Crooks’ isolation in ‘Of Mice and Men’ Essay

1. The person who influenced Crooks to be isolated is his dad. When Crooks was a kid, he did play with some white kids. However, although those white kids were pretty nice, Crooks’ dad didn’t allow him to do, as Crooks said, â€Å"My ol’ man didn’t like that†. Thus, when Crooks was growing up, he was increasingly aware of that there exist a boundary between black people and white people that is hard to go across. As he found that â€Å"there wasn’t another colored family for miles around and now there ain’t a colored man on this ranch†, Crooks felt himself isolated because there were no black people whom he could communicate with, as he stated in the story, â€Å"If I say something, why it’s just a nigger sayin’ it.† Furthermore, the white workers on the ranch also played a major role of influencing Crooks to be isolated. They discriminated him, thought Crooks † stink† and didn’t allow Crooks to play cards together with them. This would enhance Crooks’ feeling of isolation. Therefore, both of Crooks’ dad and the white people on the ranch influenced Crooks to feel isolated and lived alone in a shed. 2. If I were Crooks, I would feel the same way as Crooks did: lonely, frustrated and helpless, just like a single man walking on the boundless desert. Whenever I am unhappy or sad, nobody talks to me and give me comforts. Crooks said, † A guy needs somebody-to be near him†¦ A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody.† That’s true. This unhealthy mental state will make me feel more and more miserable; and also think that life is hopeless. That’s true. If human beings avoid communications with each other, then the life becomes boring and meaningless. Being lonely or isolated is not the nature of a person. Why does George feel bad after killing Lennie? That’s because George lost a friend whom he was used to for a long time and a sudden feeling of lonely came to his heart. So, being lonely and isolated will affect not only my emotions but also my life in a negative way. 3. When I was in elementary school, there was one student in our class who lost three fingers in a car accident at six. However, such an unlucky boy didn’t get any support from us. Instead, nobody wanted to do homework with him because he couldn’t write words quickly; nobody liked to play sports with him because he couldn’t even hold a ball in his hands; nobody would like to make friends with him because they felt embarrassed of staying with a handicapped person. Even one day he fell onto the group, nobody came to give him a hand. He never told us his name. I could notice that he felt isolated and rejected from the entire class. He usually just sat silently at one corner of the classroom in the back. After one year, he quit school and no one cared about that. While reading this chapter, Crooks’ life on the ranch reminds me of the real-life situation happened on that boy who felt lonely and isolated.

Brunelleschi’s Dome

Filippo Brunelleschi was in many senses a modern day entrepreneur in the Middle Ages. He is the architect and innovator responsible for building the Santa Maria del Fiore, arguably the greatest dome ever built. In the years leading up to and during the construction of the dome, his life was surrounded by managerial aspects. There were several critical success factors for the construction of the dome including access to financial resources, raw materials, and product equipment. The building of the Santa Maria del Fiore was not something that could be done overnight, in fact it took the better of two centuries until it was complete. Probably his greatest competitive advantage, Brunelleschi was able to separate himself from his competitors by using technology to create new products and come up with innovative solutions to problems. Seeing as the creation of the dome was the first project of its kind, certain product equipment was required but not available. Brunelleschi himself invented and created much of the equipment needed, such as the ox driven hoist and the pulley. With the Opera del Duomo constantly bidding out the different projects involved with the construction of the Santa Maria del Fiore, Brunelleschi was able to create far more innovative designs than his competitors to win these bids. Another factor that played into Brunelleschi’s competitive advantage was the fact that there wasn’t much work in the city of Florence. Laborers worked for a cheap rate and did not hold any power. When they went on strike, Brunelleschi simply fired them and found a replacement which was in need of work. Filippo Brunelleschi basically held a monopoly on the labor market. The organizational behavior was one that that the capomaestros, or managers, did not have to motivate the workers one bit. The fact that the workers held employment in a city where jobs were in desperate shortage was enough motivation. Something very important to any project’s completion is time management. Entrepreneurs must master time management skills in order to get your product to the market within your budgeted time. When dealing with a new product, time frames are difficult to estimate because of delays and nforeseen circumstances, but Brunelleschi was able to manage his time and reach deadlines productively. When he had to come up with a way to hoist the marble up to the top of the dome, he did it quickly and effectively. When there was an unexpected crack in the wall after it was completed and he needed to come up with a way to fix it without delaying the overall completion of the dome, he was able t o. He did not only manage his time productively with the building of the dome but with other projects as well. Like any good entrepreneur, Brunelleschi did not put all of his time and effort into one project such as the dome, but instead took on many side projects. These little projects were not only a source of income or a way to get more recognition, but most importantly they allowed him to test his techniques and skills intended for use on the dome. He gained much respect and notoriety for his skills and successes on projects other than that of the dome. In a sense, these side projects were a way of marketing for himself, showing his precise skills and abilities through these successful projects. Although he seemed to be very well rounded, Brunelleschi did not excel in the area of communication. He was paranoid, constantly worrying about his designs or plans being stolen which is why he kept to himself. He felt as if his competitors believed the saying, â€Å"instinct tells us to watch what our competitors are doing and simply try to do the same thing better. † During a project, communication is key- the managers and workers need to be on the same page and communicate directions and progress. This is something that was never present during the building of the dome. In a business, knowledge must be shared within all units of the organization, but Brunelleschi did not believe this. If Brunelleschi had known the importance of communication, he could have received feedback from his workers and possibly avoided setbacks such as the cracks in the nave of the church. In addition to his lack of communication, another setback of Brunelleschi’s technique was the poor working environment. The culture of the business created during the building of the dome was not a worker friendly one, with no benefits or accommodations given to the workers. There was no set of directions but rather, workers ‘went with the flow’ as Brunelleschi gave directions on the fly. This was a disadvantage to his progress because things may be forgotten without realizing their importance and crucial role to the project. With his big fear of plagiarism, it’s no surprise the very first patent was issued to Brunelleschi for his boat that was to be used as a transporter known as Il Badalone. Ironically, this was Brunelleschi’s most unsuccessful invention but he felt the need to protect it. Nonetheless, it can be seen that patents are a necessity for entrepreneurs. Brunelleschi was in constant fear of his competitors stealing his ideas and designs and this stands true in today’s society as well. Entrepreneurs need to protect their ideas from their competitors because everyone is looking to get ahead and come up with a new and better idea. Brunelleschi often followed his prime instinct, trusting it would work and that it was the best idea. This stood true for many of his projects and inventions. When he decided to lay the transverse bricks to prevent the dome from collapsing, there was no past documentation stating that this would work but he felt that it was the best way to go about it. Often times, entrepreneurs have to make final decisions based on gut instincts and Brunelleschi was what we may call a master of this. Being a very confident man, Brunelleschi often refused advice or help from other sources. He very rarely collaborated with others on designs or projects, but rather did it all himself. It may be argued that he may not have had the success he did if he teamed up with others. It may also be argued that if he did take advice from others, some of his unsuccessful inventions might have had a different and more successful outcome, such as Il Badalone. Filippo Brunelleschi is one of the most influential architects in history, with success in many areas due to his innovative ideas. He had access to plentiful financial resources and was able to take advantage of a labor force that worked for minimal fees. His ingenuity provided him with the capability to create unique product equipment that could not be found anywhere else. Brunelleschi was a proud and confident man, his confidence helping him in many ways. When his theories were questioned, he simply followed through and proved why his designs were going to work. When problems arose on the job, he trusted his intuition and was able to fix the problems. Although he showed many characteristics of an entrepreneur, Filippo Brunelleschi is not known as one of the greatest managers in history. In order to be successful in today’s world, he would have needed to brush up on a few things, such as his poor communication skills due to his fear of plagiarism of his designs and ideas. Communication is a must when talking about being an effective manager, but this was not all he would have to alter. He was a selfish man, refusing to work with others on projects or reluctantly working on a project with others. Effective managers need to be able to collaborate and work with numerous people at once. Brunelleschi was always more worried about his reputation and image rather than the overall well being of the project. A manager needs to put the overall success of the business first before their own ego and pride.

Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurial Business Venture Essay

Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurial Business Venture - Essay Example The related rights of copyright consist of the rights of performing artists for their performances, producers of phonograms, and those of broadcasters' programmes in either radio or television. The rights granted in all types of intellectual property are essentially negative. A patent refers to the exclusive right granted for an invention that either provides a novel means of doing, or a new technical solution to a problem. Patents provides protection for a limited period, generally 20 years. The protection granted to patent owners includes that another person cannot make commercial reproduction, use, distribution and sale of the invention without the consent of the patent owner. To enforce these rights, patent owners have to enforce it in court to prevent or enjoin patent infringement. Corollary to this, a court may declare a patent invalid when challenged. A patent owner is given the right to decide who can use the patented invention for the period granted in the patent and ahs the right to permit or license third parties to use, sell, distribute or market the invention. Upon expiration of a patent, the protection consequently ends, with the invention becoming a part of the public domain. The patent owner does not anymore have exclusive rights to the p atented invention and now available for commercial exploitation. To secure a patent, the first step is to file the application for patent that should contain the name or title of the invention and an indication of the technical field. The application must also state the background and description of the invention specific enough for an individual of average understanding in the field could subsequently use to reproduce the invention. The application must be accompanied by visual representations of the invention like diagrams, plans or drawings describe the invention better and must contain various "claims" or the necessary information that determines the extent of protection applied. To be patentable, the invention must satisfy the following conditions: (1) it must be of practical use; (2) it must be novel, that is, new characteristic in the field not yet known in the body of existing knowledge called "prior art"; (3) shows an inventive step not knowable by someone in the field with average knowledge; and (4) the invention must be accepted as "patentable" law. Hence, mathematical methods, scientific theories, discoveries of natural substances, commercial methods, plant or animal varieties, or methods for medical treatment are not patentable. A patent is usually granted by a national patent office or by a regional office for several countries. Under a regional application, applicant requests protection in several countries but each country decides on the application. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides for the system of filing a single international patent application with similar effect as national applications. An applicant files one application only. Thus, the joint business venture may file for patent application for the technology that combines the Osyter card's radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and the debit cards EFTPOS system together. A

Barbra's final wishes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Care Plan for Old Aged Woman with Lung Cancer - Assignment Example The plan begins with the demographic information of the patient; following is our clients care plan details and the recommendations given to help her during her period of grieving and management of the diagnosed condition (Weber & Kelley, 2003). Barbara James is a retired teacher who was just diagnosed with lung cancer. Besides, the patient lost her long-term partner of sixty years. The diagnosis has changed her entire life because it has changed her mood and emotional status. This brought many changes in her life especially when it came to coping with how to start living life with her when she was used to living with her husband. This prompted her to seek assistance from the hospice on how to cope with the disease, the grief, and resource to help her in it together with financial help. The plan developed will help the patient, the friends of the patient and other parties take effective measures in helping the patient manage conditions. Madrid is a football-loving region and Barbara James as a resided said, â€Å" I would love to watch a Real Madrid match at least once per month or just one of their matches now that am a great Madrid fan.† This shows that she has an attachment to the cultural and social aspect of the city because the region has a massive following of sporting activities with football taking the largest share. The plan will ensure Barbara get to view her preferred team play by ensuring she has a for the matches played at home ground and occasionally attending selected away games (Tompkins, 2003). Li et al (2014) ascribe that caregiving should meet the preferences and goals of the customer. Therefore, the hospice team must tailor the approach to meet any goal identified.

