OSHA Legal Aspects of Safety and Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

OSHA Legal Aspects of Safety and Health - Essay Example The conference happens after the compliance officer has identified him/herself (OSHA, 2011). They are supposed to inform the manager of the scope of their inspection and criteria followed to select the firm. They are also supposed to specify the standards that are to apply and the general purpose. They should also offer information on how the manager can access a copy of applicable standards and then asks to be given an employer representative who will attend the inspection; an employee representative may also accompany them in case there is a safety committee in place (OSHA, 2011). In case there are some issues between the management and the employees then separate opening conferences are initiated. On the other hand the employer has the right to reduce or expand the scope but under reasonable grounds where the officer should in turn inform them on their responsibilities and obligations as the employer. References OSHA (2011). Discussions in the opening conference. Retrieved 18 Jan. 2011 from, http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9690

The Purchasing Function Business Essay

The Purchasing Function Business Essay The purchasing function is described by Lysons and Gillingham (2003) as a function with resource to procure supplies. It is usually argued that the purchasing function is not strategically important to enable organisations to gain competitive advantage. Carr and Pearson (2002) described nonstrategic purchasing as a function that is clerical in nature, reactive to other functions and focusing on short-term issues. Ramsay and Croom (2008) on the other hand saw purchasing as a strategic function that contributes to the overall organisational competitive advantage. But Reck and Long in Carr and Pearson (2002) argues that purchasing function of a firm can operate between strategic and nonstrategic levels within an organisation. There is now a question as to whether purchasing should still be considering the nonstrategic role of the purchasing function. This paper will be looking the role of purchasing that make makes it strategic and how purchasing function is strategically important in g aining competitive advantage for the organisation with the aid of model and tools/techniques for purchasing. Purchasing is usually defined as obtaining the right quality material, at the right time, in the right quantity, from the right source, at the right place (Lysons and Gillingham 2003; Baily et al. 1998). Van Weele (2005) also defined purchasing as the management of the companys external supply of goods, services, capabilities necessary for running, maintaining and managing the companys primary and support activities is secured at the most favourable conditions. Although, there is no agreed definition of purchasing from literature, these definitions indicate that there is need for supply requiring to determination of specifications, supply continuity by choosing a suitable supplier, efficient buying (worth the value), and relationship to ensure supply at the right time to manage inventory and monitor efficiency of suppliers thereby defining the purchasing function. Many authors in the literature have identified the developments in purchasing. Reck and Long in Lysons and Gillingham 2003 identified that purchasing passes through stages from passive (no strategic direction and supplier selection based on price and availability), independent (purchasing having functional efficiency with no regards to firms competitive strategy), supportive (supports the corporate strategy with regards to the competitive objective) to integrative (full integration of purchasing strategy into the firms corporate strategy) stages to become a competitive weapon for an organisation. Van Weele (2005) also identified that need for reduced costs, product standardisation, innovation, stock reduction, increase flexibility, and purchasing synergies can improve an organisations competitive position. In addition, changes in trade pattern, customer demands, technology, competitor activity in the have wider business context has affected the development of purchasing. An indicatio n of this is that an increase the importance of purchasing gives the organisation the capability to satisfy its customers needs by focusing on activities that ensures quality products of good values are produced in line with the organisations competitive strategy. Carr and Smeltzer (1997) were able to make a distinction between purchasing strategy and strategic purchasing. Defining purchasing strategy as the specific actions the purchasing function may take to achieve its objectives. While strategic purchasing was defined as the process of planning, evaluating, implementing, and controlling strategies the purchasing follows. It is gathered from these definitions that the actions of the strategy of the purchasing function must be in line with the overall corporate strategy of the organisation be it cost or differentiation as identified by Porter (1985) and that the strategic purchasing must be able to direct the purchasing functions to ensure that the long-term goals are achieved and the organisation remains competitive. Although, there may be nonstrategic purchasing functions due to the low status and spend of the organisation (Carr and Pearson 2002), strategic purchasing functions must be given top management consideration as it is proactivel y involved achieving the firms goals and adding value to the organisation. However, this may only happen when the purchasing function is integrated into the firms strategic planning process and is thought of as important to achieve and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage as concluded by Goh, Lau and Neo (1999). Strategic purchasing has been seen by many authors as impacting firm performance, especially in relation to supplier involvement. It was argued by Chen, Paulraj and Lado (2004) that strategic purchasing gives a competitive advantage by fostering closer working relationships with a limited number of suppliers; promote open communication among supply-chain partners; develop long-term strategic relationship orientation to achieve mutual gains. Carr and Pearson (2002) also argued importance of purchasing to new product development as regards to selecting qualified suppliers as well as the involvement for product development while McGinnis and Vallopra (1999) argued that purchasing and supplier involvement contributes to higher product quality, achievement of cost objectives, and reduce new product time-to-market. Also Brookshaw and Terziovski (1997); Krause, Pagell and Curkovic (2001) were able to argue that strategic purchasing is capable of retaining a firm competitive priorities of qu ality, cost, delivery, reliability through the relationship with suppliers In other words, strategic purchasing with regards suppliers involvement can improve an organisations performance and customer responsiveness if involved in the planning process thereby increasing the firms profits while gaining competitive advantage. Increase in organisations costs spent on purchasing activities from external sources as identified by Ramsay and Croom (2008); Baily et al. (1998) indicates the need for reduction in direct materials cost and net capital employed by organisations. Purchasing is able to achieve these reductions with the use of purchasing policies like competitive bidding and collaboration with suppliers to make decisions that ensure quality and logistics arrangement thereby saving cost and adding to the organisations bottom line. Strategically placing purchasing in organisations decision making process gives it control on purchasing costs and ability to choose a supplier base that is competitive and better than competition. The need for strategic cost management and collaborative innovation and designs, which may require working with external supplier has made organisations rethink their position in the value system and has resulted in the business decision of automating or outsourcing non-critical functions leaving more strategic purchasing tasks. Outsourcing comes from a decision of an organisation to focus on its core activities (Van Weele 2005). This decision is reached when the organisation discovered that performing a function in-house can no longer be carried out competitively, so outsourcing the function to a more proactive organisation allows the advantage to be gained (Baily et al. 1998). In addition, it is not just enough to make outsourcing decisions, the selection of suppliers that will contribute to the organisational goals is critical. Before selecting suppliers, Gadde and HÃ ¥kansson (1994) argued that the purchasing strategy must be decided, be it single, parallel, multiple sourcing. But Svahn and Westerlund (2009) emphasised that the characteristics of the purchasing strategy, efficiency (cost-driven) or effectiveness (innovation and value-adding), affects supplier selection and way purchasing manages the relationship with suppliers in line with the organisations competitive strategy. Purchasing must be able to assess the capabilities of the suppliers through a series tools like e-procurement, purchasing portfolio management, collaborative tools to identify suppliers that can enable the firm gain competitive advantage. Drake and Lee (2008), through the use of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were able to emphasise the importance of aligning purchasing strategy with business strategy. They argued that purchasing through AHP is able to prioritise the importance of components for manufacturing or impact on the strategic priorities and that purchasing is able to ensure the uninterrupted flow of materials through selection of suppliers in such a way to meet the corporate strategy and competitive priorities (quality, cost, speed, flexibility) of the firm. Purchasing portfolio analysis suggested by Kraljic (1983) is an important model for strategic purchasing. Kraljic was able to argue that a firms supply strategy depends on two factors: profit impact and supply risk and with that identified 4 portfolio quadrants: strategic, leverage, bottleneck and routine. This model proposes that purchasing strategies must be chosen for each supplier. Van Weele (2005) also emphasised that a companys spend can be categorised using the 20:80 rule; which says 20 percent of suppliers provide 80 percent of supplies and evaluate suppliers according to priority. From these two views, purchasing must be able to identify the suppliers of critical to non-critical products and develop strategies that ensure minimal supply risk and increase buying power. Also, Baily et. Al (2005) suggested that tiering of suppliers can help identify important suppliers and improve partnership with them. Wagner and Johnson (2004) argued that carefully configured, developed, and managed supplier portfolio can contribute to the firms value creation and competitive advantage. At this point, purchasing must have a proactive approach to making sure that it identifies supplier that contributes to the organisation the competitive advantage needed. Another importance of purchasing especially when buying capital goods is that it focuses on total cost management. Most buying processes are usually based on the price as indicated by Baily et at. (1998); Van Weele (2005). Baily et at. (1998) sees purchasing as of strategic importance as it able to focus on the total acquisition cost than price and bears in mind the total cost of ownership of capital goods like cost of maintenance, spare parts in the long term. Purchasing is able to contribute to the specifications by informing to other functions of delivery reliability, assuring timely supply of necessary inputs to ensure that the initial purchase price alone is considered but rather the total lifetime cost of equipments are considered to make sure purchasing is adding value to the organisation by reducing cost over time. Again mutual relationship with suppliers can bring about cost, price reduction and ultimately cost transparency as supported by Lamming (1993). E-procurement is another strategic tool for purchasing that can contribute to competitive advantage due to its huge cost savings. William (2003) argued that E-procurement cuts across the whole purchasing process and helps facilitate early supplier involvement as well as minimise complexities and unnecessary costs as real-time information is shared between buyer and seller, it also gives top management visibility as they are concerned with the increased operational spend. E-procurement has contributed to the success of many organisations, for instance, Volvos supplier selection (Van Weele 2010) and Gap Inc. to reduce lead-time and overall operations of its retail channels (Demery 2006). Despite the benefits of e-procurement, if top management do not strategically initiate the need for e-procurement, the benefits of it giving an organisation competitive advantage are lost. Conversely, after much consideration of the importance of strategic purchasing to gain competitive advantage, it is necessary to focus on non-strategic purchasing and why it is seen as not important to gain competitive advantage. A nonstrategic purchasing function is task-oriented, while a strategic function makes business decisions as argued by Carr and Smeltzer (2000). Carr and Pearson (2002) also argue that non-strategic purchasing has no contribution to the long-term goals of the firm, are insignificant and of low status. Indeed, if top management of an organisation does not see the importance in the purchasing role in contributing to competitive advantage, it will continue to be seen as non-value adding and just focusing of activities that are non-critical to the successful functioning of the organisation. Altogether, the development in purchasing over time has shown that there is a need by organisations to incorporate into their corporate policies purchasing strategy. Strategic involvement of purchasing for the overall aim of controlling prices, reducing costs, managing supply proactively, and improving quality to successfully deliver goods and services that will satisfy the end-customers and enable the organisation gain sustainable competitive advantage is essential. CONCLUSION At the heart of conventional wisdom lies the argument that purchasing is not strategically important for the organisation to gain competitive advantage. This argument is seen as ungrounded due to the fact that purchasing is gaining importance within the academia and the business environment. The need for reduction of costs, improvement of value-added into the business, better bottom line has led to the improved relevance of purchasing to the performance of an organisation. Purchasing has over the years developed from non-strategic, transactional stage of procuring supplies to a strategic, integrated stage that focuses proactively on the total satisfaction of both internal and external customers of an organisation. Again, the change of purchasing to strategic purchasing, incorporating purchasing strategy into the corporate strategy, for achieving competitive advantage has changed the view of organisations and has led to a rethink of the organisations operation to decide the core compe tences and non-core competences and rather focus on the core ones and sources others from external sources. However, sourcing externally requires effective supplier relationship management. Purchasing in this aspect is able to select suppliers that with collaborate in meeting the organisations competitive strategy. Purchasing is also able to use tools and techniques like e-procurement and total cost of ownership approach along with their skills to manage purchasing costs and balance power and dependence between the company and supplier as well as work out strategies to use with different suppliers. Without giving a strategic importance of purchasing, an organisations opportunities of gain competitive advantage may be missed.

