The Benefits of Hands-on Training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Benefits of Hands-on Training - Essay Example For the purposes of this paper, an OH&S inspection tour of a meat-processing plant has been established (more details of this tour can be found in Appendix A). The discussion of this tour answers four main questions: I outlined the problem at hand: how to design a training tool that would meet the needs of trainees. I made an outline that represented the challenges and requirements, and focused on the key tenets that I wanted trainees to bring away from their time at the meat-processing plant. These key tenets are contained in Appendix A. My prior experience in taking and conducting inspection tours helped me in compiling a list of requirements for participants to follow, educational activities, pre-trip instruction for my trainees, and a list of procedures for the training day itself. This movement from prior memory to existing project was the result of schema activation. The actual task of conducting the inspection, as outlined in Appendix A, shows how I took the problem and broke it down into such parts as the site and time of the inspection, the particular trainees, my goals and objectives, the specific training activities, and ways to evaluate the quality of the training. As fa As far as personal involvement goes, the development of the training procedure originated in my own personal experiences and memories, and the schema formation showed considerable time and reflection. Additionally, the process of choosing specific training activities and eliminating other potential activities demonstrates a level of critical thinking (Bruning, Schraw, Ronning 1999). Another way to describe this process of critical examination, combined with preparation of a specific task, is metacognition, which connects knowledge and regulation of cognition (Schraw, 1998). Task Analysis: Question Two Before entering the training environment, the participants will receive a set of problems to solve while they are engaged in the exercise. Another of Gick's diagrams (1986) can be used to show the mental processes involved: Here, the dotted line represents the mental process used by the participants to move from problem to solution. Because the process of inspecting a meat-processing plant will be new to most, if not all, of the trainees, there will be no schema based on prior experience (Tovey, 1999). Several

Nordstrom Rewards Its Customers Essay Example for Free

Nordstrom Rewards Its Customers Essay Nordstrom is a great place to go shopping and receive rewards while spending money. Nordstrom shoppers automatically become members of Nordstrom’s Fashion Rewards program when they people sign up for the store’s credit. When each person accumulates 2,000 points, then they receive a $20 Nordstrom Note, a gift certificate redeemable for Nordstrom merchandise or services. In the book one of the questions is â€Å"what are the design characteristics of an effective loyalty program.† The structure of their loyalty program and how they use the data collected through the program to make informed product, marketing and customer experience decisions are key to its success. The store’s frequent customers will be able to get perks like custom shopping parties and tickets to in-store fashion shows after shelling out just half as much as they used to spend to qualify for rewards. Loyalty marketing is and should always be much bigger than points, thresholds or incentives. It is about changing and influencing behavior in a proactive manner that creates long-term brand advocates who, in turn, enter into a dialogue with the brand. Nordstrom’s program is effective for a number of key reasons. First, even the lower levels of Nordstrom’s loyalty program are engaging because they offer meaningful soft benefits and because it’s aspirational, members remain engaged; they aspire to be at the higher tiers in the program so they can get the bigger rewards. Another question asks is the Nordstrom program worth what it spends to reward customers. I think it does because when you reward your customers then they would want to come into the store and buy their supplies to build up their points. When they do that then they get awards. Example would be I have a credit card and I receive points, the more I spend then the more money I get off from that store. I use my card all the time and I go and pay it off. I would get a credit card from any store I shop at if they reward me to use it.

