Tuesday, November 26, 2019

How To React To Suffering Religion Essays

How To React To Suffering Religion Essays How To React To Suffering Religion Essay How To React To Suffering Religion Essay Essay Topic: The Haunting Of Hill House Hello and welcome to Word Alive, produced by Good News Broadcasting. I m Brenda Critchley, and it s my joy to present you to a survey of God s Word and happen out what His programs and His promises are for us. And today Dr. Derek Stringer is back with us to go on the series of surveies he s been making on The How To Of Christianity. And can you believe of any thing more relevant to us than today s capable How To React To Suffering. I ll be back from clip to clip but over to you Derek. Darmstadtium Brenda, thank you. Elie Weisel was a subsister of a Nazi concentration cantonment as a kid and Nobel Laureate. His eyes deep set and haunting, were adequate to state you he had seen horrors and experienced injuries that defied human articulation. They could merely be known by being felt, and you felt them by looking in his eyes. He asked a pupil one twenty-four hours when he was holding an single meeting with him: How make you get by with God? Why life? Why decease? Why agony? For him, it was nt a inquiry of whether God existed. It was the really fact that God did be, and at the same clip had allowed the World War Two atrociousnesss to happen, that made him anguish. The pupil did nt cognize what to state. Every word he could believe of sounded trite and onionskin because he knew he did nt hold that same expression to his eyes. This experience began to force him to the threshold of his ain apprehension of hurting and to gain that human agony is utmost, non merely because we suffer but because merely the human being expressions for significance in the agony. Animals do nt. It s the yearning for significance in the thick of inexplicable, mindless hurting that makes us inquire why? What s the intent? Why does God let it? And that, in some ways unanswerable inquiry, increases the agony we experience. Is there such a thing as Christian agony? GNB Many Christians think those two words, Christian and agony should nt be joined. Darmstadtium For many people, the label Christian enduring sounds out-of-place. They insist a Christian should neer hold to digest hurting and agony. But the Bible speaks obviously about the world of enduring in the life of a Christian. GNB Peter was composing to Christians who were enduring awful persecution. Darmstadtium Yes, while Nero was Emperor in Rome, there was a great fire which destroyed two-thirds of the metropolis. Historians suggest Lucius domitius ahenobarbus allowed the fire and so fiddled about while the metropolis burned. Regardless of how it started, Nero blamed Christians for the fire. As a consequence, the persecution against trusters was intense during this clip. He wrote his missive to promote enduring Saints. Peter addressed the subject of enduring 15 times in merely five chapters. Today, we are traveling to analyze the subject of enduring as we study the message found in 1 Peter 1:6 to 9. GNB The Bible says: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a small while you may hold had to endure heartache in all sorts of tests. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved echt and may ensue in congratulations, glorification and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have non seen him, you love him ; and even though you do non see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an unexpressible and glorious joy, for you are having the end of your religion, the redemption of your psyches. Darmstadtium Peter warns us that even though we are followings of Jesus, we will see tests. The word test is another word for problem or trial. A test is a painful experience that, given the pick, we would ever avoid if possible. But since we are traveling to face tests, we should larn every bit much as we can about what tests are and how we should respond to enduring. Let s analyze four of import rules about the tests and trials that we face. First: TRIALS COME IN A VARIETY OF FORMS GNB Peter writes in verse 6: For a small while you may hold had to endure heartache in all sorts of tests. Darmstadtium It s of import to understand that a test is non the same thing as a enticement. In the first chapter of James epistle he writes about both tests and enticements. He makes a differentiation between them. Here are some differences: A enticement is devised by Satan to do you sin ; a test is allowed by God to allow you reflect ; a enticement is designed to drive you off from God ; but a test is designed to pull you closer to God ; a enticement will weaken you ; a test will beef up you. A enticement is neer intolerable ( the Bible says you ll neer be tempted beyond what you are able ) ; whereas a test is frequently beyond our ability to digest on our ain. A enticement must be resisted, but a test must be embraced but unhappily we frequently resist God s tests and embracing enticements! GNB Peter writes we will endure all sorts of tests. Darmstadtium That s a phrase that means varicolored colors. It s like a stained glass window comprised of 100s of different colored pieces of glass. An stray test is like one piece of glass-it may be confounding. But when you take all the tests you ll confront together, you can see God is making something beautiful and valuable of your life. You may confront a fiscal test when you do nt hold adequate money or sometimes a harder test is when you have more money than you truly necessitate to populate! What you do with it is a test. You may confront a physical test, when the physician tells you that you have some sort of unwellness and your life is instantly changed. Some of you are confronting matrimony tests, or vocational trials-as many coloring material fluctuations as you can happen in the universe-that s the sort of assortment you may anticipate in tests and trials. GNB Cipher is immune to problem. Darmstadtium No There was a adult male in the Old Testament who knew a small about enduring ; his name was Job. Satan accused Job of being spoiled rotten. He was a Devout adult male because he had so many approvals. Satan contended before God that if Job lost his approvals he would besides lose his religion. So God allowed tests and trials to come into Job s life. In a short period of clip Job lost his wealth, his household, and his wellness. In the center of all of his hardship, GNB And Job made this observation: Man is born to problem every bit certainly as flickers fly upward. Darmstadtium It is the nature of fire to throw flickers upward. And as Job observed, it is portion of our nature to see hurting and agony. We know Job s agony was a test-and he passed the trial. His married woman and friends told him to cuss God and dice. GNB Alternatively Job came to a topographic point where he said, I know that my Jesus lives! And I shall see Him someday! Darmstadtium When you re being tested it s of import to retrieve God put a bound to what Satan could make in proving Job. In the same manner, our tests may come from Satan, but they are filtered by God. When you make java you may set a paper filter in the java shaper. You do nt desire to hold the java evidences in your cup. It s good to cognize that all of your tests have to go through through the filter of God s grace, and the filter of His clemency, and the filter of His omnipotence. What painful experience are you confronting right now? Would it do a difference if you knew it was a trial? How would you react if you were traveling through the same trial Job faced? I saw a amusing sketch late. A little kid was standing at her instructor s desk and the caption read, I do nt desire to frighten you, but my dada says if I do nt acquire better classs SOMEBODY is traveling to be in problem! For a Christian, agony is like that Emergency Broadcasting System proclamation you hear on the telecasting and wireless when you re in the USA. They break in and state, This is a trial, this is merely a trial. When you face tests and trials, merely state to yourself: THIS IS A TEST-THIS IS ONLY A Trial! SECONDLY. TRIALS REVEAL THE PURITY OF YOUR FAITH. GNB Peter writes in verse 7: These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved echt. Darmstadtium Gold is a absorbing trade good ; it has been valuable for centuries. I like the amusing narrative of the adult male who made a trade with God. He said, God, I know you say that I ca nt take it with me when I go to heaven, but, please, will you allow me take merely one bag with me to heaven? The Lord said, Certain. So, before the adult male died, he cashed in all his investings and bought pure gold bars to take to heaven he wanted to be the richest adult male in Eden. The twenty-four hours came when he died, as all must make, and he arrived at the Pearly Gates toting his bag. The angels on responsibility said, It s unusual for person to convey a bag into Eden, but we understand you made a trade with the Boss. But we ll hold to look into the contents of your bag. The adult male handed it over, and one of the angels opened it. The other angel said, What is it? The first angel scratched his caput and said, You wo nt believe it, but he merely brought a bag full of paving. Gold is rare and valuable on Earth, but John writes that in Eden, there are streets of gold! The ground gold is valuable on Earth is because it is rare. Peter writes that there is something we possess that is of greater value than gold-our religion. Like gold, our religion is refined by the fire of agony. Gold is frequently embedded in stone, and must be refined. It is placed in a crucible and heated to a high temperature. As the gold thaws, it can be extracted from the other elements. Even today, there are different degrees of pureness of gold used in jewelry. Gold can be combined with other metals to organize an metal that is nt pure gold. 14 carat gold is non pure, like 24 carats gold. To bring forth pure gold, the metal has to be refined by fire. Some costume jewelry is made of steel covered with gilded pigment. Costume jewelry for illustration. A ring looks great-but the metal is merely painted gold and the diamond is really three-dimensional Zr! Over the old ages, the gold pigment wears off until the existent nature of the metal is revealed. If this ring was put into a refiner s fire, it would be proved an imitation. God frequently refines our religion for two grounds: One: To turn out our religion is echt ; and Two: To sublimate our religion. It is merely in the fire of enduring that you discover whether your religion is echt, or if it s a inexpensive imitation. When it is summertime and the life in easy, and the fish are leaping, and the cotton is high, it s easy to state you have faith. But it is during the tough times your religion is proved. GNB The Bible compares our religion to gold and Ag, and God is the refiner. Darmstadtium He sometimes turns up the heat so our religion can be purified. Like gold or Ag, our religion frequently contains drosss. It is through the fire of enduring our religion is simplified and purified. GNB In Isaiah 48:10 we read: God says, See I have refined you, though non as Ag ; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. Darmstadtium Is your religion the existent thing-in the furnace of affliction, your religion is tested and proved. Cipher likes to travel through fire of affliction, but if your religion is existent, it merely makes your religion more valuable. I read the words of a university lector. He shared his narrative. He started holding pharynx jobs and the trials revealed he had malignant neoplastic disease in his lymph secretory organs and pharynx. That s a chilling diagnosing for anyone. After surgery he started a procedure of having 42 radiation interventions. It was a atrocious, painful procedure. He was strapped down to a metal tabular array for 30 proceedingss while the radiation was directed to different parts of his pharynx. He was literally traveling through the fire because the radiation was firing off the affected tissue. It was non a pleasant experience. He lost 40 lbs, and his hair came out in bunchs. His pharynx hurt so severely he could nt get down H2O without taking hurting medicine. But he said at that clip, he was faced with a this inquiry, Is what I say I believe about God existent or is it merely something that sounds good when everything is traveling good? He said it was religious intestine cheque. When he was at the lowest