Article Review responses Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Article Review responses - Assignment Example Enron reaction of the public, creditor and regulatory agency’s increasing awareness of company’s attempt to used financial acrobatics to make the company appear stable and profitable. In the case of Penguin, it removed depreciation from its Cost of Goods Sold which is a standard cost of recognizing wear and tear to make it appear to have a more than above industry average Gross Profit Margin of 39.56 percent. It may be less in severity but it is no different from Enron’s â€Å"future’s marketing† where they recorded future sales (sales which are not realize) to make the company appear profitable even if those sales are not yet realized. This of course looks good on paper thereby increasing the valuation of its stock in the market duping its investors to invest on its stocks. Penguin may have said it to be unintentional but again, this practice is far from desirable. If indeed Penguin did not intend to commit a shady accounting practice to make the company appear to have a higher Gross Profit Margin, it should then revise its accounting method according to GAAP and follow absorption costing that would reflect the true cost of its product and

Management week 8 Dis Board Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Management week 8 Dis Board - Article Example en a team or a group of people need to move towards a specific direction, feedback can be used to help determine the required changes so as to enhance performance. Thirdly, positive feedback helps in developing the required skills to succeed in a given task by creating good understanding. Finally, when positive feedback is given, it goes a long way showing others that they are valued. This way, they will see the need to continue performing optimally or make the required changes that will enhance their performance. Positive motivation has helped me in several work situations. One of such situations was when I was working on a report on the new changes that were required to make the team in my area of work to improve its output and productivity. Having spent a lot of time doing the draft, I kept doubting if it would be accepted. Hiver, after presenting the initial report and getting positive feedback that I was in the right track, I was very motivated. I went ahead to come up with a very concrete and good final

Impact of the Russian revolution - Ideology matters Essay Example for Free

Impact of the Russian revolution Ideology matters Essay I. BACKDROP: GERMAN IDEALISM AND RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONARIES German philosophers in the 19th century were often Idealists, that is to say that they maintained that ideas have a force, power, and reality that is more real than that concrete, reality that so consume us in our daily lives. German idealism dominated the 19th-century Russian revolutionary movement from the Decembrist Revolt of 1825 until long after Lenins successful revolutionary coup that we call the October (or Bolshevik or Communist) Revolution of 1917. While I never want to downplay the central role of raw hypocrisy in human affairs, much of what we in the United States have interpreted as hypocrisy in the Soviet Union-the dissonance between the profound humanism of Marxs ideas and the coarse violence of the Stalinist dictatorship-this hypocrisy can also be seen as the desperate attempt to coerce reality through the power of belief-through the power of the Idea. And one way to interpret the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was that the Soviets had lost their ability to convince themselves that the Leninist/Stalinist Idea had the power to transform reality into a better future. With the collapse of this self-justifying, central Myth that legitimized the Soviet experience, the Soviet Union died not with a bang but rather whimpered into Lev Trotskys dust bin of history. With this introduction, I would now like to offer three examples in the Russian Revolutionary experience where Ideas profoundly affected the future course of events. Only toward the end of the Twentieth Century have these effects begun to run out of steam. II. THREE EXAMPLES A. MODERATE SOCIALISM AND THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION OF 1917 The first example involves the reaction of moderate socialists to the February Revolution in Petrograd in 1917. Moderate Socialists, including the Marxist Mensheviks in contrast to Lenins Bolsheviks, had adopted a position that Russia was not yet ready for a Socialist Revolution; reading Marxs Stages of History quite literally, they understood that the Bourgeois Revolution had to come first and had to take place under the leadership of the bourgeoisie. The working class movement thus had to be satisfied with playing the role of a party of the extreme opposition-the bourgeois revolution must come first and be developed, and the responsibility of the proletariat was to encourage this historical necessity. Real consequences flowed from this belief. When the women, workers, and soldiers of Petrograd spontaneously took to the streets in February 1917, it took only several days for them to overthrow the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty. They then handed power they had won in the streets to their moderate socialist leadership-none of whom were philosophically or psychologically ready to assume the mantle of power. Consistent with their beliefs, the socialists in turn handed power to the bourgeoisie who established the Provisional Government. Not having the complete courage of their convictions, however, the moderate socialists also established the Petrograd Soviet which basically held veto-power over the actions of the bourgeois Provisional Government. This compromise established the period of Dual Power which was inherently unstable. In retrospect, it is amazing that the Provisional Government, amidst the catastrophe of World War I, managed to hold on to power until October of 1917 when Lenins and Trotskys Bolsheviks managed a coup detat to take power. Lenin, like his Menshevik cousins, was a Marxist, but his Marxism focused less on the determinist element of Marxs Stages of History than on the ability of the individual to assert his will on history. For him, there was no need to wait patiently for the bourgeoisie to fulfill their historical duty at their own leisure; Bolshevism could force the pace. Lenins Will to