Analysis of Birches Essay -- Robert Frost Birches Essays

Analysis of Birches  Ã‚   The discursive blank-verse meditation "Birches" does not center on a continuously encountered and revealing nature scene; rather, it builds a mosaic of thoughts from fragments of memory and fantasy. Its vividness and genial, bittersweet speculation help make it one of Frost's most popular poems, and because its shifts of metaphor and tone invite varying interpretation it has also received much critical discussion, not always admiring. The poem moves back and forth between two visual perspectives: birch trees as bent by boys' playful swinging and by ice storms, the thematic interweaving being somewhat puzzling. The birches bent "across the lines of straighter darker trees" subtly introduce the theme of imagination and will opposing darker realities. Then, almost a third of the poem describes how ice storms bend these trees permanently, unlike the action of boys; this scene combines images of beauty and of distortion. Ice shells suggest radiating light and color, and the trees bowed to the level of the bracken, suggest suffering, which is immediately lighte...

Meaning of Life Meaning †Religion Essay

We walk around in the world and we as human beings look to find fulfillment and happiness in many things such as sports, friends, and boy/girlfriends and as young people when we get rejected by these things we act like we can’t go on with life. . But i challenge you to think about the meaning of â€Å"LIFE†. Well Life is a Gift of God, Abundance of receiving things. . In John 4 its speaks on living water and how Jesus uses both the physical and spiritual meaning of water when he speaks to the  Samaritan Woman, He refers to the spiritual side as living water. People in the world tend to you suicide or hurting themselves as a way out of situations but God gave us eternal life so that we may be humble servants unto him. . God never puts more on us than we can bear. . Life is important so we really need to know the meaning of it because it seems to be lost in today’s society. .I used to be bitter and sad before i had gotten saved. . I had a huge void that needed to be filled and nothing truly could fill it. . Except GOD.

