Literature Review Human Resources Essay

This literature review will seek to research, analyse and evaluate two areas in human resource management (HRM) relating to Ethics and HRM, and Employment relations. Review 1 – Ethics and HRM The study of ethics in Human Relations Management (HRM) seems fraught with a plethora of historical and contemporary theories which seek to find clarity in an ever changing and challenging business environment. This review will identify the challenges faced by human resource professionals in ‘the honouring of duties owed to employees, stakeholders, and society in the pursuit of long-term wealth creation’ (Caldwell, Hayes, Bernal and Karri, 2008: 153) and will conclude that ethical HRM requires an understanding of the theories and principles; the organisational will to integrate these into their organisations strategic human resource management (SHRM) and the need to become a strategic partner in the management of the organisation. Ethical stewardship Smith and Hindman (2007: 16) claim that ‘Most people want to do the â€Å"right thing†. This is true in business as well as in life.’ To consider that this statement has merit, suggests that the debate over the theories and principles of ethics in HRM, can be seen to provide an understanding of how to achieve the best ethical outcome of a given situation. Winstanley and Woodall (2006: 9) clearly state that ‘Ethical reasoning is the ability to draw on relevant theory and frameworks to make more explicit the alternative interpretations and responses that could be made to inform decision-making’. Caldwell, Truong, Linh and Tuan (2011: 178) suggest that the responsibility falls in no small part, to the human resource professionals (HRPs) who ‘must encompass the moral perspectives of ethical stewardship and the unique contributions of transformative leadership’. Caldwell, et al. (2011) asserts that a key to long-term wealth creation is the alignment of the organisations strategic human resource management (SHRM) to their goals, values and priorities coupled with congruent and effective leadership. Smith and Hindman (2007: 21) suggest that the challenge for the human resource professional is to determine ‘how to create a set of employment policies that provide increasing standards of living, fair treatment and adequate job security for employees, while at the same time providing adequate profits for the firm?’ Reason would suggest that this is not enough. Ethical relativism suggests that morality is relative to the norms of each individual’s culture. Schumann (2001: 93) produces an argument ‘that the theory of ethical relativism should be rejected and that it is meaningful to search for universal moral principles’. Schumann (2001) asserts that his moral principles framework incorporating five basic ethical rules or principles, would provide managers guidance, whilst pursuing profits. And yet, Winstanley and Woodall (2006) argue that there are still no universally agreed upon ethical frameworks. Much debate centres on the ethics of organisations human resources. Greenwood, (2002) goes further to suggest concerns regarding the naming of human resources suggesting that this can place staff in the same position as office equipment. Employees are much more that the wheel that turns any organisation. Friedman (2009: 229) identifies ‘†¦ human capital as the critical value driver of corporate reputation’. This reminds us that organisational ethics can impact upon the organisations internal and external stakeholders. Winstanley and Woodall (2006:5) provides a strong case for the ethical ‘rearmament’ of HR professionals, by suggesting practical ways in which the exercise of ethical sensitivity and awareness might become a legitimate reference point alongside the prevalent recourse to arguments justifying ‘the business case’, strategic fit’ and ‘best practice’. Mathenge (2011: 8) makes the observation that ‘A tension often exists between a company’s financial goals and strategies to improve profits, and ethical considerations with right-behavior concerns’. Finally, Smith and Hindman (2007: 29) reinforce the important point that ‘Every business decision must succeed along three dimensions – it must be operationally effective, legally compliant, and morally defensible’. Conclusion ‘Organizations that integrate principles of ethical leadership with a strategic approach to HRM optimize the maximization of values and outcomes and achieve results which pay off long-term (Collins and Clarke, 2003: Caldwell et al, 2011). Friedman (2009: 240) sums up this review by stating that by positively impacting a corporation’s reputation ‘†¦HR managers need to occupy an influential position in the organizational structure, participate in strategic planning and develop efficient organizational practices that are aligned with corporate reputation goals’. Review 2 – Employment Relations Introduction The implementation of the 2009 Fair Work Act had hoped to ‘†¦ usher in a new regime of good-faith workplace relations, support for collective bargaining and vulnerable workers’ access to enforceable labour rights’ (Barnes and Lafferty, 2010: 1). This literature review will identify the salient changes wrought by the 2009 Fair Work Act and suggest that there has been a reduction of managers’ prerogatives to make decisions although Australia has not been forced back to the ‘bad old days’ of conciliation, arbitration and rolling strikes. Neo-liberalism The advent of the Fair Work Act can be considered to have its foundations in neo-liberalism, which espouses the values of deregulated and competitive market place providing free market outcomes. Neo-liberalism was considered to have its modest reforms under the Hawke administration through its 1993 legislation (Michelson, Jamieson and Burgess, 2009: Bray and Underhill, 2009). With the passing of the Coalition government’s Workplace Relations Act of 1996 and Workplace Relations Amendment (WorkChoices) Act of 2005, decollectivisation was advanced ‘by banning compulsory unionism, eliminating legal mechanisms to protect the right of unions to bargain collectively, expanding the availability of non-union agreements and sanctions against unauthorised strikes’ (Lee and Peetz, 1998). Prior to the election of the Rudd Labour Government in 2007, Australian union membership had fallen by 27 percent from 46 per cent in 1986 to 19 per cent in 2007 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Fair Work Act Far from the hope of a ‘new regime of good-faith workplace relations’, ‘The Fair Work Act has been called ‘Work Choices Lite’ because it has much in common with the legislation it replaced’ (Barnes and Lafferty, 2010: 1 & 5). ‘Rather than overlapping with anti-discrimination legislation, the Fair Work Act provides a new set of general protections against attribute-based conduct by employers’†¦Ã¢â‚¬Ëœto provide a new regime of protection against workplace discrimination’ (Barnes and Lafferty, 2010: 6). Nelson (2009) and Barnes and Lafferty (2010) identify the key features or principles of the Fair Work Act, as: †¢ A safety net of minimum employment conditions †¢ Good faith bargaining obligations and rules †¢ Unfair dismissal provisions †¢ Family life balance †¢ The right to have representation †¢ Fair legislation and protection for low paid employees The Fair Work Act did not return Australia to the unfettered industrial strike action of earlier years. Protected industrial action, strikes and work-to-rules by employees would only be supported under the Act, during enterprise bargaining, if approved by a majority of employees through a mandatory secret ballot and after first obtaining a secret ballot order (Nelson, 2009). To emphasise this point, Hubbard (2012: 18) suggests that there is a large hole in the Fair Work Act that can be found in large scale and intractable disputes where the ‘†¦the legislation places no pressure on Australian employers to do more than sit politely at the table (surface bargaining)’. Hubbard (2012: 18) states that ‘†¦the right to take protected industrial action is hollow for many groups of workers’ where ‘A company makes an application to take away workers rights to protected industrial action, by initiating its own industrial action, which it then claims is significantly harming the Australian economy!’. Hubbard (2012: 19) goes on to state ‘on matters of workplace flexibility and ‘managerial prerogative’, members of Fair Work Australia (FWA) have been historically reluctant to impose conditions or restraints’, especially in economically significant industries, which was highlighted through the Qantas case. Conclusion The Fair Work Act has been shown to have not returned Australia to conciliation, arbitration and rolling strikes and has been shown above to have major weaknesses that can be exploited by organisations. Arbitration through the Act is limited to ‘last resort’ arbitration as outlined by the Australian Government Solicitor (2009). I conclude that although managerial prerogative has been eroded under the Fair Work Act, specifically through removal of the â€Å"operational reasons† clause, seen to be abused under Work Choices, all managerial options have not been removed. With the implementation of good faith bargaining replacing arbitration, there is a clear indication that HRM imbedded in the guiding principles of the Act, can reinforce ethical HRM.

