Hannebachite- a rare and important Sulphite Term Paper

Hannebachite- a rare and important Sulphite - Term Paper Example In fact Hannebachite among the two most important naturally occurring sulfites, the other being Orschallite (Ca3(SO3)2(SO4).12H2O). Hannebachite, Orschallite, scotlandite (PbSO3) and gravegliaite are rare sulphite minerals that come under the class of Sulphites. The name â€Å"hannebachite† has been derived from the place it was first discovered in i.e.at Hannerbacherly, near Hannebach, West Germany. Sulfite groups have the generalized formula Am[SO3]pZq ·xH2O and AmBn[SO3]pZq ·xH2O, where A and B both are cations and Z represent anion. The most commonly occurring cations groups binding includes Na+, K+, Cu2+, Mg2+, Al3+, Ca2+, Pb2+, and Ba2+. The molecular arrangement of sulphite is such that the sulfur molecule is at the apex of the pyramid thereby making sulfites really unstable. This is the reason why sulphite minerals are rarely found in nature. Hannebachite is an important component of fixated scrubber sludge. The structure of Hannebachite has several applications an d forms the basis of further investigation since the applications of the mineral are yet to be determined and hence immense scope of research lies in this area. Introduction Hannebachite received its IMA status in 1983 following which the first ever publication on it was produced by G.Hentschel, E.Tillmanns and W. Hofmeister in 1985; however, the first person to detect the presence of this mineral was P.Orschall who was also the discoverer of Orschallite mineral. He found these minerals in a place named Hannerbacherly in West Germany. In nature Hannebachite is mostly found along with another sulfite mineral called Orschallite. Other minerals found in the porous cavities of quaternary melilite nepheline leucitite are clinopyroxene, apatite and phillipsite COMPOSITION The mineral –hannebachite, gained importance owing to commercial research on sulfite rich scrubber materials. Studies have shown that sulfite rich scrubber material extracted from power plants were rich in Hanneba chite crystallites (Malhotra,2010). In nature Hannebachite is found as sharp, almost clear crystalline structure. The composition of the mineral is SO2 49.60%,CaO 43.42%, H2O 6.98% which corresponds to its molecular formula (Anthony et al,2000).Sulfites in nature are highly unstable owing to the pyramidal structure where the sulfur is seen at the apex while the oxygen sits on the other corners of the arrangement; thereby these unstable products change into sulfates. However, CaSO4.0.5H2O can substitute into the CaSO3.0.5H2O structure up to a mole fraction of at least 0.12 (Jones et al., 1977). Structure of Hannebachite It is already known that the chemical composition of the mineral includes carbon, hydrogen sulfur and oxygen. The molecular weight is about 258.30gm. Hannebachite is orthorhombic. Its space group is Pbna (2m/2m/2m). Extensive studies have been done to determine the exact structure of the mineral. Powder diffraction was conducted to calculate the single crystal profile (figure 3). The optical class of the mineral was seen to be biaxial. It was recorded that a= 6.46A, b= 7.765A and c=10.650A which means that in the orthorhombic crystal system of hannebachite alpha=90 °, beta= 90 ° and gamma=90 °. The J-mol structure gives a clear interpretation of this structure (Figure:3). Spectroscopic studies conducted brought forward a clear idea of the bonding between the atoms present (Figure 1). The structure of hannebachite mineral was studied through Raman Spectroscopy by Frost and Keefe. The sample for hannebachite was supplied by Mineralogical Research Company who sourced in from the Hannebacher Ley volcano in Germany. The bands are observed at

Malignant melanoma or chicken pox or shingles or goiter disease. PICK Research Paper

Malignant melanoma or chicken pox or shingles or goiter disease. PICK JUST ONE OF THE 4 - Research Paper Example son is not strong enough to cope with the virus, it is more likely that the person will suffer from the painful rushes that result from the disease infecting the sensory nerves. At this point the virus gets the protection from the human body humanity system thus they drop into the nerves forming a painful rush in the skin. The characteristics disease (shingles) is commonly found in the human adults. Chicken pox is caused a VZV virus (Varicella-Zoster virus) (Kaneshiro 1). Young kids can be protected from Varicela by the use of varicella vaccine. Vaccination is done when the kid is about one year old. Also at the age of four to six year, a booster shot is recommended to increase the chances of avoiding the future infection. For the people who are over 13 years, two doses of the vaccine is recommended, one coming after the other at an interval of 28 days. The disease infection happens once in a lifetime however the virus can stay in the body for long and cause shingles in when a person is at the old age. The infection of the disease starts simply just like that of a flu infection. The patient might have some running nose, coughing and sneezing. After the second day of the infection, the patient’s skin grows rashes. The rushes usually appears in the face and in the chest first and then spread on the other parts of the body. The spread of the rushes sometimes reaches the ears and the mouths. The pox in the human body differs from one person to another. Some people are affected just very few while others gets the pox allover the body. When the rash begins to appear in the body of the patient, they are usually pink in color but changes immediately to blisters (Marshall Cavendish Corporation 185). In the rashes, fluids forms but crust after a period of between one to two days. For the first seven days of chicken pox infections, new blisters forms after each of the first ones crust. The blisters takes a period of up to 14 days to be scrubbed completely and become