point, he truly considered that he might decease, yet when he looked decease in the oculus, he discovered he was nt afraid to decease. During his interventions, the vocal that meant the most to him was I Can Merely Imagine by Mercy Me. He would hold it played during his interventions, and he came to understand his worst instance scenario was run intoing Jesus face to face-and that was nt a chilling thing. His last two cheque ups have revealed no reoccurrence of the malignant neoplastic disease, and as he looks back on that experience he would nt wish it on anyone. Yet, he said that he made a valuable find: His religion is existent, like pure gold. In add-on, he discovered his religion was purified, and became stronger through that ordeal. Are you confronting a hot furnace of affliction right now? God is nt the writer of agony, but He can utilize it. Cancer, illness and disease are the effects of life in a fallen, corrupted universe. But when you find yourself in the fire of affliction, retrieve God is proving you. Your religion may still hold some drosss so God may turn up the heat to acquire rid of those drosss. So if you re enduring right now, retrieve that although the fire is non pleasant, it is turn outing and sublimating your religion. Do nt worry-you wo nt be consumed by the fire-God loves you and He is still in control. GNB Remember: God may non light the fire of affliction, but He controls the thermoregulator! Darmstadtium You may inquire when He s traveling to turn down the heat. It s when the refinement procedure is finished. A silversmith looks into the crucible and tickers as the purified Ag floats to the top. The manner he knows the Ag is purified is when he can see a perfect contemplation of his face in the molten Ag. As the refiner, God is looking at you, and when He sees the contemplation of the character of Jesus in your life, that episode of refinement is normally completed. GNB You are listening to Word Alive with Derek Stringer and I m Brenda Critchley. Today s message is How To React To Suffering and it s portion of the current series by Derek The How To Of Christianity. You do nt necessitate to lose out on the whole series because we re entering each of these messages. It will do a good gift every bit good. I ll give you our contact inside informations at the terminal of the programme. Let s acquire back to our bible survey with Dr Stringer. Darmstadtium And Let s expression at a Third thing about trails: THEY FORCE YOU TO FOCUS ON JESUS. Tests are hard, and the lone manner to digest them is to look to Jesus, the writer and closer of our religion. Peter makes it clear that we ca nt see Him with our eyes of flesh, but we still believe in Him. He wrote in poetries seven and eight: when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have non seen him, you love him ; and even though you do non see him now, you believe in him. It would be easy to believe if you could see Jesus in the flesh standing in forepart of you when you were enduring. But Peter is stating us that we must develop eyes of religion. God has a manner of acquiring our attending when we re enduring. After coming through a clip of caring for his married woman as she died of malignant neoplastic disease, C. S. Lewis wrote these words: GNB God susurrations to us in our pleasances but He shouts to us in our hurting. Agony is God s megaphone to wake up a dormant universe. Darmstadtium That s why we need to encompass the tests we experience instead than running from them. On the first Easter Sunday eventide, Jesus appeared to the adherents in the upper room. Thomas was nt at that place. Later, the adherents told Thomas Jesus was alive, and he did nt believe them. He said, Unless I can see Him with my eyes and set my fingers in the nail prints and lesion in His side I wo nt believe! That s why we call him doubting Thomas. A hebdomad subsequently Jesus appeared once more and Thomas was present. Jesus approached Thomas and said, Here I am. Go in front, set your fingers in my nail prints, and set your manus in this lesion in my side. Thomas merely said, My Lord, and my Supreme being! Then Jesus made a profound statement about Thomas and about us. He said, Because you have seen me you believed? Blessed are those who have non seen me and yet believed! That s what Peter is writing-we have nt seen Jesus with our eyes of flesh, yet we look at him with our eyes of religion. There s a great narrative in the Old Testament about maintaining your eyes on God, even when you ca nt see Him. In 2 Histories 20, Jehoshaphat is king of Judah, and they were surrounded by a immense ground forces. GNB The Bible says Jehoshaphat was scared, yet he prayed a powerful supplication of religion found in 2 Histories 20: King Jehoshaphat prayed: O, God, we have no power to confront this huge ground forces that is assailing us. We do non cognize what to make, but our eyes are upon You. Darmstadtium Then Jehoshaphat devised an unusual conflict program. He put the choir on the front line and they marched into conflict singing vocals of congratulations to God. And the Bible says the LORD set ambuscades against their enemies and they started contending among themselves until they killed each other. What a powerful lesson! When you face an enemy that is overpowering, do nt concentrate on the enemy, set your eyes on God. Then approach that hard state of affairs with congratulations on your lips, and you will ever see triumph. When you are enduring, do nt concentrate on your job or on your hurting, focal point on God, and when you focus on God, you ll desire to praise Him. GNB Old ages ago there was a popular congratulations vocal. It goes, It s astonishing what praising will make. Hallelujah. Hallelujah! It s astonishing what praising will make! Hallelujah! I do nt worry when things go incorrect. Jesus fills my bosom with a vocal. It s astonishing what praising will make. Hallelujah! Darmstadtium Remember, this is the large fisherman, Peter, composing this missive. He knew what it was to maintain his eyes on Jesus, and he knew what happened when you took your eyes off Jesus. One dark Jesus came walking on the H2O to fall in the adherents. Peter asked Jesus if he could walk on the H2O, and Jesus said, Come on! Peter stepped out on religion and started walking on the H2O. He was nt truly walking on H2O ; he was walking on the Word of Jesus. But the Bible says Peter took his eyes off Jesus and started looking at the air current and the moving ridges. When he did, he began to drop. When you look at your troubles and jobs, you are in problem. But if you focus on Jesus, you can walk to triumph! Here s a 4th point: Test CAN PRODUCE INEXPRESSIBLE JOY. GNB In poetry six Peter writes, In this you greatly rejoice, and once more in poetries eight and nine: You are filled with an unexpressible and glorious joy, for you are having the end of your religion, the redemption of your psyches. Darmstadtium He repeats that warning that we should joy when we face tests and agony. Remember, joying is non a feeling-it s a pick! That s one of the things that makes us different from those who do nt cognize Jesus: We should show joy, even when we are enduring. When you are traveling through the furnace of affliction, you are forced to depend on God. One ground God allows you to endure is so you will catch clasp of His power with both custodies. GNB There s a beautiful vocal entitled Treasures that says: One by one He took them from me, All the things I valued most Until I was empty handed, Every glittering plaything was lost. And I walked Earth s main road grieving In my shreds and poorness Till I heard His voice inviting, Raise your empty custodies to Me. So I held my custodies toward Heaven, And He filled them with a shop Of His ain transcendent wealths Till they could incorporate no more. And at that I comprehended, With my stupid head and dull That God could non pour His wealths Into custodies already full. Darmstadtium It may be that you re enduring right now because God is seeking to learn you that He is all you need. The promise of God is that we will endure, but it s merely for a small piece. Even if you suffer for 80 old ages, that s merely a blip on the timeline of infinity. There are plentifulness of experiences that cause us hurting, and our eyes frequently fill up with cryings, but God promises in infinity He will pass over all the cryings from our eyes. GNB He gives us a great promise in Psalm 30:5: Weeping may stay for a dark, but joying comes in the forenoon. Darmstadtium You may be enduring in the dark dark of depression and disheartenment, but you can cognize that the forenoon is coming. That forenoon is coming, but we do nt hold to wait until the forenoon to joy. We can joy NOW! GNB Derek will be back in merely a minute to round off today s Word Alive all about How To React To Suffering. Cadmium s and transcripts are available for this and other messages. We send the Cadmium s merely for the managing charge, transcripts are free to an electronic mail reference. Simply name us on our FREE PHONE figure for the UK leave a message if you are naming outside office hours 08,000 92 78 92. Here once more is Derek Stringer. Darmstadtium Let me give you an acrostic for SUFFER: S.U.F.F.E.R. Measure Up For Faith s Eternal Reward. When you suffer, understand that it s a trial, this is merely a trial. Understand that your religion is more valuable than gold and you are traveling through a refinement procedure. Focus your eyes on Jesus, even though you do nt see Him, trust Him. And so you ll be able to joy. The greatest contradiction in this universe is a joyless Christian. Once when Martin Luther was traveling through a period of depression, his married woman, Katie came into his survey have oning all black, with her face covered with a black head covering. Martin Luther asked her, Who died? She said, God died. Luther responded, Silly adult female, God has nt died. She said, Oh, I thought by the manner you were moving that God had died. She wanted to remind him that Jesus is alive and God is in control. It worked, and Martin Luther left his bad temper and began to joy once more. Let me inquire you, Has God died? Is Jesus alive? Then allow s demo the universe we can joy, even when we are enduring. I know I have nt answered all the inquiries you have about enduring. There are many more inquiries we could inquire, and many ca nt be answered in this life. When I visited Auschvitch I saw excessively many exposures of work forces, adult females and kids gazing back at me. I besides know that in worst desperation, in the hazards of concentration cantonments, and prisons, and labour cantonments, in the deepnesss of mental convulsion, and the throws of serious unwellness, people have found Jesus there God s presence is alive even in the darkest snake pit. I ran across a small supplication that allied military personnels emancipating the Ravensbruck concentration cantonment found written on a piece of wrapping paper. It had been composed by a captive, who died there before deliverance came. It read: O Lord, Jesus, Remember non merely the work forces and adult females of good will, But besides those of ailment will. But do non merely retrieve the agony they have inflicted on us, Remember the fruits we bore thanks to this agony, Our chumminess, our trueness, our humbleness, The bravery, the generousness, The illustriousness of bosom which has grown out of all this. And when they come to opinion, Let all the fruits that we have borne Be their forgiveness. Amons, Amen, Amen. GNB Such proof such unconquerable cogent evidence is nt it that there is no deepness of hurting to which we can travel where God s love is non deeper still. Darmstadtium It genuinely is You do nt hold to allow immoralities hold the last word in your life. You can, by the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit choose to love once more. GNB Here are the contact inside informations that you ll necessitate to acquire in touch with us The FREE PHONE figure for the UK is 08,000 92 78 92. For your electronic mail use our web site www.gnba.net That s gnba.net Word Alive is a Good News Broadcasting Association production with Dr Derek Stringer our Bible Teacher and I m Brenda thanks to Phil Critchley our Producer. I hope that you ll be able to fall in us once more following clip as we continue this series The How To Of Christianity. Good pass and God bless you.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Battle of Glorieta Pass in the Civil War

