Banking: Comparative Analysis Essay

The economic reforms in India started in early nineties, but their outcome is visible now. Major changes took place in the functioning of Banks in India only after liberalization, globalisation and privatisation. It has become very mandatory to study and to make a comparative analysis of services of Public sector Banks and Private Sector banks. Increased competition, new information technologies and thereby declining processing costs, the erosion of product and geographic boundaries, and less restrictive governmental regulations have all played a major role for Public Sector Banks in India to forcefully compete with Private and Foreign Banks. this paper an attempt to analyze how efficiently Public and Private sector banks have been managing NPA. The last decade has seen many positive developments in the Indian banking sector. The policy makers, which comprise the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Finance and related government and financial sector regulatory entities, have made several notable efforts to improve regulation in the sector. The sector now compares favourably with banking sectors in the region on metrics like growth, profitability and non-performing assets (NPAs). A few banks have established an outstanding track record of innovation, growth and value creation. Banking in India was defined under Section 5(A) as â€Å"any company which transacts banking, business† and the purpose of banking business defined under Section 5(B),†accepting deposits of money from public for the purpose of lending or investing, repayable on demand through cheque/draft or otherwise†. In the process of doing the above-mentioned primary functions, they are also permitted to do other types of business referred to as Utility Services for their customers (Banking Regulation Act, 1949). During Bruisers’ time, three Presidencies’ Banks were opened in Bengal (1809), Bombay (1840) and Madras (1843) with powers to isue Notes. Thus the quality and quantity of services provided by the Private Sector Banks is much better than that provided by Public Sector Banks. In the coming years, the deposit ratio will be 80% in private banks and 20% in public sector banks which is a reverse of a decade before. Banking is and for the time to come, will remain customer oriented business. If one can satisfy the customers effectively, then customer becomes client. Thus to be successful, the banks should satisfy their customers qualitatively as well as quantitatively. They should .put the customers first because .Customer is the king .for the proper functioning of the Indian Banks today. BANKING SCENARIO IN INDIAN SYSTEM: The Indian banking system is significantly different from those prevalent in other countries due to its unique geographic, social and economic characteristics. India has a large population, different cultures in different parts of the country and also disparities in income. Also in India the population spread among rural and urban areas is also skewed in the favour of urban areas. All these features reflect in the size and structure of the Indian banking system. Further in order to fulfil the needs to the government policy it has been subjected to various nationalization schemes at different times. RBI Credit policies form the guidelines for banks in India. Since they had to satisfy the domestic obligations, the banks have so far been confined within the Indian borders. Banking in India originated in the last decades of the 18th century. The first banks were The General Bank of India which started in 1786, and the Bank of Hindustan, both of which are now defunct. The oldest bank in existence in India is the State Bank of India, which originated in the Bank of Calcutta in June 1806, which almost immediately became the Bank of Bengal. This was one of the three presidency banks, the other two being the Bank of Bombay and the Bank of Madras, all three of which were established under charters from the British East India Company. For many years the Presidency banks acted as quasi-central banks, as did their successors. The three banks merged in 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India, which, upon India’s independence, became the State Bank of India. The Reserve Bank of India is the central bank of India and controls the monetary policy. The institution was established on 1 April 1935 .The main functions of RBI are 1. Monetary Authority: The Reserve Bank of India is the main monetary authority of the country and beside that the central bank acts as the bank of the national and state governments. It formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy as well as it has to ensure an adequate flow of credit to productive sectors. Its objectives are maintaining price stability and ensuring adequate flow of credit to productive sectors 2. Manager of Exchange Control: The central bank manages to reach the goals of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Objective: to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India. 3. Issuer of Currency: The bank issues and exchanges or destroys currency and coins not fit for circulation. The Objectives are giving the public adequate supply of currency of good quality and to provide loans to commercial banks to maintain or improve the GDP. The basic objectives of RBI are to issue bank notes, to maintain the currency and credit system of the country to utilize it in its best advantage, and to maintain the reserves 4. Regulator: Central Bank is also responsible for making policy to be followed by the banking system of the country. Around 90% of the banking system is under the government control and the rest are with the private and the foreign banks. The public sector banks can be categorized into a) State Bank Group: It comprises of State Bank of India and its 5 associate banks. Previously there were 7 associate but after the merger of 2 of them with the parent bank only 5 of them remain. The government of India is the majority stakeholder in the largest bank the country. b) Nationalized Banks: There are 19 nationalized banks in the country. The process of nationalization in 1969 resulted in creation of 14 government owned banks which were followed by the nationalization of 6 more banks. However upon a merger the total number of banks in the country stands at 19 as of today. All the banks are majority owned by the government of India. c) Regional Rural Banks: The regional rural banks were setup to provide low cost financing and credit facilities to rural people. The nationalized banks were required to setup RRBs in partnership with the individual states. The foreign and private banks form a miniscule part of the Indian banking system which is dominated by the government owned banks. However the superior offering of the private sector banks aided by the growth in the IT has resulted in the population of the country being attracted towards these banks. This has made the public sector banks recognize the threat from these banks and improve on their services. They have given the PSBs stiff competition and this augurs well for the future of the Indian banking system. HISTORY: Private-sector banks have been functioning in India since the very beginning of the banking system. Initially, during 1921, the private banks like bank of Bengal, bank of Bombay and bank of Madras were in service, which all together formed Imperial Bank of India. Reserve Bank of India(RBI) came in picture in 1935 and became the centre of every other bank taking away all the responsibilities and functions of Imperial bank. Between 1969 and 1980 there was rapid increase in the number of branches of the private banks. In April 1980, they accounted for nearly 17.5 percent of bank branches in India. In 1980, after 6 more banks were nationalised, about 10 percent of the bank branches were those of private-sector banks. The share of the private bank branches stayed nearly same between 1980 and 2000. Then from the early 1990s, RBI’s liberalization policy came in picture and with this the government gave licences to a few private banks, which came to be known as new private-sector bank s. There are two categories of the private-sector banks: â€Å"old† and â€Å"new†. The old private-sector banks have been operating since a long time and may be referred to those banks, which are in operation from before 1991 and all those banks that have commenced there business after 1991 are called as new private-sector banks. Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited was the first private bank in India to receive license from RBI as a part of the RBI’s liberalization policy of the banking sector, to set up a bank in the private-sector banks in India. The Central Government entered the banking business with the nationalization of the Imperial Bank Of India in 1955. A 60% stake was taken by the Reserve Bank of India and the new bank was named as the State Bank of India. The seven other state banks became the subsidiaries of the new bank when nationalized on 19 July 1960. The next major nationalization of banks took place in 1969 when the government of India, under prime minister Indira Gandhi, nationalised an additional 14 major banks. The total deposits in the banks nationalised in 1969 amounted to 50 crores. This move increased the presence of nationalised banks in India, with 84% of the total branches coming under government control. The next round of nationalisation took place in April 1980. The government nationalised six banks. The total deposits of these banks amounted to around 200 crores. This move led to a further increase in the number of branches in the market, increasing to 91% of the total branch network of the country. The objectives behind nationalisation where: * To break the ownership and control of banks by a few business families, * To prevent the concentration of wealth and economic power, * To mobilize savings from masses from all parts of the country, * To cater to the needs of the priority sectors.

Unit E-Commerce

There's a competition between businesses in who can get to the top, so the most amount of people ill see and even click on their website and their most likely to receive the most business. Search engines look for the search term entered within the sites they've collected. Searches are then listed in their determination Of how relevant the site's content is to the term entered. To make sure your site gets the most views as possible, you can pay to make sure that the site has priority and be at the top in searches on search engines, regardless of the amount of relevance to the term. It costs quite a bit of money but would be effective.Newsgroups and forums – Newsgroups and forums is an online discussion site where people from different places can create a conversation by posting messages. For example, Trapdoors is a website of people's reviews of places they have been around the world and has a travel forum where uses can share experience, gain people's opinions and get answers to questions and queries fast. Newsgroups and forums alike, can advertise to particular types of people, for example, a company selling clothing items, would advertise on a fashion forum. The websites URL can be posted on newsgroups and forums.This is a good way of promoting, and promoting to specific group people, great if your website is in the niche market. Also, if someone opens your site up and likes it, their likely to say their comments, however they may spread criticisms and negative comments. And it's notes newsgroups and forums that you can post your site to; its social media like Faceable. All these ways are completely free also, especially as other forms Of promotion like sponsorships can be very expensive. Banners and pop-ups – I'm sure you've seen banners and pop-ups, they come up onto your desktops and internet earaches.It's basically and image or short video and either runs along the top of the site, along the side or above the task. The video or image attract s people's attention, and nowadays if you hover over some, they expand over the whole page after three seconds. The adverts company and the site that allow the advert each make money when someone clicks on the advert and gets more and more whenever another person clicks on their site. Also, if you've used an e-commerce site before and you've looked at particular items, they will come up in banners, as it remembers that you liked that item, and rises to entice you to buy it.Spam -? This is an e-mail that is sent to lots of people at random to reach as many people as they can. However, nowadays, theirs soft are that you can use to filter spam out from you're inbox, so people don't end up opening viruses. If people don't have this software, but are aware of internet privacy and threats, they will become less likely to open e-mails from people they don't know. Companies get e-mails and other methods of contact, through many ways, such as signing up to something online, completing online surveys, or even through the phone.Effective user interface -? Having an effective user interface is essential in having a successful business as it means people that are not so able in working technology, can easily still work it. This gives the site more views as people will generally come back again. Maintaining the site may be easier to keep up also. Online customer loyalty – This is similar too shop having loyalty cards, as the e-commerce site hands out offers and deals. They work buy either, buying products and getting offers on those and similar products, a point system or a buy three and with you third you get something for free.Customers would be likely to use the site again, if it means free or discounts and would be less likely to leave if they know they'll get deals. Site names -? Website names are most effective when they are memorable or simple. For example, compartmented. Com, has a memorable advert that makes sure potential customers don't think its compartme ntalize. Com. Another example, are websites that are simple and suitable, with no dashes or weird spellings, such as Google. Co. UK or youth. Com. If names are complicated then possible customers may be lost, due to errors in typing which can lead o ending up on a rival site.