The Nature of Contagious Yawning

Report title: Contagious yawning Introduction Yawning in general Yawning is a common act in all humans from birth and is one of the best examples of a fixed action pattern; once a yawn begins it becomes unstoppable. It also occurs in the same way each time. Several theories have been proposed to explain its existence in everyday life. There has been no definitive way of explaining why yawning occurs. Communication, physiology and arousal will be discussed. Firstly, communication is proposed as a primary reason for yawning, by Guggisberg, Mathis, Herrmann & Hess (2007). They attribute yawning to vigilance and suggest that unconscious communication occurs to synchronise a group and show vigilance. Baenninger (1987) also suggest that yawning helps to maintain attention levels and it may have evolved to promote vigilance and further suggest that it could communicate drowsiness or illness to a group. Another theory suggests a physiological link, whereby the yawn maintains mental efficiency by regulating the brain temperature through a cooling mechanism (Palagi, Leone, Mancici & Ferarri, 2009). However, a study by Gallup & Gallup jr. (2008) has shown inconclusive results for this theory. Another theory suggests that yawning is due to arousal. Matikainen and Elo (2007) report that yawning increases arousal and helps the individual to waken up. They suggest that it is due to connections between the mouth and the neck which when stretched stimulates the carotid body responsible for oxygen homeostasis. However, research by Guiggisberg et al (2007) found opposing research and their results showed that arousal levels decreased after yawns. It is clear that further research needs to be conducted to find the causes of yawns, and it has been shown that there is possibly more than one answer for this problem. However conclusive evidence for any theory is yet to be found. Contagious yawning Seeing, hearing or even thinking about another person yawning can trigger a yawn, contagious yawns occur in 40-60% of human adults but its primary reason and function is still unknown. Some advancement nevertheless, has been made to explain its cause. The advance in research into contagious yawning has come from the discovery of mirror neurons (Arnott, Singhal & Goodale, 2009). These are cells which are located in the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIGF) and are active when an individual sees another perform and action. They activate in the same was as they do when an individual performs the task themselves. It is proposed that mirror neurons enable individuals to understand others experiences and emotional states. This research therefore suggests that seeing or hearing a yawn activates this area of the brain and so initiates a yawning action. It has also been proposed that as mirror neurons help to understand emotional states, it is closely linked with empathy. This means that contagious yawning could be linked to empathy too. Contagious yawning and empathy This study has been conducted to assess the relationship between contagious yawning and empathy. Previous research highlights a strong relationship. Arnott et al (2009) investigated empathy and auditory contagious yawning and their results show a positive correlation between the two with more yawns elicited by those who scored higher on the empathy scale given. The relationship was modest but still significant below . 05. Also Periol & Monaca (2006) point out that contagious yawning doesn’t occur in species that cant recognise themselves in the mirror, nor can infants under two, suggesting that sense of self is required which is a key element to understanding others. Other research has shown that those with autistic spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia are unable to yawn contagiously as much as controls and that this is due to lack of empathy (Haker & Rossler, 2008). The premise of this study is to add to current research by expanding on Arnott et al’s research, by using visual stimuli. This study will test further the relationship between empathy and contagious yawning as this seems to be the area with most evidence. If the pilot data suggests a trend consistent with the current data then it will suggest further research and a full study should be conducted, however if the results gained show little evidence for a relationship then it will be suggested that other areas of contagious yawning should be looked into in more depth to find its possible cause. Hypotheses 1a) Contagious yawning is elicited from visual stimuli a) Higher amounts of contagious yawning will be present in those with higher levels of empathy. Null hypotheses 1b) Visual stimuli does not elicit contagious yawning 2b) There is no difference in amount of contagious yawning and level of empathy. Method 30 Stirling University students took part. This experiment was a between participants design. Independent variable is number of yawns produced in each condition. Dependant variable is empathy score The experiment consisted of two parts. To begin, each participant was required to complete the interpersonal reactivity index questionnaire to determine empathy levels. From this the participants were classified as empathetic or non empathetic and form the two experimental groups (mean was calculated and sample split above and below the mean). After the empathy questionnaire was completed, the experimental phase began which contained two conditions, firstly a yawning condition (test phase) whereby participants were shown a slide show of 15 yawning faces each slide lasting 10seconds. Within the time period the participant was required to focus on each face and rate how many times the face made them feel like yawning or actually yawn. Secondly, participants were given a neutral condition whereby a similar slide show was given but with 15 neutral expressions. This was given as a control for the test phase so that condition effects could be tested for. If a similar frequency of yawn was observed in both phases then the yawns wouldn’t be classed as contagious, and attributed to boredom rather than condition. The two phases were reversed for half the participants for counterbalancing and also to aid understanding of when contagious yawning had occurred- neutral phase was not always last which may have indicated boredom, so results are more reliable. The analysis was in two parts firstly, the frequency of yawning was compared in each condition to determine if visual stimuli induced contagious yawning in the test phase compared to the neutral. Secondly, the analyses compared empathetic participants with non empathetic participants to test if empathy was related to contagious yawning. Examples of stimuli: Neutral phase Yawning phase [pic] [pic] All images contained a full face and expressions were face on to the participant in attempt to maintain validity for each phase. Results | Hypothesis 1 Contagious yawning is elicited from visual stimuli Tests of normality showed that there was significance for yawning and so parametric tests were conducted. Graph 1 shows that there was a higher amount of yawns produced in the yawning condition than the neutral condition and the Wilcoxon test shows there was significantly different result. Z= -2. 722, p. 006 Graph 1 Total amount of yawing produced in each condition [pic] The significant difference found between yawning in the yawn condition and the neutral condition shows that contagious yawning occurred to visual stimuli, and the null hypothesis can be rejected. Therefore further analyses can be conducted into empathy and contagious yawning. Hypothesis 2 Higher amounts of contagious yawning will be present in those with higher levels of empathy. Graph 2 shows the relationship between the amount of yawns produced and empathy scores. Those with high empathy scores (62+) yawned more in the yawning condition compared to those with low empathy scores. However, the graph also shows similar amounts of yawning between empathy groups in the neutral condition. Graph 2 Total amount of yawning produced in each condition, split by empathy score. [pic] Due to small sample size and the data having an abnormal distribution a spearman’s rho test for correlation was conducted. It showed no significant relationship between empathy score and number of yawns produced in each condition, p= . 27 with a correlation of . 259, in neutral condition and p=. 686, with a correlation of . 96 in the yawn condition. Therefore the null hypothesis has to be accepted. Discussion Previous research has suggested that contagious yawning is due to empathy and a higher level of empathy suggests the individual is more likely to contagiously yawn. This study aimed to determine if this was found with visual stimuli in the form of consecutive images of individuals yawning on a screen. The study tested to see if contagious yawning could be induced by images and compared the results to number of yawns produced by images of neural expressions in the same format. The study also aimed to contribute to the existing knowledge on the relationship between empathy and contagious yawning. Due to the small sample size and the test for normality showing that there wasn’t a normal distribution of the data, the statistics performed were limited, and are not generalisable to the overall population. The results show that there was a significant difference between the two conditions and more yawns were produced in the yawning condition compared to the neutral. The study was conducted in a way that yawns produced by boredom could be controlled for. If it was the case that yawns were produced due to boredom then a similar frequency would be observed in both conditions especially as the conditions were counterbalanced. The results were highly significant (p=. 006) showing that yawns can be attributed to contagious yawning and not boredom, therefore the null hypothesis could be rejected and the hypothesis that yawning stimuli induces contagious yawning can be accepted. This contributes to the body of research on contagious yawning especially as Arnott et al (2009) has already shown contagious yawning can be elicited to auditory stimuli. This study, compared empathy scores with frequency of yawns in each condition to determine a relationship between the two as proposed by Haker & Rossler (2008), as well as in the study by Arnott et al. This study used the interpersonal reactivity index questionnaire to determine levels of empathy and the mean score was calculated in order to form two experimental groups of high and low empathy. This was only to test for a trend and is understood that due to the abnormal distribution of scores in the data, any results cannot be generalised, as the two experimental groups for empathy are not normally distributed. The results shown in graph 2, clearly show no difference between frequency of yawns and level of empathy especially in the neutral condition where the frequency of yawns for each empathy group are virtually the same. A slight difference is seen in the yawning condition and at a glance looks to suggest that higher empathy scores result in more yawns produced however with a closer look at the frequencies, it is clear that there is only a difference of one or two yawns and the statistical analysis shows no significant difference between empathy and yawns in both conditions. However it should be noted that the correlation conducted cannot be relied on too heavily due to the small sample size and so it can still be concluded that the graph shows a possible trend that for high empathy individuals, contagious yawning is more common. Especially as the graph shows a difference in similarity of empathy group based on condition (neutral shows no difference at all whereas yawn condition shows slight difference) Even though significance is not met and for this study the null hypothesis has to be accepted, the nature of the data and tests performed show that the results are not conclusive and trends can still be relied upon. There are however many limitations to this study. Clearly, with the study being a pilot for future research, the sample size was low and so generalisable results could not be hoped for however methodological improvements could be made to make trends found more reliable. Firstly, only one measure of empathy was used and so empathy scores were only based on specific answers to questions. Arnott et al used several in their study giving a better indication of empathy however due to the small scale of the study and limitations on resources meant only one could be found. The power point slides contained many faces and it was difficult to find yawning faces which looked like yawns and not open mouthed expressions, conveying a yawn through an image was much more complex than anticipated. Another point to consider was the nature of how the study was portrayed, the emphasis on yawning was placed from the beginning and so as one participant remarked he knew it was about yawning so he was thinking about it a lot in the first condition so even thought he was looking at neutral faces, he yawned as he was thinking about it. This shows how contagious yawning can be and how our results can be skewed. For further research, better conditions must be met and participants told of the premise of the study after two conditions had been undertaken. The self report table given to the participants during the study whereby they noted how many times they yawned or felt like yawning may need to include other contagious acts like laughing, to avoid yawns being induced by thinking. This would mean that further studies into contagious yawning would require more expressions to test the participant and so they don’t constantly think about how much they are yawning. Either that or possibly use a camera to record yawns so the participants focus is consistently on the stimuli. Conclusion The results show that visual stimuli can induce contagious yawning and so can aid further research when creating a method of testing yawning. The results obtained from empathy and contagious yawning although in significant, still suggest a trend and so could be further studied if more participant were used and a better methodology was introduced. The pilot study has shown the possibility of a link between contagious yawning and empathy and so needs to be further investigated. Bibliography Arnott, S. R. , Singhal, A. , Goodale, M. A. (2009), An investigation of auditory contagious yawning, Cognitive, Affective & Behavioural Neuroscience 9 (3) 335-342 Baenninger, R. (1987). Some comparative aspects of yawning in Betta splendens, Homo sapiens, Panthera leo, and Papio sphinx. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 101, 349-354. Gallup, A. C. , Gallup, G. G, Jr (2008) Yawning and thermoregulation. Physiology and Behaviour 95 10-16. Guggisberg, A. G. ,Mathis, J. , Herrmann, U. S. , Hess, C. W (2007). The functional relationship between yawning and vigilance. Behavioural brain research  179 (1) 159-66. Haker, H. & Rossler, W. (2009) Empathy in schizophrenia: impaired resonance. European Archive of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 259, 352-361. Palagi, E. , Leone, A. , Mancini, G. , Ferrari, P. F. , (2009). Contagious yawning in gelada baboons as a possible expression of empathy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106 (46) 19262-7. Perriol, M. P. & Monaca, C. (2006) One person yawning sets off everyone else. Journal of Neurological Neurosurgical Psychiatry. 77) 3 3 Matikainen, J. , Elo, H (2008). Does yawning increase arousal through mechanical stimulation of the carotid body? Medical Hypotheses 70 488–492 | | |[pic] | | | | | Top of Form ———————– Condition Mean number of yawns Mean number of yawns