Battle of Glorieta Pass in the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass - Conflict: The Battle of Glorieta Pass occurred during the American Civil War. Battle of Glorieta Pass - Dates: Union and Confederate forces clashed at Glorieta Pass on March 26-28, 1862. Armies Commanders: Union Colonel John P. SloughMajor John Chivington1,300 men Confederates Major Charles L. PyronLt. Colonel William R. Scurry1,100 men Battle of Glorieta Pass - Background: In early 1862, Confederate forces under Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley began pushing west from Texas into the New Mexico Territory. His goal was to occupy the Santa Fe Trail as far north as Colorado with the intention of opening a line of communication with California. Advancing west, Sibley initially sought to capture Fort Craig near the Rio Grande. On February 20-21, he defeated a Union force under Colonel Edward Canby at the Battle of Valverde. Retreating, Canbys force took refuge at Fort Craig. Electing not to attack the fortified Union troops, Sibley pressed on leaving them in his rear. Moving up the Rio Grande Valley, he established his headquarters at Albuquerque. Sending his forces forward, they occupied Santa Fe on March 10. Shortly thereafter, Sibley pushed an advance force of between 200 and 300 Texans, under Major Charles L. Pyron, over the Glorieta Pass at the southern end of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The capture of the pass would allow Sibley to advance and capture Fort Union, a key base along the Santa Fe Trail. Camping at Apache Canyon in Glorieta Pass, Pyrons men were attacked on March 26 by 418 Union soldiers led by Major John M. Chivington. Battle of Glorieta Pass - Chivington Attacks: Assaulting Pyrons line, Chivingtons initial attack was beaten back by Confederate artillery. He then split his force and two and repeatedly flanked Pyrons men forcing them to retreat twice. As Pyron fell back a second time, Chivingtons cavalry swept in and captured the Confederate rearguard. Consolidating his forces, Chivington went into camp at Kozlowskis Ranch. On the following day the battlefield was quiet as both sides were reinforced. Pyron was augmented by 800 men led by Lieutenant Colonel William R. Scurry, bringing Confederate strength to around 1,100 men. On the Union side, Chivington was reinforced by 900 men from Fort Union under the command of Colonel John P. Slough. Assessing the situation, Slough planned to attack the Confederates the next day. Chivington was given orders to take his men in a circling movement with the goal of striking the Confederate flank as Slough engaged their front. In the Confederate camp, Scurry also planned an advance with the goal of attacking at the Union troops in the pass. On the morning of March 28, both sides moved into Glorieta Pass. Battle of Glorieta Pass - A Close Fight: Seeing the Union troops moving towards his men, Scurry formed a line of battle and prepared to receive Sloughs attack. Surprised to find the Confederates in an advanced position, Slough realized that Chivington would not be able to assist in the assault as planned. Moving forward, Sloughs men struck at Scurrys line around 11:00 AM. In the battle that followed, both sides repeatedly attacked and counterattacked, with Scurrys men getting the better of the fighting. Unlike the rigid formations used in the East, the fighting in Glorieta Pass tended to be focused on small unit actions due to the broken terrain. After forcing Sloughs men to fall back to Pigeon Ranch, and then Kozlowskis Ranch, Scurry broke off the fighting happy to have achieved a tactical victory. While the battle was raging between Slough and Scurry, Chivingtons scouts succeeded in locating the Confederate supply train. Out of position to assist in Sloughs attack, Chivington elected not to rush to the sound of the guns, but rather advanced and captured the Confederate supplies after a brief skirmish at Johnsons Ranch. With the loss of the supply train, Scurry was forced to withdraw despite having won a victory in the pass. Battle of Glorieta Pass - Aftermath: Union casualties at the Battle of Glorieta Pass numbered 51 killed, 78 wounded, and 15 captured. Confederate forces suffered 48 killed, 80 wounded, and 92 captured. While a tactical Confederate victory, the Battle of Glorieta Pass proved to be a key strategic win for the Union. Due to the loss of his supply train, Sibley was forced to withdraw back to Texas, ultimately arriving at San Antonio. The defeat of Sibleys New Mexico Campaign effectively ended Confederate designs on the Southwest and the area remained in Union hands for the duration of the war. Due to the decisive nature of the battle, it is sometimes referred to as the Gettysburg of the West. Selected Sources CWSAC Battle Summaries: Battle of Glorieta PassBattle of Glorieta Pass: A Shattered DreamPhotographs of Glorieta Pass

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Police Recruit Applicants Report Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Police Recruit Applicants Report - Term Paper Example All the interviewers gave a varied assessment of the integrity, emotional stability and professionalism. Interviewer A rated her as very good on this aspect, interviewer B concluded that she is good while interviewer C felt convinced that Summerton can only be rated as average on the three aspects. This demonstrates that the applicant can be correctly described as good in terms of professionalism, integrity and emotional stability. Summerton has a good knowledge of laws, regulations, policies and procedures according to the three interviewers. Furthermore, her analytical and reasoning skills are good as rated by two of the three assessors with the other rating her as very good. Summerton is good in community and team relationships except for one assessor who rated her as average. Given the opinion of the majority, Summerton can be described as being a good team player and having good community relationships. The interview also assessed one’s oral and written communication skil ls. On this aspect, Summerton was rated as good by two out of the three interviewers while the other rating her as average. Given the opinion of the interviewers, Summerton can be rightly described as having good communication skills. ... She can also be described as of average personality when it comes to being helpful, sympathetic towards others and cooperation. Despite the above admirable personality traits, Summerton has a low degree of sociability, talkativeness and assertiveness. The information provided by Summerton was authenticated by the referees and employers checks as true. Moreover, she was cleared by the ethical standards division. The second applicant for police recruitment post was a male named Thomas Garrigan. He is aged 27 and has previously worked as a retail assistant for two years and as a nurse for a year. Upon completing his high school, Thomas pursed a degree in Science and a Bachelor in Nursing. He is rated as good in terms of integrity, emotional stability and professionalism. He is also very good in terms of knowledge of laws, regulations, policies and procedures. He has good analytical and reasoning skills according to the majority of interviewers. His written and oral communication skill i s also good and is a good team player. Thomas is physical fit and had high achievement on the beep test. When it comes to major personality traits; Thomas is highly disciplined, result oriented and organized. Thomas is averagely a helpful person, sympathetic to others and cooperative. He also has an average ability of controlling his impulse, anxiety and emotional stability. Furthermore, he can be described as having average socialization skills. He is also averagely an assertive and talkative person. Thomas is not curious to learn new ideas and try new things. He has been influenced by his father who is presently a Senior Sergeant in charge of Morryvale Station. Thomas is a sincere gentleman with all the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Leading Public Organizations - Public Administration Essay

