Crime and Criminal Justice: Dilemmas of Social Control Essay

Brief Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Over the years, the people and   the government seek to sustain the balance of power and the capability to maintain social order. The emergence of state policies in the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of government adhere to the people’s interest to uphold freedom and democracy through the protection of human rights and dignity and the preservation of a peaceful and prosperous society. This paper will discuss the parameters involved in determining and analyzing why and how the state policies are made and its significance to social control. Defining the Concepts   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Cochran, et.al, authors of American Public Policy: An Introduction, published in 2006, policy analysis is the interpretation and examination of underlying background and reasons behind the adoption and implementation of a particular policy. Further cited from the book, policy analysis is not value neutral but wants to discover the significance and importance to public values.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition, based on the book, public policy is being enacted and implemented with purpose and intent. Moreover a public policy is given classifications according to purposes, types and goods. What is then referred to for the classification of a public policy is its relevance to moral and social values such as the application of the rule of law deterrent to crime and the enactment of punishment. However, public policy does not only empower a particular application on the rule of law that represent punishment on common crimes like burglary and theft, murder and homicide, sexual abuse, grave harassment, alarm and public scandal, among others, that are all being considered as neighborhood and street crimes. The Policy on Homeland Security   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The 9/11 US tragedy has brought about fear and insecurity to American people as they are the most vulnerable casualties of terrorist attacks. The continuing terrorist threats were determined by the US government as a clear and continuing danger to all Americans in general. Classification and Purpose of enacting the Homeland Security Act i) As Cochran, et.al pointed out, the classification of a public policy under the category or type on public security is determined by its broader scope in maintaining peace and order, adoption of the government’s security policy for the purpose of preventing internal and external threats to lives, properties and liberties of the majority of people and that, as a whole, representing the country itself. ii) For the purpose of protecting the lives and properties of American people, the US government enacted the Homeland Security Act as a national security policy that refers to responding on the urgency of US defense against adversary attack and a call for national emergency. Based on President George W. Bush’s statement addressing the American public on the enactment of the Homeland Security Act, homeland security must be a responsibility shared across the entire nation to further develop a national culture of preparedness. In addition he said that the United States’ local, Tribal, State, and Federal governments, faith-based and community organizations, and businesses must be partners in securing the homeland. Adoption of Homeland Security Act as a Public Policy President Bush’s statement on â€Å"shared responsibility† refers to the role of the American people and the US Federal government agencies to participate in civic affairs. The civic affairs is the response to national emergencies that does not only represent counter-terrorism but addressing the welfare and services. According to the 2007 US Strategy for Homeland Security, the front line role of the American public is not only to help in preventing terrorism but to respond in various natural and man-made emergencies, and the government to act on internal and external law enforcement. Based on the 2007 US Strategy for Homeland Security, it has enjoined the strictest law enforcement on crossing borders by scrutinizing the immigration of people and exportation of commodities to the US, and by empowering the capabilities of law enforcement through provision of modernized facilities. Also, the legislation of the Patriot Act and Protect America Act of 2007 has strengthened the US Judiciary to prosecute common criminals. Policy Evaluation The US Homeland Security Act is a policy that is being implemented with a broader scope. It can be noted that the enactment of the 2007 US Strategy for Homeland Security together with the Patriot Act and Protect America Act of 2007 have brought about strengthening of both national and international law enforcement. It is not only the national concern of the US government to countering terrorism but likewise to preventing the proliferation of common crimes in the homeland. Another perception that would best fit in evaluating the broadened scope of US Homeland Security Act implementation is its influencing and incorporating power to economic policies be it homeland and overseas. The sanction on law enforcement is likewise carried out at a global magnitude wherein policy on security through counter terrorism collaborates with international allied governments.       Works Cited â€Å"American Public Policy: An Introduction†. 2006. Cochran, Mayer, Carr and Cayer Thompson/Wadsworth Publishing, 8th Edition. ISBN: 0-534-60163-4. â€Å"National Strategy for Homeland Security†. October 2007. US Department of State.

