The Wife of Bath Tale in Geoffery Chuacer´s The Canterbury...

As a member of an ever changing society, Geoffrey Chaucer had a sharp perception of the attitudes and opinions that were coming to light and shaping the roles in peoples lives. Scattered throughout these philosophies were ideas and traditions that had dictated women to lead mostly subservient lives. One of Chaucer’s characters in The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath, serves as a contradiction to many of these oppressive norms and in turn, establishes her own overbearing view of the roles and relationships of women in society. While attempting to showcase a distinct female dominance over men, the ultimate effect the Wife of Bath strives for is to bring women and men to a more equal level of power. Through the Wife’s journey to bring men and women to a more comparable level there is no attempt to change society’s mind when it comes to shortcomings of the current social order. It is in these instances where the Wife may come off written as a shrewd and spouting h er dissatisfaction. The Wife; however, says a few intriguing examples of how her own society goes about treating women unfairly. Double standards for men and women, she states, are far too common and too deeply engrained in culture. While examining this issue, she mentions Christ’s teachings say to her, That by the same ensample taughte he me / That I ne sholde wedded be but ones (117, ll. 12-13). She later adheres to the fact that many holy men have had more than one wife, stating, â€Å" I woot wel Abraham was an

The Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane - 1177 Words

Prior to the Civil War, combat on the battlefield was portrayed as glorious and as something that molded heroic figures for the future to praise and behold. Back then, some Americans believed that going into war would instantly make them into heroes and was the best way to pay tribute to your country. However, after the Civil War, the perspective of war was redefined among many Americans. Many stories of warfare show the way some Americans viewed the idea of war. In the following texts: The Red Badge of Courage, Across Five Aprils, Civil War Journal, and the Sullivan Ballou Letter, many Americans had to deal with the pain of war and were faced with the cold reality that changed America forever. The novel, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, shows the change in the perspective of war through the eyes of a youth named Henry. Henry, who had grown up with a glorified view of war, had always been eager to join the army and fight as a hero for his country. However, all goes downhill when he learns of the true intentions of war and its extreme horrors and troubles. Before an actual battle, he had â€Å"dreamed of battles all his life--of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire† (Crane). After being scarred from the first battle, at the sight of a second battle, â€Å"he ran like a blind man. Two or three times he fell down. Once he knocked his shoulder so heavily against a tree that he went headlong† (Crane). He no longer believed war to be aShow MoreRelatedThe Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane1840 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction Stephen Crane was considered one of America’s most influential realist writers. Crane was born on November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey. He was the 14th and last child of Mary Crane, who was a writer/suffragist, and Reverend Jonathan Crane, a Methodist Episcopal minister. Crane spent less than two years as college student, between going to Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and then to Syracuse University in upper state New York. After college, Crane moved to Patterson, NewRead MoreThe Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane Essay1276 Words   |  6 PagesThe Novel, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is about a Union Regiment during the civil war that is stationed along a riverbank. Henry Flemming is a newcomer who is bothered about his bravery because there is a rumor the regiment is going to go to battle. The only reason Henry was drawn to enlist was because he wanted to become a war hero. The main conflict is internal. When Henry has to go into battle and risk his life, he realizes that there is no turning back, and he could not runRead MoreThe Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane917 Words   |  4 PagesGrowing Up From Boys to Men Symbols and themes play a major role in novels. The symbols and themes can help with getting a better understanding in novels. One novel that has many symbols is The Red Badge Of Courage. The author of this novel is Stephen Crane and the genre is historical fiction. In the novel the main character is Henry Fleming. Henry is also known as The Youth. Henry joins the Union in the Civil War. Henry joined the army to have glory. When Henry first gets on the battle field heRead MoreThe Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane1840 Words   |  8 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Red Badge of Courage as Satire   Ã‚  Ã‚   Stephen Crane once said â€Å"Let a thing become a tradition, and it becomes half a lie† (Maggie, A Girl of the Streets 230).   This sentiment proves true in how he describes the tradition of heroism in his novel The Red Badge of Courage.   While Crane writes what is considered to be one of the most important novels about the Civil War, his views on the war and the heroics of those fighting the war are mostly critical.   Like Ernest Hemingway, Crane writes aRead MoreRed Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane1820 Words   |  8 Pagesauthors is Stephen Crane, whose The Red Badge of Courage depicted the war from the eyes of a common soldier, Henry. Crane uses Henry and the setting of the Battle of Chancellorsville to accurately depict the Civil War in all its brutality. In Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane shows a unique perspective on the true nature of war, both physically and mentally, by graphically depicting war both through the setting and through the po int of view of Henry and his comrades, thusly making Crane a true historicalRead MoreThe Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane1809 Words   |  7 PagesRED BADGE OF COURAGE BY STEPHEN CRANE â€Å"The Red Badge of Courage† written by Stephen THE Crane was a great example of the works that the author penned. Stephen Crane was born in New Jersey on November 1, 1871. Crane was the youngest of fourteen children and attend a few different preparatory schools and colleges before deciding that he wanted to be a journalist and an author. He wrote first of things that had happened in New York City, but once he decided for sure that this was what he wantedRead MoreThe Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane1076 Words   |  5 PagesThe â€Å"Red Badge of Courage† is a story written by Stephen Crane. The events of â€Å"The Red Badge of Courage† took place in Chancellorsville, Virginia, happening during a course of a couple days in May of 1863. It takes place in the Battle of Chancellorsville on a field of battle during the Civil War on a field of battle. â€Å"The Red Badge of Courage† is a story of a teenager named Henry Fleming, who hopes of fulfilling his dreams of glory. He enlists in the Union army, with lots of fear and doubts. HoweverRead MoreThe Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane Essay1176 Words   |  5 Pageswriting. It is through an author’s ability to make a character come to life and seem human that they either succeed or fail in this venture. In the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Crane is able to create a character that succeeds at this highly. Despite times in the novel where Crane’s character appears to act without any virtue at all, Crane is able to humanize him and eventually he turns into a role model for readers. The novel opens with Crane’s character, Henry Fleming, sitting in hisRead MoreThe Badge of Red Courage by Stephen Crane653 Words   |  3 PagesThe Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage thirty years after the Civil War had already taken place. I found this book confusing at first with all of the flashbacks, it had throughout the story, but as the book progressed I found it interesting with all of the details he used. I felt like I was in the war myself; he is a descriptive author. If I was going to suggest this book to other readers, I would tell them to be patient because it seems to be very confusing in theRead MoreThe Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane1276 Words   |  6 PagesThe Novel, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is about a Union Regiment during the civil war that is stationed along a riverbank. Henry Flemming is a newcomer who is bothered about his bravery because there is a rumor the regiment is going to go to battle. The only reason Henry was drawn to enlist was because he wanted to become a war hero. The main conflict is internal. When Henry has to go into battle and risk his life, he rea lizes that there is no turning back, and he could not run

Side effects of SNS free essay sample

Side effects of SNS In 2011, a story of a young man who burned himself to death had provoked a democratic movement in Tunisia called the Jasmine Revolution. It surprised the world that twenty-three years of dictatorship had collapsed in a flash. Social networking services played an important role in the movement of that as soon as the young man killed himself, people were sharing and tweeting how he died. As far as that moment, SNS seemed to have represented political power in a positive way. Indeed, the introduction of social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, etc. have affected our society. Since then, people can easily collect, process, and disseminate information at anytime and anywhere. Unfortunately, despite the convenience of social networking services, some side effects are causing problems in the current society. The following social problems are about adverse effects of SNS on human relationships in reality, a rising number of privacy issues today, and a severe addiction to SNS. These issues can be seen as insignificant matters for now, but it would be better if the problems could be avoided beforehand. First of all, online-based communities seem to weaken social ties in reality nowadays. According to the research, there are one billion Facebook accounts, five million Twitter users, and eighty-one million Kakao Talk users. Likewise, the world has become much informative that people are not willing to go back to the past when there was no Internet. People are already too adapted to highly developed technologies. There is no doubt that the emergence of social networking sites made the world much smaller. However, an incredible innovation seems to weaken the ocial bonds in the real-world. As an example, people usually make friends easily on Facebook even with someone who has not had any interaction with them before. The problem is that people are steadily degrading their skills to make relationships and maintaining social ties in reality. In other words, people traverse through online connections and click Like on others walls without any hesitation while they are disconnected in face-to-face situations. Moreover, places like a caf © or a bar where people usually meet friends to talk seem to be much quieter than they used to be, ecause people talk without eye contact, busy with staring at their own smart phones, chatting and surfing on the Internet. Problems have not occurred yet since the majority of users are most likely teenagers and young adults, but it could cause some serious social problems when they became more influential in the society. To prevent from the happening, teenagers and young adults should learn old-fashioned ways to interact with others in a proper manner. Secondly, social networking services are very addictive. The first thing smart phone users do when they wake up is check their texts and news feeds on social networks. Contemporary men never let their smart devices away while waiting for a bus, having concentrate on their work or study. It implies that people, especially, young generations are suffering from severe smart device addiction. According to a study conducted by Wilhelm Hofmann (University of Chicago, 2012), social media is more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol. As a result, texting and checking Facebook and Twitter come in Just below sex and sleep as impossible to resist urges. The reasons are, people always shave a desire to check updated comments, reactions and ssessments for what they have posted instantly, and if their desires are fulfilled within a short time, then it weakens willpower and self-control which they are more easily addicted to social media. Many addicted individuals feel relief by checking updates in real time. In a situation when, they do not get to check updates, they feel isolated and unstable. However, when it takes a serious turn, many addicts develop auditory hallucination as if they hear ding-dong sounds for notifications, and finally they will suffer from mental fatigue. In addition, using smart devices to check news eeds in real time will interrupt students or workers focus on what they really have to do. It will affect their Job performance or on their grades in a negative way. In particular, according to the survey of two different countries, a main purpose of using social media for university students in Korea and the United States seems to be different. The problem of addiction is more serious in Korea. Korean students use SNS as a tool for maintaining interpersonal surrounds, which makes them more obsessed with it. Unlike students in Korea, students in the United States tend to use ocial networks more to refresh themselves. Lastly, privacy issues were raised by a rising number of people who use online communities. People often hesitate to give their phone numbers or names to anyone other than public institutions, unlike them being willing to fill out all kinds of information without any blanks on social networking sites. Likewise, to create an account on social networking sites, full names and an e-mail address are the only required data to be a member. However, people usually do not stop there. Virtual communities are interactive to keep users connected so it may ask users to input ore private information. The websites allow individuals to create a public profile within a space boundary system. It is doubtful that many of the Internet users in the world would check every single privacy policy of their host web pages before signing up. Then, they would not be able to practice privacy rights to protect their personal information taken over by others without any notice. In fact, Facebook was severely blasted for its privacy misuse. It was reported to have been not only sharing members personal information with advertisers, but sharing the data without the embers consent or recognition. People should be aware that what they have carelessly posted can be seen by the public and be re-distributed in a brief instant. It can be photos, videos, lists of friends, or locations which have been checked-in to. It is possible that users personal information can be used in a crime. For example, criminals can easily gather up users information based on social networks, fgure out their daily schedules, and it can cause cyber bullying, cyber stalking, or even worse. The following tips can protect social networking users privacy. First, be aware of the rivacy policy of social networking sites. Second, do not accept friend requests from At least, these three precautions will prevent personal information from an invasion of privacy. The primary objective of this thesis has been to discover the dark side of social networking sites and attempt to disseminate several ways to solve remaining problems. The essay emphasized that dependency on virtual relationships could impact negatively on social bonds in reality, a rapidly growing number of young generations are addicted to virtual spaces and cause disorders in different ways, and rivacy is an issue that could cause potential crimes which should be handled properly. Nowadays, half of the population on Earth is involved in social networks, and more people will be involved soon. However, SNS is not always effective and useful; it has both a positive and negative impact on our lives, unlike, its main purpose which is to connect and interact with people in an easier way from day to day living. Like, the quality of a well-made sword depends on the user; the usefulness of social networking service depends on how users use it effectively. Again, this thesis s to remind people that the convenience of social network could take away something more valuable in their lives. Therefore, always be aware of how you use social network services.

