Applied Problems from Chapters 8 and 9 Essays

Applied Problems from Chapters 8 and 9 Essays Applied Problems from Chapters 8 and 9 Essay Applied Problems from Chapters 8 and 9 Essay Applied Problems from Chapter 8 and 9 Marquita B. Mouton BUS 640 Managerial Economics Charles Fanning December 6, 2010 Applied Problems from Chapters 8 and 9 The application of material is the true test of knowledge. With the help of the concepts and theories learned from Chapter 8 and 9, this paper will answer the second applied problem from Chapter 8 and the second and fourth applied problems from Chapter 9. Chapter 8 At a management luncheon, two managers were overheard arguing about the following statement: â€Å"A manager should never hire another worker if the new person causes diminishing returns. † Is this statement correct? The scenario presented describes a question managers must face every day. It is not wise hire another workers solely due to them causing diminishing returns. According to the Law of Diminishing Marginal Product, as long as the marginal product does not become negative, it would be wise that a manager hire beyond the initial diminishing number (Thomas and Maurice, 2011). For example, if 1200 units need to be produced and the 11th person hired causes the returns to diminish, then it would be advantageous to the manager to hire enough employees to satisfy the output without causing the marginal product to drop below zero. Chapter 9 2. The Largo Publishing House uses 400 printers and 200 printing presses to produce books. A printer’s wage rate is $20, and the price of the printing press is $5,000. The last printer added 20 books to total output, while the last press added 1,000 books to total output. Is the publishing house making the optimal input choice? Why or why not? At the current input, Largo Publishing House is not making the optimal choice on input amounts. With the current inputs, they are underestimating the printers employed. Fifty printers could do the job of 1 printing press machine with a savings of $4,000. 2a. If not, how should the manager of Largo Publishing House adjust input usage? To maximize output on a fixed budget, Largo Publishing House should transfer some of the money spent on printing presses to the printers. At 1650 printers and 195 printing presses, combined they could produce 228,000 books for their limited budget. On the other hand, at 1900 printers and 190 printing presses, Largo Publishing could not only produce the same amount but also save $20,000 in the process. 4. The MorTex Company assembles garments entirely by hand even though a textile machine exists that can assemble garments faster than a human can. Workers cost $50 per day, and each additional laborer can produce 200 more units per day (i. e. , Marginal product is constant and equal to 200). Installation of the first textile machine on the assembly line will increase output by 1,800 units daily. Currently the firm assembles 5,400 units per day. 4a. The financial analysis department of MorTex estimates that the price of a textile machine is $600 per day. Can management reduce the cost of assembling 5,400 units per day purchasing a textile machine and using less labor? No it would not be possible to reduce the cost of assembling 5,400 units per day by purchasing a textile machine at the current worker wage of $50 per day. The cost of the total production would be $5,400 at any point where the amount if textile machines increased and the amount of workers decreased. For example, if three textile machines were bought and the amount of workers was decreased to 72, although totally they would produce 9000 units, it would still cost $5400. 4b. The Textile Workers of America is planning to strike for higher wages. Management predicts that if the strike is successful, the cost of labor will increase to $100 per day. If the strike is successful, how would this affect the decision in part a to purchase a textile machine? In part a, if more the amount of workers decreased and textile machines were purchased, MorTex would have been spending the same amount of money toward their production total. If the strike is successful and the workers’ wages increased from $50 to 100, it would be in the best interest of MorTex to purchase 9 textile machines and layoff all of their workers. If they pursued this option, they could produce 16,200 units with the same $5,400 they were already spending. References Thomas, C. and Maurice, S. , Managerial Economics: Foundations of Business Analysis and Strategy, Tenth Edition, Published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010.

