E-commerce and globalization Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

E-commerce and globalization - Assignment Example and taking into consideration the virtual space that has been created by the internet, coupled by the globalization of trade and the lifting of trade barriers by various governments, Amazon has been able to conquer nearly all parts of the world by its online businesses (Lynch, 2003). This has led to the classification of commerce as a specialized activity and special experience with Amazon becoming the largest commerce site for the selling of books and goods online. The first advantage relates to the experience that a person gets when browsing through the wide range of books online. Second, online selling spares buyers the time of moving around stores to sample the books that they need. Instead, one only has to do a click of their computer’s mouse and they have a wide range of books to sample. A person only needs to know about the name of the book as most people are unfamiliar with the ISBN concept. Third, online sale of books at Amazon Inc. entails very secure and simple buying procedures that any computer literate customer with basic skills would easily manage (Barfield, 2003). The payment procedures are also simple to use as a person would only require a PayPal account or credit card to make purchases. Subsequently, online sale of books allows the customers the opportunity to select between old and new books assuming that the old books are recalled when still in good condition. Nearly all books are available online and if not a request can be easily made for the same. Online sale of books is also efficient in the sense that one may just order online and then have the book delivered to their houses without having to move at an extra but, lesser aggregate cost. Finally, online shopping of books accords a buyer with the opportunity to assess books from different authors and publications. First, the buying and selling of books is at an extra internet cost that most people are unaware about. In most instances, these books that have to be sold online are to be

Victors act Essay Example for Free

Victors act Essay In Frankenstein, many issues are raised concerning sciences interference with nature. Today, scientists are coming increasingly close to being able to clone a human being using genetic engineering. Dolly, the first cloned sheep is proof that we have the technology to clone mammals. From Frankenstein we can learn that creating new life is a massive responsibility and ultimately is wrong, because it is impossible to imagine the problems that might arise. In this situation the novel is even more relevant today, because in 1818 cloning was only a dream, and now it is closer to reality than ever before. Throughout the novel Frankenstein there is a pervading theme of the quest for knowledge, which still continues today. Victor attempts to surge beyond accepted human limits and access the secret of life, just as many genetic scientists are trying to do today. Likewise, Walton attempts to surpass previous human explorations by endeavouring to reach the North Pole. This ruthless pursuit of knowledge proves dangerous, as Victors act of creation results in the destruction of everyone dear to him, and Walton finds himself perilously trapped between sheets of ice. I think that although we may have the knowledge to do something, it doesnt mean that we must do it, if it has moral or other implications. For example we know how to make a nuclear bomb, but should we ever use it? Another issue that the novel raises is the issue of moral responsibility. We need to care for humanity as a whole, not just ourselves. We in the rich West have money food and shelter while those in other lands such as Ethiopia are starving. In these modern times, we also have a responsibility to care for and sustain the environment, not to abuse the gift of nature. This is in contrast to the deforestation of Amazon Rainforests in Brazil, where millions of trees are cut down every day for the Western worlds timber and paper needs. We are even more aware of the damage to our environment now because of the scientific progress we have experienced since Shelleys day. Frankenstein refuses to take moral responsibility for his creation. Today, people emphasis their rights over their responsibilities. Perhaps even more than in Shelleys time, we need to encourage moral responsibility in our individualistic society, where most people seems to be looking out only for themselves. Another final issue raised by the novel is the issue of prejudice. An example of prejudice is anti-Semitism: prejudice towards Jewish people. Anti-Semitism was a tenet of Nazi Germany, and in the Holocaust 1933-45 about 6 million Jews died in concentration camps and in local extermination pogroms, such as the siege of the Warsaw ghetto. In Eastern Europe, as well as in Islamic nations, anti-Semitism still exists and is spread by neo-fascist groups. In spite of the globalisation of our world, through air travel, TV and the Internet, since Shelleys day, we still have many examples of prejudice and discrimination against those of different appearance, colour, race, intelligence, sex, age from ourselves. Throughout the novel, the monster is rejected and exiled because of his appearance, when deep down he was an intelligent, thoughtful and emotional being. No one could see past his horrific appearance to reveal his personality and thoughts. To be a victim of prejudice is demeaning and makes the person feel worthless. Despite this, the Monster fights on, trying to befriend people until he finally gives up and decides that the best thing to do would be to die. This type of attitude and feeling is something that people should not have to deal with in such a multi-cultural world we live in, for we are all human beings.

Life After Marriage Essay -- essays research papers

Life after marriage The lives led by people as individuals are vastly different from the lives they lead after marriage. Although single life has it’s many vicissitudes, they are greatly altered by the addition of another party into the situation. Even the simplest things change drastically when you marry the special person in your life, such as eating, sleeping, and working. The changes in one’s eating habits are altered by the addition of another person into their everyday lives. Before we marry someone and get ready to settle down into the life of a husband and wife, our eating habits more related to the life we lead on an every day basis. Eating takes place when our daily schedule permits or we take time because the need arises. After marriage, that special person in your life decides what is best for you and a schedule has to be formed around their need to take care of their spouse. They want you to eat all the proper foods at the proper time in order to take care of you, whether you are hungry or like the food. This is all done out of love and the best of intentions. Although this whole process can be annoying, the best thing to do is to go along with it in order to avoid offending or rejecting their good intentions. The adjustments actually become more beneficial and pleasing than the initial complications created. Getting married also alters sleeping habits. The changes made by the addition of a spouse can be the hardest part of adjusting...

Drug, Crime, Prohibition Essay -- essays research papers

Drugs, Crime and Prohibition Do drugs really cause crime, or is it our governments way of controlling the communities? Many people blame drugs for every problem in our society, but is it the true evil in our society? No one person can answer that question. There are only opinions and supposed theories on this issue. We have been taught over the years that drugs were bad and that they only affected the poor and less fortunate, and turned them into crazy criminals, but this isn’t true to any extent. The laws controlling and prohibiting drugs are the true reasons. Would our crime levels decline if drugs were legalized to some extent, or would we just increase the destruction of our country? Over the past fifty years, prohibition has been proven to actually increase crime and drug use instead of its intended purpose, which was to extinguish the use of illicit drugs in the United States. We constantly here of prison over crowding, and why is that? Most of our prisons are filled with drug offenders, ranging fro m use to distribution of supposed illicit drugs. What is our country coming to? The purpose of this research paper is to view the advantages and disadvantages of the legalization of illicit drugs in the United States. I will examine each side of this major problem plaguing our fine country from past to present. People wake everyday to their normal and monotonous life without even thinking about what they are doing. They do not realize that they have been conditioned by the government and its laws to obey and follow the supposed norm of society. What is the norms of society, and who set the guidelines for them? No one can explain how these norms came about, they only know that they must follow them, or they could get in trouble with the law. We are going into the twenty first century, and we still follow laws that were passed hundreds of years ago. Why is this? We are a highly advanced country, but we spend time, lives and money on abiding by laws that were around before the automobi le was even invented. I will begin with the history of our drug control policies, which have failed miserably, and examine the drug-crime connection. Policy History Drugs have been in this country since the beginning of time in some shape or form, which was used for personal and medicinal use. Usage of marijuana has been reported to date back to the founding of Jamestown (1). Ge... ...ugh a drug epidemic. Drug related murders and violent assaults are on the rise, but this isn’t caused by drugs, rather by the laws that prohibit them. By prohibiting drugs, we are only causing the prices of drug to rise, which means addicts must cause crimes to support their habit. The illicit drug trade market is the second largest business in the world, bringing in over 500 billion dollars a year. Opposers of legalization argue that tobacco and alcohol kill more because of its legality and availability(3 ). The solution in their eyes is in education and early prevention. Drug use among America’s children in on the rise, and education is a perfect logical way of lowering their usage. Children need to be taught the effects and dangers of drugs when they are young. Children are the future drug abusers if something isn’t done. Violence and drugs are thought to be one in the same in most peoples eyes, but is this true. Drugs do not turn people into monsters, but rather bring out their criminal tendencies. No one argues that legalization would end violence that is associated with drugs, but it would simply end the violence associated with the black market. Many dealers become dealers

