Personal Moral Compass & Vision Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Moral Compass & Vision Statement - Essay Example Back in the late 1990’s Nike, a corporation that was built on image and marketing to obtain tremendous brand value, lost a lot of customers due a sweetshop scandal. In this paper I will provide an assessment of my capabilities for ethical leadership and vision five years from now. Since a very young age I have always had very high moral standards. I believe it is important to do things the right way. In the marketing profession there are many challenges that a professional may face. There are ethical dilemmas such as choosing whether to target other competitors and aggressively discredit their practices in campaigns even when the claims may be half truths or irrelevant information. I believe do not believe that adverting people should use the competition as a point of basis of a campaign. Advertising should focus on highlighting the strengths of the firm or product. I think advertising campaigns such as the Dunking Donuts campaign that tells people that real friends donâ€℠¢t let their friends drink at Starbucks are unethical. I consider that my capabilities to make decisions using ethical leadership are outstanding. I have always considered the ethical implications my decisions in life and in business. I can improve my ethical understanding by taking structured seminars and continued education courses on the subject. In the past when I have been faced with tough ethical decisions I sometimes communicate the dilemma to friend or colleague in order to gain their opinion and input on the matter. Active listening skills are useful to evaluate the feedback from other people in order to make better informed decisions. Five years from now I plan to be working in a marketing department. At that time I will face ethical challenges on a recurrent basis. I potential challenge that I may face could involved deciding whether to expand the operations of the company into developing countries to raise profits with the consequence being lowering the jobs the firm cre ates in the United States. The options in this scenario are to expand into one or many foreign countries or to target growth exclusively in the domestic market. My ethical point of view on these types of business international matters is that it is the ethical responsibility of the company is to choose the alternative that maximizes shareholder’s wealth. Patriotism is a nice notion, but in business being close minded doesn’t lookout for the best interest of the firm. A good option to create balance would be to invest in the international option if is more profitable, to then in the future use those profits to diversify your operation and help the US economy by investing in new ventures in the United States. There are other important ethical decisions that I might face in 2016 as a professional in the workplace. A topic that is going to gain greater popularity in marketing circles in 2016 is corporate social responsibility. I have seen companies that are using innovativ e marketing programs to help out social causes. A few years ago Starbuck Cafe introduced a program that donated 5 cents out of every sale of certain beverages towards supporting AIDS programs in Africa. These types of programs at first glance might be seeing with hesitation by upper management because their perception might be that such a mandatory donation is an added cost that lowers the profitability of a product. Ethical leadership can have tremendous benefits. As a marketing professional it would be my duty to educate management over the value of such a

Cyberterrorism Essay Example for Free

Cyberterrorism Essay The term cyberterrorism was created in the mid 90’s by combining cyberspace and terrorism. The term has been widely accepted after being embraced by the United State Intelligence Community. Janczewski and Colarik describe cyberterrorism as â€Å"Premeditated, politically motivated attacks by subnational groups, clandestine agents, or individuals against information and computer systems, computer programs, and data that result in violence against non-combat targets† (Janczewski Colarik, 2005, p. 43). Cyberterrorism is a form of terrorism that uses any form of connected source to engage in attacks of information systems, incitement to violence, theft of data, and planning of terrorist attacks (Britz, 2011, p. 197). As an introduction into the topic, the following definition is key to understanding the definition: â€Å"Cyberterrorism is the convergence of terrorism and cyberspace. It is generally understood to mean unlawful attacks and threats of attack against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coercer a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives. Further, to qualify as cyberterrorism, an attack should result in violence against persons or property, or at least cause enough harm to generate fear. Attacks that lead to death or bodily injury, explosions, plane crashes, water contamination, or severe economic loss would be examples. Serious attacks against critical infrastructures could be acts of cyberterrorism, depending on their impact. Attacks that disrupt nonessential services or that are mainly a costly nuisance would not† (Denning, 2000). Cyberterrorism is considered an act of violence or intimidation using cyberspace. It is more complicated than simply hacking into a system to see what damage can be done; it has to stem from a motivational source such as politics, foreign government, or some other rousing source (Gross, 2003). Enemies of the U. S. are strongly motivated by hate. Hate can be a strong motivator when it comes to cyberterrorism, and just terrorism in general. When hate is the driving factor of actions, the consideration for the targeted group is very minimal, and the results of hate crimes are usually violent and gruesome acts. The FBI’s definition isn’t that far off from Denning’s. They have published three different distinct definitions of cyberterrorism: â€Å"Terrorism that†¦initiates attacks on information† – â€Å"the use of Cyber tools† – and â€Å"a criminal act perpetrated by the use of computers (Baranetsky, 2009). Most government agencies that have a response program for cyberterrorism have their own published definition of cyberterrorism. The question rises ‘why does cyberterrorism occur? ’ The answer is that the terrorist want cause specific damage to the target. There are three factors that are considered when this question is asked, the first being the fear factor. It is the most common denominator of the majority of terrorist attacks. The attackers want to create as sense of fear in individuals, groups, or societies – whomever they are targeting (Janczewski Colarik, 2005, p. 45). Perhaps a cyber example of this could be the attack of IT installations. Then there is the spectacular factor. Spectacular means that the attacks are aimed at creating direct losses or resulting in a lot of negative publicity (Janczewski Colarik, 2005, p. 45). An example of the spectacular factor at work was in 1999 when Amazon. com was closed because of a Denial of Service (DOS) attack. They suffered losses from the attack, but the worse affect was the publicity that that was received (Taylor, Calabresi, Krantz, Pascual, Ressner, 2000). The last factor is the vulnerability factor. This is simply when vulnerability of an organization is exposed (Janczewski Colarik, 2005). An example of this could be the vandalism of an organizations webpage. The importance and significance of cyberterrorism is a very debatable topic. Kim Taipale, founder and executive director for the Stilwell Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy believes â€Å"cyberterrorism, whatever it is, is a useless term. Taipale believes that, â€Å"terrorists will use any strategic tool they can† so â€Å"cyber† terrorism is no more important then other forms (Baranetsky, 2009). The statements by Taipale are strong, and arguments could be made supporting her, and arguments could be made that go against her beliefs. It is true that terrorism is growing all over the world, and terrorists are beginning to use various outlets to threaten nations, groups, and individuals. So the case could be made stating that cyberterrorism is just an accessible outlet terrorists have, because of the access that is granted to an individual on cyberspace. In conflict with that argument is the argument that cyberspace is not monitored and policed enough, and has little to no restrictions as to what can be done in cyberspace. This is an ongoing debate that will not be discussed in this paper. Different Forms of Cyber Attacks Various types of cyber attacks are used within the terrorist aspect of cyberspace. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cyberterrorism is â€Å"the use of computer networks to shut down critical infrastructure (such as energy, transportation, government operations) or to coerce or intimidate a government or civilian population† (Lewis, 2002, p. ). The most commonly used tactics used to neutralize critical infrastructure are attacks known as the Trojan horse, viruses, phishing, Denial of Service (DoS), and Direct Denial of Service attacks. The first of the types of the cyber attacks to be discussed is the Trojan horse. A Trojan horse is a computer program that conceals a harmful code. Relating to the well know tale of the Trojan horse, it allows you into a system, and then leaves an outlet that allows you to get back into the system. In essence, it is software that appears to perform one action while actually performing another (Gohring, 2009, p. 6). A Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. The most common Trojan horse of today’s day and age is NetBus, which was used for illegally breaking into computer systems and, in particular, used to plant child pornography on computers of people of integrity. Viruses are another form of cyber attack. Viruses are programs that â€Å"infect computer files, usually executable programs, by inserting a copy of itself into the file. These copies are usually executed when the infected file is loaded into memory, allowing the virus to affect other files. A virus requires human involvement to spread† (Kuehl, 2012). Virus writers write programs that infect the systems of certain users, but needs direct involvement by the creator or another human source to spread the virus. Very similar to a virus is a worm. The worm works just like a virus, implemented into a system by a creator. The difference between a worm and a virus is the fact that a worm doesn’t need the hands-on human involvement. Back in 2003, SQL Slammer worm spread throughout the cyber world. This was a worm that exploited a buffer overflow vulnerability of Microsoft’s SQL Server. Six months prior to the launch of the worm, the vulnerability was taken notice of and a patch was developed to strengthen the vulnerability. The worm worked by generating random IP addresses, and if belonged to an SQL Server that was not covered by the patch, it was infected and immediately began sending out more copies of the worm to more random IP addresses (Leyden, 2003). There was no human involvement after the worm was created initiated by the creator. It spread itself to random IP addresses, which categorizes it as a worm. Phishing is a form of deception used in cyberspace. Phishing attempts to trick users into giving out their personal data. The techniques used in phishing attempts are emails and websites that are designed to look like legitimate agency websites asking for an individual’s bank and financial account information and passwords (Kuehl, 2012). This method is not used so much by cyberterrorists, but the possibility is there. A more serious cyber attack comes in the form of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. DoS attacks deny system access to users by overwhelming the target source with messages and blocking legitimate traffic (Kuehl, 2012). It causes a system overload, and can block the ability to exchange data between systems using the Internet. DoS attacks usually target banks, and earlier this year in September, several major banks were attacked using DoS. The websites of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, U. S. Bank, and PNC Bank all were victims of a DoS attack (Goldman, 2012). The websites were overloaded with traffic directed at them causing them to crash. Most of the time while the cyberterrorists use these attacks to steal information from bank customers, but in this case the motivation was simply to temporarily take down the banks’ public-facing websites, putting them under extreme heat from the public and potentially tarnishing their reputations. There are three levels of cyber capability that need to be taken into thought when considering types of cyberterrorism attacks. The first is simple-unstructured capability. This allows a cyberterrorist to conduct basic hacks against individual systems using tools created by someone else. The organization possesses little target analysis, command and control, or learning capability (Denning, 2000). This level is sometimes not considered to be cyberterrorism, because of the simplicity of the attack. There is slight to no attention focused on the target, which does not reveal any sort of motivation. Referring back to the definition of cyberterrorism, it has to stem from a motivational source to be considered cyberterrorism (Gross, 2003). The simple-unstructured capable individuals are basically the ones who hack into systems just to see what kind of damage they can cause. The second level of capability is the advance-structured level. This is the competence to conduct more sophisticated attacks against multiple systems or networks and possibly, to modify or create basic hacking tools. The organization possesses a straightforward and uncomplicated target analysis, command control, and learning capability (Denning, 2000). These organizations have motivations, but they are not strong enough to cause serious damage to the identified target. The last capability is the complex-coordinated capability. This is the ability for coordinated attacks capable of causing mass-disruption against integrated, heterogeneous defenses. They have the capacity to create sophisticated hacking tools. There is a highly capable target analysis, command control, and organization learning capability (Denning, 2000). Organizations with this type of capability are highly sophisticated with dangerous motivations. These dangerous organizations are the ones that can cause millions of dollars of damage, and also tons of negative publicity, two of the main objectives of cyberterrorist. There are cases when terrorists actually run other forms of terrorisms, such as bombings, with the use of cyberspace. The anonymity and global reach of the Internet has helped facilitate terrorism (Cole Glasser, 2009). â€Å"They put up websites to spread their messages and recruit supporters, and they use the Internet to communicate and coordinate action. However, there are few indications that they are pursuing in cyberterrorism, either alone or in conjunction with acts of violence† (Denning, 2000). There is an example of this from the late 90’s. In February 1998, Clark Staten, executive director of the Emergency Response and Research Institute in Chicago, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee that it was believed that â€Å"members of some Islamic extremist organizations have been trying to develop a network of hackers to support their computer activities in offensive information warfare attacks in the future† (Denning, Cyberterrorism, 2000). It is the perfect way to recruit, because of the anonymity that is granted to the individual. â€Å"The Internet is the ideal medium for terrorism today: anonymous but pervasive† (Cole Glasser, 2009, p. 95).