Air Products Case Essay Example

Air Products Case Essay Example Air Products Case Essay Air Products Case Essay Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is a mid-size company that is rooted in three different industries. They are generating income from all three industries and want to continue that upward trend. There are so many new technologies available for Air Products to use to give them competitive advantage. In order to use these new technologies, they will need to rely on their MIS group. Is the MIS group equip to provide such service? With three different industries involved, can MIS help them all? This case will emphasize how MIS can support the business and how to utilize them as a resource rather than a hindrance. 1. COMPANY BACKGROUND Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is a global company that sells industrial gases, commodity specialty chemicals and process equipment. Air Products has two headquarters: one in Allentown, Pennsylvania and the other in Hersham, United Kingdom. The CEO and chairman is Dexter Baker. The Executive Vice President of MIS is Bob Lovett, the Vice President of MIS is Pete Mather and the Vice President of MIS Europe is John Shepherd. Air Products employees 13,000 people in more than 150 plants worldwide. 2. AS-IS MATRIX Figure 1 outlines Air Products As-Is for both the business and IT group. Air Products service a wide range of customers and competitors due to the three diverse industries they are involved in. Air Product is a strong competitor in all three industries as a result of their continued effort to lower manufacturing and distribution costs. They have also been able to implement a system that gives access to their engineering and database information globally. The Board of directors, stockholders and the management organization development committee are the major governing bodies when it comes to making company wide decisions. Air Products also adhere to government agencies like the PTT in Europe who regulates telecommunications. The organizational structure is setup to be functional based, horizontal and decentralized due to the diverse industries. The key processes are RD, engineering design, manufacturing, sales and marketing. Air Products recruits Ph. D. , MBA, BA and BE graduates from the top business universities in both the US and Europe. In Air Products MIS group, they provide support for many of the key business applications. Most of the applications are specific to one Business unit (BU) area. For example, the CAD/CAM application is used by the Process equipment group and RD Computing is only used for the chemical group. MIS maintains a data center, a DASD (disk storage), various client systems and mainframes to support business operations. MIS has successfully implemented project ICON that transferred Europes data center to the US data center. This allowed global access to one common database and enabled a company wide data consistency. The CIO, MIS directors and functional BU directors make these types of decisions in MIS. The architecture supported in Air Products include Ethernet based LAN and WAN, various client systems, mainframes, Tandem Dec, VAX, video conferencing equipment and telecommunications technology. The key processes of the MIS group provide customer support to our internal and external customer. MIS manages emerging technology, application development, database consistency and technology assessment. MIS recruits from MIS, BE and BS graduates from top technology universities. 3. WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS/OPPORTUNITIES? * SWOT ANALYSIS Figure 3 describes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business areas and the MIS group. The MIS group generated a strength when they decided to relocated the MIS development group into their business areas and transferred management control to the business managers. MIS was also able to centralize the database access in the ICON project. Additionally, MIS took an active role to re- engineer the customer interface in order to provide 60,000 customers a one point of contact. Another strength came about by finding ways to lower manufacturing and distribution costs while increase sales and income revenue. The weaknesses found in Air Products steams from the diverse business areas. It is hard to work with three very different industries. It causes difficulties when MIS resources need to be shifted around. It limits the career paths for both the business and MIS employees as each area requires different training needs. It also becomes difficult to support and upgrade the various systems in these areas. MIS needs to start taking a different role in their way of supporting the business. There are always opportunities for improvement. Air Products has the opportunity expand their business world wide in order to dominate the three industries. The BU areas can improve upon their role in managing technology within their area. MIS can help improve the odds of MIS staff moving out into the other areas of the company. MIS can also improve customer service by providing global support coverage and provide more business driven services. MIS has to deal with a constant threat of communication failure between the main sites. MIS also has threats from competitors as they fight to attract college graduates from the top universities. MISs governing power over the company is threatened as MIS standards are not being followed. The organizational structure of MIS is threatened due to constant pressure from BU areas to come through with project or changes. * TO-BE MATRIX Figure 2 outlines the To-Be matrix of how Air Products should be in a future. The key to get Air Products to this future stage is to strengthen MIS to better support the business areas. In the To-Be, if MIS guides and directs the business to utilize and incorporate new technology, then Air Products can venture out to compete in other industries or to team up with other firms to work on a new product or service. Air Products could even become consultants to other companies at the areas they are best in and have the most expertise. Air Products would be able to branch out to other areas of the world and dominate competition in these locations worldwide. In the decision-making area, the major difference would be the presence of MIS executives in all the major committees. MIS would be there to bring in new ideas and technology to the business areas or help to initiate joint ventures with two or more areas. The number for strategic internal or external partners would increase due to these initiatives. The type of partners are no longer limited to other industrial firms. For example, Air Products can partner with universities or government laboratories for RD to create or test a new product. All these things listed above can be accomplished if two things changes: the organizational structure of MIS and HR takes a proactive role to hire, train and retain the skills needed to succeed. In Figure 2, the organization structure needs to become a federalist model where MIS becomes both centralized and decentralized. MIS needs to decentralize the areas that support the BU areas directly like the application development and project management. MIS also will need to centralize the standards of HW management and SW management, centralize architecture, integrate and standardize common functions found through out the company. Lastly, HR will need to start becoming more proactive to help the Air Products attract the people and skills they desire. Also to provide guidance in career paths and training after they get hired into the company. They can also provide job postings or project bidding to give employees the opportunities to get some exposure to the rest of the company. * MAJOR PROBLEMS OPPORTUNITIES There are 4 major problems in Air Products that need to be addressed. A. MIS developers were moved in the BU areas but both sides are not certain on how to align themselves to each other. They did not know what to expect when the change was implemented so the BU areas are not managing the MIS resources well. The MIS developers groups do not know enough to help or guide the BU. Their function is to develop what is asked of them from the BU they support. Therefore both sides are lacking vision and direction in terms of development of existing and future technology. B. MIS lags behind in new technology or skills in terms of their resources and is having a hard time getting or keeping those skills in IT and the company. C. MIS has too many diverse systems and they cause lots of problems when trying to upgrade these systems. MIS needs to come up with a plan to standardize equipment both international and US. MIS needs to find a way to better control of the architecture and centralize them. D. MIS needs to work on improving their image to their customers and become more of a key enabler for the BU areas to guide and direct them to gain competitive advantage in their industries. * CONSIDER THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS? In Figure 4, the stakeholders of each problem are listed. For problem A, the key stakeholders are Bob Lovett as sponsor, Pete Mather as champion, MIS development managers as project managers and the BU managers as the group that are placing the requests. The managers are the ones who are mostly affected by this problem. Currently both sides are working with each other as before but now the BU managers have control over the budget. The desired state would be for MIS to help both sides work more effectively with each other in order to gain competitive advantage for that industry. The champion will need to demonstrate to them how to better align themselves together. For problem B, the CEO will need to support this issue as a sponsor. The VP of HR will be the champion and the HR department is the business partner. HR currently is not providing much guidance in the career path of an employee. There are no guidelines for managers to use and no tools available to help employees to get to where they want to go next. The desired state is for the VP of HR and HR to come up with better HR development tools, provide career paths for all areas and create a training guideline for managers to use. For problem C, Pete Mather is the sponsor, John Shepherd, director of MIS in Europe is the champion, Shepherds group is the beachhead group and the outside vendor is the supplier. The current state of the systems is too overwhelming to conduct upgrades. There are too many vendors involved and difficulties of communication with the different systems. The desired state of affairs would be to have one vendor that supplies only one line of systems and the vendor implements and support those systems. For problem D, Bob Lovett is the sponsor, Pete Mather is the champion, the new MIS specialized teams is the enabler and the BU areas is the supported group. The current state of affairs is that the BU areas are not getting any guidance on how to incorporate new technology or improve their current technology and applications. The desired state would be to have MIS provide this guidance so that the BU areas can evaluate and utilize new technology as they arise.

