Managing Operation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 2

Managing Operation - Essay Example Toyota is a Japanese car manufacturing company and it is one of the leading companies in the global automobile industry, producing well known models such as Corolla, Camry and Lexus. Though a late entrant compared to General Motors and Ford, Toyota had become one strongest player in the automobile industry. In an industry generally considered to be mature in terms of technology, Toyota had continued to set benchmarks for providing value to customers more effectively than competitors. Toyota had also redefined the rules of operation management in various areas like product development, manufacturing process, vendor management, customer satisfaction and human resource management. The formal establishment of Toyota motor company ltd., took place in 1937 and since then it has moved onto become the leader in the global automobile industry. By March 31 2008, Toyota group approximately sold 8.9 million vehicles in 170 countries under the Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands. Since the automobile industry is now facing a recession, Toyota aims to achieve sustainable growth by building a more flexible and stronger operational process and corporate structure to counter the challenges of the hyper competitive market world over (Annual Report, Toyota, 2008). The key objective of this paper will be to examine and evaluate how Toyota successfully manages key components of its operational management such as meeting customer requirements, improving product quality, effective implementation of projects as well as efficient monitoring and evaluation of completed projects. The essay will utilise the open system organisational theory and how it is manifested in the Toyota Production System (TPS) to guide the operations of the company. Thereafter, the TPS will be utilised to highlight how Toyota manages the procedures associated with new product introduction and old product improvement as well as

Electronic Media Essay Example for Free

Electronic Media Essay Electronic media  are  media  that use  electronics  or  electromechanical  energy for the  end user  (audience) to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly  print media), which are most often  created electronically, but dont require electronics to be accessed by the end user in the  printed  form. The primary electronic media sources familiar to the general public are better known as  video recordings,  audio recordings,  multimedia presentations,  slide presentations,  CD-ROM  and  Online  Content. Most  new media  are in the form of  digital media. However, electronic media may be in either  analog  or  digital  format. Although the term is usually associated with content recorded on a  storage medium, recordings are not required for live  broadcasting  and  online networking. Any equipment used in the  electronic communication  process (e. g. television,  radio,  telephone,  desktop computer,  game console,  handheld device) may also be considered electronic media. USES : Electronic media are ubiquitous in most of the developed world. As of 2005, there are reports of satellite receivers being present in some of the most remote and inaccessible regions of China. Electronic media devices have found their way into all parts of modern life. The term is relevant to  media ecology  for studying its impact compared to printed media and broadening the scope of understanding media beyond a simplistic aspect of media such as one delivery platform (e. g. the World Wide Web) aside from many other options.

Invention Of Mass Media Media Essay

Invention Of Mass Media Media Essay Introduction Since the invention of mass media, mass media has always view as a big influence to the society and threat for certain group of people. This can be trace back to the 18th century, when the first theory about media- mass media theory was created and talks about how strong media is in directly influence people perception and action. Over the years, there are lots of mass media theories that talk about the power of media and how media is use to manipulate and influence people especially the folk culture or so call ordinary people. When talk about mass media theory, a big point that shouldnt be misses out is the rise of media theory in the age of propaganda. Propagandists rely on mass media very much as media reached mass audience. It is the best way for propagandist to change people action according to their own belief and expectation. One of the successful propaganda that has been widely practice was Nazis propaganda during world war one in 1933 to 1939. There are also others famous mass media theory like magic bullet theory, behaviorism, Freudianism and a lot more. Most of the time media often view as a negative influence especially for the elite group, and they claim that media should be control. There are also some theories that talk about the positive of mass media theory. For example, libertarianism theory says that people are good and rational. So media should have 100% freedom to report on everything and people can able to judge and differentiate what is right and wrong by themselves. Although there are a lots of theory argue about the pros and cons of mass media. However, one thing that everyone cannot denial is that mass media are one of the important things in human history especially the digital era like nowadays. The invention of mass media has brought human life to the whole new era and it has become an essential in human life. It helps human to convenient the process of communication between each other and also government nowadays to spread news and new policy to the people. According to Wang Lay Kim (2001), the first media in Malaysia was the English language Government Gazette call as the Prince of Whales Island Gazette (PWIG) in 1st of March 1806 in Penang Island. The last publication was on 21st of July 1827 total duration of 21 years. The first TV station in Malaysia are RTM1 and RTM 2 and then follow by the first privatization TV station which is TV3 in 1984. As mass media act as an important agent between a country and its people or government with the people, there is no exception for Malaysia to use mass media as the change agent for government policies. The mainstream media in Malaysia has always been perceived as an important agent of change for most of the governments policies. The mainstream media include TV stations, radio stations and also newspapers. As a developing country, Malaysias 4th prime minister Tun Dr.Mahathir Bin Mohammad have come out with the policy of vision 2020 which aim to further develop Malaysia into a fully develop country in the year 2020. In the year 2010, Malaysias current prime minister Dato Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak introduced the concept of one Malaysia which mainly focus on unite multi races of Malaysian to view themselves as Malaysian without looking at skin, races and language. It is also focus on economic of Malaysia and development of Malaysia to help Malaysia to achieve the g oal of vision 2020. Since the introduction of 1 Malaysia concept, this concept has been widely promote by the government to the citizen using the mainstream media. As the government realizes that peoples reliability towards media is getting more nowadays, people receive most of their information through different type of media. So media is view as the most suitable way to promote the new 1 Malaysia concept. The messages that promote through mass media are not as simple as audience view. Those ideas and concepts have been carefully defined and structure before reach the target audience. Government has used several type of mass media theory to promote the concept of 1 Malaysia. With the help of the theory, it encourages Malaysian to accept the concept of 1 Malaysia mentally and physically. Political economy theory Political economy theory is mainly focus on the study of how the elite control the economics of a country based on the link between politics and base to maintain the hegemonic culture. In this context, the elite will be the government of Malaysia. Political economy theory also says that to understand the media, ones must look at the whole picture which includes the ownership of media and the control group of media. In Malaysia, although most of the mainstream media are privatization but all the media are closely related to the government and political party. For example, according to Wang Lay Kim (2001), Fleet holding, a company that arm by UMNO which have 80% share of the News straits Times Press (NSTP) and majority share in Utusan Melayu Press sin year 1973. Both of these presses have majority readership and circulation in Malaysias newspaper.Fleet holding also have the share of 40% in Malaysia TV station, TV3. Besides, the other Malaysia main English paper, 58% of theStar newspaper is also own by Huaren holding Sdn.Bhd which link to MCA, one of the political party under the government. Cleary, we can see that there is a tight relationship between mainstream media with the political parties. With this point, it is not hard for the government to promote the idea of 1 Malaysia and gain acceptance by the people. The messages first come out by the elite or government through allocative control. Then the media under government in charge of the operational control which manipulate the word and idea before promote to the public to achieve the goal. It is not a surprise that thestar newspaper report atleast one article about the 1 Malaysia concepts per week. For example, 13 September 2012 thestar report about another 1 Malaysia clinic open. 15 September 2012 is about 175 1 Malaysia clinics by year end.16 September 2012, A truly 1 Malaysia day for both side of S.china sea. 19 September 2012, PM launches books of 1 Malaysia. 29 September 2012, Lots of goodies under 1 Malaysia schemes. As we know that, newspaper has always acted as a medium for people to receive information and people tend to believe newspaper as it is more accurate and professional. Government take control on the production of media by reporting the positive news about the 1 Malaysia concepts can surely gain support from the citizen. Hegemony Hegemony talks about elite stay their status quo through coercion and consent. Besides, it also states that force cannot maintain the power of the elite. Persuasion, explanation and understanding make people act willing and happily towards order. The best way for government to spread consent was using the mass media, especially the mainstream media that closely related to the government. Through hegemony and media, media act as a way to educate people how to behave and what to do in their life that consistent with the government goal. We can see how hegemony is use by government to promote the concept of 1 Malaysia in mainstream media like TV and newspaper in Malaysia. First of all, the slogan itself for 1 Malaysia concept Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamankan in English it means people first, performance now. This is obviously telling people that the government care about the citizen and the future of the country through the promotion of mainstream media every day. In order to achieve the part of consent that stated in hegemony, one of the main focuses of 1 Malaysia concept is to help Malaysia to achieve the goal of vision 2020 which is a fully develop country. Since the introduce of 1 Malaysia concept, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is introduce by the current prime minister to improve the effectiveness of Malaysian government department for satisfaction of the citizen towards the service and try to shape the positive image of citizen towards the government. Under KPI, a mechanism is provided to evaluate the effectiveness of government agency towards crime prevention, reducing government corruption, increased to quality education, improvement of public transportation, improve the living of low income citizen and rural are infrastructure. Since the election of 2008, electors have lost confident on the government which means Barisan Nasional. It is very important for government to fulfill the need and satisfaction of the citizen which is the part of consent in hegemony. The result of KPI is keep highlight by the mainstream media. In long term effect, people will start to believe that the government did do some changes on the transparency of politic. These help the government to gain confident of the citizen. Besides, mainstream media often cover other news about 1 Malaysia. For example, thestar report an article about the new open 1 Malaysia clinic and grocery shop. This is also a long term effect of persuasion to told the citizen about 1 Malaysia concept are always for the benefit of the citizen, in the other hand, it also means that everyone should support the concept as it only bring benefit to the public. Moreover, the song and slogan of 1 Malaysia are often playing in TV station and radio station. It acts to reinforce people about 1 Malaysia concept are always for the public. Just like the lyrics of 1 Malaysia song. Im 4 U. The use of coercion in hegemony which is law state to control over the content of media towards government report like the printing press and publication act, broadcasting act and official secret act. Combine with the use of consent like ownership of media and control over the content of media. Surely the government can maintain their status quo and spread their ideology to the citizen without the consciousness of the people. People will also accept the concept willing without any force. Marxist Theory Marxist theory talks about that hierarchical class system are the roots of social problem. How base, superstructure and capitalism are closely related to each other. The main premises of Marxism said if the idea of production can be control, people can be control. The ideology of the elite are widely use to dominant public thinking and to maintain the inequality of social class. In human history, social class problem have been discuss generation over generation. However, the inequalities between social classes are still appearing in todays world. For example, riots happened in Malaysia on 13 May 1969 was happen due to the imbalance of economy and social classes between races. It makes Malaysia government realize about the important of economy balance between races. Although the large economy gaps between races in Malaysia are solve through New Economic Policy (NEP), but the problem of social classes are still remain. The government member and royal family of Malaysia are defining as the elite group or aristocrat in Marxist theory. In order for the government to maintain their status quo, the elite own the capitalism with their base. However, for their ideology to spread and accept by people, media are use as a tool by government. According to Wang Lay Kim (2001), Malaysias second privatize TV station Metrovision, the four share holder company was closely related to UMNO. The companies are City television Sdn.Bhd, Melewar Corporation, Utusan Melayu and Medanmas Sdn. Bhd. This can explain how government act as capitalism, own the base which are the media and message production and spread of 1 Malaysia concept which is government ideology to maintain their status quo. In literal, 1Malaysia concept is use to help Malaysian to improve their living condition and upgrade the overall citizen social classes to eliminate poverty. But in the other hand, it is also an ideology to maintain their power. Government realize that to maintain their status quo while achieve peaceful among the bourgeoisie and proletariat or so call Malaysian, 1 Malaysia concept are one of the best way to achieve goal for mutual benefit of the country and the elite. By own the mainstream media and control of the message production, people can be control. Conclusion In conclusion, with the support of political economy, hegemony theory and Marxist theory, I strongly agree that 1 Malaysia concept can be accept by Malaysian with the use of mainstream media. Most of the media theories agree that media have the long term effect on people but not direct effect. When people expose to something for a long term, they tend to believe it. Mainstream media keep reporting the positive news of 1 Malaysian; time by time people will accept it without conscious about it. Besides, mainstream media in Malaysia are directly control by legislative law and indirectly own by the government. With the support of Marxist theory, which says control of the media production, people can be control. It strengthens my opinion towards Malaysian acceptance of 1 Malaysia concept.

Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Made

Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Mademoiselle de Scudery Professor’s comment: This student perceptively examines the role of the city as a setting and frame for detective fiction. Focusing on two early examples, Poe’s â€Å"Murders in the Rue Morgue† and Hoffmann’s â€Å"Mademoiselle de Scudery,† both set in Paris, his sophisticated essay illuminates the â€Å"cityness† or framed constraint that renders the city a backdrop conducive to murder—such as the city’s crowded, constricted nature, promoting vertical rather than outward movement and increasing hostility and the fact that so much urban life occurs at night, a reversal of the natural order and facilitating illicit activity. He compels us to look in new ways both at the city and at detective fiction. The Rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevià ¨ve in particular is like a bronze picture frame. It is the only frame suited to our story.... —Honorà © de Balzac, Pà ¨re Goriot.1 Here like has been ensepulchered with like; some monuments are heated more, some less And then he turned around and to his right; we passed between the torments and high walls. —Dante, Inferno IX.2 The city, writes St. Augustine, â€Å"builds up a pilgrim community of every language .... [with] particular concern about differences of customs, laws, [and] institutions† in which â€Å"there is among the citizens a sort of coherence of human wills.†3 Put simply: the city is a sort of platform upon which â€Å"a group of people joined together by their love of the same object† work towards a common goal.4 What differentiates Augustine’s examination from other literary or theological treatments of the city is his attempt to carve out a vision of how the city operates—both the internal qualities and external ... ... 2 Dante, Inferno (New York: Bantam, 1982) 83. 3 St. Augustine, The City of God (London: Oxford UP, 1963) 348. 4 Robert Pinsky, â€Å"Foreword,† Inferno (New York: Noonday, 1994) ix. 5 Edgar Allen Poe, â€Å"The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Gold-Bug and Other Tales† (New York: Dover, 1991) 33. All future references will appear in the text. 6 The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989) 140. All future references will appear in the text. 7 Charles Baudelaire, â€Å"The Moon’s Favors,† Paris Spleen (New York: New Directions, 1970) 79. 8 Hoffman, â€Å"Mademoiselle de Scudery,† Tales of Hoffman (New York: Penguin, 1984) 17. All future references will appear in the text. 9 The term is borrowed from linguistics, referring to the process by which the specific nature of a given sound in a particular word changes or assimilates the sound preceding it. Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Made Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Mademoiselle de Scudery Professor’s comment: This student perceptively examines the role of the city as a setting and frame for detective fiction. Focusing on two early examples, Poe’s â€Å"Murders in the Rue Morgue† and Hoffmann’s â€Å"Mademoiselle de Scudery,† both set in Paris, his sophisticated essay illuminates the â€Å"cityness† or framed constraint that renders the city a backdrop conducive to murder—such as the city’s crowded, constricted nature, promoting vertical rather than outward movement and increasing hostility and the fact that so much urban life occurs at night, a reversal of the natural order and facilitating illicit activity. He compels us to look in new ways both at the city and at detective fiction. The Rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevià ¨ve in particular is like a bronze picture frame. It is the only frame suited to our story.... —Honorà © de Balzac, Pà ¨re Goriot.1 Here like has been ensepulchered with like; some monuments are heated more, some less And then he turned around and to his right; we passed between the torments and high walls. —Dante, Inferno IX.2 The city, writes St. Augustine, â€Å"builds up a pilgrim community of every language .... [with] particular concern about differences of customs, laws, [and] institutions† in which â€Å"there is among the citizens a sort of coherence of human wills.†3 Put simply: the city is a sort of platform upon which â€Å"a group of people joined together by their love of the same object† work towards a common goal.4 What differentiates Augustine’s examination from other literary or theological treatments of the city is his attempt to carve out a vision of how the city operates—both the internal qualities and external ... ... 2 Dante, Inferno (New York: Bantam, 1982) 83. 3 St. Augustine, The City of God (London: Oxford UP, 1963) 348. 4 Robert Pinsky, â€Å"Foreword,† Inferno (New York: Noonday, 1994) ix. 5 Edgar Allen Poe, â€Å"The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Gold-Bug and Other Tales† (New York: Dover, 1991) 33. All future references will appear in the text. 6 The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989) 140. All future references will appear in the text. 7 Charles Baudelaire, â€Å"The Moon’s Favors,† Paris Spleen (New York: New Directions, 1970) 79. 8 Hoffman, â€Å"Mademoiselle de Scudery,† Tales of Hoffman (New York: Penguin, 1984) 17. All future references will appear in the text. 9 The term is borrowed from linguistics, referring to the process by which the specific nature of a given sound in a particular word changes or assimilates the sound preceding it.

Good Country People

In the short story â€Å"Good Country People,† Flannery O’Connor utilizes the characters Joy Hopewell and Manley Pointer to expose how believing in nothing makes a person isolated and spiritually empty. Joy Hopewell is a well-educated, thirty-two year old atheist with an artificial leg. Joy's lack of belief causes her to lose all the human civility and decency she has. She even changes her name to Hulga. Flannery O'Connor's use of the mythological Trickster persona to seek, attract, and repulse the protagonist Joy-Hulga leads to her spiritual enlightenment. Manley Pointer through the Trickster persona seeks out the Hopewells, specifically Hulga.From the beginning the Bible salesman uses the svelte and persuasive words used by the Trickster. Pointer maneuvers himself inside when he tells Mrs. Hopewell, â€Å"Lady, I’ve come to speak of serious things. † He continues, using her own thoughts and feelings to manipulate her, telling her, â€Å"I know you belie ve in Chrustian service† and â€Å"People like you don’t like to fool with country people like me. † The Trickster knows that Mrs. Hopewell is just being polite, but he persists, taking advantage of her desire to avoid all conflict and her love of â€Å"good country people. † Manley craftily gets himself invited to dinner out of sympathy.Knowing that Joy-Hulga has a heart condition, the Trickster deceives Mrs. Hopewell by telling her, â€Å"I got this heart condition. I may not live long. When you know it’s something wrong with you and you may not live long, well then, lady†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Through deceit and smooth talking, Pointer guarantees he'll spend the evening at the Hopewell's home. The Trickster has found his way inside and can now focus on his target Hulga. The Trickster has found his target and continues to use his mythological persona to attract Joy/Hulga. Pointer uses his silver tongue to convince disagreeable Hulga to accompany him on a picnic the next day.The con-artist tells Hulga, â€Å"I think you're brave. I think you're real sweet† and then later asks her, â€Å"Don’t you think some people was meant to meet on account of what all they got in common and all? Like they both think serious thoughts and all? † Manley is establishing a connection between Hulga and himself to make himself seem more attractive. Manley Pointer further personifies the mythological Trickster persona when he shows up the next day for their picnic in a broad-rimmed hat, and he's also described as very tall, â€Å"Then suddenly he stood up, very tall, from behind a bush on the opposite embankment.Smiling, he lifted his hat which was new and wide-brimmed. † These are two physical traits of the mythological Trickster persona. As they reach the barn, Pointer tricks Hulga and baits her into climbing up to the second floor where the climax of the story occurs. The Trickster fools Hulga by acting innocently as he â₠¬Å"pointed up the ladder that led into the loft and said, ‘It’s too bad we can’t go up there,'† implying that she can't do it because of her handicap, so she quickly proves him wrong.Hulga's pride and feeling of superior intellect blind her from seeing that she's being duped by the Trickster. Flannery O'Connor uses the Trickster persona to repulse the protagonist bringing her to spiritual enlightenment. After Manley Pointer lures Hulga up into the loft of the barn, he becomes more demanding, using Hulga's feelings for him to manipulate her into giving him what he wants, he says, â€Å"'I known it,' he muttered, sitting up. ‘You're just playing me for a sucker. † The Trickster starts to show his true character more and more now that he has Hulga where he wants her. Manley manipulates Hulga into giving him her fake leg which symbolizes Hulga/Joy's soul. As the Trickster takes Hulga's leg, he starts to bring her back into the light and give her a new start. You see it happening when Hulga says, â€Å"When after a minute, she said in a hoarse high voice, ‘All right,' it was like surrendering to him completely.It was like losing her own life and finding it again , miraculously, in his. † Pointer takes Hulga's leg and leaves her there stranded in the loft to ponder her new spiritual enlightenment. Flannery O'Connor uses the Trickster persona to seek, attract, and repulse the protagonist, thus bringing her new enlightenment on her life. Hulga/Joy had lost all human civility and decency in her life using her intellect as an excuse. As Hulga sits in the loft, she is finally forced to realize the error in her ways.

