Boston University Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA

Boston University is a private research university with an acceptance rate of 22%. To apply, students can use the  Common Application or Coalition Application. BU has an Early Decision program that can improve admission chances for students who are sure the university is their top choice school. Considering applying to this highly selective school? Here are the BU admissions statistics you should know, including the average SAT/ACT scores and GPAs of admitted students. Why Boston University? Location: Boston, MassachusettsCampus Features: One of dozens of Boston area colleges, Boston Universitys urban campus sits near both Fenway Park and the Charles River Esplanade. The MBTA Green Line has several stops on campus.Student/Faculty Ratio: 10:1Athletics: The Boston University Terriers compete in the NCAA Patriot League and Hockey East Conference.Highlights: BU typically ranks among the top 50 universities in the United States. Even though the school is one of the largest private universities in the country, students receive a lot of personal attention from the faculty and staff. Acceptance Rate During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, Boston University had an acceptance rate of 22%. This means that for every 100 students who applied, 22 students were admitted, making BUs admissions process highly competitive. Admissions Statistics (2017-18) Number of Applicants 64,482 Percent Admitted 22% Percent Admitted Who Enrolled (Yield) 25% SAT Scores and Requirements Boston University requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 70% of admitted students submitted SAT scores. SAT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile ERW 650 720 Math 680 780 ERW=Evidence-Based Reading and Writing This admissions data tells us that most of BUs admitted students fall within the top 20% nationally on the SAT. For the evidence-based reading and writing section, 50% of students admitted to Boston University scored between 650 and 720, while 25% scored below 650 and 25% scored above 720. On the math section, 50% of admitted students scored between 680 and 780, while 25% scored below 680 and 25% scored above 780. Applicants with a composite SAT score of 1500 or higher will have particularly competitive chances at BU. Requirements BU does not require the SAT writing section. Note that Boston University participates in the scorechoice program, which means that the admissions office will consider your highest score from each individual section across all SAT test dates. BU has different SAT requirements for the Accelerated Medical Program and the College of Fine Arts, so make sure to review the requirements for the program to which you are applying. ACT Scores and Requirements BU requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 39% of admitted students submitted ACT scores. ACT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile English 31 35 Math 27 33 Composite 30 33 This admissions data tells us that most of Boston Universitys admitted students fall within the top 7% nationally on the ACT. The middle 50% of students admitted to BU received a composite ACT score between 30 and 33, while 25% scored above 33 and 25% scored below 30. Requirements Boston University does not require the ACT writing section. Unlike many universities, BU superscores ACT results; your highest subscores from multiple ACT sittings will be considered. GPA In 2018, the average high school GPA for incoming Boston University freshman was 3.71. These results suggest that most successful applicants to BU have primarily A and B grades. Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph Boston University Applicants Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph. Data courtesy of Cappex. The admissions data in the graph is self-reported by applicants to Boston University. GPAs are unweighted. Find out how you compare to accepted students, see the real-time graph, and calculate your chances of getting in with a free Cappex account. Admissions Chances Boston University has a highly competitive admissions pool with a low acceptance rate and high average SAT/ACT scores. However, BU has a holistic admissions process involving other factors beyond your grades and test scores. A strong application essay and glowing letters of recommendation can strengthen your application, as can participation in meaningful extracurricular activities and a rigorous course schedule. Students with particularly compelling stories or achievements can still receive serious consideration even if their test scores are outside Boston Universitys average range. Admission standards at BU vary by school and college. Applicants to the College of Fine Arts must audition or submit a portfolio, and applicants to the universitys Accelerated Medical Program have additional testing and course requirements. In the graph shown here, the blue and green dots represent accepted students, and you can see that most students who got into BU had averages of B or higher, SAT scores (ERWM) above 1200, and ACT composite scores above 25.  Students with A averages and SAT scores above 1300 are most likely to be admitted, and there are very few red dots (rejected students) in the upper right corner of the graph. However, theres a lot of red hidden behind the blue in the middle part of the graph. Some students who have grades and standardized test scores that are on target for Boston University will still get rejection letters. As a result, even if Boston University is a match school in relation to your credentials, you should still make sure that you apply to a couple of safety schools  in case the admissions decision doesnt go your way. All admissions data has been sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics and Boston University Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Essay about How Christians Interpret And Celebrate The...

How Christians Interpret And Celebrate The Last Supper Today Holy Communion is very important in Christian worship. This is the occasion on which the priest distributes bread and wine. This is one is of the seven Sacraments. A Sacrament is a physical act with a spiritual meaning. It takes the form of a ceremony intended to reveal and to give a greater sense of closeness to God. The spiritual meaning of Holy Communion is togetherness with God and each other. During Holy Communion the priest takes the bread and wine, gives thanks to God, breaks the bread and then gives them to the worshipers. This is known as the Fourfold Eucharistic actions. Eucharist means thanksgiving. So the Eucharist or Holy†¦show more content†¦This serves the purpose of remembering the Last Supper and also brings a feeling of closeness with God, Jesus and each other. It will also remind Christians of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Holy Communion has four main meanings. The first is remembrance. Holy Communion commemorates the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Corinthians 11:23-25 writes that Jesus took and broke the bread, referred to it as his body and said, Do this in remembrance of me. Similarly after the supper he took a cup and referred to it as, the new covenant in my blood and said, Do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. The second is participation. Jesus did more than just take and break the bread and take and pour the wine. He gave these things to the disciples to eat, thus he was involving them in the last supper. So today the Last supper is more than just a commemoration, where we remember a past event, it is a communion in which we participate in the remembrance and share in its benefits. The apostle Paul wrote: is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 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Report on Entrepreneurship

Question: Select an organisation; describe the sources of innovation obtained by the chosen organisation. Identify and discuss barriers to innovation faced by the management of the organisation. Recommend improvements that can be made by the organisation in inculcating innovative culture among the employees. Answer: Introduction Innovation is the key of sustainable business run by an organization. It is usually refers to the changing implementation in the organization processes, perspectives or products. Usually innovation is implemented in the organization for improving the organizational status which can be by creating dynamic products or improving the operations. There are various reasons behind the importance of business innovation in an organization. However, organizations would have their own priorities specific to different sectors related issues for balancing the business, to reduce the risk from competitor, to reduce risk of losing important employees or only for operating the inefficiencies of the organization (Schaltegger, Ldeke-Freund Hansen, 2012). Therefore, through innovation, the marketer can be differentiated from their rivals. Innovation is important for discovering the current opportunities existing in the industry or which are likely to emerge in the future (Arora et al., 2016). A succes sful organization not only works for satisfying their current customers, rather have prospects of future trends in some areas, ideas, products or services which would help them to meet the vision set by the organization effectively. Innovation helps the organization to stay ahead of the competition in markets, trend shifts and technology advancements. While implementing innovation in the organizational operations, the customers would be able to see something in the organizational context who can add value to the organizational product, thereby providing commercial advantage to the business, especially in rapidly shifting market. However, besides, all of these advantages of innovation implementation in the organization, there are negative aspects also (Lui, Ngai Lo, 2016). Organizational management team often faces wide ranges of issues while implementing innovation in the business settings. These issues or barriers can interfere with successful implementation of the innovation; sometimes these internal and external barriers can resist change or innovative e practice in the organization. In this study, the concept of innovation would be discussed based on the selected company Walmart. The source of innovations and the barriers faced by the management of the organization in implementing innovation in the business would be analyzed (Brown Osborne, 2012).Finally, the suggestion for improving the situation would also be provided in this assignment. Description of the selected organization and issue Walmart is a multinational retail corporation having a root in America. The organization operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and discount department stores. The organization has its headquarter in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart was established in 1962 by Sam Walton and incorporates in 1969 (Mayer Noiseux, 2015). In current days, the organization has 11,527 stores and clubs throughout 28 countries under 63 banners in total. Walmart is the largest company by revenue throughout the world, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014. It has been seen that it is the largest private employer with 2.2 million employees in the world (Venugopal, 2015). In U.S. it was the identified as the largest grocery retailer. The organization employs 2.3 million associates around the world. About 75% of the organizational store management teams started their job as the hourly associates and got$50,000 and $170,000/ year (Keupp, Palmie Gassmann, 2012). However, the company is investing $2.7 billion within past two years in education, training and higher wages. The total revenue of the company was $482.1 billion estimated at the end of the year 2016. The return by the company to their shareholders was $10.4 billion (Thomas Wilkinson, 2015). The current CEO of the organization is Doug McMillion who has successfully implemented innovation for improving the organizational practices. The organization is having a well established position in the market. However, there are a number of issues identified and reported by the organizational reviews as well as from different reports which are affecting the brand image of the organization. Both internal and external issues are affecting the organizational success and sustainability (Bucherer, Eisert Gassmann, 2012). Thus, for combating these issues, the CEO and the management team of the organization has undertaken appropriate techniques for the innovation in their operations which would assist to improve the situation. The organizational operations are not supportive to the employees which is making the employees dissatisfied and inferring with the highest productivity provided by the employees. There are a number of employee related issues identified. It has been reported that the two store openings reduce three local jobs or retail employments of an average 2.7 % in every country the company enters (Hamel, 2012). Thus, the company is said to be the job killer. It has been claimed that Walmart jobs are poverty jobs. The payment of the employees is only $8.81/hour which is $15576 based on the full-time designation that is less than 2/3rd or the poverty line (Hill et al., 2014). The company pays less than any other retail company in America. It has been reported by Kirchhoff, Linton and Walsh (2013) that Walmart discriminates the disabled and elderly employees, thereby working against the disability discrimination law. It has also been estimated that the internal environment in the organization is not safe for the employees. The company has been notorious for endangering its employees both at organization and home. From the publicized instances of the company, the night lock-ins is one practice, where it has been reported that, the employees were literally locked in several Walmart outlets for ensuring that they are staying back at their job roles (Marcus, 2015). Employees filed a class action suit against the company claiming that the company is forcing them to work 70 hours per week while paying only $1500 per month. In spite of mistreating the employees, the organization forced employees to purchase new uniforms from the company and stealing their money in this way. In Pemmsylvania, the company has been reported to force the employees for working in unpaid breaks and meal times for which employees sued the company. The company undertaken several steps for providing cheaper insurance and less care to their employees resulted in sicker employees. Walmart used taxpayer subsidies for providing health care benefits, in spite of paying the employees enough to afford the health care facilities. They also cut the insurance benefits from the part-time employees. The organization also failed to meet the shareholders expectation; however, the organization gave $1.5 million bonus to the CEO (Varadarajan, 2015). Thus, clear economic class discrimination has been seen in the company. The organizational underpays women and neglects pregnant workers. In U.S. workforce more 57% are women who were paid $1.16 less/hour. A number of lawsuits have been filed for women working in Walmart (Weber Rohracher, 2012). The company used foreign labor as well as child labor which are against the legal rights. The company has also been reported to hurt the local communities. Sources of innovation obtained by the organization The organization has undertaken a number of innovation strategies for dealing with Updated the safety policies in 2013. The organization has arranged training processes for enhancing the efficiency of the employees. The low