Competitive Position Essay

In this assignment we tried to look into the Baja Auto’s own position in Indian domestic market and how it has performed in last year compare to local rivals. In addition, we suggest company to invest directly in America’s automobile industry as America and India is more or less similar in terms of operating multinational organisations. As, it is a long term investment and high risk strategy for company, we clinically analysed new market scenario and different aspects of it. 1.0 Competitive Position Baja Auto is ranked as the world’s fourth largest two and three wheelers production company. It is in two wheelers and three wheelers Indian market since 1945 and recognised brand across Asia, Middle Eastern countries, Latin America. Bajaj Auto shares 26.70% of two wheelers market in India, fairly behind Hero Honda Motors which has 41.35% Indian customers, and ahead of TVS Motor Company which holds 18.14%. But when it comes to three wheelers vehicles, Bajaj Auto clearly control the majority of the market with 58.60%, much ahead then Piaggio Vehicles 32.70%. Bajaj’s closest competitor in two wheelers market is Hero Honda Motors. Hero Honda sold 3.72 million two wheelers units, almost double then Bajaj, who managed to sold 1.28 million units. Bajaj Auto is the country’s largest exporter of two- and three-wheelers. During 2008-2009, Bajaj Auto’s international sales achieved an all-time high of 772,519 units of two and three wheelers, representing a growth of 25% over the previous year. (Sources: Automobile Industry report -2012, India). Though, there is a huge difference in terms of selling units between three major players of India’s two wheelers, their growth rate is almost similar to each other. Hero Honda Motors enjoys 15.4% growth in 2012, and it was followed by TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto with 13.3% and 13.2% respectively. (Sources: Annual reports of Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda Motors and TVS Motors-2012). In plant wise capacity Bajaj Auto clearly out plays its competitors. Bajaj Auto has 4 active plants compare to 3 of each for Hero Honda motors and TVS Motors. Therefore Bajaj has upper hand in terms of number of units’ productions. Bajaj Auto’s plants are capable of producing 5 million units of vehicles compares to Hero Honda’s 4.75 million and TVS’ 4 . 50 million of units. (Sources: Automobile Industry report-2012, India). Adopted from Automobile Industry report-2012, India. 2.0 Market Entry Bajaj Auto is highly recognised company throughout the world and has vastly experienced management team. In addition, it has its own technology labs, engineering colleges and very strong labour power. Apart from having a fair amount of domestic market share, it is a leading exporter of India. Bajaj is famous for manufacturing two and three wheelers which have good fuel efficiency and strong outer body and comes in very cheap prise compares to other manufacturers. It is right time for the company to move forward and make its own base in well developed country like The USA, which help company to reduce the good amount of money spent on exporting its products to Latin America and Africa and moreover, America itself has huge crowd who are struggling with current worldwide economic downfall and looking for cheap available options. 2.1 Reason for Entering Into the USA Market PESTLE analysis is an useful analysis tool to evaluate future plans and it helps organisations like Bajaj Auto who is going to enter in new business environment to understand the risk associated with its next move .PESTLE helps company to analyse its position, potential and direction in new market place. 2.1.1 Political Situation of the USA It is very important to assess political condition of new working field before moving abroad. It helps company like Bajaj to make its business strategy. America is strong democratic country like India the motherland of Bajaj Auto and this will work company’s favour as it knows the pros and cons of such a political environment. 2.1.2 Economy The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy of the world, with per capita GDP of $49,800. US Business companies have more flexibility than any other part of the world in decision to expand their capita plant. . At the same time, they face higher barriers to enter their rivals’ home markets than foreign firms face entering US markets. It is lucrative industry to enter for foreign company like Bajaj Auto. 2.1.3 Social America’s population is 316,668,567 which consist of 79.96% white, black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%. 40.2% of America’s population is 25-54years old. 82% population is urbanised and an annual urbanisation rate is 1.2%. 99% of total population is literate. 2.1.4 Technological highly diversified, world leading, high-technology innovator, second largest industrial output in world; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining. Bajaj Auto will enjoy a good amount of success due to technological expansion of the company which is comparably low in India. 2.1.5 Legal America has strong, fast legal system which gives every individual a fair chance to appeal decision of the court. Supreme court is the highest body who makes the final verdict on any legal issue. 2.1.6 Environment Air pollution resulting in acid rain in the US ; the US is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels; water pollution from runoff of pesticides and fertilizers; limited natural freshwater resources in much of the western part of the country require careful management; desertification. Bajaj Auto developed the technology in recent years and some of its vehicles run on CNG and LPG which reduce the amount of carbon dioxide. This technology gives company an edge over its competitors to gain confidence of the US government to enter into their market. (Sources: http://www.cia.gov/library) 2.2Market Attractiveness DIAMOND MODEL Source: Porter, M. (1990) 2.2.1 Firm strategy, structure and rivalry As mentioned earlier, Bajaj Auto is famous for producing light weight two and three wheelers vehicles which have good fuel efficiency and strong body and it’s new for American population. There is no strong competitor in market at the present that can threat the position of Bajaj Auto in its production range. Bajaj Auto manufactures couple of motorbikes like Pulsar, Duke, and Discover which is heavy but it will not be a good idea to launch them in America as Harley Davidson, Yamaha motors, Kawasaki motors have strong hold on American customers. Bajaj Auto follows hierarchical strategy which resulted in advantages within industries and it helps company to gain upper hand in competition with major players. 2.2.2 Demand Conditions Light motorcycles, the summary say, will outperform other ICE product types and maintain their position as the largest single segment of the motorcycle market in America. This will be due to several factors, including the fastest population growth of any region, the lowest median age and the lowest (but climbing) per-capita GDP. (Source: world demand motorcycles grow). This is good future aspect for Bajaj Auto to succeed in international adventure. 2.2.3 Factor Endowment America has strong and large factor endowments compare to Western Europe. The US has comparative advantages of skilled workers, infrastructure, open market entry for international companies, natural resource and technology. Romalis (2004) provides a quasi-Rybczynski prediction, â€Å"if a country accumulates a factor more rapidly than rest of the world, then that country’s production and exports will systematically shift toward that more intensively use that factor.† The US has well developed technology when it comes to motorbike industry and that attracts Bajaj Auto to gain an entry in this market. 2.2.4 Related and Supporting Industries The US is rich in producing natural resources like iron, lead, petroleum, natural gas. In addition America has the world largest coal reserve with 491 billion short tons accounting for 27% of the world’s total.(Source: http://www.cia.gov/library). Strong supply chain of motorbikes engines parts, raw material for motorbike body, leather and machineries are always key factors in success of automobile business and America provides all these features to Bajaj Auto. 2.3 2.3.1 Target Market Young, universities’ students, African and Asian immigrants, middle class families and small vendors should be first priority as a target market for Bajaj Auto as they share large number of total American population (see 2.1.3). Above mention customers have limited resources of income and other responsibilities and therefore they always look out for cheap available option. The kind of two and three wheelers Bajaj Auto produces are low in prise and have high fuel efficiency. These two points will work in company’s favour and manage to pull big crowd. Once company get established, it can launch the range of heavy weight vehicles to provide competition to giants like Yamaha, Royal Enfield, Honda and Harley Davidson.

Consumer Society Is a Divided Society

TMA 2 Consumption has great control on individual’s lives, the whole development, contemporary UK and the rest of the world. Consumer society is characterization used to explain a society that is defined by the way individuals acquire goods, how they use them and the disposal of these goods. (Hethering, 2009, p. 33). Consumption comprises of individual that acquire goods for personal use and those that acquire for manufacturing and resale. However Social Scientist comes in to try and analyse consumer behaviour when acquiring these goods. The question now is whether the consumer society is a divided society.Some view consumer society as divided society and others see it as a society that acquires goods for personal use and that reflects personality and individuality. For some consumer society is not only about purchasing good for essesntial use but also as a way of trying to get a sense of belonging in society. Social Scientist Zygmun possed a question on whether the ability to be part of a consumer society was equally available to everyone. (need referencing. )Bauman’s concept of seduced and repressesd consumers visualise inequalities and differences created by a consumer society.Bauman, claims that we live in a consumer society where divisions are entranched not by class, but by the economic ability to consume. (Hethering,2009,p. 25) Buman described the consumer society by dividing them into two group, the seduced and the repressed. The seduced being the weathy, highly paid professional. This group often run an expensive lifestyle, for example buying expensive houses, cars, designer clothes etc. The repressed as the ones that are not employed, on low paid jobs, the disabled and many others. Hethering,2009,p. 25). this concept in Bauman’s view reflects his understanding in consumer division.