Leading Public Organizations - Public Administration - Essay Example In addition, they may differ in their abilities to cope up with the unforeseen situations. This holds even more relevant for public administration in organizations. Hence, it requires a coordinating function to deal them effectively so that the out put production would be maximum in any firm. Among all the role players in public administration, leader is very significant one who initiates the process of thinking towards new ideas or innovations and accordingly fixes the responsibilities of various employees in different sections (Hickman, 2009). He also makes them aware about the objectives and goals of the organization and gives them timely targets. The main challenge for a leader in an organization is to manage the communication process to different individuals or groups of individuals who have diverse nature. At the same time, conflict management and ethical decision making also become very complex when leader initiates the process of dealing the individuals or groups of diverse n ature. Let us analyze them one by one. Communication process is one of the most important factors that decides the success of any public organization with employees of diverse nature (Ivancevich, 2009). Leadership in public sector faces a big challenge in the form of large size of groups of individuals of diverse nature and hence their employee coordination is a tough task. The individuals or groups of individuals differ significantly in their critical thinking nature and perception about the decisions of the organization and hence clarity in communication is must for the higher coherence among the employees and the leaders may concentrate on easy way of dissemination of information using the latest technology. The employees must feel that they are integral part of the organization for getting optimum results, this can happen only when they are informed about the objectives and work plan of the organization. If a leader uses any single mode of communication, the employees may not be able to perceive it in same manner. Hence it is necessary to identify the right mode and time of communication process according to the nature of the individuals or groups. The effective communication process once implemented in public administration in organizations with special emphasis on crisis management communication, there is a vast scope for critical thinking and skill development among the employees of diverse nature (Shockley-Zalabak, 2005). There are different ways of communication process that can be well utilized to inform about the present status and future requirements of the organization. The advent of information technology is of immense help in dissemination of information to the employees of different tiers. In some studies, it was found that the use of a Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) system in-group conflict management has become a reasonable success (Hampden-Turner, Charles and Fons Trompenaars. 2000). The group working relations coding system (GWRCS) w as found to be useful to examine group interaction patterns that characterize the conflict management process. It was also noticed that an intellective task conflict can be well managed by a high confrontiveness where as cognitive task conflict requires a moderate confrontiveness strategy. Similarly, effective team building also promotes the communication pro

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Accounting standards and principles Essay Example for Free

Accounting standards and principles Essay In 1973, international accounting standards committee issued international accounting standards (IAS) which lasted till 2000 when they were replaced by IFRS. These are standard based principles, accounting practices guidelines, interpretations and framework adopted by the (IASB) (Epstein Jermakowicz, 2010). In 2001, IASC was replaces by IASB which was mandated in setting international accounting standards. The objective of IFRS is to make companies financial statements to reflect truth and fair view of companies’ affairs as at particular date (Epstein Jermakowicz, 2010). Generally accepted accounting standards are principles and accounting guidelines recognized by a given territory, jurisdiction or most countries especially the United States to supplement the role and objectives of IFRS. Financial statements should be presented, summarized and recorded based on particular generally convections, rules, ethics and standards in a certain jurisdiction i. e. GAAP. Formulation of GAAP and IFRS For consistency and fairness in financial statements which detail the performance of a company, certain rules and standards must apply. See more: Satirical elements in the adventure of Huckleberry Finn essay These are commonly referred to as â€Å"generally accepted† and all accounting professionals apply them as appropriate and ethical. Failure to apply them in accounting field result to agreed penalty by either body governing the practice or the territory restraining unethical practices to professionals. Various committees and bodies are put in places as setters which formulate and develop these accounting standards. International Financial reporting standards are developed and formulated by International Accounting Standards Board while Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are formulated by local financial reporting standards board. In the United States, the establishment and development are influenced by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) (Miller Bahnson, 2002). All these bodies and committees have different roles and objectives which are agreed upon on influence to different accounting sectors profession generally accepted principles. International financial reporting standards are based in International Accounting Standards which are accepted globally. ISA changed its operations in 2000 and IFRS were added to cope with the changing dynamics of global accounting profession. Through discussions, contributions and comparison agreements, different bodies through their representatives contribute to the principles developed by IASB. Complete responsibility in all technical matters that include; preparation and issuing of international financial reporting standards, are based on the selected IASB (ISCF IASB, 2007). Thus, the efforts of IASB involves, setting standards, formulating process of adopting standards ensuring the needs of different countries in the globalizing accounting profession (Mwaura Nyaboga, n. d). Difference between GAAP and IFRS GAAP and IFRS have difference in their jurisdiction of usage, enforcement and the way these standards are formulated. International financial reporting standards are globally recognized accounting standards, which are set by IASC from 1973 to 2001 and from 2001 by IASB. GAAP are accounting standards recognized as â€Å"generally accepted† by the United States. In summarizing, recording and presenting accounting information within a nation, the process is dictated by rules and convection of GAAP in the United States. International accounting standard board does not directly set or control provisions of rules and convections adopted by GAAP. Standards set by this powerful board are based from agreements and suggestions from various local accounting boards e. g. Kenya accounting board (KAS). Various nations will try to incorporate the set standards within the GAAP in their country. FASB in America has a mandate to set accounting rules, convection and standards that are later adopted by the US GAAP (Mwaura Nyaboga, n. d). This means that the role of formulating and developing the rules and standards principally lie to the local accounting boards. Various nations have made it compulsory for their accounting practice to adopt IFRS rather than developing jurisdiction GAAP (Mwaura Nyaboga, n. d). In addition, differences on the implementation and formulation exist in financial presentation between GAAP and IFRS. These differences are commonly in consolidation, statement of income format, inventory valuation and recognition, earning per share calculations and development cost recognition in financial statement. For example, in United States, consolidated financial statements are prepared on risk and reward models while international financial reporting standards prefers control based model where consolidation is done on the percentage of control and influence in subsidiaries and associates (Forgeas, 2008). Risks and rewards is more complicated since risk are subjective valued. Extraordinary items such as depreciation and amortization are included in the income statements under IFRS and in the US GAAP are accounted for after net income. This means extraordinary expenses are not taken to contribute net profits (Forgeas, 2008). Under the US GAAP, companies have option to use either LIFO OR FIFO methods of inventory valuation while in IFRS, LIFO method which is historical valuation method is recommended. When computing for earning per share under IFRS average on interims calculations are not included whereas in the US GAAP, computation requires that individual interim increase in shares be done averagely (Forgeas, 2008). Capitalization on development expenditure is done under IFRS and recognized as fixed asset while in the US GAAP; capitalization is not done on development expenditure but is accounted for in income statement as expenses (Forgeas, 2008). Another difference between GAAP and IFRS is how transactions are interpreted to mean. It is commonly argued that GAAP within a nation is rule based and IFRS is principle based. This means that transactions are interpreted based on the stated rules and standards. Ruled based interpretations lies with the professional judgment on certain transaction treatments in account. For principle based interpretation, the IFRS provide on more judgmental way to interpret transactions. This implies that principles are there to the interpretation of transaction and in rule based is on the professional judgment. The problems arise on whether judgment is accurate professional judgment or guessed professional judgment to transactions treatment (Forgeas, 2008). Benefits of GAAP and IFRS Uses of standardized procedures to financial statements summarizing, recording and presentation to the users bears a number of benefits to both the reporting entity and the user such as shareholder, lenders, creditors or the government taxation organ. Adoption of GAAP in the US and IFRS by other countries gives significant economic and financial benefits to decision making. Both approaches give consistency in managing companies and it is easy to compare companies using the same standards. Both standards put strict measures on deviation from the rules and ethics in a particular standard. In most countries for a company to trade public GAAP and IFRS must be followed and they require all financial statements be subjected to an independent audit and opinion thereby be given on the applicability of standards in the company. These independent accountants (auditors) must certify financial statements and any notes to financial statement have been prepared and to be presented in accordance of either of the standard. These two provide adequate explanations and definitions to transactions, provide needed assumptions to these transaction and methods applied in either computations or accounting for the transaction. By this, companies are able to follow the requirements year by year enhancing comparisons/benchmarks between companies and consistency in business operations. Valuation of various assets and liabilities both at the start and at the end of the year would be different between companies giving hectic time in comparison and auditing. These two standards enhance transparence and uniformity of valuation procedures of assets. For example, valuation of assets like investment and stocks unrealized profits can be ambiguous if such standards are not in place. Conclusion To make financial statement present a true and fairly performance and position of the business at a particular date, financial accounting standards are needed. High quality standards need to be set for reliable information that is adequate and useful to investor or creditor. These high quality standards and enforcement will provide transparency in business operations and promote full discloser to financial information which gives consistent application making statement user perform comparison of year by year and among competing companies.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Imperialism Essay -- essays research papers