productivities of the employees were affecting the organizational entire productivity and success negatively. For combating with this situation, the organizational management implemented specific training sessions for improving employees skills and knowledge about their job roles (Nonis Relyea, 2012). The employees are widely dissatisfied for the companys services. Thus, the management decided to implement reward system for the employees. The reward system helped to motivate the employees in the context of organizational notorious environment. The reward system helped the employees to identify their strength and weaknesses upon which they could work on and they could be motivated after getting rewards for their hard work (Caraway, 2016). The recruitment system of the company was not suitable for the organization and the management decided to improve the recruitment process. The internal recruitment was less which was one of the most important reason for employees dissatisfaction. Company used to higher employees for low wages in spite of promoting an internal employee (Collins, 2015). Improvement of promotion and recognition system improved the organizational culture and improved the employee satisfaction. The primary source of innovation of Wal-Mart is their supply chain management. According to Schaltegger, Ludeke-Freund and Hansen (2012). Wal-Mart products are manufactured in more than 70 countries and operate more than 11,000 stores in 27 countries. Their innovation in the supply chain management began when the authority of the organization started to remove a few of the chains links. Since 1980, Wal-Mart started working directly with the manufacturers in order to minimize costs. They understood that this step could help them to manage their supply chain management more efficiently (Arora, 2016). As a result of their innovative supply chain management the organization was named as Retailer of the Decade. There is another innovative decision was to implement strategic vendor partnership. The authority of Wal-Mart used strategic sourcing in order to figure out products at the best price from suppliers. They selected only those suppliers who could supply products according to the demand of the organization. After that, the company developed partnership with most of its vendors and offered them long-term and high-volume purchases while ensuring the lowest possible price (Lui et al., 2016). The whole supply chain management of the organization acted like a collaboration. Wal-Mart authority is also using cross docking as inventory tactic. It was known as a logistic practice that was the centerpiece of Wal-Marts strategy to refill inventory efficiently. Suppliers were told to deliver products to Wal-Marts distribution center where those products were cross-docked. Right after the cross, docking is completed; those products are delivered to Wal-Mart (Berlau, 2015). This process of cross docking helped the organization to keep the inventory and transportation cost as low as possible. It also helped them to reduce the transportation time by eliminating inefficient. The major resistance would come from the customers all over the world. Wal-Mart is famous for offering goods as a lowest possible price (Caraway, 2016). If the organization implement changes in its workplace, then it obvious that, they will have to increase the prices of the products in order to meet the new expenses. In this case, the organization will face huge challenges from its existing customer base. Customer will not like the process as they will find out that the prices of the products are rising at an alarming state. Most of the customers will begin to complain to the authorities of the organization and will ask to keep the prices same. On the other hand, some customers will instantly change the organization and will star to buy from other retail organizations such as Tesco, K-mart and Asda (Lui et al., 2016). In this way, the chances are high that Wal-Mart will lose a huge customer base that not a single organization would want to see. Therefore, it would be a dilemma for t he organization whether to bring changes or not. In the end, last but not the least, resistance will come from the market rivals such as Tesco, Asda and K-Mart (Bucherer, Eisert Gassmann, 2012). The only drawback that Wal-Mart has is their organization structure. Other market rivals can easily use that image of Wal-Mart to strengthen theirs, If Wal-Mart tries to improve their image, and it is imminent that that organization will prevent them to do so as they will lose their competitive edge over Wal-Mart (Arora, 2016). Therefore, those organizations can lower their prices to a level that the customers will overlook the changes of Wal-Mart and will fall for the offered low prices of other retail organizations. Barriers to innovation faced by the management of the organization There are a number of barriers for implementing innovation in the organizational context. Creating innovative environment in the organization means changing the existing framework of the company. The organizational members do not always accept change. Thus, the management of the company faced a number of barriers while implementing these innovative changes in the organization (Davila, Epstein Shelton, 2012). Resistance from internal stakeholders The resistance of innovation from the internal stakeholders can arise from employees, HRM facilities and higher authorities. Some employees who are working from several years raise objection for the innovation (Thomas Wilkinson, 2015). It is because innovation would change the traditional operational processes which might be difficult to cope with. Thus, mostly the older employees give objection during change implementation. In the case of HRM services, the HRM facilities who might neglect the employees welfare and satisfaction would become barrier for innovation. It is because; the new system would not provide them the facility to work with the power which they had previously (Jeston Nelis, 2014). In the future, the chances are low that any logical change will take place in the organization. The primary problem that the organization will face while changing its business model is its existing policy of everyday low prices. This strategy of everyday low price includes several limits that will not allow Wal-Mart to make any changes in the organization as it can increase the cost of the organization that will force the authority of Wal-Mart to increase the prices of the products (Bucherer, Eisert Gassmann, 2012). If it happens, the chances are high that their competitors will take the market away from the organization. On the other hand, it is also true that the organization must generate comparable return on equity to satisfy Wall Street and other inventors. That is why the organization has implemented sweatshops and hazardous working condition. It helps them to reduce their cost of the company. This cost reduction helps them to minimize the prices of the products they offer to the customers (Becker, Kugeler Rosemann, 2013). If the organization implements anything to improve the working condition they will have invest a huge amount of money. Besides, the bigger the upgrade, the larger the money will be needed to maintain it continuously (Giacalone Rosenfeld, 2013). Therefore, the organization would not be able to offer products at the lowest possible rate. Resistance of external employees The resistance against the innovation implementation can also be raised from the external employees including suppliers, customers and shareholders. One of the major reasons behind the objection for innovation is the enhanced cost of innovative operations in new organizational environment (Wright, Sturdy Wylie, 2012). Suppliers would not gain benefits if the price of the product were enhanced. On the other hand, in the case of shareholders, due to customers dissatisfaction, there would be a chance of not getting their shares in further business with the company, as they have not received their expected share from Wal-Mart in previous projects (Hamel, 2012). Thus, they might resist the innovation in the organization. Another barrier of innovation that the organization is facing from its external stakeholders is number of lawsuits that are placed against them. A huge number of employees have charged Wal-Mart for harassment and some organizations has accused it for violating rules and regulations related to protection of environment (Rosemann vom Brocke, 2015). Recommendation for the improvements of innovative culture among the employees In order to bring change in the organization, Wal-Mart will have to follow some strategies and methods so that both the internal and external stakeholders can respond positively. Those strategies are mentioned below, When change is announced, it is expected that all the employees and other stakeholders will not get ample information about it. It is not expected that leaders would come forward and will explain the reasons of change. Employees and other stakeholders do not want to be told that whether the change is good or bad. They only want to understand it. Therefore, it is recommended that Wal-Mart must share ample information with its stakeholders as plainly and as completely as possible. Employees and other stakeholders would think about how the change is going to create an impact on them. They will think that whether they have the skills and abilities to go on with the change. These personal concerns of the stakeholders should be surfaced and addressed. After implementing the first two recommended strategies employees will be ready to hear information on the details involved in implementing the change. In this stage, the stakeholders would like to know how the thinking behind the change is tested before the implementation. It is also expected that some employees will also want to know where they will go to find some assistance, as they will be affected by the change. At this stage, the authority of Wal-Mart will have to be ready to answer these questions with proper justifications. They will have to implement proper training and guidance systems that would help the employees who will be affected by the change. Most importantly, Wal-Mart will have come out from their lowest price strategy, as after implementing the change they will not able to offer products as a lowest price. The chances are high that when the prices will rise, the customers will ask questions. At that time the organization will have to implement proper advertisement strategies to communicate with the customers in order to tell them that the changes are made for the betterment of the organization and for the customers. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said that innovation is the key to success for a competitive organization. To sustain the business growth, the company would have to implement innovative practices. In this assignment, Walmart has been selected for investigating innovation implementation in the company. It has been revealed that the organization needs innovation as it has a number of issues and an innovative change implementation can help the organization to improve the current situation based on which the organization might be able to sustain their business and can achieve more success in the industry. In this assignment, a brief description of the organization has been provided along with the issues faced by the organization from which the need for innovation has been identified. Then the source of innovation obtained by the organization has been discussed along with the barriers faced by the organizational management while attempted to implement the innovation in the organization. Reference List Arora, A., Gittelman, M., Kaplan, S., Lynch, J., Mitchell, W., Siggelkow, N. (2016). Questionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ based innovations in strategy research methods.Strategic Management Journal,37(1), 3-9. Becker, J., Kugeler, M., Rosemann, M. (Eds.). (2013).Process management: a guide for the design of business processes. Springer Science Business Media. Brown, K., Osborne, S. P. (2012).Managing change and innovation in public service organizations. Routledge. Bucherer, E., Eisert, U., Gassmann, O. (2012). Towards systematic business model innovation: lessons from product innovation management.Creativity and Innovation Management,21(2), 183-198. Caraway, B. (2016). OUR Walmart: a case study of connective action.Information, Communication Society,19(7), 907-920. Collins, J. (2015). 5 Walmart, American consumer-citizenship and the erasure of class.Anthropologies of Class: Power, Practice, and Inequality, 89. Davila, T., Epstein, M., Shelton, R. (2012).Making innovation work: How to manage it, measure it, and profit from it. FT press. Giacalone, R. A., Rosenfeld, P. (2013).Impression management in the organization. Psychology Press. Hamel, G. (2012).What matters now: How to win in a world of relentless change, ferocious competition, and unstoppable innovation. John Wiley Sons. M. (2012).Change Management: A Balanced and Blended Approach. BoDBooks on Demand. Hill, W. A., Shange, R., Robinson, M., Hargrove, T. M. (2014). A transformative partnership between socially and historically disadvantaged farmers, 1890 land grant institutions, and Walmart.Professional Agricultural Workers Journal,1(2), 2. Jeston, J., Nelis, J. (2014).Business process management. Routledge. Abington. Kirchhoff, B. A., Linton, J. D., Walsh, S. T. (2013). Neoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Marshellian Equilibrium versus Schumpeterian Creative Destruction: Its Impact on Business Research and Economic Policy.Journal of Small Business Management,51(2), 159-166. Lui, A. K., Ngai, E. W., Lo, C. K. (2016). Disruptive information technology innovations and the cost of equity capital: The moderating effect of CEO incentives and institutional pressures.Information Management,53(3), 345-354. Marcus, A. A. (2015).Innovations in Sustainability. Cambridge University Press. Mayer, S., Noiseux, Y. (2015). Organizing at Walmart: Lessons from Quebec's Women.Global Labour Journal,6(1). Nonis, S. A., Relyea, C. (2012). Business innovations from emerging market countries into developed countries: Implications for multinationals from developed countries.Thunderbird International Business Review,54(3), 291-298. Rosemann, M., vom Brocke, J. (2015). The six core elements of business process management. InHandbook on Business Process Management 1(pp. 105-122). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Schaltegger, S., Ldeke-Freund, F., Hansen, E. G. (2012). Business cases for sustainability: the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability.International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development,6(2), 95-119. Thomas, A. R., Wilkinson, T. J. (2015). Turning Your Innovations into Commodities. InThe Customer Trap(pp. 27-44). Apress. Varadarajan, R. (2015). Innovating for sustainability: a framework for sustainable innovations and a model of sustainable innovations orientation.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1-23. Venugopal, S. (2015). Mobilising Private Sector Climate Investment: PublicPrivate Financial Innovations. InResponsible Investment Banking(pp. 301-324). Springer International Publishing. Weber, K. M., Rohracher, H. (2012). Legitimizing research, technology and innovation policies for transformative change: Combining insights from innovation systems and multi-level perspective in a comprehensive failures framework.Research Policy,41(6), 1037-1047. Wright, C., Sturdy, A., Wylie, N. (2012). Management innovation through standardization: Consultants as standardizers of organizational practice.Research Policy,41(3), 652-662.