Element Rubidium

Origin of name: from the Latin word â€Å"rubidius† meaning â€Å"dark red† or â€Å"deepest red†. Atomic Number:  37 Symbol:  Rb Atomic Weight:  85. 4678 Say what? Rubidium is pronounced as  roo-BID-ee-em. Discovery:  R. Bunsen, G. Kirchoff 1861 (Germany), discovered rubidium in the mineral petalite via its dark red spectral lines. Element Classification:  Alkali Metal Density (g/cc):  1. 532 Melting Point (K):  312. 2 Boiling Point (K):  961 Appearance:  soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal Atomic Radius (pm):  248 Atomic Volume (cc/mol):  55. 9 Covalent Radius (pm):  216 Ionic Radius:  147 (+1e) Specific Heat (@20 °C J/g mol):  0. 360 Fusion Heat (kJ/mol):  2. 0 Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol):  75. 8 Pauling Negativity Number:  0. 82 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol):  402. 8 Oxidation States:  +1 Lattice Structure:  Body-Centered Cubic Lattice Constant (A):  5. 590 CAS Registry Number:  7440-17-7 Properties:  Ru bidium may be liquid at room temperature. It ignites spontaneously in air and reacts violently in water, setting fire to the liberated hydrogen. Thus, rubidium must be stored under dry mineral oil, in a vacuum, or in an inert atmosphere. It is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali group. Rubidium forms amalgams with mercury and alloys with gold, sodium, potassium, and cesium.Rubidium glows red-violet in a flame test. Rubidium Trivia: †¢ Rubidium melts just a little above body temperature. †¢ Rubidium was discovered using spectroscopy. When Bunsen and Kirchoff examined their sample of petalite, they found two red spectral lines deep into the red part of the spectrum. They named their new element rubidium after the Latin word  rubidus  meaning ‘deepest red'. †¢ Rubidium is the second most electropositive element. †¢ Rubidium can be used to give fireworks a red-violet color. †¢ Rubidium is the 23rd  most abundant element in the Earth' s crust. Rubidium chloride is used in biochemistry as a biomarker to track where potassium is taken up by living organisms. †¢ The hyper-fine electron structure of Rubidium-87 is used in some atomic clocks to maintain accuracy. †¢ The isotope Ru-87 was used by Eric Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, and Carl Wiemen to produce a Bose-Einstein condensate. This earned them the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics. Reference: †¢ http://chemistry. about. com/od/elementfacts/a/rubidium. htm †¢ http://www. lenntech. com/periodic/elements/rb. htm †¢ http://www. webelements. com/rubidium/ †¢ http://education. jlab. org/itselemental/ele037. html [pic]

The Electoral Systems of Russia, France, USA and China and How the Essay

The Electoral Systems of Russia, France, USA and China and How the Future Results Might Affect Each Country - Essay Example China is expected to change its leaders during a communist party congress that will take place this October. Major political leaders have been preoccupied with internal politics for the greater part of the year. They will not be positioned to concentrate on international issues. This need to score points within the domestic electorate, will lead these leaders to take nationalist stands on matters that require global cooperation. The United States voters will decide whether to keep president Barrack Obama as their president. Obama, who is a democrat, stands a chance of been re-elected to the office because he has less than aspiring republican challengers do. He is expected to push a policy that re-engages East Asia after a decade of pre-occupation with Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. is likely to take a harder stance toward China, if a Republican candidate, probably former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, wins the presidency by exploiting voters’ discontent with a stagnant economy. Romney has vowed that, as a president, he would strengthen tariff barriers to Chinese goods, if China refuses to let its currency float. This is due to increased pressure from the united states matched with tough and nationalist talk from china, whose new leadership will not afford to show any appearance of been compromised or flexible during the initial period of power. 70 percent of China’s top leadership stands to be changed during the part’s congress being held this October, which will see the generational handover of power being completed, next year, when Xi and the vice premier Li Keqiang take the posts of president and prime minister from Hu and Wen Jiabao. In Russia, Putin is expected to push for a bigger voice over Northeast Asia. He is trying to push for a gas project, which will see the laying of a gas pipeline from Siberia to South Korea through North Korea. This project may pave the way for the president to serve for another 12 years as president. In France president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is facing a huge battle against his challenger, socialist candidate Francois Hollande in his bid for reelection. Many voters are disenchanted with his frivolous behavior, Sarkozy wilol have to highlight his competence, in order to gain the upper hand over his less experienced contender. The election set for sixth of May is expected to be close. Sarkozy’s possible leaning towards the theme o f protecting the country’s interests may affect the international efforts to solve the euro zone crisis. The choice of an electoral system is one of the most important choices that a country has to make. It refers to the way citizens choose public servants of the state. In the United States, the system of government is a representative democracy. Here people do not make governmental decisions. The country’s citizens elect officials, who govern on their behalf (Kleppner 32). When the constitution of the U.S. was written in the year 1787, it left the decision for each state, as who could vote in the elections. In 1971, the 26th amendment was passed that allowed anyone, who is over 18, to vote. On the average approximately 60 percent of the voting age Americans take part in the presidential elections. 10 years after the Constitution was written, the U.S. had two major political parties--the Federalist Party that was a proponent of a strong central government, and the Demo cratic -

Interstate Agencies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Interstate Agencies - Essay Example However, is marred with controversy regarding their power position and role legitimacy. It proposes the need to explore the issue and reconcile the power position and legitimacy of the interstate agencies, and clear the air. The constitution provision, in this case, was written in 1787 and ratified in the subsequent year. Since then, the provision regulates the port’s administrative practices. The U.S. constitution is a combination of ideas and views from a significant number of American people and related document such as Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation (Peacock, 2008). Since the ratification of provisions in the constitution in 1787, there had been twenty seven amendments by 1992 (Evartt, 2003). Both groups engage in a debate until a common or general understanding is reached. The following is a verbatim derived from the articles in section 1regarding the establishment of the interstate agencies â€Å"Administrative agencies shall created by the federal Constitution, the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, and local lawmaking bodies to manage crises, redress serious social problems, or oversee complex matters of governmental concern beyond the expertise of legislators. †¦all legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, necessary-and-proper. †¦The Congress shall have power to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers and all other Powers †¦ in any Department or Officer thereof." The ratification of the provision can be described as that which was achieved in a constitutional and conventional manner. Furthermore, as can be inferred from the above verbatim of the constitution stipulation, the approach was well set in achieving desirable governance. Indeed, it is arguable that every participating party had the

Homelesssness in uk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Homelesssness in uk - Essay Example Thus, the given paper will provide the analysis of the causes of homelessness and the current situation in the UK. The laws of the United Kingdom put homeless people in very difficult situation. Due to the fact that since 1990s, housing policy in the UK has been a devolved matter, thus, homeless has not receive According to the research, millions of people are ‘hidden homeless’. This term can be applied to the families, which have to live with relatives or other families, because they have no money to pay for their separate residence, and ‘sofa surfers’ who had to spend night in their friends’ apartment. In 2013 the number of such amounted to 2,414 –37% more than in 2010. However, not all the cases are included in statistics and the real number of â€Å"sofa surfers† can be much higher (Patrick Butler 2015) Investigations show that the issue is becoming more and more complicated, thus it needs urgent resolution. The measures should be taken in practice and pure theoretical research is not enough. Homelessness occurs because of person’s life circumstances and the conditions created by the government. The reforms directed on the standard of level increase are the best way out (Patrick Butler 2015). Recent reforms such as benefits cuts contributed to the growth of number of homeless. 2. Structural reasons Structural consequences of homelessness affect the economy of the state and the standard of living in the society, moreover, they are very difficult to be monitored. The growth of unemployment rate and poverty are the main causes of homelessness The majority of homeless people do not consider themselves guilty in being homeless. They accuse their relatives, spouses, friends or other circumstances. The homeless consider welfare reforms to be the best way to struggle with the problem. Homelessness prevents people from living normal life. They appear to be isolated from the society, because they are homeless. Very often they remain uneducated, have

Management Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Strategy - Essay Example The big industries with WCM status have thus become pace-setters for the smaller enterprises. Introduction WCM came into prominence following the 1986 publication of  World Class Manufacturing: The Lessons of Simplicity Applied  by Richard J. Schonberger, which was his follow-up to  Japanese Management Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity. World marketplace events during the 1970s and 1980s caused competition to grow to such an intense level that many firms were forced to re-examine their concept of manufacturing strategy, especially in terms of the tradeoffs among the four competitive priorities: cost, quality, delivery/service, and flexibility. Managers began to realize that they no longer had to make these tradeoffs but could instead compete on several competencies (E-notes World Class Manufacturer Journal, 2013). What is World Class Manufacturing? WCM refers to a standard of excellence, the kind of manufacturing considered the best in the world. World class manufac turing is a collection of concepts, which set standard for production and manufacturing for another organization to follow. Japanese manufacturing is credited with pioneer in concept of world-class manufacturing. World class manufacturing was introduced in the automobile, electronic and steel industry (Management Study Guide Journals-World Class Manufacturing, 2013). In another description, WCM is often used to describe a company that has achieved a perceived, but largely undefined, level of performance. In today’s highly competitive, global marketplace, being truly excellent is not only a desirable trait but increasingly a requirement to survive and prosper, even for a small to mid-sized manufacturer. WCM is an on-going journey towards total operational excellence. In defining WCM, the following four building blocks encompass attributes that are practical and workable interpretations of WCM: Compete with competitors on the basis of time Having very high levels of product and process quality Involving all stakeholders in the conduct of business Practicing continuous improvements in all aspects of business In order to adopt these WCM building blocks, the manufacturer needs have understanding, awareness, acceptance an implementation (Shearer, 2004). World Class Manufacturers are those that demonstrate industry best practice. To achieve this, companies should attempt to be the best in the field at each of the competitive priorities (quality, price, delivery speed, delivery reliability, flexibility and innovation). Organizations should therefore aim to maximize performance in these areas in order to maximize competitiveness. However, as resources are unlikely to allow improvement in all areas, organizations should concentrate on maintaining performance in qualifying factors and improving competitive edge factors (SM Thacker and Associates). The fundamental principle governing WCM is that cost added is equivalent to waste whereas value added is equivalent to loss. Typical manufacturers relies a 70 per cent to 30 per cent cost added to value added ratio as illustrated below: Source: World Class Manufacturing Performance Journal. Management Education and Consulting. Buker, Inc. The value added is eq