Patient- Centered Framework Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Patient- Centered Framework - Article Example The aspects that governed patient autonomy are varied and studies have investigated them. Freedom which has been specified as positive and negative, paternalism, patient’s dignity, integrity of actions by nurses and partial paternalism are subjects that have been investigated by researchers. The influence of issues on the ethical practices of the nursing profession and the difficulties experienced has been evaluated. The problem of getting informed consent from the patients has been one issue of significance and faced everyday by the nurse. The problem of medical paternalism was another issue which disturbed the atmosphere of caring. This paper explores the qualitative content of four studies and compares them critically so as to highlight the issues involved in the ethical administration of caring for all types of patients ranging from home care through nursing home care, hospital care and care for post-operative patients, medical patients and elderly patients. The first arti cle has been focused upon and the others are taken for comparison for highlighting the concept of autonomy and how it influenced nursing care in a patient –centered framework. Moser et al (2007) reviewed 1236 studies involving patient autonomy and how nurses supported it and selected 6 of them: 2 on homecare, 1 on nursing-home care and 3 on hospital care. The researchers had found that patient autonomy consisted of two types of freedom: negative and positive (Moser et al, 2007). Negative freedom had allowed the patient freedom of action without an outsider’s interference. Positive freedom had indicated that freedom was attained through one’s convictions and individuality. Theories that had supported negative freedom focused on self- care and self-governance. Those that had supported positive freedom focused on caring, identification, communication and achievement of goals. The patient autonomy had been studied in home care, nursing home care and in hospital sett ings. A mixed approach with both negative and positive freedom was appreciated by patients (Moser et al, 2007). Nurses could not follow a single model for all actions in patient autonomy because actions varied according to the situation. They had to derive knowledge for interaction through previous experience. Nurses had been described as professional care-givers for chronically ill people. The shared care model was one which required patients to participate in the management of their condition. Patient autonomy had an ethical perspective. Nurses guided the patient to practice autonomy by helping them to make their own decisions (Moser et al, 2007). For autonomy with positive freedom, the nurses collaborated actively with the patients. Positive freedom required social relationships for practicing autonomy. A patient with less autonomy tended to be bullied by interfering persons. For a patient to be autonomous, he had to be at liberty to make choices. Nurses were able to provide inte rventions only if consent was secured. Orem’s self-care theory indicated that nurses needed to help the patient to resume his autonomy by self-care principles. Four phases of caring had been identified: caring about, taking care of, care giving and care receiving (Moser et al, 2007). The moral qualities of attentiveness, responsibility, competence and responsiveness had been associated with them. The relationship between the patient and nurse flourished using these moral qualities so that appropriate choices were made as

Case Analysis(another one) Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis(another one) - Case Study Example The tables and a chart will compare the price of tickets from 1981 to vision 2023 and its resultant cost of inflation. Table 1 shows the SWOT analysis for Walt Disney Company. The SWOT analysis is used in the case analysis in order to predict the current and future outlook of the Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Company is supposed to reduce the cost of their services such as tickets. Also, the creative and innovative ideas are needed in the company. The name of the company is supposed to be associated with a wide range of audience not only children, but also adults. The suggested recommendations will help the Walt Disney Company to reach its target of remaining the leading company worldwide. For example, reduction in the price of tickets and other services will help in attracting a large number of customers. Also, creative and innovative ideas are needed in order to retain their disappearing customers due to the increasing price of the products and services. In addition, the name of the company needs to be associated with not only children, but also attracts. The change in name will help in attracting many customers irrespective of the age. As indicated by the type of analysis, the recommendations play a significant role. The recommendations will help the Walt Disney Company restructure its strategic plans and to reduce the cost of their services and products. In conclusion, the restructuring of the strategic plans and reduction of the cost of their services and products will attract many customers to the Walt Disney Company. As shown in table 3, the strategic plans for the company hold true that the expected price of items will continue to increase unless the strategies are

Design Process Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Design Process - Case Study Example Interactive systems design is essential in creating software interfaces. The aim is to illustrate how the prototypes can help designers generate and demonstrate what they intend to deliver. Designers can get feedback from clients and users of the software before completing the development process. The prototypes enable developers choose among the best alternatives in order create the best solution (Langer, 2008). This is usually accompanied with reason in the documentation of why the designer chose the alternative. A prototype is just a representation or a model of an interactive system. The software may not be presented in its full detail, but the interface must be fully presented. The interface may only handle a small code or algorithm in the system, but it is essential in interactive systems. Prototypes usually require several design phases that would take the user through scale of the interactive system. It is essential for software prototypes to develop into final software produ cts because it carries the user’s expectation. When a user is pleased with a representation of the software prototype, it is logical to deliver to the expectation of the user. The process of creativity in software design is intuitive and oriented on new discoveries. Generating new ideas is more essential than evaluating existing ideas to ensure that everything is in order. Creating an interface is a process that involves the inclusion of Human-Computer Interaction. Human Computer Interaction is a multidisciplinary subject that combines scientific elements with design (Dix, 2004). Interface design is a creative process but requires software engineering skills to evolve into operational software. Scientific methods are also used to study the effectiveness of the interfaces and software. Different design processes requires different prototype applications prototypes are either part of the design or just design objects. Prototypes that are viewed as design objects have benefits t hat include support of creativity and helping developer to generate ideas. The prototypes can also help a designer explore the design working space and discover some issues about the user. The prototype also encourages communication between the user and developer during the design process. This is likely to reduce the amount of errors that are usually generated during the development process. There are four dimensions that can be used to define prototypes and their application. The first dimension is the representation technique, which describes the form of prototype used. They include computer simulations and paper sketches. The next dimension is the precision that involves a level of detail where the prototype is evaluated. The evaluation criteria used is whether the prototype is highly polished or rough. The interactivity dimension describes the extent in which the user can interact with the prototype. This is best achieved when the prototype is fully interactive (Pilone & Miles, 2008). The evolution is the final dimension, which describes the expected life cycle of the prototype. Some of the expected lifecycles include iterative and throw away life cycles. This project design requires the use of representational prototype because it involves the use of computer simulations. This is because the project takes the form of a computer program. A number of sketches on paper are considered a prototype, but a computer simulation is the most appropriate prototype in this case. An online prototype is

None Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

None - Assignment Example If any of the students is found hurting emotionally for several days because of a failure, a rejection, a bad mood, or any other reason, it means the student has got a psychological wound. And, it needs to be treated with emotional-first-aid techniques. Therefore, the method for emotional first aid is required to improve the teaching practices because it helps to analyze and treat the emotional pain of the students (Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2011). 3. Being an educator it is necessary that before giving emotional first aid to the students the technique should be practices for personal emotional hygiene. In order to improve the personal emotional hygiene, few steps can be taken for the emotional hygiene. These steps include: Attention towards the emotional pain, protection of the self-esteem, control over the negative thoughts, control over emotional bleeding, and knowledge about the impacts of physical wounds. Teaching also gives experience and ideas about the wide range of emotions and emotional pain. Thus, after personal emotional hygiene the steps should be practiced during teaching (Blase & Kirby, 1992). 1. A health-care professional Nadine Burke Harris stated childhood trauma and its impacts on life in long term. Herein, it should be noted that this is an important thing that must be considered by an early childhood educator. The reason is that the incidents that happen with any child in early age leave its footprints on the mind. These impacts are stronger than it could be in any age group. It is the reason due to which it is suggested that the childhood traumas should be handled and taken seriously to avoid the possible attitude problems in children. These childhood traumas impact on the cognitive approach to the children and it changes the behavior of the children. Therefore, the idealistic approach or practice for an early childhood educator is that these children who have been through any

William Caslon typeface analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

William Caslon typeface analysis - Term Paper Example The process of type founding by William Caslon constituted four separate tasks. The first stage in this intricate step was punch cutting which involved carving the mirror image of a character, letter or figure in relief. This process was done on the end of shank annealed steal that was later tempered. The second process in production of type entailed chasing which involved ornamenting metal by tools and a hammer crafted for indenting. Following this process was casting which entailed placing the matrix in mold hand and consequently the chamber mold was realigned to fit the dimensions of the cast character. The eventual pieces were designed to be a three dimensional product of the character cast from the punch. The final operation consisted of dressing the type which included type press preparation such as breaking off the jet and filing off mold protrusions. It is of importance to note that the Caslon types symbolized functionality, strength and presence of legibility. Calson proceeded to cut very many non-Latin types such as Armenian, Coptic, Arabic, Greek and Hebrew. Some of the notable fonts by William Caslon included the ; Big Caslon, Caslon Graphique, Caslon Old Face, ITC Caslon no. 224, ITC Founders Caslon, ITC Founder’s Caslon Ornaments. The fonts designed by Caslon exhibited a modelling delicacy and a design variety that was not evident in the Dutch types. One of the distinct differences between the Caslon types and Dutch types was monotony. In effect, the Caslon types were less monotonous compared to the Dutch types which were characteristically monotonous. To this end, the smaller size Caslon letters when analyzed were not perfect individually. However, their mass effect was agreeable. The Caslon Old style no. 471 is regarded as the metal version that is considerably related to William Caslon’s originals. Furthermore, the Caslon Old style Italics and Romans are produced from the original