Personal development of employees within marks and spencer

Personal development of employees within marks and spencer Personal improvement or development involves the actions that enhance personal knowledge and individuals entity, improve the hidden talent potential, and develop talents. It improves the individuals life standards and makes him professional person that can easily convert his dreams into the reality. The word personal development is not only related to the individuals skills and attitude it also improves the behaviors, attitude and ethics of others. At the end we can say that personal development is also plays a vital role in the improvement of the organizations structure that can be a organizational strategies, evaluation methods, and provide help to improve the strategies of the organization. Personal development is vast topic and it provides a good help in the dynamic business environment because of personal development the individual can improve his skills and knowledge that helps to develop the strategical ambitions of the organization. And these improved skills like knowledge, attitude, and behavior are vary important and necessary to achieve the long term goals and ambitions of the organization in a real sense. The organization that I have chosen for this assignment is Marks Spencer that is doing business of retail out let in the United Kingdom (UK). Since the 1880s, it is doing business on the strict customs that is spread in all over the United Kingdom (UK). Now the Marks Spencer is considered as the one of the very famous in the retail outlets. Even in the services of food the Marks Spencer has created it good name in the eyes of the customer in the whole United Kingdom (U K). Particularly in 1990s there was bid decline in the sales of the Marks Spencer and as well as overall performance of the organization. But with a lot of changes now the Marks Spencer is offering the high quality products at very reasonable prices to attract and win the confidence of its customers. First of all in this assignment I tried to identify and evaluate the individuals skills and behaviour that is necessary to fulfil the aims and objectives of the Marks Spencer. And after that I am going to discuss the leadership development and personal development tools and techniques. Strategy is direction to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. OR Strategy is track through the organization can achieve its long term plans. Strategy provides a way to organization through which organization can fulfill its objectives by using its resources in a dynamic environment to congregate the requirements of the market. The mission statement of the Marks Spencer is Making inspirational quality accessible to all And the vision statement of the Marks Spencer is The standard against which all others are measured The values of the Marks Spencer are Quality, value, service, innovation and trust Marks Spencer wishes to expend its business all over the world and it can be achieved by the companys strategies of to understand the global culture, to select the proper target market and by niche market and in a real sense this is the main objective and aims of the Marks Spencers to be achieved. Evaluate the strategic skills required of the leader to achieve the strategic ambitions The strategic goals of the Marks Spencer is to be the number one in United Kingdom (UK) market and as well as to expand it business activities. Leader plays a vital role in the progress of the organization because the leaders have the future vision and direction for the employees and for the whole organization to achieve its objectives and goals efficiently effectively. The headship has the ability to bring the change in the organization without the disturbance of the strategies and working of the organization. So the headship improvement/development is a necessary thing for Marks Spencer to achieve its objective and goals. This organization must have to render the opportunities for the leaders to enhance their skills by giving the headship training and this training can change the style of doing business of the organization. It is not necessary that every leader requires a same level of training. The training can be different for different leaders. So the headship development is a necessary tool for the Marks Spencer to achieve its strategic goal and objectives. Leadership skills and knowledge is necessary to achieve the ambitions of the organization without the competencies of the leaders it is very difficult for the organization to achieve the organizational objectives. Different skills are required for the leadership to achieve the goals are Communication skill is very important and plays a vital role fro the improvement of the itself leaders and for the organization as well because if the leaders have not the communication skill they can not make progress and even they are not able to communicate with the other peoples and colleagues as well. Hence the communication skill is necessary. Problem solving and decision making skills are also necessary for the headship. The leaders must have the problem solving skill and he is able to solve the issues of the currently facing by the organization and the leader must be able to take a good and favorable decision for the betterment of the Marks Spencer. The leaders must have the skill to adopt the changes and he will be able to bring a favorable change in the environment of the organization so that the organization can run its business activities efficiently and can make progress. The leaders must have the honesty and flexibility skill so that they can make the honest and fair decision for the improvement of the organization and to achieve the organizational goals. And the leaders must have the skill of providing direction to its staff and the skill to cover and solve the issues of the employees and organization. The current skills of the leaders of Marks Spencer leaders are: Communication skill, work value skill, skill of honesty truthfulness, the skill of self-assurance, headship ability and skill of listening The leaders must have the skill to critically scan the environment by using the PESTL factors. Interpersonal skill so that the leaders can exchange the information with one an other without any hesitation, the time management skill so that the leaders can manage the time between their personal and professional life and the leaders must have the ability to take initiative with out any fear and for the betterment of the organization. As well as the existing skill concern the leaders of the Marks Spencer have the communication skill, honesty skill, headship ability and listening skill but they dont have the skill to take initiative, skill to scan the environment, Time management skill, the skill of adoptive and flexibility skill. Proper evaluation process and proper training of the leadership will be required in near future to achieve the organizational aims and goals. 2.1 The opportunities those are necessary to support the leadership development. 360 degree response analysis 360 degree feedback is a tool to measure and analyze the leadership improvement. So because of this I choose 360 degree feedback to support the leadership development. This tool is used to exploit the skills and competencies of headship. 360 degree feedback includes the feedback or response from reports, managers, primary and secondary stakeholders and as well as self-response. This tool will provide the improved skills and enhance the attitude of the headship so in this regard it will be very helpful for the headship. This 360 degree provide response/feedback to the leaders on variety of skills like Decision-making teamwork setting up goals communiquà © and many other categories of headship The 360 degree feedback analysis wills also help the headship to recognize the strength and the places/areas of loop fall and ultimately provide help to the headship to make and improve the strategic plans of the organization. A strong 360 degree response/feedback identifies the internal behavior and skills of the leaders that how to communicate with others in the critical situation and how to face the challenges. Another excellent personal assessment tool for employees, managers, and executives is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular and fascinating assessment tool that helps people self-identify: How they prefer to direct or conserve their energy How they process and organize information How they tend to make decisions How they prefer to interact with people What blind spots they have as a result of these preferences Another assessment tool is Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) This is one of the best tool to analyze/assess the performance of the leaders/headship, workers etc. This tool helps the leadership to identify their skills like. How can leaders favor to save their vigor How can they flow information frequently How can they make influential decisions for the organization How can they communicate with others in a good way Some important opportunities that are helpful to promote the leadership development are as under Educational opportunities: Education is very important for the headship development of any organization. Education plays a vital role for development of leadership. So the educational opportunities are the key factor for headship improvement because without getting proper education no body can do any thing properly hence the leadership must have to identify the opportunities that are related to education and that can improve the performance of the organizations leaders. Training opportunities: Another opportunities that is very important for the organizations leaders that is to explore the training opportunities for the employees. Because of the training the leaders can improve the performance of the staff members and other low level employees. Development opportunities: To develop the staff and employees and as well as the leaders is very necessary for the organization and plays a vital role in the betterment and the success of the organization. Career planning opportunities: To explore opportunities that are in favor of the headship and as well as for the organization but with the opportunities of career planning this thing is no be neglected that the career of employees is very important so to identify opportunities that will not affect the career of the employees. 2.2 The example of one year personal development plan Skills are very important for the organization while conducting a kill audit of the Marks Spencer I as a manager identify the skills that are necessary for the headship development are as under Skill of communicate, flexibility skill, adoptive skill, work value skill, skill of honesty truthfulness, the skill of self-assurance, headship ability, skill of listening, the skill to cover the issues, the skill of good writing. These are very important skills for the improvement of headship of the organization The skills that need to be improved are: The skill of flexibility, adoptive skill, how to cover the management issues, headship issues, the skill of truthfulness and integrity, ability to watch the forecasted picture, multitask. These are the main parts of the organization where the loop falls are identified. How to improve the above skills: The above deficiencies of the skills can be improved by many ways. These skills can be improved through proper channel and by giving the proper training to the staff and the headship as well. By giving the some improvement and enhancement programs through the proper institute these loop falls can be improved and removed. But to remove these loop falls the headship requires the full attention and proper evaluation of the employees. To permanently remove these loop falls the organization needs the proper financial resources and to manage and allocate these resources is not an easy task. So the leaders needs to proper emphases on the management performance. Hence the leaders identified the financial resources and proper institutes where the employees can take training on the loop falls and can remove that loop falls. So the leaders can allocate the sufficient fund to perform this task efficiently and effectively. To record the progress I as a manager evaluate the organization by monthly or twice in a month in the initial stages either the employees are working better after getting the training or not. And with the passage of time I as a manager evaluate the performance of the employees and the result are very different from the previous performance. Hence the performance and working of the employees and management of the organization is improved very well. 2.3 Implementation process for the development plan Goals are very important for the success of the organization because without identifying the goals of the no any organization can make success. Total focus of the Marks Spencer of the retail outlet of United Kingdom (UK) is on some of the main important and key development goals are as following 100% have possession of Brand: The organizations (Marks Spencer) aim is to sell only own products and items so that the organization can give the guarantee to its consumers to provide the quality, value and after sale services that the organization promise to deliver. Expand High-Growth Areas of house magnificence: House basis business is growing rapidly with house fixtures and gifts are the faster improving sectors. Magnificence, although comparatively small, but it is also increasing day by day. Improve the Supply Chain: Marks Spencer whishes to watch the considerable benefits from the repute of the supply chain management. Marks Spencer also wishes to achieve the greater improvements in the quality, after sale services and easy accessibility. Marks Spencer also want to be the number one in the United Kingdom (UK) and as well as all over the world. By capturing response and feed back of the headship the Marks Spencer wants to improve the strategic goals and strategies. Because feedback is very important for the success of the organization and for the management as well so the Marks Spencer wishes to improve the feedback program of the leadership. And by taking response from the management. To achieve the organizational goal is the key task for the organization. So to achieve the strategic goals of the organization planning is very important. Marks Spencer is achieving his organizational goals by evaluating the performance of the employs and by making future strategies and to cut the long term strategic goals of the organization into the short term goals so that the goals can be achieved easily. Marks Spencer proper monitor the performance of the employees and staff against the task given to them and take decisions to make this thing possible and effective. The performance monitoring program is very good in Marks Spencer and this organization takes the possible measurements to achieve the strategic goals and break the long term goals into short term goals hence when the short term goals are achieved it means the long term goals are automatically achieved. The leadership of this organization is always busy in providing the superior tasks and good training but after that the leader wants the superior result in response. Assessment of the achievement of outcomes of the plan against original objectives: Yes all the things have achieved like development need, objectives and outcomes. Development needs of this organization are Decision-making, teamwork, setting up goals and how to communicate with other employees. And all the outcomes of the organization are achieved because the organization increases its profit by the end of this financial year. All the strategic aims and plans of the organization were well defined and organized properly. All these activities were monitored properly by the management so because of this all the goals of this organization achieved very well and according to plan. In next time I as a manger dont think about the changing of the strategies of the organization because organization is working properly and increases productivity day by day and the performance of the employees is also going good. The impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic ambitions: Objectives play a vital role in the success of the organizations success. The impact of the achievement is positive on the strategic goals o f the organization because if the organization achieves his goals step by step and go forward step by step then obviously it will put the best and positive effect on the aim of organization. The trust of the customers will increased by this thing and the brand equity will also be increased. Definitely when the performance and turn over ration of the organization will increase and the organization will achieved its defined strategic objectives than i will make a new mission statement of my organization. Now this organization is need to going globally and has to expend its business activities in all over the world. And after that obviously the Marks Spencer will make new strategic marketing plans to promote its business activities all over the world. While going globally the organization needs to improve its marketing plans and needs to diversify its recruitment process because work force diversity is very important for any organization to be successful in the global market. And the organization needs to know the culture of the other countries before going globally. After doing all these things effectively and efficiently the organization achieved its impact that was the organization looking for. The positioning and targeting of the organization was very effective and good and the strategies for going global were also proved that it was in favour of the organization. The vision statement of the organization was very nice and the customers were attracted by this new statement. Because of the new marketing strategies and target marketing the organization achieved the  £20K profit in the recent financial year. 3.3 Yes almost all the development needs achieved but this is not enough because the organization wants to be the number one in all over the world. And yes all the development objectives achieved by the organization and all the outcomes that were needed to the organization were achieved by the organization. Yes the achievement impact on strategic ambitions has been evaluated and analysed. Successful strategies and by the proper targeting marketing the strategic ambitions of the organization achieved and evaluated. No there is no need to auction the existing development of the organization. And yes of course the development needs that are required to the organization in future are identified properly that is organization needs to go global and for this it needs more finances are competent skills are required. As well as the concern about the new development objectives that are also be identified that the organization wants to be the number one in all over the world and wishes to expand it s business activities globally. 4.1 Employers have a lawful duty to make sure that the work surroundings and work practices are secure and that the fitness of their employees is not damage by the job that they perform. The managers persistent to contribute in Work Well a targeted anxiety management programme. The Marks Spencer also contributed in the business Health and recital business study Marks and Spencer introduced precautions for Fire, Health and Safety performance, based on a Combination of self-assessment and expert inspections every three months. An improved Asbestos management plan has also been introduced. So because of health and safety program the marks and Spencer decreases its cost of production in a long run and also minimize the uncertainty of the organization. It reduces the average rate of accidents due to negligence and due to safe environment the attendance of employees is improved. The marks Spencer is promoting its health Safety program by introduces a community investment program that emphasis on four areas employability, education, health and community safety. Hence because of the efficient health Safety program the Marks Spencer is successful in reducing the rate of accidents by 25 percent and adds the 8 percent increase in the profit. All these activities definitely helped the Marks Spencer to achieve the strategic goals and to expand its business activities into the new markets of the world. In this assignment I identified the different individual/personal skills of the leaders of the Marks Spencer to fulfill the objective and aims of the organization. And I also had made effort to explore and evaluate the current and future skills of the leaders to enhance the performance of the management and that can improve the productivity of the organization. And at the end I tried to make the personal development plan for the Marks Spencer for one financial year in which I audit the skills of the leaders and identified different skills that need to be improved and that helps the deliberate goals of the organization in the current dynamic business environment. Hence the marks Spencer is really needed to change in its strategies while going global up to some extant so that it can achieve its global objectives.

Importance of Humor and Laughter in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest :: One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

Importance of Humor and Laughter in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest "There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third." In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, humor is present in a very powerful form. Normally, insane people don’t have the capacity to laugh or find the humor in something as we "normal" people do. They live tragic existences, wandering day by day in the bland, depressing world of an asylum. They have forgotten how to live because they are under the authoritative rule of the head nurse, and under the behavioral influence of drug doses and bossy orderlies. The patients have no real existence of their own, and they are essentially lifeless. As the Lord works in mysterious ways, Randall MacMurphy is "sent" to heal the patients of the asylum. He shows them that to laugh is good, and laughing at yourself can sometimes be the best medicine. He is the comic healer who gives life to the otherwise hopeless patients of the asylum. MacMurphy seems to have an affinity for laughter. In essence, it is an escape for him- it makes him feel good, and most importantly, it radiates to his friends, an d helps heal them. This book is about so many things, it is hard to stay on one topic for any length of time. In order to focus on the laugh and laughing as a healing agent, I would like to look towards other influential writers and thinkers to tie together laughing and healing. First, let’s see what laughter is according to Meriam Webster: laughter- n. a cause of merriment. Using this simple definition, we can assume that laughter can come from any form of merriment or emotion like triumph, contempt, relief, and almost any other emotion there is. It is easy to picture in your head different underlying emotions in laughter; the sinister laughs of witches and ghosts, the insincere, fake laughs you hear after pointless, humorless attempts at jokes on the six o’clock news, to the silent laughs of mimes and clowns that fill the people around them with a happy feeling. These are all examples of what laughter is and how it is used. But why do we do it? What in nature created the laugh and mad e it so successful?