Stress in R.C. Sherriffs Journeys End Essay -- Journeys End Essays

World war I broke out in 1914 and lasted until 1918 when the armistice was signed. Throughout this period great destruction was suffered across the world and in particular in 1918 when the German army was preparing a massive attack against the allies. 'Journey's End' was written by R.C.Sherriff in 1928. It is set in the British trenches a few days before the expected attack and Sherriff re-creates the moments leading up to it. This drama is based upon Sherriff's real-life experiences as he himself was a captain of the East-Surrey regiment and played a part in the First World War. Sherriff's understanding of the relationships between men and the morale of soldiers living in the confines of the trenches are portrayed through the characters features in the play. Sherriff's purpose when writing the play may have been to celebrate the ten year anniversary as there were floods of memoirs, poems and reminiscences coming out around this time, however he may have more importantly wanted to ensure that war doesn't break out again by illustrating the pain and hopelessness he endured at was to convince his audience. 'Journey's End' gives the reader/audience a clear insight into the reality of life at war and explores the harsh conditions experienced by the men/officers at the front line. Despite Sherriff's ability to re-create the soldiers lives, staging the play is a main difficulty in which many things would need to be considered before-hand such as the audience he is targeting, sound, lighting and props. It is vital that what happens on stage is realistic to the audience so that their interpretations of trench conditions is genuine. He would also need to make things realistic as he may well find that ex s... ...ers died when the trench collapsed including Raleigh however we are still unsure about what happened to Stanhope, Hibbert or trotter. The death of Raleigh's character symbolises the appalling waste of lives during World War 1 but it also has an intense moving effect on the audience. We had warmed to him at the beginning of the play because of his eagerness and excitement however he never realised the full extent of war until the raid. I think that Sherriff's message was to show people the effects of war on soldier's minds. Stanhope's character was a prime example of this as he was psychologically damaged by the effects of war. I also feel that Sherriff had a hidden message of wanting to convey the full scale horror of war, both physically and mentally. A small disagreement between two countries or two opposing sides can result in a massive loss of life.

Definition of Literature Essay

Literature is an outlet of escape from reality. At the end of the day, I open a book and allow the story to take me to a world where my own fades into a distant memory. With every turn of a page, my imagination is free to reinvent a narrative that is better than the reality I live. Literature can be non-fiction and based on facts surrounding real events, people, and places. Examples include history books, memoirs, biographies, newspapers, self-help, devotionals, and textbooks. Literature can also be writings based not on truth, but on the imagination and creativity of the author. This includes fiction novels and children story books. A lot of times authors of fiction will get their idea from a real life event and then they allow their imagination to recreate the characters and plot. Aside from being fiction or non-fiction, literature can also fall into different categories according to the genre, purpose, and style. Some genres include romance, science fiction, Christian, suspense, and western. The authors purpose for writing will likely determine what style and genre they will use. Poetry and drama are forms of literature that are stylistically different from other writings. Every writer wants to engage their audience and capture their attention in order to convey a message. The meaning of the text may hold differing messages within the audience, but it is the goal of the author to captivate the reader and keep them wanting to read more. John Smith wrote historical accounts of life while he was living. His writings brought insight and hope regarding English settlement during the early 1600s. The General History of Virginia is difficult to comprehend in areas because I am unfamiliar with his use and style of language, but nonetheless it is a beautifully written piece of literature. John Smith’s targeted audience was most likely the people of his time, with the goal of informing them of recent events. I appreciate the way he portrays the struggles of daily life realistically and in a way that inspires and intrigues. William Bradford was not formally educauted, yet he was a wise and well-read man. His writings spread throughout the world and have been studied and quoted by many. As with most of the literature from his time period, Bradford’s style is simple, but he writes with such conviction that demands the attention and respect of the reader. Bradford was a man of faith and often expressed this in his writing. In Of Plymouth Plantation he often refers to God’s providence and makes continuous references to God. Bradford may refer to God more than any other author in this colonial unit. Anne Bradstreet was a powerful force in literature during the 1960s because she was one of the first recognized women poets. Centuries later she is a revered writer and her poetry remains enchanting. â€Å"Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is the opening line to her poem The Author of Her Book and illustrates just how feeble her brain is not. She has the unique capacity to use words to express herself so creatively and with so much emotion. To My Dear and Loving Husband is a great romantic poem that I admire. Bradstreet’s style reminds me slightly of my own. However I need more experience and practice to become nearly as talented as she. Upon the Burning of Our House reminds of my own experience of a house fire and has inspired me to attempt to capture my experience through poetry. Through all Anne Bradstreet’s work, she inspires others to recognize the beauty and power in writing. Edward Taylor was a highly educated, well respected, and devout religious man who used poetry as a private expression of his faith. He did not seek fame or recognition for his writing, rather just the pleasure it brought him. Taylor writes of God beautifully and is a master of creating moving and emotional works of art without intending to. As with most poets, Taylor and Bradstreet used metaphors and had a personal style unique from others. There is also an overflowing of emotion from both Taylor and Bradstreet within all their writings. William Byrd was a very accomplished man of his time. He was well educated, respected, and prosperous. His most famous writings are the journals that he wrote to describe day to day life. In The History of the Dividing Line I was able to pick up on the humor that has lead Byrd to be one of the first distinct comedic writers. The humor is not â€Å"pee your pants funny† rather it is more light-hearted humor that makes the reader smile. It is evident in his writing that Byrd was indeed well-read. A writer is capable of learning a great deal about language, word usage, and style through reading. Byrd’s style is simple, yet he articulates his message very well and although he wrote for himself, he managed to write in a way that would capture an audience’s attention. Jonathan Edwards was an intelligent man of God who served as a preacher. As an author, he wrote popular sermons and other serious works on religion, metaphysics, and philosophy. Edwards’ style of writing is quite different from other authors in this unit because unlike the others he gives the reader an array of possible positions for the topic he is presenting. In the sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards develops his view on destruction and punishment from verses in Deuteronomy. Not only does he explain how he interprets the scripture, he also gives other possible views. St. Jean De Crevecoeur wrote about religion but he did not profess or maintain that he believed in God. He was a well-educated humanitarian who served his people and country. I found Letters from an American Farmer difficult to get through because his style of writing is unexciting. I was also turned off by the way he wrote about certain topics particularly African American issues. Crevecoeur was not a racist man, but he lacked some sensitivity in discussing his unique view on negroes and parenting. He believed that negroes should not continue having children because if they did misery would undeniably result for themselves and their offspring. I understand that he is referring to slaves and perhaps even slaves may have wished to not have children in order to save future generations from being forced into slavery. Crevecoeur surprised me with the boldness in his writing. The progression of writing from Smith to Crevecoeur is interesting to track and there are noticeable changes in language and word usage. As defined earlier, literature to me is written art that engages my imagination and takes my mind away from reality. Not every piece of literature will bring me the pleasure of leaving my own world for a moment and that does not mean the author has failed. Genre plays an important role in this element of the definition. For example the writings from the colonies unit are primarily non-fiction history writings that are meant to inform more than entertain. Anne Bradstreet is an exception. As the writer of poetry, her style is most obviously different from the more serious and constructed essays of the other writers. Every writer has a style that is unique, however one similarity in the colonial writings is the purpose of the author’s writing. Many of the writers were writing for the sake of recording daily life and making historical accounts of slavery, war, and developing colony life. Centuries later, authors such as Smith, Bradford, Bradstreet, Taylor, Edwards, and Crevecoeur are recognized as masters in the field of writing. Writers during the establishment of the colonies wrote simple, yet serious and powerful pieces of art. They have a style of writing and voice that still captures the hearts of readers.