The 4 Market Position and an Example of a Product Essay Example

The 4 Market Position and an Example of a Product Essay Example The 4 Market Position and an Example of a Product Paper The 4 Market Position and an Example of a Product Paper Market Leader A market leader is a brand, product, or a firm that has the largest percentage of total sales in terms of revenue (the market share) of a market. A market leader often dominates all his competitors in areas such as: customer loyalty, distribution coverage, image, perceived value, price, profit, and promotional spending. To be the leader in the market, the company needs to be innovative, agile, revolutionary, obsessive and supportive. Market leader objectives are to continue expanding their total market by finding more new consumers to purchase their product, creating new uses for the current product which they are selling, and to encourage more usage among the current consumers. A market leader should always be equipped with a defense strategy that will help defend against any new threats that might threaten their position as a market leader. Also, another objective to achieve is to keep increase their market share of their product. An example of market leaders are: Coco-Cola (soft drinks), McDonald’s (fast food), Caterpillar (large construction equipment), Kodak (photographic film), Wal-Mart (retailing), and Boeing (aircraft). Market Challenger Market challengers are runner-up companies that aggressively attack competitors to get more market share. A market challenger’s strategic objective is to topple down the current market leader and to take over its place. A market challenger will always strive to attack the current market leader, or other firms that matches its own size, or smaller and local regional competitors in hope to be the leader in the product or service which they are offering. In essence the challenger has three strategic alternatives that are available to the company: (a) a direct or head-on attack using either cost/price/value for money as the key strategic variable; (b) an indirect or flanking approach using product differentiation or promotional activities as a way to win consumer’s preference and loyalty; and (c) a by-pass strategy based upon radical innovation through which the challenger seeks to change existing purchasing behavior in favor of a new solution to basic consumer needs. Such examples are like Adidas attempting to beat Nike or Burger King attempting to challenge McDonald’s position as the market leader. Market Follower Market follower are firms that attempt to use strategies to seek stable market shares and to gain profits by following competitors’ product offers, prices, and also marketing programs. Market followers attempt to create a similar to product that is innovative to be sold at a cheaper price comparing to the company who has that similar product. A market follower has many advantages also. A market follower can learn from the market leader’s experience and copy or improve on the leader’s product and programs, normally with much lesser investment compared with the market leader. One such example would be the recent new colors for the Sony’s Vaio Laptops. Once Sony releases their new color design, Dell later would follow in it and would have their personalized laptop colors which could be chosen when purchasing a laptop from Dell. Niche Market A niche market is often portrait as a focused, targetable portion of a market. By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing the need for a product or service that is not being addressed by the mainstream providers. Niche market can be thought as a narrowly defined group of potential customers. For instance, instead of offering cleaning services, a business might establish a niche market by specializing in blind cleaning services. Why should you bother to establish a niche market? Because of the great advantage of being alone there; other small businesses may not be aware of your particular niche market, and large businesses wont want to bother with it. The trick to capitalizing on a niche market is to find or develop a market niche that has customers who are accessible, that is growing fast enough, and that is not owned by one established vendor already. Niche market’s strategies are often targeted towards smaller markets that large companies won’t bother entering. To remain in business, niche marketers would need to create niches, then expand it and finally protecting them or copyright them. The only risk of a niche market is when a larger firm notices the niche market profit and attempt to enter the market with larger resources and capital. Apple iPod The product that I will talk about will be Apple’s iPod. First, I will list down what are the available products, and then I will discuss about their marketing strategy are they using and at now. The reason for choosing iPod, it is because of their current position in the market now and I have knowledge about it since I owned one. Apple’s iPod is one of the top products in the areas of portable media players. It has managed to stay at the top because of their unique software and design that keep consumers wanting it. Their uniqueness is in Apple’s iTunes software in which it is able to transfer music to the iPod devices. As a jukebox application, iTunes is able to store a music library on the users computer and which can either play, burn and rip music from a CD. It’s also to a lot of files like a PDA. Such files such as photos, videos, games, contact information, E-Mail messages, Web bookmarks, and calendars to iPod models that support those features. Apple focused its development on the iPods unique user interface and its user-friendly interface of use, rather than on technical capability. As of September 2007, the iPod had sold more than 110 million units worldwide making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history. Now lets talk about the iPod. Its doing really well. Theyre rather strong. Teehee. Weve sold over 110m to date and youll notice the place where the sales curve is strongest is during the holiday season today were going to refresh or replace EVERY single product in this lineup to get ready for this holiday season. Currently the iPod has a few selections in line. Currently are on sale, are the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod classic and the brand new iPod touch. The iPod shuffle is a digital audio player that is designed and marketed by the company Apple Inc. The purpose for this model is to create a budget model for Apples iPod family. It was announced at the Macworld Conference Expo on January 11, 2005, using the tagline life is random. This model is a new design as instead of storing data on a hard disk, it has been changed to the first iPod to use a flash memory. The current second generation model weighs at only about 15 grams (or 0. 55 ounces). It was introduced in September 2006 along with the revamped fifth generation iPod classic and second generation iPod nano. Later in 2007, as a preparation for the Christmas holidays of 2007, Apple launched a new color which is red. Now currently, the iPod shuffle has nine colors which are: All nine colors of the second-generation iPod shuffle. The bottom rows are the original colors; the top rows are the refreshed colors. Silver units have been available throughout the life of the second-generation shuffle. The iPod nano is one the four portable media player that is designed and marketed by the company Apple Inc. The iPod nano is designed to be as a midrange model in for Apples iPod family. The first generation of this version was introduced in 2005. It also uses flash memory, just like the iPod shuffle. However, this comes with a miniaturized version of the display screen and has click wheel found on the iPod classic. The model has been updated twice since its introduction. This above version is the 3rd generation iPod nano. This nano was announced in a 4 GB version coming only in silver, and an 8 GB version coming in silver, turquoise, mint green, black and Product Red. Recently, Apple has launched the new pink color. The battery now lasts for approx. 24 hours on audio playback and approx. hours on video playback. Steve Job, Co-founder, CEO of Apple Inc. , showing off the new iPod Nano Its incredibly tiny, this is the new nano, and it’s incredibly thin. Its REALLY nice. Huge applause. Let me show you some bigger pictures of it comes in beautiful colors. So whats the video like? New nano: larger 2-inch screen, its going to look the same as it did on the iPod vi deo, its the same QVGA resolution. Weve achieved this with a screen with the highest pixel density weve ever shipped. The iPod classic is a portable media player that is marketed by the company Apple Inc. This model is the flagship model for Apples iPod family. To this date, there have been six generations of the iPod classic. There was also a spin-off called the iPod photo which was later then re-integrated into the main classic line. All the generations of the iPod classic uses a 1. 8-inch hard drive for storage. The word classic retronym was introduced with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPod classic on September 5, 2007. Prior to this, the iPod classics were simply just referred to as iPods. Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO of Apple Inc. showing off the new iPod Classic. A little video for everyone, thats what we set out to do with the new nano. We hope you love it as much as we do That brings us to the iPod. The iPod its got a its got a funny name. Its got a funny name. Its time to give it a name: were calling it the iPod Classic because its the original iPod. Ha! Side-by-side view of 6th and 5th generation iPods, respectively, showing interface differences The iPod touch i s both a portable media player and a Wi-Fi mobile platform designed and marketed by the company Apple Inc. The product was officially launched on September 5, 2007 through an event called The Beat Goes On. The iPod touch adds the graphical user interfaces Cover Flow and Multi-Touch to the iPod line and is now available at 8, 16 or 32 GB of flash memory. It also includes Apples Safari web browser and it is the first iPod enabling wireless access to the iTunes Store. Beginning of June 2008, the iPod touch will also have now access to the App Store. The App Store is an upcoming application for the iPhone and iPod touch that is created by Apple Inc. This allows users to browse and purchase applications that were developed for the iPhone SDK The iPod touch has the same multi-0touch interface the iPhone has. Adding new to it is a physical home button off the touch screen. The home screen has a list of buttons for the available applications. All iPod touch models have included with this standard applications: Music, Videos, and Photos (which is collectively duplicating the standard functions of the iPod Classic), iTunes (which providing access to the iTunes Music Store), Safari, YouTube, Calendar, Contacts, Clock, Calculator, and Settings. Later models have been added with Mail (allows to access POP/IMAP/SMTP e-mail), Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather, which could also be added to the earlier models with the purchase of a software upgrade. Direct links to web sites can be added to the home screen by the user. Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO of Apple Inc. , demonstrating the iPod Touch Let me go ahead and show you the new iPod touch. Again, slide to unlock. Here we are lets go into music. The icons look really strange and sparse on that huge screen. Its freaking us out! Apple’s iPod sales have been increasing over the steady flow of years. Since October 2004, the iPod has been dominating United States digital music player sales. Apple has manage to gain over 90% of the market for hard drive-based players and over 70% of the market for all types of players. During the year, from January 2004 to January 2005, the high rate of sales of Apple iPod caused the U. S. market share to increase from 31% to 65% and in July 2005, this market share was measured at 74%. In January of 2007 the iPod market share finally reached 72. 7% according to Bloomberg Online. With such sales, it is obvious that Apple’s iPod has become a market leader in portable music players in the United States. If Apple iPod wants to remain as market leader, they would have to continue maintaining their pleasing customers with quick response to any troubleshooting problems, making sure that their products have no problem in a product and even after launch, making sure that the products are quickly dealt with. Apple’s iPods are considered a product innovative. This is because so far no one has managed to fully copy the iPods functions. What makes it such a special product? It is because of their software system. Apple’s software is one of the hardest software to be able to modify. Also Apple has created their own jukebox application where users are able to sync songs, photos and videos unto their iPods. This application is the only way an iPod can receive it songs. Thus by doing that, Apple has managed to not only create own portable media players but also a specialized digital media player application for their iPods only. As Apple is not the first of creator of portable media devices, they have rose up to be the first in the United States because of a visionary leader; Steven Jobs. Apple iPods are called consumer products. Consumer products are products or services that are brought by final consumers for personal consumption. Marketers usually classify these products and services further basing on how consumers go about in buying them. What makes iPods so widely acceptable? It is because of their design and style of the product. This is called Product Style and Design where the style can be eye-catching to a consumer and the design is more of a skin deep concept where this is the very heart of the product. Apple has also decided to co-branding with Nike. Co-branding is the practice of using the established brand names of two different companies on the same product. Co-branding has many advantages. When the two products combine, they create a broader consumer appeal and also greater brand equity. In conclusion of this, Apple has managed to become the market leader in portable media players through various ways. Ways such as being a product innovative, having a visionary leader like Steven Jobs and co-branding with brands such as Nike.