Western expansion and development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Western expansion and development - Essay Example The immigrants from China faced a lot of discrimination upon arriving in the United States which was evident in the manner of treatment that they received in the mines. In 1850s, the U.S government limited the right of naturalization to the white immigrants only which made it difficult for Chinese immigrants to pursue independent livelihoods. The Missouri Compromise allowed for slavery to continue in the newly acquired states which meant that immigrants of African descent were to be treated as slaves and not as people who came in search for greener pastures. The Mexican War saw the expansion of the United States to parts of territories that initially belonged to Mexico. This made it easy for immigrants from Mexico to move to the country with most of them settling in the states of Texas and Oregon regions. The United States played a critical role in ending the Second World War. The nation initially tried to avoid entering the war even as pressure from the Britain mounted. They finally agreed to take part in it as it was seen as a threat to its security. During the Holocaust, the United States did not lower its tight stance on immigration and it is believed many Jews would have been saved if the laws were lessened to allow Jews immigrants into the country. The American Jewish community had undermined the impact of the Holocaust and they failed to consider advocating for the uplifting of more Jews from the affected areas. During the World War II period the American Jewish community was bitterly and deeply divided, and was unable to form a common front. Proponents of a Jewish state and Jewish army agitated, but many leaders were so fearful of an anti-Semitic backlash inside the U.S. that they demanded that all Jews keep a low public profile. The Bracero Program which was formed in the year 1942 saw the increase of immigrants from Mexico who mainly came into the United States to offer cheap labor. At the onset of World War II, the

Political Implications of Sophocles Book - Antigone Research Paper

Political Implications of Sophocles Book - Antigone - Research Paper Example Lack of satisfaction on the form of leadership attracts criticism while what they deem to be the best form of leadership that leaders ought to adopt is exalted by different authors. Thoughts of authors could either have positive or negative influences on the people who read their work. In analysing the dangers of different authors, this paper will look at two thinkers and authors of ancient history. An analysis of Sophocles’ ideas in Antigone and Plato’s The Trial and Death of Socrates will be used as the reference to the analysis. In his book Antigone, Sophocles explores on the punishment which disobedient people in Thebes, the kingdom of Greek. It also showed the various methods used in ruling the kingdom. The author, in his choice of using a woman as the main character, showed the theme of the plight of women in the times, though in a negative way. He chose to support the plight of women, as the episodes of the book progress. On his part, however, Plato in his book, the trial and death of Socrates, he explores the influence of political leaders and their influence on the subjects. The book portrays Socrates in a devilish way as he manipulates the people around him with his philosophical influence. Plato himself was an astute follower of Socrates and had done so out of choice. Socrates believes that Plato’s closeness to him made him vulnerable to manipulation. Rarely would he speak on his first-person voice, as he often made reference to a different force behind his words, that of Socrates? His reasoning and ideas, though very dynamic and radical as an influence from his mentor, does not make him much dangerous as his counterpart Sophocles. Sophocles develops personal ideas and thoughts and sends his sentiments through his book. Through his book, he portrays himself as a dis-respecter of humanity.

Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 11

Questions - Essay Example Other aspects of diversity include education levels, religion, sexual orientation and personality types (Rice, 2005). Effective management of diversity within an organization can be a source of competitive advantage in business. A competitive advantage refers to a marketing action that a company employs that sets it apart from its competitors. To understand how diversity can affect a firms competitive advantage or competition, in general, it is essential to explore some of the benefits of diversity to an organization. Firstly, diversity brings a great variety of opinions and viewpoints to an organization. In a case where the management wishes to make a decision, the difference in opinion, as presented by different members, gives a broad perspective of the subject. This will lead to the selection of the best possible set of actions that can yield best results. Restricted or few opinions can be misleading resulting in poor business decisions that might not compete fairly in a business environment. Secondly, diversity can result in a wide range of talents in an organization. A variety of talent is a major contributor to the efficiency of a firm. Matching the different talents to the different tasks in an organization will lead to better execution of tasks. Efficiency in tasks is a major competitive advantage. This is because efficiency in production can lower the costs of production, and the saved resources can be channeled elsewhere within the firm for improvement of services. Finally, the diversity of a firm is a basis for the provision of a wider range of services. In marketing, for instance, cultural diversity of a firm can play a major role in reaching a broader market. An organization with a workforce of diverse cultural background is better placed to reach a multicultural market. It is possible to achieve this by understanding the different requirements of the cultures and the language to

