Scientific laws do not describe true facts bout reality Essay - 1

Scientific laws do not describe true facts bout reality - Essay Example These assumptions and estimates date back since the invention of science. Many scientists have come up theories and assumptions which have also find their way into scholarly books. This boosts the continuity of the theories generation after generation. Scientific laws are viewed as the reason as to why the globe is evolving in to a new planet of inventions. However, questions are asked as to whether these laws are real or just what are forced to believe. According to Cullen as much as there are errors involved in coming up with scientific theories, people tend to completely believe scientific inventions (67). The essay will provide insight as to why scientific laws do not describe true facts about reality. Scientific laws include the application of many formulae. As is it proven no human being can be 100 percent efficient and accurate. As scientist come up come with these formulae there is an obvious assumption that some errors and estimates are included in the invention of scientific laws. The estimates and errors are evidence that the assumptions displayed by scientific laws mat not provide the accurate facts about reality. According to Godfrey-Smith if a theory or law is based on assumptions there is always a probability that the law cannot be completely accurate (102). If the laws were based on facts rather than scientific assumptions, it would be logic to argue on the fact that scientists are accurate in their findings (Hempel, 211). In an argument by Rosenberg he argues that scientific explanation is casual explanation (94). There is not much evidence of formal or completely proven explanations. Science only tries to explain already existing phenomena with laws invented from results. It is for this reason that it becomes evident that any formula can be applied to come up with known result. This case can be compared to a person given an answer to arithmetic then asked to come up with a formula. This becomes easy as any

Economics & the Legal Environment of Business Research Paper

Economics & the Legal Environment of Business - Research Paper Example Macroeconomic factors The macroeconomic conditions are very important for business. Conducive macroeconomic conditions help a business to earn excellent profit, whereas unfavorable macroeconomic situations may convert the profits into losses. There are several macroeconomic factors that can influence the business operation of the company. Some of the vital factors are total production or GDP (gross domestic product) of the country in which the company is located, unemployment situation, prevailing and expected rate of inflation, and rate of interests. (Culp, 2001) If the country in which the company is located has been suffering from negative growth of GDP, then it will produce some adverse impacts on the construction industry also as it a part of the entire economy. For example, if a country is going through recession, then every industrial sector will feel the heat in the form of decreased demand and lower production. On the contrary, if an economy is going through economic expansi on with high rate of GDP growth then, purchasing power of the population will increase which might help in creating higher demand in the construction industry. (Culp, 2001) Similarly, unemployment situation is also a vital factor that might influence the business operation. ... (Culp, 2001) Inflation rate is also a quite vital thing to consider for the growth of a construction company. If the overall consumer price index for an economy is rising for quite a long time, then industry specific consumer price index will also feel its impact. Thus in the presence of high rate of inflation, consumer price index for the construction industry will also be quite high. This mainly happens because in the presence high rate of inflation in an economy costs of production in almost all the industries increase which is in turn reflected in the prices. Now in the presence of high consumer price index of construction industry, the construction company will loose many customers as the prices may not fit to the pockets of the customers. On the contrary, during low level of inflation, the company will get more customers and thus it can expand its production. (Culp, 2001) Interest rate is another vital macroeconomic factor in case of construction industry. This is so as most of the potential customers of a construction company very often depend on loans at the time of purchasing a product of this company. no matter whether the buyer is a government or any private agency or any individual, credit lending plays an important role here. Thus, if interest rate becomes higher, then the cost of borrowing becomes higher and consequently, the products of the construction company will look more expensive. This will simply reduce potential customers of the business entity. However, in the events of lower interest rate, the company will get more customers without changing its prices for its products. (Culp, 2001) Microeconomic factors: Microeconomic factors

At-Risk Program for Alcohol and Drug Use Essay Example for Free

At-Risk Program for Alcohol and Drug Use Essay When observing the schools in our communities, many choose not to notice that there is a serious problem concerning drug and substance abuse within the student population. Drug and alcohol abuse has become a serious problem for many students in the state of Alabama. There are over 40,000 adolescents in the state of Alabama that have used illegal drugs in this past month (Inspirations for Youth and Families, 2011). This is an alarming number that needs the support of the community, state funded programs, and the school district. There are currently over 15,000 youths in the state of Alabama that need help with substance abuse problems and are not receiving the proper care and help they deserve (Inspirations for Youth and Families, 2011). This community needs an at-risk program that targets the students who have become victim to drug and alcohol abuse. Identifying students in our schools who may be using drugs or alcohol is not an easy task. There are several signs that students could convey during schools hours that draw the attention of teachers or classmates. This program will be available to any parents concerned about their children with substance abuse, or students exhibiting at-risk warning signs. Warning signs of an at-risk student that will be eligible for a drug and substance abuse program may exhibit several traits that set them apart from the rest of the student body. These include smelling like alcohol or drugs, missing or skipping class, a dramatic change in academic involvement, trouble with authority, and getting involved in fights or showing an increase in aggressive behavior (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2012). Students who exhibit any of these signs would be recommended to participate in the drug and alcohol program. Periodic drug screenings in schools for students expressing these signs is another measure that will be taken to inform educators and parents of the students experimenting with illegal substances and need our help and support. This drug and alcohol program will meet the needs of the students in our community by providing them a haven where they can turn without worrying about getting into trouble. This program is not meant to judge these students, but to help them overcome the pressure they feel from their peers and their habitual drug and alcohol abuse. This program will be in every school in the Montgomery County school district. It will target students in grades five through 12. The guidance offices will have specific laws and rules to abide by to find at-risk students and enter students into the drug and alcohol program. The guidance office will have the responsibility of meeting with students when there are not program meetings, keeping a log of the student’s success and information on the drug/alcohol abuse, drug screenings, parental involvement, and so forth. Program meetings for all students involved in the drug and alcohol program will be held three times a month at the George Washing Carver High School Gymnasium, taking place after school for three hours from two in the afternoon to five in the evening. Buses will be supplied at all schools to transport the students to the main center at Carver High School, and then will be available to transport these students home. The staff at our meetings will include guidance counselors from every school in the district, teachers, and volunteers from the community. There will be a certified psychiatrist at every meeting to meet with students considered high-risk. If these high-risk students show signs of serious addiction or dependence, extra therapy sessions will be provided through the school district and rehabilitation options will be explored. This drug and alcohol program will be supported by the Montgomery County Department of Human Resources and Covenant Health Centers who implement the Alabama Recovery Center. Both of these state departments will ensure the success of the drug and alcohol program so the students in our community have access to the best resources. The Montgomery Department of Human Resources has social workers who will be able to meet with at-risk and high-risk children and make contact with family members on the students’ behalf. All cases of adolescent drug abuse must be referred to DHR by state law. This resource will be both beneficial for the students and the community. The Alabama Recovery Center have experienced and licensed staff that work with drug and alcohol abuse in adolescents through intensive  out-patients treatments programs (Covenant Health Centers, 2012). They provide counseling options, individual or family oriented, to best meet the required needs of the student. Their substance abuse programs consist of a 12 week intensive outpatient program that includes after care programs and custom programs working in accordance with several state departments such as DHR (Covenant Health Centers, 2012). With the Montgomery County Department of Human Resources and the Alabama Recovery Center, this new drug and alcohol program will have the support it needs to become a success to our students and the community. The positive impacts the drug and alcohol program would have on our community, schools, and school district are endless. The positive impact it would have on our community is to help adolescents that have fallen victim to drug and alcohol abuse and give them the support these students deserve. This will make sure that the children and teens in our community have a chance to a bright future to become productive citizens for this community. The positive impact this program will bring to our schools is intervention and honesty. Students can communicate with their teachers on a personal basis and let them into their private lives. This will allow the schools to become responsible concerning the essential help that is needed for at-risk students. It will give schools the chance to intervene in situations that involve drug and alcohol abuse. Schools will be the most important level where the student body can be reached to deal with the issues of peer pressure and drug/substance abuse. This program will bring positive impacts to the school district by keeping drugs and alcohol off school campuses and away from the student body. The district will observe dramatic changes in the population of students who have abused drugs and alcohol. The district will reap these rewards by becoming part of a positive change by implementing this program. The school district will see the change in students. This will raise the educational rating of the schools in the district. There are several steps necessary to implement this new drug and alcohol program. The first step is to find and receive funding for this drug and alcohol program. â€Å"The Department of Educations Safe and Drug-Free Schools  and Communities Program (SDFSP) provide funds for virtually every school district to support drug and violence prevention programs and to assist in creating and maintaining safe learning environments† (National Drug Control Policy, 1999, para.12). This is where our source of funding will come from. Once we have received proper funding, the second step is to begin training the guidance counselors, teachers, and volunteers who will be helping this program. The third step is to inform the local community about the new drug and alcohol program to spread awareness. The fourth and final step is to present the at-risk program to the school district’s advisory board. They will make the final decision in regard to implementing the program throughout the schools in the district The drug and alcohol program involving the adolescents in our school systems is a serious concern this community needs to address. This program is planned to target at-risk students by giving them a way to recover from their substance abuse. There are over 40,000 adolescents in the state of Alabama who need help concerning drug and alcohol addiction. The schools in our district are the best ways to identify these students and reach them with kindness, caring, and help. If this district were to implement this program, the student body in the Montgomery County school district will reap essential rewards. These students will have a chance at becoming productive citizens of the community. These students will have a chance to break the substance abuse cycle and become something that we all hope our children will and can become. This drug and alcohol program can bring light into the lives of many students suffering from addiction in our community. It is our job as educators and members of this community to help and give at-risk students a chance. References Covenant Health Centers. (2012). Alabama Recovery Center. Retrieved from http://www.covenanthealthcenters.com/alabama-recovery-center/ Indiana University of Pennsylvania. (2012). Identifying and Confronting Students At-Risk. Retrieved from http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=45873 Inspirations for Youth and Families. (2011). Drug and Alcohol Abuse Among Teens in Alabama. Retrieved from http://www.inspirationsyouth.com/Teen-Rehab-Alabama.asp National Drug Control Policy. (1999). Preventing Drug Abuse. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/ondcppubs/publications/policy/99ndcs/iv-b.html