The Story of Pocahontas and John Smith

The Story of Pocahontas and John Smith Free Online Research Papers The story of Pocahontas and John Smith is one of the most famous tales in American history. It has endured for 400 years now and over the years become something of a legend. Since the story first occurred many of the facts have been twisted, confused, or shrouded in mystery. The latest version of the story is Disney’s Pocahontas, in which the story was simplified and altered for entertainment purposes. In order to understand many parts of the tale of Smith and Pocahontas one must first know the events before the two met. The land where the English first landed was in the territory of the Algonquian indian tribe which was in the Tidewater region of Virginia. The Algonquians were a large tribe of Native Americans that was split up into smaller groups. Their chief was Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. The Algonquians had relatively the same way of life for many years up until English settlers came in 1607. Pocahontas was a princess of the Algonquian tribe. She was the favorite daughter of the powerful indian chief Powhatan. She was born in 1595 to one of Powhatan’s many wives. Her original name was Matoaka but she became known as Pocahontas, which means â€Å"Little Wanton†, playful, young girl. The stories of Pocahontas and John Smith and the Pocahontas movie start with the English arriving at the New World. The English landed and founded the settlement of Jamestown on May 14, 1607. Jamestown was around what is now Tidewater, Virginia. The governor of the settlement was Lord De La Warre. The company was led by him and others such as Captain John Smith. It was made up of 104 men and four boys. They thought to find gold and success as the Spanish did. Instead they found wilderness and conflict with the native people. If it was not for John Smith, Jamestown may not have succeeded. It is said that he is one of the first American heroes. Smith really was the intrepid adventure he was portrayed as in the Disney movie. The main difference is his looks. Unlike the tall handsome blonde in the movie, he was actually short, with a large, bushy beard. Smith was an experienced soldier and adventurer. He fought in wars all over Europe and was even taken prisoner and sold as a slave and eventually escaped. The only problem is that Smith was a very proud and boastful man so then many of his stories could have been exaggerated. There are many versions of the story of what happened between John Smith and Pocahontas. The most well-known is the one written by Smith himself. According to Smith in December 1607 Smith and some companions were ambushed by a group of Indians. The indians killed his companions and took Smith back to their chief. Chief Powhatan was impressed by Smith yet he was still sentenced to death. In the middle of the ceremony as they were about to kill Smith, Pocahontas jumped and threw herself on Smith begging her father to spare him. There was definitely no love story between the two as in the Disney movie considering Pocahontas only eleven or twelve years old at the time. Afterwards, he was ritualistically made a subordinate chief of the tribe. Then he was released back to Jamestown in peace after four weeks of captivity. Some of the problems with Smith’s version of the story are much the same as the problems with his other stories. Smith was self-promoting and boastful and liked to tell stories of him getting saved or helped by women. Many historians now believe that Smith’s story might have been partly true although many things were different. A common theory is that the indians knew Smith to be of importance in the colony and the whole execution and saving scene might have been scripted as an attempt at making some peace with settlers. Others a that Smith was involved in a series of rituals of the indian people and was just confused and constantly fearful for his life and he came out believing that Pocahontas had saved his life. Smith did not record his story until years after when he was in London. So that has led many to believe that the story was entirely fabricated by Smith. Nevertheless, after Smith was supposedly saved by Pocahontas the two went their separate ways. Smith stayed with the colonists for a few years but was injured and returned to England. He never returned to Jamestown. Years later Pocahontas converted to Christianity and married Englishman John Rolfe. There is one incident of Pocahontas and Smith seeing each other again while the two were in London. Supposedly Pocahontas immediately became upset and angry at Smith. That story is debated and considered mainly to be no more than rumor. It will never be known for sure what actually happened when Captain John Smith was captured by the Algonquian people. Nevertheless, it will live on as one of the great legends in American history. Research Papers on The Story of Pocahontas and John SmithWhere Wild and West MeetHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayMind TravelThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionHip-Hop is Art19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraCapital PunishmentAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

Racial Profiling should be justified

Racial Profiling should be justified "Racial Profiling is the consideration of race when developing a profile of suspected criminals; by extension, a form of racism involving police focus on people of certain racial groups when seeking suspected criminals. That is the definition of racial profiling, by www.dictionary.com. The current media has painted police as ignorant racists who humiliate minorities by subjecting to repetitive and fruitless searches (office.com). But the reality is something else. Law enforcement officers are a dedicated, honest lot. They believe in their cause and literally risk their lives to protect strangers. In order to first understand racial profiling, we have to look back to its origins. Racial profiling had its boom in the nineteenth century. That is when racial profiling became public, even though racial profiling was used by law enforcement officers before that. All through out time, racial profiling has become one of the shibboleths of our era (office.com). Racial profiling wasn't quite k nown until recently, due to the mass negative coverage of the media.A protest against SB 1070 by a coalition of commun...The media has portrayed racial profiling as a way of discriminating towards minority groups, but in reality, racial profiling is an effective method used by law enforcement officers to determine who will commit a crime. For the last three decades, many officers have lost their jobs due to truthfully speaking out about racial profiling. "Racial profiling" the thing has been around for as long as police work, and is practiced everywhere. Practically all-law enforcement professionals believe in the need of racial profiling (www.ebscohost.com). Racial profiling is based on common sense, and as the saying goes "if it happens five times than the chances are it will happen again." Racial profiling should be justified because of the following three reasons; it helps to reduce the crime rates, also racial profiling helps to save the lives of...

