Local authorities are better placed to respond to crises and disasters

Local authorities are better placed to respond to crises and disasters Introduction Local and central governments have different roles to play in the response and management of disasters. In this context, disaster means a â€Å"sudden catastrophic event that brings any enormous destruction, damage, loss and/or devastation of property and life† (Taylor 1986, ‘Coordination for Disasters’ p.12).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Local authorities are better placed to respond to crises and disasters specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The damages so referred are immeasurable and vary in magnitudes depending on the inflicted region’s geographical location, climatic conditions and earth’s surface degree of vulnerability. During the occurrence of disasters, the social systems of emergency responses remain more often than not rendered disrupted and malfunctioned. Any hazard that causes immense human suffering amounts to a disaster if it is unpredictable occurring in a large enough speed to out power the response systems, characterized by uncertainty, urgency and the posing of intense threat. For any disaster to take place, people must be living in hazardous places for instance near volcanoes that are active, slopes susceptible to slides, or in regions likely to flood. In addition, the hazardous phenomenon must take place, whether it is human or naturally instigated. Finally the occurrence of the â€Å"disastrous phenomenon must cause immeasurable extensive damages especially where preventive measures have not been taken† (Taylor 1986, ‘The Context of British Politics’ p.57). Therefore, as the paper unveils, disasters do not include single incidents of human life losses such as a plane crush but rather entangle widespread human sufferings such as an intense earthquake, financial, outbreak of certain infectious diseases, flooding, or even human instigated disasters such as Chernobyl or sea express spill among others. The essa y will look at the roles of the central government in control and management of disasters as contrasted from the local government’s roles and finally evaluate the combined hands of both governance levels to draw a conclusion on which governance level is best placed to cope with disasters management. However, as is exposes, the reverse of the proposition is the case. Overview of the history and practice of civil defense Various theoretical perspectives have been formulated by different nations to cope with disasters. For instance, in 1991 â€Å"†¦the UK government launched a review of disasters preparations in the nation† (Alexander 2000, p.71). A national aim geared towards enhancement of nationwide emergencies planning agendas was published in 2003.Advertising Looking for essay on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The agenda focused on putting into place resilience measures fo r the nation to respond to aftermaths of disruptive challenges as opposed to measures of risks reduction via anticipation or alternatively redundancy measures. According to Comfort (1994, p 157), such an approach makes an assumption of â€Å"†¦a capacity to reorganize resources and action to respond to actual danger, after it occurs†. Resilience here entangles specialized protections, which are standardized and centralized methodologies of hazards prediction. According to the civil contingencies bill, all the above mentioned resilient measure are all duties of local governments with an exception of centralization which is a mandate of central governments. â€Å"The general requirement of the bill, as an embodiment of current government thinking, seem to make it clear that central government’s desire is to distance itself from response to local disasters whilst trying to ensure adequate local preparation† (Lupton 1999, p.83). Crucial to note is that disaster s idiosyncrasies are not ardently necessary addressed by putting in place formal ways of disasters preparations. According to Comfort (1994), some of the idiosyncrasies include â€Å"need to be flexible in response and to be prepared to innovate† (p.158). Armed with these idiosyncrasies, any form of disaster response system can be sure to respond to the specific requirement of any new moment. As result â€Å"Central government desires to remain detached from local emergencies can be justified in the context and remains consistent with a theme of appropriate decentralization† (Taylor 1986, ‘The Context of British Politics’ p.56). Historically, differences exist in the manner in which decentralized and centralized nations handle disasters. The centralized governments have â€Å"fewer decision takers and that they are placed at a higher level in the response hierarchy† (Alexander 2000, p.164). The hierarchical and centralized models designed to handle disaster have received enormous critics since they have been perceived as having the capacity to hinder free information flow and consequently posing a tragedy in decision-making.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Local authorities are better placed to respond to crises and disasters specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Modern trends however, are based on coming up with remote structures that are adaptable to specific incidents and which posses amicable familiarity with appropriate responding services. As Penning-Roswell (1996) observes, â€Å"†¦at least in the case of natural hazard, although there is tendency to focus disaster response at local level, because of the intimate knowledge of the environment in which the emergency is occurring† (p.123) a broader disciplinary and geographical perspectives makes better insights be realized. Whether the disaster response is well established at local level as opposed to central level of governance is subject to essential requirements such the generic role of the government and the ability to have appropriate leadership during, before and after the occurrence of any disaster both at national and at local levels. Local and central government Leadership and disasters response Leadership encompasses willingness and the availability of good will to act in an appropriate way. Leadership, Prior to occurrence of any disaster, is essential despite the fact that more often than not, it is not easily recognizable. Under normal circumstances, deferring traits are demanded from those occupying authority positions during times of emergencies. Leave alone at local level, the capacity of the leaders at central government level to provide appropriate directive in times of disasters is subject to critics as for example during the hurricane Katrina disaster. Penning-Roswell (1996) noted that â€Å"Mismanagement and lack of preparation in relief effort in respons e to hurricane Katrina and its aftermath: specifically delayed response by federal flood protection to the flooding of New Orleans, Louisiana was attributed to leadership gaps that occurred on occurrence of the disaster† (p.142). This poses a big question on the credibility of the leaders to provide quick directions in times of emergency. Despite the fact that the state and local authorities have primarily responsibility to play in response to disasters with consequences of pointing the finger of blame on governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin, the central government slow response was particularly to be to be noted.Advertising Looking for essay on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The central government has all the essential resources that can be mobilized for quick response to disasters but the beaurocracy to be followed such as the requirement of the financial and assessment of the damages caused before the actual release of state resources to deal with the disasters compounds the problem. Even though the local authorities may be well familiar with the environmental conditions of their localities and hence well positioned to determine the rescue services required much quickly, some disasters exceed their financial allocations or rescue equipments wealth. In most situations, those who are responsible for making urgent decisions on behave of a state are normally at the top hierarchical leadership levels. However, it takes some remarkable time before these leaders are acquainted with magnitude of damages due to the hierarchical established information flow channels with a repercussion of delayed rescue missions. If the local governments were conferred with, th e requisite ability to make quick decisions that can enable them to divert funds that were initially intended for other local government functions to the response of the disasters. It should be noted, â€Å"†¦if a consistently effective response to disasters is to be approved at the local level the realizable approach to the leadership role in time of crises is required† (Penning-Roswell 1996, p.151). According to the work of De Waal (2005) â€Å" rises tend to produce responses that require swift decisions to be made by relatively small groups of senior managers in order to deal with short term threats and that administrative and organizational centralization is a byproduct of this initial response† (Para 7). Small group of decision makers as a result has a capacity to make quick decisions In the event of crisis. Such a scenario is typically to be found in the at local government level if at all they have all the necessary resources to mobilize. A critic to this line of view would argue that, an assumption that the leaders in the central government would assume their acquaintance with unfamiliar environment and release funds to cater for disasters is anticipated. Another obstacle in arguing that the local governments are well positioned to deal with disasters than central governments is their skill-level of diversification required which in most cases not possible. Alexander (2000) says that, â€Å"relying entirely on local lead in the response to a disaster requires that a very substantial number of seniors and middle management officers are appropriately selected and trained for the role, one that might never occur in their careers† (p.88). With the increased pressure on resources allocation, issues confining the local authorities to particular mechanism of arriving at decisions raises questions about local governments ability to make rescue plans independently and if at all they are given this opportunity, would such plans