Discuss the potential and actual benefits of boardroom diversity in Essay - 1

Discuss the potential and actual benefits of boardroom diversity in publicly listed companies - Essay Example The people from different countries have variuos technical and social skills that are unique to the individuals that can help in coming up with new ideas that facilitate the growth of the Puplic listed companies. Mallin (2013) stated that having people from different countries benefit the company in the following ways: Public companies with people from diverse cultures enable people from different countries to associate themselves with the company hence reducing the chances for discrimination. The people who work in the companies generate to the growth of the business with their skills hence they are appreciated for the work they do and not about the race or ethnicity they orinate from. There are wide ranges of perspectives on challenges and issues brought about by a multicultural workforce. Spira (2002) stated that individuals from variuos backgrounds incorporate their own exclusive cultural experiences to the tough situations they encounter in their Limited companies and their wider perspective of standpoints tend to allow them to be at a better position to come up with ultimate resolutions. This a benefit to the company as they are able to solve problems that come up during the operations of the company without involving external sources hence saving the costs involved in solving the issues. Martin (2006) stated that companies that employ individuals from diverse backgrounds provide the a wider coverage in the global market place. For instance,when a company is located in different countries,they are able to allocate the employess who are familiar with the citizens in that particular counrty hence enabling the customers to associate with the people that they understand better interms of language and other factors such as culture. Arun and Turner (2009) stated that the ability to speak and write accurately in different languages enables the employees

Review of a Christian-themed film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Review of a Christian-themed film - Essay Example Amenabar managed to represent the very essence of that terrible era, which we consider the golden age of patristic. His scenes and characters are relevant and at the same time they are clearly correlated with the era, and their historically obvious naivety for us is blown with romantic languishing. The action takes place In Alexandria, Egypt, in the end of IV-V century, when paganism was retreating under the pressure of young and uncompromising Christianity. IV century is the century of triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire. During this century Christians have moved from defense to attack, and from the oppressed religious minority they became a powerful government agency which was imposing its will to the rulers of destroying empire. In 391 in Alexandria religious clashes began, during which was destroyed the Library of Alexandria - one of the richest libraries in the world at that time. A former slave of Hypatia Davus who was secretly in love with her, becomes a Christian too and joined the rioters. Over time, the Christian church is becoming more powerful, and soon Bishop Cyril of Alexandria demanded Orestes and others to renounced Hypatia and forbid her to teach and do science. Hypatia was not able to deal with it and accept Christianity, so she was declared to be a witch, a prostitute and soon was killed. Hypatia is the embodiment of the ideas of modernity, science, secularism and feminism. We can say that she is the progress of the fifth century. But, as is in case with any genius, or with the person, going one step ahead of his time, her history is full of obstacles and difficulties. And the problem here is not only that the filmmakers made Hypatia an incarnation of the virtues, but also (what is more important) because they were trying to oppose the viewer to the heroine, in every respect alien or "otherness" towards us. We have to see her as a woman of her own time. Hypatia, the

Visa's Anticompetitive Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Visa's Anticompetitive Practices - Essay Example This will help them come up with business tat can be accessed and supported from any part of the world provided they have a chance to register for this type of service. The other objective that they seek to achieve is maintaining and increasing merchant confidence in using the visa cards anywhere in the world. This means that they must get into collaboration with other likeminded companies that will help them achieve these objectives given the rise in cyber crimes and identity theft in the world. Another objective is to reduce operational expenses by reducing chargeback and linking authentication to ensure data integrity at all times. They also seek to improve purchase security and enhance integrity through the enhancement of security for an internet purchases (Gitman and McDaniel 2008:58). System Components Before 2007, the structure mainly included of four non-stock companies that had been incorporated as group members into the company’s overall structural component. They in cluded visa international service association, the Visa USA Inc, Visa Canada Association, and visa Europe limited. These were the incorporated members of the group. The others-Visa Latin America (LAC), Visa Asia Pacific and visa central Europe, Middle East and Africa- acted as part of the group’s divisions (Modestus 