Managing of Energy Assets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing of Energy Assets - Essay Example In wind power generation, there are no harmful by-products left over since no chemical processes take place. Also, with wind power, pollution that can contaminate the environment is avoided. Since wind generation is a renewable source of energy, we will never run out of it. Farming and grazing can still take place on land occupied by wind turbines which can help in the production of biofuels. Wind farms can be built off-shore like that in Germany and at some states of the United States of America. Wind energy harnesses the power of the wind to propel the blades of wind turbines. A turbine is a machine powered by rotating blades. The rotation of turbine blades is converted into electrical current by means of an electrical generator. In the older windmills, wind energy was used to turn mechanical machinery to do physical work, like crushing grain or pumping water. Wind towers are usually built together on wind farms. Now, electrical currents are harnessed by large scale wind farms that are used by national electrical grids as well as small individual turbines used for providing electricity to isolated locations or individual homes (Layton, 2006).   History of Wind Power Technology In the beginning, wind power production did not have any impact on the power system control. When it started in the 1980’s production was a few tens of kW, and today, multi-MW range wind turbines are being installed. This also means that wind power production in the beginning did not have any impact on the power system control, but now they have to play an active part in the grid due to their size. The technology used in the past wind turbines was based on a squirrel-cage induction generator connected directly to the grid. With that, there is no control of the active and reactive power, which typically are important control parameters to regulate the frequency and the voltage. The power pulsations in the wind are almost directly transferred to the electrical grid. As there is a n increase in the power range of the turbines, the control parameters become more important and likewise, necessary to introduce power electronics as an interface between the wind turbine and the grid. The power electronics is changing the basic characteristic of the wind turbine from being an energy source to be an active power source. The electrical technology used in wind turbine is not new. It has been discussed for several years but now the price per produced kWh is so low, that solutions with power electronics are very attractive (Blaabjerg & Chen, 2005) . Wind Turbines Stored energy is referred to as potential energy, while energy in motion is called kinetic energy. Kinetic energy can be captured, just like the energy in the moving water that can be captured by the turbine in a hydroelectric dam. In the case of a wind turbine, the turbine blades are designed to capture the kinetic energy in wind. Modern wind turbines fall into two basic groups; the  horizontal-axis  varie ty, like the traditional farm windmills used for pumping water, and the  vertical-axis  design, like the eggbeater-style Darrieus model, named after its French inventor. Most large modern wind turbines are horizontal-axis turbines. In any wind-energy turbine, the three crucial parts are the rotor blades, the shaft, and the generator (Sudrai & Chindris, 2005). The rotor blades act as barriers to the wind, such that when the wind forces the blades to turn, kinetic energy is

Food and Society Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Food and Society - Coursework Example Issues falling under this heading involve such things as health and safety, food labeling and even what constitutes 'organic' food (Drake University, 2012). Food policy has many benefits, all of which are multiplied when the policies themselves are especially effective. Such systems spark changes in dietary energy and nutritional balance, in effect helping to promote child growth, while staving off all manner of diseases. Apart from this, having a good policy also helps to increase a country's income through agricultural development, which also works recursively by improving the nutritional status of people - a phenomenon most readily observable in developing countries. The need for food policy, on the other hand, should be readily obvious. Atkins and Bowler (2001) note the instrumentality of food in economic, political and socio-cultural issues, as well as its role in ensuring health and pleasure in everyday life. Lang and Heaseman (2004) add to this, talking of the significant impa ct of the emergence of global markets not only on the kind of food being consumed, but also on issues such as health, food security, social justice and overall quality of life. In fact, food policy has been globally acknowledged as an important facet of public policy (Cardwell, 2004; Conway, 1997; Coleman et al, 2004). Needless to say, while food policy is not quite as thrust into the limelight as other global issues such as terrorism, its far-reaching implications and consequences make it equally important, if not even more so. One especially important food policy issue in this day and age is malnutrition. Contrary to popular belief, however, malnutrition does not always refer to a lack of food, but may also come about as the result of eating too much of the wrong kinds of food, and too little of the right kinds. This means that while those who eat too little are most likely malnourished, it will not necessarily follow that one who eats a lot can automatically be assumed to be heal thy - on the contrary, one who falls under the latter description could very well be classified as obese. This paper, then, shall aim to connect the issue of obesity and, to a lesser extent, malnutrition to the hospitality industry, and to come up with ways in which it can be addressed. Malnutrition and Obesity: A Food Policy Issue Malnutrition in general is said to result from a poorly balanced diet, wherein one's consumption of nutrients is skewed in some way, shape or form (Sullivan and Sheffrin, 2003). A report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2009 told of more than a billion people dying of hunger, with 17,000 children specifically dying everyday (CNN, 2009). In fact, it has been attested that malnutrition kills upwards of 9.5 million school-aged children each year. Such a high body count becomes even more understandable - and more terrifying - when one accounts for the interaction between malnutrition and certain killer diseases. Malaria, for instance, is already known t o claim many lives on its own; combined with malnutrition, however, it becomes capable of racking up a mortality rate comparable to that of the infamous Black Plague. Malnutrition usually, but not always, refers to a lack of food intake; however, as Pinstrup-Andersen and Watson (2011) point out, malnutrition can easily be about taking in way too much food, or even not taking the

Maintenance Management of Engineering Assets Assignment

Maintenance Management of Engineering Assets - Assignment Example Evaporative air conditioners are usually composed of two main units which are the condenser and the evaporator. The condenser is normally situated outside the room preferably on a concrete slab while the evaporator is usually mounted on the duct of the main junction on top of the furnace (Wasim et al, 2009). Most of the central air conditioners are normally linked to the forced air distribution systems for houses and thus both systems share the same motors and blowers. Both units of the central air conditioner are usually sealed. The evaporative condenser works on a basic principle that if air flows past water, it will cause it to evaporate. In an evaporative air conditioner, hot air usually enters the cooling unit situated on the roof of the building whereby it is filtered and then cooled as it goes through special pads that are moistened for this task. This unit is normally referred to as the condenser. The moistened air is then directed to the evaporator which is composed of ventilator and a fan. The fan blows smoothly through the cooled air distributing it through the house (Wasim et al, 2009). The hot air in that is present in the house is then forced out of the room through the windows and the ventilators resulting in a total shift in the air present in the room. By controlling the speed of the fan, the air temperatures can be controlled. The evaporative air conditioner requires water and hence a constant supply of water must be present. This unit I composed of the wet pads and the water tank. The water tank holds water that is used to cool the pads. The water held in the tank must be constantly supplied to the system in such that the warm water flows out allowing for a fresh supply of water to flow in. The wet pads are usually composed of either corrugated paper with a binder or wood wool. However, corrugated paper with binder is preferred over the wood wool since it lasts longer and the