be up t o date and available at the time of disaster occurrence? Research conducted by Pitt (2007, Para. 2) called upon the â€Å"government to show leadership and urgently set out the process and timescale for improving resilience in UK†. In his report, he identified the central government being at the best possible position to solve disastrous problems since it is the one, which has the capacity to make appropriate nationwide binding policies to help curb disasters. Considering two alternatives, for disasters to be dealt with appropriately at local level, some randomness in training of staff is essential. The other way out is to deploy specialists of different disaster response skills management to all local authorities. This evidently is not possible since the nature of disasters is normally random and characterized by infrequent events. An example of such an encounter is the Exxon Valdez oil spillage in Alaska disaster. The communities in Alaska have experienced distinctive histo ric disasters. As Browning and Shetler (1992) note, â€Å"three major disasters have occurred in this region during the twentieth century, each the largest of its kind in north America: Katmai eruption of 1912, the great Alaskan earthquake of 1964 and the Exxon Valdez oil spillage† (p.477). With occurrence of disasters in the same region, local communities acquired noble skills in disaster management accompanied by organizational skills. Browning and Shetler noted in their study of Exxon Valdez oil spillage disaster that, â€Å"†¦creativity, knowledge, energy and organization of local communities are sources that are not adequately tapped under the current contingency planning process† (p.480). However, were the skills reflected in the Exxon Valdez oil spillage, how much did local authorities contribute to the disaster management? From the rapid and swift movement of the central government to contain the Katmai eruption in 1912, it clearly indicates that the centr al government, through appropriate leadership has a better position to contain disasters. This remains possible by provision of funds urgently to aid in the evacuation, resettlement and provision of essential humanitarian services to the victims: what the local governments despite having adequate local environmental knowledge lack. The generic role of the central and local governments The central government has a historic generic responsibility to protect and manage its society to ensure maximum welfare and services delivery. Disaster management is one of such indigenous societal responsibilities that the central government must play. However, in an attempt to save money, it diverts the responsibility to the local authorities while not considering the effectiveness and efficiency of the response. The generic responsibility of the central government to cope with big disasters within a nations surfaces evidently in Pitt’s work on the report of flooding disaster in the united ki ngdom. He pointed out that â€Å"the government should provide local resilience forums with the inundation maps of reservoirs to enable them to assess risks and plan for contingency, warning and evacuation† (Pitt 2007, Para. 5). The local government thus functions under the directives of the central government. It can thus be argued that in case the central government does not respond sufficiently to provide the right and within the right time, the necessary strides that need to be taken by the local authorities to respond to certain disasters, then the whole response process may end up being slowed or unsuccessful altogether. The government must act first in an attempt to lay out the foundation of the response process by ensuring that â€Å"critical infrastructure is as resilient as possible, whilst essential services providers should become considerably more active in local and national emergency preparedness and response† (Pitt 2007, Para. 6). Furthermore, the envir onmental agencies are more often than not under the control of the central government. As a result according to Cabinet Office Strategy Unit (2002), the environment agencies responsibility to â€Å" play their part by providing infrastructure operators with a specialized site-specific flood warning service, offering longer lead times to enable defenses to be set up in time†(p.79) depend on the central government willingness to take up its generic roles. Foucault argues, â€Å"†¦the neo-liberalist tradition of developed western nations shies away from too much state intervention and instead champions individual freedom and rights† (Lupton 1999, p.86). It is now that the local governments should come in, despite their limited capacity to cope with certain disasters sufficiently to aid the central government. According to Pitt (2007), the local governments should play a significant responsibility to facilitate management of risks of local flood by â€Å"taking the l ead in tackling local problems of flooding and co-coordinating all relevant agencies† (Para. 7). He further adds, â€Å"Upper tier authorities should establish oversight and scrutiny committees to review the work undertaken to reduce flood risks and publish annual updates on the work undertaken† (Pitt 2007, Para. 11). However, this is a single noble role of the local government as identified by Pitt, which for its success must depend to large extent on the central government’s responsibility to make and implement facilitating policies. On the other hand, disasters do not just present danger moments but rather the danger process. Managing the entire process is a mandate of the central government as part of its generic roles. Comfort (1994) was to the opinion that â€Å"a good deal of political decision making is now about managing risks-risks which do not originate in the political sphere. Yet have to be politically managed† (p.161). The largest political d ecisions with nationwide impacts are generally more affiliated to the central government than it is to the local governments. The central government via the established political systems has the noble role to ensure political decisions are arrived to such that they contribute to the overall welfare of the society nationally. From a different perspective, politics evolution and the associated impacts on central government generic duties are in a manner that translates the task of risks management to a serious issue that deserves more of central government address than the local government. The central government can be able to adjust certain provisions so that disasters can be managed in a humane way without interfering with the individuals’ stakes. Take for example, the flooding disaster. The central government is capable of relocating flood victims to some certain selected land acquired through revocation of ownership of lands since in many countries; the central government is mandated to regulate and control use of public land by the constitution. On the other hand, the local government only utilizes the land as stipulated by the central government. Responses by local government to disasters are normally received with critics. For instance, the response of sea express spill in UK resulted to the establishment of joint response centre (JRC) to address the problem. As Alexander (2000) notes â€Å" the conflict of normal services versus preparation for major incident manifested itself here in that the planning process that supported the JRC had not taken into account the effects of local government organizations†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p.121). Again, the express disaster resulted to existence of multiple cells of operation, which were clearly not integrated and lacked robust and clear coordination process. The ability of the local governments to go beyond local issues either at political or operational level remains questionable. Conclusion The essay has made ef forts to show that coordination, leadership and the generic responsibilities attributed to local and the central governments coupled with flexibility and innovation are essential elements of disaster management. These elements draw much of their necessary inputs from the central government so that they become robust and evenly distributed within jurisdiction borders without attracting contrasting or parallelism ideologies and stands. A singly established national disaster response agency cannot pragmatically deal with multiple and widely spread disasters alone. The local governments must thus take up, play ardently their anticipated roles, and support the local communities in times of disasters occurrence. However, a question arises on how reconciliation of numerous established local disasters response agencies routine operational imperatives can be harmonized to ensure a common, efficient and effective effort designed to ensure central objectives of public, environment and society protection from escalation of harm emanating from disastrous occurrences. As a result, central government stands up high being at a better position to respond to crisis and disasters than local governments. References Alexander, C., 2000. Comforting Catastrophe. Harpenden: Terra publishing. Browning, L., Shetler, J., 1992. Communications in Crisis, Communication in Recovery: A Postmodern Commentary on the Exxon Valdez Disaster. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 10 (3), pp. 477-498. Cabinet Office Strategy Unit., 2002. Risk: Improving Government’s Capability to Handle Risk And Uncertainty. London: Cabinet office. Comfort, L., 1994. Risk Resilience: Inter-Organizational Learning Following the Northridge Earthquake of 17 January 1994. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 2 (3), pp. 157-170. De Waal, A., 2005. An Imperfect Storm: Narratives of Calamity in a Liberal-Technocratic Age. Web. Lupton, D., 1999. Risks. London: Routledge. Penning-Roswe ll, E., 1996. Criteria for the Design of Hazards Mitigation Institutions. (eds). Christopher hood David K.C. Jones. In Accident Design; Contemporary Debates in Risk Management. London: UCL press. Pitt, M., 2007. Learning Lessons from 2007 Floods. Available at https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100605032704/http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/pittreview/thepittreview.html . Taylor, A., 1986. Coordination for Disasters. In Disasters, 10(1), pp. 12-45. Taylor, A., 1986. The Context of British Politics. (ed). Jane Franklin. In The Politics of Risk Society. Cambridge: Policy press.