Tourism Development in Tunisia Essay Example

Tourism Development in Tunisia Essay Much of the findings are based on my own observations on the impacts of tourism as I travelled around Tunisia. The three principle aspects of sustainability are social, economic and environment impacts which I used as my three elemates for measuring sustainability. Beach tourism has been present in Tunisia since the 1960’s where as saharan tourism although was started during the 1980’s it is still very much developing and aiming to gain its own indepence from beach tourism in Tunisia. Beach tourism is a success for Tunisia in terms of economic benefits, the traditional Tunisian culture has faded in the coastal regions, there is also a strong reliance on the tourism industry making the region very vulnerable and enviromentally the lack of freshwater and wastewater manage do not appear to be something the coastal region is tackling despite how much water is used in this type of tourism. We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Development in Tunisia specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Development in Tunisia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Development in Tunisia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Saharan tourism on the other hand does not appear to be receive that much economically from tourism compared to beach tourism, however the social impacts of tourism seem to less the and the environmental issues in Tunisia seems to be something that the interior regions are working towards solving. To conclude this report finds that saharan tourism is neither more sustainable nor less sustainable than beach tourism because both have negative aspects and positive aspects that need to more balance. 2. 1 Objective The purpose of this report is to; I. Explore and discuss the impact of tourism development between the coastal and interior region of Tunisia. II. Identify whether Saharan Tourism is more sustainable than Beach Tourism in Tunisia. 3. 1 Methodology amp; Sources of Data When comparing the impact of tourism development between the coastal region and the interior region of Tunisia an in field study was done. Much of this investigation is based on my observations in the field as a learning diary was conducted giving a detailed day to day description of places visited across Tunisia and my thoughts on the experience. However I along with my group members did conducted a number of activities on the places visited and in some destinations we got the opportunity to carry out various questionnaires on local Tunisians and tourists to find out their thoughts on tourism in Tunisia. In order to conduct a full comparative analysis between the interior and coastal regions the destinations of Hammamet, Sfax Douz and Tozeur which were visited during the trip to Tunisia have been chosen as the regions I intend to focus this investigation on. I. Critique of Methods Used The fact that the research for this investigation was conducted in the field meant that I was able to get a first hand look at the impacts and ultimately gather some primary data. However, the in field study did have many flaws, which made it difficult and unethical to compare the interior region of Tunisia with the coastal region. Firstly, the local participants interviewed were those working directly or indirectly in the tourism industry i. e. local business owners or hoteliers which meant that their feedback could have been biased because they economical benefit from tourism. Similarly, the feedback from the tourists interviewed in Tunisia could have been influenced by the fact that they were wrapped in a tourist bubble therefore failing to acknowledge the negative impacts tourism development many be having. What may have made this study more feasible is if questionnaires were conducted on locals who did not have any involvement in the tourism industry. Another flaw in this investigation is the measuring of sustainability, sustainability is a complex and difficult objective to measure; the challenge in measuring sustainability is how we measure one negative impact against another. For example; tourism in the coastal region of Tunisia maybe more economically beneficial but cause more negative environmental impacts where as tourism in the interior region may receive less economic benefits but have less negative environmental impacts, therefore how would you measure which one is more sustainable. 4. 1 Interpretation amp; Findings I. Sustainability and Alternative Tourism In order to determine whether Saharan Tourism is more sustainable than Beach Tourism in Tunisia it is important to explain the definition of sustainability in tourism and its relationship with alternative tourism development. The term sustainable tourism is defined by WTO as; â€Å"Tourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. Rather than being a type of product, it is an ethos that underpins all tourism activities. As such, it is integral to all aspects of tourism development and management rather than being an add-on component The objective of sustainable tourism is to retain the economic and social advantages of tourism development while reducing or mitigating any undesirable impacts on the natural, historic, cultural or social environment. This is achieved by balancing the needs of tourists with those of the destination†. (World Tourism Organisation) The principles of sustainability relate to the economic, social and environmental elements of tourism development, in order for sustainability to be achieved on a long term basis these three aspects need to be balanced. Alternative forms tourism have over the years been increasing as strategies employed by many destinations as a way of eliminating the negative effects associated with mass tourism (characterized by the three‘s’ sun, sand and sea). II. Beach Tourism in Tunisia The presence of tourism in Tunisia dates back to 1960’s when the country received attention from North European tour operators seeking to expand low cost packaged tours to new destinations outside Europe. The development of tourism from this date has been very much focused on package tours to coastal regions such as Hammamet and Sousse. Tourism in these regions has been economically beneficial as main jobs in these regions are tourism related either directly or indirectly. However tourism development has made the country very vulnerable due to a reliance on tour operators and over concentrated focus on beach tourism. III. Saharan Tourism in Tunisia At present the Tunisian government is trying to shake off the destinations reputation as offering coastal resorts and cheap accommodation, one way in which they intend to do this is by diversifying the products on offer to tourists. One of these products being Saharan Tourism, in the late 1980’s the government recognized that in order to compete in the international tourism market then they would need to exploit the wealth of potential for tourism in the Saharan regions of the country. Not only to compete with the European destinations such as Turkey, Spain and Croatia but to provide a solution to the economic troubles of deprived regions in the Sahara and help preserve their cultural and natural heritage. However despite the governments efforts to promote the sector in these regions by offering tax incentives for private operator’s tourist activities in the region has been slow and not yet gained its independence from the coastal trade. IV. A Comparative Analysis of Hammamet, Sfax, Tozeur amp; Douz i. Socio-Cultural I observed when visiting the coastal resort of Hammamet that the region appeared to have lost some of it cultural heritage, this was increasingly vident in the Yasmine Hammamet region which houses a new medina built for tourist consumption instead of being a historic monument built to house locals. Throughout Hammamet it was clear that the presents of tourism over the years has meant that the countries traditional Islamic and Arabic culture has been invaded by western cultural characteristics. While touring the medina’s in Hammamet there were a number of designer western products on sell and the dress code of the locals was much more westernized too. However this did not seem to be a negative or conflicting situation between the locals which was confirmed by one local male participant interviewed, who was asked whether there was a conflict between the young and old generations because of the cultural changes in the region. His response was that there was not a conflict between the different generations and that tourism in the area has not been the only catalysis for cultural change international television and technology in the region has also been a cause. In Sfax local not far off the east coast of Tunisia the issue of modernization and westernization are also evident there however Sfax is much over polluted and industrialized in comparison to Hammamet. Compared to Hammamet and Sfax the interior regions Tozeur and Douz were much more traditional in terms of cultural dress code and infrastructure. What was also different about the interior region was the interactions with local Tunisians, as we travelled out of the tourist zones to different cultural attractions in the interior of Tunisia you get a more authentic feel of the Tunisian culture. One example of this was in Douz where we got to go to a local shisha cafe not far from our hotel, which was filled with local Tunisians mainly men smoking shisha and socializing with other locals and tourists alike. Another socio-cultural difference between the interior and coastal regions is the amount of people that live in these areas. From visiting these four towns in Tunisia it is evident that the rural parts of Tunisia are being slow abandoned for the urban areas. (Figure 1. Showing a staged performance for tourists in Yasmine Hammamet Medina) ii. Economic Economically, is clear that Hammamet is very dependent on tourism which I was informed of by a local medina stall own who we interviewed while visiting Hammamet old medina. When questioning the stall owner he informed us that tourism was very unpredictable particularly during the recent recession because tourism in the area fell, as tourism is the main source of income to the economy in the area this means that the locals are in a very unstable situation. Other evidence of how reliant Hammamet is on tourism was shown by how pushy and aggressive the stall owners and those working in the medinas were to get tourism to purchase from their shops. The stall owner also informed us that although tourism is unstable it has been beneficial for locals by providing jobs particularly as agriculture in this area is declining as I was informed of by the interviewed participant. This was considerably different from Tozeur and particularly Douz as I observed visiting Douz market, the workers and stall owners were not as pushy to get us to buy from their shops and were more adamant on the prices they expect us to pay for their goods. In Tozeur, Douz and the surrounding areas just outside of these towns there was plenty of signs of agricultural activity, for example olive and date production which is why these regions seem less economically reliant on tourism. Although the Tozeur did not seem very depend on tourism the same cannot be said for the mountain oases just outside the Tozeur town where I observed children hustling for us to buy their jewellery which is shown in figure 2. Figure 2. iii. Environment Lack of freshwater and wastewater are the central concerns in throughout Tunisia, in Hammamet and Sfax there were no obvious signs of how the region is tackling these issue. Which is quiet worrying considering that mass tourism has the highest demand for water, due to accommodation and facilities such as golf courses and swimming pools. However when we questioned a local hotel worker on the negative environmental impacts of tourism in this area he seem sure that there were not any. In Tozeur and Douz and other interior regions visited there was evidence that freshwater was something they were tackling this was particularly evident in Kairouran where I got observe the water dam and a well where water is pumped by a camel (shown in Figure 3) and also Tozeur where there has been heavy investment has been in place to tackle groundwater shortages. In Douz I were informed by our tour guide that sand storms were a big issue in the region and that the government was work towards solving the situation, as many locals had to moving from the region because there houses had been completely covered by the sand. Figure 3. Conclusion Based on my findings comparing the interior region with the coastal region, I feel that Saharan tourism neither more sustainable nor less sustainable than beach tourism in Tunisia. Saharan tourism is something that is still very much developing in Tunisia, there is evidence that once it is fully developed it will be more sustainable than beach tourism but present there not enough evidence to suggest that Saharan tourism is benefiting enough economical for it to be deemed a sustainable objective. Although environmentally and socially there is evidence that sustainable objectives are being met these three aspects of sustainability need to be balanced in order for Saharan tourism work as a sustainable development. Appendix Figure 1. showing a staged performance for tourists in Yasmine Hammamet Medina)†¦.. pg 6 Figure 2 ( Showing children hustling in the mountain oases outside Tozeur )†¦.. Pg 7 Figure 3 (Showing a camel pumping a well in Kairouran)†¦. Pg 8 Bibliography Stefano L. , Freshwater and Tourism in the Mediterranean, June 2004, WWF Mediterranean Programme Hosni E. , Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Sahara, 2000, UNESCO Cooper C. , Fletcher J. , Fyall A. , Gilbert D. amp; Wanhill S. , Tourism; Principles and Practice, 4th edition, 2008, Prentice Hill Websites www. unwto. com Tourism Development in Tunisia Essay Example Tourism Development in Tunisia Essay Much of the findings are based on my own observations on the impacts of tourism as I travelled around Tunisia. The three principle aspects of sustainability are social, economic and environment impacts which I used as my three elemates for measuring sustainability. Beach tourism has been present in Tunisia since the 1960’s where as saharan tourism although was started during the 1980’s it is still very much developing and aiming to gain its own indepence from beach tourism in Tunisia. Beach tourism is a success for Tunisia in terms of economic benefits, the traditional Tunisian culture has faded in the coastal regions, there is also a strong reliance on the tourism industry making the region very vulnerable and enviromentally the lack of freshwater and wastewater manage do not appear to be something the coastal region is tackling despite how much water is used in this type of tourism. We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Development in Tunisia specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Development in Tunisia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Development in Tunisia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Saharan tourism on the other hand does not appear to be receive that much economically from tourism compared to beach tourism, however the social impacts of tourism seem to less the and the environmental issues in Tunisia seems to be something that the interior regions are working towards solving. To conclude this report finds that saharan tourism is neither more sustainable nor less sustainable than beach tourism because both have negative aspects and positive aspects that need to more balance. 