Imperialism is often excused as a way of liberating people from tyrannical rule or by introducing the policies of a â€Å"better† way of life. It is based on the ground of a variety of causes running the gamut of economic pressures, greed, security, power, prestige, religion, and many other effective measures that can be taken given the circumstances. Arguments about the roots and virtue of imperialism can be put into four basic groups. The first is whether or not imperialism is economically beneficial. The second relates to the social aspect of imperialism and the natural desire to rule others. The third is protection and security, building up military powers around the world in order to help the main country when trouble erupts. Finally, the last is morals and their religious aspects. Because imperialism has its basis on power, it is often considered morally reprehensible. The thirst for power drove the European nations into a frenzy to control the continent based solely on the false belief that they were superior, thereby inflicting numerous evils upon both the African land and its people. Imperialism did benefit a small and favored group, but never the entire nation. For some people, capitalism and imperialism are the same and interpret imperialism as a late stage of capitalism when nations are forced to depend on monopolies in overproduction and surplus capital so that they can compete with other nations. At enormous expense imperialism has created an unsafe increase of markets, and has jeopardized the entire affluence of a nation in stimulating the strong resentment of other nations. During the nineteenth century, Great Britain had a huge empire, extending to many different regions of the globe. Before 1869, it only controlled a small amount of land in Africa. During the times before 1869, the British concentrated on imperialism in other, more profitable places around the world; places that would give them more markets for trade and more opportunity to increase their economy. Suddenly, the British were taking over land in places such as regions in Africa. The main reason for Britain’s interest in Africa was for the survival of their empire. Britain's economy has always depended heavily on trade, and creating more colonies was the way to expand their trade. Before the 1870s, Britain had little competition with various colonies. Their first act was against F... ...in reason for British imperialism in Africa was to bring Christianity, not to mention the European's idea of "civilization" to African countries. This decade witnessed the high spirit of self-confident, often self-congratulatory and always aggressive imperialism in which Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States conquered and annexed in the name of civilization. If anything, Europe was doing the exact opposite of spreading Christianity, all under false pretences. Imperialism was not economically beneficial, did not protect the â€Å"main† country by creating barriers, nor did it spread Christianity in mentionable portions. Nonetheless, imperialism did present upon a small portion of the elite a sense of power, though falsely earned. The animosities of imperialism did not help the people. Instead, it left them unprotected after the European nations had left, and left a hole in their culture. Word Count: 1,341 Sources: http://students.chs.lane.edu/~nbudu58/courses/intro2web/the%20dark%20continent/ http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/toc.html http://www.indiana.edu/%7Ejah/teaching/2002_03/article.shtml http://www.boondocksnet.com/editions/morel/index.html

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

A POSITION PAPER ON SOPHOCLES’ OEDIPUS REX Essay

THE KING WEARS A SHADES AS THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT WHICH MAKES HIS DAYS DARKER AND DARKER EVERY SINGLE DAY (with some relations to the Philippine Government and setting as a whole) A POSITION PAPER ON SOPHOCLES’ OEDIPUS REX REGULANO, Jean Paula Bermudez 2011-05787 HUM 1 X Oedipus Rex’ knowledge, which served as his gut against the others to be the King of Thebes, is only limited to the information on his people and his environment, excluding the information about himself due to his blindness and innocence on his own identity. In the midst of the downfall of the City of Thebes, is the entrance of a great leader who will dare to make a change, held the city up despite its fall, which will do his best for his term to be progressive and be full of legacy. What is it that makes this man a King, the kind of king projected in the story of Sophocles, the King who does not know some things behind? How could he achieve his goals for his city in the future if he cannot go back and take a look of what happened in the past? The city of Thebes, the city of secrets, the city of Gods, the city full of tragic with their King are what consists the play entitles, Oedipus Rex. What made Oedipus the King of Thebes? It all started with the legend of the Sphinx, a terrible monster in the Ancient Greece, whose body is consist of a lion, with wings of an eagle, and whose head is a head of a woman which had been sent to earth by the Gods to terrorize the land of Thebes to have a revenge on the former King, Laius, who raped a prince from another kingdom. All citizens of the poor city will be asked by the Sphinx by his riddles, a mind blowing riddle, and those who cannot answer, will be sent out of the earth. This had been a continuous process until one day, a man dared to pass a gate and unseemingly, become able to answer the riddle of the Sphinx. This man is Oedipus. Since the Sphinx’ riddle was answered, that means the fiend will now stop from terrorizing the city of Thebes. With that, people  idolized Oedipus, praised him as if he was a God like Zeus and the other great Greek Gods, and then a bit later, he was declared as the new King of Thebes, primarily because of his knowledge and not because of having someone who will pass the crown and position to him, which what actually happens in the Greek times that is if we are going to put it in the current government, specifically in the Philippine Setting, is what happens with a Political Dynasty. Painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres depicting Oedipus after he solves the riddle of the Sphinx. The Walters Art Museum. Therefore, his wisdom is what he used to be  able to lead the city in downfall, to be able to be a  King, which position is always dreamt by all the  citizens because of power hungriness and desire to  have a power to do all things for their own and for their  family which makes them selfish just like what we  have in the Philippine Congress right now, the misuse  of the taxpayers’ money, the continuous planning of  white elephant projects, misallocation of budget, all  becoming part of the politician’s pocket. But, will it  really benefit the society if someone like Oedipus will take the lead? Let us examine more who Oedipus is and what it that will and will not is make him a good leader. FREE WILL VERSUS DETERMINISM The idea of free will will always settle down in the word free, freedom. Attaining freedom and the word free are extremely big words. This simply means that having our own free will is having our own choices and it is on us to consider such constraints. It is not asking others of what is best for us, for example, when choosing a dress to wear or shoes to buy. This plays a very important role in our decision making process. Determinism is also another word that is so hard to define because of its vagueness of use and application. In any way, determinism is what pushes and  pulls us to do certain things which actually will lead us to the goal and/or maybe, will give us the answer whether we are up for this or not. This is also a philosophical position, a metaphysical one, which states that for everything that happens, there are conditions such that, given these conditions, nothing else could happen. This describes, simply, a cause and effect relation in variables. The free will and determinism concepts in the play in one way can be projected in the part where in Oedipus’ leadership was carefully examined. What is really, a hidden agenda of a man to be a King of such a place? All politicians who run for a position, saying or hiding this, have their own agendum of doing so. It would be so scripted for the people or for the mass to say that their only reason for asking a position is to have a better avenue to serve them, provide their basic social needs, to return back to them what they do for their nation as part of the nationbuilding, to offer his life as to bring progress and unite the people of a specific land. Though there are really some whose objective is this, but I wonder if they are placed in position right now. Oedipus’ is fortunate enough to be able to be the King of the City of Thebes, but, how about his tragic reversal of fortune as the story starts to end? Is it attributed to his own conduct? Or will it more reflect on his fate, which means that what happened is merely because it was planned, that is it was really meant to happen, and that it was not caused by the conduct of Oedipus? In an audience point of view, what happened towards the end is mainly because of his conduct. The death of Laius is really a big issue and as the one who overtook the position