How to Conjugate Organiser (to Organize) in French

How to Conjugate Organiser (to Organize) in French Can you guess what the French verb  organiser  means? If you answered to organize, youre correct. Yet, to use it properly in a sentence, the verb must be conjugated. A quick lesson will show you how to do that and form the French equivalents to organized and organizing. The Basic Conjugations of  Organiser Organiser is a regular -er verb and that makes this lesson a little easier than most. Thats because its part of the largest family of French verbs, all of which share the same conjugation patterns. If you have previously studied similar verbs, you can apply what you already know to this one. The indicative mood is the best place to begin with any conjugation. This includes the basic present, future, and imperfect past tenses which you will use most often in French conversations. Using the chart, find the corresponding conjugation for the subject pronoun and the tense you wish to use  organiser  in. This will help you identify which ending was applied to the verb stem (organis-). For instance, an  e  ending forms that present tense  jorganise  (I am organizing) and -ions  forms the imperfect  nous organisions  (we organized). Present Future Imperfect j organise organiserai organisais tu organises organiseras organisais il organise organisera organisait nous organisons organiserons organisions vous organisez organiserez organisiez ils organisent organiseront organisaient The Present Participle of  Organiser An -ant ending is always added to regular -er and -re verbs to form the present participle. For organiser, that produces the word organisant. Organiser  in the Compound Past Tense The  passà © composà ©Ã‚  is the French compound past tense and it requires two parts. The first is the present tense conjugate of the auxiliary verb  avoir  and the second is the  past participle  organisà ©. The two come together to form phrases such as  jai organisà ©Ã‚  (I organized) and  nous avons organisà ©Ã‚  (we organized). More Simple Conjugations of  Organiser As your vocabulary grows and youre more comfortable with French conversation, you will find a few more simple conjugations useful.  The subjunctive, for instance, helps you imply some degree of uncertainty to the act of organizing. In a similar fashion,  the conditional  allows you to state that its dependent on certain conditions. Though they are used less frequently, and most often in written French, it is a good idea to know  the passà © simple  and  imperfect subjunctive  forms of  organiser  as well. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive j organise organiserais organisai organisasse tu organises organiserais organisas organisasses il organise organiserait organisa organist nous organisions organiserions organismes organisassions vous organisiez organiseriez organistes organisassiez ils organisent organiseraient organisrent organisassent You can skip the subject pronoun when using organiser in the imperative. These direct statements are often short and forceful, so all formality is dropped and you can simply say organise. Imperative (tu) organise (nous) organisons (vous) organisez

