Managerial Communications Essay

Hynes introduces a calculated approach to managerial communication by dissecting it into three separate, yet mutually dependent functions. Hynes believes that with these approaches, management and employees alike can learn to adapt to one another to create an effective work force. The first layer is based on the idea that an employer and his employees can create a positive work atmosphere with the communication climate they set with one another. If a manager and his employees have an open and trusting relationship, it makes communications much easier for the both of them, regardless of their status. By allowing employees to contribute their thoughts and opinions without the fear of backlash, managers will see better job performance within their workers. Employers can often create an open communication climate through regular team building meetings and workshops. Communication climate also challenges managers to do their part by listening to their employees’ feedback. In order for effective communication to occur, an employee should feel comfortable in their work atmosphere and fully believe that their manager will take their words into deep consideration. Founder and President of Pillar Consulting LLC , Joelle K. Jay, PhD states, â€Å"On a personal level, people feel acknowledged when others validate their feelings. Managers who ignore feelings can create distance between themselves and their employees, eroding the relationship and ultimately affecting the working environment (Jay, â€Å"Communicate Well: Five Strategies To Enhance Your Managerial Communication Skills†). † From that statement, managers must also learn the boundaries within successful communication. In Hynes’ text, he also states that, â€Å"a positive climate is fragile†¦after only one or two critical errors, a positive environment can quickly change to one of distrust and closed communication, making future communication more difficult† (28). Managers must also learn to face the challenges of workers who become too comfortable in their environment. For example, Manager A and his Employee B, may have a friendly and casual relationship—one in which they may feel so comfortable that they talk about their personal and/or family business with one another. This is good in the sense that Employee B learns to trust Manager A and feels he can chat comfortably about his feelings toward his job. Now, if Employee A begins to feel so comfortable that Manager A is finding consistent errors within Employee B’s work, it is only right for Manager A to step in and confront him about the matter. Depending upon the choice of words used by Manager A and how Employee B feels about the situation, it can change the communication climate. One bad meeting can leave Employee B feeling angry with Manager A. He may no longer wish to have such a friendly demeanor towards him in the future. This can cause a strain on their communication with each other in the future. Another way to open a communication climate is through organizational culture. In an age of such advanced technology, many businesses no longer feel the need to speak to a person directly, either face-to-face or over the phone. The use of email has become a strong tool in business as it allows users to speak to each other without having to schedule a set time for both parties to meet only to say a few words. From the previous example, Manager A may be in a business that is highly dependent on email to speak to his employees in order to give clear, direct orders. Employee B may have previously come from an organization where meeting face-to-face was the ideal way to speak to anyone—management or employees alike. If Manager A decided it would be easier to email Employee B of the mistakes that he’s been making, Employee B may take that as a sign of disrespect. Employee B may not understand the tone that Manager A is reflecting in the email, leaving Employee B with the notion that Manager A couldn’t take time out of his schedule to speak with him directly. Their different perspectives of organizational culture could cause their gap in communication to widen tremendously. Organizational culture can help managers to better understand Hynes’ second layer in his approach to strategic communication. As the sender, Manager A’s personal characteristics can greatly affect the way he communicates with his employees. Before speaking with Employee B about his mistakes, Manager A must first reflect on what he will say to Employee B and how he will say it to him. Efficient communication can be the determining factor for communications in the future. While an employee only has to adjust his communication for his manager, a manager will need to find a way to relay his message to each employee in the most comfortable and appropriate manner they deem fit. The manager must constantly adjust this speech for each person that he meets with to ensure a satisfactory outcome. Though employees must mainly focus on how to communicate with management, there are various factors they must also take into consideration. How an employee takes in what an authority figure is saying to them greatly depends on their closeness with management, how they feel about the subject, concern for the subject, their current mindset, and their differences in position. As a receiver, an employee can choose how to accept a message being given to them by their employer. In the previous example between Manager A and Employee B, it was said that Manager A would have to speak with Employee B about the mistakes he’s been making in his work. Since both parties already have a close relationship, Employee B will be more open to hearing what Manager A has to say. Employee B may have had a bad morning and doesn’t want to talk to anyone, let alone hear what Manager A has to say about his errors. By having a platonic relationship with his employee, Manager A is at an advantage because Employee B will respect him for their friendship. Employee B will be more willing to take Manager A’s words into consideration and change his future actions. Managers must also be mindful of the language they use when speaking with their employees. If they are knowingly using jargon that their employee will not understand, communicating properly will be a difficult task. Not all conversations between employers and employees are ones that criticize their work. Before speaking to their employees, whether in a group setting or a one-on-one conference, a manager must first carefully examine the topic. He must verify that the subject matter would be something that is beneficial to the work force, or something that is unnecessary to building the work morale. In Hynes’ third layer, it is learned that in order to measure how successful a communication approach is, managers must also consider how to get their message across to their employees. As stated before, Manager A may want to email Employee B on the subject of his work. Before doing so, Manager A must fully analyze the words he will be saying to Employee B and recognize if the matter is something that may be better said in person. Also, in Employee B’s organizational culture, he may not be acclimated to receiving the critique of his work in writing. By speaking to Employee B personally, Manager A has the chance to show him that he respects him by meeting him face-to-face. To ensure a message is clearly stated to employees, managers must also take the necessary steps to find a comfortable place and time for them to meet. If the place of employment is one that deals with much noise such as a construction site, managers should take his directed employees to a comfortable place away from many outside distractions. Managers must also consider the amount of time it may take to speak to his workers. On a construction site, more time wasted can also lead to more money wasted. Managers must carefully plan their speech in an amount of time that does not interfere with the actual workload. By using these tactics laid out by Geraldine E. Hynes, managers can begin to set up their own communication strategies to ensure future success. Managers can compare and use these strategies as a baseline to communicating efficiently.

Descartes vs Locke Essay

Socrates once said, â€Å"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing. † Several philosophers contradicted Socrates’ outlook and believed that true knowledge was in fact attainable. This epistemological view however had several stances to it, as philosophers held different beliefs in regards to the derivation of true knowledge. Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of true knowledge, while in Empiricism, true knowledge derived from the senses. Rene Descartes, a rationalist, and John Locke, an empiricist, were prime examples of epistemologists who were seen to differentiate greatly within each of their philosophies. However, although Descartes and Locke’s ideas did contrast in that sense, they both shared common concepts that helped mould the basis of their ideas. Descartes and Locke both agreed that there were things in life that exist that we can be certain of. For Descartes, human experiences did not provide sufficient proof of existence. He indicated that through his Dream Conjecture and his Evil-Demon Theory (Paquette 205). Descartes stated that we cannot be certain if reality is a dream or not, thus questioning our existence (Paquette 205). In his Evil-Demon Theory, Descartes claimed that for all he knew, an evil demon could be putting thoughts into his head, making him think that reality was true when it was in fact false (Paquette 205). Ultimately, all this thinking resulted in Descartes coming to the conclusion that the one thing we could be sure of existing is the mind (Newman 2010). This can be seen through his most famous quote, â€Å"I think therefore I am (Kaplan 2008). † Descartes claimed that since he was able to doubt and think using his mind, his mind must exist (Paquette 205). Similarly, Locke was also sure of existence. He believed that every object was made up of primary qualities as well as secondary qualities (Paquette 212). Secondary qualities rely on how a person senses the object subjectively, and is experienced differently depending on the individual (Paquette 212). Examples of secondary qualities include colour, taste, and sound (Paquette 212). Primary qualities, however, are objective and include aspects such as an object’s height and weight (Paquette 212). Through this, Locke claimed that the existence of objects can be made certain due to the primary qualities it possesses (Paquette 212). Similar to Descartes, Locke believed in a sense of existence. However, in his view, the facts from the primary qualities proved the object exists because the object exists within itself (Paquette 212). Descartes and Locke also believed in some sense of the external world. Descartes claimed that there is in fact an external world, however it does not exist outside people’s minds (Paquette 206). Since Descartes was a rationalist, he believed that the only method to acquire true knowledge was solely through the mind (Moore 2002). Through the process of doubting existence, Descartes realized that the mind exists (Paquette 205). He went further into thought and concluded that since he, an imperfect person, has knowledge of perfection, something perfect has to exist to have put that knowledge in his mind. From there he claimed the existence of God (Newman 2010). Descartes then stated that a perfect god would not deceive his people, indicating that the material world exists (Newman 2010). Therefore through this thinking process, Descartes came to the conclusion that the real world is of the mind, and the external world is everything else that falls into the material world made by god (Newman 2010). Like Descartes, Locke also believed in an external world. As an empiricist, Locke relied heavily on the senses to provide true knowledge (Moore 2002). He shared Aristotle’s belief that the mind is a blank slate, also known as tabula rasa, at birth (Paquette 211). Our sense experiences thereafter provide us with knowledge to fill in those slates (Paquette 211). In Locke’s â€Å"Representative Theory of Perception,† also known as Epistemological Dualism, he stated that material objects exist and are separate entities from human beings (Paquette 227). However, he also believed that objects exist in the mind as psychological entities (Paquette 227). Locke concluded that people can taste, smell, touch, and see the external world which, in turn, becomes impressions in our minds (Paquette 227). Descartes and Locke are thus seen to be similar in the sense that they both believed in an external world. Descartes and Locke both had a process for understanding knowledge as well. As a rationalist, Descartes believed in innate ideas; that all humans were born with some knowledge (Paquette 206). This differentiates from the empirical view that the mind is a blank slate at birth (Paquette 211). Descartes also used intuition and deduction to establish truth (Kaplan 2008). He believed that intuition is direct knowledge which can be known without ever sensing or experiencing it (Paquette 206). Deduction however, is where you start with a premise, or a statement you believe to be true, and then determine more truths based on that origin (Paquette 206). As shown, Descartes focused on the thinker and the thinking process when determining true knowledge (Paquette 206). Rather than a thinking process, Locke believed that understanding knowledge came from a process based on our senses (Paquette 211). He believed that when the external world triggers any of our five senses, those experiences turn into sensations (Paquette 211). Those sensations then turn into impressions in our mind, thus adding knowledge onto the slate in our mind which was once blank (Paquette 211). He claimed that our mind reflects on the impressions we received from our sensations (Paquette 211). Locke then stated that those reflections turn into an idea which can be either simple, or made up of a bundle of simple ideas called complex ideas (Paquette 211). Like Descartes, Locke is seen to use a process for finding knowledge as well. There are many aspects to Rene Descartes and John Locke’s philosophies that are clearly distinct from one another. However, it is essentially incorrect to claim that rationalist Descartes and empiricist Locke bear no similarities. The two epistemologists are seen to share a similar base within each of their philosophical ideas. Through the many differences between Descartes and Locke, their basic concepts of existence, the external world, and the process for obtaining knowledge are quite similar to each other. This connexion illustrates that although the ideologies people possess on life vary to a great extent, there can always be some sense of a common ground that brings us all together. Works Cited Kaplan, R. Philosophy – In our time. BBC – Homepage. BBC News. , 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Newman, L. Descartes’ epistemology.