Strategy management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Strategy management - Essay Example RyanAir is recognized for its rapid expansion due to deregulation of the aviation industry in 1997 in Europe and the notable success of its model, which is the low-cost business model (Palepu, 2007, p. 350). It was established in 1985, and it is the most successful and oldest low-cost airline in Europe. RyanAir was the first European budget airline having modeled itself after the success of Southwest Airlines, which is a low cost carrier in the US (Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, 2011, p. 47). The Porter’s five Forces at RyanAir Competitive Rivalry According to Johnson, Whittington and Scholes (2011, p. 89), due to deregulation, an increase in rivalry and competition on most routes create an overcapacity of various airlines from different competitors. This ultimately leads to an increase of the buyers’ power. As a result, the airlines ultimately try to counter increasing rivalry by forming various acquisitions and mergers as well as periodical and different strategic alliances. A number of airlines maintain a database of frequent flyer program so that they can increase the number of passengers. Airlines also offer discounts and unique offers to frequent flyers to increase customer loyalty. The recession and the US economic downturn combined with overcapacity among different competitors on the North Atlantic routes have forced carriers to concentrate their rivalry on the European countries. This is a significant threat to RyanAir. However, RyanAir has taken advantage over this challenge and has continued to offer low cost flights through an ambitious strategy aimed at reducing the fares further down. This inevitably gives the airline a competitive edge above its competitors (Albers, S., Auerbach, S., Baum, H., and Delfmann, 2005, p. 166). Threat of Entry of New Firms According to Boesch (2007, p. 124), a regulation was passed in the European countries that removed barriers for different and new competitors in the Airline industry. This led to a f ierce completion between newly based competitive airways and existing European based airlines. Landing slots in many European countries were used or reserved by national carriers and this led to scarcity of landing slots to new airlines. Despite the looming threat, the RyanAir has continued to attract more passengers and is opening up more routes to diversify its market share. This is at a time when other competitors are closing shop on some routes. Supplier Power There has always been, a high supplier power in the airline industry since there are only two suppliers of aircrafts, these are Airbus and Boeing. This has led to the high influence of the suppliers playing the dominant role in the industry. The cost of switching from one supplier to another has led to RyanAir retaining pilots and mechanics for usage of other supplier’s products. Fuel price has a direct proportion to the cost of oil and therefore the cost of fuel for RyanAir has been varying because of oil cost fluc tuation. Airport charges are also high therefore, being a significant concern for RyanAir (Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, 2011, p. 71). Buyer Power The buyers can be in charge of the acquiring authority and have additional choices to choose better services from the various airlines. RyanAir is fully aware of this major factor. It is the main reason it has come up with numerous promotions and offers for its customers in order to stay afloat and retain its renowned reputation in the airline in

Recruitment Selection & Placement class; Case Study 1 Essay

Recruitment Selection & Placement class; Case Study 1 - Essay Example By focusing on people, the company has also identified the procedures and practices of people that affect the company’s productivity, turnover, profitability and sales. The primary sources of success of McDonalds are customer satisfaction, high valuation of its employees, good execution of excellent strategy and identifying people techniques and practices that significantly affect the company’s productivity, turnover, profitability, sales and customer service. The satisfaction of its customers relies on the quality of service that they obtain from the employees and the ability of the employees to serve the customers accurately and quickly. Another source of success is the value that the company attaches to its employees. The company constantly reminds its workers that they, together with their contributions and growth, are highly valued. McDonalds also ensures that the employees have what is necessary for the performance of tasks. It ensures this through training the team members. The company also attains success through tracking the key pointers of product and service quality, accuracy and speed. McDonald attains has aligned its business, human resources and staffing strategies by identifying the practices and techniques of people that have a significant effect on its productivity, turnover, profitability, sales and customer service. This, however, permits McDonald to develop a business model that not only stresses on operational and financial factors, but also people factors. This allows the improvement of worker dedication, productivity, and retention and customer loyalty (Phillips & Gully, 2012). Additionally, since the company business strategy centers on offering customers quick, quality and clean service, it employs young people, who undergo training within the company to fill its positions. Notably, in order to attain the business

Paintings by vincent van gogh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Paintings by vincent van gogh - Essay Example The essay "Paintings by vincent van gogh" explores Vincent van Gogh's paintings. . He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. In 1886, he joined his brother Theo in Paris, who was a manager in Goupil's gallery. There he had a chance to meet with Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin, a French post-impressionist who brightened his very dark skid and to make him such a great Impressionist. In the year 1888, he decided to leave France to Arles where he hoped that his companions would join him and start a school of art (Meier-Graete, 2001). Nearly the end of the same year Gauguin joined him but an incident led Gauguin to leave Arles. Van Gogh pleaded to Gaugian not to leave him by threatening to kill Gaugian with a razor blade. This led him to be sent in an asylum in St. Remy for treatment. He was dismissed from the hospital in May 1890 and kept under close check of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he shot himself to death. He sold only on e of his paintings in his short but prolific career. One of Vincent van Gogh painting is called ‘the potato eaters' was painted in 1885. It is currently in Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam Having hardly been used to the art of painting. Van Gogh portrayed five people and tried to make them as natural as possible regardless the effect of the lamb light cast by an oil lamb which makes the work more difficulty. He was not ambitious for color, since he put the gloomy interior as bright as he could (Sunwall, 2004). Their heads and hands are ugly earthed and relatively bigger than their body, just as they have been made from the land they dig. They seem to enjoy their meal more than a rich man can  do from his exquisite meal. Van Gogh wanted to convey the idea that the peasant people eat potatoes using an oil lamb with the same hands with which they take potatoes from the plate to serve their land. It was his first attempt to create a work that would establish his reputation. It bring s us into common peasants’ expressions on their home settings. There is a young woman looking presumably her husband  an attracting manner (Sunwall, 2004). The artist shows us there is love in them, and the people are sexually alive.  Ã‚  Ã‚      Above everything, the yellow and reddish flame of the oil lamp depicted the existence of warmth and light, mineral-grey space that represents night, terror and the cold world. The painting depicts these people lives as harsh and miserable. For instance, the man sited on the left is lost deep in his thought while the woman pours coffee. They might be thinking of injustice around them (Sunwall, 2004). Wheat field under threatening skies Another is called ‘wheat field under threatening skies’ painted in 1890 remains one of the most debated work of van Gogh’s painting due to its many interpretation by different people. Some people see it as his ‘suicide note’ placed on canvas, while others go beyond the shallow overview of the subject matter and think of a more positive approach (Klein, 2006). The painting conveys a sense of loneliness in the wheat fields depicting his final year kind of life. The separate paths in wheat field and crow with the path represent the present and the future of Van Gogh’s life. The paths are displayed in three sets one in the middle towards the horizon and the other two in each foreground corner. The

Trusts Law. Non-Charitable Purpose Trusts Essay

Trusts Law. Non-Charitable Purpose Trusts - Essay Example Secular Society†2, Lord Parker was of the view that â€Å"benefit to individuals should be an essential ingredient of a trust or must be in that category of gifts which the courts identify as charitable.† In â€Å"Re Recher's Will Trusts†, Brightman J was of the view that as there is no beneficiary, a non-charitable trust is void. â€Å"Just as a rail requires an engine, so a trust requires a recipient†3. In â€Å"Astor's Settlement Trusts†, it was held by Roxburgh J that due to lack of a beneficiary, every non-charitable trust is void4 For a pure purpose, a private purpose trust (for instance, a trust to advance a cause) may be established where there will no single beneficiary to enjoy the benefits or for the advantages of an unquantifiable group of people (for instance, a trust to construct a playground for a school). A private, non-charitable purpose trust of the first type mentioned above will always be annulled, since it is not enforceable by a nybody. As opposed, a charitable trust is always a purpose trust and hence, enforceable and there will no problem in enforcing the same as the Attorney-General will have locus standi to litigate. 5. Though, there exists a general rule which appears to forbid purpose trusts in the non-charitable background, there are, some scenarios in which non-charitable purpose ? trusts have been endorsed in English law, and these can be detailed as follows: If confined to a perpetuity period, trusts for the prolongation of other non-charitable, religious ceremonies / rites may well be held valid. For instance, a gift for the recital of ceremonies namely Sin Chew (worship of ancestor) so as to disseminate the testator's reminiscence during the perpetuity period was upheld by the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlement in â€Å"Khoo Cheng Teow, Re†6.The House of Lords in â€Å"Bourne v Kean†e7 which viewed such trusts for the saying of masses as valid and clearly held it to be charita ble. This research essay will analyse in detail the validity of such non-charitable trust under English law and will recommend suitable amendments in English Trust laws to give legal sanctity to such non-charitable trust. Analyse Since the gift encourages an essential part of religion, namely, the saying of prayers, a gift for the saying of prayer of masses in public is held to be charitable. Though, saying cannot be established to beneficial to the mankind per se, but are supposed to offer an adequate element of public benefit. The prima facie hypothesis that is made is that prayers mentioned by a settlor in an inter viva or a will instrument are supposed to be said in public as held in â€Å"Re Caus†8. In â€Å"Re Hetherington†9 , and in this case, a testatrix by her will had bequeathed ? 2,000 for saying of â€Å" masses for the souls of her parents , sisters, husband and herself† It was held that trust was valid as it was for the advancement of religion10. T hough, in, it was held by Roxburgh J that due to lack of a beneficiary, every non-charitable trust is void but the English law has conventionally permitted four fundamental varieties of testamentary private purpose trust where it has been held that non-charitable trust even without beneficiaries can be held valid under the following scenarios. †¢ The upholding of specific animals; †¢ The building and preservation of private tombs, graves and monuments; †¢ The conducting other religious ceremony in private or saying of masses and †¢ The encouragement of fox-hunting Purpose trusts emanating in the