Illegal immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Illegal immigration - Essay Example Border Patrol agents from the Casa Grande station apprehended a group of 13 illegal aliens west of Sells, Arizona. All 13 subjects were taken to the Nogales Processing Center where their fingerprints were entered into the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), for comparison with the FBI fingerprint database. One of the convicts, Jose Luis Castaneda-Cardenas, a 23-year-old Mexican National, was identified as having an outstanding felony warrant for "Felony Murder" and "Misdemeanor Criminal Possession of a Weapon," in New York City. The New York City Police Department crosschecked the warrant, and confirmed extradition of Castaneda. The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), enables Border Patrol agents to search fingerprint databases simultaneously using the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) and the FBI fingerprint database. This hi-tech technology provides rapid identification of individuals with outstanding criminal warrants by electronically comparing a live-scanned fingerprint with a nationwide database of biometrically indexed fingerprints. Fingerprinting was introduced in 2003 for people who were applying for British visas in a dozen countries associated with high nu

Managing Stress among Employees in an Out-Patient Setting Research Paper

Managing Stress among Employees in an Out-Patient Setting - Research Paper Example The various steps involved in monitoring the operation of proposed organizational changes and different communication techniques are described in this essay. The quality of proposed changes alone does not necessarily contribute to stress management; instead, the systematic and thoughtful implementation of those strategies also play vital role in building a culturally competent workforce in a healthcare setting. Hence, the organization must take appropriate steps to monitor the effectiveness of the proposed changes among employees in out-patient setting. Initially, it is advisable for the organization to appoint a project manager in order to carry out the policy implementation and monitoring processes effectively (Buzzle.com). This system should enable the organization to collect weekly or monthly performance reports regarding the newly introduced programs so that it can make adequate modifications to the running program. The ultimate beneficiaries of a stress management program are t he employees. Therefore, it is necessary to collect feedback from them regarding the usefulness of the introduced changes. For this purpose, the firm can make use of company website, by which it can acquire the employee feedback with the application of online voting methods. Similarly, the company can conduct general meetings for out-patient department so that the employees would get the opportunity to express their opinions in detail. The general meeting procedures will not be practical for big concerns; in such situations, it is advisable to conduct sessions for department supervisors’ who can act as the employee representatives. It is recommended that the organization should compare its turnover reports before and after the introduction of the proposed changes. If it does not show any noticeable difference in figures, the management can understand that implementation of the proposed changes was ineffective. According to McConnell (2007, p. 53) a sequence of related process es such as planning, organizing, directing, monitoring, and controlling constitute an organization. The active functioning of each of these processes requires the application of different systems and human resources. In short; humans, systems and processes are interrelated components which determine the efficiency of the proposed organizational change. The various systems and human elements play a big role from the planning phase to monitoring phase of an organizational change. The first process, planning involves some complex procedures and takes long time to get completed since it is the foundation for the following processes. In this phase, the management formulates various strategies after considering a wide range of factors such as size of the organization, byelaws, governmental regulations, human power, and other organizational features. Once a change is proposed, it transfers to the organizing phase. In order to introduce the proposed change successfully, a good organizing te am is necessary. Under this phase, various duties and responsibilities are subdivided into respective officials for the effective implementation of the plan. It is noted that the responsibilities of the officials will not be disposed just after the implementation phase since they need continuous monitoring and control over implemented changes so as to produce fruitful outcomes. The systematization and effectiveness of the above mentioned activities have a tremendous impact on the proposed orga

Data Collection Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Data Collection - Research Paper Example A researcher can design a survey very easily as compared to other methods. In a survey, a researcher can collect a wide range of data at a time e.g. opinions, values, beliefs, attitudes etc. this helps the researcher to limit several errors which could otherwise be assumed (Thanos & H. Debas, 2010). Surveys have the following disadvantages. Respondents may not feel the confidence to give accurate information. They may give false answers at the expense of pleasing the researcher. Furthermore, the respondents may not be aware the questions due to lack of prior knowledge or have forgotten. These tools are useful for recording events or circumstances for the occurrence of health issues by the use of registers. When there is an injury incident, records are kept in various health organizations for future records of curbing the same problem. There are various registries to record unique information. These registries include health service registries, treatment registries, specific information registries, etc. in case of any information need; registries provide a good information source (Rubin & Babbie, 2009). Registries offer exact surveillance data required in the precise format required. Registries allow computations of incidence rates at the fundamental level. In case of follow up, registry provide relevant information on exacerbation, survival, prevalence and remission. Above all, registries aid in translation of information for better understanding and treating diseases. However, registries are bias to some extent. They creep unrecognized into the data sets thus leading to false conclusions. Biases affect case definition as well as inclusion for registries. This results in misplacement of patients’ registry data. Lastly, surveillance registries relating to data registry is not central to only health care delivery. Data recording requires time

Effects of Globalization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Effects of Globalization - Research Paper Example Migration is proxied by the number of immigrants to the United States. Historically, before about 1870, none of these flows was sufficiently large to warrant the term globalization†. At such, several countries like China which used to be idle and locked itself into a closed society for several years, welcomed the idea of economic revolution and gradually rise above the others, having a second chance in economic freedom. The recent upsurge of the economy of China is one of the various effects of globalization which they started to develop in the last thirty years. Considered as one of the largest countries in the world, China has acknowledge the need to reform their economic policies and embrace the power of open economic relations with outside territories since the great Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping assumed position in 1977 after the Cultural Revolution. Slowly, the country planned all-out market-oriented strategies to save them from the negative effects of socialism advocacy o n the economy. New economic reforms were established giving emphasis on vital concerns like agriculture, industry and foreign trade and investment. Agriculture was treated as a household responsibility instead of a collective activity, local government officials were given an increased authority in the industrial sector and private and public enterprises were tolerated to take over the services and manufacturing sectors though most of them are still state owned. Agriculture was treated as a household.

LAN and WAN Hardware Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

LAN and WAN Hardware Technology - Essay Example These two classifications are based on the distance that a network is designed to support for it various services. LANs are typically designed to share information and computer resources among equipments placed in closed vicinity, in a building or a particular premises whereas WAN is considered a network of multiple LANs that may be situated at long distances. These LANs and WANs employ different hardware technologies to ensure an efficient, robust and secure networking environment. This report will introduce hardware technologies used in each network environment. However, for the most part it will talk about Ethernet and Wireless hardware technologies. 2. LAN Hardware Technologies Local Area Networks typically connects devices placed in a building using Ethernet technologies. Ethernet network can have broadcast point-to-point or a mix of these transmission technologies. In point-to-point technology, devices commonly use Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cables to connect to a nearest sw itch or hub. a) UTP cables UTP cables consist of four pairs of twisted cables insulated with a thin plastic sheet. UTP cables are categorized as CAT5, CAT5e, CAT6 and CAT6a (IEEE 802.3 2006) etc. standards of cables. CAT6a cables can support up to 10-gigabit data transfer rate in a LAN environment. UTP cables can transmit data up to a distance of 100 meters. A repeater, hub or switch can be used to enhance this maximum distance of UTP cables. A RJ-45 data connector at each end of a UTP cable connects it to various devices with a RJ-45 jack. All new building structures usually have special layouts of UTP cables running from each room to a central point known as Main Distribution Facility (MDF). (David, 507). b) Repeaters and Hubs There are three basic devices used to interconnect devices in an Ethernet network. Repeaters strengthen the transmission signal in order to carry it to a distance more than 100 meters. A hub connects devices in a network. It broadcast received signals to all devices connected to it. A hub also serves as a repeater. Repeaters and hubs are physical layer devices; physical layer is the first layer in OSI Reference model. (Null & Julia, 675). c) Switches Switch is an intelligent device used for point-to-point data transmissions. Switches operate at Data Link (layer-II) of OSI Reference Model. It can recognize distinctly various connect devices and can sends messages to only specific devices. There are switches that can operate at Network (Layer-III) of OSI Reference model. Layer-III switches can perform routing functions, which is not possible in a layer two switch. (Null & Julia, 675). d) Routers Routers are the most important hardware technology deployed in modern day networks. Router routes network traffic among various segments of a LAN or it may also be deployed in a WAN environment to route traffic among various LANs. A router is a layer-III device that can connect two different networks, which is not possible in case of a layer-II s witch. (Beasley, 194). e) Firewalls The growing and wide spread use of network technologies have instigated the need of more secure networks. Security of information means a security from internal and external threats of communication. Today, organizations have shared networks resources inside and outside of their own network and for obvious reasons want to