Power and his belief in the power of the Idea to change reality made the difference between his success and the moderate socialists failure. B. LENINS IMPERIALISM, THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALISM The second example of the power of the Idea concerns Soviet influence on the developing world. Lenin wrote Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism in 1917, during the trials of the First World War and before the Bolshevik Revolution, to explain two crucial contradictions facing Marxists of the day. The first contradiction concerned the delayed outbreak of the promised world revolution. After all, it had already been sixty-nine years since Marx in the Communist Manifesto had proclaimed that A Specter is haunting Europe-the specter of Communism. What had gone wrong? The second failure of the Marxist promise involved the inability of the worlds proletariat to prevent war and its rejection of internationalism for nationalism. It had been a common belief among those of all political stripes from the far right to the far left, that socialist influence on the proletariat had made a major European war impossible. One of the central socialist beliefs was that wars are fought for the benefit of capitalist profits. Now, with the spread of democracy and the entry of powerful socialist parties into Europes parliaments, the capitalists could try to provoke war to their hearts delight but would find it impossible to vote war credits through parliament or to mobilize soldiers who, following their socialist leadership, would refuse to fight. These ideas evoke memories of the anti-Vietnam War poster: What if they gave a war and nobody came? Lenins ingenious answer to both questions came in his book, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. In it he argued that the concentration of production had transformed the capitalism of free competition into monopoly capitalism. The concentration of production also had dramatically increased the socialization of production. Big banks had changed from pure credit institutions into business banks and as such they dominated whole sectors of industry. Together the banks and industry were tied in with government. This coalescence of bank capital with industrial capital with strong government ties had led to the formation of a financial oligarchy that controlled large sections of the national economy. Share issues and state loans had increased the power and amount of surplus capital which flowed beyond political frontiers and extended the financial oligarchys control to other countries. The capital exporting monopolies had divided the world among themselves; international cartels formed the basis for international relations, and the economic division of the world provided the ground for the struggle for colonies, spheres of influence, and world domination. But once the world was divided up, the struggle had become one for the repartitioning of the world. Because the economic development of individual countries is uneven and sporadic, some were left at a disadvantage in this repartitioning. Imperialism represented a special, highest, stage of capitalism. The transition to a capitalism of this higher order was connected with an aggravation of contradictions, frictions, and conflicts. Monopolists assured profits by corrupting the upper stratum of the proletariat in the developed countries. The imperialist ideology permeated the working class. In other words, the burden of bourgeois oppression had been shifted from the shoulders of the domestic proletariat to those of the colonial peoples. In effect, the domestic proletariat had been bribed and they came to see that their material interests were tied up with colonial enterprise. Now, successful war to repartition the world in the favor of a particular nation made fighting war against fellow proletarians in other countries worthwhile. With his theory, Lenin seemingly had explained those two problems with Marx. The revolution had not yet swept the world because the potential revolutionaries, the proletariat, had been bribed by the illusion of short-term, material gains to forget their true, long-term interests. They had rejected their class-based internationalism for nationalism because wars fought to expand colonial holdings appeared to be in their material self-interest. Hence they did not prevent the outbreak of the Great War. This theory held long-term importance because Lenin, unlike Marx and Engels, did not see the revolutionary perspectives as centered uniquely upon advanced capitalist countries. After the Great War, in a period of Capitalist Encirclement the Soviets attacked the weak link in the chain of imperialism, the colonies. Political influence went to where the oppression was-the colonies. In the colonial and post-colonial world after World War II, given the absence of an entrepreneurial bourgeoisie with the will and capacity to transform existing conditions and to overcome the entrenched interests opposed to full-scale development, a gospel of competitive individualism seemed useless for modernization to those in the Third World. What appeared to be needed to get the underdeveloped country moving has been collective effort inspired by a national sense of political purpose. Only governments had sufficient capital, organizational skills, and commitment to make rapid development possible. Ideologically, therefore, the intelligentsia of such countries gravitated to one or another of the various socialist doctrines-something that in general might be described as state capitalism, that is, the state and not private individuals perform the entrepreneurial duties of gathering land, labor, and capital for productive enterprise. Socialist rhetoric disguised this crucial essence . For most of the twentieth century, Soviet Russia provided the model for those in the Third World who wished to rapidly modernize their countries. And rapid modernization was necessary for the sake of national prestige and independence. Russias success seemed obvious when we note that within forty short years Russia had risen from the ashes of World War I to defeat Hitler, to become one of the worlds two superpowers, and to be the first in space. Just as important as was this practical example was the vocabulary provided by Lenin. That Marx himself had had little to say to the underdeveloped world mattered little. I would argue that many Third World leaders, for two contentious examples Ho Chi-Minh and