Human Resource Policies And Practices At Tescos Management Essay

Human Resource Policies And Practices At Tescos Management Essay This report reviews and discusses the Human Resource policies and practices at Tescos. The organisation has introduced a high commitment model which offers training and development to all employees. They have developed their culture through extending their logo every little helps to prove their commitment to employees as well as to customers. This has proved a world class model and very successful for the organisation. Organisations are implementing strategic HR as a change agent, not to replace an out dated personnel department. Although there is still evidence within the UK that once these interventions are implemented, they just replace the role of the personnel department. To be effective HR belongs on the board of an organisation. The organisation that will be reviewed is Tescos; during the past decade they have introduced strategic HR with increased training of employees. The role of HR within the organisation has increased in importance. Their practice of training and the importance of HR will be reviewed with the current theory. This organisation was chosen, through their introduction of strategic HR policies, which has led to an increase in business. This has demonstrated they are a first class provider of training to their employees, and has given scope for the organisation to expand into new markets. Tescos operates in a very competitive market; the consumer has a choice where to shop for their groceries. They have expanded their portfolio to include CDs, DVDs, electrical goods and clothing. Recently they have expanded into the financial services offering customers products from Credit cards to insurance. All their products are available on the internet 24 hours a day. Their slogan every little helps is used to show their commitment to customers, this has been used to reduce prices and to increase the level of customer service. This slogan is now used in their staff training, that any intervention will increase the knowledge of the work force. The organisation is widely reported in news papers, this is due to the success of the business. They are rapidly expanding in the UK with the opening of their Metro stores and into new and foreign markets. This has taken a great deal of their resources in the planning and implementing stage of expansion. The core units need to remain focused, to retain the reputation they have built. Reinforcing the culture and values through training will focus employees on their roles. Tescos HR Policy This section will report on the organisations HR policies, the information is taken from current articles and their web site which is outlined in the appendices. Tescos profits have soared 20% in the last year, taking them to a record 2 billion and setting a new milestone for UK business. The company takes almost one of every three pounds spent in a supermarket, and more than one of every eight pounds spent on the High Street. The supermarket chain is Britains biggest private employer with nearly 260,000 staff (Poulter, S. 2005). The human-resource strategy at Tescos revolves around work simplification, challenging unwritten rules, rolling out core skills to all head-office employees and performance management linked to achieving steering-wheel targets. This highlights the way in which Tescos business measures are closely linked to performance management (Anonymous 2003). Tesco ensures that each and every employee has the opportunity to understand his or her individual role in contributing to the Tesco core purpose and values. This requires an innovative induction programme that caters for different cultures, styles of learning and varying commitments to the job. The frontline employees are considered the ultimate reflection of Tesco to its customers, but all employees have a very important role to play in turning core values and customer commitment into reality on a daily basis (Whitelock, N. 2003). A major Tesco challenge is to ensure that all of its employees, wherever they work, are aware of the role they play and that they can clearly see how their actions affect the big picture of the overall business. The training creates a graphical journey through the history of Tesco, its core purpose, values, business goals, financial aims, operations and marketing strategy and its commitment to customers. All employees are receiving more training than before (Whitelock, N. 2003). A human-resource-led business strategy has helped Tesco to take the lead over its rivals in the fiercely-competitive UK supermarket sector. The strategic policy (Future) started in the companys supermarkets, where its aim was to free up stores employees so they could do more and improve customer service (Anonymous 2003). Future concentrates on providing a clear way of defining roles, responsibilities and activities. The system guarantees that all employees are responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. A group of 13 key management techniques is used to improve the core skills of the workforce. The techniques include root cause analysis, problem solving, plan-do-review, situational leadership and coaching for high performance (Anonymous 2003). For the first time, people have been made a core element of strategy. The importance of this strand of the project has been recognised by putting a senior director in charge. Quarterly board meetings always review human resource issues. Tesco now tracks human-resource information as closely as financial results (Anonymous 2003). Looking ahead, Tesco intends to continue its emphasis on increasing the skills of its workforce. The firm aims to make learning into a truly integrated part of its culture, as an important way of developing organisational flexibility and remaining one step ahead of its rivals (Anonymous 2003). Analysis Of HR Practices At Tescos This section of the paper will discus Tescos approach to HR and compare this to current thinking. Recognition of the importance of HR in the UK has increased in recent years; this is a result of competition from overseas economies. In countries for example Japan, Germany and Sweden investment in employee development is higher that the UK. This has led to some organisations reviewing their policies on training introducing continuous investment in their employees (Beardwell, I et al 2004). There are fundamental differences in the approach to HR. Storey (1987) discussed these as hard and `soft versions of HRM The hard version places little emphasis on workers concerns and, therefore, within its concept, any judgments of the effectiveness of HRM would be based on business performance criteria only. In contrast, soft HRM, while also having business performance as its primary concern, would be more likely to advocate a parallel concern for workers outcomes (Storey cited in Guest, D. 1999). The appearance of knowledge based economies, has deep implications for the factors of growth, the organisation of production and its effect on employment and skill requirements. This may call for new directions in industry related government policies. The prime minister stated that education is the best economic policy we have. That through the policy of lifelong learning the UK would have the knowledge to compete in the new economy (Tony Blair PM (1998) DTI White Paper). Tescos have exceeded the governments expectations for learning, having introduced training as a strategic advantage. It is argued that organisations require new skills to survive; the new thinking is based on complexity and chaos theory. Organisations are viewed as self-regulating, emergent, open, whole systems. This contrasts the metaphor of organisations being machines to that of organisations as living systems (Capra (2002) cited in Nixon 2004:58). Tescos have strategically integrated HR into their overall plans. Managers have been to utilise aspects of HR in their decision making. This has shown high commitment to HR, attempting to gain acceptance from all employees, and offering to all employees basic and extended training (Beardwell I 2004). The big picture of Tescos strategic direction is discussed with all employees. This helps the individual employee to understand their role and importance within the organisation. Therefore, they place a high value on their human resource. There has been an increase in training within the organisation; all employees now receive more training than before. This is a result of the HR department taking a strategic role. HR is not an administrative department within Tesco; they are proactive and are on the strategic level of the organisation. This increase in training priority has been supported by a rise in Human Resource Management. This practice emphasises that increased growth can only be maintained in the long run; by equipping the work force with the skills they need to complete their tasks (Mullins, L. 2005). Strategic HRM has gained both credibility and popularity over the past decade, specifically with respect to its impact on organisational performance (Paauwe, J Boselie P. 2003). Each employee is considered a part of the overall strategy; therefore they are instructed on the importance of their role. This training is delivered in a way that encompasses all learning skills and allows for cultural difference. There is an increased need for a higher value to be placed on employees, and therefore get the best performance from the employees. According to Delany (2001) successful organisations keep people issues at the fore front of their thinking and at the core of their decision making and planning. Delany adds organisations that get the people things right are the organisations likely to be around in the future (Delany (2001) cited in Mullins, L. 2005:748). Being the largest Private employer in the UK Tesco takes this responsibility seriously, this is demonstrated through their training and development policy. This has exceeded the governments recommendations for training of the individual and the move towards a learning society. For HR to succeed it must take on a proactive role within the organisation. Strategic HR creates value by providing opportunities for organic learning, development of intellectual capital and enhances core competencies. This value is crucial to the organisations future success (Treen, D. 2000). Employers are increasing extorting the best possible performance from employees. Best practice will increase the skills of the current workforce, and with recruiting it will reinforce the culture of a highly skilled work force (Mullins, L. 2005). Reinforcing learning within in an organisations, requires what Hawkins (1994) called a change at the heart this change is in the understanding of learning, a shift from viewing learning as being abrupt facts to learning as a more multi-faceted and dynamic process (Hawkins, P 1994:9). This learning environment with Tescos has been extended to encompass all aspects of the work environment. The learning process has been challenged to create a culture that allows continual learning throughout the organisation. As knowledge is what matters, organisations and individuals alike must become continuous learners (Hawkins, P 1994). The organisation runs an academy that recognises skills in the individual. The training is identified from core, operational and leadership skills. All employees can access the core skills. These development programmes are tailored to the individuals skill level. The delivery method for the training is varied, allowing for the individuals learning preference. Tescos operate within a fiercely competitive sector, using a human resource led business strategy, has help to place them in the number one position. This is only sustainable if the strategy is on going, with competitors actions monitored for any changes (Mullins, L. 2005). To fully exploit the wealth of knowledge contained within an organisation, it must be realised that it is in human resource management that the most significant advances will be made. As a result, the human resource department must be made a central figure in an organisations strategy to establish a knowledge basis for its operations (Armstrong, M 2005). The principal function of any organisation is to increase the value of the business and therefore enhance the wealth of its Owner(s). This is obtained by efficient use of the limited resources available to them (T Blackwood, 1995). Garrick (1998) discussed that training inextricably linked to market economics, that knowledge is prized in so far as it can generate a market advantage(Garrick 1998:5). This leads to the assumption that though training and developing employees, it can give the organisation advantage, increasing profit HR and training literatures highlights the organisational benefits to be gained from adopting a systematic approach to HRD, therefore the ongoing development of employees skills underpins the wider business objectives (Keep, E 1989). This systematic approach to training often includes models that identifying needs, planning, delivery and evaluation. Harrison developed an eight stage model to identify monitor and evaluate training. The evaluation stage is possibly the most problematic part of the training process (Reid, M and Barrington, H 1997). The organisation has seen the advantages that training can give, and has fully incorporated this into their business. The process of training is formalised through recognition of the need and continual review. Organisations no longer offer a job for life there is no longer guaranteed employment, with a pension as a reward for loyalty and compliance. The psychological contract between employer and employee has shifted. Employees are increasingly mobile, changing employment for promotion, reward and job satisfaction; top employees have more choice as to where to work. To retain these key employees the organisations culture needs to allow an environment of personal growth (Harrison, R 2002). With less job security, the best reward an organisation can give an employee is transferable skills (Marchington M Wilkinson, A 1997). With the changing employment market, employees feel less job security and are taking more responsibility for their career paths. The skills they are taught within Tescos could be transferable; therefore in the long run they could benefit competitors. Although the benefits of training the work force exceed the disadvantages, this employee mobility should not be ignored. Their every little helps slogan is easily recognised by the customer, but is also built in to the training program. This slogan is part of the ethos and culture that is Tesco. The organisation surveys their employees to gauge motivation and to identify training which employees require. This goes further than just identifying organisational benefits of training. Individuals can plan for the future career. Career development is important to the individual employee (Armstrong, M 2005) Harrison (2002) noted this as an organised planned effort comprised of structured activities or processes that result in a mutual career-plotting effort between employees and the organisation. This is a central component of the psychological contract that binds the individual to the organisation (Harrison, R 2002). This further complicates the role of the HRD practitioner, balancing organisational needs with the individuals expectations. Some employees will develop their career with one employer, while others require transferable skills. The organisation requires employees with the right skills to ensure and sustain competitive advantage (Armstrong, M 2005) Conclusions And Discussions Tescos long term strategy is to continue to place value on employee training and to integrate this value into the culture of the organisation. They are using this approach to maintain their competitive edge. The value that is placed on HR demonstrates commitment from the top levels of the organisation to training. Tescos intentions are to maintain this increased emphasis on staff training and to integrate this learning fully into the organisation. There is constant reviewing of the intervention, and make adjustment were necessary. The study of Tescos HR policies has demonstrated that by introducing a higher level of training to all employees it has an affect on the bottom line. When the employees are trained and demonstrating a higher commitment to the organisation they feel part of the overall strategy. This leads to employees feeling valued and therefore a more committed work force. This is then felt by the consumer, with a higher level of service, which gives the organisation added value. The entire organisation is involved in training. This training is offered at all levels within the organisation, Managers and facilitators are developed to deliver this intervention. Employees have control on their training after the initial induction process. This allows employees control of their career path, with the choice of whether they want to move up the ladder or not. There is conflict within the majority of organisations in the UK as to how much of the resources will be dedicated to training. This buy off for the economic resources, can prove short sighted in the long term. Training has always been the the first cost cuts in times of recession. Yet with todays enviroment, organisations need to train the work force to survive. Whereas organisations that embrace knowledge and learning satisfies the physcological contract and helps to retain and nuture employees. The cost of not devloping employees in the long term is far greater than the cost of developing them. The HR department in Tesco is proactive, not getting caught in the every day administrative function. Their model of HR is one of best practice and high commitment. This has allowed the organisation to focus on the human resource with such practices as training issues. This focus on HR is vital to the success of the organisation, without commitment, it would amount to a waste of resources. Tescos is a very successful UK organisation. They have increased their market share and retail units over the past five years. This has been achieved partly through a fully integrated HR department. Although this is not the only factor to their success, it has certainly been a major factor in it. Other organisations could benefit from reviewing Tescos policies. They have demonstrated a model implementation of HR. This has been a contributory factor to their increase in profits. Competitors will need to review their training policies, to reduce Tesco market share. Training as an intervention has been a successful policy in the organisation, the evidence points to increased profits from training.

Birth Order and Eating Disorders :: Family Psychiatry Depression Essays

Birth Order and Eating Disorders I. Introduction: Individuals are pieces of a whole, called the family. The family has an undeniable influential role on each of the members of the unit, and conversely the individuals’ influence on the family unit. With this undeniable understanding of the family, it is important to look at the relationship between those with eating disorders and birth order. Is there a correlation between birth order and the development of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia? However, birth order only scratches the surface of the relationship between eating disorders and the family unit. Looking past potential relationships between birth order and eating disorders, is there the possibility of a relationship between eating disorders and the family dynamic? Perhaps the dynamic of the shared relationship between family members, beyond sibling relationships, plays an important role in the development of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia. II. Birth order effect? Locating studies with a focus on a relationship between birth order and eating disorders is a difficult task. Little research has been conducted to look for possible correlations between rank in birth order and the development of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia. Few researchers have attempted to look for a correlation, and those that have completed studies have conflicting findings. Rowland (1970) searched for a relationship between birth order and anorexia nervosa. In his study, he found that those with anorexia nervosa were overwhelmingly the eldest children; however, his study just fell short of statistical significance. Crisp (1977) and Crisp et al. (1980) tried to duplicate his findings but failed to support Rowland. On the contrary, the two studies found an excess of later born siblings and the development of eating disorders. Findings for birth rank and anorexia have thus far proven to be inconsistent and more studies need to be conducted to determine the relevance of birth rank and anorexia. Similarly, few studies conducted have focused on birth order and bulimia. Ebert (1983) and Dolan et al. (1989) failed to find any significant deviation from expectation in the birth order of patients with bulimia. Lacey, Gowers and Bhat (1991) found that in small families, the bulimic was more likely to be the only or oldest child, however this held no statistical evidence. The second finding in the study is that bulimia is represented in all family sizes, but of particular interest is that all-female siblingships were well represented, but this too did not prove to be statistically significant. Birth Order and Eating Disorders :: Family Psychiatry Depression Essays Birth Order and Eating Disorders I. Introduction: Individuals are pieces of a whole, called the family. The family has an undeniable influential role on each of the members of the unit, and conversely the individuals’ influence on the family unit. With this undeniable understanding of the family, it is important to look at the relationship between those with eating disorders and birth order. Is there a correlation between birth order and the development of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia? However, birth order only scratches the surface of the relationship between eating disorders and the family unit. Looking past potential relationships between birth order and eating disorders, is there the possibility of a relationship between eating disorders and the family dynamic? Perhaps the dynamic of the shared relationship between family members, beyond sibling relationships, plays an important role in the development of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia. II. Birth order effect? Locating studies with a focus on a relationship between birth order and eating disorders is a difficult task. Little research has been conducted to look for possible correlations between rank in birth order and the development of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia. Few researchers have attempted to look for a correlation, and those that have completed studies have conflicting findings. Rowland (1970) searched for a relationship between birth order and anorexia nervosa. In his study, he found that those with anorexia nervosa were overwhelmingly the eldest children; however, his study just fell short of statistical significance. Crisp (1977) and Crisp et al. (1980) tried to duplicate his findings but failed to support Rowland. On the contrary, the two studies found an excess of later born siblings and the development of eating disorders. Findings for birth rank and anorexia have thus far proven to be inconsistent and more studies need to be conducted to determine the relevance of birth rank and anorexia. Similarly, few studies conducted have focused on birth order and bulimia. Ebert (1983) and Dolan et al. (1989) failed to find any significant deviation from expectation in the birth order of patients with bulimia. Lacey, Gowers and Bhat (1991) found that in small families, the bulimic was more likely to be the only or oldest child, however this held no statistical evidence. The second finding in the study is that bulimia is represented in all family sizes, but of particular interest is that all-female siblingships were well represented, but this too did not prove to be statistically significant.