Wine of Barolo of the Nebiolo Grape Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wine of Barolo of the Nebiolo Grape - Essay Example This means that it has an astringent taste. As such, when tasting the grape, one could experience the strong nature of the grape’s juice. Different people could actually have different interpretation of their tasting experience. Some utter that the grape’s juice is too strong. Others say it is soft and rich. In such case, the people’s reactions depend on their preference with regard to wine grape varieties. The grape’s name has actually two possible origins. The first thought is based on the grape’s appearance when it is fully ripe. When fully ripe, the grape gives a frosted or foggy look (â€Å"Nebbiolo†). The Italian term for fog is nebbia (â€Å"Nebbiolo†), thus, the name Nebbiolo. Nonetheless, it is also possible that the grape’s name is simply taken from the Italian word nobile which means noble (â€Å"Nebbiolo†). Irregardless of the two probable origins of the grape’s name, what is sure is that Nebbiolo is fa mous to be a good wine grape variety. It is even one of the grape varieties that is most treasured by wine growers not just in Italy but also in the different parts of the world. The Nebbiolo grape is actually hard to grow and cultivate according to vineyardists (â€Å"Nebbiolo†).... It is made from one hundred percent Nebbiolo grape. The label DOCG means that is a wine of highest category. It also indicates that is both controlled and guaranteed by the Italian government (Nowak and Wichman 87). In buying such kind of wine, the buyer could be assured of the wine’s quality. In Italian, DOCG refers to Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. In English, it means Controlled and Guaranteed Denomination of Origin (Nowak and Wichman 87). Wines in Italy are actually subjected to DOC appellation system (Katsigris and Thomas 262). In this system, wine products are labeled according to its level (DOCG being the highest grant). The labeling depends upon the result of the official taste test which is conducted by the Italian government before the wine is permitted to be sold in the market (Katsigris and Thomas 262). The system builds risks and incentives which encourage wine producers to make wines of good quality (Katsigris and Thomas 262). In this sense, th e Italian government is strict with regard to their wine production process. This is to say that the wine-making process is a big issue in Italy. In another aspect, the Barolo DOCG is actually called as the â€Å"Wine of Kings and Kings of Wines† (Gibson 181). This implies that the Barolo wine is the best wine in Italy. The wine of such kind is known to have been barrelled for several years. To note, extended bottle aging actually affects that taste of the wine. Most often, wines which are barrelled for a minimum of two to three years offer a very good taste. Laws in Italy actually require Barolo wines to be aged in wood for at least two years (Bespaloff 58). Longer barrel gives the wine a woodier and mature taste (Bespaloff 58). Stated otherwise, the

Are people afraid of saying the truth against the government in public Essay

Are people afraid of saying the truth against the government in public - Essay Example However, governments often try to protect the interest of the public who voted in favor of them in the parliament elections. Thus lots of controversies will take place about the governmental policies among the public. Some people argue that people in a democratic country do not have the fear or concerns while opposing controversial governmental policies whereas some others argue that people are afraid of protesting against the controversial governmental policies. In this paper, I argue that in most of the times, general public are afraid of saying the truth against the government in public. Many people believe that, irrespective of rich or poor, people have the authority to protest against the governmental policies. However, in reality, poor people always stay away from protesting against the controversial governmental policies. Elite groups in the society always get lot of benefits from the government. Their influence on the government is comparatively more than that of the poor or disadvantaged people. Most of the politicians have the habit of approaching the poor people only when they were contesting elections. Thereafter, they will forget about the poor people. On the other hand, wealthy people or influential people always have a big say in the governmental policies. Therefore, their interests will be protected most of the times and the governmental policies affect only the poor people. As part of social security measures, governments give some benefits to the poor people. Governments can withdraw such benefits, if poor people protest against governmental policies. Such a fear prevents poor people from protesting against the government. The following report appeared on The guardian (Tuesday 22 January 2013) is relevant here. Campaigning charities are increasingly fearful of speaking out on behalf of vulnerable people because of the widespread

What issues of discrimination regarding Women in America since the Essay - 3

What issues of discrimination regarding Women in America since the 1920's have been successfully resolved -- and which issues have not yet been resolved - Essay Example ls or women to form a union between two powerful families through marriage and the marriage would be used to signify the bond between the families even if the young girl that was being married was doing so forcefully and unwillingly. However nowadays especially in America women have been given the mandate to marry when they feel like doing so (Tandon 45). This shows how far women have come so as to be liberated and to be responsible of their marital choices and decisions. Arranged marriage was also very rampant in the past where women were forced to marry husbands chosen for them by their parents and whom they did not love. Nowadays however women are given the freedom to marry whoever they choose and so they are free to marry whom they love hence introducing the concept of love in marriages. Unlike in the old days women nowadays are not considered as the man’s property or as economic assets. They are allowed to marry who they want and love (Coontz 56). Time has seen the rising status of the woman in marriage whereby in the current modern society in America women have a significant influence and say in their marriages and are allowed to marry at whatever age they please and they are also free to leave unsatisfying unions whenever they please. They are also free to establish certain rules that should be followed by them and their husbands within the marriage. Polygamy is one of these issues, since it is being practiced secretly by some people in America despite it being outlawed and it shows how the status of women in the current society is still being somehow undermined. Men marrying many wives secretly are enough proof that women are still being undermined in some societies and not being taken seriously. Just like in the old days even today in America the notion of marriage has not changed very much since many women are being forced to endure the state of a bad marriage rather than celebrate it. It has been discovered that even today bride price is being paid

Campaign financing is protected under the First Amendment and is a Essay

Campaign financing is protected under the First Amendment and is a form of free speech - Essay Example The sources include bodies like companies in the possession of the state or those that are independently held. The event of funding campaigns comprises of variant views from scholars. There are people who support the actions whereas others refute this idea. Funding campaigns is an exceedingly freewill to corporations and entities (Hudson, 2011). This has explanations in the idea that corporations have contractual capacities. This explains that they can create agreements. This essay seeks to explore the arguments supporting financing of campaigns and oppositions of this argument. One reason why corporations can lend funds is that they have rights. This means that they entail rights similar to those of a person. Therefore, corporations can lend money to any persons that they please. For instance, funding money is an aspect of people. This depicts that a corporate can lawfully offer funds to campaigns. This explains that the corporate entail right to operate without intimidation from ru le enforcers. Therefore, corporations possess possible capabilities to fund campaigns (Saad, 2010). Companies presume the position of people that own rights. This is firm reason for enabling corporations to finance campaigns. Apart from the idea that entities can fund other partnerships, they also entail the power to own wealth. This shows the truth aligned with acting of corporations. The first Amendment entails the facts that corporations can space for speech. One of the ways that it can express this freedom is concerning the way it handles decisions. The amendment offers that corporations can strategize their plans without counteractions. Therefore, companies have the power to execute their decisions without facing objections (Smith, 2007). This ensures that his or her actions have no one to outlaw. Bodies executing law ought to let companies perform their missions without interruption. The first amendment explains that companies entail the space to decide on their bill. This ens ures that their funds have no second deciders. This is a result of the first amendment. Therefore, the corporations can act without feeling exploited by the authorities. This gives companies a leeway to decide on the places to invest their capital. Corporations depict the idea that their funds become exploited according to their decisions. The requirements of law ensure that everything corporations have contractual power (Kerch, 2003). Therefore, campaigns can source resources from corporations. The other reason for insisting on the financing of campaigns is the idea that they require the finances to function. This is explains that campaigns entail hefty capital that has to be solicited. These funds help many political bodies strategize their missions. This explains that the bodies entail to achieve what they perceive best for the entities. The other thing is that the entities have to ensure that they perform their decisions according to the provision in the amendment act. Campaigns necessitate finances so that they can be captivating moving in their actions. Another reason is the fact that corporations entail heavy capital. This explains reasons why campaigns solicit finances from them. This is because campaigns require heavy capital in executing their convincing. This is something entailing investing of high amounts of funds. Campaigns require sufficient finances that come from stable bodies like corporations. Small entities cannot avail ample resources to run campaigns. Therefore, ample funds emanate from able bodies like corporations. Therefore, companies have the power of deciding whether to help campaigners. This is a requirement of the act that companies follow their rightful decisions. The other fact is

Business in emerging markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business in emerging markets - Essay Example A conclusion is drawn based on the data presented why India has remained in its number one post despite emergence of competitors. Many large companies now practice outsourcing of jobs for reasons that they save on costs when they hire other companies to do the work for them. Many companies find this a better alternative as the work is done for them at a considerable less cost of money, and they have fewer overhead expenses to worry about. The need for outsourcing of jobs opened the opportunity for offshore outsource services that is offered by many countries in Southeast Asia and in the Middle East. Among these countries, the study of A.T. Keanney on offshore locations shows India occupying the top position as an offshore outsources services while that of the Central/Eastern Europe services fall. This study looks at the reasons why India has become number one in outsourcing services considering that there also other countries doing the same thing. Implication of the study will show the strength and weaknesses of competing countries that will be useful for decisions of countries using their services. To determine competitive advantage of India, Porter’s Five and PEST framework of Analysis are done to know the strong points and limitations of each country in the area of business process outsourcing. a. Supplier power. Under Porters framework, the role of quality and service play an important function in choosing a probable supplier. In this context, India has established its competitive edge with other countries because it boasts of 250 million English speaking workers possessing technical and scientific skills, 24 hours service and zero downtime. Foreign company tends to have 30 to 35% offshore cost savings because of low salary scale of workers in India. Starting salaries for IT engineers in India is from $5,000 to $10,000 which is comparatively lower in US standards. This salary however is already considered attractive in India whose annual per

The Major Factors That Led Rome and the Hellenistic Kingdom to Clash Essay Example for Free

