The Societal Effects of Totalitarian Control in 1984

The main goal of Totalitarian government is to limit and regulate every aspect of public and private life. George Orwell’s novel, 1984, illustrates a society lacking in freedom and expression. His fictional society in 1984 stands as a metaphor for a Totalitarian society. Communication, personal beliefs, and national loyalty are controlled by the inner party which governs the people of Oceania in order to keep society from rebelling. Oceania, where main character Winston Smith lives, is ruled by the INGSOC. The Inner Party, controlled by Big Brother, dictates several aspects of the people’s life. The Inner Party’s aim was to make any other alternative thinking a â€Å"thought crime† or â€Å"crime think† . The Inner Party only allows words that empower or respect the Inner Party and Big Brother. An example of the control the Inner Party has over the people is found in Syme’s dialogue on page 46, â€Å"It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words†¦You haven’t a real appreciation for , Winston†¦Don’t you see the whole aim of is to narrow the range of thought? † As a society, Oceania has been brainwashed to use only words or phrases that empower and respect INGSOC . Syme, who rewrites the dictionary using and erases oldspeak, understands the purpose and follows the rules because he has been trained. The overall concept of is designed to control personal beliefs of the citizens by limiting their form of expression. Controlling the communication fits with the Totalitarian aspects of governing. During the Cold War, communication was stifled between America and the Soviet Union. George Orwell envisioned the lack of communication could possibly result to total dominance and control of the people. The concept of also controls the personal beliefs of the citizens and promotes Totalitarianism by limiting the form of expression. The citizens of Oceania were forced to work long days which limited self expression because they were too tired to do anything else. For example, the citizens had to wake up and do â€Å"physical jerks† and had to work long hours for their government jobsThrough and Thought Police, the Totalitarian system of government in 1984 prevents the people from even thinking against the government and having personal beliefs. Surveillance is placed on the people and they are forced to comply. Early in the novel we see â€Å"it was conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. † (6) In chapter two, Winston can hardly remember his childhood because he was been warped and controlled by Big Brother. For example, in 1984 every household is equipped with a giant television that is constantly playing propaganda. The â€Å"telescreens† also supervise the behaviors and were there to constantly remind the citizens that â€Å"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING†. Newspapers and media are censored to keep the government seemingly victorious. During the Cold War, forms of literature were heavily censored by the Soviet Union and by the United States to prevent military information from falling into the wrong hands. During the Cold War, the German Democratic Republic in East Germany tried to force Communism on as many people as possible by completely enclosing the city of West Berlin for more than a quarter century. The Berlin Wall, constructed in 1961, served as a physical barrier and furthermore hindered European‘s freedom of self expression because the people did not have the freedom to do what they wanted. George Orwell saw this was happening and magnified the possibility of an over controlling government and presented this to the extreme in the novel 1984. The ultimate strength of the Totalitarian society is presented at the end of the novel when Winston Smith submits to Big Brother by means of torture in Room 101. (212) The Inner Party did not care about the well being of Winston. All Big Brother wanted was loyal citizens. If a citizen did not follow accordingly; they would be â€Å"vaporized†. We see a change in Winston as a result from the pressing Totalitarian government. Throughout the novel, Winston was against his government. For example, he kept a diary, made love to Julia, and conspired against the government with O’brian. However, at the end he has become â€Å"fixed† to support and love his leader through learning, understanding, and accepting. (232) By the end of the novel, Winston does not even feel anything for Julia. He now understands the smile Big Brother always wears. â€Å"He had finally won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother. † (245) The government of Oceania has gone to great lengths to change Winston, and as always, they got a oppressed loyal follower . Orwell wanted to warn society of the effects of an strict overbearing government. According to Orwell, the Totalitarian approach of government will not bow down to any one and will eventually dominate who ever gets in its path. America attempted to stop the spread of Communism through agreements and compromises. For example, the National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) was a report issued by the United States National Security Council on April 14, 1950. President Truman signed the document to emphasize military over diplomatic action to defend the Western Hemisphere from the Soviets. 1984 was written in 1949 and represented George Orwell’s interpretation of a possible society in the near future. During the 1950’s, the Soviets painted a Communist utopian society where everyone was equal, despite financial status or background. For example, Carl Marx wanted to improve the condition of every member of society without distinction of class. However, Orwell wanted us to realize a society under Communist control was far from a perfect utopia; Orwell referred to it as a dystopia. Successfully, 1984 exposed the lifestyle and tradition of a Totalitarian government. Totalitarian politics will dominate communication, personal beliefs, and national loyalty despite the equal utopia appeal created by the Communists. Works Cited Edgar R. Robert, Neil J. Hackett, George F. Jewsbury, Barbara Molony, and Mathew S. Gordon. Civilizations Past and Present. Vol. 2: from 1300. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. Print. Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Harcourt Inc, 1950. Print. Seppala, Tuna. â€Å"War, Media, and International System: Propaganda and Censorship in the Image Wars- Constructing and Maintaining the Hierarhical International System† Presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Associations, Hilton Hawaiin Village, Honolulu, Hawaii. 5 March 2005 http://www. allacademic. com/meta/p70248_index. html.

Sumo Wrestling

Sumo wrestling is one of the oldest forms of martial arts in Japan, and it is still a major sport that is popular with both men and women there. In ancient times, sumo contests were held only in the courtyards of Shinto shrines as a religious ritual performed for the gods to encourage them to grant a good harvest. Ritual is, therefore, an important part of the sport. Before each match, contestants sprinkle salt on the ring and rinse their mouths in a ritual purification. Nowadays, sumo wrestling contests are held in gymnasiums, Convention centers and Stadiums. At first glance, sumo wrestling seems to be a strange sport with big, fat wrestlers wearing diaper-like aprons, shoving each other inside a tiny ring. Contrary to its appearance, sumo wrestling is a sport that requires not only strength, but also speed and agility, which heavy-set people usually do not possess. The wrestlers try to push each other out of the ring or down on the floor. Before actual physical contact, the wrestlers will stare at each other for minutes to break the concentration of the Opponent. The fight usually lasts for only a few seconds but sometimes it can go on for two to three minutes. The objective of a sumo bout, however, is not to injure the Opponent, but to simply eject the other man from the arena, or cause some part of the body other than his feet – or even a fingertip – to touch the floor. In fact, if some blood spots the floor of the ring during a match, the bout has to stop until every trace of blood has been meticulouslv removed. The size of the wrestler is also important. The heavier the wrestler, the lower his center of gravity, and thus the harder to toss him out of the ring. In order to put on weight and build up body mass, sumo wrestlers eat a large amount of food including a high-protein stew, and they go to bed right after eating. The heaviest sumo wrestler on record was 225 kilograms. Despite their large size and heavy weight, sumo wrestlers are well-trained athletes. They live in special sumo stables, following extremely strict rules and besides having their physical workouts, they have to complete other necessary chores. The wrestlers practise a lifestyle that is completely dedicated to the sport. To them, sumo is not only a sport; it is a whole way of life. This positive dedication has encouraged the Japanese to adopt them as role modeis. Hierarchy is a central aspect of sumo wrestling. Rankings depend on winning records. A sumo wrestler's ranking depends solely on the number of matches he wins during official tournaments. The more matches a wrestler wins, the quicker he can move up the rankings. Once a wrestler moves up to the top rank, he is not supposed to lose at all. He is expected to retire if he is unable to maintain his winning record. In fact, if a grand champion's losses outnumber his wins during the course of these tournaments, he will fall from the top ranks and will be expected to retire like the rest. Today's professional sumo wrestling has its roots in the Edo period. The wrestlers during this period were mainly samurais who needed an alternative form of income. Even the wrestling ring can be traced back to the 16th Century Edo period. In earlier times, the fighting space was simply the area given to the wrestlers by spectators. In the 16th Century, an important warlord named Oda Nobunaga introduced the ring in a tournament he organized. It is a platform 4. 5 meters in diameter and 16. 26 Square meters in area made of clay mixed with sand set on top of rice straw bales. Despite sumo wrestling's archaic rituals and traditions, the sport continues to draw new fans and growing international interest. Hundreds of sumo wrestlers of various nationalities compete to earn comfortable livelihoods, participating in ma tches not only in Japan, but in Europe, North America and Britain. Grand Champions attain celebrity Status and enjoy the intense adoration of dedicated fans. Present day sumo wrestlers consist of anybody who is interested in the sport and professional wrestlers come from all walks of life. Nevertheless, as a sport, sumo is not without controversy. It has been criticised as discriminatory since participants are limited to men only. There is a rule which prevents women from being sumo wrestlers and another which prohibits them from entering the wrestling ring altogether. These barriers exist because the Japanese believe women's presence in the ring will violate its purity. Sumo wrestling, being a religion-originated sport in which traditions are strictly observed, is unlikely to undergo drastic changes in the near future. It will probably be a long time before one can see a female sumo wrestler.

Amazon Case study Essay

As seen from 2014, Amazon.com is a no brainer of a business proposition. Today you can buy most things from Amazon.com – books, movies, health and beauty products, appliances, sporting goods†¦..online and the company will ship these purchases to your home the same day and often at little or no cost to you. The typical 2014 university student has grown up with the World Wide Web and eCommerce and takes these services for granted. For its part Amazon recorded revenues of $17.09 billion dollars in 2013 but for all that activity, the company did not yield a profit. According to its founder and CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon strives to be the retailer of choice for all things and for all people globally. To this end, Amazon’s profit margins on most products are razor thin and its business practices regarding free shipping and generous return policies erode earnings. Still there is no question that Amazon.com is one of the darlings of the new millennium’s Internet e conomy and a trend-setting retailer in the era of online retailing. In contrast, Amazon’s early history was marked by startling losses and lots of red ink. Why was this so? To understand Amazon’s origins, we must go back to 1994 when Bezos worked for the Shaw grocery store chain and read a study that predicted the Internet would explode in popularity. He figured that before long people would be making money selling over the Web. After considering any number of products to sell online, he settled on books, a standardized product already electronically cataloged, that could be easily managed through an automated supply chain system. Most notably, the typical book store typically managed an inventory of two to three thousand books whereas his imagined online service that would carry them all. In Bezo’s business model, he would disintermediate the retail process, eliminating stores and warehouses. Instead his customers would purchase their books from catalogs on his company’s Web site. Orders would be filled from a new kind of facility, a fulfillment center. In implementing this business model, Bezos quickly discovered that the only way to ensure a positive customer experience was for Amazon to operate their own fulfillment centers, controlling the transaction from start to finish. All of this may sound quite straightforward today but Bezo and his backers were treading in totally unchartered waters in 1995. To compete in this space, Amazon.com required a huge infusion of capital. Those fulfillment centers cost about $50 million apiece. The first of these in Fernley Nevada housed three  million books, CDs, toys, and housewares in a building a quarter-mile long by 200 yards wide. What distinguished this facility from the typical retail warehouse was that it was completely computerized. The associated business processes were largely automated and information intensive. Once customer orders were placed via Amazon.com’s Web site, the company’s information systems would send these orders to fulfillment center â€Å"pickers† who would in turn roam the shelves in a systematic manner assembling customer orders. Along the way, these information systems would capture detailed information on the time and steps involved in filling individual orders, w orker error rates, the flow and turnover of inventory and of course associated cost of operations data. Amazon managers employ this information to squeeze every last drop of productivity out of their processes. For example, as reported by Fred Vogelstein: †¦. by redesigning a bottleneck where workers transfer orders arriving in green plastic bins to a conveyor belt that automatically drops them into the appropriate chutes, Amazon has been able to increase the capacity of the Fernley warehouse by 40%. [In 2003], Amazon’s warehouses handle three times the volume they could in 1999, and in the past three years the cost of operating them has fallen from nearly 20% of Amazon’s revenues to less than 10% percent. The company doesn’t believe it will even have to think about building a new warehouse for another year. The warehouses are so efficient that Amazon turns over its inventory 20 times a year. Virtually every other retailer’s turnover rate is under 15. Indeed, one of the fastest-growing and most profitable parts of Amazon’s business today is its use of its supply chain management processes to service the eCommerce business needs of other retailers, suc h as Toys â€Å"R† Us and Target. All of this helps explain Bezos’s larger point, one he’s been making since he started Amazon but that people are only now starting to believe: â€Å"In the physical world it’s the old saw: location, location, location,† †¦.. â€Å"The three most important things for us are technology, technology, technology.† [But technology is actually the means by which Amazon manages its most valuable asset, its data. Data about products, data about customers, data about supply chain management, data about suppliers†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.] â€Å"There just aren’t other companies that let a consumer order two out of what are millions of products in a warehouse and then quickly and efficiently, at low cost, get those two things into a single box.†. But success was not a  forgone conclusion. Amazon faced a lot of red ink in its first five years. Ultimately its devotion to data paid off. As its competitors disappeared from the scene, Amazon leveraged its data management capabilities to drive error out of operations, personalize the Web experience for its customers, and add value to its relations with suppliers by providing them with deep business intelligence concerning the public’s interest in their various products. To achieve these results, Amazon developed its own methods and built its own Web-enabled information systems from scratch. Fortunately, the company could take advantage of established supply-chain management (SCM) systems for the backend of the business. In the final analysis, it was Am azon’s dedication to collecting and using information to run its business, an effort spearheaded by the company’s Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels and his MIS team that turned the enterprise profitable. Now that Amazon has mastered both the fulfillment side of eCommerce and the data and information management side of global business management, two major profit centers at Amazon that help feed its bottom line include: back-end fulfillment services for other global retailers and cloud computing services for the likes of iTunes and Netflix.

