Ethics and Problem Solving in Organizations - 1292 Words

Ethics and Problem Solving in Organizations I. Objective The objective of this study is to use a system of inquiry to examine the code of ethics of an organization and its effects to achieve a specific level of ethical behavior in employees, management, and executives. II. Introduction This work in writing examines the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia Code of Ethics and to determine the type of ethical system used by the firm. The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia specialized in providing healthcare to children. Various support services are provided by the hospital to assist families in problem solving and effectively coping with the challenges associated with caring for sick children. The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia is ranked nationally in 10 pediatric specialties and has a 459-bed childrens general facility and a reported 28,106 admissions in 2011 along with 17,648 outpatient surgeries. The emergency room of the hospital reports 85,690 visits in 2011. Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia is a teaching hospital. (US News Health, 2012, paraphrased) III. Code of Ethics The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia Code of Ethics states that the hospital is committed to adhering to the highest ethical standards in all [the hospitals] activities for the Hospital and its affiliates. (The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, 2012) The hospital reports that it strives to conduct its responsibilities in an honest manner vested with integrity and openness. (TheShow MoreRelatedThe Philosophy Of A Professional Foundation1260 Words   |  6 Pagesbecoming a successful citizen in your personal and professional life. My personal ethics have expanded off of the knowledge I have acquired through this class that I will carry with me for a lifetime. Foundations for Professionals has given me an enhanced perceptive on being a professional as I continue to pursue my degree in Child Protection and Juvenile Justice. 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What is Really Going on with Common App Essay Samples Option 4

What is Really Going on with Common App Essay Samples Option 4 Additionally, the subsequent Learning Network features pull together large interest pieces that produce good models for student writing. Students lead busy lives and frequently forget about an approaching deadline. They also have the option to select, I do not know which Visa I will hold. The New Fuss About Common App Essay Samples Option 4 If you wish to see her essay in context, have a look at this hyperlink. If you could tell the story equally as well without the name, it is better to do precisely that. Generally, the only time it's appropriate to mention a person's name in your essay is if it's critical to the information you're conveying. Two new essay options are added, and a number of the previous questions are revised. The topic of your essay doesn't need to be completely novel. Ensure you explain the reason why this topic is meaningful to you. This topic is full of possibilities. Share an essay on any subject of your selection. A thorough pre-submission process increases the possibilities your app won't fail. Switch around your responses, if you've got to. Along with collecting your personal demographic info, in addition, it collects every other portion of your application outlined within this blog post. You should choose whichever application best suits your personal circumstances just be sure that you submit just one of both of these applications to Northwestern. Most games provide maps, and a few of them obscure locations till they're visited. In some instances, you can provide users with that true map and decorate it together with landmarks. If you make an app for numerous devices, then you ought to provide users with a screenshot for each gadget. Take, as an example, an app such as Tinder where users swipe an unpredictable number of times to guarantee the reward of a possible match. The Hidden Secret of Common App Essay Samples Option 4 To get admitted into college, you've got to be real. Please note that a few of these college essay examples might be responding to prompts that are no longer being used. Where your private essay goes out to all the schools you apply to, supplements are targeted and just visit a single school. You're writing a college application essay, and you must know about your audience. If it comes to college admissions, you would like to win big. Some colleges or universities supply you with a list of essay questions but in many instances, you're going to be given the chance to think up a very good essay question and topic by yourself and then write about doing it. What You Can Do About Common App Essay Samples Option 4 Starting in the Next Ten Minutes The prompt gives you the opportunity to spell out the measures you'd taketo identify a solution. Our customer support will gladly tell you whether there are any special offers at the present time, in addition to make sure you are getting the very best service our company may deliver. There are a number of reasons why you must prefer our services. Another benefit of our website is the quickness. You might not always control the scenery, but you continue to be the driver! Explain your thought processlet the reader in your mind to realize how you tick. The way students react can provide you an excellent sense of the sort of community that resides there. Gossip, Deception and Common App Essay Samples Option 4 It's very valuable to take writing apart to be able to see just the way that it accomplishes its objectives. In humans, for example, the appendix is considered to be a vestigial structure. Very similar to previous decades, Recommender accounts will carry over, but the procedure is a little different from the procedure utilized by applicants. The procedure for your experience is extremely important. To completely explore that approach demands a feeling of itemization of the elements of a data dashboard. Include your decision-making procedure.

