisenberg Picasso Bauhaus Depression The New Deal New Economic Policy Trotsky â€Å"lost generation† Arnold Toynbee Albert Einstein Cubism Gauguin Gropius Keynesian Economics Red vs. Whites Kulaks â€Å"socialism in one country† Collectivization Facism Corporatism â€Å"pronatalits† policy Anti-Semitism Pogroms Muslim League Ahimsa, satyagraha Amritsar Massacre Government of India Act May 4th Movement Guomindang Mukden Incident Marcus Garvey Emiliano Zapata â€Å"land and liberty† â€Å"dollar diplomacy† vs. Yankee Imperialism† Standard Oil Company Joan Batista Somoza FDR Five Year Plan(s) The Great Purge Mussolini NSDAP Nuremberg Laws Kristallnacht Indian National Congress Gandhi Muhammad Ali Jinnah Pakistan Sun Yatsen Mao Zedong Jiang Jieshi Maoism vs. Marxist-Leninism Jomo Kenyatta Pan-Afr icanism Pancho Villa Diego Rivera United Fruit Company Getulio Vargas Cesar Sandino President Cardenas Chiquita Banana MAPS: Berlin Vienna Paris Washington, D. C. Moscow Austria Italy India Manchuria Taiwan Mexico Brazil Argentina Chile New York Leningrad Germany U. S. S. R. Rome China Japan Kenya Peru Columbia Bolivia Nicaragua Korea CHAPTER 37: New Conflagrations: World War II IDENTITIES: Axis/Revisionist Powers Allied Powers Manchuria Invasion of China Rape of Nanjing Tripartite Pact Appeasement Anschluss Munich Conference Nonaggression Pact Warsaw Pact Blitzkrieg U-Boats Luftwaffe The Blitz Lebensraum Operation Barbossa Stalin Stalingrad Lend-lease Program â€Å"a date that will live in infamy† â€Å"Asia for Asians† Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere D-Day Wannsee Conference â€Å"comfort women† Yalta Conference Potsdam Conference Truman Doctrine Marshall Plan N. A. T. O. United Nations MAPS: Manchuria China Japan Beijing Nanjing Ethiopia Italy Spain Libya Albania Sudetenland Czechoslovakia Poland Germany U. S. S. R. Stalingrad Pertrograd Moscow Caucasus Region Dutch East Indies French Indochina Pearl Harbor Dresden Berlin Iwo Jima Okinawa Tokyo Hiroshima Nagasaki CHAPTERS 38 and 39: Cold War and Decolonization IDENTITIES: UN NATO Warsaw Pact IMF World Bank OPEC OEEC, EU GATT SALT agreements Iron curtain Superpower Yalta Berlin Blockade Berlin Wall M. A. D. Korean War 38th Parallel Domino Theory Cuban Missile Crisis Richard Nixon Nikita Khrushchev Simone de Beauvoir Betty Friedan Bob Marley Civil Rights Movement Martin Luther King, jr. Hegemony Charles de Gaulle â€Å"Brezhnev Doctrine† Alexander Dubcek Mao Zedong Prague Spring De-Stalinization Marshall Tito Detente Vietnam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Jawaharlal Nehru Gandhi Dominion-status Ho Chi Minh Geneva Agreements Balfour Declaration Abdel Nasser Suez Crisis FLN Negritude Kwame Nkrumah â€Å"Mau Mau† revolt Jomo Kenyatta Great Leap Forward Cultural Revolution Lazaro Cardenas Joan and Eva Peron Jacobo Arbenz Guzman Somoza Family Sandinistas MAPS: Berlin (East and West) Germany (East and West) Moscow Korea Cuba Hungary China India Kashmir Syria Lebanon Suez Canal Israel Algeria Kenya Argentina Nicaragua Guatemala 38th Parallel Yugoslavia Czecholsovakia Vietnam Pakistan Palestine Iraq Jordan Egypt France Ghana Mexico

Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy essays

Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy essays In November 1994 to December 1994, twenty-three bald eagles died due to an unknown cause (Fischer 1995). In November 1996, American coots were also found dead or dieing due to this mysterious disease (Fischer 1997). Labeled Coot and Eagle Brain Lesion Syndrome, it was changed to Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy when it was discovered to affect other species as well. It has become the most significant unknown cause of eagle mortality in the history of the United States. Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy causes lesions in the white matter of the brain and the spinal cord of an affected bird (USACE). What causes Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy remains a mystery even to this day. Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy is an avian disease that is believed to be caused by a neurotoxin of unknown origin. It causes lesions in the white matter of the brain and in the spinal cord of affected birds. Dead Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy birds appear to be in good body condition and have no visible external or internal changes with the exception of microscopic neural lesions. Electron Microscopy is used to confirm the disease, but can only be used on fresh specimens that have not been frozen. The clinical signs of a bird affected with Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy are quite noticeable. A water bird will demonstrate a partial paralysis on one side of the body. This will result with the bird swimming with one leg extended, swimming in circles, and swimming upside down. A bird flying will demonstrate erratic flight, a reluctance to fly, or an inability to fly. On the ground, affected birds stagger and wobble. Bald Eagles affected with AVIAN VACUOLAR MYELINOPATHY have been seen flying into trees and rock ledges. Brain lesions have also been found in coots that showed no clinical signs of infection. A few sick eagles have been captured alive and sent to clinics for treatment, but they all died within 1-2 days despite medical assistance (USACE). ...

Family Tree and Ancestors of Alfred Sharpton, Jr.