2. 1 Objective The purpose of this report is to; I. Explore and discuss the impact of tourism development between the coastal and interior region of Tunisia. II. Identify whether Saharan Tourism is more sustainable than Beach Tourism in Tunisia. 3. 1 Methodology amp; Sources of Data When comparing the impact of tourism development between the coastal region and the interior region of Tunisia an in field study was done. Much of this investigation is based on my observations in the field as a learning diary was conducted giving a detailed day to day description of places visited across Tunisia and my thoughts on the experience. However I along with my group members did conducted a number of activities on the places visited and in some destinations we got the opportunity to carry out various questionnaires on local Tunisians and tourists to find out their thoughts on tourism in Tunisia. In order to conduct a full comparative analysis between the interior and coastal regions the destinations of Hammamet, Sfax Douz and Tozeur which were visited during the trip to Tunisia have been chosen as the regions I intend to focus this investigation on. I. Critique of Methods Used The fact that the research for this investigation was conducted in the field meant that I was able to get a first hand look at the impacts and ultimately gather some primary data. However, the in field study did have many flaws, which made it difficult and unethical to compare the interior region of Tunisia with the coastal region. Firstly, the local participants interviewed were those working directly or indirectly in the tourism industry i. e. local business owners or hoteliers which meant that their feedback could have been biased because they economical benefit from tourism. Similarly, the feedback from the tourists interviewed in Tunisia could have been influenced by the fact that they were wrapped in a tourist bubble therefore failing to acknowledge the negative impacts tourism development many be having. What may have made this study more feasible is if questionnaires were conducted on locals who did not have any involvement in the tourism industry. Another flaw in this investigation is the measuring of sustainability, sustainability is a complex and difficult objective to measure; the challenge in measuring sustainability is how we measure one negative impact against another. For example; tourism in the coastal region of Tunisia maybe more economically beneficial but cause more negative environmental impacts where as tourism in the interior region may receive less economic benefits but have less negative environmental impacts, therefore how would you measure which one is more sustainable. 4. 1 Interpretation amp; Findings I. Sustainability and Alternative Tourism In order to determine whether Saharan Tourism is more sustainable than Beach Tourism in Tunisia it is important to explain the definition of sustainability in tourism and its relationship with alternative tourism development. The term sustainable tourism is defined by WTO as; â€Å"Tourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. Rather than being a type of product, it is an ethos that underpins all tourism activities. As such, it is integral to all aspects of tourism development and management rather than being an add-on component The objective of sustainable tourism is to retain the economic and social advantages of tourism development while reducing or mitigating any undesirable impacts on the natural, historic, cultural or social environment. This is achieved by balancing the needs of tourists with those of the destination†. (World Tourism Organisation) The principles of sustainability relate to the economic, social and environmental elements of tourism development, in order for sustainability to be achieved on a long term basis these three aspects need to be balanced. Alternative forms tourism have over the years been increasing as strategies employed by many destinations as a way of eliminating the negative effects associated with mass tourism (characterized by the three‘s’ sun, sand and sea). II. Beach Tourism in Tunisia The presence of tourism in Tunisia dates back to 1960’s when the country received attention from North European tour operators seeking to expand low cost packaged tours to new destinations outside Europe. The development of tourism from this date has been very much focused on package tours to coastal regions such as Hammamet and Sousse. Tourism in these regions has been economically beneficial as main jobs in these regions are tourism related either directly or indirectly. However tourism development has made the country very vulnerable due to a reliance on tour operators and over concentrated focus on beach tourism. III. Saharan Tourism in Tunisia At present the Tunisian government is trying to shake off the destinations reputation as offering coastal resorts and cheap accommodation, one way in which they intend to do this is by diversifying the products on offer to tourists. One of these products being Saharan Tourism, in the late 1980’s the government recognized that in order to compete in the international tourism market then they would need to exploit the wealth of potential for tourism in the Saharan regions of the country. Not only to compete with the European destinations such as Turkey, Spain and Croatia but to provide a solution to the economic troubles of deprived regions in the Sahara and help preserve their cultural and natural heritage. However despite the governments efforts to promote the sector in these regions by offering tax incentives for private operator’s tourist activities in the region has been slow and not yet gained its independence from the coastal trade. IV. A Comparative Analysis of Hammamet, Sfax, Tozeur amp; Douz i. Socio-Cultural I observed when visiting the coastal resort of Hammamet that the region appeared to have lost some of it cultural heritage, this was increasingly vident in the Yasmine Hammamet region which houses a new medina built for tourist consumption instead of being a historic monument built to house locals. Throughout Hammamet it was clear that the presents of tourism over the years has meant that the countries traditional Islamic and Arabic culture has been invaded by western cultural characteristics. While touring the medina’s in Hammamet there were a number of designer western products on sell and the dress code of the locals was much more westernized too. However this did not seem to be a negative or conflicting situation between the locals which was confirmed by one local male participant interviewed, who was asked whether there was a conflict between the young and old generations because of the cultural changes in the region. His response was that there was not a conflict between the different generations and that tourism in the area has not been the only catalysis for cultural change international television and technology in the region has also been a cause. In Sfax local not far off the east coast of Tunisia the issue of modernization and westernization are also evident there however Sfax is much over polluted and industrialized in comparison to Hammamet. Compared to Hammamet and Sfax the interior regions Tozeur and Douz were much more traditional in terms of cultural dress code and infrastructure. What was also different about the interior region was the interactions with local Tunisians, as we travelled out of the tourist zones to different cultural attractions in the interior of Tunisia you get a more authentic feel of the Tunisian culture. One example of this was in Douz where we got to go to a local shisha cafe not far from our hotel, which was filled with local Tunisians mainly men smoking shisha and socializing with other locals and tourists alike. Another socio-cultural difference between the interior and coastal regions is the amount of people that live in these areas. From visiting these four towns in Tunisia it is evident that the rural parts of Tunisia are being slow abandoned for the urban areas. (Figure 1. Showing a staged performance for tourists in Yasmine Hammamet Medina) ii. Economic Economically, is clear that Hammamet is very dependent on tourism which I was informed of by a local medina stall own who we interviewed while visiting Hammamet old medina. When questioning the stall owner he informed us that tourism was very unpredictable particularly during the recent recession because tourism in the area fell, as tourism is the main source of income to the economy in the area this means that the locals are in a very unstable situation. Other evidence of how reliant Hammamet is on tourism was shown by how pushy and aggressive the stall owners and those working in the medinas were to get tourism to purchase from their shops. The stall owner also informed us that although tourism is unstable it has been beneficial for locals by providing jobs particularly as agriculture in this area is declining as I was informed of by the interviewed participant. This was considerably different from Tozeur and particularly Douz as I observed visiting Douz market, the workers and stall owners were not as pushy to get us to buy from their shops and were more adamant on the prices they expect us to pay for their goods. In Tozeur, Douz and the surrounding areas just outside of these towns there was plenty of signs of agricultural activity, for example olive and date production which is why these regions seem less economically reliant on tourism. Although the Tozeur did not seem very depend on tourism the same cannot be said for the mountain oases just outside the Tozeur town where I observed children hustling for us to buy their jewellery which is shown in figure 2. Figure 2. iii. Environment Lack of freshwater and wastewater are the central concerns in throughout Tunisia, in Hammamet and Sfax there were no obvious signs of how the region is tackling these issue. Which is quiet worrying considering that mass tourism has the highest demand for water, due to accommodation and facilities such as golf courses and swimming pools. However when we questioned a local hotel worker on the negative environmental impacts of tourism in this area he seem sure that there were not any. In Tozeur and Douz and other interior regions visited there was evidence that freshwater was something they were tackling this was particularly evident in Kairouran where I got observe the water dam and a well where water is pumped by a camel (shown in Figure 3) and also Tozeur where there has been heavy investment has been in place to tackle groundwater shortages. In Douz I were informed by our tour guide that sand storms were a big issue in the region and that the government was work towards solving the situation, as many locals had to moving from the region because there houses had been completely covered by the sand. Figure 3. Conclusion Based on my findings comparing the interior region with the coastal region, I feel that Saharan tourism neither more sustainable nor less sustainable than beach tourism in Tunisia. Saharan tourism is something that is still very much developing in Tunisia, there is evidence that once it is fully developed it will be more sustainable than beach tourism but present there not enough evidence to suggest that Saharan tourism is benefiting enough economical for it to be deemed a sustainable objective. Although environmentally and socially there is evidence that sustainable objectives are being met these three aspects of sustainability need to be balanced in order for Saharan tourism work as a sustainable development. Appendix Figure 1. showing a staged performance for tourists in Yasmine Hammamet Medina)†¦.. pg 6 Figure 2 ( Showing children hustling in the mountain oases outside Tozeur )†¦.. Pg 7 Figure 3 (Showing a camel pumping a well in Kairouran)†¦. Pg 8 Bibliography Stefano L. , Freshwater and Tourism in the Mediterranean, June 2004, WWF Mediterranean Programme Hosni E. , Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Sahara, 2000, UNESCO Cooper C. , Fletcher J. , Fyall A. , Gilbert D. amp; Wanhill S. , Tourism; Principles and Practice, 4th edition, 2008, Prentice Hill Websites www. unwto. com