Care of Patient Undergoing Total Knee Replacement Surgery Essay

Care of Patient Undergoing Total Knee Replacement Surgery - Essay Example The procedure merely involves what can be considered as 'resurfacing' of the bones of the joint. The prosthesis implanted is placed on the surface of the bones that meet at the knee - the femur and tibia and cemented to the bones, while most of the ligaments and usually all of the tendons of the joint are spared (Soohoo et al, 2006). Reporting on the frequency of Total Knee replacement surgeries, Kane and others (2003) indicated that in 2001 alone approximately 171,335 primary knee replacements and 16,895 revisions were performed. Kane et al (2003) argue that due to the fact that Knee replacement surgery is an elective procedure and especially because the prevalence of arthritis is expected to grow as the population ages, the care for patients undergoing total knee replacement surgery becomes an increasing concern for the healthcare profession. instruments, and assists the surgeon by passing instruments, sutures, and supplies. Therefore, the scrub nurse must have extensive knowledge of all surgical instruments and how they are used. On, the other hand, the circulating nurse serves as a liaison between scrubbed personnel and those outside of the operating room. The circulating nurse is free to respond to request from the surgeon, anaesthesiologist or anaesthetist, obtain supplies, deliver supplies to the sterile field, and carry out the nursing care plan. Other functions of the circulating nurse includes: initial assessment of the patient on admission to the operating room, helping monitoring the patient; assisting the surgeon and scrub nurse to don sterile gowns and gloves; anticipating the need for equipment, instruments, medications, and blood components, opening packages so that the scrub nurse can remove the sterile supplies, preparing labels, and arranging for transfer of specimens to the laboratory for analysis; savi ng all used and discarded gauze sponges, and at the end of the operation, counting the number of sponges, instruments, and needles used during the operation to prevent the accidental loss of an item in the wound (Mcewen, 1996). In the following pages, the organisation and layout of Total knee replacement surgery will be discussed using my experience with the surgical procedure of Mr. A as a yardstick. Intraoperative care for Mr. A included all the activities performed by the health care team during surgery that ensured the patient's safety and comfort, implementation of the surgical procedure, monitor and maintain vital functions, and document care given. The intraoperative time period can vary greatly from less than one hour to 12 hours or more, depending on the complexity of the surgery being performed. Since the purpose of intraoperative care is to maintain patient safety and comfort during surgical procedures, decisions about patient positioning and other features of the operating room is influenced by a number of factors, especially conditions of the patient and potential risks or complications of the surgical procedure. The goals of intraoperative care include maintaining homeostasis during the procedure, maintaining strict

My Best Friends Essay Example for Free

My Best Friends Essay What do you think with your best friend’s appearance, personality and the feeling you have they to be your friends? In my opinion, â€Å"Friends† is really important for me. I can live without computer and TV but I can’t live without †friends† the persons who is sharing my mood with me whenever I’m happy or sad and I found â€Å"Them† my really best friends who had a, nice appearance , good but has a different personalities and I’m very happy that I had a best friends like them. My best friends are Jessica, Crizel and Hannah. When I first saw them or my first impression about them is, I thought that Jessica was a pretty lesbian or a boyish one because she act like a man but deep inside she was a pure girl and then Crizel was, also like a boy maybe because in the first place they are friend w Hannah which I thought that she was unkind/ rugged but in other side she’s very kind and clever. In addition, when we are not that so close for me Jessica was very annoying because she’s always shouting just to stop our other classmates for making unpleasant sound, and then before when I saw Hannah she has lot of pimple in her face and it is like overload parking lot ha-ha just kidding, but now it is much OK, her pimple was not that much. And lastly Crizel, we are not that much close and unfortunately we had a misunderstandment between two of us. What is more, for me they are so good friend and all the bad side, was so opposite when I knew there real personality. They are the persons who understand me well (I think). They always beside me when I’m upset listen to me and help me every time when I need help. When i have problem they will give me some advices and help me to solve the problem. Even when I don’t understand in the lesson they explained patiently for me to understand every time. I think I’m really lucky that I have them and I’m very happy we are friends and I think we will be friends forever. To summarizes, I think they are a nice person. They have good appearance, personality and I’m very happy that I can be friends with Jessica, Crizel and Hannah. And we learned so many things from each of us as. And they always help me in everything. Finally, I think friend is really important for me and I hope we can be friends forever.

Stolen Generation Essay Example for Free

Stolen Generation Essay The forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Islander children was forcefully taken away from their families between the 1890’s and the 1969. The children were given to churches, missionary institutes and some children were given to white families. Most of the children never saw their families again; more than 100,000 children were removed from their families They removed children without parental consent and without a court order. They wanted these children to be brought up as a part of white families and forget their Aboriginal culture, if however, children spoke their own language; they were abused by their white family because they wanted to breed out and eliminate the Aboriginal race from their land. They were considered to be low class inferior people. In the removal the government, churches, and welfares were in charge to remove especially the half-cast children, and they thought that they were doing the right thing and justified their action by saying that they are providing these children with a better life. Girls were sent to be trained as house maids, farm hands and labourers. Boys were sent to be trained as Farm workers or as a labourer. They were not allowed to speak their language or any ritual practice. When children were taken from their mothers, they felt helpless and could not do anything about it. While they were growing up they had a lack of Self-esteem, insecurity and felt that they were are worthless. They had depression problems, many committed suicide. Many of the children lost their own language and culture. Some of the children, when they finally met their parents, it was almost impossible to communicate and there was big cultural gap. When they were in a missionary, they had the anxiety of separation of their families and siblings and thought that they would never see their family ever again as a result this made them feel even more lonely. They were deprived of their loved ones and their affections. Some of the children were sexually and physically abused. Many of them suffered deep psychological harm, depression and some of them committed suicide, once the stolen generation children reach the age of 18 year, they were left to live with an English family and no one cared how you were treated because they were your owners.