Family Tree and Ancestors of Alfred Sharpton, Jr. The Reverend Alfred Al Sharpton is a well-known civil rights activist and Pentacostal minister. He was preaching in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, by the age of four, and in 1964, at the age of 10, he was ordained as a minister. His parents divorced the same year, after Alfred Sr. began an affair with Al Sharptons half-sister, Tina - his mother Adas daughter from a previous marriage. In 2007, Ancestry.com discovered that Al Sharptons paternal great-grandfather Coleman Sharpton was a slave once owned by a relative of the late segragationist South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. Tips for Reading This Family Tree First Generation: 1. Alfred Charles SHARPTON Jr. was born 3 October 1954 in Brooklyn, New York to Alfred Charles SHARPTON, Sr. and Ada RICHARDS. Rev. Al Sharpton married Kathy Jordan in 1983 and the couple has two daughters: Dominique and Ashley. Second Generation (Parents): 2. Alfred Charles SHARPTON Sr. was born about 1927 in Florida. 3. Ada RICHARDS was born about 1925 in Alabama. Alfred Charles SHARPTON Sr. and Ada RICHARDS were married and had the following children: i. Cheryl SHARPTON1 ii. Alfred Charles SHARPTON, Jr. Third Generation (Grandparents): 4. Coleman SHARPTON, Jr. was born 10 Jan 1884 in Florida according to his WWI Draft Registration Card and the SSDI, although this may be inaccurate, as he does not appear in the 1885 Florida State Census with the rest of his family. He died 25 April 1971 in Wabasso, Indian River County, Florida. 5. Mamie Belle JACKSON was born 25 Feb 1891 in Georgia and died 12 July 1983 in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida. She is most likely the Mamie SHARPTON appearing in the 1910 Berrien County, Georgia Census, with husband C. Sharpton and son Casey JACKSON. Other SHARPTON siblings are also found in Berrien County in 1910. Coleman SHARPTON Jr. and Mamie Belle JACKSON married about 1910 and had the following children: i. Kate Kanovia SHARPTON b. 1 March 1912 and died 1 December 1979 in Florida. She married Louis Baker, Sr.ii. Remather SHARPTON b. abt. 1914 in Florida and died 1932 in Florida.iii. Jesse SHARPTON b. 23 June 1915 in Florida and died 8 Dec 1973 in Indian River County, Florida. He married Emma WARREN.iv. Charlie SHARPTON b. abt. 1917 in Floridav. Magnolia SHARPTON b. abt. 1918; married Chester YOUNG in 1934 vi. Nathaniel SHARPTON b. 3 May 1920 in Liberty County, Florida and d. 16 June 2004 in Brooklyn, New York. He was fully paralyzed in an accident on 9 September 1951.vii. Ladia Bell SHARPTON b. abt. 1922 viii. Elijah SHARPTON b. abt. 1923; married 1942 Jushita ROBINSONix. Elisha SHARPTON b. abt. 1923; married 1942 Inez COXx. Viola SHARPTON b. 24 Aug 1924 d. 24 Aug 2004xi. Essie Mae SHARPTON b. abt. 1926; married ? GREEN2. xii. Alfred Charles SHARPTONxiii. Leroy SHARPTON b. abt. 1929xiv. Raymond H. SHARPTON b. 24 May 1932 d. 23 Aug 1988 6. Emmett RICHARDS was born abt July 1900 in Henry County, Alabama and died 6 Nov 1954 in Henry County, Alabama. 7. Mattie D. CARTER was born 7 Mar 1903 in Alabama and died Dec 1971 in Eufaula, Barbour County, Alabama Emmett RICHARDS and Mattie CARTER were married abt. 1922 in Alabama and had the following children: i. Ree Dell RICHARDS b. abt. 19233. ii. Ada RICHARDS

Social implications of IT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Social implications of IT - Essay Example It is the fastest growing branch of electronics and computer technology. The distinguishing feature of VR is that its users feel that they are living in the computer – generated scene. VR games and other accessories are generally available with Incredible Universe and CompUSA chain stores. The present estimation regarding sales in the virtual reality market is approximately ninety million dollars per annum; and this is expected to increase to nearly six billion dollars in the future1. Virtual reality can be attributed to Sutherland who performed several pioneering works to develop the concept of virtual reality in the 1960’s. However the phrase virtual reality was coined for the first time in the late 1980’s. Some historians claim that the VR industry emerged during the 1990’s. VR gained popularity due to the extraordinary efforts of the early pioneers in this field2. Virtual reality is a computer – simulated world with which users can interact. These simulations, generally have some common characteristics, such as shared workspaces for the interaction of people with the programme, graphical user interface, real – time action, interactivity and persistence. Almost all simulations can be accessed over the internet. In those simulated worlds, there will be changes to the themes and landscapes, irrespective of the users who access the site. Online real time games come under this category of VR. For instance, Massively – multiplayer online role – playing games or MMORPGS are played in the virtual worlds. These are video games, which allow players to choose the persona of the characters in the play, and these persona are termed as avatars. MMORPGs and other virtual worlds are considered to be social networking programmes. Moreover, players can interact, form clubs, groups and chat with each other3. The availability of personal computers increased in the

Solutions to Rent-Seeking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Solutions to Rent-Seeking - Research Paper Example Third, NIE is reform oriented, seeking to change the institutions that it studies and through them the greater society at large. Different from other socio-cultural philosophies, NIE seeks validity in judgment through cost/benefit and traditional economic methods based in statistics. Whereas traditional economics may be considered the logic of the status quo in modern society, NIE retains a challenging and critical force using economic theory and analysis to promote reform or change in institutions. The institutions themselves may be public, private, corporate, governmental, educational, non-profit- all can be analyzed equally through the principles of NIE and from this research change in business practices, governmental policies, and industry regulation may result. Arguably, this is the positive social role for economics in modern societies, and contextualizes NIE in a relationship with a progressive view of society and societal evolution. The foundational research for NIE was conducted by Ronald Coase, Douglass North, and Oliver Williamson. â€Å"Institutions frame behaviors and exchanges in markets, business networks, communities, and organizations throughout the world†¦ The fast-growing field of ‘new institutional economics’ (NIE) analyzes the economics of institutions and organizations using methodologies from a wide range of disciplines (including political science, anthropology, sociology, management, law, and economics).† (Brousseau & Galachant, 2008) Having defined New Institutional Economics, this essay will examine the work of Ronald Coase as paradigmatic of the NIE school of thought, and show how it creates the ground for Gordon Tullock’s research on rent seeking. From this basis, the essay will examine current events as transpired with the recent â€Å"Wall St. Bailout,† estimated to have cost the U.S. taxpayers between $4 and $15 trillion

Nestl Is The Most Successful Organization Essay

Nestl Is The Most Successful Organization - Essay Example Nestle boasts of manufacturing more than 10,000 different products and sells over a billion products daily. Despite the number of countries wherein Nestle operates globally, their awareness of the importance of integrating local culture in each host country’s operations contributes to their success. They averred that â€Å"there is no one single product for everyone - our products are tailored to suit tastes and habits wherever you are†. The company’s focus and the emphasis are strategically manifested in four words: â€Å"Good Food, Good Life†. In order to sustain the organization’s capability to ensure that their products remain to give maximum nutritional benefits, their Research and Development (R & D) are allocated approximately CHF 1.5 billion annually to continually innovate and renovate existing products. Nestle has instituted a unique program which combines financial success with corporate social responsibility. The company coined the progr am â€Å"Creating Shared Value† to encompass the following: â€Å"using our core business strategies and operations to create value for shareholders; serving consumers and the public by offering them nutritious products that are both enjoyable and contribute to their health and well-being; and seeking to improve the economic and social conditions for people and communities across our entire value chain – for farmers who supply us raw ingredients, for communities where our factories are located, for suppliers who work with us and for our trade partners† Nestle: Creating Shared Value, 2010, par. 4)