Fidel Castro, who led revolutions to assert national pride, independence, and prosperity, turned to Communism because Lenin had provided a vocabulary with a coherent explanation for colonial degradation and a means for asserting national regeneration. Additionally, of the major powers, the Soviet regime alone more-or-less consistently supported the aspirations of those wishing to throw off the oppression of colonialism and capitalism. Of course, today, the Communist model no longer holds the same allure it once did. C. TWO MARXIST HERESIES: LENINISM/STALINISM AND MUSSOLINIS FASCISM The final example of the power of ideas generated during World War I involves the intimate, kissing cousin-relationship between Stalinist Communism and Mussolinis Fascism. Despite facile assumptions, Fascism and Communism were not antipodes. Although their exact relationship remains difficult to define, there exist commonalties, as one author has pointed out: Fascism was the heir of a long intellectual tradition that found its origins in the ambiguous legacy left to revolutionaries in the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Fascism was, in a clear and significant sense, a Marxist heresy. It was a Marxism creatively developed to respond to the particular and specific needs of an economically retarded national community condemned, as a proletarian nation, to compete with the more advanced plutocracies of its time for space, resources, and international stature. Was this kind of self-awareness present as thinkers and politicians struggled to define these two ideologies as they co-developed earlier in this century? In fact, many did recognize that their common interests held much greater weight than did the Talmudic differences between Fascism and Communism. Arturo Labriolas Avanguardia Socialista of Milan by 1903 had become the forum for Italys Sorelian syndicalist revolutionaries, who were struggling to make Marx relevant and against reformist socialism. Such luminaries as Vilfredo Pareto and Benedetto Croce graced its pages, followed shortly by a second generation of Sorelian theoreticians, who came to dominate Italian radicalism for more than a generation. Together they constructed an alternative socialist orthodoxy, which they believed was the true heir to classical Marxism. Clearly, their ideas were no more heretical to those of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels than was Lenins Marxism. By 1904 Mussolini, then a socialist agitator in Switzerland, had begun his collaboration with Avanguardia Socialista, a relationship he maintained for the next five years. The syndicalist contributors to the journal affected the future Duces intellectual and political development. Radical syndicalists like A. O. Olivetti innovatively argued that, under retarded economic conditions, socialists must appeal to national sentiment if their ideas are to penetrate the masses. For him, both syndicalism and nationalism were dedicated to increasing production dramatically. As long as Italy remained underdeveloped, the bourgeoisie remained necessary to build the economic foundation requisite for a socialist revolution. Olivetti spoke of a national socialism, because in an underdeveloped economy, only the nation could pursue the economic development presupposed by classical Marxism. When Mussolini took over as editor of the socialist paper, Avanti!, in December 1912, he attracted anarchists and even some rigid Marxists like Angelica Balabanoff, whom he took on as his assistant editor. Paolo Orano, who served on the editorial staff of Avanti!, along with other syndicalists like Sergio Panunzio, set the tone of that socialist paper. Mussolini also founded and edited Utopia from November 1913 until December of the following year. This bi-monthly review attracted many of the most important young socialist and syndicalist theoreticians, who helped Mussolini to develop his own ideas. In the final years before the First World War, many independent national syndicalists, including Panunzio and Ottavio Dinale saw war as progressive. Helping to put together the rationale for Fascism, they supported Italys fight with the Ottomans over Libya in 1911, and, along with Mussolini, they called for Italys intervention in the First World War. Many socialists now passed into Mussolinis Fascist ranks, and syndicalists such as Panunzio, Olivetti, and Orano, became its principal ideologues. As early as October 1914, Olivetti in Pagine Libere spoke of an Italian socialism infused with national sentiment, a socialism destined to complete Italys unification, to accelerate production, and to place it among the worlds advanced nations. Over the next three years in LItalia Nostra, Olivetti spoke of the nation as uniting men of all classes in a common pursuit of historical tasks; class membership did not align an individual against the nation, but united him with the nation. Patriotism was fully compatible with the revolutionary tradition of Italian socialism. By the time of Mussolinis accession to power, Fascism had given clear evidence of its commitment to industrialization and modernization of the economy. Not only were the Futurists, Nationalists, and National Syndicalists agreed that maximizing production was the first order of business, but all also advocated urban development, the rationalization of financial institutions, the reorganization of the bureaucracy on the basis of technical competence, the abolition of traditional and nonfunctional agencies, the expansion of road, rail, waterways, and telephonic communications systems, the modernization and secular control of the educational system, and the reduction of illiteracy. What does this mean for Fascisms relationship with Soviet Russia? Mussolini by 1919 was pointing out the absolute decline in economic productivity in Russia as proving its failure to recognize its historic obligations. He suspected that the Bolsheviks ultimately had to commit themselves to national reconstruction and national defense, that is, to some form of developmental national socialism as defined by Fascisms former syndicalists. Speaking of the Bolshevik failure to comprehend their revolutionary necessities, Mussolini presciently predicted that Lenin had to appeal to bourgeois expertise to repair Russias ravaged economy. Bolshevism, he said, must domesticate and mobilize labor to the task of intensive development, something which could have been anticipated, because Marxism had made it quite clear