The after life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The after life - Essay Example The following paper uses scholarly articles, e-books, and authentic articles available online, to explain the concept of life after death in the religion of Islam. It will also enlighten the reader about the factors that if performed in the world can lead to happier times in the life hereafter. Many people are scared to die perhaps because they are not aware of the fact that what will happen next. However, Islam is one religion that explains thoroughly as to what awaits an individual in life hereafter. It also lays down the principles that are of benefit in this life as well as the hereafter. Therefore, it is these principles or in the nonprofessional terms the deeds that will describe the quality of life beyond this tangible world. Nevertheless, before unfurling the concept of life after death it is important be familiar with the concept of Islam and its teachings in general. Islam: As a Religion Islam is a religion based on the oneness of God named Allah and in the believe that Muh ammad is his last prophet. Muhammad was born in the Arab world which was back then lead an ignorant life. Rights were denied to females, female child was buried alive and there was law that could protect people. Thus, Prophet Muhammad was sent as a mercy to the people of Arab and the entire humanity. It is believed that the prophet received revelations from God through angel Gibereal, the revelations were conserved on different mediums in the life of the prophet and after his demise the revelation were compiled in the form of a book which was called Quran. All the verses in the Quran are as authentic as they were revealed to the prophet Muhammad, i.e. not even a single word has been changed since then. The teachings of Islam stand erect on the five pillars and the 7 articles of faith that include the following: Articles of Faith 1. Oneness of Allah (no one is worthy of worship except one God) 2. Predestination 3. In the angels of Allah 4. In the messengers of Allah (The Prophets) 5. In the day of Judgment 6. In life hereafter. Pillars of Islam 1. Witness (Islamic Creed) 2. 5 daily prayers 3. Fasting in the prescribed month 4. Alms giving (Zakat) 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj: At least once in a life time) However, the Articles of Faith can be grouped in to three broader categories: 1. Oneness of Allah 2. Prophet hood 3. The day of judgment A Muslim is required to believe in the above-mentioned categories. It is the category i.e. the Day of Judgment that sheds light upon the life after death. The evidence in the Holy book of Muslims, the Quran provides evidence in the following verse: â€Å" Did you not think that We had created you in play and that you would not be brought back to us?† (Quran, chapter number: 23, Verse number: 115). â€Å"And those who disbelieve say ‘when we have become dust we and our fathers, shall we really be brought forth again?’† (Quran chapter number 27, Verse Number: 67) The above-mentioned verses make it inc umbent upon the Muslims to believe in life after death. In addition, in the Holy Quran Allah has promised a glorious life that will be for the believers alone. Moreover, it will be a reward for those believers who spent their life in remembrance of God, fearing him, and following the teachings of his beloved prophet Muhammad who is also considered the seal of prophets (Egan 10-11). The

Discussion question 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Discussion question 2 - Essay Example Effectiveness on the other hand is concerned with achieving a stated objective. Effectiveness aims to ensure that the outcome of a process is the one that was intended when the production process was beginning. When considering effectiveness only, an organisation may explore different ways of achieving the end result. Effectiveness alone may not be enough in regards to the limited resources with which organisations have to work with therefore a balance between efficiency and effectiveness needs to be achieved so that after the production process, the organisation has not only achieved the main goal ,but it has also used a cost effective efficient process. Management can improve both efficiency and effectiveness simultaneously though the maximum benefits may not be achieved immediately. Efficiency could be improved by creating a conducive working environment for workers. This may include allowing flexible working hours. This way workers who are more productive in the mornings work in the morning while those who are more productive late at night work then.By allowing workers flexibility in their working, they end up being more efficient. Identifying workplace processes and mapping them helps determine if there are any unnecessary or redundant processes interfering with workplace efficiency. If such processes are eliminated or done away with efficiency is greatly improved (Kejz?ar 728). Embracing new technologies for example use of I pads in businesses increases computing flexibility and portability, greatly improves efficiency. Another way of improving efficiency at workplace is by encouraging teamwork among employees. This enables them to communicate more effectively .For instance if they are involved in teamwork activities outside the workplace as in a teambuilding retreat they are more likely to carry the lessons learnt back to the workplace .This way processes become become more efficient and the main objective of the organization is met thus both efficiency and effectiveness can be improved simultaneously Societal factors are external forces or factors emerging from changes and trends in the society that have impacts on organizations beyond their control. They include social cultural factors, legal factors technological advancements and international factors such as the global recession. Societal factors affect the theory and practice of management in various ways .For instance, current trends and attitudes are having a huge impact on how organisations and businesses are managed .Development of internet has led to many organisations turning to the world of online marketing and advertisements to enable them reach a broader range of clients. Many high street organisations are capitalizing on the popularity of the worldwide web to come up with exclusive online ranges of their products and goods. Changes in the society are resulting in organisations allowing a proportion of their employees, some with young children and others who have hect ic schedules to work from home (Kejz?ar 524). This way the employees who are not able to work from the office are not lost thus the employer does not have to look for new employees who might need training and take time before they become as efficient as the previous