Cognitive Effects of Early Bilingualism Essay

The American educational system has fallen behind other leading nations in the world in many respects, one of which is in bilingual instruction. This has traditionally been overlooked in the United States until the high school level. Children in today’s society should be made more prepared for the growing globalism and technological advances throughout the world instead of losing educational opportunities due to economic downfall and lack of resources. This includes a second language acquisition introduced earlier in the program. On top of political reasons, the positive effects to the cognitive development of the brain when introduced to a second language are many. The age of acquisition is crucial due to the plasticity of the brain which, according to the critical period hypothesis, begins to plateau after five years of age. The current policy in early education limits greatly the amount of extracurricular lessons provided in accordance with government policies such as No Ch ild Left Behind, which restricts school funding based on standardized testing only in certain subject areas. School programs, realistically beginning in elementary education, should include foreign language study due to the strong evidence that bilingualism in children can develop higher cognitive abilities which can be enhanced with proficiency and positively influence skills in other areas. Old arguments suggest that, â€Å"children who are instructed bilingually from an early age will suffer cognitive or intellectual retardation in comparison with their monolingually instructed counterparts† (Diaz 24). Much of the research from the past supporting this argument focused on older bilinguals, mostly adults who may have shown competent abilities in a second language but who had much later ages of acquisition and who usually acquired the second language outside of the home. Many early studies in this field worked with children of immigrants who showed lower abilities in cognitive tasks most likely because of the lack of proficiency in the second language (L2) and lack of proper schooli ng in relation to this deficiency (Kovà ¡cs 307). In correlation with poorly chosen test subjects, the studies were typically done with orthographic representations of words that would have been more difficult for younger test subjects to work with. For example, a study done by Ton Dijkstra, Professor of Psycholinguistics and Multilingualism at the Donders Institute, which focused only on adult English/Dutch bilinguals–the youngest being fifteen years old, all of whom studied their L2 in a middle or high school level. This study included only written examples of words and had the subjects determine if the word was English or Dutch. The results were able to somewhat prove Dijkstra’s theory of Bilingual interactive activation (BIA) which underlines the effects orthography has on L1 and L2 word retrieval that is â€Å"assuming, of course, that the same orthography is used in the input† (Dijkstra 217). If this study were done on younger children, it is sure they would not have performed as well since children are typically less familiar with the written language than with the spoken. Older language learners would make more use of the written approach to learning, such as a textbook, while younger learners typica lly learn more from a speech-based approach, like conversationally in the home. The textbook approach is a symbolic processing which differs from the more embedded cognitive retrieval of the speech-based learning approach utilized by younger children to understand the two languages. There have been many studies over the past few years that have proven the opposite of these older arguments. Many of the studies have tested the cognitive abilities of young children, usually aged six and under in accordance with the critical period hypothesis, with both monolingual and bilingual proficiency. These experiments are concerned with cognitive tasks including false-belief tasks and grammar testing to determine the ability to hold abstract thought in the L2 as well as phonemic testing in order to find if there is an ability to distinguish between the phonemes of the different languages. The majority of these studies have tested subjects using visual representations and vocal experiments with proctors who have experience working with children and are trained in both languag es being tested. The more useful subjects are usually taught implicitly, or passively in the home. Although some make use of explicitly taught subjects, meaning they learned actively in a class setting. It has been proven that an infant of four months has the incredible linguistic discrimination abilities to distinguish languages with different prosody and phonemes (Kovà ¡cs 303). An infant is then better equipped to attain more native-like proficiency later in life when exposed this early to the sounds and rhythm of the L2. Doctor in Communication Sciences, Karsten Steinhauer explains, â€Å"that late L2 learners stabilize at some point short of native-like attainment [which] most recently has been discussed in terms of phonological/prosodic interference from L1† (Steinhauer 15). When a young child is introduced to two separate languages, the mechanisms of attention, selection, and inhibition become more fine-tuned due to the experience of attending to one language and ignoring the other (Kovà ¡cs 303, 308). The training in encoding and the association of two correspondi ng words with a common concept underlines the superior representational abilities a bilingual retains especially when the L2 is entrenched in the brain the way early acquisition allows. Linguist à gnes Melinda Kovà ¡cs presents research proving that monolinguals typically attain these abilities at the age of four years while young bilinguals gain these skills much earlier (Kovà ¡cs 316). The brain’s plasticity allows the young child to hold and use the two languages without interference and with continued usage the child will be more likely to attain full native-like proficiency in both languages. Kovà ¡cs also explains that since the brain remains active during demanding tasks, the brain may take on the extra load of two languages as a constructive challenge. The young, malleable brain may possibly â€Å"greatly adapt to [the challenge], for example, by changing its morphology† (Kovà ¡cs 308). A type of adaptation has been proven in studies done by neuroscientist Andrea Mechelli, which were concerned with the grey matter surrounding the left inferior parietal cortex, the general area associated with language use containing the Broca’s are a. These studies confirmed that the grey matter in this area is denser in early-acquired bilinguals. The density decreases in correlation with proficiency in the L2 with monolinguals having the least dense matter (Mechelli 757). This may be the case because a later acquired L2 is held at a more surface level of the brain and requires the use of the declarative memory instead of the procedural memory. Many tests have been done to determine the amount of brain activity associated with language in the left inferior parietal cortex through the use of event-related brain potential, or ERPs. Dr. Steinhauer describes ERPs as â€Å"reflecting the real-time electrophysiological brain dynamics of cognitive processes with an excellent time resolution in the range of milliseconds,† and that ERPs â€Å"have been hypothesized to be linked to rule-based automatic parsing† (Steinhauer 16). Measurements of ERPs are taken while subjects perform syntactically poignant tasks. Since it is thought that syntactic processes are generally automatic or a part of â€Å"implicit grammar processi ng† (Steinhauer 17), the ERP components would be more difficult to elicit in later acquired bilinguals. Steinhauer et al. performed several studies in this area, working with many real and one artificial language labeled BROCANTO 2. In each case, the subjects were given grammaticality judgment tasks in the given language, such as subject-verb agreement violations and lexical anomalies. For each group, the early acquired or implicitly taught subjects educed the same type of ERP responses as native speakers. Late-acquired or explicitly instructed subjects showed more shallow responses, if any at all in this area. These findings show that â€Å"syntactic processes appear to be sensitive to delays in L2 acquisition† (Steinhauer 19). One of the most prominent issues in L2 proficiency is attaining the phonemic boundary between the two languages. Monolinguals are usually unable to distinguish the sounds of a language other than their own. The more proficient a bilingual is in their L2, the more able they are to perceive the two types of phonemes and to determine which is correct in a given phonological circumstance. The phonemic boundary is the least likely area to be fossilized in a late-acquired bilingual. There have been several studies done which have proven this, including a 2008 study done by Adrian Garcia-Sierra, professor of Communications at the University of Texas. In this study, the voice onset time, or VOT, of thirty college students was tested. Half of the students were English monolinguals while the other half were English/Spanish bilinguals who described themselves as fluent speakers of both languages and who learned their L2 at home. This study was done in Austin, Texas where some Spanish is integrated into the daily culture. The results showed that the more fluent bilinguals were more apt to â€Å"a perceptual shift†¦associated with high level of confidence in English and Spanish†¦[and] that highly confident L2 bilinguals are more likely to possess a double phonemic boundary† (Garcia-Sierra 378). This shows that more proficient bilinguals will have a stronger ability to determine different phonemes, which also underlines the effects bilingualism has on a dvanced discrimination and attention skills. Another recent study performed on early bilinguals was done by a group of psychologists headed by Michael Siegal. The experiments tested the pragmatic skills of 41 children in northeastern Italy. All were between the ages of three and six years old, with 19 Italian monolinguals and 22 Italian/Slovenian bilinguals who attended the same preschool taught only in Italian. The children were tested on the Gricean maxims of conversational understanding. These are four basic rules which provide a foundation for pragmatic competence including quality, quantity, relevance, and politeness. The groups of children were shown cartoons with characters having conversations that contained one response created in order to break one of the maxims. The children were then asked which of the characters said something strange or rude and to provide a more appropriate response when the statement was positively identified. The main thesis in this study was that bilingualism requires â€Å"the capacity for flexibility in the representation of language and objects [which] suggests that early bilingualism should be accomp anied by advanced meta-pragmatic skills† (Siegal 115). This theory was upheld by the results of these tests in which the bilingual children outperformed the monolinguals by much more than a chance margin, especially in the maxims of politeness and quality even though many bilinguals had a delayed vocabulary in their L2. The psychologists behind this study suggest that bilingualism can be â€Å"accompanied by an enhanced ability to appreciate effective communicative responses† (Siegal 115). The results of this research seem to highlight the idea that the acquisition of a second language allows a child to remove themselves from the comfortable context of their native language and to realize that it is more necessary to provide useful information and use polite tones for more a successful exchange in both languages. Recently, studies have been performed concerning the effects and importance of early-acquired bilingualism in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Research in this area shows that it is less likely for a bilingual individual to be affected by these types of diseases. The majority of the hypotheses behind this statistic pertain to the activity in the brain that is needed to think and speak bilingually. This constant activity exercises the brain in a way that is counterintuitive to the deterioration involved with these disorders (Paradis 216). The research behind Parkinson’s disease explains that the procedural memory is affected greatly sometimes causing a loss of the L1. This is partnered with a tendency to â€Å"produce a smaller portion of grammatical sentences†¦and exhibit deficits in comprehension of complex syntactic forms† (Paradis 217). This is likely linked to the deterioration of the left inferior parietal cortex, the same area in the brain discussed earlier, which is associated with syntactic processes and holding the L1. On the other hand, bilingual patients with Alzheimer’s show a loss in t heir L2 as well as in semantic abilities and a gradual loss of pragmatic, phonological, and syntactic structures. More common in this type of dementia is a puzzlingly inappropriate mixture of the two languages (Paradis 222). This is due to the break down of the declarative memory caused by the dementia. The declarative memory is involved with metacognition, which is why it affects such things as the less familiar language, pragmatic skills, and the selective attention abilities of bilinguals. The major finding in these studies is that â€Å"the differences observed in psychotic conditions as well as in dementias are caused by the increased reliance on declarative-memory-based (and hence consciously controlled) explicit metalinguistic knowledge† (Paradis 222). The advances made in early bilingual research have been great over the past few decades. Through these studies and so many more, it has been made clear that bilinguals with early ages of acquisition not only achieve more native-like proficiency but also tend to have more advanced cognitive abilities than their monolingual peers. These include but are not exclusive to increased analytical, representational, selective, and control abilities. Bilingualism also implies more developed metalingustic awareness and mental flexibility. Early bilinguals have also shown greater abilities in pragmatics and phonemic discrimination. In opposition to old arguments, Kovà ¡cs writes, â€Å"The bilingual condition could be stimulating for the highly plastic developing mind of the child, and induces specific changes in the brain and cognitive systems† (Kovà ¡cs 317). The higher development has been seen in ERP testing and in the density of grey matter involved in the linguistically apt area of the brain. Educators and policy makers should consider this information when planning early education programs. Those enriched with the benefits of a bilingual education are not only better off cognitively, but in the modern world, would be more prepared for the global society and workplace. Works Cited Diaz, R â€Å"Thought and Two Languages: The Impact of Bilingualism on Cognitive Development.† Review of Research in Education 10 (1983): 23-54 Dijkstra, Ton. â€Å"Task and Context Effects in Bilingual Lexical Processing.† Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism (2007): 213-235. Garcia-Sierra, Adrian, Randy L. Diehl, and Craig Champlin. â€Å"Testing the double phonemic boundary in bilinguals.† Speech Communication 51 (2009): 369-378. Kovacs, Agnes Melinda. â€Å"Beyond Language: Childhood Bilingualism Enhances High- level Cognitive Functions.† Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism (2007): 301-323. Mechelli, A., Crinion, J. T., Noppeney, U., O’Doherty, J., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S., and Price, C.J. 2004. Structural plasticity in the bilingual brain. Nature. 431: 754. Siegal, Michael, Laura Iozzi, and Luca Surian. â€Å"Bilingualism and conversational understanding in young children.† Cognition 110 (2009): 115-122.

