Inside the mind of a savant Essay

Treffert and Christensen’s article (2005), touches on the important and curious issue: the differences among humans. It is not to hide that jealous and curious species desire to possess what others possess and desire to know how it is possible. The description of savant individual, Kim Peek, leaves the readers wonder about the possibilities that have a mere possibility and right to existence. These authors begin their article with a concrete description of what does it mean to be savant. Their description is well poised and not an eggeduration. They, straightforwardly, describe the concrete features that Kim had without forgetting to mention that Kim also has serious physical disabilities. Kim’s listed abilities are though impressive. I do not know a person who would think twice to have what Kim had – but knot with the price that Kim had to pay. Enduring difficult attitude from others or enduring physical differences are quite different things. Kim endured physical differences that simply made him more different. Now, when he is a grown man (and way into his 50th), researchers took a serious interest in him due to the uniqueness of his case. The authors mentioned in the article that, even in childhood, Kim was missing Corpus Colossum, the connecting neural network that connects left and right human hemispheres. The writers write, â€Å"Yet in people whose corpus callosum has been severed in adulthood, generally in an effort to prevent epileptic seizures from spreading from one hemisphere to the other, a characteristic â€Å"split-brain† syndrome arises in which the estranged hemispheres begin to work almost independently of each other. † This statement, by itself, points out at the materialistic approach that without the synaptic connections between the right and left hemisphere the connection between right and left hemisphere is impossible. There were some ‘guesses’ among the appropriate researchers but no one wanted to mention a possibility that that here is a hidden purpose behind such appearances. The authors conjecture lies within a science fiction, however plausible. They wrote that the person born without corpus collossum learn to connect right and left hemisphere with the non-traditional ways. Their hypothesis consists of an idea that two separated hemispheres learn to act as one, in unison. One major point that the authors noticed was that the ‘abnormalities’ stem form the damage in the left hemisphere only. Furthermore, the suggested that males, per ce, display more frequent number of cases of savanism, stuttering, dyslexia, and autism. Their response to this theory was straightforward: one possible explanation lies within the fetus development in which they suggest that the make fetus has higher levels chemically dependent and left-brained situation. In to this hypothesis the understanding that the left hemisphere develops with a slower rate than that of right has a big part of their study. To evidence the above, the authors use the examples of so called â€Å"acquired savant syndrome† which is resulted in older children after the accidental damage to the left hemisphere. Further, the article speculates upon the implication of the significance behind the corpus collossum. One possibility includes a rationale, which suggests that, the possibility of the right brain compensation if the left-brain cannot function properly. Another possibility makes the readers think that inability to function within one hemisphere unravels the latent ability in another. The latter theory suggests that the left-brain dominance is due to the fact that we live in the techno logical society that prizes the left-brain achievements. Thus, the function of the left-brain, which is prone to science, math, and logic, leads us to what we call Human Rational, the human species that uses conscious analogies in their day-to-day operations (Read, 1997). The dysfunction of the left hemisphere all of the sudden opens new possibilities hidden and latent within the right hemisphere that holds the key to what we call today Human Conscious. It is of interest to the readers that traditional intelligence tests did not really work with the above subject: some parts showed below average while other superior range performance. In another excursion into the case, the authors noted Kim’s unusual versatility with a tremendously large lexicon of vocabulary in his possession. With Kim’s inability to explain the meaning behind the proverbs he finds amazing associations and is being quite effective in long-term memory recall. Such has been evidenced by his unusual abilities dealt with music, as per complex line up of tones and musical styles as well as the names and works of various artists. Here, and despite his dexterous prior complications, he can seat at piano and play a piece he had discussed â€Å"shifting effortlessly from one mode to another. † Even Greehan, the Mozart scholar commented positively about Kim’s abilities. In summary, the authors, refer to the fictional Rain Man produced after Kim’s life story, although the the writer Barry Morrow decided not to outline Kim’s life story. Similarities are striking, however, and cause one is thinking about not-discovered human abilities. References Darold A. Treffert and Daniel D. Christensen (2005). Onside the mind of a savant. Scientific American. Retrieved July 22, 2007 from http://www. condition. org/sa5c. htm Read, S. G. (Ed. ). (1997). Psychiatry in Learning Disability. Edinburgh: W. B. Saunders. Retrieved July 24, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=100737215.

New Respiratory Poses Potential Threat to Humans

There are a lot of new bacteria and viruses being discovered almost every day. Some of them are new strains of previous species while some are entirely new species that have yet to be studied and usually cause no harm to humans. However, when the Adenovirus, the causative agent of the common cold, which is not a lethal illness to most people, mutates into a new form and mysteriously kills a lot of people, this is a cause for alarm. In this connection, according to an article written by Associated Press and was published in Quad City Times, a mutated form of the Adenovirus has killed 10 people across the United States in last 18 months. In addition, the new form, which is called Ad14, has caused 140 illnesses in states such as Washington, Texas, Oregon, and New York. The virus was first reported last year in New York City, where it killed a 12-day old girl. Based on the article, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was puzzled by the new strain of the Adenovirus, which has only more than 50 variants. However, they emphasized that there was no need to be alarmed as the mutated virus does not pose a serious threat to humans. Moreover, the CDC is also working on a vaccine for the virus which they hope to release in 2009. What fascinated me most about the article is the fact that the Adenovirus, which usually causes mild forms of sicknesses, has mutated into a new and possibly, deadly form. Being a student taking up microbiology, I believe that this discovery of a mutated variant of a virus means that it is possible for other viruses, and even bacteria to mutate into a more lethal and more dangerous form. It is possible that the virus was exposed to certain factors which altered its nutritional requirements and as a result, made it evolve like in the case of certain bacteria such as E. coli. References. Quad City Times. (November 16, 2007).   New respiratory bug has killed 10 people. Retrieved December 2, 2007, from http://qctimes.com/articles/2007/11/16//news/local/doc473e0d1de7e4d991086475.txt