Microsoft’s Lost Decade Essay Example for Free

Microsoft’s Lost Decade Essay Introduction Microsoft’s story serves as a prime example of the pitfalls of success. In this case we can analyze, critique, and make recommendations to avoid a similar disaster in the future. While they were really the sole company to open the window into computer technology for the everyday user, but over the last decade appears to have been a victim of its own success. Once so dominant in the industry which is basically created on its own, today cannot be described as â€Å"cutting edge†. The name no longer resonates with younger generations. Evidence of this struggling success can be seen in its stock prices which have completely plateaued and even began to drop recently. What happened? Why are they no longer creating wonderful technological advances for its consumers? In order to compete in the technology industry, a company needs to continuously be innovation for its customers; Microsoft was not doing that. Despite facing a challenge in IBM in the beginning when Microsoft first entered the industry, who was also getting overly confident and comfortable with its position in the industry. It actually appears as though Microsoft has reenacted the problems of their former nemesis. Clearly not focused on development or bringing out a new product, and their new philosophy as expressed by the most recent CEO Steve Balmer about a decade ago was we won’t be first to cool but we will be first to profit. In other words, they don’t care about coming out with some cool new technology, they will wait for somebody else to do that, and then buy their way into that market. Obviously the major problem with that is if somebody else is coming into that product first, that company will most likely lock up the market. It is possible that Microsoft has its hands in too many things. There is no focus. Microsoft doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be. This is evident by the competition microsft is facing. One division is competing with SONY, while another group is battling apple, while even other teams are competing with Google for example. It’s possibl e that what the company really needs is a fresh start; New atmosphere, new leadership, new goals. Microsoft has great products in Xbox and connect, but inside the massive† machine† that it has become they are just small underdeveloped projects. So again, it is obvious that there are issues to be looked at here, but somebody in charge missed the signals and let this happen. The most telling story from the case is that Microsoft in fact had ideas about the first e-reader, the very technology that is today very popular in the Kindle and iPad, as early as the late 1990s. Unfortunately for the company, the story tells of a meeting in which Bill Gates gave this new technology the â€Å"thumbs down† because the screen didn’t look like windows. Do the customers care about that? No. So that was a huge missed opportunity. The leadership was blind to that element, which dictates that for the customers’ needs to be addressed first and foremost. As a technology company the goal should be to â€Å"create† what is needed. Microsoft started doing things th e other way around. Windows started getting so complicated because they overloaded the engineering aspect to create things that will look good, not perform well. What it has come to at this point it seem is there is no way for Microsoft to compete at this stage. Everything within the company, including the employees appear to be almost â€Å"weighed down† by what can almost be describes as a massive bureaucracy with far too many meetings and memos. Microsoft’s â€Å"law of large numbers† is failing. In order to fix the causes of their problems, we must follow the symptoms back to the root causes and make changes there. On the surface, it appears their issues are due to bad management style, poor organizational structure and a generally counter-productive culture that strained relationships between the â€Å"old guard† and the â€Å"new blood† of the company. To get a better look at the cause of these symptoms, I will follow the eight operations management principals. Part 1: Critique Unity of Purpose Unity of purpose within an organization is definitely not something that a manager can ignore when running a business with goals. It is imperative to remember that to function as a goal oriented team, all parts of the various positions must be working together as one. This is where I will begin our observation of the Microsoft empire and the decade of struggle that diverted it from the success that it once enjoyed. When looking at how Microsoft was handled by Bill Gates, there are undoubtedly some moments that suggest that the unity of purpose was not clearly defined and never adequately addressed to the degree that it needed. We can start at the root of the problem to learn the origins of what Microsoft ultimately faced: namely discord and disharmony in the work place. Looking at the early success of the business, we notice that Microsoft created an innovative and personalized approach to the computer that made it significantly more user-friendly. The initial public reactions were almost unanimously positive due to the fact that the product was revolutionary and had changed the personal technology landscape for the better. Interestingly, Microsoft began this venture in the shadow of IBM, who was also getting overly confident and comfortable with its position in the industry at the time. It actually appears as though Microsoft has reenacted the problems of their former nemesis over the past decade. As time progressed for Microsoft, however, there came to be a noticeable drop off in success of the company. Steve Jobs and his exciting, strong and, most importantly, new Apple brand seemingly booted Microsoft to the curb, out of the public’s eye. It is easy to assume that Microsoft was simply outmanned by Apple, that the latter company came into the picture and took the market share away from Gates and his supposed dynasty. This, however, does not describe the true cause of the downfall suffered by Microsoft. The real cause that sent this company on the track to irrelevance was due in large part to the lack of unity in the business purpose. Microsoft was clearly not focused on development or bringing out a new product, and their new philosophy, as expressed by the most recent CEO Steve Balmer about a decade ago, was â€Å"we won’t be first to cool but we will be first to profit†. In other words, they don’t care about coming out with some cool new technology, they will wait for somebody else to do that, and then buy their way into that market. Obviously the first problem with that is if somebody else is coming into that product first, those companies will most likely lock up the market. Additionally this completely throws off the company’s purpose of unity! What is a technology company if it isn’t researching, developing, and creating for its customers a new technology? The answer is very simple: Microsoft was not united around a general value or principal. As I mentioned earlier, it is possible that Microsoft has its hands in too many things. There is no focus. Microsoft doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be. This is evident by the competition microsoft is facing. One division is competing with SONY, while another group is battling apple, while even other teams are competing with Google for example. It’s possible that what the company really needs is a fresh start; New atmosphere, new leadership, new goals. Microsoft has great products in Xbox and connect, but inside the massive† machine† that it has become they are just small underdeveloped projects. Once upon a time, Bill gates had a vision. Gates wrote an operating program using the computer language called BASIC which proved to be a wonderful innovation. Driven by his new product, and with that his new purpose, his company took off and left everybody else in the