Revisiting Day of the Week Effect in Indian Stock Market

In recent years the testing of market anomalies in stock returns has become an active field of research in empirical finance and has been receiving attention not only from academic journals but also from the financial press as well. Among the more well-known anomalies are the size effect, the January effect and the day-of-the week effect. According to this phenomenon, the average daily return of the market is not the same for all days of the week, as we would expect on the basis of the efficient market theory. The objective of this paper is to examine the existence of day of week effect in Indian stock market.Daily closing prices of S&P CNX Nifty index have been analyzed over fifteen years period commencing from January 1994 to December 2008. A set of parametric and non parametric tests has been used to test the equality of mean returns and standard deviations of the returns. The mean returns on Monday and Tuesday are negative while on Wednesday these are highly positive. Also, the i mpact of introduction of rolling settlement on the stock returns is observed. The results show that before rolling settlement came in 2001, Tuesday was showing highly negative returns and Wednesday highly positive.But after the introduction of rolling settlement, the seasonality in the distribution of the mean returns across different days of the week ceased to appear. Thus the markets have become more efficient over a period of time. KEY WORDS: Market Efficiency, Calendar Anomalies and Day-of-the-Week Effect INTRODUCTION A Stock Exchange is a common platform where buyers and sellers come together to transact in securities. It may be a physical entity where brokers trade on a physical trading floor via an â€Å"open outcry† system or a virtual environment.The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are the India's two leading stock exchanges. Indian security market is one of the oldest markets in Asia. It has come a long way from earlier days of flo or trading to the present day screen and net based trading. This study is an attempt to have a deeper insight in to the behaviour and patterns of stock price distribution in the Indian stock market. The price of a security should vibrate around its intrinsic worth in any efficient market.In finance, the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) asserts that financial markets are â€Å"informationally efficient†, or that prices on traded assets, e. g. , stocks, bonds, or property, already reflect all known information. The efficient-market hypothesis states that it is impossible to consistently outperform the market by using any information that the market already knows, except through luck. Therefore, the past price movements can in no way help in speculating the prices in future. The price of each day is independent. It may be unchanged, higher or lower from he previous price, but depends upon new pieces of information being received each day. So seasonalities cannot be used to form ulate trading strategies to earn abnormal returns according to efficient market hypothesis theory. Calendar anomalies are cyclical anomalies in returns, where the cycle is based on the calendar. It describes the tendency of stocks to perform differently at different times. For example, a number of researchers have documented that historically, returns tend to be higher in January compared to other months (especially February).There are three types of efficiencies as explained in efficient market hypothesis. So calendar anomalies mainly explain weak form of efficiency which says that previous price changes or changes in return are useless in predicting future price or return changes. Some of the calendar anomalies are Month-of-the year effect, Month-of-the quarter effect, Week-of-the month effect, Day-of-the-week effect or Weekend effect, Monday effect, Hour-of-the-day effect or the End of the-day effect, holiday effect and turn of the month effect etc. Among them the day-of-the-week effect is most widely documented across the countries and markets.In context to stock market the majority of research findings, indicates that the stock returns remain low or negative on Monday. This paper examines the day-of-the-week effect in Indian stock market, using S;P CNX Nifty data of last fifteen years from January 1994 to December 2008. REVIEW OF LITERATURE There is an extensive literature on the day-of-the-week effect in the stock returns. This section examines a few research works on the day of the week effect in Indian and international stock markets. Ziemba (1993) investigated the weekend hypothesis for the Japanese market using daily data from 1949 to 1988.Tuesday recorded negative returns following a one day weekend and Mondays declined after two days weekends. Balaban (1994) found day of the week effect in an emerging stock market ISECI of a developing country Turkey for the period 1988 to 1994. Highest returns on Friday and lowest returns on Tuesday were observed. Mishra (1999) studied day of the week effect in Indian stock market using Sensex and Natex for the period 1986 to 1998 indicating the presence of day of the week effect in Indian stock market. Friday returns were found highest and significantly different from the mean returns of other days. Hence there exists a Friday effect.Berument and Halil Kiymaz (2001) tested the presence of the day of the week effect on stock market volatility by using the S;P 500 market index during the period of January 1973 and October 1997. The findings showed that the day of the week effect is present in both volatility and return equations. While the highest and lowest returns were observed on Wednesday and Monday, the highest and the lowest volatility were observed on Friday and Wednesday, respectively. Further investigation of sub-periods reinforced findings that the volatility pattern across the days of the week was statistically different.Sarma (2004) examined seasonality across the days of week in Indian stock market using BSE indices- SENSEX, NATEX and BSE 200. Highest variance on Monday was found and weekend effect was confirmed by this study. Nath and Dalvi (2004) examined the day of the week anomaly in Indian stock market for the period from 1999 to 2003 using index S;P CNX NIFTY data. The study found that before introduction of rolling settlement in January 2002, Monday and Friday were significant days. However after the introduction of the rolling settlement, Friday became significant. Mondays were found to have higher standard deviations followed by Fridays.Davidsson (2006) found evidence of day of week effect in S;P 500 index. Davidsson found Wednesday was the weekday with highest rate of return and Monday was weekday with lowest rate of return. Also Monday was the only day with negative rate of return. Wednesday’s returns were found approximately four times of Monday’s returns. Badhani (2008) examined the presence of day-of-the-week effect on stock retu rns, trading volume and price volatility at the NSE during the period of 10 years from 1995-2005. Wednesday effect was found during earlier weekly settlement regime which now disappeared.Monday and Tuesday returns were consistently low but during recent sub period these were not significantly different from other days of week. Also on Monday the average trading volume was significantly low and price volatility was high consistently across the entire sample period. Mangala (2008) examined day-of-the-week effect in sub periods in Indian stock market using S;P CNX Nifty data. Highest returns on Wednesday and lowest on Tuesday were observed. Also findings showed that seasonality in return distribution across weekdays was confined to pre rolling settlement time period; thereafter seasonality vanished.DATA AND METHODOLOGY This study covers a sample period of fifteen years from January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2008 comprising a total of 3695 observations(days). The stock prices are represen ted by S;P CNX Nifty index. The closing values of this index have been obtained from the official website of National Stock Exchange (www. nseindia. com). There was trading on certain weekly closing days (i. e. 18 Saturdays and 3 Sundays); these days have been excluded from the sample. During the above sample period of fifteen years many structural changes also took place in the market.For example rolling settlement was introduced in place of weekly settlement system. Therefore, the behaviour of stock prices has been studied on an yearly basis so as to gauge the impact of these changes on the stock prices. Measuring the Daily Returns Daily percent return on the index for a given day of the week has been calculated by subtracting the closing price of the previous trading day from closing price of that day, then dividing the resulting no. by closing price as on the previous trading day and multiplying by 100. Rt = Pt-Pt-1 * 100 Pt-1 Rt is daily return on the share price index for day tPt is the closing value of index for the day‘t’ and Pt-1 is the closing value of the index for the preceding day. Hypothesis and Testing Procedure The null hypothesis is that there are no differences in the mean daily returns across the weekdays. The non parametric Kruskall- Wallis (H) test has been applied to test seasonality in returns across weekdays to test the hypothesis. Null hypothesis is: – Ho:  µ1=  µ2=  µ3=  µ4=  µ5 Here,  µ1,  µ2†¦Ã‚ µ5 represent mean returns of different trading days of week. It means that mean returns across all the five days of week are equal. Alternative hypothesis is: – H1:  µ1?  µ2?  µ3?  µ4?  µ5It implies that there is significant difference in mean returns across the trading days in a week. Different statistical tools have been used to find the results like mean, standard deviation, range, skewness ; kurtosis etc. Then the most scientific and logical non-parametric Kruskall-Wallis (H) test h as been applied to check the hypothesis. The Kruskall Wallis test requires the entire set of observations being ranked – higher the value, higher is the rank and vice-versa- then arranged into nj ? 5 matrix where nj represents the rank of the return and columns represent the day of the week (Monday through Friday).The value of H is calculated by formula: |H |= |12 |( |[pic] |(Rj)2 |) |  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚   |3(N+1) | | | |[pic] | | |[pic] | | | | | | |N(N+1) | | |nj | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Where: Rj= sum of ranks in the jth column nj = number of cases in the jth column N = sum of observations in all the columns The calculated H value has been compared with the table value of the chi-square(? 2) distribution with (k-1) degree of freedom, where k stands for the number of trading days in a week.Hence H0 is rejected if H;gt; ? 2 H0 is accepted if H;lt; ? 2 The value of H in our study is taken as the critical value at 1% as well as 5% level of significance. Further Dunn’s mul tiple pair comparison test based on rank matrix built in K-W test has been used to find seasonality by a pair wise multiple comparison procedure. It identifies whether particular day of the week differs from other days of the week. The test procedure relies on Kruskall-Wallis rank sum Rj. The data in the rank-day matrix prepared for ‘H’ test is used for this purpose. For a given level of ? decide ?  