Proposal for Development of Petrol Chemical Plant on Jurong Island

Capital input for construction and maintenance of a petrochemical plant is high because of the large amounts of electricity and water id needed to heat up raw materials used in the petrochemical industry from which hydrocarbons are extracted. The main raw materials would be naphtha and kerosene, which are obtained from oil refineries. A highly skill labour force is required to run the advance machinery. Processes In the plant, crackers are used to break up large hydrocarbons in refined oil products like naphtha and gasoline. In the cracker, hydrocarbons heated by steam pass over the hot catalyst powered alumina-silica gel. The catalyst provides a huge surface on which the hydrocarbons break up into smaller more useful hydrocarbons. After crackling, the compounds are separated by fractionation. Some of these compounds are joined with other chemicals. Outputs Processed basic petrochemicals such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, isoprene, and xylenes, which are the building blocks for innumerable chemical products spanning the range of the plastic, rubber, and synthetic fiber industries. Information about suitable location The proposed location, Jurong Island, formed by land reclamation to merge seven offshore islands off the southern coast of Singapore (figure1), is a highly integrated world-class petrochemical complex. Their total is home to leading petrochemical companies like Chevron, Sumitomo and Mobil. Figure 1Location of Jurong Island Figure 2Map of Jurong Island [d1]Central to the industry cluster concept and development of Jurong Island as an integrated complex is the sharing of common facilities. These include marine facilities, such as jetties and other berthing facilities; services such as warehousing, waste treatment, fire fighting, medical and emergency response; a common service corridor and infrastructure such as roads and drains. Connected to mainland Singapore by 2.6 kilometre causeway, Jurong Island is only a ten minutes journey form furthest part of Jurong Island to the mainland. There are also bus services plying the entire island. [email  protected], which is the amenity centre found on the island itself as the community and transportation hub for Jurong Island customers. The amenity centre houses facilities like an air-conditioned food court, an alfresco restaurant, a medical centre, a hardware store and a convenience store. The Chemical Logistics Hub, called Banyan Logistics Hub, is a 80-hectare facility on Jurong Island to serve companies there. It will have berths, jetties and other marine facilities that provide linkage to the chemical plants via the common service corridors. Logistics services like storage tanks, chemical warehouses, tank cleaning, cleaning and maintenance, drumming, and waste treatment facilities will also be available. The Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (ICES) which will be situated on Jurong Island and to be is expected to be completed in early 2003. Reasons for Choice of Location There are many key factors for the choice of location. Singapore is well positioned to play a key role in the growth of Asia-Pacific's petrochemical industry with an integrated hub on Jurong Island. Many multinational companies are already enjoying the benefits of locating on Jurong Island. Thus Singapore's Jurong Island would thus be the choice location for the petrochemical plant. Jurong Island was formed by reclaiming the channels between the seven islands in phases, and extending beyond into additional sea space to form one big island. When completed, it will form a land area of about 2,650 hectares from an initial mass of less than 1,000 hectares. This will provide flat land for the building of the plant and also allow future expansion. Also the company will easy access to their customers worldwide, because of Singapore's strategic location, world-class transportation and logistics, telecommunication and IT infrastructure. Singapore also has a highly skilled labour force which are specialized in the field of petrochemisty. Productivity of Singaporean workers are high as they are noted to have good working attitude and aptitude which would positively affect total production and therefore profit. Furthermore there are many regulation patenting to strikes and work stoppages to Singapore thus there would be no worry for decline of productivity because of this. Moveover Chemical Process Technology Centre which will be ready in early 2003 will be situated on Jurong Island, will feature a production plant to provide practical training for students from the polytechnics and technical institutes so as to produce process technicians that are equipped with the latest technical skill sets to complement their academic knowledge, enabling them to meet future challenges of petrochemical industries. The Chemical Logistics Hub located on Jurong Isalnd itself will provide shippoing infractura other marine facilities would provide linkage to the chemical plants via the common service corridors. Logistics services like storage tanks, chemical warehouses, tank cleaning, cleaning and maintenance, drumming, and waste treatment facilities will also be available This will help be facilite transportion thus making it more efficient ans cost efficient . Furthermore it would save start up cost as we would not need in inoccur extear cost in building these facilities. Singapore also offers an extremely pro-business environment. The government is highly supportive of set up of petrochemical plants and offer finacial assistance such as tax incentives,innovation grants and low cost lows which will lower the start up cost. Being a petrochemical hub with 70 companies investing more than S$21 billion in oil refining, petrochemical manufacturing and specialty chemical manufacturing and supporting facilities on Jurong Island. There is a linkage among the companies located in Jurong Island. The oil refinery plants (e.g. Shell), which are also located on Jurong Island, will provide feedstock (e.g. Naphtha) for the petrochemical plant. The plants' outputs (processed petrochemicals) to end-users in the vicinity or to ports to be exported to other neighboring countries in South East Asia. The sitting of the related industries in close proximity results in an invisible network of partnership that connects companies on the island, Jurong Island's vertical integration will save about 25 to 30 per cent off capital outlay and 10 to 15 per cent logistics cost. Furthermore Jurong Island is located along tanker routes and the availability of infacturure such as ports means the plants outputs can be shipped out easily Future plans for Expansion As the number of petrochemical plants are set up, competition from varies companys will increase (Table 1). To maintain competitiveness and to expand, we must firstly maxism the output of the current plant. Ramping of production capacity automation machinery improve procedures Second third shifts Merger and acquisition Extensive reseach into making production more cost and laboour efficentive, R&D work to develop more efficient production procedures ,continusing to improve standards and skiulls of workers Proposal for Development of Wafer Fabrication Plant in Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park To process bare wafers made locally and distributed its products worldwide Proposal for development of Wafer Fabrication Plant in Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park Brief Information Input Capital input for Wafer fabrication is high because of the expensive start up cost huge investments with an average direct investment of US$1 billion per fab. Raw material is silicon. LA pool of skilled labour is needed to run machinesry and to manufacture wafer. Enginneres and researchers needed for R&D. High comsumpution of water and electicity. Processes Wafer fabrication refers to the multiple processes that a wafer goes through to become an integratred circuit product. A wafer, usually composed of silicon, is the base material for integrated circuits. Silicon is processed into cylinder shaped ingot and then sliced and polished into mirror-like wafers of uniform thickness. These go through highly precise and complex manufacturing processes such as oxidation, diffusion, thin film deposition, ion implantation, patterning, cleaning and etching. Outputs The finished wafer contains hundreds of chips which go though additional processes to become finished integrated circuit products. These integrated circuits are inputs for electronics and computer industries. Information about suitable location The proposed location, Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park is located in the eastern region of Singapore, close to the Tampines Regional Centre and the Tampines Wafer Fab Park and served by the Pasir Ris MRT and Tampines Expressway. About 16.2 ha of the 59.1 ha site has been allocated. Industry luminaries have staked their chips here, including United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), the world's second largest foundry and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing (SSMC). Figure 1Site Map of Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park The park is fully equppied with specialized infrastructure such as a adequate and uninterrupted supply of electricity and water and a vibration-free environment. The JTC Tampines Dormitory for foreign workers nearby offers 400 units – which can house up to 4800 workers to provide convienent and comfarable accommodation for foreign workers. The park is located only a ten minutes drive from the airport. Reasons for Choice of Location Singapore is a world-class electronics hub with global leadership in manufacturing solutions and in the creation and management of new products, applications and markets. The electronics industry in Singapore has the highest output in the manufacturing sector, accounting for 55% (or $70.1 billion) of manufacturing's total output in 2001. Thus the outlook of starting up a wafer fabrication plant in Singapore is promising. The semiconductor industry will be one of the key sectors driving growth in the electronics industry in the future. Its focus will be on integrated circuit (IC) design; wafer fabrication*; and testing and assembly. Singapore, with different economic and resource conditions from its neighbors, undertook reforms and infrastructure development that would make it an attractive location for regional offices of multinational corporations and increasingly high value-added manufacturing. Singapore-based MNCs are given incentives, such as tax and financial incentives and As the industry uses more new and sophisticated equipment and technology and automated manufacturing processes, the new jobs created require skilled workers, that is, workers with post-secondary educational qualifications and above. In 1999, 5,000 jobs were created in the electronics industry, of which 42% were jobs that required skilled workers. To meet the needs of the industry for skilled manpower, the Economic Development Board (EDB) works with the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and research institutes/centres, to carry out research and implement training programmes. In addition, companies are also encouraged to extend their resources to the IHLs to expose students of the state-of-the-art equipment and technology. One of the largest IT markets ($7.5 billion) in the APAC region. Highly developed business culture. Very open to outsourcing and well established Indian business presence-over 300 Indian business houses and 90,000 NRIs based out of here. Is India's eighth-largest investor with direct equity investments of about $1.3 billion at end-2001. India's investment in Singapore has also grown by 14% over the past decade. Adequte facilites, within wafer fabrication park, company will have advantage of being able to share ideas and information with other companies. Share maintainece and support services and basic amentites such as roads and power. Singapore headquarters of national and international backs. Wafer fabrication very captital intensive, devoplement agencies in Singapore provide financial help, schemes for loans to start up company help to pay for set up coast. In terms of product positioning, Singapore is more innovative and advanced. Its lands, infrastructure and facilities for wafer fab are all allocated in a certain area so companies can actually start working upon moving in to the building in either of the three wafer fab parks. However, when it comes to living environment, Singapore excels: It has no crime to speak of, offers excellent transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, has high-quality English-language schooling, and is generally a more â€Å"westernized† environment for overseas skilled workers. As testament to that, you'll find Germans, Japanese, Koreans, Americans, Taiwanese and mainland Chinese all working in Singapore's semiconductor sector.Good for foreign talent ie Italian and French. Excellt airport, near airport efficient exporting of wafers worldwide. Pasir Ris has industry luminaries United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), the world's second largest foundry chance of working with large company. Future plans for expansion Is the heart of Southeast Asia and ideal for tapping into closer markets like China, Malaysia, and Australia. APAC headquarters of most MNCs based out of here. Big business opportunity in that sector.But base stioll in Singapore. Carry out R&D work to develop new, more sophisticated value-added products and more efficient methods of production in fields of wafer fabrication. Turn more to mechanization and automationm to achieve higher productivity. Set up wafer fabrication plants overseas in countries with lower labour cost such as Taiwan and China while still having hq in Singapore. Mus t be commited to carrying out product development and manufacturing actieveities in Singapore. Make Singapore base for manufacturing wafers and headquaters services to satellite factoris in the region go into partnership with EDB inrisk-sharing partnerhip to invest in overseas projects. Company to retrain worker to equip themselves with cerfiable and critical high-end skills needed by in production of wafer fabrication, obtain grants from Skills development fund to send employees for critical skills training.

The legalization of gay marriage Research Proposal

The legalization of gay marriage - Research Proposal Example The primary reasons for banning gay marriage in the USA are religious, ethical, and moral. â€Å"American freedom... is attached to a set of communal responsibilities and dependant on the individual’s ability to confirm in compliance with a moral, ethical and religious standard.† Thus the freedom of self shall not come in clash with the freedom of America, which comes with a set of responsibilities of individuals towards community. The issue of legalizing gay marriage might be a personal problem faced by many gays living together and seeking some sort of state-sanctioned marriage. The community can no way benefit from their marriage- in fact, it has created a cultural war in America between those that believe in the traditional form of marriage and those that are proponents of gay marriage. People from different social and political backgrounds have mixed views regarding the legalization of gay marriage and they can influence the decision of the courts through ballot ca mpaigns against gay marriages. In Washington this year, a ballot campaign will be held and if the required numbers of votes are gathered, the move would be nullified and gay marriage will be banned in Washington. â€Å"There is precedent in California for handling such a situation. California's Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2008, only for voters to approve a constitutional amendment six months later defining marriage as between a man and a woman.†

Task 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Task 3 - Essay Example Foremost, the Mughal Empire had collapsed and regional states had taken centre stage (Page, 2003). As a result, thirst for power by political contestants took center stage as they sought to consolidate power in coastal states through support from the Company administrators. Second, trade rivalries between the British and French prompted each one to build alliances with opponent political groups for purposes of extracting maximum benefits for their respective trade companies (Page, 2003). Furthermore, the personal ambitions of amassing wealth were at play in the company’s political involvement. However, one event proved vital in establishing company rule. It was the British victory over the French in Southeast India and consequent fomenting of their presence in Bengal (Page, 2003). Consequently, the company created Indian Sepoy armies that were used to gradually gain economic control over the expansive Indian territory and dismantling any forms of resistance (Page, 2003). The B ritish vision for India was one whereby the population was unified in speaking one language. Consequently, from 1818 to 1857, the company rule enforced social reforms and government policies based on British values. The company rule faced rebellion from the indigenous Hindus and Indians. It was known as the Sepoy rebellion of 1857. The rebellion was precipitated by several factors that were instigated by the British company. First, the Indians were offended by the apparent efforts by the British to convert them to Christianity. Second, the Indians were angered by the British efforts to instill social change by ending slavery and improving the social status of women in households. However, the boiling point arose when the Sepoy soldiers were forced to bite cartridges that were oiled with animal fat before loading them in their guns (Page, 2003). Apparently, the animal fat used was an affront to Hindu religion since it was derived from pig and cow fat. Consequently, the aggrieved Sepo ys rebelled against the British soldiers and the rebellion spurned across Central and Northern India (Page, 2003). However, the rebellion was defeated by the British army and the aftermath was burnt down villages, loss of innocent Indian lives and a wave of mistrust between the Indians and British. As a result, the British changed tact by removing the company rule and establishing a British Colony in India (Page, 2003). However, a wave of Indian nationalism led by rising middle class nationals started to agitate for Indian independence from Britain. One such movement was the Indian National congress that espoused political unity in the push for independence by 1914. B. Comparison of Tactics The Indian Independence Movement employed a non violent resistance against the British colonial rule. It was led by the revolutionary leader, Mahatma Gandhi. The movement preached a united and non violent Indian resistance against the British rule. Mahatma Gandhi drew his method of non violence f rom the philosophical tactics employed by Baba Ram Singh during the Kuka Movement of 1870s (Page, 2003).The resistance came after a backdrop of issues that the colonial government was perpetrating against the Indians. First, the British had divided the India into regions classified as the Princely states and British India (Page, 2003). The Britons had devised the partitioning as a tool for

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Marketing - Essay Example outside of the marketing function impact upon marketing efforts. The report, takes the help of Sam’s Tailor, a fashion retailer in the Hong Kong market, to apply relevant methods of market analyses to the company’s marketing mix in order to determine the relationship between external market factors and other business units like finance, human resources and production, and their role in enforcing marketing efforts. ... The report will attempt to investigate all the above factors in relation to a fashion retailer in the Hong Kong retail market. It has to be noted that since the report is based on analysis of a fabricated situation in said market, whilst relevant background information is provided on the chosen company, an assumptive format will be employed when applying theory to the situation(s) explored. I.1 The organisation, Sam’s Tailors: Known as a tourist’s must visit enterprise, whether the tourist is a celebrity or a common person visiting Hong Kong, Sam’s tailors has earned a great reputation since its establishment in 1957 for providing high quality tailored suits for men and women. The company operates on the core traditions of quality and value for money. Their concept of the 24 hour suit has traditionally drawn many famous names like Bill Clinton, and Michael Palin, who in fact had a suit made within 24 hours whilst he was shooting his BBC travel documentary, Ã¢â‚¬Ë œAround the World in 80 Days’ (www.samstailor.biz; http://www.time.com/time/asia/2004/boa/boa_body_tailor.html). The current owner, Manu Melwani, son of the founder Sam Melwani, is very particular about maintaining strong relationships with past and present customers, as he thoroughly believes that a good tailor needs to know a lot about his customers. He travels extensively to Europe and America, where the majority of his clientele are, in order to understand more of their daily habits, personalities and public opinions about them to create suits tailor made for their image. The core competencies are the amount of research that goes into studying the behaviours of a considerably small but elite customer base, and a small corporate structure