Female Infanticide

Imagine a world with no women. There as no wives, no sisters, no daughters, and no mothers. Unfortunately this world is on the brink of becoming a scary reality for Asian countries such as China and India. Due to attempts to control population and the low value associated with females in these societies historically and culturally, both China and India are now facing a serious gender imbalance. Female infanticide and sex-selective abortion are responsible for this gender imbalance.The two atrocious practices have led to problems such as elevated rates in female kidnapping and slave trade, as well as forced marriages. This paper will focus on the roots of female infanticide and sex-selective abortions as well as the problems these practices have presented. According to current statistics, there are approximately 1,338,299,512 people living in China (Cao et al. 2012). For every 120 males, there are only 100 females. A study published in the British Medical Journal found that China has approximately 32 million more males than females under the age of 20 (Cao et al. 012). In a 1999 Chinese census report, the imbalance between the sexes revealed that the imbalance is now so distorted that there are 111 million males in China – more than three times the population of Canada – who will be unable to find a wife (Hvistendahl 2008). As a result of this gender imbalance, the rate of female kidnapping and slave trading has increased. There are 8,000 women on average per year who are rescued by authorities from â€Å"forced† marriages (Cao et al. 1012). A major factor responsible for the distortion of this gender imbalance in China is the one child policy.In 1979, the Chinese Government implemented a new act under the family planning policy. This new act officially restricts married, urban couples to having only one child, while allowing exemptions for several cases such as rural couples, ethnic minorities, and parents without siblings (Hesketh et al. 2 011). Ideally, the act was implemented to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems arising from the over-population issues in China. The one child policy offers couples that delay childbearing a longer maternity leave as well as other social benefits.Couples that have a second child without a permit are at risk of being fined thousands of dollars, and may also be penalized by suffering wage cuts and reduced access to social services (Hvistendahl 2008). Approximately 35. 9% of China’s population is subject to the â€Å"one child policy. † The policy is said to have prevented some 400 million births from 1979 to 2011 (Hesketh et al. 2011). The one child policy has been the source of conflict for a variety of reasons. The main focus has been the increased rate of female infanticide.Female infanticide is the intentional killing of baby girls due to the preference for male babies and is attributed to the low value associated with the birth of females (Weijing 2010). Poverty, famine, and population control are inter-related factors. Where safe and effective birth control is unavailable, infanticide is used to selectively limit the growth of a community. Infanticide allows for selection of the fittest or most desirable offspring, with sick, deformed, female, or multiple births targeted for disposal (Hvistendahl 2008).Males are viewed as more valuable to have as children in the Chinese society because they can work for higher wages and provide for their families. Females are viewed as a burden to the family because unless they live in a major city, they are expected to stay home with the family instead of pursuing an education or working (Hesketh et al. 2011). From the moment they are born, women are considered inferior to men. Women are viewed as submissive and weak whereas males were dominant and strong. Chinese women are taught from a very young age to look after the men in their households.They continue to live the rest of their lives a s subservient to males (Reed 2011). There is a principle of three obediences by which women are expected to live, obedience to their father while living under his roof, obedience to their husband and his family once married, and obedience to the eldest son once widowed (Caldwell and Bruce 2005). In the countryside, less than half a million out of a total rural population of eight hundred million were receiving pensions in 1981. Individuals and families who live in rural areas rely on their off spring to be part of their working staff.If such families are only allowed to have one child, they much prefer to have males because they believe they are of more use for jobs that require physical labor. (Hong, 1987) If a Chinese family who is not secure financially does indeed have a daughter than she will most likely not marry, Hong explains. â€Å"For economic reasons, families with daughters are unlikely to let them go to grooms villages to live because they will be needed not only for t he parents old age security but also to boost the life- long earning potential of the household. (Hong 1987 pg. 320) In Chinese culture, it is said, â€Å"a woman’s greatest duty is to have a son. † If a woman does not give birth to a son, her husband will often take another wife in hopes of another woman carrying his heir (Hvistendahl 2008). Women are viewed as so inferior, that often, poor families would sell their daughters as servants to rich families. Despite the egalitarian nature of Chinese society, many parents believe that having a son is a vital element of providing for their old age.When a daughter is married off, she is no longer available to take care of her parents in their old age, as she is now responsible for her husband and his family (Hesketh et al. 2011). Historically, the way that women were viewed in Chinese society made it clear that with the one-child policy in place, couples would prefer to have a son rather than a daughter. It is for this reas on that rates of female infanticide increased in China. Female infanticide is not a problem that is new to Chinese culture. Studies have shown that evidence of female infanticide in China dates back to 800 B. C.E. Until the fourth century, infanticide was neither illegal nor immoral (Weijing 2010). Legal sanctions against infanticide were introduced in the fourth century as Christianity infused secular laws (Weijing 2010). â€Å"We feel it's a serious problem that everybody should be concerned about and aware of,† said Wanda Franz, president of the National Right to Life Committee. â€Å"This is a form of abortion that, from our point of view is especially egregious. Abortion is claimed to help women; obviously in these cases, females are the direct victims, because women in these cultures are not valued. Caldwell and Bruce 2005)† Another country that has high rates of infanticide is India. Unlike China, India does not have a one-child policy in place, but instead, par ents of daughters who are to get married, must pay a dowry. Although the dowry is illegal in most of India, in areas of poverty, most parents still struggle and are expected to pay the families into which their daughters marry (Mahalingam et al. 2007). The dowry consists of large amounts of money and valuable goods. For families with several daughters this can be a serious financial burden (Dube and Dube 1999).In India, the practice of female infanticide is even more common. As in China, the birth of a daughter is seen as a liability. In India the sex ratio is 93 women for every 100 men, but in some regions there are fewer than 85 women per 100 men (Ahmad 2010). According to a recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India' s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India. Another study showed that approximately 2,000 females are illegally aborted every day in India (Mahalingham et al. 2007).I ndia is known throughout the world for being a country of a large population, a diverse culture, and beautiful sites. A part of India that is coming out of the dark and being discussed rapidly by academics is the extent of female infanticide and sex selective abortion. Statistics show in a United Nations report, that India has a higher death rate of females under four years old than any other country in the world. Poorer nations such as Peru have a female death percentage compared to males of seventy three percent, where a more developed country such as Japan has a female death rate of eighty three percent.The national average in India has a death rate of one hundred and seven percent compared to the death rate of boys, and in the area of Rajasthan the death rate of females under four years old is one hundred and nineteen percent compared to boys of the same age. A percentage of these deaths can be contributed to the decreasing health of female toddlers in India. Verma explains, in most regions of India girls are only fed after the males in the family. If the mother of a family does not receive proper nutrition than the chances of her daughter receiving it are very slim.The other major reason for mortality rates of young female children is so high is due to the practice of female infanticide. Virma, while travelling through her homeland on a search of qualitative research about the practice of female infanticide, came to find just how common female infanticide is across India, particularly in rural areas. Virma explains throughout many villages the male head of the household orders the daughter to be killed. In a particular interview a woman was screaming and crying, her husband told his wife, if she did not kill the baby than he would smash her head in until she was dead. Virma, 2005) In the village of a Bihar, the killing of female infants is so common; the locals repeatedly state, â€Å"The killing of girls is not a sin. † Midwives who play a large r ole in rural societies of India openly admit how many female infants they have killed. One stated â€Å"I have killed at least sixty five female babies in the last ten years. † (Verma 2005 Pg. 29) In the same villages midwives are paid a fee of one hundred rupees if the baby is a boy, twenty-five rupees if the infant is a girl, and fifty rupees if the midwife kills, or disposes of the female child. Verma, 2005) There are many different ways in which the female infants are killed; two common practices include starving the baby to death, or poisoning her with tobacco or oil. Many midwives feel that they are â€Å"liberating the female infants soul by killing them. They believe the alternative, being a woman in many parts of India is much worse than being dead. (Verma 2005) Female children who are raised in India are aware of the way they are treated by society and within their own families.In many instances they understand the expense of their dowries, and in certain circumsta nces go to great lengths to bring honor to their families. In a northern rural village, three sisters had hung themselves, with a note explaining the financial freedom their parents would have without them. (Verma 2005) The Chinese government has taken a number of steps to combat the practice of female infanticide, as well as promote and protect women's rights. The Marriage Law and Women's Protection Law prohibit female infanticide, and the latter prohibits discrimination against women who give birth to daughters (Hvistendahl 2008).The Sex Selective Abortion Law and Maternal Health Care Law of 1994 were created to put an end to sex selective abortions, and the latter prohibits the use of medical technology to determine the gender of a fetus (Hesketh et al. 2011). Unfortunately, however, the practice continues in China despite these efforts. The availability of modern ultrasound technology is a major contributing factor to sex-selective abortion. The technology was introduced to Chin a in the 1980’s for diagnostic purposes, however, the opportunity to use the technology for sex selection was soon exploited.In 1994, the Chinese Government banned the use of ultrasound technology for the use of sex selection in 1994 in an effort to elevate the number of females born per year and decrease the rate of sex-selective abortions and infanticide (Hesketh et al. 2011). In 2003, the Indian Government implemented the 2002 amendments to the PNDT (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) Act, explicitly recognizing the responsibility of manufacturers and distributors, such as GE Healthcare India, to protect against female feticide.Manufacturers must confirm that their customers have valid PNDT certificates and have signed legal documents stating that the equipment shall not be used for sex determination (Mahalingham et al. 2007). Female infanticide is a horrible manifestation of the anti-female bias that continues to pollute societies throughout the world. Even in technological ly advanced and educated societies, the brutal practice continues. The successful eradication of the practice of female infanticide seems an arduous task. In order to combat the phenomenon, careful consideration of the location-specific and cultural factors leading to the practice is necessary.The education of both men and women, social strategies to improve the status of women, and access to family counseling and healthcare may provide means of eliminating female infanticide, as well as elevating the value assigned to women around the globe. In countries such as China and India where the preference of male children has been a part of their cultures history and tradition, one of the only ways to prevent the acts of female infanticide and sex selective abortion is through education. In the early 1990’s less than forty percent of India’s three hundred and thirty million females aged seven and older were literate.Approximately ten years later the numbers improved with six ty five percent of the female population being able to read or write. â€Å"Numerous studies show that illiterate women have high levels of fertility and mortality, poor nutritional status, low earning potential, and less autonomy within the household. †(United Nations 2002) Although there are many schools within India whose curriculum is outstanding and where the student’s performance out does primary schools in the global north there are still many areas where improvement must take place. The government of India must start with setting up more schools and classrooms and providing more teachers at the grass root levels. †(UNICEF) The second step that needs to be taken is to ensure quality teacher training and a solid planned out curriculum for each school to follow across the country. Along with a solid curriculum there needs to be more encouragement of education for girls. If encouragement means giving families incentives to keep their daughters in school, then the government should seriously consider them says the president of the Kanchan Foundation.With an outstanding number of children in upper primary schools across India many girls either drop out or there is not enough space for them so they are forced to leave. By increasing the number of upper primary schools many more girls in India would have the chance of a formal education. Overall the two most populous countries in the world, China and India, are facing what has been described as something close to genocide.With China attempting to control their population size, and India’s historical and cultural preference of male children, both countries are in dire need for daughters in their societies. Between female infanticide and sex selective abortion both countries are running out of potential marriage partners for their male children. With female infanticide and sex selective abortion on the rise the number of kidnapping, and forced marriages of females has also been increas ing. Research shows the answer to the problem is increased education for both male and females throughout both countries.Encouraging girls with their education, and teaching boys and men that women should be valued in society are the first steps in stopping such practices. Although sex selective abortion has been against the law in China since 1994, the practice has been on the rise, particularly with advancing technology. Authority does not watch the practice closely and more recent policy needs to be put in place. It should be both China and India’s goal to give infant females, the same celebrations of life as their male counterparts and to give all women in both countries gender equality.

Butter Today essays

Butter Today essays Changing lifestyles have always influenced the approach to nutrition. Values and/or intimacy associated with the foods we as a society eat, have largely been washed away by a desire for easier and less time consuming preparations. We have traded in our larder for refrigerators and keep foods for lengths of time unimaginable 75 years ago. What we eat these days is unfortunately based on convenience. Inherently, ready-to-eat foods are what well reach for when we feel the need to fill the gap. Aspartame, monosodium glutamate, synthesized vitamins, and a host of preservatives are present in these foods to extend shelf life, increase flavour, suggest healthfulness, and increase the saleability to the demographics. With the trend of local, organic, and natural foods, now is the time to get back to basics by incorporating a fundamental nutritional building block a staple in every professional cooks kitchen at home and at work butter. Compared to margarine, butter serves more as an icon of a nation that sustains the family farm and the related values of this lifestyle. Certainly not as lucrative as margarine, butter is a simple natural product made from cream to which salt is often added for its preservative qualities. The cream is pasteurized and churned or shaken until it becomes semi-solid, at which point the buttermilk is separated. Fifteen to twenty percent of butter is milk solids and salt, held in an emulsion by naturally present lecithin, which also assists in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Because of the presence of milk solids, butter has a refrigerated shelf life of up to one month, or at room temperature for a few hours. Slightly warmed butter is unmatched as a spread for flavour, but also for its naturally present unprocessed vitamins and other qualities. The most easily absorbed ...

