Formal report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Formal report - Assignment Example This paper will give an overview of what social networking is about, what it is used for and will endeavor to give examples of companies and their social networking strategies. A social networking plan and recommendations will also be given specifically for Stone Shine, a stone cleaner product that the company, Deb Richey Co. launched online. A social network service is defined as â€Å"the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision† (Social, 2011). While the networking can be done physically such as in a workplace, or at school, social networking is most popular online. This is because the internet has transcended physical barriers and has made it possible for millions of people from all over the world to come together for a shared interest. Connecting is no longer impeded by the inability to physically come together. Social networking websites function like an online community of internet users (Social, 2011). Members communicate by email, forum posts, blogs, comments and instant messages. These are all features that can be made available by the varied social network sites. By becoming a member, these sites give every individual the chance to create his/her own profile. Having a personal profile lets members put personal information and define their personal interests, this is what sets social networking platforms apart from offline ones. There is ease of access to member information that makes it accessible to other members, making it easier for people to interact. The networking part also does not have to happen in real-time. This takes away the pressure of having to interact within a time frame, as with personal meetings, or whether to even react at all. Because there is this absence of pressure to connect plus the ease of access, social networking is a very enjoyable activity for lots of peo ple. Coupled with the fact that man is a social

The Invention of Air Conditioning :: essays research papers

Willis Haviland Carrier invented the first air conditioner in 1902. This was designed to boost the working process control in a printing plant. Carrier’s invention controlled temperature and humidity. The low heat and humidity helped keep the paper dimensions and ink alignment the same. Later his invention was used to populate productivity in the workplace. The Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America developed for the increasing demands. Gradually, air conditioning was used to help increase comfort in homes and cars. Residential sales increased rapidly in the 1950's. Carrier lived from 1876-1950. He graduated with a Masters in Engineering from Cornell University. One of Carrier’s first patents was awarded to him in 1906,â€Å"The Apparatus for Treating Air†. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers was given Willis Carrier’s formula for the Rational Psychrometric Formulae. The Carrier Engineering Corporation was formed in 1915. The factors for exponential growth for air-conditioning are the HVAC Market, energy, environment, communication, societal, political, preparing for the future, looking ahead, and the conclusion. Buildings of the U.S. use approximately 35% of the nation’s precise total of energy consumption. The worth of shipments by U.S. HVAC manufacturers was over $28 billion of 1996. Since there are 52,000 CHC chillers needed to be replaced among the U.S., there’s a large opportunity for new chillers, new technology for the HVAC industry. The ozone depletion is an international issue in which is currently being resolved. The 3rd world countries are still allowed to manufacture CFC’s. Illegal imports of CFC’S to the U.S. is a consistent concern. Many illegal imports are virgin CFC’s. Those whom have a political overtones are specifically the ones whom create a protectionism of local commerce, having a negative impact on those inside and out of the country.

Douglasian Cultural Model in Indian Context Essay

Introduction Today’s world is being dominated by daily innovations in technology and increasing globalization which helps organizations to spread and to operate globally in a successful way. Every organisation operating at a global level is trying to improve their financial profits. The success of such organizations greatly depends on their workforce and their decision-making capabilities. Many times the ethicality of such decisions have been questioned because of the profit driven strategies of these organizations. As Nobel Prize winner economist Milton Friedman quotes, â€Å"An executive’s responsibility generally will be to make as much money as possible while conforming to their basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom.† The decision-making process and hence ethicality of the decisions in such organisations is greatly influenced by the culture of the workforce. Bartels (1967) was one of the first to note the importance of the role of culture in ethical decision-making. There are different studies which discuss the diversity of ethical decision-making based on different perspective for example, Vitell, Nwachukwu and Barnes, 1993 discuss the effect of culture on ethical decision-making with the help of Hofsted’s typology while Patel and Schaefer, 2009 discuss the same with the help of Douglasian Cultural Theory (CT) perspective in the Indian context. Summary Patel and Schaefer’s article discusses the impact of culture on ethical decision-making from a Douglasian Cultural Theory (CT) perspective. It explains the dynamic ethical behaviour of the individual with four solidarities of CT. The Article also discusses the business ethics in the Indian context. Authors argue that applying static conception of culture to the process of ethical decision-making in business results in several problems. The Authors propose CT as an alternative model to these static conceptions to avoid these problems. The Article says that every social system is ethically plural because of the presence of all four solidarities together. An Individual from different solidarities may have a different perception of an issue’s moral intensity which may lead to different levels of moral awareness and hence to different moral judgements. The Article explores the dynamicity and diversity of ethical decision-making in business using the CT framework within the I ndian context with examples of Amul, SEWA, Tata Steel, ONGC and Reliance. Strengths This article offers an alternative approach of CT stating the impact of culture on ethical decision-making process in business. Authors argue that applying the static conception of culture to the business ethics results in different problems like national stereotyping, focus on only national cultural aspect ignoring the other aspects and broad generalisation of culture at national level. This article strongly supports the scholars who challenge the essentialist culture approach like Hofstedian framework. Singh (1990) and Bosland (1985a) have shown that it is possible to have different scores on the four Hofstedian dimensions within the same country. Hence there is possibility of difference in ethical behaviour within the same country. The Authors also talk about the same ethical dynamicity in behaviour. The article powerfully illustrates the diversity in business ethics within Indian context using CT model. The Article talks about the different cultural patterns existing in same corporation at same time. This article supports the argument by Sathe (1985) which says that although, the term â€Å"corporate culture† is used as if organisations have a monolithic culture, most companies have more than one set of beliefs influencing the behaviour of employees. The Article also supports the Thompson’s (1997 a-c) theory who argues that same individual could be a member of different solidarities in different contexts which explains the different ethical behaviour of an individual at a different social context. Also the article studies the ethical practices of different types of companies and business entities to understand the business ethics beyond large private corporations with respect to all the four solidarities of CT. The article debates about the dynamicity of ethical decision-making by citing the examples of all the solidarities existing in different Indian corporations. Also it talks over about the historical and philosophical background for the adoption of different ethical strategies by different corporations. Weaknesses The article explains the process of ethical decision-making in business from a ‘Douglasian Cultural Theory’ perspective only. The article does not identify many other factors beyond culture that may account for differences in work behaviour across nations. Scholars like Parboteeah and Cullen (2003) have suggested the need to include noncultural factors to isolate the influence of culture on ethical behaviour. Also many scholars have talked about the other personal characteristics like education, age, gender and religion that affect the ethical decision-making but they have not put any light on this part in the article. According to Kracher, Chatterjee and Lundquist, education plays an important and positive role in one’s ethical decision-making. Also Singhapakdi et al.: JBE (1996) talk about the relationship between ethical sensitivity and age being significantly positive. Ameen, et al., (1996) suggests that ethical judgments vary according to gender, where females have historically been more ethical compared to males. According to Singhapakdi et al :JBE (2000), there is a positive relationship between religion and perception of an ethical problem. The article has not mentioned all these perspectives while considering the process of ethical decision-making. Patel and Schaefer explained the ethical behaviour in Indian business context with the help of CT and argue that as CT is not limited in its scope of application, what is true for one country should also be true for other countries. This contradicts the findings of the researchers like Tsui which states â€Å"The major contexts that may separate one nation from another include the physical, historical, political, economic, social, and cultural.