Enjoying Horror Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Enjoying Horror - Essay Example This is same as arguing people watch horror movies because they want to be frightened. The plain suspense in horror films like Paranormal Activity has enabled the movie to draw massive viewing. The movie is about young couple who placed audio-visual equipment to capture unusually activity going on in the house. The suspense in the movie is so strong because the viewers want to know the cause of strange activities. The climax of the horror comes out when zombies go on massive killings towards the end of the film (Hawkins 1). Psychological effects of horror movies on viewers also make them interesting to view. Neuroscientist argue that the neurons in human brains work in a complex way that allows human brains to think, reason and act in a different ways from other animals. They further argue that fear is an emotion derived from newly learned cautions as well as deep-seeded evolutionary factors (Hawkins 1). Analysis The catharsis theory can also be used to explain why horror movies are enjoyable. The movies are appealing due to their traffics in thoughts and emotions that have been subdued by the ego though they seem vaguely familiar. Neuroscientists believe that horror touches on elemental images in the joint unconscious. Several individuals have not repressed feelings like drowning of children or slaughtering of women, they may want to watch more horror movies in order to overcome such fears. Horror films may combine traditional horror films themes and comedy. Comedy-Horror movies are intended to scare the audience and provide humor for the viewers to laugh at their fear. Another thing with horror movies is the intense experiences it brings to the audience. This explains why young people would prefer watching horror movies. The intense experiences make their hearts race and bring out the true nature of life (Hawkins 1). McIntyre, Gina. The Horror . . . The Horror. Loss Angeles Times. 2009. Web. 4th August 2013. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/25/entertainme nt/ca-horror25 Summary Horror films are movies that are intended to create a sense of alarm, fear and panic among the audience. The films are usually unsettling and rely on scare tactics to capture the attention of the audience. The movies are usually centered on an evil person, event or force. â€Å". Most horror films are set in lonely places, ruined houses, deserts or forests. The villains are bad looking individuals who could be dressed in masks. The villains live a strange life such as feeding on humans and raw meat. The victims are innocent individuals who could be out on a tour only to fall at the hands of villains (McIntyre 1) Analysis Most researchers think that the killings and blood in horror movies makes them interesting. For example, Zombie-horror is characterized by mindless beings raised from the dead. They contain zombie invasion on human territory and feed on human beings. A struggle then arises between human beings and the zombies, the Zombies wanting to feed on h umans while humans are defending their territory. The struggle between the humans and zombies keeps the audience glued to their seats. However, other factors motivate the audience when watching horror movies. This could be the moral lesson that is found in such films. â€Å"If horror films reflect the anxieties of a culture, then it makes perfect sense that so many nefarious characters are emerging from the darkness: The collapse of the housing market, the menacing

Accounting Information Systems (AIS) And Telecommunicating Accounting Essay

Accounting Information Systems (AIS) And Telecommunicating Accounting Information - Essay Example This paper stresses that using Accounting Information System (AIS) is not risk-free. Any data that can be communicated across the internet or through satellite can be viewed and interrupted by a third party without main party’s prior consent. Such unwanted intrusion is also known as hacking into unauthorised systems. Every organization that has globalized over the years must ensure the safety of data of their customers when they operate. With thousands of new software built across the globe every day, the loop holes of the system penetration is getting more visible. Sometimes, it so happens that some hackers work so swiftly that even the organization to which they target to hack, cannot find out that they are being hacked until it’s too late to recover actual losses. This essay makes a conclusion that this unsecured public network connection becomes vulnerable to such attacks frequently so the organizations decided to work under secured private networks with B-2-B and B-2-C network architecture. These are basically electronic commerce concepts that incorporate AIS and enable the organization to communicate in secured zones where third party cannot intrude as the network is privatised. In short we may say that with little responsibility on organizations’ behalf, if the AIS are implemented in secured private networks, its benefits outweigh risks for the customers as well as the organizations.

Disclosure of fair value information in the corporate annual report Essay

Disclosure of fair value information in the corporate annual report - Essay Example The manner in which businesses are run in the UK markets is monitored and controlled through policies that touch on ethical business relationships, fair representation of financial statements, and fair valuation of company’s worth. While corporate operations are regulated in order to attain an ethical business environment, various other regulations are conducted to ensure that financial and accounting approaches of the business are transparent to attract genuine interest from investors and other stakeholders (Martinià ¨re, 2007). Within the UK marketplace, IFRS 13 is considered the law governing fair value information which is a vital set if information required to value a business entity. The IFRS 13 is responsible for fair value measurement and provided guidelines on how companies should measure their fair value (Deloitte UK, 2013). However, since the financial and accounting field has various approaches to valuing assets and business’s net worth, the IFRS 13 conside rs fair value at the exit price and makes use of fair value hierarchy to value an entity. Valuation using the fair value hierarchy is market-based and is not entity-specific (Demski, Lin, & Sappington, 2008). Entity specific measures tend to consider the type of business and the owner of the business. However, fair value hierarchy makes use of market-based approach to value assets and business’s worth. Additionally, the approach of considering the exit price aims at showing how much the business entity or company would be worth in its current market if were to close at the moment of valuation (Song, Thomas, & Yi, 2010). Under the UK regulations, fair value is defined as the prices acquired from an asset sale or in transfer of liability in a systematic transaction among market participants at the date of measurement. Based on the market value, fair value considers active markets which are defines as

Diplomacy in the international system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Diplomacy in the international system - Essay Example ubmitted at the outset that within the current framework, the globalisation of world politics and the complex nature of international relations in the contemporary environment has meant that increasingly the dynamic of international relations is intrinsically dependent on where the balance of political power lies within the international framework (Siracusa, 2010). As a result, the role of diplomats in contemporary international relations is very wide and can often take a multifaceted role depending on the priority of state objectives (Siracusa, 2010). Indeed, Randin comments that: â€Å"one aspect of the existing literature on co-operation in the international relations context is that most of it stems from a view of international relations that often fails to take into account security challenges other than those posed by states to states† (2006, p13). Accordingly, on this basis it is argued as a central proposition in this paper that the role of diplomats is fundamental not only as a method of facilitating co-operation between states; they also serve as important tools in implementing state objectives. In turn, the extent of diplomatic influence will be intrinsically dependent on where the balance of power lies within the international framework as evidenced by the post September 11 system of international relations (Baylis & Smith, 2005). As such, in reviewing the contemporary relevance and role of diplomats, this paper will review international relations theory and highlight the gap between theory and reality due to the multifaceted and wider roles falling within the ambit of diplomacy duties within the contemporary socio-political framework of international relations (Baylis & Smith, 2005). With regard to the theoretical models, a central theory in international relations is realism, which developed in the aftermath of the Second World War as reflected by the United Nations Charter, which focuses on mutuality of obligations in preventing a repeat of the

Name three industries that are currently red oceans Where do blue Essay

Name three industries that are currently red oceans Where do blue ocean opportunities exist - Essay Example Some of them have gained competitive advantage through cutting production costs, while others gain competitive advantage through offering better features. Companies operating in textile industry as well as sports good manufacturing industry are competing while following the red ocean strategy. Blue ocean opportunities exist in tourism industry. In tourism industry there is an opportunity of travelling to the moon and exploring the world over there. A successful even of a tour to the moon can help in creating demand amongst people who want to travel to the moon (Wadhwa, 2015). Furthermore, blue ocean opportunities even exist in automobile manufacturing industry. Companies in this industry can develop a car that can fly from one end to another end. Right now, no company has been able to develop such a car. Developing such a car can helping creating new demand for a car that can fly and help people move between geographical locations in a speedy fashion. China Android Phone Manufacturers Enter Smartphone Market With Own Brands. (2015, February 27). Retrieved March 7, 2015, from

London Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

London - Essay Example It augmented its populace from one million to six million in the twentieth century, and in this period, London became an international political, economic, and transaction center (Dickinson 2008, p. 78). In this condition, it was largely unchallenged until the later times of the century, when Paris and New York City started to bully its governance. However, as the city expanded in terms of richness as Britain’s property grew, London was also a city of scarcity where a significant number of people lived in congested and unhygienic areas during the 19th century. Nevertheless, the city was changed by the development of the railways (Porter 2004, p.45). A new system of municipal railways permitted the formation of outskirts in adjacent districts from which mid class and rich individuals could travel to the center. As this increased the massive outward expansion of the city, the development of greater London also exacerbated to the division of class as the rich people shifted to th e outskirts, abandoning the underprivileged to occupy the innermost city area. During the 19th century, there were various impacts that were experienced in London as a result of economic forces. For instance, being a vibrant city, long-standing jobs were altered, as new ones increased. The number of professions increased including civil engineers, clerks as well as accountants among others (Hosmer 2009, p.86). This new group, starting from the lower to the upper middle class, pushed its way between the customary skilled worker and the world of investment; it was a great overwhelming team and they offered the city much of its social and economic charisma. In the 19th century, traders who were not the most significant political team had to share privileges and power with the noble court, administration and social as well as political officials because London was not an developed focus like Manchester (Divall 2003, p. 80). The customary manufacturing section in London included the fact ory that hired the experts of the London, primarily, crafts worker in these plants who mass-produced diversity of products. However, in the beginning of the 19th century, the industrialized uprising enforced a shift to manufacturing of extravagance and user products for homegrown marketplaces. On the other hand, social and technological forces in London during the 19th century also affected differently on the lives of people; for instance, for the manual workers, industry and technology led to significant blessings in disguise (Littlefield 2012, p.42). This is because some laborers viewed their old-fashioned artisan abilities being lost as technology replaced them. A case in point was the introduction of iron shipbuilding resulted into a reduction in demand for the woodworking abilities of shipwrights. On the contrary, other people were more luck and had job opportunities established for them. For instance, the construction of the railway offered jobs for a significant number of unt rained workers as they excavated channels and cuttings or hauled away the wreckages from castigating channels in places (Christl 2009, p. 56). Accordingly, the engineers of the period of railway construction were also responsible for developing completely new talents to conquer individuals during the course of their working time. Despite the fact that, the old ship construction trades may have endured the introduction