Tess of the Durbervilles and Chocolat

Tess of the Durbervilles and Chocolat The hypocritical and paradoxical standards and values of contexts dictated by Patriarchal societies often condemn women. As shown in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Lasse HallstrÂÆ'Â ¶m's 2000film, Chocolate, these texts act as prime example of challenges faced by women in accordance with the changes, social values and dominant attitudes in their respective time eras. The 19th century paradigms challenged and reflected include the role of women in society in accordance with the patriarchal world and their social levels. This notion is also emphasised in the 20th century time setting of the film.The socio-economic circumstances surrounding a woman determined her level of rights in a patriarchal society as money ultimately equated with power. This notion was prevalent during the 19th century however Tess of the D'Urbervilles presents a stark contrast with this idea. The protagonist Tess is of the lower-working class yet she is also a "lineal descendent of the knightly fa mily of the D'Urbervilles".English: Thomas Hardy Locations, Tess of the d'Urb...The importance placed on social ranking class in England also forces Tess to seek from help from Alec D'Urberville and ultimately brings about her downfall. Alec's addressing of Tess as "my beauty" confirms his sexual nature and the seduction of Tess by him causes Hardy to exclaim, "Why was it that upon this beautiful feminine tissue...there should have been traced such a coarse pattern" Hardy's authorial intrusion forces us to question whether Tess would've incurred this if class hadn't been given such an eminent role in 19th century England. Tess is a victim of this patriarchal society purely through her lack of her power. Thus through socio-economic standings, it is evident that the prejudice towards women of the lower class and bias towards women of the Upper class in inegalitarian societies is directly correlated with the power these two classes hold.In Chocolat,

New Author Profiles on the Reedsy Network

New Author Profiles on the Reedsy Network New: Author Profiles on the Reedsy Network A few months ago, we gave editors and designers the tools to create a beautiful profile on Reedsy. Today, we’re proud to be unveiling author profiles! Log in to your Reedsy account here and get started on yours now for free!Bestselling author C.J. Lyons, Scifi author Chele Cooke and  YA author Sara Raasch have already created their Reedsy profiles. We look forward to seeing yours, share it with us over on @ReedsyHQ!And if you want to help us spread the word among the author community about this awesome opportunity, here’s a simple pre-made tweet

Safety program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Safety program - Essay Example Four major aspects that Plant XYZ manufactures safety action plan will take into consideration includes creating a change, safety and health payoffs, management system and S& H integration as well as doing a safety and health check up. As indicated by the Plant XYZ 1998 estimated direct and indirect costs, the company incurred $984,000 in the first four months. This figure is high and therefore this action plan is focused at putting in place effective measure to enable the company attain the OSHA VPP Star Certification in 2 years in addition to reducing incidents rates by 50%. Commitment by managers The first step that I will include in my action plan as the safety manager is to ensure that manager’s commitment towards safety is maintained. It is worth to note that the safety committee is keen on maintaining safety responsibilities. As a safety manager my main role will to first understand why accidents occur within the company premises and how the safety committee dealt with past cases of accidents. This will be followed by studying all the minutes of the meetings held by safety committee prior to my appointment. To ensure that all the employees are conversant with the safety policy, my action plan will entail establishing safety rules that will be presented to safety committee in 2 weeks time.

CASE 4 Electronic and Mobile Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CASE 4 Electronic and Mobile Commerce - Essay Example The free access to information across multiple global markets is severely disrupting the market dynamics as consumers are getting more aware and demanding in nature. Today’s global consumers are focusing highly on buying the right products, which provides them with a greater value as well as consumer satisfaction. This tendency of consumers is creating cross geographical demands for products and services. In order to capitalize on the business opportunity, associated with cross cultural demand for products and services, businesses need to make their presence in the online arena, which is managed by electronic and mobile commerce. This assignment intends to focus on the steps that businesses needs to follow to create online presence and the related skills that are needed to manage it. It will also take into account the opportunities and challenges associated with electronic and mobile commerce. The first step is the analysis of potential e-business initiatives. In order to do so, the online businesses need to focus on either value creation for stakeholders or improving cost efficiencies. In order to create value for the stakeholders through e-business, a firm should concentrate on customers as well as the related components of a value chain which comprises of suppliers, distributors and partners. For improving cost efficiency through e-business initiatives, the firm should concentrate on the internal business process and functions as it will benefit them in the long run. The next step is to analyze the functional scope of e-business initiatives. It is important to mention that the proper categorization of the e-business initiatives on the basis of functional scope enhances the ability of the firm to qualitatively identify the estimated business value along with cost savings. The third step is to analyze the scalability of benefits associated with the e-business initiatives. For the purpose of this

Frankenstein's Attempt to abandon the Creature in the Real Monster Essay

Frankenstein's Attempt to abandon the Creature in the Real Monster - Essay Example Therefore, the rhetorical question that rises here is: â€Å"who is the real monster then?† On the surface level, it seems that since Dr. Frankenstein has created, he is the real evil or the real monster. But a deeper analysis will necessarily reveal that Dr. Frankenstein as a scientist who is good willed enough to discover the mystery of Nature in order to remove the imperfection is the monster; rather his disposition to abandon his creature (also his failure to socialize it) because of its ghastly appearance is the real monster in this case. The Real Monster: Frankenstein’s Refusal to Socialize the Creature Those who assume Dr. Frankenstein himself as the real monster argue that his attempt to create life is to be interpreted as a monstrous crime against nature and the will of God. The foundation of Frankenstein’s offense against Nature is: â€Å"Frankenstein is a rebel against nature when he tries not only to find the secret of life but also to remove life's defects† (Rohrmoser 3). Such proposal that like the legendary Prometheus, Doctor Frankenstein can be held responsible for offense against nature and God is further strengthened by the supposition that eventually Shelly’s protagonist has been punished by nature for committing such crime. But this proposal about Frankenstein’s offense against nature confronts a simple question, â€Å"Does Frankenstein intends to create a monster?† Textual evidences eventually will reveal that Doctor Frankenstein has no intention to create a monster; rather his sole objective is to amend the nature’s imperfection by grasping the secrets of life. Indeed his ignorance about how to nurture his creature that apparently looks like an evil causes the final havoc he suffers in the end of the novel. By effectively producing a naive imitative being, he primarily propounds that man can grab the secrets of life and death and searching for the secrets of life and death is nothing blasphemous. But Frankenstein’s monstrous crime lies in the fact that he abandons the lab-made creature because of its ghastly look instantly after its birth. Obviously he commits this crime being ignorant of his duty that greater knowledge imposes upon him and by refusing to play the motherly role of nurturing the creature. He has not committed any crime by seeking the secrets of life. Creation of a Naive Monster: A Success of Frankenstein’s Good-willed Research Mary Shelly’s attempt to endow the monster with humanly feelings and yearnings fundamentally refutes the claim that the creature is a monster. At the same time it also propounds that Frankenstein’s research in nature’s secrets is neither impossible not profane. The ghastly appearance of the creature is not enough to prove that Frankenstein’s monstrous intention to go against the will of God has failed. Indeed his success lies in the fact that he has successfully created a being that can learn like a man; that also has humanly yearnings to love and to be loved. The creature wants to have a female one. Such want proves its desire to love and to be loved. Instead of being disgusted by the creature’s ghastly appearance, Frankenstein as a responsible scientist could socialize him. But like an ambitious scientists, his ambition drives him to achieve fame without being responsible towards his creation. Frankenstein himself recognizes the flaw of his ambition in the following sentences, â€Å"How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who

The Changing State of the Education System Essay

The Changing State of the Education System - Essay Example An option which has been forward is the idea of having charter schools as a way for parents who may not be happy with the present public school system that their child, or children, is in at the present time. "Charter Schools are sponsor-created and -administered, outcome-based public schools that operate under a contract between the school and the local school board or the state. To establish a Charter School, certified (in Ohio's case, certificated) teachers and/or other individuals or organizations, such as colleges, cultural institutions, government bodies, or parents, draw up plans for an innovative, outcome-based** school. (Minnesota's 1993 charter legislation allows for sponsors other than teachers.)," (Sautter p.1). A common complaint for many supporters of the public school system is that, to support charter schools, would drain necessary operating funds from an already fiscally strapped school system. Some interesting statistics for charter schools comes from the website fo r the National Study of Charter Schools: Characteristics of Charter Schools. Those statistics are; (1) Charter schools enroll about 0.5 percent of public school students in the charter states. (2) Most charter schools are small, particularly compared to other public schools. Charter schools have an estimated median enrollment of about 150 students, whereas other public schools in the charter states have a median of about 500 students. More than 60 percent of charter schools enroll fewer than 200 students, whereas about 16 percent of other public schools have fewer than 200 students. Charter schools begun in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years have a higher proportion of small schools, those fewer than 100 students than schools opened in earlier years. (3) Many charter schools have nontraditional grade configurations. Charter schools include a higher proportion of K-12, K-8, and ungraded schools than other public schools. (4) Most charter schools are newly created schools. An estima ted 62 percent of charter schools were created because of the charter opportunity; the remainder are pre-existing public schools (25 percent) or pre-existing private schools (13 percent) that have converted to charter status. (5) Newly created charter schools tend to be smaller than converted schools. The median school size for newly created schools is 116 students, compared to a median of more than 380 students for pre-existing public schools. (National Study of Charter Schools 1). While the argument for charter schools has always been that they are better capable to educate the youth of today for the challenges of tomorrow, it is important to mention that charter schools are not above the same failures which plague their public counterparts. In a New York Times article dated 8 November 2007, author Sam Dillon details the campaign by Ohio officials to overhaul their charter school system because, surprise, it too is plagued by issues of poor performance. To sum it up, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is quoted as saying that, "Perhaps somewhere, charter schools have been implemented in a defensible manner, where they have provided quality," he said. "But the way they've been implemented in Ohio has been shameful.

