Can an eye for an eye be morally justified Essay - 2

Can an eye for an eye be morally justified - Essay Example Beginning with the premise that killing someone is a barbaric act solves nearly half the problems. But then again, this has to be comprehended in due course of time and through different events. An eye for an eye will actually make the entire world blind and this globe would be filled with disabled people all around. Hence an eye for an eye concept simply nosedives for obvious reasons. When people start killing each other, the entire society comes to a standstill. There are families which lose out on their loved ones and then there are individuals who suffer because they have started missing a near and dear one within their lives. There is so much trouble happening within the world of today that it is next to impossible to fathom what exactly is going about. The people are fighting amongst themselves and thus killing each other because they feel this is the best way to find solace. I am vehemently against this dictum because it spells out negativity from the very outset of these nuan ces. There are individuals who will go all out in even a small dispute or moment of disparity. They will do everything to get their message heard and make their own selves the much-cherished winners. This, according to them, can only be done through killing the opponent – an act that is not only unacceptable but also barbaric in the sheerest sense. It makes life miserable for just about everyone within the society and gives a whole new meaning to the philosophy of living and letting others live as well.

Jackson Pollock's Painting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jackson Pollock's Painting - Assignment Example The paper "Jackson Pollock's Painting" focuses on the paintings of Jackson Pollock. His art is considered as the modern art and shows how the modern artists contributed to a change in creating arts like paintings and sculptures bringing it to the international stage for Avant-garde art. Through Jackson Pollock’s paint on convergence it shows an innovative method of the development in the history of painting. During that time of painting there was cold war between the United States and Russia; convergence painting was a way of expressing freedom of expression. Convergence art was a clear expression showing his feelings as it was an impression on social realism and also overt political gestures as it showed realism. This art by Jackson Pollock shows simplicity in its creation as he mainly use the available art applicants like household’s paint, sand, syringes, knives. Through the convergence painting we can see that it is a way he used in expressing his feelings as he eng ages his body movement thereby bringing a new technology known as active painting in art. It can also be seen that his painting shows originality as he uses his own techniques inputting different light colors which blend well bringing out a great painting. Jackson Pollock developed a unique and by pouring and dripping paint on canvas he tried to create a new technique in painting which was later known as drip technique. He used household’s paints and did not rely on artists painting showing his creativity using different types of paint applicants.

Organizational Behavior Concepts Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behavior Concepts Essay Every organization has its own unique behaviors, attributes, traits and values that define the organization’s methodology of forming amicable relationships by accomplishing human, social and organizational goals. Organizational studies are the research and application of human behavior within an organization as individuals and as a member of a team. Some of the basic organizational concepts are motivation, group behavior, decision making, corporate culture, structure, power and politics, communication, human resources practices and change management. These organizational concepts have to be studied in order to judge the failure or the success of an organization; especially, how well these concepts are dealt with by the employees or management. Motivation is the driving force of the organization towards its goals; group behavior refers to the team work within the organization and the relationship of employees with one another; decision making is the selection of an option from various alternatives using cognitive abilities; corporate culture is the reflection of the organization’s core values, missions, goals, traditions and beliefs based on which the organizational practices take place; structure is the basis for the organization’s operational activities, that is, the organization’s arrangement and formation or even hierarchies; power and politics refer to the authority, external control and influence; communication is extent to which the ideas are shared within an organization; human resources practices refers to the structure, tasks, importance and rights of the employees of the organization; and change management refers to the extent to which the organization is molding itself for success in accorda nce with the external stimuli. The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 by Walt and Roy Disney. Since then, Walt Disney Company along with its affiliated companies have been faithfully serving their fans by producing unique and remarkable entertainment with quality and creativity oozing from its content and exceptional stories. The Walt Disney Company is the biggest international media enterprise with four divisions; media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer products. Examples of these divisions include, Hanna Montana, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse, Disneyland Park, Disney Line Cruise, Interactive Studios, www. disneyshopping. com, Disney Channel and ABC entertainment. Almost every organization has one uniform behavior that needs to be implemented for the foundation building of the organization – corporate culture. Corporate culture is a set of core values, beliefs, traditions, operational styles, work ethics, employee behavior and basic business principles on which the business is based. All the activities and procedures taking place in the