dust. Gates was relentless and demanded the same intense commitment from everyone he hired. Back then they were united each member of the group was invest for the right rea son, which was creating a new product that people wanted before anybody else created it. Neither Gates nor Allen had management skills and business savvy that were needed to help the booming company in its infant days. Once the company started doubling and tripling in size year after year, the company could not keep focus on one particular goal or direction. Unity happens when leaders are committed to and engaged in the process of building a united, winning team. It requires focus, time, and energy. Unfortunately as we’ll discuss a little later on, focus may have been another contributing factor that hindered Microsoft from being the company Gates idealized in his head. Unity occurs when team members care more about the vision, purpose and health of the organization than they do their own personal agenda. Changing the mindset is essential. Unity happens when each person in the company can clearly see how their personal vision and effort contributes to the overall vision and success of the team. This involves meaningful conversations between the levels of management as well as between engineers and sales people. Unity of Purpose results when you weed out the negativity that sabotages far too many organizations. All of these things were issues at Microsoft that hindered it from having one united goal as a company. Having the right people in charge of making decisions can make a world of difference when trying to unite the group behind a cause, which will lead me to the next principle of Operations Management, Human Resources. Invest in Human Resources Microsoft needed to invest in human resources to implement and maintain plans and policies. Strategically placed investments in human resources will develop a more skilled, innovative, productive and loyal workforce thus providing an organization with a competitive advantage over a less progressive competitor. Investment in human capital offers both short and long term gains that help produce not only skilled, productive employees, but those that are both loyal and ethical. Microsoft’s goal should have been to increase the ownership of employees work by providing the right incentives. Already we see evidence that the company will fall prey to the same arrogance that dethroned IBM. There were signs but Microsoft didn’t see them until it was too late. When it comes to your employees, long-term thinking guides an organization. That’s where Microsoft missed the mark by a long shot. Microsoft was focused on too many short term goals. Employees at Microsoft had an obsession with revenue and growth, and it’s no surprise why! Almost every employee received a stake in the company through stock options. When the share price went up, everyone got richer. When it went down, everyone suffered. Everyone ran full speed in hopes of pushing up the stock price a little bit more. Internal competition became a huge issue with Microsoft’s employees as well. The perception of stability within the workforce is especially beneficial during periods of economic decline and or organizational restructuring. The perceptions of stability as offered by organizational culture will often help retain employees during recessionary periods and motivate everyone during stable times as well. This was potentially the biggest issue in house for Microsoft. The days of shoulder to should teams innovating and thriving within the company were gone. A â€Å"financial fissure† penetrated the already strained relationships between th e â€Å"old guard† and the â€Å"new blood†. People were becoming destructively competitive. Its was a sink or swim environment and drowning someone else in order to survive was the name of the game at Microsoft. Something had to be done. Companies can obtain a competitive advantage if they utilize strategic human resources investment practices. If the operation is a primary manufacturing facility investments such as group bonus pay-outs based on overall group performance or attendance for example, could provide an initial increase in output. Furthermore, empowerment of the team by allowing aspects of total quality management to take place will help build confidence and a feeling of responsibility within the group. If the operation is research and development oriented then the culture should be based on rewards focused on those who develop and produce. In either case whether the culture is based on group or individual performance, the overall goals must be focused on the retention, growth of, and maximum utilization of talent. Microsolf is a company with all departments and people with both typed of jobs. The organizations that are best able to manipulate the corporate culture into one of maximum benefit will become significantly more competitive than those who do not, and Microsoft did not. At Microsoft it got so bad that one employee was quoted saying â€Å"We couldn’t be focused anymore on developing technology that was effective for consumers†. It had become all about, â€Å"how am I going to make money†. HR should have used training and development to invest in their employees. Make them feel valued, offer appropriate promotions as incentives for great work and loyalty, and place a greater emphasis on teamwork. The cut-throat atmosphere does not generate positive results, and Microsoft’s organizational structure was such that executives and engineers were from a different generation with cutthroat mentalities. This only results in self immolating chaos. The real villain here was the wrongly implemented Stack ranking system. Managers had a rest and vest mentality which bread ill feelings and jealousy all around. These factors were naturally at variance with team work and innovation. A better reward systems should focus on facilitating cooperation, enhancing long term thinking, tolerating mistakes because they are learning tools, and not letting egos get involved. Whatever Microsoft determines it’s goals and purpose is going to be, it is important for the companies directors to remember that investing in the appropriate human resources is much more than making sure the new employees don’t impact your current paychecks and health insurance. It is the definition of the company, its culture, and its employees performance. With the right culture instilled in the company, employees might have a chance to work on focus for an-unmotivated Microsoft. Focus Microsoft was lacking, and desperately needed focus. Sustainable growth is important. Such a pattern emerges in organizations that are superior in executing their business plan and can maintain a compounding positive trajectory in their revenue development. Organizations that are so oriented build success patterns that breed a culture of confidence and a competitive advantage. This is how growth becomes sustainable. Such a pattern is of primary importance to any focus-oriented company. Sustained growth in a business comes about primarily because key employees are focused on performance factors they can impact and they feel motivated to do so. That focus leads to execution. When sustained, that pattern brings about the results and success the business plan calls for. This being said, Microsoft was committing all the wrong crimes against successful business focus. Vague accountability on the part of higher management made it impossible for the rest of the employees to envision goals a nd work with a purpose. A major contributor to this at Microsoft was the fact that they held too many meetings. Meetings in turn slows new product development and staggers innovation. Just as with e-books, opportunities for major product developments slipped away from Microsoft. Windows CE, an operating system distinct from Windows that was originally used for pocket devices like personal digital assistants, would ultimately be the foundation of the mobile operating system that would power Microsoft’s first smartphones. But despite the fact that Microsoft had the jump on its competitors with Windows CE, it still lost the race for the wildly successful smartphones. In addition to too many meetings, Microsoft had too many managers. Current and former executives said, each year the intensity and destructiveness of the game playing grew worse as employees struggled to beat out their co-workers for promotions, bonuses, or just survival. Microsoft’s