The development of the Digital economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The development of the Digital economy - Essay Example These are very different from each other and are different from the earlier end products of industrialisation. The digital economy comprising of information, computing, and communications - is now the primary driver of economic growth and social changes. It has reached a stage where it is no longer possible except to adapt and enhance oneself to the digital economy to avoid being left behind. A better understanding of these adaptations help in more efficient decision making that translates into better solutions in research, products, or services. The health of any economy has gone from the dependence on farming in the agrarian age to the industrial end products in the industrial age to the current digital or information age. The time period of growth seems to be accelerated and considering that the digital age only began with the invention of the ENIAC computer about less than four decades ago, the world as seem to have progressed in leaps and bounds. Then, Tim Berners-Lee and some others joined to pioneer another great step: the Internet. The Internet has become a critical component of the digital economy and the most influential. The impact of its power cannot be estimated. Internet commerce, which is arguably the most significant component of electronic commerce ("e-commerce"), includes consumer retail and business-to-business transactions; online financial services; media; infrastructure; and consumer and business Internet access services. Recent industry research shows that over one million people in the UK became Internet users for the first time during the third quarter of 1998. Fifteen per cent of the adult population in this country have now visited the World Wide Web. This puts it some two years behind the US, where web users now represent 37 per cent of the adult population, but ahead of Germany (ten per cent) and France (eight per cent). The Issues Economic Implications Every economy is now affected by the emergence of the digital economy. It has changed all the aspects of business, social and cultural entities. The Internet, a main component of the digital age has brought about significant changes in the way business is conducted and the way people work and live. Lowered costs and increased productivity have heralded rethinking strategies in all aspects of the society. Dependency and undue influences of the digital economy has given rise to speculations of how far out these can go without backfiring on the basic aspects of life. Globally, it has seemed to widen the gap between the developed and developing nations while at the internally it has seemed to widen the gap between the rich and the poor due to the accessibility of the infrastructure. Changes in Organizations Information technology has brought with it changes in the organisational performances, policies and people. Information technology has the potential to change the structure and performance of organizations and human enterprise. It has enabled companies to go global with ease and hence forth opened up the borders of the workplace. While it has created a new dimension of

Benefits Of Educational Programs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Benefits Of Educational Programs - Essay Example It appears that students who are unable to perform well in school feel that they are stupid or inferior and unlikely to succeed in life, which in turn leads them into drugs and a life of crime. As a result, including educational programs in prisons may be beneficial in reducing the recidivism rates by providing offenders the opportunity to improve their chances of getting a job rather than having no other option but to offend again. This research study will examine the benefits of educational programs and poses the research question: Can improvement in educational programs lead to a reduction in the tendency to take up criminal activity' Behrman and Stacey (1997) are of the view that providing training in parenting and following this up with early childhood education, school based supervision of teenagers and getting them involved in educational programs designed to promote community cohesion could be helpful in reducing crime (Behrman and Stacey, 1997:240). This implies that schools can play a significant role in reducing crime by providing education and supervision necessary to prevent young people turning to a life of crime. Another study that was carried out to examine the association between mental health disorders and offending identified four key groups of young people with emotional and behavioral difficulties as being at risk for offending. The study found that recidivism is more prevalent among young offenders with mental health problems, with young people from ethnic minorities being over represented. Since crime tends to be centred in low income, minority group neighbourhoods, this further suggests that educational programs could help to address the causes of crime such as poverty, by providing a means to less affluent members of society to be able to find a means to improve their lot and their chances of succeeding in later life. (Behrman and Stacey, 1997:240). In a study of young prison inmates, the findings suggested that criminal behaviour in juveniles could be deterred by offering solutions such as better educational opportunities through smaller classes and more individual teacher attention, sports programs, training for jobs and greater involvement by churches (De la Torre, 1997). For example, in the U.K., adolescents are being offered the opportunity to train as apprentices, in order to better prepare them and equip them with the necessary job skills to function within a competitive environment. In yet another study that was carried out by Dr. Stan Kaseno at the San Bernardino juvenile hall, the findings showed that 70 to 75% of the inmates who had problems in visual processing (www.newhopecharitablefoundation.org). Most of these inmates also demonstrated recidivism and were not in prison for the first time. Dr. Kaseno found however, that when these inmates were given educational vision development exercises to correct the problems of convergence, tracking and similar problems, the rates of recidivism of such prisoners dropped to below 16%. This provides a strong indication that the vision processing problems could well have contributed to the feelings of inferiority of the inmates, leading to low self esteem. This also places such young people experiencing feelings of low self worth at risk of dropping out of school or taking to drugs and similar activities, all of which can contribute to criminal activity and recidivism. The Long Beach community has commenced the Safe and Smart After

Trusts Law. Non-Charitable Purpose Trusts Essay

Trusts Law. Non-Charitable Purpose Trusts - Essay Example Secular Society†2, Lord Parker was of the view that â€Å"benefit to individuals should be an essential ingredient of a trust or must be in that category of gifts which the courts identify as charitable.† In â€Å"Re Recher's Will Trusts†, Brightman J was of the view that as there is no beneficiary, a non-charitable trust is void. â€Å"Just as a rail requires an engine, so a trust requires a recipient†3. In â€Å"Astor's Settlement Trusts†, it was held by Roxburgh J that due to lack of a beneficiary, every non-charitable trust is void4 For a pure purpose, a private purpose trust (for instance, a trust to advance a cause) may be established where there will no single beneficiary to enjoy the benefits or for the advantages of an unquantifiable group of people (for instance, a trust to construct a playground for a school). A private, non-charitable purpose trust of the first type mentioned above will always be annulled, since it is not enforceable by a nybody. As opposed, a charitable trust is always a purpose trust and hence, enforceable and there will no problem in enforcing the same as the Attorney-General will have locus standi to litigate. 5. Though, there exists a general rule which appears to forbid purpose trusts in the non-charitable background, there are, some scenarios in which non-charitable purpose ? trusts have been endorsed in English law, and these can be detailed as follows: If confined to a perpetuity period, trusts for the prolongation of other non-charitable, religious ceremonies / rites may well be held valid. For instance, a gift for the recital of ceremonies namely Sin Chew (worship of ancestor) so as to disseminate the testator's reminiscence during the perpetuity period was upheld by the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlement in â€Å"Khoo Cheng Teow, Re†6.The House of Lords in â€Å"Bourne v Kean†e7 which viewed such trusts for the saying of masses as valid and clearly held it to be charita ble. This research essay will analyse in detail the validity of such non-charitable trust under English law and will recommend suitable amendments in English Trust laws to give legal sanctity to such non-charitable trust. Analyse Since the gift encourages an essential part of religion, namely, the saying of prayers, a gift for the saying of prayer of masses in public is held to be charitable. Though, saying cannot be established to beneficial to the mankind per se, but are supposed to offer an adequate element of public benefit. The prima facie hypothesis that is made is that prayers mentioned by a settlor in an inter viva or a will instrument are supposed to be said in public as held in â€Å"Re Caus†8. In â€Å"Re Hetherington†9 , and in this case, a testatrix by her will had bequeathed ? 2,000 for saying of â€Å" masses for the souls of her parents , sisters, husband and herself† It was held that trust was valid as it was for the advancement of religion10. T hough, in, it was held by Roxburgh J that due to lack of a beneficiary, every non-charitable trust is void but the English law has conventionally permitted four fundamental varieties of testamentary private purpose trust where it has been held that non-charitable trust even without beneficiaries can be held valid under the following scenarios. †¢ The upholding of specific animals; †¢ The building and preservation of private tombs, graves and monuments; †¢ The conducting other religious ceremony in private or saying of masses and †¢ The encouragement of fox-hunting Purpose trusts emanating in the

Benefits Of Educational Programs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Benefits Of Educational Programs - Essay Example It appears that students who are unable to perform well in school feel that they are stupid or inferior and unlikely to succeed in life, which in turn leads them into drugs and a life of crime. As a result, including educational programs in prisons may be beneficial in reducing the recidivism rates by providing offenders the opportunity to improve their chances of getting a job rather than having no other option but to offend again. This research study will examine the benefits of educational programs and poses the research question: Can improvement in educational programs lead to a reduction in the tendency to take up criminal activity' Behrman and Stacey (1997) are of the view that providing training in parenting and following this up with early childhood education, school based supervision of teenagers and getting them involved in educational programs designed to promote community cohesion could be helpful in reducing crime (Behrman and Stacey, 1997:240). This implies that schools can play a significant role in reducing crime by providing education and supervision necessary to prevent young people turning to a life of crime. Another study that was carried out to examine the association between mental health disorders and offending identified four key groups of young people with emotional and behavioral difficulties as being at risk for offending. The study found that recidivism is more prevalent among young offenders with mental health problems, with young people from ethnic minorities being over represented. Since crime tends to be centred in low income, minority group neighbourhoods, this further suggests that educational programs could help to address the causes of crime such as poverty, by providing a means to less affluent members of society to be able to find a means to improve their lot and their chances of succeeding in later life. (Behrman and Stacey, 1997:240). In a study of young prison inmates, the findings suggested that criminal behaviour in juveniles could be deterred by offering solutions such as better educational opportunities through smaller classes and more individual teacher attention, sports programs, training for jobs and greater involvement by churches (De la Torre, 1997). For example, in the U.K., adolescents are being offered the opportunity to train as apprentices, in order to better prepare them and equip them with the necessary job skills to function within a competitive environment. In yet another study that was carried out by Dr. Stan Kaseno at the San Bernardino juvenile hall, the findings showed that 70 to 75% of the inmates who had problems in visual processing (www.newhopecharitablefoundation.org). Most of these inmates also demonstrated recidivism and were not in prison for the first time. Dr. Kaseno found however, that when these inmates were given educational vision development exercises to correct the problems of convergence, tracking and similar problems, the rates of recidivism of such prisoners dropped to below 16%. This provides a strong indication that the vision processing problems could well have contributed to the feelings of inferiority of the inmates, leading to low self esteem. This also places such young people experiencing feelings of low self worth at risk of dropping out of school or taking to drugs and similar activities, all of which can contribute to criminal activity and recidivism. The Long Beach community has commenced the Safe and Smart After