2012:36). ... It was also a warded a minority stake in the main company which makes it a component of the whole. There were also other companies that acted as underwriters when the company underwent the restructuring and this means that its components would be increased when these underwriters were considered (Schlossberg 2008:388). Other components that make up the overall company are the items that form the greater part of the company. As such, debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards also form the bulk of their company. This is because it is the main aspect that keeps them in business. They also deal with automated teller machine networks and point-of-sale terminals for those who deal with debit protocols without the need of getting into any check-writing privileges (Szoka & Marcus 2010:102). Stakeholders The main stakeholders of this company include the western European operation unit, the merged regional offices; the merchants dealing in different sectors and who depend on the service of V isa Inc for their financial transactions, the shipping sector, banking sector, airlines and those who have bought shares in the company (Modestus 2012:49). Risks Despite the fact that people love this new method of transaction, there are risks that are involved in the long run. When people are conducting these transactions, they are not required to be there in person and this means that the probability of getting involved in illegal transactions is high. People have been allowed to transact from the comfort of their homes through the internet and this means that the only thing the bank relies on for authentication is the phone number or an IP-address. These are aspects that can change suddenly, exposing

Financial Projections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Financial Projections - Essay Example These marketing researches provide decision makers ins and out of customers in the market, how would they behave towards the products and services offered by the business, what would be the demand for the offered products and services once the marketing campaigns are incorporated (Gorla et al., 2010; Hersey & Clanchard, 1969). Once the strategic targets that organizations tend to achieve are identified, organizations then line up their resources to achieve those targets. This is the reason that marketing research plays an important role in financial projections as it enables decision makers to identify the set of product development efforts and marketing tactics required to make the offered product a success story (Handlechner, 2008). Marketing is also involved in financial projection as the decision makers develop projections to be achieved in the next in such a manner that it motivates shareholders and external investors to provide more financial strength to the company. The added financial strength is then invested on further product development and improvement

Back in Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

Back in Shakespeare Essay Back in Shakespeares days courtly love was a fashionable tradition. What happened was the men saw the women as Goddesses but their love was more often unrequited. But the men would send them love letters in the form of sonnets in order to win the womans love, however it usually failed leaving the man feeling melancholic. This is the position Romeo found himself in as he was in love with a girl called Rosaline. Montague and Benvolio notice a change in Romeos behaviour due to this and Montague explains how he shuts up his windows and locks fair daylight out this shows that Romeo attempts to isolate himself from the outside world and really is depressed. As Romeo enters the scene the audience can see for themselves his state of mind during his conversation with Benvolio. His replies to Benvolios comments are short and subdued and he explains, sad hours seem long. We can work out from this that Romeo is not having a good time so our sympathy wins him over and we hope for his luck to change. As we move onto scene 2, we meet Paris, who is a man hoping to marry Juliet and is trying to convince Capulet to allow him to, however Capulet seems to think Juliet is too young for marriage as She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. The possible marriage between Paris and Juliet is exciting for the audience yet it is an obstacle between the forthcoming relationship between Romeo and Juliet. The scene then cuts back to Romeo and his problems with courtly love. Benvolio who is aware of Romeos problem tries to be a useful friend by giving him advice. His advice is one fire burns out anothers burning, this is a metaphorical way of putting; you should find someone else and forget about Rosaline. Then as Clown from the Capulet family is struggling to read a party invitation he asks Romeo and Benvolio to read the list out for him. Romeo notices that Rosalies name is on this list and the pair therefore decide to find a way of going to the masqued ball to give Romeo a chance of fore filling his dream of meeting Rosaline. The fact its a masqued ball means they can get in whilst in disguise and probably get away with it and this thought enters Benvolios head. In scene 3 we meet the Nurse. A nurse is the Elizabethan equivalent to a child minder, however in these days they were hired out commonly by wealthy upper class families and were pretty much part of the family, they would raise the children and even breast feed them when they are babies. This particular Nurse raised Juliet and the two of them are very close. She is a