Diploma of Educational Institution and Management

Questions: 1.How can curriculum implementation be improved in your institution? AS a leader how will you involve teachers and students if at all in curriculum making? What criteria for selecting content do you feel are important?2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external recruiting. What techniques can administrators use to improve their recruiting and selection practices?3.Pete is the lead teacher of a five- teacher school teaching team. Recently he has noticed that Sarah, a teacher from across the hall has been dropping in in Linda, the reading teacher in Petes team, almost every fifth period to borrow something and chat a few minutes. Its only for a short time, but class noise and attention appear to be worsening. Others on the team seem to have some resentment of the minor intrusion. If you were Pete what would you have done? Answers: 1. Curriculum implementation is a holistic process in which teachers designs the course material in such a way that students gets an effective learning experience in an educational institution. Curriculum is considered to be the core element in the organization because it is beyond the scope of books and classrooms (Cambridge, 2017). It helps to shape a personality of an individual who will in future contribute in the society. Curriculum implementation requires a large funding capacity. The developing and under developing economy face a lot of funding issues as the number of teachers and students are more in comparison to the government aid provided. Also the major hindrance in curriculum implementation is lack of basic infrastructural facilities such as classrooms, library etc. Another problem in implementing the curriculum is the limited knowledge and training provided to the teachers because at the end they are the one who will adopt and teach the designed curriculum (Rusman, 2015 ). Even if the teachers are qualified lack of motivation in terms of providing low salary, poor working condition also affects the curriculum implementation. The content chosen for curriculum should follow a pragmatic approach so that it enables the learner to implement in their daily lives. The content selected should also enhance the skills of an individual and it should be designed in a dynamic way so that coming from different cultural background can relate to it. Also the topics which are included in the curriculum should be reviewed and updated on timely basis. It should also interest the students and they should not take learning experience as a burden. In order to improve the curriculum implementation all these factors are need to be addressed. Teachers are the one who understands the psychology of students so they should be asked about their suggestions that can be implemented and asking the students what all activities should be included in the school program (Alsubaie, 20 16). Taking the students feedback is very necessary as they are the ones who will be benefiting from these programs. It is not possible to hear every students vie so the educational institution should form students council who will hear the demands of the students and each representative will convey the demands of the students to be included in designing of the curriculum. Curriculum implementation should be a two way process because it will ultimately provide the benefit to the students and the teachers who are teaching the content (Jagersma, 2010). 2. Internal recruitment refers to the hiring process for the deserving candidate is been done within the organization. The major advantage of hiring internally is that it saves both time and money. In any educational institution the staff turnover is very high and recruiting can be a very costly process because it requires advertising on print and digital media and then selecting the right candidate whereas in internal recruitment the position for hiring can be posted on notice boards or on intranet server of the schools. It also reduces the training time because hiring someone within the organization knows the vision and mission of the institution and they are familiar with the teaching environment of the school. It also improves productivity of teachers as they work hard to move on promoted to a higher position. Also, rewarding and promoting internal staffs will boost their morale and ensure loyalty towards the organization. The disadvantage is that it limits the size if the candid ates for the position and they not necessarily be the deserving one for that position. Hiring from outside will open the doors for more skilled and qualified individuals in the organization (Ufoma, Ikeije Ekwoaba, 2015). External recruitment refers to a situation where deserving individuals are hired for the position in the organization. The major benefit of recruiting from outside give an institution an advantage of selecting the best from the large number of applicants. It also increase healthy competition among other teachers to perform effectively in comparison to the new hired individuals. The disadvantage being that it requires large resources to advertise, screen, interview and train the new individuals. It may also reduces the morale of other teachers as they feel that the institution doesnt believe in their capabilities and rely on outside sources for the position (Karthiga, Karthi Balaaishwarya, 2015). A poor recruitment and selection process often cost organization much in terms of resources and there are chances that the individual hired does not belongs to that situation. It can been seen many a times that the interviewer does not ask the right set of questions which can judge the capabilities of the interviewee. Designing and asking right set of question will help the interviewer to analyze whether the person fits on the position or not. The requirements of the position and criteria for selection should be clearly defined and candidates are shortlisted strictly in that basis. Apart from interviewing the management should test the teaching style of the candidate by asking them to give demo class of their subjects. The selection process should not include a handful of people because teaching is a very important profession and it molds the future of the individual (Yaseen, 2015). Students should also be allowed to judge the teaching style of the candidates because at the end they are the ones who will be learning. Also by including more professional and experienced teachers will help in hiring the deserving candidate for the position. There are many benefits of adapting right hiring and recruiting process as it will help to save time and resources and also allow management to hire the right candidate for the position. 3. The case discusses about the two teachers Sarah and Linda who has been involved in a casual chit chat in between the class. This results into disturbance among students and the discipline of the class also gets affected. Other teachers have also shown some serious concern regarding the behavior of these teachers. Being a teacher is a job of a great responsibility. They have the burden to shape the personality and future of the students by giving them a valuable learning experience. They have always been considered as an ideal example of Practice what you preach, which clearly highlights the importance of teachers behavior in the class room. Lead teachers are known for their level of skill and qualification they hold based on there and knowledge and experience. The role of a lead teacher has been defined as of the mentor and a guide who head or manage other teachers in order to be a catalyst for change in the institution. As a lead teacher it is my responsibility to keep a watch on the behavior and performance of my team teachers in front of the class, In case teachers are involved in any type of practices which are violating discipline of the class and is being a barrier in the learning experiences of the children should be taken care of immediately. But there are not always the impulsive or negative way to deal with such situations. The core purpose of taking actions against the teachers is not to insult or embarrass them but to change and improve their behavior. I will engage in one on one conversation with Linda. The thing which is to be kept in mind is that the discussion with Linda should happen in a confidential place where nobody overhear us and advice her to engage in the conversations in some free periods and not in the middle of the class. Ill be explaining the impact of her behavior on the staff and mainly students. The other step that can be taken is to address this issue in front of the entire team without naming Linda and Sarah because by revealing their identity the will feel guilty and insulted in front of the team. As a team leader I will be explaining the consequences of practicing such behavior. Along with this I will take the help of Sarahs team leader, who will make her understand the consequences of her inappropriate behavior. The main cause of concern is that the behavior of students are getting affected and they are not able to concentrate on their studies. This will not only affect the class of Linda and Sarah but other teachers classes will also get disturbed. The above mentioned two steps will give a warning to both of the teachers and they will be more alert and conscious for the next time. Even after this the teachers dont stop talking in the middle of the class, this should be reported to a higher authority. Though the mistake that have been made by both of the teachers are not very serious but still they can have have a significant impact on the s tudents. This issue can create a rift between Linda, Sarah and other teachers and may affect the learning environment. Students and teachers loose respect for the teachers who are involved in gossiping and wasting time of the class. It highlights the discipline issues faced by the students due to the careless and casual behavior of the teachers. The exchange of words between teachers should be related to exchange of ideas and practices related to improving of teaching experiences. As mentioned in the case study the chit chat results into noise in the class and there are chances to stop the noise and disturbance in the class the teachers will yell at the students (Quast, 2013). Most of the times Yelling has been seen as an effective way of maintaining disciplines of the class but it shows the ignorant attitude of teachers towards their students. It is an ineffective way in the long run, for stop these issues. Finding a solution of the problem is the most effective way to deal with cl assroom issues and the problem are teachers themselves. I would enlighten teachers with the fact that their behavior can cause a significant impact on the learning behavior of the students and it can affect their future (Karkami Rahimi, 2015). After my continuous warning if they dont stop then I have to raise this issue in front of the principal and other team heads which will affect their teaching careers (Quast, 2012). There is no harm in talking and exchange of ideas but sharing personal lives over workplace is. As a lead teacher it is my responsibility to encourage positive and meaningful conversations. Which will not only be beneficial and informative for all the teachers but also address the need for human communication. I would also ask Sarah and Linda the reason and basis of their conversation, if they have some serious issues and suggestions then it should be brought in the knowledge of management and so that timely actions can be taken to resolve the issues. The last thing is in order to discourage such activities among the teachers it is very important that I should set example by not practicing such behavior in front of the others, because teachers will look up to the head teachers for what behaviors are acceptable or not. As a head teacher I am responsible for motivating and promoting a healthy working environment for teachers, blaming the teachers will reflect the authoritative style of me which will increase negativity. In order to promote a positive work culture and learning environment it is very important that teachers should see me as an understanding colleague even then only they can listen to my concern and will act accordingly (LaCaze, McCormick Meyer, 2012). References Alsubaie, A.M. (2016) Curriculum Development: Teacher Involvement in Curriculum Development. Journal of Education and Practice. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1095725.pdf on 9 February 2017. Cambridge (2017) Implementing the curriculum with Cambridge A guide for school leaders. Cambridge International School, Cambridge. Retrieved from https://www.cie.org.uk/images/134557-implementing-the-curriculum-with-cambridge.pdf on 9 February 2017. Ekwoaba, O.J, Ikeije, U.U. Ufoma, N. (2015) The impact of recruitment and selection criteria on organization performance. Global Journal of Human Resource Management. Retrieved from https://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Impact-of-Recruitment-and-Selection-Criteria-on-Organizational-Performance.pdf on 9 February 2017. Jagersma, J. (2010) Empowering Students as Active Participants in Curriculum Design and Implementation. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED514196.pdf on 9 February 2017. Karkami, H.F. Rahimi, M. (2015) The role of teachers classroom discipline in their teaching effectiveness and students language learning motivation and achievement: A path method. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research. Retrieved from https://www.urmia.ac.ir/sites/www.urmia.ac.ir/files/Article4.pdf on 9 February 2017. Karthiga, G., Karthi, R. Balaishwarya, P. (2015) Recruitment and Selection Process. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications. Retrieved from https://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0415/ijsrp-p40133.pdf on 9 February 2017. LaCaze, O.D., McCormick, M.C. Meyer, L. (2012) Classroom Behavior and Management for Teachers. National Forum of Teacher Educationa; Journal. Retrieved from https://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/LaCaze%20Donna%20Odom,%20Classroom%20Behavior%20and%20Management%20for%20Teachers%20V22%20N2%202012.pdf on 9 February 2017. Myatt, M. (2012) 5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/02/22/5-keys-to-dealing-with-workplace-conflict/#7da0ce2e15a0 on 9 February 2017. Quast, L. (2012) 4 Ways To Improve Your Hiring Process. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2012/12/17/4-ways-to-improve-your-hiring-process/#73e40dbc2c5f on 9 February 2017. Quast, L. (2013) New Managers: 5 Ways To Stop Negative Office Gossip. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2013/10/14/new-managers-5-ways-to-stop-negative-office-gossip/#6bc2d2c1228d on 9 February 2017. Rusman, M. (2015) Curriculum Implementation at Elementary Schools A Study on Best Practices Done by Elementary School Teachers in Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating the Curriculum. Journal of Education and Practice. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1079108.pdf on 9 February 2017. Yaseen, A. (2015) Recruitment and Selection Process of Higher Education Sector and Its Impact on Organizational Outcomes. International Journal of Human Resource Studies. Retrieved from www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ijhrs/article/download/.../7248 on 9 February 2017.