Geert Hofstede vs Fons Trompenaars

Geert Hofstede vs Fons Trompenaars Introduction How do we market in different cultures? Although we have done many researches about the different cultures, marketing, which is as a discipline, has lagged behind other researches in recognizing the need for it. Before we have found the importance of marketing in different cultures, usually, the approach for marketing was too simple, and we often use the economic theory to explain facts and solve problems, however, international marketing and management is a kind of practical work, which is different from the economic research. Firstly, we always assume that tastes, preferences, and habits are transferable between different countries; secondly, it also implies that we can do the trade freely in different countries. In the end of 20th century, we began to lay more emphasis on the influence of cultural differences, and more research have been done about the cultural differences. Take wine as an example, even now wine has become a global product, it still takes the French at least ten t imes longer to chose the right vintage and grape combination than it does the Dutch, who tend to be more focused on price. If we ignore this kind of difference, wine producers cannot success in both countries. The researches about cultural differences of marketing are still a new field. The first serious book on the subject of the cultural aspects of marketing was written by Jean-Claude Usunier in 1997. In this book, he mainly compares the differences between cultural systems and refers that culture is also a factor affecting business, like other socio-political,. financial, ecological, and legal factors. However, Usunier does not resolve the dilemmas and offer practical solutions. Culture, based on our research at Trompenaars Hampden-Turner, is different from what describe in Usuniers theory, which is not simply a factor like most processes in the transactional environment. The factor of culture challenges the fundamental strategy of marketing, customer relations management, definition of product, price, advertisement and other business processes. In short, culture is all pervading. However, so far there are a few famous approaches to the whole subject of cultures and their classification and generalization, that can be employed in developing a truly transnational approach to marketing. The ones that we are going to discuss and compare further are those of Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars. Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars: biographies and theories Geert Hofstede He is a dutch psychologist and writer who was born in 1928. Hofstede was interested in the influence of culture on peoples behaviour. He was inspired by the Culturalism (a trend which dominated the American sociology from the 1930s to the 1950s). The culturalists qualify culture as the way of thinking, feeling and acting of a human group, which was acquired and transmitted by symbols and which represents its specific identity. (donner sources de la citation) Geert Hofstede explains the origins of the differences in behaviours, which can tend to problems. As we grow up and live in a multi-cultural world, we have to understand why people from different nations act differently. This question is very important in business when a company from a certain country has to deal with a company from another country, or even within a company which is composed by employees from different nations, we have to know how to act and communicate. Hofstede wrote several books: Cultures consequences (1984), Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind (1992), co-authored by his son Gert Jan Hofstede. To explain and solve the problems engendered by people from different cultures living or working together, he included 5 factors of cultural differentiation: individualism/collectivism, masculinism/feminism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and long term/short term orientation. According to Hofstede, these 5 criteria explain the disparities between the nations and the individuals. He applied his theories to all the countries in the world. Hofstede used his culture dimensions by examining work related values in employees of IBM during the 1970s. Fons Trompenaars Fons Trompenaars is a Dutch author in the field of cross-cultural communication. His books include: Seven Cultures of Capitalism (1993), Riding the Waves of Culture (1998), Building Cross-Cultural Competence (2000), 21 Leaders for the 21st Century (2001) and Innovating in a Global Crisis (2009). Trompenaars studied Economics at the Free University of Amsterdam and later earned a Ph.D. He experienced cultural differences first-hand at home, where he grew up speaking both French and Dutch, and then later at work with Shell in nine countries, where he worked for 7 years as the director of the Human resources. At this moment, he wrote The Multi-cultural company (1993) in which he explains his theories. According to him, international companies tend to standardize their management functioning because of globalisation, and impose this way of thinking to their subsidiaries. Problems in companies appear as they dont take care about the cultural differences of employees and certain ways of managing are not appropriate to certain cultures. He defines culture as the way a human group solve its problems. Taking the example of Geert Hofstede and modifying his theories, he invented with Charles Hampden-Turner the 7 dimensions of cultural differentiations: universalism/particularism, individualism/communitarianism, affective/neutral, specific/diffuse, achievement/ascription, sequential/synchronic, internal/external control. These are the 7 criteria of cultural differentiation which have an impact on the management trends. He shows how to manage complexity in a heterogeneous environment, which is a major challenge for todays international managers and corporate leaders as well as a critical component of long term success. He explains how to reconcile cultural differences, which will lead to competitive advantage. Trompenaars wrote The Seven Cultures of Capitalism in which he