Business Economics for De-Unionization- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Economics for Globalization andDe-Unionization. Answer: Introduction and Claim In the entire Article, the author discusses about the increasing disparity between the upper- and lower-half of the society. The major narrator of the piece is Robert Reich who is primary illustrating the Americas social classes. The metaphor is utilized in explicating how the economy of America is fluctuating for the rich and poor. It is alluded to a boat that everyone is in whereby 1 is rapidly sinking 2nd one sinking more gradually while the 3rd steadily rising. The three social classes are referred to here including lower-, middle- and upper-class. The lower-class keeps going poorer due to job loss, increase automation alongside competition from other economies which are enthusiastic to work for less money. The middle-class is somewhat staying unchanged but remain still diminishing economically. This is due to machinery that is substituting employees, lower wages due to the surged social security drawn by the government from the retirees, alongside the stiff competition from immigrant searching for jobs. The upper-class does well and ascending past everyone else since they are the people who are thinking regarding selling their notions to overseas nations who could never think of them independently. Background The topic is anchored on the Robert Reich as both eye opener and simultaneously a cautionary for the society about the unemployment which the society shall be facing and is presently facing as a result of the lack of education and technology. It precisely enunciates that routine producers jobs and in-person servers have extinguished wholly as the contemporary techniques have substituted them. Reich posited that strictly individuals whose jobs remain on the upsurge are symbol analysts. The symbol analysts remain the actual problem solvers. The symbol analysts skills remain extremely in the demand globally since they are the people who initially examine the problem and subsequently solve the problem (Reich 15). The same unemployment problem alongside the global recession that has left workers focusing on workers not solely with skills of specialist but further a vaster array of knowledge and skills. The report remains a clear reflection of what is required by the modern day employers, but the question remains whether it is universities or learners individually that fail to cope with the needs of modern world that is marred with advancement in technology alongside critical thinking. The modern day generation alongside reasons for huge drop in employment are truly missing something critical. Opposition The opposition holds that the job losses in America is caused not by the immigrants into America but due to technological development and globalization. The opposition acknowledges that the main challenge is the employment crisis that the millennials shall be facing as a result of educational challenges, either in schools or in learners, and the similar period the ascending symbol analysts demand (Spangler 472). This is an eye-openers for millennials since the opposition has precisely illustrated all the challenges facing millennials and shall be facing in the coming years about employment. Opponents Claims strengths and weaknesses The main strength in my opponent claim is that it is true that globalization and technological advancement have greatly led to a laying off of many workers. On the other hand, the opponent fails to appreciate that as technology is advancing, many jobs are destroyed and through innovation, many new jobs are created and many firms upskill their old employees rather than retrenching which would indeed retain workers and even employ new ones. My Claim The Robert Reich Article remains wholly true. There is a widening gap between the rich and the poor. This disparity/gap is increasing blooming visibly as months turn to years. The rich are increasingly becoming richer since they are the people taking over the lower-class jobs and doing whatever they wish with them. Often, the upper-class fire all the employees and place in automatic machinery since it is increasingly effective and cost really less. The upper-class have further put a surge on immigrants over the previous ten years and it is still ascending today. The immigrants come to America and require jobs to support both families and themselves. This is the reason there is increasing jobs less in the US. If the American economy keeps up with this declining trend, there will people trapped in absolute poverty and those who are filthy rich. Accordingly many of the rich individuals shall refute to assist the poor, even where they are increasingly capable of helping the poor. Warrants for My Claim and the Opposition for Common Ground Based on my claim, the millennials future is analyzed with respect to unemployment problems the millennials will face as a result of globalization. The advancement in technology and entire world going global remains significant. Unlike my claim, that I hold also contributes to the American job losses, I see sense in the opponent claim that attributes the job loss to the shift of jobs from the developed to developing economies established by the huge recession in the developed-economies to have triggered by the advancement in technology and globalization. Common Ground It is true that both claims remain cognizant that the main challenge is the unemployment. Whereas I attributed the lack of employment among the Americans to the competition arising from the immigrants who seek the same jobs to support themselves and families, I am in agreement with my opponents claim that globalization and advancement in technology have also played a significant role (Stiglitz 133). It is true that advancement in technology has made workers stay in touch with the entire globe with the assistance of certain optical wires alongside satellites and hence began hiring employees who were willing and ready to work for the lower salaries. In the same manner, introduction of novel labor-saving machineries like ATMs and robotized vending accounts for job losses. Conclusion Both opposing claims have a sense in arguments and hence there is a common ground. Both technological advancement and globalization have indeed led to job loses while at the same time Americans have lost jobs due to influx of immigrants. Works Cited Reich, Robert B. "Why the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer." The way class works: Readings on school, family, and the economy (2008): 13-24. Spangler, Eve. "When Good Jobs Go Bad: Globalization, De-Unionization, and Declining Job Quality in the North American Auto Industry." (2017): 471-473. Stiglitz, Joseph E. "The overselling of globalization." Business Economics 52.3 (2017): 129-137.

Study Guides Essays - Study Guide, Homework, Study Skills, Reading

Study Guides A study guide is a teaching aid designed to help students develop reading skills needed to enhance their comprehension of the material is the textbook. Study guides can be very helpful to students who have low comprehension skills. A study guide will ensure that the student will focus their attention on what is important for them to learn. The study guide has to be relevant to the test that will be given. Many teachers will assign a specific reading for the class and many of the students may not adhere to the teacher's request. A study guide will reinforce the reading material. A study guide that is prepared without the answers will force a student to do the reading. A study investigated the use of study guides as instructional tools and compared the effectiveness of study guides with and without analogies. Seventy-four undergraduate students in three upper division education classes studied three passages about three obscure religions (Manichaeism, Jainism, and the Druze religion) with and without the aid of two types of studyguides. One study guide analogized the religions to Christianity, and one did not employ analogies. Both study guides were written in multiple-choice, short answer, and essay format. Within each class, students were randomly divided into three groups for comparison, and each subject was given all three passages to study in different sequences, studying one passage per treatment condition. Results revealed a significant interaction between text and treatment, but with a small effect size. Results also revealed: (1) that the Manichaeism text produced scores significantly different from the combination of Druze and Jainism scores across all three treatments; (2) that the Manichaeism study guide treatments produced scores significantly different from those of the other two treatments; and (3) that the Druze analogical study guide treatment produced scores significantly different from those of the other treatments, but that the Jainism analogical study guide treatment was not significantly different from the other two treatments. A study explored whether the use of a study guide would improve students' comprehension of content area material. Two groups of students in an eighth grade social studies class were involved: students in the control group received the usual instruction--the chapter was read orally and discussed in class--while students in the experimental sample were given a study guide, skimmed the material silently, and worked on the exercises in groups of two or three. A posttest on history revealed no statistically significant differences between the scores of the two groups. How ever, since both time and the amount of material were limited and since no information is available regarding the reliability of the method used, the results of this study can be applied only to these two samples. Reading in the content areas from grades four through twelve requires the integration of new knowledge with what is already known,that involves sophisticated skills. Content area teachers must be aware of, model, and teach those reading and study skills that help students to better comprehend their reading assignments. Some strategies that have been used successfully to train students to acquire information on their own include the use of prediction guides, advance organizers, graphic organizers, study guides, and glossing. In most of the studies that I read, the use of a study guide improved most of the test scores. Study guides are a useful tool that can be used in any content area to enhance a students learning. The idea behind study guides is that students can use them as models of how to plan their own scheme of work. They are meant to primarily to be an initiation to self-direction. A survey was administered to 10th-grade regular biology students to diagnose the cause for low achievement on chapter tests. Survey results verified teacher suspicion that students did not read textbook assignments when designated as homework and, as a consequence, this deficiency contributed to low achievement scores. A treatment included requiring additional homework in the form of a teacher-prepared Reading Study Guide (RSG) that accompanied each chapter and had to be completed while students read the assignments. To complete the individualized RSG, students were unable to skim the material but, instead, had to read the assignments thoroughly. Upon completion of the RSG, a pretest was administered and learning activities relative to the chapter objectives were presented, followed by a posttest. Cloze test results indicated improvement in student ability levels. Posttest scores increased significantly and the overall grade average on the RSG surpassed expectations. During treatment, cloze test results disclosed that student ability levels were not equivalent to reading stanine levels. Overall results provided evidence

What Is Transcendentalism Understanding the Movement

What Is Transcendentalism Understanding the Movement SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Confused about transcendentalism? You’re not alone! Transcendentalism is a movement that many people developed over a long period of time, and as a result, its complexity can make it hard to understand. That’s where we come in. Read this article to learn a simple but complete transcendentalism definition, key transcendentalist beliefs, an overview of the movement's history, key players, and examples of transcendentalist works. By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to write about or discuss the transcendentalist movement. What Is Transcendentalism? It’s all about spirituality. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that began in the mid-19th century and whose founding members included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. It centers around the belief that spirituality cannot be achieved through reason and rationalism, but instead through self-reflection and intuition. In other words, transcendentalists believe spirituality isn’t something you can explain; it’s something you feel. A transcendentalist would argue that going for a walk in a beautiful place would be a much more spiritual experience than reading a religious text. The transcendentalism movement arose as a resultof a reaction to Unitarianism as well as the Age of Reason. Both centered on reason as the main source of knowledge, but transcendentalists rejected that notion. Some of the transcendentalist beliefs are: Humans are inherently good Society and its institutions such as organized religion and politics are corrupting. Instead of being part of them, humans should strive to be independent and self-reliant Spirituality should come from the self, not organized religion Insight and experience are more important than logic Nature is beautiful, should be deeply appreciated, and shouldn’t be altered by humans Major Transcendentalist Values The transcendentalist movement encompassed many beliefs, but these all fit into their three main values of individualism, idealism, and the divinity of nature. Individualism Perhaps the most important transcendentalist value was the importance of the individual. They saw the individual as pure, and they believed that society and its institutions corrupted this purity. Transcendentalists highly valued the concept of thinking for oneself and believed people were best when they were independent and could think for themselves. Only then could individuals come together and form ideal communities. Idealism The focus on idealism comes from Romanticism, a slightly earlier movement. Instead of valuing logic and learned knowledge as many educated people at the time did, transcendentalists placed great importance on imagination, intuition and creativity. They saw the values of the Age of Reason as controlling and confining, and they wanted to bring back a more â€Å"ideal† and enjoyable way of living. Divinity of Nature Transcendentalists didn’t believe in organized religion, but they were very spiritual. Instead of believing in the divinity of religious figures, they saw nature as sacred and divine. They believed it was crucial for humans to have a close relationship with nature, the same way religious leaders preach about the importance of having a close relationship with God. Transcendentalists saw nature as perfect as it was; humans shouldn’t try to change or improve it. History of the Transcendentalist Movement What’s the history of transcendentalism? Here’s an overview of the movement, covering its beginning, height, and eventual decline. Origins While people had begun discussing ideas related to transcendentalism since the early 1800s, the movement itself has its origins in 1830s New England, specifically Massachusetts. Unitarianism was the major religion in the area, and it emphasized spirituality and enlightenment through logic, knowledge, and rationality. Young men studying Unitarianism who disagreed with these beliefs began to meet informally. Unitarianism was a particularly large part of life at Harvard University, where many of the first transcendentalists attended school. In September 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson organized the first meeting of what would later be called the Transcendental Club. Together the group discussed frustrations of Unitarianism and their main beliefs, drawing on ideas from Romanticism, German philosophers, and the Hindu spiritual texts the Upanishads. The transcendentalists begin to publish writings on their beliefs, beginning with Emerson’s essay â€Å"Nature.† Height The Transcendental Club continued to meet regularly, drawing in new members, and key figures, particularly Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, published numerous essays to further spread transcendentalist beliefs. In 1840, the journal The Dial was created for transcendentalists to publish their works. Utopia communities, such as Brook Farm and Fruitlands attempted to make transcendentalism a complete lifestyle. Decline By the end of the 1840s, many key transcendentalists had begun to move onto other pursuits, and the movement declined. This decline was further hastened by the untimely death of Margaret Fuller, one of the leading transcendentalists and cofounder of The Dial. While there was a smaller second wave of transcendentalism during this time, the brief resurgence couldn’t bring back the popularity the movement had enjoyed the previous decade, and transcendentalism gradually faded from public discourse, although people still certainly share the movement’s beliefs. Even recently, movies such as The Dead Poets Society and The Lion King express transcendentalist beliefs such as the importance of independent thinking, self-reliance, and enjoying the moment. Key Figures in the Transcendentalist Movement At its height, many people supported the beliefs of transcendentalism, and numerous well-known names from the 19th century have been associated with the movement. Below are five key transcendentalists. Ralph Waldo Emerson Emerson is the key figure in transcendentalism. He brought together many of the original transcendentalists, and his writings form the foundation of many of the movement’s beliefs. The day before he published his essay â€Å"Nature† he invited a group of his friends to join the â€Å"Transcendental Club† a meeting of like-minded individuals to discuss their beliefs. He continued to host club meetings, write essays, and give speeches to promote transcendentalism. Some of his most important transcendentalist essays include â€Å"The Over-Soul,† â€Å"Self-Reliance,† â€Å"The American Scholar† and â€Å"Divinity School Address.† Henry David Thoreau The second-most important transcendentalist, Thoreau was a friend of Emerson’s who is best known for his book Walden. Walden is focused on the benefits of individualism, simple living and close contact with and observation of nature. Thoreau also frequently opposed the government and its actions, most notably in his essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience.† Margaret Fuller Margaret Fuller was perhaps the leading female transcendentalist. A well-known journalist and ardent supporter of women’s rights, she helped cofound The Dial, the key transcendentalist journal, with Emerson, which helped cement her place in the movement and spread the ideas of transcendentalism to a wider audience. An essay she wrote for the journal was later published as the book Woman in the Nineteenth Century, one of the earliest feminist works in the United States. She believed in the importance of the individual, but often felt that other transcendentalists, namely Emerson, focused too much on individualism at the expense of social reform. Amos Bronson Alcott A friend of Emerson’s, Alcott (father of Little Women’s Louisa May Alcott), was an educator known for his innovative ways of teaching and correcting students. He wrote numerous pieces on transcendentalism, but the quality of his writing was such that most were unpublishable. A noted abolitionist, he refused to pay his poll tax to protest President Tyler’s annexation of Texas as a slave territory. This incident inspired Thoreau to do a similar protest, which led to him writing the essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience.† Frederic Henry Hedge Frederic Henry Hedge met Emerson when both were students at Harvard Divinity School. Hedge was studying to become a Unitarian minister, and he had already spent several years studying music and literature in Germany. Emerson invited him to join the first meeting of the Transcendental Club (originally called Hedge’s Club, after him), and he attended meetings for several years. He wrote some of the earliest pieces later categorized as Transcendentalist works, but he later became somewhat alienated from the group and refused to write pieces for The Dial. George Ripley Like Hedge, Ripley was also a Unitarian minister and founding member of the Transcendental Club. He founded the Utopian community Brook Farm based on major Transcendentalist beliefs. Brook Farm residents would work the farm (whichever jobs they found most appealing) and use their leisure time to pursue activities they enjoyed, such as dancing, music, games, and reading. However, the farm was never able to do well financially, and the experiment ended after just a few years. Criticisms of Transcendentalism From its start, transcendentalism attracted numerous critics for its nontraditional, and sometimes outright alien, ideas. Many transcendentalists were seen as outcasts, and many journals refused to publish works written by them. Below are some of the most common criticisms. Spirituality Over Organized Religion For most people, the most shocking aspect of transcendentalism was that it promoted individual spirituality over churches and other aspects of organized religion. Religion was the cornerstone of many people’s lives at this time, and any movement that told them it was corrupting and to give it up would have been unfathomable to many. Over-Reliance on Independence Many people, even some transcendentalists like Margaret Fuller, felt that transcendentalism at times ignored the importance of community bonds and over-emphasized the need to rely on no one but one’s self, to the point of irresponsibility and destructiveness. Some people believe that Herman Melville’s book Moby Dick was written as a critique of complete reliance on independence. In the novel, the character Ahab eschews nearly all bonds of camaraderie and is focused solely on his goal of destroying the white whale. This eventually leads to his death. Margaret Fuller also felt that transcendentalism could be more supportive of community initiatives to better the lives of others, such as by advocating for women’s and children’s rights. Abstract Values Have a hard time understanding what transcendentalists really wanted? So did a lot of people, and it made them view the movement as nothing more than a bunch of dreamers who enjoyed criticizing traditional values but weren’t sure what they themselves wanted. Edgar Allen Poe accused the movement of promoting â€Å"obscurity for obscurity's sake.† Unrealistic Utopian Ideals Some people viewed the transcendentalists’ focus on enjoying life and maximizing their leisure time as hopelessly naive and idealistic. Criticism frequently focused on the Utopian communities some transcendentalists created to promote communal living and the balance of work and labor. Nathaniel Hawthorne, who stayed at the Brook Farm communal living experiment, disliked his experience so much that he wrote an entire novel, The Blithedale Romance, criticizing the concept and transcendentalist beliefs in general. Major Transcendentalist Works Many transcendentalists were prolific writers, and examples abound of transcendentalism quotes, essays, books, and more. Below are four examples of transcendentalist works, as well as which of the transcendentalist beliefs they support. â€Å"Self-Reliance† by Ralph Waldo Emerson Emerson wrote this essay in 1841 to share his views on the issue of, you guessed it, self-reliance. Throughout the essay he discusses the importance of individuality and how people must avoid the temptation to conform to society at the expense of their true selves. It also contains the excellent line â€Å"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.† There are three main ways Emerson says people should practice self-reliance is through non-conformity (â€Å"A man must consider what a blindman's-bluff is this game of conformity†), solitude over society (â€Å"the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude†), and spirituality that is found in one’s own self (â€Å"The relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure, that it is profane to seek to interpose helps†). Self-reliance and an emphasis on the individual over community is a core belief of transcendentalism, and this essay was key in developing that view. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Published in 1855, the first edition of Leaves of Grass included 12 untitled poems. Whitman was a fan of Emerson’s and was thrilled when the latter highly praised his work. The poems contain many transcendentalism beliefs, including an appreciation of nature, individualism, and spirituality. A key example is the poem later titled â€Å"Song of Myself† which begins with the line â€Å"I celebrate myself† and goes on to extoll the benefits of the individual â€Å"Welcome is every organ and attribute of me†, the enjoyment of nature (â€Å"The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and dark colored sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn†), the goodness of humans (â€Å"You shall possess the good of the earth and sun†), and the connections all humans share (â€Å"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you†). â€Å"The Summer Rain† by Henry David Thoreau This transcendentalism poem, like many of Thoreau’s works, focuses on the beauty and simplicity of nature. Published in 1849, the poem describes the narrator’s delight at being in a meadow during a rainstorm. The poem frequently mentions the enjoyment that observing nature can bring, and there are many descriptions of the meadow such as, â€Å"A clover tuft is pillow for my head/And violets quite overtop my shoes.†But Thoreau also makes a point to show that he believes nature is more enjoyable and a better place to learn from than intellectual pursuits like reading and studying. He begins the poem with this verse: â€Å"My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read/'Twixt every page my thoughts go stray at large/Down in the meadow, where is richer feed,/And will not mind to hit their proper targe† and continues later on with â€Å"Here while I lie beneath this walnut bough,/What care I for the Greeks or for Troy town,/If juster battles are enacted now/Between the ants upon this hummock’s crown?† He makes clear that he is comparing works of Shakespeare and Homer to the joys of nature, and he finds nature the better and more enjoyable way to learn. This is in line with Transcendentalist beliefs that insight and experience are more rewarding than book learning. â€Å"What Is Beauty?† by Lydia Maria Child Lydia Maria Child, a women’s rights activist and abolitionist, wrote this essay, which was published in The Dial in 1843. The essay discusses what constitutes beauty and how we can appreciate beauty. It frequently references the transcendentalist theme that intuition and insight are more important than knowledge for understanding when something is beautiful, such as in the line â€Å"Beauty is felt, not seen by the understanding.† All the knowledge in the world can’t explain why we see certain things as beautiful; we simply know that they are. Summary: Transcendentalism Definition What’s a good transcendentalism definition? Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement centered around spirituality that was popular in the mid-19th century. Key transcendentalism beliefs were that humans are inherently good but can be corrupted by society and institutions, insight and experience and more important than logic, spirituality should come from the self, not organized religion, and nature is beautiful and should be respected. The transcendentalist movement reached its height in the 1830s and 1840s and included many well-known people, most notably Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalists wrote widely, and by reading their works you can get a better sense of the movement and its core beliefs. What's Next? Taking the AP Literature exam? Check out our ultimate guide to the AP English Literature testandour list of AP Literature practice tests. No matter what you're reading, it's important to understand literary devices. Here are 31 literary devices you should know. There's a lot of imagery in transcendentalism poems and other writings. Learn everything you need to know about imagery by reading our guide.