How to shop online Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How to shop online - Essay Example This often involves computer systems, mobile phones, among other devices that can connect to the internet. It also involves stores and sellers that operate online. Even though the online shopping process appears to be simple, potential online buyers must be careful to consider their environment while undertaking their shopping over the internet. This involves evaluation of, and high level of sensitivity to the online environment that involves risks. These consequently define appropriate practices to ensure a safe online shopping (Get, n.d.). Online shopping ventures are for instance full of fraudulent activities that aim at getting a customer’s money without the intended delivery. Hackers particularly exist who intercept communication and misguide consumers into making payments to wrong accounts, or establish websites through which the potential customers can unknowingly make payments to wrong destinations. The result is single way transaction in which the fraudster receives payments but the potential customer does not obtain the desired products. There also exist fake websites that do not actually offer products as they claim to. They however disseminate false information on their location, communication links and inventory that may not really exist. A buyer therefore looses advanced payments to such cheats. Another threat to online shopping is in delivery of products that do not match the expected descriptions. While a consumer can have the situation corrected if such deliveries are not intentional, intentional false delivery results into losses because the alleged seller will never make the right delivery after receiving the targeted money (Get, n.d.). Safe shopping is however defined by a number of characteristics. A potential buyer should conduct a thorough search on alleged online sellers before initiating a transaction. Such a search should determine existence and validity the seller’s address and phone contacts for

Faculty of Business Environment and Society Essay - 9

Faculty of Business Environment and Society - Essay Example This level implies a situation whereby a consumer’s personal definition is influenced by many personal possessions. Some of the possession include clothing, cars, jewellery and others. In this case, the clothes, cars and jewellery one uses are a reflection of their own identity. This is the second part of the extended self and involves a consumer’s possession which are regarded as belonging to the family and therefore, they are taken as symbolic of the entire family. Such possession include furnishings and the residence. In this case, this extended self-concept holds that the home we live in is a huge indicator of who we are. This level explains the extended self in terms of the large society in which a consumer lives in. As such, consumers in this case identify themselves with the town, locality or neighbourhood they live in. this level if very important to residents who relate closely in a community such as farm families. This level seeks to explain he association of a consumer with a particular social groupings. In this case, a consumer seeks an attachment to a group as it is viewed as part of their social groups. As such, such social aspects as sport teams, church associations or landmarks form part of that consumer’s extended self. There are a number of theories that try to explain the link between consumer buying behaviour and the concept of extended self. Such theories concentrate on personality and behaviour of the consumer in order to understand their motivation in making consumption decisions. Some of the theories of consumer behaviour theories include the following. This theory forms a framework for explaining why some consumers choose to buy the products they use. The notion is that the consumption behaviour is not a mystery. According to Kotler (2005), this concept can be explained using a Stimulus Response Model whereby the mind is a ‘black-box’ inside the model. The

Unconstitutional Book Banning Essay Example for Free

Unconstitutional Book Banning Essay Imagine you’re in graduate school and you’re doing your doctorate on a controversial issue. You’ve done most of the research however there’s one book that has specific information that you need, and you can only find it in that particular book. You’ve looked on the online database and find out that the book is in your universities library. You go to the library and ask for some help finding the book you need, however the librarian informs you that the book was recently banned. How is it that in a country that prides itself in freedom of speech and self expression, a book on a controversial issue has been banned? Does it not contradict what the founding fathers fought so hard for in the Revolutionary war? In today’s society the biggest reason for book banning is based on protecting moral values set in place in the home. Well meaning teacher, parents, and other would be censors worry that by exposing the nation’s youth to concepts such as sex, drugs, and alcohol they will start experimenting with these things. Ultimately they fear the breakdown of the moral values emphasized in the home. This is especially true for conservative Christians, in the past ten years books such as J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials have caused a great deal of controversy among conservative Christians. The idea of magic, alternate and parallel universes is not a popular one among Conservative Christians. But does this really warrant all out banning books such as these? Most would say no, the ideals of a certain group should not determine what the rest of the population reads. The ideals of a minority should not determine what books are left on the shelves of libraries. It’s one thing if the private institutions chose not to stock certain books in their libraries, but it is a different matter entirely when they want to take books out of the public libraries where they are put for the enjoyment of the public. Banning books violates one of the fundamental rites the US was built on, freedom of speech and freedom of press. The freedom to read and write freely is fundamentally American. It allows citizens to express themselves without fearing repercussions from the government, or fellow citizens. It allows readers to read freely and make their own decisions. Book banning would create a narrow minded population, who don’t know how to reason for themselves. Thinking again of the argument of preserving family values, it must be taken into consideration the kind of television that is currently airing. In many ways TV is more graphic, and explicit. Yet it is tolerated, whereas even just crude language is apparently cause enough to ban a book. Parents are also worried about when their children who are reading above grade level are assigned books intended for students three to four grades above them. This can expose younger readers to seemingly inappropriate material. However there are other options, parents can talk to teachers and ask for more age appropriate books for their younger readers. Banning books violates the rites that our founding fathers fought so hard for in the Revolutionary War. Works Cited  Beatserfield, Suzanne M. â€Å"Parental Concerns About Book Content Should Not Be Dismissed. † English Journal 97. 3 (2008). Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. Connelly, Deborah S. To Read Or Not To Read: Understanding Book Censorship. Community Junior College Libraries 15. 2 (2009): 83-90. ERIC. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. Gallo, Don. â€Å"Teens Need Bold Books. † English Journal 97. 3 (2008). Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. Manning, Erin. â€Å"Parents Must Protect Children from Offensive Material in Books. † MercatorNet. (2009). Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator :: essays research papers