organizations are a reflection of the organization’s corporate culture (Moir, 2008). Only if an employee is able to adapt to the corporate culture can he work in accordance to the requirements of the organization; in fact, the corporate culture is a guideline for them. There are two types of cultures – adaptive and unadaptive. Adaptive cultures are suitable for ever-changing environments where strategies and structures might be needed to change due to changing external stimuli such as markets, legal-political, international pressures, economical conditions, social fulfillments or simply customers, competitors and suppliers (Fuentes-Garcia et al. , 2008). Adaptive cultures are further divided into visible and invisible cultures. Some parts of the culture are visible, such as slogans, symbols, artifacts, dress, and office layout and even ceremonies – things that an outsider can observe and use for judging the organization’s culture. The other division is the invisible culture which includes the beliefs and values that are embedded within the system and employees’ heads; this part of the culture helps them take decisions based on the organization’s culture. On the other hand, unadaptive cultures are ones in which change is rarely brought about and also with great difficulty due to the rigidity of the organization’s practices and traditions. This unadaptive culture is usually an unhealthy one which is further divided into cultures that are hierarchy and politics based, that show resistance to change, those that do not like opening up to the external environment and are inwardly attentive, and lastly are unethical and driven by illegal factors such as greed. Such culturally structured businesses usually do not have a high quality performance and do not facilitate strategy execution. However, even if the culture is adaptive, once an organization’s corporate culture is established, it is difficult to bring about changes in it. This is because everything in the organization is developed and designed in accordance with the culture; bringing a major change in every petty thing is a very costly act. Corporate culture and strategy come together as a ‘culture-strategy fit’ – the tighter this bond is, the more the culture helps in designing the strategy execution by directing and leading the behavior and practices of the employee into the success direction. Therefore, multinational corporations should formulate a culture that fits within all countries so that its strategy execution is possible all around the globe (World News Connection, 2008). Like every other organization, Disney also uses its corporate culture to formulate strategies. The core values of Disney are quality, innovation, decency, and employee justice. Since the day the company started operating, it has focused excellence, class, value, and worthy production. All the stories, animations and entertainment resorts etc by The Walt Disney Company are of eminence and unparalleled. Innovation is the most important characteristic of this company; no customer or viewer is interested in watching things that have been shown earlier on television – they demand for something new and unique every time. This need is fulfilled by Disney at all costs, as it is one of their competitive advantages – creativity! This pool of new ideas every time is the reason for the success of the company and the reason for its growth by the day. Disney also focuses on ‘family’ entertainment; thus, it tries to ensure decency so that people of all ages can enjoy a certain clipping together. In a corporate environment when there are hierarchies involved, employees at a higher level tend to use their authority on those under their control. This tends to irritate employees and reduce their job satisfaction which directly affects their productivity and commitment to the company. Therefore, The Walt Disney Company makes it a point to give equal treatment to all employees; in fact, give them importance as they would to a guest. This helps to build cordial relations among the employees and management, causing the sharing of ideas to take place. It creates a comfort level causing the employees to enjoy participation. Naturally, this involvement increases their loyalty to their company and shoots their productivity. Cultural diversity is also a major constituent of Disney’s culture – this is evident even in their products. There is not just Disney World and Disneyland anymore, there is Tokyo Disneyland Resort and Hong Kong Disney Land – people from various cultures and nationalities can enjoy the magic of Disney closer to their homes. Motivation is normally defined as a force that drives a person towards a goal. In the world of business, motivation is to drive the employee towards enhanced productivity by exploiting the abilities to the maximum potential, by improving the job performance. It becomes self-explanatory that it is the job of the manager to monitor and control the human resource available by motivating the employee and instilling in them a positive attitude towards the tasks assigned to them. This helps in accomplishing the tasks that would not be fulfilled otherwise (Nohria et al. , 2008). Therefore, it is crucial for a manager to understand different theories and various techniques of motivation. Motivation is a state of mind – different people get motivated by various different things. However, there are certain fixed factors that motivate a person by nature. These factors include money, prosperity, popularity, success, higher knowledge and happiness (Campbell, 2002). A successful manager would target employees in groups depending upon the factor that influences them. Also, a person should try to self-evaluate oneself in order to learn what influences them or what drives them towards their maximum potential. For example, an extremely poor clerk with a big family to provide for is well aware of the fact that a greater wage would motivate him towards doing whatever is expected of him. When provided with incentives, the behaviour or attitude of the employee towards the task changes and he becomes more involved and devoted to it. In order to receive the reward that is set for him, he tends to give top priority to the work assigned and finish is as soon as possible. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) from a business point of view portrays physiological needs (salary, ambience), safety needs (pensions, insurance, medical care), belongingness needs (social gatherings, relationship with co-workers), self-esteem (job title, post, authority) and self-actualization (opportunities to display skills, development opportunities) ranking from one (most important) to five (least important) respectively. The Walt Disney Company has a clear knowledge of all this incentives and motivational tactics; thus, it chose to give importance to its employees as a boost to their confidence. The rise in self-respect and prestige that they received by requesting for their ideas to be shared for the betterment of the company motivated them to work. However, there was a time earlier on when there were rigid hierarchies at Disney. But now, the company has a culture of teamwork – they believe that every employee is capable enough to give his or her suggestion for the company. Their structure reduced rigid hierarchies and an authoritarian style of management. In fact, people maintained friendly relations and held an open forum for discussion of various issues. Even Disney believes in giving small rewards to its workers to give them an incentive to work harder for success. Disney even has sessions and seminars for instilling the corporate culture into the employees and motivating them to raise productivity bars. At the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, out of the 180 recognition awards, one is called the Fred Award; it was named after an employee but also is an acronym for friendly, resourceful, enthusiastic and dependable. Other awards generating from this Fred award are Spirit of Fred Award and even The Lifetime Fred Award, which is a bronze statuette of Mickey Mouse (Disney Magic, 2008). This, along with other extremely coveted awards, is a driving force or incentive for the employees to work more proficiently so that they can receive this award. The world is progressing in every aspect of life. There is intense development and urbanization taking place. Day after day, as population increases, demand for goods and services also increases; this creates a need for more companies and more employment. Almost everyday we hear names of new companies who have recently joined the market competition. As more and more companies are emerging, there is naturally a greater supply of similar goods in the market; some of these goods are better than the other which increases the standard of competition. Competition is not only restricted to your local market; with increasing globalization, the entire international forum is becoming your playing field. Competition is becoming so intense by the minute that no company can afford to slack off for even a day; every company needs to be operating at its maximum level to make its place into the market. The secret to a successful organization is its management – if there is a smooth managerial supervision with each department working efficiently and effectively, the company is guaranteed to succeed. Even if a company has the best of employees and human resource available, unless and until everything is well-structured and well organized, the company cannot reach successful heights. As the world around us advances, we need to keep in pace with them and cope up. At times to bring about a positive change in an organization, there is a need for restructuring, switching to more innovative methods of production, technological advancement and even use of research and development. This organizational behavior concept is called ‘change management’ – it is the shift of organizations, teams, or even individuals from the existing stage to a preferred stage in the future (Burge, 2008). Disney started off with marvelous creative ideas and kept working with them. They earned a big share of the TV audience and earned great revenue; for this reason, they were extremely satisfied with what they were doing. However, due to a shift in the environment, suppliers, customers and competitors, the strategic context of Disney had changed a bit. This alteration of the strategic context was not working out; there was a 13% decline of the ABC network ratings among 18-49 years aged people. This was the time when it was obvious that the company had stopped growing – children of age 9-10 were not interested in Disney characters that came from history or myths and had shifted to contemporary cartoon characters made by Nickelodeon. There was structural and cultural, both, resistance to change at Disney and there was a severe need to eradicate this. Disney depended on its old way due to the extreme interdependence of the organization’s structures, schemes and procedures. Disney had a very smooth corporate culture which is also mentioned earlier; this same culture led to great success. But at the same time, it brings a halt to the improvement; that is, organizations become content and do not strive for more. According to Fortune, 1999, this resistance to change caused great difficulty for Disney. However, Disney has currently regained its success by working on change and a more flexible culture and structure – realizing where they went wrong, what the customers want, and then bringing that change in the organization accordingly. Each organization might have one or two important behaviors, but usually practice all of the above mentioned organizational behavior concepts. The driving force for the employees at Disney is respect, prestige and accolades; corporate culture includes quality, innovation, decency, and justice with employees; lastly, on realizing that sales and market share were falling, change management was adopted. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that although like every other organization, even Disney follows all these organizational behavior concepts, but motivation, change management and corporate culture have been mostly evidently seen since the past. It is very important for us to study these organizational behavior concepts in-depth as they help us in understanding the needs of the people and the organization itself.