that socialism could be built only upon a mature economic base. Russia, not having yet completed the capitalist stage of economic development, met none of the material preconditions f or a classic Marxist revolution. Russia was no more ripe than was Italy for socialism. Lenin, in the practical working out of his revolutionary government, did run headlong into many of these conundrums predicted by the syndicalists. In the months following his takeover, he had expected that the revolution in Germany would bail Soviet Russia out of its difficulties. Thus, while the first Fascists were organizing for a national revolution, the bolsheviks were still dreaming of an international insurrection. Lenin, changing horses, in 1921 proposed the New Economic Policy to replace the ideologically purer but failed War Communism. Like Fascists, Lenin now spoke of holding the entire fabric of society together with a single iron will, and he began to see the withering away of the state as a long way away: We need the state, we need coercion-certainly a Fascist mantra. After Lenins death in 1924, this logic culminated in 1925 with Stalins creative development of Marxism: Socialism in One Country, a national socialism by any other name. Mussolini suspected that Stalin might be abandoning true Communism. This, it seemed, might provide economic advantages to Italy, and to Mussolini it made sense for his country to build ships and planes for the Soviets in exchange for one-third of Italys oil supplies. For him the even more interesting possibility was that Stalin might be the true heir to the tsars and an imperialist with whom Fascism could see eye-to-eye. In 1923, the Duce predicted, Tomorrow there will not be an imperialism with a socialist mark, but . . . [Russia] will return to the path of its old imperialism with a panslavic mark. Mussolini convinced himself that Russian Communism was proving to be less revolutionary than was Fascism. The Duce and some of his followers considered it possible that the two movements were moving together closely enough as to be no longer easily distinguishable. Even dedicated Fascist party workers such as Dino Grandi, Mussolinis foreign minister from 1928 to 1932, early recognized Fascisms affinities with Lenins Bolshevism. He had taken at least part of his own intellectual inspiration from revolutionary syndicalism, and in 1914 he had talked of the First World War as a class struggle between nations. Six years later, Grandi argued that socialists had failed to understand the simple reality of what was happening in revolutionary Russia. The Bolshevik Revolution had been nothing less than the struggle of an underdeveloped and proletarian nation against the more advanced capitalist states. Not only Fascists made this sort of analysis. Torquato Nanni, a revolutionary Marxist socialist and an early acquaintance of Mussolini, as early as 1922 had anticipated these developments. He analyzed the common economic foundations of Fascism and Bolshevism, which produced the related strategic, tactical, and institutional features of these two mass-mobilizing, developmental revolutions. Both, he wrote, had assumed the bourgeois responsibilities of industrializing backward economies and defending the nation-state, the necessary vehicle for progress. Lev Trotsky, the organizer of the October Revolution, consistently, even mulishly, argued that Fascism was a mass movement growing organically out of the collapse of capitalism. He also rejected all notions of any sort of national Communism. Nonetheless, he too recognized a certain involution. Stalinism and Fascism, he said, in spite of a deep difference in social foundations, are symmetrical phenomena. In many of their features they show a deadly similarity. A victorious revolutionary movement in Europe would immediately shake not only fascism, but Soviet Bonapartism. (that is, Stalinism) He, however, refused to go as far as his sometime ally, Bruno Rizzi, who later argued that the assumption of similar developmental and autarchic responsibilities could only generate social and ideological convergence. He lamented, that which Fascism consciously sought, [the Soviet Union] involuntarily constructed. For him, the governments of Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, and even Roosevelt were lurching toward a global system of bureaucratic collectivism, a new form of class domination. Fascist theoreticians agreed with such convergence notions. By 1925, Panunzio claimed that Fascism and Bolshevism shared crucial similarities. Fascists noted that the Soviets had created an armed, authoritarian, anti-liberal state, which had mobilized and disciplined the masses to the service of intensive internal development. The supreme state generated and allocated resources, articulated and administered interests, and assumed and exercised paramount pedagogical functions. Thus, while the first Fascists were formulating the rationale for a mass-mobilizing, developmental, authoritarian, hierarchical, anti-liberal, and statist program guided by a charismatic leader, events had forced the Bolsheviks along the same course. Both intended to create a modern, autarchic, industrial system, which would insure political and economic independence for what had been an underdeveloped national community. With forced industrialization and state capitalism, the Soviets hoped to bring Russia all the benefits of bourgeois modernization. In the face of required austerity, to mobilize their respective populations, the Communists and Fascists alike supplemented economic incentives with pageantry, ritual, ceremony, and parades. All this, coupled with territorial aggression, completed a compelling picture of systemic symmetry. III. CONCLUSION I have presented three diverse examples of the impact of the Russian Revolution on subsequent history. There are other potential examples. I find it interesting that events so crucial to the twentieth century, now seem to be fading so rapidly in their influence. One real benefit of examining the Communist Revolution within the larger question of how best to develop is that the Revolution loses its sense of seminal criticality. For all the pathos surrounding the effort, it becomes just another interesting attempt at rapid development-a failed attempt at that. While I would happily argue that Marx still has relevance for us today, especially in his critique of capitalism if not particularly in his solutions, clearly Lenin and Stalin no longer do.