managers pumped up the volume on the viciousness around each other and to their subordinates. What resulted, when combined with the bitterness about financial disparities among employees that already existed, the slow pace of development, and the power of the Windows and Office divisions to kill innovation. All in all, it was a toxic stew of internal antagonism and warfare fueled by the generation gap between the old, established managers and the young, aspiring engineers. That â€Å"warfare atmosphere† was only the beginning of the distraction. At Microsoft every employee had a smiley face icon to monitor stock prices at every moment of the day. When shares increased, the face smiled, but when they fell it frowned. This placed way too much focus on shareholders, profits, and employees job security. There was simply not enough emphasis on the customer, and nothing was focused on the company’s future. Futher issues at Microsoft included obsession to capitalize on every opportunity to gather new revenue, teams of people fighting shoulder-to-shoulder had been replaced with backstabbing and selfish goals. Microsoft even went as far to save money, the company no longer helped with towels in showers at work. Why is that a focus at all!? That’s such a pathetic problem to have at an industry-leading technology company. To achieve quality, you have to define it. Focus is a definition and you have to make sure that definition is disseminated throughout the rank and file. Its the job of any company to be clear about the nonnegotiable core values. A lack of focus creates estuaries and cloudy waters that are confusing to navigate and surely hinder innovation. Visibility Management The lack of focus we attribute to the poor leadership transitions us to our next issue with Microsoft, that there is not a fair, balanced model in the company with solid visibility management. Natural self-promoters, like many of the managers and executives at Microsoft, instinctively exploit opportunities to make themselves visible. In today’s competitive corporate environment, being good at what you do isn’t enough to earn your keep or what you’re worth. You have to practice â€Å"visibility management,† letting people know who you are and what you do well. Managing visibility is an integral component of modern success and career management. Microsoft had extremely poor visibility management for a number of key reasons. For starters Microsoft did not recognize or enforce fairness throughout its organizational structure of employees. The organizational structure followed a stack ranking system, like a forced bell curve model, that puts individual goals at complete variance with teamwork. The managers who were supposed to be making decisions and conveying them to their sales and engineer teams were in constant meetings instead of making information available regarding any management decisions. Microsoft was lacking â€Å"new blood† in its management. The divisions between the old timers and the young innovators had grown wildly out of control. Corporate culture is built from the combined experiences of the members of the organization working in harmony with clear visibility. This effects the results of the organization’s efforts, and helps the psychological tone set by top management and every level of management beneath it. All of these factors are expressed in, and some are caused by, visibility management, and poor management behavior will always affect the culture negatively. Organizational culture is built on the behaviors of the members of the culture, and poor management visibility and behavior at any level naturally affects the levels subordinate to it. An abusive or clueless top or middle manager can create a culture of negativism and poor performance that extends beneath them all the way to the bottom of the organizational pyramid, and even to supplier organizations. Anyone who has worked in more than a couple of bureaucracies has most likely experienced or witnessed this syndrome. At Microsoft one employee was quoted saying â€Å"If you just add up the time people spent sending angry e-mails about the towels disappearing †¦ I expect they lost a lot more money than the cost savings from the towels.† Even once the towels returned, the bitterness about cost-cutting didn’t end. What was management’s plan? Nobody seemed to know; there was no communication or visibility within the company. Even after that Microsoft abandoned its gold-plated health-insurance plan. That was the enticement that had brought some employees there in the first place. Whiteboards grew scarcer. It even became harder to find office supplies. Many of the problems from bureaucracy came down to a simple reality: The young hotshots from the 1980s, techies who had joined the company in their 20s and 30s, had become middle-aged managers in their 40s and 50s. And, some younger engineers said a good number of the bosses just didn’t understand the burgeoning class of computer users who had been children when Microsoft opened its doors. When younger employees tried to point out emerging trends among their friends, supervisors sometimes just waved them away. None of management’s procedures or systems seemed to make any sense to the rest of the subordinate company. Corporate policy at Microsoft gave some select few millions, while others got bare minimum pay. Too many employees were seeking management spots for the wrong reasons. Management should have been more humble, transparent, and outward gazing. Visibility management works with facts, not ego and corporate politics. Fix Causes Corporate politics lead to nothing else if not fear and prejudice within the organization. Current and former executives said that each year the intensity and destructiveness of the game playing grew worse as employees struggled to beat out their co-workers for promotions, bonuses, or just survival. Microsoft had, in an effort to motivate by competition, created a back-stabbing environment of brutal proportions in the corporate world. Management is supposed to be courageous and inspiring, â€Å"not pumped up the volume on the viciousness† as was the case at Microsoft. It is usually the leader with the most power who provokes the most fear. With leaders worried about outbursts and other nasty behavior from those with even more power than they have, imagine the toll the fear factor must take on the people who wield substantially less authority. At a place like Microsoft, those people make up the vast majority. Although Ballamer would espouse that they challenge their people, man y employees would argue those challenges feel threatening. The truth is most likely employees blossom when challenged and wither when threatened. There is no data showing that anxious, fearful employees are more creative and productive, but there is data proving that employees in a threatening environment are less engaged, less loyal and for the most part miserable. Civility is not a term we typically associate with corporate life or use to describe the everyday world in workplaces around the globe. But consider the potential impact on corporate culture, and society as a whole, if civility were not just expected, but championed by senior leadership. Microsoft had a forced bell curve of talent that doesn’t actually represent the production and innovation capabilities of the company. This creates achingly slow progress and in an atmosphere that has every unit declare a certain percentage of employees as top performers, then good performers, then average, then below average, then poor, employees were focusing on competing with each other rather than competing with other companies. Management needs to listen to the ideas of the young generation and implement a better system. An example of when this would have done Microsoft well was in 1997, when AOL introduced its instant-messenger program, called AIM, a precursor to the texting functions on cell phones. Two years later, Microsoft followed with a similar program, called MSN Messenger. In 2003, a young developer noticed that friends in college signed up for AIM exclusively and left it running most of the time. The developer concluded that no young person would switch from AIM to MSN Messenger, which did not have the short-message feature. He spoke about the problem to his boss, a middle-aged man. The supervisor dismissed the developer’s concerns as silly. Why would young people care about putting up a few words? Anyone who wanted to tell