The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator Throughout the opening paragraph of "The Black Cat," the reader is introduced to a narrator who, because of his grotesque actions, has become mentally deranged and very untrustworthy, " . . . my very senses reject their own evidence." The narration of this story is in the first person, which would lead you to believe the narrator could be trusted to relate to you the true events of the story, but this is false. The narrator in this story is unreliable due to his horrid state of mind and body. The narrator cannot be relied upon to show the reader the true events of the story, these events have to be interpreted and the reader must come to his own conclusion as to what really happened. The reader is shown in the opening paragraph that he should not trust the narrator to deliver the true events of the story. The narrator admits throughout the story that his bad habits, namely alcoholism, lead to his irrational state of mind. His alcoholism was the root of his downfall. While intoxicated, the narrator mutilated his favourite pet, Pluto, causing the cat to become terrified of his master. The alienation of his cat gave the narrator even more cause to become mentally unstable. The hanging of his cat shows how the narrator has become obsessed with doing evil things for the sake of their evilness. This evilness is linked to his alcoholism. The narrator was most-likely in a drunken state when he hung his cat, which only infuriated his temper. This separation of friends had a huge effect on the narrator's deadly temper. His temper is such that anything that slightly annoyed him caused him to go into fits of rage. The fits of rage which occupy the narrator for much of the story are all linked to his pet cats. He points out that he was an animal lover in his younger days and the feeling was carried through into his maturity. His love for animals ended here. His alcoholism had driven him to avoid his animals or, when he encountered them, to physically harm them for the reason that they were there. The narrator's pet cat's were the exceptions. He held his temper back from his cats because of his love for them. This feeling disappears after time and the cats become the subject of his worst fits of rage. After each violent act upon his cats, the narrator did feel remorse at his actions. This feeling also disappears over time and, as it disappeared, his rage grew. The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator :: essays research papers The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator Throughout the opening paragraph of "The Black Cat," the reader is introduced to a narrator who, because of his grotesque actions, has become mentally deranged and very untrustworthy, " . . . my very senses reject their own evidence." The narration of this story is in the first person, which would lead you to believe the narrator could be trusted to relate to you the true events of the story, but this is false. The narrator in this story is unreliable due to his horrid state of mind and body. The narrator cannot be relied upon to show the reader the true events of the story, these events have to be interpreted and the reader must come to his own conclusion as to what really happened. The reader is shown in the opening paragraph that he should not trust the narrator to deliver the true events of the story. The narrator admits throughout the story that his bad habits, namely alcoholism, lead to his irrational state of mind. His alcoholism was the root of his downfall. While intoxicated, the narrator mutilated his favourite pet, Pluto, causing the cat to become terrified of his master. The alienation of his cat gave the narrator even more cause to become mentally unstable. The hanging of his cat shows how the narrator has become obsessed with doing evil things for the sake of their evilness. This evilness is linked to his alcoholism. The narrator was most-likely in a drunken state when he hung his cat, which only infuriated his temper. This separation of friends had a huge effect on the narrator's deadly temper. His temper is such that anything that slightly annoyed him caused him to go into fits of rage. The fits of rage which occupy the narrator for much of the story are all linked to his pet cats. He points out that he was an animal lover in his younger days and the feeling was carried through into his maturity. His love for animals ended here. His alcoholism had driven him to avoid his animals or, when he encountered them, to physically harm them for the reason that they were there. The narrator's pet cat's were the exceptions. He held his temper back from his cats because of his love for them. This feeling disappears after time and the cats become the subject of his worst fits of rage. After each violent act upon his cats, the narrator did feel remorse at his actions. This feeling also disappears over time and, as it disappeared, his rage grew.