The Major Factors That Led Rome and the Hellenistic Kingdom to Clash Essay 6. What were the major factors that led to clashes between Rome and the Hellenistic kingdoms, down to 146 B.C.? Can one decide what proportion of the responsibility for these clashes belongs to Rome, to the Hellenistic great powers (the Antigonids, Seleucids and Ptolemies) and to the minor players? This essay will what were the major factors that led to clashes between Rome and the Hellenistic kingdom, down to 146 B.C. A brief history of Rome’s increasing involvement in the Hellenistic area starting with its wars with Hannibal of Carthage and how the Hellenistic Kingdoms of Antigonids, the Seleucids and the Ptolemies and several other minor powers in the area came to be after the death of Alexander. The essay will focus on the factors that the writer believes contributed to the clashes. These being, Philips alliance with Hannibal and the Carthaginian empire, the results of ambassadors from Rhodes and Pergamum being received in Rome and telling of an appending alliance between Philip of Macedon and Antiochus of the Seleucids Kingdom, the third factor is that Rome was simply coming to the aid of its ‘friends’, various smaller powers in the area with which it had formed alliances. The essay will then focus on to whom the responsibility for the clashes between Rome and the Hellenistic Kingdoms lies with and what proportion of responsibility can apportioned to each party. This will focus on the major players of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, the Antigonids, Seleucids and Ptolemies and other smaller players. After the death of Alexander in 323B.C. the empire which he had created began to be broken up into different kingdoms and satraps amid bitter infighting by his generals, including Ptolemy, Cassander, Antigonus, Parmenion and Seleucus. â€Å"the ultimate fragmentation of Alexander’s empire was likelihood from the start, and the history of the following generation was to see the emergence of several separate kingdoms and dynasties out of his once unified empire.† Out of these generals three emerged to take control of large pieces of Alexander’s empire, these were, Ptolemy, Antigonus and Seleucus. Ptolemy Soter had campaigned with Alexander from the beginning and had gained Alexanders trust, and had become one of his personal bodyguards as well as one of Alexander’s generals. After Alexanders death Ptolemy was given the satrapy of Egypt and soon used his new found authority to start claiming some of the surrounding areas, including, the region around Cyrene. His first challenge to the authority of the other satrapies and kingdoms was the claiming of Alexanders remains as his funeral procession toured through his empire. Ptolemy later won the lands of Palestine and Cyprus to further secure Egypt’s borders. The Ptolemy dynasty lasted many centuries until it also came under Roman rule. Antigonus was another one of Alexander’s successors and created the Antigonid dynasty which was to rule Macedonia and parts of Greece. Antigonus had ambitions to recreate Alexanders empire and this was recognized by the other successors who formed an alliance against him, that was fought over many battle but reached no real conclusion, but prevented him from expanding his kingdom any further. Antigonus was constantly under attack from all sides and finally fell in battle and his kingdom now came under the control of his son. Seleucus was another of Alexanders general and after his death was given the satrapy of Babylonia and after first being ou sted by Antigonus, he fled to Egypt to seek refuge with Ptolemy, after a number of years in Egypt, Seleucus returned to take over much of Persia. The lands that he had gained were ethnically diverse and used different parts of each culture to administer his lands. Seleucus managed to gain back much of Alexander’s former empire until he was assassinated and his son took over his leadership. These three successors of Alexander along with the more minor satrap of Lysimachus and Cassander inherited an empire but through almost constant warfare between themselves were not able to resurrect Alexander’s empire either singularly or as an alliance. The three main successors forged dynasties that lasted a couple of centuries until they all were defeated or came under the sway of Rome. Rome fought three wars with Carthage called the Punic wars, these wars were fought between 264B.C. and 146B.C. (First 264-241B.C., Second 218-202B.C., Third 149-146B.C.) The first two Punic wars were essentially defensive wars for Rome especially the second where Hannibal in command of the Carthaginian forces crossed the Alps and attacked mainland Italy, the Romans were able to repel Hannibal and his army, Hannibal was eventually defeated by the famous General Publius Cornelius Scipio and pushed back to North Africa and Carthage. The second war reduced Carthage to nothing but a city state, but Rome still feared that Carthage could rise once again to its former military might and with the third Punic war; Rome razed Carthage to the ground, slaughtering or enslaving its inhabitants. â€Å"At the sight of the city utterly perishing amidst the flames Scipio burst into tears, and stood long reflecting on the inevitable change which awaits cities, nations, and dynasties.† Rome and the Hellenistic kingdoms fought four wars called the Macedonian wars between 215B.C. and 146B.C. and wars signalled the first clashes between Rome and the Hellenistic kingdoms. The first Macedonian war was fought between Rome and Philip V of Macedon of the Antigonid kingdom and was brought about as a cause of revenge. In 216B.C. Philip V thought that with Hannibal’s continuous victories over the Roman forces that the Italian peninsula would fall and that the time was right to form an alliance with Hannibal, with the ambition of expanding his own domains. This was a war that Rome did not want to be involved in as they were already stretched militarily in their fight against Carthage, and sent only a small force to deal with Philip V and the Macedon kingdom. According to Livy, Rome made an alliance with the Aetolians to fight against Philip V and sent a larger force to wage war, but on arriving found the Aetolians had made peace with Philip V and it was easier for Rome to seek peace with Philip V than fight alone, and thus the first Macedonian war ended. The Second Macedonian was fought between 200-196B.C. and was started after an apparent secret deal between Philip V of Macedon and Antiochus III of the Seleucid kingdom to attack and divide up the Egyptian kingdom under Ptolemy rule. Ambassadors from Rhodes and Pergamum had sent diplomatic missions to Rome with these reports with the intent of gaining Roman support against Philip V and the threats he posed to their kingdoms. Philip’s aggression towards the Greek city states, some who had alliances with Rome, caused Rome to issue an ultimatum to Philip, to remove his forces back into Macedon, Philip refused and on the pretext of helping its ‘friends’ Rome started t mov e its forces against Macedon. It is possible that Rome also feared if Philip and Antiochus gained further footholds in the Eastern Mediterranean, they could at some point threaten Italy, also of note is the ambition of Roman commanders to gain personal advancement and public prestige through the triumphs of winning wars. Philip was defeated in the battle of Cynoscephalae in 196B.C. and was forced to give up all territories outside of Macedonia and become an ally of Rome. At this point Rome proclaimed that all Greek was ‘free’ and essentially Greece came under Rome’s political and military sway. ‘The Senate of the Romans and Titus Quibctius the proconsul having defeated king Philip and the Macedonians in war, allow (Greece) to be free, ungarrisoned, not subject to tribute and using their ancestral laws.† In 192B.C. Antiochus III invaded Greece seemingly at the request of some Greek states to liberate Greece from the Roman’s, Antiochus found little support in Greece for his en deavours, for many of the Greek states had regained independence after the Roman occupation and had no desire to be ruled over by another king. Rome retaliated and Antiochus was defeated in battles at Thermopylae, Myonnesos and Magnesia-by-Sipylos, these were crushing defeats and forced Antiochus back to Syria and what was left of the Seleucid kingdom and thrust Rome deeper into the affairs of the region. The third Macedonian war fought between 172-167B.C. and was caused by accusation by King Eumenes of Pergamum of Macedonian violations of its territory and an assassination attempt on Eumenes that were both attributed to king Perseus, who had now taken the throne after the death of his father. Perseus tried diplomatic negotiations with Rome who had an alliance with Pergamum, but these only served to give Rome more time to prepare an invasion force. Perseus managed to win a few minor battles, but was crushed in the battle Pydna in 168B.C. and this signalled the ended of the Antigonid kingdom as it was split up into four republics by Rome. In the period between 168-146B.C. Rome consolidated its power in the region with calling on Antiochus to withdraw his troops from Egypt and further decimated the Seleucid kingdom by burning its ships and hamstringing its elephants which effectively brought an end to any resistance. The so-called forth Macedonian war consisted of local anti-Roman uprisings and invasion from Thrace in 149B.C. by Andriscus who managed to defeats the Macedonian resistance crowned himself Philip VI, but his reign was short-lived and after being handed over to the Romans in 146B.C., Macedon was made a Roman province, thus signalling the end of the Antigonid kingdom. To attribute a proportion of responsibility for the clashes between Rome and the Hellenistic kingdoms cannot be clearly defined as both parties during this era had ideas of expansion and each conflict could potentially be blamed on the other party. An example of this is the second Macedonian war where the responsibility could be split because Philip had been moving forward in taking land off the Greek city states, while Rhodes and Pergamum had been trying to entice the Romans to attack Philip through sending ambassadors to Rome with their grievances and it could be argued that the senators and commanders in Rome wanted to attack Philip for reasons of personal advancement and prestige. Whilst in many of the other wars Rome could be seen as the aggressor as their seemed to very little provocation or reasoning in some of their attacks, shown by the third Macedonian war. In conclusion this essay has given a history of Roman military movements up until their entry into the Hellenistic realms, along with histories of the major Hellenistic kingdoms and how they ended up clashing with Rome. The major factors which led to these clashes have been identified along with what proportion of responsibility should be given to each party for the clashes. It is possible that the downfall of the Hellenistic kingdoms was inevitable and it was only a matter of time before Rome conquered them all. â€Å"the Romans in less than fifty-three years have succeeded in subjecting nearly the whole inhabit ted world to their sole government—a unique thing in history?† Bibliography: Austin M.M. The Hellenistic World: From Alexander to the Roman Conquest. 2nd Ed Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 2006 Balsdon, J. P. V. D. Rome and Macedon, 205-200 B.C. Journal of Roman Studies , 44: , 1954 Billows. R.A.. Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State. University of California Press, Berkley. 1990 Dorey T.A. Rome Against Carthage. Seeker and Warburg, London, 1971. Great Lives from History: The Ancient World, Salem Press, 2004 Gruen. E.S. Rome and the Seleucids in the aftermath of Pydna Chiron, 6, 1976 Livy The History of Rome trans. Rev. C. Roberts, EP Dutton and Co. New York. 1912 McDonald A.H. Rome and Greece 196-146 B.C. Auckland University Press. 1970 Polybius The Histories of Polybius, trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, Macmillan, London, 1889 Shipley. G The Greek World: After Alexander 323-30B.C. Routledge, London 2000 Walbank F.W. The causes of the Third Macedonian War: recent views The in Ancient Macedonia II: Papers Read at the Second Inte rnational Symposium Held in Thessaloniki, 1973 , Metsakes, K. , 1977 [ 1 ]. M.M. Austin The Hellenistic World: From Alexander to the Roman Conquest 2nd Ed Cambridge University Press Cambridge. 2006 pp. 63 [ 2 ]. Great Lives from History: The Ancient World, Salem Press, 2004 pp 25-28 [ 3 ]. Billows. R.A. Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State. University of California Press, Berkley. 1990 [ 4 ]. G. Shipley The Greek World: After Alexander 323-30B.C. Routledge, London 2000 pp. 286-287 [ 5 ]. T.A. Dorey Rome Against Carthage Seeker and Warburg, London, 1971. Pp.37-51 [ 6 ]. Polybius 39.51The Histories of Polybius, trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, London Macmillan, 1889 [ 7 ]. J.P.V.D. Balsdon Rome and Macedon, 205-200 B.C. Journal of Roman Studies , 44: , 1954 pp:31-33 [ 8 ]. Livy 31.1-31.4 The History of Rome trans. Rev. C. Roberts, EP Dutton and Co. New York. 1912 [ 9 ]. Livy 31.2 The History of Rome [ 10 ]. G. Shipley The Greek World: After Alexander 323-30B.C. pp:374-375 [ 11 ]. A.H. McDonald. Rome and Greece 196-146 B.C. Auckland University Press. 1970, 113-114 [ 12 ]. Polybius 18.46 The Histories of Polybius [ 13 ]. Livy 37.41-37.45 The History of Rome [ 14 ]. F.W. Walbank The causes of the Third Macedonian War: recent views The in Ancient Macedonia II: Papers Read at the Second International Symposium Held in Thessaloniki, 1973 , Metsakes, K. , 1977 pp. 84-86 [ 15 ]. E.S. Gruen. Rome and the Seleucids in the aftermath of Pydna Chiron, 6, 1976 pp. 74 [ 16 ]. Polybius 1.1 The Histories of Polybius