friends what they were doing could write it on their profile page, he said. Meaning users would have to open the profile pages, one friend at a time, and search for a status message, if it was there at all. Unfortunately because his manager didn’t know or didn’t believe how young people were using messenger programs, nothing was done. Management was instilling fear instead of developing for the long term and listing to employees about what customers really want. Know Your Customers As we have discussed, the culture at Microsoft was complacent. Managers were closed to criticism, arrogant about their roles of leadership, and obsessed with stock prices and short term goals. The very purpose for Microsoft’s existence was to provide new and wonderful technology to people; those people being the customers. Those people dictate the needs, not managers, and Microsoft lost touch with who they were serving. It’s something critical to ANY and EVERY business: knowing your customers and the products they want. You can learn a great deal about your customers by talking to them. Asking them why theyre buying or not buying, what they may want to buy in the future and asking what other needs they have can give a valuable picture of whats important to them. Despite a multi-year head start, the big profits on innovative new technologies would eventually go to Amazon and Apple. Why? Because they gave the customers the next new thing in technology. For example, Bill G ates gave the E-reader the thumbs down because he was focused on what the product did and looked like, not how his consumers would love it. Apparently â€Å"he didn’t like the interface because it didn’t look like windows.† The point on this invention was to have the book, alone, appear on the full screen. Putting it into an electronic book, Gates suggested, would do nothing but undermine the customers experience. Unfortunately what gates didn’t understand is that it’s not undermining them if that’s what they want! The death of the e-book effort was not simply the consequence of a desire for immediate profits, but also all kinds of personal prejudices at work. Management missed the beat repeatedly while â€Å"meeting† to pursue the next thing it would release. Microsoft was only hurting itself. As discussed earlier they were far too obsessed with revenues and stock prices of old products. Steve Stone, a founder of the technology group, said about Microsoft’s attention to customer wants: â€Å"We couldn’t be focused anymore on developing technology that was effective for consumers. Instead, all of a sudden we had to look at this and say, ‘How are we going to use this to make money?’ And it was impossible.† Indeed, executives said, Microsoft failed repeatedly to jump on emerging technologies because of the company’s fealty to Windows and Office. â€Å"Windows was the god—everything had to work with Windows,† said Stone. â€Å"Ideas about mobile computing with a user experience that was cleaner than with a P.C. were deemed unimportant by a few powerful people in that division, and they managed to kill the effort.† Indeed, executives said, Microsoft failed repeatedly to jump on emerging technologies because of the company’s fealty to Windows and Office. There was a feeling that â€Å"Windows was the god—everything had to work with Windows,† despite what the customer wanted. While Apple continues to gain market share in many products, Microsoft has lost share in Web browsers, high-end laptops and smartphones. Despite billions in investment, its Xbox line is still at best an equal contender in the game console business. It first ignored and then stumbled in personal music players until that business was locked up by Apple. Another problem with Microsoft delivering to the customer’s needs is whenever Microsoft spies yet another potential market which it thinks is ripe for taking over it generally announces its intention to move aggressively into that market. Microsoft frequently announces new products for these markets that they will ship soon regardless of whether or not they have any genuine interest in actually shipping said products. What this frequently leads to is that people stop buying software in this market because they want to wait for the Microsoft version. Unfortunately if Microsoft sees the market drying up they usually just walk away and never deliver their promised products. The end result is that the small software companies in these markets take a very big hit and frequently go under while consumers end up without their promised product. In the past, Microsoft has fueled amazing growth by leveraging its way into new markets in order to acquire new customers. The problem that Microsoft has been facing recently is that they tried to dominate so many different markets that there are not enough markets left that can be captured for the purpose of sustaining the growth that their shareholders require. Microsoft has turned its sights back on its existing customers. Microsoft is finding creative ways to draw more money out of its existing customers, often times with hostile results. One example of Microsofts hostility to its existing customers came in September, 2000. Microsoft demanded that the Virginia Beach government account for all copies of Microsoft software that were in use within the government and provide proof of purchase for each product. The reason? Nick Psyhogeos, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney for Microsoft, said the firm has found that government agencies sometimes inadvertently acquire counterfeit software. There was no mention of a reason why this particular city government was singled out they were not investigated because of something which they did to arouse suspicion, but simply because they were a large organization that Microsoft hoped they could frighten more money out of. The city was presumed guilty until proven innocent and this cost the tax payers a great deal of money as the city reassigned 25 percent of its technical work force to work specifically on the task of generating the information demanded by Microsoft. Microsoft is hunting down it’s customers, not providing for them. Know Your Competition In the competitive corporate world it is imperative that a company knows it’s competition so that you don’t get blindsided. It is crucial to know who they are and what their strengths/weaknesses are. It would also be smart to know what their primary products are that compete with yours and how they access talent that you might want as well. Recently Microsoft’s strategy has just been killing off competitors by either buying them or their technologies. Once again, a good example of this is shown with Microsofts jump into the web browser market. Microsoft was late to catch on to the fact that the web was going to revolutionize the way people used computers and once they finally woke up they were dangerously close to having their Windows monopoly destroyed by the greatly reduced importance of operating systems that a web based paradigm would produce. They needed to do something fast. They allegedly tried to carve up the market with Netscape by getting Netscape to ag ree to stop making Windows web browsers while Microsoft would only make Windows web browsers. Fortunately for consumers, Netscape did not agree to the deal and the web was saved from becoming a Microsoft only technology as surely would have happened. This made it even more urgent for Microsoft to lock up this new market right away while it was still time. Lacking any decent technology of their own, Microsoft licensed the Mosaic web browser from Spyglass which they turned into Internet Explorer. The weapon that Microsoft fashioned in their attempt to defeat Netscape wasnt even their own, but technology they bought from someone else. This was not a one time thing either. What this meant for Microsoft was that they got to keep their monopoly for a little bit longer, but it had much more dire consequences for consumers. It meant that consumers were now stuck with a very buggy browser and file system viewer because Internet Explorer wasn’t prepared to compete with competition. Who are Microsoft’s main competitors right now? According to CEO Steve Ballmer Google, Apple, and Oracle and the front runners. Google is a serious threat because not only does it have its hand in multiple markets, it has the ability to jump in and quickly grab significant market share. Gmail went public only about three years ago, but already it’s