Behaviour Of Individuals In A Group Education Essay

Behaviour Of Individuals In A Group Education Essay Introduction The line of study and understanding of individual and group behaviour, and patterns of structure in order to help improve organisational performance and effectiveness. (Robbins, 2007). Organisation is one of the most important parts and serves important needs of the society. So the decisions and actions of management in organisations have an increasing impact on individuals, other organisations and the community (Mullins, 2008). Hence it is important, to understand how organisation functions. For that we need to learn the behaviour of people, how do they behave and perform as members of a group and as individuals. This report is discussing the performance and behaviour of an individual while working in a group. The report emphasise on three interrelated parts which are concerned with: describing the formation of the group, differences between group and team, how individual perform in a group and their performance as an individual, and finally some conclusions on importance of the behaviour and performance of an individual in a group. Groups Groups are any number of people who interact with one another; are psychologically aware of one another; and perceive themselves to be a group (Schein, 1988). A group is two or more individuals interacting with each other to accomplish a common goal (Ivancevich, Konopaske, Matteson, 2008). Any ways groups are not same as that of teams. Teams are mature groups which are motivated and they are interdependent on each other for a common goal. Team can be of fixed size but groups can defer on purpose of the work. All teams can be a group but all groups cant be a team. Advantages and disadvantages of a group Advantages Learn to listen others point of view of other member in a group and take their considerations. Learn a lot from individuals personalities. Learn group co-ordination and Mutual understanding. Learn to divide work and complete the work faster. Learn to interact with different kind of people. Disadvantages If there are many people in a group then there may be group conflict. There may be different opinions on doing same thing so sometimes it takes time to start the work. Every member of a group should know its role and should work accordingly. Self esteem of a person can be heart while his opinion is not taken or not implemented. Why do people join groups? Humans are social animal, they cant stay alone. They want someone to interact with each other. People join clubs, different groups and societies just for interacting with each other. This is human psychology that they cant stop communicating with each other. Working in a group is an excellent way of building the effective interpersonal relationship that organisation needs (Heller, 1997). There are some of other reasons why people like to be in a group and they are: Security, Task achievement, Social needs and Power (Ellis Penny, 2000). People feel safety while they are in a group for an example working in an organisation some decision has to be taken people feel safe to take decision in a group rather than taking individually. Task achievement is also a main reason why people join groups there are many task which cannot be done alone. Some people join groups for social needs say by forming a group they are forming some special relationship. Power is the main reason people form a gro up for an instance if many people are doing a particular talk it can be done easily but thats not true for individuals. Reasons for formation of a group in an organisation People join groups because groups are able to accomplish things that individuals cannot accomplish working alone and working in group fulfils the social needs of people. The functional theory of the formation posits that groups are the only way to survive the demands of the environment (Stewart, Manz, Sims, 1999). Environmental factors As jobs become more complex due to technology or other factors, groups become a good way to handle the complexity (Levi, 2001). Moreover, joint management has a strong ability to attract capital beyond the founders or owners resources from private and venture capital backers (Timmons, 1999). I feel some work in an organization cant be done by individual it requires a group of people for better understanding of a complex situation. Poor performance, crisis and survival The urge to try something new and to change the course of action increases when the performance is low (Boone, C; van Olffen, W; vanWitteloostuijn, A; De Brebander, B, 2004) . Hence there is a fear of failure when a individual is working alone but thats not always true when groups are working. People know their own responsibilities while working in a group and they try to fulfil each and every thing. Growth A small business owner may not have the sufficient knowledge and skills to ensure significant organizational growth (Weinzimmer, 1997). When the firm sizeincreases, more people are needed for effective management (Weltman, 2001). Groups are responsible for the development of an organisation. Hence group should always think about the growth of the organisation. Profitability and better firm performance The benefits of teamwork in management relate to both work and firm performance (e.g. (Hunsaker, 2001; Eisenstat Cohen, 1990)No human is perfect, but groups can be. Human has some or other areas where they cannot work. But while working in a group human can hide their weaknesses. Social issues Companionship can help in problem solving and to diminish demanding working conditions as support arises among the team members (Hunsaker, 2001). One of the most compelling reasons why people join groups is because they believe membership in a particular group will help them to satisfy one or more important needs. Group norms According to Sherif (1936), norms are the customs, traditions, rules, values, fashions, and any other criteria of conduct which are standardised as a consequence of contact with individuals. Later, (Steers, 1981) called norms a shared group standard which regulates member behaviour. Norms also have been identified as the informal rules that groups adopt to regulate and regularise members behaviour (Feldman, 1984). Although norms generally exist in the formal context of group functioning, rarely appear in written form, and are seldom discussed, they still have a very powerful and consistent influence on group behaviour (Hackman, 1976). After analysing all this definitions I feel norms are rules which are made by individuals which work in a group for its smooth working. Norms are made by a group, so there can be different norms for different types of a group. For example, there are groups of people who are in a university every group will have its own norms. Secondly, there are various degrees of acceptance by a group member. That means some norms are followed by every group member and other norms are restricted to some people only. Some of the norms are also applied all group members and some norms are applied for few people in a group. For an instance, a group is working in an organisation, some norms are followed by all group members and some norms are only for the position holders, say managers in a group (Ivancevich, Konopaske, Matteson, 2008). Different types of group Organisation has two different types of groups they are formal groups and informal groups. The major difference between both this types of groups is that there is friendship between the members of the group. In informal group the entire member knows each other so they know what strength and weaknesses each individual has according to that everyone can work out knowing each other. And formal groups are made by the organisations they dont know each other they are formed for a specific goal. A planned system of cooperative effort in which each participant has a recognized role to play and duties or tasks to perform (Katz, 1965). These types of groups are made only for smooth functioning of an organisation. People dont know each other so there are less chance of getting friendly environment, and getting better results. According to Palazzolo (1981), a collection of individual whose common work experience result in the development of a system of interpersonal relations beyond those expect ed of them by values of their employment. In this type of group people know each other and they are friends with common goals so they can coordinate with each other without any problem. There is no communication gap between the people, so work can be done in better way. The only problem with this type of group is that it has friendly environment so many times it does not work for a organisation. But informal groups are better than formal groups. Groupthink A mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically Appraise alternative courses of action (Janis, 1972). With the idea of Groupthink group behaviour and performance can be increased. Groupthink can make any kind of decisions in an organization. As we have notice individual does not take any decisions, all the decisions are been taken by the organisation are discussed before implementing it. This is because all individual has different way of thinking in an organisation so everyone should know what is going on and can get ideas from everyone. By doing this the chances of implementing a risk gets decrease and on one in an organisation can regret the fact after implementing the new project. Numbers of specific symptoms on groupthink are as fallows. There is an illusion of invulnerability with excessive optimism and risk-taking. The discounting or discrediting of negative feedback which contradicts group consensus results in rationalisation in order to explain away any disagreeable information. An unquestioned belief in the inherent morality of the group which leads members to be convinced of the logical correctness of what it is doing and to ignore ethical or moral consequences of decisions. The groups desire to maintain consensus can lead to negative stereotyping of opponents or people outside the group, or to the acceptance of change. There is pressure on individual members to conform and reach consensus so that minority or unpopular ideas may be suppressed. Each member of the group may impose self-censorship in order to suppress their own objectives, or personal doubts or disagreements. As a result of self-censorship, there is an illusion of unanimity with a lack of expressed dissent and a false sense of unity. In the unlikely event of dissent or contrary information, this will give rise to the emergence of mind guards who act as filters, guarding group leaders, deflecting opposition and applying pressure on deviants. (Mullins, 2008) Individual behaviour as a group member Psychological research on creativity has tended to focus on individuals and intra-individual factors (e.g., motivation; Amabile, 1982). Fords (1996) Theory of Creative Individual Action also links the work environment with intra-individual factors to explain individual creativity. Fords theory describes three individual characteristics which overlap conceptually with the components of Amabiles (1988, 1997) model, via: sense making, motivation, and knowledge and ability. Individual personality makes a big impact on his psychological behaviour in an organisation. Also all the employees has to be motivated by some or the other ways. There may be some of the differences while working in a group but individual has to ignore them. All the group members are there for a common purpose so everyone should know their role and accordingly they have to perform while they are in a group. No individual should back-off at last movement while working in a group. By doing this he can develop psychologically as well as potentially. He can get different ideas from all other group members. He wont be restricted to a limit, and also can work better as a group member. This is because we know no individual is perfect and group can be, this says group members can hide weaknesses of a individual. But for performing better in a group individual should be motivated all the time. Maslows theory of motivation gives an idea how individual can be motivated. Motivation Motivation is the factor that every group leader should give to their group member. Motivation is better explained by Maslows theory. Maslows theory Abraham Maslow attempted to formulate a needs-based framework of human motivation and based upon his clinical experiences with humans.  From Maslows theory of motivation, modern leaders and executive managers find means of  employee motivation  for the purposes of employee and workforce management. According to this theory humans are motivated by unsatisfied needs and certain lower needs. All individuals should fulfil physiological needs first. If these needs are not satisfied then there are chances for an individual to leave the organisation, as he is de-motivated from the organisation. After completing these needs other higher level needs should be completed like he should be safe from other things which are in and out of the organisation. And the hierarchy goes on till Self-Actualization. Hence Abraham Maslows model indicates that basic, low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfilment are pursu ed. (Anonymus, Abraham Maslow Biography, 2005) Peer Pressure Peer pressure  is a change in  attitudes,  values, or  behaviour  in person to  conform  to group  norms (Anonymus, 2010). This person cannot be the member of the group. Peer pressure can be because of change in anything in the organisation. This can be a environment change or change in need. And because of this pressure group member leaves the group and may join other group which he dont like to be a member of that group, and thus they behave adversely concerning that groups behaviours. Peer pressure can cause people to do things they would not normally do, e.g. start drinking, may take least interest in the organisation, etc. Group Conflict Group conflict can occurs when there is difference in opinions within the group member. Conflict in a group can occur because of following reasons age, race, gender, education, functional background, and tenure. And because of this some time we feel to stay away from a group. This type of conflict can be seen in formal group. But thats not a case of informal group all the group member knows each other so they are understanding and many a times informal group may be of same age group and same kind of education so due to this reason the rate of conflict reduces or many times conflict does not take place. There is also conflict in the informal groups but this type of conflict does not last for more than a day. Experience This I can say with my own experience, I have been a member of a informal group while I was in my college, I was a member of cultural committee of the college from five years. Till completed my graduation. We used to organise the college festival called Utkarsh, I always took part in event handling stuff. And for last couple of years I was elected as a co-ordinator of Roars, with is IT and comp-science festival under Utkarsh. There were almost 15-20 peoples group who used to be a member if Roars and Utkarsh, so while organising a festival there are always conflict between a group members that which event will take place and where will it be held in the college, this is because there are almost 4000 people turning up for the event hence every one want to keep more event and all the event at one place hence there are conflict between group members. But once everything is solved there are no personal regrets in any ones mind. This is a big advantage of been a member of a informal group. In informal group also there should be a person who manages the group. In my case I been a co-ordinator had to look after the group. I had to look after personal problems with some other group members some other problems group member has while organising the festival. In intra group conflict I had to manage to solve the problem. This I was doing on the Maslows theory. If they need any necessary things for the event I typed to fulfil that by demanding it from the college authorities. The authorities should give them some safety measures by asking professors to take the lectures which they have missed and dont mark them as absent while they are working for the college festival as well as providing them with equal standards so that everyone gets a chance to give their own opinion. To provide them a self esteem so that they can also be confident while working for a college festival. Conclusion Work done by individual always talk time then work done by a group. Everything depends on the individual personality and his psychological and potential behaviour. Say now there is a word written impossible one individual may read it as impossible and other may read it as i m possible. Hence it depends on how the individual think. But working in a group always helps for individual to development himself. He gets to know how other individuals in a group think and what is the approach of other people on a particular work. There is always conflict in a group individuals should take these in a positive way as the group conflict is because of the betterment of the work which group is doing. The conflict in a group can be minimised if the group is an informal group. This is because all the group member knows each other and they are almost of same age so there thinking are also almost same. There should be a leader in a group to control the group. Group leader should always motivate people so that people can work in better way. Finally, I think group is always a better option to work rather than working as an individual.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The Three Oldest Religions are Based

Religion in all aspects is based on faith and commitment. It starts with a faith that people have in something that they have not seen. I have always wondered about the faith people show for their religion. No matter what is happening they stay strong in whatever it is that they believe in. Humans have come a long way from the beginning of time when it comes to forming religions. There are so many different kinds of religions out there in this world right now. And all those religions come from some kind of faith and are based on a faith that emerged through something or someone. There are people out there in this time that are dying and killing for their faith. There are some religions that are based on the same roots but are called known as different religions because of their differences in faith. Although they have similar background and roots they are very different from each other. Judaism, Christianity and Islam for example are three religions that have similar background and a re branches of the same roots, but are very much different from each other because of the differences in their faith and belief. Faith, the word by which people base their afterlife, has become the foundation of every religion. The three religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam are one of the oldest religions of the world. They have always been known for the strong faith they hold for their religion. Although the three religions are somewhat similar to each other they have their differences and beliefs. All three started with the same creator and got split to become their own religion. All of these religions started with Abraham and they still to this date hold Abraham in high position. Even with being almost the same religion they base everything o... ... same God, that is Abraham’s God, but they differ when it comes to other things that make up their religion. The disbelief of Jews in Jesus differ them from Christians, the concept of all three religions have about the coming of Messiah also differs them from each other. Jews believe the messiah is yet to come and is coming to revive the Jews, Christians believe in the second coming of the messiah and believe that he is going to take all the believers of Christ with him, and the Muslims believe that Jesus is coming again to fight as warrior for the Muslims against the world. From doing the study on the three religions, I have learned that they all have the same concept to which it started with, but no longer are the same because their faith changed along the way. And they broke off from one to another and formed the three strongest religions in the world presently.