bubbly character who often tells sexual jokes or sexual innuendos and tells Juliet stories about when she was younger usually embarrassing her. From seeing the play myself I remember the nurse being an entertaining character and was an audience favourite which was most noticeable by the applause she got at the end. Her sexual humour is shown where she says, dost thou fall upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit, wilt thou not, Jule? This is a crude joke of falling onto her back for sex and most fourteen year olds would find an adult talking to them like this terribly embarrassing yet the audience find it comical and entertaining. Soon after; Juliet discovers Pariss desire to marry her and to the nurses delight Juliet replies It is an honour that I dream not of. Again the audience are excited by what is now a probable marriage yet it also questions the possibility of Romeo and Juliet getting together. Whilst on their way to the Capulet masqued ball Romeo predicts the future when saying for my mind misgreaves some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, similarly to what it says in the prologue; Romeo is saying he fears an unfortunate accident. The audience therefore semi-expect this to ironically happen. This is meant to create tension especially when he says about an untimely death, which along with the prologue suggests young death. Scene 5 is set in the Capulet household as it is the location of their masqued ball. A masqued ball was a fashionable party to have in Elizabethan times where everyone went disguised in a mask. It was the equivalent to what a fancy dress party is today and this is why the Montagues were able to get in with little suspicion from the Capulets. Partys are always a popularity and so Shakespeare made this scene a key one in the play for the entertainment of the audience. From what the audience have seen so far, Romeo is a melodramatic isolated character. He has won over our sympathy and as he is one of the main characters we all want to see things turn around for him. The reason Shakespeare presents him as a melancholic lover is to emphasise the artificial nature of his love for Rosaline in comparison to the genuine emotion he feels for Juliet. We witness the two types of love juxtaposed and recognise that his love for Juliet is positive, energising and less of a pose. But by presenting him in love with someone else initially, it creates romantic suspense for the audience. When Romeo first sees Juliet, it is described as love at first sight, this really helps to emphasise how he feels about her. From the audiences point of view, Romeo appears to be shocked by how much Juliet stands out by the way he says O she doth teach torches to burn bright, the reason he says O at the start of his speech is purely to emphasise his emotion. The speech as a whole is a type of light imagery and explains how her beauty stands out so much to Romeo. He then goes on to say she hangs upon the cheek of night / As a rich jewel in an Ethiops ear, this is a metaphorical way of saying that she is beautiful, precious and rare to him as is Beauty too rich for use. These are both examples of wealth imagery. The majority of his speech in this part of the scene is imagery and metaphorical to help stress his feelings for Juliet, he also claims she Shows a snowy dove trooping with crows. This is in the category of bird and colour imagery and helps to stand out the point that she really does stand out from the crowd. As explained by courtly love, it was a common thing for men to respect women like they are goddesses, and Romeo uses this kind of holy imagery when he says touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Overall the speech shows strong romantic interest due to how Romeo is so intense, passionate and genuine. This is one of the most loving parts of the story; however it is interrupted as the fiery character of Tybalt notices that a Montague is present. He clearly shows his anger by referring Romeo as a slave, which is saying that Romeo is like his inferior. As Capulet enters the scene; Tybalt threatens to strike him dead, however, Capulet bears in mind what the Prince said, in that any more fighting would mean their lives would pay the forfeit and as he wants no violence at the party, he aggressively prevents Tybalt from making any wrong moves. The hatred is then interrupted by the love of Romeo and Juliet as they meet and talk for the first time. Their conversation is set out in the style of a sonnet as of course; these were popular in the Elizabethan and Medieval times. It is very poetic, passionate and filled with religious imagery. The language is intense, memorable and uses rhyming couplets at the end of every other line to help it to sound better and stand out. Juliet is very responsive to Romeos requests and appears to want Romeo to kiss her, which was a rarity in the courtly love tradition. Romeo flirtatiously refers to Juliet as a Pilgrim; this shows how he respects her like a Goddess and this is the start of a large amount of religious imagery. In addition to that, Juliet answers back with her own religious metaphors like And palm to palm is holy palmers kiss this also contains some alliteration due to the repetitive use of words containing palm. The speech overall is a pattern of Romeo flirting to Juliet and Juliet flirting back, this keeps the flow of the conversation going and on a couple of occasions we witness a kiss. All this comes to a sudden end as the Nurse enters the scene and they discover each others identity. The nurse