Criticism of Shakespeares play Macbeth Movie Review

Criticism of Shakespeares play Macbeth - Movie Review Example Macbeth is obviously a morality play where Shakespeare demonstrated that greed, ambition and power can corrupt a man just like what happened to Macbeth, once a loyal general of the king became a monster (figurative) when he believed the witches premonition that he will be king someday. The aplay also sent the message among its reader and audience that good will always triump over evil as Macbeth eventually fell even if he was the king of Scotland. The play was okay but I cannot say that it was terrific. Perhaps I did not appreciate the play that much due to the heaviness of Shakepeare’s language. But I like watching the play rather than reading the book because I understand the story better and it does not drag me to sleep. I thought of it as above average because there was not much technology used in the play to properly render the ghost of Banquo and the witches. They would have been a spectacular sight to behold had the production had enough budget. Shakespeare’s play is always worth doing. It raises the bar or standard of language and keeps us abreast on the beauty of the english language. The play also makes the book more interesting because in the play, the actors can vividly render the story. The plot of the story by itself also teaches a lesson that greed, ambition and power can corrupt which is a valuable lesson that students should learn in addition to appreciating the poetry of Shakespearean English.

Legalizing Euthanasia Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Legalizing Euthanasia - Article Example From the discussion euthanasia has been regarded as that which promotes dignified deaths for patients and that protects patients from unnecessary suffering and pain. The practice has been found to be one that though inexpensive, it gives so much power to healthcare givers, fails to respect the sacredness of life, and patients’ right to live, reduces the effectiveness of palliative care, increases the number of involuntary and non voluntary euthanasia and demoralises healthcare givers from providing quality end of life care to terminally ill patients. The arguments against this practice are definitely more and stronger than those in support of the practice. This paper has strongly put the stand that euthanasia should not be legalized and that palliative care is the most efficient and ethically appropriate way of reducing suffering and pain in terminally sick patients. Legalizing Euthanasia Introduction Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, is defined as the act of intentionall y taking away the life of another human being with an aim of reducing the pain and suffering of that person (Larson, 2004). The practice of euthanasia is one that has escalated a lot of debates not just in America, but in other parts of the world as well with different groups and persons arguing for and against the practice. As the debates increases, some of the regions and states such as Oregon have gone ahead to legalize the practice of euthanasia with some others strongly opposing its legalization. This paper provides my views on the legalization of euthanasia, an act which I strongly oppose. Argument The word euthanasia is a Greek word for the phrase ‘good death’. With this, the practice has always been viewed by some as that which ends the suffering and pain of a patient and that which brings him relief as a result (Larson, 2004).However, this is not necessarily the case. The practice has been attributed to a number of benefits. I believe these benefits, however, c annot in any way be used to justify its legalization putting into consideration that some of them are still questionable. One of the key reasons that supporters of euthanasia give for supporting the act is that the practice allows the patient to die a dignified death. According to these supporters, giving a dignified death to the patient is better than leaving them to suffer in pain for an unknown period of time. This argument is, however, not sufficient to support the legalization of euthanasia. Palliative care serves the role of ensuring that patients are able to comfortably and peacefully live during the last days of their lives. In this case, palliative care can be said to be an effective way through which pain and suffering can be reduced to the lowest possible levels. The provision of good end of life care according to Foley & Hendin, (2002) is a better choice over euthanasia. Almost every form of pain can be decreased through medication and other forms of care, hence, mercy k illing should not an only means to reducing pain in patients. This view is further supported by the American Medical Association (AMA) which strongly stands in opposition to mercy killing. According to this body, it is evident that there is need for all patients to receive quality end of life care but not to have them undergo euthanasia. According to the AMA, nurses and other healthcare givers play the significant role of treating and keeping people alive. Going against that commitment to save life by taking away life questions their integrity and breaks patient- doctor trust. AMA strongly believes that giving alternative care and treatment during the last years of a patient’s life will be a good way of reducing the need for euthanasia, a reason why they introduced

Contract Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Contract Law - Essay Example If the seller does not deliver the goods as promised and the buyer has to seek alternative sources to acquire the same goods with perhaps a higher price than the earlier agreed upon price, then the buyer has legal redress because his expectations have been compromised and the contract was aimed at protecting his interests in terms of a future rise in the price of the goods he intended to acquire (Feldman and Teichman 46). On the other hand, the seller’s interests of safeguarding against reduction in price are also protected at the time of making the contract. Any failure to meet the terms of the agreement by the two parties is against the provisions of Contract Law and calls legal compensation through court or arbitration process. The drafting of doctrines of Contract Law and the subsequent operationalization in England and USA1 began in the middle of the 19th century when rules of contract law were first put in place in cases such as Hadley v. Baxendale2 in 1894, Raffles v. W ichelhaus3 in 1864 among others. These are historic legal cases that law students all over the world read to better understand contract law. With the development of free markets and expansion of free economies together with laissez faire management, the legal framework of the free market4 was predominantly the contract principles (Hunt 695). Common law is the chief source of the law of contract, and is a makeup of many judicial decisions by courts on similar disputes over a long time in the past. Courts use earlier precedents as sources of law as input to determine the principles of present and future decisions on similar or related disputes. Another source of contract law in the USA has been the restatements of the law promulgated by the American Law institute5, which are a mixture of past cases and predictions of future cases together with prescriptive pronouncements from different fields such as Contracts, Torts, Property, Agency, Employment, Franchising relationships, constructi ons and others. Closely related to contract law and specific to a myriad of commercial subjects is the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) which is yet another source of contract law and which contains separate articles like bank deposits and collections, negotiable instruments and letters of credit and security interests. Article 2 in this code governs transactions in the sale of goods. The other source is the CISG6 or the Vienna Convention which governs international sales transactions thus applying to sale of goods and services between parties who operate in different countries but both countries must have agreed to the provisions of the convention (Marquez-Escobar 122). The UCC has not received Federal legislation attention because it is still being enacted separately by different states with no notable effort to unify it at national level. Features of Contract Law Offer and acceptance, consideration and an intention to create legal relations are the key elements to the creation of a contract in common law. Offer and acceptance which may be written, oral or implied is the most important feature where one party offers a bargain that is accepted by the other party, a scenario also referred to as concurrence of wills for which concrete

Journal opinion article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Journal opinion article - Essay Example Puerto Rico debt obligations have ashamed the debt obligations of Detroit. Detroit which had 7 hundreed throusand residents went bankrupt for piling up debt obligations of 18 billion dollars which were not serviced. In comparison to this, the condition of Puerto Rico is severely devastating with the figures of debt obligations that are unfunded in various obligations and pension funds of 3.5 million residents remaining unserviced. The debt obligation has grown to a whopping amount of 87 billion dollars and the government has reached a situation where they are going to run out of funds. The island of Puerto Rico has been expecting a bailout from the US administration in order to save their economy. However, real facts indicate otherwise with news of the US brokerage firms advising investors to stay out of investing in the bonds of Puerto Rico that they plan to use to finance their debt obligations. In order to attract the investors, Puerto Rico has issued bonds with a forecasted yield of 9.29% which exceeded that of Greece. For this reason, Puerto Rico is being referred as Greece of America. In 2008, the measures taken by the government to stabilize the economy created a situation of debt trap for the territory of Puerto Rico. The governor at that point of time undertook measures like cutting down government jobs, reducing income taxes to half as well as reducing the corporate tax rate by about 9%. These measures were undertaken by looking at the limitations of government in funding the economic investments and their abilities to meet the level of expenditure with an eye on the treasury. The steps were also taken to maintain an optimum level of liquidity in the economy and contain inflation by restoring a balance between the demand and supply in the economy. The level of government job cuts reduced the expenditure of the government in terms of payment of salaries. Although this provided relief to the policy makers in the short term, the government job cuts also led to decrease in production volumes. The decrease in production volumes meant that the supply of goods and service decreased. The slowdown of the GDP led to the reduction in the earnings of revenues of the government. Although, the government of Puerto Rico tried to maintain stability by injecting liquidity in the economy through reduction of corporate and individual taxes, the slowdown of the income level and the earnings meant that the investments and the demands also deteriorated. The revenue earnings of the government suffered and the treasury volume got depleted over a period of time. Due to this debt trap in Puerto Rico, the government ran out of funds and the economy headed towards a debt crisis. The debt crisis of Puerto Rico is slightly different from that of Greece due to the fact that a major part of its debt obligations are long term. Due to small short term debt obligations, the territory would get some more time to restore its financial status and recover from the de bt obligations. The government has also taken austerity measures to control the situation of debt crisis. This includes an increase in the contribution of the state from 8.275% to 10% in the pension plans. By doing this, Puerto Rico had planned to get more funds in the pension schemes that could be used to service the debt liabilities and the long term maturities could be paid with the restoration of economy in future. The measures taken by the