of the King who passed away, Oedipus was expected to give him the justice he deserves. He called on all of the people who may give him the answer of who is the man behind the death of the former King and to somehow diminish the vagueness of the case, but then, after hearing those that were said by the concerned people, Oedipus did not believe what they have just said. Instead, he continued searching for the truth, but since it all comes back to him, that he is the murdered of the former king, he chose to disagree. If at the first place, he accepted what his people said and searched for more details, the play might have ended in a less tragic moment. If, on the other hand, he did not gave his city a  somewhat like an information black out of what is happening to Laius’ case, it might have ended in a better way. In Oedipus’ point of view, as the play ends, he still chose not to believe on the words of his people which says that it was he who is the man behind the death of the king of Thebes who passed away, used his innocence of what he is, and made it to the point that everything was dictated by fate, first, him, being fortunate enough to be able to answer the riddle and be the King of the city, to have his people listen to him and such. Since he reflects every happening to fate—both the fortunes he received and the unnecessary unfortunate events that comes to life, what happened to him is governed and not related to his conduct as a leader and as a person as well. Oedipus can have avoided the tragic ending if he chose to lay down in his people’s words regarding the death of Laius. But what Sophocles did, is he chose to give his reader a somewhat heart attack, that as the play progresses, Oedipus kept all the information in him only, because he does not want anybody recognize him as a murderer especially because he is in a position, and it was an extreme shame for him and to his family as well to be called as one, and because the one that is under investigation is the death of a big man in politics too, the former King of Thebes, Laius. Man’s behavior in the world should be governed by free will. This is what it should be. But due to many constraints brought by the society, it becomes more governed by determinism as time passes by. What brings about determinism as the one which is responsible in governing people’s behavior? The social class. The concept of discrimination. The image of religion. The colonization and existence of imperialism. These are some factors which makes man’s behavior be determined. Others have to be slave and others have to be masters. Others have to be the politicians in the Philippine government, while others have to be part of the marginalized, oppressed and powerless. Inequality, it is. INNOCENCE VERSUS GUILT Innocence is mainly due to lack of information. This causes lots of vagueness to things which happens to be difficult to understand. It affects people’s decision making and this is detrimental in coming up with something that is relevant, rational and critical. Guilt, on the other hand, is what people feel after doing something which brought something that is bad or is not advantageous to the other. It is more of a kind of reflection people usually does after a sin has been committed. This makes a people better, because as he feels guilty, he becomes more prone in the realization of what he has done and that he should not do it again or any more so as not to affect or hurt his and the other people’s life in any way. Fig. 2 Oedipus and his wife. Oedipus Killed his father and marry his mother. One of the moral question of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is that is He (Oedipus) should really be accountable for the death of Laius and for marrying his own mother? Is he innocent or if not, what makes sense? Some scholarly articles, says answers a firm no on the question of whether Oedipus was innocent on the crimes he did. â€Å"Oedipus was ignorant of the true nature of his actions and is therefore morally blameless.† (Carel, 2000) The rationale behind this is that, he cannot be held responsible because the true identity of his mother whom he married and his father who is the former king of Thebes, tragically, at that time, is different than his knowledge. Meaning, these two personas are strangers to him in the first place. But then, how can an intelligent man, holding accountable for knowing some information regarding his lineage, fail to understand the meaning of his actions towards the end of the play? In an audience point of view, Oedipus’ case of being innocent should no longer be laid under the table. He is not innocent; rather, he keeps his record on his own. As the story progresses, there is his secret that will soon be in the mouth of the public. It will all boil down to him, being regarded as an intelligent man who was able to answer the riddle of the Sphinx which happened to be the turning point of  the citizens of Thebes that later gave rise to the declaration of Oedipus as the new King who will take over the term of the old man who died in the crossroad. Therefore, if he will be regarded as innocent, then the justice for the death of Laius will not be attained, it will forever be a mystery or a case unsolved but is set aside, and it will also be possible to have more cases as such to come, which will make the city more in trouble instead of bringing the light back to them. Therefore, the daughter of Janet Napoles is then innocent for using the fund for the masses for her own stuff because she does not know that her mother is a thief, where in it is not possible for her not to ask her mom of where there billions came from or even realize what her mom does and how come she (Janet) was able to generate hundreds and hundreds of thousands per day. Another unfair thing, it is. This scenario significantly explains the importance of knowledge, a full and not partial and biased knowledge, a relevant one. Having a full knowledge on something is very important in a way that it can help himself and even other people when they encounter problems, in such way, looking and formulating solutions will never be that hard. In the story of Oedipus Rex, it is possible for him to avoid the occurrence of what had happened in the end if he just evaluated very carefully all the things the people who are knowledgeable of what happened. But it happened to be not. It is because he just contained the information that he was able to gather from the people and rejected the fact that it may be really possible to be him who is the man behind the death of the former King of Thebes. In a more clearer perspective, he already had all the resources but then, he just disregarded everything and tried to make his own process in giving the justice that should be obtained by the killed King. SIGHT VERSUS INSIGHT Darkness and light. The darkness in the play may be reflected in Oedipus’ blindness, literally and figuratively. Figuratively in a way that he is blinded from his own identity that he did not even know that he was the one who killed his King before his term, that his king happened to be his own  father, that he married a women on the age twice as he, that he did not know that it happened to be his mother. There are lots of revelations happened in the play and that made it as tragic as how Sophocles wanted it to be. This inconsistent argument brings confusion to whether Oedipus should really be held accountable for killing his father and marrying his mother. There is a point that is mentioned in earlier paragraphs that he lacked knowledge that is why, there is a mere possibility that it is really not his intention to render the crimes that had been raised against her towards the end of the play. On the other hand, light signifies the latter  part of the play where in, slowly, every single  thing turns to be a much clearer that it is in the  earlier part. It is when the vagueness of the story  started to diminish, having a brighter view of  prediction of what will happen next. In the end, it  is really true that no secret can be kept forever.  Oedipus is indeed a very intelligent king, that as he  received the responsibility of being the King  Fig. 3 Blind Oedipus embraces Antigone and Ismene  of Thebes whose primarily goal is to raise the city out of the downfall left by the former king who is killed. But then, there is really no perfect creature in the real world, though people might say that this is only a product of Sophocles’ wide imagination. Oedipus Rex’ knowledge is limited like the resources of the species in the world. It is only limited to the information on his environment, not with the information of his lineage, which set him b lind from his identity that even his behavior have no a hundred percent hold that it was governed by free will or determinism. BIBLIOGRAPHY (2010,09) Oedipus Rex: Innocence vs Guilt. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 09, 2010, from http://www. Studymode.com/essays/Oedipus-Rex-Innocence-Vs-Guilt409245.html Carrel, Havi Hannah. 2000. Secrets and Lies: What Oedipus Really Knew. Orani: Culture, Creation and Critique. France. Rueda, Edward. (n.d).Oedipus Family Circus. Texts for Craig White’s Literature Courses. University of Houston Clear Lake.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Strategic Analysis of the Uk Fast Food Industry