Lord of the Flies: Intelligence and Good vs. Evil Essay

Good versus evil is a common concept used often in storytelling, writing, plays, movies, etc. the basic story line is commonly used and developed to mold different ideals, meanings, and lessons into different types of works. William Golding’s novel the Lord of the Flies falls into this category of works with the good versus evil story line. Boiling the novel down to its most basic state it is a story of a group of boys. They all start out in a state of innocence, then as they adjust to their new surroundings after being stranded on a deserted island with no adults; they chose whether or not they turn from their innocence. When the boys turn from their innocence they go from being good to evil, or as the interpretation of this novel is commonly perceived the boys go from being civilized boys to savages. It is in this sense that civilized and good can be used interchangeably for this interpretation, and the same for evil and savagery. Golding puts an interesting twist to this basic plot right in the beginning of the story. Golding takes the story from just a simple tale of good versus evil to good versus evil with competing ideas of intelligence. Right in the beginning of the novel we see these ideas of intelligence take form. As the story builds the differences in the types of intelligence grows and becomes more distinct. From there the competition of good versus evil begins. After their plane crashes the boys who were on the plane to escape the warfare in England are scattered on the island. Ralph, the first boy we are introduced to meets another boy named Piggy. â€Å"It’s a shell! I seen one like that before. On someone’s back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It’s ever so valuable-â€Å"(15). With Piggy’s help Ralph uses the conch they found to call out to the other boys on the island. This is the first hint at the two types of intelligence. Piggy is already exhibiting signs of natural intelligence. This type of intelligence is developed based on the sensory analysis of the surroundings. This intelligence is more advanced and enables Piggy to think in more civilized, advanced ways. He is immediately made fun of for his appearance and as the story progresses is mocked as a know-it-all. No one listens to Piggy, even though the conch and the meeting were his ideas no one realizes this, nor do they care. Once all the boys are gathered together there is a vote on who should be chief. A boy named Jack is introduced as the leader of the choir boys and he wants to be chief, but when put to a vote Ralph is elected. Ralph does give the choir to Jack and asks what they would like to be. Jack tells Ralph that he and his choir shall be the hunters. Ralph depicts more social intelligence. Ralph knows how to work a crowd, how to lead a group, and how to gain respect. â€Å"Everybody must stay round here and wait and not go away. Three of us- if we take more we’d get all mixed, and lose each other- three of us will go on an expedition and find out† (23-24). This act showed that Ralph was able to get the attention of the boys at any time and that the boys would actually listen to him. His ability to be able to accomplish this as quickly as he did really shows his true social intelligence. â€Å"If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire† (38). Ralph does show some natural intelligence as well, but not nearly as much as Piggy exhibits. Jack also shows a form of social intelligence. He is able to keep command over his choir and they listen to him no matter what. This shows that in the beginning of the story even though the boys are all different, have different types of intelligence, and have mixed feelings about the situation they are still united together as a whole. â€Å"All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing† (50). The boys begin to slack and begin to realize that there aren’t consequences or punishments for the wrongs they do. Jack and his group of hunters become obsessed with the idea of killing a pig, and are the only ones exempt from helping build shelters, though the other boys don’t really care enough about their orders to help build or gather food. It’s at this point in the novel where there are serious signs of cracks and issues with the order system the boys have put in place since being on the island. Jack is beginning to slip into a more savage state, and is using his social intelligence to bring other boys down with him. The improvised form of society that the boys have created is already starting to weaken and fall. â€Å"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood† (69). â€Å"Look! We’ve killed a pig-we stole up on them-we got into a circle-â€Å"(69). It is at this point in the novel where the group of hunters, the boys who killed the pig, have turned from innocence. The kill they had obsessed over finally happened and they were proud of themselves for killing. The act of killing a living creature, something they never had done before, was the true turning point for them. There was no turning back from it; the hunters even painted their faces, this sense of wearing a mask, pretending to be someone else enabled them to kill. â€Å"‘But they’ll be painted! You know how it is. ’ Eric says. The others nodded. They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought. ‘Well, we won’t be painted,’ said Ralph, ‘because we aren’t savages’† (Golding 172). Ralph is starting to understand that Jack and the group of boys who follow him are starting to turn to a more evil state. Ralph still tries to use his social intelligence and command over his boys so they don’t go over to Jack’s side. Within Jack’s group the obsession with hunting caused the boys to let the fire go out, and subsequently lose a chance at rescue. The hunters didn’t really seem to care about the fire; they were still overly hyped up about their kill, swearing that they would hunt again and bring back even more meat. As the boys become more and more content with letting go with the rules they get closer and closer to losing their sense of civilization completely. â€Å"‘If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued. ’â€Å" (Golding 92). As the boys start to fulfill their own wishes of hunting and playing they get sick of listening to Ralph and being controlled by the conch. They don’t want to do work; they just want to have fun. Jack rebels against Ralph and makes his own â€Å"tribe,† where he could be the leader and he would no longer be controlled by the conch. Evil starts to arise rapidly; the majority of the older boys side with Jack and abandon Ralph’s authority. After that Piggy, Sam and Eric are the older boys who remain with Ralph. As the night wears on, some of the â€Å"littleuns† sneak off to join Jack. This is truly the end of their makeshift society, it has completely failed. After the split of the group it appeared as though things could settle down, but Ralph and his boys find that it is nearly impossible to keep the rescue fire going. They need to ask the others for help but Jack’s boys are too afraid to help them. Jack had taken to using torturous and intimidation methods to keep control over his group. He wears a mask, like he did when he killed the first pig; this seems to allow Jack to give in completely to his â€Å"evil† savage side. It was while celebrating their savageness and reenacting the kill that they got carried away and got themselves overly worked up. â€Å"The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws† (Golding 153). The wickedness in all of the boys deludes them into mistaking Simon, the only truly â€Å"good† pure boy, as the beastie. Simon was considered to be the â€Å"pure† boy, the epitome of civilization and innocence. Jack and the other boys had completely given themselves over to their evil sides, giving in to their natural instincts and savagery. Social Intelligence and natural intelligence are both qualities that help a person to be successful in life. However, overall, society puts greater worth in social intelligence. The abilities to work with others, lead and motivate others, and inspire others make a person successful in life. Just like good and evil, social and natural intelligence go hand in hand. One is not greater than the other, but like people believe good is better, people put more stock in social intelligence. In Lord of the Flies the boys put their trust in Ralph, but as time goes on, and rules begin to be broken, the less control Ralph seems to have. Social intelligence will only go so far, it can’t be natural instincts. Natural instincts are hidden behind the rules and expectations of society. When they begin to dwindle and those instincts become more prominent, that natural intelligence becomes important, it can be the intelligence or lack thereof that can make or break a situation. Without one, evil or good, natural intelligence or social intelligence, the other is not really known. Without evil how would we know what good is? If everyone was socially intelligent how would we know what natural intelligence is? The answer is we wouldn’t have a way of knowing. A person cannot know one without knowing of the other. Intelligence and good and evil all work together, as seen in Golding’s novel. Jack possessed the same kind of social intelligence as Ralph, but when he gave in to evil his social intelligence the power it gave him over the other boys allowed Jack to change the atmosphere of the island and turn the boys away from goodness and civilization. Piggy had natural intelligence but because he lacked any real social intelligence he was shunned, mocked, and in the end killed for this. He came off as a know-it-all and a whiner; this annoyed the other boys and eventually led to his demise. The boys didn’t put any stock in natural intelligence; they put all their stock in social intelligence and natural instinct. Ralph, with Piggy’s help, was able to remain civilized and good. Though he lost his hold on the boys he still had his social intelligence, and even some natural intelligence of his own to rely on. When Ralph was in charge his positive outlook affected the boys as well, they were positive because he was positive. The struggle between good and evil does not just affect the person who’s battling it within themselves, it also affects those around them, and subsequently can change them too. ?