The Historical Value of Speeches in Thucydides

The historical value of speeches in Thucydides In writing his history as a whole, it is fair to say that Thucydides has always been praised for his relative historical accuracy, be that due to his actual presence at events, his use of eyewitness testimony or his noted checking of facts. In style Thucydides kept his narrative sections rather impersonal thereby allowing the story to unfold itself. However, to then lay bare what stood behind the narrative, the moral possibilities, the mistakes, the fears and the motives, the device he used was the speech, a mechanism he employed with supreme mastery. Perhaps the best way to begin to answer the question in hand, we should examine the definition Thucydides himself gives us in his statement of methodology for his speeches that appears in 1. 22. 1. of his History of the Peloponnesian War. ‘In this history I have made use of set speeches some of which were delivered just before and others during the war. I have found it difficult to remember the precise words used in the speeches which I listened to myself and my various informants have experienced the same difficulty; so my method has been while keeping as closely as possible to the general sense of the words that were actually used, to make the speakers say what, in my opinion, was called for by each situation’’ It is not unreasonable to construe that at face value this statement is not at all a ringing endorsement for historical accuracy. This idea is taken up by Plant who correctly states that there is a lack of correlation between the first and second parts of the statement. He continues that it has long been debated whether the historian claimed and/or attempted to present verbatim accounts of the arguments put forward by the speakers on each occasion as best he could, or whether he felt free to modify or to invent particular arguments or even whole speeches. And the controversy has been fuelled by what has been widely regarded as the ambiguity of the second of the two parts of Thucydides' famous statement of aims and methods in 1. 2. 1. The accepted ambiguity of 1. 22. 1, moreover, has provided such scholars with what they consider to be primary evidence with which they might successfully call into question the â€Å"objectivity† of Thucydides as a â€Å"scientific historian,† and with which they might thereby persuasively promote the view of him as either an impassioned (outraged) moralist or a tend entious manipulator of his reader's sympathies. * It is clear therefore, that in the speeches what we encounter is in some sense Thucydides’ own voice. In terms of ultimate historical value, however, the thorny question has always been is it Thucydides’ view of what the speakers really meant, or his judgment of what they should have meant? To return to his initial statement for a moment, it is interesting to note that Thucydides seems to be making a virtue of the fact that he is not reporting verbatim. We must remember that in the times in which Thucydides was writing rhetoric was an everyday part of the society in which he lived and long speeches in literary works were commonplace. The contemporary readers of Thucydides were men habituated to a civic life in which public speech played an all important part. To a Greek of that age a written history of political events would have seemed strangely insipid if speech ‘in the first person’ had been absent from it especially if it did not offer some mirror of those debates which were inseparably associated with the central interests and the decisive moments of political life. On a further point of contemporary style and verbal accuracy, Cole argues that the complexity, compression, and frankness of the arguments in the speeches in Thucydides mean that they cannot have been made in the form he gives us on the occasions when he claims they were made. * Whether or not we accept Cole's thesis, or a modification thereof, we must still accept the strong influence of contemporary rhetoric on Thucydides. In any event, Thucydides’ Thomas F. Garrity’s article on ‘Thucydides 1. 22. 1: Content and Form in the Speeches, (autumn 1998), The American Journal of Philology *T. Cole, The Origins of Rhetoric in Ancient Greece (Baltimore, 1991) speeches are vital highpoints in his work and not only for the structure and form of the arguments they explore. They appear at great moments of decision and turning points and their dramatic impact is useful to Thucydides as an instrument of style. We therefore may have to accept that they are more great rhetorical set pieces rather than paragons of historical accuracy However, although the exact accuracy of the words spoken in the speeches produced by Thucydides in these works cannot be verified thereby inevitably devaluing their historical value, it can be said that the style and method of the speeches and debates that Thucydides includes in his work do provide us with an almost unwitting testimony of other facts which do have great significance and value for the historian. For example the Mytilenian debate between Cleon and Diodotus shows us how decisions were made, the grounds on which they were made, and the psychology used by the persuaders. In addition, it provides us with an insight into the considerations about the behavior of an imperial power at war, its relationship with the democrats among the allies and its attention to long-term finance. So by dramatizing a conflict between two orators, Thucydides records for us the interplay of various contemporary problems concerning the exercise of power and the conduct of war. The conclusion is that the speeches are not what we should call historical reporting in the same sense as the narrative. However there is no doubt that the impact of their presence in the work is very powerful. The reader is quite carried away in the midst of these marvelous orations to a point where, not only does he feel that he has seen the Peloponnesian War from the inside, but he is certain that he knows exactly what the issues were and why things happened as they did. The overall conclusion, therefore, must be that we cannot quantify the exact historical value of the speeches in Thucydides’ work as we can never be sure of their complete verbal accuracy. However, there is no denying that the speeches may be taken as a paradigm for a better understanding of his historiographical project in general and that there is a lasting satisfaction to be obtained from reading Thucydides’ speeches for their own sake as a direct and vivid aesthetic experience. Bibliography Connor W. Robert, Thucydides (1984) pages 146-158, http://www. umanitiesebook. org Garrity Thomas F. , Thucydides 1. 22. 1:Content and Form in the Speeches’ The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 119, No. 3 (Autumn 1998), pp. 361-384. JSTOR: http://www. jstor. org/stable/156676 Plant Ian M. ‘The Influence of Forensic Otatory on Thucydides’ Principles of Method’ Theh Classic Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 49, No. 1 (1999), pp. 62-73. JSTOR: http://jstor. o rg/stable/639489 Thucydides, History of The Peloponnesian War (1954), Trans. Rex Warner, Penguin Classics (London)

Pnu Application Form

Philippine Normal University The National Center for Teacher Education OFFICE OF ADMISSION Manila 1† x 1† ID Picture APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION TEST PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY ADMISSION TEST (PNUAT) Name: _________________________________________________________________________________ Gender: ____________ Print: Last Name Given Name Middle NameAddress: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contact No: _______________________________________________ E-mail Address: ____________________________________ Date of Birth: ______________________________________________ Place of Birth: _____________________________________ Age: _________ Citizenship: ____________________________ Religion: ______________________________________________ Name of Present School: _______________________________________________________________________________________ School Address: _________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ EDUCATION: School Attended Elementary: ____________________________________ High School: Other Courses: ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Inclusive Dates ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Degree/Course Completed ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ Honors/Awards Received: ______________________________________________________________________________________ Extra-Curricular Activities, Hobbies, Talents: _______________________________________________________________________ I hereby apply for permit to take the PNU Admission Test (PNUAT) on: __________________________________________ I certify that the information given on this form is true and correct.It is understood that my final acceptance to the University will depend on the results of the University’s screening procedure. I understand that I have to pay a non-refundabl e examination fee of P350. 00, the receipt of which is to be attached to the application form. I attach a photocopy of my High School Card / Transcript of Records. ____________________________________ Signature over Printed Name of Applicant OR # _______________________________ Date of Application: ___________________ Name: _________________________________________________________________________________ Gender: ____________ Last Name Given Name Middle Name Preferred Academic Program: (Please indicate three choices by placing 1 to 3 on the blank, no. as the most preferred) __________ __________ __________ Bachelor of Early Childhood in Education (BECED) Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) with specialization in – __________ Biology __________ __________ Chemistry __________ __________ English __________ __________ Filipino __________ __________ General Science __________ __________ History __________ __________ Home Economics ________ __ __________ Information Technology for Teachers __________ Mathematics Others (Allied Fields – with limited enrollment) __________ Bachelor of Library and Information Science __________ Bachelor of Science in Psychology __________ Bachelor of Science in Home Economics Technology __________ AB/BSE Literature Music Education Nutrition and Dietetics for Teachers Physical Education Physics Social Science Speech and Theater Arts Values Education

How to Test for Hyphenation in Phrasal Adjectives

How to Test for Hyphenation in Phrasal Adjectives How to Test for Hyphenation in Phrasal Adjectives How to Test for Hyphenation in Phrasal Adjectives By Mark Nichol One of the most frequent style errors among writers is the omission of one or more hyphens in a phrasal adjective, a phrase consisting of two or more words linked to show that they’re teaming up to modify a noun that follows them. There’s an easy test to help you see that the hyphen is necessary. When you write a phrase consisting of a noun preceded by two words describing the noun, confirm that the first and second word together modify the third, rather than that the second and third words constitute a compound noun modified by the first word. In the following sentence, for example, the latter holds true: â€Å"Indeed, the agency grants authority for community prevention efforts.† Here, â€Å"prevention efforts† is an open compound noun modified by community the sentence does not refer to efforts to prevent community so no hyphen is required. Also, note that not every phrasal adjective requires a hyphen. Many open compound nouns (for example, â€Å"high school,† â€Å"income tax,† and â€Å"real estate†) are so well established that they appear in dictionaries as terms in their own right and do not require hyphenation when they are converted into adjectives to modify a noun (for example, â€Å"high school student,† â€Å"income tax form,† and â€Å"real estate agent†). In a given sentence with a modified noun, ask yourself what kind of thing is being described, then hyphenate accordingly: 1. â€Å"This foundation has a feel good name.† What kind of a name does it have? One designed to make you feel good, not a good name that feels. So, it’s a feel-good name: â€Å"This foundation has a feel-good name.† 2. â€Å"The small Victorian beach town lifted a decades old ban.† What kind of a ban is it? One that has lasted for decades, not an old ban that is decades. So, it’s a decades-old ban: â€Å"The small Victorian beach town lifted a decades-old ban.† 3. â€Å"A truck and a car collided, triggering a seven vehicle crash.† What kind of crash was it? One involving seven vehicles, not a vehicle crash that is seven. So, it’s a seven-vehicle crash: â€Å"A truck and a car collided, triggering a seven-vehicle crash.† 4. â€Å"It’s the Bay Area’s fastest growing town.† What kind of town is it? One that is growing faster than any other, not a growing town that’s fastest. So, it’s the fastest-growing town: â€Å"It’s the Bay Area’s fastest-growing town.† 5. â€Å"The bumps have been causing two hour delays.† What kind of delays are they? Ones lasting two hours, not hour delays that are two. So, they’re two-hour delays: â€Å"The bumps have been causing two-hour delays.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Passed vs Past34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer5 Erroneously Constructed â€Å"Not Only . . . But Also† Sentences