West Side Story Essay Example for Free

West Side Story Essay Do you believe that everyone has a reason to hate someone or something just because of the way they look? May racism be the starting point to hatred? In â€Å"West Side Story†, author Irving Shulman gives us nothing but clues to these questions. The Sharks and the Jets are in a â€Å" turf † war. But two people, one from each side fall deeply in love. Irving Shulman writes how interracial relationships cause hate to increase in an instant and how racism leads up to hate. The story tells the reader how the Puerto Ricans and the Jets cause the world to shake because of racial prejudice. West Side Story† shows how racial prejudice and interracial relationships cause hate to grow. â€Å"West Side Story† shows hate between almost anyone and yet we have no answers on why people hate. After reading â€Å"West Side Story† it made me believe that racism caused by interracial relationships may be what causes hate in this story. In â€Å"West Side Story† two gangs, the Jets and the Puerto Ricans hate each other just because of the way they look, where they are from, and how they live. Racism is a big part in this story. The main part of hate came from an interracial relationship that began between a man of American descent and a Puerto Rican woman, which caused hate to grow between two gangs in the streets of New York. Racial prejudice was very bad in the time this story was written. Anyone can relate to racial remarks. This story truly shows how people used to be and how much the idea of interracial relationships happening changed. Now, it doesn’t matter if two people fall in love even though they are not from the same race. From this you can infer that racism might be what inaugurates hate. Racism might seem like just a word but it’s more powerful than just a word. It only leads to no good in â€Å"West Side Story†. Hate, what is the definition of hate? Everyone has a different perspective of it, but no one can really see what it can lead up to. I don’t understand why people hate for no reason. I think that they are influenced by what they see. Racism is a terrible thing in this story. It makes hate grow a thousand times bigger and causes a huge impact in others’ lifes. Throughout the story there was a part where both gangs went to a dance and one of the gangs were dancing on the contrary side of the building so they wouldn’t mix with the other race. This shows some sort of proof of how both gangs show hate towards one another. Even those that weren’t in any of the gang’s side were involved in discrimination against the other race because they were following what the others were doing. This made me think about how racism begins. It can be caused by those around you, which might be the influence. Racism is an organization in our country. It has existed since our country’s beginning, and there is not much that anyone can do to stop it but ignore it. Anywhere and everywhere you go, there will be someone different but this doesn’t mean you have to hate or criticize those who are different. Towards the ending of â€Å"West Side Story†, the unexpected happened. There was a death and I can conclude that hate and racism were the leading products to this horrific tragedy. For example, Tony had died and Maria was devastated without him. These violent delights have violent ends. Maria had then realized what had killed him and said, We all killed him I can kill now because I hate now. This shows how the racism and hatred of the two gangs lead to event of Tony’s death. People have to understand that love happens. It doesn’t make sense how some people despise the love that happens between two races. It doesn’t matter if both of the people are from a different race. You can’t keep hating on interracial relationships your entire life and being racist against them. Because like this story much of your hatred and racism can lead onto a terrible catastrophic event such as the deaths that happened in â€Å"West Side Story†. Everyone needs to understand that racism isn’t a pretty thing to live with and it’s as bad as hating someone without a purpose. Even if you had a purpose, hate is an evil and powerful thing that can control someone’s mind and influence others. Not only Tony had died in this story but Bernardo, Maria’s brother died too. That is how hate influenced Maria’s supposed to be husband to murder Tony. This interracial relationship caused hates to grow in everyone’s eyes and no one refused to let go of on whose fault it was. It led on, to bigger tragedies. To conclude, the hate that goes towards interracial relationships and racist remarks cause hate to expand in â€Å"West. My final thoughts for this story are that hate and racial prejudice remarks are not the way to situate things, because all they do is hurt others. I want the world to love everyone for who they are. Nothing makes sense anymore, because many are being influenced by hate. How can someone hate two that fell in love? In my opinion the definition for hate is death, because I feel that hate will always lead up to death. You will end up alone in life. Racism is a synonym for hate and even though we can’t do anything about racism we should at least try not to influence it. â€Å"West Side Story† made me think twice about life and that everyone is different and yet equal in the same way, we are all human beings. As I stated earlier racism and interracial relationships cause hate to grow in this world and should be avoided everyday. The world isn’t perfect but we can at least try to make it perfect.

The Soviet Union :: essays research papers

While in the Soviet Union for six months, I learned a lot aboout the lives of people living there. When (find word) the American democratic and the Soviet (find word) approach to government I found major differences in each system approach to personal freedoms of it's citizens, structure of government, and control over society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a major difference in citicens personal freedoms. Here in America the government attempts to preserve individual freedoms and promote equality of opportunity. But over in the Soviet Union the government considers their goals because the state is more important than individual rights and liverties. Americans can say, write, or protest whenever they want, and they cannot be punished because of the freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Also the police need a written warrent to search you or your home because citizens are protected by the 4th amendment. Citizens in russia may be punished by being sent to the (find word) in Syria, or taking their life if they publicly criticize it's leaders. The government does not allow people to establish newspapers that oppose it. Also the secret police don't need a reasonable cause to search your home or yourself. The citicens rights ain the Soviet Union are very different from Americans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The structure of the government in Russia is very simple. The government, mostly Stalin, has the power. Absolute authority over the country is in the hands of one leader. There are no free elections, and the only way to remove a dictator is by force. Fear and threats are used to keep peace. Over here in America the power is in the hands of many elected officials. Government is limited by the consent of government. There are many political parties, and power in government changes through peaceful means. Government in America is very complex.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Russian society evolves around one person, and that is Stalin. He has control over everything. He owns all the property and businesses. He wants people to think that he takes everything people make and gives it back equally, but he really gives most of it to the military and forgain countriesfir money. Peasants are starving to death just because Stalin wants to have the best military.America, on the other hand, citizens control the economy and the social aspects of their lives.