Library Management System Essay Example for Free

Library Management System Essay In today’s modern age where computer has become a way of life, it is evident that a majority of country’s institution still do not adapt high technology. Particularly in some schools, library transactions are still done on paper. We all know that modern school libraries are operating at great pace striving to serve as many students as possible with the best of their abilities. But as the years rolled by, the number of study has grown and the manual method of managing student and book records is no longer practical. A Library Management System is a system that makes use of information technology to perform managerial objects. The main goal of a library management information system is to store, organize, share and retrieve vital information needed to perform daily operational functions of the library. St. Matthew Academy of Cavite does not have one. Since library has a very large number of books and large number of members, it is impossible for librarians to handle day to day activities manually. Therefore, a library management system is used to facilitate the tasks in the library. With growing population and high demand of students, St. Matthew Academy of Cavite is in need of such system. And so this is the reason why the proponents came up with the idea of developing the system. By means of obtaining good performance of such system for the library, the level of production and effectiveness of the library will progress. Therefore, this proposal was conducted to develop a system that will minimize all paper works and manual records keeping, thus allowing the librarians and staff ease in keeping track of student records, reducing waiting time and increasing the number of students served – a system that is well-organized, efficient and user-friendly. Statement of the Problem. We had observed that the St. Matthew Academy of Cavite Library does not have a secured system to protect their records and files. The study aims to answer the problem, â€Å"How will the proposed system assure security for the files and records of the library? † Some library cards and other files are misplaced or lost due to improper storage. The study seeks answer to the problem, â€Å"How will the proposed system keep track and record all the files and information? † According to the librarian, paper works and manual process consume a lot of time which causes the transactions to be slow and inaccurate. †How will the proposed system produce accurate and fast transactions? † Importance of the Study St. Matthew Academy of Cavite is located in Niog 1, Bacoor Cavite that offers elementary and high school courses owned by Mr Efren L. de Guzman(School director). In the School library, the processes are done manually. A borrower should have a library card; this will serve as library pass/identification to avail the privileges to each student of the school. The student may enter the book section and search for a book. After choosing a book, he/she will take it to the librarian. The librarian will get the catalogue at the back of the book and fill the details on it. The student must surrender his/her library card. Today, the kind of process they are using is no longer convenient. With establishments like St. Matthew Academy of Cavite, Library Management System is necessary. We are already in the phase wherein a lot of technological advances are taking place which makes the proposal very suitable. Through the implementation of the said system, better results and improvements will take place and it will mainly contribute to the progress of the establishment. The users are the people for whom the system is being built for. Therefore, the Library management system will help satisfy the requirements of the user. Especially now that we are in the modern age where technology has become part of our lives, the system is very appropriate to fulfill the ever-changing needs of users. The researchers are the one responsible for meeting the user requirements. The study certainly adds knowledge and improves the researchers’ skill in developing a functional system that would satisfy their clients. The study unleashes their ability to investigate and come up with a system that makes them more effective and productive researchers. For the future researchers, the Library management system works for small library establishment only. Thus, if the future researchers will find the system appealing, they can come up with new ideas and enhance the system for a more useful and efficient system which can be used for larger libraries. Objectives of the Study In general, the study aims to provide a better system for the SMAC library that would help the librarians to make their work easier. The system is created to replace the manual lending, returning of books. Specifically it aims: 1. To plan for a system that will lessen all paper works and manual procedures to make transactions fast, accurate and accessible. 2. To analyze the function and performance of the library management system, understand the user’s need for the system. 3. To design a user-friendly system that is secured and protected that will help the users understand the functions and flow of the system. 4. To implement a system that will help librarians to keep all the records and transaction manageable. Time and Place of Study The proposed study was conducted at St. Matthew Academy of Cavite, located at Niog 1, Bacoor, Cavite, in the year 2012. Scope and Limitation In general, the focus of the study is to provide a better system for the SMAC library. The implementation of the Library management system will provide solutions for the existing problems within the library. The Library management system is intended to manage the transactions going throughout the library. It will enable the user to operate all the records that are entered to the system. The system maintains the record of the books in the library, borrowing and returning process of the books in the library. It includes the information of books such as title of the book, name of author, the date it was published. The end user of the system is the librarian or the one in charge of the library, which take care of the transactions inside the library. Developments and effectiveness are to be established in this proposal. However, every study has its own limitation. The limitations of the system are the following: Module of Books The user is capable of adding, editing, and searching of book information. The members can search for book title, author or subject by keywords through the OPAC(Public user interface). The OPAC only displays result of the searched book. The members are not capable of editing any records. The user is not capable of deleting records because this is an inventory. Module of Members The user is capable of adding new members, editing, searching and updating member’s information. The user is not capable of deleting members in the database. Module of Borrowed Books This module includes data of books which are issued or borrowed. The user is capable of adding records about issuance of books. Module of Returned Books This module includes data of books which are returned. The user is capable of adding of records. Module of Unreturned books This module includes the record of all unreturned books. Module of Penalty This module includes data of fine on members for late return of books, damage of books or lost books. It does not include printing of receipt. Module of Transaction This Module includes the transactions of borrowing and returning of books, and maintaining records of the book details, member info, date borrowed, due date, the date returned and penalty, if any. Definition of Terms Visual Basic – a programming language created with the main purpose of teaching programmers and developers how to design and develop GUI. Database- a collection of data (information) on a specific topic stored in an organized manner. Record- all of the information listed for one particular item (person, place or thing) in the database file. Search/Find –an operation to locate a specific record(s) that satisfies a statement or statements of criteria. OPAC (Public Interface of User) or simply Library Catalog is a database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Users search a library catalogprincipally to locate books and other material physically located at a library. Circulation- or library lending comprises the activities around the lending of library books and other material to users of a lending library. A circulation or lending department is one of the key departments of a library. Filipiniana- repository of materials regarding the Philippines either published within or outside the country, authored by a Filipino or foreign writers as long as it is about the Philippines. This section includes books in the different fields of endeavor. Reference – various books that are sources of information about different subjects. They include dictionaries, encyclopedias, manual, and other informational books. Most books in the Reference Section may not be taken out so that they are always available to those who need them. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Information System It has been a computer era. The computer revolution is greatly affecting the way human’s life. The task of the storage and retrieval for vest amount of information has been taken over almost entirely by computer system. The computer has made it possible to automate much of the information interchange and processing that constitute the nervous system of the society. The computer system that provides the automation is commonly called information system. It will be responsible for computer technology for long term impact on society especially in science like in the field of health and medicine, chemistry, mineral exploration, millitary tactics, finance, education, media and communications, economics, sports, transportation, photography and other related areas. The information storage and retrieval is an active area of computer to help related work both for hardware device and software system as it was stated, information storage and retrieval involves more than hardware devices and storage media alone. To make the physical equipment readily, usable it is necessary to operation associated with it are to add information and others. While many people are excited about all these uses of computer, many others are concerned about the problems like work displacement, invasion, privacy, and the personalization in business operatation. The advantages of a new technologyb are often obvious but the problemas that may arise are much more difficult to access. (Davis, 2005) Use Case Diagram A use case is a methodology used on system analysis to identify, clarify, and organize system requirements. The use case is made up of a set of possible sequences of interactions between systems and users in a particular environment and related to a particular goal. It consists of a group of elements that can be used together in a way that will have an effect larger than the sum of the separate elements combined should contain all system aactivities that have significance to the users. A use case can be thought of as a collection of possible scenarios related to a particular goal, indeed the use case and goal are sometimes considered to be synonymous. (Antoinette Michaella, 1999) Class Diagram A class diagram is an illustration of the relationships and source code dependencies among classes in the unified modeling language (UML). In this context, a class defines the methods and variables in an object which is a specific entity in a program or the unit of code representing that entity. Class diagrams are useful in all forms of object oriented programming (OOP). The concept is several years old but has been refined as OOP modeling pardigms have evolved. The classes are arranged in groups that share comon characteristics. A class diagram resembles a flowchart in which classes are portrayed in boxes. Each box having three rectangles inside. The top rectangle contains the name of the class; the middle rectangle contains the attributes of the class; the lower rectangle contains the methods, also called operations, of the class lines, which may have arrows at one or both ends, connect the boxes. These lines define the relationship, also called association, between the classes. (Francis Michael, 2001) Related Studies on the Proposed Study Saint Vincent High School Library System The objective of Saint Vincent High School Library System is to impelement a system to facilitate the borrowing of books in the school. The Library contributes to the quality of services offered in the academic community, making it an excellent place for study and research. The Library is responsive units that have adapted and changed substantially over the years. (Pomperada, 2011) El Segundo Unified School District Library System The School Libraries of the El Segundo Unified School District are deeply involved with the El Segundo Public Library. The Public Library shares the Automated Circulation and on-line Public Access Catalog System with the School Libraries. The School Libraries serve as branches of the El Segundo Public Library. This collaboration means the El Segundo Public Library Card is used at the School Libraries. Anyone visiting the Public Library and using the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) can locate and request any book in any of the libraries. Using the Interlibrary loan system, books are shared between the school libraries and the Public Library. Books can also be pooled together to assist a teacher with a research assignment. UCV Library System The University of Cagayan Valley Library System is an important part of UCV instructions. These are the heart and brain centers of the University, and special place to do research and thorough study. The libraries provide each college with intellectual, up to date high tech resources to support its educational programs. (Del Rosario, 2008) Table 1 shows the comparison of local studies features with the features of the proposed system. |FEATURES |SVHS |ESUSD |UCV |SMAC | |Checking of penalties | | | | | |Viewing of records | | | | | |Updating of Records | | | | | |Adding of Members | | | | | |OPAC | | | | | Table 2. Comparison of Local Studies features with the Proposed Study Legend: SVHS- Saint Vincent High School ESUSD – El Segundo Unified School District UCV University of Cagayan Valley METHODOLOGY The Model chosen for the study is Waterfall Model. The following are the verification phases: Figure 1. Waterfall Model The Planning Phase, the researchers determine the nature and scope of the development. In this phase, the researcher gathered all the information about their process. The procedure was conducted by interviewing the librarian to learn the process of borrowing books from the library. The librarian provided sufficient and useful information on how the manual borrowing of books in the library is conducted. The system’s physical interface, data purpose, etc. , was reviewed by the researchers. The Analysis Phase, the researchers analyzed the user’s needs for the system. In this phase, the system shall be defined in more detail with regard to system inputs, processes, outputs and interfaces. The system shall be described in terms of the functions to be performed. The document for system testing was prepared in this phase. The Design Phase, describes how the proposed system will be built. It defines the specifications, plans, parameters, activities, processes. The researchers designed a well-structured GUI to make it appropriate for the users. It must be user-friendly and secured. The Testing Phase, a particular process or method for trying or assessing. The system needs to be evaluated and tested before it will be used in SMAC Library. A sequence of test was held by the proponents to emphasize all possible problems that may occur. The Implementation Phase, the carrying out, execution or practice of a design. It encompasses all the processes involved in getting new software or hardware operating properly in its environment, including installation, configuration and running, testing and making neccesary changes. The Maintenance Phase, the last phase of the system wherein all areas of operations and maintenace are performed. The system is being used and monitored to ensure that it meets the needs initially stated in the planning phase. Design Maintenance Implementation Testing Analysis Planning.