Motivation Factors at Tesco Essay

The history of labour relations in the UK is a story of the gradual empowerment of the working classes. The system of industrial relations in the United Kingdom (UK) is traditionally characterised by voluntary relations between the social partners, with a minimal level of interference from the state. In the context of very early industrialisation and a liberal political culture in which the state seldom intervened in the affairs of private actors, trade unions gradually consolidated their membership and power base throughout the 19th century. Various legislative developments also allowed trade unions the right to organise workers and engage in industrial action. In 1868, the UK Trades Union Congress (TUC), the confederal umbrella body for UK trade unions, was formed. The 1871 Trade Union Act recognised trade unions as legal entities as corporations and granted them the right to strike. Subsequently, the 1875 Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act allowed the right to peaceful picketing, while the 1906 Trade Disputes Act allowed UK trade unions to engage in industrial action without the threat of being sued for damages. In addition to this body of legislation, a minimal level of legal regulation that stipulated basic health and safety conditions in workplaces was also built up during the 19th century. The economic context throughout this time was also favourable to the development of trade unionism. Owing to the pace of industrialisation and the existence of substantial colonial markets for UK industry, the 19th century and early 20th century were characterised by extensive economic growth. This economic climate facilitated the development of a system in which some of the fruits of economic development could be designated for collectively bargained wage increases. In terms of the role of the law, collective bargaining was far more important than the influence of legal regulation. For employers and trade unions, the role of statute law was to support and extend collective bargaining rather than to comprehensively regulate the system. Notably, the law provided trade unions with a series of ‘immunities’ from UK common law. These immunities covered the right of trade unions to engage in industrial action with employers, which would otherwise have been illegal under UK common law. The membership of UK trade unions grew markedly in the post-war years. The era also represented the golden age of British ‘pluralism’, where the role of trade unions in securing industrial peace and efficiency was emphasised. In the private and public sectors, sectoral level collective agreements were also typically reached that covered whole industries. By the late 1960s, however, concerns emerged about the efficacy of a system in which shop floor industrial unrest appeared to be rising. This led to the Donovan Commission, a government commission that attempted to investigate the causes of workplace disputes. Industrial conflict grew markedly in the 1970s, partly as a result of the economic crisis that affected western countries after the 1973 ‘oil shock’. The era was characterised by trade union militancy and high levels of industrial action, and attempts by successive left-wing and right-wing governments to regulate the system largely met with failure. The period culminated in the 1978–1979 ‘winter of discontent’, where public sector trade unions engaged in regular and lengthy industrial action over the incumbent Labour government’s policy of public sector pay restraint. A conservative government, led by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was elected in 1979 on an anti-trade union, neo-liberal platform. Successive governments of this political stripe pursued a legislative programme that placed legal restrictions on trade unions’ ability to engage in industrial action, and that privatised many areas of the public sector, while managing the public sector in an anti-union fashion. During this period, trade union membership also declined markedly, and the majority of sectoral collective agreements in the private sector were dismantled as companies abandoned them. A ‘New Labour’ government, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, was elected in 1997, offering a moderately conciliatory approach to the trade unions. The cornerstone of the Blair government’s approach to employment relations was the use of legal individual employment rights to protect workers. Most notably, a national minimum wage was introduced. Many of these legal rights emanated from the level of European Union, and the post-1997 period saw a marked increase in the influence of legal regulation in the employment relationship. Nonetheless, trade union membership continued to decline, and in 2008 trade union density stood at 28%. As of 2009, the UK system of industrial relations would appear to exhibit a mixture of  characteristics. While the old tradition of the state not intervening in relations between the social partners is still manifest in the non-legally binding nature of collective agreements and in the fact that trade unions and employer organisations have little statutory involvement in public policy and little recourse to bipartite or tripartite forums at the national level, legally established employment rights would now appear to be a permanent feature of the UK system. The global 2008 economic crisis has particularly affected the UK. Unemployment rates have increased markedly, and several financial institutions have had to be rescued by the UK government. As of 2009, the effect of the crisis on the development of the UK system of industrial relations is unclear. Trade unions have responded to the crisis by calling for greater government intervention to support employment levels. At the same time, collective agreements have been concluded by the UK social partners at company level with the aim of reducing working time in order to preserve employment levels (UK0811029I). However, as of 2009, it is too early to identify any concrete trends. Main actors Trade unions Trade union density has fallen markedly in the UK since a peak of 56.3% in 1980. Despite occasional small rises in membership since 1997, statistics over the past decade would suggest that union density has reached one of its lowest levels at just under 30%. A large difference in trade union density rates is evident between the private and public sectors. As of 2008, trade union density in the private sector was 16.1%, while it reached 59% in the public sector (Department for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform, 2008). Trade unions in the UK are organised both horizontally and vertically, with some organising particular occupations, such as teachers; others organise in particular industries, while a few operate in particular companies. The sole trade union confederation in the UK is the TUC. There are 6, 471,030 members in TUC affiliated unions, down from a peak of 12,172,508 members in 1980. However, the TUC does not conclude or have the power to conclude collective agreements at any level. In response to declining membership figures, UK trade unions have engaged in many mergers in recent years. In 2008, there were 167 trade unions in the UK – this was down from 238 unions in 1998 and 326 in 1988. In 2007, the UK trade unions Amicus and the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) merged to form Unite the Union (Unite). This is the UK’s largest union, with a membership of about 1,900,000 workers. The largest public sector trade union is Unison, which has a membership of 1,344,000 persons and organises workers in all areas of the public sector. Employer organisations The TUC is paralleled on the employers’ side by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Like the TUC, the CBI has no mandate to collectively bargain and bind its affiliates. In general, the CBI represents large companies in the private sector and is regarded by the government as its main interlocutor with business. Its members comprise individual companies (currently about 3,000) and trade associations (around 150). Owing to the largely decentralised nature of employment relations in the UK, the role of employer organisations in the country’s industrial relations is not overtly prominent. Their role in collective bargaining declined notably during the 1980s, when many existing national sectoral level agreements ceased to function and companies began to negotiate with trade unions at lower levels. Some organisations have disbanded, while others have stopped trying to regulate employment conditions. Current employer organisations that do engage in social and employment affairs are the Engineering Employers’ Federation (EEF) and the Local Government Association (LGA). Employer organisation density in the UK is approximately 40%. Industrial relations Collective bargaining In the UK, the dominant level for the setting of pay and working time is the company or plant level in the private sector. In areas of the public sector – and in a small section of the private sector – sectoral level agreements are concluded. There are no national intersectoral agreements in the UK, nor  is there any tradition of this, aside from a very brief period in the 1970s. In 2008, the coverage rate of collective agreements in the UK was 34.6%. There is a large discrepancy between figures for the public and private sectors, with collective bargaining coverage for the public sector reaching 72% in 2008, compared with 20% for the private sector (Department for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform, 2008). Compared with other west European countries, the UK is notable for the disorganised nature of its levels of collective bargaining and the lack of legal backing and promotion that collective agreements are subject to. In line with the UK voluntarist tradition, collective agreements are voluntary instruments that are ‘binding in honour only’. However, the terms of collective agreements are normally incorporated into individual contracts of employment that are then legally enforceable. Collective agreements are subsequently never extended by legislation, and there are no voluntary mechanisms for the extension of collective agreements. Moreover, no formal mechanisms exist for the coordination of wage bargaining levels in the UK. However, in practice, trade unions in different companies and sectors often share information with one another, and agreements in certain companies and sectors often act as informal ‘benchmarks’ for negotiators in other areas. Collective bargaining in the UK has become far more decentralised since the 1970s and 1980s. In this period, many companies in the private sector left sectoral agreements and, in the public sector, collective bargaining also became more decentralised. According to one study (Visser, 2004), the degree of bargaining centralisation in the UK stands at just 13%. Other issues in collective agreements Collective agreements on issues besides pay and working time are not widespread. While vocational education and training is strong in some professional and technical sectors, it has been historically weak in others. Recent attempts have been made to regularise vocational training through National Vocational Qualifications, and these have been supplemented by further moves to establish lifelong learning routes – especially through the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœuniversity for industry’ initiative. However, much of the provision of skills training is decentralised to the newly formed Sector Skills Councils (SSC). Currently, there are 25 SSCs in the UK; all of the councils are employer-led, independent organisations, each covering a specific area of the UK. Industrial conflict The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) is the main body involved in conciliation and arbitration in the UK. It is an autonomous, tripartite body established by statute and its task is to improve industrial relations. The largest part of ACAS’s work is individual conciliation. The amount of individual litigations and employment tribunal cases has increased considerably within the UK in the past decade or so. Arbitration is a relatively small part of its work, mainly because it has no powers to arbitrate without the consent of both sides. Arbitration is neither compulsory nor legally binding. The latest available official statistics show that, in a 12-month period to October 2008, some 147 work stoppages were recorded, in which 677,000 workers took part and 837,700 working days were lost. This marked a decline from the figures for the 12 months until October 2007, where 210 stoppages were recorded, involving 878,000 workers and resulting in 989,000 lost working days. These figures are also historically very low. In 1988, for example, there were 781 stoppages recorded, in which 790,000 workers were involved and 3,702,000 working days were lost. The figures for this year also represent a typical year for this period. The general decline in labour disputes in the UK is likely to be attributable to falling trade union density rates, and to the anti-union laws of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2008, large industrial actions occurred in the UK public sector over the government’s policy on public sector pay restraint. More complete statistics are available for 2007 regarding the sectors involved in strikes. In 2007, of the 142 stoppages recorded, 55 occurred in the transport, storage and communication sector, while 21 took place in the education sector, and 20  were recorded in public administration, defence and the compulsory social security sector, making these the three sectors most affected by strikes during the year. These sectors were also the most adversely affected in terms of working days lost and workers involved (Office for National Statistics, 2008a). Tripartite concertation Owing to the UK voluntarist tradition, policy concertation has been uncommon, and there are currently few formal mechanisms or forums for tripartite concertation in this country. From 1962, a tripartite National Economic Development Council existed, in which the government and UK social partners discussed economic policy; however, this was abolished in 1992. In the late 1970s, consultation between government, employers and trade unions was also growing in importance. However, the Thatcher government, which was elected in 1979, sought to eradicate any forms of corporatism. Since then, tripartism or corporatism has not been re-introduced on a comprehensive or formal basis. However, the UK social partners are regularly consulted by the public authorities on the direction of public policy in the country on an ad hoc basis; they are also represented in a series of committees that are of a tripartite nature. For example, the social partners are represented on the Low Pay Commission (LPC), an independent UK body that issues recommendations for increases in the national minimum wage. The LPC board consists of nine members – three trade union representatives, three employers and three labour market relations experts. At the sectoral level, the UK social partners are involved in the aforementioned SSCs, which seek to improve the skills of workers in the UK. Workplace representation Traditionally, there have been no statutory works councils in the UK. In line with the voluntarist tradition, workplace representation was solely achieved through trade union presence in the workplace and was not enshrined through the law. As previously mentioned, a considerable decline in trade union presence and power has occurred in the UK over the last 25 years. In 2008,  46.6% of workplaces had some sort of trade union representation (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 2008). The EU information and consultation Directive of 2002 (Directive 2002/14/EC) was implemented in the UK in 2004 as the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations. The regulations lay down statutory procedures for workplace representation, and stipulate that workplaces with 50 or more employees must have a body for the information and consultation of employees in place. Employee rights Employee rights are enforced in the UK through a variety of mechanisms. Firstly, employees have access to employment tribunals that determine whether the rights of employees have been infringed. Trade unions are responsible for the monitoring of collective agreements, and the right of trade unions to engage in strike action is decided by the UK civil courts. Health and safety conditions in workplaces are monitored by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE), while compliance with the national minimum wage is monitored by the country’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) department. Pay and working time developments Minimum wage A national minimum wage has been in place in the UK since 1997. The rate is set by the LPC, which advises the government on low pay and recommends appropriate rates. The current minimum wage in the UK – as set in October 2008 – for adults aged 22 years or older is GBP 5.52 (about â‚ ¬6.38 as at 7 July 2009) an hour. For workers aged between 18 and 21 years, the minimum wage is GBP 4.77 (â‚ ¬5.52) an hour. The minimum hourly wage for all workers under 18 years of age – who are, in addition, no longer of compulsory school age – is GBP 3.53 (â‚ ¬4.08). Some workers undertaking apprenticeships or accredited training may not be considered eligible to receive the national minimum wage for a certain period of time, which varies according to their age and length of time in employment. Other categories of workers who are exempt include au pairs, share fishermen, members of the clergy, those in the armed forces, prisoners and some people working in family businesses.  Moreover, the rate payable under the national minimum wage can, in all cases, be reduced where accommodation is provided to the worker. Pay developments In April 2008, the average gross annual earnings in the UK were GBP 25,100. In April 2007, the equivalent figure was GBP 24,020 (Income Data Services, 2008). An increase of 4.5% was therefore recorded. In November 2008, the percentage annual rise in collectively agreed average weekly earnings was 3.8%. In November 2007, this figure amounted to 3.4% (Labour Research Department, 2009). In terms of gender, the average gender pay gap in the UK in 2008 was 12.8%. This gap is measured in the UK on the basis of median hourly earnings, excluding overtime. In 2008, median hourly earnings excluding overtime for men was GBP 12.50, and for women GBP 10.91. Between 2007 and 2008, the gender pay gap in the UK rose by 0.3 percentage points from 12.5% to 12.8%. However, the gender pay gap stood at 17.4% in 1998, so the figure has substantially fallen over the last decade.