the third-largest webmail service behind Hotmail and Yahoo. Google Apps is up-and-coming, having won a few key contracts in the enterprise market. Microsoft’s release of Office Web Apps shows the company is worried about Google, which is touting apps as an easy-to-use-from-anywhere service with an easier and less expensive business model. Android has accomplished a heckuva feat, jumping from nearly no market share a year ago to being the platform of choice for about 10 percent of new smart phones sold. Chrome has been consistently eating away at Internet Explorer since its launch nearly two years ago. And with App Engine, Google has been making a push in the cloud-platform space to which Microsoft, with Windows Azure, just showed up this winter. And then there’s Chrome OS, the browser-based operating system that Google is expected to launch by late autumn. It’s unknown how successful the novel idea will be, especially with the incoming tablet market, but considering Google’s success in other sectors it could very well grab netbooks away from Windows. Apple was nearly dead 10 years ago and has surged back to pass up Microsoft in market capitalization, and Apple did it with consumers. When you’re talking competition between Microsoft and Apple, you’re mainly talking about hand-held devices. Windows is still on more than 90 percent of computers and Safari, Apple’s Web browser, essentially has the same market share as Macintosh computers. Apple is leading the charge for mobile computing. And as Google can attest, there’s plenty of room in the market to capitalize. Microsoft, for its part, has not been able to do that lately. As Apple and Android surge in popularity, Windows Mobile hemorrhages market share. Microsoft must deliver a knock-out hit with Windows Phone 7 this holiday season. Then there’s the iPad. Apple has succeeded where others, namely Microsoft, failed to recognize the need 10 years ago. Apple has opened the door for a potentially huge new market. What really agitates Microsoft is that PCs are no longer the only incarnation of personal computing. In the MicroNokia deal, Microsoft sees an opportunity to be a player in the new personal computing incarnation, a willful answer to its competition. Microsoft tried to ignore tablets and a â€Å"fad† but will soon need to recognize the potential and get on top of that if it wishes to once again dominate the industry. Total Quality Management It is absolutely necessary for Microsoft to base quality decisions on facts, not the ego’s and ideas of executives. The outputs that they wish to hold important must be measurable. Microsoft would also do well to empower its employees on the customer interaction level. These are the employees closest to the customer and will provide the most effective feedback for future innovation. These future innovations must also be of the highest quality as that is one of the key component to total quality control. The reason quality has gained such prominence is that organizations have gained an understanding of the high cost of poor quality. Quality affects all aspects of the organization and has dramatic cost implications. The most obvious consequence occurs when poor quality creates dissatisï ¬ ed customers and eventually leads to loss of business. However, quality has many other costs, which can be divided into two categories. The ï ¬ rst category consists of costs necessary for achieving high quality, which are called quality control costs. These are of two types: prevention costs and appraisal costs. The second category consists of the cost consequences of poor quality, which are called quality failure costs. Companies that consider quality important invest heavily in prevention and appraisal costs in order to prevent internal and external failure costs. The earlier defects are found, the less costly they are to correct. Another massively important factor of Total Quality Control is the quality and happiness of the employees. A good way to ensure that is to be encouraging to your employees and offer praise when appropriate. Thank employees for doing a good job and let them know that you value them. Should something go wrong or someone makes a mistake, don’t â€Å"punish† the person. That was a big fear at Microsoft that went on too long. Punishing people only makes things worse in that the employee may become angry and bitter and may want to sabotage their work to get back at the company, or leave to work for the competition. Too many meetings at Microsoft and the fear of a declining stock price did not create an atmosphere that created â€Å"quality†. Management needed to tolerate mistakes and be more outward gazing for innovations, customer needs, and new business models. Part 2: Recommendations Bad corporate culture happens, but it can be corrected. While it is natural for bad organizational culture to develop, this tendency can be countered and a more positive and productive organizational culture can be produced, though it requires savvy and introspective management. It is within the power of each of us to do the introspective work and be more savvy, as managers or regular employees. In doing so you will improve everyone, and give each individual increased capacity to influence the organizational culture in a more positive direction. The greatest threat to an organization’s success is not always the competition. Often, it is what a company does to itself. Because of fear, companies become plagued with barriers and bureaucracy that limit success, crush employees, and infuse frustration and a sense of futility across the enterprise. It starts with a narrowing of focus, which leads to the first level of bureaucracy: parochialism. Parochialism exists when managers and departments begin to view the world through the filter of their own little silo, and build walls make of rules and policies to protect their turf. This was definitely the case at Microsoft with the Stack ranking system. When looking at how Microsoft was handled by Bill Gates, there are undoubtedly some moments that suggest that the unity of purpose was not clearly defined and never adequately addressed to the degree that it needed. As I mentioned earlier, it is possible that Microsoft has its hands in too many things. There is no focus. Microsoft doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be. This is evident by the competition Microsoft is facing. Unity happens when leaders are committed to and engaged in the process of building a united, winning team. It requires focus, time, and energy. Unfortunately as we’ll discuss a little later on, focus may have been another contributing factor that hindered Microsoft from being the company Gates idealized in his head. Unity occurs when team members care more about the vision, purpose and health of the organization than they do their own personal agenda. Changing the mindset is essential. Unity happens when each person in the company can clearly see how their personal vision and effort contributes to the overall vision and success of the team. This involves meaningful conversations between the levels of management as well as between engineers and sales people. Unity of Purpose results when you weed out the negativity that sabotages far too many organizations. All of these things were issues at Microsoft that hindered it from having one united goal as a company. Having the right people in charge of making decisions can make a world of difference when trying to unite the group behind a cause, especially a business cause. Microsoft needs to invest in human resources to implement and maintain plans and policies. Strategically placed investments in human resources will develop a more skilled, innovative, productive and loyal workforce thus providing an organization with a competitive advantage over a less progressive competitor. Investmen t in human capital will offer Microsoft both short and long term gains to help produce not only skilled, productive employees, but also loyal and ethical employees for the long-term. Microsoft’s goal must now be to increase the ownership of employees work by providing the right incentives through HR. Especially when it comes to your employees, long-term thinking guides an organization. That’s where Microsoft missed the mark in the past and needs to focus now. Microsoft was focused on too many short term goals in the past. The vicious internal competitions need to be eliminated from Microsoft if they want to create a productive work