Amazon's Kindle Fire Aspects of Consumer Behavior Research Paper

Amazon's Kindle Fire Aspects of Consumer Behavior - Research Paper Example In this paper, we shall elaborate on these aspects and how they affect the marketing of Amazon’s Kindle products. The very first aspect that those marketing the Kindle product should consider is the fact that the product should be built or created to be more efficient than those of rival companies. This is essential for the marketing of the product because consumers tend to consider efficiency when buying a product. Consumers may prefer to go buy a product which is fast and wastes less time when they are using it even if the product is more expensive than similar products from other companies. The company should work on improving the speed of products if it intends to attract more consumers by promoting the efficiency of its products. Another aspect of marketing which should consider consumer behavior is the frequent changing of how the product is packaged. Consumers tend to believe that the products with a look that is new and different from the previous one is better. Amazon should therefore ensure that the look of its Kindle products is changed frequently to ensure that consumers are kept interested in them. New tools should be incorporated into the new forms of the product to make its use easier and this can be made a basis upon which the product is promoted (Poole, 2011). Consumers tend to prefer portable products which they can use anywhere at their own convenience. The Kindle products should be made more portable than they already are so that its marketers can use it as a strategy for marketing the product. Consumers are more likely to want to buy a portable product because of the ability to use them in any situation. They can read an eBook anywhere at any time and this can be used as a marketing strategy when promoting this product. The best marketing strategy which considers consumer behavior is the promotion of the product as being cheaper than those of rival products. The company should ensure that the prices of its products are lower than

Intercontinental Hotels Group plc Finance report Assignment

Intercontinental Hotels Group plc Finance report - Assignment Example Increase in cost of sales has made no large effect on the gross profit in 2013 because the turnover has increased with a greater proportion than the cost of sales. The revenue in 2013 has increased by 3.79% while the increase in cost of sales is just as low as 0.13%. This has caused the gross profit of the company to increase by 6.62% in 2013. Other operating income of $57 million in 2012 has disappeared in 2013 causing an expense of $3 million in 2013, and the administrative expenses have decreased from $381 million in 2012 to $379 million in 2013. This has contributed towards the favourable effect on the operating profit in 2013. The finance cost of the company has decreased from $64 million in 2012 to $57 million in 2013. This is due to the decreased proportion of noncurrent liability causing a decrease in the interest liability of the company. However, the finance income has increased from $2 million in 2012 to $3 million in 2013. This is probably due to the increase in long term investments in noncurrent assets. (Kline, 2007) The current ratio measures ability of a company to pay its debts over the next 12 months or over its business cycle by comparing company’s current assets to its current liabilities. The current ratio of IHG has increased from 0.672 times in 2011 to 0.846 times in 2012. Higher the current ratio, the higher is the ability of the company to pay off its obligations. An increase in current ratio of IHG indicates more efficiency compared to previous period and safe liquidity. This ratio tells about how efficient is the company’s operating cycle and its capability to convert its products into cash. Quick ratio is also known as the acid test ratio. It takes into account the ability of a company to pay its short term debts. It is a more reliable test of short term solvency than current ratio as it shows the ability of any company to pay its short term debts immediately. Quick assets

Legislatures learnsmart 5 Essay Example for Free

Legislatures learnsmart 5 Essay 1. True or false: Both chambers of Congress allow a member to speak for an unlimited time on the floor. A: false 2. Which of the following are members of the House leadership? A: Majority leader, majority whip and minority leader 3. Redistricting can diminish the advantages of being an incumbent because the candidate loses name recognition 4. Order the following general steps that a bill must pass through in order to become law 1. A member of the House of Representatives or the Senate formally proposes the bill 2. Subgroups within the House and Senate, composed of legislators who have expertise in the bill’s subject mater, review the bill 3. A majority of members in the House and Senate must approve it 4. The Conference Committee reconciles the bill when different versions have passed in the House and the Senate 5. President signs the bill 5. Members of Congress may experience conflict between their policy-making function and their representation function because A: They feel pressured to vote for a policy that clashes with their constituent’s interests. 6. To balance the desire for representation at different levels, the framers made Congress a bicameral institution. 7. Congress has a number of functions other than lawmaking. These include A: Acting on presidential actions, setting the national agenda, and representing its constituents. 8. Because taxation was such an important power to the framers, they required that all these measures must start A: in the House. 9. Reapportionment is the reallocation of seats in the House of Representatives to each state based on changes in the state’s population since the last census. 10. Which of the following is the most powerful leadership position in the Senate A: Majority leader 11. Which of the following are reasons why specific members of Congress are chosen for congressional leadership positions? A: Ability to guide compromise, to persuade and to negotiate. 12. When congressional district boundaries are redrawn within a state, it is known as redistricting 13. Two of the most important influences on congressional elections are incumbency and redistricting. 14. Which of the following oversight tools ensure that Congress has some say in how the executive branch administers the laws that Congress creates? A: congressional hearings, budgetary appropriations and confirmation hearings. 15. The single most important factor in determining the success of a congressional campaign is incumbency. 16. Which congressional function involves auditing agency implementation of policy? A: Oversight 17. The power of taxation, among other powers, was given to Congress: A: to limit the power of the president; and because it is more representative to the people. 18. Gerrymandering A: is usually legal. 19 Which of the following influence agenda setting in Congress? A: public discourse, House and Senate leaders’ goals 20 Which of the following of Congress, which all other functions of Congress are related to? A: Policy making. 21. Constituents influence the legislative process by ensuring that their representatives in Congress work hard to represent their perspectives and policy interests 22. True or False: A president’s popularity rating cannot affect a legislator’s decision to vote for a particular bill A: True 23. Committees are important because A: They help develop passable legislation; they facilitate the consideration of high volume of bills; and they each specialize in a certain type of legislation. 24. Congressional oversight includes the federal bureaucracy because it is a part of the executive branch. 25. Interest groups engage in which of the following activities in order to influence legislators’ decision? A: grassroots activism, financial contributions, and lobbying. 26. Each senator represents his or her state, while House members represent their congressional district. 27. Partisan voting occurs more often when members are voting on domestic policy issues that tend to crystallize ideological differences between the parties. 28. House and Senate members often rely on which of the following inform their decision making on legislation because they frequently have policy expertise that can guide a legislator on an upcoming vote? A: Staff member 29. The president’s opinion concerning a specific bill can influence members of Congress, especially A: when they belong to the same party. 30. Some examples of Congress’s use of the ‘elastic clause’ include A: determining an oil company’s authority to drill on federal lands; expanding law enforcement authority in terrorism case; and regulating stem cell research. 31. Which of the following is a legislative power the president does not possess? A: Line-item veto. 32. Legislators use pork barrel politics and earmarks to bring money and jobs back to their home districts to show their constituents that they are working toward their best interests in Congress. 33. For mundane matters about which their constituents are less likely to be aware or hold a strong position, legislators typically rely on the trustee model of representation. 34. Citizens wanting policies that benefit the elderly, while others advocate for legislation beneficial for children, is an example of the influence that Congress has A: in managing societal conflict 35. Which of the following is not a way new legislation can be introduce in the Senate? A: A senator’s staff drafts a piece of proposed legislation and the senator place it in the hopper on the Senate floor. 36. Congress manages societal conflict by representing a wide range of views and interests. 37. The U.S Congress has a number of Constitutional powers beyond lawmaking. For example, it A: govern the District of Columbia; regulates the armed forces; regulates interstate commerce; and declares war. 38. When a committee or subcommittee holds a hearing, they are trying to gather information and views from experts about a proposed bill. 39. Interest groups can be a valuable resource to legislators because A: They can provide financial and electoral support. 40. Oversight is an important function of Congress because it ensures that laws are being administered in keeping with legislators’ original intent. 41. Which of the following are duties of the Speaker of the House? A: Making majority party committee assignments; chairing floor debates 42. Match the characteristics on the right with the chamber, which they describe: House: Taxation policies start in this chamber; this chamber faces more frequent elections Senate: Treaties are considered in this chamber; this chamber is more deliberative. 42. In the House of Representatives, a member of a legislator’s staff drafts t he proposed legislation and the House member puts the bill into the hopper. 43. House leadership is chosen at the A: beginning of each session of Congress. 44, Congress continuously engages in agenda setting because it relieves the pressure parties face in getting their members to vote with their particular party. 45. Congress engages in agenda setting when it determines which public policy issues the federal legislature should consider. 46. The framers had tax bills start in the House because A: it had a smaller constituency than the Senate; it had a shorter electoral term. 47. The practice in which members of Congress agree to vote for a bill in exchange for their colleague’s vote on another bill is called logrolling. 48. If a vote in the Senate is tied, the vice president breaks the tie. 49. Historically, which position has been honorary in nature? A: president pro tempore 50. Which of the following contribute to incumbents having an advantage during congressional elections? A: stronger name recognition; ease in attracting contributions; and easier access to media coverage. 51. An agency review provides an opportunity for executive agencies that would administer a proposed law to comment on the measure. 52. The Senate is more deliberative because A: its electoral terms are longer; it has fewer members. 53. A filibuster can arise when a member of the Senate wishes to halt or delay the passage of a bill. 54. After a committee agrees to the wording of a bill, the committee issues a report to the full chamber that explains the bill and its intent. 55. Creating â€Å"majority-minority† districts is a type of Gerrymandering. 56. Which committee sets the structure for the debate that ensues in the full House? A: Rules Committee. 57. An elderly person deciding to vote to reelect a House representative after the representative has tracked down the constituent’s Social Security check is an example of how casework can benefit an incumbent. 58. Unanimous consent agreements require that all senators agree to the terms of debate on a given piece of legislation. 59. A joint committee is composed of members of both chambers of Congress. 60. Redistricting can lessen the impact of incumbency, especially in years ending in the number 2. 61. Congress gets its powers from sources other than the Constitution, including A: American citizens, the media, and Supreme Court decisions. 62. The House Majority leader acts as an assistant to the Speaker of the House in performing legislative duties. 63. In more populated areas, congressional districts in the House of Representatives are often A: homogeneous, cohesive units. 64. AN elected or appointed official acts as an ombudsperson when advocating for citizens by listening to and investigating complaints against a government agency. 65. Which of the following is true about the Senate minority leader? A: Leader of the minority party in the Senate; negotiates with the majority leader. 66. A select committee is created to consider specific policy issues or address a specific concern in legislature. 67. Redistricting sometimes makes incumbency less important. 68. If 51 or more Democrats are elected to the Senate, each committee and subcommittee will have a minority of Republicans as members. 69. When there is a designation within a spending bill that provides for a specific expenditure it is called A: an earmark. 70. Congressional leadership refers bills to the lead committee. 71. Which of the following is not true about a markup? A: The committee actually alters a bill 72. The framers structured Congress in way that A: made it an effective check on the president; made it powerful enough to govern, and kept it from becoming too powerful. 73. After 1995, joint referrals were abolished from the House 74. The House leadership position of whip acts as a liaison between A: leadership and part members in the House. 75. Which of the following terms describes the segment of voters who pay careful attention to political issues? A: attentive public 76. Subcommittees are a subset of a A: Standing committee. 77. A standing committee is a permanent committee in Congress. 78. Members of the House of Representatives are reluctant to defy the will of their congressional districts because A: Their short two-year terms increase the probability that they will be voted out of office for going against the electorate. 79. When an incumbent performs casework for a constituent, it helps to create a good-word-of-mouth reputation and attracts support for that candidate during reelection. 80. The ability to use franking to communicate with voters is a benefit inaccessible to non-incumbents. 81. The attentive public is the segment of voters who pay careful attention to political issues. 82. The term pork barrel describes legislators’ appropriations of funds via legislation for special projects located within their congressional districts. 83. To end a filibuster, a supermajority of sixty senators must agree to invoke cloture and end debate 84. Which of the following is required to extract a bill from committee in order to have it considered by the entire House? A: discharge petition 85. A consequence of having a congressional â€Å"safe seat† is that a house member A: can generally be partisan without unfavorable political outcome. 86. Committee chairs are often chosen using the seniority system, by which the member with the longest continuous tenure on a standing committee receives preference when the committee chooses its chair 87. Which model of representation insists that legislators vote in line with their constituents’ views even when this contradicts their personal views? A: Instructed delegate model. 88. What occurs after a conference committee reconciles a bill between the House and Senate? A: The bill goes back to both chambers for a vote 89. In this model of representation, a legislator may act in opposition to the clear wishes of his or her constituents, such as in cases where an action is â€Å"for their own good† or the good of society. A: Trustee model 90. The most powerful position in the Senate: the majority leader manages the legislative process and schedules debate on legislation 91. Senators sometimes find it hard to represent constituents because they are elected by an entire state’s population, which may contain citizens who have conflicting views, ideologies, and policy priorities.