UFOs And Aliens On Earth Essays - Roswell UFO Incident, Roswell

UFOs And Aliens On Earth Essays - Roswell UFO Incident, Roswell UFOs and Aliens on Earth If you had mentioned seeing a Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), or spaceship from another planet 100 years ago, you would probably be thought of as a raving lunatic. If you had mentioned one 50 years ago, the case would be thought about, but with much suspicion. Today, many people would believe you, and, if you had evidence to prove it, the government would take a very close interest in your case, yet many people would call you an idiot. Despite all the evidence that indicates UFO's exist, there are still many people who will not listen to any evidence, and the government covers up evidence and alters news releases on the subject. The Roswell case is one of the best documented, and most controversial UFO cases ever. In July of 1949, at a small airforce base in Roswell, New Mexico, a small, brightly glowing object was observed to crash land at about 11:30 P.M. There were many people who had seen the crash, and they had described that it was "brighter, and fell much slower than any meteors" they had ever seen. At St. Mary's Hospital in Roswell, two Catholic nuns, saw the crash, directly north of them, and logged the crash to have occurred on July 4, between 10:00 and 11:30 PM. Southwest of the base, Corporal E. L. Pyles looked to see what at first he thought was a shooting star, only it seemed to be to large to be one. He testifies that the crash happened about 11:00 PM also. There were many Military officers in the area who had seen the object as well. The object was appearing on military radars for many days before the crash. Before the crash, on July 1, all of the officers and technicians at the base had been tracking an unidentified object on their radars. Starting on July 2nd, Steve MacKenzie, who was stationed at Roswell, was ordered to report to the White Sands Proving Ground radar sites and report directly to the brigadier general at the base. The Brigadier General's orders were to inform him of all the movements the object made. At White Sands, there had been doubt as to whether this object was a malfunction of radar equipment, or, if it was in fact, real. So , the airforce had other radar sites in Albuquerque and Roswell look at the area on their radars. It was shown that they had, in fact, a real object. During the evening of July 4, the object changed. It was growing bigger, then shrinking back to it's original size, the blip was pulsating, then the blip grew quite large, and disappeared from the screen. Because sites in Albuquerque, White Sands and Roswell were tracking the object, the airforce had a vague location about where it crashed. The airforce then decided to launch a comprehensive search the following morning. The airforce, however, was the last to arrive at the site. A group of archaeologists being led by Dr. W. Curry Holden, had arrived earlier. One of the students recorded the object as "a crashed wingless plane, with a flat fuselage." The archaeologists then left to inform local authorities of an aircraft accident. When the airforce arrived at the Roswell crash site, there were two other people exploring, a man named Ragsdale and a woman named Truelove. They had been collecting pieces of metal from the site, tossing it into their jeep . But, what they saw after that was much more significant. There were bodies, lying about. There were several of them, about four or five feet long. There were five in total, obviously not human. There were three dead bodies, one in critical condition, and one, apparently fine. They threw the debris clear of their jeep when the airforce started driving up, and got out of there as fast as they could because of fear of being arrested. When the airforce arrived, they looked around, and they saw the large craft in the side of the mountain, partly buried, leaning at about a 30 degree angle, with large pieces of debris scattered about. After the airforce had searched and photographed the area, they began cleaning up. The bodies were loaded into ambulances

8 Benefits of Time Management in College

8 Benefits of Time Management in College Yes, there are benefits to learning how to manage your time everyone seems to know that. But what exactly do the benefits of time management look like to college students in particular? Is good time management really worth all of the time and effort? 8 Benefits of Good Time Management in College You wont miss important life deadlines. Life deadlines and projects are those things that keep your life on track. It may include turning in your FAFSA on time, getting your form in early so you have guaranteed on-campus housing next year, remembering to get your moms birthday present in the mail so it arrives on time. When your time management is bad, life can get ugly in an instant.You wont miss important academic deadlines. Paper coming up? Lab report due? Group assignment on the horizon? Missing academic deadlines means you may miss out on being able to stay in school. Having good time management, on the other hand, means you get your assignments in on time and get a little sleep the night before theyre due.You have more time to sleep well, eat right, and exercise regularly. Good time management means you have more time in general. And the better you treat your body, the better it treats you. Putting a little energy into time management now means youll have more energy to get th rough your days (and workload) later. Youll have less stress. Good time management means that horrible paper you have to write gets done in a reasonable amount of time with relatively little stress. Its a much better approach than facing a panic attack the night before a deadline.Youll have more time to just relax and enjoy your time in school. Lets be honest: Even if you do decide to throw caution to the wind and just hang out with some friends in the quad, that research paper youre avoiding is still fluttering around in the back of your brain. When youre good at managing your time, you can really let yourself relax, knowing that the time youll need to rock that paper has already been allocated in your schedule.Youll have more flexibility and spontaneity. When youre always behind and late on projects, you dont have the time or mental ability to just relax and enjoy, say, the spontaneous gathering in your residence hall or your roommates surprise birthday party.Things will be easier for your friends and family. You kno w what its like to have a friend who is always late: things can become trying after a while. Finally getting on top of your time management and turning into an independent adult who can run his or her own life will make things incredibly easier on your friends and family (not to mention yourself). Good time management skills will help you in your post-college life. Think your always-late, always-behind pattern is going to change once you graduate? Think again. Taking the time to learn and make permanent strong time management skills will serve you well in your life after college. After all, how can you go out and change the world if youre always running behind and late?

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 18

Reflection paper - Essay Example Some simple issues or reactions in our bodies may be because of mental disease hence we ought to be very keen on some abrupt changes that may take place in our lives. For instance, suppose an individual who has been known to be active and noisy suddenly keeps quiet and calm while in the same company. Yes, one of the reasons is said to be mental disorder. Several remedies have been prescribed for mental disorders (Busfield 2-4). I have come to realize that my behavioral pattern is very important and worth noting. Although I may not be in a position to realize some behavioral changes in my life, I am determined to pay irrepressible attention to my life pattern and behaviors. I will settle on issues that do not, to the highest degree have an effect on my moods. My attitude towards mental illness is that it is with so many people of different classes. In fact, everyone is mentally ill and what matters is the degree of mental illness (Busfield 12-14). This chapter largely has made me evaluate and analyze how individuals behave around me. I tend to give more than enough time to people I chart and interact with as I am swayed that all of us are a bunch of ill populace. I am intensely sure that not all the remedies available to the mentally ill people are perfect but just a matter of tryout and boo-boo. Furthermore, I think different doctors may diagnose a mentally sick person and come up with different causes yet they attended the same medical class. No, that may not be the medical practitioner’s fault since the patient may behave differently to different people or situations. A doctor can also be depressed while diagnosing the mentally ill patient. Can he go on with treating the patient? Will he know that he is down in the dumps at that very point? I think the whole issue of psychological ill health is a very unfortunate situation. In future, I choose to concentrate on my anxiety, mood and promise to be watchful on drugs I take. I will train myself to change my

State and Security in the Third World Dissertation

State and Security in the Third World - Dissertation Example Keenan firstly reflects on the ambiguous and manipulative military programs designed by the United States government, GWOT. This program GWOT though designed by the United States on a military intervention note is argued by Keenan to possess conspicuous elements that helped the American government gain a strong hold on scarce resources like Oil found in the African region. Furthermore, Keenan argues that to satisfy the introduction of GWOT in the African soil the American government used a false process to create and enhance internal terror in the region. Keenan secondly focuses on another military program designed by United States, known as AFRICOM to promote the cause for internal security along with other social and economical developments. AFRICOM is reflected by the author also as a disguised terror creating instrument by the American government in the African region. Keenan finally focuses on how the concept of globalization with the help of non-government military corporations was manipulated by America to gain from the African soil. Agreement and Disagreement The above argument reflects that Keenan tends to disagree on the point that security efforts created by United States relating to Third World countries like Africa focus on reducing the amount of communal tension and in promoting development. Rather here the author agrees on the point that such security efforts are mainly created by United States as a tool to exploit the resource base like oil. Examples to the above fact can be cited where United States through the use of military program GWOT focused on creation of false terrorist operations in the major part of Saharan Africa. Through the above system of duplicity United States government attempted to gain a control over the oil resources of Africa. Similarly another military effort of the United States government referred to as AFRICOM signifies another system of duplicity. AFRICOM designed in competition with the military programs of the Britis h Government created an outlook related to promotion of development in Africa. Concealed under its positive image the program continued with its false terrorism program whereby it continued killing innocent people in regions like Somalia. Question This question that arises relating to the above case is how global bodies like United Nations kept quite thereby allowing developed countries like United States carry out its spontaneous manipulative and exploitative activities on the African soil (Keenan 634-643). The Article of Joseph Hellweg Discussion Joseph Hellweg in his article â€Å"Encompassing the State: Sacrifice and Security in the Hunters' Movement of Cote d'Ivoire† reflected on the rise of a parallel security and patrol force in the Cote d'Ivoire region. The author argues that in the absence of a proper police or state patrol force the civilians tend to take resort to the security services rendered by parallel forces like the Hunting Communities named Dozos as reflecte d in the article. The parallel security force tends to govern the security paradigm of the region through laws and procedures created that gain avid popularity owing to the parameter of innovation, accessibility and concern for compensating the victims. Thus civilians were found to depend more on the parallel forces for meeting their security needs than on established police forces (Hellweg 3-22). Agreement or Disagreement