Describe and explain recent changes (since 1945) in the employment structure of the UK

This essay will first describe and then go on to explain the changes that the UK's employment structure has experienced since 1945, post World War Two. The levels of employment in each of the different economy's sectors will be examined as percentages, to show clearly the increase or decline over time. Principally the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary sectors will be described as will the Quaternary and possibly Quinary in the later 20th century, and early 21st century. The Primary sector involves the extraction of raw materials that all other areas of an economic system rely upon; examples include Mining, Fishing and Agriculture. At the end of any Primary activity there is little or no value added to the product; low value, high bulk products. The Secondary Sector involves adding value, and shedding bulk from these products. There are two types of manufacturing; Heavy industry – processing raw materials directly from primary products (steel to iron ore), and Light industry – assembling products in preparation for the market (car manufacturing). The Tertiary Sector is the provision of goods and services to the consumers. There are no processes involved; the products (goods or information) are simply supplied to the consumers. The Quaternary Sector is a more recent evolution and subset of the tertiary sector. It has aroused from the new market created from technological advances and is widely known to involve Research and Development. The current UK employment structure is as follows; 76% are employed in the Tertiary sector (encompassing the Quaternary and Quinary) which includes the UK's excellent and rapidly growing financial services industry which accounts for, 22% in the Secondary sector, and only 2% are involved in Primary sector activities. In 1945 the structure of employment within the UK was extremely different from today. There was a much higher percentage of the workforce involved in Primary and Secondary activities, where as today the Tertiary industry dominates. Over 40% of the workforce was employed in the Secondary Sector in manufacturing industries, 35% involved in tertiary activities, and 25% employed in the Primary Sector. From the post-war years into the 1950s the Primary Sector experienced an immediate and rapid decline in employment levels, this decrease remained at a high rate until 1975, when it began to plateaux and slowly decline until reaching its current level of 2%. Currently there are 13 coal mines in the UK producing an annual output of only 30 million tonnes compared with the 169 mines in 1984 that produced over 130,000 million tonnes of coal annually. The level of employment in the Secondary Sector has also declined since 1945; however a small increase was experienced first, where the sectors employment percentage reached nearly 50 in 1950. After this it began to decrease, slowly at first, but began to fall more rapidly after around 1975. Manufacturing industries experienced a 30% fall in employment between 1971 and 1994. The Tertiary sector however has undergone an increase in its percentage of UK workforce employment ever since 1945. This increase occurred quite rapidly during the industrialisation period, and continued into the pre-industrial, however has slowed now and levelled off at around 70%. These changes in the UK's employment structure described above can be well represented by the Clark-Fisher model below. The development over time of an industry can clearly be observed, as the relative number of those employed in each sector changes as the country develops. This model is able to demonstrate the changes experienced by the UK so clearly as it was initially based upon the employment structure change overtime in both The USA and the UK. THE CLARK-FISHER MODEL: The reasons for these variations in employment structure over time vary for each sector, although the general decline in both the Primary and Secondary sectors can be accredited to similar causes, It can be argued that the underlying reason for this decrease in both sectors can be attributed to mechanisation, as it is inevitable as businesses seeking profit naturally began to replace many workers for fewer machines as they are generally more reliable and much cheaper to run; thus lowing production costs and increasing the potential for profit in the long run. This period is known as industrialisation, referring to the transition in methods of production, often due to technological innovation or advancements. When the UK Primary sector employment fell extremely rapidly as machines replaced manual labour in most industries; for example combine harvesters and tractors were substituted for farmer workers in Agriculture. The same applies in manufacturing industries when the Secondary sector later experienced employment decline. In Heavy industry such as the creation of metal sheets for raw material resources, large machines replaced many human workers; producing higher output levels in much shorter times. Similarly in Light industries like car manufacturing mechanised assembly line systems began to operate and replace factory workers. Mechanisation soon required far cheaper and more efficient energy resources to sustain levels of output and industries started to use electricity as cheaper and cleaner energy as opposed to coal. This caused a negative multiplier, as machines replaced jobs, electricity replaced coal, thus a fall in demand for coal and more jobs lost in the Primary sector. Agricultural decline has also been largely attributed to the spatial limits of UK farms, as economies of scale apply; the larger the land cultivated the lower the overall costs. Much cheaper crops could soon be imported from countries overseas where labour and land are both cheaper than in the UK. Farmers in the UK are out-bided for land as more profitable industries require it for other uses. The recent disease out-breaks in the UK have also fuelled the employment decline in agriculture. Demand for British meat and crop products has been extremely negatively affected by BSE and Foot and Mouth in recent years, and the low scale UK economy in this sector has never fully recovered. Now in the UK nearly 50% are leaving university with degrees, and this results in a very high demand and high aspirations for graduate level jobs. With more and more people being better educated, and in search of better jobs; higher paid with better prospects, less young people are taking over either family run farms or interested in employment in the manufacturing sector. The average annual wage of a farmer in the UK is i9000 or less, making this an unthinkable occupation for a highly educated skilled workforce. Another larger contributing reason for the decline in manufacturing employment in the UK, especially the rapid decline after 1975 is the government policies implemented during the late 1970s and 1980s. The Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, was s Conservative and passed Acts and introduced policies that effectively privatised much of the public sector. Between 1979-82 over 2 million jobs were lost in manufacturing industries, as wells as further redundancies caused during the last recession. This also affected many Primary industries in the UK, which up until then had been operated under the public sector. Companies like the National Coal board became publically limited companies; UK Coal plc. This was done to replace output targets, set by the government for the provision of required resources to the UK economy, with the profit motive; aiming to make extraction and production, in heavy industries, more efficient via introducing competition as in the public sector they were running at a loss and the government suffered. Also in the private sector the industries would receive the large investment urgently required for full mechanisation to allow more efficient production that the public sector government budget could not provide. Privatisation, however, lead to many coal mines being shut down as firms chose to import coal and other resources from abroad where both labour and land were cheaper, as now in competition costs had to be minimal. In 1984 over 250,000 were employment in coal mines, and now only 10,000 or less are and the activity only accounts for 0. 01% of UK GDP. The heavy industry suffered the most in this case as well as light industries, where assembly lines and factories shut down and production was continued in less developed countries, with less educated workforces, or no minimum wage laws. This cheaper labour drove down costs allowing more to be produced at lower market prices. Examples include Dyson moving production to Malaysia causing 800 jobs to be lost in the UK as production was shut down. Many other firms chose extremely highly populated countries, with a large dispensable workforce like India and China. However this lead to saturation in many markets, as production was so efficient and cheap it was greater than the demand for the consumer goods in the developed countries, this is illustrated by the Kundratieff cycle. The reasons behind the increase in employment in the Tertiary sector are party due to the UK economy's shift to this sector, as Primary and Secondary industries have found cheaper labour and production abroad. Now importing more raw materials and many food products which out compete those produced in the UK for price. Mentioned earlier was the fact that 50% of students in the UK are continuing to University study and emerging with degrees. This creates a large skilled and highly educated workforce, not only allowing for such wide spread service sector growth but almost inducing it as more people are looking for graduate level jobs of a certain calibre with certain salaries. This has also largely resposonsible for the growth of the Quaternary sector; which is commonly considered to included research and development. The UK's highly educated workforce provides innovation and develops industry in other sectors. As views have become more materialist; people want more than they used to, whether that means more expensive cars or more holidays abroad. This increase in consumer spending has allowed firms to be able to invest greater amounts of capital back into their businesses, creating better or more products or allowing them to diversify. Rising interest rates have also encouraged this investment trend, not only with firms though; households are more willing to invest in the stock market, or undergo greater financial risks. This has been responsible for the growth of the UK's now extremely strong and world renowned financial services sector, which contributed i19 billion to the UK's GDP in 2005. Although most salaries in the service sector are low, the financial service sector provides very high potential salaries, as well as annual bonuses and employs over 1. 1 million people. The growth of the internet has allowed many service and good producing firms to close down high street shops and operate entirely from the internet, reducing rent and labour costs enormously and allowing more money for investment and/or profit. Examples include Amazon and Elephant; an insurance company providing an internet based service only. In conclusion I believe that the Primary and Secondary sector's decline in employment was largely down to mechanisation, however in later years other factors had great impacts too; for example policies during Margaret Thatcher's time as Prime Minister in the 1980s causing privatisation. The Tertiary sector employment boom is down to better educations and higher aspirations of the UK workforce, as well as cheaper labour and land abroad. The internet and greater quality of communications has also allowed both the Tertiary and Quaternary sectors to expand as globalisation has occurred. Social wants and desires have also fuelled the service sector growth. Given more time and resources this topic could have been discussed in far greater depth, looking back further in time at employment structures as well as studying and predicting possible trends in the future in the UK economy, as well as looking at global trends.