applies his methods to 7 countries (France, Germany, US, Japan, Netherlands, UK and Sweden). Hofstedes dimensions of culture It is often said that, deep inside, all people are the same. But they are not. Actually, everyone is very different from the others. For those who work in international business, it is sometimes very hard to adapt, because people can live in very different ways. Therefore, if you go abroad and make decisions based on how you usually operate in your own country, there are obvious chances you dont act properly. Geert Hofstedes researches permit us to understand easier other cultures, so we can be more effective when interacting with people all around the world. For example, in some coutries, à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½yesà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ means à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½I hear youà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ more than à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½I agreeà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Stereotyping can have intense negative effects, especially when managers make fewer attempts to involve those of other cultures. Hofstede led a study on the IBM employees, in more than 50 countries. Its goal was to identify the major differences in mental programming. This worldwide analysis made him realize that there were five fundamental differences between the societies, which he called five dimensions: Low vs. High Power Distance Index (PDI) This dimension measures the degree of equality, or inequality, between people of one society ; and how much the less influent members accept the hierarchy. The institutions or organizations where less powerful members accept power is distributed unequally will have a high PDI. This is also often indicating that the governments allowed inequalities to grow within the society (ex: Malaysia). Those countries will be more likely not to allow significant upward mobility of its citizens, because they accept autocratic and paternalistic relations. A low PDI indicates the society tends to reduce the differences between citizens power and wealth. In those cultures (ex: Austria, Denmark), people expect power relations that are more democratic. They relate to others regardless of formal positions, such as if they were consulting them. Subordinates are more comfortable with contributing to and criticizing the decisions of those who are hierarchically higher. Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV) It focuses on how much people of a society define themselves apart from their group, and on how much the country emphasizes individual or collective achievements. A High Individualism ranking indicates that people are expected to develop and to be proud of their personalities and their choices. People often tend to form a higher number of looser relationships in those societies. A Low Individualism ranking typifies societies where the individuals are more likely to act as a member of a group (ex: family, town, profession). This collectivist nature tends to develop relationships between individuals, and reinforce à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½extended familiesà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Masculinity vs. feminity (MAS) This dimension measures the degree the society reinforces the traditional masculine work role model (as understood in most Western countries) or not. A High Masculinity ranking indicates the country gives a high importance on traditional male values (such as ambition, accumulation of wealth and power). Those societies emphasize high gender differentiation. In these cultures, males dominate a significant portion of the society, while females are under domination. In the opposite case, a low MAS will indicate that the society de-emphasizes the gender differentiation. In those countries, females are treated equally to males in all aspects of the society. The valuable things are relationships and quality of life. This strong opposition between the quantity values (masculine societies) and the quality values (feminine societies) led many users of Hofstedes work to rename this index the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Quantity of Life vs. Quality of lifeà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Low vs. high Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) It focuses on the level people try to cope with stress by fighting uncertainty and ambiguous situations within the society. A high UAI indicates a rule-oriented society, where citizens prefer explicit laws, rules and controls, in order to reduce the amount of uncertainty (ex: religion, food industry). A Low Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country has less concern about ambiguity and has a greater tolerance for informal situations. This is reflected in a society that is less rule-oriented, where people value implicit or flexible guidelines. Michael Harris Bond subsequently found a fifth dimension which was originally called à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Confucian dynamismà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Hofstede later integrated this into his dimensions of culture as : Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (LTO) It focuses on the degree a society attaches importance to a future oriented perspective rather than a short-term point of view. In other words, this index describes the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½time horizonà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ of a society (future vs. past and present). A high LTO characterizes countries where people value the behaviors that affect the future, such as perseverance, thrift and shame. (ex: Asian countries). Those societies are often superstitious or based on many truths or faiths. Cultures scoring low on this dimension believe in absolute truth. They (ex: Western countries) have a short-term orientation and a concern for immediate stability, which means they value actions that are affected by the past or the present (ex: normative statements, respect for tradition and reciprocation of favors and gifts). Those five dimensions describe tendencies and not precise characteristics of individuals. Consequently, a societys score should not be interpreted without no further reflection. Trompenaarss dimensions of culture According to Trompenaars, culture is a way a group of people act to solve problems. From three basics which are the relationship with others, time and environment, Trompenaars identifies seven fundamental dimensions of culture. His definition of culture is a mix between organizational and national cultures. He proceeded by using a database which contained more than 30000 survey results so that he could analyse the seven dimensions of culture. Universalism vs. Particularism In universalistic