Compare and contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Compare and contrast - Essay Example For example, if something sad happen, and then it is going be heart wrenchingly sad. If something is happy, then it is over the top on cloud-nine happy. Whereas American dramas on the other hand, are not melodramatic, the characters seem to have real emotions. For example, if something sad or bad happens, the character seems to run through a day or less of denial, regret and crying. When the situation is happy, then it is just jumping up and down, nothing special like the Korean dramas. People still love watching them, especially the 90’s dramas. Second, the situations the Korean characters go through are not realistic at all. For example, in King of Baking, Kim Takgu the main character Kim Takgu, runs away from his father’s family to strive and find the person who kidnapped his mother, after that he finds a gang member and the gang member told him to get beat in order to find his mother’s location, rather than going to the police officer. He gets distracted by t he secrets of baking. Whereas American dramas tend to be realistic and the topics and situations that could happen to the person next door, the characters may be unique, but if character’s the acting gets ridiculous, then the show does not last very long. For example, in the Ringer the posted girl for the former WB, even Sarah Michelle Gellar could not intrigue the viewers. Third, Korean drama makers, invests so much in following what the fans say. They invest emotionally in the drama. People will watch the drama, go online and discuss it. The Korean drama makers read/re-read the recaps, watch the previews and sometimes if the makers will follow it and that makes such an improvement to the drama. Whereas American drama makers do not seem to have that kind of influence on their viewers. It may be intriguing while it is currently showing, but once it is over or even showing on TV the audience seems to have lost interest or have forgotten the show. Also, the viewers do not seem to have the patience to stay around if the acting is really bad or the story has holes in it. Fourth, Korean dramas will revolve with family issues. For example, pleasing family members/ maintaining family reputation. Even when the main character is trying to solve or doing something there is always family influence. Also, there is this issue of â€Å"what people think of the main character† . Whereas American dramas, they will generally deal with people who are having trouble finding themselves, making their own way in the world and they have the attitude of â€Å" be your own man† kind of attitude. Fifth, Korean characters have this unique innocence and clueless in them. For example know about sex, never been kissed, fighting is horrific, but there are Korean dramas that adhere American aspects whereas American dramas find innocence as ignorance. Lastly, Korean dramas are a bit more corny and cheesy and also in Korean dramas, people are brought to tears and they well say if it's done well â€Å"oh I feel sorry for her†. Whereas In American dramas if a girl was in love, but she is diagnosed with some rare disease, people say â€Å"oh yea, what are the odds?† From American perspective of making dramatic films or TV series, the Korean melodramatic theme may be a flop or just plainly a turn off from their traditional sense of taste of how a drama flick should be. But this traditional perspective is slowly eroding and changing as Korean

Risk and value management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Risk and value management - Essay Example Based on the primary objective of value management to develop project objectives with uttermost clarity, the process facilitates quest for background information on the project as well as the project’s needs. These initiatives facilitate an extensive development of knowledge on the project towards management competency of business knowledge. As a result, value management provides an opportunity for developing insights into a project for proper management of the strategic management stage and the entire project. Value management also creates time resource between the initiation stage of a project and the project’s implementation stage. With an outlined budget for value management’s time, an organization is able to identify and evaluate outlined objectives in a project for improvement. This therefore means that apart from the benefits of the value management, its incorporation in the project’s budget adds value to the briefing process as well as the entire p roject (Turner, p. 307). Value management also facilitates identification of client’s needs and expectations from a project. The analytical approach of the management that aims at identification of the objectives of the project particularly leads to an understanding of what the customer wants out of the project. This further facilitates development of objective and establishment of ground for customer utility at the completion of the project. Establishing customers’ needs is also important in the strategic briefing stage because the success and feasibility of a project is measured against expectations of the stakeholders. With all needs of the client identified by the value management process, the strategic briefing process develops the capacity to evaluate feasibility of the needs as well as incorporating the need into the project’s objectives. There is also an induced benefit of empowerment and development of team members in value management. The interactive approach in

Discuss this question(showing in the Details set) more likely to Essay

Discuss this question(showing in the Details set) more likely to discuss philosophy knowledge and opinions no source are needed) - Essay Example In this case, relativists are advocates of cultural tolerance. By holding that everything in the world is contains some relative truth and that all positions are equal, it can be concluded that the cultural aspect in the world is also among the equals. In this case, there is no culture that is superior or other that are inferior. By this, one can deduce that different culture defines the diversity of people. Similarly, all people have equality in all aspect and hence, the issue of cultural tolerance has its place in the relativist school of thought. Cultural tolerance refers to the situation where every person acknowledges and respects cultural diversity. As such, each cultural should be treated with dignity and equality. As per the definition, cultural diversity is all about equality of all people despite their cultural orientation. All this is hypothesized by relativists as they advocate for unconditional equality. In this case, we can conclude that the relativists universally are committed to cross-cultural

What Drives Innovation In Apple?

What Drives Innovation In Apple? Apple generates ideas, manage innovation and then effectively diffuse the innovation. They generate ideas or search for opportunities by carrying out effective research and development, Apple has an innovation factory which carries out all experiments using the talented pool of people they have. It follows competition and tries to stay one step ahead of them. Effective linkages and networking is very important as valid information can be gained from them, so relations should be maintained with suppliers, dealers and other partners. Apple believes in learning and working in teams. Apples innovation is driven by external uncertainty and competition. Apple is also very effective in finding new market opportunities and reorganizing areas which were inefficient. It fills the gaps existing in the markets for example the gap of a product which was needed to fill the gap between a computer and a phone, so Apple came up with IPAD. Authority is delegated by Apple so that the innovative people can focus on their creative work rather than sorting out other problems. Apples credibility is very high, it is a trustworthy company and trust breeds innovation. Criticism is accepted willingly by the company as it helps out shaping good ideas into great ones. Optimum use of Apples resources the right time and place and proper project planning has enabled it to innovate. Effective marketing activities have been carried out to position the new idea or product in the minds of the customer. For E.g.: Think Different Campaign. Apple is way ahead in this field in comparison to the other competition it develops such a demand for its products even before its production, for instance their pre-booking of the new product IPAD even months before launch of the product, proves that they are pioneers in innovation and customers belief in them to create strong and innovative product. Strategic enablers for innovation Enablers of innovation capability in Apple are its Organizational Culture, People Management, Innovation Strategy and its Innovation Competencies. Apple develops an innovative culture right from the top of the management. Apples culture of innovative thinking also fosters the innovation process. Moreover leadership of Steve had been empowering to the company, he has inspired many new ideas and helped sharing the visions of the company. Apples functioning has been smooth and open, without any bureaucracy. Apple has been able to develop models of change and innovation through systems theory and used focused groups and experimentation. Apples motto Think Different promotes all working people in the organization to be innovative. Apple recognizes, protects and encourages all innovators in the organization. Innovators in the company are also rewarded either in monetary terms or recognition based. Apple has invested many resources in innovation because innovation requires much funding and lack of it can hinder creativity. Apple promotes diversity in their workforce as people from different background perceive things differently, so new interpretations and ideas can be created if diverse thinking is involved. Innovation is internalized in all people working for Apple as it is everyones role. Apple regularly evaluates all on going projects, as analyzing current activities is essential to ensure proper work is being done, double loop learning should be followed. The employees of Apple are skilled so they are able to handle the risk; it also tries to learn from their mistakes in the fast. Financial resources available to Apple also help in funding the innovation of the company. Best human resource is available to Apple which keeps them a step ahead of the rest, as there is no substitute for knowledge and talent, unless Apple innovates and tries to comes up with an alternative. Barriers to Innovation Apple faces a few hurdles which curtails their innovation capability. Apple always launches any new idea quite early and gives a date for the product launch in the future; it starts it marketing activity early. So Apple has to be efficient to make the deadline, this hinders any further innovative changes that could have been brought to the product as its focus shifts on to production. Moreover under delivery pressure products are made costly, rather than cost effective. Administrative pressure also increases as the products have to meet the launch date, so they stop thinking about things differently. Under this daily pressure to stick to time horizons and budgets, innovation leaves to be of prime importance until the goal is met. Apple sometimes tries to avoid risks, but low risk leads to low rewards, so Apple must take some calculated risks if it wants high rewards, Apple can do so. Apples culture and structure of the organization can sometimes constraint innovative thinking even if the technology is available, so culture needs to be shared by all and communication should be open. Public can sometimes doubt the effectiveness of some of the Apple products and expects a lot. This expectation can burden Apple a lot, so constant efforts have to be made to keep up the innovation. Apple sometimes tries to protect its reputed identity to increase their credibility and sustain itself, so it creates limits and gives responsibilities and lays down rules but innovation crosses the limits set by the organization. So instead of limiting its network, it should broaden it and manage all stakeholders effectively. Apple sometimes calculates the value of innovation in quantifiable terms like market share and profits and forgets things like reputation, leadership, talent, etc. These things neglected sparingly make the value of the firm so it should change the way it values innovat ion. Apple leads the customers rather than following them, this can hurt their company in the long run. So customers should be given utmost importance. Apple may have diverse workforce but overtime their thinking will start matching this may hurt the innovativeness of the company. Apple tries to make all its products look quite similar, this stops the creativity of the design innovation. Apple itself is its biggest enemy so it manages innovation effectively. Negativism and giving up can hurt Apples innovation capability. Complexity should also be avoided, managed or used effectively. Innovators come up with many ideas but which is the most appropriate one is hard to decide Apple has to keep that in mind. Microsoft were not going to work on the internet idea until now but they did this made our life so much easier. Apples market research is limited and this can hinder their organization as customer is the ruler and not Apple and importance should be given to their needs. Apple has also faced some barriers to Innovation when it has outsources some parts to other companies and they have come up short, or some suppliers did not provide in time. Apple relies on logic a lot but innovation is not derived by logic and some assumptions are also made which may be incorrect. Apples Designing Process Apples innovation strategy involves terrific new products and innovative business models. Genius ergonomics make Apple products effortless to use. Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works, said Steve Jobs. Apple has repeatedly demonstrated with its innovation management what a success user friendliness and design can generate. Some key elements of Apples design process are: Matching Top-down and Bottom-up Strategies Senior managers describe their dream products and outline what they want from any new application. In response, design teams select and present the best ideas from the paired design meetings to leadership, who might just decide that some of those ideas are, in fact, their longed-for new products. In this way, the dream products morph into deliverables. Top managers are also involved in the development process to ensure that there are no nasty mistakes down the line. Paired Design Meetings. Every week, design teams at Apple have two meetings: a right-brain creative meeting and a left-brain production one. At the creative meeting, people are to brainstorm, to forget about constraints, to think freely, and to go crazy. At the production meeting, the designers and engineers are required to nail everything down, to work out how this crazy idea might actually work. This process and organization continues throughout the development of any application. The balance shifts as the application progresses. Options are kept for creative thought even at a late stage. Developing Perfect Mockups Creating a full-size model of a design or a device requires a huge amount of work and takes an enormous amount of time, but it removes all ambiguity. That might add time up front, but it removes the need to correct mistakes later on. Apples 10 to 3 to 1à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ³ approach Im as proud of what we dont do as I am of what we do, used to say Steve Jobs. Apples strategy for innovation demands that design ideas to be generated in multitudes. They are all run through a sort of artificial natural-selection mechanism that kills off the weak and only lets the strongest ideas rise to the top. Apple designers give themselves room to design without restriction and come up with 10 entirely different mockups of any new feature. Later they whittle that number to three, spend more months on those three and then finally end up with one strong decision. 