Reducing Carbon Emissions Of The Construction Industry

Reducing Carbon Emissions Of The Construction Industry It is ideal to mention that almost all things emerging around us are constructed out of carbon. However carbons in forms of solid are less damaging; such forms are tree tail or a layer of coal in the ground [1]. CO2 is produced from diverse sources, one of which is energy, i.e, the production of energy takes place from burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas, coal, used in power plants, transportation and other construction industrial conveniences and almost everything we do in our live is involved energy. All of the carbon emitters ranging from energy generation to transportation are found for the benefit of humans. So its essential for us to seriously consider and work on reducing CO2 emission. Subsequently, the future will force us to reduce our emission as we will see clearly what negative affect our emitters have had on the environment In addition, every facet of the UKs economy from construction to transportation to agriculture is dependent on fossil fuel imitative energy in fact the emissions of carbon dioxide were over 150 million tonnes in 2004[2] that comes from burning fossil fuels. As we search and try to discover different means of energy sources, we are still facing the certainty that CO2 emission from UK economy is still rising and actions must be come into view to equalise and cut the emissions that we cannot yet eradicate. Figure (2) [3] The UK is currently likely to reduce emissions of CO2 by 15-18% of 1990 levels by 2010 [4]as shown in the figure (2) above; In order from the government to meet these figures, variety of methods are implemented to reduce the CO2 emission, trees are one way to offset carbon emission. Planting tree is a probable process to deal with climate change and it is one of the few methods that in fact eradicate active CO2 from the environment by using a process called (carbon sequestration). Trees are known of absorbing CO2 of the atmosphere and provide it with O2 instead. This operation is referred to as Carbon Sequestration, in addition to the mentioned above, plants do also give back some CO2 but it is of such a small amount, that the effect of tree to nature and the atmosphere is seen totally positive. Other methods that can be used in reducing carbon footprint are factors such as Solar power, Recycling, Water saving and Thermal insulation. Solar power can be used to convert the suns power into other energy sources typically heat, electricity or hot water. This mean of energy generation was adopted due to its extremely low carbon print and hence having no negative effect on the environment during the power generation process. Recycling is significant in the process of reducing the amount of waste dispatched to land fill in comparison to new means of cutting the excessive use of natural sources and materials. Saving water is necessary because there is an increase in population and therefore the rate of water usage is greater than ever, but the water suppliers have a limited contribute obtainable for drinking. Those water suppliers need to use energy to run their treatment plants and pumping water; therefore reducing the usage will save energy considerably. Thermal insulation is used mostly in buildings to prevent having unnecessary heat driven in the structure; this will result in low running cost and less spending on central heating systems as well as reducing the power consumption from electricity. _________________________________________________________________________ Part 2: CO2 emission in construction: One of the major causes of CO2 emission in the UK is caused by construction. This is due to the fact that the construction industry uses untreated materials which are considered as major elements in generating noise, dust and considerable amount of waste. Furthermore, the production and use of concrete has an enormous environmental effect this is because Cement is an energy consumer and CO2 fabricated material. Other factors and causes of CO2 emission are things such as products that use high temperature processes to produce elements such as cement, bricks; these are considered as a main user of energy and emitter of greenhouse gases. Other material productions that can lead to CO2 emission are lead, iron and other chemical creation such as ammonia and titanium dioxide that can definitely cause negative impact to the environment. Part2: Changes have been made to meet targets of reducing CO2 emission Currently United Kingdom is working for changes toward producing and distributing a Greener and environmentally friendly energy. Simple example of those changes is pay-as-you-electrical supply, helping homes produce their own clean energy and boosting electricity production from low carbon sources, which in turn aid in the reduction of CO2 emission. At the moment 21 % of reduction has already been achieved from different sectors. This is equivalent to cutting all emissions from a city four times the size of London.