Religious and Secular Terrorism Analyzing Differences and Points of Intersection

Introduction Terrorism is a methodical use of terror, particularly, as a method of compulsion. No unanimously approved, lawfully binding, criminal laws of the explanation of terrorism exist at present. Terrorism is commonly defined according to the violent actions done with the intention of creating fear/terror.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Religious and Secular Terrorism: Analyzing Differences and Points of Intersection specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These are committed for religious reasons, political causes, deliberately or in disregard of the protection of civilians. Today terrorism takes different shapes, and it is important to note that not all forms of terrorism are identical, as there are noteworthy disparities between two basic types of terrorist acts, which are religious and secular terrorism. In this paper, we will compare religious and secular terrorism from the perspective of their origins, aims and manifestations. We will also try to outline the border between religion and religious terrorism and analyze secular motives in religious terrorism. Despite the names of two kinds of terrorism draw a neat border between them, we will see that these two terrorism types have much in common and that these names can be considered somewhat generalizing. Religious Terrorism: Essence and Justification â€Å"Religious terrorism is terrorism by those whose motivations and aims have a predominant religious character or influence† (Stern, 2003). Religious terrorists find inspiration and justification for their actions in religious scriptures; committing terrorist acts is seen by them as their duty to God, and the acts themselves are viewed as the way to execute the God’s will (Al-Khattar, p.5). Most of the religiously convicted individuals who indulge themselves in acts of terrorism are always eager to attain a specific desired task. Religious terrorism attacks have been boos ted to some extent as a result of technological advancement. Religious terrorism can be articulated in two ways. The first one is where violence from politics through terrorism is applied in solving of religious problems. Whenever political pressure becomes more dominant, it normally causes a change towards the religious performances. The second form is where religious resolutions are applied towards politically related problems. These practices are total efforts for justification of terrorism. The activities are also performed for attraction and motivation of terrorists all way through religious expressions. A big share of terrorist acts committed in the World is associated with Islam; however, there is ground to state that the religious terrorist acts in the world are conducted by followers of different religions.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For example, in 1982, suicidal bombings related to terrorism attacks were experienced globally; in this episode, the Islamic groups were attributable to eight percent of the cases of terrorism that happened (Pape and Feldman, pp.202-203); this is not only limited to Muslims but also other believers from different religious doctrines. Diverse religions have various correspondences basically on how they should handle each other during disagreements. These disagreements to a certain extreme may facilitate terrorism activities amongst people. The guidelines on how individuals should perform their terrorism activities are based on divine writings. Different people in various countries have diverse means of interpreting spiritual inscriptions. This advantage helps in the justification of many conflicting perspectives. It has been a habit that people’s elucidation of the spiritual scripts is perverted. However terrorism activities are thus motivated on religious basis. Individuals have had their main interest bei ng what they can gain rather than the teachings they can give to fellow colleagues. This fault activity is shared, and therefore common among various individuals from different religious doctrines, for instance: Christians, Jews and even Muslims. This fault accentuates on personal achievements exceeding the interests of others. It’s nonetheless believed that having this kind of behavior is compensated. People’s exploitation on others in progression of their own egocentric concerns with pretext to religion promotes violence. Terrorism activities crop up from the acts of violence. These kinds of teachings are given to people in different religious canons. Whenever religion is taken beyond the boundary, then terrorism activities are highly boosted. Contemporarily, following the rejection of ideas for example the great rights of emperors and the augmentation of people’s patriotism, terrorism would regularly be linked to revolution, nihilism as well as activist affai rs of state. Conversely, ever since the 1980s, there has been a drastic rise in the terrorism activities provoked at large by religion. Secular Terrorism: Essence and Justification Considering the name of the phenomenon, secular terrorism does not have religious issues as a motive: secular terrorist acts have political background and political targets. Secular terrorism was used by a number of political leaders in the early centuries, for example, during the French revolution. In the nineteenth century, German as well as Italian main patriotic citizens also often practiced secular terrorism.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Religious and Secular Terrorism: Analyzing Differences and Points of Intersection specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In Russia, a group â€Å"Narodnaya Volya† (â€Å"People’s Will†) also performed a campaign that entailed a lot of terrorist activities (Cronin, p.123); the vi olent campaign of struggles and assassinations was meant to protest against dictatorship in Russia. These however emerged to be role models to some comparable groups that were formed such as Serbs before the First World War. Secular terrorism entails some widespread oratory names commonly called referring to the victims. For example ‘holy terror’ manifestos which is called to refer to the description of persons who are within the society of religious terrorists. â€Å"They are identified by such names to expose that they are being demeaned and also dehumanized. Some other dehumanizing terms include ‘infidels’, ‘dogs’, ‘children of Satan’ and mud people† (Hoffmann, p.89). They intentionally used these terms to disregard everything and offer a justification that terrorism is significant and thus considerable. These people also depict the fatalities as being worthless and not being a human being. This removes all the demarcatio ns against brutality as well as atrocities. Religious Terrorism versus Secular Terrorism The â€Å"religious motive versus secular motive† difference is the principal and the evident distinction between two discussed types of terrorism; however, it gives birth to a range of other differences. First and foremost, secular terrorism lacks a constituency: Religious and secular terrorists also differ in their constituencies. Whereas secular terrorists attempt to appeal to a constituency variously composed of actual and potential sympathizers, members of the communities they purport to ‘defend’ or the aggrieved people for whom they claim to speak for; religious terrorists are at once activists and constituents engaged in what they regard as a total war (Hoffman, 1998). They normally look for an appeal to their own constituency. As a result the self-controls on aggression which are inflicted on secular terrorism by the wish to call to a tacitly helpful constituency are not pertinent in religious terrorism. This characteristic accommodates all individuals including non-members of the terrorists within the religious faction. It not only permits but also boosts vast bloodshed activities among individuals. Since this kind of terrorism depends on the targets, this feature broadens up to all the different classes of objectives.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Considering the essence of religious terrorism, it is not unexpected that religious terrorists never want to see themselves as mechanisms in the organization significantly correlated to providing defense to the existing system, which is opposed to the secular terrorists. They however would want to consider themselves as foreign defenders on the lookout for elementary transformations in within the present array. This isolation feature is advantageous to the terrorist’s part. It helps them to demonstrate vast, disparaging and fatal kinds of terrorist operations. It also enables them to carry out more deadly operations as compared to secular terrorists. They moreover grip and explore all with the inclusion of unrestricted opponents for molestation. In religious terrorism, the concerned terrorists commence with performance and accomplishment of the assigned task (Rapoport, 1984). Since they are granted an immediate obligation, their first activity is violence and complete destruc tion. This directly proves that this type of terrorism is carried out magnificently and perfectly. It’s not also restricted by either political or ethical limitations that may affect the terrorists. This therefore justifies the presence of vast terrorism activities related to various religious doctrines. Secular terrorists always consider the antagonism and the violent behavior among themselves as proper means of initiating rectification towards a fault. This happens if the mistake that could have developed is being in-cooperated into the current system. This weakness is believed to be altered. They also consider violence as a way of stimulating the establishment of a latest move within the system. This acts as a great justification towards terrorism activities. As a whole, it is possible to state that the essence of violence and aggression is different in cases of religious and secular terrorism. For religious terrorism, aggression is predominantly a sacramental action, or c elestial responsibility carried out as a response to specific theological demands. Because of this, terrorist acts often assume transcendental aspects, while the executors are accordingly un-constrained by political, ethical and realistic restraints that could have effects on other terrorists. This leads us to another criterion that demonstrates the difference between religious and secular terrorism: the scale of harm and damage which is considered to be much smaller in case of secular terrorist acts: secular terrorism infrequently attempts haphazard killing on colossal scales since such approaches are inconsonant with goals that are politically oriented (Hoffman, p.89). Religious terrorism normally seeks to eliminate a largely defined class of opponents, and accordingly regards the large scale aggression, as ethically indispensable and as a measure to achieve certain objectives Religious Terrorism and Secular Issues It would be quite unreasonable to state that religion motives are the only component of such phenomenon as religious terrorism. Today it is quite difficult to define the border between secular and religious issues in religious terrorism, as sometimes terrorist acts have political aims, even more so political and religious issues may intersect in the confrontation, for example, like in case of Arabs and citizens of Israel. Besides, some scholars consider that one of the sources of modern religious terrorism is the so-called â€Å"McDonaldization† of the world, or the prevalence of capitalism: for example, Barber states that Jihad reactions are born by the World that is â€Å"too homogeneous and too interconnected† (Gilly and Gilinskiy, p.213); thus, relisious terrorism is â€Å"not then the culprit but rather the antidote to over capitalism† (ibid.). Religious Terrorism and Religion Now, when we have discussed secular motives in religious terrorism, it is possible to touch upon the relation between religious terrorism and relig ion itself. Many people wonder how come religion that is considered the source of belief, inspiration and happiness may bring such huge destructions and cause so much suffering. However, it is necessary to understand that there is a border between religions and religious terrorism, and these notions should not be confused or considered synonyms. The most â€Å"famous† cases of religious terrorism connected with Islam have contributed to the image of this religion as a â€Å"dangerous†, â€Å"aggressive† one, which is not reasonable. Terrorists whose actions are said to be initiated by the Islamic scriptures interpret these texts in a specific way which does not coincide with the way they are interpreted by the most population. The most famous and powerful Muslim leaders say that Islam is against any terrorist acts and call them â€Å"Satanic actions† (Al-Khattar, p.61). The responses of a survey by the Pew Research Center (cited in Gilly and Gilinskiy, p. 214) devoted to the question of whether suicide bombing is justified by Islam demonstrated that it is reasonable to consider Islam as a religious movement and Islamism as a terrorist movement as two separate issues. However, on the other hand, justification of Islamic terrorist acts is to some extent affected by the political issues: for example, Muslim citizens may in part justify terrorist acts against Israel as a country in the state of war against Arabs; correspondingly, they have also expressed some ideas of approval of acts against the USA emphasizing that the country in the struggle (Al-Khattar, p.61). At the same time, only the violence against the USA overseas the country is justified to some extent; the terrorist acts within the USA are not justified (p.62). Case Study: Buddhism and Religious Terrorism It is quite difficult for many people to imagine that Buddhism, the religion which associates with harmony and peacefulness, can be also a source of â€Å"inspiration† for religious terrorists. The doctrine called â€Å"ahisma†, which means â€Å"nonviolence†, teaches that Buddhism does not justify any kinds of terror (Juergensmeyer, p.113). However, history provides us with the examples of terrorist acts fulfilled by followers of Buddhism. Particularly, we can allude to the cases of terror fulfilled by Sinhalese activists in Sri Lanka. These cases are of particular interest, as they demonstrate how religious and non-religious matters fuse in terrorism. On the one hand, terrorist acts in Sri Lanka had secular background, as they were fulfilled under the conditions of the Civil War (1983-2009); on the other hand, the actions of terrorists are considered to have been fulfilled in the name of Buddha (p.114). The actions were supported by Buddhist monks and justified based on the ideas of Buddhism. Juergensmeyer (p.114) cites the opinion of a monk who participated in antigovernment actions; the monk alludes to the notion of â€Å"dukk ha†, which is â€Å"the age of suffering†, and says that during such periods, violence gives birth to the counter violence (ibid.). This response to political actions of the government is perceived by Buddhist terrorists as certain â€Å"karmic revenge† which is incarnated in the principle â€Å"†¦those who live by the sword die by the sword† (ibid.). Thus, this case became the precedent for other Buddhist countries, and the law of karma became the ground for justification of terrorist acts. Despite all religions say that killing stains a killer’s soul, Buddhists focus on a person who has been killed and on the merit that comes to him/her. Thus, we see that in many cases, religion does not stay aside from secular life and becomes the source of motives for terrorist acts, as well as the ground for their justification. Conclusion The main aspects differentiating religious and secular forms of terror can also be responsible in making religious typ es of terrorism a lot more dangerous. â€Å"When violence is a sacramental act rather than a tactic for achieving political goals, there are no moral limits to what might be done, and seemingly little chance for a negotiated settlement† (Hoffman, p.98). When hostilities are aimed at eliminating adversaries from the face of earth, genocides can easily erupt. Religious and secular terrorism has spartanly diverse discernments in their modes of operation and their vicious actions. In this case, secular terrorism considers aggression either as ways of bringing about the rectification of faults in systems that are essentially superior, or as a way of stimulating the formation of new systems. On the other hand, religious terrorism considers itself not as a constituent in a particular structure worth safeguarding, but as an outside component looking for basic alterations in a presented order. â€Å"This sense of alienation also enables the religious terrorist to contemplate far more destructive and deadly types of terrorist operations than secular terrorists, and indeed to embrace a far more open-ended category of ‘enemies’ for attack† (Hoffman, p.98). Therefore in differentiating the two types of terrorism, we can say religious terrorism could possibly harbor identifiable political objectives for negotiation, while secular terrorism probably makes use of religion to attain adherents or instigate immense enthusiasm. List of References Al-Khattar, A.M., 2003. Religion and Terrorism: an Interfaith Perspective. Westport (Connecticut); London: Praeger. Cronin, A. K., 2009. How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns. Princeton, NJ [etc.]: Princeton University Press. Gilly, T.A. and Gilinskiy, Y., 2009. The Ethics of Terrorism: Innovative Appropaches from an International Perspective. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas. Hoffman, B., 1998. Inside Terrorism. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Juergensmeyer, M , 2004. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pape, R.A. and Feldman, J.K., 2010. Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Rapoport, D., 1984. â€Å"Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions.†Ã‚  American Political Science Review 78 (3), pp. 659-667. Stern, J., 2003. Terror in The Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. New York: Ecco Publishers. This essay on Religious and Secular Terrorism: Analyzing Differences and Points of Intersection was written and submitted by user Vera Payne to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Essay on Criticism