Australian Engineering Practice Free Samples

Engineering is the use or the application of knowledge which can either be scientifically acquired, socially acquired or even practically acquired purposefully to come up with new design or to an extension improve on the existing structures and design.it is a field that is broad and involves various engineering disciplines. Basically, as an engineer, the expectations that primarily come to mind is to be able to critically think of new design or improving on the existing ones so that the various problems within the society are solved. Hence, the knowledge learnt in the university is a reflection of the expected outcome of an engineer  (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2011, p. 643). The perspective of engineering remains the same both in the university and the real world since the expectation remains the same. However, there are new roles that one expects to play was an engineer in Australia which includes maintaining the technical competences, precisely solving the various challenges in the society and also enhancing great effectiveness at work. There are various competencies one needs to have to be an engineer including eligibility for membership and also immigration assessment .as an engineer, some of the values that I would add in the engineering field are professionalism, integrity, teamwork and also innovation  (Frankline, 2014, p. 975). An expert is someone that has a sustained experience in a particular field of practices or professionalism.   Generally, one is considered an expert when the person has a vast knowledge or skills pertaining to a particular matter of discussion.   It is derived from experience in that it is a direct function of time and also depends on the quickness of the person in question.   (Ronnie, 2011, p. 543). Reading through books and journals in various engineering helps one to acquire knowledge pertaining to engineering as a profession and also to develop some of the core values that are needed in life such as teamwork and integrity.   Innovation helps one to understand the importance of teamwork which helps one to take a short time to learn some particular concept rather than working on it alone which ends up consuming time and also one may not be able to completely perform a particular task within the stipulated specifications. This directly starts from the various group projects that are provided in class  (Ludden, 2008, p. 346). Listening, seeing and reading are very key in engineering. Listening helps one to understand various concepts.   Seeing helps one to be able to identify various problems within the society. It also helps one to be able to critically reason out on how solutions can be computed. On the other hand, reading is equally significant since it makes one be more knowledgeable and also gain new concepts that he or she was not aware of. The process used when carrying out a research is a qualitative and quantitative analysis that involves both collections of data and reading past articles on the subject under discussion.   This helps one to understand the concepts and be able to write them down or explain the various process in own words.   After doing a research, the noted down findings are electronically stored through computers in a paraphrased language. Paraphrased language involves first comprehending the concept and the various aspects involved and then noting them down in own understanding  (Pearson, 2007, p. 735). Collaboration is one of the key factors for success in every organization.   This is because all the members will be able to participate and share ideas on particular areas.   There are various skills that are gained as one grows particularly teamwork and commitment.   It becomes one of the major challenges more so with a teamwork whereby you will realize that some of the team members are not cooperative and also not committed in terms of handling certain things.   Thus it sometimes becomes a demoralizing factor Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competencies is based on three particular issues or competencies which defines its importance as described below. It helps to identify whether a person has the professional knowledge and the skills required for the engineering practices. Besides, stage one competency helps to determine whether a person possesses the professional and persona; attributes that are essential for engineering practice A situation that occurred once was when giving instructions to fellow teammates in a hockey sport. This came as a result of rules that had changed and were due to be effected on an upcoming tournament.   The situation was not difficult as the team members had learned to cope with new rules and were always flexible and dynamic.   The were no difficulties during issuing of the instructions Collaboration helps to achieve best results within a precise duration.   It makes work easier and also saves on time since the contrary which is a bit of resistance slows down a process.   Collaboration entails some behaviors which have been observed from great collaborators such as understanding, integrity and also patience  (Nottingham, 2009, p. 622). After the review of the various skills and attributes, I can comfortably award myself a 4 star in my various skills and attributes.   In particular, the skills that I feel competent in include listening, integrity, teamwork and also honesty. Conversely, there are some skills that I have not fully attained more so teamwork since I experience some challenges to do with handling my fellow team members there always arises issues relating to commitment Taking Thomas Edison as one of the engineers that greatly had a positive impact on the society by coming up with the first commercial light.   This was a light bulb that had many attributes including possessing a durable incandescent material and a highly resistant filament material. This he was to achieve after a series of tests without giving up. Presently, credits are still rewarded to Edison after successfully helping to bring a solution to the earlier situation of darkness.   Apart from the various technical skills, one factor that comes out in Thomas Edison is commitment and the urge to provide a solution. Besides, Edison was patient and ensures that quality time is applied on the project thereby coming up with a solution that is appreciated up to now  (Johnstone, 2009, p. 772). Projects vary in size but what matters is the success of any project. Thus there are some aspects that ensures that a project is properly managed. These include Strategic planning, Communication, Resources and the various personnel’s that will be involved in the success of the project –  (Brasier, 2008, p. 643). A project needs that quality time is dedicated towards it to ensure its success.   It involves the various stages of proper planning else it may not meet a certain deadline and end up being untrusted. Personally, I am good at managing my time since I always complete my tasks within the stipulated deadline. My best behaviors in terms of time management include completing my tasks on time and also always being updated  (Kazi & John , 2012, p. 352). However, I do find a challenge when managing my time due to a spirit of perfectionism whereby I would tend to ensure that all my answers and tasks are perfect hence this makes me spend much time on the tasks. This refers to the visual representations and techniques that are applied by both designers and engineers for the purposes of expressing and generating ideas. It generally deals with ensuring that all the ideas that an engineer has been placed down in a piece of paper to enable the person plan well before embarking on the engineering task  (Johnstone, 2009).   The tools that are required to perform an engineering mind mapping are very simple and easy to acquire. They include pen and a notebook. The process of engineering mind mapping entails placing the main idea or them in the middle part of a paper and then embarking on the generation of ideas .the ideas are placed just sketchily since there is no order and thus the persons doing the mind mapping just write down anything that comes up in his mind.   They may be informed of drawings, comments, questions, material listings a, statements among others as long as they are related to the central topic. Besides, there are no word limits hence the engineer should write everything that comes at the back of his mind. Thereafter the designer or the engineer should be able to link these thoughts together by interconnecting the graphics, pictures and the words  (Pearson, 2007).     This technique does not necessarily mean that it can only be written by the engineer or the designer starts to design. There are no limitations hence it can be written down at any stage of the process of design. One is able to do the kind mapping at the start in order to generate the problem that needs a solution and also at the middle of the task to generate other possible ways of providing the solution. It is most preferred to be done when one feels like emptying the thoughts that one has or when an engineer or a designer is stuck in the middle I the design process.   Below are examples of the mind map. It can also be applied in every aspect of life even in the day to day making of decision.it also helps in making one be more creative as it will give room for expression and expansion of the thoughts that a person has  (Johnstone, 2009). American Society of Civil Engineers, A. I. o. C. E., 2011. Engineering Solutions for Sustainability: Materials and Resources. 3rd ed. London: John Wiley & Sons. Edward F. Crawley, J. M. S. Ãâ€". D. R. B. K. E., 2014. Rethinking Engineering Education: The CDIO Approach. 1st ed. new york: Springer Science & Business Media. Harding, R., 2011. Environmental Decision-making: The Role of Scientists, Engineers, and the Public. 2nd ed. Chicago: Federation Press. Daniel A, 2017. Effective Communication at Work: Say what you mean and get what you want. 1st ed. Chicago: 50Minutes.com. Ludden, M., 2008. Effective Communication Skills: Essential Skills for Success in Work and Life. 2nd ed. Westminister: JIST Publishing, Nottingham, U. o., 2009. Sustainability & Engineering. 1st ed. Nottingham: University of Nottingham. Pearson, N., 2007. FCS Professional Engineering Practice L4. 2nd ed. Pretoria: Pearson South Africa. Stephen Johnston, J. P. G. W. J. K., 2009. Engineering and Society: Challenges of Professional Practice. 2nd ed. Carlisle: Prentice Hall,