Theology Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Theology Exam - Essay Example pective of the perception one has to consider the formation, the majority has started to appreciate that the situation of the bionetwork is declining due to the wasteful ways of humans. A number of individuals are certain that the risk of a universal calamity can be avoided. For some, there is the conviction that if appropriate learning as well as economic safety can be given to everyone, people can act in a responsible manner. Others are anticipating that the technology will show them a â€Å"miracle cure† via things such as â€Å"contamination-free energy and wonder drugs† (Bouma-Prediger, p. 152). Hoping for such solutions is useless because it would merely take care of the warning signs, as though the troubles will leave on their own. Without the worldview that Christians infer from Bible, attempts to solve the problems will not be tackling the actual concerns. According to Christian’s belief, it is not the things that people do that are unhygienic, but it is what flows out of their hearts; the attitude of humans is merely a part of the problem. Post-modern Christianity is as complicated to lock down in a precise definition as post-modernism itself. What began during the 1950s within structural design as a response to modernist thinking and technique was quickly approved by the art as well as literary world during 1970s and 1980s. The Church did not actually think about this consequence until the late 1990s. This response was a closure of â€Å"cold, hard† (Waters, p. 142) reality in support of â€Å"warm, fuzzy subjectivity†. One can imagine anything known to be post-modern and then attach Christianity into that perspective and he will get the idea about post-modern Christianity. Post-modern Christianity is similar to fundamental post-modernist thoughts. It is regarding â€Å"experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, spirituality over religion, images over words, and outward over inward† (Waters, p. 156). However, the positive or negative aspect

Medical Specialties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Medical Specialties - Essay Example Pulmonologists specialize in treatment of diseases and other conditions of the lungs. This is subspecialty of internal medicine, and it is necessary that one becomes an internist first before being a pulmonologist (What as a Pulmonologist, 2000). An infectious disease specialist is an internist or podiatrist concerned with the treatment of infectious diseases, especially of "sinuses, heart, brain, lungs, urinary tract, bowel, bones and pelvic organs." Usually, they work in conjunction with other specialists to diagnose and treat more effectively such diseases (Infectious Disease, n.d.). An allergist is a specialist treating allergies. Allergies are the body's defense mechanism against foreign objects such as dust or other particles. However good is the purpose of allergies, they are very uncomfortable for the person having them. Essentially, allergists are there to give a person some kind of relief (Finegold, 2001). Podiatrists are specialists on foot care. There are many diseases and discomforts involving the feet, and even injuries of the feet may cause complications. Therefore, these make the podiatrist important in many ways (Podiatrists, 2007). Proctologists are medical specialists on the diseases of the colon, rectum, and anus. ... Orthopedist Orthopedists are specialists "concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the bones and joints." They are often consulted when people especially players and sports enthusiasts are injured. Comprehensive Information on Internists Introduction As stated earlier, internists specialize in the treatment of internal organs. The purpose of this report is to provide short but comprehensive information on the specialist on internal medicine. It is the author's hope that any pre-medical or medical student will consider being an internist after reading this report. Education and Training To be an internist, a person must first complete the standard four years of undergraduate studies and four years at medical school to become a medical doctor. After which, the would-be internist must spend three to eight years of on-the-job training called residency (General Internist, n.d.). For information on state-specific requirements on how to be an internist, one can consult the Education Online Search's website on the following hyperlink: http://www.education-online-search.com/programs/medical_training/ Common Ailments, Conditions, or Diseases Internists must work with several other specialists depending on the internal organ and disease treatment a particular internist is specializing. For example, if an internist wants to treat hearts, he or she must learn to work with a cardiologist. This is necessary because an internist may not be specifically trained in the specialized procedure needed to treat a disease. Sometimes, internists are not really working with patients having problems in internal organs. It just so happens that they are the available personnel. It happens that they may work together with a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist

International Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

International Management - Essay Example International Management The centrality of leadership is essential in managing a company or unit division holistically. Leadership styles are defined as those that provide motivation and direction in order to influence the approach and manner of influencing plans. To this end, leadership styles are classified as free reign, democratic or autocratic. By employing different leadership styles, individual productivity can be affected through his or her performance. A democratic leadership style employs inclusivity during the decision making process. However, it is paramount to note that the leader has the final decision pertaining to a cause of action. On the other hand, an autocratic leadership style is whereby the leader mandates responsibilities to employees without asking advice from followers or employees. A leadership style that employs free reign is whereby the leader mandates the decision making process to employees as well as delegating a number of activities and tasks for them to handle. It is pertinen t to note that it is commendable to employ the same leadership styles in all EU countries. Evidently, execution of leadership styles by team members leads to both negative and positive effects to the persons concerned. Positive leaders employ the use of rewards in motivating a person. These include using education and independence as motivational reward to the citizenry. On the other hand, leaders who are negative in approach are mostly domineering and superior in nature. The moral of worker and productivity is normally adversely affected by the wrongful use of negative leadership. To this end the EU countries consist of 27 states that are driven by economic and political motivation. Moreover, the member countries possess a myriad of norms and cultures that vary from region to region. Furthermore, the countries possess a variety of languages, religions, histories and systems of education. There equally exist divergent forms of leadership among the member countries. For example, Fren ch leaders are renowned for their autocratic style of leadership while Germans are well known or their assertive nature in leadership. Moreover, matters and issues pertaining to human rights human relations and rights are normally divergent from one country to the other. Consequently, a solution to such differences lies in the embracing of a similar leadership style among all EU countries. However, it is pertinent to evaluate whether a single style of leadership can be accepted and effectively satisfy all member states of the EU. To this end, the efficacy and success of a single type of leadership can only be achieved through proposals and appeal for acceptance rather than forcing it down on the member states. Moreover, in order to achieve flexible leadership type, all the European leaders need to appreciate and consider the context of these countries. The rapid rate of internationalization enhances the scope, size and types of organizations. Consequently, a rise in demand for day t o day comprehension of global businesses and cross cultural awareness. The benefit of singular leadership type is that it takes advantages of improves work and employee performance. Thus, it is paramount of EU leaders to be cross culturally, sensitive, adaptive and responsive when carrying out and delegating duties all ove national borders. The introduction of a unilateral leadership style also

Should You Let Your Teenagers Drink by Cassandra Jardine Essay

Should You Let Your Teenagers Drink by Cassandra Jardine - Essay Example Acccording to the report  in â€Å"Should You Let Your Teenagers Drink?†, Jardine provides a realistic discourse of an issue for which Sir L. Donaldson holds a rigid stand as a Chief Medical Officer. By experience, Jardine and several other parents know exactly that to a certain extent, they ought to give in to the act of spoiling their kids in order to keep them from the perils of binge-drinking. Donaldson, however, opposes such an idea or practice, claiming that teenagers should refrain from alcoholic drinking until they are 15 years old. Throughout the Western world, youths of such age have had access to liquor markets and statistical figures are truly upsetting, so Jardine could well ascertain how a stance toward abstinence should work as imposed upon those experimenting in the â€Å"free-houses†.This discussion stresses that 'mother knows best’ and this clichà © is strong enough for the ground of taking the perspective which Jardine looks at on deciding a bout the resolution to opt for. Having spent considerable amount of time with her children, Jardine may be imagined in a setting where she can readily engage with their thoughts and thereby become sensible to their needs as the situation goes with an increasing sense of fluidity. This way, she can gradually bring across the main point that it is not necessary to keep young people from drinking for as long as parents employ the attitude of affectionate watchfulness.... With her story shared in the article, Jardine demonstrates how important it is to have a two-way communication process with her children so that the latter are allowed the flexibility to express themselves and air their particular concerns or reasons for exploring stuffs that are new to them. It appears that with parents who tend to be otherwise repressive, teenagers are rather more likely to stay away from confiding with the elderly having gone against the children’s freedom to seek identity and establish conformity with peers they feel are the true ones who can relate with and care for them. In all fairness, Jardine does not miss on identifying why Donaldson has made his own stand, exemplifying concrete details via the youth-gone-wild of the British culture. She further exhibits support for his stand by featuring the impact drinking alcohol bears on the development of pliable brains among teens. Clearly, Jardine perceives the probable consequences of a misguided drinking hab it where alcoholism or addiction to drinking emerges to cause a threatening influence on teenage people who eventually incur failure in studies or lack of interest in healthy activities. Unsafe sex and unwanted pregnancy are no new stories either. Hence, in this light, the Chief Medical Officer deserves credits for his proposition. If parents, on the other hand, were to be more subjective by way of constant communication, this would enable the young ones to convey the core substance of their values and priorities. It is particularly fascinating to learn that Jardine makes a spontaneous flow of conversation with her children of ages 13, 14, and 19, all of whom seem to

The Fuss about the North East New Territories Development Plan Essay Example for Free