Carlos Ghosns Turnaround Of Nissan Management Essay

Carlos Ghosns Turnaround Of Nissan Management Essay This case evaluation will address how Carlos Ghosn executed his turnaround of Nissan, after he was appointed COO of Nissan in 1999. Nissan was facing ongoing losses and a staggering debt, threatening to close down the company. As a result of a strategic alliance between French Renault and Japanese Nissan, Executive VP of advanced RD in Renault, Carlos Ghosn, was asked by Nissan CEO Hanawa to become the COO of Nissan, in order to turn Nissan around. In March 1999, Ghosn began his work at Nissan and Ghosn said that he would turn Nissan around within two years, or resign as COO. Although Ghosn has a rather remarkable global career, this was his first experience with a Japanese organization. Hypothesis: Carlos Ghosn succeeded in turning Nissan around through sequential change, where he had time to secure buy-in and ownership in order to reduce resistance to change as well as addressing national and organizational cultural challenges. Approach To evaluate on the case and prove my hypothesis, I will first look at resistance to change as a concept and then see if resistance to change in Nissan was inevitable and exemplify any underlying causes of resistance. Second, I will go over the organizational culture within Nissan to assess how different parts felt about Ghosn and the reasons why, I will also assess if Ghosn was able to enlist support within Nissan. Third, I will also include how the Japanese national culture was a great part of the organizational culture, to evaluate how pronounced the cultural differences have been between Ghosn and the Nissan organization and if culture was a helper or a hindrance. Fourth, I will comment on Ghosns timing of the turn around, to assess if this would have been possible to achieve a few years earlier. Exam assignment in CM J41 Strategy Execution By Rune Sixtus Bruhn CPR 061082 1987 3 Resistance to change The concept of resistance to change has many ways of being perceived. Ford Ford 20091 argue that resistance is a form of feedback and that change agents should approach and include input from resisting employees, rather than pointing fingers and telling resisters to comply, no matter if the resisting employee agrees or not. Dent and Goldberg 19992 argues that people do not resist to change as such, but that they resist to some of the effects of change, be it loss of pay, loss of status or loss of privileges. Dent and Goldberg draw on the findings of Kotter who noted that employees often understand the new vision and wish to fulfill it, but the employees point out obstacles that might hinder the execution and that it is sometimes seen as resistance, rather than constructive input for the organization. Thus I argue that resistance will most likely always occur, but it is how it is being handled that will determine if resistance to change in the end was unproductive resistance or impro ving input. 1 From Decoding Resistance to Change, Jeffrey D. Ford and Laurie W. Ford, Harvard Business Review, 2009 2 Challenging Resistance to Change, Eric B. Dent and Susan Galloway Goldberg, Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 1999 3 Page 29-30, Challenging Resistance to Change, Eric B. Dent and Susan Galloway Goldberg, Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 1999 Referring to the three stages of unfreezing, disturbance and refreezing by Lewin3, Ghosn approached Nissan by quickly unfreezing the organization by imposing cross functional teams who had two months to come up with ideas on how to optimize the organization, then Ghosn disturbed the organization by implementing the suggested changes and after 18 months he refroze the organization, cementing the new changes, although striving towards optimizing the organization even more. The main paradigm shifts in Nissan happened in this three-step sequence. The result of the disturbance which the implementation of the cost reducing initiatives had led to, in terms of job cuts and sales of Nissans Keiretsu partners/suppliers, resulted in resistance from the employees as well as external resistance from the Japanese government and industry analysts. The underlying causes in relation to this resistance was that Japanese business culture had a principle of employing people for life as well as the Keiretsu partnership has been a cornerstone in the booming Japanese economy since after the Second World War. Thus I argue that resistance was inevitable when Ghosn was affecting areas highly related to culture and norms. However, to some degree, Ghosn managed to avoid resistance, by ensuring management involvement. He did so by creating nine cross functional teams (CFTs), where managers from across the Nissan organization were handpicked by Ghosn to come up with suggestions on how to optimize Nissan. Being heard can in itself make people buy-in on the Exam assignment in CM J41 Strategy Execution By Rune Sixtus Bruhn CPR 061082 1987 4 planned change. Resistance is not a bad thing per se, if handled correctly. It is often the engaged employee who is questioning change. Thus, the leader should listen to the employees, even if the resistance seems to be annoyance, the input from the employees can entail important details which the leader or management might not have been aware of. Ghosn has in my opinion understood this very well, and thus introduced the CFTs. Organizational culture in a Japanese organization Nissans management during the 1990s had a focus on short-term market share growth instead of a long-term strategy of securing a profit. After having suffered losses seven out of the past eight years, it was clear that this approach by the management had not been sufficient for the company to ensure its survival and development. Change was surely needed in 1999 when Ghosn was appointed COO. Ghosn was quick to enter into changing the organization, also in terms of how management was creating decisions, as well as how managers were promoted. In relation to how Ghosn approached the decision-making processes, Ghosn was aware that the organizational culture of Nissan was typically Japanese. Decision-making processes were slow, due to the murashakai consensus seeking society that has been predominant in Japan. This had to be changed, otherwise, Ghosn would not have succeeded within the short deadline he had set for himself to turn Nissan around. As a result, Ghosn changed the decision makin g processes in Nissan by introducing his CFTs, were the CTFs should meet over a short period of time and come up with suggestions and then Ghosn would decide on which suggestions to proceed with. In addition, Ghosn also introduced a change in how people could achieve promotion and even demotion. The typical way to achieve promotion in Nissan, as well as in the rest of Japan, had been by working at a place for a long time and having a high educational level. After Ghosns changes, other factors were equally or even more important to achieve promotion. One example was when a woman only holding a high school diploma was promoted to being a manager due to her merits as a keen problem solver and steady worker. She would normally not have been promoted if someone with a higher educational level were to be found in her department, even if the person with a higher education was not performing as well as her. I firmly believe that this has resulted in disgruntled employees, who has been in Nissan for years and years and were waiting for their turn to get promoted, solely based on their seniority, as is it was customary in Nissan and the rest of Japan. But even though Ghosn might have pushed some employees away by allowing this new way of promotion, he also won popularity and support among the employees who might not have been able to get a promotion earlier. What is highly important to note in this context, is that although parting the waters in Nissan, Ghosn made sure that productivity and creativity was a way to get promoted Exam assignment in CM J41 Strategy Execution By Rune Sixtus Bruhn CPR 061082 1987 5 and channeled people with these resources to lead his turn around towards achieving the Nissan Revival Plan. In other words, this played a key part in executing his strategy, as without assuring the right resources, here in the shape of productive and creative employees, Nissan would not change in the pace Ghosn needed Nissan to change. Concluding from this, I will say that Ghosn was successful in enlisting support from the different parts of the Nissan organization. Firstly, Ghosn skillfully made handpicked managers across the organization to buy-in on the proposed changes, as the managers themselves developed these. Secondly, Ghosn made sure that the people, who he thought had the right attitude, who were working hard and creatively, could be promoted and therefore they would appreciate his changes. However, Ghosn did not receive the support from everyone. On the contrary, I would expect resistance from people who were expecting promotions to happen, just because of seniority. I would argue that when Ghosn could not persuade everyone in the organization to support him, Ghosn explicitly coerced the organization. One example was when Nissan had to lay off people, Ghosn kept referring to the fact that another big Japanese company, Yamaichi, was not bailed out by the government and that if Nissan did not put all their effort into turning Nissan around, Nissan would face the same dire consequences. One part the organization was however always in favor of Ghosn, the CEO Hanawa, who had requested Ghosn in person. I believe that the support of a Japanese superior has helped Ghosn in many of the situations, keeping the informal power relations, the so-called Nemawashi, in mind. Thus Ghosn could actually benefit from Japanese culture for once, where as it has been a hindrance many other t imes. The issues within Nissan were mainly connected to the general culture in Japan as stated above. However, Nissan also had issues, which were rather unusual for Japanese companies. These were present before Ghosn entered the company. Here I am referring to the problems of poor follow up on implementation once decisions were made, the former top managements tunnel vision towards regaining market shares instead of focusing on the profit margin and general communication problems between the layers of the organization. This had led to managers not taking responsibility but rather pointing fingers at others to do the job at hand. Ghosn attacked these issues head on, by creating the CFTs. Exam assignment in CM J41 Strategy Execution By Rune Sixtus Bruhn CPR 061082 1987 6 The cross functional aspect assured that every level of the organization had a voice but also furthered the transparency process within Nissan, one of Ghosns three management principles4. The two others are: 4 The Global Leadership of Carlos Ghosn at Nissan John P. Millikin, Thunderbird, 2003 Â · Execution is 95 percent of the job, strategy is only 5 percent. Â · Communication of company direction and priorities as the only way to get truly unified effort and buy-in. Furthermore I recognize that Ghosns demands towards management increased highly, but within reasonable limits. He demanded positions without responsibilities to be removed and from his remaining management he demanded that they would take responsibility for their mistakes. However, when management was to present information, the information must have been scrutinized for errors, as he did not accept reports to include mistakes. In line with Ghosns transparency principle, he made sure that cross-functional department members had very clear lines of responsibility, making sure that the old organizational issues of pointing fingers at others in stead of taking charge was dealt with. In my opinion a very important step in order to counter act the latent behavior within the organization. However, it remains unclear how exactly Ghosn did communicate this to his staff. It would take a strong and clear communicative effort within Nissan to make sure that the managers would follow Ghosns demands. I will however assume that as Ghosn so successfully turned Nissan around, he must have done a sufficient effort. Evaluating on the case, I see little reference to how his strategy was created, it seems like Ghosn had a ready strategy a few weeks into his new position, although it was further developed through the usage of CTFs. Thus I regard the creation of the CTFs as part of the strategy execution. I do so as the CTFs in themselves, played a big part in executing what I see as step one; unfreezing the organization and the first step of getting managers to buy-in on Ghosns overall strategy. This is much in line with his execution is 95 percent of the job, strategy is only 5 percent principle as after the first two months, Ghosn spend 16 months on executing his strategy. This also leads me back to my hypothesis of Ghosn turning Nissan around by a process of sequential change. Sequential change is a long-term process of several steps developed through rational conclusions. I see many similarities in the way Ghosn approached the Exam assignment in CM J41 Strategy Execution By Rune Sixtus Bruhn CPR 061082 1987 7 turnaround and sequential change. He gave it time, two years. He divided the execution into steps; putting together the CTFs over two weeks, then letting the CTFs work for two months and then introducing the approved CTF suggestions over 14-15 months. From my point of view, Ghosn showed intensive leadership in his planning but for sure also in his execution, which allowed him to handle any resistance in the organization. Thus I see my hypothesis as confirmed. Luck and timing I have no doubt that Ghosn was successful in his turnaround of Nissan. But can it all be accredited to Ghosns leadership skills or was the turn around fueled by other factors? Surely strategy requires skill to be planned and resources to be executed thoroughly, but when looking at the timing of Ghosns entry into Nissan, the external environment is worth a thought. In addition to the external environment, one should consider the fact that the company for the better part of the previous decade was building up an almost insurmountable debt, only turning a profit few times. Ghosn entered the organization in 1999, almost at the same time as the dotcom crisis happened. Several international companies went bankrupt and for the first time a large Japanese company faced ruin, as the Japanese government declined to save the company. This shocked corporate culture, especially in Japan, where the Keiretsu partnerships were reevaluated, as they might be familiar suppliers with good connections, but if they were too expensive to let the buyer make a profit, then they could not maintain their relationship. This happened in the case of Nissan too, on request of Ghosn and his CFTs. But as it was an economic trend across companies, the confrontation of having to break with old traditions was made easier. Also, as stated earlier, Ghosn made use of the ruined company Yamaichi to coerce his employees. Ghosn would not have had this example, or a similar one for that matter, just a few years earlier. I cannot say for certain that Ghosns strategy succeeded due to his luck of timing, but circumstances were definitely in his favor, when looking at how Ghosn executed his strategy. In my opinion, a leader can always make changes in an organization and execute them. However, when referring to resistance to change and how the organization feels about the leader as in this case, the process would have been a lot harder and the leader a lot less popular, if the economy of both the company and society had not been in as bad a state as in this case. I would also doubt if Ghosn would have been able to succeed in turning Nissan around in only 18 months, but with the right strategy and the resources to execute it, I am Exam assignment in CM J41 Strategy Execution By Rune Sixtus Bruhn CPR 061082 1987 8 confident that Nissan could have been turned around, even a few years earlier, as the debt of Nissan would have been lower, not acting as such a burden as in 1999. The alternatives that Nissan would have faced by beginning the turnaround a few years earlier are not clearly in the favor of a strategy similar to the turnaround that began in 1999, in terms of massive layoffs being accepted by government or employees. However, having started the turnaround years earlier, Nissan would have avoided the massive debts burden, which more or less forced Nissan to sell off the Keiretsu partnerships. This would again have meant one hurdle less to turnaround Nissan, as the culture clash would have been less. To sum up Carlos Ghosns approach to turning Nissan around, I would say that he executed an appropriate strategy at the time where it was highly needed to save the company as well as the external environment of Nissan was in favor of his strategy of sequential change, that gave him the time to attend to organizational and cultural issues and to counter resistance to change. Exam assignment in CM J41 Strategy Execution By Rune Sixtus Bruhn CPR 061082 1987 9 Sources: Case hand out: The Global Leadership of Carlos Ghosn at Nissan John P. Millikin, Thunderbird, 2003 Articles: Decoding Resistance to Change, Jeffrey D. Ford and Laurie W. Ford, Harvard Business Review, 2009 Challenging Resistance to Change, Eric B. Dent and Susan Galloway Goldberg, Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 1999 Christiana Gold Leading Change at Western Union, Jordan Mitchell and Alison Konrad, Ivey Management Services, 2005 Slides/Class presentations I have used ideas and approaches discussed in class in general, but I mainly draw my inspiration from the lectures in class 5 and 6.