Gender role Essay

Gender role/expectation that exists in contemporary Japanese society Discuss one gender role or expectation that exists in contemporary Japanese society, please talk about: 1. how/why this role emerged and 2. provide examples of how men and/or women are changing and resisting/subverting this gender role/expectation. In Japan, traditional gender roles are characterised by a strong sense of patriarchy in society, this is a male dominated country with a distinct separation of gender roles. In the family, this refers to the idea that the man is a breadwinner and the woman is a homemaker. At the workplace, there is a strong male dominance in the company hierarchy. Generally, men have more career opportunities, often life-time job and good salary, and women are considered to be temporary employers, expected to stop working after the marriage or childbirth. Working women generally take on non leadership roles, so this reduces the possibility to climb on career steps. Childcare is regarded as the mother’s responsibility and the father’s domestic role is limited in helping to repair something and playing with children on weekends. Wives spend lot of time inside the house, and husbands – outside. Today this situation is a little bit changing, but still, remains the idea that man stands few steps higher than women, especially at work places and at government institutions. Gender roles and attitudes towards these roles among young generation’s couples are changing in a good way – men spend more time with their children, and women have more opportunities in their career, especially in international context. Young people, travelling abroad and then coming back to Japan begin to be more flexible and more elastic in this strict Asian country. They bring new waves, new feelings and new experiences, so it is natural, that little change towards the equality between man and woman is coming also. Then the old generation is less flexible than young Japanese people – attitudes are changing, but their behaviour is not. Nowadays, we can see optimistic alterations, for example, some sociologists claim that with the rising problems faced by the Japanese economy, there have been changes in the structured patterns of gender in both the family and the workplace. Economic recessions in this country have forced many women to enter the labour force in order to increase the level of income. With an increasing number of women in the labour force, the existing gender ratios have been altered favouring increased gender equality. Changes in the family can be seen in the presence of omiai, the traditional arranged marriage. Women are also marrying later, with the average age of first marriage at 28-29 years in 2005, compared to 25 years in 1983. For increasing equality between gender roles, the government began to pass legislation such as a Gender Equality Law, which aimed to set broad new principles for Japanese society. In addition, government legislation such as the Equal Employment Opportunity and Labour Standard Laws were set up to outlaw workplace discrimination and set up a definition for sexual harassment. These laws set the stage for a more equitable treatment of women and served as a positive step towards increased gender equality. (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Japanese_law) Coming back to the discourse about marriage, in modern Japan, under the democratic constitution, marriage is supposed to be based on equal relations between man and woman. Polygamy is prohibited, and Japanese family is formed under the father as a head of household. The contemporary Japanese family, however, is changing rapidly because of lower birth rates, longer life expectancies, an increase in the number of one-person households, and later age at marriage. Globalisation and cheaper travelling has also positive transformations in gender roles and equality. As an example, I would like to tell about one young Japanese couple, I was living in their neighbourhood for 4 months. I have noticed that the wife is not subordinated under her husband, as I have read before in some articles about traditional relations between married couple. During my university classes I have read that traditionally husband and wife are expected to communicate as little as possible here in Japan. This situation is described as a domestic divorce. There is no conversation, communication and sexual relations between a husband and wife, but they do not divorce. Well, now I can say that not all the couples are like that. Wife’s and husband’s roles are changing in positive. This young couple, on my opinion, is really an ideal couple. They were dividing their house keeping roles without any dominating behaviour. I haven’t noticed more power on her or his behaviour. They were acting as a normal, equal couple. Of course, one gender role – mother’s role, is noticeable, and, I think, is still resisting in Japan. Being a good mother sometimes could be even more important than being a good wife or lover. The concept of motherhood in Japan has deep cultural and historical roots, and today’s women still believe in the power of caring their children as well as they can. Another role, man as the main breadwinner of the family, is also resisting. The perception of the man as a main householder is common also in the rest of world, especially in South European countries. On conclusion, we can see that young Japanese families are changing apparently. Men are more and more present in domestic activities and women are more and more able to combine work and house-keeping together. I am sure that now, in the 21st century, the Japanese family is becoming on gender-equality based family! 2 FOLLOWING QUESTIONS Depiction of gender in the Japanese media (advertising/ TV commercials) Researchers and sociologists recently are talking a lot about that the stereotypic portrayals of men and women found in mass media reinforce gender stereotypes in Japanese society. A limited literature and research on Japanese media suggests that gender stereotypes may be present in Japan. Theoretically, we can argue about the existence or not, but practically, it’s true. Stereotypes exist, and fairly strong, especially during the after war period and the past three decades. We can see it on TV, magazines and newspapers. Media is a reflection of mass culture. So it’s normal to see these stereotypes depicted in media. Over the past decade gender stereotyping in television commercials has received particular attention. Some studies have reported either modest (Schneider & Schneider, 1979) or substantial decrements (Bretl and Cantor, 1988; Ferrente et al. , 1988) in stereotyping while others have found no significant changes in the portrayals of men and women over time (Lovdal, 1989; Maklin & Kolbe 1984). Of course, there is always big difference between woman and man, their role in society, work and family has different meanings and different approaches. For example, „boys are encouraged to be aggressive, become leaders, engage in sports, and grow into ‘macho’ men. Research by Sobieraj, 1998 (Children Now, Images of Men and Boys in Advertising, Spring, 2000), found in advertising for toys that these showed boys as â€Å"strong, independent, athletic, in control of their environments, adventurous, and aggressive. Girls are shown as giggling, gentle, affectionate, fixated on their physical appearance, and extremely well behaved. a (http://www. directessays. com/viewpaper/79101. html) I have watched some advertisements in TV, and noticed that women in these commercials are more likely to be young, beautiful, dependents, in the home and users of the products. They also are recommending some products without specific explanation how to use it or without the support of factual arguments (Men are better in to weigh in with an argument, I think). Men, on the other hand, are older, often â€Å"salarymen†, somewhere outside of the home and authorities on the products. They are also often explaining why the products are good and recommending items soundly. Even though some stereotypes about the presentation of gender in commercials persist (for setting, product type, voice-over), the recent study found an equal number of males and females appearing as primary characters in commercials during prime time. („Changing Gender Roles in Prime-Time Commercials in Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, and the United Statesa, Mary Jiang Bresnahan, Yasuhiro Inoue, Wen Ying Liu and Tsukasa Nishida). Talking about gender stereotypes in Japanese media, maybe somebody would talk about women position and how this position is objectified. Of course, Japanese women in past few decades felt discriminated politically and economically. This unsafeness made them feel weaker, and maybe unappreciated. But we can also see it from the opposite side. We can think about how men are objectified. Especially, how the male ideal in Japanese media is becoming closer and closer to a woman (as I have mentioned about it in past sociology papers). Recent studies talk about some changes of stereotypic portrayals of men and women and also are investigating changes in gender stereotyping over time. As example, in one online magazine we can find that „although some indigenous gender stereotyping was evident, several traits previously associated with Japanese women (devoted, obliging, rattle-brained, superstitious) were associated with men. Also, men were not linked with certain stereotypical male traits (autocratic, blustery, forgiving, generous, and severe). (http://www. jstor. org/pss/4189063). Other findings included women being shown in a positive way as often as men. This means that women are represented almost in the same way as men, for example, if advertisement is promoting a high-price product, there is an equal number of man and women shown in commercials. Otherwise, it is evident that gender, sex and advertising are „workinga for only one purpose- to make people desire specific product and to buy it.   

Need Versus Greed Essay Example

Need Versus Greed Essay Example Need Versus Greed Essay Need Versus Greed Essay Essay Topic: Orlando Tentative title for program â€Å"Of need or greed† Premise: When confronted with an opportunity to receive financial help for personal needs, would an individual (and family) succumb to temptation and use the funds for unnecessary items – or remain committed to only accessing the funds for immediate needs? This program is developed to test the premise of need versus greed – offering single individuals, couples and families access to â€Å"emergency† funds to help out in desperate (or simply stressful) financial times and seeing if the participants limit access to the money to items (issues) they need or if they become greedy and use the funds for unnecessary purchases. The Offer: Recruit a group of individuals willing to participate in this social experiment; seek out participants interested in receiving a â€Å"gift card† for which up to $1,000 per month will be made available for them to use as they need. The caveat is that they must provide a summary of the expenses each month, plus recorded interview, to receive the next months’ card. The show will have electronic access and permission to see where, when and how the funds are pulled from the card – and can compare with the written summary to determine if the participant is being completely or partially truthful. Question: If a participant received a debit card offering them access up to $1,000 per month – how would it be spent? a. Food, utilities, medical treatment, home or vehicle repairs? b. Frugally spending on personal needs while also using funds to help others? . New electronic gadgets, toys, and playthings? d. Vacations, restaurants, or other immediate gratification spending? e. Not at all – or combination of the above? Participants: Seeking a broad mixture of participants from various socio-economic backgrounds, employment status, marriage or family status – however; focus in on one broad g eographic area (Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, etc). a. Retired individual, fixed income b. Low-income household, high-school graduates, maybe some college, with or without children c. Middle-income household, children, mortgage, struggling to meet expenses d. Upper-income household, with or without children, some financial set-backs but strong outlook Participation should include a mix of these broad categories among racial, religious, political, gender, academic, professional and marital status. The Host/Hostess: In this proposal, we are including potential candidates (or types) for consideration of hosting the program – however, it is not known if any of these individuals could be contracted for the launch of the unscripted program due to financial considerations, scheduling conflicts, or other considerations. These individuals were selected because of impressive character and moral positions taken during their professional careers: a. Angie Harmon b. Elizabeth Hasselbeck c. Siobhan Fallon Hogan d. Neal McDonough e. Edward James Olmos Personal preference would be for either Neal McDonough (willing to lose a job rather than bend on moral convictions) or Olmos (long history of ethical conduct – holding strong to ideals of self-respect, self-esteem and self-worth). Obviously, these are stereotypes for consideration of the direction the show is seeking to go. The Panel: A panel of three individuals will perform the task of evaluating and deciding on elimination. The staff â€Å"accountant† receiving and questioning the participants will be one, the host/hostess a second, and the final may be a rotating individual that is selected based on moral/ethical background (priest, politician, public figure or parent – not locked in on a specific individual, but it does need to be a person of moral authority). This panel will review footage and documentation and determine least eligible candidate to remain on the program (clarification to come later). Regular/Recurring central characters: The participants will be the recurring/central characters of the program. Ideally we will have the host/hostess introduce and ‘interview’ the participants to provide the public with a view of who they are, what circumstances lead to their current situation, the dreams or goals of the participant, and follow-up with how the funding is changing their lives. Episode One: The Offer In the pilot episode, we launch a program that suggests funding is being made available to individuals through a special pilot program; each participant must agree to the terms of providing a statement of spending at the end of each month prior to receiving the next batch of funding†¦ program will record transactions and see if discrepancies are occurring. What we are interested in seeing is whether the individuals will only use the discretionary funding as needed or if they will immediately get greedy and start spending on unnecessary items. Mark: a part-time employee at a local grocery store; struggling to pay his bills, living with his girl-friend or a roommate. After receiving the first funding card, we follow him as he does pay those late bills but then justifying to his girlfriend that they can take a trip to the beach and enjoy a ‘real’ vacation†¦ while Pam and Todd: a couple with three children; both work and the children are cared for by Pam’s sister; the funding comes just in time as the family car is dire need of repair, choices of paying rent or paying for car repairs are in front of this young couple. Yet, even though they have access to the funds, they only use what is needed†¦ maybe they splurge just a little by taking the kids to a movie in a real movie theater for the first time†¦ meanwhile Rebecca: decides that she hasn’t been pampered in too long a time; as a full-time receptionist, she makes enough to get by, but not enough to have ome fun – besides, necessity should include a trip to get her nails done, maybe get a new dress and enjoy a night out on the town†¦ the funding can pay for her utility bill and insurance and her paycheck can cover her â€Å"fun† time†¦ Mike: a mid-level professional working in a nice office and earning a comfortable living is given the opportuni ty to gain this benefit; even though he doesn’t have a need for it, we will see if he begins to indulge and enjoy the extra funding†¦ Larry: a construction worker used to earning high-wages but is earning a lot less (and some unrecorded); he is getting by on a somewhat restricted budget; however, upon getting access to the funds, he immediately begins enjoying a better lifestyle†¦ new tv, new fishing gear, plenty of funds for beer to enjoy with his friends†¦ With these examples, you begin to see the possibilities of the individual characters and how they may or may not act with the â€Å"free† money. Will we see the self-sacrificing side of individuals and have a program that demonstrates that people will only take what they need – or will we see the greedy side of individuals as they quickly take and spend money on unnecessary items†¦ and, if so, will they justify it – will remorse or arrogance rule their choices? It is in the choices and justifications of these individuals that we will care or be infuriated; fascinated or horrified; charmed or disgusted†¦ Episode 2: The First Purchase We will watch with interest to see the priorities offered by the participants – some will go to the grocery store and pick out normal items, others may head straight to the steaks†¦ while others may stop at a restaurant or a bar†¦ during this episode, we will continue the interviews with the participants – learning more about the individuals and gaining a better understanding of who they are. Intermixed with these portrayals will be an examination of how they are spending the extra money. Episode 3: The First Renewal It is expected that the first few episodes will involve personal interviews and participant portrayals for us to gain a better understanding of the individuals – and, intermixed within these dialogues will be highlights of what the participants are doing†¦ perhaps secret footage of one going to a bar, or going to a second-hand clothing store, or perhaps buying a new sound system for the apartment – or helping a neighbor that lost her job and is struggling to feed her children†¦ there will be noble moments, mediocre events – and there will be gross abuses of trust. At some point in the schedule, we need to start filming and airing the renewal process; participants will return to the office with the summary of purchases and pick up the new card. The â€Å"staff† will be very casual concerning the review of documents (maybe stamping as received and stashing in a large pile with other summaries – giving the distinct impression of a poorly managed bureaucracy); the participant will leave and begin month 2 of the funding opportunity. Our staff will compare the participant provided document to source documents and see if there are any problems (imagine Larry listing $975 in car repairs when the electronic record shows a large screen tv purchase – such a discrepancy will lead to a personal interview where we confront Larry and get an explanation†¦ ) Challenge 1: We don’t want to allow the participants too much stability during the season! A few episodes in, perhaps around the second renewal, we will present a funding situation†¦ one of the participants has a need for additional money, however, we explain, the pool of funding is set at $1,000 per month per participant – if the other participants are willing to accept a lower amount, funds can be increased for the person in need. a. Who will offer to change their funding amount? b. Will those that agree do so without asking for a reciprocal amount? c. What behavior will we see among the different participants? Challenge 2: During a review of the expenses, our staff â€Å"accidently† under-records spending and notifies the participants that they have more money available to spend than ever before†¦ let’s say it is bumped to $2,500 or $5,000 (show funding will be the issue obviously) – how will this â€Å"error† reflect in our participants’ behavior? a. Will a spending spree occur? b. Will the participants tell the staff they made an error and the expenses are correct? c. Will someone (or all) take advantage of this mistake? Challenge 3: Funds begin to shrink. Towards the end of the program, we state to the remaining participants that funding is going to end soon – maybe another cycle or two – but it will definitely be cut during the next cycle†¦ Will conservation or final spending spree occur? Challenge 4: Funds are cut in half for all participants. What reaction might be expected? How does this influence the choices they make? Episode 5 or 6: The First Elimination By this time, we have a pretty good view of the character of the individuals – now we need to begin the elimination of participants. One idea is to use the behaviors and spending habits to determine the least ethical participant – that individual will be terminated from the program. At this point, we need to bring in the judges†¦ A panel of three individuals will perform the task of evaluating and deciding on elimination. The staff â€Å"accountant† receiving and questioning the participants will be one, the host/hostess a second, and the final may be a rotating individual that is selected based on moral/ethical background (priest, politician, public figure or parent – not locked in on a specific individual, but it does need to be a person of moral authority). Public opinion: as a potential side-opportunity – we may consider the option of allowing the viewing audience the option of calling in and providing a â€Å"vote†; it is expected that this will match the pre-taped program, however, differences may occur and we will state that it is a public opinion poll. The possibility is that we charge for participation, with the proceeds of the vote, let’s say $1. 0 per vote, is deposited into the award coffer for the end-of-season finale (all proceeds from public added to award to be provided to the most ethical participant? ) Eliminations will continue as the panel reviews, discusses and determines if individuals are behaving in a manner that is inappropriate (unnecessarily ‘greedy’); the pool of participants continues to shrink – hopefully the award coffer will be growing quite large – and our host/hostess begins a series of personal interviews on how the extra money helped during the past few mon ths. Confrontations will continue to happen on the egregious (if any) spending by any participant and the program will begin to wind down to the final (most) ethical participants. It is hoped that sponsorship or public support may yield a coffer exceeding $100,000 to be awarded to the most ethical participant – or be split among a group if there are multiple participants demonstrating strong moral character. I look forward to beginning this project and eagerly await its selection. Thank you for the consideration.