Essay on Criticism Writing essays on criticism is not an easy task as those who are writing criticism essays have to develop a critical mind that should respond critically. In writing criticism essays, the writer should keep in mind that a criticism is not a negative judgement of writing. The writer of criticism essays should be neutral to the writing and should be able to analyze the writing in terms of its negativities as well as positivity. In terms of effective writing, the critical writing done by standard writers should be read thoroughly to analyze the way of their writing. If you analyze Alexander Pope essay on criticism, you will get a good idea of how to write a literary criticism essay. For writing an essay on criticism analysis, essay on criticism summary or essay on criticism sparknotes, all you have to do is to follow the steps as under: After reading the material on which you are going to write an essay on criticism, set down your ideas in a logical form. Note down on a sheet of paper how one idea will follow the other or how they are interconnected with each other. After noting down the ideas, make an outline. This means that headings are to made and noted in the proposed logical order. After setting the headings, fill the outline. Under each heading, the points to be dealt with are to be noted, so that the ideas are arranged in a format in terms of sketch of an essay about criticism. Your essay on criticism should has the beginnings and ends. The drafting that is done in form of outline should be given an introduction and a conclusion that you think suitable at this point. After making an outline, you should keep in mind that you have to convert each heading that you have set in your outline of essay on criticism into a full-fledged paragraph. Begin with an introduction which should be concise and should be able to introduce the topic of the essay about criticism. After reading the introduction of the essay about criticism, the reader should know what the essay on criticism is about. After writing an informative introduction, proceed towards the body of the essay on criticism. The body of essay on criticism usually consists of a number of paragraphs, each beginning with the topic fixed for it in the outline and expounding the topic of essays about criticism according to the details noted under the particular heading in the outline. The style should be natural and lucid. In developing the paragraph, the writer should pay attention to the words, phrases and sentences he/she is employing for writing essay on criticism. The last paragraph of the essay about criticism should be a sum up of the essay and should draw an inference. Â  Heres a list of the most popular criticism essay topics: Biblical Criticism Feminist Criticism Social Criticism in A Doll’s House Language, World in Western Literary Criticism Social Criticism in World Literature Social criticism in Oliver Twist The Great Gatsby and the Criticism of the American dream. Art Criticism and History Critism of O. Henry Frankenstein Criticism Ragtime Criticism My Antonia: Feminist Criticism and the American Dream Every Author Needs Criticism 1984 Literary Criticism If you think that you still have problem in writing essays on criticism, you can contact us and we will help you out in writing essays on criticism.

5 Tips for a Great Email Subject Line

5 Tips for a Great Email Subject Line 5 Tips for a Great Email Subject Line Writing a great marketing email or newsletter is one thing. Encouraging your subscribers to open said email is another thing entirely. As such, you need a great subject line. But how can you create a subject line that will boost open rates? Our top tips for a great email subject line include: Keep email subject lines short and simple (ideally, six to ten words). Tailor subject lines to suit your brand, audience and goals. Personalize each subject line using your customer information. Avoid words and phrases that trigger spam filters. Use A/B testing to refine your email subject lines. For more detail on optimizing your email subject lines, read on below. 1. Keep It Short The best email subject lines are usually short and simple. In fact, subject lines between six and ten words long generate the highest open rates. Thus, you need to set out what the email is about in clear, concise terms. Sometimes, this simply means getting straight to the point: Here, the subject line is simple, but it tells the recipient exactly what they need to know. And that is often enough! In other cases, you may need to tempt the recipient to open the email by setting out a time-limited offer or asking a question: Even in these â€Å"tempting† subject lines, though, a punchy message will usually work best. If nothing else, you risk losing part of the sentence with a long subject line. And if you do use a longer subject line, you will therefore need to front load the important information: In the email above, for example, the subject line was long enough that the browser did not display the whole message. But the most important detail – Save up to 75% on Weekly Sale – is right at the start, so the sender could be sure that all recipients would read this information. 2. Think About Your Audience and Goals No single â€Å"style† will suit every email. Instead, the best approach for each subject line will depend on your brand voice, audience and goals. The first two of these – brand voice and audience – go hand in hand. After all, your brand should reflect what your customers expect from your business. So, if you’re running an entertainment news website aimed at a young audience, you might pack your email subject lines with slang or emoji. But the same approach may not be appropriate for mailing an accountant’s client list. Dated slang is another hazard for try-hard accountants. Similarly, an email subject line should reflect your aims. Are you trying to convert new subscribers into customers? Remind existing customers of a deadline? Provide news about your business? In any case, think about how you can tailor the email subject line to help achieve your goal. 3. Personalize Each Subject Line Adding a personal touch to an email subject line can boost open rates. This may include any number of the following: The subscriber’s first name (e.g., the LinkedIn email above). Mentioning products or services that reflect the user’s past purchases. Sending a greeting or offer on the user’s birthday. Localizing emails based on a subscriber’s address. How you approach personalization will depend on your business and the information you have on your subscribers. But people are much more likely to open an email if they feel it was written for them. 4. Avoid the Spam Filters If your emails end up in the Spam folders of your subscribers, nobody will read them. So to stop this happening, you should try to avoid words and phrases that sound â€Å"spammy† in your subject lines. This does include some fairly obvious terms – a subject line that says EARN  £Ã‚ £Ã‚ £ FROM HOME TODAY!!! is not likely to get past any spam filters. But it can also include innocuous phrases such as â€Å"great deal† or â€Å"compare rates,† so make sure to check a list of spam trigger words. 5. Test Different Subject Lines Finally, A/B testing is a great way to refine your email subject lines over time. This involves sending two versions of the same subject line to different parts of your subscriber list and seeing which generates the best results. And these results are specific to your business. Thus – whatever other companies are doing and whatever the marketing blogs are saying – you will get to know exactly what your customers respond to, letting you target them more effectively.

Reading report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading report - Essay Example These fields are the information and communication field, and the health provider field. As far as these two fields are concerned, a concerted and fused background could be given in relation to the study that was undertaken, without having to give a separate background to the two fields of study. This is because, over the years, there has been great talk of the need to modernize the health sector to make it have its fair share of the technological advancements that are happening all around us (Gardener, 2009). Indeed, there have been both national and local sector reforms that have over the years ensured that health care delivery was improved and that the fulcrum of improved service was with the use of technology. If for nothing at all the digital health record system can be mentioned as a long term intervention that is being used by the health directorate to achieve improved results. There has also been the digitalization of database systems in the healthcare sector. These sector re forms indeed favor the position of IBM as an information and communication company to have a good business marriage with the health sector. The study was conducted following the qualitative method of research whereby the author made use of a lot of secondary data as compared to primary data. This is to means that the author, who also acted as the researcher of the study, did not have to depend on data coming directly from the field of study that were collected by the researcher. Rather, as part of the provisions of qualitative research, the researcher collected data from existing sources that could be trusted as reliable, authentic and empirical. To this effect, there could be several references made to people who have given different versions of accounts to how IBM strategized itself into become a global giant and surmounting the wind of economic turbulence that blew all across the globe. There exist several managerial implications of the current study. Most of these

Conflict management (case) Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Conflict management ( ) - Case Study Example Morris was the initiator of PFM, and since he was in Paris, he should have asked his French counterparts to be part of the project. This project was the one based on rearranging the present social network to be more French-like. Not inviting them was thus aggravating the conflict. The main issue was keeping significant information from the French who learned of this project through another source. In addition, Morris should have been present during the merger which was about to happen between Voila and America’s rival, Jardin (Osland et al, 2007). He should have been there to encourage and guide his team who were facing employment issues. There needed to be collaboration between Morris and his fellow team members: Drummond, and Hanover (Osland et al, 2007). He personally appointed them, so he was supposed to be physically present in Paris. This would in turn lead to a very close relationship between these leaders. As a result, communication, ideas and decision-making elements would be discussed between them; Cooperation between them would have avoided the conflict. In fact, maybe they would have to agree and arrive at common ground of applying the principles of both PFM and Nourriture Excellent (Osland et al, 2007). The conflict revolved between the two projects, with each side trying to kill the opponent’s side project (Osland et al, 2007). ... Full collaboration was required based on the fact that careers depended on it. Each party needed to recognize the role they played in the video conference break down and acknowledge the fact that each would take full responsibility of what they did. Another thing, which contributed to the conflict was the team members in Paris refused to acknowledge Drummond as a real team member (Osland et al, 2007). This was largely her fault because she did a lot of work, which did not involve the French. Drummond should have understood the meaning of the team and involve the Paris team. At the end of the day, they would not have felt left out in significant matters, and they would have involved her in the meetings she requested to be part. Being added to the investigative team sounded ridiculous to the French because at the time Voila members were not given any responsibilities. According to Osland et al (2007), Voila was never prepared to accept PFM. They showed this through their actions. Morri s and his American counterparts should have accepted this fact instead of trying to force the idea on them. This was based on the fact that the business idea would yield very good results. They should have known that the French could never accept any radical ideas no matter how good the results would be. Well, Hanover was able to realize this, and no wonder he was able to form an explanation of what happened, why it happened and finally the role each person played in the conflict (Osland et al, 2007). He should have gone a step ahead and state ideas of resolving the issue at hand and even apologize to voila company. However, it is ironical that even during the conflict period, business results from both parties were positive. In fact, it