Nuclear Power Advantages and Disadvantages

Nuclear Power Advantages and Disadvantages The title question of my case study is: Should Nuclear Power be Banned. I have chosen this question as I believe it is a key topic at this present moment in life, with a lot of information about it in the media, such as on the news and in the papers each day. Also it is something that will affect the life in which we live in the future. So because of these reasons it is something that people need to be aware of and need to actually understand what nuclear power is and how it is affecting us or is going to affect us in the years to come. Evidence for: One major problem that could occur with nuclear power is that there is always the risk that there could be a leakage of radioactive fluids, which will have a massive impact on the environment and its surroundings. These radioactive fluids that may leak from the power stations can cause cancers and very harmful illnesses in humans. So for this reason people will believe that yes, nuclear power should be banned, especially those people living around or near a nuclear power station, or those that have close relatives that may be affected if something like this were to happen. -I think that this is a reliable piece of information as it is a very valid reason, and can be found elsewhere on the internet, on various other sites which proves to us that other people are also using this information as evidence for their arguments, so we should as well. Evidence against A reason against banning Nuclear power is that it provides a lot of our energy sources, and can be used to generate electricity and to power ships, so therefore we need nuclear power to continue doing these things, and if we were to get rid of it then we would only have to resort to finding another way of providing this energy, which is only going to cost even more money, on top of what wed already be paying to get rid of the nuclear power plants that exist at this moment in time.. Without the use of the ships that are powered by the nuclear power, we would have a lot of difficulty in transporting goods such as food and material from one place to another. (http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090121112744AAxRJTv) 25th September 2010, 10:30. I think that this is a genuinely reliable source of information in the respect that it is a reasonable argument for why we shouldnt ban nuclear power. Although this may also be seen as not so reliable as it is written by a member of the public, someone that may not have a lot of knowledge on the topic, but has heard bits about it. Besides that fact, I agree with this argument against banning nuclear power so therefore am going to use it as evidence in my case study. SCIENCE BEHIND NUCLEAR POWER Nuclear power is made and generated by using Uranium. Uranium is a metal that is mined in various different parts of the world. Most on worlds Uranium is mined from Australia, Canada and Kazakhstan. The first ever large-scale nuclear power station was opened in 1956, in England in the city of Cumbria at a place called Calder Hall. There are a number of military ships and submarines that contain nuclear power plants as their engines in order for them to keep up and running. Nuclear power produces approximately 11% of the worlds energy source and can produce very large amounts of energy from only a small amount of fuel. As well as this there isnt all the pollution along with it like there is when you burn fossil fuels. (This can therefore be seen as an argument against banning nuclear power plants as there is the burning of fossil fuels that is taking place which are producing greater amounts of pollution than what nuclear power stations are giving off.) The equation above shows us what happens in a nuclear power plant and the stages in which it goes through before it reaches our homes and provides us with the energy sources that we use in everyday life. It is in the Nuclear fission where the Uranium is used, this starts off the process for nuclear power to be generated. Nuclear fission is the process of atoms splitting, so when a heavy nucleus such as Uranium splits into two smaller, lighter nuclei. In this reaction, the strong nuclear force which is the attractive force, is acting on the electrostatic force which is the repulsive force, these can be knocked out of balance on each other when they gain the energy from either a photon or a neutron. The two forces are affected by the gain of this other element and will try to act on each other to regain the state in which they were in, but in nuclear fission the electrostatic force will gain more power than the nuclear force, therefore causing it to repel and for the nucleus to split apart, also releasing energy as it does so. To make this slightly easier to understand, imagine a load of marbles in a rough circle shape on a flat tabletop (this is going to be representing the original atoms nucleus, where all the forcing are acting the same on one another and are equal, so all the marbles/atoms are stable). What if I were to then throw or roll another marble into this group of stable marbles? All the marbles would spread apart and move out into the space around them, this marble that is being rolled into them is acting as the photon or neutron that is being gained in the nucleus. This is unbalancing the forces and causing the atoms to all move around as they react to the change that is taking place, but seeing as all the marbles move out, and away from each other shows to us that the repelling force has gained more control, as the attractive force wasnt able to keep them all together, and this is exactly what happens in nuclear fission. (http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/fission/fission.html) (http://physics.about.com/od/glossary/g/nuclearfission.htm) Both of the sites above were visited on the 30th January 2011, 15:15. -I think that both of these sites are reliable sites to use as evidence in my case study, and one of them is a site specifically focusing on physics topics and gives very scientific definitions to certain topics involved in physics. Also the other site is made by university students, that did a study on nuclear fission and how it takes place, they then put all their information together on this site for other students to look at and use if they need the information required. I have combined the information from both websites to give an overall example of how nuclear fission takes place and what it involves. Nuclear power that is made by Uranium is not renewable, this means that once we have dug up the Earths supply of Uranium there will be no other way of getting any more, so once its gone its gone. There are several advantages and disadvantages to nuclear power these include: Nuclear power costs roughly the same amount as coal, so in that respect its not too expensive, so this is an advantage. Although, millions of pound has to be spent each year to supply the safety that is required in a power plant, this is because if they were to take the chance and something went wrong like a nuclear accident, then this would result in a major disaster. The making of nuclear power does not give off a smoke or carbon dioxide, so therefore we can be sure that this is not contributing to the greenhouse effect that is causing global warming, unlike the burning of fossil fuels which do contribute to this, so this then puts nuclear power at an advantage. Also, as mentioned previously, huge amounts of energy can be made by just a small amount of fuel. With only small amounts of waste being produced, once again putting nuclear power at an advantage. Saying that, although there isnt much waste being produced, that that is produced is extremely dangerous and would have to be stored, sealed up and buried for thousands of years to allow the radioactivity to die away. During this time it has to be kept far away from any potential natural disasters such as Earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions, flooding and terrorist attacks. This can be very difficult at times. Another disadvantage is that in the 1990s was the fastest growing source of power in most of the world. However, in 2005 this then deteriorated to being the second slowest growing source of power throughout the world. (http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/nuclear.htm) 30thJanuary 2011, 17:00. -This is a website purely based of evidence for and against nuclear power, and its advantages and disadvantages, it has lots of information solely on nuclear power, which makes it a reliable source of evidence to be used. There are many different reasons and opinions to why people think nuclear power should be banned, some of which are due to things that have happened previously, and if were to happen again could cause a massive uproar throughout the world. Others are what people are scared could happen, and because of this they believe that nuclear power should be banned. Here are some examples of previous accidents that have happened involving nuclear power, which could be a reason influencing peoples decisions on whether or not this should be banned: March 28, 1979 Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Americas worst nuclear accident occurred. A partial meltdown of one of the reactors forced the evacuation of the residents after radioactive gas escaped into the atmosphere. The radioactive gas that got released into the atmosphere is a cause to cancer in the human body, and as we all know, cancer kills very easily! It may take 20 years or so, for the residents to even realise that they have cancer, as it takes time to affect and the gas in the atmosphere lingers for years. April 26, 1986 The worlds worst nuclear accident occurred after an explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It released radiation over much of Europe. Thirty-one people died in the immediate aftermath of the explosion. Hundreds of thousands of residents were moved from the area and a similar number are believed to have suffered from the effects of radiation exposure. As you can see already from this 31 innocent people died from a nuclear power accident, thats hundreds of people left without a family member, and what if this was to happen again, but this time it could be even worse, and possibly even more people killed. Also from this event, thousands and thousands of people were once again exposed to the radiation which can cause cancerous cells in our bodies, which could lead to a number of deaths years down the line, all from this one accident that happened because of nuclear power. (http://www.atomicarchive.com/Reports/Japan/Accidents.shtml) 25th September 2010, 19:30. -This website is a university website, which is very factual and all its points appear to be logical and true, also the fact that its scientists writing the points and information only gives us more reason to believe its true and reliable. Many risks are taken when using nuclear power, there is always the risk of a meltdown occurring, or even a leakage of radioactive waste. There is also a risk to the workers safety and well-being as storing waste from nuclear reactors can be a problem in some cases. A nuclear meltdown is when the cooling systems fail, and the nuclear reactors reach such a temperature that they melt straight through the reactor or damage the reactor wall. With this melting, then allows the spread of radioactivity, which as before can cause great damage in the human body. There is also the chance of contamination within the environment if there was to be a leakage of radioactive waste in that area. Radioactive waste, if gotten into the workers at a nuclear power plant, can also poison them, which furthermore, would take their life. On the other hand, there are also many reasons as to why people believe that nuclear power shouldnt be banned, some of which are listed below; Nuclear power generation does emit relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). The emissions of green house gases and therefore the contribution of nuclear power plants to global warming is therefore relatively little. This technology is readily available; it does not have to be developed first. It is possible to generate a high amount of electrical energy in one single plant. (http://timeforchange.org/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-power-and-sustainability) 28th October 2010, 17:35. -I think that this is a reliable website to get information from as it is based on the pros and cons of nuclear power, and what needs to be done to make a change, and what needs to stay the same. It cannot be edited or changed by anyone other than the creators, and the creators are have done a lot of research to make the website to the high standard of what it is now. In 2005, approximately 6.3% of the earths energy supply relied on nuclear power, and gradually over the years, this has increased slightly to 14% in 2009. It also provided 15% of the worlds electricity in 2005 and again in 2009. If we were to ban nuclear power then there would have to be other ways in which this supply of electricity was formed, and therefore more money is going to have to be spent out in order for this supply of electricity. As you can see from the statements above, it clearly states that nuclear power can generate a lot of electrical energy in just one single plant, and with there being 440 plants across the world; this would cost an awful lot of money to get rid of and then replace the energy and electricity in which it supplies us with. Nuclear power also provides for ships and submarines, which we need to transport food and goods from country to country, without these ships we would have to find another way of transporting the items, say if we were to use a plane for example, then this would only be adding to global warming which is another issue known world-wide. (http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf01.html) 27th September 2010, 18:35. -I believe this graph to be a reliable source of evidence as it is from a website specifically focused on the use of nuclear power all over the world, in various different countries. Also it is not biased in any way, and it completely based on facts and figures rather than opinions, so therefore this is a reliable piece of information to be used in this case study. As you can see from the graph above, most of the large MEDC (More Economically Developed) countries reply on nuclear power as a source of energy and electricity. Although there are other ways of them getting their energy supply, with the loss of nuclear power, they would only have to increase one or more of their other supplies in order to make up for what they have lost from the lack of nuclear power. SHOULD NUCLEAR POWER BE BANNED? Taking into account both sides of the argument, we can see that there are many reasons for nuclear power being banned, just as well as reasons for nuclear power to not be banned. The main reason that people believe nuclear power should be banned is that there is always the risk of a spillage of nuclear gases, or a leak in the power stations, which would have a great impact on humans health. The main reason as too why nuclear power shouldnt be banned is that it provides a huge amount of the worlds energy and electricity source. As you can see from the for and against arguments on the previous pages, I think that overall the benefit of nuclear power outweighs the risk so therefore nuclear power SHOULDNT be banned, and I think this becauseto get rid of all the nuclear power stations over the world would cost an awful lot of money for the governments and thats money that could be put to a better use elsewhere. Also after paying out to get rid of the nuclear power plants throughout the earth, we would then also have to pay for other methods of providing the electricity and energy resources that these plants provided, it would be easier and more efficient to just spend the money into finding more ways in which we can prevent a leakage at a power plant and how we would handle such a situation, if another one were to occur. Nuclear power plays too big a role in everyday life, we just take it for granted and dont actually realise how much we do rely on it. Furthermore, as for the number of deaths that have occurred from nuclear power accidents; there are so many things nowadays that could kill people, we just try not to look at them in that way, for instance there could be a massive pile-up on a motorway and kill a numerous amount of drivers, passengers and general citizens, but that doesnt mean that people are going to stop driving does it? So why should nuclear power be banned because of the risk of there being a fault that could cause deaths among humans? The workers in nuclear power plants, are fully aware of the risks they take every day and the risks of the radiation, but safety measures are in place to protect these workers from getting harmed, and they are trained of what to do in the case of emergency, so therefore its entirely down to them to do the job or not, at no point are they being forced to work under such conditions that are putting themselves at risk.