Rapid Sequence Induction and Intubation. Incidence Reflection Essay

Rapid Sequence Induction and Intubation. Incidence Reflection - Essay Example In this reflection I have ensured that I maintain confidentiality in line with the Health Professional Council code of Conduct that demands the observance of the same, under code number two that states â€Å"You must respect the confidentiality of service users.† It informs me that I must treat information about service users as confidential and that I must not release any personal or confidential information to anyone not entitled to it (HPC, 2008, pp. 8-9). Therefore all names of the people involved in the process are treated as anonymous and I will different letters to refer to each one of them. I decided to choose this area for my reflection basing on a few reasons. First is that as a student ODP doing my clinical placement, it was my first time to come across such a major incident and therefore it made me curious. Secondly is that, I realized that this procedure is applied to all EG operations, making it commonly used. As a student on placement I realize the need to familiarize myself with the incident and procedures of operation as it is a common phenomenon in our daily lives. The last point is that, I engaged myself in massive research on this topic thereby developing skills and knowledge in this particular area. Rapid Sequence Induction Intubation (RSII) Rapid Sequence Induction and Intubation (RSII) is a medical procedure involving the fast induction of general anaesthesia and following intubation of the trachea. It is generally used in an emergency (EG) situation or for patients who have an increased risk of aspirating gastric contents into lungs (EL-Orbany & Connolly, 2010). The main objective of this technique is to minimise the interval time between loss of protective airway reflexes and tracheal intubation with a cuffed endotracheal tube (ETT). If the intubation is not attained within a maximum 2 minutes, the patient could suffer extreme morbidity or even death from hypoxia (lack of oxygen in body tissue). Therefore airway management is the most important skill for an emergency practitioner. Failure to secure an adequate airway can cause disability (EL-Orbany & Connolly, 2010). The decision to intubate the patient is sometimes very difficult to reach. The difficulty emanates because t he situation requires high clinical experience so as to recognise the signs of an imminent respiratory failure. The concept of RSI was gradually evolved after introduction of Suxamethonium chloride/succinylcholine (paralytic drug) in 1951, and the description of cricoid pressure (CP) in 1961 (EL-Orbany & Connolly, 2010). The procedure include; oxygen administration, rapid injection of a predetermined dose of thiopental/barbiturate (group of drugs), immediately followed by succinylcholine, application of CP and tracheal intubation. It seemed from these components that the term; RSI which is used in both anaesthesia literature and emergency medicine are both inadequate. Because, the technique includes both anaesthesia induction and tracheal intubation, therefore the term RSII is more accurate and descriptive of the technique (EL-Orbany & Connolly, 2010, pp. 18-25) Reflective models My essay will employ the Rolfe et al. (2001) model of reflection to reflect on what I learnt and the exp eriences I went through. Reflective practice is an approach to learning and practice development that is patient centred and which acknowledges the untidiness and confusion of the practice environment

Decision and accounting making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Decision and accounting making - Essay Example From the below income statement summary, Waldron’s sales have been rising almost in all the four categories of products that they deal in. It is evident that Waldron has been experiencing significance growth as per the divisional summary report. Durafit has been hit with several market challenges including stiff competition from foreign markets. This can be witnessed even with the latest financial report that shows Durafit’s sales drop from 1, 332 million euros in the year 2012 to 1,214 million euros in the year 2012; this represented a decrease of 9%. Durafit has been struggling to come into the market as an active player but there are some issues that still hold the division. The decrease in sales also saw Durafit record low profit margin at the end of the year 2013 as compared to the year 2012. Durafit’s main challenge is the nature of its products versus customers’ taste. Durafit took time in adjusting to modern construction techniques which gave its major competitors time to adjust and conquer the market with modern building techniques. The division’s profit margin was up by 1% when both 2012 and 2013 are compared. This is one of the Waldron’s divisions that give the company an interest to continue in business. With its nature of operations, Contracts at one time experienced downfall in the U.K market which posed a threat in attaining its profits. With opening of its branch outside the U.K and completion of major projects ahead of schedule, Contracts has won the trust of major clients and has really benefited from this. Contracts’ sales improved greatly from 1,949 million euros to 1,214 million euros in the year 2012 to 2013 respectively; this represented a 12% increase. Gross profit margin was also up from 50% to 54%. This was as a result of opening up for new markets outside the U.K which saw its sales increase as a result of more tender being awarded to the division. Unlike other divisions, elite is one of the

Watergate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Watergate - Essay Example Finally, faced by a revolt from within his own party, he chose to step down. How did it come to this? The answer lay in the Watergate hotel complex and the break-in of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters there. The actions undertaken by Nixon and his lieutenants with regards to that event were unacceptable to Americans (Liebovich, 61). They belonged to a country like Romania or Guatemala. Americans had not died during the Revolutionary War against a tyrannical king only to have their president claim he was above the law. This paper will discuss the Watergate Scandal and the events leading to Nixon's resignation from the presidency. Following the discovery of the break-in to the Democratic National Committee's offices, both the courts and the media began to trace things up the chain of command. Reporters such as Woodward and Bernstein published stories linking some of Nixon's closest aides to the break-in. These men were then forced to resign. Congress began its own inves tigation, and Nixon also appointed Archibald Cox to be an independent investigator (Kutler, 330). The ties and connections between the burglars and Nixon were murky and complex. Every string that a reporter pulled ended up leading to another string or connection. So many people appeared to be either involved or trying to protect the president. During the hearings, one of the men who worked in the office of the president's counsel was asked if there was any sort of recording device in the Oval Office. It was revealed that Nixon had recorded all conversations (Kutler, 383). These tapes were subpoenaed but Nixon refused to release them, saying that they were covered by his executive privilege. This created a showdown. Most people felt that Nixon was refusing the release the tapes because they were incriminating. Nixon claimed that they had a great deal of privileged information on them. At this point, due to the many revelations, Nixon had lost the benefit of the doubt. Conversations o n the tapes showed that Nixon had discussed with John Dean the paying of blackmail money to the burglars (Liebovich, 60). Dean, the former White House counsel, later became a key witness against Nixon in the hearings. When the tapes were finally released, an 18 minute gap was discovered where portions of the tapes had been erased. This was thought by many to be a virtual admission of guilt, taking into consideration the massive mendacity that had to that point been supplied by the Nixon administration. Several more months passed. Nixon's men were indicted. Congress began to move towards a process of impeachment after more tapes revealed that Nixon knew more about the break-in than he had originally suggested. The result was that Nixon's position became untenable. He was extremely unpopular and his own party planned to vote against him. He decided to resign. A lot about this scandal is still unknown. One thing that it is easy to judge, however, is that this is an example of the maxim , the cover up is worse than the crime. The break-in was clearly illegal, but if Nixon had said at the beginning that this was bad and had turned the burglars in, it seems unlikely things would have ended up as they did. Instead, dozens of people became involved in illegal action—especially obstruction of justice—in trying to cover things up. Nixon thought he could fire special prosecutors at will. He relied on peoples' patriotism to protect himself. In the end, the American people had had enough of the spectacle he created. They were disgusted with him as their leader and he never recovered his reputation again. The coda of all of these events was surely the Frost/Nixon interviews of the late 1970s. These conversations, the first with Nixon since his

The Appellate Courts Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Appellate Courts - Research Paper Example The legal system of most countries has various levels and as a result, if one of the participants in a case feels discontented/feels that a lower-level court has not judged his or her case fairly; he/she may decide to file a formal appeal, requesting that the case be reviewed in an appellate court. In the event that the appellate court discovers that the lower court erred or used the incorrect legal procedure, for instance, it may decide to overturn the original verdict. History.com documents that the United States’ Supreme Court is a famous example of an appellate court. It is considered as a court of last resort or final appeal – once it hands down a decision, there does not exist a higher court of appeals. The appellate court system guarantees that individuals who desire to make an appeal can do so. A lawyer/team of lawyers has the responsibility of filing an appeal, and experience with the process of appeal is very useful, seeing that it can aid in the achievement o f the desired result. History of the US Appellate Courts The United States’ Court of Appeals had been created by an act of Congress (1891) to ease the Supreme Court of a good deal of its growing appellate duties in addition to remedying dearth in the cumbersome Circuit Court System, which was ultimately eliminated in the year 1911. The nine appellate courts were not to exercise original jurisdiction or to be trial courts. They were to be the essential middle rung in the three-tiered federal court system, which had been envisaged from the First Judiciary Act of 1789 instituted federal courts, pursuant to the Constitution’s Article 3, section 1. Under the courts of appeal were the United States district courts, which acted as trial courts for criminal and civil cases relating to federal law. The Supreme Court was above the courts of appeal. The courts of appeal embodied many aspects of the previous circuit courts. The main responsibility of appellate courts is reviewing the decision of a trial court on a given appealed case, looking for ‘mistakes of law’ that the trial court may have made. They do not ‘second guess’ factual issues that the trial courts decided earlier on. In the legal system, the jury resolves factual issues and not the appellate court (Radcliffe, 1). Each court of appeals had a geographic region, which it served. For the previous Fifth Circuit, that region comprised of Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, as well as the Canal Zone, in essence the same region that the old Fifth Circuit Court served ever since the 1866 re-organization of the circuits. In the year 1869, in an endeavor to fortify the circuits, Congress, sanctioned that a circuit judge be appointed for each circuit. In 1869, President Grant appointed William Burnham Woods as the first judge of the reorganized Fifth Circuit. Don Albert Pardee succeeded him in 1881 (UScourts.gov, 1). In the 1891 Act, which created the Court of Appeals, Congress authorized a second judge for the Fifth Circuit, and in the year 1892, Texan A.P. McCormick took that position. In 1899, David D. Shelby, an attorney from Huntsville, Alabama and ex- Confederate cavalry officer became the third judge for the Fifth Circuit. The Court of Appeals Act (1891) chose one city in each circuit where court would be take place. In 1930, the number of judges in the Court of Appe