The Fuss about the North East New Territories Development Plan Essay The Government should go ahead in order to accommodate the overspill and the fast growing population , alleviate socio-economic problems in inner cities by creating a pleasant environment with adequate amenities and job vacancies and boost Hong Kong economy, Although there are some voices arguing that the North East New Territories New Development Plan are not a good policy by saying that the plan will destroy our beautiful natural landscape, the truth is with good urban planning, those three new towns will be sustainable and the benefits they brought will definitely outweigh the drawbacks of the plan. In the past ten years, the population of Hong Kong had grown relatively rapidly by 0. 66 million , compare with our neighborhood, Macau, which only had about 0. 11million growth in the population in the same period . With such a significant increase, this give rise to the problem of inadequate housing. A high demand but limited supply, the price of house skyrocketed to a level that most of the people cannot burden. Therefore, in order to accommodate the new immigrants and the low-income group in Hong Kong, the North East New Territories New Development Plan may be a solution to this problem. The plan will provide sufficient area which is in low density planning and greenery to accommodate about 131,000 people in total, including 65,000 people in Kwu Tung North, 48,000 people in Fanling North and 18,000 people in Ping Che . With the planning that puts stress on low building and population density, more open space and greenery, those new towns will cope with the surrounding environment to form a compatible and concinnity environment for people to live their lives. Nowadays, new immigrants or grassroots citizens who are waiting for public housing have no choice but lives in the squatters, roof-top structure, coffin home or even cage house in the inner city, such as Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok, etc. Those places have congested living condition, some of them may even are the pre-war buildings which are dilapidated. They usually share the bathroom and kitchen. This may cause an insanitary environment among the buildings. Also, most of the people living are either grassroots citizens or elderly. As the urban planning is poor in the past, there aren’t enough recreational amenities for them to use. Hence may lead to social problem, such as fire hazard like the one just happen few months ago at the Fa Yuen Street. Besides of social problem, economic problem may arise, too. As people may not want to work at a remote area, they may apply the near-by job. But, there are so many people concentrated in a small area, the job vacancies may not sufficient to support such a huge population in the area. Therefore some of them may become unemployed, hence, they may have economic problem, which means they can’t even earn a living. With the well planned plan of the new towns, the three new towns have different theme. The theme of Kwu Tung North, Fanling North and Ping Che are mixed develop zone, riverside township and quality business residential area respectively. There will be jobs provided to fulfill the population there, too. For instance, in Kwu Tung North, there will have approximately 26000 job vacancies, in Fanling North, there will be about 6200 job vacancies provided and in Ping Che there will be about 13000 job vacancies . Moreover, the three new towns are enjoying locational factors, they will locate near by the edge of Hong Kong, where close to China, there are lots of job opportunities in the mainland, and therefore some of them may even work in Shen Zhen. This will definitely solve the unemployment problem that happened in the inner city. The development of the three new towns will also contribute to the economic growth in Hog Kong. The new town development plan has offer development spaces for the six industries promoted by the Government, they include testing and certification services, medical services, innovation and technology, cultural and creative industries environmental industries and education services . These six industries enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta and generate so many job opportunities just like I mentioned before. Under the aforementioned reasons, I hold my firm believe that the North East New Territories New Town Development plan is going to bring along with so many benefits. Although some parties are concerning about the natural landscape will be destroyed, with good urban planning and restriction of the height of the buildings, the area must going to be as good as now or even better. If we only focus on protecting the environment but neglect the needs of the people in the city, the city still can’t be sustainably developed. Only to strike a sensible balance between economy development and environmental conservation, then the city will head to the right track which is sustainably developed. Therefore I will definitely support the North East New Territories Development Plan, but only under the circumstances that the Government could strike a balance between economy development and environmental conservation.

The facilities management

The facilities management The late 1980s saw a growing awareness and increased recognition for facilities management both in the public and private sectors. Corporate strategies for competitiveness have caused businesses to relook at all their processes and restructure them in a way that decreases costs and improves efficiency. (Alexander, 1994) Definitions of Facilities Management There are many varying definitions of facilities management. The British Institute of Facilities Management perceives it as the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities (BIFM, 2010) Price describes facilities management as an integrated approach to operating, maintaining, improving and adapting the buildings and infrastructure of an organisation in order to create an environment that strongly supports the primary objectives of that organisation (Price, 2000; Baldry, 2008) The facilities management movement can be summarized as a belief in potential to improve processes by which workplaces can be managed to inspire people to give of their best, to support their effectiveness and ultimately to make a positive contribution to economic growth and organizational success. (Alexander, 1994) The Role of Facilities Management The role of facilities management is gaining recognition within the economy. Government policies in a market economy, such as competitive policies, deregulation and privatisation, have each had an influence on the growth of facilities management over the years. In the Japanese economy, facilities management is already considered as a key element for economic success. They place a greater importance on office productivity and therefore facilities management is seen as a way of improving the efficiency of office workers in Japan. (Alexander, 1994) Alexander, (1994) says that the role of facilities management should be defined by the relationship of facilities to the core business of an organisation in which success is measured by the degree and quality of support they provide to achieving key business objectives or goals. The role and responsibility of facilities management will vary in different organisations. Selecting the correct role of facilities management is critical to the success and effectiveness of an organisation. Creating a facilities management profile based on a case specific basis should potentially lead to successful facilities management practice. The growing pressures of the competitive business world have made organisations realise that they must gain some form of competitive advantage from every section of their organisation. This must also include the costs of running the working environment. In these organisations, facilities are no longer allocated insignificant time but the strategic role of facilities management is widely recognised as well as the benefits of effective management (Baldry, 2008). In the past businesses were operating within a fairly stable economic environment. However the evolution of technology, cost of space, global competition and the greater impact of making mistakes has forced organisations to manage their resources effectively. This issue has given rise and placed more importance on the concept of facilities management. The biggest challenge facilities managers come across is the management of resources in a rapid and constantly changing environment. (Barrett, 1998) As Alexander (1996), emphasizes, the role that facilities management plays in its contribution to the success of the organisation has gained increasing importance since the start of the facilities management concept. Initially facilities management was managed as an isolated activity and considered as an expense like any other cost within a business. Now facilities management is managed as an integrated activity, with the commercial, manufacturing and marketing function of the organisation. Facilities management has bought to the surface many opportunities to gain a competitive advantage over your competitors. Therefore, it seeks organisational effectiveness to help organisations to allocate their resources in a way that allows them to flourish in the very competitive markets. This has therefore encouraged management and business owners to realise that for organisations to benefit from their huge investment in facilities, they have to manage them actively and creatively, with commitm ent and a broader vision (Amaratunga, 2001) The Centre for Facilities Management (CFM) describes facilities management as the process by which an organisation delivers and sustains a quality working environment and delivers quality support services to meet the organisations objectives at best cost It is accepted that facilities management covers a wide range of services and the success or partial failure of an organisations business is dependent on the management of those services (Chotipanich, 2004). Such services can include property management, financial management, change management, human resources management, health and safety management, in addition to services such as building maintenance, domestic services (cleaning and security) and utilities supplies. The essence of facilities management lies in the ways in which facilities are adjusted to business needs and in the effectiveness of the systems that ensure non-core activities deliver value for money (CFM, 1992). At a national level, the strategic objective of facility management is to provide better infrastructure and logistic support to businesses of all kinds and across all sectors. At a local level, its objective is the effective management of facility resources and services in providing of support to the operations of organisations, their working groups, project teams and individuals (Nutt, 2000). Therefore, according to Nutt (2000), the primary function of facilities management is resource management, at strategic and operational levels of support. McNaughton 2007 says Facilities management provides an opportunity for businesses and large conglomerates to focus on their core business leaving the secondary services of security, mailing and cleaning in the hands of the facilities management experts. If implemented correctly, facilities management can benefit your company in the following ways: Reduced risk and increased productivity Reduced operating costs by focusing on core business structures Encourages and sustains a healthy and safe corporate culture Delivers sustainable resource utilisation Optimise asset utilisation Operational and Strategic Facilities Management Facilities management can be divided into two sections, namely operational facilities management and strategic facilities management. Operational facilities management is the interaction within the facilities department itself (i.e the facilities manager and the various functional units such as maintenance, interior planning, architecture etc). The various functional units can be in house or outsourced. Each functional unit should be aware of current techniques and regulations within their specific area of work. The facilities manger is expected to communicate with the core business regularly to identify current facilities requirements. The facilities manager will then benchmark facilities service currently in practice within the organisation against other facilities management organisations and see where an improvement can be made (Barrett, 1998). It can be said that the primary function of facilities management is the operational side as it is the most visible. The function support s the regular needs of the core business. (Chotipanich, 2004) Strategic facilities management looks at the future. The facilities manager will interact with the core business to establish future changes that might occur to the business due to external factors such as competitors etc. The facilities manager will also identify possible developments within the facilities management arena. Interaction between strategic and operational facilities management must occur and the aim is to synergistically balance current operations with the needs of the future. (Barrett, 1998) The figure above (Barrett, 1995) is a generic facilities management model developed by Barrett. It clearly shows the different relationships and communication lines as well as the difference between operational and strategic facilities management. The separation of the core business and facilities management is clear in the above diagram and this emphasises the fact that facilities management is only beneficial if it supports the primary business objectives. It also distinguishes between the current and future environment and makes it easier to understand how facilities management is conducted. Linkages 1, 2 and 3 are at an operational level and 4, 5 and 6 are at a strategic level. The structure of facilities management is related to the needs, environment and circumstances of the organisation at the time. Its practice and composition are particularly important to the characteristics and contexts of the organisation. (Chotipanich, 2004) Barrett (1998) suggests that facility managers should not just select service items from the standard list at random, but provide only those services that are needed by their particular organisation. Facilities management practice is seen as adapting to its situation. Barrett (1998) also stands by the fact that facilities management practice needs to be personalised to a specific organisation. The facilities managers are involved in strategic planning i.e plans for the future as well as daily operations, particularly in relation to buildings and premises. Responsibilities and duties may vary depending on the type of corporation but the most likely responsibilities include: contract management procurement management maintenance of the grounds and buildings general cleaning of the facility and refuse disposal catering and vending health and safety security utilities and communications infrastructure Facilities management is a very important concept in this competitive business world. If this concept is not managed correctly or neglected, it will be to the detriment of your organisation. In the past businesses were operating in a stable economic environment and as a result the setting of goals were done and not redone for a considerable amount of time. In this current economic state, the goals of organisations often change as the economic environment presents new challenges. The increase in competition, employee expectations and the changes in technology forces businesses to manage their resources effectively to stay profitable. References Baldry, D. (2008), Knowledge management practices in facilities organisations: a case study, Journal of Facilities Management British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM). (2010), http://www.bifm.org.uk/bifm/about/facilities Accessed 22 March 2010 Alexander, K. (1994), Facilities Management Theory and Practice Alexander, K. (1996), Facilities Management Theory and Practice Amaratunga, R.D.G. (2001), Theory building in facilities management performance measurement: application of some core performance measurement and management principles Centre for Facilities Management (CFM), (1992). An Overview of the FM Industry Part 1 Chotipanich, S. (2004), Positioning facility management, Journal of Facilities. Nuttt, B. (2000), Four competing futures for facility management Journal of Facilities McNaughton (2007), http://www.eprop.co.za/news/article.aspx?idArticle=9211 Accessed 25 April 2010 Barrett, P. (1998), Facilities management. Towards Best Practice. Barrett, P. (1995), Facilities management. Towards Best Practice. Price, I. (2000), FM and Research, Journal of Facilities.