Health And Safety In The Workplace

Health And Safety In The Workplace Human resources are one of the most important features of many businesses. A business success relies heavily on the effectiveness to which this resource is managed. Policies and practices used by the firm, set out the standards to which they seek to aspire. They are designed to govern the operation of the business; especially in todays economy where there is such a rise in service industries (Biz/ed, 2010). This topic is of importance to us because it has proven to be a neglected field in todays corporate world; especially in Grenada. In this regard, this paper seek to highlight the importance of Workplace Health and safety to the business, to develop an understanding of how its effective management can affect the performance of a business, outline how this can be effectively carried out with the interest of the company in mind. It is often said that, the health of a nation is the wealth of a nation (Fraser, 2004), the same concept applies to business. The health and safety of a companys human resource is an enormous contributor to the success of that business. Human resources account for a large proportion of many companys costs; it is the people that invariably drive a business (Biz/ed, 2010) According to the Bureau Veritas, Workplace Health and Safety refers to, the evaluation of risks relating to the health and safety of an organizations workers and others (including the public) who may be affected by its activities (Bureau Veritas, 2007). Who establish workplace health and safety? The health and safety of a workplace is established through different sources. Firstly, on a national level occupational health and safety is instituted in accordance with legal regulations that were created by legislative decisions and is enforced and monitored by agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), for the U.S., and the Ministry of Labour in Grenada. OSHA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labour, has the responsibility of assuring the safety and health of Americas workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging (OSHA, n.d.). On a national and/or on a company level there are also instances of regular inspections by a safety representative. This can be self requested or legally mandated. This is done to ensure that companies follow the stipulated guidelines that are set to govern the safety and health of the workplace. Also, from a corporate standpoint, the health and safety standards of the company can be establish by the declaration of it in the Companys general worker manual and/or in the separate manual set aside for clearly laying out, the standards by which the company seek to keep its work environment and the people that use it safe and healthy. A more informal, but still an effective method is employee observation. This is simply employees reporting hazards that go unnoticed to the inspection representative and/or management. These options are in place to ensure accordance of a company to monitor and control the health and safety of the workplace, and to maintain it. In-adherence of regulations set by the above regulatory bodies can result in an employer being fined or sentenced to jail time (Cascio, 1998). Reasons for Maintaining Workplace Health and Safety There are reasons why a business should maintain a safe and healthy workplace. It purges the environment of possible risks to everyone that uses the facility. An organizations productivity is directly related to the health and safety of its workforce. Therefore, proper health and safety practices safeguard the productivity of its employees. When the workforce is unhealthy it affects productivity; quantity and quality. Proper practices maintain the health of the workers and it protects human rights; the human right to a safe and healthy environment and the human right to a safe and healthy workplace (PDHRE, n.d.) A major reason for maintaining health and safety in the workplace is that failure to do so cost too much. The consequences of not up keeping proper health and safety practices can range from having expensive monetary payouts, to death (users of the workplace). Other repercussions are Lower productivity levels sick or injured worker do not produce the same quality and quantity as do health workers. Poor quality products and services the direct relation between quality of workforce and quality of products or service they produce. High levels of complaints from customers lower quality of products or services delivered to customers would make them unhappy. Loss of customers and subsequently lower revenues if the quality of the production isnt addressed it can result in a loss in the customer base and later loss in revenues because of lower sales. Higher costs this increase in cost can come from different sources including: payment of insurance claims for damages, cost of substitution for sick or injured workers (training and wages), and benefits for sick or injured workers. Higher staff turnover as persons get sick or injured on the job they tend to leave. If the health and safety practices of the workplace are dreadful employees would not stay therefore higher turnover. Poor industrial relations poor health and safety practices would attract attention from unions who fight for the rights of employees. Thus, addressing safety and health issues in the workplace saves the employer money and adds value to the business (OSHA, n.d.). When workers remain safe and healthy, the direct cost-savings to businesses include: lower workers compensation insurance costs reduced medical expenditures smaller expenditures for return-to-work programs fewer faulty products lower costs for job accommodations for injured workers less money spent for overtime benefits Safety and health also result in substantial decreases in indirect cost (OSHA, n.d.). This is as a result of: increased productivity higher quality products increased morale better labour/management relations reduced turnover better use of human resources Employees and their families benefit from safety and health because (OSHA, n.d.): their incomes are protected; no financial shock because of illness or injury their family lives are not hampered by injury; no loss of income destabilization because of illness and injury they have less stress; because of a com Workplace health and safety extend way beyond the boundaries of the worksite. The families of workers and other users of the worksite can also be impacted by health and safety in the workplace (OSHA, n.d.). It is of a misconception that health and safety in the workplace only entails ensuring that there arent any hazards on the worksite however it should be noted that the hazard can be the employees themselves. Employees who are sick (communicable/non communicable), who have a drug or alcohol problem, who have psychological problems can also pose great threat to the health and safety of others in the workplace. Violent employees can also be classified as a hazard (Cascio, 1998). In this regard testing of the individual together with the worksite is necessary; drug and alcohol testing, psychological tests etc. Whose responsibility is it? The health and safety of a workplace should be part of the business HR strategy. It should be an initiative that is deeply rooted into the culture of a business. No one person should be responsible for it. Given this, all employees, supervisors and managers should undergo training in this area to suit their position. Managers especially should possess an attitude that support good health and safety practices because it is usually mirrored by employees; if the manager care about health and safety, the employees will do too (OSHA, n.d.). Both the employer and the employee are responsible for ensuring that the workplace is healthy and safe for all users. Employers are legally obligated to maintain and provide a working environment that is conducive for comfortable operations. They also have to provide safe systems of work and facilities that would sustain the welfare of its employees. They are also responsible for providing employees with any information, instruction, training and/or supervision that is needed to ensure that workers are safe during operations no matter the job. As a result of this responsibility to ensure employees are safe at work, an employer may institute regulations and policies that would call for the attention from and compliance of employees (Directgov, 2010). Employees are also expected to play a part in ensuring proper health and safety of the workplace. They are to make certain their own personal health and safety and that of other persons in the workplace; whether colleague, customer, supplier, etc. Importantly, workers are expected to adhere to the directions given by management to guarantee health and safety. If workers are to ignore these directives it creates a hazard in the workplace not only for themselves but also for others (Directgov, 2010). Effective management of the resource Each workplace is different and dynamic. Therefore the strategy used to effectively manage the human resource should also be different and dynamic. This strategy should include clear and concise plans for the addressing the types of accidents that and exposing the health and safety hazards that could occur at the worksite (OSHA, n.d.). An effective plan, as based upon the safety and health program management guidelines given by OSHA in January 1989 is the Four Point workplace Program. The Four Point Workplace Program as its name suggests, it is a program that contains four elements in approaching optimum effective health and safety standards. These elements Commitment and Employee Involvement The manager or management team leads the way, by setting policy, assigning and supporting responsibility, setting an example and involving employees. Worksite Analysis The worksite is continually analyzed to identify all existing and potential hazards. Hazard Prevention and Control Methods to prevent or control existing or potential hazards are put in place and maintained. Training for Employees, Supervisors and Managers Managers, supervisors and employees are trained to understand and deal with worksite hazards. Conclusion: The success of a business rests to a large degree on the quality of the workforce successful management of this crucial resource is critical (Biz/ed, 2010) The Employer has a responsibility to ensure that his/her employees are safe at work, and so may institute regulations and policies to ensure this. It is now the responsibility of the employee to make certain that they follow these rules. As an employee, one has rights and responsibilities for their own wellbeing and that of their colleagues and by extension the public (customers) (OSHA, n.d.). The key to the success of a safety and health plan is to see it as a part of the business operation and to see it reflected in the day-to-day operations.  As the implemented plan is incorporated into the business culture, health and safety consciousness will become engrained into the psyche of everyone. (OSHA, n.d.). Protecting people on the job is in everyones best interest our economy, our communities, our fellow workers and our families. Safety and health add value to businesses, workplaces and lives (OSHA, n.d.).