[5] by making these necessary changes. So The UK government has already set targets to meet its goal of making reduction in the CO2 emission and construction is one of the areas that need to be considered in order to meet these targets. One of the actions the government has done to meet the targets is to reduce waste resulted from construction. Therefore, it has introduced the Site Waste Management Plans (SWMP) which came into force to make construction companies manage their waste generated on site, (more details of this scheme can be found in the recycling section). Other organisations supported by the government that help contractors to manage and reduce waste are (Norfolk Waste Recycling Assistance Project) (NORWRAP) and The National House Building Council (NHBC), these organisation are part of the commitment and changes the government has done to help reduce CO2 emission by launching an outline plan for these changes including waste collection and recycling. Accordingly, this will reduce the landfill and the removal tax as well as reducing the labour costs of transporting these waste materials. Other Ways in which the UK will meet its targets in further reduction of CO2 emissions are set out in the following areas: Transport organism Homes and society Power system Managing lands, Farms more sustainably Figures of CO2 consumption in the UK from 1990 to 2007 resulted from different sectors are shown below: Figure (4) [6] Transport organism: Most of the energy consumed in this sector is caused from different fuel types; few of which are petroleum, diesel and gasoline. As most types of transport means use these fuels, thus the emission of CO2 caused from the transportation sector continued to increase since (1990). Transportation is deemed as one of the major sectors that can be mortified to meet CO2 reduction targets due to different reasons: People can be greener in the present and future by choosing the most sustainable and lowest carbon ways of meeting their transport needs. The government can support companies that generate low carbon vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Homes and society (Residential): The main goal in this sector is to make residential homes more efficient and support small scale renewable energy projects. This intern will be enhancing green infrastructure and reduce the production of CO2 as it can be seen in Figure (4). Which can then improve the flexibility of our places to impacts of climate change such as flooding and over-heating, therefore it is vital that we acquire a long-term view to develop the functioning of our existing places. Different type of energy sources are consumed by housing some of which are related to lights, water heating and cooking space. New targets according to Governments resource [7] include: Pay as you save pilots helping people make their house greener by using the savings made on bills to repay the upfront costs. Encouragement on the new clean energy cash-back scheme, which means people will be paid for generating electricity from low carbon sources. The power system (energy supply): The most effective way in which CO2 reductions can be achieved is by enhancing the way electricity is generated. Biomass is one of the means the government aim to use in producing electricity; biomass can be converted into gas or liquid fuels by using chemicals or heat to convert that energy into a usable energy source such as electricity. However, CO2 that is released during the production of energy (electricity) from biomass is balanced by that which is absorbed during the production of the fuel itself [8] which make this method considerably energy efficient. Managing land, Farms more sustainably: We have reached an era where we can use technical and methodological ideas such as recycling usable materials, converting the organic material into usable fuel and digging up landfills for extracting solid waste are all logical and feasible ideas whose time has come. Reduction of emissions from agriculture, land use and waste can be achieved by sustaining the resources available for growing food and by well managing water and soil quality. Also allowing undeveloped land for development that greenly meet human needs, as well as supporting the anaerobic digestion, a process that turns organic materials such as food waste, slurries and manures into renewable energy in form of biogas [9] this can be used as an electricity production source thats why it widely spread across Europe. Part 3: Recycling Recycling is considered as a method of making the best use of the waste materials as well as, reducing the excessive use of the currently available natural materials. Recycling also plays a role in reducing pollution caused by dumping waste materials in the ground. Such strategy is very useful in these times where natural sources are of limited existences and need for those resources are gradually increasing day after another. This isnt only for the sake of the current generation but the upcoming generation will live their entire lives in a world we left for them, hence, we must take maximum care. From a technical point of view, recycling is a process that takes less energy to perform and complete than starting the creation of that certain material from scratch. A clear example of that is the use of steel in construction, where melting it and reforming it is by far, an easier process than making the mixing and forming process from the beginning. In figures, researches reached the fact that Aluminium makes use of 5% less energy when made through recycling [10], in comparison to making from the original composites. In this project, the main recycling sector to be discussed is recycling in construction. Construction is considered in many researches as a result of its major impact on the total recycling in the country. The value of construction industry works out to be  £100bn a year and is responsible for 8% of the domestic product in the United Kingdom [11]. Given this field has this crucial influence, it will of course, have a positive impact on the recycling process in total. The recycle process in the construction industry is a process that is involved in the sub-fields of public buildings, houses, roads, public access points, marine structures and major factories. Despite of all the current policies to reduce the emissions and increase the efficiency of recycling, the UK still doesnt meet the drawn targets. This only means, new methods and strategies must be taken. In addition to the local preferences, government policies and legislations; the government was pushed by the EU in 2007 to come up with the Waste Strategy for England 2007. As mentioned earlier, if recycling doesnt take place, the alternative method to get