Jollibee Case Study Essay

1. Introduction Anil K. Gupta and Vijay Govindarajan argue in their article, â€Å"Knowledge flows and the structure of control within multinational corporations†, that mainly all previous research on strategic control within multinational companies (MNCs) has paid attention to why these choose to go abroad. They instead argue that for successful offshore business, one must understand how communication flows within the different sub-units of the organization. As Jollibee Foods Corporation considers whether they should establish a fourth store in Hong Kong, it faces several challenges. One of the main challenges regards knowledge transfer between its Filipino facilities and the newly established ones abroad. It is therefore relevant to look at the following research question: What consequences does the current â€Å"strategic control over its subsidiaries† have on the knowledge transfer between the Jollibee headquarters on the Philippines and the offshore Jollibee Food plants in Hong Kong? In answering the research question, we will start by explaining the framework of Gupta & Govindarajan’s (1991) on different kinds of subsidiaries, with attention paid to knowledge transfer and their related control instruments. Further we will examine what kind of challenges Jollibee Foods Corporation is facing with its expansion to Hong Kong. Finally, the above analysis will provide us with information about the existing opportunities on the Chinese market and will enable us to suggest a reconstruction of the offshore business in Hong Kong to make it more successful. Jollibee meets several tasks in their offshoring project, but due to space limitation there will in this paper only be focus on two selected challenges, the challenges of adjusting to Chinese taste and their management structure. 2. Jollibee Foods Construction and its strategic control over its subsidiary in Hong-Kong Gupta and Govindarajan (1991) proposed that there exists a certain association between different types of subsidiary units and the strategic corporate control of that subsidiary. They defined four ideal types as; Implementor, Global innovator, Integrated Player and Local Innovator, based on the amount of knowledge that flows and the direction of this knowledge, between the subsidiary and the rest of the MNC. Upon Tingzon ´s arrival the main strategy of the offshore business has been â€Å"flag planting†. Flag planting aims at establishing a presence in each market before competitors, and so, emphasizing at implementing customer expectation, influencing taste and building brand (case p. 11). The initial plan in Hong Kong has been to become one of the major players in the market fast. The previous international strategy meant that the subsidiaries in Hong Kong functioned as implementors. An implementor is characterized by a high degree of knowledge inflow from the headquarters but with a low degree of knowledge outflow; hence mainly applying the strategy used in the parent company without any local adaption (Gupta and Govindarajan 1991). Functioning as an implementor has meant that the established Hong Kong stores have not been engaged in any knowledge creation, but simply followed instructions from the Filipino headquarters. Furthermore one can argue that Jollibee’s approach to Hong Kong has been to primarily implement the already existing practices from the Philippines. For example, the menu offered in Hong Kong is almost the same as the Filipino one, knowledge of what to sell has simply been brought in from headquarter (case page. 12) Further evidence arguing for that the Hong Kong subsidiary has been operating like an implementor can be seen in the management transfer of the CEO’s brother-in-law, from the parent company to the Hong Kong subsidiary (case page 12). In addition, the store-level managers were all Filipino while little crew were Chinese and staffing problems consequently grew. To solve the problem the Manila based Franchise Service Manager worked continuously with Hong Kong for more than six months, without success. In 1997 a dispute over discipline between the four Chinese Managers, and the five Filipino Managers, resulted in the Chinese Managers leaving Jollibee with only Filipino crew left (page 12). This points towards the subsidiaries in Hong Kong adapting the characteristic of an implementor, e.g. pure inflow of knowledge from the parent company and little outflow of knowledge from the Hong Kong subsidiary. Furthermore is the overall â€Å"flag planting† strategy of Jollibee very i ndicative of the skewed power balance between Jollibee and its subsidiaries. 3. Organizational Challenges Jollibee experienced the internal challenges of organizational culture clash between its implemented Filipino workers and the Chinese staff. Furthermore the implementation of the international menu was not as successful as expected (case p. 13). The strategy of focusing on Filipino expatriates in new markets, might has helped Jollibee’s entry to the Hong-Kong market, since they already had a distinguished costumer group of Filipinos. But as Tingzon asks in the case â€Å"might we risk boxing ourselves into a Filipino niche that prevents us from growing enough to support operations in each country?† (case p. 11). We found that the expatriate-led strategy have prevented further expansion of the company on the Hong Kong market. This is due to the local knowledge that resides in Chinese workers and managers are not exploited when only employing Filipino managers. As stated above, in the early entry into the Hong Kong market, Jollibee did also employ Chinese managers but due to their sole implementation of inflows from headquarters, clashes arose between the Chinese and the Filipino managers. Furthermore one major challenge to successfully establish a fourth store and gain more market share is to adapt the prevailing menu to the Chinese taste. The main challenge for Jollibee now is how to realize, and best use, the knowledge that resides in Chinese workers. 4. Altering the Strategy for the Hong Kong Subsidiary From the above section we can conclude that there exists several challenges of how the subsidiary in Hong Kong has previously been structured, for example has one of the sub-franchisees tried to suggest changes to the menu. To be able to attract more local costumers he proposed low fat chicken and Chinese tea, as he sensed a demand for these products among the Chinese people (case p. 12). He has tried to implement these changes for several of months but has not yet received a go-ahead from the headquarters. This indicates that Jollibee mainly sees its subsidiaries as implementors, without any outflow of local knowledge to the other subsidiaries. But for Jollibee to succeed in opening a fourth store and increase its market share on the Hong Kong market, reconstruction and adaption to the local market is crucial. The top management saw a high profit potential in Hong Kong, and therefore urged Tingzon to open the fourth store. But as the profit potential is high, the competition in Hong Kong for similar food companies, such as McDonalds, is also very intense. Jollibee Food Construction does not have the competitive advantage of a first mover and is not alone on the market. For example has their main competitor, McDonald’s, both stronger brand recognition in the Hong Kong market and they are stronger financially. Hence Jollibee has to take on a different subsidiary strategy than the â€Å"implementor†, in order to success (Hymer p. 61). With this in mind the strategy of the Hong Kong sub-division can become a successful sub-division if it adapts the characteristics of a local innovator instead of trying to be an implementor, with both low inflow and outflow of knowledge. One main challenge for Jollibee is to attract more local employees and as Gupta and Govindarajan’s proposition 3 states; under norms and administrative rationality will the composition of the top-management for the specific subsidiary consist of mainly locals if the division acts as a local innovator (Gupta and Govindarajan 1991). As an implementor has the possibility for autonomous initiative been low while it as a local innovator exists space to adapt to the local environment, e.g. for Jollibee to take on a more Chinese menu. 5. Conclusion In conclusion, as Jollibee decide whether or not to establish one more store in Hong Kong, they have to look over their strategic control over its subsidiaries. As examined above, the company has mainly viewed their subsidiaries as implementors. We found this international strategy insufficient, and that it hindered them to fully exploit the market potential in Hong Kong. The prevailing challenges for Jollibee now is how to realize and best use the knowledge that resides in Chinese workers. Due to limitations of the paper, it is only a fraction of possible explanations that have been highlighted and these revolve primarily around the importance of increasing the local engagement in the Hong Kong subsidiary, and increase the local innovation towards more local taste. Hence we argue for Jollibee’s subsidiaries in Hong Kong to adapt towards a local innovator role. 6. Bibliography Case: Bartlett, C. A. (2001). Jollibee Foods Corporation (A): International Expansion. Harvard Business School Gupta, A.K.,Govindarajan, V. (1991). Knowledge flows and the structure of control within multinational corporations. Academy of Management, Review 16(4) 768-792 Gupta, A.K., Govindarajan, V. (2000). Knowledge flows within multinational corporations. Strategic Management Journal 21, pp. 473-496. letto-Gilles, G. (2005). â€Å"Hymer ´s seminal work†, in Part III Modern Theories in Transnational Corporations and International Production. Academic Books, Copenhagen Business School. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. Schlegelmilch, B., Ambos, B., Chini, T. (2003/4). Are you ready to learn from your offshore affiliates? European Business Forum, 16

The Tain: Cuculain Hero?