The Development of a software for outsourcing Essay Example for Free

The Development of a software for outsourcing Essay This study may not be achievable without the cooperation, guidance and support and of a few person and organization. University adopted Supervisor Dr. PQR[1], Lecturer, Department of computing, ABC University, was the resource of the inspiration and motivation to this dissertation effort. He has provided vital assistance along all the way. His help is really immeasurable. Department of computing[2], ABC University, is another resource to gaining this study.   It has provided valuable modulation, books, Journals, Researches and too many efforts for this study. Teacher and staffs of the Department and the Faculty Dean are extremely helpful.   Devoid of their assistance, this study could not have reached its conclusion. Encouragement, love and caring of my family ensured a working environment for such a project without disturbing the normal family routine. All the optimistic attributes of this dissertation have driven from those mentioned above. The conclusions or any other errors, omissions and mistakes within this dissertation are attributable just to the author. Abstract The world of business is in the midst of revolution in which the key ingredient is control and Management of information within the organization. Every company that wants to move forward must embrace Information technology based information processing. The purpose of businesses is maximization of goals especially this era of corporate sustainability and achieve this companies will need to move with technology based information processing. Companies in countries like Taiwan need to develop capacity to utilize Information Technology to improve product and services choice among customers in order to give pleasure and satisfaction. This independence, pleasure and satisfaction will be determined by individual perception of the chosen product or service and the preference in the choice of the same. Therefore, to accommodate the rapid changes occurring in business world, information technology processing software is needed. Then question of developing software for outsourcing purposes. This case study describes the rthe development of software and it outsourcing management. The implementation of a prototype IT developed by ABC, a student at the University of   kkk aiming to help SDE to develop technology-based inventory control. Collaborating with the management of SDE, XXX investigated this tool in the context of managing outsourcing of software. A inference research approach will be adopted to an able the research to study,   whereby qualitative empirical data was collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews, internet questionnaires. Face to face, interviews will be carried, targeting the employees of the company. I conclude that the Information technology system enhances companies managing of information , increases collaboration and sharing information among employees, and increased profitability by reducing knowledge management in the organization and loss due employees stealing. I have also learned that the management SDE appreciates the software outsourcing as a tool to successful control of patents and property rights. I was able to evaluate the usability of the software outsourcing. Finally, This study offer some contributions for this company on how software outsourcing will be great value and   make them improve the current market share as well as protect their software rights and some recommendations for its management in better decision making is availed.

International Trade Essay -- essays papers

International Trade In today’s world there are many issues in need of reformation, one of which is international trade, otherwise known as globalization. Although there are a great deal of rules, regulations, and policies imposed on international trade, the manner in which those rules have been enforced is a major controversy that seems to be escalating day by day. At the center of the controversy is the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO was established in 1995 in order to transform the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) into an enforceable global commercial code. Critics of the WTO say that instead of being run democratically and in the interest of member countries, it has become the enforcer of corporate managed trade. A system whose ethics are not in favor of the public interest, instead the focus has shifted to large corporations and making money. Profit is the motivating factor behind decisions made by the WTO. By looking at international trade from the rational perspective, the WTO has not only failed to protect consumers, workers, and the environment, it has also acquired a number of opponents and protestors. Recent issues concerning the WTO include President Clinton’s signing of a bill, which grants permanent normal trade relations to China and virtually guarantees them membership into the WTO. Not concerned with China’s communist regime that abuses its workers, supporters of the bill call it a â€Å"major victory for U.S. companies like Microso...

The Current State of Skoda’s Business in the Uk

Introduction Skoda, as a car manufacturer with a long history, has become one of the companies of Volkswagen who is the largest vehicle manufacturer in Europe since 1991 (Volkswagen, 2012). There is a fast development of Skoda in recent years. Its deliveries to customers in 2011 increased by 15. 3% compared to 2010 (Skoda, 2012). This report aims to: Â · evaluate the current situation of Skoda in the UK using the SWOT analysis. Â · analyze the business environment of Skoda in the UK by using the PESTLE analysis in detail. Â · create the possible strategies for Skoda’s future development based on the analysis.Company Overview With twenty years development supported by Volkswagen, Skoda achieved a new high record of sales for 45282 vehicles in the UK, which occupied over 5% of the whole sales volume of the brand. In the market of the UK, Skoda has launched seven models, namely Citigo, Fabia, Roomster, Rapid, Octavia, Superb and Yeti (Skoda, 2012). SWOT analysis Both strong an d weak points of the business situation about Skoda in the UK can be seen in the SWOT analysis (see appendix I). The most obvious strength is the satisfaction provided to customers.Skoda has been doing good job on improving their products and services to meet customers’ demands. The company surveys their feelings and opinions directly to get the correct needs of customers. At the same time, some chances might be taken by Skoda to boost sales. Focusing on the vehicle itself as the marketing strategy, Skoda’s competitors leave the space to Skoda to focus on ‘happy Skoda customers’. It avoided the direct competition focusing on the product itself with other rivals and became the ‘unique selling proposition’ of Skoda in the vehicle market (Times, 2008).In contrast, there are still some persistent weaknesses and threats of Skoda. One weak point, for example, is the negative effects from the ‘image of poor quality, design, assembly, and materi als’ in the past. Although Skoda had tried to make many efforts to make the brand image better, it was proved to fail in the mid-market range by a brand named Health Check. Meanwhile, the threats for Skoda are ‘50 different car makers selling 200 models’ in the UK. That means there is a highly competitive market in the UK, ‘potential buyers would overlook Skoda’.Informing the customers effectively and developing potential customers are the challenges for Skoda (Times, 2008). PESTEL analysis There are six parts of PESTLE analysis about business environment in the UK which focus on the external elements, namely, political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors. Some changes of political element, such as raising the VAT, are made by the UK government to increase the cost of buying cars. Plus, the UK customers are encouraged by British government to buy cars which are environmentally friendly because the road tax will be reduce d if people have small engines cars.That means the vehicle with smaller engine will attract more customers due to the financial reason. At the same time, the British car industry is affected by the economic recession. There is less demand which leads to fewer new vehicles being sold. People prefer to buy second hand cars instead of new cars because of the low price. The economic factors are more essential than the quality and design of cars because low consumption of new car means less profits the companies can gain (Gough, 2012).For the social element, the lifestyle changes of consumers may influence the design of a vehicle. Many bigger seats and larger space are provided in the cars for meeting the requirements of ‘the growing number of obese people in the UK’. In addition, the development of technology is a chance for companies to reduce production cost. Advertising their products widely on the Internet will attract more potential buyers. There might be some new lega l limitations of driving cars in the future. The speed limits may be considered more to ensure the citizen’s safety.Finally, the environmental issues, for instance the global warming, will be the pressure of vehicle manufacturers. They have to think about how to reduce the pollutant emission to be responsible for their society (Gough, 2012). Future strategy Two main suggested approaches aiming to solve the challenges of Skoda according to SWOT and PESTLE analyses are as follows: Â · Invest a lot on promotion. Such as advertise their product on Internet and TV for informing UK customers the high quality and low price of the cars to change the bad brand image. Expand the model range for meeting different demands of British customers to increase the market share in heavy competition. Conclusion and Recommendations It can be found that the high satisfaction and high quality with low price are the strong points of Skoda. Although some weak points exist, they can be solved by adve rtising of telling the high quality and expanding the range of model to gain more British customers. In summary, Skoda should overcome the negative effects by using its advantages to boost sales and increase market share in the UK.

The Impact of Scale on Francesco Borromini’s Sac Carlo Alle

San Carlo Quattro Fontane, known in popular speech as â€Å"San Carlino’ in reference to its small size, is Roman Catholic Church built between 1638- 1648 by an Architect named Francesco Borromini from Ticino, precursor to the modern day Switzerland. San Carlo Quattro Fontane is located in Rome, Italy on the crossing of Strada Felice and Via Pia was built originally for the Spanish Trinitarians as an extension of their already existing monastery .San Carlo alle Quattro Fontanne is often considered Borromini’s most iconic masterpiece of Baroque architecture for his signature use of undulating surfaces, pure mathematical forms and conforming geometrical shaping. San Carlo is significantly small given the magnitude of baroque constructed during Borromini’s time however does this hinder San Carlo’s architectural effect and impact as a classified baroque form of architecture? Francesco Borromini was a stone mason by trade and started off as a stone mason in hi s early career.Under directions of his father, he was sent to Milan for perfecting his skills in stone cutting when he was introduced to the craft of architecture before moving to Rome in the early 1600’s and started work for his distant relative and architect, Carlo Maderno. Only after Maderno’s death did Borromini became acquainted with the great Gian Bernini. Bernini became Borromini’s great friend and colleague as they worked on projects such Maderno’s Palazzo Barberini and the Baldachin in Saint Peter’s Cathedral.Bernini was impressed with Borromini’s novel formulation of architectural detail, something he has greatly perfected as a stonemason. The pair would become prime influences of the Italian baroque movement in Rome of the 1600s in advance of Pope Sixtus V ‘s â€Å"Roma in forma sideris† plan of Rome. Unlike Bernini’s character traits of being able to please aristocratic and the powerful, Borromini was a lonely , withdrawn man who looked to become an independent architect who prided himself on his specialized training and gained the most modest degree of recognition.As a Result Borromini began to part ways, both stylistically and personally, with Bernini and set about finding his own projects. On Borromini’s later works, Bernini criticized Borromini in abandoning the anthropomorphic nature in building design. At the time it was argued that building proportions should be derived from the proportion of the body of a man, the proportions of the Vitruvian man (as seen below), as it was argued that the proportions of the man was modeled in the image of God.Boromini however believed in the science of mathematics and how the idea of geometry and nature being inseparably connected, much like what Gallaleo wrote about, and he tries to bring light and shape to the fore of his style. After being commissioned by the Cardinal Francesco Barberini of the Spanish Trinitarians, Borromini’s fi rst independent commission, Borromini departs from the orthodox interpretations of antiquity and takes up his own style in reference to his ideals on geometry and mathematical proportions. As a result of Borromini’s freedom to create in the image of his ideals, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane has elements of unparalleled spatial complexity and Curvilinear Facades. The entire exterior facade of the church is an example of Borromini’s predilection for convex and concave forms which creates an undulating surface which transforms the movement of the facade from static to highly dynamic, or as observers would observe, almost like a wave.In addition to the curvilinear form the front of the church, the front facade is divided into two stories by projecting cornices and laterally divided by four ionic columns with capitals. The main body of the church is an undulating ovular shape with a ovular dome and a lantern on top of it to let light into the body, just like oculus in the pantheon. However the basic concept of the plan does not derive from an oval but from the main theme of the order of religion, The Spanish Trinitarians, which believes in the holy trinity.The plan and direction of the church is orientated based on the diagram below where the holy trinity, symbolized as the triangle is put back to back to form a diamond shape. This diamond shape is then inscribed on the outside making an oval shape, the shape of the main body of the church. Within this oval shape two circles are drawn and from those circles lines can be drawn from one point to another from the church and thus making those lines the direction of the architecture . The interior of the church can be vertically divided into three principal arts of the lower order at ground level, the transition zone of the pendentives and the ovular dome with it’s oval shaped lantern. Dividing the lower part of the church to the upper part is again the occurrence of undulating lines above the ioni c columns which envelop the lower part of the church. The ovular dome shape is made of interconnected squares, crosses, hexagons and octagons which diminish in size as they rise up towards the oval shaped lantern which allows natural light to pass in and dramatize the all white interior of the church.The scale of the church is relatively small compared to the monumental likes of grand architecture such as the Piazza di San Pietro by Bernini, as it was noted that the size of the San Carlo Church can fit in the one of the dome columns at Saint Peter’s basilica However Borromini exploration with small buildings on complicated ground planes which presented, often, irregular spaces, led to a new form of architectural expression which was extremely radical at the time.His ability to maintain architectural unity with the use of curvilinear of both the interior and exterior of the church, along with the mixture of classical components from ancient Greece, highlights the significance of the San Carlino Church as a new form which broke away from the contemporary architecture which mainly derived from Vitruvius’ ideals, seen widely expressed during that time period.However such a radical change in contemporary architecture at the time was too radical and Borromini’s work was met with critical harshness. Due to his poor critical response from art and architecture critiques at the time, he received very little acclaim during his life and consequently didn’t receive as many opportunities to create such as the likes of his old colleague Bernini and often worked for religious orders rather than the papal church.Thus arriving at my opinion that if Borromini was given the chance to design on a much larger scale for example the papal church, his architectural forms and thinking would have been taken more serious and thought about more and would have no doubt had greater influences on architecture which preceded it. Due to the lack of funding of his pr ojects, the scale of San Carlo all Quattro Fontane was extremely small yet it was packed with such elegance and adorned with such detail. In my opinion if improvements could be made, the location and the scale of the church could’ve further highlighted the architectural genius of Borromini.