4.5. Apples Venture Acquisition Strategy and Practices Apples venture investing and acquisition strategy is not very aggressive To stay ahead, Apple usually over-invests in its supply chain. The company is reported to pay a significant portion of the factory construction cost in exchange for exclusive rights to the output for a set period of time, and then for a discount once this period expires. Not only does this allow Apple to come out with new components long before rivals, but these components are very difficult to duplicate. The company makes fewer acquisitions than their competitors. When Apple does buy companies, its almost always tight lipped about how they will fit into its strategy and how easily their technologies can be integrated into existing company projects. Yet, some acquisitions stand out in terms of adding important features to existing product lines or opening doors into new markets. The company made its first acquisition in 1988 when it purchased Network Innovations. Apples $429 million acquisition of NeXT in 1997 helped the company move smoothly from PowerPC to Intel processors. This deal also brought Steve Jobs back to Apple. In 1998, Apple acquired the intellectual property and the development team from Macromedia to make Final Cut Pro one of the top video desktop editing programs on the market. In 2002, Apples acquired a German firm Emagic for $30 million. The Mac versions of its high end audio recording and production application Logic was further developed by Apple to produce Logic Studio. The PC version of Logic was buried. By acquiring FingerWorks, a developer of gesture recognition technology, in 2005 Apple added a significant patent and engineering value to its multi-touch technology package. PA Semi was another essential acquisition. Apple which is now referring to itself as a mobile device company wants as much of the value chain under their control as possible. Purchased in 2008 for US$278 the chipmaker startup was tasked with making system-on-chips for iPhones and iPods. Apples $275 million acquisition of mobile advertising firm Quattro Wireless in 2010 reflects the companys desire to strengthen its mobile technology portfolio. Quattro deal gives Apple an alternative to Googles entrenched dominance in mobile advertising. Quattro is a counterpart to AdMob, the mobile advertising firm that Google acquired in 2009 for US$750 million. With Quattro, Apple is able to deliver advertising to mobile devices while improving the measurement and execution of digital ad campaigns. Strategic Leadership of Steve Jobs Centralized , disciplinarian style of leadership Mechanistic approach to organization Core Strategy product based aimed at being creation of products to stay ahead of the market Core Focus Design Aspect of the product which included not only the aesthetic pleasing nature of the products but also simplification in its working Long Term View with focus on investments in the new products (Iphone, Itunes) which are not inside the core business of the company (Apple Computers) Mr. Jobs had exhibited roles of strategic leader such as : Talent Advocate When recruiting Mr Tim Cook in operational role , Sir Jonathan Ive as the the VP of the Industrial Design Strategist : Shifting of the focus and investing in products outside the core playfield of the company Iphone , Ipod .This long term approach of getting into the products which could be profitable in future had lead to development of Iphone which is the cash cow for Apple contributing to more than half of its revenue Captivator Mr Jobs had build passion commitment in his team to drive them to achieve new milestones in both product and service arena Strategic Canvas : Strategic canvas apple vs dell vs samsung : Strategic canvas apple vs samsung : Strategic canvas apple vs dell Value Elements Eliminate : Price Range: Apples products are premium and dont really come on a broad price range. Apple essentially serves a premium segment. Inventory Management: Apple is not able to en cash upon economies of scale as much as Dell and Samsung in their respective core industries which have specialization in Just in Time inventory management. Reduce: Supply chain innovation: Apple has not innovated much on the front of Supply chain management despite the fact that It sources its integrated chips from a set of suppliers. While Dell and Samsung (to an extent) have much robust supply chains to sustain their JIT system. Customization: Dell specializes in customization which is a big plus point. Apple doesnt provide as much variety for different customer segments at different price ranges as much as Dell and Samsung do. Raise: Features: Although Samsung also provides a rich set of features, but, Apple is even more highly loaded with innovative features. Apples interface and apps provide a completely different customer experience. Create: Product Innovation :Apple Products are at the frontier of product innovation . They have brought new paradigm to innovation by introducing multi-touch ,Firewire , Aero Theme Design Quality: Apple focus highly on design aspect where products created are high on aesthetic appeal .The components used are of highest quality and sometimes custom-made (Scratch Free Glass Screen of Iphone) Targeting High Profit Margins :Apple products follow strategy of more for more and have higher margins . For Eg : On high end macbook pro Apple captures margin as high as Rs20k ,while dell on similar laptop are able to capture on Rs 5k as profit margin from the user. Innovation-Radar : Innovation radar : apple vs dell : Innovation radar : apple vs samsung 4.10. Strategic Innovation Milestones by Apple Launch of Lisa Machintosh The Lisa followed by Macintosh:putting a dent on the universe Initially the whole PC market was captured by IBM.Though the first IBM PC was too expensive for the home market, but it proved a huge hit with business.That time IBM failed to realise the importance of the operating system and it purchased one from Microsoft. As a result other manufacturers were then able to copy the IBM hardware design and ship their Clones with copies of MSDOS purchased directly from Microsoft. As a result, even without IBMs approval or participation, their PC became an open standard with virtually unstoppable economies of scale. By 1990 IBM Compatible PCs captured an 80% market share, by 2000 97%.Following graph shows the market capture by incumbent. : personal computer market space Now, Apple innovated the market by following an entirely different business model for which it will remembered as the innovative company behind the first mass market GUI based computer. What -Who-Why Model applicable to Macintosh Lisa What: The first mass market GUI based computer which replaced the text based interfaces. Did not worked on product innovation , rather worked on bringing revolution The computers mouse could move diagonally, it had overlapping windows, dialogue boxes, and its operating system moved away from keyboard commands(not an existing idea then) Who : The Lisa computer was an expensive machine targeted at business and academia .Though Lisa proved to be a commercial failure but a year later Apple launched their successful Macintosh computer for consumers. How: Responsiveness Prediction of future of technology- After seeing Xerox-Alto, running on graphical interface Steve Jobs instantly started working on the technology with his engineers. Before Xerox could realize its true potential and launch its next Star 8010, Apple was already hard at work on their own GUI based computer Capturing competitors resources: Jobs hires 15 Xerox employees to work on the Lisa Project WHAT:GUI based computer replaced text based HOW: Responsiveness, Strategic leadership ,capturing competitor resources WHO: For Busness Academia Although Apple remained a niche player, it should be remembered that the IBM PC was a sort of meteor that hit the earth and wiped all life, Apple was essentially the single survivor of this dramatic evolutionary event. Apple Newton: The Apple Newton was an innovative and cutting-edge product , a handheld device with features like handwriting recognition, virtual keyboards, and an effective portable OS.The Newton was a breakthrough for the 90s and still at par or above some of the smartphones on the market today. Despite a glowing reception by consumers and Apple loyalists, the product failed and the idea of a tablet/PDA/phone was not resurrected by Apple until a few months ago with their announcement of the upcoming iPhone. Reasons it failed: Ahead of time : Market was not ready for this kind of product Not right timing: Apple was just not ready to integrate a non-computer product into their portfolio. Wrong positioning : Many saw the Newton as a competitor rather than a complement to the burgeoning laptop market. Basically, the product was too good. The Newton projects broad vision fell victim to project slippage, feature creep, and a growing fear that it would interfere with Macintosh sales. It was reinvented as a PDA which would be a complementary Macintosh peripheral instead of a stand-alone computer which might compete with the Macintosh. iTunes iTunes is a media player computer program used for playing, downloading, saving, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop or laptop personal computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices. iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store to purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, podcasts, movies and movie rentals , and ringtones. It is also used to download application software from the App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. iTunes has been criticized for not being able to transfer music from one portable device to another. iTunes was introduced by Apple Inc. on January 9, 2001. The Strategy behind iTunes Over the past decade, Apple Inc. has been extremely successful in formulating and implementing a coherent and focused strategic vision. Its success is evident not just in the companys bottom line results but also in its attractiveness to investors. Innovation has continued to keep Apple on the cutting edge of the consumer electronics market. One of Apples key innovative successes was the integration of its iTunes platform strategy with its overall vision of the company as a digital convergence company. Apple observed the flood of illegal music file sharing that began in the late 1990s. Music file sharing programs such as Napster, Kazaa, and LimeWire had created a network of Internet savvy music lovers freely, yet illegally, sharing music across the globe. By 2003 more than two billion illegal music files were being traded every month. While the recording industry fought to stop the cannibalization of physical CDs, illegal digital music downloading continued to grow. With the technology out there for anyone to digitally download music free instead of paying $19 for an average CD, the trend toward digital music was clear. This trend was underscored by the fast growing demand for MP3 players that played mobile digital music, such as Apples hit iPod. Apple capitalized on this decisive trend with a clear trajectory by launching the iTunes online music store in 2003. In agreement with five major music companies-BMG, EMI Group, Sony, Universal Music Group, and Warner Brothers Records-iTunes offered legal, easy-to-use, and flexible à   la carte song downloads. iTunes allowed buyers to freely browse two hundred thousand songs, listen to thirty-second samples, and download an individual song for 99 cents or an entire album for $9.99. By allowing people to buy individual songs and strategically pricing them far more reasonably, iTunes broke a key customer annoyance factor: the need to purchase an entire CD when they wanted only one or two songs on it. iTunes also leapt past free downloading services, providing sound quality as well as intuitive navigating, searching, and browsing functions. To illegally download music you must first search for the song, album, or artist. If you are looking for a complete album you must know the names of all the songs and their order. It is rare to find a complete album to download in one location. The sound quality is consistently poor because most people burn CDs at a low bit rate to save space. And most of the tracks available reflect the tastes of sixteen-year-olds, so although theoretically there are billions of tracks available, the scope is limited. In contrast, Apples search and browsing functions are considered the best in the business. Moreover, iTunes music editors include a number of added features usually found in the record shops, including iTunes essentials such as Best Hair Bands or Best Love Songs, staff favorites, celebrity play lists, and Billboard charts. And the iTunes sound quality is the highest because iTunes encodes songs in a format called AAC, which offers sound quality superior to MP3s, even those burned at a very high data rate. Customers have been flocking to iTunes, and recording companies and artists are also winning. Under iTunes they receive 65 percent of the purchase price of digitally downloaded songs, at last financially benefiting from the digital downloading craze. In addition, Apple further protected recording companies by devising copyright protection that would not inconvenience users-who had grown accustomed to the freedom of digital music in the post- Napster world-but would satisfy the music industry. The iTunes Music Store allows users to burn songs onto iPods and CDs up to seven times, enough to easily satisfy music lovers but far too few times to make professional piracy an issue. Today the iTunes Music Store offers more than 8 million songs. iTunes is the largest music retailer in the US with sales exceeding 5 billion songs. Apples iTunes has unlocked a blue ocean in digital music, with the added advantage of increasing the attractiveness of its highly successful iPod player and other Apple products like iPhone and iTab. By entering the market early and firmly entrenching its brand name, Apple was able to leverage a first movers advantage with its iTunes Music Store. By 2010, the iTunes store had grown into the worlds largest music store. Apple was able to further exploit this advantage by creating