Galaxy Quest Essays

Galaxy Quest Essays Galaxy Quest Essay Galaxy Quest Essay The 1999 movie galaxy Quest, created by Frank Ross, is still considered as one of the best science fiction movie ever produced.   Its popularity can be witnessed by the worldwide loyal followers from different countries and of different ages.   This paper will make an assessment on who the real hero of the film is, and on what grounds this assessment had been made. Galaxy Quest, which stars a team of space soldiers headed by Commander Taggert, and members of the crew such as Dr. Lazarus, Lt. Tawny Madison, Lt. Laredo, and Security Chief Ingersol, comprises the officers on board the starship NSEA Protector- the main battle cruiser of the fleet.   And together, they make up for all of the conflicts and dà ©nouement, each sharing his own part of the story, plot and characterization. It is because of this aspect, the equal sharing of every character in the story, which makes me conclude that the true hero of the film is the entire team itself, and not confined to a particular individual, as what is usually practiced in other films.   The transformation from a mere actor, whose concern is limited to his own professional career, to an inter-galactic hero, who eventually saves an entire planet and eradicated an evil alien commander, can be said to all of the members of the team.   The film had also shown each member’s acceptance and the eventual improvement in his role and duties as a member of the NSEA Protector, and their own personal conflicts involved in the acceptance process of their roles as the real-life soldier/savior of a species. : Thus it can be concluded that the entire Galaxy Quest team is the real hero of the film.   It had been clearly established that not one character was dominant in the story, not even their leader, Commander Taggert, can be considered as solely responsible for their triumphant endeavors.   Each had his own faults, and each of them had overcome those through team support and friendship. Reference: Johnson, M. Newirth, C. (Producers), Parisot, D. (Director). 1999. Galaxy Quest [Motion Picture].   United States: Dreamworks SKG.

Juvennille Death Penalty essays

Juvennille Death Penalty essays I still remember the day clearly. It wasnt what he had done that changed my mind at first. It wasnt even the verdict. It was the moment of his actual death.. seeing t a juvenile .. but his death made me understand why juvenile murderers should be equally subject to capital punishment. I realized at that time that the people parading outside were not sadists. They were merely displaying their agreement with the verdict and the sentence. They opened champagne bottles and set off fire crackers not because they were simple minded but because they wanted it to be over. Families waited for justice and it was within arms reach. I understood how someone could want a minor an older child dead.. The people demonstrating believed as I had come to that Dodd was a sadistic psychopathic pedophile incapable of empathy, that his greatest fear was being a nobody, and that he had successfully manipulated us into making him a somebody via the sensational media coverage of his hanging. The familie s and the people of Washington did get justice that night. But Dodd was not a juvenile. Yet, had he been executed years earlier, perhaps others would not have had to suffer. Lives would have been saved. In the end, Dodds life was lost anyway. It was at that moment that I realized perhaps executing murderers at younger ages would serve not only as a deterrent and a form of retribution but also effective in creating a safer society. I was always well-aware that there is extreme opposition to the use of the death penalty for minors, even among capital punishment supporters. The United State...

Organizational Development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Organizational Development - Assignment Example Its use is to solve problems within the organization or as a way to analyze a process and find a more efficient way of doing it. This study entails to discuss the importance of clarifying the organizations issue and determining the OD team members besides discussing what to consider when selecting an OD practitioner. Since in every organisation there must be a set of problems attached to it, the desire to achieve should be the managers’ drive towards achieving Organizational Development. The initial processes in the OD practice are vital in that they help to define organisation’s problems and opportunities for improvement as well as design meant to resolve predicaments collaboratively. For better results, views of all members should be greatly valued (Cumnings & Worley, 2009). In the diagnosis stage, both organisational members and agents of change should be involved in finding determinants of the current success and defining new instruments of realizing extra development. This improves the organisational effectiveness, innovativeness and competitiveness in the entire market. The process makes out the areas of institutional operations where change is required. Organizational development simplifies the process of developing effective change management programs (Cumnings & Worley, 20 09). Discovering the present realities, considering future possibilities, evaluating, and prioritizing alternatives for change should drive the managers desire to choose an OD practitioner (Rothwell et al.

Research the writings of Robert Skidelsky and Paul Krugman and Essay

Research the writings of Robert Skidelsky and Paul Krugman and summarise their explanations and remedies for the recession, drawing comparisons as appropriate, to Keynesian theory about recession - Essay Example By avoiding a fall in aggregate demand, the government avoids excessive and wasteful supply, controls unemployment and shields the public from unprecedented fluxes in prices of consumer goods. The free market masterly of consumer behaviour and its application in determining the performance of the economy is an important element of the private sector. Reaction of the market to unwanted effects can create general glut or recession by avoiding the burden, but the government chips in to rescue the national economy by jump-starting the appropriate response as a public protection outfit. In Keynesian theory, government spending and involvement in the economic equation are therefore incorporated into the classical explanation of how the economy responds to the free market forces of demand and supply (Tucker, 2008, p221). Recession can therefore be avoided by government intervention through fiscal and monetary policies according to the theory. Robert Skidelsky position observed in several pieces of his work demonstrates the common knowledge that private and public sectors are equally important in the economy (Skidelsky, 2010, p1). The author points at the importance of harmonising government intervention with recovery of the private sector towards deficit reduction. It is evident that sustained recovery can only be realized through budget regulation, employment growth and economic growth on government input. Government policies mentioned in Keynesian theory are also revisited by the author in explaining how a well coordinated plan to tackle recession is developed. In Kennedy and Skidelsky (2010, p1) there is a direct link between the need to mobilize government involvement in preventing total spending to sustain recovery from the recent recession. To consolidate recovery from recession, there must be a balance between public and private spending through involvement of the government. In the reduced spending of a recessed economy, the government can induce