International Finance Transactions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

International Finance Transactions - Essay Example In most cases, most international financial borrowing involves syndicated loan agreements due to the large sums of money involved. In addition, most borrowing is often for financing most international projects. These agreements varies from region to region for instance, syndicated loan agreements carried out in Europe are not similar to those carried out in America. Another aspect of syndicated loan agreements is that they have developed from the traditional way to a more sophisticated method, rendering them fast and more efficient. Syndicated loan participation agreements also offer various advantages to the lending bank as well as to the borrowers. These advantages are in the form of rapid financing of international projects, cost reduction as well as efficiency. In addition, there are three major legal and practical methods of loan transfer in relation to syndicated participation agreements. These methods include assignment, novation and sub-participation. These three major method s present various advantages and disadvantages and occur in various forms. The Assignment involves the transfer of rights or benefits from one party to another. The major transactions involving the assignment are mortgages and deed trusts. ... In this case, the method involves several legal aspects and features as in syndicated loans it is often not possible to obtain approval from all the participants of the contract. The paper will discuss the concepts of syndicated loans agreements and international finance transactions. It will also analyse in depth these loan transfer methods. It will discuss their availability and occurrence as well as their advantages and disadvantages. It will also evaluate their effectiveness and the parties involved in such transactions. International Finance Transactions The integration of the three main financial service areas – that is insurance, security and banking occurred in the 80s due to the liberalization trend of financial supervision and the heating-up competition in finance industry. However, the integration threatens the banking business since the banking industry experiences huge challenges despite owning the main position in financial structure. In addition, there is regula tion of the average rate of interests for commercial banks’ deposits and loans in nearly all the countries. Consequently, there is a reduced margin between banks’ liabilities and assets leading to intense competition among banks. Due to this, the banks can only create more chances for reducing costs, increase profits and upgrade their competence by provision of a bridge hence the securitization trends1. There are many participants in international projects with each participant bringing into the project what other participants are lacking for example technical ability, procurement of supplies, financing ability, human resources, political authority, etc. In addition, due to the complex nature of project

Genetic Testing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Genetic Testing - Research Paper Example Indeed, employers are also inclined to conduct these tests, either clandestinely or overtly, of their employees to ensure they could be able to match workplace environment or would develop diseases amid genetic abnormalities. Indeed, employers regard such individuals that could develop diseases from workplace hazardous substances as ‘hypersensitive’ and usually are reluctant to induct them in organizational hierarchy to save future health care and social costs, avoid absenteeism, litigation and productivity losses. It is worthwhile to mention that workers having ‘thalassemia gene, sickle cell’ and other genetic disorders are among sensitive individuals who could develop diseases if they work in environment that contain chemicals such as ‘lead, benzene, carbon monoxide particles, cyanide’ etc (Andre & Velasquez, 1991) and (Miller, 2007). Indeed, the proponents of Genetic Testing have raised many arguments for this strategy because employers may inform workers why business workplace may be deleterious for their health, which may lead to disabilities in the long-run. Hence, in this way, the workers could make rational decisions for personal health security and shun dangerous workplaces whenever they apply for job as well as could avoid untimely deaths because of chronic illnesses. Second, the tests enable employees to hire healthy and dynamic workers thereby increasing internal efficiency, lowering absenteeism and minimizing recruitment costs from reduction in employee turnover rates per annum. Third, the financial burden on government reduces because of low allocation for health budgets and fewer social security disbursements. Fourth, it has been considered the responsibility of an employer to offer safe and secure working environment to its employees. However, it may not be possible for business owners to offer 100% secure environment

Management Information systems - Case study Essay

Management Information systems - Case study - Essay Example Additionally, the Maintenix system is available on the Web as well as easy to utilize and could be established for working and operational stations all through the world. In addition, it lessens cyclic tasks and protracted imperfect or missing data and information by permitting engineering, maintenance and finance divisions to simply share corporate data and information. Moreover, wireless technology based arrangement makes Maintenix information system more efficient like equipment, aviation technicians and parts are for all time on the move. Matintenix offered very effective system arrangement that is accessible on the Web and simple in managing all the stations all through the business domains, regarding operational and functional competence. In addition, software Matintenix minimizes repetitive jobs and missing time tracking or imperfect information by permitting engineering, maintenance and finance divisions to simply share data and information across the globe. Maintenix softwar e employs a contemporary and up-to-date architecture and offers superior potential like that function-based computerized workflow, Web browser interface, electronic database signatures, additional adapters and facility for portable wireless devices.

Organisational Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Organisational Behaviour - Essay Example It is expected that not any kind of people, but only a few with certain work personalities can become effective in particular kinds of jobs. This fact about employee types is attributed to five major personality types or characteristics found to be predominant among workers, namely: extroversion/introversion; emotional stability/instability; agreeableness/hostility; conscientiousness/heedlessness; and open-mindedness/closed-mindedness (Barrick and Mount, 1991). Depending on the line of work, there may be observed imbalances between the levels of each personality type, and this accounts for the predominating personality type among individuals in a particular work setting, which in turn dictates their success or failure in particular work settings or careers. ... ality types in each individual could affect the relative success or failure in each kind of job or work, thus it is important that aside from knowing the personal strengths and weaknesses of each individual, it is also relevant that the company’s goals be clear and concise enough to be understood (Bruck and Allen, 2003). With this in mind, the workplace must be able to create an environment that cultivates the individual’s skills in various levels and areas while at the same time relying on each person’s predominating work personality type. Different personality types go well with certain kinds of work. Person-job (PJ) fitting and person-organisation (PO) fitting has been used to assess what kind of work would make particular types of people excel, as well as predicting those that may prove to be difficult for them (Ryan and Kristof-Brown, 2003). People rating high in extroversion levels are reported to be suitable to careers with greater public exposure such as sales, those which rate high in emotional stability are more suited to law-enforcement work lie in security or police work, conscientiousness is linked with meticulous and detailed work such as engineering and architecture, agreeableness goes well with public service work such as foundations or public health work, and openness is one trait that is lauded in the academics or in research work (Mullins, 2005; Touze, 2005). When the PJ or the PO rating is good, this implies that the person is able to reconcile personal beliefs, attitudes and work goals with the organisation’s own objectives, which increases the person’s chances of staying in the organisation and achieving personal satisfaction. However, when the PJ or PO rating is bad or low, chances are that the individual’s personal preferences simply

Backlash Against the Feminist Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Backlash Against the Feminist Movement - Essay Example The backlash, according to Trimble's analysis of the phenomenon (cited in Feminism and I am not a feminist, 2008, p. 12), "was born out of the rise of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism in the 1980s and 1990s." At that point in time, the popular belief was that the movement had successfully accomplished its primary objectives and that Canadian women, as a consequence, had attained a status of absolute equality with males. Women had attained the basic rights for which they had agitated and fought. As the movement had been initiated by the absence of these rights and its goal had been the attainment of these rights, their accomplishment was interpreted as a successful conclusion to the movement. As such, the backlash refers, not to the right of women to equality or their earlier struggle for the attainment of equality, but to the current, "third wave" of feminism (p. 12). The backlash, in other words, is directed against feminism as a socio-political and ideological movement. Canadian women have not, historically, embraced feminism. According to Trimble, O'Neil and Faludi (cited in Feminism and I am not a feminist, 2008, pp. ... This is not simply expressive of the backlash against feminism but of popular rejection of radicalism, coupled with the certitude of gender equality. Quite simply stated, gender equality is an unquestionable principle in Canada and the equality of the sexes is neither contested nor debated. The implication here is that Canadian women do not feel that they have to embrace feminism in order to attain equality and do not embrace it because they are averse to radicalism. From a personal perspective, feminism is not something which I identify with. While I most definitely understand the roots of the movement and acknowledge that were it not for the earlier generations of feminists, I would not be enjoying the freedoms which I take for granted today, I do not understand its present-day purposes or motives. Men and women are equal and this is something which we, as women, no longer need to argue or to prove. The notion that we must constantly prove and argue our equality does not reflect positively on us as a gender and, subjectively speaking, is somewhat demeaning. It seems to say that we are not persuaded of our own equality and therefore, need to constantly remind ourselves and others of it. It is, thus, that I see myself as a human rights advocate but not a feminist. I do not question the equality of the sexes and do not assume that we are not equal. Instead, I question equality between people and whether, in fact, all people, irrespective of colour , class, religion or ethnic heritage, are treated and regarded as equal. As I believe they should, and must, be, I support human rights but not feminism. Royal Commission on the Status of Women The Royal Commission on the Status of Women was

Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay Example for Free

Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay 1. Executive summary The organic food industry is suitable for business investments in both Sweden and Denmark due to several factors. First of all, efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions facilitate business and provide location advantages. Moreover, studying the business/industry culture can be used to gain insights in the business environment of Sweden/Denmark in the field of organic food. However, the complex natures of harvesting organic goods make it impossible to indicate the best location for production, as this depends on the particular product being produced. As a result, demand and supply across Sweden and Denmark are met by means of a widespread retail sector, intra-industry trade and export. Only by making an estimation of sectorial breakdown and its counterparts an (somewhat) informed investment decision can be made. Either way, it is evident that organic food industry as a whole has gained popularity due to several reasons. One example is that CSR profiles of firms have become an customary element in the product purchasing decision in recent times. It can be said that recent developments in technological- (information technology revolution) and political nature (subsidies) have contributed to this trend, documents playing an important role in particular. Since culture consists of documents and culture is more available to document analysis today it has been our choice in our data collection method. In turn, for data analysis we have made use of coding, series of events and semiotics. It is these that have allowed us to assess macroeconomic performance of Sweden and Denmark as well as its historical developments, socio-cultural conditions and the nature of competitiveness in the organic industry field. Despite the fact that Sweden and Denmark share many similarities in each one of these areas there are some differences. However, these are considered to be subtle and highly context-dependent. Therefore, we would also not like to answer our research question, ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ in this section, but hope that you will find an answer what is best for you in the pages of the remainder of this report. Ultimately, we will provide major findings of comparisons and recommendations, based on our views and experience gained during our research. It might be possible to ‘’tweak’’ this information in such a way in making it applicable for your particular business scenario or business plan. 2. Introduction This section is meant to state the goal, relevance and purpose of our Factbook. Furthermore, it will give rise to our lead question, being ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ To boot, we hope to achieve appraisal and recognition for our deliverables from whom ultimately might use and/or buy our Factbook. Like the CIA Factbook, our focus is on the industry. However, it is important to note that we have tried to achieve more than the already existing Factbooks, as they are often too comprehensive or lacking in value. We have tried to overcome the first problem by linking theory to application and writing about it. In this, our main challenge has been to take into account all aspects that somehow matter for the bottom line, the profitability of an investment project. Yet, since profitability is a relative term it might be better to speak of opportunity costs. This terminology is crucial to understand for correct business decision making to take place and also forms the backbone for our final recommendations in our Factbook. Moreover, Pugel (2009) has showed that many industries incur rising, rather than constant, marginal opportunity costs. For instance, efforts to expand Denmark/Sweden organic wheat production would fairly quickly run into rising costs caused by limits on (1) how much more land could be drawn into wheat production and how suitable this additional land would be for wheat production, (2) the availability of additional workers willing and suitable to work on the farms, and/or (3) the availability of seeds, fertilizers, and other material inputs. As for the second problem, we focus mostly on institutionalism and culture as they are lacking in other country Factbooks. Examples of institutions that can facilitate business in Sweden and Denmark are efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions, both being considered to be generally available location advantages (Verbeke 2010). Concerning culture, we are particularly interested in business/industry culture. This is based on logic that our analysis is mainly on the industry level. Furthermore, Hollensen (2008) has showed that business/industry culture of business behavior and ethics is similar across borders, i. e. expected to be the same for Sweden and Denmark. By learning about the industry culture the decision maker will be aware of important ‘rules of the game’ (Hollensen 2008). Concerning the purpose, this Factbook is meant to facilitate a document that will be considered important for decision makers, i. e. policy makers but especially business investors. From an investment perspective, several hierarchical modes (domestic-based sales representatives, mergers and acquisition, alliances, greenfield) are possible. However, retailer alliances and mergers and acquisition are most popular. To illustrate, in the case of Sweden retailer alliances control 90% of the food retail stores (http://www. snee. org/filer/papers/193. pdf). Furthermore, because the organic food market in Denmark and Sweden and Europe in general is rather fragmented, mergers provide benefits and interest to investors through economies of scale (http://www. nytimes. com/2011/05/24/business/global/24organic. html). Lastly, market growth, political support and complimentary resources in both Denmark and Sweden stimulate and attract business investors. These and other issues will be elaborated in the remainder of this report. All in all, we will provide the examiner with information of which we believe to be relevant for decision makers and can be used for deciding which company, or which industries of this company, to invest in. Hereby, we have tried to identify the major dimensions relevant to comparative country studies. These have been chosen carefully and matter for the organic food industry and a wide spectrum of business within this industry. In turn, these dimensions can be used to compare the countries Sweden and Denmark. Ultimately, the contents of this Factbook are meant to stay closely connected to the country set Sweden/Denmark and it’s organic food industry, yet still is general to the extent that it allows applying the information to a concrete business case. With the final product of our Factbook we hope to have provided the reader with a clear understanding of the conditional differences between Sweden and Denmark and as such an answer to our research question. Concerning the structure of the remainder of this paper, we will subsequently discuss: methods and frameworks, introduction to organic food sector, methods and frameworks, country comparison, major findings of comparison and recommendations and the bibliography. 3. Methods and frameworks 3. 1 Method for Factbook compilation As method for our Factbook compilation we have opted to first focus on the country and then on the region. It can be described as a region-based compilation (RBC) technique. For example, if you look at technology, technology is taking place in Eindhoven in The Netherlands and not in Delfzijl. If you are going to do something with energy then you end up in Delfzijl rather than in Eindhoven. However, making such a comparison for Sweden or Denmark in terms of organic food proves difficult. To explain, people that argue that organic food is simply being harvested on the most fertile agricultural land are likely to mix up terms. That is, fertility should be clearly set aside from productivity or even best land. Indeed, you can have a highly fertile area but deficient in its use do its limited crop sizes. Moreover, a certain area of agricultural land might be appropriate to harvest a particular organic product, but is less appropriate or least suitable for other organic products. Lastly, in general organic material levels go up as you go north. But productivity does not necessarily follow the same trend because the same shorter season and lower temperatures that helped build and maintain that organic material, limits growing seasons and crops growth. In order to prevent complexity we have decided to focus more on the retail sector of Sweden and Denmark than the production sector. The retail sector will include exports as over 70 percent of the exports of industrialized countries are shipped to other industrialized countries, and nearly half of total world trade is industrialized countries trading with each other (Pugel 2009). Sweden and Denmark are no exception, as they are known to have an established intra-industry trade relationship. Besides physical locations we also like to discuss official statistics as another compilation issue. The main issue is that official statistics often rely on incomplete information and therefore involve estimation. In our report we have made use of two types of estimation, sectorial breakdown and its counterparts. We have chosen to select these two types in order to facilitate the decision maker with a reflection opportunity of a wide variety of activities he/she might be interested in. Furthermore, in an attempt to ‘standardize’ statistics we will use figures of the Central Statistics Office (or a comparable source) as much as possible for both Denmark and Sweden. We believe it is advisable to use comparable or equal sources between the two countries as it strengthens the reliability of our research. Based on previous experience and narratives we believe the Central Statistics Office (also known as Central Statistics Bureau) is one of the most easily accessible and reliable sources to be found on the Internet. Furthermore, in order to prevent possible ambiguity we will use equal terminology for both countries as much as possible, including definitions of sectors and instrument categories. Moreover, we would like to briefly discuss the overall structure of the Factbook. First of all, the executive summary is meant to provide background information on the topic of organic food as an industry and can act as a quick-review guide of what the examiner is likely to expect in the report. In this, the executive summary contains several main ideas reflected in the report itself. Furthermore, the introduction discusses more distinct the Factbook and the underlying principles. Then, data collection and data analysis show arguments for the choices we have made in conducting our empirical research. As to the chapters that follow, these are simply a representation and a more in-depth analysis of what has been announced in the previous chapters and act as to share our findings in terms of describing legal, political, environmental, institutional and cultural dimensions. Lastly, we finalise our report by concluding with major findings of comparisons and recommendations. 3. 2 Prime theories and approaches There are different theories to be utilized for compiling this Factbook. One of the main drivers for organic farming is environmental reason, which are often associated with care for the environment. Moreover, it can be argued that the choice for buying ‘’organic’’ is also driven by social cultural reasoning, having this care for the environment being embedded as part of the culture. Indeed, this is mainly the case in the Western market where awareness towards environmental issues has risen in recent times. It is terms like corporate responsibility and sustainability that have become a part of the decision making process of Western consumers as to what to buy and to whom to buy it from. In this, environmental and socio-cultural values have become an important facet in the decision making process of the consumer in general, the organic food industry being no exemption. In an attempt to verify and examine these trends we will make use of theory of Schwartz (1999) combined with the theory of planned behaviour to determine if organic food consumption offers potential for business investment to take place. As we shall see later on, Schwartz his cultural values can be used to assess the main characteristics of the average Swedish and Danish inhabitant and how these assist in making inferences about core values, behaviour and its relation to the organic food industry. In order to find more specific similarities and differences we have made use of the framework as proposed by S. Ruiz de Maya et al. (2011), who offer us a theoretical approach to the organic food industry from the consumer side. It is this that provides us with socio-cultural factors and helping the investor to decide whether Sweden or Denmark is more ‘suitable’ to invest in, depending on a particular context. In addition, the PESTLE analysis will also be utilized in this report. It is important to note that we will not be focusing on the whole framework but on the political, social and legal factors provided. By examining the political factors we can determine how these influence the organic food industry. For instance, some administrations can be beneficial for the organic food industry. For instance, by stimulating farmers to dedicate more land for organic farming and usage of organic food in government institutions. However, in another term a different administration might not be so favourable to organic farming and food, which could lead to a different situation. For example, abolishing organic farming grants. As mentioned before, the social side of organic food consumption is important. Health and environmental issues have become more important for the general public. Furthermore, the investor should keep in mind that views concerning organic food can change. These factors can have an influence on the demand. Last aspect is the legal aspects. For example, determine the definition of organic food and who or how they uphold this standard. This factor is related to the political part of the PESTLE analysis. Legislation concerning organic food is important for the Factbook. There can be differences between Denmark and Sweden concerning organic food industry. 3. 3 Method for data collection and analysis. This section will discuss our chosen method for data collection and analysis. We will start by addressing the data collection technique, after which the data collection analysis approach will follow. First of all, it can be said that our study involves both qualitative research (a focus on text) and quantitative research (a focus on numbers). However, since institutionalism and culture are clearly more qualitative we have opted to focus on qualitative data collection techniques. In the end, we have made use of solely documents as a qualitative data collection technique. Although we would have liked to include interviews and fieldwork in our research, we experienced that it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to carry out these activities successfully. First, we could not find any suitable individuals or focus groups being knowledgeable about our subject. Second, we do not believe ourselves to be proficient enough in fieldwork as to ensure reliable and valid results. Moreover, the duration of the necessary fieldwork was also expected not to fit within the given timeframe set to create the Factbook. In either case, there are some advantages of using documents as opposed to interviews and fieldwork. For example, documents are relatively cheap and quick to access (Payne Payne, 2004). It is usually much easier to obtain data from documents than from interviews or fieldwork. Also, if there are many documents on a subject, which we believe to hold true for our case, triangulation is possible to study developments over time. In terms of sources of data, our research is limited to secondary data only. Indeed, we did not make use of any unpublished data being gathered directly from people or organizations. Instead, we have made use of published books, webpages, newspaper articles and journal articles. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that these sources were able to provide us with sufficient empirical data for our research, especially with regard to culture related aspects. Concerning the latter, we would also like to refer to Altheide (1996), who said that documents are studied to understand culture. He has pointed out that a large part of culture consists of documents. Furthermore, he has showed that culture is more available to document analysis today because of the information technology revolution. (Altheide, 1996). Finally, in order to assess the quality of the documents used, we have made use of four criteria as proposed by Scott (1990): (1) authenticity, (2) credibility, (3) representativeness (4) meaning. Concerning the method for data analysis, we have chosen to make use of several approaches for analyzing qualitative data. Probably the one being used the most is coding. We have chosen this approach primarily because it is one of the easiest ways to analyse qualitative data. In addition, it offers many advantages. For instance, it allows reducing the size of the data and is useful for retrieving, organizing, and speeding up the analysis (Miles Humberman, 1994). Although this method has been used throughout the entire report, it has been particular helpful in our literature review on the organic food industry, as making use of buzzwords has helped in defining the scope of our research. Moreover, it was found helpful for the executive summary and the introduction, as these are more restricted in terms of length. Here coding has acted as an instrument to make distinctions between either ‘too detailed’ or ‘too general’ more easily. Another data analysis approach we have made use of is series of events. We have made use of this approach as we considered it to be helpful to compare relevant historical developments for our industry. Listing a series of events by chronological time periods and subsequently assigning events to categories has helped to identify similarities and differences over time. As such, it allows us to pinpoint more precisely when historical developments have been most evident and how it has changed the view of the industry. Due to its very nature this approach was utilized in the historical developments section of our report. Lastly, we have made use of semiotics, which is concerned with the meaning of signs and symbols. For business and management research, semiotics is most useful in marketing, management, consumer research and information systems. This is because in these segments, signs are very important. For example, form of brand names and logos are considered to be highly important. In our view semiotics also play an influential role in the organic food industry. Currently, there is some debate about the future growth of the organic food industry; it either being with brands or retailer private labels. It has been argued that large food retailers are taking advantage of the ‘organic’ brand without making any of the associated investment. While the industry has been built by certification agencies and pioneering brands, their presence in terms of logos and brands is diminishing in supermarkets and mainstream retailers (http://www. organicmonitor. com/r0811. htm). As such, investment scenario’s in the organic food industry are less clear-cut than in the past and require careful examination of conventions governing the use of signs and sign systems. In our report, semiotics has been found crucial to explain the socio-cultural and market/industry conditions more fully. 4. Introduction sector/industry In order to provide the examiner with an introduction of the organic food industry, general trends, definitions and boundaries will be discussed. To boot, the European organic food market has a total revenue of $24. 7 billion in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8. 9% between 2006 and 2010 based on research of DATAMONITOR (2010). The European organic food market grew by 6% in 2010 to reach a value of 24. 7 billion and it is predicted that in 2015 the European organic food market will be worth $36. 8 billion, an increase of 48. 8% since 2010. According to UNCTAD, organic agriculture is defined as a holistic production management whose primarily goal is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil, life, plants, animals and people. Moreover, According to Chen (2009) organic products are goods that respect the environment and that are manufactured without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, antibiotics or gene manipulation. By viewing the production side, organic producers should combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and application of high-animal welfare standards, providing higher quality products to respond to a certain consumers’ demand. Nowadays, the concern of Western society on how products may be profoundly harmful to the environment has led to a higher demand for organic products, sustainable business activities and stricter regulations from national governments (Gurau and Ranchod, 2005). Due to this increasing concern and higher demand in European countries, it can be argued that the organic food industry is becoming a more interesting and challenging sector for investors to invest in. Furthermore, organic food industry generates revenue as the second largest market within Europe and is continuously growing. However, some boundaries as to this sector do exist. Three main boundaries we found to be of importance are price premiums, quality and availability and time factor. Of these three, price premium is expected to be the most important. This is due to the fact that organic food more often than not requires another form of processing and is more difficult to conserve. Moreover, the costs of quality control are also expected to be higher as no pesticides are used as to protect large crops. As such, it is rational that the price is more expensive than conventional food products. In effect, consumers with lack of knowledge will reconsider buying organic products because of this simple fact. Considering quality of the organic products, consumers believe that by charging a higher price this is equivalent to a higher quality. This view is based on the rationale of human beings, sometimes depicted in phrases such as ‘pay more, get more’. Whilst this ‘rule’ not always holds true, our (inner) convictions and background study has verified that this is in fact the case in the organic food industry. An example of the organic food retail sector is that high priced restaurants tend to favour organic (natural) ingredients. Based on the above, the organic products will meet consumers’ expectation by providing the products above the conventional product’s standards, with a price tag to match its difference in quality. The last constraint we would like to discuss is availability and time factor. The availability of organic products do not vary as much as that of conventional products. As organic products are often less well exposed, they are more difficult to find in stores. This is an important consideration and largely influences issues such as sales expectations, storage costs and risk of decay. Furthermore, in the following part we will discuss and analyse how the conditions of organic food provide the investor with a broader view of the organic food industry. In this, we will consider four conditions as factors being relevant for organic food: political-, cultural-, legal- and labor systems. 5. Country comparison 5. 1 Macro-economic indicators A country comparison on macro-economic indicators can be considered to be beneficial for decision makers as it gives them food for thought on the expected macroeconomic performance of that country, i. e. the behavior of a country’s output, jobs, and prices in the organic food industry in the face of changing world conditions. This judgment call about performance is basically what drives most macro-economic analysis. It can be used to assess issues such as how well a country’s economy is performing and how close it is to achieving broad desirable objectives, such as stability in average product prices (no inflation) and low unemployment (Pugel 2009). The most relevant macro-economic indicators for the organic food industry are considered to be economic indicators and financial indicators. Demographic indicators do not seem important to us as research has shown that gender or age does not have any significant effect on whether people decide to buy organic food or not (http://newhope360. com/organic-consumers-share-values-not-demographics). In order to ensure reliability we have chosen to attain all figures of these indicators from one source, namely De Grote Bosatlas (2002). Fig. 1 STATISTIEK EUROPA (part 1) Fig 2. STASTIEK EUROPA (PART 2) From figure 1 we can infer that Denmark had a higher agricultural contribution in terms of percentage towards the GDP. Moreover, Denmark has a substantial higher percentage of agricultural grounds (62. 4% versus 7. 9%) Furthermore, Denmark has a higher contribution to GDP per capita. Besides, inhabitants from Denmark are slightly wealthier than those in Sweden, when looking at GDP. Lastly, Denmarks development of the GDP in 1990-1999 has risen more than was the case for Sweden. Then, from figure 2, we can infer that Denmark has a stronger economy than Sweden, but only by a small margin. Furthermore, inflation rate for Denmark is lower, yet also again only by a small margin. Moreover, Denmark has more government spending in terms of percentage of GDP. Concerning education, Denmark spends more in terms of percentage of GDP. Besides, Denmark inhabitants generally enjoy a higher purchasing power than is the case for Swedish inhabitants. It also shows that more Danish people are working in both the agricultural and industrial sector than Sweden, these tend to work more in the service sector. Lastly, Denmark has a lower percentage of the work force being unemployed. From this preliminary analysis we can infer that in terms of economic indicators investments in Denmark are likely to require a higher yield on an investment than were the case of Sweden. This assumption is made based on the simple fact that as for many elements Denmark performs better than Sweden on compared elements. The same holds true in terms of financial indicators. Although the data may be easily said to be ‘outdated’, we believe this is not quite the case. That is, our analysis on historical development has not provide any conclusive evidence as to not believe that the relationship of these economical and financial figures to be that much different as they are today. Yet, since we do not know when the actual investment is to take place it is always advisable to check the results of a more recent research. Although we would have loved to use a more recent version of De Grote Bosatlas ourselves, we could not find ourselves in the position to get access to one during the course of this research. Luckily, we were able to find a recent figure for gross domestic expenditure on RD as a percentage of GDP that verified our assumption. [pic] From the figure above it can be concluded that Denmark spends between 1. 01% and 2. 00% of its GDP on RD activities. Sweden on the other hand spends a little more with 2. 01% and above. This corresponds with our financial records of the Grote Bosatlas, where government spending in Sweden was higher than that of Denmark in general. Furthermore, since the RD expenditures on RD as a percentage of GDP are larger than that of most other parts of the world, we expect no real problems for investors in this area. Background information as to why Sweden and Denmark support expenditures on the organic food industry is discussed extensively in both the chapters about socio-cultural conditions and market/industry conditions. 5. 2 Historical developments relevant for the industry. The issues with the environment have many different facets. These range; from deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution and many others (EBS 295, 2008). The attitude concerning these issues by the general public can change over time. Values change over time and this applies for the public perception of organic food as well. Likewise, one could say that the organic food industry is driven in a sense of improving and protecting the environment. In addition, consumers also attitude towards the environment also contribute in how they value organic food. Furthermore, not only concern for the environment but also growing awareness by the general public concerning their food and the production involved. These issues related to food production range from; health, food safety and animal welfare. (Sippo manual, 2011) The origins for organic farming in both countries are similar. In the same manner consumers started become more aware of the environment. Farmers also become more aware and began with organic farming. Both countries have had organic farming since early eighties in the general concept of the term organic farming. If we take into account the establishment of organizations concerning organic food then Denmark was a few years earlier with the founding of Danish Association of Organic Farmers in 1981. The Swedish counter part is called the Ecological Farmers Association, which was founded in 1985. Both organizations are private initiatives of organic farmers organizing themselves. (http://www. fao. org) Since the 1990s the governments of both Denmark and Sweden have introduced various regulations concerning the organic food industry. These regulations include assigning certificates that label products as organic. In addition, the European Union also implemented regulations concerning the organic food industry. Likewise, the organizations that control and label organic foods also found their origins in late eighties early nineties. In Denmark the first organic food legislation was implemented in 1987. The government assigns the O logo to organic food. (www. fvm. dk). This state approved logo is only given to products that are conforming to the standards of â€Å"organic† as stated by Danish regulations. In addition, in Denmark only state approved farms may carry the â€Å"organic† label. In Sweden the organization that is tasked with the certification of organic food is called KRAV. Founded in 1985, this organization was formed from the Ecological Farmers Organization in order to standardize the various interpretations of the term â€Å"organic farming† and bring both farmers and food producers together. (Gunnar Rundgren, 2002) However, it should be noted that the KRAV organization is a non-governmental organization. While, it’s Danish counterpart is part of the Ministry of Agriculture. 5. 3 Socio-cultural conditions Cultural systems From the point of view of the investor, it is important to know the differences and similarities between the two countries Denmark and Sweden. In this section, we will focus on this in terms of cultural assessment. In order to describe the cultural systems of both Denmark and Sweden we have made use of five cultural dimensions as proposed by Schwartz (1999): harmony, egalitarianism, effective autonomy, mastery, and conservatism. It is these cultural dimensions that will help to describe each countries culture and detect any important similarities and differences. The cultural values focus in the article of Schwartz is on the national culture. The national culture being introduced for heterogeneous nations refers primarily to the value culture of the dominant, majority group. In this case, Schwartz tries to interpret the value priorities that characterize a society by aggregating the value priorities of individuals (e. g. Hofstede’s framework). It is depicted that individual value priorities are a product of both shared culture and unique personal experience. Moreover, Schwartz has placed his list of researched countries into different segments (clusters). Denmark and Sweden put in the first group (cluster), Finland and Italy in another, Spain as a third group and Germany, Greece and the United Kingdom in a fourth group.