† This may cause an individual from another country to behave differently in the same context compare to individual in India. My standpoint The research article applies CT model to explain the ethical decision-making process in business within Indian context which allows us to look beyond static and limited conception of national culture. The authors have explained the ethical behaviours using examples of different Indian business entities. Since India is one of the largest growing economies, this research paper will be useful in providing the insights of the ethical practices in India. In my opinion, the authors have raised valid questions about the studies that link static conceptions of the culture to the business ethics. The authors have successfully associated dynamicity in ethical behaviours with the different cultural patterns as per CT which proves the existence of all the four solidarities in every social system. Paper also gives us insights about how all the solidarities co-exist and try to dominate each other. The Authors explain it in an Indian context citing examples for each solidarity. Moreover, authors have highlighted the important fact that managers operating under different cultural patterns may perceive and attend to information about moral issues differently which results in different ethical behaviours. The article considered the very important factors of history and politics that may have influenced while discussing dynamicity of ethical behaviours within Indian context. I am of the opinion that the Douglasian cultural theory is not sufficient to judge the ethical behaviour in business. There are many other factors like education, age, gender and religion which hold a significant role in the decision-making process. The authors have failed to consider these factors. I believe the consideration of the above mentioned factors would have made this research work more reliable. Also I disagree with the authors’ argument of what is true for India should also be true for other countries since every country has a different political, economical, cultural and physical background. Conclusion Taran Patel and Anja Schaefer have criticized the static and limited conception of culture to ethical decision-making in business. They have provided the alternative approach of Douglasian cultural theory to explain the dynamicity and diversity in ethical behaviours with the help of examples from business entities in India. The Authors advocate that the managers should be sensitive to the beliefs of all the four solidarities to be more effective. The Authors also agree that more empirical and theoretical work is needed to strengthen the relationship between the cultural patterns and business ethics. References Bartels, R.: 1967, ‘A Model for Ethics in Marketing’, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 1967), pp. 20-26 Vitell S, Nwachukwu S and Barnes J. : 1993, ‘The Effects of Culture on Ethical Decision-Making: An Application of Hofstede’s Typology’, Journal of Business Ethics,Vol. 12, No. 10 (Oct., 1993), pp. 753-760 Hofstede, G. 1980. (Revised in 1984). Culture’s Consequences – International Differences in Work-related Values. Sage Publications. Singh, J. 1990. Managing Culture and Work-related Values in India. Organization Studies, 11(1): 75-101 Bosland, N. 1985a.An evaluation of Replication Studies using the Values Survey Module.Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation, Rijks-universiteit Limburg Working Paper 85-2, Maastricht Sathe, V. (1985), Culture and Related Corporate Realities, Irwin, Homewood, IL. Thompson, M.: 1997a, ‘Rewriting the Precepts of PolicyAnalysis’, in M. Thompson and R. J. Ellis (eds.),Culture Matters: Essays in Honour of Aaron Wildavsky(Westview Press, Boulder, CO). Thompson, M.: 1997b, ‘Cultural Theory and TechnologyAssessment’, in F. Fischer and M. Hajer (eds.),Living with Nature: Environmental Discourse and Cultural Politics (Oxford University Press, Oxford). Thompson, M.: 1997c, ‘Cultural Theory and IntegratedAssessment’,Environmental Modelling and Assessment 2,139–150. Kracher, B., A. Chatterjee and A. R. Lundquist: 2002, ‘Factors Related to the Cognitive Moral Development of Business Students and Business Professionals in India and the United States: Nationality, Education, Sex and Gender’, Journal of Business Ethics 35(4), 255–268 Parboteeah, K. P., & Cullen, J. B. 2003. Social institutions and work centrality: Explorations beyond national culture. Organization Science, 14(2): 137-148. Patel, T.: 2005, Using Dynamic Cultural Theories to explain the Viability of International Strategic Alliances: A Focus on Indo-French Alliances. PhD Thesis, Open University. Milton Keynes, UK. Singhapakdi, A., S. J. Vitell and K. L Kraft: 1996, ‘Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision-Making of Marketing Professionals’, Journal of Business Research 36, 245–255. Ameen, E., Guffey, D. and J. McMillan. 1996. Gender Differences in Determining the Ethical Sensitivity of Future Accounting Professionals. Journal of Business Ethics 15: 591-597. Singhapakdi, Anusorn, Janet K. Marta, Kumar C. Rallapalli, and C.P. Rao (2000), â€Å"Toward an Understanding of Religiousness and Marketing Ethics: An Empirical Study,† Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 27, No. 4, 305-319.