The New NYSE Essay Example for Free

The New NYSE Essay The year 2006 witnessed dynamic changes in the structure of the New York Stock Exchange. For the first time in 214 years, the not-for-profit NYSE transformed itself into a for-profit, public company. This occurred following NYSE Group Inc.’s acquisition of the electronic rival, Archipelago Holdings Incl. in early 2006. It feels good, remarked John Thain, chief executive of NYSE Group and the creator of the deal to change NYSE’s status. He added: Now, of course, we have to demonstrate to our shareholders that theres real value to be had here. (Martinez, 2006) Unsurprisingly, investors expressed utter delight in the knowledge that they now would be given the chance to make great profits through NYSE. In fact, the welcome received by the new status of NYSE as a public company, saw shares of the newly public stock exchange up thirteen percent in its first trading session alone. The company began trading under the ticker symbol, NYX. Both Thain and NYSE Group Chairman Marshall Carter happened to be the first to purchase 100 shares each at $67 in ceremonial first trades. The price of shares was up $2.75 from Archipelago’s close before the status of NYSE was changed. After this, the stock continued to climb, and by midday was up $8.11. Moreover, the volume of trading at the for-profit NYSE was ten times that of Archipelago’s average daily trade (Martinez). The benefits of NYSE’s change of status are overwhelming as well as self-evident. In the fourth quarter of 2005, the largest United States equities exchange had run into a loss of $20.3 million. However, following its change of status, NYSE showed a massive profit of $45.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. According to The Financial Times, the new earnings of NYSE Group Inc. serve as a progress report following its transformational year during which the exchange went public through its reverse takeover of Archipelago, in the process eliminating its long-standing cap on fees, gaining United States options market share, and making its largest round of job cuts in a decade (Gangahar, 2007). In other words, the new for-profit public NYSE is expected to continue reaping the benefits of its deal with Archipelago in the times to come. The total revenue of NYSE in the fourth quarter of 2005 was $425.5 million. In the fourth quarter, 2006, the total revenue of the exchange was $658.5 million. Financial analysts expect NYSE’s earnings to go on increasing in the coming years, seeing that the year 2007 is expected to witness the finalization of the roll out of NYSE’s hybrid market, a continual of the exchange’s integration of the electronic exchange, Archipelago, plus the completion of the Euronext deal. As a matter of fact, the Euronext deal is expected to be the next big thing to change NYSE’s life as a stock exchange. Shareholders have already approved of NYSE’s deal to merge with the pan-European exchange Euronext, creating the first transatlantic equities exchange in the process. The deal costing $14.3 billion is expected to close as early as April 2007 (Gangahar, 2007). NYSE has also announced its terms for an alliance with the Tokyo Stock Exchange in order to cooperate in a variety of business areas. Recently, the NYSE was further seen purchasing a five percent stake in the National Stock Exchange of India. Next, the exchange is eying China for a new deal to meet its goal of forming a â€Å"24-hour, truly global exchange† (Gangahar, 2007). Still, analysts are eying Euronext as the next biggest hope of NYSE to make gigantic profits. The shareholders of Euronext NV, a stock exchange incorporated in the Netherlands and based in France, have also approved the acquisition of Euronext by the New York Stock Exchange. And, in fact, NYSE has also launched its first offer for Euronext shares through the new NYSE-Euronext entity. In January 2007, The Financial Times reported that NYSE has already begun to offer 0.98 of a share in the new transatlantic exchange, for each Euronext share held before this time, in addition to $27.75 in cash. Alternatively, the first transatlantic equities exchange allows Euronext shareholders to opt for 1.2633 shares in the new company for each existing share, or to take a straight cash equivalent of $123.76 per share (Flaherty, 2007; Sliva, 2007). The completion of the Euronext’s deals with NYSE depends on the latter acquiring at least fifty percent of all Euronext shares (Sliva). Seeing that only two percent of Euronext shareholders have disapproved of the idea of the creation of the world’s first transatlantic equities exchange, in all probability the deal will go through (Gangahar, 2006). Regulators in both the United States and in Europe have signed an agreement on the question of market oversight of the new transatlantic equities exchange (Flaherty). According to a news report published in The Financial Times, the new deal truly is a â€Å"clear signal that isolationism is an untenable stance amid the rapid consolidation of global stock and derivative exchanges.† The deal has additionally been described as a â€Å"slap in the face† for those who claimed aforetime that such deals are possible only between European nations, and a transatlantic merger would result in a â€Å"regulatory creep† from the United States to Europe (Gangahar, 2006). NYSE Euronext, the next big thing on NYSE’s business agenda, is expected to have a market capitalization of $27 billion. And, the combined global market capitalization of companies that are listed on NYSE Euronext, is expected to be $25,800 billion – almost four times the combined market capitalization of companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange (Gangahar, 2006). The next big thing about to happen to NYSE is further expected to alter the dynamic of a rapidly changing industry. In the past, the NYSE and its main rival, the Nasdaq, had been losing the battle for new listings to Hong Kong and London. Besides, smaller companies, especially from Russia and China, were seen to rush to London’s Aim market, attracted by cheaper listings and easier standards (Gangahar, 2006). NYSE Euronext is expected to change these market dynamics, if for nothing else, then for the excitement it has engendered among those who trade in equities around the world. The NYSE and Euronext have both agreed to proceed as separately regulated entities. To put it another way, even if the United States regulatory regime is found to be too harsh by European companies, NYSE Euronext would present them with the option to list on Euronext alone. In so doing, the combined group is expected to benefit (Gangahar, 2006). What is more, analysts expect all investors of NYSE and Euronext to benefit through the deal (Bruno, 2006). Only time will tell the exact value of these benefits from year to year. References 1. Bruno, Joe Bel. (2006, December 15). â€Å"Individual Investors Stand to Benefit as NYSE closes in on Euronext deal.† The Financial Times. 2. Flaherty, Anne. (2007, January 26). â€Å"SEC, European Regulators Agree On Market Oversight of NYSE Euronext.† The Financial Times. 3. Gangahar, Anuj. (2006, December 23). â€Å"NYSE and Euronext Recast an International Dynamic.† The Financial Times. 4. . (2007, February 2). â€Å"Archipelago Deal Lifts NYSE Profit Stock Exchanges.† The Financial Times. 5. Martinez, Michael J. (2006, March 8). â€Å"NY SE Goes Public After Two Centuries As Not-for-profit Exchange.† The Financial Times. 6. Sliva, Jan. (2007, January 10). â€Å"NYSE Opens Offer for Euronext Shares.† The Financial Times.