Everest Report Essay Example for Free

Everest Report Essay Introduction Everest simulation is a group task program created by Harvard this program allows teams to gain new experiences in relation to group tasks. The Everest teams were given two opportunities to complete the simulation, during the two simulations team members learnt how to problem solve and make strong decisions to ensure the group and individual goals were met. This exercise is a valuable tool to learn as it places students in teamwork situation within professional organisations. The following report will examine both simulations outcome of results and the significant events which took place. Focusing on the group and individual’s experience based on the theory concepts attitudes, leadership and groups and teams. As the results were at a distance the report will look at the type of strategy’s adapted between  both attempts. As we did not have a clear leadership style and no clear communication within the first simulation this affected the overall confidence and support in achieving a higher group and individual score this report will discuss what type of leadership theory was approached during both simulations and the change of structure through the group experience. Preparation of Everest Simulation As the Everest simulation is a group based task we were formed into our numbered groups. Group 35 decided during the tutorial to take part in the first simulation through face to face contact, in this meeting were technical issues within the Wi-Fi system and we could not continue with the Everest climb. Some members suggested we continue at a later time through the Skype program. During this conclusion we had a few encounters as a few of the team members including myself were not familiar within the Skype program ,including the time chosen for first climb would not be suitable for group members external conditions. It had seemed we were facing a dilemma, we found ourselves problem solving even before the first Everest climb. As a group we problem solved to ensure we could support all members individual commitments with minimal conflict. It is imperative when forming a group task to ensure all group members are satisfied with the final decision according to (Lakein’s, 1973 cited in Macan, 1994) there were forms of time management descriptions were individuals confirm the importance of their personal needs and facing the task of prioritising these activities to ensure the goals are met and accomplished. This evidence suggests that most individuals preparing for a group task will prioritise and be committed to complete the Everest simulation1. Critical Analysis of Attitudes / groups and teams within Everest simulation 1and 2 Group experience and result: This first group reflection is based on the first Everest simulation which subsequently took place via a virtual mode of Skype, This virtual interaction gave the group a total group result/of 67 The attitudes of the team were very positive in building strong relationships with one another, this first simulation was at a forming stage and we moved into the storming  stage of adapting to each other’s behaviours and personality’s. Time management had become an issue as we were trying to contact a few Everest tem members who did not respond to the initial set time for virtual meeting after 45minutes after the initial start time. As there was a cultural diverse group of personality we found ourselves developing strategies within a social interaction, gaining respect for each individual member and personal commitments. As prior to commencement there were difficulties with computer problems during face to face meeting within the library. It is imperative as a group that consistency is vital to gain a more efficient and effective result in productiveness. Motivation and emotional factors of not knowing each other on a closer bases and the link of a virtual experience was a concern ( Baltes, 2002, cited in , Bordia, 1997) Demonstrates that studies have shown computer based teams are less satisfied and positive of those who meet in a face to face environment. As we all had no prior recognition of familiarisation w it one another this became a little difficult to conduct a virtual group task, As our score was a little low this may have been due to the unclear communication of a virtual experience at times as a group it was unclear to know if we would proceed due to messaging being transmitted and encoded with no clear construction. As stated by (Bos 2002 and Jensen, 2000 cited in Hertel, 2012) â€Å"Differences between computer-me diated and face-to-face teams for negotiation tasks have seldom been explored. It is usually recommended that negotiation and conflict management should rather be realized face-to-face than at a distance because they involve complex interaction and the need to build trust† As a group within the first simulation we had no clear discussion on the Everest group goals and what we initially would like from this experience prior to climb. Due to the external noises and distractions during the virtual simulation through Skype at times it seemed there was low level of satisfaction in completing the tasks in front, once the simulation was completed their was job satisfaction in completing a score of 67%. Everest Simulation 2 was completed as another form of meeting this time we wanted to build a better performance rate in the second simulation, we decided it may be more productive to meet in house face to face, this was probably the most suitable decision. At this stage were forming close  relationships and building trust as a group, getting to know the behaviours of one another. Our second team score was 96% this was a significant rise in results, the probability of a higher score may have come from the confidence we all gained in communicating as a team and not as individuals. There was a sense of inclusion and respect for all suggestions on how we would help all team members meet the goals of the summit climb more effectively and efficiently. This was not evident within the virtual simulation as we had no group structure or clear goals. Individual Experience and result: My individual experience and result of the first simulation within the Attitudes and group and team theory, I originally was very hesitant as I knew it was imperative to form a strong team ethic to ensure we succeeded in the tasks set out by the Everest simulation. Originally I have only ever been in face to face situations with group tasks; I was excited about a new challenge of virtual learning but at the same time not sure about how I could build trust through the comfort of technology. As an individual researched the job description of my position as the marathoner, this preparation was to ensure I could support my team members in the higher success of reaching the summit and meeting the group goals and individual goals set. During and before the climb we had no briefing regarding the Everest team goals and we just commenced the climb as a member of a team I know this is an important part of team building of relationships and discuss within your team. This can also affect the trust of a group and team and we are already reluctant to gain relationships with team members, I wondered whether this may have been due to the virtual experience I had been a part of as discussed by (Li 2004 cited in Brahm and Kunze, 2012) moderating the role of trust is more difficult in the virtual team thus can create trust attitudes and the relationship of team trust and team cohesiveness. My total result for the first Everest simulation was at 67% I feel this may have been due to the confusion on whether to speak up or just sit back and not interact with the group due to the lack of clear communication. The Everest simulation 2 was a much more positive and enjoyable task as an individual I was more confident with a face to face meeting, at one stage I was a natural leader by gaining the confidence in expressing my interest and advice in  having the next simulation meeting together. I suggested this may create a higher score for us as a team. As an individual I could relate to the flexibility of a virtual meeting but was hesitant in the process and the clear low result we may achieve. Speaking up and having voice was the start of feeling comfortable within my team environment, there may have been other team members who felt the same decision was necessary as stated by (Argyris, 1991 cited in Morrison, Wheeler-Smith, Kamdar 2011, pg. 183) â€Å"Group and team members often do not share their opinions, ideas, and concerns, and such an absence of voice can have serious negative implications for group performance†. As an individual going into a group task I feel it is important to have your say to benefit your team in success. My individual score of the second simulation was a result of 100% this high score I feel was from the result of strong decision making and problem solving within the group. We also had sufficient time between climbs to take our time and work through questioning every step we took as a group; I fe el my extroverted approach to this questioning assisted in the high individual score. In the end it is vital to have clear goals and achieve success through positive and effective construction within a team environment. Group Experience within Leadership Everest simulation one and the leadership dynamic through the virtual experience of Skype may have affected the initial role of the team leader and the response of no clear structure or coordination within the group. As our group existed to remain new to the first simulation we were still adapting to each other’s behaviours. As a leader it is imperative to gain confidence in building the relationships within your group, the team leader assigned seemed quite held back and not confident in becoming assertive within the decision making process, whether this was due to a virtual leadership role and difficulties familiarisation of a new group of people.. We as a group required a strong leader who could guide us all in our role for a successful climb. Our leader was more of a Laissez-faire style who generally was happy for all team members to come together and have freedom in the decision making process. At the beginning of the confusion in the virtual Everest climb our leader was introverted but was a supportive leader and happy for us to move when required. The group still had respect for the  authority of the leader as this member was still in form of legitimate power due to the job description and role within the Everest simulation. We all know the role we were required to play. Our group had quite a few natural leaders who were supportive with the knowledge of what was the next option. Put a quote in about importance of a strong clear confident leader; also talk about difficulties faced by leaders in virtual roles During the first climb there were a few scenarios were as a group we would problem solve wether to move on and leave the critically ill, I found myself waiting on the other end of disruptions from a clear answer from our team leader. In the end it felt more like a self-reflective answer from all members on their own individual goals. Individual experience and result: My individual experience of Everest simulation one was at first curious to see how leadership would be demonstrated through a virtual experience, as managing group or team in a work environment can have its challenges my initial thought was leading a team with no visual contact could affect the process. As we did not have a briefing or discuss the goals of the team I felt it was unorganised through the leadership process. I knew the role of the leader would have some advantage in ensuring we all meet our own individual goals and those of the Everest team as discussed by At times I feel l was a natural leader who assisted my team in achieving maximum success through supportive questions and answers. At the same time I was aware we were all team members from diverse cultural backgrounds, i respected this and showed respect for all my team members. Leadership was not as strong at the first simulation, but progressed over periods as we started to form a stronger group. As stated in our Team contract we referred to having a specific team leader but collaborated together in a final vote. Virtual teams can have difficulty in leading (Hertal udo,2005 pg 72) suggest that virtual experiences â€Å"by hand are feelings of isolation and decreased interpersonal contact, increased chances of misunderstandings and conflict escalation, and increased opportunities of role ambiguity and goal conflicts due to commitments to different work-units. Following from this quote it is evident from our second simulation of face to face interaction, we had a change in leadership style our leader demonstrated characteristics  in becoming a democratic leader, this assisted me in growing confidence to become more effective and efficient in meeting the individual and team goals and my leader became more engaged in the learning process. This may have also resulted in a final group result of 96% and my individual result of 100%. Due to the change in leadership we become a confidant ad trustworthy group with a sense of social glue. Leadership with social face to face interaction showed more qualities for a successful leader and team. Conclusion Based on the analysis of the two attempts of the Everest simulations it is recommended that as a group we remained more productive and efficient in meeting our goals through face to face collaboration. As our results varied remarkably amongst both simulations The Everest simulation is a wonderful learning device to gain improvement in new expertise utilised in the team and group environment of a workplace, ensuring group development throughout the process likewise evident in the significance of integrating the team contract and policies to track when members required assistance. References: 1:Baltes et al., 2002; Bordia, 1997; Hollingshead McGrath, 1995; Warkentin et al., 1997) page 86 cited in 2: Gersick, Connie J G. (1988). TIME AND TRANSITION IN WORK TEAMS TOWARD A NEW MODEL OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT. Academy of Management Journal. 31 (1), 9-41. http://search.proquest.com.wwwproxy0.library.unsw.edu.au/docview/199773909?accountid=12763 3: Hertel, Guido Geister, Susanne Konradt, Udo. (2005). managing virtual teams: A review of current empirical research. Human Resource Management Review. 15 (1), 69-95. 4: Morrison, Elizabeth Wolfe 1; Wheeler-Smith, Sara L. 1; Kamdar, Dishan 2. (January 2011.). Speaking Up in Groups: A Cross-Level Study of Group Voice Climate and Voice.[Article]. Journal of Applied Psychology 96 (1), 183-191. 5 .P. J. Lamberson and Scott E. Page. ( April 2012). Optimal Forecasting Groups. Management science. 58 (4), 805-810http://mansci.journal.informs.org/content/58/4/805.full.pdf+html 6.Macan, Therese Hoff. (June 1994). Time Management: Test of a Process Model. Journal of Applied Psychology.. 79 (3), 381-391. 7.Taiga Brahm, Florian Kunze, (2012) The role of trust climate in virtual teams, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 27 Iss: 6, pp.595 – 614 cited on 11/10/13 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17047848show=abstract HHAY, RATHTANA V, KLEINER, BRIAN H (2013). Effective communication in virtual teams Industrial Management/ Business source premier. 55 (4), 28-30. Cited 12/10/13