µ ? ? if |Ru-Rv| ? Z [? /k(k-1)] [N(N+1)/12]1/2 [1/n µ + 1/nv]1/2 Where,  µ = 1, 2†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦k-1 v= +1,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. k k = 5 N = total number of observations n µ = corresponding number of observations in the uth column nv = corresponding number of observations in the vth column Ru = Average K-W rank sums in the uth columns of the rank matrix Rv = Average K-W rank sums in vth columns of the rank matrix Z[? /k(k-1)] = the upper percentage point of the unit normal distribution for a given significance level for 99 percent confidence level is 2. 575 Further the retu rns have been analyzed for two sub-periods i. e.Sub period-1 before rolling settlement (weekly settlement period) ; sub period-2 after the rolling settlement was introduced. In weekly settlement time period, Tuesday used to be as the settlement day on NSE. In 2001, rolling settlement was introduced which shifted settlement cycle from a fixed day of the week to fixed settlement lag. Tuesday settlement might be the possible reason for the observed seasonality in stock returns. DATA ANALYSIS Here the day of the week pattern of the S;P CNX Nifty data from January 1994 to December 2008 has been tested, results of which have been depicted in Table 1.It is observed from the table that the mean returns on Monday i. e. -0. 08563 percent are minimum followed by Tuesday. Mean returns on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are positive out of which Wednesday’s return with 0. 303 percent is maximum across all the days of the week. The mean return on Wednesday is about 8 times the overall mean return. The variation in mean returns measured in terms of standard deviation is found maximum on Monday (1. 870303 percent) followed by Friday (1. 740897 percent). It shows that trading on week start and week end is more volatile than other days of week.Skewness is positive only on Wednesday while other days of week have negatively skewed distributions. Kurtosis tells us the extent to which a distribution is peaked or flat topped when compared with a normal curve. The return distribution on Monday, Tuesday and Friday is leptokurtic while on Wednesday and Thursday are platykurtic. Through table it is also observed that range on Monday is highest which is also a measure of Dispersion. There is a significant difference in mean returns across different the different days of the week as evident by K-W (H) statistics (21. 78) which is highly significant at 1 percent level of significance. Therefore the null hypothesis of equality of mean returns across various days of the week stands rej ected. |Table 1. Summary Statistics of Daily Stock Returns of S;P CNX Nifty(Jan 1994-Dec. 2008) | |   |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |All Days | |Mean |-0. 08563 |-0. 07615 |0. 30300 |0. 1895 |0. 03221 |0. 03838 | |Standard Deviation |1. 87030 |1. 50858 |1. 62655 |1. 55153 |1. 74090 |1. 66944 | |Skewness |-0. 71612 |-0. 15909 |0. 40400 |-0. 05609 |-0. 35999 |-0. 24662 | |Kurtosis |4. 29741 |4. 47636 |1. 79652 |1. 53957 |5. 66062 |3. 98682 | |Range |7. 54838 |8. 29523 |7. 9590 |6. 30507 |7. 83089 |20. 53297 | |No. of Observations |741 |742 |740 |744 |728 |3695 | |K – W(H) Statistics 21. 278* | * Significant at 1 percent level for 5-1 degrees of freedom Table 2 represents actual and expected multiple comparison values as per Dunn’s multiple pair comparison test to study pair wise comparison among different days of the week. This test is based on rank matrix built in Kruskall Wallis Test.The calculation of actual and expected values is shown in table 3 wh ile the deviation of actual from expected ranks is shown in table 3. So it is observed from the table 3 that there is inequality in Monday – Wednesday, Tuesday – Wednesday, Wednesday – Thursday and Wednesday – Friday pairs as these are showing positive deviation of absolute rank sum values from the corresponding Z value or expected value. It means these pairs are showing more inequality in returns than expected and Tuesday – Wednesday is showing highest positive deviation. Also it is observed from the table that Wednesday appears in all above pairs.It means Wednesday returns are significantly different from the other days of week. Wednesday is showing highly different mean returns from rest of the days. So a trading strategy of buying on Tuesday and selling on Wednesday may help an investor to earn abnormal returns. |Table 2. Actual and Expected Multiple Comparison Values | | | |   |Actual |Expected | |   ||RU ?Rv| |Z |[N(N+1)/12]1/2 |(1/nu+1/n v)1/2 |Z[N(N+1)/12]1/2 (1/nu+1/nv)1/2 | |Monday-Tuesday |40. 64 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0519 |142. 6521 | |Monday-Wednesday |197. 07 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0520 |142. 7620 | |Monday-Thursday |30. 38 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0519 |142. 5697 | |Monday-Friday |50. 24 |2. 75 |1066. 799 |0. 0522 |143. 3388 | |Tuesday-Wednesday |237. 71 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0520 |142. 7070 | |Tuesday-Thursday |71. 02 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0519 |142. 5147 | |Tuesday-Friday |90. 88 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0522 |143. 3114 | |Wednesday-Thursday |166. 69 |2. 575 |1066. 99 |0. 0519 |142. 6246 | |Wednesday-Friday |146. 83 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0522 |143. 3938 | |Thursday-Friday |19. 86 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0521 |143. 2015 | |Table 3. Deviation of Actual from Expected Rank Differences | |Monday-Tuesday |-102. 12 | | | |Monday-Wednesday |54. 308 | | | |Monday-Thursday |-112. 190 | | | |Monday-Friday |-93. 099 | | | |Tuesday-Wednesday |95. 03 | | | |Tuesday-Thursday |-71. 495 | | | |Tuesday-Friday |-52. 431 | | | |Wednesday-Thursday |24. 065 | | | |Wednesday-Friday |3. 436 | | | |Thursday-Friday |-123. 41 | | | Table 4 represents the yearly distribution of mean returns on S;P CNX Nifty for different days of the week from 1994 to 2008. Also to test whether these differences in the mean returns on different days are statistically significant or not, the non parametric ‘H’ statistics has been used. The table value of the chi-square (? 2) distribution at 1 percent level of significance is 13. 277 and at 5 percent level of significance is 9. 488. If we look at year wise KW statistics, up to year 1999 ‘H’ statistics is highly significant and after 1999 it is insignificant. |Table 4.Yearly Distribution of Mean Returns on S;P CNX Nifty by Day-of-the-Week | |(January 1994 – December 2008) | | | | | |Year/Day |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |KW Statistics | |1994 |0. 47012 |-0. 16573 |-0. 36687 |0. 01075 |0. 32745 |9. 945** | |1995 |-0. 51580 |-0. 33583 |0. 25709 |-0. 6627 |0. 11756 |11. 145** | |1996 |-0. 35599 |-0. 35342 |0. 53600 |0. 18662 |0. 07796 |10. 114** | |1997 |-0. 46253 |-0. 14396 |1. 04706 |-0. 16222 |-0. 06761 |19. 917* | |1998 |-0. 12914 |-0. 52606 |0. 78280 |-0. 15417 |-0. 22507 |13. 245** | |1999 |-0. 00553 |0. 07532 |0. 98097 |0. 10327 |-0. 00305 |14. 48* | |2000 |-0. 16997 |-0. 28629 |0. 49777 |-0. 10239 |-0. 16992 |4. 989 | |2001 |-0. 21325 |0. 11775 |0. 30553 |0. 08010 |-0. 60214 |4. 987 | |2002 |0. 00508 |-0. 15830 |-0. 05939 |0. 07054 |0. 22584 |4. 226 | |2003 |0. 15214 |0. 13598 |0. 26208 |0. 13987 |0. 38014 |2. 323 | |2004 |-0. 4126 |0. 26824 |0. 04482 |0. 02138 |0. 07889 |1. 236 | |2005 |0. 29696 |0. 04875 |0. 02291 |0. 08195 |0. 18711 |1. 806 | |2006 |-0. 09098 |0. 01140 |0. 22203 |0. 22753 |0. 33653 |1. 198 | |2007 |0. 24310 |0. 32425 |0. 02874 |0. 30801 |0. 02442 |2. 139 | |2008 |-0. 36369 |-0. 13064 |-0. 04547 |-0. 5441 |-0. 24632 |1. 46 | | All Years |-0. 08563 |-0. 07615 |0. 30300 |0. 01895 |0. 03221 |21. 278* | | | | | | | | | |*Significant at 1% level | | | |**Significant at 5% level | | |Further entire study period has been divided into two sub periods: Period 1 (January 1994 to Decemeber 2001) and period 2 (January 2002 to December 2008). Period 1 represents the time when weekly settlement was operational and during this time frame NSE had fixed settlement day – Tuesday. Period 2 represents the time period when rolling settlement was introduced in place of weekly settlement cycle. | | | | | | | | |Table 5.Mean Daily returns on S;P CNX Nifty by Day of the Week for Sub-Periods | |   |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |KW Statistics | |Subperiod-1 |-0. 17276 |-0. 20228 |0. 50504 |-0. 01304 |-0. 06810 |42. 752* | |Subperiod-2 |0. 00197 |0. 05294 |0. 09734 |0. 03923 |0. 12735 |2. 84 | | | | | | | | | | | |*Significant at 1% level | | | It is analyzed from the above table that in sub period 1 (1994 to 2001) all days except Wednesday gives negative rate of retu rn. This is clearly the impact of Tuesday settlement that returns on Tuesday are lowest and on Wednesday it is highest positive. It means beginning of settlement cycle ives maximum returns while last day of settlement cycle called settlement day gives lowest returns. Also a very high value of KW statistics i. e. 42. 752 represents a high degree of seasonality in sub period 1 (before rolling settlement time period). To bring more frequency in the transactions and to bring Indian markets at par with the international markets rolling settlement on T+5 basis was introduced in December 2001. So in sub period 2 when rolling settlement was introduced, returns on all the days have become positive and Friday is giving maximum returns and Monday is giving lowest returns.This hints towards the presence of some sort of weekend seasonality. But the value of ‘H’ statistics is very low i. e. 2. 684. From this it can be inferred that the return distributions are not significantly diffe rent across the week days and the null hypothesis stands rejected in the sub period 2. Thus it may be concluded that with the introduction of rolling settlement on NSE the stock markets have become more efficient. CONCLUSION During the period 1994 to 2008, S;P CNX Nifty index recorded highest positive returns on Wednesday and most negative returns on Monday with highest volatility on Monday and Friday.It means week start and week end tend to be more volatile in Indian stock market. Also it has been analyzed that Wednesday is giving significantly higher returns than other days of the week which points towards the existence of Wednesday effect in Indian stock market. There was presence of day of the week effect in pre-rolling settlement period which gradually phased away with the introduction of the rolling settlement. Markets have become efficient after rolling settlement has been introduced.So in present scenario we can’t rely on a trading strategy formulated on the basis of historical return movements on different days to earn abnormal returns as seasonality has disappeared in the recent years of the study period.