Personal development plan

Personal development plan PURPOSE: Human nature is forgettable, that is why I would like to make my personal development plan. I would like to see myself in next 4 years as a manager in my company where I am working now. My company is a large-scale company and we are doing corporate services such as a payroll, accounts. Document keeping and outsources. There are lots of small scale and medium scale business in the markets who do not have possible to hire there on accounts and payroll works who do there outsource work to give companies like my company who provide above services. Now a days I am working as a admin assistant in my company I would like to see myself as a manager in admin team. I have to do some plans to achieve my vision. There are some study skills I require to achieve my personal development plan. Thats why I start my study and l am doing my post diploma degree, this is one year plan and after that I will do my MBA degree. Which will very helpful to achieve my goal and other side I have to develop my skills which is such an important for achieve my goal. I will try to analyse myself and I will try to eliminate my weaknesses and threats. In addition, I will strengthen my abilities and I will look forward for my opportunities. This plan is a way to a get perfection in life and accomplish my goals. The aim of this Professional Development Plan is to establish a process of self-management and self-development. To develop myself, it is important to have an idea of my strengths and weaknesses and how can I convert my weaknesses to strengths. It also contains the opportunities that I have in me, I can take advantage of them, and if any change happens in the environment, how can I face this change and get adjustable to these changes. This personal development plan is the key to carry out my goals. It will not only help me to develop myself but also will help me to reach my goals and be successful. SKILLS: There are two type of skills require to achieve my goal. Fundamental skills Professional skills 1) Fundamentals skills : Discipline and time keeping Team work Stability 2) Professional skills Supervisory Sales skills Group activities Above skills are useful to achieve my personal development plan and my long terms goal. There are more skills are required such as communicating, roll model, attitude, self motivation, decision making, hard work dedication, safety in work, carefulness etc . I did my on exercise to achieve some skills. These are skills use to achieve my goal where I am now. I will try to complete all skills, which are taking me to my manager goal. Support for Managers Framework Skills, Knowledge and Attitudes Required: Team Member /Supervisor Manager Management An understanding of the role of a supervisor/team leader * Supervisory skills Motivation and organisational skills Knowledge of relevant systems, processes, policy, legislation, quality standards and procedures Basic management models Management styles Team motivation Delegation i.e. why, how and when Dealing with conflict Comprehensive knowledge of relevant systems, processes, policies, procedures, internal and external regulations, legislation and quality standards Basic principles of strategic management Communication skills Methods of communication to individuals and groups Effective written and verbal communication Feedback and briefing skills Understanding and interpreting the requirements of others Communicating information to others Dealing with confidential/ sensitive issues Team working Purpose of a team Stages of team development Being an effective team member Supporting performance of others Teambuilding skills Balancing team roles and using strengths Team dynamics Supporting Staff Performance Performance management principles Delivery of basic on-the-job training Delegation skills Reviewing individual and team progress and performance Coaching skills Recruitment and selection policies and procedures Basic interviewing skills Problem solving/decision making Understanding of who to take issues to and when Problem solving cycle Developing creative approaches Decision making (identification/solution/ implementation/ implication) Creative thinking Critical thinking Project management Basics of project management Organising resources and prioritising activities Assessing and organising resources, and planning and progressing work activities Using basic Project Management principles Organisational skills Personal effectiveness Assertiveness Time management/personal effectiveness Goal setting Developing and maintaining a network of contacts throughout own work area Adapting/transferring own skills to new circumstances Pursuing relevant professional qualifications Joining/progressing within own professional body Awareness (where appropriate) of wider developments in own profession The above skills and managerial framework are helping me to know my area of goal. SKILLS AUDIT: I did my skills audit and its help me address of area where I have to change myself. These are below. 1)Professional Skills Current level 5= Strong 1= Weak EXAMPLE HOW TO IMPROVE 1 Communication 3 I worked as corporate service company as an admin team member My responsibility was to communicate with customer and do there paper work. I also did letters, report and budget writing. Being from a commercial background, I lack some of the skills for effective business communication. To improve this I have enrolled for management course. I am also taking BEC listening lessons. Practicing report writing, doing presentations, group discussion and debate are the ways to improve communication skills. 2 Problem Solving 3.5 During my one-year tenure as admin, office solved various problems related to business administration. During this course, we are given assignments that are more practical. Some requires solving problems. More practical assignment, where in we are made to think taking into consideration present market situation, present business scenario and people involved in them will definitely improve our skill of problem solving. Reading case studies, articles and analysis report or various people and companies 3 Planning 4 When I joined company, I got one year planning to do all works with my clients, and I done this with on my hard work and plans. During the course, to complete the assignment we discussed and planned within the group to complete the task and meet deadlines. This assignment guides us to plan thing for our career. Maintaining diary to do planning regarding studies and personal matter After done my MBA it will be a platform to show our planning skills and to learn new techniques related to planning in the business world. 4 Supervision and Management 3 I was admin head in my company when my admin head was on holiday. In my last job in India, I was department head in my school and I use to supervision and management my department. Getting opportunities to lead a small team at the start, It would be beneficial. This skill matters how well we understand our team, so reading books on effective management and understanding team members psychology will help. 5 Innovation, Creativity and Development 3 During our first term in this course, we had assignment and various class activities that involved creative and innovative thinking. Doing more assignments where research and problem solving is required. Showing our creativity in power point presentation 6 Organising 3.5 During my university education, I was involved in organising Technical Festival named FERVOR08 and other technical events throughout the year. I also organised annual function of our hostel in India when I was a Head Boy. Chance to lead and organise event or project will help to improve this skills. Not necessary to be a big one 7 Delegating 3 Have done during academics assignment and events, but not in business world. This skills can be improved by leading a team in assignment of project or event. Reading books and articles for effective delegating will help to build up this skill. 8 Leading Chairing Meetings 3 During university, I lead my sport team of our sport event. In business world, I have not yet reached this position. 