rid of waste materials will be dumping them in the ground. The negatives of this process are a minimum if the dumped materials are bio-degradable, but in case they arent, recycling will play a major role in solving this problem, prevent causing damage to the environment and make a positive use of those non-bio-degradable materials. Following those government legislation, the construction field has followed the following strategies: Improve after-life of constructions to increase the efficiency and cause less need for waste removal. Appropriate disposal of hazardous waste to avoid causing damage to the environment and categorise the waste accordingly. Treat some of the materials those could be treated without the need for recycling to avoid unnecessary waste of energy. In relation with government strategies; the Site Waste Management Plans (SWMP) regulation was released in 2008; targeting major construction projects in England with a cost over  £300,000 [12]. This scheme works on the basis of registering what materials will be used, how they will be demolished, when and how they will be dumped or recycled. This scheme stands on the following aims: Reduce the amount of waste produced from construction, demolition or refurbishing. Increase waste recycling and improve efficiency of the recycling process and the materials generated by it. Ensure appropriate disposal of waste materials and diagnose when they are reach the stage to be dumped in the ground (after how many stages of curing), alternatively make better and second use of them to minimize any waste generated, this is presented in the simple flow chart below: Process of minimising construction waste materials [13]

The Characters Hidden Values and Needs in To The Lighthouse Essay

The Characters Hidden Values and Needs in To The Lighthouse  Ã‚   Woolf's chosen role as an author is to uncover the hidden values and needs of her characters' psychologies, and by extension of this, those of her readers — each frequent realization of the character's is a real and vividly personal epiphany, the like of which 'real-life' persons do not have such a feel for on a day-to-day basis; the characters are in a very real sense perhaps too self-aware to be considered 'real'. (Tansley and Lily at the dinner table each understand their situations perfectly.) The underlying message Woolf seems to be seeking to present is that this self-knowledge is not necessarily inherently of any worth — Tansley, for instance, is unable to control his desire to subjugate others in his own mind to prop up his own insecure self-esteem; his realization of this fact is not an empowerment to alter the fact. Lily feels restrained in a similar fashion; years after their utterance, Tansley's words (p94) "women can't write, women can't paint", though cush ioned with the knowledge that "clearly it was not true to him but for some reason helpful" (also p94), still cannot be completely discounted from her mind. Lily's struggle to marshall her memories into a cohesive and enduring monument of canvas is a metaphor for the intensity of human experience; the significance being that ultimately it does not matter — for that intensity will not be retained even then, no matter the struggle; once captured the reality of the situation fades, and it is time to 'move on'. Her efforts are symbolic of the inability for the power of memories and emotions to be lastingly captured — so strong is this urge that her desire to imprint a meaning upon events perpetuate... ...have been more verbose and less nebulous in form ("in MS ... more explanation is given" p233, "in MS, Tansley's atheism is more emphasized and contrasted with Lily's belief" p227 — and there are records of many other editing outs or 'smoothing' revision.) It is not difficult to imagine that Woolf would have been exceptionally gratified by a comment which she made about another author in a critical essay: that a work offered (p248) "a complete presentation of life ... as always [he] creates carelessly, without a word of comment, as if the parts grew together without his willing it, and broke into ruin again without his caring." Woolf's version is more forced; but perhaps this is what is necessary for a work of such questing magnitude. Seeming spontaneity requires patience. Works Cited Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse, Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, 1992

Analysis Of Ibsens A Dolls House Essay -- A Dolls House Essays

"A Doll House" A critical Analysis When Nora slammed the door shut in her doll's house in 1879, her message sent shockwaves around the world that persist to this day. "I must stand quite alone", Nora declared after finding out that her ideal of life was just a imagination of her and that all her life had been build up by others people's, specifically her husband and her dad ideas, opinions and tastes. Nora is the pampered wife of an aspiring bank manager Torvald Halmer. In a desperate attempt to saves her husband's life Nora once asked for a loan so she and her family could move somewhere where her husband could recover from his sickness. Giving the circumstances she, as a woman of that period, by herself and behind her husband forged her dad signature to receive the loan. Now, Nora's lender (Mr. Krogstad), despite her paying punctually, uses that fault as a fraud to pressure her so she could help him to keep his job in the Bank where her husband is going to be the manager. Nora finds out that Torvald would fire Mr. Krogstad at any cost. At learning this, Nora trembles for she knows Mr. Krogstad will tell everything to Torvald. She remains confident; however that Torvald will stand by her no matter what outcome. His reaction though is not what she expected and therefore here is when she realizes that she "must stand quite alone" and leaves her husband. From the time A Doll's House was performed for first time (1879) till now, there have been all sorts of interpretation and critics about its message. According to Mr. Mayer's files critics considered that the A Doll's House message was that "a marriage was not sacrosanct, that a man's authority in his home should not go unchallenged". Another similar critics' interpretat... ... Johnston, Brian. Text and Supertext in Ibsen's Drama. Pennsylvania : The Pennsylvania State University , 1932. 