Workforce Diversity

Organization Culture/Workforce Diversity Abstract Different organizations are defined by the unique characteristics displayed by their workforce. Developing unique behavior enables workers to share responsibilities and attain a strong bond that helps the company to realize its corporate goals. This paper will analyze organizational culture and workforce diversity and evaluate their contribution towards organizational success.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organization Culture/Workforce Diversity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Organization Culture Organization culture is defined as a unique and different way of thinking and behaving that is demonstrated by workers from the same organization. It is a characteristic pattern that is distinctive and recognizable, one that enhances the operations carried out in a particular organization (Moffat, McLean, 2010). For an organization to develop its unique culture, there must be shared understanding between the w orkers. The shared understanding is derived from the executives, who encourage joint operations. Through the shared understanding, organizations are able to perform better. The coordination that is created within organization’s workforce increases productivity and encourages workers to focus on organizational objectives. In the development of an organizational culture, workers must be given an opportunity to express their views, present proposals and engage in debates that are all geared towards realizing the organization’s goals. When the workers are given the freedom of expression, they develop a coordinated and shared understanding, which is unique for all organizations. Organizational culture can also be defined as an invisible web that enhances decision-making, and employees’ behavior and thinking (Schein, 2010). The routine and common practices seen in every organization is the culture that is sometimes taken for granted. In the development of these unique characteristics, there must be agreements between the executives and the junior members on how to proceed. The culture is not forced into the employees, but rather, it is nurtured and slowly developed to perfection. The nurturing process allows the employees to fully understand their responsibilities and develop shared interests for enhanced coordination (Moffat, McLean, 2010). Some of the tools that can be used by organizations to enhance culture are the social networking sites. The main objective of a culture is bringing together employees’ behaviors and ways of thinking to one common and shared characteristic that is geared towards achieving the company’s goals. Communication is the key to realizing this objective and social networking sites provide a good framework on which workers can communicate, give their views and consent on certain issues in the company (Tan, Lee, Chiu, 2008).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The possibility of communication and sharing ideas increases the commonality among employees and shapes up a shared way of thinking (Moffat, McLean, 2010). Conversations within an organization are the most effective ways of ensuring that ideas and interests are shared. Without proper communication, employees would be disintegrated and this would lead to varying behaviors and thinking. The leaders must make the most sensitive decisions for a company. However, through the social networking sites, ideas can be generated from the rest of the workers and help in establishing the best decision for the company. These tools are effective in developing the ‘both-and’ strategy that allows for contained debate from all the employees within an organization. Ambiguity can cause the company to collapse. However, all the information concerning the company that is in circulation can be verified through social netw orking sites. Through conversations and communication, any ambiguity detected in an organization can be discussed and this can lead to new possibilities (Schein, 2010). The social networking sites are frameworks on which corporate members and employees can meet and discuss the issues affecting the company. In addition, the tool can be used to come up with development ideas from the workforce despite the fact that the executive management has to approve them. Shared interests and understanding shape up organizations and enhance communication between workers and executives. While this feature goes undetected in many organizations, it is present through common behaviors and unique characteristics (Tan, Lee, Chiu, 2008). All organizations have their unique characteristics and any new employee is expected to study and be connected with the existing culture for shared understanding to exist. New employees can learn about the existing culture by observing, or following the conversations i n the social networking sites. The expectations from the organization are defined in the sites and they assist in determining the best strategy to be adopted by the company. The management has to set up effective communication channels that are to be used by the workers in developing a unique culture (Moffat, McLean, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organization Culture/Workforce Diversity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While social networking sites are some of the best communication channels, other ways may be considered provided they enhance dialogue and allow all workers to express their views. With increased freedom and opportunities to contribute to organizational matters, a culture is formed that streamlines all employees’ thoughts and behaviors towards realizing corporate goals. Productivity is increased when the workers and the organization develop common interests. Development of opportuniti es by the managers increases the efforts from the workforce and ensures that corporate objectives are prioritized. Workplace Diversity The concept of workplace diversity can be defined as the existing differences between workers in an organization. It is a wider definition of the employees in an organization in terms of gender, race, age and ethnic background. In addition, it also encompasses personal behavior, cognitive styles and experiences among others. In workforce diversity, there are various benefits and challenges present. One of the benefits is increased adaptability in the workforce (Herring, 2009). Employees with different characteristics will provide different solutions to the problems within an organization. For a company to be successful, the employees must have the potential to embrace diversity. Since employees possess different and unique characteristics, they provide the required skills and experiences that are required to realize corporate goals. The other benefit is the availability of many viewpoints to a problem. In a company with same employees, the viewpoints and ideas for solving corporate problems are limited. However, in a diverse workforce, there are different ideas and viewpoints that help in reducing the problems in an organization. Efficiency and effective execution of requirements is realized only amid a diverse workforce. This is due to the potential held by each of the workers, which helps them utilize their unique traits to the company’s benefit. Each employee acts as a representation of a larger group and hence offers his/her best (Kundu, 2003). A young worker would want to prove that young employees are competent and perfect, while an old worker would like to prove that experience brings about perfection. Through such competition, an organization increases its output.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A diverse workforce also ensures that there is a broader service range. In a multi-cultured workforce, offering services on a global basis becomes an easy task. Barriers to communication and other issues are dealt with by the diversity present within the organization. With a diverse workforce, a company can allocate specific employees to specific tasks depending on the nature of the job and customers’ expectations. A company can exploit languages, cultural understanding and experiences possessed by members of its workforce (Kundu, 2003). This helps in ensuring that there is equal representation and improving service delivery. There are various challenges that are associated with a diverse workforce. One of the challenges is communication (Herring, 2009). The diverse workforce may bring about cultural, language and perceptual barriers that may hinder effective communication. Whether intentional or unintentional, employees may develop certain perceptions about certain factions and hence limit openness and coordination. Without proper coordination, the company may reduce productivity and record losses. The other challenge in workforce diversity is that some of the workers may be resistant to change. When joining a new company, employees must be willing to change and adapt to the culture and expectations of the company. However, people from different regions may bring into the company different beliefs that may compromise its organizational culture. Workers with different beliefs may fail to change and comply with the organizational expectations. Bringing along experiences and strategies and sticking to them, even when they are not workable, are some of the common characteristics of a diverse workforce (Corinne, DiTomaso, 2004). The other challenge of workforce diversity is experienced in the implementation of policies to cater for it. All the employees must feel appreciated and represented in the best way possible by the company. The company must ensure t hat all its policies are fair and just and that there is no discrimination and prejudice against any employee (Herring, 2009). The implementation process is very tricky as it can compromise certain values hitherto held by the company. In addition, it may favor some employees at the expense of others. To prevent the challenges from affecting an organization, the management should frequently assess their diversity process to determine whether there is need for change. Assessment allows the management to determine all possible challenges at an earlier stage so that solutions can be easily developed. Training of the workforce should also be prioritized to prevent some workers from resisting change. The training is meant to help the workers learn about the existing culture and the expectations of the company and its customers. Workforce diversity is therefore beneficial to a company, but can also affect the operations if not properly handled. The workers should work together with the man agement to ensure that all challenges are addressed and that corporate goals are not compromised. References Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Moffat, A., McLean, A. (2010). Merger as conversation. Leadership Organization Development Journal, 31(6), 534-550. Kundu, S. C. (2003). Workforce diversity status: a study of employees’ reactions. Industrial Management Data Systems, 103(4), 215 – 226. Herring, C. (2009). Does Diversity Pay? Race, Gender, and the Business Case for Diversity. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 208-224. Corinne, P., DiTomaso, N. (2004). Workforce Diversity: Why, When, And How. Research in the Sociology of Work, 14, 1-14.