Study Of Direct Subsidy Scheme

Study Of Direct Subsidy Scheme In 1988, the Education Commission Report No.3 proposed the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS). The first DSS scheme was set up in 1991. The scheme aimed at developing a strong private school sector by providing high quality schools other than government and aided schools and to give parents a greater choice in looking for suitable schools for their children. So, what is Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS)? It is a means to enhance the quality of private schools in Hong Kong at the primary and secondary level (Education Commission Report No.3 June 1988). Non-governmental secondary schools which are attained a sufficiently high educational standard to join the DSS by providing subsidies in order to enhance the quality of private school education since the 1991-92 school year. The government set up the Direct Subsidy Scheme in primary and secondary education in Hong Kong with three rationales. The first one is to set up a qualified private education provision sector. The scheme allows DSS schools to charge tuition fees on their own willingness. Some schools may charge higher tuition fees, so that they purchase better equipment and have extra resources. As a result, the DSS schools can improve their teaching qualities. Besides, the schools under DSS can operate with greater autonomy. The schools can recruit more teachers so that the teacher to students ratio can be lower. Then, students can learn better. Another rationale is that DSS allows more diversity in different schools as there is less restriction and schools can freely decide on their own to operate. For example, schools can design the curricula, school tuition fees and selection criteria. Schools can also tailor made their syllabus to meet the interest and abilities of their students. As a result, our education system will be more diverse and more schools with different styles and specialties would exist. The third rationale is to increase the variety of choices for parents and students. As schools can identify their own strengths specialties (as the above mentioned), there will be more options (different types of schools) for parents to choose. Choices can be made based on the needs and interests of the children and it will be beneficial to the students. Schools joining Direct Subsidy Scheme is quite different from those government schools, aided schools and private schools. Here are three features of the Direct Subsidy scheme. The first one is that the scheme allowed the school to charge tuition fees. The government has little control over the tuition fees levels. For instance, the tuition fees is $28,000 per annum for Diocesan Boys College Form one students while the tuition fees is $48,000 per annum for St. Pauls Co-educational College Form one students. The second feature of the scheme is that the DSS schools can receive subsidies, which depend on the numbers of students enrolled in the schools, from the government. The schools are free to spend their grants for educational purpose. Enjoying high autonomy is another feature of the Direct Subsidy Scheme. Schools joining the scheme can have their own selection criteria and selection processes. It means that the selection processes is regardless districts, which is different from the centrally allocated system. Another aspect of autonomy that the DSS schools can enjoy is that they are free to design the syllabus and curriculum. Take Diocesan Boys School as an example, it adopts International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) for overseas study. After setting up the Direct Subsidy Scheme in Hong Kong, how is the scheme affecting the primary and secondary education? Now, there are 83 schools (including 62 secondary schools and 21 primary schools) in total joining the Direct Subsidy scheme. DSS schools now account for more than 6% of secondary schools and 1.2% of primary school. Although the ratio seems to be relatively low, there is a trend to increase in the future. It especially refers to some elite schools with prestigious reputation such as the St. Paul Co- educational School and the Diocesan Boys School. It is because joining the Direct Subsidy Scheme, schools can acquire extra resources and autonomy for their future development and teaching visions. For the well-perceived schools, they can take advantages out of the scheme and able to improve their teaching and learning experience. They can organize more enrichment programs such as overseas tours, cultural trips and outdoor learning activities with the extra funding and freedom gain. The schools can also hire extra teachers and assistants. As a result, the schools can make their teaching process more effective and reduce the working pressure of teachers. Take St. Paul Co- educational School as an example, it employed 10 more teachers into its own teaching team (with 108 teachers). However, in normal government- aided schools, there are only 60 to 70 teachers. For some less famous schools, they can better cater the special needs of their original students, have new sources of applicants and featuring their custom curricula and syllabus. They tend to have students from South-Asian, New immigrants from Mainland China and under-performed in terms of academic studies. And their school fees are generally more affordable compare with those elite schools joining DSS. The general effect is that there is a trend for both secondary schools and primary schools in Hong Kong to turn to DSS schools in the future. As the above mentioned, it is believed that there will be more and more schools joining the Direct Subsidy Scheme in the future. So, the scheme must have its pros to attract those schools to join in. Let us first analyze the pros of the scheme from schools view. Being a DSS schools, schools can enjoy high autonomy. Schools are free to decide their own school fees, curriculum and student admission policies. AS schools can set their own selection criteria, they can control the standards of their students. Some schools will even establish their own cultures and styles. For example, La Salle College has its own spirit The Lasallian Spirit: Faith and Zeal. Besides, DSS schools can also get more operating funds by charging higher school fees and receiving government subsidies. As a result, schools can have abundant funds to provide additional and better quality facilities. From the view of parents and students, the advantages of the Direct Subsidy Scheme are that the DSS schools have high teaching quality, so it can enhance students with good learning experience. Besides, as DSS schools usually offer small- group teaching for major subjects, so that the students-teachers ratio will be lower. Then, teachers may have a better teaching and caring on each student. So, students can benefit from a better learning environment. From teachers view, working in a DSS school, they will be benefit from a lighter workload. As DSS schools usually employ more teachers and offer small- group teaching for major subjects, the students-teachers ratio will be lower. As a result, each teacher can then focus on fewer students. Besides, teacher may establish deeper relationship with students as teachers only need to focus small class of students. Therefore, the teachers- students relationships may become better. As every coin has two sides, everything has both positive and negative sides. Direct Subsidy Scheme also has some cons from the view of schools, students, parents and teachers. From schools view, they may worry that the schools competitiveness is weaken due to the higher school fees compare to other schools. Some families may not be able to afford the higher school fees. When the quality of a DDS school and a non- DSS school has no big different, those families will probably not consider DSS schools as a choice. Schools may also worry the risk of insufficient of students. As the government subsidies received by DDS schools depend on the numbers of students enrolled in the schools, so schools may need to face the problem of insufficient funds if there are not enough students. It may then lead to lacking of resources for facilities and continuous development. In the long term, the school may need to lower its admission requirement. Form the view of students and parents, there is inequality in school admission process. It is because students need to pay higher school tuition fees to enter DSS schools compare to those students enter non- DSS schools. School tuition fees may be a burden for some poor families, and these families may not be able to afford the higher school tuition fees. Apart from the admission process, unfairness may also occur in the educational process. As DSS schools usually have more funds for better facilities and resources, students study in DSS schools may enjoy better facilities and better learning environment. It may be not so fair to those non- DSS schools students. From the view of teachers, they may have worries of wage cuts. As DSS schools tend to employ more teachers, teachers salary will increase the expense of the schools. Some may worries that schools will have wage cuts in order to reduce the expense on teachers salary. Besides, as some parents are still not very familiar to the Direct Subsidy Scheme, teachers may have to spend extra time explaining the policy to parents. It may then increase the workload of teachers. After discussing both the pros and cons of the Direct Subsidy Scheme, I think that the cons of the Direct Subsidy Scheme far outweigh the pros. I oppose the scheme for these reasons. First of all, Direct Subsidy Scheme violates the spirit of Education for all walks of life. Education should treat all students equally but not select students by criteria such as family background or wealth. However, as DSS schools enjoy high autonomy and they can set their own selection criteria and admission process, many of the DSS schools tend to choose the elite students only and exclude those poor students from joining. For example, a student who has his father or brothers studied in the Diocesan Boys School will be added marks in the admission process of the Diocesan Boys School. The school tends to give advantage to the alumnis children. It is obvious that DSS schools are selecting students by their family background. It is unfair to the other students. It violates the principle of equal educational opportunities. Moreover, the scheme hinders the social mobility. The principle of equal educational opportunities suggest that students should be selected according their academic results instead of their family background or the ability of paying the schools tuition fees and even low- class students who have outstanding academic results can enter the universities and become middle class in the future. However, the Direct Subsidy Scheme violates this principle and hinders the social mobility. Poor students are restricted from entering the DSS schools. DSS schools lead to stratified society. On the other hand, Direct Subsidy Scheme leads to inequality in the educational system as DSS schools take both the advantages of aided schools and private school. DSS schools can receive the subsidies according to the numbers of students from the government, which is the advantage of aided schools. DSS schools can also enjoy a high autonomy on school curriculum, students selection and designing syllabus, which is the advantage of private schools. Apart from taking both the advantages of aided schools and private school, the DSS schools can also receives extra income from charging schools tuition fees. It is a kind of unfairness to the subsidy schools and private schools. In conclusion, Direct Subsidy Scheme was set up in purpose of providing high quality schools to give parents and students a greater choice in looking for suitable schools. After evaluation, it can be seen that there are both advantages and disadvantages of the scheme. The disadvantages of the scheme seem to outweigh the advantages. However, it is obvious that there is a trend for both secondary schools and primary schools in Hong Kong to turn to DSS schools in the future. While more and more schools become DSS schools, the effects of DSS bringing to Hong Kong education will be much more evident. To stop creating unfairness and hindering social mobility, the government should really think of some new policy to improve the Direct Subsidy Scheme to perfect the Hong Kong educational system.