The Spanish Civil War - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1838 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/05/18 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Civil War Essay War Essay Did you like this example? Tratando De Cambiar El Mundo: The Theater of the Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War is burned into Spains collective memory perhaps their greatest scar, and it has created a permanent effect on their languages, art, literature, and theater. The theater in Spain at the time was used as a vehicle for change, and the contemporary theater that depicts it shows that just as it was used for change then, it is used to encourage change and healing today. In the 1930s, Spain was a country in turmoil. Unrest between the divided elite and working classes and the devastation that the Great Depression wreaked on Spains existing economic problems meant that the people were desperate for change. In 1936, Spains socialist party won a narrow victory against the nationalist party, and they immediately put their plans for reform into effect. They sought to secularize the government, create labor unions, and enact other reforms that threatened the wealthy elite that had been in power for so long. The widespread violence that resulted from the nationalists attempt to seize power back from the republicans is now known as the Spanish Civil War. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Spanish Civil War" essay for you Create order Much of the war was fought not with weapons, but with propaganda. Both the republicans, also known as the Popular Front, and the nationalists used education and the arts in their cultural crusades in order to justify their respective ideologies. A key weapon in this fight to win over the populace was theater. Seeing its importance and efficacy in conveying messages to the people, both sides went as far as to establish official organizations to create and circulate their brand of cultural instruction (Parker 215). On the left, the Alianza de Intelectuales Antifacistas (alliance of antifascist intellectuals) created several groups: Nueva Escena, Teatro de Arte, y Propaganda, and Guerrillas Teatrales. On the right, the nationalists had the Junta Nacional de Teatros y Conciertos (national committee of theatres and concerts). Both sides wrote essays explaining the roles of the theater in their respective ideologies, and while the right thought restoring Spanish theater to the days of autos sacramentales and mystery plays would best serve their mission, the left wanted to purge the bourgeois plays thathad dominated Spanish stages, and instead return the stage to the masses with avant garde political plays (Parker 215). Reaching into the theatrical roots of Spain has propagandistic power, and both the left and right sought to claim cultural images to prove their dominance as the true essence of Spain (Parker 216). Nationalist playwright Gimenez Caballero likened the goals of theatre to a bullfight:a series of symbols that inherently lead the spectator to the absolute truth of the divine (Parker 219). Incredibly, the companies of both sides performed several of the same Golden Age plays in order to convey their discordant messages. Lope de Vegas Fuenteovejuna and Calderons La Vida es Sueo, were performed by both the republicans and nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. Both plays were deemed to be accessible constants in Spanish culture that could be bent to serve their respective ideological agendas. Lope de Vega became an especially strong symbol for the cultural legitimacy of the nationalist party. Strangely enough, however, both sides also found use in the old religious autos sacramentales a nd performed them often. The right used them to combine their ideologies with the universal truth of Catholicism in an attempt to make the two inextricable in the minds of the audience, while the left favored them for their didactic potential (Parker). However, the republicans were still able to extort the religious imagery that did not fit in with their ideology. Delgado writes, the deity becomes, rather than the Christian God, an amalgam of various totemic conepts which teatro de urgencia represents in solemn, semi-mystical terms: People, Land, Spain, the Workers Republic, and, as might be expected in a country which practices Mariolatry, Mother. The military training of the republicans largely relied on improvised propagandist plays. The propagandist theater they used to teach and rally support for their cause was called teatro de urgencia (theater of urgency), and the fervor that went behind its creation is evident in the name. Teatro de urgencia was performed on the front lines and nearby towns, and was created with three goals in mind: to instill confidence in the people of the republic, to reinvigorate the faith of the soldiers, and to teach recruits appropriate behavior. In every play of teatro de urgencia, the audience is meant to relate to the central character of each: the soldier, or milicano (Delgado 51). Delgado writes, In his doubts and fea rs, strength and hope, a collective Everyman figure emerges from the corpus of the texts, and, just as his medieval counterpart [in autos sacramentales] undertook a journey towards the heaven of unification with God, so too can the miliciano be seen in teatro de urgencia at various stages of a journey toward an afterlife which is victory (51). The journey Delgado refers to is framed by the republican ideology, and is meant to symbolize the devotion to their cause that they want the audience to strive for. The tactic was specific, pointed, and effective. One example is Max Aubs Pedro Lopez Garcia. In the play, the titular character is convinced that he can remain neutral in the war, and that