Writing about Love Essay -- Love Poems Poetry Literature Essays

Writing about Love Love poems have always been very popular because love is one of the deepest emotions that people can feel and poetry is a good way to express such an emotion. When people think of love, they think of a typical romantic love but an exploration of pre-1914 love poetry shows other types of love such as unrequited love and obsessive love. The poems I will explore in depth are ‘To his Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvin, ‘The Garden of Love’ by William Blake, and ‘How do I love thee’ by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning. Blake’s poem ‘The Garden of Love’ is his view of being deceived by the perception of marriage. He has shown this by using the Chapel to symbolize marriage. When he gets there he finds ‘Thou shalt not’ written over the door and he thinks this symbolizes restrictions. He uses the language of the Ten Commandments to emphasize this. He also finds a gate around the Chapel, symbolizing yet more restrictions. The tone of the poem is negative and this is unlike the other poems which show a more optimistic view of love. This negative tone is shown by the ‘tombstones’ being where the flowers of the ‘Garden of Love’ should be. This may have been influenced by the fact that Blake was writing in the time of the French Revolution which was a time of great social upheaval and uncertainty. Also this poem is part of Blake’s ‘Songs of Experience’ where he goes back to some earlier ideas and finds hat things that seemed good when he was younger are not so good when you grow older. Another poem with a negative tone is ‘Villegiature’ by Edith Nesbit who was writing after Blake. This poem is not about the restrictions of marriage but about a possible romance that has fallen apart. Blake’s poem seems... ...at if they stay together their love will never die. In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s ‘How Do I Love Thee?’ there is also use of hyperbole. For example in the last line she says ‘I shall but love thee better after death’ Barrett Browning uses the hyperbole to show romantic love. The love is so strong in this poem it can almost become unrequited love as she almost idolizes this person. Barrett Browning tries to measure her love for this man. The use of repetition of ‘I love thee’ may give a tedious tone to this poem but it really emphasizes her point. As her love in this poem is so large to explain she compares it to situations showing strength or other emotions such as joy, but even sadness is involved from the reference of tears. I think this shows that all her life and after goes into this kind of love not just the good times and it is hard work.

A Battle to Your Death Essay

Advertisements for medications have been filling the pages of magazines ever since the first pharmaceutical companies have been synthesizing drugs. Since the late 1800’s, consumers have been exposed to medication advertised the same way that a company might push a new detergent to buyers. Heated debates have exploded in regards to drug advertisements, coming to head in recent years with attempts by government officials to limit the amount of ads that sell medication (â€Å"National Conference†). While one may look back on drug advertisements from fifty years ago and laugh because they seem elementary, they influenced members of society and they continue to do so to this day. Despite the obvious positive affects of pharmaceutical drugs, the constant bombardment of drug advertising has a negative affect on consumers at large. All through history, there have been people destined to heal. A cornerstone of medicine, from the earliest shaman to the now graduating medical school class, has been the drugs used to treat illness. See more: The stages of consumer buying decision process essay The advent of modern medicine, beginning in 1938, has seen a major expansion of prescription drugs (Tomes 627). Because medication has become such a large part in most people’s lives, pharmaceutical businesses have evolved. Not only do medication companies care about profits, but also they are also concerned with the safety and effectiveness of their drugs. These companies need a way to get these compounds out of the public, and they accomplish this in a way not possible for other businesses. Big Pharma – the term used to refer to major drug companies – uses two different types of advertising to reach the public (Sidiqi). What people see on the TV, the commercials for things such as Restless Leg Syndrome or Bipolar Disorder, is termed direct-to-consumer advertising, or simply DTCA. This is a common tactic for all businesses, including big pharma. However, unlike other products, medications are restricted in that they need to be prescribed by a physician. Everyone is able to go to the store to buy the new detergent on television, but not everyone can get the medication advertised on the television. Drug companies have a unique way of dealing with this problem – in addition to advertising to consumers, doctors are also targeted. Physicians are approached in hospitals much like one is approached by a car salesman – high-pressure tactics, quick talking and glossing over negative facts while playing up the positive. Detail men – representatives of each individual pharmaceutical organization (Silverman)– have several ways in order to â€Å"sell† their drug to a physician. Free lunches, vacations and various office supplies inscribed with the drug company’s logos are used as gimmicks in an effort to make doctors â€Å"side† with a pharmaceutical company – therefore making the physician prescribe their medication over another. With the advent of direct-to-consumer advertisement, people are constantly bombarded with messages and warning concerning their health. Seeing an ad for a new medication makes one contemplate their own health: â€Å"Am I eating well? † or â€Å"Should I quit smoking? †Ã‚   Although all forms of drug advertisements may have deleterious effects, DTCA may, with a small part of the population, serve to make people more aware of their health. With the arrival of websites such as WebMD, patients may also use the Internet in order to discover information significant to wellness. Although most want pharmaceutical companies to run philanthropically, they are subject to the same follies of any other industry. Money runs countries and economies, and in order to stay afloat, the pharmaceutical industry must focus their attention to profits. While big pharma gets a return of 14% profit (compared to 5% for the majority of Fortune 500 companies), those extra profits are used for research into new medication, in essence, going right back to the consumer (Tomes 630). Scientists and researchers cost a lot – therefore, drug companies must financially support research into new lines of medication. Most people work and live in such a way to attain better living conditions. The drive to increase wealth improves the medical community. Just like every market, drug companies try to make better products in order to out sell their competition – the idea being the best product â€Å"wins† in the market. If one medication is proven to be better than another, then the â€Å"losing† drug company will pour money into research to generate more sales. While new medications are being produced because of a laissez-fair market, many want government to step in. One of the biggest issues in this election year is socialized health care. More people than ever are focusing on the health of the impoverished. On more and more medication commercials, one sees or hears things such as â€Å"Having trouble paying for your medications? Astra-Zeneca can help. †Ã‚   Government officials, doctors and drug companies are beginning to cater to, and help save the lives of, the poor. Imagine for a moment, this scenario: A construction worker hurts herself outside the job. She does not quality for workman’s compensation because the accident did not occur on the clock, but she is in so much pain she cannot go back to work. Sitting in the free clinic (she cannot afford anything better – her construction firm does not offer affordable health insurance), a doctor sees her into the room. The doctors leaves the room, after assuring her that her injury is not serious, with an armful of medication – anti-inflammatories, pain killers and muscle relaxers to help. Pharmaceutical companies hand out free medications to physicians in order to help sell their product (Goodman, 232). What’s the difference between Tide, a company that makes laundry detergent, and Lilly, a company that makes prescription medication? One will get your clothes clean – the other will save your life. Drug companies demand that they be treated just as any other industry in regards to advertising to the public (â€Å"National Conference†). Big Pharma markets to both doctors and patients, trying to influence both to choose their medication over another. Both forms of advertising – pushing drugs on doctors and DTCA – are detrimental to public health and safety. Detail men are everywhere in the health care field. Walk into a hospital, a free clinic or a private doctors office, one thing remains the same – the tissue boxes, the pens and the clipboards. All these simple office supplies are â€Å"donated† from a drug company, bearing their insignia. While one may think it is only the new doctors, the ones that are not well versed in medicine quite yet, are the only ones that will actually be swayed by detail men, study after study proves this false. All physicians, old and new, are susceptible to this phenomenon (Goodman, 236). The implications for this can be disastrous. A close look at Vioxx details what happens when doctors listen to drug companies and not science. The more money spent on a medication, the more likely the medication will be prescribed (Goodman 237). Such is the case with Vioxx and Celebrex, a new class of anti-inflammatory drug called COX-2. Both of these drugs have lead to many deaths, massive recalls and suits from patients. Why would such a dangerous medication prescribed to patients? Shouldn’t the doctors know better? In 1999, the year that both drugs were released, a total of $4. 4 billion dollars was spent on advertising these drugs to both doctors and consumers. This advertising, â€Å"lead to overuse of these new and expensive drugs† (Schneider 140). Doctors and patients both accepted these new COX-2 medications, and there was no foresight into the dangers of this medication. Advertising, coupled with apathetic doctors, lead to hundreds of deaths. DTCA has its pitfalls as well. The use of advertisements on the Internet, television and the radio has drastically changed the doctor-patient relationship (Weber 172). No longer do people go to the doctor for advice. Rather, after looking on WebMD and deciding they have X disease, and seeing on television a drug to treat said disease, the patient storms into the doctors office, demanding a medication for a self-diagnosed disease (Weber 172). A layman cannot doctor himself and expect a healthy, good result. It leads only to misdiagnosis, unneeded medication and perhaps death. Stated earlier, drug companies have a fourteen percent profit margin, in contrast to Fortune 500 firms that make an average five percent profit. That means that drug companies make nine percent more in profits than some of the biggest companies in the world. Even one percent equals billions of dollars that pads the wallets of big pharma. Drugs are like candy in this country – â€Å"Americans apparently consume more prescription drugs than their counterparts in other developed nations, roughly twice as many per person as Europeans† (Tomes 630). As well as consuming more prescription drugs that any other developed country by two fold, Americans are the last to support poor nations with drugs to treat â€Å"AIDS, malaria, and other deadly diseases† (Tomes 632). That extra nine percent – billions and billions of dollars in extraneous profit – could be used to further the health of, not only this country, but also the entire world. The construction worker mentioned earlier benefited from free drugs. She could not afford them, but thanks to the population’s altruistic friends at big pharma, she received them free. Proponents would like people to believe this fallacy in order to keep their most successful way to advertise drugs – through doctors – alive. All social groups, not only the uninsured or poor, receive free medication. Experts have proven over and over that free medications does not help the poor as much as big pharma would like the public to believe (â€Å"Drug Samples,† â€Å"Free Drug Samples†). Pharmaceutical companies care only about patients when they are ill. This means big pharma wants more sick people, because sick people equal profit. Medicine corporations, besides not helping the poor, target against them. Because they cannot pay for medication, â€Å"the patterns [the researchers] found indicate that pharmaceutical firms may be directing their samples to physicians and clinics least likely to care for the uninsured† (â€Å"Drug Samples†). The purpose of those free hand outs is simple. No company will ever distribute free product, especially when that product needs to come in installments to be effective. If a doctor has a few days worth of medication, he is more likely to prescribe that medication to the patient out of convenience for both. For example, assume that someone comes into a doctor’s office with a cold, demanding relief. Whether or not the cold can be remedied by any medication (most colds are viral, and cannot be cured by antibiotics), the doctor, instead of educating the annoying, pushy patient, gives the him a box of medication in order to at least mentally sedate them. Free drugs are ways for pharmaceutical companies to get their medications prescribed. If a doctor has a box of a few pills to give to a patient in the office, he will prescribe the same medication (Wolfe 1). If the medication is once-a-day for X amount of days, and the doctors picks the medication of which he has a sample, that equals quite a big profit for the company. The so-called philanthropic free medication is just another marketing ploy for increased profits. While modern medicine depends on the positive effects of pharmaceutical medication, the non-corporal influences of prescription drugs has a largely harmful effect on society as a whole. Advertising life or death can never have a positive outcome. Drug companies manipulate the public in their advertising to doctors and patients. Next time you are at the doctor’s office, just think – has the treatment you are receiving been scripted by a man in a suit, offering your doctor a free lunch in exchanged for your health? Works Cited â€Å"Drug Samples Seen as Unlikely to Reach Poor or Uninsured. †Ã‚   Medpage Today. 4 January 2008. 2 November 2008. . â€Å"Free Drug Samples May Put Children at Risk. †Ã‚   Medpage Today. 6 October 2008. 2 November 2008. . Goodman, Bob. â€Å"Do Drug Company Promotions Influence Physician Behavior? †Ã‚   West J Med 174. 4(2001): 232-233. National Conference of State Legislatures; the Forum for America’s Ideas. â€Å"Marketing and Direct-to-Consumer Advertising. †Ã‚   2008. 22 Sept. 2008   . Tomes, Nancy. â€Å"The Great American Medicine Show Revisted. †Ã‚   Bull. Hist. Med. 79 (2005): 627 – 663. Sidiqi, Sarah. â€Å"Letters to the Editor; Pharmaceutical Influence? †Ã‚   The Nurse Practitioner 28. 5 (2003). Silverman, Milton, Philip R. Lee, and Mia Lydecker. â€Å"How the Drug Companies Kill One Million People a Year. † July-Aug. 1982. University of California. 4 Nov. 2008 . Weber, Lenoard J. Profits Before People? Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006. Wolfe, Sidnye. â€Å"Drug Advertisements That Go Straight to the Hippocampus. †Ã‚   Lancet 384. 9028 (1996): 632.