John Stuart Mills Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

John Stuart Mills Utilitarianism - Essay Example Mills view on this statement is on the quality of happiness that matters and not the quantity of pleasure. He is also of the view that one pleasure may be more valuable than another. If there is an instant where all that have exposure of both pleasures give a decided preference despite any act of moral obligation to choose it, mills sees it as the more desirable pleasure. It is evident that if one pleasure is far above the other that it is preferred even when it is not satisfying there is another pleasure in the environment is capable to fill the discontent. Mills also view that no human being can be contented to be transformed into any of the lower creature for the benefit of full interest of a beast’s pleasure. It is apparent that a man cannot wish to sink into a lower level of life. This may be associated with the love of liberty and independence (Mill, 2002). I agree with Mill in his statement that it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. The observation that even a noble character can bring less happiness to an individual as for the society it is beneficial. It is apparent that the outstanding happiness principle assures the total amount of happiness as the noble character even when it is not desirable to an individual. I agree also with Mills that no person in his conscience mind would be selfish even when he is persuaded that the fool is satisfied with his interest than he is with his. Another reason I agree with Mills is that a being of higher dignity is entitled to more to be happy. A human being is capable of more specific suffering and certainly has access to more opportunities than creature of an inferior type (Mill, 2002). In the instance one try to know what satisfies a pig, one can find out is that it is food. It is evident due to its greedy nature a pig tends to eat a lot. As for human beings satisfaction is not only brought by food as surrounding oneself with

Watergate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Watergate - Essay Example Finally, faced by a revolt from within his own party, he chose to step down. How did it come to this? The answer lay in the Watergate hotel complex and the break-in of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters there. The actions undertaken by Nixon and his lieutenants with regards to that event were unacceptable to Americans (Liebovich, 61). They belonged to a country like Romania or Guatemala. Americans had not died during the Revolutionary War against a tyrannical king only to have their president claim he was above the law. This paper will discuss the Watergate Scandal and the events leading to Nixon's resignation from the presidency. Following the discovery of the break-in to the Democratic National Committee's offices, both the courts and the media began to trace things up the chain of command. Reporters such as Woodward and Bernstein published stories linking some of Nixon's closest aides to the break-in. These men were then forced to resign. Congress began its own inves tigation, and Nixon also appointed Archibald Cox to be an independent investigator (Kutler, 330). The ties and connections between the burglars and Nixon were murky and complex. Every string that a reporter pulled ended up leading to another string or connection. So many people appeared to be either involved or trying to protect the president. During the hearings, one of the men who worked in the office of the president's counsel was asked if there was any sort of recording device in the Oval Office. It was revealed that Nixon had recorded all conversations (Kutler, 383). These tapes were subpoenaed but Nixon refused to release them, saying that they were covered by his executive privilege. This created a showdown. Most people felt that Nixon was refusing the release the tapes because they were incriminating. Nixon claimed that they had a great deal of privileged information on them. At this point, due to the many revelations, Nixon had lost the benefit of the doubt. Conversations o n the tapes showed that Nixon had discussed with John Dean the paying of blackmail money to the burglars (Liebovich, 60). Dean, the former White House counsel, later became a key witness against Nixon in the hearings. When the tapes were finally released, an 18 minute gap was discovered where portions of the tapes had been erased. This was thought by many to be a virtual admission of guilt, taking into consideration the massive mendacity that had to that point been supplied by the Nixon administration. Several more months passed. Nixon's men were indicted. Congress began to move towards a process of impeachment after more tapes revealed that Nixon knew more about the break-in than he had originally suggested. The result was that Nixon's position became untenable. He was extremely unpopular and his own party planned to vote against him. He decided to resign. A lot about this scandal is still unknown. One thing that it is easy to judge, however, is that this is an example of the maxim , the cover up is worse than the crime. The break-in was clearly illegal, but if Nixon had said at the beginning that this was bad and had turned the burglars in, it seems unlikely things would have ended up as they did. Instead, dozens of people became involved in illegal action—especially obstruction of justice—in trying to cover things up. Nixon thought he could fire special prosecutors at will. He relied on peoples' patriotism to protect himself. In the end, the American people had had enough of the spectacle he created. They were disgusted with him as their leader and he never recovered his reputation again. The coda of all of these events was surely the Frost/Nixon interviews of the late 1970s. These conversations, the first with Nixon since his

John Stuart Mills Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

John Stuart Mills Utilitarianism - Essay Example Mills view on this statement is on the quality of happiness that matters and not the quantity of pleasure. He is also of the view that one pleasure may be more valuable than another. If there is an instant where all that have exposure of both pleasures give a decided preference despite any act of moral obligation to choose it, mills sees it as the more desirable pleasure. It is evident that if one pleasure is far above the other that it is preferred even when it is not satisfying there is another pleasure in the environment is capable to fill the discontent. Mills also view that no human being can be contented to be transformed into any of the lower creature for the benefit of full interest of a beast’s pleasure. It is apparent that a man cannot wish to sink into a lower level of life. This may be associated with the love of liberty and independence (Mill, 2002). I agree with Mill in his statement that it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. The observation that even a noble character can bring less happiness to an individual as for the society it is beneficial. It is apparent that the outstanding happiness principle assures the total amount of happiness as the noble character even when it is not desirable to an individual. I agree also with Mills that no person in his conscience mind would be selfish even when he is persuaded that the fool is satisfied with his interest than he is with his. Another reason I agree with Mills is that a being of higher dignity is entitled to more to be happy. A human being is capable of more specific suffering and certainly has access to more opportunities than creature of an inferior type (Mill, 2002). In the instance one try to know what satisfies a pig, one can find out is that it is food. It is evident due to its greedy nature a pig tends to eat a lot. As for human beings satisfaction is not only brought by food as surrounding oneself with