2. Templeton, Joan. Ibsen's Women. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997. 3. Tennant, P.F.D. Ibsen's Dramatic Technique. New York : Hummanities Press Inc., 1948. 4. Meyer, Michael. Ibsen's on file. London and New York : Methuen London Ltd., 1985. 5. Ford, Karen. "Social contrains and painful growth in A Doll's House". Expanded Academic ASAP. Methodist College , Fayetteville , NC . 30 Octuber 2005 6. Hopkins, Anthony and Bloom Claire. A Doll's House video recording. Southgate Entertainment." 1989. 7. Rekdal, Anne Marie. " The female Jouissance An Analysis of Ibsen's Et dukkehjem. Expanded Academic ASAP. Methodist College , Fayetteville , NC . 30 Octuber 2005

Case Study Situation Go Fast Essay

Situation Go Fast is a motorcycle manufacturer in the southern United States. Though sales have been steady, profits have declined because of increasing operational costs. The Board of Directors felt a fresh look at the operations side was needed. They developed a 5-year plan to increase operating efficiency and set out to find someone to lead the effort. Four months ago, GO FAST found what they saw as â€Å"the person† to be the new operations director and develop a new operational plan to reduce costs. Jill Jones had an outstanding reputation as operations director for a manufacturer of a closely related product. While she was located in a different state and was happy with her current job and lifestyle, she found the 5-year plan exciting. Besides, the offer was too tempting to refuse. Jill was offered the position, including a substantial increase in salary and benefits. She accepted the job, sold her home, and purchased a home near her new job. Her husband runs an in-home business and her children had adapted well to the new community and schools. She did not have a written contract, but was promised a great future with GO FAST and was given a salary of $90,000 per year. With the economic downturn, sales for this past year were the lowest in five years. The company needs to make drastic cost reductions or it could face bankruptcy. All senior managers agreed to a 25% pay cut. Several other high-paid positions will be eliminated. Among them is Jill Jones’ operations director position. Published by DECA Related Materials. Copyright  © by DECA Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced for resale without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. YOUR CHALLENGE The CFO has been asked by the board of directors to investigate GO FAST’S obligation to Jill Jones. You have been assigned the task of doing research. The board of directors assumes their agreement with Mrs. Jones is â€Å"terminable-at-will† based on the law in the state, and therefore GO FAST has no obligation to her. You will prepare recommendations to be presented to the chief financial officer (CFO). Since the decision is ultimately up to the CFO, your presentation should include, at a minimum: 1. How you expect Jill would react to the board’s hard-line approach. 2. Possible ways to deal with Mrs. Jones’ situation, including the positives and negatives of each. 3. Of these, you are to advise the CFO on the best course of action, and how to present it to Jill. While the financial challenges of the company are not a secret, Jill does not yet know that her position has been targeted for elimination. Your presentation to the CFO will begin in one hour. As part of your research you have pulled a copy of The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, as well as cases related to this issue (see reference information provided). The information in THIS section is the result of research done specifically for this case situation, and has been given to you to help you prepare your recommendations within the allotted time. The judges will also receive this information, in addition to the Case Study Situation and Your Challenge as presented. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The following information provides background related to this situation. State Employment Law Under state law, employment generally is considered to be at will, terminable by either party at any time. This means that an employer may terminate an employee with or without just cause, in the absence of an agreement limiting the employee’s discharge to just cause or specifying the term of the employment. Even where an employer makes assurances seeming to mean job permanence, such assurances are generally considered mere statements of policy indicating only at-will employment. However, state courts have also held that employee personnel manual provisions, if they meet the requirements for formation of a unilateral contract, may become enforceable as part of a contract of employment. An agreement which includes a promise from one party but not from the other is called a unilateral contract. A unilateral contract is, for example, where an employer promises to pay a certain wage if an employee does a certain task for a certain period of time. The employee’s performance of that task for that time makes him or her entitled to the promised wages. The promise of employment on particular terms of unspecified duration, if presented in the form of an offer and accepted by the employee, will create a binding unilateral contract. These types of actions are referred to as â€Å"promissory estoppel† actions and they provide an exception to the employment-at-will doctrine. In order to constitute a contract, the employer’s personnel policy as