9 Delivering effective presentation 3 I was involved in-group presentation for assignment in my last year of my degree. In addition, I did well. However, there is lot of room for improvement. Delivering as many presentations as possible to different audience and on variety of subjects during this course. Also taking presentation audit that we already did, in every term. 10 Professional Knowledge 2 As an admin tem member, I have sound knowledge of my field but I aspire to be in business management. I have little knowledge about business management. This course is the first step to learn business management. I could show my skills as well as learn and demonstrate my business skills. 2) Personal Skills Current level 5 = Strong 1= Weak EXAMPLE HOW TO IMPROVE 1 Time Management 3 I have been timetable follower all my life. Sometimes I do miss my timetable. We as a team planned to meet deadlines for the assignment. In addition, I manage time for my studies and part time job to build my career and also earn for my living expenses. Attending seminars on tips on time management, or making it a part of our course. Reading book on time management. Making daily log and task schedules and following them. 2 Analysis 3 I many times analyse the situation before reacting to it. Still need to work a lot as far as analysis as a personal skill is concerned. Managing changes in organization assignment was on real estate, which required research and analysis. I have been able to do quite well Assignment and case studies involving lot of research and analysis will help us to develop this skill from business point of view. Also analyzing and then addressing all issues that come on our way to make a successful career. 3 Objective Setting 3 To improve my managerial skills, which I am lacking, I enrolled for this course. My objective is to improve my technical skills and managerial skills to be a competitive candidate in business world. Objective setting skills can be learned by discussing and brain storming session by counsellor, teacher, friends and family. 4 Prioritizing Work Tasks 2 I sometimes find difficulty in prioritizing tasks. We got assignment and Job as a Christmas Temp so it was difficult to manage and prioritize, as both were important. One for living and other for career Preplanning and brainstorming can be done to prioritize work. Maintaining diary and scheduling will help to improve this skill. 5 Decisive / (Procrastination) 2 In this term, I have delayed my submission. Again, planning and challenging self to stick to deadlines will help. Also reading and taking tips to avoid laziness helps. Doing Yoga to improve concentration and self control 6 Dealing with interruptions 2 When I am talking to someone and if other person interrupts, I lose my point of discussion and thus get frustrated with interruption. But when I am doing a task or studies I dont feel interruption by music or a call by friend. I get back to work as soon as I finish with interruption. Improving memory Doing Yoga to improve concentration. Reading books on this. 7 Planning Organising Skills 3 I plan and organise task before implementing. Like I have done in all my assignments In addition, I plan when it comes to personal or family occasions and matters. Learning to plan things in our work and daily life from our teachers, parents and colleagues Reading books and case studies on planning and organising 8 Problem-solving 4 Right from my childhood, I have been away from my parents for study and career reasons. I manage my problems myself and solve them personally. Sometimes I do concern my family of teachers for this. Leaving independent life help us to learn this skills. Solving problems ourselves first and if it is too worse than only concern to others. I have read the book ‘Heart of Change by John Katter et al. that shows how people solve their business problems with simple techniques. 9 Team Work 3 Worked in team in my job. Team was productive and we did well to deliver the result. Also worked in a team for organising various events during my university education as mentioned earlier Being a part of different team each time during new project will improve our skill. Also understanding our responsibilities and roles in the team will improve our skill. 10 Networking 3 I am extrovert and like to meet people and make contacts. I am so many contacts from my university days. This helps us to share and learn new ideas not only at personal level but also at professional level. Making groups on networking website Like we have made an academic group â€Å"stcdms0910† on yahoo groups to be in touch not only for this course but throughout lifetime to share both business and personal information. 11 Self-management 4 I dont change my plan or get distracted by my friends activities. I will do what I planned and what is important to me. Learning self-control improves this skill. Doing Yoga, Reading books etc 12 Technology Skills 4 I did my bachelor in science degree with first class. I am interested a lot in reading and browsing about new technology. Keeping one, self well aware of changing technology, Reading and browsing for learning about new technology Never be afraid of trying out gadgets or software packages due to fear of damaging it. 13 Communication 3 I have done well in presentation though I am improving on various aspect of delivering effective presentations. I am little weak as far as spoken and listening is concerned. I have taken BEC listening lessons to improve my listening skills. I read a lot to improve my vocabulary. In addition, I do presentations. 14 Listening Skills 3 I am a good listener as my friends say. They approach me to discuss issues. I consider that everyone has talent and they are worth listening. However, as an activist as far as learning style is concerned I feel bore to listen to long lectures. Firstly being patient. Understanding others feeling. Taking interest in what others have to say. Doing Yoga to improve concentration will help. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN: When I was making my personal development plan, I need several steps to achieve my goal. That why I follow bellow structure which are provide me to show my way to manager post in next 4 years. Step involve in personal development plan. Regarding above structure I can consider myself now a days as a team member in my company. There are many things are help me to achieve my goal. I would like to become a manager in my four years to come. Now days I am doing as a team member in my company and there are some skills which are good in my life and some of skills I need to be improve in my future. SWOAT ANALYSIS: To achieve my goal I have to do my SWOT analysis. SWOT Analysis is a tool that will reflect your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats .it will help me to develop my currier way that takes best advantage of my ability, talents and opportunities. The first step of a SWOT analysis is the internal factor: Strengths and weakness. SWOT Analysis are inbuilt they are not inhere tent by others. Below are my strengths and weaknesses. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Ø I can learn things faster Ø I am bad in time management Ø Positive attitude Ø Short tempered Ø Punctual Ø Friendly nature Ø Energetic Ø Poor presentation skills The next step is considering the external factor these are things like economic, market, environmental change etc. Its involve opportunities and threats. Opportunities Threats Ø Getting MBA degree in known university, Ø Lack of job in my field due to recession Ø Getting chance to work in UK get PSW visa (work ) Ø Emotionally attached with the family in back home, Ø Chance to build my network, Ø Visa extension is very strict and may get refused, Ø Getting experience in market my company , Ø UK is very expensive to live continue my study and future, GOALS: It is very important for me and every individual organisation to have goals in life, the goal should be SMART: S- Specific, significant, stretching M Measurable, meaningful, motivational A Achievable, acceptable, attainable R- Realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding T- time-base, tangible, traceable My goal is after four years to become a manager in my company. As I use to deal with my work and I have complete knowledge for how can I reach there and how it works in my life.