Does IT Matter Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Does IT Matter Assignment - Essay Example Companies have to draw a balance between purchasing latest information technology in order to acquire its benefits and increasing profit of business by cutting down expenditures and not purchasing latest technology. There is certain risk in getting every new technology that comes in the market because it might cost more than it benefits, so managers only hurry when they know there is definitely an advantage in getting the new technology. Different organizations select information technology they need considering the functions and goals as well as organization structure. Ans. IT department in my organization, which is a construction company working on a building project as a contractor, gets a lot of attention and support of the management. However, many a times, top management hesitates to entertain the requests and recommendations it makes. It is like one out of every three recommendations IT department makes is approved. IT department is undoubtedly a value adding area in my organization as it facilitates company’s operations and ensures that business runs smoothly as the whole organization is primarily depending upon IT. It is not really a cost center because my organization usually uses technology that has long been in the market and has thus come down in terms of price. It is the new or the latest technology that management does not easily approve of. Ans. The industry my organization competes in is construction. In construction industry, it is basic information technology that is very important. Construction works cannot proceed without constant interaction between people working on the site and others in the office. So every worker is provided with a telephone. Different project parties conduct group meetings using videoconferencing e.g. skype. In order to compete in the construction industry, IT competence is essential but not the only factor that determines success. Yes, the market leaders in my industry are generally

#5 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

#5 - Coursework Example Constitution since the Bill of Rights because the Fourteenth Amendment ensures that equal protection by the law will be given not only to citizens of the nation, but to all people as well (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 93). This is because it makes clear the definition of an American citizen, guaranteeing that other minority groups who were disregarded before would be given the same rights as the others. It can be said that this amendment is as crucial today as it had been before. Several current cases in constitutional law are rooted in these two basic rights of â€Å"due process of law† and â€Å"equal protection of the law† (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 94). => The Fourteenth Amendment is mainly intended to â€Å"prevents(s) state or local governments from infringing of peoples rights when federal government would not be allowed to† (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 118). Since its passage in 1868, the provisions granted by the Bill of Rights were slowly applied to the states. However, this process perhaps had not been an overnight work. Therefore, the entire Bills of Rights has not been embraced by the Fourteenth Amendment because â€Å"the tremendous changes occurring in the norms of this emerging country had to be given ample time to evolve on their own† (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 119). This is because societal norms have always been the basis on interpreting the Constitution (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 119). It can be argued that whatever part of the Bill of Rights that has not been embraced by the Fourteenth Amendment is not yet needed in present times. An evolution of the societal norms might make it possible in the future that the entire Bill of Rights will be included in the Amendment. => áÅ"Æ'áÅ" Ã¡Å"’áÅ"‹áÅ"ӇÅ"Æ'áÅ" Ã¡Å"’áÅ"‹áÅ"”Yes, it can be said that the framers of the Constitution were racist. This can be seen on few cases like The Dred Scott decision in 1856 and Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 123).

Country Risk Analysis Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Country Risk Analysis Project - Assignment Example These statistics are favorable for foreign direct investment as the international community recognizes South Korea’s economic success. South Korea went from being one of the least developed states globally to the currently third biggest in Asia and 15th biggest globally (Foran 109). A high level of collaboration and coordination between South Korea and other states and private corporations should dictate the economy and provide a safe haven for businesses. South Korea’s global economic conditions favor globalization and global expansion more than its global political climate. Foreign direct investors should be able to take advantage of this facilitation by exploiting this characteristic of the country’s global economic condition. I think we should be one of those investors as the country’s political setting gained favor from the international community since the most recent elections. President Geun-Hye is keen on concentrating her economic policy on building an innovative economy facilitates worldwide technological innovation as the steppingstones for foreign direct investment. We should also certainly undertake investment in South Korea due to President Lee Myung-bak’s increasing activity in global political and economic establishments such as the UN, WTO, and OECD foreign development support and demonstrated aid. South Korean corporations are sure to globalize their operations and presence since the government is echoing globalization and global growth (Foran 82). Investing in South Korea is sure to continue to globalization efforts as economic conditions demand this sort of development. Even though investing in South Korea is commendable.

The Hundred Schools of Thought (Ancient Chinese Philosophies) Research Paper

The Hundred Schools of Thought (Ancient Chinese Philosophies) - Research Paper Example The phenomenon has remained in the history books of the Chinese nation and given the title â€Å"Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought†. The ideas and thoughts refined and discussed in this period have since then intensely influenced the social consciousness and the lifestyles of the people up to the modern days not just in China but the whole of East Asia . The intellectual part of the society during this time was characteristic of itinerant scholars who were employed by several state rulers most of the time as advisers of the war, government and diplomacy methods. This memorable period in history ended with the coming of the Qin Dynasty together with purge of dissent that flowed after. The major philosophies and characters/tenets of this era include Legalism, Confucianism, Maoism, Taoism, logicians and the school of Ying-yang. The philosophies and characters are believed to have had great impacts in influencing the lifestyles, culture and the social atmosphere in Chines e history. Confucianism Confucianism or â€Å"School of scholars’ was the philosophical body that most people believe had the most lasting impacts on the life of Chinese people. The legacy of this line of thought has been written on the Confucian Classics that was later made the traditional society foundation. The Confucianism took place between 551-479 BC, the period being referred to as the Kongzi of the master king2. The philosophy was named after the main founder called Confucius. Confucianism reflects back to the Zhou dynasty early days in order to come up with a political-social order that is ideal. Confucius believed that an effective government system should play a big role in necessitating each individuals prescribed relationships. He insisted that the government system should be in such a way that it ensures the ruler is given his role of ruling and the subject remains a subject. To him, for a king to rule properly, he had to be virtuous. According to Confucianism, social stratifications and the government functions were life facts that had to be sustained by the use of ethical values. To Confucius, his ideal human being went by the title ‘junzi’, meaning a superior person or a gentleman. Mencius or Mengzi (371-289) BC come up with philosophical teaching formulated directly to respond to Confucius work. The impact of the combined Confucius work who served as an interpreter and codifier of an ethical behavior based on relationship system and the emergence of Mencius, who came out as being a developer and synthesizer of Confucianism thoughts, provided the Chinese society with a framework that was comprehensive by which every life aspect was virtually ordered. Many accretions came out of Confucian thoughts immediately and after many years coming from within or without his school. The interpretations that were adapted and made use in the contemporary society gave room for Confucianism flexibility, allowing the essential system of beh avior that had been modeled from ancient literature to constitute its philosophical core3. Completely different from Mencius work with reference to the nature of human beings was Xunzi interpretation that took place between c. 300-237 BC. This was another follower of Confucian. Xunzi argued that man cannot be innately good; he believed that goodness

FAMILY VIOLENCE AND ABUSE Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

FAMILY VIOLENCE AND ABUSE - Research Paper Example air and just trial which constitute of their rights as individual this helps to reduce the back log of cases in the judicial and criminal courts (Lloyd 2001). Violence against Women Act (VAMA) confirms domestic violence as a National crime and federal laws should be incorporated to help deal with domestic violence with reference to overburden State and criminal justice system. Domestic violence victims usually report the incidence late and the process become difficult as decision is made by the investigating officer who charges the accused based on the evidenced brought forward, this tend to make the issue of urgency be reduced as the evidence are already been tampered with or done away with (Lloyd 2001). The gun control act states a federal crime convicted felon for a domestic violence to own a gun or ammunition this is a good option because the felon could act in the same manner and hurt an innocent partner for sending him or her to jail also the state should continue with the system of felons reporting to a parole officer and attending anger management activities so that the felons can be assimilated back to the community without any fear of domestic violence and abuse (Wallace 1996). The issue of past lover stalking a partner from state to state with intent to cause misery to the partner or physical arm is also well tackled under the VAMA as it states it’s a criminal and federal offence (Chancer 2004). Many lovers have fall victim to this vice as past lover stalk them wherever they go and cause a lot of chaos in their life this bill is effective and keeps all stalkers at bay from their former lovers due to clear and well represented facts judgment can be taken to those who stalk former or current intimate lovers with the intent of harming them, blaming them on fail relationship. The bill of human right which equally represent the accused and the accuser of the domestic violence both have the right to be heard by the justice system which passes judgment