environment. This was potentially the biggest issue in house for Microsoft. Companies can obtain a competitive advantage if they utilize strategic human resources investment practices. The real villain here was the wrongly implemented stack ranking system. Managers had a rest and vest mentality which bread ill feelings and jealousy all around. These factors were naturally at variance with team work and innovation. I recommend a better reward system that will focus on facilitating cooperation, enhancing long term thinking, tolerating mistakes because they are learning tools, and not let egos get involved. Whatever Microsoft determines it’s goals and purpose is going to be, it is important for the companies directors to remember that investing in the appropriate human resources is much more than making sure the new employees don’t impact your current paychecks and health insurance. Microsoft needs a better focus on what they are about and their position in the technology industry. These will come with a well taken care of their employee base first. I recommend they invest into a few basic human needs to help their organization stay productive, engaged and, happy during times of angst and uncertainty which inevitably come in the corporate world of today. The first focus with is to make a connection with the employees. Talking about emotions in the workplace can cause executives to get uneasy. Have you ever noticed that you never hear managers saying, Please dont get so excited or Please quit being so happy? The reality is that emotions are at the center of everything we do. The leadership challenge is not to avoid them, but instead to ignite the positive ones. The secret of getting people more engaged in their work is for their leaders to become more engaged with them. That means being willing to show up emotionally as well as intellectually. Human connection isnt a nice thing to have; its a must-have. Meaningful connections provide people with the internal fortitude they need to stay productive during tough times. Microsoft needs to be more connected to its people, and they also want them to be connected to one another. The way to do that is by talking, with real spoken words, not e-mail edicts, asking people how theyre doing and actually listening to their answers, and by providing them with opportunities to interact with one another. Corporate parties, public promotions etc will go a long was for the morale at Microsoft. Providing context and meaning to the tasks at hand will do a lot for the employees at Microsoft as well. Everyone wants to know that they make a difference in the world. When you put someones work into a meaningful context, you tap into the deepest yearning of his or her soul. The challenge for Microsoft is that most peoples days are so hectic and their jobs so compartmentalized that they often miss the larger story of how their work touches the work of others in the company, and the customers around the world. Leaders who reframe daily tasks by providing personal context quell the angst of uncertainty by giving their employees something more meaningful to think about. The best thing for Microsoft to do is to offer professional employees an incentive package that includes a bonus based on the firms gross revenue. When you bring in more, everyone gets rewarded. But dont make the mistake of tying bonus comp to practice profitability. Profit sharing seems like a good idea but it often c reates resentment by employees who dont have any control over profits. Every time an executive takes a vacation as a business trip or buys a new computer they dont really need, Microsoft employees will resent it. Bonuses based on revenues create a team environment where everyone gets rewarded for their contributions to growth. This is the ultimate motivator for many professional planner, young and old, regardless of business level. As businesses grow and become more complex, a second level of bureaucracy is reached: territorialism. While parochialism is about protecting a department from outsiders, territorialism is about controlling those inside the silo. The third and final level of bureaucracy is empire building, which is a response to perceived threats to a department’s ability to be self-sufficient. These barriers cost organizations a fortune in inefficiency, turnover, waste, and demoralization, and Microsoft is guilty of these on the highest level! Tearing down these barriers is difficult, but it can be done. I recommend resetting rules and policies, and refocusing on the ultimate mission of the organization. Territorialism can be eliminated by creating true empowerment, along with appropriate levels of accountability. Microsoft must also create a culture of courage, to enable employees to take advantage of these new freedoms and accountabilities. In the past managers definitely took advantage of their powers, and didn’t communicate to their employees appropriately. Leadership must refocus on mission success rather than just checking off their part of the process, manage reference points, and engage employees. I am confident that by doing all of these things, Microsoft can begin to become fearless, and unstoppable. Microsoft messed up internally, but also missed a number of opportunities. While Microsoft dreams of Apple-style successes with consumers, the truth is, with only one exception, consumers dont care about Microsoft in the slightest. Microsoft does, of course, make one successful consumer product, at least from a perception standpoint, and thats the Xbox 360. Today, Microsoft is being chipped away by competitors from all sides, like a mighty shark being taken down by a pack of hungry piranhas. Microsoft is just letting this happen because the company simply moves too slowly, whether its entering new markets, updating existing products, or something internal. I have read a number of recommendations in articles and online about Microsoft, and I happen to agree that Microsoft is so big that the very notion of there being a Microsoft is absurdly simplistic. This is instead a collection of often massive warring fiefdoms that dont just ignore each other but in some notable cases actually actively work against each other. Even more problematic, perhaps, Microsofts businesses are so diverse that many have nothing to do with each other. So my advice is to split up this company into two or three baby Microsofts, perhaps al ong consumer, business, and developer lines. None of these brands should have any influence from Steve Ballmer as well. Replacing Ballmer is no easy task, and while its not the epic problem that the software giant confronted when Bill Gates left, Microsofts need for new leadership will require a team, not an individual. It’s possible Microsoft doesnt need a business guy at the top, and I would recommend it needs another guy who understands technology. That way Microsoft’s managers will stop smothering good ideas. Microsoft needs to say â€Å"Yes† to good ideas more frequently. This can only happen within an organization that actually listens and rewards the forward thinkers, places like Apple and Google, who happen to be doing very well in the market right now. â€Å"Microsoft is now in the ironic position to brand itself as David to Apples Goliath, the counterculture to Apples mainstream†. I want Microsoft to turn the tables on the very upstart company that used to think different,† and I recommend Microsoft turn the page and begin this decade anew, learning from its own mistakes. Bibliography and Reference Links * Greer, Charles S. An Investment Perspective of Human Resources, Strategic Human Resources Management, (2001): 1. * Greer, Charles S. An Investment Perspective of Human Resources, Strategic HumanResources Management, (2001): 5 * http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57471170-75/microsofts-ballmer-challenges-vanity-fairs-lost-decade-claim/ * http://oneffectivemanagement.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/where-does-bad-corporate-culture-come-from-and-can-it-be-corrected/ * Civility: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-prefontaine/corporate-leaders-must-re_1_b_1437445.html * Not shipping said product: http://www.kmfms.com/whatsbad.html * Competiton: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2010/06/03/ballmer-and-microsofts-main-competitors-are/ * David to Apple Goliath: http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/24/tech/innovation/fixing-microsoft/index.html