Medic Soldier and Military Bearing Essay

Medic Soldier and Military Bearing Essay Medic: Soldier and Military Bearing Essay Military Bearing In the United States Army, military bearing is the root in which every service member practices in order to carry out good discipline and ethics throughout ones military careers. Army regulations, The Articles of the UCMJ, as well as our own Soldiers Creed illustrates how a military service member should conduct themselves on a daily basis, on and off duty. All military soldiers regardless of branch have an obligation to conduct themselves with dignity and in such a manner as to reflect credit on the military service that they are in. Dignity exists only where the individual has a proper sense of his or her own worth and of the worthiness of their cause. The person who possesses true dignity also will respect the dignity of others. Military bearing is dignity within military relationships. It exists when the individual is proud of his military organization and of their... Dependability is a major aspect of military bearing. Without dependability, one can neither perform properly in the workspace nor be depended upon by their coworkers, or chain of command to carry out their military duties properly. A military member is required to be punctual, and reliable. Lack of this in a service member not only hinders the mission of the command but of the entire Army. Honor, Courage, and Commitment, are three key values that are instilled in each soldiers life the instant that the oath of enlistment is pledged. Honor is the integrity that one takes

5 Benefits of Accepting an Internship After College

5 Benefits of Accepting an Internship After College Not everyone can graduate college and go straight into a full-time well-paid position. And those who do are often at entry-level. Why not consider a post-graduate internship: one year of servitude in exchange for possible future advantages? Here are 5 benefits  of accepting an internship after college.1. Buy timeA year-long internship gives you an entire year of freedom to figure out where your interests and skills really lie and what sort of job you’d most like to be your first. It’s the best time to take stock and find the track that’s right for you, before plonking your train onto it and charging off into your professional life for good.Soul search, network, look for new opportunities, figure out in which direction you’d most like to push yourself. And remember that a year is short and the time will likely fly.2. Try on a new cityIf you land an internship in a new place, consider it an opportunity to try that city out before committing with a permanen t move. If towards the end of your internship, you find yourself less than thrilled with your physical surroundings, you’ll know where not to direct your job applications.3. Boost your resumeBottom line: internships make your resume look better. Most companies actually consider them a prerequisite for most quality jobs. Having this year on your resume can actually give you a competitive edge when you hit the job market for real.4. Get paidMost unpaid internships get away with being unpaid by offering college credit. But you’ve already graduated! They’ll have to pay you, however meekly. Take advantage of this by working extra hours whenever possible. You’ll prove your diligence and devotion, and start paying off those student loans!5. Use your degreeDon’t want to work alongside a sophomore who just wants to spend a semester in the city partying? Don’t worry. There are internships out there especially designed for college graduates. These will value your accomplishments and help you to make the most of your degree, rather than making you feel you’ve taken a step backward.In short, never underestimate the power of the internship to jumpstart your career.

Who has more power, Executivce, Judicial or Legislative branch Term Paper

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Issue paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Issue paper - Essay Example The culture of any country is a conglomerate of many societies, which are unique and special to them. However, the values are not measured on individual differences but the differences on the society. Such differences are known as group level constructs (Hofstede 16). While applying this knowledge, anyone has to consider several factors, which always accompany culture. Examples of these factors include the national wealth, national history and heritage, the different individuals who live in the country as well as any coincidental events. While applying this method, a great level of care has to be taken into consideration in order to predict the future with more accuracy. According to Geer, culture is the collection of programmes of the mind, which differentiates followers of one group or class of individuals from another (Hofstede 16). A research was conducted in sixty-two countries, which sought to identify the most common cultures among the people in the world. The results conclude d by identifying nine similar cultures in most part of the world (Evan and Gordon Web). This therefore formed a benchmark for measuring independent variables. The variables were later noted to contribute to the differences between countries, which affect culture, and performance of my team (Ward Web). Being in South Korea, my country embraces deep religious practices among its citizens. Majority of the population in the country comprises of Buddhists, Christians, Confucians, Shamanist, and many other traditional religious groupings. Religion in this country will form a basis for the formation of work teams. Moreover, religion will form a moral code for human relations. I have also realized that Koreans are very respectful of an individual’s choice while the culture of impudence is highly discouraged. People in the groups will tend to avoid bad behaviors since it will discourage other group members from participating. I have also learnt that South Koreans have strict rules on decency and etiquette, whereby they tend to follow seniority in age and the hierarchical ranks (Asia Pulse Web). Individual collectivism is another cultural difference among nations, which impacts on the performance of teams. Individual collectivism is described as the value in which individuals and different groups give to themselves. Independent people are more concerned with achieving self-actualization and career success rather than dependent people who like to see themselves in successful teams. Cohesion among group members is of great concern than the individualism in the group. Therefore, I would consider that an individual has to prioritize group work rather than individual goals (Asia News Monitor Web). Gender concern is another issue that tends to affect the performance of group members. Different nations have different views and policies regarding the relationship of men and women in different work areas. In South Korea, masculinity defines responsibilities based on gende r in the society. In high masculinity communities, there are higher salaried jobs and ranks that are meant for women whereas in low masculinity organizations, women get recognition, which is more equitable in terms of positions and power. In South Korea, people prefer to have man in power as compared to women. Moreover, people prefer to have men in professional career growth than women. This role has made South Korea a high masculinity

Operational Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operational Management - Assignment Example The StarField Hyper Mall is a multinational chain with brilliant success across Europe. This was its first time in settling in the United Kingdom market and this involved endeavors that were different comparatively from other of its branches. One of such endeavor was its absolute helplessness over the fact that most of its partners did not have offices here in this country. As there was an adequate absence of services and partnerships, the company had to look for other partners from the local service industries. This involved new associations and new partnerships and the work that followed was not tested from past experiences but relied on mutual interest. Customers complained of the ‘Rudeness of the staff’, ‘Problems with facilities’ and ‘Reliability’. These are drastic complaints for each of the three complaints directly involves the company’s image. The rudeness in the attitude of the staff affects the customer-company relationship most effectively though. The staff is but ambassadors of the company and if they are found to default in their ethics and handling, it leaves an overall embarrassing reflection of the company’s image (Ali, 2003). Although the staff themselves mostly complained of such faults in attitude on the ‘help staff’, the implications affect the whole company. As the complaints fail to detail the rudeness, a hypothetical situation and subsequent assumptions have to be made in order to cater to this problem. The rudeness of the staff can range from the lack in listening to disability to help a customer in need. It can fall into many categories and can be a direct implication by any staff member of the company, be it the ‘help staff’, the counter staff or even the security. The customer could have had problems with the helping staff unable to provide them with timely assistance or failure to listen to them. The term rudeness can fall into different braches and can indeed include