Online Risks Of Internet Shopping

Online Risks Of Internet Shopping Globalization of the economies in the world has created opportunities for business. As the result of these opportunities, competition or rivalry has increased which means businesses have moved and looked to provide unconventional ways for marketing. One of the unconventional ways in which marketing can be done is through the Internet, this has become such a must have tool for people who wants to do business without limits. Although many businesses are quickly adopting the Internet as the means through which they can efficiently and economically conduct their marketing activities, there are many risks associated with using it. For example, the Internet has very little security and any company using the Internet risks disclosure of proprietary information. However, these are risks affecting companies selling through Internet. But what risks do consumers face or perceive when shopping online? Shopping on internet is poses risks and threat but what do we know about risk perception of consumers or buyers who purchase through this medium? Consumers perceive risks in most store purchase decisions, and the general conclusion from direct-marketing related studies is that consumers associate a higher level of risk with non-store purchase than store purchase decisions (Samadi and Yaghoob-Nejadi, 2009). These questions have not been addressed in the research on Internet marketing. In fact, most of the recent studies have been concentrated in on the pros and cons marketing on the World Wide Web, but none addresses the issues raised here about the consumers concerns in virtual shopping. This study aims to provide not only in-depth review of the types of perceived online risks and its application to internet shopping but also the similarities between businesses and consumers risk perception of online shopping risk, and their influence to purchase intention. BACKGROUND STUDY _ The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the way business is done in a so many ways. The use of the web-enabled technologies is still on the rise and this has made it possible to identify new ways and new avenues of doing business. The diffusion of information, the development of new technologies, the promotion and sales of products and services, and the collaboration between those in a supply chain can all be regarded as the benefits of e-Commerce (EC) (defined as The process of buying, selling, or exchanging products and services or information via computer (Turban, Lee, Kung and Chung, 2010, p. 46). The ability to use e-commerce technologies was made possible in late 1970s. During this time, e-commerce meant the execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). In 1991, the Internet was opened for commercial use and started becoming popular in 1994 (E-Commerce Land, 2004). Subsequently, it took almost four years to develop security protocols like Hypertext Transfer Protocol (https). Amazon was one of the first E-Commerce businesses to establish a secure market. E-commerce may be defined as The process of buying, selling, or exchanging products and services or information via computer (Turban et al, 2010, p. 46). Alternately it may also be defined as All electronically mediated information exchanges between an organisation and its external stake-holders. (Chaffey, Mayer, Johnston, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2000) According to Turban et al (2010) e-commerce applications are a particular kind of web applications with similar requirements like good navigational structures, usable interfaces, a clear domain model, and others. Electronic Commerce is classified roughly into two categories: Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce (B2C). B2B is commerce where purchase and sale transactions occur not between individuals but between companies by using the Web and extranets. B2C is commerce where these transactions take place between the consumers and the sellers via the Internet [Lee et al, 2002a]. Individuals can purchase goods and services from retailers electronically through B2C commerce, who in turn can use B2B commerce to link directly to their suppliers. For the purpose of this research I will use B2C category. Online consumer behaviour is a research area with an increasing number of publications per year. Although researchers have made noticeable progress with respect to the scope, quality and quantity of research, there are still significant disagreements about the findings in this area (Samadi and Yaghoob-Nejadi, 2009). One of the most widely accepted consumer behavior theory is how consumers perceived the various risk aspects in various buying conditions. Since Bauer (1967) stimulated marketing researchers to incorporate the concept of perceived risk into the marketing literature, perceived risk has been of great interest to marketing researchers (Cox, 1967; Roselious, 1971; Mitchell and Greatorex, 1999; and Cases, 2003). In fact, shopping online brings together conflict between risk perception and purchase decisions. A variety of previous studies have listed security, privacy, and difficult to judge quality of product as the main concerns of online shoppers (Ainscough and Luckett, 1996; Herbig and Hale, 1997; Liberman and Stashevsky, 2002; Park and Jun, 2003, Cunningham, et al., 2005). There has also been attempts to investigate the perceived risk in Internet usage context (Bhavnagar, Misra and Rao, 2000; Liebermann and Stashevsky, 2002; Lim, 2003). However, the empirical research for online consumers perceived online risk has not been conclusive. It is possible that part of the reason for the limited findings of the previous studies is that consumers risk perceptions from the previous store purchasing environments have not been fully reflected into the current Internet purchasing situation. Festervand, Snyder, and Tsalikis (1986) emphasized on the influence of risk perception from the previous purchase in the different shopping environments. There is no record of studies that has investigated or developed a comprehensive set of consumers perceived online risks both from consumer and business point of view, and examine how they are related to each other or whether the influence of some of these areas may be mediated by others to consumers purchase intention. Thus, if some types of risks are mediated by others, not all risk aspects would relate to consumers purchase intention. Only risk aspects directly associated with shopping behaviors and/or attitudes may relate to consumers purchase decision. In regards to security issues, Black (2005) said, the biggest barrier to e-commerce growth is not technology, but peoples attitude towards it. Consumers are still finding it difficult to trust the online world as an entity. For e-commerce to become a viable market place, the public must trust the internet. The future success of e-commerce will be dependant not only on forging initial trust, but also on developing long-term relationships to facilitate confidence and credibility. This dissertation aims to add to the existing literature (Baseline, 2006, Zuccato, 2007, Damini, Eloff and Eloff, 2009 and Kim, Tao, Shin and Kim, 2009) by looking at how consumer perception of risk in online shopping has impacted on their customers expectations. RESEARCH STRUCTURE _ This looks is a bare bones plan which was drafted at the beginning of the research, it was reviewed at the end of the research. This is a time scale of my dissertation; this has been produced using Microsoft project management and spreadsheet excel applications, a Gantt chart and excel spreadsheet. On the timeline there are following highlighted main activities: Literature Review this will include using previous academic writing to apply to the subject and see how far these source agree/disagree with what has been already done. This section is also broken down into two major sections; Consumers perceived online risk a look into how consumers perceive risks and how this affect their online engagement Business perceptions of consumers perceived online risks this section carries and in-depth analysis of how businesses perceive consumers online threats. Data collections: using the methods mentioned under research methodology, this will entail the techniques and methods used to collect data, there will be secondary data used on business side of research and a mix of both primary and secondary data on consumer point of view. Findings: this simply means, gathering all the data collected and reporting them as they are without doing any analysis. Analysis and Conclusion lastly the thorough analysis of my findings, the quantitative data, conclusion, and recommendations (For more details, please see appendix a excel spreadsheet 1) AIMS AND OBJECTIVES _ Although, e-Commerce has grown and become an important tool for some, there is still reluctance in people in embracing this because of the perceived risk of fear over online shop. The main aim of the study will be to find out how real are the fears in terms of system security, reliability, standards, and security of private financial information, such as disclosing credit cards and personal information for the consumers while shopping online. Below is a list of objectives in bullet points:- Identify the types of perceived online risks and threats from academic point of view (e.g. functional, physical, financial, social and psychological) Identify the concepts of perceived risks and trust in relation to internet shopping Identify the types of security threats in the online shopping environment from consumers point of view Identify [online] businesses perception of consumers perceived online risks and threats Examine whether the identified threats and perceived risks from the businesses are similar to those of the consumers For further clear outline of the objectives in diagram (see appendix 2) ETHICS ISSUES _ So far, there are no threats in regards to ethics problems during my research; I will be using primary data which is will be collected by myself and plenty of secondary data available. The data collected will be treated as confidential; I will deal with data collection and analyzing findings myself. If research findings contradict my developing argument, it will be my responsibility to include undermining facts as opposed to the data collected and change the research objectives. Ethics review form attached. (ethics agreement form is attached at the back on this report, see appendix 3) RESEARCH LIMITATIONS _ The first and foremost limitation of this study will be the honesty and accuracy of information given by research respondents/participants. This can sway or affect the findings and therefore the analysis of the research. There is medium probability of this limitation to exist in this study because of the secondary data which will be used, and that most marketing firm will give money for the participants to take part in surveys. A potential limitation of this study may be time, due to the time constraints especially in the third semester of 2010 Master course. Although the probability of this limitation to exist is minimal because the programme director is looking into find mitigation plans in place. Lastly, a time limitation is also due to the time, the sample population projected involved in this project will be carried out on a small scale around Oxford town centre area. There is enough literature around this subject area and any needed information can be obtained during my research. PERCEIVED ONLINE RISK _ The term perceived online risk means the individual has subjective belief about potentially negative consequence from his/her decision (Kim and Lee, 2008). In other words, perceived is used as opposed to objective outcome distributions of an alternative or a product class with which a consumer is associated with. Davis and Olson (1985) defined risk as a situation where a decision-maker has priority knowledge of the adverse consequence and the occurrence probability. In addition, uncertainty is defined as a situation where a decision-maker knows that possible outcomes for each alternative can be identified; however there is no knowledge of the probability attached to each. In consumer research, risk means a situation where a consumer knows neither the consequences of the alternatives nor the probability of occurrence for the outcome (Dowling, 1986). According to Turban et al (2010) an online shopper will gain benefits in terms of vast selection, screening, reliability, and product comparisons. Additionally, consumers can judge the products relying on either the ratings or reputations of e- retailers or from those who have made a purchase in the online interactive communication environment. Finally, consumers are allowed to compare numerous items under various categories and their prices in order to make the choices among the alternatives or substitutes (Rowley, 2000). On the other hand, the uncertainty regarding system security, reliability, standards, and security of private financial information, such as disclosing credit cards and personal information etc are all reasons which probably increase a certain degree of perceived risk when shopping on the Internet. Ha (2002) points that, the traditional shopping channel, at the cyber shopping environment, perceived risk is defined as the potential for loss in pursuing a desired outcome while engaged in online shopping. Besides, the Internet, just like any type of non-store shopping, makes it difficult to examine physical goods; consumers must rely upon somewhat limited information and pictures shown on the computer screen (Jarvenpaa, Tractinsky and Vitale, 2000). Hence, the performance risk in online shopping tends to increase due to the lack of accurate judge of the product quality compared to the traditional shopping environment (Vijayasarathy and Jones, 2000). As in the real store, this risk is also deemed by Kim and Lennon (2000) to be greatest when the product is technologically complex or the price is high. Additionally, the issue of financial security, invasion of privacy and hacker attacks has become the primary concern of online shopper in the worldwide (Strader and Shaw, 1999). Time risk associated with the operation of online purchases in this study focuses on the perceived lost or cost of time for customers information search activities without excluding the traditional meaning. Overall, the Internet is still considered a risky shopping channel which means a considerable portion of consumers perceives that risks outweigh the advantages of online shopping in their purchase decisions. TYPES OF PERCEIVED ONLINE RISK _ Although compared to traditional shopping channels, it is evident that online shopping is a rather innovative and convenient way, more and more recent researches have pointed out the existing problems to be settled in this constantly changing marketing channel, which make it too risky to purchase through Internet and rely on it. In