Civilians On The Battlefield Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Civilians On The Battlefield - Essay Example The growing dependence on contractors in today's nonlinear battlefield, combined with its explicit inclusion stated in the current military strategy, provides the need to critically examine the subject of contractors on the battlefield. There are many challenges with civilians on the battlefield; however, increased use of civilians has changed the face of combat for the military because Global War on Terror (GWOT) has advocated an increasing number of civilians on the nonlinear battlefield. The growing dependence on contractors in today's nonlinear battlefield, combined with its explicit inclusion stated in the current military strategy, provides the need to critically examine the subject of contractors on the battlefield. To bind this complex area of study, this paper will briefly discuss the background of contractor support to the military and review the current policies and doctrine involving logistical services provided by contractors in combat operations, specifically focused on the United States Army. The use of contractors for operational support is an acceptable risk for the combatant commander as the contractors are generally achieving their mission. Current force structure requires the use of contractors for contingency operations and there are many considerations to ensure the combatant commander is properly supported Civilians have participated in military operations from t... During the Revolutionary War civilians were called "Camp Followers" as they followed the Army from camp to camp. They were most often wives and children of the soldiers and they functioned as cooks, nurses, and mended clothes. Some were even paid for their services. (Van Cortland House Museum) Prior to Operation Desert Shield/Storm policies and procedures that governed civilian personnel during combat operations were ambivalent or nonexistent. Civilian contractors were used extensively during the Vietnam War. "The heavy use of contractors during that War led the Army to determine that a need existed for a preplanned method for utilizing Contractors on the Battlefield" (GlobalSecurity.org, 1). Policies and procedures codified in directives and regulations following Desert Shield/Storm were a vast improvement over previous documents. During this war there were many contracts awarded for logistics support. This resulted in uneven results. The need for a regulated system to award contracts was evident. Current policies and procedures provide clarity and direction. Issues exist with compensation, Emergency-Essential (E-E) position designation, and accountability. Given that the Army is operating in an asymmetric environment, policies and Procedures that govern E-E civilians must change to meet the new environment. II. Civilian contractors are an asset and combat multipliers. Civilian contractors are assets to combat commanders especially when it comes to logistics. LTG Walker (Commander, 8th US Army, Korean War) said it nicely: ""There is no one but yourself to keep your back door open. You can live without food, but you cannot last long without ammunition." Logistics are vital to war fighting. Civilian contracted logistics

Art and Society in the 19th Century. Compare and contrast different Assignment

Art and Society in the 19th Century. Compare and contrast different portraits of Queen Victoria in the nineteenth century - Assignment Example The motive for Fenton’s choice of this moment was that photographic methods widely used when they wedded in 1840 implied that there were extremely long exposure periods (Plunkett, 2003). Fenton took this photo in 1854 to imply that the exposure periods decreased substantially. Scholars and historians argue that Winterhalter’s charm, high-end style, and successful ability to catch a good resemblance often pushed Victoria to support Winterhalter’s artistry. This support is evident in the portrait â€Å"The Family of Queen Victoria† by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, which is also filled with symbolic significance (Plunkett, 2003). In numerous ways, this painting is the same as Fenton’s photograph â€Å"Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace.† This is because both pictures feminize Queen Victoria’s position (Plunkett,

Key Characteriscics for Effective Leadership Essay

Key Characteriscics for Effective Leadership - Essay Example To be effective, a leader must possess certain characteristics that can bring people together and harness the potentials of these people to execute an activity of series of activities successfully. If the leader does not know how to set his or her organization in the right direction, the organization will not be productive and when an organization is not productive, its people will eventually leave (Blanchard et al 2005). A misguided organization may not even survive in a very competitive environment thus, it is very important for a leader to know how to direct its people and stay in the right course. In today’s business environment, every organization needs the right kind of leader to stay alive and productive in a highly competitive environment. Understanding the nature of leadership by identifying the desirable traits of effective leaders is very important. For the purpose of this essay, we will evaluate the different successful leaders in our modern times to identify the characteristics that made them effective leaders in their fields. To go about these tasks, we will take a look at the work of Jack Welch of General Electric Inc, Steve Jobs of Apple Inc and Bill Gates of Microsoft. General Electric Inc is one of the top companies worldwide and its journey towards the top has been the lifework of its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jack Welch. On the other hand, Apple Inc and Microsoft have both revolutionized the world of computers and gadgets in the past decades. In order for a company to move forward and in the right direction, it needs to attract the right kind of leaders to run its affairs. According to Drucker (1967), characteristics of leaders may differ but they always get the right things done and in doing their jobs, these people also utilize their time effectively, organize their tasks according to priorities, focus on the contribution of

Art and Society in the 19th Century. Compare and contrast different Assignment

Art and Society in the 19th Century. Compare and contrast different portraits of Queen Victoria in the nineteenth century - Assignment Example The motive for Fenton’s choice of this moment was that photographic methods widely used when they wedded in 1840 implied that there were extremely long exposure periods (Plunkett, 2003). Fenton took this photo in 1854 to imply that the exposure periods decreased substantially. Scholars and historians argue that Winterhalter’s charm, high-end style, and successful ability to catch a good resemblance often pushed Victoria to support Winterhalter’s artistry. This support is evident in the portrait â€Å"The Family of Queen Victoria† by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, which is also filled with symbolic significance (Plunkett, 2003). In numerous ways, this painting is the same as Fenton’s photograph â€Å"Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace.† This is because both pictures feminize Queen Victoria’s position (Plunkett,

Strategy Business Information and Analysis Essay

Strategy Business Information and Analysis - Essay Example Interesting fact is that, porter five force analyses is an integrated component of the "outside-in" approach hence discussing porter five forces for soft drink industry in the first two sections will create silhouette for the critical evaluation "outside-in" approach to strategy formulation for organizations with the help of existing literature. Part 1 According to Deichert et al (2006), global soft drink industry is dominated by Coke and Pepsi for years but these two giants have understood the importance of diversifying product portfolio into noncarbonated beverages in order to achieve sustainable growth rate. Soft drink industry can be analyzed with the help of cumulative growth rate, market size and overall profitability. According to Datamonitor (2008), market value of soft drink industry will touch a value of more than $500 billion by the year 2014. Soft drink industry contributes almost 50% of the non-alcoholic drink industry Datamonitor (2008). Currently, the industry is growi ng at pace of more than 5% and it is expected that the market volume will cross 500,000 million litres within next couple of years Deichert et al (2006). According to the research report of Datamonitor (2008), although global soft drink industry is growing at a steady pace but it will decelerate in near future due market saturation and stagnation of market price. In such context, five force analysis soft drink industries will help the study to identify forces such as substitute products, suppliers, buyers, rival sellers and intra firm competitiveness which are shaping the industry. Diagrammatic representation of five forces in soft drinks industry can be explained in the following manner. (Source: Wheelen and Hunger., 2000 and 2006) Force 1- Competitive Rivalry According to Deichert et al (2006), competitive threat is the strongest among all other forces in soft drink industry. The market is saturated due to presence of many players such as Coca-Cola, Cadbury Schweppes, Pepsi Co etc ; high degree of saturation in the industry has decreased scope for existing players to differentiate in the product portfolio hence they extensively focus on price competition in order to attract customers. Rivals in the industry such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are strong global presence and access to huge amount of both financial and non-final resources, which has further decreased the scope companies in the industry to achieve resource based advantages as mentioned by Rumelt (1986). Having top selling brands in the kitty doesn’t ensure competitive advantage in the industry, for example, Coca-Cola owns 80% of top selling brands such as Sprite, Coca-Cola, Fanta, Diet Coke but it had achieved lower sales revenue in comparison PepsiCo during 2004-05 in USA and UK market Deichert et al (2006). According to Deichert et al (2006), advertising and marketing strategy plays vital role in the industry. For example, in some cases, rivals use competitive advertisings in order to nullify relevance of other companies among customers. Force 2- Threat of New Entrant

Psychology and Research Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Research Essay 1. There are various methods in psychological research, both qualitative and quantitative. Among them are field experiment, which is more qualitative and the statistical survey which, as the name suggests, a highly quantitative approach. Field experiment is a scientific method in research approach where the researchers (psychology-related researchers in this case) examine the participants or the data in the real world rather than doing the research in the laboratory, but all the same, the field researchers have followed the structured approach1 in research. Statistical survey, on the other hand is used to gather quantitative information on a given subject or participant in a population. It involves statistical processes in arranging data for them to be useful information to readers. It is worth noting however that a research rarely relies on a single method alone. Oftentimes, it is a combination of two or more methods to make it/the theory or contention stronger and more reliable. 2. With the psychosis studies and experiences of R.D. Lang, a psychoanalyst and a radical psychiatrist, he was able to observe his patients for real or â€Å"on field† when he developed his research regarding the subject (psychosis). It is a condition when an individual lost contact with the real world. Psychosis is best described by broad diagnostic concepts such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and that these concepts describe brain diseases that are probably inherited. The task of psychology and its related researches on the subject matter aims to identify neuropsychological abnormalities in patients, in the hope that these might provide clues about the aetiology of the presumed brain pathology. Within this method, there is little scope for psychological intervention, as it is assumed that brain diseases are unresponsive to this kind of treatment. Another psychological research is the intelligence test of Binet or the currently evolved Stanford-Binet Scale which is one of the psychologically related tests or research where statistical approach may be applied. This method was developed containing the idea of graded tests series, the concept of intelligence and the conception of the fundamental qualities of an intelligence test. It was originally composed of thirty items in increasing difficulty, with grouped testees either according to age or gender or any other classification that may be applied. 3 This is where the current IQ Tests evolved. 3. When conducting research with human participants, consent and confidentiality4 are the two very important aspects of the study. Consent of the subjects should be obtained first to let them be aware of the entire study and will let them adjust and not to feel deceived. This will also help the researchers and the participants work together in harmony and will facilitate the entire research process. Aside from these, respect is another reason why consent of the participants must be obtained first. Confidentiality, on the other hand, will secure the safety and honor of the subjects/participants and at the same time will protect the reliability and soundness of the research itself. All the ethical concerns mentioned are generally for the respect of human life, as an individual and in order for the psychology profession be respectable as well. No one can respect the profession if in return, it does not know how to value the dignity of humans in the case that the latter be a participant or a subject in a psychology-related research.