Free Essays on Ecstasy

Ecstasy has been said to be the drug of choice by many drug users. And with its gaining popularity, it just may become the drug of choice for everyone. Many are saying,†in the 60's it was weed and LSD, in the 70's it was cocaine, in the 80's and 90's we had crack, now in this new century, we have rediscovered a new evolution of euphoria (user).† So what is so great about ecstacy? What is raising our curiosity level? And is this drug as dangerous as we all think? Although ecstasy has been around for decades, its recent rise in popularity has caused everyone to ask these questions. There is a drug currently present in our society called methalenedioxymethamphetamine, or if you can’t pronounce that, MDMA, known more commonly as Ecstacy This drug was created in 1914 to be used primarily as a dietary supplement The drug was not a popular product on the market and so its manufacturer let the patent expire (ADIC 1). In the 1970's the drug regained some popularity, but not with consumers It was then being studied in the medical field. At this time MDMA was legal. It wasn’t until 1985, when the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) discovered the drug produced harmful effects in rodents serotonin levels was made illegal (MJA 1). The DEA described the drug as one with no medical use and has an abuse was highly potential. Some argue the DEA made the drug illegal without any official documented research on human testing to prove it harmful Many people have used the drug on an underground level, and ironically enough, there has been no proven instances of death or harmful reactions in the United States because of MDMA’s direct and single use. A person may ask, why is MDMA illegal? In order for ecstasy to be illegal, there should be more testing in order to find out the true effects on humans. The drug MDMA (ecstasy) was first synthesized as an appetite suppressant in 1912 by a German pharmaceutical co... Free Essays on Ecstasy Free Essays on Ecstasy Ecstasy has been said to be the drug of choice by many drug users. And with its gaining popularity, it just may become the drug of choice for everyone. Many are saying,†in the 60's it was weed and LSD, in the 70's it was cocaine, in the 80's and 90's we had crack, now in this new century, we have rediscovered a new evolution of euphoria (user).† So what is so great about ecstacy? What is raising our curiosity level? And is this drug as dangerous as we all think? Although ecstasy has been around for decades, its recent rise in popularity has caused everyone to ask these questions. There is a drug currently present in our society called methalenedioxymethamphetamine, or if you can’t pronounce that, MDMA, known more commonly as Ecstacy This drug was created in 1914 to be used primarily as a dietary supplement The drug was not a popular product on the market and so its manufacturer let the patent expire (ADIC 1). In the 1970's the drug regained some popularity, but not with consumers It was then being studied in the medical field. At this time MDMA was legal. It wasn’t until 1985, when the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) discovered the drug produced harmful effects in rodents serotonin levels was made illegal (MJA 1). The DEA described the drug as one with no medical use and has an abuse was highly potential. Some argue the DEA made the drug illegal without any official documented research on human testing to prove it harmful Many people have used the drug on an underground level, and ironically enough, there has been no proven instances of death or harmful reactions in the United States because of MDMA’s direct and single use. A person may ask, why is MDMA illegal? In order for ecstasy to be illegal, there should be more testing in order to find out the true effects on humans. The drug MDMA (ecstasy) was first synthesized as an appetite suppressant in 1912 by a German pharmaceutical co... Free Essays on Ecstasy Ecstasy has been said to be the drug of choice by many drug users. And with its gaining popularity, it just may become the drug of choice for everyone. Many are saying, ¡Ã‚ ¨in the 60's it was weed and LSD, in the 70's it was cocaine, in the 80's and 90's we had crack, now in this new century, we have rediscovered a new evolution of euphoria (user). ¡Ã‚ ¨ So what is so great about ecstacy? What is raising our curiosity level? And is this drug as dangerous as we all think? Although ecstasy has been around for decades, its recent rise in popularity has caused everyone to ask these questions. There is a drug currently present in our society called methalenedioxymethamphetamine, or if you can ¡Ã‚ ¦t pronounce that, MDMA, known more commonly as Ecstacy This drug was created in 1914 to be used primarily as a dietary supplement The drug was not a popular product on the market and so its manufacturer let the patent expire (ADIC 1). In the 1970's the drug regained some popularity, but not with consumers It was then being studied in the medical field.Æ’Ã  At this time MDMA was legal.Æ’Ã  It wasn ¡Ã‚ ¦t until 1985, when the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) discovered the drug produced harmful effects in rodents serotonin levels was made illegal (MJA 1). The DEA described the drug as one with no medical use and has an abuse was highly potential. Some argue the DEA made the drug illegal without any official documented research on human testing to prove it harmful Many people have used the drug on an underground level, and ironically enough, there has been no proven instances of death or harmful reactions in the United States because of MDMA ¡Ã‚ ¦s direct and single use.Æ’Ã  A person may ask, why is MDMA illegal?Æ’Ã  In order for ecstasy to be illegal, there should be more testing in order to find out the true effects on humans.Æ’Ã  The drug MDMA (ecstasy) was first synthesized as an appetite suppressant in 1912 by a German pharmaceutical company, ... Free Essays on Ecstasy â€Å"Ecstasy,† The Club Drug PARAPHRASING: Source: Sunday Mercury, Midland Independent Newspaper, November 3, 2002 | Headline: Dance With Death; The Latest Club Drug Is A Killer by Martyn Leek A recent Home Office report stated that Ecstasy can now be bought for as little As 50p from Amsterdam laboratories. A pill sold for 1 pound would still make 100% profit for a dealer. Mine: The price of Ecstasy has recently decreased worldwide due to the introduction of newer drugs to the market. For instance, Ecstasy can now be bought for 50 pounds from Amsterdam laboratories. A single Ecstasy pill sold for only 1 pound will still make 100% profit to a dealer. Source: Coventry Evening Telegraph | Tuesday, January 15, 2002 | Headline: CLUB DRUGS LINK TO MENTAL ILLNESS | No Author Specified Mine: Users of the club drug Ecstasy are 25% more likely to develop mental health problems than non-users. A survey of 1000 readers Mixmag, a dance culture magazine in the UK, was conducted recently. This survey showed that one out of four had developed a potentially serious mental illness and were more likely a psychiatrist. In the study, 98% of readers admitted taking Ecstasy on a regular basis. Ecstasy can cause paranoia, panic attacks and depression. Source: ISSUES & CONTROVERSIES | Title: Ecstasy Use Debated (sidebar) | September 27, 2002 | Facts on File News Services Mine: MDMA, also known as â€Å"Ecstasy†, is an artificial that augments the levels of serotonin in the brain. Ecstasy, or â€Å"E†, is usually taken at nightclubs and all-night parties called â€Å"raves†. This drug is very popular among teenagers. They say that it enhances their energy levels and makes them feel happy and euphoric. Heatstroke and dehydration are some of the side effects of MDMA. Its stimulating effect can cause its users to go beyond their physical limits and overheat their bodies. Dehydrated users become thirsty and c...

Common Grammatical Errors Should You Use i.e. or e.g.

Common Grammatical Errors Should You Use i.e. or e.g. Do you know whether to use i.e. or e.g. in a sentence? What’s the difference? Unless you have studied Latin or the intricacies of the English language, you might be surprised to learn that the abbreviations i.e. and e.g. mean different things.  Many people use them interchangeably – and they are not, in fact, interchangeable. The Meaning of i.e. and e.g. e.g. means â€Å"for example† and comes from the Latin exempli gratia; whereas i.e. means â€Å"that is† and comes from the Latin id est. Grammar Girl has some great tricks to remember these definitions, as recounted in her article, How to Remember the Difference Between I.e. and E.g. She suggests thinking of â€Å"egg† for e.g., as in â€Å"eggsample† or just remembering that it starts with an e for â€Å"example.† For i.e. she suggests thinking â€Å"in essence† or just remembering that it starts with i for â€Å"in other words.† Examples of When to Use i.e. or e.g. i.e. e.g. There are 7 colors in the rainbow, i.e., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. (Use i.e. when you are stating a complete list that is equivalent to what comes before the i.e.) There are 7 colors in the rainbow, e.g., red, orange and yellow. (Use e.g. when you are giving examples of the thing that comes before the e.g.) Sweets are her Achilles’ heel, i.e., her weak spot. (Use i.e. when you are defining the first part of the sentence in another way.) Sweets are her Achilles’ heel, e.g., she eats a pint of ice cream if it’s in front of her. (Use e.g. when you are giving an example of the first part of the sentence.) The soldier went AWOL, i.e., Absent Without Official Leave. (Use i.e. when you are explaining the definition.) Acronyms are words where each letter stands for a word, e.g., AWOL which means â€Å"Absent Without Official Leave.† (Use e.g. when giving an example.) Should i.e. or e.g. Be Italicized? There are a few things that grammar gurus do not agree upon.  One is whether i.e. and e.g. need to be italicized, as most Latin abbreviations are.  Most agree, however, that because these abbreviations are so common there is no need to italicize them. [Note:  I am italicizing i.e. and e.g. in sentences such as this as an alternative to using quotation marks; in my examples they are not italicized.] Should i.e. or e.g. Be Capitalized? There is disagreement as well as to whether i.e. and e.g. can ever be capitalized, i.e., I.e. or E.g.  I would capitalize them if they started a sentence, but not everyone says that’s acceptable. Should There Be a Comma After the Second Period in i.e. and e.g.? Once again, there is no agreement on this point.  Most sources but not all recommend a comma; in British English a comma is less often used. Technicalities aside, I recommend that you take a moment to think the next time you write an e.g. or i.e. in a document. You’re more likely to say what you mean. Are you working on a writing project and have questions about how to use i.e. vs. e.g.?  I’m happy to answer. For more grammar tips from The Essay Expert, sign up for my Grammar Writing Tips e-list.

PEPT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PEPT - Essay Example This economic indicator is very important for Able Corporation because it includes prefabricated and modular housing; mobile homes are also included, but are treated separately. Hotels, motels, nursing homes, dormitories, and conversions are excluded. For multiunit buildings (e.g., apartments and condominiums), construction on all units is considered to begin on the same day. The totals are adjusted to reflect the time lag between permit issuance and the actual start of construction and the number of projects that are canceled after permit issuance. The factors used to perform these scaling and adjustments are produced by surveys of sites, owners of sampled buildings, and local panels of persons knowledgeable about new construction (Rogers 1994). The main limitation of this forecast is that annual housing start statistics have varied from 2 million during a strong rebound to 850,000 during an economic downturn. As the American population increases, the average number of housing starts during a normal economic growth period also increases. Under current conditions an annual housing start rate of about 1.2 million indicates a modestly growing economy. Another economic indicator is expenditures for residential construction. ... It is closely tied to and responsive to interest rates. Residential construction is estimated by adjusting the data reported by the F. W. Dodge Division of the McGraw-Hill Information Systems Company for additional costs not covered by the Dodge estimates, projects not covered by the survey, and geographical areas not covered (Tainer 1993). Researchers admit that in some cases, statistical results can be incomplete or inaccurate which create problems for such industries as PEPT. There are several weaknesses in the monthly figure that limit its usefulness as both a general economic indicator and an indicator of consumer activity. Residential construction tends to be volatile due to weather, fashion, and other unpredictable factors. Expenditures for commercial construction are estimated from progress reports solicited from a sample of such projects. The monthly values derived are converted to constant dollars by applying different cost indexes that have been derived for each category of construction. These indices are used in short-term cyclical and long-term growth analyses, used to estimate the current volume of the economic activity in this segment of the U.S. economy, and have an important impact on employment in the construction and building-materials industries and on additions to capital stocks of structures in the private and public sectors. Still, critics admit that there are major changes occurring in the automobile industry that diminish the significance of these periodic reports as a forecasting tool. The forth tool is expenditures for home repairs and improvement. A sample of home repairs and improvement representing

Report writing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Report writing - Assignment Example This is the time when the kids get the basics of communications by learning meanings of words, understand grammar and eventually construct sentences and speak fluently. At the same time being able to learn how to communicate using voice, tone, gesture, facial expressions, and body language. (Evesham & Media). As said by Dowling, it is important for parents and teachers to know that communication among children begin from birth. Although they cannot speak at this age, they are able to communicate by crying. They hear and recognize different voices and even languages. Caregivers, teachers and parents play a very vital role in the child’s communication development at this stage. The child should be taught language and speeches since their brain development is faster than any other time of life (Dowling 2010, p.87). This is corroborated by Lindon when he says that the first three years of a child is when the brain cells are developed and therefore it is very critical in the development of the child’s communications skills and that is the reason great attention and care should be taken in what the child hears and sees at this time (Dowling 2010, p.87; Lindon 2012, p.46). It is evident that there has not been much attention on this leading to poor communication among children. There is a worrying trend among the young children since most of them lack personal, emotional and social development at an early age will lead to poor communication. Fox & Lentini says that behavioral problems in children’s development is influenced by the lifestyle of parents. Early exposure to domestic violence and other family problems do have impact on the child’s development. Janice, Masi & Vick adds that parental attachment is an important aspect of emotional and social development of children. The social and emotional health of a child is highly dependent on the attachment to their parents. Poor parental attachment has a negative impact. The mental health of caregivers and

The Abecedarian Project and Early Childhood Intervention Essay

The Abecedarian Project and Early Childhood Intervention - Essay Example I feel that there is a difference between the results found in this controlled study project study and what is found in the regular preschool. The reason behind my argument is unlike the regular preschool, for this controlled study there was an early intervention which determined academic improvement as compared to the regular preschool where intervention was done during the school-age. The controlled study provided long-term support where the children were provided with year-round, full-time childcare unlike the other regular preschool children who had minimal support or in some cases none. The children of the controlled study received individualized attention where there was a high ratio of staff to the student in every stage of the program which most of the regular preschool children lack (Karoly 78). The controlled study children were provided with better privileges than the regular preschool children (Karoly 113). Among these privileges were free diapers, transportation, food, a cademic and social improvement activities. The regular preschool children lacked some of these privileges and thus creating the difference. Another difference was that the children from the controlled study were brought up in better living conditions thus improving their developmental growth, socially, physically and education wise. For the regular preschool children they grew up in poverty thus had development differences. The controlled study children had a more positive head start in life, unlike preschool children.