Industrial V.S. Pastoral Essay Example for Free

Industrial V.S. Pastoral Essay No other book has ever made me want to be a farmer more (or at all) than The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. No other book has placed such a dark cloud of doom and gloom over such a seemingly simple topic such as food production. I’m of course not talking about two identical models. One model is of industrial agriculture contrasted by pastoral agriculture. In his research Michael Pollan visited farms of both styles, got to know the onsite operations, followed the food to its ultimate destination, and finally ate a meal created with the very ingredients he spent a week investigating. Michael describes the farm owned by George Naylor, which is of the industrial model, as being fairly easy in terms of manual labor but extremely difficult in the detective work. Detective work usually isn’t something that gets brought up often when talking about farms; here it is referring to the journalistic tracking that Michael Pollan had to do with Mr. Naylor’s staple crop corn. The difficulty in following a bushel of corn from the Naylor farm is his corn, along with the majority of corn grown in the U. S. will eventually wind up in practically everything we eat and use. He does a fabulous job of painting a picture of this river of corn and how it ebbs and flows throughout our lives eroding any dietary connection we once might have had to nature. Nature is after all a system based on diversity and here we see an entire nation built on and fueled by a single plant. The carbon in our flesh has even been tested and the findings were we are, after water, predominately corn. I was starting to think that there were too many chapters in this book about corn! It just kept going and going but once I realized how much it is entwined in our lives and how perhaps this is the only account of someone illuminating that truth it started to seem necessary. As those carbon tests showed we are what we eat, Pollan shows in his book we are what we eat eats. Just as diversity is the spice of life in an ecosystem so too is it necessary for the physical health of animals. We humans know that very well and apply it readily to our own diets but what happens when we don’t allow nature to run its course in the meals of our meals? The nutritional content suffers immensely; to the point where our entire notion of healthy foods is skewed. An example used by Pollan is our idea of the nutritional content in red meat and fish. It is considered self-evident that an excess of red meat will cause all sorts of health problems. Likewise it is pretty well known that most fish, especially salmon, is rich in the good omega 3 fats and should be a staple of our diets. Omega 3 fats are produced in the leaves of plants while omega 6 fats are produced in the seeds of plants. If a cow was grass fed he would produce a healthier steak than the fillet of a farm raised salmon. This is because that salmon is most likely raised on corn. One would think that the flip side of this coin would be an organic farm. Well that same person would probably be very shocked to read what Michael Pollan had to say about organic. People might even feel duped by places like Whole Foods. As it is described in the book organic should realistically be read â€Å"industrial organic† for the farms and slaughterhouses are hardly different at all. In fact, instead of steering it onto a whole new track the organic rules and regulations only make it that much harder to run a traditional industrial operation. What the author shows as the antithesis to industrial is pastoral. In this section he visits the polyface farm of Joel Salatin which is reminiscent of a farm you might find in the movie Babe. It is actually a huge relief to read about because up to this point in the book you are starting to question if this kind of farm even exists. In this parallel universe monoculture is a filthy word and the practices found in industrial food production are nothing short of reprehensible. This model mimics nature therefore it is complex and interdependent; each and every plant and animal are so entwined in each other’s existence it really begs the question ‘what came first the chicken or the egg? ’ But that is the whole point of polyface farming. Only through diversity (and remaining in the local market) can sustainable agriculture be achieved. Or put another way, all of our environmental/agricultural problems start from attempting to create a monoculture ecosystem. Ruminants graze the grass chewing about ? of the blade while simultaneously dropping cow pies. The bottom part of the grass that cows do not eat is favored by the chickens that follow in the hoof prints before them. Around this time the cow patties start to grow ripe with larvae which become extra protein for the chickens. While the chickens scratch around the cow dung they consequently spread the manure for the farmer. This is only a small piece of the pie in terms of the interactions between all species that live and work on polyface. This is also one of the cycles of nature that if left to its own devises extinguishes the farmers need for pesticides and other harmful chemicals. Salatin could be seen as the conductor while all the other organisms of the farm are the musicians and the instruments; he sees how nature works and makes sure all the conditions are perfect and helps nature along. With his many inventions and quirky optimistic attitude one can’t help but picture a cartoon character. Several times throughout the reading I was reminded of the industrial revolution; and not just because the industrial food chain was born out of it. I found it interesting how the industrial food chain resembled the industrial revolution in conditions only. It was bleak, mechanical, and the conditions the animals are kept in are just horrible and unsanitary. The mass wave of human innovation and change that came out of the industrial revolution is absent from that food system but are absolutely present at polyface. Obviously this is just one farm so the analogy might be weak but I feel the conditions of this one farm, if recreated and multiplied, could produce some amazing ideas and inspire positive change.

Edmunds Corugated Parts and Services Essay Example for Free

Edmunds Corugated Parts and Services Essay There some issues that Edmunds Corrugated Parts and Services have faced that has made it to be in the position that it is currently. Initially, the company started with a problem of where to put up the industry. Otherwise, Larry’s grandfather was there to offer a barn where Larry would put up his first industry. The industry also had no money initially and therefore it had to start with loaned money from the grandfather (Stodghill, 2005). Through this, it made a break through to what seemed to be a dream at the first time to what it is currently. The company initially was not capable of employing many people as it had only one hundred employees who were mostly neighbors. Therefore, there were probably not professional. Nevertheless, they were termed as hardworking workers. After the industry grew, the company was suffering from the issue of replacing the current employees who at this time were skilled with the new ones ((Stodghill, 2005). The reason being that they were loyal and they could not have left the company to search for a job elsewhere as the rest young employees would do. The other issue that the company is succumbing on is the issue of competition. Initially, the company had a market share of 75% but lately, the market share has reduced significantly. This is due to the number of the company that has emerged manufacturing the same products. Otherwise, this has made it possible for the company to diversify their production. An example of the diversification that they have done is the production of the more flexible plastic films and reusable plastic containers. This has increased the customer demands on their products. The industry also suffered an issue of the losing several industries especially in U.S due to the consolidation that was done by the paper industry. This has made the industry wipe out most of the industries that were served by Edmunds. The rest of the people who survived opened other branches oversea as joint ventures. In addition, the few who were left were making higher quality machines that were rarely breaking up making their customers stay for very long without going back to the company ((Stodghill, 2005). This made the business sales turnover to decline significantly with time. This made the company to be dislodged by other manufacturers through the production of domestic and export goods. This is the reason that had made the company currently to be in cross road. Strategy for addressing the company situation at hand Looking at the situation that the company ids in at this time, it requires a strategy that will ensure that it will be revived; therefore, through a strategic formulation, it is capable to ensure that the company is capable of returning the company back to the course of its business. Therefore, it is paramount to ensure that there is strategic management that will comprise three phases to ensure that the company is back on it course and ensure that it achieve its goals and objectives (Ansoff, 1965). These phases in the strategic management are diagnosis, formulation and implementation. This is required to be an ongoing process to a point where the company will be in a position to be revived. In the first phase, the diagnosis of the company environment is required through performing a situation analysis. This will ensure that the company current mission is identified and formulated; strategic objectives are put in place to ensure that the current s8ituation of the company is solved. This will give results that will look at the major strength and weaknesses of the company. The analysis of the company’s environment will look at the major opportunities and threat for example the ones that have made most of the company that Edmund was working to be taken and go over sea (Ansoff, 1965). Some great opportunities such making quality goods can be used to ensure that increase their market share as the customers will be royal to their service. This can be used t ensure that they still sell their goods at higher prices. The strategic management that is formed is required to formulate ways in which the recommendation will be offered. These recommendations are supposed to have supporting justifications that will revise the previous objectives of the company and ensure that the required strategies have been offered. These strategies should ensure the company regains it competitive edge. This strategic management requires to be implemented through the resources that are available and it is required to be implemented in a period that is reasonable. The company management should ensure that the implementation of the strategy is cost effective, not disruptive and acceptable by the entire stakeholder to ensure that the current situation is salvaged. The strategy that would be hardest to implement The part that has been very hard according to the experience is the element of implementing the recommended change in the strategic plan. This is because it will require the management to fit the resources and the competencies and the opportunities that the company has in the market (Smit, 2000). It also requires fitting the recommended issues with risks and expectations. What makes this element of the strategy to be more complicated is the issue of making the stakeholders to unite and implement the put recommendation. This requires them to undergo training to ensure that they have what it takes to accept the changes that will be brought about by the changes that are there in the strategy. The implementation of the strategy is hard and risky if not well carried on. The reason being that if any hitch occurs in the process, all the resources that have been put in place will go to waste. It will be a waste of time and this may lead to complete closure of the company. Strategies Edmunds could use in the future to reduce potential crises There are different methods that Edmund can use to ensure that the company is not entangled in the crises that it is in today. Nevertheless, most of them should be amalgamated to ensure that they offer the best results. The first strategy that the company is supposed to embrace is development of research department that will be looking at innovation of the company t ensure that it is at a competitive edge at all time. This department will be in constantly interact with it environment and bring around feedback that will ensure that the company is always competitive. The second strategy is ensuring training to its employees. This will ensure that they are always at per with the upcoming technology and this will ensure that the productivity level will increase. The training will always make the employee assimilate the innovation that the research department has brought about to ensure that the company is capable of competing appropriately. Finally, the company should ensure that they recruit employees who are competitive to ensure that they bring on board workers who are capable of rising upon all challenges. This will also make the company have innovative minds in their company who will ensure that they bring about changes.