Business and Management Strategy BAM6012 A Strategic and Competitive Analysis of the UK’s Fast Food Industry Executive Summary The food industry in the UK is a multi-billion pound industry that is mainly dominated by a few competitors such as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Subway. Most of the food sold in these fast food restaurants is unhealthy, which is becoming a huge concern as there are many people dying of obesity and other health related problems. This is one of the key social factors facing the fast food market at the moment.The fast food industry is a ‘red ocean’ as it is already well defined where rivalry is intense. It is also a perfectly competitive industry as the barriers to entry are low and there are many rivals each with similar products. Information about any of the competitors is freely available. The industry does have a few characteristics of an oligopolistic industry too as there is a couple of companies that have the main market share and h ave power over the buyers and suppliers.The main features that influence a firm’s ability to compete and gain profitability depend on who their main competition is. For example there are different strategic groups in the industry such as McDonalds and Burger King who compete at the top of the industry and single privately owned fast food retailer that compete on a much lower level with much smaller budgets. The customer requirements are very low in this industry as a lot of the products sold by different firms are very similar; however the requirement of a cheap and fast meal is always at the top of their needs.Any potential strategy to increase profitability within the industry will need to be assessed properly and to realise the risks involved and other potential threats to it. Table of contents Pg. Executive Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4 History of the fast food market†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Current market conditions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4 PESTEL analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 Porter’s Five Forces†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Industry attractiveness†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 9 Opportunities†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Threats†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Possible strategies†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 11 Introduction This report aims to give a strategic and competitive analysis of the UK’s fast food industry. It will cover the main structural features of the industry that influence competition and profitability. The report will give an overview of the whole industry rather than just one company within it.I shall also aim to analyse the industry attractiveness showing why possible companies would like to enter the marketplace. Another aim of the report is to analyse the competition and customer requirements in order to identify opportunities to gain a competitive advantage within the industry. The final aim of the report is to develop possible strategies to influence and improve on profitability. Whilst developing a strategy, the difficulties and risks involved in using these strategies will be covered. History of the fast food industry in the UKThe UK has embraced a lot of different types of fast food over the years, ranging from pizza to burgers, kebabs to Chinese, curry to fish & chips and healthy offerings. There is a lot of competition in the market at present with high profile companies such as McDonalds, Subway, Burger King, and KFC, not to mention the amount of privately owned single store fast food outlets. Current market conditions The value of the fast food market in the UK grew by 3. 3% in 2011 to reach a total value of $7,860. 3 million. The forecast for the market value is set to increase to $9,147 million by 2016.This is an increase of 16. 4% by 2011. Transactions in the fast food market also grew in 2011 by 1% to reach a total volume of 2,785. 2 million transactions. The market volume is set to increase by 6. 8% by 2016 to a total of 2,975. 4 million transactions. Fast Food Industry Profi le: The United Kingdom’ 2012, Fast Food Industry Profile: United Kingdom, pg 1-35, Business Source Premier, EBSCO host, viewed [25/11/2012] PESTLE analysis â€Å"PESTLE analysis will help to capture understanding about aspects of the context by using the prompts political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental.It is a technique that facilitates a wide scan of the context and actual or potential factors that would affect objectives if left unmanaged. † (Webster-Murray, R. 2010. pg. 88) Political factors * There is an increasing amount of pressure from the government to encourage people to eat healthier as the number of deaths relating to obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle is on the increase year after year. * The government can allocate grants to business start-ups to try and promote fair competition within the marketplace. There is speculation over the government introducing a new ‘fat tax’ on fast food served over a counter. This will add on another 20% to the current price in taxes. http://www. guardian. co. uk/society/2012/may/16/fat-tax-unhealthy-food-effect Economic factors * Consumers will have less disposable income with the current economic climate and therefore may be less likely to spend money on fast food as it may be seen as a luxury. * Exchange rates may affect profitability on the business if they are sourcing materials (all the ingredients used to create their food) from outside the UK. Unemployment levels are high at the moment in the UK which means there will be even more consumers without the money to purchase fast food. The current unemployment rate currently sits at 7. 8%. http://www. ons. gov. uk/ons/key-figures/index. html * The inflation rate is at 2. 2% currently in the UK. This does not pose a problem as businesses will not be phased by this to invest more and grow. http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-19959827 Sociocultural factors * The current social trend of eating healthy and ha ving a healthy lifestyle is pushing customers away from eating at fast food restaurants. With London just hosting the Olympic Games in the summer of 2012 then a lot of people are trying to start a much healthier diet and lifestyle for themselves, therefore cutting back on the amount of fast food they currently eat. * The high standard of education in the UK means that children are more aware and knowledgeable about the health implications that arise from eating fast food. * With the current fast paced lifestyle that a lot of consumers have, it is easy for them to just pick up food at a fast food outlet rather than cook for themselves.This shows that fast food can be seen as convenient. * Companies must try and add value to their brand by being reasonably priced and of an equal quality in relation to the price. * Consumers already have a large variety of choice within the fast food market therefore a menu should also offer a lot of choice so that the customer can be satisfied and the ir ever changing taste can be satisfied too. * The fast paced lifestyle of consumers means that the service of fast food must also match that and be quick too. * Healthy options must be made available as to encourage a balanced diet.Technological factors * Fast food companies now have a wide range of tools available to them in order to promote their brand and products. Different ways they can do this is through the use of TV, radio, internet, direct mail, interactive billboards and many other options. * Companies can now use the internet not just to promote their brand but also to take orders and let the customer make transactions. This can be helpful to lower the cost of using employees. * Technological advances mean it is easier for a company to keep track of stock levels and also take orders in store.This minimises the risk of human error. Environmental factors * Companies in the fast food industry now need to monitor the amount of waste they dispose of as there is a lot of empha sis now on cutting down the amount of waste and turning it into recyclable and reusable products. Businesses are now turning to recyclable packing. * The amount of energy that is consumed in the process of making the fast food and where all the energy comes from to power a fast food outlet. Can be seen as a good ethical policy to use or create off shore wind farms that power outlets. Legal factors Have to stick to a law that means they cannot mislead consumers on the nutritional value of their products. * Companies have to abide by certain health and safety laws for both the employees and the customers. * Other laws that a business will have follow are laws on employment, fair competition and food hygiene. Through the use of a PESTLE analysis we can see that there are many factors that affect the UK’s fast food industry. Most of these factors arise in the sociocultural section as it is here that the fast food industry gains most of its unwanted attention.This is mainly down t o the fact that the foods served by the companies are mainly unhealthy, carrying lots of calories, salt and sugars. Porters Five Forces Model In 1980, Michael Porter came up with a model that identified five forces that have an influence on an industry. This model â€Å"focuses on five forces that shape competition within an industry: (1) the risk of entry by potential competitors: (2) the intensity of rivalry among established companies within an industry: (3) the bargaining power of buyers: (4) the bargaining power of suppliers: and (5) the closeness of substitutes to an industry’s products. (Hill, C. W. L, Jones, G. L. 2010, pg. 42) Threat of New Entrants * Low barriers to entry mean that it is easy for a company to start up a business in the fast food industry. However would be unable to compete directly with the large organisations already in the market. * Easy for a new entrant to differentiate their product and atmosphere of the outlet (shop). * Once a good location i s found then it could ensure the success of a new entrant. Could be possible to dominate the market in a certain location. Capital investment is not too high or out of reach for most individuals. Bargaining Power of Suppliers * Companies in the fast food industry could change their suppliers quite easily as there are a lot of suppliers that would be happy to receive the amount of revenue they could gain from using such a large company as Burger King or McDonalds. * The larger companies in the fast food industry have a lot of bargaining power over their suppliers as they could make up a very large proportion of the suppliers revenue, if not all of it. Bargaining Power of Buyers Due to the sheer volume of customers that purchase fast food, the bargaining power of the buyer is low. For example, a customer could barter with a butcher’s market stall about the price of meat whereas they could not walk into a Subway store and negotiate the price of a sandwich down to their preferred amount. The price shown is the price that will be paid. * Only bargaining power the customer has is the lack of switching costs. A customer could purchase from a McDonalds instead of Subway without costing them anything. Threat of substitutes The threat of substitute products is very high as firstly the lack of switching costs means that a customer could change preferences and purchase from another company immediately as long as it fitted their standard of quality and price. * The market is currently flooded with products that are all very similar (McDonalds burgers are in theory the same as Burger King) therefore a new product could arise and sell particularly well as long as it had a good taste and quality. Rivalry among Existing Firms * Rivalry is high in the current market as top firms such as McDonalds and Burger King compete for the highest market share.Due to the sheer size of these companies they can spend heavily on advertising and use aggressive tactics to ensure success. * Constant funds are being ploughed into advertising to try and promote not just the products companies offer but also to try and promote their brand. For example, McDonalds now tries to show more on the ethical side of the company saying that all of their ingredients are sourced locally. Through the use of Porter’s Five Forces model, we can see that the threat of substitutes, rivalry among existing firms and threat of new entrants to the market are moderate to high.Whereas the bargaining power of both suppliers and buyers are relatively low. This shows that the companies in the market currently have a lot of power. Industry attractiveness * Massive industry worth $7,860. 3 billion. * Huge volume of transactions at 2,785. 2 billion. * Small market share can still mean high revenue. * Possibility to create a large and global company similar to that of McDonalds. * Possibility to run a franchise business model. * Has a very broad market segment. * Could be a good industry in a recession as consumers cut down spending on eating at more expensive restaurants. Industry is predicted to continue growing. Opportunities There are many opportunities and threats that arise from the use of the PESTLE analysis and Porter Five Forces model such as: 1. Due to the current unemployment rate of 7. 8% this means that large companies such as McDonalds could use this to their advantage and open a number of new stores to create new jobs and in turn create more revenue for the industry. This could enhance the image of the industry as it is helping the nation out by creating jobs in this time of economic downturn. . As consumers have less disposable income then they will be less likely to eat out at more expensive restaurants and may turn to fast food outlets as they are cheaper. This is a great opportunity to advertise heavily on a menu that is less expensive than the normal menu. For example creating a meal that only costs the consumer ? 2. This should attract a lot of pote ntial customers to spend more in the fast food industry. 3. Differentiate the industry by offering healthier foods on a whole to gain the interest of the health conscious consumers.This would increase the volume of the industry. Threats 1. If an outbreak of foot and mouth disease or BSE (mad cow disease) were to arise then consumers would not be purchasing any type of beef which would mean a downturn in the amount of revenue gained by the fast food industry. 2. Any type of negative feedback from the media would shine an unwanted spotlight on the fast food industry. For example, if someone were to find a hair in their burger at a fast food outlet then it might influence customers to eat elsewhere.Strategies to influence industry structure and improve industry profitability * Create new menus that will offer healthy food to the consumer. This will engage with a new target audience and therefore enhance the volume of transactions the industry already has. The amount of revenue earned b y the industry will also increase. This will lead to new competitors in the market place offering a different product type and increase the amount of competition amongst the already competing firms. * Companies could vertically integrate in order to gain control over the production of the ingredients that it needs to create the foods.This would be risky for some businesses as the vast majority of their expertise is in the retailing of fast food. Conclusion Overall, the fast food industry is a highly competitive industry that is dominated by a few main players. The main features that influence competition are the changing tastes of the customer and their willingness to try other fast food outlets. Profitability is not only based now on the products that a company sells but also the way in which the customer perceives the ethical values of a company.Although the requirements of a customer needing a cheap meal at a fast pace is still high on their agenda of needs. For a company to surv ive and improve upon its current position in the marketplace it should think about different strategies such as growth (new products or different areas) differentiation and vertical integration. Bibliography * Fast Food Industry Profile: The United Kingdom’ 2012, Fast Food Industry Profile: United Kingdom, pg 1-35, Business Source Premier, EBSCO host, viewed [25/11/2012] * Murray-Webster, R. (2010) Management of risk: guidance for practitioners.The stationery office: Norwich * Dennis Campbell (2012) ‘Fat Tax’ on unhealthy food must raise prices by 20% to have effect says study. (01/12/2012) http://www. guardian. co. uk/society/2012/may/16/fat-tax-unhealthy-food-effect * Office for national statistics (2012) Key figures. (02/12/2012) http://www. ons. gov. uk/ons/key-figures/index. html * BBC (2012) UK inflation rate slows to 2. 2% in September, ONS says. (01/12/2012) http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-19959827 * Hill, C. W. L & Jones, G. L. (2010) Strategic Man agement an integrated approach. Cengage learning: USA