calls Juliet to go to her mother and when she is gone explains to Romeo Her mother is the lady of the house and of course Romeo realises this is the Capulet house. Benvolio calls Romeo away from the scene explaining The sport is at the best which informs that he knows the best part of the night is over and their identity has been discovered. This means that the Montagues have to make a swift exit effectively making Romeo and Juliets moment short with a sudden end. This leaves the nurse and Juliet alone together. Juliet finds out from the Nurse that Romeo is in fact a Montague and is clearly devastated by this when she says My grave is like to be my wedding bed and My only love sprung from my only hate. All the way throughout this scene; Shakespeare juxtaposes love and hate. The first sight of love is at Romeos first glimpse of Juliet and the whole love at first sight event, this is interrupted by Tybalt noticing Romeo and wanting to cause a violent act but he is stopped by Capulet. This allows Romeo and Juliet to have their first speech in the form of the love sonnet although when the two realise each others identity, the hate between the two families takes over leaving the audience wondering if the power of their love is strong enough to overcome the hate. In conclusion to the opening act of the play; Shakespeare creates many untied ends to the story. This makes the audience want to carry on watching to get an answer to their questions; questions such as will Tybalt fore fill his threat towards Romeo? Are Romeo and Juliet going to die and if so how? Will Paris marry Juliet? And will there be any more fighting? The only possible way for the audience to find an answer to these questions is to carry on watching the play. This was Shakespeares objective for the opening act and he has therefore successfully completed it.

Humans Cause Global Warming Essay Example for Free

Humans Cause Global Warming Essay Today we are debating the important topic of global warming. As the affirmative team, we strongly believe that global warming is caused by the actions of humans. But this is not just a belief, this is a fact. Global warming, by definition, is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earths atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants. The greenhouse effect is the trapping of the suns warmth in a planets lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planets surface. In simpler terms, this means that the pollution emitted from the earth, such as the gasses from factories, cars etc. enter the atmosphere and the co2 from these gases absorb the heat from the sun and intern warms the climate. The pollution or carbon dioxide enter the Earths atmosphere and absorb heat from the sun, heating the environment, therefore an increase in co2 means an increase in heat, this resulting in bigger problem for global warming. The main producer of this pollution and greenhouse gases are ofcourse humans, our environment and climate are the ones that have to pay for the humanly actions causing global warming. Scientists have determined that a number of human activities are contributing to global warming by adding excessive amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. These gases such as carbon dioxide (co2) accummulate in the atmosphere and trap heat that normally would exit into outer space. The main source of excess greenhouse gases is the human use of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels to generate energy for example driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, or heating homes with oil or natural gas, humans release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Over 100 years ago the co2 level was 35% less than it is currently and since the beginning of the industrial revelution, has been increasing gradually. Nowadays modern society is producing more co2 and other gases than ever before, this being the result of the economic problem, with humans having unlimited wants and needs that can only be produced in a way that influences global warming. (Figure 1) Another significant source of greenhouse gases is deforestation, this is because fewer trees means less carbon dioxide conversion to oxygen. (Figure 2)Deforestation in rainforests add more co2 to the atmosphere than the sum total of most vehicles on roads. In fact 25-30%,of the gases released into the atmosphere each year is a result of deforestation. The reason that logging is so bad for the climate is that when trees, which are 50 percent carbon, are burned or felled they release the carbon they are storing into the air, where it mingles with greenhouse gases from other sources and contributes to global warming. As humans, we do not take our actions into precaution and many of us act before thinking. This is the same situation with global warming and because of this, the result is negative. Global warming affects not only our climate but the environment and air mankind needs for survival, however how can us humans survive when we are the ones destroying our planet and risking our own lives. Greenhouse gases can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds or thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth. These effects range from diseases and economic consquences to different types of hazzards. (Figure 3) Floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, they are all weathering patterns that are directly altered by the differences in temperature. Most of them are occuring due to high sea level or heavy rainfall. This was seen in 2004 