Promoting Creativity for life Using Open-Ended Materials by walter F Essay

Promoting Creativity for life Using Open-Ended Materials by walter F. Drew and Baji Rankin - Essay Example The most vital of the creative arts is the teachers, families and the children who build up inner resources, making it potential, direct and a clear expression. The main aim of indulging in the creative arts is to pass the information, think critically, and have the mutual feeling that bonds the children with their teachers. The thoughts and feelings through locomotion and visual perceptions are elaborated through the procedure of playing and the creative arts that are formed. According to researches, children have spontaneous, creative self-expression which usually intensifies the sense of competence and the behavior that they portray as the mature to the adulthood stage. The passion of creative art formation is usually viewed as a playful behavior, where those involved have the willingness to collapse their daily rules and their effects. Play is based on the mind state, and it brings about the unexpected characters, the unlearned forms of free expression, the generation of association, which represent the distinct value of order and harmony, thus producing the sense of well being (Drew and Rankin 2004). Play and art formation, stimulate the acts of courage and is usually equal to the act of faith that caters for their belief outcomes. These are the actions require and builds resilience, advocacy, outcome and the capability to focus and act according to their intentions even of the outcome is usually renowned; when the children act to endure the uncertainty and the ambiguity that is usually supposed to enable them to pursue their immediate goals. These actions produce great sense of competence to the children, as they grow up to become reliable students. The children extend and deepen their comprehension through various experiences with the different materials used. This strategy is familiar to many early childhood t eachers, and it has been exhibited through the brain research, which implicates the

Promotion of peace through international institutions Research Paper

Promotion of peace through international institutions - Research Paper Example The ability of international institutions to become active participants in the promotion of peace is mainly based on the fact that most of their work is conducted globally. In addition, because of their activities, it is normal for international institutions to develop relationships with the various governments and peoples with whom they work and this helps in a big way to promote the interests of peace across the globe (Hafner-Burton and Ron 360). Most international organizations receive massive funding from philanthropists, governments, and other well wishers and this funding is normally provided as a means of developing projects, especially in conflict prone areas, which will ensure the promotion of peace. Global peace is one of the most sought after objectives among a majority of the world population, but while this may be the case, it has become extremely difficult to achieve it without the help of international institutions. Most of the projects which have been designed to prom ote peace are more often than not run by international institutions because it is they which have the ability to reach areas across the world that require their services. Thus, international organizations are indispensable in the promotion of world peace and it is because of their existence that the majority of the world has achieved the peace it enjoys today. While many international organizations declare that their activities contribute to the wellbeing of the people and the achievement of the development goals of developing countries as well as peace, their level of success has yet to be seen in some instances. The economies of the countries, where these organizations conduct their activities, have substantially benefitted from the added contributions to peace that they have received as a result (Moli 40). The activities of international institutions that help to promote peace include their employees staying at the local hotels, buying souvenirs, and doing whatever else that the

Promoting Creativity for life Using Open-Ended Materials by walter F Essay

Promoting Creativity for life Using Open-Ended Materials by walter F. Drew and Baji Rankin - Essay Example The most vital of the creative arts is the teachers, families and the children who build up inner resources, making it potential, direct and a clear expression. The main aim of indulging in the creative arts is to pass the information, think critically, and have the mutual feeling that bonds the children with their teachers. The thoughts and feelings through locomotion and visual perceptions are elaborated through the procedure of playing and the creative arts that are formed. According to researches, children have spontaneous, creative self-expression which usually intensifies the sense of competence and the behavior that they portray as the mature to the adulthood stage. The passion of creative art formation is usually viewed as a playful behavior, where those involved have the willingness to collapse their daily rules and their effects. Play is based on the mind state, and it brings about the unexpected characters, the unlearned forms of free expression, the generation of association, which represent the distinct value of order and harmony, thus producing the sense of well being (Drew and Rankin 2004). Play and art formation, stimulate the acts of courage and is usually equal to the act of faith that caters for their belief outcomes. These are the actions require and builds resilience, advocacy, outcome and the capability to focus and act according to their intentions even of the outcome is usually renowned; when the children act to endure the uncertainty and the ambiguity that is usually supposed to enable them to pursue their immediate goals. These actions produce great sense of competence to the children, as they grow up to become reliable students. The children extend and deepen their comprehension through various experiences with the different materials used. This strategy is familiar to many early childhood t eachers, and it has been exhibited through the brain research, which implicates the

Distinguish between inculpatory and exculpatory evidence. What is the Essay

Distinguish between inculpatory and exculpatory evidence. What is the significance of each Include APA formatted in-text citations to document any sources quoted or paraphrased - Essay Example The knife can therefore be described as inculpatory evidence against the man (Sperry, 2006). Conversely, exculpatory evidence is evidence that favors the defendant in a criminal lawsuit (Sperry, 2006). It tends to absolve the defendant of any guilt that the case had placed on him or her. It is the direct opposite of the inculpatory type of evidence which tends to enhance the guilt of the defendant in a criminal case (Sperry, 2006). Many countries around the globe such as the United States of America, enforce policies that restrains the prosecutors in their courts from disclosing any of this type of evidence. This evidence is only released when the defendant in a criminal lawsuit makes a claim of being guilty or not being guilty (Sperry, 2006). A good example of such evidence exists where a witness comes up in a criminal lawsuit and absolves the accused person of all the blame in