Social networking site does more bad than good Essay

Social networking site does more bad than good - Essay Example Evidence exists that the use of these sites has a negative effect on individual lives. A research done concluded that longer use of internets had a strong association with â€Å"increased depression, loneliness, and smaller social circles† (Ahn 1441). The effect occurs, as individuals are mostly isolated from their friends and families due to heavy reliance on SNS. As a result, such individuals psychological well-being is affected. Secondly, SNS have been found to affect student’s performance in schools. The effect has been noted in reduced grades to persistent users of these sites. For example, in one of a conference paper by Karpinski (2009), it noted that college Facebook users have lower GPAs as compared to nonusers of the site (Ahn 1442). The argument was that users are most likely to spend longer time at the expense of studying. On the other hand, these sites have led to cyber bullying. Perpetrators of cyber bullying have significantly used these sites (Jung 1). Hence, those that use these sites especially kids are more prone to cyber bullying. Usually, perpetrators hide their real identities to terrorize victims (Jung 1). The vulnerable kids are likely to develop mental problems and sometimes even contemplate committing suicide. Ahn, June. â€Å"The Effect of Social Network Sites on Adolescents’ Social and Academic Development: Current Theories and Controversies.† Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 62(8) (2011): 1435-1445.

Research Proposal Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Proposal - Research Paper Example Chalk Lines Exhibits intends to plan and manage this exhibition in a thoroughly professional way. The services of the staff and volunteers will be solicited and optimally administered to achieve the exhibition objectives. Special arrangements will be made for people with disabilities. Efforts will be made to assure maximal attendance and participation of the people of Brisbane. The event will be one of the first, showcasing a range of international, national and local artists in this genre. 1.0 Business Structure The Street smART is intended to be an exhibition exclusively associated with the contemporary graffiti, stencil and poster art. This exhibition will be organized and coordinated by Chalk Line Exhibits, a non profit, and incorporated organization in Brisbane. The sole purpose of Street smART is to facilitate an engaging platform for both the people of Brisbane and the invited international, national and local artists, where they can perform and experience the varied facets of the contemporary graffiti, stencil and poster art. One essential aim of the organization is to educate the local youth about the showcased art form and to encourage them to actively participate in and visit art events, exhibitions and galleries. The administration and staff at Chalk Line Exhibits is dedicated to make this exhibition a big success in the context of the envisaged goals and objectives. 2.0 Macro Environment Varied macro features at Brisbane make it an ideal venue for an exhibition of such nature and content. 2.1 Demography Brisbane is one of the most populated cities of Australia, with a major chunk of the population being urban and young (the targeted segment) (ABS 2011: Online). Brisbane is also a female majority city, which is most suitable for Street smART, as women have been found to have a greater predilection for art exhibitions (ABS 4172.0 2007, p. 13). 2.2 Cultural and Social Environment Brisbane being a cosmopolitan and modern city with its quintessential di versity and openness is inherently more accepting of change and novel trends. Thus, the populace at Brisbane could positively be expected to be more interested in and receptive of relatively new visual art forms like graffiti, stencil and poster. The cultural and social makeup of Brisbane portends an impressive attendance and participation. 2.0 Art Attendee Chalk Line Exhibits well understands that the art scene in Australia is defined by a unique mix of traditional art forms and novel approaches and trends (Australian Government 2011: Online). So the organization is dedicated to invest the financial support extended by varied public and private bodies to support and promote the upcoming art form of graffiti, poster and stencil. Hence, Chalk Line Exhibits intends to be very professional, efficient and accountable in the context of the exhibition under consideration (The Courier-Mail 2007: Online) 2.1 General Population Profile of Brisbane In 2009, the population of Brisbane stood at 2,004,262, out of which 1, 009,923 were females and 9, 94,339 were males (ABS 2010: Online). Thus, Brisbane is a female majority city. This is good for the exhibition as studies have shown that urban women are more likely to attend art exhibitions (ABS 4172.0 2007). Also, people between 15 years to 24 years of age constituted 15.3 percent of the populace (ABS 2010: Online). As this exhibition is particularly targeted at the youth, this translates

Art Review on Piece of Art Work by Ber Vasques Essay

Art Review on Piece of Art Work by Ber Vasques - Essay Example With these stencils he sprayed dark pink paint, which fell onto the sewed pink lines. Regarding the face, the artist used pieces of men’s underwear. He sews the face using this underwear, which had been dyed using different intensities of pink color. This sewing created a great interaction between the external and the internal contours (Cuff & Mattson, 1982). The Spanish adjectives used here had a significant meaning. These adjectives are words that cam up as a result of the subject being portrayed, in other words, the portrait’s subject. These portraits include Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County in Arizona. The artist also had a consideration for those audiences who were not Spanish, for instance the English audience. This consideration can be reflected by the fact that the artist used Spanish words, which are understandable to English speakers. These words used are cognates to English. For instance, facista, segregacionista and racista are the different Spanish wor ds, which may mean face, segregation and racist. The portrait was a prison warden. The artist had noticed something about the warden that was a matter of concern. In order to blow the whistle, he applied his artistic capacities to express his point. In the portrait, the artist was capturing the features that were associated with the warden. His portrait was made using pink dye since he was fond of making the prisoners under his responsibility wear pink underwear. Therefore, this was an art of stereotypical and comical stripped uniforms (Grant, 2010). The person portrayed by the artist is famous for his support for Arizona’s Act, The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Act. The law enforcement officers used this act in determining the immigration status of an individual especially when the suspicion is reasonable enough that the person is illegitimate immigrant who is only after perpetration of racial profiling. The jail that the portrait is in charge is in bad b ooks since it is accused of violating inmate’s constitutional rights. They for instance, endanger the health of the inmates by denying them medical attention even when they have serious mental and medical issues (Huxley, 1982). The portrait, therefore, reveals the bad side of the prison warden. The department of justice is looking for him so that he can cooperate in the investigations accusing him of unconstitutional seizures and searches as well as discrimination. Therefore, the artist accomplished his goal by beating him in is own game. He used his techniques to hit back at him. He stripped him, compromising his masculinity and then went ahead to dishonor or disrespects him in his own official portrait. What is challenging regarding him is the idea of understanding his hate. It is also harder for his violence, pride and denigration of human beings to be understood since he is an officer, who is expected to be far away from this (Reyner, 2007). The examination of the Ber Vas quez’s image also brings into focus a couple of ideas and messages that were meant to be communicated during the creation of this particular work of art. Consequently, it is very possible to break the image into smaller parts in order to obtain a vivid understanding the whole image. By this deconstruction, it is clear that the interpretation of the ideas conveyed by the image would come not from the actual meaning of the image, but from the different roles played by the different components