How Motherhood Impacts On Womens Career Choices Social Work Essay

How Motherhood Impacts On Womens Career Choices Social Work Essay In most contemporary industrialised nations, womens participation rates have been rising. Since the 1980s, womens employment has become more continuous, even among mothers with children. (Lewis, 2009:27) However, despite of the optimistic rising employment rate among women, the career break due to motherhood still has a major impact on womens careers. Some women opt for part-time jobs after giving birth to child/children while some might exit the labour till their children reach school ages. This essay aims to examine the impact of motherhood on womens career in terms of womens work and care decision and type of works mothers do under different contingencies. As Windebank (2001:269) points out that there are great variations in mothers employment participation rates and career patterns across countries, this essay mainly focuses on mothers career choices and patterns in two countries, namely Sweden (a generous welfare country which striving for womens equality) and the United Kingdom . The first part of the essay briefly talks about the general impacts of motherhood on womens career followed by the descriptions of womens career choices (e.g. work or care decision) and career patterns (e.g. full-time VS. part-time, types of work mothers do) in the two countries mentioned. In the final part, the possible explanations to the patterns found in both countries will be addressed, such as the economic incentive, social norms, institutional context, and womens education level. And the essay will be concluded by summarizing the impacts of motherhood on womens career and discussing its implications for policy makers. Motherhoods Impact on Womens Career The evidence (Vlasblom and Schippers, 2006:335) shows that motherhood could have impacts on womens participation rate both before and after the childbirth. In their article, the female participation rates in all three countries, namely the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, have declined since 12 months before the childbirth and never return to the original level 24 months after the childbirth. Hewlett (2005) also states that 37% of women take some kind of break from work to achieve appropriate work-life balance. Although 93% of those women who taken a break after give a birth to children want to re-enter the job market, only 74% are successful, among these only 40% return to full time work. The statistics suggests that motherhood does affect womens career to a different degrees and it could last over a long period of time. In general, motherhood itself presents four choices for women. First, women could remain in their full-time jobs after giving birth to their child/children. Second, they could choose a more flexible job or a part-time work to achieve work life balance after becoming a mother. Third, women could choose to exit the labour force permanently for their families. Forth, women could leave the labour market temporarily and return to work after a while (e.g. when their child/children reach school age) (Vlasblom and Schippers, 2006:330). However, women who take the last option might find difficult to return to the labour market. As Joshi et al (1996) point out that losing of tie with the labour market due to the complete exit could depreciate womens human capital and make future entrance difficult. Therefore, the longer a mother is out of the labour force, the harder it is for her to return to work. Mothers Career Choices and Patterns in Sweden Being one of the most generous welfare states, Sweden is often regarded as a role model in terms of striving for equal women rights. In fact, most Swedish women work fulltime prior to give birth and the majority of women do return to paid work (either long part-time or full-time) after the maternity leave. According to the Statistics Sweden (a leading Swedish official statistics website), there are more than 80 percent of Swedish mothers in the labour market by the year of 1999. The high return rate is probably attributed to its long paid parental leave. According to the Swedish Law, all parents (employed prior to give birth) are entitled to 12 months leave with approximately 3,600 Pounds income replacement (up to 80% of their income before childbirth) plus 90 days of Guaranteed days with 6 pounds per day. Besides, parents rights to return to labour market are guaranteed by Swedish labour regulations. (Bjornberg, 2002:34) These policies not only help women to reconcile the work and c are balance during the most difficult period (with small child under 1 year old), but also encourage women to take part in workforce after maternity work by ensuring them better chances of being employed. As a result, child under 1 year is usually taken care at home by their parents (mainly mothers). And among children aged 1-6 years, institutional care instead of home care is commonly chosen by Swedish parents as that most mothers could return to their jobs afterwards. The statistics (Statistics Sweden, 2008) shows that 86% of children aged 1-6 years are in municipal day care in the year 2007. Based on the observations, Bjornberg (2002:39) suggests that the traditional male breadwinner model with mothers as housewives is not supported in Sweden rather a dual-earner model is more common and acceptable in Sweden. The high return rate does not occur among mothers with one child but among mothers with more than one child as well. As the Swedish policy states that the parent is able to enjoy the same insured income level if the next child-birth is within 30 months of the previous child. Thus, it makes possible for mothers with more than one child to return to labour market after maternity leave without worrying about the costs and losing their working rights. It is interesting to note that many returned mothers in Sweden choose to start work as part-timers. Traditionally, part-time work often associated with characteristics such as low pay, no benefits and low status, however, part-time work in Sweden has a different meaning. The long working hours (e.g. 30 hours per week) gives part-time a non-marginalized feature in Sweden. And part-time working mothers are generally treated similarly to their full-time colleagues and able to have more autonomy in their time (Sundstrom and Duvander, 2000). Fagan and Lallement (2000:45) indicate that part-time workers have integrated into Swedish labour market and received equal treatment in labour law and wage structures. Mothers Career Choices and Patterns in the United Kingdom Pursuing to be a liberal welfare state, the U.K. government has also come up with explicit policies to reconcile paid work and family life in terms of childcare services, childcare leave and flexible working hours since 1997. (Lewis and Campbell, 2007:4) Evidence shows that the newly introduced family-friendly initiatives do have certain effects in changing the British labour market situations. The mother participation rate in the market has increased from 24% in 1979 to 67% in 1999 (Dench et al., 2002) although among returned mothers, many engage in part-time rather than full-time jobs. Statistics (Social Trends, 2005) shows that 40% of women aged sixteen to fifty-nine with children are in a part-time job. However, the part-time work has a different definition in UK compare to that of Sweden in terms of the working hours. Part-time mothers only work about 16 hours per week in U.K. (Bishop, 2004) which is much shorter than 30+ hours in Sweden. In the aspect of public childcare system , it is not as popular as that of Sweden due to the poor qualification of childcare staff in UK and a lack of funding. (Lewis and Campbell, 2007) In general, instead of the traditional male breadwinner model or Swedish dual-earner model, Britain parents are taking a one-and-a-half earner model, which fathers work long hours (48+ hours per week) while mothers work short hours (about 16 hours). (Christine and Tang, 2004) Therefore, atypical job (e.g. part-time work) and shift parenting are common in UK. (Lavalle et al., 2002) Explanations to the Patterns Found Based on the findings of both Sweden and UK, it is clear that motherhood affects womens career not only in the form of career breaks during childbirth but also in terms of the after-effects on balancing work and childcare. There are several similarities found among working mothers in both countries, for instance, both countries have a relatively high mother return rate. However, part-time mothers in Sweden are seemingly to enjoy a better benefit coverage, status and pay compared to mothers in U.K. In the following part of the essay, the reasons account for the different patterns observed will be discussed and whether the high return rate reflects womens true preference between work and family will be explored. According to Hakim (2000), the difference in work and care decision made by mothers is determined by each womans preference. However, many researchers criticize Hakims statement by showing other factors which restricting womens decisions, such as the income level of the household, institutional context, social norm and womens education level. Household Income Level Household income level directly limits mothers decision on work and care. According to Vlasblom and Schippers (2006), mothers are more likely to go back to labour market if the benefit for participation is larger than its opportunity costs. For instance, most mothers in Sweden choose to work as womens income in a household is as important as their partners in order to maintain a high living standard as close as possible to those of households without children.( Bjornberg, 2002:36) In the case of U.K., the decrease in family subsidy in tax system during the 1990s has made childcare more costly, (Sainsbury, 1999) as a result, many British mothers chose to return to workforce during that time. However, unlike Sweden, high quality and affordable public childcare is not widely spread in U.K. According to Taylors survey (2003), there are only 8 % of organizations offering financial assistance with childcare costs and 3% organizations providing childcare for their employees. Thus, the lack of childcare service and the high costs associated with childcare outsourcing for working parents has explained the increasing number of part-time working mothers and the shifting childcare arrangement between parents in U.K. Social Norms Under the traditional male breadwinner model, mothers are expected to become housewives while fathers will be the only income source for the household. However, as time passes by, the social norm has been changed and working mothers are more acceptable in both countries (Vlasblom and Schippers, 2006). And in Sweden, women to have a gainful employment before childbirth is essential as the replacement income during 12 months maternity leave is determined by womens salary level prior to giving birth. Those mothers who were housewives do not receive any income benefit during the first year of child care (Bjornberg, 2002). Such policies, to a certain extent, have reinforced the womens importance in the job market and increased the acceptance of womens role as workers in general. However, in both countries, the increasing in women participation rate and social acceptance of working mothers does not match the changes in their male spouses behaviours. Gershuny (2000) points out that mens participation in unpaid work is much lower than womens participation rate in paid work. According to Elvin-Nowak and Thomsson (2001:432), fathers work schedule is considered as fixed and unalterable and mothers concern about childrens well-being more than fathers do, as a result, the negotiations come to rest between the woman and her conscience rather than between the mother and the father. Uneven distribution of domestic chores, especially childcare is still prevalent nowadays. In U.K., the long working hours of men has left the childcare to mothers mainly. Without the help from their spouses, it is more difficult for mothers to combine the work and childcare and thus, full-time work is often not an available option for many British mothers. The situation in Sweden is relativ ely better than that in U.K. due to the introduction of compulsory Daddy Month policy. However, Even in country like Sweden, fathers only spend just half the time in taking care of children as their partners do (Gornick and Meyers, 2008:318). Institutional Context Institutional context is one of the most critical factor in shaping womens work and care decision. Often, the change in mothers behaviour is as a result of change in institutional policies, such as the reduced in family subsidy mentioned above. Both British government and Swedish government are aiming to promote waged labour through its policies, like extension of maternity leave, childcare provision or flexible working-hour practices, in order to attract mothers into workforce and to increase the labour supply and tax base (OECD, 2005). However, these two countries have varied degree of success in obtaining the goal. The difference in institutional policies explains why the part-time mothers in Sweden could focus on their work better than those of U.K. First of all, the public childcare is well-developed and widely used in Sweden, therefore, most Swedish women are able to work long hour part-time or full-time job without worrying lack of proper care for their children. Besides, the introduction of Daddy Month in Sweden has increased the fathers participation in childcare task and thus, reduces the burden from mothers. According to the statistics, 77% of father in Sweden took up the whole month leave in 1995. However, the formal childcare is either too expensive or poorly organized in U.K. which forces most British mothers to care children privately and restricts their career development. Besides, the long working hours for British fathers makes sharing private childcare more difficult and often mothers have to change their working hours in order to suit their partners more rigid schedules for childcare. Thus, mothers career in U.K. is more likely to be disturbed than their counterpart in Sweden. Womens Educational Level Besides the differences in external factors, such as the policies, income and social norms, the educational level among women also affect the degree of motherhoods impacts on their careers. The educational level here not only refers to the initial education (Portela, 2001), but also the working experiences and personal capabilities a woman possesses. Elvin-Nowak and Thomsson (2001:407) suggests that mothers with different social background have different motherhood experiences and interpreted the meaning of the motherhood differently. In general, low-skilled female workers are more likely to exit the labour force for their children than those high-skilled workers (Cantillon at al., 2001). And Hofferth et al.s (1996) study is consistent with Cantillons findings, showing that high-skilled women tend to use formal childcare while low-skilled women tend to provide childcare themselves. As a result, high-skilled women are more likely to commit themselves into their work without worrying about the childcare. At the same time, with the high earnings gained from work, they are able to afford the formal childcare while for the low-skilled women who cannot afford the formal childcare with the low earnings, staying at home to look after their children becomes the only option for them. In UK, 75 percent of highly educated women with children aged under 5 years old are actively participate in paid work while only 24 percent of women without qualifications are in workforce. (EOR, 2001) Similar results are found among Swedish wo men too. Besides, Sundstrom and Duvander (2000) found that parents with higher educational level are more likely to share the domestic tasks including childcare than couples with lower educational level. Therefore, it confirms the view that women whose level of education is high is more likely to take part in work. Conclusion This essay has examined the motherhood impact on womens career choice and patterns in Sweden and the U.K. The findings show that both countries have an increasing mother participation rate. But despite of the optimistic rising working mother numbers in both countries, working mothers careers are still affected by the motherhood. Not only that full-time work option is no longer available for many mothers due to the burden of childcare, part-time working mothers are generally more difficult to concentrate on their jobs, especially in the U.K where formal provision of formal childcare system is not well-developed. Besides, possible factors, such as household income level, social norms, institutional policies and womens educational level, which restrict mothers work and care decision, are explored in the essay. However, there are many other factors which could shape the motherhoods impact on womens career, for instance, the number of children. Women with smaller family size have less car eer breaks and spend less time on childcare, thus they have better opportunity to channel their energy into paid work (Gill et al., 2000). Besides, the rising divorce rate and high teenage pregnancy rate result an increase in singe-mother families. Motherhoods impact on single mother family could be different from normal families. After analyzing the possible factors which affect working mothers careers, how their accessibility to the labour market and status could be increased is the key challenge that should be addressed. Based on Sweden and the U.K. cases, it is clear that institutional policies could a powerful tool for creating a better environment for working mothers. For instance, the Daddy Month introduced by Swedish government has been successful in tackling the unequal division of work among men and women and this policy could be learnt by other countries too. In sum, in order to increase working mothers full-time participation rate and achieve better work-life balance in the society, governments should invest more on the institutional policies. In another word, following the concept of diversity/mainstreaming, government should change the focus from trying to fit working mothers into the society to changing the society/organization/culture to embrace differences by making working mothers issue centr al to every aspect of the policy. Word: 2930