set out in the personnel policy handbook must be more than a general statement of policy and must provide reasonably definite terms for a fact finder to interpret and apply in determining whether there has been a breach of the contract arising from that handbook. General statements of policy by an employer do not meet the contractual requirements of an offer. Employees frequently couple claims that certain oral representations constitute an enforceable agreement with assertions that certain actions by the employer create an implied contract to terminate only for good cause. For example, employees often contend that an employer has established a custom and practice such that employees are permitted to continue employment until retirement unless discharged for good and sufficient cause. Such an allegation does not meet the requirement of a definite offer. Similarly, an employer’s commendations and approval of the employee’s performance do not alter the employee’s at-will status. Severance pay is not required by legislation. Where it is provided by an employer or labor agreement, it must not be administrated in a discriminatory manner. Where it is provided, severance pay is considered wages in this state. The method of payment of severance pay may delay the employee’s eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits. Promissory Estoppel The state Supreme Court recognized that, despite the absence of a contract in fact, courts may imply the existence of a contract in law by utilizing the principle of promissory estoppel. The doctrine of promissory estoppel is applicable when: 1. A promise has been made; 2. The promissory reasonably expected to induce action of a definite and substantial character by the promise; 3. The promise in fact induces such action; 4. The circumstances require the enforcement of the promise in order to avoid injustice. An estoppel may arise from a promise of future performance. The doctrine of promissory estoppel is based in a promise which the promisor should reasonably expect to induce action of forbearance of a definite and substantial character on the part of the promise and which induces such action or forbearance and is binding if injustice can be avoided only by enforcement of the promise. Under the theory of promissory estoppel, liability on a contract may ensue even if the detriment incurred by one party is not bargained for where it can be shown that the promisor should reasonably have expected its promise to induce another’s detrimental action. The impairment-of-contract clause in the state’s constitution applies to an implied-in-law obligation created by promissory estoppel. The effect of promissory estoppel is to imply a contract in law where none exists in fact. When a promise is enforced pursuant to the doctrine of promissory estoppel, the remedy granted for the breach may be limited as justice requires; relief may be limited to damages measured by the promise’s reliance. RELATED CASE PRECEDENTS INFORMATION The following information is designed to provide samples of cases that may influence decisions made related to the case situation. The participants must decide what, if any, relevance these Related Case Precedents have on this Case Study Situation. Grouse v. Plan, Inc. (1981) The doctrine of promissory estoppel was applied by the court to grant damages to a pharmacist who accepted a job offer, resigned his current job and declined another job offer in reliance on this offer, but was â€Å"terminated† from his new job before he even had a chance to start it. Plan Inc knew that to accept its offer Grouse would have to resign his employment. Grouse promptly gave notice and informed Plan Inc that he had done so when specifically asked by them. Under these circumstances it would be unjust not to hold Plan Inc to its promise. Gorham v. Optical (1995) Former employee was entitled to reliance damages based on theory of promissory estoppel, where he quit his previous job and declined any renegotiations with previous employer in reliance on promise of new job, and on his first day of employment went through hostile reinterview process that led to his immediate termination. Lewis v. Assurance Society (1986) A promise of employment on particular terms of unspecified duration, if presented in form of an offer and accepted by employee, will create a binding unilateral contract. Pine River v. Mettille (1983) Generally speaking, promise of employment on particular terms of unspecified duration, if in form of an offer, and if accepted by employee, may create binding unilateral contract; offer must be definite in form and must be communicated to the offeree. Goodkind v. University (1988) Whether a proposal by employer is meant to be an offer for a unilateral contract is determined by the outward manifestations of the parties, not by their subjective intentions, and employer’s general statements of policy do not meet the contractual requirements for an offer. Gunderson v. Professionals, Inc. (2001) To overcome the presumption that employment is at will, an employee typically must establish clear and unequivocal language by the employer evidencing an intent to provide job security. General statements about job security, company policy, or an employer’s desire to retain an employee indefinitely are insufficient to overcome the presumption that employment is at will. Spanier v. Bank (1993) Terminated employee failed to show any evidence of offer for long-term employment in definite form so as to be entitled to recover for employer’s breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing as result of his termination, where employee’s claims were based on subjective belief and his own inferences that employer’s commitment to commercial lending business would provide him job security and employer’s statements about developing this new area of business did not constitute long-term employment offer.