Rwanda Genocide Compared to Blood Done Sign My Name Essay -- literature

From April to July of 1994 terror struck Rwanda as Hutu members of the nation brutally maimed, raped, and killed around 800,000 Tutsi members, along with partial Hutu members. Leading up to the genocide, there was tension between both ethnicities. Over the decades, people of the Hutu ethnicity took power of the country, in fact, Major General Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, took office for over ten years (History.com Staff, 2009). Correspondingly, in years leading up to the Rwanda genocide, in another country called America, the ethnic group of Africa Americans was being harshly discriminated against. In the 1900s, slavery was no longer legal in the states; however, a few decades before the Rwanda genocide, Oxford, North Carolina took a toll against punitive decimation and homicide based on someone’s ethnic group. On May 11, 1970 (fourteen years before the Rwandan genocide), Henry â€Å"Dickie† Marrow was murdered by three white men who, at the time, were very well known men in Oxford. He was brutally beaten and shot before eventually dying while under medical care. Marrow was murdered strictly based on the color of his skin and the where he came from. Although the thirteen amendment was passed in the 1800s, (The Library Of Congress , 2014), it took over to a century for racial discrimination against African Americans to some to a slow. Unfortunately, in smaller areas, such as; Denton, North Carolina, there is still racial discrimination today. During this event, a white boy named Timothy Tyson was watching the events, he later grew up to write a book with stories from different people on what happened, to get the actual facts. The book is now called, Blood Done Sign My Name. The horror began in Rwanda when a plane carryi... ...cide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took over the country. This was a group of Tutsi who were from Uganda and were trained fighters (Rosenberg, 2014). This is into comparison with when the blacks won and the Teel’s where sent to trail and charged. Works Cited Armenian Youth Federation. (2014). Genocide in Rwanda. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from United Human Rights Council : http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm History.com Staff. (2009). History.com. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from The Rwandan Genocide : http://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide Rosenberg, J. (2014). A Short History of the Rwanda Genocide. Retrieved 2014, from Rwanda Genocide. The Library Of Congress . (2014, April 10). Primary Documents in American History . Retrieved April 30 , 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html Rwanda Genocide Compared to Blood Done Sign My Name Essay -- literature From April to July of 1994 terror struck Rwanda as Hutu members of the nation brutally maimed, raped, and killed around 800,000 Tutsi members, along with partial Hutu members. Leading up to the genocide, there was tension between both ethnicities. Over the decades, people of the Hutu ethnicity took power of the country, in fact, Major General Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, took office for over ten years (History.com Staff, 2009). Correspondingly, in years leading up to the Rwanda genocide, in another country called America, the ethnic group of Africa Americans was being harshly discriminated against. In the 1900s, slavery was no longer legal in the states; however, a few decades before the Rwanda genocide, Oxford, North Carolina took a toll against punitive decimation and homicide based on someone’s ethnic group. On May 11, 1970 (fourteen years before the Rwandan genocide), Henry â€Å"Dickie† Marrow was murdered by three white men who, at the time, were very well known men in Oxford. He was brutally beaten and shot before eventually dying while under medical care. Marrow was murdered strictly based on the color of his skin and the where he came from. Although the thirteen amendment was passed in the 1800s, (The Library Of Congress , 2014), it took over to a century for racial discrimination against African Americans to some to a slow. Unfortunately, in smaller areas, such as; Denton, North Carolina, there is still racial discrimination today. During this event, a white boy named Timothy Tyson was watching the events, he later grew up to write a book with stories from different people on what happened, to get the actual facts. The book is now called, Blood Done Sign My Name. The horror began in Rwanda when a plane carryi... ...cide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took over the country. This was a group of Tutsi who were from Uganda and were trained fighters (Rosenberg, 2014). This is into comparison with when the blacks won and the Teel’s where sent to trail and charged. Works Cited Armenian Youth Federation. (2014). Genocide in Rwanda. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from United Human Rights Council : http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm History.com Staff. (2009). History.com. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from The Rwandan Genocide : http://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide Rosenberg, J. (2014). A Short History of the Rwanda Genocide. Retrieved 2014, from Rwanda Genocide. The Library Of Congress . (2014, April 10). Primary Documents in American History . Retrieved April 30 , 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html

Evaluative Essay on fast food restaurants Essay

Walking into some fast food restaurants can be exciting. As soon as you walk in you start to smell their prize winning food, you can feel the heat that is coming from the grills that they use to make your favorite fast foods. You can see the whole restaurant just with one look, there is always people ready to help you order your meal and fast service. That’s the quality’s every fast food restaurant should have and Burger King has all those. Burger King has many competitions from McDonalds to any other small business fast food restaurants, but I can’t seem to like any other fast food restaurant than Burger King. Other fast food restaurants might taste good but still not as good as Burger King grilled whoppers. Many fast food restaurants have their own phrase of words that they like to use like Burger King has â€Å"Have it your way† and McDonalds has â€Å"i’m lovin’ it† first McDonalds phrase word is already spelled incorrectly and doesn’t make sense. Burger Kings â€Å"Have it your way† is true because you can have it your way when you order a whopper you can pick what you want on it. Not many fast food restaurants grill their hamburgers, but Burger King does. Each Whopper you buy has the grill marks on the meet you can’t find that in any other fast food restaurants, nothing in Burger Kings is micro waved everything is grilled and cooked. In McDonalds they microwave their food so you get a saggy hamburger that breaks up when you bite on it so instead of having food in your mouth you have it all over the table. When you order something from Burger Kings menu and you look at the picture on the menu you actually do get what you see on the menu and the size of the whopper that you see is really the way it does look when you get it. Not like McDonalds has a picture of a big hamburger but you actually get a small hamburger that doesn’t fill you up at all. If you like grilled whoppers Burger King is the choice for you, because you can â€Å"Have it your way†. From grilled whoppers to good tasting french fries and onion rings that have their own special sauce, that’s Burger king for you. If you decide to go with â€Å"i’m lovin’ it† that’s your choice because  there is really nothing to love.

Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay

1. Executive summary The organic food industry is suitable for business investments in both Sweden and Denmark due to several factors. First of all, efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions facilitate business and provide location advantages. Moreover, studying the business/industry culture can be used to gain insights in the business environment of Sweden/Denmark in the field of organic food. However, the complex natures of harvesting organic goods make it impossible to indicate the best location for production, as this depends on the particular product being produced. As a result, demand and supply across Sweden and Denmark are met by means of a widespread retail sector, intra-industry trade and export. Only by making an estimation of sectorial breakdown and its counterparts an (somewhat) informed investment decision can be made. Either way, it is evident that organic food industry as a whole has gained popularity due to several reasons. One example is that CSR profiles of firms have become an customary element in the product purchasing decision in recent times. It can be said that recent developments in technological- (information technology revolution) and political nature (subsidies) have contributed to this trend, documents playing an important role in particular. Since culture consists of documents and culture is more available to document analysis today it has been our choice in our data collection method. In turn, for data analysis we have made use of coding, series of events and semiotics. It is these that have allowed us to assess macroeconomic performance of Sweden and Denmark as well as its historical developments, socio-cultural conditions and the nature of competitiveness in the organic industry field. Despite the fact that Sweden and Denmark share many similarities in each one of these areas there are some differences. However, these are considered to be subtle and highly context-dependent. Therefore, we would also not like to answer our research question, ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ in this section, but hope that you will find an answer what is best for you in the pages of the remainder of this report. Ultimately, we will provide major findings of comparisons and recommendations, based on our views and experience gained during our research. It might be possible to ‘’tweak’’ this information in such a way in making it applicable for your particular business scenario or business plan. 2. Introduction This section is meant to state the goal, relevance and purpose of our Factbook. Furthermore, it will give rise to our lead question, being ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ To boot, we hope to achieve appraisal and recognition for our deliverables from whom ultimately might use and/or buy our Factbook. Like the CIA Factbook, our focus is on the industry. However, it is important to note that we have tried to achieve more than the already existing Factbooks, as they are often too comprehensive or lacking in value. We have tried to overcome the first problem by linking theory to application and writing about it. In this, our main challenge has been to take into account all aspects that somehow matter for the bottom line, the profitability of an investment project. Yet, since profitability is a relative term it might be better to speak of opportunity costs. This terminology is crucial to understand for correct business decision making to take place and also forms the backbone for our final recommendations in our Factbook. Moreover, Pugel (2009) has showed that many industries incur rising, rather than constant, marginal opportunity costs. For instance, efforts to expand Denmark/Sweden organic wheat production would fairly quickly run into rising costs caused by limits on (1) how much more land could be drawn into wheat production and how suitable this additional land would be for wheat production, (2) the availability of additional workers willing and suitable to work on the farms, and/or (3) the availability of seeds, fertilizers, and other material inputs. As for the second problem, we focus mostly on institutionalism and culture as they are lacking in other country Factbooks. Examples of institutions that can facilitate business in Sweden and Denmark are efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions, both being considered to be generally available location advantages (Verbeke 2010). Concerning culture, we are particularly interested in business/industry culture. This is based on logic that our analysis is mainly on the industry level. Furthermore, Hollensen (2008) has showed that business/industry culture of business behavior and ethics is similar across borders, i. e. expected to be the same for Sweden and Denmark. By learning about the industry culture the decision maker will be aware of important ‘rules of the game’ (Hollensen 2008). Concerning the purpose, this Factbook is meant to facilitate a document that will be considered important for decision makers, i. e. policy makers but especially business investors. From an investment perspective, several hierarchical modes (domestic-based sales representatives, mergers and acquisition, alliances, greenfield) are possible. However, retailer alliances and mergers and acquisition are most popular. To illustrate, in the case of Sweden retailer alliances control 90% of the food retail stores (http://www. snee. org/filer/papers/193. pdf). Furthermore, because the organic food market in Denmark and Sweden and Europe in general is rather fragmented, mergers provide benefits and interest to investors through economies of scale (http://www. nytimes. com/2011/05/24/business/global/24organic. html). Lastly, market growth, political support and complimentary resources in both Denmark and Sweden stimulate and attract business investors. These and other issues will be elaborated in the remainder of this report. All in all, we will provide the examiner with information of which we believe to be relevant for decision makers and can be used for deciding which company, or which industries of this company, to invest in. Hereby, we have tried to identify the major dimensions relevant to comparative country studies. These have been chosen carefully and matter for the organic food industry and a wide spectrum of business within this industry. In turn, these dimensions can be used to compare the countries Sweden and Denmark. Ultimately, the contents of this Factbook are meant to stay closely connected to the country set Sweden/Denmark and it’s organic food industry, yet still is general to the extent that it allows applying the information to a concrete business case. With the final product of our Factbook we hope to have provided the reader with a clear understanding of the conditional differences between Sweden and Denmark and as such an answer to our research question. Concerning the structure of the remainder of this paper, we will subsequently discuss: methods and frameworks, introduction to organic food sector, methods and frameworks, country comparison, major findings of comparison and recommendations and the bibliography. 3. Methods and frameworks 3. 1 Method for Factbook compilation As method for our Factbook compilation we have opted to first focus on the country and then on the region. It can be described as a region-based compilation (RBC) technique. For example, if you look at technology, technology is taking place in Eindhoven in The Netherlands and not in Delfzijl. If you are going to do something with energy then you end up in Delfzijl rather than in Eindhoven. However, making such a comparison for Sweden or Denmark in terms of organic food proves difficult. To explain, people that argue that organic food is simply being harvested on the most fertile agricultural land are likely to mix up terms. That is, fertility should be clearly set aside from productivity or even best land. Indeed, you can have a highly fertile area but deficient in its use do its limited crop sizes. Moreover, a certain area of agricultural land might be appropriate to harvest a particular organic product, but is less appropriate or least suitable for other organic products. Lastly, in general organic material levels go up as you go north. But productivity does not necessarily follow the same trend because the same shorter season and lower temperatures that helped build and maintain that organic material, limits growing seasons and crops growth. In order to prevent complexity we have decided to focus more on the retail sector of Sweden and Denmark than the production sector. The retail sector will include exports as over 70 percent of the exports of industrialized countries are shipped to other industrialized countries, and nearly half of total world trade is industrialized countries trading with each other (Pugel 2009). Sweden and Denmark are no exception, as they are known to have an established intra-industry trade relationship. Besides physical locations we also like to discuss official statistics as another compilation issue. The main issue is that official statistics often rely on incomplete information and therefore involve estimation. In our report we have made use of two types of estimation, sectorial breakdown and its counterparts. We have chosen to select these two types in order to facilitate the decision maker with a reflection opportunity of a wide variety of activities he/she might be interested in. Furthermore, in an attempt to ‘standardize’ statistics we will use figures of the Central Statistics Office (or a comparable source) as much as possible for both Denmark and Sweden. We believe it is advisable to use comparable or equal sources between the two countries as it strengthens the reliability of our research. Based on previous experience and narratives we believe the Central Statistics Office (also known as Central Statistics Bureau) is one of the most easily accessible and reliable sources to be found on the Internet. Furthermore, in order to prevent possible ambiguity we will use equal terminology for both countries as much as possible, including definitions of sectors and instrument categories. Moreover, we would like to briefly discuss the overall structure of the Factbook. First of all, the executive summary is meant to provide background information on the topic of organic food as an industry and can act as a quick-review guide of what the examiner is likely to expect in the report. In this, the executive summary contains several main ideas reflected in the report itself. Furthermore, the introduction discusses more distinct the Factbook and the underlying principles. Then, data collection and data analysis show arguments for the choices we have made in conducting our empirical research. As to the chapters that follow, these are simply a representation and a more in-depth analysis of what has been announced in the previous chapters and act as to share our findings in terms of describing legal, political, environmental, institutional and cultural dimensions. Lastly, we finalise our report by concluding with major findings of comparisons and recommendations. 3. 2 Prime theories and approaches There are different theories to be utilized for compiling this Factbook. One of the main drivers for organic farming is environmental reason, which are often associated with care for the environment. Moreover, it can be argued that the choice for buying ‘’organic’’ is also driven by social cultural reasoning, having this care for the environment being embedded as part of the culture. Indeed, this is mainly the case in the Western market where awareness towards environmental issues has risen in recent times. It is terms like corporate responsibility and sustainability that have become a part of the decision making process of Western consumers as to what to buy and to whom to buy it from. In this, environmental and socio-cultural values have become an important facet in the decision making process of the consumer in general, the organic food industry being no exemption. In an attempt to verify and examine these trends we will make use of theory of Schwartz (1999) combined with the theory of planned behaviour to determine if organic food consumption offers potential for business investment to take place. As we shall see later on, Schwartz his cultural values can be used to assess the main characteristics of the average Swedish and Danish inhabitant and how these assist in making inferences about core values, behaviour and its relation to the organic food industry. In order to find more specific similarities and differences we have made use of the framework as proposed by S. Ruiz de Maya et al. (2011), who offer us a theoretical approach to the organic food industry from the consumer side. It is this that provides us with socio-cultural factors and helping the investor to decide whether Sweden or Denmark is more ‘suitable’ to invest in, depending on a particular context. In addition, the PESTLE analysis will also be utilized in this report. It is important to note that we will not be focusing on the whole framework but on the political, social and legal factors provided. By examining the political factors we can determine how these influence the organic food industry. For instance, some administrations can be beneficial for the organic food industry. For instance, by stimulating farmers to dedicate more land for organic farming and usage of organic food in government institutions. However, in another term a different administration might not be so favourable to organic farming and food, which could lead to a different situation. For example, abolishing organic farming grants. As mentioned before, the social side of organic food consumption is important. Health and environmental issues have become more important for the general public. Furthermore, the investor should keep in mind that views concerning organic food can change. These factors can have an influence on the demand. Last aspect is the legal aspects. For example, determine the definition of organic food and who or how they uphold this standard. This factor is related to the political part of the PESTLE analysis. Legislation concerning organic food is important for the Factbook. There can be differences between Denmark and Sweden concerning organic food industry. 3. 3 Method for data collection and analysis. This section will discuss our chosen method for data collection and analysis. We will start by addressing the data collection technique, after which the data collection analysis approach will follow. First of all, it can be said that our study involves both qualitative research (a focus on text) and quantitative research (a focus on numbers). However, since institutionalism and culture are clearly more qualitative we have opted to focus on qualitative data collection techniques. In the end, we have made use of solely documents as a qualitative data collection technique. Although we would have liked to include interviews and fieldwork in our research, we experienced that it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to carry out these activities successfully. First, we could not find any suitable individuals or focus groups being knowledgeable about our subject. Second, we do not believe ourselves to be proficient enough in fieldwork as to ensure reliable and valid results. Moreover, the duration of the necessary fieldwork was also expected not to fit within the given timeframe set to create the Factbook. In either case, there are some advantages of using documents as opposed to interviews and fieldwork. For example, documents are relatively cheap and quick to access (Payne & Payne, 2004). It is usually much easier to obtain data from documents than from interviews or fieldwork. Also, if there are many documents on a subject, which we believe to hold true for our case, triangulation is possible to study developments over time. In terms of sources of data, our research is limited to secondary data only. Indeed, we did not make use of any unpublished data being gathered directly from people or organizations. Instead, we have made use of published books, webpages, newspaper articles and journal articles. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that these sources were able to provide us with sufficient empirical data for our research, especially with regard to culture related aspects. Concerning the latter, we would also like to refer to Altheide (1996), who said that documents are studied to understand culture. He has pointed out that a large part of culture consists of documents. Furthermore, he has showed that culture is more available to document analysis today because of the information technology revolution. (Altheide, 1996). Finally, in order to assess the quality of the documents used, we have made use of four criteria as proposed by Scott (1990): (1) authenticity, (2) credibility, (3) representativeness & (4) meaning. Concerning the method for data analysis, we have chosen to make use of several approaches for analyzing qualitative data. Probably the one being used the most is coding. We have chosen this approach primarily because it is one of the easiest ways to analyse qualitative data. In addition, it offers many advantages. For instance, it allows reducing the size of the data and is useful for retrieving, organizing, and speeding up the analysis (Miles & Humberman, 1994). Although this method has been used throughout the entire report, it has been particular helpful in our literature review on the organic food industry, as making use of buzzwords has helped in defining the scope of our research. Moreover, it was found helpful for the executive summary and the introduction, as these are more restricted in terms of length. Here coding has acted as an instrument to make distinctions between either ‘too detailed’ or ‘too general’ more easily. Another data analysis approach we have made use of is series of events. We have made use of this approach as we considered it to be helpful to compare relevant historical developments for our industry. Listing a series of events by chronological time periods and subsequently assigning events to categories has helped to identify similarities and differences over time. As such, it allows us to pinpoint more precisely when historical developments have been most evident and how it has changed the view of the industry. Due to its very nature this approach was utilized in the historical developments section of our report. Lastly, we have made use of semiotics, which is concerned with the meaning of signs and symbols. For business and management research, semiotics is most useful in marketing, management, consumer research and information systems. This is because in these segments, signs are very important. For example, form of brand names and logos are considered to be highly important. In our view semiotics also play an influential role in the organic food industry. Currently, there is some debate about the future growth of the organic food industry; it either being with brands or retailer private labels. It has been argued that large food retailers are taking advantage of the ‘organic’ brand without making any of the associated investment. While the industry has been built by certification agencies and pioneering brands, their presence in terms of logos and brands is diminishing in supermarkets and mainstream retailers (http://www. organicmonitor. com/r0811. htm). As such, investment scenario’s in the organic food industry are less clear-cut than in the past and require careful examination of conventions governing the use of signs and sign systems. In our report, semiotics has been found crucial to explain the socio-cultural and market/industry conditions more fully. 4. Introduction sector/industry In order to provide the examiner with an introduction of the organic food industry, general trends, definitions and boundaries will be discussed. To boot, the European organic food market has a total revenue of $24. 7 billion in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8. 9% between 2006 and 2010 based on research of DATAMONITOR (2010). The European organic food market grew by 6% in 2010 to reach a value of 24. 7 billion and it is predicted that in 2015 the European organic food market will be worth $36. 8 billion, an increase of 48. 8% since 2010. According to UNCTAD, organic agriculture is defined as a holistic production management whose primarily goal is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil, life, plants, animals and people. Moreover, According to Chen (2009) organic products are goods that respect the environment and that are manufactured without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, antibiotics or gene manipulation. By viewing the production side, organic producers should combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and application of high-animal welfare standards, providing higher quality products to respond to a certain consumers’ demand. Nowadays, the concern of Western society on how products may be profoundly harmful to the environment has led to a higher demand for organic products, sustainable business activities and stricter regulations from national governments (Gurau and Ranchod, 2005). Due to this increasing concern and higher demand in European countries, it can be argued that the organic food industry is becoming a more interesting and challenging sector for investors to invest in. Furthermore, organic food industry generates revenue as the second largest market within Europe and is continuously growing. However, some boundaries as to this sector do exist. Three main boundaries we found to be of importance are price premiums, quality and availability and time factor. Of these three, price premium is expected to be the most important. This is due to the fact that organic food more often than not requires another form of processing and is more difficult to conserve. Moreover, the costs of quality control are also expected to be higher as no pesticides are used as to protect large crops. As such, it is rational that the price is more expensive than conventional food products. In effect, consumers with lack of knowledge will reconsider buying organic products because of this simple fact. Considering quality of the organic products, consumers believe that by charging a higher price this is equivalent to a higher quality. This view is based on the rationale of human beings, sometimes depicted in phrases such as ‘pay more, get more’. Whilst this ‘rule’ not always holds true, our (inner) convictions and background study has verified that this is in fact the case in the organic food industry. An example of the organic food retail sector is that high priced restaurants tend to favour organic (natural) ingredients. Based on the above, the organic products will meet consumers’ expectation by providing the products above the conventional product’s standards, with a price tag to match its difference in quality. The last constraint we would like to discuss is availability and time factor. The availability of organic products do not vary as much as that of conventional products. As organic products are often less well exposed, they are more difficult to find in stores. This is an important consideration and largely influences issues such as sales expectations, storage costs and risk of decay. Furthermore, in the following part we will discuss and analyse how the conditions of organic food provide the investor with a broader view of the organic food industry. In this, we will consider four conditions as factors being relevant for organic food: political-, cultural-, legal- and labor systems. 5. Country comparison 5. 1 Macro-economic indicators A country comparison on macro-economic indicators can be considered to be beneficial for decision makers as it gives them food for thought on the expected macroeconomic performance of that country, i. e. the behavior of a country’s output, jobs, and prices in the organic food industry in the face of changing world conditions. This judgment call about performance is basically what drives most macro-economic analysis. It can be used to assess issues such as how well a country’s economy is performing and how close it is to achieving broad desirable objectives, such as stability in average product prices (no inflation) and low unemployment (Pugel 2009). The most relevant macro-economic indicators for the organic food industry are considered to be economic indicators and financial indicators. Demographic indicators do not seem important to us as research has shown that gender or age does not have any significant effect on whether people decide to buy organic food or not (http://newhope360. com/organic-consumers-share-values-not-demographics). In order to ensure reliability we have chosen to attain all figures of these indicators from one source, namely De Grote Bosatlas (2002). Fig. 1 STATISTIEK EUROPA (part 1) Fig 2. STASTIEK EUROPA (PART 2) From figure 1 we can infer that Denmark had a higher agricultural contribution in terms of percentage towards the GDP. Moreover, Denmark has a substantial higher percentage of agricultural grounds (62. 4% versus 7. 9%) Furthermore, Denmark has a higher contribution to GDP per capita. Besides, inhabitants from Denmark are slightly wealthier than those in Sweden, when looking at GDP. Lastly, Denmarks development of the GDP in 1990-1999 has risen more than was the case for Sweden. Then, from figure 2, we can infer that Denmark has a stronger economy than Sweden, but only by a small margin. Furthermore, inflation rate for Denmark is lower, yet also again only by a small margin. Moreover, Denmark has more government spending in terms of percentage of GDP. Concerning education, Denmark spends more in terms of percentage of GDP. Besides, Denmark inhabitants generally enjoy a higher purchasing power than is the case for Swedish inhabitants. It also shows that more Danish people are working in both the agricultural and industrial sector than Sweden, these tend to work more in the service sector. Lastly, Denmark has a lower percentage of the work force being unemployed. From this preliminary analysis we can infer that in terms of economic indicators investments in Denmark are likely to require a higher yield on an investment than were the case of Sweden. This assumption is made based on the simple fact that as for many elements Denmark performs better than Sweden on compared elements. The same holds true in terms of financial indicators. Although the data may be easily said to be ‘outdated’, we believe this is not quite the case. That is, our analysis on historical development has not provide any conclusive evidence as to not believe that the relationship of these economical and financial figures to be that much different as they are today. Yet, since we do not know when the actual investment is to take place it is always advisable to check the results of a more recent research. Although we would have loved to use a more recent version of De Grote Bosatlas ourselves, we could not find ourselves in the position to get access to one during the course of this research. Luckily, we were able to find a recent figure for gross domestic expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP that verified our assumption. [pic] From the figure above it can be concluded that Denmark spends between 1. 01% and 2. 00% of its GDP on R&D activities. Sweden on the other hand spends a little more with 2. 01% and above. This corresponds with our financial records of the Grote Bosatlas, where government spending in Sweden was higher than that of Denmark in general. Furthermore, since the R&D expenditures on R&D as a percentage of GDP are larger than that of most other parts of the world, we expect no real problems for investors in this area. Background information as to why Sweden and Denmark support expenditures on the organic food industry is discussed extensively in both the chapters about socio-cultural conditions and market/industry conditions. 5. 2 Historical developments relevant for the industry. The issues with the environment have many different facets. These range; from deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution and many others (EBS 295, 2008). The attitude concerning these issues by the general public can change over time. Values change over time and this applies for the public perception of organic food as well. Likewise, one could say that the organic food industry is driven in a sense of improving and protecting the environment. In addition, consumers also attitude towards the environment also contribute in how they value organic food. Furthermore, not only concern for the environment but also growing awareness by the general public concerning their food and the production involved. These issues related to food production range from; health, food safety and animal welfare. (Sippo manual, 2011) The origins for organic farming in both countries are similar. In the same manner consumers started become more aware of the environment. Farmers also become more aware and began with organic farming. Both countries have had organic farming since early eighties in the general concept of the term organic farming. If we take into account the establishment of organizations concerning organic food then Denmark was a few years earlier with the founding of Danish Association of Organic Farmers in 1981. The Swedish counter part is called the Ecological Farmers Association, which was founded in 1985. Both organizations are private initiatives of organic farmers organizing themselves. (http://www. fao. org) Since the 1990’s the governments of both Denmark and Sweden have introduced various regulations concerning the organic food industry. These regulations include assigning certificates that label products as organic. In addition, the European Union also implemented regulations concerning the organic food industry. Likewise, the organizations that control and label organic foods also found their origins in late eighties early nineties. In Denmark the first organic food legislation was implemented in 1987. The government assigns the O logo to organic food. (www. fvm. dk). This state approved logo is only given to products that are conforming to the standards of â€Å"organic† as stated by Danish regulations. In addition, in Denmark only state approved farms may carry the â€Å"organic† label. In Sweden the organization that is tasked with the certification of organic food is called KRAV. Founded in 1985, this organization was formed from the Ecological Farmers Organization in order to standardize the various interpretations of the term â€Å"organic farming† and bring both farmers and food producers together. (Gunnar Rundgren, 2002) However, it should be noted that the KRAV organization is a non-governmental organization. While, it’s Danish counterpart is part of the Ministry of Agriculture. 5. 3 Socio-cultural conditions Cultural systems From the point of view of the investor, it is important to know the differences and similarities between the two countries Denmark and Sweden. In this section, we will focus on this in terms of cultural assessment. In order to describe the cultural systems of both Denmark and Sweden we have made use of five cultural dimensions as proposed by Schwartz (1999): harmony, egalitarianism, effective autonomy, mastery, and conservatism. It is these cultural dimensions that will help to describe each countries culture and detect any important similarities and differences. The cultural values focus in the article of Schwartz is on the national culture. The national culture being introduced for heterogeneous nations refers primarily to the value culture of the dominant, majority group. In this case, Schwartz tries to interpret the value priorities that characterize a society by aggregating the value priorities of individuals (e. g. Hofstede’s framework). It is depicted that individual value priorities are a product of both shared culture and unique personal experience. Moreover, Schwartz has placed his list of researched countries into different segments (clusters). Denmark and Sweden put in the first group (cluster), Finland and Italy in another, Spain as a third group and Germany, Greece and the United Kingdom in a fourth group.