Barriers To Communication

Barriers To Communication For any kind of communication to be successful, it is essential that the receiver attributes the same meaning to the message as intended by the sender of the message. But all acts of communication are not perfect or successful. At times, some meaning is lost as the message encounters various barriers along its passage between the sender and the receiver. Such barriers may arise at any of the stages through which a message passes during the process of communication. This is also called miscommunication. Some of the common problems that lead to the failure of communication are: noise, cultural differences, complexity of subject matter, personal biases, semantic problems, socio-psychological barriers, filtering, information overload, poor retention, poor listening, goal conflicts, slanting, inferring, etc. Barriers to communication can be classified as follows on the basis of the stage of the communication process during which the problem/s arise: a. Sender-oriented barriers: lack of planning, lack of clarity about the purpose of communication, improper choice of words resulting in a badly encoded message, difference in perception, wrong choice of the channel, unjustified presumptions, etc. b. Receiver-oriented barriers: poor listening, lack of interest, difference in perception, biased attitude, etc. c. Channel-oriented barriers: noise, wrong selection of medium, technical defects in the address system or the medium of communication chosen by the sender, time and distance, etc. We may define communication as a psycho-semantic process. Therefore, the barriers that affect the effectiveness of communication are mostly of social-psychological-linguistic nature. These factors may act upon any or all of the elements of the process of communication, that is, the sender or the receiver or the channel. And a common barrier for both the sender and receiver can be the absence of a common frame of reference which often leads to the breakdown of communication in a specific situation. A common frame of reference is the context in which communication takes place. A well-defined context helps the sender and the receiver to comprehend the content of the message in a similar way, with regard to its implications and meaning. Many of the barriers listed above are easy to understand. But a few of them may require a detailed explanation. DIFFERENT TYPES OF BARRIERS The various barriers to communication can be classified into the following broad categories: 1) Semantic or language barriers, 2) Physical barriers, 3) Personal barriers, 4) Emotional or perceptional barriers, 5) Socio-psychological barriers, 6) Cultural barriers, and 7) Organizational barriers. SEMANTIC/LANGUAGE BARRIERS Semantics is the systematic study of the meaning of words. Thus, the semantic barriers are barriers related to language. Such barriers are problems that arise during the process of encoding and/or decoding the message into words and ideas respectively. Both the oral and the written communication are based on words/symbols which are ambiguous in nature. Words/ symbols may be used in several ways and may have several meanings. Unless the receiver knows the context, he may interpret the word/symbol according to his own level of understanding and may thus misinterpret the message. The most common semantic barriers are listed as under: Misinterpretation of Words Semantic problems often arise because of the gap between the meaning as intended by the sender and that as understood by the receiver. This happens when the receiver does not assign the same meaning to the word/symbol as the transmitter had intended. Words are capable of expressing a variety of meanings depending upon their usage, i.e. in the context in which they are used. The association between the word/symbol and the meaning assigned to it is of arbitrary nature. For example, the word yellow when used as an adjective can have multiple connotations depending upon its usage. Words have two levels of meaning- literal (descriptive) and metaphorical (qualitative). Yellow, besides being a primary colour, also stands for freshness, beauty, sickness, decay, etc. Hence, the receiver is free to interpret it in any of these ways based on his own imagination and experience. But for communication to be perfect, it is essential that he must assign to it the same mean ing which the sender had in his mind while encoding the message. Therefore, there is always a possibility of misinterpretation of the messages. Mostly, such problems arise when the sender does not use simple and clear words that can convey the exact meaning to the receiver. Use of Technical Language Technical or specialized language which is used by people or professionals who work in the same field is known as jargon. Such technical language can be a barrier to communication if the receiver of the message is not familiar with it. For example, in the computer jargon, to burn a CD means to copy the data on a CD. To a layman, the word burn may have a very different connotation. Ambiguity Ambiguity arises when the sender and the receiver of the message attribute different meanings to the same words or use different words to convey the same meaning. Sometimes, wrong and speculative assumptions also lead to ambiguity. A sender often assumes that his audience would perceive the situation as he does or have the same opinion about an issue or understand the message as he understands it, and so on. All such assumptions may turn out to be wrong and cause communication failure. PHYSICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL BARRIERS Physical barriers are those barriers which are caused due to some technical defects in the media used for communication and/or due to certain disturbances in the surrounding environment. Often, the term noise is used as a blanket term to refer to the physical barriers in general. But noise, in its literal sense, is also one of the factors that give rise to the physical barriers during the process communication. Besides noise, wrong selection of medium, lack of acoustics, poor lighting, frequent movements of hands, fiddling with a pen, or even serving of tea during an important conversation- all of these are also responsible for creating physical barriers in the communication process. Noise The first major barrier to communication is noise. Communication is distorted by noise that crops up at the transmission level. The meaning attributed to the word noise in the field of Communication is derived from the realm of Physics. In Physics, noise refers to a disturbance, especially a random and persistent disturbance, which obscures or reduces the clarity of a signal. The modern-day connotation of the word noise is irrelevant or meaningless data as is apparent from its usage in the field of Computer Science. For example, the noise of the traffic around a school obstructs the smooth flow of information between the teacher and the students. It makes oral communication difficult. Similarly, poor signal or static while talking over the cell phone or while using the public address system or while watching TV also distorts the sound signals and disrupts communication. Bad weather conditions may also sometimes interfere with the transmission of signals and may lead to breakdow n of the communication channels. As discussed above, noise is not only the disruption of sound signals, but it also includes all the barriers that may arise at any of the various stages of communication. In a broad sense, it denotes semantic barriers, perceptional barriers as well as psychological barriers. Time and Distance Time and distance also act as barriers to the smooth flow of information. Today, because of technological advancements, we have faster means of communication available to us and this in turn has made the world a smaller place. But at times, these means of communication may not be easily accessible because of unavailability or due to technical/technological problems. This may lead not only to a physical but also a communication gap between the transmitter and the receiver. Time differences between people living in two different countries may affect communication between them. Even people working in different shifts in the same organization may also face problems in communicating effectively. Improper seating arrangement in a classroom or in a conference hall may also act as a barrier to effective communication as it is difficult to maintain eye contact with ones audience. Thus, communication can be successful only when the communicators manage to overcome the barrier s by minimizing the obstacles that crop up due to spatial and temporal factors. Wrong Choice of Medium This can also create a barrier to effective communication. For example, if an expert uses charts or graphs or PowerPoint presentations to orient the illiterate workers or volunteers to a new method of working, they are bound to be ill-equipped to infer any information or instructions from such sophisticated presentations. Surroundings Adverse weather conditions affect not only the means of communication, but also have an impact on the sender and the receiver of the message. When two people have to communicate with each other under extreme weather conditions, whether too hot or too cold, their surroundings do have a direct repercussion on the effectiveness of the exchange that takes place between them. Thus, environmental factors determine peoples mood and also influence their mental agility and thereby their capacity to communicate effectively. Extreme heat and humidity make people either hyper or listless and thus cause immense stress which in turn affects clear thinking and the attitude of the communicator; whereas, extreme cold weather induces laziness and also impedes the ability to think clearly and respond sharply, thereby causing communication failure. PERSONAL BARRIERS Communication is interpersonal in nature. Thus, there are certain barriers that are directly linked to the persons involved in the communication process, i.e. the sender and the receiver, which influence the accurate transfer of the message. These are called personal barriers. In any business organization, the attitude of the superiors and the subordinates play a vital role in determining the success of communication. If the superiors have a hostile attitude, then there are chances that they may filter the information or manipulate the message, sometimes intentionally, in order to achieve certain selfish motives. Many superiors are not open to suggestions and feedback as they presume that their subordinates are not capable of advising them. Also, they often tend to keep too busy with work and do not pay much attention to communication. Due to this, the downward flow of information within the organization is badly affected and this in turn leads to poor performance. Besides, the super iors often exercise their authority by insisting that the subordinates should approach them only through proper formal channels of communication. If, under any circumstances, the subordinates try to communicate to the superiors directly, then they may take offense as they perceive such an attempt as a challenge to their position of power. Such an attitude thus becomes a barrier to effective communication. On the other hand, there are certain factors that influence the participation of the subordinates in upward communication. Lack of confidence and fear are the primary reasons why the subordinates fail to communicate openly and comfortably with the superiors. If they feel that some information may, in some way, harm their prospect/ interest in the organization, then they prefer to conceal such information. In case, if that is not possible, then they filter the information so that they cannot be held responsible for the same. Moreover, when the superiors do not support the active involvement of the subordinates in the functioning of the organization by encouraging them to exchange their ideas and to give suggestions that would contribute to the success of the organization, the subordinates become indifferent to such reciprocity and this creates a barrier to upward communication. If the subordinates feel that their ideas and suggestions are of no value to the superiors, then they do not feel motivated to convey the same. Therefore, on the basis of the above discussion, we may conclude that personal barriers have their origin in the attitude of the sender as well as the receiver. Personal barriers often lead to distortion, filtering, and omission of information and thus have an adverse effect on the fidelity of communication. EMOTIONAL OR PERCEPTIONAL BARRIERS Emotional or perceptional barriers are closely associated with personal barriers. Personal barriers arise from motives and attitudes (as seen above), whereas emotional or perceptional barriers have an added dimension that includes sentiments and emotions as well. If the receiver does not evaluate the information with an open mind, i.e. objectively, his judgment/evaluation would be colored by his biases and/or his emotions, thus inducing him to read too much into a message. This would interfere with the exact transfer of information and cause misinterpretation. Such a barrier may also emerge at the time of encoding the message. Over-enthusiasm on the part of the sender may lead him to invest his message with meaning/s which he may actually not have intended to. Besides, too much aggression or passivity on the part of either the sender or the receiver, while communicating, also has an adverse effect on the success of communication. Also, too much of emotion thwarts reason and sometimes , the communicator, blinded by his own sentiments, makes impulsive judgments or illogical decisions. This also results in the breakdown of communication. Indolence, apathy, or the tendency to procrastinate, either on the part of the sender or the receiver, also lead to withholding of important information thus creating a barrier. Extreme emotions like euphoria, excitement, anger, stress, depression, etc. also get in the way of effective communication. All these factors may create biases in the mind of the sender and/or the receiver. Therefore, the sender and the receiver may encode and decode the message respectively as per their own perceptions, background, needs, experience, etc. And this leads to a distinct kind of exchange of ideas and feedback as well. They tend to obfuscate the reality and see what they want to see. This is also one kind of filtering that takes place during the communication process. SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS Socio-psychological barriers can also be considered as one of the offshoots of the personal barriers, akin to the perceptional barriers. We need to study it as a subcategory of personal barriers because a persons attitude is shaped not only by his instincts and emotions, but also by his approach towards and his interaction with the people around him, and hence the need for this fine distinction between the personal, the perceptional and the socio-psychological barriers. To begin with, the consciousness of ones position in an organization has an effect on the two-way flow of communication. A vertical channel of communication is present in every organization, but its efficacy is heavily influenced by the relationship between the superiors and the subordinates. Though many organizations are now becoming accustomed to the open door policy, the psychological distance between the superiors and the subordinates still prevails. Status consciousness is thus one of the major barriers to succes sful communication. Moreover, in a communication situation, the communicators have to deal with two aspects of the reality- the one as they see it and the other as they perceive it. The mind filters the message i.e. the words/symbols/signs and attributes meaning to them, according to individual perception. Each individual has his own distinctive filter, formed by