The Glasgow Caledonian University

The Glasgow Caledonian University INTRODUCTION Glasgow Caledonian University is one of the largest universities in Scotland with nearly 17,000 students. This institution was established in 1993, as a result of the merger of Queens College Glasgow with the Glasgow polytechnic (GCU website).The institution is situated right in the heart of Glasgow city centre. There exist increasingly, a lot of activities going on within this university making a growing case for the importance of managing the environmental impacts associated with its activities, products and services. Recognising this concern that university decided to act responsibly by making serious commitments towards a sustainable place to work and study. The commitment paid off with the recent bronze award awarded to the university by Eco campus after an off-site audit. Despite this achievement, there is still a general lack of awareness about the process and there have been no visible improvement in environmental performance. Therefore, this report seeks to; identify the universitys main activities with significant impact to the environment, explain the relationship between Environmental Management System (EMS) and Eco campus, examine the role of eco campus in achieving the ISO14001 certification and finally suggest steps needed to be taken by the University to attain the next phase-silver awards presented by Eco campus. ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF GLASGOW CALEDONIAN UNIVERSITY WITH SIGNIFICANT IMPACT. â€Å"Universities are now regarded as â€Å"small cities† due to their large size, population and the various complex activities taking place in them† (Abubakar et al, 2008). Glasgow Caledonian university being one of the universities in Scotland, has going in it a complex number of activities (aspects) which could have direct or indirect impact on the environment which will result in environmental sustainability or could lead to the degradation of the environment. Such environmental aspects includes: fresh water and energy use- including electricity and heat consumption (Noeke, 2000), consumption of materials (e.g. food, paper, equipment, etc.), procurement, generation and disposal of all kinds of waste, construction (including refurbishment) and demolition activities, transport to and fro the university (Edith Cowan University, 2009), workshop and laboratory use, lectures, research and sporting activities, community support services (Abubakar et al, 2008) and finally the provision of student and staff accommodation. WHAT IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS) Environmental management system is a management system used by an organisation to develop and implement its own environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects (International standards organisation, 2005). It involves ; the development of environmental policy statement, implementation of that policy (through appropriate objectives/targets, clear responsibilities, organised structure, action plans and established procedures), creating awareness and training, performance monitoring and audit and lastly continuous improvement on previous policy. Denning Cycle The Environmental management system approach to the management of environmental impacts was based on the Plan-Do-Check-ACT (PDCA) cycle commonly known as the Denning cycle shown above. The â€Å"Plan† aspect involves, environmental baseline review, setting of objectives, assigning of responsibilities and the preparation of plans, programmes and procedures. The â€Å"Do† aspect involves implementation of these standards, procedures and action plans. The â€Å"Check† aspect involves environmental monitoring and auditing of the implemented procedures, action plans and objectives. Then the â€Å"Act† involves the review by management and the continuous improvement of the environmental policy. Though ISO14001 standard produced by the International Standard Organisation (ISO) in 1995 is generally accepted as the global standard for certifying environmental management systems, there still exists other standards such as; Eco Management and Audit Scheme- which is an European standard established by European regulation 1836/93 as a voluntary initiative to improve companies performance (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, 2009) and the British standard-BSI 8555, which is a national environmental management system intended towards a phased approach to implementation. Several such national environmental management systems exist across the globe WHAT IS ECO CAMPUS Eco campus is a national environmental management system development program and award scheme developed by the higher education sector for the higher education to improve environmental performance using a phases and modular approach (Eco campus, 2009). The project is funded by the higher education funding council for England (HEFCE) and is a collaborative project between Nottingham Trent University (NTU), Loreus Ltd, Environment Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) AND Environment Campaign- ENCAMS (EAUC, 2009). Eco campus achieves improved environmental performance through the issuance of four awards which are usually done in phases. The awards include; Bronze, Silver, Gold and platinum. With each being a product of a particular phase. The bronze award is the lowest of the awards while the platinum award is the highest and is equivalent to the ISO14001 standards. Based on the released Eco campus audit criteria published in 2008, the Bronze award is given to institutions that have; shown senior management commitment to environmental management, carried out environmental baseline review of environmental aspects, developed a draft of environmental policy and are involved in creating awareness of the process. The Silver awards (being the 2nd phase award) is given to higher institutions that have; identified the significant environmental aspects of the universitys operations, identified the legal and other requirements related to its environmental aspects, developed environmental objectives and targets and have produced a finalised environmental policy document. Furthermore, the achievement of the Eco campus Gold awards is tied to the completion of the following processes, assigning roles and responsibilities towards meeting environmental objectives and targets, ensuring that the personnel involved in the implementation of the environmental policy are competent and adequately trained, developing and implementing standard operational control procedures, ensuring proper documentation and communication of processes involved and putting in place systems that will identify emergencies and respond to them. Finally, the platinum award is given only to institutions who have shown adherence to; monitoring and measurements of environmental aspects of the university, performing internal audits on universitys environmental performance and regularly review of environmental performance by management. THE BENEFITS AND LIMITATION OF IMPLEMENTING ECOCAMPUS IN GLASGOW CALEDONIAN UNIVERSITY The eco campus being an environmental management system has a number of limitations to its operation. But the benefits of implementing the eco campus environmental management system far outweigh the limitations (Eco campus, 200). These benefits may include the following: Eco campus will help the university to effectively improve its environmental performance in phases, thus helping the institution to gradually establish a standard environmental management practice. This will in the long run, facilitate its certification to standard environmental practices such as ISO14001 (Caledonian Environmental centre, 2009) and will reduce the overall cumulative impact on financial as well as human resources associated in the initial establishment of such standards. Eco campus will improve cooperation and environmental awareness among staff, student and other relevant stakeholders (Melnyk et al, 2003). This will as reported by Abubakar et al (2008) bring a change in the way the university; exploits its resources and develops its technology. Thus leading to; reduced operational cost (profitability), increased efficiency and ultimately environmental sustainability. Eco campus will enhance the universitys compliance to regulations and codes of good practice. Thereby promoting improved relationship with both the regulators and the general public. This will help reduce enforcement or civil actions and other direct or hidden legal cost associated with non compliance to regulations (GCU sustainability website, 2009) Eco campus will help the University to effectively manage the impacts of its activities on the environment and improve its environmental performance. Enviro campus (2007) pointed out that, this will enhance the reputation of the university thus encouraging high student recruitment, better public perception and more community support. Eco campus will have significant effect on cost saving through, reduction of cost associated with waste disposal, efficient use of resources (e.g. energy, water etc.), avoidance of cost associated with non compliance to legislations and reduction in insurance cost (Wikipedia, 2009) Though benefits abound there still exist a number of limitations associated with the implementation of the Eco campus Environment Management system. The Glasgow Caledonian university website (2009) suggested some to include; it takes a long time to implement and monitor and it requires proper documentation, adequate training and good communication for it to be successful. In my own opinion other limitations will include the fact that it requires high level of commitment by the management for it to be successful and that it still requires human and financial resources though little compared to the full implementation of a standard Environmental Management system like ISO14001. CURRENT GLASGOW CALEDONIAN UNIVERSITYS ECO CAMPUS STATUS AND IMPLICATIONS TO ATTAINING ISO14001 CERTIFCATION. Glasgow Caledonian University was presented the bronze award by the Eco campus director in Bournemouth University on the 1st of July 2009 (Glasgow Caledonian university website, 2009) as an award for meeting up with the minimum criteria of the Eco campus project for the bronze phase. The reports found on the Universitys website indicated the following achievements of the school to have warranted it the eco campus bronze awards. The university showed senior management commitment to the Eco campus scheme by establishing an Eco campus team (comprising of; the Caledonian Environmental centre, School of built and natural environment, facilities management arm of the university, student association and the Caledonian environmental society students group) headed by Therese Fraser, to oversee the implementation of the Eco campus environmental management system. This team went ahead to produce the draft of the Universitys environmental policy The University carried out the environmental baseline review of more than five basic management areas exceeding by far the minimum requirement set out for the bronze phase. The management area include; waste management, environmental management systems, sustainable procurement, transport, health welfare and safety, environmental policy, energy and water, emissions and discharges, biodiversity and community involvement. The university provided and is still appropriate environmental training for staff involved in the Eco campus programme. The implication of this current status to attaining its target of ISO14001 certification is that the institution is still at the planning phase. It will have to move from that phase to the implementation phase which involves; identification of environmental aspects and legal requirements, setting objectives and target, establishing standard procedures towards achieving this targets/objectives, formalising the environmental policy and its implementation. And then continuously review and improve on policies and practices. But since the university is using a phased approach-Eco campus, it thus means that, it will have to pass through the silver, gold and platinum phases before thinking of getting the ISO14001 certification. The platinum award is an equivalent for ISO14001 standard. So reaching that platinum status will facilitate the easy acquisition of the ISO14001 certification. PRACTICAL STEPS IN MOVING GLASGOW CALEDONIAN TO THE SILVER AWARDS Moving from the bronze phase to the silver phase involves meeting the criteria for the silver phases. The Eco campus audit criteria published in 2008 listed the criteria to include; identification of its significant environmental aspects, identification of legal and other requirements associated with these aspects, setting objectives and targets, producing a final copy of the environmental policy and communicating this policy to all relevant stake holders. So for the university to achieve the silver status the following practical steps have to be taken. The university has to first thoroughly identify and document all the activities of the university that has significant impact on the environment The second step is to identify and document all legal and other requirement associated with the above environmental aspects The next step is to set up and document objectives and targets in relation to managing the environmental aspects Using the information above, the university should produce a formal copy of its environmental policy which will be signed by the top management indicating the management commitment to the process Lastly, the environmental policy should be adequately communicated to the staff, students and all other relevant stakeholders in the university community. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Employers and Employees rights :: Business and Management Studies

Employers and Employees rights INTRODUCTION: In this piece of course work I am going to describe, using examples from Shropshire county council, the rights of the employer and its employees. I am also going to explain using examples of how the they resolve the disagreements with its employees over rights of employment or working conditions. Then I am going to evaluate the extent to which Shropshire ensures that a good working relationship exist between the employers and employees. 1. Describe the employer and employee rights of the business you have investigated in detail and give examples. We as employers and employees at Shropshire county council are protected by numerous amount of laws Some of these laws are: Equal pay act 1963 This allows us as employees to get a fair share in pay. This act will enable us to take legal action against Shropshire if we feel and have proof of not getting the right amount of pay that should be permitted. Not only does this act helps us as employees it also helps our employers. The directors of Shropshire county council employ the employers that employ us, so they too are considered to be employees. Race relation act 1976 This act allows us both as employees and employers to be treated fairly. This act has to do with the discrimination against our race or religion. It enables us to take legal actions against Shropshire if we feel and have proof of unfair treatment of our race and religion. Pregnancy and Discrimination act This act is here for both the employees and employers if we are fired or discriminated because of being pregnant. This will allow us to get compensation. If fired this will also allow us to also get our job back at Shropshire. Health and Safety act This is there for both we the employees and our employers. Not only are we protected by this act we are also responsible for the health and safety for the other members of staff. E.g. in the computer rooms we must act responsible for not permitted to smoke in non-smoking areas, if done this could affect other members of staff. 2. State how the business resolves its disagreements with employees in connection with employment and working conditions. When disputes occur at Shropshire the management will try to follow the correct procedure. Wherever possible the issue is dealt with by managers within the council. There are clear procedures to follow, which will be carefully followed. E.g. if a member of staff was discriminated by one of his or her co-workers with proof the staff member could bring it to a union representative