The Subprime Meltdown Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Subprime Meltdown - Essay Example (Gordon, 2008). The less stringent regulations for financial sector encouraged banks and other financial institutions to go on lending spree by defying prudent lending practices and lend into those areas which were historically considered as bad credit areas. Subprime mortgages is also the part of same sequences under which banks financed mortgages of those borrowers who had the histories of default. Based on the concept of high risk-high reward, banks and financial institutions devised products which catered the needs of subprime borrowers which ultimately resulted into the crisis as subprime borrowers started to default on their payments. The problem emerged when, through financial innovation, banks and financial institutions securitized those mortgages and issued fixed income securities whose payments were tied with the repayments received from subprime mortgage repayments. The process of securitization thus created essentially the mismatch between cash flows which finally culmina ted into the crises. This research paper will attempt to analyse and understand how and why crisis emerged, where the crisis emerged and the possible role of hedge funds into crises besides discussing its impact on world financial markets in general and Australian Financial Markets specially. "Sub-Prime lendSubprime lending "Sub-Prime lending typically has been characterized as lending at relatively costly interest rates and fees to credit impaired or otherwise high risk borrowers." (Lax, Manti, Raca, & Zorn, 2004). Sub prime lending is relatively a new and a popular especially for mortgage loans like interest loans. These types of loans are typically targeted to first time buyers of homes or borrowers with restricted capacity to finance new home purchase. Most of the homeowners tend to use this class of borrowing in order to consolidate their debts or when their credit ratings fall to a level where they can be declared as bankrupts mainly due to the fact that their available funds are utilized in some other resourcess such as high medical bills etc. (Blanton, 2005). Subprime lending became famous for many reasons. On one hand it not catered the needs of low quality customers but also provided an opportunity to the financial institutions to charge high amount of interest rates and other fees therefore b anks, spotting the opportunity to earn high started to lend extensively in this area. Due to this perceived high reward, financial institutions take the risk because it is compensated through better returns. Subprime lending- a problem Most of the subprime lending has been made in mortgage markets. It was because of this reason that homeownership increased tremendously over the period of time besides being favorite of the persons with loose credit ratings and a history of defaults. With the advent of financial innovation which took place especially after 1970s saw the emergence of financial derivatives as one of the most important financial instruments for banks to use in different situations. Banks, in order to regain the lost liquidity used in subprime lending started to securitize their mortgage portfolios by issuing mortgaged backed securities. However,

Team as an Ideal Design of Job Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Team as an Ideal Design of Job - Essay Example The paper will try examining issues that revolve around the work of the team and their significance in working with the managers. It is possible for managers to create a work unit by just bringing together many individuals with different skills. Before a manager designs a task that they need to be handled, it is always clear that they have a picture of the nature of the outcome they desire. They also have idea on which kind of input is required and what would be the process needed to realize the objective. It is through this understanding that the manger may decide to have a group of individuals to execute the work. This kind of approach has been associated with an authoritarian guidance by some manager. Workers who are involved in a process like this are always denied their autonomy and have very low worker interdependence. The study shows that the productivity of a work force is usually increased when workers have a high sense of interdependence as opposed to when workers are just pulled together to execute certain tasks. It is therefore right to say that team task design is a good design that managers can use to push for results to be gotten but only if the worker interdependence is enhanced. It should not be assumed that team interdependent is the sole mechanism that can be used by mangers to help in utilizing the team and produce successfully. There are some other ways through which teams can be used to realize the objective of an organization. A team as a unit requires some level of self direction and self management to realize certain objective. When teams have control of themselves, then they tend to engage in participatory approach of work, which also relieves the top management from micromanaging the teams and ever getting concerned with small matters that can be addressed at lower levels. It is imperative that mangers delegate duties to the juniors so that they may get

The Subprime Meltdown Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Subprime Meltdown - Essay Example (Gordon, 2008). The less stringent regulations for financial sector encouraged banks and other financial institutions to go on lending spree by defying prudent lending practices and lend into those areas which were historically considered as bad credit areas. Subprime mortgages is also the part of same sequences under which banks financed mortgages of those borrowers who had the histories of default. Based on the concept of high risk-high reward, banks and financial institutions devised products which catered the needs of subprime borrowers which ultimately resulted into the crisis as subprime borrowers started to default on their payments. The problem emerged when, through financial innovation, banks and financial institutions securitized those mortgages and issued fixed income securities whose payments were tied with the repayments received from subprime mortgage repayments. The process of securitization thus created essentially the mismatch between cash flows which finally culmina ted into the crises. This research paper will attempt to analyse and understand how and why crisis emerged, where the crisis emerged and the possible role of hedge funds into crises besides discussing its impact on world financial markets in general and Australian Financial Markets specially. "Sub-Prime lendSubprime lending "Sub-Prime lending typically has been characterized as lending at relatively costly interest rates and fees to credit impaired or otherwise high risk borrowers." (Lax, Manti, Raca, & Zorn, 2004). Sub prime lending is relatively a new and a popular especially for mortgage loans like interest loans. These types of loans are typically targeted to first time buyers of homes or borrowers with restricted capacity to finance new home purchase. Most of the homeowners tend to use this class of borrowing in order to consolidate their debts or when their credit ratings fall to a level where they can be declared as bankrupts mainly due to the fact that their available funds are utilized in some other resourcess such as high medical bills etc. (Blanton, 2005). Subprime lending became famous for many reasons. On one hand it not catered the needs of low quality customers but also provided an opportunity to the financial institutions to charge high amount of interest rates and other fees therefore b anks, spotting the opportunity to earn high started to lend extensively in this area. Due to this perceived high reward, financial institutions take the risk because it is compensated through better returns. Subprime lending- a problem Most of the subprime lending has been made in mortgage markets. It was because of this reason that homeownership increased tremendously over the period of time besides being favorite of the persons with loose credit ratings and a history of defaults. With the advent of financial innovation which took place especially after 1970s saw the emergence of financial derivatives as one of the most important financial instruments for banks to use in different situations. Banks, in order to regain the lost liquidity used in subprime lending started to securitize their mortgage portfolios by issuing mortgaged backed securities. However,

Limitations and Requirements of ANOVA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Limitations and Requirements of ANOVA - Essay Example The samples’ variances should not be different though some departures can be accommodated. All individuals used in the samples must be selected randomly from the population. All individuals of the samples must have equal probability for being selected. The sizes of the sample should be equal but there is an allowance of some differences. One of the limitations of ANOVA is that, when a significant data difference cannot be found, the samples cannot be said to be the same. It only indicates differences between groups and not groups which are different. Normality assumes that the errors which are random within each group of treatment, the groups’ mean deviations, have a normal probability distribution. For normal data but variances which are heterogeneous, ANOVA is good for balanced designs but not for designs which are highly unbalanced. In normal data setting, heterogeneous variances and designs which are unbalanced, Welch’s ANOVA might be used for the accommodation of unequal variances. With variances which are homogenous but data which is non-normal, ANOVA is good for designs which are balanced with large samples. It is not good for unbalanced designs with small samples. In non-normal data setting, variances which are homogenous and a small sample or unbalanced design, a non-parametric procedure is preferred. If the distribution of data is not normal and heterogeneity of variances exist, there might be transformation necessity. The importance of a design which is balanced and existence of a large sample must be pu t into consideration. A common standard deviation is shared by all normal distributions. The different t-test options can be used around the equal variances assumptions or unequal variances assumption. The f-test, apart from being used to for t-tests, it can also be used to compare variations in two data sets in the CJ data. The test makes use of a calculated F stat

Strategic planning Essay Example for Free

Strategic planning Essay Strategic planning refers to a course of action for outlining organizational objectives, carrying out planning to achieve those objectives, and measuring the usefulness of those strategies (Kovner Knickman, 2011). How will the organizational performance at Montefiore be measured? Performance measures are important for it improves communication internally among their employees and externally between the organization, customers, and stakeholders. After all, Montefiore effective communication for their strategic planning activities is explained in their mission statement, which is to heal, to teach, to discover, and to advance the health of the community that they serve (Kovner Knickman, 2011). Montefiore organizational performance should be measured to justify programs and their costs that should include a measure of supply and demand. For instance, patient appointments, which supply is the total of clinician hours and non-appointments (refills and messages) and for demands, the total number of request for appointments received on any given day from both internal and external sources. Montefiore organizational performance should be measured by showing accountability of stewardship of the tax payer’s dollars to show that they are addressing the needs of the society by making progress towards goals (Kovner Knickman, 2011). The vision is that all organizations within the department have performance measurement systems to reinforce their planning and evaluation activities (Kovner Knickman, 2011). Planning and evaluating activities is the responsibility of every individual within that department working together to develop valid and useful measures. Why don’t all HCOs have strategic goals like Montefiore’s? Unfortunately, not all health care organizations agree with strategic planning. Questions about its importance and successfulness have continued. The reason for this is that after decades of research the outcome of strategic planning on an organization’s performance is still not clear. Significant benefits from planning have been found in some studies while others have found no connection and some unfavorable outcomes (Kovner Knickman, 2011). What contributions should the management team make? Management teams contribute to clarifying common goals and purposes of the  organization to their employees. All employees contribute to the organization’s success. Organizing people, dollars, services, equipment to accomplish the work required by the employees is another contributing factor the management teams plays a role in (Kovner Knickman, 2011). Above all, management team contributions are about teamwork, collaboration and being responsible of resources entrusted to them. References Kovner, A. R., Knickman, J. R. (2011). Jonas Kovners Health Care Delivery in the United States (10th ed.). New York, NY: Springer.