his/her experiences, emotional makeup, knowledge, and mindset which s/he has attained over a period of time. Because of this difference in perceptions, different individuals respond to the same word/symbol/sign based on their own understanding of the situation and ascribe meaning to it on the basis of their unique filter. At times, his difference in perception causes the communication gap, i.e. distortion, in the message. In face-to-face communication, this gap can be easily eliminated as there is immediate feedback. But in written communication, the semantic gap between the intended meaning and the interpreted meaning remains unidentified, as the feedback is delayed or sometimes there is no feedback at all. Besides, a person with deeply ingrained prejudices is very difficult to communicate with. He is not responsive to discussion or to new ideas, information, viewpoints and opinions. He has a closed mind and tends to react antagonistically, thus ruling out all possibility of communication. An unreceptive mind can, hence, be a great barrier in communication. To overcome this barrier, people should be receptive of new ideas and must learn to listen considerately with an open mind. Also, sometimes the listener maybe too much in awe of or may completely distrust the speaker. In both these situations, the chances of success of the communication are very less. Furthermore, information overload leads to poor retention and causes information loss. So, whenever there is some important information to be conveyed, the communicators must use the written channel of communication. On the basis of the above discussion, we may thus conclude that the socio-psychological factors do have a profound impact on the effectiveness of communication. CULTURAL BARRIERS Culture is the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Culture is learned and shared within social groups and is transmitted by non-genetic means. (American Heritage Dictionary, 2005) From this definition, we can infer that culture is the sum total of ideas, customs, arts, rituals, skills, etc. of a group of people which is handed down from generation to generation. Simply put, culture is the shared ways in which groups of people understand and interpret the world. (F. Trompenaars, Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business; 1994) Each group, categorized on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, etc. has its own distinctive culture. Thus, there are varied subcultures that exist within a major culture. Such immense cultural diversity plays a very crucial role in communication as it has an extensive influence on both verbal and non-verbal communication a nd may therefore create barriers to effective communication. Cultural differences give rise to a great deal of complexity in the encoding and the decoding of messages not only because of the difference in languages, but also because of plenty of culture-specific assumptions at work in the mind of the sender as well as the receiver. People belonging to different cultures may attach different meanings to words, symbols, gestures, and behaviour or they may perceive each others social values, body language, attitude to space distancing and time, social behaviour and manners, etc., i.e. the entire culture in general, very differently depending upon their own standards, attitudes, customs, prejudices, opinions, behavioral norms, etc., i.e. their own distinct culture. Thus, cultural barriers arise when people belonging to different cultures insist on preserving their cultural identities and at times, judge the other cultures as inferior to their own. (For a detailed discussion on the various elements that can create cultural barriers, refer Chapter ___ International Communication on page ___) ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS Organizational structure greatly influences the flow of information within an organization. Some major organizational barriers are as follows: Goal Conflicts There may be goal conflicts within the organization between the superiors and the subordinates, between people working in the different departments, between the colleagues, etc. This may create a hostile atmosphere within the organization and can lead to serious communication breakdown. Organizational Policies These are also to a great extent responsible for determining the kind of rapport that people working in the same organization share with each other. If the organizational policy is such that it restricts the free flow of information in all directions (refer Formal Channels of Communication on page ___), then communication would not be successful. In some organizations, there may be rules that restrict the flow of certain messages and this may deter the employees from conveying those messages, however important they may be. If the organization favours the open door policy, the subordinates would not feel shy and reluctant to approach their superiors directly. But in the organizations where the formal channels of communication have to be strictly followed, the superiors and the subordinates share a very awkward relationship. They experience a lot of discomfiture while interacting with each other. Because of this, the objective of communication may never be accomplished. Organizational Hierarchy The hierarchical structure of the organization also impedes the flow of information and causes delay in taking decisions. When the message passes along the chain of command in an organization, there are chances of filtering and distortion of the message at almost every level before it reaches the intended receiver. Thus, the hierarchical structure of the organization is also one of the important factors that may create a barrier to effective communication. On the basis of the above discussion, we may thus sum up that barriers to communication are the aspects of or conditions in a workplace- such as status differences, gender differences, cultural differences, prejudices, and the organizational environment- that interfere with effective exchange of ideas or thoughts. (Business Dictionary) However, there are certain specific strategies that can help us to surmount these obstacles and achieve the purpose of communication. These are discussed in detail in the following section. GUIDELINES- HOW TO OVERCOME BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION On the basis of the various kinds of communication barriers listed in the previous section, let us now ennumerate certain strategies that would help us to overcome these barriers and thus improve communication. As effective communication is essential for the success of a business organization, the communicators must take care to remove the barriers in the way of communication, to the best extent possible. In communication, it is not enough only to know the message. For communication to be complete, the message must be understood by the audience. The communicator shares his message through the medium of words- spoken or written, through gestures, through symbols, etc. Thus, from this we can infer that communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, is symbolic in nature. These two aspects of communication determine the fundamental difference between effective and ineffective communication. If an idea/information is known to but not fully understood by the receiver, then the communication will be ineffective. The sender can know whether the message has been understood by the receiver through his response, i.e. feedback. The following are some general guidelines for the sender and the receiver of the message: For the Sender of the Message At the very outset, that the sender should reveal the purpose of his message and the important topics that he would deal with. By doing so, he prepares the receiver for what is to follow. This helps the receiver to identify the main points of the message, to recognize the link among the important ideas that the message contains and to organize them in a meaningful pattern in his mind. The message should be compact and the sender should concentrate exclusively on the main ideas or information that he intends to convey. Likewise, the sender should situate his ideas in an appropriate context so that the audience will evaluate and interpret them within that common frame of reference which the sender has indicated or suggested. While communicating, the sender should, at all times, emphasize the important points of the message with the help of bulleted lists, chart, graphs, illustrations, body language, tone, pitch, etc. He should also provide a summary at the end of his presentation or write-up. This will help the receiver to grasp the overall meaning of the message, thus making it easy to understand the various parts, i.e. ideas, in relation to the overall framework. The sender should arrange the ideas/information in such a way that it is appealing to the audiences visual and/or auditory senses. In written communication, the writer may make use of an attractive layout and good quality paper to attract the readers attention. While communicating orally, the sender must take care to minimize noise. He should make sure that his surroundings are well-equipped with the necessary acoustics. He should pay special attention to his facial expressions, gesture, and eye contact with the audience at the time of deliver ing the message. The sender should be clear about why he wants to communicate and his message should be precise and well-structured. He should take care to select an appropriate channel or medium so that the impact of message is not lost in transmission. He should send his message through an effective channel i.e. keeping in mind his audience and the purpose of the message and should select a channel where there are less chances of distortion. The sender should avoid using grandiloquent words in order to avoid the possibility of misinterpretation of the overall meaning of the message. The sender should neither burden the receiver with information overload nor should he provide him too little information. He should identify his audience before encoding the message so that he knows what his audience may already known and in what context he should place his message. The sender should formulate and deliver his message in such a way that it retains the audiences interest in what he intends to convey. He s hould do away with all his prejudices and preconceived notions and must communicate clearly and with an open mind. All these would enable him to have an audience-centric approach while encoding his message. For the Receiver of the Message In the initial stage of the communication process, the onus is entirely on the sender of the message. But in the later stage, the receiver plays an active role once he starts absorbing and processing the information in his mind. Thus, the receiver of the message also plays an equally important role in the successful completion of communication. Not all barriers are sender-oriented. The barriers arising from the side of the receiver are known as receiver-oriented barriers. The foremost barrier on the part of the receiver is poor retention. When the message being conveyed is of complex nature, he may lose track of the context in which the sender has initiated communication. To overcome this barrier, the receiver must develop the habit of noting down the important points. If the receiver has a difficulty in concentrating on the message or if he is not interested in the topic being discussed, this too would have a direct influence on his ability to listen effectively. In order to deal with such situations, the receiver should accustom his mind to absorb and assimilate all kinds of information by making a conscious effort to generate interest in and concentrate upon what is being conveyed. When the receiver is too judgmental about the message been delivered or too critical of the style of delivery of the sender, it creates a bar rier as the receiver totally misses out on what the sender is actually trying to communicate. Thus, the receiver should avoid being judgmental and should not be in a hurry to evaluate the message without being aware of the exact context in which it articulated. Prejudices can also create a barrier in the mind of the receiver at the time of the reception and decoding of the message. If the receiver is indifferent to or has any presumptions regarding the sender or what he is trying to put across, then his biases will create a mental block and interfere with his ability to evaluate the content of the message objectively and judiciously. This will lead to misinterpretation of the message and communication will fail. Thus, the receiver must take in new ideas/information with an open mind and should not let his biases influence his perception and reasoning ability. People with deep-rooted biases and a rigid mindset tend to be resistant to new ideas. Such inflexibility hampers listening and leads to miscommunication. Hence, both the sender and receiver should be receptive of new ideas in order to overcome such psychological and personal barriers. To sum up, most of the barriers in communication can be overcome if the sender encodes his message in a clear and precise manner, leaving no room for misinterpretation or miscommunication, and if the receiver acquires effective listening skills and gives an appropriate and timely feedback. When the communicators are able to surmount the barriers and succeed in exchanging their ideas/opinions/information without any omission, filtering or distortion, communication is said to have achieved its purpose. Let us now discuss how effective communication can be achieved within a business organization. Business organizations should adopt an open door policy at all levels. There should be an atmosphere of trust and confidence in the organization so that the communication gap between the superiors and the subordinates may be reduced. Organizational hierarchies and policies should not deter the free flow of information within an organization. The superiors must encourage their subordinates to communicate without hesitation. Such two-way communication within an organization will definitely help minimize the communication gap between the employees. The subordinates should be encouraged to participate in the decision-making process and also in solving problems or dispelling crises situations in an organization. Their ideas and contributions should be valued as this would motivate them to come up with innovative ideas/solutions and share them with their superiors with some conviction. Providing an open environment which is conducive to free interaction among the employees will prove beneficial and will contribute to the growth and success of the organization. The simplification, decentralization, and democratization of the communication network within an organization will definitely help in improving communication and making it effective. There should be frequent meetings, conferences, etc. and the management should ensure that the subordinates take an active part in the functioning of the organization i.e. not only by executing the orders or carrying out the instructions passively but also by contributing to the formulation of organizational policies and by sharing their knowledge and experience which can in turn help the superiors in making better business decisions. Such a participative and democratic approach would help reduce the communication barriers to great extent. In short, in business communication there are chances of communication failure because the message is not only complex in itself but also the stages through which it passes renders it susceptible to various interferences, i.e. barriers- semantic, personal, psychological, and/or organizational. To become a successful communicator, one must keep in mind the aforementioned guidelines in order to overcome the communication barriers and to communicate effectively. CHAPTER REVIEW In this chapter, we have discussed the meaning of the