Vision and Mission statement of Mauritius commercial bank

Vision and Mission statement of Mauritius commercial bank Abstract This paper attempts to analyse the vision and mission statement of The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) Ltd. A brief description of the organisation is given, followed by the vision and mission statements, where the statements are analysed thoroughly and critics have been made. Those critics have been identified while reading the Vision and Mission statements respectively, it can also be seen that we have applied the SMART criteria in order to analyse the vision statement and concerning the mission of the group we have analysed it through the various steps that the company is undertaking to achieve its goals and objectives. Keywords: Banking,Vision Statement, Mission statement, MCB Ltd, Introduction The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) Ltd, one among the leading bank that exist in Mauritius and which was incorporated since 1838. At present, MCB ltd has its branches all around the island. The Bank came across serious financial difficulties on many occasions during its first hundred years of existence. In spite of various national and international financial crisis, cut throat competitions over the years from ten other commercial banks, two world wars, and natural calamities, The Mauritius Commercial Bank Limited succeeded in expanding its activities, trebled its capital and in 1920 in Curepipe opened its first Branch. Nowadays, the bank plays a vital role in the economy of the country by expanding its unflinching support to trade, agriculture, the textile industry, tourism and other sectors as well as individual customers, at its head office and also throughout its 42 branches and counters in Mauritius and in Rodrigues. The MCB ltd is said to be a bank with a heart, for this purpo se as every successful business has a vision and mission statement, so do the MCB Ltd. The Vision of MCB ltd is to be the obvious choice for financial services in the region and beyond. The vision statement triggers the desires to launch the MCB ltd as the touchstone position for the provision of financial services in the state and even further, in order to meet the increasing needs of its customers operating in the global economy. For this to be possible the general public must have full confidence on the bank, for example the recent case of MCB/NPF could have been fatal for MCB ltd but that was not the case as the bank managed to reduce and nearly eliminates all the risk associated with. The Mission statement is to pursue the voyage towards excellence. The mission statement gives evidences to the unrelenting loyalty to best practices in the provision of financial services throughout the group against the backdrop of creating shareholder value. The MCB has a tradition of being a leader of getting use to modifications and innovating to suit customer needs, therefore, its vision, mission and corporate values are aligned to maintain this position. They know that their future success will depend on their capacity to deliver a broad variety of services quicker, cheaper and in a more professional manner to their increasingly sophisticated and global customers. To achieve this, the bank is investing massively in technological and as well as human resources. Objective and Purpose of study To analyse and understand the meaning of vision and mission statements of a company. To analyse and understand the vision and mission statements of MCB and its implementation. To suggest improvements that can be brought to the vision and mission statements of MCB. Literature Review Each and every organisation has their own vision and mission statements which are set according to the companys actual performance and objectives that it want to achieve in the future. Vision: Defines the desired or intended future state of an organization or enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction. Vision is a long term view, sometimes describing how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. For example a charity working with the poor might have a vision statement which read A world without poverty (Wikipedia, 2010). Mission: Defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, succinctly describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its Vision (Wikipedia, 2010). Organizations usually summarize goals and objectives into a mission statement and/or a vision statement. Others begin with a vision and mission and use them to plan for the goals and objectives. While the existence of a shared mission is very useful, many strategy specialists question the requirement for a written mission statement. However, there are a lot of models of strategic planning that begin with mission statements, so it is useful to examine them here (Wikipedia, 2010). Forest (2003) analyses the mission statements and defines them as enduring statements of purpose that distinguish one organization from other similar enterprises. It suggests that a well-crafted mission statement can provide advantages or benefits to a company. Also it states that the mission statements have to be longer than a phrase or sentence, but not a two-page document, and not overly specific with regard to values, percentages, numbers, goals, or strategies. Hence, it concludes that better mission statements will give rewarding payoffs, meaning enhanced personal and business performance Studying how to merge people and resources together in harmony to achieve a common goal remains one of the most difficult tasks facing management today. The importance of developing a corporate mission statement with a glowing vision to enhance and create organisational purpose is addressed and how different organisational cultures affect the employees vitality is examined. From the vision springs a parallel view of all the employees in the organisation towards the companys goal. Contribution from both the companys customers and employees ensures adoption of the purpose and keeps the purpose dynamic and fresh. This leads to innovation, co-operation, and success of the organization (Reyes and Kleiner, 1990). In addition, executives members should try to promote or motivate its employees in order to achieve its vision. As per Eigeles (2003) he has conducted an analysis thats represents the structure method helping organizational facilitators to work efficiently with their clients. Though it is not possible to motivate and encourage top executives team efficiently to willingly generate true vision and mission and implement these in the organization for achieved both improved performance and harmony. Tarnow (1990), introduces a method to enhance existing mission and vision statements. The set-up of the initial statement is changed to (1) suggest an action, (2) identify this action only vaguely, and (3) include a social categorization. He also, discusses some consequences of the Unifying Action Declarations, including examples from experiential group events and from a high tech consulting firm. The resulting Unifying Action Declarations agrees leaders to use group formation forces to help motivate task performance. Nowadays, all developing businesses experience difficulties during organizational transitions (Churchill and Lewis 1983). The evolution from a small entrepreneurial organization to a mature business organization is characterized by a large amount of important internal and external changes (Hambrick and Crozier 1985; Churchill and Lewis 1983). The small business frequently finds that success attracts the attention of others; new small start-ups and/or large competitors may enter the market (Porter 1980). Rises in growth may call for increase into overseas markets. Internal changes comprises of the introduction of professional management to handle the increasingly complex organization; the introduction of outside equity to finance growth (Welsh and White 1981); and the introduction of organizational systems and procedures. Internal changes such as rises in sales volume, in employees, and in organizational formality and complexity require small business operators to change their role within a changing organization (Hambrick and Crozier 1985). The quest of growth usually requires the owner/manager to learn new skills and change from a doer to a manager (Churchill and Lewis 1983). Small businesses often fail to grow because the manager fails to make this transition (Willard, Krueger, and Feeser 1992). Through the growth process, the small business manager becomes increasingly eradicated and distant from employees (Hambrick and Crozier 1985; Churchill and Lewis 1983), and discovers that his or her strong entrepreneurial vision is no longer shared by new staff, new professional managers, and new investors. One of the survival strategies is to introduce financial and strategic planning and control systems into the organization (Gable and Topol 1987; Bracket and Pearson 1985). Vital to these planning and strategic management systems in large organizations is the introduction of a mission statement. In their much orientated work, Pearce and David (1987) argue that the mission statements of higher performing large companies are more comprehensive than those of less successful firms. The idea behind this article is to explore whether high growth small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland are characterized by more comprehensive mission statements. However, there is a lack of new evidence for the acclaimed and assumed positive effects of mission statements. A few studies have provide limited empirical support to the idea that mission statements are valuable and contribute to higher profits (Rarick and Vitton 1995; Klemm, Sanderson, and Luffman 1991; Germain and Cooper 1990; Falsey 1989; Pearce and David 1987). These studies totally assume that mission statements are a determinant of success, before addressing the possibility that successful organizations are more likely to adopt formal systems and procedures that involve the writing of a formal mission statement. Another research base on SMEs is that of Analoui and karami (2002), who said that developing a mission statement has been considered a crucial factor in the formulation of business strategy in organisations. The mission statement encourages a sense of shared expectations in employees and, not surprisingly, it has recently been regarded as increasingly important in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the electronic industry. One major motive for this is the growing involvedness and energetic competitive environments in which these enterprises have operated and managed to find them. Mission statements have become a managing instrument most commonly used by chief executive officers (CEOs) over the last decade. One exercise that both academics and practitioners have judged strategically serious to the success of an enterprise is the development of a meaningful mission statement. This article discovers the awareness of CEOs of their mission statement in SMEs. The study, between investigating the existence and content of the mission statements and, as a result, it determines the relationships (if any) between a SMEs development of a meaningful mission statement and selected performance outcomes of the firm. Also, from Mullane (2002) perspective, managers are divided in their allegiance to the firms mission. Some mangers swear by their mission statement while others swear at theirs. Facts from two firms, with existing research indicate that this disagreement originates in the mangers view of mission statement. Mangers that see mission statement as tools that can influence the inner working of the organizations are likely to understand the missions usefulness. Mangers that put their mission statement on display and expect them to magically transform organizational behavior are likely to be frustrated and see them as an exercise in futility. It has been found that insight from two managers who take the first view provides specific steps mangers can utilize to harness the benefits of their mission statements. Wickham (1997), states that a sense of mission can be a powerful force in shaping and guiding an entrepreneurial venture. He has discussed how it focuses the entrepreneurs vision and gives it a real strategic direction. Clear as an official mission statement it can be used to bring together disparate stakeholder groups within the organization. Imagines that it also acts as an aide-mà ©moire for communicating what the scheme has to offer customers, suppliers, and potential employees. He also, states that a clear mission can also help in attracting investment. It catches the attention of possible investors and proposes professionalism in management approach. However, if it is to be successful, the mission must be right for the scheme developed with sympathy to the organization and be communicated effectively. Moreover, another search had been done on how corporations project their corporate philosophy through `Mission Statements. Despite linguistic and textual analysis of such statements drawn from a sizeable quantity, it allows us to typify the texts as constituting a non-routine, organizational genre, and one that has recently become of some significance. This discussion serves as a basis for a contextual and intertextual analysis of Mission Statements from two well-known US companies. By detailing the history, underlying principle and role of these Mission Statements that have been indicated of how the texts are rhetorically designed in order to ensure maximum employee `buy-in. In one case the Mission Statement appears as an authorized historical vision to be protected and nurtured; in the other case, the rewriting of the Mission Statement emerges as a collaborative response to crisis. Hence, they discuss on the implications of such findings for contemporary approaches to discourse and genre analysis within institutional linguistics (Rogers and Swales, 1995). At the same time, Bart (2001) stipulates that mission statements symbolize the cornerstone of most organizational strategies. While much research has been conducted on what the (human intellectual capital) HIC construct might contain, none has attempted to understand the link between mission statements and their impact on the HIC construct. The uncertain results reported in this study begin to fill the invalid one. They illustrate that, mission statements may certainly have a convincing place in the measurement and reporting of an organizations intellectual capital and they demonstrate the need for more research in this regard. Mission statements by themselves are of very little value. Some organisations have good mission statements, but their management teams frequently lack a sense of purpose. In some companies, management teams have a clearness of vision and interest that is remarkable, without having a mission statement. Mission statements are in themselves not important since they create a management team with a sense of mission which is crucial (Campbell, 1993). Company Profile The MCB was incorporated by the Royal Charter in 1838 and Lloyds Bank became the first shareholder of the group. The MCB was the first bank to install ATMs in Mauritius and was the first bank to issue credit cards and till now the MCB has been the most performing listed company with the highest market capitalization on the official list of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. The MCB has been engaged in promoting various key financial products and services including mobile banking, retail banking product, corporate banking, private banking, international banking, internet banking service and providing American Express services. The MCB was the first Mauritian commercial bank to launch the revolving credit loans on the international market. The MCB group has even set up branches in Seychelles, Mozambique, Madagascar, and France amongst others. Present in eight other countries through its subsidiaries, associated company. The MCB group in Mauritius employs around 2,600 employees and over 18000 local and foreign investors. The MCB group observe the highest degree of standards concerning integrity and ethical conduct towards its dealings to its stakeholders. Furthermore, the MCB group has been diversifying in various sectors of the economy behind the philosophy of risk pooling and also providing the highest level of service quality to its customers. Likewise the MCB group is separated into two main parts, namely the bank itself and local and foreign subsidiaries. The MCB group has a very diligent and highly qualified and devoted board of directors who work toward the satisfaction of different stakeholders and maximising the overall profit of the group. The MCB group has a very high view on corporate governance practices and in regards to this the MCB group has been consequently been conferred the bank of the year and because of extensive corporate governance practices, the bank is able to fulfil effectively its vision. Analysis of the MCB Vision The vision of the MCB group is to be the obvious choice for financial services in the region and beyond, whilst its mission is pursing the voyage towards excellence. The MCB vision is obviously what the company wants to become which is the ideal aim of the group. The MCB has had a tradition of being a leader adapting to changes and innovating to satisfy customer needs, this is basically the corporate philosophy of MCB. The group has clearly set down this vision as they believe in the fact that the future success will depend on the ability a comprehensive range of services quicker, cheaper and in a more efficient manner so that there is an increase in local customers and foreign sophisticated customers. This vision of MCB is to build on the competitive axis for further product differentiation and regional diversification. The vision of the company is to offer a broader range of financial services, shifting from the traditional areas of banking through more complex services including asset financing, leasing, investment financing and brokerage services. That is the goal of the group is to serve as a single window to offer a full fledged set of financial services. The aim of the vision statement is to maximise customer satisfaction and increase customer loyalty. The other arm of this vision is to fully maximise the diversification strategy whereby it involves strengthening and deepening the presence of the group in international markets which offer substantial investment opportunities which basically help in promoting the image of the group in the international market. Basically the gist of the competitive strategy and the aim of this vision statement are to substantially increase the contribution of subsidiaries abroad to the overall profit of the group. Ultimately the group believes that more and more the philosophy behind the vision statement is behind achieved this will lead to a better competitive edge and a successful entrenchment of strategies being adopted which could lead to better customer satisfaction and an increase in service quality. The key of course lies in an appropriate balance between the strategies and the vision philosophy. MCB wants to be a benchmark in the provision of banking services as well as non banking services so that other financial services providers can refer to as MCB as being the Lion in the banking business in the local market as well as in the regional market. The MCB believes in provision of financial services which maximises customer satisfaction and bridging the gap between customer perception and customer expectation, that is ultimately bridging the service quality gap. The cutting force that drives MCB to achieve its vision philosophy is innovation. Innovation is one the values that the MCB adheres to in its strategies. MCB believes in innovation at all managerial levels which ultimately will help the group to achieve its objectives. A deduction can be made from the vision statement whereby there is a close link in regard to the corporate philosophy of the group which is to the leader of financial services locally and regionally. The vision statement of the MCB is all about the following: Partnerships Relationships Innovation Genuiness Attitude to risk Passionate banking. Partnerships whereby without the help of various investors the group will not be able to become a leader and relationships whereby the bank undertakes long run prospects for both partners. Innovation is all about the values of the group to be the leader and genuiness is to offer differentiated financial services. Likewise attitude is the willingness for the group to take risk so that to enjoy new ventures and passionate banking as the group believes in privileged banking relationships which will help to increase business and word of mouth publicity as well as service quality and customer satisfaction. The MCB believes in that it is the leadership job to set the vision, which is where the group wants to go. That is why the bank believes in enhancing human resources especially at the board level also so that the vision is clearly defined and met. The group believes in management skills to be able to clearly define the vision philosophy of the group Vision statement is usually rooted in values that are what drives the organisation to move ahead. The values that are rooted in the vision of the MCB are as follows: Integrity Customer care Team work Innovation Knowledge Excellence These six values are deeply rooted in the vision of the group. As the group wants to become the obvious choice for financial services in the region and beyond, these values would help the company to archive it. Are integrity, customer care, team work, innovation, knowledge and excellence found in the vision of the group? For the group to achieve its vision it is obvious that integrity should be within it and it is a fact for the MCB as for most people is a bank which is known to be of utmost integrity ranging from its staff to senior level management. Hence this value would definitely help the group to satisfy its corporate vision philosophy. Concerning customer care, the bank believes in the assurance of quick, dedicated and unrivalled services to its customers. The bank believes in its level of service quality and customer satisfaction. Hence the bank places a lot of emphasis on customer satisfaction. The bank believes in the approach of collective working and a shared vision together so that different synergies from people can combine together which will give a cutting edge to the group. Likewise, this is to help leveraging individual competencies and skills to various people within the group. Innovation had been an in-house tradition for the group at various managerial levels which all ultimately help to the product differentiation of financial products offered by the group. Knowledge philosophy of the group is all about the strong commitment to nurture the human capital through lifelong development and learning towards to achieve the vision of the group. Excellence is what the group believes to be very important in helping to become the leader in the provision of financial services and also, excellence in all about the mission of the group which is pursuing the voyage towards excellence. Criticisms of the vision statement The vision is the corporate aspiration of the group, which describes the long term ambitions and the ideal goal of the group. But, in the vision statement the values are being met but it should satisfy the SMART criteria, that is, Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and time bound. Specific- the vision stalks about to be the obvious choice for financial services in the region and beyond. It is adequately the clear message as to what needs to be accomplished, but the word beyond is restricted. Does beyond means in the international market or in African region or others. Hence it should be clear. Measurable- The bank will have to develop and assess how the bank is becoming the obvious choice for financial services. Is there any comparative analysis which is done in comparison with other banks? Appropriate- The vision statement is somehow in accordance with mission as only through excellence the group will be able to be the choice for financial services. Realistic- the vision statement of MCB is very challenging and high challenging to provide a boost for management to satisfy the corporate philosophy of the vision. Time bound- in regards to the time frame, no indication has been provided in the vision statement about till when the bank wants to become the obvious choice for financial services. The vision of the group should be able to be quantified as in the case of the MCB group, will the bank quantify it through the market share or market capitalisation. The vision of the group to be able to be effective should be a shared vision, that is the vision should be common at various levels of the group and uniformity must apply so as to allow the group to meet its values and when values are met, ultimately this will help to satisfy the vision of the group as visions are deeply rooted in values. Mission statement analysis of the MCB Pursing the voyage towards excellence The mission statement of the group testifies the fact that there is a willingness to adopt best practices in the provision of financial services so that shareholder value increases as well as helping in satisfying the vision statement. The mission defines the fundamental purpose of the group. It is the philosophy of why the group exists and how it will conduct its affairs to achieve its vision. The mission statement plays an important role for the group as is the basis for motivating the use of resources within the group. It also develops a basis or a standard for allocating organisational resources and generally develops a shared organisational climate working towards the vision of the group. It also attracts employees who share common set of goals and values to work for the purpose of enhancement of the vision. The mission statement can be used as a strategic tool for enhancement of the business process. At the MCB group the mission is deeply rooted to the top executive to the middle management level. The mission of the group is to focus on best practices so that the vision is met. The MCB has been for several years the bank of the year and is one where best practices are highly implemented, that is why the bank is ranked first in corporate governance practices. These best practices help the group to achieve its vision a many people would opt for the MCB in their needs of financial products. Hence it can be seen that there is a link and there are interrelated components between the vision and mission statement of the group because the mission of the group, which is working towards excellence, will help to achieve the vision of the group. However the mission of the group should not be static, that is it should change when conditions in the groups environment change, in which case, the MCB should change its mission. Just focusing on excellence is not enough as there are various intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting the group. Hence redefining the mission statement becomes a must as the group is growing at a rapid rate and various competitive factors are in the banking business with the entry of new service providers in the field of financial services and retail banking. The mission statement of the group should include more shared values as they are deeply rooted in the vision of the group. Internal and External analysis should be performed so that the mission is closely aligned to the vision of the group. Criticism of Mission Statement The mission of the MCB for the past few years has been mainly in the quality of its staff so that with a dedicated staff and well trained staff this will lead to customer satisfaction and increasing the level of service quality. This will help to create a better image of the group and helping towards its commitment toward excellence. The MCB believes in the quality of human resources, as it customers are satisfied with the staff and through a dedicated service this will help to make the bank the obvious choice for financial services and help meeting the vision statement. Likewise, MCB has been investing loads on best practices so that excellence is achieved and ultimately leading to the corporate philosophy satisfaction. Hence, with the adoption of international best practices, the bank has been gaining a positive image in the region and hence again the bank is working towards meeting of its vision. Furthermore, the bank invests massively in innovating products which all ultimately help in achieving the vision of the group and even through the partnerships of international partners like American Express amongst others is helping the group to build a more positive image in the regional market and the international market. Recommendation The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) is a successful Financial services provider. It has been able to provide quality financial product and services to its customers and it is today the largest and oldest banking institution of Mauritius and has made a name in the region. But as it is said Nothing is permanent except change and thus for the MCB to continue to be the pioneer in the Financial Services sector of Mauritius, it needs to continue changing and innovate according to what the customer wants and demands. A Mission Statement is a declaration as to why an organization exists and defines the business the organization is currently in. Mission Statements concentrate on the present and are a reflection of an organizations core competencies. The mission statement of MCB is that it wants to move toward excellence. What was excellence years ago is definitely different from what is excellence in the financial sector today. Since the creation of MCB the economic environment around the world has changed. Moreover there have been changes in technologies that have radically changed the way financial products and services are being provided to customers. The working environment itself has changed and so has the behavior of employees and employers. At the same time new legislatives have been introduced in the financial sector and this has resulted in an alteration in the way financial institutions functions and recently due to the financial crisis around the world a lot of financial institutions hav e been encouraged to change the way they carry out their activities. During the last decades Mauritius itself and its society has evolved. Nowadays people view the financial sector differently to what they used to years ago. Consequently the MCB must consider all these changes and accommodate its mission around them so as the MCB can grow alongside with its economical, political, legal, cultural and social environment. A Vision Statement focuses on the future. It states what you want the organization to be. Vision Statements come from the heart as well as the head. A Vision Statement represents a realistic dream for an organization and forces it to take a stand for a preferred future. To be the best choice of everyone is the vision of the MCB. But there may be other things that that can become the aims of the MCB. It can be easily proved with the market share valu