Compare and Contrast Harry Potter Movie and Book

Tianhao Mr. Findley Human Resources Management MGT-3375 Nov 28,2010 Employee Turnover Introduction â€Å"In a human resources context, turnover or labor turnover is the rate at which an employer gains and loses employees. Simple ways to describe it are â€Å"how long employees tend to stay† or â€Å"the rate of traffic through the revolving door. † Turnover is measured for individual companies and for their industry as a whole. If an employer is said to have a high turnover relative to its competitors, it means that employees of that company have a shorter average tenure than those of other companies in the same industry.High turnover can be harmful to a company's productivity if skilled workers are often leaving and the worker population contains a high percentage of novice workers. †(Wikipedia,Jan,2009) Turnover occurs when employees leave an organization and have to be replaced. With today's baby boomer generation beginning to retire from the labor market, man y companies are finding it increasingly difficult to retain employees. Turnover is becoming a serious problem in today's corporate environment. The employment culture is changing as well.It is now relatively common to change jobs every few years, rather than grow with one company throughout the employment life as was once commonplace. In addition, employees are increasingly demanding a balance between work and family life. Types of Employee Turnover Turnover is classified in a number of ways. Each of the following classifications can be used, and the various types are not mutually exclusive: * Involuntary Turnover Employees are terminated for poor performance or work rule violations * Voluntary TurnoverEmployees leave by choice Involuntary turnover is triggered by organizational policies, work rules, and performance standards that are not met by employees. Voluntary turnover can be caused by many factors, including career opportunities, pay, supervision, geography, and personal/fami ly reasons. Voluntary turnover also appears to increase with the size of the organization, most likely because larger firms are less personal, are permeated by an â€Å"organizational bureaucracy,† and have more employees who are inclined to move. Functional Turnover Lower-performing or disruptive employees leave * Dysfunctional Turnover Key individuals and high performers leave at critical times Not all turnover is negative fo organizations; on the contrary, some workforce losses are desirable, especially if those who leave are lower-performing, less reliable individuals, or disruptive co-workers. Unfortunately fo organizations, dyfunctional turnover does occur. That happens when key individuals leave, often at crucial work times.For example, a software project leader left in the middle of a system upgrade in order to take a promotion at another firm in the city. His departure caused the system ungrade timeline to slip by two months due to the difficulty of replacing that pr oject leader. * Uncontrollable Turnover Employees leave for reasons outsides the control of the employer * Controllable Turnover Employees leaves fo reasons that could be influenced by the employer Employees quit for many reasons that cannot be controlled by the organization.These reason include: (1) the employee moves out of the geographicarea, (2) the employee decides to stay home with young children or elder relatives, (3) the employee’s spouse is transferred, and (4) the employee is a student worker who graduates from college. Even though some turnover is inevitable, many employees today recognize that reducing turnover is crucial. Therefore, they must address turnover that is controllable. Organizations are better able to retain employees if they deal with the concerns of employees that are leading to this type of turnover. Causes of high or low turnoverHigh turnover often means that employees are unhappy with the work or compensation, but it can also indicate unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or that too few employees give satisfactory performance (due to unrealistic expectations or poor candidate screening). The lack of career opportunities and challenges, dissatisfaction with the job-scope or conflict with the management have been cited as predictors of high turnover. Low turnover indicates that none of the above is true: employees are satisfied, healthy and safe, and their performance is satisfactory to the employer.However, the predictors of low turnover may sometimes differ than those of high turnover. Aside from the fore-mentioned career opportunities, salary, corporate culture, management's recognition, and a comfortable workplace seem to impact employees' decision to stay with their employer. Many psychological and management theories exist regarding the types of job content which is intrinsically satisfying to employees and which, in turn, should minimise external voluntary turnover.Examples include Hertzberg's Two factor theory, McClelland 's Theory of Needs, and Hackman ;amp; Oldham's Job Characteristics Model Effects of Employee Turnover High turnover can be a serious obstacle to productivity, quality, and profitability at firms of all sizes. For the smallest of companies, a high turnover rate can mean that simply having enough staff to fulfill daily functions is a challenge, even beyond the issue of how well the work is done when staff is available.Turnover is no less a problem for major companies, which often spend millions of dollars a year on turnover-related costs. For service-oriented professions, such as management consulting or account management, high employee turnover can also lead to customer dissatisfaction and turnover, as clients feel little attachment to a revolving contact. Customers are also likely to experience dips in the quality of service each time their representative changes. The cost of turnover varies with the difficulty of the job to be performed.For example, in a food-processing company, s howing someone how to put jars of jam into a cardboard box may take five minutes, so the cost of training someone to handle this job would not be high. If, however, the tyrannical manager of the food processing line at the company kept driving away food cookers and quality-control workers, the cost of constantly training employees in this critical area could be high. Turnover costs Many organizations have found that turnover is a costly problem.In many service industries, the turnover rates and costs are are frequently very high. Employee turnover can cost companies millions per year. Good managers work to reduce turnover by taking a step beyond business level conversation. When accounting for the costs (both real costs, such as time taken to select and recruit a replacement, and also opportunity costs, such as lost productivity), the cost of employee turnover to for-profit organizations has been estimated to be up to 150% of the employees' remuneration package. There are both direc t and indirect costs.Direct costs relate to the leaving costs, replacement costs and transitions costs, and indirect costs relate to the loss of production, reduced performance levels, unnecessary overtime and low morale. In a healthcare context, staff turnover has been associated with worse patient outcomes. The costs of employee turnover can be staggering, ranging anywhere from 1/2 to 5 times an employee's annual wages dependant upon his or her position. It is neither possible, nor desirable to completely eliminate turnover from your organization.Some of the costs associated with employee turnover are unavoidable and must be expected to occur in the normal course of business. Turnover Calculation (1). Calculate the average number of employees (2). Calculate the number of departures during the period (3). Divide departures by number of employees Prevent Turnover Employee turnover is not just a Human Resources Issue. When an employee leaves a company, the employee takes with him kno wledge and experience, that which cannot be monetarily measured and that cannot be easily recreated.These are the little hints, tricks and history that relates to how to perform effectively and efficiently. Higher turnover can cost a company millions of dollars per year and can slow down productivity! It is important for managers to find ways to motivate and reward employees that don't break a budget line item, but still make the employee feel needed! Most employees spend between 40 and 60 hours per week on the job and away from a family. Because of this, the workplace sometimes becomes almost like a second home.This is a huge amount of time and the last thing a good employee wants is to feel that time is wasted or has become inefficient. â€Å"Managers can make the difference! Although professional achievement goals are mentioned quite often in managerial handbooks; these handbooks don’t always make note of the small things that make coming to work a desired event. Humans e njoy interaction. Although bonding is a term that has been misused lately, this is exactly what a manager should encourage. Some workplaces are conservative and some are liberal. No matter the culture, the small things matter!If most of the employees enjoy playing ping pong, watching Judge Judy or like pizza, what better way to reward employees who contribute the most? A used ping pong table can cost fifty dollars – a used TV set can cost about the same and pizza can certainly cost less. Lunchtimes can be used to engage in some fun activities that relieve stress and encourage sharing. † (Linda,2007) Here are some steps for reducing employee turnover. First, hire the right people and continue to develop their careers. Does your company have an ongoing career development program, tuition reimbursement, or skills training program?An investment in upgrading the workforce is one of the best investments a company can make when looking at long-term growth. Hiring the people th at are a good â€Å"fit† with the culture of the organization — meaning that their values, principles, and goals clearly match those of the company — and then training as necessary will go a long way toward ensuring employee loyalty and retention. Second, most companies with low turnover rates are very employee oriented. They solicit input and involvement from all employees and maintain a true â€Å"open-door† policy that avoids closed-door meetings.Employees are given an opportunity for advancement and are not micro-managed. Intrinsic rewards are critical. Employees must believe they have a voice and are recognized for their contribution. Remember that â€Å"trust† and â€Å"loyalty† are a two-way street. Third, develop an overall strategic compensation package that includes not only base and variable pay scales, but long-term incentive compensation, bonus and gain-sharing plans, benefit plans to address the health and welfare issues of the employees, and non-cash rewards and perks as well.To be competitive in today's labor market, most companies find it necessary to offer a standard benefit package, including health, dental, and life insurance, vacation and leave policies, and investment and retirement plans. In general, reducing employee turnover saves money. Money saved from not having to find and train replacement workers can be used elsewhere. Not All Empolyee Turnover is Bad â€Å"Not All Employee Turnover Is Bad — Celebrate ‘Losing the Losers’. (John,2009) It’s hard to find a more misunderstood and mismanaged human resource area than employee turnover. Executives are constantly sounding off about how â€Å"bad† employee turnover is, but in some cases, employee turnover is actually a positive thing. Imagine, for example, that you had a poor-performing worker like Homer Simpson. If Homer walked in late one day as usual and announced that he was leaving, would you consider that a bad thing, or would you secretly celebrate his departure? The idea of keeping everyone is just plain silly.The fact is that there are many factors that can transform â€Å"ordinary turnover† into either positive or negative turnover. As a result, few firms are beginning to classify their turnover as either â€Å"regrettable† or desirable turnover. Whether turnover is good or bad depends primarily on the business impact caused by the departure of the employee. â€Å"It’s easy during tough economic times to under focus on turnover and retention because the turnover rate of almost every firm decreases, as employees increase their emphasis on job security.However, this â€Å"lull† in turnover might be an ideal time to re-examine your processes, metrics, and goals related to turnover and retention. It’s especially important to act now because quite often the â€Å"seeds† or initial causes of turnover are more likely to be happening now because of the frustration related to budget cutting, hiring freezes, layoffs, and lack of development funds and opportunities. †(John,2009) Summary Employee turnover is a ratio comparison of the number of employees a company must replace in a given time period to the average number of total employees.A huge concern to most companies, employee turnover is a costly expense especially in lower paying job roles, for which the employee turnover rate is highest. Many factors play a role in the employee turnover rate of any company, and these can stem from both the employer and the employees. Wages, company benefits, employee attendance, and job performance are all factors that play a significant role in employee turnover. Now days most managers make their best to reduce the high employee turnover to make the organization better, but nothing is absolutely, â€Å"Not all turnover is bad†.References Dr. John Sullivan, Not All Employee Turnover Is Bad — Celebrate â€Å"Losing th e Losers† retried from http://www. ere. net/2009/04/06/not-all-employee-turnover-is-bad-celebrate-losing-the-losers/ Linda Banks, Reduce Employee Turnover: How to encourage your employees to stay retrieved from Nov 28,2010 http://www. suite101. com/content/reduce-employee-turnover-a20445 Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Turnover(employment) retrieved from Nov 28,2010 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Turnover_(employment) http://www. missouribusiness. net http://www. referenceforbusiness. com