Case Study of KFC Malaysia Holding

Case Study of KFC Malaysia Holding A Case Study of KFC Malaysia Holding: Channel used by KFC to solve communication crisis Abstract On 6th February 2013,the kitchen staff of KFC I- City outlet at Shah Alam, has gone violent towardone of the customers due to miscommunication. The customer was then put on the floor after a heated argument between the staffs and the customer.This problem then solve by KFC Malaysia Holding with a proper alternatives. One of the alternatives used by the company is to use the right channel in solving the issue. Basically, the main aim of this research is to examine the channel used by KFC Malaysia Holding to solve the communication issue specifically the incident of staff and customer caught into a fighting. This research is tries to answer the question of the effectiveness of the channel used by the company to solve the problem or issue. The survey method will be employed in this research for data collection. As this method fall under quantitative method, SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software will be used to analyze the data. The finding of this research wil l help the future researchers to understand the effectiveness of channel used by the Food BeveragesCompany in solving their problem or issue. Besides, this research will help to add more literature on the same topic. Keywords: Channel, problem, Food Beverages, Effectiveness Literature Review Definition of Crisis In Effective Crisis Communication (2011), crises can best define as unique moments in the history of an organization. Nowadays, the word crisis has been used widely in a daily conversation. People used this word to describe their problem. For example, they refer to this word if they forgot about their appointments with their clients, having a bad hair days or even quarrel with the family members. All of these are awful experiences do not portray or describe the crisis. When it comes to the company, most of the company refers crisis as something that related to the problem. For example low sales or short of manpower are assume as the crisis to the company. All of the situations are not crisis. But, usually the company will consider all the situations as crisis. Crisis is defined as any situation that is threatening or could even threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business, damage reputation and/or negatively impact stock value (Jonathan Bernstein,2006). According to Hermann (1963), he identified three characteristics of separating crises that are surprise, threat and short response time. An event will not achieve the level of crisis without coming as a surprise, posing a critical level of threat and forcing a short response period. Robert, Timothy Matthew(2011) mentioned in their study that crises can be divided into two categories which are intentional crises andunintentional crises. â€Å"Intentional crises are those international acts which is designed to harm an organization such as terrorism, sabotage, workplace violence and poor risk management whereas unintentional crises are the crises caused by natural and some uncontrollable factors such as natural disasters or product failure† (Robert, Timothy Matth ew, 2011). As for the incident case happened in KFC Malaysia I-City outlet, the incident are category under the unintentional case of crisis. The incident happened due to some misunderstanding between the worker and a customer who has been waiting for the food for some times and did not get the food. Crisis Communication Every company experiences crises but many of them never try to overcome the crisis (Gupta,2011). Jonathan Bernstein (2006) stated that the cheapest way to turn experience into future profit is to learn from others mistakes. There are eleven biggest mistakes to avoid during crisis. To make sure that the crisis flourish and grow, organization should avoid these 11 mistakes: play ostrich, only start work on a potential crisis situation after its public, let the reputation to speak, treat the media as enemy, get stuck in reaction mode versus getting proactive, use language that the audience does not understand, assume that the truth will triumph over all, address only issues and ignore the feelings, make only written statements, use best guess methods of assessing damage and repeat the same things again with expecting different outcome. (Jonathan Bernstein, 2006) These all are the big NO in a crisis. Besides that, Bernstein (2004) also has implemented the 10 steps of crisis communications in solving the communication crisis. One of the steps stressed by Bernstein (2004) was mentioned that the staff in the company should be trained in advance in order to get prepare for respond to all kind of questions. When KFC Holding Malaysia had found themselves in a hot water situation when the video of the fight case gone viral on YouTube, the company has quickly taken steps by keep on posting regular updates on Facebook page to keep the customers updated on companys investigation as well as by doing this the company tries to calm down the anger of the public over the incident happened in its I-City outlet. Apart from this incident, KFC Malaysia was also faced with another crisis in 2011, where there was an video of food tampering by their kitchen staff started to circulate on Internet in year 2011. However, KFC Malaysia company does not try to avoid the crisis, instead, as part of the crisis response strategy, the company established a page on its Facebook to tell its side of the story in order to restore the consumer confidence. Fong (2011) said that KFC Malaysia was success in avoiding crisis to its timely, open, truthful, Internet present and broadly communicated crisis communication plan as the approached enabled the company to seize the information initiative and effectively frame the crisis as the action of a single rogue employee. Channel Used by Company to Solve Problem According to www.ask.com/question/what-are-communication-channels, a communication channel is refer to the medium which is used in transmission of a message from one party to another party such as print media or broadcast media. Channel is also defined as a method or system for communication or distribution in Oxford Dictionaries. Nowadays, as the internet has changed the way people work and interact, social media has broadly used by company as the channel to solve the crisis. Social media can be used as primary means of communication or as an alternative or even additional method for communication. Social media provides many ways to disseminate information in a fast, inexpensive and efficient manner which this help to get right information to the right person at the right time. (Connie M. White, 2011) Moreover, social media is also being used as an alternative way for emergency managers to communicate with the public as well as each other. It provides a free and easy way to dissemin ate large amounts of information to large group of people quickly yet efficiently. (Connie M. White, 2011) Therefore, when KFC Malaysia is facing the communication crisis back in year 2011 regarding about the fight case happened in one of the outlet, KFC Malaysia used Facebook as one of the channel to solve the crisis. The company keep the customers regular updates about the investigation by posting the status on its Facebook page. Other than that, when the food tampering happened in June 2011, KFC Malaysia used social media such as Facebook and YouTube as the channel to solve the communication crisis. The company try to restore back their brand images by telling its side of the story and they have created Question Answer section in their social media page. And this has successfully lead KFC Malaysia out of the crisis. Conclusion This case study is done to provide more literature on Food Beverages field of how the company settle and solve the crisis. Besides that, this case study is also done to understand the channel used by the Food Beverages company while counter the problem and to help KFC Malaysia Holding to improve their services in the future. References: 1. Hermann, C.F, (1963). Some consequences of crisis which limit the viability of organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 8, 61-82. (Cited Name of the author 2010) 2. Effective Crisis Communication: Moving From Crisis to Opportunity Google Books. 2014.Effective Crisis Communication: Moving From Crisis to Opportunity Google Books. [ONLINE] Available at: http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=enlr=id=bC3J1C0BXQwCoi=fndpg=PR1dq=definition+of+communication+crisisots=kxWywUAyyusig=8c1FjXqs7nFQNPv5ooVQ_gNaPf0redir_esc=y#v=onepageq=definition%20of%20communication%20crisisf=false. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 3. MRM London: SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDY: How KFC nail a crisis with online comms. 2014.MRM London: SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDY: How KFC nail a crisis with online comms. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.mrm-london.com/2011/07/social-media-case-study-how-kfc-nailed-a-crisis-with-good-communications/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 4. Case Study Review Chee Sue Mei (0304377). 2014.Case Study Review Chee Sue Mei (0304377). [ONLINE] Available at: http://cassieethicalcomm.weebly.com/case-study-review.html. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 5. How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. 2014.How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.techinasia.com/kfc-malaysia/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 6. . 2014.. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.oecd.org/governance/risk/The%20role%20of%20Social%20media%20in%20crisis%20preparedness,%20response%20and%20recovery.pdf. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 7. I-City KFC fight Updated : Workers have been suspended Venusbuzz.com. 2014.I-City KFC fight Updated : Workers have been suspended Venusbuzz.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.venusbuzz.com/archives/7893/i-city-kfc-fight-updated-workers-have-been-suspended/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 8. How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. 2014.How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.techinasia.com/kfc-malaysia/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 9. Fighting case: KFC keeping customers updated. 2014.Fighting case: KFC keeping customers updated. [ONLINE] Available at:http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20120211-327234.html. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 10. Fong, C. W (2011). Crisis Communication: KFC Malaysia Food Tampering Scandal and How Facebook Saved the Day Yahoo Voices voices.yahoo.com. Available at:http://voices.yahoo.com/crisis-communication-kfc-malaysia-food-tampering-scandal-8875653.html?cat=3. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 11. channel: definition of channel in Oxford dictionary (British World English). 2014.channel: definition of channel in Oxford dictionary (British World English). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/channel. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 12. Social Media, Crisis Communication, and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web Connie M. White Google Books. 2014.Social Media, Crisis Communication, and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web Connie M. White Google Books. [ONLINE] Available at:http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=enlr=id=bz08DhXc4u0Coi=fndpg=PP1dq=social+media+to+solve+crisisots=qR13hWrCL7sig=KfyeCQ6wedZgeKNDbE_uSfGQ5CY#v=onepageqf=false. [Accessed 16 April 2014]

Developing and Implementing Change :: Business, Change

Change also known as innovation means to alter or to be different. It is not a new concept. According to Patronis Jones (2009, p.168) and Harris (2002, p.145), â€Å"change is the only constant† whereby it is an important part of an organisation and happens all the time. Without change, improvement will not happen. In the healthcare industry for example, without change, nurses will still be trained in hospitals (Anderson, 2005). Change can be either planned or unplanned. Unplanned change occurs suddenly due to specific circumstances whereas planned change is a longer process that involves planning to achieve a specific goal (Patronis Jones, 2009). In addition, change may be due to internal or external forces. Internal forces are factors within the organisation such as organisational values, beliefs and culture whereas external forces are factors that come from outside the organisation such as social factors, economic factors and legislations (Patronis Jones, 2009). Change can also be personal or organisational. However, according to Harris (2002) and Wainwright (2008), organisational change mainly involves personal change. This means that change always involve people who plan, implement and evaluate changes individually or within a team (Harris, 2002). Three types of change have been identified within organisations: transitional, transformational and developmental. Transitional change is the most common type of change; it is driven by management and involves small continuous changes in people, structure, procedures or technology to improve organisational performance (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). Transformational change is driven by leaders and is competitive, â€Å"fundamental and radical† involving a change of culture and value system; for example the merging of two organisations (Harris, 2002; Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009, p.76). Developmental change on the other hand involves a continuous dynamic change aiming at avoiding radical changes (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). According to Gilley, Dixon & Gilley (2008, p.154), â€Å"transformational change is the key to realising innovation in an organisation.† For organisations to succeed and be competitive, they must support and implement continuous and transformational change (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009; Gilley, Dixon, & Gilley, 2008). The aim of the health industry is to provide quality patient centered care. However, the healthcare industry is facing an aging population and workforce. Skills and resources to manage complex and chronic illnesses are required. In addition, consumers are more educated about the healthcare system and want to manage their own health (Reithmeier, 2009). Developing and Implementing Change :: Business, Change Change also known as innovation means to alter or to be different. It is not a new concept. According to Patronis Jones (2009, p.168) and Harris (2002, p.145), â€Å"change is the only constant† whereby it is an important part of an organisation and happens all the time. Without change, improvement will not happen. In the healthcare industry for example, without change, nurses will still be trained in hospitals (Anderson, 2005). Change can be either planned or unplanned. Unplanned change occurs suddenly due to specific circumstances whereas planned change is a longer process that involves planning to achieve a specific goal (Patronis Jones, 2009). In addition, change may be due to internal or external forces. Internal forces are factors within the organisation such as organisational values, beliefs and culture whereas external forces are factors that come from outside the organisation such as social factors, economic factors and legislations (Patronis Jones, 2009). Change can also be personal or organisational. However, according to Harris (2002) and Wainwright (2008), organisational change mainly involves personal change. This means that change always involve people who plan, implement and evaluate changes individually or within a team (Harris, 2002). Three types of change have been identified within organisations: transitional, transformational and developmental. Transitional change is the most common type of change; it is driven by management and involves small continuous changes in people, structure, procedures or technology to improve organisational performance (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). Transformational change is driven by leaders and is competitive, â€Å"fundamental and radical† involving a change of culture and value system; for example the merging of two organisations (Harris, 2002; Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009, p.76). Developmental change on the other hand involves a continuous dynamic change aiming at avoiding radical changes (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). According to Gilley, Dixon & Gilley (2008, p.154), â€Å"transformational change is the key to realising innovation in an organisation.† For organisations to succeed and be competitive, they must support and implement continuous and transformational change (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009; Gilley, Dixon, & Gilley, 2008). The aim of the health industry is to provide quality patient centered care. However, the healthcare industry is facing an aging population and workforce. Skills and resources to manage complex and chronic illnesses are required. In addition, consumers are more educated about the healthcare system and want to manage their own health (Reithmeier, 2009).