A Strategic Analysis of GE Healthcare Essay Example for Free

A Strategic Analysis of GE Healthcare Essay GE Healthcare is a unit of the wider General Electric Company. It has a global orientation, employing more than 46, 000 staff committed to serving healthcare professionals and patients in over 100 countries. It is headquartered in the United Kingdom (UK)-the first GE business segment outside the United States. It has a turnover of approximately $ 17 billion. The headquarters hosts GE healthcare corporate offices as well as finance, sales, global sourcing departments, X-Ray marketing, manufacturing, design and shipping. The finance and sales departments at the headquarters handle GE Healthcare’s high level decisions, but each modality often has its own similar departments. The global sourcing department handles all purchasing for the firm. GE Healthcare provides a variety of products services namely Technologies in medical imaging, diagnostics in medicine, systems for monitoring patients, solutions for improving performance, discovering drugs, and technologies to manufacture biopharmaceuticals. It also provides X-Ray products which include; radiography, fluoroscopy, vascular, cardiology, and the Mobile C-Arm machine. At present, GE Healthcare has six major business units; Global Diagnostic Imaging Unit: with its headquarters in the US, its business includes; digital mammography, X-ray services, Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography and technologies in Molecular Imaging. Integrated IT Solutions (IITS). Also headquartered in Barrington USA, IITS offers solutions in clinical and monetary information technologies, such as IT Products and service for departments, systems for picture Archiving and Communications, Information System solutions in Radiology and Cardiovascular in addition to practices and systems for managing revenue cycles. Medical Diagnostics Business Unit. This is headquartered in USA and its business includes; Researches in Medical Diagnostics, manufacturing and marketing imaging agents used in medical scanning techniques to view human body organs and tissues. Clinical Systems Unit. Also Headquartered in the US, this business offers a variety of healthcare services and technological solutions for medical officers and managers of healthcare systems. These include; Ultrasound, technologies for monitoring patients, bone densitometry, incubators, respiratory care and management of anesthesia. GE Healthcare Life Sciences Unit. This is headquartered in Sweden. It produces technologies for discovering drugs, biopharmaceutical manufacturing and cellular technologies. This division also manufactures equipment for the purifying biopharmaceuticals. GE Healthcare Surgery Business Unit. This division offers equipment and technologies for surgical care interventions, cardiac, systems and technologies for diagnostic monitoring, systems and data management technologies, to systems for mobile fluoroscopic imaging, instrumentations on 3D visual systems and navigation. Its headquarters are in Utah, USA, GE Healthcare has offices in different parts of the world. It also has primary regional operation centers in Paris, Japan, and India. (GE Healthcare Website; Retrieved December 2010) Business Strategy and Organizational Structure Analysis The world business environment is constantly changing, presenting new opportunities and challenges. This calls for competitive strategies in order to remain competitive. This section evaluates the opportunities and challenges presented by GE Healthcare organizational structure. In the Financial Year (FY) ending December 2007, the company recorded revenues of $16, 997 million; an increase of 2.7% over 2006. The operating profit was $3,056 million in 2007; drop of 2.7% from 2006. This GE business unit recorded revenues of $16,015 million, during the Financial Year (FY) ended December 2009. This reflected a decrease of 7.9% over FY 2008. The operating profit for the FY ended December 2009 was $2,240 million a decrease of 15.1% over FY 2008. Analysts attribute to both the complex internal and external environments of the company. I evaluate this argument by undertaking a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of the company and integrating it to the Porters Fiv e Forces Model. Internal Analysis GE healthcare is one of the best firms in leadership development. The firm’s Human Resources Department is keen in developing a strong workforce that responds to changing global needs. It employs strategically employs and motivates the best qualified talents globally. It invests more than $100 million annually on educational training and staff development. The GE Healthcare Institute provides advanced training for GEHC employees and customers. It combines Technical training, Applications and Leadership trainings. More than 70 laboratories with the latest equipment provide GE and customers world class instruction in all areas of equipment maintenance and operation. The Training in Partnership curriculum provides a full range of training programs. GE managers are considered one of the firm’s distinctive competencies and strengths. The challenge is maintaining employee motivation through better remuneration in a time of global economic meltdown and declining profits for the firm. GE Healthcare is capable of changing and constantly re-inventing itself to deal with changing business needs. Setting new standards for management, organizational design, Research and Development has been the pillar of the firm. This is evidenced by the establishment of the six distinctive business units stated above. Exploiting the resources that the firm has, this competency can be meant un-substitutable. The firm is continually innovating to develop solutions to customer changing needs. As Jeffrey Immelt stated, the firms’ employees â€Å"have an ability to live in the moment†. This quality is rare and not easily imitated. This organizational culture ensures that employees continue with innovation and development of new ideas. The firm has a global orientation, with production facilities outside the US and UK, a wider customer base, a superior brand, sales, marketing, IT and Production departments within every modality. This ensures efficiency of service within each business unit. To ensure financial accountability in outsourcing and procurement, decisions regarding this are handled by offices at the headquarters. GE Healthcare operates within the Rubric of the well known and established General Electric; this promotes sharing of management knowledge and experiences. General Electric is a well known Brand with a global touch. This strong internal structure has been at the core of the firm’s success. However Organizations function as systems, they interact and respond to the surrounding environment (Barnard 1938). This calls for an external analysis of this firm. External Analysis Competitor Analysis Analysts argue that competitors can ensure that similar firms remain productive. Though this can be healthy for consumers, small competitors and substitute product can drive giants out of the market. Siemens AG competes against GE group in communications, power, transportation, medical, and lighting industries. Siemens and HE Healthcare are most competitive in the healthcare industry. Siemens Medical Solutions happens to be largest supplier of healthcare equipment globally. Siemens AG is distinctive in its innovativeness and provision of complete solutions to its customers. Siemens is actually larger, with close to 440,000 employees, 70,000 of which are located in the U.S. Despite the fact that GE Healthcare outdoes Siemens AG in healthcare ($9.4 billion) and energy ($15.3 billion) it is a competitor that cannot be ignored. Both operate at virtually global scale. Other competitors include FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc. Hitachi Medical Corporation Nihon Kohden Corporation Schiller AG TOSHIBA Medical Systems Corporation Philips Healthcare Philips Respironics, Inc. Industry Analysis General Electric’s firms including the Healthcare unit have been analyzed using porters five forces model to determine which industry is more attractive. GE Healthcare industry is challenged by competitors and new market entrants. Consumers constantly demand low prices at a high quality leading to intensive bargaining. Retailers have to bargain with suppliers to fix the prices of their products. The GE retail industry also faces the threat of substitute products. For more on the competency strategy, SWOT analysis an the forces model see Appendix 1 and 2. Recommendations GE Healthcare already has a global orientation, large customer base. The success of GE Healthcare lies at how best it chooses its business focus. There is need to focus on a specific market niche. Too much diversification and provision of a wide variety of products may be a step forward but it can also become a mechanism for reversal. Much diversification can lead to lose of business focus. It is evident that new technology and the creation of a global virtual market offer an opportunity for the firm to grow its business. African and some Asian markets are still virgins to the firm. There is need to identify and exploit this business markets. Where favorable, establish production facilities. Advertising and strategic marketing remains a superior option to strengthen the firm’s brand identity. With increasing human rights concerns and demands for accountability, there is need for education and corporate social responsibility, as consumers are becoming more sensitive to scientific information. Nevertheless challenges of environmental accountability abound and cannot be ignored. Works Cited Barnard, C.I. The Functions of the Executive, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938. Print. Barnard, C.I. Organization and Management: Selected Papers, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1948. Print. Brady, Diane. GE: When Execs Outperform the Stock. Business Week 17 Apr. 2006. Goel Sanjay et al .General Electric: Strategic Management.

English Language Requirements for International Students

English Language Requirements for International Students Academic English Requirements: University-Level Preparation Programs  for International Students Introduction The issue of English language standards and the academic preparation programs of international students who must meet them has become an increasingly complex and controversial topic in education today. This paper will explore this issue in depth, focusing on the specific needs of foreign students at University level. It will do this by exploring the current literature and theories that dominate the field, including Computer-Assisted Language Learning, or CALL. Then it will discuss issues pertinent to planning and developing an effective language preparation program to address those needs Current literature and theories A number of theories are currently competing to dominate the field today. Among these are several entry level issues. Most professionals agree that some sort of preparatory training is absolutely necessary for first year University students of non-English speaking background (NESB). However, the agreement stops there, as they seem unable to decide on which of these programs is best. One of these programs is focused primarily on teaching students only those English language concepts that are essential for them to be successful in attaining their academic degrees. Called English for Academic Purposes (EAP), this plan, as the name suggests, zeroes in on those skills that best ensure academic success. Academic success here is defined solely by completion of a degree. This raises issues of its true long-term worth as a sustainable skill (Pathways 2004, 2). Other plans include English for Specific Purposes (ESP), which focuses on teaching students those aspects of English that will be most relevant their specialised professional projects. Alternate pathways to University level education are another option; this approach focuses on integrating relevant skills learned outside the academic setting in such a way that the student is given academic credit for them. A methodology similar to this is described by Sandra Elbaum in Grammar in Context: Learning a language through meaningful themes and practicing it in a contextualized setting promote both linguistic and cognitive development (Elbaum 2005, xv). The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol Model, also called the SIOP Model, focuses on what the authors refer to as sheltered instruction. It is an approach that can extend the time students have for getting language support services while giving them a jump-start on the content subjects they will need for graduation (Echevarria et al. 2004, 10). Computer-Assisted Language Learning Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was first used to assist in foreign language teaching in the 1960s. This was only at University level; it has since grown to include earlier grade levels as well. It has made drastic strides in development since its introduction (Warschauer Healey 1998, 58). CALL is described by Warschauer as having three primary functions: behaviouristic, communicative, and integrative. The first of these, the Behaviouristic, is the simplest model. In this mode, the computer functions primarily as a means of providing the learner with the appropriate educational materials. Essentially, this means that the computer functions in a tutorial capacity. The second mode is called the Communicative mode. It is much more interactive and allows the learner a greater degree of choice and control in the methodology and level of study. Some examples of this mode include word processing functions, spelling and grammar checkers, and stimulating games such as Sim City (Davies 2005, par. 3; Warschauer Healey 1998, 67). The Integrative phase, the final and most recent, is also the most complicated and the most rewarding of the three. It offers a far greater degree of sophistication. It does this by combining both multimedia and internet technologies to offer a wide range of control to learners and teachers. Communication can be synchronous or asynchronous, eliminating scheduling conflicts as well as time zone differences. This also helps students to pace themselves according to their own learning needs. Finally, geographic distance ceases to be a barrier, allowing individuals to expand their social horizons as they exchange ideas with other members of the global community (Davies 2005). Thus, the Integrative aspect of CALL offers such a wide range of options and challenges for second-language learners. However, the Integrative phase does invite criticism, particularly regarding foreign-language acquisition. For example, it can be said that language is basically a social activity. As such, the concept of truly learning one without face-to-face contact may seem prohibitive to some. It can also be argued that Integrative communication tends to isolate rather than draw people together, making the concept of global community seem more unattainable than ever. Proposal for Course Layout In order to plan an effective preparatory course for international students at this level of study, facilitators must be aware of the variety of material available for improving students language skill, not just one or two texts. The variety and options offered by University-level textbooks and accompanying tools seem endless. Although the standard grammar-based traditional approach still forms the core of many methodologies, few programs base their programs on a single methodology. Dana Ferris stresses the need to develop a comprehensive error-treatment plan that directly addresses key issues regarding linguistic ability in composition and writing (Ferris 2002, 105). According to Ferris, teachers need to realize that differences in students levels of L2 proficiency will affect both the number and type of errors that they make as well as their ability to process particular types of feedback (Ferris 2002, 56). It is also vitally important to know the needs of the students in the class. This is a point that cannot be stressed enough: to effectively plan the class, instructors need to know the basic makeup of individual classes rather than design a curriculum that is based on theoretical conjecture. Use of multimedia and similar resources can greatly facilitate this process. Another aspect to consider in designing a course is that fact that approaches to studying are different in different countries. For example, in the UK and most other English-speaking countries, students are expected to be very independent. International students should be made aware of the different levels of expectation, as well as strategies for learning to adjust and thrive in this environment. This theory is a key part of the theory of Lowes et al. in their guide for international students. Lowes and his partners are lecturers who have had several years experience teaching students at University in the UK. They include specific, real-life examples of the experiences they have had with students from different cultures and countries to demonstrate the relevance of their point. Conclusion It is clear that the issue of academic preparation programs for international students is complex and controversial. The trend today seems to be leaning heavily towards computer-assisted methodologies, which offer flexibility, convenience, and control for both students and instructors. There also seems to be an increasing awareness that general English-language courses need to be tailored to fit the specific needs of the students who take them, thus enabling them to concentrate on their primary courses of study. By designing a preparatory course that considers the actual levels and the specific needs of international students, the lessons will address relevant issues—issues that will enable students to focus on their primary programme of study to successfully complete their degrees. Reference List Ascher, A.. 2004. Think About Editing: An ESL Guide for The Harbrace Handbooks. Boston, MA: Thomson. Davies, G. 2005. Computer Assisted Language Learning: Where are we now and where are we going? Accessed September 5, 2005. URL: http://www.nestafuturelab.org/viewpoint/learn23.htm. Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., and Short, D. 2004. Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model. 2nd ed. London: Pearson Education. Ediger, A. and Pavlik, C. 1999. Reading Connections: Skills and Strategies for Purposeful Reading. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Elbaum, S. 2005. Grammar in Context. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Ferris, D. 2002. Treatment of Error in Second Language Student Writing. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Lowes, R., Peters, H., and Turner, M. 2004. The International Students Guide: Studying English at University. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Pathways to University Level Education. 2004. Survey sponsored by Tertiary Sector Special Interest Group (TESOLANZ). Collated by Tricia Hewlett. Accessed September 5, 2005. URL: http://www.tesolanz.org.nz/Pathways Survey.doc Warschauer, M., Healey, D. 1998. Computers and language learning: An overview. Language Teaching, 31, 57–71.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man | Book Summary