Green Thought By Jon Stallworthy Reading Response Essays

Green Thought By Jon Stallworthy Reading Response Essays Green Thought By Jon Stallworthy Reading Response Paper Green Thought By Jon Stallworthy Reading Response Paper Essay Topic: Poetry Green Thought by Jon Stallworthy is an interesting and valuable poem about love. During my essay I will justify why Green Thought is a worthy poem to be entered into a young students poem anthology. The poem is an excellent choice because of Stallworthys choice of characters, imagery and his skill in showing the power that love has to heal. Within the poem, Stallworthy tells a story of love and death. Written in first person narrative, the poet describes an old man as he reminisces about his wife during the good times, and bad. Ultimately, the young poet learns a valuable lesson about love through the experiences of this old man. The story within the poem is one of my reasons for choosing this poem as it is about a mature romance, so young adults would benefit and learn a lot about love from it. The poem also shows us that life is a very precious thing so we should live our life to the very best we can, as we cannot predict what will happen in the future. But most of all, teenagers would benefit from the hope the story conveys. It gives hope that in any bad situation we can anticipate and expect good events to follow. : Despite being a story of mature love, which may seem to be an unusual subject for younger readers to enjoy, the lesson learned about love in the poem is very relevant. It gives readers the hope and expectations that love can have the power to heal pain. Seen through the eyes of the young poet, it helps the young students to relate to the story through Stallworthys perceptions of events. Similar to the young readers, the poet admits to not know much about love, so the theme of the story could be very educational. I expect that Stallworthys perspective of the old man would also be similar to the readers. His observations are very reliable as he conveys that we learn from older and more experienced people, as that is where our perception of life comes from. The poet effectively creates a variety of different images during the course of the poem. From the opening lines I knew the comparison between love and grass was definitely effective. He has described love as common as grass. From this image, I imagined that what was meant by it, is love is everywhere. Even though it may sometimes refuse to take root on a lawn, which means that even when you cannot seem to receive or give love when and where you want, it will always appear very unexpectedly. Love is a constantly growing factor in life. Not only is love a positive and significant occurrence, it is also able to split asphalt. This image tells us that love is very destructive. Love also has the ability to bury a bombsite. This means that love is a very effective healer and can cover over hurt. Being able to grow in any ditch, niche or gutter, shows love is persistently surrounding us, even between the most unlikely of couples. The realistic portrayal of the characters throughout the story is another reason for choosing the poem. The old man in the story is conveyed as a well dressed and mannerly man with his scrupulous tweeds and courtesy, and someone who we would regard as a grandfather figure. I feel that we are able to look up to him and that many people will be able to relate to his personality and description as of that of someone they know. When he is dressed up he is described as part of the ritual tea while he remembers a girl, not yet his wife and how happy things used to be. The readers would be able to feel compassion for the old man at this point in the poem. The portrayal of his wife is two sided. In the good times, she is regarded as a happy character, who runs for more tea into the singing kitchen. The personification of the kitchen is an effective way of an example of how happy she was. However, the image of her is soon changed to that of a gaunt, tragedy queen. This is a very dramatic image of her as an unhappy person which is a very reliable description as the man only had selective memories of her as a princess not nineteen and he only remembered the good times. Tears and agonies, that even the doctors could not understand backs up my earlier view of a mental illness and shows her depressive moods. I imagine being around her at this point would be quite traumatic as the last tantrum ended by her hand. This childlike connotation and the repetitiveness of the word conveys some kind of mental illness and uncontrolled emotions that she had. It is shown how important this love is to the man by the ritual of the Sunday afternoons. This religious imagery is then continued with the woman; as he loved her so much he even worshipped her in a religious sense. The shrine this is continues the imagery as a shrine is seen as a religious and special place, and I think that as this ritual was so important to him, it actually became like a religion. The effective descriptions, images and lessons learned from the legend of the funeral in the poem are definitely very positive reasons for choosing this poem. He is described to be brought to the brink of her graveside. This makes me imagine he is physically brought face to face with what he refuses to accept, but also that he is mentally brought to the end of her life and the funeral makes it all final. Again, imagery is used to expose emotion. Healed with fine snow, is a perfect example, in that the snow is healing the pain of the mourners. The personification of every tree in sight bowing a moonlit head illustrates that even the trees were respecting her death by bowing in sympathy with him. In some way, the old man is protected by love. The snow falls by bandaging the bruised earth. This means that love acts like a bandage to a temporary scar. As the old mans love for his wife was so powerful, it was able to bandage the pain that she is gone. The snow has even more effect by being so peaceful and tranquil. It made the circumstances seem less harsh and eased the pain slightly. Due to Stallworthys excellent use of imagery, description and characters, I have learned a lot about love. I have learned that even in the most damaging, painful situations, love will always have the power to heal pain. In particular, the poets character analysis has given me very high expectations about love and marriage. The old man is a perfect example of how love should be. The vows made in marriage were certainly kept in his case. He loved his wife in sickness and in health, no matter how bad it seemed he did not leave her; this is true love. In conclusion, I definitely believe that this poem is suitable to be included in a poetry anthology for young students, simply because it gives hope, expectations and explanations of what love is and any young reader would benefit from the lessons learned about love in this poem.

English settlement essays

English settlement essays Farmers and debtors alike both came to America expecting the greatest land of all. However, once these people arrived, they realized America was a diseased, Indian infested place. On the contrary, America was full of land and freedom that no farmer or debtor could imagine. After life in America had been set up, different colonies started to break apart favoring their type of religion or political type. In the southern colonies, life was set up for farmers and women had better rights then women in the middle, and New England colonies. Middle colonies had a much different climate then the southern colonies and religion was much less strict- resulting in many different types of ethnic groups. New England was the center of much of the political battles throughout the set up of America and remained as colonies set for profit and religious freedom. The colonies set up across the Atlantic side of America was set up in very diverse ways and deferrer greatly among each other. Southern colonies lived much different lives then those of the lives of the middle and New England colonies. All Southern colonies-except for Georgia- were for slavery and saw nothing wrong in the act of owning people. People who lived in the southern colonies were mainly all big time farmers who had medium to big size plantations. Very few towns were built in the southern colonies because everyone was so spread out because of their huge plantations. Women were treated well in the south, since in the south there wasnt much else a source of profit except for owning plantations and land was everything to them. So the southern colonies made a law stating that when women married they did not lose control of their land. This protected the women unlike women in the middle and New England colonies who lost their land once they married. Life in the south varied a lot compared to life in the Middle Colonies. Middle colonies were composed of-New York, Pennsylvania, Rh...

A Midwifery Community Profile Health And Social Care Essay

A Midwifery Community Profile Health And Social Care Essay This community profile is based on an area in the outskirts of Glasgow and the objective is to identify the current provisions of maternity care and other health care services, which cater for the needs of the local population in the physical, emotional, intellectual and social needs for groups in the community, additionally, commenting on any deficits in care. Health promotions have been identified as resources that will enhance the health of this specific community’s health and are included in the profile. Also, the role and contribution of the midwifery services is explored, along with other primary healthcare providers and how they use teamwork to deliver healthcare to the community. Professional and ethical issues have been discussed throughout the profile and as all aspects of health are unrelated and interdependent, (Ewles & Simnett, 1992: Ch1 p7), a holistic and professional view has been taken to evaluate the needs, and health services of this community. The RCM beli eves that truly woman-centered care must encompass midwifery-led care of normal pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period and services that are planned and delivered close to women and the communities in which they live or work, (NHS Evidence, 2008). This statement shows the importance of a community midwife, as their role is to not only provide the clinical skills, but also be accessible for support and advice at the time of much adjustment for a woman. If the midwife can become a part of the woman’s community, getting to know the woman and her family more personally, learning to understand their lives and the nature of the life around them, she will be able to be more responsive and understanding to them as individuals, and move away from the depersonalization of the institution. Individual societies each have their own specific needs and characteristics, and it is vital for a midwife to know her area well in order to respond appropriately, along with poverty levels and rac ial mixes (Fraser and Cooper 2009, p. 43). Community-based care can be in the home or in community hospitals and centers, but is a process that emphasizes consultation, collaboration, and referral to the professionals who are most appropriately prepared to meet the women ¹s needs (Walsh, 2001). It is also vital that women are educated and â€Å"women should be given appropriate, accurate and unbiased information based on research that would allow and encourage them to make informed choices in relation to their care† (Baston & Green, 2002). Women from different backgrounds, and areas can often have very contrasting education levels and as a midwife, it is essential to know your neighborhood well in order to take these into consideration when communicating with a woman. The area chosen for this community profile is in the south west of Glasgow, which will now be referred to as area X, with a population of 10,024 (RDC – Registrar General’s Census, 2001). Table 1: Age Distribution – Area X Indicator Number Percentage Population aged 0-15 2,400 23.9% Population ages 16-64 6,463 64.5% Population aged 65+ 1161 11.6% The majority of the population is in the age range 16-64 years and the relevant health care services in the community for this group are the antenatal clinics, family planning and screening clinics.