this channel, individuals have to make decisions of buying products based on limited and static information displayed on the screen such as the picture and price, but cannot inspect and touch the physical goods, they see on the computer screen (Kim, Tao, Shin, Kim, 2009). Moreover, the uncertainty regarding system security, reliability, standards, and security of private financial information, such as disclosing credit cards and personal information etc are all reasons probably increase a certain degree of perceived risk when shopping on the Internet. Several types of risk that consumers perceive can be listed as functional risk, physical risk, financial risk, social risk, and psychological risk (Jacoby and Kaplan, 1972). Roselius (1971) also proposed a slightly different conceptualization of the perceived risk types by identifying the possible losses that a consumer may experience due to a purchasing decision, these are, time loss, hazard loss, ego loss, and money loss. Financial risk is the most common online concern; this type of risk is inter-connected with general security perception of consumers towards the online shop. Tian and Ren (n.d.) point out that, Many online consumers are worry about the security of online payment, and often stop payment somehow during the procedure. It should be understood that most consumers who would terminate their payment procedure are the first time. For experience online consumer, they will have devised an alternative way of making payments such as third party payment or other safe online payment services or cash payment on delivery. Privacy risk is described by Jarvenpaa and Todd (1997) to be the degree to which consumers suffer a loss of privacy owing to personal information collected when shopping online. On the other hand, it can be considered as one type of psychological risk. Previous research by Dholaka (2001) has theorized that psychological risk is the experience of anxiety or discomfort arising from anticipated post- behavioural affective reactions, or worry and regret of purchasing and using the product. Consequently, lack of privacy protecting and private information exposure constantly remaining in the Internet shopping site arouse consumers fear of the purchase. It is notable that the psychological aspect is first proposed as a major perceived risk type. Consumers form perceptions regarding intangible psychic costs in the form of anxiety, frustration, and down time along with tangible financial and performance losses. Thus, the perceived risk can be in psychological/social terms, or in economic/func tional terms, or in some combination of both forms (Taylor, 1974). According to Strader and Shaw (1999), the key risks in the online context are identified to be financial, performance, and privacy risks. Performance risk related to the online sellers post-sale service, good return guarantee for faulty items and product warranty, etc Performance risk can related to the online sellers post-sale service, good return guarantee for faulty items and product warranty, etc. Unlikely on physical shop, consumer buying online product or services have to rely on limited information on their computer screens, There is no physical examination of the product so buyers have rely on the measurements from the seller and pictures. Hence, the performance risk in online shopping tends to increase due to the lack of accurate judge of the product quality compared to the traditional shopping environment (Vijayasarathy and Jones, 2000). As in the real store, this risk is also deemed by Kim and Lennon (2000) to be greatest when the product is technologically complex or the price is high. Kwon (1998) argued another risk factor at cyber-shopping malls is the delivery time gap, or named delivery interval, which is about the gap between the purchase and the delivery. Likewise, consumer easily feels anxious about the time gap between cost and consumption. Another point is, time risk associated with the operation of online purchases in this study focuses on the perceived lost or cost of time for customers information search activities without excluding the traditional meaning. Brooker (1984) has suggested personal risks and non-personal risks. Personal risks are defined as the risks that are related to self-image, self-concept or social evaluation. In addition, Kotler (1984) argued that personal risks are caused by purchasing of personal items that are expensive, purchased infrequently, or socially significant products, such as clothes, accessories, sports equipment, and automobiles. Additionally, the issue of financial security, invasion of privacy and hacker attacks has become the primary concern of online shopper in the worldwide (Strader and Shaw, 1999). Similar to the traditional shopping channel, at the cyber shopping environment, perceived risk is defined as the potential for loss in pursuing a desired outcome while engaged in online shopping. However, the social and physical risks in online commerce have less to do with consumer perceived risk (Ha, 2002). PECEIVED RISK AND TRUST ON INTERNET _ Internet shopping appeared as a new type of shopping method approximately 20years ago, has been getting more attention along with the spread of Internet due to the unbeatable convenience it brought about to the consumers. In addition to convenience, previous researches indicate other attractive factors. The transaction can be held in anyplace accessed to Internet. Furthermore, consumers can buy a wide choice of products across the geographic boundaries while saving time and absence of sales pressure without worrying about the transportation and parking (McQuitty and Peterson, 2000). More importantly, concerning the study of online consumer behaviour, the Internet environment positively affects the consumers decision to shop. Hardin (1992) highlights that trust depends on three different elements: 1) Properties of the individual who want to trust another individual, 2) Attributes of the trustee and 3) The context in which trust is established. All definitions are based on the individuals perception of risk. Both definitions are based on the individuals perception of risk towards a relationship where the outcomes of the relationship are more or less uncertain. Similarly, Bromley and Cummings (1995) viewed trust as an expectation of the trusted individual to be honest and fulfil its promises. The nature and development of trust, has draw the attention from different academic areas, mainly from psychology, sociology, marketing and business theory. From a psychological perspective, similarly, Robinson (1996:576) defined trust as: A persons expectations, assumptions, or beliefs about the likelihood that anothers future actions will be beneficial, favourable, or at least not detrimental to ones interests. Smith and Shao (2007) characterized trust as the undertaking of a risky course of action on the confident expectation that all persons involved in the action will act competently and responsibly. Furthermore, Pearce (1974), on developing a model of interpersonal trust, notes that trust is based on assumptions of others knowledge, competence and motivation. However, those three perspectives perceive trust as one individuals action, rather as an element of a relationship. Moving to the business literature, the concept of trust is again largely based on a relationship approach, and evolves overtime. Swan et al (1989), examining how industrial salespeople gain customers trust, mention that trust has a dynamic nature as it builds over the history of interactions between the trade partners. While Doney and Cannon (1997), suggest that trust is developed under certain processes. According to their research, those are: Calculative process, when one party calculates the costs of failure during the exchange. Prediction process, when one party acquires information to predict about the credibility of the other party. Capability process, based on the perception that one party has that the other has the capabilities to perform as promised. Intentionally process, based on the perception that one party has about the intention of the other. Transference process, based on gaining trust from third parties when little or no prior experience exists between the exchange parties. As previously mentioned, it is logical for consumers to engage in trust relationships, when they feel a level of uncertainty with the outcomes of an exchange, or with the circumstances under which the exchange takes place. During online purchases process that insecurity refers to the use of the Internet, as a commercial medium, or to online sellers reliability. Considering the fact that the increase of trust reduces the perceived risks during an online purchase, and that those risks has proven to be negative towards a purchase decision, we can conclude that trust is a crucial factor for the success of e-commerce or internet shopping. (Jarvenpaa Tractinsky, 1999). Table 2: authors who agree/disagree on what consumers perceptions References Study Focus Agree/Disagrees McQuitty and Peterson, (2000) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with home entertainment systems online sales technical complex of product increases perceived risks product risks increases the perceived online risk age does is not a factor in perceiving risk expensive items increases perceived risk Smith and Shao (2007) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with financial risks contribute to the perceived perceived risk is higher for feel and touch products Swan et al (1989) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with consumer trust /sales increasing experience of online shop reduced perceived online risk Jarvenpaa Tractinsky, (1999) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with consumer trust product risks increases the perceived online risk age does is not a factor in perceiving risk expensive items increases perceived risk Internet as a commercial medium poses security concerns such as credit-card fraud by hackers and also concerns about the lack of a predictable legal framework on which online purchases take place (.e. which government laws apply in every situation(Ratnasigham,1998). In addition, lack of social interactions between consumers and e-sellers and the fact that, as with other distance purchases, consumers have to pay in first in order to receive goods or services, increase the risks, therefore increase consumers concerns. According to Culnan and Armstrong (1999), another difficulty faced on e-commerce purchases is that trust has to be communicated solely through interaction with a web site. Lack of trust towards e-commerce sellers has its grounds to security concerns such as fraud by illegal merchants, privacy concerns i.e. using the personal information for commercial purposes, or performance concerns such as receiving low quality products or services. Hoffman et al. (1999) emphasize that the reason many consumers do not proceed to online purchases is that they simply do not trust most of the Web merchants to give their credit card information or personal information. Lack of environmental control exists while consumers have less control of online sellers actions over their bank card information. Lack of control over personal information is very important specifically the concern that online sellers use their personal information for marketing promotional purposes, without their knowledge or permission. The significance of trust can be justified by Keen (2000), who interviewed consumers on the advantages and disadvantages of the e-commerce, trying to identify what factors can add more value to the customers. Examining the results, we can identify that most of the factors are related to the concept of online trust, which sellers ought to convince consumer of security measure to minimise fraud or minimise misuse of personal information, guarantee reliable delivery and make clear information relating to easy return process. To conclude, the e-commerce will offer more value to the consumer, by the time it will improve in terms of security, privacy, and performance, or in other words, by the time it becomes more trustworthy. Table 3: authors who agree/disagree on what consumers perceived risks References Study Focus Agree/Disagrees Ratnasingham (1998) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with importance of trust in e-commerce financial risks contribute to the perceived Culnan and Armstrong (1999) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with privacy concerns, impersonal trust increasing experience of online shop reduced perceived online risk Hoffman et al. (1999) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with information privacy in market place positive online shopping experience reduces consumers perceived risk Keen (2000) Conducted a study of risk perceptions associated with ensuring trust online financial risks contribute to the perceived increasing experience of online shop reduced perceived online risk BUSINESS AND CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS OF RISK CONSUMERS PERCEPTION OF ONLINE RISK _ Previous researches (Cox and Rich, 1967; Spence et al., 1970; Gillet, 1976 and Korgaonakar, 1982;) related to mode of shopping suggested that perceived risk is affected by what is purchased and how it is purchased. Their studies concluded that consumers perceive more purchasing risk when buying an item by telephone or mail catalog than when buying in a store or from a salesman. Furthermore, the level of perceived risk is related to store selection (Dash et al., 1976; Hirsch, et al., 1976; Korgaonakar, 1982). This is to say, consumers who perceive less purchasing online risk would choose the specialty store, and low social, high economic risk products to the mall and other types of products. Overall, the Internet is still considered a risky shopping place which means a considerable portion of consumers perceive risks outweigh the advantages of online shopping in their purchase decisions. As what Darian (1987) stated, people tend to feel uneasy with faceless retailer, because they are much more familiar with offline shopping rather than the online shopping and fear about the potential deception. Because earlier consumers bought all their services straight from the service provider, research focused mostly on the consumer-provider or business-to-customer (B2C) interaction. So far little research has been dedicated to consumer perceived online risks in electronic services, from late 1990s most studies maintain that consumers perceive largely the same risks in electronic compare to other services. Although internet is new to many ordinary shoppers, it has a great potential for marketing and online sales. Much has been researched before but because higher risks are associated with unknown situations, it is arguable if the online risks studied in earlier research are still similar with present issues being raised regarding online shopping experiences.