it wont affect his life. This changes when he is forcibly enlisted in the nationalist army. In the trenches, he is visited by Death, who shows him visions of a nationalist soldier killing his mother and their animals, and destroying their land. He is too frightened to desert, but when La Tierra appears to him with his mother in its skirts, he gathers the courage to return to your brothers trench (McCarthy 55). Pedro Lopez Garcia both demonizes the enemy and glorifies the journey back to the side of the republic. McCarthy writes, for the republican propagandists, therefore, it is as if, having won Pedro Lopez Garcia from the loyalist trenches, their subsequent mission is to translate his faith into deeds, when, reappearing as milicanos in subsequent teatro de urgencia, he continues on a journey in which spiritual conviction is emphasized more than spiritual comfort (55). Pedro Lopez Garcia, and many other plays of teatro de urgencia resemble a sheep being herded back to God, and the symbolism is no coincidence. Religious symbolism and references are abundant in teatro de urgencia in order to convince the audience that the path of the republicans is a righteous one. Despite the years since its end, the scars of the Spanish Civil War are still felt in Spain today. Carlota Leret, whose father was executed during the conflict, says, This is not a historical event that is buried in the past, but something that is very fresh in the memory of Spaniards (New York Times). The truth in this is evident. Playwrights still write about the impact of the Spanish Civil War on their people, and on the world, . One example is Ay Carmela! written by Joso Sanchis Sinisterra in 1986 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the war. The set is sparse, and the play takes place in an unspecified region of Spain. This ambiguity is intended to help let all memories of the war come forth to exist and be addressed in the space. The play follows performers Carmela (who is dead in the beginning of the play) and Paulino who accidentally cross from republican territory into nationalist territory. They are apprehended and are forced to perform for the nationalist forces despite witnessing an execution and other horrors at their hands. Of the play, researcher Helena Buffery writes, Radically open in structure, through its mimicry of the cyclic, repetitive patterns of trauma and melancholia, the play closes with a short epilogue in which the culture of forgetting accepted by Paulino in order to survive under Francoism is set against the culture of remembering the past, championed by Carmela, in a world of the dead which, though increasingly distant from the world of the living, seems to become the only place where resistance is possible (865). The cyclical pattern of Ay Carmela! echoes the futility and trauma of the Spanish Civil War and how the fallout has lasted, even though the first shots of the conflict had been fired fifty years prior. In more recent history, Laila Rip olls plays have shed light on the effects of the war on those that were not directly involved. In her 2005 play, Los Nigos Perdidos, Laila Ripoll exposes the atrocities and abuses that the children of Republican families underwent in religious orphanages and social assistance hostels after the end of the war. The protagonist is Tuso, a grown man with special needs, who remembers his childhood after experiencing a hallucination. He then relives these memories as a child in a religious orphanage, where one child was thrown from a window by a nun, and others were starved or beaten to death. Raquel Garcia-Pascual writes, These events are remembered by means of ghostly evocations, which in the play communicate their fear faced with the apparition of death symbolically and physically knocking at their door, personified in the figure of the Sister, in several prolepses of the ending (449). The play is shown through the lens of a child, and features puppets, masks, and childrens language. The play also depicts the transport of children on livestock trains without food or water. Those who did not die were repatriated without permission to homes around Europe and South America. A new surname gave these children an identity, but most were silenced and forgotten (Garcia-Pascual). Los Nigos Perdidos finally gives these forgotten children a voice. It lays bare the abuses and confinement they experienced, and leaves them in the audiences memory. At the end of the play, Tuso says, Decidieron no dar parte para no montar un escendalo. Total, ya erais nigos perdidos. Al fin y al cabo, los nigos de aque no existen. Son como fantasmas y nadie va a reclamar por ellos. They decided not to give you a part to avoid a scandal. You are forgotten children. In the end, the children of this place dont exist. They are like ghosts, and no one is going to claim them (Ripoll 310). Ripoll uses th eir story to condemn the history and suffering that is silenced, and to resurrect their memory. The Spanish Civil War was a bloody, turbulent time in Spains history, and the repercussion still echo throughout the country. It is written into the memory of its people through art, literature, and especially theater. The propagandistic theater of the Spanish Civil War was used as a vehicle for political change in the 1930s, but the contemporary theater that sheds light on the war and its devastating effects on its people is used to enlighten audiences today, and help them work through the past. Works Cited https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324398874_Francoist_repression_and_moral_reparation_in_the_theatre_of_Laila_Ripoll Anderson, Tim. Chapter One: Prelude to War. Spanish Civil War, Great Neck Publishing, 2009, p. 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/world/europe/23wargames.html