cultures, people share the belief that general rules, codes, values and standards are much more important than needs, claims and relations. On the contrary, in a particularistic culture, people think that human relationships are more important than rules and codes. They are not against rules, they just aim at showing that everybody can count on their friends. Rules come after human aspects. Individualism vs. Collectivism (Communitarianism) In individualistic cultures, people place the community after the individual, which is definitely the contrary in a communitarian culture. People are autonomous in the first case, they can take decisions, they can take care of them and their family on their own. In the second case, people are responsible for the good functioning of the society and are the representation of the health of a society considering his degree of involvement in the development of the society. Neutral vs. Affective Relationships People in an affective culture can show up there emotions and their feelings. They do not have to hide them and people from this type of culture sometimes interpret less explicit signals from neutral cultures. People in a neutral culture think that it is not correct to show emotions and feelings even if they have it. It is the degree of manifesting it which is limited and controlled. They might interpret signals from an affective culture as excited and too emotional. Specific vs. Diffuse Relationships People in specific cultures always start analyzing by small details, specific elements to finally put them together to have a global idea. They concentrate on facts, standards and contracts. They have a larger specific sphere than the private one (which is very difficult to enter in. On the contrary, people in diffuse cultures start analyzing the whole and then the elements, but in a perspective of the whole because all elements are linked to each other. In fact, the elements matter less than the link between them. They have a large private sphere and a small public one. Achievement vs. Ascription This cultural dimension is similar to the power distance dimension of Hofsede. In achievement cultures, people respect their colleagues basing their respect on anterior demonstration of knowledge and previous achievements. They do not look at the title of peoples job. In ascription cultures, people use their titles of job and respect their hierarchical superior. Time orientation He shows that meanings of past, present and future depend on cultures. For instance, people who have a past-oriented culture respect older people and are quite traditional whereas people who have a future-oriented culture enjoy discussing potential and future achievement. There is a second division of cultures possible thanks to time orientation which compares sequential and synchronic cultures. This dimension looks like a distribution of tasks in the time in a culture. People who have a sequential culture tend to do one activity at a time by following plans whereas people who have a synchronic culture can do many tasks and activities at a time by changing the subject at any time. Human-nature relationship: Internal vs. external control This last dimension lays the stress on the fact that cultures think that they control their environment and others think that they are controlled by it. In an internalistic culture like the United States, people believe that what happens to them is their own doing. Many Asian countries have an external culture in which the environment shapes their destiny. Because they dont believe they are in full control of their destinies, often externalistic people adapt to external circumstances. Comparison and criticism Hofstedes aim was to evaluate work values, while Trompenaars Hampden-Turners questionnaires inquired into respondents preferred behaviour in a number of both work and leisure situations. What both studies have in common is that in both questionnaires the focus is on the ultimate goal state, and that the underlying values, the underwater part of the culture iceberg, are derived from a series of questions about more outer layers of the culture onion, closer to the top of iceberg. Trompenaarss system appears focus-oriented; it speaks a lot about what is on peoples minds and what is in their sight, it speaks about the logical organization and framework of their behaviour (specific vs. diffuse, internal vs. external control, universalism vs. particularism) and relationships (individualism vs. collectivism; achievement vs. ascription; neutral vs. affective). Hofstede, on the other hand describes some of values present in people and finally affecting their behavior. The difference therefore is that Trompenaarss investigation lies on the surface of the investigation of the persons culture, showing exactly the choice and manner in which the actions are planned and handled, while Hofstede tries to go in the very deep of culture layers and lets us make our own forecasts of peoples behavior based on the knowledge of the hidden part of iceberg. Taking a closer look into the comparison between the dimensions themselves, we can notice similarities between the two theories. One of these is the closeness between the notions of collectivism vs. individualism of Hofstede and communitarianism vs. individualism of Trompenaars. For a marketer, from our point of view, there is close no difference which index to use. There is some degree of similarity in Hofstedes power distance index and achievement vs. ascription. One values the accepted degree of high class/low class lifestyle and secondary characteristics difference, while the other measures the motivation of the low class to move higher. A marketer can infer that customers are better evaluated with the high power distance index in relation of selling status-emphasizing products (like luxury brands), while Trompenaarss index is better used when selling low cost practical business tools (like cheap PDAs). We would advise to use the two indices together as they complement each other. Long-term vs. short-term orientation index of Hofstede has got something in common with the past/present/future orientation of Trompenaars. That is in the way, how i.e. short-term oriented cultures will show the same tendency to be populist, tradition-oriented as the past- and present-oriented cultures. After taking a look into evaluations of different cultures one can find that the results, obtained by the two theories are often counter logical. German corporate culture is hierarchical, as is claimed by Trompenaars in his studies. Whereas Hofstede identifies Germany as relatively low in terms of Power Distance. These differences in the approach attracted some serious criticism over the years. One of the most prominent points often criticized is Hofstede perception of culture as a static characteristic of societies and their representatives. This approach does not take