Discrimination of Irish Catholic Immigrants During the 1920’s Essay

Discrimination of Irish Catholic Immigrants During the 1920’s   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the 1920’s there were many controversial issues.   There was a concern about declining moral and ethical values, which led to restrictions such as prohibition for example.   The concern about these issues seemed most intense when they pertained to religion.   In situations like these it always seems necessary to place the blame somewhere.   One particular group on which this blame was emphasized happened to be the immigrants.   Irish Catholic immigrants were a main focus of discrimination in many ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fight for immigration restriction was fueled by America’s negative view of foreigners.   Protestants especially made it a point to link alcohol with Catholic Irish immigrants.   They were looked upon as immoral and corrupt because of this.   Prohibiting alcohol was an unsuccessful way of trying to counterattack not only the immorality in urban cities, but the immigrants who resided there as well.   This was yet another example of searching for an answer to the deterioration of morals and values.   In an effort to justify prohibition, it was said that Limitation upon individual freedom in matters affecting society is the price that any people must pay for the progress of its civilization.   Personal liberty cannot rightly be claimed for practices which militate against the welfare of others or the interest of the community as a whole.   (http://www.aihs.org.history.htm) The Ku Klux Klan, which was already an established organization increased in number when efforts to prevent and discourage Irish Catholic immigrants from practicing Catholicism were unsuccessful.   The Klan considered itself to be Pro-American, which directly meant anti catholic.... ...for the Irish Catholic immigrants as well as the others, â€Å"the old-stock drive for conformity and community represented attacks on their culture, religion and ethnicity.   Repeatedly their stake in American society, their right to be American citizens, was denied†Ã‚   (Dumenil, 248).   I agree that it was their right to become American citizens.   Discriminating against Irish Catholic immigrants was unjust, especially for the reason that there is no rational or justifiable way to discriminate against which people are allowed to immigrate and which are not. work cited: 1.   http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/racism.htm.   (7/1/98). 2.   http://www.aihs.org/History/history3.htm.   (6/1/98). 3.   http://www.aihs.org.history.htm.   (3/1/98). 4.   Lay, Shawn.   The Invisible Empire in the West.   Illinois.   1992. 5.   Dumenil, Lynn.   The Modern Temper.   New York.   1995.

The Great Ponds :: essays research papers

The Great Ponds The story begins with Olumba as the elected leader to help find the poachers from Aliokoro. The men of Aliokoro had started to claim some of Chiolu’s Ponds, therefore Olumba and his men had to act quickly. The plan was to capture some or all of the men of Aliokoro involved and the ransoms that they would be obliged to pay would help out the people of Chiolu. The man they had captured was Wago, the leopard killer and the greatest of all. He was a well-known man with an uncanny skill of hunting and as the chapters unfold he also has an uncanny skill of escaping. Okehi made the worst choice when he compromised to share the Pond Of Wagaba. They all had to prepare for a fearful night. The Pond Of Wagaba was to be guarded all through the day against poachers whilst Olumba and other braves were to work out details of strategy. Wago sent out spies to see if anyone was guarding the pond. Olumba’s men waited in the trees for the other tribe. When found Olumba made a signal like a jungle bird. The ambush began. Chiolu had lost four men but although they had won the fight they knew that Aliokoro would put up for another. The next day Ikechi went to visit to the ponds to inspect his fish traps, which by then were full of fish. As he was about to leave he heard a rustling in the bushes. The invaders started to chase him and as he looked behind him he thought he had saw Wago behind him with other men from Aliokoro. After this incident they evidently began to prepare for a battle as Olumba was giving out final instructions to his men. Unfortunately, the battle was not as prosperous as the first because Chiolu had lost. That same night, Olumba’s junior wife, also the mother of his only son was awakened by a loud bang, which made her sit upright only to find a wide gap where the door had once been. The next moment two figures had entered the room and before she was able to do anything her mouth was gagged and very soon the village of Chiolu was left behind. The next day dawned upon a miserable Chiolu. In the last battle several men had been killed while many more were injured. Four women were captured, two of which were very important to Olumba and Eze Diali. The Great Ponds :: essays research papers The Great Ponds The story begins with Olumba as the elected leader to help find the poachers from Aliokoro. The men of Aliokoro had started to claim some of Chiolu’s Ponds, therefore Olumba and his men had to act quickly. The plan was to capture some or all of the men of Aliokoro involved and the ransoms that they would be obliged to pay would help out the people of Chiolu. The man they had captured was Wago, the leopard killer and the greatest of all. He was a well-known man with an uncanny skill of hunting and as the chapters unfold he also has an uncanny skill of escaping. Okehi made the worst choice when he compromised to share the Pond Of Wagaba. They all had to prepare for a fearful night. The Pond Of Wagaba was to be guarded all through the day against poachers whilst Olumba and other braves were to work out details of strategy. Wago sent out spies to see if anyone was guarding the pond. Olumba’s men waited in the trees for the other tribe. When found Olumba made a signal like a jungle bird. The ambush began. Chiolu had lost four men but although they had won the fight they knew that Aliokoro would put up for another. The next day Ikechi went to visit to the ponds to inspect his fish traps, which by then were full of fish. As he was about to leave he heard a rustling in the bushes. The invaders started to chase him and as he looked behind him he thought he had saw Wago behind him with other men from Aliokoro. After this incident they evidently began to prepare for a battle as Olumba was giving out final instructions to his men. Unfortunately, the battle was not as prosperous as the first because Chiolu had lost. That same night, Olumba’s junior wife, also the mother of his only son was awakened by a loud bang, which made her sit upright only to find a wide gap where the door had once been. The next moment two figures had entered the room and before she was able to do anything her mouth was gagged and very soon the village of Chiolu was left behind. The next day dawned upon a miserable Chiolu. In the last battle several men had been killed while many more were injured. Four women were captured, two of which were very important to Olumba and Eze Diali.

Frank-n-Furter, Michel Dorsey/Dorothy Michels, and Dil: alternative mas

Frank-n-Furter, Michel Dorsey/Dorothy Michels, and Dil: alternative masculinities in film from the 70's to the 90's The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Tootsie (1982), and The Crying Game (1993) are united by their overt concern with sexuality and gender; particularly non-dominant gender and sexual identities. Dr. Frank-N-Furter, of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Michel Dorsey, of Tootsie, and Dil, of The Crying Game, challenge conventional masculinity, and, the latter two especially, expose gender roles as nothing more than performances or social constructs. In so doing, these protagonists propose alternative masculinities and male gender roles. The nature and the presentation of these alternative males has evolved from being alien, as in the early Rocky Horror Picture Show, to being an improvement on the masculine norm, as in Tootsie, to being a completely new form of masculinity within society, as in the recent Crying Game. This evolution demonstrates society’s gradual acceptance of the existence of alternative masculinities, from the seventies to the nineties. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is considered by many film scholars to be "the granddaddy" (Saunders 91) of cult films. As most cult movies appeal to our subversive instincts, our desire to see conventional morality trashed (Giannetti, Leach 252), the film provides an interesting point of departure for a study of the subversion of masculine norms. Throughout this film, Frank-n-Furter mercilessly assaults the straight world and its values, especially conventional masculinity, as represented by Brad, and finally seduces Brad into adopting his alternative masculinity. The opening scene foreshadows the fact that Brad’s conventional masculinity will be challenged late... ... The Crying Game, all challenge conventional male gender roles, and propose alternative ones. The latter two characters also expose gender as a social construct, and, in so doing, illustrate that gender roles are malleable, and not predetermined and fixed. While The Rocky Horror Picture Show presents an alternative form of masculinity in an alien being, and Tootsie’s alternative male turns out to be a reworking of the conventional male, in The Crying Game, the alternative male is just that, a real alternative to normative masculinity. Dil is not an alien, or a heterosexual actor, but is an actual transvestite, living among more or less conventional masculine types. This evolution in the presentation of alternative masculinities in film, from the seventies to the nineties, demonstrates society’s gradual acceptance of the existence of alternative forms of masculinity.