The Growth of American Government from the End of Reconstruction and th

In the past, the nation’s government took the â€Å"laissez-faire† approach to dealing with the economy and/or free market affairs. The government intervened as little as possible, asserting the belief felt that if left alone, economic problems would be resolved without government interference. However, this approach was not guaranteed, and at times, the government had to put aside the â€Å"laissez-faire† approach of the past. The government had no other choice but to intervene in these instances to return balance to the economy and protect its citizens it served. The government changed both its approach and its size through programs initiated by the Industrial Revolution, New Deal programs during and following the Great Depression, and World War II, forever changing the relationship between Americans and their Government. During the Industrial Revolution with the massive railroad production across the country, the railroad executives were clever, strong-minded, mostly dishonest men who bribed congressmen, and conducted crooked financial deals who became known as â€Å"robber barons†. 1 As railroads expanded transportation across the country, it opened up a vast market for competition and over production of farm products. The railroad executives took advantage of the fact that the railroad was the only transportation that some farmers had to ship their products. Since the railroads had formed monopolies, they were free to charge whatever rates they saw fit and took full advantage of this by price discrimination. They offered discounts and rebates to big corporations with large loads which the individual farmer did not have. Nor did farmers have the political influence to fight the railroads on these matters.2 Therefore, in 1877, t... ... 11. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 book pg 1086-87 12. HI 1073 United States History 1877-Present Discussion Manual Spring 2011 CH 5 – The Interwar Years, 58. Social Security Act (1935). 13. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 book Page 1197 14. HI 1073 United States History 1877-Present Discussion Manual Spring 2011 CH 6 – World War II, 70. The GI Bill of Rights (1944). 15. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 pg 1209 16. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 page 1218

Professional Sports - NBA Should Enforce a Hard Salary Cap Essay exampl

The NBA Should Enforce a Hard Salary Cap      Ã‚   How many of you sports fans out there are sick of paying twenty-five dollars for a lousy seat at an NBA game? How many of you are sick of seeing the same teams in the finals every year? I'm sure there are thousands of you out there that feel this way, as do I. The way we can fix these problems is to demand that the NBA enforce a hard salary cap. A hard salary cap would lower ticket prices, allow for more teams to be more competitive and eliminate the possibility of any future lockouts. If the three things listed above aren't met, it's hard to say if the NBA will survive at all. I want to see the NBA survive, but not in the way things are being run now. A hard salary cap is the only way the fans and the players can coexist.    A hard salary cap will lower ticket prices. I, among many of friends am a die-hard NBA fan, but we can only afford to attend one or two games a year. The average ticket price in the NBA is twenty-five dollars and that doesn't include a pair of binoculars, which you'll need if you're sitting in a twenty-five-dollar seat. That can give you an idea of how much a court side seat might cost you. Some people wonder why tickets are so much. Maybe Mike Kahn, who is the CBS Sportsline Executive Editor, can tell us why ticket prices are so high. In one of his articles he notes. Players' salaries are escalating faster than revenue and it would be foolish not to throw a lid on it. Tickets are already out of sight for a middle class family. ( 2 ) That means to me that players are demanding more and more money and ticket prices have to go up to compensate for higher salaries. I n the Tampa Tribune, Bill Fay, a sports writer for the paper noted. Most of the teams h... ...salary cap will provide an answer for some of the most serious problems facing the NBA. It will lower ticket prices, allow more teams to be more competitive and eliminate the any future lockouts. If these problems can be fixed by enforcing a hard salary cap, I don't see why it shouldn't be done. The NBA should enforce a hard salary cap.    Works Cited Fay, Bill " Owners Need To Be Restrained", Tampa Tribune 5 July 1998, 1-2 Kahn, Mike," Latest News Could Stall Negotiations", October, 1998, n. pag. Online. World Wide Web <wysiwyg://71/http://cbs.sportsline.../page/cyberspy/oct98/spy101998.htm> Nov. 14, 98 Anonymous." Labor Issues", The Salt Lake Tribune 30 June 1998,1 MacMullan, Jackie," Lockout Limbo", July 1998, n. pag. Online. World Wide Web <http:www.cnnsi.com/features/1998/weekly/980720/nbalock_intro.html> Nov. 14,1998 Professional Sports - NBA Should Enforce a Hard Salary Cap Essay exampl The NBA Should Enforce a Hard Salary Cap      Ã‚   How many of you sports fans out there are sick of paying twenty-five dollars for a lousy seat at an NBA game? How many of you are sick of seeing the same teams in the finals every year? I'm sure there are thousands of you out there that feel this way, as do I. The way we can fix these problems is to demand that the NBA enforce a hard salary cap. A hard salary cap would lower ticket prices, allow for more teams to be more competitive and eliminate the possibility of any future lockouts. If the three things listed above aren't met, it's hard to say if the NBA will survive at all. I want to see the NBA survive, but not in the way things are being run now. A hard salary cap is the only way the fans and the players can coexist.    A hard salary cap will lower ticket prices. I, among many of friends am a die-hard NBA fan, but we can only afford to attend one or two games a year. The average ticket price in the NBA is twenty-five dollars and that doesn't include a pair of binoculars, which you'll need if you're sitting in a twenty-five-dollar seat. That can give you an idea of how much a court side seat might cost you. Some people wonder why tickets are so much. Maybe Mike Kahn, who is the CBS Sportsline Executive Editor, can tell us why ticket prices are so high. In one of his articles he notes. Players' salaries are escalating faster than revenue and it would be foolish not to throw a lid on it. Tickets are already out of sight for a middle class family. ( 2 ) That means to me that players are demanding more and more money and ticket prices have to go up to compensate for higher salaries. I n the Tampa Tribune, Bill Fay, a sports writer for the paper noted. Most of the teams h... ...salary cap will provide an answer for some of the most serious problems facing the NBA. It will lower ticket prices, allow more teams to be more competitive and eliminate the any future lockouts. If these problems can be fixed by enforcing a hard salary cap, I don't see why it shouldn't be done. The NBA should enforce a hard salary cap.    Works Cited Fay, Bill " Owners Need To Be Restrained", Tampa Tribune 5 July 1998, 1-2 Kahn, Mike," Latest News Could Stall Negotiations", October, 1998, n. pag. Online. World Wide Web <wysiwyg://71/http://cbs.sportsline.../page/cyberspy/oct98/spy101998.htm> Nov. 14, 98 Anonymous." Labor Issues", The Salt Lake Tribune 30 June 1998,1 MacMullan, Jackie," Lockout Limbo", July 1998, n. pag. Online. World Wide Web <http:www.cnnsi.com/features/1998/weekly/980720/nbalock_intro.html> Nov. 14,1998