Process Implemented In Shell Pakistan Management Essay

Process Implemented In Shell Pakistan Management Essay This chapter discusses the change management process implemented in Shell Pakistan. It also highlights the issues of necessity to change, the risks faced during the transformation and the effectiveness of change management. The behavioral responses and attitude of stakeholders towards change management in the industry have also been covered in the report with a comprehensive analysis on the features that have helped or hindered the changed process within Shell. The findings presented here are mostly based on the research conducted through 20 interviews includes both the face to face interviews and questions being asked through telephone and recording feedback. I tried to interview people who are closely related to the topic of change in the business. In addition, twenty five questionnaires are distributed amongst employees as well in order to understand the change process that took place from converting from JD Edwards to SAP within the organization. 4.2-Factors that resist change One of the most common problems which business executives face during implementing plan is the employee resistance to change. Such resistance could be in different forms like persistent reduction in output, increase in the number of quits and requests for transfer, chorine quarrels, sullen hostility, wildcat or slowdown strikes, and, of course, the expression of a lot of pseudo logical reasons why the change will not work. All this actions can result in a negative outflow or a reduced net worth of any organization. A survey was conducted by the author in Shell Pakistan to identify the most common factors from the employees which act as a resistance while adopting change. The approach adopted for this research was more direct as one to one session of interview was held with the individuals. The feedback received was mixed. The most common reasons for the resistance were as follows Lack of communication between the management and staff on change issue Fear of losing the task after change is implemented is always there Fear or losing their job status and job security is also a concern Too much pressure and work load is tough to handle Change of working environment and disruption in culture is a concern. Conflicts of personalities Benefits are not communicated Others Results are illustrated below by using a pie chart and followings are the findings So according to the results illustrated by the pie chart, it is clearly understood that the fear of losing and the concerns regarding job status and job security are suppose to be the biggest barriers for managing change. After that the benefits of change not being communicated properly, act as a resistance to change. Rest of the reasons identified through the survey were more linked to the human behaviour, like mental stress, personal conflicts, culture disruption etc 4.3- Necessity of change in Shell In any organization managing change process, asks for planning before implementing the change steps. Every organization has different circumstances and the change situation varies a lot but still there are few logical steps which could be used during change management process. The process of change normally starts with a change Trigger. The change trigger highlights the necessity of change in a specific organization. The change trigger included two types of events. These are the external and the internal events: External Events: Changes in economic conditions (Inflation, GDP, Interest rates, etc) Changing laws and regulations, influencing the business cycle Strong competitive strategies from competitor and threat from a new entrant in the industry Technology introduced, changes in Research and Development Internal Events Changes in top level management giving rise to different operational strategies, changes in priorities, and new leadership styles. Introduction of a new technology and having a changed working style and environment Opening more branches of business both in the same country and overseas Introducing new diversified products or services These triggers will push management to opt for change. The questions which is to be answered by management is if they really think change is required to improve the situation, or if it could be handled without implementing change. Shell being a global organization wanted to streamline standardize its processes around the world. Prior to the use of SAP the organization had been using different ERP in different parts of the world like JD Edwards in Asia, Oracle in Australia etc. This made the operational reconciliation processes different but since the organization has the vision of standardizing simplifying its processes it prompted the top management to implement SAP Also SAP had been customized for Shell is being implemented with the name of GSAP i.e. Global SAP. It helps the organization in simplifying operations standardizes its processes around the globe. In short, the following are the factors which pushed Shell to opt for change to accomplish their goals more efficiently: Simplification of the operational process by removal of a lot of redundant activities, and getting rid of activities which were not adding value to any product or service of shell. Standardization of processes across the Globe, this helped Shell in removing complexities which arose from using different systems. Cost Cutting Saving with standardization of processes and removal of non value adding activities. Adapting to the latest of technology in the ERP World i.e. Use of SAP. Reducing the fixed overheads is helpful for any organization in terms of Cost Savings. In the case of Shell Pakistan, organizational restructuring resulting in reduced head count due to process simplification e.g. Prior to SAP implementation there used to be two General Managers for Supply Distribution for operations in Pakistan but now there is only one General Manager for Supply Distribution who covers India, Pakistan Oman Dubai. 4.4-Models dealing with resistance to change There have been many different approaches of managing the resistance to change. Below included are few models presented by different authors during their time which were used as a tool for managing the process of change. Kotter Schlesinger;s (1979) Presented a 6 step model which is used to reduce, eliminate or minimize the resistance. The following steps were suggested in this model for managing resistance. Education Communication: The resistance is the result of ignorance, and in order to control this it was suggested that communicating the vision of change and the potential benefits will help the cause and control resistance Participation Involvement: The idea is to get people involved in the change process and their participation matters Facilitation Support: Offering counselling services to those feeling stress and difficulties is one major example of facilitate, support could involve training procedures, providing technical assistance etc. Negotiation and agreement: According to (Economist, 2003) long before the economic slowdown of 2008-2009 the United Auto Workers Union some extraordinary pay rises and improved medical health care in response to agreeing for managements closure of plants. The General motors and Ford were in competition with non unionized Japanese subsidiaries, and needed to improve their productivity Manipulation Co-optation: The resistance is controlled by the way information is presented or by a political process Coercion, Implicit Explicit: This works best when the management is powerful, the change decision is enforced on the employees forcefully and they are left with no other option but to accept it. (BPP, 2008, P-402) Another model used for carrying out the change process was introduced by Kurt Lewin (1951), He presented a 3 stage model to explain the important steps to be taken while implementing change. Lewins concept about organizational change was based on the perspective of the organism metaphor. His model is widely used by managers in the industry. According to him an organization can go through three different stages during the process of change. Theses stages are: Unfreeze Initiation Creation of the right Environment Lewin has linked this process of change to the human behaviour and believes that motivation should be put before planning and implementing the change process. The unfreeze process defined by Lewin should start with breaking down of the existing status of organization and start building up a new environment. Unfreezing was the process which was used by Lewin to present a new approach in shape of force field analysis. A force field analysis is suggested by Kurt Lewin presented which helps in considerate of change in an establishment. According to Force field analysis a process of change in any organization is stuck in between two types of influencing forces (1) Driving force which is the positive force for change. The other force is the Restraining force which is an obstacle to change, so according to Lewin before the change process the forces are in equilibrium. Lewin also suggested that whenever the driving force is stronger compared to the restraining force, the equilibrium or the status quo will change. Making Sense of Change Management (2004, p.110). The figure below illustrates the work of Lewin on Force field Analysis. This is and example of an operating organization. Thomas (1985) said regarding the force field analysis that the model has been widely used in very different contexts but there is not link of this model to the overall strategy. Maslen and Platts (1994) used force field analysis and applied this to the manufacturing strategy. forceFieldAnalysis Force Field Analysis Model Change Adoption, Supporting change to required state Lewin knew that change was a process rather than a one off event. He termed this process as transition. According to Lewin at this stage the people are unfrozen and moving towards a new beginning. He also suggested that at this stage people are also uncertain and fearful so this is also the hardest stage of the model as it is tough to convince people for change John B Miner (2004, p.110). Re-freeze Acceptance strengthening to anchor the change The refreezing stage is concerned with establishing and maintaining stability once the change process has been implemented. The top management support is required in during this process. Besides that those sources must be identified which supports change and also the barriers supporting the revolution must be identified). The figure below shows the 3 staged model presented by Lewin. Refreeze Unfreeze Change Lewins Model of Change: http://picsicio.us/image/58bf1359/ Lewins work has been widely accepted and is more frequently used in the industry by management during the change implementation process. However the 3 staged model is not the only one used for managing change and Greminis 4Rs is another approach used in the industry. Gouillart and Kelly were Management Consultants and they describe the process of business transformation (major change) in four different stages. The framework presented by them is known as Greminis 4 Rs According to the framework a conversion process should establish a new corporate vision, bring in new opportunities for an organization and new ways of performing activities should be carried out. Gouillart and Kelly suggested that such a process will require four Rs to be present if it is to be successful. Gemini 4Rs is as follows: Reframing Restructuring Revitalizing Renewal Reframing Reframing will give rise to questions about the nature of the organization and what its reason for existence. Following elements should be present in reframing Achieving Mobilization: Giving rise to the will and having desire to change Creating a Vision: Current status of the organization must be reviewed in detail Building a measurement system: Progress will be measured and compared against the set targets Restructuring This will start removing the non value adding activities from the organization. The fundamentals are to consider the organizational structure but it might also look at cultural change. The activities involved in Restructuring are Building of an economic model: This is to look at how the assets are organized and is more focused on the financial aspects Aligning the physical infrastructure with the long term plan. Creating value: redesigning the overall work architecture in order to make processes interact to create value Revitalizing: This portion is concerned with exploring the new products and markets, and making sure a good fit with competitive environment. Activities will include: Focused on exploring new opportunities in marked. Inventing in new businesses and products. Using the knowledge to change the directions of rivalry Renewal: This section talks about the procedure of developing individuals, to make sure that their skills are aligned with the organizational requirements. Activities should include: Building a system for remuneration to focus on staff motivation Introducing organizational learning to progress learning as competence within the organization 4.20- Comparing JD Edwards and SAP Based on a study about comparing both the ERP solutions, it has been found that both have certain features, advantages and disadvantages in comparison to each other, allowing organizations to derive certain benefits based on which software is implemented. It has been noted that ERP vendors are now more focused on other elements of the organization as well such as supply chain and customer relationships as a result of which new modules and improved versions of existing modules have come into play. Both SAP and JDE have focused on these elements with the knowledge in hand that customer is the core focus within any business because this is how an organization runs.