Humans and Parasites

Parasites and Humans: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? Introduction The definition of a parasite is: â€Å"an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment. † (Dictionary. com,2012) There are several kinds of parasitic relationships in the world. Mutualism is one of them. This occurs when each member of the association benefits the other. Can humans and parasites have a mutualistic relationship in medicine? Dating back to the B. C. era it has been believed that parasites, most commonly leeches and maggots, were the cure for various maladies.Leeches at one time were thought to cure everything from obesity to mental illness. In the early 20th century there was no longer a need for parasites with the medical and technological advances we were making. Their popularity has begun to grow since the 1980s and is seen more often in medical practice. Thesis Statement Some parasites, over the course of h istory, have proven to hold a symbiotic relationship with the human body in medical applications. Prior to the days that we think of as modern medicine, parasites were used for many things in medical practice. One example is leeches.The use of leeches in medicine started around 2,000 B. C. with the Greek and Roman physicians. During the medieval times they were very prevalent in the household medicine cabinets as they were used on a regular basis to treat many different ailments. (Jaffari, M. 2012) As modern medicine emerged parasites were viewed as a bad thing. Things we did not want inside us or around us. We discovered many ways to eradicate them from our bodies, thus also eradicating them from medicinal use. In more recent years testing is being done especially with the helminth (worm) species of parasites.These parasites are being used to treat medical conditions such as ulcerative colitis, vascular diseases and allergies, just to name a few, with very interesting results. Itâ €™s beginning to seem as if humans and parasites in some applications can benefit each other after all. The use of parasites to treat ailments has been around for centuries. It is thought to date back as far as the Stone Age. The first written reference of this was in a medical poem by Nicander of Colophon (185-135BC). This poem referenced leeching (bloodletting) in particular. It is believed that all ancient civilizations used bloodletting in their medical practice.In ancient Greece they believed in the Humoral Theory. This theory stated that the body was made up of four humors; these were blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile and you became ill because these humors were out of balance. The leeches were used to keep these humors in balance; thus, keeping the patient healthy. During the early nineteenth century in Europe it was not uncommon to find leeches in people’s medicine cabinets. The use of leeches during this time was very prevalent and they were believed to be almost a â€Å"cure all†. Bloodletting became so popular in Europe, that the commercial trade in leeches became a major industry.France during this era suffered such a shortage of leeches that they had to import 41. 5 million of the parasites. Due to the extremely high demand for this product, the medicinal leech almost became extinct in Europe. When the numbers being harvested from the wild became insufficient, some countries started the practice of leech farming. (El-Awady, 2003) Leeches were not the only parasite that received high acclaim for medical uses. The maggot has been known for its healing ability since the 16th century. In 1917, Dr. William S. Baer made an incredible observation while working as a physician during World War I.Two soldiers were brought into the hospital, both having compound fractures to their femurs and very large wounds to the abdomen. It was discovered that these two soldiers had been wounded in battle seven days prior but because of the ove r growth in the area the two men were over looked when the wounded were first recovered. At that time the mortality rate for people with compound fractures was as high as 85%, even with the best medical care. Despite the lack of food and water, being exposed to the elements during those seven days, and the severity of the wounds, the doctor found that the men had no fever, and there was no evidence of sepsis.When their clothing was removed the doctor discovered that the wounds were filled with blow fly maggots. The maggots were washed from the injuries to find that the exposed bone and tissue were in perfect condition. Cultures were taken with very few bacteria still present. Ten years later Dr. Baer would use this theory on four children with osteomyelitis which is a disease causing inflammation of the bone and bone marrow usually caused by reoccurring bacterial infections. (Dictionary. com, 2012) All four children had had several surgeries for this, all of which had failed to heal .The doctor obtained maggots from his neighborhood and trying to copy most of the conditions that he observed with the soldiers he attempted his experiment. He used no chemical antibiotics, no iodine to clean the area, surgery was done bare handed and using only water. This way if the wound healed it would be strictly due to the maggots. Dr. Baer continued his treatment of maggot therapy to find that in six weeks the wounds these children suffered from had healed completely. In the spring of 1929 more cases were submitted using this form of treatment with the same results. (Baer, 1931)During the early to middle 20th century the technological and medical advances we had made took the place of â€Å"medieval medicine† and along with it the use of parasites in medical practice. Maggots were removed from medicinal use in the 1930s. With the introduction of new antibiotics and better surgical techniques we found that we had a much better grasp of healing and inhibiting bacterial i nfections and we no longer required the use of maggots to heal open wounds. Although, in 1989 there were findings that maggot therapy was superior in certain cases to antibiotic therapy for eradicating a bacterial infection.The first modern clinical studies of maggot therapy were started at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Long Beach, CA, and at the University of California, Irvine. The results of these studies showed that the use of maggots today is still an effective and safe treatment for certain types of wounds. The reports also stated that there is no reason to use maggots as a last resort. There are published reports of a limb salvage rate of over 40% in pre-amputation maggot therapy. When this therapy was used even earlier in the course of treatment the results were even more dramatic. Sherman, 2010)   Leeches have always had their place in history as we have seen. Leech therapy was used up until the 1960s when it too was removed from medical practice. Bloodletting of sorts was taken over by modern day phlebotomy. So we again saw no need in using the old practices with the advances we had made. In the 1980s, leech therapy made a big comeback by plastic surgeons that used leeches to relieve venous congestion. If this congestion was not treated, the blood would clot and arteries that bring the blood and nourishments to the tissues would become plugged and the tissues would die.This is where the leech therapy would come in handy. Once they were applied to the site, the leeches sucked the excess blood, which helped to reduce the swelling in the tissues and promoted healing by allowing fresh, oxygenated blood to reach the area until normal circulation could be restored. The leeches also assisted in the healing by the secretion of an anticoagulant known as hirudin which would keep the blood in the area from clotting. The present day medical world is once more looking towards some parasites as very useful tools in certain areas of medical practice.The leech’s saliva contains a number of chemical compounds that are very useful in medicine. We already mentioned the anti-coagulant hirudin. This has been studied for use in helping to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The leech naturally secretes a local anesthetic that it uses when attaching to the host to avoid detection. This has proven helpful to lessen pain in some patients. Doctors and patients have seen the benefits of the vasodilator and a prostaglandin secreted by this parasite as it is known to reduce swelling in situations of inflammation.The leech’s gut harbors a bacterium known as Aeromonan hydrophila which aids in its digestion of ingested blood and produces an antibiotic that kills other bacteria that can cause tissue decomposition. The most present day uses for leech therapy are digital replants, skin grafting, hematomas, and some leeches are being raised specifically for pharmaceutical uses. Leech therapy is proving to be useful for a number of other co nditions including osteoarthritis, ophthalmology and dermatology.As with any treatment there can be side effects. Leeching is no exception. A few of the side effects associated with leech therapy include infection, excess blood loss that may require blood transfusion, and allergic reactions. Science has developed a â€Å"clean† leech which helps to lessen the number of bacterial infections. These are leeches specially raised to not carry the normal bacteria that regular leeches carry. As an alternative to real leeches, Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a mechanical leech.This invention mimics the action of the live leech allowing for fresh blood to flow through the wound. (El-Awady, 2003) Maggots have also found their niche in today’s medical world. These often thought of as â€Å"icky† parasites are used in some wound care applications. This therapy even has a name, maggot debridement therapy or MDT. Maggots are very efficient hea lers of wounds as we have seen. The reason for this is that the maggots eat only the dead tissues and leave the healthy, living tissues intact. They also excrete compounds which inhibit and may even kill bacteria.This is extremely useful in areas where there is poor blood supply; these areas are unable to benefit from antibiotic therapy as it is unable to reach the required area in high enough concentrations to do what was intended. The most common uses for maggots today are wound debridement and diabetic foot ulcers. The side effect patients are most at risk for is bacterial infections. As with the leeches scientists are able to raise â€Å"clean† maggots, lowering the number of infections. More recently added to the list of helpful parasites has been the hookworm.These parasites live in your gut and thrive on the nourishment that you take in. Hookworm infection is actually known to have a beneficial effect on health. There are published studies that show hookworms can lesse n or even cure allergies such as inflammatory bowel disease, food allergies and even asthma. The saliva that the worms produce changes the immune system and keeps your body from overreacting to the substances that cause the allergies. (Sifferlin, 2012) There are several uses for hook worms being studied presently.These are; ulcerative colitis, allergies and asthma control. Some of the outcomes have been very positive. Because the worms feed from the same nutrients that you are taking in the largest risk with hookworm infection is anemia. In third world countries this can be a devastating side effect but, in the western world there is less concern about this issue. Conclusion Parasitic mutualism occurs when each member of the association benefits the other. Our ancient ancestors seemed to have made good use of the human parasite relationship.As technology increased we turned from the â€Å"old way† of doing things and disregarded any use of parasites in medical practice. But, did our ancient ancestors know something that we are just now starting to grasp once again? With the testing we are seeing more recently it seems that it is possible for these creepy crawlies that make us feel so squeamish could be very helpful to us and our health. Even with the positive results of the use of parasites in medicine there are still many mysteries regarding the symbiotic relationship between parasite and man.