General Strike of 1926 Causes and Impact

General Strike of 1926 Causes and Impact A general strike is when a group of workers from different industries all stop work in support of each other to win certain demands. This would bring the country to a halt and make it very hard for the Government to resist giving in to their demands. The general strike of 1926 was mainly for the miners; they had low pay and worked long hours. They wanted better conditions and equal rights for all. In this essay I shall assess the events leading up to the strike and have a look at all the short and long term causes of the strike. The coal industry before the war was booming. It was used for nearly everything and during the war the demand for coal increased even more. Because coal production was so important to the war effort the Government took over the ownership of the mines and ran them instead of the private owners. Improvements were made in conditions and pay for most miners. When the Government nationalised the mining industry miners hoped it would continue after the war. But in 1921 all mines were returned to private owners. After the war the coal mining industry went into decline. This was because, oil was used as a fuel especially in shipping, electricity became available, more efficient boilers were made, other countries began to mine coal and British pits had been over mined during the war and owners were reluctant to spend money modernising mines. When men from the war came home they found the promises made by Lloyd George were not met and if men have been fighting for their country for four years they are prepared to fight for their jobs and standards of living at home. There are many long-term factors, these are; conditions and pay of miners, at the time of the General Strike an average of two miners were killed per day. Miners were also suffering from ill health because of their work. Miners argued they deserved higher wages because of the risks they took. Mine owners made millions whilst miners were lucky to earn 50p a day. Miners felt they were being unfairly treated. Another long-term cause was the Sankey Commission. In 1919 the Government formed a Royal Commission to look into the problems of the coal mining industry. Lord Sankey led this commission, but it failed to come up with a solution to the problems of the miners. Most members favoured nationalisation but the Prime Minister, Lloyd George, refused to nationalise the mines. The decline of the coal, mining industry was a major one, during the decline of the mining industry owners had to increase hours and lower wages to maintain profits. Others were, Change of attitude after the war and nationalisation. A popular idea among trade unionists at this time was syndicalism this was the belief that several trade unions should go on strike together to bring the country to a halt and so take over the Government for working people. The Miners Union decided to increase their strength by combining with railwaymen and transport workers in a triple alliance. A strike in one of industries meant the other two would stop work as well, so it seemed sensible for them to join together and increase their strengths. A strike of three industries shall have a greater impact on the country and government than only one industry on strike. It shall be harder for the government to keep the country running, so they shall have to give in to their demands. In theory this was a great plan. In the 1920s in Britain, there was a great deal of industrial discontent. It began with the miners. As already discussed, the coal industry was in decline, since 1918. This meant mine owners had to increase hours and give less pay to keep profits going. They tried not to buy new machinery or improve mines, as this would eat away at their profits. In 1920 mine owners told miners their wages would be reduced. The miners decided to go on a strike with the other members of the tripe alliance (the National Union of Railway Men and the Transport and General Workers Union). It was understood that these two unions would join the miners in a sympathy strike. But on Friday 15th April the two unions decided not to support the miners and refused to go on strike. The miners called this Black Friday. It was a disaster for themselves and other trade unions. The miners went on strike alone but were defeated, they had to go back to work for even lower wages. Later other industries such as shipyards, printers and railway workers were forced to accept lower wages. The unions had learnt their lesson form Black Friday; a defeat for one union was a defeat for all. In the future they pledged to stand together. In 1925, coal prices fell yet again and owners wanted to cut wages just as they had done in 1921 but the miners were ready to strike developing the slogan, Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day. This time the other industries went on strike with the miners. The Government werent ready for a General Strike so they brought themselves time buy giving the mine owners a subsidy of  £10 million, to keep wages at the same level as they were before the wage cuts were made. This event became known as Red Friday (Friday 31st July 1925) and was seen as a total success for the working class. It also showed what could be achieved if the Trade Unions worked together. However, it was announced the subsidy would only last 9 months enough time for the Government to prepare for a G eneral Strike, if there was one when the subsidy ended. The Government set up a commission called the Samuel Commission, headed by Sir Herbert Samuel to deal with the problems of the coal mining industry. The short-term cause of the General strike was the Samuel Commission; the commission rejected nationalisation and said the government should end the subsidy. It agreed to wage cuts and said working days should be 7/8 hours long. The report sided completely with the mine owners since the whole commission was made up of rich industrialists. The Government immediately responded to the Samuel Commission. They declared the subsidy would end on 30th April 1926. The owners increased the hours and reduced wages by 10-25% with the support of the government. Many meetings were held but no agreement was made so on May 1st 1926 the miners went on strike for better pay and conditions. The government had been preparing for the strike for some time. They built coal stocks to last for 5 months, increased the number of special constables from 98,000 to 226,000, drew up detailed instructions for the army, navy and police to guard docks, telephones exchanges and power stations, gave money to the owners of haulage firms to put 200,000 vehicles at the Governments disposal and set up the OMS . The OMS was a group of about 100,000 volunteers who unloaded cargo from ships, drove buses and trains. People joined the OMS for a number of reasons. The middle class thought the strike was a threat to them and an attempt to ruin the country economically. Others joined for financial reasons, the Government paid constables  £2.31 a week plus food. The miners were on strike refusing to accept wages of  £1.58. The TUC (Trade Union Council) wasted their time. They never expected the Government to allow a General strike to happen. The miners made their positions weaker by getting a re cord level of coal output. This made it easier for the Government to stock up on coal reserves. When the General Strike began the TUC decided to bring out the workers in key industries railwaymen, transport workers, dockers, printers, builders and iron and steel workers. Nearly 3 million men were taken out of work. And later others like, the engineers and shipyard workers can be called out. In London, at the headquarters of the TUC, there was far less optimism than the workers who were prepared to stay out as long as it takes. There seemed to be little unity between trade union leaders. The Government were willing to let the strike continue, as they were prepared and confident they could last longer than the Trade Unions. The TUC had promised their support if an agreement was failed to be reached. So great efforts were made by the TUC to reach an agreement with the Government and mine owners to prevent a general strike. The discussions went on late into Sunday evening (May 3rd) and according to the main TUC negotiator an agreement was close when the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, broke off the talks with the TUC. The reason for this action was that the printers at the Daily Mail newspaper had refused to print an article about the strike the Government had prepared. They were sympathetic to the miners. The TUC apologised but Baldwin refused to re-open talks. Baldwin knew he could win, they had prepared for the strike and knew the TUC couldnt last that long. But in response to the breakdown in negations, the TUC sent strike negations to the Transport, Railway, Dock, Print, Electric and Steel and Chemical workers. The General Strike began on Monday 4th 1926. The TUC argued that the miners were facing longer hours with lower pay, imposed by mine owners to keep profits up. They said it was an Industrial Dispute between bosses and their workers. The TUC also believed if the miners were defeated it would lead to lower wages for all workers. It was a struggle for all working class people not just the mining community. The Government argued this was a Constitutional issue and that the Trade Unions were building up their strength to overthrow the Government. The Government did this to worry people and get them to side with the Government and it worked. Historically it can be seen that the TUC only wanted better pay and conditions. They were not calling for a socialist revelation to over throw the government. The General Strike in 1926 started because of the conditions of the miners. Other workers realised if they didnt support the miners their bosses may lower their wages knowing nothing shall be done as they had previously seen in the case of Black Friday. This was the primary reason why the TUC found the idea of a General Strike appealing, they knew if they stuck together their demands should be met The Government did not want nationalisation; they were prepared and ready for the prospect of a General Strike. Time was on the governments side and their excellent preparations for the strike led to the governments victory I feel the TUC should have been more prepared for the strike and built their case more for the general public to see that the workers were being unfairly treated by the business owners together with the support of Government. Additionally, all the unions should have shown greater solidarity if they had any hope of obtaining better working conditions and pay. Although the idea of a General Strike is theoretically unstoppable there were measures the Government could taken to avoid the strike, by the Government breaking off negotiations just when a deal seemed possible it seems that the Government wanted the strike to go ahead in order to break the resolve of the unions and set an example that a general strike could never succeed, and they should have been more aware. How accurate is this interpretation of the General Strike as a violent dispute? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. The General Strike started on the 4th may and lasted until the 12th May; throughout this time some areas were hit by violence from striking workers, leading it to be an idea of a violent dispute. There is presented evidence which backs up the idea that the strike was a violent dispute in a few areas, especially the docks. This essay will measure how precise source C is at interpreting the violence of the location using evidence obtained from looking at other resources. The restrictions of the source will also be evaluated to decide any omissions or possible uneven analysis. The sight depicted in source C is definitely an aggressive one, there are many policemen with the crowd of strikers and not many of the strikers are being controlled. This illustrates that the circumstances were out of control causing a great deal of force to be required. This is helpful to show how violence was coped with throughout the strike given that 200,000 special constables were under oath to support the police if strikes took place. Similarly the armoured vehicle just before the front of the portrait implies that plenty of force was necessary to put an end to the strikes which took place. Equally to the points mentioned above an equipped officer is illustrated in the image aiming a machine gun. This tells us that the soldiers felt endangered by the amount of violence being used and were prepared to use arms to look threatening- especially with his finger on the trigger showing that he was ready to open fire. On the other hand this could also illustrate that the soldiers used weapons to frighten and irritate the strikers causing further violence, as The British Worker wrote that this was happening. This tells us that violence was used regularly by both sides of the strike. The information given in the source is useful in terms of portraying the strike as violent and with the advent of the machine gun pointing at the crowds the painting shows an image of a brutal state willing to open fire in order to