Engine Efficiency Essay -- physics internal combustion engine

Ever since the invention of the internal combustion engine, scientists and engineers have worked to increase its efficiency. As it stands now, the average internal combustion automobile engine only converts roughly 20% of its energy into useful motivational power. Most of the rest is expended through heat loss in various locations. The cooling system in an automobile is used to remove heat from all the moving parts so that they can still function properly without melting, seizing, or overheating. If an engine was ideal, it would release no heat because all of its energy would be converted into the power transferred to the wheels, but no such engine exists in reality. With all the many moving parts that must remain in contact with one another (in order to maintain compression and prevent various other leaks), friction is inevitable and thus, so is heat. Therefore, the cooling system in the car is exceedingly important. The way it works is basically a simple matter of heat transfer. Water cooled vehicles use a combination of air and liquid cooling mechanisms, routing coolant hoses past the hotter parts of the engine so that heat can transfer from the engine parts into the coolant, which then goes back into the radiator to be cooled off by the incoming air. Air cooled vehicles typically have large fans installed strategically on the engine and heat dissipating fins on the heads. What may come as a surprise to some is that the heater in the cab of your car is actually a part of the car's cooling system. Heat that is removed from the engine is simply piped into the cab so that the driver doesn't freeze to death in the middle of winter. The removal of this heat draws colder air into the engine compartment... ... rather have clean air, myself... Conclusion It may seem as though there are no significant benefits to the inefficiencies of internal combustion engines. After all, they waste fuel, resources and money; they pollute the environment and create potential health risks; and to some people, too much can go wrong with them to ever make them worth trying to understand. I, however, will always stand by my love of the painstakingly choreographed dance that takes place within a combustion engine; all the parts working in time to create a glorious, gas-guzzling, ozone depleting, peace disturbing chunk of steel, rubber, glass and aluminum that can go 0-60 in a matter of mere seconds. And I would like to hear anyone curse the inefficient heat loss of their engine when it is pumping 70Â ° air into a -40Â ° cab at 6 a.m. in the middle of Fairbanks' frigid winter.

kodak brief review :: essays research papers

Note: The examination will be in two parts. Part 1 will comprise a set of multiple-choice questions designed to check your understanding of all of the lectures material. Part 2 will concern this case study, with the examination paper including a set of questions about it. The case study describes a situation, which you need to research further and resolve. In preparation for the examination, you should analyse this case study and relate it to the lectures so that you arrive at the examination with an understanding of how you might proceed. CASE STUDY Kodak, based in Rochester, New York, where it pioneered the use of photographic film 100 years ago, has been facing weak profits and job cuts as it struggles to turn round its business. Wednesday, 21 June, 2000, 11:26 GMT 12:26 UK Kodak looks to digital salvation by BBC News Online's Steve Schifferes The world's most famous film company is hoping that the digital film revolution will come to its rescue. Dan Carp, Kodak's chief executive, told BBC News Online that he was "very frustrated" by the low share price for his company which is trading at around 10 times earnings despite five quarters of record profits. "There is no question that digital imaging is going to expand the use of photography and make it more user friendly," he explained to News Online during a whirlwind tour of Europe. "What's holding us back is some scepticism that the digital revolution is yet to be finalised," he said. Fresh investment Mr Carp told the BBC that the company would invest two-thirds of its $900m research and development budget in digital technologies. It was also spending over $1bn in buying back its own shares in order to boost their price. Analysts say the share buybacks are needed to boost the company's earnings per share which have been diluted by employees cashing in some 20m stock options last year. Mr Carp said he was not worried by the threat of a takeover. However, he admitted that the marketplace for digital imaging technology was likely to be more crowded than traditional photography, with companies like Sony vying with Kodak, Fuji, and Olympus. Kodak had been slow to introduce full digital technology, fearing that it would hurt sales of existing photographic products. But it now aims for 45% of its sales, and 27% of profits, to come from digital sales by 2005. Mr Carp said that the introduction of broadband and other high-speed internet connections would speed the take-up of digital technology. There were more than 4m digital cameras sold in the USA, and 1m in Europe, last year, and

Business Law I Chapter 9 Answers Essay