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The Difference Between Public Relations and Journalism

The Difference Between Public Relations and Journalism To understand the difference between journalism and public relations, consider the following scenario. Imagine that your college announces it is raising tuition (something many colleges are doing due to drops in government funding). The public relations office issues a press release about the increase. What do you imagine that release will say? Well, if your college is like most, it will probably stress how modest the increase is, and how the school still remains very affordable. Itll probably also talk about how the hike was absolutely necessary for the face of continuing funding cuts, and so on. The release may even have a quote or two from the president of the college saying how much he/she regrets having to pass the ever-increasing cost of running the place on to students and how the raise was kept as modest as possible. All of this may be perfectly true. But who do you think wont be quoted in the college press release? Students, of course. The people who will be affected most by the hike are the very ones who wont have a say. Why not? Because of students likely to say the increase is a horrible idea and will only make it more difficult for them to take classes there. That perspective doesnt do the institution any favors. How Journalists Approach a Story So if youre a  reporter for the student newspaper assigned to write an article about the tuition hike, whom should you interview? Obviously, you should talk to the college president and any of the other officials involved. You should also talk to students because the story isnt complete without interviewing the people who are most affected by the action being taken. That goes for tuition increases, or factory layoffs, or for anyone else whos ever been hurt by the actions of a large institution. Thats called getting both sides of the story. And therein lies the difference between public relations and journalism. Public relations is designed to put the most positive spin on anything done by an institution like a college, a company or a government agency. Its designed to make the entity look as wonderful as possible, even if the action being taken - the tuition increase - is anything but. Why Journalists Are Important Journalism isnt about making institutions or individuals look good or bad. Its about portraying them in a realistic light, good, bad or otherwise. So if the college does something good - for instance, offering free tuition to local people who have been laid off - then your coverage should reflect that. Its important for journalists to question those in power because thats part of our primary mission: to serve as a kind of adversarial watchdog keeping an eye on the activities of the powerful, to try and ensure that they dont abuse that power. Unfortunately, in recent years public relations has become more powerful and ubiquitous even as newsrooms across the country have laid off thousands of reporters. So while there are more and more PR agents (reporters call them flacks) pushing positive spin, there are fewer and fewer journalists there to challenge them. But thats why its more important than ever that they do their jobs, and do them well. Its simple: We are here, to tell the truth.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

10 Dream Jobs That Come With a Huge Paycheck

10 Dream Jobs That Come With a Huge Paycheck It’s very important to pick a job that makes you happy and keeps you fulfilled. Every career expert will tell you this is what makes a satisfying career. But most people also want to be successful. And why can’t you have both? There are dream jobs out there that will make you financially comfortable and emotionally fulfilled.Here are 10 good places to start.1. Petroleum EngineerProbably not your first thought, but these jobs have a median pay of almost $110k and employees report a high satisfaction rate. These jobs are also currently in high demand.2. DentistIf you can get through all the school and training required, you might find this career to be intensely rewarding- on all fronts. Your work is part medicine, part engineering, and part artistry. The hours are good; you’re in control of your schedule. And you’re literally making people smile. Median pay? Around $130k.3. SurgeonSurgeons are extremely  well paid. Sure, they have to go through a ton of e xpensive schooling and training and licensing to get where they are, but once they’re there, they make almost $300k per year in median pay. Neurosurgeons and cardiothoracic surgeons make even more.4. PediatricianIf you’re going the medical route and feel that you really would like to work with children, then this might be a good route. Median salary is about $147k and you get the satisfaction of helping to heal the whole family. Or you could make about the same and go into Obstetrics and Gynecology- with satisfaction rates almost equal,  or even become a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife).5. AnesthesiologistOne last job in health care: anesthesiologists do crucial work in surgical settings but don’t do any of the slicing and dicing. Their median pay is nearly $300k.6. Product ManagerProduct Managers need a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management or another field. They lead the teams advertising a product and liaise with the public or target audience. Youâ⠂¬â„¢ll want to make sure you’re passionate about the product first, and that you have the required experience. Average salary: about $120k.7. VP of SalesTo be the VP of anything is probably a lucrative bet- and will require a great deal of working your way up. But everyone needs to have a goal, right? You can net an average salary well over $150k and be a major part of your company.8. Chief Technology Officer (CTO)Chief Technology Officers make an average salary of about $150k. They need a Bachelor’s degree in IT or Business/Finance, but they are really instrumental in making sure a company runs smoothly.9. Account ManagerYou’ll need a Bachelor’s degree in Business or Accounting or another related field, though entry-level positions might only require an Associate’s. But if you’re meticulous and have strong finance skills, this could be a great career for you.10. Senior Software EngineerIf you’re good with computers, this could be th e gig for you. The average salary is over $90k per year, and you get to be in charge of making sure the technology in your company runs the way it’s supposed to.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Concert Attendance Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Concert Attendance Report - Assignment Example There were also some brass, trumpets and horns. Additionally, there was a solo violist who had high level professional performing abilities. Such full symphonic orchestra included the four music families which were the strings, Brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments. The performance setting was in an auditorium and the conductor including other performers were dressed in formal outfit, considered mostly to be black and white suites and dresses. Style of the music music performed was led gracefully with dulcet andantes and fierce prestos. A violin with a very light and brilliant quality of sound was used, the sound created images of the ethereal realm within audience minds. The violinist had a very bright and lighthearted personality, the very characteristic of a violin which revealed their interest. Instrumentation of the Ochestra The musicians were divided into four main sections which included; string section, the woodwind section, the brass section, and the percussion sectio n. Each section had their own instruments, in the string section, woodwind, brass section were pitched in different ranges such as voices in a choir. Various instruments in each section were arranged in order from those with highest range to lowest. Some percussion instruments were also tuned to definite pitches, but most of them had indefinite pitch. Sitting Arrangement Usually first meeting with strangers does not always involve openness to each other, which is a different case to those we are familiar with. Occasions of openness to one another is often preceded by getting deeper information concerning the other party, which can be through social settings. Such encounter reveals both acceptable and unacceptable information about oneself which determines kind of relationship developed. Research done on musical instruments and ways of improving the existing policies in concerts discovered that the national policy recognizes the current settings infrastructure as poor and in need of improvement. The last five years have been characterized by rapid advancements in ICT and this call for research to assess the extent to which modern instruments are now used. The study also assessed the relationship between flexible work practices and organizational performances in a survey of sitting arrangement. The findings call for reinforcement on the relationship between various dimensions of flexible work practices and organizational performance. The recommendations which can be utilized here indicate a knowledge gap on the extent to which the modern technology is used. This lays a basis for such a study since none of the major studies carried out reveals much on the use of internet advertising through smart phones in third world countries. This study therefore seeks to fill the knowledge gap and look at the in-depth analysis of the role the phone industry plays through the internet in advertising and how effective it is especially in the rapidly growing telecommunications i ndustry that is experiencing tension in pricing mechanisms and the recent number portability wars among the players. There are several contributors involved in the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility within business environment. Business corporations play major roles within the society and these calls for new leadership roles and tactics which

Friday, November 1, 2019

Imperial China 1600 to 1900 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Imperial China 1600 to 1900 - Research Paper Example Therefore the imperial China from 1600-1900 is defined by about 44 years under the Ming dynasty and the rest under the Qing dynasty. The period from 1600 to 1644 marked the downfall of the Ming dynasty, which had earlier established a strong internal governance system in the country. Threats from external imperialists who partitioned and reduced the Chinese territory and devastating earthquake strained the Ming dynasty greatly and it eventually succumbed to the Qing dynasty. According to Johan, one of the most enduring remnant of the Ming dynasty is the China’s Great Wall that was strategically build to protect the country from foreign invaders(73). On ascending to power, the Qing dynasty made drastic changes in the social and political system of the country. Initially it concentrated on reviving the social economy and this required changes on previous structures that had been entrenched by the Ming dynasty. The reforms strengthened the central governance and the imperial rulings (Elman and Woodside 63). Johan notes that by the mid of 18 century China had achieved remarkable economic and scientific developments credited to prudent economic and political administration by the Qing rulers (104). China experienced a long period of peace and stability after the Qing dynasty ascended to power. This enabled expansion of Chinese society in virtually all realms. For instance, the population grew tremendously and other economic sectors developed (Susan 86). In addition, China opened its borders to international trade becoming a trading partner of several European countries, including Great Britain. China was an important source of silk, tea and porcelain (Susan 99). During Qing dynasty, the influence of Chinese art spread in the western countries and other trading partners. Moreover, China expanded its territory courtesy of a