Competitive Position Essay Example for Free

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

British Management Styles

British Management Styles 1. Introduction Some would argue that since industrialization is a rational, orderly process, striving for universal efficiency with standardizing effect, managers would clearly be the same sort of people doing the same kind of things in the same ways. This assumption could be extended to the companies themselves. Manufacturing companies, these generic units of industrialization, would be much the same with regard to their structure and general features wherever they are located. At any rate, this would be true for countries at the same stage of industrial development having the same sort of political system. For example, organisations throughout Western Europe operate in similar contexts and under the same pressures which would lead towards uniformity. The accelerated volume of trade within Europe and increasing collaboration and overlapping ownership between EU organisations would, naturally, lead to the establishment of a common Western European management style. Of course, such a case assuming or alleging that industry, management and companies are everywhere and always the same is not accepted. On the contrary, the assumption that societal culture causes the business climate and approach to management is the prevalent one (Tayeb, 1993). Even the creation of the single common market of EU, requiring common technologies and similar modern distribution and marketing methods from each organisation, does not illustrate any visible cultural assimilation, but rather a cultural synergy1. European managers in general have been reared in societies with long and deep traditions and are too conscious of their past to put aside their diversities for the sake of Europeanisation2. There can be a similar managerialism, which could be called a European managerial culture, but how far this extends; how far managers in Europe do some things the same way is an issue of analytical purposes only. Managing and organizing are not activities isolated from society, carried out by automatons in executive suits according to the universal management principles, in some glassed-in managerial sphere (Hickson, 1993, p.252). Each manager is a person formed by a society, and so the processes of managing and organizing are not separable from societies and their cultures. Hence, the last few years have seen a renewed interest in national differences and a series of comparative studies of the extent of company structure and education systems, as well as the socio-cultural factors which impinge on management style. Nowadays, it is accepted that one can generalize across individual differences in various countries and generate characterizations, either normative or empirical or both, of management styles which particular countries exhibit (Barsoux and Lawrence, 1990). This paper aims to consider the distinctiveness of the British management style on a number of dimensions. The examination of managerial practices in the UK and the relevant issues addressed are based on the interpretation with the case of management application in The Body Shop. The experience of The Body Shop as an international retailer provides us with a fine illustration of both the strengths and weaknesses of the typical British management style. In order to familiarize himself with The Body Shop case, the reader is strongly advised to look over the companys case study written by Gibson-Sweet (1994, in Harris and McDonald), before continuing with the following sections of this paper. 2. UK management Because of the fact that the United Kingdom is a multi-cultural society, identifying the typical characteristics of English managers was never an easy task3. Nevertheless, several studies have been conducted towards that purpose. Hofstede (1984) and Tayeb (1988) for example have attributed to the English a list of distinctive cultural features with direct effect on the way they conduct business. This section discusses some of the most significant features attributed to the English management with references to the case of The Body Shop. Individualism: The origins of individualism, independent thinking and self-confidence in England should be traced long back into history. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism were, in fact, the major driving forces behind the Industrial Revolution. Britons have a high regard for liberty and independence. Hence, they have cultivated a strong entrepreneurial mentality and flair. This is illustrated in the laissez faire economic context which they established for more than two hundred years, and which opposed government interference and supported unrestricted economic liberty and free competition4. Consequently, the English had traditionally developed considerable competences in dealing with export markets and responding to foreign competitors and to a flood of imports without going bust or requiring immediate trade protection. The surprising successful development and expansion of franchising in England is a clear reflection of this distinctive capacity of the British entrepreneurs. The Body Shop success owes much to this business formula. Managerial consciousness, anti-technical orientation: British managers are proud of being good all-rounders (Barsoux and Lawrence, 1990). They have a generalist outlook which is akin to the belief that management is something separable from the technical aspects of a job. Related to this idea of generalism is the notion of managerial consciousness, as against technical-orientation which is very profound in Germany. No wonder, therefore, why British managers do not tend to be especially technically minded, since such expertise is not deemed to enhance their managerial reputation or performance. Whereas German top executives would describe themselves first and foremost as specialists, British ones see themselves as managers in more generalist terms, and somewhat detached from production. Naturally, German managers are expected to be too narrow, while Britons have a much broader vision. Both Anita and Gordon Roddick had not any particular technical background but proved to be very successful all-round managers. Informality: In terms of personal exchanges, British managers are informal, especially by the standard of France or Germany. This is because British managers are in a certain way humanitarians. The Body Shop exemplifies this as it segments its market by factors such as the customers ideals and values, rather than by using technical standards. British take people as the point of reference, rather than systems objectives. In Britain, there is a conviction that management is based on individuals, not committees, systems or rule books. People are the frame of reference (Barsoux and Lawrence, 1990, p. 119). This in turn has meant that mush is achieved by means of social acceptance. Hence, influencing and conjoining is essentially persuasive5. That is why British managers take pride in showing off their ability to shape, influence and decide in informal ways and are marked by a strong grasp of political manoeuvring and manipulative skills. This attitude partly explains why British managers tend to have a negative view of conflict. Open conflict between managers is very rare as it is seen ungentlemanly rather than a means of correcting deviations, testing ideas and exerting creativity; the way it is viewed in say Germany or America. Coping well with uncertainty and setbacks: Americans and Japanese are famous for the systematic way into which they gather data and carry out market research in an effort to enhance strategic decision-making. This is not the British style at all. Environmental scanning, SWOT analysis and the like are not typical for Britain. This does not imply that strategy or forward planning is rejected, but rather that it is intuitive. Britons would argue that the full range of options, rationally conceived in an explicit and formal corporate planning, are unlikely to be realised in practice. Anita Roddicks decision to not enter Eastern Europe, for example, was mostly based on vague personal judgements and intuition, rather than market research evidences of the regions unprofitable potentials (in fact there are indications for the opposite; Alexander, 1996). In alignment to the above argument, British managers have a high tolerance for ambiguity and cope well with uncertainty and unexpected setbacks. Of course, this brand of intuitive pla nning becomes a powerful competitive advantage in todays turbulent, fast moving business environment where flexibility, initiative-taking and adaptability to change is paramount. But, exactly because the British feel comfortable in situations where not everything is explicit and space is provided for manoeuvring and exercising personal judgement, they tend to undervalue educational credentials. British companies put a stronger emphasis on pragmatism rather than professionalism, while personal qualities and background (a vague leadership quality and motivating ability as opposed to strict functional attributes), appear to receive the most frequent mention, both in relation to top and middle management. Decentralization: Bigness provides vital economies of scale, financial resources and muscle in the market. However, today it is more flexibility and responsiveness that matter for success. The argument of size is no longer all-pervasive6. Moreover, recession in the early 1980s made corporate restructure necessary for survival. British companies responded with leaner and fitter structures as well as a move towards decentralization7. SBUs were the most obvious manifestation of this transition. The application of decentralised management, in contrast to functional management, encourages autonomy and entrepreneurship and helps to motivate people by making them better informed, more responsible and giving them more control. Thus, UK companies witnessed their managers engaging in initiatives and nurtured the managerial talent they needed. Decentralization has been proved especially appropriate in sectors which are subject to rapid technical or market changes, notably services. In retailing, initiative inno vation adaptation are by far more significant factors of success than control and economies of scale, providing, thus, a strong argument in favour of decentralised structures and approaches to management which UK enterprises have mastered exceptionally well over the past two decades. The Body Shop case is a clear reflection of this: its success was built on creative initiatives and innovation, not on its size and say effective financial control. Democratic management style: There is a wide agreement that control in British business organisations is relatively dispersed. In other words, the democratic style, also referred to as participative or semi-constitutional is the prevalent one in British firms. It can be reflected on the fact that subordinates are consulted in decision-making and are given wide opportunities to exercise discretion in their work. Contrary to the autocratic, paternalistic approach that German firms share, top management in UK displays a willingness to delegate to lower management and counts on the subordinates strong sense of responsibility. Even in the case of UKs small, family-run firms (where a paternalistic pattern is supposed to emerge), British managers (and owners in most cases) do not portray a pure autocratic style, but rather a mixture of democratism autocratism, which is referred to as sophisticated paternalism. Thus, UKs family businesses manage to retain a decentralised decision-making approach while upholding their d istinctive social ethos and religious dissent. This is very evident in many UK firms (e.g. Cadbury, Clarks), but most of all in The Body Shop. However, there are many who suggest that Anita and Gordon Roddick should give up insisting on operating the company along what are essentially family-run lines as this seems to be inappropriate and potentially damaging for the companys future prosperity. Conservatism: The English are widely seen to be a nation with a love for the past, traditionalism, conservatism, and a reluctance to change. Anita Roddick refused to change the business practices applied to The Body Shop no matter how the City or the economic recession forced her to do so. Moreover, she seems not to take advantage of the possibilities offered to franchising from the Internet (Wymbs, 2000), mostly because of conservatism than of any other particular reason. The British conservatism partly explains their reluctance on applying modern technology in their businesses. However, due to this stubbornness on using outdated machinery, British firms missed the opportunity to become first movers in many industries and, subsequently, faced formidable catch-up problems. Lack of ambition: Despite the resurgence in their desire to do business during the 1980s, mostly as a result of the Thatcherism (The Economist, 1989), Britons display little love for business. Involvement in entrepreneurial activity for the purpose of making money has never been respectable. This should be traced to the English educational system and its dominant values. Traditionally, arts and classics were given high priority relatively to engineering and technology. In business conditions, the goal has been traditionally satisfactory rather than outstanding performance. Domestic rivalry is viewed as distasteful, vulgar and certainly ungentlemanly. Therefore, UK firms lack the strong profit orientation of the Americans or the market expansionism of the Japanese. Merging rather than competing is a common choice or perceived necessity. In this respect, the franchising system, on which The Body Shop relied much, fits very well the typical anti-rivalry notion found in Britain. Low value placed on education: Compared with their counterparts in other advanced nations, British managers are still under-educated and poorly trained, notwithstanding the recent growth in university and college provision8. In Britain there has been an anti-intellectual tradition which devalues training, particularly of a vocational kind (Barsoux and Lawrence, 1990; Lane, 1989; Keeble, 1992; Gospel, 1992). Porter (1990) comments on the British educational system as lagging behind virtually all the nations he studied! The country traditionally relied on practicing at doing the job to produce its managerial stock. Naturally, business owners provide very limited support to vocational training as they see it as a cost, a waste of their precious capital, rather than an investment with long-term benefits9. Industrial management in Britain did not attract the intellectual elite and had a relatively small intake of university graduates (Fitzgerald, 1993). The relative value placed on finance (a degree in accounting is he ld to be an ideal qualification for a top management post) suggests an emphasis on the short-term at the expense of the long-term, with research being the prime victim. The process of education is of central importance and needs some further elaboration. The continued under-investment in human capital provided little opportunities for the British economy to exploit its pool of gifted labour force and elevate it from the mere status of gifted amateurs (Jones 1997). One reason that explains the under-developed pattern of vocational education in UK lies at the, until very recently, states deliberate low involvement, even denial of responsibility to the issue. Consequently it