Human Resource Management Process1 Essay

The role of a Human Resource department is ever changing in today’s volatile business environment. Over the years HR have become strong strategic partners within an organization by providing functions such as recruitment, training and development and retention. Human Resource, in order to be strategic, works directly with all levels of management in an effort to help with strategy and the growth of the company to meet their vision. One very important aspect is talent acquisition. Having the right people in key roles within the organization is vital to the success and growth of any company. Performing this function includes job analysis, task and KSA statements, preparing job descriptions, recruiting, and then setting compensation. The entire process from job analysis to compensation is discussed as follows; Job analysis                      When a new job is created or a vacancy occurs, it is the role of a HR representative to fill that void. In order to perform this function they need to first understand what role they are trying fill is and what skills and responsibilities this new role would require. By conducting a job analysis they are able to further define important elements of any job and then search for the person or people that are the most qualified and would be a good fit for the company. Job analysis is the process of describing and recording aspects of jobs and stipulating the skills and other requirements necessary to perform the job. It refers to the process of Gathering and collecting information about responsibilities, duties, skills, the outcomes and the environment that influences working in a particular job field. The job analysis process will help the HR managers find the ideal candidate for the position. Task statement                      Task analysis is the process by which a task statement is derived. The task statement is the most important element of task analysis process because it provides a standardized, concise format to describe worker actions. It is a document that defines and describes the specific job to be performed by the candidate. The creation of these task statements may take considerable thought and insight. However, the rewards of conducting this due diligence before taking on the task of hiring a new employee, makes the process very simple and less stressful. Everything is clearly defined and above all, measurable in the future. KSA statement                      KSA statements are the job related knowledge, skills and abilities that an applicant must perform successfully in a certain position. It is a statement that helps employees in the process of identifying the employee who best fits in a particular field. KSA statements help hiring managers identify the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to successfully perform a specific job. Knowing the tasks that have to be performed, helps you to identify the KSA that the candidate must possess in order to perform to the companies standards and in return hire the right candidate. Job description                      Writing a job description is an important step in the human resource staffing plan. A job description typically outlines the necessary skills, training and education needed by a potential employee for a specified job. It provides an outline of what should be done by a particular employee in a specific position. It should give a brief overview of the role, how it relates to the organizational vision, a list of key responsibilities, requirements and qualifications.Once a job description is prepared, it can serve a basis for interviewing candidates, orienting a new employee and finally in the evaluation of overall job performance. By incorporating and utilizing job descriptions, an organization can better understand the experience and skill set needed to enhance the overall success of the company. Recruitment plan                      Once the Job analysis, Task statements, KSA statements and the job description are completed, the next step is to search for candidates. A complete recruitment plan identifies vacant positions in an organization that need to be filled so that so that an adequate job advertisement can be created and placed appropriately for a specific period of time. Most recruitment plans include searching both internally and externally from the organization. When organizations choose the right people for the job, these people are not only great performers with their job, but also tend to stay with the organization longer. Selection method                      The key to the selection process is to choose a strategy for screening candidates that will allow an organization to view the most qualified candidates for the vacant position. Employee selection process usually entails reviewing, screening, interviewing, testing then selecting the best available candidates for theavailable position. Organizations also make use of many outside agencies when completing the selection process. Drug screening and reference checks are often done by a third party. Many companies are beginning to incorporate assessment tests and activities into the selection process to insure additional training is not necessary for potential candidates. A selection method chosen by the organization should allow the selection panel of a company to pick the candidate that is most suited to fill the vacant position. Performance evaluation                      A performance evaluation is a review and discussion of an employee’s performance of assigned duties and responsibilities. Performance evaluations need to be in place to support decisions made by management and the HR department. The appraisal is based on results obtained by the employee in their job. These evaluations can also be used to teach as they may show areas that need improvement as well as provide backup for recognition of a job well done. It measures skills and accomplishments with reasonable accuracy and uniformity.The performance evaluations need to be structured and performed in a timely manner as well and managers need to be trained appropriately has to how to conduct these evaluations. Compensation plan                      Compensation is a systematic approach to proving monetary value to employees in exchange for work performed.Compensation may achieve several purposes assisting in recruitment, job performance, and job satisfaction. Job analysis can be used in compensation to identify or determine skill levels, compensable job factors, fiscal and supervisory responsibilities and required level of education which is related to salary level. Job descriptions are used as a tool for determining salary ranges.Many people associate compensation with money but when looking for a job, many compensation packages are designed with a package of products in mind. Due to the fact that compensation isn’t just about the dollar figure, compensation packages need to be discussed in great detail when hiring new employees.Overall compensation strategies have to be designed to meet the overall objectives of the organization. Would you change anything in your process at this point? No I wouldn’t change anything. This is because of the following reasons: I don’t think that I would change anything about my paper because I did do extensive research on a HR Receptionist position to determining the skills, qualifications and experience needed for this type of positions. There is a legal need to do a job analysis. Employers who wish to demonstrate that their selection processes are valid will need to start with the job analysis. There are also management reasons for doing the analysis. It yields an improved process for obtaining, retaining and managing organization’s work. Job description communicates the organization’s expectations to its employees. Conclusion                      In conclusion, we have discussed the importance of the job analysis process which includes task statement, KSA statement and job description. Job analysis is the procedure used to determine tasks, duties and responsibilities of each job, and identify knowledge, skills and abilities appropriate to perform the job.The job analysis process can render positive outcomes like increased profits, employee retention and reaching overall organizational goals when implemented successfully within an organization. We have also discussed importance of human resource department’s ability to recruit, select candidates appropriately and continue ongoing performance evaluations with the organization’s employees.An organization cannot build a good team of working professionals without good Human Resources. The key functions of the Human Resources Management team include recruiting people, training them, performance appraisals, motivating employees as well as workplace communication, workplace safety, and much more. As you can see, human resource plays a very big role in the foundation of an organization. Literature review on compensation                      Compensation can be defined as any rewards obtained by employees in return for their labor. Compensation can be divided into three aspects, that is; direct financial compensation, indirect financial compensation and non-financial compensation. Direct financial compensation consists of pay received in the form of wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions provided at regular intervals. Indirect financial compensation includes all financial rewards which are not included in direct compensation, and form part of the social contract between the employer and employee such as benefits, leaves, retirement plans, education and employee services. Non financial compensation refers to topics such as career development and advancement opportunities, opportunities for recognition as well as work environment and conditions. As much as many employees focus on direct financial compensation, it is the non-financial rewards that are more effective in the long term employee engagement. Job position covers the various duties such as interesting duties and responsibilities, autonomy, challenges, authority feeling of achievement, advancement opportunities and opportunities for recognition. Work environment focuses on; competent supervision, fun and effective co-workers, flexible scheduling, modified retirement and fair and consistent practices and policies. Scholarly review                      Levels of firms’ productivity widely depend on good compensation strategies. In small businesses, coordination between general resource management practices lacked, hence, diminished productivity levels. Besides, personnel related problems are arising as a result of unclear, outlined policies on human resource management and compensation in small businesses. Inadequate and inefficient management of human resources often adversely affects employee’s perception of equity, resulting in dissatisfaction, inadequate motivation, higher turnover and lower productivity (Tate, et al, 1982). Unlike small businesses, large businesses rely on a well organized, formal personnel development to ensure effective human resource management. There are various policies that aid in proper human resource management and increment of productivity levels. These policies are based on both wage payment and other fringe benefits. In order for these policies to effectively work, one need to enact proper maintenance practices which include; appropriate induction of an employee, conducting performances review, providing employee service and instituting governance. However, the surveys were done to come to a conclusion on the gap that was observed between ‘what could be’ and ‘what was’ (in terms of professional human resource management) might be caused by at least four factors; a lack of formal personnel management training, a lack of perception on the part of decision makers that productivity is improved by use of generally accepted human resource management practices, a lack of incentive because employers are family members or an inability to use human resource management practices effectively because of size and monetary constraints. Compensation can also be achieved through recognition of personnel. Recognition of personnel is done by considering the following; the length of service, above and beyond program, peer to peer, retirements and sales. Rewarding of the recognized personnel is done through; certification and or plaques, cash gifts, certification and company logo merchandise. Recognition is meant to; salute years of service, create a positive work environment, encourage high performance, foster a culture of recognition and raise personnel morale. Not all gestures succeed. Celebrating employees can also backfire, as far as the research conducted by Business Scholars at Harvard Business School. There were two reasons that emerged; first, â€Å"employees strategically gave the program improving timelines only when eligible for the reward, and call in sick to retain eligibility,† scholars explain. Secondly, â€Å"employees with perfect pre-program attendance or high productivity suffered 6.8% productivity decrease after program introduction, suggesting they were de-motivated by awards for good behavior they already exhibited.† Compensation related issues have called for relevant compensation plans and decisions in order to cater equally for personnel. There are various decisions that human resource management makes concerning compensation as highlighted below; Compensation decisions are essential in compensation strategies. Compensation of personnel depends on the market position (level of pay relative to competitors), internal versus external orientation, hierarchy (the pay structure and the basic-job versus skills-for the pay structure reward mix, and the basis of research performance versus seniority, groups versus individual and criteria used) (Lawler 1981). These are issues that determine decision of salary increment. Increasing list of decisions has raised doubts about the efficacy of a strategic perspective. It brings to mind the multiple facts of job satisfaction that made the constraint more complex than originally conceived (Heneman, 1985), hence, t is necessary to differentiate decision which are strategic from those that are not. Compensation decision making widely depends on the strategic policies as highlighted below; Competitiveness, whose degrees vary among various organizations and among occupations within them, from a strategic perspective, competitiveness refers to positioning a firm’s compensation relative to its competitors (Belcher, et al, 1987). It deals with total return trade off decision. Internal structure- the internal pay structure is a fundamental policy that requires strategic decisions. Typically it refers to the distribution of rates or internal pay differentials. (Simon, et al, 1987.) Decisions involved depend on the issue of pay, equity and slope of the hierarchies. Forms of pay- this is another policy that pertains the forms of the mix of various elements of total compensation (Heneman, et al, 1973). Decisions include the number of forms to offer, the degree to which each is contingent to employees maintaining their membership in the organization like entitlement, or performance like incentives, relative importance of each form and the proportion of the workforce eligible for each firm. Basis for increase-decisions based on the strategic policies involved in granting pay increase are also involved; they range from an emphasis on short versus long term incentives (Caroll, et al, 1987). Role in the human resource strategy- description of firm’s human resources strategies plays a very important role in decision making (Dyer, 1985). Administrative style- this process is used to administer compensation decision also referred to as strategic properties. It deals with issues such as employee participation, communication centralization and dispute resolutions mechanisms. Compensation planning and administration has various challenges which require efficient decision making criteria. These compensation related decisions are formulated to do away with disputes that may result from pre hiring pay, ongoing employment, legal compliance, equal pay out and fair labor standards acts. Conclusion                      From what we have seen in the scholarly articles, for one to improve business productivity, it is essential to have relevant compensation strategies to provide guidelines on personnel compensation. Many small businesses are characterized by inadequate and insufficient management of human resources which tend to affect employee’s perception of equity, resulting to dissatisfaction, inadequate motivation and lower productivity, hence, proper human resource management strategies are essential in building a well organized, formal, personnel department to ensure high productivity levels. Compensation can also be achieved through proper recognition of personnel by considering different aspects as highlighted in the articles above. Recognition is essential as it fosters work environment and also encourages high performance through appraisal of morale among the staff. In order to come up to a proper compensation plan, the human resource department needs to formulate clear policies and procedures to follow. These policies aid in decision making regarding various compensation incentives to personnel or employees. These decisions involve financial compensation which is in form of wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions, leaves, retirement plans and other employee services; non financial compensation decision on job positions and working environment related factors. In short, it is essential for a good human resource management to have relevant policies which are essential in identifying when and how to compensate personnel properly. References Amba-Rao, S. C. & Pendse, D. (1985). Human Resource Compensation and Maintenance Practices. American Journal of Small Business, 10(2), 19-29. Belcher, D., & Atchison, T. (1987). Compensation administration (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Caroll S. (1987). Business strategies and Compensation Systems. In D.B Balkin &L.R. Gomez Mgia, New Perspectives in Compensation, Pp 343- 355, Prentice Hall. Ellig, B. R. (1981), Compensation Elements: Market Phase Determines the Mix. Compensation Review. Third Quarter, 30-38. Freedman, S. (1978). Some Determinants of Compensation Decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 397-409. Heneman, H. G. (1985), Pay Satisfaction in K. M. Rowland & G. R. Ferns (eds), Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, vol 3, p 115-139. Lawler, E. E., III. 1981. Pay and organizational development. Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley. Simon, H. (1950). Public administration. New York: Knopf. Tate, J. 1957. Suggestions toward a reformulation of wage theory. Reprinted in Mahoney,1979. Thompson, K. (2014). Honoring Employees is Good Business. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 94(2), 26. Source document