The neoclassical model of labour leisure choice

The neoclassical model of labour leisure choice In this society, not many people can afford goods and education without working. Since we are not all wealthy, most of us must work in order to cover our living costs and other expenses (Borjas, 2008). However, our decisions on whether to work or not are based on many factors that motivate or discourage us to enter the labour force, then we need to decide how many hours to work. The first and second part of the essay will discuss about an individuals work-leisure decision regarding to her decision to work or not, and the number of hours to work. In the third part, I will discuss about Clarks report on job satisfaction of men and women. Although women had higher levels of reported stress in their life, they appear to be happier in work than men. Finally, the results which are recently reported by Booth and van Ours (2007) also support Clarks conclusions. The neoclassical model of labour-leisure choice is used to analyse labour supply behaviour and identify the factors in a persons work decision and her decision on how many hours to work (Borjas, 2008). In this model, individuals satisfaction which is obtained from consumption of goods (denoted as C) and leisure (L) is presented by utility function (economists assume that both goods and leisure are normal goods): We want to maximise our well-being by consuming as much goods and leisure as we can. However, there is a trade-off between consumption and leisure (Sparknotes, 2010). If we want to consume more leisure, then we have to give up goods and services because we cannot afford them since we work less (or do not work). In the other hand, if we spend more time to work, then we are wealthy enough to buy those goods and services; though we cannot consume as much leisure as before. In order to understand an individuals work-leisure decision, we use indifference curve analysis to explain their responses. Indifference curve analysis consists of two concepts: indifference curve and budget constraint (bized). A person will make her decision through the combination of the consumption of leisure and goods, in which we can analyse her work-leisure decision through a combination of her budget constraints and her indifference curves. The persons budget constraint can be written as: Where C: the value of expenditures on goods, wh: labour earning, and V: non-labour income (such as property income, lottery prises, medical insurance, disability insurance, dividends, retirements program) The total time allocated to work and leisure must equal the total time available in the period, say T hours per week, so that: Figure 1 illustrates the optimisation in utility of a person by combining her budget constraint and indifference curves. She will choose point P (as this is her optimal consumption of goods and leisure) because she is better off at point P. At point P, she will consume T1 hours of leisure and h1 hours of work per week. Note that in this figure, we assume that the indifference curves are convex to the origin, which is equivalent to assumption of diminishing marginal rate of substitution. It is the amount of consumption a person is willing to give up for an extra hour of leisure time diminishes as leisure time increases (lecture note). We are interested in how many hours of work a person will choose when non-labour income (V) (may be because of higher investments return or inheritance money) or wage (w) increases. There are two types of effects which dominate in this model: the income effect and the substitution effect. When non-labour income increases (holding the wage constant), the income effect reduce hours of work (as people tend to take more leisure as they feel wealthier) The workers opportunity set expands as non-labour income increases, thus leads to a parallel shift in her budget line. An increase in non-labour income also means that when holding the wage constant and the income effect generates, the worker tend to reduce hours of work (assume that leisure is a normal good). When the wage rate increases, its total effect is the sum of the income and substitution effects. A person will reduce her hours of work if the income effect dominates (in this case, a person is effected only if she is working); instead if the substitution effect dominates, she will increase her hours of work. If both effects are equal, then there will be no change on individuals hours of work or hours of leisure. In Figure 3, as the wage rate increase, the income effect generates lead to a decrease in hours of work (movement from point A to B), however, as the substitution effect has equal effect, individual will increase her hours of work (movement from point B to C). As we can see, the hours of work are still the same. A person makes her decision to work or not to work is based on the reservation wage. It is said that when the real wage exceed reservation wage, the workers will enter labour market. Therefore, if there is a high reservation wage, people are less likely to work. However, if we hold the reservation wage constant, high-wage persons are more likely to work. The neoclassical model of labour-leisure choice has some limitations such as: it considers only leisure and goods and ignores home production; it has simple linear budget constraints as in fact, the budget constraints are nonlinear due to taxes, government benefits; labour supply decision may be affected by other members decision of a household; and finally, it is one-period model, whereas lifetime labour supply model is more complex and dynamic (lecture notes). Womens participation rate in labour force has been increasing due to: rise in real wage (encourages women to enter the labour market), decline in birth rate since the costs of having one more child are very expensive, technological advances (which are the convenient products to help women in household activities), social and cultural factors (feminism, religion), expansion of service industries, and low unemployment (lecture notes). Mammen and Paxon (2000) state that education levels, for women themselves and their spouses, is an important factor in womens labour-decision. In a competitive labour market, women will consider the opportunity cost of her time and the income that unearned (non-labour income). A woman will withdraw from labour force if there is an increase in her non-labour income (may be because her husbands income has risen). However, when womens wage rises, it depends on whether substitution or income effect dominates. One interesting finding which made by Andrew Clark (1997) is that womens job satisfaction levels are higher than men. Firstly, he introduced his theory of four possible explanations for womens higher levels of job satisfaction, which are: jobs and gender, work values, sample selection, and expectations. Clark used the individual and job characteristics as control variables in ordered probit regressions to test all the explanations, except for the sample selection explanation, in which he used Heckman sample correction in OLS regressions. His theory is presented as the utility function from working: u = u(y, h, i, j) (1) where y is income, h is hours of work, and i is individuals feature and j is job characteristics. He concluded that gender (i variables) should not enter the equation (1), for example: an identical man and woman in identical jobs should report the same job satisfaction score (Clark, 1997). The data in this paper were collected from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) which interviewed 10,000 adults in 550 households in 1991. They were asked to rate their satisfaction levels (by the scale number from one to seven) with eight job aspects: promotion prospects, relations at work, job security, own initiative, total pay, the actual work itself, hours of work and something else. Clark argued that job satisfaction has correlations with the genders differences such as: age, education, health, and different job characteristics: establishment size, union membership and hours of work. He found that good health has large positive effect on job satisfaction while renter, union membership, and hours of work have small negative effects (an increase in hours to 50 per week only reduces the predicted probability of reporting overall job satisfaction of 7 to 38% and 30% for women and men, respectively); moreover, higher levels of educations and longer hours of work are connected with lower satisfied workers. Especially, womens overall job satisfaction is largely determined by renter, union, marital status and managerial status. However, these findings only justify which types of workers are satisfied, not why women are more satisfied than men. The second explanation of this paper is work values (as men and women consider the work aspects differently). Men choose promotion prospects, job security and pay, are the most important jobs aspects; while women rank highly the aspects such as: relations at work and hours of work. Nevertheless, the results show that women who have same jobs, same personal characteristics and same work values, report a higher job satisfaction score than men do. Thus, work values do not explain why women are so happier at work. The third explanation of womens higher job satisfaction (sample selection tests how the individual feel about working) is not effective since it relies on men and womens participation rate. Clark highlighted that men are more likely to be in employment than women; specifically, married women are less likely to be employed. Since the sample sizes are small (mens participation rate is higher than women) Expectations are the last explanation for womens higher job satisfaction. Clark (1997) stated that women are happier at work than men, because they have lower expectations. Education and upbringing form a part of expectations. For the higher-educated workers, younger workers, those whose mothers had a professional job, those in professional positions, and those working at male-dominated workplaces are likely to have higher expectations about their job aspects. Clark suggested that there is only a temporary result in womens higher job satisfaction which is explained by improved position of women in the society and labour market. He predicted that womens expectations and job satisfaction would be the same as men, given that womens pay only rise at the same pay rates of men. (gender) used the pooled ordered probit models to show that in the past decade, womens job satisfaction has indeed declined significantly (nearly by half), while mens job satisfaction has slightly changed. This paper results support the theory that womens higher job satisfaction is only transitory and Clarks prediction of gender differences in job satisfaction. Furthermore, the results found by Booth and van Ours (2009) are indeed supportive to Clarks conclusions. Akerlof and Kranton (2000, cited by Booth and van Ours (2009)) stated that womens improved position in society (such as the female suffragette movement) has made it more tolerable for women to work. This paper examines the relationship between part-time jobs and family well-being by using fixed-effects ordered logit estimation method on the panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA). Hours satisfaction is considered to be one aspect of both men and womens job satisfaction. Womens job satisfaction is said to be increasing follow their partners health. The results from pooled cross-sectional data indicate that men and womens job satisfaction is higher if their family income and health are high, which is consistent with Clarks findings. While full-time work reduces womens hours satisfaction and job satisfaction, it increases mens hours and job sati sfaction. Booth and van Ours (20009) concluded that the male share of house work is always low even when the female spend enormous hours in marketplace. This finding proposes an explanation why women are happier with part-time work. (developing) In contrast to Booth and van Ours findings, Boo (2010) states that in developing countries (as in Honduras), women do not have higher job satisfaction refer to part-time job. Alternatively, both women and men are more satisfied when they are working full-time. For the fact that working full-time increases individuals income, poorer women seems to value full-time jobs than non-poor women.

Chancery in Charles Dickens Bleak House Essay -- essays papers

Chancery in Charles Dickens Bleak House In Charles Dickens Bleak House, Chancery is portrayed as a disease that plagues the Victorian society. Dickens uses the suits and the lawyers of Chancery to display its effects on the whole society. The suits are â€Å"slow, expensive, British, constitutional kind of things† (25) that stifle and bemuse those that come in contact with them. In Ms. Flite’s case, the suit has deteriorated her life. She attends Chancery regularly expecting a judgement that is never to come and yet, she lives a â€Å"pinched† (73) lifestyle, unable to help herself or others. In addition, she cages birds she intends to set free on her judgement day, however, she states, â€Å"I positively doubt sometimes whether while matters are still unsettled I may not one day be found lying stark and senseless here, as I have found so many birds!† (74). Like Miss Flite, the suit has stagnated Robert’s life. Robert, â€Å"So young and handsome, and in all respects so perfectly the opposite of Miss Flite...[is] so dreadfully like her† in his clouded, eager, and seeking mannerism (592...

The Blue-collar Appeal of Hard Times Essay -- Dickens Hard Times Essay

The Blue-collar Appeal of Hard Times   Ã‚   In Hard Times, Charles Dickens gives us a close-up look into what appears to be the ivory tower of the bourgeoisie of his day, yet these middle-class characters are viewed from a singular perspective, the perspective of those at the bottom of the social and economic system. Though Dickens’ characters tend to be well developed and presented with a thoroughly human quality, the stereotypical figure of arrogant and demanding Bounderby fails to accurately capture the motivations and attitudes of the typical successful businessman of the day and is an indication of the author’s political motives. Hard Times, rather than presenting a historically accurate picture of the extraordinary changes brought about by the industrial revolution, is a one-sided attack on the utilitarian value system of the middle 19th century based upon emotional blue-collar appeals for labor sympathy that are not uncommon in today’s corporate environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Josiah Bounderby of Coketown represents the utilitarian attitude and, as such, is the villain of the story and clearly the target of Dickens’ political argument. Dickens characterizes Bounderby as a powerful individual, driven by greed and guided by a distorted view of human nature. He is the only wealthy industrialist introduced in Hard Times, although Mr. Sleary might arguably be considered the more virtuous businessman. Dickens clearly portrays Bounderby as a greedy and individualistic, self-serving capitalist; rather than an insightful, forward-looking crafter of a new industrial age. Dickens artfully weaves his political enemy into a pompous, arrogant image reinforced with traditional working-class themes that lead the reader to conclude that Bounderby, ... ...nate and truly human society should strive to benefit all classes of its citizens.    Works Cited Coolidge, Archibald C., Jr. Charles Dickens as Serial Novelist. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1967. Hayek, F. A., ed. Capitalism and the Historians. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1954. Laughlin, J. Lawrence. The Elements of Political Economy. New York, NY: 1896. Malthus, Thomas. First Essay on Population, 1798. London, England: Macmillan & Company. 1926. Marx, Karl. "Capital." Great Books of the Western World. Vol. 50. Ed. Robert Hutchins. Chicago, IL: Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 1982. Veblen, Thorstein. Selected Writings of Thorstein Veblen. Ed. Wesley C. Mitchell. New York, NY: Viking Press. 1947. Wilson, John F. British Business History: 1720-1994. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. 1995.      