was left as a matter for employers and unions. But, as explained above, line management was never persuaded of the direct link between profitability and competitiveness through training and regarded training schemes as an overhead to be cut when profits were threatened. The deepening recession in the 1980s made emp loyers even les willing to invest on training. Moreover, criticism has been levelled at the wide variety of inappropriate training schemes existing in Britain (Lane, 1989). For example, the apprenticeship system was highly inefficient in terms of responsiveness to changing production conditions and contributed even further to the generation of low-skilled labour. Several quotations (Bierhoff and Prais, 1993; Roffe, 1999; Matlay, 1999) for improving both the quantity and quality of vocational education in UK, arguing for the need of a more systematic and homogenous system have been occasionally proposed but not headed. Short-termism: English managers have a very short-term perspective in business planning relative to their major competitors, especially the Japanese and German. In middle management this can be seen in the flair for improvisation. Higher up in the company it manifests itself in the willingness to cut or defer such thing as advertising or RD expenditure in order to meet year-end budgets without worrying about the long-term repercussions of such a course of action10 (Gordon, 1990; Handy, 1988). In this respect, emphasis on growth (as this is seen in France), market share (as in Japan) and continuous quality improvement (like Germany) is not evident in British enterprises. Anti-industrial orientation: British culture has a large alleged impact on the development of anti-industrial orientation, evident on the low esteem that traditionally a career in British industry carried. Hofstede (1984) provides an element of explanation on the basis that British rank very high in the individualistic and uncertainty avoidance cultural dimension. Therefore, Britons have an inherent inclination on risky and entrepreneurial, rather than manufacturing, capital-based activities. British managers continued to prefer old machinery and production processes exactly because of this personal value system which favoured trading, rather than manufacturing. However, this attitude meant the downfall of the British manufacturing industry and a relative decline in the indigenous economy in a sequential manner (Van Ark, 1990; Dintenfass, 1992) as this can be portrayed by stats such as: GDP growth, national income, volume of trade exports and so on (Davis et al, 1992, Dicken, 1999). The Body Shop, on the other h and, illustrates a very good example of how British firms establish competitive advantages not by using modern, hi-tech machinery, but rather through intuition and originality. The Body Shop managed to promote the green issue in a genuine and passionate way, promoting wider societal issues through sponsorship and captured the imagination of consumers worldwide. The companys advertising expenses were grounded to zero; still its marketing approach was highly successful. The Body Shop case, then, moves us to a consideration that will be further elaborated in the following chapter: that British firms have lost their edge on manufacturing but, in the mean time, enhanced their worldwide competitive position in the service sector and in industries like retailing. In this respect, the British economy has mastered a transition from an industry-oriented one to a services-oriented one. 3. UK management and retailing: an integrated approach Insufficient investments in modern technology, industrial relations problems and low level of skill and motivation in the labour force affected productivity and condemned Britains manufacturing industry. However, when it comes to the service sector, the whole picture is very different. For example, while in heavy manufacturing the German labour productivity is found to be 22% higher than that of British as a result of differences in physical capital and engineer-related human capital (OMahony, 1992), such a difference has not been experienced in less capital-intensive and less engineer-related industries (food, drink tobacco, textiles, chemicals). Britain experienced a rapid growth of the service sector as early as in the 19th century, but was exceptional in the 1980s and 1990s (Godley and Fletcher, 2000). Today British firms outperform most of their counterparts in the service sector. In regards of specific industries, such as retailing and financial services, this is very profound (Millward, 1990). The typical British personal capitalism (Chandler, 1990) concept suits the purposes of such industries where the production process is relatively straightforward, offers few opportunities for economies of scale but many opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives (Jones, 1997). Take as example the creative ideas of Anita Roddick and the originality of her business practices. Without having sufficient funds, she built the companys success only by relying on her wits. More importantly, since The Body Shops competences are not based on technology and machinery utilization but on its founders creativity, intuition and entrepreneurial capacities, the companys business model is very hard to be imitated and the competitive advantages deriving from it are highly sustainable. British firms, especially in 1970s and 1980s pursued successful strategies of product differentiation and product diversification and possessed capabilities in brand management and distribution, which they employed both in extensive exporting activity and through extensive multinational investments (Alexander, 1997). The British competitive performance in the service sector contradicts the image of British enterprise lacking organisational capability in manufacturing industry. Indeed, research by Balasubramanyam (1992) shows that British corporations in retailing appeared to possess competitive strengths in highly developed management skills, in effect, financial management and marketing management, rather than in production management. Jones (1993) adds to the list of Britains core competences the following: incumbency, experience, and powerful intangible assets, most notably reputation for honesty and stability. Jones and Morgan (1994) suggest that such entrepreneurial and trading skills may have been inherited from the family-firm tradition. The culturist hypothesis suggested in previous sections of this paper might explain the outstanding British performance in such kinds of managerial skills. The above clearly suggest that a distinction must be made between the competitiveness of the British firms in manufacturing and in services (Jones, 1994). Throughout the postwar period and into the 1990s the British retailers were the largest sectorial direct investors in the United States, a position maintained by extensive acquisition activity (Lipsey, 1993). This must have involved considerable organisational and management skills, or else it could not have been sustained. Britons possess skills that evolve into strong core competences when it comes to the service sector and particularly the retailing. Hence, generalizations such as those of Porters slide of Britain (1990) and the Chandlerian critiques should consider more thoroughly the British strength in the less capital intensive and technology oriented industries such as: consumer branded goods (including beverages, confectionary products, cosmetics, perfumes, household products and so on), retailing, financial related servic es, auctioneering, entertainment, publishing, leisure products, consultancy, advertising. Britains broad strength in services partly reflects demand conditions. In business services, a combination of skilled human resources and early industrial strength has given British firms a solid position. In retailing, strength in high-end consumer goods (luxury and wealth-related products) was further supported by a sophisticated domestic demand retained, especially around London. Many of the industries in which Britain still has competitive advantage, technological change has not been significant enough to provide worldwide competitors with a lever to supplant British firms on the basis of their technological superiority, especially in the high-end segments that are not price-sensitive and where buyers value traditional methods. Finally, those areas where UK firms have sustained competitive advantage partly owe it to related and supported industries. In consumer goods and services, a vibrant retail sector has created pressures to innovate. This environment has been a fertile one for British firms to develop skills in consumer marketing. The City of London illustrates a classical example of a sector built upon the concept of clustering11. The dynamism of the cluster has attracted firms from all over the world, solidifying Londons position as Europes financial centre. 4. Conclusions Overall, in response to historic, ecologic and evolutionary processes, UK has created a culture and social climate which stand English managers and their companies in good stead in many respects, but handicap them in some others (Schneider and Barsoux, 1997). Their honesty, trust, self-control, and creativity are their major cultural assets, while their individualism, professionalism and reserve give an impersonal and formal air to business dealings. However, in their effort to deal with competitive markets, they are hampered by unhelpful aspects of their culture and their society. These include capital market short-termism, less-than-favourable attitudes to business, traditionalism, reluctance to embrace new technology wholeheartedly, and ill-prepared school leavers and university graduates. Of course, in retailing, as the case of The Body Shop clearly illustrates, UK management style is highly successful, as most of the negative cultural influences do not affect their performance i n the industry, while the positive ones are those that really matter and provide them with a competitive edge. We have looked at the British management style as at a national level, but this is not the only option. Style may also be construed diachronically, as an expression of a society -and a world- in transition. With this in mind, one might ask what the future will bring in British management. The chances must favour a gradual convergence with Western Europe in ways of managing and organizing, if only because so many influences lead that way. But it is likely to be drawing together that will never completely come together. In other words there are likely to be more similarities, but differences will persist. 5. Notes In fact, Hofstede (1993) explicitly argues that culturally, Europe does not exist. In his studies (1984), the EU countries seem to broaden diachronically their already well-established heterogeneity in terms of cultural values. He also comments on a paradox: despite the fact that Europeans are genetically more homogenous relatively to North Americans, culturally they are significantly more heterogeneous. The notion that Europeans are culturally alike, even if they look more or less alike, goes against the initial optimism of the founders of the EU, who believed in cultural convergence through economic activity. It is still in conflict with the assumptions of many national politicians, journalists, members of the public, and particularly, many non-Europeans. Moreover, the traditional conflicting nature of the relationship between the working and the middle class puts in question even the existence of a homogenous English culture. However, similarities between the two classes are far greater than their differences. Also, their exposition to common social institutions and a constant fusion of values and attitudes among them is such that, in the end, their only basic difference lies to their family upbringing (Tayeb, 1993). It would be, therefore, safe to assume that the two classes are sufficiently alike to talk about an English culture. Besides, there is possibly no nation in which total class homogeneity exists, but historically, this fact did not pose serious threats to the emergence of distinctive national cultures. Of course, the contemporary economy can hardly be called a pure version of capitalism since it is characterized by a mixture of freedom and control, and of private and state enterprise. The emphasis on freedom or control shifted from time to time depending on the policies pursued by the government of the day (conservative governments applied no control beyond fiscal policies, while labour governments tended to use direct control mechanisms). The strongest weapon the British employ for their persuasion to be as gentle as possible is, of course, their humor. Their readiness to joke about business matters is very distinctive. Efficiency, productivity and profit are constant targets for wisecracks. Humor is seen as a device for distancing the unpleasant parts of business life and a safety valve for preserving managerial sanity, perhaps a means of coping with defeat. However, as Barsoux and Lawrence (1990) argue, exactly because jokes suspend reality momentarily, British managers are left with the option not to react. The subversive impact of jokes prevents them of being effective as change agents. The theme of Big Business which was dominant in Europe till the early 1980s failed to respond to the changing European environment since then (low labour productivity growth, high unemployment, slow innovation and low profit margins). The transaction cost theory (Hennart, 2000) or internalisation theory (Buckley and Casson, 1978) provides us with a consistent explanation based on the premise that variations in transaction costs alter the optimum size of firms. Hence, falling transaction costs since 1980s forced a fall in the optimum size of firms making the National Champions highly uncompetitive and SMEs (mostly family-businesses) the emerging pattern. According to others (e.g. Lane, 1989; Jones, 1994), the decentralised nature of UK management is mostly a result of the way British firms actually grew, in effect, through mergers and acquisitions rather than organic growth. This pattern created large firms consisted of a number of small firms, which did not undertake a thorough rationalization of production activity. Such a structure necessitated a decentralised mode of decision-making, regardless of what sentiments top management had on this matter. Lane (1989) provides data from the IMS which illustrate that in contrast to Germany and other advanced European economies, British young people have until very recently gone straight into employment after finishing their compulsory secondary schooling without receiving any vocational education at all. Investment in training by industry has been estimated by Porter (1990) at far less than 1% of revenues in Britain, compared to 2% in Germany and 3% in Japan. For comparative purposes, Germany is found to be far more ahead than UK in the rate of enterprises using the technically most advanced processes and machinery, such as CAD, CNC tools and flexible manufacturing systems. The faster adoption of sophisticated technological devices and processes by Germans can explain their superiority over British firms in high-technology products (Lane, 1989). Porter (1998) uses the term cluster to refer to the geographical concentrations of interconnected companies in a particular location. Other terms used in bibliography for the same purpose, more or less, are agglomeration and industrial districts.