Critique on Article “The Ends of Happiness” Essay

Dr Karl Giberson is a professor at Eastern Nazarene College with a PHD in Physics from Rice University. A man approaching his fifties at the writing of this article, Giberson’s solution to his mid-life crisis was to write an article â€Å"The Ends of Happiness†. His article was well written and he tries to impart his experiences with happiness to young adults. In the article, Giberson claims that happiness should be the end result of our efforts and he provides a compelling argument why we should not get caught up in our pursuit of happiness through materialistic gains. However, his arguments to back his thesis are inadequate due to an inherent contradiction in his supporting point and one unproven assumption in his article. Giberson (2006) uses the Candy Experiment with children to prove his point that our ability to withhold satisfaction leads to a â€Å"life time of happiness† (para. 5). He further explains that â€Å"unpleasant means can yield satisfying ends† (2006). This implies that our happiness will increase if we are able to set aside the things that make us happy, and work towards our goal. However, in his later argument, the author seems to imply that the happiest moments in his life, were times when he did not work towards materialistic gains. For instance, he claims he â€Å"lived well†, when he â€Å"left work early† and spent his time with his family (Giberson, 2006, para.12, 13 & 14). This illustrates his point that the most memorable moments in life comes from relationships as opposed to material gains (Giberson, 2006). While the latter argument supports his thesis, the former contradicts it by implying that happiness is something to be achieved through materialistic gains. This is shown in Giberson’s example about a student graduating with â€Å"greater earning power† (2006) and how this ability â€Å"is the formula for a lifetime of happiness† (Giberson, 2006, para. 5). Furthermore, Giberson’s argument seems to be contingent on one major assumption. That happiness gained from acquiring things, is less meaningful than happiness gained from spending time with family and friends. To illustrate his point, he cites evidence from his own memories. He states that memories gained from family time are clearer than the memories of â€Å"buying his first car† and â€Å"cashing his first paycheck† (Giberson, 2006, para.14). Giberson then applies this line of reasoning to back his thesis by showing us how happiness from material gains alone reduces our overall happiness as our social interactions decrease (Giberson, 2006). However, such opinionated evidence provides weak support to his thesis and even though he did not plan on writing a scientific article, using personal memories to validate such a major assumption weakens his argument substantially. In conclusion, Giberson has indeed written a well-structured editorial with many coherent and interesting points. However, contradicting arguments and one unsupported assumption in the article has undermined his thesis and weakened his argument. Giberson’s thesis would have fared much better had he quoted from valid sources instead of his own personal experiences. Reference Giberson, K. (2006, Mar. – Apr.). The Ends Of Happiness. Science & Spirit, 17, 6-7.