Descriptive Writing Essay

I could feel a gentle warm breeze that was blowing in from the west, bringing with it a mouth-watering smell of strawberry ice cream. Also with the wind came the enchanting smell of fresh salty air mixed with another smell that I didn’t recognise. The active bustling metropolitan was surrounded by rolling emerald green hills, giants watching over me. In the centre of the city sat a colossal thirty storey skyscraper made purely out of glass and reinforced steel. The city faced the never ending topaz sea: it stretched all the way up to a calm and pleasant lake which glittered over a mile away in the distance. The north section of the city was taken up by imposing skyscrapers and a humming metropolitan of lights and music; a huge building encrusted completely with multi-coloured gems that bathed the city in the reflective luminosity. Nestled at the bottom of the skyscrapers were dozens of magnificent and completely unique cafe’s and bars. The first cafe at the top was a marble building that looked like a mausoleum, with heavy columns. The second bar was completely different- a million lights flashed from every surface. The third cafe was a long, low building with the front made completely of glass that was patterned with hundreds of different patterns, and it had beanbags inside and low coffee tables. Another cabin was covered in flowers that had grown on the walls and doorway and another spectacular cabin was made of solid gold that seemed to glow in the sunlight.

Project Manager – Main Responsibilities

i) Project Manager – main responsibilities and desired traits Project manager has primary responsibilities for providing leadership in planning, organizing and controlling to the project team to accomplish the project objective in quality manner, within budget and on time as a cohesive group. [pic] Desired Traits Skills Effective project managers must posses a variety of skills in addition to general management skills.While certain necessary skills may be dependent upon the project, there are some skills that all project managers should possess. Leadership ability -create a vision an direction, inspiring the team, give empowerment, give motivations, appreciate and values the contribution by recognition, praise encouragement, establishing an environment of trust, high expectations and enjoyment.Ability to develop people – has a commitment to the training and development of people working on the project. Give the team an opportunity to add value from experience by gaining knowledge and more competent. Communication skills – the ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and regularly for the purpose of to have a good working relationship with the project team, customers and other stakeholders.Interpersonal skills- the ability to develop a relationship with each team member in order to know â€Å"what motivates them, how they think things are going, what concerns they have, and how they feel about things† Problem-Solving – the ability to anticipate problems, recognize them when they arise, and solve them quickly and efficiently Time Management – the ability to prioritize, delegate, and manage time effectively Ability to handle stress – the ability to handle stress that can arise from work situation.Negotiating Skills – able to interact with customers, sponsor, the project organization’s management, subcontractors, vendors and end user to arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement on an issue. Conclusi on The project manager responsibilities of planning, organizing, and controlling are general management responsibilities. In addition to these responsibilities, the effective project manager must possess a specific set of skills that can be used to manage projects successfully. ———————– PROJECT MANAGER

Integrative Problems and Virtual Organization Strategy Paper Essay

Different types of threats for each different approach much each are carefully considered to ensure that the right approach is chose. There are benefits and risks for each approach. The threats must be read and understood appropriately. The first approach would be about Patton Fuller Community College going through with an IPO. An IPO is also known as an Initial Public Offering. The IPO is the first stock sale is a public offering that sales shares of stocks from a company to people within the â€Å"general† public. Some of the threats that Patton Community Hospital could go through if the IPO is pronounced publically would be that the people who make large investments for important things like retirement, they are putting their retirement at risk because the market can be very good to people at times, but it is not a sure thing. â€Å"†This is the most negative piece of legislation I’ve ever seen,† frets William Elmore of Foundation Capital.† It will dampen capital formation. Anyone standing to create wealth by building a growth company would face putting personal assets at risk.† There will be fewer future IPOs if some founders choose not to go public as a result of lingering concern† (Mamis, Robert A. (1997). Going public puts a lot of people in a position to create an opinion immediately and this might be a bad thing because business could slow. Some of the threats that could take place if another organization from the same industry is acquired the company that is being acquired (if it is the buying company) will end up in quite a bit of debt because it will end up costing more in the long run. â€Å"Because a public company’s stock is relatively liquid, it can be used as the currency to acquire other businesses and fuel further growth. Many owners of successful private enterprises are happy to sell their businesses in exchange for the marketable securities of a growth company† (QWOTER.CO. (2013). The threat that opposes here would be that even through with this approach there is a good chance of the business being larger and better, but this would mean that there is also the risk that the company is making the wrong move, and this could fail just as easy as it could succeed. This means that a threat would be that the business could go downhill. For example, if the other business acquired has a bad person worki ng for them or a bad rep, this will now include all companies involved. Patten Community Hospital also faces threats of merging with another company’s. Some of these threats would include debt, legal issues or standards, and mutual understanding and respect for all company’s involved. Merging a company can be very costly. This could mean putting the Company who is buying into some serious debt. This would not be good for either one of the merging parties. It would be smart to weigh every decision very carefully when choosing to merge companies because you want to make sure that everything legal is discussed and agreed upon to ensure that there are no misunderstandings. Also any business’s that are considering merging should meet and get to know the other business owner well before making the final decisions because there are so many different types of business, different types of strategies, different types of techniques, and different types of ideas and styles. Business owners that merger businesses may be very settled on the way th at he or she runs their business. Therefore this may cause conflict. Businesses can be very successful from merging their businesses together if a good team strategy and no conflict. View as multi-pages

Day Lighting Study Case Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Day Lighting - Case Study Example In the figure, it is clearly visible that the sunlight reflecting directly on the floor at the base of the glass doors is brighter as compared to that pouring through the windows because of the filter. Moreover, the location of windows has been chosen very carefully so as to ensure that people sitting on the chairs get the light rather than the ones passing through the corridor. So the design selected to use the light is successful as it fulfills the purpose of its in-pour. Fig. 3 shows another room of the same building in which there is no in-pour of sunlight and the source of light is basically the reflection of sunrays from the floor of the terrace into the room. Here, the room has been purposefully designed in such a way that there is no direct in-pour of light and yet there is sufficient illumination in the room. In Fig. 4, the filtering windows have been placed atop the room to reduce the intensity of light without reducing the illumination. This is a successful use of light as the design ensures that the occupants of the building receive just the amount of light that is sufficient for them. Without the filter-glass on the top, space would be capturing direct sunlight that would be even more intensified after diffusing from the white floor. In Fig. 5, the room has been oriented in such a way that the window captures the brightness of the sunlight outside without increasing the glare inside the room. A very important purpose that this design serves is that it creates no significant shadows of the furniture placed in the room which enhances the visual appeal of the room. Since it is a room with a limited space, a heavy in-pour of sunlight would have been irritating for the inhabitants. In Fig. 6, the benefit of daylighting is shown as it provides the occupants of the building with a direct link to the evolving outdoor illumination patterns, thus creating productive and visually stimulating environment along with reducing the energy costs of the entire build ing. However, the architectural design shown in Fig. 6 is not successful as it provides no point of entry to the sunlight into the room, which is why the room is dark. Ideally, the design should have been such that allowed the sunlight to enter till the threshold of the room to provide it with enough natural light.