Siddhartha :: essays research papers

Religion plays a large part in everyone’s life. In Herman Hesse’s epic story Siddhartha the aspect of religion is taken apart and looked at from nearly every possible angle. There are many key concepts revolving around the main theme of religion, but three which seem to me to be the most important and powerful are the ideas of control of self and soul; that knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom; and the closely related ideas that time is not real and The Oneness of All Experience. In Siddhartha the idea of Control of Self and Soul is very important, not only to religion but in the gaining of knowledge and wisdom. Once a woman tempts Siddhartha to make love with her, but he hardens his soul and moves on. Shortly thereafter he finds the courtesan Kamala who captivates him and with whom he later learns the art of love. He is then glad that he resisted temptation. Siddhartha becomes rich so that he may experience all of life, and when he becomes nauseous with the pointlessness of his wealthy life and tries to commit suicide, he stops himself and thinks about what he is doing. He soon realizes the folly of his action and starts his life anew. Siddhartha believes that anything can be overcome if one will control himself. he expresses this to Kamala one day, saying; "Nothing is caused by demons; there are no demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait and fast." I agree with Siddhartha’s thinking. All pr oblems can be solved, you just have to know how to do it. The second concept in Siddhartha is the idea that knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. Siddhartha believes this very strongly, and feels it is only right that one must gain wisdom for himself. When he and Govinda come to the garden of the Buddha and listen to Gotoma’s words, Govinda is immediately converted and stays. Siddhartha, however, does not. He respects Gotoma and believes that he has actually reached Nirvana, but Siddhartha does not believe that Gotoma can teach him to reach it. Later Siddhartha finds himself at a river, having run away from his riches. Here he sees another wise man, Vasudeva, the ferryman. He stays at the river and learns wisdom for himself. Siddhartha learns of the wonders of life, and that what he had always held to be true was true; that wisdom is not teachable.

Careful Manipulation in Coleridges Kubla Khan Essay -- Coleridge Kubl

Careful Manipulation in Coleridge's Kubla Khan  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his preface to "Kubla Khan," Samuel Taylor Coleridge makes the claim that his poem is a virtual recording of something given to him in a drug-induced reverie, "if that indeed can be called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things . . . without any sensation or consciousness of effort." As spontaneous and as much a product of the unconscious or dreaming world as the poem might seem on first reading, however, it is also a finely structured, well wrought device that suggests the careful manipulation by the conscious mind. The first verse paragraph of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" is the most ornately patterned part of the poem. Coleridge gives us end-rhymes that are repetitive and yet slightly "off": "Khan" is not an exact match with "man" or "ran." End-rhymes will be carried throughout the poem, but within these lines, we discover similar sounds, the "Xan-" and "Khan," again; the "Xan-" and "a" sound of "Alph" get picked up again in "sacred" and "cav-," before being played out, finally, in "ran" and "man." The intricacy of sounds being repeated and modulated and repeated again creates the poem's energy, playful here, but also exceedingly musical and incantatory. The paradise that Kubla Khan creates is a delightful playscape. At first, it seems a bit compulsively arranged, a bit overly luxurious, a bit too Disney. The "sinuous rills" adds a slightly ominous element to the Edenic paradise, a hint of what's to come. Already, though, there is a distinction implied between what is natural -- the "sinuous rills" and the "forests ancient as the hills" -- and what is clearly man-made, nature bent to mankind's service: the enfolded "sunny spots of... ... a private matter: "all who heard" and "all should cry." It is a collective enchantment with the poet at the center of it. The magic of the final spellbinding lines -- beyond explication -- is based partly on abracadabra incantation ("Weave a circle round him thrice") and our corporate recollections of holy visionaries. The poet compels the vision of the public, but at the same time he is an outcast among them -- untouchable and even cursed ("his flashing eyes, his floating hair!") by his gift. The lines become completely suggestive in their wild blend of holiness, sensuality, prophecy, and danger. The poet and poem have have become their own "miracle of rare device," and the reader has borne witness to the creative miracle. Works Cited: Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. â€Å"Kubla Khan.† Literature: A Pocket Anthology. Ed. R. S. Gwynn. New York: Addison-Wesley. 2002. Careful Manipulation in Coleridge's Kubla Khan Essay -- Coleridge Kubl Careful Manipulation in Coleridge's Kubla Khan  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his preface to "Kubla Khan," Samuel Taylor Coleridge makes the claim that his poem is a virtual recording of something given to him in a drug-induced reverie, "if that indeed can be called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things . . . without any sensation or consciousness of effort." As spontaneous and as much a product of the unconscious or dreaming world as the poem might seem on first reading, however, it is also a finely structured, well wrought device that suggests the careful manipulation by the conscious mind. The first verse paragraph of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" is the most ornately patterned part of the poem. Coleridge gives us end-rhymes that are repetitive and yet slightly "off": "Khan" is not an exact match with "man" or "ran." End-rhymes will be carried throughout the poem, but within these lines, we discover similar sounds, the "Xan-" and "Khan," again; the "Xan-" and "a" sound of "Alph" get picked up again in "sacred" and "cav-," before being played out, finally, in "ran" and "man." The intricacy of sounds being repeated and modulated and repeated again creates the poem's energy, playful here, but also exceedingly musical and incantatory. The paradise that Kubla Khan creates is a delightful playscape. At first, it seems a bit compulsively arranged, a bit overly luxurious, a bit too Disney. The "sinuous rills" adds a slightly ominous element to the Edenic paradise, a hint of what's to come. Already, though, there is a distinction implied between what is natural -- the "sinuous rills" and the "forests ancient as the hills" -- and what is clearly man-made, nature bent to mankind's service: the enfolded "sunny spots of... ... a private matter: "all who heard" and "all should cry." It is a collective enchantment with the poet at the center of it. The magic of the final spellbinding lines -- beyond explication -- is based partly on abracadabra incantation ("Weave a circle round him thrice") and our corporate recollections of holy visionaries. The poet compels the vision of the public, but at the same time he is an outcast among them -- untouchable and even cursed ("his flashing eyes, his floating hair!") by his gift. The lines become completely suggestive in their wild blend of holiness, sensuality, prophecy, and danger. The poet and poem have have become their own "miracle of rare device," and the reader has borne witness to the creative miracle. Works Cited: Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. â€Å"Kubla Khan.† Literature: A Pocket Anthology. Ed. R. S. Gwynn. New York: Addison-Wesley. 2002.