Graduation Speech :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

On behalf of the class of 2006, the second graduating class of Digital Arts at George Cogswell College, we would like to welcome you. It is an honor for us to have you here to celebrate this special day with us. This is the last day of our school year and the beginning of our professional life. It is also a day that we have worked very hard for and we know we could not have done it without your help. We have studied diligently in these past three years and experienced many changes in the digital technologies. Some of us had no idea what we were getting into. We had to deal with both the creative side and the technical side of the digital arts. The creative side was always fun! We had fun designing characters, and then animating them. We had fun analyzing filming and audio techniques, we had fun listening to each other's scripts. Acting class was most amusing! I will never forget our storytelling class. We came up with various weird and fascinating movements for our classmates to act out. But when we applied all of this creative fun stuff digitally, the technical side tormented us. There was always new software to learn, especially in animation programs. Our 3D animation classes were excruciating; we had to memorize more than a generous amount of technical terminology and a myriad of short-cut keys. We had to learn to think in 3D, to understand the relationship of our model from top view to side view and front view and pay attention to every detail; practically everything from modeling to material, texture, and animation. If we were not careful, our character's hands and feet would disappear into cyberspace! Besides that, there were computer problems to worry about. Some of us had experienced system crashes through power outages during the storm season. Others experienced file corruption a few weeks before the finals. There were many sleepless nights. In fact, one of us broke the school rules and stayed overnight just to get some work done, disregarding the alarm in the hall. After this incident, every night at closing time, the on-duty instructor walked around the computer rooms many times to make sure that no one was hiding under a table. I'll never forget those moments. (Now the school has installed alarms in all computer rooms at the new building; there just is no excuse to try to stay over night.

Proposal Submission Letter

Sample Cover Letter The Virtual Community Group, Inc. 17 Park Road Rural Town, NH July 1, 1995 Jane Smith, Executive Director Xavier Foundation 555 S. Smith St. Washington, D. C. 22222 Dear Ms. Smith, I am pleased to submit this proposal from the Virtual Community Group, Inc. , requesting an investment of $50,000 per year over two years from the Xavier Foundation to support our Enterprise 2000 initiative.This grant would provide part of the funds needed for us to train at least 1200 low-income entrepreneurs in rural New Hampshire, helping them acquire the computer skills they need to create sustainable local businesses as we enter the twenty-first century. As elsewhere in the U. S. , the economic health of New Hampshire's rural communities has suffered steady decline since the early 1900's. Family farms, which once formed an economic base supporting large numbers of rural inhabitants, have been all but eradicated by large-scale agribusiness.Moreover, since 1960, New Hampshire has los t xx% of its manufacturing jobs, as corporations or local factories have shut down or moved operations out of state. As a result, many thousands of individuals from New Hampshire — particularly our young people — are moving to cities to seek jobs, not only depopulating and further impoverishing rural communities, but contributing to the growing pool of urban unemployed.By tapping the energy of the small local entrepreneur, and linking it to the explosion in communications technologies, we believe it is possible to reverse this trend, enabling rural inhabitants to retain viable, high-quality jobs far from industrial and urban centers. Small towns would again offer a wide spectrum of employment opportunities — from small manufacturing to services to retail — and develop sound, diversified economies for the first time in generations. Unfortunately, many small entrepreneurs cannot afford either the training or equipment needed to participate in the rewards of the Information Revolution.Enterprise 2000 was designed explicitly to address this lack of parity, and help level the communications playing field. Working in collaboration with microenterprise organizations, community colleges, and agencies which recycle computer hardware, Enterprise 2000 will offer disadvantaged entrepreneurs the following services at low or no charge: †¢Day-time or evening classes in basic, intermediate, and advanced computer skills †¢Training to use the Internet and other information networks †¢Assessment of MIS needsAccess to reconditioned computer hardware After two years of experimentation and program development, the Virtual Community Group has fashioned a superb, easily replicable model in Enterprise 2000, and established a high degree of credibility among community groups, policy makers, and funders. Our collaboration with other agencies leverages every dollar invested.Given that the Xavier Foundation has already made a number of strategic investments to improve the lives of the rural poor, we are calling on you to help us advance our joint objective one step further. I appreciate your consideration of this proposal. Please feel free to call me if you have questions or would like us to arrange a site visit. I look forward to meeting with you soon. Sincerely, Executive Director (This sample cover letter was created for AGM by Molly Clark Associates. )