Refection on Call Girl and readings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Refection on Call Girl and readings - Essay Example It also offers society a mirror to construct a desired reality. However, this differs with Hedlong’s perception who believes that films mainly achieve an aesthetic value and this revolves around explicit mystery and murder notable in most Swedish movies (Miller et al., 2008). Overall, the two authors agree that films have role to play in the wider society. Notably, Hedlong continues with this trajectory by asserting that the location of Swedish Media is largely influenced by regional aesthetics as demonstrated by the Call Girl film. This shows that filmmakers have a role in transforming society while also entertaining the masses. Similarly, cinema as a modern invention of technology, according to Sundholm, should manipulate people’s thoughts, views, and perceptions toward a positive direction. Alternatively, Miller in his paper Global Hollywood attests on the muzzling culture of Hollywood of foreign cinema. Consequently, this curtails the growth of other forms of cinemas with creative and innovative messages as notable with Call Girl that castigates bad political behavior (Reijnders, 2008). In other words, artistic success is a challenge if industries do not allow cooperation. Hedlong, O. et al. (2010). Murder, Mystery and Megabucks?: Films and Filmmaking as Regional and Local Place Promotion in Southern Sweden. In Hedlong, O et al (Ed.), Regional Aesthetics: Locating Swedish Media (pp.263-290). New York, NY:

Human resources Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human resources - Case Study Example The wage rates of the people marked on an industry-average basis are evaluated in terms of piece-rate system relating more to the Production workers where pieces produced by each individual are noted. Basic Workers are also rendered yearly bonuses that also depend on their merit or performance rates. The compensation program of Lincoln Electric can be enhanced through introduction of non-financial benefits like Training and Job Recognition programs and yearly Compensation Cost attributed likewise is furnished to employees (The Lincoln Electric Company, n.d., p. 569-570). Compensation package of Southwest Airlines is however found to comprise of a basic pay which is below the industry average. Additions are rendered to Basic Wages in the form of Profit and Stock Sharing endeavors where employees are rendered a part of the company’s yearly profits along with encouraging them to purchase shares of the concern. The people procure shares through allocation of profits or through a d eduction in their pays. Other performance recognition and reward programs are also generated financial or non-financial in nature to enhance the Total Compensation Package. ... 586-587). Benefits and Services The Benefits and Services rendered should be properly planned and executed by the organization to match the demands and aspirations of the employees through the process of employee surveys. Innovation must be rendered to as to the type and range of benefits and enhancement would be rendered through comparison based on industry standards. In the process of surveys and decision-making ventures related to benefit planning both the employees and the union bodies must be taken into consideration. Finally having decided on the benefits based on the cost structure it must be adequately communicated to the beneficiaries to help them optimize and gain on present and future opportunities (Sims, 2007, p.484-485). Range of benefits and services rendered to the staffs in Lincoln Electric contain both financial and non-financial categories. In financial category benefits related to medical insurance and retirement financing schemes are on the cards. Non-financial be nefits consist of meals obtained from the office cafeteria at concessional or discounted rates. Again the employees receive insurance for disability or accidental reasons from the Employee Association body. The company also renders right to older employees to procure stocks of the company wherein they gain on dividends same like the external shareholders. However the executives of the company are devoid of other perks like parking facilities and reserved washrooms and eating zones (The Lincoln Electric Company, n.d., p. 571-572). Southwest Airlines is also found to render a host of benefits to the employees both financial and non-financial in nature. The financial benefits that consist of a range of insurance benefits related to medical, life, disability, mental needs and

Employee Resourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Employee Resourcing - Essay Example 367). Recruitment and selection procedures are influenced by ever-increasing internationalization of business and link it to the rising importance of human resources management within every corporation. The main recruitment trend in UK is an increasing demand for MBA students or graduates. "The report says that two out of five of new hires in 2005 had an MBA, suggesting that the qualification is valued by employers" (Anderson 2007). From the outset it is recognized that the needs of organizations in young people are different from those of the adult worker. Hiring MBA students, organizations place less emphasis on individual, relatively permanent jobs and more on collaborative groups, or teams. Choosing people to form teams or to join existing teams pose special problems, and different kinds of teams pose different problems. A decision-making management team may be formed for a specific project, its members chosen for specific areas of expertise; it may be disbanded at the project's conclusion, its members reassigned to new teams with other projects where their expertise will be useful; members are chosen for specialized knowledge or skill. Almost all labor markets demand MBA stude nts, such as "real estate, marketing, investment banking and consultancy are all big contenders, with approximately 20 per cent of the class of 2006 opting for real estate, while marketing and investment banking secured about 19 per cent respectively" (Anderson 2007). The recruitment and selection of administrative staff and new managers (MBA) have been very crucial for senior managers who wanted only to have those who were ready to follow in their footsteps and to cover up their corrupt practices. Recruiting consists of advertisements and calls to prospective recruits in local schools, churches, or other promising sources of applicants. The new examination, even if an earlier one had been used, is developed during the recruiting period to reduce the chance that a security lapse gives some candidates prior knowledge of it; in any case, even a new exam must be carefully protected to assure even-handedness (Blackman 2006). In a truly large jurisdiction, the logistics of testing requir e extremely careful planning, both for test security and for the sheer mechanics of administration (Black, 1999). Another important trend in UK labor market is increasing important and role of online recruiting process. In general, "the recruitment process contains a number of steps, including corporate planning, human resource planning, job description and evaluation, and job advertisements" (Blackman 2006, p. 367). The Internet becomes one of the most popular tools for both employers and job seekers. "In 2006, 39% of businesses in the North West were actively recruiting new staff with 54% of job vacancies advertised with Jobcentre Plus and almost one in 10 turning to the Internet to recruit new staff" (Latest recruitment trends 2007). Today, only a limited number of enterprises use the familiar procedures of recruitment and selection such as advertising jobs in newspapers. Thus, online application is based on traditional procedures such as reviewing applications, holding interviews and testing candidates. The development of the Internet, and the world wide web system operating through the Inte rnet, have resulted in the rapid growth of e-business and changes in all

New Gillette Razor Pricing For Asian Market Essay

New Gillette Razor Pricing For Asian Market - Essay Example Gillette Research and Development has engineered a new sanitary razor product, and Gillette Information Management aims to provide decision support for the purpose of pricing the new product. Here, we investigate the market for shaving products with respect to this endeavour. Gillette Information Management has collected 90 relevant observations. With that data, we produced the necessary descriptive statistics and histograms about price by gender, number of cartridge blades, and country of purchase. We apply the mean and median to describe the central tendency of data and the standard deviation to describe the variability of data (Table 1). The coefficient of variation compares variability across the sample (Table 1). The data is within the range of normal distribution because Kurtosis and Skewness are both between 2.0 and -2.0 (Table 1). Female razors constituted over 70% of the sample. They are an average of .36 more expensive than the entire sample. The coefficient of variation, Skewness and Kurtosis were all comparable to the sample at large (Table 2). Male razors are an average of .90 less expensive than the entire sample. Skewness and Kurtosis were all comparable to the sample at large, but the coefficient of variation was over 20 percentage points lower (Table 3). A histogram of the data reveals a dissimilar trend in the data where there are less logical bins than the female products prices and the yield. Each bin seems to have an outlying frequency, and the minimum is .80 lower than the yield’s (Figure 3). Our method is the application of descriptive statistics and histograms to answer the certain question that will assist us in determining the price. We note the data set is almost completely left-skewed. Most of the products are aimed at women so our packaging should target that demographic. The results are limited because of the high coefficient of variance of the yield.  

Proof Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Proof - Essay Example Look, if you’re not happy with your life right now, maybe you should try to do something instead of gossiping, because that’s represent yourself as uneducated person. You might be educated, but may not act like one. Everybody has a chance to do what they want to be successful in their lives, but needs effort to do it not just waiting and doing nothing†¦ 2. I finished my studies last year, but I didn’t join the graduation last December because I want my mother to present in my graduation to see me walking and receiving my Diploma.. I want my momma to be proud despite of all the things I’ve done in my life. It was a tough year for me working on my assignments, project and etc . Every night was hard, but I did it. To some people, who think I’m lucky, it is not a compliment it’s like an insult to me, because my achievements in my life didn’t came from the luck that just handed it to you and you got it.. No, it is not my situation†¦ I had to work hard for it and not just sitting my ass off gossiping, watching tv, or

ERP Story Write Up Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ERP Story Write Up - Case Study Example The operations in HR like vacancy advertisement and subsequent hiring of employees, effective management of the entire supply chain, and providing transparent and timely financial reports may not be possible in such cases due to untimely passage of information. The use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software provides some solution to these problems. This is achieved if the software is installed correctly (Walgium, 1). However, the success of introducing ERP system into an organization is not obvious. Instead, the use of ERP may be associated with a series of challenges to the management as well as the employees. Some changes may be required in the system of operations of each of the sections (Walgium, 1). There is also need to have hardware and software compatibility for the applications used by different sections to be brought together. Due to such complications, an organization should thoroughly examine its worth as well the available resources before installing an ERP. Otherwise, the new technology may be worse than the traditional approach. This paper focuses on the different issues that arise when a large company decides to integrate ERP into its operations. It provides specific reference to ABS Canada, an insurance company that has three different parent organizations brought together to operate as a single entity. ABS Canada wishes to consolidate its operations in the three sections namely marketing management, human resource management, and finance management. Aux Bons Soins (ABS) has been in the insurance industry in Canada for several decades (Case study). Over the years, various developments have been seen that have significant impacts on its operations. The company has acquired two other subsidiary insurance companies in the last few years. The parent company as well as its subsidiaries has always