Marketing Research on McDonalds (Australia) Essay

Marketing Research on McDonalds (Australia) - Essay Example It can be said that the marketing efforts for any product or service should always be line with the SMART framework. The SMART framework which essentially focuses on the guidelines related to specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed parameters helps to develop a highly integrated marketing plan within a time bound frame (Stone, 2001, p.15). The SMART objectives when implemented in a marketing plan in a properly organized and phased out manner helps tremendously to the process of increasing the productivity of the marketing plan (Mullin, 2010, p. 34). However, the following processes can be followed for the purpose of implementation of SMART objectives within the marketing plan aimed to bring focus and generate consumer interest on the globally present McDonald’s brand in the Australian market. Specific: In order to increase the effectiveness of the marketing plans, McDonalds should focus towards a specific group of consumers or the relevant target audience. Identi fying the specific consumer needs with regards to demography and age group, will lead to the better conversion and increased sales for the products of McDonalds in the Australian region, while effectively trying to generate advantage from the need fulfillment perspective. Measurable: For the purpose of better targeting, demand estimation as well as measuring the effectiveness of the marketing plan, McDonalds should employ various strategies related to data analytics to increase the relevancy of the marketing exercise. Achievable: After the process of effective demand forecasting as well as the estimation of the target audience, effective setting of targets on a monthly basis has to be made for the forward growth of the business. Focus should be on the point of setting sustainable and achievable target growths for the process of generating motivation of the sales team. Realistic: Effective consumer data analysis has to be done for promoting setting of realistic goals while taking int o account the various parameters related to change factors. Timed: While designing the marketing exercise, McDonalds should focus on setting a time limit for each activity in the marketing plan. The process of setting a time limit should comprise of setting a time limit for the development and designing of a new product or service. The time limit should also be fixed on deciding the duration of employing the various mediums for the process of value communication of the product or service in the Australian market. Timing the marketing activities is essentially important as this helps in generating a measure of the level of effectiveness of the various departments of the organization as well as the relevancy and effectiveness of the various platforms of marketing. 2. Having a highly effective and attractive positioning statement in the forefront of the marketing campaigns is a highly vital factor as it can hold the key to the making or breaking point related to the success of the mark eting campaigns. The reason behind it is associated with the fact that the positioning statement helps in the process of identification of the brand by the target audience as well as the competitors at large, while increasingly creating favorable points of difference with rival brands (Capon & Hulbert, 2007, p. 253). It can be said that the target audience which essentially comprises of the consumers of the Australian market prefer to have a food packaging which clearly highlights the

Lean Manufacturing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Lean Manufacturing - Essay Example A number of companies around the world use this technique. The main purpose for implementing this technique is to bring efficiency in the production process. This technique is often called as the production process of the twenty-first century. Today, almost every size of business makes use of lean manufacturing because of the fact that many large size businesses have achieved success by integrating this technique. In addition to this, many large sized organizations hire lean manufacturing experts in their organizations. Many companies begin the process of lean manufacturing through value stream analysis. It is an analysis in which each step involved in the production process is closely monitored and examined. After that, an analysis is made about the value of each step. Value stream analysis helps the companies in identifying those steps which needs improvement or which has no worth in the production process (Feld, pg 55). According to lean manufacturing, seven different types of wastes results in the inefficient production. These types of wastes include over-production, waiting, over-processing, inventory, defects, transportation, and moving. Among these, over-production, transportation, and inventory are related to the scarcity in the flow of material. All of these types of wastes are a source of increasing cost without creating any value for the final consumer. Some companies start their lean manufacturing process with the facility analysis in which determines opportunity areas in different sections such as service, production, shipping, sales, production, administration, engineering, quality, and maintenance. Besides this, there is sometimes a need of Six Sigma tools in the lean manufacturing process. In order to gain efficiency, lean team should be trained properly so that they can develop an understanding about when to use the lean tools and when to implement improvement (Davis, pg 23-44). It is essential that companies follow the road map

Team Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Team Analysis Paper - Essay Example It was a new group and I think it was under a company’s program to hire university students during summer so that we will be enticed to join their company after graduation. There were only around three long time employees there and the rest were us, around 12 summer employees. Our team had a rough start. Mainly because we came from different background. There was an IT guy, an Accounting guy, african, asian, different university, etch.; basically the group is just very diverse that it was difficult to find a common ground for us to â€Å"break the ice† so to speak. We were dependent to Ahmed who graciously provided us the guidance and leadership we needed because the team were not talking to each other that much then. Our first project came and we were tasked to create a training module which will be recommended for approval. The first meeting was dreadful. Everybody was showing off that they are better than the next person. And I supposed that each of us felt slighted after that because each of our idea that was floated was countered, argued upon, no matter how sound it was. There was also a power struggle among us with most team members wanting to catch the attention of the manager as if they will be given a raise or promoted if they were able to do that. Ahmed, initially just let us do our thing and sensing that we are not going anywhere, took over and provided the direction. It was the only time that the team calmed down. Our succeding meetings are already calm albeit there are still subterfuge animosity among team members who do not like each other or felt better than the other. But as we go along, we were able to delineate expertise and identified whose idea mattered most depending on the subject matter. If its about networks, applications, then we refer it to our IT guy Mark. If it involves numbers, financial statements, our accounting guy Steve will take over. Our team’s animosity eventually subdued when we started going out on lunc hes together. Then the lunch meetings progressed to cafeshops and having fun through the weekend. There, we were able to know each member thoroughly and found that they are in fact interesting person. We spent hours and hours until early morning talking and did not even noticed it because we were so engrossed with our conversations. The team bonded and became really good friends. This new found friendship reflected in our work. Meetings which usually lasted for several hours due to arguments were cut short and we begin getting praises from our boss with the quality of our work. Also, we were enjoying ourselves at work that it was no longer a drag like our first two weeks. I believe that we were doing very well as a team because Ahmed, our manager had been getting praises from the upper management with our output. But sadly, we have to part ways. We already knew this from the first day we begun our work that once class has started, we have to go back to the university. The team membe rs were hugging each other as we bid our goodbye with some teary eyed and we cannot believe that we once hated each other during our first meetings. Analysing my experience with my previous team, I thought that the experience was only peculiar to us. But when I did research and stumbled on the work of Tuckman Model of team development, I found out that what happened to our

Unclear Energy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unclear Energy - Assignment Example The geographical location of Jordan makes it hard to use water as a coolant and therefore need to find other means of cooling the reactors. The other difference is the availability of the relevant personnel to run the nuclear plants. Sophisticated and technical knowledge is required to manage a nuclear plant ensuring safety and efficiency. The use of nuclear energy in America started back in the 1940s, and therefore enough plans are set up to ensure enough individuals are trained for this job. Jordan is facing a challenge of personnel to operate the machines and maintain the nuclear power plants as it is something that has never been used before in this country. Environmental impact of the nuclear plants is the other difference. Nuclear energy production releases minimal amounts of greenhouse gases to the environment. However, the waste products from nuclear reactors contain radioactive elements that are harmful to human. Proper engineering techniques should be used and far away from human settlement. America has land that can be used for this while Jordan has limited land capacity and hence disposal of these wastes would be a problem. Also, Jordan still uses fuels and oil as a source of energy that highly contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases (Armaroli, 2013). Students contribution is highly required for the establishment of solutions on challenges faced in the energy sector. The first research on other cooling techniques to be used in nuclear plants located in areas where there is scarcity of water. The other is acquiring knowledge regarding operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants s it is a challenge faced in Jordan and other countries. The third is research and advice of disposal techniques of the radioactive wastes so as not to endanger human beings. The use of nuclear energy in America started a long time ago and therefore there is a big difference between the

Operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Operation management - Essay Example A comparison of Toyota and IKEA has highlighted that different companies have different styles of working and operating the end results of these can have a different affects on the business. It is clear that although the companies have different styles of working and different approaches to almost every decision making in the company, the success levels of the two companies has been recognized and known world – wide. In terms of the strategy the two companies have been recognized to be very different as Toyota has relatively much lower options of products but IKEA on the other hand has many products hence the costs of the company is also relatively quite high. Considering the innovativeness of the companies, the two companies need to have equally high levels of innovativeness. The two companies have also concentrated on the quality levels which in turn leaves the two companies highly successful. The redesigned process flow chart helps ensure that the customers are satisfied and there is a complete level of an effective and efficient process rather than having a process which seems very confused. In conclusion it is safe to say that the continuous improvements like that suggested by all authors, the companies will be able to have much better, effective and efficient quality management programs in the workplaces. Quality is one of the most essential aspects of every business and the success of a b usiness is directly impacted by the quality of the processes, products and services. Hence it is essential for businesses to recognise and choose the right theory to be applied for the business or the right combination of the various theories that will benefit the

Marketing Plan for a Brand in Trouble Assignment

Marketing Plan for a Brand in Trouble - Assignment Example FW Woolworth's UK subsidiary (Woolworths Ltd.) and B&Q were bought two years later by Paternoster, who are now known as Kingfisher PLC and are still B&Q's parent company. Since being bought out by Kingfisher, employees of B&Q have enjoyed a 20% discount on all products. Mid 1990's saw B&Q open a new format of store known as the B&Q Depot. This was a forerunner of a new class of store known as the B&Q Warehouse. Beckton, Enfield and Romford were amongst the first of the new Warehouse class stores to open (United Kingdom: Case Study: B&Q Direct, 2003). In the late 1990s, B&Q became active in the rest of Europe and the rest of the world. It co-operated in 1995 with parent company Kingfisher PLC to open its first overseas subsidiary in Taiwan, and in 1996 the first overseas large home improvement center in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. In 1998, it acquired NOMI, Poland's leading chain of DIY stores. Later that year, B&Q merged with France's Castorama. In 1999 B&Q opened a store in Shanghai, China and acquired the British hardware mail-order company, Screwfix. By the year 2000, B&Q had fifty of its larger Warehouse stores. This had doubled by 2003. B&Q's Direct's online transactional website, www.DIY.com, was launched in January 2001. By March 2003, it had become one of the largest stores in B&Q and its continued rapid growth will soon make it the biggest store in the group. The site sells a range of 14,000 products and is already the number one store for many heavy and bulky items and many other smaller product ranges (United Kingdom: Case Study: B&Q Direct, 2003). As well as generating considerable revenues of its own, DIY.com is part of a wider, multi-channel retail strategy that includes call centres and catalogues. All channels feed each other. For instance, 10% of those that shop in-store have researched their purchases online. A critical component in the overall success of DIY.com and the B&Q Direct call centres is their ability to process credit and debit cards efficiently and to restrict the level of card fraud. In September 2002, B&Q Direct appointed DataCash, a leading UK-based provider of outsourced payment processing and fraud prevention solutions, to handle the credit and debit card processing for both DIY.com and all its call centres (U.K. Retail Sales Plunge Most in at Least 10 Years: Update3, 2006). Before DataCash was appointed, B&Q had used a software solution provided by a US-based company to handle its card processing. B&Q had two key issues with this solution, one technical and one business, which led them to look for a new supplier (United Kingdom: Case Study: B&Q Direct, 2003). Based on the discussion, "MarketVVizard's Market Thoughts" (2005), European economies U.K. retail sales plunge most in 10 Years. Shares of companies including Plc and Kingfisher Plc declined in London after the British Retail Consortium said sales in stores open at least a year dropped 4.7 percent from a year ago, the biggest decline since comparable figures began in 1995. Domestic demand is clearly slowing a lot quicker than was anticipated even a month ago,'' said Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank AG in London. After an unprecedented run of strength it's time for consumers to stop, regroup, and think about getting their finances back in order.'' British factory production

Operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Operation management - Essay Example A comparison of Toyota and IKEA has highlighted that different companies have different styles of working and operating the end results of these can have a different affects on the business. It is clear that although the companies have different styles of working and different approaches to almost every decision making in the company, the success levels of the two companies has been recognized and known world – wide. In terms of the strategy the two companies have been recognized to be very different as Toyota has relatively much lower options of products but IKEA on the other hand has many products hence the costs of the company is also relatively quite high. Considering the innovativeness of the companies, the two companies need to have equally high levels of innovativeness. The two companies have also concentrated on the quality levels which in turn leaves the two companies highly successful. The redesigned process flow chart helps ensure that the customers are satisfied and there is a complete level of an effective and efficient process rather than having a process which seems very confused. In conclusion it is safe to say that the continuous improvements like that suggested by all authors, the companies will be able to have much better, effective and efficient quality management programs in the workplaces. Quality is one of the most essential aspects of every business and the success of a b usiness is directly impacted by the quality of the processes, products and services. Hence it is essential for businesses to recognise and choose the right theory to be applied for the business or the right combination of the various theories that will benefit the

How to Correct Bow Legs Essay Example for Free

How to Correct Bow Legs Essay Virasana Variation Virasana, or hero pose, is effective in treating flat feet and knock knees. This variation will help those with knock knees. Start by standing on your knees, then sitting down on your heels. Place a yoga block between the heels and sit on it. Make sure the knees are pointing straight forward and not touching each other. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds. Block Between the Thighs While standing, place a yoga block between the thighs as close to the pelvis as possible. Bring the feet as close together as possible and relax the inner thighs. Hold the pose for up to three minutes. This pose positions the legs in the opposite position of knock knees, bow-legged, which makes it therapeutic in correcting the original condition. Warrior 2 Pose Against a Wall Warrior 2 pose can help strengthen the knees if performed with proper alignment. Perform this pose against a wall or with the guidance of an experienced teacher to ensure proper alignment. In a standing position, bring the legs 4 feet apart and stretch the arms out to the side. Turn the right toes to the right and deeply bend the right knee. Activate the arches and keep the right knee touching the wall. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side. Downward-Facing Dog Pose with Block To perform this variation of downward facing dog pose, you will need a yoga block. While standing, place the block between the thighs and position the feet hip-width distance apart. Lower the hands to the ground and form the body into a V-shape. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds.