Amber Borkowski Reading Literature Myths Cuchulainn: A Hero or a Killer? A mythic hero is a story figure that embarks on a journey in order to complete tasks that make them into legends of tales. Cuchulainn is a mythic hero in the Tain, a story of a war between the North and South of the land in Ireland. A hero is a term that can be a homonym with many other meanings. A person can consider a police officer, their mother, or many other examples as a hero. Even with the broad spectrum of the word, every example does surround the feeling of being protected by the person. I consider Cuchulainn to be a war-hero.Cuchulainn is a well-trained warrior that is able to perform stunts of throwing a javelin, stone, just fighting with his fists, and many more while leaving every opponent dead or too terrified to fight him. But does being able to defeat every opponent make a character a hero or just a person to be feared? Cuchulainn was raised and trained by the best of all the instructors to becom e a great warrior that would be remembered, and that is just what he did. When Cuchulainn was just a boy he left his mother and went off to join the boy troop where he would train and be protected by the troop.The war in the tale began at the point where Medb and Aillil, the queen and king of Connacht, had an argument over who had the most possessions. The two were equal until the point came where Aillil owned one great bull more than Medb. Medb was so enraged that she waged war to retrieve the equally great bull from Ulster. At this time, the Ulster army was in their pangs, unable to have the strength to fight. Cuchulainn protected the land from Medb and Aillil’s army, killing thousands of their soldiers.With Medb and Aillil’s army becoming weaker, Cuchulainn agreed to fight one great warrior a day. Every day the opponent would be defeated and this continued until the pangs lifted from Cuchulainn’s Ulsterman army. Eventually, Medb and Aillil were defeated and t here was peace in the land among the people. During the tale of the Tain, there was a section about Cuchulainn going into a warp spasm and killing men, children, and women the same. â€Å"The first warp-spasm seized Cuchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of.His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or reed in the stream. †(Kinsella, p. 150) At this point Cuchulainn is transformed into an un-human monster with essentially no emotion or thought other than destruction. â€Å"In this great Carnage on Murtheimne Plain Cuchulainn slew one hundred and thirty kings, as well as an uncountable horde of dogs and horses, women and boys and children and rabble of all kinds. †(Kinsella, p. 156) To me this behavior seems more like a murderer’s actions than a â€Å"heroes†.Almost like a villain in a superhero movie that needs to be stopped because of their unthin kable actions. Cuchulainn was definitely a hero for being able to protect Ulster while they were not able to fight. He was a hero to his people, but was extremely feared by the opponents. Cuchulainn would also be considered a hero because he does not necessarily want to kill all of the people he did. He was just obeying the orders that he was given and obeying his king. There came points in the story where Medb and Aillil had sent people close to Cuchulainn for him to battle.At these points in the story it is understood that Cuchulainn is not a senseless killer with any type of emotions, even though in those days the value of life was not very high. To fight these men or not was a terrible decision to have to make because Cuchulainn was aware of the amazing stunts he could perform against an opponent, leaving them dead. If a person is able to defeat every opponent that is placed in battle with them, does that make them a hero or just a person that is feared by all? To answer this qu estion it really comes down to what side of the situation the person giving the opinion is on.A relatable situation in history would be of Adolf Hitler. He was a dictator that was admired by the people who followed him. The loyalty of the people allowed him to kill thousands, but if he had the strengths of Cuchulainn, he could have done it alone. Similarly, he was feared by one group and considered a hero to the other side. There is not really an answer as to Cuchulainn being a hero or just a crazy mass murderer. The answer would have to lie in which side of the war you were on. Works Cited Kinsella, Thomas. (1969). The Tain. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tolerance essays

Tolerance essays Tolrance is the symapthy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with ones oown beliefs. Intolerance has been going on, all throughout time. Beliefs, religions, races, and even physical appearance all have intolerance twards them. Different races and skin colors have intolerace against them. Some people dont like others, just because they look different, or have a different skin color. They sometimes hate them, even though they dont know the person. They usually get this from their parents, or people who they grew up around. They are called perjudice. Adlof Hitler could not tolerate Jews. He thoughjt they were the worst thing ever. He wanted to kill them all. Everyone that didnt obey him, or follow what he stood for, he didnt like. He would probably kill them too. He didnt care about what other people though about him. He just wanted to elimiate the Jews. ...