and 2005. (Figure 4) It can be a devastating shock for crops and other agriculture, and also bring death and injury to humans and animals through accidents, hypothermia and starvation. It may seem illogical at first to attribute harsher cold weather to global warming, but a change in atmospheric patterns brought about by receding glacial ice can lead to the redirection of polar air currents and the suns rays being absorbed by the larger areas of dark blue sea. However this process can also be reversed to achieve opposite results. (Figure 5) Some areas suffer serious droughts and heat waves and the severity of these hazzards are increasing by large numbers. Countries such as Africa and India recieve the worst of these affects, since water is already a dangerous rare essential. (Figure 6) As the planet continues to become warmer and warmer as global warming increases and the dry lands that are already susceptible to wildfires are likely to be ravaged by even more frequent and destructive episodes. In 2007, more than 3,000 fires brought destruction to Southeastern Europe thanks to a long summer that created arid and parched conditions, a situation that would become normal as a consequence of the greenhouse effect. As countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate, bringing their diseases with them. Climate greatly influences some of the most deadly and widespread diseases currently affecting millions of people across the world with the spread of diseases like Malaria, West Nile virus and Dengue fever to parts of the planet. With greatly reduced rainfall, more severe droughts and loss of soil fertility, food and water supplies would soon diminish, resulting in higher prices, famine, disease, malnutrition, starvation and, ultimately, death. These effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hazzards cause billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts aggravate all of these. There is simply no other mechanism that can explain the significantly altered climate path and the changes in the radiative forcing other than human causes. Animals are a major source that are affected by the influences of global warming, some not only lose their habitat and homes, but also suffer in the drastic measures that humans have put them up against. Animals such as polar bears and penguins are the most obvious evidence of consequences of having warmer climates. (Figure 7) They and other animals that are dependent on cold enviornments retreat to more northerly locations as the planet heats up, leading to encroachment upon other eco-systems and displacement of other animals from their natural habitat. Animals that are driven from their natural habitats or normal migration routes by environmental factors could easily come into contact with human settlements, leading to many deaths among humans and already endangered animals. (Figure 8) The world’s oceans absorb roughly 30% of all carbon dioxide that seeps into the atmosphere, and so inevitably, as more gases are released, ocean life will continue to suffer the negative consequences placed upon them by human actions.

Impact of Decision Making at McDonalds

Impact of Decision Making at McDonalds This academic essay is related to strategic management and leadership in McDonalds. The purpose of this assignment is to understand the impact of decision making in an organisation i.e. McDonalds. In this cut throat competition which is prevailing in the market, it is my understanding that leadership and proactive strategy plays vital role in overall organisations success. In addition to this it has become apparent that strategic management and leadership operate at parallel level in an organisation. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: It deals with the most fundamental and basic question that involve the very existence of the whole organisation and guide the whole companys future. (Napuk,1999) Strategic management entails both strategic planning and implementation, and is the process of identifying and executing the organizations strategic plan, by matching the companys capabilities with the demands of its environment.(Arit Gadiesh and James Gilbert, 2001) In laymans term strategic management provides overall direction to the organisation. This in turn entails specifying the organisations mission, vision and objectives, developing plans etc. LEADERSHIP: Leadership is defined as influence, that is the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievements of the groups mission. Visionary leadership inspires the impossible: fiction becomes truth. (Corporate strategy 1997 Richard Lynch) In leadership, people run the organisation to one place or another for the achievement of its objectives. Leadership is a great tool in achieving success for the organization, not just through charisma, but through good judgement, proper motivation of employees effective utilization of materials. LINK BETWEEN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP: Due to a rapidly changing world, organizations face incredible pressures in delivering immediate results. This necessitates for strategic management because there is a great need to maximize every available resource to achieve the organizations goal. To manage an ever increasing demand for company effectiveness, there is a great need for strategic leadership to approach these conditions priorities. For any ongoing business, it is mainly important to implement strategies through effective leaders. Real strategic leadership means taking responsibility for the future as