oppress its people. During the period of this paining it was an era of communism and socialism spreading and the pictures tries to draw some parallel in terms of oppression and class war. Nevertheless, there are also several restrictions in the source which cause it not to be completely dependable. For example, the picture depicted is close by a dock; this is exposed by the cranes shown in the surroundings of the image. The London Dock was the only district in which it was essential for soldiers to be called in and maintain order. The docks in general were mainly well-known areas that strike took place in. Consequently, the sources consistency is in subject as it does not correspond to the whole country and in many places there were no strikes at all, for that reason it is an unreasonable judgement of violent disputes. Only 4,000 people were prosecuted for violence or incitement to violence out of the millions of people striking, which is an extremely small number proportionally. It is an image of a food convoy, which were usually violent events; so it is not possible to suppose strikes similar to these took place every day, hence the stability of them is not possible to conclude. An additional unreliable point is that it was painted for the Electrical Trade Union which suggests it can be pro-union and so exaggerating the strength of the soldiers to make it appear if the strikers were being forced. In support of the above reasons we cannot trust the consistency of the image even though it does suggest some helpful information. Even though the image has numerous implications of violence, it does not actually show any real violence. Nevertheless it is acknowledged there were cases of violence and these are mislaid in this source. For instance, there are reported cases of attempts to deflate tyres and of throwing stones to butt in the movement of those who black-legged the jobs. An additional example was noted where strikers tried to damage a railway line. Other examples of violence used in the General Strike are given from source A, so it does not give the full picture of the types of violence being used, which it would also be vital to know when studying violence used in the General Strike. The painting was painted in 1964. So, at the time there was communism in Russia, and the fear of communism taking over in Great Britain was high, so the Electrical Trade Union wanted to make Communism and Socialism look better than Conservatives. Overall, Source C is a precise explanation of violence in some areas and how order was kept by soldiers of armed policemen; yet its consistency should be questioned given that the view shown was at a food convoy near a dock- both were the most ordinary areas of violence during the strike. It could also be questioned whether the artist was biased since he was painting the image for the Electrical Trade Union. There is also a need of information about violence in erstwhile areas of England, and in relation to dissimilar types of violence used; consequently it is helpful in the direction of studying violence in the General Strike alongside with other sources, but not on its own. Lastly Source C is an accurate explanation of the war, but not sufficient information can be drawn for it to be entirely helpful by itself and there is an explanation to consider why it is not entirely reliable. Is There Sufficient Evidence in Sources A to E to Explain Why the T.U.C. Called of the General Strike? The General Strike was stopped by the Trade Union Congress on the 12th May 1926. Whether it was a working class conflict in opposition to the establishment or an uprising of the unthankful lower classes, it was a stepping stone in Trade Union movement, however it did not appear so for a while later when Trade Unions lost value and resources. The Strike pulled the labour class mutually to work for one reason and it proved that the essential ideas of Trade Unions were well stuck. The General Strike was not continued for several reasons which I will summarize in the following essay. I will consider sources A to E and see if there is sufficient evidence controlled within them to make clear why the T.U.C. called off the General Strike. The Government had organized for the Strike extremely enhanced than the T.U.C. which was in excess of confidence after the new subsidy in 1925. The government had used the more nine months to prepare for an all-out strike and they did a number of things. Firstly, they prepared Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies, where the nation was broken up into regions and every one had volunteers to keep essential services available such as, food supplies and transport. There was sufficient coal to supply electricity. Also, the primary members of the British Communist Party were detained and imprisoned for sentences of 6-12 months, under the Incitement to Mutiny Act. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill was in charge of making a certified government newspaper for the duration of the Strike. The British Gazette was extremely biased as it was written by the government. The key aim of the General Strike was to hold-up Britain. Not including a total shutdown of the British nation, the Strike would have had slight impact. Source B can be reliable as it is a photograph from the time, shows us that the nation still had a skeleton transport scheme, only 40 buses from a fleet of 4400 were in operation however necessary supplies were being delivered. Consequently from this source we can see that the Strike was not having a huge impact or the consequence wanted by the T.U.C. Black-leg workers were middle class and jobless people who filled in the jobs of people who were on Strike. E.g. they drove busses and trains. If Britain did not have them, Britain would have totally closed down and the Strike would have been effective, however the majority of the men were pleased to help. The trouble was black-leg labourers were proving to be to some extent excellent at filling in for the strikers who became terrified of losing their jobs eternally and so they returned to work. However, the Source B photo may also be seen as a staged photo as the policeman in the photo appears to be posing for the photo. The government was provoking the strikers to become violent. They had armed policemen and soldiers protecting food convoys and the black-leg labourers, as if daring the Strikers to battle. An extract from English History 1914-1945 says, Churchill tried to provoke conflict by parading armoured cars through the streets. We can see how the government tried to do this from photographs taken during the Strike, though from the photos we can also see the peacefulness of the crowd. In Source C we can see a painting of sturdy, well-fed strikers fighting at the Docks. This was obviously not the real condition the men were in as Britains populations consisted mostly of under nourished, over-worked males-who would have been worse due to the Strike. This source is bound to be unreliable and biased because it was drawn by a member of a Trade Union 28 years after the end of the Strike, even though there was some violence the painting shows just a snapshot of the whole picture and what was happing a cross the country. From Source A we learn that altogether 4000 people were prosecuted for violence or incitement to violence and about a quarter of these received prison sentences. This is an inconsequential number among the millions of strikers and not a major reason to call off the Strike but if there had been aggression the T.U.C might have never recovered. For if there had been hostility the Trade Unions would have lost the sympathy vote and therefore most of their support. Source A is relatively reliable because it is written after the event by a third party. The government could have created far more effective propaganda from a violent strike than a peaceful one. The government also used propaganda to incite brutality. The main line of attack was through The British Gazette, but the strikers had a newspaper too, The British Worker, and they were able to combat the propaganda and broadcast messages, encouragement, warnings and advice to their followers. The sources from both ne wspapers announcing the end of the Strike use words that conjure up images of war, for example, surrender, peace and unconditional. In my view this was a final attempt on both sides to justify the Strike, as wars are thought of as just causes by some and would make the government happy because they had victory and the workers more angry and devoted to their cause due to their losing. The Strike had lost some early support due to a number of peoples believing that the Trade Unions were attacking the British system of government and attempting to overthrow it. They linked it to the Russian Revolution which was known for its violence and brutality (towards the upper classes). The Russian Revolution had begun with widespread strikes and troubled workers, so people were afraid. Also individuals were afraid of syndicalism, the belief that the workers should run the industries as this is rather like communism and would leave many factory and mine owners redundant or in the same circumstances as their own workers. Some early support for the Strike had dried up, perhaps it was going on for too long and people lost interest or perhaps supporters became worried as to how it would affect themselves and their jobs. The Strike could be perceived as a class war and this is illustrated in Source C which shows workers united and fighting for a common cause against a brutal govern ment. Perhaps people believed the working classes were trying to hold the rest of the country to account for its hardships. Others believed it was just two obstinate groups of people on a collision course and assumed they would work out their problems. Unity in the Trade Union Congress might have been fractured. In a source I have seen; a Punch Cartoon from April 1921 An Employers View of the Triple Industrial Alliance there is a three headed dog representing Cerberus-guardian of the gates to the underworld. The three heads, labelled transport, miners and railways are different. Miners looks angry and unsettled whereas the other two look tired and fed up. This shows where most of the turmoil in the T.U.C. was coming from. The miners head is in the middle- as if it is controlling the other parties. Though this is from an employers viewpoint it cannot be ignored as the miners seem, throughout the Strike and even before, to be the angriest, most dangerous of the groups-perhaps the others werent quite so supportive of the Strike and didnt want it to drag on. Another place we can see the miners playing a domineering role in the Strike is Sources D and E. These both state that negotiations are to be resumed in the coal dispute and that t he miners call delegate conference. There is no mention of the other groups of people on Strike-the miners clearly were forthright and more important. So to conclude these sources can tell us opinions and views on the General Strike from both sides but they are mostly biased due to the uses they served. . Source A shows that the strike was mainly peaceful and the government was not able to provoke them which reflects that the strikers were not angry about the strike and hence were looking for a peaceful end to the strike as soon as possible. Source B is vital in explaining why the strike was called off as it shows that the strike was not having the desired effect since goods and services were still being provided by the government. Source C portrays a violent picture but this was not the case across the country. The painting shows that the unions did not have much option but to have a strong, united confrontation with the government but most of the strikers did not have the desire for this and the unions failed to keep the strike going by not being able to have deep unity. Source D shows that the strikers were somewhat glad the str ike was over and tried to show that it ended as they had achieved their aims through negations and there was no need to continue with the strike. This puts on a brave face in the face of what in fact was a defect of the Unions that led to the end of the strike. Source E shows that the government had totally defeated the unions and hence ending the strike, although this was a government paper and can be seen as biased, it turns out to be true as the unions did not achieve any of their aims. However, the two newspaper articles announcing the end of the General Strike are very brief and showed how the government and T.U.C. were trying not to draw great attention to it, as if both sides agreed it was an embarrassment. At the end of the Strike the T.U.C may have hoped that new and unofficial proposals by Sir Herbert Samuel would permit the miners and mine owners to renew negotiations. This was not so. Most men got their jobs back but 3000 men endured recrimination from employers and the railwaymen had to accept pay cuts on return to work. The miners remained on strike for several months. They were ultimately forced back to work after hunger and cold, under the conditions they had neglected in April. All the recommendations of the Samuel Commission, including the ones the government had accepted, were ignored.