The Difference Between Vice and Vise

The Difference Between Vice and Vise American English makes a distinction between vice (moral depravity) and vise (a tool). However, that distinction is not made in British English, where vice is used for both senses. Definitions The noun vice means an immoral or undesirable practice. In titles (such as vice president), vice means one who acts in the place of another. The expression vice versa means conversely or the other way around. In American English, the noun vise refers to a gripping or clamping tool. As a verb, vise means to force, hold, or squeeze as if with a vise. In both cases the British spelling is vice. Examples In those days the worst vice in England was pride, I guess- the worst vice of all because folks thought it was a virtue.(Carol Ryrie Brink, Caddie Woodlawn, 1936)The vice president acted as an intermediary to resolve disputes involving two or more agencies.Animals breathe in what animals breathe out, and vice versa.(Kurt Vonnegut, Cats Cradle, 1963)American usageHe went to the end of the tool bench and cranked open the vise, then slipped a small piece of sheet metal in and clamped the vise tight.(Trent Reedy, Stealing Air, 2012)American usageSometimes Rupert defined things in a new way- love grips you like a vise, then caresses you like a silk scarf, then bangs you on the head like an anvil.(Sabina Murray, A Carnivores Inquiry, 2004)British usageAfter softening a horn by boiling it in water, he flattens it in a vice before taking his razor-sharp penknife to carve a pheasant, fox, leaping salmon, or ram’s head as decoration.(Tony Greenbank, Master of the Crookmaker’s Cra ft. The Guardian [UK].,  May 4, 2015) British usageI had caught her in my arms, and the sting and torment of my remorse had closed them around her like a vice.(Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White, 1859) Usage Notes In American English, a vice is an immoral habit or practice, and a vise is a tool with closable jaws for clamping things. But in British English, the tool is spelled like the sin: vice.(Bryan A. Garner, Garners Modern English Usage, 4th  ed. Oxford University Press, 2016)Warren County deputies were called to investigate a shooting in Lake Luzerne, New York, on the evening of May 12, 2007. When they arrived, they found the victim, Damion Mosher, had sustained a wound in his abdomen from a 22-caliber bullet. Even though the deputies werent from the vice squad, they quickly discovered that the perpetrator was . . . a vise. Mosher had been discharging the bullets by clamping them in a steel vise, putting a screwdriver on the primer, and striking the screwdriver with a hammer so he could sell the brass shell casings for scrap (which goes for $1.70 a pound). Mosher was on his nearly hundredth bullet when he lost the final round.(Leland Gregory, Cruel and Unusual Idiots: Chronicles of Mea nness and Stupidity. Andrews McMeel, 2008) Practice (a) The problem with a lot of people is that what they think is a virtue is actually a _____ in disguise.(Kevin Dutton, The Wisdom of Psychopaths, 2012)(b) Migraines, the bane of my life, surged up; my head felt as if it were clamped in a powerful _____.(Maud Fontenoy, Challenging the Pacific: The First Woman to Row the Kon-Tiki Route, 2005)(c) What used to happen in fashion was that the pendulum would swing: if thered been short hair for a while, then it would go long, and _____  versa.(Sam McKnight, Kate Moss Hair Stylist: British People Wear Their Hair as a Tribal Badge. The Guardian [UK],  September 15, 2016) Answers (a) The problem with a lot of people is that what they think is a virtue is actually a vice in disguise.(Kevin Dutton, The Wisdom of Psychopaths, 2012)(b) Migraines, the bane of my life, surged up; my head felt as if it were clamped in a powerful (vise [US] or vice [UK]).(Maud Fontenoy, Challenging the Pacific: The First Woman to Row the Kon-Tiki Route, 2005)(c) What used to happen in fashion was that the pendulum would swing: if thered been short hair for a while, then it would go long,  and vice versa.(Sam McKnight, Kate Moss Hair Stylist: British People Wear Their Hair as a Tribal Badge.  The Guardian  [UK],  September 15, 2016)

Reflective report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Reflective report - Essay Example For the purpose of research, I have selected six banks, three from traditional banking sectors based in the United Kingdom (UK) and three from Islamic banking sector (Hennink, Hutter and Bailey, 2010; Wolters, 2013). I have selected performance of the banks from two different periods, that is, the pre-financial crisis era between 2005 and 2007 and post-financial crisis era between 2008 and 2012. The reason behind selection of these two periods is that it justifies the earlier studies by a number of authors that has been mentioned in the literature review. To analyze and compare the performance of the banks I have calculated financial ratios so that financial performance of the banks can be compared. The main purpose of conducting ratio analysis was to analyse the capital adequacy and profitability of the banks in context of different countries. Financial ratios were considered appropriate because these are standard measures and can be compared easily. Furthermore, to examine the position of Islamic banks with respect to that of the UK, hypothesis was tested using T-test. In the hypothesis testing, performance of Islamic banks was better that that of conventional banks was considered as the null hypothesis (Alexander, 2001). Sampling is an important part of any realistic research and there is a number of sampling methods that can be implemented in a research. However in my paper, I have implemented purposive sampling so that within a convenient sample size, appropriate research can be conducted. Purposive sampling is important from the context of this research because under this approach, the samples are selected based on certain specific characteristics that represent the population. Since the analysis was conducted based on financial data of banks, I did not conduct any primary research. Instead, the numerical figures were collected from annual reports of banks and information regarding the literature review was gathered from

Critical Issues In Police Civil Liability Essay

Critical Issues In Police Civil Liability - Essay Example There are many instances in which the police fail to prevent harm. The movie starts by a man planting a bomb timed to explode at a certain time in a car. There after a man accompanied by a woman (Joi Lansing) enters the car and starts driving ending to American- Mexico border. On there away, drug enforcement officers from the government of Mexico passed the car on foot and they do not take any action. Joi realizes that there is a problem with the car but the drug enforcement officers did not take any action or search the car to notice the bomb. Immediately after crossing the border, the car exploded and killed the occupants. The explosion of a Mexican bomb in America drew attention of Harry Shannon who was the Police Chief, Mike who was interested in investigating the issue and latter Ray Collins (the district attorney) arrived at the scene. A one legged police officer known as Orson Welles also arrived at the scene together with the district attorney. The officers carried out investigation while suspecting Sanchez who happened to be the husband to the daughter of the victim (Joanna). Quinlan and Menzies carried on with the investigation in order to identify the cause of the tragedy. At the end of the movie, Quinlan admitted that he was not genuine but used to plant evidence on people. He admitted the Menzies that the most of the people were innocent but he planted evidence to have them convicted. Quinlan attempts to kill Menzies using the Vargas gun because they had recorded him testifying on the evils which he did instead of doing police work. He manages to shoot Menzies but Menzies shoots him dead be fore shooting Vargas. At the end of the movie it is noted that Quinlan was preventing investigation by protecting the suspects. Latter Quinlan says that Sanchez had accepted the crime. It is noted that Sanchez was the one who planted the bomb to the car but Quinlan being an investigator was protecting him by