into the account the cultural drift that can easily be observed as the time passes by. As a vivid example, one can take the comparison between, say, the UK of the Victorian age and the Post Second World War UK and just try to assess the Power Distance Indices. Apparently, over this period of time peoples behavior has altered enough to allow a society with a lot lower power distance, the expressions of which found their way in the art of the time as well as in the politics (Rise of the Labor Party in 1945-1951) people of lower class were have become conscious to demand equality in these dimensions with the former unapproachable higher class, the expression of wealth and power and respect to it have decreased, as well as PDI. S imilar drift patterns can now be observed today in some of the underdeveloped countries, like Mexico, where former strong collectivist communities are dissolving, as their member become more individualistic, pushed by their desire to be successful in the new highly commercialized society. The same can be said about political influence on the culture (transition from Communist to Capitalist values). In other words it is easily observable that through time cultures evolve. Therefore the estimations for indices are slowly becoming outdated. Hofstede was later pushed by this evidence to regularly update his Index database, still retorting that cultural evolution is a very slow process. However the problem that may be hard to identify is actually not the quantitative, but rather the qualitative obsolescence of the framework itself, that will sooner or later present itself. I.e. what was reasonable and precise description in the 1970s can be an incomplete, flawed and vague characterizatio n for 2010, and even more so for future. That is however just one of the many debatable things. Among the others are: Question interpretation of the surveyed, i.e. will the question really be a precise way to determine the culture, as the culture and personality may directly affect the way the question is translated and thus produce errors in the resulting evaluation. Researchers background diminishes the completeness of cultural description and offers one-sided look at the problem. This way it would be preferable for marketers to have a marketer, not a manager, to make the proper evaluations framework, which would be more suited for marketing decision making. Ignoring the ethnic group and communities presence, national culture fragmentation. Just saying that Germany has low UAC index may totally confuse the policymaker, as this does not differ between East, West and especially Turkish communities. Moreover, a study carried out only in only one company (Hofstede) cannot give an outlook on the entire cultural system of a country. The cultural dimensions in international marketing Why marketing uses the cultural dimensions? The Hofstede and Trompenaars cultural dimensions can be a useful tool for several themes, such as within the organization and the structure of a company or when trading with other countries. In fact, for those who works in an international business is essential to know the differences between countries and cultures. And moreover, cultural dimensions are also a helpful instrument for marketing purposes due to the fact that they facilitate the design of an optimum strategy. Each society has developed through the history a different culture where it is extremely important to take into account the different ways of communication and the usage and the meaning of the language. Actually, the markets can be segmented by cultural dimensions; consequently we can develop a marketing plan to exploit the common elements of these segments. Thus, we can affirm that in the international marketing, the success or failure of a campaign depends on the prior analysis of the environment. The cultural analysis can also provide various guides to develop the marketing strategy, in fact, when a company is entering in a new market, in a foreign market, it is necessary to study the population and the society, the history and the culture. There is some data that we can obtain by public sources of information, and other data that has to be collected by the company itself. Concerning the culture and the habits of the society in a certain country, we can use the cultural dimensions theory developed by the two professors as a guideline, but it is also necessary to make a specific study, for the reason that every product is different and it is important to analyze which is the greatest manner to promote a new product in a foreign country regarding the different cultural dimensions. How to apply the cultural dimensions in a marketing context? For instance, we know, thanks to the theory elaborated by Geert Hofstede, that United States has low power distance, in marketing terms that should be translated in commercials and promotions where the communication must be informal and friendly. In countries where the situation is totally different, the message for a new product must communicate that the product is well accepted in the society. These assumptions are the starting point, a part from them, the company will have to analyze the culture of the specific country itself taking into account the new product to be launched and thus create a commercial and a campaign with great results in that market. However, a company has two options: to adapt the marketing strategy to each culture by using the cultural dimensions or to try to change the culture. For example: in Japan, people is used to subtle publicity campaigns, nevertheless , when Procter Gamble started to sell its products there, the company launched a very aggressive campaign that first shake all the Japanese society, but later it was copied by other Japanese companies. Procter Gamble changed part of the culture. Contribution of culture in international marketing In our fast moving world, local markets are not big enough for companies willing to have more profits. The future of each company that wants to be more important than its competitors is to go internationally. Selling a product wont be the more complicated things that companies will have to face while going internationally but the cultural adaptation will be the hardest thing. There are different kinds of adaptation, the product adaptation, the administrative and law adaptation and the cultural adaptation that means the situations where you meet a client or you create a subsidiary elsewhere. The five dimensions, which are (cf 1, 4 in bibliography) PDI, IDV, MAS, UAI and LTO come from an analysis done by Geert Hofstede while working at IBM and trying to understand the employees attitudes at IBM worldwide. Actually, it is important to know that the 5 cultural dimensions of GH help individuals and companies to understand, analyse and compare the culture of different countries. With the GH analysis, we are trying to