Journal of a Titanic Passenger Essay -- Journal Diary entry titanic Es

Journal of a Titanic Passenger I am writing my first entry aboard this incredible vessel today, primarily because I have been spending the last three days exploring the sections open to my fellow third-class passengers and I. What I have seen is extraordinary, especially when first boarding the ship. The halls and staircases of the first class section were like nothing I had ever seen before in my life. They were blanketed in luxury from end to end. The first class passengers I had managed to see wore their best garments boarding the ship and were conversing with each other about their rich lives back home. I believe I even saw Mr. John Jacob Astor, a man I had heard much about for his contributions to the American fur trade. I had heard that he would be aboard for the maiden voyage of ...

Kerouac :: essays research papers

Born on March 12, 1922, the youngest of three children in a French-Canadian family that had established itself in Lowell, Massachusetts, Jack Kerouac was by the age of ten already aiming to become a writer. His father ran a print shop and published a local newsletter called the Spotlight. Before long he began writing and producing his own sport sheet, which he sold to friends and acquaintances in Lowell. He attended both Catholic and public schools, and won athletic scholarships to the Horace Mann prep school (in New York) and then to Columbia University. In New York he fell in with fellow literary-icons-to-be Allen Ginsberg, the poet, and William S. Burroughs, the novelist. A broken leg hobbled his college football career, and Kerouac quit Columbia in his sophomore year, eventually joining the merchant marine and then Navy (from which he was discharged). Thus began the restless wandering that would characterize both his legacy and his life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To Kerouac, â€Å"Beat† – a shorthand term for â€Å"beatitude† and the idea that the downtrodden are saintly – was not about politics but about spirituality and art. The thirty published and unpublished books he wrote from 1941 to 1969 include Kerouac’s thirteen-volume, more or less autobiographical â€Å"Legend of Duluoz† – a study of a particular lifetime, his own, in the manner of Honore’ de Balzac’s Human Comedy or Marcel Poust’s Remembrance of Things Past.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kerouac set out to become the quintessential literary mythmaker of postwar America, creating his â€Å"Legend of Duluoz† by spinning poetic tales about his adventures. â€Å"I promise I shall never give up, and that I’ll die yelling and laughing,† Kerouac wrote in his diary in 1949. â€Å"And that until then I’ll rush around this world I insist in holy and pull at everyone’s lapel and make them confess to me and to all.† At the time when Norman Mailer was playing sociologist by studying â€Å"whit Negro† hipsters, Kerouac sought to depict his fascinatingly inchoate friend Neal Cassady as the modern-day equivalent of the Wild West legends Jim Bridger, Pecos Bill, and Jesse James. Like the Lowell boy he never quite ceased to be, Kerouac saw football players and range-worn cowboys as the paragons of true America; his diaries teem with references to â€Å"folk heroes† and praise for Zane Grey’s honest drif ters, Herman Melville’s confidence men, and Babe Ruth’s feats on the diamond and in the barroom. Kerouac brought Cassady into the American mythical pantheon as â€Å"the mad Ahab at the wheel,† compelling others to join his roaring drive across Walt Whitman’s patchwork Promise Land.

The Digital World Essay -- Technology Machines Internet Papers

The Digital World The digital world of today can be understood as a product of late-Victorian construction of the machinery of information organization combined with Modernist visual forms. In his doctoral dissertation, The Engineering of Vision from Constructivism to Computers, Lev Manovich, professor of New Media at the University of San Diego, states it is the influence of Modernist visual forms, mainly Soviet era Constructivism, that shapes the look of the current digital world (e.g. the Internet). Professor Simon Cook of Duke University, in his recent paper, Late Victorian Visual Reasoning and a Modern History of Vision, argues that Manovich overlooks the importance of the Victorian period in influencing the aesthetics of our present digital design. Cook bases his argument on the concept of an orderly and well-catalogued Internet, as if the system had been developed in nineteenth century Britain. However, due to the chaotic, disorganized and ever-changing look of the digital world, the argument of a Victorian based system is flawed. The late nineteenth century does not have the impact Cook believes it does, whereas Manovich remains on track in his original argumen t. Still, Manovich’s ideas can only be regarded on a temporary basis, because the face of the digital world has changed drastically since its development, and will continue to in the near future. Before exploring the look of the current digital world, it is first important to look at its physical development. I will concentrate mainly on the Internet and the more recent phenomena of the World Wide Web, although software look also has a significant role. This concentration follows from my prediction of the future look of computers, which will be more web-bas... ...ent. Current world politics and economics may play just as a significant role for the future digital world as Soviet Constructivism does for the current one. Bibliography Cook, Simon, online papers: http://www.duke.edu/~sjc68 Cook, Simon, Late Victorian Visual Reasoning and a Modern History of Vision Linton, Berry; Vinton, Carl, et al. A Brief History of the Internet, http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml Manovich, Lev, online archive: http://www.manovich.net. Manovich, Lev, The Engineering of Vision from Constructivism to Computers, online Ph.D. Dissertation, 1993. Manovich, Lev, Database as a Symbolic Form Manovich, Lev, Navigable Space Manovich, Lev, Avant-Garde as Software Richards, Thomas. The Imperial Archive Smith, David, Constructivism and Suprematism, http://users.senet.com.au/~dsmith/constructivism.htm

Culture Collision Essay

Culture collisions has been both positive negative to those involved such as Columbus and his run in with the Natives Americans, French revolution and the Haitian slaves, and African Imperialism. In any culture, subculture, or family in which belief is valued above thought, and self-surrender is valued above self-expression, and conformity is valued above integrity, those who preserve their self-esteem are likely to be heroic exception. In the culture collisions I learned about most was trying to change others culture and views on life in this eassy I will give more backgrand on the positive and negatives of the collisions of new worlds like Columbus and the new American, Haitia revolution, and Africans new way of life. I start my culture collision with a young sailer by the name of Christopher Columbus and his run in with the Native Americans. Columbus sailed for Spain but was from Itialy. Columbus search was for spices. He thought by sailing west across the Atlantic it would bring a ship to Eastern Asia. His plans made sense, but columbus greatly underestimated earth’s size, and had no idea that two continents lay in his path. Once columbus got to the new world he call the natives, Indiains thinking he was in Asia. †As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts†.(-christopher columbus 1492). After finding out that these people was not what they seem, Columbus and the Natives American made a treaty. The natives were good neighbood they tought Columbus how there lands works, and ways to serve the land. Columbus used this new found world to bring European, Americans, and African cultures together. Not only did he collied the culture he brought foods and animals. Even though the collision had good turn out there was a down fall of this collision with Columbus inhumain way of treating the Natives Americans. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.(-Zinn,). Columbus killed many of the Natives Americans after friending them. After they though him what he needed to know they was not use to him. Even though Columbus collied, the world at what cost was that to all the life’s he took. The next culture collisions was the revolution of Haiti and French,  starting with Napoleon against a free slave named Toussaint L’Ouverture. Haiti had heared to Enlightenment Thinkers talk of equal rights and thought that they should be intitled to the rights also. Napoleon started out as an Italian general and ended up being one of the greatest historical figures. First, Directors requested Napoleon’s support while organizing a coup d’etat. Then, Bonaparte fought Britain in order to benefit France. Lastly, he was called to help creating a new constitution and ended up as the First Consul of France. At home, he ruled using flattery, but also he strongly resisted the opposition. Napoleon is a pro-revolutionist because he denied all the privileges of the aristocracy, created a new constitution, and also established the Napoleonic Code.(-Brainard, 1998-2008)†Neapoleon was one of the greatest generals who ever lived. But at the end of the 18th century a self-educated slave with no military training drove napoleon out of Haiti and led his country to indepenence. The remarkable leader of this slave revolt was Toussaint Breda (later called toussaint l’ouverture, and sometimes the †black napoleon†). Slave revolts from this time normally ended in executions and failure, this time was different.†(-Brainard,1998-2008). Toussaint become the leader of the slaves rebellion. He successfully fought the French who were helped by succumbing to yellow fever in large numbers as well as invading Spanish and British( who wanted to take down napoleon for the beheading of the king and queen). After the French Revolution was in the hands of Jacobins, who leaded the Reign of Terror. So Napoleon and L’Ouverture agree to terms of peace by giving them there indepenence. A few months later l’ouverture was invited to come to a negotiating meeting will full safe conduct. When he got there napoleon betrayed the safe conduct and arrested him, putting him on a ship. Napoleon ordered that l’ouverture be placed in a prison dungeon in the mountains, and murdered by means of cold, starvation, and neglect. L’ouverture died in prison,(-Brainard, 1998-2008)but others carried on his fight and six months later napoleon gave up his fight. This collisions allowed the indepenence of haiti. In africa, Europeons wanted the copper,ivory, gold, and diamonds the africans held in there mines. African’s used slavery as a part of their everyday life. When the Europeans arrived overseas in Africa they were  intrigued by this idea of slavery. They felt that the African people were used to the hot weather and long and hard working days. They thought of the blacks as inferior as well. They needed people to do their labor in the New World and were sent over in the African Slave Trade (Corretti,1500-1800). Slavery had a different meaning in the New World than it did in Europe. People were considered chattel in the New World. This means that one human was the property of another human. The Europeans needed to find people to keep up with the labor on the plantations in the new world (Corretti, 1500-1800).Europeons capitalists carved up the continents in order to ensure their wealth. Many english, french, and germans travelled to make africans chistian. Europeons inslaved these africans and spilt families apart. Africans resistance to the imperialism. Shaka Zulu led the Zulu people againist the Boers and Brithish. Brilliantly fought off troops for 30 years. In the end Britin control Southen Africa. Yaa Asantewaa led the Asante Kingdom against the British in West Africa. Last battle in series of 100 years of war between Asante and England. Menelik the second led Ethiopia against Europeon colonists. Hired Europeons to teach them how to read and use Europeons weapons. In 1896, Ethiopia smashed the Italians; Ethiopia was never colonized.(-malone,2012) Beside ethiopia, the African Imperialism was a negitive culture collision it had no effects on the world in my eyes just the europeon mading others do there durty work. In conclusion, culture collisions privde to be both positive and negitive. Not one collisions had one with out the other, Columbus didn’t decover a New World but brought others together. But then again in his process of doing so he mistreated kind people and almost whiped out the native race. With the Haitian and French Revolution Napoleon ketp the haitain in slaved when he came to power. In the African Imperialism they inslave most of africa because of there industalition and need hard workers for little to no pay after the child labor laws. Well without any of these collisions we wouldn’t be living in the kind of world we do now.