FDI in Real Estate of India and China Essay -- Foreign Direct Investme

FDI in Real Estate of India and China FDI refers to the investment made by a foreign individual or company in productive capacity of another country for example, the purchase or construction of a factory. FDI also refers to the purchase of a controlling interest in existing operations and businesses (known as mergers and acquisitions). Multinational firms seeking to tap natural resources, access lucrative or emerging markets, and keep production costs down by accessing low-wage labour pools in developing countries are FDI investors. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the movement of capital across national frontiers in a manner that grants the investor control over the acquired asset. Thus it is distinct from portfolio investment which may cross borders, but does not offer such control. Firms which source FDI are known as ‘multinational enterprises’ (MNEs). In this case control is defined as owning 10% or greater of the ordinary shares of an incorporated firm, having 10% or more of the voting power for an unincorporated firm or development of a greenfield branch plant that is a permanent establishment of the originating firm. Types of FDI: Greenfield investment: direct investment in new facilities or the expansion of existing facilities. Greenfield investments are the primary target of a host nation’s promotional efforts because they create new production capacity and jobs, transfer technology and know-how, and can lead to linkages to the global marketplace. Greenfield investments are the principal mode of investing in developing countries. Mergers and Acquisitions: occur when a transfer of existing assets from local firms to foreign firms takes place. Cross-border mergers occur when the assets and operation of firms from different countries are combined to establish a new legal entity. Cross-border acquisitions occur when the control of assets and operations is transferred from a local to a foreign company, with the local company becoming an affiliate of the foreign company. Mergers and acquisitions are the principal mode of investing in developed countries. The pros and cons of FDI as a source of development Attraction of FDI is becoming increasingly important for developing countries. However this is often based on the implicit assumption that greater inflows of FDI will bring certain benefits to the country’s economy. FDI, like ... ...rmats, some of which are: †¢ Builders and developers can construct the property and then hand it over to the retailers. †¢ There is also the possibility of exploring joint venture collaborations. In this format the builder shall be responsible for identifying and acquiring land, constructing the building and further be responsible for the maintenance and the upkeep of the premises. The retailer in this format shall then be responsible to bring in the brands in the building. This format provides the construction industry an extended scope of getting into retail in a joint venture format. This shall not be limited to the FDI scenario but can work well in the Indian retail industry scenario as well. This type of model lets the core business, which is construction, development and maintenance, get a value addition from another industry segment. Relaxing the existing 100 acres norm for the FDI inflow into real estate sector would help speed up construction works in the economy. It is difficult to get 100 acres in the urban areas, to enable foreign firms to build on plots starting from 25 acres against the current stipulation of 100 acres (applicable only in integrated townships). FDI in Real Estate of India and China Essay -- Foreign Direct Investme FDI in Real Estate of India and China FDI refers to the investment made by a foreign individual or company in productive capacity of another country for example, the purchase or construction of a factory. FDI also refers to the purchase of a controlling interest in existing operations and businesses (known as mergers and acquisitions). Multinational firms seeking to tap natural resources, access lucrative or emerging markets, and keep production costs down by accessing low-wage labour pools in developing countries are FDI investors. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the movement of capital across national frontiers in a manner that grants the investor control over the acquired asset. Thus it is distinct from portfolio investment which may cross borders, but does not offer such control. Firms which source FDI are known as ‘multinational enterprises’ (MNEs). In this case control is defined as owning 10% or greater of the ordinary shares of an incorporated firm, having 10% or more of the voting power for an unincorporated firm or development of a greenfield branch plant that is a permanent establishment of the originating firm. Types of FDI: Greenfield investment: direct investment in new facilities or the expansion of existing facilities. Greenfield investments are the primary target of a host nation’s promotional efforts because they create new production capacity and jobs, transfer technology and know-how, and can lead to linkages to the global marketplace. Greenfield investments are the principal mode of investing in developing countries. Mergers and Acquisitions: occur when a transfer of existing assets from local firms to foreign firms takes place. Cross-border mergers occur when the assets and operation of firms from different countries are combined to establish a new legal entity. Cross-border acquisitions occur when the control of assets and operations is transferred from a local to a foreign company, with the local company becoming an affiliate of the foreign company. Mergers and acquisitions are the principal mode of investing in developed countries. The pros and cons of FDI as a source of development Attraction of FDI is becoming increasingly important for developing countries. However this is often based on the implicit assumption that greater inflows of FDI will bring certain benefits to the country’s economy. FDI, like ... ...rmats, some of which are: †¢ Builders and developers can construct the property and then hand it over to the retailers. †¢ There is also the possibility of exploring joint venture collaborations. In this format the builder shall be responsible for identifying and acquiring land, constructing the building and further be responsible for the maintenance and the upkeep of the premises. The retailer in this format shall then be responsible to bring in the brands in the building. This format provides the construction industry an extended scope of getting into retail in a joint venture format. This shall not be limited to the FDI scenario but can work well in the Indian retail industry scenario as well. This type of model lets the core business, which is construction, development and maintenance, get a value addition from another industry segment. Relaxing the existing 100 acres norm for the FDI inflow into real estate sector would help speed up construction works in the economy. It is difficult to get 100 acres in the urban areas, to enable foreign firms to build on plots starting from 25 acres against the current stipulation of 100 acres (applicable only in integrated townships).

Political Institutions Essay

Political institutions have been around since nearly all human societies were organized tribally. Over time they have developed into various organizational features and eventually taken the shape they do today. They have proven to be fundamental in virtually all societies worldwide and by being so omnipresent we often take these institutions for granted and do not realize how vital they are for our society. Moreover, because they are so important and play such a big part in our society, there is a major purpose to compare them between time and place. Therefore, this paper will first elaborate on explanations for political institutions and through that process come up with a working definition. Furthermore, it will explain why political institutions play such a major role in our society, and lastly it will argue for why we should compare these institutions. There are countless definitions of political institutions making the term somewhat vague (Klingemann & Goodin, 1996; Peters & Pierre, 1998). It refers not only to formal political organizations such as political parties and parliament, but also to informal constraints such as customs, ideals, guidelines and actions (Peters & Pierre, 1998; North 1990). In addition, Wiens (2012) emphasizes that these formal and informal rules establish and stabilize roles. Moreover, although there is no consensus amongst theorists of what makes an institution political (Garret & Lange, 1995), Max Weber (cited in Gerth & Mills, 1946) and Moe (2005) argue that an institution is political if it influences the distribution of power. As a result, for the purpose of this essay I will combine these scholars’ explanations to create a working definition. Political institutions are sets of formal and informal rules that influence the distribution of power, create roles and by combinations of standards, ethics, instructions and procedures stabilize interaction for occupants of those roles (Wiens, 2012; Peters & Pierre, 1998; North, 1990; Gerth & Mills, 1946; Hall, 1986). Thus for being so ubiquitous, political institutions have profound ramifications for politics and for society at large. Political institutions have been developed by human beings throughout history to generate order and diminish insecurity (North, 1991) One of the main explanations to why they create order is because by influencing the way entities interact in politics, these political institutions significantly affect the potentials for individuals and groups to resolve collective problems and identify shared interest (Weir, 1992; Moe, 2005; Johnson, 2001). One apparent example is how parties create political alliances and in some cases governmental coalitions. Therefore, political institutions are vital as they stabilize and structure interactions (Hall 1986; Przeworski, 2004), and by being forces of stability also offer predictability (Hague & Harrop, 2010). Furthermore, Moe (2005) claims that political institutions essentially exist and are significant because they make people better off. Whereas North (1981; 1990) and Minier (2001) do not fully share this opinion and rather contend that in order to benefit everyone in society and also for the economy to grow rulers have to adopt the correct political institutions. Thus, in order to find what the â€Å"correct† political institutions might be, there is an intrinsic motivation to compare these between time and place. To be able to comprehend the bigger picture of political power it is crucial to understand how political institutions work and in order to develop deeper knowledge about those it is vital to compare them (Beck et al, 2001). Moreover, without comparing there is not much to acquire from a mere description (Pennings, Keman & Kleinnijenhuis, 2005). In other words, returning back to North’s argument, one can hardly know which political institutions that are â€Å"correct† in bringing benefits to everyone by merely observing just one institution. Therefore, a vital reason to compare is to look for useful ideas and to see which political institutions might be good and bad at achieving specific political goals and see if these various institutions can survive in different political settings (Przeworski, 2004; Nikandrov, 1989). In addition, by seeing similarity in difference and difference in similarity and linking ideas and theory to evidence we can gain greater insight and be more aware of alternatives (Friedman, 2011). However, some scholars point to the dangers of comparison (see Faure, 1994; Radhakrishnan, 2009) and it is important to acknowledge those risks. Nevertheless, as Friedman (2011) explains: â€Å"For all the problems and dangers of comparison, in the end it is worse not to compare than to compare† (p. 756). To summarize, first of all political institutions are sets of formal and informal rules that have since the early ages of man stabilized and shaped interactions and outcomes by establishing roles and affecting power relations. Secondly, political institutions are important because they structure individuals and groups to overcome self-interest and rather cooperate for mutual gain. Furthermore, they create order and by offering predictability they reduce insecurity. In addition, arguably, political institutions can benefit everyone in the society and support in economic growth. Thirdly, we should compare political institutions to learn about valuable ideas, be mindful about possibilities and to see how similar and different institutions functions in various contexts. Lastly, we should compare to get a wider and enhanced understanding of how political institutions function and thus also enables us to further comprehend the mechanics of political power. REFERENCE LIST: Beck, T. , Clarke, G. , Groff, A. , Keefer, P. , & Walsh, P. (2001). New tools in comparative political economy: The database of political institutions. World Bank Economic Review, 15(1), 165-176. Faure, A. M. (1994). Some methodological problems in comparative politics. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 6(3), 307-322. Friedman, S. S. (2011). Why not compare? Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 126(3), 753-762. Garret, G. , & Lange, P. (1995). Internationalization, institutions, and political change. International Organization, 49(4), 627-655. Gerth, H. H. , & Mills. C. W. (1946). From Max Weber: Essays in sociology. New York, United States: Oxford University Press. Hague, R. , & Harrop, M. (2010). Comparative government and politics: An introduction (8th ed). 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The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1), 97-112. Radhakrishnan, R. (2009) Why compare? New Literary History, 40(3), 453-471. Pennings, P. , Kleman H. , & Kleinnijenhuis, J. (2005). Doing research in political science. London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd. Peters, B. G. , & Pierre, J. (1998). Institutions and time: Problems of conceptualization and explanation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 8(4), 565-583. Przeworski, A. (2004). Institutions matter? Government and Opposition, 39(4), 527-540. Weir, M. (1992). Politics and jobs: The boundaries of employment policy in the United States. Princeton, United States: Princeton University Press. Wiens, D. (2012). Prescribing institutions without ideal theory. Journal of Political Philosophy, 20(1), 45-70.