Certain rules and regulations related to the commercial domain Essay

Certain rules and regulations related to the commercial domain - Essay Example This study looks into law as ‘the rule that the society will enforce’. The notion of law has been used by several aspects like economic activities, such as production and consumption, social activities, such as social integration and relationship, but the most important aspect is related to the business or the commercial activities. In this context the notion of business law has been used. The role of the competition commission where the person is working can be described by the Competition Act that has been introduced in 1998 under the UK law act. The competition commission is a member body of the ‘competition and regulatory responsibilities under UK law’. The competition commission is part of the competition law of the UK. The competition commission is public body that is characterised as a non-departmental organisation. The commission was started as an independent body by the act of 1998 by replacing the ‘Monopolies and Mergers Commission’ on 1999. The commission is aimed at conducting in-detail investigations into: †¢ Mergers (which are either anticipated or completed), †¢ Markets (which is related to the scale monopolies and monopoly practices) †¢ Regulations (including price regulations and industry regulations etc.). These are the major roles of the commission where the person works as a trainee. The role of the commission is to investigate those above mentioned practices and activities and to refer these investigations to the Office of Fair Trade (OFT). The commission cannot initiate any investigation unless it receives reference by another authority. The commission is responsible for taking decisions regarding the mergers and market and for providing remedial measures to industries. These remedial measures are related to the adverse effects which are or can be obtained by mergers and consumers or producers in the market. After completing its investigation the commission produces a report regarding the investigation and its associated results and submits this to the concerned authority and hence, provides remedial measures or decisions (Competition Commission: General Advice and Information, 2006, p.7). The commission conducted a study on â€Å"Public Enterprises, Government Policy and Impact on Competition: Indian Petroleum Industry† on reference by Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd. The objective of the study was to examine the nature of competition in Petroleum Refining. The study showed that there is monopoly in the domestic market and suggested that to introduce competition in the market, it is necessary to lift restrictions on imports (Public Enterprises, Government Policy and Impact on Competition:  Indian Petroleum Industry, 2009) Under the Competition Act 1998, 50 public schools were fined for fee fixing by OFT. These schools include Eton and Harrow. Each school was ordered to pay a fine of ? 10000. Around 40000 students who attended between 2001 and 2004 were supposed to beneficiaries (Smithers, 2006). 2. What are monopolies, mergers and cartels? Monopolies, mergers and cartels are the form of economic organisations where one or very few producers produce homogeneous products. A monopoly is defined as the market structure where only one producer or firm produces and supplies a particular product to all the customers of that product. In the UK market for postal service, the Royal Mail had a 350

Cruesa, his first wife, is lost at Troy Essay Example for Free

Cruesa, his first wife, is lost at Troy Essay To analyse the character of Aeneas in comparison to the character of Odysseus we must first recognise that they have both been sent away from home, Aeneas by force after the sack of Troy and Odysseus to fight from the Greek side. To analyse them as leaders and good men we must look at their feats and their strengths as well as recognising their flaws as people and warriors. Both characters are extremely respected as heroes. Virgil presents us with the man that founded the greatest empire of all, the Roman Empire. Odysseus had the idea of the Trojan horse, without which the Greeks would not have won the war. Both are primarily good men who serve their countries well. I found though, that they do this in two very different ways. Odysseus nostos and Aeneas search for a new home. Scholars continue to disagree on whether or not Aeneas is presented as a good soldier, although the question itself is certainly far from black and white, complicated by the culturally relative nature of terms such as conflictand courage, as well as by the rather oblique definition that good itself holds. Odysseus respectively. I will argue that Aeneas meets the criteria set by neither model and that, ultimately, he is an emotionally unstable, morally dubious and even an incompetent military leader. However, the very fact that he is the protagonist needs to be stressed: his character is necessarily sympathetic, dynamic and intricate. My intention is not to assert that Aeneas is a villain or a coward; he is quite obviously neither of these things and such an interpretation of the Aeneid, a text rich and ambiguous in meaning, would be nothing short of reductive. And in this way he must, and does, have some positive, somewhat redeeming features. Virgil created in Aeneas a new type of Stoic hero, a point that is perhaps most evident in Book Four when Aeneas leaves Carthage. His speech to Dido is indicative of his determination to suffer both silently, Aeneas did not move his eyes and struggled to fight down the anguish in his heart. , (Book 4) and willing, Do not go on causing distress to yourself and to me by these complaints. It is not by my own will that I still search for Italy. (Book 4) Emotional restraint and acquiescence in regard to ones own fortunes and torment is intrinsic to a Roman conception of a role model and leader. Equally, the presentation of Aeneas in Book Four can be seen to parallel that of Odysseus in Book Nineteen of the Odyssey, where the reader is told that, in spite of his wifes tears, the heros eyes were steady. Aeneas, then, does conform to both the Roman and Homeric paradigms in his ability to endure the sufferings that Fate has allotted him. And yet his chief characteristic is not his endurance, as is the case with Odysseus, but rather his pietas, a quality essential for a Roman warrior. Time and time again in the Aeneid he is referred to as pious Aeneas, famous for his devotion(Book 6), so the Sibyl states. This devotion is threefold in that it is not only religious and extends to both his family and to his duty as Father of Rome. The latter of these has already been demonstrated by his separation from Dido, in which he subordinates his personal wishes in order to fulfil his destiny, while one can see the first two aspects of this pietas at work quite clearly in Book Five, in which the funeral games, held in honour of the divine father of Aeneas(Book 5), combine a celebration of the familial and of the holy. Like the Father figure that Aeneas, by fate takes on, Odysseus has great affection for his men. When he loses some of his men at Ismarus he tells us how they sailed on with heavy hearts, grieving for the loss of our companions. As well as this, when all the other ships are lost to the Laestragonians, he states, We lay on the beach for two days and nights, utterly exhausted and eating our hearts out with grief. Odysseus risks his life for them. In book 10 when the first half of his men are transformed into pigs by Circe, he goes alone to rescue them. He goes blind into this plan without any forward planning until Hermes helps him. He is so determined to help that he tells an interfering Eurylochus, I shall go. I have absolutely no choice. . He never abandons his men. In Book 9 when his men eat the fruit of the Locus they lose all hope and want for home. Odysseus literally drags them and ties them to benches on the ship so that they cannot escape. In the cave of the Cyclops, after they have blinded the monster, Odysseus ties all of his men to the bellies of rams and they escape leaving him, he is alone and has nobody to tie him on. He does not care because he thinks about his men before he acts as does Aeneas. In this respect they are very similar except Aeneas makes more mistakes than Odysseus does and loses his wife. As a father figure, like Aeneas, Odysseus is very well respected by his men. Near the Cyclops the men divide the goats between the ships. They give nine to all of the ships and ten to Odysseus alone as a sign of their respect for him as their leader. Yet this pietas, as much as it appears to pervade Virgils characterisation of the leader, might be called into question. Aeneas, on frequent occasions, seems reluctant to implement himself and also uncertain as to the rewards it offers. In Book Five the poet externalises Aeneas thoughts as he wonders whether he should forget about his destiny and settle in the fields of Sicily (Book 5), and throughout the first half of the poem he needs to be constantly prompted to continue in his search for his homeland: by his wifes shade in Book Two, his fathers shade in Book Five, and twice by Mercury in Book Four. Mercury wasted no time, So now you are laying foundations for the high towers of Carthage and building a splendid city to please your wife? Have you entirely forgotten your own kingdom and your own destiny? (Book 4). These temptations are presented to Odysseus throughout The Odyssey but he does not give into temptation whereas Aeneas marries Dido, falls in love with her. Odysseus has a very strict work ethic, which clearly shows his devotion to Ithaca. He is offered immortality by Nymph Calypso if he just stayed with her, but instead the first image that the reader is given of him is knelt on a beach crying for his homeland. He is tempted again by the witch Circe. Odysseus has the weakness of enjoying women. He stayed with Circe for one year before his men reminded him of home. He also stayed with Calypso for seven years. Although we must take into though that there were reasons why he had to stay with her. Even through these periods of extreme temptation and immensely beautiful women, Odysseus wants to return home. He is driven by the goddess Athene but she is not the true reason for his passionate longing for Ithaca. Aeneas is different. He no longing to go home, he has no home. He does long for his promised citadel but is also a cell for the gods to create a new Empire. Venus intervention is what points Aeneas towards leaving Dido who he tells, I left you against my will (Book 6). Aeneas seems rather less than devoted to his duty at this moment. He is shown to be quite contented in Carthage and it seems unlikely that he would have left its sweet shores under his own volition. Dido is Aeneas first serious test, and he seems to give way without a struggle (Book 4), and one may see the character here as close to the antithesis of Odysseus who, in his pig-headed determination to return to Ithaca, even rejects Calypsos offer of immortality. Indeed, Aeneas, whose sword was studded with yellow stars of jaspers (Book 4) is a picture of decadence. Nor is devotion to duty the only aspect of his pietas that can be found wanting, and as much as Aeneas appears to be a truly devoted son it should be noted that he repeatedly fails to protect his family. When one considers those personages in the poem that could be seen as intimate with Aeneas it must be realised that virtually none survive. Cruesa, his first wife, is lost at Troy; Dido, debatably his second, commits suicide and Anchises, his father, dies in the port at Drepanum.