Hong Kong affect its future economy Essay

This research project seeks to bring out the effects of the Hong Kong population structure on the future economy of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a booming economy being one of the major financial districts of the South Asian region and its changing population structure has a lot to do with its workforce and in turn affects its working culture and present and future economic structure as well. Research Question: The research question for this project seek to study how or to what extent the population structure a regards to age and gender or social characteristics of the population tend to affect the present and future economy of Hong Kong. So there are two parts to this research project – the first part analyzes the population structure of Hong Kong with regards to the age and gender or social status and the second part brings out the economic structure of Hong Kong from its past to present changes and the future of Hong Kong economy in a more globalized world and the impact of global markets on the financial centre of Asia. The focused research question in this case brings out several dimension of the study as through the analysis of the qualitative and quantitative dimensions, the subjective and objective aspects of the study. The impact of the changes in population structure on the economy could be understood on the basis of changing population numbers and percentages quantitatively and the socioeconomic changes as understood qualitatively. The research question essentially focuses on the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of the research as it seeks to bring out the impact of population change in economic structure of Hong Kong in a descriptive manner and in accordance with socioeconomic changes, as in influence of wage, gender, age gaps and changes etc an also the direct statistical values and correlations between population and economic structures in terms of numbers and statistical values. The research question on the extent to which population structure affects the Hong Kong economy thus brings out this ‘extent’ in terms of numbers or real values as also in terms of description of changes in Hong Kong as what happens qualitatively when the population structure changes and what is the impact on the economy from a descriptive point of view. Like for example this can be related to lack of high living standards, poor health conditions of the elderly. These would be qualitative dimensions of the research and the values or percentages of changing population and simultaneously changing economy would be the quantitative aspects of research. These two methods are discussed further in the methodology section as given below. Background/Literature Review: A brief literature review is provided here and brings out the main points of research articles as published in journals and obtained from ingentaconnect or sciencedirect or JSTOR. The literature review is on the Hong Kong population and economic structure and articles published and written on these issues showing the impact of an ageing population on Hong Kong’s economy and job prospects and on the industries in Hong Kong as influenced by a global economy and ageing population. In this literature review section a study by Leigh (2006), a research article by Chui published 2003 and another by Fan and Lui (2003) have been selected. Leigh’s study shows the direct impact of ageing on Hong Kong’s economy, fiscal changes and living standards. Chui shows how the ageing population face problems of survival and housing in a fast paced Hong Kong economy and Fan and Lui talk of gender and wage gap in Hong Kong’s population that could redefine economic changes and structure. The studies chosen here highlight the qualitative aspects of the impact of ageing and gender changes in population or demography on the economic structure of Hong Kong. The participation of women has also increased significantly necessitating needs of study of the impact of gender on Hong Kong’s economy and how women’s participation in the workplace can change things for the economy. In a research article on the population structure of Hong Kong, Leigh (2006) has suggested that Hong Kong SAR’s population has been aging rapidly and aging could adversely affect the growth and living standards of people in Hong Kong. There has to be some change in economic and administrative policies in keeping with the aging or changing population according to the article. There is a high labor and productivity growth with increased migration of younger skilled workers from Chinese mainland in Hong Kong mainly due to Hong Kong’s booming economy and although this attenuates the economic impact of aging, there is no full offset of the impact of aging population on the economic structure of Hong Kong. According to Leigh, aging puts considerable pressure on public finances particularly as with aging there is also rising health costs that directly affect government spending. There are relatively fewer options that government has and opportunities to implement polices on this are also limited that could lessen the impact of aging on the governance and structure as demographic effects would start setting in by 2015 when the ratio of working population would peak. The Hong Kong SAR authorities have been focused on administrative and governance policies that would limit or reduce the fiscal impact of aging and they have also provided continued expenditure restraint on reform of health care financing with private health insurance systems, along with tax reforms and non age sensitive areas (Leigh, 2006). Considering the gradual ageing problem of Hong Kong, Chui (2001) suggest that Hong Kong as one of the Four Dragons of Asia is faced with the gradual ageing problem that seems to have affected the urban fabric of the city as also the general population. However one of the regions in which Hong Kong seems to be booming along with the economy is property development as Hong Kong is mainly based on a property led economy and the government as well as private and public property developers have been launching redevelopment projects for setting up new structures in Hong Kong. However as Chui points out the special needs problems of elderly people have not been attended to and most of Hong Kong’s elderly people are poor physically, financially and socially. However with urban renewal and changes, the elderly people are at disadvantage and face threats to their survival as they are not in a position to cope with the restructuring changes in Hong Kong’s fast paced urban development projects. There has also been a gradual weakening of the respect to Chinese traditional values and culture as for the respect given to the elderly and this along with nuclearization of families have added to the problems of the elderly. Chui writes that government housing policies in Hong Kong should emphasize on community care and ageing in place and help in solving housing problems and needs of the elderly. The study shows the plight of older people in Hong Kong, a booming economy in the South Asian region and a contrasting fate of the elderly people. The gender gap in wages has been analyzed by some researchers and the trend shows a narrowing gender gap in wages. According to Fan and Lui (2003), the narrowing gender gap may be related to women’s advantages compared with earlier times especially women’s changing positions at the workplace. Gender gap is found as smaller in occupations and industries that are less dependent on physical labour as men are more suitable for physically rigorous work. This shows that when an economy transforms from a manufacturing or production oriented approach to a more service oriented one, women’s productivity would be recognized an with increased women’s participation in service based economies, the gender gap on the basis of wage or participation at the workplace also decreases. A 1% random subsample was used in this study for two population censuses and the results of the experiment also support empirical results. Methodology The methodology to be used for this study will be both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The qualitative and quantitative data would be primarily available from the internet and research journal databases and journal articles will be selected along with studies by the Hong Kong government as based on the economic indicators, as well as statistical and other government reports on the population and GDP, GNP and labor or prices. Of course in this section we highlight the importance of theory and practice and differentiate between the theories and the practical implications of research and the use of methodology to explain these two features. The theories that will be dealt with will be economic theories and changes in the global economy along with changes in the Hong Kong economic structure. The practical implications here would be changes in the population structure statistically obtained and otherwise and population changes as indicated in journal articles that deal with ageing and its associated problems in Hong Kong. The theories and practice of the economic and population changes in Hong Kong will be obtained from journal articles selected from journal databases and these articles are obtained by using search terms such as ‘Hong Kong economy’, ‘Hong Kong population, ‘Ageing population, ‘South Asian Economy’, ‘Economic structure of Hong Kong, Population of Hong Kong, ‘Elderly in Hong Kong, ‘Employment in Hong Kong and Economy’ etc. As indicated in the later part of the study, the government’s reports on the economic changes and population changes have been given here and the results can be used to show the trends and the analysis can be done quantitatively and qualitatively to show the changes in population in terms of age, gender and wages or social status. In fact wage structure shows changes in economic conditions of the major part of population and results could be drawn to show how economy and wages would be related in turn to gender and age and the overall impact this has on the Hong Kong’s population structure could be drawn in the analysis and interpretation section of the results. The different possible methodological frameworks would be the qualitative methodology and the quantitative methodology. Qualitative methodology is about understanding the more qualitative or subjective aspects of the population and delineating the attributes or the characteristics of job changes, economic structure and population structure in Hong Kong. Quantitative methodology is about showing statistical tables and values and suggests the population and economic structural changes in terms of values or numbers as given in statistical tables. The impact of old age or ageing population on the economy as discussed qualitatively by researchers would form part of the study using journal articles and descriptions of the situation as given by researchers in articles and published papers as would be the quantitative aspects that are given in published reports and statistical tables giving values or numbers that define the changes in Hong Kong’s social, demographic and economic structure quantitatively in terms of values, statistics and numbers. A snapshot of the qualitative and quantitative primary data as would be used in the research study is given below and from some of the research papers as used in the literature review and the reports published by the Hong Kong government, the primary data in terms of tables or published research reports will be chosen and analyzed for the purposes of this study. The published articles or papers in journals as selected from ingenta, sciencedirect, JSTOR or other such databases thus provide the basis for qualitative primary data and the published research reports as available from Hong Kong government sites showing statistical analysis of population and economic structure form the more quantiatve aspects of this study and a balance of quantitative and qualitative methods will be considered for analysis of this research study. Social science research is largely based on ontological and epistemological propositions that help to understand consumer behavior and in this case population structure and government approach to population and how it affects Hong Kong economy in general. From the ontological point of view any phenomena could be analyzed objectively using economic data and in this case the economic structure of Hong Kong could be comparatively objectively analyzed considering other developed or developing economies and the effects of population on economy. The epistemological approach to methodology emphasizes on people’s perspectives and the subjective or qualitative aspects of research as already indicated. Positivistic and Interpretive theories in social science research focus on scientific data (as in positivism) in which experimental findings are of prime importance and interpretive analysis in which drawing out qualitative aspects and viewpoints of the researcher would be more important. The epistemological, interpretive positions are closer to qualitative methodology and the positivistic, ontological philosophies are akin to quantitative methodology as used in any research project. The Table below provides the population structure of Hong Kong by age and sex and as seen from the initial study of 2007 population growth and structure, 3. 9% of the population is above 60 years of age, 3. 4% of the population is above 65 or 70 years of age, 2. 7% of the population reaches above 75 year limit and 1. 7% of the population crosses the 80 year old mark. 1. 4% of the population is above 85 years. This suggests that a significant portion of the population is an aged population in Hong Kong and this is a change from 2006 in which the 60 year old population was at 3. 7% and above 75 year olds was at 2. 6% and above 85 year olds was at 1. 3%. The charts show that thee has been a slight yet significant increase in aging population of Hong Kong and considerable decrease in the young population as seen from the population data of 2006-2007. If data is attained over a period of last 10 years this aging population trend will however become more prominent and this will be elaborated in the methodology and data collection section of the research. This research table thus forms part of the resources that we use as data for our study on the effects of population on economic structure.