Tested in Every Way Essay -- Christopher Ruddy

Tested in Every Way: the Catholic Priesthood in Today’s Church, written by Christopher Ruddy, is a report and at the same time a reflection on the Seventh Annual Cardinal Bernardin Conference which was held in the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX in 2003 . Ruddy reports the voices of academic and pastoral expertise sharing about the challenges and the identity of being a priest. Besides of giving a report, the book opens up and finishes with the Ruddy’s insightful reflections. Ruddy opens up with an â€Å"examination of the cultural and ecclesiological contexts of the priesthood in today’s church (13)†. In the first chapter of the book Ruddy mentions three challenges the church and priest are facing today: popular skepticism, erosion of biblical and theological literacy, and the impossibility of a genuine diverse but unified moral and religious community. He states that the rise of skepticism contributes to a hermeneutics of suspicion. That type of hermeneutics lead to a construction of narratives of progress and redemption, but sometimes those narratives are held to twist the reality (19) creating divisions among other groups (20). To face the mentioned challenges, Ruddy says: â€Å"the priest are called to model catholicity in the face of pluralism, defend objective truth against skepticism, and to speak about the obstacles to hope†. Finally, Ruddy mentions that there have been many contextual and demographical changes in society tha t have shaped the identity of the priest, but as John Paul II puts it, â€Å" the priest receives his identity and his ministry from the communion he shares with Christ, his bishop, brother priests, his fellows baptized, and the entire human community (48). In the chapters two, three and four... ... see a priest witnessing what he preaches, and a priest that takes into account the gifts, talents and knowledge of all the member of the community. Bevan’s image of the conductor of an orchestra is what people want to see. In other word a priest as a person that leads the community to work in harmony and through that community work lead people to Christ. Tested in Every Way is a book that needs to be read by priests, seminarians and those who are in training for future ministry. The book opens our mind to a broader perspective of what the priest is today and what is expected of him in the future. I see the book as an invitation to reflect on my own image of the priesthood and at the same time to work toward a vision that embraces me in a community which is sustained by the relationship with God and all the members of the faithful community.

Antigone Moral Dilemma

Antigone’s Moral Dilemma Perhaps the most pronounced question in the play â€Å"Antigone† by Sophocles' is the value of human law vs. divine law. In this tragic play a newly appointed king Creon declares to his people that treason was committed during battle, and one of the two brothers (Polyneices) killed shall not be buried according to the Gods, but instead â€Å"He shall be left unburied for all to watch the corpse mutilated and eaten by carrion-birds and by dogs† (Sophocles, 1900. ). This dilemma is felt by many, especially Antigone (sister of the deceased). In Greek culture it is thought that the spirit of a body cannot find rest if it is has not been laid to rest by the evening of the day it has departed, and it is condemned to roam the earth for eternity. The struggle between human law and divine law is a moral dilemma Antigone feels as she decides to go against the laws of the king. Antigone’s desire to bury Polyneices properly according a divine edict is challenged as she faces the hurdle to defy King Creon’s ruling. She acknowledges the importance of family and savors in the knowledge of defying the state. She ultimately succeeds in this moral quest to stand by belief in divine principle above and against the power and authority of the state, despite her suicide. Many Greek writers such as Homer in Iliad, reflect religious ideology in their works. A constant battle between man and the gods are apparent, and the concepts of burial rights are similarly played out. In Iliad after Achilles rejoins the battle and fights his enemies, he kills Hektor, the Trojan leader and releases his body to be buried after the gods intervene (Coughlin, 1990. ). In Antigone, the character Antigone realizes that Creon next in line to become king may have been thought to be chosen by the gods to rule, and she faces the decision to endure the law of Creon or be in contempt of Creon's edict to pursue the will of the gods. According to Greek mythology humans could endure an even far more eternal punishment for breaking the gods will. Antigone also questions, what if it was meant for Creon to be king, therefore it may be the will of the god’s for punishment to come upon Polyneices. After negating this thought she oon realizes that the will of the god’s is not only something King Creon must witness and acknowledge, but something she must enforce herself. This determination to do what is right even in defiance of patriarchal law can be seen in lines 1019-1021, â€Å"But if these men are wrong, let them suffer nothing worse than they mete out to me—these masters of injustice! † (Sophocles, 1900. ). Because, Antigone truly thinks that Creon has not rightfully been awarded king, there is resentment towards him for finding his way to the throne through the end of the true power. It is possible that Antigone did not take the king seriously or thought that she would possibly be spared. In fact, she may have perhaps just simply not cared. However, she chooses to display the importance of divine edict over the kings and takes it upon herself to give her brother a proper burial. She vocalizes this as she states, â€Å"I didn't say yes. I can say no to anything I say vile, and I don't have to count the cost. But because you said yes, all that you can do, for all your crown and your trappings, and your guards—all that your can do is to have me killed. (Sophocles, 1900). This quote shows not only faith but fate in the political heroism Antigone's portrays in her resistance to refuse the power of state. Antigone answers no to all that she finds to be vile, â€Å"I have longer to please the dead than please the living here: in the kingdom down below I'll lie forever (Sophocles, 1900. Lines 88-90). These lines show how much personal power she possesses compare d to King Creon. Antigone remains consistent, even contentious in her disobedience. By offending the king, it is as if Antigone is leaving him no choice and his prideful ways force him to sustain her sentence. After Creon realizes that fulfilling his order may be a mistake , he also knows that he cannot retract the ordering of her death. He had surrendered his actions to the power of the state, and thus rendering himself to a loathsome state. Unlike Antigone, who finds free will and faith in the laws of the god’s. Playwrights such as Sophocles attempt to understand the meaning of human suffering and reexamine the many traditions and ideals from the past. Greek mythology questions the public and private responsibilities of individuals. As in any circumstance fighting against what is valued as right can become a conflicting power. Antigone’s decision to go through this treacherous act alone enabled her to find peace within the divine laws of nature during her time. The act of surrendering to a fate that was unjust prepared her for the desire she clung to despite its unbalanced position. Antigone’s fatal removal from the human community renders a powerful and tragically beautiful character of Greek mythology. The moral decisions she sought after became apparent to everyone, especially Creon, that † Fate raises up, / And fate casts down the happy and unhappy alike: / No man can foretell his fate. † (Sophocles, 1900. ). Fate plays an important role in Greek tragedy. Antigone seemingly found that â€Å"There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; / No wisdom but in submission to the gods. † (Sophocles, 1900. ). She also raised the standards by which ordinary humanity was judged (Sophocles, 2005. Although she too suffered because of the heroic dichotomy present to all of Sophocles’ greatest characters, known as â€Å"the girl who feared to cast away the fear of heaven†, she could not have sacrificed love and life were she not on some level was cursed with a greater than human obsession for moral justice (Sophocles, 2005. ) The courageous actions of this character succeed in illustrating that not even a king’s entitlement can change a person’s fundamental natural rights. So it is possible to truly be happy, but only when man is wise. Wisdom is a necessary trait. It brings an understanding of the real values there are in this world. The pursuit of wisdom leads to happiness, as Antigone tells us. To truly gain wisdom, one must accept that it not something already possessed. All the answers are not given, and this world offers more to learn from than expected. So, did Antigone ultimately succeed in this moral quest to stand by the value of Greek mythology, despite her suicide? It seems apparent that submitting to the will of the gods allowed Antigone to gain the necessary wisdom to find true happiness, even in death. Some suggest it was the fate of the god’s, just as it had been for her father and brother’s.