Psychology Development in Chine

History and Systems of psychology PSYC 331 Dr. Bihan Al Qaimari Midterm Paper â€Å"Development of Psychology in China† Name: Ahmad Shiber Student number: 1071843 Introduction: When we started this class, we started learning the history of psychology, its theories, and its development. I couldn’t help but notice that the course curriculum is focused on European and American psychologists and their theories, which gives us a very westernized view of psychology and the nature of humans and their humanity.Studying psychology from a western point of view also limits the horizons of applying psychology and how it explained since it will be connected to mainly western church ideologies and financial and political systems are in the west like capitalism and democracy. I developed an interest in far eastern cultures four years ago studying the common religions in that region basics of languages spoken there, and I even started studying the Japanese language as a second language .Thus, I was interested of how these cultures saw psychology and compare their psychological thinking with Greek and Islamic psychological thinking and philosophy which was covered in class. I was amazed by the sheer amount of knowledge these cultures had offered in psychology and I was disheartened on how it is almost never mentioned in psychology classes or when mentioned it gets marginalized. Of all the cultures that constitute the Far East, I chose China.In this paper I will discuss the development of psychology in this country from its historical roots till the modern day, along with all the ups and downs of this field. I hope to shed light on the amazing contributions to the psychology field in particular, and to humanity in general. Attachment: a brief description of Chinese culture of well being. The Historical Roots: Modern psychology was brought to China from the West in the late 1800s, but the study and discussion of psychological issues had a long history in ancient Chin a. Read also Memory – ForgettingEarly psychological thinking in China not only was contained in diverse philosophical, political, military, and other literature but was also expressed through various practices in education, medicine, and human resource management. The influence of Chinese culture on world psychology has been widely recognized in current literature in the field and is attracting more and more attention (Jing, 1994; Murphy & Kovach, 1972; Wang, 1993). In China a rich body of psychological thought existed in the writings of the ancient Chinese philosophers.One of the most important figures was Confucius (551-479 B. C. ) whose teaching has, for centuries, exerted a profound influence on the development of China's cultural history. Confucian thinking emphasized the discussion of human nature, education, human development, and interpersonal relationships. For example, when Confucius discussed human nature, he asserted that â€Å"human nature is the order of heavenâ₠¬  (Jing, 1994, p. 668). By this Confucius meant that our patterns of existence are determined by Nature or by God.He did not address this issue in order to differentiate whether human nature was good or evil but proposed it as a common heritage upon which personal and mental development could be based through education: â€Å"By nature close to each other, but through practice far from each other† (Analects 17:2, Dawson, 1993). This means that people are similar when they are born but that they become different as a result of social molding; hence the importance of learning. Confucius was a famous teacher as well as a philosopher; he advocated that all people should be educated, irrespective of their abilities.He categorized people into three types: superior, medium, and inferior and concluded that everyone should be educated according to their abilities. These ideas are in agreement with the modern idea of everyone's right to an education and the concept of individual diff erences and the need to provide education in a suitable form for all to benefit, whatever their abilities. With regard to human development, Confucius viewed this as a life-long process as stated in the summary of his own life:. At fifteen I set my mind on learning, at thirty I became firm in my purpose; at forty I was free from doubts; at fifty I came to know fate; t sixty I could tell truth from falsehood by listening to other people; at seventy I followed my heart's desire without trespassing the norm of conduct. (Analects 2:4; Tang, 1996). A distinctive feature of this outlook is an emphasis on the development of wisdom and social maturity at a later age. Contrary to some modern thinking that human development is primarily an early childhood process (as has been proposed by Freud or Piaget), Confucius gave new insight with the view that development is a life-long process. In addition to Confucianism, other Chinese philosophies such as Taoism and Zen Buddhism were also important. For instance, Chinese Taoist scholars considered that opposition exists everywhere in the universe and that the synthesis of contrary systems operates to form an integrated unity that is a manifestation of the power and operation of the Yang and the Yin, the alternating forces expressive of light and darkness, birth and decay, male and female. These powers, which in their combined operation form the Tao, the Way, the great principle of the universe, are the mainspring of every activity, the mechanism of constant change and balance, which maintains the harmony of the cosmos. (Fitzgerald, 1976, p. 220). According to Lao-tzu (570-490 B.C. ), the reputed founder of Taoism, nature keeps a proper balance in all its working. If any activity moves to an extreme in one direction, sooner or later a change occurs to swing it back toward the opposite. This thinking may have influenced Jungian psychology, for â€Å"Jung discovered the self from Eastern philosophy and characterized it ‘as a kind of compensation for the conflict between inside and outside † (Jung, as cited in Kuo, 1971, p. 97). In addition, recent findings indicate that the self-actualization theories of Rogers and Maslow bear certain similarities to concepts in Taoism and Zen Buddhism (e. . , Chang ; Page, 1991; Ma, 1990). The practice of naive psychology was widespread in ancient China, and many present-day psychology applications could trace their roots to thousands of years ago. For instance, in Medical Principles of the Yellow Emperor, the first Chinese encyclopedia of medicine, published about 2,000 years ago, links between brain pathology and psychological problems were described, and a bio-psycho-social model was the main approach to medical and mental treatment (Wang, 1993).Another famous ancient Chinese text, Sun-tzu's classic book The Art of War, was written 2,500 years ago. It is a treatise on strategies of warfare containing an analysis of human nature, organization, leadership, the effects of the environment, and the importance of information and may have influenced the development of modern organizational psychology. The most important contribution of Chinese culture to the application of psychology is that of mental testing. It is common to think of testing as both a recent and a Western development. The origins of testing, however, are neither recent nor Western.The roots of psychological testing can be traced back to the concepts and practices of ancient China for some 3,000 years (Anastasi, 1988; Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 1993). Various methods for measuring talent and behavior were popular, such as observing traits from behavioral changes, identifying intelligence by response speed, eliciting personality across situations, and measuring mental attributes through interviews (Lin, 1980). The purpose of all these tests was to allow the Chinese emperor to assess his officials' fitness for office. By the time of the Han Dynasty (206 B. C. to A. D. 20), the use of t est batteries (two or more tests used in conjunction) was quite common in the civil service examination system (Zhang, 1988) with essay writing and oral exams in topics such as civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, and geography. Tests had become quite well developed by the time of the Ming Dynasty (A. D. 1368-1644). During this period, there was a national multi-stage testing program that involved local and regional testing centers equipped with special testing booths. Those who did well on the test at the local level went on to the provincial capital for more extensive essay examinations.After this second testing, those with the highest test scores went on to the nation's capital for a final round of examinations. Only those who passed this third set of tests were eligible for public office. It is probable that the Western world learned about these national testing programs through exposure to the Chinese during the 19th century. Reports by British missionaries and di plomats encouraged the British East India Company to copy the Chinese system in 1832 as a method for selecting employees for overseas duty.Testing programs worked well for the company, and the British government adopted a similar system of testing for its civil service in 1855. Later, French, German, and American governments in succession endorsed it, and the testing movement in the Western world has grown rapidly since then (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 1993). Testing was also well developed in ancient Chinese folk culture. An article written by a scholar, Yen (531-590), indicated that, the so-called â€Å"testing the child at one year of age† was a popular custom in southern China.On a child's first birthday, he/she would be placed on a large table full of food, clothing, paper, pens, jewelry, toys, books with, in addition, an arrow and sword for the boys, and needle and thread for the girls. The baby was encouraged to crawl freely and pick up the item he or she liked best. By observ ing what the baby grasped first, the proud parents projected the baby's intelligence, personality characteristics and aptitude by the things taken from the table. This custom lasted until the 20th Century. (Zhang, 1988, p. 02). Although clearly not a test by modern standards, it does illustrate a willingness to assess individual differences by concrete means. Zhang (1988) also noted that Lin Xie, a well-known 6th century scholar, designed what appeared to be the first experimental psychological test in the world. He asked people to draw a square with one hand and at the same time draw a circle with the other. His aim was to show that, with interference from the attempt to do the second task, neither task could be done correctly.Interestingly, Binet in the 1890s developed a similar test as part of the early psychological work on the effect of distraction (internal and external) on mental tasks (Pillsbury, 1929; Woodworth & Marquis, 1949). Binet may have been aware of the Chinese hist ory. This review is only a brief discussion of the historical background of Chinese psychology. However, psychology in China did not develop into a systematic discipline, despite the fact that the concepts of psychology have deep roots in Chinese civilization dating back almost 2,500 years.Furthermore, few empirical studies have been done in this area of knowledge in China, compared with studies done in the Western world. Thus, Chinese psychology has lacked a scientific basis because of the belief that Chinese scholars should only concern themselves with â€Å"book learning, literature, history and poetry–but not with science† (Fitzgerald, 1976, p. 274). When Chinese intellectuals began the reform movement in the early 1900s, they promoted an uncompromising rejection of Chinese traditions (especially those with Confucian roots) and advocated total or whole-hearted Westernization, in terms of science.Chinese psychology became a graft product of Western and Soviet psycho logy (Barabanshchikova & Koltsova, 1989). Early Chinese psychologists had adopted the Western ideas of behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and gestalt psychology, and the works of Pavlov, Bekhterev, and Komilov were translated from the Russian. Nowadays, however, more and more scholars taking the cross-cultural view of psychology (e. g. , Matsumoto, 2000) have realized that it is not appropriate simply to apply Western theories to explain the behavior of the Chinese or any other cultural group.Although the collection process has not been fully carried out, some Chinese psychologists (such as Gao, 1986) have started their exploration of the old studies and literature to search for the roots of Chinese psychology. Those valuable assets of the old civilization, when thoroughly explored, may give us new insights into the understanding of contemporary psychology. For example, researchers are studying early writings on traditional Chinese medicine and translating their conclusions into testable hypotheses of therapeutic effectiveness (Lee & Hu, 1993; Li, Xu, & Kuang, 1988; Tseng, 1973).This kind of work is also significant in cross-cultural studies and has particular relevance in the Chinese context. Development of Modern Chinese Psychology: Chinese psychology began a long time ago, but the modern scientific method is only recent. However, the era of modern Chinese psychology commenced in the late 1800s with the dissemination of Western psychology in China along with other Western influences. Chinese students who had studied in the West brought back ideas fundamental to modern psychology and translated Western books.In 1889, Yan Yongjing translated a Japanese version of Joseph Haven's Mental Philosophy (1875), which was regarded as the first Western psychology book to be published in China (Kodama, 1991). Psychology as an independent scientific discipline was first taught in some Chinese pedagogical institutions at the turn of this century. The Chinese educational reformer , Cai Yuanpei, who studied psychology at Wilhelm Wundt's Laboratory in Leipzig and who later became president of Beijing University, set up the first psychology laboratory at Beijing University in 1917 (Jing, 1994).In 1920, the first psychology department was established in South Eastern University in Nanjing (Li, 1994). In August 1921, the Chinese Psychological Society was formally founded. Unfortunately, its activities were interrupted by the Sino-Japanese war. Meanwhile, some Chinese scholars finished their studies in Western universities and returned to China to teach and do research in psychology. They played important roles in laying the foundation for the development of modern Chinese psychology. One of the most widely known Chinese psychologists from that period was R. Y.Kuo, who went to the University of California at Berkeley in 1918 and returned to China in 1929. As a behaviorist, his major contributions were in the field of the developmental analysis of animal behavior a nd the nervous system (Brown, 1981). Another influential figure was P. L. Chen, known as the founder of Chinese industrial psychology, who carried out field studies in Chinese factories after studying under Charles Spearman of University College London. Later, Chen's study on the G factor was translated and noted as an achievement in the developing understanding of intelligence (Wang, 1993).Another was S. Pan, who obtained his Ph. D. in Chicago in 1927, having worked with Carr on the influence of context on learning and memory. He later became president of the Chinese Psychological Society when it was re-established in 1955 after the People's Republic of China was founded. In short, from the 1920s through the 1940s, Chinese psychology was oriented mainly toward Western psychology and in fact was not different from the latter. Experimental approaches were emphasized, and Chinese psychologists were strongly influenced by the schools of functionalism, behaviorism, and the Freudians.Psy chology was basically an imported product whose general development was slow because of the unstable social environment in China during this period. After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, psychology was reestablished under the auspices of the Communist Party. The new psychology took Marxism-Leninism and Mao's thought as the basic philosophy underlying its psychological theory. For instance, Marxism's materialist dialectics saw psychology (apart from experimental psychology) as entirely hypothetical and, therefore, not materialist and not permitted.Although the Western psychology of the 1930s was well known, it was rejected after 1949 because of its capitalist nature. Chinese psychology during the mentioned time period was guided by the slogan â€Å"Learn from the Soviet Psychology† (Barabanshchikova ; Koltsova, 1989, p. 118), and books by Soviet psychologists (Pavlov, Luria, Sechenov, etc. ) were translated into Chinese; Chinese students and postgraduates began to study in Russia rather than in the United States (Barabanshchikova ; Koltsova). Soviet psychology focused on the relationship between psychology nd the workings of the central nervous system, especially as shown in the work of Pavlov with animals, whereas Western psychology with its emphasis on individual differences was seen as a â€Å"tool of the bourgeoisie,† which contradicted the Marxist doctrine that states that people are primarily shaped by their social class. Jing (1994) noted that as in the Soviet Union in the 1940s and in 1950s, there were no independent departments of psychology in Chinese universities. Psychology was a secondary discipline in the departments of philosophy or education. It was only 30 years later, after the Chinese Cultural Revolution, that independent departments of psychology were reestablished in Chinese universities). (p. 670). Psychology had a preliminary development in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1958, the Institute of Psychology was se t up as a part of the Chinese Academy of Science, where, because it was classified