a proprietary technology for the iPod which protected songs downloaded from the iTunes store against piracy. An additional element of this Digital Rights Management System was that no competing MP3 player could play songs protected by it. Hence, Apple was able to gain an important advantage over existing competitors and potential new entrants into the MP3 arena. Apple also was able to take advantage of its economies of scale in controlling the pricing of digital music content made available through its iTunes store. Music labels were very concerned about the impact of this new a la carte pricing model on their CD sales, but there was little that they could do to stand in Apples way in light of its enormous market share of MP3 players. By 2010, Apple held more than 70% of the U.S. MP3 market. Apple has also utilized this controlled open platform strategy to develop content for its iPhone and iPad product lines. The App Store was introduced to the world as a part of iTunes which already was a hit amongst consumers. Apple once again gained first mover advantage in this smartphone arena by being the first smartphone app outlet that made it simple to distribute, access, and download content directly to its iPhone. In addition, third party developers flocked to have their content distributed via the App Store despite Apples strict control over content. Apple reserved the right to refuse content and received 30% of all sales made through its distribution channel. Apple continued to follow the model that made it successful with iTunes and the iPod, by using its market dominance to keep app prices low. Many of the apps distributed via the App Store were free or priced at a mere ninety-nine cents. Once again Apples competitors were left to play catch-up. In 2009, Apple pulled in n early $1 billion dollars in app sales alone. Apples true success lies in its ability to innovate and create new experiences for the customer based upon its ever burgeoning content base. Some would argue that Apple could gain an even greater competitive advantage in the marketplace by removing restrictions on developer access to its platform. The continuing restriction on compatibility with Adobe products is an obvious example. However, Apple has for at least a decade now been able to stave off the introduction of disruptive innovations by adhering to its strategy. As the market leader in consumer electronics, Apples future course may be rocky since competitors are vigorously working to create the magic bullet which will unseat iTunes dominance as the essential platform for distributing digital music, books, movies, TV shows, and other content. If Apple remains true to its platform strategy, this will be difficult for competitors to accomplish. iPad The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, apps and web content. Its size and weight fall between those of contemporary smartphones and laptop computers. The iPad runs on iOS, the same operating system used on Apples iPod Touch and iPhone, and can run its own applications as well as iPhone applications. Without modification or a developer certificate, the iPad will only run programs approved by Apple and distributed via the Apple App Store (with the exception of programs that run inside the iPads web browser). Like iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad is controlled by a multitouch display-a departure from most previous tablet computers, which generally used a pressure-triggered stylus-as well as a virtual onscreen keyboard in lieu of a physical keyboard. The iPad is sold with Wi-Fi and cellular models. The Wi-Fi connection is used to access local area networks and the Internet. Cellular models connect to mobile data networks with 3G or 4G in addition to Wi-Fi. The iPad was announced on January 27, 2010, by Steve Jobs at an Apple press conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Jobs later said that Apple began developing the iPad before the iPhone, but temporarily shelved the effort upon realizing that its ideas would work just as well in a mobile phone. The strategy behind iPad The iPad success strategy is the result of being able to pinpoint your companys competitive advantages in a given market and identify an effective strategy to tie these factors together. Apple did just that by building its Apple iPad around its competitive advantages, and as a result has seen tremendous success with tablet, maintaining its dominance in the technology devices market despite tremendous competitive pressures. Apple is a perfect example to demonstrate that knowing your companys identity and competitive advantages will provide great direction in terms of what marketing and product strategies will and wont work for a company. Ultimately, that will increase the likelihood of success with implementing new corporate strategies. A little over 6 months ago, Amazon took the tablet market by surprise and decided to enter into the space with its $199 Kindle Fire tablet offering. With that entrance many thought Apple would be forced to alter its iPad strategy because Amazon was offering a commodity-priced tablet that the lower-end of the tablet market might consider a sufficient substitute for the iPad, and that it also might challenge Apples dominance of tablet content consumption, as well. Rather than cave to pricing pressure from competitors like most companies facing similar situations would Apple did not budge. It knew its competitive advantages did not lend themselves to a price war. Instead, Apple stood strong and built a compelling strategy around its competitive advantages in the tablet space. Michael Porter Competitive Advantage Table : competitive scope versus competitive advantage Apples key competitive advantages in the tablet space are its: Premium brand image Market position Technology leadership and patents Product development Large number of ancillary service offerings Despite the entrance of price targeted competitors and the opening of a new set of more price-sensitive customers in the tablet space, Apple refined its iPad marketing strategy to address these changes in market dynamics, but made sure its competitive advantages in the market were at the heart of its iPad marketing strategy. The company has built its 3rd generation iPad marketing strategy and product strategy around the following eight factors, and has maintained a laser sharp focus to maintain its market position despite many competitor attempts to unseat Apple from market leadership in this product category. Dont compete on price, regardless of competitor offerings. Maintain the iPad as a premium brand. Utilize Apple exclusive services like FaceTime and iCloud to further differentiate the iPad from competitors. Exploit network effects like benefits to having more people on FaceTime. Make sure the hardware is profitable and the additional content revenue is just add-on revenue. Lead the race in research and development to ensure that the iPad Organ Donation: Ethical Arguments and the Law Organ Donation: Ethical Arguments and the Law According to Erich, (2004) â€Å"Organ donation† is defined as the taking away of tissue from one individuals body to let the transplantation of that tissue into another individuals body. Major organs for example; the lungs, liver and heart and kidneys can be contributed and donated, also parts of tissue for example the heart valves, corneas, tendons and skin can also be given. Organs and tissue can generally be removed from people who have recently died. In fact, since major organs for transplantation are taken out right after death and only a small number of people die in a way that allows them to donate organs. Nonetheless, kidneys and sections of the liver and pancreas can also be taken out for transplantation from living donors. In Australia, the donation of organs and tissue is a process that generally happens in a hospital operating unit. Erich, (2004) states that the transplantation of organs is now a highly recognized practice for those at risk of organ failure or suf fering from diseases which limits their life relentlessly. It is, however, the link between organ donation and transplantation that is significant for this discussion. The ‘major issue in the transplantation of solid organs is, according to Chapman (1992:48), the ‘availability of donors†¦ The number of organs available is not sufficient for any of the programs. Factors influencing the supply of donor organs thus provide the first indication of the nature of the social context in which organ transplantation is located. According to Erich, (2004) understanding this helps to explain the nature of individuals ethical responses to the process. We need to first acknowledge that the availability of donor organs is primarily influenced by a potential donor or donors family agreeing to donation at death. Moreover, a precondition of this agreement is the perceived desirability or at least the absence of its undesirability. This is another way of saying that the act of donating an organ must consciously be seen as ethically acceptable or not ethically acceptable. These factors, however, do not exist in a social vacuum but are mediated by a range of others that can be gleaned from the specialist literature on organ donation and transplantation. Such factors include the decline in road accidents which means less availability of donor organs, educated programs, bereavement programs for relatives of the donor, increased success rates for transplantation surgery, rising health care costs and government concern to promote transplantation units, awareness of, and pressure to introduce a policy of opting out of being a potential donor r ather than the current situation of opting out and so on. Currently in Australia, the level of organ donation is 9 organs per million people, half the rate of the USA and only a quarter of Spain, the leading proponent of organ donation. According to Lewins, (2001) Spain currently has the highest rate of organ donation in the world largely due to its commitment to improving organ donation rates throughout the countrys entire health care system. As a result, many other countries have drawn on aspects of Spains organ donation and transplantation sector in an attempt to lift their own rates selectively so in Australias case. Elements of the Spanish system that have been emulated by other countries include the national coordination of all aspects of the organ procurement and transplantation system, dedicated organ donation coordinators and transplant teams within hospitals, and presumed consent legislation. Lewins, (2001) states that transplant law in Spain operates under a presumed consent, or opt-out system. However, families must be approached and sign an authorization in order for the procedure to take place.   The uniform act provides for a more common form of recording a persons intention to make an organ donation: a donor card that may be carried in a wallet. States also allow this donor information to be imprinted on a drivers license. When a person applies for a drivers license, she or he has the option of including a desire to donate organs. Despite the simplicity of this option, it has not generated the quantity of donors that proponents of the procedure expected. Organ Donor Register of Australia Fellner, (2009) declares that in Australia, Organ donation is mainly revolved around The Organ Donor Register of Australia (ODRA), which is managed by Medicare Australia, and is Australias current major register of consent to organ donation and transplantation. It is a register of consent or approval for donated organs to be utilised for transplantation reasons only, and not for scientific reasons. The ODRA was created in 2001 as a national register of peoples want to donate. Subsequent to a review in 2003-04, the Australian Health Ministers Conference (AHMC) declared that the ODRA would be altered as of a record of intent to a record of consent. The declared intend of this change was to make sure that the acknowledged desires of the deceased, whether compliant or objecting, are valued and acknowledged (Fellner, 2009). Nevertheless, as shown above and discussed further later in this essay, to register consent is not to create a lawfully binding decree. Based on subjective evidence, t he National Clinical Taskforce has stated that, in some jurisdictions, donation can still happen if the next of kin has prearranged their permission, even with a registered objection by the deceased. (Wroe, 2004) Legal guidelines of organ donation are the sole responsibility of the Australian states and territories under the federal legal system. Each state and territory has different legislation to do with organ donation and transplantation, including commandments on consent for organ donation. With reference to McLean, (2003) not only is there not a Commonwealth legislation to do with organ donation, but there is as well no national organising body or agency with legislated authorities. As a consequence, legislation and directives of Australias organ donation and transplantation division, which covers a wide range of actions and procedures, vary across the country. While there is not any Commonwealth legislation concerning organ donation, there are a few general guidelines and protocols that are appropriate to every state. State and territory legislative frameworks in relation to transplantation are majorly based on the concept of informed consent. In the occasion of their death, people can decide to have consent for their organs to be taken. Where individuals provide their approval for their organs to be used and employed for transplantation use, this consent is then documented and recorded. This consent is now a type of legal accord that their organs can be used, if required, for transplantation. Though Kirsty, (2002) states that again registration of consent is not a lawfully binding decree. Under different state and territory laws, consent can be shown in a variety of different ways. For example, in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (QLD), donation may only continue where the deceased has beforehand given written consent. In Victoria, approval and consent can be given in writing or verbally at some point in the last stages of infirmity of the deceased. In addition, whenever there is no legal co nsent registered, the next of kin or close relatives and family are able to provide consent or approval for organs of the departed to be donated. When the deceased individuals family members cannot get in touched with, the states and territories vary with regard to the problem of whether or not they permit donation to continue. In NSW, Western Australia (WA) and Tasmania (TAS), when no consent was listed by the deceased and a next of kin cannot be made contact, donation cannot continue. In Victoria (VIC), South Australia (SA), Northern Territory (NT) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), where efforts have been made to contact the relative or family and there are no grounds to believe that both the family and the deceased would disagree to the deceaseds organs getting donated, and then donation can legally carry on (Kirsty, 2002). Although, whether or not an individual has shown their consent for donation, family members are