Examine and comment on Christian and Hindu beliefs about life after death Essay

Death is the most fateful experience of each individual’s life. Whether it is the end of one’s life, or the beginning of a new life, no one knows. Death for the Hindu is merely transition, simultaneously an end to a new beginning. Death for the Christian is destined and is a time of judgement that is made from their former performances in life. These are very different views from two major world religions that both question the different events that may take place after one’s death. The Christian faith believes that the body is resurrected at death and the soul of an individual is immortal and continues after death. The doctrines of the church teach Christians that after one dies, they will rise before God and be judged. They believe that Christians who have been faithful throughout their life by worshipping Christ and helping other who are less fortunate. A quotation from Matthew 25: 31-46, ‘One day we shall be called to account for the way we have used our gifts, our opportunities and our energies. Above all, we shall be required for the way we have behaved in relation to the poor, needy and the marginalised’, supports the belief of the Christian faith and continues to teach these beliefs to mankind. This judgement that is made by God determines whether a person’s soul will spend eternity in heaven or hell. Based on Jesus’ teachings and other sources of revelation, Christians believe that heaven is a place of eternal life, extravagance and luxury, ‘The best and sweetest flowers of Paradise God gives to his people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us in to Paradise’, ‘There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Revelation 21:4), these quotations show Christians believe that heaven is a place for those who have worshipped God and have followed the teachings of Jesus. The bible has portrayed heaven as the ‘kingdom of heaven’, where ‘kingdom’ refers to a place of monarchy and sovereignty, where people will be reunited with God. However, Christians can not just enter heaven when they die, but will have to show that they are worthy of entering heaven, ‘For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 5:17-20), this quotation alternatively states that a person who thinks of themselves as higher than God, will never enter heaven. The question that then arises is, where do the unworthy of entering heaven, go after death? The complete alternative of heaven is hell, where people who have carried out immoral acts, such as murder and rape which are forbidden according to the sacred doctrines of the bible, along with people who do not believe in God and have not followed the Christian faith will live eternally in the brutal conditions that hell facilitates, ‘The sword which shall pierce them with the greatest sorrow will be the thought of having lost God, and of having lost Him through their own fault’, this quotation gives us a small insight of what hell is portrayed as by Christians. St. Augustine says that in Hell, the damned will be forced to think of nothing but God and that will cause them terrible torment. Biblical quotations such as ‘†¦and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 13:42) and In Matthew 25:41, Jesus says ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire’, show that Jesus talks about hel l as being a place of fire and where souls are burnt and tortured for eternity. Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon which was titled Sinners in the hands of an Angry God. This contained a passage with a quotation ‘There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery’, stating that if a person enters hell, there is no turning back, and they will suffer in the fiery flames of hell. The bible also describes hell as an endless torture scene, with angels and Jesus present either as observers or as officials who are directing the torture of the victims in hell. However, there are two different concepts about the duration of the torture, Annihilationism and traditionalism. Annihilationism is the belief that unsaved individuals will be punished in hell for only a period of time that is appropriate to pay for the nature and frequency of their sins which they were alive on earth. Annihilationists also believe that when a person’s punishment has finished, and they have paid the full penalty for their sins, they will be exterminated and their soul will cease to exist in any form. This mean that the soul will not be tortured for any longer, however, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven, which consequently means that at that point, their life has come to an end. In contrast, traditionalism is simply a belief that unsaved individuals will be punished in hell not only for a year, or a decade, but for eternity without any hope of relief, moderation or cessation of the pain. There are many passages and quotations that appear to describe punishment in hell as lasting forever such as ‘the fire that burns them will never be put out’ (Isaiah 66:24) and ‘And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt’ (Daniel 12.2). These quotations from the bible clearly support the view of traditionalism which shows that even though God’s wish is for all to be saved, the ones who are not will be punished forever. Although this is the view for many Christians, others including Skeptics, Humanists, Atheists, Agnostics generally believe that there is no afterlife and accept that after death, there is personal annihilation. Roman Catholic Christians also have alternative but similar views as they believe that in between heaven and hell, there is ‘purgatory’. This is where people who have sinned within their lifetime, but have not sinned to the extent that they must enter hell and be tortured for eternity, are punished for their bad deeds until all penalties have been paid. This enables them to be cleansed from sin and can potentially enter heaven where their soul will rest for eternity. Roman Catholics also believe that people who have family and friends to pray for them after they die will be released from purgatory sooner than those who don’t. This is why many Roman Catholics have an overwhelming fear of death as they feel they will certainly suffer, whether it is in hell or purgatory. Pope John Paul issued a piece entitled Incarnationis Mysterium which suggests that Roman Catholics visit certain holy sites to try and reduce the amount of time they will have to spend suffering after death. In this, there is was an appendix called Conditions for Gaining the Jobilee Indulgence which suggested ways for Roman Catholics to attempt to reduce the amount of time spent suffering after they die by carrying out good deeds during their lifetime such as visiting the elderly who live along, the sick, the handicapped etc. Some Roman Catholics carry out these deeds, but the question that has to be asked is, is this being done from the goodness of their heart, or for the goodness of themselves? It is clear that different Christians have different views on life after death, but are similar and can be linked together in some sense, for example, annihilationism is vaguely similar to purgatory in the way that people who have sinned are not punished eternally. However, can this be said for the views on life after death for Christianity and Hinduism? Certainly not, as Hindus have a completely different perspective of afterlife. For Hindus, death is referred to as ‘mahaprasthana’ which means ‘great journey’. Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is the cycle of death and rebirth after a while in spiritual spheres into a new physical body, this is where the soul, which is the true self, remains the same, while the â€Å"vehicle† of the soul to make the needed learning experience changes. Death means nothing else but the loss of a vehicle the soul was using during its many reincarnations, which is a physical body. Saint Tiruvalluvar wrote that ‘death is like falling asleep, and birth is like awakening from that sleep’, this quotation shows that no Hindu should really fear death, as an individual is not the body in which they live, but the immortal soul which inhabits many bodies in its evolutionary journey. ‘Samsara’ is the term referred to by Hindus and means ‘wandering’. They believe that the soul wanders from body to body in one lifetime to another. The Bhagavad Gita, which is the holy text for Hindus, teaches that death should not be feared and there is no reason to grieve, ‘For sure is the death of all that is born, sure is the birth of all that dies: so in a matter that no one can prevent, you have no cause to grieve (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 verse 27). This quotation states that all are born again so there is no point grieving over something that cannot be avoided. However, the reason why all living things are continually reborn is based on the Hindu belief in karma. Karma means ‘action’ and the law of karma is the law of cause and effect. Hindus believe that the life they are living may not be the first one, and they may have been born many more times before that. The law of karma states that any good or bad deeds than have been carried out in one’s life will give an impression and will be carried over to the next life, for example evil and selfish actions will consequently results in a life of suffering. Therefore, it is said to believe that ‘everything has a cause and purpose’, ‘What a man becomes in his next life will depend upon his karma’ (Brihad-aranyaka Upunishad. IV. 4.verse 3). For a Hindu, this belief could provide a strong incentive to live a good, moral life so the fear of suffering in their next life is overcome. The law of karma can also explain the differences in circumstances and in equalities between people around the world. Although many Hindus aspire to a good rebirth, the ultimate goal of any Hindu is for the atman (soul) to escape Samsara altogether and this is known as ‘Moksha’. Moksha can be described as perfect peace and happiness, or as the soul ‘losing itself in Brahman’. Brahman means God and moksha is a spiritual state of existence in which there is a union with God, ‘When all desires that rest in the heart are liberated shall a mortal man become immortal and attain Brahman’, which shows that when all thoughts are put to rest and when the atman is truly identified as the equivalent of the reality of Brahman, an individual will be able to make moksha their goal and achieve it. Yoga may be considered as a way of exercise to keep the body healthy and fit where as the true meaning of yoga is unity and integration, and is the means, methods and discipline that will enable an individual to bring union with a personal God, Brahman. There are three recognised ways of doing this and they are ‘karma yoga’, ‘bhakti yoga’ and jnana yoga’. By carrying out these, and using them as a guideline, moksha can be gained. Hindus see their religion as a way of life and many Hindus apply themselves and live their lives wanting to act to the best of their potential in hope that when they die, they will be released from samsara and gain moksha. Christianity and Hinduism are two major religions that are followed worldwide. They also have very contradistinctive views on life after death. However, both Christians and Hindus turn to their religion to find answers for existence along with death. They also hold tenaciously to the beliefs taught by their particular denominations as a way of comfort. One thing that Christians and Hindus have in common is that they both portray religion as a way of life and use scholarly teachings to influence them on which rightful path to follow in life. Death has been questioned for a very long time and no one has been able to answer the question ‘What happens after death?’, which means no one really knows what events will take place after we die, where we will go or what will happen to us. Although we try and answer all of these questions with religious beliefs, until one experiences death, the question that has caused distress to people for over 2 millennia still remains, is there an afterlife?

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