define the culture. One of the goals of GH is to help to take into consideration the differences in the way of thinking, to react and act between the different people in the world. According to GH each country generates its own management system. Example with Accenture Bands: For Luxembourg, United-Kingdom, France. * With the Fons Trompenaars analysis (cf. 3 in biblio.), we are seeing that even if each culture owns its main features, it remains a cultural identity toward each individual, as for each company, which allows to adapt into every context. By completing itselves, these different cultural orientations (for instance in the relationship with the group, with the individual, with the environment or even with the time), are no more impediments for the common work (within different groups) but become on the other hand the best key factors to carry out successfully. FT helps more the companies to develop and create their own intercultural management. Each company has indeed its own management style or cultural organizational structure. The use of both theories The Use of Fons Trompenaars theory In Fons Trompenaars theory, there are two kinds of people, which is universalism and particularism. Americans, Canadians, Australian all belong to the first group, and Chinese, Korean and other Asian all belong to the second group. Take ERP as an example, the first group will accept the ERP system as the best way to conduct the project, and members of the second group will think that they are different from each other, so when ERP works in China, it is most important for the managers to deal with average workers, if not so, the whole system may fail at last. And the theory is also applicable in the field of education, for example, English education in Chinese schools and other western countries is different since the different culture and language system. It is the same with other fields, like business, communication, the cultural differences are more and more important. The use of Geert Hofstede theory According to Geert Hofstede theory, there are different ways of management because of different cultures, for example, American cooperation always pay more attention to the individuals, and the third world countries is the opposite, so if an American firms operating abroad, it must consider the this kind of cultural differences, taking the employees into consideration and emphasize the loyalty, which can help to get success. The structure of organization is also influenced by the cultural differences, for example, Germans always avoid the risk, so rules and regulations seems to be more important, however, in America, people prefer to taking risk, so people enjoy more freedom. According to the theory, Hofstede also shows that if the manager ignore the cultural differences, there will be something wrong with the communication, morale and have a negative effect on the final result in the end. Conclusion As described in this paper, there are several approaches to the classification of the cultures of different nations. The ones that were observed closely here are Geert Hofstedes and Fons Trompenaarss classifications, so-called cultural dimensions. These, as shown have a number of things in common and many differences as well. Thus, a marketer has to make a decision, which part of which study is to be used to develop a successful strategy. However there is little doubt that some way of adapting the strategy to the local culture is to be used. We may live in a globalized enviroment, however, so far there is no mundial culture and different clusters of people, whether they are separated geographically, historically or socially; some may choose one product instead of the other because of their culture and values. All of that is to be taken into consideration. And there are so far not many standartised approaches to the culture evaluations, other than Hofstedes and Trompenaarss, which eco nomise time and enable the creation of a consolidated strategy in approach to culture. It is not surprising that some of the companies nowadays are already fully involved in applying these methods in their decision making, and the amount of them will inevitably grow as the studies of the theories are being held in many Universities and Business Schools, from wich the future excecutives will come. However one has to rememember, that both these method are quite controversial and obviously imperfect, therefore we should learn learn to use the questionnaires and the databases responsibly. Only in this way can they provide precise, trustworhy and calculated assistance to people learning to work effectively in other countries. Bibliography/Information Sources/Webography Books and articles Hofstede, Geert. Cultures Consequences, Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations; Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications 2001. Geert Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations, Software of the mind, 1992. The multicultural company, Fons Trompenaars, 1993, Paris, Maxima. Global marketing and advertising. Understanding cultural paradoxes; Marieke Mooij; edition of 2009 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½The Use and Misuse of Questionnaires in Intercultural Trainingà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ article by John W. Bing à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Hofstede Culturally questionable?à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ article by M. L. Jones, 2007 Oxford Business Economics Conference à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Intercultural/Cross-Cultural Training: Rejecting Hofstede and Trompenaarsà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½- arti

Blindsight and Qualities of Visual Perception Essay -- Expository Rese

Blindsight and Qualities of Visual Perception ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to defend a broad concept of visual perception, according to which it is a sufficient condition for visual perception that subjects receive visual information in a way which enables them to give reliably correct answers about the objects presented to them. According to this view, blindsight, non-epistemic seeing, and conscious visual experience count as proper types of visual perception. This leads to two consequences concerning the role of the phenomenal qualities of visual experiences. First, phenomenal qualities are not necessary in order to see something, because in the case of blindsight, subjects can see objects without experiences phenomenal qualities. Second, they cannot be intentional properties, since they are not essential properties of visual experiences, and because the content of visual experiences cannot be constituted by contingent properties. Introduction Blindsight is often understood as supporting certain claims concerning the function and the status of the phenomenal qualities of visual perceptions. In this talk I am going to present a short argument to show that blindsight could not be understood as evidence for these claims. The reason is that blindsight cannot be adequately described as a special case of seeing. Consequently, it is not possible to draw inferences from it concerning the role of the phenomenal qualities for seeing. Visual perceptions are supposed to have two sorts of content. First, they have intentional content which relates them as representations to the external world. The properties that constitute the intentional content are called representational or intentional qualities. Second, visual perce... ... Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 15, 197 - 300 (5) D. Lewis (1986): Veridical Hallucination and Prosthetic Vision. In: D. Lewis: Philosophical Papers. New York et al., Vol. II, 273 - 290 (6) F. Dretske (1969): Seeing and Knowing. London, 4 - 77; F. Jackson (1977): Perception. A Representative Theory. Cambridge/Mass., 154 ff.; G.J. Warnock (1956): Seeing. In: Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 55, 201 - 218 (7) D. Armstrong (1968): A Materialist Theory of the Mind. London (8) C. S. Peirce (1986): How to make our Ideas clear. In: Writings of Charles S. Peirce. C.J.W. Kloesel (ed.), Bloomington, Vol. III, 257 - 276; G. Ryle (1949): The Concept of Mind. London, Chapter 5 (9) D. Armstrong (1968): A Materialist Theory of the Mind. London, 209 ff. (10) F. Dretske (1969): Seeing and Knowing. London, 77 (11) Dretske (1969), 20 ff. (See footnote 11)

Medical Case Study Essay example -- Health, Inflammation

A. Inflammation 1. In terms of the mechanism of inflammation, explain how the steps of PRICE may minimize Dave’s inflammation. Inflammation is the cleaning up on an injury, and we know it by redness, swelling, warmth, and pain. The impact and distortion to his ankle killed cells, damaged fibers, and the chemical composition of the interstitial fluid was altered. Lysosomes release enzymes that destroy damaged cells and attack surrounding tissues. Debris, fluid, and dying cells accumulate, causing pressure, and histamine, heparin, and prostaglandins increase blood flow, increased vessel permeability, and pain. Ice helps relieve the increased local temperature, and compression helps constrict vessels, reducing swelling. Elevation will also reduce swelling by decreasing blood flow to the area. Protecting the injury and resting will allow it to heal at a faster pace with less additional cells being damaged (Martini 142-143). 2. Although Dave was given a prescription analgesic, there are Over-The-Counter analgesics such as aspirin, acetaminophen and NSAIDS (like Aleve). Choose one of these OTC analgesics and explain how it reduces pain. By blocking the effect of the enzyme, cyclooxygenase, prostaglandin functions, such as sensitizing pain receptors to mechanical and chemical stimuli and causing blood vessels to dilate, decrease (Merck 408). Pain and swelling are reduced. B. Fainting 1. Why did Suzie faint when she got up from the table? Explain the specific changes in her CVS that to caused her to faint. Sitting or standing up too quickly can cause fainting, because the changing in position causes blood to pool in the legs, resulting a fall in blood pressure. If Suzie fainted because she had secretly not eaten bre... ...c. 2011. .http://www.eatingproblems.org/epseffect.html "Physiology & Psychology: Performance Benchmarks -- Cardiac Output." Extended University, Montana State University. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. . "Pulmonary Function Testing." Www2.nau.edu. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. . "Total Protein: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. . "What People With Anorexia Nervosa Need to Know About Osteoporosis." Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. .

Police Stress

Police Stress page2 The first type of stress is external stress. The way that this stress is described is by stress that is caused by real threats and dangers. A few of these are like a call like a man with a gun and other dangerous type of situation. With this kind of stress it is able to affect a police officer on the job. This is because this is where the danger is and when these types of situations happen at. The way that this type of stress can affect a police officer social life is mentally. They can be out with other people having fun and joking around. Then in the officer mid they would be thinking about something that had happen that day. This kind of stress can also affect their personal life as well. The way that this happens is the officer does not know how to deal with or let go of the types of situations that they have to deal with on a day to day basis. I think that they could deal with this type of stress thought therapy or by talking to someone. This next type of stress is called organizational stress. The best way to describe this type of stress is by being over worked. This type of stress can affect an officer job by them being tired and from them being away from their family all the time. This type of stress also affects them socially. This is because they do not want to make plans to go and do something because of fear of them being called in for work. This type of stress can have an effect on their personal life as well. The way that this happens is the officer’s family starts to feel neglected and the officer stares to feel that he is letting them down. The way that they are able to deal with this type of stress is by going and getting some help, talking to someone or asking for some time off. The third type of stress that a police officer has is called personal stress. The way that this type of stress is described is by a police officer not getting along with fellow officers. The way that this affects the officer’s job is by having problems within the police department that they work in. The way that it affects them socially is it can cause tension in their socially life between people that they know. This stress also affects their personal life as well. This happen they take home this stress and use it against the people there. The way that they can deal with this is by getting to know the people they work with or talking with someone. The last type of stress there is for a police officer is called operational stress. The way that this type of stress is described is by having to deal with the day to day duties that they have to do on the job. This can affect their job because they do not do their job as well and sometimes they fail at it. The way that this affects them socially is by the way they look at criminals, Police Stress page2 citizens and their families. This can also affect them personally the way that it doses this is by making hard to deal with their family as well as work. The way that they can deal with this is by talking to a therapist or someone at work.