Pragmatic Justification Essay -- Philosophy, Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell, one of the most influential philosophers of the modern age, argued extensively in his book, â€Å"The Problems of Philosophy†, that the belief in inductive reasoning is only rational on the grounds of its intrinsic evidence; it cannot be justified by an appeal to experience alone (Russell 1998). Inductive reasoning refers to a form of reasoning that constructs or assesses propositions that are generalizations of observations (Russell 1998). Inductive reasoning is thus, in simple terms, probabilistic. The premises of an inductive logical argument provide some degree of support for the conclusion, but that support is in no way definitive or conclusive (Browne, 2004). Yet even if one agrees with Russell and concludes that there are no rational justifications for the principle of induction in and of itself, one can still maintain that there is a pragmatic justification for maintaining a belief in the principle. Simply put, there are still perfectly sound rea sons for behaving as if the principle of induction holds true, regardless of whether or not the principle itself is rationally justifiable (Browne, 2004). This type of justification can be used across many of the belief systems that we as human beings hold, even stretching to the playing field of religion. In this paper I will outline not only why it is pragmatically justifiable to believe in the principle of induction, but also why it is equally as justifiable to believe in an infinite God, regardless of whether or not deductive reasoning provides us with definitive support for such conclusions. Let’s begin by examining the issue of universal order and the Problem of Induction. The problem with inductive reasoning is that it is based on the assumption that ... .... Yet for our own happiness and peace of mind, we must believe that past occurrences, such as the sun rising yesterday and the thousands of days before that, provide us with perfectly good evidence for believing that tomorrow the sun will rise again. By the same token, we can rationally support a belief in God, even if we cannot provide conclusive evidence for His existence (or non-existence). These types of pragmatic justifications are, I believe, essential to the happiness and well-being of human beings. Regardless of whether or not the arguments for the merit and existence of both God and the principle of induction hold any water whatsoever, the optimistic approaches to the problems are in no way harmful. They allow us to live our lives in relative happiness, regardless of the fact that we ultimately can be certain of so little in the universe we live in.