Distributive Justice and Its Relevance Under Indian Constitution

PAPER ON THE TOPIC THE PHILOSOPHY OF DISTRUBUTIVE JUSTICE AND ITS RELEVANCE UNDER INDIAN CONSTITUTION The jurisprudence of distributive justice, according to juristic cynics, is an essay in illusion. The basic social system is built on gross inequalities and the power to lobby and mould State policy, even judicial policy, is heavily in the hands of the proprietariat. Being social realists and meliorists we have to work with the materials that we have and try to read the constitutional provisions in such a manner that the human essence of distributive justice is won by dynamic interpretation and socialist understanding.The Indian Constitution visualizes an affirmative State action for bringing about a new social order based on justice, social, economic and political (Art. 38). The Directive Principles of State Policy contain the directions of change towards such a new social order. The researcher has examined various theories of justice and has examine how the John Rawl’s theory of justice which means that justice is fairness is the most apt for the Indian situation. Even in th e Constitution we find different strategies of justice. Keywords: Justice, Distributive Justice, Constitution.INTRODUCTIONEver since the birth of society, justice has been one of the most important quests of human endeavor. Justice means giving one what is due to him. As a principle of law, justice delimits and harmonises the conflicting desires, claims and interests in the social life of the people. In the modern society if we take the view that all its problem of distribution then the recourse is left open to distributive justice and nothing else. Distributive justice embraces the whole economic dimension of social justice, the entire question of distribution of goods and services within the society.It demands equality in the distribution or allotment of advantages or burdens. The aim of distributive justice is to strike a balance in the socio-economic structure of the society and bring equipoise between the conflicting interests of individual citizens. It is submitted that the pr oblem of distributive justice in one sense is more a matter of procedural fairness to individuals than of substantive rightness or wrongness of the rules themselves. More specifically, it would seem that even bad rules can be applied justly and good rules in an unjust way, but it does not mean that it is not the concern of the substantive law.Much will depend upon the structure of the society. To establish distributive justice we must create a public system of rules by reference to which the conflicting claims which inevitably arise can be authoritatively determined. Distributive justice essentially is the function of a just society. The problems of Indian society are so complex, perplex and varied that a single formula for distributive justice cannot be found. The Constitution of India talks of justice in the Preamble as well as in Article 38 of the Constitution which is a directive principle of state policy.The Constitution talks not of justice but of social, economic and politica l justice. It does not merely envisage a system of corrective justice in which rights and obligations arising out of the present social structure are enforced. It clearly saw that the existing structure was unjust and needed to be changed. This is what we call distributive justice.PHILOSOPHY OF JUSTICE AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICEEver since men have begun to reflect upon their relations with each other and upon the vicissitudes of human lot, they have been preoccupied with the meaning of justice.Justice shares with natural law an institutional immortality which presents a constant paradox: it is so ancient that everything has been said about it, and so modern that it constitutes a continuous and inescapable problem in the ever-changing context of a contemporary society. Justice, as Aristotle said, â€Å"is the bond of men in society. † and â€Å"States without justice† are as St. Augustine said, â€Å"robber-bands. † Fiat justitia ruat coelum let heavens fall, justi ce had to be done became the abstraction of many religious, political, moral and legal philosophers of all ages.The power of justice is so great that it strengthens and excites a person fighting for just cause. All wars have been fought by all parties in the name of justice, and same is true of the political conflict between social classes. On the other hand, the very fact of this almost ubiquitous applicability of the principle of justice prompts the suspicion that something may be wrong with an idea that can be invoked for any cause. Social groupings of today are dynamic, not static, and they do not find the ideal equipoise in a condition of mere imperturbability.Justice is considered to be the primary goal of a welfare state whose very existence in turn rests on the parameters of justice. The greatest contrast, however, between ancient and modern thinking about the social harmony of justice is in the changed conception of individual personality in relation of law. I. The problem of Justice The importance of the subject of justice and the frequency of its use would naturally lead one to believe that there is an accepted definition of justice or, if not, at least a workable definition of justice is capable of being carved out.But defining justice is not as easy as it appears to be. There are difficulties inherent in the concept of justice and it is because of this reason that it is wholly indeterminate and belies all attempts to define it. Hens Kelsen perturbedly remarked: No other question has been discussed so passionately; no other question has caused so much precious blood and so many bitter tears to be shed; no other question has been the object of so much intensive thinking by the most illustrious thinkers from Plato to Kant; and yet, this question is today as unanswered as it ever was.It seems that it is one of those questions to which the resigned wisdom applies that man cannot find a definitive answer, but can only try to improve the question. What i s ‘just’ is again a question which largely remains unanswered and mostly hinges on the hunch of the bench as it nowhere informs us how to recognise or distinguish a just man from the other. The term justice has two aspects, namely, abstract justice and concrete justice. In the abstract sense ‘justice’ means a course of conduct both legel and moral, which tends to augment human ‘welfare’.Those human actions which do not intersect mankind have no significance either for ethics or for jurisprudence. The answer to the question as to what actions affect human welfare varies from age to age or generation t generation depending on divergent conceptions of human welfare prevailing in a given society during a given period of time. It is through the abstract notion of justice that its true significance in its practical application can be ascertained and appreciated. In the concrete sense, justice plays a positive role in regulating the procedural safegua rds afforded to litigants in the courts of law. II.Meaning of Justice and Distributive Justice Grotius and Leibniz believed in the concept of society as the co-operation of beings endowed with reason defined justice as custodia societatis Justum est quod societatum ratione utentium perfecit. This means justice puts an end to the conflict between the individual and the universal, the microcosm and the macrocosm, and brings about the synthesis between the whole and the parts. Justice thus seems to entail the conflict of competing claims and not infrequently the clash of powerful social interests with the right of individuals ensnared from time to time in the mechanism of raison d’ Etat.That is why justice is by its very essence a justitia communis, which reconciles in itself and transcends the commutative, distributive, and universal principles. To Plato, justice is a virtue of that psyche or soul which is the quint-essential personality of human creature. In the Republic the q uest is for justice as the complete expression of the soul’s excellences and, therefore, of the whole moral man. Plato tells us that the four supreme moral qualities both in state and the individual are wisdom, courage, temperance or moderation and justice; and the greatest of these, the indispensable, is justice.Aristotle said that justice implies a certain degree of equality; this equality might, however, be either arithmetical or geometrical, the first based on identity and the second on proportionality and equivalence. Arithmetical equality leads to commutative justice, geometrical equality to distributive justice. The second is the business of the legislator, while the first is the business of the judge. Political rights and goods should be apportioned according to distributive justice, punishments should be imposed and damages paid according to commutative justice.The theory of justice thus involves an examination of the body of rights and duties accepted in a society i n the light of the formal principles of equality, the aim being to rid it of arbitrary elements; that is discrimination not grounded on relevant differences. According to John Stuart Mill, a society which is governed by the legal philosophy of distributive justice is one which: Should treat all equally well who have deserved equally well of it, that is, who have deserved equally well absolutely.This is the highest abstract standard of social and distributive justice; towards which all institutions and the efforts of all virtuous citizens should be made in the utmost degree to converge. It is thus universally considered just that each person should obtain that (whether good or evil) which he deserves; and unjust that he should obtain a good, or be made to undergo an evil, which he does not deserve. This is perhaps the clearest and most emphatic form in which the idea of justice is conceived by the general mind. As it involves the idea of desert the question arises of what constitutes desert.The characteristic of distributive justice is the expansion of the spirit of collectivism, the promotion of the feeling of co-operation and the exercise by society of its collective powers in support of the legitimate claims of individual life. Its formula is â€Å"to every man according to his needs† rather than â€Å"to every man according to his deserts. † The distributive justice considers how it can secure too each individual a standard of living and such a share in the values of civilization as shall make possible a full existence of human life.In all these ways, the notion of justice according to law is gradually pervaded by the notion of justice and the distributive justice in the law. III. Concept of Distributive Justice Modern social and economic developments have made it clear that individual justice, justice between the wrongdoer and the victim is only a partial and incomplete form of justice and it is in the notion of distributive justice, i. e. , rendering to each man his due, the essence of justice lies.The development of the welfare state is generally thought of as an application of the notion of distributive justice. Moreover, the cry for equality of opportunity for the underprivileged and weaker sections of the society is being increasingly heard these days and this demonstrates the importance of the notion of distributive justice in modern consciousness. Distributive justice embraces â€Å"the whole economic dimension of social justice, the entire question of proper distribution of goods and services within the society†.It demands equality in the distribution or allotment of advantages or burdens. The advantages or burdens which are to be distributed are of numerous kinds such as wages, taxes, property, punishments, individual or social performances or rights and duties as allocated and apportioned by the legal system. Distributive justice aims to strike a balance in the socio- economic structure of the society t o bring equipoise between the conflicting desires, interests and claims of the individual citizens. Justice P. N.Bhagwati succinctly explains distributive justice as: And when I talk of justice, I mean not commutative justice but distributive justice, justice in depth, justice which penetrates and destroys inequalities of race, sex, and wealth, justice which is not confined to a fortunate few, but takes within its sweep the entire people of the country, justice which ensures equitable distribution of the social, material and political resources of the community. This is the kind of justice which we in India are trying to realize through the process of law and our substantive law is being geared to this task.Distributive justice includes the quality of being just and fair to all the individuals in the society or group. It seeks to give everyone what is due to him. What is due cannot be ascertained by absolute standards because the standards change with changes in the socio-economic c onditions of the society. It does not mean only a just distribution of the material goods of life, but also means and includes the reasonable requirements of human body, mind and spirit. It takes in both the means and the end, the process as well as the product.It seeks to meet out justice through just means, unjust means may satisfy some, but cause injustice to others. Distributive justice means justice to all and not to a few or a favored class. It does not introduce class conflicts, but seeks to improve and harmonise the society with a view to avoid the socio- economic imbalances. The readjustment of social claims may involve a transfer of resources from one section of the society to another, but the transfer is only an equitable reallocation of the resources and not a destruction of the structure itself.Distributive justice demands preferential treatment of the weaker sections of the society, but that is only to correct the imbalances existing in the society and not to cause unn ecessary harassment or injustice to the advanced sections thereof. Thus, it seeks to remove the imbalances in the social, economic and political life of the people. There cannot be distributive justice unless the society progresses in all the directions. In short distributive justice helps to bring about a just society.The right to distributive justice may be defined as the right of the weak, aged, destitute, poor, women, children, and other underprivileged and downtrodden segments of the society to the protection of the state against the ruthless competition of life. It seeks to give adventitious aids to the underprivileged, so that they may have an equal opportunity to compete boldly with the more advanced sections of the society. It is a bundle of rights; in one sense it is carved out of other rights; in another sense, it is a preserver of other rights.It is the balancing wheel between the haves and have- nots. Its