1. Consideration consists of mutual exchange of gains and losses between contracting parties. In the exchange, a gain by the offer is at the same time a loss to the offeror. The legal term used to designate the gain that each party experiences is that party’s legal benefit. Consideration has three characteristics 1) The agreement must involve a bargained-for exchange; 2)the contract must involve adequate consideration; and 3) the benefits and detriments promised must themselves be legal. 2. A legal detriment can be any of the following: 1) doing something that one has a legal right not to do; 2) giving up something that one has a legal right to keep; and 3) regaining from doing something that one has a legal right to do. 3. The law will not enforce an agreement that has not been bargained for. An agreement involves a bargained-for exchange when 1) a promise is made in exchange for another promise, 2) a promise is made in exchange for an act, or 3) a promise is made for forbear ance of an act. 4. A court may refuse to enforce a contract or any clause of a contract if is considers the contract or clause unconscionable, that is, the consideration is so ridiculously inadequate that it shocks the court’s conscience. This designation usually happens when there is a great inequality in bargaining power between the two parties. 5. Consideration can be a promise not to sue. A promise not to sue, when there is right, or at least the apparent right, to sue, is enforceable when it is supported by consideration. Promising not to sue is forbearance. Acceptance of an agreement not to sue, supported by consideration, terminates one’s right to continue any lawsuit, presently or on the future, on grounds described in the agreement. 6. There are three ways that the courts can seek to uphold charitable pledges. The first way involves actual consideration, which occurs when charitable contributions are made on the condition that the promisor be remembered for the gift by having his or her name inscribed in some way on a memorial associated with the project. Another approach is to use either promissory estoppel or public policy to support the claim. Also, when there is no promise to carry out a specific project, the courts have held each pledge made is supported by the pledges of all others who have made similar pledges. This concept of consideration is used in support of all promises of money for undefined causes. 7. If a creditor accepts as full payment an  amount that is less than the amount due, the dispute has been settled by an accord and satisfaction. Accord is the implied or expressed acceptance of less than what has been billed the debtor. Satisfaction is the agreed-to settlement contained in the accord. Only if the dispute is honest, and the offer to settle made in good faith, and not superficial or trivial will the courts entertain arguments based on accord and satisfaction. 8. The agreements that be enforceable by a court of law even though they lack consideration are: a) Promises under seal – enforceable in some states for contracts not involving goods Unenforceable under UCC for contracts involving goods. b) Promises after discharge in bankruptcy – enforceable in most states. c) Promise to pay debts barred by statute of limitation – enforceable. d) Promises enforced by promissory estoppel – enforceable only if offeror knew that offeree would rely on the promise and offeree places himself in a different and difficult position as a result of that promise. e) Option – enforceable under UCC if made by a merchant, in writing, stating the time period over which the offer will remain. 9. Promissory estoppel is a legal doctrine that restricts a party from denying that a promise was made under certain conditions, even though consideration has not been exchanged to bind an agreement. To be effective, promissory estoppel requires that the party making the promise know, or be presumed to know, that the other party might otherwise make a definite and decided change of position in contemplation of those promises. In reaching this doctrine, courts have accepted the principles of justice and fairness in protecting the party receiving the promise from otherwise unrecoverable loses. 10. Shopping online is one of the fastest growing market places on record. Despite its many advantages (quick & efficient, comparison shopping, availability of hard-to-get products) , there are many difficulties: – Cyber-payment option: Wide variety of methods. One of the most popular methods is by credit/debit card. Most online sellers will accept the major credit cards such as Visa, Master Card. This type of system protects both the buyer and the seller. This process may become the most acceptable process because most of the times when people buy and sell in  cyberspace they are dealing with strangers. The online payment process eliminates the identity verification problem. This is important because one of the biggest concerns about online shopping is security. – Cyber-Payment Security Issues: the ease and efficiency of using credit/debit cards is frequently offset by the security concerns associated with their use. The US is not up-to-date as the EU in providing data and privacy protection to its consumers. The EU Data Protection Directive along with EU E-Privacy Directive guarantee the rights of European citizens while at the same time ensuring the smooth exchange of data among those nation-states that honor the privacy and data protection standards themselves. US corporations that are involved with EU corporations must demonstrate that, despite the lack of legislation in the US, the companies themselves will promise to honor the same degree of protection to data and to privacy as guaranteed by the EU. These guarantees have been labeled the Safe Harbor Principles. They are enforced by the US Department of Commerce. It is best for a consumer to check directly with the US Department of Commerce to determine the true status of a company rather than just relying on the company’s blanket assertion that they follow the safe harbor standards.