well as what is happening today. A primary goal of strategic leadership is gaining a better understanding of the business conditions, the environment and the leading indicators that identify new trends and situations that may arise. According to the situation, leadership styles can be varied like autocratic, democratic and charismatic and so on. In any organisation it is required to have a good strategic management with good leadership skills. These two must be in parallel positions for the organizations success. LEADERSHIP STYLES ON DIFFERENT SITUATION IN MCDONALDS As I have taken McDonald as case study, I would like to discuss the management style that operates in this company. Based on my understanding, McDonald operates with a Democratic style of management. This realisation comes to me while I am working with the company and it gives freedom and flexibility of change according to different situations. In this style, the employee and people associated with the company have more participatory role in the decision making process. McDonald has a democratic style and there is a less gap between manager and employees. They have two way relationships between them. They have a comfortable working pattern. So the manager can easily get the feedback from the employees. Also on the other hand, the employees understand the situation and they follow the rules without any difficulty. There are same levels of working. According to the different situation they have a different style of leadership. In this particular approach, the store manager has all power to run the branch but still allows employees to share their ideas and insights. Also in McDonald, every employee has a participative role in the decision making process. All employees have to work with their strengths and provide input on how to delegate work within the team. The management gives more importance to work in a team rather than doing individually. In McDonald, ideas move freely amongst the group and discussed openly thus ultimately achieving their objective. This works both ways for the company by fulfilling individual objectives in line with the overall objective of organisation. The management of this organization motivates the employees to do more work by involving them into decisions which really affects the objective of the organisation. This particular approach influences the productivity of employees and they feel important to be a part of the organisation by providing a value. They lead all the employees to the same level and the manager always tries to know the strengths and weakness of employees. To overcome these difficulties, they provide appropriate training career development programmes. McDonald has flexible working hours which provides stress-free environment. They are free to ask with the manager about schedules. The way McDonald management adapts to different situations, a strong relationship is being formed between the subordinates and the managers. OBJECTIVE OF MCDONALDS: The main objective of McDonald is to make people aware of each product on offer, feel positive about it and remember it. The right message has to be communicated to the right audience through the right media. Because of this, McDonald need to give importance understand the value of both employees and customers. Happy employees serve well and results to satisfied customers. This serves as a win-win situation for both organisation and employee. McDonald has continuously done internal marketing this is important as it precedes external marketing. It goes in line with the ultimate aim of creating not just service leadership but management service. This delivery process is the key to achieving the aim of the company. IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP STYLE ON STRATEGIC DECISION: Good leadership is adapting to any changes at any time doing the right things at the right time. Because of democratic style of leadership, employees can work comfortably and they can share their ideas and insights with the management. Also in McDonald, managers effectively delegates work to their subordinates and give them full control and responsibility to the tasks. Managers welcome feedback on the result of initiatives and the work environment. Strategic decision has to be made by leaders who have the ability to take effective decisions and adapt to changes in any situation. Because of democratic leadership, employees and managers easily understand the situation and cope with it. They work freely and comfortably. In McDonald all employees have a right to participate in the objective of organisation. McDonald has a strategic decision which is implicated and formulated by leaders and managers of the organisation. First they decide the future plans and objective of McDonald and how to get there in minimum time. They also motivate people to do more work and they appreciate their work by giving the performance award at the end of month. CONCLUSION: From above discussion, I came to a conclusion that in adapting democratic style McDonald is really effective in providing value to employees. Although this style may bring out differences in ideas, it still ends up with formulating a common decision. McDonalds management leadership style is useful as well as to other organisations where managers and employees easily understand the situation and work accordingly. Strategic management and leadership correlates with each other. Without making any effective strategic decision, leadership cannot work and it cannot reach to the final objective of an organisation.