aim is not to pull down the advanced sections of the society, but only to uplift the backwards and the underprivileged sections thereof without unduly and unreasonably effecting and undermining the interests of the former. It only prevents unjust enrichment at the expense of the underprivileged and ensures a balanced and harmonious development of the society. It is this approach and understanding of the concept of distributive justice which permeates the Indian Constitution and is adopted here for the purposes of this work.This takes us to the study of principles of distributive justice which serve as the criteria for evaluating the propriety or justice of distribution. IV. Theories of justice The theories which take in their sweep the above mentioned principles of distributive justice are: – Utilitarian, and – Contractarian. The former represents an established tradition of ethical thought, though subject to continuing refinements and restatements. The later owes much to John Rawls, who, in recent times has most illuminatingly used the idea of primordial social contract to arrive at the basic principles of justice.It is often reiterated that the theories of justice must take into consideration at least three important facets of distributive process: a) The ‘total amount of goods (or utility) to the distributed’; b) The ‘pattern of distribution arrived at’; and c) The distributional procedure described aptly as the ‘principle of selection by means of which the distribution is arrived at’. An attempt is made here to examine the different facets of these theories and to ascertain the extent to which they satisfy the demands of distributive justice.Utilitarian Theory of Justice Utilitarianism is essentially an aggressive theory. Its premise is the greatest good of the greatest number. Justice in its essence is distributive in character. The three principles of justice enumerated above demand that a person’s share of good should be proportional to some quality he posse sses. It is, therefore, unlikely that utilitarian theory will be able to accommodate principles whose form contrasts directly with that of the greatest happiness principle.It is submitted that why someone committed to aggregating good should care how that good is distributed among different people. The main weakness of the utilitarian theory from the perspectives of distributive justice is that it accords a paramount role to the quantity of good or welfare distribution. This has been pointed out by Brandit in the following words: â€Å"If quantity of welfare can be raised by a grossly unequal distribution- for instance, as in an efficient system of slavery- then we have to favour inequality.Equality, on utilitarian scheme, is a servant of quantity of welfare. † John Rawls takes this insight as his starting point in developing a contractual theory of justice which is intended to remedy the deficiencies of utilitarianism. It may thus seem that the utilitarian theory does not br ing home the expectations of society because our needs and desires differ qualitatively and are mutually incommensurable.Man harbours the most varied needs, for example the need for food, rest and sleep, occupation, sexual activity, culture and knowledge, artistic experience and recreation, love and respect, power and social esteem, etc. If all the needs of an individual cannot be satisfied, and if he is faced with a choice, for example, between listening to symphony and eating a good dinner, this choice cannot be described as a rational alternative between two measurable quantities of pleasure. Contractarian Theory of JusticeAccording to John Rawls: â€Å"Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override†. Rawls understands society as a co-operative venture for mutual advantage. In a co-operative society, there is a social union and a shared end, conceived not as a substantive goal, but as a plan of conduct which will assure that the endowments of each will be complementary to the good of all. The actual differences between individuals in terms of natural abilities, social advantages, wealth, etc. are viewed as a cause of social discord; the differences tempt men to pursue their own advantage, what all have in common is a moral personality and this must be the basis of justice. The utilitarian theory fails to accommodate this very conception of justice. To replace it, Rawls has offered the following principles of justice: All social primary goods- liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of self- respect are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any, or all, of these goods is to the advantage of the least favoured.V. The Constitutional Scheme of Distributive Justice Indian Constitution opens with the preamble which states in unequivocal terms that the people of India have solemnly resolved to secure to all its citizens: Justice – social, ec onomic and political, equality of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.The Objectives Resolution from which this phrase has been carved out states: This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution: a) Wherein shall be guaranteed and secured to all the people of India justice, social, economic and political; equality of status, of opportunity, and before the law; freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law and public morality; and b) Wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and depressed and other backward classes. Referring to socio- economic justice, Dr. S.Radhakrishnan said that it intended to effect a smooth and rapid transition from a state of serfdom to one of freedom. Then emphasizing the need for such a change, he said, â€Å"it is therefore necessary that we must remake the material conditions†. The phrases thus used by the Founding Fathers clearly indicate that socio-economic justice in its realization is distributive in character. It contemplates a change in social structure in order to effect a transition from serfdom to freedom and attempts to remake the material conditions of the society. Granville Austin has also observed: â€Å"The Constitution was to foster the achievement of many goals. Transcendent among them was that of social revolution. Through this revolution would be fulfilled the basic eeds of the common man, and, it was hoped, this revolution would bring about fundamental changes in the structure of the Indian society†. Thus, the scheme of distributive justice as visualized in the Objectives resolution was incorporated in the preamble, the fundamental rights and the directive princip les of state policy and other provisions of the Constitution. You can read also  Justice System Position PaperThe gist of the scheme may be stated thus: Constitution ordains the state to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice- social, economic and political shall inform all the institutions of national life. For the establishment of social order, the people of India have been given the following fundamental rights: a) Right to equality; ) Right to six freedoms- freedom of speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to form associations or unions; to move freely throughout the territory of India; to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business; c) Right to life and personal liberty; d) Right against exploitation; e) Right to freedom of religion; f) Cultural and educational rights; g) Right to constitutional remedies. In addition to these, the directive principl es of state policy also express in categorical terms the ideals of distributive justice. Article 38 requires the state inter-alia, to minimize the inequalities in income and endeavor to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals, but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations.Article 39 requires the state to make available to all the citizens adequate means of livelihood; to distribute ownership and control of material resources so as to sub serve the common good; to operate the economic system in such a way that it does not result in concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment; that there is equal pay for equal work; to protect the health and strength of workers men and women and the tender age of children against abuse and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age and strength, that children are given oppo rtunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.The state is also required to provide equal justice through the mechanism of free legal aid in order to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizens by reason of economic or other disabilities; to provide right to work, to education and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and other cases of undeserved want; to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief, to provide work, a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities; to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organizations engaged in industry; to secure for all the citizen s a uniform civil code throughout the country, to provide free and compulsory education for children below the age of 14 years; to promote the educational and economic interests of the Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections; to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living and to improve the public health. Thus, it can be said that the Constitution of India has twin objectives: First, to usher in a new social order ensuring distributive justice to all the citizens and; second, to protect the liberties of the people from the onslaughts of autocratic and arbitrary power. These two ideas run like a golden fabric through the entire scheme of the Constitution.Indeed, the substantive and the procedural provisions of the Constitution harmonizing the said two concepts give a new philosophy and sustenance to our socialist, democratic republic based on rule of law. But to our dismay, many of the legislative actions destined at distributive justice pursuance to t he implementation of the directive principles of state policy were struck down by the courts from time to time. The directives have been relegated to the position of inferiority. The bewildering judgments of the Supreme Court right from the days of Champakam Dorairajan,Quaresh, Kerela Education Bill, including the Golaknath, the Bank Nationalisation, the Privy Purse and the Minerva Mills have shattered all the hopes of the Government to implement the directive principles of state policy.These ecisions crippled the state machinery and paralysed the movement of the nation towards an equalitarian social order. These decisions represent a saga of judicial misunderstanding of the avowed ideals of the Constitution. This approach is inherently inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution ignoring the realities of the Indian societal structure. The poverty of the Indian masses cannot be mitigated by eulogizing the fundamental liberties and mellowing down the positive efforts of state de stined at distributive justice. The Constitutional goals of distributive justice can be achieved only if the courts adopt a pragmatic and sociological approach without making such ado about the rights in interpreting socio-economic legislations.It is submitted that both fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy aim at establishing a just social order based on the philosophy of distributive justice ensuring dignity to the individual not only to the few privileged persons, but to the entire masses of the country including the have nots and the handicapped, the lowliest and the lost. Both these represent a broad spectrum of human rights. The concept of distributive justice as embodied in the Constitution is a living concept of revolutionary import. It gives sustenance to the rule of law and meaning and significance to the ideals of a welfare state. The freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution are not an end in itself, but the means to achieve distributive justice.Ou r Constitution is the unique document for the upliftment of the down-trodden and weaker sections of the society. The greatest need of the hour, therefore, in our society in social integration of the weaker and oppressed sections of the people with the rest of the society. This demonstrates that our Constitution does not leave the individual at the mercy of the law of nature representative of competitive modal of society. It assigns a prominent role to and imposes heavy responsibilities upon the state to assure a dignified life to each individual irrespective of what he deserves on meritarian consideration. Yet, in a way it incorporates the need-based principle of justice.It means securing to each and every human being the basic necessities of life like food, clothing, housing, medicine, education and the like etc. This is the voice of distributive justice and the very Dharma of the Indian Constitution. ——————————à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Sudesh Kumar Sharma, Distributive justice under Indian Constitution, Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1989 [ 2 ]. http://www. spotlaw. in/text/910011996/9100119961206001. htm (accessed on 9 march 2013) [ 3 ]. http://www. spotlaw. in/text/910011996/9100119961206001. htm (accessed on 9 march 2013) [ 4 ]. Sudesh Kumar Sharma, Distributive justice under Indian Constitution, Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1989 [ 5 ]. VII Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, 512 (1953) [ 6 ].Quoted by Justice George Vadakkel in his paper entitled â€Å"Law, lawyers and political development†, Vol. VIII (4), Journal of Bar Council of India, 629 at 635 (1981). [ 7 ]. Address by Justice P. N Bhagwati at the opening session of the Sixth Commonwealth Law Conference on 18th August, 1980 in The challenge of social justice, 20-21 (1985). [ 8 ]. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1976 Reprint) [ 9 ]. R. B. Brandit, Ethical Theory, 415 (1959) [ 10 ]. John R awls, â€Å"Distributive Jusitce† in P. Laslett and W. G. Runciman (ed. ), Philosophy, Politics and Society, 3rd ser. 50 (1967) [ 11 ]. I C A. D 59 [ 12 ]. II C A. D. 269 [ 13 ]. II C A. D. 273 [ 14 ].Granville Austin, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, introduction (1979 Reprint) [ 15 ]. Art. 38(1) [ 16 ]. Art. 14 to 18 [ 17 ]. Art. 19(1)(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (g). [ 18 ]. Art. 20 to 22 [ 19 ]. Art. 23 and 24 [ 20 ]. Art. 25 to 28 [ 21 ]. Art. 29 to 30 [ 22 ]. Art. 32 [ 23 ]. Art. 38(2) [ 24 ]. Art. 39(a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f). [ 25 ]. Art. 39-A [ 26 ]. Art. 42 [ 27 ]. Art. 43 [ 28 ]. Art. 43 A [ 29 ]. Art. 44 [ 30 ]. Art. 45 [ 31 ]. Art. 46 [ 32 ]. Art. 47 [ 33 ]. 1951 SCR 525 [ 34 ]. AIR 1958 SC 731 [ 35 ]. AIR 1958 SC 956 [ 36 ]. AIR 1967 SC 1643 [ 37 ]. AIR 1970 SC 607 [ 38 ]. (1971) 1 SCJ 295 [ 39 ]. (1980) 3 SCC 625