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man | Book Summary Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an autobiography by John Perkins. It tells the story of how the protagonist, Perkins, experienced a series of events that are astonishingly influential to the world that we live in today. It tells the story of how greed for money and power creates a web of deceit, traitors and shockingly murderers. It portrays how one country can exploit others, rob their natural resources, cause environmental disasters, poison their rivers and guide their politics. Perkins exposes the truth behind his own countrys administrations and its leading role models in the corporate world The United States of America. Perkins begins this book by introducing two concepts; Economic Hit Man (EHM) and corporatocracy. EHMs are a group of people who encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes U.S commercial interests (p ix). This results in the world leaders becoming trapped in a web of debt and providing the U.S with support politically, militarily and economically. In turn, the world leaders bring airports, power plants and industrial parks to their people and therefore guarantee their thrown. John Perkins provides a precise definition of EHMs that they are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars using techniques such as fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex and murder (p ix). The protagonist was an EHM for the international consultancy firm MAIN and its strategy is to target and persuade poorer country leaders to accept enormous development loans for projects which were to be contracted with U.S companies. They cheat leaders with false economic projections, Your forecasts determine the magnitude of the systems they design and the size of the loans , an EHM is the key (p 17). This form of diabolic manipulation, in their view a strategic investment, proved to be successful in countries such Ecuador, Panama and Saudi Arabia but if the leaders do not comply with the offer for loans and economic growth then the country and their leaders suffered, even murdered. EHM failure was not acceptable. The term corpratocracy as Perkins explains is a collective term describing corporations, banks and governments that work for the progression of the global empire using financial and political muscle to ensure that our schools, businesses and media support the concept of the system that is motivated by the illusion that all economic growth serves for the prosperity of mankind and the larger the growth, the further extended the benefits and that the impoverished are convenient for exploitation. Perkins also gives us an insight of the impact of corporatocracy on us as we are being exploited by the economic engine that creates an insatiable appetite for the worlds resources and results in a system that fosters slavery. This quote emphasises what we encounter everyday in our lives; in banks, governments, Nike and Wal-Mart and nearly every other corporation in the world and that we are convinced by this economic engine and induced to consume, consume, consume (p xii -xiii). A key question is why did John Perkins become an EHM? He implies that his choice of this career path was due to two events in his life; his loyal friendship with Farhad, a son of an Iranian general and his encounter with Anne, his ex-wife (p 5). His parents also played a role in his point of view since he grew up as a poor puritan among so many wealthy. According to the protagonist, living a life of frustration craving sex and money generated a pivotal role in establishing his aspiration to live the good life, which was the lure that MAIN adopted to mould him into an EHM (p 7). But the more vital question here is how was such a disbeliever in the corporatocracy become ensnared in its web of deceit? The answer is the manipulative strategy of exploitation. Perkins wife introduced him to an executive at the NSA (National Security Agency). Perkins then undergone a series of NSA assessments were focused on his frustrations, his upbringing and his relationship with his friend Farhad. This portrayed how seducible the protagonist was and he was later further lured indirectly to be trained as an EHM (p 9). When he began to realize the true nature of EHMs, he became juxtaposed between becoming one and living the good life or walking away. He often questioned if what he was about to engage in was right and suspected he was not but eventually greed and the appealing opportunities MAIN offered won and he justified his decision by presupposing that he will expose the corporatocracy after he advanced deeper (p 17). EHMs have been involved Panama, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Ecuador. In each case the author describes various strategic tactics they employ and their various outcomes to the countries leaders, politics and people. Panama was ruled by its hero Omar Torrijos at the time Perkins was sent to make his economic forecasts (or in reality an economic hit). Torrijos believed in his countries right to rule its own Panama Canal with no U.S intervention (p38). In 1972, Perkins established a relationship with Torrijos where it appeared that the he knew MAINs true agenda towards Panama as he implies, I understand that your company wants more work and usually gets it by inflating the size of projects.. This time is different Give me whats best for my people .Ill give you all the work you want. It was obvious that this man was solely concerned for the benefit of his country and to benefit the poor as rather than himself and which in my point of view proves that not all leaders are corrupt. Perkins also portrays that Torrijoss selfless attitude would be seen as a threat but Torrijos expressed his knowledge openly that at anytime the U.S could assassinate him and that he will not be destroyed easily, We have the Canal The CIA will have to kill me! (p 72-75). His expectations came to life on July 31st 1981. His death, which my mother described as a mysterious plane crash, was a result of his true devotion to Panama rather than the U.S dollar. He renegotiated the Canal Treaty with the U.S President Jimmy Carter to surrender the Canal to the Panamanians and later refused to renegotiate it with President Reagan. The U.S wanted sole control over the Canal. When anything came in their way, the words CIA assassination are heard (p158-159). This is their strategy, either comply with their strategic exploitation game and sell your beliefs for dollars and power or they send in their jackals or the CIA to intervene. After the tragic assassination of Panamas hero, his replacement, Manuel Noriega, followed in his footsteps particularly with the project of building a new canal financed by the Japanese. This posed a threat to U.S firms; they could lose billions of dollars. During the George H. W. Bush administration a new strategy emerged to deal with Noriegas intentions. It was through loss of reputation and mass murder. In 1986, they developed a corrupt image of drug dealing for Noriega. In 1989, the U.S invades Panama with airstrike assaults on the unharmful Panamanian civilians violating international law (p 173-175). Perkins wrote about Ecuador and how the U.S oil company ChevronTexaco Corp contaminated rivers and open holes with four million gallons of toxic waste water which contained oil, carcinogens and heavy metals which poisons the Ecuadorian people and their animals (p xviii). Their democratically elected President Jaime Roldos wanted oil companies out of his country, unless they implemented plans that would help Ecuadors people, they would be forced to leave his country. His people were frustrated and so was he. This posed a threat to their strategy of corporatocracy, therefore a CIA assassination strategy was implemented and he died in a plane crash two months before Torrijos in 1981 (p 154-156). In 1973, an important event occurred that changed the strategy of corporatocracy, the Oil Embargo. This was due to the U.Ss support to the state of Israel both politically and with foreign aid. This caused five Arab countries including Saudi Arabia to stop oil shipments to the U.S (p 82-83). King Faisal of Saudi Arabia played a great role in this embargo since he believed in the freedom of Palestine and swore to pray in Jerusalems Aqsa Mosque. But like any leader that opposed U.S interests he was murdered in 1975 by his own nephew who coincidentally was just being educated in the U.S. As for their strategy for oil rich and strategically located countries such as Saudi Arabia, they sent EHMs, including Perkins team, to the House of Saud, with their strategic weapon, economic projections. In order to preserve their oil supply, Washington commenced a new strategy to lure the wealthy House of Saud using negotiations offering technical support, military hardware and training, and an opportunity to bring their nation into the twentieth century. This arrangement would guarantee the House of Sauds power and the U.S would receive large portions of petrodollars and forever making Saudis dependent on the U.S companies, such as MAIN. Perkins role was to forecast rough projections of the future of the kingdom if large sums of money were invested in its infrastructure by the aid of U.S construction and engineering companies. He described it as win-win situation (p 83-85). The author was assigned to persuade a member of the Saudi government, Prince W., of a possible new Westernised future of the kingdom in 1975. The protagonist soon realized his weakness for beautiful blondes. And he exploited that weakness and supplied him with his need of women which portrays the measures EHMs result in order to fulfil their assignment. Indeed his technique proved to be a success and Prince W. eventually relented (p 92-95). The diabolic outcome of this strategy is not the result of having a guaranteed unlimited oil support, but is the message the U.S sent; If other countries such as Iran, Iraq threatened embargoes, Saudi Arabia would step in discourage other countries from even considering an embargo (p 90). The U.S can not only further corporatocracy but it can even escape with supporting terrorists for their own gain and later pursuing them as outlaws. The U.S desired the House of Saud to bankroll Osama bin Ladens Afghan war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s and they both generously devoted $3.5 billion to the mujahideen resistance movement (p 99). Washington was supporting who it now name murderers and terrorists to further its political agenda, in fact it was an excellent strategy to exploit such movements and later destroy them. Since the success of the Saudi Arabia strategy in the 70s, the greed of the corporatocracy grew and EHMs were sent to Saddam Hussein of Iraq to exploit his oil reserves in exchange for infrastructural prosperity. Unlike the House of Saud, he did not comply. To Washington, Iraq represented oil, water and its borders with Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. It is at strike distance with Israel and the former Soviet Union. That would have control over its neighbours; some which are oil rich (p 182-184). Refusing to comply, Iraq was attacked twice breaking international law. Once by George H. W. Bush in the 1990s with air strikes and aerial assaults on civilians. And second, by George W. Bush in 2003 where he deceived the world by claiming Hussein owned weapons of mass destruction. But people implied at that time that he planned to sell his oil for Euros which triggered the war. John Perkins book furthered a vast amount of knowledge to my perception of world leaders. I was always sceptical about many leaders but never did I know about EHMs. I was aware about corruption in governments, the U.S compliance with terrorism and its double standards that caused the murder of generations, the emotional scaring of orphans and the theft of dignity, resources and morals of many countries. Personal examples of this is the differenced between the Egyptian government at the time of Anwar Sadat who fought to help free Palestine and stop the Israeli genocide and now where Israelis are using chemical weapons to bomb schools and orphan children and the Egyptians are denying charities to supply those children with food. In my point of view this is also due to the U.Ss strategic exploitation as Egypt relies on billions of U.S foreign aid. I believe that EHMs were in Egypt. Another example is Saudi Arabia and how its leaders stood watching the U.S butcher Iraqi civilians in the war in 2003 and allowed U.S helicopters fly to Iraq via Saudi Arabia. After reading this book, I also thought of mysterious assassinations of important politicians such as Rafic Al Hariri who was a supporter of Hezbollah who protected Lebanon from Israeli occupation and Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. Those were people of similar standards as Torrijos and Roldos and perhaps I am right to now believe that those were CIA assassinations. The extent of the use of exploitation strategies by the corporatocracy was appalling and in my point of view the author was convincing and he was right to quit and expose this form of manipulation and terrorism employed by the U.S. As for a solution for corporatocracy, I believe it is in the reason of its existence, the reason why Perkins joined it, the same reason it was created; greed and power hunger. If we can perhaps teach American schools the importance of the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of every country, not just theirs and about international laws, then they might realise the real terrorists. I agree with J ohn Perkins on his strategy of spreading awareness, using his book and the media, and his idea giving this book and talking about it to friends and family. I would also suggest translating this book in different languages, especially Arabic and giving it to Iraqis and Saudis so they can see for themselves the working of the corporatocracy in their everyday life.