Virtue theory Essay Example for Free

Virtue theory Essay Abstract: This paper develops and explores a pedagogical innovation for integrating virtue theory into business students basic understanding of general management. Eighty-seven students, in 20 groups, classified three managers real-time videotaped activities according to an elaboration of Aristotles cardinal virtues, Fayols management functions, and Mintzbergs managerial roles. The studys empirical evidence suggests that, akin to Fayols functions and Mintzbergs roles, Aristotles virtues are also amenable to operationalization, reliable observation, and meaningful description of managerial behavior. The study provides an oft-called-for empirical basis for further work in virtue theory as an appropriate conceptual framework for the study and practice of management. The results indicate that virtue theory may be used to re-conceive our fundamental understanding of management, alongside its capacity to weigh moral judgment upon it. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit. we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. —Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics V irtue theory has generated increasing interest among moral philosophers (e. g. , Maclntyre, 1981) and business ethicists (e. g. , Hartman, 1998; Koehn, 1995; Mintz, 1996; Moberg, 1999). While limitations of virtue theory have been justly noted (Koehn, 1998), scholars have effectively drawn on Aristotles (1999) virtues to help business students develop their moral capacities (Hartman, 1998; Mintz, 1996; Solomon, 1992). However, a significant challenge remains to help business students incorporate ethical concerns into a more integrated understanding of the practice of management (Park, 1998) and enhance their ability to recognize ethical issues (Gautschi and Jones, 1998). Our study seeks to address the moral integration problem by exploring a pedagogical strategy aimed at providing business students a moral lens via placing the virtues alongside other well-known frameworks of management. In  ©2001. Business Ethics Quarterly, Volume H, Issue 4. ISSN 1052-150X. pp. 561-574 562. BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY particular, students enrolled in a general management course were asked to observe managers actions and classify them according to tbree frameworks: our version of Aristotles (1999) four cardinal virtues; atextbook adaptation of Fayols (1949) functions of management; and our operationalization of Mintzbergs (1973) managerial roles. Most management textbooks are organized according to Fayols four functions (planning, organizing, controlling, and leading), with Mintzbergs roles being the second most-mentioned approach (Carroll and Gillen, 1987). We argue that, just as Fayol and Mintzberg provide frameworks that have proven helpful in talking and thinking about management and for helping students and practitioners to develop good habits of organizing, planning, making resource allocation decisions, and so forth, so also an Aristotelian approach will help us to talk and think about management in a way that permits integrating good ethical habits into management practice. Put differently, as expressed in the familiar maxim, A way of seeing is also a way of not seeing, at the heart of tbis current study is a pedagogy to provide management students an Aristotelian way of seeing what management is, to place alongside the more familiar and entrenched Fayolian and Mintzbergian ways of seeing. Providing students witb a lens drawn from virtue theory, to use alongside their lenses of managerial functions and roles, promises to help students integrate moral theory into general management thinking and practice. The remainder of our paper is divided into three parts. We begin by describing how we adapted Aristotles four cardinal virtues for our study, and present the tbree general research questions that guided our research. In the second part we present our method and our findings. The final section provides a discussion of the implications of our findings, future directions for research, and the potential usefulness of the virtues for integrating ethical concerns into management education. Virtue Theory and Management. It is commonplace to see management in terms of Fayols functions (planning, leading, organizing, and controlling) and in terms of Mintzbergs roles (interpersonal, informational, decision-making, etc. ). In particular, most management textbooks suggest that these ways of seeing provide the essential, basic lenses for developing an understanding about management (Carroll and Gillen, 1987). In this paper, we contend that virtue theory can be used in a similar way to provide a basic foundational view of management. Indeed, to make our case as forcefully as possible, we claim tbat virtue theory is primarily about management. For example, from Aristotles (1999) assertion tbat tbe purpose of life is to maximize bappiness, and that bappiness can only be maximized by practicing virtues in community, it follows that how we manage our communities is of main concern. Whereas for Aristotle ethics culminated in politics, we are suggesting tbat today etbics culminates in management, as managers play a critical role in society (cf. Maclntyre, 1981). Solomon (1992: 104 emphasis added bere) concurs that an Aristotelian approach to business ethics ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 563 conceives of business as an essential part of the good life, living well, getting along with others, having a sense of self-respect, and being part of something one can be proud of. Because managers in our society have a great say in what practices occur in business and organizations, and thus in facilitating social purpose, we contend that they are a central figure in virtue theory, Aristotles Virtues Reformulated for Todays Business Organization Just as Fayols original functions have been adapted and reformulated over time to fit and reflect contemporary concerns, so also we have adapted Aristotles four cardinal virtues for our study. Toward this end, we found the work of Solomon (1992) particularly helpful. Thus, our description of wisdom, justice, courage, and self-control takes into account the contextual and embedded qualities of virtues as relevant for present-day managers. We hasten to add that for our present purposes, our focus is on examining whether a virtue theory-based approach to conceptualizing management is empirically possible; it is not critical to our present enterprise that the particular virtues we have chosen, or our particular operationalizations, are the most appropriate. Similar to Aristotle (1999), we conceive of practical wisdom as a capacity for deliberation and action by individuals to obtain what is good for themselves and others in general. Practical wisdom entails the ability to ask insightful questions, evaluate real-world business situations, and apply relevant knowledge to the-individual-in-the-organization (Solomon, 1992: 111) unit of analysis. Instead of an individual or community focus, the business manager who possesses practical wisdom views individuals as embedded in community and understands that a potential dichotomy between the two is more apparent than real. S/he recognizes the reciprocity of individual and community good despite the complexities associated with a plurality of different stakeholders. When Mintz (1996: 829) notes that wisdom is an intellectual virtue and is considered to be the consequence of teaching and for that reason requires experience and time to be cultivated, it draws particular attention to the responsibility of scholars and leaders who shape how we think about and understand management. Solomon (1992) views justice, in the sense of fairness and everyone connected with an organization getting their due, as the basic virtue that holds institutions together. This emphasizes a personal responsibility as essential to business organizations, and reflects present-day concerns with the accountability of private and public institutions as citizens in society as well as organizational citizenship behavior by individuals. With the growth of highly complex multinational corporations, burgeoning bureaucracies, and unregulated cyberspace, it is more incumbent today than ever for individuals to act justly with promptitude and pleasure (Pieper, 1965: 63, 113) and to develop personal responsibility for their participation in organizations and larger communities. Our view of the virtue of courage in organizations today differs from traditional notions of courage in battle or courage of ones convictions—both instances 564 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY of extraordinary virtue which depend on especially threatening contexts (Solomon, 1992). To nurture oneself as an intimate part of a community, we see courage as a continuous fortitude or stamina to resist the ongoing pressures for impression management, job-hopping, and self-aggrandizement in todays organizations, which all potentially undermine other virtues necessary for community, such as honesty, loyalty, trust, and so forth. Courage implies hope and acting for the good of all even if this may diminish ones own status. Courage may involve speaking out on matters of injustice and personal conviction, and generally concerns maintaining ones integrity or wholeness (Solomon, 1992) in an increasingly fragmenting corporate context. The last of the four virtues, self-control or temperance, we see as relating to contemporary concerns with managers emotional regulation and impulse control. Such internal regulation is likened to Aristotles (1999) notion of virtue as a kind of mean, with excess and deficiency as vices (e. g. , see Aristotles commentary on anger). For instance, it is widely accepted that assertive, instead of aggressive or passive-aggressive, communications are more helpful in building relationships. Intermediate, rather than excessive or deficient, emotion is necessary for fostering other corporate virtues such as caring, gentleness, and compassion (Solomon, 1992). Self-control entails keeping focus on the whole, rather than over-reacting to details. Temperance in moderating desires is important (e. g. , reducing exorbitant individual and organizational consumption levels), but self-control vis-a-vis emotionality is especially relevant in todays crowded organizations, cities, and societies. Of course, the challenge that others have raised (e. g. , Hartman, 1998; Maclntyre, 1981; Mintz, 1996), and which underlies our current study, is to make virtues observable in management practice and a relevant guiding framework for management theory. More generally, this reinforces our overarching goal of placing this alternative way of seeing management alongside the two most common current ways of seeing (i. e. , Fayol and Mintzberg), and having virtue theory viewed as a partner framework for understanding and guiding management theory and practice. Research Questions We did not enter this study with a particular set of hypotheses we wished to test. Rather, ours is an exploratory study aimed at examining whether Aristotles virtues are similarly observable in managerial behavior by students as are Fayols functions and Mintzbergs roles. This leads to our first research question, to determine whether there are any differences between how able management students are to capture and classify managerial behavior using virtue theory versus the more commonly used managerial functions and roles frameworks. Can students be trained to see the four virtues as often as the managerial functions and roles? In terms of anticipated results from this first question, since our methodology was adapted from Mintzbergs original study, we expected students to be able to. ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 565 classify a greater proportion of managers activities using his framework than Fayols. We were not sure how well virtue theory could be used to classify behavior, but, given that it is a less common lens through which to view management, we would not have been surprised had students observed virtues less frequently. Of course, the less frequently virtue theory is able to categorize management behavior, the less utility it might have as an overarching approach on par with function and role theory. Our second research question is a deeper examination of the first. We wanted to compare how the various students applied the tbree frameworks, with an eye toward seeing whether there was some consistency in classifications of managers activities across students. Again, given the kinship between our methodology and Mintzbergs, we expected his framework to generate the highest inter-rater reliability. And, given the fact that management virtue theory is relatively underdeveloped, we might expect to see the least consistency in this framework. Of course, we were interested in this question because, in order for the virtues to be a useful framework for understanding management, they must be amenable to operationalization and consistent observation. We are using virtues as a way of understanding or (re)conceiving what management is, not as a way to pass moral judgment on it. In sum, we are interested in whether the consistency of students classifications of virtues were comparable to managerial functions and roles. Finally, we were curious to examine whether there were any inter-relationships between virtue theory and the other two frameworks. Again, as there is virtually (pun intended) no research in this area, our a priori expectations were based on speculation and intuition. Thus, for example, we might expect that managers who exhibit relatively high levels of justice might be more likely to manifest the controlling function and the decisional role. In asking this third exploratory question, we wanted to investigate how the virtues might be related to functions and roles in the behavior of actual managers, and how the three frameworks may be integrated. Method The methodology used for this study was adapted from the original method Mintzberg (1973) used in developing his managerial roles. We videotaped three managers from the same manufacturing firm during their regular work hours. The total amount of taping for all three managers combined was 9 hours, 39 minutes, and 56 seconds, and included the general manager, the financial controller, and a sales manager. These managerial positions comprise a reasonable representation of the variation in managerial job categories of the focus organization. The data reported here are based on the work of twenty student groups enrolled in one of three sections of an Introduction to Management and Organization Theory course offered in a midwest public university. The data reported here are based on the work of 87 students, with 4 or 5 students in each group. Each group was given the task of classifying one of the three different managers behavior according to each of the frameworks developed by Aristotle, Fayol, and 566 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY Mintzberg. To help students operationalize each of the categories within each of the three frameworks, the instructor provided them with templates of each. An abridged overview of the templates is provided in Table 1. The templates described various behaviors that represent each of the managerial virtues, functions, and roles. Readers wishing more detailed information on Fayols functions may consult any introductory management textbook (the template used in this study was based on the description presented in Starke and Sexty, 1992, the textbook used in the students course). Similarly, further information on Mintzbergs managerial roles can be found in Mintzberg (1973), which was used to prepare the template for this study. Table 1: Operationalization of Virtues, Functions, and Roles Category Sample Actions. Aristotles Virtues Practical Wisdom Justice Courage Self-control Using appropriate knowledge required to size up a real world situation and making a decision that increases the common good; helping subordinates to improve in a way that allows them to feel good about themselves; asking insightful questions Giving credit for success where credit is due; assigning appropriate accountability and responses for failure; accepting and acknowledging the merit in advice/wisdom from others. Treating set-backs as temporary; empowering others rather than hoarding power; complimenting others; accepting others counsel even when it may seem to diminish self status Making other-full decisions; calming a situation where over-reaction might be tempting; correcting a mistake in a self-controlled manner; letting go of details to embrace a larger perspective Fayols Functions Planning Organizing Controlling Determining new industries to enter in the future; setting and priorizing market share goals; determining tevel of vertical integration; choosing strategic focus; implementing and evaluating plans. Setting policy statements; establishing procedures; setting rules; determining how a specific service is to be performed or product to be manufactured; ensuring payroll or accounting functions are performed uniformly across the organization Touring facilities; reviewing financial/productivity reports; evaluating individual, group and/or organizational performance; rewarding good performance or taking corrective action for poor performance Mintzbergs Roles Interpersonal Informational Decisional. Helping a subordinate to leam a new task; making job assignments for subordinates; meeting with other managers at the same level within the organization; talking to competitors/suppliers/customer organizations Readitig industry newspapers; attending industry conferences; reading fmancial reports; sending memos; attending weekly staff meetings; relaying information fiom upper level managers; lobbying for organizational unit Develop a new way to produce or to market a product or service; responding to day-to-day crises; setting budgets; deciding how to increase capacity; conducting union negotiations. ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 567 An earlier study based on these data provided a much more detailed rationale for how each of the various categories and sub-categories were established. For the present study, it is sufficient to make two notes. First, rather than provide a detailed analysis of each of Mintzbergs ten roles, we here report data only for his three basic roles: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. This allows for a much more parsimonious presentation. Second, our analysis includes data on only three of Fayols roles: planning, controlling, and organizing. Students were not asked to code Fayols leading function for several reasons, but mostly because the curriculum in our university covers the leading function in a different course. 2 Results The data from the twenty reports were analyzed in several ways to address our three guiding research questions. We used simple descriptive statistics to examine the first question, namely, whether there were any differences between how ably students could classify managers behaviours using the three conceptual frameworks (i. e. , virtues, functions, and roles). As shown in Table 2, the findings were different than expected. First, because our methodology is adapted from Mintzbergs, we expected that his roles would be evident more often in the videotapes than Fayols functions and Aristotles virtues. We found that the opposite occurred. Although the students did classify 80 percent of the managers behavior using Mintzbergs roles, this was slightly less than the 82 percent of the time they classified using Fayols functions, and both these are statistically significantly less than the 89 percent of managers behavior students classified using Aristotles virtues (p . 01). Practical wisdom was the most frequently categorized virtue at 48. 4 percent, followed by justice at 26. 6 percent, courage at 8. 6 percent, and self-control at 5. 3 percent. Fayols functions were categorized at 17. 1 percent for planning, 22. 5 percent for organizing, and 42. 4 percent for controlling. Mintzbergs roles were categorized 51. 3 percent for interpersonal, 24. 5 percent for informational, and 4. 4 percent for decisional. Our second research question was to examine how much consistency there was between students in observing the various virtues in managers. For virtue theory to be a useful way to understand management, and for it to be most helpful in developing students ethical competencies, there should be consistency. Thus, inter-rater reliabilities were calculated to measure the consistency of student group observations vis-a-vis each framework (see Table 2). As we expected, inter-rater reliability scores among the 20 groups were the highest for Mintzhergs roles at . 98 and lowest for Fayols functions at . 82; Aristotles virtues ranked between these two frameworks, at . 91. 568 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY. Table 2: Descriptive Statistics and Inter-Rater Reliability Category n Category mean (†¢/o of time) Wisdom 20 48. 4 20. 3 Justice 20 26. 6 19. 9 Courage 20 8. 6 8. 3 Self-control 20 5. 3 Framework mean (†¢/. of time) Framework inter. rater reliability 88  » 5. 1 5d .91 82. D .82 80. 2 n Aristotles Virtues Fayols unctions Planning 20 17 1 14. 5 Organizing 20 22. 5 18. 7 Controlling 20 42. 4 19. 8 Interpersonal 20 SI. 3 14. 4 Infonnational 20 24 5 5. 5 Decisional 20 4. 4 3 1 Mintzber gs Roles Finally, our third research question was to explore how the virtues related to the other frameworks. Toward this end we calculated Pearson correlations between each virtue, function, and role (see Table 3 below). As this is an exploratory study, we used an alpha level of . 10 to examine significant correlations. We found four significant correlations between the virtues and the categories of the other frameworks. Practical wisdom correlated positively with both Fayols planning function (. 38, p=. O99) and Mintzbergs interpersonal role (. 55, p=. O12), and negatively with the controlling function (-. 41, p=. O74). Justice correlated negatively with the interpersonal role (-.40, p=. O78) and had an almost statistically significant positive correlation with the controlling function (. 36, p=. 118). Two more statistically significant correlations were found within the four virtues: (i) a negative correlation between justice and practical wisdom (-. 77, p=. OOO); and (ii) a negative correlation between justice and courage (-. 51, p=. O21). Finally, three other significant correlations emerged among categories outside of virtue theory: (i) a negative correlation between the organizing function and the controlling function (-. 70, p=.OOl); (ii) a negative correlation between the informational and decisional roles (-. 45, p=. O49); and (iii) a positive correlation between the planning function and the interpersonal role (. 61, p=. 004). In sum, it may be noteworthy that, of the nine statistically significant correlations found, most included at least one of the virtues (six), and fewer included one of the functions or one of the roles (four each). ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT ao S p O g o 9 q o o o II 569 p o CN Z 9 tn so rn o e s o I o 00 I o 10 (N 2 g o o o o o 2S8 e o ci d o 8 i o. b O o U  § i  § 9 U , . ; N .2 s 3 570 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY Discussion For proponents of a virtue theory of management, the results of our exploratory study are encouraging. Our findings offer preliminary empirical support for the contention that Aristotles virtues provide a useable framework for integrating moral concerns into a holistic view of management. Our results, that students are able to observe the virtues in actual managerial behavior, encourage their further use and development as a framework for education in management theory and business ethics. We will now discuss the implications of our findings, and future research opportunities, in more detail. Research Question #7 In regard to our first research question concerning the different frameworks efficacy to classify managerial behavior, Aristotles virtues performed better than the two most commonly used conceptual frameworks in management teaching. Students were able to use virtue theory to categorize almost ninety percent of managers behavior, about ten percent more than functions or roles. Thus, the further use and development of a virtue theory framework for teaching students about the responsibilities of management is supported. Future researchers may examine the link between the training that students receive and their subsequent ability to observe virtues, and also whether their ability to observe virtues is related to their likelihood of putting them into practice. This latter linkage, between being able to see in others and doing oneself, also undergirds mainstream management theory (e. g., students who observe the managerial roles will be more able to play those roles themselves) and is of particular relevance from a virtue theory perspective. Students who traditionally are taught to pose questions like What function or role should I be trying to improve as a manager? can be provided a framework to also ask Which virtue do I need to pay more attention to in order to develop as a manager? Do I practice enough justice in my interactions with subordinates? Have I been courageous in my dealings with upper management when advocating for my staff? Am I adequately temperate in my work aspirations? This approach to incorporate an ethical dimension within students professional identity is welcome given the competing complexities and demands of business life, and may help to address Parks (1998) concern with business students integrating ethical issues with other business frameworks. Unfortunately, current business ethics courses may be perceived as unrelated to the rest of what students are taught in business schools if they do not define a set of ethical responsibilities and practices in conjunction with other functional and role requirements of management proper. As a result, when students come to fill managerial positions, they may be left virtually point-of-viewless regarding their responsibilities as managers vis-a-vis ethical issues, and have a constrained ability to define managerial success. ARISTOTLES VIRTUES AND MANAGEMENT THOUGHT 571 Research Question #2 In examining our second research question, we found a relatively high level of inter-rater reliability across student group categorizations of the virtues, comparable to the categorizations for the two more mainstream views of management. Beyond providing additional empirical support to continue to develop a virtue theory of management, this finding also draws our attention to further study what the key management virtues are and how we should describe them. In particular, partially in response to readers who might be surprised at the high incidence of virtuous behavior observed in our managers (e. g. , Maclntyre, 1981), our exploratory study begs future research to more closely examine the content of what the students were observing to be virtuous behavior. The consistent student observations are striking because operationalizing the virtues is not an easy task. For example, a person can act fairly without manifesting the virtue of justice if he does so without promptitude and pleasure (Pieper, 1965) and, similarly, performing a courageous act does not make a person courageous. In this light, the consistency of observations in our study should serve to encourage researchers who focus on specifying which virtues are most important for contemporary managers, because it lessens their need to limit or compromise their choice to easy-to-operationalize virtues. In any case, we suggest that future research use multiple method research designs to study virtues. For example, researchers could collect self-report data alongside videotapes, where managers are asked to describe, say, what prompted them to act fairly in a given situation. Similarly, researchers may interview subordinates and colleagues with whom focal managers interact. There may also be merit in developing a grounded theory of virtuous management, and analyzing observers classifications. As the research stream matures, there is potential for experimental designs and even survey instrument research. In short, empirical research within a virtue theory perspective has the potential to utilize and draw from the same methods and design strategies that have proven useful for other theoretical points of view. Research Question #5 The answer to the third research question provides a final point of departure for future research. For example, what do the positive correlations between practical wisdom and planning, practical wisdom and interpersonal roles, and the negative correlation between wisdom and controlling suggest? Is the wise manager one who controls less and pays more attention to issues of planning and interpersonal relations? Or, do these correlations reflect a bias in students towards the rightness of more participatory management styles that have become increasingly in vogue? Another question arising from the correlational analysis is the meaning of the negative association between justice and practical wisdom and justice and the interpersonal roles. Does the manager who displays more 572 BUSINESS ETHICS QUARTERLY practical wisdom do so at a cost to justice as we have operationalized them? Further, does the negative correlation between justice and the interpersonal role (and the almost-statistically-significant positive correlation between justice and controlling) indicate that students regard exhibiting the interpersonal role as somehow unjust and manipulative and not concerned with giving employees their due? Do managers who act justly perhaps do so at a cost to interpersonal relationships (e. g. , perhaps students perceived as just managers who enforce rules without adequate regard to unique personal needs)? The negative correlation between justice and courage draws further attention to issues around managerial manipulation, if students viewed managers ability to act unjust as something that takes courage. Alternatively, perhaps students see as courageous managers who protect their employees, even if this is not just toward shareholders. Along a different line, perhaps future research should examine the complementarity of virtues among managerial teams. Following Nadler and Tushmans (1990) argument that management teams should have leaders with complementary skills, so also the managers in our study may have complementary virtues. Thus, for example, one manager may be wiser while another more just. Such an approach leads to fascinating opportunities to examine the interplay between these virtues across managers. Finally, a comment on a non-finding in the correlational analysis. What about self-control? Is the lack of significant relationships with other categories, and the relatively low frequency of temperate behavior observed, an artifact of the methodology as might be the case if, for example, self-control is the least amenable to direct observation? Future research might find higher levels of self-control through self-reports asking managers about their feelings and stress levels during particular interactions. Similarly, one might design experiments using confederates to create highly frustrating interpersonal scenarios to assess the level of self-control displayed by subjects. These types of questions are indicative of potentially important directions in future research. Alternatively, perhaps our data suggest that future researchers should consider replacing self-control as a primary virtue for managers. Recall that the primary focus of our paper was to develop empirical support for the development of a virtual theory to conceptualize and understand management; we do not contend that the four virtues we have used here are necessarily the best or most appropriate. Our findings do demonstrate the merit in developing a virtue theory of management, and we now invite others to join us in the task of deciding which are the most important virtues for contemporary managers, a task which requires specifying its undergirding moral point of view (Frankena, 1973). Conclusion Our exploratory study provides welcome empirical support.