Lochner Era etc essays

Lochner Era etc essays Paul Kens, in his book Lochner v. New York: Economic Regulation on Trial, makes the case that Lochner, and the Lochner era of the Supreme Court, forms the foundation of ideological battles between economics and personal liberty and rights. The court found, in that case, that the state of New York had violated due process and the "right of contract between employers and employees." (Kens, 1998) That was part and parcel of a concept of the legal system Kens said was employed to good effect as far as creating an economic powerhouse. The most important function of the American legal system in the nineteenth century was to foster the growth of an ever-expanding national economy. The federal judiciary in the late nineteenth century participated in this project by using the powers that the 14th Amendment gave it to protect the economic rights of American citizens. The most important of these rights was the right to enter freely into contracts. Freedom of contract allowed Americans to use efficiently the various factors of production to create an industrial economy that was the most productive in the world by the middle of the twentieth century. The successful creation of this economic juggernaut validates the turn-of-the-century court's decision to use the 14th Amendment to protect economic rights at the expense of other civil and individual rights. (Kens, 1998) The editors of the series in which this Kens' book appears also noted, however, that the case raised a "host of significant questions regarding the impetus of state legislatures to enter the workplace" (Kens, 1998) and institute regulations of various sorts, quandaries which continue The philosophies underlying the Supreme Court's decision in Lochner v....

Free Essays on Hazing

Hazing In today’s world if a person would want to get on a certain team or join a frat or sorority, that person would have to put up with one big thing, initiation. Or as most call it hazing. There not the only people that put up with hazing though. Hazing is becoming big in high schools, church events, and even professional sports. Since so many people have to put up with the issue of hazing, it has become a very big issue in today’s world. Whether it involves binge drinking, kidnapping, or some type of physical abuse, hazing is becoming an issue that is too common. Since it is becoming so common most people feel that someone needs to step in and stop hazing in all events no matter what it is. Hazing can be defined in many different ways depending on whom you’re talking to. But the actual definition is that it is any activity or situation that has been formed with the intention of causing another person mental or physical pain, embarrassment, or ridicule. Hazing can range from making a person eat ridiculous things, to even have a person take a beating from others. Hazing happens mostly in colleges, but is becoming more common with high schools and other organizations as well. People that want to join a frat or sorority have to deal with this issue on a daily basis, as well as athletes. The idea of hazing is to show how much a certain individual wants to be in a certain club. So since the people at the head of the club can pretty much do what ever they want to a certain individual, they do. They do that because it deals with the universal saying, only the strong survive. Which means the only people that will make it into the club are the ones that do whatever they say. So the heads of the clubs have each person wanting to join do outrageous things because they want to show there power as well as make the person look stupid. But that’s why the heads of these clubs make the statement that it is supposed to g... Free Essays on Hazing Free Essays on Hazing When one hears the word â€Å"hazing,† the typically first impression is that of a fraternity member with a paddle in one hand, beer in another and a young â€Å"pledge† bent over being struck by the wooden paddle. This is defiantly a case of classic hazing, however many other forms have been created and made public in the recent past. Other fields such as military, sorority, high school and athletic teams have begun to come under the same scrutiny fraternities have been for years. For someone who has never been â€Å"hazed† the issue can be quite complicated and some ignorant conclusions may be made. Hazing has different, but yet very similar definitions from various institutions. The first thing I noticed here was that fraternities were the only institution that the American College Dictionary directly addresses. Obviously the FIPG listed above goes into more detail regarding fraternity actions and focus on those activities Hazing is defined by the FIPG (Fraternity Insurance Purchasing Group) as: "Any action taken or situation created, intentionally, whether on or off fraternity premises, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule. Such activities may include but are not limited to the following: use of alcohol; paddling in any form; creation of excessive fatigue; physical and psychological shocks; quests, treasure hunts, scavenger hunts, road trips or any other such activities carried on outside or inside of the confines of the chapter house; wearing of public apparel which is conspicuous and not normally in good taste; engaging in public stunts and buffoonery; morally degrading or humiliating games and activities; and any other activities which are not consistent with fraternal law, ritual or policy or the regulations and policies of the educational institution." The American College Dictionary goes on to define the action of â€Å"haze† as: â€Å"1. To persecute or harass with meaningless... Free Essays on Hazing Is It Innocent Team Bonding Or The Abuse and Endangerment of An Athlete’s Rights? Current issues have forced NCAA athletics to deal and confront the dangerous acts of team hazing. On January 14th, the University of Vermont men’s hockey season was forced to a sudden halt. With thirteen games left, the team’s 23 remaining players were read a litany of their sins by the state’s attorney general, William Sorrell. He stated the schools handling of the hazing incident(s) was â€Å"conducted loosely while specific evidence was withheld that lead to a slow indecisive investigation,† which resulted in his intervention (Hoover). Hazing is a long practiced and in many cases long accepted rite of initiation in such cliques as military and college fraternities and athletics. It is a relatively new current issue and needs to be seriously addressed. Last August Alfred (NY) University released a study that included two hundred and twenty four participating institutions that submitted names and addresses of 61,258 student athletes. From the responses, they found that 80% of responding college athletes were subjected to alcohol-related hazing and more than 20% to such other activities. Of the participating institutions, the UVM was not one of them (Hoover). Clearly, UVM and other organizations must be more vigilant. Greater and more effective efforts must be made to know what students are doing, and perhaps more importantly, what and how they are thinking. Team or group bonding experiences that attain the desired results without harassing humiliations and dangers must be developed and promoted. Across societies and time, people have initiated new members into groups through ceremonies and rituals designed to foster a feeling of belonging. Yet, sometimes those activities cross the line into hazing. Hazing, defined by Alfred University, is â€Å"any activity expected of someone joining a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or en... Free Essays on Hazing Hazing In today’s world if a person would want to get on a certain team or join a frat or sorority, that person would have to put up with one big thing, initiation. Or as most call it hazing. There not the only people that put up with hazing though. Hazing is becoming big in high schools, church events, and even professional sports. Since so many people have to put up with the issue of hazing, it has become a very big issue in today’s world. Whether it involves binge drinking, kidnapping, or some type of physical abuse, hazing is becoming an issue that is too common. Since it is becoming so common most people feel that someone needs to step in and stop hazing in all events no matter what it is. Hazing can be defined in many different ways depending on whom you’re talking to. But the actual definition is that it is any activity or situation that has been formed with the intention of causing another person mental or physical pain, embarrassment, or ridicule. Hazing can range from making a person eat ridiculous things, to even have a person take a beating from others. Hazing happens mostly in colleges, but is becoming more common with high schools and other organizations as well. People that want to join a frat or sorority have to deal with this issue on a daily basis, as well as athletes. The idea of hazing is to show how much a certain individual wants to be in a certain club. So since the people at the head of the club can pretty much do what ever they want to a certain individual, they do. They do that because it deals with the universal saying, only the strong survive. Which means the only people that will make it into the club are the ones that do whatever they say. So the heads of the clubs have each person wanting to join do outrageous things because they want to show there power as well as make the person look stupid. But that’s why the heads of these clubs make the statement that it is supposed to g...