I Want to be an Elementary School Teacher :: Teaching Philosophy

Why I Want to be an Elementary School Teacher Why do I want to become an elementary school teacher? There are so many different things I love about teaching that it is hard to answer this question. The main reason is that I want to transfer my knowledge and ideas to children who can further the things I have taught them to become successful. Many teachers throughout my life have been a big inspiration to me. They have taught me many things about basic knowledge and also about life. They have made education fun and exciting. My teacher’s did such a good job that it actually inspired me to be a teacher myself. At a younger age, children are more apt to learn the basic skills in life. Reading habits, writing styles, and many more other things are critical to being taught the right way at an early age. If the child is not taught how to read sentence by sentence to understand the meaning at an early age, it is very difficult for them to study later on in the future. There are many different types of students that will be in a classroom. There will be visual learners, more hands-on type of learners, and many more. I hope to develop my classroom in a way so that I can teach all the different types of learning. Technology has really made this goal a large amount easier to accomplish. With the use of webpage’s and software, a teacher can now reinforce the different topics they cover in a classroom. Rousseau believed that children were born innocent and with the same intelligence. I do believe that children are born with intelligence; I just want to be able to expand on that. If I could just teach children how to do basic math problems, what a sentence is, or anything educational I would feel so accomplished. A classroom should also be a place for many other types of learning to take place. Students should be able to learn about social relationships, emotions, and themselves.

Ge Pestel Analysis Essay

Politics highlight the role of nation governments, as the large global company, the firm has to deal with national political systems differently. The difficulties to negotiate with government conditions including tax systems, regulations and restriction which the firm has to adjust the service conditions and product requirements to get into the nation markets. These will be the huge impact which the firm has to be considered properly in order to work well with the governments and reach customer goals. However, The political conflict might have an effect on investment decisions of new entry. For example, according to Dibb and Lyndon, the research say that annually, firms in United States have to hand in tax returns to The Internal Revenue Authority on April 15th as the US government required. The other example is in Thailand. Due to inconsistency of Thai government, there was a political protester occurred in Bangkok public places such as national airport and many other important places which stop and extremely harm the economy. This shows the difference of political stability (Thailand’s Protesters Highlight Rifts, 2009). Economic The fluctuation of national growth rate and fuel price is significant. It can be the greatly impact on the firm. Operational cost and labor cost have to be considered. The firm has to avoid both of deflation and inflation of every countries because the difference of economic growth and the external factors which will affect the firm such as the unpredictable situation which come from the fluctuation of currency exchange. The different currency exchange rate has an influence on the firm in order to predict an economic performance. The term of trade to comparing import price and export price also have to be considered in order to know the balancing payments which will be the main factor causing the currency exchange rate issue. Social It depends on changes of social trend which affect the national demand. There are many variations that have to be determined including culture, norms, religion and social environment. GE considered the social issues as one of the main factors in order to doing investment in that country. For example, considering about demographic statistics in order to make the products which can support the people and get into market target. In addition, managing people in organization to work in that invested country to perceive the other opinions which will benefit for developing the product or adapting the services for satisfy the customer needs such as GE healthcare in Japan, they can get into the healthcare market because the firm investigate the market properly and make the right decision to take this advantage by selling high definition of Low-dose scans because Japanese tend to concern about health problems (GE annual report, 2011). However, The failure of investment in developing country is higher than developed country due to quality of life, living expense and social welfare. Technical According to high pace of competition, the innovative technologies are always being released by utilizing more advance technology from competitors. The firm focuses on innovative products. It will be the key to compete with others by using new business models which invented by GE technology. Whereas the development of existing products is tend to be slow down the businesses performances because the advance technology from competitors. It can see from the table as below. Environmental The company concerned about the environmental issues because the firm have to deal with different environmental factors in different countries. Although there were a degradation of environmental in Asia, the geography is also benefit to open the new industry because the expense is lower than developed countries which have high tax such as the carbon emission tax which causing the firm performance in Australia and affecting the firm investment (Meng, Siriwardana & Mcneill, 2011). Thus, the company decided to investment in developing countries instead due to low environmental regulation issues. Legal Free trade agreements signed with Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Canada, German, Korea and the opening market in Southeast Asia is significant based on US trade agreements (GE News, 2011). Regarding to Opening free trade market, the firm will able to expand the businesses easily. However, the manufacturers are controlled by the laws and agreements of each country.

Evaluating Strengths and Weaknesses of Reason as a Way of Knowing Essay

This paper that I am writing on is a piece of paper; that is undeniable fact. Hundreds of years of development and definition also back up this statement as do any scientific experiments carried out upon it in an effort to prove that this piece of paper is indeed a piece of paper. Yet through reasoning the fact that this is a piece of paper can be disputed and even proved wrong. Reason seems like an excellent way to work out the world around us. It uses all of the facts available to come up with a suitable hypothesis which can be tested and either proved or disproved through experimentation. This is the foundation of science, which is what the majority of people would trust. So anything proved through scientific means is therefore and irrefutable fact. Of course, in every experiment write up there is an acknowledgement that the data collected might not be completely accurate or that the interpretation of results might be wayward but again this is perfectly reasonable. It is reasonabl e to assume that despite your best efforts you may have got the answer wrong and another answer, no matter how unlikely, may be correct. As well as reason being proved by scientific experiment it can also be proved by historical fact. For example, it is undisputable fact that on 30th May 1431 Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. That cannot be argued with, it was that date and will always be that date no matter what happens in the future and every history text or website would agree with that fact. So it is therefore illogical to start claiming that Joan of Arc died last week as historical facts, which are perfectly reasonable, tell us otherwise. However, does reason really help us in our quest for knowledge or is it a poor way of finding out about the world? Despite much scientific investigation and historical knowledge there are many questions in the world that are left unanswered and unexplained. These questions are sometimes fundamental to life itself. For example, how are we conscious beings that can interact with the world beyond purely animal instincts? This question could possibly be explained by the electrica l impulses in the brain that form our thoughts but how can we have developed into any kind society purely through electrical impulses? In this case, using reason to explain what is happening almost seems unreasonable as the potential answer seems not to be able to completely cover the question. After all, if it is only electrical impulses, then what need is there for a person to be able to be able to create a symphony with an orchestra? As well as reason not being able to answer some questions there are some problems with following logical arguments. Logical fallacies are the main example of this. This is where through looking at two or more facts a conclusion is drawn which is false. For example: Cake is food, food is tasty, and therefore cake is tasty. However, this is obviously not true as whilst some cake may be tasty, perhaps even the majority; this does not mean to say that all cake is tasty. After all a burnt cake is not that tasty! Also not only is the conclusion false the two facts through which the conclusion is derived can also be said to be false. After all, any cake that I bake should not be classed as food and not all food is tasty. This statement is far too general and is a large problem with logical fallacies as they generally come to a wrong conclusion, both through the ignorance of other factors as well as the fact that often the facts are not completely accurate in the first place. Lateral thinking is also something which at first seems illogical yet (often) in hindsight becomes logical. It is creative thinking which does not merely follow the most logical steps to reach an answer. For example a suggested solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East was to ship vast amounts of Marmite to the area. This seems utterly senseless, as surely holding talks and making agreements between the two sides would be the best steps forward. However, on examining the idea further it becomes logical, if creative! In the typical diet of people in the Middle Eastern area there is a lack of zinc due to the main diet of unleavened bread. This lack of zinc creates aggression. Marmite contains a lot of zinc and therefore could be used to solve the problem in the Middle East. Whilst this solution does not seem reasonable it would work and so shows that reason is not always the best policy. There is also a difference in opinion between what people may think is logical and illogical. Many people in the world take illogical decisions and believe illogical knowledge. Or they seem to do so. Religion is a major factor in many people’s lives and it affects many of the things that they think and do. Due to this people may make a decision that seems illogical to secular people which is perfectly logical to religious people. This brings up the question of; what is reason? After all if two different decisions about the same thing are made and are both reasonable to those people it begs the question of whether or not reason itself can be defined. Is reason just a matter of opinion or is there a yardstick by which all reasonable decisions can be made. If we look back at the British Empire one of the purposes of that was to; â€Å"Make the world England† rather then to respect what other cultures thought and did. In many small islands in the Far East a warrior culture was common and often tribes would fight each other for prestige rather then for anything else. However, to the British this seemed barbaric, yet without it the culture fell apart. For them it was reasonable for this to take place, the knowledge they had seemed to point to the fact that this was a good thing. But not for the British who had a very different opinion through the knowledge that they had acquired. To conclude reason as a way of knowing has both strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses are that a difference of opinion means that people will reason differently too making it an irregular method of making decisions and acquiring knowledge. Reason may also not be the best policy as more creative solutions may be better which can be derived through latera l thinking. Also logical fallacies call into question the validity of reason as they produce false results through logical steps. As well as this we cannot answer some fundamental questions through reason. However, reason is often the best way that we can make decisions in the world. Scientific experiment and historical knowledge are two very good examples of how reason cannot be changed and is therefore very valuable as it allows us to have consistency with our knowledge. Of course religion means that some inconsistency comes into play with our knowledge but on the whole reason is often the best policy.