as a science, its funding was more favorable than that of other social sciences. About half of the 3,000 Chinese psychologists then worked in normal universities or pedagogical institutes in the fields of developmental and educational psychology (Jing, 1994).Some basic psychological studies were also carried out on perception, conceptual development, memory, and physiological psychology. The publication of three important Chinese textbooks in the early 1960s reflected a significant development of teaching and research during that period: general psychology (Cao, 1963), educational psychology (Pan, 1964), and child psychology (Zhu, 1962). However, the development of psychology was not smooth because of the ebb and flow of political movements. Even though it is a science, psychology could be construed as an ideology and hence a threat to the doctrine promulgated by the ruling regime or by influential se gments of society,† noted Leung and Zhang (1995, p. 694). Jing (1994) gave an explanation for this statement. He described the 1958 campaign against the â€Å"bourgeois direction in psychology† that criticized the â€Å"globalization† and â€Å"abstractionism† of psychology. This criticism was aimed at basic research with controlled experiments. In China, confounding political matters with academic ones led to the suppression of certain subfields in psychology.For example, social psychology and psychological testing were abolished â€Å"on the grounds that the former ignored the class nature of social groups, and the latter stressed too heavily individual differences rather than social differences† (Jing, 1994, p. 671). The only social psychology articles then published were criticisms of the bourgeois and idealist values of Western psychology. As Brown (1983) noted, Western theories were viewed as a tool for exploiting the working class and a false bourgeois science, which contradicted the Marxist framework of historical materialism.Kuo (1971) gave some interesting examples of how Western-style psychological research was seen to be politically dominated. For example, Kretch and Crutchfield's proposed social psychology program for factory managers to help eliminate conflict between workers and factory owners was described as actually intended â€Å"to iron out the class struggle, to diminish the proletarian's fighting will for revolution, and to sacrifice the proletarian basic profits in order to meet the need of capitalists† (p. 100).For these reasons, between 1966 and 1976, during the period of the Cultural Revolution, psychology was attacked by the extreme leftist revolutionaries as a â€Å"bourgeois pseudo-science† and was uprooted completely as a scientific discipline. Leading psychologists were labelled as â€Å"reactionary academic authorities,† scientific research and teaching institutions were dis solved, and psychologists were dispatched to remote areas of the country to work on the farms. The disaster lasted until the termination of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. (Jing, 1994, p. 72). In a later article (1995) Jing commented that this was a â€Å"dark period† for psychology in China and lamented the â€Å"great price to be paid for political interference in science† (p. 719). Happily, Chinese economic reform launched an open-door policy to the outside world in the late 1970s, and psychology was rehabilitated as a scientific discipline. Both the Chinese Psychological Society (CPS) and Institute of Psychology have resumed their academic activities; research in, and application of, psychology is being carried out all over China.With increased international exchanges, new ideas and areas of research such as cognitive psychology and counseling psychology have become popular. For example major cities now have counseling telephone hot lines (Xu, Guo, Fang, & Yan, 19 94), many high schools have their own counselors, and cognitive behavior therapy is a popular new approach to psychiatric problems. Chinese counseling models have to adapt to the characteristics of Chinese clients and counselors (Wang, 1994). Many Chinese psychologists visited other countries, and psychologists from abroad visited China and lectured in China's universities.Thus began a more favorable environment for the present development of Chinese psychology. Wang (1993) gave a good picture of the current scene: By 1991, the CPS had more than 2,900 members, two thirds of whom were developmental and educational psychologists. The CPS has 11 special divisions of psychology, including educational, developmental, medical, general-experimental, industrial, sports, physiological, judicial psychology, and psychological measurement. Each province has its own psychological association such as counseling (Wang, 1993, p. 92).Because psychology restored its momentum in the late 1970s, Chines e psychologists have reached a consensus on building psychology with Chinese characteristics (Chen, 1993; Shi, 1989). Yue (1994) reflected on the need for Chinese psychologists to strengthen their theoretical roots and bind their work closely to life in China. Wang (1993) concluded that much recent Chinese psychological research has been closely linked with economic and social reform, technological developments, and applications of psychology (e. g. , the design of Chinese language computers, the effects of the single-child policy).Bond (1996) and the Chinese Culture Connection (1987) noted that Chinese society is still shaped by Confucian values such as filial piety and industriousness, the saving of face, and the networks of personal relationships. Even in 1922, Chinese psychologists were exhorted to unearth existing Chinese materials, investigate new materials from overseas, and based on these two sources, invent our own theories and experiments †¦ the content must be approp riate to the national situation, and the form, must insofar as is possible, be of a Chinese nature. Jing ; Fu, 1995, p. 723). In experimental psychology, the Chinese language with its ideographic characters has become a subject of great interest (see Bond, 1986, for some examples). Extensive studies are being carried out in this field, including ideographic and sound characteristics of Chinese characters; the relationship between Chinese languages and Western languages; the hemispheric laterality of information processing of the Chinese language; and reading and comprehension of the Chinese language.Because of the importance of the application of these studies to school education, artificial intelligence, and industrial technology, many Chinese psychologists are collaborating in their research efforts in the hope of finding some answers, such as how to simplify the typing of Chinese characters on computers (Tan ; Peng, 1991; Yu, Feng, ; Cao, 1990; Zhang ; Shu, 1989; Zhang, Zhang, ; Peng, 1990). Developmental psychology is another area of intensive study.There are 300 million children in China, and any new knowledge acquired in the field would have important implications for the education of this next generation (Jing, 1994). For example, Mei (1991) demonstrated that the remote rural minority people's tradition of keeping their babies propped up in sandbags for most of their first 6 months resulted in lower IQ scores up to the age of 16. Much has been published on concept development, language development, the development of thinking, personality, and moral development, gifted children, and slow learners (see Dong, 1989; Liu, 1982; Zhu & Lin, 1986).These findings have been applied to improve the teaching and testing of children, such as the development of the standardized Higher Education Entrance Examination. In addition, since the national family planning and birth control program was implemented in the mid-1980s the characteristics of the only-child policy h ave been a hot topic (Chen, 1985; Falbo & Poston, 1993; Jing, 1995). For example, Ying and Zhang (1992) found that rural Chinese still expected their children rather than the government to support them in their old age. This will clearly be a burden on a single child with four dependent grandparents.Psychologists are concerned with the school achievement and social development of these only children as well as the social psychological effects and personality problems that may be encountered in the future. Within this area, cross-cultural psychology studies among China's minority groups offer an important new prospect (Hong ; Wang, 1994; Xie, Zhang, Yu, ; Jui, 1993). In the field of medical and clinical psychology, besides the introduction of Western psychotherapeutic methods (behavior modification, group therapy, psychoanalysis, etc. ), the demonstration of the effectiveness of some traditional Chinese medical treatments (e. . , acupuncture, see Ng, 1999a) and therapies (e. g. , qig ong ; taichi, see Ng, 1999b) has been a significant development (San, 1990; Sun, 1984; Wang, 1979). Moreover, many psychologists are also involved in the process of modernization in industrial, military, and educational areas, playing important roles in policy making. For example, psychometricians helped to initiate the standardization of college entrance examinations. In personnel selection for the Air Force, psychologists are widely consulted and are actively participating in the design of selection procedures (Hao, Zhang, Zhang, ; Wang 1996).Industrial psychologists also make their contribution to the establishment of color standards of industrial illumination as well as to the developments of signs and symbols for technical products. The role of psychology has become increasingly prominent in China's rapid modernization and economic and social development. Disadvantageous Factors that May Impede the Development of Psychology: Although psychology is recognized by the Chinese gove rnment and is enjoying apparent prosperity at the moment, its future status is questionable.The development of psychology is contingent on economic growth. Compared with the other natural sciences (such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry), the development of psychology depends especially on the resources and prevailing intellectual practices of that country. It was reported in the mid-1980s that there were well over 60,000 psychologists who belonged to the American Psychological Association (Mays, Rubin, Sabourin, & Walker, 1996), whereas there were fewer than 3,000 registered members in the Chinese Psychological Society by 1991 (Wang, 1993).The ratio of psychologists to the general population is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. China has fewer than 2 psychologists for every million people (Jing & Fu, 1995). A developing country has to provide for its people's basic needs–food, shelter, health–before it can afford to provide for their â⠂¬Å"higher† psychological needs. When a country is underdeveloped, the more important problems of developing industry, commerce, and agriculture receive more attention because of the need to improve basic living conditions for everyone.In China today, with its economic pressures and its huge population problem, the further development of psychology cannot be seen as a top national priority. However, the Chinese government has begun to recognize that economic progress ultimately depends on the talents of the managers and workers and now sees the value of investing in modern management selection and training (e. g. , the setting up in 1999 of the Beijing Senior Management Selection Centre; personal communication, Gu Xiang Dong, January, 1999). Because the Chinese Government employs almost all the psychologists in the country, the future of the profession depends n its support (Jing ; Fu, 1995). In practical terms, lack of funding in developing countries means that psychologists cannot afford to attend international conferences, buy expensive books and journals, or experiment with highly technical equipment. Jing and Fu noted,. As China's market-oriented reform continues, people in academic circles are adjusting their ways of making a living. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the main organizational body of scientific research in China, started its reform in the middle 1980s to satisfy the market need for applied technology. p. 721). In 1993, the CAS elected to move 70% of its staff into research related to economic development and thus more than 50,000 people began to conduct research in areas relevant to the market economy (Wang, 1995). It is also known that a further 10,000 of the original CAS staff have become businessmen or managers as a result of the expansion of private business enterprises (Jing & Fu, 1995). Budgetary difficulties are a more immediate problem for reform. In developed countries, psychology can rely on private funding.For example , the ratio of private to government funding in the United States was as high as 1 to 10 in 1990 (see Rosenzweig, 1992), whereas in China there is little private funding to which psychologists can turn. If such funding does exist, psychology is rarely on the list for support. The lack of funding for research has had an adverse impact on basic research. In an analysis of 2,274 studies between 1979 and 1988 in developmental and educational psychology involving 362,665 participants, Shi (1990) found that 48. 9% of the studies were applied research whereas only 8% were described as basic research. The rest were more or less repetitions or adaptations of previous studies or instruments. ) Psychologists in China are predominantly concerned with applied problems, and research that addresses economic and social problems. This situation was aptly described by Long (1987): â€Å"The pressing need †¦ was a technocrat in a factory, not a rat in a Skinner box† (p. 232). An applied or ientation is understandable in the light of the heavy emphasis placed on economic development. It may be expected that psychology will play an important role in the attainment of China's present goal to modernize industry, agriculture, science, and technology.The main problems for Chinese psychologists are how to help the nation accomplish these important tasks with minimal funding and lack of facilities (Jing ; Fu, 1995). The development of psychology is based on having a sufficient number of people with advanced training, and universities are the main source of training for psychologists. Bachelor degree courses in psychology are similar to those in the United States, but Chinese lecturers have far heavier teaching commitments than their Western counterparts, and they are often required to teach topics well outside their specialist areas.The lack of educational funding also limits access to leading journals and books in the field. Universities in China can afford to subscribe to o nly a few American and European journals, and most newly published English language books are not available in the library or if they are, their use may be restricted. Thus â€Å"psychological knowledge transmitted to China falls behind the times and is less sophisticated than that in the West† (Jing ; Fu, 1995, p. 725).At present, there are only six psychology departments and four psychology institutions among all the institutions of higher education, although all normal universities and teachers' colleges have psychology curricula and established psychology teaching and research groups. This provision is clearly inadequate for future needs. In addition, students often teach in the universities in which they received their degree, leading to a restricted perspective of the discipline. To a certain extent, China must depend on the developed world for the training of its psychologists (Jing & Fu, 1995).This dependence comes through the importation of foreign experts as well as the training abroad of Chinese psychologists at the postgraduate level and the subsequent brain drain, as many of the latter do not return to China. Another serious problem affecting the development of psychology is that there are no specific career paths for students who major in psychology. There is no organized postgraduate professional psychology training, and psychology graduates are often trapped in low-income jobs. Thus, uncertain career prospects have turned away many talented students.Unfortunately many students who chose psychology as a major have turned to unrelated professions on graduation. Future Perspective The field of psychology has a long road to travel before it will reach its maturity in China. Despite the difficulties mentioned here, recent developments have revealed some directions for the future. As we have seen, the development of Chinese psychology is closely linked with the social environment and with government policy, such as the influence of the family planning program and the open door policy. This link will continue and will orient most psychological research toward practical applications.Given the poor resources in research and the limited number of psychologists, the nationwide and collaborative approach will greatly facilitate research, teaching, and the practical application of psychology. Chinese psychology has attracted tremendous interest from all over the world in recent years. The reason for this sinophilia (Leung & Zhang, 1995, p. 696) â€Å"is because of the increasing importance of China world-wide, both politically and economically. † In the next few years, more emphasis will be put on the mutual communication and exchange of ideas with the rest of the world.Chinese psychology will certainly benefit from learning from Western advanced psychology. However, to interpret the mental phenomena and behavior of the Chinese people, attention must also be focused on the theoretical construction of China's ancient psyc hological heritage traced through traditional Chinese culture. It may be that this will eventually reflect Fairbank's view (1992, p. 258) when he stated, â€Å"Chinese learning for the substance the essential principles and Western learning for function the practical applications. 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