Speaking annhiliation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Speaking annhiliation - Assignment Example He links the Little Ice age to well known historical events such as retreat of Napoleon from Moscow and the discovery of the new world by the Europeans. The role of crop failure in French revolution cannot be undermined .The book underlines the important relation that humans have with nature. The important thesis of the article is the correlation between man and nature. Man may believe that he has tamed nature to his wishes but he is made aware of the actual situation time and again. Most of the decisions taken by mankind are ruled by the forces of nature. Although many would like to believe that there was not enough technological advancement during that time to fight nature but the article does make one think about the present changes in the environment and the little role humans can play in it. The article provides a sobering thought about the power of nature and how humans have and always will evolve their life along these changes – any effort to control the faces of nature will always come to a

Muslim Womens Experience on Wearing Hijaab in British Society Dissertation

Muslim Womens Experience on Wearing Hijaab in British Society - Dissertation Example As such, this aims in looking at actual experiences of women practicing Islam by wearing hijaab, especially on public receptions they are receiving in academic or work settings, and their counteracting actions during encounters with condemning attitudes and environmental responses. The study is psychosocially significant for it delves on mental cognition and behavior of Muslim women. As the series of positive and negative events in subjects’ lives are placed in focal study, it may reveal defensive reactions they adapted, uncovering inner thoughts, opinions and feelings regarding their understanding and acceptance of their social interaction in a place of modern religious outlooks. By this, citizens, especially in Great Britain, will become more conscious and understanding of potential lapses in social values and attitudes, as some reserve religious acceptance of religious expression, and where improved awareness may give more opportunities to Muslim women to live in European p laces free of social discrimination and subsequent psychological rejection. Literature Review The British society had been said to be more accepting with the donning of hijaab by Muslim women, where British media implored against racist treatment of Muslim women in account of current conflicts between the West and violent Islam fanatics (Eyben & Moncrieffe, 2007, p. 116). These women are allowed to wear the veil during work, giving them freedom and public space (Mezey, 2004, p. 34). Great Britain, then, holds a multicultural stance in favor of various race and religions. Yet, the inclusion of United Kingdom in the multi-setting study by Bigger (2006, no pag.) negates this, as it showed psychological struggles by women in... The paper tells that the British society had been said to be more accepting with the donning of hijaab by Muslim women, where British media implored against racist treatment of Muslim women in account of current conflicts between the West and violent Islam fanatics. These women are allowed to wear the veil during work, giving them freedom and public space. Great Britain, then, holds a multicultural stance in favor of various race and religions. Yet, the inclusion of United Kingdom in the multi-setting study by Bigger negates this, as it showed psychological struggles by women in universities. In his experiental study, the conducted interviews demonstrated that Muslim women are treated with contempt and prejudice, and several of them had been verbally abused and assaulted in reference to American bombings. Hijaab, then, had been associated with stereotyped view that Muslims are a violent group, bent on destroying lives in their wake. In another qualitative study conducted in various a reas in Great Britain, specifically in London, Muslim women had been surveyed and interviewed for their experiences while living in such regions. A Muslim woman from East London could not ride a bus for she is either looked at with hostile scrutiny or some buses would not stop upon seeing her with hijaab. Even work environments can be socially isolating, with more lost work opportunities when one appears with hijaab during job interviews, despite excellent qualifications.