Veterinary Medicine as a Career Essay -- essays papers

VETERINARY MEDICINE AS A CAREER Working with animals has been a dream of mine since childhood. I was raised next door to the town veterinarian, Dr. Murphy. He specialized in farm animals, which my family raised, so he visited our house on a regular basis. He knew I loved to hear stories about his patients and always entertained me, no matter how busy he was. When I was 10, Dr. Murphy gave me a copy of â€Å"All Creatures Great and Small† by James Herriot. The book told the story of a country veterinarian and his daily work. To this day, that book remains one of my favorites and always renews my interest in animals. I recently spoke with Dr. Murphy, who is now retired, about his experience in the field of veterinary medicine. He told me, â€Å"Kid, its long hours and hard work. No matter how exhausted you are though, it’ll all pay off when you hear a newborn calf cry for the first time.† Dr. Murphy went on to reminisce about his years as a successful large animal veterinarian. Although he recently retired, Dr. Murphy still helps the occasional farmer in need. (Murphy n. pag.). Veterinary medicine is a very scientific field that requires extensive training and education. I am currently a Biological Sciences major and plan to apply to Veterinary Medical School at the University of California Davis upon separation from the military. I will be required to take a broad selection of courses ranging from Animal Behavior to Organic Chemistry and Calculus. Once I complete...

Linux vs Windows TCO :: essays research papers

There has been significant interest in the broader business community regarding the difference in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) between the Linux and Open Source solutions on one side and Microsoft's proprietary Windows solutions on the other. Microsoft software is licenced to users on a feeforproduct basis, whereas most Linux and open source applications are available free of charge. There are, however, installation and support costs to consider. We will take all such costs into consideration in the models we present. While it is difficult to qualitatively analyse all of the TCO factors at play, it is possible to produce a reasonable firstpass quantitative estimate for the instantiation and operation of a complete computer environment and network infrastructure for a smalltomedium organisation, to illuminate the TCO differences between these two competing platforms. To that end, we have modelled an organisation with 250 computerusing staff, an appropriate number of workstations, servers, Internet connectivity, an ebusiness system, network cabling and hardware, standard software, and salaries for IT professionals to establish and support this infrastructure and technology. We've also added IT training for the staff along with expenditure items for ancillary IT systems and external consulting staff to assist in making it all work. We ran the model with two options: firstly, purchasing brand new hardware and network infrastructure explicitly for establishing this organisation's computer systems; and secondly, using preexisting hardware and infrastructure. We also simulated the IT expenses over a 3 year period, mimicking the operational lifespan of many corporate computer systems, and amortising the purchase and installation costs over that period of time. Throughout this comparison, we will be presenting the raw data as well as the explicative methodologies used in the determination of the overall costs. While we have taken care and effort to present a holistic analysis, we are mindful that no organisation is likely to operate with the exact parameters presented here, and we therefore recommend the use of the document as a guide only. Consider this document as a primer which you can use to generate an enhanced TCO model specifically tailored for your organisation, by removing those line items which don't make sense for your site and adding additional costs which are specific to your organisation. Further, while this document makes express use of technology and services found within the IT industry, it is intended for an audience of nonIT executives within small to medium sized organisations. The final results are summarized in the tables below. One compares the TCO difference between Standard Linux (namely the one that isn't acquired with a prepaid support contract) and Microsoft's platform. The second compares Red Hat's managed Enterprise Linux and Microsoft's platform. Linux vs Windows TCO :: essays research papers There has been significant interest in the broader business community regarding the difference in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) between the Linux and Open Source solutions on one side and Microsoft's proprietary Windows solutions on the other. Microsoft software is licenced to users on a feeforproduct basis, whereas most Linux and open source applications are available free of charge. There are, however, installation and support costs to consider. We will take all such costs into consideration in the models we present. While it is difficult to qualitatively analyse all of the TCO factors at play, it is possible to produce a reasonable firstpass quantitative estimate for the instantiation and operation of a complete computer environment and network infrastructure for a smalltomedium organisation, to illuminate the TCO differences between these two competing platforms. To that end, we have modelled an organisation with 250 computerusing staff, an appropriate number of workstations, servers, Internet connectivity, an ebusiness system, network cabling and hardware, standard software, and salaries for IT professionals to establish and support this infrastructure and technology. We've also added IT training for the staff along with expenditure items for ancillary IT systems and external consulting staff to assist in making it all work. We ran the model with two options: firstly, purchasing brand new hardware and network infrastructure explicitly for establishing this organisation's computer systems; and secondly, using preexisting hardware and infrastructure. We also simulated the IT expenses over a 3 year period, mimicking the operational lifespan of many corporate computer systems, and amortising the purchase and installation costs over that period of time. Throughout this comparison, we will be presenting the raw data as well as the explicative methodologies used in the determination of the overall costs. While we have taken care and effort to present a holistic analysis, we are mindful that no organisation is likely to operate with the exact parameters presented here, and we therefore recommend the use of the document as a guide only. Consider this document as a primer which you can use to generate an enhanced TCO model specifically tailored for your organisation, by removing those line items which don't make sense for your site and adding additional costs which are specific to your organisation. Further, while this document makes express use of technology and services found within the IT industry, it is intended for an audience of nonIT executives within small to medium sized organisations. The final results are summarized in the tables below. One compares the TCO difference between Standard Linux (namely the one that isn't acquired with a prepaid support contract) and Microsoft's platform. The second compares Red Hat's managed Enterprise Linux and Microsoft's platform.