The Cathay Pacific Airways Information Technology Essay

The Cathay Pacific Airways Information Technology Essay This report comprises all the relevant information regarding the Cathay Pacific Airways, specially its security governance framework. It sums up four parts: background of the organization, potential areas of IT security failures, recommended IT security governance framework and lastly issues and challenges faced by that security governance framework. In the very first part, we have described about basic fundamentals like its headquarter, its fleet of airbuses, worldwide destinations and its achievement. In the 2nd section of the report are the specific areas where security failures may occur. These areas include managing core business system. Because the airways adopted the legacy systems, which is easily susceptible to security threats. Secondly it can not cope with current competent requirements. Furthermore, it being a wide infrastructure desktop PCs, the airways data flow over internet, which can be captured by any intruders or hackers. This may cause disruptions to routinely business. Its business to business (B2B) interchange of data again creates vulnerabilities in its IT infrastructure. The pervasiveness of network creates a more open set of information systems for the mobile and diverse need of the orgnaisation. This mobile arrangement may be easily attacked by internal and external sources. In the third part this report discourses on IT governance framework. This framework is the recommended one to be implemented in the organization. The structure of governance is fully r esponsible to provide control and effective management of the IT infrastructure security. In the structure each one is accountable at his own rank for the security, safety of IT assets and data protection. Lastly this report raises various issues and challenges confronting the security governance structure while managing and controlling the security of the IT infrastructure of Cathay Pacific. INTRODUCTION Today, every organization adopted or is thinking to adopt IT infrastructure. Once it is implemented, it needs security. IT assets, database and information trafficking on ubiquitous network need to be fully protected. That is why; a necessity relating to this IT infrastructure in an organization has cropped up. For safety and security, security governance has been thought of. It may comprise shareholder, board of directors, CIO, financial manager and so on. These persons are fully responsible for controlling and streamlining all the information system of the organization like Cathay pacific. This governance framework follows various new laws and regulations designed to improve the security governance. Threats to information systems disruptions from hackers, worms, viruses and terrorists have resulted in need for this governance. This report explains clearly security failures, governance framework for ICT and IT related issues and challenges. BACKGROUND OF ORGANISATION Cathay Pacific Airways is an international airline registered and based in Hong Kong, offering scheduled cargo and passenger services to over 90 destinations around the world. The main vision of this company is to make Cathay Pacific the most admired airline in the world. To Achieve this goal Cathay started its journey from 1946 and now it is known as best Airlines in Asia. It is one of the five airlines to carry a five star rating from Skytrax (Cathay Pacific 2007). The official website of Cathay Pacific is http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_INTL/homepage Cathay Pacific was established in 1946 in Hong Kong with a mere two DC-3 aircrafts servicing passenger routes for Bangkok, Shanghai, Manila and Singapore. From its humble beginnings, it has to date grown into a world class airline employing over 15,000 employees and reaching out to 62 global destinations. It owns over a hundred widebodied aircrafts that transports over a million passengers a month to almost each continent in the world (McFarland Young, 2003) and transports freight worldwide which constitutes to nearly 30% of its revenue. Profits stood at $511 million during 2002 and Cathay expanded into the state of the art $628 million global headquarters in Cathay City. Cathay continuously faced numerous challenges on its way to success. Nevertheless, its management acknowledges the fact that in order to remain competitive given the current market situation; it is of utmost importance to improve on its strategic and non strategic perspective of its entire ICT resource. Cathay Paci fic continues to invest in new ICT infrastructure to streamline its business processes and make information easier to access for all employees. As part of this process, Cathay Pacific implemented technology solutions designed to automate and simplify customer and financial information management. POTENTIAL AREAS OF IT SECURITY FAILURES Currently, many airlines are looking at e-business to protect their assets and to secure customers loyalty, and to be successful in todays competitive environment. Many e-commerce principles have been pioneered by the airline industry. These include the first business-to-business electronic information exchange and industry-wide electronic marketplace. There are many benefits to be gained for airlines and airline passengers, E-ticketing, e-Check in many internet base services provide to customer with quick and low cost services but there is still hesitation among many peoples even many companies about committing any major effort to electronic commerce. The main concern about security of sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, personal data and business confidential data (Jiang 2003). Managing Core Business System Cathay Pacific has been developing in house systems since the 70s. Some of its core business systems are accounting systems, engineering system, personnel and flight systems and other internal applications. Legacy systems are systems that have evolved over many years and are considered irreplaceable, either because re-implementing their function is considered to be too expensive or because they are trusted by users (Dietrich 1989). Business change constantly in order to meet the demands of the marketplace and this necessitates the need for information systems to evolve accordingly (McKeen Smith 1996). Over 20 years later, Cathay realized that the coordination and support of these systems was a cumbersome task that could potentially stunt the strategic growth of the company. Given its phenomenal growth rate, Cathay realized that the IM department will not be able to cope with the ever changing business requirements. Legacy passenger service systems may not be flexible and scalable en ough to support the new marketing strategies of airlines today (Cavaliere 2006). Cathay needed a technology that keeps costs down and is flexible whilst at the same time delivers on both todays needs and those of the future. Customizing current legacy systems to match these current competitive requirements just consumed too much time and resources. Mckeen and Smith (1996) further argues that since change is a constant in business and in technology, demand for maintenance is un-easing and since existing systems are the ones operating the business, maintenance work can easily overwhelm new development. Managing network infrastructure desktop PCs. Infrastructure plays an important role in ensuring vital support is supplied to systems development teams and that effective coordination and direction is available to IS as a whole (McKeen Smith 1996). Cathays rapid expansion to new destinations and tremendous surge in route expansion, passenger and cargo volume in the 80s caused Cathays network infrastructures to continue to expand. Without infrastructure, productivity will soon decline as individuals and groups each attempted to replicate the work of others. Cathays data center which coordinated fundamental airline operations was placed in two locations in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island. These data centers provided uninterrupted information to Cathays airline operations. The fire in 1991 on Cathays data center interrupted flight operations for 12 hours. Cathays management realized the importance of ensuring uninterrupted information flow to critical business functions is top priority for the organization. IT infrastructure and f acilities need grow in tandem with the organizations growth pace. Almost full at its operational capacity at its current data center, Cathay probably needed a few more data centers to manage the organizations information at current growth rate. Mid 90s saw an uneven PC distribution at Cathay Pacific. PC distribution to staff members depended on each staff members level of security access. This caused some of the staff to have a PC while other did not. This uneven distribution was finally rectified by Cathays outsourcing its PC management to IBM in 2001. The costs involved in outsourcing these services means that more scrupulous attention will be paid to their value on an ongoing basis. Nevertheless, the outsourcing exercise posed its own complexity involving hardware and software licensing issue. Managing dynamic changes in desktop environment and the suppliers was the main challenge in the desktop PC management for Cathay. The PC outsourcing trend was still new in this region thus raised skepticism among managers in the initial stage. Managing B2B system integration In a broad sense, Business to business (B2B) integration refers to all business activities of an enterprise that have to do with electronic messages exchange between it and one or more of its trading partners (Bussler 2003). Bussler further narrows down this definition in a software technologys scope that B2B integration refers to software technology that is the infrastructure to connect any back end applications system within enterprises to all trading partners over formal message exchange protocols like the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Cathay is naturally in a highly competitive and challenging airline business. Fundamental flight operational information can be very dynamic and customers must be kept updated with the latest information. Information, fares and schedules have to be accurate; sales promotions and marketing activities are constantly changing. Flight operations are vulnerable to any changes in weather which may cause last minute schedule changes or cancellations. With the wide array of multiple destinations, languages, time zones and alerting travelers, an airline business is constantly a logistical operations challenge to any Cathay. These information need to be translated into online web content in order to fulfill its B2B requirement. Information has to be accurate, the selling channel has to be reliable and secure, changes have to be updated quickly and last minute flight disruptions have to be communicated to passengers immediately and consistently through a number of different channels. Such an e-business vision has required a sophisticated architecture of specialist platforms designed to integrate and deliver a number of different information and application components in a seamless manner. Content management is one of the core components in Cathay Pacifics e-business architecture. It was vital for the airline to ensure that it invested in the right product that could deliver its promise within budget and on time. Managing Standards As the pervasiveness of network create a more open set of information systems for the mobile and diverse need of the organization, increased attention must be paid to the corresponding increase in exposure to attacks from internal and external sources (Dhillon, 2001). Cathay uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol as an industry standard for encryption over the Internet, to protect the Data. Cathays main challenge to date is not being able to convince its partners and customers with confidence that despite with the most recent security standards, any internet transaction could be leaked out by individuals through internet hacking. This is acknowledged in its website claim which says that complete confidentiality and security is not yet possible over the Internet, and privacy cannot be assured over all its internet communication between the business and its customers (Cathay Pacific 2007). Cathay pacific in ensuring reliable B2B applications has to ensure that the latest standards su ch as XML and open source technology are used extensively in all its software applications critical to business. Digital certification for all online transactions especially the ones that involve monetary exchange is imperative in ensuring customer confidence and to avert security breach. RECOMMENDED IT SECURITY GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK There are many definitions that describe the ICT Corporate Governance. Here I choose a few interesting definitions to be discussed in this report. Corporate Governance of ICT is Specifying the decision rights and accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT. (Weil Ross, 2004) In contrast, the IT Governance Institute, 2003 expands the definition to include underpinning mechanisms: the leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the organisations IT sustains and extends the organisations strategies and objectives. While AS8015, the Australian Standard for Corporate Governance of IT, defines Corporate Governance of IT as The system by which the current and future use of IT is directed and controlled. It involves evaluating and directing the plans for the use of IT to support the organization and monitoring this use to achieve plans. It includes the strategy and policies for using IT within an organization. Figure 1 AS 8015 2005 model of Corporate Governance of ICT (Source: Skinner, 2006) Every definition has its own way of describing the term Corporate Governance of IT but I think the definition of the AS8015, the Australian Standard for Corporate Governance of IT is the most understandable and clearly defined (see figure 1). AS8015 clarified whats really important the organisations goal (Toomey, 2006). However we can notice that every definition focuses on the same issues which is directing and controlling the implementation of IT according to the organisations strategy and policies. This involves the contribution in decision making of every stakeholder of the organization. As we can see that the IT Governance Institute has also stated the word Leadership, which stands for the principal of the organization, the board of directors and the management team, who must manage the efficient use of IT to achieve the strategies and objectives. Unlike old time which the IT system is managed alone by the IT department. Talking about the IT Management people may usually mix it up with the IT Governance. They are not the same thing. Governance is the process by which management is monitored and measured. It is not a substitute for management it is a way of ensuring that sound management occurs (Philipson, 2005). There are many key drivers for Corporate Governance of IT. Here in this report I will focus on the legal and regulatory compliances which will be discussed in the next part of the report. IT Governance Framework of Cathay Pacific Information security governance is the responsibility of the board of directors and senior executives. It must be an integral and transparent part of enterprise governance and be aligned with the IT governance framework. Whilst senior executives have the responsibility to consider and respond to the concerns and sensitivities raised by information security, boards of directors will increasingly be expected to make information security an intrinsic part of governance, integrated with processes they already have in place to govern other critical organisational resources. To exercise effective enterprise and information security governance, boards and senior executives must have a clear understanding of what to expect from their enterprises information security program. They need to know how to direct the implementation of information security program, how to evaluate their own status with regard to an existing security program and how to decide the strategy and objectives of an effecti ve security program. Whilst there are many aspects to information security governance, there are several matters that can assist in focusing on the question, What is information security governance? These are the: Desired outcomes of information security governance Knowledge and protection of information assets Benefits of information security governance Process integration (IT Governance Institute 2006) Figure 2: IT Security Governance Framework of Cathay Pacific (Source: Poore 2005) Information security governance consists of the leadership, organisational structures and processes that safeguard information. Critical to the success of these structures and processes is effective communication amongst all parties based on constructive relationships, a common language and shared commitment to addressing the issues. The five basic outcomes of information security governance should include: 1. Strategic alignment of information security with business strategy to support organisational objectives 2. Risk management by executing appropriate measures to manage and mitigate risks and reduce potential impacts on information resources to an acceptable level 3. Resource management by utilising information security knowledge and infrastructure efficiently and effectively 4. Performance measurement by measuring, monitoring and reporting information security governance metrics to ensure that organisational objectives are achieved 5. Value delivery by optimising information security investments in support of organisational objectives The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the leading membership organisation for boards and directors in the US, recognises the importance of information security. It recommends four essential practices for boards of directors, as well as several specific practices for each point. The four practices, which are based on the practicalities of how boards operate, are: Place information security on the boards agenda. Identify information security leaders, hold them accountable and ensure support for them. Ensure the effectiveness of the corporations information security policy through review and approval. Assign information security to a key committee and ensure adequate support for that committee (IT Governance Institute 2006). Benefits of Information Security Governance Information security governance generates significant benefits, including: An increase in share value for organisations that practice good governance Increased predictability and reduced uncertainty of business operations by lowering information security-related risks to definable and acceptable levels Protection from the increasing potential for civil or legal liability as a result of information inaccuracy or the absence of due care The structure and framework to optimise allocation of limited security resources Assurance of effective information security policy and policy compliance A firm foundation for efficient and effective risk management, process improvement, and rapid incident response related to securing information A level of assurance that critical decisions are not based on faulty information Accountability for safeguarding information during critical business activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, business process recovery, and regulatory response The benefits add significant value to the organisation by: Improving trust in customer relationships Protecting the organisations reputation Decreasing likelihood of violations of privacy Providing greater confidence when interacting with trading partners Enabling new and better ways to process electronic transactions Reducing operational costs by providing predictable outcomes-mitigating risk factors that may interrupt the process (IT Governance Institute 2006). ISSUES AND CHALLENGES In the ICT world today, not every organisation will be able to achieve success or reap its benefits. Too many ICT initiatives have failed to deliver the bottom-line results companies had hoped for. One very common reason of failure is that the organizations fail to have a good management and controlled of their IT system. The Data Governance Council, with a focus on the review and approval aspects of board responsibilities, recently recommended that boards provide strategic oversight regarding information security, including: 1. Understanding the criticality of information and information security to the organisation 2. Reviewing investment in information security for alignment with the organisation strategy and risk profile 3. Endorsing the development and implementation of a comprehensive information security program. Lets discuss about major issues and challenges that faced by Cathay pacific, implementing an IT Security Governance framework. Boards and management have several fundamental responsibilities to ensure that information security governance is in force. Amongst the issues they should focus on are: Understand Why Information Security Needs to Be Governed Risks and threats are real and could have significant impact on the enterprise. Reputation damage can be considerable. Effective information security requires co-ordinate and integrated action from the top down. IT investments can be substantial and easily misdirected. Cultural and organisational factors are equally important. Rules and priorities need to be established and enforced. Trust needs to be demonstrated toward trading partners whilst exchanging electronic transactions. Trust in reliability of system security needs to be demonstrated to all stakeholders. Security incidents are likely to be exposed to the public. Take Board-level Action Become informed about information security. Set direction, i.e., drive policy and strategy and define a global risk profile. Provide resources to information security efforts. Assign responsibilities to management. Set priorities. Support change. Define cultural values related to risk awareness. Obtain assurance from internal or external auditors. Insist that management makes security investments and security improvements measurable, and monitors and reports on program effectiveness (IT Governance Institute 2006). Take Senior Management-level Action Provide oversight for the development of a security and control framework that consists of standards, measures, practices and procedures, after a policy has been approved by the governing body of the organisation and related roles and responsibilities assigned. (Design) Set direction for the creation of a security policy, with business input. (Policy Development) Ensure that individual roles, responsibilities and authority are clearly communicated and understood by all. (Roles and Responsibilities) Require that threats and vulnerabilities be identified, analysed and monitored, and industry practices used for due care. Require the set-up of a security infrastructure. Set direction to ensure that resources are available to allow for prioritization of possible controls and countermeasures implement accordingly on a timely basis, and maintained effectively. (Implementation) Establish monitoring measures to detect and ensure correction of security breaches, so all actual and suspected breaches are promptly identified, investigated and acted upon, and to ensure ongoing compliance with policy, standards and minimum acceptable security practices. (Monitoring) Require that periodic reviews and tests be conducted. Institute processes that will help implement intrusion detection and incident response. Require monitoring and metrics to ensure that information is protected, correct skills are on hand to operate information systems securely and security incidents are responded to on a timely basis. Education in security measures and practices is of critical importance for the success of an organisations security program. (Awareness, Training and Education) Ensure that security is considered an integral part of the systems development life cycle process and is explicitly addressed during each phase of the process. (IT Governance Institute 2006) Questions to Uncover Information Security Issues Does the head of security/CISO routinely meet or brief business management? When was the last time top management got involved in security-related decisions? How often does top management get involved in progressing security solutions? Does management know who is responsible for security? Does the responsible individual know? Does everyone else know? Would people recognise a security incident when they saw one? Would they ignore it? Would they know what to do about it? Does anyone know how many computers the company owns? Would management know if some went missing? Are damage assessment and disaster recovery plans in place? Has management identified all information (customer data, strategic plans, financial data, research results, etc.) that would violate policy, legal or regulatory requirements or cause embarrassment or competitive disadvantage if it were leaked? Did the company suffer from the latest virus or malware attack? How many attacks were successful during the past 12-month period? Have there been intrusions? How often and with what impact? Does anyone know how many people are using the organisations systems? Does anyone care whether or not they are allowed access, or what they are doing? Is security considered an afterthought or a prerequisite? (IT Governance Institute 2006) CONCLUSIONS Information security is not only a technical issue, but a business and governance challenge that involves adequate risk management, reporting and accountability. Effective security requires the active involvement of executives to assess emerging threats and the organisations response to them. As organisations like Cathay pacific, strive to remain competitive in the global economy, they respond to constant pressures to cut costs through automation, which often requires deploying more information systems. The combination is forcing management to face difficult decisions about how to effectively address information security. This is in addition to scores of new and existing laws and regulations that demand compliance and higher levels of accountability.