consulted at all times (Kirsty, 2002). Donation cann ot happen when family members firmly disagree to such a process, even when the deceased individuals consent has been registered. It is therefore, clear that one can only consent to donate a part of ones body if it causes no appreciable harm or at least, if the harm caused is greatly outweighed by the resultant benefits. Another legal aspect in relation to organ donation is the selling of organs, which is illegal under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act that was drafted in 1968. Though, a very good case has been made out for the organ being the property of the donor insofar as it is within his or her to dispose of it as desired, subject only to the common law. But, McLean, (2003) states that if the organ is something that can be gifted, why is it not something that can be sold and it is at this point in the argument that Parliament has felt itself bound to call upon stature law which has done by way of the Human Organ transplant Act 1989. The 1989 Act has two main functions. The first is to criminalise all aspects of financial trading in human organs and this includes being and selling organs from the dead as well as the living, the second is to regularise and control non commercial organ replacement therapy using living donors. As to the first, it is an offence for any person to make or receive payment for taking any active part in the transplantation programme. Those in favour of the ban would say that commercial donors are exposing themselves to unacceptable risk but, live organ donation is legally, morally and technically acceptable when it is conducted on a non commercial basis. Secondly, the ethicist will say that free, unfettered consent is impossible when it is associated with financial pressure, but the financial pressure exerted commercialism is no greater than the emotional pressure involved in free donation within the family. Thirdly, the process can be seen as exploitation of the poor by the rich, but momentary reward for any unpleasant form of employment is a form of exploitation. Lastly many people would say that the commoditisation of the human body is intrinsically immoral. Subsequent to the modifications made to the ODRA in 2004, the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Committee (AHMAC) has charged the National Health and Medical Research Committee (NHMRC) with taking on an evaluation of its procedure, Commendation for the Donation of Organs and Tissues from cadavers for Transplantation (1997). This evaluation also reflects on background documents from the Australian Health Ethics Committee and performed sessions and conferences with the appropriate groups and stakeholders. The new NHMRC plans, Organ and Tissue Donation following Death, For Transplantation, offer a guide to ethical standards in relation to organ donation. The guidelines are founded on the beliefs that; Firstly, the donation of bodily organs and tissues is a just act of unselfishness and human cohesion, Secondly organs and tissues for transplantation should be acquired in ways that: Show respect for all aspects of human dignity Respect and acknowledge the wishes, where known, of the deceased Give priority to the desires of the potential donor and kin over the benefits of organ procurement Protect all recipients from harm and Recognise the desires of all those directly involved, which take account of the donor, recipient, kin, guardians, friends and health experts. (List adapted from Erich, 2004) Thirdly, organ and tissues must be allocated according to just and transparent procedures and lastly, the decision not to donate must be respected and the family shown acknowledgment for the choice. The guidelines, in addition gives advice as to how authorisation of donation ought to be resolute to where there is no next of kin on hand, as well as offering ways to make sure that family members make an knowledgeable decision in regards to the donation of the deceaseds organs. But in ethical terms, whos to choose who gets to receive an organ and live? To decide that some people are less socially desirable than others and to allocate life saving resources on the basis of â€Å"social worth† has justifiably been in disrepute. According to Thomas, (2006) not only so such judgements disrespect all notions of primary worth, but they also easily open the door so arbitrary value judgements in which national origin, race religion and social class become determining factors. In Kantian terms, all persons by virtue of being persons deserve absolute respect. If we allow social worth criteria to protrude into our medical judgements when it comes to the allocation of scarce resources, we are indeed violating the respect for sentimental beings that forms one of the cornerstones of contemporary ethics. According to Thomas (2006), there are three types of donation in relation to organs by living individuals to their recipients. They are, directed donation to a family member or friends; non directed donation, in which the donor grants an organ to the wide-ranging selection to be transplanted into the recipient at the peak of the waiting list, and direct donation to a stranger, where donors decide to give to a particular individual with whom they have no preceding emotional relationship with. However, each form of donation presents its own individual ethical concerns and issues. With directed donation to family or friends, uncertainties occur about the extreme pressure that can be put on individuals to donate, and those who are unwilling to do so to feel forced. According to Wroe, (2004), transplantation programs are usually prepared to identify a reasonable medical excuse, so that the individual can bow out gracefully. Equally significant, however, are situations in which people fee l obliged to donate in spite of the penalties to themselves. In cases like these, merely getting a hold of the informed consent of the relative is not enough; physicians are obliged to stop people from making possible life threatening decisions unless the likelihood of success is large. Non directed donation creates different ethical concerns. The essential unselfishness that encourages an individual to make a possible life threatening sacrifice for an unfamiliar person calls for careful inspection. With reference to Truog, (2005) a recent case involved a male who appeared mentally obsessed with donating all that he has, from his wealth to his bodily organs, saying that doing so was a great deal as the obligation as eat, drink, and breathe.After giving one kidney to a stranger, he speculated on how he could donate all of his other organs which would result in death. Other mentally suspicious motivations must be taken into consideration also, to prevent unnecessary deaths. Hence, after this dilemma society questions if the individual is trying to pay off for depression or low self esteem, in search of media attention, or harboring hopes of becoming occupied in the life of the recipient. Transplantation experts have the responsibility to evaluate possible donors in all these dimensions and forbid donations that provoke catas trophic concerns. (Truog, 2005) Directed donation to a stranger creates analogous ethical questions with a few extra notions. This kind of donation generally takes place when a patient advertises for an organ openly in public, on television or newspapers or online. According to Truog, (2005) such advertising is not against the law, but it has been solidly discouraged by the transplantation experts. Two major objections are that the practice is unjust and that it intimidates the outlook that the bodily organs are in fact a gift of life, and not a product to be bought and sold. On the other hand, the thought of transplanting the organs or the newly dead into the living makes some people uncomfortable. Transplanting organs from the living donor into the needy recipient often meets with other objections. With reference to Erich, (2004) three philosophical objections have been raised; Firstly, Capriciously removing a part of an organ not only is irrational but is â€Å"mutilation† and unacceptable. Persons are their bodys stewards and compelled not to treat their bodies in injurious ways. Secondly, Persons, since they are merely stewards of their body, are justified in removing a part of their body only by so doing they preserve the integrity of the whole. If however, a part is removed so as to the preserve the integrity as a whole, then, in the context of a stewardship, such â€Å"self mutilation† is not only permissible but, perhaps, since it promotes wholeness, mandatory. Thirdly, mutilation of the body by removing a part is impermissible for any reason, even that of helping ones neighbor, other than to preserve the integrity of the whole body of which it is a part. And lastly, the idea of totality to be preserved intact when a man dies persists. Deontological ethics Deontological ethics is too inflexible in its importance on duties, utilitarian ethics too keen to overrule fundamental human rights. Deontology and utilitarianism are both types of ethics referring to how one responds in a certain situation. Deontology is based on following a set of duties and sticking to these duties no matter what the consequences, whereas utilitarianism is based on choosing the best outcome over a short term and long term even if it means depriving people of basic human rights. According to a deontologist, ones actions must be determined by a set of duties regardless of whether the long term consequences are good or bad. According to Micah, (2005) a deontologist believes in human morals and that every human has certain rights which should not be betrayed no matter what the cost. For example, taking organs from an individual without their consent, even to save one hundred lives would be unacceptable to the deontologist even though the fact the consequences would be better on the whole. The biggest problem with deontology knows which set of duties to pursue; there could be a huge variation in systems between people from different backgrounds, different social classes, different religions and people from different cultures. Micah, (2005) questions as to how do we tell which obligation is the most important and which is the least? If the consequences of each are to be considered then this would make it a consequentialist view and not a deontological one. Single duty conflicts cause just as many problems such as two individuals imminently need a heart transplant but only one organ is available, a deontolo gist has a duty to save lives but on this occasion only one out of the two can be saved. For example, a case that was discussed at a recent public forum hosted by Harvard Medical Schools Division of Medical Ethics: a Jewish man in New York learned of a Jewish child in Los Angeles who needed a kidney transplant. The man wanted to help someone of his own race and resolute that he was willing to donate a kidney to aid this child. Regardless of his discriminatory preference, one may analyse the donation as acceptable, since at least several patients would benefit for example, the child would be given a kidney, and those under her on the waiting list would move up one) and no one would be harmed (those above the girl on the waiting list would not get the kidney under any conditions, for the reason that the man would not give it to them). Whether directed donation to strangers violates values of equality is thus controversial. But if it is acceptable, it will be very hard to disallow discriminatory preferences, since donors can just specify that the organ must go to a particul ar individual, without saying why. According to Mill, (2004), Utilitarianism is a theory that promotes the best welfare and the greatest good for the greatest number. To attain this objective, societys resources are shared so that the maximum number of individuals benefit. In the context of organ transplantation, patients desires are compared so that the greatest results can be obtained and the greatest use of a scarce resource can be made. Our use of organs from patients who initially are judged to be medically unsuitable as donors supports the utilitarian approach of expanding the pool of potential donor organs and providing benefits to a greater number of patients. The ending result, however beneficial, does not justify the use of unethical means. Medical utilitarianism is therefore subjected to principles that reflect deontological theory. For example the â€Å"Karlovian† transplant case is an example of the anti-utilitarian theory. In this made-up case, a doctor has to m ake a decision whether to take the life one of his patients in order to save four other patients by using the victims transplanted organs. In conclusion, we have questions whether or not it is reasonable to continue to assert that there, or should be no property rights in the human body, or at least in its parts. Modern medical reality might provoke a re-evaluation of this mantra. At the same time, we have emphasised the complexity of the very concept of property itself, arguably requiring the law to take a more sophisticated approach to individual rights in respect of control, ownership and disposal. Not only would this present an accurate foundation for Australias organ donation and transplantation scheme, but it would also permit for the widest variety of motivations for organ donation while not negotiating peoples capacity to create ethical choices in donation. At the same point, preparation Australias organ donation and transplantation scheme on the idea of a rational, autonomous decision-maker could allow a number of changes to this scheme, the final result of which may be an increased amount of organs obtainable for transplantation and additional Australian and New Zealand lives saved. â€Æ' References Erich, H. (2004) Textbook of Healthcare Ethics. New York and London: Plenum Press. Fellner, C. (2009) Organ Donor Register. Retrieved 4th October 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Organ_Donation Kirsty, A. (2002) Organ donation laws. Retrieved 5th October 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s103007.htm Lewins, F. (2001) Bioethics of Health Professionals: an introductions and critical appraoch. Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia. McLean, S. (2003) Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare. San Francisco: Cromwell Press. Micah, H. (2005) The American Journal of Bioethics. Retrieved 2nd October 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/american_journal_of_bioethics/v003/3.1hester.html Mill, J (2004) Practical Reasoning In Bioethics. Retrieved 29th September 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://facweb.bcc.ctc.edu/wpayne/utilitarianism.htm Thomas, C.(2006) Ethics Around Organ Donation. Retrieved 4th October 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.chf.org.au/Docs/Downloads/HV_Issue1_April08_Thomas.pdf Truog, R. (2005) The Ethics of Organ Donation by Living Donors. Retrieved 5th October 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/5/444 Wroe, D (2004) Law change to make organ donations easier. Retrieved 5th October 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/23/1082616327960.html?from=storyrhs